[DailyMail] An explosion rocked Sri Lanka as police opened fire at a suicide vest factory during a raid on suspected terrorists linked to the Easter Sunday massacre.
Shooting erupted between security forces and a group of men in the east of the country during a search operation, a military spokesman said.
The raid took place in the town of Sainthamaruthu, 200 miles from Colombo where 253 people were killed in luxury hotels and churches on Sunday.
Several of the terror suspects blew themselves up as the authorities opened fire, according to Ada Derana.
Posted by: Spot ||
04/26/2019
13:54 ||
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#1
"The textiles industry is Sri Lanka is exploding"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2019 14:26
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#4
"Just one word, Binyamin. Well, three words, actually... and it's really pretty risky... and there's not much of a future in it. Are you listening, Binyamin? Binyamin? Geez, these kids today..."
The study of an ancient microbrewery in Peru and its supply of a sour beer has provided scientists new insights into the stability of the Wari empire.
For several years, researchers have been studying the remains of a brewing site at Cerro Baúl, an ancient city in southern Peru and the political center of the Wari empire, which lasted from 600 to 1100 AD -- a long time for an ancient dynasty.
According to archaeologists, the brewing site played an important role in the development the empire's political organization.
"It was like a microbrewery in some respects. It was a production house, but the brewhouses and taverns would have been right next door," Ryan Williams, an associate curator and head of anthropology at the Field Museum in Chicago, said in a news release.
Williams and his colleagues estimate political elites regularly gathered at the brewery to drink a locally made sour ale called chicha.
"[Chicha] was only good for about a week after being made, it wasn't shipped offsite -- people had to come to festivals at Cerro Baúl to drink it," Williams said. "These festivals were important to Wari society."
For the latest study, researchers blasted the insides of one of the beer-drinking vessels with a laser. The laser helped separate a layer of the beverage from the ceramic. When researchers heated the ancient beer molecules, they were able to discern some of the ingredients.
Scientists determined the sour ale was made using pepper berries, a drought resistant plant. They also confirmed the ceramic drinking vessels were locally made. The findings -- published this week in the journal Sustainability -- suggests the Wari's beer supply was immune to unfavorable weather and trading disruptions.
Even when instabilities arose, the Wari empire always had beer. Researchers at the Field Museum suggest the beverage was a tool of political unity.
"We think these institutions of brewing and then serving the beer really formed a unity among these populations, it kept people together," said Williams.
#1
How long until someone 'reproduces' the brew and hipsters flock to lap it up, and someone claims cultural appropriation because the microbrewery wasn't peruvian enough. Then folks start to admit it really didn't taste very good after all since Uncle Sam forces certain standards of cleanliness that strip the proud Peruvian brew of its ummph.
[NakedSecurity] The National Security Agency (NSA) has asked to end its mass phone surveillance program because the work involved outweighs its intelligence value, according to reports this week.
Sources told the Wall Street Journal that the NSA has recommended the White House terminates its call data records (CDR) program. The logistics of operating it aren't worth the intelligence that it provides, they said.
The NSA's clandestine phone records gathering program dates back to the introduction of the Patriot Act in 2001, shortly after the 9/11 attacks on the US. Section 215 of the Act enabled the US intelligence community to collect extensive information.
Shortly afterwards, President George Bush authorized the warrantless collection of data about international telephone calls and emails, and the NSA began collecting data under a program called Stellar Wind.
In 2006, a class action suit targeted Verizon, BellSouth and AT&T, alleging that they handed over call records to the NSA. In 2013, Edward Snowden publicly revealed documents detailing the Stellar Wind program. The American Civil Liberties Union (CLU) sued then-director of national intelligence James Clapper to stop the bulk metadata collection program for violations under the first and fourth amendments.
The ACLU won its case on appeal in May 2015, just before Section 215 expired under a sunset clause. Congress passed the Freedom Act a day after the clause expired, sustaining Section 215 but with new restrictions. One of these included the retention of bulk call metadata by the phone companies. The NSA would have to query it using specific selectors to limit the number of records gathered. This contrasts with the previous practice, in which the NSA collected and held call data records itself.
This legislation seems to have made the bulk data collection program less useful. The WSJ cites one government official saying that:
The candle is not worth the flame.
The CDR program has come under increasing political pressure in recent months. In March, Senators Ron Wyden and Rand Paul introduced the Ending Mass Collection of Americans' Phone Records Act of 2019, which aims to eliminate the program. Wyden said at the time:
The NSA's sprawling phone records dragnet was born in secrecy, defended with lies and never stopped a single terrorist attack. Even after Congress acted in 2015, the program collected over half a billion phone records in a single year. It's time, finally, to put a stake in the heart of this unnecessary government surveillance program and start to restore some of Americans' liberties.
The pair were concerned by a public statement by the NSA in June 2018, in which it admitted to collecting some call data records that it was not authorized to receive, due to "technical irregularities".
The senators wrote a letter to the NSA's inspector general detailing their concerns in August 2018.
Some have said she’d have a lock on the nomination if she wanted it. Others point out that she has a lot of baggage, in terms of inheriting her husband’s enemies, but not his friends.
#11
I hope for Mrs.Clinton’s sake that the pneumonia that so drained her during the 2016 campaign was a lone occurrence, and the root of all the rumours about her poor health. Because if she has other health problems she won’t be able to handle the rigours of another campaign, let alone the presidency — and those who are not her friends will be pouring over video footage for any sign of problems. As will the Justice department and a variety of hackers, no doubt.
🇺🇸Baledogle Airfield is a former soviet base currently being revamped by the United States for operations against al Qaida-linked al-Shabaab in Somalia In 3 years the USAF has repaired a 10,092 ft long, 140 runway capable of hosting their varied inventory, godspeed USAF 💪 pic.twitter.com/geBvDpzqzJ
[IsraelTimes] Peacekeeping force requests ’urgent follow-up’ from Lebanese authorities after acknowledging another of the 6 tunnels Israel uncovered last year crossed Blue Line.
The Israeli army said the tunnel from the Lebanese town of Ramyeh ‐ just 800 meters (yards) from the border ‐ reached a few dozen meters into Israel, and descended 55 meters (180 feet) underground.
UNIFIL on Thursday said the tunnel was the third to have crossed the "Blue Line," a demarcation line drawn by the UN to mark Israel’s withdrawal from southern Leb in 2000.
"UNIFIL’s independent assessment confirms that this tunnel crosses the Blue Line in violation of Resolution 1701" which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, it said.
[Daily Caller] The majority of historically black colleges’ graduates haven’t paid a single dollar of their student loan balance in the first several years of leaving school, federal data shows.
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s college plan reserves $50 billion for minority-serving schools.
The majority of the 100 schools with the worst rate of three-year student loan repayment are historically black colleges and universities (HBCU), but only 5 percent of schools are HBCUs, The Wall Street Journal reported April 17.
Warren ‐ a former Harvard Law School professor ‐ proposed setting aside $50 billion for HBCUs and minority-serving institutions April 22. The HBCU proposal is part of Warren’s broader plan to have the government forgive existing student loans and pay for tuition moving forward.
#2
I'll say it again - this broad, who got $400K to teach one freaking course at Harvard, does not believe that level of salary contributes to the massive cost of secondary education. No one at Harvard can be that world-class stupid / obtuse. She's just fighting Bernie & the rest of the buckethead socialists for the title of General of the Free Shit Army.
#3
This is the exact opposite of what needs to be done. Colleges and universities must be made to pay defaulted student loans, at least in part.
Only by bringing to bear market forces can runaway tuition costs be brought in line with the value of purchased credentials.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
04/26/2019 5:53
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#4
Why not just give every African-American (except people like besoeker) a PhD in African-American studies - studies they accomplished by living their life in racist Amerika?
#9
She is throwing anything and everything at the wall in hopes that something sticks. This all smacks of desperation to me.
Posted by: Tom ||
04/26/2019 11:28
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#10
The #1 thing that has to happen to student loans is they get paid off by students, or written off at cost by the degree awarding institution that ran up the debt.
Day 5’s events can be seen here. More about the Ahmadi refugees fleeing their homes here.
[IsraelTimes] Sri Lanka’s prime minister said Thursday that suspects linked to the coordinated Easter Sunday bomb attacks remain at large and could have access to explosives.
Some of the suspects “may go out for a suicide attack,” Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Approximately 250 people were killed in the string of suicide bombings at churches and luxury hotels in and around the capital, Colombo, Sri Lanka’s health ministry said late Thursday. The death toll was revised down from previous police estimates of 359 people.
Police, meanwhile, issued a public appeal for information about three women and two men suspected of involvement in the attacks.
Wickremesinghe also said that the father of two of the suspected suicide bombers, Colombo spice dealer Mohammad Yusuf Ibrahim,
...alternatively (below), Mohammed Yoonus Ibrahim. Within a day or two no doubt the correct version will become clear,.
had been arrested. He described him as a leading businessman active in politics known as “Ibrahim Hajiar,” a Sri Lankan term for Muslims who have gone on religious pilgrimages to Mecca. The prime minister expressed doubt about Ibrahim’s complicity in the attack.
“People like that would not have wanted their sons to blow themselves up,” he said.
Sri Lankan authorities have blamed a local extremist group, National Towheed Jamaat, whose leader, alternately named Mohammed Zahran or Zahran Hashmi, became known to Muslim leaders three years ago for his incendiary online speeches.
On Wednesday, junior defense minister Ruwan Wijewardene said the attackers had broken away from National Towheed Jamaat and another group, which he identified only as “JMI.”
Wijewardene said many of the suicide bombers were highly educated and came from well-to-do families. The prime minister said it appeared that Sri Lanka’s wealthiest and best-traveled Muslims were most susceptible to the doctrine professed by the Islamic State group.
“They were too educated and therefore, they were misled,” Wickremesinghe said.
The bombers were wealthy enough to have financed the entire operation themselves, though they would have needed outside help for training and bomb-building expertise, Wickremsinghe said.
He said that authorities still hadn’t confirmed whether Zahran, who was supposed to have led one of suicide missions, was among the corpses recovered from the scenes or still at large.
Wickremesinghe said Thursday that security forces were trying to help Muslim Ahmadis from Pakistan seeking refugee status in Sri Lanka, who said they had been attacked and beaten in the days following the bombings.
Sri Lanka's Catholic church suspended all public services over security fears on Thursday, as thousands of troops joined the hunt for suspects in deadly Easter bombings that killed nearly 360 people.
Authorities made fresh arrests and stepped up security measures.
A senior Catholic priest told AFP that all public services were being suspended and all churches closed "on the advice of security forces". Private burials will still be carried out.
Security forces using state of emergency powers arrested 16 more suspects overnight, bringing the total in custody to 74 since the attacks.
Brigadier Sumith Atapattu said the army had increased its deployment on the streets from 5,000 to 6,300, with the navy and air force also deploying an additional 2,000 personnel.
Authorities also banned drone flights.
The Daily Mail has more about jacket wallah Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed, who failed to detonate at the Taj Samudra hotel, here:
His bomb malfunctioned and went off at a small guesthouse, killing one tourist
Mohamed studied aviation engineering at at Kingston University in London from 2006
His sister has told MailOnline how he became radicalised while living in Australia
Mohamed's wife has been taken into police custody
Another Daily Mail article has more about brothers Inshaf and Ilham Ibrahim, who kaboomed at the Shangri-La and Cinnamon Grand hotels, here:
Workers at family firm said Ilham, the younger brother, radicalised his sibling
He was previously arrested and then released by police, it has been claimed
The lads’ father, Mohammed Yoonus Ibrahim arrested on suspicion of helping his sons plan attack
Indian intelligence sources said Ijas Ahmed Ibrahim, 30,
...alternately Ijaz Ahmed Ibrahim...
Mohammed's third son, was also questioned about the attack
Several family members had been under surveillance before attacks, but evidence hadn't been 'sufficient' enough to take them into custody.
#BREAKING: Sri Lanka police arrest 3 persons along with 21 hand grenade type, locally made low explosives & 6 swords during a search operation in Modera pic.twitter.com/fX5YyKJlY7
[Free Beacon] A former chairman of the California Democratic Party is accused in a lawsuit of forcibly performing oral sex on a male subordinate and threatening him to keep quiet, the Sacramento Bee reports.
The lawsuit from William Floyd, a former party employee, is against former chairman Eric Bauman, the California Democratic Party, and the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. The former assistant to Bauman says he was first assaulted after falling asleep in a hotel and waking up to his boss performing oral sex on him, and that there were two more instances where he was forced to submit to Bauman.
The lawsuit also says the party failed to properly respond to Bauman's conduct and then took action to try to make Floyd quit.
Bauman, who resigned due to other sexual assault allegations, denies the allegation from Floyd, according to the report.
#4
^ "I'm eschewing an obvious jape
As to male-on-male Democrat rape."
"Gee, Raj, you're all haht...
Get a nice early staht
On that trip to the tip o' the Cape!"
Seriously, though, pretty envious here (especially if you're not headed all the way out... and I'm not askin'!).
[Free Beacon] Democratic strategist Symone Sanders has joined the 2020 Joe Biden campaign, despite her previous comments that white people should not lead the party.
The former Bernie Sanders spokeswoman and political commentator spoke out against former DNC chairman Howard Dean's rumored plans to run again for the position in 2016. Appearing on CNN, Sanders said that the next DNC spokesperson should not be white.
"In my opinion we don't need white people leading the Democratic party right now," Sanders said. "The Democratic party is diverse, and it should be reflected as so in leadership and throughout the staff at the highest levels. From the vice chairs to the secretaries all the way down to the people working in the offices at the DNC."
"I want to hear more from everybody. I want to hear from the millennials and the brown folks," she said at the time.
Now Sanders has joined the recently announced campaign of former Vice President Joe Biden‐who is neither brown nor a millennial‐as a senior advisor. In her announcement tweet, Sanders allowed that Biden "won't always be perfect."
#1
I don't think we should hold it against Biden for a little personal foible like that he is sexually attracted to sucking feet. That's a private Democrat matter and we should ignore such things.
#2
I agree with her - it's much, much better to have a belligerent, angry fat black broad who looks like a bull dyke & Mike Tyson's ugly bastard kid leading the party!
#3
Any comment by any person denying a person employment base on Color is Racist.
Of course the person making this comment is not White. The person is clearly using the Race Card to promote the Liberal Agenda, raise $$$$ and secure her liberal political career.
Therefore being Liberal we will not see any MSM outlet demand she resign or that the Biden Campaign should discharge her.
Posted by: Steve Tagh ||
04/26/2019 7:00
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#4
For the right money the Dims will do anything, but deep down, Mr Biden, you better watch your back Mr. Biden, after they are off the payroll and Trump wins. From the movie The Last Samurai:
#7
Biden is hoping to shore up the black vote in case anyone makes an issue out of his push on the Drug war back in the day, a push that resulted in higher sentences for crack (which was the black drug of choice) than cocaine (which was the white drug of choice). Doesn't matter that black leaders at the time supported such sentencing discrepancy any more than folks accepted weird touching more back then. They don't know and we live in the now.
[PJ] Communications between two former FBI officials nine days after the 2016 election regarding a briefing with Vice President-elect Pence have attracted fresh scrutiny from top Senate Republicans, Fox News reported Thursday.
The text messages, exchanged between FBI lovebirds Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, "may show potential attempts by the FBI to conduct surveillance of President-elect Trump's transition team" wrote Sen. Charles Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Sen. Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, in a letter to Attorney General William Barr Thursday.
To be clear, the texts may show that top officials at the FBI were attempting to recruit staffers to spy on the Trump transition team.
In the letter, the senators wrote that they wanted to bring the matter to Barr's attention to assist his review into the "genesis and conduct of intelligence activities directed at the Trump campaign during 2016." According to the letter:
#1
The text messages, exchanged between FBI lovebirds
"Lovebirds" ? I doubt it. Has anyone ever said what their Bureau 'day job' actually was? Clandestine intelligence source recruitment is an intense, time consuming business.
#3
Last week, I scanned much of Priestap's June 2018 testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. He insisted, though he did not know much - his job being so expansive and broad, you know - he knew that Strzok was one of the best in the business of counterintelligence. "Top men in the field. Top men."
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/26/2019 15:33
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[Chosun Ilbo] Four North Korean officials have been shot over the collapse of the U.S.-North Korea summit in Hanoi in February, according to rumors flying around the secretive state.
Asia Press on Wednesday reported rumors that a diplomat from the North Korean Embassy in Hanoi and three other Foreign Ministry officials were executed by firing squad in Pyongyang early this month as bigwigs from the Workers Party looked on.
They were accused of taking bribes to leak confidential information to U.S. officials while negotiating the agenda before the summit.
Earlier, the regime reprimanded Kim Hyok-chol, North Korea's top negotiator with the U.S., and Kim Song-hye from the United Front Department, over the failed summit.
Kim Hyok-chol was not on the ballot for elections to the rubber-stamp Supreme People's Assembly last month.
But Asia Press said the rumors have not been verified, and it is possible the regime is deliberately spreading misinformation in a bid to divert the blame from Kim Pudge Jong-un ...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished... himself.or by any means without prior written permission.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2019
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Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraq and Russia signed on Thursday a series of agreements in 16 different fields including trade, and agreed to facilitate investment and trade cooperation.
A statement by the office of Iraqi foreign minister Mohammed Ali al-Hakim, quoted by SNG website, said Hakim, along with Russian deputy foreign minister Yuri Borisov, singed in Baghdad the minute of the eighth meeting of the joint committee of both countries.
Both sides, according the statement, agreed to "eliminate all hurdles facing trade exchange and investments between both countries".
Several agreements were signed in various fields, including trade, tourism, transport, energy, electricity, industry and information technology.
Iraq and Russia enjoy strong ties in several fields, including commerce and economy, with mutual trade soaring by more than 52 percent in 2017 to USD1.4 billion on an annual basis, according to Russia’s customs authority.
[DAWN] A female anti-polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... immunisation campaign worker was bumped off and another injured on Thursday in Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... 's Chaman.
Assistant Commissioner Syed Sami Agha told news hounds that unidentified suspects shot up the immunisation team in Sultan Zai, a city near the shared border with Afghanistan. The suspects managed to flee after the shooting.
He said both victims were shifted to District Headquarters Hospital.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2019
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Canada condemns the ongoing Russian-backed violence in eastern Ukraine and its destabilizing proposal to extend citizenship to inhabitants of #Donbas. We stand with Ukraine in support of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
[KhaamaPress] The local officials in eastern Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. and Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country..... s have confirmed that hundreds of families have been displaced as festivities intensified between Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... and ISIS Death Eaters in the two provinces. Obviously it's Uncle Sam's fault. "Why are we there?"
Ataullah Khogyani, front man for the governor of Nangarhar has confirmed that festivities intensified between Taliban and ISIS Death Eaters in Khogyani and Shirzad district in the past two days, leaving several Death Eaters dead.
He also confirmed that the ISIS Death Eaters have kidnapped several Talibs besides inflicting casualties on them.
According to Khogyani, at least 300 families have been displaced due to the festivities and efforts are underway to provide first aid to them.
In the meantime, officials in Kunar province have confirmed that similar festivities have taken place between Taliban and ISIS Death Eaters in Chapa Dara district, forcing hundreds of families to leave their houses.
Abdul Satar Mirzakwal, the governor of Kunar province has confirmed to RFE’s Afghanistan service that 3000 families have been displaced due to the festivities which still continue between the two sides in Chapa Dara district.
[KhaamaPress] The Afghan Military in the South has announced that 8 Talibs were killed and 17 others were captured during a clash with the security forces in southern Zabul province.
The 205th Atal Corps in a statement has said during a joint clearing operation from the Afghan Special Forces and the 205th Corps, 17 faceless myrmidons have been captured in Nawbahar district in Zabul province.
The statement further added that the security forces encountered heavy festivities with the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... which resulted in eight Taliban killed and an additional five were maimed.
Zabul Province has seen an increase of Taliban activity since the announcement of their spring offensive, Al Fath, however Zabul security forces have taken steps under the security plan Operation Khalid, like this recent operation, to lower violence across the province and prevent future attacks from the Taliban.
What the hell are we even doing there any more?
[DW] Afghan civilians were killed in greater numbers by NATO and pro-government security forces in the first three months of 2019 than by armed militants, according to UN figures.
It's the first time that fatalities caused by security forces in Afghanistan have exceeded those caused by the Taliban.
What you need to know:
In the first quarter of 2019, pro-government forces were responsible for the deaths of 305 civilians, while insurgents killed 227.
The leading causes of civilian deaths were air strikes (145 fatalities) and ground search operations primarily carried out by US-backed Afghan forces (72).
Women and children comprised half of civilian casualties from aerial operations, with international forces responsible for the vast majority of these.
Overall, 581 civilians were killed and 1,192 wounded, representing a 23 percent decrease in overall casualties on the same quarter last year.
Recall yesterday’s headline from the domestic Khaama Press: UN reports reduction in civilian casualties in Afghanistan in first quarter of 2019. Also, remember that according to the Geneva Conventions — to which the Taliban, et al are not signatories, but nonetheless — those who surround themselves with human shields are responsible for what happens to them. Not those who have to go through the shields to get to their military targets. Finally, it’s cute that the statistics are limited to the Taliban, when there are so many other bad guys killing people in Afghanistan, some of them directly employed (deployed?) by Pakistan’s ISI: the TTP, Haqqani Group, ISIS-Afghanistan, various local warlords, various Al Qaeda-linked jihadi groups, various drug lords... Here at Rantburg we’ve had reports of at least some of all that, most recently the feud between ISIS and the Taliban in Nangarhar.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
04/26/2019
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#2
A funny old yiddishe fella
Liked listening to, well, Deutsche Welle.
"It's too frickin' gloomy...
I love it! So sue me."
He yelled as he slapped his patella.
What the hell are we doing in Afghanistan? We've been there for 17 years. When are we getting out?
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
04/26/2019 10:10
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#4
Deutsche Welle is Germany’s international broadcaster. We convey a comprehensive image of Germany, report events and developments, incorporate German and other perspectives in a journalistically independent manner.
Sounds like someone more than happy to try to explain away the Nazi excesses in WW2 with an ongoing barrage of contrived Tu quo que...
I can just hear Mom saying "If all the other kids carpet bombed Afghanistan, would you do it, too?"
Long wars may be good for the contracting business, but I prefer short and savage - the kind where you nuke 'em a couple times and then go home to have a beer and watch sportsball.
#8
That's pretty heartening. A good chunk of the difficulty under Obama was his insistence that human shield activity be rewarded, by not targeting known Taliban when there were civilians nearby. In many cases, these civilians are probably part of the Taliban support network. One aspect of defeating guerrilla movements involves disabusing their civilian supporters of the notion that they can protect these guerrillas by acting as human shields.
Civilians like to scream defiance when there are cameras nearby, but only against the power they are sure is unwilling or unable to target them specifically and have them turned into dog food. But what history shows us is that they have always caved in response to the most pitiless power in their midst.
[DAWN] The first five presidents of the International Criminal Court's oversight body on Thursday called for a review of the institution's functioning, following its April 12 decision not to investigate possible war crimes committed during the 17-year Afghan war, allegedly by krazed killers, the US army, Central Intelligence Agency and Afghan armed forces.
According to the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... , at least 32,000 civilians have been killed and another 60,000 maimed in the last decade when the organization began compiling the data.
ICC prosecutors in 2006 opened a preliminary investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Afghanistan since 2003. In 2017, chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda asked judges to allow a full-blown probe not only into the Taliban ...Arabic for students... and Afghan soldiers, but also international forces, particularly US troops and members of the Central Intelligence Agency.
The court began collecting material for the case between Dec 2017 and Feb 2018, and has received over 1 million statements from Afghans who say they were victims.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2019
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[THEDRIVE] A new report, citing a leaked Russian government document, says that a crash of MiG-31 Foxhound in Siberia almost two years ago was actually the result of a friendly fire incident during a botched training exercise. In addition, the summary of the mishap suggests that there could be dangerous problems with the aircraft’s Zaslon-AM radar and Baget-55 fire control system that might increase the risk of more accidental shootdowns occurring in the future.
Baza, a relatively new Russian independent online investigative news outlet, revealed the new information on Apr. 23, 2019. The incident in question had occurred on Apr. 26, 2017, over the Telemba proving ground in Buryatia, a semi-autonomous republic within Russia that borders Mongolia. At the time, the Kremlin said that the plane had been on a training exercise, but offered no additional details about the mishap. Both of the Foxhound’s crew survived the incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2019
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[KhaamaPress] The Afghan cops have enjugged You have the right to remain silent... the shadow district chief of Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... for Faizabad district of northern Jawzjan province.
According to local officials, the shadow district chief of Taliban for Faizabad Mawlavi Obaidullah was arrested during an operation of the Afghan intelligence operatives.
The officials further added that Mawlavi Obaidullah was involved in various attacks on security outposts besides assassinating Afghan Local Police commanders.
The anti-government armed murderous Moslems including Taliban have not commented regarding the arrest of Mawlavi Obaidullah so far.
Jawzjan is among the relatively volatile provinces in Northeast of Afghanistan. Talibs are active in some of the restive districts of the province and often attempt to carry out terrorist related activities against the government and security institutions.
[FOXNEWS] A Massachusetts judge and court officer accused of helping an undocumented Democrat flee an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent waiting to take him into custody were indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury for obstruction of justice and three other counts, officials said.
Newton District Court Judge Shelley M. Richmond Joseph and the court officer, identified in court documents as Wesley MacGregor, face several charges stemming from an April 2, 2018 incident in which the pair allegedly helped Jose Medina-Perez get out of the courthouse via a back door in order to elude the ICE agent who sought Medina-Perez.
"This case is about the rule of law. The allegations in today’s indictment involve obstruction by a sitting judge, that is intentional interference with the enforcement of federal law, and that is a crime," U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Andrew Lelling said Thursday.
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04/26/2019
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#1
About damned time.
Can't wait for the Boston Globe to start whining about the 'chilling effect' this will have on other reprobates judges.
If they win, they’ll get to freeze in the dark, ruled by the migrants they welcomed with open arms.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
04/26/2019
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#1
Well, I suppose you could always light your farts to stay warm.
I can't wait to go down to my client on Cape Cod in a few hours (quarterly payroll). Between Exits 9 and 8 (MA Route 3 in Plymouth) there's this massive wind turbine. It's a refurbed Hyundai unit, sticks up about something like 300 feet high and is a driving distraction / fucking eyesore. I can see the thing from about three miles away. It just leaves me mostly shaking my head in disgust - I see it operational about half the time, so what's the point besides virtue signaling?
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2019 10:16
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#4
Raj, virtue signalling is about all anyone does near the cape. My wife was born and raised there and it hasn't much changed in the 50 years I've been familiar with the place.
I do think there may be fewer NYC psychiatrists in Truro now.
#5
Don't come out here Raj. Its all different companies I think with some breaks here and there, but the farm is basically three midwest counties across. Nighttime is the worst, as each one has a blinker light on top. Sometime they coordinate, sometimes they don't. Its a Ford/Chevy argument which is worse.
Best part, they surround the Dodge City Airport/Radar Station so there are all these false reading - really cool during tornado season.
What these anti-technologists don't seem to get, is if the power gets shut off, they think people are just going to sit in their hovel and take it. No, the Black Forest and anything else burnable is going to be chopped up into itty pieces of firewood. Well until enough people find grandpa's old rifle and form security for wood choppers, then the scavengers will be gunned down no warning.
[NY Post] Whitey Bulger's death has officially been ruled a homicide. "Natural Causes"
The notorious gangster died of "blunt force injuries to the head" after being assaulted by multiple people, according to his death certificate, obtained by NBC10 Boston on Thursday.
Bulger, 89, was bludgeoned to death with a padlock stuffed in a sock Oct. 30, 2018, hours after being transferred to a federal jail in West Virginia.
Officials have said they believe other inmates killed the blood-thirsty Boston gangster. Six months after his murder, no one has been charged. "I am Spartacus!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2019
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#1
'Is that a padlock in your sock or are you just happy to see me?'
Posted by: no mo uro ||
04/26/2019 5:51
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#3
Above West Virginia a vulture
Once hovered who loved Whitey Bulger.
"Hey, how 'bout a date?
But I'm starved... don't be late!"
And the government quickly indulged her.
#4
Whitey Bulger was an informant to the FBI in Boston to none other than Robert Mueller... He ran his own operation and ratted out others to the FBI... killed people and framed others that Mueller tried to prosecute.. made a fool out of FBI... probably had dirt on Mueller... was transferred to A prison and placed in open population... FBI silenced him...
#5
Nobody will ever be prosecuted because the killers have immunity. It was part of the deal from the beginning. If you want to know who did it, watch who gets an early release soon.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
04/26/2019 10:15
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#6
made a fool out of FBI.
Dunno guys, I think they've made total fools out of themselves with no help from anyone.
#7
Yeah but if they do this to Bulger they can do it to anybody. Who's next?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/26/2019 11:57
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#8
...and do it for any reason...like if Biden gets in office and doesn't like your politics...you could easily run afoul of your fellow prisoners who would do you for a pack of cigarettes.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/26/2019 11:58
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#9
Elements in the UK government tried to do something similar to Tommy Robinson. He would not have survived open population in a Muslim majority prison.
Luckily for Mr Robinson his case drew some international attention.
Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi security forces killed on Thursday six 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 in a raid in Kirkuk province, north of the country, the Joint Operations Command said in a statement.
Alsumaria News quoted the statement saying that a raid in Wadi al-Shai, Daqouq, south of the province, backed by international coalition aviation, left six "terrorists" killed, and destroyed hideouts and tunnels belonging to Islamic State hard boys.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/26/2019
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[12 views]
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[DAWN] Police have traced out and incarcerated Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! the rapist and murderer of a minor girl with the help of a DNA test report, Dera Ghazi Khan District Police Officer (DPO) Atif Nazir revealed at a presser on Thursday.
On April 3, Mehreen, 8, had gone missing after leaving her house to buy a book from her village bookstore. Next day, her molested body was found from a field in the Gugoo area nearby. According to a medico-legal report, she was strangled to death after being raped.
The DPO said that a team comprising DSP Riaz Bokhari, Inspector Amar Yasir and Sub Inspector Ibrar had traced out and arrested the murderer with the help of "scientific methods" and technology.
He said that, during the course of investigation, DNA tests were performed on as many as 100 suspects and samples taken from the victim were examined for a match with them.
Subsequently, the DNA report matched with a suspect and police arrested a farmer, 37-year-old Bilal. The DPO said that the suspect, a father of two, has confessed to his crime.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2019
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#UPDATE: Additional reports that a French barge/(cargo?) ship has also docked at the port of Ras Lanuf accompanied by the deployment of an LNA military force belonging to Haftar in the region https://t.co/4Qejv1M3ad
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2019
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#1
The prettiest ship in the Yard?
That's the Richelieu, buddy. En garde!
She bears eight to the fore,
A great weight of "amour,"
But, the British assure us, she warred.
...Not since the Jean Bart (Richelieu's sister) went to the scrappers' torches in 1970.
Mike
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/26/2019 4:27
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#3
France has battleships?
From the same Twitter account the original article is from:
#UPDATE: Additional reports that a French barge/(cargo?) ship has also docked at the port of Ras Lanuf accompanied by the deployment of an LNA military force belonging to Haftar in the region
#UPDATE: Al-Jazeera reporting that the French Navy unloaded speedboats and assault weapons in the LNA-controlled port of Ras Lanuf, Libya
It appears that the "battleship is actually some sort of cargo ship carrying speedboats, etc..
1) France intends to give enough aid to Haftar that he will be able to open a second front by landing a force from the sea at Tripoli.
2) Trump had a phone conversation with Haftar.
3) Haftar is not an Islamist
#10
What's the pool on Russians selling their battleships to France?
Not betting on this since lately Russian seems to be buying their warships from France (Before the NATO sanctions on Russian. The two ships France was building for Russia before the sanctions was eventfully sold to Egypt.)
[Rudaw] Intensive US-led coalition bombardment on the Syrian city of Raqqa killed more than 1,600 civilians over four months in 2017, according to a report released on Thursday.
The findings were compiled after months of field research and extensive data analysis, including via a project that saw 3,000 digital activists scan satellite imagery online.
In mid-2017, Raqqa had been the de facto Syria capital of the Islamic State
Continued on Page 49
#3
no one worries about civilian deaths unless the US is involved
Posted by: chris ||
04/26/2019 8:23
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#4
#2 given that the enemy refuses to wear uniforms to distinguish themselves from civilians (a violation of the Conventions for the reason to help avoid civilian casualties), its hardly surprising. It's their fault not the coalition forces.
#6
The fact that we're there in the first place is the problem.
What's the prize in Syria? What do we win if we win? Nobody can tell me. It's just "well you don't want to let TEH ROOSHINS win, do you?" To which the correct answer is, "who the hell cares?"
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
04/26/2019 10:12
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#7
Broken record, Satire Boy
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2019 10:21
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#8
We don't want another free base of operation metastasising around the world and crashing more planes into buildings in civilisation...
#11
So, I'm curious: what's on the table in Syria? Let's say we win the war. What did we win? Except an open-ended troop commitment and billions in cost, none of it benefiting us.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
04/26/2019 15:18
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Why, Obama's thin red line. What else, other than Saddam's WMDs of course, and Turkey's gateway to the middle east. Was Syria the terminus to the new silk road of Biden's buddies? No, that rolled thru Turkey to Poland before branching into the rest of Europe, I think.
On the table? Basically the last 50 years of Democratic meddling coming to spoiled fruition.
"There are, more expensive, smaller impact-radius missiles, but the coalition often used... old MK-type bombs that take out entire buildings. Those are much cheaper," she said.
That's why we are always glad to take donations from right-thinking individuals like her to fund more expensive ordnance.
#16
What's the prize in Syria? What do we win if we win? Nobody can tell me. It's just "well you don't want to let TEH ROOSHINS win, do you?" To which the correct answer is, "who the hell cares?"
You've told yourself. You just don't like the answer.
#17
So, I'm curious: what's on the table in Syria? Let's say we win the war. What did we win? Except an open-ended troop commitment and billions in cost, none of it benefiting us.
We spend trillions on cops and we still get thousands of murders and literally tens of millions of cases of other crimes per year. Maybe we should stop enforcing the law and send the cops home.
[CWBCHICAGO] One of the many topics that Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office has regularly avoided since abruptly dropping charges against Jussie Smollett on March 26th is this: Could they point to any other occasions when they flat-out dropped felony false police report charges without requiring the accused to at least plead guilty?
It’s an essential question because Joe Magats, the top aide who took over the Smollet case when Foxx "recused" herself insisted that the resolution Smollett enjoyed "is available to all defendants; it's not something out of privilege; it's not something out of clout."
And text messages from Foxx’s top aides released last week show that they were very much aware of a CWBreliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown ... home of Al Capone, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel,... report that found that every other similar Chicago case handled by Foxx ended with a guilty plea and a sentence‐usually of probation with formal community service.
The text messages seem to show that after seeing our report, Foxx’s aides decided to only speak in general terms about the outcomes of all Class 4 felonies, regardless of the specific charge.
In one exchange, aides looked for cases "comparable" to Smollett's, yet they have never issued any for public review. Probably because they couldn't find any.
As recently as Tuesday evening, Foxx again pointed the curious to her office’s voluminous and generic "data portal" rather than to specifics.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2019
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#4
Look, it's like this. Black people feel aggrieved from injustice in the past. Now that one of their people is in power, and has the chance to let one her brothers go, she's going to do it. It's payback. The Left calls it social justice. The rest of us call it divisive identity politics.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
04/26/2019 10:19
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#5
Dallas DA recently announced he would not prosecute property crimes of less than $750 if they were committed out of 'need.'
#6
Ref #5: This should help level the playing field, redistribute the wealth etc. Now if we could just make Social Security entirely 'needs based'. Where is AOC on this ?
No someone isn't scamming AT&T. AT&T are the roaches in this pudding.
So AT&T took over the billing for Directv a few months ago and I already paid one late charge before I figured out what was going on. They really want you to give them a credit card or bank account so they can avoid all that messy paper and postage (and incidentally take whatever they want whenever they want).
Here's the gimmick (using today's bill):
4/26/19 - Received bill
4/13/19 - Official Bill "Issue" date
5/06/19 - Bill due date
But the bill return slip has a barely legible quibble that says the payment may take 7 days to post.
Bottom line: you've got three days to get the check to them if you want to be sure to avoid late charges.
Their response will be "But we sent you an email a week ago, you could have paid on-line and avoided all this unpleasantness."
Like I would trust them with my credit card or bank account after this cr*p.
#1
I've noticed the shrinkage of the pay window lately for a lot of accounts - to about 10 days between receipt of bill and due date - but have not yet been bitten by the '7 days to post' varmint.
#2
Been with AT&T for cell phone service since '83. They play so many shenanigans and it's easy to see it will only get worse. They went heavily in debt to buy DirecTV and Time Warner and now those two are bleeding subscribers like crazy. I can see a day very soon now where AT&T will try to force all their cell customers to buy cable content too just to keep the cell service. I will be an ex customer of theirs at that point.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/26/2019 8:17
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#3
When I first had to get AT&T 10 years ago, they are the only provider in my area, I signed up for autopay. I noticed my bank statement didn't add up right with my check register. Turns out AT&T took 3 months worth at once. I canceled autopay right then.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/26/2019 16:07
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[KhaamaPress] A missile struck a training facility of the jacket wallahs in southern Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province leaving at least 18 Talibs dead, the Ministry of Defense said Thursday.
According to a statement released by the Ministry of Defense, the missile was launched for Shorab base which impacted the training facility in Sangin district.
"Last night, in coordination with NDS a missile rocket was fired from Shorab Base on a training center of suicide kaboomers in Sarban Qala, Sangin of Helmand. As a result, 18 Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... bad boyz were potted and 7 others were maimed," the statement added.
Helmand is among the relatively volatile provinces in South of Afghanistan. Talibs are active in some of the restive districts of the province and often attempt to carry out terrorist related activities against the government and security institutions.
#1
how much training do you need to blow yourself up?
Posted by: chris ||
04/26/2019 8:19
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#2
Most of the training is about how to prepare for your virgins in heaven. Body has to be completely shaved and colon cleansed as if for a colonoscopy.
She sounds totally Democrat Minority Official Competent™. Hillary says: "*Hic*!"
[NY Post] Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh is sick and not lucid enough to decide whether to resign over a federal investigation into shady sales of a children's book she authored, her lawyer said Thursday. I've had pneumonia twice. I might have been kind of woozy for a couple days, but three weeks after being diagnosed my wits had been back for at least two and a half weeks. Maybe I'm just not typical.
The embattled Democrat was at her house during an FBI and IRS raid on the property earlier Thursday and met with a doctor there, said her attorney Steve Silverman.
An earlier report from local outlet WJZ quoted sources saying Pugh had skipped town. But her lawyer ‐ whose office was also raided by the feds ‐ said he met with her for an hour at her Ashburton house, according to The Baltimore Sun.
"She is generally aware that there is a consensus that she should resign," Silverman said. "For people to make material decisions in their life, they have to be at a certain level of stability."
The growing controversy over the sale of her "Healthy Holly: series to the University of Maryland Medical System while she was on their board of directors has made it harder for Pugh, 69, to recover from a bout of pneumonia, her lawyer said. She also now has bronchitis, he said, and plans to see a doctor at home again Friday.
Pugh cited the illness as the reason for taking an indefinite leave of absence April 1 ‐ when the Gov. Larry Hogan called on the Maryland Office of the State Prosecutor to open a probe into Pugh's "questionable dealings."
The governor called on Pugh to resign Thursday, echoing the Baltimore City Council and Baltimore lawmakers in the House of Delegates.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2019
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#7
She wants to stay in power so, so badly. It's the only thing that gives her life meaning and to give it up is to give up everything that she stands for.
In Baltimore, she didn't do anything wrong. That's why she's in denial. Everyone else is just as guilty but isn't getting punished. Only her. It's so unfair.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
04/26/2019 10:21
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#8
Not lucid enough to decide to resign, but lucid enough to sign leftist bills into law.
The feds are investigating Gov. JB Pritzker, his wife and his brother-in-law for a big property tax break they got by removing the toilets from a Gold Coast mansion. https://t.co/mfQjewtHyR
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2019
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#1
What do the Feds have to do with property taxes? If tax assessments are based on number of toilets then removing some would lower the assessment, and the taxes.
Prorated water usage tax and connection fee, sewage usage tax and connection fee also refuse collection tax and street parking fee.
If the toilets were added during a prior renovation, their removal may allow for re-entry into the National Register of Historical Places, which has tough guidelines about structural changes but also provides matching Federal funds.
#8
And then in October 2015, according to a report by Cook County Inspector General Patrick Blanchard, the Pritzkers had five toilets removed from the second house so that it would be classified as "uninhabitable" in a property tax appeal filed by the Pritzkers.
The toilets were removed shortly before the affidavits in the property tax appeal were submitted. The county assessor's office "lowered the 6,378-square-foot mansion's assessed value from $6.3 million to about $1.1 million," The Chicago Tribune reports.
Old news, I guess. Link to Oct 2018 NPR article. Sorry. Nice photo of the Gov at the link. Looks like he attends the Rocket Man School of Weight Management.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/26/2019 17:53
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#BREAKING: Clashes erupt between Iraqi Federal police and US forces in #Kirkuk’s Riyadh sub-district. 1 police killed, 2 others wounded - Asaib Ahl al-Haq media outlet claims.#Iraqhttps://t.co/aOPkRGmL1q
#2
I can’t find any other reporting about this incident, g(r)omgoru. Possibly it’s an Arab fantasy... or the police started it, so it’s being brushed under the rug.
#3
I did find this from Rudaw, g(r)omgoru, in which Kirkuk, the police casualties, and the same television station are all mentioned. But this is a mistaken Coalition airstrike, not clashes with US troops on the ground. The article also notes about Al Ahad TV:
The channel is close to Asaib Ahl al-Haq, a group that is commanded by Qais al-Khazali and fought as a paramilitary during the ISIS conflict. It is known to have links to Iran and hold anti-US sentiment.
[DAWN] A 16-year-old girl was on Wednesday allegedly kidnapped from outside the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , police said.
According to Head Moharar Mohammed Arshad, the victim had gone to JPMC's outpatient department (OPD) with her mother for a checkup, and later left the facility to purchase some prescribed drugs from a store outside the hospital but never returned.
A first information report (FIR) of the incident filed on the complainant of the girl's brother mentions Section 365B (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel for marriage etc.) of the Pakistain Penal Code.
According to the police, the girl is a resident of Karachi's Kemari area and hails from Bajaur agency.
JPMC Executive Director Dr Seemin Jamali said that the hospital was cooperating with the police investigation and has provided footage of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed around the OPD.
Sindh Inspector General of Police (IGP), Syed Kaleem Imam, took notice of the incident and demanded reports on the progress of the probe from the senior superintendent of police (SSP), who oversees Karachi's South zone, and the SSP who oversees investigations.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2019
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Welcome to the race Sleepy Joe. I only hope you have the intelligence, long in doubt, to wage a successful primary campaign. It will be nasty - you will be dealing with people who truly have some very sick & demented ideas. But if you make it, I will see you at the Starting Gate!
#2
Trump doesn't play Trunk nice. He'll play just as dirty as the Left. Every twist and turns of Biden's actions will be on full display, leaving the 'moveables' to ponder what the man stands for if anything. They'll have a choice between a talker and a doer.
[Rudaw] Leishmaniasis is a skin disease caused by a microscopic parasite spread by sandflies. The illness is endemic to Syria, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says, but has become more prevalent during the eight-year civil war.
The number of leishmaniasis cases in Syria doubled from 2010 to 2018 to more than 80,000 patients, WHO says. Many were in northern and northeastern areas rocked in recent years by festivities to expel the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group. Leishmaniasis is usually linked to poverty, poor sanitation, and malnutrition, WHO says, factors likely compounded by the war.
Across Karama, insects hover over piles of rubbish between rows of modest houses, some still bearing scars of battles that resulted in Kurdish-led forces kicking IS out in 2017.
Younes al-Naeemi, the manager of the Karama health centre, says the clinic has received 4,000 cases of leishmaniasis from the town and surrounding villages since April last year.
"Marshes, humidity, the house's proximity to farming land, as well as widespread rubbish" have fuelled the spread of the skin condition, he says.
‘NOBODY CARES'
After a peak of almost 6,800 cases in Raqqa province last year, WHO says there has been a decline in cases at the start of this year.
The international organization has distributed mosquito nets, provided medicine to treat the disease, and supports six health centres in Raqqa, including in Karama. But it warns the rates could again rise as the weather becomes warmer.
"Sandfly breeding usually peaks when the temperature starts to rise in spring and summer," WHO front man Yahya Bouzo said. "Unless prevention measures are taken, the number of cases is expected to" increase.
But Karama's residents say their rural town is neglected. They complain of a lack of services including regular trash pick-ups.
...and it never occurs to anyone there to charge his neighbours for picking up and burning their garbqge instead of waiting for “the government” to do it for them.
[SALON] The reporting over the Syrian war these last 8 years has been an interesting masterclass in how to manufacture a narrative. The amount of reporting generated by journalists who never set foot in the places that they reported from was almost unprecedented. During these 8 years only a tiny handful of journalists actually travelled to syria to report on what was going on. Among these are Robert Fisk, Sharmine Narwani, Vanessa Beeley, Carla Ortiz, Eva Bartlett and Elijah Magnier. It's interesting to observe how radically different the reporting from these handful have been from the vast quantities of bullshit provided by the major media outlets. Fisk and "Journalism" in the same paragraph. Riiigghhht
In the interview linked before, Narwani goes into some detail on what she personally observed and discovered on the ground in Syria, covering western support (including US, UK, French and Israeli support), the violence of the opposition protests from day 1, the propaganda instrument that was the white helmets, the discovery of a chemical weapons factory run by one of the opposition groups, and how the FSA was essentially indistinguishable from al-qaida in syria, and more.
These are not new reports, and elements have been brought to light over the years, some of it by the small list of journalists mentioned above, but this gives a great overview of how western media organisations were, at best willingly duped and at worst knowingly complicit in fabricating a totally false narrative in one of the most deadly wars in the last 2 decades.
This is part 1 of a two part series. Part 2 coming soon.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
04/26/2019
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#1
Among these are Robert Fisk, Sharmine Narwani, Vanessa Beeley, Carla Ortiz, Eva Bartlett and Elijah Magnier.
No bias there. We are all familiar with Mr Fisk. Care to google the others? Let's begin with the subject of this article, Sharmine Narwani:
An extremist named Sharmine Narwani finds a home at ‘Comment is Free’ (UK Guardian) It isn’t an easy title to win, but Sharmine “Dignity Rockets” Narwani is probably the most loathsome of all the Huffington Post bloggers, past or present. We’ve documented in the past her hatred for America, Israel (of course), and Huffington Post bloggers who dare to say stuff that she doesn’t like. She’s a liar, an anti-Semite, and a propagandist, not to mention a proud terrorism supporter. If all that doesn’t convince you, check out this page of quotes here.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2019 8:35
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#3
Argument by character assassination. Gosh, it's like arguing with the Left. They do the same shit.
When you argue, you provide evidence. You state claims and then back them up. You refute the opposition's arguments. The fact that they have personal views you find objectionable in no way refutes any facts they might have found.
I'm just getting more and more disappointed by the day. We're supposed to be better than the Left, dammit.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
04/26/2019 10:14
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#4
*snicker*
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2019 10:22
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#5
Backing up Herb here.
"the propaganda instrument that was the white helmets, the discovery of a chemical weapons factory run by one of the opposition groups, and how the FSA was essentially indistinguishable from al-qaida in syria" is all true.
#6
An interesting article. Particularly in light of swksvolFF’s comments yesterday about the plans of President Barack Hussein Obama, laid out in #8 and #11 here.
Ms Narwani certainly has all the polish a Columbia School of Journalism grad could hope to have purchased — the grammar and spelling are impeccable, the vocabulary elevated without overreaching — while the Marxism inherent in journalism education nowadays is clear. World War II as merely a great power exercise, seriously, not to mention casual, uncorroborated accusations against Israel — always the killer argument in certain circles. But mostly this piece serves —perhaps unintentionally — as an indictment of President Obama and his Mad Mullah and Muslim Brotherhood pals, not America as such. Reading through it, I see a good deal of what we here at Rantburg have been unhappy with over the years of this adventure, to the point where the only party worth cheering for has been the Kurds, about whom Old Spook reported for us after his return from the field.
It seems to me that both parties to this interview make assumptions about current and near-future power balances that appeared reasonable during the Obama years, but have already been superseded. America being replaced as world hegemon by Russia, China, and Iran? That’s looking more laughable by the day,
#7
"You could see in the photos the level of sophistication of the equipment, the large compression units, the pipes going from the laboratory upstairs to the heavier devices below. The one thing I did conclude from this discovery is that Syrian militants clearly had the means to access sanctioned, foreign — even American — equipment with dual-use technologies, that they were able to create production lines in the middle of war zones, that they were able to procure toxic substances. Chlorine was found in rows of containers at the front of the facility. Before this, the narrative was that the “rebels” couldn’t possibly be responsible for chemical weapons attacks because they couldn’t make or buy them. This facility showed they could make them…."
"In the early days, it seemed that on the eve of every U.N. Security Council meeting on Syria — or before an “international team” was about to arrive in the country — something violent and horrific would happen. You could almost time these massacres and chemical weapons attacks according to the politically significant event that was about to take place in a Western capital."
Your move, Frank G. Got some more laughter?
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
04/26/2019 15:15
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#8
Attack the press and eventually they won't go near. At that point you can feed them whatever you want.
#9
Herb, I don't doubt all sides committed atrocities. What I find disgusting is your kneejerk response to withdraw to our borders like a naive coward and someone who will be the first bleating: "How could this happen here???" when it does.
You're a blame-America-firster. I prefer to fight them over there, maintain law and free transit of the seas and air and protection of American citizens at home AND abroad FIRST. If that means we become world cop in some instances, I'm good with that. I won't be like you and prtetend evil and danger is inherent in our side rather than our enemies. NOT satire, putz
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2019 18:14
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[FoxNews] An Army colonel and Bronze Star recipient who served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan died for injuries sustained while helping a stranded motorist in Virginia last week, a report said.
Col. Gregory S. Townsend, 46, who joined the Army in 1996, was changing another driver’s tire on a freeway south of Richmond Thursday when the vehicle fell on him, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. He was airlifted to the hospital where he died on Monday, the Army said.
Townsend had deployed to Afghanistan in 2003 and 2009 and to Afghanistan in 2009. He was assigned most recently as a commander at the U.S. Army Quartermaster School at Fort Lee, according to the report.
Baghdad (IraqiNews) Baghdad Police Command announced, on Thursday, freeing 45 Bangladeshis who were held by a labor company in the center of the capital, Baghdad. The company was willing to exploit them, while six accused persons were locked away I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! The Command said in a press statement that it received information about the presence of Bangladeshi workers in a house, in central Baghdad. They were captivated by a labor company that was willing to use them in the future.
After obtaining the needed legal approvals, security forces from Alawiya Police Station moved to the scene, and managed to apprehend six of the accused persons.
The arrested persons include two Iraqis and four Bangladeshis (who were collaborating with the Iraqis), the statement added. The security forces also freed 45 Bangladeshis who were detained.
Diyala (IraqiNews.com) – An Iraqi merchant was wounded Wednesday in a bomb blast in the eastern province of Diyala, a security source was quoted as saying.
“A sticky bomb fixed into a vegetable cart went off in Khanaqin district in Diyala, leaving a merchant dead,” the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Baghdad Today news website.
“The security forces rushed to the blast site and moved the wounded into nearby hospital for treatment,” the source added.
Diyala (IraqiNews) An official source informed, on Thursday, that a civilian was injured in a bomb blast in the district of Khanaqin, in Diyala Province.
The source told Alsumaria News that a bomb emplaced on the roadside in Aliawa ares, in Khanaqin District (northeast of Diyala Province) exploded, this morning, targeting a vehicle, and injuring its owner.
The owner of the vehicle was severely wounded, while the vehicle was completely burned, the source added.
He further explained that security forces cordoned off the area of the incident, and transferred the injured to a nearby hospital to receive the needed treatment.
It is noteworthy that Khanaqin is a district in Diyala Province. The population of the Judicial Center increased to more than 160,000 in 2011-2010 Because of the stability of the security situation in the district.
[KhaamaPress] At least 49 bully boyz were killed or maimed in various operations of the Afghan and coalition forces in south-eastern Ghazni province of Afghanistan.
The Special Operations Corps of the Afghan Military said Wednesday that 6 bully boyz were killed and 7 others were maimed during an operation of the Afghan Special Forces in Kamal Khan area of Andar district.
According to a statement released by Special Operations Corps, at least 7 bully boyz were killed and 5 more maimed in a separate clearance operation conducted in Jamjan Mank area of Moqor district.
The statement further added that the coalition forces also carried out Arclight airstrikes in Andar district and Kalach and Zewach areas located in the outskirts of Ghazni city, leaving at least 16 bully boyz dead and 8 others maimed.
The anti-government armed bully boyz including Taliban ...Arabic for students... have not commented regarding the operations and loss of their fighters so far.
[KhaamaPress] A suspected bad boy was blown up by own explosives as he was attempting to plant a bomb inside the compound of a private university in Kabul.
Kabul police officials have confirmed that the incident took place at around 10:30 am local time in the vicinity of Kart-e-Naw area in 8th police district of the city.
Basir Mujahid, a front man for Kabul Police confirmed the incident and said the suspected bad boy was looking to place an improvised bomb inside the toilet of Jahan University.
He also added that the explosives went off prematurely leaving the suspected bad boy dead while three others were maimed.
No individual or group has so far grabbed credit for the incident.
#4
My thought as well Dr. Steve. I think Biden under estimates the amount of vitriol the SJW will bring to the race. Guess he doesn't care if his Ukraine dealings become known as well.
I'm a proud member (#insert Beavis and Butthead snickering) of the Army of Steve (AOS), but not Rantburg's Dr. Steve. However, the mistake is flattering.
#6
Ukrainian dealings aside, there are some interesting 'connections' with China and the Bulger family, too.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/26/2019 12:31
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#7
Biden's [1972 Senate] campaign had virtually no money and was given no chance of winning.[16] It was managed by his sister Valerie Biden Owens (who relied upon handed-out newsprint position papers and meeting voters face-to-face; He did receive some assistance from the AFL–CIO and Democratic pollster Patrick Caddell. His campaign issues focused on withdrawal from Vietnam, the environment, civil rights, mass transit, more equitable taxation, health care, the public's dissatisfaction with politics-as-usual, and "change".
No wonder Soetero liked him.
During the summer, he trailed by almost 30 percentage points, but his energy level, his attractive young family, and his ability to connect with voters' emotions gave the surging Biden an advantage over the ready-to-retire Boggs. He won the November 7, 1972 election in an upset by a margin of 3,162 votes.Wikipedia
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/26/2019 15:48
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#8
Playing Bee/Not Bee recently has been like watching a well played, evenly matched game of table tennis.
[AlAhram] Hundreds of Moslem refugees in western Sri Lanka have taken refuge in mosques and a cop shoppe after facing intimidation following the deadly Easter bombings, activists said Thursday.
At least 359 people died in Sunday's coordinated suicide kabooms, including more than 100 Christians attending mass at St Sebastian's church in Negombo on the island's west coast.
The attacks have been condemned by leaders of the country's Moslem minority who have said mosques will not bury the bombers, and the community has been left in fear of a backlash. "Fearing a backlash for next week's Islamist Terror Attack" Continued on Page 49
#1
World has many moslem majority countries with a rainbows variety of cultures beneath. Pick one and be safe. Because your co-religionists attacked hoping to start reprisals against you and sticking around for that is insane.
A better route is to turn on the jihadi among you but you won’t do that so nobody seriously asks any more. We just pretend you don’t agree with them.
If any Moslem organizations have condemned the attacks, I haven't heard of them. I'd love to be proved ignorant here by any examples of Moslem condemnation of these and other attacks.
Posted by: Tom ||
04/26/2019 11:20
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#4
it has always been between the Hidoos (Tamils) and the locals Sri lankans ( Buddhists), the Muzzies were never much of anything in Sri Lanka.
#5
Adherent of madman's compendium
Fears backlash for vicious millennium,
Attempts to keep calm,
But goes off like a balm
Due to too-tightly turban-wrapped cranium.
Just before official bilateral talks were scheduled to begin, #NorthKorea Security disinfected the chair where Kim Jong-Un will be sitting. pic.twitter.com/XMpOuK1OIV
#3
It takes one to know one.
Kim knew all about how his half brother was poisoned to death at a public airport since he ordered it and was fully briefed and debriefed about it.
A year later Putin used a similar tactic to try to get rid of his critic and double agent for UK, Skripal.
The paranoid leader, who is afraid to fly so he travels in an armored train, will be concerned while he is hosted by Putin in Russia.
Maybe trump colluded with Russia to take out the leader because of his nuclear threats against America.
So Kim will be afraid to touch anything like door knobs (or arm rests) for fear of Putin's Skripal method of icing.
[DAWN] An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday turned down former senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rao Anwar's request seeking an exemption from personal appearances in a case pertaining to the murder of Wazoo native shopkeeper-turned-model Naqeebullah Mehsud in a police 'encounter'.
Anwar had ─ in his petition, which was taken up yesterday ─ insisted that he faced security threats from terrorist groups since he had conducted operations against them during his tenure as a police officer. He urged the court to exempt him from appearing in person, unless it was required by the court for hearing of the ongoing murder case in which he is the chief suspect.
The request was opposed by Salahuddin Panhwar, counsel of Naqeeb's father, who said that Anwar's claims of facing security threats did not stand as he was not a serving police officer anymore.
The former SSP's application was not maintainable under the provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, he added. The ATC-III judge reserved his verdict after hearing the arguments presented by both sides.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2019
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[DAWN] Various civil society organizations (CSOs) have applauded the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly for unanimously passing a resolution urging the provincial government to raise the minimum marriage age to 18 years and make legislation to end domestic violence.
Civil Society Networks in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Partners for Prevention and Response (P4PR), the provincial alliance to end early child and forced marriages, KP civil society joint working group and Pakhtunkhwa Civil Society Network (PCSN) in a joint statement here on Wednesday urged the politicians to play their role for an end to violence from the society.
The resolution moved by chairperson of the women parliamentary caucus Maliha Asghar was also signed by women parliamentarians of various political parties, including Nighat Yasmin Orakzai, Ayesha Bano, Sumaira Shams, Ayesha Naeem and Shagufta Malik.
Child rights activists believe that child marriages had a devastating impact on the lives of the children, particularly girls.
Qamar Naseem, provincial coordinator of the Alliance to End Early, Child and Forced Marriages, appreciated the women politicians for introducing this resolution. He said that Pakistain had committed to eliminating child, early and forced marriages by 2030 in line with the target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals. He said that ending child marriages was critical for girls’ rights, health, wellbeing and ability to survive into adulthood.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2019
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#1
...to be more honoured in the breach than in the observance, with appropriate gratuities as necessary.
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.
[NakedSecurity] The National Security Agency (NSA) has asked to end its mass phone surveillance program because the work involved outweighs its intelligence value, according to reports this week.
[Daily Caller] The majority of historically black colleges’ graduates haven’t paid a single dollar of their student loan balance in the first several years of leaving school, federal data shows.
[IsraelTimes] Sri Lanka’s prime minister said Thursday that suspects linked to the coordinated Easter Sunday bomb attacks remain at large and could have access to explosives.
[Free Beacon] Democratic strategist Symone Sanders has joined the 2020 Joe Biden campaign, despite her previous comments that white people should not lead the party.
[PJ] Communications between two former FBI officials nine days after the 2016 election regarding a briefing with Vice President-elect Pence have attracted fresh scrutiny from top Senate Republicans, Fox News reported Thursday.
North Korea
[THEDRIVE] A new report, citing a leaked Russian government document, says that a crash of MiG-31 Foxhound in Siberia almost two years ago was actually the result of a friendly fire incident during a botched training exercise. In addition, the summary of the mishap suggests that there could be dangerous problems with the aircraft’s Zaslon-AM radar and Baget-55 fire control system that might increase the risk of more accidental shootdowns occurring in the future.
[FOXNEWS] A Massachusetts judge and court officer accused of helping an 
[NY Post] Whitey Bulger's death has officially been ruled a homicide.
[CWBCHICAGO] One of the many topics that Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office has regularly avoided since abruptly dropping charges against Jussie Smollett on March 26th is this: Could they point to any other occasions when they flat-out dropped felony false police report charges without requiring the accused to at least plead guilty?
[DAWN] A 16-year-old girl was on Wednesday allegedly kidnapped from outside the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) in 
[SALON] The reporting over the Syrian war these last 8 years has been an interesting masterclass in how to manufacture a narrative. The amount of reporting generated by journalists who never set foot in the places that they reported from was almost unprecedented. During these 8 years only a tiny handful of journalists actually travelled to syria to report on what was going on. Among these are Robert Fisk, Sharmine Narwani, Vanessa Beeley, Carla Ortiz, Eva Bartlett and Elijah Magnier. It's interesting to observe how radically different the reporting from these handful have been from the vast quantities of bullshit provided by the major media outlets.
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Wazoo
[DAWN] Various civil society organizations (CSOs) have applauded the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly for unanimously passing a resolution urging the provincial government to raise the minimum marriage age to 18 years and make legislation to end domestic violence.
