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Today: 51 articles and 188 comments as of 11:15.
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India withdraws security for Kashmiri separatists stoking fears
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4 18:09 ed in texas [] 
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 6: Politix
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9 18:12 ed in texas [1]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Jussie Smollett Case: Brothers Questioned By Police Were Paid $3,500 To Stage Attack
[CHICAGO.CBSLOCAL] Jussie Smollett paid two brothers to stage an attack against him, directed them to buy items used in the alleged assault and actually rehearsed it with them, sources say.

Sources say at least one of the brothers bought the rope used in the incident at Smollett’s request. The sources also say the "Empire" actor paid for the rope, which was purchased at the Crafty Beaver Hardware Store in the Ravenswood neighborhood the weekend of Jan. 25.

The brothers, who were questioned by police this week before being released, were paid $3,500 before leaving for Nigeria and were promised an additional $500 upon their return.

They left for Nigeria later in the day on Jan. 29, after the attack.

Sources said one of the brothers held the rope and poured bleach while the other wore a plain red hat and yelled slurs at Smollett.

The sources say the red hat was bought at an Uptown beauty supply store and that the attack was supposed to happen before Jan. 29. The brothers told detectives the three men rehearsed the attack days prior to it happening.

Smollett claims two men attacked him in Streeterville early Jan. 29 as he was heading to his apartment. He said they yelled racial and homophobic slurs at him, poured a chemical on him and put a rope around his neck.

Posted by: Fred || 02/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  18 months in jail sounds about right
Posted by: Jim Cramer6666666 || 02/18/2019 1:49 Comments || Top||

#2  The brothers told detectives the three men rehearsed the attack days prior to it happening.

Outtakes and bloopers ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/18/2019 6:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Gay pr0n reel...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/18/2019 7:01 Comments || Top||

#4  His new Atty Monico is gone:
"According to Fox 32 news reporter Rafer Weigel, lawyer Michael Monico is no longer representing Jussie Smollett after a disagreement occurred about the decision to release a statement this past Saturday night. Weigel said Smollett is now being represented by Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson, two attorneys from Chicago.

Along with that, representatives for Jussie Smollett said Michael Monico was never repping the actor from the beginning. However, Monico spoke to Fox News and reportedly told them he was representing Smollett, but now that is no longer the case.

Since then, CBS reporter Charlie De Mar noted that Smollett’s management team acquired the service of Anne Kavanagh, whose firm offers crisis management."
Posted by: Frank G || 02/18/2019 7:39 Comments || Top||

#5  Per TMZ:
"The sources say there were red flags from the get-go. Cops were extremely suspicious when Jussie took them out to the area where he said he was attacked and pointed to an obscure camera saying how happy he was that the attack was on video. Turns out the camera was pointing in the wrong direction. Cops thought it was weird he knew the location of that camera.

And, there's this. We're told investigators didn't believe the 2 alleged attackers screamed, "This is MAGA country," because, "Not a single Trump supporter watches 'Empire.'""
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 02/18/2019 8:27 Comments || Top||

#6  Good Blog covering Chicago Police gossip
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/18/2019 10:24 Comments || Top||

#7  To be fair, I don't think anyone watches Empire, which may be part of the motive here.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/18/2019 10:55 Comments || Top||

#8  Well one thing is for certain sure, any way you slice it this has been a bang up Black History Month.
Posted by: Cesare || 02/18/2019 10:55 Comments || Top||

#9  Now that this has been established as a hoax (yes, you are as surprised as I am), we can move on to the next phase:
Amnesty for Jussie because prosecuting him will only serve to deter non-fakey victims from coming forward. Assuming we ever get non-fakey victims.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/18/2019 12:46 Comments || Top||

#10  I am waiting for the "It should have been true!" Gambit. Kind of like a Latin American poet.
Posted by: SR-71 || 02/18/2019 13:04 Comments || Top||

#11  Think her name was Rigoberto Minchu.
Posted by: SR-71 || 02/18/2019 13:05 Comments || Top||


#13  Hate Hoax Map
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 02/18/2019 13:28 Comments || Top||

#14  Shamelessly stolen from the Howie Carr Show's Chump Line segment - "Jussie Smollett is proof that, if you give a man enough rope, he'll hang himself."
Posted by: Raj || 02/18/2019 17:13 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Sharpton: Hold Jussie Smollett accountable if he staged attack
It's that bad.
[PageSix] The Rev. Al Sharpton believes Jussie Smollett should face "accountability to the maximum" ‐ if it’s found that he made up the hate attack against him.

The outspoken civil rights leader addressed recent reports that the alleged assault on the black, openly gay "Empire" actor may have been staged with two bodybuilding brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo.

"I, among many others when hearing of the report, said that the reports were horrific and that we should come with all that we can come with in law enforcement to find out what happened and the guilty should suffer the maximum," Sharpton said Sunday night on his show "PoliticsNation" on MSNBC.

"I still maintain that," he continued. "And if it is that Smollett and these gentlemen did in some way perpetuate something that is not true, they ought to face accountability to the maximum."

When news of the Jan. 29 attack against Smollett broke, Sharpton immediately spoke out to say he was "outraged."

"For Jussie, who’s not only a superb actor and singer but an activist who has fought against homophobia and racism and sexism, to be a victim is something that is totally unacceptable," he told TMZ last month. "I challenge the Chicago law enforcement to do all within their power to find out those that are guilty and they should face the maximum penalty of law."

Sharpton is no stranger to racially charged hoax cases. In the late 1980s, the then-firebrand local political activist served as the spokesman for Tawana Brawley, a black 15-year-old who claimed she had been raped by six white men upstate. They scrawled racial epithets on her chest and smeared feces in her hair, she alleged.

The stunning case eventually went before a grand jury ‐ which ruled after seven months that Brawley’s story was a total fabrication.

Chicago police said this weekend that their interviews of the Osundairo brothers ‐ who were arrested on Wednesday but released two days later without charges ‐ "shifted the trajectory" of their ongoing investigation.

The latest twist in the case comes as reports emerged that Smollett paid the budding actor-models $3,500 to stage the 2 a.m. attack.

Smollett has maintained that two strangers shouted racist and anti-gay slurs and "This is MAGA country!" before dousing him in a "chemical substance," likely bleach, and throwing a noose around his neck.
Posted by: gorb || 02/18/2019 15:17 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I read the headline and immediately thought of the graphic gorb posted. What have you done with the real Al Sharpton?
Posted by: Bobby || 02/18/2019 15:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Don't want to resurface Tawana Brawley, eh Al?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/18/2019 15:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Just getting rid of business competitor.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/18/2019 16:20 Comments || Top||

#4  This fake hate crime is ruining his racket of fake hate crimes.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/18/2019 17:02 Comments || Top||

#5  When you lose Al Sharpton ...
Posted by: Jim Cramer6666666 || 02/18/2019 19:04 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Russian bank Gazprombank blocked PDVSA accounts
[ELUNIVERSAL] According to a source from the Russian bank Gazprombank, Pdvsa accounts were blocked to avoid a possible sanction by the US.

Posted by: Fred || 02/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies


Maduro ratified call for dialogue to ensure the "tranquility and prosperity" of the country
[ELUNIVERSAL] The President of the Republic, Nicolás Maduro, stressed that the Government's priority is the stabilization of the economy, peace, sovereignty and political stability
Posted by: Fred || 02/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  And your fast exit.
Period.
Posted by: newc || 02/18/2019 1:04 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
China closes Mount Everest Tibet route to tourists over trash pileup
[UPI] China has closed the Tibetan entrance to Mount Everest indefinitely because of mounting garbage that's been left on the world's tallest mountain.

Chinese officials said although the entrance is closed, tourists can still visit the Rongpo monastery area at 16,400 feet above sea level. Only those with climber permits, however, will be allowed to go to the base camp about 600 feet higher, and beyond.

"The key area [of the reserve] will be closed for tourism for an indefinite period, mainly for ecological conservation," tourism official Tang Wu said Wednesday.

News of the decision, which officials reached last month, did not get much attention until this week.
Everest now being "conquered" by nuevo-explorers - not that I would survive it, mind you. What approaches commonplace astounds me.

Maybe AOS & Company could market Garbage Offsets?
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 02/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  you can always go to the East Face of Mt Everest ( Kangshung)through Karta
Posted by: 746 || 02/18/2019 1:06 Comments || Top||

#2  It has become a high rise sewer, courtesy of Outdoor Magazine types...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/18/2019 7:17 Comments || Top||

#3  It's a slippery slope.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/18/2019 7:18 Comments || Top||

#4  Chinese probably wouldn't like homeless encampments either.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 02/18/2019 12:11 Comments || Top||

#5  a good percentage of tourist hikers leave an incredible amount of trash wherever they go. We see loose trash right next to bear-proof bins, almost as if the lids were too heavy or something (or they couldn't figure out the latching system).

Can't imagine what the 'entitled' folks, used to having their moms or nannies pick up after them, would leave.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 02/18/2019 13:27 Comments || Top||

#6  I read something over ten years ago that, back then, trash and sewage were becoming a real problem.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/18/2019 14:40 Comments || Top||

#7  Actually the trail all the way to top trashed. Pretty disgusting.
Posted by: Woodrow || 02/18/2019 20:29 Comments || Top||

#8  Rombok has been pretty grubby and littered for years
Posted by: 746 || 02/18/2019 22:24 Comments || Top||

#9  none of you have ever been there! :)


hard sayin not knowin aint it
Posted by: 746 || 02/18/2019 22:26 Comments || Top||

#10  ^ Pshaw. Been there many times and cherish fond memories of the cozy little cantina where I once met a funny native fellow with a grotesque red nose who provided me with invaluable information regarding a beaten-down mining stock... oh... did you say Rombok? Never mind.
Posted by: Bigfoot Jones2567 || 02/18/2019 22:48 Comments || Top||


Europe
Spanish warship ordered ships to leave British waters near Gibraltar
LONDON (Reuters) - A Spanish warship tried to order commercial shipping to leave anchorages in British waters near Gibraltar but was challenged by the British navy and sailed away, Gibraltar said.

The Spanish ship tried to order ships to leave their anchorages on the eastern side of the Rock but the ships stayed in position.

The British navy challenged the Spanish warship which then sailed slowly along the coast with its weapons uncovered and manned, Gibraltar said.

"There is only nuisance value to these foolish games being played by those who don’t accept unimpeachable British sovereignty over the waters around Gibraltar," a spokesman for Gibraltar said.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/18/2019 04:05 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Next British PM Sajid Javid should invite some Catalonian leaders for dinner.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/18/2019 10:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Next time just sink the damn thing.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/18/2019 11:40 Comments || Top||

#3  That Spanish fleet looks awfully impressive on the bottom of the sea.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 02/18/2019 12:13 Comments || Top||

#4  The Spanish and the Italians actually have some of the best frigate sized boats (which is what it looks like) going right now.
Certainly better the the clown show LCS we've got.
Posted by: ed in texas || 02/18/2019 18:09 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
India's newly launched fast train hits cattle hurdle
[DAWN] India's first semi-high speed train broke down on Saturday after colliding with a cow on the tracks, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new passenger service.

The Vande Bharat Express touted as India's fastest train and built under the Modi government's flagship "Make in India" programme, made its first journey on Friday from New Delhi to the Hindu holy city of Varanasi.

But on its return to the capital the next day a collision with a cow disrupted electricity supply to four carriages and damaged the brake system, according to Indian Railways.

"The train later experienced technical issues and was stranded on the way to Delhi," Indian Railways spokeswoman Smita Vats Sharma told AFP.

The train reached the capital "safely" ahead of its first commercial journey on Sunday, she added.

Posted by: Fred || 02/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Bovine related rail accidents will become history in the new AOC world.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/18/2019 6:51 Comments || Top||

#2  How was the cow?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/18/2019 12:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Does the train get a pass for killing cows, or will there be a mob waiting?
Posted by: james || 02/18/2019 20:10 Comments || Top||


President of Gadani ship-breaking workers union dies in police custody
[DAWN] The president of Gadani ship-breaking workers union, Babu Karim Jan, died under mysterious circumstances in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
on Sunday morning, soon after being incarcerated
Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!
by police from his residence in Metroville, located in the city's SITE area.

Police claimed that Jan, who was in his late 60s, was wanted in two attempted murder cases and died after suffering a "heart attack".

According to the dear departed's relatives, Iqbal Market police conducted a raid in Metroville at around 1:30am and detained Karim Jan and his son, Amin.

They allegedly dragged and threw him into the police mobile where he died under mysterious circumstances. Later on, the police abandoned his body there and tried to disappear when the residents of the area gathered and made videos of the vehicle which were then shared on social media.

The dear departed’s son, Amin, told media that when the police conducted a raid on their home, he informed the police that his father was a heart patient, but they allegedly did not pay heed to his request.

"They (the police) dragged him and threw him into the mobile," the son alleged.

Posted by: Fred || 02/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Science & Technology
Source: The Petrel missile test successfully completed
[Tass] Tests of a small-sized nuclear power plant for the "Petrel" cruise missile were successfully completed in Russia. This was reported by TASS source in the domestic rocket industry.

"In January, at one of the landfills, the most important stage of testing the cruise subsonic Burevestnik missile, the testing of a nuclear power plant, was successfully completed," the agency’s source said.

According to him, the tests confirmed the declared characteristics of the reactor, providing an unlimited range of the missile. "

TASS does not have official confirmation provided by the source of information.

In March 2018, in a message to the Federal Assembly, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia developed a small-sized nuclear power plant that can be used in a cruise missile, due to which it will receive a virtually unlimited range. As Putin noted, the rocket will be low-flying, unobtrusive, with an unpredictable flight path and will receive a nuclear warhead. According to the results of the vote on the website of the Russian Ministry of Defense, the rocket was named the Petrel.

Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 02/18/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He (Putin) also claimed that the missile had a successful test launch in late 2017.

The U.S. intelligence community quickly disputed that claim. According to reports leaked to the press, the Pentagon believes that after a test in November the missile flew for just a few minutes before crashing into the sea. Several other tests also ended in failure.


Essentially, Russia has an untestable missile because, as the US found out in the 1960's, to test it means contaminating a large part of your country or the waters surrounding it. Another of Putin's propaganda "V Weapons".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pluto
Posted by: Elmeting Omomonter9115 || 02/18/2019 0:30 Comments || Top||

#2  But a small nuclear power plant can be very useful.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/18/2019 3:20 Comments || Top||

#3  ^^^^
Grom, don't let AOC hear you or off to re-education camp for you!
Posted by: Almost Anonymous5839 || 02/18/2019 9:07 Comments || Top||

#4  Grom, don't let AOC hear you or off to re-education camp for you!

He'd be head of the education department within the first 30 days. There would be no discipline problems and he would see to it that the curriculum provided an eventual pathway to success for the internees.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/18/2019 9:13 Comments || Top||

#5  😢
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/18/2019 10:31 Comments || Top||

#6  He'd be head of the education department within the first 30 days. There would be no discipline problems and he would see to it that the curriculum provided an eventual pathway to success for the internees.

Certainly that’s what the camp overseers would be allowed to see. But success has an infinite number of definitions, all dependent on who is defining it.

Underneath, the inmates would all have pooled their various expertises to form escape and sabotage projects — especially sabotage to be executed both within the camp and beyond it, to include those believed to have been turned to AOC’s cause. They would look to the example of the Haganah back in the old days, and of certain Nazi concentration camp populations, the Warsaw Ghetto, and so forth. All it takes is a leader with a certain set of knowledge and skills to set the ball rolling.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/18/2019 12:05 Comments || Top||

#7  TW, That's an outstanding post.
Posted by: Dale || 02/18/2019 17:41 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
22[untagged]
5Govt of Pakistan
5Islamic State
4Taliban
4Commies
3Hamas
2Houthis
2Govt of Syria
2Jaish-e-Mohammad
1Muslim Brotherhood
1Govt of Pakistain Proxies

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Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Meet the Mods
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tu3031
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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2019-02-18
  India withdraws security for Kashmiri separatists stoking fears
Sun 2019-02-17
  Venezuelan fitness model bitten on bottom by wild pig (VIDEO)
Sat 2019-02-16
  52 Syrians Detained in Turkey over ISIS Links
Fri 2019-02-15
  44 Indian security personnel killed in held Kashmir attack
Thu 2019-02-14
  Deir Ezzor: ISIS nearly wiped out in eastern Euphrates region as SDF troops capture Baghouz – map
Wed 2019-02-13
  Deir Ezzor: Nearly 70 human shields killed, US demands ISIS pay 40 tons of gold
Tue 2019-02-12
  Germany closes Muslim kindergarten over Islamist links
Mon 2019-02-11
  Nearly 50 British ISIS members refusing to surrender in Syria
Sun 2019-02-10
  Jihadists Get Life for Deadly 2015 Tunisia Attacks on Tourists
Sat 2019-02-09
  Unconfirmed reports that key Abu Sayyaf leader killed in Philippines
Fri 2019-02-08
  Islamic State leader survives coup attempt
Thu 2019-02-07
  Sanaa University launches weekly lectures to ‘analyze’ Houthi leader speeches
Wed 2019-02-06
  Turkish-backed rebel groups use heavy weapons to attack one another in Afrin
Tue 2019-02-05
  German ISIS terrorist that starred in mass execution video of Syrian soldiers wants to go home (video)
Mon 2019-02-04
  C. Africa reaches peace deal with rebels: government

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