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Suspect in Berlin Christmas market attack killed in Milan police shootout: Official
Today's Headlines
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Page 6: Politix
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Economy
A Nuclear America Can Be A Great America
h/t Instapundit
As President-elect Donald Trump and Congress seek to "put America first," they should give special attention to an export sector America has been putting last: nuclear energy.

A focus on making nuclear reactors for export may seem quixotic. After all, nuclear power plants in the U.S. are struggling against cheap natural gas and heavily subsidized renewables. And historically, nuclear plants have been built locally, not manufactured.

But global demand for electricity is set to rise 70% over the next 25 years, mostly due to increased energy demand in developing nations.

And technological advances mean that new nuclear reactor components can increasingly be mass-manufactured in factories and shipped around the world for reassembly on site.

What’s at stake is a market worth $500 to $740 billion over the next decade, according to the Commerce Department, and hundreds of thousands of high-skill and high-wage jobs.

U.S. leadership on nuclear dates back to 1953, when President Eisenhower announced a U.S.-led effort "to provide abundant electrical energy in the power-starved areas of the world." It was called "Atoms for Peace."

It was a win-win for U.S. and energy-hungry developing nations. Thanks to this effort, the U.S. today gets 20% of its electricity from nuclear plants, which employ 32,000 workers directly and create an additional 200,000 jobs in the economy. And simply helping China to build four nuclear plants has created 20,000 jobs in 20 U.S. states, according to Westinghouse, whose nuclear division is based in the USA but owned by the Japanese conglomerate Toshiba.

But, but, but what about "China Syndrome"?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/23/2016 02:42 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ....more people died in a Oldsmobile Delmont 88 than 3-Mile Island.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/23/2016 8:04 Comments || Top||

#2  ...more people died in a Oldsmobile Delmont 88 under the Chappaquidick bridge than 3-Mile Island.

FIFY!
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 12/23/2016 9:00 Comments || Top||

#3  Maybe - if we don't continue crony capitalist practices in redeveloping the nuclear power industry.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/23/2016 9:09 Comments || Top||

#4  Put more money into fusion research. Not the turkey known as ITER. But the small scale designs whether they are from MIT, Sandia Labs or any of the commercial projects. Partner with the UK, Japan, South Korea and the EU. The potential payoff is huge. If we can get D-T reactors on linefocus on the Proton-Boron 11 reaction cyclle. Has the potential to be direct to electricity with no need for turbines or waste. The current DOE fusion research is more about producing phd's than juice
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 12/23/2016 9:17 Comments || Top||

#5  Please, please advance the battery technology along with the nuclear power. The TVA has not issued a license for a nuclear power plant in many decades...was ready to begin again a few years ago, but stopped by the idiot boy Obama.

Posted by: Tennessee || 12/23/2016 10:51 Comments || Top||

#6  Battery tech is being pushed by Musk and his Tesla team.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/23/2016 12:48 Comments || Top||

#7  The need is not specifically electric batteries but energy storage technology. For portability, it might turn out to be more effective to use nuclear energy to convert H, C & O into liquid hydrocarbon fuels (synthetic gasoline?) than to electricity stored in heavy and/or expensive and/or environmentally damaging batteries.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/23/2016 15:09 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Democrats Turn on Obama
[The American Interest] The rising stars of the Democratic Party have been airing criticisms of President Obama lately, covering them with only the thinnest of veils. The Wall Street Journal reports:

Though they rarely mention the president by name or address his policies, Labor Secretary Tom Perez and Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison have sent a clear message that Mr. Obama has left the party in a weakened state.

Messers. Perez and Ellison—along with state chairmen Jaime Harrison of South Carolina and Ray Buckley of New Hampshire, who are also candidates for chairman of the DNC, are seeking a mandate to reverse Obama-era tactics that cut funding and attention to local parties and left Democrats with far less power in Congress, governorships and state legislatures than when his presidency began.

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Pappy || 12/23/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Labor Secretary Tom Perez and Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison have sent a clear message that Mr. Obama has left the party in a weakened state.

OK, but the part you're not getting is that all the things you applauded him for are what caused it.
Posted by: SteveS || 12/23/2016 0:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Left-wing Alinskyite efforts to 'fundamentally transform' the country are unpopular in a center-right nation? Stop the presses!
Posted by: Raj || 12/23/2016 0:40 Comments || Top||

#3  When the Republicans put 2 dozen candidates into the running the dims put 2 out there. One was corrupt and the other was an old commie.

That is because the corrupt one had enough power to keep it all to herself from the git go. And nobody in the Dim party challenged it. Everybody on the left is to blame, everybody.
Posted by: Glains Bonaparte2390 || 12/23/2016 0:52 Comments || Top||

#4  A circular firing squad.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/23/2016 5:39 Comments || Top||

#5  May the demoncrats keep being stupid for years.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/23/2016 6:59 Comments || Top||

#6  Perez and Ellison both believe Obumble's problem is he didn't go full tilt Stalinist.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/23/2016 7:51 Comments || Top||

#7  The evil party and the stupid party have merged to become the evil stupid party.

Now if the Rinos join in we may have a hope of improving the world.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/23/2016 8:05 Comments || Top||

#8  Democrats Turn on Obama

RACISTS!

Alinsky them right back.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/23/2016 8:09 Comments || Top||

#9  Great U.S. Presidents, and even good ones, are usually rooted in local politics. They are citizens of real places, and they carry the concerns and the insights of those places into office. Obama was a member of the New York Times tribe, people for whom an absence of local loyalties is a sign of enlightenment.

I'm inclined to think it has another basis. Then again, I'm not a professional in that area.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/23/2016 9:14 Comments || Top||

#10  Great US Presidents, and even good ones, are usually rooted in local politics.

Except when they come from Chicago.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 12/23/2016 9:57 Comments || Top||

#11  May the demoncrats keep being stupid for years.

Or, at least, more stupid than the Republicans are wont to be.
Posted by: gorb || 12/23/2016 10:38 Comments || Top||

#12  Well, he failed to collectivize agriculture and smash the kulaks as a class.

Gave it the ol' college try, though.
Posted by: charger || 12/23/2016 13:43 Comments || Top||

#13  He's not from Chicago, he's not from anywhere.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/23/2016 15:54 Comments || Top||

#14  that's were our saving ineptitude and laziness came in to play charger.

If he'd been smart and not lazy we'd have been starving to death like the Kulaks by now.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/23/2016 16:11 Comments || Top||

#15  I think that was the 350 dollar a year Obamacare coverage with the 10K deductible.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/23/2016 19:08 Comments || Top||


Why I Still Don't Buy the Russian Hacking Story
I'm willing to believe that Russia sought to hack the U.S. election, but I still find the evidence lacking. That skepticism applies to the latest sensation -- a report that Russian proxies in Ukraine are employing the same malicious software used on the U.S. Democratic National Committee.

For months, I have been parsing stories of the great Russian hack -- the anonymous leaks from U.S. administration officials, the two fact-poor statements from the U.S. intelligence community, the distant echoes of briefings received by U.S. legislators -- for technical evidence. But so far, the only evidence pointing to Russian government involvement comes from cybersecurity companies that have studied Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) 28, a hacker collective that has attacked many targets over the years -- including the DNC in 2016

Don't get me wrong. It stands to reason that Russian intelligence was interested in the U.S. election campaign, and it's a distinct possibility that it leaked what it found to the press via WikiLeaks, despite the latter's denials. Russian President Vladimir Putin dislikes Hillary Clinton, and he probably would have been happy to hurt her chances of getting elected -- thus, by default, helping Trump. It's all quite logical, which is why a third of Americans believe Russia influenced the outcome of the election.

In the real world outside of soap operas and spy novels, however, any conclusions concerning the hackers' identity, motives and goals need to be based on solid, demonstrable evidence. At this point, it's inadequate. This is particularly unfortunate given that the DNC hacks were among the defining events of the raging propaganda wars of 2016.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/23/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Would it be mean to describe the Russian Hacking Story as another failed attempt by the CIA to overthrow a country?
Posted by: SteveS || 12/23/2016 0:21 Comments || Top||

#2  The story that needs to be addressed before I even look at this is the one about how we allow the situation to develop in the first place. We need to secure our electoral process. This is our fault.
Posted by: gorb || 12/23/2016 10:40 Comments || Top||

#3  From Putin Q&A

“The Democratic Party lost not only the presidential election, but also elections in the Congress, where the Republicans now have a majority. Was that my doing too?”

“They are losing on all fronts and look for someone else to blame. I believe, this is, how should I say, humiliating. One should know how to lose with grace,” he said.
Posted by: Willy || 12/23/2016 11:35 Comments || Top||

#4  Blaming the Russians is only natural. You can't expect Baraq to admit that he had eight years to do something about cyber security and failed.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 12/23/2016 11:40 Comments || Top||

#5  You can't expect Baraq to admit that he had eight years to do something about cyber security and failed

It's hard to remember since there were so many other and more spectacular failures.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/23/2016 12:00 Comments || Top||

#6  I still say the real damage was what was IN the emails not the fact that the hack occurred...the media and the Dims are covering up the cesspool of corruption and manipulation that was the Clinton campaign.

Had the emails been good old fashioned political strategy and exchanges of talking points or ideas for an ad campaign, it would have come to nothing. BUT, we all know what was in those emails and any voter that bothered to look was appalled.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 12/23/2016 12:19 Comments || Top||

#7  I would be curious to know how many people changed their opinions based on the emails. How many stayed, home, voted for Trump instead, etc.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/23/2016 12:46 Comments || Top||

#8  #3 It's pretty uncomfortable to be reading something written by a murderous kleptocrat and thinking, "Hey! Good point."
Posted by: Matt || 12/23/2016 13:03 Comments || Top||

#9  #3 Willy - Heh.™
Posted by: Barbara || 12/23/2016 15:51 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
PM’s militancy denial
[DAWN] WHEN Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
or members of his government speak about terrorism- and militancy-related issues, it often only serves to expose their lack of understanding of the matter or their wilful denial of the facts, or perhaps both. Addressing parliamentarians in Sarajevo, Mr Sharif claimed not only that all sanctuaries of Al Qaeda and the Pak Taliban have been eliminated in Pakistain, but that there is no presence of the holy warrior Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group either in the country. He went on to claim credit, as has become his practice, for the multiple successes in the fight against militancy. Perhaps on all counts, Mr Sharif is wrong. To begin with, while military operations have cleared Fata of the strongholds of the banned TTP, the steady pace of holy warrior attacks in tribal areas and the provinces suggests the continued existence of terrorist hideouts in the country. Indeed, that is the reason the military leadership has demanded greater action in Punjab
1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots....

-- a vast jihadist infrastructure there operates undamaged and in plain sight. On Al Qaeda, while there have been great successes and the global attraction of its so-called brand has diminished, can the prime minister or indeed any official here realistically claim that every last strand of the group in Pakistain has been found and eliminated? What is the likelihood that Ayman al-Zawahiri
... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area assuming he's not dead like Mullah Omar. He lost major face when he ordered the nascent Islamic State to cease and desist and merge with the orthodx al-Qaeda spring, al-Nusra...
is hiding on Pak soil?

Moreover, in recent times, several of the biggest terrorist attacks in Pakistain have been claimed by IS. While those claims have been contested, the existence of IS propaganda cells here cannot be denied. So while Mr Sharif may be right that several successes have been won in the fight against militancy, the principal lesson has been that success is hard-fought and hard-earned.
It is, however, Mr Sharif’s careless words about IS that rankle most. For several reasons, IS has not emerged yet as the biggest militancy threat in the country -- but it could if the state is not vigilant. In neighbouring Afghanistan, its growth is often linked to the mass arrival of the TTP and anti-Pakistain Death Eaters in eastern Afghanistan. While there are certainly domestic reasons for the expansion of IS in Afghanistan, the very existence of a Pak-Afghan nexus should be alarming for Pakistain. Moreover, in recent times, several of the biggest terrorist attacks in Pakistain have been claimed by IS. While those claims have been contested, the existence of IS propaganda cells here cannot be denied. So while Mr Sharif may be right that several successes have been won in the fight against militancy, the principal lesson has been that success is hard-fought and hard-earned. Politicians claiming credit for things they have not done is routine. But in the fight against militancy, it is the continuing lack of seriousness of the politicianship that is alarming.

Posted by: Fred || 12/23/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


A flawed anti-terrorism law
[DAWN] PAKISTAN has faced multiple active terrorism threats over the past 15 years, which now constitute an existential threat to the state. In order to deal with this, Pakistain enacted an anti-terrorism law in 1997, subsequently improved to meet emergent threats through a number of amendments.

This law not only includes provisions for the punishment of bandidos turbans but also offers a comprehensive framework for dealing with terrorism on the lam. It enables preventive detention of terrorists, redefines the required evidence for conviction, lays down simplified trial procedures for the speedy disposal of terrorism-related cases and constitutes special anti-terrorism courts. Additionally, it also provisions witness protection programmes.

From this law follows all actions to confront terrorism in Pakistain, including the National Action Plan. Its expansive powers, together with the now expired Protection of Pakistain Act, have been widely criticised for falling short of international human rights
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 12/23/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Home Front: Culture Wars
Edjumacation at its finest
[FoxNews] School lesson says Christians are treating Muslims harshly
Posted by: Bov Flimbers || 12/23/2016 01:54 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Seem to recall the early Christians spread the good news by the word while the founder of Islam spread his message by the sword.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/23/2016 8:08 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
35[untagged]
8Islamic State
6Govt of Pakistan
4Taliban
4Moslem Colonists
2Hamas
2Muslim Brotherhood
1Govt of Iran
1Jamaat-e-Ulema Islami
1Lashkar e-Taiba
1Commies
1Sublime Porte
1Govt of Syria
1Govt of Saudi Arabia
1Hezbollah

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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2016-12-23
  Suspect in Berlin Christmas market attack killed in Milan police shootout: Official
Thu 2016-12-22
  ISIS issues order for arrest of its missing finance minister
Wed 2016-12-21
  Syrian Army enters east Aleppo neighborhoods for first time in 4 years
Tue 2016-12-20
  At least 12 dead in 'terrorist attack' after truck crashes into Berlin Christmas market
Mon 2016-12-19
  Russian ambassador to Turkey assassinated
Sun 2016-12-18
  Sirte officially declared Liberated
Sat 2016-12-17
  22 ISIS targets hit in airstrikes in Palmyra
Fri 2016-12-16
  Belgian Police Move on Libya Arms Smuggling Ring
Thu 2016-12-15
  11 headless bodies found in Aden
Wed 2016-12-14
  Jihadist rebels agree to ceasefire deal in east Aleppo
Tue 2016-12-13
  Mosul Offensive News: Iraqi forces move into Mosul's biggest district
Mon 2016-12-12
  Syrian army equipment falls into ISIS' possession in Palmyra
Sun 2016-12-11
  Death toll rises to 20 25 in Cairo Coptic cathedral bombing
Sat 2016-12-10
  Record airstrike hits over 100 ISIL oil trucks gathered in Syria
Fri 2016-12-09
  Schoolgirl suicide bombers kill 30/injure 57

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