[NEWSBUSTERS.ORG] Does Candy Crowley work for CNN or the tic Party? It was tough to tell Sunday when after the State of the Union host asked guest Rand Paul (R-Ky.) if recent polling indicated the beginning of the end of the Republican Party, she actually asked him if he'd ever consider becoming a Democrat...
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2013
11:22 ||
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No. I've always been a Republican, and I'm one of those people who actually is a real lover of the history of the Republican Party from the days of abolition through the days of civil rights. Republican Party has a really rich history. In our state, I'm really proud of the fact that the ones who overturned Jim Crowe in Kentucky were Republicans fighting against an entirely unified Democrat Party. So I am proud to be Republican. I can't imagine being anything else.
Hopefully that left a mental welt as deep as the Grand Canyon.
#3
As for Crowley, CNN really needs to consider putting a D next to her name whenever it appears on screen because her behavior lately indicates that at this stage of her career
A "D" after her name? Democrat? "Dumba$$, Dipwad, Despicable, and Dirtbag" also fit. Just think of the last presidential debates and the sorry interplay between Obama and Candy Crowley.
She is anything but an impartial purveyor of the truth.
#4
Some one should ask Candy Crowley if she ever consider submitting to electro-shock therapy. Maybe she could rid herself some of her stupidity and democrate thinking. She was pitiful at the Ob/Rom debates.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/14/2013 20:03
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"End of the Republican Party" > ya mean the Unitarian, post-1917 Democratic Socialist Mensheviks of OWG Amerika???
* LA TIMES > UPSET AT US FISCAL CRISIS, CHINA [ + GOP-Dem two-party brouhaha], CHINA URGES A "DE-AMERICANIZED WORLD".
Or at least East Asia + 1/2 of the Pacific, as per "SEVEN OWG GLOBAL FEDERAL UNIONS FOR SEVEN PAR GLOBALIST CO-SUPERPOWERS" FOR SEVEN CONTINENTS".
'Tis consistent wid "post-US",Rising China's call for a de-Americanized/Dollarized Asia-Pacific time back.
As complemented by ...
* THE HILL > PRESIDENT OBAMA RULES OUT SHORT-TERM CEILING HIKE.
'Tis "all-or-nothing", "surrender-like-France-or-die" for the Mensheviks of the GOP-Right.
* HUFFPO > LOUIE BEUTLER: A DEBT DEFAULT IS AN IMPEACHABLE OFFENSE FOR THE PRESIDENT.
IMO so is PCorrectly-Deniably intentionally giving up 1/2 of the Pacific = Guam-WESTPAC to International Date Line [plus-minus], but thats why good, saavy Politicos have the Debt, Deficit, Sequester, + now Partial Shutdown [Full? by EOY] to CYA, now isn't it - "GLOBALISM" = "BAD/
PERVASIVE US, WORLD ECONOMY" = ONE-N-SAME THING???
So to speak.
The US cannot go to war andor militarily intervene in East Asia-WESTPAC on behalf of its Allies because it can no longer economically afford to, + ITS JUST A WEIRD-N-MYSTERIOUS COINCIDENCE, + ONLY A COINCIDENCE, THAT THE OWG GLOBALIST AGENDA OF MULTIPLE GLOBAL PAR "CO-SUPERPOWERS" + RELATED IS ACHIEVED???
#2
You know, Besoeker, if a list something like that was all EBT was good for I might be willing to let it run open-ended rather than a flat 6 months. Add onions & potatoes, a roll of generic TP, and some kind of plant-generated green stuff (I understand the body needs it.) Substitute other varieties of dried peas or beans for the navy beans, maybe some kind of sausage for the beef or other meat. Get their choices back to what people who are using MY money ought to be buying - not convenience food and junk food.
It always irritated me when I was young and poor (the two should generally corellate) to be checking out & paying cash for my generic corn flakes and plain groud beef, while the person in front of me was using food stamps for ribeyes and buying beer with cash.
#5
At one time before food stamps and EBT there was commodities. You go to a place and they give you a ration of food. Cheese, Milk, *powdered eggs*, grains, lots of beans, etc... This was way back when I was a kid.
Welfare and Food Stamps are as addictive as heroin and crack.
Sometimes I think it might be better to go back to that sort of system. Open up a COSTCO sized center in the inner city and make them come and get their commodities.
[BREITBART] Former Alaska Governor Sarah Mama Grizzly Palin ... the babe libs love to hate ... was met by an enthusiastic crowd when she joined The Tea Party Express and Mark Levin to stump for U.S. Senate candidate Steve Lonegan. The rally was held at New Egypt Speedway, a fitting backdrop considering how fast Lonegan has soared in the polls.
"Something big is happening here. It's called momentum," Palin said. "You have the momentum with Steve's campaign."
One of the reasons Lonegan, the Republican, has made an epic upset in Blue New Jersey against Democrat Cory Booker a realistic possibility is his candidness. He is not afraid to call out those who do not follow the Constitution and does not pussyfoot around when the Bill of Rights is attacked. Lonegan, like Palin, makes no apology for loving an exceptional America.
Before the rally, Lonegan told Breitbart News why his approach is working.
"We are appealing to real American workers," Lonegan told Breitbart News. "Booker wants more government programs, while I, like Governor Palin, want more liberty."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2013
11:16 ||
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Palin has a pretty good record pushing Tea Party candidates over the top. She came out early for Ted Cruz in a primary that the establishment candidate was supposed to have locked up tight.
That said, I don't think Lonegan will be much better than Christie, but in New Jersey that's not too bad.
In a lab experiment, researchers adjusted temperatures in tanks, tainted the killifish's food with traces of methylmercury and watched as the fish stored high concentrations of the metal in their tissue. So they fed the fish mercury and the concentrations went up? This is science?
In a field experiment in nearby salt pools, they observed as killifish in warmer pools ate their natural food and stored metal in even higher concentrations, like some toxic condiment for larger fish that would later prey on them. I wonder what happens if you feed them mercury in cooler pools?
The observation was part of a study showing how killifish at the bottom of the food chain will probably absorb higher levels of methylmercury in an era of global warming and pass it on to larger predator fish, such as the tuna stacked in shiny little cans in the cupboards of Americans and other people the world over. If the oceans keep warming the way they are supposed to, and we keep force-feeding the little killifish mercury. I gotta go take a nap.
What about the climate temperature pause, guys, and the Atlantic multi-decadal oscillation, and warmer waters leading to more thunderstorms transferring heat to radiate into space, and all the other newly discovered factors which are leading some to think that this whole climate thingy is much more complicated and cyclical and, y'know, not conforming to current models and stuff? Honestly, you'd think researchers would read the skeptic sites just to know what kinds of questions will be asked so they could collect data to answer them definitively.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/14/2013
07:05 ||
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#1
Might be simpler to just list the terrible things AGW won't cause.
#3
I fed cyprinodontiform fish
On a methylmercurious dish.
Since massaging the data
Made me mad as a hatter,
My conclusions are somewhat suspish.
Study's kinda Dr. Obvious but who cares? The teeming tropical multitudes will easily be fed on delicious, wholesome tilapia farmed in pristine meltponds across the erstwhile tundra belt. And for a tasty treat for the elite that can't be beat, that's neat and reet but sure ain't petite, I'm talking about mmm, mmm, mammoth meat. Yassuh! Put on your best togs, head down to the bogs and make like hogs with the dogs. It's going fast and it ain't gonna last. After that it's all bugs and blue-green algae
More orange stuff:
Nemo Yams
CheeWees
MONARCH BUTTERFLY!
#4
So-o-o IIUC, IOW humanity can't build "floating" cities, let alone "underwater" cities, to escape GWCC because it will poison the fishies + food chain.
Time to eat the Bugs, or more accurately the BUG-ZILLAS whom will be hunting us for food just we will be hunting them for same???
* TOPIX > GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS: SEVEN INSECTS WE [Humanity] WILL BE EATING IN THE FUTURE.
The senseless government shutdown has led to a rout of the tea party, right-wing extremism and a House Republican leadership that was cowed into a march toward oblivion. But a great deal hangs on what happens next. Will this be a watershed moment? Or do we return to the same dreary politics that led to the shutdown in the first place? I'm afraid it'll be more dreariness, E.J. You keep forgetting about the red half of the country.
What needs to happen is a sharp course correction -- from an agenda championed by the forces that were beaten in the last election to an engagement with the problems our nation must solve. The One was re-elected, sure, but the House remains in GOP control, Mr. Dionne. No by-line listed in this post but by the time I'd read to the second yellow comment I knew it was Dionne...
Democrats have been much tougher in this round of negotiations than they were in the past not only because the GOP vastly overreached in trying to gut Obamacare, but also because they know how important it is to insist that budget cutting and deficit reduction not be the sole priority of the political class. Rep. Paul Ryan (who was, by the way, the other member of the Republican ticket that lost last year, partly because of his budget ideas) hoped to steer the talks in this direction. But Democrats have made it clear that it's not 2011 anymore. So budget cutting and deficit reduction are not the only priorities? What are the others?
The United States should build, not just cut. We should invest again in an infrastructure whose decayed condition ought to shame us. We should deal with high ongoing unemployment, reverse the rise of inequality and give poor and working-class kids real opportunities for upward mobility. Actually I agree with the goals, so long as we don't raise taxes. SMARTER SPENDING. Future negotiations must be premised on getting rid of sequester cuts that are hobbling our economy and on matching future cuts with new revenues. Talk of changes in Social Security and Medicare need to take into account not only their long-term costs -- which require, above all, further fixes to our health-care system -- but also how these programs may be inadequate for a generation whose members will not enjoy the pensions their grandparents had. More money to O'care, less to pensions!
It's important to understand that the American people really have blamed this mess on the GOP and really did revolt against the tea party's irrationality. The public's reaction has not been "a plague on both your houses," even if the shenanigans make Congress as a whole look very bad. Keep it up with the Kool Aide, E.J. The president and his allies seem determined to seize this moment and not squander a triumph built on a willingness to stand firm against right-wing radicalism. Obama can't slip back into the style of deficit wrangling that so weakened him in 2011. He now has an opening to refocus on his priorities: universal pre-kindergarten education, immigration reform, rebuilding our transportation and communications systems -- and, one would like to hope, an even broader agenda for speeding growth and sharing its dividends fairly. No time for compromise! Forward!
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/14/2013
06:49 ||
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EJ pretty reliably represents the conventional wisdom of the mainstream left.
The fact that what he says is basically drivel tells us the problems of the mainstream left are, in their own way, as severe as those of the GOP.
Posted by: lord garth ||
10/14/2013 7:55
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[shakes head] I suppose reality has to be somewhere in between E.J. and the right-wing, whatever "reality" is...
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/14/2013 9:26
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The Left has demonstrated time and again, the heart felt desire for a one party system whether its Dear Leader or a 'King'. I don't recall the Left was too cooperating when Nixon won a second term. A lot of these writers weren't born yet, so its all prehistoric for them, as history is only what they can recall in their life's experience.
#4
The 'invest in infrastructure' would be a well received message had the previous several trillion borrowed dollars gone to actual infrastructure projects.
The liberals increase spending when times are good, bad, near bankruptcy... There is never a time to cut spending; after all the real America is the GIVERnment.
#5
I have come to believe that Dionne knows he is full of crap but he knows if enough of his friends say the same thing it becomes conventional wisdom and may actually become the truth when McCain and company start to beleave it. That is what happened with a lot of the polling in the last election. lie, lie, lie with polls until eventually turnout starts to look the way you want (and any voter fraud numbers start to look like the predictions and thus don't stand out).
#6
The bit that is really beginning to bore me is the "shameful infrastructure" talking point. True in Baltimore or Detroit, but outside the blue cities, ours is still more than adequate. Especially when one considers the over-built, over-engineered projects one sees in Europe and Eastasia. Those are jobs programs, not infrastructure.
#8
"The 'invest in infrastructure' would be a well received message had the previous several trillion borrowed dollars gone to actual infrastructure projects."
The money wouldn't go to actual infrastructure projects this time either, airandee.
Generally speaking, construction jobs are done by men - can't spend that money on all those jobs for burley men, y'know. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
10/14/2013 13:39
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If Paul Ryan proposed a budget that reduced federal spending by $1.00, it wouldn't pass and he would be accused (again) of taking money out of the mouths of starving children. (The $650 million pissed away on a non-functioning website somehow doesn't come out of the mouths of starving children.)
Posted by: Matt ||
10/14/2013 19:36
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So the [anti-US] GLOBALISTS = NEW NEO-CONSERVATIVES, while the ANTI-GLOBALISTS = NATIONALISTS/
SOVEREIGNTISTS = NEW RADICALS/MILTERRS???
Clearly the side with PADME AMYGDALA + MILA KUNIS + PATRICIA VELASQUEZ, MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ,ETAL. WINS???
At least 20 people have been killed in a car bombing in the Syrian town of Darkush in northwestern Idlib province, near the Turkish border.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the toll was expected to climb because of the large number of people who were seriously injured, and that at least one child was among the dead. Activists from the Syrian Revolution General Commission network said the blast took place on Monday in the market area of the Darkush, which is under the control of rebels.
A video posted by activists online showed the aftermath of the blast, with at least one car on fire and the ground around it covered in smoking embers. A second video showed residents carrying bodies on makeshift stretchers and extensive damage to buildings around the site of the blast.
#1
great big car bombs in enemy marketplace is one of the signature Assad/Hezbollah tactics; usually once this happens the Assad/Hezbollah folks issue a condemnation of it and say it was someone else's fault (e.g., the rebels, Turkey, Israel, whatever).
Posted by: lord garth ||
10/14/2013 10:30
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Being part the second of the article Bobby posted yesterday.
What started as a mad dash to strike a deal to lift the federal debt limit slowed to a crawl over the weekend as stalemated Senate leaders waited nervously to see whether financial markets would plunge Monday morning and drive the other side toward compromise. Always thinking of The People first, right?
Republicans crushed by the media onslaught seemed to think they had more to lose. After talks broke down between President Obama and House leaders after 45 seconds, GOP senators quickly cobbled together a plan to end the government shutdown and raise the debt limit. Senate Minority Leader McConnell then asked Majority Leader Reid to elevate negotiations to the highest level. To The Lightbringer? The path is not yet aligned with his wishes, so he remains above the fray. On Sunday Reid was wielding that leverage to maximum advantage. Rather than making concessions that would undermine Obama's signature health-care initiative, as Republicans first demanded, Democrats are now on the offensive and seeking to undo what has become a cherished prize for the GOP: deep agency spending cuts known as the sequester. Soviet-style negotiations - what's mine is mine and what's yours is negotiable.
But the shift in focus away from the imminent threat of a default on the U.S. debt sparked outrage among Republicans and alarm among the world's financial leaders, meeting this weekend in Washington. Tired of 'we won - get over it'?
Democrats said they objected to a debt-limit plan developed by Sen. Susan Collins because it would permit the cuts to stay in place through March, allowing another round of sequester cuts to hit on Jan. 15. At that point, agency spending for fiscal 2014, which began Oct. 1, would be on track to fall roughly $90 billion lower than Democrats have proposed. And with the fiscal year half over, Democrats would have scant opportunity to renegotiate the numbers, a top priority. Maybe they could just shut 'er down.
The sequester cuts are part of $2.1 trillion in agency spending cuts over 10 years included in the Budget Control Act, the measure that raised the debt limit in 2011. Initially, Republicans, also wanted to replace the sequester, particularly the portion that falls on the Pentagon. But since Obama won tax hikes on the wealthy as part of a year-end fight over the "fiscal cliff," McConnell has taken to casting the sequester as a significant GOP victory from which the party cannot retreat. Crisis to crisis to crisis. Never let one go to waste.
On Sunday, McConnell issued a statement throwing his support for the first time behind the Collins proposal, calling it a "bipartisan plan" brokered with five other GOP senators and six senators who caucus with Democrats. Harry lose control, did he?
"It would reopen the government, prevent a default and maintain the commitment that Congress made to reduce Washington spending through the Budget Control Act -- the law of the land," McConnell said. "It's time for Democrat leaders to take 'yes' for an answer."
On Sunday, Sen. Joe Manchin III (W.Va.), one of the Democrats working with Collins, defended the proposal on "Fox News Sunday" as having "a little bit of move for everybody. In a divided government, you can't have it all your way." Looks like a crack in the Dem facade, to me.
Many lawmakers are leery of missing the Thursday deadline -- particularly Republicans, who are already getting hammered in the only reported public opinion polls over the government shutdown. The Dow Jones industrial average soared Friday on news that Obama and congressional Republicans were finally talking.
"Look, I guess we can get lower in the polls. We're down to blood relatives and paid staffers now," Sen. McCain joked on Face the Nation. "But we've got to turn this around. And the Democrats had better help us." He IS deluded!
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/14/2013
05:35 ||
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#1
If another 3-4 days are needed to negociate the settlement between houses, looks to me like they've essentially missed the "deadline" already.
#5
ask about the $3500+ deductibles and higher co-pays too
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/14/2013 18:32
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Older and sick people on the exchanges who are eligible for Federal subsidies (meaning they fall under certain income limits) do well, but small business employers are seeing big premium increases.
#8
D *** NG IT, WASHINGTON WANTS TO MAKE IT ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY CATEGORICALLY UNDENIABLY ....@ETC. CLEAR TO THE AMERIKAN PEOPLE THE COUNTRY IS N-O-T IN POTENS SERIOUS OR CATASTROPHIC TROUBLE WID ITS DEBT BURDEN, THUS OF COURSE THE RISE OF "BAMMER-CARE".
Britain said on Sunday that it will give Jordan £12 million ($19 million, 14 million Euros) to help local communities in the country cope with hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees.
Because the Brits are flush with cash...
"Jordan will receive urgently needed support to keep essential public services running and prevent tensions between local people and growing numbers of Syrian refugees," British International Development Secretary Justine Greening said.
"The United Kingdom will provide £12 million over the next two years to ensure that local Jordanian municipal governments can meet the needs of both host communities and refugees who have fled the fighting in Syria," she was quoted as saying in an embassy statement.
Jordan is hosting more than 500,000 Syrian refugees, mostly in the north, including in the Zaatari refugee camp, which is home to around 120,000 people. Jordanians have repeatedly called for aid, saying the growing refugee influx has placed a huge burden on already overstretched water and power supplies as well as housing and education.
"Competition for jobs is increasing, houses built for refugees require electricity and water, and rubbish is piling up. British support will help to maintain road construction and maintenance, waste collection, street lighting, pest control and water supplies," the statement said.
The International Monetary Fund recommended on Saturday the release of $258 million to Jordan under a three-year $2 billion loan approved in August 2012, to help the kingdom weather regional instability.
#1
A small price to pay perhaps, as long as they don't start claiming asylum in the UK; this multi-cultural society is multi enough without letting in another bunch of traumatised Arabs that will never integrate, (with Lord knows how many ungrateful hard-core sleepers with Dire Revenge on their minds).
An American found hanged in his police cell in the Suez Canal city of Ismailiya on Sunday was believed to have committed suicide, Egyptian security officials said.
They said the body of James Henry, 55, who told authorities he was a retired officer, was found at noon at Ismailiya Awal police station.
The US embassy in Cairo confirmed that a US citizen prisoner in Ismailiya died from an apparent suicide.
Having his hands tied behind him sure didn't help him get the rope bedsheet off his neck...
The embassy is in contact with authorities regarding the case and continues to provide all consular services, an embassy official told AFP.
Egyptian officials said Henry had been detained in August for violating a curfew imposed because of the latest wave of political unrest sweeping the country. He was stopped on the road between El Arish and Rafah in North Sinai and told authorities he was on his way to the neighbouring Gaza Strip.
Officials told AFP that a US embassy delegation had visited Henry in his cell last week.
His death comes a day after he was told that authorities were extending his preventative detention by another 30 days.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/14/2013
00:00 ||
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"told authorities he was on his way to the neighbouring Gaza Strip"?
#2
Another fine example of professional journalism. This article is full of nothing. Its a pile of .....questions not answers. Even the facts are pointing in various directions. An American...in the middle of border Sinai...yeah? Picked up on the Egyptian side, canned since August. Embassy "visited" him last week. Brought him twinkys and told him to hang in there. Tells us jack zip. Then the guy hangs himself. The old turkey climbs in some Ismailiyeh toilet ( who cares how its spelled ) and hangs himself.
What was he doing there in the first place, taking pictures of the camels and the rocks? Something meaningful ? Please.
And he was going to go to the scenic Gaza Strip? Not a good vacation move just to begin with. Like I say, a very praiseworthy piece of "journalism."
James Lunn, an American arrested after a car bombing in northern Sinai in August, was found dead in an Egyptian jail Sunday. Lunn was arrested Aug. 27 during "combing operations" following a car bombing outside a police station in the turbulent northern region of Sinai, according to a statement from Egyptian officials.
The statement said a computer and maps of "important installations" were found in his possession, but did not identify the facilities. Lunn was was remanded into police custody and had been remanded again for 30 days by a court on Saturday, according to the News Agency that Shall Not Be Named.
A spokesman for the ministry, Gen. Hany Abdel Lateef, said in a phone call on Sunday that Mr. Lunn had admitted during questioning that he had been on his way to the Gaza Strip, where he planned to meet with members of Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that rules the territory.
He confessed that he was on his way to Gaza to stay with Hamas and discuss certain things with them, General Abdel Lateef said. The statement from the prosecutor general, Hisham Barakat, said that Mr. Lunn had been found with a modern electronic device that the authorities were examining, without specifying further.
"Electronic device"... kinda what the 'Suez spy swan' was wearing.
[Dawn] A man wearing an Afghan army uniform shot at US soldiers in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least one serviceman on Sunday, local officials and the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... -led coalition said.
The so-called "insider attack" in Paktika ...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo... province is the fourth in less than a month and is likely to strain already tense ties between coalition troops and their allies, with most foreign troops scheduled to withdraw by the end of next year.
A Rooters tally shows Sunday's incident was the tenth this year, and took the corpse count of foreign personnel to 15.
"A man wearing an Afghan army uniform shot at Americans in Sharana city, the picturesque provincial capital, near the governor's office," said an Afghan official, adding that two soldiers had been hit by the gunfire.
The NATO-led coalition confirmed one soldier had been shot by a man in security forces uniform, but did not comment on his nationality or whether the Afghan was wearing an army uniform.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2013
00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
[Al Ahram] The National Alliance to Support Legitimacy (NASL), an Islamist coalition supporting Morsi, has called for mass demonstrations under the slogan "pray for Egypt" on Monday.
Monday is the day of Arafat on the eve of Eid Al-Adha, also known as the Festival of the Sacrifice, which is one of the most important religious occasions in the Moslem calendar.
"The alliance calls on all the loyal and honorable sons of Egypt to participate in the 'Pray For Egypt' million-man march from noon until sunset on Arafat day," read a statement published by the group. They did not specify however where the protests will take place.
The statement went on to call on loyalists to take part in Eid Al-Adha prayers across the country on Tuesday, when millions of Egyptians are expected to gather for early morning prayers.
Eid Al-Adha is especially significant because it marks the annual Hajj (Islamic pilgrimage) to the holy city of Mecca in 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... . Around two million pilgrims have already arrived at the site for this year's Hajj.
Fears of violence during the festival are on the rise, as Egypt continues to witness deadly festivities between supporters and opponents of deposed president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... On Sunday 6 October, the 40th anniversary of the Arab-Israeli war, 57 protesters were killed during festivities between Morsi supporters, opponents and security forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2013
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Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[An Nahar] Israel has tossed in the calaboose Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! three Paleostinian suspects over the murder of a Jewish settler in the West Bank, its domestic security service said Sunday.
"The Shin Bet, with the assistance of the army and the police, have arrested a number of those involved in the murder of Sarya Ofer," the Shin Bet agency said in a statement.
It was not yet known if Friday's killing was politically motivated.
The Shin Bet said Odeh Farid Harub, 18, and Bashir Ahmed Harub, 21, had confessed to the killing of the retired army colonel at his isolated Jordan Valley home.
They were among three men from the southern West Bank village of Dir Samat, near Hebron, arrested on Saturday "following intelligence information."
The suspects allegedly told interrogators they had gone to the compound that Ofer shared with his wife Monique late one night about two weeks ago but without doing anything.
The Shin Bet said their account matched a statement by Monique, who escaped with injuries after her husband was bludgeoned to death, and who said youths from the Hebron area had come to the house "under suspicious circumstances."
Police said after the killing that it was most likely the work of Paleostinian Death Eaters, while rightwing Israeli politicians said peace talks with the Paleostinians should be suspended as a result.
But media have speculated that the killing could have been the result of a bungled burglary attempt or the settling of a personal dispute.
"The investigation is under way and the motive for the murder is still being checked," the Shin Bet said.
Several Israelis and Paleostinians have been killed or maimed in a recent spate of violent incidents in the occupied territories.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2013
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Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
[WTOP] Thousands of people converged on the World War II Memorial on the National Mall on Sunday morning and tore down the barricades blocking it off, protesting the closure of the memorial during the federal government shutdown.
Beginning at about 9:30 a.m., Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, as well as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Mama Grizzly Palin ... the babe libs love to hate ... , were among the luminaries in a crowd that chanted "Tear down these walls!" and sang "God Bless America" as well as other patriotic songs as they entered the memorial, which has been closed since the government shutdown that began Oct. 1.
Tractor-trailers headed down 17th Street toward the Mall, blaring their horns. The Metropolitan Police Department blocked off the street, prompting the crowd to head up the street, shouting at the police to move their vehicles.
Palin said that closing the memorials was disgraceful, and that President B.O. "could be here today, saying 'Yes, we can tear down these barricades."
Cruz said that President B.O. was using veterans as political pawns in the shutdown. Lee shouted, "The sons and daughters of the United States of America are meant to live in liberty."
By 11 a.m., the group had headed back to the memorial, and dozens congregated around World War II veterans, shaking their hands and thanking them for their service.
Later in the morning, veteran Mike Lauriente was accepting handshakes from demonstrators. He served in Sicily and French Morocco, and declared the memorial, which he was seeing for the first time, beautiful. "The spirit that I see here is overwhelming."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2013
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#1
The end of Obama.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/14/2013 0:46
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Ha! The WaPo this morning reported "one or two hundred demonstrators, and crazy Sarah.
Although WTOP is "The News Source" in D.C.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/14/2013 6:02
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#3
"Although WTOP is "The News Source" in D.C." and a very small pie hole share. People are getting their news elsewhere. People see the bias. So much is not told. Word of mouth. AM radio. The audience for NPR and WTOP is getting smaller and smaller as is the advertising revenue. Except Government funding for NPR.
#4
The Donks will pay heavily at the 2014 elections for messing with the vets. Most people are not divided in their feelings of gratitude for the vets. Messing with the vets strikes a deep chord that ticks off most Americans.
#5
Dale, many (probably most) people don't see media bias as bias because it matches their own bias. And military-related families are becoming a much smaller demographic these days.
#7
Sadly, great-grandchildren hardly count in the family loyalty game; even grandparents are becoming irrelevant outside flyover country. How many places even have Veterans Day or Memorial Day parades anymore? And how many youth groups march in them?
#8
the Donks will pay heavily at the 2014 elections for messing with the vets.
I predict that as usual the vast majority of incumbents seeking re-election, will be re-elected.
[TOLONEWS] While much of the focus of Saturday night's joint presser between President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... and U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... was on the progress made in negotiating the terms of the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), the Afghanistan's Caped President also used the opportunity to speak out against U.S. unilateral operations in Afghanistan, which he called a "violation of illusory sovereignty."
Last week, U.S. officials announced that American forces based in Afghanistan had placed in durance vile Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! Latifullah Mehsud, a close aide of Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pak Taliban, in Pashtun-infested Logar province.
"Regarding the arrest of the Pak Taliban leader by U.S. forces, I should mention that it was a subject that we have discussed with the U.S. and with Mr. John Kerry," President Karzai told the press gathered at the Presidential Palace on Saturday night. "With this, Afghan law was ignored and the operation was a violation of illusory sovereignty. Today's talks touched on this and we received confidence that it will not happen again and the security agreement will prevent these issues."
Secretary Kerry took the opportunity to respond to President Karzai's remarks and defended the U.S.' actions.
"With respect to counterterrorism activities and the apprehension of an individual, we followed the normal procedures that the United States follows in our agreement," he said. Given President Karzai's comments, however, it would seem the terms governing U.S. unilateral operations in Afghanistan are likely to change in the new security pact being formed to govern relations post-2014.
Meanwhile, ...back at the the conspirators' cleverly concealed hideout the long-awaited message arrived. They quickly got to work with their decoder rings... the governor of eastern Pashtun-infested Logar province, Arsala Jalal, has confirmed that Latifullah Mehsud was arrested by U.S. forces in the Mohammad Agha district of the province while he was travelling to his house nearby.
"This senior Taliban leader last week was arrested by U.S. forces around 3:00am in Mohammad Agha district," he said.
Reports have circulated indicating that Latifullah Mehsud was in contact with the Afghan government prior to his arrest, but this remains unconfirmed.
An official of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the topic, saying that the Afghan forces were not involved in the operation and the Taliban leader was still in U.S. custody.
In his comments to the press on Saturday, Secretary Kerry assured that the U.S. would move forward in cooperation with the Afghan government when dealing with Latifullah, but again asserted that the U.S. had followed proper procedure in its operation.
"We will absolutely work with the Government of Afghanistan to cooperate so that the appropriate process flows out of this, to respect their interests and respect their illusory sovereignty," Kerry said. "But this was a normal counterterrorism procedure, according to the standards that we have been operating by for a long period of time."
Mehsud joins a growing list of Pak nationals that have been apprehended in connection to insurgency and terrorist operations in Afghanistan. The close ties between Pak Death Eater networks and violent conflict in Afghanistan has long been a point of considerable tension between Kabul and Islamabad.
Mehsud was accused of involvement in a number of terrorist attacks, including the bombing plot targeting Times Square in New York City in 2010. But according to U.S. officials, he and his group have been responsible for a number of attacks inside Pakistain and Afghanistan as well.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2013
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[Jpost] The Sunni Islamist movement's fortunes have been reversed throughout the Middle East, with the Brotherhood losing power in both Egypt and Tunisia, as well as influence in Syria, Turkey, Qatar and Gazoo.
Reports surfaced this week suggesting that Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, leader Khaled Mashaal is seeking to relocate from his current base in the Qatari capital of Doha. Hamas has indignantly rejected these claims.
This shouldn't be taken as authoritative -- the movement also dismissed evidence that it was leaving Damascus in 2012, until the move was complete and could no longer be denied.
If it turns out that the Hamas leadership is indeed on its way out of Qatar, this is the latest indication of the astonishing change of fortunes that has hit the Moslem Brüderbund. History may remember 2013 as the year of the movement's eclipse, after its very brief moment in the sun in 2011-2012.
At the beginning of this year, the Brotherhood held power in Egypt and Tunisia. A Syrian insurgency dominated by militias with similar ideas to the Brotherhood and supported by the same patron (Qatar) looked to be heading for victory in Syria's civil war.
A Brotherhood-related party was in power in Turkey, and the Emirate of Qatar had emerged as the energetic financier and enthusiastic cheerleader of the Brothers' advance across the region.
Qatar, through its immensely popular Al Jazeera channel, had the ability to sculpt public opinion according to its will, across borders in the Arabic-speaking world.
The Brotherhood/Qatari alliance also seemed well on the way to claiming the commanding stake in Paleostinian nationalism. Hamas, the Paleostinian branch of the movement, had carved out the only genuinely independent Paleostinian entity in the Gazoo Strip. This was pivotal as the Paleostinian cause and opposition to Israel remain key badges of legitimacy in the politics of the Arab world.
Hamas, led by Mashaal, spent 2011 and 2012 relocating itself out of Damascus, drawing ever closer to Doha. Emir Hamad Bin Khalifa al-Thani then visited Hamas-controlled Gazoo in October 2012, pledging $400 million to the Hamas enclave. Everything seemed to be going in the right direction.
But the advance of the Brotherhood was alarming to the conservative Gulf monarchies 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... and the United Arab Emirates. Israel, too, was watching events with concern. While Israel was far less vulnerable than the fragile Gulf states, the rise of the Brotherhood in Egypt seemed to promise trouble somewhere down the road.
In the course of 2013, the advance was reversed.
Most important, the Brotherhood was forcibly removed from power in Egypt in a Saudi and UAE-supported military coup in July. The new military regime is in the process of destroying Islamist military resistance. The Brotherhood has been declared illegal and will not be permitted to stand in future elections once the civilian political process has been reactivated.
In this age of asymmetric conflicts, in which the very concepts of victory and defeat are said to be obsolete, the Brotherhood in Egypt has suffered something that looks very much like an old fashioned, unambiguous and clear defeat.
In Qatar, meanwhile, the emir was replaced in June by his son, Tamim. The precise circumstances and reasons for Thani's sudden departure from power remain mysterious.
Since then, Qatar has virtually disappeared from the regional stage. Its contributions to the Brotherhood in Egypt are drying up.
Hamas, alarmed by the turn of events in Egypt, is reactivating its contacts with Iran and the rival, Shi'ite-dominated Islamist bloc led by Tehran.
In Syria, Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... 's regime rallied in the first months of 2013, and its existence is no longer in imminent danger. On the Syrian rebel side, meanwhile, it is now the Saudis who are making the running -- officially supporting the "moderate" Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, and enabling the funding of Salafi organizations through private funds. The Qataris and the Brotherhood are no longer the main players. In the latest reversal of fortune, Tunisia's al-Nahda party has agreed to dissolve the government that it formed following its election victory in 2011. The government will be replaced by an administration of technocrats pending new elections. This move follows the unrest and political crisis that erupted after the liquidation of opposition leader Mohammed Brahmi in July.
In Turkey, meanwhile, the Brotherhood- aligned AKP is left to ponder the ruins of its plans and hopes for the region. It had expected the formation of an alliance of like-thinking Brotherhood-style Sunni Islamist regimes across the region, in North Africa, the Levant and the Gulf.
After the events of 2013, this is no longer on the cards. Instead, the AKP government must cope with angry protests by non- Islamist Turks, the loss of allies and regional isolation.
This appears to be taking its toll.
A broadcast featuring Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussing the crushing of the Brotherhood in Egypt had to be stopped recently when the Turkish leader began weeping uncontrollably.
What all this means is that on literally every front on which it made significant advances, the Brotherhood has now stalled.
Whether or not it turns out that the reports regarding Mashaal's relocation are true, Hamas is being forced to reposition itself, and to go back to Iran with cap in hand. The reason is because this movement, too, had placed its bets on a Qatar-financed alliance of Brotherhood-oriented states -- which will now not come into being.
The Brothers are by no means finished. Their politics retain a natural purchase in the conservative, Sunni Arab Middle East. But the moment when everything seemed possible has decidedly passed. What looked like the potential beginning of a new age ended up as a brief moment in the sun.
The sun is now setting on the Moslem Brüderbund's hopes of regional domination.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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#2
I read an article that the Muslim area on earth was like a sick patient that badly needed Radiation Therapy, preferably Nuclear, and we,(The World) Needed to hope we survive it.
Sounds reasonable, very sick patients often do not realize they are sick, especially when desperate measures are needed.
And the sickness doesn't get a say in it' treatment.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/14/2013 0:56
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#3
Thank you TE for that post. #1 and # 2 also. Obama's plans always are a ruination. I'd bet his golf game is just as bad.
Like a cancer, they seem to metastasize elsewhere when removed from a sick body.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
10/14/2013 9:17
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#7
And what comes after the Bruders? They come in like a bunch of Mensheviks, screw things up so the Bolsheviks can get things organized? I see AlQ ready to fill any vacuum. Lots of bad choices. I guess that's why radiation treatment seems like the most likely outcome.
#8
In Qatar, meanwhile, the emir was replaced in June by his son, Tamim. The precise circumstances and reasons for Thani's sudden departure from power remain mysterious.
HARGEISA, Somalia -- Somalia's separatist administration of Somaliland
...formerly a semi-sane region in the Horn of Africa, but that's now questionable...
has accused the Somali Federal Government (SFG) of flouting airspace control agreement which was signed in the Turkish city of Istanbul on July 9, Garowe Online reports.
In response to remarks made by Federal Government of Somalia's Minister of Information Abdullahi El Moge Hirsi, Somaliland Civil Aviation Minister Mohamed Abdi Hashi said that Mogadishu-based Federal Government won't manage Somalia national airspace.
"I would like to make clear that Somaliland would not accept, Mogadishu to control our air traffic. Also we will never accept any violations and to manage the national airspace of former Somalia beyond the points of agreement," stated Hashi.
Hashi who held a press conference in Somaliland capital of Hargeisa Saturday delivered what appeared as 'stern warning' and noted that such moves could further threaten the security of the already turbulent horn of Africa region.
"We will tell the UN that Somalia Federal Government abandoned SFG-Somaliland agreement, if this issue becomes obvious, we will evidently take strict steps," added Hashi.
The Somali Federal Government and Somaliland administration agreed to establish a bilateral control body based in Hargeisa to co-manage national airspace at Istanbul talks under the auspices of Turkey government in July.
Minister El Moge recently remarked that the airspace control matters are charged with the Somali Federal Government, an administration which is seeking to re-assert full control over the war-ravaged nation.
And which currently controls Mogadishu. Sort of. Some of it anyways...
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[Al Ahram] Iraqi Kurdistan is prepared to strike bully boyz anywhere, including in neighbouring Syria, but must avoid being drawn into its civil war, the autonomous region's president Massud Barzani told AFP.
Barzani's remarks came after bully boyz carried out a late-September attack on a security service headquarters in the Kurdish region's capital Arbil, killing seven people -- a rare occurrence in an area usually spared the violence plaguing other parts of Iraq.
"We will not hesitate in directing strikes (against) the terrorist criminals in any place," Barzani said in an exclusive interview with AFP, when asked about the possibility of Kurdish action against bully boyz in Iraq or Syria.
"Our duty is to protect the Kurds if we are able," he said.
But the long-time Kurdish leader made a distinction between that and being drawn into Syria's bloody civil war, which he said the Kurds must try to avoid.
"Our opinion is that the Kurds must stand at the same distance" from all parties in the conflict, so "the Kurdish people are not forced into a war" from which they will gain nothing, Barzani said.
But Syrian Kurdish forces have already been drawn into the fighting, clashing with jihadist groups fighting Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... 's troops who want to secure a land corridor connecting them to Iraq.
The violence has pushed tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds across the border, seeking refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan.
And Barzani has previously threatened to intervene in the Syrian conflict to protect Kurdish civilians, although officials have since backtracked on his remarks.
Barzani also said in the interview that Iraqi Kurdistan had provided military training to Syrian Kurds so they could defend their communities.
"A number of young (men) were trained, but truly not with the aim of entering the war," Barzani said.
In claiming the September 29 attack in Arbil, which killed seven security force personnel and maimed more than 60 people, Al-Qaeda front group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant also pointed to Syria.
The group said the attack on the Kurdish asayesh security service headquarters with jacket wallahs, gunfire and boom-mobiles was in response to Barzani's alleged willingness to provide support to the government in Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... and to Kurdish forces battling jihadists in Syria.
The attack was the first of its kind to hit Arbil since May 2007, when a truck bomb went kaboom! near the same headquarters, killing 14 people and wounding more than 80.
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#1
I still believe an independent Kurdistan would be a good thing. Careve out part of Iraq and Syria, and give the ones in Turkey and Iran arms.
One civilian on the ground was killed and three injured when a military plane crashed in the southern Egyptian city of Luxor on Sunday, medical sources said, dpa reported.
It's a MiG-21. Weren't they paying attention to the Indian Air Force?
The aircraft, which was being used in a training exercise, crashed due to a technical failure, army spokesman Colonel Ahmed Ali said. He gave no details of casualties and said the situation was being monitored.
Witnesses said the crew parachuted from the plane before it hit the ground. Some houses near the crash site caught fire, they added.
Luxor Security Director Mostafa Bakr told al-Ahram newspaper that the Russian made MiG-21 plane exploded in the air and crashed into agricultural areas and houses.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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[Al Ahram] President Barack Obama They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them... will stay out of the public eye on Sunday as Senate leaders try to work out an elusive deal ahead of a Thursday deadline for lifting the US government debt ceiling.
Just before noon, the White House gave the pool of news hounds and photographers who travel with the president notice that it would be highly unlikely that Obama would leave the White House or speak publicly for the rest of the day.
Senator Harry Reid ... the charismatic senator-for-life from Nevada, currently majority leader ... , the Senate majority leader, was slated to hold talks on Sunday with his Republican counterpart, Mitch McConnell, about how much to raise the debt ceiling, and how to end the ongoing government shutdown, now in its 13th day.
Obama made a series of high-profile public appearances during the early days of the shutdown, where he sought to blame Republicans for the fiscal impasse.
But Obama has stayed away from television cameras since he began meeting with politicians on Wednesday afternoon.
Vice President Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden The former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body... , who has close relationships with politicians who he served with during his long service in the US Senate, also has stayed out of the public eye.
Biden's schedule for the weekend showed that he and his wife Jill Biden would spend time at Camp David, the presidential retreat in rural Maryland.
"Maybe we need to get Joe Biden out of the witness protection program," Republican Senator John Maverick McCain ... the Senator-for-Life from Arizona, former presidential candidate and even more former foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution... said on CBS Television's "Face the Nation" program on Sunday morning, alluding to Biden's legendary ability to clinch deals with Republicans.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
He's vanished, hoping the seniors won't tar and feather him.
HINT, look on the golf course.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/14/2013 0:45
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#2
You guys would not fuck*ng believe the fundraising letter I got from McCain's office on Friday; it sounds like it was written by the ghost of Ronald Reagan. I cannot believe such rank hypocrisy from this Senator; it will blow your minds. I am willing to post the PDF if Fred or a moderator is willing to allow it.
I'll check this thread later in the AM for any offered solution.
Raj, you can email the PDF to Fred.
Alternately, if you can extract the text just post it here either in a comment or in a new post. We could use the laugh.
#3
will stay out of the public eye on Sunday...it would be highly unlikely that Obama would leave the White House or speak publicly for the rest of the day
The peace negotiating panels of the Philippine government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have failed to agree on power-sharing and normalization, the last two annexes to be added to the Framework Agreement on Bangsamoro, as their 41st round of talks ended in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. But both sides said in a joint statement that they made substantial progress on the remaining annexes on power-sharing and normalization.
Both panels also stressed the need for a break from negotiations to mark the Eid celebration Tuesday.
Government panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer earlier reiterated the importance of due diligence achieving viable solutions for the Bangsamoro. She said, If it has taken us a long while to put down words and phrases in the annexes, it is because we want to guarantee the integrity of the outcome."
MILF panel chair Mohagher Iqbal , for his part, said that the agreement should be acceptable to our people and will lead to solving the Bangsamoro question... Short of this, our efforts would be in vain.
Some two car bombs have reportedly exploded near Syria's state television headquarters in central Damascus, Alarabiya reported.
Two terrorist car bombs driven by suicide bombers detonated at the entrance of Ummayed Square. No casualties were reported at the moment. Explosions Sunday evening are believed to be a result of a double car bombing.
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[BBC.CO.UK] Some 89 pilgrims, mostly women and kiddies, have been killed in a stampede at a Hindu festival in central India, local officials have said.
Many were crushed after panic broke out on a bridge near the Ratangarh temple in Madhya Pradesh state. Others died when they jumped from the bridge.
Officials said the stampede may have been sparked by a rumour that the bridge was about to collapse.
Hundreds of thousands had gathered near the town of Datia for the festival.
Local devotee Atul Chaudhary, who survived the crush, told BBC Hindi there had been a couple of thousand people on the bridge.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Officials said the stampede may have been sparked by a rumour that the bridge was about to collapse
Bah! If I had a nickel for everytime someone worried about my work....
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/14/2013 14:44
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I still wish they would call them something other than Ribbon Bridges tho. How about crazy strong crossing structure?
[Al Ahram] A Sufi Mohammedan shrine was blown up in eastern Syria on Sunday, opposition activists said, blaming al Qaeda-affiliated forces of Evil who have joined in the increasingly sectarian civil war.
Militants placed explosives at the shrine of Sheikh Eissa Abdelqader al-Rifaiy in the rebel-held town of Busaira, 45 km (30 miles) east of the quiet provincial capital of Deir al-Zor, and detonated them on Sunday morning, they said.
The activists contacted by Rooters said they suspected al Qaeda-linked fighters of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) were behind the kaboom.
"The Islamic State has a base outside the town. The ease by which they got to the shrine indicates that their presence is growing," activist Abu al-Tayyeb al-Deiri said from Deir al-Zor.
Video footage and a photo released by the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group showed the shrine reduced to a field of shattered rock and twisted metal with trees and a small domed building in the background.
Several graves and other sites belonging to the Sufi sect, a mystical school of Islam opposed by puritanical Salafists ...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them... from which al Qaeda draws its ranks, have been burnt or destroyed in the province in the past few months, opposition sources said.
The Observatory, which has a network of sources across Syria, said another shrine had been blown up in the same area last month.
Tension has been rising in Deir al-Zor between ISIL, composed largely of imported muscle, and other rebel brigades drawn from eastern tribes, who turned against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... after a crackdown on protests in the revolt's early months.
The 2-1/2-year conflict has become increasingly sectarian as rebels overwhelmingly from Syria's Sunni Mohammedan majority fight to oust Assad, a member of the Shi'ite-derived Alawite sect.
Resentment of Alawite dominance of Syria's political and security establishment under 40 years of Assad family rule was a major factor in the start of the rebellion.
Regional Shiapower Iran has backed Assad in the conflict while Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... and other majority Sunni Gulf states have supported the rebels.
Shiafighters from Leb and Iraq have entered the conflict on Assad's side while foreign Sunnis have come to fight for the rebels.
Assad has cast himself as a bulwark against al Qaeda, whose affiliate ISIL has launched successful attacks against his forces, but which has been increasingly involved in festivities with other rebel groups in northern and eastern Syria.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Do I see a 'Miss Me Yet?" Assad poster in the future?
[USATODAY] A string of bombings Sunday across Iraq, many in Shiite-majority cities, killed at least 42 people and maimed dozens, officials said, a grim reminder of the government's failure to stem the uptick in violence that is feeding sectarian tensions in the country.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest attacks, but waves of bombings are frequently used by al-Qaeda's Iraq branch.
The Sunni bad boy group and other Sunni gunnies often targets Shiite civilians in an effort to undermine the Shiite-led government. Al-Qaeda's Death Eater ideology considers Shiites heretics.
The deadliest of Sunday's attacks, many of which struck busy commercial areas, happened in the southern city of Hillah, 95 kilometers (60 miles) south of Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... . Back-to-back boom-mobileings hit an outdoor market there, killing eight people and wounding 22, police said.
Two parked boom-mobiles destroyed a commercial area in the city of Suwayrah, 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Storied Baghdad, killing five people and wounding 14. Two other boom-mobiles went kaboom! simultaneously in the city of Kut, 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Storied Baghdad, killing four and maimed 16, according to police.
In the nearby city of Samawah, 370 kilometers (230 miles) southeast of Storied Baghdad, four people were killed and 13 maimed when two boom-mobiles went kaboom!. Two other boom-mobiles killed three and maimed 13 in the city of Diwaniyah, 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of the capital.
Samarra was struck twice Sunday, a day after a boom-mobileing in the Sunni-dominated city left 17 dead. The memory of the 2006 bombing of the city's al-Askari Shiite shrine still haunts many Iraqis because it set off years of retaliatory bloodshed between Sunni and Shiite Death Eaters.
Two people were killed and 15 were maimed in the morning when a boom-mobilewent kaboom! near a group of mourners at a funeral for some of the previous day's dead. A jacket wallah struck a security checkpoint near the shrine in the Sunni-dominated city later in the day, killing four and wounding 10, said Mizhar Fleih, the deputy head of the municipal council there.
In other violence Sunday, police reported five people killed and 34 maimed in the southern city of Basra and the central towns of Mahmoudiyah and Madain.
In the western Storied Baghdad neighborhood of Sadiyah, police said a bomb went off near a row of shops, killing two people and wounding nine others. Three others were killed in a blast near a soccer field in Storied Baghdad's mainly Shiite southeastern suburb of Nahrwan. Yet another bomb went kaboom! in the western Amariyah neighborhood, killing two and wounding 10, police said.
Medical officials confirmed the causalities. The police and hospital officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
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[Dawn] The federal interior minister, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, on Saturday, said some officials of the capital police had links with forces of Evil and car-lifters.
Addressing a presser at the interior ministry, Chaudhry Nisar disclosed the links and asked the inspector general of police (IGP) and the chief commissioner to rid the force of these corrupt elements.
"I have tasked the IGP and the chief commissioner to cleanse the police department of such officials within two weeks," he said.
Furthermore, the minister said he had directed the police to seek assistance from the intelligence agencies in identifying the corrupt elements within police ranks.
When contacted, IGP Sikandar Hayat said the interior minister had issued these directions in a meeting which was held after receiving information that a few police officials had links with criminal gangs.
He said the association between some police officials and car-lifters or criminal gangs had already been established.
"However, some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them... links of coppers with forces of Evil are yet to be established," he added.
The IGP said over 90 corrupt officials, including deputy superintendents of police (DSPs), inspectors and sub-inspectors had already been sidelined and action had been initiated against them.
According to Mr Hayat, coppers who had links with auto-thieves and criminals gangs had been identified and criminal cases would be registered against them.
Posted by: Fred ||
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BEIRUT A key group within the Syrian opposition National Coalition said on Sunday it would not attend proposed peace talks in Geneva and would quit the Coalition if it participated.
The Syrian National Council, which is the biggest bloc in the Coalition, has taken the firm decision... not to go to Geneva, under the present circumstances (on the ground), Council president George Sabra, said.
This means that we will not stay in the Coalition if it goes to the peace talks in Geneva, he added.
He invoked the ongoing suffering of Syrians on the ground and said his group would not negotiate before the fall of the regime.
The international community, led by Russia and the United States, has been pushing for the Syrian regime and rebels to attend a peace conference dubbed Geneva 2 to find a political solution to the conflict. The proposed meeting has been delayed for months, but Washington and Moscow are now talking about a potential mid-November date for the talks.
The Syrian National Council has long said it will not negotiate until President Bashar Al Assads regime is toppled.
After that there's not much to talk about...
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A string of bombings in mostly Shia-majority cities across Iraq on Sunday killed at least 31 people and wounded dozens, officials said.
Miss us yet?
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest attacks, but car bombs are frequently used by Al Qaedas Iraq branch.
The deadliest of Sundays attacks, which targeted mainly commercial areas and bus stations, was in the southern city of Hillah, 95 kilometres south of Baghdad. Back-to-back car bombings hit an outdoor market there, killing eight people and wounding 22, a police officer said.
Two parked car bombs ripped through a commercial area in the city of Suwayrah, 40 kilometres south of Baghdad, killing five people and wounding 14. Two other car bombs exploded simultaneously in the city of Kut, 160 kilometres southeast of Baghdad, killing four and wounded 16.
In nearby city of Samawah, 370 kilometres southeast of Baghdad, four people were killed and 13 wounded when two car bombs exploded. Two other car bombs killed three and wounded 13 in the city of Diwaniyah, 130 kilometres south of the capital.
In the northern city of Samarra, two people were killed and 15 were wounded when a bomb targeted a gathering of mourners for some of the 17 people who were killed in a car bombing there on Saturday. Five other people were killed and 34 were wounded in other attacks in the southern city of Basra and the central towns of Mahmoudiyah and Madain.
Medical officials confirmed the causalities.
More than 5,000 people have been killed in Iraq since attacks began accelerating in April following a deadly security crackdown against a Sunni protest camp in the northern town of Hawija.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/14/2013
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#1
All dead Moslems. Its sort of like having a hobby in Islam.
No pigs or Juice were harmed in making this piece of news.
Don't you wish you had a turban and curly toed slippers too? Oh and a little Koran to read while you wait.
[Jpost] The popular opposition to Islamist-led governments in Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Tunisia, and Sudan have been cited by experts as a sign that the once-popular ideology is waning.
Almost every day there is news about a new attack by al-Qaida or another radical Islamic group, yet events since the summer demonstrate that there is also a regional pushback against Islamists in countries such as Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey.
The Egyptian army toppled the Muslim Brotherhood from power on July 3, marking the beginning of a strong opposition by some in the region to Islamists. And in Tunisia, the like-minded ruling Ennahda movement has its rule under threat after agreeing to appoint a caretaker government in the coming weeks. In May, massive protests against Turkey's ruling Islamist AKP party erupted in Istanbul's Gezi Park, revealing that a significant portion of the country's population opposed the government's increasing aggressiveness in forcing its views on the public.
In Syria, there is mounting evidence that the country is becoming a stew of Islamist groups, both al-Qaida-affiliated and other Muslim Brotherhood-type groups. A United States official, who has access to intelligence reports, told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday that Syria may become similar to the tribal areas of Pakistan, where al-Qaida and other radical groups are based. US officials have also made comparisons to Afghanistan and Yemen.
Gulf States, while opposing al-Qaida and the Muslim Brotherhood, have nonetheless been supporting Islamists in the quest to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad. The Egyptians, who voted the Brotherhood into power, have largely turned on the group and the jihadists in Sinai that have been launching attacks against the army.
In addition to Syria, al-Qaida or affiliated or similar groups have been active in places such as Nigeria, Egypt, Somalia, Kenya, Iraq, Libya, Tunisia, Mali, and Yemen.
Seth Jones, an associate director at the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the Rand Corporation in Washington and a former representative for the commander of US Special Operations Command to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations, spoke to The Jerusalem Post about the rising tide of al-Qaida attacks in the Middle East.
Jones, who also served as an adviser to the commanding general of Special Forces in Afghanistan, said that he recently gave testimony in Congress about the rising number and the growing geographic scope of al-Qaida affiliates and other extremist Sunni groups across North Africa and the Middle East.
One of the reasons for their rise, he says, is that the Arab uprisings have created weaker regimes in the region. The resulting power vacuum and lack of control over territory has created an opportunity for groups like al-Qaida to establish a foothold.
The primary issue from a US perspective is to stop attacks and plots against the US homeland and its citizens. For example, Jones referred to uncovered plots against US airplanes and embassies. Worrying about attacks on allies comes second, he said.
He explained that al-Qaida has become fractured and decentralized, and that we are increasingly seeing the rise of affiliate groups such as al-Nusra in Syria.
Asked about the US's views about the Muslim Brotherhood, Jones said that these vary quite a bit, but since there is little evidence that they are plotting attacks against the US, they are a secondary worry to that of jihadist groups.
He added that some segments of the Muslim Brotherhood are unhelpful and deeply anti-American, also opposing US allies in the region.
Jones said he believed that the rise of the jihadists was also due to the growing sectarian conflict in the region, particularly in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. For example, he said that fatwas -- Islamic religious decrees -- had been issued in Egypt, calling on fighters to go to Syria to participate in the jihad.
He added that the sectarian nature of the conflict has led to a surge in resources, money, and fighters flowing to battle zones.
On a positive note, he said that there has been pushback against jihadists in Somalia and Mali, where the terrorists have lost ground.
Regarding Israel, Jones said the biggest threats tend to be from groups in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as the growing jihadist threat from Sinai. He said that Al-Nusra has training camps not far from the Israeli border, and that while the group is focused for now on the Syrian regime, they definitely view Israel as an enemy.
"A concern would be if any of these groups would be able to cooperate in the long run. If I am sitting in Israel right now, I am worried about Hamas and Hezbollah," he said, adding that the al-Qaida groups are a secondary threat to keep an eye on.
Jonathan Schanzer, vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the Post that in his estimation al-Qaida and its affiliates are on the rise, and that "the al-Qaida network was neither decimated or weakened when the administration said it was last year."
Commenting on the Brotherhood, he said that the group has lost some of its luster in recent months. "But there does not appear to be any ideology or political movement capable of countering it. So, the Brotherhood is basically grappling with itself. If it is able to regroup and rebrand, it will find a way to reassert itself in politics around the region," he said.
Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum, spoke at the conference held by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies this week at Bar-Ilan University, and presented the original thesis that the events over the past few months may mean that Islamism has peaked in the region and has begun its decline.
He cited the popular opposition to Islamist-led governments in Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Tunisia, and Sudan.
"The more you know it, the less you like it," he said in reference to Islamism. "It is not popular in the long-term."
Another important point, he said, is that Islamists cannot get along with one another. Turkey and Iran had grown closer only to have relations cool because of the Syrian war. Meanwhile, in Lebanon and in the region there is a Shi'ite-Sunni clash as well as divisions within each of these camps. In Turkey, there is a growing division between President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan; in Syria, there are Sunni Islamists fighting each other; in Egypt, there are divisions between the Salafists and the Muslim Brotherhood; and in Tunisia, there is a conflict between the Salafists and the ruling Islamist Ennhada party.
In an interview with Pipes after the conference, Pipes told the Post that if there is a concern for people getting killed, then al-Qaida should be the focus; but that he sees this battle as heavily one-sided.
"Who is going to win, the US versus al-Qaida? The answer is very clear," he said, pointing out that the success of the former Soviet Union was not based on terrorism. "Terrorism is a strategy when you have no real options."
In the short-term there is obvious danger, he said, but there is "no way they are going to win."
It is much more dangerous when Islamists decide to work through the system, and rule a state like in Turkey, where they can do real damage to US interests, he said. But on the other hand, "can Boko Haram take over Nigeria?" asked Pipes, adding that in Somalia, al-Shabaab controls a small swath of the country -- they can wreak havoc, but have no shot at gaining wider power.
He pointed out that the September 11, 2001 attacks turned out to be counterproductive, as they woke people up about the threat of radical Islam. Similarly, "Going on a rampage in a mall in Kenya does not impress me as a victory for Islamists but rather as an indication of their failure to convince people of their message," asserted Pipes.
Remarking on Egypt, Pipes said that "the size and vehemence of anti-Islamist opposition is mind-numbingly large, verging into anti-Islamic sentiment -- it is extraordinary, and for civilization this is positive."
Pipes hedged his argument, noting that things are fluid, and that recent events could reverse themselves. "I am not suggesting the Islamists are finished, but from a long ascent from the late 1920s and a sharp increase in the late 1970s and in 2002, it may be that they have peaked."
#1
It is much more dangerous when Islamists decide to work through the system, and rule a state like in Turkey, where they can do real damage to US interest
Here's a clue: Islamists don't need to rule. They merely have to ingratiate themselves into the system. You experts might want to start looking at places closer to home.
#2
See also TOPIX > [Independent.UK] JIHADISTS SEE SYRIA AS JUST THE BEGINNING OF A [Regional? Trans-Regional?]MIDDLE EAST REVOLUTION.
* SAME > SYRIA: ASSAD SURVIVAL ASSURED.
Yuuup.
Wid Al-Qaeda affiliates + aligned cleaning out the domestic Syria Rebs, IMO BOTH ASSAD + TEHRAN NOW IS THE BEST TIME FOR NEW RAPPROCHEMENT WID THE US.
Iff the USA = POTUS Obama [ + NATO-EU = UNO]wishes to avoid having to put US ground forces in Syria, THEN THE US NOW NEEDS TO PROTECT ASSAD + KEEP ISRAEL + IDAF FROM UNILATERALLY ATTACKING IRAN'S NUCPROGS.
As long as Al-Qaeda + similar hardline, pro-Jihad Foreign MilTerr Groups stay in the region, Assadian Syria + Iran are now among the US' BFFS in the Middle East.
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > [NYT] IS IRAN THE NEXT CHINA?
As in "post-US" + "Superpower" wannabe, albeit wid imperfect or problematic rise, that is???
Perhaps more accurately, OWG GLOBALIST "CO-SUPERPOWER"???
MORESO AGAIN IFF ...
* REAL CLEAR POLITICS > [Al-Monitor] THE INEVITABLE RISE OF AL-QAEDA IN LIBYA.
* WASHINGTON TIMES > LEON PANETTA: [US = USDOD]MILITARY READINESS "BADLY DAMAGED" BY SEQUESTER.
* WAFF > RUSSIA FACES A MUSLIM TAKEOVER |
[Washington Times] BERMAN: MISREADING A RUSSIA ON THE RUN, from SSSSSSSHHHHH ....CCCCCCCCCC domestic Islam.
Lest we fergit - CAUCASIANS, HAMAS, EAST EUROS + KOSOVARS, + even UIGHURS + INDONESIANS are all
fighting agz Assad in Syria.
Russia = USA = China, etal. = all have a stake in making sure Baby Assad stays in power + wid a strong military to keep or put the Hard Boyz down.
The link is in Spanish. She got hit on the head in mid August, but was only admitted to the hospital last week after complaining about headaches. They just cut her loose with admonishments about all the things to be done to recover, no air travel, relaxed schedule, etc.
Since going to the hospital, vice president Amado Boudou has been running things. Her hospital stay comes during the midterm elections campaigns close to the end of the month.
Can't help. What a shame.
This was all done without any public announcements.
#8
You're a n00b SteveS (if that's you're real name) the proper usage is:
I speak JOE > most SINO = WESTPAC types.
The heart of JOE are the key operators, <,>,= , PennState and Madonna. There is some thought the entire program was written in FRED as an exercise for the Penn State computer science class of 1981, but this is unproven.
[Al Ahram] Syrian rebels said they shot a government warplane on Sunday near the southern city of Deraa along the border with Jordan but the plane was able to make an emergency landing at a nearby military airport.
They said fighters used anti-aircraft machine guns to hit the plane in a rural area near the southern city of Deraa, where Syria's uprising against Assad erupted in 2011 after it was flying low over rebel held territory.
The fighter jet, which is the second to have been hit this month in the same border area, was spotted going down but safely landing in the Thala airport close to the city of Sweida, they added.
"Our anti-aircraft machine guns shot the plane that had been on a reconnaissance flights from the morning," said Abdullah Masalmah, a rebel fighter from the Liwa al-Tawheed al-Jonoob brigade.
There were no reports of the incident on Syrian state media.
Rebels in southern Syria do not have sophisticated anti-aircraft abilities and have complained they are not getting advanced weapons that could strengthen their hand against the superior firepower of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... 's armed forces.
Islamist bully boy brigades, some linked to al Qaeda, have become increasingly powerful among the rebels.
Gulf sources have said they are re-stocking rebels with weapons but the United States is keen to ensure that only relatively moderate rebel units receive the shipments.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Learn something new every day; here I've been twisting wrenches on airplanes for 30+ years, and never knew they had 'rural areas...'
Is that anywhere close to the vortex generators?
Posted by: USN, Ret ||
10/14/2013 20:32
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The rural area is near the stern, I think.
Posted by: Andy Glineth6002 ||
10/14/2013 22:05
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Thanks AG. I get it mixed up sometimes with that wonderful aeronautic pastry, the Dutch Roll.
Posted by: USN, Ret ||
10/14/2013 23:00
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[Shabelle] security operations were today conducted in Galka'yo town by security officials of Galmudug ...a semiautonomous region in central Somalia, bordering Puntland on the north. Galmudug is not trying to obtain international recognition as a separate nation, but rather considers itself autonomous within the larger Somali federalism, for what that's worth... region.
During the operations suspected thugs who robbed civilians during night hours were incarcerated ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not....
Officials confirmed to Shabelle radio that almost ten suspected thugs were arrested during the heavy operations.
Colonel Abdi Jama Abdulle who is the commissioner of police in the region said that those arrested will be arraigned in court and face justice.
The operations were conducted after locals from Galmudug complained of rising insecurity in some districts which fall under the administration
Posted by: Fred ||
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[An Nahar] Israel on Sunday froze the shipment of building materials into Gazoo after discovering what is described as a sophisticated "terror tunnel" into the Jewish state from the Paleostinian territory, an Israeli defense official said.
"Due to security reasons, (the army) decided to stop for now the transfer of building materials into Gazoo," Guy Inbar told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Inbar, front man for the Israeli defense ministry unit responsible for civilian affairs in the Paleostinian territories, did not say how long the ban would remain in force.
Last month, Israel permitted cement and steel deliveries into the Gazoo Strip for use by the private sector for the first time since 2007.
It had banned such transfers for fear the Islamist Death Eater movement Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, which rules Gazoo would use construction materials to fortify its positions and build tunnels for attacks on the Jewish state.
Israeli officials said on Sunday that a tunnel running 450 meters (yards) into Israel and allegedly intended as a springboard for Death Eater attacks had been uncovered by troops.
Exposing the tunnel "prevented attempts to attack Israeli civilians and soldiers", Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said in a statement.
Yaalon said it was "further proof" that Hamas "was continuing to prepare itself for confrontation with Israel and terror activities."
Israel and Hamas reached a truce, brokered by Egypt, after a deadly confrontation in November.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated the army "for exposing the Gazoo terror tunnel" at a weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday.
"It is part of our aggressive policy against terror," he said.
According to the army, the tunnel, which was discovered last Monday, was "approximately 18 meters underground and extends 1.7 kilometers."
"The tunnel was built with approximately 500 tons of cement and concrete," the army said. It had lighting and a rail for a small trolley, "probably intended to transfer hard boyz or soldiers from side to side rapidly."
Its statement made mention of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped by Paleostinian forces of Evil and transferred to Gazoo via a tunnel in 2006 and held for five years.
The army said work on the tunnel probably lasted over a year.
An AFP correspondent said the tunnel's walls were reinforced with cement and a man could stand upright in it.
Israeli NGO Gisha, which lobbies for freedom of movement for Paleostinians, urged Israel to lift the building material freeze, saying it would affect civilians and humanitarian projects in blockaded Gazoo.
"Israel has the authority and the obligation to take measures to protect the lives of its soldiers and citizens," it said.
"However, some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them... it is not clear how blocking the entrance of construction materials, including those intended for international projects, promotes that goal."
The NGO said the freeze "raises the specter of a punitive act."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
"Israel has the authority and the obligation to take measures to protect the lives of its soldiers and citizens," it said.
However, it is not clear how blocking the entrance of construction materials, including those intended for international projects, promotes that goal."
Oh, I dunno. Maybe so...THEY WON'T BUILD AFUCKINNOTHER ONE???!!!
Gawd, useful idiocy know no boundaries...
[Dawn] A grenade attack near a clinic in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... 's Quaidabad area has left one woman dead and five people injured including two children, DawnNews reported.
The grenade attack took place the Muzaffarabad area of Quaidabad near a clinic. Along with the injured children were also two women who were taken to Jinnah hospital.
According to doctors the wounds of the injured are not life threatening.
Police have said that the grenade attack on the clinic may be due to a refusal to pay extortionists.
Karachi is the financial hub of the southern province of Pakistain, and is besieged by extortion, kidnappings, and terror attacks.
It is presently undergoing a targeted operation to rid the metropolis of such elements and restore it to its former peaceful state.
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[REUTERS] U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... and Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... have reached preliminary agreement on a bilateral security pact that now depends on the approval of Afghanistan's tribal leaders.
The pact, announced jointly by Kerry and Karzai late on Saturday after two days of talks in the capital, Kabul, would keep some U.S. forces in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of most foreign troops by the end of next year.
The draft includes a U.S. demand to retain legal jurisdiction over its troops who stay on in Afghanistan, which would give them immunity from Afghan law.
Karzai opposes that and said the question could not be decided by his government. Instead, a Loya Jirga, or an assembly of elders, leaders and other influential people, will consider the demand and decide whether to accept it.
The United States is insisting it cannot agree to a deal unless it is granted the right to try in the United States its citizens who break the law in Afghanistan.
"We need to say that if the issue of jurisdiction cannot be resolved, then unfortunately there cannot be a bilateral security agreement," Kerry told a news conference.
U.S. officials said they wanted the pact finalized by the end of October and Kerry's visit was seen as a last-ditch effort to push it through before the deadline.
A senior U.S. administration official said the sides had agreed on language in the draft deal that covers the issue of immunity and "that can be put to his Loya Jirga for their consideration".
Hundreds of people, and at times even more than 1,000, attend a Loya Jirga, which makes it difficult to predict how deliberations will unfold.
However, some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them... in the past, they have voted in favor of keeping a U.S. presence in Afghanistan and Western diplomats are optimistic the assembly will pass the deal - as long Karzai remains in favor of it.
"The Loya Jirga here basically follows the advice of the president, and I think he will (agree to the pact)," said one senior diplomat.
Karzai said the assembly would be held within a month.
Karzai said the talks had focused on protecting Afghan illusory sovereignty and that major differences had been resolved, including a U.S. request to run independent counter-terrorism missions on Afghan territory.
Such operations carried out by the United States have long infuriated the Afghan president, who had been demanding that the United States agrees to share intelligence instead.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Great. so any SOFA now depends on the senior most goat humpers.....
Posted by: USN, Ret ||
10/14/2013 20:33
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[Dawn] Rangers and police forces locked away Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! a total of 15 suspects on Sunday during targeted operations in different parts of the city, DawnNews reported.
Rangers forces conducted door-to-door searches during a targeted operation in Manghopir, and arrested two members of an outlawed organization, along with eleven other suspects. They also confiscated twenty different types of weapons.
According to a Rangers spokesperson, illegal weapons were confiscated from those arrested.
Meanwhile, ...back at the abandoned silver mine, there was another kaboom... police forces also conducted a targeted operation in Machar Colony. After brief festivities, they arrested two suspects who were involved in murder and other crimes. Police also confiscated a large number of weapons from those arrested.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
Mike Ditka: I Would've Beaten Barack Obama In 2004 Senate Race
No he wouldn't have. Champ had all the newspapers in his corner, and just as Champ had found a way to get Jack Ryan out of the race, he would have found a way to dirty up Ditka.
#1
You obviously aren't a Bears fan, or live in Illinois Mr. Penguin. I can assure you Da Coach would have trounced the Organizing White Sox fan from the Southside.
Ryan is one thing. Ditka is another. I suspect the blowback would have been substantial coalescing a significant block that otherwise would have sat at home. Think of getting the base out with the Trayvon circus by the Donks.
#5
All that is required for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
But then, why would a guy like Ditka want to be a senator? Surely he has all the money he can use and gets to spend his time any way he wants. Why would he want to spend his time in DC? It is an unfortunate aspect of our democracy that many of the people who are attracted to political power are sociopaths with axes to grind and unscrupulous fat cats standing behind them. Once in a while we get lucky and guys who already have wealth and name recognition because of their accomplishments outside the political arena step up to the plate just because they believe it's the right thing to do. Guys like Schwarzenegger and Reagan come to mind. Too bad. Maybe Ditka could have been like that. I liked him when he coached the Bears but haven't paid much attention to him since then. Maybe he just got drunk and start running his mouth.
#6
just as Champ had found a way to get Jack Ryan out of the race
From the very start, Obama's political career has been characterized by his ability dig up dirt on his opponents, including his political mentor. Usually this involved what were supposedly 'sealed' or confidential documents.
Hey, kind of like the IRS and NSA scandals, eh? I guess the bear doesn't poop far from the tree, or however that saying goes.
[Al Ahram] Egypt's ultraconservative Islamist group Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya called for a political solution that is not "security related" to Egypt's ongoing deadlock following the ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... in July.
"Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya and its [political arm] Building and Development Party calls on all groups within the current crisis to reach a political solution away from oppressive security measures, which have caused further division during a time in which Egyptians long for a more developed safe and independent country to live in," said the group in a statement released Sunday.
The group called on Egyptians, on the eve of the Islamic holiday of Eid Al-Adha and the start of the pilgrimage season, to "pray that the country's sons, whether politicians, military men, media figures or ordinary citizens, would find a way to resolve their differences and uphold the values of freedom and participation away from exclusion and hate."
The National Alliance to Support Legitimacy (NASL), an Islamist coalition supporting Morsi, of which Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya is a leading member, has called for mass demonstrations under the slogan "pray for Egypt" on Monday, which marks the Islamic Arafat day, to continue to denounce Morsi's overthrow and the continuing crackdown on pro-Morsi protests.
Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya has been the primary ally of the Moslem Brüderbund - from which Morsi hails - through the 30 June mass protests leading to his ouster by the military, which the NASL considers a military 'coup' against the former elected president.
On Sunday 6 October, 57 protesters were killed during a crackdown on pro-Morsi rallies in Cairo and several other governorates, with further festivities expected over the upcoming Eid Al-Adha holidays.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2013
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There are so many migrants in Libya wanting to make the dangerous journey to Europe that the Tripoli zoo has been turned into a processing center for them. With the country's 22 refugee centers overwhelmed, the zoo closed since the 2011 uprising is being used to handle those picked up on the streets. More than 50 people are brought there daily.
Said Ben Suleiman, deputy commander at the detention center said, "The numbers arriving here are changing in an unbelievable way. We deport ten and we find hundreds coming back."
People smugglers stay one step ahead of the authorities. As police have stepped up their ability to catch smuggling gangs, so the smugglers have developed a new and dangerous way to avoid capture.
Suleiman said, "Traffickers make sure they're nowhere near the migrants when the boats arrive to pick them up. What they do, they buy a cheap boat, then they give one of the migrants the keys, so the captain is chosen from among them. It means they go to sea with no training."
He thinks this practice may have led to the Lampedusa boat disaster. However, he does not expect the disaster to deter would-be migrants. He said, "These guys don't care, all they are thinking is get to Europe."
Many arrive in Tripoli unable to afford the journey. For those facing deportation it is hard to know what to feel: pity that all that hard travel has come to nothing, or relief they won't be attempting the perilous journey north.
[VOA News] The International Committee of the Red Thingy says gunnies in northern Syria have kidnapped six Red Thingy aid workers and a member of the Syrian Arab Red Islamic Thingy.
The ICRC said the kidnapping happened near the town of Saraqeb in Idlib province late Sunday morning, as the seven aid workers were driving back to Damascus in several vehicles. It said the group had been on a medical assistance mission in Idlib.
The Syrian state news agency SANA said gunnies opened fire on the convoy before seizing the aid workers. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
The ICRC did not disclose the nationalities of the six Red Thingy workers. It called for the immediate release of all seven hostages.
Kidnappings have become increasingly common in northern Syria, where rebels fighting the Syrian government have captured large areas.
In another development, Syrian state media said two suicide boom-mobileers blew up their vehicles in central Damascus late Sunday. The state news agency SANA said the blasts happened in Umayyad Square and caused minor damage to the state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
building. It did not immediately report any casualties.
Elsewhere, Syrian Arab Red Islamic Thingy workers helped to evacuate hundreds of civilians from a rebel-held western suburb of Damascus, as residents took advantage of a lull in fighting to flee.
Forces loyal to Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... have besieged the Moadamiyeh district for months. Syrian rights activists accuse those forces of cutting off food supplies and causing people to starve to death.
The evacuation from Moadamiyeh began Saturday and continued on Sunday. Red Islamic Thingy head of operations Khaled Erksoussi told the French news agency that his group brought 1,500 people to shelters, mostly women and kiddies whom he described as fatigued and scared.
SANA said state authorities helped the Red Islamic Thingy to evacuate 2,000 civilians from the suburb. It said the residents had been "held hostage by terrorists" - the government's term for rebels trying to oust President Assad.
It was not clear if the lull in fighting in Moadamiyeh was the result of a cease-fire between government and rebel forces. Such truces have been rare in Syria's two-year civil war.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Dawn] The United States and India agreed on Sunday to step up cooperation to prevent the financing of violent bad boy movements linked to Pakistain, officials said.
In annual talks between top economic officials, India and the United States spoke of "expanding cooperation on countering illicit financing, including targeting the financial networks and fund-raising activities of terrorist organizations," Indian Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram said.
Mayaram said in a statement that efforts would target groups such as 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... and the affiliated Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... , which Sherlocks blame for the 2008 siege of Mumbai that killed 166 people.
The statement did not provide more details on how the two sides would expand cooperation. India has been seeking to pressure the group which operates virtually in the open in Pakistain.
Mayaram also mentioned action against another Pakistain-linked movement, the Haqqani network. The group, blamed for attacks on the Indian embassy and US forces in Afghanistan, was designated last year as a terrorist group by the United States.
The talks, in Washington following annual IMF-World Bank meetings, involved US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, along with their Indian counterparts Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan.
The two countries agreed to keep working on a bilateral investment treaty, which President Barack Obama I am the change that you seek... and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have supported as a way to boost trade.
US companies have increasingly criticized India on trade issues including the developing economy's support of generic drugs, which advocates say are affordable for the world's poor but which Western businesses say violate patents.
The two sides, who also discussed the fiscal crisis in the United States, called for "sound macroeconomic policies, structural reforms and strong prudential frameworks" to support economic growth and market stability, Mayaram said.
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[An Nahar] Two cars laden with explosives and driven by jacket wallahs blew up in the center of the Syrian capital Damascus on Sunday night, state media reported.
"Two terrorist boom-mobiles driven by suicide bombers detonated at the entrance of Ummayed Square," the official SANA news agency and state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
reported, without specifying if there were any casualties.
The blasts went off near the building of the national broadcaster, with a state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe? news hound on the ground saying a concrete barrier outside it had been damaged but the facility was largely intact.
Footage of the scene broadcast by the government-run Al-Ikhbariya TV showed fires burning and smoke rising over the site as firefighters worked to put them out.
The news hound made no mention of any injuries in the blast, saying only that "there were some human remains at the scene, likely those of a suicide bomber."
The kabooms occurred only a few kilometers from the hotel where a team of international experts from the Organization from the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... are staying.
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[Beirut Daily Star] Syrian refugees who survived after their boat capsized off Malta in the latest disaster in the Mediterranean say they were fired on by warring trafficking gangs as they set out on their perilous journey from Libya.
Thirty-three people perished after the boat sank on Friday, a week after another shipwreck off Italia left at least 359 dead, prompting Malta to warn that the Mediterranean was becoming "a cemetery".
The boat, carrying up to 400 migrants, mostly Syrians, left the Libyan port of Zwara on Thursday, just 60 kilometres (37 miles) from the Tunisian border.
Survivors said Libyan faceless myrmidons shot wildly at their boat, leaving several people dead and causing the vessel to take on water and sink.
Syrian national Mohammed, 34, broke down in tears as he recalled his desperate search for his missing pregnant wife and seven-year-old daughter after he and his five-year-old girl managed to reach safety.
Mohammed told AFP he had paid a total of $4,800 (3,500 euros) for the trip to seek a better life in Europe, crossing through Egypt to Libya.
"When we got on the boat, Libyan militia put their machine guns to our heads and demanded more money. I had $5,000 and they took this too," Mohammed said from a detention camp in Malta.
He said the Libyan gunnies followed them for four or five hours.
"All of a sudden, they started shooting at us and the boat. They injured two people with their bullets. All I could think of at that time was protect my two young children.
"Then they started shooting more bullets at the boat and they managed to puncture it. Lots of water started coming in. It was filling quite fast until we all ended up in the sea. I grabbed my daughter. She swallowed water but I managed to swim and we got onto a raft rescuers threw in the water," Mohammed said.
Citing testimonies from some of those who survived the crossing, the UN refugee agency spoke of several injured passengers, saying shots were fired "perhaps by faceless myrmidons who shot to kill".
Molhake al-Roarsan, 22, interviewed by Italia's La Stampa newspaper, said three people were maimed after being shot in the arms and legs.
He said he thought the attacks were related to a dispute between different groups of traffickers.
"There was a furious fight, screaming on the radio and on the phone with someone who demanded that we return to land, but the captain did not stop."
News agency Ansa said witnesses spoke of two people being killed.
"They were shooting in all directions, on board there was panic with people trying to protect each other," it quoted one survivor as saying.
Once they reached Malta, the Tunisian captain was jugged Book 'im, Mahmoud! after being recognised by survivors, according to media reports.
Ashur, a Syrian, said he and his family were fleeing the civil war in his home country. When the vessel capsized he managed to save his two-year-old daughter but lost his son and wife who was pregnant with twins.
"I lost practically all I had. What I have left to live for is my daughter who I will not let go out of my arms," Ashur told AFP.
Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat left Sunday for Libya to meet his counterpart Ali Zeidan, and discuss the surging migration levels and the latest disasters at sea.
"We are just building a cemetery within our Mediterranean Sea," he said.
The twin tragedies in the Mediterranean just days apart have prompted the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... to call for sea patrols to cope with the flood of migrants knocking on its doors.
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[An Nahar] The Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... -based Islamic National Gathering on Sunday held a meeting at the residence of Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... bloc MP Mohammed Kabbara in the city to discuss the developments "at the political, judicial, security and popular levels," after at least one resident of the mainly Alawite Jabal Mohsen neighborhood was tossed in the calaboose Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! on charges of involvement in deadly bombings that targeted two Sunni mosques in the city.
The conferees discussed "the security achievement made by the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau, which has arrested a suspect from 'the Assad barracks' in Jabal Mohsen and busted the terrorist cell that staged the terrorist bombings in Tripoli," according to a statement issued after the meeting.
They called on President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... to "summon the ambassador of the Assad regime and hand him a sharp-toned protest letter, ahead of expelling him when the judiciary convicts the culprits who are linked to the Syrian regime."
In the statement, which was recited by Kabbara, the conferees also urged caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati and "Tripoli's ministers" to refer the case to the Judicial Council and launch an immediate probe into "the setting up of artillery in Jabal Mohsen with the aim of targeting Tripoli."
They called for "eradicating this armed gang and pursuing its officials, especially after elements belonging to it played a role in the Tripoli bombings," urging the "disbanding of the Arab Democratic Party, which is distorting the image of our peaceful people in Jabal Mohsen."
The conferees stressed that they "will not stand idly by regarding any pressures that might be exerted on the judiciary," calling on the judicial authorities to "unveil all the perpetrators, conspirators, instigators and culprits and bring them to justice, in order to preserve the rights of the victims and the security and stability of Tripoli."
The also urged Tripoli's residents to "hold onto their civilized stance by rejecting and confronting sedition and leaving things to the security forces."
Al-Mustaqbal newspaper reported Sunday that several members of the Arab Democratic Party -- the main political and armed force in Jabal Mohsen -- were behind the August bombings in Tripoli that left at least 45 people dead and more than 500 injured.
Informed sources told al-Mustaqbal newspaper that seven members of the Arab Democratic Party carried out the attack that targeted al-Salam and Taqwa Mosques on August 23.
Youssef Diab was behind the bombing at al-Salam Mosque, while Ahmed Merhi was behind the attack at the other one, they said.
On Friday, armed festivities broke out in Tripoli's areas of Bab al-Tabbaneh, Jabal Mohsen and Syria Street over Diab's arrest, wounding an army soldier and a young man identified as S.M.
On Saturday, State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr ordered the arrest of several suspects over their alleged involvement in the bombings.
Saqr charged on August 30 three suspects in the twin bombings of Tripoli in addition to a Syrian army Captain and another Syrian man over the booby-trapped cars.
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[An Nahar] A key group within the Syrian opposition National Coalition said Sunday it would not attend proposed peace talks in Geneva and would quit the Coalition if it participated.
"The Syrian National Council, which is the biggest bloc in the Coalition, has taken the firm decision... not to go to Geneva, under the present circumstances (on the ground)," Council president George Sabra told AFP.
"This means that we will not stay in the Coalition if it goes" to the peace talks in Geneva, he added.
He invoked the ongoing suffering of Syrians on the ground and said his group would not negotiate before the fall of the regime.
"The residents of Moadamiyet al-Sham are dying of hunger," he said, referring to a Damascus rebel suburb under regime fire where the Syrian Red Islamic Thingy evacuated 1,500 people on Sunday.
"Ghouta (outside Damascus) is under siege and it is forbidden to even bring in bread. Are these the conditions that will allow us to achieve... a democratic transition in Syria?" Sabra added.
The international community, led by Russia and the United States, has been pushing for the Syrian regime and rebels to attend a peace conference dubbed Geneva 2 to find a political solution to the conflict.
The proposed meeting has been delayed for months, but Washington and Moscow are now talking about a potential mid-November date for the conference.
The Syrian National Council, which is one of the most important members of the Syrian opposition, has long said it will not negotiate until Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... 's regime is toppled.
But Sabra's announcement, which comes after two days of meetings of the Council's top leadership, could deal a major blow to the planned talks.
It comes a day before U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... is due in London to meet Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N.-Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... envoy for Syria, to discuss preparations for the Geneva 2 meeting.
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#1
Wow, they must be doing really well on the battlefield.
[An Nahar] Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. has arrived in 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... to perform the hajj with other Mohammedan pilgrims, official media said Sunday, after dozens died in his country during recent protests.
Bashir "arrives in Jeddah to perform hajj," the state SUNA news agency reported.
About two million Mohammedans, a majority of them foreigners, poured out of the holy city of Mecca on Sunday to begin the annual hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam that every capable Mohammedan must perform at least once.
Bashir's September 23 cut in fuel subsidies sent thousands of people, many of them Khartoum-area poor, onto the streets to protest as petrol prices rose more than 60 percent.
The demonstrations and their Arab Spring-inspired calls for the downfall of the regime were the worst urban unrest of Bashir's 24-year rule.
Amnesia Amnesty International says security forces are believed to have killed more than 200 protesters, many of whom were shot in the head or chest.
Authorities have reported 60 to 70 deaths, and say they had to intervene when crowds turned violent, attacking petrol stations and police.
Several hundreds people were initially enjugged Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! and the government said last week that about 200 were still being held to face trial.
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Posted by: Frank G ||
10/14/2013 14:40
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#3
There are certain people in this world that I would not shed a tear were they to have hyper-velocity cranial intrusion from small metal objects. This is one. Sad thing is there are many just like him who are just as likely as not to be the reason for the intrusion.
Posted by: Choluck Spawn of the Jutes2839 ||
10/14/2013 12:52
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#3
You know she is 5' 11" tall, and given my height, my head would come to rest directly in the V of Stacy Keibler's dress, that is of course if I ever met her and had a death wish... What a way to die.
[An Nahar] Several members of the Arab Democratic Party are behind the twin bombings in the northern city of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... in August, reported al-Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... daily on Sunday.
Informed sources told the daily that seven members of the party carried out the attack that targeted al-Salam and Taqwa Mosques on August 23.
Youssef Diab was behind the bombing at al-Salam Mosque, while Ahmed Merhi was behind the attack at the other one.
The sources said that Merhi drove a booby-trapped car to the mosque before detonating it.
Moreover, they revealed that Syrian intelligence plotted the attack in cooperation with tossed in the slammer Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! holy man Sheikh Ahmed al-Gharib.
They stressed however that the holy man was not involved in the execution of the attacks because it sought sides that had prior experience in carrying out such operations.
Syrian intelligence provided the booby-trapped cars and an arrested suspect Hassan Jaafar allowed their safe passage through the Lebanese city of Hermel to the town of al-Qobeiyyat in the northern region of Akkar.
The seven-member Arab Democratic Party group soon received the cars and took them to the Tripoli neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen, a stronghold of the party, on August 21.
Later on Sunday, Arab Democratic Party media official Abdul Latif Saleh told LBCI television: "The judiciary did not summon Youssef Diab and we will turn him in if he is."
"We will turn in any culprit to the state because we abide by the law," he stressed.
Sources told LBCI: "Hayan Haidar formed a five-member group in Jabal Mohsen, which included Diab and Merhi, in order to carry out the Tripoli bombings in cooperation with Syrian intelligence."
On Friday, armed festivities broke out in Tripoli's areas of Bab al-Tabbaneh, Jabal Mohsen and Syria Street over Diab's arrest, wounding an army soldier and a young man identified as S.M.
Forty-five people were killed and over 800 maimed in the twin Tripoli bombings.
On Saturday, State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr ordered the arrest of several suspects over their alleged involvement in the bombings.
Saqr charged on August 30 three suspects in the twin bombings of Tripoli in addition to a Syrian army Captain and another Syrian man over the booby-trapped cars.
Head of the pro-Syria Islamic Tawhid Movement-Command Council ...The Tawhid party is divided into two parts, one led by Sheikh Bilal Shaaban, a close ally of Hezbollah who is said to be financed by Iran, while the other is headed by Sheikh Hashem Minkara, a staunch Syria supporter... Sheikh Hashem Minkara, Sheikh al-Gharib and informer Mustafa Houri were charged with the formation of an armed gang and undermining the authority of the state.
They were also accused of forming a terrorist network and planting explosives and booby-trapped cars.
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[An Nahar] Thousands rioted Sunday in Moscow, bashing in the doors and windows of a shopping center and beating up security guards in a nationalist protest sparked by a murder blamed on a migrant.
The crowd, chanting "Russia for Russians", also beat down the doors of a nearby vegetable warehouse where many immigrants were working, an Agence La Belle France Presse photographer reported.
The rioters were mostly young and included extreme nationalists, witnesses quoted by the radio station Echo of Moscow said.
They threw bottles at special forces, who had arrived in 10 buses to quell the riot, detaining around 200, according to police.
The riot in Moscow's southern Biryulyovo district broke out over the killing Thursday of a 25-year-old local man who was stabbed to death as his fiancee watched.
The murderer expeditiously departed at a goodly pace but was caught on surveillance cameras that suggested he could have been from Central Asia or the Caucasus.
"Every measure will be taken to stop the criminal... the best Sherlocks have been assigned to the case," district police chief Alexandre Polovinko said at the scene of the protest.
Moscow police said they had opened a "hooliganism" inquiry into the rioting.
In recent years, hundreds of thousands of migrants have come to Russia from impoverished, Moslem-majority states of the former Soviet Union such as Tajikistan, often working as street cleaners or on construction sites.
They frequently endure poor labor and living conditions and are increasingly regarded with disdain by many Muscovites.
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[TOLONEWS] ATR-Consulting and TOLOnews surveyed the residents of Afghanistan's 34 provinces about nominees registered for the spring Presidential election. The survey, after the Independent Election Commission's (IEC) official registration process concluded, revealed that the majority of respondents who had a preference listed Dr. Abdullah Abdullah ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... as their top choice.
More than 1,300 Afghan citizens responded to the random phone survey of the 34 provinces over the four day period of October 8 to October 12. Seventy-five percent of the participants were from urban areas and women formed 41 percent of the respondents.
All those who participated in the survey answered one simple question: "Who do you think is the best candidate, among all the candidates for the Presidency?"
Half of those interviewed claimed that there is no "best" candidate, or they did not know who it was if there was one. This half of the sample broke down as 38 percent not knowing, and 12 percent claiming there is no top candidate.
Of those who did provide a preference, 21 percent said Dr. Abdullah Abdullah is the "best" candidate. The survey results indicate that most of Abdullah's supporters are women and youth, especially those from urban areas.
Dr. Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002, Ahmadzai was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. Ahmadzai came in second with support from 13.6 percent of preference respondents and Qayoom Karzai ...older brother of Afghan president Hamid Karzai. He makes his living as a 'businessman' and presidential advisor... came in third with 5.7 percent. I'm guessing he'll be the eventual winner.
Dr. Ghani saw most of his favor coming from men from urban areas, and a regional breakdown of the results suggests his alliance with Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum ...ethnic Uzbek warlord who distinguished himself fighting the Soviets and the Taliban. The story that he had a bad guy run over with a tank is an exaggeration. It was an armored personnel carrier... , who is ethnically Uzbek, has served him well in the north and northeastern parts of Afghanistan. Twenty percent of Dr. Ghani's supporters were from north and north eastern provinces.
These results represent a shift from the last election in 2009 in which a survey pegged Dr. Ghani at fourth place with less than one percent of his supporters coming from northern parts of Afghanistan.
Qayoom Karzai, placed third, received most of his support from village youth, and predominantly men.
Meanwhile, ...back at the alley, Slats grabbed his rosco... Abdul Rab Rasool Sayyaf ...Afghan Salafist warlord, owned by Saudi Arabia. He was the guy who invited al-Qaeda to come into Afghanistan and make themselves at home... fell the forth position with 3.4 percent of respondents naming him as the "best" candidate. Sayyaf's supporters were largely from villages and he received the lowest amount of support from women amongst the top four candidates.
Gul Agha Sherzai ...former governor of Kandahar province. the Taliban got their start protecting people against him... was in fifth position, receiving 1.1 percent of respondent's preference. His supporters were mostly men.
Zalmai Rasool was next with 0.9 percent. His supporter came largely from urban areas with a large portion being women. He is the only popular nominee who has a female Vice Presidential nominee on his ticket.
Gen Abdul Rahim Wardak landed in seventh place in the survey with 0.8 percent of respondents' support. Those who preferred him were mostly men from both cities and villages.
Of Kabul respondents alone, 24 percent selected Dr. Abdullah, 16 percent Dr. Ghani, three percent Karzai, three percent Sayyaf, one percent Rasool and one percent Wardak. But 36 percent of Kabul residents who participated in the survey did not know and 16 percent said there is no good candidate.
In the central provinces, 30 percent selected Dr. Abdullah, nine percent Dr. Ghani, five percent Sayyaf, one percent Karzai, one percent Rasool, one percent Wardak and one percent Sherzai. Thirty-nine percent said they don't know and 13 percent said there is no good candidate.
In northern Afghanistan, Dr. Abdullah received 26 percent of respondents' support, Dr. Ghani 23 percent, Karzai five percent, Sayyaf two percent, Sherzai two percent and Rasool and Wardak each one percent. Eight percent said there is no good candidate and thirty-two percent said they don't know.
In western Afghanistan, Dr. Abdullah received 27 percent, Dr. Ghani eight percent, Karzai two percent, Sayyaf seven percent and then Sherzai, Wardak and Rasool with one percent each. Fourteen percent of respondents in the West said there was no good candidate and 39 percent said they don't know.
In southern Afghanistan, Dr. Abdullah received 21 percent of supporters, Dr. Ghani five percent, Karzai 15 percent, Sayyaf one percent, Sherzai six percent, Rasool two percent and Wardak two percent. Thirty-five percent said they don't know and 13 percent said there was no good candidate.
In eastern Afghanistan, Dr. Ghani saw 29 percent, Karzai 22 percent, Dr. Abdullah seven percent, Wardak and Sayyaf with two percent each and Sherzai one percent. Twenty-eight percent said they don't know and nine percent no good candidate.
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#1
It'll all come down to GOTGuns and the make 'em Swing Upazillas I predicts.
[TOLONEWS] Local officials of southern Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province on Sunday said that two civilians were maimed in Lashkargah, the capital of the province, when an kaboom occurred near the provincial traffic department.
The incident took place around 11:00am, when a bomb placed in a cycle of violence went-off outside of the traffic office, said Omar Zwak, Spokesman of the Governor.
The victims have been taken to a nearby hospital for emergency treatment.
No one has yet grabbed credit for the blast.
It comes a day after local officials of eastern Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. police said two coppers and two non-combatants were killed by a suicide boom-mobileer who targeted the provincial police headquarters in Jalalabad city on Saturday morning.
Five other coppers and three civilians were also injured in the attack.
The incident took place about 08:00am local time, when the bomber detonated his explosives at the first gate of the police headquarters, according to Fazl Ahmad Shirzad, the Provincial Police Chief.
The two incidents comes as the local officials across the country have committed to providing heightened security during Eid Days.
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Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler regularly ordered state troopers assigned to drive him to turn on the lights and sirens on the way to routine appointments, directing them to speed, run red lights and bypass traffic jams by using the shoulder, according to written accounts by the Maryland State Police. I believe that's be a (D), and a Governor's candidate in two years. I recall a certain past New Joisey governor who did that...
When troopers refused to activate the emergency equipment, Gansler, now a Democratic candidate for governor, often flipped the switches himself, according to the police accounts. On occasion, he became so impatient that he insisted on driving, directing the trooper to the passenger's seat. Gansler once ran four red lights with sirens blaring, a trooper wrote.
Another account said he "brags" about driving the vehicle unaccompanied on weekends with the sirens on. "This extremely irresponsible behavior is non-stop and occurs on a daily basis," Lt. Charles Ardolini, commander of the state police executive protection section, wrote in a December 2011 memo that said the problem had existed for five years. And it has taken two and a half years for the WaPo to bring it to our attention.
Gansler said the portrait that emerges from the state police memos and e-mails is untrue. A spokesman for the attorney general said long-running animosity between Gansler and Ardolini was partly responsible. Partly.
"The picture being painted by these documents is not an accurate reflection of reality," said Gansler. "I deeply respect the troopers and job they do protecting me and the public. A few of the 18 troopers who have provided me protection felt my backseat driving made them uncomfortable -- for that I apologize." Backseat driving. The liberals just can't contain themselves! THREE more pages at the link!!!!
Posted by: Bobby ||
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#1
And it has taken two and a half years for the WaPo to bring it to our attention.
Must be a Democrat.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/14/2013 0:42
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Speeding incident a 'misunderstanding'
By Steve Terrell
The New Mexican June 21, 2005
Gov. Bill Richardson is at the center of another speeding controversy. According to a report Monday by KRQEâs Larry Barker, a state police driver for the governor refused to stop June 2 for an Albuquerque police officer who noticed the governorâs white Cadillac sport-utility vehicle âspeeding and driving erraticallyâ on an interstate frontage road in Albuquerque.
Barkerâs report showed footage of the chase and a recording of the Albuquerque police officer. The report didnât say how fast the governor& driver was going.
A spokesman for Richardson referred questions about the incident to the state Public Safety Department, which called the incident âa simple misundersta nding,â noting that the Albuquerque officer was in an unmarked car and not in uniform.
In a written statement, DPS circumstances, state police are trained to take evasive action and not to stop. Likewise , there was no procedure in place for the APD officers to make contact with the Governorâs vehicle.â
âThey had flashing lights and a siren , but that doesnât cut it,â Olson told The New Mexican.
Because of the incident, there now is a direct phone line state police can use to instantly communicate with Albuquerque police dispatchers , Olson said.
The report comes at a time in which state Republicans are airing radio commercials spokesman Peter Olson said, âThere was no p rocedure in place for the governorâs driver to verify it was indeed an APD unit. Under those blasting Richardsonâs âhigh rollerâ lifestyle, including his highway habits.
One ad says Richardson âisnât bothered by speed limits.â The speeding first was picked up on the political radar in 2003, when a Washington Post reporter, traveling with Richardson on the way to a political function, noted that the governor ordered his driver to go faster when they already were in excess of 100 mph.
There have been similar reports of Richardsonâs speeding since then.
#4
Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler regularly ordered state troopers assigned to drive him to turn on the lights and sirens on the way to routine appointments, directing them to speed, run red lights and bypass traffic jams by using the shoulder.
#5
I'm sure a few quiet moments with a tazer and a nightstick can correct this issue quickly. Failing that, toss his ass in jail for all the crimes he's committing. Oh, sorry, that would mean cops DOING THEIR JOB.
MOGADISHU -- In Mogadishu, unidentified gunmen killed three tailors inside their garment shop in Yaqshid district of Mogadishu on Saturday evening, witnesses said.
"Gunmen broke their way into the shop and they instantly shot the three tailors in head and chest, leaving two dead while the other one was taken to a nearby hospital where he was confirmed dead," an eye witness said.
Security officials who arrived at the scene of crime pointed accusing fingers at Al Shabaab.
And if it wasn't it's mighty convenient...
Posted by: Steve White ||
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Shot because clothes are un-Islamic? (Or by a competing tailor shop?)
[An Nahar] A Libyan air force officer was killed and another security forces member badly maimed on Sunday in two separate attacks in the eastern city of Benghazi, an official said.
"Unidentified assailants opened fire on Abdelfattah al-Ryani, an air force officer, in the al-Hadaek region of Benghazi," Colonel Abdullah al-Zaidi of the security services told Agence La Belle France Presse.
The officer "died after being struck by bullets in the head and chest", he added.
In the other attack, Abdessalam al-Dursi, a colonel in a police anti-drugs unit, was gravely maimed when a bomb planted in his car went kaboom!.
Officials at Benghazi's al-Jala hospital said Dursi suffered serious leg injuries and that his condition was "critical."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2013
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#1
Air force officers: in USA they fire them, in Libya they kill them.
MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Speaking at a security meeting that has been held in Mogadishu on Saturday night, the Somali Federal Government (SFG) Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon vowed that his government would eliminate terror attacks in Mogadishu as Al Shabaab militiamen reportedly killed three tailors in Mogadishu, Garowe Online reports.
Working well...
The meeting which mainly focused on the security developments and improvements made by the (SFG) security agencies was attended by police and intelligence officials with Prime Minister Shirdon present as the chair.
Somali Police Chief, Gen. Abdihakin Dahir told the reporters in Mogadishu that the discussions covered wide ranging issues regarding the disarmament of civilians in Mogadishu and to speed up the fight against Al Shabaab militants who posed growing threats to Mogadishu security.
"The meeting underlined the need to disarm the people and that is the only measure to prevent those who are willing to stir insecurity," said Dahir.
On his side, Prime Minister Shirdon says Mogadishu should be safe from terror attacks and called on the residents to closely cooperate with the security forces. "We are committed to reduce terror threats," said Shirdon adding that the federal government spends huge amount of money on security apparatus.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/14/2013
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Top|| File under: al-Shabaab
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.
Sarah 
In a lab experiment, researchers adjusted temperatures in tanks, tainted the killifish's food with traces of methylmercury and watched as the fish stored high concentrations of the metal in their tissue.
Future negotiations must be premised on getting rid of sequester cuts that are hobbling our economy and on matching future cuts with new revenues. Talk of changes in Social Security and Medicare need to take into account not only their long-term costs -- which require, above all, further fixes to our health-care system -- but also how these programs may be inadequate for a generation whose members will not enjoy the pensions their grandparents had.
The president and his allies seem determined to seize this moment and not squander a triumph built on a willingness to stand firm against right-wing radicalism. Obama can't slip back into the style of deficit wrangling that so weakened him in 2011. He now has an opening to refocus on his priorities: universal pre-kindergarten education, immigration reform, rebuilding our transportation and communications systems -- and, one would like to hope, an even broader agenda for speeding growth and sharing its dividends fairly.
At least 20 people have been killed in a car bombing in the Syrian town of Darkush in northwestern Idlib province, near the Turkish border. 
What started as a mad dash to strike a deal to lift the federal debt limit slowed to a crawl over the weekend as stalemated Senate leaders waited nervously to see whether financial markets would plunge Monday morning and drive the other side toward compromise.
On Sunday Reid was wielding that leverage to maximum advantage. Rather than making concessions that would undermine Obama's signature health-care initiative, as Republicans first demanded, Democrats are now on the offensive and seeking to undo what has become a cherished prize for the GOP: deep agency spending cuts known as the sequester.
Britain said on Sunday that it will give Jordan £12 million ($19 million, 14 million Euros) to help local communities in the country cope with hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees. 
[An Nahar] Israel has 
[TOLONEWS] While much of the focus of Saturday night's joint 
[Jpost] The Sunni Islamist movement's fortunes have been reversed throughout the Middle East, with the Brotherhood losing power in both Egypt and Tunisia, as well as influence in Syria, Turkey, Qatar and 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
HARGEISA, Somalia -- Somalia's separatist administration of Somaliland 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Harry Reid
Joe 
John 
[BBC.CO.UK] Some 89 pilgrims, mostly 
[USATODAY] A string of bombings Sunday across Iraq, many in Shiite-majority cities, killed at least 42 people and 
[Dawn] The federal interior minister, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, on Saturday, said some officials of the capital police had links with 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[An Nahar] Israel on Sunday froze the shipment of building materials into 
[Dawn] Rangers and police forces 
[VOA News] The International Committee of the 
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Najib Miqati
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[An Nahar] Thousands rioted Sunday in Moscow, bashing in the doors and windows of a shopping center and beating up security guards in a nationalist protest sparked by a murder blamed on a migrant.
[TOLONEWS] ATR-Consulting and TOLOnews surveyed the residents of Afghanistan's 34 provinces about nominees registered for the spring Presidential election. The survey, after the Independent Election Commission's (IEC) official registration process concluded, revealed that the majority of respondents who had a preference listed Dr. 
Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler regularly ordered state troopers assigned to drive him to turn on the lights and sirens on the way to routine appointments, directing them to speed, run red lights and bypass traffic jams by using the shoulder, according to written accounts by the Maryland State Police.
[An Nahar] A Libyan air force officer was killed and another security forces member badly 
