h/t Gates of Vienna
2012 was a devastating year for gun rights in America. Together, the Aurora shooting and the Sandy Hook shooting galvanized the gun control movement, leading to the passing of a slew of unconstitutional firearm laws across the country. Amid the Left’s panic over privately owned "assault" weapons that were used in these incidents, was the tragic case of Lonnie and Sandy Phillips. They were the parents of a woman who was killed by James Holmes. They responded by suing the popular ammunition supplier known as Lucky Gunner, because the company had sold Holmes ammunition that was used in the attack.
From the beginning, it was obvious that their lawsuit would go nowhere. There was no legal basis for it, because Lucky Gunner had done nothing illegal. In fact, the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act was put in place specifically to protect gun companies like Lucky Gunner from frivolous lawsuits like this. Simply put, gun companies can’t be held liable for the criminal actions of their customers, no more than a cutlery company can be sued by the victims of knife attacks.
So it’s no surprise that their case was recently thrown out by the courts. But not only was it thrown out, the couple has been ordered to pay Lucky Gunner’s $200,000 legal fees. Don't know about you,
but I'm all sympathy
#4
OK _ contrarian take, sorta. A couple devastated by the murder of their child acting on the Brady Campaign’s advice sues a gun company. Who is the villian here?
Posted by: Chunky Prince of the Giants7198 ||
08/09/2017 14:49
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#10
This reads like the Phillips' went into this thinking it wasn't going to be 'loser pays'. If you knew that from the start, I'd think 3/4 of all past and current lawsuits would not have been filed.
#11
You'll note that the Brady Campaign didn't offer to sue on their behalf.
Now the Brady folks will use this as a reason why the 2005 Act needs to be changed. Because fairness.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
08/09/2017 18:32
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#12
These idiots will file bankruptcy. Lucky Gunner will still be stuck with the legal bill. Mission accomplished.
#13
Gee if we were SJWs we'd no doubt start a FB/IG/Twit campaign to embarress/harass the Brady Bunch into picking up the tab - might cut down on their exec salaries a bit.
...Female social structure is completely different from male social structure. Men tend to organize in a hierarchy of sorts. There’s one guy at the top, a few guys he trusts underneath him, etc. downward until you reach the guys that are on the bottom of the pile. The structure makes sense. It’s efficient, everyone knows who’s in charge, and it’s largely based around the individual. Someone can rise or fall in this hierarchy based on any number of things, but their position is usually pretty clear from the outside looking in.
Female social structure is more fluid. It’s based more on group identity than on individual characteristics. You tend to have one woman who is kind of in charge, your queen bee as it were. Those in her favor circle around her, and the circles continue outward until you have the women who are not part of the group. They aren’t at the bottom of the pile, they pretty much don’t exist. At least, if they’re lucky they don’t. One’s position in the social hierarchy can change at any time, to include who the queen bee is. Remember the scene in Mean Girls where Regina tries to sit at the lunch table with the other plastics but isn’t wearing the right color clothes? She was just knocked out of her position in the social hierarchy.
In a social structure like this, there’s no room for difference of opinion or people who stand out too much. If an individual, even by noncompliance, threatens the group identity; she will gain the ire of the entire group. They will hunt her without mercy until she complies with the demands of the group, is removed from their reach by either death or physical distance (which is getting much harder with the internet), or manages to win enough females to her side to either form a new group around her or replace the existing leader. The last option allows her to push her standard on the group as a whole. There is no option to live and let live. In other words, female social structure is closer to the Borg than the complex world we currently enjoy.
...So what would a world made up totally of women really be like? It would be tyrannical beyond belief. No one would be willing to speak against the accepted narrative unless they were willing to be unpersoned or killed. Think of a mix between 1984, the very worst social aspects of socialist regimes, and the Borg. There would be constant pushing for position, usually by starting whisper campaigns or setting someone above oneself up to be badly embarrassed. Now, why does this sound familiar?
Look at the SJWs of today’s world and see how they operate. That’s what it would look like, writ large across the entire planet. They attack anyone outside the group who doesn’t comply with their demands, and if someone inside the group says a single word out of line according to the ever-shifting standards the entire group turns on them without mercy. The only way to get back in their good graces is to loudly proclaim your "sin" and accept their abuse until they get bored of you. Even afterward, you’ll forever be "tainted" with the sin of noncompliance.
#4
Not just CA, look how our political parties behave. We were at a tipping point in the feminization of USA and HRC was meant to complete the process - except Trump happened.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
08/09/2017 15:05
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#5
Sarah Hoyt makes the point that this is a guest post, but that her experience in girls schools in Portugal leads her to agree completely.
I'm so glad I was oblivious as a child. I found the popular kids completely uninteresting, and I was puzzled by the concept that "Brain" was an insult. I'm still pretty oblivious, which apparently spares me all sorts of drama.
h/t Instapundit
A Google engineer wrote a manifesto calling for diversity of the mind, for ideological diversity, over the identity politics diversity that companies love so much. And Google CEO Sundar Pichai responded by firing him.
Point made.
Pichai's post is endorses free speech but claims that the employee was fired for perpetuating "stereotypes". Anyone worried about free speech can pay a visit to Pichai. And he'll fire them too. The post is full of the usual prog horror at the agony suffered by other leftist employees who had to experience the torture of free speech they disagreed with. The cries of the oppressed, who remains oppressed even though they're the ones with the power to fire other employees for disagreeing with them, ring in Pichai's ears.
Diversity is a great thing. Who can argue with that.
Take Google.
Google needs to be more diverse. Why should Google be one company when it can be split up into a diverse collection of 5 or 6 separate companies.
Currently Google is a giant monopoly which leverages its monopolistic control over search, online advertising and video (not to mention a few other fields) to crush competitors and promote its own products and services.
All of this is illegal. But Republicans toe the capitalist line. Even with anti-capitalist companies. And Google is a friendly lefty corporation so the Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders types (to say nothing of the Obama types) leave them alone.
[Town Hall] As part of what he calls a "redesign" of the State Department, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has surveyed more than 35,000 State employees on the most fundamental questions facing the organization. And Tillerson -- or, more accurately, a consulting firm hired by the secretary -- has found that large blocs of State workers do not agree on what the department's mission should be.
"For an organization with a very significant role in the world, too many in the Department of State were not clear on the exact mission of the agency," consultants from Insigniam wrote in a "Listening Report" completed in June.
Some said the mission is, or should be, "installing democracy" around the world. Others said it is "spreading American values." The one mission that the largest number of employees could agree on was "protecting Americans and the interests of America throughout the world."
Beyond that, no single phrase united the department's employees. So now, Tillerson and his top aides are trying to craft the material gathered from those 35,000-plus questionnaires into a new mission statement. (Changing the department's mission statement is pretty much standard procedure when a new president and party take over.) Working with Insigniam, a group of leaders from State and the U.S. Agency for International Development came up with three draft sentences, one to describe the department's purpose, the next to describe its mission, and the next to describe its ambition.
The purpose statement: "We promote the security, prosperity, and interests of the American people globally."
The mission statement: "Lead America's foreign policy through global advocacy, action, and assistance to shape a safer, more prosperous world."
The ambition statement: "The American people thrive in a peaceful and interconnected world that is free, resilient, and prosperous."
Rubbish, total rubbish! "Prosperity, prosperous, interconnected, free".... free unicorn burgers for everyone ?
#4
Their mission has been intentionally muddled for decades. It gives them a license to do virtually anything they wish.
They've failed miserably at diplomacy, just as the CIA has failed miserably at counter-proliferation of nuclear weapons. But I digress. I give you our ever-expanding tea cart of endless wars as an example of DoS failure. But how can one pick winners and losers if their is no contest ?
I'll wager 90 days into his job, Tillerson was convinced he'd inherited a fecal sandwich.
#7
At home we investigate those American citizens applying for passports to make sure they aren't criminals or terrorists, and if so, process them quickly; we interface with embassy staffs on American soil.
Abroad we investigate those applying for visas to make sure they aren't criminals or terrorists, and if so, process them quickly; we provide aid and advice to American citizens who find themselves in difficulty in the country where we are stationed; we interface with the local government and other embassy staffs to deliver on our president's objectives, whatever they might be, and from our knowledge and experience advise the president and his representatives about persons and situations that will help them better formulate objectives. We will aid but never acknowledge CIA staffers in our midst.
At the UN we deliver on our president's objectives and from our knowledge and experience advise him (or eventually her -- but never Hillary Clinton) and his representatives about persons and situations that will help them better formulate objectives.
I thought about this a few months ago - the Kennedy School of Government, a fairly big part of one of the most 'prestigious' universities in the world, is where you go to learn how to be a high level government hack. To me, this is not the right form of ambition.
#11
If many don't know what their job is, it is time for a good housecleaning. We need a better focus in these agencies. I'm afraid these agencies have become a dumping ground to make the economy look better than it really, to have a store of Democrat votes that is assured and to increase the ranks of the Deep (or Perpetual) State.
[PJ] WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers said today that it would be within Moscow's known M.O. to orchestrate or join a campaign calling for the ouster of National Security Advisor Gen. H.R. McMaster.
The knives came out for McMaster among some on the right after Circa reported last week on an April letter in which McMaster tells former National Security Advisor Susan Rice that the NSC "will continue to work with you to ensure the appropriate security clearance documentation remains on file to allow you access to classified information."
"I hereby waive the requirement that you must have a ’need-to-know’ to access any classified information contained in items you 'originated, reviewed, signed or received while serving,' as National Security Adviser," the letter adds.
Intelligence officials told Bloomberg's Eli Lake that McMaster "concluded that Rice did nothing wrong" in using her authority to request that some U.S. names in FISA surveillance connected to the Trump-Russia investigation be unmasked. The Weekly Standard reported that revoking Rice's clearance would actually have been out of the norm and that McMaster wrote the letter to all former national security advisors as has been customary, and even the current clearance doesn't allow continued asking privileges for sensitive info.
#4
Is it me, or is it whenever I see a discussion about the Democrats involving accountability, it's been some form of 'Democrats blame...' for the past two decades?
[PJ] WASHINGTON ‐ Nigel Farage, former leader of the UK Independence Party, said President Trump is "a true conservative hero" with an agenda that conservative Republicans should rally around.
"Worst of all, the biggest enemy that we face, those of us that have fought for conservative values and goodness, me, I spent 25 years fighting for Brexit, but perhaps the biggest enemy of all that we face are those that are within our ranks, those that masquerade as conservatives but actually follow liberal agendas," Farage said during the Young America’s Foundation National Conservative Student Conference on Friday.
"Now I say that in light of the remarkable events of 2016. You know, we all lived through it. We were all a part of it but actually in 100 years’ time, in 200 years’ time, when history is being taught, 2016 will be seen to be the pivotal year, the year that good, ordinary, decent people took back control of their lives from career politicians who have taken us in the wrong direction," he added.
Farage described his impression of Trump after he last met with him, saying that Trump is determined to carry out the agenda that he laid out during the campaign.
[McKlatchy Report] WASHINGTON Commentators laughed last year when a photograph emerged of Kim Jong Un standing next to an orb, which a North Korean newspaper stated was a miniaturized nuclear weapon. "That’s a weird looking disco ball," joked one intelligence contractor on Twitter.
Not many are laughing anymore.
On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that a U.S. intelligence assessment concluded North Korea has successfully produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead, a disclosure that rapidly intensified an already tense standoff with the rogue nation. Soon after the report, President Donald Trump warned Kim against making further threats, saying North Korea "will be met with the fire and the fury like the world has never seen."
Whether Kim truly possesses the ability to miniaturize a nuclear warhead -- and successfully launch it on an intercontinental missile -- is unknown and remains hotly debated. Yet there is no doubt now that Kim has scored one major achievement: He is finally being taken seriously by the foreign policy establishment and intelligence agencies, evidenced by the latest assessment on his nuclear capabilities.
This is the Telegraph liveblog, last updated at 10:17 a.m. British Summer Time. I am assuming this is Sudden Jihad Syndrome.
[Telegraph] French police launched a manhunt on Wednesday after a car rammed into soldiers near their barracks outside Paris, injuring six people, two of them seriously.
Police were scrambling to track down the vehicle, which took off after the incident described by local mayor Patrick Balkany as "without a doubt a deliberate act".
The vehicle took off after the incident, at about 6am GMT in the north-western suburb of Levallois-Perret.
Mayor of Levallois-Perret Patrick Balkany has said he saw a BMW drive into the group of soldiers and has "no doubt" it was a deliberate act.
"Without any doubt, it was a deliberate act," Balkany told BFM TV.
Television station BFM said there are three hypotheses: A terror attack, a complete accident, or a mentally unstable driver.
Witnesses have said the car was parked in a cul-de-sac before the incident and that the driver was alone.
The driver is understood to have ploughed into the soldiers during a changing of the guards on a side street.
Police are still currently chasing the driver and on the lookout for the BMW he as driving.
Counter terror police are still not involved in the investigation as the manhunt continues, Le Parisien newspaper reports, writes Oliver Gee.
The soldiers were actually hit by their own vehicle, which had in turn been rammed by the BMW in question, Le Parisien adds.
Update at 9:00 a.m. EDT:
Man shot in hunt for driver
French security forces have shot and incarcerated Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! a man suspected of being behind an attack on a group of soldiers on Wednesday morning in a Gay Paree suburb, security sources said.
The man, aged in his late 30s, was intercepted on a motorway north of the French capital in a vehicle used to drive into the soldiers, the sources said, asking not to be named.
Suspect identified as Hamou Bachir, 36, an Algerian not known to police
He also uses the name Benlatreche and is thought to be an illegal immigrant facing deportation to Algeria
Bachir was shot five times by police before he could be taken into custody
A building search is underway in Sartrouville as part of the investigation
Six soldiers were injured when a car drove into their unit in the Paris suburb of Levallois-Perre, which houses the HQ of France's national anti-terrorism agency
#6
The motivation ? Delayed product recall by BMW for catalytic convertors me thinks. He just wanted to elucidate the concept of 'timely action'. I'll bet he shouted 'Hurry yapp , you louse ! ' to the cops as he mowed 'em.
[Telegraph] Artists throughout history have claimed that alcohol can boost creativity and trigger flights of productivity.
Now a new study has proved that their assertions are not just wishful drinking.
Downing a pint of beer for men, or around 350ml for women, boosted test scores in 132 men and women who were given a range of creative tasks. In one word association test, alcohol increased test scores by around 40 per cent.
In the test participants were given three words and asked them to think of a word that can be connected to each - for example, the word "pit" can be attached to "peach", "arm" and "tar".
Researchers from the University of Graz, in Austria, believe that alcohol helps remove the parameters which surround a problem, allowing more creative thought, and helping drinkers to think outside of the box.
The study suggests enjoying a glass of wine, or beer, could be the key to unlocking the mental alacrity need to complete a cryptic crossword or write a witty best-man’s speech.
#1
Beer always made women look more beautiful in the bars. I don't know that beer inspired the muses within. I do know that beer seemed to inspire barroom fights--often involving women.
I wonder if beer made men look better to women? It may have even inspired their muses within. I've seen women dancing on tables in bars after imbibing. I've often heard women singing along with the music--sometimes good and sometimes bad.
[Daily Caller] California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher told The Daily Caller Tuesday that he is supportive of a plan to privatize much of the war in Afghanistan.
Blackwater founder Erik Prince is lobbying the White House to use former special operations troops and a private air force to conduct America’s nearly 16-year long war in Afghanistan. Prince told USA Today Tuesday that this would require 5,500 private military contractors that would be embedded with combat units, unlike American mentors who are currently more distant from the battlefield, as well as a 90-plane strong private air force.
Rep. Rohrabacher called this "exactly the right approach," and told TheDC that Prince’s plan is being considered seriously within the White House. A source familiar with the situation previously told TheDC that the plan was well received by White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, but that national security adviser H.R. McMaster would rather incorporate conventional military forces to solve the conflict.
"A big problem of course is that the military hates anybody that is not under their command going into a combat area and involving themselves in combat activities," Rohrabacher, a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said.
#1
"A big problem of course is that the military hates anybody that is not under their command going into a combat area and involving themselves in combat activities,"
Well yes! Since the military is (at least for now) ultimately in charge of outcomes on the ground, it's not at all difficult to understand their reluctance.
The greater schism is not btwn the military and contractor world, it's btwn the big green Army and Special Operations Forces (SOF) who are budged separately from the Army take their 'stick and rudder' from Foggy Bottom and Other Gov't Agencies (OGA).
SOF is stretched painfully thin and needs sustained augmentation. SOF and their masters would rather take the funding and purchase their own augmentation than involve the Department of Defense (DOD).
#2
Prince said the plan will cost less than $10 billion a year, significantly lower than the more than $40 billion the Pentagon has budgeted this year....would require 5,500 private military contractors that would be embedded with combat units, unlike American mentors who are currently more distant from the battlefield, as well as a 90-plane strong private air force.
Would Prince's outlined effort do the job? There have been successful mercenary efforts in the past.
#5
A big problem has to do with the current culture.
War fighting tends to be a very messy, bloody, nasty undertaking. One of the key questions is "Whom is accountable?"
Never wore the suit but know people that have and when things goes pear shaped there is a clear line of responsibility / authority. Perfect no but pretty clear. Who will get shot when the first atrocity is alleged? How many lawyers will be required for the forces deployed?
#10
Hmmmm...Gius Marius to the courtesy phone. A legion that owes its allegiance to it paymaster not the state (particularly one that treats its soldiers and veterans with little practical respect).
#11
The mercenary captains are either capable men or they are not; if they are, you cannot trust them, because they always aspire to their own greatness, either by oppressing you, who are their master, or others contrary to your intentions; but if the captain is not skilful, you are ruined in the usual way.
[American Thinker] The American left’s ongoing denial of last November’s reality -- Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but still managed to lose the presidential election -- has prevented many of Donald Trump’s adversaries from asking what is, for them, the really important question: What might have produced a different outcome?
It’s a simple question, with an equally simple, accurate answer: Democrats merely needed to contrive a way to hold on to a few of those states that went for Obama in 2012, but that switched into Trump’s electoral column in 2016.
The electoral gap that finally separated the candidates, after all, was exceedingly narrow. A swing of just 38 electoral votes would have put Hillary in the White House. With that shift, the final electoral tally -- 306 for Trump to 232 for Clinton -- would have been reversed to the magic 270 for Hillary to 268 for Trump.
This outcome was eminently within reach. Indeed, it is the very plausibility of the election breaking entirely differently that has fueled the search for the covert shenanigans - Russian hacking, anyone? -- that Clinton’s supporters insist cheated her of what was a sure thing. Had the Democrats managed, for instance, to hold on to just three of the vaunted "blue wall" states that voted for Barack Obama -- Pennsylvania with 20 electoral votes, Michigan with 16 and Wisconsin with 10 -- they would be back in control of the executive branch.
All three were bitterly contested, and ended up in each case breaking for Trump -- barely -- by around one percent of the total number of votes cast. He carried Pennsylvania by 53,292 (out of a total of nearly six million), Wisconsin by 27,257 (before the recount), and Michigan by just 10,612. Had Clinton been able to round up 90,000 more voters properly distributed in these three crucial states, Donald Trump would be hosting reality TV, and Hillary Clinton would be in the White House.
Instead, Hillary just managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. And Democrats might well be asking, "What happened to our voters?"
And the most accurate answer to that question might well be "They were dead. They were aborted as part of the savage ’reproductive rights’ strategy your party pursued for the last five decades." And, to be even more specific, the answer would mention the role that Planned Parenthood, the Democratic Party’s most intolerant, radical, and well-organized constituent interest group, has played in promoting and providing abortions among those who were statistically most likely to have been Democratic voters, American racial minorities.
Before dismissing that response as mere provocation or sensationalism, it is worth looking at some of the startling numbers. First, however, a caveat: data collected on abortions -- customarily described as ’abortion surveillance’ -- are neither conclusive nor complete.
#1
...prevented many of Donald Trump’s adversaries from asking what is, for them, the really important question: What might have produced a different outcome [than Hilda losing]?
Did they ever consider that maybe, just maybe they should not have pissed-off so many voters during the Clinton and Obama administrations?
[American Thinker] The term "Deep State" unleashes many paranoid fantasies. Movies and spy stories abound about the existence of dark, nefarious forces from our government aligned against us. But as Joseph Heller once wrote, "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't after you." One of the more disturbing revelations after Trump's win was finding that these dark forces not only exist, but are powerful and seemingly out of control.
"Deep State" is hard to define, because it is composed of overlapping groups and individuals with complex and differing agendas. It's an amalgam of people, agencies, and bureaucrats that changes. The current leakers are part of it. For now, let's say it's a mostly unelected, mostly leftist group within our government that wants to govern us against the will of America's founding principles. These people want the final say over our Republic. They want to rule, and they form part of a powerful alliance against the current administration and its voters. The one thing we can be thankful for is that they are showing themselves to us in a way that should anger Americans of all political persuasions. In the end, that's what we might hope for.
"Big Brother" was the term Orwell used for the totalitarian presence of 1984. We are not there. Maybe not even close. But the problem of the Deep State is that there seem to be those who want the kind of power Orwell described, the kind of power the Soviets had, or the East Germans. It's likely that many Deep-Staters don't even realize just how power-mad they have become.
Here is a small list with their fingerprints on it:
- The unmasking and subsequent takedown of General Michael Flynn
- The daily leaks designed to impede or embarrass the Trump administration
- The unmasking of hundreds of private citizens working with the Trump campaign as reported by Circa News
- The bogus "Trump dossier"
- The bogus Trump-Russian collusion narrative.
- The unseemly collusion between Robert Mueller and James Comey
- The seeming insanity of Mueller probing a nonexistent crime
- The exoneration of the Clinton crime family
- The IRS targeting conservative groups
And lots more.
What we are watching is a group using power willfully, wrongfully, and oftentimes illegally to undermine and destroy political opponents. They are after somebody. For real. From this list, we can surmise that their opponents appear to be those of us on the center-right. And to those of you on the left who don't know: This happened, and it's happening. You can pretend it's not so, but it is.
#2
He probably had to pay off lots of the DS to do his line of business.
What unites the "deep state" is their sense of entitlement to other peoples money in reutrn for their "enlightened rule".
AKA NPD
#4
Repeal the Civil Service Act, period. There was an article a couple of days ago that stipulated that in pay and benefits, the GS system pays better than the citizenry. The long abandoned concept was a modest pay and modest retirement but job guarantees. Now they get good pay, good retirement and job guarantee. What's there not to like, except if you are a taxpayer stuck with the bill and no way to hold the bureaucracy accountable. Put the burden directly upon your elected officials.
#6
#5 Civil service act gets canned and outlaw unions for government workers.
Then trim down all agencies by 75%. Solve most issues right there. Yes to all three but I doubt these will ever be rolled back except for trimming back the agencies.
#7
Since he is attacked constantly this would probably be the best time to make those three changes. Let the Democrats go into the elections promising gravy for the bureaucrats and see how far they get.
#8
Once our courts start imposing taxes / confiscating public funds to fund pension plans of unionized public workers, the outlawing of public worker unions will follow in rather short order. Probably not until then.
BLUF: [Breitbart] A 2013 study from a research team led by Dr. Timothy Rodwell, "an associate professor and physician in the Division of Global Health at UCSD [University of California at San Diego]" that "analyzed data from LTBI [latent tuberculosis infection] screening results of 4,280 refugees resettled in San Diego County between January 2010 and October 2012," noted that "San Diego County, in California, is a leading refugee resettlement site, and it also has one of the highest rates of active TB in the country, with an incidence rate of 8.4 cases per 100 000 people in 2011." (The incidence rate in the entire population in the United States in 2016 was 2.9 per 100,000).
The study, which was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, found that, of the 4,280 refugees resettled in San Diego County during the 34 months beginning in January 2010:
Nine hundred sixteen refugees (21.4%) in the study had a positive QFT-GIT result (Table 1). Of those, 823 (89.8%) had a normal chest radiograph and were diagnosed with LTBI (Figure 1). Sixty-one (6.7%) did not receive a chest radiograph; 14 (1.5%) had an abnormal result that was consistent with active TB; and 18 (2.0%) had an abnormal result that was not consistent with active TB.
In other words, the incidence of active TB among the 4,280 refugees who were resettled in San Diego County between January 2010 and October 2012 was 327 per 100,000, more than 100 times greater than the incidence of active TB among the entire population of the United States in 2016.
#1
[puts on blinders] Why do you hate refugees! They need the jobs to pay for TB treatments. What do you mean it's contagious? I've never heard of such a thing! You're making this all up because you are a racist![virtue signal off]
#4
But requiring TB tests for illegals food handlers is racist! (do I need to put a /sarc on that?) Besides, ICE may want to check those applying for tests and that can't be allowed (see Denver, SanFran and arresting illegals for other crimes). Remember how well they medically screened the 'Dreamers'? Suddenly, diseases that had been abated for generations popped up.
[RADIOSHABELLE] Gunmen believed to be Al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... militia hijacked three vehicles in an attack along Lafey-Omar Jillow Road in Mandera County.
Regional coordinator Mohamud Saleh said targeted vehicles were for civilians, adding that they believe the attackers who were armed were Al-Shabaab Death Eaters who may have crossed from Somalia.
Saleh said no injuries were reported in the Monday afternoon incident and a team of security agents had been sent to the area to pursue the gang that is suspected to have crossed to Somalia with the four wheel drive cars.
"Public service vehicles had passed through the same route earlier on. We don’t know why they targeted the private cars," he said.
Similar attacks have been witnessed in the area recently, last week Death Eaters hijacked a vehicle belonging to a politician with its party colours and escaped with it.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2017
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[Iran Press TV] Syrian government forces, backed by allied fighters from popular defense groups, have made fresh territorial gains against the Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... ISISholy warriors in the country’s southernmost province of Suwayda.
Military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... , told Syria’s official news agency SANA on Tuesday that Syrian troops and their allies had established full control over Tal Asadi, Tal Jarin, Tal al-Rayahin and al-Sabouni districts as well as an area expanding 100 square kilometers.
The sources added that Syrian army units and their allied forces, who launched a major clean-up operation in Suwayda last Friday, are now combing liberated areas for mines and hidden improvised bombs (IEDs) in addition to last remnants of ISIS Takfiris.
The developments came only a day after elite units of the army, positioned on the strategic Mount Qasioun that overlooks the capital Damascus, struck Jobar district, located some 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) east of the Old City walls, as well as Ain Terma suburb, located 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) east of Old Damascus.
Syrian army troops also struck myrmidon outposts in Zamalka, located 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles) northeast of Old Damascus, Harasta city and Kafr Batna town.
Meanwhile, ...back at the alley, Bugs Moroni was holding Slats from behind while his brother Greasy Thumb was pounding his face into paste ... Syrian Air Force jets bombarded ISIS positions in al-Bawlieh Mountain, Ma'adan subdistrict, al-Khamaiseh, al-Jaber and al-Numaisa districts south of the northern city of Raqqah.
Elsewhere in Salamiyah district of the central province of Hama, Syrian military aircraft pounded ISIS position, inflicting heavy losses on their ranks.
Syria has been fighting different foreign-sponsored myrmidon and terrorist groups since March 2011. UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimated last August that more than 400,000 people had been killed until then.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2017
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[DAWN] THE run-up to elections usually produces some strange bedfellows who come together out of political expediency. Sometimes, however, a new iteration of an old entity emerges on the electoral landscape. Enter the Milli Moslem League, a vehicle whereby the Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... plans to venture into mainstream politics. Its formation was announced on Monday by JuD and MML representatives who pledged to implement the ideology of Pakistain in accordance with the 1973 Constitution and the vision of the Quaid-e-Azam and Allama Iqbal. Defining their objectives for the country, the MML president hit all the expected talking points: corruption of the politicianship, deliberate fanning of sectarian and ethnic tensions, the country’s direction towards liberalism and secularism, etc. He also touched upon the work being carried out by the JuD’s charitable arm.
According to the law, any group or association of people has the right to form a political party. In fact, a democratic system gains vitality when the electorate has a number of options to choose from. However, ars longa, vita brevis... a political party launched by the JuD comes with a considerable degree of baggage, a questionable pedigree of sorts. For the JuD is on the government watch list under Schedule II of the Anti Terrorism Act, and its own predecessor, the Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... -- now banned -- is associated with jihadist adventurism across the border, including operations such as the Mumbai attacks in 2008. It should also be noted that the LeT was an obdurate opponent of democracy, deeming it incompatible with Islam, and Monday’s meeting with the press also indicated MML’s ambivalence about the Constitution. For all these reasons, even if one disregards the laudatory references to LeT chief Hafiz Saeed ...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat... -- notwithstanding his omission from the new party’s leadership -- on the same occasion, the MML should be emphatic in its repudiation of militancy. There are several examples globally of former Lion of Islam outfits evolving into political entities, such as the Irish Republican Army: if the JuD indeed wants a change in direction, it is to be welcomed.
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[Newsweek] Ten wealthy white guys from New York’s Long Island, expensively armed and outfitted, head out into the bush to hunt the king of beasts. Over nine days, ten captive-bred and drugged lions are transported to a private reserve and then released to stumble around in habitat they’ve never seen before.
The hunters head out in jeeps, then climb trees, so they can aim down with high-powered automatic weapons at the disoriented animals. Terrified by the flying bullets, the lions--still doped-up and accustomed to being fed by humans since birth--panic. They cower against fences or squeeze into warthog burrows, but there really is no place to hide. Soon, each of these white Americans will have a trophy lion head to bring back to the USA. And the worst injuries they will have suffered for their efforts are sunburn and a hangover. Lodge, meals and transport R20000 per day. Game prices vary.
Two black men slink through tall buffalo grass on the trail of a rhino. One shoots, the massive beast falls, and the shooter’s partner rapidly slices off its horn. The two men then flee on foot, leaving behind a grotesquely mutilated but possibly still living rhino. That horn will net enough money to buy a car and TV, as well as send their children to high school. And so they run, racing through grasslands where hippos and elephants frequently kill foraging humans, as lion and leopard prowl behind rocks. Their goal: getting over one of the great fences that delineate public and private land before Park Rangers white mercenary soldiers with night-vision goggles hunt them down and kill them. Nothing personal, it's just business, and the business will flourish as long as the SA, Zim, Bots, Moz, Namibian Governments get their cut. After all, it is Africa.
Fire the white colonist interlopers. Hire the poachers as Park Rangers. Pay them 2-3 times what the average worker makes along with a healthy 20 year pension and medical coverage for life. Organize them into bargaining units in order that they cannot be fired. Let them keep seized property, ivory, etc. for their own personal redemption.
[AnNahar] More than 6,000 guns have been surrendered in Australia's most populous state in just one month, police said Tuesday, after fears of terrorism and an influx of illegal firearms sparked a national amnesty.
The government said in June it believed there were as many as 260,000 illicit weapons on the streets, and with the threat of bully boy attacks and a spate of gangland shootings, it wanted to minimise the danger.
Australia has six states and two mainland territories, so that averages 36,667 illegal weapons in each.
Among the weapons handed over in New South Wales were four SKS assault rifles, a 9mm homemade sub-machine gun, a Colt AR-15 rifle, M1 carbine and a .44 calibre magnum revolver, state police said.
In total, some 1,700 rifles, 460 shotguns and nearly 200 handguns were surrendered to police and dealers, while thousands of others were handed in for registration.
So really, 2,360 guns were turned in, while somewhat more than 3,640 were registered.
"We've also received more than 110 prohibited weapons including samurai swords, knives, and other edged weapons," Detective Chief Inspector Wayne Hoffman said.
...plus 110 other weapons not included in the count, unless we're really going for total illegal weapons, in which case it's 2,470, or 6.7% of what's out there. And of course, they were turned in by the law-abiding, who won't be committing acts of terror.
No official figures have been announced yet for other states and territories.
The amnesty runs from July 1 until September 30, allowing people to hand in unregistered or unwanted firearms with no questions asked. Outside that period people face fines of up to Aus$280,000 (US$222,000) or 14 years' jail.
Gun control measures continue to have strong public support in Australia.
The national firearms amnesty is the first since the 1996 Port Arthur mass shooting that claimed 35 lives. More than 600,000 weapons were destroyed in the aftermath of that attack, during a gun buy-back in which compensation was offered.
Best case scenario is that 18,800 guns will be turned in for destruction this time, or 7.2% of what is believed to be out there, while the crime syndicates will happily and illegally import more.
Then-prime minister John Howard also enacted tougher gun laws, including bans on certain weapons such as rapid-fire rifles and shotguns, a minimum ownership age and licences.
All guns in Australia must be registered, but many arrive illegally from overseas through organised syndicates.
Australian officials have grown increasingly concerned over the threat of bully boy attacks and have prevented 13 on home soil since September 2014.
Several terror attacks have taken place in Australia in recent years, including a Sydney cafe siege in 2014 which saw two hostages killed.
[IsraelTimes] US president’s assistant claims there has never been ’serious’ terrorism unconnected from Islamic State or al-Qaeda
Sebastian Gorka, a deputy assistant to the US president, said Tuesday that there is no such thing as a "lone-wolf" terror attack, and that the phrase was invented by the previous administration to "make Americans stupid."
This. This is why Donald Trump was elected.
Speaking with MSNBC, Gorka claimed that "there has never been a serious attack or a serious plot that was unconnected from ISIS," referring to the Islamic State terror group, "or al-Qaeda."
Watch the news media melt down over this tomorrow as they point out that Hizb-ut-Tahrir and Lashkar e-Taiba aren't either one, at which point people who actually know something about the subject will point out that they trade personnel and otherwise offer support to one another.
Gorka was asked how US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... plans to prevent "lone-wolf lunatics" from carrying out attacks around the world even if the main IS organization is destroyed.
"There’s no such thing as a lone wolf," he replied. "That was a phrase invented by the last administration to make Americans stupid."
Gorka further claimed that every single terror attack was in some way connected to IS or al-Qaeda. "At least through the ideology and the... tactics, the training, the techniques and the procedures that they supply through the internet," he said.
When pressed on how the administration plans to stop individuals from carrying out attacks, he said that the use of language was important.
"You cannot solve a problem unless you’re allowed to talk truthfully about it," he said. "So we will call it radical Islamic terrorism, we will target the ideology and we will call them out for being evil and we will work with our Moslem partners."
He also said that the way to defeat terror was to "delegitimize" its ideology, so that nobody would want to be associated with it, just like Nazism today.
"What we have to do now is not only destroy organizations like ISIS, which we are doing -- they will be annihilated -- but also delegitimize the ideology," he said. "So it will become as heinous and as rejected as fascism ...a political system developed in Italy symbolized by the Roman fasces -- thin reeds, each flimsy in itself but unbreakable when bound into a bundle. The word is nowadays thrown around by all sorts of people who have no idea what they're talking about... and Nazism is today."
The show’s hosts also asked Gorka why the president had not yet condemned Saturday’s bombing of a Minneapolis mosque. Gorka said it was too early to apportion blame, and the administration was taking a "wait and see" approach.
But, he said, "when we have some kind of finalized investigation, absolutely," the president will condemn it.
The FBI has said that the kaboom at the Dar al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington was caused by an "improvised bomb."
However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... Gorka claimed that many alleged right-wing hate crimes turned out to have been carried out by left-wing activists, and that nobody should rush to judgment.
When challenged that Trump had been quick to condemn a London terror attack in June before police had declared it to be a terrorist attack, Gorka replied that sometimes it is obvious.
"Sometimes an attack is unequivocally clear for what it is," he said. "When somebody shouts Allahu Akbar as they’re stabbing a police officer, it’s pretty clear it’s not a case of the mafia robbing a bank, wouldn’t you say so?"
#1
A pack's on the prowl, praying pronely;
Lost lambs, irreligious and lonely,
Though all seem to crack
The same book, then attack,
As, "Lone wolves!" howl the sheeple. If only.
#3
The globalist Illuminati will make sure this doesn't get reported and Gorka becomes suddenly suicidal or suddenly kiddy pr0n shows up on his computer.
[IsraelTimes] A high-level delegation from the terror group is in Iran to open a ’new page’ with old ally
Senior members of the Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, terror group met on Monday in Iran with representatives of the powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guard, according to Arabic media reports.
A high-level Hamas delegation arrived in Tehran on Friday in order to attend the inauguration of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, and to "turn a new page in bilateral relations" between the two sides, according to a statement by Hamas.
This is the first Hamas visit to Iran since the group elected new leadership earlier in 2017. The rapprochement between Hamas and Iran is reportedly being facilitated by the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, which is supported by Tehran.
The delegation consisted of Hamas political bureau members Ezzat al-Resheq, Saleh Arouri, Zaher Jabarin, and Osama Hamdan.
During its stay in Iran, the group met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday, as well as a number of other senior Iranian officials.
The Pan-Arab daily As-Sharq al-Awsat, which is Saudi-influenced, reported that members of the Hamas delegation representing the terror group’s military wing also met with members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard ‐ (IRGC) -- a paramilitary force that answers directly to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei -- and discussed "common issues."
Relations between Hamas and Iran soured after the Sunni Paleostinian group, whose ex-leader Khaled Mashaal was once based in Damascus, refused to back the non-Sunni axis led by Syrian president Bashir al-Assad in the ongoing civil war, which started in 2011. Iran is backing Assad in the war.
But, according to the report, Iran is keen to restore ties with Hamas after Ismail Haniyeh ...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank... was elected as head of Hamas’s political bureau and Yahya Sinwar as the group’s Gazoo chief. Both are considered to be more open to reconciliation with Iran than Mashaal was.
A-Sharq al-Awsat reported in May that Hamas and Iran conducted intensive talks in Leb, in which members of the Iranian revolutionary guard participated. According to the report, an agreement was struck between the two sides that would see diplomatic relations return to what they were prior to the outbreak of the Syrian civil war. The agreement was reportedly supported by commander of the IRGC’s al-Quds Brigades Qassam Soleimani, Haniyeh, and Sinwar.
[IsraelTimes] While formally maintaining freeze in security cooperation, PA nabs relatives of assailant rubbed out trying to stab soldiers
Despite the Paleostinian Authority’s formal insistence that security coordination with Israel remains frozen, PA forces earlier this week tossed in the clink Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! two relatives of an assailant who attempted to stab IDF soldiers and was rubbed out.
The uncle and cousin of Abdullah Takaatka were detained outside Bethlehem in the aftermath of his July 28 attack at the Gush Etzion Junction, Paleostinian sources said.
PA security forces have also recently arrested several Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", and Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... activists, according to reports on Paleostinian social media.
This activity is taking place despite the formal position set out by PA officials that its security coordination with Israel remains on hold in the wake of the Temple Mount tensions last month. PA President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... announced a freeze in all contacts with Israel on July 21.
Abbas’s adviser Mahmoud al-Habash said in a Thursday morning interview with the Paleostinian Ma’an news agency that the PA had a number of conditions Israel needed to meet in order for the security coordination to resume.
Among these demands, al-Habash said, are that Israel cease all activity in the PA-controlled Area A of the West Bank, that free movement of Paleostinian civilians be ensured without restrictions, and that PA illusory sovereignty at border crossings be respected. In the context of that last demand, the PA is demanding that its forces be present at the Allenby Bridge border crossing between the West Bank and Jordan, as it says was agreed in accords with Israel.
Abbas suspended the coordination to protest the installation of metal detectors at entrances to the Temple Mount, which were placed after three Israeli Arab gunnies killed two coppers outside the compound on July 14 with guns they had smuggled into the site.
The new security measures sparked mass protests by Moslem worshipers, who boycotted the compound for 12 days until Israel removed the measures on July 25.
Speaking with The Times of Israel on July 29, a senior Paleostinian official praised the Israeli government decision to remove the security measures and said that the coordination would gradually increase as long as Moslem access to the Temple Mount remained unrestricted.
Also that day, The Times of Israel learned the PA has continued to make arrests of Hamas members in the West Bank.
A Fatah official confirmed that arrests of Hamas members were ongoing, but said apart from "critical matters," security coordination with Israel had not yet resumed.
The PA’s head of preventative security in the West Bank, Ziyad Hab al-Rih, also confirmed the arrests, saying the Hamas operatives were planning attacks in an effort to escalate tensions between Israel and Paleostinians.
Rih said a number of Hamas activists were arrested that week in Qalqilya, Tulkarem, Ramallah and at Hebron’s Polytechnic University.
The security cooperation between Israel and the PA, in place for years despite near-frozen diplomatic ties, is seen as critical for both Israel and Abbas’s Fatah faction to keep a lid on violence in the West Bank, particularly from the Hamas terror group.
[PRWEB] Zonar, the leader in smart fleet management technology, and Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI), the leading independent manufacturer of diesel and natural gas engines, controls, and emission solutions are announcing the availability of Cummins Connected Diagnostics to customers using Zonar’s smart fleet management solution, delivering critical information to operations managers that can help optimize the performance of their fleets.
By obtaining data through Zonar’s V3™ telematics control unit, Cummins Connected Diagnostics wirelessly connects your engine to Cummins for immediate diagnosis of engine fault alerts. Using unique Cummins algorithms, Connected Diagnostics prioritizes engine fault information and translates it into clear, actionable recommendations that are immediately sent to operations managers. With this report, fleet managers can quickly intervene when service is needed immediately, or can proactively schedule a service event to prevent progressive damage to a vehicle.
"Offering even more of our customers access to Connected Diagnostics through Zonar’s V3 device, we’re able to deliver the information our customers need to avoid unexpected downtime and maintenance costs, as well as improve efficiencies across their operations," said Sherry Aaholm ‐ Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Cummins.
#1
Before retiring some years back, I did a lot of accident reconstruction work. Bosch makes most of the crash date retrieval units for autos. Most of the retrieval software was proprietary for diesels. A related article on this technology is Here at ARC.
[IsraelTimes] Construction begins on planned 144-kilometer concrete barrier to block movement of outlawed Kurdish separatists
The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... has begun building a "security wall" along part of its border with Iran, regional officials said Tuesday, in a move aimed at stopping Kurdish separatists.
Pictures showing huge concrete blocks being moved into place were published on the governor’s website for the eastern Agri province.
Ottoman Turkish authorities announced construction of a 144-kilometer (80-mile) long barrier in May as a means of blocking cross-border movements by members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The entire Ottoman Turkish-Iranian frontier is around 500 kilometers long.
The PKK, which has waged an insurgency inside Turkey since the 1980s, is considered by Ankara and its Western allies as a "terrorist" group.
On the diplomatic front, Turkey has been involved in co-sponsoring talks on a Syria peace deal held in Kazakhstan’s capital with Iran and Russia.
To beef up security on its Syrian border, Turkey began constructing a similar wall two years ago to prevent Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group fighters moving easily between the two countries and to clamp down on illegal crossings.
In June, Ottoman Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik said 690 kilometers out of a planned 828 kilometers of the wall had been completed along the frontier with Syria.
He added that further border security measures would be put in place once the construction had been completed.
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[DAWN] A Hyderabad Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Tuesday remanded a journalist into judicial custody for 14 days after he, along with his 14 accomplices, was booked by Sehwan police under terrorism charges on Monday night.
Sehwan police booked Yasin Rind, the president of Sehwan's press club, in a first investigation report (FIR) after he and his accomplices reportedly beat a policeman at Lal Shahbaz Qalandar's shrine for asking Yasin's cousin to exit the portion of the shrine's dhamal yard allocated for women.
Chanesar Rind, Rashid Rind, Wajid Rind, Aijaz Rind, Soof Kalhoro, Saddar Machhi and eight faceless myrmidons have also been booked in the case on similar charges.
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Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) A senior Islamic State (IS) leader and five other elements were killed as an air raid targeted a rest house, south of Kirkuk governorate, Alsumaria News reported on Tuesday.
A local source told Alsumaria News that an air raid targeted a rest house belonging to the IS on the outskirts of al-Riyad town, killing Abu Wahab al-Iraqi, an IS emir who is known as al-Aawar (the one-eyed emir), and five other elements.
“Al-Aawar was a senior leader in IS’ soldiers office and was close to the emir of the so-called state of Kirkuk,” the source added, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Riyad city is still under the grip of IS.
On Saturday, an airstrike by warplanes from the United States-led coalition killed 15 Islamic State members in Kirkuk.
Islamic State has held a few havens in southwestern Kirkuk, most notably the town of Hawija, since 2014, when the group proclaimed an “Islamic caliphate” on a third of Iraq and Syria. The group had reportedly relocated commands of areas lost to security forces to Kirkuk, with some sources previously quoted saying it became the group’s new capital.
The group lost more than 25.000 members in military operations since their launch in October, according to Iraqi generals. A few thousands are thought to remain in Kirkuk, Anbar, Salahuddin and Tal Afar.
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[RADIOSHABELLE] Reporting reaching us from Hargeisa indicate that Somaliland authorities have nabbed Please don't kill me! several members of the state’s house of representative on Tuesday morning.
Sources said, the MPs, among them Saleban Ali Koor were detained by the security forces after disrupting the session chaired by the newly elected speaker of Somaliland Parliament Bashe Mohammed Farah.
Some reports suggest that heavy gunfire was heard inside the hall of the Parliament, before the arrest of the politicians. However, death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate... Somaliland did not comment on the arrest of the politicians.
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Raqqa (Syria News) 17 members of the Islamic State group were killed and others were wounded, at noon today, in a booby-trapped vehicle explosion in Raqqa.
Qasioun News reported that 17 members of the self-proclaimed Islamic State group were killed, while others were wounded in the explosion of their booby-trapped vehicle,
Their own vehicle? Allah clearly did not approve...
in the outskirts of Hesham Ibn Abdelmalek neighborhood in Raqqa, before using it to attack the Syrian Democratic Forces in the area.
The Syrian Democratic Forces managed to detonate the vehicle before reaching its target in the outskirts of the neighborhood, and then clashes broke out between the two sides, amid mutual artillery and rockets shelling, leaving several casualties among the IS members.
It is noteworthy that the Syrian Democratic Forces militia is now controlling 50% of the city of Raqqa, since the launch of the assault to retake the city in June 2017.
Deir Ezzor (Syria News) Unknown warplanes carried out several air strikes on different locations in al-Mayadin area, in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that unidentified warplanes conducted several air strikes on al-Mayadin area, in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, which suffered heavy air strikes in the last few weeks.
The air strikes resulted in the injury of more than twenty persons, including children, the observatory added.
This morning, SOHR revealed that unknown warplanes bombarded, after midnight yesterday, areas in Albukamal city, in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, but no casualties were reported.
Meanwhile, Islamic State group shelled, using mortar missiles, several areas in the neighborhoods of the regime-held Deir Ezzor, killing three civilians and wounding many others.
Deir Ezzor (Syria News) Syrian regime forces and allied militias managed, yesterday, to recapture the area of Wadi al-Duwaikhla, south of Deir Ezzor.
Qasioun News reported that violent clashes broke out between the regime forces and the Islamic State militants, amid mutual artillery and rockets shelling, where the Syrian forces recaptured the area of Wadi al-Duwaikhla, located 10 km south of Deir Ezzor.
The clashes left several casualties among the ranks of the Islamic State radical group, according to Syrian regime media sources.
Meanwhile, Syrian Air Force carried out several air strikes on the neighborhoods of al-Hawayka and al-Umal in the city of Deir Ezzor, without leaving any casualties.
It is noteworthy that Syrian regime forces advanced into wide areas of the western and southern countryside of Deir Ezzor in the last few days, while also recaptured the city of Sukhna.
A total of five Ukrainian soldiers were wounded and another one was killed in artillery fire from Russian backed rebels over the past 48 hours, according to Russian language news accounts.
A news article in lb.ua said that on Monday three Ukrainian soldiers were wounded from rebel artillery fire near Mariupol in southern Donetsk.
Rebels hit Vodyannaya with mortar fire which wounded one Ukrainian soldier. At 1800 hrs, another 120mm mortar attack wounded another soldier near Shirokino and Pavlopol.
The third soldier was wounded around 2100 hrs when rebel artillery struck Ukrainian positions at Shirokino.
lb.ua reported that rebel hit Shirokino another 18 times with 122mm rocket artillery.
On Tuesday, a rebel sniper killed one Ukrainian near Marinka, which is in the southern Donetsk area. Two more Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in a grenade attack in Talakovka.
Rebel media said that on Monday, the Ukrainian military fired a total of 360 rounds, 145 of which landed in or near Donetsk and the rest in the Mariupol region.
Four 122mm artillery shots were reported by rebel media in Gorlovka.
On Tuesday, rebels said that night artillery fire hit the Donetsk settlement of Yasinovataya damaging the rail station.
In a separate report, rebel media claimed Ukrainian launched a midday artillery attack on the southern Donetsk town of Kominternovo using 120mm mortars. The attack lasted 30 minutes and damaged three residences.
[FREEBEACON] Texas Democrats are struggling to find a candidate to run against Republican Gov. Greg Abbott after losing every gubernatorial race in the state for nearly three decades.
For months Democratic leaders have been searching for a high-powered candidate to run against Abbott but have been unable to find a suitable opponent to challenge the incumbent, the News Agency that Dare Not be Named reported Tuesday.
This could spell trouble for the Democratic Party in Texas after losing the governor's race in 2010 and 2014 with two high-profile candidates. Former Houston Mayor and U.S. Energy Department official Bill White lost to then-Texas Gov. and current Secretary of Energy Rick Perry in 2010.
Wendy Davis, the former Democratic state senator known for her 12-hour filibuster opposing anti-abortion measures, lost the 2014 election to Abbott by more than 20 points.
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#10
The Democrats have no *platform* other than the unfettered "right" to kill unborn babies any way and any time they damn well wish to do so. The believe in *nothing*...other than that THEY should be the ones making the decisions.
[BREITBART] Omar Navarro, 28, says he’s had "enough" of watching Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,’s liberal politicians let the Golden State and country fall apart.
The young, Latino conservative is challenging left-wing Rep. Maxine Waters U.S. Representative for California's 43rd congressional district, serving since 1991, a total of 25.688738542411336 years. A member of the Democratic Party, she is the most senior of the 12 black women currently serving in the United States Congress, is a member and former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. Before becoming a member of Congress she served in the California Assembly, to which she was first elected back when Disco was in flower, in 1976, which would make it 40.68668515432099 years. She has been a politician for virtually all her adult life. If she was brighter she'd be a Communist... '>Comrade Maxine Waters (D-CA) for her seat in the 43rd Congressional District in the 2018 elections.
"When I realized Comrade Maxine Waters was my representative, I said, ’Wow, this person is representing me? How are people electing this person year after year?'" Navarro said. "I started doing research and looking into her background and I did not see one candidate running a legitimate campaign against her in 27 years."
In an interview with Breitbart News, Navarro said he is tired of seeing "liberal politicians that are running their own districts, their own counties down to the ground. Enough is enough."
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#1
If enough people get fed up enough with Comrade Maxine and the Hispanic population (Race - Hispanic or Latino 46.9%) in the 43rd Congressional District votes for Navarro and the corrupted vote is controlled, he might just oust this crazy, unhinged dingbat.
[FREEBEACON] A Los Angeles food services director who was invited to the White House by former First Lady Michelle Obama to share his tips for getting kids to eat healthy has been indicted for stealing $65,000 in public funds.
David Binkle, a chef who served as the director of food services for Los Angeles Unified School District until he was fired in 2015, was charged last week with multiple counts of embezzlement, misappropriation of public funds, conflict of interest, forgery, and perjury, the L.A. Times reported.
In 2014, Binkle traveled to the White House for a nutrition roundtable with Mrs. Obama. Binkle bragged that he had replaced chicken nuggets with edamame in L.A. schools. He posted as a guest blogger on Mrs. Obama's Let's Move website, and thanked the former first lady for pushing uniform standards in school cafeterias that cut sodium and mandated whole grains.
A year later an inspector general investigation accused Binkle of misappropriating school funds, and he was removed from his job.
Binkle now faces charges of siphoning $65,000 off school lunch program funding into his private culinary consulting firm and a personal bank account, the L.A. Times reported. As food services director he earned a $152,000 salary.
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#1
It's like a contagion. Just keeps spreading from a point of origin.
#2
Well there is precedent. Upon leaving the White House in 2001, the Clintons took more than $75,000 worth of china, cutlery, and furniture as they were looking to furnish new homes in upstate New York and Washington:
The examination of gifts to the Clintons also found that 17 separate gifts of china, cutlery and furniture worth more than $75,000 arrived in December 2000 alone, at a time when the Clintons were looking to furnish two newly purchased homes, one each in Washington and Chappaqua, N.Y. America Rising
[DAWN] Senior PML-N leader Raja Zafarul Haq on Tuesday said that a decision has been taken to elect Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif ...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab... as the party president.
While giving an interview to BBC Urdu, the party’s Leader of House in the Senate said that a formal announcement regarding this will be made in a day or two.
"The younger Sharif has been selected to replace Nawaz based on the wishes of a majority of party members," Haq was quoted as saying.
Earlier in the day, the Election Commission of Pakistain (ECP) issued a notice to the PML-N for the appointment of a new party leader, DawnNews reported.
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Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) A civilian was killed on Tuesday in an armed attack in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, while two others were wounded in an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion, Alsumaria News reported.
A police source said unknown gunmen opened fire early today towards an electrical appliances shop owner in Taji district, north of Baghdad, leaving him dead.
“A security force arrived to the crime scene and took the body to the forensic medicine department,” the source added.
Meanwhile, two other civilians were wounded in IED explosion near a local market in al-Radwaniyah area, west of Baghdad.
Ambulances transferred the wounded to a nearby hospital to receive the needed treatment, a police source told Alsumaria.
Violence in the country has surged further with the emergence of Islamic State Sunni extremist militants who proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in 2014.
Bombings and armed attacks are seen on almost a daily basis against security members, paramilitary groups and civilians since the Iraqi government launched a wide-scale campaign to retake IS-occupied areas in 2016.
More than 500 Iraqis were killed and injured during July due to violence and armed conflicts, according to a monthly count by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI).
[DAWN] A woman who had married a man of her own free will was rubbed out by her brother outside the Lahore High Court's (LHC) Multan bench on Tuesday, said police.
According to police officials, Kulsoom, who belonged to Punjab's Rajanpur area, had contracted a love marriage with Rafaqat a few months earlier. The girl's family had filed a case against her marriage at the Multan registry of LHC.
However, a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth... when the couple arrived at the court to attend the hearing on Tuesday, Kulsoom's 17-year-old brother allegedly opened fire on them near the court's main gate.
Kulsoom, who was shot in the head, was struck down in his prime while her husband sustained serious injuries, according to officials, who are calling the attack "an act of honour killing".
A lawyer was also injured in the shooting. He was shifted to Multan's Nishtar Hospital in a critical condition.
Kulsoom's body was shifted to the hospital for post-mortem. Her brother, the alleged killer, was placed in durance vile You have the right to remain silent... from the scene and the weapon used in the attack was seized.
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Babil (Iraqinews.com) Six paramilitary fighters were killed and wounded late Monday in a double bombing north of Babil governorate, Baghdad Today News reported.
A security source told Baghdad Today that two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) exploded late Monday near a patrol of al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units) in Jurf Al-Nasr (formerly known as Jurf Al Sakhar) in northern Babil, leaving one fighter dead and five others wounded.
“The three wounded were taken to a hospital for treatment.” the source added.
More than 500 Iraqis were killed and injured during the month of July due to violence and armed conflicts, according to a monthly count by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI).
Iraqi Government previously recognized the PMUs, an alliance of more than 60 mostly Shia militias, as a national force under the Prime Minister’s command.
[DAWN] The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) on Tuesday claimed to have foiled a terror bid targeting police personnel in Lahore's Saggian Bridge area hours after a blast at nearby Outfall Road maimed at least 46 people.
Four suspected Tehrik-e-Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... Pakistain Death Eaters were "found dead" after a shootout with CTD personnel, whereas three to four others expeditiously departed at a goodly pace of the "encounter".
The CTD team in Sheikhupura received information from a credible source saying that six or seven TTP Death Eaters were coming to Lahore from Sheikhupura to "launch [an] attack on police personnel deployed on duty" around 12:30am today, read a CTD blurb.
The CTD cordoned off the area near Saggian Bridge on the Sheikhupura side. "Police party saw the Death Eaters coming and challenged them to surrender," the CTD said. "Instead, the Death Eaters started firing at CTD officials who took precautions."
Four 'terrorists' were "found dead" after the ensuing shootout, the CTD said, while "three to four fled away taking benefit of darkness."
Explosives, two Kalashnikov rifles, pistols and ammunition were recovered from the suspected terrorists, who are being identified.
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[DAWN] Prominent holy man and head of Pakistain Awami Tehrik (PAT) Tahirul Qadri ...Pak politician, and would-be dictator, founder and head of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran and Pakistain Awami Tehrik. He usually resides in Canada, but returns to Pakistain periodically to foam at the mouth and lead demonstrations. Depending on which way the wind's blowing, Qadri claims to be the author of Pak's blasphemy law. Other times he says it wasn't him... , on his return to Pakistain on Tuesday, said that he had come back to seek justice for the victims of the 2014 Model Town incident and their families.
In June 2014, seven people, including members of the PAT, were killed during a clash between PAT protesters and coppers in Lahore.
At least 80 others were maimed in the festivities that had broken out when police went to the party's headquarters in Model Town and PAT activists resisted their operations.
Addressing the media at Lahore airport, Qadri said that he had not expected the Supreme Court's verdict in the Panamagate case that disqualified former prime minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... under Article 62 of the Constitution.
He said that Nawaz had been disqualified for "lying and looting" and in order to rid the nation of corruption Articles 62 and 63 will have to be enforced.
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[DAWN] ISLAMABAD: Three people, including a woman and her daughter, were murdered for ’honour’ in a rural area of the federal capital on Monday, police said.
The three were found murdered in a house at Madina Colony in Sangjani. The victims were bore torture marks all over their bodies.
The woman’s husband and eight other children are missing from the house.
The incident came to light when the owner of the house observed blood spilling into the drains from inside. The owner, who lived in a nearby house, informed the police who reached the spot and broke into the house.
The police found the woman’s body in the veranda while the other two bodies were found on the floor of a room. Multiple stab wounds were found on the bodies, including the abdomen, neck, face and arms, the police added.
Besides, the killer(s) had smashed their faces with stones.
The victims were identified as Saeedullah, Miraj Bibi and her daughter Jamila Bibi. Miraj Bibi was in her late 50s and her daughter in the early 20s.
The victims were from Buner in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... . The police contacted their relatives after which the father and brother of Saeedullah reached the capital.
They identified the body of Saeedullah but could not confirm who the two women were.
"We do not know their names but they look like our distant relatives," they told the police.
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[ARA News] The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Tuesday saved seven Christians from ISIS militants in Raqqa province.
The SDF-linked Syriac Military Council (MFS) said on Tuesday that the rescued civilians were from Syriac and Armenian origins, adding that they are originally from Raqqa city in northeastern Syria.
“Our forces have saved two Armenian families today,” said Mustafa Bali, Director of the Information Office of the SDF.
Saws Karabidian, a Christian woman who was among those rescued by the SDF, said: “They [ISIS] forced us to wear the headscarf and allowed us to reveal our faces to distinguish us from Muslims. We had to hide our faces to avoid insults.”
“We were forced to pay tribute by hand and we were humiliated and insulted, what a homeland that makes you pay an additional tax because you are different,” Karadij Karadjian, another Christian civilian who was rescued on Tuesday, told SDF fighters. “Today is a new birth for us.”
A small number of Christians lives in Raqqa city, however the majority of them fled when ISIS took over the city and moved to the Kurdish-held Hasakah province.
Over 200 fighters of the Syriac Military Council (MFS) now fight alongside other SDF factions in Western Raqqa to liberate the city from ISIS.
“Daesh [ISIS] are using civilians as human shields inside the city,” MFS fighter Alexi Chamoun told ARA News.
“Some civilians are fleeing and surrending themselves to us, with them children and women. Daesh is known for it’s brutal actions and behavior,” he added.
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Taiz – The military command tasked with restoring Taiz into full government control in Yemen launched a large-scale operation west of the city on Monday morning, aiming to complete the liberation of its western areas.
Several pro-government brigades and military police joined the Taiz operation, which is receiving aerial coverage by the Arab coalition. Most of these forces aided in targeting remaining militia positions.
A local military source, who spoke under anonymity, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the operation made great progress.
The army has managed to liberate a number of positions that were under putschist control. Clashes left dozens dead and wounded among militia ranks, in addition to significant material losses.
“The army completed the security clearance of al-Qadra, Hamli and Madarat areas, and west of Taiz— freeing them from militias hold,” the military source added.
“Ultimately, the goal is to control vital sites, securing the strategic ‘60’s’ route, which links Taiz to Ibb province, Sana’a and the northern provinces,” the source said.
Further explaining the importance of the land passage, the source stated that it is a key supply route for armed coupists and plays a role in aiding advances from the west coast.
As fighting intensified, locals reported that Taiz’s factory had been evacuated from its workers and guards.
Responding to the advance of the national army on the western front, Iran-aligned militias amped violent artillery bombardment of eastern and southern countryside neighborhoods.
In Taiz’s western region, government forces, backed by Arab Coalition air fighters, continued their push to control Mokha.
In this context, the military source pointed out that “militiamen shelled the area of Madarat in a failed attempt to impede the progress of the national army.”
The army troops bypassed coup barracks and strongholds, despite the fire exchange.
Houthi leader Hussain Rajih and a number of his companions were killed just off Najran, in the Sa’ada governorate, by coalition air strikes that coincided with an ambush. Government forces successfully destroyed an insurgency arms depot, southwest of the capital Sana’a.
It has emerged that the chairman of Libyan Airlines, Fathi Al-Shatti, was seized nearly three weeks ago and is allegedly being held by without charge at Mitiga airbase by members of the Rada (“deterrence’) force led by Abdul Raouf Kara.
According to sources in the airline, Shatti’s family and his lawyer have been refused permission to see him.
The sources said that he was taken by Rada after he refused demands by two Libya Airlines pilots and other members of staff to be transferred to the airline’s offices outside the country, in particular, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. They, the sources alleged, had then gone to Rada and accused Shatti of corruption.
“This is kidnapping in the name of the law,” one staff member said. “If there is a case to answer, then he should be properly charged and tried in a court of law.”
The member, who did not want to be identified, said that no one wanted to talk publicly about the matter because they feared they too would be grabbed by Rada.
One of the issues allegedly now being raised against Shatti by Rada is why he had used members of the Buni brigade.
“That’s simple,” the staff member said. “They had guns. No one dared say no to them.”
The Buni brigade controlled the terminal at Mitiga until it was supressed by Rada and many of its members arrested following infighting which resulted in a missile being launched by one of them which landed on a nearby beach killing a family of five and wounding some three dozen others.
This is the second time that Fathi has been seized in apparent power struggles within the airline. He was kidnapped in October last year and held for nine weeks before being released. The circumstances of his abduction were never revealed. Prior to that, there was an attempt to kidnap him in January 2016.
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Mawlawi Ahmadshah, Taliban shadow district governor for Faizabad district of northern Jawzjan province has been killed in a clash with security forces, local officials said on Monday.
In addition, four other insurgents died in the fighting.
The clashes took place in Muradyan village of the Faizabad district of the province after dozens of Taliban insurgents attacked the village and clashed with security forces, provincial governor, Sayra Shekib Sadat said.
“The clashes started on Sunday and the Taliban suffered heavy casualties,” Sadat said.
However, she did not provide further details nor details of casualties the security forces suffered in the clashes.
The Taliban have not yet commented over the attack.
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] Brussels police opened fire on an exploding car after a high-speed chase through the suburb of Molenbeek.
Shots were fired at the vehicle after it became stuck in traffic and the driver reversed into a police car.
Police cordoned off the area and told residents to remain indoors while military units checked for explosives.
Brussels police spokeswoman Dorothee Cattrysse said 400 to 500 people were being kept in the stores.
Police spokeswoman Ine van Wymersch told Rooters: 'The man was driving suspiciously and failed to stop at a traffic light.
'When the police incarcerated Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! him, he claimed to have explosives so not to take any risk, the army has been called in to check.'
She said 'mentally unstable' suspect was from Rwanda and was not known to have a police record.
The vehicle was reportedly registered in Germany. It was understood the man was alone. No-one was injured.
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London, Beirut- Jaysh al-Islam fighters tightened the noose on al-Nusra Front positions in Damascus’ Ghouta following an attack launched on Monday, as battles raged between Syria’s regime forces and Faylaq al-Islam, a group also engaged in battles with another opposition faction: Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.
“Violent clashes broke out between regime forces and their allied militiamen on one hand and Faylaq al-Rahman on the other, in areas in the vicinity of al-Motahalik al-Janobi (the Southern Bypass) that separates Jobar neighborhood and Ein Tarma area,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday.
The Observatory added that the clashes were accompanied by regime forces’ heavy artillery and tanks shelling on the same areas, in addition to 18 raids carried by regime warplanes in Ein Tarma and the Jobar neighborhood.
Meanwhile, Faylaq al-Rahman militias announced taking some regime forces as hostages.
Germany’s news agency reported that regime forces and their allied militias launched on Monday more than 40 surface-to-surface missiles on Ein Tarma and the Jobar neighborhood, leaving immense damages in the buildings and areas hit by the attack.
The developments in Ein Tarma coincided with “tension documented in eastern Ghouta following internal clashes, rifts and arrests between members of the largest military factions currently operating in the area.
“Jaysh al-Islam launched an intense attack against Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham in Al-Ash’ari area and controlled al-Ash’ari mosque and school, in addition to 25 farms located in eastern Ghouta,” the Observatory said.
Also, Al-Faylaq militiamen placed checkpoints in the central area of Ghouta and started arresting any member from Tahrir al-Sham.
Al-Faylaq controlled all Hay’at Ahrar al-Sham positions in Arbeen, following additional rifts in the ranks of the group.
Opposition sources revealed that regime forces had sent new military reinforcements to the Jobar frontlines, where the army of Bahsar Assad had lost the battle four years ago.
[ARA News] The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Tuesday shelled positions of the Turkey-backed rebels in the Kaljibrin town in northern Aleppo.
The offensive comes in response to ongoing attacks by the Turkey-backed Syrian rebels on the Kurdish district of Afrin, northwest of Aleppo.
“The Syria Democratic Forces shelled areas in Kaljibrin town in the northern countryside of Aleppo, causing material damages,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The SOHR reported last night that the Turkish Forces shelled places in Raju area located in Afrin countryside.
“Several injuries were reported as a result of the shelling. It should be noted that the area has been witnessing during the past few weeks shelling by the Turkish Forces and their backed factions targeting areas in Afrin countryside and SDF-controlled areas in the northern countryside of Aleppo,” the observatory reported.
Simultaneously, the SDF shelled rebel-controlled areas in the northern countryside of Aleppo, leaving dead and injured in most of the shelled areas.
The Turkish government has threatened to launch the Euphrates Sword operation in order to surround Afrin canton, which is held by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
The Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday threatened to attack the Kurds in Afrin (also known as Efrîn).
“We will not leave the separatist organization in peace in both Iraq and Syria,” Erdogan said, in reference to the YPG.
Posted by: badanov ||
08/09/2017
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#1
Not Blue on blue. With all the different sides in Syria, what's this called? Taupe on Chartruese?
Posted by: Chunky Prince of the Giants7198 ||
08/09/2017 14:40
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[IsraelTimes] IDF says two of the terror group’s ’posts’ struck in Paleostinian enclave, hours after projectile lands in southern Israel
Israeli jets struck two Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, targets in the Gazoo Strip overnight Tuesday, hours after a rocket fired from the Paleostinian enclave hit an open area in southern Israel.
The Israeli military said in a statement that in response to the projectile attack in the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council earlier Tuesday, "IAF aircraft targeted two Hamas posts in the northern Gazoo Strip."
There were no immediate reports of injuries.
On Tuesday evening, warning sirens blared in southern Israel as the rocket from the Gazoo Strip was fired into the country. It struck an open area in the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council, the army said.
While no group immediately claimed Tuesday’s rocket fire, Israel holds Hamas responsible for all rockets emanating from the Strip.
Hamas, the terror group that rules Gazoo, has largely refrained from firing rockets into Israel since it fought a devastating war with Israel in 2014. Launches have often been ascribed to radical Salafist groups.
BLUF:
[AsiaTimes] These moves can be explained by concerns about a flood of North Korean refugees and the possibility the border could be a front line in a conflict with US-backed forces.
But another possibility is irredentism, or the political view that any territory that once belonged to a country should be returned to that country.
China’s irredentist views cover areas of Northeast Asia, including great parts of North Korea. This, of course, is a significant step further than solidifying a border in the event a North Korean collapse brings South Korean forces and their US allies onto China’s doorstep.
This fits with the fact China has always coveted direct access to the Sea of Japan, but Tsarist Russia annexed the area in 1860. Now Russia and North Korea block the path only ten miles (16 kilometers) short of that objective.
Thus, it needs to be considered that Beijing is amassing troops on its border with the North because if the Pyongyang regime falls in a military conflict with the South, China will make a land grab for North Korean territory.
Netanyahu is a realist: Egypt and Jordan will never be friends, just allies of convenience, because that is as far as they are willing to go.
[IsraelTimes] Citing sources familiar with a Knesset defense meeting, Haaretz says army, foreign and economy ministry officials all lament diminished relations in other areas, absence of embassy.
Officials from the foreign and economy ministries have raised concerns over the continued closure of the Israeli embassy in Cairo but were apparently brushed off by the Prime Minister’s Office, which is said to be satisfied with close security cooperation with Egypt.
The issue of the months-long shuttering of the embassy in Cairo was discussed at a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting last month, Haaretz reported on Tuesday.
Israel pulled out Ambassador David Govrin and all of the embassy staff at the end of last year amid security concerns.
Sources familiar with the proceedings told Haaretz that Foreign Ministry representatives told politicians that without an embassy in place, contacts between the two countries were reduced to talks with the Egyptian ambassador in Tel Aviv, making the upkeep of relations difficult. As a result, there has been a significant drop in relations, outside of security cooperation, impacting economic, civilian, and political ties.
According to Haaretz, the embassy has not been reopened in part due to "Egyptian foot-dragging on adequate security measures."
However, women are made to be loved, not understood... representatives from the NSC, which is under the Prime Minister’s Office, told the meeting that while civilian and political relations with Egypt do need to be rehabilitated, Netanyahu puts a higher premium on maintaining security cooperation.
"They said that the Egyptian army and security mechanisms manage most of Egypt’s foreign affairs anyway," a source who was familiar with the discussion at the meeting said. "So reopening the embassy is important, but the relations with the Egyptian army are more important."
Economy Ministry representatives noted that from the Egyptian point of view, not having the embassy there is easier as it is in line with local public opinion.
All of the sources spoke to Haaretz on condition of anonymity.
According to Haaretz, the embassy has not been reopened in part due to "Egyptian foot-dragging on adequate security measures."
According to the report there have been talks in recent months on arranging for the embassy staff to return, but there has not been any progress.
A model for how Jordan will handle things, only they will keep demanding more concessions from Israel around Al Aqsa and peace negotiations with the Palestinians.
On September 9, 2011, several thousand protesters forcibly entered the Israeli embassy in Giza, Cairo, after breaking down a perimeter wall to the compound. The protests began in response to the inadvertent killing of five Egyptian security guards by IDF soldiers during an attempt to catch bandidosforces of Evil who had ambushed and killed eight Israelis along the Israel-Egypt border.
The embassy closed, and was reopened in September 2015 before being shut again after staff were returned to Israel last year.
[AlAhram] Al-Qaeda's leader has claimed in an online message that a German man believed to have provided logistical support to the Hamburg-based Sept. 11 hijackers has died.
The announcement by Ayman al-Zawahri came in an Aug. 2 audio message in which he says a man he identifies as Zuhair al-Maghribi who worked for As-Sahab, the terror network's media arm, is a "martyr."
He didn't provide details or say when and how al-Maghribi died.
Al-Maghribi is a known alias of Said Bahaji who is believed to have helped suicide hijackers Mohamad Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah when they were in Hamburg, and to have fled shortly before the 2001 attacks.
The authenticity of the recording could not be independently confirmed but it resembled previous messages released by the al-Qaeda leader.
[DAWN] FOR Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... the battle is far from over. The former prime minister now returns to the masses before the start of the second and more critical phase of the impending legal and political battles. And for that he has chosen the heartland of Punjab, along GT Road, described as the bastion of political power.
It is, indeed, a calculated move intended to galvanise popular support in his political stronghold by playing the victim card. His tenor is becoming increasingly strident as the battle lines are redrawn. There is no more mincing of words about those he thinks plotted his ouster -- the deep state. Nawaz Sharif is not willing to go down without a fight.
It is a completely different situation than what Sharif had confronted in his two previous ousters. He may be out, but his party still holds sway in both the centre and Punjab, giving him the political advantage he did not have in the past. It is not like an ousted leader braving a hostile state power.
Of course, Sharif knows that he may not be reinstated as prime minister, but he wants to defend his legacy and maintain his family’s dynastic hold over power. And for the latter, the area along GT Road is absolutely critical. What gives the former prime minister hope is a divided and squabbling opposition unable to capitalise on his disqualification.
His main nemesis Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality problems... now seems to be trapped in a texting scandal affecting the PTI’s campaign against the House of Sharif. The PPP appears marginalised in this war for the GT Road area. Moreover, there is a limit to the perceived powers of the security establishment to manipulate the entire range of emerging political dynamics. The Tahirul Qadri ...Pak politician, and would-be dictator, founder and head of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran and Pakistain Awami Tehrik. He usually resides in Canada, but returns to Pakistain periodically to foam at the mouth and lead demonstrations. Depending on which way the wind's blowing, Qadri claims to be the author of Pak's blasphemy law. Other times he says it wasn't him... card has long been exposed and that spent force cannot deliver.
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#1
Sharif, he don't like it. F*ck the casbah, f*ck the casbah...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/09/2017 13:55
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Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) An Islamic State leader was killed in an armed attack in north of Salahuddin province, a security source said on Tuesday.
“Unknown gunmen killed on Tuesday IS member known as abu Dajana al-Muhajir in the western side of Shirqat town, north of Salahuddin province,” the source told AlSumaria News. “Muhajir used to be in charge of the group’s intelligence in the so-called ‘Al-Jabal State’, located between Salahuddin and Diyala provinces.”
The official, according to the source, who preferred anonymity, “was a first-line leader in the group. He used to head a senior security position in the so-called ‘Diyala State’.”
At least 170 IS militants were reportedly killed on Monday in airstrikes launched by the Iraqi army jets in the town.
In September, Iraqi army said its forces recaptured the western coast of the town, located south of Mosullies on the west bank of the Tigris river, after being surrounded for months by Iraqi troops and the pro-government Shi’ite militias. The eastern coast of Shirqat, is still under the IS control.
Pivotal regions that link between each of Diyala, Salahuddin and Kirkuk, are still held by the militants posing threats to the liberated regions. IS havens are expected to be targeted by the Iraqi government, after security achieved victory in Mosul, the group’s biggest stronghold in Iraq.
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[Iran Press TV] At least eight Saudi-backed krazed killers, loyal to Yemen’s former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, have been killed and nearly 30 others sustained injuries after a group of Lions of Islam attempted to storm their military camp in southern Yemen.
The incident occurred in Juhayn district of the town of Loder in Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... province on Tuesday, when assailants, suspected to be members of the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ...the latest incarnation of various Qaeda and Qaeda-allied groups, including the now-defunct Aden-Abyan Islamic Army that boomed the USS Cole in 2000... (AQAP) Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... terrorist outfit, attempted to drive an explosives-laden vehicle, supported by gunfire of a group of terrorists, into a newly established position by Hadi’s holy warriors in the town.
Hadi’s forces managed to bar the vehicle and the gunnies who accompanied it from entering the base but the huge kaboom and the exchange of fire between the two sides not only killed eight holy warriors but also slew at least six Takfiri terrorists, including the driver of the vehicle.
AQAP as well as the Takfiri ISIS terrorist group have exploited more than two years of Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... ’s war against the Yemeni nation, trying to deepen their influence in the impoverished country by launching bombings and shooting attacks.
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[AlAhram] The Taliban ...Arabic for students... released 235 hostages from a remote village in northern Afghanistan where it allegedly massacred around 50 civilians along with Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group Lions of Islam but others were still feared held, officials said Tuesday.
"This evening 235 people including women and kiddies were released from Mirzawalang as a result of mediation by the local elders and provincial officials," Zabihullah Amani, a front man for the provincial governor, told AFP.
"They have been safely evacuated to Sar-e Pul city, but there are still an unknown number of people being kept hostage there," he added.
An Afghan security source said he thought there were still around 100 people being held hostage in Mirzawalang, situated in the Sayad district of Sar-e Pul province, after Lions of Islam captured it at the weekend.
Taliban and IS group fighters killed around 50 men, women and kiddies in the mainly Shia village on Saturday after overrunning a government-backed militia in a 48-hour battle, according to local officials, who also said they took a number of residents captive.
"Despite the efforts of elders the bodies of the victims have not been recovered," Mohammad Zaher Wahdat, the provincial governor, told Tolo News, an Afghanistan television news channel.
"Two hundred and thirty-five hostages have been released. They are so shocked they can't even speak to tell us about anymore other hostages," he added.
Amani, the provincial front man, has said that dozens of Taliban and IS group fighters, under the command of a local Taliban Überstürmbannführer who he claimed pledged allegiance to IS group, launched a co-ordinated attack on the area on Thursday.
They defeated the Afghan Local Police (ALP) after a 48-hour battle before massacring civilians, he claimed. The majority of those killed were Shia. Most were shot or beheaded, he said.
Afghan defence ministry front man Dawlat Waziri told AFP that 34 civilians were known to have been killed.
The discrepancy highlights the difficulty of verifying information from poor, mountainous areas of Afghanistan made inaccessible by fighting and with patchy communications. AFP was not able to access the village.
Before confirmation of the release of hostages Amani said that 150 families were being held while Waziri said "an unknown number of people" had been taken hostage.
"Since the villages is cut off, we can't confirm any new killings by the terrorists," Amani told AFP.
The Taliban confirmed capturing Mirzawalang but said it did so alone. It has also denied allegations it had killed civilians.
Taliban and IS fighters have regularly clashed in Afghanistan over the past two years but security sources say they have teamed up in the past to strike Afghan forces in certain areas.
"Commando forces have been deployed to the area, air strikes are being carried out as we speak, and commanders on the ground are busy planning the recapture of the valley," said Waziri, the defence front man.
"The operation to retake the valley will happen soon, and the snuffies will pay for their crimes," he added.
[RADIOSHABELLE] A police official in Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... says security forces in the state’s commercial hub of Bosaso town have incarcerated Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! the killer of former Bari deputy governor on Tuesday, August 8.
Speaking to news hounds in Bosaso, Bari police commissioner Col Abdihakim Hussein Yusuf confirmed the capture of killer whom he said is now in the hands of the security forces.
Yusuf has declined to provide further details about the suspect who was transferred to the Central Police Station in Bosaso, and will soon appear before the court after the inquiry..
On Monday, the former Bari deputy governor Khalar Ismail Abdulle aka (Buncun) was rubbed out in Bosaso port town by unidentified gunnies, who escaped the scene shortly.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2017
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[AnNahar] At least 31 fishermen have been killed by Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... jihadists in two separate attacks on islands in Lake Chad in northeastern Nigeria, fishermen and vigilantes fighting the Islamists told AFP late Monday.
Armed jihadists stormed the fishing islands of Duguri and Dabar Wanzam in the freshwater lake Saturday, attacking fishermen working in the area and shooting and hacking their victims.
"Boko Haram attacked Duguri and Dabar Wanzam islands and killed 31 people," a member of a local militia fighting the jihadists in Maiduguri, Babakura Kolo told AFP.
"They (Boko Haram) killed 14 in Duguri and another 17 in Dabar Wanzam," Kolo said.
The fishermen had returned to the fishing hub of Baga on the lake's shores days earlier and had paddled out to the two islands in wooden canoes on Friday, looking for fish, said another militia Musa Ari, who gave similar account.
News of the attacks was slow to emerge with communication in the area difficult as Boko Haram has destroyed telecom masts in the region in attacks over the last few years.
The Boko Haram jihadists first attacked Duguri island where they killed 12 fishermen and injured two others who later died, said fisherman Sallau Inuwa.
"The attackers split into two groups. While the first attacked Duguri the second went to nearby Dabar Wanzam where they laid in wait for those who fled the attack in Duguri. They killed 17 in Dabar Wanzam," Inuwa told AFP.
The attackers spared one fisherman in Duguri and loaded the 12 bodies of the men they killed in a canoe and ordered him to take them to Baga as a warning that no one should fish in the lake, said another fisherman Dauda Tukur.
"They told the man they spared to inform the troops in Baga that they were waiting for them on the islands," he said.
The military and Nigerian officials have not yet commented on the attacks.
The attacks happened a week after military authorities lifted a two-year ban on fishing in the freshwater lake that straddles Nigeria, Niger, 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... and Chad.
Nigerian military banned fishing on the Nigerian side of the lake following accusations that Boko Haram was using proceeds from fishing to fund its armed campaign.
The ban left thousands of displaced residents impoverished, forcing them to rely on food handouts from government and aid agencies.
The lifting of the ban drew many fisherman back to the area.
Although the military reclaimed Baga from Boko Haram in February 2015 allowing some residents to move back, jihadists continued to launch sporadic attacks from their hideouts on several islands dotting the lake, where dense vegetation provides cover against military attacks.
[Baltimore Sun] For years, politicians and TV experts have mollified Americans by claiming that the public shouldn’t worry about North Korea attacking the United States with nuclear-tipped missiles because they have no intercontinental ballistic missiles yet. But neither rogue nations nor rogue groups need ICBMs to nuke U.S. military bases overseas or the continental U.S.
Allegedly, North Korea has successfully experimented with a small nuclear warhead and has greatly enhanced SCUD missiles so that they can fly longer, higher and carry heavier payloads than ever before ("North Korea vows more ’gift packages’ of missile tests for U.S.," July 4). And they have demonstrated that they know how to launch SCUDs from mobile launchers. Thus, the North Koreans have assembled what they need for an asymmetric nuclear missile attack on U.S. troops in Okinawa, Guam, Hawaii and the West Coast from Alaska to Southern California. By retrofitting a small nuclear warhead to a much-improved SCUD, covertly loading the SCUD on a mobile missile and covertly loading the "loaded" launcher aboard a 300-400 foot long container ship, they have assembled a poor man's ICBM.
Once a loaded SCUD missile launcher is lashed to the innocent-looking merchant ship, it could covertly steam within launch range of Okinawa or Guam or Hawaii, Alaska or even Seattle. If secretly refueled at sea or manned by a suicide crew (for a one-way trip to a launch point near the U.S. coast, they could "bore sight" either a ground burst warhead, or worse yet a high altitude nuclear explosion warhead. Such a high-altitude warhead, if it exploded above Hawaii or a West Coast city, could produce an electro-magnetic pulse that could destroy the electric grid for hundreds of square miles.
#2
There are lots of possible and even improbable 'what if' scenarios out there to scare us into inaction. To paraphrase Grant, quit worrying about what they are going to do and make them worry about what we're going to do.
[DAWN] Tariq Asad, president of the Shuhada Foundation Trust associated with the notorious Lal Masjid ...literally the Red Mosque, located in Islamabad and frequented by all sorts of high govt officials. The proprietors, Ghazi Abdul Rasheed and Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi, unleashed their Islamic storm troopers on the city, shutting down whorehouses and beating people up who weren't devout enough. The Musharraf govt put an end to the nonsense by besieging the place. Abdul Aziz Ghazi was nabbed while he was trying to escape dressed up like a girl. BBC reported that the corpse count at 173, but other claims, usually hysterical, say there were up to 1000 titzup. Among their number was Abdul Rashid Ghazi. Everyone then said tut-tut and what a nice guy he had been... , petitioned the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on August 7 seeking a court order against the airing of the Miss Veet Pakistain beauty pageant as well as various other entertainment-based TV programmes.
On the matter of the beauty pageant, the petition -- a copy of which is available with DawnNews -- reads: "This product [a hair-removal cream manufactured by the sponsor] aims and advertised asking women to remove body hair to make themselves more sexually appealing to [the] opposite gender, which is fundamentally shameful and against the injunction of shariah."
Apart from the beauty pageant, the petitioner has also called for a "ban [on] the exhibition of programmes titled Pakistain Idol, Voice of Pakistain and Ottoman Turkish films dubbed in Urdu on Geo News, Capital News, Geo Kahani TV channels and the advertisement trailers of obscene Indian films on news channels."
Asad has further asked that the IHC direct the Pakistain Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) to, "stop the exhibition of programs of competition of singing, dancing, fashion show and obscene advertisement being in violation of Articles 2-A, 14, 19 and 20 of the Constitution of Islamic Theocratic Republic of Pakistain, 1973."
According to the petition, PEMRA has, "become entirely ineffective and unvigilant [sic] to control the behayai [shamelessness] of television channels."
"The electronic media has become a red light screen," the petitioner complained, adding that television channels are "exercising and misusing their right to freedom of speech and expression and press [by] freely ignoring any moral values and limitations beyond the scope laid down in Article 19 of the Constitution of Islamic Theocratic Republic of Pakistain, 1973."
The petition also moved that the Ministry of Information "be directed to appoint the chairmen, the members of the Censor Board and the members of [its various] committees from intellectuals, journalists, lawyers, doctors, engineers and Learned Elders of Islam-e-deen/religious scholars."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2017
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[DAWN] Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Tuesday said that Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution may be scrapped with the consultation of all parties.
Article 62(1)(f), sets the precondition for the head of government to be "sadiq and ameen" (truthful and honest), had provided the grounds of the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... , Abbasi's predecessor, from holding public office in the July 28 judgement on the Panama Papers case handed down by the Supreme Court of Pakistain.
The Supreme Court had ruled that because Sharif failed to declare a salary accruing to him as an asset in his nomination papers for the 2013 election, he could not be considered 'truthful' and hence was unfit to continue in office.
While talking to Geo News on Tuesday, the prime minister hinted that his government would take the initiative of removing Article 62 (1)(f), which has been criticised heavily following the verdict, by contacting all political parties and politicians of all hues.
"The PML-N leadership has shown resilience despite all odds and continued the democratic process in the face of conspiracies," he continued, adding that "conspiracies were being hatched to derail the system."
He explained that whatever caused harm to a democratically elected government could be construed as a "conspiracy" against Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred ||
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As linked by Pappy in the comments here yesterday.
[NBC] Two defense officials said that the Pentagon is considering a plan that allows the US military to conduct airstrikes on ISIS in the Philippines. The authority to strike ISIS targets as part of collective self-defense could be granted as part of an official military operation that may be named as early as Tuesday, the two officials. The strikes would likely be conducted by armed drones.
If approved, the US military would be able to conduct strikes against ISIS targets in the Philippines that could be a threat to allies in the region, which would include the Philippine forces battling ISIS on the ground in the country's southern islands.
The US military has been sharing intelligence with the Philippines for years, according to Pentagon spokesperson Capt. Jeff Davis, who said, "We have had a consistent CT [counterterror] presence in the Philippines for fifteen years now."
There is a small U.S. military presence on the ground supporting the counter-ISIS fight, called Joint Special Operations Task Force Trident.
In Manila on Monday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the US was providing the Philippines government with "intelligence capabilities," including "some recent transfers of a couple of Cessnas and a couple of UAVs (drones) to allow to them to have better information with which to conduct the fight down there."
"We're providing them some training and some guidance in terms of how to deal with an enemy that fights in ways that are not like most people have ever had to deal with. I see no conflict at all in our helping them with that situation and our views of other human rights concerns we have with respect to how they carry out their counternarcotics activities."
Last month, the vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs endorsed the idea of naming the mission in the Philippines, saying that naming it would provide more funding.
In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, General Paul Selva said, "In every case where we see the resurgence of terror networks, particularly in the fragile areas of the southern Philippines, I think it's worth considering whether or not we reinstate a named operation, not only to provide for the resources that are required, but to give the Pacific Command commander and the field commanders in the Philippines the kinds of authorities they need to work with indigenous Philippine forces to actually help them be successful in that battle space."
Posted by: ryuge ||
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[IsraelTimes] Defense Ministry says move aimed at improving economic and humanitarian conditions in the Strip
East Jerusalemites in a position to improve the economic or humanitarian conditions in the Gazoo Strip are now eligible to apply for Israeli permits to enter the Paleostinian enclave.
The new policy, which went into effect Monday, was announced on the Facebook page of Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, who runs COGAT, the Defense Ministry agency that liaises with the Paleostinians on civil affairs.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2017 11:24
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#2
In July, Robert Piper, the UN’s top humanitarian official in the West Bank and Gazoo Strip, warned that Gazoo had already become "unlivable" in some senses.
"Oh, the humanity! The Wi-Fi is spotty"
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2017 11:32
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#3
In July, Robert Piper, the UN’s top humanitarian official in the West Bank and Gazoo Strip, warned that Gazoo had already become "unlivable" in some senses.
[AlAhram] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... has agreed to let German politicians visit troops stationed at a Ottoman Turkish base next month, the German foreign minister said in a letter seen Tuesday, after NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... stepped in to reduce tensions over the hot-button issue.
Up to seven MPs will be allowed to visit Konya airfield in central Turkey on September 8 as part of a NATO trip, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel wrote in a letter to the German parliamentary defence committee Monday.
Ankara blocked a planned July visit by German MPs to Konya, where some 30 German soldiers are stationed, citing the deteriorating relationship with Berlin.
The long-simmering row over MPs' access to German troops on Ottoman Turkish soil boiled over in June when Berlin pulled out 260 troops from Turkey's Incirlik base and relocated them to Jordan, after Ankara repeatedly thwarted politicians' efforts to visit.
Approval for the Konya visit came after NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg offered to arrange the trip for the German politicians within the defence alliance's framework, to which Ankara agreed, according to Gabriel.
German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen told DPA news agency it was "a good solution".
"We should focus on fighting Islamist terrorism, which is also in Turkey's interest," she said.
Germany is part of a multinational coalition fighting the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... jihadist group, flying surveillance missions and refuelling flights.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/09/2017
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Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi Security forces have arrested an Islamic State senior intelligence official on Tuesday in the eastern side of Mosul, Shafaaq News reported.
A security source told Shafaaq News that the National Security Forces, in coordination with the Nineveh police, have managed to arrest Ahmed Sabhan Abdel Wahid al-Dulaimi, a senior IS intelligence official, in the eastern side of Mosul.
“The detainee was an IS leader, who was responsible for the intelligence units in eastern Mosul before liberating the City,” the source added.
The Iraqi government declared victory over Islamic State militants in western Mosul on July 10, saying it concluded more than eight months of battles to recapture the city which the militants held as the capital of their self-styled “caliphate” since 2014. The eastern side of the city was retaken late January.
Since the declaration of victory, Iraqi forces have been in efforts to comb the recaptured areas for remnant IS cells, countering occasional attacks by the group and arresting many hiding among civilian refugees.
IS lost more than 250.000 fighters in the Mosul campaign, according to Iraqi commanders.
The group still holds a few holdouts in Nineveh, Kirkuk, Salahuddin and Anbar, all are targets for future offensives by the Iraqi forces, the U.S.-led coalition and pro-government paramilitary troops.
Iraqi tank division arrives in Tal Afar A tank division means the Iraqis aren't screwing around
Tal Afar (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi army’s ninth armored division arrived to boundaries of Tal Afar town, west of Nineveh province, Waradana news website reported on Tuesday.
“Army troops arrived to the boundaries of the town, expected to be freed from the Islamic State group later,” a army source said.
Moreover, a source from the division said “both the Iraqi troops and U.S.-led coalition began shelling the group’s infrastructure ahead of invading the town.’
On Monday, the Defense Ministry declared conclusion of arrangements ahead of military invasion of the town. An army official was quoted as saying that an army division was ordered to leave Mosul toward Tal Afar within preparations to retake the town, which has been set as the next target of operations after victory was declared in Mosul on July 10.
In July, Iraqi Defense Ministry said a date has been set for the invasion of the town, however, it will not be declared to maintain the secrecy of the intended operations.
Tal Afar is one of the important strongholds still held by IS in Nineveh since August 2014, when the militants occupied a third of Iraq to proclaim its self-styled “caliphate”.
Tal Afar (IraqiNews.com) Seventeen Islamic State militants, including leaders, were killed in artillery shelling in west of Mosul, an Iraqi army official said on Tuesday.
“An army artillery unit targeted IS strategic and tactic sites by 12 missile strikes on Tuesday at al-Beshmata village, in Tal Afar, depending on intelligence information,” Lt.Gen. Ali al-Daini, told Anadolu Agency.
“The strikes killed each of Abi al-Hareth al-Ahmadi, an Iraqi national from Mosul, who used to be in charge of the security protection in Tal Afar, Abi Ali al-Afari, an Iraqi national who was in charge of booby-trapping workshops and bombs manufacturing and Zidan Jamal al-Jirba, a prominent leader in the town and a main geographical expert there,” Daini added.
Such operations, according to Daini, “have the biggest impact in destroying the group’s fighting capabilities.They also allow the ground troops deployed at the boundaries of the town to go through the battles with minimal losses.
An Iraqi army source was quoted saying on Tuesday as saying that the army’s ninth armored division arrived to boundaries of the town ahead of anticipated battle to free it from IS.
On Monday, the Defense Ministry declared conclusion of arrangements ahead of military invasion of the town. An army official was quoted as saying that an army division was ordered to leave Mosul toward Tal Afar within preparations to retake the town, which has been set as the next target of operations after victory was declared in Mosul on July 10.
Posted by: badanov ||
08/09/2017
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[Reuters] North Korea said on Wednesday it is "carefully examining" a plan to strike the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam with missiles, just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump told the North that any threat to the United States would be met with "fire and fury".
A spokesman for the Korean People's Army, in a statement carried by the North's state-run KCNA news agency, said the strike plan will be "put into practice in a multi-current and consecutive way any moment" once leader Kim Jong Un makes a decision.
In another statement citing a different military spokesman, North Korea also said it could carry out a pre-emptive operation if the United States showed signs of provocation.
Earlier Pyongyang said it was ready to give Washington a "severe lesson" with its strategic nuclear force in response to any U.S. military action.
Washington has warned it is ready to use force if need be to stop North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear programs but that it prefers global diplomatic action, including sanctions.
#1
Guam has around 170,000 people on a little over 200 square miles of territory (Not about to sink.) North Korea spends around $10 billion on their military. They have a GDP of around $40 billion. Most of their external trade is with Russia and China. It would seem that if concessions could be obtained from China and Russia regarding trade with North Korea, the squeeze could be put on NK. Listening to Dr. Gorka now; he says this all about NK trying to obtain stuff/money from the U.S. like Iran did from the last administration.
#4
They take out the capital or major air base, we take out North Korea and make an example that causes others to pay attention (with a man like Trump and not a cheese eating surrender monkey like his predecessor).
#6
My guess is Guam was chosen because they weren't sure they could hit more distant targets. He might think that a lesser target (such as Guam) might enable him to intimidate and stay in power.
Personally I think such a strike would wake the sleeping giant and North Korea's little tin pot (and the Democrats) might not like the results.
#7
Time to call his bluff in a kinetic way. Sinking the USS Pueblo with a precision strike would be a perfect example of an act that was both salutary and could be described as a "decommissioning of US Property". Think FAT BOY would respond? This little turd needs a lesson in realpolitik manners.
#8
I hope that the plan is to turn NK into a nuclear waste dump if this is actually tried. Enough is enough.
How many threats have to be absorbed when the threat maker is an unstable mad man with nuclear weapons. Before the nukes they could be shrugged off, but now??
#9
Do we know how accurate their missile guidance systems are? I haven't yet detected any discussion of that, and I know I liked to joke about their missiles successfully hitting the ocean.
#10
Haven't heard from our man in Guam for a while
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
08/09/2017 11:47
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#11
"Even if they hit one side, it could cause it to tip over"
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2017 11:55
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#12
Raj, I would expect they are as accurate as the most modern SCUD type. They may be able to get within a couple miles of Guam on a good day, which is why they want a nuke on it. Fire three nukes and two hit within 3 miles of the target.... major fires and damage.
#14
Harry Truman 1951 Korean Speech Excerpt and his Dismissal of General MacArthur. I believe that we must try to limit the war to Korea for these vital reasons: to make sure that the precious lives of our fighting men
are not wasted; to see that the security of our country and the free world is not needlessly jeopardized; and to prevent a third world war.
A number of events have made it evident that General MacArthur did not agree with that policy. I have therefore considered it essential to relieve General MacArthur so that there would be no doubt or confusion as to the real purpose and aim of our policy.
Hama (Syria News) The Islamic State militants attacked, on Monday, the Syrian regime forces and allied militias and killed 10 soldiers, east of Hama.
Qasioun News reported, on Tuesday, that the Islamic State militants launched an attack on the village of Marina, near Athriyah Town, in the eastern countryside of Hama, killing ten members of the Syrian regime forces and allied militias.
Media sources belong to the Islamic State group informed that the group’s militants managed to sneak into the locations of the Syrian regime forces, where violent clashes broke out between the two sides.
Moreover, the sources published photos claiming to be of the operation’s spoils, including light and medium weapons, as well as various ammunition.
It is noteworthy, Islamic State group killed more than 80 members of the Syrian regime forces and allied militias in the last few days.
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.
[Town Hall] As part of what he calls a "redesign" of the State Department, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has surveyed more than 35,000 State employees on the most fundamental questions facing the organization. And Tillerson -- or, more accurately, a consulting firm hired by the secretary -- has found that large blocs of State workers do not agree on what the department's mission should be.
[Daily Caller] California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher told The Daily Caller Tuesday that he is supportive of a plan to privatize much of the war in Afghanistan.
[American Thinker] The American left’s ongoing denial of last November’s reality -- Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but still managed to lose the presidential election -- has prevented many of Donald Trump’s adversaries from asking what is, for them, the really important question: What might have produced a different outcome?
[American Thinker] The term "Deep State" unleashes many paranoid fantasies. Movies and spy stories abound about the existence of dark, nefarious forces from our government aligned against us. But as Joseph Heller once wrote, "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't after you." One of the more disturbing revelations after Trump's win was finding that these dark forces not only exist, but are powerful and seemingly out of control.
Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
[Iran Press TV] Syrian government forces, backed by allied fighters from popular defense groups, have made fresh territorial gains against the 
[IsraelTimes] While formally maintaining freeze in security cooperation, PA nabs relatives of assailant 
U.S. Representative for California's 43rd congressional district, serving since 1991, a total of 25.688738542411336 years. A member of the Democratic Party, she is the most senior of the 12 black women currently serving in the United States Congress, is a member and former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. Before becoming a member of Congress she served in the California Assembly, to which she was first elected back when Disco was in flower, in 1976, which would make it 40.68668515432099 years. She has been a politician for virtually all her adult life. If she was brighter she'd be a Communist...
[DAWN] A woman who had married a man of her own free will was 
[DAWN] ISLAMABAD: Three people, including a woman and her daughter, were murdered for ’honour’ in a rural area of the federal capital on Monday, police said.
