Hi there, !
Today Tue 08/06/2013 Mon 08/05/2013 Sun 08/04/2013 Sat 08/03/2013 Fri 08/02/2013 Thu 08/01/2013 Wed 07/31/2013 Archives
Rantburg
535313 articles and 1866639 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 50 articles and 136 comments as of 3:24.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix    Main Page
22 Police, 76 Taliban Killed in Afghan Battle
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
12:45 2 20:19 USN, Ret. [11]
12:32 4 18:02 Rambler in Virginia [8]
11:26 1 16:47 OldSpook [9]
11:15 2 22:41 Pappy [10]
10:53 4 16:05 Iblis [8]
10:26 2 12:44 Glenmore [11]
08:39 5 17:44 Mullah Richard [15] 
08:13 4 10:00 Besoeker [7]
08:06 1 08:56 Redneck Jim [11] 
08:06 0 [3] 
08:06 1 10:20 Besoeker [7]
08:06 0 [9] 
08:06 1 08:43 Redneck Jim [6]
08:06 2 20:02 junkiron [17]
04:18 0 [10]
03:43 2 12:36 Orion [9]
03:01 3 20:05 OldSpook [12]
02:36 0 [4]
01:39 9 19:22 Rambler in Virginia [8]
00:00 3 10:12 Pappy [8]
00:00 14 19:21 Barbara [10]
00:00 0 [6] 
00:00 5 16:23 Barbara [5]
00:00 0 [10] 
00:00 0 [5] 
00:00 9 19:27 Cromert [7]
00:00 14 17:57 Besoeker [16]
00:00 2 12:14 USN, Ret. [10]
00:00 9 17:27 Barbara [10] 
00:00 1 08:51 Redneck Jim [12]
00:00 1 06:03 g(r)omgoru [9]
00:00 4 22:21 Barbara [9]
00:00 0 [9] 
00:00 0 [13]
00:00 0 [18] 
00:00 6 23:03 Pappy [11]
00:00 1 08:49 Redneck Jim [17]
00:00 0 [12] 
00:00 0 [12] 
00:00 7 21:56 Alaska Paul [16]
00:00 2 13:56 Bright Pebbles [8] 
00:00 1 08:39 Redneck Jim [11]
00:00 0 [5]
00:00 0 [13] 
00:00 0 [14] 
00:00 0 [8]
00:00 1 11:26 Frank G on the road [8]
00:00 0 [6]
00:00 3 17:29 BrerRabbit [7]
00:00 10 15:53 regular joe [11]
Afghanistan
"Lone Survivor" Movie Trailer
Posted by: Matt || 08/03/2013 12:45 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Piss off a liberal - go see this flick.

MUST BE SEEN!

Orion
Posted by: Orion || 08/03/2013 15:22 Comments || Top||

#2  If the book can be translated to the screen and still have half the impact, it will be great!
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 08/03/2013 20:19 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Unprecedented July Cold -- Arctic Sees Shortest Summer On Record
"Normally the high Arctic has about 90 days above freezing. This year there was less than half that," says Steven Goddard website.
Posted by: Beavis || 08/03/2013 12:32 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Global warming
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/03/2013 14:12 Comments || Top||

#2  One sure-fire sign of global warming is cold weather. Unless it portends the start of the next ice age, which should be happening right about now.
Posted by: SteveS || 08/03/2013 16:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Antarctic sea ice increase well above 2 standard deviations from average. Next ice age here we come.
Posted by: phil_b || 08/03/2013 16:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Nonsense. The Arctic sea ice is melting so fast that all of Florida will be underwater by Christmas. Global temperature are soaring. Soon you will beable to fry eggs on a sidewalk in Nome, Alaska. I know because Al Gore said so, and the science is settled.

/sarcasm, if you haven't figured it out.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 08/03/2013 18:02 Comments || Top||


Economy
Aetna pulls out of Maryland's individual insurance exchange
[TRUST.ORG] Aetna Inc has withdrawn its applications to sell insurance plans on Maryland's individual health exchange after it was asked to lower its rates by up to 29 percent, according to the state's department of insurance.

In an Aug. 1 letter sent to the Department of Insurance, Aetna said the required rate modifications cut premiums too low on both its Aetna and Coventry products. Aetna closed on the acquisition of Coventry Health Care this spring.

"Unfortunately, we believe the modifications to the rates filed by Aetna and Coventry would not allow us to collect enough premiums to cover the cost of the plans, including the medical network and service expectations of our customers," Aetna said in a letter to insurance commissioner Therese Goldsmith.
Posted by: Fred || 08/03/2013 11:26 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is part of the plan - the greedy insurance companies backed Obamacare because it required citizens to buy thier product. But the government's ultimate goal is to force down the rates to where private insurance becomes untenable, at which time they impose their end-goal: single payer socialized medicine across the board.

Just like Walmart backing the Obamacare, then setting up their employees to where Walmart can dump them on the government "exchanges" instead of offering decent insurance, cutting them to below 30 hours to avoid the fines. SO Walmart keeps its profits, but we pay for their employees health care. And Walmart isn't the only one, just one of the bigger named backers of Obamacare that is using it to reduces employee costs. Same goes for the "new jobs" under Obama that have been mainly part-time positions (only 100K out of 700K in last report were full time) in order to avoid the requirement to provide healthcare.

When will the press be honest and publicize the WHOLE truth about Obamacare and its actual effects? Our supposedly free press has become a propaganda organ for collectivists, and deserves the same fate as Goebbels and others who lied and obfuscated - the leaders and editors deserve imprisonment and in many cases, execution.
Posted by: OldSpook || 08/03/2013 16:47 Comments || Top||


New York Times Sells Boston Globe At 93% Loss

[BREITBART] After purchasing the Boston Globe in 1993 for a then-record $1.1 billion, the financially troubled New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
just announced it sold the 141 year-old paper to Boston Red Sox owner John Henry for a mere $70 million. That's a straight 93% loss. Figuring in two decades of inflation would only make it worse -- as does the fact the Times retains the Globe's pension liabilities, estimated at over $100 million.
Posted by: Fred || 08/03/2013 11:15 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Good lord! The NYT retained the pension liabilities???? ROFLMAO

Hope JH got the real-estate in the deal.
Posted by: AlanC || 08/03/2013 15:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Breathlessly waiting for the Gray Lady to tell us how to run the economy...
Posted by: Pappy || 08/03/2013 22:41 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
What the Obama Regime Is Force-Feeding Marines
"Lance and Gunny,
Sittin' in a tree,
....."

ugh....
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 08/03/2013 10:53 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ....and, not to be out-PC'd, the Army and Air Force respond.

Would it be safe to surmise, however, that Out, MetroSource and Genre remain, somehow, available...?



Posted by: Uncle Phester || 08/03/2013 11:36 Comments || Top||

#2  From the comment section...

Apparently, Marine Corps General James “Mad Dog” Mattis’ doesn’t have much of a “stress zone” as evidenced by the following quote to a group of Iraqis:

“I come in peace. I didn’t bring artillery. But I’m pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: If you fuck with me, I’ll kill you all.”


Kinda brings a tear to my eye too, and little smile :)
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 08/03/2013 12:43 Comments || Top||

#3  Corporal Boven's stress status is pink. This is obviously too much for him to handle. He should be given a Section 8 discharge (or its modern equivalent), and let the Real Marines do their job.

In other words, ex-Corp. Boven (ret.) should "flick his bic" in West Hollywood or "Boy's Town" and leave the Marines alone.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 08/03/2013 14:00 Comments || Top||

#4  It's not tolerance. It's recruitment.
Posted by: Iblis || 08/03/2013 16:05 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
NY Veterans sue after 'Don't Tread on Me' flag banned
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/03/2013 10:26 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1  NB - New York City was always a bastion of Crown Tory Loyalists. They liked their kings. Still do.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/03/2013 12:44 Comments || Top||

#2  The flag has an impressive history, and actually pre-dates the Declaration of Independence. It was in use by the Continental Marines and US Navy in late 1775.
Posted by: Glenmore || 08/03/2013 12:44 Comments || Top||


Good morning
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 08/03/2013 08:39 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [15 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Missed ya'll yesterday.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 08/03/2013 10:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Birthday Gam Shot 08/02

Sara Foster[Filmography](age 32)



Revealing Design


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 08/03/2013 16:23 Comments || Top||

#3  Birthday Gam Shot

Evangeline Lilly [Canuck][Filmography](age 34)



Tight Design


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 08/03/2013 16:39 Comments || Top||

#4 
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/03/2013 17:22 Comments || Top||

#5  Sweet!

Those two in your parkway, BP?
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 08/03/2013 17:44 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Morsi Backers Defy Egyptian Police With Fresh Rallies
[AnNahar] Islamist backers of Egypt's deposed president Mohammed Morsi staged defiant rallies Friday, with police firing tear gas at demonstrators, after the government ordered their protest camps to be broken up.

The new marches came after U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
angered Morsi loyalists by saying said Egypt's military had been "restoring democracy" when it deposed the Islamist leader.

Meanwhile,
...back at the revival hall, the SWAT team had finally arrived...
world powers pressed both sides to resolve the impasse peacefully, with U.S. Under Secretary of State William Burns expected in Cairo on Friday night for more talks.

Morsi supporters began to march after Friday prayers, pouring out of several Cairo mosques.

The afternoon rallies passed off peacefully, with demonstrators marching along main thoroughfares in the capital.

Early evening, they held several smaller demonstrations, including by Cairo's Media Production City in the city's outskirts, where security forces fired tear gas after protesters "tried to storm" the building, a security source told Agence La Belle France Presse.

Protesters tore up the pavement to make barriers as police in armored vehicles fired barrages of tear gas, an AFP correspondent said.

"I am a Musselmen, not a terrorist," demonstrators chanted.

Eyewitnesses also reported festivities between residents in the Alf Maskan area and Morsi loyalists after they tried to set up a protest site.

The Anti-Coup Alliance of groups calling for Morsi's reinstatement said it planned to make Alf Maskan a new sit-in site.

It also announced Friday evening marches to four security buildings in Cairo, including two army headquarters.

The marches came a day after Kerry in an interview with Pakistain's Geo television appeared to defend Morsi's ouster.

"The military was asked to intervene by millions and millions of people, all of whom were afraid of a descendance into chaos, into violence," he said.

"And the military did not take over, to the best of our judgment -- so far. To run the country, there's a civilian government. In effect, they were restoring democracy," he added.

A front man for Morsi's Moslem Brüderbund denounced Kerry's comments, accusing Washington of being "complicit" in the coup.

"Is it the job of the army to restore democracy?" asked Gehad al-Haddad in a statement.

Morsi's supporters have remained defiant in the face of mounting threats from the army-installed interim government.

On Thursday, the interior ministry urged those at protest sites in Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda squares "to let reason and the national interest prevail, and to quickly leave."

The ministry pledged "a safe exit and full protection to whomever responds to this appeal."

The state-owned al-Ahram newspaper, quoting police sources, reported that police had prepared a plan to end the sit-ins, but had not decided when to implement it, with the cabinet still hoping for a peaceful resolution.

The stand-off has raised fears of new violence. More than 250 people have been killed since Morsi's ouster.

Diplomatic efforts to avoid further bloodshed have gathered pace.

Kerry said Friday that Egypt should "get back to a new normal" and a senior Egyptian official said U.S. envoy Burns would arrive in Cairo for talks.

The visit comes on the heels of trips by the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
's Middle East envoy Bernardino Leon and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle.

A senior member of the Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of Morsi's Moslem Brüderbund, said the European envoys had asked them to end their sit-ins.

Speaking after meeting Brotherhood representatives, Westerwelle warned that the situation was "very explosive" and reiterated a call for a "peaceful solution."

Morsi has been formally remanded in jug on suspicion of offenses when he broke out of prison during the 2011 revolt that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...

Prosecutors have also referred three top Moslem Brüderbund leaders, including supreme guide Mohamed Badie, for prosecution of allegations of inciting the deaths of demonstrators.

Morsi was tossed in the slammer
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
hours after the coup and is being held at some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location, where his family has been unable to see him.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton met Morsi on Tuesday, later telling news hounds he was "well".

Qatar, a staunch backer of Morsi's presidency, announced meanwhile that it had shipped a consignment of liquified natural gas to Egypt, in the first gesture of its kind since Morsi was deposed.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/03/2013 08:13 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood

#1  Qatar, a staunch backer of Morsi's presidency, announced meanwhile that it had shipped a consignment of liquified natural gas to Egypt, in the first gesture of its kind since Morsi was deposed

It's called "knowing which way the wind is blowing".
Posted by: Pappy || 08/03/2013 9:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Speaking of wind Jawn is just making himself loved all over the place ain't he?

Also, tear gas is good; but grape shot is better.
Posted by: AlanC || 08/03/2013 9:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Forgot this bit:

I am a Musselmen, not a terrorist," demonstrators chanted
A distinction without a difference.
Posted by: AlanC || 08/03/2013 9:59 Comments || Top||

#4  Interesting to note how little he appears to be having with the day-to-day function of the US State Department.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/03/2013 10:00 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Nasrallah In Rare Public Appearance: Sees Shadow, Six More Weeks Of Ramadan
[AnNahar] Nasrallah In Public Speech Says Israel Demise A Lebanese Interest, Resistance To Protect Country Alongside Army
Every once in a while it's good to remind ourselves what we're fighting against...
Hizbullah chief His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...
on Friday noted that "Israel's demise is a national Lebanese interest," stressing that Hizbullah will continue to "protect our country alongside the national Lebanese army" and that it will not "abandon Paleostine," as he made a rare public appearance at a rally in Dahieh.

It was the first appearance in public since last September for Nasrallah, public enemy number one for Israel and a staunch ally of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now...
whose troops have been battling an insurgency since 2011. His appearance comes less than two weeks after the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
listed Hizbullah's military wing as a "terrorist" organization.

"Entire Paleostine, from the sea to the river, must return to its people. No one in the world, no king, prince, Sayyed, leader, president or state has the right to give up a single grain of sand of Paleostine's land," said Nasrallah in a speech marking Quds (Jerusalem) Day.

This day "aims to remind Mohammedans and the world of the Paleostinian cause and to rescue Jerusalem from the hands of the Zionist occupiers and it is an occasion to shed light on what Paleostine and its people are suffering from the siege, Judaization, starvation and the demolition of holy sites," Nasrallah said.

"Today, on August 2, 2013, we critically need to commemorate the occasion, and I thank all of you for heeding the call of (late) Imam (Ruhollah) Khomeini," leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Nasrallah told supporters.

He warned that Israel poses a "grave and permanent threat to all the states and peoples of this region and its capabilities, security, dignity, safety and illusory sovereignty, and anyone who denies that would be practicing obstinacy."

"Therefore, it is not only an existential threat to Paleostine's people, but also to all the peoples and civilizations of the region," added Nasrallah.

"The removal of the usurper entity is in the interest of the entire Islamic world and the entire Arab world and it is also a national interest for every country in the region. Israel poses a threat to Jordan and its demise is a national Jordanian interest, it poses a threat to Leb and Israel's demise is a national Lebanese interest," he went on to say.

He added that accordingly, "anyone who stands in the face of the Zionist scheme anywhere in our region and through any means, would be defending his country, people and the future of his children and grandchildren, in addition to defending Paleostine."

He called for highlighting the priority of "this conflict with the Zionist scheme in Leb, Syria and Jerusalem."

"All the massacres and plights that we suffered in Leb and the region can be attributed to abandoning the priorities and responsibilities," Nasrallah noted.

"Unfortunately, some in the Arab world who are backed by the states and governments of the West are blocking and preventing this priority and are pushing peoples to endorse other priorities and are inventing new wars. First they spoke of the communist expansion and Paleostine was forgotten and they spent billions and came up with books, conferences and wars. Then they invented the Iranian and Persian expansion and a war that cost billions was waged against Iran. Had they spent only one tenth on Paleostine, it would have been liberated," he added.

"They then used the so-called Shiite expansion and said the priority is confronting the Shiite threat because it poses a greater threat to the nation than the Zionist scheme. To many, Israel is not a threat and an enemy anymore," Nasrallah lamented.

He added that what's worse is that "they gave some local conflicts a sectarian nature."

"In Egypt, there is an acute political rift, but it is political and not sectarian. The same applies to Yemen, Tunisia and Libya. But when it comes to countries that have diversity, such as Syria, Leb, Iraq and Bahrain, the political conflict is turned into a sectarian conflict and they invoke the conflicts of history," Nasrallah noted.

"Isn't it time for the peoples of the region to realize that some parties are seeking to destroy the region and its countries, armies and peoples? They don't only want to fragment the nations but also to fragment the peoples into sects. Isn't it time for the peoples of the region to point their fingers at the countries that are sponsoring this destructive, spiteful scheme, which is the most dangerous scheme our region has witnessed?" he said.

Nasrallah pointed out that anyone backing the "Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed...
groups" ideologically, financially and in the media and anyone "pushing them to the battlefields" bears the first responsibility for all the "ongoing destruction."

Hizbullah's leader called on everyone to realize the threats and "exert strenuous efforts in every country to resolve its issue through dialogue and halt the bloodshed, in Syria, Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Pakistain and Somalia," noting that "unfortunately, wherever these Takfiri groups go, there will be disasters."

"In Hizbullah, we have always and will continue to seek common denominators and to organize and postpone our differences, because the disputes have become destructive," he said.

"Where will this madness lead everyone? This is the responsibility of all the scholars and for the sake of the entire nation efforts must unite to defeat this destructive scheme," added Nasrallah.

But he reassured that "our people are capable of defeating this scheme and God willing it will be defeated."

"We in Hizbullah stress our commitment to these principles, for which our enemies and sometimes our friends criticize us," he added.

Addressing the dispute with the Paleostinian Islamist movement Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, over the conflict in Syria, Nasrallah said: "We in Hizbullah will keep supporting Paleostine and we're keen on good ties with all the Paleostinian forces, although we might have our differences sometimes over Syria and Paleostine."

"Whatever the doctrinal, religious or political dispute might be, Paleostine must remain the main cause," he stressed.

Nasrallah thanked Hizbullah's regional allies Iran and Syria "for all they are doing for Paleostine."

Turning to Leb, Nasrallah said: "We will remain a vigilant and alert resistance to protect our country alongside the national Lebanese army and we send a big salutation to its command, officers, soldiers and maimed."

He also noted that certain forces ]are seeking to "remove the Shiites of the Arab and Islamic worlds from the equation."

"Describe us as rejectionists, describe us as terrorists, describe us as criminals, say whatever you want and keep killing us ... On every front, at the door of every hussainiyah and mosque, we the Shiites of Ali bin Abi Taleb will not abandon Paleostine," Nasrallah vowed.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/03/2013 08:06 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [17 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  GAWD, WHAT i'D GIVE FOR A REMOTE CONTROLED SHOTGUN, OR CANNON.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 08/03/2013 8:46 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: junkiron || 08/03/2013 20:02 Comments || Top||


Suspected Hizbullah Man Says Aware of Plot to Kill Saudi Envoy to Nigeria
[AnNahar] A Lebanese suspect with alleged links to Hizbullah and on trial in Nigeria for terrorism offenses told a court on Friday he was aware of a plot to assassinate Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
's ambassador to Abuja.

The alleged plot, which had not previously been made public, came up during questioning of the defendant during the trial of him and two other Lebanese in high court in the Nigerian capital.

The defendant, Talal Ahmad Roda, alleged that another man who is on the lam was behind a plot to assassinate the ambassador. The man was identified as Abdulhassan Tahir.

Asked by prosecutor Samuel Edege whether he was aware of the alleged plan, he said "yes" but did not know other details. Questioning then moved on to other subjects.

It was not clear whether anyone sought to put the alleged plot into action or which Saudi ambassador had been targeted for liquidation since a name was not provided. The motive for the alleged plot was also not described.

An official at Saudi Arabia's embassy who did not want his name used told AFP it was unaware of the alleged plot.

"We don't have any information about this story," the official said. "We just heard it from you."

The three men on trial are accused of plotting attacks against Israeli and Western targets in Nigeria as well as having links to Hizbullah.

They were charged in June after authorities discovered a cache of arms at a business in Abuja and a private home in the northern city of Kano.

Nigeria is grappling with a deadly Islamist insurgency waged by 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...
, but there has been no suggestion of any ties between the Lebanese accused and the Nigerian myrmidon group.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, is home to a sizable Lebanese population, including in the mainly Mohammedan north.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/03/2013 08:06 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  ANYTHING to divert attention from ME.

OH LOOK, SQUIRREL.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 08/03/2013 8:43 Comments || Top||


Army Intelligence Arrests Bekaa Fugitive Involved in Killing of Soldier Hatem
[AnNahar] The Army Intelligence tossed in the slammer
Please don't kill me!
on Friday Ibrahim Khanjar, who is involved in opening fire at an army patrol last week in the Bekaa town of Majdal Anjar and killing a soldier and injuring another.

Khanjar is also accused of the abduction of the seven Estonians and killing of army intelligence Maj. Abdo Jasser, his lover companion First Sgt. Ziad al-Mais and another soldier in Majdal Anjar in 2011.

Last week, 20-year-old soldier Charbel Hatem was killed and Paul Ashqouti was injured after their patrol was targeted with gunshots during a raid in Majdal Anjar to apprehend Wissam Khanjar.

A communique issued by the army pointed out that the patrol enjugged
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
"one of the most runaways in the country."

The seven Estonians were freed in July 2011, almost four months after being kidnapped by gunnies as they entered the country on a bicycle tour from neighboring Syria.

Their release took place amid unclear circumstances.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/03/2013 08:06 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [9 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Gunmen Attack Prisoners Convoy in Libya
[AnNahar] Eighteen prisoners have escaped during an attack on a Libyan police vehicle taking them back to prison from a courthouse in the capital, a police front man said on Friday.

Thursday's attack is the latest in a string of incidents plaguing Libya and comes after more than 1,200 inmates escaped during a prison riot last week in the restive eastern city of Benghazi.

Judicial police front man Ahmad Boukraa said the prisoners were being transported back to Ain Zara prison in a western suburb of Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
when gunnies attacked the police vehicle, seriously wounding two guards, Lana news agency reported.

Boukraa gave no further details.

Libya's authorities have been struggling to reestablish law and order and form a professional police and army since the fall of longtime dictator Muammar Qadaffy
...who single-handedly turned a moderately prosperous kingdom into a dictator's fantasyland and was then murdered by his indignant subjects 42 years later...
in 2011.

On July 27, more than 1,200 inmates beat feet from Al-Kuifiya prison in Benghazi, with a security official saying most of them were common law detainees.

He said they broke out during a riot "as well as an attack from outside."

In April gunnies attacked a convoy of prisoners near Tripoli, killing a detainee and wounding others.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/03/2013 08:06 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
170,000 Muslims Throng Jerusalem Al-Aqsa Compound
[AnNahar] More than 170,000 Moslems prayed outside Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque on Friday, as the holy month of Ramadan entered its final full week, police said.

The faithful turned out in droves to prostrate themselves in the vast Al-Aqsa compound within the walled Old City, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.

Moslem religious authorities, however, told Agence La Belle France Presse the number was 300,000.

The compound, a flashpoint because of its significance to both Moslems and Jews, is several hundred meters (thousands of feet) long and wide and houses the Al-Aqsa and Dome of the Rock mosques.

Some 3,000 police were deployed to avoid confrontations between Moslems and Jews, who worship at the bottom of the Western Wall, right beneath the Al-Aqsa compound.

Tensions often run high in that part of the Old City, with Jews trying to enter the compound, sometimes in disguise, to venerate it as the site of the Temple Mount.

Jews are not allowed to pray inside the Al-Aqsa mosque compound.

The Israeli authorities relaxed usual restrictions on entry to Jerusalem by Paleostinians in the West Bank for a second week, allowing access to women of all ages and men over 40 years old.

Paleostinians from the West Bank and the Gazoo Strip are usually barred from Israel and from east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Six-Day war and then unilaterally annexed.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/03/2013 08:06 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Israeli authorities relaxed usual restrictions on entry to Jerusalem by Paleostinians in the West Bank for a second week, allowing access to women of all ages and men over 40 years old.

Military Age Males (MAM's), please stay home. Smart move ek se.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/03/2013 10:20 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
22 Police, 76 Taliban Killed in Afghan Battle
[AnNahar] More than 20 Afghan coppers and dozens of Taliban bully boyz were killed Friday when hundreds of fighters ambushed a police and military convoy in eastern Afghanistan, officials said.

The five-hour battle in the Sherzad district of 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 occurred after the convoy was attacked as it returned from an operation to rescue a politician being threatened by the Taliban.

"It was an intense battle and bully boyz used heavy and light weapons to attack the convoy of our security forces in Sherzad district," Nangarhar deputy police chief Masoom Khan Hashemi told Agence La Belle France Presse.

"We lost 22 of our brave coppers, but the gunnies have been taught a lesson of our strength, their attack was completely repelled and 60 of their fighters were killed," Hashemi said, adding a further 16 bully boyz were killed during the rescue of the politician.

The account was confirmed by provincial front man Ahmadzia Abdulzai.

"The military and police launched a successful operation in the district killing 16 Taliban. On their way back they were ambushed in which 60 Taliban were killed. Unfortunately 22 coppers were also martyred in the fighting," he said.

The Taliban, who have been waging a bloody decade-long insurgency against the Western-backed Kabul government, claimed only five of their fighters and 84 government soldiers were killed in the battle.

With the U.S.-led coalition due to withdraw its 100,000 combat troops by the end of 2014, the Afghan police and army are increasingly taking responsibility for tackling the insurgency that erupted after the Taliban were ousted in 2001.

The Taliban bully boyz in the meantime have stepped up their attacks in areas where foreign troops have withdrawn or are in the process of withdrawing.

Afghanistan's 350,000-strong security forces are suffering a steep rise in casualties as the NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization....
combat mission winds down and Afghan authorities try to impose stability ahead of the presidential election due in April.

The vote, which will chose a successor to long-time leader President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
, is seen as a key test of whether the U.S.-led international military intervention in Afghanistan has been a success.

The long war has become increasingly unpopular in the U.S. and other coalition countries such as Britannia and Germany, with national leaders now hoping their troops can withdraw rapidly after a credible Afghan government takes power.

"If the election goes well and produces a result that is widely accepted in the country, most other of Afghanistan's challenges are going to be satisfactorily met," U.S. special envoy James Dobbins said in Kabul on Friday.

"The election is the most important item on Afghanistan's agenda and it's the most important item on the U.S.'s agenda even though we are just observers."

Karzai, who came to power soon after the Taliban were ousted, has repeatedly said that he will leave office in line with the constitution and has vowed to work towards a fair election of a new president.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/03/2013 08:06 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Good ratio, all are dead preferably.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 08/03/2013 8:56 Comments || Top||


Europe
Germans cancel spy pact, want no part of NSA - UK tactics.
Been there, done that. Nein danke.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/03/2013 04:18 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [10 views] Top|| File under:


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Glendora officer nearly fires on student crew filming robbery scene.
Dilbert award category entry.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/03/2013 03:43 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "The actors also removed or blackened the orange tips on their toy guns."

Probably would have been a better idea to do this during editing? Sort of gives you a glimpse into the mental HP of these "students". Maybe someone should interview their prof...?
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 08/03/2013 11:15 Comments || Top||

#2  The students screwed UP. It's a crime to remove or blacken the tips on those weapons.

You should ALWAYS notify the local PD if you're doing anything even remotely like that, simply as a courtesy if nothing else.

Finally, they should have taken steps to make it obvious they were doing a shoot, not a robbery. I've done a fair amount of TV production (Local Access Cable) and won awards for it; You can't be stupid.

Orion
Posted by: Orion || 08/03/2013 12:36 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
DNR:If they aren't banning jobs on an oil pipeline, they're killing baby deer
[FoxNews] The president of a Wisconsin animal shelter is furious after the state Department of Natural Resources raided the facility with armed agents, detained volunteer workers and killed a baby deer named "Giggles."
Fifteen armed agents in full raid mode, just to capture a fawn being readied for transfer to a wildlife refuge. They also forcibly kidnapped a Canada goose living on the grounds.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/03/2013 03:01 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [12 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A 19-year-old staff member took photographs of the raid, but Schultz said a deputy sheriff confiscated his cell phone and deleted all the pictures.

No problem [with potential evidence destruction]. We already have a mental picture of the slovenly overweight storm troopers. We know the color of the uniforms, weapons used, vehicles, screaming invectives, etc. We're seeing it replayed on a nearly daily basis in the "Land of the Free".
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/03/2013 10:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Yet another unforced error for my home State. I wonder if the Nuremburg defense has reached its apex or, depending upon your perspective, nadir?

The goose I mind not so much (translation provided by Al Sharpton)....

Posted by: Uncle Phester || 08/03/2013 11:02 Comments || Top||

#3  I wonder if they can bring felony charges against the DNR agents and the sheriff deputies for some of the things they did - they are Class B felonies by Wisconsin law.

I say we ban all city and county police departments from having SWAT teams. They have outlived their usefulness, and are more a danger to public liberty than the criminals they use them on.
Posted by: OldSpook || 08/03/2013 20:05 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Lords of the Transition Team
h/t Gates of Vienna
Let us put aside, as he so rarely does, Anthony Weiner's spambot penis, and consider his wife and putative first lady. By universal consent, Huma Abedin is "smart, accomplished" (the Guardian), "whip-smart" (The Week), "accomplished" (Time), "smart and accomplished" (the Daily News) -- oh, and did I mention "accomplished" (Forbes)?

So, if she's so smart, what has she accomplished? Let us put aside her Muslim Brotherhood family background -- let us put it aside in the same corner as Anthony Weiner's infidel penis, the Muslim Brotherhood being one of the few things on the planet rising even more spectacularly than Anthony. Instead, consider merely the official résumé.

...My old boss Conrad Black recently pointed out that "the economy can't recover as it did in the past until more people are adding value" -- making and doing something real. Instead, 40 percent of Americans perform minimal-skilled service jobs about to be rendered obsolete by technology, and almost as many pass their productive years shuffling paperwork from one corner of the land to another in various "professional services" jobs that exist to in order to facilitate compliance with the unceasing demands of the microregulatory state. The daily Obamacare fixes -- which are nothing to do with "health" "care" but only with navigating an impenetrable bureaucracy -- are the perfect embodiment of the Republic of Paperwork.

But nobody adds lack of value like America's present leadership class -- diversicrats, community organizers, and "power couples" comprising somebody handling the transition of a government official and somebody handling the transition in his boxers. If this is "smart" and "accomplished," no wonder Putin's laughing his head off.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/03/2013 02:36 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
American diplomat kills man in car crash in Kenya, flees country
h/t Instapundit
Police in Kenya say an American diplomat crossed the center line in his SUV while speeding and rammed a mini-bus full of passengers, killing a father of three whose wife is six-months pregnant.

The U.S. Embassy rushed the American out of the country, leaving the crash victims with no financial recourse. Latifah Naiman Mariki, now a 38-year-old widow, said Friday that she was almost evicted from her house this week after her landlord demanded rent. Mariki’s deceased husband, Haji Lukindo, was the family’s only source of income…

...The driver’s name is Joshua Walde, an 11-year employee of the State Department. And I’d expect that’s all the information about him we’re likely to get.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/03/2013 01:39 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Don't bother, it's dead.

Joshua Walde | LinkedIn
www.linkedin.com/pub/joshua-walde/10/673/3a7Information Management Officer at U.S. … · Government Administration · Kenya
Joshua Walde. Experience: Information Management Officer, Embassy of the United States, Zagreb, Croatia; Information Management Officer for EUR-IO/EX, U.S. …
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/03/2013 3:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Another model DoS career diplomatic service worker that endears Kenyans to the US. Great work.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/03/2013 4:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Perhaps he can also get a job at Russia Social Media firm VK.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/03/2013 4:10 Comments || Top||

#4  Next time a drunken foreign diplo kills here just shrug it off or prepare to respect reciprocity. Lot more opportunity here for offing citizens. Oops, that terms banned in Seattle. My bad.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/03/2013 9:40 Comments || Top||

#5  Why the need to apply diplomatic immunity in this case?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/03/2013 10:52 Comments || Top||

#6  Dip Immunity is not limited to .... Dips.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/03/2013 10:58 Comments || Top||

#7  This is bad business.
Posted by: newc || 08/03/2013 16:37 Comments || Top||

#8  This is how we do business, leaving everyone out on the cold. I've personally experienced it, but not to this level, of course. There should be no immunity for reckless behavior, and at least we should pay the family's way until this is sorted out. Probably more.
Posted by: gorb || 08/03/2013 17:29 Comments || Top||

#9  There was a case a few years ago here where a diplomat hit and killed someone while drunk. The US requested that his host country revoke his diplomatic immunity, which they did.

We should do the same, if asked. Diplomatic immunity is supposed to be so that diplomats aren't arrested on trumped up charges, not so actual offenders can escape consequences.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 08/03/2013 19:22 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Dagestani terrorist gets 16 years
A court in he Russian republic of Dagestan has sentenced terrorist militant Ruslan Ismailov, convicted in a deadly attack last year in the republic's capital, Makhachkala, to 16 years in a maximum security penal colony, the Investigative Committee said Friday. Investigators said Ismailov was a member of extremist group Vilayat Dagestan, from October 2010 to June 2012.

The committee's statement said Ismailov, "as a member of the criminal group, took part in committing a terrorist attack by blowing up two vehicles," adding that he also inflicted damages exceeding $600,000.

Ismailov initially resisted detention but later agreed to cooperate with officials. He was found guilty of participation in a criminal group and committing an act of terrorism. In addition to his prison sentence, he was fined $3,000.

Last year, Russian media reported that the country's National Anti-Terrorism Committee killed the organizer of the Makhachkala attack, identified as Gussein Mamayevas, well as another terrorist militant linked to it.
Posted by: ryuge || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran to face food shortage in coming months
Considering the disagreements between the Central Bank of Iran, Industry, Mine, and Trade Ministry, and the Customs Administration of Iran, the country will face food shortage in the Iranian months of Sharivar and Mehr (August 23-October 22), Assadollah Asgaroladi, Head of Export Commission of Iran's Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines said on Wednesday.

"Most of the goods that are stuck at the Customs are foods that could be expired," the ILNA News Agency quoted Asgaroladi as saying.

Currently 10,000 containers of food stuff and medicines are stuck at the country's customs, while another 5,000 containers are ready to be shipped to Iran.

The three parties cannot reach agreement over the allocation of official-rate forex to the staple food imports.

Regarding the staple foods, the prices of 43 groups of food, including dairy, egg, rice, beans, fruits, meat, vegetables, sugar, tea, and edible oil have risen in Iran last week (ended July 19) compared to the same period in the previous year, Tasnim news agency reported on July 29.

According to the report released by the Central Bank of Iran, the price of dairy products, rice, and meat rose by 0.5 percent, 0.1 percent, and 0.1 percent respectively, compared to previous year. The prices of egg, fruits, vegetables, and sugar also fell by 0.3 percent, 2.5 percent, 1.7 percent, and 0.6 percent respectively.
Revolutions have started over less...
Posted by: Steve White || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [16 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Gee Tough. (Not snark) I could give a damn if they starve.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 08/03/2013 8:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Governments with starving populations tend to do desperate things. Usually outside the country.
Posted by: Pappy || 08/03/2013 9:54 Comments || Top||

#3  Shud up and eat your Yellowcake.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/03/2013 9:58 Comments || Top||

#4  You could RJ? I couldn't.
Posted by: AlanC || 08/03/2013 10:02 Comments || Top||

#5  Same as the Norks. Better to spend limited resources on nukes than feed their own citizens. Oops there's that Seattle banned word.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/03/2013 12:45 Comments || Top||

#6  Maybe they could ask their partners in crime for some of their surplus food.
Posted by: gorb || 08/03/2013 13:23 Comments || Top||

#7  So intramural squabbling between govt departments are holding up 10K containers of foodstuffs? Well, all right then. It is a cultural thang.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/03/2013 21:56 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Second explosions target solar powered street lights in Mogadishu
Mogadishu -- Two separate remote-detonated bombs targeted solar power street lights lined along Maka Al-Mukarama road in the capital Mogadishu early on Thursday morning, Garowe Online reports.

Local reports confirmed that the bomb explosions left two civilians wounded and destroyed two solar powered street lights.
Someone doesn't like the 21st century...
“I heard a thunderous explosion that shook my shop, I went out to see the incident but I saw wounded civilian and destroyed street light,” said a nearby shop keeper

This is the second bomb explosion targeting newly installed street lights which Banadir regional administration said were intended to increase public safety by hampering night assassinations and also to enable businesses to stay open late. On 15 July, similar explosions targeted solar powered street lights installed at Mogadishu’s 30 road.
Posted by: Steve White || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is the second bomb explosion targeting newly installed street lights which Banadir regional administration said were intended to increase public safety by hampering night assassinations

Animals don't like the light.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 08/03/2013 8:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Cockroach liberation front?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/03/2013 13:56 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Bombings, arson across southern Thailand
Three of Thailand's southernmost provinces were hit by coordinated arson and bombing attacks on Friday, killing one security officer. The country's top security agency and the Thai army said they suspect that Muslim rebel group, the Barisan Revolusi National independence movement, was behind the attacks, despite efforts by Thai authorities to get it to agree to a halt to violence during the month of Ramadan.

Last week, in two separate incidents, nine people -- including teachers and state employees -- were killed in bombings and drive-by shootings. During the past two days alone, there were 13 attacks that killed 3 soldiers and wounded 20 other people.

In Friday's incidents, 13 attacks, including arson and bombings, occured in the provinces of Yala, Pattani and Songkla. In addition to the security officer killed, four people were wounded.

The first attack was around 3 a.m. Friday in Yala province when terrorists insurgents set fire to factories, rubber plants and a transmission tower. In Yaha district, a bomb was detonated as rangers were on patrol, killing the lead officer.

In Pattani province, fires were set at a motorcycle distribution company, a convenience store next to a police station and a clothing store. Two people were wounded from the fires and about 60 motorcycles were damaged. The attacks also spilled over to nearby Songkla province, where a furniture warehouse and some village homes were burned.
Posted by: ryuge || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under: Thai Insurgency


Terror Networks
State Department Issues Worldwide Travel Alert Because Of Al-Qaida Terror Threats
[BUSINESSINSIDER] The State Department has issued a worldwide travel alert because of the threat of terrorist attacks from al-Qaeda and affiliated organizations, it said Friday.

The State Department cited the potential for terrorist attacks in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula.

"Current information suggests that al-Qaeda and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks both in the region and beyond, and that they may focus efforts to conduct attacks in the period between now and the end of August," the department said in a statement.

The department said that the alert does not expire until Aug. 31.

On Thursday, the State Department said it would close at least 18 diplomatic posts in the Middle East and surrounding areas because of the threats.
Posted by: Fred || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [10 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda

#1  I thought Al-Qaida was deader than Keystone?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/03/2013 6:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Happy Birthday Obama, what a present....I thought Al-Qaida was on the run
Posted by: Jan || 08/03/2013 9:11 Comments || Top||

#3  Looking at the map, appears the US Embassy of one tiny little country in the region was excluded from closure.

Israel is not on the list. Is this because the nasty ole Jooooos won't put up with the AQ and terrorist bullshi* and stand firmly in support of their allies, even the odious and despicable Soetoro ?

Rhetorical question of course.

Posted by: Besoeker || 08/03/2013 9:35 Comments || Top||

#4  I'm sorry, g(r)om - I can't hear you over the sucking sound of the Obama foreign policy.


Or maybe it's black hole that is Benghazi...
Posted by: Pappy || 08/03/2013 9:44 Comments || Top||

#5  State Department Issues Worldwide Travel Alert Because they're getting pissed and driving...
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/03/2013 10:53 Comments || Top||

#6  reminds me of Carter and a Rose Garden. Fricking Wimp.
Posted by: 3dc || 08/03/2013 15:18 Comments || Top||

#7  That was easy. There were no travel plans to that area anyway.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/03/2013 15:52 Comments || Top||

#8  Israel is not on the list.

Israel was on the list the other day. I wonder what happened?
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/03/2013 17:01 Comments || Top||

#9  I checked the list - there's one thing all the countries have in common. "Su-prise, Su-prise,"

(Hint: It's NOT location.)
Posted by: Barbara || 08/03/2013 17:27 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Orders for hanging of two LJ men issued
[Dawn] An anti-terrorism court has issued black warrants for the execution of two activists of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ...
in a doctor's murder case, it emerged on Thursday.

Attaullah alias Qasim and Mohammad Azam alias Sharif were sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court in July 2004 after finding them guilty of killing Dr Ali Raza Peerani on sectarian grounds in June 2001 in Soldier Bazaar.

The court directed the jail authorities at the central prison in Sukkar to hang Attaullah and Azam, one on Aug 20 and the other on Aug 21.

Earlier, the jail authorities informed the ATC-III that the last stay order issued by the president in the case had expired on June 30 and since then they had not received any further order to delay the execution and asked the court to issue fresh back warrants for the convicts.

The ATC-III issued black warrants for the condemned prisoners directing the authorities to carry out the hangings under the supervision of area magistrates after fulfilling legal formalities.

The court had issued black warrants for the two convicts several times in the past, but their hangings were repeatedly deferred after the presidency issued stay orders as during the term of the previous government of the Pakistain Peoples Party only one execution was carried out and it was that of an army solider, who had been sentenced to death by a military court for killing a colleague. The PPP government had placed a moratorium on executions in 2008.

After the capital punishment handed down by the trial court, the superior judiciary upheld the death sentence of both convicts while their mercy petitions were also turned down by the president.

The prosecution said that Dr Peerani came out of his clinic in Soldier Bazaar and was about to leave in his car when two motorcyclists opened fire on him, wounding him critically.

He was rushed to hospital where doctors pronounced him dead
He's dead, Jim!
on arrival. Two dispensers at the clinic who had witnessed the scene identified the two LJ men in court as killers.

The police tossed in the calaboose
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
them on June 29, 2002 within the jurisdiction of the Defence cop shoppe in three cases of unlicensed weapons and during initial interrogations, they disclosed their involvement in the present case, it added.

Paperwork was started but nothing else was done under Section 302 (punishment for premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistain Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-terrorism Act at the Soldier Bazaar cop shoppe.

Both convicts with several other prisoners have recently been shifted from the central prison of Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
to Sukkar and other prisons of the province apparently because of security concerns.

The same court had issued black warrants for the execution of two other condemned prisoners, Behram Khan and Shafqat Hussain, a few days ago and fixed Aug 21 and 22 for their execution.
Posted by: Fred || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [14 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Jhangvi


Home Front: Politix
Rangel: Tea Party Is 'Same Group' Of 'White Crackers' Who Fought Civil Rights
[LIVEWIRE.TALKINGPOINTSMEMO] In an interview with the Daily Beast published Friday, Rep. Charlie Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Rangel
Congressman-for-Life from Harlem, who became what 20 terms in Congress turns you into ...
(D-NY) suggested Tea Partiers are the "same group" who fought for segregation during the Civil Rights movement.

"It is the same group we faced in the South with those white crackers and the dogs and the police. They didn't care about how they looked," Rangel said.
Bull Connor was a member of the Democratic National Committee. So were his German Shepherds...
Because of this, Rangel said the Tea Party could be defeated using the same tactics employed against Jim Crow.

"It was just fierce indifference to human life that caused America to say enough is enough. 'I don't want to see it and I am not a part of it.' What the hell! If you have to bomb little kids and send dogs out against human beings, give me a break," said Rangel.
Posted by: Fred || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [16 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Tea Party isn't they democrats.

Oh wait. Narrative... narrative...

Oh bollocks to this. Fuck you Rangel.
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/03/2013 0:17 Comments || Top||

#2  If you cannot argue against the Tea Party, then assault them with ad hominem attacks. Typical dem tactics. Real great way to lead the country.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/03/2013 3:49 Comments || Top||

#3  You want "fierce indifference to human life" ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/03/2013 3:58 Comments || Top||

#4  How old is Rangel? He looks ancient.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 08/03/2013 8:03 Comments || Top||

#5  But Charlie...The Tea Party is for smaller govt. and lower taxes. If they were successful you wouldn't have to cheat on your taxes anymore.
Posted by: OCCD || 08/03/2013 8:52 Comments || Top||

#6  Funny, he's the one arguing for slavery-by-debt remarkably similar to sharecropping, for the entire nation.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 08/03/2013 9:37 Comments || Top||

#7  Actually, he's all for the new socialist Plantation system where those who actually create value are 'relieved' of the products and resources of their labor for those up in the Plantation House and those who are so favored by the masters.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/03/2013 9:46 Comments || Top||

#8  Not really a problem, as he is an "Hispanic Black" (His father, Ralph Rangel, was from Puerto Rico) and can, therefore, say stupid things without consideration of recrimination....

I am, btw, loving this latest evolution of hyphenated America and the enhanced possibilities of bringing the country together that it presents...! /sarc
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 08/03/2013 11:10 Comments || Top||

#9  White Cracker is racial slur. Is this acceptable as a new rule of political speech? There are other racial slurs that politicians avoid using due to being offensive to certain segments of society.

Is Mr Rangel opening that door? Inquiring amateur pundits would like to know.
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 08/03/2013 12:58 Comments || Top||

#10  The so-called "White Crackers" who fought civil rights were Democrats Charlie. Get your history straight instead of revising it. Shame on you, you know better.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/03/2013 16:14 Comments || Top||

#11  "Tea Party Is 'Same Group' Of 'White Crackers' Who Fought Civil Rights"

Gee, Charlie, you mean like Democratic National Committeeman Bull Connor?

Wrong, Charlie - we're not DemoncRats. And you clowns wouldn't know a right - civil or otherwise - if it kicked you in the head ass.

Epic FAIL, you loud-mouthed loser.
Posted by: Barbara || 08/03/2013 16:14 Comments || Top||

#12  Say that to my face you cowardly bitch.
Posted by: OldSpook || 08/03/2013 16:20 Comments || Top||

#13  White cracker, in the mouth of the honourable Congressman Rangel, is a double racial slur. He himself, however, is an extremely successful political idiot.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/03/2013 16:57 Comments || Top||

#14  I've had a home of record below the MD for decades. I don't believe I've ever heard that term in rural Georgia conversation. Can't remember the last time I heard the feared "n-word" either. Must be a northern, urban, New Yorker thing.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/03/2013 17:57 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Ingush militant leader affirms support for embattled imam
The new commander of the Ingush wing of the North Caucasus insurgency, Emir Ubaydullakh, has declared his qualified support for Khamzat Chumakov, the hugely popular imam of a mosque on the outskirts of Nazran.

Over the past 10 days, Ingush officials have repeatedly sought to intimidate Chumakov, who openly defied a demand by Republic of Ingushetia chief Yunus-Bek Yevkurov to resign his post and to stop criticizing the republic's authorities.

Ubaydullakh has said that the authorities' harassment of Chumakov is understandable in light of his relentless criticism. Ubaydullakh predicts that Chumakov may be killed to silence him, as was Magomed Yevloyev, owner of the independent website Ingushetiya.ru, five years ago.

Instead, Ubaydullakh continues, Chumakov may be forced to emigrate, or he may join the insurgency. The latter course of action seems unlikely, however, given Chumakov's rejection of violence and concerted efforts to dissuade young men from "heading for the forest" to join the insurgents' ranks.
Posted by: ryuge || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Dark times for Syria's Christian minority
Posted by: ryuge || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [8 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
'Coward' police flayed over Dera jailbreak: Our heads hang in shame: minister
[Dawn] Provincial revenue minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur on Wednesday declared the Dera Ismail Khan
... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ...
jailbreak incident an act of cowardice on part of local police and said tough action would be taken against those responsible for the debacle.

"Police officers and constables had hidden in sewer lines when Death Eaters attacked the Dera Ismail Khan central prison. Our head hangs in shame," Ali Amin Gandapur told a news conference.

The minister, who also belongs to Dera Ismail Khan, said coppers and constable with the exception of a few had disappeared at the time of the jail attack and there was no one to defend the premises.

He said Death Eaters succeeded in carrying out their task without resistance for more than 45 minutes due to cowardice on part of police.

Mr Gandapur said the main gate of the prison had been built by the British and it was not something that could have been blown up.

"But the irony is that our own officials opened the gate to Death Eaters to welcome them. The entire force had disappeared instead of confronting bad boys," he said.

The minister said instead of laying down their lives to protect the honour and property of the people, senior coppers hid themselves in sewer lines.

"These officers act like tigers confronting ordinary citizens but chicken out when they see bad boys," he said.

Mr Gandapur said the nation would have been proud of its police had they laid down their lives by defending the prison but instead, they (police) simply disappeared when one of the armoured personnel carriers was blown up by bad boys.

He said the government did not have a magic wand to correct the mess caused by former rulers but it was committed to correcting the situation and restoring law and order in the province.

The minister said those found guilty of dereliction of duty and negligence over the jailbreak would be dealt with strictly.

He said he had spoken to the relevant authorities, so curfew would be lifted from Dera Ismail Khan city on Thursday.

Mr Gandapur said those killed in the attack would be properly compensated.

He criticised Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah and Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam
...Assembly of Islamic Clergy, or JUI, is a Pak Deobandi (Hanafi) political party. There are two main branches, one led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, and one led by Maulana Samiul Haq. Fazl is active in Pak politix and Sami spends more time running his madrassah. Both branches sponsor branches of the Taliban, though with plausible deniability...
-Fazl leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman
Deobandi holy man, known as Mullah Diesel during the war against the Soviets, his sympathies for the Taliban have never been tempered by honesty ...
for taking potshots at the PTI government. "They should look into their own conscience," he said. The minister said recruitments in police in the past were done in disregard of merit and that was one of the reasons for the current state of affairs in police.

JAILBREAK CASE REGISTERED: The Dera Ismail Khan police on Wednesday registered the case of the Dera Ismail Khan jailbreak against unidentified attackers under anti-terrorism act and different sections of other laws.

The case was registered at the cantonment cop shoppe.

Jail superintendent Ghulam Rabbani registered the case against 200 unidentified attackers at the cantonment cop shoppe under sections 302, 324, 353, 365, 427, 435, 224A, 225A, 120B-3/4EXP-7ATA-186/148-149PPC.

The report said Death Eaters attacked the prison at midnight, broke locks of cells by firing gunshots, killed prisoners and coppers, took away wanted Talibs, women prisoners, and woman constable Gulab Bibi.

It said the room of the deputy jail superintendent was set on fire, the record destroyed and jail vehicles torched. Also in the day, curfew timing was relaxed.

Dera Ismail Khan commissioner Irfanullah on Wednesday said curfew had been relaxed from 10:00am to 12noon and for an hour from 4:00pm to 5:00pm in the city to facilitate the people to buy food items for Iftar and Sehri.
Posted by: Fred || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  They ran and hid.

Sounds like normal Muslims to me, yell a lot and do nothing, (without well hidden assets, like faces.)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 08/03/2013 8:39 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
This Week in Guns, August 3rd, 2013


By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

Wow. Evil banks coming under regulations are actually evil as they do stuff like close accounts of companies they don't like, such as Defense Distributed. Defense Distributed released plans for the 3D printed gun earlier in the year only to pull the documents. Now, JP Morgan Chase Bank has terminated Defense Distributed's accounts.

Sipsey Street Irregulars has some tips (and links) for keeping your powder dry, literally.

A national news website comes up with several reasons why gun sales have dropped so much. Short answer? Gun control. But this hews to government background check statistics. Not to private sales which may well dwarf dealer gun sales. Dunno.

Finally, someone is doing something about toy guns. In St. Louis they are swapping toy guns for educational toys. No report if anyone has turned in any assault toys. Or ball gags. You know: silencers.

And lastly, field stripping your .45 ACP:



Rantburg's summary for arms and ammunition:

Pistol Ammo

.45 caliber, 230 grain, From Last Week: -.02 each
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Bang It Ammo, Precision One reloaded .40 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: LAX Ammuntion, Tulammo steel cased, .36 per round

.40 Caliber Smith & Wesson,180 grain, From Last Week: -.10 each
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Bang It Ammo, Precision One reloaded .30 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 250 rounds: LAX Ammunition, reloaded, .28 per round

9mm Parabellum, 115 grain, From Last Week: -.01 each (-.05 per round over two weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Ventura Munition, Wolf Polyformance steel case, .29 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1000 rounds: Blue Core Shooting center, P&G Performance, reloaded, .28 per round

.357 Magnum, 158 grain, From Last Week: Unchanged
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Bud's Gun Shop, Fiocchi .49 per round
Cheapest, Bulk 250 rounds: LAX Ammunition, reloaded, .40 per round

Rifle Ammunition


.223 Caliber/5.56mm 55 grain, From Last Week: +.02 each
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Ammunition to Go, Brown Bear, steel cased, .40 per round
Cheapest Bulk 500 rounds: Ventura Munitions, Wolf, steel cased, .35 per round
Cheapest brass cased: Ammuniton to Go, DRS reloaded, .45 per round

.308 NATO 145 grain, From Last Week: -.03 each

Cheapest, 20 rounds: Bang it Ammo, Silver bear FMJ, .62 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Ammunition Supply Warehouse, Prvi Partizan steel cased, .64 per round

7.62x39 AK 123 Grain, From Last Week: -.01 each

Cheapest, 20 rounds: Ammunition to Go, Brown Bear, steel core and case, .27 per round
Cheapest, Bulk, 500 rounds: Ammunition to Go, Brown Bear, steel core and case, .25 per round
Cheapest, Brass casing: Ventura Munitions, Fiocchi, .54 per round

.22 LR 40 Grain, From Last Week: -.10 each

Cheapest, 50 rounds: Ammofast, Federal Gold target, .06 per round
Cheapest, Bulk, 325 rounds: Natchez Shooter Supplies, Federal Champion, .06 per round

Guns for Private Sale
Rifles

.223/5.56mm (AR Pattern Semiautomatic) Average price: $1,010
California: American Tactical Imports: $1000
Texas: CMMG: $900
New York: New Frontier (pink plastic furniture): $850
Maryland: Spikes Tactical: $1,450
Florida: Custom Build: $850

.308 NATO (AR-10 Pattern Semiautomatic) Average Price: $1,740
California: Sig Sauer 716: $1,300
Texas: Patriot Ordnance Factory: $1,500
New York: DPMS Oracle: $1,200 (Same Gun)
Maryland: DPMS LRT-SASS /w scope : $2,600 (Same Gun)
Florida: DPMS w/scope: $2,100

7.62x39mm (AK Pattern Semiautomatic) Average Price: $739
California: WASR: $800
Texas: Saiga: $1,000
New York: Saiga: $895 (Same Gun)
Maryland: Saiga: $500
Florida: Century International Arms: $500

7.62x54mm (Dragunov Pattern Semiautomatic) Average Price: $1,450
California: Romak PSL: $1,700 (Same Gun)
Texas: None
New York: None
Maryland: None
Florida: Romak PSL: $1,200

Pistols

.45 caliber ACP (M1911 Pattern Semiautomatic Pistol) Average Price: $576
California: Rock Island Armory, : $400
Texas: Sig Sauer Tac Pac, $750
New York: Colt 80, $600 (Same Gun)
Maryland: MetroArms, $580 (Same Gun)
Florida: Springfield: $550
Posted by: badanov || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  a must read: thegunwire.com
Posted by: Frank G on the road || 08/03/2013 11:26 Comments || Top||


Government
Democrats favor federal bailout of Motown. Public does not.
No surprises here.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  > REDDIT = [Alert24] FRENCH GOVT. FAVORS 75% TAX RATE.
> GUAM PDN = US ECONOMY MAY STILL REQUIRE CONTINUING SUPPORT FROM THE FED.

There are QES, and then there are QES.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 08/03/2013 0:52 Comments || Top||

#2  hell no
Posted by: 3dc || 08/03/2013 1:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Since when what public wants matter?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/03/2013 1:28 Comments || Top||

#4  Bailout NO! Buyout and reforestation... YES !
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/03/2013 3:47 Comments || Top||

#5  Detroit should become a live set for the program Life Without People.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/03/2013 4:03 Comments || Top||

#6  AP, I thought it was.
Posted by: AlanC || 08/03/2013 8:06 Comments || Top||

#7  Democrats favor federal bailout of Motown. Public does not.

Of course they do, more cash to pocket.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 08/03/2013 8:08 Comments || Top||

#8  Oh, the liberality!

Suppose they put Detroit back on its feet. Then what? Cars again? No.
Posted by: gorb || 08/03/2013 9:39 Comments || Top||

#9  More opportunities for stealing and graft. It's their life blood.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/03/2013 9:41 Comments || Top||

#10  Give it to Canada.
Posted by: Penguin || 08/03/2013 10:04 Comments || Top||

#11  You'll notice that the politically connected bondholding classes almost never take a loss...
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/03/2013 10:55 Comments || Top||

#12  ..as the Big Bailout demonstrated, the best investment banks made in the '00s was in politicians.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/03/2013 11:29 Comments || Top||

#13  Suppose they put Detroit back on its feet. Then what?

A most excellent question! Cities grow up where they do for a reason. At the start of the 1900s, there were dozens of little startup auto companies. The Great Lakes provided cheap and easy shipping for raw materials. Lots of tool & die shops, and parts manufacturers. Skilled, educated population. Lots of jobs from the auto industry and it's associated support companies. All gone now.

Now... the productive citizens have either been chased away or moved out of their own accord. Jobs are gone along with the auto industry; although the Detroit Metro region is still a center for technology and manufacturing, it's all in the suburbs. The remaining people are barely literate and have shown a distinct inability to govern themselves. Bad schools, crime and bad government. It could dry up and blow away without a noticeable economic impact on the rest of the state. The city will get smaller before it gets bigger.
Posted by: SteveS || 08/03/2013 18:58 Comments || Top||

#14  "Give it to Canada."

Geez, Penguin. What'd Canada ever do to us?
Posted by: Barbara || 08/03/2013 19:21 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
House subpoenas Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew for IRS documents
[WASHINGTONTIMES] House Republicans on Friday accused Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew of obstructing their investigation into the IRS's targeting of tea party and conservative groups, and issued subpoenas for more agency documents.

Oversight committee chairman Darrell Issa, Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, Republican, sent a scathing latter to Mr. Lew blasting him and President B.O. for dismissing the GOP's claims about IRS targeting as a "phony" scandal, saying that Mr. Lew has "attempted to thwart" his investigation.

"Over two months since the committee first requested documents, the IRS has produced only a small fraction of responsive documents," Mr. Issa said.

Mr. Issa said he's willing to work with the agency to tailor his requests for information, but he said the IRS has unilaterally decided to revise the scope of its search of documents. The committee had asked for 81 search terms to be used to identify responsive documents, but the IRS cut that to 12, he said.

In a response sent Friday to an earlier accusation by Mr. Issa and Rep. Jim Jordan, a subcommittee chairman who is also heading the investigation, the IRS bristles at accusations it was stonewalling.

Daniel Werfel, the acting commissioner President B.O. tapped to lead the agency, said they are working as fast as they can to produce materials, including having detailed 70 of the agency's 1,600 lawyers to work full time on reviewing documents to see what can be turned over.

"These attorneys have ramped up from training to full-time review work over the course of the last four weeks and are now fully engaged on this project," Mr. Werfel wrote.

He also defended the agency's move to cut out some of the search terms the committee requested, saying that words such as "c3" and "election" are "generic and non-specific" and are used in many tax issues the agency handles.

Also Friday, the House voted 232-185 to strip the Treasury Department and IRS of being able to enforce the new health care law. The vote saw just four Democrats side with Republicans in trying to scrap the IRS's role.

The Senate is unlikely to consider the bill.
Posted by: Fred || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "To see what can be turned over".

ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING, and hurry up.

Delaying will result in prosecution.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 08/03/2013 7:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Yeah, and how's that contempt of Congress thingy with Holder working while you're at it?
Noise, all noise. Just. About. Given. Up.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 08/03/2013 12:14 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Suleiman rejects intimidation after attack
Lebanese President Michel Suleiman said on Friday that a rocket attack near the presidential palace will not intimidate or make him change his convictions regardless of the party behind it.
Keep rejecting the intimidation, Mike, but get someone else to start your car...
Suleiman issued the statement hours after two rockets struck near the presidential compound in Baabda, southeast of the Lebanese capital, Beirut. It was the second time in two months that rockets have been fired in the area amid tensions related to the civil war in neighboring Syria.

“Repeated rocket messages, regardless of the sender or the target ... cannot alter national principles or convictions that are expressed freely and sincerely,” the president said in the statement issued by his office.

The statement did not say whom officials believed were behind the attack Thursday night. The assault came the same day that Suleiman gave a speech criticising the involvement of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in Syria’s conflict in supporting forces loyal to embattled President Bashar Al Assad. In his speech marking Army Day on Thursday, Suleiman suggested Hezbollah’s weapons be folded into that of the national Lebanese army. The president said that “resistance weapons have trespassed the Lebanese border,” in a reference to Hezbollah.

The rare criticism by Suleiman, a Maronite Catholic, angered Hezbollah and its allies. A pro-Hezbollah newspaper put a picture of Suleiman on its front page Friday with a bold-headlined single word: “Irhal,” Arabic for leave.

It was not clear who fired the two rockets near the presidential compound.
No earthly idea, nope, nope...
Scores of troops and policemen scoured the perimeter around the presidential palace on Friday in search of clues. A Lebanese army statement said one of the rockets struck the front yard of a private villa, while the other hit in Yarzeh district near the palace. There were no casualties.
Posted by: Steve White || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [18 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
Ouch!: Hillary Clinton Adviser Reportedly Went Berserk At Anthony Weiner
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Had a slap fight, did they?
Posted by: badanov || 08/03/2013 0:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Wapo article at link sez he's a "famously boyish bachelor". The meter sez..... well, you have a look.

Klik here for June 12, 2011 Wapo article on Reines.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/03/2013 3:32 Comments || Top||

#3  a "sword fight", Bad
Posted by: Frank G on the road || 08/03/2013 12:07 Comments || Top||

#4  the secretary of state arrived with confidant Huma Abedin.

Huma didn't take the name "Weiner?"
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/03/2013 16:12 Comments || Top||

#5  Umm, Mr. Reines? Pulling out Weiner's throat isn't the way to hurt him.

Just sayin' ....
Posted by: Barbara || 08/03/2013 16:23 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Male feminist takes a hiatus
I caught a glimpse of this at Ace's place, and now I am sorry I did. What a mess. Anyway, the male feminist, Hugo Schwyzer, a professor of wimynz studies at a California college is taking a hiatus from writing about feminism because it was found out he changed the sequence of the events of his redemption, and failed to note several instances of abuse of students, etc. As I said, a mess. It's all fiskable, but there's a lot of material:

From TFA:

I wrote nearly two weeks ago that I'd be taking a break from online writing. I intend to continue to do so. I want to be a bit more specific as to why.

For one, the toxicity of take-down culture is exhausting and dispiriting. The cheapest and easiest tweets and articles to compose are snarky and clever dismantlings of what someone else has worked hard to create. The defenders of this culture of fierceness call it intellectual honesty, but it is an honesty too often edged in cruelty. I'll admit It: I'm a most imperfect man. I have an absolutely dreadful past, one for which I continue to make quiet amends. I'm also frequently a smug and sloppy writer. But despite that past and my glib prose, I don't think I'm wrong that when it comes to a concerted effort to drive me off the internet, I've been more sinned against than sinning.
When you want to really talk about sinning, you should come to Jesus. Feminism is not about redemption. Only Christ is about that.
So I'm done. I surrender the field to the critics who wanted me gone from feminist spaces.
Spoken like a true feminist.
Secondly, my family and I have been through a very difficult time as late, the details of which are saved for close friends but which are linked to this internet business. Contrary to rumors, I have kept my sobriety but it has been a near run thing. My fragile mental health and my relationship with my wife and children must take first priority.
Not enough apple jack, then?
I'm not "flouncing." I'm not mad. I'm sad and hurt by a culture in which what we can say online is policed by clever cynicism masquerading as progressive outrage. I've tried for ten years and I've had a little success and a lot of failure and made many wonderful friends. I wish you all well.
Flouncing? The NBA calls it flopping. The military and others call it dogging it. You chose your friends, Hugo, poorly, as it turned out, and for what?
And perhaps, in a long time, in a different capacity, I'll be back to a public life.
Lock up da pills and da wimminzez!
UPDATE: Perhaps ill-advisedly, I did an interview with Kat Stoeffel at New York Mag yesterday. She captured my words almost verbatim, and as self-absorbed and tone-deaf as they may come across in spots, it's an accurate interview with which I can have no complaints. The unflattering portrayal is my doing, not Kat's.
I didn't read the interview because of all the other stupid bullsh*t. But here is the interview.
As a personal update and partial explanation, I am out of the hospital after a psychiatric hold and I'm on a cluster of drugs that affect my mood, my judgment, and my capacity to engage. While I stand by the interview, those drugs (including heavy doses of Lithium, Klonopin and so forth) played a part in the poor way I framed things. Nonetheless, I take full responsibility for every word I said, save for the unkind remark about XoJane publisher Jane Pratt. I'd also like to clarify that the Good Men Project has changed substantially since Tom Matlack left, and has become a more feminist-friendly site than when I was forced out.
Translation: I was drunk. I didn't know what I was doing.
Through all this public career, I have carefully (or not so) concealed a serious mental illness that has once again come to the fore. If nothing else, I ask for prayers for my wife Eira, my daughter Heloise, and my son David. They are innocents in this story.
Dude, you are part of a movement that is against you because you are male. The pillz don't take the edge off that; they intensify the problems you have. You're in the wrong place to begin with. Leaving is prolly the first smart thing have have done with relation to feminism.
Also, this.

And I will be doing no more interviews. I'm gone.
This link summarizes the problems Hugo has had with getting laid feminists.
Posted by: badanov || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
'My fragile mental health"

"self-absorbed and tone-deaf"

" I am out of the hospital after a psychiatric hold and I'm on a cluster of drugs that affect my mood, my judgment, and my capacity to engage."

"those drugs (including heavy doses of Lithium, Klonopin and so forth"

"I have carefully (or not so) concealed a serious mental illness"

Yet through all this he still feels confident enough to lecture me and everyone else on how to live life and relate to other people especially wymynz? What a maroon.
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 08/03/2013 9:13 Comments || Top||

#2  How about the rest of the womyns program faculty take a year long (or longer) sabbatical in Saudi Arabia.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/03/2013 9:44 Comments || Top||

#3  This clown, this bag of medicated myopic mopery, is too pathetic to fisk.

It'd be like shooting a fawn, and I'm not the Wisconsin DNR.

Snark of the week, moderator division.
Posted by: Pappy || 08/03/2013 10:12 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Muslim prayer leader charged with indecent assault:
A Muslim prayer leader charged with touching the breasts of two teenagers and a grandmother on the beach believes he is the victim of a misunderstanding. Ahmed Alkahly, a 59-year-old Egyptian who is a well-known qari, or prayer reciter, in his homeland, is visiting Sydney to lead evening prayers at the Dee Why Masjid mosque during the month of Ramadan.

Police allege that, in two separate incidents on Wednesday, he approached a 16-year-old girl and a 57-year-old grandmother, who was pushing her grandson in a carriage, and indecently assaulted them by touching their breasts on Dee Why Beach. Both victims called the police, and Alkahly was found nearby minutes later and arrested.

However, Alkahly's Sydney-based son said it was all the result of a misunderstanding and his father, who does not speak English, is so embarrassed and distressed by the arrest that he has almost had a nervous breakdown.

He said the incidents arose when people on the beach asked to have their photos taken with his father, who was wearing exotic Egyptian Islamic dress.
"Since I'm not praying at the moment, I may as well walk down to the beach in my exotic costume and pose for some photos with the local infidel babes."
Alkahly came into contact with one of the women when her dog started barking and gnarling at him, said the son, adding, "I'm so depressed, I can't talk."

Usamah Alamudi, a spokesman for Dee Why Masjid, said Alkahly was simply showing "love and compassion" but had not understood the cultural differences between Australia and Egypt.
I think in Egypt a strange cleric touching a woman's private parts is even less acceptable than in Australia, where it is not acceotable at all.
Alamudi said, "He's very distressed. He's been crying. He's a good man."

The mosque released a short statement on its website advising people not to send abusive emails. The statement said, "In relation to recent alleged assault charges against a temporary visitor connected to Dee Why Mosque, we would like to inform the public that he is NOT the imam of Dee Why Mosque nor he is directly employed by us. Please refrain from sending abusive emails to Dee Why Mosque's imam as he has nothing to do with this."
Posted by: ryuge || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I think this belongs under WoT.

How the F... does not speaking English evolve into boob attacks?

Can I now show "love & compassion" for all Muzzie chicks by fondling them?
Posted by: AlanC || 08/03/2013 8:05 Comments || Top||

#2  "Allah ! Look at all this uncovered cat meat!"
Posted by: Frank G on the road || 08/03/2013 11:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Allah erectbar!
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 08/03/2013 17:29 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Minor league baseball team salutes Anthony Weiner with $1 hot dog night
[MYFOXDC] They say there's no such thing as bad publicity.

So maybe New York's Anthony Carlos Danger Weiner
...aka Hot Dog Tony, the remarkably offensive sex maniac six-term New York congressman who resigned in 2011, then decided everybody had forgotten by 2013, when he decided to run for mayor of New York City...
has a future in Virginia.

The Richmond Flying Squirrels, a minor league baseball team, held a "Salute to Scandal" night during which they sold $1 hot dogs to poke fun at the mayoral candidate with a sexting problem.

"I may move to New York so I can vote for Anthony Weiner," said a fan.

"We have 70's night, 80's night, movie night, sitcom night. Tonight is scandal night where we're just saying look at what these people have done and hope we get some chuckles along the way," said Todd "Parney" Parnell, the CEO of the Richmond Flying Squirrels.
Posted by: Fred || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Getting some value out of a bad joke. I do wonder if Weiner is a red herring, or if he's an idiot to think New Yorkers are idiots, or if he's right and New Yorkers really are idiots.
Posted by: Glenmore || 08/03/2013 10:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Anthony Weiner, with apologies to Winston Churchill: a ridiculous, unwrapped in a mystery, inside a fishbowl and yet, somehow, still a somewhat viable candidate.

If we have not yet reached bottom, we must surely be close...(?)

Posted by: Uncle Phester || 08/03/2013 11:45 Comments || Top||

#3  I do wonder if Weiner is a red herring,

Yep he's made to make us(US) forget about Bengazi, is it working?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 08/03/2013 21:16 Comments || Top||

#4  Unfortunately, it appears to be Door #3, Glenmore. :-(
Posted by: Barbara || 08/03/2013 22:21 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Photo shows pair kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf still alive
A photograph of two Malaysian cousins kidnapped by Filipino gunmen in Lahad Datu in November has surfaced, raising hopes that the two hostages are still alive. A photograph of Chong Wei Fei and Chong Wei Jie was delivered by a contact to the press via email on Thursday. In the photograph, the two Chongs are seeing holding up a sign saying "March 7, 2013" as the kidnappers have guns trained on them.

A source said, "The two hostages are asking why nobody has come to help release them. They are suffering from diabetes and hypertension." According to the source, the hostages have been regularly moved from one hideout to another on Jolo island, in the southern Philippines since their abduction more than eight months ago.

Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib recently said that police knew both abductees were alive and wanted to re-establish contact that was disrupted in the wake of the Sulu armed group intrusion in February. Saying that it was vital to re-establish communications with the abductors, he said they were waiting for their next demand.

It is believed that the gunmen had agreed on a price as ransom prior to the Sulu incursion but negotiations were abandoned when Malaysian troops launched a massive operation to flush out the Sulu armed group from Sabah soil.
Posted by: ryuge || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [10 views] Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf


Africa North
Tunisia mounts ‘huge’ anti-militant operation
Tunisian forces launched a land and air operation on Friday against militants near the Algerian border, the military said, as Tunis battled a crisis sparked by a political slaying.

“A huge operation, with ground and air units, was launched at dawn to clean up the (Chaambi) mountain” area, armed forces spokesman Taoufik Rahmouni told Mosaique FM radio.

He said the assault was mounted after clashes on Thursday night between soldiers and “a terrorist group”.

“We have not killed or arrested any terrorists” to date, he said, without giving a number for the hunted militants.

A military source on the ground earlier told AFP “the terrorist group is surrounded” in the Mount Chaambi area where eight Tunisian soldiers were slain this week. He said helicopters had carried out air strikes.

“Either they give themselves up or they will be killed,” he told AFP.

He said the attack took place around 16 kilometres from the town of Kasserine, near Mount Chaambi, where the soldiers were found on Monday with their throats cut after an ambush by militants.

Mosaique FM said the raids were aimed at destroying militant hideouts. The explosions could be heard in Kasserine.

Tunisian troops have intensified their hunt for gunmen in Mount Chaambi since the spring, after several members of the security forces were killed or wounded by explosive devices.

A military source also said on Friday that a group of Salafists, a hardline branch of Sunni Islam, were arrested in a Kasserine mosque.

This week’s gruesome attack on soldiers has prompted the army in neighbouring Algeria to reinforce its presence along the border.
Posted by: Steve White || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [9 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Culture Wars
Boston Globe sold for $70 million
Owner of the Boston Red Sox buys the Globe for less than 10 percent of what the NY Times paid ten years ago. Times keeps the unfunded pension liabilities. As I commented before, the purchase of the Globe would be worth it if you could strip out the assets and sell them. Otherwise, it's a bad deal.

From TFA:
The Boston Globe, one of the most prestigious US newspapers,
...hah...
is being sold for a fraction of what it was worth 20 years ago.

The New York Times company bought it for $1.1bn (£700m) in 1993 but has now agreed to sell it for $70m.

Like many US newspapers, the Globe has been hit by a slump in advertising revenue with circulation declining.

The buyer is John W Henry, the main owner of the Boston Red Sox baseball team and Liverpool Football Club.
So he has money to burn...
In a statement in the Globe, Mr Henry praised the paper's journalistic pedigree: "The Boston Globe's award-winning journalism as well as its rich history and tradition of excellence have established it as one of the most well-respected media companies in the country."

Mr Henry, 63, estimated by Forbes to be worth $1.5bn, made his fortune from financial investments.
Posted by: badanov || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Paid $69.999M too much if they didn't throw in the real estate it occupies.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/03/2013 9:37 Comments || Top||

#2  2013: "Mr Henry, 63, estimated by Forbes to be worth $1.5bn, made his fortune from financial investments."

2020: "Mr Henry, 70, estimated by Forbes to be worth $0.25bn, made his fortune from financial investments. He is highly regarded among the Boston elite"
Posted by: Frank G on the road || 08/03/2013 9:40 Comments || Top||

#3  He is highly regarded among the Boston elite
That explains the lack of outcry by the progs. He's one of theirs.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 08/03/2013 10:32 Comments || Top||

#4  NYT loses money on every investment, but they make up for it in volume - liberal wisdom
Posted by: Frank G on the road || 08/03/2013 11:09 Comments || Top||

#5  ...ah, yes, the Detroit strategy. Spend billions on 'reviving' downtown. How'd that work out?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/03/2013 11:27 Comments || Top||

#6  Instapundit says:
KEEP THIS IN MIND WHEN THEY OPINE ON THE ECONOMY: New York Times Sells Boston Globe For $70 Million; Bought It For $1.1 Billion.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/03/2013 12:45 Comments || Top||

#7  I think he's just buying the land & building; Globe's been losing $ for over a decade now.
Posted by: Raj || 08/03/2013 13:13 Comments || Top||

#8  Whatever someone paid it was too much
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/03/2013 14:13 Comments || Top||

#9  I cannot believe they paid anything considering Elvis Globos pension liability

Are the Sox buying more slobbering coverage from the jock sniffers?

No need. When the Sox dropped Toto (the guy who won two series) be leaked marriage and pain killer issues about him. Reported where? Guess.
Posted by: regular joe || 08/03/2013 15:50 Comments || Top||

#10  Elvis = El and Toto = Tito...
Posted by: regular joe || 08/03/2013 15:53 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
Seattle officials call for ban on 'potentially offensive' language
[FOXNEWS] Government workers in the city of Seattle have been advised that the terms "citizen" and "brown bag" are potentially offensive and may no longer be used in official documents and discussions.

KOMO-TV reports that the city's Office of Civil Rights instructed city workers in a recent internal memo to avoid using the words because some may find them offensive.

"Luckily, we've got options," Elliott Bronstein of the Office for Civil Rights wrote in the memo obtained by the station. "For 'citizens,' how about 'residents?'"

In an interview with Seattle's KIRO Radio, Bronstein said the term "brown bag" has been used historically as a way to judge skin color.

"For a lot of particularly African-American community members, the phrase brown bag does bring up associations with the past when a brown bag was actually used, I understand, to determine if people's skin color was light enough to allow admission to an event or to come into a party that was being held in a private home," Bronstein said.

According to the memo, city employees should use the terms "lunch-and-learn" or "sack lunch" instead of "brown bag."

Bronstein told KIRO Radio the word "citizen" should be avoided because many people who live in Seattle are residents, not citizens.
Posted by: Fred || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How very Russian of them.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/03/2013 2:54 Comments || Top||

#2  A lot of Seattle officials persons seem to have more time on their hands than previously known about.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/03/2013 3:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Not according to Merriam-Webster.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/03/2013 4:01 Comments || Top||

#4  Where do they get this shi+? Or do they just make it up?
Posted by: gorb || 08/03/2013 9:44 Comments || Top||

#5  Shouldn't they be banning offensive levels of taxation?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/03/2013 12:32 Comments || Top||

#6  1. Remember like the clowns in Detroit, the voters put these people into office.

2. If we're not 'citizens' we don't owe each other anything - that includes the pledge not only of resources, but of life and liberty. Don't call on citizens elsewhere to risk theirs to save yours.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/03/2013 12:48 Comments || Top||

#7  I find the name Elliott offensive and insensitive let's use the neutrality descriptive word idiot as in Idiot Brownstein k?
Posted by: regular joe || 08/03/2013 16:00 Comments || Top||

#8  So "residents" is goodspeak now?
Posted by: gorb || 08/03/2013 17:36 Comments || Top||

#9  So it's still too soon for serf, peon, or peasant?
Posted by: Cromert || 08/03/2013 19:27 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Short Round steps aside
Vilified abroad for his blistering attacks against the West, blamed at home for Iran’s economic woes and isolated from the supreme leader who groomed him for power, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad leaves the presidency with few friends and an uncertain future.

Iranians elected his opposite - a mild-mannered, moderate member of the clerical establishment - to replace him, doubtless hoping for better times than they endured for eight years under the caustic hardline outsider.
His successor is just as committed to exterminating the Joooz; he's just more quiet about it...
Ahmadinejad’s abrasive rhetoric made him an easy target for Iran’s opponents abroad, and the collapse of the economy under the weight of international sanctions and domestic mismanagement made him a magnet for blame at home.

But those hoping for a rapid improvement in the quality of life, swift rapprochement with the West or more transparency in the way Iran is ruled may soon find that its problems go deeper than the small man with the scruffy beard and ill-fitting suits.

Since his shock election victory in 2005, Ahmadinejad rose from near total obscurity to become the most visible actor on the Iranian stage, on the way pulling through a disputed re-election victory that rocked the nation to its core.

His final speech as president on Friday was vintage Ahmadinejad: “I swear to God that a ferocious storm is coming and it will uproot the Zionist entity,” he declared on Quds Day, an annual event devoted to opposing Israeli rule over Jerusalem.

Mocked by progressive Iranians, he created a cult following among traditionalists and the working classes through his charisma, simple lifestyle and populist beliefs.

His name gives three times as many results in a Google search as that of his former sponsor, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s most powerful man.

But history, whether written at home or abroad, is unlikely to be kind. Within hours of the election victory of moderate cleric Hassan Rohani, thousands of people gathered outside Rohani’s headquarters and across the city to celebrate, shouting out “Ahmadi bye bye”.

“He is unlikely to exit the political scene gracefully, for grace has hardly been a hallmark of his eight years in office and is unlikely to be an adjective applied to the good doctor in the future,” said New York-based Iranian-American author Hooman Majd who has met Ahmadinejad on several occasions.

On the international stage, he has shocked the Western world with his rhetoric, often during his annual appearances at the United Nations General Assembly, which have caused mass walkouts and public demonstrations.

Relishing the opportunity to discomfit Iran’s detractors, he has alleged the US government was behind the 9/11 attacks, denied homosexuality exists in Iran and lambasted Western leaders for being played by “deceitful Zionists”.

“The president’s irresponsible rhetoric on Israel, the Holocaust and other issues has deepened Iran’s international isolation,” said Shaul Bakhash, professor of history at George Mason University in Virginia.

Ahmadinejad was groomed by Khamenei to take on the reformist movement - those advocating more social and political freedoms. His devout religious views, his common touch, his accessibility to young Iranians and connections to the military were assets.

His fans glorified him as a humble servant who shunned the trappings of power. Ahmadinejad, so the story goes, refused the presidential salary and went to work with a packed lunch.

“He wants to leave a legacy where he was the guy breaking the stranglehold of the mullahs,” said Majd. “He believes an elected president should be allowed to govern. That’s quite a popular sentiment among Iranians.”

But ultimately he overplayed the hand his mandate gave him, leading to a direct confrontation with Khamenei. The feud erupted in 2011 when Ahmadinejad sacked the intelligence minister but the supreme leader reinstated him.

Khamenei loyalists accused Ahmadinejad and his advisors of seeking to erode clerical authority - activity denounced as a “deviant current”. He was frozen out of decision-making and threatened with impeachment. In March last year he became the first president in the history of the Islamic Republic to be summoned by parliament for a grilling on his policies.

High oil prices meant that Iran enjoyed record revenues during Ahmadinejad’s two terms. But the economy nevertheless faltered because of mismanagement, and ultimately crumbled under embargoes imposed in 2012 by the United States and European Union, which cut oil exports in half.

Dependent on oil to earn hard currency, Iran saw the rial fall and inflation soar, to 35 per cent according to official figures, by some estimates double that.

“Ahmadinejad’s erratic stewardship has left the Iranian economy in a shambles. His courage in taking the bull of subsidies by the horns will be lauded, while its poor implementation will be deplored,” said Yasmin Alem, of the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center.

Ahmadinejad’s reformist predecessor Mohamed Khatami had suspended uranium enrichment, a chemical process that can be used to make material for an atomic bomb.

Iran restarted enrichment within weeks of Ahmadinejad taking office in 2005, and has since maintained a “no compromise” stance.
Posted by: Steve White || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [13 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Muttahida man among five shot dead in city
[Dawn] A police sub-inspector, a head constable and a senior Muttahida Qaumi Movement
...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead...
worker were among the five people rubbed out in the city on Thursday, police and party sources said.

Korangi Industrial Area police said SI Ashfaq Ahmed, 49, was posted at the SP-Landhi office located at Drigh Road. He left his home in Landhi's D-4 Area in his car. When he reached near the Brooks roundabout, two men riding a cycle of violence intercepted him.

The police said initially a scuffle broke out between them and the officer hit one of the suspects with his own helmet. However,
a hangover is the wrath of grapes...
the suspect's other accomplice opened fire on the police officer. SI Ahmed, father of five, sustained three bullet wounds and was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where doctors pronounced him dead
He's dead, Jim!

"The murder appears to be a assassination," said KIA police officer Omer Hayat. He said if it were a robbery attempt, the suspects would have taken away Rs85,000 and two cellphones of the police officer.

In another incident, a head constable was rubbed out and an assistant sub-inspector maimed in an attack on a police van in Sohrab Goth, officials said.

They said HC Muhammad Qasim Korai, 44, and ASI Muhammad Pervez, 40, were patrolling in a mobile van in Aqa Khel Basti near Ahsanabad when two gunnies on a cycle of violence rode in front of the van, opened fire on both police officials sitting in the front seat and fled.

HC Korai was hit by two bullets in the chest and face and was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead
He's dead, Jim!
on arrival. ASI Pervez was shifted to the PN Shifa hospital for treatment.

The police said only the two officials were travelling in the mobile van.

Mr Korai, originally hailing from Moro taluka, lived in Khamiso Goth here. Mr Pervez, belonging to Hazara division, lived in Faqira Goth.

DIG-East Captain Tahir Naveed said the police were investigating about the possible motive and identity of the suspects involved in the incident. He said the condition of the maimed ASI was out of danger.

The SP in charge of Gadap, Mohammad Khalid Khan, told Dawn that Aqa Khel rustics hailing from Afghanistan were known as sympathisers of the Taliban had often attacked police in the area.

A senior worker of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement was rubbed out in Jodia Bazaar and two passersby, including a boy, were killed in the subsequent violence, the Kharadar police said. Four passersby also received bullet injuries in the violence, said Kharadar SHO Azam Khan.

"Shakeel aka Shikku was allegedly targeted by Lyari
...one of the eighteen constituent towns of the city of Karachi. It is the smallest town by area in the city but also the most densely populated. Lyari has few schools, substandard hospitals, a poor water system, limited infrastructure, and broken roads. It is a stronghold of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. Ubiquitous gang activity and a thriving narcotics industry make Lyari one of the most disturbed places in Karachi, which is really saying a lot....
gangsters," said the SDPO of Kharadar, Iftikhar Lodhi.

"The victim lived in Dubai and had come here around a week ago after the death of his father, Israr," Lodhi said. "Shakeel was distributing chits for Fitra at his late father's office on the ground floor of Hasan Centre in Jodia Bazaar when gunnies who came on foot attacked and killed him."

The police officer said that friends who took Shakeel to a hospital in a trader's hi-roof van allegedly resorted to firing ostensibly to force closure of the bazaar and clear the way for them in the densely populated locality.

As a result, a donkey-cart rider sustained a bullet wound in his neck.

Mr Lodhi said Shakeel was a unit-in-charge of the MQM in Jodia Bazaar.

The SHO said that following the killing, gunnies resorted to firing in Jodia Bazaar and Boulton Market, resulting in bullet wounds to six passersby. The maimed were taken to the Civil Hospital Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
, where one of them, identified as Sohail Amin, died. The SHO said Amin has gone to the bazaar to make some purchases. He said a 16-year-old Afghan boy also died in the firing. The boy's identity could not be ascertained immediately. The maimed persons were identified as Shoaib, Waqar, Shahid and Hameed.

"There was a political rivalry between the MQM and the banned Peoples Amn Committee in the area," said the Kharadar SHO. Besides, PAC men and Shakeel had fought over some personal matter last year, added Azam Khan.An MQM spokesperson said that 10 to 12 suspects resorted to indiscriminate firing, resulting in the instant death of Shakeel, MQM's joint unit chief of the Ranchhore Line sector's unit 3-B, while another MQM activist, Shoaib, was maimed.

The spokesperson said the suspects also fired and killed a party supporter in Kharadar.

He said that during the previous 24 hours their five workers and supporters were killed in Ranchhore Line, Jodia Bazaar, New Karachi and Gulistan-e-Jauhar. "It shows that the MQM workers are being targeted under an organised plan," said the spokesperson. The party urged the interior minister, Sindh governor and chief minister to take notice of the killings.MQM chief Altaf Hussain condemned Shakeel's killing.
Posted by: Fred || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [13 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
Puntland ‘suspends cooperation’ with Federal Government
Theirs, not ours...
GAROWE, Somalia -- Puntland government in northern Somalia has suspended cooperation with the Somali Federal Government in Mogadishu until the country’s constitution is restored, Garowe Online reports. Puntland President Abdirahman Farole said that Puntland was founded in 1998 to establish law and order in the territory and to help establish a federal system of government for Somalia.

“If Puntland had existed as it does today in 1991 when Mogadishu collapsed, then Puntland would not have collapsed. This is among the benefits of federalism,” President Farole said.

The Puntland leader spoke at length about the process to establish the Federal Government in Mogadishu, noting the sacrifices of life and limb made to ensure that Somalia had a functioning national government.

“However, the federal constitution is the fundamental thing that keeps Somalia together. Without the constitution, Puntland is not married to Mogadishu; Puntland is only married to its state constitution,” President Farole declared, to the crowd’s applause.

He criticized the Federal Government for failing to print new Somali Shilling currency and to help Somali markets recover, despite Puntland’s repeated appeals and the March 11 agreement signed in Garowe between President Farole and Somali Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon.

President Farole condemned Somali federal officials for preventing Sudanese scholarships for Puntland students, saying: “Do they [Federal Government] expect us to travel to Mogadishu so Sudanese scholarships can be distributed? What era are we in? Who do they think we are?” he asked to the crowd’s applause.

“Puntland educational certificates do not require Mogadishu’s stamp of approval. If anything, Puntland should approve Mogadishu’s educational certificates, because Puntland has a unified curriculum, functioning institutions, standardized examinations, and an educational policy,” said President Farole.
They're rather acting like a country...
Continuing, he said: “Puntland will suspend all cooperation and relations with Somali Federal Government until the country’s genuine federal constitution is restored. Puntland does not recognize the tampered constitution the Federal Government now uses and Puntland does not recognize any law passed by Federal Parliament using the tampered constitution. Puntland considers the tampered constitution as Mogadishu regional government's constitution, not Somalia's federal constitution.”

President Farole declared that Puntland “will attend the New Deal conference in Brussels in September only with its own name, status and will speak on its own behalf. No entity will represent Puntland except Puntland government,” he added.
Posted by: Steve White || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Yemen's rival soldiers clash: 2 dead, 6 maimed
Yemeni Presidential Guards intervened in the disbanded Republican Guards holding a rally to protest the government not paying them Ramadan bonuses, Anadolu agency reported. Two Yemeni soldiers were reported dead along with 6 injured as Yemeni Presidential Guards and disbanded Republican Guards clashed in Yemeni capital of Sana'a.

Security forces told Anadolu Agency that Yemeni Presidential Guards intervened to disperse hundreds of soldiers of the Republican Guards holding a rally to protest the government not paying them Ramadan bonuses.
Live on Pay-per-View! The Presidential Guards versus the Republican Guards!
At the clash that broke out during the intervention, 2 Yemeni soldiers were killed while 6 others were injured. The Presidential Guards used heavy weapons and real bullets to disperse the demonstrators, the sources said.
The Republican Guards used light weapons and fake bullets?
Yemeni Republican Guards loyal to the former President Ali Abdollah Saleh were disbanded and the soldiers of the troop began serving in other military units.
Posted by: Steve White || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [12 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
HRW warns Egypt against ending sit-ins by force
An international human rights group has warned Egypt’s new interim leadership against ending sit-ins by loyalists of ousted president by force, saying all measures must be taken to avert a “bloodbath.”
Unless the Brüderbünd stages it. Then it's only 'regrettable'...
The statement by Human Rights Watch came as Mohammed Mursi’s followers called for new mass rallies across the country on Friday in defiance of a government order to disband.

Nadim Houry from the New York-based group says Egyptian authorities need to “avoid another bloodbath” and “ensure the ongoing right of protesters to assemble peacefully.”

Egypt’s military deposed Mursi on July 3, following days of demonstrations by millions who rallied against him and the rule of his Muslim Brotherhood. Many say Mursi’s one-year rule was rampant with political failures and focused on concentrating power in the hands of his Islamist group.
Posted by: Steve White || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Haven't you heard---it's not a coup? So shut up!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/03/2013 6:03 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Bob Filner's 9th accuser comes forward
[POLITICO] A ninth woman came has accused San Diego Mayor Bob Filner of sexual harassment, according to a report out Thursday.

Emily Gilbert told Fox 5 San Diego that the 70-year-old Democrat harassed her at a fundraiser where she was hired to sing in December.

"He grabbed me a little too tight, then proceeded to slide his hand down my arm and then did a little grab on my derriere," Gilbert said. "I didn't want to make a scene there were kids around."

She told Fox 5 she tried to laugh it off, but was embarrassed by the crude behavior.

Gilbert's husband said he felt helpless at the time.
"What was I going to do, he's the mayor," said Jason Gilbert.
Punch his lights out?
He called on the mayor to resign and donate to a causes that help women.

"We don't want any money, but we think the mayor should make a donation to a woman's cause," Jason Gilbert said. "Actions speak louder then words. He needs to resign."
Mr. Gilbert is a Nancy-boy.
He's a Democrat.
Posted by: Fred || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Tomorrows Headline:

San Diego Mayor Bob Filner Hires William J. Clinton As Advisor on Sexual Harassment Charges

/sarc off
Posted by: Graling Turkeyneck3011 || 08/03/2013 11:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Tomorrows Headline: enough Filner accusers for a softball football team
Posted by: Frank G on the road || 08/03/2013 11:53 Comments || Top||

#3  woman sues Filner for feeling left out of sexual advances and therefore being judged on here attractiveness.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/03/2013 15:16 Comments || Top||

#4  Up to 9 now, huh? Doesn't that automatically qualify him for nomination as the Democratic presidential candidate?
Posted by: Iblis || 08/03/2013 16:04 Comments || Top||

#5  Are the donks going to run him off?
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/03/2013 16:09 Comments || Top||

#6  I'd start doing checks of the canyons in Balboa Park.
Posted by: Pappy || 08/03/2013 23:03 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Security beefed up at Central Prison Hyderabad
[Dawn] The entire district police is being deployed at the Central Jail Hyderabad to prevent any attempt of jail breaks.

The move came following the violent jail break in Dera Ismail Khan
... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ...
recently.

Earlier DawnNews had reported that in a communiqué sent to the Sindh government, the interior ministry warned of possible attacks on Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
, Hyderabad and Sukkur prisons.

After receiving the communiqué, IG Sindh prisons Nusrat Mangan gave instructions for stepping up security at all the prisons.

Talking to Dawn.com, SSP Saqib Memon said that there was an intelligence information that Hyderabad jail would be attacked on the pattern of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...

He said the information does not name the group which could possibly be behind the attack.

"Police from the entire district is being mobilised for deployment at the central prison. Also, demand for more reinforcement is being put up to authorities," he further said.

He added that the police deployment was underway for the last two to three hours.

Hyderabad's central prison is a colonial era jail. It is believed that prisoners belonging to banned outfits are lodged here, including Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was awarded capital punishment in the kidnapping and murder case of US journalist Daniel Pearl.

Co-accussed of this case including, Salman Saqib, Fahad Naseem and Sheikh Adil are in Karachi jail.

Sindh IG Prison Nusrat Mangan said that this was an old intelligence report given to the authorities after DI Khan jail break.

"However,
a hangover is the wrath of grapes...
we are in a state of high alert since the last one week," he said.

He said that Karachi, Sukkur, Hyderabad are likely targets for jail break.

Its worth noting that Rangers have arrived at the central prison while there has been a power breakdown in the area for some hours.

The inner and outer premises have already been cordoned off while SSP Hyderabad was also inside the facility. The central prison is located off the National Highway.

It is surrounded by colonies like Mubarak housing society which is a predominantly Ismaili community colony, Sahafi colony, Hur camp, police CIA centre and Baldia cop shoppe. It also faces a multi story hotel as well.

Dozens of heavily-armed Pak Taliban forces of Evil freed nearly 175 inmates, including 35 'high-profile myrmidons', during a brazen overnight attack on the central jail in Dera Ismail Khan on Tuesday.

Similarly in early 2012, snuffies launched and audacious attack on a prison in Bannu, where they freed nearly 400 prisoners.
Posted by: Fred || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [17 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Lock the barn, the horse is gone.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 08/03/2013 8:49 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Britain, Germany close posts in Yemen
Fear of terrorist attacks on Friday prompted Britain and Germany to plan closings of diplomatic outposts in Yemen as London warned its citizens to leave the country, dpa reported.

The British and German embassies are to be shuttered on Sunday and Monday. The move came as the United States issued a worldwide travel alert over terrorist threats and moved to close down 21 diplomatic posts in 17 countries on Sunday and possibly the following days.

The US cautioned its citizens worldwide of the "continued potential" for al-Qaeda and groups allied with the terrorist network to mount attacks. The main threat emanated form the Arabian Peninsula, the US State Department said.

Germany's diplomatic outposts in Yemen were to remain closed on Sunday and Monday out of security concerns, a spokesman for the foreign ministry in Berlin told dpa late Friday. He did not give further details or background.

A spokeswoman in the British Foreign Office said its embassy in the Yemen capital of Sana'a would also be closed on the two days. The official said it was a "precautionary measure."

The British Foreign Office warned British nationals to leave Yemen immediately, amid fears of escalating violence in the country. It warned that Britons who stay in Yemen would unlikely get help in being evacuated if things got worse.

The German Foreign Ministry in Berlin did not change its travel warnings for German citizens, saying security measures were always adapted to the current security situation. "We are in close contacts with our allies," the spokesman said.
Posted by: Steve White || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [12 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
U.N. commissioner wants probe into whether Syrian rebels executed soldiers
[CNN] Syrian opposition forces may have executed as many as 30 people, most of them government soldiers, in rural Aleppo, according to the United Nations
...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly...
, which cited videos of the killings posted on the Internet in July.

U.N High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called the allegations "deeply shocking" and called Friday for an independent investigation into the incident, which appears to have taken place in Khan al-Assal in northern Syria.

"There needs to be a thorough independent investigation to establish whether war crimes have been committed, and those responsible for such crimes should be brought to justice," Pillay said in a statement.

The videos, posted to the Internet between July 22 and 26, show government soldiers being ordered to lie on the ground, bodies being collected by doctors, corpses strewn along a wall and bodies in Khan al-Assal bearing gunshot wounds to the head.

Pillay's office also has information that Syrian rebels are still holding government officers and soldiers prisoner, the statement said.

Reminding opposition forces that all captured or maimed soldiers must be treated in accordance with international law, Pillay said, "Opposition forces should not think they are immune from prosecution. They must adhere to their responsibilities under international law."
Posted by: Fred || 08/03/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [12 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Send him to Syria, let him find out the hard way.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 08/03/2013 8:51 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
39[untagged]
2Hezbollah
2Govt of Pakistan
1Thai Insurgency
1Govt of Syria
1Abu Sayyaf
1Lashkar e-Jhangvi
1Muslim Brotherhood
1Taliban
1al-Qaeda

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

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

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







On Sale now!


A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
Click here for more information

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

Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2013-08-03
  22 Police, 76 Taliban Killed in Afghan Battle
Fri 2013-08-02
  At least 40 killed in Syrian weapons depot blast
Thu 2013-08-01
  Qaida Chief Says Syria Exposed Hizbullah as Iran 'Tool'
Wed 2013-07-31
  Pakistan Elects Mamnoon Hussain President
Tue 2013-07-30
  Manning Acquitted of Aiding the Enemy
Mon 2013-07-29
  US drone kills 6 suspected militants in Yemen
Sun 2013-07-28
  Report: Hizbullah Wired Money To Bulgaria Bomb Suspects
Sat 2013-07-27
  Muslim Brotherhood claims its supporters massacred in Cairo
Fri 2013-07-26
  Officials: Cafe Bombings, Attacks Kill 42 In Iraq
Thu 2013-07-25
  Hezbollah commander killed in Syria
Wed 2013-07-24
  Reports: Top Syrian Army Commander Killed In Battles With Rebels
Tue 2013-07-23
  Report: Egyptian Army Arrests 18 Terrorist Planning Embassy Attacks
Mon 2013-07-22
  Qaida Suspected as Iranian Diplomat Seized in Yemen
Sun 2013-07-21
  At Least 32 Killed In Baghdad Car Bombings

Better than the average link...



Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
18.216.100.58
Paypal:
WoT Background (11)    Non-WoT (15)    Opinion (3)    (0)    Politix (6)