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Pakistan Releases Senior Taliban Jihadi Days After Arrest
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
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Home Front: Politix
Trump shuts down postpones Pelosi's trip after many boarded bus to airport
I love Karma
[FoxNews] President Trump on Thursday abruptly denied military aircraft to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for a foreign trip just minutes before the congressional delegation was set to depart, in a stunning response to her call to delay the State of the Union address amid the government shutdown.

In a curt letter, Trump said her trip has been “postponed.”

“Due to the Shutdown, I am sorry to inform you that your trip to Brussels, Egypt, and Afghanistan has been postponed. We will reschedule this seven-day excursion when the Shutdown is over. In light of the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay, I am sure you would agree that postponing this public relations event is totally appropriate,” Trump wrote.
Classic Donald Trump.
Posted by: Jan || 01/17/2019 15:39 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Trump Troll level +10
Posted by: newc || 01/17/2019 15:48 Comments || Top||

#2  The comments were classics.

Some think that Pelosi "as the House Speaker has a right to her own air force because 'co-equal branch' " (Congress, by the way is the co-equal and consists of House and Senate... whatta maroon, try again...).

And others say that "it's from the military budget so it is already allocated" (So, it's Other People's Money™ and Pelosi deserves a slice just because she wants it? But that's another issue...).
Posted by: magpie || 01/17/2019 16:29 Comments || Top||

#3  I do support the military flying congress/government critters in and out of areas that are hostile to Americans. It makes it nearly impossible to hijack planes and hold them hostage and has defense against MANPADS and the like.

Now... that being said. To many of the congress critters and government pukes have been using and expecting military transport for regular things. Just like they expect 1st class and the taxpayer to foot the bill. Seeing Lady (spit) Pelosi losing face when the Commander in Chief of the military says she can't fly on the planes is pure awesome.

If she wants to pull spiteful and divisive stunts to score points and try to shame Trump, she has a lot to learn. Trump has no shame and will happily rub your face in mud just because he can. We can't spare this man. He fights.
Posted by: DarthVader || 01/17/2019 16:37 Comments || Top||

#4  More Please! Finally, a President who fights back harder.... The toxic males across the country applaud this well deserved FU to the Socialist Insurrectionists in Congress, and the use of their own language in the letter is classic...
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 01/17/2019 16:48 Comments || Top||

#5  Should have waited and canceled the return flight.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 01/17/2019 18:02 Comments || Top||

#6  The letter
Posted by: 3dc || 01/17/2019 18:04 Comments || Top||

#7  Seeing Lady (spit) Pelosi losing face

Have you looked at her lately? It's not possible.
Posted by: gorb || 01/17/2019 18:25 Comments || Top||

#8 
Ben Shapiro
@benshapiro

I don't get the logic of Trump denying Pelosi her trip. Why not just point out that her trip will require massive logistical support -- and that she'll get it -- and that she's obviously lying about SOTU?


How else are you going to get all those wonderful pics of pi$$ed off liberals with steam jetting from their ears as they grudgingly get off the bus in defeat?
Posted by: gorb || 01/17/2019 18:33 Comments || Top||

#9  I LOVE IT
Smite the botox-ridden bitch with the limitations of her own power. She can fly Commercial on their own budgets
Posted by: Frank G || 01/17/2019 19:03 Comments || Top||

#10  I LOVE IT

Me, too. My heart is like an alligator!
Posted by: SteveS || 01/17/2019 19:14 Comments || Top||

#11  Ben Shapiro can suck it, and does. She's overstepped her self-authorized privileges. She can take public transportation. Show disrespect, get it back, "Co-equal of the President"
Posted by: Frank G || 01/17/2019 19:17 Comments || Top||

#12  From the article, more amusement:

According to sources, the president pulled the plug on Pelosi's aircraft as she was about to leave for her overseas trip. Her congressional delegation's military aircraft was slated to depart at 3 p.m. ET.

A senior White House official also told Fox News that all congressional delegation travel by military aircraft is now postponed.

An official said that “as soon as the president found out about the trip today, he took immediate action.” A source told Fox News that when moving to cancel Thursday's flight, the White House reasoned that the trip would keep Pelosi out of the country beyond next Tuesday night—when the next government pay period would occur.

"If she had gone on this trip she would have guaranteed that 800,000 federal workers would not receive their second paycheck because she would not have been here to negotiate any kind of deal," a senior White House official said Thursday.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/17/2019 21:39 Comments || Top||

#13  I am waiting for a pundit chorus of: "How could he! How petty and partisan! He will not be able to work with a Pelosi-led Democratic Party Majority House!!!!"...

...As if Trump could have "worked" with them anyway. The Supreme Court Farce signaled that it was going to be Total War from now until 2020.
Posted by: magpie || 01/17/2019 22:10 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
VDH: A License To Hate
h/t Instapundit
Recently on CNN, former Republican politico and now Never Trump cable new analyst Rick Wilson characterized Donald Trump’s supporters as his "credulous rube ten-toothed base."

Wilson was not original in his smear of the 63 million Americans who voted for Trump. He was likely resonating an earlier slander of Politico reporter Marco Caputo. The latter had tweeted of the crowd he saw at a Trump rally: "If you put everyone’s mouths together in this video, you’d get a full set of teeth."

...In the now notorious text communications between Lisa Page and Peter Strzok, fired FBI operatives on Robert Mueller’s special counsel team, Strzok right before the 2016 election had texted his paramour Page: "Just went to a southern Virginia Walmart. I could SMELL the Trump support."

...What does all this hate speech signify?

One, there is terrible frustration among both the progressive Left (and the Never Trump Right whose luminaries have mused about replacing a supposed spent white working class with purportedly more energetic immigrants). So far Trump has not been stopped. His foreign and domestic agendas often find success and resonate with about 40-45 percent of the American people. Much of the uncouthness, then, reflects their own frustrations and sense of alienation that millions of Americans have tuned them out.

...

Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/17/2019 10:18 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  then, reflects their own... No reason is needed for this kind of deep seated malevolence.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 01/17/2019 17:54 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Beto bombs bigly in long interview with the Washington Post
[American Thinker] When a CNN anchor warns that "It’s a fine line to walk between being a blank canvas and an empty vessel," a pretty boy, Kennedyesque empty suit progressive candidate, already recognizable by his first name alone, is in trouble.

Beto looks like a beta, if we are to judge by the Washington Post’s account of his "lengthy" interview with their writer Jenna Johnson. The title gives away the verdict: "Beto O’Rourke’s immigration plan: No wall but no specifics." The lead paragraphs are no kinder. Jenna Johnson wrote:
In a digital ad that recently went viral, Beto O’Rourke tore into President Trump’s desired border wall with soaring footage of the Rio Grande Valley and an explanation of what the wall would do: cut off access to the river, shrink the size of the United States and force the seizure of privately-held land.

It noted that most undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States in the past decade came not over the border but on visas that then expired.

So what should be done to address visa overstays?

"I don’t know," O’Rourke said, pausing in a lengthy interview.

The vacuity was so obvious that even CNN anchor Brianna Keilar felt compelled to raise the alarm. The segment is embedded below, but Tommy Christopher of Mediaite cuts to the chase:
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/17/2019 09:02 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Won't matter one bit - they'll keep pushing Ted Kennedy III regardless.
Posted by: Raj || 01/17/2019 9:20 Comments || Top||

#2  They'll just interview him in front of a teleprompter fed by his handler.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/17/2019 9:28 Comments || Top||

#3  A fake diagnosis of Sickle Cell Anemia could put him well over the top.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/17/2019 9:31 Comments || Top||

#4  Still, don't let him give you a ride.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/17/2019 10:14 Comments || Top||

#5  So what should be done to address visa overstays?

"I don’t know," O’Rourke said, pausing in a lengthy interview.


Idiot. The answer to that question is simple. When the visa expires, it triggers a computer program to check a database to determine whether or not the holder of the visa has left the country. If not, send agents to deport his ass. And then, that person never receives another visa to enter this country. And then, if they are subsequently caught in this country without a visa, they do hard jail time and then get deported again. But, with a wall, it'd be harder for them to get back here.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 01/17/2019 12:29 Comments || Top||

#6  But, of course, the point is that Beto is an idiot and a lightweight to boot. He couldn't win a Senate seat in his home state. Lightweight.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 01/17/2019 12:31 Comments || Top||

#7  Here is a spoof twitter account that is awesome
Posted by: Beavis || 01/17/2019 15:49 Comments || Top||

#8  #6 But, of course, the point is that Beto is an idiot and a lightweight to boot. He couldn't win a Senate seat in his home state. Lightweight.

Dad was a Judge and Father-in-law's a billionaire. Forbes tries hard to disprove that but then says: "As for Sanders —it's unlikely, though possible, that he's a billionaire. Without more info in his deals, we can’t know how well Sanders has managed the proceeds from his paydays, how much personal debt he’s taken on, or what he’s really worth. Based on the public information that Forbes has reviewed, Beto O’Rouke’s “billionaire” father-in-law is more likely to have a net worth in the neighborhood of $500 million."

So, like his emulative Kennedy clan. Born with the silver spoon planted in one or another orifice
Posted by: Frank G || 01/17/2019 19:32 Comments || Top||

#9  A slick politician of Cork,
Sodomitically porked with a spork,
Lit out for New York
Just ahead of the stork
To establish the family O'Rourke.

I got nuthin. Just wanted to chuck that image back at you, gingerly-like.
Posted by: Grens Hatrack8724 || 01/17/2019 22:22 Comments || Top||

#10  Golly thanks, Zenobia F. A spork, really?
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/17/2019 23:39 Comments || Top||


'Beam In Thine Own Eye' - House Dem leaders reject harsher punishment for Steve King
[Politico] House Democratic leaders have quietly rejected a push by rank-and-file members to force a rare and potentially divisive vote on censuring Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), according to multiple Democratic sources.

The House moved Wednesday to essentially shelve a grassroots attempt to further punish King for racist remarks that he made to the New York Times this month. If it had succeeded, King could have faced one of the most severe punishments that a lawmaker can receive.

The two House Democrats who have led the charge to censure King ‐ Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) and Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) ‐ ultimately agreed not to force the vote, under pressure from some Democratic leaders who feared lasting consequences from the move.

Their decision almost certainly means that the House will not take a formal vote to censure King, which has only happened a few dozen times in history. Instead, both Rush and Ryan say they are putting King on notice.

"Obviously, it’s not what I want," Ryan said Wednesday about forgoing a vote on the censure motion. "The next time something like this happens, we’ll bring it out of committee, and I think we move to expel him at that point."
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/17/2019 08:36 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Judge won't dismiss libel suit against Fusion GPS over dossier
Posted by: DarthVader || 01/17/2019 08:19 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Let the discovery begin!
Posted by: DarthVader || 01/17/2019 8:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Fusion GPS has accused the Russian businessmen of illegal activities with Putin to meddle in our 2016 election. The Russian businessmen said we don't know anything about this and had nothing to do with it. We don't know about Steele, the Dossier or any of that stuff that has come out and we can prove it. They decided to fight this in court and claim by bringing a libel suit against Fusion GPS. The Russian business (plaintiffs) case has survived motions to dismiss by Fusion GPS.

The wheels of justice, at times, are exceedingly slow; like watching trees grow.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/17/2019 11:33 Comments || Top||

#3  "fight this in court and claim by bringing a libel suit [against Fusion]"
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/17/2019 11:35 Comments || Top||

#4  He should also sue him in British courts as well. Their libel laws are rather different that ours...
Posted by: magpie || 01/17/2019 11:38 Comments || Top||

#5  The FBI and other agencies involved might try saying it can't go trial because it might reveal sources and methods. Wouldn't that be embarrassing.
Posted by: gorb || 01/17/2019 15:08 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
President Trump pick to replace Kavanaugh on appeals court under fire
[USA Today] The woman President Donald Trump has picked to fill the seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is coming under fire from liberal advocacy groups for her past writings on issues ranging from rape to race.

Several of judicial nominee Neomi Rao's controversial opinion pieces were compiled by the liberal judicial activist group Alliance for Justice and shared with journalists. Rao has been nominated to fill the seat left vacant by Justice Brett Kavanaugh when he joined the Supreme Court.

Buzzfeed News first reported on the Rao's op-eds, which she wrote in college and shortly after her graduation. Rao graduated from Yale University in 1995 and the writings were from 1993 to 1996.

Rao has not previously served as a judge. She currently heads the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. According to Politico, she is on Trump's short list for the Supreme Court if another seat on that bench opens up during his administration.

Here are some examples of what Rao wrote:
Perhaps there might be some way we could get her views on Affirmative Action, The Affordable Care Act, Global Warming/Climate Change, and Planned Parenthood....or a future presidential bid.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/17/2019 08:01 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Here are some examples of what Rao wrote:

On date rape
In an October 1994 column for the Yale Herald, titled "Shades of Gray," Rao warned of the "hysteria over date rape." She questioned laws that say an intoxicated person can't give consent and argued, "a good way to avoid a potential date rape is to stay reasonably sober."

"Unless someone made her drinks undetectably strong or forced them down her throat, a woman, like a man, decides when and how much to drink," she wrote. "And if she drinks to the point where she can no longer choose, well, getting to that point was part of her choice.

"Implying that a drunk woman has no control of her actions, but that a drunk man does strips women of all moral responsibility," she continued.

In an April 1993 article titled "The Feminist Dilemma," Rao wrote that she agreed with feminist critic Camille Paglia, who "accurately describes the dangerous feminist idealism which teaches women that they are equal. Women believe falsely that they should be able to go anywhere with anyone."

"Although I am certainly not arguing that date rape victims ask for it, when playing the modern dating game women have to understand and accept the consequences of their sexuality," she said. "Some feminists chant that women should be free to wear short skirts or bright lipstick, but true sexual signals lie beyond these blatant signs."

On race
In a 1995 cover story for The Yale Free Press that focused on differences between men and women, Rao said that gender discrimination in Yale classrooms was virtually non-existent.

"But this should come as no surprise. Over the past decades, Yale has dedicated itself to a relatively firm meritocracy, which drops its standards only for a few minorities, some legacies and a football player here and there," she wrote.

And in a 1994 piece for the Washington Times titled, "How the Diversity Game is Played," Rao – who described herself as Asian Indian –assailed "multiculturalists, who separate and classify everyone according to race, gender and sexual orientation."

"Those who reject their assigned categories are called names: So-called conforming blacks are called 'oreos' by members of their own community, conservatives become 'fascists.' Preaching tolerance, multiculturalists seldom practice it," she wrote.

On multiculturalism
In the same Washington Times piece, she wrote that "multiculturalists are not simply after political reform."

"Underneath their touchy-feely talk of tolerance, they seek to undermine American culture. They argue that culture, society and politics have been defined - and presumably defiled - by white, male heterosexuals hostile to their way of life. For example, homosexuals want to redefine marriage and parenthood; feminists in women's studies programs want to replace so-called male rationality with more sensitive responses common to women. It may be kinder and gentler, but can you build a bridge with it?"

On homosexuality
In a 1994 article for the Yale Herald titled "Queer Politics," Rao again explored the ideological rigidity she says is expected of members of minority communities, in this case people who identify as LGBT.

She said that while gays "have established themselves as a minority group fighting against discrimination" and "trendy political movements have only recently added sexuality to the standard checklist of traits requiring tolerance," there was a major difference between sexuality and race or gender:

"People who tolerate women in the workplace and blacks and Hispanics as neighbors view homosexuality as a behavior – and behaviors, unlike gender and race, are subject to change," she said. "No one knows whether sexuality is a biological phenomenon or a social construct. The truth may lie somewhere in the middle."

Posted by: Besoeker || 01/17/2019 8:09 Comments || Top||

#2  And if she drinks to the point where she can no longer choose, well, getting to that point was part of her choice."

Getting to that point might be but this doesn't change or excuse anything about the rape. So that's a problematic argument.

If the guy doesn't rape her but picks her pocket instead he could hardly argue: Oh she voluntarily put herself in that position so I could take the money.

Posted by: European Conservative || 01/17/2019 8:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Women also have responsibility for their actions. If a drunk man and drunk woman have sex - is it rape? Don't treat them like children
Posted by: Frank G || 01/17/2019 8:47 Comments || Top||

#4  The question is: Could consent be given or not.
Jut because you're drunk doesn't mean you can't give or refuse consent.
If you're passed out, that's a different story.
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/17/2019 8:50 Comments || Top||

#5  "Implying that a drunk woman has no control of her actions, but that a drunk man does strips women of all moral responsibility,"

THIS
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/17/2019 8:55 Comments || Top||

#6  Her opinions seem reasonable and just.

Maybe she needs to wear a "Pu$$y" hat to any confirmation hearing(s)?
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 01/17/2019 9:11 Comments || Top||

#7  Maybe she needs to wear a "Pu$$y" hat to any confirmation hearing(s)?

Or if she could report that Pres. Trump asked her to re-heat some Big Mac's in the Oval Office.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/17/2019 9:14 Comments || Top||

#8  #7 Nominated for snark of the day!
Posted by: SR-71 || 01/17/2019 10:14 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
VP Pence: US is still waiting for North Korea to take 'concrete steps' toward denuclearization
[USA Today] SEOUL ‐ North Korea has not taken "concrete steps" to dismantle its nuclear weapons program, Vice President Mike Pence told a group of U.S. diplomats on Wednesday.

Speaking to about 180 U.S. ambassadors at a conference in the State Department, Pence said Pyongyang has not yet begun to fulfill its pledge for complete denuclearization made in a summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last June in Singapore.

"While the president has started a promising dialogue with Chairman Kim, we still await concrete steps by North Korea to dismantle the nuclear weapons that threaten our people and our allies in the region," Pence said.

The vice president’s remarks came amidst growing signs that a second summit between Trump and Kim is in the works. North Korea’s top nuclear negotiator, Kim Yong Chol, is expected to arrive in Washington, D.C., on Thursday ahead of a meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a South Korean newspaper and other media outlets reported Wednesday.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/17/2019 07:17 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies


Home Front: Culture Wars
Principal who banned candy canes won't return to school: superintendent
I believe we had this anti-religious nutbag in the Burg in December
[NY Post] An elementary school principal who was placed on leave after she allegedly banned Christmas and holiday decorations will reportedly not return to her old job.

Jennifer Sinclair, principal of Manchester Elementary in Omaha, Nebraska, was placed on administrative leave in December, the Elkhorn School District confirmed to Fox News at the time.

District superintendent Bary Habrock reportedly told parents and school staff on Monday that Sinclair will not be returning to the school. He said he supports Sinclair "as a leader and educator," and noted she will finish the remainder of the school year in a curriculum position.

Sinclair sent a memo in November with guidelines as to what is considered appropriate for classroom decorations and assignments during the holiday season.

Teachers were reportedly told that generic winter-themed items, such as sledding and scarves, and the "Frozen" character Olaf, were acceptable.

Decorations that included Santa, Christmas trees, reindeer, green and red colored items and even candy canes, however, were not acceptable for the elementary school.

The candy canes, according to KETV, were prohibited because Sinclair deemed them to have religious significance. "Historically, the shape is a 'J' for Jesus. The red is for the blood of Christ, and the white is a symbol of his resurrection," she reportedly wrote. "This would also include different colored candy canes."

Elkhorn schools told Fox News that "the memo does not reflect the policy of Elkhorn Public Schools regarding holiday symbols in the school."
"Seriously, She's a loon"
The district's policy states that "Christmas trees, Santa Claus and Easter eggs and bunnies are considered to be secular, seasonal symbols and may be displayed as teaching aids provided they do not disrupt the instructional program for students."
Posted by: Frank G || 01/17/2019 06:52 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Actually they're all pagan stuff "absorbed" by catholic churches then redone at various times by the victorians etc.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/17/2019 8:36 Comments || Top||

#2  will reportedly not return to her old job

Betcha she's a better job now - ideological purity IS rewarded.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/17/2019 10:12 Comments || Top||

#3  Back in elementary school during the Cretaceous Era, we made decorations out of construction paper and put them up on the walls - Easter, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas and Hanuka depending on the season. (Kwanza hadn't been invented yet) It was a public school but no one seemed to have a cow over any of it.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/17/2019 10:25 Comments || Top||

#4  She could get a job as the Grinch maybe.
Posted by: gorb || 01/17/2019 11:33 Comments || Top||

#5  SteveS, that sounds like the early Cretaceous period that I remember, too.
Posted by: AlanC || 01/17/2019 11:45 Comments || Top||

#6  that sounds like the early Cretaceous period that I remember, too.

And our school's Jewish students helped, too. We helped them decorate during Hanukkah and a couple other Jewish Holidays. Black, White, Asian, it didn't matter. We were kids.

Then we all went outside to play ball or just wonder about what girls really were and why they were staring at us.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 01/17/2019 16:13 Comments || Top||

#7  and noted she will finish the remainder of the school year in a curriculum position.

...TRANSLATION: "Here's yer broom closet. Stay in there, fill out these forms from 0800 to 1600, keep your mouth shut, and you'll get paid."

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 01/17/2019 17:17 Comments || Top||

#8  And our school's Jewish students helped, too.

Yes, we as happily helped celebrate your holidays as our own. A distinct pleasure of being American is making something once uniquely Other part of the nation’s traditions. St. Patrick’s Day, spaghetti, and pizza come to mind. Even Buffalo wings, which in living memory were the speciality of a single jazz bar in Buffalo, New York.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/17/2019 21:20 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Ten reasons to immigrate to Iran
[American Thinker] Iranian officials and the Islamic Republic's propaganda machine usually complain that Western media do not report the realities of Iran under the IRI. To cover this guilt, the Western media send a correspondent to Iran, and he tries to find positive things to say about the country. What is missing here is a lot of interesting aspects of Iran under the mullahs. Some of these aspects are so fantastic that they may encourage Westerners to move to the country.

Here you have ten reasons to move to Iran under the Islamist rule:

1. If you are a child-molester and want to have four permanent nine- to fifteen-year-old wives and unlimited non-permanent wives (more than nine years old), you should immigrate to Iran. All these relationships are legal and cheap in the country. You can even informally purchase a girl for some thousand dollars in some deprived provinces. Not even in Saudi Arabia can you do child marriage anymore, but it is free in Iran. Lovers of child marriage have an oasis there.

2. If you hate paying taxes and you work in the private sector, Iran is your heaven. You can be a physician and make a fortune, not paying a penny to IRS. You can do it in Iran by receiving cash from your patients.

3. If you want to get super-rich (more than 100 million dollars), it is very easy: register yourself in the Basiji militia in high school and college. Then work for the IRGC security branch and be courageous in persecuting, torturing, and killing dissidents. In ten years, you will have riches no one can imagine even in developed and capitalist societies. The government will sell you government-owned companies for one tenth of the normal price and give you low-interest loans to do the transaction.

4. If you are looking for a young and cheap prostitute, Iran is your destination. The age of prostitution has decreased to 13 in recent years, and you can procure basic "services" for two dollars.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/17/2019 04:56 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Not to be a party-pooper, but it looks like we have a lot of those 'benefits' right here in the good ol' USA.
Posted by: Bobby || 01/17/2019 9:59 Comments || Top||

#2  1 Hollywood
2 dubious tax breaks for businesses, especially sports
3 Musk
4 Undocumented work for undocumented addicts.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/17/2019 12:11 Comments || Top||


Vice-President Pence says IS defeated despite Syria attack (opens to video)
[BBC] Mike Pence has claimed that the Islamic State group has been defeated - on the same day of an apparent suicide bombing in Syria that killed American soldiers.

The US vice-president didn't mention the attack in Manbij during his speech.

Nazi Werewolves - Some Post- WWII perspective.

Excerpt: Tactics were varied, and typically terrorist. Stories of assassinations, sniping attacks and sabotage rocked american troops and German civilians.

In reality, there were four major attacks by Werwolf troops in the Western zones of occupation. The new anti-Nazi Lord Mayor of aachen was assassinated...several weeks before the Nazi surrender, on Himmler’s direct orders. Field Marshal Montgomery’s liaison officer and the Soviet commandant of Berlin were both killed in ambushes; the first was hushed up and the latter was only discovered to be an attack because the Soviet counterclaims were marred by glaring inconsistencies. A bombing of a police station claimed 44 victims.

In the east, Nazi insurgents carried out a few massacres of civilians and sniped at occupying forces, provoking brutal and indiscriminate reprisals from the Russians that quickly quelled future attacks.

True tactics were varied, and typically…petty. The truth was that Werwolf attacks were largely ineffectual. Typical operations included pouring sand into the gas tanks of allied vehicles, poisoning food and water, petty vandalism and stringing decapitation wires across the roads. The latter was terrifying, but not incredibly effective.

While individual operations were reported as late as 1947, by several months after the Nazi surrender on May 7 1945, Werwolf was rendered largely impotent.

The possibility of a successful Nazi insurgency haunted the allied Occupation force, encouraging them to commit heavy economic and military support to the reconstruction of Germany.

Emphasis added
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/17/2019 04:24 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  ....The Viet Cong were quite arguably losing at Tet in 1968. Didn't matter in the end because the press decided otherwise.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 01/17/2019 4:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Excellent point Mike. The state controlled BBC seldom has a good word to say about Pres. Trump. This article is not exception.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/17/2019 4:49 Comments || Top||

#3  If we define victory by NEVER having random attacks, we'll never leave.There's too much Islamic hate (especially on each otehr), weapons, and willing splodeydopes. F them
Posted by: Frank G || 01/17/2019 6:31 Comments || Top||

#4  ISIS holds no ground.

They are defeated as a force. This is why they now use terrorism.

The SCBBC spin is dismal as usual. But this is why the MSM are called the lugenpresse.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/17/2019 8:26 Comments || Top||

#5  Two points:
1) In the Algerian war of independence, whenever the FLN suffered a major defeat, it would immediately blow something up - preferably civilians. This is an old tactic that has been around the Moslem world since the 1950's.

2) One reason the Werewolves didn't go anywhere was because the Allies used former slave laborers to hunt them down. In the rural areas these workers frequently knew the area better than the werewolves themselves.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 01/17/2019 11:01 Comments || Top||

#6  Frozen Al, but did those former slave laborers read their rights to the Werewolves they tracked down? Was their a Supreme Court appeals process in place?

C'mon lets be "modern" here. /sarc
Posted by: AlanC || 01/17/2019 11:32 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Learning from the Folly of Middle Eastern Regime Change
[The National Interest] The naïve assumption of interventionists that U.S.-orchestrated forcible regime change would usher in new, democratic political systems was evident in Iraq, Libya and Syria.

The hostile reaction among most members of Washington’s political and media elites to President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria involves several factors. One is simply a knee-jerk (largely partisan) rejection of any policy Trump proposes on any issue, foreign or domestic. Another is policy inertia that makes it difficult to dislodge a military commitment once undertaken. The United States still has military forces in such places as Germany, Japan and South Korea decades after the original rationales disappeared. Such inertia also helps account for the resistance to Trump’s planned troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Still another element in the case of Syria policy is the lobbying effort by foreign powers (primarily Israel and Saudi Arabia) determined to keep the United States heavily engaged in the Middle East.

There is one other reason for the entrenched resistance to ending the Syria mission: a reluctance to acknowledge the failure of any high-profile U.S. foreign-policy venture, regardless of the accumulating evidence. That unhealthy attitude goes back at least as far as the Vietnam War. The survival (and increasingly likely victory) of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad is a graphic reminder that Washington’s strategy of forcibly ousting targeted secular dictators in the greater Middle East (what George W. Bush described as America’s “freedom agenda”) has been a fiasco. The architects of and cheerleaders for Washington’s regime change crusades stubbornly resist acknowledging how badly their cherished policy has flopped. In all three cases, though, it is clear that U.S. policy made already bad situations much worse.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/17/2019 04:10 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There is one other reason for the entrenched resistance to ending the Syria mission: a reluctance to acknowledge the failure of any high-profile U.S. foreign-policy venture, regardless of the accumulating evidence.

Soetoro AFG Policy, Benghazi attack, and 'Iran nuclear deal' all classic examples. Domestic examples include 'Affordable Care Act' and 'Fast & Furious.'
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/17/2019 7:30 Comments || Top||

#2  It's amusing to me how many knee-jerk anti-war types turned on a dime as soon as Trump said he'd get us out of a war or two.

I still haven't seen Code Pink protesting in support of Trump...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/17/2019 12:32 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Witness In El Chapo Trial Says Mexican President Took $100 Million Bribe
[The Federalist] A witness in the ongoing trial of infamous Mexican drug cartel kingpin Joaquín Guzmán Loera, a.k.a. "El Chapo," testified Tuesday that former Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto took a $100 million bribe from Guzmán.

The witness, Alex Cifuentes Villa, is a former Colombian drug lord who worked closely with Guzmán from 2007 to 2013. His bombshell testimony comes amid a trial that has revealed corruption at almost every level of the Mexican government.

According to The New York Times, one of Guzmán’s lawyers, Jeffrey Lichtman, asked Cifuentes during cross-examination, "Mr. Guzmán paid a bribe of $100 million to President Peña Nieto?" "Yes," responded Cifuentes.

Later, Cifuentes said Peña Nieto is the one who first reached out to Guzmán, asking for $250 million in exchange for allowing him to come out of hiding. Guzmán offered $100 million instead.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/17/2019 04:01 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Narcos

#1  I Hear his wife linked to Huma.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/17/2019 8:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Both Hillary Clinton and Eric Holder were reported to be very angry regarding the size of the pay-out.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/17/2019 8:30 Comments || Top||

#3  Nowhere near as cheap as a lot of American politicians.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 01/17/2019 11:37 Comments || Top||

#4  His bombshell testimony comes amid a trial that has revealed corruption at almost every level of the Mexican government. Not a huge surprise. Building a wall might put a crimp in the kickbacks/payoffs from the money laundry business, human trafficking, drug trade businesses on this side of the border.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/17/2019 11:51 Comments || Top||

#5  you suggesting certain foundations made sure nothing is done about it.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/17/2019 12:16 Comments || Top||

#6  A timely comment at #5. I just finished reading Adra J. Wolfe's, Freedoms Laboratory - The Cold War Struggle For the Soul of Science, Chapter 8, beginning on page 157. *Cough, hmmm, Cough*...discussions on clandestine funding of private foundations.

Anyone recall the general timeframe we began to hear of the massive reductions in Clinton Foundation contributions ?

Anyone question why nothing has been done about the numerous Hillary Clinton issues ?

*Cough, cough*
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/17/2019 13:00 Comments || Top||

#7  revealed corruption at almost every level of the Mexican government.

Paging Capt. Obvious to the white courtesy phone; Capt. Obvious please.
Posted by: AlanC || 01/17/2019 13:16 Comments || Top||

#8  The fish rots from the head down.

I suspect this to be a tradition. Foxx was almost as anti-Trump (who wants a wall) as the entire Clinton, Obama regimes, and other old school Dims, who all admire the South of the Border population's acceptance of rampant corruption, and want to import that population so eagerly to the US.
Posted by: Ebbavirt Clunk4147 || 01/17/2019 14:10 Comments || Top||


Geo Papadopoulos Told Congress That FBI Asked Him To Spy On Mystery Prof At Center of Collusion Probe
Had he agreed to the recruitment arrangement, he may not have encountered those unpleasant, General Mike Flynn style legal issues.
[Daily Caller] Former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos told Congress in October that an FBI agent asked him to travel to London to spy on a mysterious Maltese professor who allegedly claimed that Russia had dirt on Hillary Clinton.

"The FBI agent said, we need you to wear a wire and we’ll pay you and you can go to London and you can kind of look behind the scenes of an FBI operation. It was very bizarre, very strange," Papadopoulos told members of the House Judiciary and House Oversight Committees in an interview on Oct. 25.

The request was allegedly made during a meeting in Chicago on Jan. 31, 2017, four days after Papadopoulos was first interviewed by the FBI about his tenure on the Trump campaign. In that first interview, Papadopoulos told FBI agents about encounters he had with the professor, Joseph Mifsud, during his time on the Trump campaign.

Papadopoulos told FBI agents in his initial interview that Mifsud told him during a meeting in London on April 26, 2016 that Russia had "thousands" of former presidential candidate Clinton’s emails. Though Papadopoulos shared that detail with the agents, he later admitted making false statements about the extent and full timeline of his contacts with Mifsud.
A bit foggy about the extent of your contacts, dates, etc? Sorry, we call that lying and deception George. It's federal charges for you.

Skipping to closing para:

Halper paid Papadopoulos $3,000 to fly to London in mid-September 2016 and to write a policy paper about Mediterranean energy issues. Unknown to Papadopoulos at the time, Halper had also been in contact with Carter Page, another Trump campaign adviser.

Carter Page? Yes, unlike you George, one of our more cooperative recruitments.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/17/2019 03:19 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He said that the request was “extremely problematic” because he now believes that Mifsud may have been working for Western intelligence agencies instead of Russia.

Or he could have been working for both, and that is why we asked you to assist us George.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/17/2019 3:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Prof Mifsud still in hiding?

Any MSM tried to find him? Thought not.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/17/2019 8:34 Comments || Top||


Border rancher: 'We've found prayer rugs out here. It's unreal'
[Wash Examiner] LORDSBURG, N.M. ‐ Ranchers and farmers near the U.S.-Mexico border have been finding prayer rugs on their properties in recent months, according to one rancher who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation by cartels who move the individuals.

The mats are pieces of carpet that those of the Muslim faith kneel on as they worship.

"There’s a lot of people coming in not just from Mexico," the rancher said. "People, the general public, just don’t get the terrorist threats of that. That’s what’s really scary. You don’t know what’s coming across. We’ve found prayer rugs out here. It’s unreal. It’s not just Mexican nationals that are coming across."

Her comments were part of a larger conversation about how many in the region believe migrants are coming to the U.S. illegally from all over the world, not just Central America.

Border Patrol and its parent agency, Customs and Border Protection, did not respond to multiple interview requests. But CBP's Arizona region issued a statement on Twitter Wednesday that said agents had arrested people from across the world over the past five days.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/17/2019 03:16 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  ... and camel cigaret butts.
Posted by: Ebbavirt Clunk4147 || 01/17/2019 3:44 Comments || Top||

#2  We been seeing occasional reports lke this here at Rqntburg for years. I particularly remember the report of a discarded Iran Revolutionary Guard uniform, and others of discarded Korans and arrested illegals speaking only a few words of Spanish.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/17/2019 9:49 Comments || Top||

#3  Someone should start a GoFundMe in Brennan's name to "reunite prayer rugs and believers separated by Trump's savage border policies..." It'd be a laugh before it got taken down...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/17/2019 9:58 Comments || Top||

#4  if you carried your prayer rug all the way to the border over fences, hills, gullies, etc., then why would you leave it in the field
Posted by: lord garth || 01/17/2019 11:41 Comments || Top||

#5  then why would you leave it in the field

Drug Smugglers chased you off.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 01/17/2019 12:24 Comments || Top||

#6  then why would you leave it in the field

You wanted to pass as a 'Mexican'.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/17/2019 17:39 Comments || Top||

#7  if you carried your prayer rug all the way to the border over fences, hills, gullies, etc., then why would you leave it in the field Maybe the Magic Carpet ran out of gas.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 01/17/2019 17:57 Comments || Top||

#8  Carrying a prayer run once you're across the border or waving a black ISIS flag..... very bad juju.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/17/2019 17:59 Comments || Top||

#9  #6 is correct - OTM - "Other than Mexican"s get special treatment
Posted by: Frank G || 01/17/2019 19:36 Comments || Top||

#10  When backpacking and sleeping in the open, it's always good to have a stiff groundcover to sleep on. Mebbe the rugs were left behind because their owner's ride showed up.
Posted by: JHH || 01/17/2019 19:45 Comments || Top||

#11  LOL prayer rugs....
Posted by: Victor Emmanuel Trotsky3550 || 01/17/2019 21:52 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
New plant-focused diet would ‘transform' planet's future, say scientists
[Guardian] The first science-based diet that tackles both the poor food eaten by billions of people and averts global environmental catastrophe has been devised. It requires huge cuts in red meat-eating in western countries and radical changes across the world.

The "planetary health diet" was created by an international commission seeking to draw up guidelines that provide nutritious food to the world’s fast-growing population. At the same time, the diet addresses the major role of farming ‐ especially livestock ‐ in driving climate change, the destruction of wildlife and the pollution of rivers and oceans.

Globally, the diet requires red meat and sugar consumption to be cut by half, while vegetables, fruit, pulses and nuts must double. But in specific places the changes are stark. North Americans need to eat 84% less red meat but six times more beans and lentils. For Europeans, eating 77% less red meat and 15 times more nuts and seeds meets the guidelines.

The diet is a "win-win", according to the scientists, as it would save at least 11 million people a year from deaths caused by unhealthy food, while preventing the collapse of the natural world that humanity depends upon. With 10 billion people expected to live on Earth by 2050, a continuation of today’s unsustainable diets would inevitably mean even greater health problems and severe global warming.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/17/2019 03:10 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I think science is trying desperately to trash it's reputation.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/17/2019 8:28 Comments || Top||

#2  It's not science, it's a religious cult
Posted by: Frank G || 01/17/2019 8:51 Comments || Top||

#3  "six times more beans and lentils"

Global farting?
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/17/2019 8:55 Comments || Top||

#4  Return to 5'5" males, 5'0" females.
Posted by: Waldemar Tingle3635 || 01/17/2019 9:59 Comments || Top||

#5  You can have ideology, or you can have science - you can't have both.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/17/2019 10:05 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
NYT Update with photos: ISIS Attack in Manbij, Syria Kills 4 Americans
Wagner Group - Russian mercenary pay-back or Camp Chapman redux? You decide.
[NYT] WASHINGTON ‐ Four Americans were among 19 people killed in Syria on Wednesday in a suicide bombing that was claimed by the Islamic State, just weeks after President Trump ordered the withdrawal of United States forces and declared that the extremist group had been defeated.

The attack targeted an American military convoy in the northern city of Manbij while troops were inside the Palace of the Princes, a restaurant where they often stopped to eat during patrols, residents said. While the Americans were inside, a nearby suicide attacker wearing an explosive vest blew himself up.
I ended the posting when I got to.... "a restaurant where they often stopped to eat." That really is the 'tactically stupid' stopping point.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/17/2019 02:52 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


#2  Cui bono?

Posted by: JohnQC || 01/17/2019 9:47 Comments || Top||

#3  You really have to mix it up. Eating at the same place 4 days every week with your convoy outside is a poor idea.

Drop off a team and do take out order while the convoy circles the block.
Posted by: newc || 01/17/2019 11:48 Comments || Top||

#4  Video
Posted by: newc || 01/17/2019 15:22 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistan Releases Senior Taliban Jihadi Days After Arrest
[Breitbart] Authorities in Pakistan released a senior Taliban leader briefly detained this week to apply pressure on the narco-jihadi group to engage in U.S.-backed peace negotiations with the Afghan government, Reuters learned from the terrorist organization.

Pentagon officials have long accused Pakistan of harboring the Afghan Taliban and its Haqqani Network, an assertion denied by Islamabad. However, Pakistan has admitted to having a degree of influence over the terrorist group that it is trying to use to persuade the jihadis to accept the peace talks.

U.S. President Donald Trump has suspended hundreds of millions in funding over Islamabad’s reluctance to take decisive actions against the Taliban and Haqqani Network, to no avail.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/17/2019 02:47 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa Subsaharan
Open Source Backgrounder: Russian Strategy In Sub-Saharan Africa, Mil & Industrial Partnerships-What Is Russia Up To?
[SmallWarsJournal] What African Countries are of Interest to Russia?

Angola, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Sudan, Guinea
Russia has historical partnerships with Angola, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe (Strategic Culture, 2018)
Why is Russia Interested in Africa?

Africa is part of Russia’s overall global strategy to challenge the West and squeeze NATO out of strategic regions
Russia is interested in building military & naval bases in strategic regions of Africa
Russia desires power and influence within the continent of Africa
Weapons trade, Russia is a premium supplier of military arms in Africa
Russian mining companies want access to diamond reserves, uranium mines
Russian energy companies wish to Develop African energy projects
Proxy war with U.S.
What Russian Weaponry do African Nations Seek from Russia?

Small Arms, infantry rifles, pistols, machine guns
Grenades
Sniper Rifles
Air Defense Systems
Russian-made jets
Russian-made helicopters
Essentially any conventional weapons system Russian arms makers produce and sell internationally
How Much Trade is Russia Doing with Sub-Saharan African Countries?

Russia is doing brisk a brisk business trade in the south Sahara
$3.6 billion in 2017
$3.3 billion in 2016
$2.2 billion in 2015 (Strategic Culture, 2018)
The Center for Strategic & International Studies puts Russian trade at $4.2 billion a year
Why Buy Russian Arms & Weapons Systems?

Nations need to defend themselves to foster internal stability and security, to do this a nation requires military equipment, most poor African nations lack the expertise and resources to make arms
"Russia has a competitive advantage in the arms trade because of a better cost-benefit ratio, The Africans like that better because it is more at the level they can afford." (Financial Times, 2018)
Russia’s weapons are in high demand being cheap and effective as has been proven by their use during the Syrian conflict (Strategic Culture, 2018)
Western powers will not sell arms to these nations anyway, Russia is filling a void
""
Posted by: newc || 01/17/2019 01:46 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Countering China.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/17/2019 10:11 Comments || Top||

#2  China and Russia will both be disappointed by their investments. I say let them have at it. Even the Chinese are not ruthless enough to make it pay.
Posted by: SR-71 || 01/17/2019 10:22 Comments || Top||

#3  Something like the old saying - Perfect is the enemy of just good enough.

What is good enough to keep the rabble down? Call Yuri in Moscow.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/17/2019 10:23 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
Poll Finds Most People OK With Raising Taxes On Other People
[BabylonBee] U.S.‐In a stunning new poll, Americans indicated they are OK with a 70% marginal tax rate, indicating that since the hefty taxes would only apply to other people and not themselves, they are alright with the extremely high taxes.

"See, a lot of people think the proposed 70% tax rate is way too high," said one woman in California. "But what they don't understand is that the 70% is only on really rich people---in other words, not me. Let's crank it up to 90, 100, or 110% even. I don't mind in the slightest."

Americans all over the country suggested they are OK with a majority of the people voting to take a minority of the people's money, as long as they are not part of that minority.

"I am a very generous person, so I believe everyone else needs to pay their fair share," said Lyle Hartright of Maine. "Everyone that isn't me, I mean."

"These are stunning results," said one analyst. "We always believed that Americans were generous, but we never knew how generous. To offer to raise taxes to 70% or more on other people just goes to show how much compassion people have."
Posted by: 746 || 01/17/2019 00:48 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I said it before and I'll say it again - Other Peoples Money is why we are $20 trillion in debt, EPA, bankrupt pension plans - the whole enchilada.

I'm sure somebody here can point to the appropriate biblical verse - Thou shall not covet, perhaps?
Posted by: Bobby || 01/17/2019 9:54 Comments || Top||

#2  There's an old saw about support for the death penalty: "It's not about whether you'd be willing to pull the switch, it's about whether you'd be willing to sit in the chair if you deserve it..."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/17/2019 10:04 Comments || Top||

#3  "We cheat the other guy and pass the savings on to you!"

---Chilcoot Charlie
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/17/2019 10:13 Comments || Top||

#4  Thou shall not covet

The original sin of communists, socialists and Democrats.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 01/17/2019 11:53 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Trump's burger fête was a masterpiece
h/t Instapundit
It wasn’t quite the Cena Trimalchionis, but the robust, non-sissy feast that the President of the United States laid on for the Clemson Tigers ‐ the college football team that just won the national championship ‐ would in its own way have been the envy of Petronius’s diners. No larks’ tongues, but plenty of Big Macs, Whoppers, French fries, and pizza, all served up on gleaming White House china with the condiment proffered from silver bowls.

Donald Trump paid for the repast himself ‐ 1,000 hamburgers he said at one point, though fact checkers at the publicity arm of the Democratic National Committee said that there were probably no more than 300. Since FBI agents were in attendance, the matter was being referred to Special Counsel Robert Mueller for investigation.

The unusual catering arrangements were sparked by the make-believe government ’shutdown.’ The usual staff were unavailable to perform their duty; the Democrats among them were presumably on a fact-finding mission to inspect lanky blondes in bikinis in Puerto Rico and other sunny climes.

...The second fact is that the Left’s yapping, hysterical reaction to the event‐’Sexist!’ ’Unpresidential!’ ’Unhealthy!’ ‐ reminds most of America just how out of touch with most of America they are. There is a menopause of the spirit as well as of the body, and the Left is deep into heat-flash and night-sweats territory.

Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/17/2019 00:48 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He's a genius. One more, and a simple, tactic to get the TDS busybodies to out themselves.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 01/17/2019 7:17 Comments || Top||

#2  As posted elsewhere, when the British royal family finally come to American soil, they were treated by (Donk Saint) FDR to hotdogs.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/17/2019 7:48 Comments || Top||

#3  I hope the stuff wasn't cold though. Cold hamburgers and French fries aren't that tasty, really.
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/17/2019 8:41 Comments || Top||

#4  That's why God and Raytheon invented the microwave oven.
Posted by: Waldemar Tingle3635 || 01/17/2019 11:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Trump looked like a cheap fool.
Posted by: Victor Emmanuel Trotsky3550 || 01/17/2019 21:49 Comments || Top||

#6  ^ A cheap fool who's beating you like an Amish prayer rug. Sorry, mods. I know better. Just whack me too.
Posted by: Gravising Whiger8060 || 01/17/2019 22:38 Comments || Top||


USAA donates $15 million to Coast Guard families
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/17/2019 00:46 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The message? Borders (even our coastal borders) and those guarding them against illegal immigration is important to Americans.
Posted by: Neville Dark Lord of the Wee Folk7365 || 01/17/2019 1:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Screw USAA. I don't believe them.

But maybe. If so good for the families but remembering this bull shit.

USAA reverses decision to pull ads from Fox's 'Hannity' after outcry


1 year ago
USAA LIED when it said it pulled ads from Hannity because "it doesn't run ads on opinion programs" - USAA currently running ads on MSNBC's Hardball AND the Rachel Maddow Show
Posted by: Woodrow || 01/17/2019 6:38 Comments || Top||


We Need To Retoxify Masculinity
[Townhall] Let’s be clear: My pronouns are "he," "his," and "stop being creepy weirdos."

Okay, maybe the last one isn’t a pronoun, but then again, I’m a man and if I want an insulting string of words directed at the nattering nabobs of gender neutrality to be a pronoun, it is a pronoun. And if you don’t like it, fight me.

We need more masculinity, and the more toxic the social justice warriors think it is, the better.

Bizarrely, now shaving companies are allying with the SJWs in an Axis of Irritants. Gillette is channeling campus gender studies dorks to try to sell you razors. They all think you should soften up, get in touch with your feelings, and submit.

...Much as I advocate global warming, I am a strong proponent of toxic masculinity. It’s also known as "masculinity."

Risk-taking.

Ferociousness.

Independence.

These are the qualities the SJWs want to wring out of us. Why? Because these are the qualities they cannot overcome. They want us weak, passive and obedient. That’s how they get power. Some bloated Trigglypuff screaming about the male gaze can’t force us to do anything. Sure, a lot of them have weight on us, but if we laugh at them and simply say "No" to their demands, they’re stuck. Are they going to go get a rifle and make us?
Whenever I hear about "toxic masculinity", I feel like saying: You don't like my toxic masculinity dear? OK - I want you to discuss the subject with an acquaintance of mine 'Ahmad, come over here!'"
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/17/2019 00:27 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  nails it
Posted by: 746 || 01/17/2019 11:51 Comments || Top||


Britain
UK opposition leader says ‘zombie government’ should stop ruling UK
[PRESSTV] Britannia’s opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has bashed Prime Minister Theresa May for her handling of the process to leave the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
, saying her "zombie government" must leave office immediately.

"There can be no doubt that this is indeed a zombie government," Corbyn told the British parliament on Wednesday at the beginning of a no-confidence debate meant to challenge May’s mandate as head of state.

The comments in the House of Commons came after May suffered a huge defeat in the parliament over her controversial Brexit agreement with the EU late on Tuesday.

Corbyn, who had tabled his no-confidence motion against May right after the vote on Brexit, said the government should call early elections after its historic defeat in the parliament.

"If a government cannot get its legislation through parliament, it must got to the country for a new mandate," he said.
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Replaced by Corbyn's vampire government?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/17/2019 0:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe he's suggesting more than it seems at first glance.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/17/2019 9:23 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Instead of soft music, PIA to now welcome passengers with Islamic hymn
[DAWN] The Pakistain Internat­ional Airlines (PIA) has decided to welcome passengers on board with the Qaseeda Burda Sharif playing in the background, instead of soft music.

A rendition of the Qaseeda Burda Sharif, a popular Islamic hymn, will be played while passengers board PIA airplanes for all domestic and international flights, PIA spokesperson Mashood Tajwar told Dawn.com on Wednesday.

The hymn will also be played during taxiing ‐ but only on flights heading to the Saudi cities of Jeddah and Madina.

The PIA spokesperson denied reports that the national flag-carrier had banned all sorts of music on its flights, saying passengers will have access to the inflight entertainment system available on the aircraft.

PIA flights traditionally also commence with a recitation of the Islamic prayer said at the start of a journey.
They were just saying a day or two ago that it would be easier to disband PIA and start from scratch. This is one reason. They tell me the recitation of the prayer before takeoff is necessary.
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Translation of said prayer (which rhymes much better in the original):

Let's pray that this flight won't be bumpy,
That foreheads up front aren't too lumpy,
Or cabin crew frumpy
Or baggage guys grumpy
Or all you poor pilgrims too jumpy!
Posted by: Creger and Tenille9201 || 01/17/2019 1:58 Comments || Top||

#2  And if I was forced to travel on a Pakastani airline I'd be praying at taxi, rotation, climb, level flight, decent , final and touchdown....hell i wouldn't stop praying till it got to the terminal.
Posted by: Classer || 01/17/2019 4:40 Comments || Top||

#3  "Allahu Akhbar! We are ALL martyrs now. Enjoy your shorter-than-planned flight"
Posted by: Frank G || 01/17/2019 6:42 Comments || Top||

#4  Mooooon Goddess under the camel sky la la la.
Posted by: Woodrow || 01/17/2019 6:48 Comments || Top||

#5  a majority of sharia commentators consider all music other than the chanting of the Koran to be prohibited based on

Al Hadis, Book 2, Chapter 12, No. 283 ... 'None raised up his voice with a song but Allah sent him two devils upon his shoulders who beat his chest with their heels till he stopped.' Attested by Tirmizi.

however, a number of modern commentators say that this only refers to the music of the idol worshipers of the 7th century
Posted by: lord garth || 01/17/2019 11:49 Comments || Top||

#6  Moon Goddess under the camel sky,
by White Man's magic thru the air we fly.
We'll certainly land. Won't that be grand!
Maybe intact, not spread over the sand.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/17/2019 12:28 Comments || Top||

#7  I would rip my ears off
Posted by: Chris || 01/17/2019 16:36 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran journalist arrested in US
[DAWN] A journalist for Iran's English-language Press TV has been jugged
Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!
in the United States, the news channel said on Wednesday.

US-born Marzieh Hashemi was arrested on arrival at St Louis Lambert International Airport on Sunday, according to family and friends cited by Press TV.

"The US officials have so far refused to provide any reasons for her apprehension either to her or her family," the broadcaster said on its website.

It added that Hashemi, a Moslem convert who changed her name from Melanie Franklin, had been visiting "her ill brother and other family members."

Press TV claimed that all she had been offered to eat was pork, religiously forbidden for Moslems.

The broadcaster was due to hold a presser on her case later on Wednesday.
The Daily Mail has the usual photos, and adds:
  • Marzieh Hashemi, a prominent American anchorwoman on Iranian state television, has been arrested by the FBI and is being held as a material witness

  • She was detained on Sunday while trying to fly out of St Louis where she was filming a Black Lives Matter documentary after visiting family in New Orleans

  • Hashemi had driven from Denver to New Orleans and then St Louis, saying that she did not want to fly because she is 'harassed'

  • The FBI said in an email that it had no comment on the arrest of the woman who was born Melanie Franklin of New Orleans

  • She lives about half the time in Colorado, where her children live, and half the time in Iran
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  She lives about half the time in Colorado, where her children live, and half the time in Iran

Lovely. Now they can visit her more often in the Jug
Posted by: Frank G || 01/17/2019 6:34 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
ATC dismisses bail applications of 13 policemen arrested in Naqeebullah murder case
[DAWN] An antiterrorism court on Wednesday dismissed bail applications of 13 former police officials in the cases pertaining to the alleged kidnapping for ransom and killing of an aspiring Wazoo model, Naqeebullah Mehsud, and three others in a ’staged’ encounter on January 13 last year in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
's Shah Latif Town.

The then SSP Malir Rao Anwar and DSP Qamar Ahmed Sheikh, along with 10 of their detained and 14 absconding subordinates were booked in the cases.

Meanwhile,
...back at the shootout, bullets whapped! around Butch as he tried to tie his scarf around his shoulder as a tourniquet......
six of the absconding suspects ‐ former sub-inspector Muhammad Annar, assistant sub-inspectors Khair Muhammad and Ali Akbar Mallah, head-constable Faisal Mehmood and constables Syed Imran Raza Kazmi and Syed Raees Abbas Zaidi ‐ had surrendered and moved pre-arrest bail applications after the trial court issued non-bailable warrants for their arrest

On Wednesday, the ATC-III judge, who is conducting the trial in the judicial complex inside the central prison, pronounced his verdict which was reserved after hearing arguments from the prosecutor, the defence counsel and counsel for the complainant on the last date of hearing.

The judge dismissed the bail application of all the suspects and ordered the arrest of the six applicants who had sought pre-arrest bail. Moreover, the main murder case has been fixed for hearing on January 30.
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


‘Raid’ on house of woman activist triggers protests
[DAWN] An alleged raid by Rangers personnel on the house of Sorath Lohar, convener of the Voice for Missing Persons of Sindh (VMPS), triggered a series of protest demonstrations in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas and some other parts of the province.

It was alleged that a Rangers’ team raided her house and took away her 17-year-old brother, Singhar, apparently for questioning over some matter relating to the ongoing campaign for what is being called "recovery of enforced disappearance victims".

There has been no word so far from the Rangers’ personnel about the alleged raid.

Soon after the alleged raid, a number of civil society and nationalist activists held a protest demonstration at Shaheed Chowk in Khipro town of Sanghar district on Sunday.
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Home Front: Politix
Judge orders Susan Rice, Ben Rhodes to answer written Benghazi questions in Clinton email lawsuit
[FOXNEWS] A federal judge ruled Tuesday that former national security adviser Susan Rice and former deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes must answer written questions about the State Department's response to the deadly 2012 terror attack in Benghazi, Libya, as part of an ongoing legal battle over whether Perennial Presidential Campaigner Hillary Crooked Hillary Clinton
... former first lady, former secretary of state, former presidential candidate, Conqueror of Benghazi, Heroine of Tuzla, formerly described by her supporters as the smartest woman in the world, usually described by the rest of us as The Thing That Wouldn't Go Away...
sought to deliberately evade public record laws by using a private email server while secretary of state.

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth denied a request by the conservative group Judicial Watch to make Rice and Rhodes sit for depositions, but agreed to have them answer written questions. He also agreed to Judicial Watch's request to depose the State Department about the preparation of talking points for Rice, then President Barack Obama
They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them...
's ambassador to the United Nations
...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense...
, ahead of appearances on political talk shows the Sunday following the attack. That deposition is part of Judicial Watch's inquiry into whether the State Department acted in bad faith by not telling a court for months that they had asked in mid-2014 for missing emails to be returned.

Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "I don't recall" - aka the dog ate my homework
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/17/2019 7:43 Comments || Top||

#2  As part of the discovery, Judicial Watch can depose Jacob Sullivan, Clinton's former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff, and Justin Cooper, a longtime Bill Clinton aide who helped arrange the setup of Hillary Clinton's private email address and server.

Judicial Watch said the discovery period will conclude within 120 days. A post-discovery hearing will then be held to determine whether additional witnesses, including Clinton and her former Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills, may be deposed.
Posted by: Frank G || 01/17/2019 8:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Imo, little aside smoke will come of this. Questions with truthful answers implicating the ultimate Perp (Chicago Jesus) will n.e.v.e.r. be asked. It would cause too much popular tribal uproar.

Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 01/17/2019 9:06 Comments || Top||

#4  Imo, little aside smoke will come of this. Questions with truthful answers implicating the ultimate Perp (Chicago Jesus) will n.e.v.e.r. be asked. It would cause too much popular tribal uproar.

An inconvenient truth !
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/17/2019 9:11 Comments || Top||

#5  "The judge has made his decision. Let us see him enforce it. " - paraphrasing Andrew Jackson.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 01/17/2019 17:28 Comments || Top||

#6  YAWWWWWNN..... Anyone go to jail over no nuclear WMDs in Iraq yet?
Posted by: Victor Emmanuel Trotsky3550 || 01/17/2019 21:51 Comments || Top||

#7  ^ Yawn, indeed. At least give us a frickin' limerick or something.
Posted by: Chuckles McGurque1097 || 01/17/2019 22:32 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Wake up call as residents of Banana estate recall how terrorist lived among them
[CAPITALFM.CO.KE] When news of the terror attack at 14 Riverside Drive broke Tuesday afternoon, Kenyans turned to their television sets, websites and social media to keep abreast with unfolding events.

Hours into the attack, images of the attackers emerged and residents of one estate near Banana Town took a keener interest.

One of the attackers turned out to be their neighbour, rekindling debate on how much effort we put to know who lives amongst us.

We make our way on the narrow-tarmacked road in Mucatha, within Kiambu County where the attacker lived since November last year.

It is a gated community called Guango Estate which is about three kilometres from the main road heading to Banana Town.

The man easily identified by locals from the CCTV footage ‐ wearing a cap ‐ was an eloquent and fluent Swahili speaker but of Somali origin.

He lived there for three months and according to multiple witnesses, he lived with a woman.

"He had a beautiful lady who would only leave the compound while in his company," a local who didn’t want to be named because of the sensitivity of the case said.

According to his neighbours, the well-built man was only known to them as Salim, with a clean shaven head, had a goatee and loved wearing a cap.

Often, a local butcher Kariuki Chege says ,he would buy meat for his meals and feeding his cats. "He loved his cats," Chege said.

"I just knew him for his love of meat. He looked moneyed."

His last purchase at the butchery was last week on Thursday.

His presence would be heard rather than seen since his car was fitted with a turbo engine. "It would make a lot of noise," another said.

According to a resident of the estate for 25 years, Dominic Njoroge, the attacker was just like any other ordinary residents of the estate.

"This is a gated community. We have never had any security incident," Njoroge told Capital FM News.

Every house has a 10 metres long perimeter wall which is fitted with an electric fence.

"The estate is guarded on a 24-hours basis. We also have frequent police patrols," Njoroge said.

Detectives camping at the estate were hoping to piece together his movements, possible accomplices and those who may have aided in the attack.

The Riverside attack left 14 people dead and scores of others injured.

Swift action by coppers saw hundreds safely evacuated.

After about 12 hours of an active operation, President Uhuru Kenyatta said order has been restored after the threat was neutralized.

The armed attackers used two vehicles to access the facility shooting anyone in their way.
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)

#1  Every house has a 10 metres long perimeter wall which is fitted with an electric fence.

Like a Democrat Compound™
Posted by: Frank G || 01/17/2019 8:56 Comments || Top||

#2  >Somali origin

Time to quarantine that "country".
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/17/2019 9:22 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Renewed clashes rock southern Tripoli, Interior Ministry and UNSMIL condemn
[Libya Observer] Clashes between forces loyal to the 7th Brigade and Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
Protection Force have been reported in southern Tripoli since early Wednesday, with continuous mobilization of military equipment, vehicles, and fighters from both sides.

According to medical sources from the capital, one person was killed and three others have been injured after fighting intensified in southern Tripoli areas like Qasir Benghashir, with reports of intermittent festivities in Souq al-Ahad and Souq al-Sabit areas and waves of displacement.

Health Ministry’s Injured Persons’ Affairs Department announced, meanwhile, the state of emergency as it expects the number of casualties to increase due to the festivities.

Photos circulated on social media showed early on Wednesday military vehicles for Special Deterrence Force and other Tripoli Protection Force brigades moving into Qasir Benghashir, knowing that the latter said it had foiled an attack by an gang in the morning, adding that it is taking action to save the innocent lives in the areas.

"The attacking forces are not committed to the ceasefire and withdrawal from Tripoli military zone." The force said in a statement.

Meanwhile,
...back at the buffalo wallow, Standing Buffalo drew a bead on his old enemy and squeezed the trigger...
the Interior Ministry of Presidential Council deplored the violence in southern Tripoli, confirming in a statement that it had officially handed over Tripoli International Airport to the Security Directorate of Tarhuna for protection.

The ministry warned Tripoli truce breakers of the consequences of their acts, saying a report would be submitted to the Presidential Council about the incidents.

The ministry’s statement clearly indicates that the truce breakers are the armed brigades of Tripoli Protection Force, who ignited the fighting after the deployment of Tarhuna’s 7th Brigade in the vicinity of Tripoli International Airport.

For its part, the United Nations
...boodling on the grand scale...
Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) strongly condemned the recent military mobilization of forces in southern Tripoli and said it was monitoring the situation closely.

"UNSMIL warns parties against any breach of the ceasefire agreement concluded on 04 and 09 September 2018, compromising stability in the capital and, most importantly, endangering the lives of civilians and their properties." It said in a statement.

The UNSMIL added that any party initiating a confrontation will be held fully responsible, reaffirming that it will take action as necessary and will explore all possible and available measures based on future developments on the ground in order to deter such events, which it condemns and rejects unequivocally.

"The Mission reminds all parties in Libya that any direct or indirect attack on civilians, their properties and public facilities constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
law." UNSMIL added.
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


India-Pakistan
Teacher gets pre-arrest bail in corporal punishment case in KP
[DAWN] HARIPUR: A schoolteacher secured bail from a local court to prevent arrest by the police in a corporal punishment case.

The development comes as the police registered a criminal case under Section 34 of the KP Child Protection Welfare Act, 2010, against teacher Ahmad Shahzad for beating up a 10th grader in Khanpur tehsil here.

Mushtaq Ahmad of Khanpur told the police that his son, Faizan Ali, was enrolled in Tameer-e-Millat Public School, whose administration informed him on Tuesday about the son’s hospitalisation after fainting on campus. He added that he found his son to be unconsciousness in the hospital with marks of torture visible on body.

The complaint said his son was later referred to the District Headquarters Hospital, where he regained consciousness and disclosed that he’d collapsed after teacher Ahmad Shahzad repeatedly hit his head with a bamboo stick over a minor mistake.
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Caribbean-Latin America
Did 'Chapo' really pay Mexico's ex-president $100M?
[PULSE.NG] A witness at the trial of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman (R) said the drug kingpin paid a $100 million bribe to then-president-elect Enrique Pena Nieto (L) in 2012

The claim, made by a witness Tuesday at the trial of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, stretches credibility, experts say -- starting with the fact that it would take a truck to transport that much cash.

Colombian narco-turned-state witness Alex Cifuentes surprised the courtroom in New York -- and caused a firestorm of controversy in Mexico -- when he alleged that "El Chapo" had paid the bribe to then-president-elect Enrique Pena Nieto in 2012.

But while there is no doubt that Mexico is awash in all the ingredients of the story -- drug money, corrupt officials, powerful kingpins -- there are many reasons to doubt it, according to people who know the murky nexus of politics and narcotics.

"It would have been the biggest bribe in all of history. I've been with DEA (the US Drug Enforcement Administration) for 31 years, I've seen bribes of millions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of dollars, but certainly not a bribe like that," said Mike Vigil, former head of international operations for the DEA.

"Once when I was working undercover in Panama, I borrowed $1 million from the CIA to flash to these narcos from Bolivia and Colombia. They were all in $100 bills, and I needed a huge suitcase to put that stuff in. So you would have needed a truck for $100 million. What did they do, drive up... and give it to the president?"

After Cifuentes made the accusation, Pena Nieto's supporters rushed to argue that the former president (2012-2018) was the one who made sure "El Chapo" was re-tossed in the slammer
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
after his brazen prison escape in 2015, then extradited to the United States.

Partisan politics aside, there is something to that argument, Vigil said.

"If I had taken a bribe from Chapo Guzman, the last thing I would have done is extradite him to the United States," he told AFP.

"Would you have extradited Chapo Guzman if you had taken money from him? He would come here (to the US) and start immediately making allegations against you."
Red flags

There are several reasons to question Cifuentes's story.

For one thing, he is testifying as part of a plea deal, in exchange for a softer sentence.

He also provided no proof, and admitted he was unsure about key details, including the amount and the date.

Then there is the fact that the information comes second-hand: Cifuentes said "El Chapo" is the one who told him the story, in which he purportedly gave the money to a woman named "Comadre Maria" to give to the president-elect shortly before he took office.

But "El Chapo" would hardly be the first narco to brag about huge bribes supposedly paid to high-ranking officials, said Vigil.

Both Guzman's stories and Cifuentes's have shown a certain flare for drama as they have emerged in court. On Wednesday, Cifuentes testified that "El Chapo" was once tortured by army soldiers who dangled him upside-down from a helicopter to find out where his drugs were.

The source of the story? Guzman's own version, as told to a film producer whom he wanted to make a movie about his life.

Finally, there is the fact that the bribe story emerged during questioning by Guzman's own lawyers -- who have sought to portray their client as a scapegoat for corrupt officials and the man they say wields the real power in the Sinaloa cartel, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada.

If there is any truth to the story, there should be evidence somewhere, said Raul Benitez, a professor at Mexico's largest university, UNAM.

"Normally, when narcos give money to politicians or businessmen, they record the handover, because that's how they blackmail the person if they need to," he said.

"You can't hide $100 million. There would have to be a bank transfer or real-estate or jewels, and the narcos would need proof for it to work."
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Narcos

#1  any mention how much he paid Holder & Obama?
Posted by: airandee || 01/17/2019 16:50 Comments || Top||

#2  So you would have needed a truck for $100 million. What did they do, drive up... and give it to the president?

That'd be my guess.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 01/17/2019 18:25 Comments || Top||


Fifth Column
The Memo That Helped Kill a Half Million People in Syria
[StrategicCulture] A memo sent to Hillary Clinton that WikiLeaks made public in 2016 has not gotten the attention it deserves. Now is the time. After President Donald Trump tweeted that he was pulling American troops out of Syria, Clinton joined his vociferous critics who want more war in Syria.

“Actions have consequences, and whether we’re in Syria or not, the people who want to harm us are there & at war,” Clinton tweeted in response to Trump. “Isolationism is weakness. Empowering ISIS is dangerous. Playing into Russia & Iran’s hands is foolish. This President is putting our national security at grave risk.”

Actions indeed have consequences.

The memo shows the kind of advice Clinton was getting as secretary of state to plunge the U.S. deeper into the Syrian war. It takes us back to 2012 and the early phase of the conflict.

At that point, it was largely an internal affair, although Saudi arms shipments were playing a greater and greater role in bolstering rebel forces. But once the President Barack Obama eventually decided in favor of intervention, under pressure from Clinton, the conflict was quickly internationalized as thousands of holy warriors flooded in from as far away as western China.

The 1,200-word memo written by James P. Rubin, a senior diplomat in Bill Clinton’s State Department, to then-Secretary of State Clinton, which Clinton twice requested be printed out, begins with the subject of Iran, an important patron of Syria.

The memo dismisses any notion that nuclear talks will stop Iran “from improving the crucial part of any nuclear weapons program—the capability to enrich uranium.” If it does get the bomb, it goes on, Israel will suffer a strategic setback since it will no longer be able to “respond to provocations with conventional military strikes on Syria and Lebanon, as it can today.” Denied the ability to bomb at will, Israel might leave off secondary targets and strike at the main enemy instead.

Consequently, the memo argues that the U.S. should topple the Assad regime so as to weaken Iran and allay the fears of Israel, which has long regarded the Islamic republic as its primary enemy. As the memo puts it:

“Bringing down Assad would not only be a massive boon to Israel’s security, it would also ease Israel’s understandable fear of losing its nuclear monopoly.  Then, Israel and the United States might be able to develop a common view of when the Iranian program is so dangerous that military action could be warranted.”

This document, making the case to arm Syrian rebels, may have been largely overlooked because of confusion about its dates, which appear to be inaccurate.
More at the link. Warmongering elites, all in plain view.
Herb dear, this is what the article looks like stripped of font and layout code. Fred, thoughtful host that he is, set up Rantburg to automatically and invisibly take care of all that for us.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  James P. Rubin - married to Christiane "war slut" Amanpour til mid 2018
Posted by: Frank G || 01/17/2019 9:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Very good find, Herb — I’m going to save it so I have time to ponder the details.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/17/2019 13:44 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Man who raped woman a week after nonprofit bailed him out gets 18 years
[NYPOST] A violent thug who’d been bailed out by a nonprofit ‐ only to viciously choke and sexually violate a young woman in the Bronx a week after he was sprung ‐ will stay behind bars for the next 18 years under a plea deal he took Wednesday.

Lynneke Burris, 30, of Brooklyn, already had a lengthy rap sheet, including for violent muggings, and had been tossed in the calaboose
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
on a new assault charge when The Bronx Freedom Fund posted his $1,000 bail on April 5.

On April 12, he followed a 23-year-old high school English teacher into the elevator of her Concourse Village apartment building, choking her there until she passed out.

Then he dragged her into a stairwell. When she regained consciousness, he ordered her to remove her clothing and sexually attacked her.

On Wednesday, Burris repeatedly said "Yes" to Bronx Supreme Court Justice Ralph Fabrizio as he was asked if he’d squeezed the woman’s neck until she passed out, and then committed one count of criminal sex act in the first degree.

Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What happens to "non-profit"?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/17/2019 0:23 Comments || Top||

#2  The Bronx Freedom Fund
Posted by: 3dc || 01/17/2019 7:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Robin Steinberg
In 2015, The Bronx Freedom Fund began a substantial expansion, raising additional funds, hiring new bail associates and significantly increasing its capacity, including expanding operations into other boroughs. Currently, the Freedom Fund is on track to bail out over 1,000 people per year. Also in 2015, the organization was awarded the National Criminal Justice Association's Outstanding Criminal Justice Program Award for the Northeast Region.[9]

In November of 2017, the Bronx Freedom Fund expanded again, re-launching as The Bail Project with the aim of establishing 40 bail funds across the nation to free over 150,000 people. [10]

Robin Steinberg is an American lawyer, social justice advocate[1] and leader in the field of holistic public defense.[2]

Steinberg is the CEO of The Bail Project,[3] a national organization modeled after The Bronx Freedom Fund,[4] which she co-founded with her husband David Feige in 2007.[5] Steinberg is the founder and former executive director of The Bronx Defenders, a community-based public defense office serving low-income New Yorkers in the Bronx since 1997,[6] and the director of Still She Rises, Tulsa,[7] "the first public defender office in the nation dedicated exclusively to the representation of mothers in the criminal justice system".[8] At The Bronx Defenders, Steinberg created The Center for Holistic Defense,[9] a national program funded by the U.S. Department of Justice that trains public defender offices across the country to replicate The Bronx Defenders’ model of holistic defense.[10]

Steinberg has spoken at TED,[11] and taught at Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School,[12] Seton Hall and UCLA.[13]
Posted by: 3dc || 01/17/2019 7:58 Comments || Top||

#4  David Feige
David Feige is an American lawyer, legal commentator, and author. He is the author of the memoir, Indefensible: One Lawyer's Journey into the Inferno of American Justice,[1] and co-creator of the TNT legal drama Raising the Bar,[2] both of which center on the life of the public defender. He is also the co-founder and board chair of The Bronx Freedom Fund, the first charitable bail organization in New York State.[3] In 2016 he won the Albert Maysles New Documentary Director Award[4] for "Untouchable" a documentary feature he wrote, produced and directed.[5] The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.[6]
Posted by: 3dc || 01/17/2019 8:02 Comments || Top||

#5  Raising The Bar TV Drama - never heard of it. Here's why
Posted by: Frank G || 01/17/2019 8:44 Comments || Top||

#6  Should be a rule the Bailed person has to live with the bail payer or the trustees.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/17/2019 9:26 Comments || Top||

#7  a long rap sheet a new felony charge and only a $1000 bail

I'd call for the retirement of the judge that set that low a figure
Posted by: lord garth || 01/17/2019 11:55 Comments || Top||

#8  Probably lucky he didn't step on a random piece of rebar and cause it to impale itself in him while being chased....
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 01/17/2019 22:29 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Kirkuk: 3 turbans airstruck, 3 paramilitaries maimed fighting fed cops


Iraqi airstrike kills three Islamic State terrorists in Kirkuk

Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) ‐ Iraqi warplanes killed on Wednesday three 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....
snuffies in the oil-rich province of Kirkuk,
... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time...
a military front man was quoted as saying.

"Acting on accurate intelligence reports, Iraqi jet fighters targeted three snuffies riding a cycle of violence in al-Mahkour village in Kirkuk," Alghad Press quoted front man for the Security Media Center Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool as saying.

"The Arclight airstrike left the snuffies dead," added the front man.

Shiite militiamen clash with federal police in Kirkuk hospital

[Rudaw] Three Shiite militiamen were wounded in a skirmish with Iraqi federal police at a hospital in Kirkuk on Tuesday night after refusing to relinquish their weapons.

At around 23:00 local time, a group of Hashd al-Shaabi militiamen arrived at Komari hospital with seven comrades wounded in an earlier roadside bombing.

Federal police told the Hashd fighters they must give up their guns before entering the hospital. When they refused, a clash broke out.

“It was because when Hashd militants wanted some of their injured taken to the hospital, they wanted to enter with their arms, but the federal police didn’t allow them, thus leading to tensions and clashes,” Azad Jabbari, head of the security committee in the Kirkuk provincial council, told Rudaw.

Three Hashd militants were injured and the others arrested.

The earlier roadside bombing hit the Hashd convoy in the town of Rashad.

Around the same time, ISIS remnants operating in the province attacked a police station in the village of Mahmoud Abbas in Khanaqin, killing one police officer and injuring two more, according to Brig. Gen. Azad Issa, director of KRG’s Khanaqin police.

“When Peshmerga were in the Khanaqin area, such incidents happened once in a year, but in the past two months, Daesh has led 20 attacks in Khanaqin,” Issa added, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.

Thousands of Hashd fighters and other Iraqi military formations have been deployed in Kirkuk since taking control of the disputed province from the Peshmerga on October 16, 2017.

Although the Hashd is an official part of Iraq’s defense apparatus, the Shiite militia is largely under the command of individuals close to Iran.

The Iraqi PM on Tuesday rejected rumors the US has asked him to officially dissolve the Hashd paramilitary forces.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Africa Horn
Court asked to put 5 Garissa varsity terror suspects on their defence
[CAPITALFM.CO.KE] A magistrate has been asked to place five persons accused of planning the Garissa University terror attack more than three years ago on their defence.

In submissions before Nairobi Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi, prosecution counsel Carole Sigei said the five accused conspired to commit the attack in which 150 people, mainly students, were killed.

She said data and communication retrieved from mobile phones seized from Mohammed Ali Abdikar, Hassan Aden Hassan, Sahal Diriye, Osman Abdi and Rashid Charles Mberesero, showed that they were in constant communication with the four turbans who staged the attack.

The five have denied a total of 156 counts over the attack at Garissa University on the morning of April 2, 2015.

The charges include the killing of 150 people, conspiracy to commit a terrorist act, committing a terrorist act, being members of a terrorist group.

Mberesero, a Tanzanian, faces a further charge of being in Kenya unlawfully.

Sigei told the court that there was both circumstantial and direct evidence linking the five to the attack.

She said a number of witnesses who testified saw some of the accused persons while intelligence officers were able to trace them to Mandera, a few days after the attack.

Osman was an employee at the university.

A witness, Kolombo Adao, a muezzin, told the court Mberesero came to the mosque a few days before the attack and appeared like a man on a journey.

The court was told that the accused person arrived with a bag and used to sleep in the mosque.

He said unlike other persons, Mberesero was learned and keen to know more about the Koran.

He said Mberesero did not participate in the prayers on the day of the attack but left the mosque in a hurry never to return.

He left his bag behind and it was taken by police a few days later. The bag had what appeared to be a farewell letter, saying that death was imminent.

On his part, defence lawyer Mbugua Mureithi said the prosecution had not discharged the burden because there was nothing linking any of the accused persons to the attack.

He said the police did not say how the suspects were nabbed
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
, some 700 kilometres away and linked them to the attack.

The lawyer said the only link the prosecution had on them to the attack was their mobile phones.

"It is now becoming dangerous to own a mobile phone in this country," he argued.

Andayi will give his ruling whether they have a case to answer on January 23.

The suspects are being held at Kamiti Maximum Prison after they were denied bond.
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)


Africa Subsaharan
Seven die in terrorist attack in Nangade
[POPTEL.ORG.UK] Seven people died on 6 January when an gang attacked a pick-up truck in Nangade district, in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, according to a report in the online edition of the daily newspaper "O Pais".

The truck was carrying passengers from the town of Palma to the administrative post of Pundanhar in Nangade. The attackers, believed to be Islamic fundamentalists, opened fire, forcing the vehicle to stop. They ordered all the occupants to step out of the truck. The forces of Evil then beheaded the driver, and used machetes to kill six passengers, most of them women.

On 5 January, the bully boyz attacked the village of Mussemuku in the mainland part of Ibo district. There are no reports of any casualties from this raid. Local sources told "O Pais" that the Mozambican defence and security forces captured several krazed killers.

Meanwhile journalist Amade Abubakar, detained on 5 January in Macomia district, has been transferred to a military prison in Mueda, 300 kilometres from Macomia. Abubakar works for the Macomia community radio station, and strings for the Zitamar news agency.

Cited by "O Pais", his father, Abubakar Artur, said that, despite contacting the Macomia district government and police command, he did not know where his son was being held or why he had been incarcerated
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
. The state-owned Mass Communications Institute (ICS), which owns the Macomia radio, also had no idea why Abubakar had been picked up. The Cabo Delgado ICS delegate, Paulo Cazimoto, said "our journalist was detained, but we have no details about the case. Despite approaching the authorities, we also don’t know his whereabouts".

Eye-witnesses report that, immediately prior to his detention, Abubakar had been photographing households fleeing from the interior of the district into Macomia town, escaping from terrorist raids. There is no Mozambican law forbidding journalists, or anybody else, from taking photographs in public places. In this case, Abubakar was merely documenting something that is already well known ‐ the exodus of peasant families from rural Macomia, because of terrorist raids.

The terrorist attacks began in October 2017 in the district of Mocimboa da Praia. Subsequently the raids have spread to the districts of Macomia, Nangade and Palma.
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)


Africa Horn
France at UN threatens more sanctions on Mali
[PULSE.NG] The Security Council last month put three individuals linked to gangs on a UN sanctions blacklist, the first Malian nationals to be hit by a global travel ban and assets freeze.

The sanctions were imposed for hindering a peace agreement signed in 2015 by the Bamako government and gangs that is aimed at restoring stability to Mali following a brief Islamist takeover in the north.

The peace deal has failed to stop violence by Islamist Death Eaters, who have also staged attacks in Burkina Faso
...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other...
, Niger and against UN peacekeepers.

French Ambassador Francois Delattre told a council meeting that his government was "ready to propose the adoption of new (sanctions) designations when the time comes if the expectations of this council are not met."

The United States renewed its warning that it will push for changes to the peacekeeping mission in Mali, possibly a major drawdown, if there is no progress.

UN peacekeeping official Bintou Keita told the council that the security situation in central Mali had worsened with a spike in intercommunal violence, stoked by holy warriors groups.

An attack on the Fulani community on January 1 left 37 dead in the central Mopti region.

The worsening violence has led to "a dramatic increase in displaced persons by 75 per cent in December 2018, compared with June 2018," said Keita.

Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, however, warned that fresh sanctions will "hardly contribute" to strengthening the grinding of the peace processor.

More than 13,000 peacekeepers are deployed in Mali as part of a UN mission that was established after Islamist militias seized northern Mali in 2012. They were pushed backed by French troops in 2013.
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


American killed in Kenya attack was 9/11 survivor
[PULSE.NG] Authorities did not formally name Jason Spindler as one of the victims, but his mother Sarah and brother Jonathan confirmed his death on Facebook and to several US media outlets.

"It's with a heavy heart that I have to report that my brother, Jason Spindler, passed this morning during a terror attack in Nairobi," Jonathan wrote on Facebook, in comments visible only to his friends.

"Jason was a survivor of 9-11 and a fighter. I am sure he gave them hell!"

The Nairobi attack was claimed by the al-Qaeda-linked Somali group al-Shabaab
... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...
, which has targeted Kenya since it sent its army into Somalia in October 2011 to fight the jihadist group.

Spindler was a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and the New York University law school. He spent time in the Peace Corps in Peru.

On September 11, 2001, Spindler was working for investment bank Salomon Smith Barney in the World Trade Center.

The main Twin Towers collapsed after being hit by two passenger jets commandeered by al-Qaeda operatives.

Spindler's building, 7 World Trade Center, collapsed in the aftermath, but none of the nearly 3,000 fatalities that day resulted from that incident.

Kevin Yu, who attended UT-Austin with Spindler, said Spindler had helped save people stuck in the rubble on 9/11.

"That's exactly the kind of person he is," Yu told The Washington Post.

"I have no doubt that when he heard the kabooms outside the hotel, he was one of those trying to jump in and help."
Development work

After his ordeal on 9/11, Spindler's life changed, according to Yu.

"Something struck a nerve and changed how he felt and thought about things," he told the Post.

After law school, Spindler co-founded consulting and investment firm I-Dev, and was working in Kenya on a mini-power grid project tailored for remote areas, according to the company's website.

"Jason was based mainly in Nairobi, but traveled frequently to the Socialist paradise of San Francisco
...where God struck dead Anton LaVey, home of the Sydney Ducks, ruled by Vigilance Committee from 1859 through 1867, reliably and volubly Democrat since 1964...
and across Latin America, Africa, Europe," a spokesperson for the company told AFP by email.

His mother Sarah told NBC News that her son "was trying to make positive change in the third world in emerging markets."

"We all miss him so much. And it's so sad that such a bright young person is taken away by terrorism," she added.

Spindler's Facebook account had been converted on Wednesday into a tributes page.

He would have turned 41 on Monday, Yu said. His family was planning to hold a religious service that day instead.
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)


Africa Subsaharan
ICC halts release of I.Coast's Gbagbo after new appeal
[PULSE.NG] The International Criminal Court on Wednesday halted the release of former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo following a fresh appeal by prosecutors, a day after he was acquitted of crimes against humanity.
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just keep trying him until you get the verdict you want.
Posted by: Chris || 01/17/2019 2:29 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Taliban threaten to suspend peace talks with U.S. if refuse to discuss withdrawing troops
[KhaamaPress] Blah, blah... Flee our mighty warriors, O cowardly kaffirs! Blah, blah...
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  "Withdraw completely and give us everything we want (and a pony!) and we'll possibly agree to 'peace talks'"
Posted by: Frank G || 01/17/2019 8:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Any Muslim to non-Muslim negotiation is based on deception and any agreement reached will be broken as soon as convenient. It is the will of Allah as expressed through Mohamed.
Posted by: Waldemar Tingle3635 || 01/17/2019 13:08 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Human diet causing 'catastrophic' damage to planet: study

[PULSE.NG] The way humanity produces and eats food must radically change to avoid millions of deaths and "catastrophic" damage to the planet, according to a landmark study published Thursday.

The landmark health study in The Lancet calls on people to double their consumption of vegetables, fruits and nuts 4

The key to both goals is a dramatic shift in the global diet -- roughly half as much sugar and red meat, and twice as many vegetables, fruits and nuts, a consortium of three dozen researchers concluded in The Lancet, a medical journal.

"We are in a catastrophic situation," co-author Tim Lang, a professor at the University of London and policy lead for the EAT-Lancet Commission that compiled the 50-page study, told AFP.

Currently, nearly a billion people are hungry and another two billion are eating too much of the wrong foods, causing epidemics of obesity, heart disease and diabetes.

Unhealthy diets account for up to 11 million avoidable premature deaths every year, according to the most recent Global Disease Burden report.

At the same time the global food system is the single largest emitter of greenhouse gases, the biggest driver of biodiversity loss, and the main cause of deadly algae blooms along coasts and inland waterways.

Agriculture -- which has transformed nearly half the planet's land surface -- also uses up about 70 percent of the global fresh water supply.

"To have any chance of feeding 10 billion people in 2050 within planetary boundaries" -- the limits on Earth's capacity to absorb human activity -- "we must adopt a healthy diet, slash food waste, and invest in technologies that reduce environmental impacts," said co-author Johan Rockstrom, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Change Impact Research.
Where's the beef?

"It is doable but it will take nothing less than global agricultural revolution," he told AFP.

The cornerstone of "the great food transformation" called for in the study is a template human diet of about 2500 calories per day.

"We are not saying everyone has to eat in the same way," Lang said by phone. "But broadly -- especially in the rich world -- it means a reduction of meat and dairy, and a major increase in plant consumption."

The diet allows for about seven grammes (a quarter of an ounce) of red meat per day, and up to 14. A typical hamburger patty, by comparison, is 125 to 150 grammes.

For most rich nations, and many emerging ones such as China and Brazil, this would represent a drastic five-to-ten-fold reduction.

Beef is the main culprit.

Not only do cattle pass massive quantities of planet-warming methane, huge swathes of carbon-absorbing forests ‐- mostly in Brazil -‐ are cut down every year to make room for them.

"For climate, we know that coal is the low-hanging fruit, the dirtiest of fossil fuels," said Rockstrom. "On the food side, the equivalent is grain-fed beef."

It takes at least five kilos of grain to produce a kilo of meat.

And once that steak or lamb chop hits the plate, about 30 percent will wind up in the garbage bin.

Dairy is also limited to about one cup (250 grammes) of whole milk -- or its equivalent in cheese or yoghurt -- per day, and only one or two eggs per week.
Push back

At the same time, the diet calls for a more than 100 percent increase in legumes such as peas and lentils, along with vegetables, fruits and nuts.

Grains are considered to be less healthy sources of nutrients.

"We can no longer feed our population a healthy diet while balancing planetary resources," said The Lancet editor-in-chief Richard Horton.

"For the first time in 200,000 years of human history, we are severely out of sync with the planet and Nature."

The report drew heavy fire from the livestock and dairy industry, and some experts.

"It goes to the extreme to create maximum attention, but we must be more responsible when making serious dietary recommendation," said Alexander Anton, secretary general of the European Dairy Association, noting that dairy products are "packed" with nutrients and vitamins.

Christopher Snowdon of the Institute of Economic Affairs in London said the report "reveals the full agenda of nanny-state campaigners."

"We expected these attacks," said Lang. "But the same food companies pushing back against these findings realise that they may not have a future if they don't adapt", he said.

"The question is: does this come by crisis, or do we start planning for it now?"

Some multinationals responded positively, if cautiously, to the study.

"We need governments to help accelerate the change by aligning national dietary guidelines with healthy and sustainable requirements, and repurposing agricultural subsidies," the World Business Council for Sustainable Development said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Is it time to go full Macdonough on these "people"?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/17/2019 0:19 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm so old I remember when The Lancet was a serious medical journal. So much fodder for savage mockery here. One example:
Agriculture... uses up about 70 percent of the global fresh water supply.

Uses up? Did you people sleep thru the lesson in 5th grade science class about the Hydrology Cycle? Hint: It's a cycle - nothing gets "used up". Argh!
Posted by: SteveS || 01/17/2019 0:23 Comments || Top||

#3  Not this shit again!
Posted by: Raj || 01/17/2019 0:41 Comments || Top||

#4  Ever hear the name Trofim Lysenko?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/17/2019 0:43 Comments || Top||

#5  Most indians are vegetarians and it's still largely a shit-hole country.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/17/2019 8:29 Comments || Top||

#6  Is it time to go full Macdonough on these "people"?

WAY past time.
Posted by: Flutle Black8985 || 01/17/2019 8:39 Comments || Top||

#7  He looks like what you would expect. Smug Leftist academic. BIRM
Posted by: Flutle Black8985 || 01/17/2019 8:42 Comments || Top||

#8  Most indians are vegetarians and it's still largely a shit-hole country.

Uh. Wrong! It's closer to 50/50 veg vs. non-veg. I know, I'm married to an Indian and have spent long periods of time there.
Posted by: Flutle Black8985 || 01/17/2019 8:44 Comments || Top||

#9  Nuts
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/17/2019 8:44 Comments || Top||

#10  I think I'll throw an extra steak on the Barbie tonight then.
Posted by: DarthVader || 01/17/2019 9:15 Comments || Top||

#11  The Earth is about change. The Earth we live on is drastically different than the one the Dinosaurs lived on. Who are they to say what 'version' of the Earth is right or not the arrogant sods.

The staff of Lancet should lead the way by committing suicide, hopefully they can start a trend on the left.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 01/17/2019 10:29 Comments || Top||

#12  Lately I've been craving a hamburger.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 01/17/2019 12:54 Comments || Top||

#13  MMMmm Long pork. With a nice Chianti...
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 01/17/2019 16:26 Comments || Top||

#14  Human diet causing 'catastrophic' damage to planet

So stop eating humans.
Posted by: charger || 01/17/2019 20:59 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
BNP unlikely to sever ties with Jamaat as Fakhrul talks about unity
[Dhaka Tribune] Apparently giving a hint at not leaving Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
as per Gono Forum's desire, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday advocated for strengthening the unity between Jatiya Oikya Front and the 20-party Alliance further to defeat the current regime.

"I would like to say it clearly that there is no alternative to unity, no matter who thinks what... BNP has created a bridge between the Jatiya Oikya Front and the 20-party Alliance for the cause of a historical necessity. It is still necessary to maintain, and we think now a greater unity is essential," he said, reports UNB.

Speaking at a discussion, he further said: "We do not accept the election. As political parties, it is our duty to consciously cement the national unity, and remain alert so that frustration does not grow among us."

Jatiya Party
...aka Jatiya Front; a political party established by Bangladictator Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad in 1986 to lend a veneer of respectability to his rule. Since nobody was amused he was forced to resign by popular demand in 1990. The party remains in existence with about a dozen seats in Bangla's parliament...
(Zafar) had organized the program at the National Press Club in memory of its acting chairman TIM Fazle Rabbi, who died on December 27 last year.

On January 12, Gono Forum President Dr Kamal Hossain said it was a mistake of his party to join the 11th general election, held on December 30, with Jamaat under the banner of Oikya Front, which he leads.

He also said that they would mount pressure on BNP to drop Jamaat from its coalition to keep the Oikya Front intact and make it stronger.

Without mentioning any party's name, Mirza Fakhrul warned that if any party thinks that it will be possible to get a democratic victory fighting against a dangerous monster with lone efforts, it is not the right approach. "We must achieve the victory through people's unity. This is the reality."

He said the people of the country and the international community have already turned down the election. "The people witnessed a cruel mockery in the name of election. People's rights were snatched through it."

He said a big damage has been done to Awami League through the election as the party has now become the opponent of people for depriving them of their voting rights. "Even, Awami League supporters are bemoaning that they could not cast their votes,"

The BNP secretary general said it is Awami League's inherent nature is to think that they are the owners of the country and people are their subjects. "That's why this party never recognized people's rights."
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


Europe
Police warn of safety risks as more Germans get gun licenses
[DW] 2018 saw a jump in the number of Germans applying for a basic weapons license. Police say the trend comes from a growing sense of insecurity, but warn increasing numbers of armed citizens may worsen the situation.
Ja, ja. That's the first thing they teach you in cop school: Never trust a Hun with a gun.
More Germans are applying for basic weapons licenses according to the country's Interior Ministry. As of December 31, 2018, some 610,937 citizens had been issued licenses.

The jump of 53,377 gun permits over 2017 represents a 9.6 percent increase in the number of Germans now licensed to carry gas pistols, flare guns, pepper spray and other weapons not intended for deadly use.

Police representatives suggest the increase illustrates a latent sense of insecurity among citizens. However,
we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by...
Left Party domestic policy expert Ulla Jelpke said the increase was "a result of the panic created by law and order politicians like Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and right-wing agitators like the AfD [Alternative for Germany]."

Germany's basic weapons license requires an applicant to be of adult age as well as being personally and psychologically fit. Lethal weapons are not readily available in Germany.

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA Network), said that 0.9 Germans per 100,000 died of gun violence in 2016. The USA, which garners much press for its high percentage of gun deaths, registered 10.6 per 100,000 in 2016. El Salvador led the world by percentage with 39.2 per 100,000. Germany registered 820 gun deaths in 2016, as compared to 33,336 in the USA.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Do not defend yourselves or your wymyn against the Muslim Colonists! Just lay back and enjoy it"
Posted by: Frank G || 01/17/2019 9:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Hmmm, Mauser just announced a new low cost bold action rifle. Read good things about it........coinkydink?
Posted by: AlanC || 01/17/2019 11:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Germans saw the warning that their "police" was a safety risk to them.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/17/2019 12:08 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
FBI arrest 'radicalized' 21-year-old over 'planned suicide attack on Trump's White House using IED and anti-TANK rocket'
In which yet another idiot goes to an FBI informant to get help realizing his plans for glorious jihad. No doubt today photos of the gentleman in question will be released along with information about his background, none of which could be found as this was posted.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • Mennonite youth pastor Hasher Jallal Taheb, 21, of Cumming, Georgia, was arrested Wednesday by FBI agents in a sting, U.S. Attorney in Atlanta says

  • He allegedly planned to use an improvised explosive device and anti-tank rocket in a suicide attack on the White House

  • Also wanted to attack Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and an unnamed synagogue in the city

  • Had previously wanted to travel to the Middle East to join ISIS but had no passport

  • Local law enforcement contacted the FBI in March tipster said Taheb had become radicalized, changed his name and planned to travel abroad
More at USA Today
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  >Hasher Jallal Taheb, 21, of Cumming, Georgia,

Unlikely.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/17/2019 9:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Isn't that 'Rage Boy's' younger brother, or am I stereotyping again ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/17/2019 9:21 Comments || Top||

#3  I assume the FBI snatched him up rather than put him in the Known Wolf folder because an attack on the White House would disturb the Mueller investigation.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/17/2019 12:20 Comments || Top||

#4  Thank you for adding his photo, Bsoeker. How is that done?
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/17/2019 21:31 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Sudan police fire tear gas at protesters in Kassala: Witnesses
[Al Jazeera] Police in Sudan has fired tear gas at anti-government protesters in the eastern city of Kassala, according to eyewitnesses, as one of the biggest protests against President Omar al-Bashir
Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it.
's three-decade rule entered its fourth week.

It was the first time protesters erupted into the streets in Kassala, located near Sudan's border with Eritrea
...is run by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), with about the amounts of democracy and justice you'd expect from a party with that name. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. The president, Isaias Afewerki, has been in office since independence in 1993 and will probably die there of old age...
, since massive anti-government demonstrations started in December in which at least 24 people have died.

Eyewitnesses told AFP news agency that protesters shouting "freedom, justice and peace" were confronted by coppers who fired tear gas at them.

Shortly before the anti-government crowd erupted into the streets, followers of President al-Bashir held the first pro-government rally on January 7 in Kassala, which was followed days later by another in the capital, Khartoum.

Since December 19, Sudan has seen several large-scale protests in most major cities and towns.

Demonstrations initially erupted in the northeastern town of Atbara after the government raised the price of bread, but then quickly flared to other regions before spreading to Khartoum.

Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Ex-NFL player sacks peeping Tom outside daughter’s window
[NYPOST]
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "his pants were partly down"
"who then tried to run"
"But Beckham said he gave chase"

I guess this was a short chase
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/17/2019 7:29 Comments || Top||

#2  This ranks right up there with the idiot that tried to rob the cops favorite hang out bar.

He chose poorly.
Posted by: AlanC || 01/17/2019 11:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Lesson learned: Wait until the peepee is at least 16 years old. And make sure Dad doesn't have anything to do with football. Damn. Does this at least qualify as a participation ribbon in the Darwin Awards?
Posted by: gorb || 01/17/2019 15:16 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
'Migration isn't going to stop': Salvadorans join new caravans
[Al Jazeera] Undeterred by Trump's threats and US policies, another group of refugees and migrants leave El Salvador.

Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/17/2019 0:22 Comments || Top||

#2  another group of refugees and migrants leave El Salvador.

This should help convince everyone there is no need for improved border security, he said snarkily. Wave for the cameras and smile, Congresslady Pelosi!
Posted by: SteveS || 01/17/2019 0:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Long past time for just catch and release. Bus'em to SanFran and release. Hey, its a sanctuary city. You want them, you get them. All of them.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/17/2019 7:53 Comments || Top||

#4  P2k, not a bad idea but they we have to build a wall around SF...............not a bad idea itself.
Posted by: AlanC || 01/17/2019 11:59 Comments || Top||

#5  Don't have to build a wall around San Francisco. It's a peninsula. Start the wall just south of SFO and run it west to Pacifica. That ought to do it. Kick them out of the United States while you're at it.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 01/17/2019 13:01 Comments || Top||

#6  Bus'em to SanFran and release.

If I were King of the Forest and determined to troll my enemies, I would announce a planned lottery for the latest wave of migrants - 100 lucky winners would be bused sanctuary cities across the country. Panic and hilarity ensues.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/17/2019 13:12 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iraqi troops arrest two Islamic State terrorists in Anbar
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) ‐ Iraqi security forces placed in durance vile
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
on Wednesday two 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....
forces of Evil while hiding among the displaced families in Anbar province, a security source said.

"Security forces carried out a crackdown targeting several villages of Anbar, managing to arrest two dangerous IS krazed killers," the source told Almaalomah news website.

The source added that the pair was "implicated in launching attacks against security forces and civilians in Anbar."

They had fled to the liberated areas among the displaced families after the liberation of Anbar from Islamic State, the source added.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Volcano erupts on Japan's Kuchinoerabu island
[Al Jazeera] Eruption sends smoke into the air over sparsely-inhabited southern island, but there is no evacuation warning.

Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


-Short Attention Span Theater-
NY Post touts actor who ‘uses fashion to fight Trump.’ Responses are worth the price of admission.
[BIZPACREVIEW] A gay actor’s statement-making wardrobe earned a barrage of social media mockery after it was highlighted as an effort to fight President Donald Trump.

“Billy Porter is taking his resistance to the red carpet,” the New York Post’s Page Six noted in a story titled, “‘Pose’ star Billy Porter uses fashion to fight Trump.”

The article noted how the 49-year old actor “wants to use the red carpet as a platform for activism” and focused on the custom embroidered suit and cape from Randi Rahm that he showcased at the Golden Globes.

Porter’s stylist Sam Ratelle told Page Six that “every single time we work on something together, the first thing we do is think: What is the statement we’re making with this? What can people take away from this?”

While Porter’s fashion earned raves from his fans and the award show red carpet, the Page Six tweet touting the article and the Tony Award-winning actor sparked a hilarious chain of reaction on Twitter.

The idea that the Resistance could so easily remove Trump from office with just a fashion choice – albeit an eye-catching hot pink lined cape – prompted a hilarious response from Twitter users.

How will @realDonaldTrump ever recover?— Happy Camper (@Cox_Cu) January 14, 2019


We shall fight them in the powder room …

— Dean H (@Dean_Housden) January 14, 2019

I don’t know who that is, but his white socks make me want to vote for Trump.

— just alan (@anythingbutdem) January 14, 2019


This just in: Trump resigns https://t.co/RiXyDdSh1U

— Jen the Foreign Asset (@Jen_Dodgson) January 14, 2019
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Who?
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 01/17/2019 7:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Someone who wasn't good enough at sucking directors genitals to get a good part.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/17/2019 8:31 Comments || Top||

#3  Fabulous!
Posted by: Raj || 01/17/2019 9:22 Comments || Top||

#4  The Dean H comment had me laughing out loud.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 01/17/2019 10:30 Comments || Top||

#5  IMO, Billy couldn't resist the chance to perform in front of an audience. He papers things over by saying he is a part of a great cause, "The Resistance." When everything comes out, he might just get "woke."
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/17/2019 11:42 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Suspected mastermind of Orakzai terror attack killed in Hangu
[DAWN] Four suspected terrorists, including the alleged criminal mastermind of a deadly suicide kaboom last year in Orakzai, were killed in an 'encounter' with security forces in Hangu on Wednesday.

A local police official, Muhammad Khalid, confirmed to the News Agency that Dare Not be Named that security forces had conducted a raid in Hangu. A security source told DawnNewsTV that the raid was carried out after a tip-off was received that the house was serving as a myrmidon hideout.

The suspected murderous Moslems opened fire on security forces during the raid, the source said, adding that four 'terrorists' were killed in the ensuing encounter.

A civilian was also accidentally killed in the shootout, AP reported.

Khalid identified one of the faceless myrmidons killed as Muhammad Islam and said that he was responsible for orchestrating the Nov 23 suicide attack near an imambargah in lower Orakzai's Kalaya Bazaar that left at least 32 people dead and 31 injured.

The security source told DawnNewsTV that Islam had ties to the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban
...Arabic for students...
Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Britain
UK PM May survives confidence vote after Brexit humiliation
[DAWN] British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday survived a no-confidence vote sparked by the crushing defeat of her Brexit deal just weeks before the UK leaves the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
A stunning 24-hour span saw May on Tuesday dealt the heaviest drubbing by parliament in modern British political history ‐ 432 votes to 202 ‐ over the divorce terms she reached with Brussels.

She emerged victorious in parliament's first no-confidence vote in a British government in 26 years on Wednesday by a 325-306 margin, a majority of 19.
Quite a turnaround. Are those who voted aye today that afraid of the impact of a Corbyn government?
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Only because corbyn is even less competent.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/17/2019 9:19 Comments || Top||


UK court jails thrower of remembrance poppies for vandalism
[PRESSTV] A court in the United Kingdom has jugged
You have the right to remain silent...
a homeless man because he had thrown away poppies used to remember wars Britannia has contributed to.

The magistrates in Wiltshire, in southern England, ruled that Ashwani Kumar, 54, should spend eight weeks in jail for disrespecting the remembrance poppies that had been put on a war memorial in Swindon.

Police had described the act of throwing the wreaths of poppies around Cenotaph War Memorial in Regent Circus last weekend as "a total disgrace", saying it was an act of vandalism. Local media also condemned the move, saying it had caused a "huge amount of upset" in the local community".

However,
a woman is only as old as she admits...
the imprisonment comes as many in the UK are opposed to the use of poppies and even campaign against it, arguing it is an instrument for cleansing Britannia’s history of contribution to brutal wars.

Anti-poppy campaigners also believe that the remembrance object is dubiously used by politicians to sell wars, like those contributed by Britannia in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ashwani Kumar,

Ahhh, a traditional Brit name, right up there with Neville and Algernon.
Posted by: AlanC || 01/17/2019 11:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Knee-jerk reaction was, of course, to want to see the impertinent invader strapped to a gun, stuffed full of peppers and impaled on the Shard, or whatever, but reading the article I found myself thinking, "Jeez, this guy fits in fine. Textbook case of integration." Kinda sad innit.
Posted by: Angaise Omeper3483 || 01/17/2019 20:47 Comments || Top||

#3  A night action: searchlights off Dover.
The dashing lieutenant, stone sober.
"Oi, aren't you Prince--" "Fill-up!
And just send the bill up
To Sandringham, care of 'The Rover!'"
Posted by: Jusort tse Tung2587 || 01/17/2019 20:59 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Death toll in 14 Riverside Drive attack rises to 21
[CAPITALFM.CO.KE] The corpse count following the Riverside Drive terrorist attack has risen to 21 after six more bodies were retrieved from the complex on Wednesday evening.

Of the dead was a police officer who succumbed to injuries while undergoing treatment.

Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet in a late night press briefing told journalists that 28 other people were admitted to various hospitals where they were receiving treatment.

Of the dead, the IG said, 16 were Kenyans, an American, Briton and three other victims of African decent who were yet to be identified.

Already, police have tossed in the slammer
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
two people whom they believe facilitated the Tuesday afternoon attack at the complex housing the dusitD2 hotel and several other office buildings.

One suspect was arrested in Ruaka inside a house where a terrorist was living since November last year.

Another one was arrested in Eastleigh Estate.

"They are being held in police custody," the IG said.

Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti took over the probe that will help pin down those who might have facilitated the attack.

It has emerged that the five attackers, who were all killed by Special Forces, had frequented the complex weeks before they executed the attack.

On Wednesday, families flocked to the City Mortuary for viewing and identification of bodies in an exercise full of emotions.

Two victims of Moslem faith have since been buried at the Langata Public Cemetery.
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)


-Land of the Free
US court rejects effort to require stricter Pentagon gun checks
[Al Jazeera] A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected an effort by three major US cities to require the Pentagon to be more vigilant about reporting service members who were disqualified from owning weapons to a national background check system.

By a three-to-zero vote, the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals said it lacked jurisdiction to compel the Department of Defense to fix what New York City, Philadelphia and the Socialist paradise of San Francisco
...where God struck dead Anton LaVey, home of the Sydney Ducks, ruled by Vigilance Committee from 1859 through 1867, reliably and volubly Democrat since 1964...
called a "broken" system, or to supervise improvements to the Pentagon's "partial and inconsistent reporting".

The lawsuit was filed seven weeks after former Air Force member Devin Kelley killed 26 people on November 5, 2017 at a Sutherland Springs, Texas, church before killing himself.

Kelley, 26, was convicted in a 2012 court martial of assaulting his wife and stepson and should not have been allowed to possess weapons.

But his conviction had not been entered into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

The cities said the Pentagon had failed to report some 15,000 current or former personnel who could not own guns because of court martial convictions or dishonorable discharges, and that this undermined their ability to fight violent crime.

Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan
15 Taliban, ISIS-K militants killed in Afghan and Coalition Forces operations
[Rudaw] At least 15 Death Eaters affiliated with the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
and ISIS Khurasan (ISIS-K) were killed during separate operations of the Afghan and Coalition Forces in the past 24 hours.

According to the informed military sources, Afghan Special Operations Forces conducted a raid in Achin district of Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
province, leaving at least 7 ISIS-K fighters dead.

The sources further added that a coalition air strike killed 1 Taliban fighter in Dilah wa Khoshamand district of Paktika
...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo...
Similarly, a coalition air strike killed 1 Taliban fighter in Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
while another coalition air strike killed 6 Taliban fighters in Tarin Kot district of Uruzgan, the sources added.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Special Forces video shows Taliban militants blown into pieces in an airstrike
Video can be seen at the link.
[KhaamaPress] The Special Forces have released a video which purportedly shows an Arclight airstrike on a Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
gathering in Afghanistan.

It is yet not clear if the airstrike has been carried out by the Afghan Air Force or the coalition forces based in Afghanistan as both the Afghan and coalition forces conduct regular airstrikes against the high profile targets of anti-government armed elements.

The Special Operations Corps of the Afghan Military in a statement has said that the Talibs and their leaders will no more remain hidden from the sight of the National Defense and Security Forces.

In the meantime, the Afghan Military in the North has said leader of a terrorist group Abu Talha has been killed with his six fighters during an operation of the Afghan Special Forces in northern Faryab province of Afghanistan.

The 209th Shaheen Corps of the Afghan Military in the North in a statement said the Afghan Special Forces conducted operations with the help of close air support in Garziwan district on Tuesday.

The statement further added that the operations were conducted in Adam Qala area of the district leaving terrorist leader Abul Talha dead with his six fighters.

According to 209th Shaheen Corps, at least five snuffies were also maimed and five weapons were destroyed during the operations.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Pink Gray mist and hilarity ensues
Posted by: Frank G || 01/17/2019 7:04 Comments || Top||

#2  It is yet not clear if the airstrike has been carried out by the Afghan Air Force or the coalition forces

Drone launched Hellfire.
Posted by: Waldemar Tingle3635 || 01/17/2019 7:42 Comments || Top||

#3 
Talk about accurate.
Posted by: Roger Smith || 01/17/2019 12:00 Comments || Top||

#4  Nice camera work good framing and lighting.
Captures the happy event well where the talibs are recycled into useful forms.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/17/2019 12:06 Comments || Top||

#5  Nice shot
Posted by: DarthVader || 01/17/2019 15:35 Comments || Top||

#6  Working lunch cut dreadfully short.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/17/2019 15:45 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas frees 3 Italians suspected of being IDF soldiers
[Ynet] Italian security guards at their country's embassy in Israel held for two days of questioning in Gazoo after they were chased into a UNESCO building in Gazoo when they refused to stop at a Hamas, a regional Iranian catspaw, checkpoint.

Hamas on Tuesday night released three Italian security guards held for two days at the UNESCO offices in the Gazoo Strip on suspicion of being part of an IDF undercover force. The three were freed following intervention by the Italian ambassador to Israel.

The men, who were armed, entered the Strip to prepare for a visit of Italian Ambassador to Israel Gianluigi Benedetti on Wednesday.

The guards, who were driving a vehicle with diplomatic plates, refused to stop at a Hamas checkpoint inside Gazoo. Hamas gunnies then shot up the vehicle and gave chase to the UNESCO offices in the Strip, where the Italians sought refuge.

Once the guards were inside, the Hamas men besieged the UNESCO offices. A team of Paleostinian Sherlocks then entered the building in order to question the men, whom Hamas suspected to be part of a special undercover IDF force.

Only after Benedetti had spoken with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh
...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank...
, confirming the men were Italian nationals, did the terror organization agree to release them.

In November, an IDF special forces mission in Gazoo was discovered by the Paleostinians. The subsequent exchange of fire led to the death of IDF Lt. Col. M. and another round of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Paranoia strikes deep. Into your heart it will creep. It starts when you're always afraid....
Posted by: Frank G || 01/17/2019 7:02 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Egypt police kill five terrorists in North Sinai shootout: Ministry
[AlAhram] Egypt’s police said on Wednesday that they killed five gunnies during a raid in North Sinai, a statement by the interior ministry read.

The ministry said that the bad boyz were potted in a shootout as forces attempted to raid their hideout, which is located in a remote area in El-Arish.

Weapons, including an improvised bomb and a suicide belt, were found at the scene by police.

The raid came following monitoring operations by the ministry’s national security department, which said that the gunnies planned to execute a number of attacks against vital and important institutions and figures.

Meanwhile,
...back at the revival hall, the SWAT team had finally arrived...
Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly has renewed a night-time curfew in designated areas of North Sinai for three months, according to the official state gazette on Wednesday.

The curfew is in effect from Tal Rafah in the eastern part of Sinai to the international border at Rafah, and from Halal Mountain until Ouga on the border.

An announcement in the official gazette stated that the curfew runs from 7pm until 6am, except in al-Arish city and on the international road, where it runs from 1 am to 5am, or until further notice.

The decision by Madbouly comes just a few days after Egypt’s parliament approved an extension of a nationwide state of emergency for three months starting 15 January.

Egypt first saw the announcement of a three-month nationwide state of emergency in April 2017, following twin bombings at two churches in Gharbeya and Alexandria, which killed at least 47 and maimed over 120.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Italians leave Gaza Strip after Hamas standoff
[PULSE.NG] Three Italian security officers left the Gazoo Strip on Wednesday after an incident that saw them flee to a UN building as Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, security pursued them, an official and a diplomatic source said.

The three were in Gazoo to prepare for an upcoming visit by the Italian consul general based in Jerusalem, the diplomatic source said, and were stuck in the UN building for around a day after the incident.

They were allowed to leave after their identities were confirmed and it was determined they were not involved in any wrongdoing, a Gazook security source said.

Hamas has been on high alert for infiltrations following a November botched Israeli special forces operation inside Gazoo.

The unusual incident began on Monday night, when the three were in a car in central Gazoo as gunfire rang out, said Gazoo interior ministry front man Iyad al-Bozum.

"The car then headed to a United Nations
...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
headquarters in Gazoo City," he said in a statement, adding that there were suspicions about their identities.

Hamas security forces pursued them and surrounded the building, leading to a standoff.

Hamas-affiliated media reported that the Italians had refused to be searched and then fled to the UN building, but al-Bozum did not comment on this.

The Gazoo security source said that through investigations they had identified the three, clarified their entrance to Gazoo was legal and "that their car had no relation with the shooting incident."

The diplomatic source said the discussions with Hamas occurred through intermediaries since Italia does not have contacts with the Islamist group, which the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
labels a terrorist organization.
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Caribbean-Latin America
Venezuelan court jails rogue agents over detained parliament president
[PULSE.NG] A dozen intelligence service agents were sent to prison by a Venezuelan court Wednesday over the brief detention of parliamentary president Juan Guaido, a judicial source said.

The Caracas court remanded the agents in pre-trial detention after they were accused of "abuse of functions, illegitimate deprivation of liberty and association to commit a crime."

Guaido was heading to a political rally outside the Venezuelan capital on Sunday when his car was stopped on a highway and he was briefly detained by the SEBIN agents.

President Nicolas Maduro's government denied any knowledge of the operation and initially claimed that four agents involved had been dismissed.

Maduro branded the whole incident a "media circus" and accused the agents of conspiring with Venezuela's opposition.

Guaido, meanwhile, responded by mocking Maduro and questioning his control over the state's security agencies.

"So Maduro no longer controls the armed forces because the chain of command was broken," said Guaido.

"Who is commanding the regime now? If they're already admitting that they don't control the state's security agencies, there's a serious problem at Miraflores," he added, referring to the presidential palace.

Guaido has been trying to attract support from the military as he leads the opposition bid to remove Maduro from power and set up a transitional government.

But Maduro retains the backing of the military's high command, which last week pledged "absolute loyalty."

Guaido has promised an "amnesty" for any military that disavow Maduro and has called for a people's protest next week.

The opposition-controlled National Assembly, which he leads, has been left ineffective since the Maduro loyalist-filled Supreme stripped it of all its powers in 2017.
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Re-assert Judicial control over that place. And get that Parliament up to the task of re-asserting the rule of law. That President is a usurper and everyone knows it. Get the Military and the people used to that fact and let them know food is on the way without Maduro.

Edge it out.
Posted by: newc || 01/17/2019 1:29 Comments || Top||

#2  President Nicolas Maduro's government denied any knowledge of the operation and initially claimed that four agents involved had been dismissed.

"But..but... we were following your orders!"
Posted by: Frank G || 01/17/2019 6:41 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Terrorist leader Abul Talha and his fighters killed in Faryab operations
[KhaamaPress] A leader of a terrorist group Abu Talha has been killed with his six fighters during an operation of the Afghan Special Forces in northern Faryab province of Afghanistan.

The 209th Shaheen Corps of the Afghan Military in the North in a statement said the Afghan Special Forces conducted operations with the help of close air support in Garziwan district on Tuesday.

The statement further added that the operations were conducted in Adam Qala area of the district leaving terrorist leader Abul Talha dead with his six fighters.

According to 209th Shaheen Corps, at least five murderous Moslems were also maimed and five weapons were destroyed during the operations.

The anti-government armed bully boy groups have not commented regarding the killing of the murderous Moslems in Faryab so far.

Faryab is among the relatively volatile provinces in North of Afghanistan where the anti-government armed murderous Moslems have increased their activities during the recent years.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
Gabon's Bongo returns to Morocco
[PULSE.NG] Gabon's Hereditary President Ali Bongo returned to Morocco Wednesday only a day after arriving back in Libreville after months abroad recovering from a stroke, a source told AFP.

Judges had earlier ordered Gbagbo and his right-hand man Charles Ble Goude to be freed after clearing them of any role in a wave of post-electoral violence in 2010-2011 that killed 3,000 people.

The trial judges on Wednesday rejected a bid by the prosecution to keep the former strongman, 73, and his ex-youth chief in detention pending an overall appeal against the decision to acquit them.

But in a fresh legal twist, an appeals chamber late on Wednesday separately said that the order for their release must be put on hold while they deal with a separate appeal by prosecutors against the two men being freed.
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Did he invent those small drums favored by Beatnicks?
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 01/17/2019 14:14 Comments || Top||

#2  "All beatniks who wanna belong know
It's cool to show up with a Bongo."
"Or maybe a conga?
Like, Daddy-O, longer?"
"No, Ali. I wish I were wrong, though."
Posted by: Spanky Spomoth6164 || 01/17/2019 19:18 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Muslim clerics join other religious leaders to condemn terror attack
[CAPITALFM.CO.KE] Moslem leaders have piously joined other holy mans to condemn Tuesday’s terror attack that claimed 14 lives.

The leaders called upon Kenyans to put aside their religious differences and support security agencies in the war on terror.

Addressing journalists at Jamia Mosque on Wednesday, Supreme Council of Kenya Moslems (SUPKEM) Vice Chair al-Hajj Hassan said there is no religion that supports the killing of innocent people and that terrorism has nothing to do with religion.

He dismissed claims that holy warriors are Moslems saying that they also lost their Moslem brothers in the attack and called upon the people of Kenya to stay calm and shun attempts to divide the country along religious and ethnic lines.

"The so-called acts of terrorism are acts of criminality and has nothing to do with religion. If it was about religion, we could not have bombs blowing up in Somalia where almost 99 per cent of people there are Moslems; there is nothing religious about terrorism this is an act of crime," he said.

The holy mans have also set up a counselling and blood donation center at Chiromo where those in need will be assisted.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and NASA leader Raila Odinga led other leaders in condemning the incident as they called upon Kenyans to be each other’s keeper.

President Kenyatta announced that the operation had come to an end with all the assailants having being eliminated.
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)


Iraq
Sulaimani security arrest ‘dangerous’ ISIS militant
[Rudaw] Security forces in Sulaimani tossed in the calaboose
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
a "dangerous" wanted ISIS hard boy, they announced on Wednesday.

The detainee took part in battles in djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, Zimnako Omer, spokesperson for Sulaimani Western Asayesh (security), told Rudaw.

"The hard boy had fled Mosul and wanted to hide himself in the Kurdistan Region," Omer explained, describing the man as "dangerous."

He did not provide any identifying details.

The man was tracked down in an investigation and captured in Chamchamal, Omer said.

"After interrogation, he confessed that he was an ISIS hard boy and had fought for the group in Mosul for two years and taken part in many inhumane acts."

He is a known figure and is wanted by the global coalition against ISIS, according to security officials.

"He will be tried in accordance with the terror penal codes," the Asayesh stated.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Russia, Kurdish militants reject US-proposed ‘security zone’ under Turkish control
[PRESSTV] US-backed Kurdish hard boyz have rejected Washington’s proposal for the establishment of a "security zone" under Ottoman Turkish control along the Syrian side of the two countries’ border, saying it infringes on the illusory sovereignty of the Arab country.

Aldar Khalil, a Syrian Kurdish politician and co-chair of the Democratic Society Movement, told AFP on Wednesday that the Kurds would accept the deployment of UN forces along the separation line between Kurdish hard boyz and Ottoman Turkish troops to ward off a threatened offensive.

"Other choices are unacceptable as they infringe on the illusory sovereignty of Syria and the illusory sovereignty of our autonomous region," he said.

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 Tuesday that Ankara would establish the "security zone" in northern Syria proposed 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...
, a day after the two leaders held a phone conversation.
Posted by: Fred || 01/17/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  So how do we protect the Kurds?

Family Warriors.
Posted by: newc || 01/17/2019 0:56 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
33[untagged]
6al-Shabaab (AQ)
6Islamic State
4Govt of Pakistan
3Taliban
2Hamas
2Commies
2Moslem Colonists
2Narcos
1Arab Spring
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1al-Qaeda in North Africa
1TTP
1Sublime Porte
1Govt of Sudan
1Govt of Iran

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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2019-01-17
  Pakistan Releases Senior Taliban Jihadi Days After Arrest
Wed 2019-01-16
  Iran launches satellite into space
Tue 2019-01-15
  Explosions, gunfire erupt at Kenyan hotel in possible terror attack
Mon 2019-01-14
  Sudan Opposition Call for More Protests 'To Shake the Tyrant's Throne'
Sun 2019-01-13
  Report: Nasrallah suffers heart attack
Sat 2019-01-12
  12 civilians killed in jihadist attack in Burkina Faso
Fri 2019-01-11
  Jihadists take control of Idlib province after collapse of Turkish-backed rebels
Thu 2019-01-10
  Turkish-backed rebels surrender last positions in southwest Idlib
Wed 2019-01-09
  Turkish-backed rebels issue urgent plea for help from available forces in Idlib
Tue 2019-01-08
  Israel said to block latest Qatari cash transfer to Gaza
Mon 2019-01-07
  SDF troops capture ISIS stronghold east of Euphrates
Sun 2019-01-06
  Turkey asks US for help in fighting ISIS in Syria
Sat 2019-01-05
  Over 500 militants killed as infighting spreads in Syria: Report
Fri 2019-01-04
  Niger troops kill more than 280 Boko Haram fighters this week: Government
Thu 2019-01-03
  Turkey’s planned invasion impeded by new jihadist offensive in Aleppo

Better than the average link...



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