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B/Haram: Shekau denies ceasefire
Today's Headlines
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3 15:57 Rob Crawford [3] 
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1 00:15 Thing From Snowy Mountain [1] 
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
FL State Attorney Corey fires IT expert and whistleblower Ben Kruidbos
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/14/2013 12:03 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Corey is corrupt. And there may be sanctions coming over information that she attempted to withhold, and which the IT guy exposed. That's why she fired him: vengance. This is a woman that brags about trying 13 year olds as adults and trying for life sentences for them, then turns around and tries to call 6'3 17 year old MTrayvon martin "just a child". FL Gove or AG should fire her for incompetence.
Posted by: OldSpook || 07/14/2013 13:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Wrongful Termination suit in 5...4...3..
Posted by: Frank G || 07/14/2013 13:56 Comments || Top||

#3  She should be disbarred.

And after that, something more Medieval should be considered.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 07/14/2013 15:56 Comments || Top||

#4  We should be anything but surprised. She is obviously taking directions from Holder's Department of Injustice.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/14/2013 17:25 Comments || Top||

#5  FL Gove or AG should fire her for incompetence.

They should. But they're all part of it.
Posted by: gorb || 07/14/2013 18:25 Comments || Top||

#6  I think she was originally a Republican appointee.
Posted by: Glenmore || 07/14/2013 18:46 Comments || Top||

#7  Violations of the oath of public office should include lying and any violations of that oath should be considered treason, punishable by death.
Posted by: Silentbrick - Schlumberger Squishy Mud Division || 07/14/2013 19:55 Comments || Top||


Chi: At least 8 wounded in overnight shootings
Shootings left at least 8 people on the South and West sides maimed overnight, according to police.

Three of the shootings happened between 4:50 and 5:40 a.m., police said.

A 60-year-old woman was shot in the chin about 4:50 a.m. in 4500 block of South Wolcott Avenue in the Back of the Yards neighborhood on the South Side. Police said she wasn't the target and are investigating whether she was stuck in crossfire between two shooters. She was taken to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, where her condition has stabilized.

About a half hour later, a 33-year-old man was shot in the left leg in the 1300 block of North Ridgeway Avenue in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on the West Side. He's at Stroger hospital, where his condition has stabilized.

A 17-year-old boy was shot about 5:35 a.m. in the 7200 block of South Halsted Street in Englewood on the South Side. Someone walked up and shot him in the upper part of his right arm, reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown
... home of Al Capone, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel,...
Police Department News Affairs Officer Jose Estrada said. He's in good condition at Saint Bernard Hospital and Healthcare Center.

Someone shot a 19-year-old woman about 3 a.m. in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side. She may have been maimed in an exchange of gunfire between two people in the 800 block of North Parkside Avenue, police said. She was hit in the shoulder and taken to an area hospital.

Two boys, 14 and 15, were shot about 11:55 p.m. in the 5900 block of South Laflin Avenue in Englewood and were taken to Stroger hospital. The boys were both shot in their legs and are both in good condition, News Affairs Officer Ron Gaines said.
Posted by: Fred || 07/14/2013 11:21 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Three of the shootings happened between 4:50 and 5:40 a.m., police said.

Right when these people were getting up to go to work. Damn shame
Posted by: Frank G || 07/14/2013 13:58 Comments || Top||

#2  "Sorry I'm late, boss. Got shot on the way to work."
"You used that excuse last week."
"But boss, this is Chicago!"
"Point taken. Now get to work."

Be interesting to plot killed & wounded in Chicago vs say, Karachi over time.
Posted by: SteveS || 07/14/2013 14:05 Comments || Top||

#3  Ah, but in Karachi the gangs are trying to take over the government. In Chicago, the gangs ARE the government.

(Capone's problem wasn't that he was a gangster, but that he wasn't paying enough tribute to the gang running the city.)
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 07/14/2013 15:57 Comments || Top||


George Zimmerman Found Not Guilty Of Murder In Trayvon Martin's Death
[CNN] George Zimmerman is not guilty of murder in the death of Trayvon Martin, a Florida jury decided late Saturday.

The fact that Zimmerman fired the bullet that killed Martin was never in question, but the verdict means the six-person jury had reasonable doubt that the shooting amounted to a criminal act.

The jury -- made up of all women -- had three choices: to find Zimmerman guilty of second-degree murder; to find him guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter; or to find him not guilty.

The jurors deliberated for 16½ hours total, including 13 on Saturday alone, before delivering their verdict.
Extensive details at the link.
Legal Insurrection (Andrew Branca and William Jacobson) and TalkLeft (Jeralyn Merritt) have been superb through the entire pre-trial and trial phases with excellent legal analysis. They offered information, review and critical thinking that the media certainly never provided.

With regard to Mr. Zimmerman's defense team, this is why you pay lawyers $400 an hour: they know what they're doing and have the backbone to stand up to pressure.

And with regard to the state: this never should have gone to trial, and never would have if Mr. Martin and Mr. Zimmerman had been of the same race.
Posted by: || 07/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Meanwhile, dozens die each month in the tribal drug wars of Chicago. No one says much of anything, least of all the MSM, Jackson, or Sharpton. Like employment, promotion, speech, and college entrance, the hypocrisy and double standard of the protected classes are now accepted with little more than a shrug.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/14/2013 1:33 Comments || Top||

#2  never would have if Mr. Martin and Mr. Zimmerman had been of the same race.

Or if Zimmerman's surname was more latino rather than german/jewish.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/14/2013 4:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Expect a lot of rioting and not-hate-crime attacks on whites?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/14/2013 4:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Jury showed some balls.
Posted by: KBK || 07/14/2013 7:10 Comments || Top||

#5  Angela Corey should be fired and debarred
Posted by: Frank G || 07/14/2013 7:50 Comments || Top||

#6  I fully expect the DoJ to bring "Civil Rights" charges against Zimmerman this week. Good politics on the left and a great news diversion for the regime. Of course I could be wrong. I predicted a hung jury and was wrong about that.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/14/2013 8:02 Comments || Top||

#7  And the police chief who was pushed out should be reinstated, too. And given a letter of apology. And the city manager should be fired.
Posted by: gorb || 07/14/2013 8:05 Comments || Top||

#8  Fox News just interviewed the City Mayor and asked him about the Chief of Police. The gutless mayor sidestepped the question saying "the Chief of Police" worked for the city manager" and that "new initiatives were now in place" ...yada, yada, yada, and we essentially just need to move along.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/14/2013 8:28 Comments || Top||

#9  besoaker,

There is no possibility of a federal civil right charge because Zimmerman was not a govt official (i'm presuming the home owner's association is not chartered but even it is was Zimmerman wasn't on a payroll).

I'm not sure about any state civil rights charge but I'm guessing against it.

see the beginning of section 242 of USC 18

Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or to different punishments, pains, or penalties, on account of such person being an alien, or by reason of his color, or race, than are prescribed for the punishment of citizens, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year...
Posted by: lord garth || 07/14/2013 9:46 Comments || Top||

#10  And yet we still have people insisting that Zimmerman hunted Thugvon (1) down and murdered him in cold blood because if his race.
And these people vote....

(1) His other name is trademarked by his ever-loving family. Besides this is a little more accurate.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 07/14/2013 9:48 Comments || Top||

#11  "There is no possibility of a federal civil right charge because Zimmerman was not a govt official"

Bah, LG.

That's just the law. What makes you think that will stop Holder's inJustice Dept.?
Posted by: Barbara || 07/14/2013 10:02 Comments || Top||

#12  While Mr. Holder could put forward civil rights violations if he wanted, there are two problems:

1) both Mr. Zimmerman and Mr. Martin are members of protected minority classes

2) the FBI previously reviewed the case and determined that there was no racial angle to it

That's going to make it hard to push a civil rights case. I would expect a defense lawyer (for Mr. Zimmerman) quoting the FBI report to a jury.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/14/2013 10:06 Comments || Top||

#13  Grom: it's funny but there's no rioting as of this morning. Apparently most Americans are smarter than the media and celebrities thought.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/14/2013 10:07 Comments || Top||

#14  #10, that's why I refer to him as "Tray-Tray", like using the pics from when he was 10 yrs old. You know, before he was a thug?
Posted by: Frank G || 07/14/2013 10:59 Comments || Top||

#15  Boy, did I call this one wrong. Verdict of not guilty, no riots except for a disturbance in Oakland (which I'm not sure is statistically distinguishable from any other Saturday night in Oakland). So much for *my* psychotic powers.

I'd still bet money on civil rights charges and some kind of civil liability since the standards are lower for that.
Posted by: SteveS || 07/14/2013 11:27 Comments || Top||

#16  Well Frank, the even more accurate 'ThugWannabeThatFailedVon' sounded a bit too long...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 07/14/2013 12:05 Comments || Top||

#17  I blame Dutch IT prosecution whistleblowers! Fire THEM ALL !
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/14/2013 12:11 Comments || Top||

#18  I wouldn't bet my money on a Civil Rights suit SteveS. The standards for guilty are lower, but much more is allowed into evidence as well I believe. Like Trayvon's past history, which wasn't allowed in the Trial.

Besides, the Martins have made a "killing" on their trademark of Trayvons name I'm sure.
Posted by: Charles || 07/14/2013 12:51 Comments || Top||

#19  Don't expect riots except where they have police state gun laws. I think the live like a thug, die like a thug lesson has been learned. Aaron Hernandez will be the next pupil.
Posted by: regular joe || 07/14/2013 12:53 Comments || Top||

#20  I like that Regular Joe,
heheh... would a t-shirt with Thugvon's picture on it and the words "Live like a thug. Die like a Thug" on it be racist?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 07/14/2013 13:22 Comments || Top||

#21  I wouldn't bet my money on a Civil Rights suit

A conviction might be a stretch, but simply bringing charges gets you a noisy public trial, with the associated expense and aggravation for Zimmerman, and keeps the racial grievance pot boiling. The media opportunities alone would be worth the price of admission. Even without the chance to fire up the base for 2014.
Posted by: SteveS || 07/14/2013 13:32 Comments || Top||

#22  Crazy Fool -

And these people vote....

Multiple times.
Posted by: Glenmore || 07/14/2013 13:40 Comments || Top||

#23  Steve, it's early yet.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/14/2013 13:57 Comments || Top||

#24  Live like a thug die like a thug is not meant to be racist... and Hernandez is one of those new fangled white Hispanics we have heard so much about during the run up to this show trial.
Posted by: regular joe || 07/14/2013 15:46 Comments || Top||

#25 
And these people vote....

Multiple times.


In a couple years, Trayvon will, too.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 07/14/2013 15:55 Comments || Top||

#26  @#10 There is actually a reasonable basis for trademarking your child's name in cases of murder and such. It prevents others from using the child's name to make a profit.
Posted by: Chantry || 07/14/2013 18:07 Comments || Top||

#27  I think the NAACP said it wants prosecution under the Hate crime act (that section 249 of USC 18).

that's a problem because Holder would have to certify a reason and because if the prosecution in the MURDER 2 case is on record saying that race wasn't the issue and besides the self defense shows the killing wasn't because of race


(1) Offenses involving actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin.— Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, a dangerous weapon, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin of any person—
(A) shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years, fined in accordance with this title, or both; and
(B) shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life, fined in accordance with this title, or both, if—
(i) death results from the offense; or ....

...No prosecution of any offense described in this subsection may be undertaken by the United States, except under the certification in writing of the Attorney General, or a designee, that—
(A) the State does not have jurisdiction;
(B) the State has requested that the Federal Government assume jurisdiction;
(C) the verdict or sentence obtained pursuant to State charges left demonstratively unvindicated the Federal interest in eradicating bias-motivated violence; or
(D) a prosecution by the United States is in the public interest and necessary to secure substantial justice.
Posted by: lord garth || 07/14/2013 19:38 Comments || Top||


Another evil, evil father burns a kid, this time with his sons as accomplices
SAXONBURG (KDKA) – A Saxonburg man has been arrested for dousing his then-girlfriend’s 7-year-old son with a flammable liquid.

Then, police say the man’s own 15-year-old son set the younger boy’s shirt on fire.
What kind of a father teaches his sons to do something like this!?
Edward B. Myers, 35, allegedly used his cell phone to film the attack at his Carol Drive home as he watched the boy burn.

According to the criminal complaint, Myers, and his 15-year-old, and 11-year-old sons also repeatedly shot the victim with airsoft guns, and pellet-type guns.
Words fail me.
Police say the boy was taken to the hospital for third-degree burns on his face and chest, and welts on his forehead.

Myers is in the Butler County Prison on $250,000 bail.

Saxonburg Police Chief Joe Beachem told the Butler Eagle that the 15-year-old is facing similar charges in juvenile court.
Posted by: Korora || 07/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Where's judge Lynch when you need him?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/14/2013 4:04 Comments || Top||

#2  I will pretend I did not see this.
Posted by: newc || 07/14/2013 5:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Serious psychoactive drugs have to be involved.
Posted by: Glenmore || 07/14/2013 18:45 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
SF TV Reveals Names of Korean Crash Pilots - Too Funny for Words
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 07/14/2013 02:30 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  NTSB "corrects"names , they're pranked.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 07/14/2013 9:31 Comments || Top||

#2  NTSB "corrects"names , they're pranked.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 07/14/2013 9:31 Comments || Top||

#3  Really, next we'll learn Won Hunglo was not a real person.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 07/14/2013 10:24 Comments || Top||

#4  Left out Communications Chief : Ho Lee Shet
Posted by: Caesar Flusonter2411 || 07/14/2013 10:37 Comments || Top||

#5  I'm glad their layers of fact checkers picked this up.
Posted by: DarthVader || 07/14/2013 11:01 Comments || Top||

#6  Good news, they found the KTVU staff member responsible for the careless work: Owda Wok.
Posted by: Jack Salami || 07/14/2013 11:23 Comments || Top||

#7  The NTSB investigator's name is Sum Ting Fee Shee.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 07/14/2013 13:21 Comments || Top||

#8  And after an investigation by Hugh Johnson, whoever made the mistake will be working alongside Patty O'Dech.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 07/14/2013 14:18 Comments || Top||

#9  KTVU fact checkers Ida Know and Icy Nuttin are now looking for Wok.
Posted by: gorb || 07/14/2013 18:30 Comments || Top||

#10  I suspect the NTSB "confirmation" was a response of "Yeah, sure. Those are the right names" said with a twenty-foot layer of sarcasm.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 07/14/2013 20:21 Comments || Top||

#11  I wonder if the Koreans "get" any of this. I'm thinking it's something that really doesn't translate very well. (Too bad.) :-D
Posted by: Barbara || 07/14/2013 20:57 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
The Most Failed States On Earth
Most of them, with no surprise, are in Africa. Syria ranks at #21. Pakistan is #13. Zimbabwe is tenth on the list.

Full list is here. As always, take in to account who the authors are.
It's hard to imagine anyplace much more failed than Pakistain, until you think of Somalia and Zim. I guess the running for the top fifteen or twenty or so was pretty tight.
Easy way to see if the differences in the top fifteen matter at all -- switch the names around and see if anyone notices...
Posted by: Pappy || 07/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  muslim countries mainly in the top half
Posted by: Paul D || 07/14/2013 6:28 Comments || Top||

#2  when "sustainable" is a criteria, you know the agenda
Posted by: Frank G || 07/14/2013 11:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Odd that Argentina is shown on par with US.

Well, maybe not.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 07/14/2013 11:24 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Afghan Court Ordered Release of Child-Bride Torturers
[An Nahar] A court in Kabul ordered the early release of three people convicted over the torture of a child bride, an official confirmed Saturday, in a move denounced by activists as a blow for women's rights.

Sahar Gul, who was 15 at the time her ordeal, was burned, beaten and had her fingernails pulled out by her husband and in-laws after she refused to become a hooker in a case that shocked the world.

She was found in the basement of her husband's house in northeastern Baghlan province in late 2011, having been locked in a toilet for six months prior to her rescue by police.

Her father-in-law, mother-in-law and sister-in-law were sentenced to prison for 10 years each for torture and attempted murder, though her husband remains on the lam.

"But after the court reviewed their case, it found out that they were only involved in family violence," Supreme Court front man Abdullah Attaee told Agence La Belle France Presse.

The court did not have enough evidence against them, he said, adding a fresh prosecution would be launched .

"For now, the court has ruled that the time they have spent in jail is enough for them," he said, though he could not say when the ruling was made or whether the trio had yet been freed.
Posted by: Fred || 07/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
Belfast trouble: Police attacked for second night
[BBC.CO.UK] The police have been attacked with petrol bombs in north Belfast as trouble flared for the second consecutive night.

Stones, bottles and fireworks have also been thrown at officers in the Woodvale area. Water cannon have been deployed.

It follows serious rioting on Friday night when 32 coppers and an MP were maimed.

Another 400 coppers have been brought into Northern Ireland to assist the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

BBC Northern Ireland news hound Mark Simpson said on Saturday: "Hundreds of coppers are trying to stop the violence spreading.

"So far, they are succeeding but the trouble does not seem likely to stop any time soon."
Posted by: Fred || 07/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's July and the Irish are bored.
Posted by: ed in texas || 07/14/2013 13:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Local troubles, or imported?
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 07/14/2013 17:30 Comments || Top||

#3  I'd say it was local:

Clashes developed when police enforced a ban on an Orange Order march. The order called for widespread demonstrations after marchers were banned from a stretch of road separating loyalists and nationalists. It later said it was suspending its protest.

Posted by: Pappy || 07/14/2013 17:45 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
China Cancels $6 Bln Uranium Project After Protest
[Ynet] China has cancelled plans to build a uranium processing plant in a southern Chinese city a day after hundreds of protesters erupted into the streets demanding the project be scrapped, a local government website said on Saturday.

The proposed 230-hectare complex in the heart of China's Pearl River delta industrial heartland in Guangdong province had also sparked unease in neighbouring Hong Kong and Macau. A one-line statement published on the Heshan city government's website said that "to respect people's desire, the Heshan government will not propose the China National Nuclear Corporation project".
China is in a race between building a modern military with which to supplant America as world hegemon, an aging population, and an economy precariously balanced on the cusp between boom and bust. The country desperately needs more energy for both the comfort of the population and the needs of manufacturing, but coal-fired plants both rely on foreign supplies and are such dreadful polluters that it is estimated that current levels of pollution have reduced the average lifespan by five years. And yet, for some reason the populace does not trust the government to safely provide nuclear power. Whyever could that be, dear Reader?
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  They've got plenty of screwed-up land in the North they could put fuel processing plants on, if they really needed it.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 07/14/2013 0:15 Comments || Top||


Europe
French Train Crash: Rescue Workers Attacked by "Jeunes" Who Were Looting Corpses
This train crash has been extensively reported by the mainstream media. Less widely reported is the fact that "jeunes", French journalist code for Muslims, attacked the rescue workers and looted the corpses of the victims.

It's an incredible scene that met police officers when they arrived in Brétigny-sur-Orge. While they were trying to bring help to the victims of the derailment of the Paris-Limoges train, in which at least six people died, they had to deal with stones being thrown at them by a small group of 'jeunes'. At the origin of the attack: looters who had come to steal from the bodies of the dead and wounded whatever they could carry away.

"They seemed to be helping the victims". Nathalie Michel, from the Alliance police trade union, describes the scene on air on Europe 1: "At 5.30 pm, while our colleagues were deploying, they see a group of 'jeunes' who approach and seem to be helping the victims. Very quickly, they realise that these individuals are there to rob the victims and especially the first corpses," says the trade union member indignantly.
Posted by: tipper || 07/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It is not just the dead at Brétigny-sur-Orge, it is civilization which they loot. Did they cause the wreck, as one commentator suggested? Was there looting at Lac-Magantic, Quebec ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/14/2013 1:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Movie Patton, post guards at the grave sites to prevent looting. In the old days they waited till they got them in the ground first.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/14/2013 9:23 Comments || Top||

#3  The grave robbers in Patton were seriously poor and suffering from years of war.

The "jeunes" were just desperate for their next fix -- of either drugs or jihad.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 07/14/2013 15:54 Comments || Top||

#4  Hey, what happens to a civilization unwilling to defend itself against barbarianism?
Posted by: Ulomonter Prince of the Brontosaurs2094 || 07/14/2013 18:49 Comments || Top||

#5  I'm guessing they couldn't wait for 11:00PM or after Midnite???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 07/14/2013 20:11 Comments || Top||

#6  Wait... I thought both unbelievers and the dead were "unclean".

Does loot purify everything?
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 07/14/2013 20:22 Comments || Top||

#7  "Does loot purify everything?"

Doesn't it always, Rob?
Posted by: Barbara || 07/14/2013 20:58 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Police fire rubber bullets, tear gas on Istanbul protesters
[Al Ahram] Turkish riot police on Saturday fired rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannon to disperse hundreds of protesters trying to enter an Istanbul square that was the cradle of deadly unrest that engulfed the country in June.

The police moved in when demonstrators protesting in the city's Beyoglu neighbourhood against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan moved toward nearby Taksim Square.

The square was the birthplace of weeks of unrest that erupted throughout Turkey after police on May 31 brutally broke up a peaceful sit-in there against a government redevelopment plan for adjacent Gezi Park.
Posted by: Fred || 07/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  rubber bullets

When IDF uses them, they are "rubber coated steel bullets".
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/14/2013 4:05 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Khyber records eighth polio case this year
[Dawn] Ongoing militancy and the resultant lack of social mobilisation campaigns continue to affect polio
...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set...
eradication campaign in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas as the latest victim, a resident of Khyber Agency, has not received any dose of the oral polio vaccine (OPV).

One-year-old Ayesha Bibi, daughter of Zar Khan, a resident of Nala Khajori area of Bara tehsil, Khyber Agency, is the latest in the series of children who became crippled due to militancy that prevented access of vaccinators to children in areas where Taliban held sway.

Ayesha was tested positive at the National Institute of Health, Islamabad, on Friday.

According to the child's parents, she had not received any dose of OPV because there was no vaccinator to administer the vaccine and protect her against the crippling ailment, officials told Dawn. The militancy-hit area in which the family lives is inaccessible for vaccination teams since September 2009.

This is the eighth polio case reported only from Khyber Agency this year during last six weeks, bringing the total number of polio cases in Fata to 12 now. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
has reported four, and Sindh and Punjab two cases each this year so far.

The Fata (61 per cent) and KP (23 per cent) are responsible for 84 per cent of the polio cases this year. In 2012, Khyber Agency reported a total of 11 polio cases, eight of them in Bara tehsil.

Children in all the seven agencies of Fata have been the worst affected by the ban on OPV, which the Taliban have described as a ploy by the United States to spy on the Taliban to target them through drone attacks.

Over 160,000 children in North Wazoo and 157,000 children in South Waziristan are now at risk of contracting deadly ailments. The faceless myrmidons have used violence to implement the ban -- since December 2012 at least 20 volunteer health workers and coppers have been assassinated for daring to defy the bad boys' orders by participating in immunisation drives in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh provinces.

Two years ago, polio was wiped out in all but three countries of the world, including Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistain. In Pakistain, the recent recurrence of the disease marks several steps back from successful attempts at eradication: from just 28 cases in 2005, the country saw a rapid increase of up to 117 cases in 2008, and 198 cases in 2011.
Posted by: Fred || 07/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Polio is very Islamic. Allan is pleased
Posted by: Frank G || 07/14/2013 11:10 Comments || Top||


Presidential election likely next month
[Dawn] President Asif Ali Ten Percent Zardari
... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who has been singularly lacking in curiosity about who done her in ...
may continue to hold his office till the expiry of his term on Sept 8, but his successor is likely to be elected in the first week of next month, a bigwig of the Election Commission of Pakistain told Dawn on Friday.

Retired Justice Riaz Kayani
... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI...
, an ECP member from Punjab, said it was a requirement under Article 41 (4) of the constitution to hold presidential elections by August 8.

When asked if the government had sought a schedule for the elections from the ECP, he said he was not aware of any such request having been made. But, he added, the commission was bound to follow the constitution and the schedule would be issued before July 20.

Article 41 (4) states: "Election to the office of President shall be held not earlier than 60 days and not later than 30 days before the expiration of the term of the President in office." During the days the PPP was in power, the President House worked as a centre of power because President Zardari continued to hold the post of PPP co-chairman.

Before the May 11 elections there were reports that President Zardari would retain the office because his party would be able to secure enough seats in the National Assembly and become part of the ruling coalition. But the PPP suffered almost a crushing defeat in the elections. And with situation having changed Mr Zardari started saying that he would not contest the presidential election.

Informally talking to news hounds after a presser, PPP leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim said the party had not decided about its candidate for the post. "We will definitely announce our candidate as soon as the schedule of the presidential election is announced."

Meanwhile,
...back at the wreckage, Captain Poindexter wished he had a cup of coffee. Even instant would do...
President Zardari left for Dubai on Friday on a three-week private visit. He will also go to London and is expected to return to the country towards the end of the month.

He has only eight weeks left in his five-year term (till Sept 8). According to sources, the president will prefer to stay abroad most of the time before the expiry of his term. And there are people who suggest that he may prefer not to return because he is said to have been seriously disturbed by the killing of his chief security officer Bilal Sheikh in 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...
this week.

President's front man Senator Farhatullah Babar said Mr Zardari had gone to Dubai to meet his children. From there he would go to London where one of his daughters is studying. Mr Babar rejected a perception that the president would not return to the country. "Why he will leave his office even one day before the expiry of his five-year term."
Posted by: Fred || 07/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


615 schools closed in Balochistan
[Dawn] Over 600 schools set up in Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
under a presidential ordinance have been closed and services of 684 teachers terminated.

Under the ordinance, a National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) was established in 2002 which set up 615 schools and hired 684 teachers in Balochistan to educate over 4,600 students in those schools.

The NCHD extended cooperation to the provincial education department for enrolment of students and quality education and 684 feeder teachers hired under the programme were discharging their duties on a meagre salary of Rs1,500 per month.

However,
Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried...
after the passage of the 18th Amendment, the federal government transferred the NCHD programme to provinces as part of giving autonomy to them.

Under the NCHD, teachers were posted and deployed in those government-run schools where no teacher was available or only a single teacher performed his/her job.

The NCHD scheme showed better results and brought down the dropout rate during 2003-06 and more children were enrolled in the schools.

During the PPP-led coalition government of Balochistan, a summary was sent to the chief secretary, finance secretary and education department, asking them to evolve a policy to regularise the service of the teachers hired by the NCHD. However,
Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried...
no action was taken on the summary and the services of these teachers were terminated.
Posted by: Fred || 07/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Bhutan’s oppn party scores upset win
But I think we all saw this coming...
Bhutan’s opposition People’s Democratic Party stormed to an upset victory on Saturday in elections as voters gave their verdict on five years of democracy, a local news website reported.

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had won 30 seats in the vote for parliament while the incumbent Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) party had snared just 12 seats according to the website of Bhutan’s national newspaper Kuensel, as of 8pm. The winning party needed 24 out of 47 seats to form the next government in the “land of the thunder dragon”, according to the Kuensel website, after two other groups were knocked out in a primary voting round in May.

The polling marked only the second time in history that voters in the isolated kingdom have elected a government. It was not immediately possible the Election Commission of Bhutan to confirm the results.

Remote Bhutan’s line of “dragon kings” ceded absolute power five years ago, introducing democracy to an electorate of fewer than 400,000 people.

The royalist DPT won the first election by a landslide in 2008 and bagged this year’s primary round with 45 per cent of votes. But recent gains by the PDP shook up the contest with one local editorial calling it “a neck-and-neck race”. The DPT had sought to win favour with rural communities — about 70 per cent of the population — by improving their access to roads, mobile phone networks and electricity in the past five years.

But the election process was stirred up by a recent straining of ties with Bhutan’s giant neighbour and longtime ally India, which suddenly cut subsidies earlier this month on cooking gas and kerosene to the kingdom.

“People blame the incumbent government for not addressing the economy which is in a very bad shape, and the subsidy cut — all this seems to be adding to their woes,” said political analyst Kencho Wangdi ahead of the results.

The rising fuel prices come as Bhutan has been struggling under a credit crunch and import restrictions, after running out of Indian rupee supplies last year on soaring demand.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran's H2O crisis may be bigger threat than the Joos and "Great Satan"
A former agriculture minister has said Iran's water shortage is a bigger threat to the country than either Israel or the United States, Al-Monitor reported this week citing local media. According to Al-Monitor, Issa Kalantari, the minister of agricultural under president Hashemi Rafsanjani
... the fourth President of Iran. He was a member of the Assembly of Experts until he was eased out in 2011 He continues, for the moment, as Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council. In 2005 he ran for a third term as president, ultimately losing to rival Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was in Khamenei's graces back then. In 1980 Rafsanjani survived an assassination attempt, during which he was seriously injured. He has been described as a centrist and a pragmatic conservative without all that much reason. He is currently being eased out of any position of actual influence or power and may be dead by the end of 2012...
, told Ghanoon newspaper this week that the water crisis is the "main problem that threatens" Iran, adding that it is more dangerous "than Israel, America or political fighting" among the Iranian elite.

Kalatantari is not the only Iranian official who is concerned about the water shortages in the country. Mohammad Hossein Shariatmadari, a former Iranian trade minister, said in April that he believes the water issue is reaching an alarming level. The following month a deputy energy minister similarly warned that the country would soon face a water crisis. Even the U.S. intelligence community sees water shortages as one of Iran's primary challenges in the coming decades. In its Global Trends 2030 report, the National Intelligence Council said Iran "has no notable watersheds and is therefore heavily dependent on fossil and imported water, including 'virtual water' imports-- such as agricultural goods like meat, fruit, and vegetables using high levels of water to produce."

And while the water crisis is set to worsen considerable in the coming years and decades, it has already resulted in notable unrest. After a drought earlier this year, hundreds of farmers in a town in Isfahan province clashed with police after destroying a pipeline that was carrying water from the Zayandeh Rood River in their town to the city of Yazd in a neighboring province. Agriculture in the country has already been suffering in recent years, but increased water shortages are likely to make the Islamic Theocratic Republic's goal of self-sufficiency increasingly elusive. Lack of farming opportunities will also force more people to artificially migrate to the cities, where, among other things, the government will need to supply them with water. This will inevitably force the government to divert more of the already dwindling water supplies from rural agricultural communities to the cities, provoking anger and potential unrest from the impacted farmers.
Posted by: Pappy || 07/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [18 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Well, one good, peaceful use of nuclear power is desalination of sea water. Of course, the reactor has to be fairly close to the sea...

On the other hand, a nuclear reactor itself requires a large amount of water for cooling. Maybe the farmers should look into where the fresh water is going.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 07/14/2013 0:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Mess with Gaia will you---you cluess dead Arab worshipers?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/14/2013 4:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Water is the number 1 priority on the planet right now. Seriously
Posted by: newc || 07/14/2013 5:25 Comments || Top||

#4  There is way more water than we can ever need. The number one problem is energy to purify it and transport it.
Posted by: rammer || 07/14/2013 17:00 Comments || Top||

#5  The army was drilling water wells at Al Asad air base (FOB Speicher) Iraq in 2006-2007. Only 350 feet deep. Nicest fresh water I've ever seen and plenty of volume.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/14/2013 17:07 Comments || Top||

#6  Allen will provide.

If you deserve it.

Oops - looks like Allen is more displeased with Iran than we are.
Posted by: Barbara || 07/14/2013 17:33 Comments || Top||

#7  I blame global warming...
Posted by: Raj || 07/14/2013 20:07 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
The NYPD & Darth Vader's Theme Song
h/t Instapundid
Two days ago, Daily Intelligencer reported that, on at least two occasions over the past few months, an NYPD vehicle was witnessed blasting the "Imperial March" -- also known as the theme song of Darth Vader -- in or around Prospect Park. The NYPD has taken notice, and it is not thrilled.

Both of our sources for the story, musician Tyler Sargent and TV editor Scott Rosann, were contacted by NYPD investigators yesterday. In both cases, the investigators were looking for details that might help them identify which officers were responsible for what seems like, at the least, a PR faux pas.
I always had a soft spot for Darth Vader (I despise that punk Anakin).
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/14/2013 04:32 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Peter Gunn theme would be even better.
Posted by: Shipman || 07/14/2013 4:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Someone is too inventive to be a NY Constable Officer?
Posted by: newc || 07/14/2013 6:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Comments at the link are priceless; personal favorite: "Some wookies done it."
Posted by: USN. Ret. || 07/14/2013 10:11 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
32[untagged]
6Arab Spring
6Govt of Pakistan
3Salafists
2Govt of Iran
2al-Qaeda in Pakistan
2Boko Haram
2Govt of Syria
2Islamic State of Iraq
1al-Shabaab
1al-Qaeda in Iraq
1Islamic Emirate of Caucasus
1Taliban
1Commies
1Govt of Iraq

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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2013-07-14
  B/Haram: Shekau denies ceasefire
Sat 2013-07-13
  Security operatives raid Boko Haram's den in Sokoto
Fri 2013-07-12
  Report: Al-Qaeda Killed Free Syrian Army Commander
Thu 2013-07-11
  Boko Haram Confirms Ceasefire Agreement
Wed 2013-07-10
  Boko Haram: Borno ANPP in disarray after JTF arrests chairman
Tue 2013-07-09
  Massive car bomb rocks Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut
Mon 2013-07-08
  51 dead, 435 hurt in clashes near pro-Morsi sit-in
Sun 2013-07-07
  Clashes resume outside Cairo, dozens of pro-Morsi protesters arrested
Sat 2013-07-06
  Thirty killed in alleged Boko Haram attack on Nigeria boarding school
Fri 2013-07-05
  Morsi Loyalists Clash With Soldiers in Cairo Protests
Thu 2013-07-04
  Big party in Tahrir Square!
Wed 2013-07-03
  Egypt army dumps Morsi
Tue 2013-07-02
  Guards of senior Muslim Brotherhood figure arrested in Egypt
Mon 2013-07-01
  Egyptian military gives 48 hour ultimatum to Brotherhood, political forces
Sun 2013-06-30
  Boomers kill 43 in Pakland on Sunday


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