#10
As I've read it this is a case of 4 or 6 people in one group of 12 resigning. The one group is one of 5 groups at that level so it is at most 10% of the bureaucrats. Doesn't sound too "mass" to me. I think they're all in Kennedy's organization so I'm not concerned at all.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The ranking of Afghanistan shows a considerable improvement in the corruptions perceptions index 2016.
The latest index was recently released by the Transparency International as the organization says over two-thirds of the 176 countries and territories in this year’s index fall below the midpoint of our scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
According to Transparency International, the global average score is a paltry 43, indicating endemic corruption in a country’s public sector.
Afghanistan has secured four more points in the index in 2016 and is placed in 169th position in the rankings table.
The latest ranking shows a considerable improvement as compared to the previous year where Afghanistan secured 11 points and was placed among the most corrupt countries with Somalia and North Korea.
The countries placed below Afghanistan are Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Syria, North Korea, and South Sudan.
Somalia is once again place in the bottom of the ranking table by having 10 points and securing the 176th position.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/26/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The countries placed below Afghanistan are Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Syria, North Korea, and South Sudan.
I wonder if any of those countries have anything in common?
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Talibs group earn around $4.8 million annually from Kajaki dam located in the restive southern Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province of Afghanistan.
The provincial council officials have said the group earns almost 90 per cent of the income of the dam on yearly basis.
Majid Akhunda, deputy provincial council chief, told RFE/RL that the group has formed a special unit to collect the income generated from the dam.
He said the 90 per cent income of the dam is almost equal to 500 million Pak Rupees which is equivalent to $4.77 million. 'Restive Helmond province' indeed. I always wondered why the Taliban never blew it up. I'd would hate to have to calculate the American and coalition lives lost in 'restive Helmond' over the years. I suppose no one ever thought to... follow the foking money ?
Posted by: Fred ||
01/26/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
I suppose no one ever thought to... follow the foking money ?
The US hasn't been in the business of "Winning" for a very long time. The pussification of this nation began a very long time before Obama took office.
#3
Problem with following the money is that the follower might not like the path.
Posted by Pappy
Spot on! The corrupt regimes of Africa are not kept in power by their huge Toyota and Microsoft manufacturing facilities, it's their natural resources. Always has been.
If the spoor leads back to Kabul, our man in power might be at risk.
Maybe. Maybe not -- it remains to be seen. And then there's the elephant of President Trump casting shade over the landscape.
[AlAhram] Palestinian Hamas leader Mahmoud El-Zahar said on Tuesday that the movement's relations with Cairo have improved, evidenced by the reaching of an agreement this week on border control between the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula, state news agency MENA reported.
The Islamic resistance movement's leader said the parties did not agree on certain terms, however, without giving further details.
El-Zahar said in statements published by El-Ra'i news website, reportedly affiliated with the group, that a delegation of representatives from the group met with Egyptian officials in Cairo this week.
According to El-Ra'i, the group's delegation to Cairo included leaders Ismail Haniyeh, Moussa Abu Marzouk and Rouhi Moshtahi.
Previous news reports said that the deputy head of Hamas' political bureau Ismail Haniyeh arrived in Cairo on Monday, on his return from a trip to Doha, to hold meetings with Egyptian officials.
The last official visit of Hamas representatives to Cairo was in March 2016.
[LibyaHerald] The leader of the Misrata-led forces in the south, Jamal Treiki, has accused Libyan National Army forces of fabricating reports suggesting his Third Force militias were preventing aid being delivered to the region.
Treiki told Tanasah TV channel that elders from the south were making concerted efforts to convince the commander of the LNA forces in the south, Mohamed Ben Nayel, to open the roads connecting the south to the northwest to allow fuel and goods to be delivered. Treiki appeared to blame the LNA for the blockages.
However, the mayor of Brak Al-Shatti, Nassir Saeed Salim, recently told the Libya Herald that it was the Third Force who was responsible for stopping the delivery of fuel to the south.
Treiki accused media outlets of dishonesty and fabricating reports.
“While our forces work hard to secure the delivery of petrol and aid to the area, the media related to the authorities in the east are continuing to broadcast false news and they lay the blame on us over the deteriorating living conditions in the south,” he said.
The two rival forces have been competing for control of southern regions for some time now.
Recently, the LNA made significant gains in the region and replaced the Third Force from Brak Al-Shatti airbase. Some in the south, including elders, activists and residents of Sebha and its neighbouring towns, have demanded the Third Force leave the south.
At the beginning of last December, the Third Force claimed they would leave the Fezzan region. However, only a few weeks later, they appeared to change their minds when they alerted their troops to stay ready and prepared to fight.
In related news, residents of Sebha held protests today demanding Obari power station finally be completed to help ease the electricity problems that have shattered the south in recent weeks. Last week the mayor of Sebha, Hamed Rafeh, told the Libya Herald that the Presidency Council’s Government of National Accord lacked the power to solve the power problems in the south.
[ITV] Five men have been found guilty of sexually exploiting two young girls from Rotherham.
Basharat Dad, 32, of Eldon Road, Eastwood, Rotherham was found guilty of six counts of rape, five counts of indecent assault and one count of false imprisonment.
Appearing alongside him was his 36-year-old brother Nasar Dad, of Cranworth Road, Eastwood, Rotherham. A jury found him guilty of rape, inciting indecency with a child and false imprisonment. He was found not guilty of one count of rape and one count of sexual intercourse with a girl under 13.
Their brother Tayab Dad, 34, of St Lawrence Road, Tinsley, Sheffield, was found guilty of one count of rape.
Mohammed Sadiq, 40, of Oxley Grove, Rotherham and Matloob Hussain, 42, of The Yews, Doncaster Road, Rotherham, were each found guilty of one count of sexual intercourse with a girl under 13.
A jury took just over six hours to reach their verdicts, which were unanimous.
During the three-week long trial at Sheffield Crown Court, the jury heard evidence from both victims that detailed sexual abuse and exploitation in the Eastwood area of Rotherham between 1999 and 2001.
Temporary Detective Chief Inspector Martin Tate, who oversaw the inquiry, said: “The court heard harrowing evidence from two very brave women whose childhoods were robbed by these men.
“They were targeted, systematically groomed and subjected to horrific sexual abuse while they were young vulnerable girls, on the cusp of their teenage years.
“No child should ever have to experience what these women have had to endure and I hope that today’s result offers them both some resolution after so many years of anguish.
“On behalf of the investigative team and the partnership agencies who have worked alongside us, I offer my thanks to those women for their support and courage over the last two years.
“I also extend our thanks and recognition to the victims’ families and the witnesses who have played their own vital roles in bringing this case before the court and obtaining these convictions.
“I want to thank the team of officers and police staff, Rotherham Council, the Crown Prosecution Service, GROW and other voluntary sector agencies who have all worked tirelessly supporting our victims, gathering evidence and preparing this prosecution case.
“As ever, we will not rest on our laurels and this case is yet a further example of our commitment to tackling child sexual exploitation and bringing these criminals before the courts.”
In a hearing at Sheffield Crown Court in February last year, 36-year-old Amjad Ali of Broad Lane, Hodthorpe, Worksop, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual intercourse with a girl under 13. He will be sentenced alongside the others convicted at Sheffield Crown Court on Thursday 2 February.
The five men convicted today have been remanded in custody.
#1
So the statute of limitations is much longer.
That's a good thing.
Given their respective ages(-16) the rapists were 14-26 y/o at the time. I imagine that will have a leniency effect in sentencing given the current atmosphere.
[Sputnik] Relations between Germany and Turkey have hit a new low after the German authorities withdrew legal cooperation when it emerged that a group of imams had been spying on teachers and passing on names of alleged supporters of exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen to Turkish officials.
The latest allegations concern reports that the German Office for the Protection of the Constitution in North Rhine-Westphalia found that imams at the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB) had passed on the names of some 28 alleged supporters of exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen to Turkish officials at their consulates in Cologne, Düsseldorf and Munich. These included a group of teachers in German state schools, which provide Islamic religious education.
Federal officials, January 24, announced the ending of an agreement brokered in 1974 between Germany and Turkey to mutual assistance on criminal matters. It followed allegations that Erdogan's government was using the pact to pursue Gulen followers in Germany.
The latest deterioration in relations between Ankara and Berlin will put further strain on the controversial EU-Turkey migrant deal Merkel brokered in an effort to stem the flow of migrants entering into Europe via Turkey.
[AnNahar] The German government voted Wednesday to scrap a "lese majeste" law that Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... had sought to employ against a popular German television satirist. Chancellor Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany and the impetus behind Germany's remarkably ill-starred immigration program. Merkel used to be referred to by Germans as Mom... 's cabinet decided to abolish by January 1, 2018 the rarely enforced section of the criminal code that prohibits insulting organs or representatives of foreign states.
"The idea of 'lese majeste' dates back to a long-gone era, it no longer belongs in our criminal law," said Justice Minister Heiko Maas. "The regulation is obsolete and unnecessary."
Maas said heads of state and government would still be able to defend themselves against slander and defamation "but no more or less so than any other person."
Erdogan had launched a criminal complaint under the law -- which carries up to three years' jail -- against German TV comic Jan Boehmermann, who had insulted him in a so-called "defamatory poem". In the poem, broadcast in March last year, Boehmermann had accused Erdogan of bestiality and watching child porn, while gleefully admitting that he was flouting legal limits to free speech as a deliberate provocation.
The row badly soured Berlin-Ankara relations at a time when The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... was vital to European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... plans to stop the mass flow of migrants colonists from the Middle East and Africa into the bloc, especially to Germany.
Merkel then authorized criminal proceedings against Boehmermann, in a decision that appalled rights groups. At the same time she said the article should be removed from Germany's legal code, a move that still requires parliamentary approval.
Prosecutors had launched an investigation against Boehmermann but dropped the case last October.
The order says the United States should screen visa applicants to block access to those "who would place violent religious edicts over American law" and those who "engage in acts of bigotry or hatred" including "honor" killings, violence against women, and persecution on the basis of religion, race, gender and sexual orientation, a description that human rights groups say also appears to be geared toward Muslims, without naming Islam explicitly.
[many islamic types are going nuts on this -- but the 'protecting women' theme of the order (give Trump's team credit for doing this) is going to make the feminist supporters of letting in moslem immigrants squirm a bit]
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/26/2017 13:23 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Oh , how I longed to hear ( and read) the voice of sheer reason in those orders.
♪ Aaaalleluiah ... Alleluiah ♫
[CA.NEWS.YAHOO] U.S. President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... is expected to sign executive orders starting on Wednesday that include a temporary ban on most refugees and a suspension of visas for citizens of Syria and six other Middle Eastern and African countries, say congressional aides and immigration experts briefed on the matter.
Trump, who tweeted that a "big day" was planned on national security on Wednesday, is expected to ban for several months the entry of refugees into the United States, except for religious minorities escaping persecution, until more aggressive vetting is in place.
Another order will block visas being issued to anyone from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, said the aides and experts, who asked not to be identified.
In his tweet late on Tuesday, Trump said: "Big day planned on NATIONAL SECURITY tomorrow. Among many other things, we will build the wall!"
The border security measures probably include directing the construction of a border wall with Mexico and other actions to cut the number of illegal immigrants colonists living in the United States.
The sources say the first of the orders will be signed on Wednesday. With Trump considering measures to tighten border security, he could turn his attention to the refugee issue later this week.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/26/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists
#1
3 days so far. By the 6th day, the Dims will be relegated to heavy drinking to squash their misery.
You're confusing him with the previous occupant of WH - who did have delusions of divinity: that's why I never believed the rumors that he's a secret Muslim.
#4
Proving that when you're not sleeping 10-14 hrs per day, celebrating with NBA stars, golfing, attending fund raisers, walking the hond, or on Hawaiian or Martha's Vinyard holiday, you can actually get quite a lot accomplished.
WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump is preparing an executive order that would halt all US funding to UN agencies that recognize the Palestinian Authority or Palestine Liberation Organization as a full member.
The move, first reported in the New York Times, would create a committee tasked with reviewing US aid to the international bodies and programs. The order specifically calls for a review of aid to UN peacekeeping efforts.
But the terms of this executive order have already been codified in US law, according to former Obama administration officials, who were compelled to cut funding to UNESCO after the body accepted Palestine as a full member in 2011.
At the time, Victoria Nuland, then spokesman for the State Department, said the US was following longstanding congressional restrictions that required an immediate halt to its aid.
One 1990 appropriations law reads: "No funds authorized to be appropriated by this act or any other act shall be available for the United Nations or any specialized agency thereof which accords the Palestine Liberation Organization the same standing as member states." You don't have to invent new laws - just apply the ones on the books. Enforcing the law? We can't have that!
It's not even a week since they got back from that supervised reconciliation meeting in Moscow. Who won the pool?
[IsraelTimes] 8 security officials from rival group’s security service given sentences ranging from 7 years to life for collecting ’security information.
A court in the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,-run Gazoo Strip on Wednesday sentenced eight members of the rival Fatah faction to lengthy jail terms for undermining "revolutionary unity," the interior ministry said.
Fatah, which is headed by Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... , was largely ejected from Gazoo in 2007, when Hamas seized power in a bloody coup. Fatah controls the West Bank, where Abbas is based.
The convicted men were found to have collected "security information" against Hamas, including on the "structure and movements" of its myrmidons, in cases dating back to 2014, the ministry said in a statement.
Three were tossed in the clink I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! for life by the military court, while the rest received sentences ranging from seven to 15 years.
They were members of the Fatah-led security services.
Fayez Abu Eita, a front man for Fatah in the Gazoo Strip, called the sentences "political and unjust."
A number of attempts at reconciliation between the two sides have failed.
The Paleostinian Authority security forces in the West Bank, run by Fatah, regularly arrest Hamas members.
[IsraelTimes] After holding hearings and consulting security officials, Aryeh Deri says he has decided to take ’practical action’ to deter assailants.
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri has ordered his office to revoke the residency of 10 relatives of the Paleostinian terrorist who earlier this month killed four soldiers in a truck-ramming attack in Jerusalem.
Deri said in a statement Wednesday that, after holding hearings for the relatives and consulting with security officials, he had decided that the family members of Fadi al-Qunbar, most of which reside in East Jerusalem, would lose their special status as Israeli residents.
"Only immediate and practical actions will deter assailants," Deri said.
There was no immediate word as to whether Qunbar’s mother, whose residency was among those considered for annulment, was among the 10.
The Haaretz newspaper has noted that previous attempts to revoke the Israeli residency of East Jerusalem residents as a punitive measure have been shot down by the High Court of Justice.
Qunbar, a resident of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber, plowed a truck into a group of soldiers in Jerusalem on January 8. The attacked killed Lt. Yael Yekutiel, 20, of Givatayim; Lt. Shir Hajaj, 22, of Ma’ale Adumim; 2nd Lt. Erez Orbach, 20, of Alon Shvut; and 2nd Lt. Shira Tzur, 20, of Haifa.
"We must fight with all our strength and by any deterrent means in order to prevent the next terror attack," Deri said when he launched the annulment process. "From now on gunnies considering an attack will know that their families will pay a price for their actions."
The Shas party leader and interior minister told Army Radio in an interview on January 10 that Qunbar, "an Israeli resident with an Israeli ID card, got into the truck and saw soldiers and decided to run them over and imitate what happened in Berlin and Nice -- this is a phenomenon that we need to deal with."
[ABCNEWS.GO] In his first one-on-one television interview since being sworn in as the 45th president of the United States, President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... told ABC News anchor David Muir that Mexico would be paying for the proposed border wall and that negotiations between the two nations would begin "relatively soon."
"Ultimately, it will come out of what's happening with Mexico ... and we will be in a form reimbursed by Mexico, which I've always said," Trump said.
During the interview, which took place at the White House this morning, Trump said that Mexico would pay the U.S. back "100 percent."
He confirmed that U.S. taxpayer dollars would be used to start the construction but said reimbursement would follow.
"All it is, is we'll be reimbursed at a later date from whatever transaction we make from Mexico," he said. "I'm just telling you there will be a payment. It will be in a form, perhaps a complicated form. What I'm doing is good for the United States. It's also going to be good for Mexico. We want to have a very stable, very solid Mexico."
When asked about the start of construction, Trump said it would happen in "months."
"As soon as we can, as soon as we can physically do it," he said. "I would say in months, yeah. I would say in months -- certainly planning is starting immediately."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/26/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Already have it in San Diego County and it really cut down Illegal Immigration. Next up? Nationwide E-Verify crackdown
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/26/2017 11:39 Comments ||
Top||
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.
