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Today: 58 articles and 158 comments as of 13:23.
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Jihadist Migrant Plotted to Bomb Vatican, Italian Churches at Christmas
Today's Headlines
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2 20:23 Seeking Cure For Ignorance [2] 
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Black Panther Cop killer denied parole ninth time
[Guardian] Jalil Muntaqim, a former Black Panther who has been in prison for 47 years, has been told he must spend at least another 15 months behind bars having been denied release for the ninth time by a New York state parole board.

The three-member parole panel voted this week by two-to-one to keep Muntaqim, aka Anthony Bottom, incarcerated in the maximum security Sullivan correctional facility in upstate New York. His release had been vociferously opposed by the New York city police unions and by the widow of one of the two police officers he was convicted of murdering in 1971.

Muntaqim’s ninth denial since he became eligible for parole in 1998 was in stark contrast to the release in April of his fellow Black Liberation Army member and accomplice, Herman Bell. At his parole hearing, Bell had expressed revulsion for the 1971 killings, saying: "There was nothing political about the act, as much as I thought at the time. It was murder and horribly wrong."

The Guardian in July profiled Muntaqim’s battle to get out of prison almost half a century after he was arrested for the murders of the two police officers, Joseph Piagentini and Waverly Jones, in a shooting in Harlem. The officers had been drawn to the spot for what they thought was a domestic dispute but were then ambushed.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/19/2018 06:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  From the headline, I thought someone shot a cop in Wakanda.
Posted by: charger || 12/19/2018 9:44 Comments || Top||


Convicted - Nut Job Who Climbed The Statue Of Liberty To Protest Trump Eyes A Long Prison Sentence
[Red State] Some people are nuts. And some nuts prove that they’re nuts, while thinking they’re in actuality changing the world. That’s how we know they’re nuts: They’re completely clueless to the fact that what they’re doing comes across as insane. It’s like that (paraphrased) line from Casa Mi Padre:

"If you were smart, you’d know how stupid you are."

As you may remember, on the 4th of July, a huge nut climbed the Statue of Liberty. In her mind, she was really doing something cool: She was teaching the world that President Trump shouldn’t keep "children in cages." This was, ideologically, vastly ignorant. The country had first responded with horror to photos of kids in cages which were actually staged (here and here). Furthermore, the practice of family separation was the edict of interpreted law, per the left-wing 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (here).

But don’t confuse her with the facts. And don’t confuse her with the acquitted ‐ 44-year-old Therese Okoumou was convicted Monday in a New York courtroom.

She was brought up on misdemeanor charges, but she faces up to 18 months in prison.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/19/2018 05:53 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But don’t confuse her with the facts.

Blind hate doesn't need facts. That's all the Left has been throwing up for the past two years.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/19/2018 6:33 Comments || Top||

#2  "If you were smart, you’d know how stupid you are."

Dunning Kruger
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/19/2018 8:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Isnt the Statue of Liberty on the island they filtered out migrants (for illhealth) that would not be useful to America?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/19/2018 8:08 Comments || Top||

#4  a 44-year-old immigrant from the Democratic Republic of the Congo

According to court records, she’s a Congolese immigrant who once filed a complaint with the New York City Commission on Human Rights, seeking a judicial review and reversal of a “determination” it made regarding alleged incidents of abuse that Okoumou suffered at the hands of a social services agency on Staten Island where she worked.
see also
How cops rescued protester who climbed Statue of Liberty
How cops rescued protester who climbed Statue of Liberty

Specifically, Okoumou claimed that in 2005, she was treated “in a demeaning manner” by her bosses and told that she would be fired “for complaining of discrimination.” It’s unclear why her complaint was tossed out.

In 2011, Okoumou made headlines after she was hit with an astounding 60 violations for illegally posting ads for her services as a personal trainer.

The Department of Sanitation slapped her with $4,500 in fines that year after she spent five hours one Sunday posting the fliers on Manhattan utility poles.

In 2017, she was arrested and charged with obstructing governmental administration, unlawful assembly and trespassing during a demonstration at the Department of Labor building on Varick Street. She had allegedly covered her mouth with tape and refused to respond to police demands.

On Wednesday, Okoumou told investigators she was part of a group protest organized by Rise and Resist NYC. The activists unfurled a banner on Liberty Island less than an hour before her climb that read: “ABOLISH ICE.”

Organizers initially tried to distance themselves from Okoumou’s Statue of Liberty stunt — saying she had “no connection” with their cause — but later admitted that she was part of the group.

Members described her on social media as a “total bad ass.”

“She’s very dedicated to the resistance generally, but specifically to the issues surrounding immigration and the treatment immigrants have been receiving from ICE and Customs and Border Control,” explained Jay Walker, a Rise and Resist activist. “She’s been an active member for about four or five months.”


Ship her ass back
Posted by: Frank G || 12/19/2018 8:57 Comments || Top||

#5  Waitaminit! If you abolish ice won't that make all drinks warm and contribute to global worming? Asking for a friend.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 12/19/2018 10:50 Comments || Top||

#6  I hope ice doesn't get banned. My doctor told me to drink more water so I put an extra ice cube in my glass of scotch.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 12/19/2018 20:02 Comments || Top||


Michael Flynn Declines to Claim FBI Misconduct at Sentencing Hearing
Nice family you have there. Be a real shame if any of them become involved in something of a legal nature.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/19/2018 05:20 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  From the FWIW desk: Michael Flynn Was a Keystone in the CIA/Five-Eyes Plot to Frame Donald Trump
Posted by: Classical_Liberal || 12/19/2018 14:04 Comments || Top||


Man deported in 2014 'shoots dead California gas station attendant
  • [Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] Gustavo Garcia, 36, of Visalia, California, was pronounced dead on State Route 65 in Porterville on Monday morning

  • Garcia was flung from a stolen truck after a gun battle with police and wrong-way crashes that left four people injured

  • Authorities say Garcia went on a crime spree that included attacks against random strangers

  • He shot and killed a man at a gas station convenience store and shot and wounded a farmworker in an orchard and a woman at a motel

  • The fatality at the gas station has been identified as Rocky Paul Jones, 51, of Vasalia

  • Garcia also fired gunshots into the backyard of his ex-girlfriend's home, though she and her children were unharmed

  • He then stole a truck at gunpoint from three farmworkers and led police on a 100mph high speed chase

  • One driver was left in critical condition and the other three had minor injuries
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Shooting the Americans other Americans don't want to shoot...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/19/2018 9:03 Comments || Top||

#2  If you're dead in Porterville, isn't that redundant?
Posted by: Frank G || 12/19/2018 9:40 Comments || Top||

#3  I'd like to see his toxicology report from the autopsy. I'm betting meth induced psychosis or maybe bath salts.
Posted by: Hupomorong Stalin6795 || 12/19/2018 11:26 Comments || Top||


Teen charged with third shooting, second murder in 8 months
[NYPOST] A Mississippi teen was placed in durance vile
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
after officials incarcerated
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
him for the drive-by shooting death of a 66-year-old woman.

Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson told news outlets 17-year-old Latavious Betts was charged as an adult with murder and aggravated assault in Annie Walton’s Dec. 7 death.

Johnson said Betts fired a dozen or more shots into a house near Verona, killing Walton and wounding four others.

Betts was earlier charged with first-degree murder for a March 22 shooting at a Verona car wash. He’s also charged with aggravated assault in a July 8 convenience store shooting that injured two.

The teen was placed in durance vile
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
without bail because he’s accused of violating previous release terms. It’s unclear if he has a lawyer. Betts was captured Friday after a week on the run.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Walton family files claim of wrongful death against chief, City of Verona
Can you say, "Sued into bankruptcy?"
Posted by: Tarzan Hitler4525 || 12/19/2018 2:30 Comments || Top||


-Obits-
Bang! A Russian ICBM failure?
[twitter]


Posted by: 3dc || 12/19/2018 10:37 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life,

#1  MIRV'd at launch
Posted by: Frank G || 12/19/2018 13:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Tests for New Years fireworks?
Posted by: SteveS || 12/19/2018 13:02 Comments || Top||

#3  "...This is called a solid rocket booster failure. Can you say, 'solid rocket booster failure'?"

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 12/19/2018 19:18 Comments || Top||

#4  "My monkey brain tells me to drive towards the explosions and toxic smoke", said the driver.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 12/19/2018 22:21 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Media Has Third-Highest Suicide Rate in the U.S., CDC Report Finds
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/19/2018 09:05 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It would be callous and cruel to say that such a plague visited on the propaganda arm of the demoncratic party is fitting, so I won't.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/19/2018 9:06 Comments || Top||

#2  I will
Posted by: Frank G || 12/19/2018 9:41 Comments || Top||

#3  And that's just the newspapers!
Posted by: charger || 12/19/2018 9:43 Comments || Top||

#4  Could it be that their conscience gets to them?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 12/19/2018 11:16 Comments || Top||

#5  Third place? I hope they keep trying for first place.
Posted by: Hupomorong Stalin6795 || 12/19/2018 11:17 Comments || Top||

#6  C'mon "media" you can do better!
Posted by: Hellfish || 12/19/2018 12:47 Comments || Top||

#7  #4 Could it be that their conscience gets to them?
Posted by Abu Uluque


Nahhhh. They're Democrats. Their conscience and sense of shame was removed at birth
Posted by: Frank G || 12/19/2018 12:55 Comments || Top||

#8  ...the original 'woke' moment.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/19/2018 13:48 Comments || Top||

#9  The Publishing Industry™ is seeing people "going Indie" and bypassing them on the Internet. The Media™ is feeling the same existential pressure: Suppose you had something to says and no one cares to listen?
Posted by: magpie || 12/19/2018 16:13 Comments || Top||

#10  Trump! Is there anything he can't do?
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/19/2018 17:04 Comments || Top||

#11  ...apparently get a wall built.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/19/2018 19:22 Comments || Top||

#12  They are mostly dead already.
Posted by: SR-71 || 12/19/2018 22:10 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
DOJ Defines Bump Stocks as ‘Machineguns,' Gives Public 90 Days to Hand Them Over
[Breitbart] The Department of Justice announced Tuesday the finalized form of the bump stock ban, achieved by amending ATF regulation so as to define bump stocks as "machineguns."

Breitbart News possesses a copy of the DOJ’s summary of the ban, which states:
The Department of Justice is amending the regulations of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) to clarify that bump-stock-type devices-meaning "bump fire" stocks, slide-fire devices, and devices with certain similar characteristics-are "machineguns" as defined by the National Firearms Act of 1934 and the Gun Control Act of 1968 because such devices allow a shooter of a semiautomatic firearm to initiate a continuous firing cycle with a single pull of the trigger.

The summary says a bump stock allows the trigger of a semiautomatic firearm to reset between the firing of each round, but describes the bump stock-equipped "semiautomatic firearm" as "self-acting or self-regulating," and therefore a "machinegun."

The DOJ’s summary explains that there will be no grandfathering of pre-owned bump stocks. Rather, all bump stocks must be destroyed or handed over the ATF within 90 days of the ban’s effective date:
With limited exceptions, the Gun Control Act, as amended, makes it unlawful for any person to transfer or possess a machinegun unless it was lawfully possessed prior to the effective date of the statute. The bumpstock-type devices covered by this final rule were not in existence prior to the effective date of the statute, and therefore will be prohibited when this rule becomes effective. Consequently, under the final rule, current possessors of these devices will be required to destroy the devices or abandon them at an ATF office prior to the effective date of the rule.

The push for a bump stock ban begin in Congress following the October 1, 2017, Las Vegas attack. But public support for such a ban was scant and the Congressional push for a ban waned.

At President Trump’s behest the ATF began seeking public comment on a regulatory ban of bump stocks in December 2017. In February 2018 Trump made clear he had directed the DOJ to ban the firearm accessories.

The bump stock ban is expected to appear in the federal register this Friday, thereafter giving owners 90 days to destroy them or turn them in. The 90 days ends March 21, 2019.

On December 18, 2018, a senior DOJ official told Breitbart News there are no plans to compensate bump stock owners for the financial value of their legally purchased bump stock accessories. The official also said the DOJ expects a legal challenge against the bump stock ban and is prepared to fight any suit that is filed.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/19/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Heckuva job, Donnie.

BTW, did we ever find out more about the Vegas shooter who kicked this whole thing off?
Posted by: charger || 12/19/2018 9:46 Comments || Top||

#2  If an object (a) causes you to use up your ammo very fast (b) decreases accuracy shouldn't we be giving them away with every gun purchase to stop school shooters and such?
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/19/2018 12:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Seems to me that if they want to save lives they should encourage bump stocks rather than banning them - increase in firing rate should be more than offset by decrease in accuracy.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/19/2018 12:28 Comments || Top||

#4  Great minds think alike, rj?
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/19/2018 12:30 Comments || Top||

#5  DOJ Defines Bump Stocks as ‘Machineguns,' Gives Public 90 Days to Hand Them Over

...public ignores demand.
Posted by: Hellfish || 12/19/2018 13:00 Comments || Top||

#6  did we ever find out more about the Vegas shooter who kicked this whole thing off?

Yesterday's news. But did you hear about Trump's latest outrageous tweet?

Goofing aside, that story had a whole lot of fishy-smelling bits. The way it disappeared suggests something deeper was going on.
Posted by: SteveS || 12/19/2018 13:05 Comments || Top||

#7  I've found that one should not underestimate the power of authorities covering their asses. In this case possibly multiple agencies.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/19/2018 15:27 Comments || Top||

#8  When is a bump stock not a bump stock? When you take the guts out of it? Haven't read the law yet.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/19/2018 18:08 Comments || Top||

#9  I could not afford a bump stock. Blowing through ammo is not a good choice in auto for an individual. Fire discipline and well placed shots are more effective than spray and pray.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/19/2018 18:16 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Police rescue Afghan-German woman 2 years after she was abducted in Kabul
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan police forces have rescued an Afghan-German woman who was kidnapped in Kabul around two years ago, the Ministry of Interior (MoI)said Tuesday.

According to a statement released by MoI, the woman was kidnapped by an individual identified as Najib who had met her in Germany.

No further details have been given regarding the identity of the woman who has been released from her captive but MoI added that Najib had lured the victim to Kabul after meeting her in Germany.

The statement further added that the woman was kept as a captive for around 2 years and her captor was continuously changing her accommodation in different parts of Kabul.

According to MoI, the police forces launched operations and rescued the woman from Bagrami district of Kabul province.

The woman has told police that she was subjected to torture and beating during her captivity in the hands of Najib, MoI said, adding that the perpetrator has also been tossed in the calaboose
You have the right to remain silent...
and is in police custody for further investigations.

Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists


Africa Subsaharan
Tension soars in Togo ahead of parliamentary election
[PULSE.NG] Togo on Thursday votes in legislative elections that are being boycotted by the main opposition after a year of political upheaval which saw demonstrators demanding President Faure Gnassingbe step down.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Probe berates Zimbabwe army over post-election killings
[PULSE.NG] An inquest into the fatal shooting of six people in post-election violence in Zimbabwe squarely blamed the military and police on Tuesday, saying the use of live fire was "unjustified and disproportionate".
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
British Government to Activate Full ‘No-Deal' Brexit Preparations
PM Teresa May's lack of leadership brings the UK to this.
[Gcaptain] The British government said on Tuesday it would implement plans for a no-deal Brexit in full and begin telling businesses and citizens to prepare for the risk of leaving the European Union without an agreement.

Those plans include setting aside space on ferries to ensure a regular flow of medical supplies and keeping 3,500 armed forces personnel ready to support the government with its contingency plans.

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/19/2018 14:15 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Node Eel" is MSM spin

The UK is a member of the WTO and as such we trade on that basis.

WTO is probably the best exit from the EUSSR as Britain keeps it's sovereignty.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/19/2018 15:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Now that NAFTA is gone and has a new name Trump should create the North Atlantic Free Trade Area and make a quick visit to England.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/19/2018 17:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Regardless of cuts, I still think the British Army could take Brussels if necessary.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/19/2018 19:25 Comments || Top||


Man convicted of killing Syrian ex-wife in UK sentenced to 32 years in prison
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Janbaz Tarin, 21, who stabbed his former Syrian wife Raneem Oudeh and her mother Khaola Saleem, was sentenced to a minimum of 32 years in prison by a Birmingham court on Monday, according to a report by The Guardian.

Tarin stabbed Raneem and her mother Khaola, who had tried to defend and protect her daughter, to death in Solihull on August 27.

Tarin appears to be from Afghanistan, judging by his name and his Facebook account, which contains some posts in the Pashtun language.

During the trial, it was revealed that Raneem had left her husband Tarin after she learnt he was married to another woman with whom he had several children with in Afghanistan.

A video the night of the crime shows Tarin stalking Raneem and her mother and following them to a shisha lounge where they engaged in a verbal brawl that triggered the mother to slap him.

Raneem contacted the police but she and her mother left before the patrol arrived.

Tarin then followed them home and stabbed them both to death outside their home.

Police tossed in the clink
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
him three days later. During his trial on Monday, Tarin pleaded guilty to the double murder.

Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  Janbaz Tarin, 21 & he was married to another woman with whom he had several children with in Afghanistan.

Another of those bearded and balding child refugees.
Posted by: Tarzan Hitler4525 || 12/19/2018 2:38 Comments || Top||

#2  per the article in the Guardian, Raneem was on the phone with the police seeking help at the time of the murder

also, under Islamic law she was still his wife at the time of the murder

in case the text link doesn't work the Guardian article is at

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/dec/17/janbaz-tarin-admits-solihull-of-his-wife-and-her-mother
Posted by: lord garth || 12/19/2018 6:14 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Argentina in recession as economy shrinks again
[PULSE.NG] Argentina
...a country located on the other side of the Deep South. It is covered with Pampers and inhabited by Grouchos, who dance the Tangle. They used to have some islands called the Malvinas located where the Falklands are now. They're not supposed to cry for Evita...
is in recession after it's economy shrank by 3.5 percent during the third trimester of 2018, the state statistics bureau said on Tuesday.

It was the second such shrinkage in a row after the economy shrank 4.0 percent in the second quarter, with respect to the same period a year ago.

Gross domestic product is down by 1.4 percent from January to September compared with 2017.

The hardest hit sectors were business (down 8.9 percent), fishing (-7.3 percent) and manufacturing (-6.6). But finance was up by 5.1 percent.

Argentina has been gripped by an economic crisis this year that forced President Mauricio Macri to agree a $56 billion bailout loan with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

It came as confidence in the peso crumbled, sending the currency into a freefall that saw it lose half its value against the dollar.

The IMF predicts that Argentina's economy will shrink by 2.6 percent this year and another 1.6 percent in 2019.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  agree a $56 billion bailout loan with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

So Argentina hasn't yet run out of Other Peoples' Money.
Posted by: Tarzan Hitler4525 || 12/19/2018 2:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Even the right wing president can't overcome the ravages of socialisms' destruction.
Posted by: Ebbavirt Clunk4147 || 12/19/2018 4:11 Comments || Top||


Cuba decides to scrap same-sex marriage law in new constitution
[PULSE.NG] Cuba will leave out of its new constitution changes that would have paved the way for legal same-sex marriage, despite majority support in local assemblies, a government official said Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred || 12/19/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Commies


China-Japan-Koreas
How Greenland could become China's Arctic base
[bbc] China is flexing its muscles. As the second richest economy in the world, its businessmen and politicians are involved just about everywhere in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Now, though, China is taking a big interest in a very different part of the world: the Arctic.

It has started calling itself a "near-Arctic" power, even though Beijing is almost 3,000km (1,800 miles) from the Arctic Circle. It has bought or commissioned several ice-breakers - including nuclear-powered ones - to carve out new routes for its goods through the Arctic ice.

And it is eyeing Greenland as a particularly useful way-station on its polar silk road.

Greenland is self-governing, though still nominally controlled by Denmark.

It is important strategically for the United States, which maintains a vast military base at Thule, in the far north. Both the Danes and the Americans are deeply worried that China should be showing such an interest in Greenland.

LEAST DENSELY POPULATED PLACE ON EARTH
You've got to go there to get an idea of how enormous Greenland is.

It's the 12th-largest territory in the world, 10 times bigger than the United Kingdom: two million square kilometres of rock and ice.

Yet its population is miniscule at 56,000 – roughly the size of a town in England.

As a result, Greenland is the least densely populated territory on Earth. About 88% of the people are Inuit; most of the rest are ethnically Danish, many of whose ancestors started colonising it 1,000 years ago. The Inuit arrived several centuries later.

Over the years neither the Americans nor the Danes have put all that much money into Greenland, and Nuuk, the capital, feels pretty poor.

Every day, small numbers of people gather in the centre to sell things that will generate a bit of cash: cast-off clothes, children's schoolbooks, cakes they've made, dried fish, reindeer-horn carvings. Some people also sell the bloody carcases of the big King Eider ducks, which Inuits are allowed to hunt but aren't supposed to sell for profit.

CHINA'S AIR POWER
At present you can only fly to Nuuk in small propeller-driven planes. In four years, though, that will change spectacularly.

The Greenlandic government has decided to build three big international airports capable of taking large passenger jets.

China is bidding for the contracts.
Posted by: 3dc || 12/19/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Alternative Hypothesis: The Chinese Mainland is littered with empty commercial properties because of government corruption. The construction moguls are starting to run out of Chinese $Money$ and need to expand overseas or go bankrupt...
Posted by: magpie || 12/19/2018 14:26 Comments || Top||

#2  NUUK AIRPORT has a 3117 foot long airport built into the granite. You have to have STOL aircraft like DeHavilland Dash-8 and Dash-7s to transport people in any quantity. If I remember right, the airport is closed on Sundays. Nuuk is a neat place, with Inuit and European flavors.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/19/2018 14:45 Comments || Top||

#3  More like a dumping place for bad party leaders and generals they don't want to just shoot. They could probably lease facilities in Siberia, but still too close to home.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/19/2018 19:19 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
First Lady Takes Osprey to the USS George H.W. Bush
[RealClearDefense] Melania Trump made history Wednesday by flying in a V-22 Osprey aircraft and onto the deck of an aircraft carrier.

The White House says it’s the first time a first lady has flown in an Osprey. The tiltrotor aircraft takes off and lands vertically. Mrs. Trump flew from Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington to Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Hampton, Virginia, and onto the deck of the USS George H.W. Bush and back.

She later tweeted about her "incredible flight" and visit with service members.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/19/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The only FLOTUS in US history who could launch a thousand ships.
Posted by: Ebbavirt Clunk4147 || 12/19/2018 4:04 Comments || Top||

#2  V-22 Osprey carrier landing? She's much more brave than I.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/19/2018 5:16 Comments || Top||

#3  V-22 Osprey carrier landing? She's much more brave than I.

What's brave about that? Try trapping aboard a carrier in C-2 Greyhound. Now, that's freaky deaky. Or flying off the carrier in a Chinook. Chinook pilots BTW are all (EVERYONE OF THEM) certifiably insane.
Posted by: Hupomorong Stalin6795 || 12/19/2018 11:23 Comments || Top||

#4  Re: HS: Trapped and catted in a greyhound, and that was right after the crash of one due to unsecured load and massive CG shift ( video on you tube; still painful to watch, mercifully, it stops short of the splash, but not until the stall/descent is well establsihed).
and multiple lauches in variety of rotary winged aircraft, some inot peas soup fog so thick that @ 60 feet, the flight deck ceased to exist....flying by Braille.

but no Osprey for me either!
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 12/19/2018 13:13 Comments || Top||

#5  "The only FLOTUS in US history who could launch a thousand ships."

Felonia von Pantsuit could do it but it would be classified as an emergency retreat e.g. Dunkirk.
Posted by: Warthog || 12/19/2018 13:33 Comments || Top||

#6  A V-22 is a collection of parts flying in formation, much like a helicopter.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/19/2018 14:50 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Package Thief vs. Glitter Bomb Trap
What happens when 'Porch Thieves' tangle with a NASA Engineer.

Hilarious

[TheMostImportantNews] There is a growing epidemic of package theft in America today, but one former NASA engineer is taking action. Mark Rober spent six months designing a package that would douse package thieves in glitter and fart spray, and the video that he just posted to YouTube showing the results of his “experiment” already has more than 15 million views. If you have not seen it yet, you should definitely check it out. According to Fortune, Rober actually helped design the Curiosity Rover, but now he has become a global YouTube star…
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/19/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


#2  did the cop ever catch any of those package thievs?
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 12/19/2018 20:23 Comments || Top||


Saturn's rings are disappearing at a 'worst-case scenario' rate, NASA says
Saturn is losing its signature rings at a "worst-case scenario" rate, said NASA scientists, and the bands could disappear completely within 100 million years.
I blame global warming.
In a study published Monday in the journal "Icarus," researchers confirmed Saturn's rings are disappearing at the maximum rate first estimated through observations by Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 space probes that launched in the 1970s.

The rings are being pulled into the planet "by gravity as a dusty rain of ice particles under the influence of Saturn’s magnetic field," NASA said.

The phenomenon is called "ring rain," and it drains enough water from rings to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool every 30 minutes, said James O’Donoghue of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

"From this alone, the entire ring system will be gone in 300 million years," O'Donoghue said in a statement. "But add to this the Cassini-spacecraft measured ring-material detected falling into Saturn’s equator, and the rings have less than 100 million years to live."

Scientists are still trying to learn how Saturn gained its rings, which consist mostly of ice and rock ranging from the size of a grain of sand to that of a house, NASA said.

The study suggests Saturn acquired its rings later in its life span, instead of when it formed 4 billion-plus years ago.

"We are lucky to be around to see Saturn’s ring system, which appears to be in the middle of its lifetime," said O'Donoghue.

An animation released by NASA shows Saturn's inner rings disappearing first as they get sucked into the planet, followed by its outer rings.
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 12/19/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...100 million years?

Please forgive me if this isn't on my 'deal with immediately' list.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 12/19/2018 4:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Climate change of course
Posted by: Slolutle Cloluse3142 || 12/19/2018 6:22 Comments || Top||

#3  The evil scourge of Gerbil Worming strikes again!
Posted by: ed in texas || 12/19/2018 6:59 Comments || Top||

#4  The difference between the ~300 million and ~100 million time frames is Trump's fault no doubt.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/19/2018 7:02 Comments || Top||

#5  Send AlGore!
Posted by: Frank G || 12/19/2018 7:21 Comments || Top||

#6  All those darn Saturn SUVs driving around on the rings!
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/19/2018 9:06 Comments || Top||

#7  The need to cut back on the industrialization and emissions.

Say, isn't Thanos from one of Saturn's moons?

It all makes sense now.
Posted by: charger || 12/19/2018 9:48 Comments || Top||

#8  HAL9000: Sorry, Dave.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/19/2018 14:48 Comments || Top||

#9  If global warming is caused by increased solar activity (as seems by higher temperatures measured on Mars) this sort of thing would be expected or even predictable.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/19/2018 15:24 Comments || Top||

#10  Cassini broke Saturn. Sue the West and distribute the proceeds to the Third World.
Posted by: KBK || 12/19/2018 22:18 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Nation of Islam receiving federal cash to teach prisoners
[Wash Examiner] The Nation of Islam and its leaders have received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the U.S. government since 2008 to teach religious study programs for federal prison inmates, according to records reviewed by the Washington Examiner.

A black nationalist group led by Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam preaches that white people are "blue-eyed devils" and Jews are "the synagogue of Satan." Its leaders have received at least $364,500 in contracts and awards from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and the Department of Justice between fiscal 2008 and fiscal 2019.

The funding was designed to provide "Nation of Islam religious services," "Nation of Islam spiritual guide services," "Nation of Islam study services," and other related programming led by the organization’s leaders, according to Bureau of Prison records. The Nation of Islam has been labeled a hate group by the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

New York Republican Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, told the Washington Examiner the funding was "beyond the pale."

He said: "Categorically, no group or entity or individual associated any way with Farrakhan or the Nation of Islam should receive any federal funding. What Farrakhan preaches is hatred and anti-Semitism and racism, and to use any federal money for any group that’s he’s involved with that do any type of teaching or proselytizing is just wrong."

Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right, called the funding "really outrageous and remarkable." He noted that a court ruling in 2003 prohibited federal prisons from banning Nation of Islam reading materials on First Amendment grounds. But he said this ruling doesn’t require the U.S. government to provide money to the organization.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/19/2018 05:28 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I sent my usual Christmas time donation to the Prison Fellowship to help fund a Christian alternative to the muzz madness.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/19/2018 6:58 Comments || Top||

#2  And I'd bet their Twitter accounts are running full steam ahead as well.
Posted by: Clem || 12/19/2018 10:41 Comments || Top||


“MeToo hysterical like French Revolution” declares William Shatner, defending ‘Baby It's Cold Outside’ from censors - sez he can’t compliment women’s 'great legs'
[DailyMail] William Shatner said that although the MeToo movement is 'great' he believes that it has become too extreme and likened it to the French Revolution

The 87-year-old said: 'I've got three daughters [aged 60, 57, and 54] and I'm glad that they have more opportunity. At the same time, it's become hysterical'

The Star Trek legend sat down with DailyMailTV for an exclusive interview as he promotes his own Christmas album Shatner Claus
Gonna' put his latest album next to this one!:


Shatner also doubled down on his support of the Christmas classic Baby It's Cold Outside after a station in his native Canada took it off the air due to controversy

The actor defended the song, saying he enjoying riling up people and 'the kick of getting somebody upset about something and playing with them verbally'

Shatner revealed he has had to rethink his compliments to women after recently taking a three-hour training course on sexual harassment in the workplace

Shatner said: 'It's all about what is harassment. You might say, as I have on numerous occasions, ''looking good'', ''wow, what a great dress'', ''great legs'''

But, he added: 'I've changed my behavior to quite a degree... because it's a revolution'
More @ link...
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 12/19/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And he has seen a few fine legs (thinking of all those Star Trek babes of the 1960s...)
Posted by: European Conservative || 12/19/2018 10:49 Comments || Top||

#2  IIRC Gene Roddenberry made it so.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/19/2018 19:15 Comments || Top||



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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

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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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2018-12-19
  Jihadist Migrant Plotted to Bomb Vatican, Italian Churches at Christmas
Tue 2018-12-18
  KDF Arrests Al Shabaab Members Planting Explosives In Lamu County
Mon 2018-12-17
  U.S. airstrikes kill 62 al-Shabaab terrorists in Somalia
Sun 2018-12-16
  Israeli Army Says Fourth Hezbollah Attack Tunnel Found Crossing From Lebanon
Sat 2018-12-15
  Heavy clashes breakout in Hodeidah after UN-backed ceasefire announcement
Fri 2018-12-14
  Maulana Samiul Haq's personal secretary arrested, labelled person of interest in murder probe
Thu 2018-12-13
  Egyptian military kills 27 terrorists in recent operations
Wed 2018-12-12
  IDF uncovers third attack tunnel dug from Lebanon into Israel
Tue 2018-12-11
  At least two dead, 11 wounded in French Christmas market shooting
Mon 2018-12-10
  Taliban’s shadow governor for Paktika province has been killed
Sun 2018-12-09
  In rain and mud, IDF exposes another tunnel from Lebanon into Israel
Sat 2018-12-08
  Hizbullah Key Financier Tajideen Pleads Guilty in U.S.
Fri 2018-12-07
  UN peacekeepers confirm existence of tunnel from Lebanon into Israel
Thu 2018-12-06
  Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou’s arrest may prompt China to retaliate, 'take hostages,' expert says
Wed 2018-12-05
  Jihadists seize more ground inside Idlib deescalation zone as Turkish Army watches from afar

Better than the average link...



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