October 12, 2022

FLORIDA, MAN: Enraged Bodybuilder Incinerated Ex-Wife in His Backyard, Cops Say

Detectives say they found a human jawbone on Ian Christopher Baunach’s property, according to a newly unsealed complaint.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/enraged-bodybuilder-ian-christopher-baunach-incinerated-ex-wife-katie-baunach-in-his-backyard-cops-say



A Florida man is accused of killing his ex-wife when she stopped by his house to pick up some of her belongings, then incinerating her body after taking back her wedding band and engagement ring, according to the feds. Days later, detectives say they found a human jawbone—with a tooth still attached—in a “burn pile” on his five-acre property.

The gruesome new details are revealed in a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday in Tampa federal court, charging Ian Christopher Baunach with possession of 13 unregistered firearm silencers. Baunach, 43, was arraigned Monday on first-degree murder charges in the death of Katie Baunach, 39, along with charges including failure to report a death to the medical examiner and 12 counts of possession of controlled substances without a prescription, for a cache of steroids allegedly found in Baunach’s home.

Baunach remains in custody at the Hendry County Jail, according to booking records. He does not have a lawyer listed in court records, and was unable to be reached for comment on Tuesday. On social media, Baunach, an avid bodybuilder, claims to be an ex-Marine who attended Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University.



The case against Baunach can be traced back to the morning of Sept. 30, when a friend of Katie’s reported her missing. Earlier in the month, Katie had applied for, and received, a restraining order against Baunach for allegedly abusing one of their two children, the federal complaint says. Last November, Baunach was arrested on charges of domestic battery by strangulation, and was released the same day on $25,000 bond, jail records show. Prosecutors did not pursue the case, and the charges were dropped in January 2022.

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October 12, 2022

Glock AR-15 Rumors Run Rampant. That Would Be a Nightmare.

There has long been chatter that that the company was going to branch out from handguns into long guns.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/glock-ar-15-rumors-run-rampant-and-that-would-be-a-nightmare



Bruce Willis rhapsodized about them in Die Hard 2. Tupac rapped about them, and was killed by one. Between cops and hip-hop stars and actual gangstas and everyday gun nuts, the reliably deadly Glock has become a generic term for all semi-automatic pistols. “The Google or the Kleenex of firearms,” says Paul Barrett, author of The Rise of America’s Gun.

Glock is baked into the American consciousness thanks to Hollywood and lyrics that take advantage of the name’s rhymability. There is a rapper by the name of Key Glock. A cheap device that can illegally convert a semi-automatic pistol into a fully automatic machine gun is known as a Glock switch even though the company apparently had nothing to do with its development or production.

Given Glock’s remarkable success in marketing its handguns, there has long been talk in the firearms world that the company was going to branch out into long guns, specifically into the booming market for AR-15-style semi-automatic rifles. “For at least seven or eight or nine, maybe 10 years, these rumors have persisted,” said Ryan Busse, a former firearms company executive who is now a senior policy analyst with the Giffords Law Center and author of Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America. “The real question was why hadn’t they?”

Earlier this month, a multi-platform social media account called Mrgunsngear posted what is described as a “leaked” photo of an AR-15-type rifle bearing the familiar Glock logo. A Mrgunsngear YouTube video reports that features of the weapon as seen in the photo match a slew of patents that Glock secured in 2019. And the patents correspond to specifications listed in a British military solicitation for a new weapon for its special forces. Glock has essentially confirmed that the photo of the military prototype is genuine, but added that there are no present plans to produce a civilian version.



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October 12, 2022

BQ.1.1 subvariant: This Deadly COVID Twist Is Like Nothing We've Seen Before

The new BQ.1.1 subvariant is spreading fast across Europe—and we’re not prepared for just how dangerous it could be.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/deadly-twist-in-covid-variant-takes-the-world-by-surprise



As the wave of COVID infections from the highly-contagious BA.5 subvariant finally subsided in late July, new subvariants were already competing for dominance—and the opportunity to drive the next wave of infections. A little over two months later, epidemiologists are close to naming a winner. In the United Kingdom, infections from a highly mutated subvariant called BQ.1.1 are doubling every week—a rate of growth that far exceeds other leading subvariants. In the U.S., BQ.1.1 is spreading twice as fast as its cousin subvariant BA.2.75.2.

https://twitter.com/CorneliusRoemer/status/1576716682512388096
That means BQ.1.1 is very contagious. But that’s not the subvariant’s most alarming quality. What’s most worrying is that it also evades certain antibodies. In fact, BQ.1.1 seems to be the first form of COVID against which antibody therapies—evusheld and bebtelovimab, for instance—don’t work at all. Luckily, the best vaccines still work against BQ.1.1—especially the latest “bivalent” messenger-RNA boosters. Uptake of the new booster has been shockingly sluggish, however, meaning the new shots aren’t yet offering much protection on a population level.

We have the tools to defeat COVID. But “the reality is nobody is using the tools,” James Lawler, an infectious disease expert at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, told The Daily Beast. Highly contagious and immune-evasive, BQ.1.1 is poised to take advantage of an increasingly vulnerable global population as antibodies from vaccinations and past infection gradually wear off in the coming months. The question isn’t whether a fresh wave of infections is coming. It’s exactly when.

“We are stepping into a very fluid phase of the pandemic right now,” Edwin Michael, an epidemiologist at the Center for Global Health Infectious Disease Research at the University of South Florida, told The Daily Beast. Michael has built sophisticated computer models for simulating the COVID pandemic. BQ.1.1 wasn’t the inevitable winner of the viral competition that raged, mostly unseen, in the months following the peak of the BA.5 wave. There were other highly contagious and somewhat evasive subvariants, including BA.2.75.2 and BA.4.6.1.

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October 12, 2022

RA Live: Moxie B2B Bradley Zero @ Waterworks 2022 (Gunnersbury Park, West London)

October 11, 2022

Wilkinson Eyre completes long-awaited redevelopment of iconic Battersea Power Station

https://www.dezeen.com/2022/10/05/battersea-power-station-opens-wilkinson-eyre/









Architecture studio Wilkinson Eyre has unveiled the redeveloped Battersea Power Station in London ahead of its opening next week, almost 40 years after the building was decommissioned. The former power station, which now contains over 100 shops, 46,000 square metres of office space for technology brand Apple and 254 apartments is set to officially open to the public on 14 October.









Designed by British architect Giles Gilbert Scott, Battersea Power Station was originally opened in the 1930s before later being expanded to create its distinctive four-chimney-form that sits alongside the River Thames. After it was decommissioned between 1975 and 1983 it remained empty for almost 30 years before being redeveloped by Wilkinson Eyre as the centrepiece of a new commercial and residential neighbourhood in Battersea.









WilkinsonEyre aimed to retain and emphasise as many of grade II* listed power station's original spaces and materials throughout the design, while logically organising the large building's various functions. "The main architectural response was to introduce a rich mix of uses that employ the spaces appropriately," explained WilkinsonEyre director Sebastien Ricard.









"At the same time, we were keen that visitors would always be aware of the historic fabric and that they were in a unique space," he told Dezeen. "Thus, the introduction of the suspended office accommodation within the Boiler House that allows the north and south elevations to be seen from inside, and preserves views up to the towering chimneys," he continued. "At other key points throughout the building, the new structure is stepped back to allow the original spaces to breathe and tell their story."

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October 11, 2022

Stand With Iranian Women

October 11, 2022

Lawlessness Erodes Solidarity--and Democracy

Society can’t hold together if bad actors on the streets and at the highest levels of business and government go unpunished. It’s time to stop making excuses for them.

https://theliberalpatriot.substack.com/p/lawlessness-erodes-solidarityand



The subway system in the nation’s capital no longer enforces fare rules and just lets people jump the gates. Reckless drivers blaze through red lights and pedestrian crossings without any consequence. Working-class moms can’t let their kids out in their neighborhoods for fear they might get shot. Mentally ill men who assault women and kill their dogs can terrorize city parks with no accountability. Major health care corporations that openly defraud Medicare to the tune of billions of dollars suffer no serious punishment. An immoral president who foments insurrection against his own country and then steals national security secrets is continually shielded by an entire political party.

https://twitter.com/AlecMacGillis/status/1571922351855489034


America suffers from a raft of lawlessness that is eroding social cohesion and democratic norms. From the little crimes to the big crimes, an epidemic of excuse-making by political elites allows lawlessness to run rampant while good-hearted and law-abiding citizens get played for suckers in America’s eroding social contract. On the one side, Democratic activists excuse all sorts of violent crime in American cities as either a fiction or something people must deal with to advance an opaque notion of social justice. They simply don’t care about rising violent crime and want to change the subject to something else.

On the other side, Republican activists empower a corrupt leader who actively sought to overturn an election he lost while committing myriad other criminal abuses of power. They simply don’t care that their party leader is a crook who sold out his own country. Both political parties allow tax cheats and other corporate scofflaws to operate freely and skirt regulations without legal recourse while cracking down on small businesses and individuals who make any mistake at all. Political elites simply don’t care to take on the malefactors of great wealth except in fake populist ads come election time. To America’s ideological and political elites, the law is just something for the little people to naively believe in or a partisan cudgel for battering opponents.

The problem of course is that the rule of law and the social norms that underpin it are vital components of a free and democratic society. If Americans cannot trust one another to behave decently and honestly—and can’t rely on the authorities to enforce laws and regulations when people cross the line—then the country will continue its slide into a dysfunctional state of anger, resentment, and mutual loathing. Nothing good happens in this state of despair. People make bad decisions when they are scared and cynical about all public and private institutions. Extremist solutions gain ground as a means to address the chaos. Life in a world without effective government and the rule of law quickly becomes “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”

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October 11, 2022

Far-Right Alternative for Germany Party Makes Worrying Comeback in Regional Election

https://www.thedailybeast.com/far-right-alternative-for-germany-party-makes-worrying-comeback-in-lower-saxony-election



A German far-right party toasted a stunning comeback in a regional election on Monday which saw the group double its share of the vote.

Alternative for Germany (AFD) made gains in Lower Saxony—though Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party won the election overall.

It’s thought that the AFD benefited from widespread dissatisfaction about soaring energy bills and inflation in Germany. Europe’s biggest economy is currently facing the threat of blackouts this winter and the AFD has ferociously attacked government energy policy as a result.

The regional vote—which was viewed as a referendum of sorts on Scholz’s energy policies—saw the AFD receive 10.9 percent of the vote, up from 6.2 percent in 2017. The party had previously lost popularity in 10 consecutive elections. “It is a cry for help from the people, for a change of policy in the most dangerous crisis for decades,” AFD lawmaker Leif-Erik Holm said.

Read it at National News

October 10, 2022

Toward a progressive economic agenda

To win power, progressive leaders must articulate a coherent economic policy, focusing not only on redistribution but also value creation.

https://socialeurope.eu/toward-a-progressive-economic-agenda

With much of the world facing unavoidable health, energy, cost-of-living and climate challenges, progressive political leaders have an opportunity to articulate a meaningful alternative to traditional economic policy-making. That requires conveying a bold and coherent vision of how to achieve inclusive and sustainable growth.

At the British Labour Party’s annual conference last month, its leader, Keir Starmer, spelt out his own ambitions to turn Britain into a ‘green growth superpower’ capable of creating new jobs, industries and technologies. Having spoken with the Labour Party about putting green concerns at the heart of the United Kingdom’s industrial transformation, I am delighted to see Starmer channelling the ambition that is needed. Progressive leaders around the world should take note.

Labour’s vision stands in stark contrast to the hackneyed, 1980s-style package of disastrous ‘trickle-down’ tax cuts, policies to reduce worker power (even more!) and enterprise zones which Liz Truss’ government has announced. While the Conservative gamble with fiscal stability has forced the government to execute a major U-turn on the proposed tax cuts for the highest income earners, little is being said about the public investments—in areas such as infrastructure, innovation and education—needed to drive economic growth. On the contrary, the tax cuts will increase public debt, causing the government to cut the much-needed investment.

Unfortunately, the absence of bold, clear progressive policies has allowed the far right to gain traction across Europe, not least in Italy, which is poised to be governed by Giorgia Meloni’s post-fascist alliance. Whenever low-income groups suffer—as they do now and will continue to do this winter—xenophobic parties will exploit their hardship, pinning the blame on others (as did the former United States president, Donald Trump) to distract from their own weak, incoherent or non-existent policy proposals.

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October 10, 2022

The Best Pasta Shapes, According to Italian Chefs

You won’t find fettuccine or macaroni on this list.

https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/best-pasta-shapes-according-to-italian-chefs


Glazed shortribs with lumache pasta. | Courtesy of North Italia

When it comes to pasta, I mostly love it all. Sheets of lasagna stacked high, the way peas can nestle perfectly in orecchiette, the heft of tagliatelle. I would be lying, however, if I said I didn’t have a favorite. I am a lover of cavatappi—perfect corkscrews that can stand up to a meaty sauce or bathe luxuriously in buttery cream. My colleagues have differing opinions as to what constitutes the best, however. We debated the merits of wavy tangles of mafaldine versus the irresistible curve of creste di gallo, which resembles a rooster’s comb. For long pasta, is spaghetti, bucatini, or linguine preferred? (There will be no mention of angel hair, because—to me—its thin strands are quite possibly the worst pasta shape.) To settle any debate, I’ve decided to ask pasta professionals—Italians and Italian Americans in the food industry—to share what their favorite pasta shapes are. They wax poetic about what sauces to pair with their favorites and why the shapes are so special. And if you weren’t already buying lumache, this is a sign to start. Here’s what our experts had to say.







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