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Jordan jails two for planning Daesh embassy attacks
Today's Headlines
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Home Front: Politix
H.R. McMaster out, Darth Bolton in as National Security Advisor
[FOX News] Nothing on the web yet. This from Chris Wallace at Fox news. McMaster to Bolton hand-off to be conducted 9 April. McMaster sez he's dropping his Army retirement papers. Looks like no 4th star.

CBC News link located.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/22/2018 18:33 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So, was he the leaker? I guess that's the reason he's out.
Posted by: Raj || 03/22/2018 19:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Not sure about this.
Bolton's a good guy, but he's big on neo-con regime changing. At least that's what I've got from reading some of his stuff.
Posted by: ed in texas || 03/22/2018 19:06 Comments || Top||

#3  The Iranians might want to start filling sandbags.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/22/2018 19:08 Comments || Top||

#4  Bolton's a good guy, but he's big on neo-con regime changing.

Regime change? Sure. Nation-building? Been there. Done that. Never again. Smash it to smithereens, and let the bastards fight over the rubble.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 03/22/2018 19:36 Comments || Top||

#5  We really need those Cox & Forkum drawings of Darth Vader with Bolton's 'stache.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 03/22/2018 19:50 Comments || Top||

#6  Why does the Director of the IRS,John Koskinen, still have a JOB?????
Posted by: Joe of the Jungle || 03/22/2018 20:18 Comments || Top||

#7  Good question, Joe
Posted by: Frank G || 03/22/2018 20:23 Comments || Top||

#8  Didnt the leave the rubble bouncing lot end up with ISIS?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 03/22/2018 20:39 Comments || Top||

#9  Why does the Director of the IRS,John Koskinen, still have a JOB????? Posted by Joe of the Jungle

Accountants are powerful people. Louis Shumway was Capone's bookkeeper and the man who helped Ness take Capone down.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/22/2018 20:40 Comments || Top||

#10  Yeah! Free F150s for everyone!
Posted by: gorb || 03/22/2018 21:14 Comments || Top||

#11  drink up
Posted by: Frank G || 03/22/2018 21:50 Comments || Top||

#12  So... Chris Wallace of Fox is now getting the Trump scoops.
Posted by: Ulaigum Ebbineng7056 || 03/22/2018 22:07 Comments || Top||

#13  The libs are freaking out over this.
Posted by: Ulaigum Ebbineng7056 || 03/22/2018 22:11 Comments || Top||

#14  Music to my ears.
Posted by: Blackbeard Bumble5724 || 03/22/2018 22:38 Comments || Top||

#15  Didnt the leave the rubble bouncing lot end up with ISIS?

That's not rubble. Rubble would be killing Saddam's army by attacking it head-on instead of bypassing it to get to Baghdad quickly. Our problem is that we left his army intact. When Germany surrendered, 5m German soldiers lay dead. That's 7% of its pre-war population. That is what war weariness looks like. Syrians are war weary after losing perhaps 400K military dead out of 20m people. That's 2% of the population. I suspect if we had simply killed Saddam's army in battle, the occupation would have been a lot more peaceful.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 03/22/2018 23:29 Comments || Top||

#16  Geeesh, a neo-con of the first order. Then again, Dems are pro-war, too. So, net effect: nil.
Posted by: DooDahMan || 03/22/2018 23:52 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Youtube has announced that it will now be implementing restrictions on videos that feature firearms and accessories.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/22/2018 12:01 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The National Shooting Sports Foundation, which has more than 200,000 subscribers on its YouTube channel, said the new policy “provides cause for concern.”

In a statement on its website, NSSF said that move is “especially worrisome,” because it has the “potential for blocking educational content that serves an instructional and skill-building purpose.”

YouTube has announced that it now will be implementing restrictions on certain videos that feature firearms and accessories, sparking backlash from Second Amendment advocates.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/22/2018 12:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Time to move to a different platform
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/22/2018 14:05 Comments || Top||

#3  Wonder how far they are on 1st amendment removal too.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 03/22/2018 14:45 Comments || Top||

#4  Time for a competitor?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/22/2018 14:49 Comments || Top||

#5  Live Leak takes all kinds of videos. I suspect gun videos would be welcome there. Although anyone thinking about getting paid for content will have to look elsewhere.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 03/22/2018 17:28 Comments || Top||

#6  er..guys...this

I only go there for the articles. Yeah, right. LOL
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/22/2018 18:26 Comments || Top||

#7  Pro--

Putting the "pro" into Procopius. For how many years?

BTW--Just went to Youtube to look at AR-15 .300 Whisper videos. They're there. Where's the there there?
.
Posted by: OregonGuy || 03/22/2018 22:14 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Was The Mueller "Investigation" Actually Created By The Russians? It's Starting To Look That Way…
[DCWhispers] Don’t laugh. There’s mounting evidence to suggest the near-entirety of the Robert Mueller investigation is actually a perfectly executed Russian government chaos operation that would never have been possible without the help of current leaders in Congress and multiple members of the former Obama administration.

Famed attorney Alan Dershowitz hints at that very thing in an excellent column out today via The Hill:

Dershowitz column.

President Trump is right in saying that a special counsel should never have been appointed to investigate the so-called Russian connection. There was no evidence of any crime committed by the Trump administration. But there was plenty of evidence that Russian operatives had tried to interfere with the 2016 presidential election, and perhaps other elections, in the hope of destabilizing democracy. Yet, appointing a special counsel to look for crimes, behind the closed doors of a grand jury, was precisely the wrong way to address this ongoing challenge to our democracy.

The right way would have been (and still is) to appoint a nonpartisan investigative commission, such as the one appointed following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, to conduct a broad and open investigation of the Russian involvement in our elections. This is what other democracies, such as Great Britain and Israel, do in response to systemic problems. The virtue of such a commission is precisely the nonpartisan credibility of its objective experts, who have no political stake in the outcome.
...In this case, the appointment of a special counsel has done more harm than good. It has politicized our justice system beyond repair. The FBI deputy director has been fired for leaking and lying. His testimony appears to be in conflict with that of the former FBI director as to whether the leaks were authorized. Messages by high-ranking FBI agents suggest strong bias against Trump. A tweet by the former CIA director reveals equally strong negative views of the president. Perhaps these revelations prove nothing more than that law enforcement and national security officials are human and hold political views like everyone else.

...The public has lost faith in the leadership of the Justice Department and the FBI. They don’t trust congressional investigative committees. They don’t know whom to believe when they hear conflicting accounts. There are leaks galore followed by denials of leaks. It’s a total mess. And what do we have to show for it? Just a handful of low-level indictments based largely on alleged crimes that are either unrelated or only marginally related to Russia’s attempt to influence our presidential election in 2016.
‐‐‐‐‐
Note the emphasis Mr. Dershowitz places on how Americans have lost faith in its institutions. And how divided we have become. Are these not the very things the Russians would want? The fake "Trump Dossier" was first peddled by Russian operatives and gobbled up by anti-Trump forces within the Obama government, the Hillary Clinton campaign, the GOP Establishment, and various media outlets. It gave birth to what would become the Meuller investigation ‐ a thing created by, supported by, and now protected by, all of the those responsible for the false Trump Dossier.

And that makes all of them knowing or unknowing operatives within Russia’s anti-American chaos operation ‐ including Robert Mueller.

President Trump has said Russia is "laughing its ass off" over the damage they initiated against the United States by all of the phony Trump/Russia nonsense.

He’s right.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/22/2018 11:30 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Working with Hillary and the DNC to do a soft coup, yes the Russians helped.

People need to be strung from the lamp posts for this.
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/22/2018 11:42 Comments || Top||

#2  "Russian collusion" being absolute projection from the dems is amazing.

Of course even when evidence is shown the MSM narrative will not change.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 03/22/2018 12:55 Comments || Top||

#3  If this is true, hanging is too good. Firing Squad, no blindfold or ciggy.
Posted by: Jinenter Tojo8911 || 03/22/2018 13:09 Comments || Top||

#4  "the appointment of a special counsel has done more harm than good. It has politicized our justice system beyond repair."

I submit that it REVEALED how politicized the DoJ and FBI have become. The obsession here in the face of no evidence compared to the utter indifference towards the Clintons' crimes...
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 03/22/2018 18:54 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
‘Outrageous, impossible to believe': Bizarre security breaches bedevil Florida massacre school
[RT] Two students at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School have been tossed in the clink
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
for bringing knives to school. A third student was arrested and hospitalized after making threats while brandishing an imitation firearm on Snapchat.

Jordan Salter, 18, reportedly poured a bowl of cereal on another student's head after he made a sexual comment to her friend. Salter then "reached inside of her bra and pulled out a 2 inch knife" when the boy attempted to lean in close to her, according to an arrest form seen by CBS News. She was arrested Tuesday morning.

Gavin Stricker, 19, was arrested later that afternoon for allegedly brandishing a knife on the school bus Monday afternoon. "A nine inch knife was found in his backpack. Stricker was placed into custody and transported to JARC," Broward County Sheriff’s office wrote in his arrest form. Stricker has been released from the Juvenile Assessment Center and is scheduled to appear at a court hearing on April 23.

Another unnamed student "was removed from class for posting pictures on Snapchat depicting a handgun in his waistband and numerous bullets." Broward County Sheriff's office said the student claimed it was a picture "of a BB gun and the bullets were his father's."

"In one image, the teen displays a gun in his waistband. In a second image, he shows off bullets," BSO spokeswoman Joy Oglesby said. "The detective said both photos had threatening messages."

The teen was hospitalized with self-inflicted wounds to his left arm and is due to be booked into the Juvenile Assessment Center once he’s discharged from hospital. The student reportedly used ’NickCruz’ as his gaming profile in the popular online multiplayer shooter 'Fortnite' ‐ a reference to the perpetrator of the Parkland massacre in which 17 people were killed and a further 17 injured on February 14. Cruz is facing the death penalty.

RT.com has contacted Broward County Sheriff’s office for additional information.

To make matters worse, Deputy Moises Carotti was suspended after being found sleeping in his patrol car by a student Monday.

"Of all the schools in America, you would think this would be the safest one right now. This is so outrageous it's almost impossible to believe," Florida Senator Marco Rubio
The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida...
said of the deputy's suspension on Tuesday.

"That a deputy was sleeping is incredibly disappointing. As you know, I can’t comment on an ongoing internal affairs investigation, but once the findings are in I will make the appropriate decisions regarding the way we are going to handle it and the level of discipline," Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said, as cited by The Sun Sentinel.

Zachary Cruz, brother of the Parkland shooter Nikolas, was also arrested for trespassing on school grounds. He has trespassed on school grounds three times since the shooting The Palm Beach Post reports.

State prosecutor Sarahnell Murphy originally asked for Zachary Cruz's bail to be set at $750,000 (the standard bond for trespassing is $25), stating, "He has all the same flags present as his brother." Cruz also must wear an ankle monitor and must stay at least 500ft away from any school or daycare center.

In yet another bizarre turn of events, a woman was arrested and charged with arson after driving a car with "accelerants" into a Broward County Sheriff’s office building.
Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Time to stop trying to turn a toilet into a drinking fountain.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/22/2018 0:08 Comments || Top||

#2  I suspect that it was a lot worse before the shooting but was never reported because it might impact their 'crime statistics;.
The place has been essentially lawless for years. You reap what you sow. Who know how many other Cruz'es there are lurking in the student body.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 03/22/2018 6:23 Comments || Top||

#3  People disobeying laws? We should make a law to stop that sort of thing.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 03/22/2018 15:16 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iraq holding more than 19,000 because of Daesh, militant ties
[ARABNEWS] Iraq has detained or imprisoned at least 19,000 people accused of connections to ISIS or other terror-related offenses, and sentenced more than 3,000 of them to death, according to an analysis by The News Agency that Dare Not be Named.

The mass incarceration and speed of guilty verdicts raise concerns over potential miscarriages of justice ‐ and worries that tossed in the calaboose
Please don't kill me!
murderous Moslems are recruiting within the general prison population to build new holy warrior networks.

The AP count is based partially on an analysis of a spreadsheet listing all 27,849 people imprisoned in Iraq as of late January, provided by an official who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Thousands more also are believed to be held in detention by other bodies, including the Federal Police, military intelligence and Kurdish forces. Those exact figures could not be immediately obtained.

The AP determined that 8,861 of the prisoners listed in the spreadsheet were convicted of terrorism-related charges since the beginning of 2013 ‐ arrests overwhelmingly likely to be linked to ISIS, according to an intelligence figure in Baghdad.

In addition, another 11,000 people currently are being detained by the intelligence branch of the Interior Ministry, undergoing interrogation or awaiting trial, a second intelligence official said. Both intelligence officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the press.

"There’s been great overcrowding ... Iraq needs a large number of Sherlocks and judges to resolve this issue," Fadhel al-Gharwari, a member of Iraqi’s parliament-appointed human rights
...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
commission, told the AP.

Al-Gharwari said many legal proceedings have been delayed because the country lacks the resources to respond to the spike in incarcerations.

Large numbers of Iraqis were detained during the 2000s, when the US and Iraqi governments were battling Sunni bad boys, including al-Qaeda, and Shiite militias. In 2007, at the height of the fighting, the US military held 25,000 detainees. The spreadsheet obtained by the AP showed that about 6,000 people locked away
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
on terror charges before 2013 still are serving those sentences.

But the current wave of detentions has hit the Iraqi justice system much harder because past arrests were spread out over a much longer period and the largest numbers of detainees were held by the American military, with only a portion sent to Iraqi courts and the rest released.

Human Rights Watch warned in November that the broad use of terrorism laws meant those with minimal connections to ISIS are caught up in prosecutions alongside those behind the worst abuses. The group estimated a similar number of detainees and prisoners ‐ about 20,000 in all.
Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Home Front: Politix
MSNBC host claims Obama admin was ‘virtually scandal-free’
[RT] Within the memory of Mike Barnicle, co-host of MSNBC’s ’Morning Joe’ show, the administration of former president Barack Obama
My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it...
was "virtually scandal-free."

Barnicle asked Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs about "the damage that’s being done to the institution of the presidency today" in comparison to the "virtually scandal-free" Obama presidency. But he wasn’t finished there. Barnicle went on to remind viewers that Obama was an "exemplary person" ‐ presumably in comparison to 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...
Barnicle’s spiel about the wonders of the Obama presidency left Gibbs unsure as to what question he was actually being asked, forcing him to ask Barnicle for some clarification. The pair then shared a laugh before Gibbs went on to offer some platitudes about unity in politics.

"I don’t think we can solve problems in our country if we can’t sit down and talk about them, if we’re so deeply divided," he said.

Perhaps the MSNBC hosts simply forgot the many scandals that dotted Obama’s two terms as president, including the Benghazi attack which killed ambassador Chris Stevens, Perennial Presidential Campaigner Hillary Crooked Hillary Clinton
... former first lady, former secretary of state, former presidential candidate, Conqueror of Benghazi, Heroine of Tuzla, formerly described by her supporters as the smartest woman in the world, usually described by the rest of us as The Thing That Wouldn't Go Away...
’s email server scandal, a war on whistleblowers, a massive stepping-up of the use of drones and a bungled Fast and Furious operation that saw thousands of guns sold to suspected smugglers.

The notion of a "scandal-free" Obama White House seems to be a sentiment shared by Obama himself, however. In remarks delivered at MIT last month, the former president commented that his administration "didn’t have a scandal" that caused any embarrassment, admitting only to "occasional mistakes and screw-ups".
Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Because if YOU did not cover it, it is not a scandal. Am I right?
Posted by: newc || 03/22/2018 1:15 Comments || Top||

#2  We don't do "cruel and unusual" in the US (officially, anyway) Ideally plagiarists like Barnicle would have their fingers cut off and tongue excised so they couldn't steal other people's words anymore. Of course, some of the new access methods on computers would make eye-gouging necessary too. The price of progress...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/22/2018 1:23 Comments || Top||

#3  And, actually, I can't even endorse my own "ideal." It's too muzzlike for me.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/22/2018 1:24 Comments || Top||

#4  I would still always be up for kicking Ben Domonech in the nuts...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/22/2018 1:39 Comments || Top||

#5  Scandals...? What was that Lewis Carroll, reference again?
'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.'
Posted by: magpie || 03/22/2018 3:01 Comments || Top||

#6  ...Mr. Barnicle doesn't remember scandals in the Obama Administration?

That's cute. Ask him if he remembers this:

"Boston Globe controversy

In 1998, Barnicle resigned from The Boston Globe amid a controversy over two columns, written three years apart. The first column of more than 80 lines of humorous observations had a few lines that bore similarity to jokes in the 1997 book Brain Droppings by George Carlin.[7] In a subsequent Globe review of all of Barnicle's many years of work, a second column was called into question. The October 8, 1995 column recounted the story of two sets of parents with cancer-stricken children. When one of the children died, the parents of the other child, who had begun to recover, sent the dead child's parents a check for $10,000. When the Globe could not locate the people who had not been publicly identified because they had died as well, Barnicle insisted nonetheless that the story was true. He said he did not obtain the story from the parents but from a nurse, whom he declined to identify. Mrs. Patricia Shairs later contacted the Globe to indicate that the story Barnicle wrote was about her family, although she said some of the facts were incorrect."


Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 03/22/2018 4:51 Comments || Top||

#7  Google the "technique of the big lie", Mike.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/22/2018 5:14 Comments || Top||

#8  "Blue Pills" are yummy!
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 03/22/2018 8:25 Comments || Top||

#9  While we're piling on the grandfather of Fake News, he also wrote a column back in 1991 claiming Whitey Bulger 'kept the drugs out of Southie'. Of course Bulger was the guy bringing them in.
Posted by: Raj || 03/22/2018 8:48 Comments || Top||

#10  MSLSD at it again still?
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/22/2018 8:59 Comments || Top||

#11 
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 03/22/2018 11:12 Comments || Top||

#12  This is an actual WAPO headline today:

"Typos, spelling mistakes are common in Trump's White House"

I guess the follow-up will be "Trump splits infinitives, drops Oxford comma."

Posted by: Matt || 03/22/2018 11:20 Comments || Top||

#13  This argument is going to be hard to make after the indictments that follow the release of the OIG's report.
Posted by: Sneasing Big Foot6518 || 03/22/2018 11:36 Comments || Top||

#14  Mike Barnicle should join with Peter "Tailwind" Arnett and Dan "Fake but Accurate" Rather to teach Journalism & Ethics 101 at an Ivy League school.
Posted by: magpie || 03/22/2018 11:46 Comments || Top||

#15  This argument is going to be hard to make after the indictments that follow the release of the OIG's report.
The most it will ever get on the MSM is a 20 second mention in passing or maybe a column inch on an overflow page.
Posted by: 3dc || 03/22/2018 12:51 Comments || Top||

#16  It all depends on what you mean by "scandal"
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 03/22/2018 15:31 Comments || Top||

#17  The guy misread his propoganda sheet, the truth is the Obama Administration was virtual scandal-free. There were no virtual scandals, just the real kind.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 03/22/2018 16:21 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Chhatra League leader who raped school student refused bail
[Dhaka Tribune] The court of Sirajganj Additional District and Sessions Judge Rafiqul Islam refused the appeal for bail by the accused former BCL District Vice-President Riyad Hossain on Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


-Land of the Free
Californians Leaving For Greener Pastures In Droves
[DAILYWIRE] Based on the latest U.S. Census Bureau statistics from July 2016 to July 2017, Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,ns are leaving the state in droves. As Jed Kolko, chief economist with employment website Indeed.com, pointed out regarding the data, "The rate at which California has been losing people to other states has accelerated in the past couple of years, in part because of rising housing costs ... more people moved out of California to other states than moved in from other states. In other words, California lost people due to domestic migration."
...people who take their voting patterns with them.
There are apparently three prime destinations for the migrating Californians: Texas, Arizona, and Nevada. The census showed that during the period it covered, 79,000 people moved to Texas, 63,000 moved to Arizona, and 38,000 migrated to Nevada.

Interestingly, as Christopher Thornberg, founding partner of research and consulting firm Beacon Economics in Los Angeles, noted when looking at the data, "lower income Californians are the ones who are leaving, not higher income."

The cost of housing appears to be the prime motivator for people to leave the Golden State; according to industry tracker Zumper, five of the top 10 most expensive rental markets in the country are in California. the Socialist paradise of San Francisco
...where God struck dead Anton LaVey, home of the Sydney Ducks, ruled by Vigilance Committee from 1859 through 1867, reliably and volubly Democrat since 1964...
is number one; San Jose is third; Los Angeles is sixth; Oakland is seventh, and San Diego is tied for eighth.

The National Association of Realtors and its state association assert that the median price in California for a single-family home is $550,990 compared to the national median price of $247,800.

Joel Kotkin, a presidential fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University in Orange, California, said the emigration from California among higher-income people will increase.

Even H.D. Palmer, a finance front man for California governor Jerry Governor Moonbeam Brown
... those who ignore history are bound to repeat it...
, admitted that the state’s top marginal personal income tax rate is the highest in the nation.

Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Fantastic statistical and economic lesson. Most people stay put even if nothing is keeping them where they are.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/22/2018 0:11 Comments || Top||

#2  All the more reason China gets to buy it and finish that slow choo choo and then they are nor seceding, just bought.
Posted by: newc || 03/22/2018 1:18 Comments || Top||

#3  Yes. We're doing so "well" managing the mex border, why not invite the Chinee to have a CONUS outpost too.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/22/2018 1:31 Comments || Top||

#4  And packing their liberal ideology with them.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/22/2018 5:15 Comments || Top||

#5  Its how the Black Plague was spread.

Note well, they aren't headed to Mexico.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/22/2018 8:13 Comments || Top||

#6  Many are heading to Austin.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/22/2018 8:57 Comments || Top||

#7  Like a cancer... and just as deadly.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 03/22/2018 8:59 Comments || Top||

#8  Most people stay put even if nothing is keeping them where they are.

Agreed. Back in 1986 - 1987, I couldn't move out of Manchester, NH fast enough. State Street Bank's mutual fund accounting dept. was booming at the time, so off I went. It was an easier move for me because my family were all criminals & assholes. When I was helping out on our last big high school class reunion, I figured 75-80% of the people I got in touch with were still in the greater Manchester area, thirty years later.
Posted by: Raj || 03/22/2018 9:00 Comments || Top||

#9  people who take their voting patterns with them.

This is not a random sample of Californians. The people who are moving are conservative and are disgusted with the nanny state.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 03/22/2018 11:32 Comments || Top||

#10  Keep leaving. When I'm the last one left I can be King!
Posted by: AuburnTom || 03/22/2018 12:45 Comments || Top||

#11  Interestingly, as Christopher Thornberg, founding partner of research and consulting firm Beacon Economics in Los Angeles, noted when looking at the data, "lower income Californians are the ones who are leaving, not higher income."

I suspect these are not the GOP voters we are looking for.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 03/22/2018 15:07 Comments || Top||

#12  Maybe Australia will give a few of us fast-track immigration the way they are doing for South African farmers.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 03/22/2018 16:22 Comments || Top||

#13  #10 Keep leaving. When I'm the last one left I can be King!

I think the devil said something similar about hell.
Posted by: Bertie Thraque7563 || 03/22/2018 17:00 Comments || Top||

#14  Maybe Australia will give a few of us fast-track immigration the way they are doing for South African farmers.

I would offer Atlanta's Hartfield-Jackson Airport as the 'gateway.' Be advised, Californians now living in Georgia have priority boarding.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/22/2018 17:26 Comments || Top||

#15  IMHO the Beacon Analyst is FOS. Every single site I have looked at for moving out of Northern California (Prescott, Boise metro area, Coeur d'Alene, Carson City NV, Aiken SC) has had significant Californication of the housing prices. In my last trips to Boise, Nampa. and Minden/Gardnerville, the realtors opened commented on the number of California exiles that had been driving up housing prices. Mind you, these were all homes we were looking at in the 600-750 k range, and were comparable or modest upgrades to California prices where we live now. Lower income refuges from the Workers Paradise of California may also be fleeting, but this impact was all high-middle to high end impacts.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 03/22/2018 18:01 Comments || Top||

#16  NoMoreBS, in the early 90s I moved to Spokane Washington and found the locals tended to dislike Californians because they drove the housing prices up. My wife worked for a realtor, they loved Californians, but anyone renting or trying to buy a house hated them.
Posted by: ruprecht || 03/22/2018 21:43 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
26 confirmed dead, 18 wounded in Kabul suicide attack
[Khaama.com] The sound of an explosion was heard from the vicinity of the Kart-e-Chahar area in West of Kabul city.

The incident took place at around noon time close to Karte Sakhi area in the vicinity of Aliabad and as a result at least 26 people have been killed.

The Ministry of Interior Minister confirmed that a suicide bomber detonated his explosives among a large crowd of people close to Sakhi shrine, leaving at least 26 dead and at least 18 others wounded.

Security sources had earlier said a suicide bomber detonated a Vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) in Aliabad area close to Karte Sakhi as scores of people had gathered in Sakhi shrine for Nowruz festival.

Taliban says not behind Kabul bombing that left several dead

Kabul suicide attack toll rises to 29 dead, 52 wounded

[Khaama.com] The officials in the Ministry of Public Health confirm that the toll as a result of today’s suicide attack has climbed at least 29 dead.

The officials are saying that the explosion has also left at least 52 others wounded amid fears that the death toll could further rise.

Preliminary reports indicate the loyalists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group has claimed responsibility behind the attack.

The Taliban group had earlier said the militants of the group have links with the explosion in Kabul city today.

To add to the confusion, this is how it was reported by Tolo News:
Dozens Killed And Injured In Twin Blasts In Kabul

[ToloNews] Hospital officials have confirmed 21 people were killed and 45 wounded after explosives detonated outside parliament offices in Darulaman Road.

Two explosions rocked Kabul at about 4pm on Tuesday afternoon in the PD6 area in Darulaman Road, killing 21 people and wounding 45 others.

Officials said the bombers targeted parliament staff leaving for the day.

He said one explosion came after a suicide bomber detonated explosives at the entrance to the offices and the second explosion was a car bomb.

Officials said the bombers targeted a convoy of vehicles carrying government staff leaving the offices.

Hospital officials confirmed 21 people had been killed and 45 wounded. The wounded had been admitted to various hospitals around the city.

MPs said a female member of parliament from Herat was among those wounded while reports indicate that the NDS head for the zone covering PD6 was among those killed.

Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack and said the target had been a mini bus carrying government staff.

Death Toll Rises to 32

[ToloNews] Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health late Wednesday confirmed 32 people were killed and 52 wounded in the deadly bombing in PD3 in Kabul.

This comes after the Ministry of Interior confirmed a suicide bomber detonated his explosives close to the Ali Abad Hospital and Kabul University at around mid-day.

The MoI also confirmed that a suicide bomber had detonated his explosives while walking among a group of people.
And from Ynet, some small illumination:
A suicide bomber struck on the road to a Shiite shrine in Afghanistan's capital on Wednesday, killing at least 26 people as Afghans celebrated the Persian new year, an official said.

Nasrat Rahimi, the deputy spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said another 18 people were wounded in the attack. He said the attacker was on foot.

The Persian new year, known in Afghanistan as Nauruz, is a national holiday. The country's minority Shiites typically celebrate by visiting shrines.

No one immediately claimed the attack. Afghanistan is home to a powerful Islamic State affiliate that has repeatedly targeted Shiites, who the Sunni extremists view as apostates deserving of death.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Europe
EU approves Bayer’s $62.5bn takeover of GMO & pesticide giant Monsanto
[RT] Germany's Bayer won EU antitrust approval on Wednesday for its multi-billion-dollar purchase of Monsanto. The mega-merger is expected to reshape the agrochemicals industry. The deal will create a giant company with control of more than a quarter of the world’s seed and pesticides market.

The European Commission said Bayer had addressed its concerns with an offer to sell a swathe of assets to boost rival BASF. Bayer pledged to sell certain seed and herbicide assets for €5.9 billion ($7.2 billion) to BASF and to give it a license to its digital farming data
Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Eurines despise GMOs, but they see a bigger company to fine with the merger.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/22/2018 0:13 Comments || Top||

#2  If Monsanto's involved, expect lots & lots of tinfoil hat talk any minute now.
Posted by: Raj || 03/22/2018 8:43 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Ohio jury finds man guilty of trying to create ISIS-inspired terrorist cell in U.S.
[Cleveland.com] AKRON, Ohio -- An Ohio jury on Tuesday found a former FBI informant guilty of trying to create a terrorist cell in the U.S. to carry out attacks in the name of the Islamic State.

Erick Jamal Hendricks, of Charlotte, North Carolina, faces up to 30 years in federal prison following the jury's decision to convict him on charges of conspiracy and attempting to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization.

Hendricks, 37, was arrested in North Carolina in August 2016. Prosecutors said much of his activities took place online through Twitter and various encrypted chat apps, though the FBI tracked him in Baltimore as he met in person with someone he believed to be a recruit. In fact, the man was an FBI informant.

A large part of the government's case against Hendricks centered on his connection to one of two gunmen who opened fire at "The First Annual Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest" in Garland, Texas in May 2015. Elton Simpson and Nadir Hamid Soofi drove from Phoenix to Garland, which is outside Dallas. They wounded a security guard before a police officer and killed them.

Hendricks was not in Texas but was chatting with an undercover FBI agent before and after Simpson and Soofi opened fire. The agent testified that he was in Garland at the time and saw Simpson and Soofi open fire, but he was not aware of the pair's plan before it was executed.

Hendricks is not from Ohio and most of the criminal activity the federal government charged him with did not occur here. It was tried in Akron largely because Hendricks reached out to Sheffield Lake man Amir Al-Ghazi on social media in order to get him to recruit others.

Al-Ghazi, who is awaiting sentencing for buying an AK-47 in support of ISIS, testified against Hendricks.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  The Buckeye. I'm a graduate of CWRU in Cleveland but traveled the entire state. The video of pissed off red-head guy saying the people in the twin towers "deserved it" sums up what's wrong with the myth of "flyover country."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/22/2018 0:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Ima bet the MSM lede was "Jury finds Ohio man guilty of trying to create ISIS-inspired terrorist cell in U.S."
Posted by: Maggie Elmereper2424 || 03/22/2018 8:08 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Zimbabwe: Prez Crocodile Pardons Prisoners
[All Africa] President Mnangagwa has pardoned thousands of prisoners across the country in bid to decongest prisons and improve the living conditions of those who remain.

Zim-bob-we Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) deputy commissioner general (administration) Dr Alford Mashango Dube announced the amnesty at a presser in Harare today.

"His Excellency the President has in terms of section 112(1)(a), (c) and (d) of the Constitution of Zim-bob-we granted amnesty to prisoners as outlined in the following categories;

"Category A - remission of sentence for all convicted female prisoners where a full remission of the remaining period of imprisonment is hereby granted to all female prisoners, regardless of the offence committed, save for those sentenced to life imprisonment.

"Category B - remission of sentence of all juveniles - where full remission of the remaining period of imprisonment is hereby granted to all juvenile prisoners under the age of eighteen years serving terms of imprisonment irrespective of the offences they committed," he said.

Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "I need those cells for my enemies. Do you want to be my enemy?"
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/22/2018 0:45 Comments || Top||

#2  I think as far as he can be, he is on the correct path. They know what he can do. And they also know he has greater support.

A far cry from Saint Pinochet, but he did swear on he Bible and to GOD, he would try his best (And a statue of Mao Se too!)

Fingers crossed on this one.

Will see what they make in store for themselves.
Posted by: newc || 03/22/2018 1:05 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Coalition jet comes under hostile missile fire in Yemen, returns safely to base
[ARABNEWS] A coalition jet fighter on a mission in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
was ’intercepted’ by hostile fire but managed to return safe to base, the front man for the Saudi-led coalition fighting for the Legitimacy in Yemen said on Wednesday.

Col. Staff Turki al-Turki said the incident, which happened at 3:48 p.m. on Wednesday, saw a coalition fighter jet targeted by a hostile missile launched from Yemen’s Saada airport. The jet managed to return fire as well as complete its mission, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Al-Turki said the missile used was not part of the Yemeni air defense capabilities as they have been destroyed by the coalition, but evidence that the Iranian regime is continuing to smuggle "qualitative field capabilities" to the Houthis in a flagrant challenge to the world community resolutions, including UN Resolution No. 2216.

He said that the possession of new air defense missiles at the hands of the terror organizations is considered a serious development and a direct threat to air navigation and relief and humanitarian travel.
Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Africa North
Egypt refers 30 Daesh-affiliated 'terrorists' to court on charges of planning church bombings
[AlAhram] Egypt's prosecutor-general has referred 30 ISIS-linked "terrorists" to the to the Supreme State Security Emergency Criminal Court on charges of planning to attack Egyptian Christians and churches.

In an official statement, Nabil Sadek's office said the accused were charged with establishing a terrorist group that embraces ISIS's krazed killer dogma, while being supplied with money, weapons, and explosives to carry out their plans.

The accused are also charged with receiving military training at ISIS camps in Syria and Libya.

They were allegedly planning to target churches and Christians in a number of Egyptian governorates.

It is unclear if the members of the group are affiliated with ISIS-Egypt, who have carried out several attacks in Egypt recently.
According to investigations conducted by the Supreme State Security Prosecution, a leader of ISIS, codenamed "Nour", received a mandate from the leadership of the terrorist organization to establish a terrorist group in Egypt which targeted the country's ruler, armed and police forces, and Christians.

The leader established a group wtih two cells, trained them, and selected some members to prepare them to execute suicide kabooms.

In the second stage of the group’s history, they were detected communicating with each other using secure messaging services like Telegram, Line, etc.

The group members attended military trainings inside the country and abroad to raise their fighting capacity, as well as training them to manufacture and deploy improvised bombs and boom jackets in preparation for attacks in Egypt.

According to the statement, some of the defendants were trained in ISIS camps in Syria and Libya.

The 30 defendants were planning to target the Church of Saint Maximus & Domadius in Asafra in Alexandria, and the Church of the Virgin Mary and Saint Bishay in Damietta, as well as three other Christian houses of worship in Giza and Beheira governorates.

The investigations added that the group's members were ordered to carry out a suicide kaboom in a Copt-owned undertaker’s, where there would be Christan mourners gathered.

Ammunition, kaboom, and weaponry were also found in the possession of the accused.

It is unclear if the members of the group are affiliated with ISIS-Egypt, who have carried out several attacks in Egypt recently.

ISIS-Egypt most recently claimed an attack by a gunman on a Coptic church in Helwan, south of Cairo, which killed nine people in December 2017.

It was designated by the US as a terrorist group in February.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Africa Horn
US Military Says It Killed Two Al Shabaab Members In Fresh Airstrike
[RADIOSHABELLE] In coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, U.S. forces conducted an Arclight airstrike against al-Shabaab
... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
on the morning of March 19 near Mubarak, Somalia, killing two krazed killers, wounding three others, and destroying one vehicle.

U.S. forces will continue to use all authorized and appropriate measures to protect U.S. citizens and to disable terrorist threats.

This includes partnering with AMISOM and Somali National Security Forces (SNSF) in combined counterterrorism operations and targeting terrorists, their training camps, and their safe havens throughout Somalia and the region.

Together with other international partners, the United States is committed to providing Somalia, AMISOM, and SNSF with support in the fight against violent murderous Moslem organizations.

Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)

#1  US Military Says It Killed Two Al Shabaab Members In Fresh Airstrike

Those are way more deadly than stale airstrikes. When you care enough to send your best...
Posted by: Frank G || 03/22/2018 8:41 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Institute: Syria may have underground nuclear facility
[Ynet] US-based Institute for Science and International Security determines commercial satellite imagery can't be used to confirm 2015 Der Spiegel report of underground reactor or uranium enrichment facility, but notes 'some imagery observations are consistent with Der Spiegel’s reporting.'

Syria may have built an underground nuclear reactor, according to a report released Wednesday by the US-based Institute for Science and International Security.

The institute has decided to revisit a January 2015 report in the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel, according to which Syria has built an underground nuclear reactor or uranium enrichment facility.

The institute determined the report cannot be confirmed based on commercial satellite imagery.

"While (the facility) could hold nuclear or nuclear-related materials and equipment, it could also serve other military purposes. A nuclear reactor located fully underground is not impossible, but it poses a huge engineering challenge and would likely require secret, on-going assistance from North Korea," the institute concluded.

The institute noted, however, that "some imagery observations are consistent with Der Spiegel’s reporting."

The institute called on the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to hold an inspection at the facility, located in Qusayr.

"Although we fully understand the limitations and risks of the following approach, we believe that this site warrants inspection by the IAEA, even though accomplishing such inspections may have to wait until the Syrian conflict ends," the institute wrote in its report.

Commenting on Israel's decision to confirm it had destroyed the Syrian nuclear reactor in Al Kibar, the insitute said that "Israel's action serves to highlight once again the lack of accounting for Syria's past nuclear weapons program and the location of any assets remaining from that program. This includes possibly tens of metric tons of uranium fuel, and other equipment or materials associated with nuclear fuel fabrication and plutonium separation, that likely existed as key elements of the Al Kibar reactor project."

The Institute for Science and International Security also raised concerns over the North Korean involvement in the Al Kibar reactor, which has been exposed by Israel in previously classified cockpit footage, photographs and intelligence documents it released about the strike.

The institute also called on the United States and its allies to bring up Pyongyang's involvement in the Syrian nuclear program during the planned talks between US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
and North Korean leader Kim Pudge Jong-un
...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished...
"The United States and its negotiating partners must keep in mind that any negotiation should include the achievement of verifiable commitments by North Korea not to undertake nuclear, chemical, or biological proliferation and not to spread the means to deliver them. It should also include longer term commitments by North Korea to explain and resolve the nature and extent of its nuclear cooperation with Syria and any other countries," the institute wrote.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  would likely require secret, on-going assistance from North Korea,

No one else? Say Russia or China?
Posted by: AlanC || 03/22/2018 13:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Don't forget Iran.
Posted by: gorb || 03/22/2018 14:20 Comments || Top||

#3  I can't imagine they can keep the location secret, if there is one. Nor protect it from attack from Israel (or now, the US) - especially in the current chaotic environment. (It would be interesting to see if anyone has developed an idea I had for a deep-penetrating bomb...)
Posted by: Glenmore || 03/22/2018 16:21 Comments || Top||

#4  Iranian contingency facility, back-up plan against strikes in Iran? It doesn't seem reasonable that Syria could afford any active nuclear program considering all of the other things going on. It would make more sense to send their experts to a friendly nuclear power such as, hypothetically, North Korea as interns in the interim...
Posted by: magpie || 03/22/2018 16:56 Comments || Top||

#5  Maybe just Iraq WMD storage
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/22/2018 23:51 Comments || Top||


Iraq
FM: Iraq categorically rejects Turkish military action at north
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraq categorically rejects any Ottoman Turkish military action on its soil, Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said Wednesday, hours after reports said Iraq approved operations by Ankara against separatist Kurds in its north.

A statement by the foreign minister’s website said Jaafari, meeting with Deputy Ottoman Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Yildiz, stressed that "Iraq rejects any military action on its soil by any neighboring country".

He added that "while we are anxious to maintain the depth of Iraqi-Ottoman Turkish relations, we categorically reject any breach of the Iraqi borders by Ottoman Turkish forces".

Meeting with Iraqi Justice Minister Haider al-Zamili in Baghdad, on Tuesday, 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.

"The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire....
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.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq

#1  for at least 6 years now Turkey has been carrying out airstrikes on Iraq soil

a major attack was in April 2017 and Iraq didn't say 'boo' back then

hard to take al Jaafari seriously now
Posted by: lord garth || 03/22/2018 9:26 Comments || Top||

#2  hard to take al Jaafari seriously now

But he twirls his moustache and strokes his beard so nicely.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 03/22/2018 10:50 Comments || Top||


Four army personnel wounded in armed attack, south of Salahuddin
Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) Four Iraqi soldiers were maimed as button men launched an armed attack against al-Dolou’iya region, south of Salahuddin, a security source said.

"Four personnel of the Iraqi army were maimed as unidentified button men carried out an attack against al-Zor region in al-Dolou’iya, Salahuddin," the source told Baghdad Today website on Tuesday.

"Two of the injured were transferred to Balad public hospital," he added.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
US charges Iranian in $115 million sanctions evasion scheme
[IsraelTimes] Ali Sadr Hashemi Nejad facing 125 years in prison for funneling money from Tehran-linked businesses in Venezuela through American banks

An Iranian man has been tossed in the calaboose
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
on charges that he evaded US economic sanctions against Iran by sending more than $115 million from Venezuela through US banks.

Prosecutors said Tuesday that Ali Sadr Hashemi Nejad created front companies and foreign bank accounts to mask his dealings with Iranian businesses in Venezuela.

His lawyer did not immediately comment.

Prosecutors say Sadr’s money transfers to evade sanctions were made between April 2011 and November 2013. They say the money for a Venezuelan housing complex was illegally funneled through the US financial system to benefit Iranian individuals and entities.

The 38-year-old Sadr was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and violate sanctions, among other charges.

If convicted, Sadr could face a sentence of up to 125 years in prison.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran managed to foil US terrorist plot in Middle East: Fearless Leader
[PRESSTV] Fearless Leader of the Islamic Revolution
...Iran's doddering head theocrat...
Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei
...the successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the actual dictator of Iran...
says the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran has well managed to defuse a plot by the United States to spread terrorism and cause rifts in the Middle East region to avert attention from the Zionist regime of Israel.

"The United States created terrorist groups like ISIS in the region in a bid to distract public attention from the Zionist regime. The United States either does not want or cannot ensure security in the Middle East," the Leader said in an address to a huge gathering of pilgrims in the holy Iranian city of Mashhad on Wednesday on the first day of the Persian New Year.

Ayatollah Khamenei went on to say that Western countries have failed to establish security and stability in Afghanistan, stressing that Tehran has offered assistance to regional countries based on good faith.

The Leader pointed out that Iran has managed to cleanse many parts of the Middle East from the presence of terrorists.

"Iran has never sought to meddle in the internal affairs of other countries," he stated.

Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  "Iran has never sought to meddle in the internal affairs of other countries," he stated.

...And then his lips fell off.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 03/22/2018 4:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Actually, his pants burst into flames.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 03/22/2018 13:08 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Obama, Biden cronies made billions off China trade deals and regulatory policies
[FOXBUSINESS] Former President Barack Obama
I inhaled. That was the point...
used his executive powers to impose industry regulations that lowered the value of certain companies and led to financial gains for a firm owned by two close family friends, according to Breitbart editor-at-large Peter Schweizer.

The admissions were revealed in Schweizer’s new book, "Secret Empire," which found a pattern of investments in coal, offshore mining and for-profit universities that closely tracked the B.O. regime’s regulatory policy changes. Billionaire activists Tom Steyer and George Soros
...either Ernst Stavro Blofeld or Auric Goldfinger come true...
were among the beneficiaries.

"It’s the new wave of corruption in Washington, D.C.," Schweizer said during an interview with FOX Business’ Lou Dobbs Tuesday.

Schweizer said the Vistria Group, run by Obama’s best friend, Marty Nesbitt, drove the for-profit school University of Phoenix into the ground and then swooped in to buy it.

"They come in, they buy it for pennies on the dollar and low and behold, the B.O. regime says, ’You know what, we think we’re going to let GI money float again back to the University of Phoenix,’" he said.

Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Socialists all agree: Money is wonderful as long as they have all of it.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/22/2018 0:29 Comments || Top||

#2  There has been a festering statist entitlement attitude in D.C. that we will do whatever we damn please--like it or lump it. The "You have to pass it to read it" attitude. Too bad there isn't/wasn't such a thing as a class action impeachment suit.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/22/2018 8:52 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Flint MI stabbing suspect now facing federal terrorism charge
FLINT, MI - The 50-year-old man suspected of stabbing Officer Jeff Neville in June 2017 at Bishop International Airport in Flint is now charged with committing an international act of terror.

Amor M. Ftouhi
...the married father of three who worked and lived as a truck driver in Quebec before coming south to commit jihad, who is also listed in our archives as Amor Ftouhi...
a dual citizen of Canada and Tunisia, was charged in an indictment on Wednesday, March 21, with one count of committing an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries.

Ftouhi was previously indicted on one count of violence at an international airport and a charge of interference with airport security.

He faces the potential of a life sentence in prison.
This article starring:
Jeff Neville
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  A life sentence would be nice. We don't want him back here in Canuckistan. As for Tunisia? Who needs ya?
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 03/22/2018 18:18 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm sure the M. stand for Melvin.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 03/22/2018 21:09 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Kashmir gunfight leaves 10 Indian soldiers, suspected militants dead
[PRESSTV] A shootout has claimed the lives of five soldiers and five suspected Lions of Islam in the disputed region of Kashmire, police say.

The fighters on Wednesday attacked security troops carrying out a search operation in forests around Kupwara, 95 km (60 miles) north of the main city of Srinagar, said Shamsher Hussain, senior superintendent of police in Kupwara.

"They are all Paks and have probably infiltrated a few days ago," Hussain said, adding that the exchange of gunfire had stopped and the search operation was ongoing.

Tensions are high in the Indian-controlled region, where the Moslem-majority population stages regular protests against the Indian rule and demands autonomy from New Delhi.

India regularly accuses Pakistain of arming and training Lions of Islam and allowing them across the restive frontier in an attempt to launch attacks on Indian forces. Pakistain strongly denies the allegation.

Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistain Proxies


Africa Subsaharan
Nigeria: 11 Soldiers Feared Killed As Bandits Attack Nigerian Military Base
[All Africa] Eleven Nigerian soldiers are feared killed during an attack by armed bandidos on a Nigerian military detachment at Kamfanin Doka, along Funtua road in Birnin Gwari Local government Area of Kaduna State.

PREMIUM TIMES reliably gathered that the attack occurred on Tuesday night.

A former chairman of the local government who pleaded not to be identified because he has no authority to speak on it confirmed the incident.

He said three other soldiers and nine members of a vigilante group sustained gunshot injuries.

"The bandidos attacked the military based at Kamfanin Doka along Funtua road. 11 soldiers bit the dust while three sustained injuries," he said.

"The bandidos also ambushed our vigilantes at Maganga, about 44 kilometres from Birnin Gwari this morning (Wednesday) when they were rushing there to assist the soldiers. About nine sustained gun shot injuries. They were rushed to General Hospital Birnin Gwari for treatment," he said.

He explained that the attackers rode to the scene on cycle of violences at 10.05 p.m. ‎on Tuesday night to engage the soldiers in gun fights.

A religious scholar in the area also confirmed the attack to PREMIUM TIMES. He said many people were reported killed.

"The incident occurred at Maganga area in the night and the bandidos killed soldiers there and others sustained injuries," he said in a telephone interview.

Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram (ISIS)


Africa Horn
Somaliland Opens Trade Office In Dubai, To Support UAE Investment
[RADIOSHABELLE] Somaliland opened on Monday a trade office in Dubai as the country works to boost its trade ties with the UAE.

The trade office will offer import and expert advice to help Somaliland companies in the UAE and will support investment between the African country and the UAE.

’The UAE is our main trading partner in the region, and this is an important landmark in our relationship ‐ one that has been in the making for some time now,’ said Somaliland’s President Muse Behi Abdi, who was speaking at a presser to announce the new office.

’Dubai is the main transit hub for goods destined to Somaliland, and with many of our traders based out of the city, it serves as our principal financial center for trading with the rest of the world.’

The President added that the trade office will promote already-growing trade ties between the two countries. He said bilateral trade stands at around $300 million to $400 million (Dh1.1 billion to Dh1.47 billion).

Abdi is currently in Dubai on an official visit, on which he has been accompanied by various ministers from Somaliland, to discuss strengthening cooperation with the UAE.

Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Acceptable Bigotry and Scapegoating of Russia
[ConsortiumNews] Over the last year and a half, Americans have been bombarded with the Gish Gallop claims of Russiagate. In that time, the most reckless comments have been made against the Russians in service of using that country as a scapegoat for problems in the United States that were coming to a head, which were the real reasons for Donald Trump’s upset victory in 2016. It has even gotten to the point where irrational hatred against Russia is becoming normalized, with the usual organizations that like to warn of the pernicious consequences of bigotry silent.

The first time I realized how low things would likely get was when Ruth Marcus, deputy editor of the Washington Post, sent out the following tweet in March of 2017, squealing with delight at the thought of a new Cold War with the world’s other nuclear superpower: "So excited to be watching The Americans, throwback to a simpler time when everyone considered Russia the enemy. Even the president."

Not only did Marcus’s comment imply that it was great for the U.S. to have an enemy, but it specifically implied that there was something particularly great about that enemy being Russia.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Tholing Crons2767 || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The antipathy to Putin is based upon his foreign policy which is the source of much evil in the world today, his brutality, and transparent lies.
support of the disgusting Syrian regime, alliance with Iran, and with North Korea, invasion of Ukraine. That there are some happy people in Russia today is undoubtedly true, and there are some happy people in North Korea, and Cuba and Venezuela too; but not so many.
It makes sense to try to influence Putin to reform, but he seems like a hopeless case.
I imagine that he worries about the moslem majority that his country will face in the not distant future, or that some of his thugs, if discontented might give him a dose of one of his nice poisons.

Maybe he espouses evil and behaves personally like a child because he is suffused with guilt for his abominable behavior. God rest his soul.
Posted by: Daniel || 03/22/2018 1:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Devil we know. Those wishing for a new strongman every 4-6-8 years really haven't thought through what they are asking for. And, for sure, I don't like Putin either. He's the symptom, not the disease. We probably can't treat palliatively let alone cure, so the choices are management or self-euthanasia. I vote for management.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/22/2018 1:15 Comments || Top||

#3  The antipathy to Putin is based upon his foreign policy which is the source of much evil in the world today

You know he wouldn't be in power today if Bill could keep his pants zipped on Kosovo?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/22/2018 2:37 Comments || Top||

#4  Interesting comment, grom. Can you please expound?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 03/22/2018 11:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Putin's foreign policy seems to be doing a lot less harm than the CIAs...
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 03/22/2018 13:02 Comments || Top||

#6  Another reason to make them the evil ones.
Posted by: Bobby || 03/22/2018 13:21 Comments || Top||

#7  It triggered the Russian paranoia*, Abu. The assistance to Chechen "freedom fighters" didn't help either. Nor all these NATO bases in Eastern Europe.

*Read some Russian history - the only time they weren't invaded at least once per generation was WWII to collapse of Sov U.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/22/2018 14:45 Comments || Top||

#8  Here's some poetic insight, Abu
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/22/2018 14:56 Comments || Top||

#9  g(r)om: Dude! Good choice. One of my all time favourites. I thought I was the only poetry lover around these parts.
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 03/22/2018 18:30 Comments || Top||

#10  And Russia has military in how many countries? Just wondering....
Posted by: DooDahMan || 03/22/2018 23:50 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Mosul clearance continues: 9 turbans bound, 4 cops not murdered Tiesday

Iraqi military denies murder of four police conscripts on Mosul-Baghdad road

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The Iraqi security media center has denied news about murder of four police personnel on Mosul-Baghdad road.

In a statement on Wednesday, the center said “news circulated on social media over murder of four police conscripts on Mosul-Baghdad road is untrue.”

“The news were attributed to Nineveh Police Command, Brig. Gen. Hamad Namis al-Jabouri,” the statement added.

The center urged “taking the news from official sources and not fabricating news.” It also warned that “legal measures would be taken against those who promote for fabricated or false news.”

On Tuesday, news reports said four policemen, including an officer, were killed in an attack launched by Islamic State members, south of Mosul. Security troops invaded al-Shura region, 20 kilometers south of Mosul, in the wake of attack.

Nine Islamic State member arrested in operation, west of Mosul: Commander

Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Nine Islamic State members were arrested in an operation, west of Mosul, Nineveh Operations Command announced on Wednesday.

In a statement, Maj. Gen. Hamad Names al-Jabouri, commander of Nineveh Operations, said “the Rapid Response Forces carried out an operation in several districts in the western side of Mosul, arresting nine IS members.”
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Iraq: bodies of 157 Speicher massacre victims found in 20 days
Tikrit (IraqiNews.com) The bodies of 157 Iraqi cadets massacred 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....
Lions of Islam in 2014 have been discovered over the past 20 days, a committee observing the exhumations said on Wednesday.

The Committee to Commemorate the Tikrit Massacre said 157 bodies were found at a burial place at the presidential palaces complex in Tikrit, Salahuddin province, over the past 20 days.

According to the committee, this brings the total number of corpses found up to 1150, out of 1935 victims.

The massacre occurred at the Speicher air base in Tikrit, the capital of Salahuddin, when Islamic State Lions of Islam executed 1700 Shia students at the air force. The victims were either shot at or beheaded before their corpses were dumped into the Tigris River, which cuts through Tikrit. The incident was one instance among many that ignited public discontent with the performance of former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Last June, Iraq sentenced 32 defendants to death for involvement in the massacre.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  May their families be Comforted and may their murderers see Justice.
Posted by: Adriane || 03/22/2018 12:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Which is why you don't leave those associated with ISIS alive. It may take some extra time and lives to root them out, but these people are broken and you can't risk having them around.
Posted by: gorb || 03/22/2018 14:19 Comments || Top||


Kirkuk combat chronicle: police clash with turbans, get kidnapped, turbans claim killed two families Tuesday

10 police personnel likely to be abducted during clashes against IS, south of Kirkuk: Source

Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) Fierce confrontations occurred between Islamic State members and Federal Police troops, south of Kirkuk province, an informed security source from the province said on Wednesday.

Speaking to Shafaq News, the source said IS members attacked, early today, Federal Police forces in al-Zarka village, at the outskirts of Tuz Khurmatu, adding that the confrontations left casualties on both sides.

Moreover, the source said that around 10 police personnel disappeared during the clashes, indicating that they could have been captivated by the militant group.

Islamic State claims responsibility for murdering 21 people in attack, south of Kirkuk

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State members have claimed responsibility for the attack that took place on Tuesday evening on Daquq-Tuz Khurmatu road.

Pro-IS websites posted a statement by the militant group at which it claimed responsibility for the attack, which left two families killed.

Twenty one people, including children, were killed and injured in an attack that targeted two families, south of Kirkuk.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Afrin a wake-up call for Syria’s Kurds
[ARABNEWS] It was no coincidence that Ottoman Turkish troops hoisted their country’s flag on top of the Afrin city hall on March 18, as that date was the anniversary of a key Ottoman victory against Allied troops in Gallipoli in 1915. Although the timing is hardly a surprise, it goes to show how prevalent nationalism (and some might say ultra-nationalism) has become among the Ottoman Turkish ruling elite, both politically and militarily.

Pro-Ottoman Turkish Syrian gangs proceeded to pillage Afrin after its occupation. The city’s defenders, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), withdrew from the area after 58 days of fighting. Now the YPG and its political wing, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), must reevaluate their position in light of what has unfolded in Afrin. Since they are the dominant political force in the Kurdish-populated areas of northern Syria, their political calculations are crucial to the fate of Syria’s Kurds.

The PYD leadership should realize that international and regional powers will not accept a change in the established political borders of the Middle East, with the independence referendum fiasco in Iraqi Kurdistan last year decisive proof of this. For almost three decades, diplomacy was a lifeline for Iraqi Kurdistan’s leaders, as they enjoyed a special relationship with the United States. Unlike the areas now under Kurdish control in Syria, they were not dominated by forces linked or close to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). This has allowed Iraqi Kurds to enjoy political relations with The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  The elephant in the room that is totally ignored in this article is Islamic expansionism. Erdogan has a mission to expand Islamic domination first and Turk expansionism as a close second, by any means necessary cancel's out Turkey's influence against Russia. Especially when Russia cooperated with the invasion of Afrin.

If the four Kurdish regions (Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran) can ever get their act together as one cohesive front with the goal of statehood by any means necessary, then they will have the resources to be able to defend themselves.
Posted by: Ulaigum Ebbineng7056 || 03/22/2018 0:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Pisslam is cancer, it requires the scalpel, chemo and radiation to be eradicated. Unpleasant, for sure, but a choice that must be made before it's too late.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/22/2018 0:53 Comments || Top||

#3  If the four Kurdish regions (Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran) can ever get their act together

It would be the first time in the entire recorded history.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/22/2018 2:39 Comments || Top||

#4  Invading and hoisting a flag in a foreign country is not nationalism..

It's expansionism.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 03/22/2018 13:00 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
BJP lawmaker: India should have annexed Bangladesh
[Dhaka Tribune] A India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politician from Hojai, a district in the Indian state of Assam, Shiladitya Dev courted controversy yet again, calling the creation of Bangladesh a "great mistake" because of which Assam has been facing "Moslem influx" for decades and suggesting that India should have annexed the country after the 1971 liberation war, Times of India reported.

"Even as the erstwhile East Pakistain was liberated, a mistake committed by Indira Gandhi (then prime minister) and the then Congress government was not merging the newly-created Bangladesh with India. In fact, creation of Bangladesh was itself a great mistake. But that mistake could have been offset had Bangladesh been made a part of India," Dev told a local news channel in Assam on Monday.

When contacted by Times of India, Dev stood by his statements. Attributing the "change" in the state’s demographic profile to the "migration" of Moslems from the neighbouring country, Dev said such a situation would not have arisen had Bangladesh never been created.

On January 3, a Moslem organization in Assam lodged a report against Shiladitya Dev for saying the first draft of the state’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) contains the names of many illegal migrants colonists from Bangladesh.
Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
Boko Haram returns Nigerian kidnapped schoolgirls ‘out of pity’
[AlArabiya] Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
bully boyz returned most of the 110 girls kidnapped from their Nigeria boarding school a month ago with an ominous warning, witnesses said Wednesday.

The fighters rolled into Dapchi around 2 a.m. in nine vehicles and the girls were left in the center of town. As terrified residents emerged from their homes, the bully boyz said "this is a warning to you all," resident Ba’ana Musa told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named.

"We did it out of pity. And don’t ever put your daughters in school again," the bully boyz said. Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden" in the Hausa language.

Nigeria’s information minister said 76 of the 110 schoolgirls had been confirmed freed. The fate of the remaining 34 schoolgirls was not clear.

Ransom
It was not known whether a ransom had been paid or Boko Haram fighters had been released in exchange for the girls’ freedom. Family members were en route to the town Wednesday morning.

"When I get there we will do a head count to see if all of them have been released," said Bashir Manzo, whose 16-year-old daughter was among those kidnapped during the Feb. 19 attack.

Manzo confirmed that his daughter was among those freed. "As I speak to you there is jubilation in Dapchi," he said.

The mass abduction and the government response brought back painful memories of the 2014 attack on a boarding school in Chibok. Boko Haram Death Eaters kidnapped 276 girls, and about 100 of them have never returned. Some girls were forced to marry their captors, and many had children fathered by the bad boys.

Girls assembled
Residents in Dapchi fled on Wednesday morning upon hearing that Boko Haram vehicles were headed toward the town. "We fled but, from our hiding, we could see them and surprisingly, we saw our girls getting out of the vehicles," Umar Hassan told the AP.

"They assembled the girls and talked to them for some few minutes and left without any confrontation," said another resident, Kachallah Musa.

Their release comes a day after an Amnesia Amnesty International report accused the Nigerian military of failing to heed several warnings of the imminent attack last month. The military has called the report an "outright falsehood."

Nigeria’s government celebrated the girls’ release. "GREAT NEWS from Dapchi, Yobe State. Thank God for the safe return of our sisters. Alhamdulillah!" an aide to President Muhammadu Buhari, Bashir Ahmad, said on Twitter.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram (ISIS)


Arabia
Yemeni forces target Saudi F-15 fighter jet over Sa’ada
[PRESSTV] Yemeni air defense forces, backed by fighters from allied Popular Committees, have reportedly intercepted and shot down an F-15 fighter jet belonging to the Royal Saudi Air Force.

An unnamed Yemeni military source told Arabic-language al-Masirah television network that the aircraft was targeted with a surface-to-air missile as it was flying in the skies over the northwestern Yemeni province of Sa’ada on Wednesday.

The jet had purportedly taken part in Arclight airstrikes against residential neighborhoods in the province.

Earlier in the day, Saudi fighter jets targeted a vehicle as it was travelling along a road in the Nihm district of Yemen’s west-central province of Sana'a.

Separately, a civilian sustained injuries when a cluster bomb went off in the Maran area of Ḥaydan district in Sa’ada Province.

Cluster munitions, which are banned by more than 100 countries, present an enormous danger to civilians.
Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  Sing it again, Sanaa Sam
Posted by: Maggie Elmereper2424 || 03/22/2018 8:09 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Major diplomatic game afoot as Korean war games will be shorter than last year
[ATimes] Military drills shortened
Details of this year’s drills were announced in Washington late on Monday evening, and on Tuesday in Seoul, agencies in both capitals reported. Although the two allies said they would be “similar in scale” to last year’s war games, they will be shorter in duration.

Frenzied diplomatic game
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho held three days of high-level meetings in Sweden last week. “The foreign ministers discussed opportunities and challenges for continued diplomatic efforts to reach a peaceful solution to the conflict as well as bilateral relations,” the Swedish Foreign Ministry said after talks wrapped up, according to Reuters. Stockholm has been tight-lipped on the content of the meetings, but Sweden, which maintains a large embassy in Pyongyang, has traditionally acted as a proxy for US diplomatic interests in North Korea.

Meanwhile, CNN reports that Sweden is helping to negotiate the release of three US citizens currently being held in North Korean prisons.

So-called “1.5 Track” meetings – an unusual channel in which American academics, Korea watchers and retired diplomats meet with serving North Korean diplomats behind closed doors – will take place in Finland this week. Leading the North Korean delegation is North Korea’s point man for US affairs, Choe Kang-il, and South Korean officials will also be present at the meeting, AP reported.

US National Security Adviser H R McMaster met his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in San Francisco for talks over the weekend on denuclearization, South Korea announced said in a statement. Topics discussed included both the inter-Korean and North Korea-US summits.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-Hwa has a particularly full dance card. Following a lightning trip to the United States from March 15-17, when she met officials from Congress, the State Department and media, she has gone to Brussels for European Union ministerial meetings to discuss cooperation on the North Korean nuclear issue. She also met the NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and the EU Council.
Posted by: 3dc || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  The shortest possible war game.
"Press the Red, repeat Red, button."
"Red button is pressed, General!"
WHOOSH!
BOOM!
"Men, this concludes the war games. Well done. The rest is up to the diplomats."
Posted by: Grunter || 03/22/2018 14:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Grunter, you forgot the "FLASH!" part.
Posted by: gorb || 03/22/2018 23:05 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Florida Man Allegedly Shouts ‘Allah Akbar,’ Shoots Wife, Knifes Children, Sets House On Fire
[DAILYCALLER] A Florida man allegedly shouted "Allah Akbar" repeatedly as police incarcerated
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
him for shooting his wife, stabbing his two children, and setting his house ablaze.

Police arrested Ronnie Oneal, who identifies as a member of The Nation of Islam, at the house of his partner Kenyatta Barron, in Riverview, Fla., in response to a 911 call from Barron claiming that she had been shot, according to Tampa Bay Times.

Officers found Barron dying of a gunshot wound in the front yard of a neighboring house. Firefighters were responding to a fire set in Barron’s house and found Barron and Oneal’s 9-year-old son, Ronnie Oneal IV, alive but suffering from burns and stab wounds and the couple’s 11-year-old daughter dead from stab wounds.

"I was shocked," said Walter Ballard, a friend of Oneal who had seen him three days prior, according to Tampa Bay Times. "That’s the only thing that went through my mind: How could he do something like this?"

The dispatcher who answered Barron’s call allegedly said she could hear a male yelling "Allah Akbar" in the background, according to Fox13. Minutes after Barron’s call, Oneal called police, saying, "I’ve just been attacked by some white demons. Her name is Ke-Ke and she tried to kill me and I just killed her."

Police tried to help Barron where she lay, but soon forced their way into Barron’s home when they noticed the fire. Oneal walked out toward officers through the garage. Officers tasered Oneal and incapacitated him after he refused to comply with their orders to get on the ground.
Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I had a beer with Florida Man last night. He seemed to be in good humor. Must have got pissed off on the way home.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/22/2018 1:34 Comments || Top||

#2  "I was shocked," said Walter Ballard, a friend of Oneal who had seen him three days prior, according to Tampa Bay Times. "That’s the only thing that went through my mind: How could he do something like this?"

How? It's real simple: a) he's a Muzzie, and b) he's crazier'n a shithouse rat.
Posted by: Dave D. || 03/22/2018 10:39 Comments || Top||

#3  The ballad of Ronnie Oneal,
A paddy, well, mad... but genteel:
He'll riddle his honey
And griddle poor sonny,
But seldom, inshallah, will squeal.

Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 03/22/2018 11:12 Comments || Top||

#4  No Paddy, according to the photo at Heavy.com, which also adds this tidbit:

Oneal’s record with the Hillsborough County Sheriff includes a 2009 driving with a suspended license, and two misdemeanor pot possession charges, one in 2008 another in 2009. In 2007, he was charged with “conspiracy to traffic in cocaine.”
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/22/2018 12:39 Comments || Top||

#5  Her name is Ke-Ke and she tried to kill me and I just killed her

I'm sure you'll be feeling better soon and they'll let you out of jail.
Posted by: gorb || 03/22/2018 14:39 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Peru’s president faces fresh scandal before impeachment
[PRESSTV] Peru’s president faced growing calls to resign on Wednesday after secret video recordings ensnared him in vote-buying allegations on the eve of an impeachment vote, deepening a political crisis in one of Latin America’s most stable economies.

Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, who spent most of the morning in an emergency Cabinet meeting, was due to deliver a message to the nation later on Wednesday.

As of Tuesday night he was not planning to resign and still had hopes of surviving a vote in the opposition-ruled Congress on Thursday that would force him immediately from office, according to a government source who asked not to be named.

But it was unclear where the center-right president, who has been in office for 20 months, would garner support. Even ruling party politicians, including those who until a day before had been Kuczynski’s staunchest defenders, said they would vote to oust him if he does not step down.

Peruvian police put officers across the nation of about 30 million people on maximum alert, according to an Interior Ministry document seen by Rooters.

Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
40 tons of chemical weapons left by militants found in Syria -- Russian MoD
[RT] Chemical weapon production facilities have been discovered in the areas liberated from militants in Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry says.

More than 40 tons of chemical weapons were abandoned by retreating militants in the war-ravaged country, the ministry said on Wednesday. “The Syrian Foreign Ministry pointed out that more than 40 tons of poisonous substances were found on the territories, liberated from terrorists,” Igor Kirillov, the commander of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Forces, said on Wednesday.
How many aircraft did they find?
The official was speaking at a press conference in Moscow concerning the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal. London and some of its Western allies blame the incident on Moscow, saying it has used a Russian-made nerve agent.

Kirillov said the West won’t back off and is prepared to use any means necessary to discredit Russia. The official recalled the example of Syria’s Khan Shaykhun.

The commander also criticized the international bodies for their refusal to work with Damascus in investigating the alleged chemical attacks in the country.

In late February, the Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria said it had obtained information that militants in the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta had been “preparing a provocation with the use of poisonous substances in order to blame the government forces of using chemical weapons against civilians.”

Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Of course the Russians found them -- they knew where it was all stored. They helped move them out of Iraq into Syria ahead of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 03/22/2018 6:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Jeez, Rob. Way to go blowing the Russian cover story off the whole Syrian 'experience'.

Often wondered if this wasn't the main reason the Russkies got involved (with both pro and anti-government entities) so early, basically to cover their circa 2002/3 tracks. They knew that eventually the real evidence would be uncovered.

Now they have scapegoats.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 03/22/2018 10:48 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russian parliament rejects cohabitation bill
[RT] State Duma representatives have rejected a proposal to legally equate five years of cohabitation with registered marriage, citing technical problems with the draft legislation as the reason for the rejection.

"The proposed characteristics of the de-facto marriage relations are vague and it is not clear from the text of the draft who should decide on the moment when such relations start and how they will do it," reads an assessment of the bill, released by a lower house committee.

The representatives also stated that the bill lacked a satisfactory description of a cohabitation agreement, which would legislate for property co-owned by the couple and its division in the case of separation.

The legislation, proposing to give partners the same rights as spouses after five years of cohabitation (or two years if the couple has a child) was submitted to the State Duma in January by an MP of center-left party Fair Russia. The sponsor claimed that Russian citizens see no difference between registered and unregistered unions, but ‐ from a legal standpoint ‐ cohabitation is not recognized.

The main implications concern the division of property in the case of separation or death of a partner, with one of the partners entitled to half of any jointly accrued assets.

From its introduction, the proposal caused heated objections from conservative politicians. They said that couples should be encouraged to make their relationships official and that marriage is a voluntary step, which any couple could undertake if they wished to do so.

Senator Elena Mizulina (who is a member of the parliamentary majority party United Russia) even called the initiative "unpatriotic," and blasted it as a subversive attack on the institution of marriage.

A poll conducted by the state-run public opinion research center VTSIOM showed that 38 percent of Russians supported legislative moves to provide for equality of cohabitation and marriage, while 50 percent of respondents opposed the move.
Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  See - common law marriage.

Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/22/2018 8:20 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Headline o' the Week: Man dies after his head gets stuck in ‘luxury’ cinema seat in Birmingham
[RT] A man has died after his head got horrifically trapped in an electric chair at the Vue cinema in Birmingham. It is understood the man’s head was crushed as he attempted to rescue his phone from the ground.
"My phone!... Argh! My head!... Aaaiiieee! I am undone!"
The cinemagoer got trapped on March 9 after an electric footrest clamped down on his head. The victim was sitting in the cinema’s "luxury" Gold Class seats.
"Two tickets, please."
"You want the good seats?"
"We'll pass. Economy class is good."

After his partner and staff at the cinema struggled to release him he was eventually freed and taken to hospital. Vue Cinema confirmed on Tuesday that the man passed away last Friday. Birmingham City Council has begun a health and safety investigation.
"Health and safety inspector!"
"Whaddya lookin' for?"
"Skull crushers! Don't go showin' me no cheap seats!"
Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It happens to the best of us.
Posted by: gorb || 03/22/2018 23:04 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russia says UK may be behind ex-spy chemical attack
[PRESSTV] Russia says Britannia may have been behind the poisoning of a former double agent and his daughter, deepening the diplomatic crisis between London and Moscow.

London is hiding facts and could destroy key evidence in the nerve agent attack, Vladimir Yermakov, head of the Russian foreign ministry's non-proliferation department, said Wednesday at a presser in Moscow.

Speaking at a remarkable briefing given for all foreign ambassadors in Russia, Ermakov said that "either the British authorities are unable to protect from a terrorist attack on its territory or staged the attack themselves."

The British and the US ambassadors refused to attend the meeting and sent lower-level diplomats, instead.

On March 7, British authorities announced that Sergei Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter, Yulia, had been hospitalized after being found unconscious on a bench outside a shopping center in Salisbury.

British police attributed the critical illness of the two to a nerve agent developed by the former Soviet Union, and the British premier accused Moscow of being responsible.

Last week, UK Prime Minister Theresa May ordered the expulsion of Russian diplomats, claiming that it was "highly likely" that Russian government was involved in Skripal's poisoning.

Russia subsequently ordered the expulsion of 23 British diplomats in retaliation.

Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  YOU SO FUNNY!
Posted by: newc || 03/22/2018 1:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe the UK but I can't recall the UK having a history of using chemicals in such attacks. One might check with Steele. But then again this comes from the Iranian press, a current ally of Russia in Syria.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/22/2018 10:31 Comments || Top||

#3  Killing off a source from the dossier?
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 03/22/2018 13:07 Comments || Top||

#4  "Ve use ricin umbrellas!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/22/2018 14:52 Comments || Top||

#5  It is Britain.

And "YOU SO FUNNY" has already been taken.

So I rely upon the Department of Funny Walks. Should put a cold chill up Putin's back. And 23 Brits get to come home to beans for brekky.
.
Posted by: OregonGuy || 03/22/2018 22:10 Comments || Top||


Europe
Kosovo opposition fires teargas in parliament to stop vote on border deal
[PRESSTV] Kosovo's opposition has fired teargas during a parliament session to disrupt a vote on a border agreement with Montenegro.

Lawmakers of the opposition party Vetevendosje, which translates as the Self-Determination Movement party, used teargas canisters in the hall where the vote on the 2015 demarcation deal was due to start on Wednesday. Deputies had to be evacuated from the Assembly building.

The European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
conditioned Kosovo’s possible accession to the European visa-free travel zone known as Schengen on accepting a border demarcation agreement with Montenegro and improved ties with Serbia, the country which has yet to recognize Kosovo, a former territory, as an independent state.

Montenegro recognizes Kosovo’s 2008 independence and accepts the demarcation agreement. However,
you can observe a lot just by watching...
opposition parties in Kosovo have rejected the 2015 deal, saying its ratification would result in Kosovo losing territory. International experts have dismissed the notion.

The opposition party has used teargas and similar tactics in the 120-seat parliament to prevent the ratification of the agreement in the past three years.

Opposition politician Albulena Haxhiu said on Wednesday they were determined to stop the parliament passing the agreement.

Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Moslem "Immigrants" made all this BS happen.
Posted by: newc || 03/22/2018 1:14 Comments || Top||

#2  They are still "benefitting" from Billy Jeff and the EU's "help..."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/22/2018 1:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Hmm.. Teargas, Parliament, teargas, Congress...as someone once said "no man's life, property or sanity is safe when the Legislature is in session.." or should have, at any rate.
Posted by: Maggie Elmereper2424 || 03/22/2018 8:16 Comments || Top||

#4  I believe that was Will Rogers.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 03/22/2018 12:44 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
When History Turns On You
[DrawAndStrike] Understanding The Pathological Progressive Hatred In The Era Of Trump
BLUF:
Understand, in the progressive mind, any use of the government that doesn't enforce a progressive goal is by nature either useless or illegitimate. To these fanatics, bureaucrats forcing Americans to live like Progressives wanted was fine. After all, that's what government is FOR, you hicks.

So Lefty fanatics having to watch that selfsame federal government suddenly being used *against* the Progressive agenda reduces them to a mouth-foaming frenzy.

We have hurt them deep into their souls by doing this, you know. In case you're wondering why they take this so personally. For the Progressive fanatics, this is war. They are not being hyperbolic. They honestly and truly hate you. With a red hot passion. Just by using Trump to try to put the federal government in a posture where it'll leave you the hell alone to live your life how you want to live it.

So as you watch the histrionics unfold in the coming years as these Progressive fanatics get more & more insane, just remember this:

It's really upsetting to the snowflakes when they discover History really wasn't on their side after all.
Posted by: eltoroverde || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I dunno. It seems the right's response to success is to ease up. The left always doubles down. Next time the left is in charge, I'll be keeping my head down.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/22/2018 0:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Our Armed Americans outnumber Our Military Fifty to One. But they would never violate their Oath to GOD, would they?
HE has not to them.
Posted by: newc || 03/22/2018 1:36 Comments || Top||

#3  And really, I think the number of US military personnel who would actually shoot at fellow Americans is at an all time low. And it was a low, low number to begin with.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/22/2018 1:43 Comments || Top||

#4  That's why every three letter agency has it's own armed forces, MM.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/22/2018 2:38 Comments || Top||

#5  And every three letter agency failed because the more they tried to hide it, the more they were found out with blues clues and cracker bear or Whom ever and there is nothing left to hide.

The JIG is up.
Posted by: newc || 03/22/2018 2:59 Comments || Top||

#6  They may have lost elections (IL an exception, where the voters this week gave the Progs a two-headed coin, but I digress.), but they have not lost Government. Yet.

Mr. Trump spends a fair amount of time swimming in molasses. This must stop.
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 03/22/2018 8:21 Comments || Top||

#7  VRWC, they certainly have not lost gov't.

Between the deep state and the left wing permanent bureaucracy there is a long way to go. That is the molasses Trump is trying to slog through.
Posted by: AlanC || 03/22/2018 8:49 Comments || Top||

#8  I dunno. It seems like it a part of their DNA. I read this a.m. that Hillary was the same rude, crude bytch back in 1969 when she got testy with the commencement speaker at her graduation.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/22/2018 8:56 Comments || Top||

#9  History really wasn't on their side after all

Winners write history
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/22/2018 16:30 Comments || Top||

#10  Remember the "Bonus Army" and the way the military dealt with them?
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 03/22/2018 18:33 Comments || Top||

#11  good point CS
Posted by: Frank G || 03/22/2018 21:51 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
N Korea says diplomatic overtures signal its strength, not sanctions
[PRESSTV] In its first comment on a fast paced rapprochement on the Korean Peninsula, Pyongyang has dismissed speculation that tough sanctions brought North Korea to the negotiating table with the US and the South, stressing that the North is now driving a "peace offensive."

In a commentary published late Tuesday, North Korea’s state-run KNCA news agency highlighted the "dramatic atmosphere for reconciliation" with Seoul and "a sign of change" with Washington, without referring to its summits with the two sides, which are being planned.

It said Pyongyang’s overtures came from a position of strength, not from weakness.

"The dialog peace offensive of the DPRK is an expression of self-confidence as it has acquired everything it desires," the commentary said, using the acronym for the country’s official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The piece, however, rejected suggestions that the harsh sanctions imposed on Pyongyang over its military program had forced the North to contemplate joining negotiations, slamming hawks in Washington and Seoul for alleging that the North had an ulterior motive.

"Such rubbish as ’result of sanctions and pressure’...spread by hostile forces is just as meaningless as a dog barking at the moon," it said, urging "prudence" for all parties involved.

Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  It said Pyongyang’s overtures came from a position of strength, not from weakness.

And black is white.
Posted by: gorb || 03/22/2018 14:40 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Troops Within Somali National Army Clash In Mogadishu
[RADIOSHABELLE] The UAE trained Somali Soldiers engaged in a heavy shootout with National Intelligence and Security Agency [NISA] forces in a busy junction in Mogadishu on Wednesday morning.

The fighting broke out between two armed soldiers in the busy intersection in nearby villages in Hodan district, causing an unspecified number of casualties on both sides.

The motive of the shootout is yet unknown as the Police confirmed that those involved were government security forces from different units from NISA and UAE trained forces.

Armed festivities within Somali government forces in major towns like Mogadishu is common and unfortunately may result in civilian casualties.

Last year, the commanders of the security forces issued instructions for the military units to vacate camps in the capital city but that orders did not come into effect yet.

Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Maldives ex-President-for-Life Gayoom charged with terrorism
[Dhaka Tribune] Maldivian authorities have charged former strongman Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and several senior judges with "terrorism" for attempting to topple President Abdulla Yameen, the government said Wednesday.

Eighty-year-old Gayoom and ten others, including the sacked chief justice Abdulla Saeed, were charged under state of emergency laws imposed in the paradise tourist island last month.

Yameen declared the draconian laws in February in a bid to prevent himself from being impeached by the national parliament after he lost his majority following a Supreme Court ruling.

The Prosecutor General’s office said Wednesday that Gayoom, who ruled the country for 30 straight years until 2008, had been charged with attempting an "act of terrorism and obstruction of justice."

Gayoom’s politician son Faris Maumoon and son-in-law were also charged, along with another judge.

The 11 are accused of trying to topple Yameen who came to power following a controversial election run-off in November 2013 when he narrowly defeated former president Mohammed Nasheed.

Yameen declared the emergency on February 5, curtailing the powers of the judiciary and the legislature, after the country’s Supreme Court ruled to quash criminal convictions against high profile opposition politicians.

The ruling would have allowed Nasheed, who lives in exile in London, to return to the archipelago and challenge Yameen for the presidency.

Yameen refused to carry out the court order and instead incarcerated
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
the chief justice and another Supreme Court judge.

The remaining judges revoked the earlier decision to release the MPs while Yameen also stripped parliament of its power to impeach him.

He has resisted international calls to end the state of emergency, release all political prisoners and restore the rule of law.

The crackdown has dented the nation’s image as a popular tourist destination.
Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Shouldn't muzz anything and a word with "gay" in it in the same sentence cause the 12th imam to drown in his well?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/22/2018 0:17 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Nigeria: Militants Give Govt 4-Week Ultimatum to Reinstate Boroh
[All Africa] A coalition of nine bad boy groups in the Niger Delta, under the aegis of Reformed Niger Delta Avengers, has given President Muhammadu Buhari four-week ultimatum to reinstate sacked Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh (retd).

They threatened to resume fresh attacks on oil facilities across the region if Mr. President failed to reinstate the former Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta on the expiration of the ultimatum.

Leader, RNDA, 'General' Johnmark Ezonbi, who handed the threat, yesterday in a statement after an enlarged meeting of the bad boy groups in the creek of Bayelsa State, said it was obvious that the Federal Government was toying with the destiny of the Niger Delta region.

They alleged that nothing tangible had been recorded since the coming of the current All Progressives Congress-led government at the centre.

Ezonbi said, "I want to warn that any intruder into our planned action in four weeks' time if the Federal Government fails to reinstate Gen. Paul Boroh will be severely dealt with without mercy. Our attack will make security agencies in the creek very small.

"We are fully ready to take on anybody as we have the instrumentality of warfare that will make the biggest military might to marvel at our coordinated attacks.

"We are ready to dirty our rivers and creeks with our oil, it is better we spill it than allow government use it to develop other parts of the country.

"We are not unmindful of the roles played by self-styled leaders of the All Progressives Congress in the South-South region by sponsoring falsehood against the person and office of Boroh for his blunt refusal to grease their palms to the detriment of the Amnesty Programme meant strictly for ex-Lions of Islam and agitators.

"We have always known those leaders to be anti-Niger Delta since the coming on board of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC government as the latter kicked against the establishment of the Nigerian Maritime University, Okerenkoko."
Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: MEND


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Jordan jails two for planning Daesh embassy attacks
[ARABNEWS] Two Jordanians were Wednesday sentenced to 10 years in jail with hard labor for planning attacks on the Amman embassies of Russia, Iran and Israel.

Jordan’s state security court convicted the two men for having manufactured explosives and plotting attacks on behalf of "a terrorist group."

In the charge sheet seen by AFP, the two were accused of belonging to the ISIS group and of planning to carry out kabooms in 2016 on the Russian, Iranian and Israeli embassies in Amman.

They were tossed in the slammer
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
in March 2016.

A suicide kaboom in June of that year claimed by ISIS near a border post with war-torn Syria killed seven Jordanian soldiers.

Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Hamas names suspect in bomb attack on prime minister
[ARABNEWS] Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", on Wednesday named a runaway suspect in a kaboom on Paleostinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah, two days after the movement itself was accused of the Gazoo attack.

Hamdallah was unhurt by the roadside blast that struck his convoy on March 13, in what Paleostinian officials have called an liquidation attempt as he entered the Hamas-run strip on a rare visit.

The interior ministry in Gazoo on Wednesday said it was searching for Anas abu Koussa, born in 1993, describing him as the lead suspect.

It did not give a possible motive for the attack on Hamdallah, head of government in president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
’s Paleostinian Authority.

A Hamas security source said Sherlocks had placed in durance vile
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
and were questioning three people, including two members of the PA-run intelligence services.

Another security source said he believed radical Salafist Moslems had planted the bomb, which lightly injured six people.
Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Literally No Evidence Russia Is Behind the Sergej Skripal Poisoning
[JohnLaurits] By now, all of you are supposed to firmly believe that Russia (or maybe even Putin himself!) is responsible for the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal with a nerve-agent known as novichok on Sunday, the 4th of March. The fact that no evidence exists to support this belief does not seem to concern the BBC, the Guardian, the Independent, MSNBC, the New York Times, and others who dutifully repeat the accusation leveled against Russia by UK Prime Minister Theresa May. This reckless, blind, and uncritical acceptance of claims by government officials (or unnamed experts and insiders) has become so normal that many mainstream news-outlets no longer bother with verifiable sources, leaving the public vulnerable to deceptive narratives. And the case of the Skripal poisoning is a perfect example…

Theresa May’s claim that Russia was behind the attack is (in her own words) based on the fact that the nerve-agent used in the attack — novichok — was developed by the Soviet Union in the ’80s. May’s reasoning is that, since novichok was made by the USSR and since “the government” assesses that Russia “views some defectors as legitimate targets,” the act is either a deliberate Russian attack on the UK or an act of negligence so criminal it might as well be an attack. But so long as May’s government is unable or unwilling to furnish supporting evidence for its claim to the press or the public, there is no way for any journalist to verify that May’s accusation has merit.

The prime minister’s argument seems to rest on the fact that the nerve-agent used to poison the Skripals was developed by the USSR, a country that collapsed 29 years ago in 1989. From this fact alone (assuming it is true), May’s government, the commentariat, and countless news headlines have concluded — and expect the public to conclude — that Russia committed a war-crime by using chemical weapons in an attempt to murder the Skripals on UK soil.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  We don't need no evidence - we're the cognitive elites!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/22/2018 2:34 Comments || Top||

#2  I recall Susan Rice shilling for the narrative that Benghazi was caused by some guy who made a video out in California too.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/22/2018 9:02 Comments || Top||

#3  ...I wonder what color the sky is on his world.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 03/22/2018 18:22 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
San Fran: LEO and several others shot Wednesday pm
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wasn't a school. Move along...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/22/2018 0:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Somebody was just having a bad hair day and obviously the barber didn't help any.
Posted by: Ulaigum Ebbineng7056 || 03/22/2018 0:53 Comments || Top||

#3  As muzzizm comes to cali, barbers will be outlawed.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/22/2018 0:55 Comments || Top||

#4  But guns are illegal there
Posted by: newc || 03/22/2018 1:23 Comments || Top||

#5  #4 But guns are illegal there. Yeah, like Chicago it doesn't seem to work but the left will keep trying.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/22/2018 10:36 Comments || Top||

#6  But once guns are illegal EVERYWHERE the problem will be solved - criminals won't be able to get them! (How many places are meth, crack and heroin not illegal?)
Posted by: Glenmore || 03/22/2018 16:26 Comments || Top||

#7  Saw a show on TV about what a shithole San Fran has turned into on account of the Meth and opioids. The money quote was something like, "I came here to live in San Francisco. All these people came here to die."
Posted by: swksvolFF || 03/22/2018 21:05 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Legal shake-up will usher in new era in KSA, experts tell Washington debate
[ARABNEWS] Legal reforms, a revamp of government agencies, and a crackdown on medium and low-level corruption are all essential if reforms 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...
are to succeed, a discussion panel of Saudi academics in Washington said.

The headline-grabbing anti-corruption drive that resulted in more than 200 princes, officials and businessmen being detained in Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton hotel had helped to highlight the issue of graft in the Kingdom, but bigger problems remain to be tackled, according to the all-Saudi panel.

"The question is, is there the bureaucratic bandwidth to implement the changes in the time frame the government wants. That’s one of the biggest obstacles," said Mohammed Alyahya, a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council, and senior fellow at the Gulf Research Center.

"Let’s take the Ritz-Carlton crackdown for example. On paper that is an excellent initiative to prove that the government is very serious about fighting corruption. You can’t fight mid-level and lower-level corruption without fighting the top-level corruption," Alyahya said.

"But that is the easy part. The difficult part is putting the institutional mechanisms and oversight frameworks in place, so that you can fight the much more dispersed and voluminous lower-level and mid-level corruption, and that is what costs much more than this top-level stuff that has been caught," he said

The comments came during a panel debate at George Washington University in Washington on Tuesday, part of a series of events taking place in the US capital to coincide with the visit of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
...Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia as of 2016....
The crown prince was at the White House earlier in the day for talks with 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...
.
Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia

#1  If they stop paying American politicians to screw Americans, it's a good start.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/22/2018 0:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Getting better than I expected.
Posted by: newc || 03/22/2018 1:11 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Turkey threatens to clear terrorist group from Iraq’s Sinjar mountains
[ARABNEWS] 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...
has threatened to clear faceless myrmidons from northern Iraq’s Sinjar mountains if Baghdad does not act on his warning that the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has set up a headquarters there.

Speaking on Monday, the president said: "We have told the central (Iraqi) government that the PKK is establishing a new headquarters in Sinjar.

"If you can deal with it, you handle it. But if you cannot, we will suddenly enter Sinjar one night and clear this region of terrorists."

Erdogan said he told Baghdad to deal with PKK camps and warned Sinjar may become a stronghold for the group. "If we are friends, you will make it easy for us," he said.

The PKK have waged a decades-long insurgency against the Ottoman Turkish state and are considered a terrorist organization by Ankara, Europe
...also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
and the US.

For the past few months, Ottoman Turkish and Iraqi officials have engaged in high-level political and military talks to discuss potential joint action against the PKK in Sinjar along the Iraqi-Syrian border.

Ankara has justified its previous operations against PKK hideouts in Iraq using Article 51 of the United Nations
...boodling on the grand scale...
Charter on a country’s right to self-defense against armed attack.

Sinjar is strategically important because it unites the Kurdish areas in Syria to Iraq. The Syrian town of Afrin was captured by Ottoman Turkish troops on Sunday in what it called Operation Olive Branch. Erdogan said Ottoman Turkish forces and allied Syrian forces would press eastwards to Kobani, Manbij and Sinjar.

Some analysts interpreted Erdogan’s threat against Sinjar as a means of putting pressure on Washington, which partnered with Syrian Kurdish fighters against ISIS. Thousands have fled Afrin and the US State Department has declared itself "deeply concerned" about the humanitarian situation there.

Sinjar, 100 km west of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, is one of the disputed areas claimed by both the Baghdad central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Although Baghdad fiercely opposes it, Kurds would like to incorporate this region into their autonomous territories.
Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Arabia
Senate vote ‘signals US support for Yemen war effort’
[ARABNEWS] A US Senate vote against a resolution on Yemen’s civil war signaled that Washington would continue to back Arab coalition military operations there, former US officials told Arab News on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the Senate voted 55-44 to drop the resolution, which was aimed at halting US support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, saying that such backing was not authorized by Congress and had led to widespread suffering.

According to the former officials, the vote signaled that politicians are worried about Yemeni civilian deaths, but that Riyadh can expect continued US support with targeting and the midair refueling of its warplanes in Yemen.

"I don’t think the congressional action will change the degree of America’s involvement, if only because (US Defense Secretary) Jim Mattis will convince them in private not to," Dov Zakheim, a former Pentagon official, told Arab News.

"Ongoing resolutions such as this cannot entirely be ignored, and given the Crown prince’s inclination (to ultimately extricate 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...
from the war), this is just another push in the same direction."

Nabeel Khoury, an Atlantic Council scholar and former State Department official, said the vote indicated concern among politicians about the war, but not that Congress was "forcing the hand of the administration" to halt military support in Yemen.

But politicians were likely to continue raising the issue and have indicated a "strong expression of sympathy with 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...
and concern over the US involvement in that war," Khoury said.

The vote came on the same day that 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...
met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
...Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia as of 2016....
at the White House for talks about the Iran-backed Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...
rebels fighting in Yemen and other regional security threats.

A White House statement said they "discussed the threat the Houthis pose to the region, assisted by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps." They also addressed the humanitarian crisis and the need for a political solution.
Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia


Africa North
Cairo meetings illegal and totally rejected, High Council of State official says
[Libya Observer] The Chief of the Defense and Security Backup Commission at the High Council of State (HCS) Belqasim Deberz, said the HCS rejects the meetings in Egypt between delegates of the Presidential Council headed by its chief of staff Abdelrahman al-Taweel and those 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 self-styled army headed by his chief of staff Abdelrazik al-Nathori.

"Those meetings in Cairo are illegal, besides Egypt is a part of the Libyan conflict and is absolutely not unbiased. It bombed Libyan cities before and backs up one party over the others." Deberz added.

He accused Fayez al-Sirraj of violating the Libyan Political Agreement by acting like a chief commander of the Libyan army, pointing out that the commander in chief is for all PC members not for the Head alone.

Cairo meetings fail as Al-Sirraj gives in to Haftar rejection voices in west Libya
Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Palestinian teen who slapped soldier sentenced to 8 months in prison
[IsraelTimes] As part of plea deal, military prosecution drops 8 of 12 charges that had been originally filed against Ahed Tamimi, though 17-year-old admits to aggravated assault and incitement

Paleostinian teenager Ahed Tamimi
...the blond, blue-eyed maiden who along with siblings and young cousins has made a hobby of being videotaped screaming at Israeli soldiers, no doubt urged on by her Papa, Bassem Tamimi, who is a well-known Fatah activist...
was sentenced to eight months in prison Wednesday after a military court approved a plea bargain in which she admitted to assaulting an IDF soldier in addition to three other offenses.

Tamimi was placed in durance vile
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
four months ago after being filmed slapping and shoving IDF soldiers in her West Bank village of Nebi Saleh. Ahed’s mother Nariman and cousin Nour were also charged for their participation in the December 15 incident.

The 17-year-old’s sentence will include time already served since her arrest four days after the quarrel, meaning she is slated to be released in the summer. The verdict also tacked on a fine of NIS 5,000 ($1,430).

Under the terms of the plea bargain, Ahed admitted to the aggravated assault of an IDF soldier, incitement to violence and disrupting soldiers on two other occasions.

Following the sentencing at the Ofer Military Court, Ahed told news hounds that there is "no justice under occupation and we are in an illegal court."

Nariman Tamimi was given 8 months in prison, a suspended sentence, and a fine of NIS 6,000 ($1,730) under the same plea deal, for crimes of incitement, disrupting a soldier, and assisting in the assault of a soldier.

Nour Tamimi was given a NIS 2,000 ($580) fine, a sentence of 16-days time served since her arrest, and a suspended sentence, also as part of the plea agreement. Unlike her aunt and cousin, the 21-year-old had been released from prison two weeks after her arrest due to the relatively minor charges against her.

During the Wednesday hearing, an unnamed Israeli supporter of Tamimi slapped the military prosecutor and was immediately arrested.

In a statement following the sentencing, the Tamimis’ attorney Gaby Lasky pointed out that the military prosecution had "erased eight of the twelve charges in Ahed’s indictment," namely the several added counts for stone throwing, which the Military Advocate General was unable to approve.

Moreover, Lasky highlighted the fact that the charges that were used to by the judge to justify his January decision to remand Ahed until the end of proceedings against her were not among the offenses to which the 17-year-old was asked to confess.

Still, she referred to the 8 month sentence as a "considerable achievement... given that the occupation’s legal system doesn’t provide justice."

Ahed’s incarceration has drawn attention from around the globe, highlighting the teen’s image as a Paleostinian icon. She has become a cause célèbre for Paleostinian supporters, and rallies have been held in several locations calling for her release.

Many Paleostinians see her as bravely standing up to military control over the West Bank, while Israelis accuse her family of using her as a pawn.

Nabi Saleh has been a frequent staging ground for provoked festivities between Israeli soldiers and Paleostinians, specifically members of the Tamimi clan, which has a history of getting involved in highly publicized interactions with the IDF.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/22/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Fatah

#1  perhaps the Tamimi clan need to disappear
Posted by: Frank G || 03/22/2018 7:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Alongside the rest of them
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/22/2018 7:34 Comments || Top||

#3  8 months? Bring back the stocks and give her a good spanking.
Posted by: AlanC || 03/22/2018 8:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Put them in the Iron Maiden.
Posted by: Raj || 03/22/2018 8:38 Comments || Top||

#5  Pre-Raphaelite intifada
In not-so-Mohammedan shmatte?
The screaming Tamimis
Make memes for the dhimmis,
But God sez ya gotta shahada!
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 03/22/2018 9:40 Comments || Top||

#6  Qassam versus bomb: microcosm!
An awesome Mohammedan Blossom
Does nuffin while Muzzin',
Just like her dead cousin,
Whom Bassem taught not to play possum.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 03/22/2018 10:07 Comments || Top||

#7  Zenobia Floger6220 has been impressive in his poetic outpourings over the years. R-Burg's own muse.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/22/2018 10:43 Comments || Top||

#8  A lonely mechanic of Aden
Molesting an elderly trade-in,
Beheaded, the blade
Not because he got laid...
Cuz he played an 8-track of Iron Maiden.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 03/22/2018 11:26 Comments || Top||

#9  Oh dear. Not at all what I expected from the first line, Zenobia F.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/22/2018 22:00 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2018-03-22
  Jordan jails two for planning Daesh embassy attacks
Wed 2018-03-21
  Bodies of 39 Indian workers kidnapped by IS militants found in Iraq: minister
Tue 2018-03-20
  36 takfiris killed, 345 arrested in last five days of Operation Sinai 2018: Egypt Armed Forces
Mon 2018-03-19
  Turkey's Erdogan says Afrin city centre under 'total' control
Sun 2018-03-18
  KP government seals offices of Hafiz Saeed's JuD, FIF; seizes mosques, seminaries
Sat 2018-03-17
  Greek court rejects Turkey’s request for extradition of eight soldiers
Fri 2018-03-16
  German prosecutors indict Syrian migrant over alleged bomb plot
Thu 2018-03-15
  Anbar antics: 7 turbans permanently unwound, tribal types get frisky
Wed 2018-03-14
  Al-Qaeda operative born in Texas sentenced to 45 years for conspiring to murder Americans, supporting terrorism
Tue 2018-03-13
  Trump fires Rex Tillerson as secretary of state and replaces him with CIA boss Mike Pompeo
Mon 2018-03-12
  Syrian Army surrounds Jaysh Al-Islam stronghold in East Ghouta
Sun 2018-03-11
  First group of militants surrender arms & leave East Ghouta after Russia-brokered talks
Sat 2018-03-10
   Tuareg militias again clash with Islamic State-loyal militants in northern Mali
Fri 2018-03-09
  Mullah Fazlullah's kid killed in drone strike in Afghanistan
Thu 2018-03-08
  Accomplice of Paris attacks mastermind held in Poland

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