#1
Yeah... because of "Security Concerns". Listen you crusty old bitch. If you are so worried about security, you pay for it yourself with your ill gotten wealth or don't fucking show up.
More than likely she doesn't want him to have prime time to make a case for the wall and shutdown.
#4
Well with the other story about Trump's Trap all her security folk might be RIF'ed by that time if the layoff is still in effect. Jan 16 + 5 days is Jan 21 so RIF's by the 22 and State of the Union by 29th.
Dem ex-gov-workers will be rioting in the street by the 29th.
#5
Well, the shutdown is kinda the current state of the union, is it not? We need a report from the president and we wanna watch Nancy's face while she and Pence sit right behind him as he delivers it to Congress and the American people.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/16/2019 11:57
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#6
Pelosi's request should be turned into a source of innocent merriment. She can stay home, if Her Speakership so desireth.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/16/2019 12:11
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#9
It is mandated by the constitution for the president to present the state of the union to congress. How this is done is left blank. It used to be just a letter to the congress until Wilson started to present it in person.
Trump could send it in a series of tweets if he wanted to.
#10
Having said that, Trump should still give the state of the union live on TV to give his pitch directly to the people. It needs that personal appeal which a letter or tweet lacks. If Nancy refuses to open up the house of representatives for it, then just go on prime time TV. Face time is needed and Nancy is trying to prevent that.
#11
Give the SOTU Live on TV and have a letter of the speech delivered, Sign on Delivery, to Congress. Site that this is a "Money Saving Action" and have done with the circus...
#12
Doesn't she want attention brought to the shutdown? For some reason most folks are worried about the military getting their checks but are happy to see the rest of of the bureaucracy on food stamps.
[USA Today] WASHINGTON ‐ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has asked President Donald Trump to reschedule his State of the Union address from later this month if the government remains shut down.
"Sadly, given the security concerns and unless government re-opens this week, I suggest that we work together to determine another suitable date after government has re-opened for this address or for you to consider delivering your State of the Union address in writing to the Congress on January 29th," Pelosi wrote in a letter to Trump.
The government shutdown is now on its 26th day, officially the longest on record in U.S. history. Trump has demanded $5.7 billion to pay for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and has vowed to veto any legislation that does not include the sum. Democrats oppose a wall and are refusing to appropriate the money.
#5
As I recall, warthogswife, the president is required to report to Congress at regular intervals, but the length of time between reports is not defined. He can report to the nation any time he likes.
The Speaker of the House just doesn’t want her vacation interrupted by something else she won’t be listening to.
[yenisafak.com] A large explosion in the northern Syrian town of Manbij on Wednesday killed at least 14, including three American soldiers, according to reports.
The explosion, thought to be a suicide attack, took place at the Kasr al-Umara restaurant in the town's city, and targeted at least 15 American soldiers who were patrolling the city.
Four U.S. soldiers were killed and three wounded in the blast, a U.S. official said.
The wounded soldiers are reportedly receiving treatment for the injuries, the seriousness of which remains unclear.
An Daesh-affiliated web site, Amaq, said an attacker with an explosive vest had struck a foreign military patrol in a suicide attack.
An unspecified number of civilians were also wounded.
Posted by: Besoeker ||
01/16/2019
09:33 ||
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#1
Guess Trump was right when he wanted to immediately pull the troops out.
Posted by: Chris ||
01/16/2019 14:27
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#2
ISIS is obviously not dead. Time to halt the withdrawal. The real drain on our resources is Afghanistan. $5b to local Afghan security forces for equipment purchases (to rebuild their equipment inventory lost through the Taliban era via attrition and wear and tear), supplies and payroll and $40b to support GI's in providing training and air support in Afghanistan. A big chunk of that $40b is probably to route supplies, with the associated payoffs to local clan chiefs, through Pakistan.
Things would be a lot easier and cheaper if we could just go through the area, Roman-style, slaughtering anyone who got in the way, along with their entire clans. There'd be tens of millions of Pakistani and Afghan carcasses for the local vultures to dine on, but we'd be done already.
#5
Islamists have been murdering people for over 1,400 years. To send our youngsters over there to completely stop 1400 years of Islam's tradition in Syria is deadly ignorance. ISIS came into existence in Iraq after our military had been in Iraq for years.
Posted by: Neville Dark Lord of the Wee Folk7365 ||
01/16/2019 22:05
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#6
2,000 US Troops in a country of 19 million people is not going to stop anything.
Posted by: Neville Dark Lord of the Wee Folk7365 ||
01/16/2019 22:16
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[WHNT-19 News] ST. LOUIS, Mo. ‐ Video shared on Facebook shows a bizarre site along a St. Louis highway ‐ two women twerking on top of a vehicle while a third woman records the risky spectacle, according to KTVI.
"Leaving work today & see this......No comment 🤦🏼♀️" wrote Jackie Friedhoff, who posted two videos of the incident to social media on Monday.
The videos have gone viral with thousands of reactions on Facebook.
"They could fall off of the car and cause other drivers to wreck. It’s a dangerous situation for themselves and other drivers," a spokesperson for the St. Louis Police Dept. told KSDK. "They could fall off and create a fatal accident. We do not encourage anyone to try anything like this ever. You are supposed to be in your car when you drive."
After viewing the video, the spokesperson said police could have cited the women for for riding outside of a vehicle, failing to use a seatbelt, lack of state license plate and possibly a failure to maintain the posted minimum speed.
It’s not clear whether or not St. Louis authorities will try to track down the women seen in the video.
[Navy Times] A scathing internal Navy probe into the 2017 collision that drowned seven sailors on the guided-missile destroyer Fitzgerald details a far longer list of problems plaguing the vessel, its crew and superior commands than the service has publicly admitted.
Obtained by Navy Times, the "dual-purpose investigation" was overseen by Rear Adm. Brian Fort and submitted 41 days after the June 17, 2017, tragedy.
It was kept secret from the public in part because it was designed to prep the Navy for potential lawsuits in the aftermath of the accident.
Unsparingly, Fort and his team of investigators outlined critical lapses by bridge watchstanders on the night of the collision with the Philippine-flagged container vessel ACX Crystal in a bustling maritime corridor off the coast of Japan.
Their report documents the routine, almost casual, violations of standing orders on a Fitz bridge that often lacked skippers and executive officers, even during potentially dangerous voyages at night through busy waterways.
The probe exposes how personal distrust led the officer of the deck, Lt. j.g. Sarah Coppock, to avoid communicating with the destroyer’s electronic nerve center ‐ the combat information center, or CIC ‐ while the Fitzgerald tried to cross a shipping superhighway.
#1
It's being covered up because women made the errors, and the Navy put sexism above competence training.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
01/16/2019 9:28
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#2
Herb McCoy the problems are much bigger than protecting a woman. Read the article again.
The whole ship leadership were at best negligent. The enlisted crew were not well trained. Key equipment was falling apart. Basic procedures were ignored.
But hey, this is the same US Navy in which over 60 admirals were recently indicted for corruption.
Perhaps it's not surprising that the Navy is in such horrific state. It has gotten short shrift since 9/11, at a time when the other services have been operationally active to the point of major strain. But we're at a critical state right now.
So stuff the narrative about how it's just all due to the woman. The rot goes very very deep.
#4
at the time of the collision a lot of Rantburgers posted back and forth -- some of us were amazed that this accident could have happened with all the many safeguards the Navy has established for transiting through shipping lanes - how could everything go wrong - it seemed impossible; others of us said basically that, other than the prestige carriers and a few other platforms, the Navy was being run by incompetents and bozos - it seems now that this second group was more correct
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/16/2019 11:52
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At the heart of the scandal was Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA), a firm run by Leonard Glenn Francis, a Malaysian national known as "Fat Leonard" for his then over 350 pound weight. Francis provided at least a half million dollars in cash, plus travel expenses, luxury items, and prostitutes to a large number of U.S. uniformed officers of the United States Seventh Fleet, who in turn gave him classified material about the movements of U.S. ships and submarines, confidential contracting information, and information about active law enforcement investigations into Glenn Defense Marine Asia. Francis then "exploited the intelligence for illicit profit, brazenly ordering his moles to redirect aircraft carriers to ports he controlled in Southeast Asia so he could more easily bilk the Navy for fuel, tugboats, barges, food, water and sewage removal.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/16/2019 12:52
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#7
From a combat veteran Marine and US Naval Academy grad I know:
"EVERY officer and senior CPO on the Fitzgerald deserves to be court martialed and that includes everyone in the chain up to and including the Fleet command
[Breitbart] Two Army Green Berets are fighting for their military careers after being associated with an anonymous email that accused their commanders of lowering standards to enable more soldiers ‐ particularly female ‐ to graduate from its prestigious Q-course.
The anonymous email, signed, "A concerned Green Beret," accused the leaders of the school of "moral cowardice" for lowering the standards, and weakening instructors’ ability to discipline students as they look to get further through the pipeline.
"[The school] has devolved into a cesspool of toxic, exploitive, biased and self-serving senior officers who are bolstered by submissive, sycophantic, and just-as-culpable enlisted leaders," the email said. "They have doggedly succeeded in two things; furthering their careers, and ensuring that Special Forces [are] more prolific but dangerously less capable than ever before."
#2
...Oh, we knew it happened, and it happened under Obama's watch. We were just waiting for somebody to finally speak out.
The REAL SHTF will come when - to our utter surprise, shock and amazement - we discover that most cultures the Berets will be ordered to help are almost pathological in their disdain for and often hatred of women.
Of course, no one will have seen it coming.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/16/2019 16:51
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[Politico] The progressive African-American pols have emerged as early kingmakers for Democratic presidential hopefuls.
Stacey "Tank" Abrams and Andrew Gillum ‐ two of the Democratic Party’s breakout Loser
candidates of 2018, despite losing their elections for governor of Georgia and Florida ‐ are looking to parlay their near-success into the defeat of Donald Trump in 2020.
The pair of young, progressive African-American pols amassed so much political fame that they’re a must-call for the growing roster of likely Democratic presidential contenders. They’re also on some early and unofficial lists as possible vice-presidential running mates.
The White House hopefuls don’t just crave an endorsement from Abrams or Gillum. Each boasts valuable donor and volunteer lists, in the Southeast’s two biggest states that, if won next year, would almost guarantee a Democratic White House.
[Wash Times] Sirius XM radio host David Webb, who happens to be black, had an awkward moment on his show this week when a CNN analyst began lecturing him on his alleged "white privilege." Yes, that would be David Webb in the graphic.
Certain ideas about judging people by the content of their character instead of the color of their skin were perceived to be "white" during Tuesday’s "SiriusXM Patriot" broadcast.
The moment came while Mr. Webb and his guest discussed hiring practices.
"That’s a whole other long conversation about white privilege, the things that you have the privilege of doing, that people of color don’t have the privilege of," Areva Martin said of the host’s emphasis on credentials over pigmentation.
"How do I have the privilege of white privilege?" Mr. Webb asked, Mediaite reported.
[Free Beacon] Huawei Technologies, the global telecommunications giant at the center of an international diplomatic battle, is a major target in the Trump administration's campaign to halt China's theft of American technology.
U.S. intelligence agencies have linked the company to both the Chinese military and civilian intelligence services and the Justice Department is now seeking to prosecute the company's chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, for violating American sanctions law.
Meng, also known as Cathy Meng and Sabrina Meng, is wanted by the FBI for her role in a scheme to illicitly move hundreds of millions of dollars for Iran through a Huawei front company in what prosecutors say was a bid to circumvent U.S. financial sanctions on Iran.
Publicly, the Trump administration denies the arrest of Meng on Dec. 1 in Vancouver is linked to the ongoing international trade talks aimed at curbing Chinese unfair trade and technology theft practices.
However, privately officials acknowledge the targeting of Huawei is part of a larger campaign applying pressure on Beijing on several fronts.
In addition to prosecuting Huawei, the administration in December indicted nine Chinese nationals for their role in a major cyber economic espionage operation against American companies.
#2
Huawei and for that matter ZTE should not be allowed, sold here. Basically spy mikes.
We went to Apple after several "suggested" Amazon items made our list. Problem was we were talking about said items during morning coffees. No google searches, just open air conversations. Disturbing to say the least.
[Right Scoop] Wow, this sounds like it could get interesting...
Judicial Watch announced today that United States District Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled that discovery can begin in Hillary Clinton’s email scandal. Obama administration senior State Department officials, lawyers, and Clinton aides will now be deposed under oath. Senior officials ‐ including Susan Rice, Ben Rhodes, Jacob Sullivan, and FBI official E.W. Priestap ‐ will now have to answer Judicial Watch’s written questions under oath. The court rejected the DOJ and State Department’s objections to Judicial Watch’s court-ordered discovery plan. (The court, in ordering a discovery plan last month, ruled that the Clinton email system was "one of the gravest modern offenses to government transparency.")
Judicial Watch’s discovery will seek answers to:
Whether Clinton intentionally attempted to evade the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by using a non-government email system; whether the State Department’s efforts to settle this case beginning in late 2014 amounted to bad faith; and whether the State Department adequately searched for records responsive to Judicial Watch’s FOIA request.
Discovery is scheduled to be completed within 120 days. The court will hold a post-discovery hearing to determine if Judicial Watch may also depose additional witnesses, including Clinton and her former Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills.
Judge Lamberth ordered written responses under oath to Judicial Watch’s questions from Obama administration senior officials Rice, Rhodes and Sullivan, and former FBI official Priestap. Rice and Rhodes will answer interrogatories under oath on the Benghazi scandal.
#2
Until indictments are handed down and they start being dragged into a federal court, it is all kabuki theater. Hopefully this goes all the way, but I'll believe it when I see it.
(Bloomberg) -- China asked some state-run enterprises to avoid business trips to the U.S. and its allies and to take extra precautions to protect their devices if they need to travel, according to people familiar with the request.
In recent weeks, the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission -- a regulatory body that oversees about 100 government-run companies -- has told some firms to only take secure, company-issued laptops meant for overseas use if traveling is necessary, the people said. They said the warning extended to the other countries in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing pact: the U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The order also said that employees should have the company verify which files they are carrying on any trip and only store them on secure USB flash drives, two people familiar with the warning said separately, adding that SASAC didn’t specify how long the travel rules will apply. The commission didn’t respond to a fax requesting comment.
Chinese and American executives have become more cautious when traveling after the December arrest of Huawei Technologies Co. executive Meng Wanzhou in Canada on behalf of the U.S., and the subsequent detention of two Canadian citizens in China. The U.S. has also stepped up efforts to catch and prosecute executives at Chinese companies that it alleges steal technology, which has resulted in several legal actions.
[The Hill] Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) met with representatives from CBS News to discuss the ongoing controversy over the network’s lack of black reporters slated to cover the 2020 presidential race.
"CBS admitted they had a lot of work to do & committed to including Blacks on their 2020 election team & all other teams. True diversity is the inclusion of ALL. I won't let them off the hook!" Waters tweeted Tuesday night.
The California Democrat had earlier sent a tweet panning the network for its lack of diversity in its campaign team.
"CBS, the efforts on your website about your support for diversity fly in the face of your display of all of the reporters you've selected for the 2020 campaign. Not one Black. What's up with this? An explanation is needed," she tweeted Monday morning.
#3
I have an idea - CBS ought to hire RuPaul as a 2020 reporter. He (?) checks all the boxes - black, gay, practically transgender, and it'll make a complete mockery of this diversity / quota bullshit.
[Babylon Bee] BOSTON, MA‐As part of its new ad campaign designed to target a new, more sensitive American male, Gillette announced Tuesday that the company will be giving out a free manly pink side bag with every purchase while supplies last.
The bag will reportedly contain a copy of The Feminine Mystique and instructions on how to treat any toxic masculinity you may have come down with. To get the free bag, you must spend at least $20 on a Gillette razor or other hygienic product and mail in your man card to the company.
"We want to appeal to the modern man," Gillette spokesperson Beau Petite said. "So we're offering this extremely manly, attractive side bag for a limited time if you buy one of our really manly razor products." Petite said the side bags have many great uses. "You can store a little concealer or blush for an afternoon touch-up, your coin purse, a pair of spherical objects. Whatever you want."
Gillette's promotion reportedly launched with a whimper, as few men wanted the "manly side bags" for some reason. The company has said it is regrouping and considering offering a free man bun hair tie with every purchase instead.
#13
...really, Harvard? At Harvard they'll blame the neolithic white male population for the failure rather than the 'geniuses' who cooked this up. Maybe the Booth School of Business at University of Chicago, unless they have sunk to the PC morass as well.
#15
The most perverse poor man in Babylon
Once happened to capture a leprechaun:
"First, fatten my purse.
Make everything worse."
"And?" "Endless clay tablets to write upon."
#16
There are a number of very serious technical reasons why this rebranding is so bad, only a graduate of Harvard would come up with it.
One of which I mentioned, sponsoring a football stadium for the Patriots, a team notorious for the very storyline the razor advertisers rail against and right before the second biggest game of the season.
And in direct conflict with the recent, previous campaign of being the working man's razor, the Boston tradition, side crapping on Boston as well.
I'll try to get to the technical flubbary later, like the pre-pubescent boys hanging out on the small couch together, staring at the TV like Cinemax is still scrambled on Saturday night, and the laziness of blatant racism unseen since The Phantom Menace.
[Free Beacon] Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.) has joined MSNBC and NBC News as a political analyst.
The network announced the new addition to its team during an interview with McCaskill on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" early Tuesday.
McCaskill, who lost her Senate seat to Republican challenger Josh Hawley back in November, released a statement expressing her excitement about being a political analyst on the networks, according to the Hill.
"I’m looking forward to bringing my experience from the Senate, hard fought campaigns, and Midwest common sense to the coverage of breaking political events. And, as always, I won’t hold back," McCaskill said.
"Morning Joe" co-host Mika Brzezinski quipped she looked forward to having McCaskill’s "really good, sharp elbows" at the table to fend off fellow host Joe Scarborough.
The two-term senator and former ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee also tweeted out a picture of her arriving at Manhattan's Rockefeller Center to report for her first day of work.
[Breitbart] During an appearance on Tuesday’s CNN "New Day," Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) reacted to The New York Times report that President Donald Trump has discussed pulling the United States of America out of NATO. Oh wait! That's not DRT.
Speier said if Trump were to withdraw from NATO, it would be "ground" for an effort to impeach or invoke the 25th Amendment.
"It better be an idle threat from the president because I think that act would be so destructive to our country and to our ability to protect the national security of every American that it would be a ground for some profound effort by our part, whether it is impeachment or the 25th amendment," Speier told host John Berman. "He can’t do that to this country."
The House Intelligence Committee member added she "would not be a bit surprised" if Trump had discussed withdrawing from NATO with Russia President Vladimir Putin.
#1
NATO has fuck-all to do with protecting Americans. We're fine. It has everything to do with providing free security to ungrateful Europeans.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
01/16/2019 2:37
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#2
"Mom, back in the hood, is ungrateful!"
A debt is a debt. Don't be hateful.
But Mom doing drugs
And "inviting" in thugs
Who have opened a brothel
With awful falafel
And are building kabooms
In your siblings' old rooms...
Well! The choices one makes can be fateful.
Posted by: Bertie Lover of the Brontës2384 ||
01/16/2019 4:21
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#3
Demonstrating once again that the Donks can not give up a major welfare program even though its time is long past.
#4
Jackie Speier - Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee hasn't actually supported the miliitary except forcing LGBTQXYZ on them. She's a Bay Area Dem tool
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/16/2019 8:49
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#5
Anything that empties the public trough is grounds for 25th amendment I see.
I actually agree with Herb 100% on this one. NATO is a social club at this point and couldn't stop a drunk Russian. Let them pay for their own defense and maybe Germany can field more that 4 out of 128 jets.
#7
NATO was established by a formal and binding treaty, which means Trump cannot use his executive power to pull America out of the alliance. The Senate would never agree to this.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/16/2019 11:37
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#8
So when Germany and France create an EU armed forces, what is NATO?
#9
Such forces are meant to be a complement to NATO, not a rival.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/16/2019 11:59
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#10
#7 As Commander in Chief he can determine manning levels and equipment/PLL distribution. Just as other NATO members have determined what amount of funding they choose to contribute on their defense. The word the legal eagles use is 'de facto'.
#11
When the EU reached its current structure the reasons for NATO started quickly disappearing. If they want a European Combined Army then there is no reason for NATO to continue.
#12
Re: #4 - Having sat in numerous meetings with Ms. Speier, I can attest that she is a truly a dim bulb. Her one claim to political fame is that Larry Layton didn't manage to kill her when he got Rep Ryan and photographer Bob Brown. He did wound her pretty badly, tho, so I assume some slack is appropriate.
Posted by: Herb Stalin2933 ||
01/16/2019 13:39
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#13
Such forces are meant to be a complement to NATO, not a rival.
Why don't they complement NATO by paying their fair share?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/16/2019 14:14
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#14
Perhaps the US should see how other nations are below their NATO commitments and match them percentage-wise.
[AnNahar] U.S.-backed Syrian fighters Tuesday seized a key village from 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.... jihadist group, further chipping away at their last eastern holdout on the Iraqi border, a Britannia-based monitor said.
Backed by air strikes of the U.S.-led coalition, the Syrian Democratic Forces have since September been battling to expel the jihadists from the so-called Hajin pocket in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor.
In recent weeks, they have whittled it down to just a handful of villages on the eastern banks of the Euphrates River.
On Tuesday, the Kurdish-led alliance seized the largest of these from the jihadists after they fled, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
"The SDF took control of Sousa after the withdrawal of IS fighters to territory that remains under their control," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.
That leaves IS battling to defend just 15 square kilometers (under six square miles) of land, he added.
IS overran large parts of Syria and neighboring Iraq in 2014, proclaiming a "caliphate" in areas under their control.
But they have since lost most of that to various offensives in both countries -- even if they retain a presence in Syria's vast Badia desert, where Russia-backed regime forces have fought them.
According to the Observatory, more than 1,100 IS jihadists have been killed since the start of the operation on September 10, while more than 600 SDF fighters have also bit the dust.
Around 360 civilians including 130 children have also been killed, the monitor says.
Syria's war has killed more than 360,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government demonstrations.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/16/2019
00:24 ||
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[AlAhram] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund.... ordered the arrest of 192 people over suspected links to the network of the U.S.-based Moslemholy man accused of orchestrating an attempted coup in 2016, the Hurriyet newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Police operations targeting the followers of Fethullah Gülen ... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world... have been carried out regularly since the failed coup and have recently gained momentum. Authorities in Istanbul and Adana ordered the arrest of more than 100 military suspects last week.
The Ankara chief prosecutor's office said it ordered the arrest of 50 military suspects - 3 lieutenants and 47 sergeants - as well as 55 people accused of using the ByLock messaging app, the newspaper reported.
Turkey outlawed ByLock in the aftermath of the failed putsch, saying followers of Gulen used it to communicate on the night of July 15, 2016, when a group of rogue soldiers attempted to overthrow the government, killing some 250 people.
Gulen, a former ally of President Tayyip Erdogan who has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999, has denied the charges and condemned the coup.
The prosecutor's office in the central province of Konya ordered the detention of 50 people, including military personnel and their contacts in the Gulen network, the newspaper said.
The prosecutor's offices of two other provinces, Mugla and Kocaeli, ordered the detention of 15 and 22 military personnel respectively.
More than 77,000 people have been tossed in the clink Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! pending trial, while 150,000 civil servants, military personnel and others have been sacked or suspended from their jobs as part of the post-coup purges.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/16/2019
00:15 ||
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#1
Still milking that Gulenist coup, eh? It's teats must be severely chapped by now.
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund....
You know, it wasn't *that* long ago that Turkey looked like an actual modern secular nation.
#5
Jeepers! How long is it going to take to kangaroo court try 77,000 criminals? How many courtrooms, how many judges, how many lawyers?
Just think of the logistics!
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/16/2019 12:57
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#6
"There is no Progress. There is only Change." -Liszendir, a character in The Warriors of Dawn(1975) by M.A. Foster
An observation that struck me as very apt when I first read many years ago... There is Change that you like and Change that you don't, if someone says there is Progress™ they are trying to sell you something.
[Daily Caller] The FBI wanted to reestablish contact with Trump-Russia dossier author Christopher Steele days after President Donald Trump fired bureau Director James Comey, a top Department of Justice official revealed during a previously secret congressional testimony.
DOJ official Bruce Ohr laid out efforts to influence the DOJ by Christopher Steele, a former British spy being paid by the Democratic National Committee via the opposition research firm Fusion GPS. The FBI terminated Steele as a source in late 2016, reportedly for his contacts with the media, but he continued to funnel information to the bureau through Ohr.
On May 9, 2017, Trump fired Comey, which concerned FBI leaders. Comey has since been sharply critical of the president.
On May 15, Ohr and Steele discussed "re-engaging" with the FBI at the bureau’s request, which Steele agreed to, according to the testimony, which was obtained by The Epoch Times.
#1
It is entirely possible the Bureau disengaged Steele along with his dossier fiction upon discovering his DNC funding connection. When Comey was fired, they threw caution to the wind and used Ohr as a Steele intermediary.
#1
I really like how the writer of this article made it sound like this was done last year, when in reality it was ran by the FBI in 2015.
Posted by: Chris ||
01/16/2019 0:33
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#2
I read it as the FBI turned the site on again last year; most likely tightening up the data capture from lessons learned in the earlier sting operations.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) ‐ An Iraqi court has sentenced a man to life in jail over accusations of supplying 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.... turbans with money.
"The Central Criminal Court in Baghdad has sentenced a man to life imprisonment as he was found guilty of handing over money to IS turbans in Hawija," a town which had fallen to the turban group in June 2014, Alghad Press website quoted the Iraqi judiciary as saying in a statement.
"The defendant admitted delivering money to IS turbans in return for $100," said the statement, adding that the verdict was issued pursuant to article no. 4 of the anti-terrorism law.
Iraq’s anti-terrorism law empowers courts to convict people who are believed to have helped jihadists even if they are not accused of carrying out attacks.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/16/2019
00:00 ||
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Diyala (IraqiNews.com) ‐ Three Iraqi coppers were maimed Tuesday in an armed attack by 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.... on a security checkpoint in Diyala province, a security source was quoted as saying.
Speaking to Baghdad Today news website, the source said that Islamic State faceless myrmidons launched an armed attack in Khanaqin district, 100km northeast of Baqubah, leaving three coppers dead, including a critically-maimed officer."
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added that security reinforcements were deployed to the scene and the maimedcoppers were moved to a nearby hospital for treatment.
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01/16/2019
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[KhaamaPress] A magnetic bomb went off in Kabul city earlier today targeting a civilian vehicle in the vicinity of the 9th police district of thecity, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) officials said.
Najib Danish, a front man for the Ministry of Interior (MoI), confirmed that the incident took place at around 8:20am local time in the vicinity of Abdul Haq square in the 9th police district of the city.
He said the magnetic bomb was planted a Corolla type civilian vehicle which was destroyed in the kaboom and its driver was killed.
No individual or group including Taliban ...Arabic for students... has so far grabbed credit behind the incident.
[Daily Wire] To help federal workers going without paychecks during what is now the longest government shutdown in history, Kraft Heinz Co. will be opening up a complimentary pop-up grocery store in the Washington, D.C. area.
According to Fox News, Kraft announced on Tuesday that workers who have been furloughed by the government shutdown will be able to pick up unlimited Kraft products absolutely free come Wednesday.
"Called 'Kraft Now Pay Later,' it will allow federal workers to stock up on the company’s staples such its famous mac and cheese mix and other items for free," reports the outlet. "The only caveat is that the Chicago-based food maker wants workers who can to pay it forward by donating to their favorite charity or help someone in need once their back pay comes through."
Sergio Eleuterio, head of marketing for Kraft, said in a statement that the pop-up grocery store will alleviate some of the worry facing federal worker families during the shutdown. "During the government shutdown, parents should not have to worry about putting dinner on the table because they aren’t receiving a paycheck," Eleuterio said. "Kraft stands for families and we want to support the families who have built our brands. This store is one way we can help those affected get the grocery staples they need. And we celebrate all who are doing their part to help."
#1
Mr. Wife’s mother made Kraft mac’n’cheese when the union was on strike, so I s’pose this is appropriate. The current lot are a very different kind of union member than those steel workers, so the offer may be more symbolic than substantial.
#2
There was a broke, really broke period that I lived on Ramen noodles and peanut butter sandwiches for six months to pay off some debts. 'Twas about ten years before the very *Smell* of Ramen, cooked or not, didn't make me queasy...
Still, Ad stunt or not, hope it helps the lower ranks.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/16/2019 8:52
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#5
Govt. Cheese was/ is the shit. Been along time since I have seen those big blocks they used to give away, but they made the best grilled cheese sandwiches .
Posted by: Chris ||
01/16/2019 8:59
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BLUF:
[Gateway] The former top lawyer at the FBI has been under federal investigation for leaking to the media, a letter from House Republicans revealed Tuesday.
The letter from GOP Reps. Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows cited the transcript of a congressional interview with former General Counsel James Baker and his lawyer last fall, where the probe conducted by seasoned U.S. Attorney John Durham was confirmed.
"You may or may not know, [Baker has] been the subject of a leak investigation ... a criminal leak investigation that’s still active at the Justice Department," lawyer Daniel Levin told lawmakers, as he pushed back on questions about his client’s conversations with reporters.
[MEMRI.ORG] Since the overthrow of the Moslem Brüderbund (MB) government of President Mohammed Morsi in Egypt in 2013, several TV channels affiliated with the Egyptian Moslem Brüderbund have started broadcasting from The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... . Journalists, pundits, activists, and Islamic holy mans who escaped the crackdown against the MB and its media outlets carried out by the regime of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi have set up shop in Istanbul, where they operate freely under 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 MB-affiliated Justice and Development party (AKP). The new channels promote the goal of restoring an MB regime in Egypt, and also promote a variety of regional and global causes, while using Lion of Islam jihadi and antisemitic rhetoric.
Continued on Page 49
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And now for a moment of normalcy, in which yet another ruling class completely misreads the citizenry.
[IsraelTimes] Thousands of Paleostinians in the occupied West Bank join a strike against their government’s proposed new social security law, fearing the fund will be mismanaged.
The strike, which sees much of Ramallah, Hebron and other Paleostinian cities closed, comes hours before Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... is due to address the United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... A few thousand people protest outside the Social Security Corporation in Ramallah, where Abbas’s government is based.
Under the proposed system, both private employers and their employees will pay monthly into a government-managed fund, with employees receiving a pension when they retire.
The government says it will provide new security for employees, arguing similar systems exist in countries across the globe.
Protesters say they do not trust the Paleostinian government to manage the fund and point out there are no guarantees.
[PJ] It is now obvious that for two and a half years, Democrats and their friends in the deep state have been peddling an elaborate hoax: the spurious charge that President Trump conspired or colluded with the Russians to win the 2016 election.
The entire enterprise from the beginning was always about defeating Trump -- either by planting smears in the media in 2016 to prevent his election or if that didn't succeed, by doubling down on the investigation in an effort to keep the president from uncovering their election-year espionage malfeasance.
But the honey-badger president didn't care and said he did nuthin' wrong and didn't try to stop it. So the "rigged investigation" led by "13 angry Democrats" lumbered on for nearly two years, racking up several process crimes and unrelated financial crimes in the process -- all while trying the nation's patience.
Then The New York Times' "bombshell" report last Friday confirmed that the FBI's case against the president was scandalously flimsy.
Trump’s former attorney John Dowd told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade on his radio show Monday that he believes the president was facing a "coup" and accused Mueller, former FBI Director James "Cardinal" Comey, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe of conspiring against the president.
"Little did I know that it appears that they were all in it together," Dowd said. "I mean Rosenstein, Comey, Mueller, McCabe, the whole crowd and they were out to get this president no matter what. I don't think they sincerely believed anything about Russia."
"This is our worst nightmare that someone with that kind of power would then decide to go after the president. I mean, it's a coup," Dowd added. "That's what it is ‐ an attempted coup by Comey and his crowd. And the evidence is all over there. I take the New York Times article as an admission of their bad behavior."
#2
Main intent was likely to get him to shut it down so they could use innuendo of him covering up as fodder for impeachment but he never took the bait. Interesting.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/16/2019 14:18
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#4
We edge closer than ever before in my lifetime to anger boiling over by conservative Americans at the seditious behavior of the Deep State, the Democrat Party and the propagandists of the Progressive Party masquerading as the media. God Save the Republic, because it seems determined to fracture again...
[IsraelTimes] Authorities in the northeastern Spanish region of Catalonia say 17 people, including five alleged members of an myrmidon Islamist cell, are tossed in the calaboose Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! Tuesday as part of an ongoing anti-terror operation.
As well as having terror links, the suspects also allegedly committed theft, drug trafficking and other crimes, according to the Mossos d’Esquadra regional police.
More than 100 agents were taking part in the operation, which was still taking place mid-afternoon, a spokeswoman says. The spokeswoman says six venues had been searched in and near Barcelona.
Catalan regional minister of security, Miquel Buch, tells news hounds that most of the arrests were in a central neighborhood of the Catalan capital, but some were in the nearby town of Igualada.
The five suspected of being part of an myrmidon cell were originally from Algeria, Buch tells news hounds. "They were determined about carrying out an attack, but they didn’t have the capacity for it," he says.
[Breitbart] The Frenchman accused of murdering four people at the Jewish museum of Belgium had links with other jihadists, including those behind the Brussels and Paris attacks, investigators say.
At least one lawyer wants to see if defendant Mehdi Nemmouche sheds more light on such links during his trial that opened last Thursday for the May 24, 2014 museum shooting spree.
The first opportunity may come on Tuesday when Nemmouche begins testifying in his defence in a Brussels criminal court.
Guillaume Lys, the lawyer for the French Association of Victims of Terrorism (AFVT), hopes his cross-examination may yield more detail about the November 13, 2015 Paris attacks.
"Our goal is to be able to have more information about the links between these people and others whom we know and who committed other acts," said Lys, who represents a civil party in the trial.
The following links have already been established by investigators:
‐ ABDELHAMID ABAAOUD ‐
Weeks before the Jewish museum attack, Nemmouche was in regular telephone contact with Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the presumed mastermind of the Paris attacks that killed 130 people and wounded hundreds more.
Abaaoud was killed in a police shootout days after those attacks.
Posted by: Besoeker ||
01/16/2019
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[All Africa] Finance minister Mthuli Ncube has backed calls for Zim-bob-we to grow cannabis for export to take advantage of the growing global legal marijuana market.
Legal marijuana has started gaining traction worldwide due to very high demand among consumers and increasing legalization of recreational or medical marijuana in various countries.
Zim-bob-we has, for years, struggled with serious foreign currency shortages which have lately manifested in acute fuel shortages.
Minister Ncube was asked for his views on growing cannabis as an export product during a so-called Road to Davos town hall meeting in Harare.
"On the cannabis issue I agree with you it's a great opportunity we should move faster in giving licenses," Prof Ncube said last Friday.
"So, I will convey this to my (cabinet) counterparts in Agriculture and Health as well to make sure that we can issue those licenses to entrepreneurs to invite other partners and we get on with it.
Recently, Canada legalised cannabis entirely, which has now led many other countries around the world to consider either recreational or medical legalisation.
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... and Australia are amongst some of the recent countries to legalise medical cannabis, while European nations like the Netherlands and Italia are beginning to explore their options within the medical market.
A Canadian firm has since approached the Harare government with a proposal to produce the cannabis in the planned economic zones in a development that could earn the country about $100 million dollars annually.
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[PRESSTV] Yemeni army soldiers, supported by allied fighters from Popular Committees, have launched an attack against a military base in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... ’s southwestern Jizan region in retaliation for the Riyadh regime’s atrocious military campaign against their impoverished homeland.
The media bureau of Yemen’s Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... Ansarullah movement released video footage on Tuesday, showing Yemeni troops and their allies targeting vehicles at Awjebah base with a domestically-developed combat drone and a salvo of artillery rounds.
Yemeni soldiers and Popular Committees fighters also fired a Zelzal-1 (Earthquake-1) ballistic missile and several artillery rounds at the gathering of Saudi-paid bully boyz loyal to Yemen's resigned president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi east of al-Nar mountain in the northern Yemeni province of Hajjah.
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[IsraelTimes] An undisclosed London mosque has agreed to host an exhibition on the Holocaust that another Moslem house of worship canceled amid protests by members of that faith, activists say.
The new venue is being kept under wraps for fear of a repeat of the campaign that led to the Golders Green mosque scrapping its event earlier this month, Fiyaz Mughal of the interfaith group Faith Matters tells The Jewish News of London.
The Golders Green mosque canceled ‐ without giving a reason ‐ the exhibition titled "Love they Neighbor" about Albanians who rescued Jews during the Holocaust. The cancellation followed a journalist’s calls on a Moslem community news website to protest over the fact that the exhibition was created by Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust museum.
"Thankfully, the exhibition on Moslems who saved Jews is being held in Redbridge," Mughal says. "There is some fantastic work being done" in that borough of London, he adds.
Separately, the Board of Deputies of British Jews said it would host next month the exhibition at a meeting in the presence of the Albanian ambassador to the United Kingdom, Qirjako Qirko.
[PRESSTV] Iran has launched a domestically-built satellite into space with an aim to collect environmental information to boost the country's forecasting system; however, technical problems that occurred during the final stage of the launch prevented the spacecraft from reaching orbit.
Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi tweeted on Tuesday that the first and second stages of the space mission had been performed successfully, but that the Simorgh satellite carrier had failed to accelerate to orbital speed in the third stage.
So not really a success, then. Still, they did manage to get it up into the air, so that’s something.
"The Payam (Message) satellite was successfully launched this morning aboard the satellite carrier. But the satellite unfortunately failed to be placed in orbit in the final stage," said the minister.
Azari Jahromi, however, stressed that Iran was preparing to launch another Low-Earth Orbit satellite, named Doosti (friendship).
And when that day eventually comes, we’ll be watching.
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#1
or the fully successful launch of a 2 stage mid-range ICBM...
#2
It isn't actually all that hard to get something into space. Just need a rocket roughly the size of a telephone pole to go straight up and you will get to a height that is considered "space".
Keeping it up there is the real technical challenge. It has to be going fast enough to balance the pull of earth's gravity while not going so fast it hurls out into the solar system. This requires multiple stages that needs pretty serious engineering and physics. You know, Rocket Science.
Most countries still don't have it and it is hard to develop.
#3
I shot a missile into the air,
Achieving orbit if we dare.
It fell to earth I know not where,
due to an unidentified failure in the 3rd stage boost phase.
(hey, you want rhymage, go find ZenFlo!)
Confessed the best tester for Estes,
Possessed of asbestos-dressed testes,
"All the dolls break my falls
And fry eggs on my balls.
Yes, I'm blessed... but jeez, give it a rest, please!"
Though to be honest, he was only about average size. Six inches, tops. Funny little fella.
Baghadad (IraqiNews.com) Iraq is under pressure from the United States and Iran involving conflicting calls regarding the retention of Shia-led forces that played a major role in the fight against 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.... krazed killers.
Iraqi Alghad Press said the United States is demanding Iraqi premier Adel Abdul Mahdi to disband the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), aka al-Hashd al-Shaabi, while Iran is warning against attempts to weaken the force.
It said that while Iranian Foreign Minister,, Javad Zarif, who was on a visit to Baghdad on Monday, carried an unpublicized message to the government "warning against attempts to weaken the PMF", Abdul-Mahdi, according to Saudi-owned al-Arabiya, asked the U.S. side "to give him sometime" to respond to its renewed call to freeze and disarm the force.
Alghad Press pointed to what it described as "a regional lobby, backed by Iraqi figures working on weakening the force as a premise to its dissolution".
The PMF, composed of some 60 forces, mostly Shia, was formed as per a call from the Iraqi top Shia clergy to fight Islamic State Sunni krazed killers. Many of the troops working under the PMF pledge strong allegiance to Iran and are believed to have enjoyed generous finances and training from the Islamic republic. The force won official Iraqi government recognition as a national force late 2016. Several of its current and former leaders are now members of the Iraqi parliament elected in May.
[DAWN] PIA Chairman Air Marshal Arshad Mahmood Malik says short-term and long-term plans are in the works to revive the airline.
Addressing members of the Faisalabad ...formerly known as Lyallpur, the third largest metropolis in Pakistain, the second largest in Punjab after Lahore. It is named after some Arab because the Paks didn't have anybody notable of their own to name it after... Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Monday, he said revival was a daunting task as compared to launching a new airline.
Also read: Another go at a PIA turnaround
The chairman said getting rid of seven loss-making routes was his first priority. He said three direct flights from Faisalabad to Jeddah would be introduced from Feb 15. He said two different teams would visit Faisalabad next week to review the expansion of the runway and to evaluate local cargo potential.
He said 18,000 workers were on the airline payroll and the number was high compared to international standards.
FCC President Syed Zia Alumdar Hussain and former FPCCI president Mian Idrees also spoke on the occasion.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
In the 80's their international flights weren't bad. Aside from a passenger revolt in a 747 on the tarmac in Istanbul. Which looking back was kind of funny. And they had great hot tea.
[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... said his country would set up a security zone in northern Syria as suggested by US President 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... as both leaders sought to ease growing tensions.
Addressing his deputies on Tuesday, Erdogan said he held a "quite positive" telephone conversation with Trump late on Monday where he reaffirmed "a 20-mile [32-km] security zone along the Syrian border ... will be set up by us".
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Victory Girls] You knew it was too good to be true. We’ve gone weeks, maybe even months, without Lisa Page being in the news. After all the liberal rhetoric about "The Wall", maybe we ought to thank The Daily Caller and The Epoch Times for giving us something else to think about. Except then we have to wonder‐yet again‐at the apparent improprieties committed by the FBI during its investigations of not only President Trump but of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Background:
Lisa Page is the former assistant general counsel at the FBI;
She testified twice behind closed doors into the actions of the FBI, the Department of Justice, CIA Director John Brennan and others regarding the investigation into President Trump;
Included in her testimony was the Steele Brief and information regarding it that Brennan gave to Sen. Harry Reid (D);
Page also testified that "DOJ refused to pursue "gross-negligence" charges against Hillary Clinton over her use of a private email server to send classified information."
[DAILYPOST.NG] The Nigerian military on Tuesday retook Rann, the headquarters of Kala Balge local government area of Borno state in northeast Nigeria ... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border... , following invasion by suspected ISWAP on Monday night.
Troops who tactically retreated when the Lions of Islam overwhelmed them got reinforcement to turn the table against the bad boys, killing several of them, according to military sources in Maiduguri.
According to some Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, who arrived Maiduguri, today (morning), the Lions of Islam had sacked the military base earlier and also sacked the people in the camp at Rann.
"Many people were killed and a lot more were maimed. They burnt down the General hospital and school and other government and NGOs facilities," Bukar Bunu said.
On how they arrived Maiduguri, he said they have been on the run and got help from some people who were also escaping when the base and the camp fell.
Our Correspondent gathered that, reinforcement came from Ngala and with the help of air support, troops successfully forced the Lions of Islam to flee having more superior firepower.
Speaking with some camp officials who do not wish to be mentioned, they said, the influx of IDPs has increased across the camps in Maiduguri, and with the Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... attacks in both Damasak and Rann yesterday, the number of Internally Displaced Persons is expected to rise even more this week.
The military is yet to make an official statement regarding the attacks in Damasak and Rann, especially that there were sketchy details in the attack on Damasak in Mobbar Local Government Area of Borno State.
It could be recalled that as at last week, over 30,000 displaced persons arrived 9 camps in Maiduguri.
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[ABC] A federal judge in New York on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from asking about citizenship in the 2020 census, finding that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross "violated the public trust" when he decided to insert a citizenship question.
While the Constitution gives the Secretary of Commerce "broad discretion" over the census, U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman said Ross violated administrative procedures. Furman called Ross's decision to include the question "arbitrary and capricious."
"Secretary Ross’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census ‐ even if it did not violate the Constitution itself ‐ was unlawful for a multitude of independent reasons and must be set aside," Furman wrote.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/16/2019 7:06
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#4
Amazing the expanse of power the aristocracy judiciary claims. The Constitution calls for a census for enumeration of the House of Representatives. That's it.
#9
Surely there is time before 2020 to bring this case to the SCOTUS.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/16/2019 12:01
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#10
What about all the intrusive questions I recall from the last census that I was told to answer On pain of law and perjury charges such as my income, did I own my domicile, etc. etc. What abut those extras that got added in a Big Brother™ fashion to the census?
#14
What about all the intrusive questions I recall from the last census that I was told to answer On pain of law and perjury charges
If memory serves, you can refuse to answer most/all of the questions on the decadal census. However, there is something called the American Community Survey. It looks and smells like the Census, but is on-going and much more detailed. And has legal penalties associated with your response.
#15
I answered the required info and blew off the "how many miles do you commute to your feeble employment in your carbon-spewing death trap of pollution you racist bastard" questions. No reaction back
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/16/2019 19:55
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[DAWN] With White House residence staff among those hit by the United States government shutdown, President 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... personally ordered in an "all American" feast of burgers and pizza on Monday for a visiting football team.
"Because of the shutdown, as you know ... we went out and we ordered American fast food paid for by me," the president quipped, as he prepared to host the Clemson Tigers university players to celebrate their national championship win.
"I think they'd like it better than anything we could give," said Trump, after landing back at the White House following a day trip to New Orleans.
"We have pizzas, we have 300 hamburgers, many, many French fries, all of our favourite foods ‐ I want to see what's here when we leave, because I don't think it's going to be much," the president mused.
Asked to name his own favourite fast food ‐ as he stood smiling behind the gargantuan spread ‐ Trump demurred, insisting: "I like them all."
"If it's American, I like it. It's all American stuff."
"The reason we did this is because of the shutdown," he added.
"We want to make sure that everything is right, so we sent out, we got this."
Around 800,000 federal employees ‐ including much of the White House residence staff ‐ have been on mandatory leave or working without pay for 24 days as Donald Trump and Congress wrangle over funding for a wall on the southern border.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
What's more important? Sitting down at a State Dinner for a College Athlete -OR- being able to say the POTUS shook his hand in the White House while he was eating a Big Mac™? The second is a great story to tell to the Grand-kids.
#5
Hamburgers, French fries, Pizzas
All American stuff?
Oh, yeah. We done culturally appropriated the hell out of that stuff. One more reason why America totally rocks. We do thank y'all for creating it, though. Sharing is caring!
/me recalls a story his high school German teacher told about taking a visiting German buddy to an American fast food restaurant. Poor dude was bemused to see to hamburgers and frankfurters on the menu. "What, you are eating people from Franfurt?"
And let us not forget the immortal words of President Kennedy: "Ich bin ein Berliner." (I am a jelly donut)
[DAWN] Tragedy befell a home on Rawalpindi's Sixth Road where preparations were taking place for a wedding, as a fire erupted and burned alive five women, including the bride-to-be.
The victims were identified as the 24-year-old bride, Sana; 14-year-old Hina; 20-year-old Hafza; 25-year-old Manahil; and 22-year-old Nayna.
Four women went titzup while the fifth women, who had received serious burn wounds, succumbed to her injuries at the hospital, DawnNewsTV reported. The bodies have been handed over to the families of the dear departed.
Eyewitnesses told DawnNewsTV that the fire broke out on the ground floor of the house and moved upwards to engulf the upper storey.
The homeowner, Malik Abdul Ghani, while narrating the incident to DawnNewsTV, laid the blame on rescue services: "They did not arrive timely and as a result five women, including my daughter are now dead."
The aggrieved father said his daughter was due to be married on Thursday, whereas today, a mehendi ceremony was going to take place.
When the fire broke out, between 40 and 50 guests were present within the home. Some had to jump out from the upper floor in order to save their lives.
According to New Town Assistant Superintendent Police (ASP) Ziauddin, the source of the fire remains a mystery and it is being investigated whether the cause was a short circuit in the wiring, a gas leakage, or if it was a case of arson. He said that to this end, the Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... Forensic Science Agency was also being consulted.
Former MPA Raja Hanif, an eyewitness to the tragedy, alleged that the rescue services arrived late and that the first fire truck to have arrived at the scene "did not have any water".
Rescue services official Farooq Butt denied the allegations. No, no! Certainly not! and said the rescue team had reached the residence six minutes after being alerted of the fire. However, ars longa, vita brevis... they were "subjected to violence" which delayed rescue efforts and prevented the team from controlling the fire timely.
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[KhaamaPress] At least seven Talibs have been killed during the separate operations of the Afghan and Coalition Forces in three southern provinces of the country.
Informed military sources confirm that a coalition air strike in Shah Joy district of Zabul killed 2 known Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... bomb controllers and attack coordinators.
The sources further added that the Afghan Special Operations Forces conducted a raid in Tarin Kot city of Uruzgan province, killing 2 Taliban fighters.
In the meantime, Coalition air strikes in Nahr-e Saraj and Garm Ser districts of Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... n left 3 Taliban fighters dead while a weapons cache was also destroyed.
Both the Afghan and Coalition Forces have stepped up ground operations and Arclight airstrikes against the anti-government armed murderous Moslems in the restive parts of the country.
[Al Jazeera] Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... rebel and Yemeni government representatives did not meet face-to-face in the port city of Hodeidah over the past week despite a recently-inked peace plan, United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... front man Stephane Dujarric said on Monday.
The UN's Patrick Cammaert has been forced to "shuttle" between the rebel and government sides, who had twice met together under the so-called Redeployment Coordination Committee (RDC) before those direct talks broke down, the UN said.
Their refusal to sit together highlights the difficulty in implementing the UN-brokered deal, reached between the government and rebels on December 13 in Rimbo, Sweden.
Dujarric said that Cammaert's meetings were aimed at finding a "mutually acceptable way forward for the redeployment of forces from the three ports and critical parts of the city associated with humanitarian facilities".
Under the terms of the Rimbo deal, the Houthis were expected to hand over control of the ports of Hodeidah, Saleef and Ras Isa to local security forces in liaison with Cammaert and envoys from the Saudi-backed government. However, man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them... both sides have disagreed over the wording of the agreement.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Top|| File under:
The Thirty-Six Stratagems is a Chinese essay used to illustrate a series of stratagems used in politics, war, and civil interaction.
Its focus on the use cunning and deception both on the battlefield and in court have drawn comparisons to Sun Tzu's The Art of War. It also shares thematic similarities with Zhang Yingyu's The Book of Swindles, a late-Ming-dynasty work focused on the realms of commerce and civil society.
#1
Want american translation of Chinese ancient military classics, check out Ralph D. Sawyer's Amazon page. Much of what the Chinese are currently doing is just what they have been honed to an art form over thousands of years.
[DAWN] The Supreme Court on Tuesday in its verdict in a suo motu ...a legal term, from the Latin. Roughly translated it means I saw what you did, you bastard... case on the increasing population said that the government, civil society and religious scholars should all take steps to tackle the issue.
A three-member SC bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, was hearing the case. Population control is the latest campaign the SC has extended its support to.
According to the 2017 census, which was held after a gap of 19 years, the country’s population is approximately 207,774,520 living in 32,205,111 households. The results show that Pakistain has moved up the ladder becoming the fifth most populous nation only behind India, China, the United States and Indonesia. Top government officials have decided to reduce the population growth rate of 2.4 per cent per annum to 1.5pc.
The SC in its verdict today observed that an increasing population is a stress on the country's resources and likened the growth to an kaboom.
"We need a campaign to decrease the population," the court said. "It is a question of the future of our coming generations."
"The entire nation must stand united on the matter of population planning," said chief justice Nisar, who has termed unbridled population growth as the "most disastrous issue" for Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2019
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[RADIOSHABELLE] Somali gang al-Shabaab ... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord... grabbed credit for an attack in an upscale neighbourhood in the Kenyan capital.
Two kabooms and gunfire were heard at an upscale hotel and office complex in Kenya’s capital on Wednesday afternoon, said a woman working in a neighbouring building.
"We are under attack," another person in an office inside a complex in the Dusit hotel told the Rooters news agency, then hung up. Local television showed smoke rising from the area.
The Nairobi police commander Philip Ndolo said they had cordoned off the area around Riverside Drive due to a suspected robbery.
Flames and plumes of black smoke billowed into the sky from the parking lot of the compound where several vehicles were on fire, with scores of people fleeing the compound, some of them lightly injured.
Somalia-based gang al-Shabaab grabbed credit for the attack that came a day after the trial began in deadly Westgate mall attack case that left 67 people dead.
"We are currently conducting an operation in Nairobi," the group’s military operations front man told Al Jazeera.
Kenyan prosecutors say the four suspects committed a "terrorist act" under Kenya’s anti-terrorism laws and used false documents. The men deny all the charges.
The country faced a spate of attacks after it sent its army into Somalia in October 2011 to fight the al-Qaeda-linked group.
Tuesday attack comes exactly three years after the gang overrun a Kenyan army base in Somalia killing dozens of soldiers.
Al-Shabaab ... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia... claims coordinated assault in upscale hotel complex in Kenyan capital, with reports of at least 15 killed.
More than 12 hours after Tuesday's attack began at Nairobi's Dusit hotel complex, which also includes bars, restaurants, offices and banks, bursts of gunfire and kabooms were still heard in the area despite earlier government assurances that everything was under control.
The shots rang out at around 3:30am local time (00:30 GMT) as a group of around 150 workers was escorted from a building where they had sought refuge. Many more remained inside and some needed first aid for gunshot wounds, a first responder told Rooters news agency.
Kenya's Interior Minister Fred Matiang'i had said at 11pm that all buildings at the scene had been secured and scores of people evacuated. But he did not comment on the attackers' whereabouts and said security forces were still "mopping up".
By 1am local time, 15 bodies had arrived at Chiromo Mortuary and more were expected, an attendant told Rooters news agency. Identification papers indicated that 11 were Kenyan, one was from the United States and one from Britannia, he said. The other two were not carrying documents.
A Kenyan police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was also quoted by The News Agency that Dare Not be Named news agency as saying that 15 bodies had been taken to the morgue.
The US State Department confirmed that a US citizen was among those killed, but did not release the identity of the victim.
Al-Shabaab, which has been fighting the western-backed government in Somalia, grabbed credit for the attack, saying on Tuesday that it was in control of most parts of the building complex.
"Our fighters killed 47 enemies inside the complex. The mujahideen are still in control of most parts of the building complex," Abdiaziz Abu Mus'ab, the group's military operations spokesperson, told Al Jazeera.
Authorities did not comment on the number of the attackers but Kenya's Citizen TV aired security-camera footage that showed at least four heavily gunnies in dark-coloured, paramilitary-style gear.
No casualty figures have been released by officials, but witnesses reported seeing several bodies.
A police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to news hounds said bodies were seen in restaurants downstairs and in offices upstairs, but "there was no time to count the dead."
A witness who gave his name only as Ken said he saw five bodies at the hotel entrance.
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Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)
[Bearing Arms] For more than 120 years, the Mauser brand and its M98 bolt action rifles have defined both reliability and quality in the civilian and military markets. This year, the Mauser company, now known for high-end rifles, has jumped both boots into the budget hunting market with their new M18. Guns.com finds out whether this German-made "People’s Rifle" will resonate with an American market.
Though a budget Mauser seems as foreign as schnitzel at the food court, here we are with a synthetic stock, matte blued piece wearing the old Mauser logo recognizable from military rifles of many decades and world wars past. The M18 is a traditional bolt action centerfire rifle that Mauser defines as a "no-frills" rifle that "brings together all the essentials for hunting in the best possible way and does not include anything that isn’t necessary in the field."
The M18 is indeed utilitarian, built with solid steel construction. Cold hammered barrels are geared toward long-term accuracy. An adjustable trigger comes standard. The company’s "multi-purpose end cap" is actually a removeable, rubberized buttpad with space for internal storage. Sling swivels come standard, and while the rifle ships sans scope bases, the M18 accepts Remington 700 two-piece mounts.
All M18’s come with the same stock, though standard calibers wear a 22 inch barrels while Magnum chamberings have the longer 24 inch tube. The M18 is now shipping chamberings in: .243 Win, .308 Win, 6.5 Creedmoor, .270 Win, .30-06 Spfld, 7mm Rem Mag, and .300 Win Mag. MSRP on the M18 in its variety of calibers is $699, a far cry from the $13,000+ price tag of the current production Mauser M98 Magnum.
[DAWN] Two suspected members of the murderous MoslemIslamic 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 allegedly linked to the 2013 abduction of former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's former prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics could be awe-inspiring ... 's son, Ali Haider Gilani, were killed in a pre-dawn raid on a 'militant hideout' in Faisalabad ...formerly known as Lyallpur, the third largest metropolis in Pakistain, the second largest in Punjab after Lahore. It is named after some Arab because the Paks didn't have anybody notable of their own to name it after... on Tuesday, a Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) official said.
CTD official Rai Tahir identified the two Death Eaters as Adeel Hafeez and Usman Haroon. He said both were killed during an intense shootout in the raid conducting by security officials.
Tahir said officials had, in the past, foiled other attacks the pair had plotted, adding that they were also behind the killing of two intelligence officials in recent years as well as other high-profile crimes.
The two Death Eaters were also linked to the 2011 Al Qaeda abduction of an American development worker, Warren Weinstein, the official said. Weinstein, who was taken from Lahore, was accidentally killed in a United States dronezap in 2015 on the Afghanistan-Pakistain border. He provided no specific information about the role the two had in Weinstein's case.
The American worker's accidental death was announced by Washington in 2015. President Barack Obama Ready to Rule from Day One... at the time said he took full responsibility for US counter-terror missions and offered his condolences to families of the hostages.
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Anbar (IraqiNews.com) ‐ An 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.... terrorist was placed in durance vile Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! Tuesday in Anbar province with three machine guns in his possession, an Iraqi military front man said.
"Security forces arrested a terrorist while hiding at his house in Ar-Rutbah district in western Anbar," Almaalomah news website quoted front man for the Security Media Center Brig. Gen. Yahya Rassol as saying, adding that three machine guns were found inside the house.
He added that the troops also dismantled 55 explosive charges that were left by Islamic State turbans in the province.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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[DAWN] The Afghan Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... on Tuesday grabbed credit for a powerful truck kaboom in Kabul that destroyed surrounding neighbourhoods, killing at least four people and wounding more than 100, in the latest assault on the Afghan capital.
In a grim message, the snuffies also vowed to carry out more attacks in the city in direct response to the recent appointment of former spymaster and anti-Taliban veteran Amrullah Saleh as interior minister.
Monday evening's kaboom near a heavily fortified foreign compound shook Kabul and comes as diplomats ramp up efforts to end the 17-year war in Afghanistan, which by some estimates was the world's deadliest conflict in 2018.
India has confirmed the death of one of its nationals in last night’s VBIED attack in Kabul which the Afghan officials say has claimed the lives of at least four people.The Ministry of Public Health officials are saying that the attack killed 4 people while around 113 others have sustained injuries, including many women and kiddies.
The attack on Green Village NGO, which was swiftly claimed by Taliban ...Arabic for students... krazed killers, left at least three soldiers and one civilian dead and over 114 others maimed with 30 of those injured in a critical condition.
Monday night's attack on the compound, which is used by international organizations for housing foreigners, including those working with the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... , marks the fourth attack on the same compound by the turbans since 2012.
Security officials have said that foreigners around and inside the compound remained unhurt while most damages were inflicted to the Afghan civilians and their homes.
TOLOnews’ news hound Sharif Amiri who visit the blast scene reported on heavy damage around the compound and homes in the area.
In the past, people in the vicinity had asked the Afghan ministry of interior to relocate the base from the residential area.
"It is the legitimate right of the people. We are working on a greater plan with our international colleagues to relocate these camps to other areas," interior ministry front man, Najib Danish said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Rudaw] The Kurdish administration in northern Syria will not accept a Ottoman Turkish role in a safe zone over their areas, but would be open to such a scheme being controlled by an uninterested country or organization, said an official.
"We can accept a safe zone in the following form ‐ if it is a safe zone under the administration of the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... , the Coalition, and uninterested countries," said Aldar Khalil, head of the foreign relations department of the ruling TEV-DEM coalition in Rojava, in an interview with Hawar News published on Tuesday.
They will not accept The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...Qatar's colony in Asia Minor.... as a guarantor because that is the country making the threats, he added.
US President 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... and 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... have both floated the idea of a safe zone in northern Syria as a solution to prevent a Ottoman Turkish military offensive against Kurdish forces in the area. Ankara alleges that the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) are a terror organization and a threat to Turkey. The YPG denies the charge and says Turkey is the aggressor.
Trump and Erdogan discussed the proposal in a phone call on Monday, after Trump tweeted about it.
Khalil said they are still trying to figure out what exactly Trump and Erdogan envision for this safe zone.
"If it refers to a zone providing safety from Ottoman Turkish threats, then we say okay as something right is being done," Khalil told Hawar News.
Turkey wants a safe zone going 32 kilometres (20 miles) into northern Syria and running the length of the border.
Khalil said that if the proposed zone targets or pushes the YPG and its sister force the YPJ, "protectors of the region," then they would reject it.
The Americans haven't made things clear, he said.
"If the Americans say it is true, that it is a safe zone under Ottoman Turkish control, then we will undoubtedly not accept that," Khalil vowed.
Trump regularly makes policy announcements on Twitter that leave even his closest advisors stumped.
Turkey wants to be in control of the safe zone as part of its "fight against terrorism and terror groups," Erdogan’s aide Ibrahim Kalin said on Tuesday.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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Erbil (IraqiNews.com) ‐ A Bengali citizen was killed Tuesday in a kaboom in central Erbil, the capital city of Iraqi Kurdistan, a security source was quoted as saying.
"An explosive charge hidden inside a container went off at a garbage dump in central Erbil, leaving one person dead," the source told Baghdad Today website.
"The victim was found to be a Bengal citizen," the source added.
[All Africa] Today, 15 January 2019, Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court ("ICC" or "Court"), by majority, Judge Herrera Carbuccia dissenting, acquitted Mr Laurent Gbagbo ... Former President-for-Life of Ivory Coast from 2000 to 2011. Laurent lost to Alassane Ouattara in 2010 but his representtive tore up the results on the teevee and he refused to vacate the presidential palace. French troops assisted the Oattara forces in extricating him from his Fuhrerbunker... and Mr Charles Blé Goudé from all charges of crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Côte d'Ivoire in 2010 and 2011. A fully reasoned decision will be issued in writing in due course. The Prosecutor may appeal the decision after the full decision is filed.
As a consequence, the Chamber ordered the release of Mr Gbagbo and Mr Blé Goudé. The Prosecutor may request that Mr Gbagbo and/or Mr Blé Goudé remain in detention for exceptional reasons. Trial Chamber I will hear the parties and participants on this matter tomorrow 16 January 2019 at 10 hours.
Judges Cuno Tarfusser (presiding) and Geoffrey Henderson, forming the Majority of the Chamber, noted the violent political conflict in the context of the 2010 presidential elections, in Abidjan and in other parts of the country. The Majority, however, considered that the Prosecutor has failed to submit sufficient evidence to demonstrate the responsibility of Mr Gbagbo and Mr Blé Goudé for the incidents under the Chamber's scrutiny.
In particular, having thoroughly analysed the evidence, the Chamber concluded by majority that the Prosecutor has failed to demonstrate several core constitutive elements of the crimes as charged, including the existence of a "common plan" to keep Mr Gbagbo in power, which included the commission of crimes against civilians "pursuant to or in furtherance of a State or organizational policy"; and the existence of patterns of violence from which it could be inferred that there was a "policy to attack a civilian population".
Furthermore, the Chamber concluded, by majority, that the Prosecutor failed to demonstrate that public speeches by Mr Gbagbo or Mr Blé Goudé constituted ordering, soliciting or inducing the alleged crimes. The Chamber decided that, accordingly, there is no need for the defence to submit further evidence.
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[Libya Observer] The Spokesman for the self-styled army in eastern Libya, Ahmed al-Mismari, has announced that 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... ordered the launching of a military operation to advance on the southwestern districts in Libya to "secure and protect the residents from gunnies and criminal groups."
"The operation is going to protect the people from the gunnies and criminals who work for foreign parties to change the topography of Libyan and its identity." The statement of al-Mismari said.
The statement says the operation aims to protect also Libya's resources such as water, oil and gas as well as helping Libyans to be provided for by the needed services such as foods, power, water and other important things.
"The operation targets as well exacting law and order in the region, fighting smuggling, crimes, human trafficking, and illegal immigration, let alone protecting oil facilities and local as well as foreign companies." The statement adds.
The operations room operated by Haftar's forces called on residents to be vigilant and to avoid being in festivities' zones in Sabha, where it said there are gatherings of gunnies and criminals.
Previously, Haftar's command announced the launching of four operations each aimed to secure the southern region, yet none of them had any effect on the ground.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[News18] Germany on Tuesday detained a German-Afghan man on suspicion he was spying for Iran while working for the German army as a linguistic and cultural adviser.
The 50-year-old identified as Abdul Hamid S was arrested in western Germany, federal prosecutors said in a statement.
"The accused was a language evaluator and cultural issues adviser of the German armed forces. In this capacity, he is believed to have passed on information to an Iranian intelligence service," they added.
According to Spiegel Online, he is suspected of working for Iranian secret services for several years.
While working for the German army, he had access to highly sensitive information including on troop deployment in Afghanistan, the report added.
[ABC] A federal judge on Tuesday denied requests from unions representing air traffic controllers and other employees required to work through the government shutdown that they either be paid or have the option to skip work while missing paychecks.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled to keep the status quo, saying that an order allowing employees considered essential to skip work would be "chaotic" in a best-case scenario and "catastrophic" at worst.
Lawyers representing the National Air Traffic Controllers Association had sued the Trump administration to get their controllers, thousands of whom continue to work and just missed a paycheck, be paid while working during the shutdown in order for them to remain "laser-focused" on their job guiding more than 40,000 flights through the nation's airspace every day.
Lawyers for the labor unions, including National Treasury Employees Union, argued withholding pay while forcing labor is unconstitutional and violated U.S. labor laws.
Leon said only Congress can appropriate the funds to pay federal workers and would not force the Treasury Department to allocate funds to the furloughed employees.
#1
Besoeker, if you're the author of the headline and responsible for the image, I demand you apologize to the workers who are still working without pay and still have bills to pay, families to feed. If you don't then I call you out for being a bully who enjoys kicking people when they are down.
#2
The headline posted herein is the headline run by ABC verbatim. The graphic was my personal opinion of these sordid events. I have not worked in many years. When I needed work, I didn't hire a lawyer. I got off of my ass and found it! I would hope that others do likewise.
#3
Blame ABC’s editors, AlmostAnonymous5839. And if any of your congressional representatives are Democrats, let them know it’s time for them to compromise with President Trump. It is they who are at fault for the situation that is making your current circumstances so difficult — especially that group frolicking in Puerto Rico instead of working to find a solution in Washington, DC.
What did federal workers do during the Obama shutdwon in October, 2013?
#4
Personally I think it's wise to get the federal employees and sinecurists to understand the feeling of expecting a paycheck/pay-cheque and it not being there.
After all the government has done so much to make that happen to sooo many workers.
#5
The graphic probably crushed some sensibilities TW. I had initially intended to post Fred's 'pigs at the trough' which I routinely use for gov't workers and pols, but substituted another a bit more caustic. My bad, I took the replacement down.
#6
Air traffic controllers have a tough, demanding job with lots of responsibility. Did the judge also rule that landlords may not collect rent from them, banks not ask fopr mortgages being paid?
Sorry, no pay, no work.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/16/2019 6:50
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#7
Sorry, no pay, no work.
Posted by European Conservative
But, but, but I cannot be terminated thus I must always be paid! Can you not see the corollary ?
#8
If they don't work they CAN be terminated, right?
How long are they supposed to work without pay? Months?
Sorry no. Either pay them or allow them not to work. They have to feed a family.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/16/2019 7:08
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#9
Bottom line, they will eventually be paid. It is actually against Federal law to NOT compensate. If they stay home and do nothing, they will also get paid. If they come to work w/o pay, provide them with 'COMP TIME' (compensatory time off) at some future date.
If they do not want 'COMP TIME' permit them to sell back the days off, or add the days off in cash to their annual bonus.
Permit the withdrawal of funds (without penalty) from their Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) account.
Surely a workable solution, a win-win can be found somewhere.
#12
What has the union got to do with it?
If the government says you have to work, it has to pay you.
Trump said the shutdown could go on for a long time. Are people supposed to work for months without pay?
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/16/2019 10:46
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#13
Lawyers for the labor unions, including National Treasury Employees Union, argued withholding pay while forcing labor is unconstitutional and violated U.S. labor laws.
Keep in mind who isn't getting income from the workers during the shutdown.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/16/2019 10:54
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#14
My question was: Why should the unions advance the government's pay?
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/16/2019 11:00
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#15
Are people supposed to work for months without pay?
The piglets that covet a tit
Of the biggest she-porker, to wit:
Our government workers
(excepting you Burgers!),
Would rather be beggin'... than quit.
#16
They can take their labor elsewhere and sell it. Given that unemployment is down, that shouldn't be too much of a problem unless they do want a job but not work. The only people who can't quit their job are the uniformed services when it falls under desertion. BTW, Back in the 70s, Congress refused to pass the DoD authorization. The services went month to month with a continuing resolution. Mess Halls were opened to dependents as the resolutions dragged into the next months. The Donks controlled Congress then too. Punishment for following the Constitutional orders of the Executive for the Vietnam era.
The federal employees face the monkey with his hands on the candy and can't extract his hand from the bottle situation. The bennies are that good. They know it. They also know that in every other instances of this kind, they all got back pay.
Not that any department has ever delayed payments to contractors. Nah, never happened. /sarc off
#20
Un-essential workers (all administrative and contract workers) are staying home and not being paid. Essential, like myself, still have to show up work or not get paid. Besoeker, we are not pigs in the trough! Essential workers are necessary for safety or security reasons. Please refrain from performing an anal-cranial inversion and find out some facts, learn and stop performing knee jerk pronouncements.
Too many of you are assuming that all federal employees are ticks on your butt and I for one am getting a little tired of that.
#22
Are mandarins pinching their pennies
And sharing Grand Slams down at Denny's?
The horror, the horror.
"I'm sore," roared a schnorrer,
"But thanks for these glorious bennies!"
Not personal, AlmostAnon, just playing with words and making light of the bigger mess.
#23
And if any of your congressional representatives are Democrats, let them know it’s time for them to compromise with President Trump.
I believe that writing about this matter to Diane Feinstein and Kamala Harris would be akin to spitting in the wind. I do not believe that either one of them gives a fig what I say. I believe that Democrats in general have long since stopped trying to do things in the best interests of their constituents. They care only for power and as long as they have the msm covering their butts, they'll do as they please. This matter will not be resolved by letters from constituents.
Every night I sit and watch the msm deliver sob stories about these poor federal workers but they say not one word about the victims of crimes committed by illegal aliens, not to mention the deaths of people addicted to illegal narcotics. I'm sorry about people not getting paid but can't help thinking this is a temporary thing for them. For the mother of a child victimized by a drunken illegal alien in a car crash, it's permanent.
And what about workers in the private sector, on the lower rungs of the ladder, who are displaced by illegal aliens? Any word on that from ABC?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/16/2019 13:35
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#24
And 8 years of the private sector's suffering being mocked by the government with Funemployment, whilst they took more out of our paychecks for the Funemployed to stay Funemployed.
Now we get to deal with our Common Corp entry level employees.
And what in the ehll is a non-essential employee? Been throwing people off the boat so everyone else has enough to drink since mid 2008 and been harangued or laughed down after doing so.
So there is a bit of animosity out here in the private sector, especially when the insincere use sobs and tears to attempt to unleash yet another wave of unskilled, uneducated, wellfare and paid under the table cases into a reeling workforce and population.
There are banks who are fronting money to gov employees working without pay, knowing the paycheck will eventually arrive and the front re-payed.
In fact, I just realized the only people around home not pissed off are the trash bum junkies. Guess they still get their wellfare checks then?
What we should all be pissed about is when the tiny lords threatened all of us who do work with a delayed tax return. Last I saw, IRS still takes money so they are open. So the tiny lords either threatened us with financial violence, or consider that aspect of the government obliged to return the money they took from us speculating and earning interest, to not be essential.
#25
Not downing on you AA5839, glad you are one of the good ones, congratulations on making yourself essential at work, sorry you gotta hit the rainy day fund for a bit (hope you have one; everyone Dave Ramsey is required familiarity).
The new line is, towns around National Parks are going broke! bullcrap. Sick of it.
#26
As a local Gubbamint Employee/Cog in a top 10 City:
In 2008 when the City budget (and Fed economy) took a shit, we took a mandatory furlough of a week, then 10 days. We weren't paid for that, but we STFU (we shut up, because - we got jobs)
We had no raises for 10 years, eventually the furloughs were restored - 2015. (we shut up, because - we got jobs)
The Fed furloughed employees oughtta figure out: People don't care - they worry day-to-day about their jobs. Quit whining
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/16/2019 21:52
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#27
Goodness! That is a rant, swksvolFF. I seem to recall that the nonsense of the Obama years kept you from expanding your business as demand would have otherwise encouraged.
#28
I know some people are hurting and despite that, I find it hard to have alot of sympathy. I work in the oil field so having my job disappear when least expected is part of the deal. Dealing with 10% pay cuts that turn into 30% pay cut is also. And I don't get to go home every night to tuck in my kid or kiss my wife. I'm gone 3-5 weeks at a time. And it sure seems lately that the amount of compensation we get for that being gone from our families keeps getting smaller and smaller. Yeah I could get another job...entry level geology pays so well;) ($30k/yr) Right now there's -3- people in the world with my job. So I think I'll just stick it out here and suck up the bad parts.
[All Africa] Gabon's President Ali Bongo arrived in Libreville overnight on Tuesday following several months of absence after suffering a stroke, just over a week after the country experienced an attempted coup d'etat. Bongo returned from Morocco to preside over a ceremony for the swearing-in of a new government. He is expected to return to Rabat shortly to continue his hospital treatment.
"The president of the republic is present in Libreville," said Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nzé, in an interview with Deutsche Welle radio.
Bilie-By-Nzé said it was "out of the question" that Bongo swear in the new government from abroad and when asked if Bongo would be returning to Morocco he said, "certainly, he hasn't yet finished his convalescence".
Gabon has been without its head of state for several months. Bongo is thought to have suffered a stroke during a visit to Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... in October and received initial treatment in Riyadh. He was then transferred to Morocco to continue his recovery and has since made rare video appearances including a speech for New Year.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2019
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#2
Preznit Teeth and Eyes: "I was told there'd be no math"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/16/2019 9:09
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#3
Right - after Obama, I don't believe we are collectively stupid enough to elect what would be a barely 35 year old idiot broad socialist with the IQ of a dead cat.
[PRESSTV] A series of austerity measures imposed by the British government have left police in London with a significant decrease in the number of officers investigating homicides.
The number of police personnel investigating murder cases in London’s Metropolitan Police Service, also known as the Met or Scotland Yard, has shrunk by more than 25 percent in the last decade, data obtained by the Press Association showed.
That reported drop in the number of officers comes as London recorded its highest number of homicides in a decade last year with 128 cases.
Many blame government cuts in the police force as a major reason, saying officers have been forced to save around 850 million pounds over the past decade.
The worst year for staffing was 2017, when the homicide and major crime command (HMCC) had just 590 officers and 168 other staff, making a total strength of 758. The number of major investigation teams also plummeted - from 26 to just 18.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2019
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#1
They're needed to fight all the thought crime on twitter.
[ELUNIVERSAL] Deputy Karin Salanova called on the UN agency to bend to neutrality, to impartiality and to help comptroller everything that has entered the country
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2019
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[ELUNIVERSAL] The National Assembly (AN) approved on Tuesday an agreement on the declaration of usurpation of the Presidency of the Republic -by President Nicolás Maduro- and the application of the Constitution to "re-establish its validity".
The Legislative Power also resolved to "assume the de facto situation" of Maduro as legally ineffective and to consider "null all the alleged acts emanating from the Executive Power."
According to the document read at the end of the discussion, the AN seeks to "establish a legislative framework that provides guarantees for democratic reintegration, so that incentives are created for civil and police officials, as well as the components of the Armed Forces National, stop obeying "Maduro.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
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[RADIOSHABELLE] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire.... ’s state aid agency provided medical equipment to a hospital in Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland, according to a statement on Tuesday.
The Ottoman Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) said 216 devices and medical equipment including an ultrasound device, echocardiography equipment, autoclave were provided for the Hargeisa State Hospital, which serves around 3 million patients.
Ottoman Turkish Ambassador in Mogadishu Mehmet Yilmaz, Somaliland Health Minister Hassan Ismail Yusuf and TIKA’s coordinator in Somalia Galip Yilmaz attended the delivery ceremony of the medical supplies.
Speaking at the ceremony, Yusuf said the equipment provided by Turkey will contribute to the people of Somaliland receiving healthcare in much better circumstances.
Also speaking at the ceremony, Yilmaz emphasized the brotherhood between the people of Turkey and Somalia.
He said: "Turkey will continue to increase assistance in the region. We welcome the Somaliland administration deporting the FETO [Fetullah Terrorist Organization] terror group and handing the management of the FETO-linked schools over to the Maarif Foundation."
Turkey established the Maarif Foundation after 2016 defeated coup attempt to take over the administration of overseas schools linked to FETO. It also establishes schools and education centers abroad.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2019
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[ELUNIVERSAL] President Nicolás Maduro announced on Tuesday that the civil-military operation Bicentenario de Angostura will be held from February 10 to 15 for the "integral defense" of the nation.
"This month we must start with strategic acceleration," the president said during a ceremony held in Fuerte Tiuna, adding that Venezuela has a military corps with great operational capacity, doctrinaire.
He also indicated that the beginning of the Plan of the Nation 2019-2025 must start within the framework of the commemoration of the bicentennial of the Angostura Congress.
"The start of the Plan of the Nation must be done within the framework of the Angostura Congress and the bicentennial era, we are preparing for the commemoration throughout the year, but on February 15, in large civic-military mobilizations we will commemorate the two hundred years of that day that the Liberator -Simón Bolívar- shone forever, "he said during a VTV broadcast.
On the other hand, he said that on April 13 he will swear in militia to reach the two million that "must be ready for the war of all the people, in the different scenarios, and we must have the weapons, so that the weapons system arrives to the Bolivarian National Militia. "
He reiterated that "the arms of the Republic are in the hands of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces, by constitutional and legal mandate, and the FANB is the one that deploys them, which puts them in the hands of the militiaman, so they can go to their military exercises and defend clean lead the illusory sovereignty and territorial integrity of Venezuela, should the case arise.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
In the Parliament I guess.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/16/2019 6:45
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#2
civil-military operation Bicentenario de Angostura Bitters
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/16/2019 7:14
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#3
"This month we must start with strategic acceleration"
He needs to call out the military to add extra zeros to the national currency.
[ELUNIVERSAL] The first vice president of the PSUV, Diosdado Cabello, called the ruling party to a march for January 23, date in which the head of the Legislative, Juan Guaidó, had already called a mobilization before.
Cabello assured that the march will be carried out by the popular leaders who fought in 1958 for the overthrow of Marcos Pérez Jiménez's dictatorship.
He added that the mobilization will start from the East, the West and the La Bandera area, in Caracas, and will reach the El Silencio urbanization, since that day marks the 60th anniversary of the first speech of Commander Fidel Castro in Block 1 of the popular urbanization.
"On January 23 we go to the streets to remind the world that Venezuela is not betrayed again, we are going to tell those who sold this country that they will not continue to betray and manipulate this people," Cabello said. presser of the national leadership of the Government party in Caracas.
"We want to remember that the opposition calls for demonstrations on January 23 only when it wants to generate violence," he said, recalling the events of January 23, 2014 when right-wing leaders María Corina Machado and Leopoldo López called for "the exit" .
He indicated that the opposition sector lacks seriousness in its political action, which is why they resort to "media show" to position "negative matrices against the national government."
He questioned the false expectations generated to the opposing militancy on the scope of the call made by the President of the National Assembly (AN), Juan Guaidó, on January 23, where they would request the cease of functions of President Maduro's government.
"They say that January 23 is the day and we say that on that day we will go to the streets and (Nicolás) Maduro will remain President." On January 24, he will continue as President, we will see at the end who will comply, yes they or we and you you will see the opposition man who lied to him, "said Cabello.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[NYPost] And the Country clamors for a milquetoast flip-flopping pasty white New Left neo-feminist who loves hates guns... the line forms ....over there. In the coatroom
Posted by: Frank G ||
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[PRESSTV] Jordan has announced that it will host a round of UN-brokered negotiations between delegates from Yemen’s Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... Ansarullah movement and representatives loyal to former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi to discuss a prisoner swap deal between the two warring sides.
The Jordanian Foreign Ministry announced in a statement on Tuesday that the kingdom had accepted a request from UN Special Envoy for Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... Martin Griffiths to host the talks.
The statement, however, did not say when the meeting would take place.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2019
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[TheFreqMedia] On New Year’s Eve, the New York Times, after months of investigation, published a long, detailed article on the activities of CIA-sponsored Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams (CPTs) in Afghanistan. It was a disturbing read. The Times reporters had visited several of the compounds allegedly targeted by these forces just hours after they had been raided and documented what would appear to be summary executions, the shooting of women and children, torture of Afghans taken for questioning by these teams, and a complete lack of cooperation between these teams and Afghan security forces.
I started searching for other articles concerning the CIA in the Times, and found two from last year ‐ one outlining how the "new assertive CIA is expanding its role in fighting the Taliban" and another concerning the funeral of two CIA members (I think they were contractors not blue badgers, but the story doesn’t say) who were killed last year in gunfights with ISIS-K just outside Jalalabad.
The lead article describes exactly what the legacy media, Hollywood, the UN, and political elites from both parties say will happen if the war in Afghanistan is turned over to contractors, as proposed in the Eric Prince Plan. The CIA militias operate outside the law, outside the military chain of command, remain unaccountable for the murder, mayhem, destruction, and thievery they commit. What’s worse, according to the victims interviewed by the NYT, these guys are accompanied by Americans who the Times claims are CIA officers (which I doubt) or contractors working for the CIA (much more likely)...
[AmericanThinker] Has President Trump suckered Democrats and the Deep State into a trap that will enable a radical downsizing of the federal bureaucracy? In only five more days of the already "longest government shutdown in history" (25 days and counting, as of today), a heretofore obscure threshold will be reached, enabling permanent layoffs of bureaucrats furloughed 30 days or more.
Iblis submitted this article, too, commenting My oh my. Wouldn't that be something.
Don't believe me that federal bureaucrats can be laid off? Well, in bureaucratese, a layoff is called a RIF ‐ a Reduction in Force ‐ and of course, it comes with a slew of civil service protections. But, if the guidelines are followed, bureaucrats can be laid off ‐ as in no more job. It is all explained by Michael Roberts here (updated after the beginning of the partial shutdown):
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/16/2019
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#4
I'd be happy if he only RIF'd 10% of the federal unionized workforce - if he then rescinded Executive Order 10988. That's the EO Kennedy signed authorizing government employees to unionize. They aren't organized to protect workers from capitalist excesses - they are organized to extort premium wages and benefits from their fellow citizens.
#7
I worked in the private sector where RIFs could and did happen with disturbing regularity, usually just before Christmas. Actually, it happened to me. It's tough, especially when there is a Democrat in the White House and the economy is in the tank. But you get over it. You have no choice unless you don't mind sleeping in a river valley or on a sidewalk.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/16/2019 13:50
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#8
In deciding who stays and who goes, federal agencies must take four factors into account:
1. Tenure
2. Veteran status
3. Total federal civilian and military service
4. Performance
You're telling me that Affirmative Action has nothing to do with it? I call bullshit.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/16/2019 13:52
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#9
I worked in air cargo for 24 years. I stopped counting after 23 rounds of layoffs - in 7 years. Getting laid off isn't the end of the world - it's a chance to decide what is important in your life and figure out how to get there from where you are now. Being a government employee shouldn't be a "jobs for life" program!
Photos of the cross-dressing man and two women of colour, as they say, can be seen here, so kudos on intersectional boxes ticked.
[IsraelTimes] The Women’s March names three Jewish women to its new 32-member steering committee. The Jewish members are transgender rights activist Abby Stein; Union for Reform Judaism staffer April Baskin; and Jewish diversity activist Yavilah McCoy.
Stein, a formerly Hasidic transgender woman, has worked to raise awareness for transgender people as well as those leaving ultra-Orthodox Judaism. Baskin is the former vice president of Audacious Hospitality for the Union for Reform Judaism and is a former president of the Jewish Multiracial Network. McCoy is the founder of Ayecha, a Jewish nonprofit that advocates for Jews of color.
The Women’s March has come under fire in recent months due to its leaders’ handling of allegations of anti-Semitism, with celebrities and activists openly criticizing the organizers’ actions.
The controversy started when organizer Tamika Mallory attended a speech by and then praised Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who has a long history of anti-Jewish and homophobic statements.
More recently, a report in Tablet said that Mallory and fellow organizer Carmen Perez had made anti-Semitic statements at two Women’s March planning meetings, claims which the organizers deny.
A number of organizations have dropped out as March sponsors, including the National Council of Jewish Women, Southern Poverty Law Center and EMILY’s List. Last week, the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, a major Reform congregation in New York, announced it was disassociating itself from Women’s March, Inc.
[IsraelTimes] Many local chapters no longer willing to be affiliated with national group over claims that they have not done enough to disavow anti-Semitism.
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.
[USA Today] WASHINGTON ‐ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has asked President Donald Trump to reschedule his State of the Union address from later this month if the government remains shut down.
[yenisafak.com] A large explosion in the northern Syrian town of Manbij on Wednesday killed at least 14, including three American soldiers, according to reports.
[Free Beacon] Huawei Technologies, the global telecommunications giant at the center of an international diplomatic battle, is a major target in the Trump administration's campaign to halt China's theft of American technology.
[Right Scoop] Wow, this sounds like it could get interesting...
[Babylon Bee] BOSTON, MA‐As part of its new ad campaign designed to target a new, more sensitive American male, Gillette announced Tuesday that the company will be giving out a free manly pink side bag with every purchase while supplies last.
[Breitbart] During an appearance on Tuesday’s CNN "New Day," Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) reacted to The New York Times report that President Donald Trump has discussed pulling the United States of America out of NATO.
... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world...
[Daily Caller] The FBI wanted to reestablish contact with Trump-Russia dossier author Christopher Steele days after President Donald Trump fired bureau Director James Comey, a top Department of Justice official revealed during a previously secret congressional testimony.
... 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...
[DAWN] PIA Chairman Air Marshal Arshad Mahmood Malik says short-term and long-term plans are in the works to revive the airline.
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
[ABC] A federal judge in New York on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from asking about citizenship in the 2020 census, finding that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross "violated the public trust" when he decided to insert a citizenship question.
[Al Jazeera] 
the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...
an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia...
...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...
[ELUNIVERSAL] President Nicolás Maduro announced on Tuesday that the civil-military operation Bicentenario de Angostura will be held from February 10 to 15 for the "integral defense" of the nation.
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
[TheFreqMedia] On New Year’s Eve, the New York Times, after months of investigation, published a long, detailed article on the activities of CIA-sponsored Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams (CPTs) in Afghanistan. It was a disturbing read. The Times reporters had visited several of the compounds allegedly targeted by these forces just hours after they had been raided and documented what would appear to be summary executions, the shooting of women and children, torture of Afghans taken for questioning by these teams, and a complete lack of cooperation between these teams and Afghan security forces.
By Thomas Lifson
