Ay-Pee. Grains of salt required. The lawyers have shut everyone up
[USNews] Construction of the pedestrian bridge that collapsed and killed six people in the Miami area was behind schedule and millions over budget, in part because of a key change in the design and placement of one of its support towers.
Documents obtained by The Associated Press through a public-records request show that the Florida Department of Transportation in October 2016 advised Florida International University and its contractors to move one of the bridge's main support structures 11 feet (3 meters) north to the edge of a canal, widening the gap between the crossing's end supports and requiring some new structural design.
The span's signature, 109-foot-tall (33-meter-tall) pylon was to be built atop a base at the span's northern end. It was designed for basic support and to contribute to the aesthetics of the bridge
U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has ordered her department's inspector general to conduct an audit of the bridge, according to a news release Tuesday from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The agency awarded millions of dollars to the project. so "Buy America" provisions for the steel (rebar, tension strands and anchorages) were in place. No foreign steel allowed above 0.5%
It is still unclear if the design change contributed to the failure. But emails between the school, contractors, Sweetwater city officials and permitting agencies show a project that was behind schedule, which had officials worried that further delays could jeopardize the federal funding.
When the bridge collapsed, the project was already running about $2.6 millionover its $9.4 million initial budget, cost-tracking documents from February show. Originally scheduled to be completed in July, the finish date had been pushed back to January 2019
Difficulties began in late 2016, when the Florida Department of Transportation emailed project officials saying they wanted more room to allow for future widening of the U.S. highway under the bridge, according to the documents. The new position of the tower would be on the north side between the road and the canal.
"This ... places the current location of the pylon in conflict with the extra travel lane and would require bridge design modifications," Alfred Reyna, a transportation department employee working on the bridge project, wrote in an email.
After weeks of back and forth, it was decided to move the pylon 11 feet to the north, sitting near the edge of the canal. According to documents, initial costs for the new design were $204,540, with another $402,723 for construction changes. The final cost was not divulged.
"The city attorney is advising us not to speak about anything to do with the bridge," said Sandra Antonio, a spokeswoman for the city of Sweetwater, which was working with FIU. The tower was to be located on the Sweetwater side.
Don Silver, a spokesman for Munilla Construction Management, or MCM, the Miami-based construction management firm that won the bridge contract, said the National Transportation Safety Board forbade engineers or contractors from talking about the project pending its investigation. MCM collaborated with Tallahassee-based FIGG Bridge Design on the bridge project, which also declined comment.
A spokeswoman for FIU, Maydel Santana, declined comment on the pylon redesign, but did confirm Tuesday that the bridge was expected to be completed early in 2019 and the grant ran out on Sept. 30, 2019. She also said the school was cooperating with the NTSB's investigation.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/21/2018
11:30 ||
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#1
so apparently, this was supposed to be a cable stayed bridge with the support tower on one of the ends instead of in the center of the span
and also they decided to place the deck structure before they built the support tower
???
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/21/2018 16:10
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#2
This was interesting...why the bridge collapsed.
#3
garth,
As I understand it, the suspension cables were only for show. They didn't carry any load. The temporary support on the end that failed was supposed to be under the single truss at that end. Instead, it was placed further towards the middle leaving that end to sag. Concrete is great under compression but sucks wind under Tension.
The tension bars were already stressed to the limit when they tried to tighten them and it soon failed.
#4
I do this for a living and I still don't know enough to say confidently why it failed. One box was checked off - the materials were all US-Origin for steel, as should the cement (just because it's cheaper), so not likely a sleazy material swap-out
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/21/2018 19:56
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[LA Times] A Pico Rivera teacher whose anti-military rant was caught on video and drew widespread condemnation has been terminated from his post, the school board president said.
The El Rancho Unified School District voted unanimously Tuesday evening to fire Gregory Salcido, who taught history at his alma mater El Rancho High School, said Board of Education President Aurora Villon. He has 30 days to appeal the decision.
Villon said students should feel respected on campus, and in this case, she felt "that was not happening."
"The classroom should never be a place where students feel that they are picked at, bullied, intimidated," she said.
Salcido, who also serves on the Pico Rivera City Council, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
During the Jan. 26 diatribe, Salcido called members of the military the "lowest of our low."
"We've got a bunch of dumb ... over there," Salcido says in the recording, using an expletive. "Think about the people who you know who are over there ‐ your freaking stupid Uncle Louie or whatever ‐ they're dumb.... They're not like high-level thinkers, they're not academic people, they're not intellectual people. They're the freaking lowest of our low."
Salcido's rant appears to have been in reaction to a student wearing a Marines shirt.
#3
He'll have an honorary PhD and a better paying job at a California state funded college any minute now.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/21/2018 10:56
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#4
Given that 2/3rds of American 'utes' can't qualify mentally or physically for the armed forces, what does that say about our 'education' system? BTW, Pico, ever check how DoD's schools for dependents rate academically compared to your CA public schools?
#7
I'd love to see him in a debate with Secretary Mattis, to see how smart he is.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
03/21/2018 12:06
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#8
Too bad. For every Salcido in California schools there are a dozen more like him.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/21/2018 12:24
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#9
The guy claims military people are stupid. And he's not even smart enough to avoid the almost impossible task of being fired as a government worker in California.
[WSJ via Mannhattan Institute] And racial preferences set up bright students‐who otherwise would be excelling at less-selective schools‐to fail at elite colleges.
Amy Wax, a tenured professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, was recently barred from teaching certain courses there. Her crime? During an interview in September with Glenn Loury, a black economist at Brown University, Ms. Wax remarked on the academic underperformance of black students at Penn Law.
"Here’s a very inconvenient fact, Glenn: I don’t think I’ve ever seen a black student graduate in the top quarter of the class, and rarely, rarely, in the top half," said Ms. Wax. "I can think of one or two students who scored in the top half of my required first-year course."
In his announcement amending her teaching responsibilities, Penn Law School Dean Theodore Ruger accused Ms. Wax of speaking "disparagingly and inaccurately" about the performance of the school’s black students, whom he characterized as "extremely successful." Like Ms. Wax, Mr. Ruger didn’t offer any empirical data to back up his claim; school administrators are known to guard such information as closely as the president guards his tax returns. But it’s an open secret that highly selective schools like Penn lower their standards significantly for black applicants to achieve a predetermined amount of racial diversity on campus. Harvard is currently being sued over this practice, and the plaintiffs have complained that getting demographic data on admissions from the school is like pulling teeth.
Moreover, the evidence is overwhelming that students (of any color) who do not meet the normal standards applied to other students at a school tend to have lower grades and graduation rates. That’s not because they are less intelligent or less capable, but because they have not been prepared for the pace and rigor of an Ivy League institution. Affirmative-action policies in higher education regularly set up bright students‐students who otherwise would be excelling at less-selective schools‐to fail at elite colleges, and the proponents of these policies become indignant when you point out the obvious.
#1
Social Justice Warriors and Virtue Signaling narcissists just know that wishing and saying something just has to make it so! But as Tucker Carlson said last night, a bag of hair isn’t a pony.
#2
Sheila Jackson Lee was born Sheila Jackson in Queens, New York. Her parents were immigrants from Jamaica.[1] She graduated from Jamaica High School in Queens. She earned a B.A. in political science from Yale University in 1972, followed by a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1975.[2] She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.[3]
Yet, she's a certifiable AA racialist moron
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/21/2018 10:36
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#3
If they can just hang on.... liberal companies will hire them despite the grades and they'll have it made.
What most people don't realize is that "affirmative action" doesn't just hurts these it discriminates against. It's also promotes the worst members of its putative beneficiary group.
[The Weekly Standard] The newest member of Donald Trump’s legal team, Joseph diGenova, has lately been appearing on cable news to blast the Mueller investigation as part of a "brazen plot" to "frame" the president‐revenge of the Swamp and the Deep State, if you will. But earlier this month diGenova was yukking it up with Washington’s elite journalists about the administration he would soon be working for. And his future boss, President Trump, was there too.
At the white-tie Gridiron Club dinner on March 4, diGenova was one of the event’s "ringers"‐non-members who are brought in to supplement the singing sketches that are part of the 133-year-old dinner’s program. DiGenova, according to attendees at the dinner (where no recording is allowed), participated in several humorous songs, including one set that parodied the Trump administration in the style of the Marx Brothers. His role was as Groucho Marx playing Michael Wolff.
[American Spectator] As his plot to destroy Trump backfires, his squeals grow louder.
It was the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky who coined the phrase the "dustbin of history." To his political opponents, he sputtered, "You are pitiful, isolated individuals! You are bankrupts. Your role is played out. Go where you belong from now on ‐ into the dustbin of history!"
It is no coincidence that John Brennan, who supported the Soviet-controlled American Communist Party in the 1970s (he has acknowledged that he thought his vote for its presidential candidate Gus Hall threatened his prospects at the CIA; unfortunately, it didn’t), would borrow from Trotsky’s rhetoric in his fulminations against Donald Trump. His tweet last week, shortly after the firing of Andrew McCabe, reeked of Trotskyite revolutionary schlock: "When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America... America will triumph over you."
America will triumph over a president it elected? That’s the raw language of coup, and of course it is not the first time Brennan has indulged it. In 2017, he was calling for members of the executive branch to defy the chief executive. They should "refuse to carry out" his lawful directives if they don’t agree with them, he said.
Trump has said that the Russians are "laughing their asses off" over the turmoil caused by Obamagate. No doubt many of the laughs come at the sight of Brennan, a supporter of Soviet stooges like Gus Hall, conducting a de facto coup from the top of the CIA and then continuing it after his ouster. Who needs Gus Hall when John Brennan is around? This time the Russians don’t even have to pay for the anti-American activity.
Another hardcore leftist, Samantha Power, who spent the weeks after Trump’s victory rifling through intelligence picked up on his staff, found Brennan’s revolutionary tweet very inspiring. "Not a good idea to piss off John Brennan," she wrote. Sounded pretty dark and grave. But not to worry, she tweeted later. She just meant that the former CIA director was going to smite Trump with the power of his "eloquent voice."
Out of power, these aging radicals can’t help themselves. They had their shot to stop Trump, they failed, and now they are furious. The adolescent coup talk grows more feverish with each passing day. We have a former CIA director calling for the overthrow of a duly elected president, a former attorney general (Eric Holder) calling for a "knife fight," a Senate minority leader speaking ominously about what the intelligence community might do to Trump ("they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you," Schumer has said), and assorted former FBI and CIA officials cheering for a coup, such as CNN’s Phil Mudd who says, "You’ve been around for 13 months. We’ve been around since 1908. I know how this game is going to be played. We’re going to win."
#1
I suspect 'you can take this one to the bank.' The fellow who forwarded this article to me has nearly a half-century of experience within the community (USN, Federal Employee, annuitant contractor). The comments are also quite revealing as well.
#5
In this article about Obama - note Brennan was CIA station chief at Pakistan when the student Obama visited and the same time BCCI was in full swing. Posted by: 3dc
From an insightful link and article provided this morning by our own Procopius2k
[PJ] There are two ways to find one's bearings in the maze of allegations over Russian collusion in the West. The first is to evaluate each piece of breaking news with respect to the tangled skeins of conspiracy that both sides and hundreds of pundits tirelessly launch. The second approach is to understand Russia's objectives from first principles, and from them evaluate each piece of information in relation to the Kremlin's interests.
Unless there's some easy way to find Waldo it's easy to become a victim of disinformation. The quickest way to identify the character is to become familiar with his signature. The unfailing signature of a Putin stooge is he promotes the Kremlin's interests. What are those interests?
Common sense suggests Russia's three most immediate priorities are a) keeping its energy industry profitable; b) maintaining a military posture of intimidation in Europe; and c) keeping Assad in Syrian power and evicting the U.S., in cooperation with Iran, from the region. It will be readily apparent that achieving these goals will serve the interests of Putin. Conversely, their defeat or frustration is necessarily a setback for him. Find the man or men who back those goals and you've got Waldo.
It may be useful to examine the prospects of each of these Russian goals at the present time.
The future of Russian oil isn't very bright under current trends. As CNBC noted in March 2018: "[T]he United States will dominate the oil industry for the next 5 years, International Energy Agency forecasts." If this continues it will beggar Putin, or at least straiten his circumstances. He would certainly welcome a reduction in American oil production.
Current American military increases must dampen Russia's military prospects in the European theater. In the words of the Los Angeles Times in February 2018: "Trump Proposes Huge Increase in Military Spending." This can hardly be welcome to Putin:
The budget blueprint, combined with a defense boost that Congress approved last week, would increase Pentagon accounts for weapons, troops, training and for nuclear arms programs run by the Energy Department by more than $74 billion, a 10% increase over current spending levels. Trump's budget plan was released weeks after the Pentagon issued a national security strategy that called for a shift away from battling terrorist groups, such as Al Qaeda and Islamic State, and retooling the military to deter and, if necessary, fight nuclear-armed adversaries such as Russia, China or North Korea.
Russia's position in Syria was recently threatened by national security adviser H.R. McMaster, who "called for further U.S. action against Russia as punishment for crimes in Syria, in a fiery address at an event marking the seventh year of the Syrian Civil War." Only a few days ago, UN ambassador Nikki Haley warned of action unless Russia, Syria and Iran honored a ceasefire in Syria. While some skepticism has been expressed over whether the U.S. can effectively checkmate Russia in Syria, the Washington Post reports the administration lobbying the Saudis in just such an endeavor.
But current policies are not a given. There may be political pressure from the Saudis to cut back on U.S. oil production. Developments in Syria may push the administration into withdrawing before Iran and Russia. Whatever the justification, if this ever happens at least there will be an objective yardstick against which to measure Trump's direction of movement, some frame of reference against which to base the suspicion of collusion or the opposite thereof. Given the tangle of theories swirling around the Russia probe, it may ultimately be simpler and more accurate to evaluate actions in the light of the following question: does the development empower Russia's strategic goals? Or does it hinder them?
#1
Why on Earth are we in Syria? What possible national interest is served there? You know our "allies" in Syria are groups like al-Nusra, who are Islamist headchoppers, right? Because they are.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 ||
03/21/2018 10:42
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Why on Earth are we in Syria? What possible national interest is served there? You know our "allies" in Syria are groups like al-Nusra, who are Islamist headchoppers, right? Because they are.
No good reason and the answer to your second question is "correct." But Ralph Peters, John McCain, Bill Kristol, the Notional Review, Langley, Foggy Bottom and InjunBucket will call you a moron for thinking like that.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/21/2018 11:11
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#7
Unfortunately the United States has a long history of abandoning allies or friends when the going gets tough. From the shores of Tripoli c1804 to Vietnam to Libya and Mubarak recently, these actions have damaged us and made others lose faith in us. To abandon the Kurds we have supported in Iraq and Syria or to abandon the government of Afghanistan would be disasters comparable to Obama's ceding our influence in Syria to Russia. It would encourage Iran and North Korea to wait for us to let them have their way. My impression, based on very incomplete information is that the CIA was not very useful in Syria, that is not the issue. The significance of an action has little to do with its direct intent and very much to do with what impression it makes on other actors on the world scene.
It is true that Carter's incompetent foreign policy got Sadat to seek direct peace with Israel, but that is insufficient reason to promote incompetence in such matters.
Posted by: Daniel ||
03/21/2018 18:02
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#8
Ref #7: I recall the difficulties gaining 'Zonie' (US Citizen) support in 1989, in the lead up to Operation Just Cause. They wanted to help, but were fearful of the consequences if dictator Manuel Noriega was not effectively removed. "Look what happened in Vietnam" was a frequent retort.
[UPI] March 21 - The bomber believed to have terrorized Austin, Texas, with a wave of explosive attacks this month blew himself up as police approached his vehicle early Wednesday, authorities said.
Police said several related bombings this month were the work of a serial bomber -- who changed tactics as explosive packages were left around Austin and one went off at a package sorting facility near San Antonio. The bombings, which began March 2, killed two victims and injured others.
Investigators said they received information early this week that led them to a suspect they tracked to a hotel in Round Rock, Texas, about 15 miles northeast of Austin.
Police said they kept the suspect under surveillance in his car while awaiting a SWAT team Wednesday. Officials said when the vehicle left the hotel around 2 a.m. Wednesday, police followed and pulled the man over on Interstate 35. When SWAT officers approached the vehicle, he set off a bomb -- killing himself and injuring an officer.
The suspect is described as a 24-year-old while male. Police believe he is responsible for all the events that occurred in Austin, the city's police chief said. He was not immediately named.
Police are still investigating whether there are any accomplices. Even if he acted alone, police warned residents to remain vigilant in case he left behind more packages.
A blast at a Goodwill store in south Austin Tuesday night turned out to be unrelated to the case. Austin Police Department Asst. Chief Eli Reyes said officers determined a Goodwill employee found a box of donations containing two "artillery simulators," one of which initiated when a second employee handled the item.
Earlier Tuesday, a package bomb headed for Austin exploded at a FedEx sorting facility near San Antonio. A FedEx employee received a concussion in the blast at the Schertz, Texas, facility.
Police later found another package containing an explosive device at another FedEx facility near Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Investigators said that package, found intact, may yield clues.
Police so far are investigating a total of six bombs or suspicious packages this month. In addition to the one that exploded in Schertz and the suspicious package found at the Austin FedEx facility Monday:
-- March 2: Anthony Stephan House, 39, died in the first bombing attack in east Austin. He was a father and a graduate of Texas State University.
-- March 12: Draylen Mason, 17, died and his mother, Shamika Wilson, was injured in the second attack, also in east Austin. Draylen was recently accepted into the selective Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin.
-- March 12: Esperanza "Hope" Herrera, 75, was injured when a package left outside her east Austin home exploded.
-- Sunday: A package bomb triggered by a tripwire injured two men, ages 22 and 23, but they will survive.
#3
Thought this might happen. The guy was getting careless.
The boomer was caught on video at a Fed Ex facility. He had something written on his T-Shirt but I couldn't read it. It "fuzzed out" when enlarged. Might have given some indication of what he was supporting--like Antifa or some other looney org.
#7
Austin PD is special. Same department that had a mounted officer shot a guy a mile away while holding the reigns of two horses with the other hand a couple years ago. Too bad city hall is so liberal.
#8
Daily Mail: FBI Special Agent in Charge Christopher Combs: 'You literally had Austin police running toward a vehicle that had explosives in it. Those are real heroes.'
[Guardian] As scientific discoveries go, the male contraceptive pill has long been considered the unicorn of reproductive healthcare – much touted, but frustratingly elusive (in part, hindered by big pharma’s lack of desire to fund research). But on Sunday, Washington University scientists at the annual Endocrine conference hailed early trials which showed that a once-daily tablet that lowers sperm production seemed safe and effective in preventing pregnancy. The trouble is, in the time it’s taken to develop a male hormonal pill, attitudes to contraception, particularly among thirtysomethings, have moved on, with swathes of women abandoning the pill and hormonal coil for condoms or contraceptive apps. The future of reproductive health is part digital, part hi-tech latex, but not hormonal. Suddenly this much-longed-for solution may already be obsolete.
The history of the contraceptive pill is fraught – fraught with a thousand examples of women who took charge of their reproductive destiny at the cost of their physical and mental wellbeing. As Julie Burchill once put it: “The freedom that women were supposed to have found in the 1960s largely boiled down to easy contraception and abortion; things to make life easier for men, in fact.” Despite the touted liberties of the female pill, many feminists fantasised about the male equivalent as a matter of biological and social justice. Yes, eunuchs make excellent servants or slaves. Tongue removal might also be an available option.
But given the many miserable side-effects for women of hormonal contraception – everything from lack of concentration to severe depression – the appetite for a male drug is weak. Even the Male Contraceptive Initiative estimates it at under 50%. Even though the Washington scientists conducting the trial of 100 men aged 18-50 say that dimethandrolone undecanoate – the drug’s chemical name – had no pernicious side-effects, long-term trials are now needed to gauge the effects for a far larger sample of the male population. And the finished product is still a long way from market. Even when the long-term trials are complete, female contraceptive scientists such as Herjan Coelingh Bennink believe that big pharma is currently run by too many resistant middle-aged men, who will take some persuading to manufacture and sell it. Societal side-effects such as 'western' population decline obviously not mentioned.
It may be high time that men stepped up to the plate when it came to taking more contraceptive responsibility, but in the meantime women have already come up with a better solution for themselves. Case in point – Elina Berglund, a former Cern physicist who gave up her work on the Large Hadron Collider to create the Natural Cycles app, which prevents or helps plan a pregnancy by having the user take their basal temperature each day and input the number into the app, which then predicts ovulation and fertile v infertile days. "Natural Cycles" in reproduction...... new technology ?
It’s already a well-adopted solution: cheaper, safer and more informative than any of its hormonal counterparts – and while it again puts the onus on women rather than men, it seems to be an onus that many women, particularly digital natives, are prepared to bear. In the words of another male pill researcher, Richard Anderson of Edinburgh University, many men still have a “lazy attitude towards responsibility for contraception”. Yes of course, men are both stupid and lazy.
Or research into body-safe biohacking that could provide a non-hormonal solution, such as the Michigan State University research into temporarily turning off the gene that controls sperm production? Genetic blocking and mutation? What could possibly go wrong there ?
Younger millennial and Generation Z men are far more health conscious than their 1960s liberal grandparents ever were ‐ with both drinking and drug-taking on the down, and fitness and veganism on the up. As younger generations express a desire to take better and better care of their bodies, the male pill may be just too hard to swallow. Non-hormonal, non-pharma solution, such as abstinence? How intriguing.
Try riding a bike 40 miles every other day on a vegan diet - it doesn't work because you can't eat enough proteins & calories to recover after a physical effort like that. Anyone remember this pro cycling team? I laughed about it then and I'm laughing about it now.
[The Hill] Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) blasted President Trump on Tuesday over news that Trump phoned Russian President Vladimir Putin to congratulate him on his recent electoral win.
Putin won reelection in a landslide on Sunday ‐ but both election observers and Putin's political opponents have charged that the vote was tainted by widespread fraud.
In a statement, McCain called Trump's phone call to Putin an insult to "every Russian citizen who was denied the right to vote in a free and fair election to determine their country's future."
"An American president does not lead the Free World by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections," McCain said.
"And by doing so with Vladimir Putin, President Trump insulted every Russian citizen who was denied the right to vote in a free and fair election to determine their country's future, including the countless Russian patriots who have risked so much to protest and resist Putin's regime."
Trump called Putin on Tuesday to offer his congratulations on the Russian president’s victory, saying the two world leaders could meet again soon.
#5
The founders probably had high hopes that the Senate would be so good it would smooth over the failings of the other branches. They'd be deservedly chagrinned today...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/21/2018 11:06
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#6
Keating 5.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/21/2018 12:14
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#7
Keating 5
And the Arizona electorate did nothing. Dumbass cowboys...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/21/2018 12:35
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But, yes, McCain is an asshole who would have us pay no attention to Xi Jinping setting himself up as president for life in China. Putin is not our friend but I don't worry much about him because I don't believe he has the wherewithal to cause many problems for us. Xi Jinping does.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/21/2018 12:40
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#9
China owns the Republican establishment through McConnells family. Just like McCain and Manafort assisted the Russians in 2006 in making Montenegro a colony of Moscow. But then McCain stabbed Manafort in the back by working with the Dims on the fake Trump/Russian dossier.
Israel was behind the 2007 destruction of a nuclear reactor that was being built in northeastern Syria, the IDF Military Censor has now cleared for publication.
Until now, Israeli media have been blocked from publishing details of the reactor’s discovery and the decision- making process that led to its destruction ‐ even as many of those details were being published in the foreign press and in the memoirs of former president George W. Bush and vice president Dick Cheney.
The Mossad confirmed the existence of the Syrian reactor in March 2007, when the agency obtained photographs of the reactor that was being built in the northeastern Deir al-Zor province, close to the Euphrates River.
The pictures had been requested by the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate, which had suspicions that Damascus was engaging in rogue nuclear activity.
Military Intelligence had seen the structure being built during routine satellite scans of the country. Because it was built like a regular building, it was not immediately clear what the structure was. Then-head of Military Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin convinced Mossad chief Meir Dagan to send agents to obtain additional, conclusive intelligence.
According to Amir Peretz, who was defense minister at the time, "We had the intelligence but then came the dilemmas," both military and diplomatic.
In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Peretz explained that in April 2007, he convened his first meeting on the facility with top Israeli officials, during which he made the decision to prepare all options to destroy the facility.
In the months that followed, prime minister Ehud Olmert embarked on a diplomatic push to get Bush to attack the reactor. In July 2007, after Bush decided not to attack, Olmert convened his security cabinet, which ultimately concluded that the reactor had to be destroyed.
"It was a threat that we couldn’t live with," one member of the security cabinet at the time told the Post. "Syria with nuclear weapons would have posed an existential threat to the State of Israel."
Just like Iran nowadays
...Just before midnight on September 5, 2007, four F-15s and four F-16s took off for the al-Kibar facility. The planes entered Syrian airspace via Turkey, and sometime between 12:40 and 12:53 a.m., the pilots called out the operation’s codeword, "Arizona," signaling that some 17 tons of bombs had been dropped on the facility and it had been destroyed.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru ||
03/21/2018
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#1
and Norks and Iranians killed too IIRC
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/21/2018 7:24
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#2
Well....the information may have been classified but it wasn't
secret. Someday the Arabs will understand that Israel is here to stay and they should consider making amends.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
03/21/2018 7:28
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#4
Flew right through an expensive and supposedly highly sophisticated Russian air defense system, they did. IIRC, Pravda published a report that it was flying saucers.
One question: Who controls that territory now?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/21/2018 11:15
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#8
Flew right through an expensive and supposedly highly sophisticated Russian air defense system, they did.
It may have been expensive, but my understanding was they had an old-school Soviet integrated air defense. The attackers injected signals that made it appear there was a ginourmous swarm of attackers which led to the system being shutdown. (corrections welcome!).
Definitely a ballsy bit of work, both in the execution and in the political will to do it.
[Hot Air] In my view, Fox has degenerated from providing a legitimate and much-needed outlet for conservative voices to a mere propaganda machine for a destructive and ethically ruinous administration. When prime-time hosts‐who have never served our country in any capacity‐dismiss facts and empirical reality to launch profoundly dishonest assaults on the FBI, the Justice Department, the courts, the intelligence community (in which I served) and, not least, a model public servant and genuine war hero such as Robert Mueller‐all the while scaremongering with lurid warnings of "deep-state" machinations‐ I cannot be part of the same organization, even at a remove. To me, Fox News is now wittingly harming our system of government for profit.
As a Russia analyst for many years, it also has appalled me that hosts who made their reputations as super-patriots and who, justifiably, savaged President Obama for his duplicitous folly with Putin, now advance Putin’s agenda by making light of Russian penetration of our elections and the Trump campaign. Despite increasingly pathetic denials, it turns out that the "nothing-burger" has been covered with Russian dressing all along. And by the way: As an intelligence professional, I can tell you that the Steele dossier rings true‐that’s how the Russians do things.. The result is that we have an American president who is terrified of his counterpart in Moscow.
Update: Fox replies, "Ralph Peters is entitled to his opinion despite the fact that he’s choosing to use it as a weapon in order to gain attention. We are extremely proud of our top-rated primetime hosts and all of our opinion programing."
#2
So.........He hates Trump. *Shrug* I'm not found of Trump either. Ralph Peters can opine from the peanut gallery with the rest of us. But this whole situation reminds me of the dumpster fire that Gerald Ford inherited from the previous LBJ and Nixon administrations in that there is no clean, tidy, easy way forwards.
#5
Gained much knowledge from him. Now he has been infected by the zombies so expect everyone to suffer from that when you commit them to the loony bin of liberalism.
Which is in itself is liberalism.
I call it psychological warfare. The left really know what they are doing. Very effective.
#8
Update: Fox replies, "Ralph Peters is entitled to his opinion despite the fact that he’s choosing to use it as a weapon in order to gain attention. We are extremely proud of our top-rated primetime hosts and all of our opinion programing."
"Gain attention"....WTF? In an increasingly dangerous environment, perhaps his decision is based upon a desire to avoid attention.
#11
In recent appearances on Fox Peters seemed to have lost weight, gained ten years in appearance, and was increasingly shrill. I believe that people began to reject his views shortly after Trump took over. In essence he was sidelined and made fewer appearances. Similar to other retired LTC with a Napoleonic complex, he went mad.
#13
We don't get FOX on cable TV, so I can't say much. I prefer reading anyway.
CNN (which we get)is hard to stomach. In general I find U.S. news channels almost intolerable. Constant yelling, sanctimonious moderators, loud and repetitive advertising and useless debates.
I consider myself well read on Russia, so I share some of Peters' concerns. But then again, I'm a cold warrior.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/21/2018 9:29
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#14
I consider myself well read on Russia, so I share some of Peters' concerns. But then again, I'm a cold warrior. Posted by European Conservative
#20
We used to say in the Bundeswehr that Hauptmann was the highest ranking officer who gets things done.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/21/2018 10:15
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#21
Fox News is now wittingly harming our system of government for profit.
I worry more about the lies that come from the other MSM outlets. They hammer Trump without mercy. At least some at Fox still do something like investigative reporting. Trump is not perfect but he was far and above the alternative, Hillary.
I worry about Mueller running a witch-hunt without any limits or end despite not finding much that is relevant regarding Russian collusion after 14 months. I worry that the SC is loaded with Democrat hatchet men with an unsavory legal record.
Mueller may have been a war-hero. My concern is whether he is a patriot today.
I worry about the politicians who wittingly get unbelievable wealthy as the result of their "government service."
I worry about the way that government agencies have previously gotten weaponized against its people.
I worry about crime in government becoming legitimatized and covered up.
I worry more about Hillary and Obama and others meddling and trying to rig the 2016 election illegal unmasking and surveillance.
I worry about the continued efforts to unseat a legitimately elected POTUS. I worry that laws have been broken to do so.
I worry about freedom being eroded in the name of security.
I worry about truth being called propaganda or worse treason.
I worry about our government not being reformed and cleaned up.
BTW, it is not good enough to merely present yourself as a Russian expert. You state that the dossier rings true because that is the way Russians do things. How about some evidence? Does it matter that many don't believe the dossier? Does it matter that it was ginned up and paid for by Hillary and the DNC? Even discredited Comey states that it was salacious and unverified. Moreover, this fake dossier was presented to the FISA court used to obtain a warrant.
#22
I consider myself well read on Russia, so I share some of Peters' concerns. But then again, I'm a cold warrior.
I never heard about Peters' concerns reaching this level about Obama _giving_ the OPM root password and database to China and saying "oops, we've been hacked!"
I think we've hired the foxes to guard the henhouse, and I'm not talking about Trump.
If you want to be concerned, there's an ex premier of Germany sitting on the board of Gazprom. Call me back when your country is no longer a life support system for Russia.
#23
The party of that ex premier of Germany now polls at 16%
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/21/2018 10:40
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#24
It could be that Peters in now in his 'Lee' moment. To choose which community he has more loyalty to.
There was a reason for a limited federal government and Big Government aka Deep State is the antithesis to it. Burning the village in order to save it does sell well as an excuse to choose bureaucracy over a republic.
#25
Quo vadis. Who benefits? Who benefited from the poisoning? It certainly wasn't Russia. The benefit went to the warmongers who want a big shooting war with Russia.
Vietnam war - started by a false flag, Gulf of Tonkin Incident. Iraq war - started by a false flag, Robert Mueller's infamous WMD memo. WWII - started by a false flag, Gleiwitz Incident. Sino-Japanese war - started by a false flag, Mukden Incident.
They really do these things, and they are willing to kill real people to do them. Our lives mean nothing and they will happily sacrifice us to get what they want. For some reason, during Obama's second term they decided they wanted war with Russia. Hillary was all set to start it with her no-fly zone in Syria and CIA false flags alleging infrastructure hacking, which we know for a fact they can manufacture, due to the Vault 7 leaks.
Remember when the CIA claimed Russian hacking due to finding "Russian" malware on infected systems? From Vault 7: CIA can customize the "fingerprints" hacks leave behind and make it look like someone else did it.
The evidence that we've seen for Russia hacking the DNC is this exact "Russian fingerprint" that we now know the CIA had the ability to implement in their hacks to hide their tracks. That fingerprint is now completely shoddy evidence. Not just because the CIA can put a Russian fingerprint on any hack, but because anyone else can too, because the CIA was so Clinton-esque with their security that all the "fingerprints" they collected were leaked to hackers and rogue agents.
https://wikileaks.org/ciav7p1/#EXAMPLES
Always ask: quo vadis. Who benefits? That's who did it. Works every time, in your daily life as well.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 ||
03/21/2018 11:17
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#26
Quo vadis means "where do you go". You meant "cui bono".
And now go back to your Petersburg troll factory.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/21/2018 11:28
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#27
See? There it is again. I've been posting on Rantburg since shortly after 9/11 when it got linked from Instapundit or Little Green Footballs, I forget which. I rejoiced at all the crossfire posts and chuckled at North Korea's constant threats to turn us into a sea of fire. I followed the entire Sri Lankan crushing of the Tamil Tigers from beginning to end.
I've found that "go back to St. Petersburg" is just a code phrase for "you made some arguments I can't counter, so I'm going to dismiss you with the ad hominem fallacy."
I used to be the most pro-European American you ever saw. This will sound silly, but I actually looked up to Europe. While other kids had American or British flags in their rooms, I looked fruitlessly for a NATO flag to hang. Europe left me, not the other way around. The event that broke my heart was the famous survey where Europeans named America as their greatest threat. Russia? Don't make me laugh, it wasn't even in the top 10.
The 1980s called, they want their foreign policy back. The Cold War wasn't fought with Russia, it was fought with Communism, an evil ideology that took over Russia as its first step to world domination. A lot of people forget that Russia was just the first country to fall to Communism. Fuck you for calling me a troll.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 ||
03/21/2018 11:44
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#28
Herb, European Conservative has been increasingly bitter for some time now, you really shouldn't worry about it as it relates to you. I quit buying Duluth Trading stuff because Minnesota is so off the rails. I definitely don't even look for products from the Eurines. Don't buy from New England or California either. Don't listen to their politicians. Just move on...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/21/2018 11:57
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#29
OK I'll take that back. But you might want to check your "false flag" conspiracy theories a bit more thoroughly.
WW2 was certainly not started by the Gleiwitz incident. Nobody believed it at the time. We all know why and how WW2 was started.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/21/2018 11:58
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#30
I'm a ranking member of the probably most America-friendly political party in Europe.
The people I hang out with are conservative, no nonsense but friendly traditional Bavarian business people. And they just can't understand the Trump hype and why so many Americans can't see that Trump is a fraud.
Bitter? No. Scratching my head? Yes, at times.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/21/2018 12:04
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#31
EC, though I agree with you less and less (Mercedes and BMW buyers are assholes.) I will agree that yeah, everyone knows how WW II started. Hitler went off and France grabbed its ankles. You have a lot to be bitter about, but none of it is America's fault...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/21/2018 12:07
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#32
And I'll throw this rock: I'm not a bug eyed Ralph fan...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/21/2018 12:15
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#33
Since I drive a Mercedes I'm curious why.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/21/2018 12:17
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#34
Trump a fraud? This from a citizen of the country that elects Angela Merkel? You think we should settle for Bush/Clinton in perpetuity? You think we should open our borders like you did? We should accept all of our jobs going to China? If you don't understand that you have no business telling us anything. Your country is dying. Your grandchildren will bow down to Mecca.
Gulf of Tonkin was a false flag. Iraq WMDs were a false flag. Pearl Harbor was a false flag, Japan wasn't doing anything in China that Europeans hadn't already done in the rest of Asia and Africa too. We're sick of it. If you wanna fight these wars, go ahead. Just don't ask me to pay for it.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/21/2018 12:18
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#35
#34 Boom. Lowered.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/21/2018 12:21
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#36
Since I drive a Mercedes I'm curious why.
Come drive in south Florida. And see.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/21/2018 12:22
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#37
My country is not dying. You may want to look at the latest Mercer quality of living ranking to find out how your city compares to mine (Munich).
We have a few more Muslims in our country we actually need but we haven't change the way we live or the God we pray to.
We're doing quite well, thank you very much.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/21/2018 12:27
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#38
EC's a gut cherman. The homosexuals are all tasteful and polite. Nobody ever breaks the law (in ECs part of town) what EC sees is the totality of how it is You are an unwashed Amerikan fermin if you think different.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/21/2018 12:29
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#39
Once, we might have wanted to import you, EC. Now, as Heather says, "No way no day..."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/21/2018 12:32
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#40
EC, a good portion of the folks driving MB's here in the states do so to impress their neighbors.
In Europe, they are more of the 'hometown product' and aren't necessarily status symbols.
Nevertheless, still a well-made vehicle. In 1986 I bought and drove a very used 1970's era 350SE (M116 engine - 3499 cc) for several years. Great car and sold it at ~365,000 miles for what I had into it for costs.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
03/21/2018 12:40
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#41
You are entitled to your opinion. I will continue to like America and stand with America when things get tough.
I lived for a few years in the U.S. (mainly Texas) and still have fond memories.
We disagree on Trump and a few other things. That doesn't mean we've become opponents.
I might buy some land in the U.S.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/21/2018 12:40
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#42
EC - Some of it is an old battle that goes way way back. It's always been a left right battle in the US just most of the left's battle has been really under the table.
In the early 70s I was in a far left school in my university that was founded by the lady who took the first US young communist to Mao's China to visit in 1963/4. The place was chock full of SDS, a few Black Panthers and the like along with lots of kumbaya and drugs and weird sex and the CIA. I got one of the professors to explain a bit too much one night (after he had too much mind altering stuff) and got some strange tales I would have dismissed if he didn't disappear from his job and all contacts the next day. (still nobody has heard of him decades later except a possible expiration in the late 90s)
Anyway, the story he told me was about $33 billion given by the USSR to the SDS and their plan/politics to use it. First it's obvious that if the story was true the money was used a bit differently then the plan. Actually more effectively (I suspect Obama's friend Bill Ayers there as billions in the market then could be trillions now and his dad was definitely Markets Inc.). But dig to all the current players and you start finding spin off organizations of the SDS like the Students for Economic Democracy (SED)(who mentored Obama).
The main democratic party had the horrible (and mainly covered up) BCCI scandal of the late 79-82 timeframe that financed Pakistan's nuke weapons and collapsed savings and loans in the US (Whitewater, Keating 7 etc) - so who was Station Chief of the CIA in Pakistan then? Obama's buddy Brennan who had just voted for the CPUSA prez candidate Gus Hall in 1976. Obama visited Pakistan then and may have met him at that time.
Even trying not to be a conspiracy nut, lots of stuff currently playing out looks like failed massive conspiracy trying to save large pieces of itself and do as much possible damage as it can.
Sorry... for this rant European Conservative but stuff is just not meeting the smell test these days.
#43
Last time I was in Munich (1983) I watched a homeless guy work a bottle and give a Nazi salute. I was a young kid full of bad ideas, so I paid him into the strip club I was going to. When he puked, we both got thrown out...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/21/2018 12:43
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#44
Oh and one of the Keating 5 was none other than foaming at the mouth Manchurian senator and spit war hero, John McCain.
#45
Some of us still like Europe too. I'd like to see it before the Muslims take over. You need to make more good German babies to prevent that.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/21/2018 12:44
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#46
I have four kids. Dome my part I guess.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/21/2018 12:48
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#47
EC, another bit.. one of my dad's cousins led that little covert US/USSR war in europe in the 80s. Nothing is ever as it is presented to the masses.
#48
ranking member of the probably most America-friendly political party in Europe
Political parties do mostly damage. That's not a recommendation to claim that...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/21/2018 12:50
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#49
Rumsfeld's "unknown unknowns", right?
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/21/2018 12:51
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#50
Hauptmann was the highest ranking officer who gets things done
In America, Hauptmann means Bruno Hauptmann, probably railroaded into the electric chair for kidnapping the Lindbergh child. You didn'd know that?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/21/2018 12:57
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#51
And now for something completely different...
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/21/2018 12:59
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#52
Colonel Peters was a big time cheerleader for the Gulf war. He should just go away quietly rather than virtue signalling in the hopes of getting a pet conservative job at MSNBC.
I just said your countryman got a raw deal and you made a Monty Python joke.
Jackoff...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/21/2018 13:03
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#54
The German guy they gassed in Arizona had it coming. So there's that...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/21/2018 13:05
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#55
And to take the heat off EC, let me say bug eyed Ralph will be calling for a nuke strike on Damascus as soon as he starts his new gig at MSNBS
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/21/2018 13:17
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#56
Schroeder's party is low in the polls but y'all still follow his policies. All the Mueller "right" is doing is shrieking about how they're shocked, SHOCKED that gambling is going on in this establishment and they need to do a full investigation of Trump as a result...
As for Trump being a fraud... the last ten years or so were about as much fraud and betrayal as the country, and I, could stand, and nearly killed me. A lot of the people who are so "concerned conservative" now weren't saying jack shit about all the things five years ago.
#57
It's entertaining, really. Germany's "huge" economy has mostly to do with MB cars to US and China / Hong Kong. Cars mostly built by Turkish immigrants. EC's crowd wants to sell as much dual use stuff to Iran / Pakistan / Turkey / SA as possible. Sidesplittingly funneee...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/21/2018 13:41
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#58
And. My own contribution. Stopped buying WSJ (Murdoch product, 30 year subscriber) Stopped buying DirecTV (20 year subscriber) Fuck that shit...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/21/2018 13:48
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You say "And they just can't understand the Trump hype and why so many Americans can't see that Trump is a fraud."
Did they think Obama was a fraud? Did they think Clinton was a fraud? No just the Bushes and Trump. I see.
You and your friends might want to read thesebooks based on the premise that hucksterism is at the heart of the American con dream. A refreshing version of our history; it is unfortunate it was never completed.
In Bavaria we often have heated political debates, but then we all have some good beers and get along very well... that's something internet debates don't have and therefore they appear a lot more bitter than they actually are (or should be).
The words to use when the debate stops and the drinking begins is: "Schwoam ma's abi" (which means "Let's wash it all down").
Look, my country is far from perfect, and Merkel has proved to be a major disappointment in the last years, but we'll survive her. Life is still pretty good in Germany.
The regulars here know that I didn't like Obama either.
I don't think I've moved away from America, but with Trump, things aren't easy. A looming and totally unnecessary trade war is nothing to look forward to. I was actually hoping for a North Atlantic Free Trade Zone. We shouldn't have tariffs at all and we should rather join forces to keep China at bay.
Btw the bulk of German exports go to other EU countries. Not just cars.
Russia is a clay colossus. We need to take Russia seriously but the Russian military is overrated and much of it is blustering. Polish patriots would beat the crap out of them before they reach Germany. But Russia can destroy the whole world, so calling them a "regional power" like Obama did was stupid.
To sum it up: Life is good here, and I'm sure it's good in most places in the U.S., too.
Americans, who visit Germany, usually like it here, and Germans who visit the U.S., like it there, too. Despite some political differences, we get along pretty well.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/21/2018 16:42
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#62
Come now EC, what's not to like about Germany ?
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/21/2018 17:03
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#66
Okay, EC, you do know that America gets totally ripped off every year, right? We get to pay $150 billion per annum for the privilege of trading with Europe. This isn't some mistake, or oops, it was deliberate policy by the State Department to bribe Europe with American taxpayers' money to stay on our side during the Cold War. Because evidently Europe would have gladly voted in Communists otherwise.
Cold War ended 30 years ago, but these horrid policies continue. Why do advanced, wealthy nations need such massive amounts of aid? Let's have fair trade agreements instead that benefit everyone. BUT Europe doesn't want this because they profit handsomely and don't see why things should change. Friends don't rip each other off.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 ||
03/21/2018 17:23
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#67
"We get to pay $150 billion per annum for the privilege of trading with Europe."
Would you mind explaining that figure? I see it popping up a lot but without any sources.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/21/2018 17:26
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#68
The people I hang out with are conservative, no nonsense but friendly traditional Bavarian business people. And they just can't understand the Trump hype and why so many Americans can't see that Trump is a fraud.
I agree with you 100%. But for now, he's the only game in town. A sizeable portion of the electorate is in thrall to him. Another portion that pays little attention to politics will see impeachment and removal from office as an indictment of Republicans generally. That's why the GOP hasn't gotten together with the Democrats to knock this man off his perch. Because he's the only game in town for a stalemated GOP that is simultaneously hurt by him with independents, and needs the votes of a bigger gullible core of voters who can't see through his con tricks.
Trump is a fake populist who only gets the things he personally favors done. On the things he doesn't support, he virtue signals to his base while deliberately sabotaging those items with outrageous statements that he knows will give the judiciary an excuse to strike those executive orders down.
Trump's not stupid. Nobody amasses a fortune in the billions accidentally when the principal is at most in the tens of millions. He knows he's fucking his supporters over. I think he gets the con man's thrill from screwing over his marks.
The problem for him, as election returns in PA-18 show, that a small but growing core of voters who put him in office are starting to notice that he hasn't delivered on all that much for them on immigration (deport them all, build a wall, Mexico will pay) or health care (best health care ever). Instead, he has increased gun restrictions, lowered taxes for wealthy investors and expressed support for the DACA illegals. At the margins, this is significantly eroding his support. If he wants their votes back, he needs to stop yanking their chain and start delivering.
Obama got tons of things done through executive orders. Where are Trump's executive orders - not just reversing Obama's actions, but implementing his voters' priorities?
#70
Forfoksake! Obviously eight years of Obama and the threat of the Hildebeest as POTUS was not enough.
I don't like Trump, but he is preferable to any Democrat who might conceivably run for the presidency, and a good many Republicans. But it's OK to hate our guy. Yankee fans hated Steinbrenner for a long time. Then the Yankees started bringing home the bacon. All was forgiven.
#71
The 2017 US trade deficit with the EU was $150 billion, half of it with Germany. Not as much as with China at $375 billion, but equalizing trade with the EU would add nearly $500 billion to US GDP assuming a monetary turnover of 3 times a year in the economy.
Now factor in the total 2017 US trade deficit of $800 billion. That would add 2.4-3.2 to the US economy based on a monetary turnover of 3 and 4 or an additional 12-16.5% to GDP. That enough to re-employ the cities and countryside and eliminate the budget deficit.
The world is still operating under rules that were established after WWII. That's right, 70 years ago. The US purposely agreed to non-reciprocal tariffs such that we would subsidize other countries and allow them to rebuild their economies after the war. This was fine up until the 70s, as even with the subsidy, the US still had a trade surplus.
Folks, we are no longer the same global economy as after WWII. Germany does not need any economic subsidy, nor does China. The Trump administration is going to move trade into the 21st century.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 ||
03/21/2018 18:47
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#74
"The 2017 US trade deficit with the EU was $150 billion, half of it with Germany."
Herb, I understand that, but not why you call this "ripping us off" or "we pay that for the privilege..."
It's true that the unweighted average EU customs duty is 5.2 percent, versus the US rate of 3.5 percent. But this doesn't explain the trade deficit, as this is quite a low number. Tariffs used to be much higher, but once again, we shouldn't have any (and TTIP would have abolished them).
Also note that the U.S. fares a lot better with services.
Btw the U.S. has a trade surplus with Canada. Does that mean the U.S. is ripping off Canada?
I don't say Germany is all innocent. We should and could raise wages, stimulate domestic demand. This would reduce the deficit.
But the main reasons why U.S. goods (not services) don't sell that well in Europe are not tariffs. Take cars, for instance. You compete with Japanese and even German cars re-imported from the U.S. which pay the same tariff. U.S. cars don't sell well, because quality is often a problem and - more importantly - they are not well adapted to European needs (too big, gas guzzler etc.).
This has nothing to do with ripping you off.
Trump wants to turn back time. He wants to bring back "old" industries, but this approach will fail. Much better to invest in future industries. Tariffs won't bring back lost jobs. They will just kill existing ones.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/21/2018 19:20
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#75
So, you won't mind if we reverse this, then? Europe pay America $150 billion per year?
No, that's no good? Oh, heavens why?
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 ||
03/21/2018 19:33
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#76
You didn't understand a thing, do you?
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/21/2018 19:40
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#77
He wants to bring back "old" industries, but this approach will fail. Much better to invest in future industries. Tariffs won't bring back lost jobs. They will just kill existing ones.
You must think he's a moron. Except in showbiz, you don't become a billionaire by being stupid. This is all about electoral votes. He's doubling down on trying to raise his numbers in the Rust Belt states, which is where he obtained the electoral votes that won him the election. That's what the steel and aluminum tariffs are all about - pure politics. The morons are the policymakers and journalists in the EU who are getting all worked up about Trump's flurry of BS about what is just a ploy for Rust Belt support that affects a tiny sliver of European steel and aluminum producers, which are, in total, a tiny sliver of European GDP.
The tariffs against China are the main event, and that is where the EU should be focusing its attention. Unfortunately, EU morons are once again so kneecapped by their stupidity with respect to reading Trump's actions, that they are missing the opportunity to create a united front against Chinese trade barriers and misbehavior on intellectual property rights.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/21/2018 20:11
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#81
ZF
"He's doubling down on trying to raise his numbers in the Rust Belt states"
Now when China retaliates, don't you think it will hit those Rust Belt states first?
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/21/2018 20:44
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#82
As a Rantburger of Herb McCoy vintage I enjoyed this thread. All of you make this site something unique and uniquely valuable. I genuinely appreciate European Conservative’s perspective. Hell, I even drive a Mercedes that was very well made in Alabama a couple hours west of here.
I also miss True German Ally’s participation from years ago. What became of him?
#83
Trump wants to turn back time. He wants to bring back "old" industries, but this approach will fail. Much better to invest in future industries. Tariffs won't bring back lost jobs. They will just kill existing ones.
You can call Trump a liar all you want, the problem is, Obama promised to bankrupt anyone in fossil fuels and he was telling the truth. I'll grasp at the straw of someone maybe lying to me about wanting me to live instead of risking that the other guy is telling the truth when he tells me "Die, motherfucker!"
#85
don't you think it will hit those Rust Belt states first?
China is ALREADY hitting the Rust Belt states with its mass production and export of fentanyl and carfentanil, imported courtesy of the postal service. The only way China could hit them harder would be to nuke them.
#86
I also miss True German Ally’s participation from years ago. What became of him?
Very probably he died, Classical_Liberal. He survived both the concentration camps and the Soviet labour camps thereafter, giving him a unique perspective.
#87
China is ALREADY hitting the Rust Belt states with its mass production and export of fentanyl and carfentanil, imported courtesy of the postal service. The only way China could hit them harder would be to nuke them.
That's what the North Korea Tribute Nation is for.
[ALMASDARNEWS] Russia has called on the United States to abandon its unconditional plans for a strike against the Syrian government forces and Damascus, Sergei Ryabkov stated, answering the journalist’s question.
"We’ve warned and warned the US that these plans must be unconditionally refused. Any such unlawful use of force, similar to what happened almost a year ago at the Shairat air base, would be an act of aggression against a sovereign state, as defined by the relevant article of the UN Charter," he said.
Sergei Ryabkov believes that if the situation in Syria and, in particular, Eastern Ghouta changes for the better, opponents to a peaceful resolution to the conflict could incite the international community by sabotaging this process, possibly by using chemical weapons.
"The situation in Eastern Ghouta has changed radically for the better," Sergei Ryabkov told news hounds on Tuesday.
He drew attention to the fact that tens of thousands of people had already left the danger zone. "All this, of course, infuriates, in the truest sense of the word, the opponents of the government in Damascus; they are looking for new pretexts for attacks on us and on Syria," Ryabkov said.
"In this situation, of course, any provocations are possible, and we need to be prepared. Provocations could include staging the use of chemical weapons by government troops," Ryabkov said.
Staged ’chemical attacks’ will continue in Syria as Syrian troops advance, he added.
Earlier, US Ambassador to the United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... Nikki Haley ...Trump administration's ambassador to the UN. First woman to serve as Governor of South Carolina, and the second Indian-American governor in the country, after Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. At the age of 39, Haley was the youngest governor in the U.S., a distinction formerly held by Jindal. She is a Republican, which really grates on the Dems... said that the US was prepared to act on the use of chemical weapons in Syria. According to him, the United States struck at the Shairat airbase, after a chemical attack in Syria’s Khan Sheikhoun on April 4, 2017, as the UN Security Council "was unable to take action."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2018
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#1
would be an act of aggression against a sovereign state
[TheDrive] When it comes to warbirds, the F-4 Phantom is the most advanced American fighter ever owned privately. Just one exists, an F-4D, and it belongs to the Collins Foundation which flies it occasionally for air shows and other events. But another Phantom exists in private hands that could bring the number of civilian-flown Phantoms to two‐and it's for sale.
McDonnell Douglas F4H-1F Phantom Bu.145310‐just the 11th Phantom built and before the aircraft got its ultimate designation of F-4‐is being presented for sale by Platinum Fighters according to our friends over at Warbirdsnews.com. Supposedly the jet is the only privately owned Phantom that is capable of being restored to flying condition, of which roughly 85 percent of the work has already been done. Hey Honey! Guess what I bought today..!
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
03/21/2018 8:25
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Re #1: Correct I believe - only rockets. Israelis demanded cannon when they received their jets in '69. All this is just to the best of my knowledge.
[IsraelTimes] The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... says international donors have raised 456 million euros ($560 million) to build a desalination plant in the Gazoo Strip to provide around 2 million people with safe drinking water.
At a pledging conference in Brussels on Tuesday, the EU offered more than 77 million euros, which combined with other donations will meet around 80 percent of the plant’s costs.
People in the impoverished coastal strip rely on an underground aquifer for their water. But quality is poor and Gazooks are drawing off around four times what the aquifer can sustain each year.
The Paleostinians say water shortages are creating health problems and exacerbating political tensions.
The EU says that funding the plant is part of its efforts to help build a Paleostinian state.
[Libya Observer] Military officers from the self-styled army of Khalifa Haftar ...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all... and the government of Presidential Council led by al-Sirraj started a meeting in Egypt’s Cairo to unify the Libyan military institution.
This meeting comes after others which, according to reports, came out with agreements between the military officers under the auspices of Egypt.
Continued on Page 49
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Kirkuk (Iraqinews.com) – Militants of the Islamic State (IS) group killed on Monday night two people and kidnapped three others in oil-rich Kirkuk, a security source was quoted as saying.
Speaking to Alsumaria News, the source said that IS insurgents killed two persons and kidnapped three others after they set up a “fake checkpoint in a village in Hawija district, Kirkuk.”
“The abducted persons were taken to an unknown location,” according to the source.
The source pointed out that a probe was opened into the incident.
Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) Twenty one people, including children, were killed and injured in an attack that targeted two families, south of Kirkuk, a source from Tuz Khurmatu hospital said on Tuesday.
Speaking to Baghdad Today website, the source said, “the death toll of the attack have reached six victims, while fifteen others were wounded.”
Earlier today, a security source said several people were killed and injured in attack by unidentified gunmen in south of Kirkuk.
“Gunmen coming from behind Tuz Khurmatu mountains attacked a vehicle carrying two families who were on way back from a trip in the north,” the source said.
The attackers, according to the source, “opened fire against the vehicle leaving a child and a man killed, while others were wounded.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/21/2018
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Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Two people were killed and injured in two kabooms in Baghdad, a police source was quoted saying on Tuesday.
"Unidentified button men hurled a hand grenade against house of a coffee shop owner in al-Saheroun district in Jisr Diyala region, causing his immediate death," the source told AlSumaria News.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source added, "a bomb placed under a vehicle of a civilian went off in al-Mahmoudiya village, leaving him injured."
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) The Iraqi army command in Nineveh province is interrogating an officer for torturing a mosque’s imam in the city of Mosul to death, a senior commander was quoted saying.
BasNews quoted Maj. Gen. Najm al-Jubouri, Nineveh Operations commander, saying Tuesday that an officer from the 20th division tortured to death an imam from Mosul’s al-Islah al-Zeraee “in a way that violated the military code and human rights”.
According to Jubouri, “the officer has been remanded into custody preparing for his referral to a military trial after pleadings from the deceased’s relatives”.
He did not mention the reason of the officer’s conduct, but Abu Bakr Kanaan, head of the Sunni Endowment Diwan in Nineveh, told Anadolu Agency on Monday that the imam declared through the mosque’s loudspeakers traffic instructions dictated by a security force assigned to a neighboring district, which presumably enraged the officer and prompted him to arrest and brutally beat the preacher to death.
Since it launched an offensive to retake areas occupied by Islamic State militants since 2014, Iraqi forces, especially the Shia Popular Mobilization Forces, faced accusations from local and international rights groups that they committed human rights violations against civilians of the opposite religious sects at areas recaptured from the militants, especially in Nineveh.
The government has repeatedly rebuffed the accusations and reiterated it ensures to investigate any breaches.
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) A mayor of a residential region was wounded as a stun grenade exploded in west of Mosul, a security source was quoted saying on Tuesday.
Speaking to Alghad Press, the source said, “mayor of al-Bakr district was visiting mayor of al-Ta’meem district, when a stun grenade went off, leaving him injured.”
“The injured was taken to hospital for treatment, while security troops conducted investigations,” the source added.
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Four policemen, including an officer, were killed in an attack launched by Islamic State members, south of Mosul, an Iraqi security source from Nineveh said on Tuesday.
Speaking to DPA, the source said, “security troops invaded al-Shura region, 20 kilometers south of Mosul, in the wake of attack launched by IS members that left a police officer and three policemen killed.
In related news, Maj.Gen. Hamad Names al-Jabouri, commander of Nineveh Police, announced arrested twenty IS members in an operation in western Mosul.
In a statement, Jabouri said “Nineveh police managed today, during an operation, to arrest 20 IS members in Souq al-Maash region, west of Mosul.”
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/21/2018
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[PRESSTV] 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... has said he spoke to Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... over the phone to congratulate the Russian president on his re-election victory, and they discussed the possibility of a meeting in the near future.
"I had a call with President Putin and congratulated him on the victory, his electoral victory," Trump said on Tuesday, adding that they "will probably get together in the not-too-distant future."
Trump made the phone call two days after Putin won the election on Sunday. The call also came hours after the Kremlin said it did not regard Trump’s failure to congratulate Putin as an unfriendly act.
Putin, who has been president or prime minister since 1999, won nearly 77 percent of the vote in Sunday’s presidential election.
In his victory message, Putin said he was willing to resolve differences with the West, particularly in regard to the intensifying arms race.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2018
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One wouldn't think this from the MSM. They are reporting that Russia is responsible for everything from collusion and election rigging to baldness and ED.
[HERALD.DAWN] Whichever way one looks at it, former senior superintendent police (SSP) Malir, Rao Anwar, appears to be a butcher. According to a police report submitted in the Supreme Court of Pakistain, he has been accused of killing 444 people in 192 encounters between July 25, 2011 and January 19, 2018 in the Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... district under his charge. Let that number sink in. 444.
[Ynet] IDF soldiers, the Shin Bet and Israel Border copperstossed in the clink Book 'im, Mahmoud! 17 people overnight Monday on suspicion of their involvement in terror activities in the West Bank.
Security forces have tossed in the calaboose Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! a senior Paleostinian Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... activist in the West Bank's Jenin refugee camp. The official, Bissam Raeb a-Rahman Sa'adi, 58, spearheads his group's activities.
[ARABNEWS] Pakistain’s supreme court has banned a TV host from appearing on-air for three months over his false report that the rape and murder of a maiden of tender years was linked to an international network for child pornography.
Shahid Masood was also ordered on Tuesday to publish a written apology for his January report on the rape and murder of seven-year-old Zainab Ansari, a case that stirred national outrage.
Masood had reported that her killer had 37 foreign bank accounts, a claim that was dismissed by Sherlocks.
Pak authorities appear to have taken the rare step of ordering an anchorman off the air because of sensitivities surrounding the killing.
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03/21/2018
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[PRESSTV] Harvey Weinstein's former production company announced late Monday it had filed for bankruptcy, less than six months after the Hollywood mogul was beset by avalanching sexual assault allegations.
The studio also said it was immediately releasing accusers from non-disclosure agreements which Weinstein had used to silence them, allowing women to speak up without fear of retaliation.
"Even as the company heads into bankruptcy, the company remains committed to doing whatever it can to maximize value for its creditors and... continue its pursuit of justice for any victims," it said.
The company added that it "cannot undo the damage Harvey Weinstein caused, but hopes that today's events will mark a new beginning."
It announced a "stalking-horse" agreement -- an initial bid on a bankrupt company's assets from an interested buyer -- with the affiliate of a Texas-based private equity firm.
Lantern Capital Partners will purchase assets -- subject to conditions and approval from a bankruptcy court in Delaware, it said.
Weinstein's brother and company chairman Robert said the board was "pleased to have a plan for maximizing the value of its assets, preserving as many jobs as possible and pursuing justice for any victims."
Posted by: Fred ||
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[DAWN] NAWABSHAH: The court of second additional sessions judge Ms Zahida Sikander on Monday set at liberty 16 bonded labourers, including men and women, and their 14 children who were recovered from a farm near Daulatpur.
Police raided the farmland of landlord Ghulam Mohammad on the court’s directive which received an application from one Mir Khan Lashari, a labourer, seeking recovery of his family members.
The freed labourers belonged to Lashari community who had come to work at the farmland from Allah Dino Lashari village in Tando Mohammad Khan district.
They had been working on the farmland for the last eight months during which the landlord never allowed them to visit their home nor gave them money in case of illness, said Mr Lashari.
Police sources said the labourers did not appear to be captives as they were sitting in fields near Malwah branch at the time of the raid.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[DAWN] Sindh Inspector General A.D. Khowaja on Tuesday took notice of the death of a woman who reportedly did away with himself in Sindh's Ghotki district after allegedly being forced into an exchange marriage by a jirga.
The incident took place six days ago, in Obaro area of Ghotki, when the girl ‐ who refused to marry her suitor ‐ not only drank poison herself but also poisoned her parents.
According to the police, a few weeks prior to the incident, the girl's elder brother had contracted a freewill marriage.
A police official told Dawn that after the brother's marriage, the village jirga ruled that the man will have to compensate for the action by giving his sister into marriage to his in-laws, and also pay a fine of Rs1 million.
The girl ended up killing herself after ingesting poison, while the police say that her parents are hospitalised in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , and are said to be at death's door.
Khowaja, while taking notice of the police's lacklustre response in the matter, ordered Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ghotki Kamran Nawaz to submit a detailed report on the matter at the earliest.
He also ordered that measures be taken for the affected family's security and that all possible cooperation be extended to them in legal matters.
Furthermore, the police were instructed to carry out a thorough investigation against all perpetrators involved in the incident and register a case against the jirga chief as soon as possible.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[KCNAWATCH.CO] The hostile forces' brutal sanctions and pressure upon the DPRK lay grave ordeals on the way of its advance. An emulation report! Haven't read one in years, at least not willingly.
For us to bravely overcome manifold hardships and difficulties and leap higher and faster is to actively launch the socialist emulation. To compose an emulation report you have to toss a specific glossary into a word processor and set it on "Puree."
The degree of the socialist emulation is the speed of the grand Mallima march. See? That makes absolutely no sense, but it sounds great when declaimed over a loudspeaker.
The more active the socialist emulation becomes, the higher the enthusiasm of the struggle becomes, and a great surge will be brought about in production and construction. It's best to have production and construction come in great waves, y'see.
To help and lead each other forward and bring about the collective innovation is the nature and advantage of Korean-style socialism. Collective innovation. Let a single flower bloom.®
Vitality of the socialist emulation is to achieve the unity of the collective with one thought and purpose and give fullest play to the creative wisdom and enthusiasm of the masses. Unity in the Community!
The dynamic socialist emulation is the source of popular heroism and representation of the indomitable offensive spirit of our people to outpace the world. Are we watching North Korea outpace the world?
When all the units and fields redouble their efforts and achieve fresh leaps and bring about joint innovations, the invincible spirit of Korean-style socialism will be fully displayed. Redouble... efforts... invincible... spirit... zzzzz... zzz
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Meanwhile the rest of us will endeavor to persevere.
[ARABNEWS] A Russian scientist told state media Tuesday he worked on an official program to produce the nerve agent Britannia says was used on ex-spy Sergei Skripal, contradicting Moscow’s claims it never developed Novichok.
Leonid Rink told RIA Novosti state news agency he worked on a state-backed program up to the early 1990s, adding that the former double agent and his daughter would be dead had Moscow been involved in his poisoning.
"They are still alive. That means that either it was not the Novichok system at all, or it was badly concocted, carelessly applied," he said. "Or straight after the application, the English used an antidote, in which case they would have to have known exactly what the poison was," he said.
Rink said he worked at a state laboratory in the closed town of Shikhany for 27 years, where the development of Novichok formed the basis of his doctoral dissertation.
"A large group of specialists in Shikhany and Moscow worked on ’Novichok’," he said.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov last week said Moscow never had any programs to develop Novichok.
Moscow meanwhile is awaiting the arrival of two dozens diplomats ordered to leave Britannia as part of a standoff over a nerve agent attack on British soil.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
... Or the victim fumbled what he knew he was carrying & poisoned himself & his daughter.
[AFRICANEWS] Zambia’s parliament suspended a cabinet minister on Tuesday from its proceedings for one month for slapping a fellow politician within parliament grounds.
Verbal abuse is common among members of parliament in Zambia but physical assault is rare.
Speaker of the National Assembly Patrick Matibini said Lusaka Province Minister Bowman Lusambo was suspended for slapping outspoken politician Chishimba Kambwili last October, describing his conduct as unbefitting of a Member of Parliament .
"This is a House of honour, decorum and dignity and I am duty bound to ensure that the honour, decorum and dignity of the House is protected and preserved at all times", said the Speaker.
The suspension bars Lusambo from accessing the physical premises of parliament and denies him allowances and salary as a member of parliament for the month in question.
Kambwili has repeatedly accused government officials of corruption since his dismissal as information and broadcasting minister in November 2016 but the state denies the allegations.
Kambwili complained after the incident that Lusambo had slapped him twice after accusing Kambwili of making false accusations against the government.
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Gentlemen!!! You can't fight in here. This is the War Room!
[PRESSTV] Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has praised the Islamic Theocratic Republic’s role in efforts to restore peace and stability to the Middle East through cooperation with regional countries.
Rouhani made the remarks on Tuesday in a live address to the nation on the occasion of Iranian New Year.
The Iranian president made a reference to the ISIS terror group’s territorial defeat last year in Iraq and Syria, which came about with the help of Iranian military advisors.
"Last year, our nation, which has always been the creator of peace and tranquility in the region and the world, managed to bring more stability and security to the region alongside nations of Iraq, Syria and Leb, through its continued endeavors and the [efforts made by] its sincere soldiers and diligent diplomats."
Rouhani praised the unity of the land of the Medes and the Persians during the tragic incidents that occurred last year, including the natural disasters that hit several parts of the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
"Kinetic Peace"
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/21/2018 11:04
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[Al Jazeera] Human rights groups have warned of a campaign of intimidation after Italian authorities seized a Spanish rescue ship and threatened criminal charges against some of its crew members who refused to hand over rescued refugees and migrants colonists to the Libyan coasties.
The NGO Proactiva Open Arms said its vessel responded to boats in distress in international waters off the coast of Libya on March 15.
The vessel took the 216 rescued refugees and migrants colonists to the Sicilian port of Pozzallo port on March 17, where the ship was seized.
Complications in the operation began when the NGO attended to the second boat in distress.
Crew members said they were approached by a Libyan patrol boat demanding they transferred the migrants colonists to them, claiming the Libyans used "death threats" and intimidation.
The incident was caught on video by the Open Arms staff.
The NGO ship was then left sailing in the Mediterranean for more than 24 hours, as Italian authorities claimed they had not coordinated the rescue and were therefore not responsible.
Meanwhile, ...back at the hanging, Butch continued with his last words, trying not to repeat himself too often...... staff evacuated some of the victims, including a three-month old and her mother in need of medical attention, to the nearest port, which at that point was Malta.
The ship was eventually allowed to dock in Pozzallo, after the Spanish government intervened in the negotiations.
Italian authorities in Catania then proceeded to confiscate the boat and open an investigation against three crew members - the captain, rescue coordinator and the NGO's director.
They are accused of "aiding and abetting illegal migration", and risk up to seven years in prison and hefty fines for the NGO.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
What's the difference between an NGO and a Human Trafficer?
#2
...When are these people going to figure out that at the end of the day, the Libyans are no more than the old Barbary pirates, only now with automatic weapons?
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/21/2018 16:10
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[DAWN] Human rights watchdog Amnesia Amnesty International has called on Pakistain to resolve hundreds of cases of enforced disappearances for which "no one has ever been held accountable".
"Disappearances are a tool of terror... if committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack, they constitute a crime against humanity," Amnesty said in a statement issued on Monday, calling on Pakistain to "take concrete steps to end impunity".
Pakistain has had a history of enforced disappearances over the past decade, mainly confined in the past to conflict zones near the Afghanistan border or to Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... , where separatists have been agitating for independence.
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Anbar (Iraqinews.com) ‐ An Iraqi woman was killed and another was injured when a bomb planted by defeated 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) hard boyz went kaboom! in Ramadi city Tuesday, a security source was quoted as saying.
Speaking to IKH News, the source said, "An explosive charge left by IS hard boyz went off at an agricultural land in Albu Bali village, east of Ramadi, leaving a woman killed and another seriously injured."
"Security forces cordoned off the blast site and opened a probe into the incident," the source noted.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraq and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire.... have agreed that the latter can launch military operations on the joint borders presumably targeting anti-Ottoman Turkish, Kurdish fighters.
Meeting with Iraqi Justice Minister Haider al-Zamili in Baghdad, Ottoman Turkish ambassador to Iraq, Fateh Yildiz, said Ankara started to launch military operations on its borders with Iraq "to purge the borders from terrorist pockets in collaboration with the Iraqi government", as quoted by a statement by the Iraqi justice ministry.
"Turkey is prepared to cooperate with the Iraqi government in the field of counter-terrorism and entrenching the illusory sovereignty of both countries," the statement quoted Yildiz saying.
On his side, the Iraqi minister said "Iraq has shown good intentions in Ottoman Turkish demands related to the security on joint borders", adding that "the political and security situation requires new agreements".
Ottoman Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey... said in a speech in Ankara on Monday his country would, at any time, launch operations in Iraq’s northern Sinjar region against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a group designated by Ankara as a terrorist group for engaging in decades of armed confrontations with it.
Turkey has also been carrying out offensives since January against Kurdish factions in Afrin, northwest of Syria.
It has regularly conducted Arclight airstrikes against PKK locations in norther Iraq.
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Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) The pro-government paramilitary troops have repelled a second attack carried out by Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... members against Tuz Khurmatu region in Salahuddin province.
A statement by the media service of al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) said, "faceless myrmidons attacked, in the evening, Bastmali village, south of Tuz Khurmatu, which was the second attack."
Troops of the 52 brigade, according to the statement, foiled the attack.
According to sources from the brigade, speaking to Alghad Press, four kidnapped personnel, were liberated in the wake of the attack.
Four PMF conscripts were liberated, after festivities with IS members at the outskirts of Amerli, east of Salahuddin, the brigade said.
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#1
Closer to home
VIA @Switch_d
Colombian authorities captured Raúl Gutiérrez, a 43-year-old Cuban, who was plotting an Islamic terrorist-style attack against 29 diplomats at the American Embassy in Bogota.
Communicated with several Moroccan citizens, identified as Matin Muhanad, Said Samuid, and Francisco Quintana, that showed links between the Cuban native and the Islamic State (IS).
The Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot Australia native Justine Damond in 2017 has been placed in durance vile Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! in relation to her death.
A Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) warrant for the arrest of Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) Officer Mohammed Noor was issued on Tuesday, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported.
Officer Noor, 32, turned himself in to police, and was booked into the Hennepin County jail at 11:16 a.m.
According to jail records, he faces charges of third-degree murder "perpetrating eminently dangerous act and evincing depraved mind," and second-degree manslaughter "culpable negligence creating unreasonable risk" in Hennepin County District Court, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported.
A presser has been scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, County Attorney Mike Freeman said.
Damond, 40, called 911 on the night of July 15, 2017, and reported that a possible sexual assault was taking place in the alley behind her residence, the Chicago Tribune reported.
According to the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Officer Noor and his partner, Officer Matthew Harrity, responded to Damond’s call.
Officer Harrity said that the officers were startled by a loud sound, and that immediately afterwards, Damond approached the driver’s door of the patrol vehicle.
Officer Noor, who was sitting in the passenger seat of the patrol car, then shot Damond through the open driver’s window.
the county now has basically a second by second timeline of what occured
there were problems getting this because the officer's cam wasn't on a lot of time and because Noor wouldn't talk and of course because Damond died
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/21/2018 1:47
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Well, his partners face probably had GSR on it from Noor shooting across the cab. What a tool
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/21/2018 10:32
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Racism! Racism and Islamophobia!
It's a cultural misunderstanding. He should be given more chances until he doesn't kill at the drop of a hat.
And the police need to make sure to take a looooong time to investigate. It increases our confidence in their ability to root out problems in their system and ranks.
[Al Jazeera] A package bomb went kaboom! at a FedEx distribution centre lightly wounding one worker near San Antonio, Texas on Tuesday after a series of blasts in the state capital of Austin this month.
Officials did not say if the latest attack was the work of what Austin police believe could be a serial bomber responsible for the four earlier bombs, which killed two people and maimed four others.
The kaboom at the FedEx facility in Schertz, northeast of San Antonio, was the fifth in the state in the last 18 days. If it is linked to the others, it would be the first outside the Austin area and the first involving a commercial parcel service.
"We are investigating it as being possibly related to our open investigation," FBI spokeswoman Michelle Lee told the Austin American-Statesman newspaper. "We can't know for sure until we have an opportunity to look at the evidence itself."
The package, filled with nails and metal shrapnel, went kaboom! shortly after midnight local time (05:00 GMT) at the facility, about 105km south of Austin.
The individual or people behind the bombings are likely to be highly skilled and methodical, said Fred Burton, chief security officer for Stratfor, a private intelligence and security consulting firm based in Austin.
"This is a race against time to find him before he bombs again," Burton said.
More than 500 federal agents were involved in the investigation.
And as of approx 2100 hrs, 20 March, a sixth undetonated device has been found. It appears likely there may be more than one bomber.
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Suspect fingered by surveillance video, police were closing in and suspect went KABOOM. That may be the end of this series of bombings.
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03/21/2018 7:24
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That may be the end of this series of bombings.
At least until the media makes him famous. I'm sure he was a troubled person, trying to turn his life around and going to church twice weekly... (/sarc)
New Delhi (Iraqinews.com) ‐ The Indian minister of external affairs said on Tuesday that the 39 Indian workers who were kidnapped by Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) forces of Evil in djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... city three years ago have been recently found in Iraq.
Addressing an Indian parliamentary session, Sushma Swaraj said that the bodies were recently found buried in a mound of earth near Badush, a village northwest of Mosul, according to The News Agency that Dare Not be Named.
Iraqi authorities used radar to establish that the mound was a mass grave, she said, and exhumed the bodies. Indian authorities then sent DNA samples to relatives of the missing workers.
She noted that DNA tests confirmed that 38 of them were the kidnapped workers. The DNA test for the remaining body has yet to be fully confirmed.
The Indian Express reported in June 2016, quoting Kurdish officials, that there was no sign of the 39 Indian workers in Iraq.
In July last year, Swaraj firmly said that she would not declare the 39 Indians dead without concrete proof or evidence.
Now, with the deaths confirmed, Swaraj said the Indians’ remains will be brought back to India.
The kidnapped workers, mostly from northern India, had been employed by a construction company near Mosul when forces of Evil overran the Iraqi city and seized wide swaths of territory.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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[DAWN] A Quetta anti-terrorism court on Tuesday sentenced a man to life in jail for the murder of a seven-year-old girl. He was also handed a four-year jail sentence for raping the minor.
Junaid, the accused, was convicted for raping and murdering the child on November 7, 2014, in Quetta's Zarghoon Road area. Judge Ghulam Siddique Bazai announced the judgement amid tight security in the courtroom.
The parents of the seven-year-old, who were also present in the courtroom, expressed their satisfaction over the judgement.
The girl's father thanked civil society and the media "for highlighting the issue and making sure that justice was served."
Deputy Inspector General Razzaq Cheema told the media during a presser after the judgement was announced that the accused had confessed to his crimes on Nov 20, 2014, when he had been jugged Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! .
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[ALMASDARNEWS] After two days of high-pitched engagements across Syria’s eastern province of Deir Ezzor, the Syrian Army and allied paramilitary groups have officially driven back the most powerful 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.... offensive of 2018 to be directed against pro-government forces.
During the battle that was, Islamic State turbans attacked Syrian pro-government forces at the T-2 military airbase as well as the Euphrates cities of al-Mayadeen and Abu Kamal.
The terrorist onslaught was intense and the Syrian Army had to call on Arclight airstrikes to beat off attacks which came at it and allied forces in waves (highly typical of ISIS).
Well over one hundred men from both government factions and ISIS are believed to have fallen in the festivities that took place across Deir Ezzor province; the battle at T-2 is said to have been the most brutal.
Islamic State forces launched their attack out of a large swath of uncleared desert countryside (technically besieged) in western Deir Ezzor province. The scale of the attack now raises questions as to how many jihadist turbans may be present inside the area.
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[RADIOSHABELLE] The al-Qaeda-aligned Al-Shabaab ... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord... Death Eaters have withdrawn from Burdhubo district in Gedo region in Southern Somalia hours after it capturing it from Somali troops on Monday night.
The residents in the town have told Radio Shabelle region that al-Shabaab battle-wagons loaded with their weapons had been leaving since the morning.
Æthiopian troops serving under African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... mission in Somalia, known as [AMISOM] and Somali government forces retook control of the town shortly after al-Shabaab pull out.
The situation has returned to normal as the allied forces secured the town and carried out a mine clearing operation following their comeback, according to the locals.
Al-Shabaab has lost control of several small towns, including Mogadishu in the past years but still controls large swathes of territory in rural areas.
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[FOXNEWS] Police in Glendale, Wis., are currently seeking the public’s help in identifying an irate McDonald’s customer who assaulted a teenage employee after receiving the wrong breakfast order. The. Wrong. Breakfast. Order.
The suspect and a friend reportedly pulled up to the drive-thru of the McDonald’s just before 11 a.m. on March 18, where they placed an order for a breakfast sandwich with bacon, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. But upon receiving a breakfast sandwich with sausage instead, the woman became angry. As well she should, by gum!
"What the [expletive] is this? I didn't order no sausage biscuit," said the woman, who then threw the food back at the drive-thru operator. "I don't want no damn sausage biscuit! [FLING!]"
A manager replaced her order with another sandwich, but she and her friend soon returned ‐ this time entering the dining area ‐ and claimed that the order was still wrong. "I dint aks fer no damn Crispy Fries!"
The woman then proceeded to walk behind the counter to argue with the manager, and ended up shoving a separate 17-year-old female employee to the ground. "Take that, britch! [SHOVE]"
"She shoved the employee to the ground causing her to hit her head twice and then fled the store," police wrote on Facebook. The Journal Sentinel adds that the girl hit her head on both the french-fry station and the floor, but didn’t suffer any burns. She was transported to a hospital for evaluation. "Guess I showed her who be boss!"
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People with no pride. Hypersensitive to the slightest insult, because they know they're pieces of shit.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 ||
03/21/2018 0:25
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[ALMASDARNEWS] Ottoman Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey... questioned USA’s role as an ally and partner of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund.... , speaking from Ankara on Tuesday.
"In one hand, you [US] tell Turkey that we are your strategic partners and on the other hand you cooperate with the terrorists. Here is the truth, if you are our strategic partner you have to respect to us and you walk with us. You tried to fool us," Erdogan said to members of the Ottoman Turkish parliament.
He went on to declare, "What kind of partnership is this? What kind of solidarity?"
On Sunday Ottoman Turkish President claimed that Ottoman Turkish Armed Forces and Ottoman Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... (FSA) fighters have taken control of Afrin’s centre, while Turkey’s Olive Branch operation continues.
The little caliph could clarify a lot of situations by just pulling out of NATO. That would make the Kurd situation black and white, the Cyprus situation extremely clear, the constant infringement on the Greeks obvious and the infiltration of the EU clear-cut.
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[ALMASDARNEWS] Dozens of Saudi-backed fighters were killed and maimed in the Marib Governorate of Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... this week, the Saba News Agency reported on Tuesday.
According to Saba News, the Saudi-backed fighters were attacked by a group of Yemeni soldiers inside the al-Mashjah area on Tuesday, resulting in heavy losses for the Hadi Loyalists.
Furthermore, another attack was carried out by the Yemeni Army in the Hababah al-Sadah and Serwah Souq areas, a military official told Saba News.
Recently, intense festivities have broken out near the Saudi border, as both anti and pro-government forces vow for control of the area between Marib and Sanaa.
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#1
After reading these clips for the past few months, I can only assume Baghdad Bob has morphed into Sanaa Sam.
[ALMASDARNEWS] An outpost for the Syrian forces near Afrin was hit by an Arclight airstrike conducted by a Ottoman Turkish jet killing six fighters ‐ including a colonel ‐ and injuring two others.
According to sources, the aerial bombardment struck a gathering for the pro-government fighters stationed along the road linking Afrin to Nubl an al-Zahraa towns.
The road is extensively used by thousands of civilians who fled the battles in Afrin, particularly after the Ottoman Turkish-backed bully boyz managed to entirely seize the city.
Last week, a Ottoman Turkish airstrike killed 8 fighters from the Syrian Popular Forces at al-Ziyarah crossing.
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[Washington Examiner] President Trump has hired Joe diGenova, a well-known attorney and legal commentator, to join the team of lawyers working to insulate him from a special counsel's investigation into alleged Russian collusion, multiple outlets reported Monday.
DiGenova has criticized leaders at the FBI and Justice Department ‐ including FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein ‐ and has even suggested federal agencies are plotting to destroy Trump's presidency.
"They work for the president. He can fire them. He can tell them what to do," diGenova told Fox News of Wray and Rosenstein in February.
[ALMASDARNEWS] Up to 15 rebel fighters have turned themselves in to the Syrian government in an Eastern Ghouta town as more civilians are granted safe exit from embattled area.
According to a military source, 15 gunnies from the al-Qaeda-linked Faylaq al-Rahman group ‐ including two snipers ‐ have surrendered to the Syrian Army in Kafr Batna town.
Kafr batna, a former key bastion for the ultraconservative faction, has fallen to the government forces two days ago.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shootout, Butch clutched at his other shoulder...... fierce fighting is currently taking place as the Army troops launched an assault to recapture Hazah and Ayn Tarma Valley.
[ALMASDARNEWS] Militants in the East Ghouta region fired several missiles and artillery shells into Damascus city, killing and wounding scores of civilians.
According to an Al-Masdar field correspondent in Damascus, the militants fired a missile into the Kashkoul District, hitting a crowded market in the city.
The correspondent added that the death toll is rapidly rising, with more than 20 civilians already reported dead as a result of this attack.
In addition to the attack on Kashkoul, the militants also wounded one woman and five children in the Mezzeh District of Damascus after they launched several indiscriminate artillery shells into the area.
[Al Jazeera] At least 16 children and four women are reported to have been killed after a school in Syria's Eastern Ghouta was hit by an air raid.
The deaths came as the government bombardment of the enclave resumed following a brief lull, activists told Al Jazeera.
The attack on the school, which acted as a shelter for children in the town of Irbin, occurred on Monday night, the activists said.
Overnight shelling of remaining rebel-held towns of Eastern Ghouta has killed a total of 32 people, the activists said.
The area, which has been under rebel control since mid-2013, has been under a relentless bombing campaign, launched by Russian-backed Syrian forces a month ago.
[AlAhram] Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday that 65 percent of territory in Syria's eastern Ghouta had been "liberated from terrorists," the RIA news agency reported.
His ministry said earlier on Tuesday that the total number of civilians, mostly children, who had been evacuated from the district since the start of a humanitarian operation has risen to 79,702.
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First access attempt Google Chrome tried to claim that "Gateway Pundit" was a dangerous site for me to visit. Seems Google is really getting into to censorship favoring the left.
#1
It's their Cloudflare hosting. Tries to determine who you are before you connect. Only if it can see you it lets you view the page, otherwise it makes you solve a captcha, which is enough to discourage most people.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 ||
03/21/2018 0:06
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Pretty obvious Google is involved in site hits and data capture.
Google also reads your email sent thru gmail. Think about that. They claim its to better target their ads but who knows what else 'Yes, do evil!' Google is doing with that data?
[Libya Observer] Two fighters from Omar al-Mukhtar operations room of Khalifa Haftar ...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all... ’s forces were killed and two others were maimed as the Derna Shura Council attacked Monday morning the Dignity Operation fighters at Kersa checkpoint in western Derna.
Two days ago, Haftar’s forces shelled the western entrance of Derna heavily and then on Monday morning, Derna Shura Council attacked Haftar’s forces and seized a tank as well as military vehicles with 14.5 and 23 anti-aircraft guns.
"Those military vehicles were used by Haftar’s forces to shell the western districts of Derna damaging the people’s properties." Derna Shura Council said.
Dignity Operation forces led by Haftar have been besieging the city for quite long and every now and then shell or bomb certain areas, leaving behind civilians’ deaths and injuries as well as damaged properties. On March 04, four civilians were maimed in Zintan neighborhood in Derna due to such shelling.
The forces led by Haftar also boosted their military presence around Derna and called on the civilians to lay down their weapons and stay away from "terrorists’ zones" in order to control the city, which is the last eastern city outside Haftar’s grip.
Meanwhile, ...back at the dirigible, the gondola was dangling by a single thread of rope.
Jack! Cynthia cried. I just realized I'm afraid of heights! I don't even like high heels!... despite all calls by international and local organizations to stop the siege on Derna and the military escalation there, Haftar’s forces continue to be deployed in preparation of advancing into the city’s neighborhoods.
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[SABANEWS.NET] The Political bureau of Ansar Allah sent a message of condolences to Yemeni society, the Islamic Ummah and the family in the death of the great religious scholar Assayed Hamoud Abbas Al-Moayad.
we send our condolences to the family of the deceased, may God have mercy on him, the Yemeni community and the Islamic nation, asking God to have mercy on him and inspire his family and relatives patience and tolerance. And unto God and to Him we shall return.
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[DAWN] Border Military Police in the tribal area of Dera Ghazi Khan on Tuesday placed in durance vile Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! a man accused of mutilating his wife's genitalia.
A case has been registered against the accused on the complaint of the victim's father, said the political assistant to the tribal area of Dera Ghazi Khan, Jamil Ahmed.
The victim is currently under treatment at the tehsil headquarters hospital Taunsa Sharif.
The woman's father told the police that he along with his brother were going to a nearby village when they heard screams coming from his daughter's house.
According to the father, upon entering the house, they found his daughter screaming in a room locked from the inside. After breaking the door, the father said he caught his son-in-law in the act and found his daughter in a pool of blood. He alleged that an accomplice of the suspect was also present at the scene.
The victim's father took her to the hospital. Police said that the husband has been arrested while raids were being conducted to arrest the alleged accomplice who was on the run.
The accused, according to the FIR, said that he attacked his wife after she refused to give him her gold earrings. The woman's family, however, told the police that the couple fought often and her husband committed the violent act for them "being unable to conceive children". Of course the first question I would have would be whether the wife had reached puberty yet.
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[DAWN] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire.... vowed on Monday to expand its operation in northern Syria to other Kurdish-held areas after its troops and allied forces seized control of the city of Afrin in a major blow to the Kurds.
A day after Ottoman Turkish-led forces entered the city virtually unopposed, President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey... said the fight would now be taken to other Kurdish areas of northern Syria.
"We will continue this process until we entirely eliminate this corridor, including in Manbij, Ayn al-Arab, Tal Abyad, Ras al-Ayn and Qamishli," said the Ottoman Turkish leader, in a characteristically bullish mood.
Syria’s civil war entered its eighth year this week with heavy fighting on two fronts ‐ around Afrin and in the rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus.
In Afrin, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) could do little when Syrian Arab fighters backed by NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... ’s second-largest army thrust into the city on Sunday.
The fighters, mostly former rebels who fought President Bashir al-Assad, celebrated their victory by destroying the statue of Kurdish hero Kawa and looting shops and other property. The pillaging drew widespread condemnation, including from Syrian opposition groups supporting the Turkish intervention.
Is it Kosher to mix Turkey and Curds? VS
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#1
Afrin evacuation. “She saw lots of women who were pregnant and had miscarriages on the road. She was so overwhelmed that she couldn’t talk anymore and she started to cry. She told me, ‘I cannot explain to you what I saw.’
When you see ‘the abomination that causes desolation' standing where it does not belong flee to the mountains. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! (A similarity of Mark 13)
#2
What we are seeing is a historic upheaval of what can be referred to as the raging sea of mankind. Even NATO Supreme Leader of Norway only 1 week ago supported Islamist State Leader Erdogan with NATO Germany and NATO Britain inking more arms deals to his Islamic expansionist designs. It is as if the once free and decent West is now fully under the control of aggressive Satanic forces.
[ARABNEWS] Billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has revealed plans for a string of new investments in his first interview since being detained at the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh.
Speaking exclusively to Bloomberg Television, he said that life was now "back to normal" as he gave an intriguing inside account of his detention as part of the Saudi government’s high profile anti-corruption drive.
The Kingdom Holding chief was one of the most high-profile figures to be detained at Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel as part of a widespread anti-corruption drive.
In a television interview with Bloomberg, a fast-talking Alwaleed said: "I am for the anti-corruption that took place in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... . Now, unfortunately, I was added to that group. But fortunately, I’m out of it right now and life is back to normal."
The prince, once dubbed the Warren Buffett of Saudi Arabia, was released from the Ritz-Carlton hotel in early January.
He was among about 350 suspects rounded up since Nov. 4, including some of the Kingdom’s most senior businessmen. As a major investor in several global corporations, his detention sent shockwaves through boardrooms around the world.
Now, after being released, he wants to reassure investors of continuity across his sprawling business empire. "I need to clear my name," he said. "And to clear up a lot of lies."
Specifically, Alwaleed rejected claims that he was tortured, detained in a prison and was forced to abandon work on the world’s tallest tower under construction in Jeddah, and instead transfer workers to the recently announced Neom mega-project instead.
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group has grabbed credit for the cycle of violence bomb kaboom that left at least four dead in Jalalabad city.
The loyalists of the terror group released a statement on Monday claiming that the target of the attack was a pro-government gathering in the city.
However, a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth... another source (Amaq News) which publishes ISIS reports, claimed that the target of the attack was a vehicle carrying pro-government militia forces.
The incident took place at around 1 pm local time as a large gathering was underway in a stadium in the first police district of the city.
Provincial governor’s front man Attaullah Khogyani confirmed that the kaboom was triggered by a cycle of violence.
He said at least four people bit the dust in the kaboom and at least ten others were maimed.
Provincial public health director Dr. Najibullah Kamawal said the health condition of those maimed in the kaboom has been reported as satisfactory.
This comes as the loyalists of the terror group are under immense pressure 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 as counter-terrorism operations are underway to eliminate the safe havens of the loyalists of the group.
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[DAWN] Inspectors from the world’s chemical weapons watchdog on Monday began examining the poison used to strike down a former Russian double agent in England, in an attack that London blames on Moscow.
Britannia says Sergei Skripal and his daughter, who are critically ill in hospital, were targeted with the Soviet-era military-grade nerve agent Novichok. It accuses Moscow of stockpiling the toxin and investigating how to use it in liquidations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... , who easily won another six-year term on Sunday, said the claims were nonsense and that Russia had destroyed all its chemical weapons. While the Kremlin told Britannia to back up its assertions or apologise, Britannia’s fellow EU members offered it "unqualified solidarity".
Skripal, a former colonel in Russian military intelligence who betrayed dozens of Russian agents to Britannia, was found collapsed along with his daughter on a bench in the small southern city of Salisbury two weeks ago.
The identification of Novichok as the weapon has become the central pillar of Britannia’s case for Russia’s culpability. Each has expelled 23 of the other’s diplomats as their relations have sunk to a post-Cold War low.
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#1
One thing no one has mentioned: Was Skripal carrying a load of nerve agents somewhere else & simply fumbled it & spilled some? IOW, he brought it on himself as part of a failed clandestine operation. Sneaking poisons around is something a spy like him would do.
#3
Ref #1: It might be interesting to compare what type of agents are being used in Syria, and what type of agent Skripal and his daughter were exposed to. Again, his residence being 6 kilometers from Porton Down, quite curious.
By the way, AMDRO Fire Ant Killer works by soldiers who carry the poison back to the nest and the Queen. Just a thought.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The leader of Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin Hekmatyar ... who used to be known in intelligence circles as The Most Evil Man in the World but who now seems merely run-of-the-mill evil... says the recommendations of Hezb-e-Islami regarding the reconciliation process have been shared with the Afghan government, Taliban ...Arabic for students... group, and the foreigners, including Washington.
Hekmatyar made informed regarding the presentation of his party’s recommendatins regarding the grinding of the peace processor as he was speaking during a gathering in 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.. on Monday.
Without disclosing further information regarding his party’s recommendations, Hekmatyar said he expects to receive a feedback from the concerned parties within a week or two.
This comes as Hekmatyar had earlier suggested autonomy for the Taliban group in a bid to help reach to a peace agreement between the Afghan government and the Taliban group.
In an interview with the New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... , Hekmatyar had said his participation in Afghan politics showed the Taliban that they, too, could wield influence after laying down their weapons.
The leader of Hezb-e-Islami further added that he had already begun establishing himself as an intermediary and was in regular contact with the Taliban’s supreme leader, Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada ...Former deputy to Taliban supremo Mullah Akhtar Mansour, now The Big Man Himself... According to the Times, Hekmatyar is promoting a reconciliation with the Taliban that would grant local autonomy to the bully boy group in certain regions, or peace provinces. He called these regions "secure areas" that would remain part of Afghanistan, even as Afghan Army troops withdrew from them.
"It would be very effective," he said, adding that in his discussions with the Afghan president, Mr. Ghani had been supportive.
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[ConservativeDailyPost] Report suggest McCabe changed interview notes with Gen. Flynn to make it look like he lied to FBI.
Former Federal Bureau of Investigation Deputy Director Andrew McCabe altered Peter Strzok’s 302 notes during his interview with then-White House national security adviser Michael Flynn and destroyed evidence, a new report suggests.
Conservative commentator and journalist Mike Cernovich reports McCabe changed official FBI notes Strzok took when he interviewed Flynn last February and that he destroyed all evidence of his revision history.
In a series of tweets on Sunday, Cernovich reported the FBI is in “full-on freak-out mode” as many fear this bombshell report will surface into the media and trigger a congressional subpoena for the records.
A “302” form is what FBI officials file after they interview an individual, and deleting or altering those official notes is a felony.
#3
In a series of tweets on Sunday, Cernovich reported the FBI is in “full-on freak-out mode” as many fear this bombshell report will surface into the media and trigger a congressional subpoena for the records.
A “302” form is what FBI officials file after they interview an individual, and deleting or altering those official notes is a felony.
The 302, that would be the form that was NEVER used in the Clinton inverviews, correct ?
#4
ISTR those records were subpoenaed yesterday or Monday.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
03/21/2018 6:55
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#5
So Flynn walks and the cookie crumbles
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/21/2018 7:22
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#6
Frank, I'm cynical enough to believe that McCabe walks, collects his pension, goes on the book/speaking tour with Comey. Meanwhile, Flynn goes to jail.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
03/21/2018 8:34
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#7
I'm cynical enough to believe that McCabe walks, collects his pension, goes on the book/speaking tour with Comey. Meanwhile, Flynn goes to jail.
#11
The one thing you cannot do at the FBI is lie. Once it can be proven that you lied you can no longer testify in court. Welcome to the DC police force.
#15
I'm stunned that the FBI relies on notes. Notes are only as good as the transcriber. For political stuff like this there should be multiple recordings (the FBI should make one and the person interviewed should make one).
#16
rj, there's a very famous gap in a recording. Something about the missing 18.5 minutes.
And that was 40 years ago....I think the technology has improved since then. I certainly think that there should be a complete unexpurgated recording by every person involved in the interview....But then, I'd also like to believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.
#21
If both parties record the interview and one makes claims the other can refute them, if there are gaps the one with the gaps is clearly being dishonest. Politicians should never agree to be interviewed without their own recording device.
[VigilantCitizen] "Unspoil Me" claims it can "erase the memory" of a TV show you’ve watched, allowing you to watch it again for the first time. Life without reruns. Nirvana redefined.
Did you ever tell yourself: "I wish there was a corporate website that could hypnotize me and erase part of memory"? If so, what is wrong with you? Also, you’re in luck. We are just a small step away from Blue / Red pills, I suspect.
Samsung’s Swedish site includes a bizarre feature called Unspoil Me ‐ a 23-minute hypnosis session comprised of swirling patterns, mesmerizing music and a hypnotherapist controlling your mind. The aim is to get your brain to forget your favorite TV show in order for you to watch it again ‐ as if it was the first time.
[CNet] "Unspoil Me" promises to let you rewatch your favorite TV series as if it were the first time. Here's everything I experienced while trying to forget "Big Little Lies."
#4
No thanks! Short term memory loss due to a concussion -- once was more than enough. Still, there was that (amusing in retrospect) phone call from the Insurance Lady (Workman's Comp) and patiently explaining: "No, ma'am, I can't describe the accident because I don't remember... amnesia, understand?"
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Taliban ...Arabic for students... group reacted at the demands of the former Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... governor Mohammad Ismail Khan regarding the reconciliation process amid efforts are underway to persuade the group to take part in direct peace talks.
Taliban front man Mujahid issued a statement in reaction to Khan’s demands and claimed that the former governor of Herat has demanded from the Taliban to contact the Mujahideen leaders in a bid to find a peaceful resolution to end the violence.
He said Khan had the demand during a gathering to mark the national deaders’ day and the offer was apparently made to open door for Taliban and Mujahideen contacts if the group is not prepapared to respond to government’s offer for grinding of the peace processor.
Mujahid also claimed that the Taliban group welcomes all those efforts which are aimed to end the violence but insists that such efforts must also aim at the complete withdrawal of the foreign forces.
The Taliban front man suggested in his statement that Ismail Khan should start negotiations with the political office of the Taliban group to find a way to end the presence of the foreign forces as well as the ongoing violence and conflict in the country.
This comes as the leader of Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin Hekmatyar ... who used to be known in intelligence circles as The Most Evil Man in the World but who now seems merely run-of-the-mill evil... says the recommendations of Hezb-e-Islami regarding the reconciliation process have been shared with the Afghan government, Taliban group, and the foreigners, including Washington.
Without disclosing further information regarding his party’s recommendations, Hekmatyar said he expects to receive a feedback from the concerned parties within a week or two.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2018
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The Paleostinian National Authority (PNA) has demanded from the Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", movement to hand over full control over the Gazoo Strip, the Paleostinian government said in a statement obtained by Sputnik.
"The council of ministers demands from the Hamas movement to immediately cede control over the Gazoo Strip," the statement said.
According to the document, the government is ready to take responsibility for Gazoo in order to save it from the dangers that surround it and prevent Israel from splitting Paleostine.
The statement was issued after Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... had directly accused Hamas of the kaboom on Paleostinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah’s motorcade during his visit to Gazoo last week and threatened to impose sanctions against the enclave.
On March 13, an kaboom hit a site near Hamdallah’s motorcade in the Gazoo Strip. Hamdallah himself was not injured in the blast. The Paleostinian National Authority placed the blame for the attack on the Hamas movement, which has been governing the Gazoo Strip. Hamas, in turn, condemned the attack on Hamdallah’s convoy and called on law enforcement agencies to find the perpetrators as soon as possible.
In October 2017, Hamas and its rival Fatah faction, headed by Abbas, signed a reconciliation agreement, prior to which Hamas agreed to hand over administrative control of the Gazoo Strip and start talks with Fatah in order to hold a general election in Paleostine. In late November, the two sides agreed to hold parliamentary and presidential elections in Paleostine before the end of 2018.
Nabil Shaath, the foreign affairs adviser of Abbas, told Sputnik in February that the intra-Paleostinian reconciliation process had been put on hold, because the Hamas movement had not yet relinquished administrative control over the Gazoo Strip.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2018
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Unusually candid analysis coming from a pro Russian news outlet by Alexandr Shishkin Originally appeared at Vzglyad;
Translated by AlexD exclusively for SouthFront
A few years ago, the Navy actively pushed the concept of “new ship in the old body”, a radical reconstruction of Soviet-built ships with new armaments and electronics. A whole group of ships was sent for upgrades, but now we can say that all these plans failed completely. How did it happen and who should be held accountable?
At the beginning of the 2010s advances in the Russian military steel construction caused a kind of euphoria. Its typical manifestations were, for example, ideas of resuming the production of missile trains, ekranoplans, hovercrafts and an almost universal deep modernisation of the main ship composition, inherited from the USSR.
A technical project was approved in 2012, providing for the tripling of ammunition of the nuclear submarines of Project 949A for the replacement of the complex “Granit” for “Onyx” and “Kalibr”. According to some reports, all five ships of the Pacific Fleet were to be upgraded. In 2013, in the “Star” shipyard work began on the nuclear submarine “Irkutsk”, the following year “Chelyabinks” was pulled up, third, “Tver” was next. It would seem that the process had begun.
With regard to the cruising submarines of Project 971, the plans were even broader; it was about the whole series of 10 boats. In 2011, the “Leopard”, set to become the leading ship of Project 971M, came to the “Little Star” shipyard. The planned terms of modernisation were about three years, and although at the end of 2013 there were already delays on the “Leopard”, it was believed to be all good, especially since in 2014 the boats “Wolf”, “Samara” and “Bratsk” arrived at the “Little Star” shipyard.
With surface ships, the situation was no less rosy. “Little Star” received for intermediate repairs the missile cruiser “Marshal Ustinov” of Project 1164, which was supposed to return to duty in 2014, treading a path for same class “Moscow” and “Variag”. In 2013, a state contract was signed with Sevmash for intermediate repairs and modernisation of the heavy battlecruiser “Admiral Nakhimov” of Project 11442M, the first of two maintainable “Eagles”, with the completion date in 2018. In the same 2013, the Murmansk 35th shipyard received for intermediate repairs (until 2016) the large anti-submarine ship “Admiral Chabanenko” of Project 11551. It was presumed that all seven destroyers of Project 956 were to be repaired and all eight large anti-submarine ships of Project 1155 were to be modernised.
Collapse of an attractive Concept
By the end of last year it was crystal clear that the concept of “new ship in the old body”, the essence of which is the rapid and inexpensive renewal of the main ship’s structure through intermediate repairs with the modernisation of Soviet projects, was a total failure.
The serial submarines of Project 949AM, after some hesitation, settled at 4 units. The term of transfer of “Irkutsk” to the fleet (and subsequently “Chelyabinsk”) increased by 4 years, from 2017 to 2021, and the duration of the repair increased to 8 years (despite the fact that it was built twice as fast). In this regard, the Deputy Minister of Defense’s statement that 2021 is a real timeframe for when the Fleet can get the four ships back (while on the “Tver” and “Tomsk” work has not even begun) raises questions.
The situation develops miserably with the nuclear-powered submarines of Project 971M, the series from which “the whole series” was cut to six, and then to four units. The deadline to return “Leopard” was moved from 2016 to 2019; however, a source at the “Star” considers even a four-year delay too optimistic. In case of unexpected work acceleration by 1.5 to twice faster on the other three boats, the Navy will receive the latest 971M around 2023-2024 – simultaneously with the latest “Yasens” or even after them, making the modernisation programme of “Pike-B” if not meaningless, then highly questionable. More at the link
#2
The Typhoons were marvels of engineering. It was a marvel they could make it to sea at all. Like the Foxbat was to the air force, the Typhoon was a monster under the bed that kept admirals awake at night...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/21/2018 11:45
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#3
As long as they keep their tug boats in tip top shape.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[WSJ via Mannhattan Institute] And racial preferences set up bright students‐who otherwise would be excelling at less-selective schools‐to fail at elite colleges.
[The Hill] Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) blasted President Trump on Tuesday over news that Trump phoned Russian President Vladimir Putin to congratulate him on his recent electoral win.
...Trump administration's ambassador to the UN. First woman to serve as Governor of South Carolina, and the second Indian-American governor in the country, after Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. At the age of 39, Haley was the youngest governor in the U.S., a distinction formerly held by Jindal. She is a Republican, which really grates on the Dems...
...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all...
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
Asif Ali 
[KCNAWATCH.CO] The hostile forces' brutal sanctions and pressure upon the DPRK lay grave ordeals on the way of its advance.
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey...
[DAWN] A Quetta anti-terrorism court on Tuesday sentenced a man to life in jail for the murder of a seven-year-old girl. He was also handed a four-year jail sentence for raping the minor.
the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord....jpg)
[FOXNEWS] Police in Glendale, Wis., are currently seeking the public’s help in identifying an irate McDonald’s customer who assaulted a teenage employee after receiving the wrong breakfast order.
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
VS 
[DAWN] Inspectors from the world’s chemical weapons watchdog on Monday began examining the poison used to strike down a former Russian double agent in England, in an attack that London blames on Moscow.
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
...Former deputy to Taliban supremo Mullah Akhtar Mansour, now The Big Man Himself...
