[Washington Examiner] A senior administration official is suspected of taking bribes. An investigation ensues. The government concludes they have a case. Next thing you know, the governor is indicted. Pub governor, no problem. Fast forward to PA.
Four members of the state legislature are suspected of taking bribes. An investigation ensues. Evidence is gathered. The evidence includes 400 hours of audio and video, and, lest we forget, the actual exchange of cash, plus a $2,000 Tiffany bracelet, for services rendered, caught on tape. A few even phoned in, asking for their piece of the action.
Next thing you know, the state attorney general drops the investigation and now we are left to wonder: What's next in Pennsylvania? Or Washington ?
The differences in the case against former Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia and the case against the four democratic lawmakers in Pennsylvania are distinctive. There is another component of which we dare not speak.
A long LA Weekly article about the ever declining trajectory of a left wing radio network. An excerpt: Ian Masters, host of Background Briefing, a smart if rather sedate, hourlong public affairs show on KPFK, has been publicly calling for an end to this experiment in democracy, which sees board members elected by both listeners and staff members two out of every three years.
"We're no longer a radio network, we're a sad political glee club," Masters says. "We desperately need adult supervision."
Voters don't seem to have any clue who they're voting for, and turnout is low. Last year's elections were called off due to lack of funding. Termed-out and retiring board members were replaced by the runner-up candidates in the most previous vote, leading, rather perversely, to the board majority flipping to the minority, the removal of Summer Reese and Reese's subsequent sit-in.
#2
20th Century Radio broadcast model will not survive into the mid 21st century - streaming media/data (Pandora) via cellphone/private network type(Verizon) technology will likely replace it. The XM Sirus model will likely fade away due to the lack of user control.
In any event the 20th Century Radio broadcast model is slowly dying and Pacifica is one of the unsuccessful "network models" which pushed the socialist organized public input scheme.
It it just like playing musical chairs, adult supervision is advised.
Posted by: Putin, Oppressor of the Weak ||
03/30/2014 12:33 Comments ||
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#3
it would be too bad if pacifica died
it is a major sink hole for leftist money
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/30/2014 13:16 Comments ||
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#4
Make them bid for chairs, and sink some more loony -left money.
[Dhaka Tribune] Police nabbed a teacher of Jafotnagar Syedia Alim Madrasa in Fatikchari of Chittagong on Saturday who allegedly raped a nine-year-old student.
The arrestee was Mohammad Akram Ullah, said local and police sources.
The sources said Akram Ullah had allegedly violated the girl at the madrasa around 1pm when she was alone.
The locals later caught the teacher and handed him over to police while the girl was taken to the local upazila health complex.
Mohammad Shahjahan Bhuiyan, officer-in-charge of Fatikchari cop shoppe, said police collared the teacher when the locals were beating him but the girl's family did not register any complaint.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/30/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
9? same age as Aisha. If Mo says it's OK, Allahu Akhbar~
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/30/2014 9:26 Comments ||
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[Accuracy in Medial] A blockbuster story in the Monday Wall Street Journal reveals the terrible damage National Security Agency (NSA) leaker Edward Snowden has done, enabling Russian "war planners" to avoid detection as they evaded U.S. surveillance and staged the invasion of Ukraine. Ok, so the assumption was that at least some of NSA's sources and methods were compromised. No great leap required, so what were the damage assessment recommenations? What countermeasures were then employed? What alternate collection methodologies were initiated to cover potential intelligence gaps ? If the NSA is half-way smart we won't get to know the answers to those questions, assuming that NSA was full-way smart enough to come up with answers to those questions...
At the same time, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), says Snowden's theft of documents has made it harder for U.S. troops to avoid being maimed or killed by terrorist bombs known as improvised explosive devices (IEDs). With all respect to LTG Flynn, linking Snowden to roadside bombs needs a bit more development and detail. I can assure you the Taliban were already on to our monitoring capabilities in Afghanistan.
"Some U.S. military and intelligence officials say Russia's war planners might have used knowledge about the U.S.'s usual surveillance techniques to change communication methods about the looming invasion," the Journal said in its front page story. "U.S. officials haven't determined how Russia hid its military plans from U.S. eavesdropping equipment that picks up digital and electronic communications." And what about 'overhead.' Anyone paying attention to imagery overhead imagery? Measuring and Signals? HUMINT, geo-political trends, Open Source, indications and warnings from NATO partners ?
ABC's "The Note" calls the Journal story a must-read, explaining that the Journal disclosed that "intelligence analysts were surprised because they hadn't intercepted any telltale communications where Russian leaders, military commanders or soldiers discussed plans to invade." An absence of communication is also an 'indication and warning.' Strangely, however, the story never mentions Edward Snowden, the former intelligence analyst now being controlled by the Russian security agency, the FSB, in Moscow. "Strangely" to some perhaps.
Clearly, however, the "knowledge" about U.S. surveillance techniques came from Snowden.
Snowden's collaborators in the media, who revealed his stolen documents about NSA surveillance of America's enemies and adversaries, are up for prestigious Pulitzer Prizes when these awards are announced at Columbia University on April 14. AIM has argued that such awards would constitute another black eye for the media and undermine whatever confidence the American people have left in the press.
In a statement to POLITICO about the possibility of Pulitzers being given to Snowden's mouthpieces in the media, AIM asked, "Specifically, what did Snowden tell the Russian FSB about U.S. capabilities to detect and deter a Russian invasion of Ukraine, or the ability of the U.S. to determine the nature or intentions of the Putin regime?"
The answer is now in. Thanks to Snowden, the U.S. was deceived. Well perhaps, or had we left our guard down due to community-wide trend toward domestic monitoring and failure to recognize Russia as still a threat ?
On Sunday's "Meet the Press" program on NBC, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI) said, "We know today [of] no counterintelligence official in the United States [who] does not believe that Mr. Snowden, the NSA contractor, is not under the influence of Russian intelligence services." Not exactly a FLASH Chairman Rogers. Yes, he's an onerous little bastard who probably deserves to be Rosenberged, but let's move off the 'blame game' and on to correcting the problems and prevented a re-occurrence.
#1
Maybe I am wrong but seems the protect Obama incompetence spin begins. Can't blame Bush now can we? The NSA is supposed to be an INTERNAL security agency (Not a CIA Web have a CIA) I thought or do we know what is going on anymore? Snowden was not affiliated with the CIA, right?
By the way, if you want to call your neighbor without the the NSA evesdropping on your call from DC or Utah, use an old fashioned CB radio.
#2
Tbe purpose of 'multi-source' intelligence is to prevent the reliance upon a single intelligence discipline which can be compromised, be incorrect, or for some reason go tits up. Multi-source products are used to cross-validate or confirm events, data, and information which can then become legitimate and or potentially actionable intelligence. Suggesting that one rogue NSA employee was responsible for a single-source intelligence gap that led to the invasion of a country is absolute rubbish.
#5
So how did Putin assemble his Speztnaz groups for the Crimean invasion? Does any body remember the Sochi Olympics? They provided security, and it's only ~150 miles away.
Some of these explanations are borderline whining.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
03/30/2014 20:34 Comments ||
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#6
I call B.S. on this whole story.
I also believe that if you're lying, you've got something to hide.
[The Peninsula] President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... yesterday said Russia's takeover of Crimea showed off its military prowess, as his defence minister reported that the Russian flag was now flying over all military sites on the Black Sea peninsula.
In a Kremlin ceremony with security bigshots, Sergei Shoigu told Putin that all Ukrainian servicemen still loyal to Kiev have left the Crimea region, whose annexation by Moscow has led to the worst stand-off with the West since the Cold War.
"The recent events in Crimea were a serious test," Putin was shown on state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
as saying in an echoing and glided Kremlin hall.
"They demonstrated both the completely new capabilities of our Armed Forces and the high morale of the personnel."
A deputy head of the Federal Security Service ... the successor to the KGB... , Alexander Malevany, told Putin at the meeting active measures were being taken to counter what he called growing Western efforts to weaken the Russian state and curb Moscow's influence in its post-Soviet backyard.
The United States and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... have voiced alarm over what they say are thousands of Russian troops massed near its western border with Ukraine. Putin has reserved the right to send troops into Ukraine, which is home to a large population of Russian-speakers in the east.
Putin praised Russian troops for "avoiding bloodshed" in Crimea, whose largely ethnic Russian citizens overwhelmingly voted to join Russia in a March 16 referendum dismissed in the West as illegal.
Speaking to Ukrainian servicemen who chose to swap sides and swear allegiance to Russia, Putin hinted they would be well rewarded by pointing out that Russian servicemen earned some four times more than their Ukrainian counterparts.
Ukraine's former navy chief, Rear Admiral Denys Berezovsky, has been handed the deputy command of Russia's Black Sea Fleet after his defection. "The change in state symbols on all ships and in all divisions that have sided with the Russian army has been completed," Shoigu told Putin.
He said warships, war planes and other hardware seized from troops loyal to Kiev will be returned to Ukraine, which could help Russia avoid a potentially costly legal battle in international arbitration courts.
The Foreign Ministry also said Moscow would move to annul its lease agreement with Kiev that allowed it to base its Black Sea Fleet on the peninsula.
Despite signs that tensions with the West may be cooling as a status quo takes shape in Crimea, Malevany warned Putin that Moscow faces growing threats from the United States and its allies, who are trying to weaken Russia's influence on Ukraine. "There has been a sharp increase in external threats to the state," he said. "The lawful desire of the peoples of Crimea and eastern Ukrainian regions is causing hysteria in the United States and its allies."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/30/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Prowess, I will show you prowess... Yesterday Crimea...tomorrow the former Russian Empire of 1917...then the world !
Here, I show you prowess'
Posted by: Putin, Oppressor of the Weak ||
03/30/2014 13:39 Comments ||
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#2
So basically he can take over a country that he was _running_ via a proxy until a couple weeks before the war?
Next thing you'll know he'll be telling us the WWF is real.
#3
OTOH WORLD NEWS > [Reuters] CRIMEA TATAR LEADER WANTS AUTONOMY AFTER RUSSIAN SEIZURE OF PENINSULA.
The litmus test for Vlad = Russia may come via angry International Hard Boyz attacking the Ukraine + Russia iff Russia doesn't grant said desired autonomy.
[Al Ahram] Crimea's Tatars will on Saturday hold a vote on whether to push for self-rule in their historic homeland following its annexation by Russia.
Ethnic Tatars from all over Crimea convened in the town of Bakhchisaray for an emergency Qurultai, or congress, to decide on the fate of the Mohammedan community of about 300,000 people on the Black Sea peninsula.
"There comes a moment in the life of every people when a choice must be made that will determine its future," said Tatar leader Refat Chubarov.
He urged the audience packed into a community centre to vote for a draft resolution calling for the "launch of political and legal procedures (for the) national and territorial autonomy of the Crimean Tatar people on their historical territory, Crimea."
The document notes the Crimean Tatars' concern over the recent upheaval on the peninsula, which saw pro-Russian militia and Russian troops oust Ukrainian soldiers after a Moscow-backed referendum saw the peninsula split from Ukraine.
Among more than 200 people attending the congress where Russian officials and religious leaders, including the Grand Mufti Ravil Gainutdin, also an ethnic Tatar.
"This land is the Crimea, the motherland of the Crimean Tatars," Gainutdin said to huge applause from the audience.
"I pray to Allah that you make the decisions that will be helpful to the Crimean Tatar people," Gainutdin said, adding that in Russia several regions were multi-ethnic and "know how to build peace in our common home to have a good life."
The Crimean Tatars, which make up about 12 percent of Crimea's population, strongly opposed and largely boycotted the hastily-organised March 16 referendum.
However he said that if Russians in Crimea were given the chance to determine their future, all those involved "have to proceed from the premise that the Crimean Tatars also have this right."
The Tatars are wary of Moscow rule because Soviet leader Joseph Stalin ordered them to be deported en masse from their homeland to Central Asia at the end of World War II, with half reportedly dying en route. They were not allowed to return to Crimea until the late 1980s.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/30/2014 00:24 ||
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[Al Ahram] Belarus strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko hosted Ukraine's interim president Saturday for surprise talks that came after his ex-Soviet country voted against a UN General Assembly resolution denouncing Russia's annexation of Crimea.
The Belarus president's office said the meeting with Oleksandr Turchynov was held in Lukashenko's residence in the village of Lyaskovichi near the border with Ukraine.
The brief statement provided no other details and Turchynov's official website made no mention of the talks.
Belarus was one of just 11 countries along with Russia to vote against a non-binding UN General Assembly resolution supporting Ukraine's territorial integrity and condemning Russia's annexation of its Crimea peninsula earlier this month.
Lukashenko told Kiev television on Friday that he had already spoken by telephone to Ukrainian boxer turned opposition leader Vitali Klitschko and was hoping to build friendly future relations with Ukraine.
"One has to speak to the devil if necessary to avert things from turning worse," Lukashenko said Friday.
Belarus relies heavily on Russian oil and natural gas shipments and is part of a Kremlin-led three-state customs union that also includes Kazakhstan.
But Lukashenko -- once referred to by Washington as the last dictator of Europe -- has uneasy relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... and has been known to make unpredictable political decisions since rising to power in 1994.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/30/2014 00:23 ||
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#1
Voters in Central and Eastern Europe will have to weigh the one-man-one-vote-one-last-time risk again.
The notion of a corrupt and bankrupt elected government canceling future free elections, assuming dictatorial powers and declaring opponents to be purveyors of a 'fascist coup' isn't as far fetched as it was just a month ago.
The threat of 'brotherly assistance' by the Soviet Eurasian Union is a new political reality.
#2
...not to be confused with 'brotherly assistance' by (vote till you get the results we want) Brussels.
Europe was f**ked a hundred years ago. We just spent a heck of a lot of resources and lives in the twentieth century trying to keep alive something that was desperately out to commit suicide. Instead we imported the madness to infect our own culture as well.
Justinian wasted the resources of the Eastern Roman Empire trying to resurrect the old Roman empire leaving the exhausted remains to face the onslaught of the original Islamic Expansion and Conquest. Once is a tragedy, twice is a farce.
#3
>The notion of a corrupt and bankrupt elected government canceling future free elections, assuming dictatorial powers and declaring opponents to be purveyors of a 'fascist coup' isn't as far fetched as it was just a month ago.
The EU might try and over-turn your election and you'll vote until the unelected leadership get a result they like.
[DAWN] A newly-wed girl was bumped off allegedly by her brother in the parking area of the sessions court here on Saturday.
The victim, Humaira Ashraf, 30, of Gujranwala, was leaving the court premises after recording statement in favour of her husband when her brother Akhtar along with his accomplices opened fire on her. She sustained several bullet injuries. Police shifted her to Mayo Hospital in a critical condition where she died.
Humaira had contracted marriage with Amjad a few days ago against the will of her family. Her family got a case registered against Amjad on the charge of kidnapping Humaira.
Islampura police started the paperwork but haven't done much else on the complaint of Abdul Ghafoor, a relative of Amjad. The complainant alleged that family members of Humaira were estranged from her for marrying without their consent.
Humaira's father Ashraf and brother Akhtar were nominated in the FIR along with an unidentified accused.
Police shifted the body to a city morgue for his appointment with Doctor Quincy.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/30/2014 00:00 ||
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#3
She was 30. If they'd wanted to marry her off for a profit, they should have done it over a decade ago. Wait until the commodity has three decades under her belt and you're going to get willfulness -- the family brought it on themselves,
[DAWN] NAWABSHAH: Three protesters were maimed when police opened fire to disperse a mob that tried to break into the B-Section cop shoppe on Saturday in an attempt to take away a suspect lodged in the lock-up after he allegedly confessed to have assaulted and murdered a seven-year-old girl late Friday night.
Before his arrest, the city witnessed widespread protests that broke out after the girl's body was found dumped at the gate of the Eidgah ground in the Saeedabad locality on Friday night.
Reports from the area suggested that the girl, daughter of Rao Shaukat Ali, had gone missing after leaving her home to play outside late in the evening. The family members alerted the police after they failed to locate her after a hectic search. Activists belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... (MQM) also joined in the search as the girl happened to be the niece of a senior party member, Rao Sarwar.
As soon as residents of Saeedabad and the B-Section police found the girl's body, groups of enraged youths erupted into the streets of Nawabshah and blocked several roads with burning tyres and junk in protest against the murder. The girl's body was taken to the Peoples Medical University Hospital (PMUH) where doctors confirmed that she was assaulted before being strangled.
While a large number of people crowded the PMUH, MQM zonal head Asim Kabeer Khanzada and many of his party colleagues took out a rally raising slogans against police for failing to protect citizens.
Adviser to the Chief Minister on Auqaf Ziaul Hassan and Shaheed Benazirabad Deputy Commissioner Abdul Aleem Lashari also reached the hospital along with senior police officials of the district to bring the situation under control.
During the initial investigation, some witnesses told the police that they had seen the victim accompanying a man, a neighbour of Rao Shaukat Ali, DSP Aijaz Tareen told journalists on Saturday. "We picked him up for interrogation during which he confessed to have subjected the girl to criminal assault," he said, adding that the suspect also confessed to have strangled her on raising a hue and cry.
Soon after the suspect's arrest, the city reverberated with gunfire and groups of angry youths started assembling outside the cop shoppe demanding that he be handed over to them.
They tried to force their entry into the cop shoppe prompting the police to fire into the air in order to scare them away. Three persons, Mohammad Sajid Pathan, 15, Rao Noor Zaman, 14, and Zahid Siyal, 31, sustained bullet wounds and were rushed to the PMUH for treatment.
Protest demonstrations and sit-ins were held outside the local press club, Shiraz Chowk, Sanghar Road, railway tracks and other places. Some protesters also pelted the 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... -bound Awam Express with stones but no one was hurt.
Meanwhile, ...back at the alley, Slats grabbed his rosco... Nawabshah SSP Jawed Jiskani has placed B-Section SHO Mubeen Ahmed under suspension and demoted him to the lower post for failing to discharge his duties efficiently.
Police said in the evening that the situation had been brought under control and patrolling across the city intensified to defuse tension.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/30/2014 00:00 ||
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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.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Washington Examiner] A senior administration official is suspected of taking bribes. An investigation ensues. The government concludes they have a case. Next thing you know, the governor is indicted.
[Dhaka Tribune] Police nabbed a teacher of Jafotnagar Syedia Alim Madrasa in Fatikchari of Chittagong on Saturday who allegedly raped a nine-year-old student.
[The Peninsula] President 
[Al Ahram] Crimea's Tatars will on Saturday hold a vote on whether to push for self-rule in their historic homeland following its annexation by Russia. 
...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
