Hi there, !
Today Fri 05/24/2019 Thu 05/23/2019 Wed 05/22/2019 Tue 05/21/2019 Mon 05/20/2019 Sun 05/19/2019 Sat 05/18/2019 Archives
Rantburg
531698 articles and 1855974 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 59 articles and 155 comments as of 13:47.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix    Main Page
8-10 Somali Teens Armed With Hammers Attack Bystanders at East Bank Rail Station in MN
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
11:06 6 18:55 Rob Crawford []
08:27 4 15:09 Dron66046 []
08:23 3 18:57 Glenmore [1] 
08:07 3 18:58 Rob Crawford []
05:07 12 16:22 charger [1]
04:47 5 16:52 Raj [1]
04:39 5 19:00 Glenmore [1]
04:09 6 21:12 Bob Jesing9847 [1]
02:19 7 21:18 rjschwarz [1]
02:16 11 16:20 rjschwarz [1]
01:57 5 15:32 Dron66046 []
01:53 2 08:51 Procopius2k []
01:51 3 15:50 3dc [1]
01:43 2 23:59 Skidmark []
00:41 8 17:50 swksvolFF [1]
00:12 22 17:48 swksvolFF [1]
00:00 1 00:59 Raj [1]
00:00 3 20:29 Slaise Fleans7293 [2] 
00:00 0 []
00:00 0 [1]
00:00 2 13:01 DarthVader [1] 
00:00 0 [1]
00:00 0 [1]
00:00 0 []
00:00 0 [1]
00:00 0 [1]
00:00 2 08:17 M. Murcek []
00:00 1 08:34 Besoeker []
00:00 8 15:48 Skidmark []
00:00 2 01:40 SteveS []
00:00 1 15:52 Dron66046 []
00:00 0 []
00:00 0 [] 
00:00 4 08:22 Skidmark [1] 
00:00 4 10:50 M. Murcek []
00:00 0 []
00:00 1 11:39 M. Murcek []
00:00 0 []
00:00 1 15:21 Dron66046 []
00:00 0 [1]
00:00 0 [1]
00:00 0 [1]
00:00 0 [] 
00:00 0 [] 
00:00 0 [2]
00:00 3 11:36 Mercutio [1] 
00:00 0 [] 
00:00 0 []
00:00 8 15:57 3dc [1]
00:00 0 [1]
00:00 0 [] 
00:00 0 [1] 
00:00 0 [1]
00:00 1 00:41 Raj []
00:00 0 []
00:00 2 17:07 NoMoreBS [1]
00:00 2 12:11 NoMoreBS [2]
00:00 2 15:13 Skidmark [3] 
00:00 3 10:57 M. Murcek []
Home Front: Culture Wars
8-10 Somali Teens Armed With Hammers Attack Bystanders at East Bank Rail Station in MN; Media Oddly Quiet
[Red State] Alpha News MN has reported that a group of 8-10 Somali teens attacked travelers at the East Bank Light Rail Station in Minneapolis on Friday night. There were several injuries reported. (Here is the Minneapolis Police Department dispatch audio.)

This station stop is located next to the University of Minnesota campus.
Posted by: Frank G || 05/21/2019 11:06 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  Lock and load one 30 round magazine and watch your lane!
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/21/2019 11:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Some of Rep. Ilhan Omar's tribe and future supporters? Any comment from Omar about these yutes?
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/21/2019 11:27 Comments || Top||

#3  and this in a state where concealed carry is relatively easy to achieve...if not a constitution carry state.
Posted by: Mercutio || 05/21/2019 11:38 Comments || Top||

#4  I understand that the judges are corrupt, cops are full of doughnuts up to their eardrums, and the executive's hands are tied by congress and traitors.

But have even the criminals of America lost all sense of shame ? Why can't white local gangs protect their turf by taking out these monkeys when no one's watching ? They could watch for exactly this kind of opportunity when a number of them are up to no good and when there are few witnesses. Then show up with shotguns and off them all, no mercy.

Italian gangs and a new Russian Vory are doing all they can to keep islamists and the migrant monkey menace from gaining power in their territories.

Where's the genuine hog-ridin' gunslinger ?
Posted by: Dron66046 || 05/21/2019 14:42 Comments || Top||

#5  Not unique to MN:
Motorcyclist is left with a HAMMER impaled in his helmet in bike gang attack
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/21/2019 15:20 Comments || Top||

#6 
and this in a state where concealed carry is relatively easy to achieve...if not a constitution carry state.


Thanks to Joel Rosenberg.

But the Minneapolis police are corrupt as hell. They jailed Joel because they couldn't read the law, and denied him access to his medications. Maybe that didn't contribute to his death a few weeks later, but I doubt the MPD was heartbroken.

Posted by: Rob Crawford || 05/21/2019 18:55 Comments || Top||


Britain
Britain accused of creating secret torture policy where ‘benefits justify accepting risks'
[RT] The UK government has been accused of developing a secret policy that allows ministers to break the law by authorizing intelligence-sharing with allies where there is a serious risk of torture of detainees.

Ministry of Defence (MoD) documents released under a freedom of information request, dated November 2018, have revealed a provision that allows cabinet ministers to pass on information that could lead to abuse of detainees, according to the Times. The UK government denies any wrongdoing.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/21/2019 08:27 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  that could lead to abuse of detainees

There is that word again. Usually this means nothing has actually happened but the usual human rights orgs are preemptively bunching their panties.
Posted by: SteveS || 05/21/2019 10:10 Comments || Top||

#2  A space ship from Mars could land and start blasting gamma death rays at us all.
Posted by: Tom || 05/21/2019 11:23 Comments || Top||

#3  But, Tom, that's much more likely than the former.
Posted by: AlanC || 05/21/2019 11:26 Comments || Top||

#4  I read part of the brief the Times claims it got from a FO source. It basically means that MI (UK) share any details they may have of criminal antecedents of individuals currently in the custody of other States (states that are a-OK with sawing off a thumb or two to save innocent lives), especially of activities related to jihad and extremism. Like expanding the criminal records database across the sea. Because many high ranking, english speaking extremists are actually radicalized in Europe, British Int. is expected to naturally be aware of them.

This is part of the Conflict Prevention Doctrine of the UK's National Security Council. It also approves aid and funding for security agencies of erstwhile commonwealth countries and allies facing extremist threats and those seeking easy flow of information or offering information about criminals targeting british or allied interests.

And the so called policy for torture is one that simply leaves the... wetwork to people that are ok with it, leaving pudgy british fingers clean and smelling only of fish.

What's bad about it ? Only someone with criminal interests would object to it.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 05/21/2019 15:09 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
5,000 terrorists amassed in Afghanistan close to CIS border - Russian FSB chief
[RT] An Islamic State offshoot has amassed around 5,000 militants in northern Afghanistan on the border of post-Soviet republics of Central Asia, the director of Russia’s FSB has warned, adding that many of them have fought in Syria.

“Especially worrying is re-deployment of terrorist groups into northern provinces of Afghanistan,” Alexander Bortnikov told chiefs of ex-Soviet intelligence services in Dushanbe. He warned that ‘Wilayat Khorasan’, a local Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) affiliate, had managed to gather 5,000 fighters in the area.

Terrorist cells are now infiltrating into former Soviet countries where they are forming ties with organized crime. To keep a low profile, they try to pose as refugees and migrants, according to Bortnikov.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/21/2019 08:23 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So you'd better send in the troops, da? No wait, been there, done that.
Posted by: Mercutio || 05/21/2019 8:42 Comments || Top||

#2  To keep a low profile, they try to pose as refugees and migrants, according to Bortnikov.

Just like Arizona, Texas, New Mexico.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 8:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Target rich environment. Send in the old Stratofortresses.
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/21/2019 18:57 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Border patrol agent calls migrants 'subhuman' and 'savages' in text messages, court papers say
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/21/2019 08:07 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Can't argue with these facts.
Posted by: Raj || 05/21/2019 9:12 Comments || Top||

#2  Well the border patrol does have to hire a *few* Democrats - so this is bound to happen.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/21/2019 9:57 Comments || Top||

#3  And? I'm supposed to be upset over the accurate description of criminal invaders?
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 05/21/2019 18:58 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
China foolishly threatens rare earth elements ban
[American Thinker] Chinese threats to ban exports of "rare earth elements" critical to high-tech American products will foolishly boomerang by forcing the U.S. to ramp up mining and processing.

Bloomberg reported that China’s President Xi Jinping visited the JL MAG Rare-Earth Company mine to fuel "speculation that the strategic materials could be weaponized in China’s tit-for-tat with the U.S. on trade."

Rare earth elements are crucial to high-tech devices because of their unique magnetic and lighting properties, such as neodymium used in the commercial-scale wind farm magnets to maximize the efficiency of electric generators to produce current. Newer applications include hybrid electric cars, iPhones and military hardware such as night-vision goggles and guided weapons.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 05:07 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Let's just end this crap once and for all. Pull every scrap of manufacturing out of Communist China, place a 300% tariff on all goods made in Communist China, kick them out of the WTO and tell ALL of our other trading partners that they either do the same or they don't trade with us.
Posted by: Snomonter Whose7528 || 05/21/2019 7:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Now the foreign shoe import people are raising hell with POTUS over the China tariffs.

Dozens of shoe retailers, including Nike and Adidas, sign letter to Trump urging a halt to tariffs

I believe "Allen Edmonds' up in Port Washington, WI may be the last American made men's shoe.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 7:35 Comments || Top||

#3  I wondered when they would pull this card. China does produce the bulk of the world's supply, but only because it is willing to pollute the shit out of itself. Producing rare earth (which really aren't that rare, just low concentrations) requires you to dig up huge swaths of dirt and run it through a nasty chemical cocktail to refine the metals out. The end result is a polluted torn up landscape.

With other western (and Japan) countries needing to produce their own, the process would get cleaner as their populations would demand it. But it will take time to bring those industries up to speed and the cost of electronics would go up significantly if China did stop trade.

There is your Rantburg info on the subject for the day.
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/21/2019 7:42 Comments || Top||

#4  And this is just to jobs lost at Brown shoe manufacturing in Illinois, over a period of 50-60 years:

Lost Illinois Manufacturing
March 25, 2016 ·
A special thank you to Sally Smith (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php…) and Ken Smith for this photo of the old Brown Shoe factory in Salem, Illinois. In 1962 the Brown Shoe Company had seven factories in Illinois employing over 3,200 people.
Charleston (450 employees)
Litchfield (400 employees),
Mattoon (508 employees)
Murphysboro (650 employees)
Pittsfield (475 employees)
Salem (450 employees),
Sullivan (425 employees).


(Not listed, Brown Shoe factory in Olney, number of employees unknown)

fb Link found here.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 7:45 Comments || Top||

#5  New Balance is American Made
Posted by: Frank G || 05/21/2019 8:30 Comments || Top||

#6  Yes, thanks Frank. I have a pair of 990's. A very good product.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 8:31 Comments || Top||

#7  See yesterday's Rare Earth
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/21/2019 8:46 Comments || Top||

#8  Thanks for the shoe rec.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/21/2019 9:14 Comments || Top||

#9  Skechers and Dr. Marten are American-made.
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/21/2019 11:47 Comments || Top||

#10  Only the upper end New Balance. The bottom lines are not.
Posted by: 3dc || 05/21/2019 15:47 Comments || Top||

#11  but in 12 years they're economy will be larger than the US. Or so I've heard for something like 20 years.
Posted by: rschwarz || 05/21/2019 16:17 Comments || Top||

#12  Nike?

The people using Colon Caper Dick in their ads?

Fuck 'em.
Posted by: charger || 05/21/2019 16:22 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Kamala Harris says she now backs independent probes in police shootings
[Politico] Kamala Harris said police shootings and cases of alleged brutality by law enforcement officials should be handed off to independent investigators, breaking with her long-held resistance to taking prosecutorial discretion away from locally elected district attorneys.

Harris, a former career prosecutor and California attorney general, had long advocated in favor of preserving prosecutorial discretion, taking heat from civil rights activists and African American leaders in her state. While running for Senate in 2016, she was criticized for withholding her support for state legislation requiring the Attorney General’s office to independently probe fatal police shootings. Now, campaigning for president, Harris was asked about her stance amid calls for more scrutiny over the investigative process.

"I believe the best approach is to have independent investigations," Harris said in a Monday interview on MSNBC.

When Harris addressed the question head-on in 2014, she took the opposite approach. Harris said she didn’t think it good public policy to take the discretion from elected district attorneys. "I don’t think there’s an inherent conflict. ... Where there are abuses, we have designed the system to address them," she told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 04:47 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  a former career prosecutor and California attorney general

Gee, innovative concept.
Wait! How about investigating the criminals?
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/21/2019 9:22 Comments || Top||

#2  "I believe the best approach is to have independent investigations about how I rose in the Democratic Party," Harris said in a Monday interview on MSNBC.

FIFY
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 05/21/2019 10:32 Comments || Top||

#3  She didn't rise in the party by independent probes. They were very calculated probes.
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/21/2019 11:06 Comments || Top||

#4  She didn't rise in the party by independent probes. They were very calculated probes.

You mean she slept her way to the top?
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/21/2019 15:24 Comments || Top||

#5  Just how prevalent are these instances of 'police brutality' (a semi-subjective term in itself)? They're likely low by two objective criteria (historical averages and compared to other Western countries), so I doubt it's something that's warranted unless the goal is to score cheap political points.
Posted by: Raj || 05/21/2019 16:52 Comments || Top||


Bernie Sanders Criticizes Billionaire For Giving Money To Students Instead Of The Needy Federal Government
[Babylon Bee] WASHINGTON, D.C.‐Bernie Sanders's favorite pastime is calling out evil billionaires for their evilness. Sanders found the perfect opportunity to do this once again as billionaire Robert F. Smith announced he would be paying off the student debt of those who graduated from Morehouse College.

Sanders pointed to the egregious waste of funds as a perfect example of what happens when billionaires are allowed to keep their money.

"Why does this evil billionaire think he knows what's best for his money when clearly the incredibly efficient federal government could put it to better use?" Sanders said at a rally Monday. "This is just another example of corrupt billionaires hoarding their money instead of using it for the greater good by giving it to the government."

"We can't stand for it, we won't stand for it, and we will get this reversed if it's the last thing we do," Sanders said to cheers from the crowd. "His money is as good as ours."
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 04:39 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is of course Babylon Bee satire, but I feel for the Morehouse graduate who worked his or her way through college and owes nothing.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 7:57 Comments || Top||

#2  I wonder how the Morehouse student felt who dropped out of school to work so that he/she wouldn't have to take out student loans?
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/21/2019 11:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Oftentimes, Sanders doesn't make a frickin lick of sense. Support this guy and you are following a nutjob down the road to ruin.
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/21/2019 11:04 Comments || Top||

#4  I know it is the BB, but I stand by my comments anyway.
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/21/2019 11:04 Comments || Top||

#5  It may be BB, but the underlying story is real. At first I felt it was unfair to those (few?) who had found ways to finish without debt, but then recalled what Jesus said in Matthew 20:1-16; nobody's getting cheated, just some are getting a deal.
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/21/2019 19:00 Comments || Top||


POTUS Questions ‘Very Strange' Fox News Pete Buttigieg Event
[Breitbart] President Donald Trump questioned Monday a decision by Fox News executives to host a town hall for Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

"What’s going on with Fox by the way? What’s going on there?" Trump asked. "They’re putting on more Democrats than you have Republicans, something very strange is going on at Fox folks, something very strange."

Trump commented on Sunday’s town hall with Buttigieg during a rally with his own supporters in Pennsylvania.

The president said that he watched the event but found it strange that moderator Chris Wallace allowed Buttigieg to trash network stars, Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson.

"He was knocking the hell out of Fox and Fox just put him in. Someone is going to have to explain the whole Fox deal to me," he said.

In April, Trump also questioned Fox News for hosting a town hall for Sen. Bernie Sanders.

"So weird to watch Crazy Bernie on Fox News," Trump wrote. "Not surprisingly, Bret Baier and the ’audience’ was so smiley and nice."
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 04:09 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Likely FOX moderators to upcoming Buttigieg townhall event.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 4:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Mr. President you are the only choice for president. The Dims have a clown car full of perps suspects ... uh ... candidates.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 05/21/2019 10:29 Comments || Top||

#3  The Murdoch boys have lefty wives I’m told.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 05/21/2019 12:15 Comments || Top||

#4  The Murdoch Boys™ want to stay invited to all the best parties. Another example of the how children would squander their grandparents' work by socializing rather than working hard.
Posted by: magpie || 05/21/2019 12:17 Comments || Top||

#5  Maybe Shep and Butt are 'buddies?'
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/21/2019 19:02 Comments || Top||

#6  Dem-monics know Americans do not watch Clinton News Network. Just like they have to import third world followers in massive numbers, they have found a way of RINO'ing the FOX.
Posted by: Bob Jesing9847 || 05/21/2019 21:12 Comments || Top||


Kirsten Gillibrand Pledges to Release All Illegal Aliens Claiming Asylum into U.S. Communities
[Breitbart] Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), who is running in the 2020 Democrat presidential primary, pledged to enact an open border policy on Sunday, saying that she would release all border crossers and illegal aliens into American communities so long as they claim they are seeking asylum.
During an interview on CBS’s Face The Nation, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said, as president, she would end the detention of all border crossers and illegal aliens, instead, releasing every foreign national arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border into American communities if they are claiming asylum.

“As president of the United States, I would not fund any for-profit prisons, I would not lock up these families, I would have a humane immigration policy where people … would have lawyers and have a proper asylum process,” Gillibrand said.

“I wouldn’t keep them in detention at all,” Gillibrand continued. “I wouldn’t … as president of the United States, I wouldn’t use the detention system at all … if someone is seeking asylum, I would assign them a lawyer.”
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/21/2019 02:19 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  put a few up in your house first
Posted by: chris || 05/21/2019 6:33 Comments || Top||

#2  She's flailing inasmuch as NOBODY wants her
Posted by: Frank G || 05/21/2019 7:05 Comments || Top||

#3  So she has come out in favor of completely open borders.

Would someone please ask her what a border means? Is she supporting the borders with Canada and Mexico for them?
Posted by: AlanC || 05/21/2019 7:54 Comments || Top||

#4  Let the aliens know she has drugs, money, and gay prostitutes at her residences and pass out maps and some GPS handhelds to the smarter ones. A few buses with DC license plates would be nice also. "We are going to have party, going to have a party, tonight !" Come to think of it she probably does have all that at her homes.
Posted by: Snavimble Bucket1794 || 05/21/2019 8:26 Comments || Top||

#5  My guess is that she has a wall around her house and keeps her door locked. May even have a few armed guards to detain border crossers...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/21/2019 9:52 Comments || Top||

#6  Counter doxing. Good for the gander, good for the goose
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/21/2019 21:14 Comments || Top||

#7  Refreshing when they show their cards before he election.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 05/21/2019 21:18 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
75 American Colleges Offer Black-Only Graduation Ceremonies
[Breitbart] A study by the National Association of Scholars revealed that at least 75 American colleges have black-only graduation ceremonies and 43 percent of surveyed colleges offer segregated residential halls. The organization refers to this as “neo-segregation.”
Our taxpayer and government student loan dollars at work.
According to a study by the National Association of Scholars, graduation ceremonies at American universities are becoming increasingly segregated.

The study revealed that as many as 75 total colleges segregated graduation ceremonies. And that’s not all. 43 percent of the colleges included in the study offer segregated residential halls.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/21/2019 02:16 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...Dr. King weeps.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 05/21/2019 4:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Yet another example of "Neo-segregation". Integration only applies to what can be had for the taking. Identity thinking, if you will.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 8:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Same party backs today's segregation that backed the old segregation.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/21/2019 8:53 Comments || Top||

#4  Dimmocrats lost their plantations but won the votes to rebuild them.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 05/21/2019 10:24 Comments || Top||

#5  Isn't this racist?
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/21/2019 11:20 Comments || Top||

#6  It does make you wonder what all the fuss about "integration" was back in the 1950s and 60s.
Posted by: Tom || 05/21/2019 11:34 Comments || Top||

#7  Who do I talk to about selling separate water fountains?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/21/2019 11:38 Comments || Top||

#8  ...Dr. King weeps.

If you had told me back in the Civil Rights days that half a century later we would have segregated housing and separate graduation ceremonies, I would have laughed and called you delusional.

So much for that whole E Pluribus Unum thing. Identity politics has triumphed.
Posted by: SteveS || 05/21/2019 12:11 Comments || Top||

#9  It will end the nanosecond white students demand a separate graduation.
Posted by: Jeregum de Medici9319 || 05/21/2019 12:20 Comments || Top||

#10  In a world that they tell us the meek will
Inherit, it's Separate: The Sequel!
These kids are the proudest...
Or leastwise the loudest...
They're back and black, Jack, and more equal!
Posted by: Whusoling Ebboluns8306 || 05/21/2019 16:00 Comments || Top||

#11  There is a difference between not wanting to join a club and not being allowed to join. Dr King fought for their right to join, not for them to be forced to join.

Still it is a sad statement on our society.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 05/21/2019 16:20 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Three-year-old girl dies 'after being raped and beaten by her stepfather' - and police say the toddler's mother knew of the abuse and witnessed it
[DailyMail] A 20-year-old Georgia man has been arrested after police say he savagely raped and beat his three-year-old stepdaughter to death.

The Albany, Georgia, Police Department announced the passing of Janiyah Armanie Brooks in a Facebook post Sunday, writing that the toddler is 'gone but not forgotten.'

The child had been on a ventilator at a hospital in Atlanta for nearly a week.

According to a statement from the police, Janiyah's stepfather, Gregory Parker, was charged on Friday with aggravated molestation, rape, aggravated sodomy, aggravated battery and first-degree cruelty to children.

Janiyah's mother, 19-year-old Crystal Brooks, was also arrested in connection to the abuse and jailed on charges of aggravated battery, battery, cruelty to children and giving a false statement.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/21/2019 01:57 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/21/2019 7:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Hangin' is too good for some people.
Posted by: AlanC || 05/21/2019 8:01 Comments || Top||

#3  The life of the unborn, infant, toddler.....not worth much these days.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 8:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Nope. No hanging - too quick. Make him cellmates with Bubba , The 400 lb Sodomite.
Posted by: Mercutio || 05/21/2019 8:14 Comments || Top||

#5  Shit. I thought this was from DAWN.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 05/21/2019 15:32 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
North Korean women 'forced into sex slavery' in China - report
[BBC] Thousands of North Korean women and girls are being forced to work in the sex trade in China, according to a new report by a London-based rights group.
At least they're getting something to eat?
They are often abducted and sold as prostitutes, or compelled to marry Chinese men, says the Korea Future Initiative.

The trade is worth $100m (£79m) a year for criminal organisations, it says.

The women are often trapped because China repatriates North Koreans, who then face torture at home, it says.

"Victims are prostituted for as little as 30 Chinese yuan ($4.30; £3.40), sold as wives for just 1,000 yuan, and trafficked into cybersex dens for exploitation by a global online audience," the report's author Yoon Hee-soon said.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/21/2019 01:53 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Mr. Kraft to the white courtesy phone please. Mr. Bob Kraft.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 4:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Guess they got to make up for all the girls shipped from China for massage parlors in North America. (Do I need to put a /sarc on that?)
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/21/2019 8:51 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
How a new diet for gassy cows is helping the environment
[BBC] Cattle farming is responsible for almost 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.

So some farmers in Colombia have been piloting a different way of raising cows that has proved better for the environment.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/21/2019 01:51 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  An under four minutes video with far more details here.

There is also a 23 minutes video that expand on this at this link above.

Personally, I think this is a great idea. Only question, would this st5ill be considered organic?
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 05/21/2019 9:09 Comments || Top||

#2  One line was enough: "Foreign aid funding supports these efforts."

I wonder how many farmers grow weed with this foreign aid. Of course, you have to keep it away from the cows as they like to eat marijuana.
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/21/2019 11:16 Comments || Top||

#3  There were 10 times as many buffalo in North America as the continent currently has cows before it was colonized. So no way the current cows are making more gas than 10x buffalo.
Posted by: 3dc || 05/21/2019 15:50 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Measles hits Oklahoma: CDC reports 41 new cases, 1 new state, and dozens more infections in New York as the outbreak rages on
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/21/2019 01:43 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Consequence of all the illegals finding their way to gravyland?
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/21/2019 16:11 Comments || Top||

#2  On the path to MN.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/21/2019 23:59 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Illegal Alien Convicted of Raping Dog to Death Released by Sanctuary State
They come here for puppy love
An illegal alien convicted of raping a dog to death was released by the sanctuary state of Oregon after being sentenced to just 60 days in prison.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency had requested that the illegal alien be turned over to them for deportation should he be released from prison. The sanctuary state officials ignored the ICE request and released the illegal alien into the public.
Posted by: Jeregum de Medici9319 || 05/21/2019 00:41 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ICE should track his ass down with dogs and deport him
Posted by: Frank G || 05/21/2019 7:33 Comments || Top||

#2  deport him and all the politicians that supported "sanctuary state" status.
Posted by: AlanC || 05/21/2019 8:04 Comments || Top||

#3  Not really much of a dog-lover (do not take this out of context!), but in this case I'd support smearing him with canine estrogen and locking him in a cage with a dozen Irish wolf-hounds.
Posted by: Mercutio || 05/21/2019 8:46 Comments || Top||

#4  Fighting Pit Bulls would be quicker, Mercutio.

But maybe that's not what you were going for.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 05/21/2019 9:11 Comments || Top||

#5  perceptive, M. Rich, very perceptive
Posted by: Mercutio || 05/21/2019 11:41 Comments || Top||

#6  Strap this yahoo to a stallion mount (for semen collection) smear with mare estrus and bring in the stallions. Minimal lube.
Posted by: Snomonter Whose7528 || 05/21/2019 12:34 Comments || Top||

#7  What Frank said.

Now, ICE officials have taken Lopez into custody where they expect he will be deported from the U.S.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 05/21/2019 15:36 Comments || Top||

#8  The sanctuary state officials ignored the ICE request and released the illegal alien into the public.

So the officials screwed the pooch.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/21/2019 17:50 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Rise in global sea levels could have 'profound consequences'
[BBC] Scientists believe that global sea levels could rise far more than predicted, due to accelerating melting in Greenland and Antarctica.

The long-held view has been that the world's seas would rise by a maximum of just under a metre by 2100.

This new study, based on expert opinions, projects that the real level may be around double that figure.
"expert opinion" from self-proclaimed "experts". Consensusy
This could lead to the displacement of hundreds of millions of people, the authors say.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 00:12 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Or it could not; in fact, very fucking likely it will not. How many times have they recycled this bullshit? Must be one or two dozen by now...
Snark O'The Day
Posted by: Raj || 05/21/2019 0:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Raj seems to be on a roll this morn....
How do you work when you stay up this late?
Posted by: Thimp Clusort2035 || 05/21/2019 1:04 Comments || Top||

#3  I mean my accountant is a stud but this time of year he shooting yotes or stomping moles in the yard.
Posted by: Thimp Clusort2035 || 05/21/2019 1:07 Comments || Top||

#4  Forget golf, he likes to kill sh1t!
Posted by: Thimp Clusort2035 || 05/21/2019 1:08 Comments || Top||

#5  Mate - I'm getting up around 9:00 AM and riding my bike so as to walk normally again (too long a story to tell right now), so it's all part of a plan. That's why it's nice to be self-employed.
Posted by: Raj || 05/21/2019 1:09 Comments || Top||

#6  I feel for you brother.
New knee next month, second try.
But, man your up early on the burg.
Where are you? Texas or Brisbane?
Posted by: Thimp Clusort2035 || 05/21/2019 1:13 Comments || Top||

#7  I'm also shamelessly plugging for a Snark O' The Day award - I was robbed last week, I tells you!
Posted by: Raj || 05/21/2019 1:14 Comments || Top||

#8  I'm in Quincy, MA, City of Presidents, bitchez!
Posted by: Raj || 05/21/2019 1:15 Comments || Top||

#9  SoD is rigged.
Posted by: Thimp Clusort2035 || 05/21/2019 1:19 Comments || Top||

#10  I was robbed last week, I tells you!

Par for the course.
Posted by: gorb || 05/21/2019 1:22 Comments || Top||

#11  I might pull a Stacey Abrams and tell everyone I won anyway...
Posted by: Raj || 05/21/2019 1:31 Comments || Top||

#12  What the hell, I'd give it to you right now. But I don't have one of those fancy highliters.
That was funny.
Posted by: Thimp Clusort2035 || 05/21/2019 1:33 Comments || Top||


#14  Protestations from the Queensland Mounted Infantry have resulted in a re-look of last SoD awards. An update of last week's awarding follows:

#1 Damn - I thought this was gonna be about a pro golfer banging a waitress.
Posted by Raj 2019-05-14 06:34|| 2019-05-14 06:34|| Front Page Top

Updated Snark O'The Day
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 4:00 Comments || Top||

#15  This might take care of Florida Man once and for all!
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/21/2019 7:48 Comments || Top||

#16  You didn't have to do that, Beso - it feels like getting a participation trophy.

The one from last week, though - that one I'm taking!
Posted by: Raj || 05/21/2019 9:17 Comments || Top||

#17  We appreciate your inputs Raj.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 9:26 Comments || Top||

#18  "Shared ignorance may seem like knowledge." - Thomas Sowell
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/21/2019 11:01 Comments || Top||

#19  Ref #13 - suggesting the world really is facing a global warming 'apocalypse.'

The shock finding is based on a technique called structured expert judgment (SEJ) that pooled the knowledge of 22 climate change specialists.


This time, for sure. [insert Maxwell Smart graphic here]
Posted by: Bobby || 05/21/2019 12:58 Comments || Top||

#20  And the evolution of fish-people.

Or worse.

Cthulhu could return !

Posted by: Dron66046 || 05/21/2019 15:41 Comments || Top||

#21  Curious about the sea level stuff. The Great Lakes levels seem to have no casual relationship with the climate change/global winter/global warming/cow farting propaganda efforts.
Posted by: 3dc || 05/21/2019 15:55 Comments || Top||

#22  A sequel to Waterworld? OK maybe this is serious.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/21/2019 17:48 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Ukraine president takes political stage in dramatic fashion
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Ukraine’s new president, a comedian before he turned to statecraft, made a dramatic entrance to the political stage Monday, disbanding parliament minutes after his inauguration.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who won 73 percent of the vote last month, justified his contentious decision on the grounds that the legislature, controlled by allies of the man he defeated, is riddled with self-enrichment.

Elections to the Supreme Rada were scheduled for October 27, which raised the prospect of Zelenskiy struggling to enact his agenda in the face of a hostile parliament over his first few months in power. A snap parliamentary election will be held within two months of his signing a formal dissolution decree.

Zelenskiy, a comedian who played the role of a Ukrainian president on a popular TV show for years, is gambling that his popularity will see the next parliament dominated by supporters of his agenda to reform Ukraine and steer a new path with Russia.

Zelenskiy said Ukrainian politics for the past quarter-century created "opportunities for kickbacks, money laundering, and corruption." Zelenskiy’s efforts follow repeated attempts by the majority in the current parliament to stymie his campaign promise for a new election.

Since last month’s election, Zelenskiy’s opponents in the Rada sought to put off the inauguration close to the May 27 deadline by which the parliament can be dissolved.

And in a dramatic move last week, the Rada announced the collapse of the ruling parliamentary coalition. According to parliamentary rules, the chamber cannot be dissolved for 30 days after the governing coalition has been disbanded.

Zelenskiy’s supporters argue that the Rada’s actions are legally void because the coalition had long ceased to exist and that the Ukrainian Constitution, unlike the Rada regulations, doesn’t contain such a rule.

Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Kiev-based think-tank Penta, said Zelenskiy’s announcement shows "political will for radical change."

"The legally dubious decision to disband parliament will certainly be contested in court but Zelenskiy has shown that it is going to be him who will lay down the agenda and that he will dominate the political landscape," he said.

Zelenskiy’s landslide victory reflected Ukrainians’ exhaustion with widespread corruption and the country’s political elite. Before disbanding parliament, the 41-year-old Zelenskiy upended other Ukrainian political traditions on inauguration day.

Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Video shows Iran Guards transporting S-300 air defense systems near Arabian Gulf
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iranian activists on social media have been sharing a video purporting to show Iranian Revolutionary Guards transporting made S-300 air defense systems to areas along the Gulf.

According to the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz, an activist group, the vehicles transporting the defense systems and other military equipment in the coastal city of Asaluyeh in the southern province of Bushehr.

According to the activists, the air defense systems are being moved to protect a nuclear reactor and sensitive sites along the Gulf from any possible attack.

The moves come as Iran’s air force chief Aziz Nasirzadeh on Monday threatened to bomb regional capitals and target oil installations in the Arabian Gulf in response to heightened tensions with the United States.
with F-14s cobbled together from spare parts
Trump has tightened economic sanctions against Iran, and his administration says it has built up the US military presence in the region. It accuses Iran of posing threats to US troops and interests. Tehran has denied this, describing the US moves as "psychological warfare" and a "political game."

Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1 
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/21/2019 10:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Yay! More targets!
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/21/2019 13:01 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Woman married to Chinese national petitions LHC against harassment
[DAWN] The Lahore High Court on Monday accepted a petition against the harassment of Pak women married to Chinese men by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the retention of their identity documents by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).

"The FIA is keeping the MoFA from verifying the nikahnamas. The court should order the ministry to verify the nikahnamas of women married to Chinese men," the lawyers for the petitioner told the court.

The petition sought that FIA be stopped from harassing women and their Chinese husbands, and that the petitioners' passports and other documents be returned to them.

Justice Sardar Ahmed Naeem decided on the maintainability of the petition, which was filed by Komal Shehzadi, a woman married to a Chinese man. Shehzadi was represented by Mian Waheed and Advocate Junaid Ghafoor.

Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Africa Horn
‘Dispute’ over leading Sudan’s governing body dominated talks
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A "dispute" over who should lead Sudan's new governing body was the key sticking point in overnight talks between army rulers and protesters, a protest leader said Monday.

The latest negotiations started Sunday evening following international pressure to install a civilian-led administration, a key demand of thousands of demonstrators who have spent weeks camped outside Khartoum's army headquarters.

Meetings in the early hours of Monday ended without agreement, but the ruling military council announced the talks would resume Monday evening.

A prominent protest leader who was involved in the Sunday night talks said they had revolved around who would lead the new governing body.

"The dispute over the presidency of the sovereign council and participation between the civilian and military still exists," said Satea al-Haj, from the umbrella protest movement the Alliance for Freedom and Change.

The Alliance, which led the nationwide campaign that toppled longtime autocrat 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.
last month, has been at loggerheads with the military over the makeup of the new body, set to rule Sudan for a three-year transitional period.

"The military council is still insisting that the president of the sovereign council should be from the military," he said. "They are justifying it by saying the country faces security threats."

The protest movement insists that the head of the body should be a civilian and that the council should have a majority of civilian members, a demand backed by major world powers, al-Haj said.

"The international community and the African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
will not accept to deal with a military government," he added. "The people (of Sudan) also want a civilian government."

However,
it was a brave man who first ate an oyster...
he said Sunday night's talks were "positive" overall, and the ruling military council has said they will resume at 9:00 PM (1900 GMT).

Military council spokesperson Lieutenant General Shamseddine Kabbashi said the "structure of the sovereign authority" had been discussed during the night and that a "final deal" would be agreed later on Monday.

Previous rounds of talks have seen the generals and protest leaders agreed on key issues including a three-year transition period and the creation of a 300-member parliament dominated by politicians from the protesters' umbrella group.

The new governing council is expected to form a transitional civilian government, which would then prepare for the first post-Bashir election following the three-year transitional period.
Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Trump: Iran’s economy continues to collapse, very sad for Iranian people
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET]
Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
32 dead in Tajikistan prison riot
[Dhaka Tribune] At least 32 people were killed in a prison riot in Tajikistan, including 24 members of the Islamic State jihadist group and three guards, authorities said Monday.

Five inmates and the three guards were initially killed by prisoners in the riot that erupted on Sunday evening, and the others died in clashes with security forces trying to restore order, the justice ministry said in a statement.

The prison in Vakhdat, 17km east of the capital Dushanbe, holds 1,500 inmates.

The ministry said the rioters first stabbed to death three guards, and then five other inmates "in order to intimidate" the others.

They then took other prisoners hostage before opening fire on the jail's medical facilities.

At least 32 people, including three prison guards and 29 inmates, have been killed in a high-security prison in Tajikistan after convicted ISIL fighters started a riot.

"Following a reprisal operation, 24 members of this group were killed and 35 others arrested. The hostages were freed" and calm restored to the prison, the statement said.

Two of the prisoners murdered by the rioters were well-known activists of the banned opposition group Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, the local prison service said.

Among the leaders of riot, authorities identified Bekhruz Gulmurod, the son of the former head of Tajik special forces who became a member of the IS leadership in Syria and was killed there in September 2017.

The 20-year-old was sentenced to ten years in prison in July 2017 for attempting to join IS in Syria. He was previously detained at Dushanbe airport before boarding a flight to Istanbul.

Authorities said the prison was now functioning normally, with the "situation currently under control."

The prison is a short drive from Dushanbe, with residential neighbourhoods nearby. It houses inmates convicted of various crimes, including terror and extremism charges, and is secured by armed guards.

Families of inmates gathered near the prison on Monday to find out if their relatives were safe.

In November 2018, another riot claimed by IS left 26 people dead in Khujand, a city in the northeast of the country. That riot was initiated by a former IS member seeking to spark a mass escape.

Tajikistan, an impoverished mountainous country of just under 9 million people bordering Afghanistan, has suffered severe conflict since it gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Tens of thousands of people were killed in Tajikistan during a five-year civil war in the 1990s when rebel groups including Islamists rose up against the government.

Authorities in the majority-Muslim country have said that more than 1,000 Tajiks, including a high-ranking police officer who defected in 2015, joined IS in Syria and Iraq in recent years.

In July 2018, an attack on foreign cycling tourists left four dead and two injured. The assault was widely attributed to IS, although the government has refused to acknowledge the link.

Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Arabia
WFP may suspend aid in Houthi-held areas of Yemen, cites obstruction
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The World Food Program is considering suspending aid delivery in the areas under the control of Yemen’s Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...
group because of fighting, insecurity, and interference in its work, the agency said on Monday.

"Humanitarian workers in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
are being denied access to the hungry, aid convoys have been blocked, and local authorities have interfered with food distribution," the WFP said in a statement. "This has to stop."

The highly unusual threat from the UN agency, which is feeding more than 10 million people across Yemen, reflected what it said were "obstacles that are being put in our way".

"We face daily challenges due to the unrelenting fighting and insecurity in Yemen. And yet, our greatest challenge does not come from the guns, that are yet to fall silent in this conflict ‐ instead, it is the obstructive and uncooperative role of some of the Houthi leaders in areas under their control."

The phased suspension of aid would be a last resort and nutrition activities directly targeting malnourished children and women would continue, the statement said.

Negotiations with Houthi leaders to open up access to hungry people had not yet brought tangible results, WFP said, although some had made positive commitments.

"Unfortunately, they (Houthi leaders) are being let down by other Houthi leaders who have broken assurances they gave us on stopping food diversions and finally agreeing to a beneficiary identification and biometric registration exercise."

Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  Obstruction? Obviously Trump and the Russians are involved.
Posted by: Raj || 05/21/2019 0:59 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Trump team to brief Congress on Iran; Dems seek counterpoint
WASHINGTON (AP) ‐ As questions mount over President Donald Trump’s tough talk on Iran, top national security officials are heading to Capitol Hill to brief Congress. But skeptical Democrats have asked for a second opinion.

The competing closed-door sessions Tuesday, unusual and potentially polarizing, come after weeks of escalating tensions in the Persian Gulf that have raised alarms over a possible military confrontation with Iran. Lawmakers are warning the Trump administration it cannot take the country into war without approval from Congress, and the back-to-back briefings show the wariness among Democrats, and some Republicans, over the White House’s sudden policy shifts in the Middle East.

Trump, veering between bombast and conciliation in his quest to contain Iran, threatened Monday to meet provocations by Iran with "great force," but also said he’s willing to negotiate.

"We’ll see what happens," Trump told reporters Monday as he left the White House for a campaign rally. He said Iran has been "very hostile."

"We have no indication that anything’s happened or will happened, but if it does, it will be met, obviously, with great force," Trump said. "We’ll have no choice."

Trump said while there are no talks with Iran he still wants to hear from them, "if they’re ready."
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Time to recycle Rob Crawford's Snark O' The Day from yesterday - just bring in John Brennan!

Oh - and Johnny boy? Just give Chairman Nadler his dozen jelly doughnuts and slowly back away; you won't lose your fingers that way. Hopefully...
Posted by: Raj || 05/21/2019 0:41 Comments || Top||


Turkish-backed rebels suffer big losses in northwestern Hama
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Ottoman Turkish-backed Euphrates Shield forces sent a large number of reinforcements to the northwestern countryside of the Hama Governorate this past weekend. The primary reason for their redeployment was to help retake the areas their rebel allies lost earlier this month.

Upon their arrival, the Ottoman Turkish-backed rebels attempted to reclaim these lost areas near the key town of Kafr Naboudeh. During their attack on Sunday, the Euphrates Shield forces and their allies attempted to crack the Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) lines at the Kafr Naboudeh front.

Despite their best efforts to advance in northwestern Hama, the Ottoman Turkish-backed rebels were ultimately routed by the Syrian Arab Army and their allies after a fierce battle on Sunday.
"Run awaaaaayyyyy!"
According to a military source near the front-lines in northwestern Hama, the Ottoman Turkish-backed rebels suffered heavy casualties near Kafr Naboudeh, prompting them to abandon their assault at this front. The source added that a large number of the casualties were from the Euphrates Shield forces that were redeployed to this front.

For the Syrian Arab Army, this was an important victory against the Ottoman Turkish-backed rebels, especially after they suffered a number of casualties as a result of the Free Syrian Army
... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund...
’s ATGM attacks.

Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Home Front: Politix
Mitt Romney: Justin Amash's Statement on Impeachment Is ‘Courageous'
[Breitbart] Sunday on CNN’s "State of the Union," Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) said Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) was "courageous" for concluding President Donald Trump committed "impeachable conduct."

Romney said, "I think every individual has to make their own judgment. I think it helps to actually have read the entire document. It’s a long document. It took me two full days to get through it. The second volume is more difficult to get through than the first. Hopefully, more people read it. I think a lot of people want to reserve judgment until this is played out. My own view is that Justin Amash has reached a different conclusion than I have. I respect him. I think it’s a courageous statement. But I believe to make a case for obstruction of justice, you just don’t have the elements that are evidenced in this document. And I also believe that an impeachment call is something that not just relates to the law but considers practicality and politics. I think those considering impeachment, you have to look at the jury, which is the Senate. The Senate is certainly not there either."
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You know what else was 'courageous', Mittens? Putting your fucking dog on the roof of your car and aping the Griswolds in 'Family Vacation'...
Posted by: Raj || 05/21/2019 0:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Yet YOU are Worthless.
Just another democrat with no vision.
Posted by: newc || 05/21/2019 0:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Of course that raises the immediate question of just what Mittens would know about courage. Graffitti? A rumor? Maybe something he saw on tv.
Posted by: Cesare || 05/21/2019 7:26 Comments || Top||

#4  eGOP gotta stick together!

Seriously, both of you cock gobblers are fucking worthless. I recommend both of you take up the hobby of un-aided human flight off the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Do the world a favor.
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/21/2019 7:50 Comments || Top||

#5  Romney is so stupid he things Democrat starts with an R.
Posted by: AlanC || 05/21/2019 8:19 Comments || Top||

#6  Courageous to protect his Chinese investments in face of an increasing trade war?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/21/2019 8:43 Comments || Top||

#7  Those silly Amash.
I thought Mitt was MOMO.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/21/2019 15:44 Comments || Top||

#8  Romney! Is your Bain Capital still shaking down Western Digital? Shame on your anti-American shake-down company either way.
Posted by: 3dc || 05/21/2019 15:57 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Eiffel Tower evacuated after climber spotted on monument
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Eiffel Tower was evacuated on Monday after a man was seen climbing up the iconic Gay Paree landmark, one of La Belle France’s biggest tourist draws, the operating company said.

"A climber has been spotted. It’s the standard procedure. We have to stop the person and in that case we evacuate the tower," an official with the SETE operator told AFP.

The esplanade underneath the monument was also evacuated, as was a large section of the adjacent Champ de Mars park.

"We kindly advise our visitors to postpone their visit," SETE added on Twitter. Police have made contact with the climber but do not yet know why he began his ascent up the iron beams, a police source told AFP.

At around 5:30 pm (1530 GMT) firemen were trying to reach the climber, dressed in a black jacket, by rappelling down from the third-floor observation deck near the top. Crowds of tourists remained in the area, hoping the tower will reopen soon.

"We’re really disappointed, we’re only here for a week and this messes with our whole program," said Sylvie and Celine Forcier from Quebec.

Justin and Karen Smith, from Los Angeles, had celebrated their wedding Sunday in front of the tower but we're hoping to get to the top Monday. "We’re disappointed," he said.

The tower is regularly the target of rogue free-climbers hoping to scale one of the world’s most famous structures, often for bragging rights.

Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "We’re really disappointed, we’re only here for a week and this messes with our whole program," said Sylvie and Celine Forcier from Quebec.

"We'll always have Paris."
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 8:34 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
US presidential candidate wants to fine companies for gender pay gap
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] US Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris
Former Oakland mayor Willie Brown's former mistress, now a senatrix from California and 2020 Dem presidential hopeful...
is unveiling a pay inequity proposal that aims to close the gender pay gap by holding corporations accountable when men are paid more than women.

Harris’ plan would require companies to disclose pay policies while applying for a mandatory "Equal Pay Certification" from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Companies that fail to achieve certification would be fined 1% of their profits for every 1% wage gap they allow to persist for work of equal value.

The US senator from Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, says $180 billion would be generated over 10 years, with fines decreasing over time as companies strengthen their equal pay practices.

"Kamala Harris has a simple message for corporations: Pay women fairly or pay the price," her campaign said in announcing the plan Monday, noting that the burden has been on workers to hold corporations accountable for pay discrimination.

Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ms. Harris - was it equal pay when you got on top of Willie Brown as many times as he got on top of you? Asking for a friend...
Posted by: Raj || 05/21/2019 0:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Passed in 1963, the Equal Pay Act prohibits sex-based wage discrimination between men and women in the same establishment who perform jobs that require substantially equal skill, effort and responsibility under similar working conditions.

tl;dr: Equal Pay is already the law, Kamala. Complete with legal penalties.
Posted by: SteveS || 05/21/2019 1:13 Comments || Top||

#3  steves: have you ever known of any of the dems too know the law?
Posted by: chris || 05/21/2019 6:42 Comments || Top||

#4  $180 billion would be generated over 10 years, with fines decreasing over time as companies strengthen their equal pay practices.

There is the graft.
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/21/2019 7:47 Comments || Top||

#5  $180 billion would be generated over 10 years, with fines decreasing over time as companies strengthen their equal pay practices.

Many more lawyers needed, possibly hundreds, thousands.... tens of thousands more.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 7:49 Comments || Top||

#6  ...and CPA's to do all the audits - don't forget that angle!
Posted by: Raj || 05/21/2019 9:24 Comments || Top||

#7  I thought it was verboten to use the word 'Gap' when discussing women at work.
Posted by: Beau || 05/21/2019 11:35 Comments || Top||

#8  I thought it was verboten to use the word 'Gap' when discussing women at work.

Discussing pay gap is OK.
Suggesting gap pay is soliciting.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/21/2019 15:48 Comments || Top||


Cyber
The rules of warfare are changing
[Dhaka Tribune] Governments are becoming more and more reliant on digital technology, making them more vulnerable to cyber attacks. In 2007, Estonia was attacked by pro-Russian hackers who crippled government servers, causing havoc. Cyber attacks in Ukraine targeted the country’s electricity grid, while Iran’s nuclear power plants were infected by malware that could have led to a nuclear meltdown.

In the US, President Trump recently declared a “national emergency” to recognize the threat to US computer networks from “foreign adversaries.”

Politically-motivated cyber attacks are becoming increasingly commonplace, but unlike traditional warfare between two or more states, cyber warfare can be launched by groups of individuals.

On occasion, the state is actually caught in the crosshairs of competing hacking groups.

This doesn’t mean that states don’t actively prepare for such attacks. British defense officials have said they’re prepared to conduct cyber attacks against Moscow’s power grid, should Russia decide to launch an offensive.

In most cases, cyber warfare operations have been conducted in the background, designed as scare tactics or displays of power.

But the blending of traditional warfare and cyber warfare seems inevitable, and a recent incident added a new dimension.

Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I thought Fred was sharing some archived piece from history, then I read the [Dhaka Tribune] up there.

Posted by: Dron66046 || 05/21/2019 15:52 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
HC: Why should mother’s name not be mandatory for identification?
[Dhaka Tribune] The High Court has issued a rule asking why using the mother's name, along with the father's, should not be mandatory for identification purposes in all documents.

The bench of Justice Sheikh Hasan Arif and Justice Rajik Al Jalil issued the rule on Monday in response to a writ filed by Advocate Zubaida Parveen.

Secretaries to the home, and law, justice and parliamentary affairs ministries, the head of Bangladesh Judicial Service Commission, and the Supreme Court registrar general have been asked to respond to the rule within four weeks.

Earlier on April 23, Zubaida, president of National Domestic Women Workers Union (NDWWU), filed the writ petition.

Back in 2000, a circular was published to make it mandatory to use the mother's name as well in forms and documents.

Zubaida filed the writ as the circular was not being followed.

Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Life imprisonment awarded to Karachi man for kidnapping, killing minor girl in 2012
[DAWN] A model court in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
on Monday awarded a life imprisonment sentence to a man accused of kidnapping a five-year-old girl for ransom and later strangulating her to death in 2012.

Waheed Ahmed, the accused, was found guilty of kidnapping Erum, alias Rani, and murdering her within the remit of Mubina Town cop shoppe in May 2012.

The additional district and sessions’ judge Haleem Ahmed, of the model criminal trial court (East), ruled that the prosecution had proved its case against the accused beyond the shadow of doubt and that the accused had kidnapped the baby on May 01, 2012 in order to commit her murder.
Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Link Dr Aafia Siddiqui to case of Pakistanis languishing in foreign jails: SC
[DAWN] The Supreme Court on Monday ordered to club a petition seeking the repatriation of Dr Aafia Siddiqui
...American-educated Pak cognitive neuroscientist who was convicted of assault with intent to murder her U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan. In September 2010, she was sentenced to 86 years in jug after a three-ring trial. Siddiqui, using the alias Fahrem or Feriel Shahin, was one of six alleged al-Qaeda members who bought $19 million worth of blood diamonds in Liberia immediately prior to 9-11-01. Since her incarceration Paks have taken her to their heart and periodically erupt into demonstrations, while the government tries to find somebody to swap for her...
‐ a neurologist languishing in a United States jail on charges of trying to kill US agents and military officers in Afghanistan ‐ with a petition seeking repatriation of Paks incarcerated
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
abroad.

Dr Fauzia Siddiqui, sister of Dr Aafia, had moved the court in 2018 requesting it to order the government to formulate a comprehensive policy for protecting fundamental rights of Paks detained abroad.

During today's hearing of the case, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, while heading a three-judge bench, remarked that the issue of Dr Aafia be raised along with that of other Paks languishing in jails overseas as [approaching the matter in this way] may yield results.

Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  ...aapia sickdickie...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/21/2019 11:39 Comments || Top||


Two girls say Chinese husbands running brothel
[DAWN] SARGODHA: Two girls belonging to Kot Momin have alleged that two Chinese men married them and attempted to smuggle them to China, but they managed to escape after realising that their ’husbands’, who claimed to be Moslems, were running a brothel in Lahore on the pretext of a marriage bureau.

Samina and Tasawur Bibi of Kot Momin tehsil, some 50 kilometres from here, told the media that they belonged to poor families and their parents married them off to Chinese men, who assured their parents they will keep the girls in Lahore and arrange business for the families. But, the girls said, they realised that the men were neither Moslem nor honest. They also alleged that the Chinese were running a brothel and using the cover of a marriage bureau in Lahore’s DHA Phase I. They said that as soon as they found out the reality, they escaped.

Samina and Tasawur also approached a lawyer for dissolution of marriage and appealed to the Punjab
1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots....

inspector general of police to take action against the culprits.

Some Christian families are also eagerly waiting for any information on their daughters, who were married to Chinese men and later taken to China.

Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Govt asked to officialy observe Al-Quds Day, make Palestine part of curriculum
[DAWN] Leaders of various political and religious parties on Sunday passed a consensus resolution calling upon the government to observe al-Quds Day at an official level and revise the existing curricula by making the Paleostine issue a part of textbooks.

The resolution was passed after representatives and leaders of parties spoke at length at the al-Quds conference organised by the Paleostine Foundation Pakistain here.

Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
chief Senator Sirajul Haq
...current head of the Pak Jamaat-e-Islami. Siraj was born in 1962 and entered politics shortly after that...
said supporting the struggle of Paleostinians was a part of faith of Pak Moslems. He added that many nations across the world were backing the Paleostinians for the sake of humanity.
Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


Arabia
Al Jazeera suspends two journalists over Holocaust report
[DAWN] Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
i state-funded broadcaster Al Jazeera suspended two journalists on Sunday over a video they produced claiming the extent of the Holocaust was being misrepresented by Jews.

The clip, posted by Al Jazeera’s online AJ+ Arabic service, claimed "the narrative" that the Nazis killed six million Jews was "adopted by the Zionist movement".

Images of the persecution of European Jews living under Nazi rule, as well as photographs of those killed, were overlayed with narration asking "why is there a focus only on them?" The video said that "along with others, the Jews faced a policy of systematic persecution which culminated in the Final Solution".

But the clip went on to suggest that because of the Jewish community’s access to "financial resources (and) media institutions", it was able to "put a special spotlight" on the suffering of the Jews.

Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Qatar (MB)


Africa Horn
No Casualties As Car Bomb Hits Somali Capital
[RADIOSHABELLE] A boom-mobile went kaboom! in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Sunday evening, police and witnesses said.

The kaboom of the explosive-laden vehicle occurred near El-Gabta junction in Mogadishu’s Hamarweyne district, a police officer, who demanded anonymity said.

"So far we know that the car was parked near El-Gabta junction. We will establish more details on the incident," the officer said.

Liban Farah, a local resident, told the media that he heard a huge blast in Hamarweyne district but did not know if there were casualties.

The blast Sunday came at a time when Mogadishu is on high alert as police forces blocked the main roads of the capital to prevent possible attacks by holy warriors.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest bombing but al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab
... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia...
conducted similar attacks in the past.
Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)


Arabia
Houthi forces capture military bases in Saudi Arabia
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...
forces scored a new advance inside of Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
this past weekend, as their troops seized a military base in the Asir Province.

According to the official media wing of the Houthi forces, their troops captured at least military bases during a powerful attack along the Yemeni-Saudi border.

The Houthi forces also captured four military centers after they overran the Saudi Army’s defenses in southern Asir.

In addition to their advance in the Asir Province, the Houthi forces also launched a new offensive inside Yemen’s Hajjah Governorate.

The Houthi forces are attempting to retake the Hajjah-Saudi border, which was mostly lost during a large-scale offensive by the Saudi Coalition troops earlier this year.

Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Militants launch new attack on Aleppo city
[ALMASDARNEWS] The jihadist rebels launched a new attack on Aleppo city this evening, targeting the western and northern districts of the bucolic provincial capital.

According to a report from Aleppo city, the jihadist rebels fired several missiles towards the al-Khalidiyah and New Aleppo districts. The report said no casualties have been reported thus far.

This latest attack by the jihadist rebels of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham
comes just days after the Russian Air Force launched a number of Arclight airstrikes over their positions inside the Aleppo Governorate.
Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra


Syrian Foreign Ministry denies use of chemical weapons in HTS-held Kabani
[ALMASDARNEWS] Media reports about the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian army in the Kabani settlement in northern Latakia are fake, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"The Foreign and Expatriates Ministry reaffirms the statement of the General Command of the Army and Armed Forces which denied these claims and affirmed that they are completely baseless, noting that Syria had cooperated fully with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) which declared Syria free of chemical weapons," the statement said, as cited by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).

According to the document, "Syria has never used such weapons before" and will "not use them now, as it does not possess such weapons in the first place, and it considers the use of toxic weapons contradictory to its moral and international obligations."

The Syrian Foreign Ministry pointed out that "such recurring, hollow, barefaced media fabrications will not dissuade Syria from fighting terrorism until security and safety are restored across the country."

The Syrian army command earlier refuted information spread by snuffies that government troops used chemical weapons in the Kabani settlement located in the northern part of Latakia province. "Terrorist groups and some of their affiliated media outlets are reporting false news about the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Arab Army in Kabani town in Latakia countryside, the way they always do after every defeat," a military source said, as cited by SANA.

On May 17, Russia’s Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Sides in Syria warned that snuffies from the 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 .. ...
group (outlawed in Russia) were getting ready to stage provocations in the northern de-escalation zone in order to blame the Syrian Army for using chemical weapons.

Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra


Olde Tyme Religion
Moderate Muslims’ dilemma
[DAWN] THE Easter bombings in Sri Lanka once again turned a spotlight on the challenge of global jihad, terrorism and Islamophobia
...the irrational fear that Moslems will act the way they usually do...
. Moslem scholars and community leaders from across the world have condemned the attack, dissociated themselves from the perpetrators and defended Islam as a religion of peace.
We can see that.
Many Moslems are constantly feeling like they need to apologise. Still, they continue to face a backlash and stereotyping of their community. The fear of reprisals combined with growing Islamophobia compels Moslems to insist that these acts have nothing to do with their faith. This urge to separate religion from the violence committed in its name is well intentioned and understandable, yet counterproductive.
If the two are one, separating them really is counterproductive.
It is true that these Death Eaters do not represent the overwhelming majority of Moslems, who oppose terrorist groups like the holy warrior 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), the Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
, and Al Qaeda. However,
those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things...
it does not necessarily mean that they have nothing to do with religion. They may not represent the Islam that moderate Moslems know and follow, but their actions are inspired by their own version or interpretation of it.
Still, we seldom hear of Lutherans blowing things up, or even of Lutherans oppressing other Lutherans. Catholics do it a little more often, but not usually in the name of Catholicism. I never even heard the words "radical" and "Buddhists" in the same sentence until the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army managed to set off the backlash in Burma, though there were a few monks who set fire to themselves to protest the Ziem regime in Saigon in the early 60's. They didn't do it in the name of Buddhism and none exploded.
Here, it is worth emphasising that, as a Moslem, I strongly believe that the Moslem belief is no more ’violent’ than those of other religions. Neither is religion the only cause of such violence. Instead, violent extremism is a complex phenomenon with multiple driving factors including injustice, identity crisis, bad boy ideologies, and socioeconomic reasons. Their salience varies across time and space. There is no clear profile or single causal pathway that can define the process of radicalisation.
Yet still, you never hear of Mormons chopping non-believers' heads off. I've never even heard of them beating anybody up.
Similarly, there is also no denying that colonialism, Western military interventions in Moslem countries and support to authoritarian Moslem rulers have played a role in the rise of Islamic bully boyz and bandidos snuffies in the Moslem world. To summarise, it is often a combination of politics and bad boy interpretations of Islam that produces the vitriolic narrative and rampage that most Moslem countries face today.
I'll admit that the former Belgian Congo teems with people who treat each other in ways that cause me to gag. And there was that whole Rwanda thing, and the Serbs slaughtering Croats, Bosnians, and Kosovars, and vice versa. So it's a tribal thing?
The problem is that while Moslems almost always talk about the politics that creates terrorism, and rightly so, they are reluctant to discuss the role of radicalised interpretations in inspiring terrorist violence. Interventionist Western foreign policies alone do not explain the origin and sustenance of terrorist groups like Taliban, Al Qaeda and IS. These groups derive their sustenance mainly from obscurantist ideology that views the modern nation-state as a system of kufr and affirms the inherent right of Moslems to rule. The desire and motivation to kill and be killed comes from a sincere belief in the notion of achieving paradise through ’martyrdom’.
So maybe the root cause of the terrorism that we've been seeing for the past fifty years or so stems from the Moslem tribes of the world trying to kill the non-Moslem tribes of the world. And the Sunni tribes trying to kill the Shiite tribes, and the Hanafi tribes trying to kill the Sufi tribes, and the Salafist tribes trying to murder all the non-Salafists?
In Moslem-majority countries, a small segment of Moslems do recognise the challenge posed by radical interpretations of religion and disputes a literalist reading advocated by fundamentalists. Koranic verses, they argue, are often misinterpreted and quoted out of context. There are, however, two points which must be considered in the debate.
Which two points are those?
First, these debates are restricted to the drawing rooms and private gatherings of a tiny liberal, secular and left-leaning class that is often insulated from the rest of society which is generally conservative. Publicly, most Moslems are reluctant to openly engage in a debate regarding religion. Those who do so often pay a huge price.
In Pakistain they're accused of blasphemy and killed.
Second, the lack of an authoritative hierarchy in doctrinal interpretation means that any Moslem can interpret religion the way he or she likes. While making Islam more egalitarian and democratic, this also makes it easier for bully boyz to promulgate their literal interpretations despite opposition by a large majority of Moslem holy mans and scholars.
Protestanism doesn't have a hierarchy either, but it's been quite a few years since Anglicans and Presbyterians blew each other up. I think I'd stick with the tribe theory.
Moderate Moslems cannot be blamed for not engaging in open public debate because most Moslem countries lack the environment required for discussing sensitive issues. The countries where there is space for critical debates are the relatively advanced democracies of the developed world. However,
those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things...
in almost all such countries, Moslems are also a minority
Is there a reason for that?
and often the victims of hatred and prejudice inspired by Islamophobia.
My definition of Islamophobia may read like smart-assery, but it's the result of several years of research, and I haven't seen anything to make me doubt its accuracy.
Consequently, conscious of their minority status, moderate and liberal Moslems in these countries hold back their views on religion for fear of being seen as abettors of Islamophobia.
And they don't express their views on religion on Moslem majority countries because they'll be killed?
The rise of right-wing nationalism in Europe
...also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
and America has only reinforced their concerns.
Right wing nationalism was pretty much a dead concept until Moslem colonization began in earnest. Or did I miss something?
Diaspora Moslems fear that even pointing out that militancy might have something to do with a certain interpretation will feed into Islamophobia. The nuance about particular interpretations, the argument goes on, would gradually disappear in the public debate and Islam as a religion and Moslems as a group would be criticised. These are legitimate concerns and it is, therefore, not surprising that diaspora Moslems scholars and intellectuals are at the forefront of the ’IS-has-nothing-to-do-with-religion’ school of thought.
Even though the argument's ridiculous on its face.
The real challenge for Moslems is to be able to have these difficult conversations in a way that does not lead to more Islamophobia or buttress the West’s Orientalist and stereotypical view of Islam and the Moslem world. Media, scholars, journalists and governments in the Moslem and Western world have a responsibility to assuage these fears and ensure a safe space where such conversations can be held.
I'm not sure why we have the responsibility. Would the Moslem world have just as much a responsibility? Shouldn't they take responsibility for "scholars" who're unacquainted with concepts like reciprocity, cause and effect, and logic? I'm required to tolerate your religion, but you're not required to tolerate mine because yours says mine if wrong? Oh, but of course!
Moreover, they should also not mistake this as an acceptance that an bad boy version of Islam is the only or main source of terrorist violence.
True. Perhaps the entire religion is damned by its penchant for violence and tyranny.
Instead, the discussion about addressing other important drivers of violent extremism should continue. Defeating violent extremism requires a holistic strategy that should simultaneously address its social, economic and political causes. Reclaiming control of theological interpretations should be just one bit of the wider strategy.
Define a problem widely enough and you lose any hope of solving it.
Moderate Moslems must understand, deconstruct and delegitimise the bad boys’ version of Islam rather than denying the existence of their interpretation. By denying any link between faith and the violence carried out in its name, Moslems foreclose all public debate on different interpretations and help bad boy Moslems get away with their context-less versions.
Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Salafists

#1  Moderate Muslims’...

Moderate Muslim's ... there, fixed. Headline implied thee was more than one.
Posted by: Mercutio || 05/21/2019 8:19 Comments || Top||

#2  "Moderate Muslim"

That's the Muslim that does not actually participate in beheadings, but watches approvingly and applauds.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 8:24 Comments || Top||

#3  actually a fair number of moslems are coming to the view that extremist Islam is an existential threat to non extremist moslems

most of them resist the problem that extremist Islam may be the most authentic Islam
Posted by: lord garth || 05/21/2019 9:11 Comments || Top||

#4  Muzzizm is incompatible with everything, including itself. No easy fix for that.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/21/2019 10:50 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
British special forces join US strike group against Iran
[ALMASDARNEWS] British Special Forces have flown to the Middle East in the framework of a top-secret mission to rebuff possible Iranian attacks on merchant ships, according to The Sun.

Members of the elite Special Boat Service are reported to have joined UK registered oil tankers heading towards the Persian Gulf, subsequently to be tasked with monitoring Iranian military activity in the vicinity of Qesham Island, home to the country’s naval gunboats, the paper reports.

Once the two SBS crews have passed through the Strait of Hormuz, reports claim Royal Navy Merlin helicopters operating out of Oman will airlift them off the vessels.

The UK Ministry of Defence declined to respond when contacted by The Sun Online, with a front man stating they never comment about the Special Forces.

The alleged military move comes shortly after the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group arrived for patrols in the Arabian Sea.

The US has already deployed the aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to the Persian Gulf to counter alleged threats from Tehran, with the US planning to deploy as many as 120,000 troops to the Middle East should Iran attack American forces, a report claimed this week.

However,
Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried...
US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
is said to be increasingly favoring direct talk with Tehran as the best way forward, in a bid to comply with his long-standing pledge to withdraw the US from costly foreign wars, reports Washington Post.

Trump had campaigned on avoiding overseas conflicts, but also on taking a tougher line on Iran.

The Washington Post quoted a senior administration official as saying the US President is growing frustrated with what he sees as warlike planning generated by hawkish advisers.

Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Britain
Windsor waves final farewell to Household Cavalry after +200yrs
[Horse & Hound] The Household Cavalry Regiment has said goodbye to Windsor after more than 200 years in the town.

More than 250 soldiers, eight mounted troops and the band of the Household Cavalry paraded through the town on Saturday (18 May) ahead of the regiment’s departure, which was first announced in December 2016.

Princess Anne gave an address to troops from the steps of the Guildhall and hosted a reception for their families.

"The Household Cavalry has been in Windsor for more than 200 years," said an army spokesman.

"Today [18 May] they exercised their freedom to parade through this historic city to say thank you and goodbye to a community that has been their home for 215 years.

"The regiment will move from Combermere Barracks in St Leonard’s Road to Bulford in Wiltshire where it will work alongside fellow Royal Armoured Corps Regiment The King’s Royal Hussars, to operate the newly developed army reconnaissance vehicle, Ajax."

The 1st Battalion Welsh Guards will be the new residents of Combermere Barracks.

Ahead of the parade, Royal Borough councillor Andrew Johnson said the regiment’s long association with the town "will not be forgotten, but we will give a warm welcome to the Welsh Guards".
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Well....at least they weren't riding on the roof tops of Teslas on their way out.
Small compensation after 200+ years in residence.
Posted by: Roger Smith || 05/21/2019 12:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Another tradition falls from view, and their sense of national pride shrinks a tiny bit more.
Ozymandius......
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 05/21/2019 17:07 Comments || Top||


Europe
Unredacted: Det A‐Cold War espionage and counterterrorism from Berlin to Iran
[NEWSREP] It was the early 1970s, at Andrews Barracks in Berlin. A stern-looking Special Forces sergeant major paced down the hallway for roll call. Daily Army accountability formations are normally held outside, but due to the extremely classified nature of the mission carried out by the Special Forces soldiers standing in the hall that day, roll call had to be done indoors where they would not be spied on or photographed by enemy agents.

"It is the anniversary of the D-Day landing," the sergeant major told the Green Berets. "Who here participated in D-Day and would like to go to the reunion in France?"

A large number of men in the hallway had served in Special Forces units in Vietnam, such as MACV-SOG and Project Sigma, but only a handful of men there that day had participated in D-Day. There were some Johns, Dicks, or Harrys who raised their hand. The sergeant major doing roll call then got to the last soldier raising his hand and began to write down the name Gerhard Kunert. His pencil suddenly stopped scrawling across the clipboard.

"Wait a minute. Kunert? You were not even in the American Army in 1944!"

Kunert, a member of team six, clicked his heels and replied, "I was in the 7th Panzer. I was in Normandy, and I want to go to the reunion!" Kunert was not alone: Also on his team was a German who served on U-boats during the war.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...If that isn't true, it should be.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 05/21/2019 10:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Had a guy, a Staff Sergeant in my tank company in the early 70’s who had been in the HitlerYouth in Berlin as an 11 year old firing panzerfausts at T-34 at eh end of the war. He loved America and hated the Russians and applesauce. For about a month he and his family lived on applesauce they scrounged from an Abandoned Wehrmacht warehouse outside Berlin as they fled west.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 05/21/2019 12:11 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Hizballah operative convicted of terror charges after surveilling targets in New York City
[Long Wars] On May 16, a jury in Manhattan found Ali Kourani guilty of committing various crimes on behalf of Hizballah’s Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO), which plans terrorist operations around the world. The Department of Justice announced the jury’s verdict the following day.

Among other offenses, Kourani surveilled various targets in New York City for possible IJO-orchestrated terrorist attacks. Kourani, who lived in the Bronx, scoped out JFK Airport, US military and law enforcement facilities, including the Jacob Javits federal building at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan.

The IJO, which oversaw Kourani’s work, has an extensive terrorist history. Hizballah’s external operations arm first began targeting the US in Lebanon during the 1980s. It was led by Imad Mugniyah, Iran’s master terrorist, who was responsible for orchestrating some of the first jihadist suicide bombings in the modern era. Mughniyah was killed in 2008, but Hizballah obviously stayed in the terrorism business after his demise.

[For an overview of the case against Kourani, his alleged role within the IJO, and Hizballah’s anti-American terrorism, see FDD’s Long War Journal report, Analysis: 2 US cases provide unique window into Iran’s global terror network.]

The DOJ describes the IJO as a "highly compartmentalized component of Hizballah" that is "responsible for the planning, preparation, and execution of intelligence, counterintelligence, and terrorist activities" outside of Lebanon’s borders.

It is also known as External Security Organization and "910." The IJO was responsible for a worldwide Iranian terror campaign in 2012, targeting a bus full of Israeli tourists in Burgas, Bulgaria, a bombing that left six people dead and wounded 32 others. Other IJO plots that same year were thwarted by authorities.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  Tourists taking pictures...
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/21/2019 15:04 Comments || Top||



-Short Attention Span Theater-
Whitney Houston estate working on hologram tour, new album
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The estate of Whitney Houston has struck a deal aiming to revive the late superstar’s brand, potentially launching a touring hologram and album of unreleased music.
I think this is known as Deadsploitation.
Did she give her permission?
New York-based company Primary Wave Music Publishing announced Monday it penned an agreement with mega-celebrity Houston’s estate, acquiring 50 percent of its assets including royalties from her music, films and merchandising.

The most awarded female artist of all time, Houston died at 48 years old in 2012 after a public struggle with drugs, following a decade that saw her go from America’s sweetheart to tabloid drama queen.

"With Primary Wave’s global appeal and wealth of contacts, the partnership will advance the artistry and integrity of Whitney’s legacy to a stratosphere that she herself left us all to enjoy for a lifetime," Pat Houston, the late artist’s sister-in-law and executor of the estate, said in a statement.

"Before she passed, there was so much negativity around the name; it wasn’t about the music anymore," Pat Houston told The New York Times

...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...

. "People had forgotten how great she was. They let all the personal things about her life outweigh why they fell in love with her in the first place."

She told the paper a hologram tour featuring the artist’s laser-generated likeness is the first priority of the new contract, which could be followed by branding deals and a potential Broadway musical.

"Whitney Houston is an incomparable artist whose voice resonates in people’s lives to this day," said Lawrence Mestel, head of Primary Wave, which focuses on marketing classic catalogs of megawatt names including Bob Marley, Smokey Robinson, and Def Leppard.

"She is the definition of an icon and we are thrilled to partner with Pat Houston and the entire Houston family to further the legacy of this legendary artist."

Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No, just no...
Posted by: Raj || 05/21/2019 0:48 Comments || Top||

#2  As a capitalist, I say whatever someone wants to spend their money on is fine with me. I just want everyone who spends on (or makes their living from) something like this, Woodstock 50, NBA, NFL, rap concerts and gangsta lifestyle to stop lecturing me about what I do (or don't do) with my money.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/21/2019 8:17 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkish opposition slams Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party for elections ‘injustice’
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Leader of the Ottoman Turkish Felicity Party Temel Karamollaoglu criticized a member of President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey...
’s party, the Justice and Development Party (AKP), after the latter was seen in a video calling for protecting "the thief" in reference to Erdogan’s candidate for Istanbul’s mayoralty, Binali Yildirim.

In February, AKP’s Mehmet Ali Yetis’in, head of the Camliyayla District, called on supporters to stand by Yildirim who is being described as a "thief."

"They’ve reached the extent of permitting corruption. I wonder how can a municipality head of a district affiliated with a political party come out and say: I will protect the thief," Karamollaoglu said.

"In this case, this man must be immediately excluded because you must not harbor thieves. They’re in a very bad position, and they do not know how to get out of this dilemma," he added.

According to the Ottoman Turkish daily newspaper Sozcu, Mehmet Ali told supporters they "have two options," to either stand with the candidate of those who "betrayed the state" or stand by their candidate, in reference to Yildirim, "who is being called a thief."

"My friends, I say instead of standing by those who betrayed the state, we must stand by the thief whom we know well. In case we lose, God forbid, the price will be high, and we cannot afford it," Mehmet Ali said.

Temel Karamollaoglu said that 90 percent of the friends who established the Justice and Development Party (AKP) have left it because of injustice.

"They say there was no justice anymore, and no place for counsel. Competencies were no longer prioritized, and the difference in points of view was not welcomed," Karamollaoglu said in a video posted on the Felicity Party’s official Twitter page.


Ottoman Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appointed Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s wife Cigdem Ucar as a member in the board of the directors of the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF), according to Sozcu newspaper.

The daily added that the decision was taken eight days after The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
’s top election body ordered a re-run of the Istanbul mayoral vote.

The re-run was decided after Ucar’s husband, Ismail, led 32 investigations on allegations of irregularities in Istanbul municipality’s elections.

He also summoned more than 100 polling station officials for questioning.

The main opposition secularist Republican People’s Party won the mayoralty elections in both Ankara and Istanbul, however, Erdogan has refused the results and called for a re-run.

Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Arabia
Saudi Arabia intercepts Houthi missiles heading toward Mecca, Jeddah
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Arab Coalition has confirmed that the Royal Saudi Air Defense had intercepted aerial targets early Monday morning over the cities of Jeddah and Taif.

According to eyewitnesses, the two Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...
ballistic missiles were intercepted over Taif, one heading for Mecca and the other for Jeddah.

The Kingdom's air defense forces were able to destroy the ballistic missiles.

In light of the attack, the Yemeni government said that it strongly condemns the Houthi attempt to target Mecca, adding that the attack on the holy site is "a full-fledged terrorist act".

According to an Al Arabiya correspondent, the fragments of the missile landed in Wadi Jalil, which extends to Mecca, noting that this is the second time the Houthi militias attempt to target the holy city.

Earlier in March, Yemen’s Houthi militias warned they could launch attacks against the capitals of Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
and the United Arab Emirates.

"We have aerial photographs and coordinates of dozens of headquarters, facilities and military bases of the enemy," Houthi militia front man Yahya Saree had said in comments carried by the militia’s al-Masirah channel.

"The legitimate targets of our forces extend to the capital of Saudi Arabia and to the emirate of Abu Dhabi," he said.

The Iran-linked Houthi militias have targeted Saudi border towns and Riyadh with ballistic missiles and also claimed drone attacks on the airports of Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the past.

Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  the two Houthi ballistic missiles were intercepted over Taif, one heading for Mecca and the other for Jeddah.

Clearly some saturation 'missiling' is in order.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/21/2019 15:09 Comments || Top||

#2  How hard can it be to hit that big black cube in the middle of Mecca they call the Kaaba? It's long past time that the heathen symbol of the Arab pagans were vaporized.
Posted by: jpal || 05/21/2019 18:59 Comments || Top||

#3  Rebecca just brought back from Mecca,
Secreted inside a maraca,
The mark of enslavement
Now set in teh pavement
Outside Zucker's Bagels, Tribeca.
Posted by: Slaise Fleans7293 || 05/21/2019 20:29 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Russian RoRo Sparta II arrived to Bandar Imam Khomeini Port
[Twitter]



Posted by: 3dc || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  RoRo? As in Rororo your boat?
Posted by: gorb || 05/21/2019 1:08 Comments || Top||

#2  https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/SPARTA-II-IMO-9160994-MMSI-273394890
Posted by: Thimp Clusort2035 || 05/21/2019 1:10 Comments || Top||

#3  As in Rororo your boat?

Heh. Roll-on Roll-off. Carries trucks and other wheeled thingies, and has a ramp to load & unload. Doesn't need a crane to move cargo.
Posted by: SteveS || 05/21/2019 1:23 Comments || Top||

#4  "Ro Ro"
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/21/2019 8:22 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Over Rs18bn paid to tribals for damaged properties
[DAWN] Compensation amounting millions of rupees has been distributed among the people whose properties were destroyed in the five tribal districts in former Fata during years of conflict while thousands of other families await validation of their claims.
What's the payout from al-Qaeda and the Pak Taliban been?
Under Citizen Losses Compensation Programme (CLCP), of the total 111,824 houses damaged in conflict in the tribal districts, about 72,000 have been verified by the official steering committees in these five districts. Survey for verification and validation of the damaged properties is still in progress in the affected districts.

Cheques amounting to Rs18.4 billion have been distributed among the affected people according to a CLCP release. The remaining 39,582 claims have yet to be validated for possible compensation. Request for Rs1.094 billion has been forwarded to the provincial finance department for further release to deputy commissioners of the respective tribal districts.

Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  More ways of redistributing money among the party backers of a new govt. The departments in-charge of doling out these monies have never paid a single dime out to anyone except their wives' brothers or cousins or fathers-in-law or other confidants, all disguised on paper as 'hurt parties' and victims of everything from violence to floods.

Almost no one in pakistan actually a victim of violence will get a single dime.

Posted by: Dron66046 || 05/21/2019 15:21 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Palestinians to shun US-led economic conference, prelude to Trump peace plan
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Paleostinians will stay away from a US-led conference in Bahrain next month that the Trump administration has cast as an overture to its own plan for peace between them and Israel, a Paleostinian cabinet minister said on Monday.

Washington announced the conference on Sunday, describing it as an opportunity to drum up international investment for the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the Gazoo Strip.

The Paleostinians, who have boycotted the Trump administration since it recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017, have shown little interest in discussing a plan on which they had no input and that they anticipate will fall far short of their core demands.
Hokay. Status quo and more settlements, cockroaches
Paleostinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said on Monday that his government had not been consulted on the June 25-26 gathering in Manama.

After the cabinet met, Ahmed Majdalani, the social development minister and a member of the Paleostine Liberation Organization executive committee, said: "There will be no Paleostinian participation in the Manama workshop".

"Any Paleostinian who would take part would be nothing but a collaborator for the Americans and Israel," he said.

Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: PLO


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Top Trump administration officials to brief Senate, House on Iran on Tuesday
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Top officials from President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
’s administration will brief the US Senate and House of Representatives about Iran on Tuesday afternoon, Congressional aides said, after politicians clamored for more information about the tension between the two countries.

The briefers will be Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Joseph Dunford and an unnamed representative of the intelligence community, Congressional aides said.

Aides had said last week that a Senate briefing was set for Tuesday, but details of the House meeting had not been made final. Trump threatened Iran in a tweet on Sunday, raising concerns about a potential US-Iran conflict at a time when tensions between Washington and Tehran have risen.

Concern also rose after a rocket was fired on Sunday into the Iraqi capital Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses government buildings and diplomatic missions, falling near the US Embassy but causing no casualties.
Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Bangladesh
Imam who raped schoolgirl caught after five months
[Dhaka Tribune] Police tossed in the calaboose
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
an Imam over a case filed for raping a schoolgirl in Chandpur.

The accused Mozammel Haque was produced before a Chandpur court on Monday noon. His bail request was denied, and he was sent to jail.

Sources confirmed, Mozzammel, ex-imam of the Debpur Jam-e Mosque in the Sadar upazila was on the run for five months after he raped the girl on November 17.

Md Alamgir Hossain Rony, OC of Haziganj cop shoppe, said: "Mozammel betrayed the trust of the eight-year-old schoolgirl and her family with promises of teaching the girl English.

"On November 17 he brought the girl to a flat and raped her. Five months later the girl's mother identified Mozammel in a market and handed him over to the police with the help of locals."

Police have found inappropriate images of the rape incident in Mozammel's phone, added OC Alamgir.
Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So it wasn't a schoolboy or a goat? Just checking...
Posted by: Raj || 05/21/2019 0:44 Comments || Top||

#2  So it wasn't a schoolboy or a goat?

Perhaps the gentleman is extremely near-sighted.
Posted by: SteveS || 05/21/2019 1:40 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Graham: If the Iranian threats against American personnel and interests are activated we must deliver an overwhelming military response
[TWITTER]

Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Africa Horn
Somali Military Court Sentences Al-Shabab Members To Death
[RADIOSHABELLE] Somali court of appeal for the armed forces has upheld the death penalty
handed to two al-Shabaab
... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia...
fighters in Mogadishu.

The first degree of the army court had previously sentenced Anshur Osman Abukar and Mohammed Alio Borow to death.
Now do it. Painfully
The convicts moved to the appeal court to decided their cases.

In a statement, the appeal on Monday said it concluded the cases of the two convicts.

Following the conclusion of testimonials and evidence brought during the hearing of two men’s appeal, the Court of Appeal backed an earlier ruling which found two guilty of taking acts to destabilize the country.

According to the statement, the court has upheld the initial ruling of the first-degree court ruling the two death sentence.

The court said that Anshur Osman Abukar and Mohammed Alio Borrow confessed to taking part al-Shabaab attacks including one in Mogadishu.

Human rights groups have accused Somali military court previously for executions of suspects with unclear investigations, claiming the convicts were denied a chance to defend themselves.

Somali military court handles cases related to security, mainly terrorism.

It has sentenced several al-Shabaab suspected to death before.

Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israeli researchers develop multi-purpose robot drone
[ALMASDARNEWS] Israeli researchers have developed a first-of-its-kind robot drone capable of driving, flying and crawling quickly, Israel’s Ben-Gurion University (BGU) reported on Monday.

The robot, called the Flying Star, was developed by the Bio-Inspired and Medical Robotics Lab at the BGU.

The combination of flight and car-like driving, by controlling the angle of the motors’ hinges, allows the robot to take advantages of both modes.

Thus, the robot moves from a 55-degree configuration to a full sprawl mode, allowing it to cross distances and obstacles in various ways that cannot be crossed only by flying or driving.

The robot also adjusts its width to crawl or run across surfaces, climb large obstacles and crawl into a tunnel or narrow openings.

The researchers said that the uniqueness of the Flying Star is that it is driven on the ground with the same motors that run its propellers, giving it a ground travel speed of up to 2.6 meters per second and a very high push capability.

Combined with low energy consumption by the usage of the same motors, the robot is suitable for a variety of purposes, such as the delivery service.

It can quickly fly to a target zone and then drive by using its wheels safely and quietly to reach the recipient’s doorstep.

In search and rescue missions, the robot can fly over debris and penetrate small openings in search of survivors, where an ordinary unmanned aerial vehicles can’t reach.

The robot may also be used in agriculture, maintenance, cleaning, filming, entertainment, law enforcement and anti-terrorism.

The researchers plan to develop the robot in various sizes, from tens of centimeters to meters, to suit for different applications.

Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Powerful Iraqi group says they will remain part of ‘axis of resistance’ despite foreign pressure
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Secretary-General of Harakat al-Nujaba, Akram al-Kaabi, said last week that Iraq will remain part of the "axis of resistance" despite foreign-led initiatives to detach the Iraqi society from the regional developments.

"Our enemies want Iraq to be an apathetic society and not react to what is happening in our region. This goes against our beliefs," al-Kaabi stated, as Press TV reported.

Al-Kaabi stressed that based on Islamic beliefs, Iraq cannot be separated from the greater Moslem world and the regional "resistance axis".

"Major organizations affiliated with the Zionists, the United States and the Saudis are managing a media war against the resistance and are seeking to target our youth and our moral values," he added.

The Harakat al-Nujaba chief added that it was unfortunate that some of Iraq’s elites and leaders had been influenced by this foreign-backed trend.

"If our positions are based on the enemy’s media objectives, this will surely deviate us," he noted.

Al-Kaabi made these comments shortly after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Baghdad to discuss the ongoing situation with Iran.

In addition to being one of the most powerful paramilitaries in Iraq, Harakat al-Nujaba is also a close ally to Iran. They have both fought alongside one another inside Iraq and Syria.

Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran slams 'genocidal taunts' by US, increases uranium stockpiles
[Aljazeera] A top Iranian official has called on the United States to address Tehran with respect, not with a threat of war, a day after US President Donald Trump issued an ominous warning to Tehran on Twitter.

The war of words on Monday came as the semi-official Tasnim news agency announced Iran has , in line with an earlier decision to scale back some of its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal.

"Iranians have stood tall for millennia while aggressors all gone. Economic terrorism and genocidal taunts won't 'end Iran'," Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister, wrote on Twitter.

"Never threaten an Iranian. Try respect - it works!" he added.

The riposte followed a Twitter post by Trump, who told Iran not to threaten the US.

"If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again," he wrote on Sunday, without clarifying what threats he meant.

Trump doubled down on Monday, saying Iran would be met with "great force" if it attempted anything against US interests in the Middle East. But while arguing that Tehran had been very hostile towards Washington, the US president told reporters as he departed the White House that he was still willing to have talks with Iran "when they're ready".

Hours later, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said he favoured talks and diplomacy but not under the existing conditions.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Economy
Trinity Industries to build railcar maintenance facility in Iowa
[Freight Waves] A Trinity Industries (NYSE: TRN) subsidiary has bought 230 acres in Iowa to construct a multi-million-dollar railcar maintenance facility.

TrinityRail Maintenance Services will build the facility in Shell Rock, Iowa, with operations expected to start by the end of 2020. Services at the facility will range from repairs and maintenance, to coatings, cleaning, inspections and testing. The facility will be near the Iowa Northern shortline railroad, which provides transloading services and supports the local grain and renewable energy industries.

The facility’s location in Butler County will give Trinity access to the Class I railroad network and the upper Midwest, Trinity said.

"This full-service facility will expand our internal network and operational flexibility in a key geographic location," said Eric Marchetto, senior vice president and group president of TrinityRail, a railcar lessor.

The facility will enable Trinity to internally service and maintain approximately half of its 123,000 owned and managed railcars, Marchetto said. Trinity has reserved $60 million in capital funds to build the facility, with $30 million expected to be spent in 2019. Financing for the project wasn’t included in Trinity’s guidance for its capital expenditures in 2019.

Trinity said in April that it expects to spend between $90 million and $110 million in 2019 on manufacturing and corporate capital expenditures and between $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion on building its leased fleet.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Great news! Railcars will no longer have to go to China for maintenance. Another win for Trump ;-)
Posted by: Creling Pelosi3622 || 05/21/2019 9:53 Comments || Top||

#2  "Oh, No! More mouth breathing, drooling deplorables will have jobs in the fly over area" thought each lib that happened to read the article!
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 05/21/2019 10:23 Comments || Top||

#3  Be interesting to know the eventual mix of car types being serviced. We know Warren Boo-fay bet big on oil tank car trains some time back. Unless Trump gets a second term, I'm not optimistic about the chances of pipeline capacity every catching up with demand.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/21/2019 10:57 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Turkish-backed rebels launch major counter-offensive to reclaim lost territory in Hama
[ALMASDARNEWS] For the second time in the last 24 hours, the Ottoman Turkish-backed rebels have launched a major counter-offensive to retake the areas they lost to the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in northwestern Hama.

Led by the National Liberation Front
...the Turkic paramilitaries intended to replace with their native jihadi ferocity all the highly trained Turkish soldiers Sultan Erdogan I the much beloved has jailed in the last few years for not worshipping the ground he walks upon. The Uighurs and so forth who did not join Al Nusra or ISIS seem to have ended up here...
, the Ottoman Turkish-backed rebels began the assault by storming the Syrian Army’s defenses at the small towns of al-Masasneh and Hamamiyat. A fierce battle would ensue as the Ottoman Turkish-backed rebels send hundreds of soldiers towards the Syrian Army’s defenses.

Thus far, no advances have been reported by either side. The Syrian Air Force is now active over the northwestern countryside of the Hama Governorate.

The previous attack that was launched by the Ottoman Turkish-backed rebels resulted in heavy losses within their ranks. Most of these casualties were from the Euphrates Shield forces, who recently deployed to the Hama Governorate from the Afrin region.
Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  sequence-wise, this article would be more effective if it came before, not after, the article indicating that got their butts kicked. just sayin'
Posted by: Mercutio || 05/21/2019 8:41 Comments || Top||

#2  both articles are from same news source and the second one has a later time stamp

Posted by: lord garth || 05/21/2019 9:03 Comments || Top||

#3  doesn't mean they can be sequenced differently; Drudge does juxtaposition to great effect
Posted by: Mercutio || 05/21/2019 11:36 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
28[untagged]
8Govt of Iran
3Sublime Porte
3Govt of Pakistan
3Houthis
2al-Nusra
2al-Shabaab (AQ)
1Govt of Qatar (MB)
1Govt of Sudan
1Hezbollah
1Govt of Iran Proxies
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1Moslem Colonists
1PLO
1Commies
1Islamic State
1Salafists

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
Comments Spam
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
RSS Links
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio
Sink Trap

Alzheimer's Association
Day by Day
Counterterrorism
Hair Through the Ages







On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2019-05-21
  8-10 Somali Teens Armed With Hammers Attack Bystanders at East Bank Rail Station in MN
Mon 2019-05-20
  Houthi's launch IRBM at Mecca!
Sun 2019-05-19
  Islamic State in West Africa Forming ‘Jihadist Proto-State’ in Nigeria
Sat 2019-05-18
  Drone strike kills notorious ISIS leader and his fighters in East of Afghanistan
Fri 2019-05-17
  Fighting grips Hodeidah port, complicates peace moves
Thu 2019-05-16
  F-16 with live ordinance crashes in Riverside CA.
Wed 2019-05-15
  Iranian ballistic missile platforms in Basra city directed towards the Gulf, Exxon evacuating, German mil. trainers evacuating
Tue 2019-05-14
  The Latest: Norwegian Tanker's Hull Punctured off UAE Coast
Mon 2019-05-13
  Gunmen kill six during Catholic mass in Burkina Faso
Sun 2019-05-12
  Security guard killed as terrorists storm Pearl Continental Hotel in Gwadar: ISPR
Sat 2019-05-11
  B-52s in Al Udeid AB Qatar
Fri 2019-05-10
  U.S. revokes citizenship of Portland mosque's imam for ties to ObL
Thu 2019-05-09
  Rotherham abuse scandal: 40 arrests made in last two months
Wed 2019-05-08
  Pompeo suddenly in Iraq
Tue 2019-05-07
  400-strong Christian mob attacks Muslim shops in Sri Lankan town hit by Easter bomb

Better than the average link...



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.
54.163.195.125
Paypal:
WoT Background (21)    Non-WoT (20)    Opinion (3)    (0)    Politix (3)