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Safety Gaps: Learning from Columbia
STS-107 On February 1, 2003, space shuttle Columbia experienced a loss-of-control and catastrophic break-up at about 180,000 feet altitude during re-entry at hyper-sonic speeds. All crew members were...
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Politics: Cruz and His Racist Tea-Baggers
Big Week for the Jesse Helms Fan Club Fresh on the heels of appearing at the International Association of Fire Fighter’s Legislative Conference, Texas Senator Ted Cruz announced his campaign for the...
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TED2: Baggers
IAFF Flirts with a Racist Tea Bags An earlier post covered Tea-Bagger Ted Cruz’s recent appearance before IAFF leaders in Washington, DC, and resulted in the following reader comment: “Little hard on...
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Bob Does Booty Duty
Always Ready to Serve Senator Menendez Democrat Robert Menendez, US Senator from New Jersey, was indicted this week on federal charges related to his relationship with Sal Melgen, a Florida eye doctor...
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IAFF Ethical Crisis: Shrouded in Secrecy
Bigoted and Racist Actions? A senior IAFF official was recently charged with bigoted, offensive behavior by another top-level leader. The allegations, apparently related to hiring, are specific and...
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Safety and Firefighting: Of Romance and Religion
Kentland’s Messianic Zeal The news is awash this morning with photos of Prince George’s County, Maryland’s Kentland Volunteer fire rig, itself afire, during a working incident. Too Close for Comfort?...
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Kentland’s “Gone With The Wind”
Statter911 posted a story last night entitled “Kentland VFD (33) Tells How Fire Engines Were Caught in Wind Driven Fire”. The epic film “Gone With The Wind” is very briefly summarized by IMDB as, “A...
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NRA/GOP: Over the Cliff
Why Unions Matter TR Billionaires like the Koch brothers and others despise unions simply because they are an organized voice seeking to protect the economic interests of regular working Americans....
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Remembering Glenn
Glenn Gaines I want us to recall his way with humor. In this blur of grief we can forget that Glenn was very funny– mostly in person when his subtle and quick facial expressions were fully “deployed”...
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Lincoln (and Liberty), Captive
Come Out With Your Hands Up. Abraham Lincoln died 150 years ago this morning here in Washington, D.C., as he lay propped sideways on a too small bed, unconscious and insensible. His costly triumph was...
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History: Was Brad City Arson?
Bradford City Stadium Fire Thirty years ago next month 56 peopled were killed and at least 265 injured, some critically, when a fire engulfed bleachers at Bradford City’s Valley Parade stadium in West...
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13 @ 45 / Houston, We Have A Problem
Change as an Accident Cause Friday last was the 45th anniversary of the splashdown of Odyssey, the Apollo 13 command module, after it survived a nearly disastrous explosion on the outbound journey to...
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Our American Sharia
Executed for Committing Suicide It was reported last week that an ISIS sheikh had his head lopped off for smoking a cig. That’s not precisely accurate as smoking is apparently legal under the dictates...
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Congressional Staffers: Pay Raise Needed!
Forced to Go Abroad New information out this week underscores the critical need for congressional staffers to receive a substantial increase in pay. Fred W. Pagan, a staffer for U.S. Senator Thad...
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Kathmandu, Undone
Kathmandu and Boudhanath Stupa I started visiting Nepal to trek and climb in 1993 and my most recent visit was just two years ago. On this latest trip I was amazed at how the Kathmandu valley had...
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Hey, Hon, They’re Rioting in Baltimore–Again.
As American as Apple Pie Baltimore may not be the first American City but where rioting is concerned they have to be close. When talking of riots and Baltimore, one must be specific. 1861? 1861 A.K.A....
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Nepal to Rescue Teams: Bye-Bye
Pack it Up Nepali officials have requested that all foreign rescue teams leave the country with a Friday deadline. NYT reports that some rescue teams, such as one from Spain, said they had no intention...
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Farewell to Dave McCormack
A Renaissance Man Dave McCormack was, in no particular order, a Navy veteran, a very seasoned FDNY fire fighter and fire officer, a gifted union leader, an academic, first superintendent of the...
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Slavery: Ben Affleck and Buyer’s Remorse
A Complicated Matter Ben Affleck Hacked Sony emails show that Actor Ben Affleck, while participating in PBS’s Finding Your Roots, found his and wasn’t so thrilled. His very great granddaddy owned...
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Guiding: The One That Got Away
Summertime and the Living is Easy The onslaught called spring break has made DC the land of a million motor coaches just in time for the first legitimate heat wave of the season. Tidal Basin I toured...
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