Washington DC - After months of growing trade tensions between the US and China leading to an impending global recession, along with mounting strife in China's Hong Kong province prompting dissidents to wave American flags, US President Donald Trump has negotiated quite possibly the biggest deal of his life.
The US will trade the entire state of California for Hong Kong in a flat exchange.
"Basically everyone in California wants to be commies and Hong Kong wants to be American, so we did what we call a win-win-win and traded the two in a tremendous deal," Trump said in a press conference announcing the unprecedented deal.
Markets responded with a complete turnaround from recent declines and posted record numbers.
Californians and Hong Kongers were dancing in their respective streets‐Californians happy about the 1-child-only policy and being run by the Communist Party finally!‐and Hong Kong happy about being part of the free world once again.
"This is an amazing day for everyone involved. Everyone should really be happy about this!" Note: Genesuis Times is like Babylon Bee
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Cory Booker on Thursday said he would create a White House office to combat white supremacy and hate crimes if elected, becoming the latest Democratic presidential candidate to call for action after a racially motivated massacre in Texas.
Booker said he would also require the FBI and the Justice Department to allocate the same level of resources and attention to white supremacist-inspired violence as they devote to international terrorism.
The New Jersey senator announced his plan less than two weeks after a gunman in El Paso, Texas, killed 22 people inside a Walmart after posting an anti-immigrant screed online that echoed some of President Donald Trump's heated rhetoric. The attack was among three mass shootings in the span of a week that killed 34 people in all.
The incidents have roiled the presidential race, with Democrats accusing Trump, a Republican, of fomenting hatred while failing to embrace common-sense gun restrictions. Several candidates, including Senator Kamala Harris on Wednesday, have released plans to fight gun violence and white supremacy in the days since the El Paso massacre.
Trump, who has said he is not a racist, has expressed support in the wake of the shooting for "red flag" laws that limit access to guns for dangerous people and a potential expansion of background checks for gun purchases. He has not endorsed any specific legislation.
Last week, at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, where a white supremacist gunned down nine people in 2015, Booker criticized Trump's language while linking the El Paso shooting to the United States' long history of racism.
"To say this is to speak the truth plainly, because with the truth there can be no reconciliation," said Booker, who is African-American.
[Yahoo] JERUSALEM, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Israeli police shot dead a Palestinian driver they said had carried out a car-ramming attack on Friday that injured two Israeli civilians in the occupied West Bank, one of them critically.
Reuters journalists at the scene saw police rolling the body of the driver into a plastic sheet. Palestinian health authorities identified him as a Palestinian national.
An Israeli police spokesman said an officer who had been near the scene opened fire after the attacker rammed his car into people by the roadside near the Israeli settlement of Elazar, close to the Palestinian city of Bethlehem.
Israel's Magen David Adom ambulance service said one of the Israelis, 17, was unresponsive and "in severe condition with multisystem trauma" and that the other, 19, had sustained moderate injuries.
Dozens of Israeli troops and medics were at the scene. The alleged attacker's vehicle, which bore Israeli license plates which allow greater freedom of movement in both Israel and the West Bank, was overturned by the roadside. Police said the attacker had been driving along a road which weaves past Palestinian towns and Israeli settlements.
Posted by: BA ||
08/16/2019
13:33 ||
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[HIVE] Is it possible prosecutors have lost track of Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged co-conspirator in his pedophile ring? For the past few weeks, rumors have circulated that she’s 400 pounds and living in Florida, or that she’s living the high life in London or the Continent, but according to the Washington Post, authorities are having a hard time locating her. Those who know her say that it’s possible she is as much of a Houdini as Epstein. Both of them liked having secrets, and the way those secrets kept people off balance. "Jeffrey always wanted to give the impression that he was an international man of mystery‐’I control everyone and everything, I collect people, I own people, I can damage people,’" says an ex-girlfriend. I tell ya, we've looked everywhere ! As part of Epstein’s original plea deal, negotiated with Alexander Acosta, the others implicated were also given immunity from prosecution, which is partly why victims like Virginia Roberts Giuffre pursued her and others in civil courts. But Epstein’s death has not stopped the current investigation. "We remain committed to standing for you," Geoffrey Berman, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, wrote in a statement after Epstein’s death, "and our investigation of the conduct charged in the Indictment‐which included a conspiracy count‐remains ongoing." There were rumors on Monday afternoon that indictments of five people were imminent. Emphasis added
“A lot more people are killed every day in Syria plus other places.” Prosecutors presented evidence earlier that the bombs were made in the Cambridge, Mass., apartment where Ms. Russell lived with Tamerlan, who was killed in a gun battle with the police, but she has not been identified as a witness for the government or the defense. She did not testify before the grand jury regarding the bombings; her lawyer has said she will not do so without immunity.
She didn't need "immunity" if she ....already had it. How long does one have to stumble over fireworks and pressure cookers in a tiny apartment until something unlawful is suspected. Current location and contact info, unavailable.
[Gateway Pundit] Dr. Wecht, who is a doctor and lawyer, told Kennedy a Montreal study found only 2 of 239 hanging death resulted in a broken Hyoid bone ‐ or less than 1% of those killed.
Top US inmate and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein suffered broken bones in his neck and a broken Hyoid bone that is more common in strangulation deaths.
Wecht added that every prisoner in the MCC on his floor should be questioned about his death.
Earlier today Dr. Mark Siegel told Bulls and Bears on FOX Business Network that the hyoid bone might break in strangulation about one-third to one-half of the time. In suicide, hanging, it might break 6-10% of the time.
#3
Even if it was suicide, it shouldn't have been allowed to happen. MCC blew it. And who are the lawyers to request that Epstein be taken off suicide watch? If authorities had reason to believe that Epstein would attempt it, the lawyers should have had nothing to say about it. That's why it looks like murder.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
08/16/2019 12:01
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#4
In any case, the Clintons will be coming out of hiding now that the "cause" of death is announced. They both have been very quiet and lying low
#5
The man lost:
All of his money.
His island homes.
His freedom.
No one was going to claim to be a friend.
In his mind, nothing left in life.
Suicide.
Until you have been there you would not understand.
The one thing his clients knew and why they associated with him and partook in his nefarious life was they knew their secrets would go to the grave with him. Epstein delivered on that. I doubt the FBI will find any real evidence, any where other than victim "hearsay" testimony.
[Aljazeera] Private contractor Serco reportedly locking asylum seekers out of accommodation in Scottish city, angering campaigners.
Glasgow, Scotland - Signs reading People Make Glasgow may dominate Scotland's largest metropolis, but not every visitor has enjoyed the hospitality of what has often been called a friendly city.
Some 300 asylum seekers who live in apartments - often several people to a room - in some of the most deprived areas of Glasgow are living under the threat of eviction, having been told by the Home Office that they cannot stay in the United Kingdom.
Mourad Khelfane, an Algerian engineer, is among them. He arrived in Britain in 2015 and has spent the better part of two years in the Scottish city.
Months ago, the Home Office declined his application for leave to remain, a move that deprived him of state support.
He soon received a letter warning he would be evicted as part of a lock-changing programme, in which fixtures on doors are being changed to lock asylum seekers out of their accommodation.
These efforts have, according to reports, already made three people homeless.
The letter to Khelfane was signed by Serco, a private company contracted by the British government to provide social housing in Scotland.
"I don't feel good and I can't even sleep," said the 29-year-old, who still lives at his accommodation but worries he too will soon lose his home.
#3
He's not homeless. Algeria is his home. Go there
Posted by: Frank g ||
08/16/2019 8:21
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#4
Not sending home those whose applications are rejected is how Europe has been getting all those Sudden Jihad Syndrome attackers. But if that is what Scotland wants for her citizens...
#5
how wonderfully passive-aggressive. instead of dealing with the problem, change the locks.
then the problem magically becomes the problem of some other bureaucrat.
Posted by: Bob Grorong1136 ||
08/16/2019 8:57
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#6
The Jihadi's living in the European countries are sooner or later, in the process of attacking overseas targets, are going to get an act of reprisal, like a nuke. Collateral damage will be shrugged off as " You tolerated them, it is on you. "
#10
You know in America, you don't pay your property taxes for a couple of years and you too can come home some day and find new locks on the place. Usually installed by a new owner who paid the multiple years past due taxes through a sheriff's sale or court proceedings (multiple years is taken as a abandonment of the property by the courts).
BLUF:
[American Thinker] President Trump has already stated the obvious: China wants him to lose his re-election bid so that a "stiff" from the Democrats will replace him and be a pushover, letting China return to the good old days of rigging trade, deindustrializing the USA, and preparing to replace us a the global hegemon. Frontrunner, Joe Biden, whose son has prospered thanks to Chinese investment in his hedge fund, has already signaled his passivity:
[Washington Examiner] Jeffrey Epstein’s former bodyguard floated his theory that his old boss probably had help with commiting suicide while in federal custody, but was reluctant to talk at length.
"Somebody helped him to do that," former UFC fighter Igor Zinoviev, who was also Epstein’s driver and trainer, told New York Magazine. When pressed why he believed Epstein had help, Zinoviev said, "Listen, you know, that’s going a little too deep."
"I’m not sad. I mean, I didn’t have anything against him, like a bad thing, you know? I don’t care about his life completely," he continued. "I don’t give a, let’s say, like, crap about how he die, how he live, or how he’s managed."
Zinoviev later warned interviewer M.L. Nestel to not put himself in "trouble" after asking him about his earlier claims that Epstein would get phone calls warning him in advance when police were going to visit.
"You said: 'He always do something wrong. There was some nights in question. There was at home arrest and police, before they come to the house, they call him and tell him they coming in at eight o’clock in the morning. It’s all corruption you know. It’s all bullshit,'" Nestel told Zinoviev.
"Listen, don’t put yourself in trouble. Seriously," Zinoviev replied, adding, "Let that go. Seriously. Let that go." He refused to talk about it over the phone any further.
Epstein was found dead in his prison cell at the Manhattan Correctional Center on Saturday. Attorney General William Barr announced that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz will launch an investigation into the circumstances of the accused sex trafficker's alleged suicide.
[Babylon Bee] WASHINGTON, D.C.‐Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar reported Thursday they were bewildered that they got banned from Israel, a country they seem to believe shouldn't exist at all.
"It's racism," said Omar in a press conference. "It's all due to racism. Well, that and a Jewish conspiracy. The Jews are behind this, for sure." (The evidence indicates she's correct on this assertion, a first for her accusations against Jews).
Tlaib agreed, saying she wanted to ask Jews about the Holocaust so she could relax and get a "calming feeling" while she was there.
"It just doesn't make much sense for this country that shouldn't even exist to ban us," she said. "What have we ever said against them, besides suggesting they are terrorists who deserve to be pushed into the sea?"
The women said they now had to change their vacation plans from hanging out with people they hate in a country they hate to somewhere less "Jewy."
[Jpost] Syria’s state media SANA reported on Thursday evening that Syrian air defense confronted targets that had infiltrated Syrian air space from the direction of Leb, heading for Masyaf.
As is usual with Syrian reports about air defense confronting air strikes, SANA claimed that they had downed a hostile missile and "destroyed it" in the skies over Masyaf in the countryside of Hama north of Damascus.
Syria says that the attack began just after 11pm. Other media and commentators picked up the Syrian report, particularly RT in Arabic and some Syria watchers. However there was limited information. Iran’s Press TV reported it also.
An explosion was reportedly heard and an image showed air defenses firing at an alleged missile. A Syrian social media account named Qalaat Al Mudiq blamed Israel.
The area of Masyaf was a target of Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s in April 2019, and July 2018 and September 2017. There are also S-300 sites near Masyaf, given to Syria by Russia in the fall of 2018. The area also allegedly has a chemical weapons facility and military bases as well as Iranian-backed groups.
[Ynet] A 40-year-old policeman was stabbed by two Paleostinians in the Old City of Jerusalem Thursday evening.
One of the attackers was shot and killed by security forces, while the other was severely maimed and evacuated to a hospital.
All entries and exists to the Old City were closed following the attack.
A police statement said that the two Paleostinians were underage, and that one more person who was in the vicinity of the event was maimed in his leg and evacuated to a hospital.
The Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem said that the policeman was stabbed in his upper body and has been sent to further examinations and treatment.
"When we reached the scene, we saw a man who was fully conscious. He had stabbing wounds. We gave him emergency care that included stopping the bleeding and bandaging, and evacuated him to a hospital with light wounds," said Moshe Cordova, and MDA paramedic."
Graphic video footage from the scene showed the two teenagers walk up from behind a group of coppers stationed in the Old City. As they approached, they suddenly pulled out knives and began repeatedly stabbing one of the cops. Other officers at the scene shot up the pair as they were stabbing the victim.
The stabbing attack occurred outside the Old City’s Chain Gate.
[Jpost] North Korea ...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche... fired two unidentified projectiles into the sea off its eastern coast on Friday morning, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
[US News and World Report] ...So far so good, except of course for the mistakes and the delisting problem; one might even say that Google is performing a public service, which is how some people who are familiar with the quarantine list defend it. But I also mentioned that Google somehow blocks people from accessing websites directly through multiple browsers. How on earth could it do that? How could Google block you when you are trying to access a website using Safari, an Apple product, or Firefox, a browser maintained by Mozilla, the self-proclaimed "nonprofit defender of the free and open internet"?
The key here is browsers. No browser maker wants to send you to a malicious website, and because Google has the best blacklist, major browsers such as Safari and Firefox – and Chrome, of course, Google's own browser, as well as browsers that load through Android, Google's mobile operating system – check Google's quarantine list before they send you to a website. (In November 2014, Mozilla announced it will no longer list Google as its default search engine, but it also disclosed that it will continue to rely on Google's quarantine list to screen users' search requests.)
If the site has been quarantined by Google, you see one of those big, scary images that say things like "Get me out of here!" or "Reported attack site!" At this point, given the default security settings on most browsers, most people will find it impossible to visit the site – but who would want to? If the site is not on Google's quarantine list, you are sent on your way.
OK, that explains how Google blocks you even when you're using a non-Google browser, but why do they block you? In other words, how does blocking you feed the ravenous advertising machine – the sine qua non of Google's existence?
Have you figured it out yet? The scam is as simple as it is brilliant: When a browser queries Google's quarantine list, it has just shared information with Google. With Chrome and Android, you are always giving up information to Google, but you are also doing so even if you are using non-Google browsers. That is where the money is – more information about search activity kindly provided by competing browser companies. How much information is shared will depend on the particular deal the browser company has with Google. In a maximum information deal, Google will learn the identity of the user; in a minimum information deal, Google will still learn which websites people want to visit – valuable data when one is in the business of ranking websites. Google can also charge fees for access to its quarantine list, of course, but that's not where the real gold is.
Posted by: 3dc ||
08/16/2019
00:59 ||
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#1
Readers have called my attention to a 10th Google blacklist, which the company applies to its shopping service. In 2012, the shopping service banned the sale of weapons-related items, including some items that could still be sold through AdWords. Google's shopping blacklisting policy, while reasonably banning the sale of counterfeit and copyrighted goods, also includes a catch-all category: Google can ban the sale of any product or service its employees deem to be "offensive or inappropriate." No means of recourse is stated.
#3
Classic monopolistic behavior.
Digital version of 19c robber barons dominating the commerce AND the railroads without which the towns can't survive.
#5
Microsoft was prosecuted for tying, and their behavior stopped.
Why hasn't Google received the same DOJ scrutiny and prosecution that MS did? The EU has prosecuted GOOG successfully again and again, and handed out billions in fines. Why no action against this monopolist in our country?
Could it, possibly, have anything to do with the 250+ White House meetings between GOOG execs and Obama White House officials, or the revolving door between GOOG and the Obama administration, or the board seat and tens of millions of $$ worth of GOOG options showered upon former VP Gore, or ....?
[Teslarati] SpaceX’s next Starhopper flight needs more analysis for FAA go-ahead, says Elon Musk.
According to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, the company’s next major Starhopper flight test is still awaiting FAA approval due to a need for more hazard analysis, presumably required because Starhopper will be traveling much higher than before.
On August 9th, SpaceX completed a routine wet dress rehearsal (WDR) with Starhopper, loading the vehicle with propellant and fluids and replicating a launch countdown up to the point of Raptor ignition. Starhopper remains untethered in a sign that SpaceX doesn’t have plans for a static fire test before the low-fidelity rocket prototype’s next flight milestone. Originally scheduled for August 12th, that milestone – a 200m (650 ft) hop test – has been indefinitely delayed as SpaceX awaits an updated permit from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Paging Senator Shelby...
Posted by: 3dc ||
08/16/2019
00:20 ||
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#1
FAA slow rolling the testing. Govt agency protecting other gov agencies...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/16/2019 11:23
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#2
IIUC, the FAA has issued a NOTAMS for the Starhopper hop for this weekend. The window started 2 hours ago!
[ToloNews] A new report by the Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General has found that the Afghan ground controllers trained by the US and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... cannot appropriately direct airdrops and lack the ability to properly coordinate attack missions by the Afghan Air Force (AAF) and the issue has increased the risk of civilian casualties and fratricide.
The Defense Department Inspector General, in an Aug. 12 report, stated that the Afghans’ inability to coordinate airdrops "increases the risk that Afghan National Defense and Security Forces] units operating in areas without airfields or helicopter landing zones will not receive critical supplies."
Additionally, the inability of air liaison officers to coordinate strikes "could result in an increase in unsuccessful air-to-ground missions, as well as an increased risk of civilian casualties and fratricide," the report said.
But the Afghan Ministry of Defense (MoD) reiterated that the Air Force has grown well and are playing a key role on the battlefields.
"They are in a better position as compared to the past and these forces have been very authentic and accurate in their operations in the battlefields," said MoD front man Rohullah Ahmadzai.
"Most of the times the bombs hit residential areas and people’s houses and also NATO shipments. I think both the Afghan government and donor countries should come up with more seriousness when it comes to the training of the Afghan forces," said MP Daud Kalakani.
Last month, the UN mission in Afghanistan said in a report that civilian casualties caused by the Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s had increased in the first six months of the current year.
During the first six months of 2019, UNAMA attributed 1,397 civilian casualties (717 deaths and 680 injured) to pro-government forces, a 31 percent increase from the corresponding period in 2018.
Pro-government forces caused 37 percent of all civilian casualties in the first half of 2019 (18 percent by Afghan national security forces, 12 percent by International Military Forces, 2 percent by Pro-Government gangs and the remainder to undetermined or multiple pro-government forces).
The report says that UNAMA continues to express concern about the rising level of civilian harm as a result of aerial operations, particularly those conducted in support of Afghan forces on the ground and strikes on civilian structures.
UNAMA attributed 83 percent of the civilian casualties resulting from aerial operations to International Military Forces, nine percent to the Afghan Air Force, and the remaining eight percent to undetermined pro-government forces, the report says.
#2
Never trust them with actual work. Logistics and delivery of munitions. Targeting of their own cousins' dumps. When you rush into a fight you always keep the pashtun ahead of ya'.
#3
Funny thing.... The USAF position in the past was that NCOs, i.e. "not officer pilots", in the Army and Marines also "...cannot appropriately direct airdrops and lack the ability to properly coordinate attack missions..."
[KhaamaPress] The Afghan Special Forces arrested a key Haqqani terrorist network member during an operation in Kabul city.
The Ministry of Interior (MoI) said in a statement that the Special Forces of the Afghan National Police conducted the raid in the 9th district of Kabul.
The statement further added that the detained Haqqani network ...a branch of the Afghan Taliban, based in Pakistain. The network is a family business founded by the later Jalaluddin Haqqani... member has been identified as Sardar Mohammad alias Khalifa Daud.
Furthermore, the interior ministry said Sardar was responsible for facilitating the supply of weapons, munitions and military kits to Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... and other bully boys.
The anti-government armed murderous Moslems including Taliban and Haqqani network have not commented regarding the report so far.
[KhaamaPress] The Afghan forces arrested two prominent group members of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group in eastern Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province.
The Ministry of Interior (MoI) said in a statement that the security forces arrested the two ISIS group members in Bati Kot district.
The statement further added that the security forces also confiscated two Ak-47 assault rifles, a pistol and some munitions.
Furthermore, the interior ministry said one of the detained members of the group has been identified as Abdul Rahman alias Talha.
The interior ministry said Rahman is originally a resident of Bati Kot district and was an expert in manufacturing improvised bombs and suicide kaboom vests.
[KhaamaPress] The security forces conducted a series of Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s in Ghazni, Zabul and 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.. provinces in the past 24 hours to suppress the anti-government armed murderous Moslems.
The military officials said Thursday that airstrikes killed 3 Talibs in Nawa district of Ghazni province.
The officials further added that the airstrikes also destroyed a small cache of weapons.
Furthermore, the officials said an airstrike in Shinka district of Zabul destroyed a Humvee armored personnel carrier which was captured by Taliban ...Arabic for students... The security forces also conducted an airstrike in Hisarak district of Nangarhar which destroyed a communication node used for coordinating attacks.
[KhaamaPress] The Quick Reaction Forces of the Afghan National Police repulsed a Taliban ...Arabic for students... attack in southern Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province killing or wounding at least 9 Talibs.
The Ministry of Interior (MoI) said in a statement that a group of Talibs were looking to launch attacks on security posts in Garamser district.
The statement further added that the Quick Reaction Forces of the Afghan National Police responded to the attack leaving least 6 bad boys.
Furthermore, the interior ministry said the security forces also maimed 3 Talibs during the clash.
The interior ministry also added that the Talibs left the dead body of one of their comrades in the area along with an Ak-47 assault rifle and its munitions.
According to interior, the security forces did not suffer casualties during the clash.
[KhaamaPress] The Afghan police forces thwarted militants bid to detonate an improvised explosive device in Kabul city.
The Kabul Police Headquarters said in a statement that the police forces discovered and defused an improvised explosive device in Company area of the city. The statement further added that the police forces defused the bomb at around 8:15 pm local time on Tuesday.
The anti-government armed militants including Taliban have not commented in this regard so far.
This comes as numerous incidents involving IED and magnetic bomb explosions have taken place in the West of Kabul city during the recent weeks. A magnetic bomb explosion recently killed the commercial director of the Afghan Telecom Company in West of Kabul.
[KhaamaPress] The Afghan Special Forces arrested three Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... sympathizers during an operation in Kabul, the Kabul Police said.
According to a statement released by Kabul Police Headquarters, the Special Forces arrested the operation in Bagrami district of Kabul.
The statement further added that the detained suspects were cooperating with the Taliban group.
Furthermore, the Kabul Police said the Special Forces also confiscated an Ak-47 assault rifle, a shotgun and some munition during the operation.
The Taliban group has not commented in this regard so far.
[KhaamaPress] The security forces killed or maimed at least 16 Talibs during the operations in central Pashtun-infested Logar and south-eastern Ghazni provinces.
The 203rd Thunder Corps said in a statement that the Afghan Special Forces killed 11 Talibs during a raid in Charkh district of Pashtun-infested Logar.
The statement further added that the Special Forces also destroyed two caches of the weapons of Taliban ...Arabic for students... including 40 improvised bombs.
Furthermore, the 203rd Thunder Corps said the Afghan Air Force conducted an Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... in Marwardar area of Qarabagh district in Ghazni which killed 2 Talibs.
The 203rd Thunder Corps also added that the airstrike maimed 3 Talibs adn destroyed 3 motorycles of the bully boys.
The Afghan forces also discovered and defused 7 improvised bombs during the operations in Qarabagh district of Ghazni province.
[KhaamaPress] The security forces have killed two key Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... commanders during a joint operation which they conducted in Faryab province.
The Special Operations Corps said in a statement that the Special Forces conducted a joint operation with the Air Forces in Aliabad Village of Gurziwan district in Faryab.
The statement further added that the security forces killed Esmatullah and Mahboobullah, two key commanders of Taliban during the operation.
Furthermore, the Special Operations Corps said the security forces also killed 13 other bully boyz and maimed 8 more during the same operation.
[KhaamaPress] The Afghan Special Forces destroyed a large depot of the munitions of Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... group during an operation in Pashtun-infested Logar province.
The Special Operations Corps said in a statement that the Special Forces discovered the depot in Charkh district.
The Taliban group has not commented regarding the operation so far.
The security situation in some districts of Pashtun-infested Logar province has tanked during the recent months.
Talibs are active in some districts of the province and often conduct terrorist related activities.
[KhaamaPress] The Afghan Special Forces killed the chief of terror operations of Taliban group during an operation in Logar province.
The Ministry of Defense said in a statement that the Special Forces conducted the operation in Patkhab Village located in the provincial capital of Logar.
The statement further added that the Special Forces killed Mawlavi Qudratullah, the chief of terror operations of Taliban for Logar.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Defense said Mawlavi Qudratullah was mainly involved in terrorist related activities on Highway No.2 of Logar besides having major role in overall terrorist related activities across Logar.
The Ministry of Defense also added that the Special Forces also destroyed an Improvised Explosive Device making facility during the operation.
[Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... ] The security forces conducted Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s and ground operations against Talibs in Wardak and Pashtun-infested Logar killing at least 7 holy warriors.
The 203rd Thunder Corps said in a statement that the security forces killed 6 Talibs in Nerkh district of Wardak province in the past 24 hours.
The statement further added that Mullah Daud alias Ustad and Mullah Saboor alias Zergai were among those killed.
Furthermore, the 203rd Thunder Corps said the security forces killed a Taliban commander Mullah Naqib during an operation in Pul-e-Alam district of Pashtun-infested Logar.
The 203rd Thunder Corps also added that the Taliban commanders killed during the operations were involved in destructive activities in other parts of the country as well.
[The Hill] A federal watchdog alleges that top officials in the State Department's Bureau of International Organization Affairs harassed and mistreated staffers, according to an inspector general report published Thursday.
The report accused officials of engaging in "disrespectful and hostile treatment" of staffers, and alleges that officials harassed some staffers over suspicions that they were "disloyal" to President Trump.
The watchdog found that at least one top career employee was pushed out of her role for inappropriate reasons, while others had their duties stripped from them because of their superiors' political views.
The report claims Kevin Moley, assistant secretary of State for the department’s Bureau of International Organization Affairs, failed to prevent the alleged mistreatment in spite of multiple complaints. The document also cites numerous examples of alleged inappropriate behavior by Mari Stull, who previously was a senior political appointee in the bureau.
The two were accused of having "frequently berated employees, raised their voices, and generally engaged in unprofessional behavior toward staff," according to the report. The IG report also found that Moley and Stull treated employees in a "harsh and aggressive manner," engaged in "disrespectful and hostile treatment," and created a "negative and 'vindictive' environment."
#4
"Raised their voices"? I'd fire the disloyal snowflakes
Posted by: Frank g ||
08/16/2019 8:14
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#5
You want a "harsh and aggressive manner," engagement in "disrespectful and hostile treatment," and the creation of a "negative and 'vindictive' environment"? Transfer them to the bureau for Intelligence and Research (INR).
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
08/16/2019 17:46
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#11
I am extremely encouraged by this. I hope the bureaucrats have a miserable time and take early retirements (I would prefer to see them fired/dragged through the street, but I'll take what I can get).
[KhaamaPress] The security forces conducted a series of Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s in Ghazni, Wardak, Faryab and Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... provinces killing at least 15 Talibs.
The military officials said Wednesday that an airstrike killed 2 Talibs in Nawa district of Ghazni. The airstrike also destroyed a small cache of weapons.
The officials further added that a similar airstrike killed 2 Talibs in Kajaki district of Helmand.
Furthermore, the officials said an airstrike destroyed a small weapons cache and killed a Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... krazed killer in Chak-e Wardak district of Wardak province.
The officials also added that the security forces conducted airstrikes in Gurziwan district of Faryab which killed at least 10 Talibs.
The Taliban group has not commented regarding the airstrikes so far.
[PULSE.NG] House Democrat Ilhan Omar ...Somali-American Dem representative from Minnesota. She is apparently married to her brother and may be her own grandmaw on her mother's side... called Israel's decision Thursday to ban her from visiting the country "chilling," saying it was an "insult to democratic values" to deny entry to sitting members of the US Congress.
#2
In 2012, the US State Department banned Israeli Knesset member Michel Ben Ari from coming into the US and to launch a collaborative project between the Knesset and Congress.
Ben Ari was a nutjob and a bigot but did not support violence nor was he connected any American terror or bigotry groups.
Oman and Tliab are visiting with multiple sponsors, one is Miftah, which has claimed that Jews use the blood of Christians for Passover another is one of the shadows of the PFLP. Moreover, on their itinerary they both indicated that they were only visiting Palestine, not even mentioning Israel.
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/16/2019 1:04
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#3
You don't belong in Congress. You're the insult to Congress, you vile specimen.
#4
Omar is a product of the Hussein Obama regime, which was a product of the post 9/11 MSM and Dem party capitulation to Al Queda and opened the US to immigrants from Somalia, Palestine - Talib, etc, countries that hate Israel and the US.
#5
Pislam is a chilling insult you racist Jew hating freak.
In Minneapolis the Somalis have free (tax payer Dhimmi supplied) housing. For some "culture" reason they literally remove the bathroom toilets. Several city workers have mention their frustration of having to continually replace them.
No fines for the muzzy leeches, no charges, to evictions and where the hell are they pooping?
#7
This babbling mudslime MORON needs to be sent back to her chithole. IT has committed FRAUD, Broken Immigration laws & more lawbreaking. PLUS is a POS in GENERAL!
[DAWN] Three soldiers of the Pakistain Army were martyred in firing by Indian forces from across the Line of Control (LoC), Inter-Services Public Relations Director General Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said on Thursday.
Two civilians were also killed and another injured in Battal sector of Poonch district due to shelling from across the restive LoC, officials said.
In a tweet from his official account, Maj Gen Ghafoor said that the Pakistain armed forces, in a counter-attack, had killed five Indian soldiers and injured several others while bunkers were also damaged.
"Intermittent exchange of fire continues," he wrote.
[SunStar] A Philippine soldier, a militiaman and a toddler were killed in an Abu Sayyaf attack while the Muslim community was observing Eid'l Adha on Monday. The soldier and militiaman were aboard a motorcycle when they were attacked at on Monday morning in the village of Kagay in Talipao, Sulu. They died instantaneously.
Two children, two-year-old Salma Abdukalim Sahisa and 11-year-old Darna Abdukalim Sahisa, were also injured in the incident. Salma passed away while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Jolo. Military spokesman John Encinas said the two children were playing by the roadside when the ambush occurred. They were hit by stray bullets.
Encinas said both the soldier and militiaman were unarmed.
Posted by: ryuge ||
08/16/2019
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[Jpost] Israel will not allow US Congresswomen Ilhan Omar ...Somali-American Dem representative from Minnesota. She is apparently married to her brother and may be her own grandmaw on her mother's side... (D-Minnesota) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) into the country because of their vocal BDS advocacy, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.
Netanyahu issued a statement saying that no country in the world respects the US Congress more than Israel, but that Isaeli law prohibits entry to those calling for a boycott of the country. He said that other countries as well ‐ including the US ‐ bar entry to those who are perceived to want to harm them.
He said that Israel is a "vibrant and free democracy" that is open to all criticism, with the exception of a call for boycotts.
"Congresswomen Tlaib and Omar are leading activists in promoting boycott legislation against Israel in the US Congress," Netanyahu said.
He said that Israel received their itinerary only a few days ago, and it became clear that they were "planning a campaign whose sole purpose was to strengthen the boycott and to undermine Israel's legitimacy."
He pointed out that they referred to the visit as a visit to "Paleostine," and not to Israel, and ‐ as opposed to all other Democratic and Republican representatives in the past ‐ did not request any meeting with official Israeli representatives, either from the government or the opposition.
Netanyahu said that the NGO that is sponsoring the trip ‐ Miftah ‐ is a fervent advocate of BDS and includes members who have supported terrorism against Israel.
The prime minister said that the decision to bar entry was made by Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, and that he supports the decision.
[IsraelTimes] Lawmakers from Spain to Ghana have been kept out by Israeli authorities in recent years, though few garner any major outcry, probably because the EU bans people all the time too.
#2
Train is being granted entrance to visit relatives, promises no incitement. Of course, she's a POS liar, so.....
Posted by: Frank g ||
08/16/2019 9:04
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#3
Train is autocorrect for Tlaib. She now tweets she's not going. Apparently it she can't agitate, she doesn't care enough about dear Ol Granny
Posted by: Frank g ||
08/16/2019 9:09
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#4
Shudda let 'em come in, and have a Hamas false flag thingy take 'em out together. Then 'unearth' a conspiracy to break US-Israel relations by the two darlings.
Legislator cites ‘humiliating’ terms for family trip, which she’d requested after being denied formal visit with Omar; she’d been blasted by Palestinians for ‘surrender’ to Israel
The whole thing is nonsense anyway. If they wanted anything other than a propaganda opportunity, they would have come a few days earlier with the official bipartisan Congressional delegation — 41 Democrats and 31 Republicans.
[PULSE.NG] The holy man had earlier raised the alarm that the situation in India was worse than what he and his wife experienced in Nigeria.
Three days after the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), Ibraheem El-Zakzaky embarked on a medical trip to India, the Shiites leader is said to be on his way back to Nigeria.
According to TheCable, a source close to the IMN leader disclosed that the holy man was on his way to the country.
The front man of the movement, Ibrahim Musa confirmed the development in a statement on Thursday, August 15, 2019, and also accused the Federal Government of frustrating El-Zakzaky’s treatment in India.
The statement reads: "Following lack of a breakthrough in the impasse that ensued in the treatment in New Delhi of Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, it is now confirmed that the Sheikh is on his way back to Abuja."
"In a video message sent through his office, the Sheikh said it was decided that they will be taken to the airport to be flown back to Nigeria. He has left Delhi by 17:00 Nigerian time. He prayed that may that be the best option in the circumstances.
"The Nigerian government’s interference and scuttling of the whole process rather than supervision as ordered by the court is the direct cause of the impasse. The government never wanted the medical leave in the first place, and did whatever to stop it by all means possible."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2019
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#1
The doctors were as nice and professional as they could be. The protocol of hospitals is often restrictive but the nurses and orderlies tried leniency. It was the constant chimping out that forced even the angels of mercy to say 'FOAD'. He was expecting minimal security and maybe a chance to slip away.
He stomped his feet and his whole posse with him until he was told to behave and the posse was ejected from the premises. When he couldn't have his way, they all ululated curses some more. They were summarily asked to get the fuck out of India within 24 hours.
Whining about what a great ally India had this day lost, the future Islamic Republic of Niggeria they were diplomatically deported.
A whistleblower comes forward to expose @Google's hidden editorial bias, and a huge cache of internal Google documents have been released via investigative journalist group @Project_Veritas. pic.twitter.com/UhscXiTu9l
[ALMASDARNEWS] The U.S. has donated 150 Humvees to the Lebanese Army, the military said in a communique on Wednesday evening.
The Lebanese Army said the U.S. also provided them with more than 5 million rounds of ammunition, along with night vision goggles and radios.
This latest transfer of military equipment to Leb comes months after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatened to halt the transfer of weapons to the Levantine state because of Hezbollah’s presence.
Since 2006, the U.S. has provided Leb with more than $2 billion in military assistance. Leb receives most of their weapons and military equipment from the U.S. and several Western nations.
These things will keep on happening when all your best people are locked up, and your second and third best as well
[ALMASDARNEWS] The recent advances by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in northern Hama and southern Idlib has left a large number of murderous Moslems and several Ottoman Turkish soldiers on the verge of being encircled in this region.
Over the last 48 hours, the Syrian Arab Army has managed to advance to the western outskirts of Khan Sheikhoun, while another military force makes the push towards the city’s eastern flank.
With several towns still under bully boy control south of Khan Sheikhoun, the Syrian Army is looking to isolate these areas from their main supply line and besiege the remaining fighters from Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... and Jaish al-Izza.
While isolating these bully boys, the Syrian Army will also be cutting off the Ottoman Turkish military from their own supply line to their observation post in the northern Hama town of Morek.
It’s not clear what the Ottoman Turkish military’s plan of action is in Morek, but they may have to resort to either evacuating their forces via helicopter or working out a deal with their Russian partners to open a passage way for their troops.
Either way, the Syrian military has been looking for a way to force The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... to abandon their observation posts and this latest maneuver is successful, it might be deployed again in the near future.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2019
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[33 views]
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#1
From the map this is a Turkish Observation Post at Morek where the highway north from Hama enters that salient. So, this looks more like a "line straightening" operation to move the front back from about 15 miles from Hama's center to about 23-ish miles. Hama is where the highways from the coast at Latakia meet the logistics route linking Aleppo to Damascus, by the way.
#3
What are the Turks trying to achieve there, again?
They claim to want that much land in which to resettle the millions of Syrian refugees they’ve been hosting since 2011, Lex. It is merely incidental that much of that is Kurdish territory...
#4
That the new Republic of North Syria™ would be a puppet state run by the local Moslem Brotherhoodethnically cleansed empty of Assad's supporters and Kurds.... A coincidence, just a coincidence.
[ALMASDARNEWS] Bahrain has agreed to buy the US-built Patriot anti-aircraft and missile interceptor system, the Raytheon Company said in a blurb.
"Bahrain signed an agreement to purchase Raytheon’s... Patriot air and missile defense system from the US Army", the release said. "This letter of offer and acceptance allows the US government to begin contract negotiations with Raytheon for... an undisclosed quantity of systems and missiles".
The release said that the venerable Patriot Integrated Air and Missile Defence System was designed to defend against ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and manned and unmanned aircraft.
"Patriot is continually modernized, enhanced and upgraded, through this 17-nation community, to ensure it outpaces the evolving threats for years to come", Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems President Ralph Acaba said in the release.
Bahrain hosts a US Navy base, US Naval Forces Central Command and the US Fifth Fleet.
In May, the Defence Security Cooperation Agency said in a blurb that Bahrain specifically purchased 60 Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement missiles, 36 Patriot MIM-104E Guidance Enhanced Missiles with canisters, nine M903 Launching Stations, five Antenna Mast Groups, three Electrical Power Plants, two AN/MPQ-65 Radar Sets, and two AN/MSQ-132 Engagement Control Stations.
[FoxNews] Coping with a struggling campaign and facing the reality that he wouldn’t make the stage at next month’s third round of Democratic presidential debates, former two-term Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper ... former governor of Colorado, yet another of 2020's innumerable Dem candidates. His selling points include being less grabby than Biden, less Cherokee than Warren, assuming that's possible, and taller than Gillebrand... ended his long-shot bid for the White House on Thursday.
"Today, I’m ending my campaign for president. But I will never stop believing that America can only move forward when we work together," Hickenlooper said in a video released on social media and through email.
#3
The obscure Dem governor that comes out of nowhere and wins the presidency has worked well in the past (Carter, Clinton). Guess the times really are changing.
#4
What? He's not gonna waste any more time and money tilting his lance at the windmill and showing the whole country what a whack job he is in the process? I'm disappointed.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
08/16/2019 11:52
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#8
The Looper sucks, as Governor he really hurt Colorado but he's loved by many idiots here in CO. With Colorado turning blue in our last election, we're all suffering from the trifecta of the Democrats having the Governor, the State House, and State Senate. All the Progressive Liberals moving into Colorado bringing their left wing ideals makes me seriously consider leaving Colorado a state that I love but it's getting awful with the progressive lefties that you run into constantly. I'm tired of fighting. Lord give me strength, currently we're fighting to keep TABOR (taxpayers Bill Of Rights that limits big government) that Polis and the Dems want to get rid of. Feeling so hopeless.
Posted by: Jan ||
08/16/2019 15:23
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#9
Colorado went to crap during the Pooperlickin tenure, my poor neighbors to the west.
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) launched a new offensive last week to capture the key town of Kabani in northeastern Latakia.
Since launching this offensive, the Syrian Arab Army has managed to capture several points from the jihadist rebels of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... and the Turkestan Islamic Party.
The Syrian Army is now working to capture the last points under the control of the jihadist rebels south of Kabani.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2019
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[29 views]
Top|| File under: al-Nusra
[PULSE.NG] Officials in Ethiopia's capital are weighing bans on sex work and street begging, the latest in a series of measures intended to clean up the country's image, the mayor's office said Thursday.
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) made another push to capture the key hilltop of Tal Tari in the southern countryside of the Idlib Governorate last night.
According to a military source near the front-lines in Idlib, the Syrian Army failed to advance at Tal Tari after several hours of fighting with the jihadist rebels of Rouse the Believers.
The source added that the Syrian Army suffered more than ten casualties during the battle for Tal Tari.
Since Sunday, the Syrian Army has attempted to capture Tal Tari from the jihadist rebels; however, Rouse the Believers have refused to yield any ground to the military.
For the Syrian Army, capturing Tal Tari is a high priority because of its proximity to the krazed killer stronghold of Ta’manah.
The Syrian Army needs to capture Ta’manah in order to advance to the eastern flank of Khan Sheikhoun.
[DAWN] Gulf Arab countries have remained mostly silent as India’s government moved to strip the Indian-occupied sector of Kashmir ...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there.... of its limited autonomy, imposing a sweeping military curfew in the disputed Moslem-majority region and cutting off residents from all communication and the internet.
This muted response is underpinned by more than $100 billion in annual trade with India that makes it one of the Arabian Peninsula’s most prized economic partners.
Regional heavyweight 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... urged restraint and expressed concern over the brewing crisis. Other Gulf countries ‐ Kuwait, Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... , Bahrain and Oman ‐ do not appear to have issued any statements. The United Arab Emirates has gone a step further by apparently siding with India, calling the decision to downgrade occupied Kashmir’s status an internal matter.
Saudi Arabia’s response to the Kashmir situation is complicated by its close ties with both India and Pakistain, which have fought two wars over the disputed Himalayan region, as well as its ideological rivalry with The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund... and Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan, the abbreviation IRGC is a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... for supremacy in the Islamic world.
Prime Minister Imran Khan ...aka The Great Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight... has reached out to leaders in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in recent days to discuss India’s actions in Kashmir, but it’s unclear whether he would find Arab backing if he took his concerns to the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... Security Council.
The brief Saudi statement on the Kashmir events said the kingdom "is following up on the current situation" and called for a "peaceful settlement" in line with international resolutions.
Gulf Arab states are home to more than 7 million Indian expatriates who help drive the region’s economy and keep its cities teeming with doctors, engineers, teachers, drivers, construction workers and other laborers.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2019
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[NPR] An epidemic of African Swine Fever is sweeping through China's hog farms, and the effects are rippling across the globe, because China is a superpower of pork. Half of the world's pigs live in China ‐ or at least they did before the epidemic began a year ago.
"Every day, we hear of more outbreaks," says Christine McCracken, a senior analyst at RaboResearch, which is affiliated with the global financial firm Rabobank.
McCracken and her colleagues now estimate that by the end of 2019, China's production of pork could be cut in half. "That's roughly 300 million to 350 million pigs lost in China, which is almost a quarter of the world's pork supply," she says. "It's a massive number." (This measures the reduction in pigs slaughtered annually, which is roughly twice the number of animals in China's swine herd at any one time.)
The estimate, McCracken says, is based on information from her company's clients in China, which include meat packers, companies that sell animal feed, and animal health experts.
African Swine Fever is not the same as "swine flu." This disease is harmless to humans. It can spread through contaminated pork products or the clothes of people working with infected pigs. It does not travel through the air, but it's long-lived and hard to get rid of ‐ which Chinese farmers are learning the hard way.
"They've had a hard time repopulating herds," McCracken says. "It's hard to decontaminate a facility in a short amount of time. Generally, it takes at least six months, sometimes three years, to decontaminate a site."
Up to now, Chinese consumers still are finding enough pork to buy. McCracken says that's mainly because many farmers slaughtered their herds early, out of fear of infection. In the past month or so, however, supplies have started to run short, and pork prices are now rising sharply in China.
In fact, people around the world are now starting to feel the effects.
With fewer pigs, China is importing less soy meal to feed them. That alone has been enough to push down global prices for soybeans, which means less money for farmers in Brazil and the U.S.
The effect on soybean prices may turn out to be modest. According to a preliminary analysis by Amani Elobeid, an economist at Iowa State University, and Miguel Carriquiry, at the University of the Republic in Uruguay, a 30% cut in China's pork production could reduce the price of soy meal by 3 to 5%. In an email to NPR, however, they noted that the analysis "is VERY preliminary and should be used with caution."
The growing Chinese pork shortage is good news, though, for pork producers in the rest of the world: China is now starting to import more pork, driving up prices.
McCracken says the epidemic is still going strong. "It's really hard to see how this is going to end," she says. "Though at some point there will just be better, more 'biosecure' facilities that have less of a chance of getting the virus."
African Swine Fever is present in wild pigs in Europe. European pork producers have managed to protect their commercial herds from infection through careful precautions, preventing any potentially contaminated food or clothing from entering the facilities where pigs live.
Almost half the pigs in China, on the other hand, came from hundreds of thousands of small, backyard operations, which have been particularly hard-hit by the epidemic. If those farms can't protect their animals from infection, they may not survive.
- Smithfield (US company with a China operation)
- Wens
- Muyuan Foodstuffs
- COFCO
- Truein Agri
- Zhengbang
it is more than a food issue or an import/export issue; it hits at a very important part of the financial and economic structure of China-- of course since Banking in China is almost opaque, the problem of bad debt in this sector is almost completely unknown
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/16/2019 3:46
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#2
Shades of the opening farm scenes in Unforgiven
Posted by: Frank g ||
08/16/2019 8:19
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#3
Half of the world's pigs live in China
Hell of a joke potential there.
Betting Iowa pork is looking better and better. Or they can serve, say, fried lice.
#9
Heard a different take - the ChinaPigApocalypse has radically reduced the demand for soybean (what? you thought it was all going into tofu?) so the reduction in imports from the US was making a virtue of necessity.
[PULSE.NG] Asian and Europe ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... an seamen were kidnapped Thursday aboard a vessel in the Gulf of Guinea off the southern Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... port of Douala, a senior Cameroonian navy source said.
"(They) were kidnapped this morning," said the source, who gave no details about the number or nationality of the kidnap victims.
"The kidnappers are probably Nigerian pirates," the source said. "Cameroonian forces have launched search operations."
An official at Douala port confirmed the kidnappings, and said the seamen had been taken after their ship came under attack.
"We don't know the number of kidnapped seamen for the time being," the official said.
The Gulf of Guinea, whose coastline stretches in a huge arc from Liberia to Gabon, is notorious for piracy as well as oil theft, illegal fishing and human and drugs trafficking.
According to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) 62 seafarers were taken hostage or kidnapped in the area in the first half of 2019.
The Gulf of Guinea accounted for 73 percent of kidnappings and 92 percent of hostage-takings at sea worldwide, it says.
[DAWN] The Lahore High Court has ruled that an offence against human body is though compoundable but at the same time it is an offence against the State for which the State machinery has to take steps for the prosecution of the offender.
Justice Anwarul Haq Pannun made this observation the other day while dismissing the petition of a man challenging an order to exhume the body of his wife allegedly killed by accidental fire shot. Mother of the dear departed woman had secured the order for the exhumation from a judicial magistrate concerned of Shakargarh.
Petitioner Safarish Ali pleaded that a magisterial court had already dismissed an application for exhumation of the body filed by investigating officer of the local police as none of the legal heirs of the dear departed wanted autopsy.
The judge, in his verdict, dismissed the plea and noted delinquency on the part of the police for not holding an inquiry into the incident independently as required under section 174 of Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.P.C) despite ordered by the magistrate.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2019
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#1
Very confusing. So the offense is ... the state of her body, or the body of evidence of said offense? Or a body that had lain in state?
Or a statement embodying a failed state whose body politic offends theeand if the body offends thee, pluck it out - or is that the wrong body of text, wrong Book?
The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) continued their advance in southern Idlib on Thursday, seizing another town from the jihadist rebels near the key city of Khan Sheikhoun.
According to a military source near the front-lines, the Syrian Army’s Tiger Forces captured the town of Madaya after a fierce battle with the jihadist rebels of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... .
Following the capture of Madaya, the Syrian Army worked to secure the town, while clearing several mines and IEDs that were left behind by the jihadists.
As a result of this advance on Thursday, the Syrian Army has established their first presence at the northwestern flank of Khan Sheikhoun.
[PULSE.NG] Gibraltar's Supreme Court on Thursday ruled in favour of releasing an Iranian supertanker seized on suspicion of shipping oil to Syria in breach of international sanctions, in a blow to the US which had tried to block the vessel's departure.
[PULSE.NG] Six EU countries have agreed to take in some of the 147 migrants colonists currently stranded on a rescue ship near the Italian island of Lampedusa, Rome announced Thursday, in a welcome development for embattled far-right interior minister Matteo Salvini.
Both Italia and Malta have refused Open Arms permission to dock and unload its passengers
"La Belle France, Germany, Romania, Portugal, Spain and Luxembourg have told me that they are ready to welcome the migrants colonists," Italian premier Giuseppe Conte said in an open letter addressed to Salvini, who has sought to ban the Open Arms rescue vessel from entering Italian waters.
"Once again, my Europe ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... an counterparts are offering us a helping hand," Conte wrote, while slamming Salvini who has been calling since last Thursday for the PM to step down.
Salvini has taken a hard line against migrants colonists rescued at sea being brought to Italia, which he says bears an unfair burden in the crisis.
Responding to Conte's announcement, Salvini wrote on Facebook: "It is clear that without (my) resolve, the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... would never have lifted a finger, leaving Italia and the Italians on their own like (previous governments) did for years."
Salvini, head of the anti-immigration League party, broke with his coalition partner the Five Star Movement (M5S) last week, hoping for a no-confidence vote that would topple the 14-month-old government.
But his gamble failed, and his abandoned partner found an unexpected ally in the opposition Democratic Party (PD).
Both M5S and PD on Tuesday voted against Salvini despite his last-minute offer to back a plan to slash the number of the country's politicians.
The fate of the scores of migrants colonists aboard the Open Arms, operated by Spanish charity Proactiva, found itself at the centre of the political crisis in Rome.
Earlier this month Salvini, who is also deputy PM, signed a decree banning the Open Arms from Italian waters, saying it was needed to protect public order.
[PULSE.NG] A joint Saudi-Emirati military delegation travelled to Aden on Thursday to discuss demands for a pullout of UAE-backed southern separatists from positions they captured in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... 's interim capital, government and separatist sources said.
The visit comes after deadly festivities last week in the southern port city that reflected a rift between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, the main partners in a pro-government coalition fighting Iran-aligned Shiite Iran's Houthi sock puppets
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2019
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[PULSE.NG] Venezuela ...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeds places like Honduras and El Salvador, and a significant proportion of the populace as refugeed to Colombia and points south... 's Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said Thursday the government would meet with Norwegian mediators in an effort to restart talks with the opposition aimed at resolving the country's political crisis.
Arreaza told news hounds in Caracas that the government was seeking changes to the talks mechanism before it would return to the negotiating table.
"There will be contact with the envoys and we will surely be able to reestablish the dialogue with a re-thought mechanism," the foreign minister said.
"We have to have a mechanism that guarantees peace and coexistence," he added, but gave no details of the changes the government were seeking.
On Wednesday, opposition leader Juan Guaidó ...Venezuelan politician, a member of the social-democratic Popular Will party, and serves as a federal deputy to the National Assembly representing the state of Vargas. In 2019 he was appointed by the Popular Will party to become the president of the National Assembly, after which he declared he was acting president of the country, challenging Nicolás Maduro's presidency and starting the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis.... revealed that Norwegian officials were in the country in a bid to restart the talks.
Negotiations to end the political crisis -- sparked when Guaido pronounced himself acting president in January -- began in Oslo in May.
But President Nicolás Maduro ...Commie el presidente para la vida of Venezuela, successor to Hugo Chavez. Nick is his country's attempt at producing a Muammar Qadaffy, except that even though his country's sitting on an enormous puddle of oil, he can't manage to get it out of the ground... called off the talks a week ago in response to new United States sanctions against his government.
Arreaza insisted that Maduro had merely "implemented a pause" in the talks and that they had not broken down.
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) captured the small town of Kafr Ayn in southern Idlib on Tuesday evening.
Led by the Tiger Forces, the Syrian Arab Army was involved in a fierce battle with the turbans at Kafr Ayn; this would result in the loss of several fighters from Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... and Jaish al-Izza.
Furthermore, the Syrian Army was able to destroy a turban tank and a couple technical vehicles before they took control of this small town located near the strategic city of Khan Sheikhoun.
#14
From the Daily Beast after I looked up the artist named in Unosh Hupinelet8756‘s link:
The artist behind a painting of Bill Clinton in a blue dress and red heels said it was a “complete surprise” to learn that it ended up in Jeffrey Epstein’s mansion. The Daily Mail was the first to report that the artwork was hanging on the wall of the accused sex trafficker’s Manhattan townhouse. Artist Petrina Ryan-Kleid said she painted it while a grad student at the New York Academy of Art in 2012 and it was sold at a school fundraiser. “I had no idea who the buyer was at the time. As with most of my paintings, I had completely lost track of this piece when it was sold seven years,” she said in a statement. Epstein’s ownership of the painting raised eyebrows because of his ties to Clinton, who distanced himself from the financier after he was accused of sex-trafficking.
This leads to the conclusion that she stuck Mr. Clinton’s head on a stock image rather than painting from life.
[Irish Times] The Paris prosecutor’s office is co-operating with US authorities in their investigation of accused sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein, who died in an apparent suicide in a New York prison on August 10th.
Epstein was a regular visitor to France at least since 2002, when he purchased a 2,300sq m apartment on the Avenue Foch. His private jets, registered N120JE and N212JE, landed at Le Bourget airport 11 times in the last 18 months of his life.
Epstein was returning from a three-week stay in Paris when he was arrested at New Jersey’s Teterboro airport on July 6th.
The financier behaved in Paris as he did in Manhattan, Palm Beach and on his private Caribbean island. The walls of his Paris apartment were covered with photographs of naked young women, according to a worker cited in 2,024 pages of US court documents released on August 9th.
A former assistant to Epstein told Libération newspaper there were often several young women in the Avenue Foch apartment, fewer than in Palm Beach, where "there were eight or 10 at a time".
Epstein’s contacts book was published by the US website Gawker in 2015. It contained a section titled Paris Massage, with dozens of women’s first names and mobile phone numbers.
[PULSE.NG] At least six opposition and rights activists were abducted and tortured by unidentified assailants in Zimbabwe ahead of planned protests against worsening economic problems, rights groups charged Thursday.
#2
I remember talking to a Pakistani and he said the Pakistani's are addicted to the Bollywood movies. One movie last for hours, have a mixture of everything, music, comedy, pathos, etc. So you can kill an afternoon for not much money. They'll pirate those movies to multiple tape, with adds probably added.
[DAWN] The United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... said on Wednesday it was gravely concerned about reports indicating 11 civilians had been killed in an Afghan security force operation in an eastern province near the border with Pakistain.
Civilian casualties in Afghanistan have been increasing, despite attempts by the United States and the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... to negotiate an agreement to end the 18-year war.
The government’s main security agency, the National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... ’(NDS), said the operation in Paktia province had targeted a Taliban hideout and among the 11 dead turbans were two commanders.
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said it was gravely concerned at the killings during a search operation and a human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. team was investigating. "Accountability essential. Harm to civilians must stop," the agency said in a post on Twitter.
A politician in the area said the government forces attacked a student gathering over the Eidul Azha holiday.
"A university student had invited his classmates for dinner," said Allah Mir Khan Bahramzoi, a provincial council member in Paktia.
"Late in the evening, security forces surrounded the house, brought out the victims from the guesthouse and shot them one by one," he said by telephone from the province.
The NDS said weapons and ammunition were seized in the raid.
"This operation was conducted based on operative information on a Taliban hideout/centre and it left no civilian casualties," the agency said in a statement.
[DAWN] An alleged victim of pedophile financier Jeffrey Want Some Candy, Little Girl? Epstein ...A high class pimp financier who was alleged to maintain a stable of underage whoressex slaves who were paid big bucks to entertain the rich and/or famous. He is a registered sex offender and made att least 17 out-of-court settlements with former members of his stable, with some cases still ongoing. 2011 court docs reveal that 21 email addresses and phone numbers for Bill Clinton and an aide were found in Epstein's electronic black book, and that Clinton frequently flew with Epstein on his private plane between 2002 to 2005. But really, they were probably just discussing finance or politix or something. While getting massaged. Then things got serious, Jeff was tossed in the slammer in New York and then he killed himself. Really. That's what happened... sued for damages on Wednesday as reports claimed his guards were asleep before the disgraced tycoon died from an apparent suicide in prison.
Two employees of the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in New York failed to check on Epstein for three hours and then falsified prison logs to cover up their error, the New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... reported.
The staff members were meant to be inspecting Epstein’s cell every 30 minutes but dozed off, several unnamed law enforcement and prison officials familiar with the matter told the newspaper.
The revelations came a day after the warden of the high-security facility was temporarily reassigned and two guards put on administrative leave by the Bureau of Prisons, pending an investigation.
Epstein, 66, was found dead in his cell on Saturday morning. The FBI and Justice Department are probing how he managed to apparently take his own life just weeks after an earlier reported suicide attempt.
US newspapers reported that he had apparently been taken off suicide watch and left without a cellmate, against protocol, while the guards were working overtime due to major staff shortages at the jail.
The multi-millionaire, who hobnobbed with numerous politicians and celebrities over the years, was awaiting trial charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors.
His death came a day after a court released documents in which one of his alleged victims said Epstein used her as a "sex slave" and that she was forced to have sex with well-known politicians and businessmen.
Another woman, who says she was raped by Epstein as a teenager, sued his estate and former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell under a New York law that came into effect on Wednesday.
Jennifer Araoz wrote a column in the New York Times saying she was filing a lawsuit under the Child Victims Act against Epstein, British-born socialite Maxwell and other accomplices.
#4
Wonder how many times 'senior management' ever left their desks to stroll around to see how their important guests were doing? That which doesn't get inspected, doesn't get done. See - Management by Walking around.
#6
I'm afraid we're going to have a drip, drip, drip of details indicating that something quite unusual went on. But we're never, ever going to find out what exactly it was. The bureaucratic cover-up will succeed.
Posted by: Tom ||
08/16/2019 11:33
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#7
And when the drips are put together, what ultimately emerges will be so incoherent as to be laughable. But enough time shall have passed that nobody'll care, the front pages will have the villain of the day and that new sordid story.
#8
For some reason, this whole Epstein story reminds me of JFK's assassination and the feeling is bad, very bad. The truth will never be known and justice will not be done.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
08/16/2019 11:43
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#9
A modicum of natural justice has been ensured by the universe, hasn't it ? Now it would really be complete if the Maxwell lady were to die too.
There is a judge above that needs no committees or sanctions from piddly men in long gowns. Think of the anguish and the tears of the unheard children that disappeared into his factory of filth. Such a man has other hidden crimes as well, ranging from silencing victims to forced abortions to gawd knows what. The auxiliary activities of a sex trafficker.
Rest assured, brethren that he is now in a place fitting for his kind, from which there is no escape, no parole, no appeal. The doctrines of ethical niceties do not apply there, and there is no recourse, only weeping and gnashing of teeth.
#11
It was murder and levels of our government and another were behind it. What surfaced was the foreign government sponsored blackmail scheme linked to a friendly pervert with a cover story and wide ranging links to the soft underbelly of political power in this country. There are too many factors to make it merely a rich pervert with an appetite for young girls and willing politicians. The cash flow without apparent sourcing, the cover given even in his first prosecution, the convenience of the demise, and the specific facts of the homicide. The proof will be the dog that didn't bark, to wax Holmesian. No major political names will fall, proof it was a conspiracy to protect a vital ally whose power honeytrap was close tp being revealed.
#12
Agree with Dron that natural justice will eventually apply but in the meantime those who murdered Epstein to cover their own crimes will walk free and continue to do evil while trust in our government is destroyed.
And all of this is to say nothing of the young girls who were victimized, whose lives were ruined while they were still children, who will not see that natural justice until they die. I hope they can get something from Epstein's estate but it's far from certain.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
08/16/2019 14:38
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#13
Medical Examiner rules he was a suicide, and the fix begins.....Dr Wecht is already saying BS based on the finding that he self hung by leaning forward from a kneeling position to suffocate, inconsistent with broken hyoid and cervical bones, Wecht doesn't think it is possible to sustain those injuries, insufficient force.
#14
Wecht doesn't think it is possible to sustain those injuries, insufficient force.
Posted by NoMoreBS
Well, how about lining up a few cadavers and doing some testing. Ought to be lots of cadavers in NYC willing to take the plunge for science and justice. Just a thought.
[DAWN] Britannia’s former top finance official accused Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government on Wednesday of steering the country toward a damaging no-deal Brexit that isn’t backed by Parliament or British voters.
Johnson, in turn, alleged that anti-Brexit UK politicians were collaborating with the Europe ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... an Union to block Britannia’s exit from the bloc.
Philip Hammond, a Conservative politician who stepped down as Treasury chief just before Johnson became prime minister last month, said "leaving the EU without a deal would be just as much a betrayal of the referendum result as not leaving at all." Hammond told the BBC that Johnson had moved from a tough negotiating stance to a "wrecking" one by insisting on changes to the withdrawal agreement between Britannia and the EU that the bloc would not accept.
He said that while he believed Johnson wanted a deal, "there are other people around him whose agenda is different" an apparent reference to advisers such as Dominic Cummings, one of the architects of the country’s 2016 decision to leave the EU.
Johnson has vowed that Britannia will leave the EU on the scheduled date of Oct 31 just 11 weeks away with or without a divorce deal. He is demanding the EU make major changes to the agreement the bloc made with his predecessor, Theresa May. The EU refuses to renegotiate, so a no-deal Brexit appears increasingly likely.
[PULSE.NG] An unexploded World War II bomb was found in the grounds of the Kremlin in Moscow during construction works on Thursday, Russian news agencies reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2019
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[Rudaw] A group of Kurdish villagers from Daquq, southern Kirkuk headed to Baghdad last week to demand government action to protect them from the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) resurgence underway in their province. One week on and little has changed.
"We visited the interior minister and Iraqi president in Baghdad. We told them that if they do not find a solution for us we will abandon our villages. We also told them that people ‐ young and old ‐ are terrified," said Aziz Abu Khanjar, a resident of the Kakai village of Topzawa who was part of the delegation.
The delegation of villagers called on Baghdad to protect them or else allow them to protect themselves. Villagers who spoke to Rudaw say they have not yet given up hope of Iraqi officials delivering on their promises to help.
Iraqi President Barham Salih formed a committee to visit these villages and prepare a report for him, according to Dilan Ghafour, a Kurdish politician in Baghdad who accompanied the delegation. The findings of the committee are yet to be published.
There was no statement from Iraqi Presidency regarding the visit.
ISIS appears to be specifically targeting the Kakais, who have 15 villages in Daquq. The Kakais are a Kurdish ethno-religious group concentrated in Daquq, Khanaqin, and Nineveh. They protected themselves against an ISIS offensive in 2014 after Iraqi troops fled the area.
Saeed Hawaz is a resident of the Kakai village of Saeed Walla in Daquq. He says they abandon their villages during the night, fearing ISIS attack.
"We have livestock and farms here. We come to work on these in daylight but we cannot stay for the night because it is not secure," Hawaz said.
The group has attacked security forces in Daquq four times in two weeks, planting roadside kabooms and firing mortars at villages.
One Wednesday, ISIS grabbed credit for Monday’s killing of four Iraqi coppers in Daquq. Federal police have only confirmed the death of one, named as Yasir Mohammed.
Iraqi forces launched an operation against the group following the incident.
Kurdish Rudaw network said 50 families have fled the town of Daqouq, Kirkuk province, for fear of falling targets to the bad boy group as 15 people, including two coppers, have been recently killed in attacks by the holy warriors.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/16/2019
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[Rudaw] Iraq on Thursday banned unauthorized flights and ordered all military camps and munitions warehouses to be moved outside Iraqi cities following a massive explosion at a munitions depot southwest of Baghdad that killed one civilian and maimed 13 earlier this week.
The exact cause of Monday night’s explosion at the al-Saqr military base is still unknown. The blast shook the Iraqi capital and sent explosives and mortar shells shooting into the sky, damaging nearby homes and terrifying residents who ran into the streets with their cellphones. Black smoke billowed over the city for hours afterward.
The federal police base houses a weapons depot belonging to a militia group under the umbrella of the mainly Iran-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces. The state-sanctioned PMF militias have fought alongside Iraq’s regular armed forces against the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group.
Some officials blamed the earth-shattering kaboom at the base, also known as Falcon Camp, on faulty storage that caused overheating amid typically high temperatures in Baghdad. But the blast has also given rise to a host of theories, including that Israel may have conducted an Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... Israel has struck Iranian bases in neighboring Syria on numerous occasions, and there has been speculation that it might be expanding its campaign to target Iranian bases to Iraq. However, a lie repeated often enough remains a lie... neither the Iraqi government nor Israel have addressed the reports.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi ordered a "thorough investigation" into the incident, ordering the investigation be concluded within a week.
In a statement issued Thursday following a national security meeting, Abdul-Mahdi ordered the cancellation of all aviation approvals for flights throughout the country, unless authorized by the commander of the armed forces. The statement did not specify military or civilian flights but specifically cited reconnaissance, fighter jets and helicopters and drones of all kinds.
It said the directives applied to "Iraqi and non-Iraqi parties." Iraq hosts American troops and forces belonging to the coalition fighting the Islamic State group, which sometimes conduct operations and airstrikes in the country.
The statement urged all parties to abide by the directives, stating that any other flight activity "will be considered (an) enemy flight and dealt with from our air defenses immediately."
The statement called for the transfer of warehouses and camps belonging to the defense and interior ministries and the PMF and other factions that participated in fighting IS to be moved outside the cities. It said violators will be "considered an irregular presence and dealt with in accordance with the law and order."
Abdul-Mahdi also ordered that citizens who suffered human and material damage from the earth-shattering kaboom be compensated.
A PMF official said their initial investigation showed a dronezap was responsible for Monday’s blast, adding that blaming it on faulty storage was a way to avoid embarrassing the government. He estimated the losses to be in the millions and spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.
Abu Alaa al-Walae, a PMF commander, described in a tweet Abdul-Mahdi’s "decision to ban American drones in Iraqi airspace" as brave.
Monday’s blast is the latest of several mysterious explosions that have taken place recently at PMF bases in Iraq. Last month, a kaboom took place at a base in Amirli, in Iraq’s northern Salaheddin province, killing two Iranians and causing a huge fire.
That attack was blamed on an unmanned drone that dropped explosives, with some Shiite militias blaming it on the Islamic State group.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. retail sales surged in July as consumers bought a range of goods even as they cut back on motor vehicle purchases, helping to assuage financial market fears that the economy was heading into recession.
The upbeat report from the Commerce Department on Thursday, however, will likely not change expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again next month as news from the manufacturing sector remains dour, underscoring the darkening outlook for the economy against the backdrop of trade tensions and slowing growth overseas.
President Donald Trump cheered the strong retail sales data, which came a day after a key part of the U.S. Treasury yield curve inverted for the first time since June 2007 and triggered a stock market sell-off. An inverted Treasury yield curve is historically a reliable predictor of looming recessions.
#3
The MSM's problem is that Trump's economy has been boosted by Trump's reforms, especially cutting taxes (internal tariffs) funded by raised (external) tariffs.
#4
Dems trying to set the narrative and spin against Trump biggest accomplishment. The voting public can see through this, as evident by their continued spending.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/16/2019 11:26
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#5
Speaking of retail sales anyone know where I can find this book Amazon is currently sold out.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.