How Long Shall The Wicked Reign Over My People?

Number of the Day: 2,864,974. (Popular vote differential.)

Fuck the gawd-damned Electoral College too.

Submarine Gudgeon (SS-211) Is Sunk

TUE 18 APR 1944
Pacific
PB4Ys (VD 3) conduct long-range reconnaissance of Saipan, Tinian and Aguijan Islands, Marshalls, obtaining complete photographic coverage. USAAF B-24s provide close air support; battle damage forces one B- 24 to ditch (see 22 April).

Submarine Gudgeon (SS-211) is sunk, probably by Japanese naval aircraft (901st Air Group), southwest of Iwo Jima, 22°44'N, 143°25'E.

Submarine Tambor (SS-198) sinks Japanese guardboat No.3 Shinku Maru 300 miles northwest of Wake Island.

Second element of Japanese TAKE No.1 convoy sails from Shanghai and effects rendezvous with the first group that had departed Pusan, Korea, on 16 April.

U.S. freighter John Straub hits a mine off Sanak Island, Aleutians, 54°15'N, 163°30'W and sinks, breaking in two; 14 of the 27-man Armed Guard perish, as do 40 merchant seamen and the ship's solitary passenger. Army coastal freighter FP 41 rescues the survivors; frigate Albuquerque (PF-7) later scuttles the stern half with gunfire.

Atlantic
Abandoned U.S. merchant tanker Pan Pennsylvania, torpedoed by German submarine U-550 on 16 April, is scuttled by aircraft, 40°24'N, 69°37'W.

La Brea, North of Third

Judging from the stores selling clothing fashion & other useless crap & young people w/ shopping bags, this is the new Melrose.

Dough-Nut Break

Minecraft

MON 17 APR 1944
Pacific
Submarines Barb (SS-220) and Steelhead (SS-280) shell phosphate works on Rasa Island.

Submarine Harder (SS-257), in attack on Japanese convoy, sinks army cargo ship Matsue Maru about 150 miles northwest of Woleai, Carolines, 09°30'N, 142°35'E.

Submarine Searaven (SS-196) sinks Japanese auxiliary minesweeper No.2 Noshiro Maru 120 miles south of Haha Jima, Bonins, 26°01'N, 142°14'E.

USAAF planes sink Japanese army vessel No.2 Mikage Maru off Aitape, New Guinea, 02°41'S, 141°18'E.

Atlantic
Minesweeper Swift (AM-122) and submarine chaser PC-619 sink German submarine U-986, North Atlantic, 50°09'N, 12°51'W.

Mediterranean
U.S. freighters James Guthrie and Alexander Graham Bell, in convoy NV 33, are damaged by Allied mines off Isle of Capri, James Guthrie at 40°34'10"N, 14°16'50"E, and Alexander Graham Bell at 40°34'150"N, 14°17'20"E. James Guthrie is abandoned and taken in tow by salvage vessel Weight (ARS-35). Towed to Naples, James Guthrie is subsequently written off as a total loss. There are no casualties among either the merchant complement or the 28-man Armed Guard. Alexander Graham Bell returns to Naples under her own power and is repaired and returned to service. There are no casualties among the 42-man Armed Guard and only two injured from the merchant crew.

Penthouse View

Hand Job Bob To Star In S-E-X Video

The skin crawls ...

Marc Fortier / NBC10 Boston:

Florida Prosecutors Say They'll Release Videos of Robert Kraft at Day Spa  —  WHAT TO KNOW  —  Prosecutors said in court documents Wednesday that they are planning to release video of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft at a Florida day spa.  —  Kraft's lawyers argued in court last week …

Brad Reed / Raw Story:   Prosecutors say they'll release video of Trump-loving Bob Kraft engaging with prostitute at day spa
Diana Stancy Correll / Washington Examiner:   Florida prosecutors to release massage parlor video of Robert Kraft
John R. Ellement / BostonGlobe.com:   Florida prosecutors say they intend to release video in Robert Kraft case, despite challenges
Ruth Brown / New York Post:   Prosecutors to release Robert Kraft footage in prostitution case
Victor Mather / New York Times:   Kraft Video Could Be Released, Prosecutors Say

Can It Happen Here?

Drain the swamp!! W/ bullets!

Associated Press:
Ex-Peru president kills himself as police try to arrest him  —  LIMA, Peru (AP) — Former Peruvian President Alan García shot himself in the head and died Wednesday moments after police arrived at his home to arrest him on corruption allegations in Latin America's largest graft probe.
Marco Aquino / Reuters:
Peru ex-president Garcia shoots himself as police try to arrest him
Bob Fredericks / New York Post:   Former Peru President Alan García dead after shooting himself moments before arrest
Joshua Gill / Daily Caller News Foundation:   Peru's Ex-President Shoots Himself In The Head When Cops Knock On His Door With A Warrant

Two Faces of Fox

If Fox News Covered Trump like the did Obama.  This is awesome!pic.twitter.com/D1utV3izvj

— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) April 17, 2019

Don't Fence Me In

All Hope Abandon, Ye Who Enter Here

Locals only, please; you out-of-state losers can't drive for shit.

A 26-year-old Utah man was charged Tuesday in the hit-and-run death of a Dallas man riding a rented electric scooter in Hollywood, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

Jared Walter Anderson of Enoch, Utah, drove his pickup early Saturday through the busy interaction of Vine Street and Sunset Boulevard, not stopping for oncoming traffic, prosecutors said.

He struck Evan Dyer Faram, 31, of Dallas, who was riding a scooter in the crosswalk on Vine. Anderson then ran over Faram while fleeing police, according to the district attorney’s office.

Afterward, Anderson allegedly drove against traffic and didn’t stop at signals or stop lights, finally crashing his pickup in a residential area, where he was arrested, prosecutors said.

A police sergeant reportedly saw Anderson’s truck hit Faram, back up, roll the victim over and flee the scene, KABC7 reported. Faram died at a hospital.

Anderson is alleged to have a prior DUI conviction in Utah, according to the district attorney’s office.

Prosecutors charged Anderson with one felony count each of murder, vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, hit-and-run driving resulting in death to another person with allegations of causing great bodily injury, and fleeing a pursuing peace officer's motor vehicle causing death. He faces a possible maximum sentence of 11 years, plus 15 years to life in state prison if convicted as charged, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors requested that bail be set at $2 million. The case remains under investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department.

City News Service contributed to this report.

[From behind the paywall of the Los Angeles Times.]

N233LA

Instead of this Airbus Squirrel, why doesn't the L.A.P.D. buy American?

Amusing Architecture

We are not actually amused.

U-Boats

SUN 16 APR 1944
Pacific
Submarine Paddle (SS-263) attacks Japanese convoy and sinks Japanese army transport Mito Maru and merchant cargo ship No.1 Hino Maru in the Ceram Sea, 02°25'S, 127°24'E.

Submarine Redfin (SS-272) continues to pursue the convoy attacked the previous day, sinking army cargo ship Yamagata Maru in Moro Gulf, southwest of Mindanao, 06°52'N, 123°47'E.

RAAF Catalinas mine the principal entrances to Woleai to prevent the Japanese from using them during the projected Hollandia operations. The operation is repeated on 18 and 19 April.

Movement of Japanese convoy TAKE No.1, carrying elements of the Imperial Army's 32d and 35th Divisions to reinforce garrisons in the Halmaheras and in northwestern New Guinea, gets underway as four transports, and escorts, depart Pusan, Korea (see 18 April).

Battleship Colorado (BB-45) runs aground on Kuia Shoal, off Kahoolawe, T.H., but suffers no serious damage.

Atlantic
Battleship Wisconsin (BB-64)--the last battleship in the U.S. Navy--is commissioned at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

U.S. tanker Pan Pennsylvania, in United Kingdom-bound convoy CU 1, is torpedoed by German submarine U-550 150 miles east of Ambrose Light, 40°05'N, 69°40'W, and abandoned. Ten of the 31-man Armed Guard sailors perish in the action, as do 15 of the 50-man merchant complement; survivors are picked up by destroyer escorts Joyce (DE-317) and Peterson (DE-152). Later, destroyer escort Gandy (DE-764) is damaged when she intentionally rams German submarine U-550 off Nantucket Shoals, 40°09'N, 69°44'W, and teams with Peterson and Joyce to sink the U-boat. During the action, shells from the destroyer escorts set afire Pan Pennsylvania's abandoned wreck (see 18 April).

Mediterranean
German submarine U-407 attacks convoy UGS 37 about 17 miles off Derna, Libya, torpedoing U.S. freighters Meyer London and Thomas G. Masaryk, 32°51'N, 23°00'E; the latter, out of control at one point, nearly rams Meyer London. There are no casualties on board either ship (including the 27-man Armed Guard in each freighter). French-manned British corvette HMS La Malouine rescues Meyer London's crew; another escort vessel rescues the other ship's complement. British rescue tug HMS Captive later tows Thomas G. Masaryk and beaches her in Maneloa Bay, Libya, where the damaged ship is subsequently written off as a total loss. Meyer London sinks.

Airship, Unfocused

Over the stadium for Jackie Robinson Day. Dodgers won in the bottom of the ninth, & the Clippers beat Golden State in the biggest comeback in franchise history, reg'lar season & play-offs (31 points) slightly redeeming a day that ranged from merely irksome & tedious to horrid.

America's Leaders

Vile human scum, every last one.

 Andrew Kaczynski / CNN:
Stephen Moore once slammed Trump's ‘dangerous’ immigration position, Larry Kudlow compared it to worst parts of World War II  —  (CNN)President Donald Trump's pick to serve on the Federal Reserve Stephen Moore once criticized Trump's positions on immigration, describing them as “extreme nativist” …
Paul Krugman / New York Times:   Republicans Are the Real Extremists
Taegan Goddard / Political Wire:   Moore Called Trump's Immigration Policy ‘Dangerous’
Peter Wade / Rolling Stone:   Trump's Fed Nominee Isn't a ‘Big Believer in Democracy’

 Calum Stuart / Political State:
Evidence Shows Lindsey Graham Received Illegal Campaign Contributions From Russia  —  An investigation has been ongoing into Republican Senate Judiciary Chair Lindsey Graham's connections to Russia by a number of transparency groups, including money he has used in his political campaigns …

Wind, The, Pt. 2

Earlier this month. The whole mess is still there; we took a closer look at the damage.

Bent over, doubled up.

Fun W/ Color

Nothing is real.

And reality is nothing.

Andaman Islands Action

SAT 15 APR 1944
Pacific
Alaskan Sea Frontier (Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher) with headquarters at Adak, Aleutian Islands, and Seventeenth Naval District (Rear Admiral Francis E. M. Whiting) with temporary headquarters at Adak and permanent headquarters at Kodiak, Alaska, are established.

Naval Base, Abemama, Gilbert Islands, is established.

Submarine Redfin (SS-272), in attack on Japanese convoy southwest of Mindanao, damages army cargo ship Shinyu Maru, 06°22'N, 123°42'E (see 16 April).

Japanese merchant cargo ship Sumida Maru is sunk, probably by mine laid by submarine Steelhead (SS-280), off Honshu, 42°07'N, 143°10'E.

British submarine HMS Storm sinks Japanese minesweeper W.7 in Andaman Islands, 11°56'N, 093°06'E.

"No hits are observed."

FRI 14 APR 1944
Mediterranean
Three U.S. motor torpedo boats and two British Fairmile "D" patrol craft brave intense German shore battery fire to carry out two torpedo attacks on north-bound German F-lighters off San Vincenzio, Italy. No hits are observed.

Indian Ocean
British freighter Samuta rescues 38 survivors of U.S. freighter Richard Hovey, sunk by Japanese submarine I-26 on 29 March.

Who's Shallow Now?

Compare & contrast headlines.

Catherine Lucey / Associated Press: 
Ivanka Trump promotes women's empowerment in Ethiopia
Katie Jerkovich / The Daily Caller:   Ivanka Shines In Powder Blue Dress During Trip To Africa

There's the entire problem: The right-wing is completely shallow. Surfaces only.

And whadda they mean, "shines"? Did 'Vanka forget to powder her greasy, surgically-altered nose?

"Read time: 0 minutes"

Why waste time?

Also On The Fire

Lima Whiskey, which has its own Instagram & is part of Lawrence Welk III's helicopter empire.

Mopping Up

'Tain't all glamorous rushing up ladders w/ a gushing hose in one's paw.

And here we hit the proverbial pause button, as the above video is 17MB too big for Bugger™ (& frankly has a few useless frames) so we're going to try some video editing software.

The Job Is Never Done ...

... until the tools are put away.

The only humanoid female this reporter observed working the fire.

Descent

Unlucky 13th For Destroyer Ikazuchi

THU 13 APR 1844
Pacific
Submarine Harder (SS-257) sinks Japanese destroyer Ikazuchi 180 miles south-southwest of Guam, 10°13'N, 143°51'E.

Please Validate My Existence

Or don't. What do I care?

Fire On Fairfax!

Oh, not smog at all. FIRE in a garage being used for storage.

Fortunately, the gurney went unused. Ladder probably wasn't used either.

There's always a wise guy running around w/ a camera.