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Police Make Arrest in 2003 Case of Grooming Gang Victim Believed Ground Up and Sold as Kebab Meat
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 2: WoT Background
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3 18:35 ed in texas [2]
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5 18:05 Seeking cure for ignorance [1]
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Page 4: Opinion
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16 17:39 Secret Master [2]
Page 6: Politix
6 23:20 Elmerert Hupens2660 [1]
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4 18:34 Seeking cure for ignorance [1]
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7 18:17 SteveS [1]
10 21:16 CrazyFool [3]
2 08:47 JohnQC []
-Land of the Free
House passes bill for The Wall
[WashingtonPost] The House passed a $788 billion spending bill Thursday that combines a $1.6 billion down payment for President Donald Trump’s controversial border wall with Mexico with a whopping budget increase for the Pentagon.

The 235-192 vote both eases a large backlog of unfinished spending bills and gives Trump and his House GOP allies political wins heading into the August recess. Challenging hurdles remain in front of the measure, however, which will meet with more powerful Democratic opposition in the Senate.

The 326-page measure would make good on longtime GOP promises to reverse an erosion in military readiness. It would give veterans programs a 5 percent increase and fund a 2.4 percent military pay raise.

GOP leaders used the popularity of the Pentagon and veterans programs to power through Trump’s border wall.

“Every single dime the President requested to start building a wall on our southern border he’s going to get,” said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. “Most importantly, we’re sending more to the VA to fix veterans’ health care and reform outdated VA systems.”

Still, a potential government shutdown battle over the U.S.-Mexico wall looms with Senate Democrats this fall. The generous defense spending increases also run afoul of strict spending limits set by an earlier budget law, and there’s been no progress on a bipartisan budget deal that would be a prerequisite for the higher spending to take full effect.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/03/2017 02:38 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Long time coming. Wasn't this already passed under the George W. administration.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/03/2017 10:08 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Trump Says U.S.‘Losing' Afghan War in Tense Meeting With Generals
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 08/03/2017 04:10 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There is something childish about Trump: he sees that the king is naked.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/03/2017 11:08 Comments || Top||

#2  We aren't "losing the war". Our military just isn't designed to "build a nation" out of a sprawling wilderness of remote mountain valleys inhabited by warring, mutually-hostile tribes full of illiterate 6th Century barbarians. It's a fool's errand, and Trump should have the sense to withdraw and leave the place to its own fate.
Posted by: Lone Ranger || 08/03/2017 12:14 Comments || Top||

#3  The Afghanistan war is still America's and the West's reaction to a massive attack on Western centers of gravity, even if Western leadership seems to have forgotten about this.

The Afghanistan war is globally undermining and eroding Western credibility and Western deterrence as it puts on display Western masochism for a global audience which isn't friendly.

Since October of 2001, when Powell publicly walked back Bush's post 9/11 intent to let the terror supporting Taliban share in the terrorists' fate US policy on 9/11 and Afghanistan has been objectively self-contradictory.

Provocative masochism has consequences. The North Koreans and Chinese have clearly made the strategic decision to regard US threats as empty posturing.

Thus the price for 'success' in Afghanistan may include a WMD war with North Korea, war in Europe and a big war in East Asia.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 08/03/2017 14:29 Comments || Top||

#4  Here are just two examples of ludicrous Western self abasement in Afghanistan put on display for a global audience.

Korans Burnt at Bagram AFB, Afghanistan - Gen John Allen Statement Kabul

NATO in Afghanistan - Petraeus & Sedwill Statement on Burning Holy Qur'An

Watching this, what are the conclusions that Kim Jon Un, Xi Jinping, Putin et al will arrive at?

Will they be more or less likely to take Western warnings seriously?

This madness may or may not save lives in Afghanistan but it increases the risk of disastrous conflicts elsewhere.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 08/03/2017 14:44 Comments || Top||


Taliban rejects Herat mosque bombing as casualties toll climbs to 93 people
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Taliban
...Arabic for students...
group in Afghanistan has rejected role in a deadly suicide kaboom on a mosque in western Herat
...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns...
province of Afghanistan.

A front man of the group Qari Yousuf Ahmadi has said the group has links with the attack on Jawadia mosque in Herat city.

The local officials are saying that the corpse count from the deadly attack has climbed to at least 29 people while 64 others are maimed.

Provincial governor’s front man Jilani Farhad said the attack was carried out by two jacket wallahs who initially started spraying the prayer participants with bullets before detonating their explosives.

The attack on the mosque sparked furor among the local residents who also started to attack a check post located close to an area where the incident took place.

Posted by: Fred || 08/03/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Hekmatyar compares Taliban-led insurgency to devil acts, illegitimate war
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The leader of Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
... who used to be known in intelligence circles as The Most Evil Man in the World but who now seems merely run-of-the-mill evil...
has once again renewed his bitter stance against the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
-led insurgency, comparing it to devil acts while branding it an illegitimate war.

Speaking during a gathering in Kabul on Tuesday Hekmatyar said the Taliban group is waging war and insurgency on the instructions of the outsiders.

Pointing towards Taliban’s violence, Hekmatyar said all those who pursue violence are cruel. Their stance and the approach they have adopted is illegitimate and their targets are inhumane and are having devil motives.

He once again called on the Taliban group to adopt a peaceful approach rather insurgency and participate in peace talks.

This is not the first time the leader of Hezb-e-Islami has harshly criticized the Taliban group for their insurgency but on numerous occasions he has condemned the war and violence led by the group.

Hekmatyar had earlier said foreigners are seeking their personal interests with the persistent violence and war in the country, insisting that the recent bombings were planned outside the country and no Afghan or a Moslem would carry out such attacks.

Posted by: Fred || 08/03/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hizb-i-Islami-Hekmatyar


Africa North
Haftar orders bombing of Italian warships requested by Sarraj
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Libyan commander General Khalifa Haftar
... served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all...
, head of the Libyan National Army, has ordered the bombing of any Italian warships requested by the prime minister of the Government of National Accord of Libya Fayez al-Sarraj, excluding merchant vessels.

This comes after the government of national accord announced the arrival of the Italian navy ship ’Commandante Prozini’ on Wednesday.

On board the Italian ship was a group of experts in various fields en route to the naval base of Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
to assist the Libyan navy and Coast Guard in combating illegal immigrants colonists within Libyan territorial waters, off the coast of Tripoli.

Sarraj had asked Rome to assist the authorities in Tripoli to stop illegal immigration through Libya’s territorial waters.

This act has angered a number of Libyan activists who considered the move a "violation of Libyan illusory sovereignty."

Posted by: Fred || 08/03/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Soooo... Sarraj asked for Italian assistance and now Haftar is threatening to bomb the ships if Sarraj orders it? WTF?
Posted by: Frank G || 08/03/2017 13:43 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Houthi militias loot $2.5 billion in staff salaries
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] August marks the passing of one year since the Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...
militias in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
stopped paying the salaries of more than 1.2 million civil employees in the civil and military sectors.

As per the state budget for 2014 (the latest public budget prepared in Yemen), the monthly salaries paid reach YR 80 billion (equivalent to $216 million), which means, the total of the sum looted by Houthi militias during the past 12 months amounted to 960 billion Yemeni riyals.

This sum is equivalent to two billion and 592 million dollars, (one dollar equals 360 riyals) at the moment.

During the past month of Ramadan, the government of the coup in Sanaa evaded the demands of employees through the issuing of what is known as the ration book, which was a deceitful maneuver.

The ration book offered a value equivalent to half a salary for one or two months to be received by the employees in the form of goods or food supplies and through certain contracted commercial companies.

Hundreds of thousands of employees were forced to purchase goods with exaggerated prices. These difference in prices found its way into the pockets of militia leaders and supervisors.

The Government of Yemen agreed to a UN proposal; the UN Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed referred to as a solution that would guarantee payment of salaries if implemented.

However,
there's more than one way to skin a cat...
observers rule out that the Houthi militias would agree to supply revenues from their areas of control to a neutral institution to keep this tragic situation on going and plunder hundreds of millions of dollars.
Posted by: Fred || 08/03/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  I would not think the riyal is worth anything at all considering it's a failed state
Posted by: chris || 08/03/2017 12:59 Comments || Top||


Europe
Nation’s Leading Broadsheet: ‘Culture of Tolerance’ Is Destroying Germany
Was Ahmed A's attack a tipping point? Not long ago such an editorial could not have been published.
[Breitbart] Writing after the latest deadly knife attack by an Islamist migrant who, it has been revealed, was known to authorities, veteran journalist Dirk Schumer has said Germany’s ’culture of tolerance’ leaves the nation defenceless against those who would do it harm.

"As long as a culture of tolerance is held above the law in Germany, the country will continue to see murderous acts like the one just seen in Hamburg," he writes in bestselling broadsheet Die Welt, referring to a supermarket attack by a Paleostinian undocumented Democrat who killed one and injured several more.

The prize-winning journalist notes that a large proportion of people working in politics, the judiciary, the media, NGOs, and the Church hold the view that migrants colonists who make it to Germany "should be allowed to remain, at any cost".

For this reason, he said the country is effectively operating without any border controls, and so the police and intelligence services have been overwhelmed with an unmanageable volume of "threats" to monitor.

Hamburg attacker Ahmad A -- who is said to have been radicalised at an unruly migrant shelter known as a hotbed of Islamic extremism -- was on the lam in Germany despite a terror investigation active being against him, the rejection of his asylum claim, and an enthusiastic willingness to be returned to Gazoo.

Noting similarities between the Paleostinian attacker and the Tunisian terrorist who struck a Christmas market in Berlin last December, Schumer blasted portions of society which he said are making it impossible to deport criminals and migrants colonists who have no right to remain in Germany.

"According to the left wing coalition which governs Berlin, there should not be any deportations taking place at all," he wrote, adding: "Meanwhile,
...back at the pie fight, Bella grabbed the cocoanut cream...
migrants colonists who have no success with the authorities in their quest to gain asylum are given sanctuary by the church instead.

"And in the case of every instance of deportation the authorities plan, aid groups organise civil resistance against it, with the goal of postponing and putting a stop to the expulsion of any migrant no matter how delinquent, and to even the safest countries."

The prize-winning journalist also took aim at politicians, who he accused of constantly seeking to expand the circumstances under which migrants colonists are entitled to protection, writing, with incredulity: "In the meantime, the government is discussing how Germany should acknowledge flight from poverty, and climate change, as legitimate grounds for asylum.

"It is therefore no wonder that even self-declared snuffies who fought for the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
also enjoy the right to stay in Germany, on humanitarian grounds," concludes Schumer, holding Germany’s ’culture of tolerance’ responsible for terror attacks which could have been avoided.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/03/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  Well duh the destruction of Germany is the whole idea here. How does he not know this?
Posted by: Harcourt Angoluting9366 || 08/03/2017 1:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Check Fire. The destruction is of Europe for both Russias plunder and less to mess with for the globalists.

A world full of ignorant moslem leftists is a Tyrants dream.

What is easier to control than a rolling contradiction? Or no accountability to such a faith of no faith?
Posted by: newc || 08/03/2017 3:05 Comments || Top||

#3  Mohamed Elmouelhy explains multiculturalism. Are there any other questions ?

Australia’s Halal Chief Says White Women Need To Be Fertilized By Muslim Men

Mohamed Elmouelhy, the head of Australia’s Halal Certification Authority, publicly commented on Facebook to state that white Australian women need Muslim men to fertilize them and “keep them surrounded by Muslim babies.”

Elmouelhy’s intolerant views led him to declare that the “white race will be extinct” in 40 years.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/03/2017 4:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Australia’s Halal Chief Says White Women Need To Be Fertilized By Muslim Men

Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/03/2017 5:55 Comments || Top||


Italy begins naval mission to help Libya curb migrant flows
[AlAhram] Italia began a limited naval mission on Wednesday to help Libya's coastguard curb migrant flows, which have become a source of political friction ahead of national elections expected early next year.

An Italian patrol boat entered Libyan waters and headed towards the port of Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
within minutes of a vote in Italia's parliament authorising the deployment. A second vessel was expected to join it in the coming days.

Italia announced the operation last week, saying it had been requested by Libya's U.N.-backed government. It initially hoped to send six ships into Libyan territorial waters, but the plans had to be scaled back following protests from Tripoli.

"(We will) provide logistical, technical and operational support for Libyan naval vessels, helping them and supporting them in shared and coordinated actions," Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti said ahead of Wednesday's vote.

"There will be no harm done or slight given to Libyan illusory sovereignty, because, if anything, our aim is to strengthen Libyan illusory sovereignty," she told parliament, stressing that Italia had no intention of imposing a blockade on Libya's coast.

In Tripoli, a poster of resistance hero Omar al-Mukhtar, who battled Italian rule in Libya in the 1920s, was hung over the capital's main square with the inscription "No to a return to colonization".

Italia's lower house voted by 328 to 113 in favour of the mission, while the upper house voted by 191 to 47.

After a surge in migrant arrivals from Libya at the start of the year, the numbers of newcomers has slowed and the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday that 95,215 people had reached Italia so far in 2017, down 2.7 percent on the same period in 2016.

Some 2,230 migrants colonists, most of them Africans fleeing poverty and violence back home, died in the first seven months of 2017 trying to make the sea crossing.

The Human Rights Watch group said Italia's move may endanger migrants colonists. "After years of saving lives at sea, Italia is preparing to help Libyan forces who are known to detain people in conditions that expose them to a real risk of torture, sexual violence, and forced labour," HRW said in a statement.

Elections Ahead
Almost 600,000 migrants colonists have arrived in Italia over the past four years, putting Italia's network of reception centres under huge strain and causing increasing political tensions.

Italia is due to hold national elections by next May, with voting widely expected in early 2018, and the migrant issue is expected to top the political agenda. Rightist parties accuse the centre-left government of doing nothing to halt the influx.

"The (migrant boats) will not be being pushed back to the Libyan shore so we don't understand what we are going to be doing there," Giancarlo Giorgetti, deputy head of the opposition Northern League party, told news hounds in parliament.

Italia hopes the Libyan coastguard can help prevent flimsy migrant boats from putting to sea and has been at the forefront of efforts to make the small force more effective, training its members and upgrading its fleet.

Rome has also put pressure on non-governmental organizations which have playing an increasingly important role in picking up migrants colonists off the Libyan coast and bringing them to Italia.

The government has introduced a code of conduct for the NGOs and has demanded that armed police travel on their boats to help root out eventual people smugglers. Only three out of eight humanitarian groups operating in the southern Mediterranean agreed this week to the Italian terms.

A boat operated by German NGO Jugend Rettet, one of the five groups that did not sign up, was seized by the Italian coastguard on Wednesday on the order of Sicilian magistrates on suspicion it had aided illegal immigration.

There was no immediate comment from Jugend Rettet.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/03/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  Good luck not getting bombed.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/03/2017 1:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Carthago delenda est
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 08/03/2017 11:39 Comments || Top||


Every summer, Spain hosts annual exodus to north Africa
[AlAhram] It's the largest annual human migration in Europe: millions of people from La Belle France, Belgium and Italia cross Spain every summer to spend their holidays with family in north Africa.

This year, close to three million are expected to make the trip there and back through 16 ports in Spain, Morocco and Algeria in an exodus that presents a huge logistical challenge.

In 2016, Spain's civil protection agency registered 2.8 million passengers crossing the country, and it expects even more to make the trip this year.

As a result, some 13,000 coppers have been mobilised on the Spanish side, along with translators and Red Thingy volunteers.

Said Arrhamani, who lives in La Belle France's northeastern Ardennes region, knows the route off by heart, having done it since he was a kid when his family would spend their summer holidays in Rabat in Morocco. It's now his turn to drive his four young children more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) down to the port of Algeciras in Spain's south, through which more than half of those crossing the country transit.

"Thirty years ago, this was pretty unhealthy," says the 36-year-old in the port where a hectic atmosphere reigns, with cars, trucks and buses filling all available parking spaces, waiting to board ferries.

"We could wait two days before boarding, and there were traffic jams that reached the outskirts of Algeciras.

"Now there are agents who speak to us in French and guide us until the end."

As drivers approach southern Spain, road signs also appear in Arabic giving directions to the ports.

At the Algeciras port, most cars -- some modest, others expensive -- are filled with clothes, food, nappies and blankets. While some holidaymakers eat and chat, others sleep inside their car or lie down on carpets in the shade, and still more smoke hookah pipes. Children play football nearby.

"We left Nice (in southeastern La Belle France) yesterday at nine at night, and we arrived this afternoon," says Karima Bel Hafout, travelling to Rabat via Tangier with her husband and two children. "It's close to 2,000 kilometres, but we save 2,700 euros ($3,200) compared to taking the plane."

Others have taken the bus, and arrive even more tired.

"I've done my back in trying to sleep," says Hamid Hafid, with a mix of resignation and humour, having come from Agen in southern La Belle France.

"It's hard and long," adds his friend Said Khadrouf, drinking from his water bottle.

After spending time back home, they will all go back north again in August and the first half of September under the watchful eye of Spanish security agents. To avoid illegal immigration and fearing bad boy attacks, agents from 16 other European countries have been mobilised to work with officers in Spain. Last year, they checked 1.6 million passengers, Spanish police said.

Manuel Alcazar, the port's chief of protection, says all this activity takes its toll on the port, one of the biggest in Europe.

Sitting in front of a high-definition screen in his office, where he examines the footage of close to 700 security cameras, he explains that on peak days, authorities give priority to passengers. This, however, means that the loading of trucks carrying merchandise goes slower. And this is an important part of the activity of a port which deals with merchandise from Spanish textiles group Inditex, spare parts for car-maker Renault, which has a factory in Tangier, agricultural products and seafood.

But for shipping companies, the annual exodus is good for business, particularly for those who operate in the Strait of Gibraltar -- they make 40 percent of their annual turnover between mid-June and mid-September.

The mass migration wave also creates temporary jobs in Algeciras, a city of 120,000, where 28,000 direct and indirect posts depend on the port. Among these are more than 200 young people wearing fluorescent yellow shirts who help direct the traffic and count the vehicles with the help of smartphones.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/03/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  close to three million are expected to make the trip there and back

Not good news for an already broken Europe.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/03/2017 0:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Or for the migratory support.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/03/2017 1:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Don't let them return. Problem solved.
Posted by: Hupeart Thaitch2372 || 08/03/2017 21:08 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Key coup suspect denies allegations on 2nd day of Akinci trials
[Hurriyet Daily News] The key suspect in the case on the events at the Akinci Air Base, considered to be the commanding center of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
’s July 2016 coup attempt, has denied all allegations during his defense on the second day of the trademark trial.

The Ankara 4th High Criminal Court continued hearings on events at the base, from which warplanes took off to bomb parliament and other key state offices, killing 77 people.

On the second day, the court board started to hear the statements of 486 suspects including Fethullah Gulen
... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world...
, the U.S.-based Islamic preacher who is accused of criminal masterminding the coup attempt, and civilians Adil Öksuz, Kemal Batmaz, Harun Binis, Nurettin Oruc and Hakan Cicek, who are accused of being the leaders of Gulen network in key state offices.

Batmaz, the first suspect to give a statement, denied all allegations.

"I have never been a part of this organization. I deny all the allegations," he said.

Described by prosecutors as the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization’s (FETÖ) "civil imam" (or leader), Batmaz is accused of coordinating the coup attempt with Öksuz, accused of being the other civilian leader within the Air Forces.

The indictment also included video footage depicting Batmaz and Öksuz at Istanbul Airport, allegedly heading to the U.S., where he is accused of contacting Gulen.

"I have seen Öksuz with his brother-in-law Abdulhadi Yildirim couple of times. For this reason we might have said ’Hello’ to each other couple of times because we encountered each other several times. We have bowing acquintance. It does not mean that I know him," Batmaz said.

Batmaz said the video footage at the airport is a "coincidence," adding that he travelled to the U.S. for business purposes.

"I have neither gone to Pennsylvania nor have I ever had contact [with Gulen]. The idea of receiving an instruction is out of the question. The only connection I have is the fact that I worked in their companies," he said.

"I could not have been given orders. The fact that I was abroad during the meetings that allegedly took place in Ankara [to plan the coup] is evidence of this," he added.

The indictment also included a video obtained from security cameras at the Akinci Air Base allegedly depicting former commander Hakan Evrim making a formal military salute to Batmaz. However,
by candlelight every wench is handsome...
Batmaz denied that the person in the footage was him.

Batmaz and Binis were caught on the coup night near the Akinci Air Base, which he said they had come to while "looking for real estate."
Posted by: Fred || 08/03/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Turkey replaces land, air, naval forces commanders
That'll make the Turkish military more effective, fer shure.
[DAWN] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
on Wednesday replaced the land, air and naval commanders of the military, in a major shake-up of the armed forces just over a year after a failed coup bid.

The decision from the nation's top armed forces body ─ now dominated by ministers rather than the military ─ marked another step in the growing control of the government over the once all-powerful Ottoman Turkish armed forces.

The Supreme Military Council (YAS) decided to remove land forces commander General Salih Zeki Colak, naval chief Admiral Bulent Bostanoglu and air force commander General Abidin Unal, presidential front man Ibrahim Kalin said.

Colak will be replaced by General Yasar Guler, currently head of the gendarmerie and former deputy chief of staff, Kalin told news hounds in Ankara.

Bostanoglu will be replaced by Vice Admiral Adnan Ozbal and General Hasan Kucukakyuz would replace Unal as air force commander, he said.

Posted by: Fred || 08/03/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Iraq
Video: IS fighter with ‘British’ accent threatens Donald Trump of terror attacks in US
Ooooohhhhh, scary.
[Iraq News] A young murderous Moslem belonging to the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(IS) terror group, with a suspected British accent, has threatened US 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...
and warned of new attacks, according to UK’s Mirror newspaper.

The young murderous Moslem appeared in a short video where he pledged further violence.

"You may have your eyes on Raqqa and djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
but we have our eyes on Constantinople [Istanbul] and Rome," he said. "We will slaughter you in your own houses," he added.

The Mirror said that it is believed the video was recorded in Raqqa, which served as ISIS’ de facto capital after Lions of Islam seized the city in 2013.
Posted by: Fred || 08/03/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Love the videos, especially when they're agitated. Easier to render into vectors for recognition software.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/03/2017 3:01 Comments || Top||

#2  with a suspected British accent

A Canadian?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/03/2017 7:09 Comments || Top||

#3  No rant about Nutella, but did stick the blast at the end. Solid 6/10.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 08/03/2017 18:18 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel builds new stretch of barrier along southern West Bank
[IsraelTimes] Defense ministry says another 42-kilometer section of security barrier completed

The Israeli defense ministry said Wednesday it has completed a further 42-kilometer (26-mile) stretch of its contentious West Bank security barrier.

"The defense ministry this morning installed the final concrete walls, completing a 42-kilometer wall between Tarkumia and Meitar," it said in a statement, referring to the Paleostinian village of Tarkumia, northwest of Hebron, and an Israeli crossing adjacent to the settlement of Meitar, further south.

It did not say how much of the planned 712-kilometer network of towering concrete walls, barbed-wire fences, trenches and closed military roads was now complete.

A ministry spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for the information.

Based on UN figures published before Wednesday’s announcement, about 214 kilometers remains to be built.

Israel says the barrier, which it began building after a wave of Paleostinian terror attacks in 2002, is crucial for its security, while Paleostinians see it as a land grab of territory they want for a future state.

Much of the barrier cuts into the West Bank.

In a non-binding decision, the International Court of Justice ruled in 2004 that construction of the barrier was illegal and, like the UN General Assembly, demanded it be dismantled.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last March ordered that a gap in the barrier in the Tarkumia area be closed as a priority after a spike of Paleostinian attacks inside Israel.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/03/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I wonder how our wall is doing?
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/03/2017 2:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Notice the Israelis did not ask for anyone elses opinion nor gave a a damn if one was given.
Posted by: chris || 08/03/2017 12:56 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian Refugees Refuse Deal to Return Home from Lebanon
[Breitbart] Tens of thousands of Syrian refugees living along the eastern border of Leb have refused a deal that would have allowed them to return home, citing the miserable and dangerous conditions that persist in their country of origin.

"Khaled Raad, a member of the refugees’ Coordination Committee with the Lebanese government, says the vast majority of the refugees in Leb’s Arsal border region will not accept to return to Syria, for fear of war, hardship, and oppressive jihadist rule," reported the News Agency that Dare Not be Named on Tuesday.

The AP cites United Nations
...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly...
estimates of about 51,000 Syrian refugees in Leb. Evidently, many of them will be hanging back while 9,000 al-Qaeda prisoners of war are sent back to Syria in a prisoner swap arranged with Lebanese Hezbollah. The trade was supposed to happen on Monday, but it was delayed due to logistical problems encountered while arranging the necessary transportation--or, according to some reports, by al-Qaeda making new demands at the last minute.

The prisoner deal was intended to allow civilian refugees to return to Syria as well, clearing Syrians out of Leb while Hezbollah works with the Syrian army to drive rebel forces away from the border region. The refugees may have felt nervous about riding home on the same buses as the jihadis who threaten their lives. Also, Syrians opposed to the Assad regime have learned to be wary of relocation arrangements that leave them all sitting in one place, exposed to Arclight airstrikes and artillery.

Another News Agency that Dare Not be Named report quotes a Syrian who explains that Leb is preferable to Syria, even with all of the restrictions placed on refugees by the Lebanese government, saying, "There are people who say Idlib is going to become a second djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, and I would rather stay in Leb and go to prison than move there. Those who are staying are unhappy, and those who are leaving are also unhappy."

In other words, he is saying the Idlib province in Syria will become a terrorist stronghold akin to the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
’s Iraqi capital of Mosul, which had to be bombed to smithereens in order to liberate it. On a more optimistic note, the AP reports that refugees hope their treatment in Leb will improve once the bully boyz and jihadis have been shipped home.

The United Nations Human Rights Council has expressed reservations about the deal between Hezbollah and al-Qaeda, worried that "conditions for refugees to return in safety and dignity are not yet in place."

On Monday, actor George Clooney and his wife Amal, with support from Google and HP Inc., announced a $3.25 million donation to help UNICEF and the Lebanese ministry of education provide schools for Syrian refugee children in Leb.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/03/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


HTS jihadists in east Damascus offer to dissolve into ‘moderate’ rebel ranks
[ALMASDARNEWS] The leadership for Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Damascus’ East Ghouta region has published a statement saying that the local jihadist chapter was ready to disband itself and allow its fighters to be merged into the ranks of other myrmidon groups for the purposes of creating a combined operations room.

The one condition for doing this, HTS stated, was that all other myrmidon groups in eastern Damascus had to be willing to dissolve themselves as well.

This offer comes after recent news about East Ghouta’s Faylaq al-Rahman faction asking HTS to withdraw from areas it controlled close to their own territory. The reason for this was that Russian had offered ‐ as part of a new ceasefire deal ‐ to end all airstikes against Faylaq al-Rahman if it could separate its ranks from the ranks of HTS (which is an internationally-designated terrorist organization).
Posted by: Fred || 08/03/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra


Syrian Army holds parade in Qamishli, shows off military power to rival Kurds
[ALMASDARNEWS] Tanks and armored vehicles patrolled Qamishli on Wednesday afternoon as the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) sent a clear message to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that government troops refuse to tolerate the establishment of Rojava, a self-proclaimed Kurdish federation spanning across much of northern Syria.

Although cut off from the government mainland, the SAA’s Qamishli garrison proved itself a force to be reckoned with today, posing in front of the cameras for a festive rare parade.
Posted by: Fred || 08/03/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Senior Hamas leader spotted in Beirut for first time since Qatar expulsion
[IsraelTimes] Photos show Saleh al-Arouri discussing ’resistance’ against Israel in meeting with senior Iranian official

A senior Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", terrorist believed by Israel to have planned the 2014 kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens in the West Bank was spotted publicly in Leb’s capital Beirut for the first time since he was expelled from Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates...
in June.

In photos published Wednesday, Saleh al-Arouri can be seen meeting with senior Iranian official Hossein Amir Abdollahian -- a former deputy foreign minister -- and a number of other members of Hamas, among them senior front man Osama Hamdan and the terror group’s representative in Leb, Ali Barka.

Also present at the meeting was Ramadan Abdullah Shalah, the head of the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
terror group.

During the meeting, the participants discussed continued "resistance" against Israel and the recent tensions surrounding the Temple Mount following the July 14 terror attack at the holy site, Iran’s IRNA news agency reported.

After his expulsion from Qatar in June, al-Arouri moved to Leb, where he is being hosted by the Hezbollah terror group in its Dahieh stronghold in southern Beirut, Channel 2 reported last month.

Citing Paleostinian sources, the report said that Arouri and two other senior Hamas figures have relocated to the Hezbollah-dominated neighborhood in the Lebanese capital, an area heavily protected with checkpoints on every access road.

During a meeting with visiting American UN Ambassador Nikki Haley
...first woman to serve as Governor of South Carolina, and the second Indian-American governor in the country, after Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. At the age of 39, Haley is the youngest current governor in the U.S., a distinction formerly held by Jindal. She is a Republican, which really grates on the Dems...
, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman alleged that Arouri has also been attempting "to boost the relationship between Hamas and Hezbollah," the Shiite Lebanese militia, "under an Iranian umbrella, and with the assistance of the Revolutionary Guards and [its leader] Qassem Soleimani," according to a statement from the Defense Ministry.

Qatari officials have reportedly apologized for having to expel Hamas officials, but said it came as a result of "external pressures."
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/03/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  How could you tell, was he wearing a burka?
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/03/2017 10:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Someone checked under his burka and saw dangling bits?
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance || 08/03/2017 14:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Where's the paparazzi when you need them?
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/03/2017 15:51 Comments || Top||

#4  How could you tell, was he wearing a burka?

There's a professional photo of Mr. al-Arouri and the Iranian in question at the link, gentlemen. Enjoy!
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/03/2017 19:17 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Pew Research: U.S. Muslims Worried by Trump, Concerned About Place in Society
[US News] The majority of America's Muslims say they are worried by U.S. President Donald Trump and harbor a great concern about their place in U.S. society.

Still, new data suggests most are holding on to their belief in the American dream.

The latest survey of Muslims in America from the Pew Research Center finds 68 percent of U.S. Muslims say Trump makes them feel worried, compared to 60 percent of the general public that said it feels the same. Just more than a quarter of the those surveyed said the president makes them hopeful, and even less say Trump makes them happy.

About 3 in 4 Muslims told surveyors that Trump is unfriendly toward the religious group ‐ a noticeable shift from 2011, when only 27 percent of Muslims in the U.S. said former President Barack Obama was unfriendly toward them.

The worry fits into a wider sense of uncertainty among members of the religious group, two-thirds of whom said they perceive "a lot of discrimination" against Muslims in America.

Half of America's Muslims said being Muslim in the U.S. has gotten more difficult in recent years, a number that has remained fairly constant over the past 10 years, according to Pew.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/03/2017 08:13 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  Having visited many, I would be equally as "concerned" about my "place" in Yemen, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Pakistan, but perhaps I simply don't BELONG there.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/03/2017 8:20 Comments || Top||

#2  And THEY, simply don't BELONG here!
Posted by: Solomon Bourbon2853 || 08/03/2017 8:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Take this Newt!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/03/2017 8:37 Comments || Top||

#4  The majority of America's Muslims say they are worried by U.S. President Donald Trump and harbor a great concern about their place in U.S. society.

We don't want to be overrun by Muslims in this country. We don't want to be dictated to. Those who are already here, shouldn't have to worry about their place in American society if they assimilate and obey our laws.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/03/2017 8:50 Comments || Top||

#5  I don't really care about their mythological fantasy world until it intrudes on my own.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/03/2017 9:58 Comments || Top||

#6  The purpose of polls is to publish a conclusion already determined. Notice they never publish the questions nor where they asked them.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 08/03/2017 10:38 Comments || Top||

#7  Place in Society
Outside civilised lands.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/03/2017 11:00 Comments || Top||

#8  Should ask them what they think their place in society should be. Then we might discover they think their place is society is to rule over the rest of us. So if they're worried about that it's a good thing.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 08/03/2017 11:36 Comments || Top||

#9  You are filthy Blasphemers, your Doctrine is false, and I do not care about your feelings.
Posted by: newc || 08/03/2017 12:49 Comments || Top||

#10  You more should worry about your place in hell, because you are not going to the Mansion.
Posted by: newc || 08/03/2017 12:50 Comments || Top||

#11  more difficult in recent years
So they're admitting it's Obama's fault...
Posted by: Spot || 08/03/2017 14:53 Comments || Top||

#12  Spot, no, they were fine in a country run by a co-religionist. It was only when Trump stole the election from Hillary that they started to worry. /sarcasm
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 08/03/2017 15:02 Comments || Top||


Government
Border Wall Construction To Begin In Just A Few Months
[DailyCaller] Construction is set to begin in November, however, it was originally to begin in January. As WFAA reports, “construction on the wall was not expected to begin until January because Congress has yet to approve CBP’s budget.”

“However, CBP recently told a senior Fish and Wildlife Service official in Texas that the agency would shift funds to pay for the new segment out of its current budget,” WFAA adds.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/03/2017 02:55 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Homeland Security waives environmental rules for San Diego Border Wall
Posted by: Frank G || 08/03/2017 10:53 Comments || Top||

#2  I just hope the use the right kind of sand.
Posted by: SteveS || 08/03/2017 18:15 Comments || Top||


Trump to waive environmental rules to construct border wall
The Washington Post environmental columnist clearly considers this a bad thing.
[WashingtonPost] The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Tuesday that it will use its authority under a George W. Bush-era law to bypass environmental rules in order to construct a section of President Trump's promised border wall.

The announcement underscores the commitment from DHS -- now without a permanent leader after John Kelly's ascended to become White House chief of staff -- and theTrump administration more broadly making good on the president's signature campaign promise, despite not yet having a plan for the wall in place nor funding for its construction approved by Congress (though that is in the pipeline).

DHS issued the environmental waiver for a 15-mile stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border near San Diego, starting at the Pacific Ocean and extending eastward, that the department describes as one of the busiest for illicit border crossings.

"The sector remains an area of high illegal entry for which there is an immediate need to improve current infrastructure and construct additional border barriers and roads," DHS said in a statement.

Under normal circumstances, a federal agency must complete an environmental impact study before beginning a major infrastructure project on public land. But a 2005 law grants the federal government broad authority to waive such environmental examinations and other legal requirements in order to expeditiously build a border barrier. Michael Chertoff, homeland security secretary under Bush, used the waiver five times, the department said.

In this case, the waiver will be used to construct prototype walls, along with roads and other infrastructure, called for in a January executive order signed by President Trump.

Brian Segee, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said his organization "will definitely pursue any judicial avenues we have available to us however limited they may be."

The center — along with Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), ranking member on the House Natural Resources Committee — sued the Trump administration last month for failing to analyze the environmental impact of erecting a wall that they say will slice ecosystems in half. Last week, House Republicans approved a $1.6 billion down payment on the border wall over the objections of Democrats.

Segee admits that Congress has granted DHS sweeping authority.

"It's an uphill battle," he said. "It's a broad waiver." He added the center will review its options once DHS's decision is officially published in the Federal Register.

-- By the numbers: Respondents to a new Pew survey of people around the world collectively finger the Islamic State and climate change as the top two global threats.

Concern over the two issues are practically neck-and-neck: 62 percent of people around the world said the terrorist group is among the major threats to world stability while 61 percent said the same of climate change.

There's relatively less concern about climate change in the United States: Only 56 percent (still a majority) of U.S. residents consider climate change a top global threat. But the partisan divide on the issue is vast. The survey found that 86 percent of left-leaning respondents in the United States were concerned about climate change while only 31 percent of right-leaning respondents felt the same way.

-- Elizabeth Southerland, a 30-year veteran of the Environmental Protection Agency, becomes the latest in a series of federal employees who have publicly resigned over Trump environmental policies. She left her post as the director of the science and technology in the EPA’s Office of Water.

Her announcement follows Interior Department scientist Joel Clement, who wrote in an op-ed in The Washington Post charging that the Trump administration reassigned him to another job for speaking out “about the dangers that climate change poses to Alaska Native communities.”
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/03/2017 02:40 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Political opposition using environmental handcuffs - won't stop the wall. National Security weighs supreme
Posted by: Frank G || 08/03/2017 10:55 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
29[untagged]
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1Hizb-i-Islami-Hekmatyar
1Houthis
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1al-Nusra
1Govt of Saudi Arabia
1Hamas

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

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

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2017-08-03
  Police Make Arrest in 2003 Case of Grooming Gang Victim Believed Ground Up and Sold as Kebab Meat
Wed 2017-08-02
  Gang who called themselves 'Musketeers' guilty of plotting UK bomb attack
Tue 2017-08-01
  IS claims attack on Iraq embassy in Kabul
Mon 2017-07-31
  Besieged IS mufti blows himself up in northern Baghdad
Sun 2017-07-30
  Four arrested in plot to bomb plane over Sydney
Sat 2017-07-29
  IS cuts ears of 23 elements who fled battles in Western Nineveh
Fri 2017-07-28
  Pakistan's prime minister removed amid corruption probe
Thu 2017-07-27
  Deadly truck bombing foiled in Kabul city
Wed 2017-07-26
  Wasserman Schultz’s IT Aide Arrested At Airport After Transferring $300k To Pakistan From House Office
Tue 2017-07-25
  Governor dismissed over AQAP ties
Mon 2017-07-24
  Suicide car bombing kills 24, wounds 42 in Afghan capital
Sun 2017-07-23
  Azhar opens fatwa kiosks in Cairo metro station to counter extremism
Sat 2017-07-22
  Rebel ambush kills 28 pro-govt fighters near Damascus
Fri 2017-07-21
  Ruthless Henchman® of top Abu Sayyaf leader falls
Thu 2017-07-20
  ISIS militants refuse to surrender in Marawi as Philippine Army unleashes final assault

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