Taliban Spokesman: Afghanistan To Have “No democratic system at all”

“There will be no democratic system at all because it does not have any base in our country. We will not discuss what type of political system should we apply in Afghanistan because it is clear. It is sharia law and that is it.”
— Waheedullah Hashimi, Taliban spokesman in an interview with Reuters, Wednesday, August 18, 2021

In a previous entry, I had written in part that,

North Dakota oil output at new high in August

North Dakota oil output at new high in August: regulator

NEW YORK | Wed Oct 10, 2012 5:43pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil production in North Dakota accelerated in August, jumping by 3.6 percent from July levels to top the 700,000 barrel-per-day mark for the first time in the state’s history, data from the state Industrial Commission showed on Wednesday.

The state’s August oil output rose by nearly 25,000 barrels-per-day from the previous month and hit just above 701,000 bpd, fast approaching volumes from OPEC-member Qatar, which produced 770,000 bpd in August.

Most of this was from

Music great Bob Dylan: “Wussies & pussies” claim plagiarism

Bob Dylan says plagiarism charges made by “wussies and pussies”

8:17pm EDT
By Chris Francescani

U.S. musician Bob Dylan (R) performs on the second day of the Hop Farm Music Festival in Paddock Wood, Kent June 30, 2012. Credit: Reuters/ Ki Price

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Bob Dylan has angrily responded to charges he plagiarized some of his lyrics, calling critics “wussies and pussies” and saying musical appropriation is “part of the folk tradition.”

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine for its Friday edition, the influential singer-songwriter made his first public comments on the accusations, saying that in folk and jazz music “quotation is a rich and enriching tradition.”

“Everyone else can do it but not me,” he complained. “There are different rules for me.”

Rolling Stone released excerpts of the interview on Wednesday and Reuters obtained a complete transcript.

In 2003, the Wall Street Journal reported that

Research shows new residential constructions burn faster, but states refuse to require sprinkler systems.

Nozzle Team Attacking on Knees – Photo ©2009, by SouthernBreeze, All Rights Reserved

How does one spell stupid?

Stoopid.

Stewpid.

Stupid.

Now, here’s a thought: What if the mortgage agencies REQUIRED sprinklers in all new construction? That way, they’d completely sidestep the obstinately stupid legislators. Besides, it’d be a way they could protect their investment.

Further, legislators’ assertions  are completely opposite the economic claims they make on other issues. That is, that as the availability of a product increases, the price decreases. So rather than being more expensive, the installation of residential sprinklers would be less expensive because there would be more of them, more competition, more private enterprises arising to meet the need, more jobs, etc.

Honestly, it just seems that, as a rule, Republicans just don’t get it.

—

New homes burn faster, but states resist sprinklers

1:01am EDT

By Melanie Hicken

NEW YORK (Reuters) – In Scottsdale, Arizona, any new home must come equipped with fire sprinklers, a decades-old rule lauded by fire safety advocates nationwide. But 12 miles away in Phoenix, city officials are not even allowed to discuss adopting a requirement like Scottsdale’s, because of a state law passed last year.

The same is true in Texas, Alabama, Kansas and Hawaii, where in the past four years state governments have enacted bills forbidding cities and towns from requiring sprinklers in new homes. A dozen have forbidden statewide building code councils from including the requirement in their guidelines.

Advocates — including firefighters, fire safety groups and the sprinkler industry — say

Inspector General uncovers Fraud, Waste & Abuse in Treasury Department

Now that the Wall Street fox is watching the financial hen house, is it any wonder?

Cases like these continue to demonstrate the NEED for fiscal 1.) Transparency; 2.) Accountability, and 3.) Ongoing publicly available agency reports.

It’s Fraud, Waste and Abuse – pure & simple.

And, it’s time to prosecute.

Not because of what it was used for – they could’ve bought jelly doughnuts – but for whose trust was betrayed, and who was abused.

The people.

—

Treasury staffer solicited prostitutes: report

1:47pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Treasury Department employee used government resources to solicit prostitutes and another employee accepted gifts from a bank he supervised in violation of conflict of interest rules, reports from Treasury’s internal watchdog said.

A Treasury staffer with the now defunct Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) used his government email to arrange sexual encounters with women advertised on Craigslist, viewed websites offering erotic services and met with prostitutes on three separate occasions, a report by Treasury’s inspector general said.

The OTS has since merged with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The OTS official, who

Arizona man accidentally impales skull

This is one of most genuinely bizarre accidents I’ve ever read about.

I’ve seen one or two in my lifetime, as well. And this one is genuinely miraculous, as well.

It has a “happy” ending!

—

Arizona man impaled through skull with pruning shears

By Tim Gaynor | Reuters – 9 hrs ago –

TUCSON, Ariz | Tue Aug 30, 2011 3:27pm EDT

This CT scan of the skull of an Arizona man impaled through the skull in a freak gardening accident is shown in this photograph provided to Reuters August 30, 2011 by University Medical Center. Leroy Luetscher, 86-year-old, accidentally impaled his eye with pruning shears in an gardening accident July 30, 2011. REUTERS/Courtesy University Medical Center/Handout

TUCSON, Ariz (Reuters) – An 86-year-old Arizona man who was impaled through the skull with pruning shears in a freak gardening accident was expected to make a full recovery, his doctors said.

Leroy Luetscher dropped a pair of pruning shears while working in his yard in Green Valley, south of Tucson, on July 30, the University Medical Center in Tucson said in a news release.

The shears landed in the ground point downward. When Luetscher bent down to pick them up, he

Marijuana Use Increases Psychosis Risk

Marijuana Use Increases Psychosis Risk

Well folks, here it is again. Yet more studies that conclusively demonstrate that SMOKING MARIJUANA IS BAD FOR YOU!!

Regular readers of my blog will have already read the other numerous scientific studies about which I have previously written.

Here are two more studies – one involving 20,000 people with psychotic illness, and another involving 1,923 people ages 14-24 over a period of 10 years.

Dutch researchers led by Jim van Os from Maastricht University conducted the decade-long youth study in Germany and ruled out those that presently smoked marijuana and those with pre-existing psychosis. They found that new marijuana use doubled the risk of new psychotic symptoms, even after accounting for age, sex, socio-economic status, other drug use and other psychiatric disorders.

Dr Matthew Large, from Australia’s University of New South Wale’s School of Psychiatry and Prince of Wales Hospital worked in partnership with Melbourne, Australia’s St. Vincent’s Hospital and the U.S.’s George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, pooled patient data from more than 80 studies which had probed the link between psychotic illness and substance abuse. Previous studies had examined the role of marijuana, alcohol and other psychoactive substances, but this new study examined marijuana alone. They found that most of the schizophrenic patients had been marijuana smokers, and of those who had been, the onset of mental illness occurred 2.7 years earlier.

Addendum: 5/5/14 – The reader should note that the majority of all such research upon the long-term, or delayed effects of marijuana usage has been focused upon the immature (and therefore, not-fully-developed) brain. Most researchers have concluded that the human brain reaches full maturity around age 25. The greatest risks for psychoses in later life is experienced when the immature brain is exposed to cannabis.

***

Smoking pot may hasten onset of mental illness

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110207/hl_nm/us_smoking_pot
By Nancy Lapid Nancy Lapid – Mon Feb 7, 5:19 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Smoking marijuana has been linked with an increased risk of mental illness, and now researchers say that when pot smokers do become mentally ill, the disease starts earlier than it would if they didn’t smoke pot.

Are Frankenfoods in your future?

South Carolina Doctor’s laboratory grows test tube “meat.”

South Carolina scientist works to grow meat in lab

By Harriet McLeod – Sun Jan 30, 10:00 am ET

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) – In a small laboratory on an upper floor of the

Placebos help, even when patients know about them

Personally, I’ve enjoyed the chocolate and strawberry flavored placebos.

Placebos help, even when patients know about them

Wed Dec 22, 2010
5:50PM EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Placebos can help patients feel
better, even if they are fully aware they are taking a sugar pill, according to researchers who reported Wednesday on an unusual experiment aimed at better understanding the “placebo effect.”

Researchers reported in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE that nearly 60 percent of patients with Irritable bowel syndrome reported they felt better after