Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2019 14:25
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#2
Looks like a controlled implosion from Palleywood. The first floor walls looked already knocked down and bet the support columns were weakened. The building is already leaning towards the empty lot. The explosions were only at the ground level and well timed and placed to collapse the building.
The Israelis have this thing where they send a first, non-explosive missile to knock on the roof of the building to warn everyone to get out. They then send another missile to do the splody thingy a few minutes later. This is why no Turks were harmed yesterday when the Israelis destroyed the building in which the local branch of Anadolu Agency had its press offices — the same building that housed Hamas intelligence, or some such.
Dramatic scene on the streets of Ashdod, an Israeli port city, as a car goes up in flames following a direct hit from a rocket fired from #Gaza. pic.twitter.com/i32ozYHzae
PRECISION STRIKE: Earlier today, we targeted Hamed Ahmed Khudari in Gaza. He was responsible for transferring Iranian money to Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The funds were used to build the hundreds of rockets recently fired at Israel. Iran will need to find a new money man in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/2mv1oXLaB7
[Daily Beast] Naomi Rodriguez is an emergency medical technician who works 12-hour shifts in the streets of The Bronx, so she immediately recognized the irony when the unremarkable-looking man who lived one floor above her was alleged to be a terrorist sleeper agent.
"I save lives, and here’s this one trying to take them," she remarked this week from the doorway of her apartment on West 238th Street in the borough’s Kingsbridge Heights section.
Neither Ali Kourani’s attire nor demeanor gave any hint of his religion or ideology.
A scion of the clan described as the bin Ladens of Lebanon, he came to the U.S. for school after learning the basics of the terror trade as a teen. Here he studied biomedical engineering and got an MBA, then American citizenship on orders of Hizb’allah to become a sleeper agent while scouting potential Israeli and American targets. He and Samer el Debek, a fellow sleeper agent based in Detroit who scouted potential American and Israeli targets in Panama, were arrested on the same day...
"How do you say, it’s just unexpected," Rodriguez added. "Very unexpected."
She recalled that at the time of his arrest last June,
...June 2017, actually...
the news called 34-year-old Kourani "the Kingsbridge Heights Terrorist." But he was not just another lone wolf inspired to Islamic radicalism by internet hate sites and following online instructions to build a bomb in the kitchen of his mom.
As will become clear when he goes on trial Monday, this seemingly unremarkable man whom Rodriguez saw in the stairway is alleged to have been a longtime undercover operative for an international terrorist organization.
Kourani had allegedly been recruited as part of a plan to exact revenge for the car-bomb killing of a terror mastermind whom a former CIA agent called "probably the most intelligent, most capable operative we’ve ever run across, including the KGB or anybody else." Kourani was, by his own multiple admissions, trained in explosives and small arms, along with secure communications, survival and interrogation as a member of Hezbollah’s External Security Organization (ESO), also known as the Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO). Or simply 910.
"Or Hezbollah black ops," the FBI adds in court papers.
#1
The arrest prompted the NYPD Intelligence Division to interview Kourani on a number of occasions. He came to the further attention of law enforcement in September of 2015...
We'll just keep an eye on him for the next 6 or 7 years, make a few recruitment pitches. Perhaps he'll come around.
#5
These people are slippery. Their international comings and goings and business transactions are very difficult to monitor. Anything can happen, anything.
[France24] Two French tourists were kidnapped and their local guide was killed in Benin on May 1, regional sources told FRANCE 24 overnight.
"Mauritanian and Malian sources confirm that the driver was found shot dead. The vehicle carrying them was burned and was found less than a hundred kilometres from the border in Burkina Faso," according to FRANCE 24's correspondant in Benin, Emmanuelle Sodji.
Diplomatic and security sources confirmed on Friday that two French tourists and their guide had been missing in northwestern Benin since Wednesday.
The French couple were expected to return Wednesday evening to their hotel in Benin's Pendjari National Park, a remote area some 550 kilometres (340 miles) north of Benin's economic capital Cotonou.
They are being "actively sought" with the help of authorities in Benin, a source in France's foreign ministry said.
Benin is generally considered an island of stability in West Africa, a troubled region where many jihadist groups operate, but Pendjari lies on the porous and remote border with Burkina Faso, which has been hard hit by militant violence.
In recent months, security sources have warned that Atlantic coast countries such as Togo and Benin were vulnerable to the expansionist strategies of militants linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State group.
Pendjari, one of the largest remaining sites for elephants and lions in West Africa, is a vast area of 4,800 square kilometres but also part of a far larger wilderness area spreading into Burkina Faso and Niger to the north.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/05/2019 12:52
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#5
Good idea! Let's start bombing another country! I'm sure that will turn out well, just like all the other times it worked out well. Whoops, by that I mean "cost us billions that we can't afford and created more enemies where none existed while enabling local corruption."
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
05/05/2019 13:29
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#7
OK, lay out the case for bombing yet another country that never did anything to us. Tell us the great benefits it will bring the American people, and support this with evidence from all the times we bombed other countries like Iraq, Syria, Libya, etc.
This should be fun. All we have to show for our constant bombings is our veterans with limbs blown off or PTSD and an empty treasury.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
05/05/2019 14:13
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#8
Did I disagree with you, or did I point out the repetitive nature of most of your comments?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2019 16:18
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#11
I can't help but notice a string of ad hominem insults and a complete lack of any kind of refutation. This isn't how to argue. No wonder you get your asses kicked by the Left if this is all you can bring.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
05/05/2019 17:39
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#12
Don't you just love low IQ types who have no problem with people being murdered, starved, raped etc etc etc and who have no answers?
[France24] He is wheelchair-bound and has limited use of his hands but Alexander Gorbunov, the author of hugely popular social media accounts in Russia, has emerged as one of President Vladimir Putin's most vocal critics.
Diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy and using his right index finger to type, the 27-year-old author of StalinGulag skewers the "hypocrisy" of Putin's system and the everyday injustices ordinary Russians face.
Known for his dry wit and generous use of profanities, StalinGulag has built a near 1.5 million strong army of followers on Twitter and Telegram, with a total media outreach believed to include several million more.
For years the StalinGulag author's identity remained one of Russia's best-kept secrets but Gorbunov blew his cover after authorities began harrassing his 65-year-old mother and 80-year-old father last week.
Gorbunov, an intelligent, soft-spoken man with a goatee, said he and his wife have been on tenterhooks.
"They can easily arrest and put in prison anyone," Gorbunov told AFP in an interview, saying that even a short stint in jail could kill him.
"They don't care."
In an increasing crackdown on dissent, Putin in March signed laws that allow courts to fine and briefly jail people for showing disrespect towards the authorities and to block media for publishing "fake news".
- 'Damn hero' -
Gorbunov, who is a successful self-taught financial trader by day, dreads publicity but this week revealed his identity to BBC and later spoke to AFP after gun-toting police inspected his parents' home in the North Caucasus city of Makhachkala.
[Babylon Bee] OAKVALE, CA‐Progressive parents Willow and Arthur Riverstone are reeling after their son Sebastien came out to them as straight.
"This is a bombshell we'll be feeling for the rest of our lives," Arthur told reporters. "I mean, we love our son and we want to support him, but we never thought he'd be one of the straights."
Sebastien, who is fourteen and currently attending Oakvale Highschool as a freshman, broke the news to them last Wednesday when he wanted to invite a girl named Sophia to come over and hang out.
"We were hoping she was at least transgendered, but no dice," said Willow.
"We're still trying to decide if we would attend the wedding if you know... he's serious about this," Arthur said. "I just wasn't prepared for this. We didn't raise him this way. I mean, what's he going to do? Give us grandkids? I don't know how the environment is going to handle this, let alone me and my wife." The man broke down sobbing.
The Riverstones are attending support group meetings for progressive parents affected by their children coming out as straight. "It's helped a little," said Willow. "But the pain is real. You have to accept it and not let it control you."
[American Thinker] Three years ago, then-president Barack Hussein Obama (D) mocked the plans of his sure-not-to-be-successor, Donald J. Trump (R), for the country, comparing them to his oh, so successful eight-year "scandal free," high unemployment, high food stamp use, successful administration.
"He just says, 'I'm gonna negotiate a better deal.' Well how? How exactly are you going to negotiate that?" Obama said during the town hall portion of the event. "What magic wand do you have? And usually the answer is, he doesn't have an answer."
Well, that was then. And this is now.
To Obama's shock and dismay, Trump is president. For the past two and a half years, Trump has been waving his magic wand, banishing burdensome regulations; lowering taxes; appointing savvy people to top government posts; and yes, negotiating.
Friday's Drudge Report's banner headline sums up the pervasive success of Trump's magic negotiating wand, successfully sprinkling economic free-market magic dust equally on everyone.
#1
Any different in their belief in the 'Magic Money Tree' economics? Seems the Chinese may have some concept of economics, at least far better than the rest of the Left.
#4
Bath House Barry and his crowd are the magical thinkers, so everything anyone else does has that projected onto them.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/05/2019 10:02
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#5
China's policies of enriching their domestic industries while protecting them from foreign competition has done wonders for the Chinese people. They are better off every day than the day before. China's infrastructure is improving all the time. They have a high-speed rail network that is cheap, reliable, and great for business or leisure. New bridges and subways are going in everywhere.
OTOH America's "ruin our working class to create wealth in hostile countries who hate us" plan is going gangbusters. Trump is doing his best but you simply can't undo the huge damage that's been done since NAFTA was passed.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
05/05/2019 10:33
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#6
BP, in order to have crony capitalism, you still need capitalism.
#7
I'd say that the "best and brightest" whether in gummint or the management class, has done the bulk of the damage. And as they are a mutual admiration society they reinforce the damage each of them does.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/05/2019 12:45
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#8
If the so-called best and brightest had to buy their way into places like Harvard then maybe they weren't the best and brightest after all.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/05/2019 14:50
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#9
@Procopius2k
Oh yes, but China is maximised for rent-seeking insiders, not the Chinese people. They may be better off, but they should be vastly better off.
[AnNahar] North Korea launched unidentified projectiles into the sea Saturday, the South Korean military said, in what could be Pyongyang's first short-range missile launch for more than a year as it seeks to up pressure on Washington with nuclear talks deadlocked. OR, it could be the high-ranking officials just replaced after the ineffective Viet Nam Summit stunt
The United States and North Korea have been at loggerheads since the collapse of a summit between 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... and Donald Trump
Continued on Page 49
[AnNahar] Sri Lanka's Catholic Church will televise a private Sunday mass after cancelling regular services over fears of a repeat of Easter's suicide kabooms, even as police and troops tightened security.
Father Edmund Tillakaratne said public masses were suspended for a second week amid fears of a repeat jihadi strike, but a service conducted by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith will be broadcast on national television.
Police, meanwhile, said they were stepping up search operations over the weekend ahead of a planned re-opening of over 10,000 public schools after an extended Easter vacation.
Some 257 people were killed in a string of suicide kabooms against three churches and three luxury hotels on April 21.
"We will not allow any parking near public schools from Sunday afternoon," police front man Ruwan Gunasekera said. "Search operations will be intensified as part of tighter security."
Police and troops across the country had recovered small quantities of explosives, guns, swords, daggers and kris knives, Gunasekera said.
"We will grant a two-day amnesty for people to surrender such weapons," he added.
Despite the tight security, Catholic churches will remain shut on Sunday, a front man said, adding that a private mass will be telecast live from the residence of the Archbishop.
"It will be like last Sunday when we had a service at Archbishop's chapel and telecast it live," front man Edmond Tillakaratne told AFP.
Ranjith, also archbishop of Colombo, said Thursday a "reliable foreign source" had alerted him to possible attacks this weekend, leading him to cancel Sunday services for a second week.
"The information we have from a reliable foreign source is that attackers are planning to hit a very famous church and a Catholic institution," the Cardinal said in a statement.
- BASILICA SECURED -
Official sources said the Thewatte National Basilica, just outside Colombo, was the suspected target, and the military deployed hundreds of troops to search the area.
"There were no explosives found, but we have stepped up security in the neighbourhood," a police official said.
Although the 10,194 public schools re-open on Monday, a few Catholic schools will remain shut "until further notice".
Armed guards have been stationed outside hotels, churches, Buddhist temples and mosques across the country since the attacks.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said Friday that some of the conspirators may still be on the lam.
"Most of those responsible for the Easter attacks have been incarcerated ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... . Some have been killed," Wickremesinghe said during a tour of island's east, where a Christian church was hit.
"We are trying to see if there are any more secret IS cells in the country," he said. "We will ensure that IS terrorism will be eradicated from our land."
Sri Lanka bolstered security Friday with fears of attacks against several bridges and flyovers in Colombo as well as cop shoppes.
The attacks were blamed on the local National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ) whose leader was among the jacket wallahs. The group had pledged an oath of allegiance to 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.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/05/2019
01:26 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Hardline Egyptian Islamist leader Hazem Salah Abu Ismail’s five-year sentence for his involvement in besieging a court in Nasr City in 2012 has been upheld by the country’s top appeals court.
A Cairo court sentenced Abu Ismail and five others in January 2017 to five years in prison over the case, but they appealed against their sentences.
Abu Ismail was tossed in the slammer Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! for inciting and participating in violent demonstrations at Nasr City court in northeast Cairo in December 2012 demanding the release of one of his supporters, who had been incarcerated Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! in possession of an automatic weapon, according to the police.
He and his supporters blocked the court’s entrance, barring anyone from entering or exiting, including prosecutors who were inside. The defendants used threats and violence against the prosecutors to try to coerce them into releasing the supporter, the prosecution said.
Earlier in 2012, Abu Ismail was disqualified from the presidential race that eventually brought Mohammed Mursi of the Moslem Brüderbund to power in June that year. Reports had emerged that Abu Ismail’s late mother held a US passport, meaning he was not eligible to run for the presidency.
Abu Ismail was arrested in July 2013, two days after Mursi was ousted following mass protests against his rule, and is currently serving a seven-year sentence for falsifying his candidacy application for the 2012 presidential race.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2019
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] German Sherlocks have shut down the world’s second largest criminal online trading platform and detained three German men suspected of running it, the Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office said on Friday.
The online marketplace, named "Wall Street Market", was used to trade drugs, private data, falsified documents and malware and had more than 1.15 million customer accounts and over 5,400 registered sellers, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
The three men, aged 22, 29 and 31, were detained on April 23-24, it said, adding that Germany’s federal criminal investigation office, or Bundeskriminalamt, had secured the platform’s server infrastructure.
The men, who Sherlocks believe took payments of 2-6 percent of sales made on the platform, were detained after covert operations involving US and Dutch law enforcement agencies, and the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... ’s Europol agency.
Investigators had focused on the three men since March.
Cyber specialists at the Bundeskriminalamt started taking "operational measures" after the suspects switched the platform into maintenance mode on April 23 and started transferring customer funds deposited in the marketplace to themselves, the prosecutor’s office said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2019
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[Breitbart] The Fox News Channel’s Judge Andrew Napolitano accused Attorney General William Barr of misleading Congress ‐ an act that would result in Barr’s impeachment.
According to the Hill, on Wednesday, Napolitano sided with hysterical Democrats and far-left media conspiracy theorists with the evidence-free claim that Barr "probably misled" the House when he testified in April about special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
"He’s got a problem in my view," Napolitano added, before qualifying this nonsense by admitting he doesn’t think Barr told a "lie."
Keep in mind that this is the same Napolitano who told us back in January the Mueller report would prove the Trump campaign "had a connection to Russian intelligence."
This is the same Napolitano who told us he expected Donald Trump Jr. to be indicted.
This is the same Napolitano who told us Trump committed a felony and will be indicted over what is, at worst, a campaign finance violation that might result in a fine.
And now, these bitter sore losers are all claiming Barr lied on April 9 when Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL) asked him if "the special counsel’s team are frustrated at some level with the limited information included in your March 24th letter."
The March 24 letter is the four-page letter Barr released to the public about the bottom line conclusions of the Mueller Report.
#1
I read a story a little while back that Mr. Napolitano was lobbying for SCOTUS, and that he tried to use influence for to give somebody ($) a hand (influence) and was turned down.
As such, I take what "Eddie Munster" has to say about anything related to the Trump administration with a large dose of zouthuisje output.
Yes, I admit that when he was saying what I liked to hear, I was a fan, but his statements of recent indicate a troubling agenda.
#2
Maybe Napolitano is thinking of adding himself to the list of Democrat candidates for President.
Now that Avenatti has dropped out, who could beat him?
Posted by: Daniel ||
05/05/2019 2:13
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#3
He was a judge in Joisey. His opinions are bunk and he's a hack. Bitter that Trump actually said no
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2019 6:50
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#4
he Networks by the drugs they appear to be on.
MSNBC:
Belladonna Lady in White or the Mescaline deity (seen when you have too much) and the deity has condemned them to some strange space forever.
CNN:
Always on more than 200 micro-grams of acid.
FoxNews:
They always seem to be on a combination of 2 ludes and crystal with a chaser of beer and a small amount of mushrooms. (Fast, pause, fast, pause, space out then lunge forward and proclaim. Finish with a smile or a smirk.)
NBC, CBS and ABC – not generic by corporation but they all appear to be on their favorite drug.
[WASHINGTONPOST] Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó on Saturday acknowledged errors made in attempting to stir a military uprising, and did not discard a U.S. military option in Venezuela alongside domestic forces ‐ saying he would take any such offer from Washington to a vote in the country’s National Assembly.
After a dramatic week that saw a clandestine plan to oust President Nicolás Maduro fall apart on Tuesday, Guaidó conceded that the opposition had miscalculated its support within the military.
In an exclusive interview with The Washington Post, Guaidó suggested that he expected Maduro to step down amid a groundswell of defectors within the military. Instead, Guaidó’s call for the rank and file and senior brass to abandon Maduro did not produce mass defections. Maduro’s security forces then quelled street protests and left Guaidó’s U.S.-backed opposition on its heels.
"Maybe because we still need more soldiers, and maybe we need more officials of the regime to be willing to support it, to back the constitution," Guaidó said. "I think the variables are obvious at this point."
Guaidó ‐ the head of the National Assembly who in January declared Maduro a usurper and claimed the legitimate mantle of national leadership ‐ did not back unilateral U.S. military intervention. He made clear that any American military support must be alongside Venezuelan forces who have turned against Maduro, but gave no further specifics on what would be acceptable.
The Trump administration has said all options are on the table, and its hawks have pressed the Pentagon for possible military involvement. But the administration has not clearly signaled whether it would favor intervention against Maduro.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2019
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[8 views]
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#2
#1 How come i guessed it would go splat?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2019-05-05 07:48
...Lad jumped way too soon. Interesting though that he hasn't yet been placed in durance vile yet, unless Maduro's waiting for something else to get our attention.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/05/2019 9:10
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#3
Lad jumped way too soon.
Prolly should have waited for more of the military to get on board before making a move. If you come at the king, you best not miss.
#4
They wanted it to be true, and so they ignored evidence to the contrary.
Why is our government trying to overthrow foreign governments that never attacked us? And that possess substantial oil reserves? It's like every tired leftist trope about Latin America come true.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
05/05/2019 10:34
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#5
Why is our government trying to overthrow foreign governments that never attacked us?
Assuming you mean Venezuela specifically, are we?
Aside from some boilerplate "all options are on the table" talk, I don't see America getting involved except in some humanitarian aid role.
#6
So all this business with Guaidó is happening on its own, without any involvement by the US government?
Seriously? Really? They just attempted a coup.
"Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó on Saturday acknowledged errors made in attempting to stir a military uprising, and did not discard a U.S. military option in Venezuela alongside domestic forces"
From the Washington Post, the mouthpiece of the DC Deep State. I just don't know how it can get more obvious than this. They tried a coup, and it didn't work, and now they're talking about a military invasion. Because that worked so well in Iraq.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
05/05/2019 13:26
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#7
It's not a coup if the government is an illegitimate Commie dictator, but you're a Commie symp who doesn't care if the VZ people are dying, eating garbage, no water or power. It's all Internationale, isn't it?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2019 13:45
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#8
I'm not a fucking communist, you fecking moron. Are you on glue? I'm an American who thinks America should serve its own interest first and stop meddling in places that don't concern us. I'm right wing as fuck and you don't forget it.
Do you know we have an economic blockade on Venezuela that is greatly affecting their ability to feed their people? Because we do.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
05/05/2019 14:10
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#9
Suuuure you are.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2019 14:23
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#10
You are receiving this message because you posted in defense of invading another country. I no longer provide individual responses on this matter. It has been my experience that neo-con warmongers are universally incapable of accepting verifiable truths about war, and, by extension, themselves, thus rendering discussion pointless and, therefore, a waste of time.
I wish you all the best in your ongoing battle with reality.
Yours respectfully, a logical person.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
05/05/2019 17:37
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#11
When you start beating your wife and starving your kids HM, hope your neighbors intervene on their behalf...
#12
I have counted myself as a neo-con, being both Jewish and not originally aware of being conservative — a fault of the milieu I grew up in. Before that I thought of myself as a classical liberal, but Classical Liberal already held that nym. Dear Liberalhawk already had my next choice, so that, too, was out. Fortunately, the few trailing wives on the internet hang out far from Rantburg, so here I am. :-)
I have also been known to describe myself as a war monger, because I prefer the wars that various expansionist, totalitarian idiots insist on fighting be fought far from home, destroying the idiots’ home turf instead of ours. Sadly, the only way to do that is to engage them before they are big enough to send men here with troublemaking in mind. I can see where it might strike some as unnecessarily putting our troops in harm’s way rather than as pulling weeds while they’re still small enough not to overrun the garden; I have no way to persuade someone holding the former view that the latter is less costly in the long run in men and materiel — since all that can be seen is the money and lives spent on the small wars rather than that not spent on a worldwide conflagration like World War II that was prevented.
And so I choose to engage with Herb McCoy on those areas where I find his comments informative and insightful. For the rest, I am willing to agree to disagree, because I believe in his way he means as well as I do.
Baghdad (IraqiNews) An official source informed, on Saturday, that security forces found the body of an unknown man, who was killed by gunfire, in southern Baghdad.
The source said in a press statement that security forces found a dead body in Bawy area, in Madain District, in southern Baghdad.
He further added on condition of anonymity that the body was hand-chained and had shots in the chest area, while pointed out that the security forces transferred the body to the forensic medicine department and opened a probe into the incident.
It is noteworthy that the capital, Bagdad, is witnessing frequent attacks against security forces and civilians, due to the instability in the country.
[Rudaw] The release of a video by the propaganda arm of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) group purportedly featuring its self-declared caliph has understandably fueled speculation over possible motives. A tacit acknowledgment of the group’s defeat in Syria in March by the man said to be His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ...the head of ISIS, or what remains of it, and a veteran of the Abu Graib jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us. So far he has been killed at least four times, though not yet by a stake through the heart... was offset, so to say, by his claim that the April 21 Easter bloodbath in Sri Lanka was "vengeance for their brothers in Baghouz".
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/05/2019
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[KhaamaPress] At least twenty six Lions of Islam were killed and 45 others were detained in various operations of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) which were conducted in Kabul province, the informed military sources said Saturday.
The sources further added that the operations were conducted to ensure security in the capital as a major peace summit (Consultative Loya Jirga) was underway.
"In numerous operations to provide security for the Loya Jirga in Kabul City, Afghan Security Forces killed 26 and detained 45 bad boys. These operations resulted in the capture or elimination of 18 key enemy personnel," the sources added.
The consultative Loya Jirga, grand assembly, attended by 3200 delegates from across the country, concluded on Friday with the participants calling for an immediate declaration of ceasefire and launch of peace talks.
[KhaamaPress] At least 41 Talibs were killed and 13 others including a leader of the group were nabbed You have the right to remain silent... in latest counter-terrorism operations.
Informed military sources said Saturday that 15 Talibs were killed during the operations of the Afghan Special Forces in Deh Yak and Zanakhan districts of Ghazni province.
The sources further added a strike near the Borka District of Baghlan province killed 19 Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... fighters.
"An Afghan Special Force raid in Garm Sir District of Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... to disrupt Taliban offensive operations, resulted in 7 Taliban fighter killed, multiple weapons, explosives and IED’s destroyed. Additionally, 209kg of opium was destroyed," the sources said.
The military sources also added that a clearing operation by the Afghan National Army 203rd Corps in Sperah district of 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... resulted into the capture of 1 Taliban leader while 3 Taliban fighters and 9 persons of interest were also arrested.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A three-eyed snake found slithering down a road in the northern Australian town of Humpty Doo has sparked amusement in a country already accustomed to unusual wildlife.
Rangers dubbed the unusual serpent "Monty Python" after finding it on a highway in late March.
X-rays showed all three of its eyes were functioning and the extra socket likely developed naturally while the snake was an embryo, the Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Commission said in a Facebook post, noting that such deformities were common among reptiles.
Wildlife officers told the Northern Territory News the 40 centimeter (18-inch) carpet python was about three months old and died after about a month in captivity.
"It’s remarkable it was able to survive so long in the wild with its deformity and he was struggling to feed before he died last week," ranger Ray Chatto told the newspaper on Friday.
But the late Monty Python found a new life on the internet after the Wildlife Commission posted photos of it on their Facebook page this week.
"I tried to come up with a few jokes, but they just got cornea and cornea," wrote one user.
Another thought the joke was elsewhere: "Not even disturbed by the three eyed snake... just incredibly amused that there’s a place called Humpty Doo."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
There was a time the da*n thing would have been relegated to the fortunes of a formaldehyde-filled jar.
[Al Jazeera] A court in Iran has sentenced President Hassan Rouhani's younger brother to an unspecified jail term in a corruption case that supporters of the Iranian leader allege is politically motivated.
Hossein Fereydoun, who is also a close confidante of the president, has vowed to appeal the sentence, local media reported on Saturday.
"This person [Hossein Fereydoun] was found not guilty on some charges, while he was sentenced to prison on other accusations," Hamidreza Hosseini, a judiciary official, was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.
The trial of Fereydoun, along with six co-defendants, began in February without the judiciary giving details of the charges.
He had initially been held in 2017, on financial crime charges, before being released on bail.
Fereydoun, responding to the court's decision on Saturday, said he rejected the ruling.
"I strongly and categorically reject allegations against me in the court and some of the media, and I'm protesting," he was quoted as saying by the semi-official news agency ISNA.
Fereydoun was a senior diplomat who took part in talks that led to the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.
Some supporters of Rouhani, who was born Hassan Fereydoun before adopting his new surname, view the charges against his brother as a move by the judiciary to discredit the president.
The judiciary has denied having any political motivation in cases it tries.
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The US State Department has approved a possible $6 billion worth of weapons sales to Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates in three separate packages, the Pentagon said on Friday after notifying Congress of the certification.
In April, the US moved ahead with part of a THAAD missile defense system sale to the Kingdom.
In one of the notifications sent to Congress on Friday, Bahrain could potentially buy various Patriot missile systems and related support and equipment for an estimated cost of $2.48 billion. That potential Bahraini deal included 36 Patriot MIM-104E Guidance Enhanced Missiles known as GEM-T, an upgrade that can shoot down aircraft and cruise missiles.
In a separate State Department notification sent to Congress, Bahrain was also given the nod for various weapons to support its F-16 Block 70/F-16V aircraft fleet for an estimated cost of $750 million. That package included 32 AIM-9X missiles, 20 AGM-84 Block II Harpoon missiles and 100 GBU-39s which are 250-pound small diameter bombs and other munitions.
In a third State Department notification, the United Arab Emirates was given potential approval for $2.73 billion worth of Patriot missiles and related equipment including 452 Patriot Advanced Capability 3 (PAC-3) Missiles Segment Enhanced (MSE) and related equipment.
The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of the possible sale. The notification process alerts Congress that a sale to a foreign country has been approved, but it does not indicate that a contract has been signed or negotiations have concluded.
The principal contractors for the sales were Raytheon Co and Lockheed Martin Co. Oh NOES! Herb!
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[Al Jazeera] As white supremacy reigns supreme in the US, a new book seeks to bring back to the fore one of its ideological branches.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
And what if white supremacy isn't really reigning but its instead a pathetic excuse used by proponents of multiculturalism to explain their failure.?
Might they mean Boko Haram here or is a separate ISIS group moving in?
[AlAhram] 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) killed 10 Nigerian soldiers in an attack on the northeastern town of Magumeri, the group claimed through its news agency AMAQ on Saturday.
The Jihadist organization said the attack on the soldiers took place in the town in northeastern Borno state on Friday. It published pictures of burned barracks and dead bodies it claimed belonged to the soldiers.
Three sources in Nigeria, including one military source, confirmed the claim.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/05/2019
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Ugh. What a pity they can’t be followed home and dealt with there.
[KhaamaPress] The Taliban ...Arabic for students... have faceless myrmidons have evacuated their maimedfaceless myrmidons to Pakistain after sustaining casualties during a clash in Takhta Pul district, provincial Police Chief General Tadin Khan Achakzai said Saturday.
"Armed forces of Evil attacked the Haji Nika security post in Takhta Pul district last night but our soldiers responded with high morale, leaving at least 14 faceless myrmidons dead and 7 others maimed," Gen. Tadin Khan said in a Twitter post. "high morale and automatic weapons,.... but mostly automatic weapons"
Gen. Tadin Khan further added that the dead bodies of the faceless myrmidons are left in the area but the group managed to evacuate its maimedfaceless myrmidons to Pakistain.
The anti-government armed faceless myrmidons including Taliban have not commented regarding the festivities and casualties inflicted on its faceless myrmidons so far.
This comes as the Afghan officials have long been insisting that the leadership council of the Taliban group is based in Pakistain from where they plan and coordinated attacks in Afghanistan but the Pak officials claim that the murderous Moslem and terrorist groups have no sanctuaries in the country.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Hezbollah’s control over Leb’s governmental institutions will turn the country into an "axis of resistance", with Beirut’s foreign policy now being dictated by one party’s views, Sami Gemayel, the head of Leb’s Kataeb opposition party, told Al Arabiya in an exclusive interview.
Speaking to Al Arabiya’s Reema al-Maktabi, Gemayel said that Leb today is "aligned with the Iran-Hezbollah-Bashir al-Assad axis", adding that several political parties "agreed to electing Hezbollah’s candidate as president of the republic and to then manage political life under a clear ceiling which is not to discuss Hezbollah’s weapons."
"It’s become clear that Leb’s foreign and defensive strategic decision is in the hands of Hezbollah while other parties are concerned with electricity, waste, economic matters, contracting out," Gemayel added.
Gemayel also said that the problem concerning his party, which he says is the only opposition party in Leb’s parliament, is that Hezbollah has taken up the role of defending the country’s borders, which should be the task of the national army.
"Kataeb has the problem of all states that respect themselves, states that are supposed to be sovereign and independent. There’s something called the national army whose role is to defend the country’s borders. There is no country in the world where there is a militia tasked by the state to perform this duty," he said.
Currently, the Kataeb opposes Hezbollah over many of its domestic and regional policies.
The party believes that Hezbollah is trying to impose its culture and will on the Lebanese society by means of its illegitimate arms, thus undermining Leb’s illusory sovereignty and pluralistic nature.
Kataeb has also publicly opposed the group’s close ties with Iran and Syria’s Bashir al-Assad.
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Israel announced on Saturday it was closing its goods and people crossings with the Gazoo Strip as well as the zone it allows for fishermen off the enclave in response to Paleostinian rocket fire.
The crossings and fishing zone were being closed until further notice after a violent flare-up that saw GazooLions of Islam fire dozens of rockets at Israel, which responded with strikes.
The Israeli defense ministry unit that oversees the crossings announced the closure.
A barrage of at least 90 rockets were fired at Israel from Gazoo on Saturday, witnesses said, and the Israeli military said it responded with an air strike targeting "two rocket launchers" in the Paleostinian enclave.
The Israeli army said on Saturday that sirens warning of incoming projectiles sounded several times in southern Israel.
In response, Israeli aircraft targeted two launch sites in northern Gazoo. Local media reported three Paleostinian casualties.
The deadly flare-up between Israel and GazooLions of Islam enters a second day, shattering a month-long Egyptian-mediated easing of hostilities.
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[MOBILE.ALMASDARNEWS] Groups of bandidosturbans in the southern part of the demilitarized zone in Idlib, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (former Jabhat 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 .. ... outlawed in Russia), are creating a strike force and their attack on Hama is not ruled out, the chief of Russia’s center for the reconciliation of conflicting parties in Syria, Major-General Viktor Kupchishin told the media on Saturday.
"According to information available at this point groups of bandidosturbans under the command of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham have been building up strength near Latamna and Kafer-Zaita in the south of the de-escalation zone Idlib over the past few days. It should not be ruled out that they are creating a strike force with the aim of mounting an offensive against Hama," Kupchishin said.
This claim by the Russian Ministry of Defense comes just days after the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) began amassing troops along the Idlib-Hama axis in northwestern Syria.
The Syrian Arab Army has already begun striking the jihadist defenses in southern Idlib and northern Hama; however, they have yet to storm any areas.
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[MOBILE.ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) was responding to an artillery strike by the jihadist rebels on Saturday when their own artillery shells hit a Ottoman Turkish military post in the northwestern countryside of Hama.
According to a report from the Hama Governorate, the Syrian Army’s artillery shells hit a Ottoman Turkish military post near the town of Sheir Maghar, which is located just north of Qal’at al-Madiq.
Pro-opposition activists claimed that the artillery strike by the Syrian Arab Army resulted in three maimed for the Ottoman Turkish military; these casualties were later flown out of northwestern Hama by a rescue chopper.
The situation in northwestern Syria has tanked greatly over the last week, with all warring parties exchanging heavy fire along the Idlib-Hama axis.
The Syrian opposition has accused the Syrian military and Russian Air Force of killing 26 civilians during this heavy bombardment of Idlib and Hama.
The Syrian Arab Army is expected to launch a powerful offensive in the coming days to capture the demilitarized zone that was supposed to be free of any opposition or government forces.
The jihadist rebels and their allies have refused to leave the demilitarized zone, which has prompted the Syrian military to step up their efforts to clear the area.
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[MOBILE.ALMASDARNEWS] The Ottoman Turkish Army and their allies from the Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... (TFSA) began an operation on Saturday to push the Kurdish-led People’s Protection Units (YPG) further south of their stronghold, Azaz, in northern Aleppo.
According to preliminary reports from northern Aleppo, the Ottoman Turkish Army and their rebel allies are attempting to seize and secure two towns from the YPG forces near the key town of Tal Rifa’at.
It appears the Ottoman Turkish Army and their allies want to capture the towns of Maraanaz and Malkiyah from the YPG and if they’re successful, they will be able to secure Azaz and avoid the constant bombardment of the city.
The YPG’s presence in Maraanaz and Malkiyah has been a constant issue for the Ottoman Turkish Army, who has a base located directly west of Azaz.
While pro-opposition activists claimed that the YPG has withdrawn from both towns, there has been no proof to corroborate these reports.
The Ottoman Turkish Army and their allies are also avoiding any confrontation with the Syrian Armed Forces, who are currently positioned around the town of Tal Rifa’at.
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Isn’t this the system Syria bought to protect against Israel? If so, against whom does Iraq feel the need to protect itself?
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) ‐ Iraq and Russia are now engaged in talks over a deal to supply Baghdad with a Russian missile defense system, a former Iraqi politician said on Saturday.
"Iraq is negotiating a deal to purchase the S-400 missile defense system from Russia," Hakem al-Zamly, the former chairperson of the parliament’s security and defense committee, told Russia Today TV channel.
The deal "is very important for Iraq and is scheduled to come into effect in two years," he said.
"Iraq seeks to bolster cooperation with Russia in the field of armament," he said, citing a $4 billion deal to purchase mobile and fixed-wing aircrafts from Russia.
S-400 entered into service with the Russian armed forces in 2007. The system is capable of hitting targets at heights up to 30 kilometers within a range of 400 kilometers. It is designed for supersonic targets and chemical attack air defense.
Is pragmatism rearing its head in the Palestinian community?
[Jpost] In a bold move, a Paleostinian businessman from Hebron announced over the weekend the establishment of a new party that calls for focusing on economic prosperity for Paleostinians.
“Let’s focus now on the economic track. We can deal with the political track later.”
The founder of the party, called Reform and Development Party, is Ashraf Jabari, 45, who belongs to a prominent clan from Hebron.
Paleostinian Authority officials claimed that Jabari is working with the US administration to undermine the PA. They said that the timing of the announcement of the party was linked to US President Donald Trump
Continued on Page 49
[KhaamaPress] At least six members of a family were killed and nine others were maimed in an attack by Talibs in northern Faryab province of Afghanistan.
The 209th Shaheen Corps in a statement said a group of Talibs stormed a residential house in Qaisar district few days back targeting all members of a single family.
The statement further added that the attack was carried out in Kohi Village leaving six members of the family dead including elders and children while nine others were maimed.
The anti-government armed bully boyz including Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... have not commented regarding the incident so far.
Faryab is among the relatively volatile provinces in North of Afghanistan. Talibs are active in some of the restive districts of the province where they often attempt to carry out terrorist related activities against the government and security institutions.
[KhaamaPress] At least 43 faceless myrmidons of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group were killed in two separate Arclight airstrikes which were conducted in East of Afghanistan.
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) in a statement said the airstrikes targeted two training camps of the terror group in Chapara district of Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country..... The statement further added that several Pak and Uzbek nationals were also among those killed.
A prominent Uzbek holy warrior leader identified as Ismail, who was previously cooperating with the al-Qaeda terrorist network and had recently joined ISIS ranks, was also killed in the airstrike, the Ministry of Defense added.
The anti-government armed faceless myrmidons including ISIS sympathizers have not commented regarding the airstrike so far.
Kunar is among the relatively volatile provinces in East of Afghanistan located along the Line of Durand close to the tribal regions of Pakistain.
Both Taliban ...Arabic for students... and ISIS faceless myrmidons are active in some of the restive districts of the province where they often attempt to carry out terrorist related activities against the government and security institutions.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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#1
If one checks Rantburg over the last month or so there are myriad reports of attacks on "faceless myrmidons". Casualties enumerated are in the hundreds. Either the Afghan Army is becoming better at what their doing, or the Afghan media is becoming better in producing propaganda.
[KhaamaPress] The Special Forces of the Afghan intelligence destroyed a large cache of weapons and munitions belonging to Taliban ...Arabic for students... group in Uruzgan province.
The Afghan Intelligence, National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS), in a statement said Friday that the cache belonged to Taliban’s deputy shadow governor Mullah Atiqullah.
The statement further added that 13 Death Eaters were also killed during the same operation and 10 rocket launchers, 8 rocket launchers (82mm), 13 PKM machine guns, 23 M-16 rifles, 170 rounds of rocket launcher rockets, 23 rounds of 82mm rockets, 18 Ak-47 assault rifles, 6 Dragunov sniper rifles, 3 cycle of violences, 25 radio sets, and 500 kgs of explosives were confiscated and four depots of the Death Eaters were totally destroyed.
The anti-government armed Death Eaters including Taliban have not commented regarding the Arclight airstrike so far.
Uruzgan is among the relatively volatile provinces in South of Afghanistan. Talibs are active in some of the restive districts of the province including Tainkot and often attempt to carry out terrorist related activities against the government and security institutions.
[KhaamaPress] A Taliban ...Arabic for students... commander has killed the wife and 13-year-old son of an Afghan soldier after inviting them to a wedding ceremony in South-eastern Paktia province.
The provincial government media office in a statement said the incident took place late on Friday afternoon in Ahmad Khel district.
The statement further added that the Taliban commander Qari Aziz had invited the wife and 13-year-old son of an Afghan soldier to a wedding ceremony and murdered the two after they participated in the wedding reception.
Deedar, the soldier whose wife and son were murdered had also helped with the wedding reception of Qari Aziz by contributing 30,000 Afghanis which he had taken as a loan from another friend, the statement added.
The security and intelligence forces have launched an operation to arrest Qari Aziz, the provincial government said, adding that the perpetrator will be handed over to the judiciary institutions so that he could be prosecuted for the crime he has committed.
In the meantime, the Taliban group front man has rejected the involvement of the group’s commander in the incident, claiming that the murder of the two individuals has links with personal feuds.
From a bit ago, but a good overview touching on a number of names already in our archives.
[CNN] Sri Lankan Defense Minister Ruwan Wijewardene said Wednesday that most of the gunnies who killed at least 253 people at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Sunday were "well-educated and come from maybe middle- or upper-middle-class. So, they are financially quite independent, and their families are quite stable financially."
Two of the jacket wallahs were the sons of a wealthy Sri Lankan spice trader, Mohammed Ibrahim, sources with knowledge of the investigation told CNN.
This likely runs counter to what many people may believe about suicide bombers. After all, why would well educated, upper-middle-class folks with seemingly everything to live for blow themselves up and kill so many innocents?
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Posted by: trailing wife ||
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#1
If you believe islam creates utopia then removing the evidence it does not (islamic countries are shit-holes compared to western nations) is their natural response.
Rich kids are just able to get the evidence.
Who you going to believe? The koran or your own lying eyes?
#2
Well in the Sri Lanka example, daddy seems to have been the wellspring.
In general, when a rich kid goes splodeydope, I think the dynamic is something like:
1 - make the kid feel guilty because he's rich.
2 - convince him X, Y or Z is keeping his brethren down and he helped by being rich
3 - the only way to expiate his guilt is to uplift his poor, downtrodden brethern by killing all the X, Y or Z's
4 - and by the way, if you kill yourself in the process, that's all to the good - shows true remorse and you get 72 raisins as a reward.
#3
Or consider Patty Hearst. To avoid being forced into a marriage she invented a cult which captured and brainwashed her with Stockholm syndrome to the point where she was spraying bullets with her pretend terror group. All because she was a spoiled rich entitled bitch.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2019 12:11
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#5
Just as there's always someone smarter, there is always someone richer, and some rich kids decide the way to even things up is to become a Bond villain.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/05/2019 12:43
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#7
Life needs purpose. Most people get absorbed in work, others in sports teams. The idle rich don't have that so they are fertile ground for anything that provides a purpose. In the past that meant Christianity and/or the military service, now Communism and Islam are filling the bill.
#8
They take their religion seriously. Their families have enough money that whether they work or not isn't an immediate existential issue, so they have time to learn about the infidels (who not surprisingly shock them more than the familiar vices of the folks back home), and the opportunity to join jihad.
Posted by: james ||
05/05/2019 18:21
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#9
To be fair, Osama bin Laden was only one of his father’s fifty-six children from his twenty-two wives. That’s less than 2% gone bad. And of Osama’s 20+ children, I am only aware of one who seems to have chosen to walk in his papa’s footsteps, though there may be others who are quieter about it.
[Rudaw] Syria’s Foreign Ministry has denounced a forum of Kurdish and Arab leaders of northern Syria as "treason."
"Such gatherings show without any doubt the treason of its organizers regardless of their political, ethnic, or racial affiliations," read a statement published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates late on May 3.
The meeting in question brought representatives of some 70 Syrian Arab clans and tribes to the town of Ain Issa at the invitation of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), the Kurdish-led administration of the autonomous region, to discuss maintaining their united front now that 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.... (ISIS) is territorially defeated.
Kurds and Arabs formed a tenuous alliance under the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and they received military support from the US-led coalition against ISIS. With the end of the ISIS so-called caliphate, cracks have formed in the relationship. The SDC put on the Ain Issa forum in order to shore up ties and strengthen their hand in political negotiations about the future of Syria.
Individual tribal leaders and the SDC have separately opened the door to talks with Damascus, though they have made little progress. The SDC wants to preserve a measure of its autonomy and its armed forces.
The organizers of the forum "are pursuing delusions that have been proven throughout history to be impossible to realize," said the Foreign Ministry.
The final statement of the forum called for military and political unity, and condemned violence between Syrians.
The Foreign Ministry accused the United States of being secretly behind the meeting and called on Western nations backing the northern Syria administration to respect Syria’s illusory sovereignty.
The SDC and SDF control a third of the country, including major urban centres like Raqqa and Qamishli, oil fields of Deir ez-Zor, national infrastructure like Tishreen Dam, and agricultural lands of Hasakah.
Officials in Damascus have said they can envision reaching a deal with the Kurdish-led administration, which the Kurds acknowledge is an "inevitable" finality.
Defence Minister Ali Abdullah Ayyoub said in March that one way or another, all Syrian territory will be back under Damascus’ rule eventually. "The Syrian state will regain full control over all of its geography sooner or later, whether through reconciliation or military force," he said.
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) ‐ Two Iraqi people were maimed Saturday in a kaboom in djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... city, once a capital of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... terrorist group’s sprawling self-proclaimed "caliphate".
"A booby-trapped cycle of violence went off Saturday in al-Magmoaa area in Mosul’s eastern side, leaving two civilians maimed," a security source told al-Ahd News.
"The maimed civilians were moved to a nearby hospital for treatment," added the source.
Nineveh (IraqiNews) The Coach of the National Arena Gamed, Abboud Muhammed Hafsh, was wounded in the booby-trapped motorbike attack that struck Mosul earlier today, and he is currently in the hospital.
Alsumaria News reported that Hafsh is moving, on daily basis, between Qayara and Mosul, 55 kilometers from his residence, to serve athletes in his province, but the explosion blocked his way this morning.
The motorbike, which was parked on the roadside of al-Magmoaa al-Thakafiya area, near Tamata restaurant in Mosul, exploded causing material losses in the areas, in addition to injuring a number of civilians.
It is noteworthy that security forces imposed a curfew on motorbikes in Nineveh, following the booby-trapped motorbike attack earlier today, while pointed out that anyone who will violate the decree will be detained and fined.
[MOBILE.ALMASDARNEWS] Earlier, the Israeli Defence Forces said that its tanks and aircraft had targeted 30 areas inside the Gazoo Strip in response to 200 rocket launches from the territory on settlements in southern Israel earlier in the day.
Israeli Air Force fighters are "continuing to strike at terrorist targets in the Gazoo Strip," carrying out attacks on "about 70" targets in the territory, the Israeli military has said in a communique released Saturday evening.
According to the IDF, warplanes destroyed a 20-meter deep ’attack tunnel’ created by the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... organization, which had been dug under the Gazoo-Israel border into Israeli territory and was intended to allow turbans to carry out attacks.
The IDF reportedly surveiled the elaborately built tunnel, which included several entrances and exits, before its destruction Saturday.
An IDF front man accused the PIJ of working to destabilise the Gazoo Strip in recent weeks, noting that "in practice, we see that Hamas, the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®, is not succeeding in enforcing its rule on the PIJ."
The IDF reported intercepting dozens of rockets launched from the Gazoo Strip earlier Saturday with its Iron Dome defence network, saying that several of the rockets made it through, with rocket fire hitting at least one house.
The Israeli military response included targeting multiple launch sites, military compounds, and locations allegedly used to train turbans and for the manufacture of weapons, with the strikes targeting Hamas, which governs the Gazoo Strip, and its PIJ ally.
Two Israeli civilians were reported injured in the rocket attack, with one Paleostinian killed and four others maimed in Gazoo, according to the Health Ministry.
The escalation of tensions between Israel and Hamas follows violent confrontations Friday along the border area in which four Paleostinians were killed and 51 maimed, with two Israeli troops also receiving injuries.
BREAKING: Rocket count just crossed 300.
300 rockets fired from Gaza in around 10 hours. IAF strikes on military targets in Gaza expected in next few hours. https://t.co/OZ3liV3iHu
[MOBILE.ALMASDARNEWS] Maduro has repeatedly warned the United States against military involvement in the ongoing political crisis in Venezuela. His most recent address to the military comes on the heels of a botched coup attempt led by opposition leader Juan Guaido.
President Nicolas Maduro Venezuela's attempt at producing a Muammar Qadaffy... has called on the military to be "ready" in case the United States launches an offensive on Venezuelan soil, Agence La Belle France-Presse reported on Saturday.
Maduro told soldiers "to be ready to defend the country with weapons in hand if one day the North American empire dares to touch this land, this sacred ground," in a speech at a military base where several thousand servicemen were present.
It comes as opposition leader Juan Guaido is expected to make a fresh bid to woo the armed forces with protests at Venezuela’s military bases.
The years-long political crisis in Venezuela reached boiling point this week, when Juan Guaido, the head of the opposition-held National Assembly and self-proclaimed acting president, announced what he called the final push to oust Maduro. Guaido called on civilians and military on Tuesday to join his attempted coup, saying that he had the backing of the armed forces.
However, some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... only a small part of the military appeared to have heeded his call, and Nicolas Maduro the following day said the uprising had been a failure, pledging to resist the forces intent on "submitting our country to a neocolonial economic domination model and enslaving Venezuela".
Several media reports suggested that Maduro’s allies, including Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, had agreed to a transfer of power to Guaido after months of negotiations with US representatives. The plan is understood to have failed after Padrino Lopez had a last-minute change of heart.
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[Al Jazeera] Algerian police have tossed in the slammer Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika ... 10th president-for-life of Algeria. He was elected in 1999 and is currently on his third or fourth term. Maybe it's the fifth.... 's youngest brother alongside two former intelligence chiefs, according to local media.
Said Bouteflika and Generals Bachir Athmane Tartag and Mohammed Mediene were taken into custody on Saturday for questioning, reported the private Ennahar TV.
The younger Bouteflika, who served as advisor to the president for more than a decade, is seen by many as having taken de facto control of the North African state, after his brother suffered a crippling stroke in 2013.
Massive ongoing protests calling for a radical change pushed the ailing president to resign on April 2, but demonstrators continue to demand the removal of all those linked to the former administration.
Army chief of staff Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaid Salah, a former associate of President Bouteflika, came to the fore in late March after he broke ranks with the ailing leader, and called on him to step down. The president resigned five days later.
The 79-year-old Gaid Salah has since sought to win the confidance of demonstrators by vowing to prosecute members of the old guard suspected of corruption.
But the arrest of more than half a dozen prominent businessmen seen as close to the presidential "clan" has largely failed to appease protesters, who continue to take to the streets demanding a complete overhaul of the political system.
On Friday, the eleventh straight week of demonstrations, some protesters called on Gaid Salah to resign. They held up banners accusing him of failing to take on senior figures in the Bouteflika government, including the president's brother.
Others held placards reading "No to military rule".
North Africa analyst Rochdi Alloui said that, in prosecuting members of the ruling elite, Gaid Salah was hoping to set himself further apart from Bouteflika's immediate entourage and signal both his readiness and credibility to negotiate a transition with the opposition.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2019
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[Al Jazeera] Opposition leader Juan Guaido will make a fresh bid on Saturday to rally Venezuela's armed forces behind him calling on his supporters to march to military bases and barracks.
The protest call by the head of the National Assembly legislature - who is recognised as interim president by more than 50 countries - comes just days after he urged the military to rise up against the socialist president.
"Peacefully, civically ... we are going to deliver a simple document, a proclamation to the Armed Forces to listen to the Venezuelan call, that a rapid transition is possible to produce free elections," Guaido told a presser in Caracas on Friday.
"The call is to add and not to confront, to ask the military to be on the side of the constitution," he said on Twitter.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2019
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#4
Seems like Bill is going into stand up comedy to get an audience. Look at this line from him:
"These people, they don’t believe the same set of rules apply to them that apply to everyone else,” Bill Clinton said of the Trump administration.
Posted by: Daniel ||
05/05/2019 2:07
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#5
Chelsea will wait until 2020 9s long gone. She'll probably go for a House/Senate/Governor position and then run for President.
#6
The Clintons will wait for Gillibrand to flam out in the dem presidential primaries and then position Howdy Doody Chelsea to replace her in the senate. Which is funny since the Clintons put Gillibrand in the senate in the first place...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/05/2019 7:25
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#7
But, at some point, haven't they made enough money?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/05/2019 9:25
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#8
Chelsea to replace her in the senate.
It’s hard to give out goodies when your party is in the minority, but I suppose they’d be positioning for the future. My impression is that as a politician Chelsea resembles her mother.
[Al Jazeera] Syrian government forces and their Russian allies had intensified their air offensive on the country's rebel-held northwest for a fifth consecutive day in a widening campaign, killing and wounding dozens and forcing thousands to flee their homes.
After an overnight lull, government and Russian warplanes escalated bombings on Saturday hitting rebel areas in Idlib and the neighbouring province of Hama, aid workers in the area said.
The Syrian military sent new reinforcements towards Idlib, including tanks, armoured personnel carriers and hundreds of troops on Saturday.
The official SANA news agency said the army had destroyed "jihadist" positions in southern Idlib and nearby Hama province in response to what it called repeated violations of a de-escalation agreement.
But the UN humanitarian coordinator said schools, health facilities and residential areas have been hit and the government forces are employing the worst barrel bombing in at least 15 months.
Barrel bombs are containers packed with explosives dropped from helicopters.
"Now, the bombing has returned and is much heavier and has spread very widely in Jabal al-Zawiya and rural northern Hama," Ahmad al-Dbis, safety and security manager for the US-based Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations (UOSSM), told Rooters News Agency.
"The planes are not stopping at all and the bombing is continuing in a very big way like yesterday and worse," al-Dbis added.
The recent upsurge in violence is the most serious in Idlib since Russia and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...Qatar's colony in Asia Minor.... negotiated a ceasefire in September.
The shaky truce had averted a major government offensive on the last rebel stronghold in Syria.
The Syrian Civil Defence, a rescue service operating in rebel-held areas, said it had recorded more than 30 deaths in the last few days.
Dbis said the number of dead was at least 50 while the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which monitors the war, said at least 67 people had been killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2019
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#1
I see this sort of post almost every day.
At what point or time will the attacks exceed the effects of an A-Bomb? an H-bomb?
#4
The implication is a barrel bomb is horrible because it indicates a desire to kill even when expensive munitions are not available. A rare case of lefties not cheering at the "whatever it takes" argument.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/05/2019 12:55
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#5
Inexpensive, no circuit boards, relatively easy to fabricate, very effective, not manufactured by a leading, international arms manufacturer. Little wonder they're so hated.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Cyprus’ foreign ministry says The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire.... ’s bid to drill for natural gas in waters where the island nation has exclusive economic rights is a "flagrant violation" of its illusory sovereignty under international law.
The ministry in a statement on Saturday says the bid shows Turkey’s "real intentions" of undermining efforts to restart talks aimed at reunifying the ethnically divided country.
The ministry says Cyprus, a European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... member, is taking "all necessary measures" to deal with the situation.
EU Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini is expressing the bloc’s "grave concern" over Turkey’s intention to drill inside Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone.
Mogherini says the EU urgently calls on Turkey to show restraint, respect Cyprus’ sovereign rights and refrain from any illegal action to which the bloc "will respond appropriately in full solidarity" with Cyprus.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2019
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#1
Hey, if the EU never kicked Turkey out of 3/4 of Cyprus they will never do anything here.
[Rudaw] With Syria gripped by its worst fuel crisis since the conflict began almost a decade ago, the future status of the country’s modest oil reserves is once again very relevant.
On April 23, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based conflict monitor, reported that "tens of trucks filled with fuel" arrived in regime-controlled territory from SDF-controlled parts of Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria, where most of Syria’s oil reserves are located.
The SDF took control of Deir ez-Zor’s oilfields after capturing them from the Islamic State
Continued on Page 49
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Sudan is facing a pre-Ramadan fuel crisis and a worsening cash crunch less than a month after president Omar al-Bashir Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. was ousted following protests sparked by bread and fuel shortages.
Cars queued at almost every petrol station in Khartoum on Saturday as motorists waited for fuel for several hours. Soldiers manned the stations to ensure order.
The crisis, along with a cash shortage and electricity outages, pose challenges to the country’s ruling Transitional Military Council (TMC), set up after generals deposed Bashir and tossed in the slammer Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! him on April 11.
The TMC is locked in a standoff with the opposition over who will control a proposed joint civilian-military body to oversee the country until elections can be held. Protests have continued in a bid to push the council to cede power to civilians.
At least a dozen ATMs in a commercial area in central Khartoum had no cash, and dozens of people lined up at those still dispensing money. A Rooters witness counted 88 customers in one line on a main road in central Khartoum.
Queues had previously been shorter and more ATMs held cash.
"I am searching since the morning for an ATM to withdraw cash from," said Ahmed Yassin, 52. "I have been standing in line for three hours and I must withdraw so that I can buy Ramadan needs for my family," he added.
One banking employee, who declined to be named, said most ATMs held no cash.
Most Sudanese employees get paid near the beginning of the month, and consumer spending often increases during the Islamic month of Ramadan, likely to begin on May 6, contributing to the liquidity crisis. "Say what you want about Bashir, but the trains ran on time"
"We don't have trains"
"Well, OK, but at least he looked snappy in those ginormous shoulder boards"
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Cash crunch? Did you look under Omar's mattress?
Kirkuk (IraqiNews) The Anti-Terrorism Directorate announced, on Saturday, arresting two terrorists, who were planning to launch an attack in Kirkuk Province.
The Directorate revealed in a press statement that the 2nd Special Operations Command carried out an operation to arrest two terrorists, who were planning to to launch terrorist attack in Kirkuk Province.
The statement also pointed out that the operation was carried to fulfill the goals of the Anti-Terrorism Directorate, and to dismantle the remaining terrorist networks of the ISIS.
The operation was successful and conducted based on accurate intelligence information, the statement added.
[ToloNews] The security of Pashtun-infested Logar has improved as more forces have been deployed to insecure parts of the eastern province which has almost 76 kilometers distance with the capital city, Kabul, and is the home for the country’s biggest copper deposit.
Despite the improvement, local officials said, three out of six districts of the province remain under high security threats where development projects have been stopped while government has planned to start work on extraction of Mes Aynak copper deposit and construction of an airport in the province.
Mes Aynak is located in Mohammad Agha district in Pashtun-infested Logar, almost 50 kilometers to the southeast of Kabul, and contains Afghanistan's largest copper deposit, as well as the remains of an ancient settlement with over 400 Buddha statues, stupas and a monastery complex.
TOLOnews news hound Tamim Hamid, who traveled to Mohammad Agha district in a convoy of the security forces, said they faced an ambush by the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... on their way to the district which was shortly repelled by the troops.
He said the Sorkhab village is the most embattled part of Mohammad Agha district, where security forces have conducted "many" operations in the past four weeks.
Rahm Khoda Mokhlis, Acting Police Chief of Pashtun-infested Logar, who is a former member of the Special Unit of Afghan National Police, said security forces have been stationed in Mohammad Agha for more than a month.
According to local officials, construction of a ring road which passes through Mohammad Agha and construction of an airport in the district have been delayed due to insecurity.
"We are waiting for the companies to come (to Mohammad Agha) and begin their work. Militants did not allow them to come to the district before this," Mokhlis said.
Mostly, the public uprising forces have been deployed to different parts of Mohammad Agha district, whose number is not more than 400.
"We come under attack from the houses around here," said Abdul Rahman, member of the public uprising forces in Pashtun-infested Logar.
"Taliban are located in the nearby villages," said Mir Hatam, a public uprising forces member.
Gen. Abdul Razaq, Commander of the fourth Brigade of 203 Thunder Corps, said the districts of Charkh, Kharwar and Baraki Barak are mostly faced with threats compared to other three districts of the province.
"We don’t want war; it is the Taliban who begin attacks, but we are ready to respond to their attacks," Razaq said.
This comes after Taliban announced their so-called spring offensive last month which was faced by huge criticism of Afghan and foreign officials.
Taliban on Friday rejected the grand council’s call for a ceasefire, saying that they will not lay down their arms and will continue their "Jihad" even during the month of Ramadhan.
[Al Jazeera] At least nine soldiers have been killed in an attack claimed by 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 the Levant (ISIS, or ISIS) targeting forces loyal to renegade commander Khalifa Haftar ...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all... , officials said.
ISIS fighters, "backed by criminal groups and mercenaries", launched on Saturday a dawn assault on a military training camp in the southern city of Sebha, the city's mayor Hamed al-Khayali told AFP.
"The attack left nine dead ... some of whom had their throats slit and others who were rubbed out," he said.
A front man for the Sebha Medical Centre confirmed it had received nine dead bodies.
ISISgrabbed credit for the attack in a statement distributed through social media, saying it had targeted "Haftar's heretical militia" and freed prisoners held on the base.
Sebha - like much of the south and its oilfields - is controlled by Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA), and is 650km south of the capital, Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... , where the renegade general's forces are currently fighting to take control from militias affiliated with a UN-backed government.
However, a clean conscience makes a soft pillow... the campaign has not breached the city's southern defences.
ISIS reemergence?
In a statement, the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) said Haftar shouldered "direct responsibility for the reemergence of the Islamic State organization; for [its] terrorist activities and its return to the scene ... after the GNA had been successful ... in destroying" the gang.
"Ever since the offensive against Tripoli, we have warned that the only beneficiaries ... are the terrorist groups and that what is happening will offer them a fertile ground to restart their activities".
Meanwhile the UN's mission in Libya, UNSMIL, said on Twitter it "strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Sebha, which was claimed by [ISIS] and resulted in a number of Libyan casualties".
"Perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of terrorist activities must be brought to justice," UNSMIL added.
In recent months, ISIS fighters have staged several hit-and-run attacks in southern Libya. The gang retreated to the south after losing its stronghold in the central city of Sirte in December 2016.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shootout, Butch clutched at his leg. Son of a Breech! he exclaimed with feeling...... the ongoing fighting in Tripoli has killed at least 392 people and maimed 1,936 others, the UN's World Health Organisation said on Friday.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2019
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They already had one day in the fresh air and sunshine this week. Overdoing it simply wouldn’t be healthy.
[AlAhram] La Belle France’s "yellow vest" anti-government demonstrations recorded their lowest turnout yet on Saturday, days after a wider May Day rally was marked by violent festivities in Gay Paree.
The downturn in demonstrator numbers on the 25th straight weekend of yellow vest protests could be a relief to President Emmanuel Macron, who last week made a series of policy proposals to address the issues raised.
Some 18,900 protesters took part in the latest marches nationally, compared with 23,600 a week earlier, the Interior Ministry said. In Gay Paree, where three protests had been authorized, turnout was 1,460 against 2,600 last week.
"Many of them were shocked by the behavior and repression of last Wednesday," Herve, one protester in Gay Paree, told Rooters. "So it’s not surprising to see that it’s lagging behind a bit regarding the turnout."
In addition some yellow vests joined a rally against climate change in the northern city of Metz, where G7 environment ministers were meeting. The demonstration gathered 3,000 participants, the ministry said.
In contrast, tens of thousands of labor union and yellow vest protesters had taken to the streets across the country on Wednesday in demonstrations that saw festivities between anarchists and police, especially in Gay Paree.
In the southwestern town of Bordeaux, a Rooters journalist estimated the number of demonstrators at several hundred on Saturday against more than 2,000 a week earlier.
The protests, named after motorists’ high-visibility jackets, began over fuel tax increases but morphed into a sometimes violent revolt against politicians and a government they see as out of touch.
Many in the grassroots movement, which lacks a leadership structure, have said Macron’s proposals last week, which include tax cuts worth around 5 billion euros ($5.6 billion), did not go far enough and lacked details.
[Al Jazeera] At least 90 people, including 65 children, are believed to have been infected with HIV in Pakistain by a doctor using a contaminated syringe, officials said.
"We have enjugged Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! a doctor after receiving complaints from the health authorities," said Kamran Nawaz, the local police chief heading the case in the southern city of Larkana, on Friday.
"We are told that the doctor also has HIV," he said.
Authorities were first alerted last week after 18 children living on the outskirts of the city tested positive for the virus, which causes AIDS, prompting health officials to carry out wider screenings. Dozens of more infections were found.
"More than 90 people have tested HIV-positive and the number of children is around 65," Dr Abdul Rehaman, a district health official in Larkana, told AFP news agency.
A second official confirmed the outbreak, although gave slightly different figures.
Authorities said they traced the outbreak to a single doctor, who appears to have been using a contaminated syringe on patients.
Azra Pechuho, Sindh province's health minister, confirmed his arrest. "The blood of the parents of the infected children was also tested, but their results were negative," he said.
Officials have since launched an even larger testing and education drive.
Pakistain is considered a low prevalence country for HIV, but the disease is expanding - mostly among intravenous drug users, sex workers and migrant labourers returning from the Gulf.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2019
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#1
So rioting over polio vaccinations but no big deal about this.
[AlAhram] 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.... Death Eaters and Chadian opposition fighters were responsible for an attack on the forces of eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar ...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all... in the southern Libyan city of Sebha, a military source said on Saturday.
Eight soldiers were killed earlier on Saturday in the attack on a training camp in Sebha, the head of the local municipality said.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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Also, The Times of Israel has been live-blogging events here since 9:00 am local time Saturday. Headline as of midnight EDT Sunday:
Over 400 rockets shot from Gaza since Saturday morning, IDF says: Army says it has hit 180 sites in Gaza; rocket sirens sound after short break; Gazans say death toll in Strip up to 6, including mother and baby Israel says it did not kill.
Update at 5:30 a.m. EDT: Sunday’s Times of Israel liveblog can be found here. Current headline:
Netanyahu says he has ordered IDF to continue ‘massive attacks’ in Gaza: PM says Hamas paying a ‘very heavy price,’ is responsible for actions by Islamic Jihad; sends condolences to family of Moshe Agadi, killed in rocket attack on Ashkelon
#RedAlert Kiryiat Gat and vicinity. Rockets fired. Apparently someone in #Gaza is not happy with the talks ongoing with #Israel via #Egypt and makes it understood with an extended range of fire. pic.twitter.com/l5itTNz8On
— Observer IL - #OSINT Analysis (@Obs_IL) May 4, 2019
You can just imagine the wailing, moaning and gnashing of the teeth if Trump were to lend them some Buffaloes but it just might put a stop to this nonsense right quick.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/05/2019 14:23
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#8
TOI: Tanks and reservists also called up - may be an offensive incursion
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2019 14:55
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#9
@IDF on Twitter Pics Hamas published of its rocket launches. They blur the bottom. Why?
1. So we won't know where the launch site is
2. So you won't see that they’re firing from civilian homes in Gaza
We have 2 things to say:
1. We know where they’re firing from
2. The blur isn't that good
LOL
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2019 15:16
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#10
Three or four MOABs to soften up the target before sending the troops in. That'll do it. target the rocket storage sites..
[MOBILE.ALMASDARNEWS] A military helicopter with 7 people on board has crashed in Venezuela, Elías Sayegh, the mayor of the El Hatillo municipality, reported via Twitter on Saturday.
"An army helicopter fell this morning in the green zone in Oripoto, more precisely in El Volkan, with seven passengers on board. Our team of El Hatillo civil defense forces helps with search operations," Sayegh wrote on Twitter.
There is no information about the fate of the crew and passengers so far. The helicopter may have been a Bell 412.
With the recent presence of U.S. spy planes off the coast, the Venezuelan military has raised their alert levels in a bid to protect their air space from any enemy aircraft
Posted by: Fred ||
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[DW] Islamic veils are a hot topic in Germany, particularly due to a growing Moslem population. Now, outcry over an academic conference on the issue has surprised even its organizer, who says freedom of speech is at stake.
Islamic veils and headscarves remain the subject of heated public debate in Germany. Some view them as part and parcel of religious freedom; others as a symbol of women's oppression in Islam. The German court system has already taken up the issue of whether school teachers should be banned from wearing a partial headscarf or full veil ‐ or any other openly religious symbols ‐ in class. To complicate matters further, not all of Germany's 16 states see eye-to-eye on the matter, which is gaining in visibility due to the country's changing demographics.
Germany's Moslem population, which has rapidly increased in recent years due to immigration from Moslem-majority countries, was estimated at between 4.4 and 4.7 million people or approximately 5.5% of the country's total population in 2015, according to the Federal Statistical Office. The number is doubtless higher now, according to the agency, but updated official figures exist.
Continued on Page 49
[KhaamaPress] A top krazed killer leader who was in charge of ISIS activities in northern Afghanistan and Central Asia was killed in an operation of the Afghan Special Forces in northern Baghlan province.
The Ministry of Interior (MoI) in a statement said the top krazed killer leader identified as Mufti Uzbek was killed in an operation of the Afghan National Police Special Forces in Dahana-e-Ghori of Baghlan province on Friday night.
The statement further added that Mufti Uzbek was in charge of ISIS activities in northern parts of Afghanistan and was mainly involved in planning and organizing terrorist attacks.
According to MoI, Mufi Uzbek was also in charge of equipping and financing the terror group Central Asia.
At least three other ISIS Death Eaters were also killed during the same operation and some weapons and other military kits were confiscated, the Ministry of Interior added.
The anti-government armed Death Eaters including ISIS sympathizers have not commented regarding the Arclight airstrike so far.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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[Al Jazeera] A pregnant Paleostinian mother and her one-year-old baby have been killed in a wave of Israeli air raids on the Gazoo Strip, shattering a month-long lull in violence in the besieged enclave.
The bombardment on Saturday came after Hamas, a regional Iranian catspaw,, which rules Gazoo, and the Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... movement fired more than 200 rockets towards cities and villages in southern Israel.
At least three Paleostinians, including the mother, infant and a 22-year-old male, Emad Naseer, were killed in the air raids, the health ministry in Gazoo said, while 13 others were maimed.
Shrapnel from the Gazoo rockets meanwhile maimed two Israelis; one of them was an 80-year-old woman.
The escalation began on Friday when a sniper from Islamic Jihad fired at Israeli troops across the border wounding two of them, according to the Israeli military. A retaliatory Israeli air strike then killed two fighters from Hamas.
Two other Paleostinians protesting near the frontier were also killed by Israeli forces.
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[The Hill] A competitor that purchased The New Orleans Times-Picayune laid off the newspaper's entire staff. "But we belong to a union!"
The New York Post reported Friday that a total of 161 workers lost their jobs, including 65 reporters and editors, citing a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice filed with the Louisiana Workforce Commission.
The owners of The New Orleans Advocate, John and Dathel Georges, purchased The Times-Picayune from Advance Local. Advance Local is part of the same corporation that owns Condé Nast.
The Advocate will publish a daily paper using the names of both brands beginning in June and will merge their websites under NOLA.com.
Times-Picayune staffers mourned the layoffs on Twitter.
#7
When journalists scoffed at unemployed American working class and told them disdainfully to "learn to code" or die, it was a harsh truth that needed to be said. Speak truth to the powerless!
When journalists are laid off, telling them "learn to code" is a hate crime.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
05/05/2019 10:35
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#8
I stopped buying the Advocate twenty years ago because I refused to subjugate myself to their bullshit. I don't really care for the Picayune either but I can't really get it out here.
#12
I looked up their readership numbers--it doesn't go back to pre-Katrina, though. Steady to about 2012, then a quick drop, then a slow decline to less than half the 2008-2011 numbers.
Posted by: james ||
05/05/2019 18:08
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#13
then a slow decline to less than half the 2008-2011 numbers.
Like almost all the rest of the industry, then. Here in Cincinnati we used to have two separate newspapers. Now there is one, which also replaced the newspapers of the northern Kentucky region... after which it downsized staff again, contracted non-local reporting to USA Today, and physically shrank the paper version of the newspaper seen on newsstands. The Sunday paper now delivered to our house practically needs a magnifying glass to read.
[Al Jazeera] On April 10, the photograph of 22-year-old engineering student Alaa Salah chanting in front of a crowd of protesters went viral, capturing the world's attention and breaking an international media blackout on Sudan's protests.
She was quickly branded the "symbol" of the Sudanese revolution, her image defying spurious normative ideas of Moslem women as oppressed and politically passive. The international media obsessed over her act of courage and exceptionalised it, missing a critical opportunity to look into the central role Sudanese women have played in the revolution so far and the broader historical context in which their activism has emerged.
In fact, the history of Sudan has been dotted by iconic female figures: from the Kandaka (the Nubian queen) of Meroe, whose military strategy prevented Alexander the Great from conquering Nubian lands in 332 BC, to Dr Khalida Zahir, Sudan's first woman doctor who was tossed in the clink Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! by the British in 1946 for opposing colonial rule, to Fatima Ibrahim a prominent communist and leader of the Sudanese Women's Union, who fought for women's right to vote, equal pay and maternity leave.
It is important for us, two women from the Gezira and Darfur, to point out that while some of these feminist icons from central and northern Sudan have received recognition, the critical role working-class women and women from marginalised regions have played as drivers of popular resistance against dictatorship, political marginalisation and state violence in Sudan for decades has largely been overlooked.
In this sense, Alaa is the daughter of not just prominent Sudanese feminists but also of generations of ordinary women from across Sudan who have been at the forefront of anti-regime resistance. Their fight for dignity and freedom has laid firm foundations from which now she and countless other young women protesters can step in their courageous struggle against the regime.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2019
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[PJMEDIA] "The Asians wearing MAGA hats were not just tourists," Wendy Wright, president of Christian Freedom International, told PJ Media. "They are North Korean defectors and South Koreans who get rice, medicine, and Bibles into North Korea and North Korean defectors out."
The attack happened in Washington, D.C, Wright said.
Just days before President Trump met with Kim Jong-un in February, North Korea announced that it was facing a food crisis. Daily rations were cut and it was reported that 41 percent of North Koreans were undernourished. These Korean aid workers were in America as part of an effort to bring relief to starving North Koreans.
The video below shows defectors from North Korea preparing and launching (across the river) bottles filled with rice, medicine, and Bibles.
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.
Yet another slippery fellow; Paki IT guy Imran Awan and his Falls Church used car dealership. No charges other than 'Bank Fraud.' 
[France24] Two French tourists were kidnapped and their local guide was killed in Benin on May 1, regional sources told FRANCE 24 overnight.
[Babylon Bee] OAKVALE, CA‐Progressive parents Willow and Arthur Riverstone are reeling after their son Sebastien came out to them as straight.
[American Thinker] Three years ago, then-president Barack Hussein Obama (D) mocked the plans of his sure-not-to-be-successor, Donald J. Trump (R), for the country, comparing them to his oh, so successful eight-year "scandal free," high unemployment, high food stamp use, successful administration. 
North Korea
Baghdad (IraqiNews) An official source informed, on Saturday, that security forces found the body of an unknown man, who was killed by gunfire, in southern Baghdad.
...the head of ISIS, or what remains of it, and a veteran of the Abu Graib jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us. So far he has been killed at least four times, though not yet by a stake through the heart...
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A three-eyed snake found slithering down a road in the northern Australian town of Humpty Doo has sparked amusement in a country already accustomed to unusual wildlife.
Venezuela's attempt at producing a Muammar Qadaffy...
Bouteflika
[Al Jazeera] Syrian government forces and their Russian allies had intensified their air offensive on the country's rebel-held northwest for a fifth consecutive day in a widening campaign, killing and wounding dozens and forcing thousands to flee their homes.
...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all...
[Al Jazeera] At least 90 people, including 65 children, are believed to have been infected with HIV in Pakistain by a doctor using a contaminated syringe, officials said.
[DW] Islamic veils are a hot topic in Germany, particularly due to a growing 
[Al Jazeera] A pregnant Paleostinian mother and her one-year-old baby have been killed in a wave of Israeli air raids on the 
[PJMEDIA] "The Asians wearing MAGA hats were not just tourists," Wendy Wright, president of Christian Freedom International, told PJ Media. "They are North Korean defectors and South Koreans who get rice, medicine, and Bibles into North Korea and North Korean defectors out."
