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French commandos attack al-Shabab base, explosions, gunfire heard
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 3: Non-WoT
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7 22:58 trailing wife [336104] 
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2 09:53 BrerRabbit [336076] 
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6 19:46 Richard Aubrey [336099] 
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 4: Opinion
5 15:39 trailing wife [336094]
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2 04:33 g(r)omgoru [336077]
Page 6: Politix
2 14:00 Steve White [336091]
13 21:18 JosephMendiola [336101]
6 16:52 USN,Ret. [336082]
10 16:48 USN,Ret. [336077]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Today's Idiot
Officer Friendly nabbed a South Carolina teenager when they followed a trail of Cheetos leading from a convenience store to a local residence where he was staying.
"Now, I got us some Cheetos--Hey! What happened to the bags!?" [knocking without] "Who can that-- Police? ****!"
Austin Lee Westfall Presler, 19, was arrested on January 6 in Kershaw County, S.C., after allegedly stealing beer, cancer sticks, snacks and energy drinks from the local Cassatt Country Store, WLTX reported. Calls placed to Kershaw County sheriff's office by ABCNews.com were not immediately returned.

Store manager Howard "Buck" Buckholz told ABCNews.com that Presler only made off with $160 worth of goods, but caused upwards of $2,500 worth of damage.

"The fella broke in our store 2:30 a.m. on Sunday morning," he said. "We were called at 3:15 a.m. The fuel truck fella said that the front door had been knocked in, so he called it in. He knocked out our front door, he knocked out the beer cooler, and stole beer, cigarettes, Slim Jims, and in his haste, he punctured two or three bags of Cheetos."
It would be really ironic if the puncturing turned out to be the result of the bags catching on some of the damage.
Those Cheetos were strewn all over the store's floor and in the doorway. Buckholz said that a voisin, as the French say across the street told him and police that the car Presler was driving was parked across the street at the Hard Times Café.

"Cheetos were all over the parking lot, at the place where he parked his car, and at the residence," Buckholz said.
"Okay coppers, you got me fair and square."
Presler does not live in the area, but was staying with someone that lives less than 1/5 of a mile from his store, Buckholz said.

"He was very easy to catch," he said. "It was a very quick deal."
Posted by: Korora || 01/12/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336076 views] Top|| File under:

#1  stole beer, cigarettes, Slim Jims, and in his haste, he punctured two or three bags of Cheetos."
The fundamentals of a happy life.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/12/2013 4:10 Comments || Top||

#2  B double E R run

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J-ldJ9Iy9g
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 01/12/2013 9:53 Comments || Top||


Police errors left Jimmy Savile free to 'groom the nation'
[GUARDIAN.CO.UK] A litany of failings by police and prosecutors meant the one chance to bring Jimmy Savile to justice while he was alive was lost, the director of public prosecution has admitted as he promised to reinvestigate thousands of sexual assault cases where victims felt they were not believed.

Three official reports on Friday revealed for the first time the damning details of how the authorities just three years ago failed to build a case against the BBC celebrity, who sexually assaulted children and young people across six decades and used the power of his celebrity to "groom the nation".

The BBC, hospitals, schools, the police and prosecutors all let down the hundreds of victims, aged as young as eight, allowing the predatory paedophile to continue abusing "in plain sight" throughout his lifetime. Police across the country including the Metropolitan police, Surrey, Sussex and Savile's home force, West Yorkshire, failed to share information, in some cases failed to record allegations against him and in other cases even warned victims off.

When Savile was finally interviewed by detectives in 2009 the encounter was "perfunctory" and he was allowed to control the proceedings, a review by Surrey police found.

Apologising to the victims, Keir Starmer, the director of public prosecutions, said victims of any sexual abuse, no matter how historic, who felt their complaints were mishandled should come forward, and promised a review of such cases. Panels will be set up across the country by police and prosecutors to re-examine cases. This had to be a "watershed moment" in the way complaints from victims of sexual assault are handled, he said, adding that victims had to be believed.
Posted by: Fred || 01/12/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336099 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He appeared in a non-canon Doctor Who short during the Colin Baker years, along side a kid who wanted to appear on Doctor Who. The Doctor and Tegan call Savile "monstrous" and "revolting". The Doctor knew something, perhaps?
Posted by: Korora || 01/12/2013 12:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Keir Starmer, the director of public prosecutions, said victims of any sexual abuse, no matter how historic, who felt their complaints were mishandled should come forward, and promised a review of such cases.

Couldn't do it while Jimmy was alive. The dead don't talk, and more importantly, can't be stoolies.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/12/2013 12:42 Comments || Top||

#3  >The Doctor knew something, perhaps?

EVERYONE knew something. Nothing was done. Protected by the establishment?

quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/12/2013 16:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Breitbart reports:

Late BBC TV and radio star Jimmy Savile is accused of physically abusing hundreds of children--the youngest of whom was just 8--as well as many young adults whom he met through his high profile charity work at various children's hospitals throughout England.

Savile's crimes began in Manchester in 1955, peaked in the late 70's and early 80's, and continued at a lower pace all the way until at least 2009, two years before his death at 85.

The police report concludes that Savile committed 214 criminal offenses including 34 rapes or other serious sexual assaults across England. 450 people have come forward with information about Savile's crimes
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/12/2013 16:26 Comments || Top||

#5  There must be some of the enablers who were sufficiently involved to be guilty of breaking a law. Public trial--lots of ink--and max sentence. The others, public shaming until they kill themselves.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 01/12/2013 19:45 Comments || Top||

#6  Oh, yeah. Don't forget law enforcement. Cops, prosecutors, etc.
Hang them.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 01/12/2013 19:46 Comments || Top||


Explosion blows apart house in Texas
ooops ....
Authorities are trying to determine what led to the blast early Friday afternoon in Lewisville, about 20 miles northwest of Dallas. There were no immediate reports of casualties. It was not clear who owned the home.
video at the link
Posted by: lotp || 01/12/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336079 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Either "Sudden Jihad Syndrome", OR a meth lab went KABOOMIE, Euther way, no big loss(Except for whoever owned the house, then there's Insurance.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/12/2013 1:46 Comments || Top||

#2  "It was not clear who owned the home."
The county doesn't keep property records? I need to move there.
From the video: Slow speed blast, in the front of the house. At a guess a gas leak (these are not new homes in the picture).
Most meth labs wouldn't set up next to a playground
Posted by: ed in texas || 01/12/2013 10:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Probably a leaky (or deliberately opened) gas line inside the house. Gas lines will spontaneously break due to soil expansion & contraction, which varies greatly from region to region and with seasonal temp changes. Gas lines in my neighborhood were recently changed to all-polymer lines from the main metallic lines to lessen the possibility of this, a very costly measure.
It seems so odd that abandoned houses do not simply have the gas supply shut off at the street level to make these 'accidents' more difficult to carry out.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 01/12/2013 11:59 Comments || Top||

#4  I bet they beans in their chili! That's a no-no here Texas.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man || 01/12/2013 14:49 Comments || Top||

#5  Okay, home is owned by a non-profit called Christian Community Action, as is most of the homes in the neighborhood. They provide affordable housing for the disadvantaged.

Officials say that the natural gas line was damaged by a 3rd party crew working on a utility pole. They still don't know why the house blew up from the inside.

It does irk me that the media refers to Lewisville as a Dallas suburb, when it isn't even near Dallas or in Dallas county. It is in Denton County. Also it is curious that they don't give the address.

And it should be ...put beans...
Posted by: Secret Asian Man || 01/12/2013 15:01 Comments || Top||

#6  They still don't know why the house blew up from the inside. Gas could well have moved along the path of the pipeline around the outside of the pipe and into the house's interior, then built up in the confined space. Without a gas/air mixture accumulating in a confined space, explosive power is greatly diminished.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 01/12/2013 16:20 Comments || Top||


-Obits-
Lake Garda for 10th Mtn WWII missing close to being found.
Underwater footage shows amphibious truck lying at the bottom of Lake Garda.
(on link)
In the final hours of World War II in northern Italy, a group of US soldiers set off across Lake Garda hoping to outflank German troops. But the Americans never reached the shore. Their amphibious truck sank in a storm, and more than 20 men on board were drowned.

Now though, nearly 70 years on, there is suddenly hope that their bodies might be found. The sunken American vehicle was located in the depths of the lake a few weeks ago.

"We have this policy of 'no man left behind'," said Val Rios, a spokesman for an association that represents descendants of troops who fought in the US Army's 10th Mountain Division. "We've had 24 soldiers down at the bottom of Lake Garda for all these years, so it means a great deal for us to hopefully bring closure to this tragic accident."

Mr Rios believes that it may be possible to identify the remains of some of the troops, either in the hull of the vehicle or scattered nearby. And he hopes that there might eventually be burials in the hometowns across America that the soldiers left so long ago.
Posted by: Water Modem || 01/12/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336086 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Any hopes are futile, maybe a few bones, but not likely.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/12/2013 1:49 Comments || Top||

#2  Depends on water temp, oxygen, whether the vehicle is closed up. Article doesn't say but if it was a DUCW (The DUKW (colloquially known as Duck)) then not much chance as it is usually an open cargo compartment.
Posted by: tipover || 01/12/2013 3:00 Comments || Top||

#3  Everybody comes home. One way or another, everybody comes home.
Don't know of any other amphibious trucks besides the DUKW. Rode in one at Wisconsin Dells. Each vehicle is named after one or another amphibious invasion. Can't see them in a storm for long, especially loaded down with what you need to fight for very long. OTOH, is Lake Garda big enough to generate dangerous waves?
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 01/12/2013 10:11 Comments || Top||

#4  Additional
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/12/2013 10:19 Comments || Top||

#5  Some of my dad's buddies were in those Dukws. He was in a field hospital at the time. BTW.. it was a sudden storm and fire from 88s. War in Italy ended a few days after.
Posted by: Water Modem || 01/12/2013 17:11 Comments || Top||

#6  Last 6 in the UK, thousands were made.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/12/2013 17:56 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Phony Cpt. Freedom Stansbury
Posted by: Spogum Henbane7455 || 01/12/2013 04:45 || Comments || Link || [336104 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If he'd more ambition, he'd be POTUS now.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/12/2013 6:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Last week he pushed his luck a little too much when he came to our PT formation wearing ACUs with CPT rank, Ranger tab and a 101st unit and deployment patches. He told our 1st Sgt that he was looking for a private who was talking on his cellphone and failed to salute him as he passed.

Translation?
Posted by: gromky || 01/12/2013 7:13 Comments || Top||

#3  Probably some doubt and much discussion about poor Stansbury at Eglin before this happened, but when he rudely interrupted a USAF yoga PT session over an alleged failure to salute, the tats were just too much.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/12/2013 8:53 Comments || Top||

#4  #2 Last week he pushed his luck a little too much when he came to our PT formation wearing ACUs with CPT rank, Ranger tab and a 101st unit and deployment patches. He told our 1st Sgt that he was looking for a private who was talking on his cellphone and failed to salute him as he passed.

Translation?

#2 Last week he pushed his luck a little too much when he came to our where a group of us were working out. He wore an Army uniform with Captain's rank insignia, a patch showing he had been though Green Beret school, and patches showing he had been to war while assigned to the 101st Airborne Division. He told our leader that he was looking for a private who was talking on his cellphone and failed to salute him as he passed.

That's how this old Sailor understood it anyway .
Posted by: FOD || 01/12/2013 9:43 Comments || Top||

#5  Thanks, FOD. That does help. :-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/12/2013 15:21 Comments || Top||

#6  FOD, I think that a Ranger tab means he went to Ranger school, rather than Green Beret school. Green Berets are like SEALs.(but not as good, of course, cuz they're Army, not Navy.)

Another former sailor.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 01/12/2013 15:39 Comments || Top||

#7  Do the Marines have a Special Forces unit of some sort, or are they all special?
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/12/2013 22:58 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Tunisian Islamist Chief Warns against 'Chaos'
[An Nahar] Rached Ghannouchi, who heads Tunisia's ruling Islamist party, warned on Friday, three days ahead of the revolution's second anniversary, against the country sliding into chaos amid social unrest.

"Several countries have succeeded in ousting regimes but not then installing a democratic state because liberties become corrupted, as in Somalia," the Ennahda chief told a gathering of supporters in the capital's Raoued suburb.

"We do not want Tunisia to become like Somalia, where revolution turned into chaos."

Ghannouchi said social grievances that went kaboom! into violence on Thursday in the southern town of Ben Guerdane and at Siliana in the northwest last month, injuring 300 people, "do not honor the revolution -- they threaten it."

There is ongoing social discontent in Tunisia two years after the uprising that overthrew ex-dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on January 14, 2011, with strikes and protests often degenerating into violence.

Unemployment and tough living conditions were key factors behind the revolt that touched off the Arab Spring, whose second anniversary will be celebrated on Monday.

Violent attacks by Islamists and a political impasse over the new constitution also continue to threaten the country's stability.

Ennahda heads a government in coalition with two secular center-right parties after winning October 2011 elections to the Constituent Assembly.

But the parliament has made little progress in drafting a new constitution and electoral law, with the process repeatedly hampered by differences between Islamists and secularists within the legislative body.
Posted by: Fred || 01/12/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336076 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Africa Subsaharan
Central Africa Rivals Agree to Unity Government
[An Nahar] The government and rebels in the Central African Republic have agreed to form a government of national unity under President Francois Bozize and to hold elections in one year.

The plan, reached in the Gabonese capital Libreville, also calls for
"...you to do as I say, and in return I don't kill you..."
a ceasefire and for the appointment of a prime minister drawn from the opposition.

Under the plan, legislative elections will be held in 12 months.
After which democracy will flourish in the good ol' CAR...
Posted by: Fred || 01/12/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Saudi Arabia allows women in parliament
[Bangla Daily Star] King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands Abdullah
... Fifth out of 37 sons of King Abdulaziz to ascend to the throne. He is, after his half-brothers Bandar and Musa'id, the third eldest of the living sons of Abdul Aziz ibn Saud. Abdullah's mother is from the Rashid clan, longtime rivals of the Saud. He has 6 sons and 15 daughters and about $20 billion. His youngest son is just seven years old...
appointed 30 women to the previously all-male consultative Shura Council in decrees published yesterday, marking a historic first as he pushes reforms in the ultra-conservative kingdom.

The decrees, published by the official SPA news agency, give women a 20 percent quota in the Shura Council, a body appointed by the king to advise him on policy and legislation.

One decree amended an article in the council's statute to give women representation on the body while the other named the 150 members, among them 30 women.

King Abdullah took the decisions following consultations with religious leaders in the kingdom, where women are subjected to many restrictions and are not allowed to mix with men, according to the decrees published by the SPA.

They stipulate that men and women will be segregated inside the council, with a special area designated for females who will enter through a separate door so as not to mix with their male colleagues.
Posted by: Fred || 01/12/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336079 views] Top|| File under:


Bangladesh
World’s second largest Muslim gathering begins in B'desh
Posted by: ryuge || 01/12/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh goodie, Much shootings and bombings Probably.
Lots of ALLAH ACKBAR.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/12/2013 1:52 Comments || Top||

#2  The same Moslems who gave the world three million dead in just 8 months during the BanglaDesh War when the Moslems raped 250,000 women and machine gunned crowds of fleeing civilians from trucks?

Those Moslems?

And we don't need to mention what happened in Jessore on the 6th of December.

But you can take some satisfaction that 93,000 Moslem Pak prisoners cooked in the heat in the Rann of Kutch for six years. They fought for about half a day and then ran for the next two weeks until they surrendered unconditionally like Moslems usually do. Moslems don't make very good soldiers when they actually have to fight other soldiers instead of civilians and women and children.
In fact Moslems are usually piss stain soldiers if you want to be frank about it.
Posted by: Threater Flusoper9823 || 01/12/2013 7:02 Comments || Top||

#3  In fact Moslems are usually piss stain soldiers if you want to be frank about it.
TF, but they make good splodydopes, you've got to give them dat.Mother Nature in action culling the herd.
Posted by: tipper || 01/12/2013 10:26 Comments || Top||


Raped schoolgirl fighting for life
[Bangla Daily Star] A class-six girl, who was raped late last month, is fighting for her life at Patuakhali General Hospital.

Doctors termed her condition critical as she was bleeding profusely from the overnight rape of December 28 last year.

It is the third reported rape case over the past one month in the country, after the Tangail and Savar gang rapes.
We will carefully not ask how many other rapes went unreported for various reasons.

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 01/12/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336080 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Class six, MMM that'd be 12 years old (Approximately)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/12/2013 1:54 Comments || Top||


Britain
Abortion data rules 'reconsidered' by ministers
Rules banning doctors from recording the sex of aborted foetuses could be reviewed after ministers disclosed that illegal terminations on gender grounds may be taking place in the UK
Posted by: lotp || 01/12/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336082 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "If the data is collected then we know the scale of the problem."

So, basically, they're making sure that no evidence is collected.
Which would be bad because then we would know that crimes were committed.
Which would be embarrassing because there is no possibility of our doing anything about it.

Got it.

BTW, can anyone explain to me why having an abortion for one reason is illegal while having an abortion for any other reason is hunky-dory?

Cuz, I'm pretty damn sure that aborting unborn sons would never under any circumstances be illegal.
Posted by: Herman the Ugly2308 || 01/12/2013 18:31 Comments || Top||


George Osborne to the EU: Change or Britain will leave
George Osborne has issued an ultimatum to the European Union, saying it "must change" in order to avoid a British exit.
So much for recent American warnings to cleave rather than split. Heaven only knows what would've happened had America not been run by The Smartest Man in the Room.
David Cameron is preparing to give a major speech about Britain's future in Europe, which could pave the way for a referendum on EU membership. Some Conservatives say Britain should leave the EU if other members do not agree to much looser membership.

The Chancellor insisted that he wants Britain to remain "an active part of a reformed EU".

A Treasury aide insisted that Mr Osborne's comments were fully consistent with the Government's position that the EU needs to change "and indeed is changing".

Douglas Alexander, Labour's Shadow Foreign Secretary, said Mr Osborne's comments were designed to appease Conservative backbenchers.
Sorta like how Mr. Boehner treats the Tea Party Pubs...
Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, has used a speech to describe the ongoing questions about Britain's membership of the EU as a "massive disruption".

He said it was "deeply unhelpful" and welcomed the intervention by Philip Gordon, the US assistant secretary responsible for European affairs, who expressed concern about the consequences of Britain leaving the EU.

Nick Clegg this week said the Prime Minister is risking the "livelihood and safety" of millions of British people by raising questions about Britain's EU membership.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that "playing politics" with EU membership could jeopardise British jobs and hamper international police operations.
We're not a member of the EU, yet our two respective police forces manage to cooperate...
Mr Cameron's approach is being resisted by Angela Merkel of Germany. Mrs Merkel has told the Prime Minister she has no intention of opening an EU treaty negotiation in order to provide a new settlement that can be put to a referendum in Britain, The Daily Telegraph understands.
Posted by: lotp || 01/12/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336072 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russia allows Muslim women to wear hijabs in ID photos
Posted by: ryuge || 01/12/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336078 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Any way to prove just WHO'S under that Hijab?

Or pure guesswork.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/12/2013 2:01 Comments || Top||

#2  What's the point of calling it an ID, or even having an ID, if you can't actually identify anyone with it?
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/12/2013 8:34 Comments || Top||

#3  I think ID's are still required for voting in Russia Glen. They're decades behind us you know.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/12/2013 9:11 Comments || Top||


Europe
Marseille Hopes for Image Makeover with Culture Year
[An Nahar] Long plagued by a reputation for gang crime and lawlessness, La Belle France's port city of Marseille is hoping its year as the European Capital of Culture will finally give its image a makeover.

The gritty Mediterranean city will kick off the festivities on Saturday with a downtown parade, fireworks and the opening of a slew of exhibitions.

Organisers are hoping 300,000 people will take part and that the event will kick off a year leading to a cultural renaissance in La Belle France's second-largest metropolitan area.

"Marseille needs a bit of romance, to bring it out of everything that's been said about it in recent times," said Fanny Broyelle, one of the organizers of the opening ceremonies.

Ahead of the launch, Marseille has undergone a major facelift, with its famed Old Port remodeled, many museums renovated and new facilities opened under a 660 million euro ($865 million) public-private investment program.

On Saturday French President Francois Hollande
...the Socialist president of La Belle France, and a fine job he's doing of it...
and European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso will be in town to mark the completion of works on a major new facility -- the seaside Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations -- that will open in June near the port.

The influx of investment comes at a crucial time. A key port in the "French Connection" drug smuggling route since the 1960s, Marseille has for decades suffered from its image as a hotbed of crime.

Recent years have seen Marseille especially hard hit by a wave of deadly shootings, often with automatic rifles and mainly in the city's impoverished outer districts.

The city saw 245 homicides from 2007 to the end of November, including at least 75 linked to organised crime, according to interior ministry figures.

The violence has reached such levels that a local official last year called for the military to be sent in and the government formed an inter-ministerial task force to tackle the crime wave.

The region is poor, with unemployment at 12.1 percent. With poverty and social exclusion at the root of much of the crime, many in Marseille are hoping the capital of culture year will act as an economic springboard.

Marseille's Chamber of Commerce says it expects a billion euros in extra cash to flow into the city this year, while tourist officials are forecasting 2-3 million extra visitors and a 20 percent jump in tourism jobs.

"I'm thrilled we're doing all this. The city has pulled out all the stops. It's impossible that people will not want to come," said Georges Antoun, owner of the 100-room New Hotel of Marseille on the Old Port.
Posted by: Fred || 01/12/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336070 views] Top|| File under:

#1  My one memory of Marseille is the overpowereing stench of dog poo; Fifi can crap anywhere she wants to and no attempt was made to bag it, or curb it.
reminded me of Home Depot without the 2 x 4s.
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 01/12/2013 3:28 Comments || Top||


International-UN-NGOs
U.N. Climate Panel Denounces Fresh Data Leaks
[An Nahar] The U.N.'s climate science panel bemoaned Wednesday a fresh leak of data from a landmark report on global warming that it will start releasing this year.

"Clearly, it is regrettable, all the leaked material is in draft form, internal working documents," Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, vice president of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told Agence La Belle France Presse.

This is the second leak in as many months from the panel's work to update its ground-breaking 2007 climate change report.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 01/12/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336084 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Filthy, stinking, beautiful theories' destroying facts!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/12/2013 3:16 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel Stocks Up On JDAM (on uncle's tab)
[Strategy Page]
Posted by: Water Modem || 01/12/2013 00:46 || Comments || Link || [336105 views] Top|| File under:

#1  We promise to put it to good use --- no Nation Building!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/12/2013 2:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Just be sure to use them before the expiration date.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/12/2013 13:21 Comments || Top||

#3  According to the article they are as much being staged there for American needs in the region as Israeli...
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/12/2013 13:35 Comments || Top||

#4  ION PRESS TV > IRAN WAR WILL DESTROY US SUPERPOWER STATUS.

Not likely as I expect Iran to continue to do nothing to antagonize the Bammer outside of Media-correct anti-US rants.

IMO the more realistic threat to US status will be vee Nuke-armed China in its dispute wid Japan over the China-claimed Senkakus.

POTUS OBAMA WILL HAVE ONLY THREE OPTIONS

> Militarily support its ally JAPAN in full agz China.
> Pressure Japan to give up the Senkakus in order to avoid a Limited or Full-scale, Tactical or Strategic Nuclear Military Conflict wid China.
> Do nothing + stay out of the Sino-Japan fracas,+ risk seeing the US lose its credibility wid Japan + ROK + PHIL, etc. ASEAN in East Asia.
THE US WILL BE KICKED OUT.

China's ultimate Mil focii or objective will be to secure de facto control of TAIWAN, as China has hinged the success or failure of its "post-US", future World #1 "Manifest Destiny" on formal reunification wid Taiwan under Beijing.

TAIWAN, NOT HAINAN = CHINA'S EQUIVALENT OF "PEARL HARBOR/HAWAIIAN ISLANDS" IN THE LATE 19TH-EARLY 20TH CENTURY FOR THE NEWLY
"INTERNATIONALIST/MAHANIST" US.

IMO any + all Chinese combat in NE Asia will directly or indirectly be centered on a successful recapture of Taiwan by the PLA.

China has impor advantages, from demanding that the US pay its US$13.0Triyuhn debt to China, to demanding territorial + access concessions from US-Japan-ROK [PHIL?]in order to avoid any Limited or Full-scale nuclear conflict, espec as per TAIWAN.

AGAIN, MANY US NETTERS SAY THEY DON'T TRUST THE BAMMER TO DEFEND AMER'S INTERESTS.

WILL THE BAMMER FIGHT, OR WILL HE BE LIKE POTUS WOODROW WILSON + UK PM NELVILLE CHAMBERLAIN + "KEEP THE US OUT OF WAR"???

Nuclear War, versus Concessions???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/12/2013 21:56 Comments || Top||

#5  FYI CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > CHINA TO "PREPARE FOR THE WORST" AFTER MILITARY CONFRONTATION WID JAPAN, in the East China Sea.

The Artic says SENKAKUS/DIAOYUS - NO, WHAT CHINA WANTS MOST OF ALL IS TAIWAN! The Diaoyus + Okinawa are important to China as per covering or protecting its desired future PLA Milbases on Taiwan as per transit to, from WESTPAC vee the OKINAWA-TAIWAN-PHIL STRAITS.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/12/2013 22:10 Comments || Top||


Government
Department of Homeland Security advises computer users to disable Java because of security hole
The Department of Homeland Security is advising people to temporarily disable the Java software on their computers to avoid a potential hacking attack.

Any system using Oracle Java 7 (1.7, 1.7.0) including

Java Platform Standard Edition 7 (Java SE 7)
Java SE Development Kit (JDK 7)
Java SE Runtime Environment (JRE 7)

All versions of Java 7 through update 10 are affected. Web browsers using the Java 7 plug-in are at high risk.

Great, just great.

A vulnerability in the Java Security Manager allows a Java applet to grant itself permission to execute arbitrary code. An attacker could use social engineering techniques to entice a user to visit a link to a website hosting a malicious Java applet. An attacker could also compromise a legitimate web site and upload a malicious Java applet (a "drive-by download" attack).

Solution

Disable Java in web browsers

This and previous Java vulnerabilities have been widely targeted by attackers, and new Java vulnerabilities are likely to be discovered. To defend against this and future Java vulnerabilities, consider disabling Java in web browsers until adequate updates are available. As with any software, unnecessary features should be disabled or removed as appropriate for your environment.

Starting with Java 7 Update 10, it is possible to disable Java content in web browsers through the Java control panel applet. From Setting the Security Level of the Java Client:

For installations where the highest level of security is required, it is possible to entirely prevent any Java apps (signed or unsigned) from running in a browser by de-selecting Enable Java content in the browser in the Java Control Panel under the Security tab.

If you are unable to update to Java 7 Update 10 please see the solution section of Vulnerability Note VU#636312 for instructions on how to disable Java on a per-browser basis.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 01/12/2013 09:49 || Comments || Link || [336077 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Janet Napolitano, unable to plug the holes of the Dike also known as the Southern Border, desperately seeks to find something wrong with her web browser...
Posted by: wr || 01/12/2013 15:11 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
More layoffs loom for NY Times
Sux to be the NY Times

But, hey, at least their girlfriend Barak is safe in the White House

And then there's the free contraceptives, so it's all good...

In the news business, no one is safe - not even senior editors at The New York Times.

The media business was shaken on Friday when it was reported, first in New York Magazine and confirmed by POLITICO, that managing editor John Geddes, assistant managing editors Jim Roberts and Susan Edgerly, former Washington editor Rick Berke, and former Times Magazine editor Jerry Mazorati could all be casualties of the Times' effort to cut costs.
Posted by: badanov || 01/12/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336076 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They're also closing their Environmental Dept.
James Delingpole is dancing on their grave with glee.
Posted by: tipper || 01/12/2013 0:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Close the whole shebang, and be done with it.

No need for the rag.

Too damn expensive and wordy. (But says nothing)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/12/2013 2:05 Comments || Top||

#3  ...then who'd republish the talking points and press releases from the White House? Oh, wait, the remaining 90% of the MSM. Never mind.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/12/2013 8:40 Comments || Top||

#4  Pinch is just flying that puppy straight into the ground. I'm waiting for their 'guy' in the WH to decide that they need a govt bailout.
Posted by: ed in texas || 01/12/2013 10:30 Comments || Top||


Government
USN: Uniforms "will burn robustly"
Navy working uniforms are extremely flammable and will melt in a fire, putting sailors at risk, the Navy announced Wednesday.

The nylon-and-cotton (referred to as NYCO) uniforms worn by sailors on ships and at bases "will burn robustly," and turn into a "sticky molten material," according to a test conducted in October by the Navy Clothing and Textile Research Facility.

"If this sticky molten material came in contact with skin it would contribute to increased burn injury due to conductive energy transfer," the report concluded. "The use of the NYCO material in an environment where there is potential for a flame or thermal threat is not recommended."

"It will melt and burn to consumption," Rear Adm. John Kirby, chief of information, said in a statement.

There have been no uniform requirement changes made after the finding. Navy officials said they are committed to sailor safety.

"Where there is a need, fire retardant/flame resistant clothing is provided," Kirby said.

Sailors on ships are regularly exposed to the threat of fire, especially those working with or near planes or engines. The Navy removed its requirement that all uniforms be flame-resistant in 1996.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/12/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336094 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Jesus H. Tapdancing Christ...I've been out of the regular navy for 32 years now, and the only thing that hasn't changed about the service in that time is that (1) the Navy Uniform Board has way too much time on its hands and (2) spends way too much money justifying its ongoing existence. The last time I went through 32nd Street NAVSTA firefighting school as a weekend warrior back in 1989, the main classroom had a pair of double-knit poly Khaki trousers pinned to the bulletin board. They had literally been melted from the knees to the ankles, in a demonstration of why polyester didn't belong aboard a ship
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) || 01/12/2013 0:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Shouldn't be a problem as long as they don't go into combat, and aren't around the usual fires and industrial accidents you have working around machinery. Yeah, put me down in the WTF? column.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/12/2013 1:16 Comments || Top||

#3  Sailors on ships are regularly exposed to the threat of fire, especially those working with or near planes or engines. The Navy removed its requirement that all uniforms be flame-resistant in 1996.

You also have fires in the laundry rooms, paint lockers, etc. And that's just on a normal day. Never mind combat.

I can't believe that they dropped the requirement that all uniforms are fire-retardant. The Navy uniform board should be required to wear any uniforms they come up with on a ship.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 01/12/2013 1:21 Comments || Top||

#4  In 1969 we wore Wool, and cotton, NOT burnable easily.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/12/2013 1:58 Comments || Top||

#5  2 major flight deck and hangar fires during my time, and the cotton based clothing worked just fine. agree with earlier post about the uniform board justifying its existence, that and lining the pockets of the Navy Exchange.
latest goof; the pixelated cammies, or whatever they're called; looks to me like a keep up with the army and air force syndrome. seriously, so the pixels work to hide people; so the bad guys will look at a boat and see nobody on it. really?
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 01/12/2013 3:33 Comments || Top||

#6  "Purple suit syndrome" USN, Ret.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/12/2013 12:50 Comments || Top||

#7  NYCO also know as BYON (Bring your own Napalm ....to the party)
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/12/2013 15:14 Comments || Top||

#8  Agree wid #1 - IMO the USN is looking for a PCorrect excuse to begin prepping the future Fleet wid GWCC = Sun-resisting materials + lubes.

lEST WE FERGIT, SOLAR/SUN-RESISTANCE = 'TIS BUT ONE FORM OF "HEAT-RESISTANCE".

The Navy got the Super-AEGIS, got the Stealth Techs, got CVN 21, etc. but OOOOOOOPPPPSSSSS they neglected per the Sun.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/12/2013 21:11 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
No charges for Gregory over ammo mag
Move it along, nuthin to see here...
Nice life if you can get it...
WASHINGTON -- NBC journalist David Gregory
...whose wife is good friends with the DC attorney general...
won't face charges for displaying a high-capacity ammunition magazine on his "Meet the Press" news show, District of Columbia prosecutors announced today.
And now it's time for...The Friday Afternoon News Dump.
It was a tempest in a chamber pot.
The city's Office of the Attorney General, which handles low-level crimes, said criminal charges wouldn't serve the public's best interests even though possession of the magazine -- capable of holding up to 30 rounds of ammunition -- was clearly against the law.
So...ummmmmmmmm...what?
In a letter to NBC's lawyer, D.C. Attorney General Irvin Nathan also said he recognized that the device was intended as a prop to provoke public discussion on gun control following the Connecticut school massacre."Influencing our judgment in this case, among other things, is our recognition that the intent of the temporary possession and short display of the magazine was to promote the First Amendment purpose of informing an ongoing public debate about firearms policy in the United States, especially while this subject was foremost in the minds of the public" after the shooting and President Barack Obama's address to the nation, the letter said.
Ah, "promoting the first amendment". How...noble of David.
NBC issued a statement Friday that said: "We displayed the empty magazine solely for journalistic purposes to help illuminate an important issue for our viewers. We accept the District of Columbia Attorney General's admonishment, respect his decision and will have no further comment on this matter."
...and drinks are on you, David.
So goes life for a member of the nomenklatura...
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/12/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336092 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If it weren't for the fact that I would end up in handcuffs and jail, I would love to walk up to a DC policeman holding an empty 30 round magazine, just to see what would happen. I bet even if I told him I am a [citizen] journalist, I would immediately be arrested, charged, and tried.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 01/12/2013 1:24 Comments || Top||

#2  So goes life for a member of the nomenklatura...

My thought exactly. Welcome to the Obamination - a heady blend of Carter, Nixon and the fUSSR. "God help us, everyone", said Tiny Tim.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/12/2013 1:28 Comments || Top||

#3  The point isn't that he waved around the magazine - the point is that he did so in direct violation of the DC Police telling him NO.
They asked the police - and the police said NO.
They did it anyway with full knowledge that they were flipping the finger at the police.
Now the AG is telling the police - sorry but you don't have that authority -- for the members of the Leftist Elite.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 01/12/2013 1:55 Comments || Top||

#4  When Obama was elected (the first time) I suggested ye'all should read Milovan Djilases "The New Class". Let me reiterate.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/12/2013 4:31 Comments || Top||

#5  The New Class as described at Amazon.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/12/2013 6:31 Comments || Top||

#6  In other news: Baden Powell reports Mafeking relieved as last horse was being served for dinner.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/12/2013 8:45 Comments || Top||

#7  ...especially while this subject was foremost in the minds of the public.

For those that might be rusty with their diplospeak, that's what commonly referred to as an "Atta-Boy".
Posted by: DepotGuy || 01/12/2013 10:28 Comments || Top||

#8  TBTF
Posted by: KBK || 01/12/2013 20:14 Comments || Top||


Government
Java Software Said to Put Computers in Peril
[An Nahar] The U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned Thursday that a flaw in Java software is so dangerous that people should stop using it.
"It could kill you! Really!"
"At the very least you could go blind!"
"This vulnerability is being attacked in the wild, and is reported to be incorporated into exploit kits," the department's Computer Emergency Readiness Team said in a notice on its website.
"Reported to be"? Did you go look? I'm reported to be 6'2" tall, with wavy blond hair, and not only a six-pack but a twelve-pack.
And very handsome your reported appearance is, too.
"We are currently unaware of a practical solution to this problem."
"There probably isn't one. Quit using Android. Quit using Oracle's database interface. Quit using all that stuff. It's too dangerous!"
The recommended solution was to disable Java, which typically runs as a plug-in program in web browsers.
If you want to do nifty things with your Oracle database without having to use that black-and-white command line with all the commands you can't remember then you need Java. But who uses Oracle, anyway?
Java is distributed by business software powerhouse Oracle and is popular because it lets developers create websites in code that can be accessed regardless of a computer's operating system.
Java Server Pages runs on the server, not on the client machine.
Java was created by Sun Microsystems, which was purchased by Northern Caliphornia-based Oracle.
Ahah! That must be the problem! I'm not too sure why, but it must.
Hackers who get people to visit booby-trapped websites can exploit the Java vulnerability to execute code on computers, according to security firms that have backed up CERT's warning.
There's a less hysterical description here.
Be aware that it's particularly difficult to completely detach Java from Internet Explorer. If that's the browser you use, you might want to switch to Firefox or some similar substitute, at least until this gets cleaned up. It takes two clicks to disable Java in Firefox. And it will take two clicks to re-enable it once a cleaned up version of Java is available. But I personally wouldn't wait for that unless you're fond of supporting Bulgarian hackers, Russian criminals and Chinese information ops types.
Posted by: Fred || 01/12/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336076 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I've notice most online payments require Java...just saying..
Posted by: Water Modem || 01/12/2013 0:07 Comments || Top||

#2  So, Sun Microsystem's check didn't show up at the appropriate Donk 'Reelection' donation box?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/12/2013 9:59 Comments || Top||

#3  If you use Firefox, install the NoScript extension.

"Allow active content to run only from sites you trust, and protect yourself against XSS and Clickjacking attacks."

You can forbid Java to run on non-whitelisted sites (see options, Embeddings tab).
Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 01/12/2013 10:26 Comments || Top||

#4  "This would never happen to an Apple product!"

/Inerd
Posted by: Charles || 01/12/2013 15:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Very capable coders at Sun will roll out a patch if they have not already done so. They are far more competant than say, the locals who colaborate on attempting to write illegally malicious software, will ever hope to be. :)
Posted by: wr || 01/12/2013 18:08 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2013-01-12
  French commandos attack al-Shabab base, explosions, gunfire heard
Fri 2013-01-11
  France confirms Mali intervention
Thu 2013-01-10
  Taliban suspects arrested over Karachi polio killings
Wed 2013-01-09
  Indonesia Foils Terror Plot on Tourist Spots
Tue 2013-01-08
  US drone attack kills four in North Waziristan
Mon 2013-01-07
  Syria Opposition Rejects Assad's Reconciliation Plan
Sun 2013-01-06
  Dronezap in South Wazoo send 18 TTP Jihadis to their rewards
Sat 2013-01-05
  Syria jets, troops wage offensive on rebels near capital
Fri 2013-01-04
  New U.S. Drone Strike Kills Three Qaida Suspects in Yemen
Thu 2013-01-03
  Iran to Citizens: Flee Isfahan
Wed 2013-01-02
  Fourteen Killed as Nigerian Troops Clash with Islamists
Tue 2013-01-01
  Pakistan: Six charity workers shot dead
Mon 2012-12-31
  Qaeda in Yemen offers bounty for killing US ambassador, troops
Sun 2012-12-30
  Pakistan reports 21 tribal policemen kidnapped, found dead
Sat 2012-12-29
  At Least 15 Killed in Sect Attack in North Nigeria

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