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Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Opinion        Politix   
Iraq Forces Enter First West Mosul Neighborhood
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 3: Non-WoT
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5 16:41 BrerRabbit [336081] 
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Page 4: Opinion
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6 20:22 Glaise Bumble7972 [336067]
13 18:31 Skidmark [336065]
Page 6: Politix
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1 01:29 Slusons Scourge of the Giants3454 [336068]
6 10:39 Matt [336067]
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6 21:40 Sock Puppet of Doom [336077]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Armed Robber Shot in Nether Regions by Armed Jogger
[Free Beacon] An armed robber was shot in the crotch while trying to rob a Texas man who was on a jog Wednesday.

"While it is still early in the investigation, detectives believe that the victim, a man in his 20s, was jogging to a local gym in the area," the Arlington Police Department said in a release. "The victim noticed a pickup truck that appeared to be following him and circle in front of him in a business parking lot. The victim reported that a suspect, later determined to be a juvenile, exited from the passenger side of the pickup and pointed a firearm at him while demanding his property."

That’s when police say the jogger pulled a gun from his backpack and opened fire on the armed robber. He hit the robber at least once somewhere in the crotch. Officials wouldn't say exactly where in the crotch the robber was hit.

"We are not going to get that specific on injuries," Christopher Cook, Arlington Police Department spokesman, told the Washington Free Beacon.

The robber then fled the scene in the pickup truck which police later recovered. A suspect was later arrested and transported to the hospital. He was treated for a gunshot wound and then transported to a juvenile detention facility.

The intended victim of the robbery has not been charged with a crime but his case will be reviewed by the local district attorney.

"The victim was not licensed to carry a CONCEALED handgun," Cook said. "Texas law does allow the openly carry of firearms. He was carrying the handgun in a backpack. Investigators have not charged the victim with an offense. It will be referred to the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney's Office."
The robber sounds like a Darwin Award winner.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/25/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336082 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sounds like a successful sex change operation courtesy Smith and Wesson.
Posted by: Slusons Scourge of the Giants3454 || 02/25/2017 1:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Everyone say it with me!

"He won't have the balls to do that again!"
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/25/2017 1:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Not getting this. Jogging with a backpack. Put in a lot of miles in my younger days. When Uncle had me carrying a backpack, it would throw off my balance, hence the airborne shuffle. Much preferred having nothing back there.
The perp has the jogger covered. The jogger is too quick for him, dropping his pack and digging around in it for the hand gun which he then retrieves, arms, and then shoots the guy.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 02/25/2017 6:44 Comments || Top||

#4  ..appears the Perp thought the dude was digging in his backpack for the Benjamins. Surprise.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/25/2017 9:01 Comments || Top||

#5  Maybe a fanny pack?
Posted by: gorb || 02/25/2017 9:24 Comments || Top||

#6  Investigators have not charged the victim with an offense. It will be referred to the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney's Office."

yeah, you go right at 'em, Sparky. Elected office?
Posted by: Frank G || 02/25/2017 9:43 Comments || Top||

#7  Will he be allowed to use the ladies' restroom from now on?
Posted by: European Conservative || 02/25/2017 10:02 Comments || Top||

#8  Well the bull queens ar the state pen will find him.... convienant.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/25/2017 10:38 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
Flynn's replacement undermines Trump stand on facing the truth about "radical Islamic terror", says "terrorists are unIslamic"
Posted by: anon1 || 02/25/2017 16:18 || Comments || Link || [336092 views] Top|| File under:

#1  this is deeply concerning. this overturns what many people voted for. We want to face the truth and deal with it honestly. This does not mean hating all muslims, this means taking steps against the theocrats, while supporting the secular. This means halting mass Muslim migration. This means training law enforcement in how to spot theocrats and treating political Islam in the same way we treated communism in the cold war. This means helping Muslim refugees in regional safe zones not bringing them here.

All this will go down the drain with another liar in office.
Posted by: anon1 || 02/25/2017 16:22 Comments || Top||

#2  McMasters has experience with this. When he took over the 3rd ACR in Iraq, he pacified the city of Tal Afar with a win hearts and minds, build up key areas of the city and kill the bad guys when they came out to play. His tactics were the ones Petreaus used for the surge later.

I don't think he is for mass mooslimb migration into our country, but he has had great success in the Middle East and I would be willing to hear him out on ideas to bring order to the Middle East.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/25/2017 16:54 Comments || Top||

#3  Accepting the hearts&minds / popularity contest paradigm does have disturbing implications.

We will have to convince the general Muslim populace that we are better servants and executors of their will than the 'terrorists.'

I.e. we will have to submit to their judgement and thus to their will.

Also McMasters is explicitly rejecting a phrase from the President's inaugural address. This doesn't bode well.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 02/25/2017 17:25 Comments || Top||

#4  DarthVader that is exactly the strategy that failed.

Iraq failed because the US immediately put sharia in the constitution and bent over to Islam

If Iraq was ever going to succeed and become the key state beacon of freedom in the middle east between 2 theocracies then it needed to banish Islam from politics unequivocally

Islam needed to be out of government at all levels and out of the schools and universities, too.

And it needed to be enforced with a soldier on every corner not with "hearts and minds" crap. They needed to feel defeated and give up part of their culture as the Japanese did after WWII.

Do you think if they had done that, told the middle east that Iraq was now open to give equal rights to apostates, gay muslims, oppressed women, atheists, christians, zoroastrians, kurds and jews that anybody would have responded?

If they had empowered the secular and crushed out the theocrats would Iraq have worked?

they would have needed overwhelming force but yes I think they could have built a country that would have been a beacon of hope and we would not have seen the turn towards Islamism across the middle east since.

Your strategy is exactly why we failed.

it betrays a complete lack of understanding of the problem. You think it's a military problem of control

it's not

it's a cultural and religious problem.
Posted by: anon1 || 02/25/2017 17:45 Comments || Top||

#5  also it is complete lunacy to think that you from Western Civilisation are going to "win hearts and minds" from Islamic Civilisation cultures.

Are you completely bonkers?

They think they are superior to you because of Islam

All they were ever going to do was take what they could get from you then betray everything you worked for and throw it in the bin while they pick up their korans.

Because you ignored the Islamist theocrat problem and didn't enforce secularism.

We got exactly what we were always going to get with that lunatic 'hearts and minds' idea

if you are going to get a cultural change wherein people are forced to give up what they have been brainwashed since childhood to think is most sacred (the supremacy of islam and its interference in politics)

then you need a soldier on every corner for 15 years (a generation).

and going into that war without first ensuring that outcome could be achieved was stupid in the extreme.
Posted by: anon1 || 02/25/2017 17:50 Comments || Top||

#6  Good discussion.
McMaster's deviation with a personal opinion, as many others, is the problem.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/25/2017 18:12 Comments || Top||

#7  anon1...
He did have a successful strategy and later it did work to keep some peace... until we pretty much let the Iranians and hard liners do whatever they wanted.

I would listen to what he had to say about it to bring about a more peaceful middle east.

However... that being said. My own personal opinion is that the root of islamic terrorism is the islamic text. While some countries, like Indonesia can be peaceful with their neighbors and the west, I do not think that we can bring vast numbers of mooslimbs into this country and retain the values we have as a liberal (classic Jeffersonian liberal) western nation.
While we may be able to produce stable and peaceful ME nations, there is no way in hell I want to see huge numbers of them here for much of the same reasons you laid out.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/25/2017 19:43 Comments || Top||

#8  Of course, to fix the overall situation, Muslims have to convince each other that ISIS is unislamic. My guess is McMaster is triangulating that. Good luck....
Posted by: KBK || 02/25/2017 19:47 Comments || Top||

#9  He did have a successful strategy and later it did work to keep some peace... until we pretty much let the Iranians and hard liners do whatever they wanted.

He paid the Sunni Arabs off. When he stopped doing so (i.e after Uncle Sam left), they resumed their revolt. Nothing magical there. Petraeus was overrated.

The surge was ancient military principle re-asserting itself. Rumsfeld justified penny-packet deployments by saying more troops = more targets, which was eye-rollingly and uncharacteristically stupid for a really smart guy. In reality, more troops = more eyes and ordnance on target. Petraeus's ROE's led to more deaths than necessary, but the Iraqis were really all fought-out by then.

The ISIS thing was just a resurrection of Sunni Arab hopes based on the idea that they might not be able to beat Uncle Sam, but they could as hell kick Shiite Arab and Kurdish ass. If Obama had stayed the course (and Maliki had cooperated), there would have been no ISIS in Iraq, thanks to American air support.

But bottom line is that Petraeus was no genius, and by extension, neither is McMaster.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 02/25/2017 20:09 Comments || Top||

#10  If terrorism is so unislamic, then where are the masses of soldiers of true Islam to take them on? Where are the mass protests against them? They're doing their usual thing of following the strong horse. They're not against it like they would be if someone burns a holy Crayon, then they come out in droves.
Posted by: gorb || 02/25/2017 20:58 Comments || Top||

#11  kbk has a point, but I'm with anon1 on this.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 02/25/2017 21:44 Comments || Top||

#12  and ZF
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 02/25/2017 21:45 Comments || Top||

#13  Darth Vader it is a failed strategy

complete failure

it does not matter in the scheme of this struggle whether or not tal afar had peace for a year or two with 'hearts and minds' because you lost the entire region to sectarian violence and the rise of islamism

the "peace" was temporary it was not permanent

you did not fix the problem in fact you made it worse because you allowed oxygen for the Islamists to organise by bending over to put sharia in the constitution in your effort to "win hearts and minds"

you actually lost the war by doing that
Posted by: anon1 || 02/25/2017 22:42 Comments || Top||

#14  KBK: Muslims are NEVER going to convince themselves that Islamic State are unislamic because they are literally implementing what is in the texts.

Al Azhar university, the foremost authority on Sunni Islam is UNABLE to declare Islamic State "unislamic" or "apostates" for exactly this reason. They can call them extreme, or literalist but they cannot declare them unislamic.

Al Azhar frequently issues fatwas against secularists declaring them unIslamic but there hasn't been one against Islamic State for that reason.

In the fatwa against them for burning the jordanian pilot to death in a cage, Al Azhar ruled that the perpetrators should themselves be punished by cutting off alternate arms and legs or crucifixion for the sin of "interfering with the dead body of a muslim" but they were unable to declare islamic State unislamic.
Posted by: anon1 || 02/25/2017 22:45 Comments || Top||

#15  Darth Vader; you are right about your idea that the root problem is in the text as well as in the interpretation, and your idea that mass muslim migration cannot be allowed or we will lose our civilisation to Islam

That is 100% correct.

The only way to deal with iraq is, once militarily defeated, to culturally defeat political islam by removing it from all levels of government, the military the civil service and the schools/universities. With zero tolerance. Not even a hijab.

In addition a register of approved preachers should have been set up with no unapproved preachers allowed to speak to any mosque in the country. And the approved list stocked with secular and reform muslims only

this did not happen. It would have required a full scale occupation and the political will on the home front to defeat and crush the ideology which was obviously absent.

The situation now is this:

1) we should bomb the crap out of Islamic State and then join forces with Russia to clear them out with ground troops

2) we should not rebuild anything this time, return them to the dark ages

3) we should set up refugee safe zones nearby and send the refugees there or to the arab world with not one Muslim to come to the West. There are 57 Islamic countries in the OIC. They will take them or they will sit where they are.

4) We should be immediately banning Muslim migration to all Western countries. those allowed in on a case-by-case basis thoroughly vetted to ensure they are secular and they should be made to sign an agreement to the principles of secular society which if they breach results in immediate annulment of their provisional visa. Not one is to be given permanent citizenship.

5) Any US Citizens that marry Muslim non-citizens will have to go to the Muslim host country. The Muslim spouse will not be given citizenship, only provisional visa as per above terms. Even if they become parents of anchor babies. The entire family will have to move abroad.

We LOST the battle. Iraq was the one chance to remake the Muslim world in a secular tolerant form that would be compatible with Western civilisation.

We lost. Now we have to circle the wagons to prevent Islamism from destroying Western Civilisation.

Clearly Trump was trying but he has been thwarted by the mistaken Bush generation that thinks it can say "islam is a religion of peace" and avoid this conflict.

You cannot.

You either keep it outside your country or you lose it.
Posted by: anon1 || 02/25/2017 22:56 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Afghanistan finalizes law to criminalize Bacha Baazi
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan government for the first time has finalized a law to criminalize the bullying and sexual abuse of children (Bacha Baazi).
Slender young dancing boys...
Officials in the ministry of justice of Afghanistan have said the draft law finalized by the government criminalizes the abuse of children.

A front man for the ministry of justice Aman Riazat told BBC’s Afghanistan service that the draft law has been approved by the cabinet of ministers.

He said the abuse of children has been criminalized in the draft law and the perpetrators will face prosecution by the government.

The latest step by the government to finalize the draft law prohibiting Bacha Baazi comes as numerous reports emerged during the recent years regarding the worsening situation of the children subjected to abuse and bullying.

The issue attracted attention of the global human rights
...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions...
activists as there are concerns regarding the health and mental condition of the victims of the stigma.

The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission also expressed concern
...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended...
s regarding the mental situation of the victims, saying the majority of the children kept as slave are repeatedly raped.

On the other hand, the international human rights activists are saying that in majority of cases the victims become perpetrators which help the stigma to further continue after they become adults and keep other children as their slaves.
Posted by: Fred || 02/25/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336066 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Five Ukrainian soldiers wounded in Donetsk fighting


Both sides in the civil war in southeastern Ukraine have stepped up fighting, resulting in five more wounded Ukrainian soldiers on Friday, according to Russian language news reports..

According to a news account in lb.ua, one Ukrainian soldier was killed in action on Thursday.

The news article reported that Russian backed militants fired mortar strikes on Ukrainian positions at Vodyaskoye, near Mariupol near the Sea of Azov. There also was a report of a rebel BMP-2 firing on Ukrainian positions at Shirokino.

Near Donetsk city, rebel forces fired mortar fire on Zaitsevo, which is north of Gorlovka, and on Troitskoye and Avdievka, which is south.

A separate news account in lb.ua said that work in the water filtration plant near Yasinovataya has stopped and personnel have been evacuated due to rebel fire. The plant serves both sides on the line, Ukrainian and rebel, including Avdievka and Krasnogorovka on the Ukrainian side, and in Donetsk city, Yasinovataya, Vasilevka and Spartak.

According to the report a projectile hit the plant, leading to the decision to stop work. In recent days the work at the plant has stopped due to power outages caused by mortar fire.

Rebels claim the plant was hit eight times with 122mm artillery, which was fired from Ukrainian occupied Avdievka and Kamenka, according to a news release from the Donetsk ministry of defense.

Rebel media reported that direct fire combat took place in a number of different areas along the line of contact. Among them was along the Svetodarsk arc, which is directly north of Logvinovo, where rebel forces have parts of a rifle company dug in.

Exchanges of mortars and small arms fire have been reported in Gorlovka, Spartak and at the Donetsk airport.

In Novoazovskiy, which is on the coast of the Sea of Azov, mortar fire and small arms combat have been reported
Posted by: badanov || 02/25/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
Malaysia Warns N. Korea Envoy: Quit Lying or Face Expulsion
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] Malaysia warned North Korea’s outspoken ambassador Friday he would be thrown out of the country if he continues to "spew lies" over the investigation into the liquidation of Kim Jong-Nam.

Malaysia Foreign Minister Anifah Aman lashed out at Kang Chol, the envoy of the Stalinist state, who has said "we cannot trust the investigation by the Malaysian police".

Kang has also claimed the probe is politically motivated and that Malaysia had conspired with South Korea to frame the North.

But Anifah cautioned Kang he should watch what he says.

"He must enjoy the confidence of the government of Malaysia," Anifah said.

"I hope he understands by what I mean by he must enjoy the confidence of the government of Malaysia."

Anifah added: "The ambassador has been informed of the process involved (in the police investigation) but he continues to be delusional and spew lies and accusations against the government of Malaysia."

A senior Malaysian government official said Kang had been shown a "yellow card", adding: "If he repeats the baseless allegations, he will be expelled."

Kang has already been summoned to the foreign ministry for a dressing down over the ongoing spat.

Anifah said friendly relations "must be reciprocated".

The two countries did have relatively warm ties, with some bilateral trade and citizens from both countries entitled to travel to the other under a unique reciprocal visa-free deal.

But relations have rapidly soured since the extraordinary murder of Kim Jong-Nam at Kuala Lumpur airport on February 13 by twin assassins armed with the nerve agent VX, listed by the UN as a weapon of mass destruction.
Posted by: Fred || 02/25/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Now that's a real threat.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/25/2017 8:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Kim Jong Nom warns N Korea Envoy in Malaysia: Keep lying or face extinction
Posted by: gorb || 02/25/2017 9:22 Comments || Top||


North Korea Debunks twisted death conspiracies on Kim Jong Nam. English Subtitles
Whew! Well that's taken care of then. Nothing to see here, something something sea of fire.

Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 || 02/25/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  there was no sea of fire, i feel cheated

no orange juche either
Posted by: anon1 || 02/25/2017 2:10 Comments || Top||

#2  But there was some support of the binary-agent theory.
Posted by: Bobby || 02/25/2017 8:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Add another country to the list of those that need to be annihilated by the Norks.
Posted by: gorb || 02/25/2017 9:29 Comments || Top||

#4  This from Auntie Beeb
Posted by: Bov Flimbers || 02/25/2017 16:08 Comments || Top||

#5  interesting from the bbc. Saw another one also at zerohedgehere

How was an indonesian woman earning $50 per week able to travel all over asia? age 25.

how is she living the high life?

and why did her and her accomplice go immediately to wash their hands?

If they didn't know what they were doing they'd be dead, too
Posted by: anon1 || 02/25/2017 17:01 Comments || Top||

#6  Ummm...there are ladies of that persuasion and age also accomplished in their duties that often are provided transport, sometimes continental in breadth. They also learn in their work to often wash their hands.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/25/2017 18:20 Comments || Top||


Economy
Oil prices fall due to rising US crude inventories
World oil prices are declining Feb.24 after the report about the growing volume of US crude inventories over the last week.

The price of April futures for Brent crude oil has decreased by 0.71 percent to $56.18 per barrel as of 04:48 EST. The price of April futures for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil has dropped by 0.57 percent to $54.14 per barrel.

US crude stocks grew by 564,000 barrels over the week ending on Feb.17, according to the country’s Energy Information Administration (EIA). This is while analysts expected an increase of 3.5 million barrels. The commercial crude stocks in the US (excluding the strategic reserve) have increased by 9.5 million barrels or 1.9 percent and stood at 518.1 million barrels over the week ending Feb.10.

In its This Week in Petroleum Report, EIA said that the WTI price was $53.41 per barrel on February 17, or $0.43 below last week’s price but $23.82 above a year ago.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/25/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336066 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Welcome to free enterprise. Relatively unfettered free enterprise.
Posted by: Bobby || 02/25/2017 11:03 Comments || Top||


Europe
Turkish diplomats ask for asylum in Germany
[DeutscheWelle] German authorities face at least 136 asylum requests from Turkish citizens bearing diplomatic passports, following the failed coup in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey. Berlin's response might worsen the already tense relations with Ankara.

Germany is still receiving asylum applications from The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
over the July 2016 coup attempt, a research group of broadcasters WDR, NDR and the "Suddeutsche Zeitung" newspaper reported on Friday.

"The government is aware of 136 asylum applications filed by diplomatic passport holders from Turkey. They also include family members," German interior ministry said in response to a query from a Green party politician.

The report includes data from between August 2016 and January 2017. However,
by candlelight every wench is handsome...
the officials did not specify how many of the asylum seekers were career diplomats or soldiers, in contrast to their family members who also hold diplomatic passports.

Pressure from Erdogan
Last month, news magazine "Der Spiegel" and public broadcaster ARD reported that dozens of Turkish officers applied for asylum for fear of being incarcerated
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
upon returning home.

In a subsequent meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel
...current chancellor of Germany and the impetus behind Germany's remarkably ill-starred immigration program. Merkel used to be referred to by Germans as Mom...
, Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
urged Merkel to extradite the soldiers.

Foreign soldiers stationed in NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
-bases are also entitled to a diplomatic passport.

Never-ending purge
On Friday, German public broadcaster ARD reported that "the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees apparently did not make a decision in any of the cases."

Accepting the asylum seekers would almost definitely trigger an embittered response from Ankara, which also reacted angrily in a similar dispute with Greece.

Turkey has launched a massive purge of state institutions and the military following the deadly coup attempt last summer. Around 100,000 people lost their jobs and tens of thousands were arrested during the crackdown.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/25/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  Hasn't Germany taken enough Turks already?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 02/25/2017 13:38 Comments || Top||

#2  why is Turkey still in NATO????
Posted by: anon1 || 02/25/2017 17:57 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Report: US consulate translator detained in Turkey
[Ynet] Media reports say police have detained a Turkish employee of the US consulate in the southern city of Adana for alleged links to outlawed Kurdish rebels.

The Dogan news agency report said Thursday the man works as a translator for the consulate and is suspected of membership of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. The group is considered a terror organization by The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
and its allies, including the United States.

The report said police raided his home but could not find him there. Consulate officials later handed the man over to police, according to the report.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/25/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  Bad news, Dogan it.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/25/2017 0:49 Comments || Top||

#2  To your room, please.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/25/2017 12:06 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Department of Homeland Security Is Now Taking Bids to Build the Border Wall
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/25/2017 10:16 || Comments || Link || [336081 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Invest in companies that pour concrete, people.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 || 02/25/2017 10:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Jersey barrier scaled up 700% with I beams extending far enough into the ground tp prevent even forced tip over. Razor wire on the top 2 feet.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/25/2017 10:32 Comments || Top||

#3  No wall can do more than slow down those who wish to enter. Stopping them requires willingness to employ force - guns, mines, electric charge etc.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/25/2017 13:01 Comments || Top||

#4  True of the most highly motivated. The fat, the weak, the drunk, the drugged, the morally ill. A good wall will do.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/25/2017 13:12 Comments || Top||

#5  Labor cheap. Just go by Home Depot in the morning...
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 02/25/2017 16:41 Comments || Top||


Witches Unite to Cast ‘Binding Spell' on Trump and Followers
[Breitbart] A group of witches is attempting to use black magic to neutralize U.S. President Donald Trump by casting a "binding spell" to prevent him from governing.
The "mass spell to bind Donald Trump" will be performed at midnight on every waning crescent moon beginning Friday, February 24, "until Donald Trump is removed from office," the group’s website states.

The mass ritual will allegedly be repeated again March 26, April 24, May 23, June 21 (the summer solstice), July 21, and August 19.

The spell also invokes evil on "those who abet" Trump, which would seem to appear to cover his staff and political nominees, and perhaps the millions who voted for him as well.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/25/2017 00:52 || Comments || Link || [336071 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/25/2017 3:46 Comments || Top||

#2  Inherited money means some people have way too much time on their hands. And far too little real knowledge.
Posted by: phil_b || 02/25/2017 3:54 Comments || Top||

#3  so stooopid

that they think it actually works is so primitive and stupid
Posted by: anon1 || 02/25/2017 5:00 Comments || Top||

#4  It seems to be working on me.

Wait, no. It was just gas.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 02/25/2017 7:25 Comments || Top||

#5  Thomas Newton to the courtesy phone.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/25/2017 8:24 Comments || Top||

#6  Not Cotton Mather?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/25/2017 9:30 Comments || Top||

#7  Looks like the spell cast on the anti-Trump faction has really taken effect.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/25/2017 10:10 Comments || Top||

#8  Sorry, Trump and his followers made their saving throw.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/25/2017 10:45 Comments || Top||

#9  They turned me into a newt!

Wait - I got better...
Posted by: Raj || 02/25/2017 12:53 Comments || Top||

#10  Buuuuuurrrrrrrnnnn the witch!
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/25/2017 14:14 Comments || Top||

#11  Wait MM, does she float?
Posted by: AlanC || 02/25/2017 14:44 Comments || Top||

#12  grom that was a great bit of music, i loved the harp
Posted by: anon1 || 02/25/2017 16:49 Comments || Top||

#13  :-)
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/25/2017 16:58 Comments || Top||

#14  He's an accomplished harpist anon1. He plays it with his toes.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/25/2017 17:29 Comments || Top||

#15  “I’m rubber and you are glue. Whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you.”

That should be enough to take care of it.
Posted by: Flolung Unolutch1828 || 02/25/2017 20:35 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Most scientists 'can't replicate studies by their peers'
h/t Instapundit
...From his lab at the University of Virginia's Centre for Open Science, immunologist Dr Tim Errington runs The Reproducibility Project, which attempted to repeat the findings reported in five landmark cancer studies.

"The idea here is to take a bunch of experiments and to try and do the exact same thing to see if we can get the same results."

You could be forgiven for thinking that should be easy. Experiments are supposed to be replicable.

The authors should have done it themselves before publication, and all you have to do is read the methods section in the paper and follow the instructions.
Sadly nothing, it seems, could be further from the truth.

After meticulous research involving painstaking attention to detail over several years (the project was launched in 2011), the team was able to confirm only two of the original studies' findings.
Long live collegiality and affirmative action!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/25/2017 04:22 || Comments || Link || [336066 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Experiments are supposed to be replicable.

Oh, come on, that was in the racist homophobe white patriarchy Western Civilization model. In the era of the modern Soviet Man person, it's all about feelings not reason. If you feel it should have come out as you wanted, it does.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/25/2017 8:21 Comments || Top||

#2  More proof that the so called "Science" peddled by the left is just garbage.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/25/2017 10:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Experiments are supposed to be replicable.

You don't get grant money for replicating experiments.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/25/2017 12:10 Comments || Top||

#4  I suspect the replicability problem arises from drawing conclusions from small data variations and believing they are meaningful even though the variations are less than the level of uncertainty. We think we know more than we know.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/25/2017 13:04 Comments || Top||

#5  You mean there is now Fake Science?
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/25/2017 13:14 Comments || Top||

#6  I suspect the main problem is medical doctors doing research who don't understand how to run a proper double blind experiment, and a few other things like confirmation bias.
Posted by: phil_b || 02/25/2017 14:17 Comments || Top||

#7  Think there may be a cross-field issue.

People might not be expert in all of the sub-sets of the project space and misinterpret what they're seeing.

I'm old enough to remember Cold Fusion. Turned out that the Chemists who did the original project didn't fully understand all the nuances of the particle physics that were involved. In that case science worked properly and all data and methods were made available to others to replicate the results..........
Posted by: AlanC || 02/25/2017 14:42 Comments || Top||

#8  AlanC, Cold Fusion is probably not a good example. F&P found a real phenomena, replicated dozens of times since. Their error was to attribute it to 'fusion' and not realize impurities in their Platinum was crucial to the experiment working. Which was why initial attempts at replication failed.
Posted by: phil_b || 02/25/2017 19:58 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
U. Michigan Students Demand No-Whites-Allowed Space for Social Justice Planning
[LI] Isn’t it interesting how whenever something like this happens, no one on the left sees it as racism?

"UMich students demand no-whites-allowed space to plot ’social justice’ activism A student activist group at the University of Michigan is demanding campus officials provide them with "a permanent designated space on central campus for Black students and students of color to organize and do social justice work." The demand is one of several lodged by "Students4Justice," who this month ratcheted up campus demonstrations to pressure administrators to cave, complaining in a newly launched petition that President Mark Schlissel has snubbed their demands. The clamor for a segregated space for students of color to organize social justice efforts comes even as the public university builds a $10 million center for black students and others in the center of campus. The new center is considered a "multicultural" one open to all students, but is under construction at the behest of a student group called Being Black at the University of Michigan, whose members complained that black students are marginalized because the original multicultural center they use is located on the outskirts of campus. In their demands, students explain why the new multicultural student center is not enough, "because we want a space solely dedicated to community organizing and social justice work specifically for people of color."

Voluntary, self-imposed apartheid. Who knew ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/25/2017 05:38 || Comments || Link || [336089 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Do they get their own water fountains and lunch counters? Special seating on the bus?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/25/2017 7:35 Comments || Top||

#2  "Students4JusticePower"

[FIFY]

Let's see the weenie administrators cave while tripping over their white guilt mentality.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/25/2017 8:18 Comments || Top||

#3  Hey, here's an idea. Let's use police and soldiers to keep the white kids out.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 02/25/2017 9:35 Comments || Top||

#4  White protests against this form of apartheid would most likely collapse these institutions and lead to a firing of many college administrators.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/25/2017 13:16 Comments || Top||

#5  How things change...

Posted by: Abu Uluque || 02/25/2017 14:25 Comments || Top||

#6  "Us niggaz," sez Amos to Andy,
"Is pimps. We'll pull bitches with candy!"
"Yo cracka ass, Amos,
Is gonna be famous --
Dis Democrat hustle is dandy!"
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 02/25/2017 21:56 Comments || Top||

#7  Disclaimer: I refer to the radio originals, not the wonderful black-cast TV version; Amos refers to himself and Andy (and probably Kingfish), not to the race in toto.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 02/25/2017 22:10 Comments || Top||



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Sat 2017-02-25
  Iraq Forces Enter First West Mosul Neighborhood
Fri 2017-02-24
  German police arrest 26-year-old over terror plot
Thu 2017-02-23
  Pakistan Army launches 'Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad' across the country
Wed 2017-02-22
  Suicide bombers attack Pakistani court, killing seven, as wave of violence continues
Tue 2017-02-21
  Libyan PM survives assassination attempt in Tripoli
Mon 2017-02-20
  Iraq Digs Anti-IS Trench around City of Ramadi
Sun 2017-02-19
  62 ISIS Bad Guys die in airstrike in Mosul
Sat 2017-02-18
  Breaking: Blind Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman Dies in Prison
Fri 2017-02-17
  At least 70 dead as bomb rips through Lal Shahbaz shrine in Sehwan, Sindh
Thu 2017-02-16
  Iran's Rouhani in Kuwait to soothe Gulf ties
Wed 2017-02-15
  Report: Turkey arrests alleged Reina nightclub attack planner
Tue 2017-02-14
  Islamic State leadership targeted in air strike, Baghdadi fate unclear: Iraqi military
Mon 2017-02-13
  Tahrir al-Sham: Al-Qaeda's latest incarnation in Syria
Sun 2017-02-12
  72 convicted of terrorism from 'Trump 7' mostly Muslim countries
Sat 2017-02-11
  Queens ISIS wannabe pleads guilty to attacking FBI agent with a knife in the name of the terror group

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