In Other News

[Ming]

Self-proclaimed shaman accused of starting California fire said she was trying to boil bear urine



A California woman professing to be a shaman who was arrested and charged with igniting the wildfire that has thousands of homes under threat claimed the fire was started inadvertently while she was attempting to boil bear urine, authorities said.

Alexandra Souverneva, 30, could be sentenced to up to nine years if convicted of starting the Fawn fire, according to officials.

The blaze has destroyed roughly 41 homes and 90 small structures while endangering another 2,340, officials said.

Souverneva pleaded not guilty but is now reportedly thought to have ignited several fires across California.

The self-proclaimed shaman said she had been hiking to Canada as the blaze approached Shasta County on Wednesday, documents noted.

When she became thirsty and approached a puddle of what she claimed to be bear urine, she told forest officials she attempted to make a fire to purify it.

The wood she hoped to use was "too wet for the fire to start," documents said.

Souverneva then drank the animal urine and proceeded on her journey, according to the report.

She allegedly became caught in some brush and had to call the local fire department for assistance.

The firefighters requested she empty her pockets and fanny pack, to which she presented CO2 canisters, a lighter, and "a green, leafy substance she admitted to smoking that day," California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection officer Matt Alexander said.

Alexandra Souverneva. (Courtesy of Shasta County Sheriff's Office)

Witnesses said Souverneva, who on her LinkedIn lists "shaman" as her occupation and indicates that she was a doctoral student at State University of New York's New York College of Environmental Sciences and Forestry, dropped two CO2 cartridges the day the fire started, Alexander said.

Souverneva's statements might indicate mental illness or drug abuse, her attorney argued.

"She is also under suspicion for starting other fires," her attorney said.

"There is a high possibility she is responsible" for a blaze the preceding night, according to Alexander.

"It is my experience that arsonists … will light multiple fires in a short time frame," he said.

[BeBMan]

How about a crypto-trading hamster?
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58707641

He looks like a Hamster/Carnickel crossover

[Kidlicious]

Marine Corps veteran sprayed in face during Capitol riot dies

by Tori Richards, Investigative Reporter |

| September 27, 2021 04:58 PM

A Marine Corps veteran who vigorously fought charges against him in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot has died of undisclosed reasons in a Florida hospital.

John Steven Anderson, 61, died Tuesday in Jacksonville while awaiting trial on seven counts, including civil disobedience and “assaulting, resisting or impeding” police. Anderson was not among the group of protesters who have been detained for more than six months and allege beatings and brutality in jail.

06:47

“May his family find comfort and finality in knowing that John was genuinely innocent of the serious charges of which he was accused before his death,” his attorney Marina Medvin said in a press release. “May America know that John Anderson died a wrongfully accused man who maintained his innocence to his last day.”
John Anderson is helped through a tunnel on Jan. 6 after being sprayed with a chemicalMarina Medvin

A conservative who had attended several Trump rallies, Anderson wanted to support the president and figured the Jan. 6 event would be no different than the others, Medvin said. He marched toward the Capitol along with the crowd and held up his cellphone to record what he thought was a historic event.

Several agitators started attacking Capitol police and told the crowd to surge forward. Anderson was sprayed in the face with a chemical by an assailant who had directed the spray toward nearby officers, according to Medvin.

Photos released by the Department of Justice showed Anderson in distress when he was sprayed, moments before officers assisted him along a corridor because he collapsed after he was sprayed, Medvin said.

“I was there for a protest. I was recording everything. I didn’t attack any officers. I didn’t hurt anyone,” Anderson said, as recited by Medvin. “Someone sprayed me, I couldn’t breathe, and I begged the officers for help. And I thank God every day that they helped me, they saved my life.”

Anderson had a heart condition, allergies, and asthma. It’s not clear if this played a role in his death, as another person sprayed with an irritant also died. Officer Brian Sicknick’s death was ultimately deemed to be from natural causes even though he was just 42 years old.

Sixteen media organizations sided with Medvin in federal court, demanding the judge to order the release of a 30-second video that shows Anderson’s interaction with police. Prosecutors had withheld the clip from public dissemination, arguing it was “highly sensitive.” The clip was ordered to be released on July 29.

Photos from the clip show Anderson being pushed along with the crowd but not assaulting anyone. At one point, he held a police shield, which he said protesters passed along the tunnel. The brief time he held the shield prompted some of the charges, Medvin said.

Shortly before his death, prosecutors asked Anderson to plead guilty to a single felony with a maximum of five years in prison. Medvin said she asked for his case to be dismissed.

“The last project John and I were working on before his death was turning down this officer, which we felt was a slap in the face,” Medvin said. “’I will not say that I did something I didn’t do,’ was John’s position. We believed the government was continuing to ignore the complete picture of what happened.”


Anderson was also a former member of the Florida Army National Guard and owned several automotive businesses. He had been married for just eight months at the time of his death.

[Egbert]

Good point. I was overly focused on what Trump actually did and overlooked what he neglected to do.
He put his head in the sand regarding covid and did not even try to deal with it.

[Broken_Erika]

How about a crypto-trading hamster?

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58707641

[Ming]

Ahhh... back to mind reading again... and just more general nonsense.
I guess it's just easier for you to make up and spread your BS than it is to actually post something intelligent.

[Kidlicious]

Ming is the kind of person that won't even enter a room where someone with Covid was, even though he's vaccinated, but he isn't worried at all of another virus leaking out of a lab in communist China, and the communists letting it travel all over the world murdering millions of people.

[Ming]

Nothing you say should be taken seriously since you don't believe in facts, make stuff up, attribute actions to people based on your perceptions, and just parrot whatever is being spoon fed to you via the alt right propaganda sites... while ignoring all the faults and lies by Trump and his cult.
So enjoy your little anti Biden jerk off fest...

[Kidlicious]

No, seriously. They are still making viruses in the Wuhan Lab, and Biden is doing nothing. No actually he is signally to the world that the US is going to do nothing about it, Anyone that doesn't see that is brainwashed. Or maybe you don't really care about another million deaths.

[Ming]

Gee, even more nonsense from Kid, what a surprise NOT

[Kidlicious]

I guess fake news didn't tell you that they are cooking up more viruses under Biden.

[Ming]

Yet another nonsense response from Kid... to be expected.

And Egbert... Trump did totally fail on his response to the covid pandemic... I would consider 100's of thousands dead Americans something with major implications.

[Kidlicious]

It's probable that China will invade Taiwan at this point, and Ming will look at the CNN poll..

[Egbert]

.. Trump is considered by most polls the worst president ever.

Although I am pleased to see the last of Trump I would not describe as "the worst president". I think that would be Reagan. Bush Junior was a very bad president having started a daft war with Iraq at enormous expense. There are probably other particularly bad presidents however my American history is very patchy.

Trump didn't really do anything that has major implications.

[Ming]

What's really going on is that you continue to ignore actual facts and just keep "reading minds", making stuff up, and pulling stuff out of your ass.
So nothing new, just your normal BS.
And please post where ever I have said that Biden is perfect, or hasn't made huge mistakes... good luck with that.