[BBC] Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal has been rejected by 230 votes - the largest defeat for a sitting government in history.
MPs voted by 432 votes to 202 to reject the deal, which sets out the terms of Britain's exit from the EU on 29 March.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has now tabled a vote of no confidence in the government, which could trigger a general election.
The confidence vote is expected to be held at about 1900 GMT on Wednesday.
Reality Check: What are the biggest government defeats?
Mr Corbyn said it would allow the House of Commons to "give its verdict on the sheer incompetence of this government".
But DUP leader Arlene Foster said her party, which keeps Mrs May in power, would be supporting her in Wednesday's confidence vote.
She told the BBC MPs had "acted in the best interests of the entire United Kingdom" by voting down the deal.
But she added: "We will give the government the space to set out a plan to secure a better deal."
Some 118 Conservative MPs voted with the opposition parties against Mrs May's deal.
Only three Labour MPs supported the prime minister's deal: Ian Austin (Dudley North), Kevin Barron (Rother Valley) and John Mann (Bassetlaw).
#4
When the UK embraced Europe they turned their back on the Commonwealth to some extent. Has May made any attempts to restore the old dynamic or create a free-trade zone with the commonwealth or something?
[NY Post] Explosions and gunfire erupted Tuesday at an upscale hotel complex in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, sending people fleeing for their lives in an attack for which the Somalia-based extremist group al-Shabab quickly claimed responsibility.
The al Qaeda-linked group issued the claim via its radio arm, Andalus.
No information about casualties was immediately available about the attack at the complex in Nairobi's Westlands neighborhood, which includes a large hotel known as DusitD2, banks and offices.
Witness Robert Murire said he saw at least two bodies after the attack by gunmen wrapped in ammunition.
Charles Njenga, who also fled from the scene, said: "It is terrible. What I have seen is terrible. I have seen a human as I ran out and there is what looks like minced meat all over."
Another man said he hid in an office when the gunfire erupted.
"My colleagues were running everywhere. … Yeah, it was a terrorist attack. I think so," said the man, breathing heavily, who did not give an Associated Press video journalist his name.
Update:
Police spokesman Charles Owino said anti-terror forces responded to the scene, where plumes of black smoke billowed into the sky from the parking lot as vehicles were engulfed in flames.
A bomb disposal unit detonated a car that had explosives inside, police said, and other vehicles were being cordoned off for fear they also contained explosives.
An unexploded grenade was seen in a hallway of the complex.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/15/2019
10:51 ||
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[9 views]
Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)
#1
Charles Njenga, who also fled from the scene, said: "It is terrible. What I have seen is terrible. I have seen a human as I ran out and there is what looks like minced meat all over."
[DailyWire] Last week, a federal judge ruled that Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado, could proceed to sue the state for anti-religious bias.
Phillips previously fought a case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court after the Colorado Civil Rights Commission cited him for refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding. The Supreme Court found that the commission discriminated against Phillips for his religious views.
On the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take Phillips' appeal, Denver attorney Autumn Scardina requested Phillips to bake a cake that celebrated gender transition with a blue outside and an pink inside, The Western Journal reports. After Phillips refused, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission cited him again.
Despite Phillips winning his case at the Supreme Court, the state still decided to prosecute him, causing him to file a lawsuit.
In a statement, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which is defending Phillips, said that Colorado is treating Phillips differently than other cake artists who decline custom projects if they disagree with the message.
"While the state ‘allow[s] other cake artists to decline requests to create custom cakes that express messages they deem objectionable and would not express for anyone,' Colorado treats Phillips differently," ADF said. "This ‘disparate treatment,' the court said, ‘reveals' the state officials' ongoing ‘hostility towards Phillips, which is sufficient to establish they are pursuing the discrimination charges against Phillips in bad faith, motivated by Phillips' … religion ... '"
"The same agency that the Supreme Court rebuked as hostile to Jack Phillips has remained committed to treating him unequally and forcing him to express messages that violate his religious beliefs," ADF Senior Counsel Jim Campbell said in a statement. "Colorado is acting in bad faith and with bias toward Jack. We look forward to moving forward with this lawsuit to ensure that Jack isn't forced to create custom cakes that express messages in conflict with his faith."
Campbell added that Phillips serves all customers regardless of their lifestyle but doesn't create custom cakes that express messages that conflict with his religious beliefs.
"He can't get a fair shake before the state commission," Campbell said. "A commissioner set to decide the state's new case against Jack has publicly referred to him as a ‘hater' on Twitter, one of several indications of the commission's ongoing bad faith toward him and his beliefs."
ADF argues that the state is violating Phillips' First Amendment rights of exercise of religion, free speech, and due process rights.
"Over his years as a cake artist, Phillips has declined to create cakes with various messages that violate his faith, including messages that demean LGBT people, express racism, celebrate Halloween, promote marijuana use, and celebrate or support Satan," the statement concludes.
In September, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) called on the Justice Department to investigate the Colorado Civil Rights Commission and its director for harassing Phillips.
"[N]owhere is the assault on religious freedom more pervasive then at the Colorado Civil Rights Commission through their selective application of the law, using it to target viewpoints that contradict their own personal beliefs [sic]," Lamborn said in a letter to former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. "For over six years now, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission has been on a crusade against Jack Phillips because its officials despise what he believes and how he practices his faith."
"I am asking the Department of Justice to protect the rights of religious Coloradans by ensuring that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission cannot continue its harassment of people of faith in my home state and its attempts to violate their first amendment freedoms," he added.
[Free Beacon] House Republican leaders on Monday removed Rep. Steve King (R., Iowa) from his assignments on the Judiciary and Agricultural Committees after the congressman questioned why white supremacy is offensive.
The move took place after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) called a meeting of the House Republican Steering Committee, which voted unanimously to strip King of his committee assignments, the New York Times reported. King also lost his spot on the Small Business Committee.
The decision to remove King from the committees came amid a wave of backlash in Congress for his comments. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) and Sen. Mitt Romney (R., Utah) sharply criticized the Iowa congressman for his remarks, and Democrats have introduced several resolutions to censure King.
In an interview published last Thursday, King questioned why white supremacy is offensive.
"White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization‐how did that language become offensive?" King asked.
King also commented on the large number of minorities in the Democratic House majority.
"You could look over there and think the Democratic Party is no country for white men," he said.
On Sunday, McCarthy condemned his fellow Republican congressman, saying, "That language has no place in America."
"If he doesn't understand why ’white supremacy' is offensive, he should find another line of work," McConnell said the next day.
King tried to explain his remarks during a speech on the House Floor on Friday, calling himself "simply an American nationalist."
#2
Meanwhile, the recently elected haters on the Democratic side are lauded, along with the Democrats’ long-standing racists.
Western culture is superior, but it is not a race-linked thing — anyone or any group that adopts its tenets will do better than those who don’t. (Christianity is likewise universalist — Jesus Christ is not reserved for the Jews he preached to during his lifetime and their descendants.) Contrariwise, anyone who adopts a race-based culture will do worse, regardless which race they rank highest in the hierarchy.
There is nothing wrong, and much right, with being an American nationalist. But white nationalism and white supremacy belong to the KKK, which has done as much to hold this country back as the equally racist black nationalism and its corollaries are doing now.
The opposite of the anti-white and — as white beliefs — anti-Christian and antisemitic racism of the Democratic party is not to merely be pro- those things for white people, but a universalist welcoming of all who choose Western civ including accepting believing Christians and Jews. This is Congressman King’s mistake. Not taking the opportunity to explain his conceptual error to him and to the country is a mistake by the leadership of the Republican party — what a selling point they’re throwing away!
#6
Remember, Black Majority rule, Black Nationalism, and Black supremacy for South Africa is OK for the same people who object to a country that is 75%+ white being anything but 'DIVERSE'.
#7
Nearly all western civilisations that create wealth are originally white.
Yes. We figured it out first. Or you did, because Jews were not considered “white” until recently. But then neither were Italians and Slavs, among so many others, so the term has been becoming more inclusive for a while. Thus we demonstrated that the learnings can be applied by anyone.
That they can be applied beyond Western Europe is in the process of being demonstrated. Even partial adoption improves things, witness India, which is at least opening up somewhat, economically. On the other hand, we are seeing in Europe, Britain, and the US the harm caused when even some of the population switches to totalitarian thought control.
Nichts zu danken, European Conservative. Sometimes it is you who gets there first.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/15/2019 13:16
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#11
"You could look over there and think the Democratic Party is no country for white men," he said.
Well, there is Steny Hoyer. Ever notice how he's always there to kiss Nancy Pelosi's butt? I guess that's one white man they can tolerate.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/15/2019 13:31
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#12
The term "white supremacist" is troubling but what is even more troubling is the politically correct concept that Steve King loses his committee assignment for asking a politically incorrect question. We are losing our democracy and our freedom when any group is able to decide what speech is acceptable and what speech is not.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/15/2019 13:41
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#13
Likewise, even though I have precious little sympathy for Megyn Kelly, I find it troubling that she lost her job at NBC simply because she didn't know what's wrong with wearing black face and didn't even know better than to ask about it. Can we no longer have a free, fair and robust exchange of ideas in this country?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/15/2019 13:46
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#14
Can we no longer have a free, fair and robust exchange of ideas in this country?
No. (Not that I'm endorsing that situation...)
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/15/2019 13:49
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One of my quotes in a New York Times story has been completely mischaracterized. Here’s the context I believe accurately reflects my statement.
In a 56 minute interview, we discussed the changing use of language in political discourse. We discussed the worn out label “racist” and my observation that other slanderous labels have been increasingly assigned to Conservatives by the Left, who injected into our current political dialog such terms as Nazi, Fascist, “ White Nationalist, White Supremacist,— Western Civilization, how did THAT language become offensive? Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?”…just to watch Western Civilization become a derogatory term in political discourse today. Clearly, I was only referencing Western Civilization classes. No one ever sat in a class listening to the merits of white nationalism and white supremacy.
When I used the word “THAT” it was in reference ONLY to Western Civilization and NOT to any previously stated evil ideology ALL of which I have denounced.
My record as a vocal advocate for Western Civilization is nearly as full as my record in defense of Freedom of Speech.
#16
Yes. We figured it out first. Or you did, because Jews were not considered “white” until recently. But then neither were Italians and Slavs, among so many others, so the term has been becoming more inclusive for a while.
That's the new narrative but it's BS. Jews, Italians and Slavs have always been considered white. That's why the laws prohibiting miscegenation never applied to them procreating with other whites. What is a fact is that northern European whites were considered superior to other whites. And whites of British origin were considered superior to Germans, and so on.
#17
So who was doing the chanting "Jews will not replace us"?
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/15/2019 17:09
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#18
What is a fact is that northern European whites were considered superior to other whites. And whites of British origin were considered superior to Germans, and so on.
True. My northern German grandmother tried to condescend to my Russian/Latvian father even though he was a professor and a department head, and had moved in high government circles in Israel before he moved to America. The attempt proved unwise on her part, according to my mother, but that is a different story.
Slomoling Phusoper9782, thank you for the link to the full context for the quotes for which Rep. King is being slammed. That makes a great deal difference.
#19
It just seems that not a single soul in the House bought it. Quite rare I might say.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/15/2019 17:26
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#20
So who was doing the chanting "Jews will not replace us"
I seem to recall the chanters claimed they were saying “You will not replace us,” European Conservative. The claim thqt the other was said startled me at the time — except in the greater New York City area and around Miami Beach there simply aren’t enough Jews avalanle to replace anyone. Nationwide Jews make up about 1.7% of American; in my community here, I am regularly the first Jew people know well enough to ask questions.
#21
tw
Of course you know better than anyone else that antisemitism doesn't depend on Jews actually being present.
"You" instead of "Jews"? Really?
This would be a very strange way to pronounce "you"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8yPQBigTSg
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/15/2019 17:39
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#22
Also consider this:
In 1925, 563,733 people declared themselves members of the Jewish religious community, or 0.9% of the total population of the German Reich.
Eight years later, after the census of 16 June 1933, their number had been reduced to 499,682. At that time the share of German Jews in the total population was only 0.8%.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/15/2019 17:47
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#23
I should also add that it doesn't matter whether Jews are considered "white" or not.
The racism of white supremacists clearly targets Jews as well.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/15/2019 18:01
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#24
Rep. Steve King has been given a gift: No more boring time burning committee meetings. Every disaster is a new opportunity.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/15/2019 18:37
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#25
Not at my best, and lord knows y'all deserve better, but... when has that stopped me?
It was three men of Indostan,
All worldly and refined,
Who misdefined Supremacy
(For each in spots was blind,
And each by overreaching
Might seem to each unkind).
The chosen first approached the word
And kissed its worthy hem.
"Bright shining pride of all my tribe,
I thank thee!" Then, to them,
"God tells me that Supremacy
Is mighty like a GEM!"
The Second empathetic dear
Cried, conscious of his loss,
"Could all mankind be lifted up,
Well, that'd be the sauce!
Who doubts this, shows Supremacy
Is, oddly, like a CROSS!"
Der Dritte temperately raved,
And strictly on the level,
"Supremacy is everywhere!
You must be very careful,
Because it is -- believe me, please --
Precisely like the DEVIL!"
And lo these men of Indostan
Politely all day long
Disputed somewhat subtly
But tolerably strong,
For each was partly in the right
And all were in the--
[Guardian] From June last year, Dilip Trigunayak would stride out each morning to the banks of the Ganges and will the holy waters to recede. The clock was ticking. In six months, the floodplains where he stood would be the site of the largest human gathering in the world, probably ever.
"I would watch the water levels going up and down," the bureaucrat says. "From then my anxiety started."
More than 120 million Hindu devotees, as well as tourists, are expected to visit the north Indian city of Prayagraj over the next few weeks for the Kumbh Mela, a vast spiritual festival at the point where two sacred rivers, the Ganges and Yamuna, converge.
As the rivers have emptied of monsoon rain in recent months, Indian authorities have swung into action, reclaiming the riverbed and laying the skeleton for a temporary city that at 15 sq miles (39 sq km) is two-thirds the size of Manhattan.
The festival started on Tuesday morning when tens of thousands of Hindu ascetics charged ‐ roaring, naked and ash-smeared ‐ into the water, sanctifying it for the tens of millions of pilgrims who will follow in the coming days and weeks.
#3
After my friends threw watermelon rinds off a hill I said, "I always wanted to be standing on a hillside overlooking the rind". They threw their remaining rinds at me.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/15/2019 17:29
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[The Federalist] Over the weekend there was a massive march in Washington and other cities to demand new laws, ostensibly on behalf of innocent lives being endangered. That sounds like another giant protest march that takes place once a year in Washington, except this one is being reported coast-to-coast, buoyed by celebrity endorsements, and hailed as the dawn of a revolution, rather than being studiously ignored or downplayed.
It should be obvious that I’m speaking of the March for Our Lives and the March for Life, two ostensibly similar marches advocating ostensibly similar views. Yet comparing the two positions reveals illuminating fundamental differences.
Ownership Versus Action
Of course the most obvious distinction is in the subject matter: one favors limiting or ending gun owners, the other limiting or ending abortion. Let’s consider the two subjects, for here the crux of the matter rests.
Gun rights deal with a person’s right to own a particular tool for a particular purpose. Put briefly, a gun is a weapon; weapons are used in fighting. People want to own guns so if they ever need to fight to defend themselves, their families, or their rights, they can do so effectively. There are obvious and legitimate reasons why they would want this, ranging from violent attackers to civil unrest.
But, although they have legitimate uses, guns by nature are open to abuse. They allow a person with evil intent to inflict more damage than he would otherwise. Gun-control advocates argue the potential for abuse is greater than the legitimate need for private firearms, at least with regards to certain weapons. In other words, gun control advocates wish to limit access to guns in order to limit their potential for abuse.
Abortion rights deal with a person’s right to do or have done a particular procedure. This procedure, by definition, destroys a human life: specifically the human life the people in question created by having intercourse, whether consensually or violently. They desire this because, to one degree or another, the life to be destroyed is unwanted or inconvenient and was not intended to be created.
[Free Beacon] The Michigan State Housing Development Authority is changing its race and gender quota policies that former Attorney General Bill Schuette determined were illegal before leaving office.
"MSHDA is reviewing its documents and policies to ensure they comply with the Attorney General opinion," Katie Bach, communications director for the MSHDA, said. "We will work with the Office of Attorney General to ensure that the letter and spirit of the opinion is followed."
The policies Schuette ruled illegal had required contractors to ensure that a certain percentage of the work was done by minority groups and by women.
Bach said that this ruling only affects developments that receive 100 percent of its funds from the MSHDA, but not developments that are only partially funded by the MSHDA. About five percent of MSHDA projects receive 100 percent of its funding from the agency. In total, Bach said that approximately three projects would be impacted, which amounts to about $42 million of the total $630 million of statewide investments.
Projects that receive federal funds have certain federal requirements by which contractors must abide. Projects that receive tax credit financing assistance already have no equal employment opportunity requirements.
These affirmative-action-style policies by public institutions became illegal in Michigan after the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative passed as a ballot initiative in 2016, successfully amending the state constitution. The text banned a public institution being able to "discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting."
#2
More like a state-level 'deep state' thing where the hacks will continue to do the old things and resist / drag their feet as much as possible on implementing this new policy.
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/15/2019 5:00
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#2
"A large part of the trans community in the U.S. is being forced to choose between our life-affirming transitions and our Palestinian siblings’ demand for freedom."
Mental illness
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/15/2019 7:05
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#3
Put me in mind of "Life is Beautiful," for some reason...
He sashays his way down the ramp
And stamps through a landscape of camp,
Amused, as the smoke
Of his Jews is a joke
To this libertine vamp with no lamp.
[The Federalist] Roe v. Wade turns 46 this year, an age that may seem daunting to a vast generation of young pro-life advocates like myself. After all, we are the first few generations who have only known legalized abortion.
Those who understand and respect the science regarding the preborn have had to live our entire lives with the knowledge that abortion has eliminated the equivalent of 18 percent of the current U.S. population. We’ve had to deal with a sort of "survivor’s guilt," wondering why we are here while others are not.
But as the battle for life wages on, pro-life activists and missionaries can draw inspiration from the generations of civil rights heroes who came before us and made sure that the only thing needed to grant us human rights is our humanity.
The issue of abortion is not over, even as abortion advocates seem to increasingly rely on pushing the idea that pro-lifers should just "get over it" because legislation and Supreme Court rulings are apparently set in stone (unless the issue in question is something of interest to them). For a prime example, look no further than an op-ed from Frank Boehm, an OB-GYN professor at Vanderbilt University: "While many pundits have opined that Roe vs. Wade is sure to be overturned, I believe it will survive and remain the law of the land... Roe vs. Wade has been around a long time..."
It’s convenient, hollow rhetoric that only shows its ugly face when the legislation in question is something the rhetoric-pusher supports. If the social justice and civil rights advocates of decades (and centuries) past subscribed to that mentality, our world would be a frightening place.
#2
NN2N - I suspect this is the graphic you attempted to post in #1. If not, please advise. We pray for our families here, and you are now family. Thank you for your comment.
#3
I remember an old black and white movie that had several children gathered about to be born. I will be a lawyer. I will be a diplomat. I will a mother. I will be an athlete. One deponent child said I will be killed. I could have been somebody but I will never have that chance. It was a great movie. The memory of a child's death lingers on for a lifetime for the man or woman. Then to the grave.
#4
Well, some states entered the union already 'Free'. There was no 224 years. That was the big stumbling block for the slave states till an ugly compromise was reached. Same with the abortion issue, its something that should have been in the 10th Amendment category, but SCOTUS decided to accumulate and expand its power.
[Wash Examiner] Senate lawmakers have formed a new bipartisan "gang" to try to resolve the impasse over border wall funding that has caused the longest government shutdown in history.
The group includes 20 Senate lawmakers ‐ 10 Republicans and 10 Democrats ‐ according to Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. Cornyn is not in the gang but is a member of the GOP leadership team and has been briefed on the discussions so far.
"My hypothesis is when federal employees start missing their paychecks, that changes the picture," Cornyn said. "A lot more Senate Democrats are under pressure. If people start breaking off, maybe there is a chance to end the impasse."
Cornyn said he also talked to "a senior Senate Democrat about some ideas of what we could do," but he added a proposal would ultimately have to meet President Trump’s demand for border wall funding, which Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have so far refused.
"I"m glad they are talking, but no real progress yet, other than talking," Cornyn said, referring to the gang.
It's been nearly six years since the Gang of Eight organized an immigration bill that envisioned a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants in exchange for tougher border security measures and language aimed at ensuring immigrants don't overstay their visas. The Gang of Eight bill passed in a 68-32 vote in the Senate, but it was never taken up in the Republican-led House.
#1
The reason for supporting the open border by the Democrats is to dilute the voting power of the Democracy leaning citizen and to replace Democracy with a centralized socialist government.
When Barack Obama finally leaves Washington DC is the sign that they finally realize solid movement in that direction won't happen anytime soon.
Illegal immigration is the life line of hope and change this neo socialist shadow government complex. They don't care about this government shut down, they want to replace it anyway, until the shutdown begins to jeopardize the overall mission.
[AnNahar] The jihadist group now controlling Idlib province in northwest Syria claims to have broken with al-Qaeda, but analysts say that despite several rebrandings there's no sign it has changed its stripes.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) sealed its hold on Idlib last week after signing a ceasefire with what was left of rival factions in the region.
[Wash Examiner] House Democrats are quickly intensifying oversight of the pharmaceutical industry, opening what may be one of the most significant investigations into prescription drug pricing in decades.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings of Maryland sent letters to 12 drugmakers requesting detailed information and documentation on "price increases, investments in research and development, and corporate strategies to preserve market share and pricing power," according to a statement.
"For years, drug companies have been aggressively increasing prices on existing drugs and setting higher launch prices for new drugs while recording windfall profits," Cummings wrote. "The goals of this investigation are to determine why drug companies are increasing prices so dramatically, how drug companies are using the proceeds, and what steps can be taken to reduce prescription drug prices."
The panel is focusing its initial efforts on medications that were the costliest for Medicare Part D, as well as those with the most significant price hikes during the past five years. Among the companies that received requests for information are AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Eli Lilly & Co.
The oversight committee is slated to hold its first hearing on the issue on Jan. 29.
#4
Big Pharma has a lot to answer for and has done some really shady shit.
However, this investigation is bullshit and nothing more than political cover as any real investigation would drag most of congress into it with big pharma.
The two go hand in hand with their illegal and unethical dealings.
#5
However, this investigation is bullshit and nothing more than political cover as any real investigation would drag most of congress into it with big pharma.
"Most of congress" yes, quite similar to Gowdy's Benghazi Kabuki theater.
#10
Derek Lowe (In The Pipeline blog) as a research chemist working for Big Pharma had various things to say about this idiocy...
Basically, if you make people lose money they will quit. Look at what has happened to the Vaccination industry as an example: microscopic profit margins and unlimited legal risk equals fewer and fewer suppliers.
One thing that might work though is for the Feds to require that Medicaid/Medicare recipients get the lowest price offered worldwide. Don't sell it in Canada cheaper than you do to old folks in the USA.
#13
#12 Don't sell it in Canada cheaper than you do to old folks in the USA. -FGG8594
Did you hear what India did? What do you do when the government extorts "negotiates" lower drug prices by saying that they were Not going to recognize Pharma's copyrights? The Indian government threatened hypothesized that it would "naturally" support its own companies in flooding the world market with copycat drugs. This may be "fine" in the short run for the consumer, but it means the initial research company has to eat All of the sunk costs and their competitors don't.
[American Thinker] President Trump is staying put in snowy Washington while his government shutdown duel with Democrats continues, canceling every fancy trip out (that doesn't include a non-touristy one to the Texas border), including even a Christmas trip to his home in Florida.
That's fitting for the times, and it suggests a leader looking for a resolution.
But then there are...the Democrats.
A whole slew of them packed off to Puerto Rico for a junket, getting hold of those hard-to-get Hamilton tickets (no shutout there); bunking in with 109 K Street lobbyists in $429-a-night hotel rooms; and, sure enough, partying hearty. WashEx's Paul Bedard has the opening story. Warning: Lounge chair arse ripples cannot be unseen.
[BPR] As wildfires raged in California last year, a group of lawmakers from the state were apparently off on a trip to Hawaii with utility companies.
The nonprofit Independent Voter Project hosted the annual event in Maui in November as a dozen lawmakers ‐ mostly Democrats ‐ met with representatives from utility companies who lobbied for a bailout as they seek to raise electricity rates in an effort to offset financial costs due to the wildfires, according to The New York Times.
Lawmakers met with representatives from San Diego Gas and Electric and Southern California Edison at the five star Fairmont Kea Lani hotel, KABC-TV reported.
"These 12 legislators have gotten over $630,000 from the three utilities in campaign contributions. Traditionally these trips are paid for by the sponsor. They are comped," Jamie Court, the president of Consumer Watchdog, said.
California Assembly members Frank Bigelow, Bill Brough ‐ the only Republicans in the group ‐ as well as Ian Calderon, Jim Cooper, Tom Daly, Heath Flora, Jim Frazier, Reggie Jones-Sawyer, Freddie Rodriguez and Blanca Rubio attended the event, according to Consumer Watchdog. State Sens. Ben Hueso and Cathleen Galgiani were also in attendance.
[Guardian] As attitudes towards cannabis shift, the fastest-growing group of users is over 50 ‐ and marijuana’s popularity among seniors is beginning to change the American experience of old age.
Why are more seniors getting high? It might make more sense to ask: "Why not?" As adults reach retirement, they age out of drug tests and have far more time on their hands. Some feel liberated to abandon long-held proprieties.
Elegant vape pens and other attractive, discreet products have helped de stigmatize the drug among older Americans. "Legalization seems to make non-users seem a little less scared of it, and perhaps less judgmental," says Jo, a 56-year-old cannabis user who preferred not to use her real name.
The seniors using cannabis today aren’t your parents’ grandparents. The generation that camped out at Woodstock is now in its seventies. They’ve been around grass long enough to realize it’s not going to kill them, and are more open to the possibility it will come with health benefits. (By contrast, in a survey of one, my 100-year-old grandmother recently said she had no interest in medical marijuana.)
Seniors’ affinity for weed is beginning to ripple across the US healthcare system. A 2016 study found that in states with access to medical marijuana, those using Medicare part D ‐ a benefit primarily for seniors ‐ received fewer prescriptions for other drugs to treat depression, anxiety, pain, and other chronic issues.
#2
At this point, why not?
It's like the ship's doctor in Martin Cruz Smith's "Polar Star", who thought that you should save drunkeness and smoking for maturity, because when the bad symptoms show up, it's too late anyway.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
01/15/2019 7:17
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#3
There are no 'do-overs' in life, only lists of things we'd rather not have seen by our grandchildren.
#5
I was given to understand it was CBD oil, which does not contain high-inducing THC, that has most of the medical properties. And that CBD is best used as a tincture or pill, not smoked.
#9
@ #5 IIUC, Oral CBD needs to be taken at a higher dose because it's filtered by (and in turn toxic to) the liver. Vaping bypasses the liver and so it can be taken at a much lower dose to achieve the same blood level. That's the extent of what seems to be known.
That being said, IDK if I buy all the CBD_as_cure-all hype. I dearly wish that it was true, but I'll rely on my skepticism and Stoicism for now.
[Rudaw] Arab families who moved to the northwest Syrian canton of Afrin after its fall to Ottoman Turkish-backed hard boyz last year are being granted official residency, angering Kurds who fear its Kurdish identity could be lost.
"After the people of Sharqiya region fled to liberated areas in the north, their identity cards were lost, they left them behind, or they were burnt due to shelling. They have no alternative papers," Anas al-Tabn, who supervises the registration of al-Bab’s displaced, told the pro-opposition newspaper Enab Baladi on Sunday.
A thousand Arab families have moved from Sharqia in al-Bab since Ottoman Turkish-backed Syrian militias took over Afrin in March 2018, the paper said.
"A large number of adults are without identity card. This complicates their affairs in terms of mobility and housing. The new marriages are not registered in the Sharia courts, and their children are not registered at any point," al-Tabn added.
Chieftains, or Mukhtars, have been appointed by local government to run the process since they have experience and are known by local people, the paper reports.
The newly-established office has the authority to issue or revoke IDs and marriage and birth certificates.
A lawyer from Afrin, who spoke to Rudaw on condition of anonymity, said the IDs are invalid, as Afrin is part of Syria and the regime has control over official documentation.
The scheme would only work if The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire.... ties Afrin to itself administratively, he said.
The process will change the demography of the region, he said. A larger Arab population is likely to form a majority in the city’s local council elections.
Human rights activists told Rudaw this will likely endanger the property rights of Afrin people who have fled the city. Their homes and businesses have been looted or occupied by newcomers.
They also warn that once the newcomers are registered, it will be difficult for the people of Afrin to return home.
Turkey and its Syrian opposition proxies seized Afrin in an offensive launched January 20, concluding with the capture of Afrin city on March 18. The stated aim of Operation Olive Branch was the removal of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) from the Ottoman Turkish border.
Ankara believes the YPG are tied to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) ‐ an gang fighting for greater cultural and political rights for Kurds in Turkey. President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey... is threatening to launch a fresh offensive against the YPG east of the Euphrates.
International observers and the Syrian regime condemned but failed to act against Turkey’s Afrin operation, which destabilized a relatively peaceful part of Syria. UN reports found Afrin suffered mass displacement, looting, and lawlessness as a result of the operation.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/15/2019
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[Rudaw] Two brothers from Kalar were handed a five year prison sentence on Sunday when a Sulaimani court found them guilty of communicating with Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) murderous Moslems over the internet.
According to a statement issued by the Garmiyan Asayish press office, the two convicted felons were jugged Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! in June 2018.
"The Kirkuk/Garmiyan Criminal Court on January 13, 2019, sentenced the two brothers to five years and one month in prison," the statement read.
The brothers were aged between 19 and 21.
When ISIS swept across large swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014, a large number of Death Eater Kurds in the Kurdistan Region pledged allegiance to the group.
According to some estimates, around 500 Kurds including women and teenagers joined the group, many of whom were killed during the battle to liberate ISIS held territory.
The Iraqi government declared the defeat of ISIS in Iraq in December 2017 after security forces, Peshmerga, and the US-led coalition succeeded in recapturing the major urban centers seized by holy warriors.
However, ars longa, vita brevis... a low level insurgency has continued across several provinces, particularly Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... Diyala, and Saladin, while ISIS remnants have exploited security gaps between Iraqi Army and Peshmerga lines.
ISIS and its fragments continue to operate in the Hamrin mountains close to Kalar.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/15/2019
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[Breitbart] The latest tracking poll from IBD/TIPP finds that "public disdain for Russia probe intensifies [as] Trump approval climbs." Some might say, he was one of the founding fathers of satirical irony, the late Gahan Wilson.
This nationwide survey of 903 adults finds that despite a government shutdown for which the anti-Trump media is blaming President Trump, the president’s job approval rating jumped two points above last month, from 40 percent to 42 percent, with 54 percent saying they disapprove.
Though 54 percent of the public disapproves of how Trump is doing his job, 51 percent agree that "the president’s opponents are using the ongoing special counsel investigation into alleged Trump-Russia collusion as a way to delegitimize the 2016 election."
#3
Trump has proved:
...that money doesn't actually win elections
...the left can't control the narrative and public opinion no matter how much time and money they throw at the effort
#4
How hard will the Democratic Party try to manufacture a "perjury trap" for Trump and his associates? Probably very, very hard. I would expect the crescendo to reach its peak next spring at the start of the 2-year election cycle.
Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) – A fighter of the pro-government Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) was killed Monday in an armed attack by Islamic State against a security checkpoint in the Iraqi province of Kirkuk, a security source was quoted as saying.
“IS militants attacked a security checkpoint run by the Popular Mobilization Forces in Brayati village, in northwestern Kirkuk,” the source told Alsumaria News TV channel, adding that a fighter of the PMF was killed in the attack.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, further said that a security force sealed off the incident site and carried the body to the forensic medicine department.
Popular Mobilization Forces, an alliance of volunteer Shia paramilitary forces, have actively backed the Iraqi government’s military campaign against IS since 2014, when they were formed upon a top Shia clergy edict to counter the Sunni Jihadist group.
PMF won official recognition as a national force late 2016, becoming under the command of the prime minister, who is also the supreme commander of the armed forces.
Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) – A police officer was killed Monday when an explosive charge went off in the oil-rich province of Kirkuk, the Iraqi federal police said.
“A policeman was martyred while on duty as an explosive charge exploded in Hawija district, southwest of Kirkuk,” Baghdad Today news website quoted the federal police as saying.
No further details were given about the bomb attack but the Islamic State (IS) militant group, in most cases, is responsible for attacks targeting crowded areas, including markets, cafes and mosques across Iraq.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/15/2019
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Anbar (IraqiNews.com) ‐ Iraqi security forces seized on Monday three hotbeds of Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group during a security campaign in Anbar province, a security source said.
"A security force from al-Jazeera Operations Command, backed by fighters of the Tribal Mobilization Forces, carried out a security campaign in northwestern Anbar, during which three Islamic State hideouts were found and destroyed," the source told Almaalomah news website.
The source added that the troops found a huge amount of ammunition and bombs in the hotbeds.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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[ABC7Chicago] Jake Thomas Patterson, 21, has been formally charged with two counts of intentional homicide, one charge of kidnapping and one count of burglary. Charging documents in Wisconsin typically contain at least a partial narrative of what happened at a crime scene, as prosecutors try to prove there's probable cause to support the allegations.
Some people are simply evil.
When found guilty, I can think of no more deserving candidate for Scaphism (the boats).
[Aljazeera] The United States has been "a highly unreliable partner" to Ankara as a result of inconsistencies in Washington's Syria policy, as well as its approach to Turkey and "terrorist" groups, a senior Turkish official told Al Jazeera.
"The problems and misunderstandings between the US and Turkey are results of the confusion and cacophony between the actors at different levels of the US administration and institutions," Yasin Aktay, who advises President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his AK Party, said on Monday in an interview.
Turkish and US officials have been trading barbs over Washington's support for Kurdish fighters in Syria and what will happen to the areas held by them in the north of the country after the planned US troop withdrawal.
Posted by: Besoeker ||
01/15/2019
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#3
Yeah, we're long-time partners and allies *cough*4th ID*cough*
Seems to me, as long as the Kurds can play nice in Syria, both the US and the Russians might have a common interest in a de facto 'Greater Kurdistan', both as a barrier and as an annoyance to the Turks.
[IsraelTimes] In interview with UK’s Sunday Times, outgoing army commander Gadi Eisenkot says Israel gave opposition groups light arms ’for self-defense’
Outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot this weekend acknowledged for the first time that Israel had indeed provided weaponry to Syrian rebel groups in the Golan Heights during the country’s seven-year civil war.
Until Sunday, Israel would say officially only that it had given humanitarian aid to Syrian opposition groups across the border, while denying or refusing to comment on reports that it had supplied them with arms as well.
Continued on Page 49
[Ynet] The leader of Iranian-backed Hezbollah hasn't been seen for over two months, prompting many to speculate about his health, which some say has been swiftly deteriorating.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah hasn't been seen in public for over two months, and has been surprisingly quiet about Israel's mission to destroy his attack tunnels, leading many in the Middle East to wonder if something has actually happened to the terror group’s leader.
During his last public speech on November 10, Nasrallah warned Israel that Hezbollah would attack the Jewish state "with all its might" if the IDF were to attack the Iran-backed organization, yet hasn’t said a word since the Israeli military launched Operation Northern Shield, meant to locate and neutralize the terror tunnels constructed along the Israel-Leb border, over a month a half ago.
The 59-year-old Nasrallah also didn’t comment on the Israeli strikes on Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria over the recent weeks, nor did he express his opinion on the planned withdrawal of US troops from the war-battered country.
Even amid an unrest on the domestic front, Nasrallah has remained silent. Hezbollah is currently locked in a political battle with Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri, who has been struggling to form a new government for over six months due to the Shi’ite organization’s insistence for one of its politicians to get a cabinet position.
Over the weekend, Sweden-based Lebanese journalist Jerry Maher said that Nasrallah, who reportedly underwent cancer treatment back in 2013, was hospitalized in Beirut after allegedly suffering a heart attack. Maher, a long-time Hezbollah critic, is known for having close ties to Western intelligence agencies.
In the meantime, Iran's al-Kalima news website, affiliated with the Iranian opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh‐who has been under house arrest for the past 10 years‐reported that Nasrallah has secretly flown to the Islamic Theocratic Republic due to the flare-up of his alleged cancer. The news site added that following his spell in the hospital, "Nasrallah held diplomatic meetings with the top security and political ranks in Tehran." The site had to delete the report hours later, without providing a reason.
It is not clear whether Nasrallah is indeed ill, but if he was healthy, he would most certainly have come out publicly to mock all those spreading malicious rumors about him. So far, however, there hasn’t been a single sighting of the 59-year-old and not a word about his condition on the Lebanese media, which only raises even more questions.
Posted by: Chris ||
01/15/2019 6:48
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#2
a dead Nasrallah would result in a succession conflict probably ending in a month or so
a terminally sick Nasrallah, as his condition becomes more known, would be degrade moral over time in the Hezbollah military
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/15/2019 13:16
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#3
Oh well. He'll be forgotten soon. After all...what's there to remember? Just another bewhiskered and carefully manicured dinosaur in the age of mammals who spent a significant portion of his forgettable existence in front of the mirror daily before press conferences.
Posted by: Roger Smith ||
01/15/2019 14:03
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[WSJ] An aide to President Obama boasted to the New York Times about lying and manipulating the media to sell the administration’s Iran policy. Mr. Obama himself proselytized for his health-care plan by saying that, despite mandatory requirements that outlawed millions of individual health plans, you’d be able to keep your existing plan. Nor is there the slightest ambiguity now: His administration deliberately lied to the American people about the origins of the 2012 terrorist attack on a U.S. consulate in Libya.
We could go on. Candidate Obama, in a formal address, explained that Detroit’s financial troubles were due to its large, gas-guzzling cars. This was ridiculous. Businesses fail because of products that don’t make money, not the ones that do. But smart pols know which fibs the media will applaud.
Lying is the other mother’s milk of politics. Political leaders are always making less-than-optimal decisions. They act within political constraints. They are often less concerned with the thing itself than how it might affect the next election or progress on some unrelated priority.
Continued on Page 49
[ELUNIVERSAL] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund.... said on Monday it was not "intimidated" by Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... 's "threats" to "devastate" the Ottoman Turkish economy in the event of Ankara's attack on Kurdish militias backed by Washington in Syria following the announced US withdrawal this country.
"We will not be intimidated by any threat, economic threats do not lead to anything," Ottoman Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in reaction to Trump's warnings , AFP quoted.
This harsh warning from the White House tenant comes when Turkey has been threatening for several weeks to launch a new offensive against the People's Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish gang that Ankara considers "terrorist" but which is supported by Washington. in its fight against the jihadist organization Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS).
Trump warned on Sunday on Twitter that if this attack against the Kurdish forces occurred after the US withdrawal from Syria, the United States would "devastate Turkey economically."
However, it was a brave man who first ate an oyster... the US president on the other hand made a call to the Kurds not to "provoke" Ankara.
"STRATEGIC ALLIES"
In addition to rejecting any "intimidation", the Ottoman Turkish minister, at a presser in Ankara, said that two "strategic allies should not talk on Twitter" and that "our (communication) channels are open."
The United States and Turkey are allies as member countries of NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... . Cavusoglu added however that his country is not against a "security zone" between the Ottoman Turkish border and the positions in neighboring Syria of Syrian Kurdish fighters, an idea raised by Trump on Twitter.
The YPG constitute one of the main points of discord between Turkey and the United States. Indeed, the Ottoman Turkish government had assured this Monday that it would continue its fight against the Kurdish militia, despite the warnings of Trump.
Ottoman Turkish presidential front man Ibrahim Kalin said on Twitter that there was "no difference" between ISIS and the YPG militia and emphasized that he would continue to "fight against all of them."
Trump had announced in December that he would withdraw the 2,000 US troops deployed in Syria, raising concerns about the future of Syrian Kurdish fighters.
Turkey fears that the Syrian Kurds will try to create at the gates of their territory an embryo of Kurdish state capable of stoking the aspirations of the Kurdish separatists in Turkey.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2019
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#1
"not intimidated"? Erdogan was almost immediately on the phone to Washington. In his conversation with the President he showed a willingness to downplay his usual mouthiness. He is aware that there are US military leaders aching to take the Ikhwan leader down a peg.
[AmericanGrit] Gotta love these scientific studies sometimes. The study is important don't get our sarcasm wrong here, it just went on to prove what many of us already knew. It was one of those studies that smack you repeatedly in the face with a "duh doy" kind of attitude. The Department of Justice conducted the study and we bet it pains them greatly to publish the study which proves what gun rights advocates have been saying for decades.
Criminals don't get their guns legally. Duh. No shit. Of course. Well, obviously. Thank you, Captain Obvious. We could go on but for the sake of filling you guys in, we'll move on.
Forty-three percent of criminals acquired their guns through the "black market". Hmmm you mean someone who wants a gun will find a way to get one legally or illegally? Craaaazy. The study went on to say that only six percent acquired their guns from theft, meaning guns are secure in the hands of law-abiding citizens and often their guns don't get stolen.
Not really seeing where law-abiding gun owners are the problem here.
Ten percent were able to acquire the guns from a retail store and that's to be expected when you have someone with no record who is intent on committing their first crime. Hard to stop them, however, only .8 percent were able to purchase their guns at a gun show.
So much for that gun show loophole folks are always talking about.
43% Black Market/Illegal source (Obviously Illegal)
15% Got from family or friends (Illegal)
12% Guns were brought to the crime scene by someone else. (Illegal)
11% Someone bought the gun for them (Illegal)
10% Retail Source (Legal)
6% Theft (Illegal)
.8% Gun Shows (Legal)
If anything. This study shows that it isn't law abiding citizens, rather it's people who choose to acquire the firearm through a number of illicit means, like stealing or through enablers who provide the gun to the criminal.
The world is not perfect, that is certain, however, it is made safer by law-abiding citizens with their guns. Given that most guns used in crimes are acquired through less than legal means, it gives us a solid reason to continue to fight for our rights to carry weapons for self-defense and well you know…that other tyrannical reason. It is never about safety. It is always about control. If they can take most guns, they can control how you respond to tyranny.
[PJ] Familiarity, it is said, breeds contempt. It also breeds indifference. For almost three years now, the intelligence services and police apparatus of the deep state have worked tirelessly to undermine Donald Trump. Beginning sometime in the late winter of 2016, when Trump’s presidential campaign was showing unexpected signs of strength, John Brennan‐the Communist-voting apparatchik turned media mouthpiece whom it pleased Barack Obama to appoint as director of the CIA‐began ringing alarm bells about Trump’s possible relations with the Kremlin. His concern was based on two things. One was a report, spurious as it turned out, about "contacts between Russian officials and U.S. persons that raised concerns in my mind about whether or not those individuals were cooperating with the Russians." The other was that brittle sense of entitlement, fired by paranoia, that membership in the higher echelons of the deep state’s nomenklatura breeds.
Brennan convened a "working group" at CIA headquarters that included Peter Strzok, the disgraced FBI agent who was head of counter-intelligence, and James Clapper, then director of national intelligence (now, like Brennan, another mouthpiece for the left-wing media), in order to stymie Trump’s campaign. It was Brennan, too, who first alerted James Comey, the disgraced former director of the F.B.I., to the fantasy of possible "collusion" between the Trump Campaign and "the Russians."
Then came the infamous "Steele Dossier," the agglomeration of malicious gossip about Trump that was surreptitiously commissioned by and paid for by the Clinton campaign and the DNC. This fantastical piece of "opposition research" was essentially the sole warrant for opening secret FISA investigations against Carter Page, a low-level Trump campaign advisor, and others.
All this provided sensational pabulum for the anti-Trump press, who spent countless hours peeling back the complex, hypertrophied onion that the CIA, the FBI, and various figures within the Obama administration had built up to destroy the candidacy of Donald Trump without quite seeming to target Trump himself.
[ELUNIVERSAL] Italian extreme leftist Cesare Battisti, captured on Saturday in Santa Cruz de La Sierra, was handed over to the Italian authorities in that eastern Bolivian city on Sunday to be transferred directly to Italia where He is convicted of homicides during violent actions in the 1970s.
Battisti, 64, was a runaway from last month when he fled Brazil, where he had initially found refuge under the government of leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva , AFP said.
"This Italian subject, will be delivered by Interpol Bolivia to Interpol Italia to be transferred on a flight sent by the authorities of Italia," Bolivian Interior Minister Carlos Romero announced at a presser earlier this year at the Interpol headquarters. in Santa Cruz, confirming an announcement from Rome.
The head of the Italian Government, Giuseppe Conte, had advanced it shortly before, after having a telephone conversation with the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro.
The plane with police and members of the secret services that the Italian Government sent on the same Sunday to go to find Battisti landed in Santa Cruz shortly after 3:00 pm local (19H00 GMT), the AFP found.
A PUZZLE FOR MORALES
A Bolivian government source had confirmed Sunday his capture by police on a street in Santa Cruz.
Battisti, 64, was nabbed You have the right to remain silent... on Saturday at 6:50 pm local with "alcoholic breath," said the Bolivian source close to the investigation.
The Italian was in possession of Brazilian documentation, cell phone and credit card in his name. Since then he has been detained in Interpol premises in Santa Cruz.
Throughout Sunday, the Battisti case was the subject of an intense game of political, judicial and diplomatic ping-pong between Rome, La Paz and Brasilia at the time of defining their fate.
Brazilian Institutional Security Cabinet Minister Augusto Heleno had assured hours ago that, before being sent to Italia, Battisti would make a stop in Brazil.
There, the far-right Bolsonaro government had promised to return it as a "gift" to Italia - where conservatives also rule - ending an era of affinity between leftist governments and activists responsible for acts of violence during the "years of lead "of the cold war.
"THE PICNIC IS OVER"
Deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of the Brazilian head of state, tweeted on Sunday that "Brazil is no longer a land of bandidos."
"The 'little gift' is coming," he exulted. "My first thought is for the victims of this murderer ... protected by the lefts of half the planet." The picnic is over, "Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini tweeted.
"Justice will finally be done for the victims of terrorism," former Italian government chief Paolo Gentiloni reacted more soberly.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/15/2019 9:40
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#7
I was totally wrong! He actually raised it from 9000 Bolivares to 35000 Bolivares. This is a raise from 3 US$ to 12 US$.
Tomorrow is another day, of course. Better splurge today.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/15/2019 10:15
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#8
All the people fleeing Maduro's marxist policies should lower the density of population and thus allow some deflationary effect.
Unfortunately it was generally the most market-productive people who escaped, thus lowering the productivity for the economy more that even their (high) numbers would suggest, as workers create wealth they create employment pressure.
In short the government is spending vastly more than it can extort.
[ToloNews] Mullah Husain, a key member of Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... , was killed in a night raid conducted by Afghan forces in Qarabah district in Kabul on Sunday night, Qarabagh District Governor Mohammad Hanif Sediqi said on Monday.
The operation was launched in Sabzrang village in Qarabagh district, he said.
"Mullah Husain was involved in several attacks on security forces’ convoy in Kabul-north highway," he said.
He did not provide further details about the operation.
[ToloNews] Officials from 207 Zafar Military Corps in the west of Afghanistan on Monday said a number of soldiers from the territorial army will soon start a mission there.
According to the military corps officials, 300 soldiers from the territorial army have finished three-months' training under the instruction of Afghan and foreign trainers and soon they will be stationed in their areas to defend the people and country against the myrmidons.
Major General Noorullah Qaderi, commander of 207 Zafar Military Corps, said the newly-trained soldiers will be stationed in a number of districts of western Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... and Ghor provinces and as they are familiar with their regions, will play a very effective role in maintaining security in those areas.
"You are familiar with the landscape and know about the areas. Also, people are with you and if you want to gain people’s support, many people will support you," said Qaderi to the soldiers.
"The situation will change one hundred percent. The reason is that they are from those areas and they are familiar with the landscape. They will use all their abilities to support government forces," Mohammad Haseb Akhundzada, commander of the 1st regiment of the military corps said.
Military officials said these soldiers have undertaken extensive training and are able to suppress Taliban ...Arabic for students... "They have received general information about mines, unwent kaboom! devices, practical works and leadership taught by foreign advisors and after completing the training, they received graduation certificates," Colonel Nazir Ahmad, commander of the training battalion of 207 Zafar Military Corps said.
The territorial army soldiers meanwhile said, after starting their mission, they will not let Taliban infiltrate or be stationed in their areas.
"For defending my people, I am ready to fight to the last drop of my blood," Mohammad Osman, a soldier said.
"I joined the territorial army to serve my people. We want the enemy to join in the grinding of the peace processor, otherwise they will be eradicated," Mohammad Asif, another soldier said.
"We will eradicate the enemy. We promise the people that we will fight the enemy to the last drop of our blood," Amir Mohammad, a solider said.
The territorial army was formed after an order issued by President Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. last year.
Ministry of Defense at the time said, based on the president's order, over 36,000 soldiers would be recruited for territorial army.
Ministry of Interior also said that the territorial army would be similar to Afghan local police.
[Al Jazeera] Ottoman Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey... and his American counterpart Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... have spoken over phone on the fate of Kurdish fighters that has triggered a war of words between the two NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... allies.
Erdogan told Trump during Monday's conversation that he has no problem with the Kurds in Syria and that Ankara is only seeking to fight gangs in the war-ravaged country which threaten its national security.
The Ottoman Turkish leader discussed the planned US troop withdrawal from Syria and the establishment of a secure zone in northern Syria free of gangs, a statement from the Ottoman Turkish presidency said.
Erdogan has taken a strong exception to the Trump administration's dictates on Kurdish fighters especially US concerns on the safety of its Kurdish allies, who helped Washington in its fight against the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS, also known as ISIS).
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement: "The president expressed the desire to work together to address The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's security concerns in northeast Syria while stressing the importance to the United States that Turkey does not mistreat the Kurds and other Syrian Democratic Forces with whom we have fought to defeat ISIS."
According to the White House, Joint Chiefs Chairman Joseph Dunford is set to meet with his Ottoman Turkish counterpart Yasar Guler on Tuesday for further consultations.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2019
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#2
Erdogan told Trump during Monday's conversation that he has no problem with the Kurds in Syria and that Ankara is only seeking to fight gangs in the war-ravaged country which threaten its national security.
"and which ones are in the gangs?"
"All of them"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/15/2019 9:25
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Here's an interesting perspective from a once powerful European media baron, that is no less interesting because he is a Canadian* ...and if you know nothing about the EU, his one-two paragraph apothegm is ALL you need to know about it.
[National Post] Almost indiscernible in the endless tumult about President Donald Trump is the objective return of American might, right on our doorstep. A casual sampler of the Canadian, and even the American, media, might think that the United States was so far along in its decline that the entire process of government and normal public discourse had broken down in that country, and that the much-discussed process of national decline was accelerating in a climate of virtual chaos.
In fact, the economy of the United States is astoundingly strong: full employment, an expanding work force, negligible inflation and about three per cent economic growth. And it is a broad economic recovery, not based on service industries as in the United Kingdom (where London handles most of Europe’s financial industry, while most of British industry has fled), and not based largely on the fluctuating resources markets as has often been Canada’s experience. In the eight years of president Obama, the United States lost 219,000 manufacturing jobs; in the two years of Trump, the country has added 477,000 manufacturing jobs. This was not supposed to be possible, and this time, unlike in the great Reagan boom, it cannot be dismissed by the left (and it was false in the eighties) as a profusion of "hamburger flippers, dry cleaners and people delivering pizza," (all necessary occupations).
It is clear that China is feeling the heat of American tariffs. Their magnificent hypocrisy of gamboling in a $360-billion trade surplus with the United States while extorting technology from American companies and reducing American high-tech giants like Apple and Google to snivelling on China’s behalf when their sales in that country are reduced, and all the while leading G-77 in cupped-hands requests for relief from the economically most advanced countries for their pollution of the world environment (although China is the world’s greatest polluter), all of it is ending. The United States will not be the world’s premier chump anymore. The most enthusiastic support the United States is receiving in its trade stance with China is from China’s neighbours, from India to Japan. Of course China is the world’s second-greatest power and must be treated with respect, but that does not mean the shameless grovelling of Trump’s predecessors, paying court to Beijing like lackeys kowtowing to the emperors of the Middle Kingdom.
[Libya Observer] The Libyan Foreign Ministry of the Presidential Council has called for explanation by the Lebanese authorities for the desecration of the Libyan flag and the threats against Libyan delegation which was supposed to visit Beirut for the Arab Summit for Economic and Social Development.
The Foreign Ministry urged in a statement Monday the 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... to take a clear stance regarding the Lebanese conduct, expressing dismay at the disrespectful acts by Leb, which made Libya boycott the summit.
"The Lebanese president Michel Aoun ...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... ... invited the Head of the Presidential Council Fayez al-Sirraj to attend the summit and he accepted." The statement said.
The statement also voiced utmost rejection to the desecration of the Libyan flag and other acts by protesters and representatives of the Shiite Amal Movement.
"We have found the contradictory statements of the Lebanese officials very strange regarding the participation of the Libyan delegation at the summit, not to mention the lack of preparations for the reception of the delegation if arrived." The statement adds.
A video posted on YouTube on Sunday showed a group of Shiite protesters taking down the Libyan flag from the street, ripping it up and replacing it with the flag of AMAL Movement, a Lebanese political party associated with Leb's Shia community.
The protesters threatened a day earlier to stage nationwide protests to close the airport in a bid to prevent the Libyan delegation from taking part in the summit.
The summit is scheduled to be held in Beirut on Jan. 19-20, but Nabih Knobby Berri Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, a member of AMAL, a not very subtle Hizbullah sock puppet... , who heads AMAL Movement, is rejecting to invite Libya because of the disappearance of Shiite holy man and founder of the movement Moussa al-Sadr in Libya in 1978.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2019
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[ELUNIVERSAL] The Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela considers it necessary to inform the Venezuelan people and the international community that the onslaught of a group of satellite governments subordinated to the US imperialist plans continues, fueling the obsessive objective of setting in motion a destabilizing plot. against the legitimate Venezuelan democratic institutionality.
In this way, the governments of Argentina ...a country located on the other side of the Deep South. It is covered with Pampers and inhabited by Grouchos, who dance the Tangle. They used to have some islands called the Malvinas located where the Falklands are now. They're not supposed to cry for Evita... , Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay and Peru have been marching and countermarches through statements and statements in which one day they say and the next they contradict , in relation to its peculiar interpretations of the Venezuelan legal system, pretending to illegally assume the power to determine the legitimacy of the Venezuelan institutions.
Beyond the absurdity of this procedure and its unusual lack of rigor and adherence to international law, it is an object of concern that these hesitant behaviors are the response to the reprimands they have received from the US government for having offered the rectification required by the Constitutional President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Moros.
The governments concerned act by lending their voices to the nefarious chorus that their leader is directing to trigger situations of internal political instability that justify the foreign intervention that the US warmongering factors have been announcing without flushing.
But in spite of its nefarious intentions, in Venezuela the constitutional institutionality is in force through the operation of all its public powers, each one in its place, according to the mandate of the Constitution and not of the caprice of these satellite governments, for which, The Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela will continue to analyze in detail the hostile attitudes of these governments and will be able to take decisions that guarantee the protection of the State and its institutions, in defense of the Republic and national illusory sovereignty, under the unwavering precept of its sole principal: the Bolivarian Constitution of 1999.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
"Immanentize the eschaton! Do you have any toilet paper?"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/15/2019 7:14
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#2
Toilet paper? Use Bolivares. They are cheaper. (Dirtier, too, I guess).
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/15/2019 14:31
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[Hot Air] There’s no pressing question in American politics to which the answer is "John Kasich."
Except "Which anti-Trump Republican is the most likely to sign up with a left-friendly cable news network to bitch about the president all day?"
Maybe also, “Which Republican would pose the weakest primary challenge to Trump?”
Seriously, America. One Ana Navarro is enough.
Republican John Kasich, who is thinking about running for president in 2020, is likely to announce as soon as this week that he will join a major cable news network, CNBC has learned.
Kasich has signaled to close advisors and some donors that he is looking to sign with either CNN or MSNBC as he finishes his two-term tenure as Ohio’s governor, according to three people with knowledge of the conversations, including two who have been close to the governor since his 2016 presidential run.
These people would not say the role Kasich will play at a network, only to say that he’s ruled out joining Fox News Channel. Kasich hosted his own show on Fox News for several years in the 2000s.
If you’re thinking hard about an independent run for president in 2020, what’s the easiest way to start introducing yourself to voters early and often? Right. Gotta get a toehold in cable news, if only for a little balance in case they decided to become “Trump’s accomplice” again in 2020. But Kasich also wants to be there as the Mueller findings unspool to make the case that America can and must do better. He’ll have an opportunity to push his anti-Trump message every day now to a national audience as the campaign heats up, and to be paid for the privilege.
#5
The plan is to decouple the concept of conservatism from the GOPe brand. Never mind that the definition of conservative in the political sense was long ago subverted into meaninglessness.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/15/2019 13:18
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#6
Run, John, run! Trump could use a warmup piñata before the general election.
Geisha Williams is stepping down as the CEO of PG&E Corp., the largest utility in the U.S., while potential liability over recent California wildfires drives the company into bankruptcy.
PG&E announced Williams’s departure Sunday and its plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy a day later. Investigators found that the power utility had caused 17 major wildfires in 2017, and evidence suggests the company may be responsible for others in 2018 as well. (common stock down about 50% today at posting time)
Wild fires because they didn't trim trees near powerlines!
Oh, nobody noticed the overgrowth? Good luck reading and functioning by candlelight. Your power grid days may be over.
Posted by: lord garth ||
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#1
As the company value, because of past and future liability claims, declines into Junk Bond territory -- who would buy it? The Chinese?
#2
Geisha Williams
Born Geisha J. Jimenez
1961/1962 (age 56–57) Cuba
Nationality American
Alma mater University of Miami
Nova Southeastern University
Occupation Businesswoman
Title Former CEO, Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Term March 2017 - January 2019 Salary $8,597,220 (2017)[1]
Our elites are worth every penny. How many tree trimmers could have been hired for $8.6 million?
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/15/2019 6:59
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Wild fires because they didn't trim trees near powerlines!
And pay attention to the documented (yes, it was) damaged/missing high-wire support saddles, cracked/bent insulators and bent/broken lattice spreaders on the aerial pylons in the canyon where the cables came down.
The lack of the above maintenance corrections would have allowed the heavy high-voltage cables more flexibility to whip around in the wind with forces beyond what the structures were designed to handle. Kinetic energy and all that icky science stuff.
A 200-foot clear cut under the lines would have been good too, but any sparks on a windy day travel a long way.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/15/2019 8:38
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#5
This is a good example of when white collar workers should be held responsible for criminal charges.
A few years in stir for ol' Geisha and maybe some others might start paying attention to their responsibilities rather than just their pay check or politics.
[Al Jazeera] An explosion has rocked the Afghan capital, Kabul, killing at least four people and wounding scores of others, the country's health ministry has said.
The 93 people injured in the blast on Monday in eastern Kabul included 24 children, Afghanistan's Public Health Ministry spokesperson Wahidullah Mayar said in a Tweet.
The explosion took place when a bomb-laden car blew up outside a high-security compound that is home to several international companies and charities, security officials told the Reuters news agency.
"Most of the victims were civilians," said Interior Ministry spokesperson Najib Danish.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.
"The area is cordoned off ... and search operation under way for suspects and attackers," he said.
Local Afghan news website Tolo News posted footage on Twitter which appeared to show ambulances returning from the scene of the explosion.
[KhaamaPress] At least 27 Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... and ISIS Khurasan (ISIS-K) murderous Moslems have been killed during the separate operations conducted by the Afghan and coalition forces in the past 24 hours.
According to the informed military sources, two coalition air strikes in Dahanah-ye Ghori and Baghlan-e Jadid districts of Baghlan province left at least 11 Taliban fighters dead.
The sources further added that the Afghan Special Operations Forces conducted a clearance operation in Achin district of Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province, killing 5 ISIS-K fighters and destroying a weapons cache.
A coalition air strike in Darah-ye Pech district killing 2 Taliban fighters, the sources said, adding that an Afghan Special Operations Forces operation killed 5 Taliban fighters and destroyed a large weapons cache in Paktika ...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo... At least four Talibs were killed during the separate operations of the Afghan and coalition forces in Tarinkot of Uruzgan and Kandahar provinces, the sources added.
[BBC] Robert Lloyd Schellenberg was given a 15-year jail term in November but, on Monday, a court said the sentence for drug smuggling was too lenient.
The ruling is likely to worsen a diplomatic row between the countries.
"It is a horrific, unfortunate, heartbreaking situation," his aunt, Lauri Nelson-Jones, told the BBC via email.
"It is our worst case fear confirmed," she added. "It is rather unimaginable what he must be feeling and thinking."
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the ruling.
"It is of extreme concern to us as a government, as it should be to all our international friends and allies, that China has chosen to begin to arbitrarily apply the death penalty," he said in a statement.
#2
But it's OK for China to send their fentanyl to us.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/15/2019 15:05
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#3
For a member of the tribe, this was either desperate or really, really stupid. Either way, his membership needs to be revoked - it's a disgrace he never thought such an outcome was possible.
#4
Nothing to do with drug smuggling. It's all about China showing who the big dog is after Canada snatched up that chick from Huwei for the Americans.
#5
Nothing to do with drug smuggling. It's all about China showing who the big dog is after Canada snatched up that chick from Huwei for the Americans.
Not really. That would involve ramping up tariffs on Canadian exports to China. This is a fairly routine drug sentence appeal that went against the defendant, as appeals often do in China. What's not understood is that China's appeals process figuratively resembles Russian r0ulette. You could get a better sentence or even exonerated. Or you could lose your head. In that respect, it is very traditionally Chinese - government appointees are basically demi-gods (as opposed to the living gods who rule China).
#6
Nothing to do with drug smuggling. It's all about China showing who the big dog is after Canada snatched up that chick from Huwei for the Americans.
The *draconian* appeals process is another reason why the rate of wrongful convictions there is probably extremely high. An appeal carries with it the potential for a penal sentence to be converted to a death sentence, potentially carried out within a year. Given the wide variety of non-homicide-related offenses in China that are eligible for the death penalty, it's a wonder that anything other than a death sentence is ever appealed. When government officials are demi-gods, this is the kind of justice system they get.
#7
I don't doubt the Chinese justice system is messed up from a Western point of view, but this guy isn't the first Canadian to have legal problems in China since the Canadians arrested Meng Wanzhou back in December. Once is an accident, twice co-incidence and all that.
#8
I don't doubt the Chinese justice system is messed up from a Western point of view, but this guy isn't the first Canadian to have legal problems in China since the Canadians arrested Meng Wanzhou back in December. Once is an accident, twice co-incidence and all that.
This MOT was first sentenced in November, before the Huawei case. Appeals in China are really, really Mickey Mouse affairs, which is why it was conducted just 2 months after initial sentencing. This moron drew the short straw. It would be nice to see this sleazy Huawei c-word get the needle, but even if we handed down death sentences for economic crimes, which we don't, the Canadians would not extradite a suspect in a case where the death penalty might be handed down without DOJ assurances that it would not be imposed.
[IsraelTimes] The head of a jihadist group dominated by members of the former al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria voices support for The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund.... ’s plans to attack Kurdish forces.
Turkey has for weeks threatened to launch a vast cross-border offensive against the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which controls most of northeastern Syria. Ankara considers the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to be a terrorist organization.
The head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, does not offer direct military support, but makes it clear that he supports the YPG’s removal from eastern Syria, where it has been battling the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) group.
"We consider the PKK to be an enemy of this revolution. It controls areas inhabited by large numbers of Sunni Arabs," he told the HTS-affiliated Amjad media outlet, referring to the YPG.
The YPG extended its influence beyond Kurdish heartlands in northeastern Syria, when it took the lead role in the US-backed ground battle against IS.
[Breitbart] John Dowd, a former personal attorney representing President Donald Trump in the Russia investigation, said the FBI probe into whether the president was a Kremlin asset shows there is an ongoing "coup" against him by top federal law enforcement officials.
Commenter 'NationalCapitalist' writes:
NationalCapitalist • 6 hours ago
Of course they all didn't believe the false Russian conspiracy; this whole witch hunt's purpose was to use unrestricted, un-Constitutional powers to dig into every facet of Trump's life and the lives of his associates for opposition research for 2020. A loyal deep stater running an investigation full of Democrat loyalists was going to build a massive information warchest for the 2020 Democrat nominee to use. This whole thing isn't just pathetic, it's a perversion of justice indicative of the typical leftist mantra "One set of laws for me, one set of iron clad rules for you to live under".
[REUTERS] Pawel Adamowicz, the liberal mayor of the Polish city of Gdansk, died on Monday of his wounds a day after being stabbed by a former convict who rushed the stage during one of Poland’s biggest annual charity events.
Thousands of people gathered in Polish cities to mourn the death of Adamowicz, who had been mayor of Gdansk for 20 years and espoused liberal causes including giving refuge to migrants colonists colonists at odds with Poland’s conservative nationalist government.
"We couldn’t win," Health Minister Lukasz Szumowski told news hounds via private broadcaster TVN. Doctors had operated on Adamowicz for five hours, the state news agency PAP said.
Polish officials said the day of Adamowicz’s funeral would be a national day of mourning.
TV footage showed thousands turning out for commemorative vigils, including in Gdansk, fount of the 1980s Solidarity movement that was instrumental in bringing an end to Communist rule, as well as Poznan and the capital Warsaw.
The attacker was identified by Polish authorities as a 27-year-old named Stefan, who was released last month from prison where he had served 5-1/2 years for a 2014 conviction for attempted bank robbery. His full name has so far been withheld.
PAP said without citing a source that the man has been treated in prison hospital previously for schizophrenia.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[RADIOSHABELLE] At least two people, including a child, were reported to have been maimed in a boom-mobilekaboom in Mogadishu, the Somali capital on Monday evening.
A witness told Radio Shabelle that the blast was caused by an explosive-laden parked outside the Village Restaurant located near Benadir junction in the capital.
The maimed have been immediately taken to a hospital for treatment by the local ambulances. Their injuries are not life-threatening, medics said.
No group has so far grabbed credit for the boom-mobileings, but, such attacks in the city often blamed on Al-Shabaab ... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia... , an al-Qaeda-linked group fighting the Somali government.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] Gary Oliva, 54, has long been a suspect in the murder of JonBenét Ramsey, whose body was found at her home in Boulder, Colorado on December 26, 1996
In letters to high school classmate Michael Vail obtained by DailyMailTV, Oliva claims he killed JonBenét by accident
'I let her slip and her head bashed in half and I watched her die. It was an accident,' he wrote from Limon Correctional Facility, Colorado
Oliva is serving a 10-year-sentence for possessing child pornography
When Oliva was arrested in 2016, police discovered he had 335 photos of JonBenét including photos from the six-year-old's autopsy
Vail, 55, of Ventura, California, has urged police to charge Oliva for JonBenét's death since Oliva is due for parole in 2020
Chillingly, Vail tells DailyMailTV that on December 26, 1996 Oliva told him: 'I hurt a little girl'
Investigators believe several men were involved in JonBenét's death and Vail hopes Oliva will identify them
The incriminating letters have been presented to Boulder police and murder case investigators are now looking through the new information
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[IsraelTimes] Paleostinian officials say scuffles have broken out on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City after guards at the mosque refused to allow an Israeli policeman to enter for a routine security check because he was wearing a Jewish skullcap.
Firas Dibs, a front man for the Islamic authority that oversees the site, says scuffles erupted between dozens of worshipers and police after the guards closed the doors to the mosque and barricaded themselves inside. He says the director of the mosque was lightly maimed.
One does wonder if these are the guards Hamas trained with their own money and personnel.
[IsraelTimes] Tehran is preparing to launch a satellite into orbit from its Imam Khomenei Spaceport in northern Iran, an Israeli satellite imagery firm says, citing photographic evidence of the area.
Israel and the United States, among others, are concerned that Iran’s space program could be used to further develop the Islamic Theocratic Republic’s ballistic missile program.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced earlier this month that Iran would be launching two satellites into space "using our domestically made rockets."
According to the Israeli satellite imagery analysis firm ImageSat International, this appears to be imminent, as large numbers of personnel have arrived at the Khomenei Spaceport in recent days and the launch site has been prepared for use.
"ISI satellite imagery reveals that the launch preparation process is in its final stages," the firm says.
Images provided by the company show trucks and private vehicles around the spaceport.
"It is our assessment that the missile that will carry the satellite is already in a construction site, and that checks are being performed on it and on the launcher," ISI says.
[IsraelTimes] A senior US official says the US will step up efforts to counter Iran’s "dangerous activities" around the region including the financing and activities of proxy organizations such as Leb’s Hezbollah.
Referring to the Iran-backed group, US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale also says it is "unacceptable" to have a militia outside the control of the state and unanswerable to the people of Leb, digging attack tunnels into Israel and threatening regional stability.
A former US ambassador to Leb, Hale makes the remarks after meetings with Lebanese officials.
He also reiterates that the US will be bringing American troops home from Syria but says America remains committed to ensure the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group remains unable to remerge.
[KhaamaPress] The Afghan Air Force bombed a gathering of Talibs in northern Faryab province of Afghanistan leaving at least 11 bully boyz dead.
The 209th Shaheen Corps of the Afghan Military in a statement said the Arclight airstrike was carried out at around 4:40pm local time in Badghesi Village of Khawajah Sabz Posh district.
The statement further added that the airstrike on Taliban ...Arabic for students... gathering followed a day after a senior Taliban Überstürmbannführer Qari Tajuddin was killed with his 20 fighters in the same district.
According to 209th Shaheen Corps, at least 14 bully boyz had also sustained injuries and 12 others were tossed in the calaboose Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! during the operation on Saturday.
The anti-government armed bully boyz including Taliban have not commented regarding the killing of the bully boyz in Badghesi Village so far.
Faryab is among the relatively volatile provinces in North of Afghanistan where Talibs are actively operating in some of its districts and often attempt to carry out attacks against the government and security institutions.
[APNEWS] The Russian republic of Chechnya has launched a new crackdown on gays in which at least two people have died and about 40 people have been detained, LGBT activists in Russia charged Monday.
The new allegations come after reports in 2017 of more than 100 gay men tossed in the calaboose Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! and subjected to torture, and some of them killed, in the predominantly Moslem region in southern Russia.
The News Agency that Dare Not be Named and other media outlets have interviewed some of the victims, who spoke about torture at the hands of Chechen law enforcement officers. Chechen authorities have denied those accusations, and federal authorities conducted a probe into the earlier reports but said they found nothing to support the charges.
Alvi Karimov, a front man for Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, told the Interfax news agency on Monday that the latest reports are "complete lies and don’t have an ounce of truth in them." Karimov insisted that no one has been detained in Chechnya on suspicion of being gay.
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[Bangkok Post] An eight-year-old girl and a volunteer ranger were injured while two militants were killed in a clash between security forces and insurgents near a hideout in Yaring district yesterday morning.
More than 100 security officers surrounded a house at 5am following a tip-off that rebels involved in Thursday's deadly shooting at Ban Pukoh School in Yaring were hiding there. The two sides exchanged gunfire for more than five hours.
Two militants were found dead inside the house. The dead men were identified as Abdulloh Samae, who was wanted on six arrest warrants, and Abdulloh Jehlong who is believed to have been wounded in an earlier clash with authorities on Thursday in which four defense volunteers were killed.
Military spokesman Pramote Promin said the clash took place as authorities were looking into a tip-off related to the school shooting. He said during the siege the suspects opened fire on authorities. Islamic leaders and local figures were called in to persuade the two to surrender but they refused.
[Al Jazeera] Hashem* says he locked the doors, drew the shutters, and hid in his house with his family. He feared being spotted by fighters from the former al-Qaeda-linked group, Hay'et Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), in Syria's Aleppo province.
"They came in and started shooting everywhere," said Hashem, a father of two in al-Atareb in Western Aleppo. "We are very, very afraid. They will kill us all."
HTS took over Hashem's town on Sunday as it continued its expansion campaign from Idlib - which it already dominates - into surrounding areas held by The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire.... -backed groups of the National Liberation Front ...the Turkic paramilitaries intended to replace with their native jihadi ferocity all the highly trained Turkish soldiers Sultan Erdogan I the much beloved has jailed in the last few years for not worshipping the ground he walks upon. The Uighurs and so forth who did not join Al Nusra or ISIS seem to have ended up here... (NLF).
Over the past seven days, HTS captured several villages and at least one other town, Darat Izza.
The group's aim is to acquire more territory so it has a stronger hand to play as Russia and Turkey prepare a final political agreement over Syria's last rebel-held enclave, which sprawls across Idlib, parts of Aleppo, and a sliver of neighbouring Hama provinces.
Whatever settlement is reached will almost certainly demand the containment and elimination of the gang.
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[RADIOSHABELLE] The newly elected president of Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... regional state of Somalia, Said Abdullahi Deni and his deputy, Ahmed Elmi Osman alias Karash have officially taken office on Sunday.
A brief handover ceremony that was held at Puntland presidential palace in the state administrative headquarters of Garowe was also attended by former regional state president, Abdiweli Mohammed Gas and his deputy, Abdulhakim Omar Amey.
President Deni is expected to unveil his new cabinet in the next coming days.
The new regional leader promised to improve security, develop the economy and mend relations with the federal government in Mogadishu.
He was elected on 8th January with 35 votes defeating his close contender, General Asad Osman Diyano who garnered
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[Libya Observer] The former commander of the central region's Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) Ibrahim Jadran rejected in an audio tape posted Sunday the arrest warrant issued of him by the Libyan Attorney General, who accused him of involvement in the attacks on oil terminals using mercenaries from Chadian rebels’ groups.
Jadran accused the Head of the investigation bureau of the Attorney General al-Siddiq al-Sour of fabricating charges against him, saying he is an impostor as the Attorney General's office is vacant and no one is appointed by the Libyan law.
"Al-Sour is now committing a crime by claiming this post he is occupying and thus he plunged the Public Prosecution into political conflicts to benefit one of the leaders of the counter-revolution ," he added, implying a hint at Khalifa Haftar ...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all... He added that placing him on the list of murderous Moslems is an agenda-driven act since the Attorney General has looked away from lots of crimes against the PFG forces under his command.
On January 03, the Attorney General issued arrest warrants of Jadran, the Head of Al Wattan party Abdelhakim Belhaj, four other Libyans and several Chadian nationals.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2019
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[Asia Times] Philippine police revealed that they detained two suspected terrorists during the Christmas holiday period who were part of a plot to detonate explosives and disrupt last week’s Black Nazarene procession.
Sudais Asmad, said to be a member of Dawlah Islamiyah, an Abu Sayyaf umbrella group, was arrested at Binondo on December 20. Jeron Aba, also based in the southern region of Mindanao,was held in Barangay on December 25 after being seen with a pistol. He also had a grenade.
Manila Police spokesman Vicente Danao Jr said,“The suspect is a member of the Dawlaw Islamiyah and Moro Islamic Liberation Front and he was planning to conduct an improvised explosive device attack during the holiday season."
Danao said Aba had also admitted that he had fought during the five-month siege of Marawi. He said news of the arrests was suppressed at the time to avoid creating a public panic.
Posted by: ryuge ||
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Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf (ISIS)
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[DailyWire] Last week, a federal judge ruled that Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado, could proceed to sue the state for anti-religious bias.
[Free Beacon] House Republican leaders on Monday removed Rep. Steve King (R., Iowa) from his assignments on the Judiciary and Agricultural Committees after the congressman questioned why white supremacy is offensive.
[Guardian] From June last year, Dilip Trigunayak would stride out each morning to the banks of the Ganges and will the holy waters to recede. The clock was ticking. In six months, the floodplains where he stood would be the site of the largest human gathering in the world, probably ever.
[The Federalist] Over the weekend there was a massive march in Washington and other cities to demand new laws, ostensibly on behalf of innocent lives being endangered. That sounds like another giant protest march that takes place once a year in Washington, except this one is being reported coast-to-coast, buoyed by celebrity endorsements, and hailed as the dawn of a revolution, rather than being studiously ignored or downplayed.
NN2N - I suspect this is the graphic you attempted to post in #1. If not, please advise. We pray for our families here, and you are now family. Thank you for your comment. 
[Wash Examiner] Senate lawmakers have formed a new bipartisan "gang" to try to resolve the impasse over border wall funding that has caused the longest government shutdown in history.
[BPR] As wildfires raged in California last year, a group of lawmakers from the state were apparently off on a trip to Hawaii with utility companies.
[Guardian] As attitudes towards cannabis shift, the fastest-growing group of users is over 50 ‐ and marijuana’s popularity among seniors is beginning to change the American experience of old age.
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey...
[Rudaw] Two brothers from Kalar were handed a five year prison sentence on Sunday when a Sulaimani court found them guilty of communicating with 
[WSJ] An aide to President Obama boasted to the New York Times about lying and manipulating the media to sell the administration’s Iran policy. Mr. Obama himself proselytized for his health-care plan by saying that, despite mandatory requirements that outlawed millions of individual health plans, you’d be able to keep your existing plan. Nor is there the slightest ambiguity now: His administration deliberately lied to the American people about the origins of the 2012 terrorist attack on a U.S. consulate in Libya.
[AmericanGrit] Gotta love these scientific studies sometimes. The study is important don't get our sarcasm wrong here, it just went on to prove what many of us already knew. It was one of those studies that smack you repeatedly in the face with a "duh doy" kind of attitude. The Department of Justice conducted the study and we bet it pains them greatly to publish the study which proves what gun rights advocates have been saying for decades.
[ToloNews] Officials from 207 Zafar Military Corps in the west of Afghanistan on Monday said a number of soldiers from the territorial army will soon start a mission there. 
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
Michel Aoun
[Hot Air] There’s no pressing question in American politics to which the answer is "John Kasich."
[Al Jazeera] An explosion has rocked the Afghan capital, Kabul, killing at least four people and wounding scores of others, the country's health ministry has said.
[KhaamaPress] At least 27 
an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia...
[IsraelTimes] Tehran is preparing to launch a satellite into orbit from its Imam Khomenei Spaceport in northern Iran, an Israeli satellite imagery firm says, citing photographic evidence of the area.
[Bangkok Post] An eight-year-old girl and a volunteer ranger were injured while two militants were killed in a clash between security forces and insurgents near a hideout in Yaring district yesterday morning.
...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all...
[Asia Times] Philippine police revealed that they detained two suspected terrorists during the Christmas holiday period who were part of a plot to detonate explosives and disrupt last week’s Black Nazarene procession.
