[Aljazeera] Sudanese police fired live ammunition at mourners outside the home of a protester who died early on Friday from a gunshot wound sustained the night before.
About 2,000 mourners gathered in the Burri neighbourhood where the man, Moawia Bashir Khalil, 60, was shot on Thursday. According to local reports, Khalil was killed inside his home for helping unarmed protesters hide from security forces.
A child and a doctor were also killed by gunfire in Burri on Thursday, said the Sudan Doctors' Committee (SDC), a group linked to the opposition.
Before police opened fire on Friday, some mourners pelted officers nearby with rocks and overturned and destroyed a police truck, witness video showed.
[FOX] An estimated 100,000 people are expected to gather in Washington, D.C., on Friday for the 45th March for Life, with President Trump reportedly sending a message of support via video.
The event is among the most high-profile events organized by the nation's opponents of abortion, which was made legal across the U.S. by the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.
"Here we are at the 45th year ‐ we never anticipated that we would be here for so long," Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life, told Fox News ahead of the rally. "Today, we grieve the loss of life. But it’s also an enthusiastic time; we’re changing hearts and minds."
[WSJ] Everybody knew. Everybody of consequence at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Justice Department understood fully in the middle of 2016‐as the FBI embarked on its counterintelligence probe of Donald Trump‐that it was doing so based on disinformation provided by Hillary Clinton’s campaign. That’s the big revelation from the transcript of the testimony Justice Department official Bruce Ohr gave Congress in August. The transcripts haven’t been released, but parts were confirmed for me by congressional sources.
Mr. Ohr testified that he sat down with dossier author Christopher Steele on July 30, 2016, and received salacious information the opposition researcher had compiled on Mr. Trump. Mr. Ohr immediately took that to the FBI’s then-Deputy Director Andy McCabe and lawyer Lisa Page. In August he took it to Peter Strzok, the bureau’s lead investigator. In the same month, Mr. Ohr believes, he briefed senior personnel in the Justice Department’s criminal division: Deputy Assistant Attorney General Bruce Swartz, lawyer Zainab Ahmad and fraud unit head Andrew Weissman. The last two now work for special counsel Robert Mueller.
More important, Mr. Ohr told this team the information came from the Clinton camp and warned that it was likely biased, certainly unproven. "When I provided [the Steele information] to the FBI, I tried to be clear that this is source information," he testified. "I don’t know how reliable it is. You’re going to have to check it out and be aware. These guys were hired by somebody relating to‐who’s related to the Clinton campaign, and be aware."
Continued on Page 49
#2
Bureau's honesty? That ship sailed long ago. The top officials are the one's who generated the monumental clusterf*&%. I would think and hope the line agents are disappointed and offended by their leadership. There is some kindness in the government shutdown. It slows down the bullcrap a little bit. Now, where's the fleet of D-9 dozers to lop off a few agencies?
#5
Considering the reliability of an "anonymous" source these days and the trustworthiness of a rat named Cohen, I don't think the Don has anything to worry about.
#6
Didn't some dem write a book about "Lying liars?" Funny how now, like lefty love for the CIA and FBI, the left loves them some lying liars.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/18/2019 10:28
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#7
I saw a similar article today at Drudge reported by Buzzfeed. The made up unverified and uncorroborated from questionable sources fake Dossier was first published by BuzzFeed on January 10, 2017. I wouldn't believe much that Buzzfeed published. Cohen has been discredited as a liar. The Mockingbird press at work carrying water for the DS once again.
It could have happened, that’s their standard for journalism. Except then if Trump was telling Cohen to cover it up, why did he then let Trump, Jr. testify about it? And there was nothing illegal about it to begin with, so no reason to lie.
It's secret pinky swear source! You'd have to believe that Trump would reach out to Cohen, after Cohen publicly admitted that he was cooperating with Mueller, and ask Cohen to lie to Congress.
It's a moronic premise w/out any corroborating evidence.
#10
Cohen came just came home from the hospital with a broken arm and black eye. Wonder if he got the Harry Reid treatment, at least not Arkenside, yet.
Posted by: Neville Dark Lord of the Wee Folk7365 ||
01/18/2019 16:12
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#12
Wow, Bob Mueller's office weighs in and debunks the Buzzfeed story per Fox News
Posted by: Jan ||
01/18/2019 19:43
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#13
"Buzzfeed's description of specific statements to the Special Council's Office and characterization of documents and testimony obtained by this office, regarding Michael Cohen's Congressional testimony are not accurate."
Peter Carr Special Council
Spokesmen
Posted by: Jan ||
01/18/2019 19:48
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#14
Waiting for Trump's tweet in 3-2-1...
Posted by: Jan ||
01/18/2019 19:53
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h/t Instapundit
In the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll released Thursday, President Donald Trump may have suffered some among Republicans overall, but he saw a huge point gain in a different demographic breakdown, and an unexpected one by conventional wisdom.
In early December, the poll had Trump’s approval rating among Latino adults at 31%.
The results from the poll released Thursday show the president’s job approval among Latino adults at 50%.
#2
An underexamined aspect of why latinos immigrate to the US: Some of them are moving away from undesirable neighbors. They don't want said same ex-neighbors moving next to them again...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/18/2019 7:50
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#3
Purely anecdotal, but the impression I had living in Houston was that recent immigrants were strongly Democratic based on free stuff and hand-outs. Once they were settled and got skin in the game, they turned more conservative.
I also suspect that anyone who stood in line and jumped through all the hoops for the legal process would be a bit miffed at anyone taking shortcuts.
#4
latino Americans are as disgusted with the allowing of the human trafficking and rape and murder of the people of South and Central America as the rest of us...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/18/2019 10:20
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#5
For what its worth, the caravans in the news recently were all from Central America. The bulk of Hispanics in the US are not.
#6
Trump did better in 2016 among Latino voters than any recent Republican presidential candidate except W.
Legal immigrants and their children are as disgusted with the national disgrace that is tolerance of illegal immigration as anyone including Trump's base."
[FOX] A Virginia state senator this week began openly carrying a .38-caliber revolver strapped to her hip, calling it a "deterrent" against confrontational protesters and other potential threats.
Sen. Amanda Chase, a Republican freshman legislator, said she became concerned for her safety Monday after a group of immigration activists confronted her colleague, state Sen. Richard H. Black, over his bill to ban sanctuary cities.
The next day, Chase -- who claims she has long held a concealed carry permit -- was seen in the Virginia state Capitol in Richmond, visibly wearing a revolver.
#2
Armed legislators... a fine old American tradition. Has anyone else noted that ever since dueling was outlawed, the level of civil discourse has deteriorated?
#3
Really light weapon with pretty good stopping power. 1-2 taps ought to put someone out of commission. May not be the best for a crowd of feral yutes, though. Takes too long to reload.
Has a stiffer trigger pull out of the box than I prefer, but that could be modified.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/18/2019 8:26
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#4
Revolvers are fine and the mechanism is simplicity itself so low probability of FTF or such. That being said, I prefer my Sig p226 in .40 with a spare mag although it is a bit heavy.
[Breitbart] Angel Mom Agnes Gibboney is blasting the hypocrisy of U.S. corporations who have vowed to help furloughed federal workers during the government shutdown, saying she "never" received an ounce of help when her son was murdered by an illegal alien.
Banks, wireless phone companies, and restaurants have set up hotlines where furloughed federal workers can call and receive help during the government shutdown as House and Senate Democrats refuse to fund a border wall to stop illegal immigration.
Gibboney ‐ whose 29-year-old son Ronald Da Silva was killed by an illegal alien in 2002 in El Monte, California ‐ says that help from corporate America was never extended to her when she lost her son.
#2
Since Congress passed a bill that requires reimbursement for missed paychecks of Federal Workers, it will be very easy for furloughed federal employees to get loans - there will be multiple companies to choose from
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/18/2019 6:41
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#4
Might be a good time for POTUS to form a group to decide who actually is a "key and essential gov't worker." Some jobs and personnel could be transferred to the States, Education and Agriculture being two.
#6
Apparently the Fed workers we see on TV lamenting their state have never learned to save money, either.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/18/2019 8:31
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#7
Seriously, it is nothing new at all for people in this country to lose their jobs. Not just be furloughed for a few weeks but kicked to the curb by some of these same corporations because it has been determined that their services are no longer required. And, as we have mentioned here previously, when that happens you go out and find another job. But when your son is murdered, how do you get past that?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/18/2019 12:39
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[AmericanThinker] "James Watson, who discovered the double-helix structure of DNA alongside Francis Crick in the 1950s based on the work of British chemist Rosalind Franklin, Among many, many, many others - who, unfortunately, were all white males - and didn't actually notice Rosalind's (Jewish = bad, but the only female who could be history revised to have anything with the subject) contribution at the time.
said in a PBS film that genes cause a difference in intelligence between white and black people in IQ tests.
"The 90-year-old's comments were labeled 'reprehensible' by the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) on New York's Long Island, where Watson had been the director from 1968 to 1993.
The laboratory said it 'unequivocally rejects the unsubstantiated and reckless personal opinions Dr. James D. Watson expressed,' noting the statements were 'reprehensible [and] unsupported by science[.]'"
Watson was shortly relieved of his administrative duties, but not his title.
Among other "reckless" statements attributed to the Nobel winner, Watson implied what has been statistically proved over and over: that stupidity is linked to genes. In CNN's report, the word "unsubstantiated" stands out most glaringly, especially in light of the existence of a warehouseful of substantiation to support Watson ‐ for example, documented statistical IQ differences among the races among humanity. And he didn't even mention the differences between genders
[Ynet] Japan is turning increasingly to Israel for technological solutions in a bid to collaborate on innovative new business projects, industry experts and officials revealed. Hoping to remain at the forefront of the competition, Japanese investors, government agencies and senior members of the private sector are shifting resources more and more outward towards international business opportunities.
This week, Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroshige Seko is touring Israel with Tokyo’s largest business delegation to the Jewish state to date. Some 150 representatives from 90 companies are taking part, including executives from Mitsubishi, Hitachi and Toshiba.
Following China’s lead, and Europe, and Silicon Valley
[News24] The Irish Medical Journal recently published a case study of a 33-year-old man who injected himself with his own semen once a month to treat back pain.
According to the doctors who reported the case, the man had been complaining about a severe, sudden onset of backache after lifting a heavy steel object. The man, who had been suffering from regular bouts of backache throughout is life, decided to take matters into his own hands, purchased a hypodermic needle online and started injecting himself with his own semen.
Redness and rapid swelling
The case study reveals that the man "devised this cure without any independent medical advice". He had been injecting himself with an undisclosed dose of semen once a month, for at least 18 months.
[The Scotsman] Nicola Sturgeon has issued a rallying call to Scottish independence supporters to "get out there and make the case" as she told MSPs the Brexit turmoil now means Scots are ready to leave the UK.
The First Minister reiterated her promise to reveal plans for a second independence referendum in a "matter of weeks", regardless of what happens with the Brexit process.
She insisted Scots needed an alternative to the chaos engulfing Westminster politics after Theresa May’s EU withdrawal deal was overwhelmingly rejected by the Commons and given the absence of a clear way forward. The First Minister met Mrs May on Wednesday following the historic Commons defeat of the Prime Minister’s deal on Tuesday. Afterwards, Ms Sturgeon said she would announce the timing of a second independence vote "within weeks". "I think the Prime Minister is very well aware of my views on independence, I support independence and I think the sooner Scotland is independent the better for all of us," the First Minister told MSPs at Holyrood yesterday.
"I think it is essential, given the catastrophe that Scotland faces ‐ to our economy, to our society, to living standards, to prospects for the next generation, to our reputation in the world ‐ that the option of independence must be open to people in Scotland.
"When people in Scotland have the ability to choose independence, I believe that the country will opt to be an independent country."
She will set out her proposals on the timing of a second Scottish referendum in coming weeks, regardless of any delay to the Brexit process.
#4
Excellent - without SNP support the Labor party will never have a majority in England again. And Scotland can enjoy paying social benefits without the largesse of the south covering the tab.
#6
The North Sea Oil Fields peaked production in 1999 and only "improved efficiencies" as well as adding a few fields on the periphery have slowed the decline in production. That source of revenue the Scotland Will Be Free™ is depending on for a secure/sustainable revenue source?
[Real Clear Politics] Conservative columnist Victor Davis Hanson opined on T.V. hosts accusing President Trump of racism on Wednesday's broadcast of 'Tucker Carlson Tonight.' Hanson said anyone who claims to be progressive and not racist gets a blank check on racism. He said the idea that Democrats couldn't possibly be guilty of racism is "dangerous" and a "window" into the soul of progressives.
[BBC] Germany is considering ways to block Huawei from its next generation mobile phone network, according to reports.
Berlin is exploring stricter security requirements which may prevent Huawei products being used in its 5G network.
Many countries have pushed against the involvement of the Chinese technology firm in their 5G networks over security concerns.
The networks represent the next big wave of mobile infrastructure.
The Chinese company, one of the world's biggest producers of telecoms equipment, has faced resistance from foreign governments over the risk that its technology could be used for espionage.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/18/2019 10:31
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#2
Many companies also ban Huawei products from their networks.
My Huawei phone got 'kicked off' my company's network. When I asked why I was told it was for security concerns. This is at a very large multi-national corporation which does a lot of business in China.
Makes you wonder if there's some fire under all that smoke.
#3
Huawei has been a bad actor for a long, long time. It's surprising to me that some of these people have taken so long to figure it out. I remember back in the 1990's people at Cisco saying they knew Huawei pirated their router firmware because they recognized the same bugs in it. Face it, to be a good communist, you must be willing to steal and commit murder. Why would anyone expect ethical business practices from such people?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/18/2019 13:12
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#4
Press Release: "We're now Huaweii, and have a corporate office on Molokai. All good now, K?"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/18/2019 19:17
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[France24] Colombia' s government declared three days of mourning Thursday after at least 21 people died in a car bomb at a Bogota police cadet training academy, and 68 were wounded -- the worst such incident in the city in 16 years.
The defense ministry said the "terrorist act" was carried out using a vehicle packed with 80 kilograms (around 175 pounds) of explosives.
"Unfortunately, the preliminary toll is 21 people dead, including the person responsible for the incident, and 68 wounded," Colombian police said in a statement, adding 58 of those injured had been discharged from hospital. The defense ministry had previously reported 11 dead and 65 injured.
"All Colombians reject terrorism and we're united in fighting it," President Ivan Duque tweeted in the aftermath.
Later in a statement to the nation, he said he had ordered reinforcements to Colombia's borders and routes in and out of cities.
"I have also requested that priority be given to all the investigations ... to identify the masterminds of this terrorist attack and their accomplices," he said.
The bomber -- who authorities confirmed was killed in the attack -- struck at the General Francisco de Paula Santander Officer's School in the south of Bogota during a promotion ceremony for cadets.
No group has claimed responsibility, but public prosecutor Nestor Humberto Martinez named suspect Jose Aldemar Rojas Rodriguez as the "material author of this abominable crime."
Martinez said Rojas Rodriguez entered the school compound at 9:30 am (1430 GMT) driving a grey 1993 Nissan Patrol truck, but gave no details about the explosion.
He said the truck underwent an inspection in July in the Arauco department on the border with Venezuela -- a traditional stronghold of ELN Marxist guerrillas.
Right-wing Duque, who assumed power in August, has peddled a tough line against Marxist rebels and drug traffickers in the largest cocaine producer in the world.
Peace talks with ELN guerrillas -- who in the past have claimed responsibility for bomb attacks on police -- stalled before Duque replaced Juan Manuel Santos as president, and have not been restarted.
Duque has made several demands, including the release of all hostages, as prerequisites to kick-starting the peace process, but the ELN has dismissed those as unacceptable.
After the 2016 peace accord signed by Santos and FARC guerrillas, turning the former rebels into a political party, the ELN is considered the last active rebel group in a country that has suffered more than half a century of conflict.
That cycle of violence has also involved paramilitaries, drug traffickers and other Marxist rebels, including FARC dissidents.
[NYT] The internet expands the bounds of acceptable discourse, so ideas considered out of bounds not long ago now rocket toward widespread acceptability. See: cannabis legalization, government-run health care, white nationalism and, of course, the flat-earthers.
Yet there’s one political shore that remains stubbornly beyond the horizon. It’s an idea almost nobody in mainstream politics will address, other than to hurl the label as a bloody cudgel.
I’m talking about opening up America’s borders to everyone who wants to move here.
Imagine not just opposing President Trump’s wall but also opposing the nation’s cruel and expensive immigration and border-security apparatus in its entirety. Imagine radically shifting our stance toward outsiders from one of suspicion to one of warm embrace. Imagine that if you passed a minimal background check, you’d be free to live, work, pay taxes and die in the United States. Imagine moving from Nigeria to Nebraska as freely as one might move from Massachusetts to Maine.
There’s a witheringly obvious moral, economic, strategic and cultural case for open borders, and we have a political opportunity to push it. As Democrats jockey for the presidency, there’s room for a brave politician to oppose President Trump’s racist immigration rhetoric not just by fighting his wall and calling for the abolishment of I.C.E. but also by making a proactive and affirmative case for the vast expansion of immigration.
It would be a change from the stale politics of the modern era, in which both parties agreed on the supposed wisdom of "border security" and assumed that immigrants were to be feared.
As an immigrant, this idea confounds me. My family came to the United States from our native South Africa in the late 1980s. After jumping through lots of expensive and confusing legal hoops, we became citizens in 2000. Obviously, it was a blessing: In rescuing me from a society in which people of my color were systematically oppressed, America has given me a chance at liberty.
#1
NYT Columnist Farhad Manjoo has never heard of David Ricardo.
Here's a suggestion... Maybe he should let anyone who wants to work for the NYTs work there, they can dilute the wages of the current staff for every new person and cram a few more desks in here an' there. I'm sure Farhad wouldn't be opposed.
#3
Show some Charity, Farhad Manjoo! "Adopt A Migrant Family" and pay all of the Federal, State and Local benefits yourself so that taxes are not raised on the uninvolved. Don't be so quick to spend Other Peoples' Money™.
#4
After six months, 100 million Chinese would have moved here in the greatest human migration in history. They would vote for Chinese candidates and in general be separatist.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
01/18/2019 4:03
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#5
Imagine that if you passed a minimal background check, you’d be free to live, work, pay taxes and die in the United States.
So he's not really advocating open borders. He just wants a different entrance exam than the current law allows.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/18/2019 9:46
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#6
Farhad Manjoo sounds like a real All-American name - maybe we should listen to him.
#7
Oddly enough, encountering his name almost always puts me in mind, briefly but vividly, of... an all-American charitable organization. Good to see them hanging in there.
Imagine you're a Disneyland shareholder and you hear them stating that they're going to end the entry fee and you realise that some of the board have a separate company that owns hotels inside and nearby...
[Guardian] A senior North Korean general has arrived in Washington for a rare visit, during which he is expected to meet Donald Trump as the two countries seek to finalise a new summit aimed at denuclearisation and easing decades of hostility.
Kim Yong-chol, a right-hand man to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, abruptly cancelled his last planned talks in the United States ‐ a meeting set two months ago with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ‐ and this time the administration was cautious in announcing his visit in advance.
But an American source, who could not be identified as the schedule has not been announced, said that Pompeo would welcome Kim on Friday for a meal in Washington before the two were expected to head together to the White House.
[Newsweek] Whistleblower Edward Snowden hit out at Central Intelligence Agency Director Gina Haspel on Thursday, questioning how the CIA chief was able to get "promoted" despite overseeing the country's torture program.
Speaking at a conference on "National Security Whistleblowing and Government Secrecy" in London, U.K. via videolink, the National Security agency whistleblower, who fled to Russia from the U.S. in 2013, said America's "culture of impunity" has "corrupted not just our system of intelligence, but really, our system of government."
Snowden, who copied and leaked highly classified information from the NSA in 2013, exposing a number of global surveillance programs run by the NSA and the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance, said Americans should question how Haspel could get promoted to the top job in the CIA.
"People just want to get ahead... They want to be the best," Snowden said. "So what does it tell them when they see that you can literally torture people and you will be promoted rather than prosecuted?"
It was a concern shared by many Democrats and watchdog groups after President Donald Trump decided to nominate Haspel for the top CIA job.
#3
I'd rather deal with terrorists than torture people. I can't believe people are onboard with these warmonger neo-cons and the deep state. WTF?
If the intelligence community wasn't committing multiple felonies every day, Snowden wouldn't have had anything to expose.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
01/18/2019 3:50
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#4
> "I'd rather deal with terrorists than torture people".
I'm not saying it's particularly good or effective, it's just that people are OK with it because they think it will work. Personally I have no problems with using violence on those who would initiate violence on me. Both terrorists and the states employees.
#5
Re #4. Yes. After the failed sheriff candidate in NC joking about it being "Okay" to go the cold dead hands route with gun owners, all gummint functionaries should understand everything is "on the table" under certain circumstances.
For all other terrorists, it should be on the table whether they understand it or not...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/18/2019 10:08
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#6
So..... Dronezapping terrorists in automobiles (The Other passengers shoulda known better!) is A-Okay™ for some people, but Waterboarding is the Ultimate Evil™ Like "Running a death camp like Auschwitz of Treblinka!!!1!!"
Gotcha. You are either a One Issue Fanatic™ or are just looking for a partisan political issue to wound your political foes with.
#7
Jeebus, Herb, your Virtue Signalling bled all over my screen. We should let you personally visit to "deal" with these people
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/18/2019 11:40
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#8
There is a difference between torture for torture's sake and enhanced interrogation.
Read Lee Ellis's book "Leading with Honor". He was a POW in the Hanoi Hilton (John McCain's roommate). The stuff the POWs went through was TORTURE.
Some people think we should only interrogate terrorists over warm milk and cookies (or tea if they're vegan).
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/18/2019 13:44
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#9
"Snowden, who copied and leaked highly classified information from the NSA "
[AnNahar] More than 2,000 people including dozens of Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... fighters left the jihadist group's final holdout in eastern Syria in the past 24 hours, a monitor said Wednesday.
US-backed forces are waging a final assault on the area east of the Euphrates river and have provided buses to evacuate civilians and fighters trapped inside.
"In total, 2,200 people have left in the last 24 hours, including 180 IS fighters," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
It said around 1,100 people, "mostly women and kiddies as well as 80 IS members" had left in a convoy around noon on Wednesday.
Travelling in private cars and buses provided by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), they were headed for camps run by the US-supported group, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.
The SDF, backed by air strikes from a US-led coalition, in September launched an offensive to oust IS from the rump of the once-sprawling "caliphate" it proclaimed in 2014.
Abdel Rahman said over 20,000 people have fled the area since the start of December, including Syria, Iraqi, Russian and Somali fighters.
The United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... said Friday that overall some 25,000 people have fled the violence over the last six months as the die-hard jihadists have battled to defend their dwindling bastions.
Abdel Rahman said the outflow of evacuees had accelerated in recent days, with some 5,300 people including 500 IS fighters leaving since Friday, when the SDF-run evacuations started.
Thousands of people had already fled on foot before that.
The SDF has captured multiple districts in recent weeks, but IS still controls the village of Sousa, where the Kurdish-dominated force has been preparing for a final assault.
US-led strikes against the jihadist group's final positions intensified on Wednesday.
That came after a suicide kaboom killed four US personnel in the northern town of Manbij, costing Washington its worst combat losses in the war-torn country since 2014 as it prepares to withdraw.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/18/2019
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[Townhall] In this era when there has been more information available to more people than at any time in the past, it is also true that there has been more misinformation from more different sources than ever. We are not talking about differences of opinion or inadequate verification, but about statements and catchwords in utter defiance of facts.
Among the most popular current catchwords are "climate change deniers." Stop and think. Have you ever -- even once in your entire life -- seen, heard or read even one human being who denied that climates change?
It is hard even to imagine how any minimally knowledgeable person could deny that climates change, when there are fossils of marine creatures in the Sahara Desert. Obviously there has been quite a climate change there.
The next time someone talks about "climate change deniers," ask them to name one -- and tell you just where specifically you can find their words, declaring that climates do not change. You can bet the rent money that they cannot tell you.
Why all this talk about these mythical creatures called "climate change deniers"? Because there are some meteorologists and other scientists who refuse to join the stampede toward drastic economic changes to prevent what others say will be catastrophic levels of "global warming."
[The Federalist] A senior Department of Justice official says he repeatedly and specifically told top officials at the FBI and DOJ about dossier author Christopher Steele’s bias and his employer Fusion GPS’ conflicts of interest, information they kept hidden from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. These conversations involved high-level officials, including some who are now senior officials in the special counsel probe. And the conversations began taking place in the earliest days of August 2016, much earlier than previously revealed to congressional investigators seeking to learn the facts about the FBI’s decision to spy on the Trump campaign.
Testimony from Bruce Ohr, the demoted associate attorney general at Justice, informs a years-long partisan debate about the role he played in funneling information to the FBI from the terminated source.
#1
Just an observation, but it wasn't too long ago when you never read about any of these people being referred to as.... "terminated sources."
The pigs that squealed the loudest when all of this began were people like John Brennan, Jim Clapper, and the like. Very telling. I've read that Victor Davis Hanson believes that it will all one day come out and people will be eventually brought to justice. I've got my doubts on that one.
If I had a Clinton style foundation with an international mission and wanted to ensure that on one ever came snooping around, John Brennan would have been my go-to guy.
#3
Very true g(r)om. I'm a 'no green bananas' 6 weeks to one year solution kind of fellow. I'll probably never see the resolution or full truth of the matter.
#5
Thing to keep in the mind is it's a very small community, something akin to a large HS Senior Class. Only 535 members who dine and drink together, play golf, travel, whore, hob-knob, etc. Don't think for a minute that the upperclassmen don't know exactly what is going on.
[PJ] If Oregon Governor Kate Brown has her way, the Beaver State will become the first to require universal home visits for newborn children in the care of their own parents.
Senate Bill 526, introduced this month in the Oregon Legislative Assembly as part of Brown's budget, orders the Oregon Health Authority to "study home visiting by licensed health care providers." Lawmakers went so far as to declare that SB 526 is an "emergency" measure ‐ one that requires a resolution by the end of the year. The intro to the bill, the language of which has not yet been crafted, reads:
The Oregon Health Authority shall study home visiting by licensed health care providers in this state. The authority shall submit findings and recommendations for legislation to an interim committee of the Legislative Assembly related to health care not later than December 31, 2019.
Moreover, the 18 sponsors of the bill claim that its passage is "necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety," and therefore "an emergency is declared to exist."
#1
Moreover, the 18 sponsors of the bill claim that its passage is "necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety," and therefore "an emergency is declared to exist."
No known specific crime. Unwarranted search and surveillance in private property. We don't need no stink'n Constitution.
Reichstag Fire -
The day after the fire, at Hitler's request, President Hindenburg signed the Reichstag Fire Decree into law by using Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution. The Reichstag Fire Decree suspended most civil liberties in Germany, including habeas corpus, freedom of expression, freedom of the press, the right of free association and public assembly, the secrecy of the post and telephone.
#3
Well. People who don't vote according to "community standards" will get extra attention. Members of protected minorities will be assiduously ignored...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/18/2019 10:16
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[Free Beacon] The U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, is ending all projects in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Jan. 31 following the decision to cut funding to the Palestinians, according to a former USAID official.
Dave Harden, who recently served as a USAID minister counselor and as an assistant administrator during the Obama administration, expressed his concerns over the move saying it "demonstrates again a lack of nuance, sophistication, and appreciation for the complexity of the situation, according to the Jerusalem Post.
"Who suffers when USAID leaves schools and water systems unfinished? Palestinians, of course, but also Israelis and Americans. The administration just gave Hamas more running room," he added.
Harden founded and became the managing director of the Georgetown Strategy Group following his time at USAID. He also tweeted Thursday about the halting of the USAID projects in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, saying it was "another example of the end of the two-state solution."
#8
We pay to build their infrastructure up, they tear it down to build rockets and try to destroy Israel. Rinse and repeat. Been doing this for what, 30-40 years now? Time to end the charade. Let them either rise or fall on their own.
#13
>a lack of nuance, sophistication, and appreciation for the complexity
I always find the best and most rare talent is to find someone about to make something clear, unambiguous and straightforward. I find you never get anything useful out of those who like nuance, sophistication, and appreciation of complexity.
[IsraelTimes] Issam Akel, a Paleostinian-American resident of East Jerusalem held by the Paleostinian Authority for months on suspicion of selling land to Jews, has been transferred to the US, the Kan broadcaster reports.
A secret deal was signed between the PA and US authorities, the report says.
Israeli and US officials had demanded Akel’s release from custody.
[IsraelTimes] Syrian activists are reporting intense Arclight airstrikes on the last area held by the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group in the country’s east where the jihadists’ control has been shrinking over the past weeks.
The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the airstrikes hit the 15 square kilometers (5.8 square miles) controlled by IS in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour after US-backed Kurdish-led fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces scored gains in recent weeks.
Europe-based activist Omar Abu Layla of the DeirEzzor 24 monitoring group confirms intense airstrikes are ongoing, adding that they were triggered by a counter-offensive carried out by IS during a strong fog.
The airstrikes come a day after a suicide kaboom carried by IS Lions of Islam killed 19 people, including four Americans, in the northern town of Manbij.
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01/18/2019
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[PULSE.NG] The EU on Thursday decried the disproportionate use of force by Zim-bob-we authorities during protests in which doctors say 68 people suffered gunshot wounds.
"The escalation of violence in Zim-bob-we over recent days has been aggravated by the disproportionate use of force by security personnel," European Commission spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said in a statement.
"We expect the Government of Zim-bob-we to uphold human rights ...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you... and the rule of law, as enshrined in the constitution, and ensure due legal process for those detained," the statement added.
The EU also asked that the government "conduct a thorough investigation into the deaths and abuses over the last days."
Nationwide demonstrations erupted on Monday after President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced that fuel prices were being doubled in a country suffering regular shortages of fuel, food and medicine.
Mnangagwa, who succeeded ousted authoritarian president Bob Muggsy Mugabe Nonagenarian President-for-Life of Zim-bob-we who turned the former Breadbasket of Africa into the African Basket Case. Dumped in November 2017 when the Missus decided she wanted to be president, and opposed heer might against Crocodile Mnangawa Important safety tip: If your opponent goes by the name Crocodile andf your title is Shopper in Chief let him win.... in 2017, had promised a fresh start for Zim-bob-we after decades of repression and economic decline.
Brussels acknowledged that the Harare government had chosen the path of economic reforms, but said these could only be achieved through "inclusive national dialogue" that included "freedom of assembly, association and expression".
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01/18/2019
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#1
>"inclusive national dialogue" that included "freedom of assembly, association and expression".
[PULSE.NG] Troops of anti-Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... operation, Operation Lafiya Dole, foiled an attempt by bully boyz to infiltrate Gajiram community in Borno State, killing several and recovering arms and ammunition.
According to a statement signed by Lafiya Dole's Deputy Director of Public Relations, Colonel Onyema Nwachukwu, the bully boyz attempted to use the cover of darkness to attack the community on Tuesday, January 15, 2019.
"The bully boyz met with the prompt response of the vigilant troops who fiercely engaged them in combat killing several and re-covering weapons," the statement read.
Arms and ammunition recovered from the bully boyz include one AK-47 rifle, two AK-47 magazines, one rocket-propelled grenade tube, three rocket-propelled grenade bombs, four bomb chargers, and light machine gun belt links.
"The gallant troops are currently on the trail of some of the bully boyz survivors who expeditiously departed at a goodly pace of the encounter," the statement concluded.
Since Boko Haram's insurgency escalated in 2009, it has killed over 27,000 people and displaced millions in the northeast region, with its operations also extending to border countries like Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... , Chad and Niger.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2019
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[PRESSTV] Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... will eventually face a "revolution" unless it decides to introduce reforms and stop abusing people’s freedom of expression, a British politician has warned the kingdom.
Crispin Blunt, a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) and chair of a parliamentary panel on detained Saudi women activists, advised Riyadh leaders to realize that a civil society was a necessity to save their monarchy system of government.
"The alternative to a consultative monarchy is an absolute monarchy and down that route lies disaster and eventually revolution," the MP wrote in an op-ed for The Independent published on Thursday.
The politician (pictured below) leads a detention review panel (DRP) of British MPs who have called on Riyadh to let them meet with women’s rights activists the kingdom has placed in durance vile Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! as part of its longstanding crackdown against proponents of civil rights reforms.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Could we have the photo of the 'Overhead Road Sign that says "Muslims Only!" for the Mecca area turn-off"? That sort of "Basic Rights"?
A large investment of money, time, and planning — all for naught, poor dears.
[IsraelTumes] In 2005, IDF tunnel adviser reportedly told then-Northern Command chief Benny Gantz about terror group’s cross-border underground passages; warning apparently ignored
The construction of Hezbollah cross-border attack tunnels began before the start of the 2006 Second Leb War and not three or four years ago as the army has claimed, Channel 13 news reported on Wednesday.
The Israel Defense Forces declined to comment on the report.
Continued on Page 49
[Dhaka Tribune] Police investigation into the murder of LGTBQ activist Xulhaz Mannan has revealed that his murderers from Ansar al-Islam, a banned bad boy group, were stalking him on a pro-LGBTQ Facebook group and rallies.
A source within the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit confided to the Dhaka Tribune that Asadullah, one of the prime suspects placed in durance vile ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... for his involvement in Xulhaz's murder, have revealed chilling details about how the murderers blended in with the LGBTQ crowd that the rights activist was campaigning for.
The police arrested Asadullah on Tuesday and took him into remand.
Ansar al Islam's intelligence wing, known as Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) had opened several Facebook IDs to gather information on Xulhaz, who founded Roopban - Bangladesh's first and only LGBTQ magazine - and several other targets.
The ABT outfit assigned to kill Xulhaz made their plans in a house in Gazipur, where they were trained in melee weapons and explosives.
Asadullah and Zubair, another Ansar al-Islam member, had stalked Xulhaz on Facebook, in particular the pro-LGBTQ groups that their target was active in. They became increasingly involved in the pro-LGBTQ activities and even participated in Roopban pride rallies.
Thus, the ABT was able to track Xulhaz and draw up plans for his execution by determining the time and place where he would be most vulnerable.
On April 25, 2016, Xulhaz and his friend Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy, a theatre activist, were hacked to death at the former’s Kalabagan residence in Dhaka.
CTTC Chief Monirul Islam said that Asadullah is directly involved in the murder of Xulhaz and Tonoy.
Mohibul Islam Khan, deputy commissioner with the CTTC, also said that the police are still investigating and trying to get more information out of Asadullah.
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[PULSE.NG] Brazilian and US officials met Venezuelan opposition leaders in Brasilia Thursday to discuss the political crisis in the oil-rich country ruled by President Nicolas Maduro, an opposition source told AFP.
The gathering was chaired by Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo and took place without figuring on official agendas and with no access for journalists.
Brazil's government news agency Agencia Brasil said the participants discussed "alternatives to the political and economic crisis in Venezuela, which has caused shortages, the fleeing of migrants and complaints of human rights violations."
The agency did not detail who took part in the meeting, at the Brazilian foreign ministry.
Venezuelan opposition activist David Smolansky, a former mayor who heads a technical group in the Organization of American States on the Venezuelan crisis, told AFP his side was "meeting with many countries to increase pressure on Nicolas Maduro's regime."
He called Brazil "a country with a big influence in the region."
The Venezuelan leaders who participated were Julio Borges, the former head of parliament who lives in exile in Colombia, Antonio Ledezma, a former Caracas mayor now based in Spain, and Carlos Vecchio, a political coordinator for the opposition Popular Will party.
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[Rudaw] ERBIL, Kurdistan Region ‐ One person was killed and three others maimed, possibly by a remnant from the Iran-Iraqi war in Soran, Erbil province on Wednesday.
"Today, due to a munitions fragment, a person named Mohammed Khidir, aged 53, was killed in the village of Sitkan in Soran," read a statement from the Erbil Mines Affairs Department.
Three other people were maimed in the same incident and rushed to hospital in Erbil.
The cause of the accident is unclear, the statement added, but said remnants from the war spread throughout the mountainous region are a danger.
"Every year, many citizens become victims for various reasons due to war debris," it said.
The war between Iran and Iraq ended on August 20, 1988, but is still claiming lives.
[IsraelTimes] Terror group-run Prisoners Ministry says it allocated 26 apartments for former inmates after a lottery.
Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", said Thursday it had allocated new homes funded by Iran in Gazoo to Paleostinian former prisoners who had been held in Israeli jails.
The Prisoners Ministry said 26 apartments in a new building in southern Gazoo had been given out in a lottery between 125 Paleostinian former prisoners.
Officials from Hamas, the Islamist terror group that rules the Gazoo Strip, said the program was the first of its kind funded by Iran.
A second building will be constructed in northern Gazoo, the ministry said, adding the project aimed to "reduce the suffering of our freed prisoners."
Iran has long been a strong backer of Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... , providing them with funds, weapons and training.
Around 6,500 Paleostinians are currently in Israeli prisons for a range of offenses, including various terror-related crimes, according to the Paleostinian Prisoners’ Club.
[IsraelTimes] Paleostinian terror group fighter killed while ’taking up a position’ in the border area between Israel and Gazoo.
The second in as many days. One more will make a trend.
The Hamas, one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbung millipede, military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, said one of its members died on Thursday as a result of "a weapon-related error."
The Islamist terror group’s armed wing identified the man who died as 21-year-old Ahmad al-Fayoumi.
"He went up to heaven as a martyr... as a result of a weapon-related error while taking up a position in the cracks," the Qassam Brigades said in a statement, using a term to refer to the border region between Israel and the Gazoo Strip.
The Qassam Brigades did not provide details on the "weapon-related error."
Pictures posted on Twitter showed what appeared to be Fayoumi’s remains at a hospital in Gazoo.
On Wednesday, another Qassam Brigades member died. The terror group’s armed wing said 27-year-old Hamdi Hejazi succumbed to wounds he sustained earlier this month "in an accident while taking up a position in the cracks," without elaborating.
In January 2018, then-senior Hamas official Imad al-Alami shot himself in the head "while examining his personal weapon in his home," Fawzi Barhoum, a front man for the terror group, said at the time.
However, a lie repeated often enough remains a lie... some experts speculated that a rival Hamas member may have shot Alami. Weeks after the incident, Alami, who was regarded as a hardliner and a backer of Hamas’s ties with Iran, died at a hospital in Gazoo.
[KhaamaPress] Nearly 60 gunnies have been killed during the separate operations of the Afghan Special Forces and Coalition Forces in various provinces of the country.
According to the informed military sources, the Afghan Special Operations Forces conducted a clearance operation in Qal’ah-e Now district of Badghis province killing 39 Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... fighters and destroying 30 IEDs.
The sources further added that Afghan Special Operations Forces conducted a patrol in Maiwand district of Kandahar to destroy Taliban weapons caches.
"In self defense, a coalition air strike killed 10 Taliban fighters," the sources said adding that two coalition air strikes killed 5 Taliban fighters in Tarin Kot district of Uruzgan.
The Afghan Special Operations Forces conducted a raid in Tagab of Kapisa district killing 1 Taliban fighter while another Taliban Death Eater was killed din Nerkh district of Wardak province.
The Afghan Special Operations Forces conducted a clearance operation in Nesh district of Kandahar killing 2 Taliban fighters and destroying a large amount of home-made explosives, the sources said adding that Afghan Special Operations Forces conducted a raid on a suspected Taliban prison in Ghazni to rescue Afghan security force prisoners. The Afghan soldiers had already been moved but the search will continue.
[PULSE.NG] A car kaboom on a police cadet training school in the Colombian capital Bogota left at least eight people dead and 10 injured on Thursday, the defense ministry said.
The attack happened at the General Francisco de Paula Santander Officer's School in the south of Bogota during a promotion ceremony for cadets.
Fanny Contreras, the armed forces' health inspector, told local radio the car "entered (the school compound) suddenly, almost hitting the police and then there was the kaboom."
Early images from City TV showed ambulances traveling through the area close to the school in the south of Bogota.
"All Colombians reject terrorism and we're united in fighting it," President Ivan Duque tweeted.
Vowing to "bring to justice" those responsible for the attack, Duque added: "COLOMBIA is sad but will not bow to violence."
A security council meeting that Duque was due to attend outside the capital has been cancelled, with the president saying he would return to Bogota immediately.
The defence ministry said an investigation has been opened "to find those responsible for this terrorist act."
Ecuador's center-left President Lenin Moreno said he would call Duque to "express all our solidarity with our Colombian brothers."
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[Ynet] In addition to rocket fire and airborne incendiary devices, residents of Israeli communities bordering Gazoo are now battling putrid smell of giant landfills and sewage from the strip's northern neighborhoods that’s polluting Israel's groundwater.
The residents of Israeli communities bordering Gazoo, who for years have been dealing with Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", rocket attacks and most recently incendiary airborne devices scorching their land, have found themselves battling another hazardous nuisance. Polluted sewage is being pumped from Gazoo into the Israeli side of the border after a collapse of the local wastewater treatment plant, making the lives of the local residents a living nightmare.
Due to the dire economic situation in Gazoo, the wastewater plant cannot undergo the needed treatments, prompting Paleostinians living in the northern neighborhoods of the Strip‐Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia‐to drain sewage into Nahal Hanun, which crosses Israel and empties into the sea, polluting the groundwater in the process.
In order to stop wastewater flow and reduce the environmental damage, the Water Authority has recently set up a pumping station near the Erez border crossing, which effectively made Israel responsible for water purification of the northern Gazoo Strip. Before the Israeli intervention, the moshavim and kibbutzim near the border‐Netiv HaAsara, Erez, Yad Mordechai, and Zikim‐suffered from a continuous onslaught of mosquitoes and flies.
"The dangerous thing is that the Paleostinians in Gazoo pump water from water wells in an uncontrolled manner, polluting the groundwater we use," said David Rosenberg, director of infrastructure and water in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council. "They do not have the knowledge and the tools to pump groundwater ... and any drilling only results in salinity of the water. The environmental damage that’s being done is tremendous."
As well as that, massive piles of trash have accumulated in the area bordering the Eshkol Regional Council after three giant landfills were set up along the border fence, leaving the locals to cope with a putrid and toxic smell being carried by the wind across the border.
The landfills are derelict as dry and wet waste gets mixed up and subsequently burned, increasing the environmental impact. Insects and rodents that breed in the landfills then also make their way across the border, infesting the Israeli communities. In addition, disease-ridden cats and dogs that feed off the landfill constantly breach the fence, engendering the local residents.
"It's a daily war, and even though it may sound as something insignificant, swarms of mosquitoes invading from Gazoo could result in a disaster for Israel," said a source in the Water Authority.
A source from one of the local authorities along the Gazoo border called the current environmental situation "hopeless."
"The environment is the last thing that the residents of Gazoo are concerned with. Their solutions are temporary and usually do more harm than good. The government is aware of the situation, but hasn’t done anything."
[Libya Observer] The big shot at the 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... Revolutionaries Brigade Atif Bergig said lack of real settlement and compromise for the previous festivities in Tripoli in August 2018 sparked a new war and violated the ceasefire.
Speaking to a local media outlet, Bergig said the security arrangements that were approved in al-Zawiya under the auspices of the UNSMIL had not been implemented well, except for the return of armed formations to their positions.
"Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigade is not in favor for war neither entering Tripoli by force and festivities." He added.
Bergig also criticized the Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha and said his policies are defiant to the armed formations inside Tripoli, adding that Bashagha has no choice but to rely on the gangs in Tripoli or bring others from other cities.
"Armed factions must be reorganized. They should be appointed to do tasks instead of eliminated. Thus a force that has the acceptance in Tripoli and by Tripoli people should be tasked with the control of the Tripoli International Airport." He explained, saying Bashagha's policies could cost him his position as his predecessor.
Meanwhile, ...back at the barn, Bossy had come up with a new idea, one that didn't involve kerosene... the commander of the western military zone Osama Juwaily said he had expected the fresh festivities in Tripoli's southern areas.
"The fighting was caused due to the lack of a radical solution to the crisis, not to mention crime, banditry, and the security vacuum in the areas of festivities." Juwaily remarked.
He added that the solution might be to appoint a force that can mediate between the conflicting forces with ceasefire monitoring teams, saying that this was the solution on the table last August, but the fighting parties reject the western zone forces to play a mediator.
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[PULSE.NG] Government troops supported by UN peacekeepers have recaptured a uranium mining town in southeast Central African Republic, more than two weeks after it was seized by rebels, an official said Thursday.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[PAGESIX] In an emotional sentencing of the man who killed Morgan Freeman’s granddaughter, the defendant’s family screamed that it was all the famed "Shawshank Redemption" actor’s fault, alleging that he sexually abused the victim when she was younger.
"Morgan Freeman molested her and he caused this. He did this," Lamar Davenport’s mother yelled to a news hound as she was ushered out of court for shouting to her son when Justice Ellen Biben handed down a 20-year sentence.
"He’s innocent! It was an accident!" she insisted.
The long-suspected affair between Freeman and his step-granddaughter E’Dena Hines was finally confirmed during Davenport’s murder trial in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Davenport was convicted of stabbing Hines, who was his girlfriend, more than 25 times Aug. 16, 2015, on West 162nd Street.
He was in the throes of a PCP-induced rage when he slaughtered Hines in full view of neighbors and pedestrians.
In a partial win for the defense, Davenport was found guilty of the lesser included charge of manslaughter. He waived a jury trial, leaving his fate entirely in the hands of Biben.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Not a fan of Morgan Freeman - but I fail to see the causality connection.
#4
So, the boyfriend "accidentally" stabbed her 25 times, and it's her grandfather's fault?
I'm calling for a Congressional Subcomittee Investigation on Torturing Logic, to be chaired by the delightful Ms Occaisonal-Cortex.
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[PULSE.NG] The body of a "white man with gunshot wounds" has been found in a northern region of 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... where jihadists have carried out attacks, a security official told AFP Thursday.
The body was found late on Wednesday in Siega in Soum province, "and is being taken to Dori for identification," the source said.
Last month, 34-year-old Canadian aid worker Edith Blais, was reported missing with an Italian friend, Lucas Tacchetto, 30, as they were travelling between the western town of Bobo-Dioulasso and the capital Ouagadougou.
Separately, Canadian geologist Kirk Woodman was kidnapped from a gold mine in the east of the country late on Tuesday.
His abductors were last seen heading towards neighbouring Niger, a direction that would not have taken them through Soum, officials said.
Burkina Faso lies in the heart of the vast Sahel region ... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas... , which is struggling with a bloody Islamist insurgency.
The region turned into a hotbed of violent extremism and lawlessness after chaos engulfed Libya in 2011.
An Islamist insurgency began in northern Mali, while Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... rose in northern Nigeria.
Jihadist raids began in northern Burkina Faso in 2015 before spreading to the east, near the border with Togo and Benin.
Most of the attacks have been attributed to Ansarul Islam and the Group to Support Islam and Moslems (JNIM).
A body found with gunshot wounds yesterday night is that of Kirk Woodman, "the Canadian who was kidnapped the day before yesterday," ministerial front man Jean-Paul Badoum says.
The body "is being taken to Dori for identification," the source says. Another security source says the remains will then be flown by helicopter to Ouagadougou.
Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland says her country is "appalled and deeply saddened" by the killing.
"Canada condemns those responsible for this terrible crime. We are working with the government of Burkina Faso and other international partners to pursue those responsible and bring them to justice," she says.
Woodman is one of two Canadians who have gone missing in Burkina Faso, an impoverished country in the front line of a jihadist rebellion in the Sahel.
He was vice president of a Canadian company, Progress Minerals, which owns a gold mine at Tiabangou, located in Yagha, a volatile province near the Niger and Mali border.
He was at the mine when the site came under attack from about 10 gunnies, Security Minister Clement Sawadogo said yesterday.
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Idiocy has consequences. One wonders what the gentleman was playing at.
[IsraelTimes] Suspect identified as Colin Emery Doyle was spotted Tuesday in a Lebanese village, having apparently crossed the border through a hole in the fence.
The Lebanese military on Thursday said it captured an American man suspected of entering Leb from Israel through a hole in the security fence earlier in the week.
The man, identified by Leb as Colin Emery Doyle, was being questioned by intelligence officers of the Lebanese Armed Forces, under the supervision of a judge. Lebanese media published conflicting reports about his mental health.
The United States Embassy in Beirut said it was aware of the reports and would provide Doyle with "all consular services possible."
The Hezbollah terrorist group’s media department distributed a photograph of the suspect, showing a red-haired man who appears to be in his 30s standing in a clothing shop, where he was tossed in the clink Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! "After continuous search operations a LAF intelligence patrol was able to find the American citizen ’Colin Emery’ hiding in one of the alleys in the city of Tyre," the Lebanese Armed Forces said in a statement.
A photograph of Doyle’s passport was also published in Lebanese media.
The coastal city of Tyre is located some 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the border town of Aita al-Shaab, where he is believed to have entered Leb from Israel.
He was arrested while trying to purchase clothes, Lebanese media reported.
"He was arrested over suspicions of entering on 15/01/2019 from the Occupied Paleostinian Territories (Israel) to Lebanese territories. Investigation is underway with the competent justice department," the LAF said.
The Israel Defense Forces said it was aware of the reports in Lebanese media and was looking into them.
The US Embassy said in a statement: "We’ve seen media reports of the arrest of a US citizen. We take our obligation to assist US citizens abroad seriously and stand ready to provide all appropriate consular services."
The United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... peacekeeping force UNIFIL, which often acts as a mediator between Israel and Leb as the two do not have formal ties, similarly said it was checking the reports, but stressed that it was a matter for the Lebanese authorities.
According to Israel’s Channel 13 news, Emery traveled to Israel from Vietnam.
On Tuesday afternoon, a man wearing military-style clothing was spotted in a Lebanese village, apparently after having crossed the security fence from Israel, Lebanese media reported.
The Israeli military at the time confirmed that soldiers had spotted a tear in the border fence and tracks indicating that someone had traveled from Israel into Leb.
Lebanese media had conflicting reports about what happened once the man was inside the country.
According to the al-Jadeed television station, the suspect was seen entering the village of Aita al-Shaab, near the border with Israel, wearing military attire and holding a box.
When residents approached him, he threw down the box and other papers, which had Hebrew writing on them, and bravely ran away, the report said.
Another Lebanese outlet, Al Mayadeen, reported that a wallet was found with an American passport in it.
And the LBC news site reported that residents found a book in Hebrew and English and medical equipment.
The border with Leb has been especially tense in recent weeks, while the Israeli military was endeavoring to find and destroy attack tunnels it says the Hezbollah terror group had dug into Israel. On Sunday, the IDF declared that it had found all the tunnels leading into Israel from Leb
#6
#4 - "we're kinda idled by the Shutdown. 'Helping assholes with stoopid problems they created on their own' is not on the list. Check back in February...or March"
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[PULSE.NG] A Dutch journalist based in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... was deported on Thursday a day after she was tossed in the calaboose Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! on suspicion of links to a jihadist group in Syria, Ottoman Turkish officials said.
The officials insisted Ans Boersma's deportation was not related to her journalistic activity but that Ankara had received a tip-off from the Dutch police that she had links to Jabhat al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... , a former al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria.
Boersma, a freelance journalist based in Istanbul who has contributed articles to the financial newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad, also said she had been expelled.
"I got arrested yesterday (Wednesday), got deported this morning. Flying out now," she said in a messaging group for foreign journalists in Turkey.
Fahrettin Altun, communications director at the Ottoman Turkish presidency, confirmed her expulsion but said it was "in no way related to her journalistic activities during her stay in Turkey."
"The Ottoman Turkish authorities have recently received intelligence from the Dutch police that Ms Boersma had links to a designated terrorist organization and a request for information about her movements in and out of Turkey," he said.
'ACTED ON INTELLIGENCE
Writing on Twitter, Altun said she was suspected of links to Jabhat al-Nusra operating in Syria.
"The Netherlands told Turkey that the news hound, who was deported today (Thursday), had links to Jabhat al-Nusra," he wrote.
"We acted on intelligence from the Netherlands and took a precautionary measure."
He said it was up to Dutch authorities to explain why they arrived at that conclusion and refused to speculate on the credibility of their intelligence.
A number of groups including the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... have carried out a spate of attacks in Turkey in recent years.
"Due to the seriousness of the threat, we work closely with our friends and allies, including the Netherlands, and rely on their insights to identify and neutralise threats against Ottoman Turkish and European security," Altun said.
Until now, the Ottoman Turkish authorities, with help from their international partners, have blacklisted tens of thousands of individuals with links to terrorist organizations as part of an ongoing effort to combat extremism, he added.
Another Ottoman Turkish official, who wished to remain anonymous, told AFP the authorities would not have issued a press card if they had had "national security concerns" about the news hound.
The official said Boersma's press credentials were valid until January 31, 2019.
Human rights defenders have raised concerns over a clampdown on freedom of expression in Turkey under 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... , with dozens of journalists and civil society activists put behind bars.
Turkey is ranked 157th out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders 2018 World Press Freedom Index.
In December, a Ottoman Turkish court ordered the release from jail of an Austrian student and journalist charged with being a member of a terror group.
Max Zirngast, who writes for the far-left German-language magazine Re:volt, had been formally arrested by an Ankara court in September.
Boersma, who worked for respected newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad and other news outlets in Istanbul, was detained by authorities on Wednesday while submitting documents at an immigration office to extend her Ottoman Turkish residence permit.
The newspaper said in a statement that Boersma believes her deportation may be linked to a past relationship she had with a Syrian man suspected in the Netherlands of being a former member of a jihadist group.
"Ans herself considers it possible her deportation is related to the fact that until the summer of 2015 she had a relationship with a Syrian who was locked away Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! in the Netherlands last autumn for former membership of the Syrian terror network Jabhat al-Nusra," the newspaper statement said.
Since a 2016 coup attempt, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...Qatar's colony in Asia Minor.... has enjugged Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! thousands of people including journalists, academics and human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... activists for alleged ties to the coup or for terror-related charges. The Ottoman Turkish Journalists’ Syndicate says 141 journalists are currently behind bars, leading other media groups to describe Turkey as "the world’s top jailer of journalists."
In a report released Thursday, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said: "Prolonged and arbitrary jailing of critics on bogus terrorism charges has become the norm in Turkey."
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[IsraelTimes] Azzam al-Ahmad and Sheikh Naim Qassem ... the Grand Vizier of the Hezbullies... said to discuss need to counter US-Israeli ’attempts to end the Paleostinian national project’.
Top Fatah and Paleostine Liberation Organization official Azzam al-Ahmad met Deputy Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem in Leb, the official Paleostinian Authority news site Wafa reported on Thursday.
Senior Fatah and PLO officials do not frequently meet high-ranking Hezbollah leaders. The last known time Ahmad met a senior Hezbollah official was in late 2017, when he met Hassan Nasrallah, the terror group’s secretary-general.
In their meeting, Ahmad and Qassem affirmed "the need to fight against the American-Israeli attempts to end the Paleostinian national project," the Wafa report said.
Both the Paleostinians and Hezbollah have recently been highly critical of the US and Israel’s policies regarding the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict.
Since shortly after 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... recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017 and initiated the relocation of the US embassy in the Jewish state to the city, PA President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... declared the Paleostinians would no longer work with an American-dominated grinding of the peace processor and called for the establishment of a multilateral mechanism to replace it.
In the wake of Trump’s decision, Abbas has invited a number of countries around the world to take part in a multilateral mechanism for the grinding of the peace processor and repeatedly said he would not consider an American plan.
Over the past two days, Ahmad has met several officials in Leb, including President Michel Aoun ...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... ... On Thursday afternoon, Ahmad did not answer phone calls.
Earlier this week, he also visited Syria, where he met Deputy Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad and attended the opening of a new office of Paleostine TV, the official PA channel, in Damascus.
At the opening of the Paleostine TV office, he told a Syrian newspaper that he believes Abbas will visit Syria in the near future.
"The visit of the President Mahmoud Abbas is possible at any time... I believe [it] will happen soon, if God wills it," he told al-Watan, a pro-Syrian government newspaper.
The PA president has not visited Syria or met Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Terror of Aleppo ... since civil war broke out in the country in 2011.
[IsraelTimes] Marzieh Hashemi was Melanie Franklin before converting to Islam and moving to Iran, where she is the face of government-controlled English TV news.
As a newscaster for Press TV, Marzieh Hashemi has been conducting interviews and reading the news as written by government loyalists in the Islamic Theocratic Republic. It’s a long way from New Orleans, where she was born Melanie Franklin in 1959 to a Christian family.
In college in Louisiana, encounters with Iranian students in the wake of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution saw her convert to Islam. A marriage brought her to Iran, where she learned fluent Farsi and began working for the country’s state broadcaster 25 years ago.
Now, after her apparent arrest by the FBI, her family is questioning why the 59-year-old grandmother was imprisoned by the US.
Hashemi studied journalism at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. A yearbook photo shows her smiling with other colleagues at WPRG, now KLSU, the student-run radio station.
"When we were in school together, that was during the Iran hostage crisis. LSU had a sizeable number of Iranian students who were going to school there," said radio newsman Jim Engster of Baton Rouge, who was also in the photograph.
"The time we were in school was less than 25 years from LSU being an all-white school. So Melanie was a trailblazer too as a black female journalist. There were a few others but not many."
It remains unclear why Hashemi was locked away Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! . However, we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by... it isn’t the first time she’s been questioned by US authorities, her son said.
For the past decade, "she has been harassed on a regular basis when she goes to airports," he said. "Whenever she boards a plane, prior to it she will have interviews or interrogation, if we might call it that‐ things that are not very typical is what she’s had to deal with for some time."
#1
What charge was she arrested for? When they arrest you, they're supposed to state a charge.
Unless she's being 'detained', but that's not being under arrest.
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01/18/2019 7:10
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#2
ed, I should have stacked this with the article below, which reports
The 59-year-old US citizen, who is based in Iran, was detained as a "material witness" to a criminal case and no charges were pressed against her, according to Hossein Hashemi, her elder son.
[PULSE.NG] A United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... team tasked with overseeing a truce in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... came under fire but was unharmed in the flashpoint city of Hodeida Thursday, hours after the Security Council approved expanding the mission.
Chief monitor Patrick Cammaert and his team were "safe in Hodeida following reported shooting incident", tweeted the spokesperson of the UN secretary general.
Speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, a UN official confirmed that "shots were fired" at Cammaert's convoy and that the retired Dutch general was "safe".
The UN monitors arrived in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida -- the entry point for the bulk of Yemen's imports -- on December 23 to oversee a truce agreed by the warring sides last month at talks outside Sweden's capital Stockholm.
The deal has helped ease fighting for the city between Iran-backed Houthis and government forces supported by a Saudi-led alliance.
The UN says the ceasefire has been generally holding despite some festivities, while the rebels and government have accused ease other of repeated violations.
'NO DIALOGUE'
The shooting incident came one day after the UN Security Council unanimously approved an extended mission of up to 75 unarmed monitors to shore up the truce.
The new monitors will be sent to Hodeida city and port as well as to the ports of Saleef and Ras Issa for an initial period of six months.
The rebels have been particularly divided in their support for the UN-brokered agreement on the ceasefire and deployment of monitors, with some singling out Cammaert for criticism.
Rebel representative Mohammed al-Bukhaiti said the Huthis rejected the expanded UN mission.
"We will not accept dialogue around increasing the number of international monitors until the problem of Patrick Cammaert is resolved," Bukhaiti told AFP.
"Since his appointment, he has sought to see the Stockholm agreement fail."
Yemeni Information Minister Moammer al-Eryani on Thursday accused the Huthis of preventing UN monitors headed by Cammaert from going to a meeting with government officials.
Most of Yemen's supplies of imported goods and humanitarian aid comes through the port of Hodeida, providing a lifeline to millions on the brink of starvation.
The Huthis control most of Hodeida, while government forces are deployed on its southern and eastern outskirts.
The Saudi-led alliance also controls Yemen's maritime borders and has imposed a near-total blockade on the Hodeida port.
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[PULSE.NG] A Canadian jury found a woman guilty Thursday of terror crimes for trying to join the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group and in its name attacking staff at a Toronto-area department store two years ago.
Rehab Dughmosh, who was tossed in the slammer Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! in June 2017 when she was 32, was found guilty of four counts of leaving the country for the purpose of joining a terror group, assaults with a golf club and a butcher knife, and carrying an archery bow.
According to court documents cited by Canadian media, she attempted to fly to Syria in April 2016 to join the IS group, and when that failed returned home and plotted the mall attack.
Her plans to go to Syria were thwarted by Ottoman Turkish officials tipped off by her brother. At the time, Dughmosh claimed that she was just trying to visit family, although she admitted after her arrest that she had intended to travel to join IS.
The court heard that Dughmosh admitted to pledging her allegiance to the Islamic State group, and on the day in question packed bags with weapons, including a hammer, barbecue skewers, straws tipped with screws and a child's shovel made into claws.
She also hid the knife and bow in her robe.
But on her way out of her apartment she ran into her estranged husband, who confiscated the bags. He reportedly did not know about the concealed weapons.
At the Canadian Tire store east of Toronto, Dughmosh grabbed a golf club off a rack after trying unsuccessfully to access arrows in a locked display case.
She then draped herself in a homemade IS banner, tied an IS bandana around her head and charged staff with the golf club and butcher knife, shouting: "This is for ISIS."
Staff wrestled her to the ground. Nobody was maimed.
Police later found the weapons cache at her home, along with a cellphone containing IS propaganda videos and a handwritten will in which she asked for martyrdom.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Monday. The prosecution is seeking eight years in prison.
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[CAPITALFM.CO.KE] A giant beach resort in North Korea is nearing completion, a US monitor said Thursday, with satellite pictures showing rapid progress on the sprawling development, now equipped with a water slide and cinema.
The seaside strip known as the Wonsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Area is squeezed between a new airport and the country’s east coast, in an area that has previously been used for artillery drills and ballistic missile launches.
It is intended as a centrepiece of the isolated country’s nascent tourism industry as Pyongyang seeks to develop its economy despite international sanctions imposed over its nuclear weapons programmes.
North Korea receives an estimated 100,000 foreign tourists a year, the vast majority of them Chinese, according to industry sources, but Pyongyang issues no official figures itself.
The site’s construction has been closely overseen by leader Kim Pudge Jong-un ...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished... and plans have been announced for a grand opening in October, when the country marks the 74th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea.
The respected 38 North website released satellite images taken as recently as December showing that most buildings previously under construction were "nearing external completion and several new or redesigned buildings were in advanced stages".
Kim, who reportedly spent his childhood summers in the area, visited the site at least three times last year according to state media, sometimes berating officials in charge of the works and issuing detailed orders.
Kim "found that the whole street was not perfect in the artistic aspect", the official KCNA news agency reported after his October inspection.
"He instructed officials to envisage the construction of more hotels and inns with over 30 floors," it added, along with more games arcades, movie theatres and an "all-event stadium", plus a "large water park and funfair".
Satellite photos from December 28 indicated the resort was growing into a "vast beach complex", 38 North said.
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[IsraelTimes] Police say they pursued the kidnappers after the incident, killing one and wounding two, but could not free the hostage
Egyptian security officials said Islamic holy warriors have kidnapped a Christian man traveling in a communal taxi in the turbulent north of Egypt’s Sinai peninsula.
They did not identify the man, but said police pursued the kidnappers after the incident, killing one of them and wounding two others in a firefight, but could not free the hostage.
Two coppers were also maimed in the firefight, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
Terrorists led by the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group have been fighting security forces in Sinai for years. Since 2016, they have killed more than 100 Christians in attacks targeting churches and buses carrying pilgrims to remote monasteries.
Scores of Christian families have fled Sinai following attacks by bad boys.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/18/2019
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[PULSE.NG] A Belarusian model who claimed she had evidence of Russian efforts to help 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... win office was deported from Thailand on Thursday after being convicted of participating in a "sex training course".
Anastasia Vashukevich, known by her pen-name Nastya Rybka, was held with several others in a police raid last February in the sleazy seaside resort of Pattaya.
In a case that veered between salacious and bizarre, Vashukevich said she had travelled to Thailand after becoming embroiled in a political scandal with Russian aluminium tycoon Oleg Deripaska -- a one-time associate of Trump's disgraced former campaign director Paul Manafort.
She then set tongues wagging by promising to reveal "missing puzzle pieces" regarding claims the Kremlin aided Trump's 2016 presidential election victory.
But the material never surfaced and critics dismissed the claims as a publicity stunt.
In the risque Pattaya seminar led by Alex Kirillov, a self-styled Russian seduction guru, some participants wore shirts that said "sex animator" -- though one person at the time described it as more of a romance and relationship course.
Vashukevich pleaded guilty alongside seven others to multiple charges, including solicitation and illegal assembly at a Pattaya court on Tuesday, which ordered the group be deported.
Kirillov, who has served as a quasi-front man for the mostly Russian group, told news hounds as they arrived at court Tuesday that he believed they were set up.
"I think somebody ordered (our arrest)... for money," he said.
Vashukevich looked sombre as she entered the courthouse and did not respond to questions from the media.
On Thursday afternoon, Vashukevich and the majority of the convicted were put on an Aeroflot flight for Moscow, bringing to an end the Thai side of a baffling case.
Thailand's immigration chief Surachate Hakparn said the last of the group would leave the country this evening.
They are also blacklisted from returning to Thailand.
It was unclear what would happen to them on arrival in Moscow but the two Belarusians on the afternoon flight -- which would include Vashukevich -- are expected to not stay overnight and transit to Belarus.
That may be preferable for Vashukevich, who has more than 120,000 followers on Instagram and penned a book about seducing oligarchs, because she also faces legal problems in Russia.
Deripaska won an invasion of privacy lawsuit against her and Kirillov in July after a video apparently filmed by the model showed the tycoon vacationing with an influential Russian deputy prime minister at the time.
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#1
She then set tongues wagging by promising to reveal "missing puzzle pieces" regarding claims the Kremlin aided Trump's 2016 presidential election victory.
But the material never surfaced and critics dismissed the claims as a publicity stunt.
[PULSE.NG] An former mistress of Mexican crime boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman testified Thursday that the cartel leader lured her into a life as a narco, shifting hundreds of kilos of marijuana a time on planes.
"Until today I was confused because I thought it was a romantic relationship," Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez, 29, told the New York City court where Guzman faces trafficking, firearms and money laundering charges.
Sanchez, who was locked away Please don't kill me! in 2017 crossing from Mexico into San Diego and stands accused of conspiring to traffic cocaine, told the jury she met Guzman when she was 21.
He sent her to work the "Golden Triangle" along the Durango, Sinaloa and Chihuahua Mexican state borders, buying "good, beautiful and cheap" marijuana, Sanchez said.
She would then load airplanes with up to 400 kilograms (900 pounds) of the drug. Sanchez said she never received payment for her work.
She said her relationship with Guzman, 61, who is known for maintaining romantic relationships with four or five different women at a time, began in February 2011.
The kingpin's wife, Emma Coronel, was pregnant with the couple's twins.
The prosecution said Sanchez and Guzman discussed her marijuana transactions through encrypted messages and referred to each other as "Lovely" or "M" in text messages they exchanged on Blackberries that they switched out every few weeks.
Sanchez said she was afraid Guzman would hurt her.
"The mafia kills people who don't pay or who snitch, but not those who are serious," he wrote to her.
Sanchez faces 10 years to life in prison but is hoping for a reduced sentence for her cooperation with the prosecution.
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[KhaamaPress] A large convoy of Afghan troops arrived in Sherin Tagab district of Faryab province after heavy festivities with the Taliban ...Arabic for students... en-route to to the district that left at least 20 bandidosforces of Evil dead.
The 209th Shaheen Corps of the Afghan Military in the North in a statement said a large convoy of Afghan troops carrying supplies left Maimana city early Wednesday morning and arrived in Sherin Tagab district at 6pm after breaking several ambushes of the Death Eaters.
The statement further added at least 20 Talibs were killed during the festivities and Arclight airstrikes and 13 others sustained injuries.
The Afghan forces also discovered and defused at least 15 improvised bombs planted by the bandidosforces of Evil along the highway, the 209th Shaheen Corps added in its statement.
Faryab is among the relatively provinces in North of Afghanistan where Taliban are actively operating in some of its districts and often attempt to attack government and security institutions and forces.
[KhaamaPress] Four bully boyz affiliated with the Taliban ...Arabic for students... and ISIS Khurasan surrendered to the Afghan forces in eastern 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 of Afghanistan.
The 201st Silab Corps of the Afghan Military in the East in a statement said three Talibs and a member of ISIS Khurasan surrendered to the Afghan forces in Bati Kot district on Wednesday.
The statement further added that the bully boyz were previously involved in destructive activities but the surrendered to Afghan forces after renouncing violence.
The antig-government armed krazed killer groups including Taliban have not commented regarding the surrender of their bully boyz so far.
Nangarhar is among the relatively calm provinces in East of Afghanistan but the anti-government armed elements including Taliban and ISIS Khurasan affiliates are active in some of its remote districts and often attempt to attack the government institutions and security forces.
[Rudaw] Kurdistan Region’s counter-terrorism directorate have jugged Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! eight suspected ISIS members, the unit announced late on Thursday. The arrests were made on Wednesday.
"Based on information and after close monitoring, two members of a ISIS terrorist group ‐ Ahmed Ibrahim Ahmed Jadi' and Qa'ttan Ali Ahmed Jadi' ‐ were arrested on January 16, 2019 in Erbil during a successful operation," the directorate announced on their Facebook page.
The two - their relation to each other was not confirmed - were arrested under a court-issued warrant. They had worked for ISIS in the group’s security unit, the directorate stated.
Six other suspects, not identified, were picked up in the same operation.
ISIS was declared defeated in Iraq in December 2017, but sleeper cells and small units of the snuffies remain a security threat throughout the country.
Sulaimani security forces announced the arrest of a known and "dangerous" ISIS murderous Moslem on Wednesday.
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[PULSE.NG] Police on Thursday tossed in the calaboose ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... 21 protesters in the capital of the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan at a demonstration against the growing influence of China, the ex-Soviet country's neighbour.
Police said they made the arrests at the rally opposing migration from China and its growing economic clout after demonstrators attempted to block the road and committed other public order violations.
An AFP correspondent said between 200 and 300 people attended the rally.
China is a key partner for impoverished Kyrgyzstan which looks to Chinese state banks to fund infrastructure projects and Chinese companies to carry them out.
But fears of out-of-control migration have grown alongside Beijing's economic influence in the country.
Protesters called for a blanket ban on granting Kyrgyz citizenship to Chinese nationals except for members of a small ethnic Kyrgyz diaspora.
They also demanded checks into how Chinese loans were spent after a power plant upgraded with nearly $400 million borrowed from China collapsed amid freezing temperatures last year.
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01/18/2019
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[DAWN] Pakistain on Thursday affirmed its continued support for the Afghan peace and reconciliation process as it stepped up efforts for salvaging the stalled talks between the United States and Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... The assurance was extended by the country’s highest political and military offices against the backdrop of breakdown in the US contacts with the Taliban, which were being facilitated by Pakistain, due to the bully boy group’s persistent refusal to engage with the Afghan government.
Prime Minister Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight... , in a telephonic conversation with Afghanistan's Caped PresidentAshraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. , reassured the latter that Pakistain was making "sincere efforts" for a politically negotiated settlement of the Afghan war.
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[DAWN] A young man died after his head got stuck in an automatic door at the entrance to a five star hotel near 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 PIDC area on Thursday, according to police and hospital officials.
Saddar SP Abdullah Ahmed told Dawn that the head of 28-year-old Sirajuddin got stuck in an automatic door at the entrance to Movenpick Hotel when he tried to pass through it hurriedly.
The young man sustained serious injuries and was rushed to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), where he died during treatment.
Dr Seemin Jamali, executive director of the hospital, said that the young man received critical injuries on his head and face.
"He was at death's door when he was brought to the hospital and died during treatment," she confirmed.
The dear departed used to supply ice to the five star hotel and hailed from Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... 's Pishin district, said the police.
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#1
28 isn't that young.
Hopefully he didnt reproduce and the gene pool has been improved by his Darwinising.
Ummm... a pious young man of the sword
Once sought his Islamic reward
On a pushbike of doom,
But he never kaboomed!
Thank the Moors in that four-door Accord.
[DAWN] Malaysia has said it will revise a national school textbook after a section suggesting girls should cover up to avoid sexual assault sparked outrage among women’s rights supporters.
The book, aimed at nine-year-olds, includes a chapter called "protecting one’s dignity" in which a girl’s parents are shown telling her to dress modestly or she would be ostracised by her friends and bring shame to her family.
The image went viral on social media, causing anger among campaigners and parents who said it perpetuated the idea that sexual violence could be blamed on how a woman dresses.
The education ministry said in a statement late Tuesday it would cover up the controversial page with stickers "because the infographic can be construed as blaming sexual assault victims".
"We welcome the ministry’s decision," Mastura Rashid, a spokeswoman from women right’s group Empower, told the Thomson Rooters Foundation on Wednesday. She said the image "reinforces the stereotype that it is the girl’s fault when it comes to sexual violence".
Rights group Sisters in Islam said the portrayal of women in the book was "highly inappropriate".
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[PRESSTV] Press TV news presenter Marzieh Hashemi, who has been imprisoned by the FBI on unspecified charges, is due to appear in a Washington, DC, court on Friday.
The 59-year-old US citizen, who is based in Iran, was detained as a "material witness" to a criminal case and no charges were pressed against her, according to Hossein Hashemi, her elder son.
The US law defines a material witness as a person who is presumed to have information about the subject matter of a lawsuit or criminal prosecution, which is critical to the outcome of the case or trial.
Ms. Hashemi was taken into custody on Sunday in St. Louis, Missouri, where she had filmed a Black Lives Matter documentary.
FBI agents apprehended the Press TV journalist upon arrival at St Louis Lambert International Airport, before she boarded a flight to Denver, her son said.
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[PRESSTV] Syrian Kurdish officials have jugged Book 'im, Mahmoud! a group of Ottoman Turkish-backed faceless myrmidons from the so-called Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... (FSA), who was apparently plotting new terror attacks in the country’s northern province of Aleppo on orders from The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund.... 's intelligence agency (MIT).
"Counter-terrorism units of the Manbij Military Council (MMC) have disbanded a cell, comprising of seven faceless myrmidons who ... were supported by the Ankara government and were acting in full coordination with MIT," the MMC said in a statement on Thursday.
It added, "They were planning several kabooms and acts of terror."
The statement went on to say thon the lam amounts of weapons and munitions, including grenades, Kalashnikov assault rifles and Chiappa Firearms M6 M6 rifles was seized from the murderous Moslems.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2019
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Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
[PRESSTV] A high-ranking leader of the Paleostinian Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, resistance movement has accused the West Bank-based Fatah movement of attempts to provoke the Israeli army to launch a new military campaign against the impoverished Gazoo Strip.
"Fatah-affiliated people are trying to force the Gazoo Strip into a fresh battle with Israel by launching rockets during this sensitive time," Mahmoud al-Zahar said in an exclusive interview with Arabic-language Paleostine Today television network.
Zahar added, "Some of these people are linked to Israel and are commissioned to get on with the task. These people are well-known to us. Fatah stands behind them. We have talked with their field leaders about their dangerous acts. Sometimes, they are locked away Book 'im, Mahmoud! The Hamas leader noted that Gazoo-based resistance movements are closely monitoring Israel’s acts of aggression against the coastal enclave, stressing that they would never wait too long to respond to such moves.
Zahar's remarks came after Hamas front man Fawzi Barhoum warned in a statement on Sunday that the movement "will intensify the confrontation with Israel" in the coastal sliver if the Israeli military launches new attacks against the enclave.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2019
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Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Work with Jordan...if they take over “Paleoztineans”, we will build a tunnel from Jordan to the Med...
[IsraelTimes] Airstrike comes day after four US soldiers killed in suicide kaboom, underlining jihadist group’s continued presence despite looming troop pullout.
The US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group destroyed a command center housed in a Syrian mosque on Thursday, officials said.
Coalition aircraft "destroyed an ISIS command and control facility in a mosque in Safafiyah," a coalition statement read, using an alternate acronym for IS.
"ISIS continues to violate Law of Armed Conflict and misuse protected structures like hospitals and mosques, which cause a facility to lose its protected status," the statement added.
IS holdouts in Syria are mainly in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/18/2019
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
No excuses needed for bombing anything ISIS touches.
[Ynet] The United States on Wednesday rejected a Russian offer to save a landmark treaty that keeps nuclear missiles out of Europe ...also known as Moslem Lebensraum... because it could not be properly verified, setting the stage for Washington to withdraw from the pact next month.
After a meeting in Geneva between Russian and US officials, US Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Andrea Thompson said Moscow was refusing to allow proper inspection of a new Russian missile system that Washington says breaks the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF).
The INF treaty, negotiated by then-President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and ratified by the US Senate, eliminated the medium-range missile arsenals of the world's two biggest nuclear powers and reduced their ability to launch a nuclear strike at short notice.
The treaty bans land-based missiles with a range between 500 kms and 5,500 kms (300-3400 miles).
"We weren't able to break any new ground yesterday with Russia," Thompson said of the Jan. 15 meeting with Russian Foreign Ministry officials.
"Based on yesterday's discussions and corresponding rhetoric today, we see no indication that Russia would choose compliance," Thompson told news hounds.
#2
Let the European Union negotiate a treaty to keep nuclear missiles "out of Europe"... they have all of that Soft Power™ expertise they can unleash on the Russians. Let's buy more popcorn and sit back to watch the show.
[PRESSTV] The US Army is in the process of acquiring two batteries of the Israeli-made Iron Dome missile system, a new report suggests.
The army would use the missile systems to protect US ground forces overseas against unmanned air vehicles, mortars, rockets, artillery and cruise missiles, Inside Defense reported Wednesday.
The batteries will include 12 launchers, two sensors, two command centers and 240 interceptor missiles, the report said.
The Pentagon is said to be rushing the deal due to its "urgency" and plans to acquire the system’s Israeli-made radar as well because adjusting the system to American radars means its deployment would face delays.
The US military has already tested the system. In September 2017, Israel loaned the US an Iron Dome battery, which was flown to the missile range in White Sands, New Mexico.
The report suggested that Iron Dome was also significantly cheaper than similar American missile systems.
For example, a system based on the AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles cost the Pentagon around $12 million for each launcher and $800,000 for each interceptor missile while the Iron Dome would only cost $1.37 million for each launcher and$150,000 for each interceptor missile.
The US Army has been working with Israeli weapons maker Rafael to develop an American version of the interceptor system since 2017.
In order to integrate the missile system, the US military was going to invest $289.7 million in the missile system in the current fiscal year and another $83.8 million for the next fiscal year, Israeli media reported, citing US congressional documents.
In total, the US Army would spend $1.6 billion for Iron Dome's full integration until 2024, the report added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2019
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Top|| File under:
[Dhaka Tribune] Gillette, one of the leading men’s grooming companies of the world, is facing major backlash and split opinion online for their latest advert which references bullying, the #MeToo movement and toxic masculinity.
After the launch of the ad on Gillette’s official YouTube channel on January 13 it has been watched more than 3 million times. The same video was also simultaneously released on their official Facebook page and was watched more than 1.5 million times. The company's short ad film, titled "Believe," replaces their 30-year-old famous tagline "The best a man can get" with "The best men can be."
The company has declared it wants men to hold each other "accountable."
Some have praised the message behind the advertisement, which aims to update the company's slogan, but most netizens are claiming Gillette is "dead" to them.
A lot of them also asked Gillette, owned by Procter & Gamble (P&G), to post an apology video for their new campaign against toxic masculinity.
Even major public figures like Piers Morgan, renowned journalist and media personality, have said they will boycott Gillette because of the message of the new advert.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2019
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Top|| File under:
#1
Been using single blade for reasons having nothing to do with Gillete's pusillanimity for years
I also use single blade house brands. The only P&G products we use consistently are Charmin, Frebreze (oder eliminator) and Dawn (dishwashing liquid) and those only when they are on sale for less than the store brand (which happens a lot for some reason)
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/18/2019 6:46
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#3
also, P&G stock fell about 10% yesterday but likely will recover at least half that today based on pre market action
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/18/2019 6:49
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#4
Well I've been using II, and then they disappeared from the stores - to be replaced by III. When I got used to III, they stated replacing them by IV. I said several things in Russian and went back to I. Been using it ever since .
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/18/2019 7:02
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#8
The company has declared it wants men to hold each other "accountable."
This is of course BS. The company, like any company, wants to sell its products. They just think that they'll get a lot of free advertising when they cause a "shitstorm", that's all.
Nike made the same bet with Kaepernick.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/18/2019 7:09
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#9
Been using the Dollar Shave club for years. Nice razors for a really good price and no SJW bullshit.
And Nike’s sales went up as a result. Inner city blacks are a major segment of their customer base.
P&G stock fell about 10% yesterday but likely will recover at least half that today
I just looked at P&G’s stock price —91.62 at the moment. While it dropped slightly yesterday, it remains well within the recent range, which is at the high end of the historic range. We shall have to wait for the next quarterly report to see if this will have started to effect sales. I probably have six months of replacement blades in stock, so won’t be making any decisions until then — Mr. Wife is wearing a goatee at the moment, so we aren’t using them up quickly.
#13
Bic works for me when I bother shaving at all.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2019 14:40
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#14
And be sure to boycott all other P&G products as well. This morning I was happy to buy Speed Stick deodorant, NOT Old Spice. And I let P&G know about it.
Posted by: Tom ||
01/18/2019 15:55
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#15
#13 - Sorry Gloria. You have my sympathies
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/18/2019 19:59
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[Libya Observer] The 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 said in a statement on Thursday that it no longer obeys the orders of the Presidential Council and will do so only if the decisions are taken unanimously by all members.
The statement clarifies that the armed brigades, which operate under the Interior Ministry, won't follow orders from the PC, calling it a conflicting entity, asking for unity in taking decisions
"The nine members of the PC should approve orders until a president is elected in Libya." The statement reads.
It added that the force considers all what happens in Tripoli a mess and the PC must clarify its stance regarding the current unrest in the capital.
The Tripoli Protection Force accused some members at the PC, without naming them, of supporting war in Tripoli, condemning the appointment of the 7th Brigade by the Interior Minister to secure Tripoli International Airport, which they said violates al-Zawiya-hosted ceasefire last September.
Over 10 people have been killed and about 40 injured due to festivities in southern parts of the capital, the Health Ministry reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2019
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Top|| File under: Arab Spring
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Aljazeera] Sudanese police fired live ammunition at mourners outside the home of a protester who died early on Friday from a gunshot wound sustained the night before.
[FOX] An estimated 100,000 people are expected to gather in Washington, D.C., on Friday for the 45th March for Life, with President Trump reportedly sending a message of support via video.
[News24] The Irish Medical Journal recently published a case study of a 33-year-old man who injected himself with his own semen once a month to treat back pain.
[BBC] Germany is considering ways to block Huawei from its next generation mobile phone network, according to reports.
[France24] Colombia' s government declared three days of mourning Thursday after at least 21 people died in a car bomb at a Bogota police cadet training academy, and 68 were wounded -- the worst such incident in the city in 16 years.
[NYT] The internet expands the bounds of acceptable discourse, so ideas considered out of bounds not long ago now rocket toward widespread acceptability. See: cannabis legalization, government-run health care, white nationalism and, of course, the flat-earthers.
[Newsweek] Whistleblower Edward Snowden hit out at Central Intelligence Agency Director Gina Haspel on Thursday, questioning how the CIA chief was able to get "promoted" despite overseeing the country's torture program. 
[The Federalist] A senior Department of Justice official says he repeatedly and specifically told top officials at the FBI and DOJ about dossier author Christopher Steele’s bias and his employer Fusion GPS’ conflicts of interest, information they kept hidden from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. These conversations involved high-level officials, including some who are now senior officials in the special counsel probe. And the conversations began taking place in the earliest days of August 2016, much earlier than previously revealed to congressional investigators seeking to learn the facts about the FBI’s decision to spy on the Trump campaign.
Just an observation, but it wasn't too long ago when you never read about any of these people being referred to as.... "terminated sources."
[Free Beacon] The U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, is ending all projects in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Jan. 31 following the decision to cut funding to the Palestinians, according to a former USAID official.
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
[Rudaw] ERBIL, Kurdistan Region ‐ One person was killed and three others 
[IsraelTimes] Paleostinian terror group fighter killed while ’taking up a position’ in the border area between Israel and 
[KhaamaPress] Nearly 60 
[Libya Observer] The 
[PAGESIX] In an emotional sentencing of the man who killed Morgan Freeman’s granddaughter, the defendant’s family screamed that it was all the famed "Shawshank Redemption" actor’s fault, alleging that he sexually abused the victim when she was younger.
[PULSE.NG] The body of a "white man with gunshot wounds" has been found in a northern region of 
[PULSE.NG] A Dutch journalist based in 
... 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...
Michel Aoun
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
North Korea
[IsraelTimes] Police say they pursued the kidnappers after the incident, killing one and wounding two, but could not free the hostage
[PULSE.NG] An former mistress of Mexican crime boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman testified Thursday that the cartel leader lured her into a life as a 
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
[DAWN] A young man died after his head got stuck in an automatic door at the entrance to a five star hotel near 
[PRESSTV] Syrian Kurdish officials have 
[PRESSTV] A high-ranking leader of the Paleostinian 
[IsraelTimes] Airstrike comes day after four US soldiers killed in 
...also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
