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Ansar Dine Islamists destroy mausoleums in Timbuktu
Today's Headlines
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Page 6: Politix
4 21:37 junkiron [9] 
1 17:41 USN, Ret. [6] 
19 16:32 Secret Asian Man [12] 
6 12:11 Bill Clinton [5] 
4 14:07 JohnQC [8] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
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2 07:15 trailing wife [6]
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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3 11:15 Hellfish [10]
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Page 4: Opinion
3 15:07 g(r)omgoru [7]
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China-Japan-Koreas
China blocks Xi searches after Bloomberg report
China blocked web searches Saturday for the name of leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping, a day after cutting access to Bloomberg sites following the agency's publication of a report on his family's wealth.

Financial newswire Bloomberg used publicly available records to compile a list of investments by Chinese Vice President Xi's extended family, which the agency said totaled $376 million
Posted by: Water Modem || 07/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  LEADER-IN-WAITING XI XINPING ...

versus

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [DM Spox Geng Yansheng]CHINA'S DEFENCE MINISTRY COMMENTS ON US' ASIA-PACIFIC DEPLOYMENT [Asia "Pivot"], arguing that such moves are not conducive to security + mutual trust in the Region.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 07/01/2012 1:41 Comments || Top||

#2  OOOOOPPPSSS, forgot SAME > PUSHING THE SHOAL [dispute] TO THE BRINK, THE RESOLVE OF THE MIGHTY CHINESE NAVY.

IIUC Artic, the US-Allies wil be lucky iff the only outcome is another bloody "Johnson Reef II" between Beijing + Manila, etal. AND NOTHING MORE.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 07/01/2012 1:55 Comments || Top||

#3  How can a man be dictator in a thugocracy if he doesn't have a personal fortune? Riddle me that one, I ask.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/01/2012 9:47 Comments || Top||

#4  Borrowing from an old Russian joke: What will Xi do if the Communists come back?
Posted by: Matt || 07/01/2012 10:53 Comments || Top||

#5  Marxists share wealth like a rapist shares women.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 07/01/2012 11:09 Comments || Top||

#6  I am shocked. I tell you shocked.

A faithful servant of the people with a personal fortune?

How can that be?

It must be a mistake.

Unless you are Nancy Pelosi and her crew of money grubbing thug congressmen.

This is nothing compared to what the Dems have been doing over the last five years.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 07/01/2012 12:11 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
White House blocks move to stifle aid to Pak
[Dawn] The White House has quietly blocked yet another attempt to stifle US aid to Pakistain, saying that the congressional move will "severely constrict" America's ability to combat terrorism in the South Asian region.

The proposed restriction was included in a resolution to amend the Department of Defence Appropriations Act, 2013.

The White House issued a statement on Thursday evening, noting that the resolution was seeking to impose new limitations on reimbursements to the government of Pakistain.

A section of the resolution would require the Secretary of Defence to certify Pakistain's cooperation on issues "outside of his purview and would severely constrict DOD's ability to respond to emergent war-time coalition support requirements", the White House pointed out.
Posted by: Fred || 07/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Okay, but-t-t FYI ...

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > NO APOLOGY, NO SUPPLIES [SDN], GEN. KAYANI TELLS GEN. ALLEN.

Pak COAS to Commander, ISAF.

IMO Pakistan's Best Frenemy Forever Iran is taking a high risk iff its going to be applauding this move.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 07/01/2012 0:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Proving once again, anyone can throw in the chips and cut their losses. Successful political disengagement however, comes at a premium. Young lives wasted during the process is unfortunately of no great concern.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/01/2012 3:13 Comments || Top||

#3  Obama's GITMA detainee repatriation settlement funds must not be withheld! They were part of the deal agreement.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/01/2012 11:44 Comments || Top||

#4  “With a population of 190 million people, pockets of extremism, and nuclear capability, a stable and prosperous Pakistan is of critical importance to both our regional strategy and our direct national security interests,” he said.

No matter how much U.S. taxpayer money is thrown at Pakistan, it is not going to become prosperous and stable. Meanwhile, the economy sucks in the U.S. and nothing has been done about the high unemployment rate. Time for that one term the Champ talked about. Time to change the Senate also.
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/01/2012 14:07 Comments || Top||


-Election 2012
Conservative anger growing over Obamacare decision
Bryan York.

I ran into a prominent conservative member of Congress Friday night just before the huge storms moved through Washington. He was, he said, far angrier on the day after the Supreme Court Obamacare decision than he had been the moment he learned Chief Justice John Roberts had joined the Court’s liberal bloc to uphold the individual mandate at the heart of Obamacare. He didn’t resort to histrionics or profanity, but he was spitting mad — and his anger was growing, not diminishing.

A short time later, I saw another conservative lawmaker who said much the same thing. And yet another conservative leader who was in the same frame of mind.

At the same time, a backlash was forming in response to analyses by some formidable conservative writers — George Will, Charles Krauthammer, and others — who argued the Obamacare decision was actually a victory for conservatives because it placed a limit on expansive interpretations of the Constitution’s Commerce Clause.

Early polling also shows signs of increasing intensity among conservatives and Republicans in the wake of Roberts’ decision. In the first survey since the ruling, Gallup found that Americans are split down the middle — 46 percent to 46 percent — on the question of whether they agree or disagree with the Court. But when asked what should happen next, significant differences emerged. Sixty-five percent of Democrats said they want to see the law kept in place and the government’s role in health care expanded. But 85 percent of Republicans said they want to see Obamacare repealed either in whole or in part. It’s possible that in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling, a long-running trend in opinion — that Republicans dislike Obamacare more than Democrats like it — will become more, not less, pronounced.

Finally, on Saturday afternoon, I sent out a couple of tweets in which I said: “My sense is that conservatives are getting angrier, not calmer, about Roberts opinion. Shocked/confused on Thursday. Angry of Friday. Really angry on Saturday. Unhappiness trending up, not down.” The tweets sparked an outpouring of impassioned responses.
The question is whether this will lead to donations, volunteering, get out the vote and a serious sustained movement to take back Congress and the White House.
Posted by: || 07/01/2012 16:23 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  An interesting thing to watch over the next couple of weeks is whether the pace of corporate donations to Champ picks up. One effect of Thursday's debacle is that the value of an exemption from Obamacare just went up, since it's now more likely that Obamacare will become a reality. So Champ and his crew are in a much position to raise money by selling exemptions like a medieval bishop selling indulgences. It's a tough business choice: you can donate to Romney and hope that he gets elected and kills Obamacare by executive fiat, or donate to Champ in exchange for an assurance of an exemption. Or hedge your bet and do both.

Another thing to watch for is whether Champ cuts off the "it's a tax on the middle class" argument by announcing a broad policy that the tax won't be collected unless the individual in question refuses to genuflect to the new Emperor.
Posted by: Matt || 07/01/2012 18:37 Comments || Top||

#2  To be enforced by IRS scrutiny if you don't publicly genuflect?
Posted by: lotp || 07/01/2012 19:55 Comments || Top||

#3  An interesting thing to watch over the next couple of weeks is whether the pace of corporate donations to Champ picks up

I'd bet n making payments to both, Matt. Companies have a fiduciary duty (or something like that) to the shareholders to protect them from predatory government action by any legal means. Small businesses and privately held ones are likely a different story, it seems to me, but I don't imagine small businesses go in for much in the way of Washington, DC dealings.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/01/2012 20:59 Comments || Top||

#4 
Posted by: junkiron || 07/01/2012 21:37 Comments || Top||


House GOP leaders to press another Obamacare repeal vote
GOP House leaders said Sunday they will forge ahead with efforts to repeal President Obama’s health care law, drawing criticism from Democratic lawmakers who said Americans want them to instead go forward with efforts to improve the economy.

The GOP-led House has attempted to repeal the Affordable Care Act numerous times and is scheduled to take up the issue again July 11, less than two weeks after the Supreme Court ruled the law was constitutional.

Boehner, R-Ohio, said House Republicans will take a “practical, step-by-step” approach, compared to the 2,700-page reform bill that has been called a complete government takeover of the insurance industry.

He also said the law "has to be ripped out but its roots."

The House could hold a repeal vote as early as July 11, but such a measure would almost certainly be defeated in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Unless enough Senators get the message from their constituents that doing so would endanger re-election ..... No doubt someone is looking at who might be vulnerable
Posted by: || 07/01/2012 16:20 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  While understandable, I fear that this will be seen as a 'knee-jerk' response and might tend to dilute future more realisitc opportunities. Not to mention any negative optics for Joe Six-pack ( after the Lame Stream gets done with it).
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 07/01/2012 17:41 Comments || Top||


Champ will do July 4th funder -- in Paris
Apparently tiring of US soil as a source of campaign dollars, the Obama campaign is headed overseas -- with its celebrity friends in tow. The European Obama campaign starts next week in Paris
France, not Illinois...
on July 4 with a reception organized by various fundraising heavy-hitters. Independence Day fundraisers in Paris -- now that's a flag-waving campaign.

The Obama campaign will host events in Geneva, Switzerland
Not Geneva, Illinois...
in August as part of their "European outreach effort." George Clooney will headline a fundraiser there, with 150 tickets going for $20,000 per piece. There's even more to the bargain: if you go as a couple, the second ticket is half-off!

With the Obama campaign's increasingly desperate campaign emails begging for cash from the American people, perhaps the campaign thinks they'll find more fertile soil outside the country. Especially in the aftermath of the Supreme Court ruling that upholds Obama's European-style healthcare plan, Obama's hoping to cash in on like-minded folks abroad. Americans don't believe that Obamacare is a triumph; they see it as a massive net negative, sucking our coffers dry and handing us long-term rationing in return. Europeans, however, know nothing else. The entitlements have already kicked in. What better place to ask for campaign cash?

That also may be the only place Obama can still find cheering throngs.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Visiting a Marxist president on our national Independence Day with his Hollywood sycophants in tow? I detect no character deviation at all.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/01/2012 3:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Interesting Liotta cartoon on Barry's recent court victory.

Klik
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/01/2012 7:05 Comments || Top||

#3  Romney on Day #1 should end tax breaks for hollywood.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 07/01/2012 8:52 Comments || Top||

#4  Obamacare, sold as holy chalice. In reality a poison chalice.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 07/01/2012 9:05 Comments || Top||

#5  What isn't said is Obama will be here in the US, it's just the Campaign that is going to Paris.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 07/01/2012 9:18 Comments || Top||

#6  The European Obama campaign starts next week in Paris

So why is someone running for President in the United State campaigning in Europe, he asked innocently?

And good catch, Deacon!
Posted by: SteveS || 07/01/2012 10:23 Comments || Top||

#7  Boy, that title sums up Obummer perfectly. Anti-American elitist snob.
Posted by: DarthVader || 07/01/2012 10:24 Comments || Top||

#8  ...Mr. One Percenter, in mind and action. The words he extrudes are for political theater. [and remember Julie Baby aka the patrician Julius Caesar was a 'champion' of the plebs in his political environment]
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/01/2012 10:58 Comments || Top||

#9  Permit a minor modification if you will:

#7 Boy, that title sums up Obummer perfectly. Worthless phueching, Anti-American elitist snob. Posted by DarthVader
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/01/2012 11:40 Comments || Top||

#10  I thought foreign contributions were illegal...oh never mind, this is the Democrats.

Posted by: Bill Clinton || 07/01/2012 12:14 Comments || Top||

#11  Well, Bill, the contributions will be collected from expatriat Americans. Wink wink nudge nudge.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 07/01/2012 12:54 Comments || Top||

#12  How much are these INTERNATIONAL campaign fund raiser trips Moochelle and Hussein are suddenly taking costing the US Taxpayers!!???
Posted by: Dino the Weasel6053 || 07/01/2012 12:56 Comments || Top||

#13  Oh, oh, oh.... you unenlightened crackers zaklyuchënny take exception with my mounting green's fees and Martha's Vinyard activities?

The upcoming Paris junket is just a little 'pay-back' for the rough handly of my people Holder. Vindictive bastard! Fits the pattern you might say.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/01/2012 13:12 Comments || Top||

#14  Not Paris, TN, Paris, TX or Paris, OH either. The Hustler-in-Chief hustling bucks from his Europeean elitist buddies. Forgoing the $3 raffle for the little people this time? I will never watch a George Clooney movie again. The last movie I saw him in was the Ides of March on cable. The movie captured the rot and corruption of the Democratic left perfectly. He doesn't need my hard-earned bucks.
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/01/2012 13:57 Comments || Top||

#15  There is a George S. Patton story where he was quoted by the press. His statement got him in considerable trouble with his superiors. While speaking to a group of reporters, he compared the Nazis to losers in American political elections, and that being a Nazi in Germany was, "like being a Democrat in the States." Patton was soon relieved of command of Third Army and transferred to the Fifteenth Army, a paper command preparing a history of the war.

Patton was not politically correct. IMO he was an astute observer of domestic politics.
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/01/2012 14:17 Comments || Top||

#16  Negotiating sanctuary?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/01/2012 15:11 Comments || Top||

#17  I'm fairly sure this guy and his bosses will be chucking 2/6d towards the Obaniation's cause:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0070h86
Posted by: Deadeye Sproing4297 || 07/01/2012 15:44 Comments || Top||

#18  Negotiating sanctuary?

Speaking of that, I've beem wondering if BO ever gives any thought to his post WH existence. He's made some people very angry.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man || 07/01/2012 16:32 Comments || Top||

#19  beem = been
Posted by: Secret Asian Man || 07/01/2012 16:32 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2012-07-01
  Ansar Dine Islamists destroy mausoleums in Timbuktu
Sat 2012-06-30
  LeT Leader Khatab Shafiq Killed in Kunar
Fri 2012-06-29
  Saudi Convicted of Plotting Attack on George Bush's Home
Thu 2012-06-28
  Tuareg, Islamist Rebels Clash in Northern Mali
Wed 2012-06-27
  Al-Qaeda operatives escape to Oman
Tue 2012-06-26
  U.S drone strikes al-Qaeda vehicles in Aden
Mon 2012-06-25
  Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi Declared Egypt's President
Sun 2012-06-24
  Yemen Army Takes Control of Qaida Bastion Azzan
Sat 2012-06-23
  Turkish Warplane Vanishes over Syria Border
Fri 2012-06-22
  It's Over: A Dozen Dead After Taliban Take Hostages In Kabul Hotel
Thu 2012-06-21
  29 Soldiers among 58 Dead in Violence across Syria
Wed 2012-06-20
  'Al-Qaeda militant' takes hostages at bank in Toulouse
Tue 2012-06-19
  IDF hits terror cell near Gaza fence
Mon 2012-06-18
  Nigeria: 21 killed, 100 wounded in church blasts
Sun 2012-06-17
  Baghdad bombs target Shiite pilgrims, 32 killed


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