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ISIS sets ablaze Syria’s largest source of gas as Syrian Army closes on their positions
Today's Headlines
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Ocala Police: Man parked pickup truck on top of car to defend family
F-150 vs Camry - check out the pics at link. Drink up!
Posted by: Frank G || 02/03/2017 11:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Adalberto Aponte, 53, said he got into a verbal disturbance that ended when Zach Waring placed his pickup truck into reverse and backed up onto Aponte’s Camry

In Obama's era it'd be a hate crime.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/03/2017 12:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Never bring a Camry to a truck fight.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/03/2017 12:43 Comments || Top||

#3  Burglary. Failure to pay child support. Another of those immigrants who are the "backbone of America." Huzzah!
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/03/2017 13:01 Comments || Top||

#4  Good thing that Ford uses that lightweight aluminum otherwise a fully steel bodied Chevy wouldn't have been able to muster the horse power to climb Mount Camry.

Awful considerate also that the red light wasn't run, could have had a terrible accident ( like hitting a Toyota or sumpin')
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 02/03/2017 13:09 Comments || Top||


Topless women spark beach fury in Argentina
[YAHOO] A sunny day at the beach took a bizarre twist in Argentina
...a country located on the other side of the Deep South. It is covered with Pampers and inhabited by Grouchos, who dance the Tangle. They used to have some islands called the Malvinas located where the Falklands are now. They're not supposed to cry for Evita...
when some 20 coppers arrived to expel three topless women -- now the center of a national protest movement.

With summer in full swing in the southern hemisphere, the three Argentines had shed their tops to sunbathe last weekend at the beach in Necochea, a resort town 500 kilometers (300 miles) south of Buenos Aires.

But local police in shorts and fluorescent vests arrived to tell them they were breaking public decency laws.

The women argued they were doing nothing wrong -- leading to an escalating row that drew in police reinforcements and a giant crowd of onlookers, some yelling at the women to get off the beach, others shouting their support.

Eventually, the women decided to leave what one of them called the "fascist beach."

A video of the standoff has now gone viral online -- stoking outrage among women's rights activists in a country known for machismo and high levels of violence against women.

Activists have called a topless women's march in support of the three women for Tuesday in the capital. They are calling the protest the "tetazo," which roughly translates as "breast smack."

A judge meanwhile dismissed the charges against the three women brought by a male beachgoer.

"A woman baring her breasts does not constitute an act that harms others, and is therefore outside the authority of the courts," small-time Mister Big court judge Mario Juliano ruled Wednesday.

He called on the police to be more "prudent."
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If Lena Dunham was one, then I agree with the copper's actions. Ain't nobody wants to see that
Posted by: Frank G || 02/03/2017 7:27 Comments || Top||

#2  But Frank, if it was Lena they wouldn't have sent 20 cops or they would have prompted a mass strike.

2 or 3 that drew the short straw at best.
Posted by: AlanC || 02/03/2017 8:05 Comments || Top||

#3  The female cop in the picture looks unimpressed...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/03/2017 8:33 Comments || Top||

#4  Sitting down there next to Brazil getting all these funny ideas about nudity on the beach.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/03/2017 11:01 Comments || Top||

#5  "A woman baring her breasts does not constitute an act that harms others, and is therefore outside the authority of the courts,"

LOL, the grownups have spoken.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/03/2017 12:44 Comments || Top||

#6  The people you see at a nude beach are never the people you want to see at a nude beach.
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 02/03/2017 22:39 Comments || Top||


Second teen arrested in Craigslist murder
[FOX13NEWS] Tampa police have made a second arrest in the murder of a Pasco man who was killed right in front of his teenage son during a Craigslist transaction Wednesday.

Detectives first incarcerated
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
Ramontrae Williams, 16, Wednesday evening and charged him with first-degree murder and robbery. They said they found the stolen dirtbike near his home.

But the other suspect was still on the lam.

Second teen arrested in Craigslist murder

Detectives soon identified 17-year-old Dontae Johnson as the second suspect. Late Wednesday night, Johnson was taken into custody. James Beck had planned to meet Williams and Johnson after they expressed interest in a dirtbike his son had listed for sale on Craigslist.

But when Beck and his 15-year-old son met the two teens, he quickly realized that they actually intended to rob him. Police say as Beck was attempting to leave, Johnson shot him. Meanwhile,
...back at the palazzo, Count Guido stepped from behind the suit of armor, rapier in hand. Ciccolini snarled and reached for his own weapon...
Williams stole the dirt bike.

Neighbors heard the gunshots and helped Beck's 15-year-old son Stuart try to save his father, but there was nothing they could do. Beck died of his injuries.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Invasive wild pig populations continue to grow, spread through United States
[UPI] Wild invasive pigs are wreaking havoc on North American ecosystems, a new report warns.

"Feral swine cause major damage to property, agriculture (crops and livestock), native species and ecosystems, and cultural and historic resources," Gail Keirn, a public affairs specialist with the National Wildlife Research Center, told PLOS ONE.

The National Wildlife Research Center, NWRC, is the research arm of the Wildlife Services program, part of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, a USDA agency.

"This invasive species also threatens the health of people, wildlife, pets, and other domestic animals," Keirn said. "As feral swine populations continue to expand across the country, these damages, costs, and risks will only keep rising."
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/03/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I blame Hernando de Soto.

As with most invasive species, the solution is to eat them. Luckily, they're quite tasty, although a bit peevish.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/03/2017 0:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Great! I just sit here and the bacon comes to me!
Feral snort of the day
Posted by: gorb || 02/03/2017 3:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Shot 2 at my place early last spring. They were delicious.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 02/03/2017 7:26 Comments || Top||

#4 

Ima down ma part.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy || 02/03/2017 7:29 Comments || Top||

#5  ^^^^
Photo fail on my part. How does one go about uploading a photo??
Posted by: Bangkok Billy || 02/03/2017 7:30 Comments || Top||

#6  Feral pigs? I thought we just voted them out.
Posted by: AlanC || 02/03/2017 8:28 Comments || Top||

#7  That reminds me, I need to go hog hunting.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/03/2017 9:22 Comments || Top||

#8  "The United States is overrun with wild pigs, women, children and land at risk!!" should be the headline, and the story should be on every network and in every publication in the muslim world.
Posted by: brujotejano || 02/03/2017 10:07 Comments || Top||

#9  Don't eat the pig if you kill it less than 3 miles from a salt marsh or trailer park.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/03/2017 10:35 Comments || Top||

#10  I don't look forward to them making it to my area.
Posted by: jvalentour || 02/03/2017 10:49 Comments || Top||

#11  Trapped a few of the stupid ones this winter. Young and tender and tasty. Need to get a night scope if I am to make a dent in the population - they are tearing up the place.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/03/2017 11:48 Comments || Top||

#12  Didn't we just see a feral herd in Washington DC the other day?
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 02/03/2017 12:36 Comments || Top||

#13  The boars taste like crap. The only decent (in my opinion) eating are the sows one to two years old. The pork bellies are crap also.

When I hunt them, I take the young sows and leave the boars for the coyotes and vultures.
Posted by: Spinesing Gray3122 || 02/03/2017 12:58 Comments || Top||

#14  Damn, two article about Lena Dunham in a row
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 02/03/2017 13:11 Comments || Top||

#15  ^^^^Snark 'o' the day ^^^^
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 02/03/2017 17:33 Comments || Top||

#16  When I hunt them, I take the young sows and leave the boars for the coyotes and vultures.

Yep. Anything over 90lbs or 2 years isn't worth bringing home. Although I haven't tried it in sausage....
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/03/2017 20:53 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
British singer Vera Lynn to release new album at 100
[YAHOO] Renowned World War II singer Vera Lynn will celebrate her next birthday by becoming the first singer in history to release a new album at age 100, her record label said on Thursday.

"Vera Lynn 100" will feature Lynn's original vocals set to re-orchestrated versions of some of her most famous songs including "The White Cliffs of Dover" and "Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart."

The album is being released on March 17, three days before the singer's milestone birthday.

"It's truly humbling that people still enjoy these songs from so many years ago, reliving the emotions of that time," Lynn said in a statement released by Decca Records.

"It's so wonderful for me to hear 'my songs' again so beautifully presented in a completely new way," she said.
"We'll meet again some sunny day."
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I do appreciate the Floyd reference added at the end. That's exactly what popped into my mind when I saw her name.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/03/2017 11:00 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Venezuela Is So Broke It Can't Even Export Oil
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/03/2017 17:01 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ZFG.

Enjoy your shit sandwich, Venezuela.
Posted by: charger || 02/03/2017 18:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Wait. Can't they just print money?

Ben Bernanke
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/03/2017 18:15 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Mattis puts North Korea 'on notice' of 'overwhelming' response to nuclear use
[BBC] The US Defence Secretary James Mattis has said any use of nuclear weapons by North Korea would be met with an "effective and overwhelming" response.

Mr Mattis spoke in South Korea, where he had been reaffirming US support, before flying to Tokyo.

He also reconfirmed plans to deploy a US missile defence system in South Korea later this year.

North Korea's repeated missile and nuclear tests and aggressive statements continue to alarm and anger the region. The US has a considerable military presence in South Korea and Japan, as part of a post-war defence deal. There are just under 28,500 US troops in the country, for which Seoul pays about $900m (£710m) annually.

President Donald Trump has previously said he wants both South Korea and Japan to pay more towards maintaining that presence.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/03/2017 08:27 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "On Notice" off-set and meaning. If there are additional questions, please see me after the lecture.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/03/2017 9:02 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 02/03/2017 9:14 Comments || Top||

#3  North Korea Fires Security Chief, Signs of Instability

Lightly salt before consumption.


Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 02/03/2017 11:47 Comments || Top||

#4  For those on a low sodium diet, I recommend uranium tetraflouride (UF4) as a substitute.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/03/2017 11:55 Comments || Top||

#5  Fired, huh? Like from a artillery tube?
Posted by: Frank G || 02/03/2017 12:41 Comments || Top||

#6  So, the NoRKs get to add possible messy death to the existing options of horrible death and painful death.
I think we need a carrot here...
Posted by: ed in texas || 02/03/2017 20:22 Comments || Top||

#7  ...I find it interesting he arrived in an aircraft whose nickname (and a well-known one at that)is the Doomsday Machine.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 02/03/2017 20:34 Comments || Top||


USS Antietam guided-missile cruiser runs aground off Japan
[CNN] The USS Antietam, a US Navy Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser, damaged its propellers and spilled hydraulic oil into the water after running aground off the coast of Japan.

The incident, which occurred Tuesday while the ship was anchoring in Tokyo Bay near Yokosuka, Japan, did not result in any injuries to US or Japanese personnel, but the discharge of up to 1,100 gallons of hydraulic oil prompted environmental concerns.

"The Navy is cooperating with the Government of Japan and Local Japanese Coast Guard in response to this issue and is exhausting all options to minimize impacts to the environment," according to a statement from Kyoko Sugita, a US Navy spokesperson.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/03/2017 00:18 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Scratch one Captain's career.
Posted by: Lone Ranger || 02/03/2017 2:18 Comments || Top||

#2  #1 Scratch one Captain's career.
Posted by: Lone Ranger 2017-02-03 02:18


Sadly, tragically, yes, even though it appears the pilot was giving the orders at the time. I was dockside greeting a friend almost thirty years ago when the carrier Eisenhower was inbound to Norfolk after a six month deployment without so much as a band-aid for the crew...and the pilot ran her into an anchored freighter less than a mile from the pier. The skipper was relieved the instant they tied up.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 02/03/2017 5:10 Comments || Top||

#3  You had one job...
Posted by: SteveS || 02/03/2017 10:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Spruance and Nimitz had similar kinds of experience when they were junior officers...
Posted by: JFM || 02/03/2017 10:57 Comments || Top||

#5  My comment was not intended to disparage the unfortunate Captain - I was merely commenting on the factual reality of what happens when a warship is run aground.

Mea culpa.
Posted by: Lone Ranger || 02/03/2017 11:35 Comments || Top||

#6  Scratch one Captain's career.
Unless there there's a war going on with significant losses.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/03/2017 11:52 Comments || Top||

#7  Luckily Rocks & Shoals Article 4, Section 10, no longer applies.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/03/2017 14:23 Comments || Top||

#8  She drug anchor in a storm and, sadly, the bottom of Tokyo Bay is all rocks.
Posted by: ed in texas || 02/03/2017 20:24 Comments || Top||


Economy
POTUS to order reg rollback Friday for finance industry starting with Dodd-Frank
[WAPO] President Trump plans to order a rollback Friday of regulations governing the financial services industry and Wall Street under the Dodd-Frank law and beyond, a White House source confirmed.

Gary Cohn, White House Economic Council director, told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published last night that the administration would also move against a regulation designed to force retirement advisers to work in the best interest of their clients. That "fiduciary rule" is set to take effect in April. Promulgated by the Department of Labor, it’s meant to eliminate conflicts-of-interest among professionals dealing with people enrolled in qualified retirement plans and IRAs.

In an interview with the Journal, Cohn, a former president of Goldman Sachs, said the order was a "table setter for a bunch of stuff that is coming."

The move, set for announcement at a White House meeting with business leaders, would be in line with Trump’s campaign pledge to "dismantle the Dodd-Frank Act and replace it with new policies to encourage economic growth and job creation." The law is one of the most sweeping overhauls of the financial regulatory system in history. Among other things, it spawned the so-called Volcker rule, which limited the types of investments allowed by U.S. banks, as well as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Financial Stability Oversight Council that’s supposed to control risks that affected the financial industry.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/03/2017 09:26 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  FrankenDodd is crap regulation. It ruined work for me.
Posted by: newc || 02/03/2017 18:58 Comments || Top||


Japan readies package for Trump to help create 700,000 U.S. jobs
[Reuters] Japan is putting together a package it says could generate 700,000 U.S. jobs and help create a $450-billion market, to present to U.S. President Donald Trump next week, government sources familiar with the plans said.

The five-part package, to be unveiled when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visits Trump on Feb. 10 in Washington, envisage investments in infrastructure projects such as high-speed trains and cybersecurity, said the sources, who declined to be identified as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Investing in overseas infrastructure projects dovetails with a key plank in Abe’s growth strategy, which is to export "high-quality" infrastructure technology.

Japan will invest 17 trillion yen ($150 billion) in public and private funds over 10 years, the sources said. That would include helping develop high-speed railways in the northeastern United States, and the states of Texas and California, and renovating subway and train cars.
The Japanese might as well invest that money in the U.S.: they've been investing in all sorts of public and joint venture projects in Japan the past two decades without noticeable results.
The package also includes cooperation in global infrastructure investment, joint development of robots and artificial intelligence, and cooperation in cybersecurity and space exploration, among others.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/03/2017 07:26 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Gee, I wonder why Obola never got some deal like this.

I think there may have been a problem in translation from intelligent economic/business speak to radical ebonicized street agitator/organizer.

Either that or he never tried.

Personally I lean toward the power of and.
Posted by: AlanC || 02/03/2017 7:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Tokyo's subway system is a joy.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 02/03/2017 11:33 Comments || Top||


POTUS Meets With Harley-Davidson Executives
[Breitbart] President Donald Trump met with Harley-Davidson executives on the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday, recognizing the American company for creating jobs in the United States.

Trump was joined by Vice President Mike Pence and Trump’s chief of staff Reince Priebus, a Wisconsin native.

Trump spoke for about 15 minutes with the executives who arrived on Harley Davidson motorcycles. Most of the conversation was not audible to reporters, but it appeared that the executives pointed out the different kindS of motorcycles to the president.

When reporters asked if Trump would ride a motorcycle, he quipped, "Boy, would you like to see me fall off one of these!"

"Harley-Davidson has been an American success story since 1901," Spicer said to reporters at the White House press briefing. Spicer said he would meet with Harley executives and union workers to hear about ways to expand their business.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/03/2017 00:22 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Greece again on the brink
In the week of Groundhog Day it seemed entirely appropriate: Greek farmers, many on tractors, have once again been blockading roads and border posts amid mounting signs that the country long at the centre of Europe’s debt woes is – once again – teetering towards crisis.
Brilliant. Shut the economy down. That'll get the economy rolling again.
Protesting farmers have been a regular feature of the social unrest that has sporadically gripped Greece. It is now more than seven years since the Greek financial crisis erupted and the debt drama has often had a deja vu quality about it.

Eclipsed last year by the UK’s vote to exit the EU, and Donald Trump’s equally unlikely US electoral victory, the nation’s epic struggle to keep bankruptcy at bay has been out of the spotlight.

Bailout negotiations between Athens and its creditors have stalled. The possibility of Grexit, or euro exit, has re-emerged and bond yields have soared. The yield on two-year Greek government bonds has risen from 6% to 10% in less than two weeks as spooked investors have dumped their holdings. And the shrill rhetoric last seen at the height of the crisis in 2015 has returned.

Analysts sensing dangerous deadlock are sounding the alarm – an alarm that the embattled prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, was expected to raise in talks with the German chancellor and other European leaders in Malta on Friday.

“I am very worried we are heading towards a rupture with the EU,” said Pantelis Kapsis, a prominent political commentator. “There are lots of signs that at the back of their minds people in Syriza [the ruling leftist party] are entertaining various ideas of going it alone. What is sure is that we are entering a very difficult period which quite possibly could lead us to a point of no return.”

As always, time is of the essence. Shored up by a third EU-led bailout, Athens was told this week that further rescue funds would not be forthcoming until it concluded a compliance review of terms attached to the €86bn (£74bn) aid package.
Can you imagine! Demanding terms in return for money!
In July Greece faces debt repayments of €7.4bn, raising the spectre of default because state coffers by then will have run dry.

The impasse has turned into a standoff as creditors demand additional austerity once the current bailout expires. Without further reduction of pensions – already cut 12 times since the crisis began – and the tax-free threshold of personal incomes, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) argues, the debt-stricken country will never be able to achieve its agreed fiscal goal of a primary surplus of 3.5% of GDP from 2018.

In a fiery parliamentary debate late on Wednesday, Tsipras dug in, insisting his two-party coalition – in power with a wafer-thin majority of two – would not cave in to demands that his government has repeatedly called absurd. “The IMF’s demands go beyond any democratic and constitutional logic and value,” he railed.

Completion of the review is essential to Greece, exiled from international capital markets, being included in the European Central Bank’s 9 March bond-buying programme, key to the country regaining market access. If the deadline is missed few believe Athens will be able to keep itself afloat without a fourth bailout once the latest loans end.

And in a Europe preoccupied with other matters – and in fear of an anti-establishment ascendant far right – the prospect of that happening is slim. “What we are witnessing is a disaster for the real economy because everything is on hold,” said Costas Panagopoulos who heads the Alco polling institute. “Once again we are talking about economic catastrophe, once again we are talking about Grexit,” he told the Guardian. “The next few weeks are critical. If an agreement isn’t reached, if there is more uncertainty, we don’t know how Greeks will react.”
Go ahead and exit the Euro. You'll exit the Euro ranking system as well. Become more self-reliant. Things will suck for a few years, and then things will start to get better.
On Thursday, amid widespread rumours of his own resignation, the finance minister Euclid Tsakalotos attempted to deflect the spiralling tensions. In a written statement the Marxist economics professor said that while a third of the bailout review had been “totally completed” and a third “totally agreed”, the rest remained subject to “political negotiation” – raising little hope of the talks concluding any time soon.

But what happens next is dependent not only on what happens in Athens. To a great degree events in Europe and Washington will also play a role.

Ahead of Germany’s general election in September, Berlin’s finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble has also raised the stakes with growing criticism of Greece – a tactic that has proved popular with voters who might otherwise support Germany’s far-right AfD party. Earlier this week Bild, the mass-selling newspaper, stoked passions further by suggesting the German government was warming to the idea of Greece leaving the euro – a notion Schäuble has openly supported in the past.
Germany is going to have to bail out its banks anyway -- either a hard landing as Greece leaves the Euro or a soft landing as Greece negotiates away the debt. Either way Germany is on the hook for a lot of the bad loans. Might be better just to rip off the band-aid...
“Grexit is not our agenda, it is the agenda of those who want the breakup of Europe,” said Sia Anagnostopoulou, a leading Syriza MP and former alternate European affairs minister. “It is what Mr Schäuble wants,” she added, echoing the commonly held view that Athens is hostage to Germany.

Complicating matters further is the direction the IMF will take now that President Trump is in power. In his former role as a billionaire businessman, Trump tweeted that the Greeks were “wasting time” in the eurozone.

Last week, the IMF delivered its gloomiest assessment yet of Greece’s debt burden, arguing that it was not only unsustainable but eventually likely to become “explosive”. The IMF’s board will formally discuss the issue on 6 February but has already hinted that without a commitment of debt relief from the EU it will be unable to contribute further loans. Germany, the biggest contributor to the nearly €300bn of emergency funds assigned to Greece, insists further aid depends exclusively on IMF participation.

Analysts are undecided whether the government is deliberately stalling in the hope of getting a better deal as repayment season approaches and fears of a disorderly default mount, or whether it is playing with fire.

Syriza, like every governing party before it, has been hollowed out by the eviscerating effects of having to apply policies that it came to power vowing to oppose. On Tuesday its parliamentary spokesman took Greeks by storm proposing that Grexit be discussed “without taboo” in the 300-member house.

The once unassailable popularity of Tsipras, meanwhile, has been pummelled by the implementation of some of the harshest measures to date and few believe he has the political capital to enforce another round of austerity.

“It is not a can but a bomb being kicked down the road,” said one western diplomat. “In a world where liberal values are under threat we could be looking at a very dangerous scenario where the cradle of democracy also collapses.”

Bereft of growth and battered by cuts and tax increases, Greeks have become poorer and ever more cognizant of their own insolvency in a state where sovereignty exists in little more than name. One in three now live below the poverty line and unemployment hovers around 23%. The latest impasse has not only seen emigration levels rise and non-repayment of household and business loans soar but also nostalgia for the drachma grow.

That is what worries Panagopoulos, the pollster, most. What was once a minority view is changing fast, with the majority of Greeks in a recent Alco survey saying it was wrong to have joined the euro.

“We have become a society that has no hope, not even a slice or piece of hope for the future,” he sighed. “The only reason people want to stay in the euro is because they fear the consequences if we were to leave, but if things don’t get better that will change too.”
Posted by: Steve White || 02/03/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:


Two Ukrainian soldiers killed overnight as fighting in Donbass intensifies
[ALMASDARNEWS] Two Ukrainian troops have been killed in the country’s industrial east as both regime forces and pro-Russia militias reported shelling on their positions overnight, Ukraine’s regime said early Thursday according to AP.

The report continued that ten other troops were maimed as fighting in Ukraine’s industrial heartland entered its fifth day, the Ukrainian regines press office for the military operation in the east said.

Ten people have been killed since fighting went kaboom! in eastern Ukraine on Monday, with dozens of civilians maimed.

Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
Jobs Report: 62.9%: Labor Force Participation Rate Improves in January; Those Not in Labor Force Declines by 736,000
Hmmmm. What could have happened in January to improve economic confidence and jobs? Ima stumped. The MSM hasn't offered any suggestions, either
The Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday released its first look at employment since Donald Trump became president, and although that report does not reflect actual Trump policy changes, it does include the period just before Trump became president and was tweeting about jobs saved.

According to BLS, the labor force participation rate improved in January, increasing two-tenths of a point to 62.9 percent, its best showing in four months.

BLS said 152,081,000 Americans were employed in January, close to last month's record 152,111,000. At the same time, the number of Americans not in the labor force went in the right direction, dropping to 94,366,000, which is 736,000 fewer than last month's record 95,102,000.

In January, the nation's civilian noninstitutionalized population, consisting of all people age 16 or older who were not in the military or an institution, reached 254,082,000. Of those, 159,716,000 participated in the labor force by either holding a job or actively seeking one.

The 159,716,000 who participated in the labor force equaled 62.9 percent of the 254,082,000 civilian noninstitutionalized population.

According to BLS, total nonfarm payroll employment rose 227,000, and the unemployment rate ticked up a tenth of a point to 4.8 percent.
Posted by: Frank G || 02/03/2017 09:18 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Interesting how it happens so quickly.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 02/03/2017 11:35 Comments || Top||

#2  I'd believe it, if the numbers hadn't been cooked for the past eight years.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/03/2017 13:48 Comments || Top||

#3  The MSM hasn't offered any suggestions, either

Nor will they ever.
Posted by: gorb || 02/03/2017 14:14 Comments || Top||


Betsy DeVos clears another hurdle in early morning Senate vote
[CNN] The Senate voted early Friday to advance President Donald Trump's education secretary nominee Betsy DeVos to a final confirmation vote, which is expected Monday. The vote was 52 to 48 along party lines.

Senators convened at the unusual, early hour -- 6:30 a.m. ET -- because of Democratic stalling tactics that reflect their unhappiness with Trump's cabinet picks and the overall confirmation process.

DeVos has come under fire from Democrats and two key Republicans for her positions on public and charter schools, as well as statements made during her confirmation hearing last month.

Despite losing support from Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, she is expected to be confirmed Monday with the help of Vice President Mike Pence, who will be in the chamber to break an expected 50-50 tie. Collins and Murkowski, who both have said they intend to vote against DeVos' final conformation, voted to end the debate and advance her confirmation, as expected.

In an impassioned show of opposition, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer implored other senators to "look into their conscience" over the weekend and reconsider their support for DeVos, saying she is "one of the worst nominees that has ever been" brought before the Senate.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/03/2017 08:15 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Translation:

"If she is confirmed the teachers' unions will be weakened and their bribes contributions will decrease"

I wonder WHERE the democrats got the notion that letting an inner city kid choose which school they go to is a bad thing....
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 02/03/2017 12:02 Comments || Top||

#2  Collins and Murkowski, who both have said they intend to vote against DeVos' final conformation...

There should be an email campaign reminding them that they can be primaried out of office if they're not interested in supporting the team.
Posted by: Crusader || 02/03/2017 12:03 Comments || Top||

#3  This position is probably representative of Collins' constituency, and makes sense if she wants to be re-elected. Not sure about Murkowski - maybe Alaska Paul can comment on whether state politics have shifted leftward to match the rest of the left coast.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/03/2017 12:11 Comments || Top||

#4  letting an inner city kid choose which school they go to is a bad thing

"But, but, but, "the Massa loves" each and everyone of them!"
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/03/2017 12:35 Comments || Top||

#5  Murkowitz got enough campaign $ to pay for a couple weeks of her blow
Posted by: Frank G || 02/03/2017 13:04 Comments || Top||


Morale at Homeland Security has 'skyrocketed' under Trump
[Washington Examiner] When the House Subcommittee on Government Operations held a hearing in April 2015 titled "The Worst Places to Work in the Federal Government," an agency manager at the Department of Homeland Security was called in to testify.

"[DHS] rests as the worst place to work among cabinet agencies," Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said at the time.

The third largest federal department had just received an abysmal 44 percent score in the annual Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. Fewer than half of its staff felt that morale, leadership and compensation deserved positive ratings.

But those days are gone, according to DHS employees and one senior administration official who spoke to the Washington Examiner on the condition of anonymity.

After President Trump issued his executive order temporarily barring immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries, multiple reports suggested that DHS officials, along with staffers at other federal agencies, were not consulted prior to the roll-out and were not pleased with what transpired afterwards.

"The policy team at the White House developed the executive order on refugees and visas, and largely avoided the traditional interagency process that would have allowed the Justice Department and homeland security agencies to provide operational guidance," CNN had reported earlier this week.

Then came Tuesday's press conference with DHS Secretary John Kelly, a no-nonsense retired Marine Corps general who said the order "wasn't a surprise" and vowed to execute new and existing immigration laws "humanely and with professionalism."

Kelly's remarks to reporters, and his willingness to enforce laws that the administration believes will protect Americans, "re-energized a lot of us because for so long we've been vilified for doing our jobs, and here was someone finally standing up for us," said one Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who was not authorized to speak on the record.

ICE is one of 22 agencies incorporated into DHS and likely to play a critical role in administering Trump's immigration agenda.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/03/2017 07:15 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


POTUS taps Klingon veteran for agency's second in command
[The Hill] President Trump has selected Gina Haspel to be the deputy director of the CIA, making her second in command behind Mike Pompeo.

Haspel is the second woman to ever hold the position, which does not require Senate confirmation.

A 30-year veteran of the agency, Haspel was the first woman to lead the CIA's clandestine service, which oversees U.S. spying worldwide. She has held numerous senior leadership positions and served as being chief of station in multiple overseas assignments.

Her selection drew praise from former senior intelligence officials.

"[Haspel] has the broad-gauged experience from both foreign and domestic assignments to serve as the right-arm for Director [Mike] Pompeo," former National Intelligence Director James Clapper said in a statement.

"She is widely respected throughout the agency and she will be welcomed in the new job by both current and former employees," said Mike Morrell, a former deputy director and former acting director.

"I worked closely with Haspel from 2006 until my retirement from the Agency in 2013. During that time, I found her to be simply exceptional. She gets things done in a quiet, yet effective way, and she is calm under fire."

Haspel’s career has not been free of controversy, however.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/03/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  endorsed by Morrell? Ima skeptical
Posted by: Frank G || 02/03/2017 10:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Poor Morrell, I thought he was gonna be Hillary's CIA director.
Posted by: dk70 the scantily clad || 02/03/2017 15:13 Comments || Top||

#3  so did he, hence the Benghazi talking point "massaging"
Posted by: Frank G || 02/03/2017 15:29 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
An Alternate to Starbucks - How to Make the Perfect Cup of Coffee
Having cut my teeth on military coffee, anything that you don't have to chisel out of the pot is good to go.

That aside, the link provides a nice step-by-step.
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 02/03/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How about not burning it?
Posted by: newc || 02/03/2017 1:38 Comments || Top||

#2  She who must be obeyed gave me a Ninja coffee maker that makes just about everything you can buy at CHARbucks.

It makes great coffee and I can buy my beans anywhere AND everywhere except CHARbucks.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 02/03/2017 12:04 Comments || Top||

#3  Don't use a coffee-maker?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/03/2017 12:36 Comments || Top||

#4  I confess I'm a Keurig kind of guy -- one at home and one in the office. My taste buds aren't the best so the usual McDuck or Meijer or whatever medium blend is fine. Love the convenience; if only I could mount a five gallon water jug onto the thing to keep it fed.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/03/2017 13:17 Comments || Top||

#5  Traveling through west Texas one fine morning, all I could find was truck stop coffee, which they must make by combining Texas dirt with diesel fuel. I got so desperate I stopped on the shoulder of the highway, set up my camp stove & brewed a batch of my own stuff on the roadside. Most satisfying cup I ever had. It got me all the way to Albuquerque.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/03/2017 13:26 Comments || Top||

#6  If it's an alternative to Starbuck's coffee, shouldn't it be shitty and overpriced?
Posted by: charger || 02/03/2017 18:11 Comments || Top||

#7  I roast my own using green (un-roasted) beans i.e. not Green Giant ;)
I get them from Sweet Maria's and the price works out to less than store bought..and much less than Keurig although, like Dr. Steve, I have one for convenience.

I prefer the Indonesian Peabury done to what's called a Medium City Roast. Do it right and it's heaven...do it too long and burn it...you get Charbucks.

My roaster will do a pound at a time and in the Technivorm Moccamaster coffee maker it's just nectar of the gods.
Posted by: Warthog || 02/03/2017 19:22 Comments || Top||

#8  Agree with Warthog. The Indonesian Peabury is nice but I like to vary it. I buy the 8 lb assortment, some Ethiopian, some Tanzanian, some Peruvian, some Mexican, some Brazilian and some Honduran then roast 1/3 lb at a time - a different 1/3 every day.
Posted by: 3dc || 02/03/2017 20:18 Comments || Top||

#9  https://www.sweetmarias.com/category/green-coffee
Posted by: 3dc || 02/03/2017 20:18 Comments || Top||

#10  I'm lazy: Keurig with Costco Pacific Bold or Donut House. But I also start my morning first thing with a Zero Cal Monster, so you might wanna disregard all my advice
Posted by: Frank G || 02/03/2017 21:09 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
U.S. to issue new Iran sanctions, opening shot in get-tough strategy
[Reuters] U.S. President Donald Trump is poised to impose new sanctions on multiple Iranian entities, seeking to ratchet up pressure on Tehran while crafting a broader strategy to counter what he sees as its destabilizing behavior, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

In the first tangible action against Iran since Trump took office on Jan. 20, the administration, on the same day he insisted that "nothing is off the table," prepared to roll out new measures against more than two dozen Iranian targets, the sources said. The announcement is expected as early as Friday, they added.

The new sanctions, which are being taken under existing executive orders covering terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, may mark the opening shot in a more aggressive policy against Iran that Trump promised during the 2016 presidential campaign, the sources, who had knowledge of the administration's plans, said.

But the package, targeting both entities and individuals, was formulated in a way that would not violate the 2015 Iran nuclear deal negotiated between Iran and six world powers including Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, they added.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/03/2017 08:12 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Culture Wars
Comcast Employees Walk Off The Job In Philadelphia To Protest Trump Immigration Order…
"So, the customer service will stay the same or get better?"



The missus has been looking for a new cable provider - she now has one fewer to consider.
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 02/03/2017 09:19 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:



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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2017-02-03
  ISIS sets ablaze Syria’s largest source of gas as Syrian Army closes on their positions
Thu 2017-02-02
  German Report: Iran Tested Nuclear-Capable Cruise Missile
Wed 2017-02-01
  US: Female Al-Qaeda combatants killed in Yemen raid
Tue 2017-01-31
  ISIS makes another attempt at seizing east Damascus airbase
Mon 2017-01-30
  5 killed, dozens injured in Canada mosque shooting
Sun 2017-01-29
  10 ISIS and Lashkar-e-Islam militants killed in Nangarhar
Sat 2017-01-28
  90 ISIS bodies found in southwest of Sirte
Fri 2017-01-27
  Yemen’s Rebels Seize 3 Trucks Carrying Aid to Al-Bayda
Thu 2017-01-26
  Libyan Army captures Ganfouda district
Wed 2017-01-25
  Jabhat Fateh Al-Sham (Nusra) expels Jund Al-Aqsa from its ranks
Tue 2017-01-24
  Yemen army claims control of port city of Mokha
Mon 2017-01-23
  Nearly 70 killed in fresh Yemen fighting
Sun 2017-01-22
  Suicide bombers blow themselves up in Saudi Arabia
Sat 2017-01-21
  Over 100 Al Qaeda fighters killed in 'major' US air strike in Syria
Fri 2017-01-20
  Over 80 IS Fighters Killed in U.S. Strikes in Libya


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