Hi there, !
Today Sun 12/30/2012 Sat 12/29/2012 Fri 12/28/2012 Thu 12/27/2012 Wed 12/26/2012 Tue 12/25/2012 Mon 12/24/2012 Archives
Rantburg
531183 articles and 1854386 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 60 articles and 127 comments as of 22:13.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion       
Somalia sets 100 days for Al Shabab militants to surrender
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 6: Politix
5 20:23 DepotGuy [336092] 
4 16:18 lotp [336074] 
3 22:28 tu3031 [336084] 
13 21:35 Rambler in Virginia [336092] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
2 18:35 Deacon Blues [336070]
0 [336070]
0 [336073]
0 [336071]
0 [336078]
0 [336075]
0 [336079]
0 [336069]
0 [336080]
0 [336070]
0 [336075]
0 [336069]
0 [336069]
0 [336067]
0 [336066]
2 12:05 Pappy [336127]
0 [336068]
3 05:31 Shipman [336066]
0 [336068]
0 [336066]
0 [336076]
Page 2: WoT Background
3 15:22 mojo [336071]
0 [336066]
8 21:26 Pappy [336080]
5 14:40 Shipman [336081]
2 13:11 USN,Ret. [336064]
3 08:33 Mullah Richard [336067]
4 15:11 Barbara [336085]
0 [336066]
0 [336067]
1 00:31 Redneck Jim [336067]
0 [336063]
0 [336065]
0 [336066]
2 05:46 Shipman [336062]
1 14:44 Frank G [336067]
0 [336073]
0 [336074]
9 19:04 Mike Kozlowski [336078]
Page 3: Non-WoT
2 21:52 JosephMendiola [336073]
10 22:57 CrazyFool [336078]
7 23:01 CrazyFool [336076]
2 16:39 Frank G [336074]
5 16:11 Dino Shomomp7692 [336068]
8 12:21 Bobby [336063]
9 15:50 Charles [336067]
2 13:21 Frank G [336064]
1 00:20 Redneck Jim [336066]
0 [336066]
2 08:15 Glenmore [336066]
Page 4: Opinion
0 [336076]
0 [336075]
2 19:09 M. Murcek [336077]
5 13:12 warthogswife [336074]
0 [336076]
2 15:58 SteveS [336066]
-Short Attention Span Theater-
Ben Affleck Won't Run for U.S. Senate in Mass.
[An Nahar] Ben Affleck is taking his name off the list of possible candidates for U.S. Sen. John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry's
Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, the Senate's current foreign policy expert, filling the vacated wingtips of Joe Biden...
seat, which would be open if the Democratic senator from Massachusetts is confirmed as secretary of state.
Hey! That's a coincidence! I'm not, either...
Affleck says in a Monday posting on his Facebook page that while he loves the political process, he will not be running for public office.

Speculation about the Cambridge, Mass., native rose slightly when he did not completely rule out a Senate bid during an appearance on CBS' Face The Nation on Sunday.

In his Facebook posting, Affleck says he would continue working with the Eastern Congo Initiative, a nonprofit organization that helps direct humanitarian aid to the war-torn region, and for other causes.

Affleck says Kerry would make a great secretary of state.
Posted by: Fred || 12/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336084 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Liberals always threaten to run (or leave the country) but rarely do. We should commend Al Franken for at least following through.
Posted by: Rjschwarz || 12/27/2012 9:50 Comments || Top||

#2  I would advise Ben to go for it - the US Debt-to-GDP is already well over 100%-n-steadily increasing. Sometimes its good to put in a NG wid little to no political background, as oppos to a LT Politico whom is more a static bureaucrat than a progressive innovator.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/27/2012 21:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Enter our first contestant...the ultimate lightweight, Grandstand Eddie Markey.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/27/2012 22:28 Comments || Top||


Africa North
State Dept officials 'fired' over Benghazi will be back at work
The four officials supposedly out of jobs because of their blunders in the run-up to the deadly Benghazi terror attack remain on the State Department payroll -- and will all be back to work soon, The New York Post has learned.
As the Instapundit has been noting, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been unavailable for comment due to a variety of medical ailments. I think the latest one is a fever blister...
The highest-ranking official caught up in the scandal, Assistant Secretary of State Eric Boswell, has not "resigned" from government service, as officials said last week. He is just switching desks. And the other three are simply on administrative leave and are expected back. The four were made out to be sacrificial lambs in the wake of a scathing report issued last week that found that the US compound in Benghazi, Libya, was left vulnerable to attack because of "grossly inadequate" security.

State Department leaders "didn't come clean about Benghazi and now they're not coming clean about these staff changes," a source close to the situation told The Post, adding, the "public would be outraged over this." In response to questions from The Post, the State Department would only reissue the carefully crafted statement put out last week.

Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton "has accepted Eric Boswell's decision to resign as assistant secretary for diplomatic security, effective immediately." What Nuland omitted was that Boswell gave up only the presidential appointment as assistant secretary, not his other portfolios.The other officials -- Deputy Assistant Secretaries Charlene Lamb and Raymond Maxwell, and a third who has not been identified -- were found to have shown "performance inadequacies" but not "willful misconduct," [Accountability Review Board head and retired ambassador Thomas] Pickering said, so they would not face discipline.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) told The Post this is "yet another ruse about the tragedy of Benghazi. State Department officials proclaimed . . . that heads would roll . . . Now we see that the discipline is a lie and all that has happened is the shuffling of the deck chairs."
Any chance that a Repub senator could place a hold on Kerry's nomination until the State Department actually documents that the four have been dismissed from government service?
Posted by: Pappy || 12/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336092 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So get four guys killed and you get, what, some extra vacation time? Nice.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/27/2012 0:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Announce dismissals and send two unknowns to testify whilst the Hildebeast recovers from a fall; all a convenient cover up.

The Hildebeast hasn't been seen or heard from in weeks. Perhaps there is more to the "fall" than the flu.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/27/2012 4:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Any chance that a Repub senator could place a hold on Kerry's nomination until the State Department actually documents that the four have been dismissed from government service?

Looks like that's the deal. No Kerry until House testimony is given.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/27/2012 5:52 Comments || Top||

#4  Any chance that a Repub senator could place a hold on Kerry's nomination until the State Department actually documents that the four have been dismissed from government service?

No, not if Reid wants the confirmation vote held (would require a rules change, but that can be done by Dem majority only.) Confirmation would require some Republican votes though, to overcome filibuster, unless those rules were also changed.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/27/2012 8:34 Comments || Top||

#5  Dude, I doubt The Four had anything to do with the real decisions that are bugging us. It's just another ablative layer of lies. IMHO.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 12/27/2012 12:45 Comments || Top||

#6  "Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual, the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country."

Karl Kraus

These politicians are endangering the lives of our people and are refusing to be held accountable to the people. They are incompetent, they are cowards, they are lieing to the Amerian people like no other establishment since 1776. They are doing to us what our enemies wish they could do to us themselves. The result is the same.

Maybe they and the enemy are now one. Regardless, due to the damages done to America as being the same, Judgement passed on them should be the same, IMHO.
Posted by: Dino Shomomp7692 || 12/27/2012 15:07 Comments || Top||

#7  Perhaps there is more to the "fall" than the flu.

She has not looked well these past few months.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/27/2012 15:09 Comments || Top||

#8  "Maybe they and the enemy are now one."

FTFY, Dino.
Posted by: Barbara || 12/27/2012 15:33 Comments || Top||

#9  You know, it could be Hillary wasn't actually planning to lie and Obama is trying desperately to find a way to keep her away from the Senate.

/sarc
Posted by: Charles || 12/27/2012 15:44 Comments || Top||

#10  Would it be funny or ironic if she was found face down in Fort Marcy Park some dark and stormy night?
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/27/2012 17:27 Comments || Top||

#11  You mean she's been 'Fostered' out?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/27/2012 17:44 Comments || Top||

#12  ge of the National Enquirer, while I was standing at the check-out at Wal-Mart, the Hillary has a brain tumor. They were right about John Edwards so......?
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 12/27/2012 18:41 Comments || Top||

#13  deacon, if true, that would put a damper on her chances of running in 2016
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 12/27/2012 21:35 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Japanese yen hits 27-month low against US dollar
Excellent move by Abe. We are now at the Keynesian (PBUH) end game. Only problem is that it won't cause inflation, deflation will carry on its merry way. As Korea sees its export being threatened by the weaker Yen, it too will weaken its currency. As will China then India and the S.E. Asian Tigers. Then onto to Europe and then to...
This will make the Fiscal Cliff look like a blip on the road. Think Coyote Fall.

The Japanese yen has dipped to a 27-month low against the US dollar amid speculation that policymakers will take steps to weaken the currency.

It was trading close to 85.84 yen against the US dollar in early Asian trade, the lowest since September 2010.

Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has promised steps to weaken the yen to help revive Japan's sluggish economy.

He has even suggested that Japan's central bank should print "unlimited yen" to help stoke inflation.
Posted by: tipper || 12/27/2012 01:24 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm confused. When they say that the Yen dropped are they saying that $1.00 buys fewer yen than it did? Or is a "weaker" yen one where $1.00 buys MORE yen than it did?

I thought that the stronger the currency the MORE of a different currency it bought which would mean that the lower the yen number the stornger the yen but this sounds backwards. Of course the lack of labeling on the graph and the lack of definition on the pronouns doesn't help.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/27/2012 8:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Update
Looks like panic is setting in.
Japan Will Limit Debt Financing, New Minister Asserts
Posted by: tipper || 12/27/2012 11:08 Comments || Top||

#3  That doesn't look like panic to me, tipper - that looks like common sense.

"He has even suggested that Japan's central bank should print "unlimited yen" to help stoke inflation."

Mr. Abe must be the love child of Bernanke and Geithner. :-(
Posted by: Barbara || 12/27/2012 13:08 Comments || Top||

#4  The graphic at the article shows that the Yen now buys less of a US dollar than it used to, i.e. it takes more Yen to buy one dollar.

Translated into policy terms, this is an attempt to prop up Japanese exports to the US (dollar buys more goods), to compete against US industry (dollar-denominated goods are more expensive) and to try to get the Japanese economy moving again.
Posted by: lotp || 12/27/2012 16:18 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
E.P.A. Chief to Step Down, With Climate Still Low Priority
She's done more to damage the economy with her insane policies than Obama, Wall Street and Bernanke combined.
Lisa P. Jackson is stepping down as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency after a four-year tenure that began with high hopes of sweeping action to address climate change and other environmental ills but ended with a series of rear-guard actions to defend the agency against challenges from industry, Republicans in Congress and, at times, the Obama White House.

Ms. Jackson, 50, told President Obama shortly after his re-election in November that she wanted to leave the administration early next year. She informed the E.P.A. staff of her decision on Thursday morning and issued a brief statement saying that she was confident “the ship is sailing in the right direction.”

She has not said what she intends to do after leaving government, and no sucessor was immediately named, although it is expected that Robert Perciasepe, the E.P.A. deputy administrator, will take over at least temporarily.
Posted by: tipper || 12/27/2012 13:05 || Comments || Link || [336092 views] Top|| File under:

#1  not one word about her secret email accounts; methinks she was more pushed than jumped.....
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 12/27/2012 13:24 Comments || Top||

#2  will Richard Windsor retire too?
Posted by: Frank G || 12/27/2012 14:19 Comments || Top||

#3  will Richard Windsor retire too?
Ah yes! Richard, named after her dog, affectionately known as "Dick"
Posted by: tipper || 12/27/2012 14:47 Comments || Top||

#4  Is Carol Brownaire still available?
Posted by: Shipman || 12/27/2012 14:57 Comments || Top||

#5  She is thought to be a candidate for the presidency of Princeton.

Boy Howdy! If that ain't the Kiss of Death. U'mm how's 'bout a nice little think tank gig. You know...just 'till you get back on yer feet.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 12/27/2012 20:23 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
30[untagged]
6Govt of Syria
4al-Qaeda in North Africa
4Govt of Pakistan
3al-Shabaab
3Arab Spring
1Govt of Sudan
1Lashkar-e-Islami
1Narcos
1Salafists
1Taliban
1al-Qaeda in Arabia
1Ansar Dine
1Baloch Liberation Army
1Govt of Iran
1Govt of Iraq

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2012-12-27
  Somalia sets 100 days for Al Shabab militants to surrender
Wed 2012-12-26
  6 Killed in Attack on Nigerian Church
Tue 2012-12-25
  Drone Strikes Kill Six Qaida Suspects in Yemen
Mon 2012-12-24
  Tunisia arrests 16 al-Qaeda suspects
Sun 2012-12-23
  Egypt vice-president resigns on final day of referendum
Sat 2012-12-22
  Scuds pummel Syrian rebel positions
Fri 2012-12-21
  U.N. Security Council Approves Mali Intervention Force
Thu 2012-12-20
  Yemeni President Restructures Army, Removes Saleh Cronies
Wed 2012-12-19
  Three more polio workers shot in Pakistan; eight dead in 48 hours
Tue 2012-12-18
  Syrian rebels take control of Damascus Palestinian camp
Mon 2012-12-17
  Rebel Offensive In Hama
Sun 2012-12-16
  Rockets Fired on Peshawar Airport, Five Dead, Dozens Injured
Sat 2012-12-15
  Tunisian Salafists attack bar, call drinkers 'infidels'
Fri 2012-12-14
  Coca-Cola resumes its production in Somalia
Thu 2012-12-13
  'Friends of Syria' Recognize Syrian Opposition

Better than the average link...



Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
3.239.59.193
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (21)    WoT Background (18)    Non-WoT (11)    Opinion (6)    (0)