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20 Islamic State militants killed in clashes with Iraqi forces in Hawija
Today's Headlines
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Home Front: Politix
Sexed up allegations of Russia’s US election meddling
[AsiaTimes] Anastasia Vashukevich - mistress of a Russian oligarch, author of a tell-all book and now detained in Thailand on sex charges - seeks asylum in US as a woman who knows too much.
Go to link for the crazy story.
Posted by: 3dc || 03/05/2018 23:45 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Culture Wars
Oscars TV Ratings Sets A Record - Potential All-Time Low!
Get woke, go broke, or something like that...
[Fortune Magazine] - Sunday night’s Academy Awards telecast dragged on for almost four hours and, in the end, Oscar voters picked few surprise winners. But, perhaps the least surprising result of the night was the fact that television ratings for Hollywood’s most glamorous evening continued their years-long decline.

Early numbers from media measurement service Nielsen show that the 90th Academy Awards may have been one of the lowest-rated Oscars ceremonies ever. Nielsen reported an 18.9 overnight household rating for Sunday’s Oscars broadcast, which marks a drop of 16% from the 22.4 rating produced by last year’s telecast. (Nielsen’s household ratings measure the percentage of homes in the company’s metered markets watching a specific program or event. Total viewership numbers for Sunday’s broadcast will be available later Monday afternoon.)
Posted by: Raj || 03/05/2018 14:01 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Really. The same crowd that watches "The View" and reads 6 month old copies of People Magazine in beauty shops is the entire audience.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/05/2018 15:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Just heard on the radio - total viewership was 29.6 million, or about 8.1% of the US population. Heh...
Posted by: Raj || 03/05/2018 16:38 Comments || Top||

#3  I watched a few minutes of it. The frontal and side boob exposure cheapens everything. This foto does her no justice, but I thought Sandra Bullock look very nice.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/05/2018 16:43 Comments || Top||

#4  Sandra Bullock kicks ass, and she, you and I know the Oscars have nothing to do with that fact.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/05/2018 16:49 Comments || Top||

#5  Meg Ryan and Bullock, two of my personal fav's.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/05/2018 16:52 Comments || Top||


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 11:46 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So there is kosher ham!
Posted by: gorb || 03/05/2018 13:01 Comments || Top||


Economy
This New Technology Could Transform The Oil Industry
[Oilprice.com] Across the world’s big energy markets, the energy war rages on. OPEC and U.S. producers have been competing for years, but it’s now clear who’s winning this fight.

American production of crude oil rose to an all-time high, surpassing 10 million bpd. In February, the International Energy Agency predicted that U.S. shale output could meet all new global demand, thanks to its "extraordinary growth."

In the battle for global market share, the U.S. is winning, as Saudi exports reach their lowest levels since the 1980s. As Saudi Arabia is forced to maintain costly production cuts, the United States has embraced an energy revolution.

OPEC cuts, led by the cartel’s leader Saudi Arabia, have propped up prices, but there’s no question how U.S. companies have come out on top.

By embracing new technologies, innovations in upstream and downstream, and achieving maximum efficiency, American companies on the shale patch and elsewhere have unlocked American energy potential.

But while shale has been the big story, it’s really just the beginning.

One little company is preparing to take U.S. energy to the next stage: unlocking oil trapped in U.S. oil sands for as little as $22/barrel and using blockchain-based supply-chain management to improve efficiency and cut out the middlemen.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/05/2018 08:09 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Advertisement
Posted by: Heriberto Omurong9441 || 03/05/2018 10:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Hmmm. I'll wait to see what ZeroHedge has to say about this.
Posted by: Thaick Sproing2064 || 03/05/2018 13:09 Comments || Top||

#3  What I'm looking toward is an encounter with the shitheads kind and caring people collecting for starving Saudi children. I've prepared by keeping a jar of 1 agora coins (the smallest coin in Israel nowadays is 10 agorot)
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/05/2018 14:07 Comments || Top||

#4  Innovation is always key but caution is advised. Every time you read "blockchain", replace with "BS".
Posted by: European Conservative || 03/05/2018 14:22 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Wait. How Did Kobe Bryant Win An Oscar?
[Daily Caller] Kobe Bryant Won an Oscar Sunday night for his part in the animated short "Dear Basketball," in one of the first examples of an American professional basketball player winning an Oscar.

"I’ve always been told that as basketball players the expectation is that you play. This is all you know. This is all you do. Don’t think about handling finances. Don’t think about going into business. Don’t think that you want to be a writer ‐ that’s cute." Bryant told Lakers Nation. "I got that a lot. What do you want to do when you retire?" Bryant said. "Well, I want to be a storyteller.’ That’s cute. This is ... a form of validation for people to look and say, ’OK, he really can do something other than dribble and shoot.'"

The short film is based off of a poem Bryant wrote to announce his retirement. Bryant has made the rounds in receiving prestigious awards from various organizations. The basketball star holds two Olympic gold medals, which can now stand beside his Oscar.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/05/2018 07:56 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336085 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Police Dash Cam videos should also be an awards category. Let's make it more inclusive, shall we ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/05/2018 8:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Next up? Nobel Peace Prize
Posted by: Frank G || 03/05/2018 10:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Best acting job by an anal rapist? You'd think he'd have more competition.

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al || 03/05/2018 11:30 Comments || Top||

#4  Accused rapist gets an oscar during the anti-rape oscar ceremony sends a confusing message about how serious Hollywood is.

Then again it clarifies the liberal pecking order a bit for the new generation. Blacks still rank higher than women.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 03/05/2018 11:53 Comments || Top||

#5  This is the guy who raped a woman, right? No wonder Hollywood gave him an award.
Posted by: Harcourt Angoluting9366 || 03/05/2018 11:56 Comments || Top||

#6  Was this the Roman Polanski category award?
Posted by: Thaick Sproing2064 || 03/05/2018 13:04 Comments || Top||

#7  No it wasn't the Polanski award, Kobe's victim was "of age". She was not a drug addled 13-year old like Roman's.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 03/05/2018 13:07 Comments || Top||

#8  Next up? Nobel Peace Prize

After what 0bumhole did to its reputation, why would he want that?
Posted by: gorb || 03/05/2018 13:29 Comments || Top||

#9  What about Space Jam?
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/05/2018 13:47 Comments || Top||

#10  Stephen A-hole Smith. As good a reason as you can get to change the channel...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/05/2018 16:46 Comments || Top||

#11  Stephen A-hole Smith. As good a reason as you can get to change the channel...
Posted by M. Murcek


Amen and amen! What an absolute piece of work.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/05/2018 16:49 Comments || Top||

#12  It's a lot like the participation awards for black kids. Gotta have those consolation prizes. Because racism.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 03/05/2018 18:00 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Time for the New Untouchables
[American Thinker] Our law-enforcement and intelligence agencies cannot be trusted to either enforce or observe the law. The now-departed James Comey and Peter Strzok at the FBI. Andrew Weissman and Jennie Rhee on Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel team. As yet undisclosed leakers at the NSA or CIA. These are just the tip of the iceberg.

The DC Swamp has become a criminal organization as widespread and deeply rooted as Capone’s in Chicago. The solution then was a hand-picked team of "Untouchables" operating outside of normal channels. We should follow that example now.

I know President Trump dislikes subordinates with any flair for the limelight. But, it seems to me that Rudy Giuliani, given his record against organized crime in New York City, should be appointed special counsel.

He could call upon former FBI agents and prosecutors from his anti-Mafia work to form an uncorrupted (and hopefully incorruptible) senior team with a brief to investigate the swamp as a network of criminal organizations not unlike the New York mob.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/05/2018 07:27 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/05/2018 7:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Sorry, I'm going with Goedel's Incompleteness Theorem. The system cannot describe itself. Or police itself, either...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/05/2018 16:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Sadly, I fear you may be correct Herr Murcek.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/05/2018 16:38 Comments || Top||

#4  Still rings true:

Half of the people have been very sure that if he were elected the country would come to an end, if the world did not. But we are inclined to believe that the Union will last a little longer, and that we shall have some good times yet, in time to come. It has been said that a “special Providence watches over children, drunkards, and the United States.” They make so many blunders, and yet live through them, it must be that they are cared for, for they take very little care of themselves. So we are disposed to trust Providence, and not to worry.


- . “Editor’s Drawer” column in the December 1856 issue of Harper’s New Monthly Magazine Volume 14.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 03/05/2018 17:01 Comments || Top||

#5  Besoeker, I can't but agree. How is the AG going to act when the IG report shows massive corruption? Send in SEALS?
Posted by: Blinky Unater1464 || 03/05/2018 17:05 Comments || Top||

#6  Judicial Watch is attempting to flip over the Bruce and Nellie Ohr rock. Story posted for tomorrow. I hope JW is successful, but I fear both of these lizzards are dirty, very dirty.

Nel's infatuation with Mother Russia and default to HAM radio communications is very telling.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/05/2018 17:25 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
NFL Scouting takes 'Virtue Signalling' into the End Zone with One Handed Tight End
[NYP] Shaquem Griffin wants to make history. His performance at the NFL Scouting Combine on Saturday was just a taste.

The Central Florida linebacker is looking to become the first one-handed player to be drafted into the league in the modern era. He won’t know for almost two months whether he will accomplish that goal, but he definitely made teams sit up and take notice with his combine performance.

Wearing a prosthetic attached to his left arm, Griffin did 20 reps on the bench press at 225 pounds, all to the loudest cheers of the day from a raucous crowd excited to witness the feat.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/05/2018 07:07 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Linebacker bench press tally
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/05/2018 7:40 Comments || Top||

#2  ...Well...if the guy can do it, let him try. IIRC there was a field goal kicker years ago who had half a right foot, and he did quite well.

If the guy works out, great - he's an example. If he doesn't, I hope the Usual Suspects(TM) won't come to the conclusion that he's being 'held back' simply because he has one hand.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 03/05/2018 11:59 Comments || Top||

#3  Griffin did 20 reps on the bench press at 225 pounds

Did anyone give him a hand?
Posted by: gorb || 03/05/2018 13:16 Comments || Top||

#4  If only he were also gay and dyslexic, we'd have a TV Movie
Posted by: Frank G || 03/05/2018 13:49 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Mark Levin's New Fox News Show Raises the Bar with Rep. Nunes Interview
[American Thinker] The entire program is essential viewing. Here are a few excerpts, as transcribed by the author:
Mark Levin: As chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, did the Obama administration spy on the Trump campaign?

Rep. Devin Nunes: I think it’s pretty clear, and average Americans understand, that that happened.

Levin: My argument to you, sir, is that this goes right to the top. The president [Obama] may not know all of the particulars but he had to know a hell of a lot from the public record and from his own people. What do you say?

Nunes: Well, it’s hard to believe that she [National Security Advisor and top Obama confidante Susan Rice] didn’t know that. The letter that she writes to herself on January 20th [2017], hours before the Trump administration comes into power, it doesn’t make any sense other than to say it must have been some type of way to justify whatever actions were taken or [to] cover something up. . .

Levin asked Nunes about the difficulty that his committee has encountered during the past year in getting information from the courts and the executive branch.
Nunes: This has been the challenge historically for the Congress. Once they create something [not in the Constitution, like the courts and the FBI], it’s hard to oversee it, it’s hard to shut it down, it’s hard to control it. What our committee has done, for the first time in a long time ‐ with the help of all of our members, on the Republican side at least ‐ who want to get to the bottom, to get to the truth. This is the first time in a long time when you've seen Congress really use our authority and use our power to go all the way to the courts to get information to try to rein in out-of-control bureaucracies. It should alarm people what it has taken for us to get to the bottom of this fiasco that’s occurred. . .

Nunes: The media in this country is dead. It no longer exists and the American people need to understand this. I don’t know where it’s going to all end ‐ if it’s dead forever ‐ but 90% of the media is far left wing, and they are totally reliant on getting clicks and playing to their base and to their owners to support what their owners want. .

Levin: We have what I call a Praetorian Guard media ‐ they’re going to protect the Obama administration no matter what that administration did or does. If the shoe were on the other foot ‐ if this were a Republican administration that did this to a Democratic candidate ‐ it would be the greatest scandal in American history.
It is apparent that Life, Liberty & Levin, which airs Sundays on Fox News at 10 P.M./E.T. and P.T., will be appointment viewing from now on, especially when Levin’s guest is a potential newsmaker like Devin Nunes.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/05/2018 06:52 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Superb format for genuinely in-depth discussions. First two shows have been excellent. Cautionary note to Mark. Try and keep the questions less convoluted and afford the guest more time to continue. Mark has to avoid launching into sermons when the specifics touch a hot button. He’s a brilliant man but ebullient.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 03/05/2018 10:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Levin doesn't have much patience with those whom he considers fools on his radio program. I'll check out these recent Fox shows.

I get tired of faux so-called "fair and balanced" Fox debates that usually result in people on the left shouting down the other side or dominating all the available time. You end up learning very little about important issues and the debates are short on facts, ideas, or solutions to important problems. The MSM cable news programs are even worse.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/05/2018 11:27 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Jeff Sessions -- Ninja or Nincompoop?
[American Thinker] Conventional wisdom, as shaped by the mainstream media, is becoming more and more schizophrenic. President Trump is a Russian stooge, doing Putin’s bidding, yet he is reigniting the cold war via new Russian sanctions. His White House is in chaos, yet the left is apoplectic over his barrage of policy initiatives. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is shooting blanks and at the same time is circling the Oval Office, ready to pounce and indict.

Then there is Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Lurking in the weeds, moving with stealth and deception like a ninja. Or playing Rip Van Winkle, taking a nap, ignoring the waves of corruption engulfing the DOJ and FBI. Which is it?

Let’s look at the latter scenario first. That Jeff Sessions, in the view of his boss, is Mr. Magoo. Trump also described Sessions as "beleaguered." Now almost 14 months into the Trump presidency, the evidence of massive corruption in the Obama DOJ and FBI is piling up. As outlined on these and other pages, the Obama administration attempted to prevent Trump’s election. Having failed, it began a new effort to undermine and destroy his presidency via illegal wiretaps, leaks, misleading the FISA court, and pushing the bogus Russian collusion narrative.

Trump tweeted his displeasure with his AG and the OIG, publicly criticizing their lack of action and political bias.

Each week reveals new revelations. The latest being FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe leaking investigation details to journalists, all without consequence or accountability, while Michael Flynn is indicted for misstating a minor detail to the FBI.

It’s not only Trump noticing Session’s ineptitude. Fox Business host Lou Dobbs tweeted, "Sessions has fallen ill, he's incapacitated in some fashion, or he's been coopted or captured: to preserve any dignity, for the good of the country he needs to resign." This after when Sessions was questioned by House investigators, he constantly deferred to his deputy, Rod Rosenstein. The same Rosenstein who approved FISA warrant requests to spy on Carter Page, and by extension, the Trump campaign.

GOP Rep Matt Gaetz, in the thick of the House investigation also weighed in, saying, "If Jeff Sessions does not appoint a second special counsel, then we need a new Attorney General." Gaetz is concerned that even if the OIG or Congress finds evidence of wrongdoing, it’s the DOJ that will need to do the prosecuting. Congress does not have that power and all evidence points to sleepy Jeff Sessions oblivious to the corruption in his own agency.

Other members of Congress, such as Trump supporters Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows have called on Sessions to resign, saying that, "By recusing himself from the FBI’s investigation into Russia’s alleged interference in the United States election, Sessions has lost control, allowing for a leaky and unnecessarily overdrawn, partisan investigation."

All painting the picture of an inept Mr. Magoo as Attorney General, letting the lunatics run the asylum, doing a grave disservice to his president and the country.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/05/2018 06:42 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336081 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Alternatively, by recusing himself from the early action, if there really is a demonstrable chinese wall, he can bring the hammer to the close.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/05/2018 8:03 Comments || Top||

#2  One vote here for nincompoop.
Posted by: Raj || 03/05/2018 9:35 Comments || Top||

#3  It's almost as if someone has something on him...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 03/05/2018 10:04 Comments || Top||

#4  Sorry, his longstanding UniParty membership makes him suspect. I hope I am wrong.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/05/2018 10:12 Comments || Top||

#5  Trump: Hay Jeff, I need you to investigate the Dems and the FBI.
Jeff: That will cause a storm and I'll look like a partisan hack.
Trump: Your right, announce the investigation and I will criticize you for it. They will think we are fighting and support your investigation.
Jeff: Brilliant boss, consider it done.
Trump: See you in Fla for dinner! The news follies will be fun....
Posted by: 49 Pan || 03/05/2018 10:31 Comments || Top||

#6  #5 I have to believe that something like that is going on. DOJ has the facts and the AG seems in no hurry to lay down his cards.
Posted by: Blinky Unater1464 || 03/05/2018 10:58 Comments || Top||

#7  I'll vote for 49 Pan's version. We will see what the DOJ IG's report says and what the reaction is to it. Should give a better idea about whether Sessions is a Ninja or Nincompoop.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/05/2018 11:32 Comments || Top||

#8  49 Pan most likely has it right
Posted by: 746 || 03/05/2018 11:40 Comments || Top||

#9  He recused himself from the Russian conspiracy investigation. He's a nincompoop.
Posted by: gorb || 03/05/2018 13:31 Comments || Top||

#10  considering his only accomplishment thus far is a questionable recursal.

Has the top cop put any one in prison? In front of a grand jury? Under oath? it is as if Obama is still his boss. So he is neither a Ninja or Nincompoop; he is a Nightmare Neerdowell.

I would be interested in someone walking into his office and seeing what cases he has on desk and reporting back.
Posted by: airandee || 03/05/2018 14:58 Comments || Top||

#11  I do hope that AG Jeff Sessions and President Trump are playing the long game, though I feel very uncomfortable about how things have gone so far.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 03/05/2018 15:09 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Texas sets early voting record in nonpresidential year
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/05/2018 01:05 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336081 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Absentee Ballots are the easiest ones to cheat on.
Posted by: Ulaigum Ebbineng7056 || 03/05/2018 3:21 Comments || Top||

#2  According to Yahoo, on the Republican side in this primary it’s about being a Trump guy.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/05/2018 11:16 Comments || Top||

#3  Texas sets early voting record in nonpresidential year

Overall, or just the illegal voter category?
Posted by: gorb || 03/05/2018 13:17 Comments || Top||

#4  Mind you, this is just the primary, to see who gets into the election.
The real bloodletting starts afterwards...
Posted by: ed in texas || 03/05/2018 15:31 Comments || Top||

#5  “If you want to compare Democratic turnout to Democratic turnout, it is climbing exponentially this year,” Ed Espinoza, the executive director of the Democratic-leaning Progress Texas, told The Hill. “You can’t underestimate the surge that we’re seeing out there with the blue wave coming."

In their dreams/delusions. I hope...
Posted by: Bobby || 03/05/2018 18:09 Comments || Top||

#6  Yeah, 2, 4, 8, I suppose exponential technically applies.
Posted by: ed in texas || 03/05/2018 19:41 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
$15bn diamond scandal: Zim parliament to summon Mugabe?
[News24] Salisbury Harare - A member of parliament in Zimbabwe says he wants parliament to summon former president Robert Mugabe to explain where $15 billion worth of diamond revenue went to during his rule.

Temba Mliswa, a former ruling party MP turned independent, chairs a parliamentary committee on mines that has been probing diamond mining in Zimbabwe’s once-booming eastern Chiadzwa diamond fields.

Grace links?

Two years ago Mugabe told state TV that the country had earned less than $2 billion from its diamonds - but an estimated $15 billion worth had been mined. The former president’s wife Grace was at one time rumoured to be linked to one of the main diamond firms operating in Chiadzwa, though the association was never proven.

Mliswa also said Mugabe would be grilled on why his government chose to evict firms from the diamond fields to make way for a state-run diamond firm in February 2016.

'Investors were putting in the money'

"If we have to bring the former president before us, he will come so that he tells us where he got the 15 billion-dollar figure, why the government took over diamond mines yet investors were putting money," Mliswa was quoted as saying by online news site, New Zimbabwe.

"We never saw that money in the fiscus," the MP added.

Mugabe was persuaded to step down after the military put him under house arrest in November 2017. There’s no guarantee he would agree to appear before the committee.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/05/2018 00:28 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "If we have to bring the former president before us, he will come so that he tells us where he got the 15 billion-dollar figure, why the government took over diamond mines yet investors were putting money,"

An international rare gems and minerals court? Since no one else appears to have any interest, I wonder if they've got time to also question the Clinton's.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/05/2018 6:23 Comments || Top||

#2  to explain where $15 billion worth of diamond revenue went to during his rule.

...Does the word 'Zurich' have any significance to you?

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 03/05/2018 6:44 Comments || Top||

#3  ...but he was just saying the other day he and Grace need their "benefits." Savin' be hard...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/05/2018 10:49 Comments || Top||

#4  "Hey! $13 billion doesn't go as far in retirement as you'd think. I'm 93. I've gotta think about our future"
Posted by: Frank G || 03/05/2018 13:21 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Maxine Waters promises reparations in ‘stump speech for 2020'
[American Mirror] If Democrats win back the House in 2018, Maxine Waters is promising financial reparations for black Americans.
They’d need a big enough margin to override President Trump’s veto...
During an appearance in Selma, Alabama on Saturday, Waters appeared alongside CNN commentator Angela Rye. Waters took her time to ‐ what else ‐ attack President Trump, criticizing him for his alleged connections to Russia.

"He’s a bully ‐ he has a bully mentality," Waters said of Trump.

"We need someone in the presidency who not only has good sense but understands diplomacy and understands what we need to do to have peace in this world so we can all look forward to the possibility that we’re someday going to have a world that’s about peace and justice and respect for individual liberty," Water said.

"Is that your stump speech for 2020?" Rye asked.

As Waters laughed and the crowd applauded, Rye continued, "Is she running? Is she running?"

Waters didn’t answer.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/05/2018 00:05 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336088 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Diarrhea runs too
Posted by: Frank G || 03/05/2018 7:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Free Stuff, Free Stuff, Free Stuff(tm)
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/05/2018 9:08 Comments || Top||

#3  respect for individual liberty,

There is no Democrat today that even has the slightest clue what that is.

Individual freedom is antithetical to the fascist state that the proggie, left, Democrap party stands for.
Posted by: AlanC || 03/05/2018 9:38 Comments || Top||

#4  Maxi needs a maxi.

Didn't she get all upset because of a jest Trump made at the gridiron dinner that she should take a IQ test - she even called it" RACIST!!!!!!". (with the exclamation marks and everything...).
I'd say his little jest hit very close to home.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 03/05/2018 10:00 Comments || Top||

#5  Diarrhea runs too

What did diarrhea ever do to deserve that comparison?
Posted by: gorb || 03/05/2018 13:34 Comments || Top||

#6  For some reason i read the word in the title as "repatriations".
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/05/2018 14:09 Comments || Top||

#7  Swamp water sits stagnant and shallow;
Incompetent Democrats wallow.
Compared to such critters,
Dimwitted and bitter,
A Trump could be Phoebus Apollo.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 03/05/2018 14:46 Comments || Top||

#8  Maxi needs a maxi

Reminds me of an old joke. See if you can guess the setup from the punch line.

"My flo? It linoleum! What that got to do with it?"
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/05/2018 15:30 Comments || Top||

#9  Go for it, but only take them from the parties at fault. Mainly the democrat party only.
Posted by: newc || 03/05/2018 16:22 Comments || Top||


How a Texas House primary erupted into a full-blown Democratic war
[CNN] Central to the DCCC's case against Moser is a 2014 Washingtonian article in which she wrote that she'd "sooner have my teeth pulled out without anesthesia" than live in Paris, Texas. The committee feared the article was ready-made for scathing attack ads casting Moser as a DC-loving, Texas-loathing carpetbagger -- the kind that her campaign might never be able to overcome. Attorney Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, nonprofit executive Alex Triantaphyllis and oncologist Jason Westin are others seen as leading candidates.

"Democratic voters need to hear that Laura Moser is not going to change Washington. She is a Washington insider, who begrudgingly moved to Houston to run for Congress," the DCCC said on its website as it posted a bundle of research critical of Moser.

But progressive activists were incensed to see the DCCC -- which has long been accused of recruiting too many moderate, milquetoast candidates and weighing fundraising potential too heavily in deciding who to back -- weigh in with such a heavy hand less than three weeks from the March 6 contest.

Our Revolution, the political organization that controls Bernie Sanders
...The only openly Socialist member of the U.S. Senate. Sanders was Representative-for-Life from Vermont until moving to the Senate for the rest of his life in 2006, assuming the seat vacated by Jim Jeffords. He ran for the 2016 nomination for president, to be cheated by Hillary, then went back to being a socialist...
' massive email list, endorsed Moser on Thursday.

"The DCCC's ridiculous attacks on Laura Moser are why Democrats nationally have lost over 1,100 seats," said Jim Hightower, an Our Revolution board member. "The people of Texas should be allowed to make their own decisions on who to vote for without the influence of Washington insiders."

Our Revolution, along with two other progressive groups, Justice Democrats and CREDO, have also launched a petition aimed at DCCC chairman Ben Ray Luján, telling him to "stop attacking progressives in the Democratic Party."

DNC Chairman Tom Perez, who has said the national party will remain neutral in primaries, also took a shot at the DCCC.

"I wouldn't have done it," Perez said on C-SPAN's "Newsmakers" on Friday.

"I would have done it differently," he added. "I think the DCCC has the ability to endorse in primaries, and they do that from time to time. But again, I would have done it differently."

Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336079 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Guatemala president tells AIPAC he’ll move embassy to Jerusalem in May
[IsraelTimes] President Morales promises 18,000 pro-Israel advocates he'll relocate his embassy to holy city two days after the US does, for Israel's 70th birthday

Guatemala’s president told the AIPAC Policy Conference on Sunday night that he will move his country’s embassy to Jerusalem in May, and that the relocation will take place two days after the United States moves its embassy to the holy city, to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel’s founding.

"In May of this year, we will celebrate Israel’s 70th anniversary, and under my instructions two days after the US will move its embassy, Guatemala will return and permanently move its embassy to Jerusalem," President Jimmy Morales told a crowd of more than 18,000 gathered in the nation’s capital for the annual confab.

"This decision strongly evidences Guatemala’s continued support of Israel," he went on. "And we are sure that many other countries will follow in our steps."

In 1959, Guatemala was the first country to open its embassy in Jerusalem, but later moved it to Tel Aviv following international rejection of Israeli claims to East Jerusalem.

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...
bucked decades of US foreign policy by formally recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last December and setting in motion plans to move the US embassy there from Tel Aviv. Earlier this month, the US said the move would take place to coincide with Israel’s 70th birthday.

Morales said on Sunday night that Trump’s decision was an impetus for his. "I would like to thank President Trump for leading the way," he said. "His courageous decision has encouraged us to do what is right."

The Paleostinians fumed over Trump’s move. Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
and other Paleostinian officials have refused to meet with members of the Trump administration since, including Vice President Mike Pence when he visited the region in January.

Guatemala was the first nation after the US to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, on December 24, 2017.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under:


Bangladesh
Renowned Bangla writer stabbed at seminar
[DAWN] One of Bangladesh’s top writers was stabbed in the back of the head during a seminar in the northern city of Sylhet on Saturday, police said, the latest in a series of attacks on authors and bloggers.

Police said Zafar Iqbal, a celebrated secular activist and bestselling science fiction writer, was rushed to hospital in Sylhet after the attack. "He was hit on the back of his head and he was bleeding," a police constable posted at the hospital said, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
Abdul Wahab, a front man for the Sylhet city police, confirmed the incident, saying police suspect he was attacked with a knife. "He was in a seminar when he was stabbed on the back of his head. His gunman caught an attacker," he said, referring to Iqbal’s police guard.

Bangladesh’s government has provided security for the country’s top secular writers and activists since suspected violent turbans named them in a several lists of targets.

Police do not know how many people were involved in the attack nor whether they belonged to any Death Eater groups, he said. "He has been taken to the operating theatre," he said, adding he would be flown to a military hospital in Dhaka for better treatment.

Iqbal, who teaches at a state-run university in Sylhet, is a long-standing a champion of free speech and secularism in Bang­ladesh. He is also a top selling author and celebrity spea­ker who regularly appears at university campuses nationwide.

The attack was swiftly condemned by protesters in Dhaka and Sylhet.

"It is an ominous sign. He is a guardian of progressive movement in Bangladesh. His attack is an attack against progressive Bangladesh," said Imran Sarker, head of one of the top secular groups.

"He was in the hit-list by holy warrior and other groups in the past. The government can’t avoid its responsibility," he said.

Prime Minister the loathesome Sheikh Hasina
...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums..
strongly condemned the attack and ordered security forces to track down the culprits, her press secretary Ihsanul Karim said.

Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under: Salafists

#1  Told him, and told him, and told him: "Let this thing with present perfect continuous go!", but no - he knows best.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/05/2018 5:52 Comments || Top||

#2  a celebrated secular activist and bestselling science fiction writer...in Urdu.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/05/2018 7:32 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Boko Haram Attack Halts Aid in Remote Nigerian Town
[AnNahar] Humanitarian work has been suspended until next weekend in a remote town in northeast Nigeria
... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border...
after a 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...
attack killed three aid workers, the UN said on Saturday.

The attack happened on Thursday evening in Rann, near the border with 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...
, where nearly 80,000 people depend on emergency food aid and medical care.

At least one other aid worker was critically injured and another three were missing. Eight Nigerian soldiers were also killed.

A UN spokeswoman in Abuja, Samantha Newport, told AFP: "Operations in Rann were temporarily suspended for one week from yesterday morning (Friday).

"Yesterday, we evacuated 52 aid workers and the three deceased, in addition to 300 kilos (661 lbs) of medical supplies that were going to go bad."

The aid workers are not believed to have been specifically targeted but were caught up in an attack on the military.

Those killed were Nigerians working for the International Organization for Migration and the UN children's fund Unicef. The injured and missing are also locals.

Newport said an assessment would be conducted in the coming days about damage caused to facilities used in the relief effort, as well as security.

But she said there would be "extremely minimal impact" on people in Rann, where 55,000 people displaced by the Boko Haram conflict are housed in a camp.

Operations elsewhere in the region were also continuing as normal, she added.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which has worked in Rann since January 2017, announced on Friday it had suspended medical activities and withdrawn 22 staff.

It said it would return "as soon as the conditions allow".
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336082 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram (ISIS)


Bangladesh
‘I attacked Zafar Iqbal because he is an enemy of Islam’
[Dhaka Tribune] Foyzur Rahman Faizul, who stabbed noted author Dr Zafar Iqbal at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST), has confessed that he deems the professor an enemy of Islam.

While talking to news hounds on Saturday night, RAB 9 Chief Lt Col Ali Haidar Azad said: "During the interrogation, Faizul told us that he attacked Prof Zafar Iqbal because the professor was an enemy of Islam."

"The assailant has been admitted to a hospital. During initial investigation, he provided us with contradictory statements. We are yet to determine whether Faizul is a member of a terror group," Ali Haidar of Rapid Action Battalion said.

He said: "More details will be unearthed as we carry out further investigation regarding the attack on Zafar Iqbal."

Zafar Iqbal was speaking at a two-day long fair organized by the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering when he was stabbed in the back of his head by an assailant armed with a knife on Saturday.

The attack occurred around 5:40pm. The attacker, a youth identified as Foizur, was immediately taken down and detained by authorities after a severe thrashing.

Zafar was taken to Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College after the attack afternoon.

Also Read- ISPR: Zafar Iqbal out of danger

From there he was taken by an air force ambulance to the air force’s Tejgaon air field in Dhaka, and then taken to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH).

A team of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit (CTTC) is in Sylhet to interrogate the attacker.

According to CTTC sources, investigation is being conducted taking into consideration the numerous threats Zafar Iqbal received from hard boy groups over the past few years.

Attack on Zafar Iqbal: Who is Faizul?

[Dhaka Tribune] Foyzur Rahman Faizul, who stabbed noted author Zafar Iqbal at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST), was a madrasa student and had abandoned his studies to sell clothes on the streets.

According to sources, Faizul gave up his studies four years ago, and started selling clothes in 2016. He traded at Kaliyarkapon Bazar under Derai upazila of Sunamganj.

Locals, preferring to be anonymous, revealed that Faizul was ejected from a local mosque for arguing about the teachings of Islam around that time.

Faizul’s father- Hafiz Atiqur Rahman is a teacher at Jameya Makhlisia Madrasa situated in the outskirts of Sylhet. Faizul has four other siblings.

The youth used to live with his family in their own home in Sheikhpara area of Sylhet. He left his home after being ejected from the local mosque.

Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury, a local villager, told the Dhaka Tribune: "Faizul used to visit Kaliyarkapon village quite often and sold clothes around the neighbourhood. However,
nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits...
we have not seen him for the past two years. He was a student at the Dhol Madrasa at the village.

"Faizul’s maternal uncle Zahar Mia was also taken out from a mosque for arguing about Islam. Zahar currently lives in Kuwait. He followed the footsteps of his uncle and tried to establish his interpretation of Islam into the mosque, but faced stiff resistance from the local mosque-goers."

Following the attack on Zafar Iqbal, Faizul’s family members locked up their residence and fled the neighbourhood around 9pm on Saturday.

Before leaving their home, the family told their neighbours that they are visiting the hospital.

Law enforcers soon conducted a raid at Faizul’s home but are yet to track down the family.

Faizul is currently undergoing treatment at the Sylhet CMH. Meanwhile,
...back at the revival hall, the SWAT team had finally arrived...
a statement released by the Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR) has confirmed that Prof Muhammed Zafar Iqbal is currently out of danger at the Dhaka CMH.
This article starring:
Foyzur Rahman Faizul
HAFIZ ATIQUR RAHMANJameya Makhlisia Madrasa
ZAHAR MIAJameya Makhlisia Madrasa
Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336081 views] Top|| File under: Salafists


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran defends right to missiles after France warns of possible sanctions
[RT] Iran must negotiate over its missile program or risk new sanctions, La Belle France has warned. The French foreign minister arrives in Tehran on Monday for high-level talks ‐ but the Iranians say their missiles aren’t Gay Paree’ business.

"There are ballistic programs of missiles that can reach several thousand kilometers which are not compatible with UN Security Council resolutions, and exceed the sole need of defending Iran’s borders," French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told local press ahead of his scheduled trip to Tehran. "If not tackled head on, this country risks new sanctions."
Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Bangladesh
PM: Zafar Iqbal’s attackers are fanatics
[Dhaka Tribune] Prime Minister the loathesome Sheikh Hasina
...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums..
has termed "fanatics" the attackers of Muhammad Zafar Iqbal and urged all to keep their children away from militancy, terrorism and drug abuse.

"Those who are committing these crimes are fanatics...we earlier decided not to allow terrorism and militancy in Bangladesh, we are conducting drives against drug abuse as well," she said on Sunday.

Sheikh Hasina made the statement while distributing Bangabandhu Fellowship, National Science and Technology (NST) Fellowship and research donations among students and researchers for 2017-2018 sessions at a function at Osmani Memorial Auditorium.

She said the government wants the peaceful atmosphere to prevail in all educational institutions of the country.

"Yesterday [Saturday], an unwanted incident took place at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology campus where Dr Muhammad Zafar Iqbal came under attack. I asked the Air Force to bring him to Dhaka and admit him to the CMH for his better treatment. His condition is stable [now]," she said.

A young man, aged around 24-25, swooped on Prof Zafar Iqbal around 5:40pm on Saturday while he was delivering his speech on the closing day of a two-day celebration program of the Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) department at Mukta Mancha.

The prime minister wanted to know who these people are. "We want to make the country free from militancy, terrorism and drug abuse."
Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under: Salafists


Afghanistan
US, Afghan leaders agree on peace push, Taliban don’t
[ARABNEWS] Despite US support, the Afghan government’s surprising new peace offer to the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
is immediately running into a wall. The snuffies show no sign of shifting from their demand that talks for a conflict-ending compromise take place with Washington, not Kabul.

The impasse is blocking a diplomatic path out of America’s longest-running war and could prove as fateful as fortunes on the battlefield.

The Trump administration says it’s escalating pressure on the Taliban to advance a negotiated solution to the fighting. But diplomacy is a distant second to military efforts right now, and the US isn’t offering carrots of its own to persuade the snuffies to lay down their arms.

Laurel Miller, who until last June was a senior American diplomat for Afghanistan and Pakistain, said the US should be clearer about what it’s willing to negotiate on, including when it might start pulling forces from Afghanistan. "That could set the stage for talks," she said.

Such a timetable seems a remote prospect, and 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...
has consistently railed against the idea of telling the enemy when the US might leave. The US involvement in the Afghan conflict is now in its 17th year, and 10,000 Afghan non-combatants were killed or maimed in 2017 alone. All sides are hung up on even the format for potential negotiations. The B.O. regime’s peace push, which relied heavily on Afghanistan’s neighbor Pakistain, floundered in 2015.

Afghanistan's Caped President Ashraf Ghani
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
’s new effort, announced at an international conference in Kabul this past week, includes incentives for snuffies that join negotiations and enter the political mainstream. The government would provide passports and visas to Taliban members and their families, and work to remove sanctions against Taliban leaders, he said. The group could set up an office.

Alice Wells, America’s top diplomat for South Asia, endorsed the overture and said the "onus" was on the Taliban to demonstrate they’re ready to talk, "not to me or the United States, but to the sovereign and legitimate government and people of Afghanistan."
Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


The Grand Turk
Turkish female-only news site fights ‘terror propaganda’ ban
[ARABNEWS] A news website in the Kurdish-majority Ottoman Turkish city of Diyarbakir, staffed only by women, has been repeatedly shut down by the authorities over alleged terror propaganda but it is refusing to give up the fight to publish.

Jin News Agency, from the Kurdish word for woman "Jin," focuses on Kurdish and women’s issues and publishes in Kurdish, Ottoman Turkish, Arabic and English.

Written for women, it is run by a female-only team from the accountant to the photographer, and editors to camerawomen.

The agency, set up in 2012, has come under pressure from the Ottoman Turkish authorities who have closed it twice and shut off access to the agency seven times.

Ottoman Turkish authorities accuse the agency of making "terror propaganda" for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged an insurgency against The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire....
since 1984.

The PKK is proscribed as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies and since the breakdown of a cease-fire in 2015 Turkey has launched a relentless crackdown against the group.

The crackdown has been wide, with media seen as sympathetic to the PKK finding themselves in the crosshairs of the authorities.

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...
has argued there is no difference between a "terrorist holding a gun or a bomb or those who use their pen to serve their aims."

Turkey stepped up the campaign after the failed July 2016 coup attempt, with dozens of media outlets accused of links to putschists and the PKK closed down.

There are currently six legal cases against Jin News Agency accusing it of "terror propaganda."

Its website is blocked in Turkey.

The agency rejects the accusations and says that the issue is one of press freedom.

It is continuing to publish news but the articles can only be read on social media and accessible via Virtual Private Networks (VPN).

Camerawoman Beritan Elyakut, based in Diyarbakir and working for the agency for five years, complained the website was unable to "reach the outside world."

"What else can we do?" she added as she filmed a story ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, saying the website used six different domain names "but closures continued uninterrupted."

The latest website domain, jinnews7.com, was blocked in Turkey on February 22 after AFP spoke to Elyakut.

The website, funded by subsriptions, tackles topics that are off limits for Ottoman Turkish media, including the fate of Abdullah Ocalan the PKK leader locked away
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
for life by Turkey for terror offenses.

It has offered its critical take on Turkey’s offensive against Kurdish militia in Syria and has also written about the disappearance in Iraq last year of two Ottoman Turkish agents.

Critics say that the government has widened the definition of "terror propaganda" to an absurd width. But officials insist the measures are needed with the country fighting multiple terror groups.

After the the news site was shut down the first time, the women journalists renamed the agency "Sujin" meaning "packing needle" in Kurdish.

But in August 2017, Sujin was shut down by another emergency decree and they then renamed themselves Jin News.

While it once had 60 journalists in text, photo and video working for the agency across the country including Istanbul, Ankara and the Aegean city of Izmir, this has now fallen to 25. Eight women work in the Diyarbakir office but most work from home.

"Women are persecuted, and as a women’s news agency we must show this," said Safiye Alagas, a photographer who has been working with the agency for six years, adding that it had "become a target" as a result.

Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Iraq
Two citizens injured in eastern Baghdad bomb blast
Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) – Two citizens were injured Sunday in a bomb blast in eastern Baghdad, a security source was quoted as saying.

Speaking to Alghad Press news website, the source said, “An explosive charge went off near a workshop at Sadr City in eastern Baghdad, leaving two citizens wounded,” the source said.

“Ambulances rushed to the blast site and carried the injured to a nearby hospital for treatment,” the source added.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336074 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria Regime Retakes Quarter of Rebel Enclave, Rebels Impose Curfew
[AnNahar] Syria's regime has seized control of over a quarter of rebel-held Eastern Ghouta on the edge of Damascus after two weeks of devastating bombardment, sending hundreds of civilians into flight, a monitor said Sunday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said regime forces had advanced to three kilometers (two miles) from Douma, the main town, after retaking "more than 25 percent" of Eastern Ghouta, in operations mostly through farmlands.

The government's advance into the last major opposition enclave near the capital, on the back of 15 days of air strikes, artillery fire and rocket attacks that are reported to have left more than 640 civilians dead, sent hundreds of residents into flight to western parts of the enclave.

The source said government forces seized a number of districts including al-Nashabiyeh and Otaya, and had "eradicated terrorist groups" on the eastern outskirts of Damascus.

They have reached the center of the enclave, to the edge of Beit Sawa, according to the Observatory.

After advances in recent days that saw the regime seize control of 10 percent of Eastern Ghouta, rebel fighters clashed with regime forces on Sunday in the eastern part of the enclave, the Observatory said.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britannia-based monitoring group, said at least 12 regime fighters had been killed in two areas, al-Rihan and Shifoniya, in overnight festivities with the Jaish al-Islam
...Liwa al-Islam (Brigade of Islam) was established by Zahran Alloush, the son of Saudi-based religious scholar Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, after Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011 where he had been serving time for his Salafist activism. The group claimed responsibility for carrying out the July 2012 Damascus bombing that killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani. It was a driving force behind actions in the Damascus region. It cooperated and conducted joint operations with al-Nusra. In Sptember 2013 Saudi Arabia engineered Liwa al-Islam's merger with fifty other more or less Salafist groups as a counterweight to al-Nusra, which the Learned Elders of Islam considered was growing too powereful...
rebel group.

Jaish al-Islam shares control of rebel-held parts of Eastern Ghouta with Faylaq al-Rahman and Ahrar al-Sham
...a Syria jihadi group made up of Islamists and salafists, not that there's that much difference, formed into a brigade. They make up the main element of the Islamic Front but they don't profess adoration of al-Qaeda and they've been fighting (mainly for survival) against the Islamic State. Their leadership was wiped out at a single blow by a suicide kaboom at a crowded basement meeting in September, 2014...
. Damascus and Moscow say they are trying to clear the area of "terrorists."

Hamza Bayraqdar, a front man for Jaish al-Islam, said on Twitter that the group's forces had launched "surprise attacks" against regime positions.

The Observatory, which relies on a network of sources on the ground, said rebels had retaken some parts of Shifoniya.

An AFP correspondent inside Eastern Ghouta saw hundreds of civilians on Sunday fleeing from the town of Beit Sawa in the southeast of the enclave.

The Observatory said some 2,000 civilians had fled regime shelling and festivities in eastern areas to western parts of the enclave.

Militants impose curfew in E. Ghouta, publicly punish civilians for violations -- Russian MoD

[RT] Civilians in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta are being severely punished by forces of Evil in public if they break a curfew, which was introduced to prevent them from escaping the embattled area, the Russian Defense Ministry has said.

Militants controlling the Damascus suburb have shelled a medical aid point and continuously open fire at a checkpoint in the area, Major General Vladimir Zolotukhin, a front man for the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria, told news hounds on Sunday.

"At 12:50 [10:50 GMT] the forces of Evil from western suburbs of the Er-Rikhan settlement shelled a medical aid point. Six mortar shells went kaboom! at a distance of 200-400 meters in the west," Zolotukhin said. He added that no one was injured in the attacks, unlike yesterday’s assault at the humanitarian corridor, which left three civilians maimed.

Apart from constantly attacking the corridor, forces of Evil have also introduced a curfew to coincide with the daily five-hour humanitarian pauses to prevent civilians from fleeing. They have also prohibited people from holding any public gatherings, according to the official.

"Civilians violating the rules established by the forces of Evil are severely punished in public," the general said, referring to information obtained earlier by the reconciliation center.

The Russian military has previously reported that the civilian population was being used as "human shield" by the terrorists. On Sunday, Zolotukhin said that they "hide behind the backs of the elderly, women and kiddies" while boosting their positions inside civilian infrastructure.

On Saturday, the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria warned of possible plot to sabotage the UN aid delivery to Eastern Ghouta, while people are being deprived of food and supplies. The UN convoy was scheduled to carry life-saving supplies to the embattled area on Sunday, but the delivery was postponed. "The convoy to East Ghouta is not able to proceed today," a UN official said, as cited by Rooters.

The area has seen a wave of festivities between Syrian government forces and various myrmidon groups, including Islamist factions. In February, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution proposing a 30-day humanitarian ceasefire in Syria, which does not apply to members of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(IS, formerly ISIS), 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 .. ...
Front or any other terrorist organizations.

Just two children have managed to leave Syria's Eastern Ghouta since the introduction of the daily pause on February 27, which lasts from 9am until 2pm local time.

"The 30-day ceasefire regime by [the UN] Resolution 2401 on Syrian territory is constantly violated by illegal gangs in the provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Damascus and the Eastern Ghouta," the Russian Defence Ministry said.

Assad: Ghouta op against terrorists will continue in parallel with helping civilians escape

[RT] The Syrian leader vowed to continue the operation in eastern Ghouta, underlining its importance in the fight against terrorism. He said that it would be conducted in parallel with work on allowing civilians to leave the area.

"We will continue to fight terrorism... And the Ghouta operation is a continuation of the fight against terrorism," Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Scourge of Qusayr...
said in broadcast comments to journalists. "There is no contradiction between a truce and combat operations. The progress achieved yesterday and the day before in Ghouta by the Syrian Arab Army was made during this truce."

"Therefore we must continue with the operation in parallel with opening the way for civilians to leave." An "overwhelming majority" of the civilian population in eastern Ghouta "wants to break out from terrorists’ hands," Assad said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336076 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Europe
Hand Grenades and Gang Violence Rattle Sweden’s Middle Class
[NYTimes]
When they are good, there’s none better. In this case, they report on the problems the Moslem colonists have been causing in Sweden, and they don’t soften it in the slightest. Go read the whole thing, and bring back your favourite bits, because it won’t be long before the article goes into their behind-the-paywall archive.
Daniel Cuevas Zuniga had just finished a night shift on a Sunday last month, and was cycling home with his wife, when he spotted a spherical object lying on the ground, stopped and reached down to take it in his hand.

It was an M-75 hand grenade. Manufactured in great numbers for the Yugoslav national army, and then seized by paramilitaries during the civil war in the 1990s, the grenades are packed with plastic explosives and 3,000 steel balls, well suited for attacks on enemy trenches and bunkers. When Mr. Zuniga touched it, he set off the detonator.
The above text from the article added to enable future searches after an story posted 4/20/2018 also contained the story of Mr. Zuniga’s accidental death by grenade.

—trailing wife
19 April 2018
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336089 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  Maybe the US Army should be recruiting Swedes.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/05/2018 7:34 Comments || Top||

#2  ..I'm sure they can find the Americanized version - Minnesota Man.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/05/2018 7:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Here's an interesting non-statement:

On Tuesday, the police arrested two 18-year-old men on suspicion of throwing the grenade that killed Mr. Zuniga.
Posted by: gorb || 03/05/2018 13:09 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Gamers over grenaders: Congress mulls fitness waivers for military recruits with ‘in demand’ skills
[RT] The dwindling numbers of eligible recruits applying to the US military may force Congress to increase the number of fitness waivers. The move is ostensibly aimed at encouraging more high-skilled recruits to apply.

“Should we make it easier for someone who has, for example, expertise in computers to serve in the military even though they can’t meet all the physical requirements?” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) said Wednesday, as cited by Military News. “Maybe there needs to be limited exceptions for these high demand areas. All of these are good discussions to have.”
Posted by: Skidmore || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336088 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hmmmm. No. Contract out the work stateside. There comes a time everyone is an infantryman. The enemy doesn't care, they don't play the SJW game.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/05/2018 7:55 Comments || Top||

#2  If all we need are 'armchair warriors' then why not (*cough*) expand the Alphabet Agencies and make it their job?
Posted by: magpie || 03/05/2018 13:31 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
From Twitter: The Welfare State And The Rapefugee/Invasion Crisis Summed Up In A Video Clip
Posted by: charger || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  Great clip!
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/05/2018 7:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Dang, a lot of people have a lot of time on their hands, I said as I sat around with a lot of time on my hands.

I put "Special Operations Bad Ass" on my resume to explain some curious gaps in the civilian employment and did not get a call for six months. Then it was a lot of phone calls from guys with heavy accents and bad English.

The videos of the raccoons and the stray cats is a great analogy of the migrant welfare state and the muslim refugee colonization.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 03/05/2018 13:05 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Turkish military and FSA ‘advances in Afrin, claiming third town center’
[Hurriyet Daily News] The Ottoman Turkish military and the Free Syrian Army
... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund...
(FSA) have advanced on the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) forces of Evil in Syria’s Afrin district, claiming several strategic points, including a town center and at least five villages.

"Shaykh al-Hadid, located in the west of Afrin, is the third town center to be liberated since the launch of the operation. Bulbul and Rajo town centers have also been liberated... Four more villages and a mountain were liberated. They include: Bafliun village and its mountain in the Sharan district, Hulilu village in Rajo, Souuldjouk and Araendi villages in Shaykh al-Hadid district," state-run Anadolu Agency reported on March 4.

"The village of Haji Khalil in Rajo, located northwest of Afrin, has been cleared of terrorists," it added. Ankara sees the YPG as a terrorist group for its links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, which is listed as a terror organization by The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
, the U.S, and the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
.

’134 strategic points captured so far'
Turkey launched "Operation Olive Branch" on Jan. 20 along with elements of the FSA to remove YPG forces of Evil from Afrin.

According to state-run Anadolu Agency, the number of strategic points, including 102 villages and 22 mountains and hills, Ottoman Turkish military and the FSA captured has risen to 134.

Some 2,612 YPG forces of Evil have been "neutralized" in Turkey’s ongoing cross-border operation, the Ottoman Turkish military stated on March 4.

The authorities use the word "neutralized" in statements to imply that the forces of Evil in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.

Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli stated on March 2 that 41 Ottoman Turkish soldiers and 116 Free Syrian Army (FSA) forces of Evil have been killed since the start of "Operation Olive Branch."

Ottoman Turkish PM: Afrin is surrounded
Many of the areas over Turkey’s southeastern border, including the town of Rajo in northern Syria, have been cleared of "terrorists," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on March 3, referring to YPG myrmidons.

"Afrin is surrounded. We have cleared all nearby border areas of terror nests," Yildirim said during the ruling Justice and Development’s (AKP) congress in the Central Anatolian province of Konya.

Yildirim said Ottoman Turkish soldiers, Special Forces, gendarmeries, coppers and FSA elements are advancing "step by step" in Afrin.

"Our Ottoman Turkish soldiers are making history in Afrin. They have also cleared Rajo of terrorists," he added.

Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336092 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


India-Pakistan
At least 17 PTI lawmakers in KP allegedly sold votes in Senate election
[DAWN] At least 17 Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf
...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations....
(PTI) politicians in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) allegedly sold their votes during the Senate election, enabling two Pakistain Peoples Party (PPP) candidates to be elected to the Senate from the province where the PPP only has seven MPAs.

An initial investigation ordered by KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak into alleged horse-trading revealed that at least 17 ─ and as many as 20 ─ PTI MPAs in KP had voted for candidates outside the party, sources in CM House Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
and Bani Gala told DawnNewsTV on Sunday.

The investigation report also claimed that those allegedly involved in the practice included several prominent party leaders and disgruntled party members, the sources said.

CM Khattak shared the findings with PTI Chairman Imran Khan
... aka Taliban Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality problems...
today, according to the sources. During the discussion, the party chief expressed his anger over alleged horse-trading in the province and directed Khattak to submit a detailed report in this regard.

The PTI and PPP both accused each other of resorting to horse-trading in the Senate elections in Punjab
1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots....

and KP on Saturday.

As Imran Khan questioned the victory of two PPP candidates in KP, the PPP put the same question to the PTI with respect to the victory of its lone candidate in Punjab, Chaudhry Sarwar.

Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Accused S.C. teen wanted to outdo other school shootings. The problem, he explained, was the weapon.
Apparently sociopathy can’t be diagnosed before age eighteen.
[ChicagoTribune] Six days before he allegedly opened fire on an elementary school playground, the eighth-grader returned to his Instagram group chat to fixate, yet again, on his most intense interests: guns and bombs and the mass murder of children.

"My plan," wrote Jesse Osborne, who had turned 14 three weeks earlier, "is shooting my dad getting his keys getting in his truck, driving to the elementary school 4 mins away, once there gear up, shoot out the bottom school class room windows, enter the building, shoot the first class which will be the 2d grade, grab teachers keys so I don't have to hasle to get through any doors."

He had been researching other school shooters for months and, determined to outdo them, learned exactly how many people they'd murdered: 13 at Columbine High; 26 at Sandy Hook Elementary; 32 at Virginia Tech.

"I think ill probably most likely kill around 50 or 60," Jesse declared. "If I get lucky maybe 150."

On Valentine's Day, at the same time police say another angry teen, Nikolas Cruz, slaughtered 17 people at a Parkland, Florida, high school with a semiautomatic AR-15, Jesse was sitting in a South Carolina courtroom, waiting to find out if he would be tried as an adult for a 2016 rampage that left his father and a 6-year-old dead.

The two teens have much in common. Both, investigators say, tortured animals, obsessed over guns and bragged of their deadly intentions on social media. And in the hours after Cruz's alleged killing spree, as the nation began, once again, to ask why, a group of detectives, prosecutors and psychiatrists were providing answers about Jesse, now 15. He'd detailed his motives in dozens of online messages, in his 46-page confession and in lengthy interviews with doctors who evaluated him, offering extraordinary insight into the mind of an American school shooter.

Study: There Is Actually Not A School Shooting ‘Epidemic'

[DailyCaller] Researchers at Northeastern University claim there is not a school shooting “epidemic” and schools are actually safer than in the 1990s, according to a study published Feb. 26.

Following the Parkland massacre where 17 students and faculty were murdered and another 16 injured, policymakers and politicians are grappling with ways to combat school shootings. The solution of reforming gun policies might be less effective in combating school shooting sprees.

“There is not an epidemic of school shootings,” said James Alan Fox, Lipman Family Professor of Criminology, Law, and Public Policy at Northeastern University, who led the research project with doctoral student Emma Fridel, Northeastern reported.

Their research emphasizes that school shootings are actually infrequent — only approximately one out of 20 to 30 mass shootings per year take place at a school. The study also suggests that school shootings are lessening, approximately four times the amount of people were killed during shooting sprees in the 1990s compared to now. Banning bump stocks and raising the age to purchase an assault rifle might do little to prevent school shootings. In the past 35 years, there are only five cases where someone aged 18 to 20 used an assault rifle to carry out a mass shooting, Fox said.

“The thing to remember is that these are extremely rare events, and no matter what you can come up with to prevent it, the shooter will have a workaround,” Fox said. The researcher alleges that increasing mental health programs and guidance counselors at schools are a more effective way to combat school shootings.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336088 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Totally creepy detail about how the Mini 14 was unsecured. Glad that the young monster's attention to detail was lacking...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/05/2018 15:18 Comments || Top||

#2  He wanted to outdo others?
These kids have a video game view of the value of life.. They are empty.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/05/2018 19:53 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Security forces kill 10 'extremely dangerous armed takfiris' in North Sinai's Al-Arish: Military
[AlAhram] The raids announced on Sunday, part of the ongoing Operation Sinai 2018 counter-terrorism effort, left two military officers and one soldier dead

Egypt’s armed forces said on Sunday that military and police units have eliminated "ten extremely dangerous takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed...
s" in North Sinai’s al-Arish as part of the onging Operation Sinai 2018 anti-terrorist effort.

In an official statement dubbed communiqué 14, the armed forces said a confrontation took place with the "takfiris" based on intelligence that they were operating in a deserted area in North Sinai’s al-Arish.

Six automatic firearms and a quantity of ammunition were confiscated after the raids, the military said in its statement.

Two officers and two soldiers were killed during the operations announced by the army on Sunday, while one officer and three soldiers were maimed during the "festivities and the purge of terrorist hotspots".

The army said that 245 people were tossed in the clink
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
on suspicion of involvement in terrorist or criminal groups, with some later released after security checks.

Police and military units destroyed 145 hideouts, dens and stores located in mountainous areas, along with trenches used by terrorists.

The army added that a workshop used to manufacture improvised bombs (IEDs) was also discovered, along with an underground storehouse containing more than 10,000 liters of petrol. Thirty-nine IEDs planted to target the security forces were also destroyed.

During operations to track down and raid terrorist groups, 12 cars and 28 unlicensed cycle of violences used to carry out holy warrior attacks were also found.

Security forces also raided 21 farms used to grow marijuana and opium poppies, with more than five tonnes of ready-to-sell narcotics seized.

The air force discovered and destroyed 11 vehicles laden with explosives and ammunition as they attempted to infiltrate into Egypt across the nation's western borders.

The army statement said that the navy and border-guard forces continue to secure western and southern border areas, along with the Egyptian coastline.

The army and police have conducted 609 patrols and security checkpoints on main roads and routes nationwide, according to the statement.

The Operation Sinai 2018 counter-terrorist effort, which was launched on 9 February, involves land, naval and air forces, as well as the police and border guards.

It targets "terrorist and criminal elements and organizations" in northern and central Sinai, as well as parts of the Nile Delta and the Western Desert, as announced by the military at the start of the operation.
Arab News adds:
The deaths raise military casualties to at least 16 dead, along with more than 100 holy warriors, since the start of the operation on Feb. 9, according to previous army tolls.

The military says it has evidence ISIS has sought to move members to Sinai following its defeats in Iraq and Syria.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under: Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)


Iraq
20 Islamic State militants killed in clashes with Iraqi forces in Hawija
Kirkuk (Iraqinews.com) – About 20 Islamic State (IS) militants were killed in clashes with Iraqi forces in Hawija district in Kirkuk, a security source was quoted as saying Sunday.

In statements to Shafaq News website, the source said, “Iraqi forces, backed by the al-Hashd al-Shaabi fighters, clashed with IS militants at al-Saadiya village in Hawija.”

“The clashes left 20 IS militants killed, while 15 others are still trapped inside the village,” the source added.

Also, several fighters of al-Hashd al-Shaabi were killed in the confrontation, but the source declined to give an exact number.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336112 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Arabia
Yemeni army reclaims sites west of Taiz
[ARABNEWS] Yemeni armed forces made progress on the ground in Taiz province, south-west Yemen, after festivities with Iran-backed Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...
turbans on Sunday, Saudi state-news agency SPA reported.

A Yemeni military source said that the army had regained positions taken by the militia’s command center in the Muqabneh district west of Taiz, including Nubat al-Host and al-Aqhaf.

The source said in a statement to the armed forces’ official site "26 September" that 18 members of the Houthi militia had been killed, including a leader, while several others were maimed .

On the eastern front of Taiz, the Yemeni National Army managed to eliminate concentrations of Iranian-backed Houthi militia forces in the Luzom fortress and the Karifat area.

Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


India-Pakistan
Hindu woman elected to Pakistan’s senate in historic first
[Hurriyet Daily News] Paks have elected a woman from the country’s marginalized Hindu minority to the senate for the first time ever in an election in which a Taliban
...Arabic for students...
-linked holy man was defeated.

Krishna Kumari, a member of the Pakistain People’s Party, hails from the so-called untouchables, the lowest rung of the caste system that still prevails in Pakistain and neighboring India.

Meanwhile,
...back at the barn, a little lightbulb figuratively appeared over Bossy's head...
Maulana Samiul Haq
...the Godfather of the Taliban, leader of his own faction of the JUI. Known as Mullah Sandwich for his habit of having two young boys at a time...
, a mentor to a number of Taliban leaders, fell short. Extremist groups in Pakistain have mobilized mass rallies in recent years, but have largely failed to translate their clout into electoral victories.

Lawmakers in national and four provincial assemblies on Saturday elected half of the 104-member Senate to six-year terms.

Deposed premier Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf, then by the courts...
’s party holds a plurality in the upper house of parliament, with 33 seats.

Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336073 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Can't buy life insurance though.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/05/2018 5:53 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkey wants to ‘walk with Africa,’ says Erdogan after four-country trip
[Hurriyet Daily News] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
wants to "walk with Africa," 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...
has stated at the end of a five-day tour of four African countries.

"We want to walk with Africa as a new world order is established," Erdogan wrote on his Twitter account on March 3.

He added that he held "productive" talks in Algeria, Mauritania, Senegal
... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees...
and Mali, particularly noting that Ankara sees Algeria as an "island of political and economic stability" in the region.

"God willing, we will increase our friendship in every area and we will come to a better point especially in terms of investments," Erdogan wrote.

He added the Ankara plans to realize joint projects with Mauritania in the areas of health, agriculture, media and humanitarian aid.

"As our private sector increases investments in Mauritania, we intend to develop our relations based on the principle of ’win-win,’" he wrote.

Erdogan also stated that enhancing good political and economic relations with Senegal would be one of Turkey’s priorities in the coming period.

"We are ready to do our part for the political and economic stability of Mali, to which I paid the first visit at a presidential level. We will strengthen our brotherhood while reinforcing cultural and trade relations," he wrote.

Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  That is a history and economic accurate statement given as how the Turks and Arabs did so much to repopulate the region
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 03/05/2018 14:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Walk with or walk all over? Seems to be Erdogan desires the latter.
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/05/2018 15:28 Comments || Top||


Europe
Topless FEMEN protester confronts Berlusconi at Milan polling site
[RT] When former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi arrived to cast his vote in the election, he wasn't expecting a topless FEMEN protester to jump on a table telling him that his time had "run out." However,
some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves...
that's exactly what he got.

Footage posted online by RT's Ruptly agency shows Berlusconi arriving at the polls in Milan amid a sea of journalists. As he smiles at the cameras, he is startled by a topless girl with "Berlusconi, your time has run out" scrawled across her chest, and the word "FEMEN" written on her back.
A woman hanging her boobies out at Silvio is an example of getting attention without making a point.
Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/05/2018 7:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Skid, are you in the eye bleach business and trying to up your sales numbers?

That was not nice for a morning.
Posted by: AlanC || 03/05/2018 9:17 Comments || Top||

#3  "A woman hanging her boobies out at Silvio is an example of getting attention without making a point."

Two points?
Posted by: European Conservative || 03/05/2018 14:16 Comments || Top||


Social Democrat members approve ‘grand coalition’ with Merkel, pave way for her 4th term
[RT] German’s center-left Social Democrats (SPD) have agreed to form a grand coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel's party, the CDU, after months of political uncertainty. The deal was reached despite divisions within the SPD.
Shall we take bets on how long this will last, dear Reader?
Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Will they ever get rid of this witch?
Posted by: newc || 03/05/2018 0:12 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
'Some men have a uterus' tweet lands Planned Parenthood in a storm
@PPIndKentucky
Some men have a uterus.
Some men have a uterus.
Some men have a uterus.
Some men have a uterus.
Some men have a uterus.
Some men have a uterus.
Some men have a uterus.
Some men have a uterus.
Some men have a uterus.
Some men have a uterus.
Some men have a uterus.

8:30 PM - Mar 1, 2018
75.9K
31.1K people are talking about this

“In 2018, we will continue to educate lawmakers and policy officials on the reproductive health needs of Hoosiers and Kentuckians,” the Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky Inc. website states. It also pledges to provide “medically accurate sex education,” insisting: “We are evidence-based and data-driven.”

The controversial tweet came after Planned Parenthood, which is partly funded by taxpayers, said it would spend $20 million campaigning for pro-abortion ‘candidates’ in this fall’s mid-term congressional and gubernatorial elections, warning Republicans: “We’re voting you out in 2018.”
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336087 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yes, it's true! They're called girlfriends or at best, wives.
Posted by: Roth LaDoad || 03/05/2018 6:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Or malignant bitches.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/05/2018 7:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Spending 20 million dollars, probably of taxpayer money, to get more taxpayer money. Defund Planned Parenthood.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 03/05/2018 7:48 Comments || Top||

#4  Skid, play nice!
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 03/05/2018 9:14 Comments || Top||

#5  'Some men have a uterus' and 'medically accurate sex education'? They have just delivered written evidence that they are the last organization on earth even remotely capable of such a thing.

I believe it was Theodore Dalyrimple who observed that internal propaganda was not designed to convince a captive population. After all, anybody who has to wait 7 or 8 hours on line to discover there's no toilet paper this week has a front row seat to the festivities.

He maintained that the real purpose behind it was to degrade and demoralize by demanding that people not only say what was obviously untrue but to loudly champion it. And in that way they would be humiliated and belittled, forced under the yoke of state.

As for me, keep trying bitches.
Posted by: Cesare || 03/05/2018 9:18 Comments || Top||

#6  Some men have a uterus, and some people are batshit insane.
Posted by: Raj || 03/05/2018 9:26 Comments || Top||

#7  Some men have a uterus

Based on empirical evidence, this may well be true.
Posted by: gorb || 03/05/2018 13:21 Comments || Top||

#8  Being generous, they may be confusing the small number of FTM trans.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/05/2018 15:26 Comments || Top||

#9  Does it count if it's in a jar?
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 03/05/2018 19:00 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Biden Family Drama Has Everything: Sex, Hookers, Debt, Cocaine And A Son Sleeping With His Dead Bro’s Wife
[DAILYCALLER] Who knew that folksy ex-Veep Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden
The former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body...
was sitting on a dirty made-for-TV drama?

The news recently splashed across the New York tabloids that Hunter Biden, the surviving son of the ex-VP, is having an affair with Hallie Biden, the widow of Beau Biden, who died last year of brain cancer. She appropriately appears in all the family funeral pictures mourning alongside other family families.

Two months later, Hunter’s now estranged wife, Kathleen, was out. And now, Hallie is in.

As reported by NYP’s Page Six, the divorce filings between Hunter and his estranged wife, Kathleen reveal so much more.

Namely, the family’s got debt because of bad boy Hunter Biden’s questionable spending habits that allegedly involve drugs, hookers, strip clubs, incredible debt and an $80,000 bauble that has disappeared.

In 2015, Hunter denied having a profile on Ashley Madison, the dating site for married people, despite the fact that the account was linked to his name and email.

While Kathleen’s filings reveal a den of filth involving other women, a double mortgage on the family home and unpaid taxes, Hunter Biden’s lawyer released a statement that says: "Hunter loves and admires Kathleen as a person, a mother and a friend. He hopes their privacy can be respected at this time."

With five kids involved ‐ three from Hunter’s marriage to Kathleen and two from Hallie and Beau ‐ the family’s hot mess more than pulls at heartstrings.

To be fair, divorces are ugly as hell. So likely there are no entirely innocent parties here.

But in the meantime, how about those bounced checks to the housekeeper?

Earlier in the week, news broke that Biden is openly in a serious relationship with Hallie. The couple even enjoys the blessings of Joe Biden and his wife, Jill.

Every family has a black sheep. At 43, Hunter joined the military only to leave a year later after testing positive for cocaine use, as reported by WSJ.

But not every family has a black sheep who takes up with his brother’s wife after he dies.

Paging Lifetime....come on, what are you waiting for?
Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336083 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A Son Sleeping With His Dead Bro’s Wife

That's biblical
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/05/2018 2:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Bidens or Kennedys?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/05/2018 7:40 Comments || Top||

#3  Bidens or Kennedys? Or Appalachians????
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 03/05/2018 14:11 Comments || Top||

#4  But these people are the moral anchor of America. Everything wrong about how you think and live, they lay awake nights fretting over. They shed a tear because you own guns and don't pay enough taxes. For starters...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/05/2018 15:16 Comments || Top||

#5  Hmmm....Hunter must have had a regular supply of blow. Joe's brother has a home in the USVI, just across the bay from J Epstein's. Cabbie once told me the whole family spends Christmas in the Caribbean....all before the hurricane disrupted the distribution.
Posted by: Jeremiah Gleretle3997 || 03/05/2018 16:59 Comments || Top||

#6  So, is Joe running in 2020?
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/05/2018 19:46 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
US to keep diplomatic staff in Cuba at minimum as questions remain about 'health attacks' on employees
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336074 views] Top|| File under:


-Obits-
Sir Roger Bannister: First person to run a mile in under four minutes dies at 88
[BBC] His time of three minutes 59.4 seconds, set at Iffley Road sports ground in Oxford on 6 May 1954, stood as a record for just 46 days but his place in athletics history was assured.

Bannister also won gold over the same distance at the 1954 Commonwealth Games and later became a leading neurologist.

He was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2011.

A statement from his family said: "Sir Roger Bannister, died peacefully in Oxford on 3 March, aged 88, surrounded by his family who were as loved by him, as he was loved by them.

"He banked his treasure in the hearts of his friends."

IAAF president Lord Coe, who ran a mile world record of 3:47.33 in 1981, said: "This is a day of intense sadness both for our nation and for all of us in athletics.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Timed. You telling me humans running for their lives from threats never achieved something similar in unrecorded events?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/05/2018 7:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Bullshit, Wes Santee ran the first sub 4 minute mile at the Kansas relays. Disallowed by the AAU.
Posted by: Bman || 03/05/2018 13:18 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Two security personnel wounded in bomb blast near Iraqi-Saudi borders
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) A security source from Anbar said two border guards were injured in a blast near the Iraqi-Saudi borders.

“A bomb, from the war remnants of Islamic State, exploded today against a border guards patrol near the borders between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, leaving two personnel wounded,” the source told AlSumaria News.

“The patrol was on a surveillance mission,” the source, who preferred anonymity, added saying that the wounded were transferred to hospital for treatment.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Did The Dossier Have To Be ‘Verified' For FBI To Use It For Carter Page FISA?
Oh dear. Now the interesting things will become even more interesting.
[Daily Caller] The FBI’s internal guidelines for obtaining secret surveillance warrants against Americans say that "only documented and verified information" may be used in warrant applications.

That would seem to pose a problem for the FBI, since the bureau relied on the infamous and unverified Steele dossier to obtain a FISA warrant against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

California Rep. Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, pointed out the inconsistency between the FBI’s guidelines and its reliance on the dossier last week in a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Nunes noted a passage in the FBI’s Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide which states that "the accuracy of information contained within FISA applications is of utmost importance."

"Only documented and verified information may be used to support FBI applications [FISA] to the court [FISC]," reads an unredacted version of the guide,
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336087 views] Top|| File under:

#1  IIRC, at that time in the investigation the verification of the dossier "was in it's infancy".
Posted by: DepotGuy || 03/05/2018 9:14 Comments || Top||

#2  the lawyers at DOJ will say that the dossier was verified as coming from Steele and that Steele had some documentation in the dossier and that at least one or two unimportant parts of the dossier were confirmed
Posted by: lord garth || 03/05/2018 17:34 Comments || Top||

#3  As I heard it they were confirmed via a media article which originated from Steele himself. Meaning he basically verified his own dossier.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 03/05/2018 17:41 Comments || Top||

#4  As I heard it they were confirmed via a media article which originated from Steele himself. Meaning he basically verified his own dossier.

Referred to in the intelligence community as "circular reporting." As his Lordship states at #2, DOJ will site truthful aspects of the dossier as justification for submission.

A good lie must contain some bits of truth.

Steele and the Ohr's were working for an intelligence agency or agencies.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/05/2018 17:51 Comments || Top||

#5  Link to circular reporting on the dossier.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/05/2018 17:55 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Maxine Waters: Trump Is ‘Racist’ For Questioning My IQ
[DAILYCALLER] On Saturday night, President Trump addressed the annual Gridiron Club Dinner, an event that is known for its humor. Trump took jabs at his own administration and many of his rivals, and at one point joked that Rep. Waters should "immediately take an IQ test."

Waters was afforded an opportunity to respond to the joke by Joy Ann Reid, host of MSNBC’s "AM Joy."

The Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, Democrat did not think the joke was funny and questioned Trump’s own mental agility before accusing him of racism.

"Well, you know, this president has been called stupid, he has been called ignorant, and even his secretary of state did not deny that he called him a moron," Waters said. "And so he has no credibility. He has been name calling, he’s been saying all kinds of things."

"I certainly expected him to come out with some racist remarks about me," she asserted. "So he did exactly what I expected him do. And, by the way, I’m told he wasn’t funny at all."
Update at noon ET from The Hill: the complete transcript
Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336082 views] Top|| File under:

#1  She misspoke, it's pronounced "realist".
Posted by: Roth LaDoad || 03/05/2018 6:19 Comments || Top||

#2  "I'm Spartacus"
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/05/2018 7:40 Comments || Top||

#3  Trump's statement can only be considered racist if she believes all blacks are as dumb as she.
Posted by: Mercutio || 03/05/2018 8:23 Comments || Top||

#4  Given how truly stupid she appears to be, and her continued lifetime in public office from overwhelmingly black constituencies, their is a lot of stupid going around wherever she is elected.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 03/05/2018 10:56 Comments || Top||

#5  Maxine, Trump's question was rhetorical.

Maybe even theoretical . . . .
Posted by: gorb || 03/05/2018 13:35 Comments || Top||

#6  She took an IQ test. It showed negative
Posted by: Frank G || 03/05/2018 14:01 Comments || Top||

#7  It wasn't written in Ebonics.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/05/2018 14:08 Comments || Top||

#8  She took an IQ test. It showed negative
in imaginary numbers
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 03/05/2018 14:13 Comments || Top||

#9  I doubt Mad Max could spell IQ.
Posted by: Heriberto Omurong9441 || 03/05/2018 14:28 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Police officer assassinated by unknown gunmen in Iraq’s Tuz Khurmatu
Salahuddin (Iraqinews.com) ‐ A police officer was assassinated Sunday in Tuz Khurmatu district in Salahuddin as unknown button men continue to target coppers and citizens in retaliation for the country’s victory over terrorism last year, a security source was quoted as saying.

"Unknown button men targeted in the wee hours of Sunday First-Lieutenant Asaad al-Shammari from the Rapid Response Force’s 2nd brigade, leaving him dead," the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Alghad Press.

"The assailants expeditiously departed at a goodly pace immediately after the shooting," the source said, adding that a probe was opened into the incident and a manhunt was launched to arrest perpetrators of the attack.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336076 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Iraq’s paramilitary troops angered after budget snub
To be fair, the war is over and the bad guys lost. So they don’t need nearly as many fighters.
[ARABNEWS] Commanders of Iraq’s Shiite-dominated paramilitary groups have been left furious after the country’s annual budget failed to deliver the funding they claim they need to pay all their fighters.

The Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), also known as Hashed al-Shaabi, played a key role in the fight against ISIS but were also accused of committing abuses in Sunni areas.

The units, many of which are backed by Iran, were formally incorporated into the Iraqi security forces in 2016. But some in Iraq fear they have become too powerful and are another tool of the Iranian government to exert influence in Iraq.

Iraq’s Parliament on Saturday approved the long-delayed 2018 budget, which exceeded $88 billion. But the budget did not included any extra allocation to cover the salaries and allowances of all the fighters of the PMU. It also failed to cover the differences in salaries and allowances between the PMU fighters and soldiers who serve in the regular forces under the ministries of defense and interior, the commanders said.

PMU commanders told Arab News that the decision not to address their salaries and allowances was a "betrayal" and a denial of the fighters’ sacrifices during the three years of war against ISIS. They called on the Iraqi government and the Parliament to correct it soon.

Upsetting the Shiite armed factions at this delicate time may disrupt the security situation in some Iraqi provinces, especially in the center and south of the country. It also places pressure on Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi, who is looking for any opportunity to boost his chances of winning a second term in elections in May.

Qais al-Khaza’ali, the commander of A’ssaib Ahl al-Haq, one of the most prominent Shiite armed factions, said the lack of pay equality between PMU fighters and those serving in the regular security forces "is a real betrayal in every sense of the word."
Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


India-Pakistan
Activists of religious outfit ransack press club in Mirpurkhas
[DAWN] A group of unruly men, said to be religious Death Eaters, stormed the press club and ransacked furniture and fixture during a protest in the city on Saturday against alleged desecration of holy names.

The intruders subjected the media people to threats until the police arrived.

Groups of emotionally charged activists of a religious organization had enforced a shutter-down strike and blocked the Hyderabad-Mirpurkhas Road for several hours on Friday evening in parts of the city.

On Saturday, the city’s business community kept their businesses closed against what they described as harassment of citizens.

The district administration and senior police officials held talks with local leaders of the religious organization and told them to control their followers.

Office-bearers and members of the press club along with civil society activists took out a rally to register their protest over the attack on the club and harassment of the general public as well as failure of the police to arrest any of them during the violence.

Meanwhile,
...back at the revival hall, the congregants were being herded into the paddy wagon...
a faction of the Pakistain Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) led by Afzal Butt condemned the attack on the Mirpurkhas Press Club and urged the Sindh government to ensure arrest of the culprits.

Mr Butt and PFUJ secretary general Ayub Jan Sarhandi observed that such attacks were on the rise in Sindh. They vowed to safeguard the freedom of expression and not to allow any group or individual to curtail it. They warned that if the culprits were not tossed in the slammer
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
, a countrywide protest call would be given.
Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336073 views] Top|| File under: Salafists


One gets death, three life in girl’s murder case
[DAWN] NOWSHERA: A convict was handed down death sentence while three others were awarded life imprisonment in an honour killing case here on Saturday.

Additional District and Sessions Judge, Nowshera, Hidayatullah Khan gave the verdict, awarding capital punishment to Mohammad Gul, and life term to Naqeebullah, Rehmatullah and Rasool Khan, residents of Taza Din village.

Their mother, Taj Meena, was sent behind bars for 10 years, while two co-accused in the case ‐ Habibullah and Razaullah ‐ were declared absconders.

The convicts were tossed in the clink
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
in the murder case of a girl who had allegedly married with a person without consent of the family. The convicts had buried the victim secretly.

However,
there's more than one way to stuff a chicken...
the news spread on regular and social media due to which local police started investigation and exhumed her body for further investigation. Police said the autopsy report confirmed the death of the girl by strangling.

They said the girl was brought back to home from Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
on assurance that she would be married off properly. However,
there's more than one way to stuff a chicken...
the mother of the girl killed her with support of her relatives. The Pabbi police had registered the FIR against the culprits on Oct 19, 2016.

Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  three others were awarded life imprisonment
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/05/2018 7:42 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Pakistan loses 50 percent market share in Afghanistan: Pak official
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Amid strained ties on political level mainly due to the circumstances surrounding the fight against terrorism, the Pak officials have informed regarding a drastic fall in Pakistain’s share in Afghan markets.

Chairman Pakistain-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry Zubair Motiwala has told Dawn News that Pakistain’s trade with Afghanistan fell to $1.2 billion from $2.7bn within in the last two years.

According to Motiwala, the drastic fall in Pakistain’s exports to Afghanistan has direct links with the penetration of India in Afghan markets as well as China which supplies products on a competitive scale.

Motiwala further added that Pakistain has been losing even the traditional markets of flour, men and women’s clothes and red meat, affecting around the 200 flour mills out of which around 100 have been closed besides the drastic fall has affected the Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
medical tourism.

India has been providing goods at subsidised rates to capture the market and are providing air tickets with a 75pc rebate, he told the paper.

He also added that Afghans find it easy to travel to India with cheap tickets and free multiple visas without police checks.

According to Pakistain Bureau of Statistics, exports to Afghanistan dropped to $1.271bn in FY17 from $1.437bn in FY16. Exports in the first quarter of 2017-18 stood at $319 million.

According to Dawn News, State Bank’s data showed that the imports from Afghanistan increased to $68m in FY17, compared to $40m in FY16.

Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Home Front: Politix
Colorado lawmaker switches parties after being ousted as Democrat on sexual misconduct allegations
Culture Wars? Politics? Where is the demarcation these days?
[FoxNews] A Colorado state Democratic lawmaker was expelled Friday amid allegations by female colleagues about sexual harassment or abuse -- but not before switching political parties.

Rep. Steve Lebsock was expelled by a 52-9 vote after five female state House members took their turns at the podium to come forward as victims of sexual harassment or abuse.

Democrat Rep. Faith Winter and four other women accused Lebsock of harassment and intimidation inside the Capitol and at area bars and restaurants.

Lebsock bitterly contested the claims, saying his accusers were lying and accusing an independent investigator of bias in concluding that the claims were credible.

He becomes the second U.S. state lawmaker to be expelled since the #metoo movement emerged last fall. Last month, Arizona state Republican Rep. Don Shooter was expelled over misconduct claims; a California state senator resigned before colleagues tried to formally expel him amid sexual-misconduct allegations.



Lebsock’s change of party will not end Colorado Democrats’ House majority. State Republicans can name his replacement, but they are purportedly considering passing on that privilege, which gives the task to Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper.

Their decision not to name a replacement is said to be related to Lebsock being a Democrat when allegedly committing such abuses.

Some Colorado GOP lawmakers suggested they vote "no" on Lebsock’s expulsion, considering they received a redacted investigator's report on the matter only a few days earlier.

Others wanted to just censure him or called for a formal legislative panel with subpoena powers to investigate the case. However, many ultimately voted "yes," citing family experiences of sexual misconduct or having been swayed by the experiences related by colleagues.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle stood out of respect whenever there was testimony about harassment and abuse.
Continues.
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
3 children die in Nawabshah allegedly after being administered expired anti-measles vaccines
[DAWN] Three children died and at least three others were hospitalised at death's door in Nawabshah allegedly after being administered expired measles vaccines on Saturday, according to hospital officials and family members.

Husnain Brohi, 5, Hania Noor, 6, and nine-month-old Qamar Din died at the Paediatrics Unit of Peoples University Medical Hospital (PUMH) while three other children, Zubair, 5, Jannat, 4, and Tania, 3, were said to be at death's door.

Junior doctors at PUMH who are treating the patients believe that expired vaccines are the reason behind the deaths, but district health officials have denied that the administered vaccines were expired and have ordered an inquiry into the matter.

Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
UN adds uncertainty to Turkey’s Afrin operation
[ARABNEWS] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
’s military operation in the Syrian district of Afrin has now progressed unabated for more than 40 days. The military authorities have announced that the border is clear of Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) fighters, while the Ottoman Turkish army has also captured several villages on the road to Afrin that will allow it to tighten its grip around the city.

According to figures disclosed by Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli, Turkey has so far lost 157 soldiers in the Afrin operation: 116 being members of the Turkey-trained Free Syrian Army
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336080 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Africa North
Janzour-Maya coastal road stretch reopened by Presidency Council police
[Libya Herald] The main coastal road linking 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...
with the Tunisian border was reopened yesterday by the Special Missions section of the Presidency Council’s (PC) Ministry of Interior police force.

The section of the coastal road between Janzour at the 27km bridge and Maya had been blocked using soil barriers after festivities between locals and gunnies from the Wershafana area had erupted last week.

In a statement about the road reopening, the PC Ministry of Interior stressed that it was not taking part in any regional or tribal struggles. It stressed that its uniformed personnel were carrying out their role and duties to the Libyan citizens as prescribed by law.

It called on the public to respect and support the uniformed police and called for a halt to divisive
...politicians call things divisive when when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive, they're principled...
and inciteful language.

It will be recalled that the coastal road has been closed off on numerous occasions since 2011 as part of ongoing regional festivities between the coastal urban areas west of Tripoli and the interior Wershafana region ‐ deemed to be aligned with the former Qadaffy regime and seen as having lost out politically post 2011.
Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336074 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Home Front: Politix
Statue of Marion Barry, controversial former mayor, unveiled in Washington
[FoxNews] The statue, designed by artist Steven Weitzman, was ordered by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Washington's Fox 5 reported. The estimated $250,000 cost was covered by a combination of public and private funds, the Washington Business Journal reported.

The move to honor Barry, who died at age 78 in 2014, may seem mystifying to non-Washingtonians. But among Barry's supporters, the statue is an appropriate tribute to a legitimate D.C. icon — a man so popular and influential that he walked out of federal prison and immediately began winning elections again with one of the most improbable comebacks in American political history.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336087 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/05/2018 0:41 Comments || Top||

#2  "The statue was seen snorting pigeon crap off its sleeve"
Posted by: Frank G || 03/05/2018 7:15 Comments || Top||

#3  What! No wild-eyed, Soros supported conservative mobs pushing to prevent this statue of a crack cocaine-smoking jail bird from being built? I didn't think so.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/05/2018 8:01 Comments || Top||

#4  If his name was on the ballot he would be reelected.
Why, because he is black. Other races have seen what the blacks have done in DC. They flock there to do the same for their own. No melting pot. No America first. Minority programs only for blacks. Planned parenthood is doing a number on blacks as designed. Liberals also with their gun free zones( joke, that's a joke son, I say that's a joke)) and break up of black families.
Posted by: Dale || 03/05/2018 10:05 Comments || Top||

#5  His statue could run for alderman and win.

Personally, I hope to install a pigeon feeder on its head for maximum coverage
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 03/05/2018 14:51 Comments || Top||

#6  I knew a DC Fireman that once saved Marion Barry's life after he was shot. Never lived it down.
Posted by: Blinky Unater1464 || 03/05/2018 14:57 Comments || Top||

#7  a man so popular and influential that he walked out of federal prison and immediately began winning elections again with one of the most improbable comebacks in American political history.

I think the author doesn't understand the social dynamics at work. Or doesn't want to.
Posted by: gorb || 03/05/2018 20:06 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Forces nab 40 Palestinians trying to enter Israel without permits
[IsraelTimes] Israeli forces incarcerated
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
40 Paleostinian men trying to enter Israel illegally early Sunday morning, nabbing them near the security fence south of Jerusalem, the army said.

The joint operation was carried out by soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces and officers from the Israel Police, who staged a series of raids along the so-called "seam line," the area in the West Bank between the security fence and the actual border with Israel.

The army said the operation was aimed at both preventing the Paleostinians from entering Israel without a work permit and at halting the loose networks of people who help Paleostinians cross into Israel illegally.

The army said the 40 suspects arrested in the operation were handed over to police and the Shin Bet for interrogation, presumably to gather information about those helping them cross the border.

Israeli officials have estimated that between 50,000 and 60,000 Paleostinians work in Israel illegally, often in construction.

Law enforcement occasionally cracks down on the phenomenon, staging mass arrests at building sites, often in the wake of a terror attack, but generally turns a blind eye to the issue.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, the IDF arrested 10 Paleostinian suspects believed to have taken part in violent protests or to have thrown rocks and Molotov cocktails at Israeli troops and roadways, the army said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336073 views] Top|| File under:


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Obama makes pitch for his center in Jackson Park: 'Too much development' has not been the problem for South Side
[Chicago Tribune] Former President Barack Obama came to Chicago on Tuesday to again make the case for building his presidential center in Jackson Park, telling hundreds of people gathered at McCormick Place that he believes his South Side complex will create more jobs, attract businesses and give more opportunities to local residents.

Obama downplayed concerns about increased housing costs and other issues that have been raised by residents who live near the center.

"A lot of times, people get nervous about gentrification and understandably so," he said. "It is not my experience ... that the big problem on the South Side has been too much development, too much economic activity, too many people being displaced because all these folks from Lincoln Park are filling in to the South Side. That's not what's happening.

"We have such a long way to go before you will start seeing the prospect of gentrification,” he said. “(My daughter) Malia's kids might have to worry about that. Right now, we've got to worry about broken curbs and trash and boarded-up buildings. That's what we really need to work on."

It was the foundation’s second and final large-scale public meeting on the center, which now goes before the city’s Plan Commission. The foundation is looking to garner more public support and enthusiasm for the project, and made a move in that direction early Tuesday by announcing it will donate more than $3.5 million to build a new artificial turf field in Jackson Park.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336089 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's all about MEEEE!
( P.S.: I didn't build that, either)
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 03/05/2018 17:51 Comments || Top||


Europe
Antifa protesters set Genoa streets ablaze, face off with police
[RT] Antifa
...the armed wing of the Democratic Party...
activists set fires and pelted police with bottles after being barred from reaching a far-right rally being held in the Italian city of Genoa. The festivities highlight political tensions ahead of Sunday’s general election.

According to local press, around 250 ’anti-fascist
...anybody not a leftist...
’ demonstrators threw smoke bombs, started fires and clashed with municipal police on Friday. It came after authorities prevented them from confronting a far-right rally organized by CasaPound, a neo-fascist political party named after American poet and Fascist sympathizer Ezra Pound.

Footage taken by Ruptly news agency shows fires and masked demonstrators blocking the city’s roadways. Local media reported that the demonstration lasted about three hours, but failed to prevent Simone Di Stefano, CasaPound’s leader, from speaking. There were no reported festivities between antifa activists and CasaPound supporters.
Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336078 views] Top|| File under: Antifa


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
German national arrested for throwing rocks at IDF during West Bank protest
A junior varsity St. Pancake who’s not dead yet.
[IsraelTimes] Authorities say 24-year-old confessed, are seeking to have him deported

A German national was nabbed
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
after throwing stones at IDF troops during a weekly demonstration in the West Bank city of Bil’in, Israel Police said Sunday.

The 24-year-old tourist was interrogated following his Friday arrest and confessed to the charges, according to authorities.

On Saturday evening, he was brought before the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court where his remand was extended until Monday.

"The investigation is ongoing and steps are being taken to expel him from Israel," the police statement concluded.

An official from Germany’s embassy in Tel Aviv said he was looking into the matter, but declined to comment further.

Since 2005 the village of Bil’in has become a symbol of Paleostinian resistance to Israel’s security barrier, which was established to thwart the waves of Paleostinian jacket wallahs entering Israel from the West Bank during the Second Intifada. Weekly protests at the site regularly lead to festivities between demonstrators and Israeli troops.

The fence has separated villagers in the area from much of their farmland. Paleostinians claim this was done for political reasons, while Israel cites security concerns.

A High Court ruling in 2007 forced the Israeli government to change part of the barrier’s route, returning some of the agricultural land to the Paleostinian side of the barrier.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336090 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Waffen Hizbolla?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/05/2018 2:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Was his name Stein?
Posted by: SteveS || 03/05/2018 2:09 Comments || Top||

#3  It wasn't Einstein.
Posted by: Heriberto Omurong9441 || 03/05/2018 7:32 Comments || Top||

#4  Did he actually have a 'German' heritage name?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/05/2018 7:59 Comments || Top||

#5  Tradition! Eh, Hans?
Posted by: regular joe || 03/05/2018 14:18 Comments || Top||

#6  Might be a deranged leftist with Paleo friends, but no name is given (German reports all quote Times of Israel).

I'm a bit surprised that "only" deportation is mentioned. Throwing stones at people is a serious crime.
Posted by: European Conservative || 03/05/2018 14:25 Comments || Top||

#7  ..Goliath could not be reached for comment.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/05/2018 15:17 Comments || Top||


Fifth Column
Russians Used Reddit and Tumblr to Troll the 2016 Election
[DailyBeast] A leak of internal data from the Kremlin-backed Internet Research Agency discovered by The Daily Beast serves as the first confirmation that the Russian troll farm deployed its online agitators on Reddit as part of its campaign to interfere in American politics.

The leak also reveals 21 Tumblr accounts, including login credentials, run by the Internet Research Agency (IRA). The listing for the leak offers "American proxies" for Reddit and viral meme site 9Gag. The leak comes after months of speculation from Reddit users that the site had been targeted by a foreign influence campaign.

Content from IRA-backed websites like BlackMattersUs.com received hundreds‐and sometimes thousands‐upvotes on subreddits like r/The_Donald and r/HillaryForPrison in the run-up to the 2016 election. Trolls purporting to represent the troll farm promised an Ask Me Anything session in October, but the Q-and-A never occurred.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Shareblue got caught red-handed shilling on reddit. No story about them?
Posted by: Harcourt Angoluting9366 || 03/05/2018 2:03 Comments || Top||

#2  The Russians used Reddit to try to swing an election? There's a great plan. How many of Trump's voter's who put him in office have heard of or been on Reddit? I doubt it is a large number.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/05/2018 8:08 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanese official arrested for framing actor as Israeli agent
[Ynet] Lebanese actor, director Ziad Itani, locked away
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
in November, accused of spying for Israel was victim of framing by former cyber security official, Susan Hajj Hobeiche who hired hacker to forge conversations between Itani and Israeli agent.


Lebanese actor and director Ziad Itani was arrested in November on accusations of cooperating with and spying for Israel.
We have the report of his arrest here.
It is now evident that Itani fell victim to a plot hatched by Major Susan Hajj Hobeiche, the former head of the Lebanese Anti-Cybercrime and Intellectual Property Bureau who was arrested Friday.

Itani was accused of being recruited by a female Israeli intelligence agent and that the two exchanged information. According to reports in Leb, he was asked to contact senior Lebanese political officials in order to advance normalization with Israel.

The agent allegedly sent him a list of 29 names of Lebanese government ministers in order to determine which of them Itani knew. In addition, it was announced that Itani received between 500 and 1,000 dollars a month for his services and that he admitted to the charges under questioning.

Susan Hajj was arrested on charges that she hired a hacker to forge the conversations between Itani and the Israeli agent in order to frame Itani, whom she blames for her ouster from her previous post, as a spy for Israel.

"We all must ask forgiveness from Itani who has never abandoned his Arab and Beiruti identity for a single day," said Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouk on Twitter. "It is not enough to declare his innocence. He is a patriot and we are proud of him."
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336084 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas praises ‘heroic’ Acre car-ramming attack
[IsraelTimes] The Paleostinian terrorist group Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, on Sunday praised a "brave and heroic" car-ramming attack in Acre earlier in the day that left four Israelis injured.
That doesn't mean the driver was one of theirs, but only that they approve of trying to kll Jooooooos.
Two soldiers, a border guard and a civilian were lightly injured in the incident, which police described as a nationalistically motivated vehicular attack.

Police said the driver of a Hyundai SUV, who was shot and subdued by a solider at the scene, has been identified as the attacker. Reports in Hebrew-language media said he is an Arab Israeli man from the town of Shfaram.

Security footage from the incident showed a speeding SUV streaking through an intersection where a uniformed border police guard was crossing, striking him and sending him flying into the air. Subsequent footage showed the same SUV hopping a curb and driving onto a patch of grass, as the driver hits the pair of servicemen.

The driver can be seen turning back in an apparent attempt to hit the soldiers again, and then returning to the road and fleeing the scene as police arrive.

It was not immediately clear how the civilian, a 51-year-old man, was injured in the attack.

Police said a soldier shot up the vehicle and maimed the driver, who was apprehended.

The investigation was put under a gag order, and no further details were provided, including the driver’s identity and condition.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336086 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Southeast Asia
Abu Sayyaf leader gunned down in Malaysia
[Straits Times] An Abu Sayyaf sub-commander high on the Philippines' most-wanted list was among three gunmen killed at a plantation on the east coast of Sabah, regional intelligence sources said. They said Nurhassan Jamiri was armed with a high-powered rifle when he was gunned down. He had been off the radar for nearly seven years.

Nurhassan, from Basilan island, is suspected to have been involved in the 2011 Makati IED attack on a bus in Manila that killed five passengers. He was also the captor of Warren Rodwell, an Australian national who was held by the Abu Sayyaf for 472 days in Basilan in 2011.

In his hometown of Basilan, Nurhassan led a notorious Abu Sayyaf sub-group that included his cousin Mussana Jamiri, a bomb expert who died in 2016 when the improvised bomb he was carrying blew up as he was trying to escape from security forces.

Intelligence sources believe that Nurhassan was involved in the Marawi City siege last year and might have fled to Sabah to seek refuge about three months ago.

At a news conference on February 28, Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) commander Datuk Hazani Ghazali said the gunmen killed in a shootout at the Tawau plantation on Tuesday are thought to be linked to a cross-border terrorist network that might be planning an attack on Sabah. He said they could also be linked to ten people arrested recently by the Bukit Aman anti-terrorism unit for planning to carry out attacks in Sabag.
This article starring:
NURHASAN JAMIRIAbu Sayyaf
Posted by: ryuge || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336074 views] Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf (ISIS)


Africa North
Six members of Daesh-linked terror cell arrested in Egypt's Minya: Source
[AlAhram] Security forces raided the terrorist camp near Maghagha after conducting surveillance of the cell's communications, according to a security source

Six members of a cell affiliated to the terrorist organization ISIS have been jugged
You have the right to remain silent...
by security forces in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Minya during a raid on their training camp, a security source said on Sunday.

According to the source, the cell consisted of six people who had established a training camp near Maghagha, a city in the north of Minya.
Minya governorate is deep in Upper Egypt, about 245 km south of Cairo. Last May Ansar Bayt al Maqdis shot up a convoy of Copts on pilgrimage there, murdering 29 and wounding more than 20.
Security forces conducted a raid on the camp, confiscating a wide range of weapons, along with field glasses, laptops, and detailed plans for targeting governmental and security facilities, churches, and military and security figures.

The source said that the terror group viewed the training camp as the starting point for a widespread campaign of attacks in the governorate.

The interior ministry’s national-security investigations department had been monitoring the organization's communications, said the source, observing cell members ahead of the raid on the camp.

One cell member was able to escape ahead of the raid, but security forces arrested him during a campaign in Upper Egypt’s Sohag, where the "terrorist" is originally from.

"The success by the national security apparatus in Minya to arrest such a cell has thwarted a major terror plot that the organization was planning to execute," the security source said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336076 views] Top|| File under: Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)


Home Front: Politix
Trey Gowdy: A Second Special Counsel ‘May Be Unavoidable
[Daily Caller] Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy said in an interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo Sunday that "we’re trending perhaps towards another special counsel" to investigate the Department of Justice.

"You know, Maria, this Democrat memo makes me smile. If it were up to Adam Schiff, if it were up to him it would have been a haiku, and not a memo because he did everything he could to keep us from finding out any of the information that was in either one of those memos," he said.

"So Congress has proven itself incapable of investigating this FISA abuse. DOJ should not be looking into it. We need an independent arbiter that’s either the inspector general or special counsel."

Gowdy also said, "Maria over the weekend, I’d counted up almost two dozen witnesses that the inspector general would not have access to, were he alone conducting this investigation, so I think we’re trending perhaps towards another special counsel because of this unique fact pattern and the fact that there are witnesses outside the reach of the inspector general."
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336074 views] Top|| File under:

#1  To investigate the first?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/05/2018 2:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Exactly who is tying the AG's hands and preventing him from investigating his own shop?
Posted by: Blinky Unater1464 || 03/05/2018 8:00 Comments || Top||

#3  Sadly they may be holding off for the lead up to November elections. Someone is disillusioned in thinking that criminal disclosures can be processed logically by democratic voters with organic liberal dementia. At best it will further agitate republicans to actually get out and vote.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/05/2018 8:13 Comments || Top||

#4  Well, it might keep Mueller on the defensive for awhile and get to the bottom of the real collusion and criminality.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/05/2018 11:41 Comments || Top||

#5  I really don't know what short round Mueller is investigating anymore.
There are rumors he was writing parking tickets on Constitution avenue over the weekend
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 03/05/2018 14:55 Comments || Top||

#6  Fitzmas Two is coming. Remember how disappointing that was for the left? Call it "Mueller's Egg Noodles..."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/05/2018 15:21 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
NDS arrest ISIS members involved in deadly Kabul mosque attack
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least two senior members of the ISIS terrorist group involved in the deadly mosque attack in Kabul city have been tossed in the slammer
You have the right to remain silent...
by the Afghan intelligence operatives.

The National Directorate of Security
...the Afghan national intel agency...
(NDS) said the detained individuals have been identified as Ehsanullah son of Karimullah and Omaar son of Abdul Hadi.

A statement by NDS said the Ehsanullah is a senior member of the military commission of the ISIS terrorist group while Omar was a member of the recruitment commission of the terror group.

The statement further added that the detained individuals have confessed that they had planned and executed the deadly attack on Imam Zaman mosque in Kabul city.

According to NDS, the detained individuals have also confessed that they were involved in various other terrorist related incidents.


This article starring:
EHSANULLAHISIS
OMAARISIS
Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Afghan forces confiscated 21 rockets in Nangarhar province
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan national defense and security forces have confiscated at least 21 rockets during an operation 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 provincial government office in a statement said the rockets were seized during operation in Khogyani district.

The statement further added that the rockets were found during the operation in Pera Khel area and were subsequently defused before the holy warriors manage to use them for the attacks.

In another operation, the Afghan forces discovered and defused an improvised bomb planted by the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
faceless myrmidons in Mal Bazaar area of Bati Kot district.

The Afghan forces are also busy conducting clearance operations in Goshta district and as a result dozens of villages have been cleared of the holy warriors so far, according to the provincial government.

Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336073 views] Top|| File under: Haqqani Network


Home Front: Politix
Veteran Affairs Secretary David Shulkin ‘Extremely Paranoid' Ahead of Damning New Investigation, Sources Say
[DailyBeast] The head of the Department of Veterans Affairs is running out of allies and lifelines after he was criticized for vacationing on the taxpayer’s dime. The worst may be yet to come.
Or not — it remains to be seen. But in the meantime, the Daily Beast will do its very best to get its readers riled up about it.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Rantburg Exclusive: SDF Battlefield Combat 3/4/2018 - U.S. Embassy Ankara, Turkey Closed - Warns Americans Keep Low Profile
SDF Statement: Despite the UN Security Council decree 2401, which obligates all parties to stop combat operations, the Turkish state continues to violate international resolutions and targets our people in Afrin with various types of weapons and air raids, which expose our people to systematic annihilation. And the response to this aggression, and the following is the outcome of self-defense operations in Afrin province.

1-Mabatah / Mabtali: Direct clashes continued on this axis between our forces and the Turkish invasion army and the terrorist factions AL- Nusra / Daesh) until late hours of the night and coincided with the indiscriminate shelling of heavy weapons and air raids.

2-Shara: The direct clashes on this axis between our forces and the Turkish invasion army and the terrorist factions continued until late in the night. This coincided with the indiscriminate bombardment of heavy weapons and air raids, with the focus of the clashes centered on the village of Buffalon and Cema.

Umra‐ On the axis of the village of Jema (Cema) / Umra, our forces spotted a armored military vehicle BMB yesterday afternoon and targeted them with a direct hit that led to their destruction and the killing of those.

3 ‐ Raju: The direct clashes continued on this axis between our forces and the Turkish invasion army and the terrorist factions (AL-Nusra / Daesh) until late hours of the night and coincided with the indiscriminate shelling of heavy weapons and air raids.

‐ In Musaka village, our forces observed the Turkish private gendarmerie (JOH) and the private police forces (POH) and directly engaged them, killing at least 9 of them.

4-Jinderes: This front has not subsided since the beginning of the Turkish invasion and the terrorist factions, where our forces are resolutely attacking the terrorists. In the afternoon, our forces observed terrorist movements on the axis of Hamilka village and Hujailer village and killing three terrorists and injuring five, while the clashes in the village of Hujailer killed 9 terrorists, including two Turkish soldiers and wounding 8 others.

Since the morning of the day, the hostile jets launched the heaviest raids on the town center, and the shelling continues until the time of preparation of this report.

5 -Shiyeh/Shaik Hadid: The most violent clashes between our forces and the Turkish invasion army and the terrorist factions continue since the morning hours and continue until the moment of preparation of this report. The clashes are accompanied by indiscriminate shelling with heavy weapons and jets targeting the town center and villages surrounding.

SDF.Media Center
4 March 2018


The following is a map that shows the situation on the ground according to SyrianCivilWarMap.com:



A comment from a highly regarded ATGM Konkurs Guided Missile operator Delila Agiri YPJ.



YPG fighter survived 26 days behind enemy lines.



The US Embassy in Turkey told American citizens it is closed to the public Monday because of a "security threat," and advised them to "keep a low profile," the embassy said in a security alert.
Posted by: Ulaigum Ebbineng7056 || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336083 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The following is a map that shows

It’s perfect! Thank you, Ulaigum Ebbineng7056.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/05/2018 0:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Does the "security threat" mean that little dictator is getting ready to attack the American forces?
Posted by: 3dc || 03/05/2018 1:40 Comments || Top||

#3  Two separate protests have drawn the attention of Turkey's riot police today. One regarding women's rights, the other, much larger regarding the war on the Kurds.
Posted by: Ulaigum Ebbineng7056 || 03/05/2018 1:53 Comments || Top||

#4  Anit-War protests in Istanbul, Turkey.

Posted by: Ulaigum Ebbineng7056 || 03/05/2018 2:17 Comments || Top||

#5  From DoS:

Security Alert – U.S. Diplomatic Mission to Turkey
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/05/2018 5:45 Comments || Top||

#6  Ulaigum Ebbineng7056, thanks for current info.

For a neophyte about Syria and the warring groups: To what extent are terrorist groups Da’esh, PKK, DHKP/C and AQ united with Turkish forces against SDF? Are these groups disparate groups or do they have some unity and share such things as ideology, communications and resources against SDF?
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/05/2018 7:30 Comments || Top||

#7  NEO
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/05/2018 8:01 Comments || Top||


#9  If he follows the Khomeini pattern we're due for a "Rioters attack embassy, overwhelm security, and take hostages" episode.

Hope the Marines are well armed and ROE allow open fire
Posted by: Frank G || 03/05/2018 11:43 Comments || Top||

#10  Never mind the embassy, what about the nukes in Incirlik?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/05/2018 13:17 Comments || Top||

#11  Well yeah, there's that.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/05/2018 13:34 Comments || Top||

#12  someone a couple weeks ago said the nukes had been transferred out on orders of someone with a sense of foreboding
Posted by: Frank G || 03/05/2018 13:53 Comments || Top||

#13  JohnQC,

PKK=Kurd seperatism from Turkey. All others are in w/Turkey and receive substantial Turk support as long as radical Islam is their ideology.
Posted by: Omeger Gray6606 || 03/05/2018 14:54 Comments || Top||

#14  If he follows the Khomeini pattern we're due for a "Rioters attack embassy, overwhelm security, and take hostages" episode.

Terrible. Just think what could happen if 'Kurds' in the US the did the same to the Turkish embassy.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/05/2018 15:16 Comments || Top||

#15  Terrible. Just think what could happen if 'Kurds' in the US the did the same to the Turkish embassy.

I recall something similar having to do with tea
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/05/2018 15:33 Comments || Top||

#16  Will not be posting a report tomorrow. Essentially, the Turkish invasion consists of bombing communities, structures via air and artillery. Behind the lines the Turks are systematically burning down buildings in communities they have taken. The Kurds continue to adjust and continue to take out Turk armor and as a result, Turkey has sent in another 100 armored vehicles this past weekend, this is the third time they have had to do this. The only thing that would be reported tomorrow is that the Turks are leveling entire communities in Afrin. However, as I stated, the YPG/SDF are adjusting their methods of survival accordingly.
Posted by: Ulaigum Ebbineng7056 || 03/05/2018 19:49 Comments || Top||

#17  Thank you for the update, Ulaigum Ebbineng7056.

Let us hope for effective extraction of the civilians with enough supplies to live in the hills in some amount of comfort, and wish happy hunting to the fighters, including the Syrian irregulars.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/05/2018 20:52 Comments || Top||

#18  Thank you TW. Unfortunately as can be seen at this link, due to massive, massive bombs being dropped on the civilians, the human toll is unbelievable.

Link of to pictures of unimaginable human suffering.

Massive bombs strike civilians:

Posted by: Ulaigum Ebbineng7056 || 03/05/2018 22:14 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Police repel armed attack against patrol transferring inmates in Ramadi
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Police forces in Anbar have thwarted gunmen attack against patrol that transfers inmates in Ramadi city, Anbar, a security source said on Sunday.

Speaking to AlSumaria News, the source said, “Anbar police patrol was transferring inmates on way back from Ramadi court after they gave testimonies in court. They were in central Ramadi, when they were attacked.”

Police forces, according to the source, “exchanged fire with the gunmen and then followed that in Ramadi districts to arrest them.”
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Four policemen killed, injured in bomb attack in Iraq’s Mosul
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) A security source from Anbar said two border guards were injured in a blast near the Iraqi-Saudi borders.

“A bomb, from the war remnants of Islamic State, exploded today against a border guards patrol near the borders between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, leaving two personnel wounded,” the source told AlSumaria News.

“The patrol was on a surveillance mission,” the source, who preferred anonymity, added saying that the wounded were transferred to hospital for treatment.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Fifth Column
Twitter 'censorship of Seth Rich tweets'
[RT] Dotcom had earlier tweeted about Seth Rich, the DNC staffer who was murdered in July 2016. Rumors that his death was in some way connected to the hacking or leaking of DNC emails during the US presidential primaries have circulated since he died. Dotcom maintains he knows who passed the DNC’s emails on to WikiLeaks, and why.

Dotcom told RT many of his followers had shared similar experiences with retweeting, saying that it seems the platform "is actively targeting accounts that talk about the Seth Rich case."

"There is a large number of Twitter users out there, especially Trump supporters, who claim that they sometimes cannot even retweet the tweets of the President," he added. "I’m thinking this isn’t just a bug. I think Twitter is proactively interfering with free speech because of the political bias of its leadership," Dotcom said. "And if that is true then the time has come for a Twitter alternative, a neutral platform without censorship."

Dotcom said he likes the platform and wants to give Dorsey a chance to respond to reports of censorship. "If he can assure us that Twitter won’t violate free speech then I have no desire to create a twitter alternative," he said. "I like Twitter. It’s a great communication tool that must be protected from the political bias of twitter management or shareholders."

Video: Suppression of Conservative Views Panel - James O'Keefe, James Damore - CPAC 2018
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336087 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There has been too much censorship of the internet. Google, YouTube, Twitter and FB have censorship practices. If social media censorship promotes one political party over another or hinders criminal investigations is not right and should not be practiced.

If you keep messing with our free speech @jack I will build a team to create a Twitter alternative, without censorship. Twitter could be toast within a year. I hear you’re hurting about the Trump presidency. Don’t let your frustration destroy your business. Go for it Kim Dot Com.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/05/2018 7:52 Comments || Top||

#2  There has been too much censorship of the internet.

Social media faces EU ‘1-hour rule’ on taking down terror content
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/05/2018 8:16 Comments || Top||

#3  "If he can assure us that Twitter won’t violate free speech then I have no desire to create a twitter alternative," he said.

Better get started.
Posted by: gorb || 03/05/2018 20:03 Comments || Top||


Europe
Syrian man confesses to killing his wife in Facebook Live video
[ARABNEWS] With drops of blood falling from his hands, a Syrian man appeared in a Facebook Live video soon after murdering his wife, according to newspapers reports.

The man, identified as Abu Marwan, is a Syrian refugee residing in Germany, who stabbed his wife to death on Friday and aired his confession in a live video on Facebook.

He claimed that he killed his wife because "she wanted to marry another Lebanese man after divorcing him," German news reports have said.

Abu Marwan, 41, reportedly killed his wife, 37, by stabbing her at least five times in the neck, before escaping with his twelve-year-old son.

He then appeared in a Facebook Live stream, alongside his son, to justify why he stabbed his wife to death. The suspect was seen in the video holding a knife and bleeding due to a cut sustained in his hand.

German prosecutors in Karlsruhe issued an arrest warrant for the suspect and locked away
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
him shortly after he escaped the scene of the crime.

The couple’s underage daughter reported the murder of her mother to the police at around 4:30 PM local time.

In the video, Abu Marwan said his act was "a message to all women who angered their husbands," warning that "this is how you’ll end." He also urged viewers to widely share the video.
Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336086 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  a Syrian refugee ... killed his wife because "she wanted to marry another Lebanese man after divorcing him,"
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/05/2018 5:59 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
In overture to Hamas, PA includes 20,000 of its employees in 2018 budget
Betcha this goes up in smoke in a few days, same as all previous attempts, because the two sides are incapable of sharing — especially while Hamas continues organizing terror attacks against Israelis and red revolution against the PA in the West Bank.
[IsraelTimes] Paleostinian premier urges Gazoo rulers to allow PA to assume control over Strip as part of reconciliation deal
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority

#1  "Of course, we can't..ya know...pay you or anything"
Posted by: Frank G || 03/05/2018 7:38 Comments || Top||

#2  These budget differences can only be settled through armed conflict. The sooner you get started, the better.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/05/2018 7:41 Comments || Top||

#3  "Of course, we can't..ya know...pay you or anything"

They'll find some virtue-signaling useful idiots to hand them a pile of cash. Gotta pay the government workers, ya know.
Posted by: gorb || 03/05/2018 13:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Barbra Streisand to the white courtesy phone please
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 03/05/2018 14:56 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
'This is not going to end well': Trump's friends and allies are worried he's spiraling out of control ‐ and they say this time is different
Each time it’s different, until they notice the Trump voters discounted it as propaganda. Then they try the next different thing, poor dears.
[Business Insider] President Donald Trump's friends and confidantes are reportedly more worried about his emotional health than ever before.

As Trump becomes ever more focused on perceived attacks against him, constantly obsesses over TV coverage, and lashes out at friends and foes alike in public, many close to him say he is approaching "pure madness," according to the Washington Post.

Retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey did not mince his words about Trump's current mental state.

"I think the president is starting to wobble in his emotional stability and this is not going to end well," he told the Post. "Trump's judgment is fundamentally flawed, and the more pressure put on him and the more isolated he becomes, I think, his ability to do harm is going to increase."

But others say things will likely get worse before they get better.

"We haven't bottomed out," one official told the paper.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336092 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Desperate measures to invoke the 25th amendment now that the Russia story died.
Posted by: Harcourt Angoluting9366 || 03/05/2018 2:02 Comments || Top||

#2  "He's totally psycho - he keeps his compaign promises"?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/05/2018 2:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Hysterical contagion and June Bug Epidemic

The June bug epidemic serves as a classic example of hysterical contagion. In 1962 a mysterious disease broke out in a dressmaking department of a US textile factory. The symptoms included numbness, nausea, dizziness, and vomiting. Word of a bug in the factory that would bite its victims and cause them to develop the above symptoms quickly spread.[2]

Soon sixty two employees developed this mysterious illness, some of whom were hospitalized. The news media reported on the case. After research by company physicians and experts from the US Public Health Service Communicable Disease Center, it was concluded that the case was one of mass hysteria.

While the researchers believed some workers were bitten by the bug, anxiety was probably the cause of the symptoms. No evidence was ever found for a bug which could cause the above flu-like symptoms, nor did all workers demonstrate bites.

Workers concluded that the environment was quite stressful; the plant had recently opened, was quite busy and organization was poor. Further, most of the victims reported high levels of stress in their lives. Social forces seemed at work too.

Of the 62 employees that reported symptoms, 59 worked on the first shift, 58 worked in the same area, and 50 of the 62 cases occurred in the two consecutive days after the media supposedly “sensationalized” the event. Most of the employees who became sick took time off to recuperate.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/05/2018 6:34 Comments || Top||

#4  The entertainment value of watching these dipshits lose it over nothing month in and month out is so worth it. Bless their hearts.
Posted by: NCMike || 03/05/2018 6:46 Comments || Top||

#5  I love how WaPo and NYT claim to have "inside info"
Posted by: Frank G || 03/05/2018 7:20 Comments || Top||

#6  McCaffery? seriously? what's a matter was Relieve...oops retired genius at large Wesley Clark too busy leg humping eurocrats to wax rhapsodic?
Posted by: Cesare || 03/05/2018 9:30 Comments || Top||

#7  Pretty sure something like this was written two months ago, which means we'll see it again in early May. The national media will rotate these column themes like the Enterprise rotates shield frequencies against the Borg.
Posted by: Raj || 03/05/2018 9:40 Comments || Top||

#8  #5 What I find interesting is that the inside sources who get quoted without attribution uniformly support the NYT-WAPO position. You never see a WAPO article saying "Sources close to the Mueller investigation report that they ain't got jack." What are the odds.
Posted by: Matt || 03/05/2018 9:56 Comments || Top||

#9  I think the president is starting to wobble in his emotional stability and this is not going to end wel

The left went completely unhinged when Hilda lost. The next 8 years were laid out by the Dems and they didn't happen. They are the only ones who are schizophrenic in bouncing between memes: Russian collusion, Trump abuses women, Trump hires prostitutes who peepee on the bed, Trump had a fling with Stormy Daniels, he cheats on his taxes and his wife, he's crazy...there's no end to the left's craziness. The country would be better off if they just STFU for awhile.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/05/2018 11:39 Comments || Top||

#10  James Kunstler, a one time Obama supporter, posted this today:
What’s going on here makes the Red Scare of 1920 and the McCarthy episode of the early 1950s look sedate in comparison. It’s reasonable to suppose that officials in any foreign country watching the dismal ongoing spectacle here would conclude that the United States has lost its mind.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 03/05/2018 19:44 Comments || Top||

#11  The American system of checks and balances will take care of potential problems.
Posted by: European Conservative || 03/05/2018 20:06 Comments || Top||

#12  Bless you for your faith in us, European Conservative.

And if you have not yet seen it, according to CNN President Trump said the tariffs will not go into effect if an improved NAFTA is signed. Link.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/05/2018 20:55 Comments || Top||

#13  Well it doesn't seem clear whether the tariffs will not be enacted if NAFTA is successfully renegotiated or if they will be imposed and only lifted if...

I consider the threat on automobiles more substantial. But this will hurt the U.S. as much as Europe. This is what I would really like to discuss more.

Trump's tweeted argument is simply wrong and uninformed:

"If the E.U. wants to further increase their already massive tariffs and barriers on U.S. companies doing business there, we will simply apply a Tax on their Cars which freely pour into the U.S. They make it impossible for our cars (and more) to sell there. Big trade imbalance!"

There ARE NO massive tariffs and barriers on U.S. companies. It's true that the EU imposes a flat tariff of 10% on imported cars (U.S. only charges 2.5 %). But then again, the U.S. charges 25% on trucks, which seriously hurts European truck makers.

But the 10% EU tax is applied to all non-EU vehicles, which means that a BMW produced in the U.S. (or Mexico) also faces a 10% import tax. That hasn't stopped Germans from buying those cars (and buying LOTS of Japanese cars also taxed at 10%).

The main reasons why U.S. cars don't sell well in Germany are these:

1) Poor quality (not all, but many)
2) Wrong sizes (SUVs see less demand her)
3) Bad sales policy.

An example for 3)

The Cadillac limousines are actually fine cars with astonishingly competitive prices in Germany (after taxes). We have Cadillac dealers here but they say the cars don't sell well. Why? I never saw a Cadillac ad in Germany.

And they do something completely idiotic. Spare parts are priced outrageously if you buy them in Germany. Prices are often three times as high compared to directly importing them yourself from the U.S. (taxes included). But many people don't like that nuisance.

So no, it's not import taxes. U.S. cars are competitively priced in Germany.

Yo can't get many U.S. cars because U.S. and EU regulations differ. But while many European companies do everything to meet the requirements of both markets, U.S. car makers don't.

And I even have examples of U.S. carmakers REFUSING to export certain cars manufactured in the U.S. to Germany even if I assume all the risks and taxes and stuff. They will insist on exporting a car made in Mexico.

I have more absurd stories to tell.
Posted by: European Conservative || 03/05/2018 21:23 Comments || Top||

#14  President Trump said the tariffs will not go into effect if an improved NAFTA is signed.

This is the end game. There are some NAFTA loopholes that give China access to US markets through Canada and Mexico that they wouldn't otherwise have.

The chatter on NPR today was all about how Trump's tariffs are going to destroy the US economy which is booming after the recent tax cuts. Funny, last week the story was the tax cuts were having no effect except on fat-cat corporations.
Posted by: SteveS || 03/05/2018 21:32 Comments || Top||

#15  NAFTA, like all trade agreements, ages. So there is nothing wrong with updating it, adapting it to the world of 2020, which differs a lot from 1992.

China uses state sponsored dumping, state-sponsored theft of intellectual property. That's certainly something to keep in mind.

But targeting your best allies?

Europe doesn't do dumping, wages are not low. Yes, too many regulations at time, but we all suffer from them. And Canada? Really?

Wouldn't it make much more sense to JOINTLY keep China in line?
Posted by: European Conservative || 03/05/2018 21:38 Comments || Top||

#16  #13 On NAFTA being renogotiated. It was reported earlier that Trump is talking about the issue of tariffs on Mexico being contingent on Mexico shutting off the flow of illegal drugs into America. Carrot and stick approach.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/05/2018 22:49 Comments || Top||

#17  Oh please. The Mexicans can't shut of the flow of drugs INSIDE their country.
Posted by: European Conservative || 03/05/2018 23:12 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Al Qaeda affiliate claims responsibility for Burkina Faso attacks
[Ynet] A Mali-based affiliate of al Qaeda has grabbed credit for attacks in neighbouring 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...
's capital Ouagadougou that killed eight people at the army headquarters and French embassy, according to the Mauritanian news agency Alakhbar.
The attack was reported here and here.
The group, Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Moslemin (JNIM), often uses Alakhbar to claim responsibility for strikes against civilian and military targets across West Africa's Sahel region
... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas...
Alakhbar, citing a recording from the group, reported that the attacks were carried out in response to the killing of one of JNIM's leaders, Mohammed Hacen al-Ancari, in a recent raid by French forces.

The attackers killed eight people and maimed dozens more in a coordinated assault.
This article starring:
MOHAMED HACEN AL ANCARIJNIM
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa



Who's in the News
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5Islamic State
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2Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)
1Hamas
1Haqqani Network
1Houthis
1Palestinian Authority
1Taliban
1Abu Sayyaf (ISIS)
1al-Qaeda in North Africa
1Antifa
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1Boko Haram (ISIS)
1Govt of Iran
1Govt of Syria

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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2018-03-05
  20 Islamic State militants killed in clashes with Iraqi forces in Hawija
Sun 2018-03-04
  Teacher found guilty of grooming children to launch terror attacks in London
Sat 2018-03-03
  Mosul Clearances Continue: 30 turbans tied up or permanently unwound, ISIS chemicals concern, Saddam Hussein mass grave found
Fri 2018-03-02
  Attack underway in Burkina Faso's capital, police say
Thu 2018-03-01
  Nigerian-Cameroonian Troops Eliminate 35 Boko Haram fighters, Recover Large Weapons
Wed 2018-02-28
  US designates 'Daesh-Egypt', other ISIS affiliates as terrorist groups
Tue 2018-02-27
  Drone strike kill 3 militants, injures 3 more in Laghman province
Mon 2018-02-26
  Police arrest widow of Jemaah Islamiyah leader Marwan
Sun 2018-02-25
  UN Security Council unanimously votes in favor of Syria ceasefire resolution
Sat 2018-02-24
  US says Jerusalem embassy to open in May, Palestinians furious
Fri 2018-02-23
  Deputy of Islamic State’s Baghdadi killed in Iraqi airstrike: Intelligence source
Thu 2018-02-22
  Mali Blast Kills Two French Soldiers
Wed 2018-02-21
  SWAT force arrests senior IS, Al-Qaeda commander in central Ramadi
Tue 2018-02-20
  9 abducted civilians found dead in Afghanistan
Mon 2018-02-19
  Syrian Army deploys entire artillery division of howitzers, field guns, mortars and Grad rocket launchers for east Damascus battle

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