[PJ] The least-shocking, long-rumored departure in cable news seems that it is about to happen. The still-dominant Fox News Channel has been through a lot of changes in the past several months, most notably saying good-bye to the man who made it a ratings powerhouse. Now, according to The New York Times it appears that FNC is losing one of its biggest stars:
Megyn Kelly, who arrived at Fox News 12 years ago as a television news neophyte but rose to become one of its two biggest stars, has decided to leave the network to take on a broad new role at NBC News for an undisclosed amount, people briefed on the negotiations said on Tuesday.
[Charlotte Observer] A baggage handler was apparently locked in the cargo hold of an outbound Charlotte Douglas International flight Sunday and survived the ordeal as the plane reached altitudes of up to 27,000 feet, where outside temperatures can sink to minus 30 to 34 degrees.
Many questions remain about the incident. FAQ: No, the baggage handler in the graphic is not Reginald Gaskin.
United Airlines is still investigating what led to the baggage handler being in a cargo hold for nearly 90 minutes during the flight. The man was found after the aircraft landed at Washington Dulles International Airport, multiple media outlets reported.
The airline said in a statement to the Associated Press Monday that United Express flight No. 6060 was operated by Mesa Airlines, and it landed safely at Dulles on Sunday at about 4:16 p.m. Sunday. The statement said that once the plane was at the gate, an employee of the airline’s ground handling vendor was found in the cargo area.
The plane was an Embraer 170 with 50 seats, media outlets reported. Radio communications traffic about the flight suggested the baggage loader was accidentally locked in the cargo area at the Charlotte airport, reported Observer news partner WBTV . The man reportedly refused to be checked out by medics.
Airport officials initially treated the discovery as a security breach, as it worked to identify the employee.
Media outlets have identified the employee as Reginald Gaskin.
Gaskin, 45, told the Washington Post, "I thank God. He was with me." Gaskin told the Post that on advice of his attorney, he would not discuss what happened. He worked for Texas-based G2 Secure Staff, media outlets reported.
United officials could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday. At 27,000 feet, for comparison, that would be the equivalent of nearing the top of Mount Everest, which reaches 29,000 feet.
#2
United has just instituted an 'economy' class that for the cheaper fare prohibits a pax from using an overhead bin, but only the under seat room for personal gear.
Wonder how much this guy will get charged the THE WHOLE DANGED CARGO BAY???
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01/03/2017 15:02 Comments ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] A French tourist was bitten by a crocodile inside a Thai national park as she tried to get close to the fearsome animal to take a selfie, an official said yesterday.
The incident took place on Sunday afternoon in Khao Yai, a popular national park filled with dense jungle hiking trails and waterfalls three hours north of Bangkok.
"She wanted to take selfie with the crocodile who was lying down near a stream," a park official told AFP, asking not to be named because he did not have the authority to speak to the media.
"It was startled and bit her on the leg."
The official said two crocodiles had made their home on that particular section of the park for years with warning signs laid out.
"I guess that she wanted to see it for real," he added.
Local media posted pictures of park rangers dressed in camouflage carrying the 47-year-old victim strapped to a stretcher, a thick bandage wrapped around her knee.
Another shot showed a ranger pointing to a pool of blood close to a sign saying in Thai and English "Danger Crocodile No Swimming".
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017 00:00 ||
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"Danger Crocodile No Swimming"
In all fairness, the sign said nothing about selfies.
It is understood that Zimbabwe’s national parks authority was ashamed or embarrassed about exporting wildlife to China, which is why it claimed to be capturing scores of young jumbos this year to restock parks and conservancies inside the country. But the reality is apparently very different: the authority has allegedly been grabbing the young animals to export to China, not least because Zimbabwe is bankrupt.
The Russian cargo plane Airbridge Cargo747 left Victoria Falls airport earlier this week bound for Shanghai via Moscow with about 35 elephants aged between 5 and 12 years old on board. Another shipment of live wildlife cargo, this time hyenas and lions, is due to leave Victoria Falls for China before the weekend.
Among those the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority spoke to last month about the capture of the elephants was a group of EU wildlife experts who were on a fact-finding mission to see if a way could be found to help preserve Zimbabwe’s wildlife more efficiently.
They were told rangers were going to attempt to capture a matriarch in the Hwange National Park so that when the youngsters were released inside the country, they would have a mother. They were not told the youngsters were off to China.
One visitor to Hwange who saw the EU delegation there said the young elephants were in good condition and were getting used to crates that had been built for their travel.
The cargo plane was delayed because scales to weigh the cargo were not working well. Victoria Falls was recently upgraded to accommodate the world’s largest aircraft.
Zimbabwe previously exported 24 elephants to a small safari camp in south-eastern China.
National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority spokeswoman Caroline Washaya-Moyo declined to comment.
Several wildlife Facebook sites have condemned the “cruel” export of the young elephants. Last month the Zimbabwe National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals stopped the export of 11 hyenas because the containers for the animals were not up to standard.
Insiders say the hyenas were released by the authority but most were recaptured and will now leave Zimbabwe along with an unspecified number of lions before the weekend.
#2
The Chinese have a better racket. They rent pandas at $1m per animal. And they say these rentals are a token of their generosity. Why sell when you can rent?
[AA.TR] Nigeria’s peace drive in the oil-rich delta region suffered a major setback on Sunday night when a key krazed killer group slammed President Muhammadu Buhari for allegedly stalling the grinding of the peace processor.
In a statement, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta ... a confederation of bands of bandidos portraying itself of a political organization grabbing for Nigeria's oil boodle ... (MEND) -- an influential krazed killer group -- said Buhari’s "arrogant" posturing had affected the region and blamed him for failing to honor previous agreements.
"Prior to and after his reluctant meeting with traditional rulers, opinion leaders and stakeholders of the Niger Delta region under the auspices of Pan Niger Delta Forum [PANDEF] on Nov. 1, 2016, Buhari has been carrying on arrogantly and making controversial, prejudicial, conflicting and contradictory statements about the politics and economy of the oil-rich region," the statement quoting a front man for the movement, Jomo Gbomo, said.
"Without prejudice to the pre-2015 presidential election endorsement freely and voluntarily given to Buhari on Jan. 6, 2015, MEND hereby categorically and unequivocally passes a vote of no confidence on the government of President Buhari," Gbomo added.
The group accused the president of "blackmailing" leaders from the region over the peace talks and accused the administration of not forming its own team to interact with stakeholders from the oil-rich region.
It also accused the president of reneging on his pledge to facilitate the release of all political prisoners connected to the agitation in the region, while also allegedly sanctioning the arrest of top krazed killers.
The presidency has not reacted to the development yet which threatens the fragile peace in the area.
MEND, whose leaders Henry Okah and others are standing trial for alleged bombings of government infrastructure, has been said to be a key ally of Buhari from the region. Former President Goodluck Jonathan ... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau.Other than that he's pretty useless as the Boko Haram debacle shows.. also hails from the region.
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[AA.TR] Gambia ... The Gambia is actually surrounded by Senegal on all sides but its west coast. It has a population of about 1.7 million. The difference between the two is that in colonial days Senegal was ruled by La Belle France and The Gambia (so-called because there's only one of it, unlike Guinea, of which there are the Republic of Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, New Guinea, the English coin in circulation between 1663 and 1813, and Guyana, which sounds like it should be another one) was ruled by Britain... 's president-elect Adama Barrow has defended the position taken by the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) two days after the defeated President Yahya Jammeh branded them "partisan" in the mediation of the ongoing political situation in the country.
Barrow, a little known property developer, defeated President Jammeh at the small nation’s December 1 presidential polls.
Jammeh admitted the defeat but week later came out and reject the "results in its totality", claiming "unacceptable irregularities".
Jammeh said in his New Year message that the "partisan" position of the economic bloc took has disqualified them as genuine mediators that will bring the impasse to a successful end.
However, if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning... in a statement released through his spokesperson, Halifa Sallah, Adama Barrow said the AU, UN and the ECOWAS are acting within the Gambian constitution.
"President elect Barrow, ECOWAS, AU and the UN have calculated their steps. Outgoing President Jammeh should also calculate his steps so that no mistakes would be made that would undermine the peace and security of the country," Sallah told a presser Monday afternoon.
"President elect Barrow has emphasized in no uncertain terms that the only time the ECOWAS, AU and the UN would have a foot hole in managing Gambian affairs is only if the two presidents failed to do, with impeccable thoroughness, what the constitution of the republic demands of both."
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[Bangla Daily Star] An alleged robber was killed in a "shootout" with police in Mithapukur upazila of Rangpur early yesterday.
The dead is Rahat Hossain, 32, of Bujruk-Shontoshpur village in the upazila.
Humayun Kabir, officer-in-charge of Mithapukur Police Station, said on information, police jugged Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! Rahat at his home around 10:30pm Sunday.
Based on information gleaned from Rahat, police went to recover firearms. They took Rahat with them. When the police van reached near a bridge of Bheluarmor around 5:00am, some robbers opened fire to snatch him.
Police then returned fire, triggering the "shootout". At one stage, Rahat was caught in the line of fire and was struck down in his prime, said the OC.
Police also claimed to have recovered a firearm and four bullets from the spot.
The OC said Rahat stood accused in 10 cases, including robbery and murder.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
Ah, a classic crossfire story. Haven't heard one of them in ages.
If I had a hammer
I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening
All over this land...
[Bangla Daily Star] A high school headmaster was beaten up with hammer allegedly by a local Awami League leader and his men in Gangni upazila of Meherpur on Sunday.
The assault left his left leg broken.
Victim Rafiqul Islam told The Daily Star he was attacked for "refusing to recommend the leader's appointment as the president of his school's management committee unlawfully".
According to Rafiqul, 48, and local sources, the management committee election of Devipur High School was held on December 26 in the presence of Gangni Upazila Secondary School Education Officer Mir Habibul Basher.
Following due procedures, the committee elected Abdul Baki, a freedom fighter, as its president, Habibul told The Daily Star.
Baki became the president beating the other candidate, Mamunur Rashid, who is the president of Bamundi union ward-7 AL, said Rafiqul and the local sources.
However, there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... Mamunur, 32, allegedly did not accept the election results and repeatedly asked the headmaster to send his name, instead of Baki's, to the education board for its approval.
As Rafiqul refused, the AL leader "threatened" to beat him up "merciless", said the victim.
Several local AL leaders also asked him to send Mamunur's name to the board, the teacher said, without mentioning their names.
Rafiqul said Mamunur along with three of his accomplices swooped on him with a hammer and sticks when he was on his way to his school around 9:30am on Sunday.
After the attackers left, locals took him to Gangni Upazila Health Complex. Later, he was shifted to Kushtia Medical College Hospital.
Yesterday morning, he was again brought back to the health complex in Meherpur as his family lives in the district.
Apart from breaking his left leg, Rafiqul also had injuries in his chest and hands, said MK Reza, a medical officer at the health complex.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017 00:00 ||
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Bang, bang, Maxwell's silver hammer
Came down upon his head
Do do do do do
Bang, Bang, Maxwell's silver hammer
Made sure that he was dead
[WaPo] About 10,000 Venezuelans are streaming into Brazil every month in search of food and medicine, authorities say, camping out on the streets and swamping government services in Amazon frontier towns ill-prepared to receive them.
It is an exodus by land, sea and air. Venezuela’s well-to-do can leave on planes, if they haven’t already. Rickety boats ferry small groups of migrants to Curacao, Bonaire and other Caribbean islands a short distance from Venezuela’s north coast. But those numbers are dwarfed by the tens of thousands pouring into Brazil and Colombia each month — either for emergency shopping trips or long-term stays.
Venezuela’s economic meltdown and political chaos have left its neighbors fearful of a large-scale humanitarian crisis that could bring even greater numbers of needy migrants.
Every month seems to bring a new low. Maduro attempted to outlaw Venezuela’s largest banknote in mid-December, a measure that he said would strike at foreign powers conspiring to sabotage his socialist government. Instead, cash dried up, retail commerce froze, and Maduro suspended the move as rioting and looting erupted. It was a reminder to the whole region that Venezuela is burning on a short fuse, and Maduro’s cash-strapped government will need a major boost in global petroleum prices to avert disaster.
Maduro abruptly closed Venezuela’s border with Brazil and Colombia on multiple occasions last year, ordering the crossings reopened with just as little notice. This, too, appears to be fueling a sense of urgency among Venezuelans who opt to face precarious living conditions in neighboring countries rather than suffer the hunger and social breakdown back home.
Brazilian government services are buckling under the weight of the sudden influx of Venezuelan migrants. Their arrival has overwhelmed Roraima, a poor, sparsely populated state the size of Wyoming. Venezuelans account for 60 percent of all hospital visits along the border, according to the Health Ministry in this northern state. Infections from sexually transmitted diseases are skyrocketing from the arrival of so many Venezuelan prostitutes. In December, Roraima’s governor declared a state of emergency and appealed for federal assistance to cope with the crush of border-crossers.
Almost overnight, sleepy border towns such as Pacaraima have been transformed into bustling hubs of international commerce, where makeshift supermarkets pop up selling food, medicine, soap and other goods that are hard to find in Venezuela. Although some Brazilians welcome the business, many are worried that things are spiraling out of control.
Although they can easily enter Brazil, Venezuelans can’t work legally unless they apply for an immigration or refugee visa. Because the visas are hard to obtain, many Venezuelans have taken informal jobs selling food, cleaning car windshields at traffic lights or unloading trucks at the border. The unregulated work has heightened tensions with locals, who say they are unable to compete with the Venezuelans’ low wages.
The crisis is similar in the Colombian cities along the border with Venezuela. Colombian authorities last year registered 6 million visits by Venezuelans crossing into their country, many of them to purchase food and other goods that have become scarce back home.
There are no formal immigration checks at the busy crossings, so Venezuelans can freely enter Colombia as tourists, and it is unknown how many aren’t going back. But Christian Kruger, Colombia’s top immigration official, said many Venezuelans are remaining in the country to work illegally. Colombian authorities reported 2,000 Venezuelans last year who were caught working without authorization, Kruger said.
But Kruger and other officials said they remain committed to an open-border policy that facilitates commerce and offers a lifeline to families who can’t find enough to eat in Venezuela. Still, Kruger added, Colombian officials are preparing for the worst, and would be ready to cope with a collapse in Venezuela or a mass migration. The United Nations and international aid organizations would also be called on to help.
“Every government institution in our country knows what it has to do,” he said, including the military, police and health authorities. “We know it isn’t something that would only affect our border region. It would be the whole country.”
[Rooters] Cuba paraded troops and hundreds of thousands of citizens through its emblematic Revolution Square on Monday in a traditional show of nationalist fighting spirit in the face of steep economic and diplomatic challenges.
Ah, Rooters - the masters of understatement. Notice that there's no scare quotes either.
The event marked the 60th anniversary of the landing of the Granma yacht which brought the Castro brothers and their bearded rebels from Mexico to Cuba to start their revolution against a U.S.-backed dictatorship.
Troops wielding automatic rifles marched in lock step behind a replica of the Granma on Monday, followed by a sea of banner- and flag-waving Cubans, many bussed in and organized through their workplaces and neighborhoods.
"This is an important message of unity and strength," said Rene Lazo, 66, who, like most, got up well before the crack of dawn to participate in the parade. "This is going to be a difficult year but we will keep working hard to bring our people forwards".
Communist-ruled Cuba fell into an economic recession in the second half of last year, its first since the collapse of the Soviet Union a quarter century ago, as its strategic ally Venezuela floundered.
Meanwhile its historic detente with the United States came under threat with the election of Donald Trump as President. Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has said he would unravel attempts to normalize relations unless he gets a “better deal".
All this is taking place as Cuba is also coming to terms with the loss of its revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro. While "El Comandante" had handed the presidency over to his younger brother Raul in 2008, he remained a key figurehead.
Some of those marching held up images of Castro or banners reading "We are Fidel". While the parade normally takes place every five years on Dec. 2, it was postponed a month due to his death in late November.
Raul Castro and his family watched and waved at those marching from the foot of the towering monument to independence hero Jose Marti in the center of the square.
The mood on Monday was of defiance although many Cubans said they hoped there would not be a return of Cold War-era politics. Trump's threat to gradual and still fragile detente could not come at a worse time for Cuba.
A tourism boom in part sparked by looser travel restrictions on Americans failed last year to offset dwindling oil shipments from Venezuela and less cash for Cuban doctors and other professionals working overseas.
"Everything is just very uncertain at the moment, so there's more propaganda," said Antonio Sosa, 50, an engineer who chose not to attend the parade. "You don't see news on the news broadcast anymore, just speeches Fidel gave 30 years ago."
[DAWN] At least 60 inmates died during a prison riot in the northern state of Amazonas, including several who had their heads chopped off or dismembered, Brazilian state authorities said Monday.
State public security secretary Sergio Fontes said that in addition to the deaths, some inmates escaped, but he did not say how many. Several prison guards were held hostage.
"This is the biggest prison massacre in our state's history," Fontes said during a presser. The riot began Sunday afternoon and lasted until Monday morning.
Two of the biggest crime gangs of Brazil have been fighting since 2016 over control of several prisons which, authorities in Amazonas believe, was the reason behind the first riot of 2017.
Fontes said the inmates made few demands to end the riot, which hints at a killing spree organised by members of a local gang against those of another that is based in Sao Paulo.
The secretary said officers found a hole in a prison wall through which authorities believe weapons entered the building.
Fontes confirmed that many of the dead had been beheaded and Judge Luis Carlos Valois, who negotiated the end of the riot with inmates, said he saw many bodies that were quartered.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017 00:00 ||
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he saw many bodies that were quartered
And you think these inmates can peacefully reenter society?
#3
They had no problem with the death penalty. Such prison riots used to met with full combat assault by soldiers. Posted by P2Kontheroad
Solves a multitude of care & feeding problems, restores order and good discipline, and creates an excellent occasion for weapons cleaning and maintenance.
[AA.TR] At least nine people died after a five-story building partially collapsed late Sunday in the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan, the country’s Interior Ministry has said.
Nine bodies, including those of three children, were recovered from the rubble in Shahan village, the ministry said.
Four people were pulled from of the remains of the building, according to Kazinform, a Kazakhstan news agency.
Kazinform also reported rescue efforts were underway. It added about 70 people are still working at the site.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Rooters] China will not allow anyone to use Hong Kong as a base for subversion against mainland China or to damage its political stability, Beijing's top official in the territory told state television.
Chinese leaders are increasingly concerned about a fledgling independence movement in Hong Kong, which returned to mainland rule in 1997 with a promise of autonomy known as "one country, two systems", and recent protests in the city.
In an interview with state television broadcast late on Sunday, Zhang Xiaoming, the head of China's Liaison Office in Hong Kong, said Beijing will not interfere in matters that purely affect Hong Kong's autonomy.
"As far as Hong Kong is concerned, nobody is permitted do anything in any form that damage the country's sovereignty and security, they are not allowed to challenge the central government's authority or that of Hong Kong's Basic Law, they are not allowed to use Hong Kong for infiltration subversion activities against the mainland to damage its social and political stability," Zhang said.
China's parliament last month staged a rare interpretation of the Basic Law, Hong Kong's mini-constitution, to effectively bar pro-independence city lawmakers from taking office there.
Chinese President Xi Jinping told outgoing Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying last month that China's central government strongly supports efforts by the Hong Kong government to curb moves by some promoting independence for the global financial hub.
The former British colony returned to China under the "one country, two systems" agreement that ensured its freedoms and wide-ranging autonomy, including a separate legal system. But Communist Party rulers in Beijing have ultimate control, and some Hong Kong people are concerned they are increasingly interfering to head off dissent.
[Reuters] Ford Motor Co (F.N) said Tuesday it will cancel a planned $1.6 billion factory in Mexico and invest $700 million at a Michigan factory, after President-elect Donald Trump had harshly criticized the Mexico investment plan.
The second largest U.S. automaker said it would build new electric, hybrid and autonomous vehicles at the Flat Rock, Michigan plant and add 700 jobs.
Ford Chief Executive Mark Fields said the decision to cancel the new Mexico factory was the result of sagging demand for small cars in North America and not because Trump was elected president. He told Fox Business that the automaker would have made the same decision even if Trump had not been elected.
"There was no quid pro quo because there was no negotiation" with Trump over the decision to cancel the plant, Fields said.
Fields told reporters the decision related to the need to "fully utilize capacity at existing facilities" amid declining sales of small and medium sized cars such as the Focus and Fusion.
Now, I don't know about you, but I'm surprised
The annotated edition of Adolf Hitler’s "Mein Kampf" sold 85,000 copies in the one year since it was released in print for the first time since World War II.
"Hitler, Mein Kampf: A Critical Edition" is in its eighth printing, according to the Spiegel newspaper, which noted that the book topped its best-seller list in April.
#2
Given that it has been unavailable I wonder how many copies are by people trying to learn what the fuss was all about........that or German literate "refugees".
#6
The book, 'Hitler, Mein Kampf: A Critical Edition' is a scholarly exercise. It has the text and thousands of annotations. The annotations point out the grammatical errors in the book, the statements that are unsupported by science, the statements that Hitler later retracted or contradicted, etc.
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/03/2017 16:29 Comments ||
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[Hurriyet Daily News] Justice Ministry sources said on Jan. 2 that there are 41,326 suspects who are placed in durance vile ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... as part of probes launched against the Gulen movement in the aftermath of the July 15 coup attempt.
Sources said 103,850 people were prosecuted and pre-trial arrest warrants had been issued against 41,326 of them.
Among those arrested, 2,286 are judges and prosecutors, 104 are members of the Supreme Court of Appeals, 41 are members of the Council of State members, and three are members of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK).
Some 6,325 of those arrested are from the military, including 168 generals. Some 7,624 are coppers, 100 are district governors, 74 are deputy governors, and 17 of them are provincial governors.
Sources said 3,831 suspects have been released as the probes are ongoing, among them 1,066 soldiers and 583 coppers.
Operations to apprehend many suspects are still ongoing, the sources added, as there are a total of 5,150 people who have warrants against them but are currently on the run.
A total of 902 suspects are currently under detention, the source added.
Meanwhile Ankara prosecutors on Jan. 2 sought three aggravated life-terms and up to 22.5 years in jail for 51 Air Force Academy students for their alleged role in the July 15, 2016 coup attempt. The suspect are charged with "attempting to abolish the constitutional order," membership to terrorist organization," and "attempting to abolish the parliament, the government and attempting to prevent it from carrying out its duties."
The first trial into the coup attempt began in Istanbul on Dec. 27 amid tight security measures at a courthouse inside a prison complex that was once known as the venue for hearings in cases led by judges and prosecutors inside the 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... network.
Twenty-nine coppers are being tried at Istanbul’s 22nd High Penal Court in Istanbul’s Silivri district on a range of charges connected to July’s deadly coup attempt, widely believed to have been orchestrated by the followers of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Gulen.
Among the 29 officers, 25 were remanded in jug for disobeying orders to resist the coup attempt. The coppers are charged with disobeying orders to defend the Huber Kiosk, a presidential palace in Istanbul, on the night of the coup attempt.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017 00:00 ||
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[Hurriyet Daily News] Turkish televangelist Ahmet Mahmut Ünlu, popularly known as "Cubbeli" Ahmet Hoca (Robed Ahmet Hoca), has raised eyebrows by claiming that playing chess is more sinful than gambling, daily Hurriyet reported on Jan. 2. Personally, I consider televangelism more sinful than either.
Ünlu said chess players were "cursed" and claimed that "most people who played chess are liars."
"Playing chess is worse than gambling and eating pork ... People who play chess are more prone to lying than others. People who play chess may not say the shahada [declaration of Islamic belief] while they are dying," he said.
"People who play chess are cursed ... You should count your prayer beads instead of playing games like this," he added.
Ünlu had hit headlines on Nov. 14 in 2014 by condemning the European Space Agency’s (ESA) successful landing of the Philae probe on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, describing the mission as "maniacal."
More recently, he waded into a debate on the religious permissiveness of oral sex, slamming a colleague for describing it as religiously forbidden and saying there is no such ban in Islam.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017 00:00 ||
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"Muslim Televangelist"
(Finally working their way out of the 6th Century at last.) If you were a devout muzzie, he would have a point. He is just not gifted enough to spain the sitiation.
Bishops are a Christian reference. Knights, Kings and Queens can conjure up images of crusaders. But then again, anything that is considered entertainment is cause for a fatwa against it.
Posted by: Herb Noodleman1548 ||
01/03/2017 0:26 Comments ||
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#2
Chess requires logical thinking, thinking ahead, and employs no violence whatsoever - obviously un-Islamic.
#3
Originated in the Orient, found its way into Persia where the Muslims picked it up, spreading it through their culture. The Euros picked it up from them.
#4
I'd think that dogmatic Muslims would love chess. It's absolutely deterministic, with no provision for chance, happenstance or free will on the part of the pieces.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/03/2017 8:58 Comments ||
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#5
Can we get a fahtwa that says breathing is sinful
[DAWN] LAHORE: A man allegedly murdered his former wife and daughter in Kot Kamboh, the Nawan Kot police claimed on Sunday.
Police said that Zahara, 42, and her daughter Amna, 9, went missing on Dec 30 after both of them left their house to attend a mehndi function of their relative in Sabzazar.
Victim’s brother Muhammad Dilawar had a kidnap case registered against his former brother-in-law, Tufail.
The woman was living with her son and daughter in a portion of the house of her former husband.
Iqbal Town SP Adeel Memon said suspect Tufail during interrogation confessed to having murdered his former wife and daughter.
He said the suspect also told police that he had thrown the bodies in a drain in the Nawan Kot area.
The SP said that police teams were constituted to recover the bodies from the drain. He said the murder charges would be added to the case after the recovery of the bodies.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] KARACHI: A boy was killed and a girl and three women were among the over 20 people maimed as several areas of the metropolis reverberated with New Year jubilant gun sex on Saturday midnight, police and hospital officials said.
The seven-year-old boy was hit with a stray bullet near Ayesha Manzil in Azizabad.
The police said Subhan with his father, Irfan, was travelling on a cycle of violence when unidentified people fired gunshots to herald New Year.
The child sustained bullet wounds in the head and was taken to a private hospital in Nazimabad, where he died.
In other gun sex incidents in several localities, at least 20 people sustained bullet wounds, said police and hospital sources.
"We received 10 people brought with injuries from several areas," said Dr Seemin Jamali, executive director of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.
Among the injured were seven-year-old girl Arba and three women. Arba sustained bullet wounds in Liaquatabad. Her condition was critical as she received bullet injuries in her abdomen, added Dr Jamali.
Later on, she was referred to the National Institute of Child Health for further treatment.
Among the three maimed women, the condition of Afshan was serious because she also received bullet wounds in her abdomen in Jacob Lines.
Meanwhile, ...back at the alley, Slats grabbed for his rosco... a police spokesperson said that Asad Razzaq, 35, and Shaharyar Jaffar, 25, received bullet wounds near the Kharadar police post.
Fourteen-year-old Raheel Latif was hit by a stray bullet on Kashmire Road near Jail Chowrangi.
In Garden 40-year-old Inayat Qadir was shot at and maimed near Ramaswami.
Seventy-year-old Syed Mustafa
Qasim received a stray bullet at Soldier Bazaar-3 while 25-year-old Waqas received bullet wounds near Noorani Kabab House.
Eighty-year-old Mushtaq received stray bullet near Bilal Masjid in Landhi-6.
Pir Sattar Shah, 40, was maimed near the Hasanzai restaurant in Patel Para.
In Baldia, Hussain Sattar, 20, was maimed while in Pak Colony Amar Gul, 41, was maimed in jubilant firing.
A man, Zahid Shakoor, 25, was shot at and maimed when people resorted to firing in Shah Faisal Colony while 30-year-old Safeer Shah was injured in Abidabad, Baldia.
Meanwhile, ...back at the alley, Slats grabbed for his rosco... around a dozen youngsters were detained in the Clifton and Defence areas on Saturday night for rowdyism, said South SSP Saqib Ismail Memon.
He added that two coppers were also tossed in the calaboose You have the right to remain silent... and suspended for resorting to firing into the air in jubilation outside the Clifton cop shoppe.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] India's top court on Monday ruled that election candidates cannot use religion or caste to seek votes, describing them as corrupt practices under electoral laws.
India has a Hindu-nationalist government, and most political parties select candidates in various districts based on caste and religious considerations to influence voting.
The ruling on Monday is considered significant as it comes months before elections in Uttar Pradesh state where dominant campaign issues are caste affiliations and the building of a Hindu temple in place of a 16th century mosque demolished by Hindu hardliners.
Legislature elections are also due in Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur states.
Hindus constitute nearly 80 per cent of India's 1.25 billion people, while Moslems comprise 14.2pc and the remaining 6pc adhere to other religions, such as Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism.
Monday's verdict was split 4-3. The majority ruling by Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and three other judges said that religion "has no role in electoral process which is a secular activity."
Three dissenting judges said the issue should be left to parliament to decide.
The ruling came on a batch of petitions, including one by Abhiram Singh of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party whose election had been set aside by a Mumbai court.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
In other news, Maharaja Canute commanded the waves not to touch his feet
Posted by: John Frum ||
01/03/2017 17:10 Comments ||
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[DAWN] A district and session court in Islamabad on Monday sent Pakistain Moslem League-Nawaz (PML-N) Islamabad chapter's office bearer on a 14-day judicial remand to Adiala Jail in an alleged gang-rape case.
A woman was allegedly gang-raped in Islamabad on New Year's Eve by four men. The incident took place within the jurisdiction of the Sihala cop shoppe on December 31.
Sihala police tossed in the slammer Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! one accused and produced him before the court on Monday and sought arrest warrants for the other three accused.
The court issued arrest warrants for the other three accused and sent the arrested accused, who is PML-N's Islamabad chapter office bearer, on 14-day judicial remand to Adiala Jail. He will now be presented before the court on January 16, 2017.
Meanwhile, ...back at the alley, Bugs Moroni was holding Slats from behind while his brother Greasy Thumb was pounding his face into paste ... the Pakistain Moslem League-Nawaz office bearers in the federal capital and police officials further confirmed that the arrested accused is PML-N’s general secretary in Islamabad.
PML-N politician Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, when repeatedly contacted by Dawn.com, avoided commenting on the issue.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2017 00:00 ||
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The Israeli company Convexum announced that it has developed technology to protect against drone infiltration, Channel 2 reported.
Drones have been used in increasing numbers both for recreational purposes and by the military, including in Israel. Drones can be used to gather intelligence without any risk to human life and are often smaller than manned aircraft, allowing them to fly closer to their targets without being spotted.
According to Convexum, it has designed a system that can take control of a drone without any human intervention, thereby protecting sensitive sites such as military installations from the mechanized eyes of drones. The company claims that the system "offers enhanced perimeter security against rogue and malicious drone intrusions."
The system automatically disables the control operations of a drone that comes too close and guides the drone towards a safe landing.
h/t Instapundit
The anger against the ruling elites that fueled the election of Donald Trump was not understood by them for good reason: they genuinely are isolated from the realities of life as experienced by most Americans.
A fascinating survey has created a data-based measure of the social isolation of the urban elites, the people who run the country who have no contact at all with the lives of most people. Charles Murray, co-author of the groundbreaking study The Bell Curve, and author of Coming Apart: The State of White America, devised a clever survey to identify the social isolation from the rest of America that characterizes highly educated, affluent elites. He explains for the American Enterprise Institute, where he is a scholar:
In Coming Apart, a book I published in 2012, I asked my readers to score themselves on a 25-item test titled "How Thick is Your Bubble?" Scores could range from 0 to 100. The lower the score, the thicker one’s elite cultural bubble.
For PBS, he created a similar version of the quiz, taken by over 130,000 people who watch PBS.
...The data yield some remarkable conclusions about the way elites cluster together and cut themselves off (snip)
When I controlled for the age of the respondent and the urbanization of the zip code, it turned out that virtually all the effect on the bubble score is driven by the percentage of adults with a college degree in the zip code where the respondent lived. The zip code’s median family income had almost no independent effect. Another interesting finding: the zip code where people lived at age 10 had a modestly larger effect on their bubble scores than their current zip code.
In other words, there really is an elite at the very top of our income, education, and status hierarchy, and they cluster in just a few areas and cut themselves off from different people. Moreover, they tend to be children of people of higher status and education.
A hereditary class cut off from the society they rule ‐ not exactly the Jeffersonian ideal of America. More like the European, Latin, and Asian nations from which many Americans fled. And they live exactly where you would expect (list below).
#2
In other words, there really is an elite at the very top of our income, education, and status hierarchy, and they cluster in just a few areas and cut themselves off from different people.
Hence the terms 'bible thumping, gun toting, irredeemable deplorables.' Tell me, are 'ground breaking studies,' clever surveys, and scholarly examinations all that necessary ?
#5
PBS was a Great Society child which was to help the lower caste. Today its just a subsidized channel for the well to do. Using other peoples money to entertain themselves.
#6
A retired Marine SSgt. at a local bar here in North Georgia held up a T-shirt one night of Hillary's face crossed behind Bars and everybody in the Bar cheered. Went in a day or two later and the T-shirt is now in a see through glass frame hung above the cash register at the bar.
Message to the Donks and the Libtards, "We don't like you either." Won't fight the Civil War again, but something tells me that these same people had great grandfathers who DID.
We are, by and large. exactly what you think we are. We have been married to our wives for years. We own pickups and we do have guns. We go to Church on Sunday and we fly the American Flag off our porches and we like homemade Cornbread and Pork BBQ. We are almost all Vets and our sons are a lot like their dads.
Some of us have been to college, but we all also own our own businesses and homes. We work hard and drink Beer mostly, and enjoy basically happy and fulfilling Lives.
We UNDERSTAND liberals and "progressives", and we don't like them. God Bless you.
#7
What I'd really would like to see is a statistical study on sexual harassment accusations in colleges - to see if the accused and accusers populations have recurrent profiles.
#8
Chesney Hatfield1534, I'm with you, brother, but I DON'T understand liberals at all. If you want a visual, I'm that dog [I love dogs!] that has the confused look on his face when you do a magic trick with his favorite ball. I don't know how the LibProgs make it through life without analyzing their lives.
#9
Any society is going to have elites. I much prefer to have elites by achievement/merit vs elites who had a head start simply because of who their parents are.
#11
When I lived there,Raj, I had a hard time convincing people I wasn't in the KKK and that The Beverly Hillbillies was not a documentary. Also that in Alabama it does get cold in Winter and we do have heat in our homes.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/03/2017 15:49 Comments ||
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#12
But are snakepits an important part of religious ceremonies Deacon? :)
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[PJ] The least-shocking, long-rumored departure in cable news seems that it is about to happen. The still-dominant Fox News Channel has been through a lot of changes in the past several months, most notably saying good-bye to the man who made it a ratings powerhouse. Now, according to The New York Times it appears that FNC is losing one of its biggest stars:
[Bangla Daily Star] A French tourist was bitten by a crocodile inside a Thai national park as she tried to get close to the fearsome animal to take a selfie, an official said yesterday.
Goodluck Jonathan
[AA.TR] 
[Bangla Daily Star] An alleged robber was killed in a "
[DAWN] LAHORE: A man allegedly murdered his former wife and daughter in Kot Kamboh, the Nawan Kot police claimed on Sunday.
[DAWN] KARACHI: A boy was killed and a girl and three women were among the over 20 people 
[DAWN] India's top court on Monday ruled that election candidates cannot use religion or caste to seek votes, describing them as corrupt practices under electoral laws.
[DAWN] A district and session court in Islamabad on Monday sent Pakistain 
