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Bodies of Kidnapped Teens Found Near Hevron
Today's Headlines
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3 15:25 Besoeker [2] 
11 21:44 trailing wife [6] 
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Page 6: Politix
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
82 year-old Man accused of flying kite naked
Police in northeastern Ohio say an 82-year-old man was cited for flying a kite while he was naked.

Officers say they received calls earlier this week about a bald man without any clothes who was flying a kite at the Summit County Fairgrounds. Police say the man initially denied being naked, but he had to search through a pair of pants on the passenger seat when he was asked for identification.
"Ah, but I am wearing clothes! Brand new ones! Of course the common herd can't see them..."
The Akron Beacon Journal reports the Cuyahoga Falls man was cited for disorderly conduct Wednesday and told not to return to fairgrounds. But police say the man went back to the fairgrounds fully clothed the next day. He told officers he was looking for kite-flying spots for his friends. He was given another citation for criminal trespassing.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/30/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Got that one thing marked off his Bucket List tho didn't he?
Posted by: Shipman || 06/30/2014 2:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Had he lived around here, his actions would have prompted an annual kite fly, farmer's market, and car show. I hope I can still drive and locate the Fairgrounds at 82.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/30/2014 4:19 Comments || Top||

#3  So if I'm wearing diapers & a bowler hat and belting out 'Helter Skelter' whilst flying the kite, they're cool with it?
Posted by: Raj || 06/30/2014 6:46 Comments || Top||

#4  So if I'm wearing diapers & a bowler hat and belting out 'Helter Skelter' whilst flying the kite, they're cool with it?

In Madison, WI., you'd be joined by multitudes of similar-minded folks, Raj.

(not that you'd want them, they'd just show up)
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 06/30/2014 7:59 Comments || Top||

#5  Thanks, Raj. Another thing for my bucket list.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/30/2014 10:52 Comments || Top||

#6  Well I guess that's one way to get it up.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 06/30/2014 11:27 Comments || Top||

#7  Him: Hey, Honey, are you ready?
Her: Go fly a kite.


..the rest is history (at least on the Cuyahoga Falls police blotter).
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/30/2014 11:49 Comments || Top||

#8  Testing out Mr. Obama's substitute for "Mom Jeans?"
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 06/30/2014 12:58 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Round up of reactions from the left on the Hobby Lobby Decision

Hobby Lobby opponents: Supreme Court probably legalized xenophobia, racism

The left loses their minds over Hobby Lobby decision

SCOTUSBlog's Best Responses to Tweeters Who Think The Blog Is Actually the Supreme Court

Obama White House "'Assessing Its Options' After Hobby Lobby Defeat
Pass the popcorn.
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/30/2014 14:56 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just shows the real core of intolerance in America. How dare you challenge their power! There can be no other god then themselves.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/30/2014 16:10 Comments || Top||

#2 

I'll get you my pretties, and your little dog too !
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/30/2014 16:14 Comments || Top||

#3  Great, Mr. B !!!
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 06/30/2014 18:14 Comments || Top||

#4  Another bullshit event. Hobby Lobby did not want all contraceptives off the insurance. They only wanted certain items off. Most notably the morning after pill. They considered this abortion. Now both sides, like clowns in a soap opera, are screaming. This is just another Roe v Wade event where our politicians are screaming to polarize the American public over a trivial event.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 06/30/2014 21:53 Comments || Top||

#5  abortifacients
Posted by: Frank G || 06/30/2014 22:52 Comments || Top||


Dutch King to Reopen 'Girl with Pearl Earring' Museum
[An Nahar] Dutch King Willem-Alexander on Friday officially reopens the renovated Mauritshuis museum, home to Vermeer's iconic "Girl with the Pearl Earring" and a treasure trove of other Golden Age masterpieces.
I've never seen the original, but I've been in love with her for fifty years or so.
The elegant 17th-century mansion in The Hague has undergone a 30-million-euro ($40-million) revamp and more than doubled its floor space thanks to an art deco extension accessed through a light-filled underground atrium.

The king will be welcomed by a real-life "Girl with the Pearl Earring", who will hand him a key to officially declare the museum open to the public again after more than two years.

Museum director Emilie Gordenker will give the king a guided tour of the Hague city center museum, which will be broadcast live on giant television screens outside.

Queen Maxima will not be attending, the palace said.

Entry on Friday evening is free until midnight, with city center shops offering a range of activities to mark the occasion.

During the renovation, which began in 2012, many of the museum's best-known pieces, including "Girl with the Pearl Earring", have been touring the world, drawing millions from New York to Tokyo.

"'The Girl with the Pearl Earring' has become an icon, she's become the 'Mona Lisa' of the north, and she does belong here," Gordenker told AFP last week.

"There's something very special about the painting which maybe in a way is a bit like the Mauritshuis: we're small, we're intimate," she said of the museum that is also known as "the jewel box".
Posted by: Fred || 06/30/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1 

Hummmmm.....
Posted by: Shipman || 06/30/2014 2:28 Comments || Top||


Pangolins: Smuggled into extinction
[DAWN] On April 17, 2013, British newspaper The Guardian published a shocking article titled 'Ship containing 22,000 pounds of dead pangolins crashes into protected reef'. According to the report, a Chinese boat carrying the remains of thousands of illegally killed pangolins crashed into a protected coral reef at Tuhbbataha National Marine Park, a Unesco designated World Heritage site on the Palawan Island in the Philippines.
I saw one of these critters at a county fair in Thailand once. I thought it was a fake until it moved. Its scales look like they're whittled out of wood.
Following the crash, Philippines' authorities arrested 12 crewmen. The paper quoted Adelina Vilenna, a lawyer representing the marine park, as saying, "The fishermen face up to 12 years' imprisonment and fines of up to $300,000 (Â196,000) for the poaching charge alone. For possessing pangolin meat, they can be imprisoned for up to six years and fined."
Posted by: Fred || 06/30/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wait, the Chinese? There has to be away to blame this on America!
Posted by: ed in texas || 06/30/2014 8:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Waking pangolins pant after ants;
Sticky tongues do not give ants a chance:
Slurped up into dark pokes
Of these stuffed artichokes
Who, pangs gone, spend the day in a trance.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 06/30/2014 23:43 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Bahrain: Marine Twice Charged With Desertion Turns Himself In
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 06/30/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He saw on Craigslist that Chelsea Manning was looking for 'cell buddy'.
Posted by: ed in texas || 06/30/2014 8:06 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
State of Texas Invests $300,000.00 In Gun Manufacturing Job Growth
On June 27 the office of Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) announced a Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) investment of $300,000 for shotgun maker Maverick Arms.

The TEF investment will be added to Maverick Arms own "$3.4 million in capital investment" to expand their Eagle Pass, TX, manufacturing facility.

According to Perry's office, Governor Perry said "[the] TEF investment in Maverick Arms will help create jobs and opportunity in Eagle Pass, while reaffirming Texas' longstanding support of the Second Amendment."

"Maverick Arms is a subsidiary of Mossberg Corp.," which is "the oldest family-owned firearm maker in America."

Mossberg CEO Iver Mossberg commented on the Texas expansion: "Investing in Texas was an easy decision. It's a state that's not only committed to economic growth but also honors and respects the 2nd Amendment and the firearm freedoms it guarantees to our customers."

The expansion will create 50 new jobs at the manufacturing facility on Eagle Pass.
Posted by: Thineng Angailet7166 || 06/30/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wonderful. Knocking out riot guns a quick 20 minute drive from Laredo. At least it'll be convenient for the shoot outs with the Sinaloas.
Posted by: ed in texas || 06/30/2014 8:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Food, check.
Energy, check.
Banking, check.
Next on the agenda, defense industry.

When everyone suddenly realizes that the 'United States' no longer exists (see-Pelosi on the border "We're all Americans now"), best to have the fundamentals close to home for the ensuing chaos and storm.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/30/2014 8:15 Comments || Top||

#3  As if they needed more reasons to love Texas.
Posted by: OldSpook || 06/30/2014 12:47 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Pro-Russian militant supporters seek to win over the West on social media
Posted by: ryuge || 06/30/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
China deploys 14th Type 054A FFG
The Yueyang, a Type 054A guided-missile frigate of the People's Liberation Army Navy, is participating in the ongoing RIMPAC 2014 joint naval exercise held in Hawaii, and the country is already underway constructing more frigates of the same class, reports the state-run China News Service.

The Yueyang is in fact the 14th vessel among its other sister ships. With 575 as its hull number, the vessel was launched on May 10, 2012, and began its sea trials in September of that year before eventually entering the PLA Navy in March, 2013. The Yueyang, like other ships of its class, is designed to provide fleet air defense and can also coordinate with other vessels and naval aircraft in battle against enemy warships and submarines, CNS said.

The PLA Navy's Type 054A guided-missile frigates carry HQ-16 medium-range air defence missiles. Fired from the vertical launching system of a Type 054A frigate, the HQ-16 provides area air defence from all engagement angles up to a range of 50 kilometers. At the same time, the vessel can also launch various anti-submarine rockets and even anti-submarine missiles against enemy submarines.

Like many of its sister ships, the Yueyang was constructed at the Huangpu Shipyard located in Guangzhou in southern China's Guangdong province under the supervision of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation.
Posted by: badanov || 06/30/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A frigate, now there's an interesting concept for 'ya. Luckily our LCS can outrun one easily, for 500 miles anyway, I mean if the sea state is acceptable and it's not too windy.
Posted by: Shipman || 06/30/2014 2:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Just remember, frigates are out of date for high seas use, too small to affect an engagement (and too small to build a professional empire). If you look at their likely uses, it appears the PLAN is concerned about (1)quick inshore operation, (2)ASW, (3)mobile anti-air platforms and (4)forward engagement against amphibs.
What a shock; they're not preparing to fight a war in the North Atlantic...
Posted by: ed in texas || 06/30/2014 7:54 Comments || Top||

#3  Ed, imagine a group of three of them, with three more type 52's. and a half dozen missile boats. All as a screen for a couple carriers. We're missing the forest for the trees.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 06/30/2014 16:17 Comments || Top||

#4  If you look at their likely uses, it appears the PLAN is concerned about (1)quick inshore operation, (2)ASW, (3)mobile anti-air platforms and (4)forward engagement against amphibs.
Exactal! Luckily we don't have to worry about such silliness.
Posted by: Shipman || 06/30/2014 16:38 Comments || Top||

#5  USN still has a frigate defending Boston Harbor. But I don't think they let them have any cannonballs anymore - have to just fire powder & wad.
Posted by: Glenmore || 06/30/2014 17:12 Comments || Top||

#6  Deemed unworthy the other day, but since we're talking original frigates...

On this date, the Chesapeake, peppered
And boarded by the horrible Leopard,
Was scene of shanghai-ing
And three of us dying
Thanks to old Mother England, that [censored].
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 06/30/2014 18:37 Comments || Top||


Economy
Economics: The Results of a Seattle Suburb's Minimum Wage Hike Deserve a Big Fat "We Told You So"
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/30/2014 12:15 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  None of the results are surprising to those who actually know how business works.

Enjoy your mandated craptastic city guys. You earned it.
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/30/2014 12:16 Comments || Top||

#2  We need a Nelson Munz graphic.



Posted by: OldSpook || 06/30/2014 12:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Democrats - mistaking good intentions for good results for 200 years.
Posted by: Iblis || 06/30/2014 14:43 Comments || Top||

#4  So arithmetic wins again, eh?

P.S. Link is bad
Posted by: SteveS || 06/30/2014 14:44 Comments || Top||

#5  Worked fine for me.

Still think, based on the information in the article, that it's too early to attribute it all to the minimum wage hike, not when Obamacare, economic conditions, etc., are in the mix. It'll likely be at least a year or two before there's be some concrete evidence.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/30/2014 14:50 Comments || Top||

#6  Most lefties will convince themselves that small business owners laid off folks to spite the government rather than out of economic necessity.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 06/30/2014 15:46 Comments || Top||

#7  Wow! You mean 15+15 doesn't equal 15? Who knew?

/sarc
Posted by: CrazyFool || 06/30/2014 17:22 Comments || Top||

#8  It was all due to fascist wreckers, and splittist capitalist roaders!
Posted by: charger || 06/30/2014 19:29 Comments || Top||

#9  Funny why this article isn't referenced in the SeattlestanTimes.

And While Pappy may have a point, I have seen enough anecdotal stuff that makes me think its already in play: fewer people in line at food court at the airport, restaurants have fewer cars in the lot; I have decided to buy nothing more in Sea-tac (the city) or the airport. and when the $15 min wage comes into play in Seattle, I will not spend any food $$ there either.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 06/30/2014 21:37 Comments || Top||


Europe
France's biggest bank braces for record $9 billion US fine for evading sanctions
(Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department is expected to announce on Monday a settlement with BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) involving a record fine of nearly $9 billion over alleged U.S. sanctions violations by France's biggest bank, sources familiar with the matter said.

The penalties, which the sources said may also include a temporary ban on some dollar-clearing business, could hit BNP's dividend payout, regulatory capital ratios and its investment banking targets, analysts say.

BNP is expected to plead guilty to a criminal charge in Manhattan Federal Court on Monday and the U.S. Justice Department is planning a news conference in Washington to announce a deal the same day, sources said.

NBPS Role in Undermining Sudan Sanctions

St. Louis, June 18th -- The pivotal role BNP Paribas played in helping Sudan sell oil in violation of U.S. sanctions is the major reason U.S. authorities are pushing for harsh penalties against the French banking giant, two sources with firsthand knowledge of the matter said."BNP basically was the Sudanese economy.

"They were just huge in helping the government of Sudan evade U.S. sanctions," one of the sources said.

BNP's role involved removing references to Sudanese parties from wire-transfer messages, so U.S. dollar oil payments could clear through New York and move into accounts controlled by Khartoum, the sources said. The sources declined to name the buyers of the Sudanese oil or to say what Khartoum did with the revenue.

BNP provided more oil-related banking services to Sudan than any other bank and "made a determination" that it wanted to bank the U.S.-sanctioned country, one source said. He was unable to say precisely what percentage of Sudan's banking BNP handled, but said it was the "dominant player."

The source added that the bank also violated U.S. sanctions by doing business with Iran and Cuba.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 06/30/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I recommend the fines be paid to some worthwhile Christian charities in France. Bringing the money back to the States will only result in the regime frivolously pissing it away.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/30/2014 4:54 Comments || Top||

#2  When do the French return the favor?
Posted by: Raj || 06/30/2014 6:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Actually, their 'investment' was the funding of the American War of Independence. It was among the factors (ie sovereign bankruptcy - in both sense of the words) that lead to him losing his head (literally).
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/30/2014 8:18 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Ihsanoglu: The Devout Intellectual Hoping to Dethrone Turkey Leader
[An Nahar] The softly spoken, bespectacled intellectual hoping to defeat Turkey's powerful premier in the country's first direct presidential election faces a steep uphill struggle.

Egypt-born Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu is a former head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the global grouping of Moslem nations, and a scholar who makes no secret of his devotion to Islam.

The selection of an overtly pious Moslem may seem a surprising move for the secular opposition, but it reflects the way in which Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi only they haven't dumped him yet...
-- who continues to dominate Turkish politics after 11 years in power -- has made it impossible to ignore the religiously conservative majority.

The opposition hopes Ihsanoglu's calm and professorial demeanor will offer a welcome contrast to Erdogan's volatile outbursts and polarizing style, that have become increasingly evident over the past year as he responds to mass anti-government protests and a torrent of corruption allegations against his inner circle.

Erdogan is expected to formally announce his candidacy on Tuesday for the August elections -- the first time the country has directly elected its president.

Ihsanoglu is known as a brilliant intellectual with a doctorate from Ankara University who went on to found Istanbul University's department of science history, which he headed until 2004.

A respected diplomat during his time as OIC president, he promoted dialogue between Islam and Christianity and has written numerous books.

But his nomination required extensive discussions between the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party, who have often struggled to provide a united front against the Erdogan's supremacy.
Posted by: Fred || 06/30/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Turkish President Says Won't Run for Second Term
[An Nahar] Turkish President Abdullah Gul said he would not seek a second term in office, further raising the likelihood that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi only they haven't dumped him yet...
would run for the top job.

"I will not present my candidacy... my term expires on August 28," Gul told news hounds ahead of a closed-door meeting with Erdogan in Istanbul, adding that he had already informed the premier of his decision before the local elections in March.

Already in his third term as prime minister -- the maximum permitted under the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)'s rules -- Erdogan is widely expected to be unveiled on Tuesday as his party's candidate for August's presidential poll.

Gul, who assumed office in 2007, is tipped as a possible prime minister should Erdogan run in the presidential vote on August 10, the first time voters will directly elect the country's head of state.

Asked whether he would consider the position of prime minister, Gul said: "Those are the things that we will talk about among ourselves later."

Gul, who co-founded the AKP with Erdogan, had previously said he did not have any political plan for the future and had ruled out swapping jobs with the premier.

The presidency has until now been a largely ceremonial role but Erdogan has said he would exercise its full powers if he is elected -- which could be a source of conflict between the premier and the president.

On Sunday, Turkey's two main opposition parties formally backed Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, former head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), to run against Erdogan.
Posted by: Fred || 06/30/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Five dead after consuming toxic liquor
[DAWN] GUJAR KHAN: Five people bit the dust after consuming spurious liquor at a village fair held at a shrine in Kanoha village, within the jurisdiction of the Kallar Syedan cop shoppe on Friday.

According to SHO Malik Yar Mohammad, the dear departed have been identified as Akhtar Mehmood, Mohammad Kamran and Sheraz Ahmed, who belong to Dhammali village, and Ayaz and Asif, from Inara Moohri village in the Kahuta tehsil.

When asked about the arrest of the bootleggers selling Kickapoo Joy Juice, SHO Mohammad said that because the victims were highly intoxicated they were unable to give details, which makes it impossible to arrest anyone.
Posted by: Fred || 06/30/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's a warning to not drink booze - especially during Ramadan.

Fortunately, I do not observe Ramadan. And I don't buy booze on the black market.
Posted by: Bobby || 06/30/2014 7:38 Comments || Top||

#2  On a recent road trip through Kentucky, Tennessee and South Carolina, many of the local-owned gas stations had jars of 'liquid' setting on the counters with price tags in the $20-$30 range. Apparently this was for the tourist trade as one of the clerks told us the 'local' stuff was more 'cloudy'.

Yoikes
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 06/30/2014 12:14 Comments || Top||


Woman burnt to death in Toba Tek Singh by rejected suitor
[DAWN] A young woman was burnt to death in Toba Tek Singh's Chak 296-GB village by her suitor over rejection of his marriage proposal.

Police claimed to have taken the suspect into custody along with the petrol canister used in the attack.

The suspect was moved to some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location for further investigations while the registration of a case was underway at a local cop shoppe.

The incident occurred when the young suspect visited the residence of the victim with his marriage proposal, according to the girl's family members who added that the proposal was turned down, upon which the suspect got enraged and lit the girl on fire after sprinkling petrol on her.

The girl was shifted to District Headquarters Hospital at death's door where she succumbed to her wounds during treatment.

Family-members staged protests demanding a postmortem and justice for the dear departed and also claimed that the suspect had been warned several times in the past over eve teasing incidents with the victim.

Area residents said that the suspect had also had an altercation with the victims brother, a day earlier, over harassment issues.
Posted by: Fred || 06/30/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Islamic Love:

"Will you marry me? Or do I have to throw acid in your face, and set you on fire to assuage my tender Islamic Manhood?"
Posted by: Frank G || 06/30/2014 21:43 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Sewage At The Beaches, Piles Of Garbage Mar Gaza Summer
[Ynet] Pollution stems from fuel shortages that have halted work at sewage treatment facilities in the Strip.
Consequences. For some people, they're always unexpected.
This summer, access to the cooling waters of the Mediterranean is gradually being closed off to Gazoo's 1.8 million residents, due to pollution stemming from fuel shortages that have halted work at sewage treatment facilities.

Baha al-Agha of the Gazoo Environment Quality Authority said about 100,000 cubic metres of untreated waste water are being pumped into the Gazoo shore daily.

"Swimming is prohibited" signs have gone up at several beaches. But at one of Gazoo's most popular beaches, dozens of people, including children, splashed in the water over the weekend despite the posted warning.

"Things are getting worse day by day in the absence of real and quick solutions," Agha told Rooters. He called on the Paleostinian unity government formed earlier this month to act immediately "before Gazoo beaches are declared a disaster area".

Egypt's closure of most of the estimated 1,200 cross-border smuggling tunnels run by Islamist group Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, has virtually stopped cheap Egyptian fuel coming into Gazoo.

Egypt's military-backed government fear the tunnels are used to take weapons into the Sinai Peninsula, and accuses Hamas of backing the Egyptian Moslem Brüderbund. Hamas denies it helps Death Eaters in Egypt.

Israel has its own blockade on Gazoo, allowing in fuel and restricted imports since Hamas took control in 2007. But the Israeli fuel costs twice as much as Egyptian imports.

Garbage piling up
Gazoo residents said they had little to celebrate at the start on Sunday of the Moslem month of Ramadan - traditionally a time for worship but also for family feasts in the evening at the end of a daily daytime fast.

Garbage has been piling up on the streets, with some 75 percent of sanitation trucks idled by the Gazoo municipality's inability to pay high fuel prices.

"Tunnels are closed, crossings are closed, there is no sea port ... and now they are telling us the beaches are closed? Wouldn't it be easier if they just let us die in peace?" asked Ali Abu Hassan, a 46-year-old taxi driver.

Driving along Gazoo's coastal road, the smell of sewage is sharp and waves hitting the beach are yellowish and brown.

Many in the Gazoo Strip are also feeling the pinch of a salary dispute that could test the resilience of the new unity government formed under Hamas's reconciliation pact with Western-backed President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
Some 40,000 public servants hired by Hamas since it seized the Gazoo Strip seven years ago from forces loyal to Abbas have not been paid in full for months due to a cash crunch caused by Egypt's tunnel crackdown.

Hopes of receiving wages quickly under the unity government were dashed when the new administration said it must first vet the employees before paying them - a process that could take months.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/30/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hopes of receiving wages quickly under the unity government were dashed when the new administration said it must first vet the employees before paying them - a process that could take months.

By then even the subway tokens will have disappeared.
Posted by: Shipman || 06/30/2014 2:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Nothing compared to toxic waste filling Gaza.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/30/2014 4:19 Comments || Top||

#3  There go my vacation plans!
Posted by: Raj || 06/30/2014 6:44 Comments || Top||

#4  And here I was planning to spend 4th of July weekend at the beach in Gaza looking at the girls in their bikinis and hajib robes.
(It's like a Kurt Vonnegut story: "Look, that one's wearing what looks like a complete army tent; she must really be a knockout!")
Posted by: ed in texas || 06/30/2014 8:04 Comments || Top||

#5  Send money!
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 06/30/2014 11:55 Comments || Top||

#6  I have a place booked called Gaza sous la Merde...I think its French so it must be tray elaganteh. I have the brochure here..yes, there is a very photogenic gentleman in a green helmut. And a large lady, looks like she is singing, so there must be grand theatre nearby. Oh here is looks like spelunking - kids are gonna love that.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 06/30/2014 20:10 Comments || Top||

#7  I bet Gazooo Rubble Recyclers have a busy summer ahead. Watch yer feets!"
Posted by: Frank G || 06/30/2014 21:45 Comments || Top||


Olde Tyme Religion
Sufi fury over 'sacred symbol' in perfume ad
An advertisement featuring the model daughter of Mick Jagger has been singled out by followers of a branch of Islam, who said it ‘cheapens’ and ‘degrades’ one of its holiest symbols.

The pictures of Georgia May - daughter of Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall - have triggered demonstrations by Sufi Muslims in London, as well as in Dusseldorf, Germany, and Los Angeles, since they were first released in the middle of last year.

The advertisement shows Miss Jagger with an ornate H-like symbol on her wrist. The sign is similar to one Sufis use to refer to Allah and representatives of the community have said it is ‘heartbreaking’ to see it used to make money.

American student Nasim Bahadorani, one of the protest organisers, said, "To use something that means so much to us for corporate profit cheapens our sacred symbol. It’s disrespectful, offensive and degrading. We have this sign that to us represents blessed peace. It’s a refuge. To see it disgraced like this for a company to make money is heartbreaking."

Italian fashion house Roberto Cavalli, which has used the image in campaigns since 2011, says the symbols are not the same. It is a stance supported by the EU, which last month rejected a request by Sufi groups to ban the company from using the sign.

Despite the ruling, campaigners have kept up the pressure on social media using the hashtag '#TakeOffJustLogo' and have singled out Miss Jagger’s campaign, which includes a video where she refers to the symbol as a 'snakebite' and a 'sign of seduction'.

This is not the first time Roberto Cavalli has gotten into trouble over the use of religious symbols. Ten years ago, they made a line of bikinis which depicted Hindu gods. The company apologized at the time and said any offense was unintentional.
Posted by: ryuge || 06/30/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Government
Champ set to yank new DIA pick
[FP] The Regime is poised to abandon its pick to run the sprawling Defense Intelligence Agency amid two ongoing investigations into whether programs she had overseen have been marred by questionable and potentially illegal spending, according to administration officials and congressional sources with knowledge of the matter.
The revenge of Palantir software, it hath arrived.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/30/2014 10:17 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I keep reading the headline as:

"Champ set to yank new DIA prick"
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/30/2014 12:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Seems the good general has a few other 'leadership issues' in her portfolio. Any of those issues would have had her relieved of command - in a line unit.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/30/2014 14:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Better link, same story.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/30/2014 15:25 Comments || Top||


Obama Taps Business Exec To Oversee Troubled VA
[AP] Seeking to turn around a troubled agency, President Barack Obama
I've now been in 57 states -- I think one left to go...
will nominate former Procter & Gamble executive Robert McDonald to lead a Veterans Affairs department gripped by reports of treatment delays and cover-ups.

An administration official said Obama planned to nominate McDonald to the Cabinet post on Monday. If confirmed by the Senate, the 61-year-old McDonald would succeed Eric Shinseki, the retired four-star general who resigned last month as the scope of the issues at veterans' hospitals became apparent.

McDonald's nomination signals that the president put a premium on management experience as he sought a new VA secretary. McDonald also has a military background, graduating near the top of his class at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and serving as a captain in the Army, primarily in the 82nd Airborne Division.
See Bob McDonald's P&G bio here. In my opinion this is an inspired choice. The man has a military background, ran a Dow Jones Industrial Average company after making his way up from the bottom (P&G is one of those rare 'promote from within' companies), and is blazingly intelligent while lacking the need to feed his ego. Mr. Wife speaks very highly of him from personal experience. If he cannot turn around the VA, it cannot be done.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/30/2014 10:14 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  To be successful, Mr. McDonald will need hiring and firing tools similar to those he had at P&G. I doubt he'll see them anytime soon. Responsibility without authority is generally a recipe for disaster.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/30/2014 10:39 Comments || Top||

#2  He doesn't necessarily need to get rid of people, Besoeker, just be able to move them to where they can't do any harm, though carrying myriads of such peope would impact his overhead costs. They do that with teachers in New York City, I understand.

Here is more about the man, from the local newspaper: link
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/30/2014 10:51 Comments || Top||

#3  They do that with teachers in New York City, I understand.

The rubber room. Non-productive who collect pay and pension but do no service for the income (aka parasite).

Much more effective to give the guy the ability to fire five people a year without challenge, sort of like voir dire on juries where each party usually gets one veto on any member of the jury pool. Just the existence of such an ability will have the power to 'make friends and influence people'.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/30/2014 10:57 Comments || Top||

#4  He doesn't necessarily need to get rid of people....., just be able to move them to where they can't do any harm. TW

Simply moving them generally entails a promotion, so it's... screw up - move up, a common paradigm in gov't and a paradigm that needs breaking.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/30/2014 11:10 Comments || Top||

#5  He doesn't necessarily need to get rid of people....., just be able to move them to where they can't do any harm.

The Marianas Trench?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/30/2014 11:29 Comments || Top||

#6  I once had a conversation with the Postmaster General -- a mover and shaker in the private sector -- who explained he was basically impotent when it came to his unionized, job-protected, politically connected workforce.

The difference here is the lives of our nation's best are in the balance, rather than delays in junk mail delivery.
Posted by: regular joe || 06/30/2014 11:30 Comments || Top||

#7  All members of 'B Company.'

Be there when you get there. Be there when you leave.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/30/2014 11:33 Comments || Top||

#8  Of course, Besoeker. But first make the thing functional for those who need it, and later we can point and laugh at those who were promoted to the rubber room. This is exactly the kind of thing Congress can be useful for.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/30/2014 11:38 Comments || Top||

#9  Absolutely agree.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/30/2014 11:44 Comments || Top||

#10  TW, I though Congress was already filled with them and they seem rather grouchy and p'ed off when you try to move them along there as well. (see-MS senate race)
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/30/2014 11:47 Comments || Top||

#11  Congress is a very special case, dear Procopius2k. Hopefully after this November it will be slightly less very special.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/30/2014 21:44 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2014-06-30
  Bodies of Kidnapped Teens Found Near Hevron
Sun 2014-06-29
  Afghan Forces Claim Victory in Major Taliban Battle
Sat 2014-06-28
  Maliki rejects calls for emergency government
Fri 2014-06-27
  Syrian planes bomb Sunni targets in Iraq, Maliki rejects calls for emergency government
Thu 2014-06-26
  At least 21 killed in rush-hour blast in Nigerian capital
Wed 2014-06-25
  Zarb-i-Azb: 47 militants killed in NWA, Khyber blitz
Tue 2014-06-24
  Thousands flee North Waziristan region on last day of evacuation
Mon 2014-06-23
  Syria Army, Hizbullah Seek to Oust Rebels from Qalamun Foothills
Sun 2014-06-22
  30 militants killed in Khyber Agency, N Waziristan air blitz
Sat 2014-06-21
  Lebanon security chief escapes suicide attack
Fri 2014-06-20
  Zarb-i-Azb operation: 23 militants killed in fresh strikes
Thu 2014-06-19
  Iraq Battles ISIL for Control of Baiji Refinery
Wed 2014-06-18
   Iraqi PM sacks senior security officers over failure in fighting insurgents
Tue 2014-06-17
  Iraq calls for Iranian help to fight militants
Mon 2014-06-16
  Mighty Pak Army launches operation in North Wazoo


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