#1
Each day's sordid events aligns me closer and closer to the "nothing will come of this" conclusion. Notice the lack of congressional mention;, "high crimes and misdemeanors"....? This odious emposter has a ticket to ride, and he knows it.
A race that could shape the U.S. Senate landscape will begin next week with some Southern barbeque in a tiny Arkansas town called Dardanelle.
Republican Tom Cotton plans to announce his bid for the upper chamber there, where he grew up on his family's cattle farm. The freshman congressman -- a 36-year-old Harvard law graduate and a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars -- is GOP recruitersÂ’ dream challenger to take on Democrat Mark Pryor, considered among the most vulnerable incumbents in the country.
#1
A Dem out, A Pub in, lot of that going around. (He He)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/01/2013 10:12
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#2
Any bets on some Iraqi/Afghani (possibly currently living in USA) lodging a complaint about war crimes by Cotton just in time to affect the elections?
h/t Instapundit: who wonders what'd happen if the races were reversed
An Anne Arundel County grand jury has indicted a New Jersey police officer with a first-degree murder charge in the apparent road-rage shooting in Gambrills that left a former Millersville man dead.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru ||
08/01/2013
07:02 ||
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#1
I noticed that the police officer stood his ground. Assuming that this is the law in Maryland, I wonder if Stevie Wonder will boycott Maryland. And California, which also has a stand your ground law.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
08/01/2013 9:08
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#2
Besoeker tip of the day:
Speed Dial 911, REMAIN in your car, thumb on safety. Again, remain in your car.
#2
I think folks are unwilling to give up civil liberties when everytime we see the farse that is TSA and we see the government isn't seriously trying to stop terrorism because they can't even name any person/country/religion that might be worth extra scrutiny.
The Western political class never had the will to do as much as hurt the enemy's feelings.
Rather than fight an open and declared violent enemy they'll build a police state that sets its sights at the entire populace of Western nations, excluding Muslims of course.
The likes of John McCain and Lindsey Graham are tough and hawkish, all right.
[AnNahar] Violence in Iraq killed 989 people in July, government figures released on Wednesday showed, making it the deadliest month since April 2008.
The dead comprised 778 civilians, 88 police, 55 soldiers and 68 bad boys, according to the figures compiled by the health, interior and defense ministries. Violence also maimed 1,567 people in July -- 1,356 civilians, 122 police and 89 soldiers.
The figures make July the deadliest month since 2008, when Iraq was emerging from a bloody sectarian conflict.
In April of that year, 1,428 people were killed, according to official figures -- 966 civilians, 69 police, 38 soldiers and 355 bad boys.
Iraq has faced years of attacks by myrmidons, but analysts say widespread discontent among the Sunni Arab minority, which the government has failed to address, has fueled this year's spike in unrest.
Sunnis accuse the Shiite-led government of marginalizing and targeting their community, including unwarranted arrests and terrorism charges. Protests that erupted in Sunni areas at the end of 2012 are still ongoing.
In addition to major security problems, the government is also failing to provide adequate basic services such as electricity and clean water, and corruption is widespread. Political squabbling has paralyzed the government, which has passed almost no major legislation in years.
#1
Yes, the Iraqis miss the stability US troops provided. They miss the $$$. The US leftist politicians and media miss being able to say our presence there fuels unrest.
But they still hate us. We need to learn from that...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/01/2013 17:11
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[AnNahar] The government began implementing strict entry controls on Syrians fleeing the turmoil in the neighboring in an attempt to confront the soaring numbers of refugees.
Syrians: the new Palestinians beloved and welcomed for their own sweet selves wherever they go.
Boy howdy, it's so hard to understand why the Lebanese wouldn't open their hearts and homes to Syrians...
According to An Nahar newspaper published on Wednesday, the security measures are implemented on all border crossings with Syrian including al-Masnaa border crossing in the east, al-Abboudiyeh in Akkar district, al-Aridah in North Leb and several others.
The measures aim at preventing "terrorist" and anti-Lebanese army groups from entering the country.
"Only people with valid identification cards or passports can enter and they are filling applications that identify them whether they are refugees or workers," the report said.
Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel previously said that the measures aim at organizing the refugees legal permits.
The residency permits will have a timeframe of six months, Charbel noted.
Ministerial sources told An Nahar that the entry controls don't target the Syrians but rather aim at safeguarding the Lebanese.
Concerning the government's decision to shut down unlicensed businesses owned by Syrians across Leb, the deadline for them acquire the legal permits was extended to August 31.
The Lebanese state argues that the Syrians the right to work to feed themselves on building sites or other sectors but not in trade or in businesses that require a permit.
Many Syrian refugees are forced to sleep rough on the streets because they can not afford to rent somewhere to live.
But the presence of 600,000 alongside a population of just four million has sparked mounting friction.
A recent opinion poll found that 54 percent of respondents believed Leb should close its doors to the refugees. A full 82 percent said that the refugees were stealing jobs from Lebanese.
Really, we need to label Syria on battlefield in The War of Shiite Aggression.... or is it of Sunni Aggression?
Depends which side you're on...
[AnNahar] Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... said that Hizbullah had been exposed as a 'tool of Iranian expansionism,' in an audio message posted online on Wednesday.
Zawahiri said that Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah's public acknowledgement in late April that its fighters had intervened in neighboring Syria in support of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... , a key Tehran ally, "tore off the mask he always hid behind."
"The jihadist uprising in Musselmen Syria has exposed the ugly face of Hasan Nasrallah, the head of the rejectionist (Shiite) Safavid (Iranian) plan for Syria," the al-Qaeda leader said.
"It has been revealed to the Islamic Umma that he is just an instrument in the rejectionist Safavid plan that aims to spread the hegemony of the vali-e faqih," he said, referring to Iranian supreme leader Ayatollahi Ali Khamenei.
[AnNahar] Syrian troops attacked rebel positions outside Khan al-Assal on Wednesday as they seek to recapture the northern town at the center of rival chemical weapons accusations, a watchdog said.
Fierce fighting erupted on the outskirts of the town, which the rebels seized on Monday of last week inflicting heavy losses on the army, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The army lost 150 soldiers over two days, 50 of them summarily executed after their capture in an act condemned by the mainstream opposition leadership.
The government has been keen to recapture the town, the last to fall out of its control in the western half of Aleppo province.
The town was the scene of what both the government and the opposition say was a chemical weapons attack that killed 30 people on March 19.
The Syrian government says the rebels carried it out, and its ally Moscow says it has concrete proof.
The opposition says Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... 's regime was behind it and Washington has said it has seen no firm evidence of rebel responsibility.
The Damascus government has pressed for Khan al-Assal to be the primary focus of a planned UN inquiry into a total of 13 allegations of chemical weapons use during the 28-month conflict.
The rebels' capture of the town last week came as two UN envoys visited Damascus to thrash out the ground rules for U.N. weapons inspectors. They came away with an agreement but UN chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... has said he is still reviewing the details.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/01/2013
00:57 ||
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#1
A: Concrete Proof
Q: What is served at a Teamster Happy Hour?
[FoxNews] A world history textbook being used in Florida public schools is raising serious concerns over its alleged Islamic bias. The textbook, used in ninth grade Advanced Placement classes in Brevard County for the past three years, is now under review by the school board.
Kudos to the alert parents who caught this and passed the word to a Fox News reporter. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
The book contains an entire chapter devoted to "Musselmen Civilizations." Sean Hannity noted that it has zero chapters on Christianity or Judaism. The chapter teaches about the Prophet Muhammad and how he became God's messenger. It even describes jihad as a "holy war to defend Islam [...] much like the Crusades to defend Christianity."
Fox News Radio's Todd Starnes has obtained a copy of the textbook. He told Hannity, "Through the entire chapter, Sean, Islam is defended. They talk about how wonderful Islam is to women. I mean, you'd think that they were having Victoria's Secret stores over there."
Starnes said the book attempts to re-write history by likening bad things in Christianity's history to a "massacre," but for Islam it's referred to as an "occupation."
Hannity asked why the text didn't cover comparative religions if it was going to discuss religion at all. Starnes said he hasn't received an answer from the publishing company, Pearson, on that question. In a prepared statement, they told Starnes, "A review of the book shows there is balanced attention given to the beliefs of Islam, Judaism and Christianity."
Starnes said this problem is bigger than Brevard County, Florida. He cited a survey by the Citizens for National Security that found that at least 80 textbooks currently in use are filled with Musselmen bias.
#3
I have substituted at two middle schools since I retired a few years ago. I too have noticed this bias but when I mentioned it I was reprimanded for "
I was reprimanded for "questioning a teacher".
What I asked was since religion could not be taught in schools why were the tenets and rites of Islam being taught?
One school doesn't make much of it but the other is far too close to Sharia compliance for my taste.
#5
Everyone involved in the purchase of this new textbook should be named and forced to defend it or admit they just rubber stamped it without doing their jobs. I'd like to see the squirming.
In a lengthy interview with the left-wing New Republic, John McCain, the Republican Party's 2008 nominee blurted out his affection for Hillary Clinton more than once. Those ambassadorial noms have to go to somebody, never too early to start sucking up. Is Johnny now channeling his fat daughter?
At one point the Arizona Senator said that choosing between Rand Paul or Clinton for president in 2016 would be a "tough choice." He then went on to call the former Secretary of State a "rock star" and criticize Fox News as "schizophrenic" over the issue of immigration reform. Passive-aggressive old bugger.
McCain also mocked a Fox News segment on immigration: A "mocking" John McCain ?
New Republic: You have had conversations with people at Fox, The New Yorker reported, about immigration. There is a real divide in the party. What do Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch say about whether the party can come along on this issue?
McCain: It is well known that Rupert Murdoch is a strong supporter of immigration reform. Roger Ailes is also a realist. He believes that immigration reform is vital to the country first, but also the GOP. Yet he does not dictate. [Sean] Hannity has come out against it and kept his job. I don't think Roger Ailes is ham-fisted.
New Republic: But if you watch Fox, there are all these segments on immigrants and crime and so on, and people get riled up, and then they want reform. It's a difficult dynamic in the party.
McCain: I think that Fox News is a bit schizophrenic. I saw a guy on "Hannity," maybe "Huckabee," and the guy said, "You know, the Chinese are coming across our border, and they are going to commit cyber attacks." McCain diagnosing schizophrenia ?
New Republic: They have to cross the border to do that?
McCain: Honest to God! "They are going to commit cyber attacks."
McCain's sudden affection for Clinton is in sharp contrast to the outrage he expressed over the four dead Americans in Libya who were left unprotected by Clinton's State Department. Stockholm syndrome ?
#4
If she's a rock star, when will she choke to death on her own vomit?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
08/01/2013 13:45
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#5
How is it McCain still keeps being reelected? He seems to be opposed to the opinions of his state. I know its difficult to give up the "power" associated with a well-known politician but at some point that becomes battered wife syndrom.
#6
Someone should pass a law that says if you try for the President and lose you have to leave the public eye. No more hanging on as a senator or whatever. Go away. That would limit the number of folks willing to roll the dice down to those with a legitimate chance.
Posted by: Barbara ||
08/01/2013 16:53
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#9
Translate: "Those sneaky Chinese are going to sneak across the border to do that internet hacking stuff. And we can't stop them!!! And they are going to be doing it on my lawn. The bastards!"
[AlAhram] Free elections are a cornerstone of any democracy, but in Egypt they face serious challenges, not least illiteracy. Is it time to say honestly, 'No to free elections in Egypt'?
While many Egyptian intellectuals and politicians are scrambling to present various recipes for a roadmap for the future, everyone agrees on one thing: the need to "hold elections," both parliamentary and presidential, within the next few months.
This consensus is logical on the outside since frequent free elections are a cornerstone of building any democratic system. Elections are also the only alternative when it comes to a mechanism for the peaceful transfer of power.
Continued on Page 49
In a short video dated July 30, a group of Syrian fighters has appealed to Muslims in the North Caucasus to wage jihad in Russia rather than fighting in Syria. Specifically, they refer to the recent appeal by self-prclaimed Caucasus Emirate leader Doku Umarov to prevent the Olympic Games in Sochi in February 2014.
The appeal is delivered by a wheelchair-bound jihadi called Salakhuddin who appears to have lost both legs. He is surrounded by seven masked jihadis armed with heavy machine guns and grenade launchers. Salakhuddin says there has been a "huge influx of volunteers" from the North Caucasus to join the rebels in Syria. He blames the wave of volunteers on a widely held belief that "Syria is where you go to join the jihad."
Salakhuddin says it is reasonable that Muslims from those areas of Russia where there is no jihad should have that belief, but that Muslims in the North Caucasus have a duty to remain at home and fight there, even though conditions are far more difficult in terms of weaponry, support, and the possibility of tactical withdrawal. He cites a sura from the Koran in support of that argument.
Salakhuddin further urges North Caucasus Muslims to "fight in the lowlands if you can't go to the mountains," or to head to Moscow or other Russian cities in order to target the enemy there, or attempt to sabotage the Winter Olympics in line with Umarov's instructions.
I've always said that as per the US-VS-CHINA-VS-ISLAM/NUCLEAR ISLAM in Asia-Pacific or the Pacific, IMO the only real question is a whether Radical Islam will attack China or the US first before attacking the other - by extens, ditto RUSSIA + CENTRAL ASIA JIHAD.
I'm also telling local Guam patrons that China desires to takeover + control GUAM-WESTPAC [ includ CNMI + other], would like HAWAII, + at least 1/2 of CONUS-NORAM for "living space".
CHINA'S "LONG MARCH" ACROSS THE PACIFIC, towards the Americas - IFF NOT CHINA, IT'LL BE THE MUSLIMS = NUCLEAR ISLAM/OWG NUCLEAR CALIPHATE.
But I digress ...
* See also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Israel National News = Rian.RU] VIDEO: SYRIA REBEL LEADER URGES ATTACKS ON RUSSIA.
#2
OOOOOOPPSSS, forgot SAME > OBAMA ADMINISTRATION LOSING CREDIBILITY IN MIDDLE EAST | WORLD TRIBUNE.
Now apply ME distrust of the Bammer's credibility, reliability + promises to East Asia.
The proverbial clock is ticking for GUAM-CNMI, WESTPAC, CENTPAC?, + any = all other US Allies in East-South Asia.
CHINA is getting ready to challenge the US position in East-South Asia, and its a big questiona-mark as to whether the
"unreliable/discredible? POTUS Bammer + Debt, Sequester-riiden USA will come to the rescue vee China andor the Soon-to-be-Nuclear Hard Boyz.
"GLOBALISM" + OWG "MULTIPOLARITY" = "CO-SUPERPOWER(S) = the Bammer USA may unilaterally but PDeniably give up 1/2 of Asia-Pacific in order to covertly empower GLOBAL CO-SUPERPOWERS CHINA - NUCLEAR ISLAM/ISLAMISM???
Most of the people of Guam may want to stay under the USA, but "Globalism" + OWG
"Multipolarity" says SORRY, MES AMIS, YOU ALL HAVE TO BE CHINESE OR MUSLIM WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT, WANT IT OR NOT - THE TIME FOR YOU TO BE AMERICAN OR JOIN AMERIKA WAS YESTERDAY???
[Ynet] Nine Latin American ALBA member countries have announced that they will file a complaint with the United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... against the United States for spying, as revealed by whistle blower Edward Snowden. The complaint will be filed in September.
The purpose of the complaint is to denounce "US espionage in the world that violates human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... ." The countries include Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador, Bolivia and Nicaragua, some of which Snowden turned to in requesting asylum.
CBS Dallas Fort Worth have claimed that the officer did not recognize Zimmerman, who has been at the center of a nationwide controversy since he was found not guilty of the second-degree murder and manslaughter of Trayvon Martin earlier this month.
Indeed, Zimmerman is even reported to have asked the officer if he knew his face from television and the officer again told the one-time Florida neighborhood watch captain that he did not.
While being questioned by the officer, Zimmerman, who was driving a 2008 Honda pick-up with Florida plates, told the officer that he was armed and was instructed to keep the gun in the car's glove-compartment.
The officer issued Zimmerman a warning for speeding and then sent him on his way - but not before asking him where he was going, to which he replied 'nowhere in particular'.
'Nowhere in particular, why is that?' responded the officer according to In Forney.com
'You didnÂ’t see my name?' said Zimmerman. The officer then responded, 'wow, what a coincidence.'
The officer then inquired if Zimmerman was free of any warrants for arrest, to which Zimmerman replied, 'absolutely'.
'Alright, IÂ’m gonna go back and just check you, routinely,' said the officer as he checked Zimmerman's proof of insurance and a driverÂ’s license.
'The reason you were stopped was for your speed, why donÂ’t you slow down a little bit for me and, as long as you donÂ’t have any warrants, IÂ’ll cut you loose with a warning,' said the officer to Zimmerman according to In Forney.com.
'Just take it easy, go ahead and shut your glove compartment and donÂ’t play with your firearm, ok?'
The traffic stop according to InForney.Com lasted approximately five minutes and after being given a warning, Zimmerman was sent on his way - being wished 'a safe trip' by the officer.
#1
'The reason you were stopped was for your speed, why don't you slow down a little bit for me and, as long as you don't have any warrants, I'll cut you loose with a warning,'
#4
George, you are now making the right moves young man. Things are too liberal loco. Especially under the Obama administration. Being Latino and white, you have options. Live long. Via Con Dios.
#13
"The world is full o' complainers. An' the fact is, nothin' comes with a guarantee. Now I don't care if you're the pope of Rome, President of the United States or Man of the Year; somethin' can all go wrong. Now go on ahead, y'know, complain, tell your problems to your neighbor, ask for help, 'n watch him fly. Now, in Russia, they got it mapped out so that everyone pulls for everyone else... that's the theory, anyway. But what I know about is Texas, an' down here... you're on your own."
Posted by: George Glaigum7976 ||
08/01/2013 11:38
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#14
I know from personal experience that in Dallas County most cops will let you go with a warning for many minor traffic violations. And having a gun is no big thing as long as you aren't doing anything bad with it. Texans respect the 2nd amendment. In fact 99% of the Midwest does. Chicago is a notable exception.
#15
The officer may not have lied when he said he "did not recognize" George, he travels in disguise. The New Black Panthers ARE tacking his every incident. However, even if that wasn't true, I'm sure he didn't want to "handle" a 'hot potato'. I wish they would give me a warning...they never do though.
#17
My comment regarding tickets was limited to Dallas County. Other areas of the metroplex have different policies. I understand that the 5-0 can be real hard-asses in Richardson, Carrollton, and many other counties. But as always, your mileage may vary.
#19
I got off with a warning recently, probably because I didn't get out of my vehicle and start arguing with the CHiPpie - like the retired Gunny who got pulled over along with me.
#20
I talked my way out of a speeding ticket the last time I got pulled over. The Officer asked me did I know how fast I was going so I told him I wasn't sure. He said 72. I said, "Wow! I didn't know I could pedal this thing that fast". He let me go with a warning to "Pedal slower". I drive a Smart Car.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/01/2013 15:53
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#21
LOL, Deacon.
You're quick on your feet. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara ||
08/01/2013 16:49
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#22
Deacon, I just had a similar experience on vaca. in TN. My wife rented us a Fiat 500 and driving along the Blue Ridge Pkwy. I felt that I had to get out and push up hill real quick down though. The nice police man let me go when I explained that I wasn't use to the car yet.
The Homeland Security Department has lost track of more than 1 million people who it knows arrived in the U.S. but who it cannot prove left the country, according to an audit Tuesday that also found the department probably won't meet its own goals for deploying an entry-exit system.
The findings were revealed as Congress debates an immigration bill, and the Government Accountability Office's report could throw up another hurdle because lawmakers in the House and Senate have said that any final deal must include a workable system to track entries and exits and cut down on so-called visa overstays. Some visa "overstays" from China deface government monuments with green paint.
#4
Just adopt the 'foreign bride' standards. You want to sponsor a immigrant, legal or illegal, you're responsible for their economic sustainment for 10 years. We'll see how many supporting amnesty are willing to put their wallet on the line. It's all about giving them other people's money via state subsidizes. When it directly hits their own income, we'll see how sympathetic they really are. Add in BP's bonding for the application.
#8
Not a chance the "Repubs" are all pussies, and we are royally phuqued. We will be stuck w/ Hillary in the next election becuz the Repub elites are looking more and more like Dems.
about ready to move to Australia. or Kalamazoo.
Eight BIFF members were killed in a clash with Philippine security forces Tuesday after the terrorists militants tried to seize a cargo truck and petroleum tanker in Guindulungan.
The terrorists rebels reportedly blocked a part of the highway going through Guindulungan and planted improvised explosive devices along the road. Officials said the explosives were meant to pressure businessmen who refuse to give in to the BIFFÂ’s extortion demands.
The BIFF split from the MILF due to differences over negotiations with the government. The BIFF has criticized the MILF leadership for supposedly abandoning its original commitment to independence.
Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman of the Army’s 6th division, said the situation in Maguindanao has returned to normal except for flooding caused by heavy rains. He said, “Perhaps they (BIFF) are resting and are licking their wounds. But they may attack again in a few days."
[AlAhram] Gunmen suspected to be allied to Islamist sect Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... have stormed a construction site in northeast Nigeria ... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border... , carting off 125 kg (275 pounds) of dynamite and hundreds of detonators, two security sources said on Wednesday.
The gunnies struck the Bara area of Yobe state at around 2 a.m. on Monday morning, the two security sources in Yobe told Rooters, but no shots were heard. One of the sources said the men arrived on four cycle of violences, beating and overpowering the site's private security guards.
The police and military both declined to comment. Officials from the company, a Nigerian firm called Ric Rock, were not immediately available for comment.
The Nigerian military launched a major offensive in May aimed at defeating the Islamists in three northeastern states -- Borno, Yobe and Adamawa -- but that has pushed many of them into hiding, from where they can still launch deadly attacks.
Multiple kabooms in Nigeria's biggest northern city of Kano killed at least 22 people on Monday, a military source told Rooters on Wednesday, updating an earlier corpse count of 15.
The attack underscored the continuing threat the rebels armed with explosive pose in the north.
Since its initial uprising in 2009, Boko Haram has grown in sophistication, learning bomb-making technology from al Qaeda-linked gunnies in the Sahara to the north.
Videos shown to Rooters by a counter-terrorism official on Sunday showed Boko Haram gunnies giving detailed instructions on how to make bombs -- including a boom jacket and a boom-mobile -- in the northern Hausa language, filming how it is done.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/01/2013
00:00 ||
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[Bangkok Post] A military ranger was killed yesterday in a roadside bomb attack in Yala province and at least eight security officers were injured in several bombs and gunfire attacks in southern Thailand.
Cpl Paradon Pechjutha was severely injured as a result of the attack that occurred while he was on patrol yesterday afternoon. He died later in the hospital.
In another attack, three soldiers were wounded in an ambush that broke out on an isolated road in Bannang Sata district.
In other incidents, at least three bomb explosions, including one in a school compound, wounded five security officers who were escorting teachers in Yala and Pattani yesterday.
[AlAhram] Cabinet extends mandate to interior ministry to confront 'acts of terrorism and road-blocking', says pro-Morsi sit-ins at Rabaa and Nahda Square 'threat to national security'
And that, my dears, is most definitely that. The Mamluks have taken control.
I'd prefer it was the Ptolemaics who took control. Or maybe the Romans...
Egypt's cabinet says it will take "all legal measures necessary to confront acts of terrorism and road-blocking" in an apparent warning to supporters of deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi who have been camping out in two Cairo sit-ins since the president's ouster.
"Based on the mandate given by the people to the state, and in preservation of the country's higher interest, the cabinet has delegated the interior ministry to proceed with all legal measures to confront acts of terrorism and road-blocking," said interim information minister Dorreya Sharaf El-Din in a cabinet statement Wednesday evening.
"The cabinet has reviewed the country's security situation and has concluded that the dangerous situation in Rabaa and Nahda Squares, including the terrorist acts and road-blocking that has occurred, is no longer acceptable as it constitutes a threat to the country's national security," El-Din added.
Egypt's interior minister Mohamed Ibrahim announced on 27 July that the police and the army were working in coordination to discuss a suitable day for dispersing the two pro-Morsi sit-ins, which hold tens of thousands of protesters.
Ibrahim's statement came following mass demonstrations in Cairo and other cities responding to army chief Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's call for Egyptians to take to the street on 26 July and give the army a "popular mandate to confront terrorism and violence." The Egyptian presidency later accused Morsi supporters of orchestrating organised attacks against the opposing protesters.
In the hours following Friday's protests, police clashed with Morsi supporters near the Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square sit-in, where at least 80 protesters were killed.
Supporters of the elected Morsi -- deposed by El-Sisi on 3 July following nationwide protests -- continue to press for his reinstatement through demonstrations that have often turned into violent festivities with police forces and unknown assailants.
House Republicans, in a lengthy report on the Justice Department's leak investigations, formally accused Attorney General Eric Holder of misleading Congress with "deceptive" testimony that he knew nothing of the "potential prosecution" of the press.
The 70-page report was released late Wednesday by Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee. To coincide with the release, lawmakers also wrote a letter to President Obama calling for a "change in leadership" at the Justice Department.
"The deceptive and misleading testimony of Attorney General Holder is unfortunately just the most recent example in a long list of scandals that have plagued the department," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said in a statement.
The report delved into the department's aggressive investigations over various security leaks, but focused in large part on the FBI affidavit seeking a search warrant for Fox News correspondent James Rosen's emails in connection with one such probe. The DOJ sought access to the documents by arguing Rosen was a likely criminal "co-conspirator" in a leak case, citing the Espionage Act.
Yet on May 15, shortly before the document was made public, Holder told the House Judiciary Committee that he hadn't heard of any effort to prosecute reporters.
"With regard to potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material, that is not something that I have ever been involved, heard of, or would think would be a wise policy," Holder said. He discussed the issue amid concerns about the DOJ grabbing phone records from Associated Press offices.
The newly released House report concluded that this comment was "deceptive and misleading."
The report said: "We believe that Mr. Holder's simple and direct statement had the intended effect -- to leave the members of the Committee with the impression that not only had the potential prosecution of a reporter never been contemplated during Mr. Holder's tenure, but that nothing comparable to the Rosen search warrant had ever been executed by this administration. ... On the basis of Mr. Holder's testimony, there was little doubt in the Members' minds that the legal machinery for such an undertaking had never been started."
Justice spokesman Brian Fallon on Wednesday said the latest report "was produced on a purely partisan basis" and said its findings "are contrary to the record and strongly disputed by many of the committee's own members."
[AlAhram] National Alliance to Support Legitimacy has called for mass demonstrations after the cabinet says it will take steps to disperse pro-Morsi sit-ins
They'll keep doing what once worked until they learn the hard way that it won't work anymore.
The Moslem Brüderbund-led National Alliance to Support Legitimacy has called for mass protests on Friday under the banner of "Egypt against the coup."
Earlier on Wednesday, Egypt's cabinet issued a statement saying it would take "all legal measures necessary to confront acts of terrorism and road-blocking" in an apparent warning to supporters of deposed Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi, who have been camping out at two sit-ins in Cairo since the president's ouster on 3 July.
The pro-Morsi alliance responded with a statement read by a front man and aired on Al-Jazeera ... an Arab news network headquartered in Qatar, notorious for carrying al-Qaeda press releases. The name means the Peninsula, as in the Arabian Peninsula. In recent years it has settled in to become slightly less biased than MSNBC, in about the same category as BBC or CBS... on television calling for million-man protests on Friday.
"The alliance affirms that the Egyptian nation now recognises the true faceless myrmidons after several massacres committed by the putschists against pro-Morsi protestors," said the statement.
Over 80 pro-Morsi demonstrators were killed in violent festivities with police in the early hours of Saturday morning, a short distance away from the main sit-in in Nasr City.
Speaking about the interior ministry, which the cabinet statement charged with dispersing the protests, the alliance statement read: "Whatever they do, we will not be silent about their thugs...Let the world know who is peaceful and who is inciting terror."
The alliance backs continued peaceful protest until demands for Morsi's return are met.
"Our peacefulness will prove stronger than their bullets," said the front man.
In a plea 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... , the Moslem Brüderbund-led coalition called on the international organization to oppose the "coup" and condemn the mass killing of protestors.
The front man denied claims that protesters at the Nasr City demonstration are armed, and invited television channels to search for weapons at the sit-in.
The statement called for the constitutionally-guaranteed right to peaceful assembly to be upheld and appealed to the armed forces and police to refrain from directing bullets at "their Egyptian brothers."
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[AlAhram] Tunisian Education Minister Salem Labyedh resigned in frustration over death of Mohamed Brahmi Thursday
Tunisian Education Minister Salem Labyedh has resigned, the prime minister's front man said on Wednesday, as pressure mounts on the Islamist-led government to step down amid a growing political crisis.
Last week's killing of a leftist politician, the second to be slain by suspected Islamist Death Eaters in six months, is disrupting a tense political transition that began when Tunisians toppled an autocratic leader in 2011.
Opposition parties, the largest labour union and the secular Ettakatol party, the ruling Islamist Ennahda party's junior coalition partner, have all demanded the government's departure.
Labyedh, a secular independent, had said he was considering resigning after fellow-leftist Mohamed Brahmi was rubbed out on Thursday in an liquidation the government has pinned on hardline Salafi Islamists. The opposition blames Ennahda.
The opposition is also calling for the dissolution of the transitional Constituent Assembly, just weeks before the elected body completes a new draft constitution.
Ennahda has softened its rejection of opposition demands, saying it was open to the possibility of a new government, but has firmly rejected demands to disband the Assembly.
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[Ynet] American intelligence analysts have concluded that a recent alleged Israeli Arclight airstrike on a warehouse in Syria did not succeed in destroying all of the Russian-made anti-ship cruise missiles that were its target, the New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... reported.
So generous of them to share their conjecture with the whole world. Betcha the NYT journalistic staff felt a mutual frisson as they prepared this report.
According to the report, Israel carried out an attack on July 5 near Latakia to destroy the missiles, which Russia had sold to Syria. But the report said that while the warehouse was destroyed, analysts have now concluded that at least some of the Yakhont missiles had been moved from the warehouse before the attack.
[Ynet] Turkish police fired teargas in Istanbul on Wednesday to disperse several hundred people protesting against the police crackdown on last month's anti-government demonstrations, local media reported.
Police blocked several hundred protesters in a busy street near Istanbul's Taksim Square from marching in support of a teenage boy who is said to be in a coma after being hit in the head by a teargas canister during the unrest.
For a map, click here. For a map of Tamaulipas state, click here
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
A total of 23 migrants heading to the US were rescued Wednesday by a Mexican security forces in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamauliupas, according to Mexican news accounts.
According to a news report which appeared in the online edition of El Diario de Coahuila news daily, a Base de Operaciones Mixtas (BOM) group of state and federal security units found the migrants Tuesday at a residence under construction in Constitucional colony in the city.
Some of the victims told authorities that they were waiting to be released by their captors after their families paid tribute.
Local Mexican criminal gangs routinely kidnap migrants heading to the US and hold them until tribute can be paid. If they refuse or money can't be raised, the victims are executed. The worse example of this practice took place three years ago August in San Fernando municipality when a local Los Zetas group demanded tribute be paid from a group of migrants they were holding, but were rebuffed. The San Fernando gang executed 72.
The migrants in the Nuevo Laredo group rescued were from Mexico and from central America nations including seven from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.
Two suspects were detained at the scene and a Ford Expedition SUV was seized. The suspects were identified in a separate news release posted on the official news site for Tamaulipas state as Julio Cesar Garza Ibarra, 41, and Juan Pablo Rincon Magaña, 33.
Meanwhile near Matamoros, three armed suspects were shot to death when they encountered a Mexican Army road patrol.
According to a separate news report in El Diario de Coahuila, the suspects were traveling aboard a Chevrolet Suburban SUV along the Matamoros to Reynosa highway when they were signaled by the patrol to stop at around 1315 hrs. The patrol was fired on by the suspects. Army return fire hit the suspects, killing them.
Also in Tamaulipas in the central section of the state, a Base de Operaciones Mixtas (BOM) group detained three unidentified armed suspects said to have been involved in shootings in the area.
The arrests took place along the road between Villagran and Magueyes. The security force also seized two rifles, a revolver and several balaclavas.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com
[AlAhram] Shipments of diesel, petrol and mazut are part of the aid promised by the UAE after Morsi's ouster
Egypt has received six shipments of fuel from the UAE as part of the Gulf state's promised aid following the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.
Spokesman for the petroleum ministry Hamdi Abdel-Aziz told Ahram Online that the UAE shipments include diesel, petrol and the low-quality fuel oil mazut, and said that the ministry would reveal details regarding the amount of fuel and whether the shipments had been given or sold "soon."
Last week, the UAE deposited $3 billion into the Egyptian central bank. A total of $12 billion has been pledged to Egypt by the UAE, Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
and Kuwait since the 3 July ouster of Morsi.
According to Abdel-Aziz, negotiations between the petroleum ministry and foreign oil companies are ongoing to facilitate repayment of Egypt's debts, which stand at an estimated $5.4 billion.
In a related development, Egypt will receive on Wednesday the first of five free liquefied natural gas shipments pledged by Qatar in June under the previous government. The shipment reportedly stands at 70 million cubic feet.
The shipments are part of the gas swap deal signed between Cairo and Doha, by which Egypt will buy the share of foreign companies in locally extracted LNG. The foreign companies will then take the LNG being imported from Qatar.
Newly-appointed minister of petroleum Sherif Ismail has attributed the current availability of fuel products and the disappearance of queues at petrol stations to the government's efforts to curb fuel smuggling fuel.
Plans to issue smart cards, initially to prevent smuggling and then to control distribution of subsidised fuel, are on track despite the change of minister.
"The next phase of the project, which will be implemented gradually over the months of July, August and September, will include issuing smart cards to follow up on the fuelling of cars and other vehicles," the finance ministry said in a statement on Monday.
Osama Kamal, the former minister of petroleum, told Ahram Online in April that he expected the smart-card system to save some LE30 billion a year. Egypt's fuel subsidy bill was is estimated at LE120 billion in the last fiscal year, 2012/13.
The government will distribute an initial one million cards for vehicles that use diesel, followed by a five million cards for vehicles using gasoline.
Cards will also be issued for other users of fuel products such as factories, bakeries and farmers. The amount of consumption will not be a limited, the statement said.
[Ynet] Refugees struggle and rebel fighters languish as Assad forces, aided by Hezbollah, reverse losses; 'the revolution has stalled,' Syrian refugee laments
As the regime of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... has reversed losses on the battlefield and Syrian rebels have begun fighting amongst themselves, the revolution that the world cheered on has ground to a halt. Foreign journalists no longer call Jablawi and his fellow activists and most do not dare venture into a country where jihadists are eager to capture them. There are just a handful of journalists in rebel areas, although the government is beginning to allow journalists to enter for the first time since the civil war began. Most journalists cover the fighting from Leb or Turkey.
As a result, the activists, fighters and humanitarian aid workers who worked so hard to cultivate their revolution are now ruminating about where their uprising went awry.
Sartawi says that when the regime began going on the offensive in May, the wealthy Persian Gulf donors who funded the group's operations gradually stopped giving. "They didn't want to fund an open ended operation. They are scared this is a never-ending revolution."
Syrian activists believe the revolution took a turn for the worse when the Lebanese organization Hezbollah entered the fray on the side of the regime in the spring. But they also blame the internecine quarrels that have paralyzed the rebel-led Free Syrian Army (FSA). "No one trusts each other anymore," complained a 28 year old activist in Aleppo who only gave his name as Amr. "The FSA brigades are fighting between themselves for resources more than they are fighting Bashar."
Amr and others complain that the FSA has lost its bearings, transforming itself from a band of Robin Hoods protecting the people to a gang of outlaws bent on fleecing them. "Some brigades no longer fight," noted Hamdi Suleiman, a 24 year old activist from the city of Idlib. "They spend all their time stealing. The people don't like this."
As Syrians turn against the FSA, the logistical networks which worked in its shadows have suffered. "People don't want to help us anymore," humanitarian aid worker Hamza Rida told The Media Line. "Pharmacists used to give us free medicine. Grocers handed out food. But now they say they have nothing for us."
Frustrations such as these have pushed activists like Jablawi to leave Syria. "There is not much we can do to help the revolution when Syrians don't want to help us," he said. "But even worse, the foreign journalists don't want our help anymore either.
As the international media is fixated on the struggle between the military and the Moslem Brüderbund in Egypt, few news hounds are focusing on Syria. In addition, a spate of kidnappings of foreign journalists in Syria has made the country a mini-Iraq that few want to venture into. "It's dangerous and getting worse by the day," says a correspondent for a major Western publication. "If no one is asking for articles, why should we risk it?"
And as the world turns its back on the country, the risks Syrians took for their revolution are looking more and more like a futile effort.
Shroud of Trayvon headed for Smithsonian? Probably not, but what a hook. WashPo via Drudge, of course. Mainly an excuse for first posting attempt. Please instruct/edit/delete/ban as necessary.
I deleted extraneous blank lines. Otherwise, perfectly done. And extra credit for the original poetry!
-- trailing wife
Excerpt:
[Washington Post] In the moment that the hoodie -- Trayvon Martin's hoodie -- appeared in Courtroom 5D in Seminole County, Fla., it was as if the air sluiced out the door. There was a breathless, aching stillness.
Prosecutors displayed the dark gray sweatshirt that Martin wore on the last night of his life in an enormous, rectangular, thickly three-dimensional frame. The hoodie lay suspended between clear plastic sheets with its arms spread wide inside a cross-shaped cutout, set starkly apart from the brilliant white of the matting. It might easily have been mistaken for a religious relic, even as it became a singularly evocative entry in a long inventory of indelible courtroom artifacts from O.J. Simpson's ill-fitting gloves to Lorena Bobbitt's emasculating kitchen knife. Prosecutors lifted the framed hoodie awkwardly, teetering toward the jury.
"I get goose bumps just thinking about it," says Michael Skolnik, who sat next to Martin's parents on that morning, the day before the Fourth of July. Skolnik, the political director for hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and a member of the Trayvon Martin Foundation board, felt as if he were in the presence of something as consequential and iconic as Babe Ruth's bat or the Declaration of Independence. "It's like this mythical garment," he says. 'Twas very far away indeed
From Washington the deed was done:
That creepy cracker drew a bead,
And killed our savior's only son.
The bloody hoodie's scarcely dried;
Alike the tears of Trayvon's peeps;
Let's waste no time lest hate subside
For white Hispanic cracker creeps:
On this green Mall, all in the dark,
Let's meet and play the knockout game;
No Limit N---a, History's arc
Will ever echo with your fame.
Sizzurp, that made that hero dare,
To push and punch and bring affray,
Relaxate us and ease our care
As we remember baby Tray.
#7
Y'all have forgotten that MLK was an attention Whore, very similar to Jesse Jackson, I lived in Montgomery at the time, and he was no better than any other Race Baiting Hustler.
Hardly someone famous, more Infamous.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/01/2013 10:24
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[WTOP] A woman charged with defacing the Washington National Cathedral was carrying what appeared to be a soda can containing green paint when she was arrested, and she has been linked to at least four other incidents of vandalism, including at the Lincoln Memorial, according to prosecutors and court documents.
Jiamei Tian, 58, appeared in D.C. Superior Court Tuesday alongside a Mandarin translator.
The woman, who has a Chinese passport, arrived in Washington a few days ago and was traveling on an expired visa, prosecutors said. Police said she had no fixed address but that she told officers she lived in Los Angeles.
She needed a Mandarin Chinese translator, Redneck Jim. Mandarin is a Han Chinese language, as opposed to the Uzbek or something like that. So the odds are that she's merely a bit nuts or doing a Chinese version of carving her name in things -- apparently Chinese tourists are fond of leaving their mark these days. And splashing paint around doesn't inspire terror -- if it had been jihad she would have been running around with a cleaver like those young men in London who tried to cut off that young soldier's head not long ago.
#4
green paint along with feces and urine. She was auditioning either for an OWS officer position or the DNC
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/01/2013 10:26
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#5
Wasn't long ago that Chinese graffiti in Egypt caused a huge stir and the parents of the graffiti artist to publicly apologize for bringing shame on their nation.
What happened to China. They've become the ugly tourists.
[Ynet] Rebel video of chopper interception shows use of SA-8 air defense system -- mobile, autonomous, hard to detect, poses direct threat to Israeli airspace
Click on the headline above to see video at the link.
The video released by Syrian opposition forces which allegedly documents the tracking and interception of an army helicopter shows that rebels have managed to get their hands on Russian-made SA-8, or OSA, air defense system, and now pose a direct threat on the Israeli, Lebanese and Syrian airspaces.
However, there's more than one way to skin a cat... the system is relatively outdated, and the Syrian army holds a far more dangerous development of the same system, the SA-17, which it purchased from Russia with Iranian funds.
The Syrian army has several SA-17 regiments, but some systems are probably meant for Hezbollah .
According to foreign reports, in January, Israel bombed a weapons convoy making its way from Damascus to Leb, allegedly carrying this type of anti-aircraft system to Hezbollah.
The SA-8 and SA-17 are especially dangerous, as they are both mobile (and at least partly amphibious) and autonomous -- the vehicle mounted with the system can independently track and intercept aircraft.
As vehicles mounted with the SA-8 can move rapidly from place to place and hide easily in urban areas and in Syria and Leb's many caves, finding them can be most difficult.
For these reasons Israel views transfers of the SA-8 system to Hezbollah as a game changer, which must be thwarted even at the risk of conflict with Syria.
The threat posed to Israel by these mobile and stealthy systems may become even more crucial should the IDF decide to act against Hezbollah and Syria's rocket and missile arrays aimed at Israeli cities and military bases.
The Syrian Orbit TV channel, affiliated with the Syrian opposition, aired on Tuesday a detailed report on the issue, claiming that the Al-Islam Brigade, one of the armed rebel groups operating on the outskirts of the capital, put their hands on an SA-8 system, mounted on a vehicle, termed "the greatest spoils of the campaign," after taking over a 264 Unit base in December 2012.
According to the report, in recent months the group has upgraded the system, finally succeeding in downing a Syrian helicopter.
Army officers interviewed in the report noted the use of the system is a "qualitative turning point" in the Syrian war power balance.
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#1
OTOH a Pert was ranting warning on the Net that outdated non-MANPAD SAMS may be converted into SR SSMS targeted at either Israel, Jordan or Turkey.
By definition, the above infers dedicated Iranian andor NOKOR assistance.
#3
You don't want to be going Man'O Mendiola, the Capital Markets > Penn State are at his command. Go with infer, keep Madonna under control > away from the button.
[AlAhram] Iran extends aid to President Bashar al Assad's government as it signes a deal this week with Syria to buy oil products
Syrian authorities and Iran signed a deal this week to activate a $3.6 billion credit facility to buy oil products with long term payment terms, officials and bankers said on Wednesday.
We all did wonder how Syrian units continued to be mobile, and now we know. How much longer will the Iranian purse be able to pour out the bullion, though?
The deal, which was agreed last May between the two allies and will allow Iran to acquire equity stakes in investments in Syria, was part of a package to extend Iranian aid to President Bashar al Assad's government, its main political ally.
Another $1 billion credit line to Damascus has already been extended to buy Iranian power generating products and other goods in a barter arrangement that has helped Syria export textiles and some agricultural produce such as olive oil and citrus, trade officials say.
Syria is short of diesel for its army and fuel to keep the economy running because of U.S. and European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... sanctions imposed after a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. Its main supplier of petroleum products by sea has been Iran.
Despite political support from China and Russia, which have blocked U.N. draft resolutions which could have led to further sanctions on Syria and opposed military intervention to end the conflict, Assad's fuel and cash lifelines have all but dried up.
Iran has steadily expanded economic ties with Syria to help it withstand Western economic sanctions and sealed a free trade deal that granted Syrian exports a low 4 percent customs tariff.
Last January, Tehran agreed during a visit by Prime Minister Wael al-Halki to deposit $500 million in Syria's central bank vaults, banking sources say.
[AlAhram] Ankara is the foreign capital that has expressed the angriest reaction to what it called a 'military coup' against a democratically elected president
Turkey is very angry about the dismissal of Mohamed Morsi by the Egyptian army. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan refused to recognise the new rulers of Egypt, while his foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, warned against a "domino effect" in the other countries of the Arab Spring (Tunisia, Libya, and Yemen) if the international community endorses the "coup."
Only Turkey has so far qualified the removal of Morsi a coup. Ankara, through its Minister of European Affairs, Egemen Bagis, even asked the Security Council of the United Nations
Continued on Page 49
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#1
I can think of a few more "democratically elected presidents" who should be replaced by generals.
[Ynet] The United States still plans to hold a major military exercise called Bright Star in Egypt in mid-September, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Wednesday, even after the Egyptian military's toppling of the president and the violence that has ensued.
"We're planning on going ahead with it," Hagel told news hounds at a Pentagon news conference.
[AlAhram] Following second liquidation of opposition figure, tensions with ruling Islamists lead many activists to replicate Egypt's grass-roots signature drive 'Tamarod'
The killing of Tunisia's opposition politician Mohamed Brahmi opened fire on the ruling Islamist party Ennahda, which faced an angry wave of protests during the last week.
This is not the first incident, as another opposition figure, Chokri Belaid, was assassinated on 6 February leading to a wave of political tensions between the government and the opposition in Tunisia.
The Arab Spring pioneer state seems uncertain about its democratic future, especially amid the absence of a joint political vision.
Who Killed Brahmi?
The assassinated parliamentarian Brahmi was rubbed out by unidentified gunnies outside his home on 25 July in the exact way in which Belaid lost his live.
President Moncef Marzouki said the killing was aimed at derailing the Arab Spring and called it a "second national catastrophe" after Belaid's murder as many opposition forces accused Ennahda of committing both crimes.
Last week, General Union of Tunisian Labour (UGTT) called for general strikes across the North African country, which was implemented "100 percent," said Mahmoud El- May, a member of the Constituent Assembly (ANC), which is in charge of drafting Tunisia's new constitution.
"For instance, all airports were closed; however, it is difficult to see what happened in Egypt because of the un-politicised military and consensus on the constitution-writing process," added El-May, a member of the centrist Al-Joumhouri Party.
Tunisia Prime Minister Ali Larayedh, heading an Ennahda-led coalition, that includes the centre-left Ettakatol Party and Congress for the Republic (CPR), called for a general election for 17 December following an emergency meeting intended to reduce political tensions as anti-government protests called for the ouster of the government.
He insisted that the National Constituent Assembly (NCA) will complete the drafting of the constitution by 23 October.
This statement coincided with a warning by one of Ennahda's coalition partners, Ettaktol, to withdraw unless a new national unity government is formed, claiming it is necessary to "end the widespread and increasingly violent protests."
Ennahda's international spokesperson Yusra Ghannouchi spoke to Ahram Online on the issue.
"There are some calls for exploiting the tragic and heinous liquidation crime to attempt once again to obstruct the completion of the democratic transition and the organization of elections by those who are not committed to the democratic process," Ghannouchi said.
She said that a full draft constitution has been completed. The assembly has already started to discuss it in preparation for amendments and adoption. Several fundamental commissions (media, judiciary etc.) have been formed and the electoral commission that will oversee the organization of elections by the end of this year "is almost ready."
Egypt-inspired Tamarod movement
The way Egypt's ex-president Mohamed Morsi was ousted inspired many Tunisian anti-government activists.
The so-called Tamarod (Rebel) movement collected 22 million signatures against the Islamist president in Egypt, sparking nationwide protests that called for his ouster.
Tunisia is currently replicating this experience.
Opposition activists launched their own version of Tamarod, accusing Ennahda of attempting to create a religious state that restricts personal freedoms and criticising it for its failure to manage the economy.
Meriem Dhaouadi, a Tunisian youth activist, said that Tamarod aims at reaching 2 million signatures within the next few weeks, calling for the formation of a consensual government, dissolution of the elected NCA and creation of a "body of experts" to draft a new constitution.
"I do expect the leading Ennahda government to fall down pretty soon. The people are angry from the course of liquidations, as well as the almost-same neo-liberal economic policies implemented under the dictatorship of Ben Ali," she said.
"Although the troika is leading Tunisia today, in reality it is a one party rule, that of Ennahda, while the other parties seem not to be involved in the decision-making," Dhaouadi added.
On 14 July, Tamarod announced the collection of 870,000 signatures out of 10-million people, but the claim could not be verified, according to AFP.
Larayedh, in a radio interview, described Tamarod last week as a "copycat group" that represents a danger to the democratic process.
Mabrouka Mbarek, a CPR Constituent Assembly member, said that asking the government to resign is a legitimate demand, but calling for the dissolution of the NCA is "irresponsible." "The government was not able to prevent the liquidation of a politician," she asserted.
Mbarek said that Tunisians need to "wrap up the job and get this transition to an end," otherwise the 'counter-revolution' will get stronger and take us back to a dictatorship."
Ghannouchi said "some nihilistic and irresponsible attempts" in Tunisia seek to exploit the "tragic situation" in Egypt in order to destroy the whole political process.
"No sane person would wish to take their country into the same direction into which Egypt is being dragged, and secondly because the arguments used by some to justify the coup in Egypt simply do not exist in Tunisia," Ghannouchi noted.
According to most news reports, dozens of Tunisian MPS have been boycotting parliamentary sessions since Brahmi's liquidation, a situation that led NCA speaker
Mustapha Ben Jaafar to call for "restraint" and urge them to resume work on the delayed constitution.
Local authorities accused Al-Qaeda-linked Salafist group Ansar Al-Sharia, of assassinating Brahmi; the latter denied their involvement.
Brahmi was buried next to Belaid in El-Jellaz cemetery, where hundreds of thousands of mourners took the streets of the capital Tunis during his funeral on Saturday.
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[AlAhram] Egypt's 10-member constitutional experts committee say amendment process underway after submission of proposals from various state and civil actors
The details don't matter, though they can be seen at the link. Key is that the Army, representing the will of the Egyptian people, strongly disapprove of the changes the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists had intended ti impose.
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#1
Key is that the Army, representing the will of the Egyptian people
Or common sense---which is better since there is no such thing as "Egyptian people".
[AlAhram] Sudanese refugee and rights activist Mohamed Suliman Mohamed had been facing harassment in Cairo from Sudanese authorities, according to colleagues
A Sudanese refugee who has faced harassment after gathering testimonies of alleged war crimes in his native Darfur could be deported from Egypt, colleagues say.
"We're busy with our own revolution, bud. Go take your problems somewhere else."
Mohamed Suliman Mohamed, a refugee from Nyala in the Sudanese state of South Darfur, was locked away Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! by Egyptian security forces on 25 July, according to Sudanese activist Bashir Suliman.
Suliman told Ahram Online that Mohamed, who had been living in Egypt since 2004, had been subject to "harassment" from the Sudanese embassy for several years, which intensified a year ago.
"Mohamed was coordinating with Abu Talib Hassan Iman, a Darfurian laywer, who is working with the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... ...to gather information about victims of genocide in Darfur who live in Cairo," said Suliman, who is a member of the Cairo-based Sudan Center for Contemporary Research and Development (SCC).
"He told us he faced a lot of harassment from the Sudanese embassy, in the streets, or in his cell phone...and finally they captured him in the airport."
According to Suliman, who has spoken to Mohamed by phone since his arrest, Mohamed was arrested at Cairo International Airport and remains in detention at the site.
"I know he spoke to someone from UNHCR protection team but they were not allowed to meet him at the airport," he added.
UNHCR's Egypt office told Ahram Online that it is "following the case of Mohamed Suliman with the Egyptian authorities and the community in order to avoid his deportation."
Deportation of a refugee to the country where they were persecuted is a breach of the international refugee convention, to which Egypt is a signatory.
Suliman told Ahram Online that a number of refugees in Cairo who work on human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. issues have faced harassment by Sudanese authorities.
In May 2011, Moneim Suliman Atron, a Sudanese refugee and then director of the SCC, was similarly arrested and threatened with deportation from Egypt to Sudan. Following international pressure, he and his family were resettled to Norway.
Sudanese foreign affairs front man Abu-Bakr Al-Sideeq could not be reached for comment.
[AlAhram] Prosecution orders arrest of Brotherhood's Osama Yassin, Essam El-Erian; extends detention for leading figures pending investigation
Egypt's general prosecutor ordered on Wednesday the referral of the Moslem Brüderbund's supreme guide Mohamed Badie, deputy supreme guide Khairat El-Shater, and deputy leader Rashad Bayoumi to criminal court for inciting violence against peaceful protesters.
The prosecutor also ordered the arrest of the Moslem Brüderbund's Osama Yassin and Essam El-Erian, in addition to Salafist preacher Safwat Hegazy.
An arrest warrant was issued on Sunday for Badie.
Earlier on Wednesday, the prosecution ordered that El-Shater and Bayoumi, in addition to former Brotherhood supreme guide Mahdy Akef and Freedom and Justice Party leader Saad El-Katatni, be tossed in the calaboose Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! for another 15 days in Tora Prison pending investigations into charges of inciting to kill protesters.
All four are accused of inciting to kill protesters in front of the Moslem Brüderbund headquarters in Cairo's Mokattam and around the pro-Morsi sit-in at Giza's Nahda square.
The Brotherhood leaders were incarcerated ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... early July in a crack-down on Islamist figures following the popularly-backed army removal of elected president Morsi on 3 July.
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[AlAhram] Delegation of senior African figures meets Egypt's ousted president Mohamed Morsi a day after he met EU envoy Catherine Ashton
It's rather sweet that they all need to go through the ritual of publicly kicking former President Morsi in the teeth.
An African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... (AU) delegation met with deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi on Tuesday.
The African Union Wise Men Committee delegation, led by former Malian president Alpha Omar Konare, spent an hour with Morsi at some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location, state news agency MENA reported.
This is the second meeting between a foreign delegation and Morsi since he was ousted by the military on 3 July amid nationwide protests against his rule.
EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton confirmed on Tuesday that she had met Morsi for two hours late on Monday.
Earlier on Tuesday, the AU delegation met a number of Egyptian officials, including army chief Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and interim Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy.
Egypt was suspended from the AU following Mohamed Morsi's removal.
Egypt's interim leaders have sent six special envoys to African countries to explain their version of events.
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08/01/2013
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Jihadists in Syria are moving beyond the use of just MANPADS to more advanced SAM weapon systems such as the SA-8 Gecko. Liwa al-Islam released a video on 30 Jul. 2013 showing the shoot down of a jet with what they claim is the Russia Osa SAM system [SA-8 Gecko]. The effective use of advanced weapon systems captured by the jihadists significantly increases the threat picture in Syria where fighters are no longer limited to the Kalashnikov and RPG. Stills from the video are shown above and below.
[IBTimes] Iran's outgoing president Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad has said 5,000 new centrifuges are ready to start operating at the country's nuclear facilities. These are in addition to the 12,000 centrifuges already in operation.
"12,000 centrifuge machines are now running in our nuclear sites and 5,000 new centrifuges are ready to start operation," the hardline president told the country's IRIB1 TV.
The development has come despite Yukiya Amano, director of the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), expressing concern over Iran's controversial nuclear programme.
The IAEA said in June that Tehran was violating international regulations by increasing the number of centrifuges.
Meanwhile, ...back at the dirigible, Cynthia backed into the galley, the barbecue fork held in front of her. Jack! she called. Where the hell are you?... a US thinktank has noted that Iran may be able to achieve weapons-grade uranium by mid-2014.
The Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) said Iran could achieve this by installing thousands of centrifuges at its Natanz and Fordow nuclear facilities.
"Iran could have time to make enough weapon-grade uranium for one or more nuclear weapons," says the ISIS in its July report.
The American body, citing images of Iran's nuclear sites obtained from commercial satellites, had earlier said Tehran was trying to hide the links between its Lashkar Ab'ad nuclear facility and firms involved in laser technology.
At the Lashkar Ab'ad facility, experiments of enriching uranium through laser isotope separation have been conducted in the past. However, death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate... IAEA officials, who probed the facility, say laser is used for civilian purposes.
Ahmadinejad, while speaking elsewhere, also noted that the country had achieved the technology to enrich uranium to higher purity levels through lasers.
#1
Lindsey Graham's Sept-Oct 2013 timeline occurs roughly at the same time as Japan's fear of China making a forced landing in the Senkakus wid former or ex-PLA veterans which again coincides wid China's construction in the disputed Spratlys + the possible establishment of Kurdistan "pro forma" in Syria.
N-O-T counting anything else between now + then.
POTUS Bammer = sequester-hit USA, UDOD may be facing a "perfect storm" of geopol dangerous crises in the ME + East Asia long before the formal US Campaigning for 2014 even starts???
Iff Iran is to go Weaps Nukulaar + China to take over the "Second Island Chain" e.g. GUAM-CNMI-WESTPAC by 2020, then pragmatically the time for them to do so is when the Radical Islamist-described "weakest US President in history" is now in the Oval Office + under Sequester, etc.
N-O-T come Jan 2017 when he isn't.
[Ynet] Syrian faceless myrmidons linked with al-Qaeda have kidnapped 200 ethnic Kurds after heavy fighting against Kurdish fighters in two villages in eastern Syria, a Syrian human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... group reported.
In addition, a Syrian opposition source said that according to plans, an interim government will be established in August to govern the areas under rebel control.
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.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
CBS Dallas Fort Worth have claimed that the officer did not recognize Zimmerman, who has been at the center of a nationwide controversy since he was found not guilty of the second-degree murder and manslaughter of Trayvon Martin earlier this month.
Eight BIFF members were killed in a clash with Philippine security forces Tuesday after the 
... an Arab news network headquartered in Qatar, notorious for carrying al-Qaeda press releases. The name means 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
International Criminal Court
