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Taliban kill 30 Afghan soldiers and take base in first major attack since ceasefire
Today's Headlines
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Three Muslim Majority Countries Eliminated From The World Cup
Like this will come as a shock to any of you, and we're barely into the second games of the group round...
[ESPN FC] - The second round of games in the World Cup group stage is now under way. Find out what each nation has to do to qualify for the knockout stage ahead of the final round of matches.

Already qualified: Russia, Uruguay
Already eliminated: Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia

The first tiebreakers are goal difference and goals scored rather than head to head (see full breakdown at the foot of the page).
Posted by: Raj || 06/20/2018 18:18 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under:


The FBI, The DOJ and Hillary Clinton's huge Weiner Problem
Remember Anthony Weiner, also known as "Carlos Danger" ‐ the former congressman who kept texting people pictures of well, umm, that part of his name? It all made quite the splash because he is married to Hillary Clinton’s consigliere and constant sidekick, Huma Abedin.

Turns out that Anthony was such a perp ‐ and so enthralled with his own ‐ that he was sexting with a minor. That is a federal offense carrying up to 10 years in prison. So, he got raided by the New York Police Department and the New York office of the FBI.

They seized his laptop computer. It would have been bad enough if it had only had contained all his porn. But it posed a huge problem for the FBI, DOJ and Mrs. Clinton.

Comey had already exonerated Hillary of her blatant Espionage Act violations and obstruction of justice violations two months before ‐ in time for her to wrap up the election they all expected and wanted her to win.

Peter Strzok and the Trump-hating key players in the Clinton email "investigation" were already well into crafting and leaking the Trump-Russia collusion narrative.

Then, the unthinkable happened.

Only a few hours after the New York office of the FBI took possession of the Weiner laptop, on September 26, 2016, the FBI computer expert discovered it contained more than 140,000 emails involving Hillary Clinton. They were from multiple domain names: State.gov, Clintonemail.com, ClintonFoundation.org, HillaryClinton.com and Blackberry devices. The agent had what he told the inspector general was an "oh shit moment" ‐ recognizing that he had found evidence important to the most important investigation ‐ and he immediately reported it up the chain.

According to the inspector general’s report of June 14, specifically Chapters IX-XI, the treasure "trove" of emails covered Mrs. Clinton’s entire tenure as Secretary of State.

We already knew that President Barack Obama was emailing her on her unsecure server at Clintonemail.com, and Cheryl Mills had written an email noting how "obvious" it was to anyone that this was not State.gov and therefore unsecure. The president jolly-well knew it was not a secure communication as he used an alias.

This was a gargantuan problem for the FBI and for Mrs. Clinton. Other people knew about it, too.

Indeed, according to the inspector general, 39 high-ranking FBI agents knew of it, along with the New York office and people in the New York U.S. Attorney’s office. The New York FBI informed them all during a secure video-conference on September 28 ‐ chaired by Andrew McCabe.

One agent said the announcement of finding hundreds of thousands of Clinton emails on Weiner’s laptop was "like dropping a bomb in the middle of the meeting."

The New York agent Sweeney followed up with two calls to McCabe later that evening ‐ after McCabe did not call him as promised.

So . . . what did McCabe, Comey and Strzok do? They sat on it until police officers in New York and FBI agents in New York threatened to expose them.

By October 28, it was only 11 days before the election. Comey panicked. The jig was up. They had been hiding it for three weeks. Comey’s guilt and concern for his own career caused him to realize he could not keep it quiet any longer.

Everything exploded when Comey wrote a letter to Congress vaguely reporting the discovery of "additional emails that appear to be related to the investigation." He wrote further, "the FBI cannot assess at this time whether or not the material may be significant."

Comey’s words to Congress are belied by the inspector general’s report who bought none of their excuses for the multi-week delay in addressing the emails.

On October 30, 2016, The Daily Caller reported that the Department of Justice had not even sought a warrant for review of the 350,000 Clinton emails.

Breitbart reported on November 4, 2016 that the New York Police Department officers who had seen the evidence on Weiner’s laptop had threatened to blow the whistle. Remarkably, the "Justice Department" shut them down by allegedly threatening to indict NYPD officers on the two-year old death of Eric Gardner if the NYPD disclosed it.

In a stunning assertion, Director Comey told the Inspector General he did not know Anthony Weiner was married to Huma Abedin. Perhaps they should have told him it was "Carlos Danger?"

Either Comey was bald-faced lying, which is punishable under 18 U.S.C. §1001, or the level of ignorance and incompetence inherent in that representation alone warranted his termination.

Moreover, if Comey’s claim were true, then Comey, McCabe and Strzok should have flown into action at the mere thought of a perverted stranger in a sexual offense investigation having 350,000 emails of the secretary of state including highly classified information ‐ covering her entire tenure there.

From the FBI’s and DOJ’s "handling" of the "Weiner problem," there is more than enough evidence to demand immediate production of the Weiner laptop and all emails should be obtained from NSA or otherwise to be given to an independent special prosecutor for a full and thorough investigation.

In addition, all of this raises scores upon scores of additional questions.

Here are just 10 such questions:

1. What are the names of all the people the FBI has identified as having emailed Hillary Clinton on her obvious unsecured server at Clintonemail.com? (We already know Obama emailed her on it under an alias. Which other high-ranking officials also emailed Clinton at her unsecured server? What about Robert Mueller? What about Eric Holder?

2. Did the inspector general ask Lynch about threats to NYPD to prosecute officers if they didn’t back down on exposing the email cover-up? Why not?

3. Did the FBI show Hillary the email by Cheryl Mills stating it was "obvious" Clintonemail.com was not secure?

4. Who are the three ‐ just three ‐ FBI agents who reviewed the Weiner laptop and conducted the miraculous de-duping and review in only a few days of 350,000 emails that covered her entire tenure as Secretary of State?

5. Who in the Department of Justice reviewed the 350,000 Clinton emails on Weiner laptop?

6. Who in Department of Justice talked to the New York office about the Weiner laptop?

7. How many classified, top-secret and even more secret chains were found from Clinton’s own production on Weiner’s laptop?

8. Who stripped the classified and confidential markings from the documents Mrs. Clinton received before sending them to her?

9. Where is Weiner’s laptop right now?

10. Who made that phone call from the Department of Justice to the New York Police Department? Exactly what was said?

11. Where did Anthony Weiner hide the Ben Wa balls ?

Sidney Powell, former federal prosecutor and veteran of 500 federal appeals, is the author of "LICENSED TO LIE: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice." She is a Senior Fellow of the London Center for Policy Research and senior policy adviser for America First.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.

Posted by: JohnQC || 06/20/2018 07:52 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Meanwhile, the Dems are deflecting from the IG report and its implications by hammering away at Trump about the cruelty of separating illegal immigrant kids from their families. No matter that Obama did this.
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/20/2018 8:12 Comments || Top||

#2  We need a "media that covers the media." How many days of WH press corps being met outside by cameras and microphones and questions of "Why was this never a problem before?" until someone died of embarrassment?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 06/20/2018 9:09 Comments || Top||

#3  They're Democrats - incapable of feeling shame
Posted by: Frank G || 06/20/2018 9:13 Comments || Top||

#4  The FBI, The DOJ and Hillary Clinton's huge Weiner Problem

You mean this isn't about Lynch and Bill on the tarmac?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/20/2018 10:05 Comments || Top||

#5  I don't think I want to know what that was all about.
Posted by: gorb || 06/20/2018 10:06 Comments || Top||

#6  11. Where did Anthony Weiner hide the Ben Wa balls?

That's too much information.

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al || 06/20/2018 12:53 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
He Survived NAZI Concentration Camps – His Message On Border Security Will Silence The Media
BLUF:
[Daily Caller] "I don’t believe it when I heard it," Tuck said when he heard Blumenthal’s statement, "They know nothing of the Holocaust."

"They are politicians, looking to get paid," he said, repeating that those who make the comparison "know nothing." When asked to compare the American border detainment facilities to actual concentration camps, Tuck said, "This is a country club."

"I was given a piece of bread in the morning. A piece of bread in the evening," Tuck said, "I had to survive with my life. I have a number on my arm to prove it ‐ from Auschwitz."
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 04:07 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Wake up,” he said in an exclusive interview with The Daily Caller. “Look it up. This is not the Holocaust.”

Mr. Tuck, the Dems and their propaganda machine (the MSM), like the Goebbel's propaganda machine don't give a fig about the truth.
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/20/2018 7:13 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Urgent need to prepare for manmade virus attacks, says US government report
[Guardian] The rapid rise of synthetic biology, a futuristic field of science that seeks to master the machinery of life, has raised the risk of a new generation of bioweapons, according a major US report into the state of the art.

Advances in the area mean that scientists now have the capability to recreate dangerous viruses from scratch; make harmful bacteria more deadly; and modify common microbes so that they churn out lethal toxins once they enter the body.

The three scenarios are picked out as threats of highest concern in a review of the field published on Tuesday by the US National Academy of Sciences at the request of the Department of Defense. The report was commissioned to flag up ways in which the powerful technology might be abused, and to focus minds on how best to prepare.

Michael Imperiale, chair of the report committee, and professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Michigan, said the review used only unclassified information and so has no assessment of which groups, if any, might be pursuing novel biological weapons. "We can’t say how likely any of these scenarios are," he said. "But we can talk about how feasible they are."
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 03:59 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Virus hell, a plague. And yes, its far more 21st century than nukes.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/20/2018 7:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Tom Clancy wrote one about this. Didn't turn out well.
Posted by: AlanC || 06/20/2018 7:13 Comments || Top||

#3  ...The difficulty of weaponizing viruses like this is that you also have to produce a pretty-much-100%-effective vaccine for it, because bio can't be relied on not to blow back on you.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 06/20/2018 8:06 Comments || Top||

#4  "But we can talk about how feasible they are."

...or examine exiting infected control groups such as all democrats.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 8:10 Comments || Top||


#6  Soft targets...

Imagine if the 5 divisions(50,000) a month coming across the border were exposed before capture.

Clustered at central locations for processing then distributed to holding areas across the states.

Seems like the distribution/infection model has already been engaged.
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/20/2018 9:56 Comments || Top||

#7 
...or examine exiting infected control groups such as all democrats.


...too late.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/20/2018 10:02 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
The Folly of Multiculturalism
[PJ] Exactly how beneficial to a society is multiculturalism, this word that is so celebrated in the West?

First one must first define the word: It is "the view that cultures, races, and ethnicities, particularly those of minority groups, deserve special acknowledgement of their differences within a dominant political culture."
Give me 'Strange Tongues and Tribal Dispersal' for $600. Alex.
Note the immediate inaccuracies within this standard definition. "Races," which indicate a people’s innate physical makeup, are conflated with "cultures" -- which are neither innate nor physical, but learned and metaphysical.

This mix-up explains why for many in the West, the word "culture" often conjures at most physical, surface differences -- "exotic" food or dress. In reality, cultures are nothing less than entire and distinct worldviews with their own unique sets of right and wrongs, often rooted in a religion or philosophy. Cultures bring much more than, say, the convenience of having Indian cuisine down the street.

As Anglo-French historian Hilaire Belloc once explained it:
Cultures spring from religions; ultimately the vital force which maintains any culture is its philosophy, its attitude toward the universe; the decay of a religion involves the decay of the culture corresponding to it -- we see that most clearly in the breakdown of Christendom today.

Put differently, all values prized by the modern West -- religious freedom, tolerance, humanism, gender equality, monogamy -- did not develop in a vacuum but rather are inextricably rooted to Judeo-Christian principles which, over the course of some 2,000 years, have had a profound influence on Western epistemology, society and, of course, culture.

While they are now taken for granted and seen as "universal" virtues, it’s not for nothing that these values were born and nourished in Western -- not Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, Confucian, or pagan -- nations.

All this is missed by those ignorant of the spiritual and intellectual roots of Western civilization. This is, incidentally, why growing numbers of Western people arrogantly see themselves as the culmination of all human history and culture -- "enlightened" thinkers who have left all cultural and religious baggage behind -- and are thus convinced that cultures offer only minor, or superficial differences (always to be "celebrated"). They embrace notions of relativism and multiculturalism, the idea that all religions and cultures are at most "skin deep," or more subtly, that they are destined to develop like the West, which is no longer seen as a distinct culture but rather the end point of all cultures.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 03:52 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Why, I have never been so insulted in my life!"

-Angela Merkel
Posted by: DooDahMan || 06/20/2018 17:38 Comments || Top||


Former NYPD Commish Kerik Encourages Trump to Hold Mexico 'Accountable' on Immigration
[PJ] Responding on Twitter to a post written Monday by PJ Media Washington Editor Bridget Johnson, former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik had this to say:
Bernard B. Kerik

@BernardKerik
.@POTUS @realDonaldTrump - #Mexico should be held accountable in the strongest of terms because if they wanted this surge of illegal immigration to stop, they would have stopped it. Mexico is endangering their own country's children, and our @ICEgov @DHSgov enforcement personnel.

Johnson's post quoted Attorney General Jeff Sessions' remark during a speech when he said there was "an important conversation occurring in this country about whether we want to be a country of laws or whether we want to be a country without borders."

Kerik brings up something that has long been a sore spot for border state dwellers no matter who is in the White House at the time: no one in the immigration "debate" ever brings up Mexico's culpability in the problem.

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox is now a fierce, loudmouthed critic of President Trump when it comes to people crossing illegally from his country into the United States. When he was in office and asked about Mexico doing its part to stem the flow of illegal immigration, Fox weakly replied, "What can Mexico do to prevent undocumented workers from entering the United States?"

There has been almost no pressure on any Mexican president by any American president of either party to get involved in what almost all would agree is an untenable border situation. Maybe Mexico can't stop the problem completely, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be participating in the solution, as well as being held accountable for being part of the problem.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 03:41 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Start pulling people out of the US EMBASSY Mexico City, and reducing their (Mexican Embassy) staffing in D.C. Start with the ECON sections. They'll soon get the message.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 3:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Say a 72 hour closing of the border, to include flights between the two countries (didn't we shut flights on 9/11?). Just as a message.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/20/2018 7:04 Comments || Top||

#3  The only thing one can conclude is the Congress of the United States does NOT WANT to do anything about illegal immigration, the financial drain on the taxpayer, MS-13 outlaws, and related criminal activity.

What am I missing ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 7:08 Comments || Top||

#4  #1 and #3, You are not missing anything. There is a great need to fix things at the border and on this side of the border while at the same time pressuring Mexico.
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/20/2018 8:30 Comments || Top||

#5  Personnaly, I'm getting fed up with this football getting down and all around the field while nothing ever gets done to solve the problem. The immigration problem got created in Washington not out here.
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/20/2018 8:35 Comments || Top||

#6  Her blood and the blood of many others is on the hands of these onerous Washington bureaucrats. I will never forget that.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 8:42 Comments || Top||

#7  Soon to be seen at a border near you:

Bomb thrown at border police at Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/20/2018 9:44 Comments || Top||

#8  Fox weakly replied, "What can Mexico do to prevent undocumented workers from entering the United States?"

My understanding is a goodly portion of the 'immigrant's are not Mexican but from Central American countries like Guatemala. This means they have illegally crossed the southern border of Mexico and traveled across Mexico in order to show up at the margins of the United States.

Since smuggling people is a profitable enterprise, it will continue until the Mexican government feels enough pain to take an interest in stopping it. Trump might be just the man to do it.
Posted by: SteveS || 06/20/2018 10:53 Comments || Top||

#9  The border line from Tapachula to Chetumal is a lot shorter than San Diego to Brownsville. Maybe he CAN talk Mex into building a wall.
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/20/2018 11:35 Comments || Top||

#10  Start pulling people out of the US EMBASSY Mexico City, and reducing their (Mexican Embassy) staffing in D.C. Start with the ECON sections. They'll soon get the message.

Say a 72 hour closing of the border, to include flights between the two countries (didn't we shut flights on 9/11?). Just as a message.

Well, it is a war and it's about damn time people on both sides of the border got wise to the fact. The fact that Mexico sends women and children to fight this war is a demonstration of how chickenshit they are.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 06/20/2018 12:28 Comments || Top||

#11  Anything attempting to cross the border should be brought under fire and destroyed. Close the open border crossings. Tell Mexico to fix themselves or the next step will be a air/naval interdiction of ANYTHING trying to enter or leave Mexico.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 06/20/2018 16:35 Comments || Top||

#12  Let their viceroy be Dostum.
They deserve him.

Posted by: 3dc || 06/20/2018 16:39 Comments || Top||

#13  If all the emotionally scarred, separated children are being held in US internment camps, who will be left to sell Chicklets to drunken tourists in Tijuana at 3 AM?
Posted by: Capsu78 || 06/20/2018 18:19 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Taliban kill 30 Afghan soldiers and take base in first major attack since ceasefire
KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban militants killed 30 Afghan soldiers and captured a military base in the western province of Badghis on Wednesday, the provincial governor said, their first major attack since a ceasefire for the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

The three-day Taliban ceasefire ended on Sunday.

Provincial governor Abdul Qafoor Malikzai said the Taliban attacked two security posts in the early hours. Abdul Aziz Bek, head of the Badghis provincial council, said one military base was targeted, in the district of Balamerghab.

"Large numbers of Taliban came from several directions," Bek said. "After hours of heavy fighting 30 Afghan security forces were killed and the Taliban captured the base."

Fifteen Taliban were killed in other areas of the province overnight, he said, adding that the militants prepared their attacks and did reconnaissance of the area during their ceasefire.

The Taliban did not immediately comment on the attacks.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 03:39 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:


Economy
Disability Applications Plunge as the Economy Strengthens
[WRAL.COM] The number of Americans seeking Social Security disability benefits is plunging, a startling reversal of a decades-old trend that threatened the program’s solvency. It is the latest evidence of a stronger economy pulling people back into the job market or preventing workers from being sidelined in the first place.

The drop is so significant that the agency has revised its estimates of how long the program will continue to be financially secure. This month, the government announced that the program would not run out of money until 2032, four years later than its previous estimate last year. Two years ago, the government had warned that the funds might be depleted by 2023.

In addition to stronger economic growth, the drop reflects newly tightened standards for eligibility and the increasing number of baby boomers who are leaving the program because they have become eligible for Social Security retirement benefits and Medicare.

Fewer than 1.5 million Americans applied to the Social Security Administration for disability coverage last year, the lowest since 2002. Applications are running at an even lower rate this year, government officials say.

All told, 8.63 million workers received disability benefits in May, down from a peak of 8.96 million in September 2014. A drop of several hundred thousand may not sound like much. But it is a sharp turnaround from what seemed to be an inexorable rise, in which the disability rolls more than doubled over the past 25 years. That increase led some conservative lawmakers to criticize the program as wasteful and riddled with fraud.

The Social Security Administration expected the number of applicants to decline after the recession when the total number of beneficiaries topped out, but even government number crunchers were caught off guard by the steepness and duration of the fall.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 03:32 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Simply proving once again what we all knew; Social Security Disability has simply morphed into a long-term unemployment compensation extension.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 3:38 Comments || Top||

#2  A drop of several hundred thousand -- how many of those were due to overdoses?
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 06/20/2018 12:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Does that mean we can lay off government employees associated with administering the program?
Posted by: Blossom Hupager6063 || 06/20/2018 15:05 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Portland helps buy homes for people but only if they're black
[American Thinker] Some black people were forced to move out of Portland, Oregon because of the construction of a highway, which razed homes, and gentrification, which raised housing prices beyond their means. Only 6% of Portland is black, a statistic that the city finds unacceptable. (What is the right percentage? The masterminds haven't told us.)

So Portland created a $20-million program to pay for "down payment assistance" for black people who wanted to move back to Oregon. The criterion for applying was that you had to have resided in Portland's historically black neighborhoods, so, effectively, this program is available only to black people.

Can you imagine the uproar if Oregon offered to pay white people to move to Oregon? That would be racism. But $20 million targeted at black people ‐ that's okay. That's redistribution of income. More importantly, that's racial justice.

The program has some problems. For one thing, some residents don't want to move back.

Take Germaine Flentroy. Germaine's family was forced out of Portland due to higher housing prices, but for Germaine, Portland is no longer germane.

He says he no longer recognizes his former home because it has been invaded by white people.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 03:21 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh great, more white people claiming to be black.
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/20/2018 10:26 Comments || Top||

#2  You gotta wonder what would happen if you were white - but lived in a predominately black neighborhood and you applied for this.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 06/20/2018 18:10 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
The IG Report: They're Guilty, but It's Okay
[American Thinker] The IG report is really Comey 2.0. Comey spent a long time describing how Hillary had broken the law but then concluded that it was okay. Similarly, the IG report lists example after example of political bias but declares that it had no impact on the Hillary email whitewash.

The IG report on the Clinton email investigation is proof positive that the entire DC justice establishment is corrupt; that they view themselves as rulers not public servants.

First we were told that Comey was a straight shooter whom we could trust. Then we were told the same about Mueller, Rosenstein, and now the IG. Yet in every case we’ve discovered that they are biased political actors who put the interests of the Deep State and the Democratic Party ahead of their sworn duty to uphold the law. It’s time for all conservatives to acknowledge that there are few if any honest people at the top levels of the FBI or the DoJ.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 03:18 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No! It's not O.K. to break the law and no you are not our rulers. We settled this during the Revolutionary War.
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/20/2018 7:17 Comments || Top||

#2  He was guilty, but it's Okay.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 7:24 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
About 60 organizations considering suing SPLC
No fewer than 60 organizations branded "hate groups" or otherwise attacked by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) are considering legal action against the left-wing smear factory, a Christian legal nonprofit leader confirmed to PJ Media on Tuesday. He suggested that the $3 million settlement and apology the SPLC gave to Maajid Nawaz and his Quiliam Foundation on Monday would encourage further legal action.

"We haven't filed anything against the SPLC, but I think a number of organizations have been considering filing lawsuits against the SPLC, because they have been doing to a lot of organizations exactly what they did to Maajid Nawaz that's part of the settlement," Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, told PJ Media on Tuesday.
Posted by: lord garth || 06/20/2018 00:26 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [13 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's start. In the discovery phase, ask for a copy of their donors list.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/20/2018 7:18 Comments || Top||

#2  To ape Yoda, 'there is no 'consider', just do.'
Posted by: Raj || 06/20/2018 9:27 Comments || Top||

#3  Mudslinging has its drawbacks.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 06/20/2018 9:29 Comments || Top||

#4  The settlement with the Quiliam foundation was much larger than I thought it would be. I think it is possible that at least one or two SPLC people were willing to testify at trial and give explosive testimony.
Posted by: lord garth || 06/20/2018 9:48 Comments || Top||

#5  I'm O.K. with the schadenfreude, now I need to work on the guilty feelings. O.K., I'm done with the guilt. Whew, that was easier than I thought.
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/20/2018 10:15 Comments || Top||

#6  Everyone on their lists should sue.
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/20/2018 15:06 Comments || Top||

#7  Blood in the water. Game over.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 06/20/2018 20:10 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
IDF reconnaissance drone crashes in southern Syria
[IsraelTimes] Army says no danger of sensitive information being compromised after Skylark UAV hits ground near Hader.

The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday evening that one of its drones crashed in Syrian territory. It was not immediately clear why the Skylark reconnaissance drone landed near Hader in southern Syria.

Syrian sources in the area of Quneitra initially claimed the UAV was shot down. Syrian social media users shared images claiming to show the crashed drone.

The "sky rider," as it is known in Hebrew, is a tactical surveillance drone created by Israel’s Elbit Systems and operated by the Artillery corps. The miniature UAV can be launched by one or two people, depending on the model, and once airborne provides a live video feed to soldiers on the ground.

Since January 2017, Skylarks have crashed at least seven times, including Tuesday’s incident, and another one was shot down while in operational service.

That apparently poor record follows a longer history of drone failures, including an August 2016 crash of an experimental Israel Aerospace Industries drone that destroyed part of a family home in the northern village of Zalafa, lightly injuring 25 people.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/20/2018 00:17 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Gaza resident indicted with aiding Hamas breach naval blockade
[Ynet] The Southern District Attorney's Office filed an indictment Tuesday against Gazoo resident Souhil Amoudi Gazoo for aiding and abetting a terror organization.

According to the indictment, the defendant received money from Hamas, one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbung millipede, in order to rent boats to breach Gazoo's naval blockade.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/20/2018 00:11 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Gaza tensions flare: IDF strikes 8 more Hamas targets as rockets barrage south
[IsraelTimes] 18 rockets fired from strip in a number of separate incidents; four intercepted by the Iron Dome while an unspecified number fall in Israeli territory

Tensions flared on Israel’s border with Gazoo early Wednesday morning as the IDF carried out a second round of overnight Arclight airstrikes on Hamas, one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbung millipede, targets in response to a barrage of rockets fired from the Strip towards Israeli territory.

The IDF said fighter jets struck eight further "terror targets" on three separate Hamas military bases in the south of the Gazoo Strip, in addition to several other sites that were targeted earlier in the night.

In total, 18 rockets were fired towards Israeli territory in a number of separate incidents, the army said. Of those, four rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system while an unspecified number fell in Israeli territory.

There were no immediate reports of injuries on either side of the border.

Earlier, Paleostinians fired five rockets at southern Israel after Israeli aircraft hit Hamas targets in the south of the coastal enclave in response to numerous arson attacks launched across the border by Paleostinians, the military said.

The overnight incidents mirror several rounds of rocket fire and IDF strikes on Monday in which Israeli aircraft bombed Hamas positions in the southern Gazoo Strip after a group of Paleostinians launched incendiary balloons at southern Israel.

Report: IDF fires at Palestinians who approached border fence

[Ynet] Paleostinian media reports the IDF attacked a group of young men who approached the border fence with Israel in southern Gazoo Strip. No injuries reported.

Incendiary kites from Gaza causes 16 fires in border region

[Ynet] Sixteen fires caused by incendiary kites sent from the Gazoo strip have broken out in the Sdot Negev and Eshkol Regional Council regions bordering Gazoo Tuesday. All are under control.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/20/2018 00:11 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Iraq
Policeman killed, Islamic State attack foiled, northeast of Baquba
Diyala (IraqiNews.com) A policeman was killed by a sniper, while an 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....
attack against a security checkpoint was foiled, northeast of Baquba, a local source from Diyala said on Tuesday.

Speaking to Alghad Press, Awwad al-Rubaie, head of the security committee of Abu Sayda town, said "a policeman was injured in the evening by a sniper while being near a mosque at the outskirts of abu Karma village, northeast of Diyala, which caused his immediate death."

Moreover, Rubaie said, "Islamic State members attempted attacking a checkpoint for police at the outskirts of the same village, however, security troops foiled the attack."
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Africa Subsaharan
Zimbabwe: Chamisa in Freak Accident
[All Africa] MDC Alliance presidential candidate Mr Nelson Chamisa yesterday escaped unhurt after a poorly constructed stage collapsed while he was introducing his party's candidates at a rally in Hwange.

The incident, together with a traffic accident which seriously injured 19 of his supporters after a truck they were travelling in overturned in Binga on Saturday, overshadowed his weekend sojourn in Matabeleland North.

The supporters injured in the road traffic accident were coming from a rally addressed by Mr Chamisa at Manjolo Business Centre on Saturday.

Yesterday, as Mr Chamisa was introducing aspiring council candidates under the MDC Alliance banner at a rally in Hwange at No. 1 Old Grounds, the stage collapsed, sending everyone to the ground, although Mr Chamisa managed to remain on his feet.

Addressing another rally at Chinotimba Stadium in Victoria Falls yesterday, Mr Chamisa bragged that unlike his predecessor, the late Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, he will not allow the election to go ahead without electoral reforms.

"(President) Mnangagwa wants to get into office through the window, abusing conditions for elections," he said.

"That's why I told him that I will not accept what they used to do to Tsvangirai who was robbed with his eyes open.

"As long as we don't agree on the issue of ballot paper, the election will not be done."

Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats

#1  How do you say 'Arkancide' in Shona ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 7:43 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Mosul clearance continues: turbans murder 40 good guys, turban mouthpiece tied up
Around 40 civilians, security personnel killed by Islamic State in three days, south of Mosul

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) At least 40 civilians and security personnel were killed and injured by Islamic State militants in three days, south of Mosul, the London-based Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper reported.

The group increased its attacks over the past three days. It focused on the open areas and roads that surround Mosul, in order to be easy for them to withdraw after carrying out the ambushes, the newspaper quoted security sources as saying on Tuesday. These ambushes left at least 40 civilians and security personnel killed and injured by the militants.

According to the sources, the group depended on carrying out the ambushes swiftly and taking advantage from the desert and agricultural nature of these areas to enable them move quickly.

Some of the ambushes were carried out without vehicles, so the militants withdrew while the vehicles were near to transfer the kidnapped people, the sources added.

Islamic State’s media official apprehended in Mosul

Nineveh (Iraqinews.com) – Iraqi security forces arrested on Tuesday a senior Islamic State (IS) leader in Mosul city, the Security Media Center announced.

“Nineveh police arrested today the so-called media affairs official of the terrorist Islamic State group in the Tel Roman district on the western side of Mosul,” Iraqi website Alghad Press quoted the center as saying in a statement.

The center gave no further details about the identity of the terrorist.

Islamic State militants have run several media outlets propagating their operations and even publicizing executions of civilians and security members since they took over a third of Iraq in 2014 to proclaim a self-styled “caliphate” in Iraq and neighboring Syria.

But many of the group’s mouthpieces seemed to fade out gradually as Iraqi forces took over territories held by the militants.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Southeast Asia
Abu Sayyaf rebel killed in Sulu clash
A suspected Abu Sayyaf militant was killed in a clash with Philippine security forces in Patikul, Sulu on Saturday evening. The suspect, whose name was not available, was killed in a pursuit operation in Barangay Pang-layahan.

The encounter began after 3pm between troops and some 40 rebels led by Hajaan Sawadjaan, according to Brig. Gen. Divino Rey Pabayo, chief of the Joint Task Force Sulu.

The initial clash lasted 35 minutes after the rebels retreated into the hinterlands. No casualties were reported among the soldiers.
Posted by: ryuge || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf (ISIS)


Africa Subsaharan
ISIS Sneaking Extremists From Syria Into Nigeria
[All Africa] Leaders of 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) are sneaking battle-hardened bully boyz from Syria into Nigeria, UK Sun reported Monday, saying some of the fighters are reportedly sent to the Middle East for training in a "chilling exchange programme".

Moslem fundamentalists massed in the Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
sect had held Nigeria by the jugular since 2009, maiming and killing thousands of people in the North-east of the country in particular.

The involvement of the IS in the local terror sect had always been suspected and following a split in 2016, a faction of the group led by Abu Musab al-Barnawi, pledged its allegiance to IS, taking up the name ISIS West Africa.

Although the tabloid said the holy warriors were trained for possible attacks in Britannia, it quoted sources as saying the strong links between Nigeria and the UK will make it easier for IS to send its killers to Britannia.

THISDAY efforts to get reaction from the Defence Headquarters Monday were futile as the phones of defence and army spokesperson, Brig-Gen John Agim and Brig-Gen Texas Chukwu did not connect.

But the report was emphatic that: "It is feared IS will exploit regular flights between Lagos and London to export more evil to the UK."

It quoted one Group Captain Isaac Subi of the Nigerian Air Force, who has been fighting terrorism, said IS has an exchange programme of fighters.

"They come and train their fighters here and some of our holy warriors too are granted access to their training 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...
and Syria, acquiring those skills and they come back and teach others," he said.

Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [9 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  An actual demonstration of "scorched earth" is needed. Let em all run there and then kill em all.

For starters.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 06/20/2018 9:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe Nigeria has better beaches.
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/20/2018 9:51 Comments || Top||


Europe
France freezes assets of rape-accused Tariq Ramadan’s brother
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The French government has frozen the assets of Hani Ramadan, brother of rape-accused Islam scholar Tariq Ramadan, as part of the fight against financing terrorism, according to a decree published by the official French government bulletin.

Hani, who is also an Islamic scholar, had been expelled from La Belle France and went to Switzerland
...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell...
in April 2017 for "adopting behavior and making remarks posing a serious threat to public order on French soil" the French government had said.

Hani has two months to contest the freezing of his assets, said the decree, made jointly by the economy, finance and interior ministries.

Hani came to attention on September 10, 2002, when French daily newspaper Le Monde published a column he penned titled "The misunderstood Sharia", in which he defended the stoning of adulterers, saying it was not as cruel as one might think. He also suggested that HIV was a divine punishment. The controversy that arose from the column’s publication led to Ramadan’s immediate dismissal from his teaching position at the time.

Hani’s name was one of 16 on a list of foreign nationals sentenced for or suspected of having links to a terrorist organization or of carrying out propaganda for such an organization.

Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists


Government
Erik Prince: I ‘Cooperated' With Mueller
[Daily Beast] Erik Prince, the founder of private security company Blackwater, has found himself embroiled in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of potential coordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.

During the campaign, Prince reportedly met at Trump Tower with Donald Trump Jr., operative George Nader, and social media specialist Joel Zamel to discuss a potential pro-Trump social media influence operation. He also met with Russian sovereign wealth fund manager Kirill Dmitriev during the transition period‐a meeting reportedly planned to set up a backchannel between the Trump administration and Russia. Those revelations raise questions about his relationship to the Trump administration‐questions Mueller is reportedly investigating.

Prince, a billionaire and the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, has also lobbied for a massive overhaul of the way the Afghanistan War is being prosecuted, pushing for increased reliance on private contractors to train Afghan troops to fight the Taliban. Prince was also recently the subject of an in-depth Washington Post report about the work his security company Frontier Services Group is doing in China. The report quoted critics saying Prince’s work runs counter to American interests in Asia.

This is Prince’s first on-the-record interview in months. It has been lightly edited for clarity.

There’s been a lot of reporting that Mueller’s interested in some of the meetings you had in the lead-up to the campaign and after the election and I was just wondering if you could tell me if you’ve heard from anyone on Mueller’s team?

I certainly understand the intense interest in the investigation and certainly some of the wild-eyed reporting in the media. I have spoken voluntarily to Congress and I also cooperated with the special counsel. I have plenty of opinions about the various investigations but there’s no question some people are taking it seriously and I think it’s best to keep my opinion on that to myself for now. All I will add is that much of the reporting about me in the media is inaccurate, and I am confident that when the investigators have finished their work, we will be able to put these distractions to the side.
As reported in Rantburg on 2018-06-01 ("Erik Prince's drive to build a private air force"), his current company, FSG (a private air force), has China not Russia as its main partner and investor! Mueller would be wise not to wander down the Russia Prince path. That is a dead end. The Rantburg article referenced this source article. Putin is involved with the Russian PMC's not the American or Chinese PMC's. To do otherwise would be a negative impact on Putin's internal political situation. Even more, why would Mueller want to get into the murky dangerous world of PMCs? If these organizations don't even respect the US military (think of the huge battle in Syria between US forces and a Russian PMC earlier this year that left lots of Russians dead), why would they respect the life of a US Special Prosecutor?

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is Prince's sister. Mueller's henchmen are not above going after family members of Trump or those of Trump administration personnel. They're desperately searching for anything they can find. Prince has long been on the outs with Foggy Bottom and the Foggy Bottom mother ship in Mclean.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I do not want Prince messed with.
Posted by: newc || 06/20/2018 2:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Related from Feral Jundi.


This is big news. Erik Prince just gave another interview to the Daily Beast and dropped some big news about a new plan for Afghanistan. Now that HR McMaster is gone and John Bolton is the new National Security Advisor, there is reason to believe that Prince’s plan for Afghanistan might get a fair hearing. If folks remember, the Prince Plan was shot down by the last NSA and Erik didn’t even get a place at the table at Camp David.

Another element to consider is that the President is in a better place for trying something different in Afghanistan. There is no doubt that he is getting briefed about Afghanistan and how the Taliban have made huge gains and that must piss him off. The question remains, is Trump losing faith in the military’s Afghanistan strategy and is he willing to go with a unconventional approach to that war?

Below I have posted the interview, and that clip above is the one that most interested me. When Erik posts his new plan, I will write a new post about that. We will see how it goes for this new ‘big push’, and expect to see Erik in the news again. –Matt
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 6:50 Comments || Top||

#3  Here is some of Erik's plan
Posted by: newc || 06/20/2018 12:41 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
US Senate blocks F-35 sales to Turkey.
[FT]It could block a 10 Billion dollar sale.
Posted by: 3dc || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  "10 Billion dollar" What's that, three or maybe four F-35?
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 06/20/2018 4:39 Comments || Top||

#2  ...Actually, that would just about cover the cupholder spares.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 06/20/2018 8:31 Comments || Top||

#3  Loren Thompson at Forbes having a diarrhea attack...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 06/20/2018 8:55 Comments || Top||

#4  Stupid paywall!

Here's a link to what appears to be the same story elsewhere US Senate blocks F-35 sales to Turkey
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 06/20/2018 16:36 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Houthis continue to loot merchant goods in Hodeidah Port
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A Yemeni import and export company has accused the Houthis of looting its merchandise and containers at the Hodeidah Port, west of Yemen.

Ammar al-Adrahi, head of the Andalusia Import and Export Company, said on Monday that a 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 ...
supervisor in Hodeidah named Abu Ali looted the company’s remaining containers in the Hodeidah Port, adding that this is the second time this has happened.

Adrahi held the management of the ports and customs that is affiliated with the Houthis responsible for what happened and said he will pursue the matter at court.

"We will not let our rights and the rights of hundreds of people go with the wind," he said.

Houthi militias have looted the merchandise of Yemeni traders as the battle to liberate Hodeidah began, and they continue to loot public and private property as the army and resistance forces, aided by the coalition, complete liberating the Hodeidah Airport and controlling the city and its strategic port.

Houthis have exploited the Hodeidah Port to loot merchants and relief supplies, to smuggle weapons and threaten international navigation.

According to Yemeni politicians, liberating the port "will be a fatal blow to the coup and to Iran’s project 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...
and the region."

Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [8 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


-Land of the Free
West Point graduate with 'Communism will win' message splits with Army after getting other-than-honorable discharge
[AOL.com] The West Point graduate who became known as the "commie cadet" is out of the Army after an other-than-honorable discharge.

Spenser Rapone's split from the armed forces comes less than a year after pro-communism and socialism selfies surfaced from his 2016 graduation ceremony. One featured the inside of his cap with the words, "Communism will win," while another included a shirt with a picture of socialist icon Che Guevara.

He said he kept the selfies to himself until September, when he tweeted them in support of Colin Kaepernick, the NFL quarterback known for kneeling for the national anthem.

Another tweet Monday showed Rapone extending a middle finger at a sign at the entrance to Fort Drum, the New York military base where top brass accepted his resignation.

Rapone, 26, had been slapped with a reprimand for "conduct unbecoming of an officer" after an investigation found that he went online to advocate for a socialist revolution. The probe also alleged that Rapone belittled high-ranking officers.

"I consider myself a revolutionary socialist," he told The Associated Press. "I would encourage all soldiers who have a conscience to lay down their arms and join me and so many others who are willing to stop serving the agents of imperialism and join us in a revolutionary movement."

His transition to communism grew out of his experiences as an Army Ranger in Afghanistan before he was accepted into the U.S. Military Academy, he said. His study of history at the academy also impacted his thinking.

Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, had called on the Army to send Rapone packing.

"While in uniform, Spenser Rapone advocated for communism and political violence, and expressed support and sympathy for enemies of the United States," Rubio said Monday. "I'm glad to see that they have given him an 'other-than-honorable' discharge."
Posted by: 746 || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Going to put a collection on the cost incurred for the education?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/20/2018 6:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Not exactly. More like Rapone will do a GoFundMe and walk away rich.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 06/20/2018 8:50 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
FBI agent Strzok escorted from FBI building Friday
I assume NOT by Lisa Page? Why does he (and she) still have a job?Washington (CNN) FBI agent Peter Strzok was escorted from the FBI building Friday as part of the ongoing internal proceedings at the bureau on his conduct, according to a source familiar with the matter.

As of Tuesday, the source said, Strzok is still an FBI employee. He had a central role on the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's handling of classified information. He later worked on the investigation into connections between Trump campaign associates and Russia and briefly worked for special counsel Robert Mueller before text messages between Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page disparaging President Donald Trump were discovered.

Strzok is currently embroiled in an internal FBI investigation stemming from findings in outlined in a report from the Justice Department's inspector general, Michael Horowitz, which details a number of private text messages and use of personal email for FBI business.

Last week, Horowitz, released an exhaustive report on the FBI's conduct in the Clinton probe and found that Strzok's texts "cast a cloud" over the entire FBI investigation. The report concluded that there was no evidence "to connect the political views expressed in these messages to the specific investigative decisions" that were the subject of controversy, such as allowing immunity agreements or having fact witnesses sit in on others' interviews prior to July 5, 2016, the day then-FBI Director James Comey issued a statement on the Clinton investigation that cleared her.

However, Horowitz was troubled by the FBI's month-long delay in obtaining a search warrant to review emails possibly related to the investigation on former Rep. Anthony Weiner's laptop in the fall of 2016. The report specifically calls out Strzok's decision to "prioritize" the Russia investigation over following-up on the laptop issue, leaving the report unable to conclude it was "free from bias."
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Is it just me, or does Peter Strzok bear an uncanny resemblance to the 'Borne Identity' character Alex Conklin ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 8:04 Comments || Top||

#2  He's still getting paid and so far no orange jump suits.
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/20/2018 8:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Very slow flush of a very big turd. His bosses got to give him time to raise outside money like McCabe did.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 06/20/2018 8:59 Comments || Top||

#4  Could anyone who wanted to kill Matt Damon actually be a bad guy. Yeah, yeah, movie, I know...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 06/20/2018 9:01 Comments || Top||

#5  So Treadstone is not shut down?
Posted by: Raj || 06/20/2018 9:42 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iraq foils scheme to form terrorist cell in Baghdad, arrests all its members
Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) ‐ Iraqi authorities thwarted on Tuesday a plot to form a terrorist cell in the capital Baghdad and jugged
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
all its members.

"Federal police forces foiled today a scheme to form a terrorist cell to carry out terrorist attacks in Baghdad," the Iraqi Security Media Council said in a statement.

"Acting upon accurate intelligence reports, all members of the terrorist cell were arrested in different parts in Baghdad," the statement read.

"They were referred to the bodies concerned for interrogation," it added.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under:


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Retired Border Agent: Here's How to Scare Off Illegal Immigrants
BLUF:
[Townhall] "The whole reason that this push to come to the United States is becoming so violent is because we are turning into a lawless society," Taylor explained. "There is no downside to violating the law. You can come here illegally, you can act like you’ve been here for 10 years. You can say you’re a DACA person and that’s all you got to do and you get signed up."

He offered a detailed solution - one he said would strike fear in anyone thinking of entering our country illegally. Let the agents conduct a biography interview of any undocumented person at the border, see if they qualify, and take them directly to an immigration judge, he proposed. Taylor predicted that 80 percent or more would not make the cut. At that point, we should fly them back to home country on military aircraft. That way, their comrades "can see 300 people getting off an aircraft that says, 'U.S. Air Force.'"
My emphasis added.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Fingerprints, DNA Sample, and RFID chip if they are deported... think of it as the cost of their air fare. If caught again ... get Sheriff Arpaio to design a series of concentration camps model prisons?
Posted by: magpie || 06/20/2018 0:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Perhaps we need to declare the countries they come from as failed states and send in the Marines to establish law & order. Might convince Mexico's oligarchs to do something other than lining their pockets and blaming the Gringos for their problems.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 06/20/2018 0:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Sessions is talking about using DNA to test if the alledged parents are really their parents and not traffickers.

You know the Democrats are going to fight that.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 06/20/2018 0:43 Comments || Top||

#4  Everyone is twisting themselves out of shape trying to work with people who refuse to enter via the legal process. Disgusting.
Posted by: Eohippus Sproing7694 || 06/20/2018 0:50 Comments || Top||

#5  It's a bit like Africa's child soldiers, but without weapons.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 3:09 Comments || Top||

#6  Enough is enough. They are foreign invaders. Treat them as such. The wall or the organ banks. Tell countries for each one we catch, we will annex 1 square mile of their country, complete with ALL mineral and oil rights. Make it clear that this is totally unacceptable.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 06/20/2018 8:26 Comments || Top||

#7  I'm sure the African American community is watching, they are hurt the worst by illegals. The Republicans can easily use this to strip up a a lot of African-American votes.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 06/20/2018 8:52 Comments || Top||

#8  The Republicans can easily use this to strip up a a lot of African-American votes

Donald Trump can, but the GOPe haven't and won't. It's not gentlemanly to treat your opponent as a enemy combatant even though they threat you that way.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/20/2018 9:55 Comments || Top||

#9  It's a bit like Africa's child soldiers, but without weapons.

The weapons of oppression they bring are economic.
Farther reaching with a longer lasting impact.
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/20/2018 10:19 Comments || Top||

#10  According to Rooters, "Violent crime rose by about 10 percent in 2015 and 2016 [in Germany], a study showed. It attributed more than 90 percent of that to young male refugees [illegals]."

We don't want to repeat the Angela Merkel's and Soros' mistakes.
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/20/2018 10:22 Comments || Top||

#11  Crime increases. I wonder what the increased burden is on the welfare system.
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/20/2018 10:30 Comments || Top||

#12  The Gateway Pundit reports that 10,000-12,000 kids are being held in DHS custody that were sent here unaccompanied by their parents. If true, the parents were separated from the kids on the other side of our border.
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/20/2018 10:57 Comments || Top||

#13  Wonder how many are diseased?
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/20/2018 11:37 Comments || Top||

#14  Everyone is twisting themselves out of shape - no, only those who want to destroy the sovereignty of the USA and make other fundamental changes of that ilk.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 06/20/2018 12:05 Comments || Top||

#15  Perhaps we need to declare the countries they come from as failed states and send in the Marines to establish law & order.

Not just no, hell no. It'd cost too much blood and treasure and it's not worth it. Better to seal the border, cut off all foreign aid and all trade. Let them simmer in their own juices. Let them figure it out for themselves.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 06/20/2018 12:51 Comments || Top||

#16  Let them figure it out for themselves.

They can't, as we have seen for generations in other 'shithole' communities. Poor pre/neonatal nutrition, insufficient synaptic stimulus, sociocultural barriers to personal enrichment and poor lifestyle choices when there are any.
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/20/2018 14:27 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Notable Chinese Drone Swarm Demonstrations


Posted by: 3dc || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under: Commies


Afghanistan
Respect the will of the nation and start peace talks, Abdullah asks Taliban
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Chief Executive of the Unity Government Abdullah has called on the leadership council of the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
group to respect the will of the nation and start peace talks with government in a bid to end the ongoing violence.

Abdullah issued a statement to welcome the arrival of Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
peace convoy to Kabul and said the government supports the peace convoy and is prepared to positively respond to the demands of the peace activists.

The statement further added that the Chief Executive of the Unity Government supports the efforts by Helmand youths for peace as well as their civil movement for marching on foot from Helmand to Kabul.

He said the move shows that peace is a national need and is being demanded by the people at any cost.

According to Abdullah, government has clearly shown its clear stance and goodwill regarding peace which received a positive feedback from the Taliban as well in the form of ceasefire.

The Chief Executive also added that the response by the Taliban proved that there is an interest all sides for peace and reconciliation and expressed hopes that the Taliban will positively respond to the government and nation’s demand for reconciliation and start peace talks.

He emphasized that the government is committed to grinding of the peace processor and is prepared to use all the available opportunities to positively respond to the demands of the people.

Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Shells hit south Syria city for first time in three years
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Rebel shellfire slammed into the southern Syrian city of Sweida on Tuesday for the first time in three years, a monitor said, as fresh regime reinforcements arrived in the area.

The government holds most of Sweida province but rebels still control much of the nearby Daraa and Quneitra governorates.

On Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said opposition forces fired shells into Sweida city, "which led to loud blasts but no casualties."

"It is the first time since 2015 that the city has been subjected to shellfire," said Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman.

Syrian state news agency SANA also blamed rebels "spread out in the towns and villages in eastern parts of Daraa province" for firing shells on Sweida.

Sweida, whose residents are mostly from the Druze minority, has remained relatively insulated from seven years of war that ravaged the rest of the country.

But rebels hold a sliver of territory in western Sweida that borders their main bastion in the province of Daraa, and festivities and exchanges of fire have erupted in that area in recent days.

Syria’s government has set its sights on ousting rebels from the south and has been dispatching troops and equipment there for weeks.

On Tuesday, they dropped new flyers on the rebel-held half of Daraa city, calling on residents to expel rebels, "like your brothers did in Eastern Ghouta and Qalamun," referring to two areas near Damascus recently recaptured from the opposition.

Rebels appeared to fear the regime would use Sweida’s civilian population as justification for the assault, and issued a message addressed to them on Tuesday.

"We call on our people in Sweida province not to serve as bait for the goals of the regime, sectarian militias from Iran, and Hezbollah, which are trying to occupy this land and divide its people," they said in a statement.

But the government has also hinted that a political settlement over the south’s fate could be reached.
"We have moved towards the south and we are giving the political process a chance," Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Leveler of Latakia...
said last week.

Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Afghanistan
Afghan forces eliminate ISIS hideouts used as launch pads during Eid attacks
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Special Forces of the Afghan Intelligence, National Directorat of Security (NDS), have eliminated the hideouts of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
of Iraq and Syria Khurasan (ISIS-K) whic were used as launch pads during the deadly attacks during Eid al-Fitr in Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
province.

The provincial government media office in a statement said the NDS Special Forces carried out raids on ISIS hideouts in Ganji area of Haska Mina district late on Monday night.

The statement further added that two hideouts of the terror group were eliminated and at least seven ISIS turbans were killed during the operation.

According to the provincial government, the NDS Special Forces also destroyed some heavy and light weapons belonging to the terror group during the same operation.

In the meantime, a clash broke out between the border police forces and the Taliban
...Arabic for students...
gunnies in Kaligho area of Khogyani district on Monday night.

At least five Taliban gunnies were killed and three others were maimed during the same operation, the statement said, adding that two border police forces also bit the dust during the festivities and two others sustained injuries.

The anti-government armed murderous Moslem and terrorist groups including Taliban and ISIS turbans have not commented regarding the report so far.

Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


International-UN-NGOs
US withdraws from UN Human Rights Council
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The United States withdrew from the United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
Human Rights Council on Tuesday accusing it of a "chronic bias against Israel," a move that activists warned would make advancing human rights
...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
globally even more difficult.

Standing with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Haley slammed Russia, China, Cuba and Egypt for thwarting US efforts to reform the council. She also criticized countries, which shared US values and encouraged Washington to remain but "were unwilling to seriously challenge the status quo."

The United States is half-way through a three-year term on the main UN rights body and the Trump administration had long threatened to quit if the 47-member Geneva-based body was not overhauled.

"Look at the council membership, and you see an appalling disrespect for the most basic rights," said Haley, citing Venezuela, China, Cuba and Democratic Republic of the Congo
...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
Haley also said the "disproportionate focus and unending hostility toward Israel is clear proof that the council is motivated by political bias, not by human rights."

Washington’s withdrawal is the latest US rejection of multilateral engagement after it pulled out of the Gay Paree climate agreement and the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

It also comes as the United States faces intense criticism for detaining children separated from their immigrant parents at the US-Mexico border. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein on Monday called on Washington to halt its "unconscionable" policy.
Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan
Taliban reshuffles leadership council after Eid ceasefire
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
group has reportedly reshuffled the group’s leadership council after Eid al-Fitr ceasefire, the provincial police chief of Kandahar General Abdul Raziq has said.

According to Gen. Raziq, the group has removed Amir Khan Mutaqi from his post as Taliban leader for cultural and information affairs due to the negligence he committed to share the information among the Taliban ranks.

He said the group has appointed the Taliban front man Zabiullah Mujahid as the new Taliban leader for cultural and information affairs.

Gen. Raziq further added that Mutaqi has been appointed as the chief of staff of the Taliban group supreme leader Mawlavi Hebatullah Akhundzada’s office.

The Taliban group has not commented regarding the new changes so far.

This comes as reports emerged earlier suggesting that selfie pictures taken by the Talibs during the ceasefire period have sparked anger among the Taliban group leadership.

Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Economy
Starbucks provides weak sales outlook, will close 150 stores
[FOXBUSINESS] Starbucks shares fell as much as 3% in after-hours trading Tuesday after the coffeehouse chain provided a weak sales forecast for its upcoming quarter and said it would shutter 150 stores in fiscal 2019.
Maybe they can leave the bathrooms open?
The Seattle-based company said it would close underperforming stores in "densely penetrated markets" and slow its rate of store growth. Starbucks said it traditionally closes about 50 underperforming locations annually.

Starbucks said it expects same-store sales to grow 1% in its third fiscal quarter of 2017. Analysts had expected same-store sales to grow 3% in that period.

"While certain demand headwinds are transitory, and some of our cost increases are appropriate investments for the future, our recent performance does not reflect the potential of our exceptional brand and is not acceptable," Starbucks CEO and President Kevin Johnson said in a statement. "We must move faster to address the more rapidly changing preferences and needs of our customers."

Starbucks said it will return an additional $25 billion more to shareholders than initially planned in the form of share buybacks and dividends. The company will hike its dividend 20% to 36 cents per share.

The chain, which operates more than 8,000 U.S. stores, said the changes were made to address the weaker-than-expected sales growth, adding that several digital initiatives were expected to add 1% to 2% in comparable sales in fiscal 2019. Starbucks said it would provide additional details on its plans at an investor presentation on Tuesday afternoon.

The changes came weeks after Starbucks Executive Chairman Howard Schultz announced he would leave the role in June. Schultz is widely rumored to have political aspirations.

Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  that 36 cents per share is a quarterly dividend

if that is sustained over a year that comes to about 3% dividend based on a share value of $52/share which is pretty good for a retail outlet
Posted by: lord garth || 06/20/2018 0:24 Comments || Top||

#2  If it was:

A) Decent coffee
B) Came without a sermon
C) You didn't have to worry about Hep-C while you drank it

It would be a good business.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 06/20/2018 9:05 Comments || Top||

#3  And so the implosion begins...
Posted by: Raj || 06/20/2018 9:40 Comments || Top||

#4  As Instapundit says, "Get woke, go broke"
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 06/20/2018 10:14 Comments || Top||

#5  I have wondered for some time why people continue to pay huge prices for not-so-good coffee. Starbucks' marketing department has performed masterfully in pulling this off so far; but maybe they are nearing the end of the road.
Posted by: Tom || 06/20/2018 14:45 Comments || Top||

#6  I employ a Starbucks Simulator. Just drop a five-dollar bill into a large Mickey-D's java.
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 06/20/2018 20:49 Comments || Top||

#7  Well some locations would make good homeless shelters...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 06/20/2018 22:40 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iraqi woman killed in car bomb explosion in Salahuddin
Salahuddin (Iraqinews.com) ‐ An Iraqi woman was killed and one of her relatives was injured Tuesday in a kaboom in Salahuddin governorate, a security source was quoted as saying.

Speaking to Alghad Press, the source said, "An explosive charge went off while a private car was crossing a road in Albu Issa village in Salahuddin near borders with Diyala."

According to initial reports, the bomb kaboom left a woman dead and at least one of her relatives maimed.

"The victims were moved to hospital," the source added.

No group has so far grabbed credit for the attack.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
Democrats propose changing legal voting age in Michigan to 16
[FREEP] The unprecedented outpouring of activism from students after the shooting at Marjorie Douglas Stoneman High School in Parkland, Fla., in February is the genesis for a bill introduced in the Legislature last week that would change the voting age in Michigan to 16.

"We allow 16-year-olds to go off and get jobs and pay taxes, but we fail to allow them to exercise their voice come election time," said Sen. David Knezek, D-Dearborn Heights. "Young people are setting aside their differences and identifying issues they think need to change. And they can do everything to get that change except vote."
If the grown-ups won't vote for you, get the kids. The younger you are, the more likely you are to vote Dem. Sixteen year olds aren't allowed to drink or join the military. They can't sign contracts. The kinds of jobs they can get are usually limited by laws looking out for them in their minority: night work, heavy equipment operations, that sort of thing.

Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Honestly, I'd be more keen on raising it to 21. (military exceptions).
Posted by: Shake || 06/20/2018 3:02 Comments || Top||

#2  That's right, get 'em while they are young and stupid!
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 06/20/2018 6:28 Comments || Top||

#3  It's time for Taxocracy.

One unit of tax equals one vote.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/20/2018 6:48 Comments || Top||

#4  #1 that was the original argument to lower the age. Unfortunately they didn't restrict it to those to had 'skin in the game'.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/20/2018 6:52 Comments || Top||

#5  The Dems must be hurting for voters despite recruiting Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Pluto and the Roadrunner, the voters voting multiple times, illegal immigrants, felons and resurecting the dead.
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/20/2018 7:04 Comments || Top||

#6  A risky move by the Dems. Could the political indoctrination be complete by the 192 month of life ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 7:37 Comments || Top||

#7  Of course there is this cautionary tale
Posted by: Thrise Shomble3667 || 06/20/2018 7:38 Comments || Top||

#8  But, can they buy guns???
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 06/20/2018 8:23 Comments || Top||

#9  That would require an ID. Must be giving up on the undocumented route.
Posted by: Jeasing Jeaque5937 || 06/20/2018 10:02 Comments || Top||

#10  If I had it my way, I'd raise it to 35, except for veterans.

Service guarantees citizenship.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 06/20/2018 10:18 Comments || Top||

#11  Go all the way - "Starship Troopers" by Robert Heinlein - citizens only earn the PRIVILEGE to vote if they have served a full term of service in the military. If you put "skin in the game" - you have a right to play. That book inspired me to West Point, and then ten years active duty as an Infantry Officer.
Posted by: Lone Ranger || 06/20/2018 12:03 Comments || Top||

#12  My requirement would be that voters have to be taxpayers. I refuse to pay taxes or serve in the military if I can't vote.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 06/20/2018 12:35 Comments || Top||

#13  End the NFA, must be taxpayer to vote, MUST prove citizenship to vote and anyone hiring illegals is to be tried for slavery and thrown in jail with all assets seized.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 06/20/2018 16:36 Comments || Top||

#14  #7, I think they have recently remade that flick except they changed the location to Canada.
Posted by: Capsu78 || 06/20/2018 18:29 Comments || Top||

#15  Seems we didn't have too many problems along these lines when voting was restricted to property owners. Just sayin'...
Posted by: Raj || 06/20/2018 18:57 Comments || Top||

#16  The modern twist on democracy. Voters don't pick the politicians. The politicians pick the voters.
Posted by: Iblis || 06/20/2018 20:48 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Final Nail in the Sarcophagus for Egyptian Pharaohs
Usually we don't cover sports, but with a headline like that we kinda hadda.
[All Africa] It all happened in the second half though.

It started with intensity and a fumble in front of goal say Egypt's captain Ahmed Fathi concede an own goal in his 129th appearance for his nation. It all went south for the Egyptians from thereon out.

The 59th minute saw Chershev score to make it his third goal in the tournament, making him one of leading scorers thus far. Seconds Dzyuba found the back of the net to break Egyptian hearts with a 3-0 scoreline.

There was some consolation for the Pharaohs when in the 72nd minute Salah was fouled inside the box leading to a penalty. Finally Salah got to taste his first goal of the world cup and Egypt's first goal since 1990.

Last minutes of the game saw frenetic activity by the Egyptians trying to salvage the game but alas it was not to be.

Russia tops the group with 8 goals and Egyptia may as well pack their bags and head home.

Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Islamic State kidnap 3 Iraqi civilians in western Anbar
Rutba (IraqiNews.com) 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....
bully boyz have kidnapped three Iraqi civilians west of Anbar province, a security source was quoted saying on Tuesday.

Dijlah TV quoted the source saying that armed Islamic State members kidnapped three building materials business owners while touring their plants west of the city of Rutba.

According to the source, security forces launched a search for the abductees.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Africa North
In rare move, Egypt said to keep Gaza crossing open for 2 more months
[IsraelTimes] Rafah crossing was open for month of Ramadan and now reportedly will stay open throughout summer for humanitarian reasons

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has reportedly ordered that the Rafah crossing on the border with the Gazoo Strip remain open for humanitarian reasons until the Moslem festival of Eid al-Adha in late August.

Egypt had already opened the crossing longer than any other time in recent years, after last month it granted access in both directions for the entire month of Ramadan.

On Tuesday, Egyptian security sources, quoted by local media, said people and goods will be able to pass through the crossing for another two months to ease the burden on Gazoo’s population.

For years, Egypt opened its sole border crossing with the Gazoo Strip only sporadically and for short intervals, as it has fought an insurgency in north Sinai bordering the Paleostinian enclave.

Eid al-Adha, or the "Festival of Sacrifice," is planned to be marked this year by Moslems worldwide on August 21-25, although the exact dates may vary.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Following the US open border model, eh?
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/20/2018 9:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Eid al-Adha, or the "Festival of Sacrifice," is planned to be marked this year by Moslems worldwide on August 21-25, although the exact dates may vary.

Moslems never were good at standardizing dates.
Posted by: jpal || 06/20/2018 12:12 Comments || Top||

#3  With the border open, attack. Drive the all of the Gazooks, who were Egyptian citizens in '67 back to Egypt tomorrow.
Posted by: rammer || 06/20/2018 21:07 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Ex-CIA engineer charged with massive leak to WikiLeaks
[POLITICO] A former CIA computer engineer has been indicted on charges he criminal masterminded what appears to be the largest leak of classified information in the spy agency’s history.

Joshua Schulte, 29, was charged in a new grand jury indictment with providing WikiLeaks with a massive trove of U.S. government hacking tools that the online publisher posted in March 2017, the Justice Department announced on Monday.

Schulte was previously facing child pornography charges in federal court in New York, but the indictment broadens the case to accuse him of illegally gathering classified information, damaging CIA computers, lying to Sherlocks and numerous other offenses.

In January, attorneys involved in the child porn case revealed in court that Schulte was the target of a major investigation into WikiLeaks’ release of a CIA collection known as "Vault 7."

The Justice Department’s news release announcing Schulte’s indictment does not mention WikiLeaks by name, signaling that it has not been charged in the case. There was no mention of any other individuals being charged.

Attorneys for Schulte declined to comment.

The new charges make Schulte the fourth individual to face charges related to classified leaks since 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...
took office and vowed a crackdown on leaks.

Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [14 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Someone should leave a bungee cord in his cell.
Posted by: gorb || 06/20/2018 1:17 Comments || Top||

#2  I wonder if these leakers are viewed by the public as saints or sinners (in this case the child pron part notwithstanding). Are they viewed as whistleblowers on a mission to correct a wrong or traitors?
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/20/2018 8:23 Comments || Top||

#3  One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. I heard that somewhere...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 06/20/2018 8:52 Comments || Top||

#4  Terrorists and revolutionaries are inversely "romantic" to the distance they are from the observer. More succinctly: they are heroic if they blow up other people and don't rain on My parade.
Posted by: magpie || 06/20/2018 9:08 Comments || Top||

#5  Mr. Clown, meet the Clowns in Action....
Posted by: DooDahMan || 06/20/2018 17:36 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Mali says troops implicated in killings after mass graves found
[Al Jazeera] Mali's defence minister has admitted soldiers were involved in killings in the country's troubled central region which has been plagued by violence between security forces and fighters.

The comments by Tiena Coulibaly on Tuesday came after local media reports said that 25 bodies had been found in three mass graves after a military crackdown on suspected fighters and allied ethnic militia.

The discovery of the graves added to accusations of summary executions by government troops.

"The inspection mission sent to the area confirms the existence of mass graves implicating some armed forces personnel in serious violations causing the deaths of men in Nantaka and Kobaka [Mopti region]," Tiena Coulibaly, the minister, said on Tuesday.

Coulibaly instructed military prosecutors to open an inquiry.

He said the authorities were "firmly resolved to fight impunity and get soldiers to strictly observe international rights and humanitarian conventions", a statement said.

Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Mali/Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen


Arabia
Saudi Arabia intercepts Houthi ballistic missile fired toward Khamis Mushait
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Saudi Arabia confirmed on Tuesday that a ballistic missile fired by the Houthi militias from within Yemeni territories toward Khamis Mushait.
Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Government
Cambridge Analytica-linked academic spurns idea Facebook swayed election
[TheGuardian] Aleksandr Kogan,the academic researcher who harvested personal data from Facebook for a political consultancy firm said Tuesday that the idea the data was useful in swaying voters’ decisions was “science fiction”.

“People may feel angry and violated if they think their data was used in some kind of mind-control project,” Aleksandr Kogan, the now notorious Cambridge University psychologist whose app collected data on up to 87 million Facebook users, said during a US senate hearing. “This is science fiction. The data is entirely ineffective.”
Posted by: 3dc || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
Zimbabwe: President Joins Queue to Buy Fast-Food
[All Africa] President Mnangagwa yesterday took Chegutu food lovers by surprise when he unexpectedly joined the queue in a fast-food outlet, bought his lunch and even tipped a cashier. The Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zim-bob-we Defence Forces is now famous for his accessibility.

For instance, he has done away with the habit of hiring a marquee for official engagements, opting instead for modest tents just to shed VVIPS.

He also uses his escort vehicles to accommodate photojournalists and walks about to greet the crowd during rallies.

Yesterday afternoon he brought Chegutu to a standstill after he commandeered his full motorcade to Chicken Inn in the city centre.

Hundreds jostled to capture the rare moment on their smartphones and they recorded the scene free of any interference from Presidential security details.

President Mnangagwa, who is widely tipped to win the July 30 elections by a wide margin, has left many convinced that Zim-bob-we is now witnessing a different political game to that of former president Mr Mugabe, who maintained a buffer zone between himself and the people.

Isabel Mtongerwa, the Chicken Inn cashier who served the President could not believe that she met him face-to-face.

"I could not believe that I was serving the President," she said.

"It has never happened in my life and somehow he proved to be worthy of my vote.

"He ordered a two-piecer and a minute maid, paid $3,75 with US$20 and told me to keep the change. He is very welcoming and makes you feel comfortable in his presence."

Management at Chegutu Chicken Inn could not believe a rare visit by the number one citizen.

The food outlet's manager Mr Peter Mutate said as an organization, they felt honoured to serve the President.

"We can describe him as an amazing man, very friendly and free to interact with," he said.

"In other words, he is a people's person. Some of our staff members felt free to greet him. At the end of the visit, many people were left convinced that indeed the country is now witnessing a different political game."

Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If it's good enough for P.Trump,...
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/20/2018 14:11 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Yemeni army retakes Hodeidah Airport after battle against Houthi militia
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Yemen's army on Tuesday regained control of Hodeidah Airport after a major battle supported by an Arab Coalition against 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 ...
militias in the main port city.

"With the participation and support of the Emirati armed forces, the joint Yemeni resistance (army) entered Hodeida airport," the UAE state news agency WAM tweeted on Tuesday.

It was earlier reported that the Arab coalition entered the main compound of the airport, Yemeni military sources in the alliance and a resident told Rooters news agency.

"They have stormed the airport," said one Yemeni military source. A resident said the forces stormed the airport after fierce battles broke out early in the morning between coalition forces and Iran-aligned Houthi fighters.

False propaganda
Spokesman for the Arab Coalition, Col. Turki al-Malki, said on Monday that the Houthi militias are trying to cover their losses through false propaganda, especially in connection with the battle to liberate Hodeidah city, stressing that the militias received heavy blows on the fronts of Saada and Hodeidah.

During a presser on Monday that the UN envoy to 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...
Martin Griffiths has been trying to persuade the Houthis to hand over the port of Hodeidah but that the Death Eaters have ignored the request.

The front man stressed that the "the liberation of the city of Hodeidah and its harbor is an inherent right of the Yemeni government based on international laws and in accordance with resolution 2216," adding that the liberation of Hodeidah will lead to the "cutting off Iranian hands", which will stop the smuggling of Iranian weapons to the Houthis.

Malki revealed that the Yemeni armed forces were "on the verge of regaining full control over Hodeidah airport.

The coalition also confirmed that humanitarian aid continues to enter Hodeidah and all areas despite the hostilities while adding that they continues to give maritime, land and air permits for aid to enter Yemen.
Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA to pare down operations in Gaza
Good. Because you people have been making things worse for generations.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Facing a major funding shortfall, the UN Paleostinian refugee agency is planning to defer payment of salaries and suspend some of its operations in Gazoo, an official said Tuesday.

The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Paleostinian refugees was thrown into severe financial crisis after the United States cut $250 million from its budget.

UN envoy Nickolay Mladenov told a Security Council meeting that UNRWA is "weeks away from painful cuts to its emergency assistance for Gazoo and elsewhere in the region."

"In Gazoo, this would include a deferral of salaries to some of its workforce in July and the start of suspending core operations in August," he added.

The United Nations
...boodling on the grand scale...
on Monday will host a pledging conference for UNRWA in New York - the second such donors’ meeting in three months.

In March, it raised $100 million for UNRWA during a conference in Rome but fell short of the $446 million needed to keep the agency afloat.

The United States is the biggest single donor to UNRWA, which provides schools and health clinics to 5.3 million refugees in the Paleostinian territories, Jordan, Leb and Syria.

The cuts to UNRWA services in Gazoo come amid warnings from the United Nations that the enclave is close to the brink of war after scores of Paleostinians were killed by Israeli fire during protests near the border fence with Israel.

In January, 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 announced that it was reducing its contribution to the agency, arguing that UNRWA was in need of reform.

Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


-Lurid Crime Tales-
No, Christopher Wray, we don't trust you
[The Hill] FBI Director Christopher Wray’s press conference Thursday, in response to the Department of Justice (DOJ) inspector general’s report on the FBI’s mishandling of the Clinton email server investigation, was nauseating and chilling. After listening to it, one could be forgiven for thinking that all that had really happened was some FBI employees had been caught taking red staplers or performing office hijinks.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Wray toed the same line as the Office of Inspector General (OIG) report, claiming that there was no political bias on display.

Yet, anyone with more than a few brain cells can skim a dozen of the 568 pages in that document and see it is replete with case after case of bias. Perhaps worst of all of those was FBI official Peter Strzok’s text message to fellow
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I don't trust Wray. He's a little too slick in his canned answers. He hides behind the phrases: "I can't discuss that as its part of an ongoing investigation, it's classified, or some other pat and dodging answer." I don't sense openess and honesty. He seems to cover for criminality in the FBI rather than have a concern for the two-tier justice system that has evolved. He seems to care little for the complete disdain expressed by some at the top levels of the DOJ and the FBI for Trump or Trump voters. A deep rot was allowed to develop in the DOJ and FBI. These agencies were weaponized against the American people. What is seen out here are feeble efforts to address very serious problems. What is needed are indictments and prosecutions as the result of serious investgations.
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/20/2018 7:42 Comments || Top||

#2  I don't sense openess and honesty.

Nor does anyone else. If I saw Chris Wray approaching me on a used car lot, I'd leave immediately.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 7:45 Comments || Top||

#3  All he needs is a polyester suit and a clip on tie
Posted by: Voldemort Grager9935 || 06/20/2018 10:18 Comments || Top||

#4  All he needs is a polyester suit and a clip on tie

I'd add white patent leather belt and shoes but you're on the right track.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 06/20/2018 12:57 Comments || Top||

#5  Before anymore about this fellow is opined, is "limp dick" hyphenated ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 13:48 Comments || Top||

#6 

Is this how one embeds the 'phony-baloney jobs clip? My first time...
Posted by: Bobby || 06/20/2018 14:49 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Mozambique: Armed Groups Burn Villages
[All Africa] Attacks by gangs in Mozambique’s northern province of Cabo Delgado have killed at least 39 people and displaced more than 1,000 since May 2018. Hundreds of families fled their villages after suspected members of an armed Islamist group burned down their houses during nighttime attacks.

The group implicated in the attacks is known locally as both al-Sunna wa Jama’a and al-Shabaab
... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia...
, though it has no publicly known connection with the Somali group of the same name. Local activists told Human Rights Watch that more than 400 homes have been burned down in the past two weeks, displacing people in three districts. Mozambican authorities should investigate and provide assistance to those in need.

"Armed groups should immediately cease attacking villages and executing people," said Dewa Mavhinga, Southern Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Mozambican authorities should assist those displaced and establish conditions that will allow them to return home voluntarily, in safety and with dignity."

Human Rights Watch researchers visited the village of Naunde, in Mucojo town, Macomia district after an attack on June 5, and saw 164 houses, five cars, and scores of cattle burned. The residents said the attackers had burned a local mosque, including copies of the Koran and prayer mats, and beheaded a local Islamic leader inside the mosque. Human Rights Watch witnessed dozens of families carrying their belongings and fleeing the village.

Human Rights Watch also spoke by phone with residents of villages that were attacked on June 6 and June 12, the most recent attack. Various sources in Macomia and Quissanga districts confirmed that hundreds of people were still fleeing their villages for fear of more attacks.

One villager in Naunde said that the attackers caught a community leader: "When he realized they were looking for him, he tried to run away but one of the men chased him, grabbed him by the arm, held the machete, and cut his head off... there in front of everybody."

The wave of violence in Cabo Delgado province began in October 2017, when suspected armed Islamists attacked a string of cop shoppes in the Mocimboa da Praia district, causing two days of lockdown in the area and a massive military response that led to the evacuation of villages. Following the attack, authorities closed seven mosques and detained more than 300 people without charge, including religious leaders and foreigners suspected of having links to the armed attacks in Palma and Mocimboa da Praia districts, which are about 95 kilometers apart. But attacks on villages continued sporadically.

Army soldiers deployed to the town of Mucojo following the attack on the nearby village of Naunde told Human Rights Watch that since April, they had apprehended and handed over to the police more than 200 men suspected of having links to the armed Islamist group implicated in the attacks. The soldiers said some of those detained were local young men who were found in makeshift camps in the bush with machetes and Islamic teaching books. The men would not reveal their intentions or the names of their leaders, the soldiers said.

"They don’t talk," one soldier said. "Whatever they are drinking in these camps seems to make them forget everything. Even if we threaten to kill them, they don’t talk."

A soldier who appeared to command a small unit said that they had been advised by a local state prosecutor to detain suspects and hand them over to authorities with evidence of their crime. However,
ars longa, vita brevis...
he expressed reluctance to accept this directive. "Let the judges come to the bush and catch them," he said. "We will not waste our time. If we find them in the bush, we will kill them there."

Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [10 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)


Afghanistan
Afghan forces and Taliban suffer casualties in Kunduz clashes
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan cops and the Talibs suffered casualties during the festivities in northern Kunduz province of Afghanistan.

The provincial government media office in a statement said the festivities erupted after a group of armed Lions of Islam launched a coordinated attack on security posts in Dasht Archi district.

The statement further added the bully boyz attacked the security posts belonging to Afghan National Army and the Afghan Local Police forces in Bazaar area late on Monday night.

According to the provincial government, at least seven Talibs were killed and at least five others were maimed during the festivities.

At least two Afghan army soldiers and two Afghan Local Police personnel also bit the dust during the festivities, the statement said, adding that two army soldiers and two coppers also sustained injuries.

Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Fifth Column
Spengler: A neocon Senate coup against Trump’s foreign policy?
[ATimes] The US president's opponents in the the upper chamber aim to overturn his carefully constructed compromise with Beijing over the Chinese telecom giant ZTE.

The bright line that separates Donald Trump’s foreign policy from his predecessors is the question of regime change. Between the collapse of communism in 1989 and the departure of the Obama Administration, the American foreign policy establishment embraced the “end of history” premise that liberal democracy would replace all the autocracies of the past, and that the goal of American foreign policy was to hasten the inevitable march of history.

Trump, by contrast, puts American interests first and will make deals that reinforce the position of the Chinese, Russian, or North Korean regimes if the outcome is in America’s interest.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: 3dc || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [10 views] Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life,

#1  Hypocrites. They were all in favor of business as usual with China until Trump became POTUS. All of our computers, including cell phones, were Made in China with the blessings of guys like McCain and Rubio. Damn hypocrites.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 06/20/2018 12:44 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: Clem Tingle1810 || 06/20/2018 16:09 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Why is the Democrats' bizarre IT scandal being ignored?
[FOX] While the focus in Washington, D.C. remains centered on the Mueller Russia probe, we cannot lose sight of another ongoing investigation on Capitol Hill. At the center of this developing scandal are the nefarious actions of a former Democratic congressional IT aide indicted last year on bank fraud charges, who at the time was being paid by a high-profile member of Congress although he was barred from the House computer systems.

While the case has not received a lot of mainstream media attention, the details are sordid. Not only does the case raise serious national security and obstruction of justice concerns, it also suggests a blatant cover-up on the part of the lawmakers involved.

Our story begins in the early 2000s when an IT contractor named Imran Awan began doing work for a number of House Members. He was later joined in this work by seven other family members who had almost little or no computer technology expertise, including his wife and two brothers. One of Awan’s brothers at 20 years old was earning the same amount as a member of Congress. After being fired from one office for “incompetence” the other congressional offices continued to pay him.
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The new dangerous normal.

"Normal is relative. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly." Morticia Addams
Posted by: Eohippus Sproing7694 || 06/20/2018 5:49 Comments || Top||

#2  Why is the Democrats' bizarre IT scandal being ignored?

Rhetorical question, right?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/20/2018 6:53 Comments || Top||

#3  With the onerous Donna Brazile now sitting on the panel of 'The Five' I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to follow anything FOX puts out.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 6:57 Comments || Top||

#4  David Burge
@iowahawkblog
"Journalism is about covering important stories. With a pillow, until they stop moving."
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/20/2018 6:57 Comments || Top||

#5  This story never was going anywhere. The MSM "has their.... orders." Yes, same orders for American born citizen Anwar al-Awlaki and his email pal Nidal Hasan, events at Benghazi, Platte River Networks, wife of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, etc.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 7:04 Comments || Top||

#6  It's a given there is a whole raft of "stupid constituent" jokes floating around Wash DC, well known to journalist insiders who would never expose any of it. This case falls under the rubric of "Never burn a useful operative while there are bourgeoise rubes to ass-rape."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 06/20/2018 8:48 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
BIFF, NPA roadside bomb attempts foiled in Mindanao
[PhilStar] Authorities on Friday foiled attempts by communist insurgents and Islamic State-inspired rebels to set off roadside bombs in Sultan Kudarat and North Cotabato provinces.

Military spokesman Arvin Encinas said bomb experts were able to promptly deactivate the improvised explosive device found by motorists along a road in the town of Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat. The bomb was packed with metal fragments with jagged edges and rigged with a detonator that could be activated from a distance.

It was the second roadside bomb found and defused by Army ordnance troops in the same town in a span of three weeks.

Police and army intelligence units in Sultan Kudarat said the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters was behind the foiled bombing plots.

About two hours later, passersby found a powerful roadside bomb along a road in Barangay Tomanding in Arakan, North Cotabato, where there is strong New People’s Army presence. Police and military bomb disposal teams safely dismantled the IED.

Police spokesman Aldrin Gonzalez said personnel of the Arakan municipal police are certain the bomb was planted by the NPA to retaliate for losses in recent clashes with military units in North Cotabato. He said, "No doubt the NPA was behind that thwarted bombing because the IED found there was identical with those recovered in NPA camps in North Cotabato that were overran by government forces recently."
Posted by: ryuge || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under: Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
IED thrown at border police guarding Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron
[IsraelTimes] Police searching area, open investigation after attacker flees scene in second such incident this month

An improvised bomb was thrown at IDF troops guarding the entrance of the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron Tuesday night, police said.

The attacker expeditiously departed at a goodly pace after throwing the IED at border police manning a station just outside the tomb. The device did not explode and there were no injuries.

Police said they were searching the area for the perpetrator and had opened an investigation in the incident.

Earlier this month, sappers detonated a similar improvised bomb found near the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron. That device contained two small gas canisters. It was blown up in a controlled kaboom by the police bomb squad.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under:


UN chief Antonio Guterres: Gaza 'on brink of war'
And whose fault is that, pray tell?
[Al Jazeera] UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that the "most serious escalation" of violence in the Gazoo Strip places the besieged enclave on the "brink of war", urging Israel and Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, to recommit to a 2014 ceasefire.

The UN chief said in a report obtained by news agencies that he is "shocked" by Israel's use of live fire since border protests began in Gazoo on March 30.

Guterres said its military has "a responsibility to exercise maximum restraint" except as a last resort.

The report was sent to the council last week in advance of a meeting on Tuesday on the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict.

"The killing of children, as well as of clearly identified journalists and medical staffers by security forces during a demonstration are particularly unacceptable," Guterres said.

"They must be allowed to perform their duties without fear of death or injury."

Israel has not yet responded to the accusations.

Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [12 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  And whose fault is that, pray tell?

Dunno. Ask the UNHCR maybe?
Posted by: gorb || 06/20/2018 1:19 Comments || Top||

#2  clearly identified journalists and medical staffers

And how, pray tell, are they identified? And why should anyone believe such an identification? Define children and what are they doing at a riot??
Posted by: AlanC || 06/20/2018 7:24 Comments || Top||

#3  #2 clearly identified journalists and medical staffers. And how, pray tell, are they identified?

They're riding in the Red Thingy ambulances. With the mortars and missiles
Posted by: Frank G || 06/20/2018 8:55 Comments || Top||

#4  Um, the military has a clear dictate to kill any foreign invaders attempting to cross their border. The fact some are NOT killed is what's shocking.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 06/20/2018 23:18 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
L.A. sheriff's detectives seize more than 500 firearms from felon's home
[LA Times] A search of a felon’s home in Agua Dulce led Los Angeles County sheriff’s investigators to a stash of more than 500 firearms, marking one of the largest seizures from a person forbidden by law from possessing guns.

Investigators raided the home of Manuel Fernandez after getting a tip that he had an arsenal of firearms. After entering the property early Thursday, they found a staggering number of weapons, including rifles, shotguns and handguns, some decades old.

Fernandez, 60, was arrested after the raid, during which investigators found 432 guns. A search the next day uncovered 91 firearms concealed in the house. Investigators also seized electronics used to purchase the weapons.

The investigation led detectives to a woman linked to the firearms purchases. While she was not home, detectives recovered 30 guns from her home, officials said.
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Fellow met bail.
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/20/2018 1:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Think of all the background check paperwork he had to fill out. Whew! Makes my fingers hurt just thinking about it.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 06/20/2018 6:25 Comments || Top||

#3  Wow, actually enforcing legitimate existing gun control laws.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/20/2018 7:01 Comments || Top||

#4  The Sheriff’s Department and the California Department of Justice found so many guns that they asked the Bureau Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives for assistance.

I hope important people at the ATF remembered to give Eric Holder a courtesy call, just on the off chance....
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/20/2018 8:17 Comments || Top||

#5  ...I'm sorry, but this is a fake news story - there is simply no way this man broke all the laws that were in place to prevent this. We have been told repeatedly that more laws = more safety. This event, therefore, is unpossible.

(sarc/OFF)

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 06/20/2018 8:30 Comments || Top||

#6  Perhaps he's not a bad guy, so it's ok?
Posted by: gorb || 06/20/2018 9:04 Comments || Top||

#7  What's more important, did he have any high capacity magazines?! Or (gasp) Bump Stocks?!
Posted by: ed in texas || 06/20/2018 9:54 Comments || Top||

#8  Maybe he’s an illegal immigrant so the rules don’t really apply since he’s fleeing oppression or poverty or just a shitty place ?
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 06/20/2018 11:26 Comments || Top||

#9  Maybe its one of those "quaint other culture customs"...? So we should ignore it because -- Multiculturalism.
Strange how selective the outrage is... isn't it?
Posted by: magpie || 06/20/2018 11:51 Comments || Top||

#10  Strange how selective the outrage is... isn't it?

Seize the children, leave the guns!
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/20/2018 14:08 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistani authorities bar former president Pervez Musharraf from July elections
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Pakistain's elections oversight body has rejected former president Pervez Perv Musharraf
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
’s candidacy for a National Assembly seat from the northwestern constituency of Chitral on Tuesday, barring him from running for office in next month’s elections.

Musharraf, who lives in self-exile in Dubai, is facing a treason case in Pakistain.

He failed to appear before the country's top court earlier this month, thus it withdrew permission to allow Musharraf to run for office last week.

Election authorities also rejected nomination papers of former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, longtime politician Imran Khan
... aka Taliban Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight...
, and former politicians Aysha Gulalai and Mahtab Abbasi from Islamabad.
Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [8 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Great White North
Somali Kidnapper Gets 15-Year Sentence
[RADIOSHABELLE] A Somali man has been sentenced to 15 years in jail for his role in the kidnapping of a Canadian journalist in Somalia, according to Canadian media.

Ali Omar Ader, 40, was found guilty in December on a charge of hostage-taking charge for his involvement as a negotiator in the kidnapping.

Ader was incarcerated
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
in Ottawa in 2015 by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Amanda Lindhout and Australian photojournalist Nigel Brennan were taken hostage near Mogadishu in 2008.

The sentence was handed down on Monday in an Ontario Superior Court.

During his trial, prosecutors claimed that Ader was the primary negotiator for the forces of Evil who captured the pair.

Ader repeatedly pressed Ms Lindhout and Mr Brennan’s families for ransom money, the court heard.

Lindhout and Mr Brennan were taken hostage at gunpoint while working on a story about displaced persons camps near the Somali capital.

They were held captive by an unidentified myrmidon group for 460 days before being released in November 2009.

They have described having been brutally assaulted, tortured, and nearly starved during their captivity.

Almost seven years after the pair’s release, RCMP Sherlocks managed to lure Ader to Canada under the pretence of signing a publishing contract for a book on Somalia’s history.

It was the culmination of a lengthy international undercover operation.

As Mr Brennan is not a Canadian citizen, Ader did not face any charges in Canada related to his kidnapping.

But the photographer did give his victim impact statement in court ‐ later posted online ‐ where he asked the judge to show Ader clemency.

"I believe that forgiveness is the one thing that will keep humanity moving forward," he said.

Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "I believe that forgiveness is the one thing that will keep humanity moving forward," he said.

That, and killing the bad guys.
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/20/2018 9:46 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Liberation of Hodeidah and the rapid strategic shift
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Yemeni army forces and resistance factions, aided by the coalition’s ground, aerial and naval forces, are advancing toward the city of Hodeidah as fierce battles continue.

I do not have any military experience but ever since the Houthis were driven out of South Yemen, it has been clear that containing 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 ...
coup requires three military goals: expelling the Houthis away from the Saudi borders, getting them out of the central governorates and getting them out of ports, specifically the Hodeidah Port.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11 views] Top|| File under: Houthis



Who's in the News
30[untagged]
5Hamas
5Islamic State
4Houthis
3Taliban
1Commies
1Govt of Pakistan
1Govt of Syria
1Abu Sayyaf (ISIS)
1Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
1Moslem Colonists
1Sublime Porte
1Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life,
1al-Shabaab (AQ)
1al-Qaeda in Mali/Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen
1Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters

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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
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3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2018-06-20
  Taliban kill 30 Afghan soldiers and take base in first major attack since ceasefire
Tue 2018-06-19
  Philippine airstrikes target ISIS-linked militants near Marawi
Mon 2018-06-18
  Houthis say Saudi-led forces bogged down outside Hudaydah
Sun 2018-06-17
  Israeli Air Force Attacks 'Leader of Gaza Cell Behind Burning Kites'
Sat 2018-06-16
  Kurdish-led forces claim 15 Turkish soldiers, rebels killed in Afrin
Fri 2018-06-15
  US claim drone strike kills Mullah Fazlullah
Thu 2018-06-14
  Taliban supreme leader offers direct negotiations with the United States
Wed 2018-06-13
  ISIS corpses litter Euphrates after Syrian Army wipes out terrorists trying to cross
Tue 2018-06-12
  34 militants killed in NDS Special Forces operation in Nangarhar
Mon 2018-06-11
  Austria Is Shutting Down Mosques And Ejecting Imams
Sun 2018-06-10
  Wasserman Schultz Refuses To Respond To Accusations She Attempted To Shut Down Awan Probe
Sat 2018-06-09
  Iran Facilitated Passage Of 9/11 Attackers, Iranian Politician Says
Fri 2018-06-08
  German-Jewish teen found raped, murdered; Turkish refugee suspect arrested, Iraqi refugee suspect fled to Iraq
Thu 2018-06-07
  Syria opens Homs-Hama highway after near 7-year closure due to war
Wed 2018-06-06
  Shin Bet says it thwarted plot to assassinate prime minister, Jerusalem mayor

Better than the average link...



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