Overnight Open Thread (7-14-2016)

French Truck Killer ID'ed as 31 Year Old French Tunisian Man

Which shocks exactly no one.

Welcome to 2016

Obama Snaps at Texas Lt. Governor Over Police Support Question

For Your Viewing Pleasure: A Collection of Videos of Cars Driving Through #BLM Protesters

Swedish Peace & Love Festival Becomes Peace & Sexual Assault Festival

The mysterious 'foreign men' are blamed.

And That Is Our Strength

Hostess Saves Twinkies By Automating, Fires 94% Of Their Workforce

And remember that it was their high labor and pension costs as well as a union strike that drove them into bankruptcy in the first place.

But Hostess's other union - the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union - would not. The union went on strike. Hostess warned them that the strike would quickly bankrupt the company. The Teamsters warned the Bakers the company wasn't bluffing, but the union chose to keep striking.

Hostess announced it had no choice but to file for bankruptcy. More than 18,000 employees will lose their jobs.

R. Lee Ermey Compares the BREN to the BAR

Advantage: BREN.

The True Inspiration For James Bond: Triple Agent Dusan Popov

Popov was part of the Twenty Committee of double agents who made the program work. Dubbed "Tricycle," Popov was a triple agent supposedly working for Yugoslavian intelligence, the German military intelligence apparatus the Abwehr, and the British, hence his odd alias. He spoke fluent German, had many highly placed German friends, and ran an import/export business, all perfect cover for a spy. He absolutely loathed the Nazis, which ironically turned out to be the reason he was recruited by them. His Abwehr contact, Johann Jebsen, was a close friend from Popov's college days and hated the Nazis as much as Popov did. Jebsen cheerfully lied about Popov's dedication to the Nazi cause, likely doing so to his superiors even as Popov himself was asking the British if they could use a double agent. Popov was central to, among other deceptions, Operation Bodyguard, which tricked the Nazis into believing an invasion at Calais was imminent, directing men and weapons far, far away from the real invasion at Normandy.

Popov's appetite for booze, women, and gambling was legendary. In fact, the new biography of Popov relates how he used $50,000 of MI6's money to shame a flamboyant gambler, a moment that likely inspired Casino Royale and that Fleming allegedly witnessed personally. When Bloch, an arrogant gambler, announced that he was playing for unlimited stakes, Popov casually threw the money on the table. Bloch couldn't get the casino to stake him, and immediately chickened out.

It wasn't all fun for Popov. He also had to build and run a fake network of spies while not tipping his hands to the Germans, and there was an emotional cost no one saw coming. Jebsen, who later worked for the British as part of the Twenty Committee himself, was abducted and interrogated by the SS in 1944. It's believed it may have been to determine how much the British knew about Popov's false network of spies in Britain. Jebsen's ultimate fate has never been determined, but we know he didn't break when interrogated; Jebsen knew many key details about Bodyguard and could have tipped the Nazis off to D-Day before it even started.

 

1 in a Billion: Cop Disables Suspect's Gun by Shooting Bullet into Its Barrel

News You Can Use: What's The Difference Between K2 And Marijuana?

Science! Scientists Have Accurately Recreated the Feel of a Rectum

Damn neared wrecked them.

Yahoo grope. That is all.

Come on be a smartie and join the yahoo group party!

And my lo-fi spew.

Tonight's post brought to you by reforming the delinquent:

Notice: Posted by permission of AceCorp LLC. Happy-fun ball is neither happy, fun, nor a ball - but that's how he self-identifies. Discuss.

posted by Maetenloch at 11:19 PM

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