What the late Lionel Trilling used to call the liberal imagination was captured by the plight of two black men who went to a Philadelphia Starbucks and didn't order anything. 8,000 Starbucks stores closed yesterday for sensitivity training and the conscience of an anguished world pulsated with guilt and grief over the arrest of the two men, whose only offense was to stand there.
The two men were exactly right: The right thing to do in Starbucks is not to order anything, because the coffee is disgusting. Starbucks' response, to be sure, was incommensurate with the problem: Rather than subject their employees to the ritual farce of sensitivity training, the company should spend money on high-quality coffee beans, and roast them lightly rather than burn them into acidic volcanic ash. The best coffee (namely Italian espresso) is not bitter, but bittersweet, like dark chocolate. High-quality Italian coffee (for example Illy or Lavazza) is widely available in American supermarkets, and the persistence of Starbucks in the face of higher-quality competition is a testimony to the poverty of the American palate.
Famously, Starbuck's marketing idea is the "affordable luxury." So-called craft beers are another case. Although Americans can make excellent beer (Blue Moon is a perfectly good Hefeweizen, for example), most of the craft beers contain far too much hops and are too bitter for human consumption. The "hoppy" quality of craft beer has the same effect as the burning of Starbucks coffee beans: It adds a flavor which is mistaken for sophistication, when it is merely unpleasant. Not one of the great German beers has the hops content of the typical craft beer.
The real victims of Starbucks are not the two black men who were arrested for standing around without ordering anything, but the customers who actually ordered Starbucks coffee. Who will speak up for them? The best way to respond to this outrage is to stop into whatever Starbucks outlet you happen to pass, and when asked what you want, say in a loud voice, "I don't want anything! This coffee sucks!" See if they call the cops.
#1
the persistence of Starbucks in the face of higher-quality competition is a testimony to the poverty of the American palate.
It's more about class signalling than palate. Sort of like an iPhone. IIRC several year back Consumer Reports rated McDonald's new coffee offerings better in taste.
#6
Duncan Donuts. Coffee flavored coffee. Not that fancy stuff that tastes either burned like someone put out a cigarette in it, or else poured a whole milkshake into it.
This year, Israel celebrates its 70th Independence Day since its founding as a modern nation in 1948. Join us and watch the celebratory ceremony at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem live. And all the Muslims, and all the "progressives' can kiss our ass - provided they've a medical certificate of being non-contagious!
Congressional lawmakers made a criminal referral Wednesday to the Department of Justice Attorney General Jeff Sessions against former senior-level Obama administration officials, including employees of the FBI connected with the unverified dossier alleging collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, as well as those involved in the warrants used to spy on a former Trump campaign volunteer, this reporter has learned. The lawmakers also made a criminal referral on former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and threats made by her DOJ against the FBI informant, who provided the bureau with information on the Russian nuclear industry and the approval in 2010 to sell roughly 20 percent of American uranium mining assets to Russia.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee member Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Florida, along with nine other colleagues sent the letter Wednesday to Sessions and FBI Director Christopher Wray criminally referring former FBI Director James Comey, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe for their involvement in the investigations into President Trump and alleged violations of federal law. FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok and his paramour FBI lawyer Lisa Page, whose anti-Trump text messages obtained by the DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, were also included in the referral.
"We write to refer the following individuals for investigation of potential violation(s) of federal statutes," states the letter obtained by this reporter. "In doing so, we are especially mindful of the dissimilar degrees of zealousness that has marked the investigations into Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, respectively. Because we believe that those in positions of high authority should be treated the same as every other American, we want to be sure that the potential violations of law outlined below are vetted appropriately."
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy ||
04/18/2018
14:09 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
Well, it may be enough to solidify Mr. Trumps base as well as bring some back owing to the seeming unfairness of our Legal System as led by the DOJ. Maybe bring over some Libs as well, i.e. Alan Dershowitz.
Dragging this through, slowly and with great noise, could do a lot in the upcoming elections. Lord knows, the Pubs appear to need it.
Future historians will look back on the early 21st century and tag the development of the Twitter platform as the final nail in the coffin of civilized speech. It turns out that enabling people to empty their mind at the same speed with which they can empty their digestive tract produces essentially the same product.
Submitted as evidence, tweets from Randa Jarrar, Trigglypuff Palestinian/American Professor - currently employed by the English department at Fresno State - commenting on the death of Barbara Bush:
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy ||
04/18/2018
13:33 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Although I vociferously disliked the Obama's, it would be seem unseemly to celebrate in either's demise.
[Twitchy] Here’s a little tidbit from yesterday’s Michael Cohen hearing that’s pretty interesting...
According to reports from inside the courtroom, Judge Kimba Wood was ready to allow Michael Cohen to submit the name of his 3rd client ‐ who we now know is Sean Hannity ‐ under seal, but an attorney for CNN and the New York Times convinced her otherwise.
From Natasha Bertrand, The Atlantic:" The Perp: Robert D. Balin
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy ||
04/18/2018
12:30 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
That attorney had zero standing in this case but whatev's..#resistance
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
04/18/2018 15:19
Comments ||
Top||
#3
She probably suggested it to them: "OK, 'force' my hand, right?"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/18/2018 20:28
Comments ||
Top||
#4
Not that there is anything saying the guy did anything for Hannity, anything at all let alone something seedy which is what the left naturally assumes.
This article in German (in mainstream paper "Die Welt") is a compilation of developments concerning the death of an allegedly 19 y/o alleged Afghan who was shot by police while on a rampage.
The Google translation is readable IMO. I'm not including a direct link or quotes from the article as I'm unsure about the copyright implications.
New develompents:
There was at least one additional demonstration by Afghans.
The chairman of the local 'Auslaenderbeirat' (elected semi-official foreigner's council), Abdulkerim Demir has called off further demonstrations to 'avoid further escalation.'
Demir is demanding that all police officers involved be suspended and that the shooter be arrested.
According to Demir many young Afghans in town are very furious about the death of their compatriot and also at Germany and conditions in Germany as a whole.
My 2 cts:
This incident is peculiar because the reaction by the Muslim and refugee community deviates from the standard formula of ostensible insincere apology mixed with passive aggressive menace.
There's no apology and the threats are quite explicit.
#8
Rantburg Akhbar! has been proclaimed more than once on this site, dear Injun Bucket8891.
Thank you for this post, Elmerert Hupens2660. You brought us useful information not found elsewhere, along with thoughts worth a good deal more than 2 cents.
[FoxNews] Officials in Los Angeles have been painting streets white to reduce the effect of urban "heat islands" and combat the effects of climate change. Wait, I thought climate change was from CO2. Now the materials used to build cities is contributing, too?
The LA Street Services began rolling out the project last May, which preliminary testing shows has reduced the temperature of roadways by up to 10 degrees. The project involves applying a light gray coating of the product CoolSeal, made by the company GuardTop. So where does the energy go, that used to be absorbed by the pavement? Perhaps the energy is destroyed by the CoolSeal, or converted into unicorn food? "CoolSeal is applied like conventional sealcoats to asphalt surfaces to protect and maintain the quality and longevity of the surface," according to the company website. "While most cool pavements on the market are polymer based, CoolSeal is a water-based, asphalt emulsion." The water evaporates, leaving the asphalt - you know, that icky fossil fuel stuff?
While each coasting could can last up to seven years, they are also pricey, with the estimated cost of $40,000 per mile, the L.A. Daily News reported. I can't seem to find anything about this magical product at the company's website. Maybe someone calculated the energy 'savings'?
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/18/2018
10:10 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#11
Our freeways are paved with concrete. In some of the nicer, older residential neighborhoods of San Diego the streets are paved with concrete. Maybe more expensive at first but some of those streets have been like that for many decades. Concrete is far more durable with a lot less potholes than asphalt. Looks a lot nicer too.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/18/2018 15:31
Comments ||
Top||
#12
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/18/2018 15:35
Comments ||
Top||
#13
the 'white' asphalt surface treatment initiative began in mid 2017
this treatment is only slightly more expensive than a similar treatment with a darker emulsion
the lighter the surface, the slower the oxy- deterioration of the treatment
so this may work out
finally, some of the basic science and engineering was done in the W administration and initially endorsed by scientists in the Obama admin until the hard core greenies stopped it because it doesn't cause enough suffering
Posted by: lord garth ||
04/18/2018 15:44
Comments ||
Top||
#14
Won't the urine and fecal stains take the shine off the pretty roads?
#16
Abu - those streets are nice...til the first utility company has to trench for underground or upgraded facilities. We HAVE to use them on really steeply-sloped streets due to asphalt creep during summer heat. Think Pt. Loma, OB, Mission Hills...
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/18/2018 21:53
Comments ||
Top||
#17
The problem with concrete is someone idiot always has to sign their name in the stuff before it dries.
If LA was smart they'd sell of the rights for folks to sign and otherwise mark up the sidewalk sections of new concrete streets. Encourage groups to purchase them make a game of it with best design competitions and such. Donate a few for public relations and all that.
They had little choice - the IRS' Modern E-file (Mef) was down / slow as hell for half of yesterday and I read about two IRS payment / extension filing systems being offline for most of the day. Some states may or may not follow this lead - in MA, there's no notice of extending this deadline for another day, so check your state's tax department if you're in this situation.
[Intuit] - The IRS recently announced taxpayers will be provided an additional day to file and pay their taxes, following system issues that surfaced earlier today.
To read more on IRS website: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-provides-additional-day-to-file-and-pay-for-taxpayers-through-wedne...
Intuit ProConnect Lacerte's hours of operation have been extended for Wednesday, April 18, 2018 to 8:00 AM - 9:00 PM (CST): https://accountants-community.intuit.com/articles/1605975&src=lsccom
[Express UK, via Drudge] - MORRISSEY has slammed London Mayor Sadiq Khan following the rise of violent attacks recorded in the capital saying London is "second only to Bangladesh" and claimed Mr Khan "cannot talk properly".
The former Smiths frontman lashed out at the Mayor of London in an interview discussing his views on racism, violence and the capital.
And Morrissey stated that London "is debased" and that "civilisation is over".
Going on a rampage against Mr Khan, he added: "The Mayor of London tells us about ’Neighborhood policin’ - what is ’policin’?
"He tells us London is an ’amazin’ city. What is ’amazin’? This is the Mayor of London! And he cannot talk properly!
"I saw an interview where he was discussing mental health, and he repeatedly said ’men’el’...he could not say the words ’mental health’. The Mayor of London!" I hope this is a weekly event.
[Real Clear Politics] Appearing on FNC's 'Hannity' Thursday night, LevinTV host Mark Levin spoke about a letter his organization sent to FISA court judges on alleged abuses from the Nunes memo.
"If you’re a judge ... and you don’t do something about it? Congress needs to look into this!" Levin said. "I damn well expect federal judges serving as FISA court judges to make sure that [misconduct] wasn’t committed in front of them."
"I want to underscore something tonight, Sean," Levin told Hannity. "These federal judges sitting on this FISA court act like they have no role in this. They were abused. The court was abused. The court was misled. People should be held to account."
"We presented this judge with the evidence and filed it. Congress needs to find out now why these judges, even today, aren’t holding these people accountable!"
"It’s time to abolish the FISA court. It’s time to create a new, a counter-intelligence-related court. It should not consist of existing federal judges. They should be confirmed, not for life terms, for given terms. The FBI and the Justice Department, when they go into that court, should not be alone any more. There ought to be an office within the federal government that’s there to ensure that civil liberties are protected," Levin said.
"There are things we need to do with this court right now."
#1
Ah, when are any federal judges held accountable for their un-Constitutional works? As in, where in the hell did you find this in the text of the Constitution?
[Real Clear Politics] On Sunday evening, ABC preempted its regularly scheduled programming to broadcast an exclusive interview conducted by "This Week" host George Stephanopoulos with former FBI Director James Comey. The star treatment is part of an all-out publicity campaign that Comey, fired by President Trump less than one year ago, has launched to promote his new book, "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership." How Comey’s portrayal of himself as a virtuous man selflessly devoted to the public interest fits with his rush to cash in on public service by disclosing details of his relationship with a sitting president is one of the salient questions Stephanopoulos failed to pose Sunday night.
#2
Mr. Wife watched Mr. Comey being interviewed this morning by a blonde woman*, and afterward pronounced Mr. Comey sleazy. Since Mr. Wife is a NeverTrumper, I find that telling.
* I’m sure she is a well known television news person, but I have no idea which one.
#4
Stephanopoulos is not legitimate journalist. He is a former Clinton spokesman and a reliable Democrat Party apparatchik. His purpose in this interview was not to interview Comey, it was to bash Trump who is an archenemy of the Clintons. The fact that ABC presents this little twerp as a journalist goes to show how fake they really are.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/18/2018 12:01
Comments ||
Top||
#5
Here's a few more:
What do you collect that no one knows about?
What is your baby nickname?
What book are you embarrassed to have read?
Have you ever stolen anything?
What do you eat when you can choose anything and no one is around to see?
What kids' movie do you still secretly watch over and over?
h/t Gates of Vienna
[PrisonPlanet] EU Parliament member Soraya Post has called for political parties that criticize mass immigration to be banned in Sweden.
Post, who is a part of the Feminist Initiative party in Sweden, complains that "the arrival of a very large number of migrants during the migrant crisis" has led to an increase in racism and that not enough is being done "to prevent racist and xenophobic attacks" against Muslims and other minorities.
"Sweden must ban organizations that spread hatred and advocate fascism, nazism and racism," writes Post, before making it clear that she is referring to the Sweden Democrats, which is the country’s largest anti-mass immigration party and has a chance of winning the next election.
The Party, led by Jimmie Åkesson, is polling number one amongst people aged 18-34 and causing deep consternation for both the establishment in Sweden and the European Union.
#1
Well, considering that in many countries in Euroland it is illegal for a devout Catholic to practice medicine and that in the UK you can go to jail for calling someone a Gypsy instead of Romani, this shouldn't surprise anyone.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
04/18/2018 5:49
Comments ||
Top||
h/t Gates of Vienna
[PrisonPlanet] Last week, Peter John Dalglish, United Nations adviser and founder of the Street Kids International charity, was arrested on suspicion of pedophilia, at a home that he was staying at in Nepal. During the arrest, two young children, ages 12 and 14, were "rescued" from the home. Why am I not surprised?
[National Review] North Korea and South Korea are reportedly preparing to announce an official end to their 68-year war.
North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and South Korean president Moon Jae-in will meet next week to discuss an end to the war, the newspaper Munhwa Ilbo said, citing an unidentified South Korean official.
The two countries have technically been at war for 68 years since the Korean War began in June 1950. The three-year conflict ended with an armistice instead of a peace treaty in 1953, and smaller conflicts have flared from time to time since.
North Korea and South Korea are reportedly preparing to announce an official end to their 68-year war.
North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and South Korean president Moon Jae-in will meet next week to discuss an end to the war, the newspaper Munhwa Ilbo said, citing an unidentified South Korean official.
The two countries have technically been at war for 68 years since the Korean War began in June 1950. The three-year conflict ended with an armistice instead of a peace treaty in 1953, and smaller conflicts have flared from time to time since.
#1
President Trump and Mike Pompeo to visit Pyongyang, sign documents ending war, open new U.S. Embassy. Kim Jong-un and POTUS talk about new, luxury hotel, and yugely discounted soy beans whilst putting on the back nine. Pompeo drives golf cart, smiles ?
#4
IF this works out,a very big if, I know, Trump would truly deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. He won't get it, of course.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
04/18/2018 8:59
Comments ||
Top||
#5
...yeah, he's actually doing stuff that warrants it. He doesn't qualify for an Affirmative Action award for just getting elected. Just the opposite.
#6
My personal hypothesis is that Pudgy’s time spent in the West prior to assuming power predisposed him to seeking a peaceful reconciliation with the South and the rest of the world.
So long has he is able to guarantee his own safety and personal standing as the “Dear Leader”, he can now be hailed as a savior to his people by bringing them into the 21st century and with all the material trappings that come with it.
#7
My personal hypothesis is that Pudgy’s time spent in the West prior to assuming power predisposed him to seeking a peaceful reconciliation with the South and the rest of the world.
For the same reason I view KJU as an especially dangerous character. His first hand experience in the West exposed him to all the rot, self loathing, masochism and zero civilizational confidence that has been a determining factor in Western politics and culture since the end of the Soviet Union.
For his father and grandfather the West would have always been an alien, inscrutable and and somewaht scary entity. Not for KJU.
IMO he's especially dangerous like a wolf dog hybrid.
[Townhall] The Pennsylvania House passed a bill Monday banning abortions on babies who’ve been diagnosed with Down syndrome.
"The future has never been brighter for babies born with Down syndrome," said state Rep. Judy Ward, one of the lead sponsors of the bill. "We’ve learned too much to accept that Down syndrome citizens should be considered anything less than full members of the community. They deserve respect and the protection of our laws."
Even if the bill, which passed with bipartisan support 139-56, also passes the Republican-controlled Senate, it will unlikely become law, as Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf has expressed his opposition to the legislation.
A spokeswoman for Wolf said the bill is "another example of Harrisburg Republicans exploiting vulnerable families and trying to undermine the doctor-patient relationship to score political points."
"Pennsylvania Republicans are trying once again to criminalize a health care decision that Gov. Wolf has been clear should be made by a woman and her doctor, not politicians in Harrisburg," said Wolf’s deputy press secretary Sara Goulet.
#2
It is stupid to force a woman to have a kid she does not want. Posted by: Bernardz
Some outcomes are unavoidable and attributable only to nature. Once they have arrived, most people don't 'want' to one day depart this old ball we call earth. 'Wants' or not, life's end, similar to life's beginning, appears to be baked into the process.
#3
#1 Its also stupid to force a man to pay for a child that is not his. I notice the federal judiciary refuses to strike down old law and precedent in face of modern DNA evidence even though continuing the practice obviously is contrary to the 13th Amendment.
#5
It is stupid to force a woman to have a kid she does not want.
It is wrong to force a woman to conceive a kid she does not want, but once conceived, it is wrong to kill the kid because she does not want it. It comes down to when is the kid its own person and when is it just a tissue mass of the mothers: conception? detectable heartbeat? viability? birth? independence?
#6
It is stupid to force a woman to have a kid she does not want.
I suspect most women know how children are conceived. If you don't want one, there are some pretty obvious ways to avoid having one.
Posted by: Tom ||
04/18/2018 13:11
Comments ||
Top||
#7
Before birth Evacuation Day, well, a smart aleck might ask, "Kid? What kid?" And if Mom, afterward, can't even, well, isn't that why God made firehouses? Seems like it might be easier these days to legally be shed of a baby than an old can of paint or a lightbulb.
#8
It comes down to when is the kid its own person and when is it just a tissue mass of the mothers: conception? detectable heartbeat? viability? birth? independence?
[PJ] In a new book titled Queer disbelief: Why LGBTQ Equality is an Atheist Issue, writer Camille Beredjick proposes that atheists unite with LGBTQ communities as allies against Christianity.
A professed atheist and LGBTQ activist, Beredjick says that the two sides have much in common and are fighting a common enemy. Speaking to Religion News Service, Beredjick explains the genesis of the book.
This book came out of a long, professional relationship between myself and Hemant Mehta, who writes The Friendly Atheist blog. We started to see religious arguments against the movement for transgender rights and it seemed like a good time to talk about how these two groups ‐ atheists and the LGBTQ community ‐ receive outcry from organized religion in a very intense way and to talk about how they can best be allied and what’s at stake when we don’t work together to address our common goals.
Beredjick believes that Christian organizations shouldn't be allowed to fire either atheists or LGBTQ individuals. Predictably, she also takes aim at Christians like the bakers and florists who have been sued out of business for attempting to operate their place of business according to their consciences.
So many of the most significant issues facing LGBTQ people can affect atheists in some way, like violating the principles many atheists hold dear. When we see laws that seek to give business owners the right to discriminate against LGBTQ customers based on their religious beliefs, that’s state-sanctioned privileging of one belief system over another. ... The laws that target LGBTQ people could also be used against atheists.
If the book's thesis seems obvious to you, you're not the only one. But probably not for the reason that Ms. Beredjick believes.
In the interview, she correctly acknowledges that there is much overlap between the two groups. In fact, as she points out, "Close to half of LGBTQ persons say they are nonbelievers." That makes sense, and it makes sense because both groups are engaged in active rebellion against their Creator.
#1
We started to see religious arguments against the movement for transgender rights
Wrong, under the Constitution you were given a lot of slack until you got far enough out of the closet to start denying others their conscientious liberties.
Give some people an inch, they begin to think they are rulers.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
04/18/2018 5:43
Comments ||
Top||
#5
Why? It goes back to the old "we have no enemies on the Left". The support feminists will display for Islamic terror groups makes no sense when approached logically
#8
Why LGBTQ Equality is an Atheist Issue..Snicker. that is in my Holy Bible
Romans 21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
#10
The support feminists will display for Islamic terror groups makes no sense when approached logically
You confuse adjectives affixed to Leftest groups with any intent other than the acquisition, retention and exercise of power. Think of it was just names for athletic teams. Names differ but their programs and their goals are just the same. The fans get to wear nifty tribal shirts and hats, gather at common watering holes, but they're all there for the same game.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/18/2018 12:09
Comments ||
Top||
#12
"Close to half of LGBTQ persons say they are nonbelievers" so that means less than half went to war on the other half? That doesn't sound very well thought out to me.
[Daily Caller] Women’s March co-president Tamika Mallory on Tuesday called for a boycott of Starbucks over the coffee company’s partnership with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a mainstream Jewish civil rights group.
The ADL previously criticized Mallory’s support of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, a notorious racist and anti-Semite. Mallory accused the ADL of "attacking black and brown people" on Tuesday and demanded Starbucks end its partnership with the group.
"So you are aware, Starbucks was on a decent track until they enlisted the Anti-Defamation League to build their anti-bias training. The ADL is CONSTANTLY attacking black and brown people," Mallory wrote in a statement Tuesday evening.
"This is a sign that they are tone deaf and not committed to addressing the concerns of black folks. Be clear what’s happening here!"
[Daily Caller] Former FBI Director James Comey chose ABC as the first media outlet to interview him since being fired by President Trump last year.
It may have been a good move for Comey, because if he had chosen The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberly Strassel instead of George Stephanopoulos, the lines of questioning would have been of an entirely different nature.
Strassel shared her own questions on Twitter Monday that ABC’s Stephanopoulos should have asked, but didn’t. List follows at the link.
[SF Chronicle] As president of S.F. Travel, the city’s visitors bureau, Joe D’Alessandro’s job is to promote San Francisco. You’d think he’d be hyping the city’s gorgeous vistas, top-notch restaurants and glorious museums.
Instead, he’s getting honest.
Sure, San Francisco has great facets worthy of postcards and travel books, but it also has a worsening underbelly that D’Alessandro says he can no longer gloss over.
People injecting themselves with drugs in broad daylight, their dirty needles and other garbage strewn on the sidewalks. Tent camps. Human feces. The threatening behavior of some people who appear either mentally ill or high. Petty theft.
"The streets are filthy. There’s trash everywhere. It’s disgusting," D’Alessandro said, adding he’s traveled the world, and San Francisco stands out for the wrong reasons. "I’ve never seen any other city like this ‐ the homelessness, dirty streets, drug use on the streets, smash-and-grabs.
"How can it be?" he continued. "How can it have gotten to this point?"
Remember, this is the man whose job is to glorify San Francisco, which tells you something about how far the city has sunk.
#3
It's really too bad about San Francisco. The city is blessed in many, many ways. It has natural beauty, the bay, the beaches, the architecture, the many accomplishments of its citizens and, yes, even the fog. But the current political atmosphere and degradation make it so I never want to go there again. It's encouraging that someone in a position of influence at least recognizes the problem but I fear that won't be enough.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/18/2018 12:19
Comments ||
Top||
#4
When Mrs. Warthog and I were working there in the early 2000's, we routinely came across the homeless and other flotsam in the streets. Doing what we all know they do..it was bad then but seemingly confined to back streets. Now Union Square, the Rodeo Drive of SF, has them in spades.
Welcome to your Sanctuary City. Back then Banana Republic was just a store, not a way of life.
[The Hill] Australian TV host Peta Credlin gave a short monologue yesterday against a proposal to let people at whim call themselves or their newborns male, female, intersex, unspecified, or indeterminate on their birth certificates. She notes this idea’s proponents say it’s the next step after government affirmation of same-sex relationships, although at the time that was not publicly sold as an entrance point for transsexual politics.
"’Trust us,’ they said, didn’t they? ’Love is love,'" she recalls.
"Children are born a boy or a girl, [for] the vast bulk of humanity," Credlin says, because stating the obvious is now not only necessary, it even requires courage. "That is a biological fact, and laws must reflect reality."
Credlin noted an exception is logical for the approximately 1.5 percent of humans who are discovered, usually at puberty, to have both male and female reproductive organs due to chromosomal abnormalities. But "then and only then is the time right to alter a birth certificate, armed with medical fact, but not in a birthing suite due to the whim of a parent who wants to record [her] child as nonbinary," Credlin continued.
"This is nothing more than a dangerous push by the Left into records we have kept as civilizations since almost as long as we have had the written word. Assuming change from the outset is designed to disrupt social norms and it must be resisted."
[The Hill] CIA Director Mike Pompeo flew to North Korea earlier this year and met with the nation’s leader Kim Jong Un, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
The shocking, top-secret trip took place during Easter weekend ahead of a possible summit between President Trump and Kim later this year to discuss Pyongyang's nuclear program.
The CIA, White House and North Korean government all refused to comment to the Post, which confirmed the meeting with two sources with direct knowledge of it.
Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. had direct talks with North Korea at "very high levels" but did not provide more details.
"We have had direct talks at very high levels, extremely high levels, with North Korea," the president said. "I really believe there’s a lot of goodwill. We’ll see what happens, as I always say. Because ultimately it’s the end result that counts."
He added that the meeting with Kim could take place "probably in early June or before that," but cautioned it is hardly guaranteed, based on Kim’s actions.
#1
I still fail to see the rationale for the Trump administration's approach.
The best outcome is North Korea signing a nuclear disarmament agreement.
North Korea will cash in on sanctions relief and danegeld aid. And the realistic assumption is that North Korea will cheat.
It didn't work in 1994, and it won't work now that the US is strategically weaker and North Korea & puppet masters allies are strategically stronger and bolder.
Wouldn't it be better to just let the sanctions work?
[Free Beacon] ranian-backed militants are operating across the United States mostly unfettered, raising concerns in Congress and among regional experts that these "sleeper cell" agents are poised to launch a large-scale attack on the American homeland, according to testimony before lawmakers.
Iranian agents tied to the terror group Hezbollah have already been discovered in the United States plotting attacks, giving rise to fears that Tehran could order a strike inside America should tensions between the Trump administration and Islamic Republic reach a boiling point.
Intelligence officials and former White House officials confirmed to Congress on Tuesday that such an attack is not only plausible, but relatively easy for Iran to carry out at a time when the Trump administration is considering abandoning the landmark nuclear deal and reapplying sanctions on Tehran.
#3
Oh, I remember the first student wave of displaced Persians during the Shah's crackdown in the early '70s before the collapse of his reign. The State department paid their tuition, housing and gave them a stipend for incidentals. They started out in the general pop, but to get them to graduate the University created a cultural acclimation program.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi judiciary sentenced on Tuesday seven foreign women of various nationalities to death and life in jail over affiliation with 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.... hard boys, news reports said.
The Supreme Judicial Council said in a statement that the Central Criminal Court sentenced three Azerbaijanis and one Kergyz to death, while issuing a life sentence for two Russians and a French national.
Earlier news reports quoted AFP identifying the French nationa as 29-year-old Jamila Botoato.
Iraq is holding hundreds of foreign wives and children of Islamic State Lions of Islam who were captured as Iraqi forces gradually seized back territories held by the hard boy group since 2014.
Authorities say they are coordinating with other countries to extradite those held who are not convicted of terrorism.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/18/2018
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
Anbar (Iraqinews.com) ‐ Seven Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) Death Eaters were killed during a military operation to track down dormant terrorist cells in the desert areas between Anbar and Salahuddin provinces, a security source was quoted as saying.
"Troops of the 7th and 8th divisions of the Iraqi army, backed by pro-government forces of al-Hashd al-Shaabi, killed seven IS snuffies after storming the desert areas extending from the north of Anbar to the south of Salahuddin provinces," the source told IKH News Tuesday.
The source pointed out that the troops also destroyed nine terrorist hotbeds and several secret tunnels that were used by IS murderous Moslems in theses areas, adding that the operation was mainly aimed at "drying up the sources of terrorism in these areas."
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/18/2018
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
Over the last decade, China has significantly increased its global investments, particularly in international and maritime infrastructure. Chinese firms have pledged billions of dollars to develop maritime ports and related projects across the Indo-Pacific Region since China announced its strategy to increase global trade connectivity through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The BRI, China’s guiding foreign policy doctrine and one of the most ambitious economic initiatives in modern history, is portrayed by Chinese leaders as creating win-win economic development for all nations. Yet, some states question whether China’s infrastructure investments are driven by strategic interests.
“Wherever there is Chinese business, warships will have a transportation support point.” —Deng Xianwu (邓先武), commanding officer of the PLAN warship Changbaishan (长白山) (2016)
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... group member has made chilling confessions regarding the destructive activities he was involved in as well as his background.
The provincial government media office in Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. in a statement said the detained Taliban group member has been identified as Habib Jan and was locked away Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! from the 6th police district of Jalalabad city.
The statement further added that Habib Jan is originally a resident of Arza district of Pashtun-infested Logar province and was living in Sra Rod district of Nangarhar province while fighting in Taliban ranks.
Habib Jan has told the security forces that he was fighting for the Taliban under the leadership of Qari Daud in Pashtun-infested Logar.
He also confessed that he was trained in Pakistain where he was told that Jihad or the holy war is legitimate in Afghanistan.
According to Habib Jan, he was given the name of Rockety and admits that he has carried out numerous rocket attacks based on the instructions of his supporters.
According to the provincial government of Nangarhar, Habib Jan has also admitted that he and his comrades were receiving weapons from Pakistain.
Regretting for the destructive he has committed, Habib Jan has admitted that he has fought against his own country and people in Taliban ranks.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2018
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
[Hot Air] Ed wrote yesterday about the situation at a Philadelphia Starbucks where two black men were arrested after a manager called the police when they refused to either place an order or leave the store.
Starbucks’ CEO offered an apology and met with the two men but that’s not going to be enough to satisfy those who believe this was a case of racial profiling. There have been protests at the store claiming "Starbucks coffee is anti-black" and demands that the manager who called the police and the officers who arrested the men should be fired. Today, Starbucks tried to head off some of the criticism by announcing it would close 8,000 company-owned stores next month to give employees racial bias training: No, of course not. It will never "be enough."
#3
Why would I want to go someplace that vagrant sit around and just use the restroom all day long? At least they'll enjoy better decor than the public library.
#5
The guys came in, sat down, and never ordered anything. When questioned, they said they were waiting for someone (or a meeting, or whatever).
After they'd been there a while without ordering, (I haven't seen how long, but assuming longer than 10-15 minutes) they were asked to leave.
They didn't.
Don't care who you are, you aren't entitled to use another person's materials or property without the owner's legal right to demand compensation or payment.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/18/2018 14:17
Comments ||
Top||
#6
No, Mullah, your rules only apply to bleached people.
#6
Southwest is a pretty good airline and it's no surprise they have good people working for them. It could have been some other problem but I have to wonder if some of those 737s are getting old.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/18/2018 12:34
Comments ||
Top||
#7
UPDATE: Last night, the National Transportation Safety Board said a preliminary examination had revealed one of the CFM56-7B engine's fan blades was separated and missing. The blade was separated at the point where it would come into the hub and there was evidence of metal fatigue, chairman Robert Sumwalt said.
#9
Is it odd for a fuel explosion to blow forward?Maybe some maintenance tech didn't torque the cowling bolts?
No, it's not odd at all. WHen you consider the job of the blade is to pull forward (dragging the rest of the plane along with it) It's not surprising that the blade while separating, would keep on going forward, banging into the cowling and because of its shape, spiral around a bit (instead of a straight line trajectory) which explain why it hit the window in passing.
#11
I had lunch with a retired Delta senior mechanic today. He explained the entire fan structure in great technical detail. Bottom line according to him... "failed inspection procedures."
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) personnel have tossed in the slammer Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! a senior ISIS leader who is believed to be in charge of Amar bil Maruf section of the terror.
The group, similar as other krazed killer and terrorist groups, implements its own strict version of Islam through Amar bil Maruf.
Security sources in Nangahrar say the detained individual has been identified as Manawar alias Hadifa and was arrested from the vicinity of Haska Mina district.
The sources further added that the detained individual is in the custody of the security forces at the moment and is being investigated.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2018
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[IsraelTimes] The Israeli military on Tuesday evening said it fired tank shells at a Hamas, one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbung millipede, post in the southern Gazoo Strip, after button menshot up Israeli troops operating near the border.
There were no Israeli casualties in the incident.
A military spokeswoman noted that the incident occurred in an area which has seen recurrent violence during recent weeks’ protests near the border.
The Israeli military regularly strikes Hamas positions in response to attacks emanating from Gazoo, saying it holds the terror group that controls the Strip responsible for any violence.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Ministry of Defense of Afghanistan confirmed that 38 Death Eaters were killed during the joint Arclight airstrikes conducted in western Farah province of Afghanistan.
Mod deputy front man Gen. Mohammad Radanish told repoters that ten seniro leaders of the anti-government armed Death Eaters were among those killed.
The 207th Zafar Corps of the Afghan Military in the West said Monday that the airstrikes were jointly conducted by the Afghan and US forces in response to a coordinated Taliban ...Arabic for students... attack.
The source further added that dozens of Taliban Lions of Islam launched a coordinated attack on security posts in the outskirts of the city at around 2 am that lasted until 6 am in the morning.
According to Zafar Corps, the airstrikes were carried out around 3 am local time to suppress the krazed killers.
Several key commanders of the Death Eaters including Mullah Ibrahim ‐ leading a group of 40 Lion of Islams, Hafiz Niaz Mohammad ‐ leading of 30 krazed killers, Haji Basir commander of 20 Death Eaters and Saleh Moammad who was in charge of a group of at least 10 Death Eaters were among those killed.
In the meantime, Radmanish said at least 14 Death Eaters were killed in Ghazni, 10 in Paktia, 7 in Kandahar, and 2 in Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... provinces.
Gen. Radmanish said at least 40 Death Eaters were also maimed during the operations conducted with the support of the close-air support.
According to Gen. Radmanish, at least 15 operations are underway in 11 provinces of the country at the moment while commando forces have conducted 66 raids in the past 24 hours.
He also added that the Afghan Air Force has conducted at least 4 airstrikes in support of the ground forces during the same period.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2018
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
[FoxNews] Justice Neil Gorsuch provided the decisive vote Tuesday in a Supreme Court ruling striking down a key provision that made it easier to deport immigrants convicted of violent crimes, in a blow to the Trump administration.
President Trump's Supreme Court pick has largely sided with the conservative members of the bench since his appointment, but sided with the liberal wing on Tuesday.
"Today’s Court decision means that Congress must close loopholes that block the removal of dangerous criminal aliens, including aggravated felons. This is a public safety crisis that can only be fixed by Congress – House and Senate must quickly pass a legislative fix to ensure violent criminal aliens can be removed from our society. Keep America Safe!" Trump tweeted in response Tuesday evening.
Golly, that sure makes President Trump sound like he respects the Constitutional separation of powers...
The court said the part of the law in question was too vague to be enforced.
The court's 5-4 decision concerned a provision of federal immigration law that defines a "crime of violence." Conviction for a crime of violence subjects an immigrant to deportation and usually speeds up the process.
#1
so all Congress would need to do would be to adequately define 'Crime of Violence' in the statute
Posted by: lord garth ||
04/18/2018 0:08
Comments ||
Top||
#2
According to Gorsuch the way the law was written it could be used to abuse the rights of legal citizens, which goes against the will of the original framers. In other words, technically the law just needs proper rewriting for Gorsuch to allow it to stand.
you make a good point, many, many laws are, as you say, squishy
the problem with fixing the squishiness is that the squish is there on purpose
in the case at hand, the cops probably had Mr. Dimaya on several counts but he pleaded down to burglary (which Gorsuch found is not obviously violent). Had he pleaded to 'breaking and entering', it would have been different
Posted by: lord garth ||
04/18/2018 9:07
Comments ||
Top||
#8
Yep, LG, much, maybe most, of the squishiness is there on purpose depending on who's doing what to whom.
The growth of the bureaucracy didn't happen by accident. The more loop holes and nuances the more chances for wealth manipulation.
Make the laws tight and Insty's phrase comes in; "Where's the graft in that?"
The fewer to bother the rest of us then, my dears.
[ALMASDARNEWS] Since the beginning of March, renewed infighting between rival jihadist militias Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham (better known by its former name, al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... Front) and Jabhat Tahrir Souriya has seen both sides inflict major military losses on one another.
According to Syrian war monitor sources, six weeks of rebel festivities across various towns and villages of Idlib and Aleppo provinces (mostly Aleppo) has now seen about 400 Lion of Islam fighters killed in action.
In addition to this, dozens of military vehicles ‐ mostly technicals but also including main battle tanks and armored personnel carriers ‐ have been destroyed.
These numbers do not include two previous weeks of infighting between Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham and Jabhat Tahrir Souriya during February which saw the death of at least 200 bad boys.
The overall number of maimed can only be guessed at for now. In any case it likely exceeds one thousand fighters.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2018
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: al-Nusra
#1
Another reason for the SAA to concentrate on the Saraa Salient, Homs Pocket and the Yarmuk Pocket. Let their enemies kill each other.
#5
Consider the practical effect of displacing the Ghouta Rebels to Idlib. This is more akin to dropping a new gang into an area already filled with too many rival gangs. One 'I curse your mustaches, varmint!" and battle erupts. Now imagine the effect of adding more and more refugees gangsters...?
[ALMASDARNEWS] On Monday, Syrian al-Qaeda affiliate group Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham (better known by its former name, al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... Front) launched a swift counter-offensive against rival Islamist militia Jabhat Tahrir Souriya amid ongoing festivities in the western countryside of Aleppo province.
Rebel sources report that Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham managed to recapture the towns of As-Sadiyah, Sahyan, Aajel and Jamiyat al-Fursan from Jabhat Tahrir Souriya only hours after the latter had seized them itself.
The Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... -linked Noor al-Din al-Zenki faction (part of Jabhat Tahrir Souriya) reportedly lost four vehicles to Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham ‐ in detail, one armed pickup and a van captured as well as 2 other technicals destroyed.
Both warring rebel factions took on relatively serious losses as a result the engagement with about fifteen fighters being killed on each side during festivities that only lasted a matter of hours.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2018
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: al-Nusra
[STARTRIBUNE] A former Minneapolis FBI agent caught leaking classified documents to The Intercept pleaded guilty in federal court in St. Paul Tuesday afternoon.
Justice Department prosecutors charged Terry James Albury with unlawfully disclosing and retaining national defense information last month.
Albury is accused of sharing a document on assessing confidential human sources ‐ otherwise referred to as informants ‐ and a document "relating to threats posed by certain individuals from a particular Middle Eastern country" with a news hound for a national media organization.
The second count charged against Albury alleged that he failed to turn over a document "relating to the use of an online platform for recruitment by a specific terrorist group" last year. Albury pleaded guilty to both counts.
Not long after the charges were filed last month,
...our article on the subject is dated March 28th, though the misbehaviour apoarently took place between February 2016 and January 31, 2017...
Albury’s attorneys issued a statement through which he accepted "full repsonsibility for the conduct set forth" in the felony information ‐ a federal charging document that typically signals an imminent guilty plea. Albury’s attorneys, JaneAnne Murray and Joshua Dratel, said his actions "were driven by a conscientious commitment to long-term national security and addressing the well-documented systemic biases within the FBI."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2018
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Likely aided jihadists terrorists in identifying informants. Technically treason.
This was not urgent enough to publish after 2pm ET, DarthVader, so I pulled it back for the next day.
—trailing wife for the moderators
[Fox5SanDiego] The county Board of Supervisors Tuesday voted to file a court brief siding with the federal government in its lawsuit against California's so-called sanctuary state law.
With the vote, San Diego County became California's most populous county to rebuke state policies aimed at protect select immigrants from deportation. The sanctuary state law, SB 54, limits cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.
San Diego County's approach differs from that of the Orange County supervisors, who voted last month to join the suit. Instead, the San Diego County attorney will draft an amicus brief in support of the case, which will allow officials to offer their opinion without actually becoming involved in the courtroom fight.
However, the deadline to file such a brief has passed, meaning the earliest opportunity San Diego County will have to weigh in on the case will be if and when a decision in this case is appealed by the losing party to a higher court. So much for lockstep Blue State. San Diego County: "the 2010 population was 3,095,313.[5] making it California's second-most populous county and the fifth-most populous in the United States." (Wiki)
#4
The federal government should limit cooperation with states that flout federal law.
Which should first and foremost include severing financial cooperation. I'd start with any county or state that got all that nifty SWAT & tactical police gear under the Obama administration & confiscate it.
Thank you, DarthVader. There is a button on the left side of the article submission box that says Tomorrow. If you click on it, it will set the publishing time for the midnight rollover. You needn’t hope that the moderators catch it.
#6
Yes, folks. There are those of us in this state who are not on board with Moonbeam and his destructive and treasonous policies, who want to continue to be a part of the United States of America.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/18/2018 11:54
Comments ||
Top||
Diyala (Iraqinews.com) – Seven Islamic State (IS) militants, including a senior leader, were killed in an ambush set by paramilitary troops in northeastern Diyala province.
In a statement, a copy of which was obtained by Alforat News, the media service of al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) said, “Troops of the 110th brigade of Iraqi military intelligence planted a bomb to target a vehicle carrying seven IS militants at Imam Wees region in northeastern Diyala.”
“The bomb exploded once the vehicle passed over it, leaving all the IS militants killed, including a senior leader,” the statement read.
Diyala (Iraqinews.com) – Five Iraqi soldiers were wounded Tuesday in a bomb explosion south of Baqubah, the capital of Iraq’s Diyala, a security source was quoted as saying.
Speaking to Alghad Press, the source said, “An explosive charge planted on the side of a road at al-Naqib village, south of Baqubah, went off, leaving five soldiers wounded.”
All the injured soldiers were moved to a nearby hospital for treatment with two of them suffering from severe injuries, the source pointed out.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/18/2018
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[DailyMail] The White House is actively trying to put together an Arab fighting force that could replace American troops in Syria, allowing President Trump to make good on his promise that U.S. soldiers deployed there would be coming home soon.
Not only does President Trump want Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to donate billions of dollars to the war effort, the Wall Street Journal is reporting, he's asking them to commit troops to the war-torn Middle East country, too.
According to WSJ, the president's new national security advisor, John Bolton, asked Egypt's acting intelligence chief officer, Abbas Kamel, if Cairo would be willing to put boots on the ground in Syria.
Betcha the answer to that last was effectively “No.” Egypt already turned down the ooportunity to send Egyptian troops to the festivities in Yemen, after all.
[ALMASDARNEWS] 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... is willing to send its military to areas of Syria under the control of US-backed forces according to the country’s foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir.
Speaking in front of UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday, Adel al-Jubeir stated that Saudi Arabia has been in discussions with relevant authorities to send some of its forces from the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC) to Syria pending an official request.
The development comes after Saudi Arabia offered to foot the bill for the continued presence of US forces in Syria.
The offer was made in reaction to 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... ’s statement that he wanted to withdraw US forces from the Arab republic ‐ something which Saudi Arabia and other US-led coalition partner nations strongly oppose.
#6
Saudi's just need to tell Arab's at the Hajj that the only way to get the Christians out of the middle east is if they join up for a unified Arab force. You'd probably get double your expected numbers.
David Hogg, a 17-year-old high school senior and survivor of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is now an outspoken gun law activist. He took to Twitter on Tuesday to encourage a boycott of BlackRock (BLK) and The Vanguard Group. "Obey!"
Chick-fil-A’s sales have been up consistently since their boycott, and Laura Ingraham’s viewer numbers as well, so here’s hoping BlackRock and Vanguard enjoy the same effect.
It must be noted that Vanguard is part owner of Twitter,
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/18/2018
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
So.. we should invest in both since their value is going to go higher.
ETFs are likely a better bet long term than any mutual fund because the mutuals require administration fees
Posted by: lord garth ||
04/18/2018 9:34
Comments ||
Top||
#8
Gun sales increase since the Florida school shooting. If Hogg really wanted to impact the gun industry, he would just shut up! Methinks he likes the attention he is getting. Narcissist? He is a good reason why 16-year olds shouldn't be able to vote as is being promoted by some in Washington, D.C.
[IsraelTimes] As tension mounts after alleged bombing of Iranian air base in Syria, Israel issues map showing five Tehran-controlled bases in Syria
The map can be seen at the link.
Ahead of Israel’s Independence Day, the military was preparing for the possibility of a direct attack by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ air force in response to a strike on Iran’s air base in Syria earlier this month, The Times of Israel has learned.
In an apparent effort at deterrence, Israeli media was provided by the IDF with a map on Tuesday showing five Iranian-controlled bases in Syria, which would apparently constitute potential targets for an Israeli response should Iran carry out any kind of attack.
[Hot Air] On the eve of Tax Day Kroger, the largest grocery store chain in the world, announced that thanks to the GOP tax reform bill, the corporation will expand tuition reimbursements to employees by five times the current amount. The decision includes part-time workers.
Both full and part-time employees who have worked for Kroger six months will now be eligible for up to $3,500 in tuition reimbursement each year. The company will invest up to $21,000 in each employee’s education over multiple years whether it’s a GED, college or advanced courses or professional certification.
[IsraelTimes] The IDF announces it is pulling its F-15 squadron out of the Red Flag joint training exercise with US forces slated for May in Alaska.
The F-15s are staying put in Israel, according to sources, in preparation for possible escalation on the Syrian front, as the army expects Iran to avenge an alleged Israeli strike on Iranian forces in a Syrian air force base called T4 earlier this month.
In a statement, the IDF says, "The Air Force’s participation in the Red Flag exercise in Alaska will take place as planned in May. In light of assessments by the Air Force, it was decided to change the planes participating in the exercise."
The forces being sent instead of the F-15s include aerial refueling planes.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan authorities handed over the dead bodies of ten soldiers of the Frontier Corps ...a provincial paramilitary force. Total manpower is about 80,000. They are tasked to help local law enforcement in the maintenance of law and order, and to carry out border patrol and a..the Antwerp-based Salafist organization that had campaigned to introduce Sharia law to Belgium before single-handedly making Belgium the highest per capita supplier of jihadis to Syria in Europe. There was a big trial in Antwerp in 2015, but most of those convicted were in absentia...nti-smuggling operations.... of Pakistain along with another soldier who was placed in durance vile Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! during the festivities with the Afghan forces public uprising forces in Khost province ... across the border from Miranshah, within commuting distance of Haqqani hangouts such as Datta Khel and probably within sight of Mordor. Khost is populated by six different tribes of Pashtuns, the largest probably being the Khostwal, from which it takes its name... The authorities in Pakistain have confirmed that the dead bodies and detained soldier were transferred to Pakistain after a meeting between the two sides.
A local official in Kurram Agency ...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora... Sajid Hussain Turi said confirmed that five Frontier Corps soldiers were killed and twelve others were maimed during the festivities.
This comes as the Ministry of Defense front man Gen. Mohammad Radmanish told news hounds on Monday that the clash in Zazai Maidan district hast left at least 14 FC personnel dead and 17 others maimed.
He did not disclose further information in this regard but this comes as the Pak military officials are saying that two Frontier Corps soldiers were killed and five others were maimed after coming under from the Afghan side of the Durand Line.
"FC KP troops fired upon from Afghanistan side in Kurram agency. Troops were carrying out routine surveillance along Pak Afghan border for plugging of gaps and making necessary preparations for starting fencing in that area," the Pak military said in a statement.
The statement further added that "2 FC soldiers martyred and 5 injured. Pak troops are exercising maximum restraint so as to avoid any Afghan civilian casualties. Military engagement is underway to defuse situation."
However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... the Afghan officials are claiming that the clash broke out after Pak troops attempted to intrude into the Afghan soil.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2018
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[IsraelTimes] Blaze breaks out near Kibbutz Be'eri after a container of burning liquid is flown over the border on a kite, in fourth such attack in as many days
The Israel Defense Forces has learned how to protect the country from rockets, attack tunnels and stealthy Iranian drones, but since Friday the military has been stymied by a children’s toy: kites.
For the past five days, Paleostinians in Gazoo have made attempts to fly kites carrying burning cans of fuel into Israeli territory. The first attempt on Friday failed and the kite landed inside Gazoo, but the rest have sparked fires in southern Israel.
On Tuesday, one such kite started a fire in a grassy grove outside Kibbutz Be’eri, an Israeli community located some seven kilometers (4.3 miles) east of Gazoo’s Bureij refugee camp.
As of Tuesday afternoon, four teams of firefighters were working to bring the blaze under control, a front man for the local fire department said. The Kan news broadcaster reported that the fire had spread over almost 100 dunams (25 acres). This could not be immediately confirmed.
Gazooks filmed the kite crossing the border and starting the blaze, in a video shared on social media.
The kites seem to be the latest phase in the ongoing tension on the Gazoo border, as Paleostinians have rioted and protested along the security fence almost daily since March 30.
As this month also marks the beginning of Israel’s dry season, an IDF spokesperson on Friday said the military was prepared for the possibility that fires might break out and had therefore coordinated with local fire departments and put firefighting planes on standby.
However, alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk... when asked specifically about the low-tech threat posed by kites carrying incendiary devices, the army offered scant details about its ability to combat the threat.
"The IDF is prepared and ready for various scenarios during the riots organized along the Gazoo fence," the army said in a statement.
[ALMASDARNEWS] the Syrian Army discovered a mass grave on the outskirts of the city of Douma in Damascus’ East Ghouta region which contains the bodies of tens of fallen troops and civilians.
According to preliminary reports, the remains of around thirty (30) government soldiers and non-combatants have been unearthed so far, more corpses may yet be found has the excavation continues.
Specifically, the makeshift burial site was found just south of Douma city’s al-Jalaa gardens area. Jaish al-Islam ...Liwa al-Islam (Brigade of Islam) was established by Zahran Alloush, the son of Saudi-based religious scholar Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, after Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011 where he had been serving time for his Salafist activism. The group claimed responsibility for carrying out the July 2012 Damascus bombing that killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani. It was a driving force behind actions in the Damascus region. It cooperated and conducted joint operations with al-Nusra. In Sptember 2013 Saudi Arabia engineered Liwa al-Islam's merger with fifty other more or less Salafist groups as a counterweight to al-Nusra, which the Learned Elders of Islam considered was growing too powereful... turbans are believed to be the perpetrators of the massacre.
Al-Masdar News journalist Ibrahim Joudeh says that the mass grave found in Douma is possibly just one of tens that exist throughout the area, given that Jaish al-Islam is known to have captured and executed hundreds of Syrian troops and civilians over the last five years.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2018
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: Jaish al-Islam (MB)
Yuki Kawauchi of Japan and Desiree Linden of the U.S. celebrate with the trophy after winning the men's and women's divisions of the 122nd Boston Marathon.
Posted by: Large Ulerens5656 ||
04/18/2018 22:24
Comments ||
Top||
[ALMASDARNEWS] On the night of Monday to Tuesday, Russian warplanes conducted precision Arclight airstrikes in southern Idlib province against two of Syria’s most powerful Islamist rebel groups.
According to military-affiliated sources, Russian jets bombed weapons and ammunition storage sites as well as military camps and communication bases belonging to al-Qaeda affiliate group Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham (better known by its former name, al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... Front) and Jabhat Tahrir Souriya (comprising fighters and commanders linked to the Moslem Brüderbund).
Russian airstrikes were observed at the towns of Maar Zita, Maar Harmeh and Taarii; here, warplanes orbited the target area for a time and delivered munitions upon clear identification of myrmidon assets.
It is worth noting that, on the ground, both rebel groups targeted by Russian aircraft, Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham and Jabhat Tahrir Souriya, are currently in the midst of a war with one another.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2018
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: al-Nusra
[AnNahar] Three "terrorists" and three members of the Iranian security forces were killed during night-time festivities along Iran's border with Pakistain, state news agency IRNA reported on Tuesday.
"At 0130 this morning (2100 GMT Monday], a terrorist group from Pakistain attacked" a police post in the border area of Mirjaveh, around 75 kilometres southeast of Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Balochistan...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... province, IRNA said.
Three of the attackers were killed along with a police officer and two members of the Revolutionary Guards, it added.
Iran has criticised Pakistain in the past for supporting the Jaish al-Adl jihadist group, which it accuses of ties to al-Qaeda and carrying out numerous attacks in Sistan-Balochistan.
The restive province is poor and home to a population that is predominantly Sunni and ethnic Baluchi, in a country where 90 percent are Shiite and two-thirds are Persian.
From 2005 to 2010, Sistan-Balochistan suffered a prolonged insurgency by the Balochi-Sunni jihadist group Jundallah ..."Soldiers of God," a name used by two separate terror outfits, one active in Iran and the other in Pakistain. Both are Sunni organizations that target Shiites. The Pak version has close relations with al-Qaeda and the Pak Talibs and is probably a false nose and mustache for Lashkar-e-Jhangvi... , meaning "soldiers of Allah", although violence was largely curbed after the killing of its leader in mid-2010.
...a hint that we are not dealing with the philosopher-princes of their generation...
of Toulouse ...lies on the banks of the River Garonne, half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The Toulouse metropolitan area is the fourth-largest in La Belle France... have attacked police, torched cars and set fire to garbage during two nights of festivities
...another hint, but nothing is said directly...
that have led to 18 arrests, police said Tuesday.
The rioting in the Mirail area of the southern city, a high-crime neighbourhood
... and yet another hint ...
once home to several jihadists,
...not exactly a hint, that —more like a strong clout upside the head with a cluebat ...
was apparently sparked by the death of a local man in prison and an identity check by police on a veiled woman on Sunday.
In other words, any excuse to show the natives that they no longer own the place.
After nearly four hours of festivities on Sunday night that saw gangs throw stones at the local cop shoppe and set fire to about 10 cars, violence flared again on Monday night.
"Security forces were targeted throughout the night and carried out 18 arrests for violence, arson and insults," a statement from top local security official Pascal Mailhos said.
Anger in the area appeared to have been fuelled by the death of a local man in the nearby Seysses prison on Saturday which led to rumours that guards were responsible.
But any other excuse would have done equally well, and generally does.
A judicial investigation is underway, local prosecutors said, adding that an autopsy had found that suicide was the cause of the death.
Local police chief Arnaud Bavois said that an identity check on a fully veiled woman on Sunday exacerbated the tensions after she refused to show her papers to officers.
As I recall, in France it is now illegal for a woman to be fully veiled in public.
The Mirail area of Toulouse, whose high-rise social housing projects are known areas for drug-dealing and delinquency, is a troublespot that has been designated a priority area by French police.
Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) An arrest warrant has been issued for a runaway Iraqi police commander and several other lower-ranking personnel after he was accused of perpetrating several terror incidents in Kirkuk province, security sources were quoted saying.
Baghdad Today quoted the source saying that Cap. Loai Mohammed Reda, commander of Kirkuk’s "SWAT" forces and 20 of his subordinates.
"The personnel escaped to an unknown destination after armed robbers, locked away Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! yesterday, confessed that liquidations, carjackings and detonations of booby-traps had been carried out by his orders," the source told the website.
The source noted that the latest car blast in the province occurred on Monday.
Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... a province of mixed Arab and Kurdish ethnicities, has witnessed tensional security conditions over the past months since Iraqi forces took over the province from Kurdish Peshmerga forces in response to Kurdistan’s September vote for independence. Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... snuffies have also grabbed credit for several killings of security personnel after the Iraqi government declared victory over the group and the end of its territorial influence late last year.
The Iraqi government had repeatedly rebuffed accusations against its troops of committing ethnically-driven human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... breaches throughout the military campaign to retake areas occupied by IS.
[FOX] On Sunday, April 15, it was revealed Bush is in "failing health" and won’t seek additional medical treatment, a Bush family spokesman said.
"Following a recent series of hospitalizations, and after consulting her family and doctors, Mrs. Bush, now age 92, has decided not to seek additional medical treatment and will instead focus on comfort care," spokesman Jim McGrath said in a news release.
McGrath did not elaborate as to the nature of Bush’s health problems. She has been treated for decades for Graves’ disease, which is a thyroid condition, had heart surgery in 2009 for a severe narrowing of her main heart valve and was hospitalized a year before that for surgery on a perforated ulcer.
"It will not surprise those who know her that Barbara Bush has been a rock in the face of her failing health, worrying not for herself ‐ thanks to her abiding faith ‐ but for others," McGrath said. "She is surrounded by a family she adores, and appreciates the many kind messages and especially the prayers she is receiving."
Bush, who is at home in Houston, is one of only two first ladies who was also the mother of a president. The other was Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, the nation’s second president, and mother of John Quincy Adams, the sixth president.
Bush married George H.W. Bush on Jan. 6, 1945. They had six children and have been married longer than any presidential couple in American history.
Eight years after she and her husband left the White House, Mrs. Bush stood with her husband as their son George W. was sworn in as the 43rd president.
President Donald Trump’s press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said in a statement Sunday evening that "the President’s and first lady’s prayers are with all of the Bush family during this time."
Bush is known for her white hair and her triple-strand fake pearl necklace.
Her brown hair began to gray in the 1950s, while her 3-year-old daughter Pauline, known to her family as Robin, underwent treatment for leukemia and eventually died in October 1953. She later said dyed hair didn’t look good on her and credited the color to the public’s perception of her as "everybody’s grandmother."
Her pearls sparked a national fashion trend when she wore them to her husband’s inauguration in 1989. The pearls became synonymous with Bush, who later said she selected them to hide the wrinkles in her neck. The candid admission only bolstered her common sense and down-to-earth public image.
Her 93-year-old husband, the nation’s 41st president who served from 1989 to 1993, also has had health issues in recent years. In April 2017, he was hospitalized in Houston for two weeks for a mild case of pneumonia and chronic bronchitis. He was hospitalized months earlier, also for pneumonia. He has a form of Parkinson’s disease and uses a motorized scooter or a wheelchair for mobility.
Before being president, he served as a congressman, CIA director and Ronald Reagan’s vice president.
Barbara Pierce Bush was born June 8, 1925, in Rye, New York. Her father was the publisher of McCall’s and Redbook magazines. She and George H.W. Bush married when she was 19 and while he was a young naval aviator. After World War II, the Bushes moved to Texas where he went into the oil business.
[Townhall] R. Lee "Gunny" Ermey, the Golden Globe-nominated actor best known for his unforgettable role as a drill sergeant in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, died this week at the age of 74.
To commemorate Ermey’s life‐especially, his legendary work ethic and commitment to duty‐here is the best advice from Ermey’s memoir, Gunny’s Rules: How to Get Squared Away Like A Marine.
Make it a Habit
"The Marines did not teach me to roll over and play dead in the tough spots. I have not always achieved my mission, but when I have come up short, it isn’t because I do not go the extra mile, do not carry my load. I’ll hump it as far as it takes to get what I want. I have done that every day of my life since I became a Marine, in large roles or meager ones, and I expect to continue doing it until I’m in a wheelchair or my trip is over."
Never Say "It’s Good Enough"
"Unfortunately, for many people the ’extra mile’ seems to be a distance they cannot make. You can spot them a mile away: the clock watchers, the early quitters, the ’wait till tomorrow’ addicts, the ’it’s good enough, let’s move on’ cop-out artists. They’re in every office, every organization, even units of the military, law enforcement, and elsewhere. They’re not going to lift their hands one inch beyond their job descriptions, and often not even that far. I have no respect for these misguided hangers-on."
Family Matters Need Attention
"Families require "extra mile" performance as much as, if not more than, the workplace. Family cohesiveness and function depend on squared away, unwavering involvement between every member. The care, the love that cranks up families and keeps them going isn’t just mama’s job. There’s usually something happening all the time that takes extra effort. We all care about our parents and our brothers and sisters. When it takes an extra mile to help the family get up the hill, we need to make completely sure we’re not on leave or AWOL."
Take Care of "Number One"
"All those chores and things you’ve been putting off doing for yourself aren’t going to stop bugging you until you call a halt and turn-to. You need to give your personal needs an extra mile at times to stay squared away. Your job and duties and the needs of others still rank high in your priorities, but you also have to look out for Number One. Sometimes that takes an extra effort, whether it’s getting in that hour-long run you need or taking care of a personal chore like shining your shoes or ironing your shirt. You’re responsible to your family and your employer, but also to yourself. "
Work the Problem!
"Whatever major malfunction is tormenting you, whether it’s in your head or it’s some piece of broken machinery or technology, you must face the situation with calm, deliberate action. You will find help if you need it. You will kick the malfunction in the ass and move on. If you do not grasp the fact that you are capable of doing this, you are going to be set back time and again by life’s booby traps and plain old bad breaks. The problems‐the malfunctions‐should not throw your train off the tracks or wreck your missions and objectives. You might be delayed while you work on the pain-in-the-butt problem, but you’ve got to get it done and get back on schedule."
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Russian military has released a full report on the US-led missile attack against Syria during the morning hours of April 14, part of which details what Syrian air defense systems were used and the effectiveness of such weapons.
According to the report, one hundred and three (103) US, British and French cruise missiles fired at Syria were engaged by a range of Syrian air defense systems including Pantsir-S1, Buk-M2, Kub, Strela-10, Osa, S-125 and S-200 that, in turn, replied with 112 surface-to-air missiles (SAM).
In order, the effectiveness of these air defense systems were recorded as follows:
The complete ineffectiveness of the S-200 to successfully engage any of the attacking cruise missiles has been put down to the SAM system’s biased design towards intercepting high-altitude aircraft, not low-flying missiles.
The statistics likely fail to account for Western cruise missiles that were downed or driven off target due to ‘soft-kill’ electronic warfare systems – something which Russian sources will never confirm the use of.
In any case, going by official numbers, the interception rate of Syrian air defenses during the US-led missile attack stands at about 70 percent.
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Ministry of Defense (MoD) has released a brief promotion video (below) showcasing some of the anti-aircraft systems that were used to counter a barrage of over one hundred cruise missiles fired at Syria by the United States, Britain and France on April 14.
The video demonstrates the operation of a number of anti-aircraft systems by the Syrian Air Defense Force including Buk-M [SA-11/SA-17], Pantsir-S1 [SA-22 Grayhound], S-125 ‘Pechora’ [SA-3 Goa], SA-6 ‘Kub’ and ZSU-23-4 ‘Shilka’.
Furthermore, the video also showcases a very quick view of the P-15 early warning radar system.
Going by official Russian military accounts, the US-led missile attack against government sites on April 14 saw Syrian air defenses down about 70 percent of all incoming cruise missiles.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2018
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Do they mean the ADS that didn't fire until the attack was over but kept firing into the next day?
The Pentagon said more than 40 Syrian surface-to-air missiles had “no material effect” on the allied strikes, which McKenzie said hit their targets. None of the more sophisticated air defenses that Russia has positioned in Syria were employed, he said.
Pentagon officials said none of the 105 allied missiles fired were hit by Syria’s Soviet-era antimissile fire.
A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity under briefing rules, said it appeared that nearly all the Syrian surface-to-air defenses were fired after the allied missiles hit their targets.
#2
Going by official Russian military accounts, the US-led missile attack against government sites on April 14 saw Syrian air defenses down about 70 percent of all incoming cruise missiles.
...HahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahNO. Not even close. The BDA pics I've seen so far suggest to me that pretty much every single weapon got through.
Kind of interesting too that we're not seeing a single piece of wreckage or other evidence.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/18/2018 5:52
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Syrian air defenses down about 70 percent of all incoming cruise missiles.
Just for grins, let's pretend this is true.
In planning a strike, you expect some percentage of incoming to be taken out by the defenses. With roughly 100 missiles launched, this leaves 30 for what seems to be a small number of targets. Given that the targets are 'soft' buildings (as opposed to hardened bunkers and aircraft revetments) and looking at the before & after pix, this all sounds semi-plausible.
[ALMASDARNEWS] Reports have begun to emerge from Syrian state media (SANA) claiming that over one thousand rebel fighters are preparing to evacuate the city of Ad-Dumayr in northeastern Damascus province.
The bully boyz are noted to all belong to the Jaish al-Islam ...Liwa al-Islam (Brigade of Islam) was established by Zahran Alloush, the son of Saudi-based religious scholar Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, after Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011 where he had been serving time for his Salafist activism. The group claimed responsibility for carrying out the July 2012 Damascus bombing that killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani. It was a driving force behind actions in the Damascus region. It cooperated and conducted joint operations with al-Nusra. In Sptember 2013 Saudi Arabia engineered Liwa al-Islam's merger with fifty other more or less Salafist groups as a counterweight to al-Nusra, which the Learned Elders of Islam considered was growing too powereful... faction ‐ a group which has seen its forces recently ejected from other areas east of the Syrian capital. They will reportedly be relocated to the city of Jarablus, currently under the control of Ottoman Turkish-backed rebels.
SANA reports that, so far, Jaish al-Islam fighters in Ad-Dumayr have begun to hand over their heavy equipment to the Syrian Army per an agreement with military negotiation authorities.
There are also reports that a small number of Jaish al-Islam turbans will reconcile with the Syrian government and remain in Ad-Dumayr, however this is unconfirmed.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2018
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Jaish al-Islam (MB)
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Militants affiliated with the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group have beheaded a child on charges of helping the security forces in northern Jawzjan province of Afghanistan.
The local officials confirmed on Tuesday that the incident has takne place in the vicinity of Darzab district, home to several ISIS Death Eaters.
Provincial security chief Abdul Hafiz Khashi said the child, believed to be 14-year-old, was beheaded by ISIS bandidosmurderous Moslems because he was taking food and water to the security forces in the area.
Khashi further added that the victim has been identified as Rahimdad and was helping the security forces voluntarily.
This comes as Afghan and US Special Forces are also busy conducting counter-terrorism operations against the terror group in North of the country.
According to a report by NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... Special Operations Component Command-Afghanistan, Afghan Special Security Forces eliminated 22 IS-K fighters attempting to defend IS-K’s strategic center of Darzab district, Jowzjan province on Apr. 11. The operation occurred six days after Qari Hekmatullah, the IS-K emir for northern Afghanistan, and his bodyguard were killed by a U.S. Arclight airstrike in Darzab on Apr. 5.
The report further adds that fighters that choose to stay with IS-K face a similar fate as its leaders. Afghan and U.S. special operations coupled with U.S. airstrikes continue to decimate the heart of IS-K in Darzab. Afghan and U.S. forces have killed 90 IS-K fighters this year, a majority were eliminated in Darzab.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2018
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[AnNahar] Iraq is using collective punishment including sexual exploitation against women and kiddies with alleged ties to 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.... jihadists, Amnesia Amnesty International said Tuesday.
In a new report, the watchdog revealed widespread discrimination by security forces, camp administrators and local authorities against women and kiddies in eight camps for people displaced by violence.
"Iraqi women and kiddies with perceived ties to IS are being punished for crimes they did not commit," said Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty's Middle East research director.
"They are trapped in camps, ostracised and denied food, water and other essentials. This humiliating collective punishment risks laying the foundation for future violence."
The United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... said in February that some 2.5 million people remained displaced after Iraqi forces backed by an international coalition waged a vast offensive to oust the Lion of Islam group from parts of northern Iraq it had seized in 2014.
Many of those who fled IS-held areas ended up in camps.
Amnesty said that in each of the eight camps it visited, women were being pressured into sexual relationships in exchange for money, aid and protection.
In its report, entitled "The Condemned: Women and Children Isolated, Trapped and Exploited in Iraq", the watchdog said women in the camps were also at risk of rape.
"The very people who are supposed to be protecting them are turning into predators," said Maalouf.
She called on the Iraqi government to show its commitment to protecting women by "holding all perpetrators to account and stopping all gunnies from entering" the camps for the displaced.
Amnesty also called on Iraqi authorities to "immediately end the systematic and widespread practise of forcibly disappearing men and boys with perceived ties to IS that has left thousands of wives, mothers, daughters and sons in desperate situations".
In many cases, the men's only "crimes" were escaping an IS stronghold, having similar names to jihadists on "wanted lists", or working in non-combat roles with the group, the watchdog said.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/18/2018
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
#2
As opposed to the rape, abuse, and general enslavement that ISIS visited any women they captured. That Amnesia International was generally silent about.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
04/18/2018 15:03
Comments ||
Top||
[KSTP] A 32-year-old man has pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection to what authorities said was an attempted sexual assault on the Minneapolis Community and Technical College campus in early March. "Yeah. I dunnit and I'm glad!"
Asad Abu Mohammed of Bloomington entered his plea Monday in Hennepin County court. Sentencing is scheduled for June 8. "You know what this is, Abu?"
"It's a book, yer honor."
[FLING!]
The criminal complaint states Minneapolis police were dispatched to the campus on March 2, where they encountered what the complaint terms a "chaotic scene," as witnesses were comforting a female adult student and MCTC security officers were struggling to detain Mohammed. "The net, Larry! Quick!"
According to the complaint, the woman told police Mohammed had crawled into her stall in a women's restroom from an adjacent stall. "Hey! How'd you get in here?"
She said he then covered her mouth and told her he would kill her before ripping out an earring and pulling on her hair. "Sex!! Abu want sex!"
"Beat it! I'm poopin'!"
The complaint also notes two previous charges of indecent exposure against Mohammed were dismissed due to "mental deficiency," and he had been civilly committed as mentally ill in October 2016. I've run across a few low IQ people in my life. None of them have indecently exposed themselves, at least to me. I've known fewer lunatics, but Abu sounds like a sterling representative of the breed, and an argument in favor of maintaining a few crazy houses for long term storage.
He sounds entitled rather than crazy to me. Sex jihad is apparently believed by some to be a thing, hence the rape clubs now being revealed in England. As a British ‘Asian’ gang member once told an interviewer, “...Muslim gangs aren't worried about what Allah makes of their criminal ways -- they don't believe in it to that extent."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2018
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists
#1
Hey Supreme Court, is this crime sufficiently violent for deportation?
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan forces blocked one of the major supply routes of the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... group during an operation along the Durand Line.
The provincial government in Paktia said the route between Kurram Agency ...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora... and Dand-e-Pathan district in Paktia province was blocked during an operation of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces.
According to a official statement, the Afghan forces managed to fully take control of Tongi Sar, Top Sar, and Koch Haram areas and block the supply route of the Taliban group.
The statement further added that the Taliban group was using the route to provide supplies to its fighters in Paktia and other southeastern province.
According to the provincial government, at least twelve Taliban bandidos holy warriors were killed during the operations and some others were maimed.
The Afghan forces and the local residents did not suffer any casualty during the operations, the statement added.
Paktia governor Shahmim Khan Katawazi said the closure of the supply route of Taliban will have a positive impact on security situation in Paktia and other southeastern provinces.
He also added that the Afghan forces will soon establish more security posts in the area in a bid to prevent the return of the Death Eaters and ensure control of the government.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2018
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
This was not urgent enough to publish after 2pm ET, gorb, so I pulled it back for the next day.
—trailing wife for the moderators
[FoxNews] California Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, during a Tuesday visit to Washington, blamed "low-life politicians" for the backlash over his state's "sanctuary" laws and sparred with President Trump over a push to send National Guard troops to the southern border. Lowlife == People who don't think like me.
He spoke at The National Press Club shortly after officials with the Southern California city of Los Alamitos voted to exempt the city from the state's sanctuary policy on the grounds it is unconstitutional. NPC == Liberal safe space.
But Brown defended the state law, suggesting Republicans are exploiting it for political reasons. Unlike liberals, who would never ever do such a low-life thing.
"The Republican Party has this little, narrow group of ... people that think that somehow they’re going to get elected" on the issue, Brown said of the recently enacted state law that helps protect illegal immigrants from deportation. Then be happy because they'll be out of office soon.
Los Alamitos City councilman Warren Kusumoto provides insight on 'Fox & Friends First.'
The Trump administration in early March also announced a lawsuit challenging the law. And in the ensuing weeks, Orange County and at least nine cities within its boundaries -- including Los Alamitos and Huntington Beach -- have joined the fight.
Elected officials in San Diego County also will meet Tuesday to consider joining the Trump suit.
"It’s an inflammatory football that very low-life politicians are trying to exploit," Brown said of the conservative-led backlash. Low-life? Like name-calling?
He predicted a "wave election" in the fall will give the country "new opportunities to take a different path" and said, "If Trump wants to round them up like some totalitarian, say that, say, ’Ship them out.’" Shh. Never interrupt your enemies when you think they're making a mistake.
Minutes before Brown spoke, Trump blasted the governor for agreeing to send hundreds of National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border but limiting the scope of their duties. Have they been limited to obstructing everyone else yet?
"Looks like Jerry Brown and California are not looking for safety and security along their very porous Border," Trump tweeted. "He cannot come to terms for the National Guard to patrol and protect the Border. The high crime rate will only get higher. Much wanted Wall in San Diego already started!" Maybe build the wall around California?
Brown, when informed by a reporter about the tweet, attempted to downplay the disagreement between the state and the National Guard. I don't think it's the NG that disagrees with Trump.
"I think we’re already coming to terms," said Brown, who added he wants the roughly 200 to 400 Guardsmen he’s sending to focus on human trafficking and gun smuggling, amid Trump and others' concerns about illegal border crossings. "The guards are champing at the bit to get there. ... I am concerned about our borders." Why are they champing at the bit? They should have been there long ago if that's the case.
The flower child 80-year-old governor, who leaves office in January, also argued that critics of the state’s sanctuary policy have exaggerated or at least misinterpreted it, particularly the issue of local officials not being able to inform federal agents when an illegal immigrant is being released from jail. Great! Let's see the long list of the folks who have been reported then.
"There’s nothing that stops local officials from notifying U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that a jailed person is going to be released," Brown said, who also said the releases are a matter of public record. If they want to keep their pension, that is.
He also dismissed as "outlandish" and "absolutely false" concerns that the law favors illegal immigrants over citizens, in reponse to a question from Fox News' Griff Jenkins. Let us try doing in Mexico what the illegals are actually doing here. Let's see how far we get. And it seems if the laws don't favor illegals, then they are dis-favoring citizens. And our votes. And my entitlements. Which we have to work for. And they don't.
"I’m dealing with a humanitarian crisis," said Brown, who argued the law is intended to protect the hundreds of thousands of people who arrived in California but have lived and worked in the state without problems. Like Kate Steinle's killer.
Still, he argued that "no law is perfect and always subject to change." Especially the laws that are imperfect by design and neglect.
Brown also said he supports comprehensive immigration reform and cast some of the blame on Congress for failing to resolve the issue of what to do with those brought to the United States illegally by their parents. Golly. I have several good ideas. Let me at it.
Glad to hear it, gorb. There is a button on the left side of the article submission box that says Tomorrow. If you click on it, it will set the publishing time for the midnight rollover. You needn’t hope that the moderators catch it.
#10
I think two announcements should be made by Trump:
1.If you are not a citizen and you vote in the next election you will be deported and NEVER be allowed to be a citizen.
2. If you are a business person and hire an illegal immigrant, your business will be taken from you! I have paid taxes and social security all my working life. Why should a dishonest business person’s employees be allowed to compete with me?
Posted by: CC READER ||
04/18/2018 16:22
Comments ||
Top||
[IsraelTimes] Search for evidence of regime attack follows days of delay, and comes amidst warnings by Western powers that crucial material has likely been removed
Syria on Tuesday said international Sherlocks had entered a town hit by an alleged chemical attack, after days of delay and warnings by Western powers that crucial evidence had likely been removed.
The suspected gas attack on April 7 on Douma, near Damascus, reportedly left more than 40 people dead and was blamed by Western powers on the regime of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... In response, the United States, La Belle France, and Britannia conducted unprecedented missile strikes on Syrian military installations, but Gay Paree admitted on Tuesday they were a matter of "honor" that had solved nothing.
"Experts from the chemical weapons committee enter the town of Douma," state news agency SANA wrote, referring to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
The inspectors arrived in Damascus on the day of the Western strikes but had not been allowed to enter Douma.
La Belle France and the United States appeared to question the purpose of such a mission, warning that any incriminating evidence had likely been removed by now.
"It is highly likely that evidence and essential elements disappeared from the site, which is completely controlled by the Russian and Syrian armies," the French foreign ministry said.
The US ambassador to the OPCW, Ken Ward, had claimed Monday that the site "may have been tampered with."
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova hit back at La Belle France, calling the accusation "very surprising" and saying that Russia had supported the inspection.
Several experts have also said however that any investigation at this stage was likely to be inconclusive.
"As with any scene of the crime, it is crucial to get there as soon as possible," said Olivier Lepick, a fellow at the Gay Paree-based Foundation for Scientific Research.
"If the Russians and Syrians have nothing to hide, it’s strange that they would wait 36 to 72 hours," he said. "It’s probably to give themselves the time to finish cleaning up."
[DW] Syria's state news agency had reported that experts from the OPCW had already entered the site of an alleged chemical attack. But Syria's UN ambassador said only a UN security team has so far entered the besieged town.
Conclusion: Someone is there doing something, but they may not actually be inspectors inspecting.
#2
Western media is reporting the White Helmets yelled "gas" but actual cause of death was hypoxia. The White Helmets are largely funded by the U.S. and UK governments and were founded in 2013 by James Le Mesurier, a former British military intelligence officer, and private security specialist.
[Bangkok Post] Two people were killed early Monday morning after gunshots were fired at a security vehicle in Pattani province.
Police spokesman Suwat Chaimanee said Muhamad Roree was wounded by gunfire at 2:30am after he had finished providing security at a school. At least six gunmen were waiting in ambush as he drove home. His passenger, Abdulkarim Muesa, and Sabuding Niheng, who was driving on that stretch of road at the same time, died later at the hospital, the investigator said adding that the event was likely to dishearten local residents.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Jordanian security sources have revealed cooperation with Iraq to enable border troops to follow Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... members on the borders between the two countries.
Speaking to Emirates News Agency, the sources said Jordan provided Iraq with security information about places where the Lions of Islam gather inside Iraq near the borders.
This came as Iraqi troops launched wide-scale operations on borders with Jordan, Syria and 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... to follow the remnants of Islamic State.
In remarks by Brig. Gen. Yehia Rasool, spokesperson for the Security Media Center, the operations target regions located west of Nineveh, inlcuding Mahlabiya, Sinjar reaching to Um Gereis on the international borders.
"The military operations in Anbar, west of Iraq, on borders with Jordan, began inspecting regions of Akashat-Rutba, north of the highway linking between west of Iraq and borders with Jordan, in addition to operations at the Upper Euphrates, extending between Rawa to Rummana, west of Anbar on borders with Syria," Rasool added.
Jordan’s Interior Minister Ghaleb al-Zaabi met with his Iraqi counterpart Qassim al-Aaraji, two months ago, when they agreed on forming a joint committee to supervise security of the borders and operate patrols alongside the borders.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/18/2018
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[Breitbart] nullThe unprecedented U.S.-led air campaign against the Taliban’s economic engine, opium and heroin, has destroyed 73 drug labs and deprived the narco-jihadist group of $42 million in proceeds since President Donald Trump authorized the operations in November.
President Trump’s decision to expand the U.S. air campaign to target the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... ’s drug activities came amid the historic production of opium, the main ingredient in heroin.
Following a dramatic drop in counternarcotics activity authorized by former President Barack Obama I inhaled. That was the point... , the cultivation area and overall production of opium skyrocketed, providing the Taliban with more funding to continue waging its terror campaign as the U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan.
The dramatic increase in opium cultivation coincided with a Taliban resurgence.
According to the U.S. government, the Taliban generates at least 65 percent of its funding, estimated at $300 million to $500 million annually, from the production and smuggling of opium and heroin.
#7
I hope the heroin is so pure that it is fatal to all addicts that use it. I would like Mexico to allow US drones to hunt cartel members. If not that then allow non-military actors in the US to hunt them on our border. KILL!
Posted by: CC READER ||
04/18/2018 16:53
Comments ||
Top||
#8
Libertarian in me says we should buy up the whole crop at farmer prices and give it away free to users inside fenced distribution centers. If they want to kill themselves, at least they won't be hurting anyone else, and we'd put all the middlemen out of business.
Well done, President Sisi. Here’s hoping the riots in the villages aren’t too destructive.
[AlAhram] Egypt's Prime Minister Sherif Ismail approved on Monday the legalising of 102 churches and 64 church-associated buildings during a meeting with a regulating committee tasked with reviewing and legalising unlicensed churches, MENA news agency reported.
For decades, Egyptians Christians have congregated at unlicensed churches due to the difficulty in obtaining church building licences.
In early January 2018, Egypt's Ministry of Housing issued an order allowing Christians to practice their religious rites at unlicensed churches pending legalisation procedures.
In 2016, the government passed a law easing regulations around obtaining licences for building Christian houses of worship.
Before the law was passed, the country's Christians, who make up an estimated 10 percent of the country's 100 million people, had long struggled to obtain building permits for churches, with the process often taking years.
Monday's decision involves churches across several governorates, but their precise location is not clear.
The committee meeting was attended by Egypt's Minister of Local Development Abu Bakr El-Guindy and officials from other ministries.
PM Ismail called on the committee to continue reviewing more cases to speed up the process.
Ismail added that the committee's work is in line with the 2014 constitution, which guarantees the right to freedom of religious practice for Moslems, Christians and Jews.
What, all fifty or so Jews remaining, mostly elderly females? Golly.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
"CoolSeal is applied like conventional sealcoats to asphalt surfaces to protect and maintain the quality and longevity of the surface," according to the company website. "While most cool pavements on the market are polymer based, CoolSeal is a water-based, asphalt emulsion."
[Real Clear Politics] On Sunday evening, ABC preempted its regularly scheduled programming to broadcast an exclusive interview conducted by "This Week" host George Stephanopoulos with former FBI Director James Comey. The star treatment is part of an all-out publicity campaign that Comey, fired by President Trump less than one year ago, has launched to promote his new book, "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership." How Comey’s portrayal of himself as a virtuous man selflessly devoted to the public interest fits with his rush to cash in on public service by disclosing details of his relationship with a sitting president is one of the salient questions Stephanopoulos failed to pose Sunday night.
In a new book titled Queer disbelief: Why LGBTQ Equality is an Atheist Issue, writer Camille Beredjick proposes that atheists unite with LGBTQ communities as allies against Christianity.
[C4ADS] Executive Summary:
[Hot Air] Ed wrote yesterday about the situation at a Philadelphia Starbucks where two black men were arrested after a manager called the police when they refused to either place an order or leave the store. 
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) personnel have 
[IsraelTimes] The Israeli military on Tuesday evening said it fired tank shells at a 
David Hogg, a 17-year-old high school senior and survivor of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is now an outspoken gun law activist. He took to Twitter on Tuesday to encourage a boycott of BlackRock (BLK) and The Vanguard Group.
Kurram Agency
...Liwa al-Islam (Brigade of Islam) was established by Zahran Alloush, the son of Saudi-based religious scholar Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, after Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011 where he had been serving time for his Salafist activism. The group claimed responsibility for carrying out the July 2012 Damascus bombing that killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani. It was a driving force behind actions in the Damascus region. It cooperated and conducted joint operations with al-Nusra. In Sptember 2013 Saudi Arabia engineered Liwa al-Islam's merger with fifty other more or less Salafist groups as a counterweight to al-Nusra, which the Learned Elders of Islam considered was growing too powereful...
[FOX] On Sunday, April 15, it was revealed Bush is in "failing health" and won’t seek additional medical treatment, a Bush family spokesman said.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Militants affiliated with the 
[KSTP] A 32-year-old man has pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection to what authorities said was an attempted sexual assault on the Minneapolis Community and Technical College campus in early March.
[FoxNews] California Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, during a Tuesday visit to Washington, blamed "low-life politicians" for the backlash over his state's "sanctuary" laws and sparred with President Trump over a push to send National Guard troops to the southern border. 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Jordanian security sources have revealed cooperation with Iraq to enable border troops to follow 
[Breitbart] 
