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France confirms Mali intervention
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
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India-Pakistan
World needs spring of Islam: Jamaat-e-Islami chief
The world needs another "spring of Islam" to bring it out of the darkness and remove the ills plaguing it in all spheres of life, said Jamaat-e-Islami Hind president Moulana Jalaluddin Umri.
That's certainly one opinion. Thanks ever so for sharing.
Islam must look a lot different from the inside than it does from the outside.
Inaugurating a three-day 'Spring of Islam' conference here Friday, he contended that Islam alone can offer solutions to the problems that humanity is facing as it is the natural way of life.

Referring to corruption scandals, moral degradation, injustice, inequality and exploitation, Umri said it was only on the basis of Islamic ideology that an ideal society can be created.

Arguing how the holy Koran brought a spring 1,450 years ago when the world was in "total darkness", he said there was need for today's world to revert to its real creator.

"Why this spring should not come? People say the wheel of time has moved or things which worked then do not necessarily work today. Allah's deen (way of life) is forever. Just as you can't change the way sun and moon revolve, you can't change His deen. Not even a small dot has changed since Koran was revealed to Prophet Mohammed," said the Jamaat chief.
Posted by: tipper || 01/11/2013 16:08 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336099 views] Top|| File under:

#1  World needs Islam to Fall hard and evaporate.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/11/2013 18:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Is this kinda like The Summer of George?
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/11/2013 18:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Son???

D *** NG, does his Siblings + sister MADONNA know???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/11/2013 19:29 Comments || Top||


Pakistan blasts: Shia refuse to bury Quetta bomb dead
Pakistan's minority Shia community has protested angrily over what it says is a lack of protection in the city of Quetta, a day after almost 100 people died there in a series of blasts.

Leaders of the community have refused to bury the dead until security is improved.

One Shia leader publicly criticised army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani.

Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi said it carried out the deadliest attack in Quetta on Thursday.

Three days of mourning have been announced in Balochistan province after the blasts in its capital, on one of the deadliest days of bombings in Pakistan in recent years.

At least 119 people were killed in Quetta and in a separate attack in Mingora in the north-west.
Posted by: tipper || 01/11/2013 16:02 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336096 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Better stock up on clothespins.
Posted by: gorb || 01/11/2013 16:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Either the PAK-Govt-Army give local Shias de facto protection, or be seen in Iran's eyes as negligent [read, COMPLICIT] in Pak Sunni anti-Shia violence.

* See WAFF > [BBC] THE FORMIDABLE PAWS OF PAKISTAN'S ANTI-SHIA [Sunni] MILITANTS.

and

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Press TV]IRANIAN MP: WEST BEHIND PAKISTAN'S SHIA BOMBINGS TO CREATE SHIA-SUNNI WAR.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/11/2013 21:50 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
France confirms Mali intervention
President Francois Hollande says French troops are taking part in operations against Islamists in northern Mali.

French troops "have brought support this afternoon to Malian units to fight against terrorist elements", he said.

Armed groups, some linked to al-Qaeda, took control of northern Mali in April.

Mr Hollande said the intervention complied with international law, and had been agreed with Malian President Dioncounda Traore. A state of emergency has been declared across the country.

The militants said on Thursday that they had advanced further into government-controlled territory, taking the strategic central town of Konna.
Posted by: tipper || 01/11/2013 15:59 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336125 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Impossible. Al Qaeda is dead.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/11/2013 17:58 Comments || Top||

#2  As per TELEGRAPH.UK, France repor has also now launched direct air strikes agz Al-Qaeda = AQIM targets in Mali.

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > TROOPS FROM NIGERIA, SENEGAL, FRANCE BACK MALI: ARMY.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/11/2013 22:23 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
January 10, the Shaikhul Islam and 'Kaptaan'
I avoided much of the agony on January 10 because I was fortunate enough to be travelling and social media applications on my cell phone were off. But by the night, agony and grief gripped me. In a single day, Pakistan lost over 115 innocent citizens and had hundreds of people injured. The serial blasts in Quetta’s busiest bazaar and the one at a Tableeghi Markaz — the district preaching headquarter of the Tableeghi Jama’at — near Mingora, Swat traumatised us, once again. Equally disturbing was the news from the Line of Control where Indian and Pakistani soldiers have been killing each other at the expense of the peace process between the two countries. One hopes that it won’t detract from the army’s apparent paradigm shift in the identification of the real enemy.

The mystery of the mayhem at a grand mosque in Swat, reportedly killing over 22 pious preachers and injuring more than 50 others who gathered there for Shab-e-Juma (Friday night) prayers, has shaken the nerves of the idyllic valley and reminds us of the bloodiest of years — winter, 2009 — when beheaded and slit-throat bodies strung over poles and trees were usual sights in the morning. It is now another winter, which has witnessed its first mayhem in cold blood in Swat.

Looking at the bloodshed in the country, one cannot help but cry in agony. People of any sect, faith and ethnicity are virtually left at the mercy of barbaric hands while the already handicapped government is threatened by a ‘Shaikhul Islam’ whose aim, it seems, is to have an interim technocrat government with himself as prime minister. For the government, January 14 will be a doomsday as Shaikhul Islam Dr Tahirul Qadri sees it. But what he and his ilk don’t see is the fact that the people of Pakistan have been experiencing doomsday scenarios for decades.
Posted by: tipper || 01/11/2013 15:18 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336089 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan
US troops will end 'most' Afghanistan combat this spring
US troops in Afghanistan will end "most" combat operations this spring, US President Barack Obama and Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai have agreed.

American forces are expected to switch to a support role, slightly earlier than originally scheduled, as Afghan troops take the security lead.

The two leaders also backed the holding of talks between the Afghan government and Taliban leaders in Doha, Qatar.

Most of the 66,000 US troops in Afghanistan are due to leave in 2014.

"Starting this spring, our troops will have a different mission - training, advising, assisting Afghan forces," Mr Obama said in remarks at the White House on Friday, as Mr Karzai stood alongside.

"It will be a historic moment and another step toward full Afghan sovereignty."

The presidents also agreed that the US would hand over custody of prisoners to the Afghan government, a step Mr Karzai said was critical for his country's sovereignty.
Posted by: tipper || 01/11/2013 15:12 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336083 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Starting this spring, our troops will have a different mission - training, advising, assisting Afghan forces," Mr Obama said in remarks at the White House on Friday, as Mr Karzai stood alongside.

I'd rather fight the Taliban. It's probably safer.
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/11/2013 16:42 Comments || Top||

#2  WORLD NEWS > [HuffPo] AFGHANISTAN WAR: "ZERO OPTION" [post-2014 US Troops levels]COULD LEAD TO TO CIVIL WAR, TALIBAN TAKEOVER, AFGHAN OFFICIALS SAY.

IMO the Bammer is just being "post-Fiscal Cliff" Media, PCorrect, + isn't serious about complete ot tote troop withdrawal, espec wid the threat of the China-vs-Japan crisis in the East China Sea devol into potential MULTI-REGIONAL WAR.

Pragmatically, the Bammer + USDOD need US Milfors to stay exactly where they are.

versus

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > CHINA: ITS UP TO INDIA, PAKISTAN TO RESOLVE ROW OVER LOC SKIRMISH.

But Pakistan is China's BFF.

* SAME > INDIA READIES TROOPS AS PAKISTAN RATTLES ARMS ACROSS BORDER - INDIAN EXPRESS.

* RELATED BIGNEWS NETWORK > INDIA READIES TROOPS AS PAK BORDER TENSIONS ESCALATE.

* RELATED TOPIX > INDIA, PAKISTAN PLACE TROOPS ON HIGH ALERT AFTER DEADLY KILLINGS [tit-for-tat]ON KASHMIR BORDER.

See above as per CHINA.

* SAME > NATO PUZZLED BY AFGHAN ARMY'S DEMAND FOR TANKS, to enhance the ANA's fight the Hard Boyz after 2014.

* FREEREPUBLIC > CHINA WARNS CITIZENS TO "PREPARE FOR THE WORST" AS IT SENDS FIGHTER TO EAST CHINA SEA. Sino-Japan major Military Incident(s) iff not outright Mil Conflict.

RELATED CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > GLOBAL TIMES: CHINA READY FOR WORST-CASE SCENARIO.

RELATED WORLD NEWS > CHINA SENDS FIGHTER JETS TO MEET JAPAN F-15'S IN EAST CHINA SEA.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/11/2013 22:20 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Shia-Sunni conflicts plotted by Islam enemies: Iran FM
Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi says the so-called issue of divide between Shia and Sunni Muslims is a plot hatched by the enemies of Islam.

In a meeting with the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar Ahmed Al-Tayeb in Cairo on Thursday, Salehi also called on Muslims to avoid conflicts and rely on commonalties instead.

"Enemies have made great efforts during recent years to cause a rift among Muslims and also to intensify it," he added.

Salehi invited the Sheikh of Al-Azhar to visit Iran to hold talks with Iranian clerics and observe the peaceful coexistence of Shia and Sunni Muslims in the Islamic Republic.

Al-Tayeb, for his part, urged Muslims to foster unity and said enemies should not be allowed to achieve their objectives to create conflicts in the Muslim world.

Meanwhile, in a meeting with Patriarch of Egypt's Coptic Christians Pope Tawadros II, the Iranian minister highlighted the significance of peaceful coexistence of Muslims and Christians.
Posted by: tipper || 01/11/2013 14:28 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336090 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
Muslims in Africa Train Converts to Attack Churches..
Posted by: tipper || 01/11/2013 13:44 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Egypt's Jews and the Muslim Brotherhood’s surprise offer
Posted by: tipper || 01/11/2013 13:10 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336090 views] Top|| File under:


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Failure of Epic Proportions": Treasury Nominee Jack Lew

Former bank regulator William Black and Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi join us to dissect the career of Jack Lew, President Obama’s pick to replace Treasury Secretary Timothy Geither. Currently Obama’s chief of staff, Lew was an executive at Citigroup from 2006 to 2008 at the time of the financial crisis. He backed financial deregulation efforts while he headed the Office of Management and Budget under President Bill Clinton. During that time, Clinton enacted two key laws to deregulate Wall Street: the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 and the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000. Black, a white-collar criminologist and former senior financial regulator, is the author of "The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One." A contributing editor for Rolling Stone magazine, Taibbi is the author of "Griftopia: A Story of Bankers, Politicians, and the Most Audacious Power Grab in American History." [includes rush transcript]

Video of the discussion:



The whole show today was pretty good too:
Posted by: Water Modem || 01/11/2013 13:01 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336088 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
Four arrests over Syrian terrorist activity.
Four men have been arrested by detectives investigating travel to Syria in support of alleged terrorist activity.

A 33-year-old man was arrested at Gatwick airport at 4.17pm yesterday as he attempted to take a flight out of UK.

Three other men - an 18-year-old, a 31-year-old and a 22-year-old - were arrested in dawn raids at separate addresses in east London.

A Met spokesman said: "They are all in custody at a south London police station where they will be interviewed by officers from the MPS's counter-terrorism command."

Searches are continuing at three residential addresses in east London.

Jubayer Chowdhury, 24, was arrested by officers from the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command at Heathrow Airport in November after arriving on a flight from Bahrain and is now facing charges in connection with the alleged plot.

Shajul Islam, 26, a trainee NHS doctor, who studied at St Bartholomew's and a University of London Hospital, is also accused of being part of an extremist group which held John Cantlie, who worked for various newspapers including The Sunday Times, and Jeroen Oerlemans for around a week in the war-torn state.
Posted by: tipper || 01/11/2013 12:45 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336091 views] Top|| File under:


Science & Technology
The most horrifying robot baby you'll ever meet
Meet Diego-san, the oversized robot baby that has a semi-realistic, uncanny-valley head on a naked robot skeleton.

With 27 servo motors, patented "Frubber" skin, a head built by Hanson Robotics and a body built by Kokoro Company, Diego-san is helping researchers at the University of California San Diego's Machine Perception Laboratory understand the development — both physical and mental — of infants.

According to Phys.org, the robot is part of the "Developing Social Robots" project that aims to "make progress on computational problems that elude the most sophisticated computers and artificial intelligence approaches, but that infants solve seamlessly during their first year of life."

That is, can a computer be programmed to learn like a human infant?

"Basically," head of the Machine Perception Lab Dr Javier Movellan told Gizmag, "We are trying to understand the computational problems that a baby's brain faces when learning to move its own body and use it to interact with the physical and social worlds."

He's a pretty big baby, coming in at 1.3 metres tall and tipping the scales at 30 kilograms. Forty four pneumatic joints allow Diego-san to hold itself as a human might.
Posted by: tipper || 01/11/2013 12:21 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336081 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I hope LS3 rips his face off.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/11/2013 16:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Dad!
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/11/2013 20:25 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Hafiz Saeed warns Kashmir violence could turn 'ugly'
Hafiz Saeed, the Pakistani Islamist leader accused of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai massacre, said India was trying to destabilise Pakistan and predicted violence in the disputed region of Kashmir could get "ugly". "We do not want any force to be used or any military operation for this. But the Indians are opting for the other alternative," Hafiz Saeed told Reuters in a telephone interview on Friday.

Saeed founded Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the militant group which India blames for the rampage in Mumbai, where gunmen killed 166 people over three days. He denies any wrongdoing and links to militants.

Saeed also denied allegations by Indian officials that he had recently visited Kashmir, potentially to incite action against India, just before the recent outbreak of the worst violence in the territory since the nuclear-armed neighbours agreed to a ceasefire nearly a decade ago.

In the third fatal attack in Kashmir this week, a Pakistani soldier was killed on Thursday by "unprovoked" Indian fire, a Pakistan army spokesman said.
Posted by: tipper || 01/11/2013 12:15 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Is he spokesman for the Pak military?
Posted by: Spavinter Prince of the Trolls2768 || 01/11/2013 19:00 Comments || Top||

#2  See also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [ZeeNews = India]ARMED STRUGGLE TO RESUME IN KASHMIR IN 2014, i.e. after the formal US pullout from Afghanistan according to LeT/JuD Chief Hafiz Saeed + Hizbul Mujahideen Chied Syed Salahuddin.

On a separate note - hint by Saeed + Salahuddin of coming INDIA, CHINA JIHAD???

versus

* SAME > WEEK BEFORE KILLINGS, LeT CHIEF [Hafiz Saeed] STIRRED TROUBLE AT [Indo-Pak = Kashmir] LOC.

* SAME > TEACH PAKISTAN A LESSON LIKE 1965: HAZARE. Noted Indian Social Activist, ex-Combat Soldier, 1965 veteran Anna Hazare.

Gotta party harty violently like its 1965, or 1971 as per Indo-Pak Bangla War.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/11/2013 19:01 Comments || Top||


What did you give us except more death? Shia leader asks Pak army chief Kayani
In a rare challenge, a Shia Muslim leader publicly criticised Pakistani military chief General Ashfaq Kayani over security in the country on Friday after bombings targeting the minority sect killed 118 people.

The criticism of Kayani, arguably the most powerful man in the South Asian state, highlighted Shia frustrations with Pakistan's failure to contain Sunni Muslim militant groups who have vowed to wipe out Shias.

"I ask the army chief: What have you done with these extra three years you got (in office)? What did you give us except more death?" Maulana Amin Shaheedi, who heads a national council of Shia organisations, told a news conference.
Posted by: tipper || 01/11/2013 12:12 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336102 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Whom told Shaheedi that the Pak Army was trying to contain the violence agz local Shias - dats N-O-T what I'm reading on the MilBlogs.

Pakistan = Baby Assad in Syria = may officially be Rising Iran's BFF, but in reality they fear Iranian + Shia domination.

IRONY > SECTARIAN-RIDDEN, NUKE-ARMED SUNNI PAKISTAN FEARS DOMINATION-IFF-NOT-TAKEOVER BY THE NON NUKE-ARMED BUT UNIFIED SHIA STATE OF IRAN.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/11/2013 19:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Quitcher bitchin'! I thought you guys loved death.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/11/2013 20:31 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian rebels take control of key Assad airbase
Rebels fighting the regime of Bashar al-Assad scored a significant victory on Friday when they took control of one of Syria's most important northern airbases, seizing tanks, helicopters and large amounts of ammunition.

Fighters had laid siege to the Taftanaz base near the town of Idlib for months. After seizing several buildings on Wednesday they stormed the sprawling complex on Friday morning. "As of now, the rebels are in full control of the air base," Idlib-based activist Mohammad Kanaan said.

A video from the scene shows jubilant rebels ripping down a large poster of Assad at the entrance gate. Others wave from the upper story of a barracks. Trucks carry off boxes of ammunition. The bodies of four government soldiers lay sprawled in a muddy pit.

In another video captured Sunni government soldiers claim their Alawite officers fled the base early on Friday, abandoning them to their fate. Government forces appear to have removed most of the 60 helicopters stationed at Taftanaz – leaving behind around 20 that were apparently non-functional.
Posted by: tipper || 01/11/2013 12:05 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336106 views] Top|| File under:

#1  60 helicopters stationed at Taftanaz -- leaving behind around 20

I take that to mean 33% were non-flyers. Not too shabby for Soviet era (?) equipment in the middle of a war.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/11/2013 15:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Update
Syrian rebels: We're on our way to Assad
After seizing strategic airbase of Taftanaz, rebels turn to their main target: Presidential palace in Damascus. 'With Allah's help, we are headed in your direction Bashar,' websites affiliated with rebels state
Posted by: tipper || 01/11/2013 15:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Syrian rebels: We're on our way to Assad

The air base is a few miles from the Turkish border and 200 miles from Damascus. It took them 2 years of fighting to take the air base. At this rate, they'll take Damascus some time in the next 10 years.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 01/11/2013 23:16 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Lawsuit Alleges Cronyism in Obama Administration “Green Energy” Loan
A lawsuit recently filed in the United States Court of Claims may shed further light on the corruption of the Obama administration’s “green energy” programs. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of XP Vehicles, Inc. and Limnia, Inc., companies that competed for Department of Energy loans under a Congressionally-authorized program. The owners of XP eventually realized that there was no real competition, and that the whole Department of Energy program was a scam intended to funnel money to Obama and Democratic Party campaign contributors and political allies. They allege in addition that DOE misappropriated proprietary technology that they submitted in connection with their loan applications, and gave that technology to Obama administration cronies.

Are the allegations true? I don’t know. They certainly are consistent with what we know about the administration’s green energy programs, and there is no doubt about the fact that companies like Tesla and Fisker, which won out in preference to these plaintiffs, were 1) politically connected, and 2) failures in the marketplace. What we can say for sure is that programs of this sort are destined for disaster. There is no reason why the government should be in the business of favoring some private companies over others; if it does so, either the reality or the appearance of political favoritism is inevitable. It is time to drive a stake through the whole enterprise of government involvement in “green energy.”
Posted by: Beavis || 01/11/2013 09:55 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336081 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Johnson! Stop the presses!!
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/11/2013 12:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Another reasoon to impeach Obama, how many reasons will it take BEFORE the Nation sees him for what he is?

Or is it willful, and they see, but Won't do anything. (It's RAAACCCIIISSSTTT to call him on what he is)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/11/2013 12:39 Comments || Top||

#3  In its liquid state, H2O is wet.
Posted by: charger || 01/11/2013 12:45 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Davos Group Worried About "Failure to Adapt to Climate Change"
Climate change ranked among the top global risks in the annual World Economic Forum survey of more than 1,000 experts released Tuesday.
Experts? In what? I'm an expert, and they didn't ask me.
Obviously you weren't the expert they were looking for...
The group, most associated with its yearly conference in Davos, Switzerland, said leaving environmental issues unaddressed compounded with global economic stress could handcuff policymakers.
And that's only one of the advantages ....
"A sudden and massive collapse on one front is certain to doom the other's chance of developing an effective, long-term solution," the report said of the interplay between the global environment and economy.
Shirley, that was taken out of context. A massive collapse of the envirnoment would doom the economy? Or a collapse of the economy dooms the greenies?
A booming economy also dooms the greenies...
By replacing "rising greenhouse gas emissions" with "the failure to adapt to climate change" as a top global risk, respondents conveyed a "shift in the conversation on the environment from the question of whether our climate is changing to the questions of 'by how much' and 'how quickly,' " the report noted.
Another name-change?
The report said governments should invest in infrastructure upgrades to bolster resiliency to climate change and associated natural disasters.
Give them more control AND more money, knaves!
Posted by: Bobby || 01/11/2013 06:30 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336099 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Davos Group Worried About "Failure to Adapt to Climate Change"..to maintain their collective power and positions.

FIFY. Mankind has adapted to multiple climate changes for the last 50,000 years. We're still here living from the arctic to the equator, from islands to mountain tops, from rain forests to deserts. There are many creatures who are larger, quicker, and stronger, but none roam the climatic expanse of the planet like man.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/11/2013 8:54 Comments || Top||

#2  It's over. Global Warming (renamed climate change due to the entirely predictable lack of actual warming) has run its course. It'll take a decade to undo the damage, and there will be a new cause celeb long before that, but the tide has turned. It has always been hocus pocus and too many people know that now.
Posted by: Iblis || 01/11/2013 8:58 Comments || Top||

#3  a Flat graph for 20 years falsifies exponential warming theories.

Oops, they'll have to try some other lie to enact global slavery.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/11/2013 9:14 Comments || Top||

#4  "Gentlemen! We've got to protect our phony baloney jobs!!"
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/11/2013 12:08 Comments || Top||

#5  Freed orcas not out of harm's way, expert says
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 01/11/2013 12:12 Comments || Top||

#6  Not all bad came out of the climate change hysteria. Chakra Gore is laughing all the way to the bank.
Posted by: tipper || 01/11/2013 13:32 Comments || Top||

#7  There are many creatures who are larger, quicker, and stronger, but none roam the climatic expanse of the planet like man.

Not entirely true.
:)
Woof!
Posted by: Shipman || 01/11/2013 16:13 Comments || Top||

#8  And the fleas too of course.....
Posted by: Shipman || 01/11/2013 16:14 Comments || Top||

#9  Yes, there are our 'pets' that have also adapted to become our 'friends' who travel with us. Don't forget the, not quite Tribble, rat as well.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/11/2013 16:40 Comments || Top||

#10  tipper, the ironic bit about Gore's new money is that the oil ticks thought they would get influence through the investment. If we can keep that from happening (and it will take vigilance) that's a little the west has recouped from them in exchange for billions and blood we've spent.
Posted by: lotp || 01/11/2013 18:08 Comments || Top||

#11  Pert $$$ grant award controversies aside,
"Green Techs" comes down to how much the US-World Mainstream can take or survive domestically on Earth while the majority or bulk of National, World resources is organized + used by the future OWG-NWO for Deep Space Exploration + Colonization.

ITS NOT GONNA MEAN DIDDLY SQUAT IFF ALL THE PERT MODELS, THEORIES ARE JUST WRONG ANDOR "OVER-POLITICIZED/CORRUPTED" ABOUT SOLAR ACTIVITY + THE SUN ENTERS SUDDEN OR EARLY "RED GIANT" PHASE" + BEGINS TO EXPAND TO UNKNOWN DIMENSIONS IN THE NEAR-TERM.

The mighty OWG Govts-Perts consensus is that there is no consensus - they do, however, "agree to disagree" forever.

["THE FLINTSTONES" WILMA, BETTY, KIDDIES + PETS WATCHING FRED + BARNEY ARGUE UNDERWATER ABOUT WHOM SANK THE FISHING ROCKBOAT here].
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/11/2013 19:27 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
NYPD: Explosives suspect targeted Washington Square Arch
A man nabbed on suspicion of possession of an explosive substance allegedly told people he planned to bomb the iconic arch in New York City's Washington Square Park.

Aaron Greene, 31, was arrested in December after police say they discovered the explosive substance and a sawed-off shotgun in his Greenwich village apartment while serving an unrelated warrant for felony grand larceny against his girlfriend, Morgan Gliedman.

As part of the investigation, NYPD Intelligence Division detectives discovered witnesses who recounted alleged conversations that Greene had with them regarding the arch, according to Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne.

"I'm making bombs," Greene allegedly told witnesses, according to Browne.

"What for?" the witnesses asked, the deputy commissioner said.

"To blow up the arch," Greene allegedly replied, said Browne.

Browne said Greene tested a small amount of the explosives -- believed to be hexamethylene triperoxide diamine, or HMTD -- in the park to show the power of the explosives to the witnesses. During the test, Browne blew up a small amount of the chemical by hitting it with a rock, which caused a small explosion.

Police issued no public reports of an explosion at the park at the time witnesses said the incident allegedly occurred.

A week ago, sources said Greene allegedly set off a small explosion in front of witnesses inside his apartment. This is what initially led witnesses to alert the NYPD that Greene had explosive chemicals, according to the sources.

After Greene was arrested, he was interrogated by police about whether he had other weapons. He allegedly told police "he had given them to a friend in law enforcement," Browne said. Police say Greene did not identify the supposed friend, but police investigators identified him as Daniel Whittaker, 33, in Orangeberg, NY.

A cache of firearms was discovered in Whittaker's home. Browne said, "We found 21 guns, including an Uzi and assault weapon, a switchblade, brass knuckles and a stun gun."

Browne said Whittaker has not been charged by the NYPD. Whittaker is a suspended corrections officer in Rockland County, NY. Prosecutors say he is currently on trial in Rockland County on charges of drug possession and fleeing an officer.

His attorney, Joey Jackson, said that although Whittaker knows Greene, he had no knowledge of Greene's alleged criminal activities and was not guilty by associatio.

Investigators also say they discovered undated letters allegedly written by Greene at Whittaker's home. Browne said, "In one, Greene says his parents have sent him to Greece because they're concerned if he stayed in New York, he'd kill 100 people. On another piece of paper, he also wrote the word 'kill' dozens of times and 'kill them all.'"
Posted by: ryuge || 01/11/2013 04:28 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under:

#1  During the test, Browne blew up a small amount of the chemical by hitting it with a rock, which caused a small explosion.

Yeah... he doesn't sound like the brightest man ever to read the Anarchist's Cookbook. I grew up next door to a pair of explosives-crazed teenagers with more sense of self-preservation than this guy. They both had bits and pieces missing by graduation.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 01/11/2013 8:48 Comments || Top||

#2  I used to hang out near the arch on weekends when I was living in the Village. There's always a crowd there durng the summer.

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al || 01/11/2013 11:58 Comments || Top||

#3 
On another piece of paper, he also wrote the word 'kill' dozens of times and 'kill them all.'


Thank god no one looks at the notes I take during long meetings...
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 01/11/2013 12:10 Comments || Top||

#4  LOL Rob
Posted by: Shipman || 01/11/2013 15:54 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Aussie MP calls for radical sheik to be 'slapped down'
An extremist sheik who has called for Australia to become an Islamic state ruled by sharia law should be "slapped down" by moderate Muslims, according to a federal MP.

The Australian head of extremist Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir, Sheik Ismail Al-Wahwah, suggested during a Christmas Eve sermon that jihad should be used to accomplish hardline teachings.

Queensland Liberal MP Steve Ciobo said the sheik should either adopt Australian values of tolerance and fair play for all or "pack up and ship off".

He said, "Frankly, we have had a gutful of people who deliberately incite hatred and people who want to overturn the foundation principles of this country. This Sheik Al-Wahwah needs to be slapped down from moderate Muslim supporters who recognise there is no place in Australia for these kinds of attitudes."

The sheik told his followers it was their duty to "carry the light of Islam to the rest of the world ... Not with flowers. It was the army of Muslims which started from Medina, and they went to China, India, and the Maghreb. That is jihad."

He said under an Islamic government, alcohol would be forbidden, a strict dress code enforced for all Australians and languages other than Arabic banned in schools.

Mr Ciobo said if Mr Al-Wahwah held dual citizenship the government should expedite his move to another country more to his liking.

He said, "I couldn't care less if he preaches to five people or 5000. It only takes one or two crazies to take his message of jihad and to cause problems.

"If he's going to preach a message that this country needs to be under sharia law then he should go to where he can live under sharia law - and that is not in Australia."
This article starring:
Ismail Al-Wahwah
Posted by: ryuge || 01/11/2013 04:19 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336089 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sheik Ismail Al-Wahwah?
Here you go Wah Wah
Posted by: tipper || 01/11/2013 14:14 Comments || Top||

#2  just disappear him. The rest will get it
Posted by: Frank G || 01/11/2013 20:01 Comments || Top||

#3  A baseball bat across the face makes a helluva wake up call.
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/11/2013 20:14 Comments || Top||

#4  The good MP has a point. No one ever wants to blurt it out, but Sharia law is incompatible with Western Civ.

As for "their duty to "carry the light of Islam to the rest of the world...", if you look around the world at the poor, backward, stupid, and disease-ridden places, you tend to find Islam. So thanks, but no.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/11/2013 20:28 Comments || Top||

#5  See RELATED MEMRI.ORG > ISMAIL AL-WAHWAH, SPOKEMAN FOR HIZB-UT-TAHRIR IN AUSTRALIA: WE WILL ESTABLISH THE CALIPHATE, INSTATE THE SHARIA, + MAKE ARABIC THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE.

> Withdraw from the UN.
> Kick out all Western [Infidel?] embassies.
> Strict Sharia enforcement everywhere + on everyone - "Sharia Squads" in AUS streets?
> RUSSIA to see + feel the hand of Muslim/Islamic Armies at its door once again.

* Also from MEMRI.ORG > EGYPTIANS PROTEST THE FALL OF ISLAMIC ANDALUSIA [Spain], + VOW TO LIBERATE IT.

Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/11/2013 23:11 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Turf war feared after Syrian rebel leader killed
The killing of a senior Islamist rebel commander near Syria's border with Turkey could indicate a turf war between armed groups that will hamper their struggle to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, sources told Reuters.

Thaer al-Waqqas, northern commander of al-Farouq Brigades, one of Syria's largest rebel groups, was shot dead at a rebel-held position in the town of Sermin, a few kilometres from Turkey, early on Wednesday morning, rebel sources said.

Al-Waqqas, they said, had been suspected of involvement in the killing four months ago of Firas al-Absi, a main jihadist leader in al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, which Washington dubbed a terrorist organisation in December.

In addition to chronic supply problems and a shortage of financing and heavy weapons, the lack of unity among Syria's rebels has held back their efforts to dislodge Assad's forces.

"The assassins came in a white car, disembarked and riddled Waqqas with bullets as he was at a food supply depot," one of the rebels said.

He said suspicion immediately turned on Nusra.

"Absi's brother is a commander in (the city of) Homs. He vowed revenge for Firas, and it seems that he has carried out his promise," the rebel said.

"Farouq is in a period of mourning now. But it seems a matter of time before the clashes with Nusra erupt in Bab al-Hawa," he added, referring to the rebel-held border crossing with Turkey where Absi was killed

Posted by: tipper || 01/11/2013 03:26 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336083 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Who's turn is it to make the popcorn?
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/11/2013 9:28 Comments || Top||

#2  I think Barbara still has the concession.
Posted by: lotp || 01/11/2013 18:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Just got a new boxcar-load of popcorn parked on the siding.

Extra butter with that, Glenmore? Or perhaps some parmesan? ;-p
Posted by: Barbara || 01/11/2013 21:52 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Cleric return jolts Pakistan politics before vote
To his supporters, Tahir-ul-Qadri is a savior of Pakistan's fragile democracy who will right the country ahead of elections expected to take place this spring. To his detractors, he is a shady religious figure bent on derailing the vote, possibly at the behest of the country's powerful military.

After years in Canada, Qadri returned to Pakistan last month and gave a speech demanding that sweeping election reforms be implemented before the vote. His appearance in Lahore drew tens, possibly hundreds, of thousands of supporters into the streets. Since then, Pakistani media and political figures have closely followed his every word, and Qadri plans to lead his followers in a march on the capital next Monday.

Qadri, 61, is a charismatic Sunni Muslim cleric with a large following that extends outside Pakistan. He has a reputation for speaking out against terrorism and promoting his message through hundreds of books, an online television channel and videos.

Now, Qadri's focus is on Pakistan's election laws. He is suggesting vaguely worded changes, such as making sure candidates are honest as well as ending exploitation and income disparities so that poor people are free to vote for whomever they want.

Under Pakistan's constitution, a caretaker government takes over for 60 to 90 days before an election and presides over the vote in a show of impartiality.
Posted by: tipper || 01/11/2013 03:22 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336074 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan
US withdrawal warning could force Australia out of Afghanistan
A former leader of Australian troops in the Middle East says Australia could be forced into a full withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan if the US follows through with its Zero Option warning, made in the lead-up to Afghan president Hamid Karzai's visit to Washington. Commentators believe a residual US force is more likely, but are at odds over its size.
Posted by: tipper || 01/11/2013 03:13 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why - iff the Aussies desire to become a major geopol power-broker in their own right, they shouldn't be following the US' or UK's lead in all things e.g. Afghan pullout???

What will the Aussies [Canada? NZ? Commonwealth?]do iff the UK is reduced to just England + Wales proper after 2014, i.e. after the Scottish independence referendum scheduled for then???

LEST WE FERGIT, THERE IS ALSO A PUSH FOR WALES TO FORMALLY SEPARATE FROM ENGLAND.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/11/2013 18:50 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Justice Roberts forwards elibibility challenge for review - Salt required?
On Wednesday, Chief Justice John Roberts of the Supreme Court scheduled a birther case brought on by Orly Taitz which calls into question Barack Hussein Obama's eligibility to be president of the United States. Dr. Taitz, a lawyer from Santa Margarita, Calif., also made the announcement on her website on Jan. 9.

As of this writing, major news networks such as ABC, Fox News, CBS, and NBC have yet to report on the high court's decision to review Barack Hussein Obama's eligibility to hold political office in the United States or any of its territories. The case is identified as Edward Noonan, et al., v. Deborah Bowen, California Secretary of State.

On Feb. 15, all nine justices will hear arguments on whether Obama used forged government documents and fake identification in order to get elected as commander-in-chief. Edward Noonan, et al., contend that if Obama had been ineligible to run in 2008, other Democratic candidates should have replaced him on the presidential ballot. Additionally, electoral votes from states such as California that went towards Obama should have been deemed null and void.

The Supreme Court's website shows that docket file no. 12A606 was originally denied by Justice Anthony Kennedy, a Reagan appointee, on Dec. 13. On Jan. 9, Chief Justice Roberts sent Dr. Taitz's application to the full court for a review scheduled for Feb. 15.
Posted by: Crolutch Angeng7563 || 01/11/2013 02:01 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336084 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Perhaps Justice Roberts can redeem himself.
Posted by: Bobby || 01/11/2013 12:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Docket search yields this.
Posted by: charger || 01/11/2013 12:58 Comments || Top||

#3  No "salt required" for his Selective Service Registration document, ie, date signed, date postal stamped (two digit year), form numbers, form used, etc.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/11/2013 13:32 Comments || Top||

#4  TBTF
Posted by: KBK || 01/11/2013 19:26 Comments || Top||

#5  More likely to find many buried wooden crates holding corroded ruins of aircraft in Burma than to find ANYTHING that will stick to this POS. And Roberts only has PAM and Teflon for his tools.
If he was partisan he'd be the Chief Rino of the court
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 01/11/2013 19:50 Comments || Top||

#6  Any relation to SRSLY???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/11/2013 22:40 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Taft Union High School evacuated after shooting; 2 reported injured
[LATIMESBLOGS.LATIMES] Students have been evacuated from Taft Union High School in Kern County after a shooting Thursday morning that reportedly left two people injured, a city official confirmed.

Debra Elliott, with the city manager's office, confirmed that a shooting was reported at the high school shortly after 9 a.m. Two people have been reported injured, Elliott said, although she stressed that the number has yet to be confirmed by public safety officials.

The suspected shooter was believed to be in jug, Elliott said.

Parents were beginning to pick up their children from a football field where they had been moved to after the incident, Elliott said. As of about 10 a.m., the campus remained on lockdown.

A local television station, KERO 23 in Bakersfield, reported that the station had received calls from students who said they were huddled in closets. Sheriff's officials were going classroom to classroom clearing the campus, the station reported.
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under:

#1  !#&#&#@(o@)@!!! Now I'm going to have to go out and buy 12, 20, and .410 gauge ammo before it disappears or is outlawed.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/11/2013 2:51 Comments || Top||

#2  There's a lot more to the story

The shooter entered a class he was a student in and shot one 16 y.o. boy. The teacher in the class is being called a hero for talking to the shooter while students fled the classroom through a back door. The shooter reportedly attempted to shoot a 2nd student who he named but the teacher apparently prevented it. As the teacher was talking to the shooter an unarmed campus supervisor approached and began talking to him as well. The shooter eventually put the gun down at which point police had reached the scene and arrested him. The teacher was injured in the head by buckshot but declined treatment at the scene. Taft Union High usually has an armed School Resource Office on campus but he was not there today because he was snowed in at home.
Finally, the media on scene claims that multiple parents have told them that a student at Taft Union was suspended last year for making a "hit list." Some are claiming that individual is the shooter in today's incident but police have not offered any confirmation of this.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 01/11/2013 9:50 Comments || Top||

#3  Seems a rettard.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/11/2013 12:58 Comments || Top||

#4  :)
Posted by: Shipman || 01/11/2013 16:06 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Algeria sentences Sahel tourist kidnappers
[MAGHAREBIA] Convicted terrorist Amar Gharbia, (aka Moqatel Abou Jebel) received a life sentence Tuesday (January 8th) in Algiers for kidnapping 15 foreign tourists in 2003.

He was accused of working under the command of Amari Saifi (aka Abderrazak "El Para"), the leader of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb precursor GSPC.

Malian national Youcef Ben Mohamed was acquitted of the same kidnapping charge, but sentenced to seven years in prison for belonging to "an armed terrorist group".

El Para allegedly ordered the kidnappings.

The case dates back to February of 2003 when the GSPC kidnapped 15 foreign tourists, including 10 German nationals, near the border with Mali.

The defendants were also accused of "smuggling banned weapons" and financing terrorist groups with ransom payments.

The attorney-general at the Algiers Criminal Court sought the death penalty for Gharbia and life imprisonment for Ben Mohamed. Saifi has been in detention since his extradition in 2004 to Algeria from Chad.

The attorney-general noted that the "bloody acts that have been committed since 1996 by the accused terrorist group were "countless".

During the hearing, Gharbia denied any role in the operation although he admitted he was present while it was being carried out. He confirmed that El Para was also present. The defendant admitted that, since 1996, he had taken part in several bloody terrorist operations around the country, including the 1997 operations in Tamanrasset where six Sonatrach workers were executed and their vehicle seized and sold in Niger.

Gharbia also admitted to setting up an ambush for Swiss tourists in an area between Ain Saleh and Tamanrasset, seizing their vehicle and re-selling it in Niger.

Moreover, he confessed that his group was involved in the killing of a large number of migrant nomads to seize their weapons and sheep, as well as setting up ambushes for the People's National Army (ANP) personnel.

The defendant said he joined armed action in 1996 in Jbel Boukhil, Djelfa. He joined the group of Mokhtar Belmokhtar, aka Laaouar, the emir of Sahara brigade, in 1998. He then went with Laaouar to Niger for military training.

During the judicial investigation, Gharbia said that he was part of an gang that met in 2003 at the Malian border with Saifi who told them about the kidnapped German tourists who were held in Kidal.

At the end of this year, tribal chiefs negotiated the handover of those kidnapped hostages to the Malian government, and an agreement was reached on paying an amount of more than 4 million euros. The Germans were released and the terrorist groups used part of that ransom money to purchase military equipment.

The second defendant, Ben Mohamed, allegedly conducted arms deals under the supervision of El Para.
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336081 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


Africa Horn
At Least 10 Kenyans Killed in Reprisal Raid
[An Nahar] At least 10 people, five of them children, were killed in a retaliatory raid Thursday in Kenya's volatile Tana River delta region, the latest outbreak of violence ahead of elections due in less than two months, officials said.

Red Thingy officials said the victims in the Pokomo village of Kibusu were killed by raiders carrying guns and machetes.

"There are 10 dead and two critically maimed, with gunshot wounds, machete cuts and burns," local Red Thingy official Caleb Kilunde told AFP.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336083 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israeli police say car bomb explodes in Tel Aviv
[Dawn] A boom-mobile went kaboom! near the Israeli defence ministry in Tel Aviv on Thursday, injuring several people, in what police said was an incident not linked to beturbanned goon groups.

The spokesperson for the police, Micky Rosenfeld said Thursday that he believed the kaboom near a bus was criminally motivated, though he could not definitively rule out that it was political violence.

"A boom-mobile went kaboom! in Tel Aviv. Apparently it is a criminal incident, a settling of accounts," he told AFP.

A spokesperson for the Rescue services, Zaki Heller said that the preliminary reports from the scene indicated that seven to 10 people were maimed in the kaboom. However,
Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried...
he added, there were no serious injuries reported.
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336096 views] Top|| File under:

#1  the kaboom near a bus was criminally motivated, though he could not definitively rule out that it was political violence
I fail to see the distinction.
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/11/2013 11:41 Comments || Top||

#2  There's NO distinction.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/11/2013 15:22 Comments || Top||

#3  the kaboom near a bus was criminally motivated

Skid, think of the 'bus wars' in P.I.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/11/2013 18:34 Comments || Top||

#4  The Jerusalem Post says it was a mob hit.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/11/2013 19:08 Comments || Top||

#5  Kinda like... "Nice bus you have there. Be a shame if some 'terrorism' happened to it..."?
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/11/2013 19:53 Comments || Top||

#6  This...is the business...we've chosen!
Posted by: Hyman Roth || 01/11/2013 20:20 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Washington D.C. Mayor 'Redskins' Is Racist
[TMZ] It's damn time the Washington Redskins changed its racist name ... at least if the team ever plans to move inside D.C. city limits -- so says District mayor Vincent Gray.

Now that the Redskins are winning again, there's been a lot of talk about bringing the team back to D.C. -- instead of leaving them in nearby FedEx Field, located in Maryland.

But Mayor Gray has some conditions before the Redskins move a muscle -- claiming, "I think that if they get serious with the team coming back to Washington, there's no doubt there's going to have to be a discussion about [changing the team name]."

Gray added, "I think it has become a lightning rod, and I would love to be able to sit down with the team ... and see if a change should be made. There's a precedent for this, and I think there needs to be a dispassionate discussion about this, and do the right thing."

FYI -- the federal government controls the land where a new Redskins stadium would be built in D.C. ... so it does have some say.

There's no question, the term "redskins" is flat-out racist ... but we still gotta ask ...
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336095 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Washington D.C. Mayor 'Redskins' Is Racist

Which players specifically ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/11/2013 2:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Mayor Gray's admin has been plagued by scandal, incompetence, etc.

This is just a stunt to change the subject of conversation.
Posted by: lord garth || 01/11/2013 6:53 Comments || Top||

#3  The Washington Potatoes has a ring to it...
Posted by: Mugsy Glink || 01/11/2013 10:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Even a clock that loses a minute a day is right once every 720 days, people. The above comments confirm what Aesop said:
There was once a young Shepherd Boy who tended his sheep at the foot of a mountain near a dark forest. It was rather lonely for him all day, so he thought upon a plan by which he could get a little company and some excitement. He rushed down towards the village calling out "Wolf, Wolf," and the villagers came out to meet him, and some of them stopped with him for a considerable time. This pleased the boy so much that a few days afterwards he tried the same trick, and again the villagers came to his help. But shortly after this a Wolf actually did come out from the forest, and began to worry the sheep, and the boy of course cried out "Wolf, Wolf," still louder than before. But this time the villagers, who had been fooled twice before, thought the boy was again deceiving them, and nobody stirred to come to his help. So the Wolf made a good meal off the boy's flock, and when the boy complained, the wise man of the village said:
"A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth."
And a race hustler will not be believed even when he speaks the truth, either. Race hustling may bring racism back, through this and/or through self-fulfilling prophecy.
Posted by: Korora || 01/11/2013 10:46 Comments || Top||

#5  Washington Bullets is available...
Posted by: Pappy || 01/11/2013 11:03 Comments || Top||

#6  How about changing the name to the Washington Graft(c)?
Use the $ symbol for the team emblem.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/11/2013 11:03 Comments || Top||

#7  Potomac Parasites ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/11/2013 11:07 Comments || Top||

#8  Naming the team in admiration of great warriors, noted for both courage and ferocity, is racist.

Maybe just rename them the Washington Senators, since the baseball team isn't using it this time around. Expect them to do as well as the Washington Senators have ever done.
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 11:12 Comments || Top||

#9  I'm voting for "DC Degenerates".
Posted by: OCCD || 01/11/2013 11:14 Comments || Top||

#10  Yeah, but "Noble Savages" is too long.
Posted by: Muggsy Mussolini1226 || 01/11/2013 11:16 Comments || Top||

#11  I'd tell Mayor Incompetence to "STFU, we don't want to come back"
Posted by: Frank G || 01/11/2013 11:41 Comments || Top||

#12  DC Druggies?

In honor of congress...

Washington Whores? (nah... insulting to whores)

Potomac Prostitutes (nah... same reason)

Posted by: CrazyFool || 01/11/2013 11:46 Comments || Top||

#13  Ladies and Gentlemen...yourrrrrrrrrr Washington Unicorns!
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/11/2013 12:10 Comments || Top||

#14  Washington Coke Snorters?

Back in college we had this debate on a campus newsgroup. When a sane person said, "So what about the Notre Dame 'Fighting Irish'?" one of the panties-in-a-bunch crowd shot back with "We'll never get ANYWHERE if you insist on bringing every little group into this!"

Which elicited a chorus of "exactly the point" from the sane.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 01/11/2013 12:14 Comments || Top||

#15  Revoke his season tickets.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 01/11/2013 12:34 Comments || Top||

#16  My boss is a big 'Skins fan, told me they came to DC from Boston, and Redskins was a tribute to the Boston Tea Party.

Now, he has pulled my leg before...
Posted by: Bobby || 01/11/2013 12:45 Comments || Top||

#17  If we had a game between Syracuse and Notre Dame, could we please have the refs dressed as lobsterbacks?

I do find the name Lakers quite offensive to the indiginous peoples of Minnesota/Great Lakes as not only is the indiginous peoples of California three realms of culture apart, but is also a sad reminder of when the wooly mammoth baked corn muffins for baby colt orphanages before the white man hunted them down, causing global warming which made so many lakes. Yes, those lakes are the tears of gaia, thus saith na'vi.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/11/2013 12:47 Comments || Top||

#18  Bobby, I don't know about the tea party part, but they were originally from up here.
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/11/2013 12:58 Comments || Top||

#19  Washington Weasels.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 01/11/2013 13:07 Comments || Top||

#20  That would be offensive to weasels.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 01/11/2013 14:09 Comments || Top||

#21  It seems very strange that there has been no hoo-hah about the Central Michigan University Chippewas.
The Sag Chips are very cool that the local state U is named after them.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 01/11/2013 15:04 Comments || Top||

#22  Change it to Washington Foreskins. Done.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 01/11/2013 15:05 Comments || Top||

#23  Here's another racist symbol no one talks about.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 01/11/2013 15:09 Comments || Top||

#24  More racism
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 01/11/2013 15:11 Comments || Top||

#25  Antique racism is just as demeaning.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/11/2013 15:23 Comments || Top||

#26  Redskins is to broad a term. Seek out a tribe and work with them. Sioux, Blackfoot, Crow, Flatheads etc. FSU has done this with the Seminole Nation and it works out nicely for both parties.

Posted by: Shipman || 01/11/2013 16:11 Comments || Top||

#27  Powhatans?
Posted by: Chuckles Spereth1580 || 01/11/2013 16:19 Comments || Top||

#28  Are there any PCpure teams in the NFL?

Ravens - reference to a poet, if you have an education, so racist
Bengals - racist vs. India
Browns - racist vs. nonEuropeans.
Steelers - greedy ruiners of environment, racist
Texans - promotes inequality, racist
Colts - dogwhistle handgun or malt liquor racist joke, racist
Jaguar - sacred animal of Central Americans Natives killed by Europeans, racist
Titans - pagan reference insulting to mooselimbs, racist
Bills - reminder of the great buffalo slaughterers, racist
Dolphins - tuna overfishing by Europeans, racist
Patriots - flag waiving jingoism, racist
Jets - trivialises gang violence, so racist
Broncos - taken from the Natives, racist
Chiefs - are not a good team, racist
Raiders - don't you mean undocumented property borrowers you racist?
Chargers - a slur on what people do with obamaphones, racist
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/11/2013 17:43 Comments || Top||

#29  Packers - What some poor downtrodden proletariat have to do, often in CO2 pollution producing factory conditions, with supervision overlords watching, for below 'living wages', so racist
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 01/11/2013 18:07 Comments || Top||

#30  Call them the Washington Generals, after another famous Washington team.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 01/11/2013 18:11 Comments || Top||

#31  I heard "Fighting Whities" is available now.
Posted by: Dopey Sinatra9196 || 01/11/2013 19:33 Comments || Top||

#32  Raiders - don't you mean undocumented property borrowers wealth distributionists you racist?

Depends on what we are packing, if you know what I mean, and if you do you are a racist; if not you are a closet racist.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/11/2013 19:55 Comments || Top||


Africa North
U.N. Holds Emergency Mali Talks as Rebels Advance
[An Nahar] The United Nations
...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships...
Security Council was to hold emergency talks Thursday on the crisis in Mali, diplomats said, warning that rebel forces were closing in on a key government-held town.

Diplomatic sources at U.N. headquarters in New York said the 15-member council would meet after hearing Islamist guerrillas were within 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) of the strategic front-line settlement of Mopti.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336080 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa

#1  Notice how UN "emergency talks" are general held Tuesdays through Thursdays ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/11/2013 3:03 Comments || Top||

#2  Probably between 1-4 pm?
Posted by: Pappy || 01/11/2013 8:25 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Recipient of presidential award killed at his matab
[Dawn] An octogenarian hakeem, a recipient of the presidential award, was bumped off at his clinic in Federal B Area on Wednesday after the attacker failed to find the victim's son, a leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
, there on a second consecutive day, police said.

Two men riding a cycle of violence arrived at the clinic, Barkati Matab, situated in Block-6 of F.B Area, the police said. One of them entered the clinic looking for Mujahid Barkati, but after failing to find him there went into the room of Hakeem Mehmood Ahmed Barkati, 87, and fired at him, the police said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336086 views] Top|| File under:


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Breeding Season Underway for Famed Galapagos Tortoises
[An Nahar] Breeding season is underway for the endangered tortoises of Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, whose mating and nesting habits are carefully watched by wildlife specialists hoping to save them from extinction.

Nesting began last month at Galapagos National Park and will be monitored through June to determine how many female tortoises have prepared nests and how many hatchlings are likely to emerge.

During the peak nesting period, as many as 50 female tortoises can be found preparing nests on the same stretch of beach, said Eduardo Espinoza, a marine biologist at the park.

The Galapagos, located some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) off Ecuador's coast, is an archipelago of 13 islands and more than 100 rocks and micro-islands.

The islands became famous when Charles Darwin visited in 1835 to conduct landmark research that inspired his revolutionary theories on evolution.

In 2007, UNESCO declared the island chain's environment endangered due to the increase in tourism and the introduction of invasive species.

Experts estimate there were once some 300,000 giant tortoises on the remote Pacific archipelago, but the population dwindled during the 18th and 19th century after they were hunted by whalers and pirates as fresh food.

The invaders also introduced predators, including rats, which have reduced the tortoise population.

Today, between about 30,000 and 40,000 tortoises remain on the Galapagos, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978 because of their unique plant and animal life.
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336083 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Benefit Babies and Government Crèches creating evolutionary pressure in that direction...
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/11/2013 8:41 Comments || Top||

#2  and soon it will be time for the Prom.
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/11/2013 11:43 Comments || Top||

#3  Elimination is the way of the world, Don't interfere.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/11/2013 12:51 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
NRA expands membership by 100K in 18 days
Hat tip to Ace
The National Rifle Association reveals this morning that it has gain over 100,000 new paid members in the past 18 days as their membership has jumped from 4.1 million to 4.2 million.

"Our goal is to get to 5 million before this debate is over," a member of the organization tells Playbook this morning.

A paid membership is $25.
Posted by: badanov || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336089 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So few?

Seems thar rhey'd double, at least.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/11/2013 0:48 Comments || Top||

#2  I would like submit the name of Wayne LaPierre to replace Geithner as Treasury Secretary.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/11/2013 2:33 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm thinking of joining, just for the panty-twist it would give Bambi & minions.

I wonder if I can get the membership without receiving the magazine? (Do they still send the magazine?)
Posted by: Barbara || 01/11/2013 7:44 Comments || Top||

#4  The NRA Foundation could be an option for you Barb.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/11/2013 8:03 Comments || Top||

#5  Barb, you can choose to receive no magazine when you join the NRA.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 01/11/2013 9:15 Comments || Top||

#6  You can choose no magazine - or the digital magazine, which gives good content, interactivity, and no pile of paper. Or you can get the magazine and leave the old copies in your doctors and dentists waiting rooms.
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/11/2013 9:24 Comments || Top||

#7  Just remember anything over a tri-fold is considered a high capacity magazine unt yu vill be noted ja.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/11/2013 9:37 Comments || Top||

#8  Good point swksvff, Pl*yboy magazine, with that centerfold thing, must be a high capacity magazine that needs to be banned.
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/11/2013 18:32 Comments || Top||

#9  I would advise ordinary Americans to buy AMAP, + not because of the Newtown, CT shooting incidentor related.

The way things are proceedings overseas, even in the lower Americas, ala "RED DAWN II" CONUS may be seeing the motherly PLA Airborne soon enuff.

MAHA-RUSHIAN HISTOIRE' SAYS DOMESTIC ECON MORASS OR CHAOS USUALLY TAINT ENUFF - IT TAKES ONE OR FEW SIGNIFICANT OR MAJOR MILITARY INCIDENTS.

It would be nice iff US Netters trusted their own POTUS Bammer in major Foreign Policy Crisis or Crises, but unfortunately many Amer Netters do N-O-T.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/11/2013 22:35 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Heavy clashes break out in central Mali
[Iran Press TV] Malian soldiers and forces of Evil occupying the northern part of the country have reportedly clashed in the central town of Konna.

"We have launched operations against the enemy, who attempted to fight back. We are going to oust them," a soldier told AFP on Wednesday from Konna near the town of Mopti, which is the gateway to the government-held south.

The resident in Konna said that the heavy fire exchanges between the forces of Evil and the army troops have lasted several hours.

"We are hearing a lot of gunfire. The army is shooting" and the forces of Evil too, said another resident by phone from the town.

The army says the rebels had previously tried to attack Konna on Monday night.

The army had stationed soldiers and extra weapons in one of its command posts near Konna in the town of Sevare.

In December 2012, the United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
Security Council approved the deployment of foreign military forces in Mali to help the Malian government battle the forces of Evil controlling the northern part of the West African country.

The 15-member Security Council authorized an initial one-year deployment of African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
forces in the country.

The resolution, drafted by La Belle France, also authorized all European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
member states to help rebuild Mali's security forces.

Chaos broke out in the West African country after Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure was toppled in a military coup on March 22, 2012. The coup leaders said they mounted the coup in response to the government's inability to contain the two-month-old Tuareg rebellion in the north of the country.

However,
if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well...
in the wake of the coup d'état, the Tuareg rebels took control of the entire northern desert region, but the Ansar Dine gunnies pushed them aside and wrested control of all the northern desert regions, which are larger than La Belle France or Texas.
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336082 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria Denounces U.N. Envoy as 'Flagrantly Biased'
[NY Times] Syria's government appeared to distance itself from further engagement with the special peace envoy of the United Nations
...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
and Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
on Thursday, declaring him "flagrantly biased" even as his efforts aimed at a political transition to end the nearly two-year-old Syrian conflict were accelerating.

The efforts by the special envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, include a planned meeting in Geneva on Friday with top diplomats from the two superpowers on opposite sides of the Syria conflict: the United States, which supports the insurgency, and Russia, which supports the Syrian government but has increasingly displayed ambiguity about support for Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now...
himself.

A statement from the Foreign Ministry in Damascus
...The capital of Iran's Syrian satrapy...
denouncing Mr. Brahimi appeared to be a response to remarks he had made to Western news agencies the day before in which he suggested that President Assad must relinquish power and could not be part of any replacement government in Syria.

The verbal back-and-forth came as new flare-ups of insurgency violence hit Idlib Province in northwest Syria, where rebel fighters were reported to have raided an important air base housing helicopters and warplanes that Mr. Assad's military has been using to attack rebel-held territory and resupply soldiers.

One antigovernment activist said the military was blowing up those aircraft pre-emptively to prevent Islamic fascisti from gaining access to them. Despite the increased range of weaponry used by the rebels, who include a number of air force pilot defectors, they have no aircraft.

New signs of civilian desperation were emerging on Thursday as well in the Syrian refugee camps of neighboring countries, particularly Jordan, where the United Nations children's agency issued an unusually blunt appeal for help at a mud-soaked encampment housing more than 54,000 Syrians, most of them women and kiddies.

The Syrian criticism of Mr. Brahimi, a veteran Algerian statesman who spent days talking with Mr. Assad and other Syrian officials in Damascus last month, raised the possibility that he, like his predecessor, Kofi Annan
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
, could be sidelined into irrelevance by the antagonists in the conflict, who have shown little or no interest in dialogue as the violence has worsened. At least 60,000 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising against Mr. Assad began in March 2011, the United Nations said last week.

Mr. Brahimi told the BBC on Wednesday that Syrians want the Assad family to go after four decades in power. He told Rooters that he saw no place for Mr. Assad in any political transition.

Syria's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday that such remarks were a surprise and showed that Mr. Brahimi "is flagrantly biased for those who are conspiring against Syria and its people." The ministry statement suggested that Syria's government had lost whatever faith it might have reserved for Mr. Brahimi. Still, it did not specifically declare unwillingness to work with him.

At the same time, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi of Iran, which is Mr. Assad's only friend in the region, expressed admiration for Mr. Assad and insisted that he must be part of any political solution to the conflict. Mr. Salehi made Iran's position clear during a visit to Egypt, which wants to see Mr. Assad deposed.

The Syrian jihad boy assault on the Idlib air base, the Taftanaz military airport, lasted for hours and included fighters from the jihadist groups Jabhet al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham, according to accounts from antigovernment activists, rebel commanders and videos posted on the Internet. Rebel forces have ringed the air base for months but had never seized control.

The videos showed what appeared to be rebels in a commandeered armored vehicle driving near a fence on the base and firing at buildings, as well as fires raging near helicopters parked on the tarmac.

Abu Moyaed, the leader of a rebel battalion participating in the attacks, said in an interview from Turkey that the fighters had entered the airport, destroyed armored vehicles and aircraft, seized ammunition and withdrawn.

"It's very hard to stay there," he said, asserting that the government had used surface-to-surface rockets to attack their positions.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an anti-Assad group based in Britannia with a network of contacts inside Syria, said base defenders had also attacked the Islamic fascisti with Arclight airstrikes. The observatory said more than 15 helicopters appeared to have been damaged and at least 24 soldiers and pro-Assad militia fighters had been captured by the attackers. Other rebel accounts claimed that 26 pilots had been captured.

Tarek Abdel-Haq, an activist in Idlib reached on Skype, said earlier that government forces had shelled the airport "to destroy the warplanes on the runway to make sure the rebels and people can't use them."

The fighting raged against the backdrop of brutal cold, snow and rain that have buffeted Syria and its neighbors for days. Winter flooding appeared to be worsening at the Zaatari camp run by the United Nations refugee agency and other groups in northern Jordan, where hundreds of tents were felled by storms earlier in the week. In a candid description of the conditions, Unicef, the United Nations children's agency, said it was working to help drain the flooding in the camp and replace waterlogged mattresses and clothes.

"The next 72 hours will be a critical test of our ability to meed the basic needs of children and their families at Zaatari," said Dominique Hyde, the Unicef representative in Jordan. She also appealed for more money, saying, "The resources in 2012 have been exhausted, and no fresh funds have come for this year."

There were conflicting reports about the possibility that Israel, the only country bordering Syria that has not accepted refugees in the conflict, might allow some to relocate in the Paleostinian territories of West Bank or Gazoo. Saeb Erekat
...negotiated the Oslo Accords with Israel. He has been chief Paleostinian negotiator since 1995. He is currently negotiating with Israel to establish a de jure Paleostinian state...
, the chief Paleostinian negotiator, said the Paleostinian president, the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
, had sought help from the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
, the United Nations secretary general, in making such a request. Israeli officials had no comment.

Martin Nesirky, a United Nations front man, told news hounds that Mr. Ban "has expressed deep concern over Paleostinians in Syria" and had "called generally for assistance from countries in the region," but that he had no further comment.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336085 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Africa North
Mauritania thwarts Mali arms smuggling attempt
[MAGHAREBIA] A special gendarme battalion in eastern Mauritania on Wednesday (January 2nd) thwarted an attempt to smuggle arms to a terrorist network in northern Mali.

Four Kalashnikovs that disappeared a month ago from a 5th Military Region depot were reportedly seized in Amat Lakarish, near Nema.

Weapons that disappeared from another site -- the Bassiknou barracks near Mali -- remain missing, news hound Rajel Oumar cited military sources as saying. Intelligence sources said they entered Mali later and that a search was still under way.

Armed groups are eager to obtain more weapons smuggled across Sahel countries, said Mohamed Ould Kaabash, a former officer in the 5th Military Region.

"Smuggling networks try to lure in military personnel to obtain equipment from Mauritanian military barracks," Ould Kaabash told Magharebia.

The smugglers behind the disappearance of arms from the Nema and Bassiknou barracks are part of a network with cells in eastern Mauritania and Mali, the former army officer confirmed.

During the investigation into the incident, a number of soldiers and officers of the 5th Military Region were placed in durance vile
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
. Some were later released.

A Mauritanian officer training at the Ajrida military base near Nouakchott was also arrested in connection with the missing weapons.

The security operation came as part of efforts to counter the activities of Sahel smuggling networks that supply terrorist groups in northern Mali. The al-Qaeda linked Islamists are eager to secure weapons before West African troops intervene in Mali.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Senate, the partisans of Honorius went for their knives and the partisans of Stilicho went for the doors...
the Mauritanian army opened an investigation in Aleg on January 1st to search for tank shells believed to have been lost from an armoured battalion in the area.

Fearing that more weapons might fall into the hands of terrorists, similar to what happened in Mali and Libya, NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization....
has already funded a 2.25 million euro military project to destroy stocks of weapons in Mauritania.

The project covers 1,800 tons of ammunition, including 141 man-portable air-defence systems (MANPADs) distributed over 20 arms depots in Mauritania, Taqadoumy reported January 3rd.
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Sweden Seeks 2 Britons for Smuggling Garlic
[An Nahar] Swedish prosecutors have issued international arrest warrants for two Britons suspected of criminal masterminding a smuggling ring involving Chinese garlic.

The men first shipped the garlic to Norway by boat, where it entered the country duty-free since it was considered to be in transit, prosecutor Thomas Ahlstrand said Wednesday. They then drove large shipments of garlic across the Norwegian-Swedish border, avoiding customs checks and thus Swedish import duties.

Ahlstrand said the men avoided paying some €10 million ($13.1 million) in Swedish taxes with the scheme, which took place in 2009 and 2010. A lengthy police investigation led to the identification of the two Britons.

Ahlstrand initially said they smuggled in 1.2 tons of garlic, but later said the exact amount was unclear.

It was not the first time smugglers have shown a preference for garlic from China, which accounts for nearly 80 percent of world output and is often significantly cheaper than local varieties.

In 2010, Polish authorities seized six containers with 144 tons of Chinese garlic that had been smuggled into the country via the Netherlands.

It was not immediately clear whether the Polish smuggling was linked to the Swedish case.
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336096 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Fred is on a roll today! :-)
Posted by: gorb || 01/11/2013 1:02 Comments || Top||

#2  1.2 Tons of garlic would be taxed $13.1 Million?

??????
Posted by: bigjim-CA || 01/11/2013 9:10 Comments || Top||

#3  That was the initial amount; they don't know how much was actually smuggled in.

Methinks the €10 million ($13.1 million) was pulled from... thin air.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/11/2013 11:02 Comments || Top||

#4  "Garlic smugglers, Ma!"
"Oh, hold me, Ben!"
Posted by: Muggsy Mussolini1226 || 01/11/2013 11:18 Comments || Top||

#5  I blame high capacity shipping containers.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/11/2013 11:28 Comments || Top||

#6  Keeping Sweden safe from vampires?
Posted by: Frozen Al || 01/11/2013 12:02 Comments || Top||

#7  Is there some difference between, yhe China Garlic And the Sweedish Brand?

I don't see it, Possibly the taste's different?

Bet a Gourmet would know.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/11/2013 12:55 Comments || Top||

#8  Shouldn't be too hard to nose them out.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/11/2013 13:02 Comments || Top||

#9  Chinese garlic makes you hungry again in 30 minutes, those nafarious bastids!
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/11/2013 18:05 Comments || Top||

#10  The Vampir walk in Sweden???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/11/2013 22:37 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Indigenous communities take over security functions in Mexico
Ayutla de los Libres in Guerrero state was ground zero for the armed leftist movements in the 1970s and 1990s, and the indigenous villagers in the municipality there have formed their own self defense groups to clear their municipality of organized crime.

It is illegal for them to have guns.

But there they are armed to the teeth, sporting balaclavas in a bid to bring peace to their communities
Posted by: badanov || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yeah, that worked for the subway angels in NY.
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/11/2013 5:18 Comments || Top||

#2  A pack, not a herd.™
Posted by: Barbara || 01/11/2013 7:40 Comments || Top||

#3  Just wondering if they got themselves hired Seven Magnificent Men.
Posted by: twobyfour || 01/11/2013 8:22 Comments || Top||

#4  They sound like defenders of the 2nd Amendment in that they are armed militias--basically the citizens of the community.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/11/2013 9:41 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Scandals show the Obama administration is corrupt
An article longer than it needs to be, extending the benefit of the doubt to a president in whose administration the Teapot Dome scandal, Billy Sol Estes, and six or seven other scandals wouldn't even have been noticed. Extending that same benefit of the doubt, if the man himself isn't up to his skinny neck in corruption the people around him most certainly are.
[COMMUNITIES.WASHINGTONTIMES] Is President Barack Obama a man of integrity? Or is he corrupt?

These aren't questions that can easily be addressed through the partisan lens. Many Obama supporters worship him not for anything he does, but for what he is, and is not: He is a biracial political liberal, the culmination of liberals' hopes and dreams. He is not a conservative Republican. For many liberals, that suffices. Yet President Obama is not a symbol or race, but a man and the President. He must be judged as a man and a president.

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336078 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Is the Bammer also RACIST? SEXIST?

To wit,

* NEWSMAX > PRESIDENT OBAMA CRITICIZED FOR ALL-WHITE CABINET, + mainly White Male.

I think I would like to see the reputedly cantankerous US UN Ambassador RICE become SecState just to see iff she would "flip the Bird" at some major foreign Leader, Diplomat, or Delegation on public TV???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/11/2013 0:18 Comments || Top||

#2  We didn't need a Headline to show Obamas corrupt, first he's Democrat,(Thief) second he's from Chicago and third He's a N,(Umm, Racist, Half he says) So he's half corrupt right there.

He's done this and been this for Too long, and won't change now, REGARDLESS of color.

Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/11/2013 0:38 Comments || Top||


#4  We have right now the worst government in the developed world. Incompetent, corrupt, contemptuous and smug. None of these people would last flipping burgers.
Posted by: Iblis || 01/11/2013 8:55 Comments || Top||

#5  Gasp, this is just shocking I tell you, shocking! Now, if his voters would have been aware of this before the election. There is the other possibility--they were aware; they didn't care and voted for him anyway because of promised stuff.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/11/2013 9:48 Comments || Top||

#6  I dunno Iblis, the French always seem to be on the leader board...
Posted by: Steve White || 01/11/2013 11:09 Comments || Top||

#7  Steve:

Agree that the competition is tough and the French are perennial favorites (Greece is also a contender) but I'm confident that Benghazi would have toppled a French government.
Posted by: Iblis || 01/11/2013 12:10 Comments || Top||

#8  See the post mmediately before this one.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/11/2013 12:42 Comments || Top||

#9  The article was "softball." George H.W. Bush was tossed out over the "Read my lips; no new taxes" comment and then he raised taxes. Obama lies about everything and gets a pass.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/11/2013 13:23 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Morocco court reduces activists' jail term
[MAGHAREBIA] Five activists from Morocco's February 20th Movement (M20F) had their sentences reduced to six months on appeal Wednesday (January 9th), AFP reported.

The five young men were previously given prisons terms ranging between eight and ten months. The appellate court in Casablanca also ordered them to pay 7,500 dirhams each in civil damages and fines.

A sixth female defendant saw her sentence reduced from six to three months.

The activists were tossed in the calaboose
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
in July 2012 after taking part in a demonstration that saw festivities break out between protestors and police.
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336078 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  A sixth female defendant saw her sentence reduced from six to three months.


"Carl, see that Major Strasser gets a good table, one close to the ladies".
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/11/2013 10:12 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Lal Masjid cleric to be indicted in kidnapping case
[Dawn] A local court, on Wednesday, decided to indict Maulana Abdul Aziz chief holy man of Lal Masjid, his spouse and two senior holy mans, in the kidnapping case of four police officials, but on technical grounds decided to delay the proceedings till Thursday (today).

Senior Civil Judge (SCJ) of Islamabad "west" Sheikh Mohammad Sohail decided to indict Maulana Aziz, Umme Hassan, Maulana Afzal and Maulana Abdul Basir, on Wednesday, but then adjourned the matter due to some technical reasons and asked the holy mans to appear on Thursday.

The Aabpara police, before July 2007 Lal Masjid operation, had started the paperwork but haven't done much else against Maulana Aziz and his four associates on kidnapping of four police officials on the complaint of a police constable Mohammad Arif.

The FIR against Maulana Aziz and others was registered under sections 365, 353, 148, 149 and 109, for kidnapping and obstructing the government officials from performing their lawful duty.

The arguments of the case were concluded on December 22, 2012 but at the time when the court was about to reserve its judgment, the lawyers in the case pointed out that the court did not frame charges against the accused persons and the matter was adjourned till January 2 and subsequently put off till January 9.

It is pertinent to note that in the FIR, the police had nominated five persons for the kidnapping of four police officials. Besides the four accused persons stated above, there was another accused in the said case namely Mohammad Aamir.

Aamir was also facing charges for attacking the GHQ and ISI Hamza camp but was acquitted along with 11 others by the Anti Terrorism Court, in April 2008, but was tossed in the calaboose
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
at Adiala Jail and then handed over to the spy agencies.

Later on August 15, 2011, Aamir was found dead while he was in the custody of the agencies.

After Aamir, three other detainees, namely, Tahseen Ullah on December 17, 2011 Said Arab on December 18, 2011 and Abdul Saboor on January 20, last year, also died in detention. The court after the death of Aamir excluded his name from the challan.
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan


Blasts in Pakistan Kill at Least 115 and Raise Fears Over Elections
[NY Times] Bomb blasts in two Pak cities killed at least 115 people on Thursday and maimed more than 270, offering harrowing evidence of how the country's myriad internal conflicts could destabilize it as elections approach.
Know that their problem is? Not enough Islam.
The worst violence occured in the southwestern city of Quetta, where two kabooms a few minutes apart in the evening destroyed a snooker hall in a neighborhood dominated by ethnic Hazara Shiites, killing at least 81 people and wounding more than 170, the police said.
If they were more Islamic this sort of thing would never happen, because Islam is a religion of peace.
A jacket wallah detonated his explosives inside the hall, and a second attacker then blew up his vehicle outside the club as coppers and journalists arrived, a police brass hat, Mir Zubair Mehmood, told news hounds. Five coppers and one camer operators were killed in the second kaboom. Hospitals were overwhelmed as casualties arrived through the evening.
Suicide boomers can't be Moslems. Everybody knows that. This was all obviously planned in New Delhi, because Pakistain beat them in a cricket match.
Hazara leaders said it was the worst sectarian attack in Quetta since attacks on their community started about 14 years ago.
They'll turn out in a day or two and chant "Death to America! Death to the Great Satan!"
Quetta is no stranger to sectarian, nationalist or Islamist violence. Most violence against Shiites there has been directed by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ...
, a Sunni bad boy group with strong ties to the Pak Taliban, which grabbed credit for the snooker hall attack. Snooker is a variation of billiards.
In a week or two it'll all be forgotten. It'll blend into the daily meat grinder of mindless Pak violence, that's all planned and financed in India and Israel and the U.S.A.
An ethnic Baluch separatist group grabbed credit for another bombing earlier on Thursday, aimed at paramilitary soldiers in a commercial part of Quetta, which killed 12 people.
But really, it couldn't be them, because they're all Moslems.
The Hazara, minority Shiites who migrated from Afghanistan more than a century ago, have been the target of dozens of attacks from sectarian death squads led by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in Quetta over the past year, but the snooker hall attack was by far the bloodiest.
Any place there's a gathering of one or more persons is a legitimate target. It sez so right in the Koran someplace. You could look it up.
Human rights activists said the police and the security forces failed to protect the vulnerable community. "The callousness and indifference of the authorities offers a damning indictment of the state, its military and security agencies," said Ali Dayan Hasan, the Pakistain director at Human Rights Watch.
What'd you expect? They're not proper Moslems. They're Shiites, fergawdsake...
The other focus of violence on Thursday was the Swat
The stomping ground of Mullah Fazlullah and his untraceable FM radio station. Mullah Fazlullah is the son-in-law of Sufi Mohammad, noted for his piety, his leadership of the TNSM, and the fact that he demanded and got the imposition of "shariah law" on Swat, which then grew a bolt in its neck and went off lumbering through the countryside terrorizing the populace, until finally it threatened Islamabad itself. In a moment of self-preservation the Mighty Pak Army cracked down, the TNSM turbans broke and fled, and now Mullah Fazlullah lives in Afghanistan and dispatches his minions to shoot teenage girls through the head.
Valley, in the Hindu Kush mountains in northwestern Pakistain, where a kaboom in the basement of a religious seminary killed at least 22 people and maimed an additional 60. It was not clear why the seminary, run by the Islamic missionary group Tableeghi Jamaat, was a target.
Tablighi Jamaat is a Taliban recruiting organization. Was the madrassa a target? Or was it a work accident? It's never a good idea to smoke where you store your explosives, y'know...
Initial reports said a gas leak had caused the kaboom, but police and hospital officials later said that there was clear evidence of a bomb.
"Hey, Mahmoud! Watch this! [CLUNK!] Oops! [KABOOM!]"
Doctors at a hospital in Saidu Sharif, near the site, said blast victims were being treated for wounds caused by ball bearings, which are sometimes packed into suicide bombs to make them more deadly.
Did they pack the ball bearings in rat poison, as usual?
"There was a smell of explosives," Muhammad Iqbal, a senior doctor, said by telephone.
"And a cigar. There was the smell of a cigar, too."
Islamist violence in Swat drew international condemnation in October after Taliban gunnies shot a teenage schoolgirl and education activist, Malala Yosuafzai. The episode highlighted how Islamist fighters were slowly returning to the valley three years after a Pak military operation drove them away.
The problem can't be too bad, or honest citizens would be hanging the bastards by their own turbans whenever they turn up. That's assuming there are any honest citizens in the area.
The violence underscores the fragility of state authority in parts of Pakistain as the country prepares for a general election that is scheduled to take place before June. Many Paks worry that increasing instability could cause the elections to be postponed.
That's okay, as long as they have enough holy men.
Frustration about the violence among the Pak public has been stoked by anger toward the United States, which continued to press its campaign of drone strikes against bad boy targets in the tribal belt on Thursday.
Toldja so. Zap a few turban compounds and sphincters tighten all through the land. A bomb goes up in the basement of a madrassa, a pool hall full of local tough guys gets blown up, a school bus is boarded and the kiddies shot up, it's tut-tut for maybe a week.
A C.I.A.-directed missile strike on a compound in North Wazoo killed five people, Pak officials said. It was the seventh such attack in two weeks.
And, really, the guyz who're getting zapped, they've got nothing to do with kabooms or shoot-outs or little girls with gunshot wounds. We are just so damn mean!
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336073 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  like Syria in a way, Pakistan and Iraq are becoming the sites of proxy wars between Iran and the Saudis

Afghanistan will be too in a few months.
Posted by: lord garth || 01/11/2013 0:13 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Bill Clinton named 'Father of the Year'
[POLITICO] Former President Bill Clinton is getting props for being a good dad.

Clinton was named the "Father of the Year" by the National Father's Day Council on Wednesday.

The group selected Clinton for his "profound generosity, leadership and tireless dedication to both his public office and many philanthropic organizations," Dan Orwig, chairman of the National Father's Day Committee, said in the announcement.
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336073 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Evasive maneuvers, Mr. Sulu. It could be a parallel universe.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/11/2013 3:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Is this the same Bill Clinton that 'might' have been referenced in the Val Kilmer film ?
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/11/2013 6:05 Comments || Top||

#3  This is along the lines of Al Gore and Obama getting the Nobel Peace Baubble. Awards for fraud.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/11/2013 9:52 Comments || Top||

#4  Wait, ya mean grandpa right? Does Chelsea still need raising, even with obamacare she must be an adult by now.

Or does he have a kid graduating high school this year. If he has lost track you know I have.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/11/2013 11:12 Comments || Top||

#5  I did not have sex with that woman...but I will take the award anyway.

BTW who is the mother of the child to which I am supposed to be father of the year?
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 01/11/2013 11:30 Comments || Top||

#6  Bill Clinton named 'Father of the Year' makes sense if Genghis Khan is considered 'the greatest father in history. Genghis fathered 8,000 children. Bill still has work to do.

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al || 01/11/2013 11:53 Comments || Top||

#7  Daddy, who is Monica Lewinsky?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 01/11/2013 12:05 Comments || Top||

#8  "Son, you call her grandma or gammy, show some respect."
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/11/2013 14:37 Comments || Top||

#9  Does Chelsea still need raising, even with obamacare she must be an adult by now.



Not in infantile America anymore we never grow up
Posted by: Beavis || 01/11/2013 14:39 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Another soldier killed by Indian forces: Pakistan Army
[Dawn] The Pak military said Indian troops shot and killed a Pak soldier on Thursday, the third deadly cross-border incident reported in five days in the disputed Kashmire region.

"Pakistain Army soldier, Havildar Mohyuddin, embraced shahadat (martyrdom) due to unprovoked firing by Indian troops at Hotspring sector in Battal at 2:40 pm (0940 GMT) today," the military said in a text message to news hounds.

"Today, India troops resorted to unprovoked firing at a Pak post named Kundi," it added.

India alleged that two of its soldiers were killed by Pak troops on Tuesday, including one who was beheaded. Pakistain denied the accusation.

On Sunday, the Mighty Pak Army claimed Indian forces killed one of its soldiers and maimed another.
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336079 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Government
What Words and Phrases in Your Emails Might the FBI's New Software Be Searching For?
Dear FBI - My wife has requested that you sent Special Agent Paul Krendler to interview me......
According to IT Pro, phrases like "nobody will find out," "cover up" and "off the books" are among the more than 3,000 words and phrases in new software developed by the accounting firm Ernst & Young with the FBI. In addition to these more obvious phrases, IT Pro reported that the software can identify change in tone, can be targeted to specific employees and also picks upon indications of nervousness, like "call my mobile."

Do you haff ze plans?
Wound my heart with a monotonous langor
Fred has a long moustache
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336090 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ummm, Bet "Fuck You FBI" is high on the list.
So, now the FBI will waste time on me?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/11/2013 0:46 Comments || Top||

#2  I suspect that:

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

will probably flag a bit of attention as well.
Posted by: abu do you love || 01/11/2013 1:42 Comments || Top||

#3  It's called "tagging". Palantir Technolgies. The FBI is a client user.

Not only can it identify specific words or groups of words in massive volumes of data, by hitting the "merge" command, you can link everyone else who uses the term with a line and graphically depict the entire network of users.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/11/2013 2:21 Comments || Top||

#4  Palantir Technologies

(link fell off on #3, spelling was even worse)
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/11/2013 2:23 Comments || Top||

#5  It's the phrases it won't be searching for, but should (and won't be added because of PC) that concern me the most.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/11/2013 5:03 Comments || Top||

#6  Another 'popular' analysis methodology that may interest curious Rantburgers is Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count.
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/11/2013 5:35 Comments || Top||

#7  Do they search messages written in Arabic?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 01/11/2013 9:23 Comments || Top||

#8  1 w0nd3r h0w th3y h4nd13 l33t sp34k?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/11/2013 10:44 Comments || Top||

#9  Do they search messages written in Arabic?

Of course not silly - that would be RACIST.

Besides we all know the real terrorists are you 'white crackers' and returning veterans - and the Tea Party of course.

/SARC

As I recall the old 'emacs' text editor used to have a 'spook' command which would insert one of the terms the CIA was supposed to be monitoring emails for...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 01/11/2013 11:39 Comments || Top||

#10  "Allahu Akbar" will not be tagged.

"Deus Volt" will be tagged.
Posted by: charger || 01/11/2013 12:44 Comments || Top||

#11  In the Chiefs secondary nobody will cover up, and that the payroll vs talent return is off the books horrible. I just hope nobody will find out, especially thoz Ray-dahs.

That the Chiefs are going to be horrible for two more years is supposed to be a secret, jeesh!

What about Hot Carl, or is that Secret Service territory?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/11/2013 14:35 Comments || Top||

#12  Mucky is the ultimate encrypter. His messages will give the software migraines.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/11/2013 16:56 Comments || Top||

#13  Does the software understand Bavarian, too?
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/11/2013 17:23 Comments || Top||

#14  How does the software handle strikethroughs?
Posted by: Barbara || 01/11/2013 18:05 Comments || Top||

#15  Does anyone have eyes on all that uranium in Niger and Argentina or is it better for the poor people rot have mining jobs kinda like farmers growing poppy in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Maggie Flomong2662 || 01/11/2013 18:16 Comments || Top||

#16  They can't find who is supporting al Qaeda who cares,
Posted by: Maggie Flomong2662 || 01/11/2013 18:17 Comments || Top||

#17  This is an area in which I have some expertise. To answer the questions above:

There are many ways (and many off-the-shelf software packages, and many custom systems) that handle natural language data, including in text form (documents, web pages, tweets, email etc. as opposed to transcribed conversations, which tend to have a different linguistic structure). The state of the art goes well beyond just finding specific words or phrases, but the capabilities of specific systems outside of R&D shops differ greatly. IARPA is already several years into an R&D program on cross-language, cross-culture metaphor identification and interpretation, for instance. NIST has been running text retrieval, topic modeling, content extraction, machine translation etc. challenges / competitions for almost 20 years now. DARPA has a Deep Exploration and Filtering of Text effort that is expected to transition to operational use within DOD within a few years.

l33t sp34k would be fairly easy to deal with. Deleted text is just the regular text surrounded by formatting markers, so no problem there. Tweets / text conventions are already addressed here and there. Many packages handle various languages, including Arabic. Palantir primarily displays and links rather than interpreting the text itself - document information is imported into the tool, but tagging is done manually by analysts before the tool can display and cross-correlate based on those tags.
Posted by: lotp || 01/11/2013 18:37 Comments || Top||

#18  If you type text in spreadsheet and then cut and paste the text as a 'picture' into you email will the software be able to read it?

Note: there is a function called spedis that converts like sounding terms so intentionally mis spellings won't matter.
Posted by: Airandee || 01/11/2013 18:50 Comments || Top||

#19  Neither of those presents insuperable technical problems, airandee.
Posted by: lotp || 01/11/2013 21:56 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Report: Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Infiltrated Obama Admin
[Arutz Sheva] Egyptian magazine claims that six Islamist activists who work with Obama are Moslem Brüderbund operatives.

An Egyptian magazine has claimed that six American Islamist activists who work with the B.O. regime are Moslem Brüderbund operatives who enjoy strong influence over U.S. policy.

The December 22 story was published in Egypt's Rose El-Youssef magazine and was translated into English for the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT).
That's Islamo-terror expert Steven Emerson's little project -- he's the one NPR blacklisted at the request of the American Arab Action Network.
The story suggests the six turned the White House "from a position hostile to Islamic groups and organizations in the world to the largest and most important supporter of the Moslem Brüderbund."

The story is largely unsourced, but its publication is considered significant in raising the issue to Egyptian readers, IPT said.
Egyptians also firmly believe they won the Yom Kippur War, and that Mossad has sharks with frickin' lasers on their heads cruising off Sharm el Sheikh, so their belief is not necessarily a confirmatory datum.
The six named people include: Arif Alikhan, assistant secretary of Homeland Security for policy development; Mohammed Elibiary, a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council; Rashad Hussain, the U.S. special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference
OIC is an international organisation with a permanent delegation to the UN, with 57 member states. It represents all countries with substantial Moslem populations (as opposed to the Arab League, which excludes members not of the Master Race) except those which member countries block from joining. These include India, which has more Mohammedans than does Pakistain, whose membership is vetoed by Pakistain...
; Salam al-Marayati, co-founder of the Mohammedan Public Affairs Council (MPAC); Imam Mohamed Magid, president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA); and Eboo Patel, a member of President B.O.'s Advisory Council on Faith-Based Neighborhood Partnerships.

Alikhan is a founder of the World Islamic Organization, which the magazine identifies as a Brotherhood "subsidiary." It suggests that Alikhan was responsible for the "file of Islamic states" in the White House and that he provides the direct link between the B.O. regime and the Arab Spring revolutions of 2011.

Elibiary, who has endorsed the ideas of radical Moslem Brüderbund luminary Sayyid Qutb, may have leaked secret materials contained in Department of Homeland Security databases, according to the magazine. He, however, denies having any connection with the Brotherhood.

Elibiary also played a role in defining the B.O. regime's counterterrorism strategy, and the magazine asserted that he wrote the speech Obama gave when he told former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
to leave power but offers no source or evidence for the claim.

According to Rose El-Youssef, Rashad Hussain maintained close ties with people and groups that it says comprise the Moslem Brüderbund network in America. This includes his participation in the June 2002 annual conference of the American Mohammedan Council, formerly headed by convicted terrorist financier Abdurahman Alamoudi.

He also participated in the organizing committee of the Critical Islamic Reflection along with important figures of the American Moslem Brüderbund such as Jamal Barzinji, Hisham al-Talib and Yaqub Mirza.

Regarding al-Marayati, who has been among the most influential Mohammedan American leaders in recent years, the magazine draws connections between MPAC in the international Moslem Brüderbund infrastructure.

Magid heads ISNA, which was founded by Brotherhood members, was appointed by Obama in 2011 as an adviser to the Department of Homeland Security. The magazine says that has also given speeches and conferences on American Middle East policy at the State Department and offered advice to the FBI.

Rose El-Youssef also said that Patel maintains a close relationship with Hani Ramadan, the grandson of Brotherhood founder Hasan al-Banna, and is a member of the Mohammedan Students Association, which it identifies as "a large Brotherhood organization."

Despite the fact that the Moslem Brüderbund regime in Egypt was voted into power on an anti-U.S. and anti-Israel platform, it is about to receive 20 F-16 fighter jets from the U.S.

The jets were ordered by Mubarak, but the Moslem Brüderbund will take over the inheritance.

The B.O. regime has also indicated its willingness to help Egypt relieve $1 billion of its debt, as part of an American and international assistance package intended to bolster its transition to democracy.

A video released last week showed that in 2010, current Islamist President Mohammed Morsi called to boycott products made in the United States because of its support for Israel. At the time he also rejected negotiations between Israel and the Paleostinian Authority and referred to Jews as "apes and pigs".

Previously exposed videos show that during his election campaign, Morsi reiterated that "Jihad is our path" and "the Koran is our constitution".

Sheikh Mohammed Badie, the supreme guide of the Moslem Brüderbund and the person who some say is the true president of Egypt, has called for a jihad (holy war) to liberate Jerusalem from Israeli rule.
Better men then you have tried, and failed dismally, my dear Sheikh. But the world would not be unhappy if your lot committed suicide-by-Jew.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336090 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood

#1  Duh!
Stroking the White House ego.
Just like Bill, but not as low.
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/11/2013 5:21 Comments || Top||

#2  In his remarks, Rashad Hussain congratulated Obama on sending Valerie Jarrett a senior adviser, to last year’s annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America, a notorious front for Saudi-financed Muslim radicalism.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/11/2013 7:26 Comments || Top||

#3  An amazing comment and assessment from Jihad Watch.

First of all, the most well known mole is Humaa Abedjin Weiner. Lets not forget that so much intrigue is happening in the State Dept, what with Hillarys brain damage and Benghazigate, and lo and behold, it seems that the very dept of state contains a very deep cover mole sitting right in Hillarys lap. Hummaa is unquestionably the highest level infiltrator we have in this government. Now it comes to light via the Egyptian press that there are many more. Michelle Bachman must be fuming, and John McCain must be having eqq removed from his face. Hummaas mother is closely aligned with Morsis wife and Humaas brother is also a major player in the Brotherhood. Is it not likely that Hillarys role in Benghazi is intertwined with the attempt to put MB in power, and consolidate that power by supplying military aid to the tune of multiple F 16s and who knows what else to the very forces that want the destruction of Israel? Even Hillary thought that Mubarek was important to keep around even though he was a dictator, because he subscribed to the treaty with Israel and the fighter deal was passed under his reign of power. How can we just sent off deadly advanced aircraft to a government that is likely to use it against our allies or ourselves. Only the influence of Humaa and her ilk could bring such clouded minds such as Hillarys to acquiesce to such nonsense. WAKE UP OUT THERE. If you cant see the overt subversion going on all around you, you will probably be killed in your sleep when MB agents are sent by Napolitano to take your last line of defense, your guns, from you while you continue to dream on. This is now a country of fools.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/11/2013 7:35 Comments || Top||

#4  "But the world would not be unhappy if your lot committed suicide-by-Jew."

A classic, tw!

You're on a roll lately. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara || 01/11/2013 7:52 Comments || Top||

#5  Report: Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Infiltrated Invited Into Obama Admin.

Fixed the headline for accuracy.
Posted by: charger || 01/11/2013 13:07 Comments || Top||

#6  I watched in horror a day or so back when TW eviscerated some poor wordy persona with a massive wall of purple, virtual suicide by Jewish Mother.

:)
Posted by: Shipman || 01/11/2013 15:57 Comments || Top||

#7  Lavender, Shipman.

Lavender.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/11/2013 21:31 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Measles mismanagement
[Dawn] MEASLES deaths are being reported from different parts of Sindh on an almost daily basis, with over 200 fatalities reported so far. It has now emerged that around 400 children have also been affected in several districts of Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
, where health authorities say they face a shortage of the measles vaccine. While most of the world, including many countries in our neighbourhood, has seen a reduction in measles cases, Pakistain has witnessed several outbreaks in the recent past. And perhaps the core reason for this is mismanagement by the state. Neither the health authorities in Sindh nor the federal government have claimed the credit for the late purchase of measles vaccines, which has been blamed for this latest outbreak. The federal Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination could not purchase the vaccines on time reportedly due to a delay in the release of funds by the Finance Division, while officials in Sindh say they were denied federal funds. The IPC ministry is supposed to run national health programmes until the provinces fully start managing all health matters by June 30.

Then there are the issues other than bureaucratic wrangling that are affecting the routine immunisation campaign. Medical professionals have expressed serious doubts about government claims of satisfactory immunisation coverage. In Sindh, where the measles epidemic is particularly acute, health workers have not been going into the field regularly to carry out immunisations, while political appointments in the health department, from the top down, have also negatively affected the campaign. The unsatisfactory immunisation coverage, shortage of vaccines and their late procurement all indicate that a lack of planning plagues the health authorities. The routine immunisation programme needs to be overhauled and the leaks plugged. Rather than take reactive steps, provincial health authorities need to ensure funds are available to procure vaccines on time and pay staff, field workers are well-trained and doing their jobs, and campaigns are carried out as per plan and with thoroughness to ensure that outbreaks of measles and other vaccine-preventable illnesses do not become regular occurrences. Work must be done in this regard before health matters are totally devolved.
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Probably most of the UKs outbreaks of measles is due to people travelling from rich multicultural diverse places such as pakistain.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/11/2013 8:40 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Exhausted Egyptians Count Cost Of Political Turmoil
In which reality bites the Egyptians.
[Maan] These days, craftsmen, shopkeepers and other inhabitants of the Egyptian Delta town of Zagazig are often too busy making ends meet to ponder why life seems to be getting harder every day.

But when, exhausted, they finally come home and sit down to their evening meal, conversations inevitably turn to growing hardship and the frightening prospect of cuts in food subsidies as the economy slides further into crisis.

With their patience already stretched after years of upheaval, Egyptians - from the capital Cairo to smaller towns like Zagazig - appear to be nearing the point where discontent could explode into a new wave of unrest.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336081 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Don't like it now? Wait 'till you're exhausted, hungry and broke.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/11/2013 1:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Pray all this unrest and exhaustion doesn't shut down the papers factory: stoner nightmare.
Posted by: 2sealys || 01/11/2013 9:45 Comments || Top||

#3  Must have zigged when they should have zagged.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 01/11/2013 12:37 Comments || Top||


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336076 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Birthday Gam Shot

Amanda Peet[Filmography](age 41)



Intelligent Design


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 01/11/2013 0:06 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Thai terrorists try to foil Children's Day celebration
Two M79 grenades landed in a rubber plantation behind a children's development center and opposite an army base in Ruso district of Narathiwat province last night. There were no casualties.

Police believe the attackers intended to foil a plan by soldiers and local officials to jointly organize a Children's Day celebration today, in advance of Jan 12.

Lt Sophon Klaocheed, the company commander, believes the attack was the work of an RKK armed unit under Ayu Barawa which is active in the area.

Security tightened for Children's Day in Pattani
Posted by: ryuge || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
The Case For Ending US Military Aid To The Mideast
Some thoughts to ponder as Senator Rand Paul heads to Israel.
[Jpost] There is now reliable evidence that US foreign aid to the Middle East is a costly experiment with dubious benefits.

With President Barack Obama
On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes -- and I see many of them in the audience here today...
preparing for a second term and in the midst of a seeming continual swarm of uncertainty sweeping the Middle East, now more than ever is the prudent time to reexamine the decades-old policies surrounding US military aid to the Middle East.

Many abroad might be shocked to hear that we write these words from here in Jerusalem where security remains the preeminent concern on the mind of most Israelis and where only weeks ago we completed an eight-day campaign defending our citizens against missile attacks. The immediate assumption by most is that Israel is in desperate need of continued military aid from our most powerful ally.

Yet the facts contradict that assumption.

THE REALITY is that the continuation of this policy does more to harm Israel's security than protect it. And even beyond Israeli borders, the policy is a major factor in perpetuating further regional instability in an area of the world where there are no shortages of sparks that recent events have proven can at any time burst into flames.

In fiscal year 2011, the B.O. regime requested from Congress $7.1 billion in foreign aid for distribution in the Middle East.

Approximately $3b. was designated as military financing for Israel, while over $4b. was earmarked as economic and military financing for Arab countries -- countries whose military programs are in large part designed to prepare for potential hostilities with Israel.

Egypt, now under the authority of an Islamic government whose assurances it will maintain the peace with Israel are viewed as highly suspect, is the single largest beneficiary among Arab countries, having been allocated $1.58b. last year alone.

The conventional wisdom in US foreign policy circles is that these massive financial gifts are beneficial to both the United States and the recipient countries. In fact, the policy is deemed so important that advocates contend it must be maintained even in the face of a $16 trillion national debt, a $1t. yearly budget deficit and a fast-approaching fiscal cliff.

But as is often the case with government funding programs, US financial aid to the Middle East has good intentions with bad results.

Most fundamentally, US military aid to the Middle East harms Israeli and regional interests by fueling an arms race that threatens to spiral out of control.

Recent Israeli-produced estimates reveal that for every dollar in US aid received by Egypt, Israel must spend between $1.60 and $2.10 to maintain its qualitative military edge.

Since Israel is usually granted $1.50 for every $1 in aid to Egypt, each American dollar given to Egypt costs Israel between 10 and 64 cents out of its own pocket.

Of course, the net cost to Israel of US aid increases further when one takes into account the additional $1.5b. in economic and military aid transferred each year to Jordan, Leb and the Paleostinians. Since aid is well known to be fungible, it makes little difference if US assistance is packaged as economic or military aid in the congressional accounting books but only what recipients end up doing with the money -- something far more difficult to regulate.

The implications of these sobering estimates are clear.

EGYPT, JORDAN, Leb and the Paleostinians would clearly find it difficult to maintain the same level of military might without US aid.

Without such funding, therefore, Israel would be able to significantly downsize its military capabilities and invest less of its own money defending against military threats which are remarkably financed by her closest ally.

An oft-heard counter-argument is that China or Russia would step in to fill the void if the US ceased providing funds to Arab countries in the region. However,
a clean conscience makes a soft pillow...
China and Russia were always free to top up US aid to Egypt so that it reached parity with the higher amount provided to Israel. Yet, these countries never found it in their interest to do so.

An additional argument now heard is what about the Iron Dome, the missile defense system which successfully protected millions during the recent violence with Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,.

Wasn't this largely funded by US military aid? While indeed significant funds came from the US for this project, it was far more of a mutually beneficial business collaboration/investment between America and Israel than a handout. For Israel it defended our homes and our families. And for the United States it introduced a now proven defense system that will be installed in other hostility-prone zones and promote greater global security.

WHILE MANY well-meaning American Jewish leaders find it difficult to reconcile with the idea that the US should no longer shower Israel (or its neighbors) with financial gifts, it is instructive to examine how Israelis themselves view the US aid policy.

In August 2012, the Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies conducted the first-ever Israeli national opinion poll on US aid to the Middle East. A representative sample of the Israeli Jewish population was asked, "With the emergence of the new government and leadership in Egypt, do you think that weapons purchased with US military aid are more likely or less likely to be used against Israel than in the past?" Nearly half of the respondents (49 percent) think it is more likely.

There is now reliable evidence that US foreign aid to the Middle East is a costly experiment with dubious benefits. By fueling a regional arms race, the security of its residents, both Israeli and non, is threatened and the prospects for further regional economic development are hindered. There's no dismissing the irony that Israel's greatest ally is actually harming Israel's interests by funding our military but the fact is that this "generosity" is very negatively impacting on our security.

A sizable percentage of the foreign policy discourse in the recent campaign was dedicated to which candidate more strongly supports the Jewish state. President Barack Obama vociferously contended that the US-Israel relationship was as tight as ever. The administration would therefore be wise to seriously consider the prospect of finally ending US military aid to our region -- an action that would bravely set a new course for foreign policy but best defend America's allies and promote the stability which the Middle East so needs at this time.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336082 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Bring ALL the Military home, and watch the Budget Miracously "Balance".
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/11/2013 0:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Never cared much for Paul the elder, but this young buck makes a lot of sense.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/11/2013 2:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Bring ALL the Military home, and watch the Budget Miracously "Balance

That was done during the twenties and the thirties then came the forties. I have a better solution: disband the EPA and similar parasites and you will balance the budget without WWIII.
Posted by: JFM || 01/11/2013 4:32 Comments || Top||

#4  I would add; Education Department, Department of Agriculture, IRS (employers simply send 15% of earnings to US Treasury), DHS, BATF, Social Security Administration (outsource it to Vanguard or Edward Jones), USPS (sell real estate and split evening between FedEx, DHL, and UPS).
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/11/2013 7:44 Comments || Top||

#5  You may not have cared for Paul the Elder, but he built an ideological base that will be the foundation for the run of Paul the Younger who appears so much more mainstream mainly by comparison and temperament. He's going to push the GOP in a libertarian direction.

Part of that will be bringing all the boys home. And if the rest of the world wants to descend into WWIII why should we pay forever to stop them? Being the last to the party can pay. Our forebearers left the rest of the world for a reason.

Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 01/11/2013 9:41 Comments || Top||

#6  Excellent point NS.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/11/2013 9:54 Comments || Top||

#7  The more I think about Camp David the more I think the treaty was a bad idea. The treaty provided a lull in the conflict that allowed the muslims toincrease their power demographically; time for the Pals to irritate and convince world opinion they were the wronged part and not genocidal psychos.

Better to have not signed and let Egypt attack again with Israel owning the Sanai as a buffer. Carters one achievement was a set back.
Posted by: Rjschwarz || 01/11/2013 11:13 Comments || Top||

#8  But once Israel took all the sand out of Sinai that ceased to be an option.

On the other hand, a massed onslaught by elite Egyptian tank divisions would have fallen into the enormous hole left by removing the sand, so maybe it was an act of strategic genius.
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 11:20 Comments || Top||

#9  As a Libertarian with conservative values I'd go along with most of what he said, maybe 70-80%. Where I'd draw the line is his trying to wriggle out of aid to Israel.
Israel is the point of the spear in the war against Islam. They are the Spartans in the war against Persia.
Also I would encourage Israel to to get very cosy with Cyprus. Between their two countries there are massive oil fields. Then watch the Turks get their nickers in a knot.
Give nothing to anyone else in the Middle East or any Muslim country. With fracking their oil is no longer needed. Any purchases would be in the nature of charity, which they can spread around the Umma to finance their eternal wars between Sunnies and Shias.
Posted by: tipper || 01/11/2013 11:47 Comments || Top||

#10  Dittos to tipper
Posted by: AlanC || 01/11/2013 13:45 Comments || Top||

#11  Sorry, #9, but the DemoLeft + aligned aren't going to go for that - despite all their rants oer the decades complaining about unilateral US "imperialism" + interference in other Nations' affairs, in reality what the DemoLeft really cares about is someone else = third-parties being held accountable or responsible for same.

LACK OF PERVASIVE OR PERENNIAL ANARCHY/CHAOS EITHER DOMESTICALLY ANDOR OVERSEAS = NO JUSTIFICATION FOR EVER-INCREASING DEFICIT SPENDING [aka "FREE MONEY"] + REGULATORY BIG GOVT. + ULTIMATELY THE WELFARE-NANNY STATE WHICH IS ANATHEMA TO THE DEMOLEFTIES.

We see it once again now vee the new minted "Fiscal Cliff Deal" between the Bammer + Boehner - GOP-DEM FEARS AS PER SEEMING US GOVT. "DEFAULT" + BEING HELD ELECTORALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR SAME = BETTER + POLITICALLY "SAFER" TO KEEP RAISING THE DEBT CEILING + DEFICIT SPENDING + CUT LITTLE-OR-NOTHING THAN DO ANY OF THE ALTERNATIVES.

As per desired OWG + OWG NAU, the Fedcritters can now add to the above hope that their fellow OWG GFU Member-States [NAU = Mexico, Canada, Greenland] will contribute enuff $$$ to the NAU to offset the US Debt Burden. IFF THE MSM-NET IS ANY MEASURE, UNFORTUNATELY FOR US FEDCRITTERS MEXICO, CANADA, GREENLAND, + THE FUTURE OWG-NWO ARE COUNTING ON THE DEBT-RIDDEN US TO BE BE THE PRIMARY PRINCIPAL IN FUNDING AS SIMILAR TO THE CURRENT PRE-OWG UNO.

IOW, the US Debt Burden under OWG + OWG NAU will be much much worse, WHICH IS HOW THE PRO-ANARCHY/CHAOS DEMOLEFT LIKE IT - WHY WOULD PRO-OWG LEFTIST-GLOBALISTS OR EVEN LEFTIST-NATIONALISTS? BE ANY DIFFERENT THAN THEIR COLD WAR ANTIGENY???

* 1990'S NET TO PRESENT = ALL THINGS EQUAL, "LEFTISM" IS ABOUT POWER [Power Politics/Whoring]+ WHOM GETS THE BLAME, PURE-N-SIMPLE. ANYONE + ANYTHING IS EXPENDABLE.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/11/2013 18:41 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria Warplanes Try to Dislodge Rebels from Military Airbase
[An Nahar] Regime warplanes launched air raids Thursday on a military airbase in northwest Syria to try to dislodge rebels who have seized more than half of the compound amid fierce festivities on the ground, a watchdog said.

The strikes on Taftanaz military airport came after the hardline Ahrar al-Sham and Al-Nusra Front battalions stormed it on Wednesday following a protracted siege, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Fighting continued inside the airbase on Thursday near the main buildings as warplanes and helicopters bombed the airport and surrounding areas, the watchdog said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336078 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  It has been observed that their attacks are done in small numbers and they need days to collect themselves before an attack on any facility."

Reading the Benghazi papers I see. Time well spent. Allowing the rebels to occupy military bases channelizes them and reduces collateral damage. That Russian asymmetric warfare training is paying off.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/11/2013 2:43 Comments || Top||

#2  How do you get rid of rebels crabs? Shave one half of your seized military base scrotum bald, dip the other half in gasoline, and set it on fire. When they run to the bald side, hit them with a baseball bat.
Posted by: gorb || 01/11/2013 15:49 Comments || Top||

#3  Such measures gorb wouldn’t be necessary if the yank and gringo governments would stop applying crab growth hormones
Posted by: Cretinous Humongous || 01/11/2013 17:26 Comments || Top||

#4  I can't decide if gorb or CH wins. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara || 01/11/2013 18:00 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
PPP leader from Kurram killed in Peshawar
[Dawn] Unidentified gunnies killed Pakistain People's Party, Kurram Agency
...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora...
president and noted physician Dr Riaz Hussain Shah in the busy commercial area of Dabgari Garden in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
on Wednesday afternoon.

An official of the east cantonment cop shoppe said Dr Riaz was targeted in his car by two men armed with automatic weapons and riding a cycle of violence outside his clinic a few moments after he left for home.

He added that the physician was taken to Lady Reading Hospital but succumbed to critical injuries.

A hospital source said Dr Riaz had breathed his last before being shifted to the premises.

"Dr Riaz used to come to his clinic early in the day and was in the habit to go home at 1pm and return at 4pm," he said.
According to his friends, Dr Riaz was the president of PPP, Kurram Agency and a candidate for the National Assembly seat, NA-37, from there.

They said Dr Riaz and his family had always strived for peace in Kurram Agency. He had survived two suicide kaboom bids in 2008.

In Feb 2008, 63 people were killed and 200 injured when a bomb went off at his election office in NA-37, Kurram Agency.

Born on May 11, 1959, Dr Riaz was a graduate of Khyber Medical College. He was a specialist in gastroenterology and practiced at a private clinic in Habib Medical Centre, Dabgari Gardens. Dr Riaz is survived by his widow and three sons.

This was the second murder of a specialist doctor in the last few months. Earlier, noted cardiologist Dr Syed Jamal had also been killed by unidentified gunnies after three months of his kidnapping from Hayatabad.

His body was found in Khyber Agency.

A police source said following the killing of Dr Jamal and the kidnapping of some others, a number of senior doctors had hired services of private guards at their clinics as acts of terrorism had caused serious unrest among their visitors.

Meanwhile,
...back at the precinct house, Sergeant Maloney wasn't buying it. It was just too pat. The whole thing smelled phony, kind of like a dead mackeral but without the scales...
police have claimed to have beefed up security in different areas after the killing, saying there are reports about a possible attack by suspected jihad boys.

"Our officers have strictly directed us to remain alert as the text messages about attacks on high-profile personalities have created unrest," a police source said.

Police said they had registered an FIR against unidentified killers after Dr Riaz's family said they had no enmity.

"Investigators will study different angles to ascertain as to who could be his killers whether his political opponents or those belong to the opposite sect," an official of East Cantonment cop shoppe said.

When contacted, a front man for Imamia Students Organisation Waseem Abbas said body of Dr Riaz would be shifted from his residence at Defence Colony, Peshawar to ancestral village in Parachinar for burial. He condemned the killing and said it showed the complete failure of the government as the physician was attacked on the main road in a busy commercial area.
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336073 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Arabia
Pipeline blast in Yemen disrupts oil flow
[Iran Press TV] A kaboom in Yemen's central province of Marib has brought to a halt oil flow via the country's main crude export pipeline.


The attack was carried out on Thursday morning by unknown orcs, who blew up the Ras Isa pipeline by placing a roadside kaboom near the line in Marib's Serwah area.

The bombing made Yemeni oil industry officials stop the crude pumping from the fields to the export terminal in the Red Sea.

The pipeline, once carrying around 110,000 bpd of Marib light crude, was repeatedly targeted in attacks that began in 2011.

Yemen resumed oil pumping on Dec. 31 at a rate of around 70,000 bpd after repairs.

The country's oil and gas pipelines have repeatedly been sabotaged by Death Eaters or angry rustics since a popular revolt against US-backed dictator President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
in early 2011.

The attacks caused fuel shortages and severely slashed export earnings for the impoverished country.

A long closure of the Ras Isa pipeline in 2011 shut down Yemen's main refinery at Aden, forcing the small producer to import fuel from neighboring Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face...
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia

#1  Why build Pipelines, Target practise?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/11/2013 1:03 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Three security men hurt in Bara ambush
[Dawn] Three coppers and four children were maimed in two separate incidents in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency on Wednesday.

Officials said that a khasadar
...a rural policeman in Pakistain or India...
, Khan Akbar, and two personnel of Mehsud Scouts -- naib-subedar Ashraf and sepoy Asad -- were maimed when person or persons unknown attacked a convoy of security forces in Mohammedan Dhand area of Bara. The convoy was on its way to Levies centre in Shahkas when it was attacked.

In Sur Kas area of Bar Qambarkhel, four children were maimed when a mortar shell fell on the house of Askar Khan Malikdinkhel.

The injured children were shifted to Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
for treatment.

Meanwhile,
...back at the cheese factory, there was only one thought in the mouse's mind: I can do this! I can do this! Then the trap sprung...
security forces with the help of Shalobar Peace Committee tossed in the clink
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
four suspected beturbanned goons during a raid in Nawgazee Baba area. The arrested men, who were accused of having contacts with a Bara-based beturbanned goon group, included Dr Moeen, the owner of a clinic in the area.

Security forces in Ghundi area of Jamrud arrested five suspects during a raid on a house on Wednesday morning. The arrested men included Mohammad Jan, Khuga Jan, Marjan Khan, Jerman Khan and Zar Mohammad.

Relatives of the arrested men claimed that they had no affiliations with any bad boy group and all of them had suffered in the recent terrorist attacks carried out in different parts of Jamrud.

They said that almost all of the arrested men had lost their family members in kabooms and suicide kabooms in Jamrud in the recent past.

In Bannu, two cellular phone shops were blown up by unidentified persons at a market on Dera Road on Wednesday.

Sources said that unidentified persons planted improvised bombs near the shops of Zubair and Karimullah in a market at Taji Kallay Bus Stand that went off one after another at 1am, destroying both the shops.

The shutters of the shops and cellular phone sets were destroyed, inflicting heavy losses on the owners.
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336074 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar-e-Islami


Home Front: Politix
This is How it Starts
Wyoming lawmakers have proposed a new bill that, if passed, would nullify any federal restrictions on guns, threatening to jail federal agents attempting to confiscate guns, ammunition magazines or ammunition.
The key to the proposed law is that it makes it a crime for federal employees to enforce federal gun laws. Astute readers will recall that Montana passed a similar law a few years back. However, the courts have refused to hear any cases relating to the Montana law, and no one is willing to risk jail in order to test it.

The proposed Wyoming law doesn't allow the courts to dodge the issue. Once a federal agent is arrested the issue will have to be addressed.

Patently unconstitutional and will never be enforced.
Posted by: Iblis || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336074 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Better be selective in whom they arrest. A charge of racism trumps nearly everything these days. Call Sheriff Joe for further information.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/11/2013 2:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Just use the political tools of the Left. Declare their state a 'Sanctuary' State for gun owners. If its OK for illegals....
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/11/2013 8:58 Comments || Top||

#3  The Wyoming Constitution explicitly states that the US Constitution is thE Supreme Law.

Interesting little clause in the contract so to speak.

P2K IMHO hits on the subject; it isn't laws like this which will cause a splinter, it is the selective enforcement of already current laws which will.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/11/2013 10:55 Comments || Top||

#4  I'm hoping for legally permitted, Second Amendment parades in orderly route step. My preference would be to precede 4H Clubs and horses, but I am flexible. Further details not required.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/11/2013 11:01 Comments || Top||

#5  Not clear at all that it is patently unconstitutional if one considers that the law the federal employee is enforcing could be construed to be unconstitutional. Remember the CIA officers who "tortured" were subject to criminal investigation. By the federal government, to be sure, but the precedent was established. The Constitution is the supreme law but it does not give the federal government unlimited powers and recognizes state sovereignty.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 01/11/2013 11:22 Comments || Top||

#6  Do people understand that it is SOP for courts not to rule on Constitutional issues by claiming lack of standing? That is why this approach is so brilliant. It forces the courts to hear the case -- something they would otherwise do their very best to avoid.

Also, Nimble is correct. There is nothing patently unconstitutional about changing federal employees with state crimes.
Posted by: Iblis || 01/11/2013 11:36 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Libya adopts new official name
[MAGHAREBIA] Libya's General National Congress (GNC) unanimously voted to adopt "State of Libya" as the country's official name on Tuesday (January 8th), Libya Herald reported. The decision ends the multiplicity of official names used under the former regime. The new name will stay at least until the approval of the new constitution.
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336090 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/11/2013 1:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Zimbabwe was obviously already taken.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/11/2013 2:47 Comments || Top||

#3  So was Chicago.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/11/2013 8:31 Comments || Top||

#4  Forget it, Jake, it's Benghazi?
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/11/2013 8:36 Comments || Top||

#5  I understand 'Not-Egypt' was considered, but rejected.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/11/2013 11:06 Comments || Top||

#6  Whatever it is has to beat hell out of "The Great Libyan People's Jamahiriya" or whatever it was.
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 11:14 Comments || Top||

#7  State of Not-Paleostine?
Posted by: Frank G || 01/11/2013 11:42 Comments || Top||

#8  State of We-Really-Sympathize-With-Those-Palestinians-As-Long-As-They-Stay-Away...
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/11/2013 11:55 Comments || Top||

#9  OK. Glad that's out of the way...
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/11/2013 12:12 Comments || Top||

#10  Latest news is that a certain bankrupt California city offered to sell their name, but the Libyans figured out what 'San Bernardino' stood for.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/11/2013 13:08 Comments || Top||

#11  And did they figure out Bernard's link to the Rule of the Templars, I wonder? LOL, Pappy.
Posted by: lotp || 01/11/2013 18:10 Comments || Top||

#12  Of course, there's always Manteca (Lard), Los Banos (The Potties), and a host of others.
Posted by: Dopey Sinatra9196 || 01/11/2013 19:39 Comments || Top||


Mali Islamists Say Have Entered Area under Government Control
[An Nahar] Armed Islamists who control northern Mali on Thursday captured a government town in the country's center and will push further south, an Ansar Dine official told AFP.

"We are currently in Konna for the jihad. We almost entirely control the town. Afterward we are going to continue" heading south, Abdou Dardar, who was reached by telephone from the capital Bamako, told AFP.

Dardar, whose remarks were translated by an interpreter from Niger, said he was speaking in the name of all the Islamists.

The north has been controlled for nine months by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), and Ansar Dine (Defenders of the Faith), who all promote the application of Islamic law.

The remarks by Abou Dardar, who said nothing more, were the first made by an Islamist official to AFP since the start of troop movements on Monday.

Asked by AFP, the Mali's army chief based in the city of Mopti, which is near Konna, declined immediate comment.

But residents of Konna confirmed to AFP the presence of Islamists in that central town, adding the intensity of fighting had declined in the middle of the day.

"I no longer see the Malian army. I don't know what's happening. But I know that the Islamists have left Bore to come to Konna," said a worried resident.

Bore, north of Konna, is a community controlled by Islamists who, according to a regional security source, engaged in fighting Thursday afternoon with the army in the area around Konna.

"The army is trying to resist, based on our information," the source said.

Another resident of Konna said he had seen the Islamists in the downtown of the locality. In Mopti, two witnesses said they saw an army helicopter take off, probably in the direction of Konna.
Posted by: Fred || 01/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336081 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa

#1  Mali Islamists Say.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/11/2013 1:01 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
38[untagged]
5al-Qaeda in North Africa
3Arab Spring
2TTP
2Govt of Pakistan
2Govt of Syria
1al-Qaeda in Arabia
1Lashkar-e-Islami
1al-Qaeda in Pakistan
1Muslim Brotherhood

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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.
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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2013-01-11
  France confirms Mali intervention
Thu 2013-01-10
  Taliban suspects arrested over Karachi polio killings
Wed 2013-01-09
  Indonesia Foils Terror Plot on Tourist Spots
Tue 2013-01-08
  US drone attack kills four in North Waziristan
Mon 2013-01-07
  Syria Opposition Rejects Assad's Reconciliation Plan
Sun 2013-01-06
  Dronezap in South Wazoo send 18 TTP Jihadis to their rewards
Sat 2013-01-05
  Syria jets, troops wage offensive on rebels near capital
Fri 2013-01-04
  New U.S. Drone Strike Kills Three Qaida Suspects in Yemen
Thu 2013-01-03
  Iran to Citizens: Flee Isfahan
Wed 2013-01-02
  Fourteen Killed as Nigerian Troops Clash with Islamists
Tue 2013-01-01
  Pakistan: Six charity workers shot dead
Mon 2012-12-31
  Qaeda in Yemen offers bounty for killing US ambassador, troops
Sun 2012-12-30
  Pakistan reports 21 tribal policemen kidnapped, found dead
Sat 2012-12-29
  At Least 15 Killed in Sect Attack in North Nigeria
Fri 2012-12-28
  Militants kill two, kidnap 22 Pakistani soldiers

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