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The CDC has shut down the Army's biomedical research facility at Fort Detrick, Maryland for failure to maintain safety standards.

The U.S. is a signatory to the 1972 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction, thus one wonders what the Army is doing with a biomedical research lab.

Former Army Private Chelsea (nee Bradley) Manning has been sitting in jail for three months and has accumulated $30,000 in fines. Manning has not been:
  • indicted by a grand jury
  • convicted of a crime by a jury of peers
  • allowed to confront accusers/witnesses
  • afforded due process
  • granted an attorney
  • allowed to present witnesses for the defense
Anytime you think you live in a free country, remember the following: you don't.

The U.S. is just weeks away from testing a missile banned by the 1987 nuclear arms treaty with Russia.

As luck would have it, Russia was found to be in violation of the treaty to justify the U.S.' withdrawal just in time to test the new weapon. More thoughts on this topic here: Arms Race or Equalizing the Playing Field?

Twenty-nine years ago today the United States went to war and didn't come back.

(There's a fair argument to be made that we went to war seventy-eight years ago and never came back, but we will leave that for another day.)

U.S. authorities have indicated that the son of Osama bin Laden has died, but have not given additional details.

Outlets are reporting the person's name as Hamza bin Laden, when in fact the person's name is Hamza, styled as Hamza bin Osama.

The concept of a surname does not apply.

A Louisiana woman arrested on suspicion of theft denied ownership of a gram of methamphetamine that was found in her person after a cavity search.

They say possession is nine-tenths of the law, so she may have some wriggle room there.

Empowerment Therapy
Day 1

Mantra of Impervious Defense


I am rubber, you are glue.
Whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you.