#2
The man ("I won")had the Donk controlled Congress (Reid and Pelosi) pass it before anyone could read it and without any bipartisan negotiations or vote and now wants to desperately blame someone else for the failure of his 'landmark' achievement. Next 'counter revolutionary saboteurs' are to blame.
#5
I read the whole thing, and it could have easily been titled, "Health Care Law Still Has a Long, Long Way to Go".
Even if, as continues to be promised, the website handles 80% of the ... applicants on December 1st, there is another milestone in January pertaining to actually sending our hard-earned money to the insurance companies on behalf of those subsidized.
Unfortunately, most readers won't get past 'The Pubs Did It', because that's what they believe going in.
But DO read the whole thing - it is very telling.
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/20/2013 13:13
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#10
This is what Cruz's song and dance was about. Making it clear to the world who owned this and who oppossed it. Obama can't change that (well for the cool-aid drinkers looking for talking points he can but for rational folks).
#11
Theres probably no bigger gap between the private sector and the public sector than IT, Obama said. What we probably needed to do on the front end was to blow up how we procure for IT, especially on a system this complicated. We did not do that successfully.
Excuse me, but it was no bid contract. Is he saying that he had no choice and so it had to be a no bid contract? And that he had no choice in vendors? That it just had to be an old crony of Moochelle's? Really? And WaPo let's him get away with that? WaPo doesn't challenge that remark at all?
[NEWSOBSERVER] Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina said Tuesday that it will raise rates as much as 24 percent on 2013 individual health insurance plans that are being extended next year.
The increase is double the price inflation for the same health plans just a year ago, but many Blue Cross customers who have grumbled about rising costs in past years are cheering the news this time.
The health plans in question were slated for elimination under the Affordable Care Act, the nation's health care law, but Blue Cross said last week it would offer the plans next year. President Barack Obama urged insurers to extend the individual plans for one year amid a public outcry over forced cancellations and steep price increases for replacement plans.
The N.C. Department of Insurance will review the proposed rates and, if it determines they are too high, it could order Blue Cross to issue refunds to customers. The agency has not set a deadline to review the proposed rates, which go into effect Jan. 1.
"The key thing is -- this is one more year," said Blue Cross spokeswoman Michelle Douglas. "It's not saying you can keep this plan forever."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2013
11:15 ||
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[THEHILL] Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is inviting House and Senate Democrats in targeted reelection bids to make the case for ObamaCare.
"We are going to invite them and give them an opportunity to come to the RNC and set up the presser and tell the media and all the people in their district why it is that they believe ObamaCare is great for this country and great for their constituents," Priebus said on Fox News' "On the Record" Tuesday night.
Priebus said the RNC will send out blurbs and invitations to the event on Wednesday.
The RNC will also purchase domain names for senators who show up. For example, Priebus said, if Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) attends, the Arkansas Democrat will get "Pryor loves obamacare.com."
About 20 Democratic politicians will be invited, Priebus said, including Sens. Mark Udall (Colo.), Dick Durbin ...Senator-for-Life from Illinois and Democratic Party Whip. In April 2006, Time magazine identified Durbin as one of America's 10 Best Senators, so what's that tell you? He was the first United States Senator to support the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama, then the junior senator from Illinois.... (Ill.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) and Kay Hagan ...Niece of former senator and Florida governor Lawton Chiles, married to a transaction lawyer, who has a net worth between $10.7 million and $40 million. He is a former Democrat ward heeler, which explains a lot. She defeated the listless Elizabeth Dole in 2008... (N.C.).
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2013
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#1
Good let them talk about O-care and its impact on the economy.
[NATIONALREVIEW] Representative Jan Schakowsky (D., Ill.) has announced she will fast for a day as part of a push for amnesty. She will join an effort by activists on the National Mall who began fasting over a week ago. I've been fasting since breakfast.
"I'm so inspired by the fasters and . . . how they're willing to put their bodies on the lines, their health on the line to raise attention to an issue that is really tearing at the fabric of our country," she said in an interview with Politico.
Schakowsky, who has planned her fast for Thursday, encouraged her colleagues to join her in the day-long activity. "Some 500 feet from our offices, these fasters are putting their health on the line to emphasize that general amnesty cannot wait, and that the House must act," she wrote in a letter to fellow congressmen.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2013
11:12 ||
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#1
I had to fast all yesterday....the doctor stuck a camera up my butt today.
If she wants to fast can we stick something up her butt?
I got to wonder if a 'day' is a workday (8-hours), sunrise to sunset (abt. 12 hours until Allah can't see them eat), or an inspiring (at least to the other donks) 24 hours...
And is this a Cindy Sheehag fast where they can scarf down all the smoothies they can stomach?
#3
Fasting to protest something only works if you are willing to starve to death and someone cares if you do. For most Democrat politicians neither appertains.
[CNSNEWS] President B.O. will not make a written apology to the Afghan people for "mistakes" made during the war in their country, National Security Adviser Susan Rice said Tuesday. Then her lips fell off.
Reports to that effect reflected "a complete misunderstanding of what the situation is," she told CNN's "The Situation Room" Tuesday afternoon.
"No such letter has been drafted or delivered," Rice said. "There is not a need for the United States to apologize to Afghanistan -- quite the contrary. We have sacrificed and supported them in their democratic progress and in tackling the insurgency and al-Qaeda."
On the same day, the News Agency that Dare Not be Named reported that 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... , in a phone call, acknowledged "mistakes" and asked 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... to allow American troops on counter-terrorism missions to enter Afghan homes in "exceptional circumstances."
The two countries are trying to finalize the wording of a draft security agreement that will allow U.S. troops to remain in the country after 2014.
According to the AP, a Dari-language statement from Karzai's office said that Kerry told Karzai the U.S. government understands the concerns of the Afghan government and people stemming from "mistakes committed by American forces in the past in Afghanistan."
Karzai's front man, Aimal Faizi, told news hounds earlier in the day that Karzai and Kerry, during their phone conversation, ironed out final sticking points in the draft bilateral security agreement (BSA) between the two nations. The BSA is to be considered by a gathering of Afghan tribal leaders, known as a loya jirga, beginning on Thursday.
According to Afghan and foreign press reports, Faizi said Kerry told Karzai that Obama would write a letter to the Afghan people acknowledging "mistakes."
"The whole idea of having a letter was to acknowledge the suffering of the Afghan people and the mistakes of the past," Rooters quoted Faizi as saying. "That was the only thing that satisfied the president."
Afghanistan's independent Pajhwok news agency reported that according to Faizi, Kerry said Obama "was willing to hold out a written guarantee to the Afghan government that U.S. soldiers would not repeat past mistakes."
"Obama's letter, agreed by both sides, would be attached to the BSA text and placed before jirga participants for a decision, Faizi said, adding Kerry had acknowledged American forces' repeated mistakes in past offensives," Pajhwok added.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2013
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Nearly 50 years after an assassin killed President John F. Kennedy, his daughter was triumphantly received as Americas ambassador to Japan in the country that made her dad a hero. Japan was receiving ambassador's in Hollywood? That's odd...
Caroline Kennedy arrived at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo Tuesday in an ornate, horse-drawn carriage befitting the Princess of Camelots role as American royalty One might say more like Marie Antonette - but that role is already taken...
to present her credentials to Emperor Akihito.
Meanwhile, back at home, images of her standing stoically at her fathers funeral were being replayed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his death this week.
Kennedy, 55, is the first female US envoy to Japan, Americas fourth-largest trading partner.
Caroline Kennedy was appointed ambassador after helping President Obamas re-election campaign. Not for her Diplomatic skills or experience... but as a political payoff. And I don't think the Japanese missed that little factoid.
Honored to present my credentials to His Majesty the Emperor of Japan. What a memorable day! Kennedy tweeted later, sharing a photo of her alighting from the carriage at the palaces Pine Hall. It's all about ME!
In a meeting with reporters, Kennedy described the ceremony as wonderful.
I am honored to serve my country, she said.
The appointment was a soft landing after her failed attempt to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Senate after Clinton became Obamas secretary of state.
Despite critics who said Kennedy doesnt have the gravitas to follow in the footsteps of other former US ambassadors to Japan, including Walter Mondale and Tom Foley, she has said she is well aware of the responsibilities.
This appointment has a special significance as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of my fathers presidency, she told a Senate committee in September before being confirmed for the post. It's all about ME! (oh.. and my daddy)
I am conscious of my responsibility to uphold the ideals he represented a deep commitment to public service, a more just America and a more peaceful world. Kind of like the wolf performs a public service in culling the herd of sheep of its weak, ill, and tasty...
Kennedy handed the emperor a letter from Obama with her credentials, along with a letter of resignation from her predecessor, John Roos, according to the Imperial Household Agency. What? No IPOD! This is an outrage!
The emperor usually receives about 40 new ambassadors each year.
Thousands of Japanese lined the streets of Tokyo to catch a glimpse of the new ambassador as she waved from the century-old carriage. It's all about ME!
Japan is also home to the Navys 7th Fleet and 50,000 American troops.
#1
Caroline Kennedy arrived at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo Tuesday in an ornate, horse-drawn carriage -- befitting the Princess of Camelot's role as American royalty
#8
Pray hard + keep your fingers crossed that "Sweet Caroline" can find a mutually acceptable + PERMANENT SOLUTION to preventing Sino-Japanese war in the East China Sea aka NE Asia, as opposed to a PCorrect-Deniable temporary solution = "band aid" that merely delays Sino-Japanese or East Asia war, NOT prevents one.
There is no sign that "post-US", "Mahanist" China is giving up its desire for "sole" overseas PLA Milbases + strategic access into WESTPAC + far Pacific vee the First Islands Chain: nor is Japan giving up its sovereignty oer disputed islands + Okinawa - ditto as per the PHIL, etal. in South China Sea. AS WID ANY GREAT POWER OR WANNABE IN HISTOIRE', CHINA AS THE WORLD'S SELF-PERCEIVED ONE-N-ONLY SUCCESSOR TO THE SUPERPOWER US ["Manifest Destiny"] IS UNLIKELY TO WAIT FOR ITS REAL OR ANTICIPATED RIVALS OR ANTAGONISTS TO GET TOO MILPOL STRONG IN RELATION TO ITSELF.
* IDRW.ORG > CHINA CLAIMS NEW H-18 [supersonic]STEALTH BOMBER IS ABLE TO REACH GUAM WID NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
Possibly also Hawaii wid LR TLCMS/ALCMS.
* WANT CHINA TIMES > [China-vs-USA] AREA IN DENIAL: WHO HAS THE CLOUT TO CLOSE OFF THE WESTERN PACIFIC.
* TOPIX > [English Dong-a Ilbo] CHINA'S GIANT PEARL NECKLACE.
SOKOR fears that widin 10 years, China's string of regional PLA Milbases will ultimately surround + prove effective in isolating South Korea = Korean Peninsula from the World, rendering the same all but completely irrelevant as per World affairs.
IIUC, IOW NORTH KOREA LOSES TO CHINA NOW, WHILE SOUTH KOREA LOSES TO CHINA CIRCA 2024.
ANOTHER REASON WHY THE TWO KOREAS [+ Japan?] NEED NUKES.
* CHINA DAILY FORUM > PHOENIX MILITARY DEFENSE COMMENTARY: EXPERTS CLAIM THAT IFF REPORTS OF PLA'S NEW H-18 LR SUPERSONIC STEALTH BOMBER ARE TRUE, THE BARRIERS OF THE "FIRST ISLAND CHAIN" ARE NOW RENDERED MEANINGLESS AS CHINA CAN NOW CHALLENGE US CONTROL OF THE WESTERN PACIFIC AS FAR AWAY AS GUAM, MARIANAS AND "SECOND ISLAND CHAIN".
Okinawa, Guam-CNMI, + Hawaii? no longer safe for intervening US Navy CVNS, USMC Gator AmphibFors, + USAF assets.
Artic also read, GUAM + CNMI NEED US MISSLE DEFENSE SYS.
#9
Good Lord even the Brits had he common sense to send the Adbicated ex-King Edward VIII to the Bahamas to get him out of the way. We send Caroline to a very major trade partner and Ally. She should have been sent to Mongolia.
#10
...Just wondering: Princess Caroline's arrival in Japan couldn't have been delayed a few days until after the gnashing of teeth and rending of clothes ceremonies commemorating her father's passing?
Or was her entrance just too good an opportunity to pass up? After all, she didn't get her due a while back when she was the front runner for a Senate appointment until she opened her mouth. She probably figures the adulation and power is rightfully hers - a Kennedy, you know - and, well, Dad ain't getting any livelier. He'll keep. She has things to do. 2020, anyone?
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/20/2013 21:15
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[National Journal] Kimathi, using the online nom de guerre Oprah "the Irritated Genie," called for "ethnic cleansing" of "black-skinned Uncle Tom race traitors" on his website, which envisioned a massive race war on the horizon. "In order for Black people to survive the 21st century, we are going to have to kill a lot of whitesmore than our Christian hearts can possibly count," Simply can't terminate a government employee who can successfully build a website. What are they thinking ?
[Breitbart] On November 13, an armed customer in a Mobile, AL Family Dollar store foiled a robbery by shooting "the suspect multiple times." Skeeter be careful, he's still moving. Here, have some more....bloweee, blowee, blowee.
According to WPMI, "two employees...[at the store] were unloading a truck, when a pair of armed robbers approached them. One of the criminals forced one of the employees to the front of the store, past terrified customers, and demanded that the employee open the safe." Obviously not all of the customers were "terrified".
At that point, a customer drew his own gun, shooting the robber "and causing his accomplice to flee." According to Local15TV, the customer shot "the suspect multiple times." A customer who was inside the store when the robbery was foiled thanked the armed citizen for intervening: "I want to say thank you, thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart and God bless you." Key to the City of Mobile and ammo reimbursement pending.
#4
Looks like the accomplice was apprehended. The shooter needs some range time and an upgrade to a larger caliber.
Mobile Police have arrested the man wanted in connection with a robbery and shooting at a Family Dollar earlier this week.
Nineteen-year-old Tavoris Moss is charged with two counts of first degree robbery. Authorities say Moss and another man robbed the Family Dollar located on Stanton Road.
That other suspect, police say, was shot multiple times by a customer inside the store. He was taken to USA Medical Center and will be charged upon release.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
11/20/2013 18:30
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#5
Since the accomplice was participating in a felony at the time of the shooting, does that mean the accomplice can be charged with the shooting also? Inquiring minds want to know!
#6
Apparently family members are complaining that he was shot, saying that the customer could have just left the store. Sounds like they need some jail time too.
Brandeis University has suspended its partnership with the Palestinian Al-Quds University.
Brandeis University President Frederick Lawrence made the announcement Monday, saying the university will re-evaluate the relationship in the future. The universities have been sister institutions since 1998.
The decision was made in light of recent events at the university, which has campuses in Jerusalem, Abu-Dis and Al-Bireh, including a November 5 Nazi-style demonstration at the main campus.
During the demonstration, protesters marched in black military gear with fake automatic weapons while waving flags and offering the traditional Nazi salute. Banners with images of Palestinian suicide bombers decorated the campus main square, according to a statement from Brandeis. Several students also portrayed dead Israeli soldiers. Leftards are, incurably, symbol oriented---as long as Paleos marched under red of socialism & green of Islam while demanding death to Juice, it was perfectly OK.
#1
Yes the Nazis performed the ultimate crime for leftards: not the Holocaust, not the raping of ten million Russian women and the muder of at least as many Russian civilians, the Nazi ultimate crime was attacking SDoviet Union. Not Brznev's Soviet Union that they wouldn't have cared as much but Stalin's Soviet Union, the one where millions were sent to camps in irder ti fill Gulag's neds for man power. That is unforgivable for a leftard.
[Libya Herald] The Misratan militias' pullout from 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... has prompted a 200-strong Ghariyan militia to follow suit.
The Ghariyan Revolutionary Council has confirmed to the Libya Herald that its 200 members ,serving in the Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room (LROR), were pulled out of the capital yesterday evening.
However Ghariyan local council Adel Naji front man explained that the unit remained a part of the LROR, but was simply no longer serving in Tripoli.
"The decision to bring back our 200 LROR members was made by the Ghariyan Revolutionary Council in order to work in a parallel with the government and Congress", he said, adding that it was designed to help rebuild Libyan unity, as well as to avoid critical comment from "agitators".
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2013
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[TELEGRAPH.CO.UK] Toronto's disgraced mayor, who has admitted to smoking crack and binge drinking, has said he is "not perfect" and takes full responsibility for the embarrassment he has caused.
But, in interviews aired on Tuesday, Rob Ford, who on Monday was stripped of most of his powers, disputed he has an alcohol problem.
"I've embarrassed not just myself, my family, my friends, my supporters, the whole city," Mr Ford told NBC's Today show. "I take full responsibility for that. We've all made mistakes ... I'm not perfect."
However, there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... when asked if he was in an alcohol treatment programme, the mayor said: "No, I have a weight issue. Have been training every day."
In remarks to ABC's "Good Morning America" show, also aired on Tuesday, he pledged to reform his behaviour but noted that "talk is cheap."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2013
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[An Nahar] Venezuela's National Assembly on Tuesday gave President Nicolas Maduro wide-ranging special powers to rule by decree for one year. The socialist president of the OPEC member state says he needs the greater personal power as his government struggles with soaring inflation and shortages of basic goods.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2013
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#1
Cause:
The socialist president
Effect:
soaring inflation and shortages of basic goods.
#6
Thank G*d we do not have large Democrat majorities in both houses of Congress. Otherwise Obama would be getting the same powers.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/20/2013 10:23
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#7
The socialist president of the OPEC member state says he needs the greater personal power as his government struggles with soaring inflation and shortages of basic goods.
Hopefully he'll not seek a Canadian web-based solution.
#9
At least our socialist hasn't ruined our economy. Yet.
Interesting, from the 'blame the Pubs article posted here, You know, people call me a socialist sometimes, Obama said. But no, youve got to meet real socialists. Youll have a sense of what a socialist is.
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/20/2013 13:25
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[An Nahar] Israel carried out four air strikes on the Gazoo Strip late Tuesday in retaliation for rocket fire against southern Israel, an army front man said.
There were no immediate reports of casualties, Paleostinian medics and witnesses said.
"Earlier in the day soldiers near the security fence (between Israel and Gazoo) saw a rocket fired," an army front man said.
"The fire was aimed at the soldiers who escaped injury in the attack.
"In retaliation, the air force targeted a weapons workshop and two terrorist tunnels in the southern Gazoo Strip as well as a location used for terrorist activities in the north."
The front man said all four targets were hit.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2013
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[An Nahar] A jacket wallah rammed his car bomb into a vehicle carrying Talibs in Pakistain's troubled northwest Tuesday, killing at least seven snuffies including a local commander, officials said.
The attack took place in the Mir Ali area, some 35 kilometers east of Miranshah ... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas... , the main town of North Wazoo tribal district, a hub of Taliban and al-Qaeda linked myrmidons.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility and the motive of the attack was not clear but myrmidon groups in the past have carried out suicide kabooms against each other in the tribal belt.
Qari Saifuddin, a local Pak Taliban capo, was travelling in a pick-up truck along with his associates when a suicide bomber smashed his explosive filled car into their vehicle.
"Taliban capo Qari Saifuddin and his six associates were killed on the spot," a local security official told Agence La Belle France Presse.
North Waziristan is one of seven semi-autonomous tribal regions along the Afghan border, which Washington considers to be a major hub of Taliban and al-Qaeda gunnies plotting attacks on the West and in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2013
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#1
Now, that's interesting---unless, of course, it's another case of mistaken identity.
#4
the suicide bomber may be the taliban version of a disgruntled postal worker; frequently taliban training resembles army basic training except with multiple incompetent sargents, incoherent orders and random punishment
Posted by: lord garth ||
11/20/2013 18:07
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[Al Ahram] An Arab ministerial committee charged with monitoring the Middle East grinding of the peace processor blamed Israel for the impasse in negotiations with the Paleostinians after a Tuesday meeting in Kuwait.
"Israel is responsible for the deep crisis in negotiations because of its intensifying of settlements (construction), repeated attacks against the sacred Al-Aqsa mosque (in Jerusalem), seizing of Paleostinian lands, and strengthening the blockade against Gazoo," it said in a statement.
The committee, which is chaired by Qatar and includes 13 Arab countries, met in Kuwait on the sidelines of the Arab-African summit in the presence of Paleostinian leader the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
The latest peace talks, launched at Washington's urging in July, have shown little sign of progress, with the Paleostinians objecting to repeated Israeli announcements of new settlement construction on occupied territory.
A major spike in settlement announcements last week prompted the resignation of the entire Paleostinian negotiating team.
But on Sunday Abbas told AFP that peace talks with Israel would continue for the full nine months agreed with Washington -- "regardless of what happens on the ground."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2013
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[An Nahar] The military chief of Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... 's defeated M23 rebels, Sultani Makenga, has been placed under military protection in the Ugandan capital, a Ugandan intelligence officer told Agence La Belle France Presse Tuesday.
"He is in a safe house in Kampala but for security reasons we cannot reveal the location," the officer said on condition of anonymity. He added that the Ugandan army "is providing necessary security".
Makenga is wanted by the authorities in neighboring DR Congo, and is accused of participating in several massacres, mutilations, abductions and sexual violence, sometimes against children. He is on both United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... and United States sanctions lists.
He led the mainly ethnic-Tutsi M23 force, which mutinied from the Congolese army 18 months ago. He fled to Uganda earlier in November with virtually his entire rebel force after a bruising defeat at the hands of the Congolese army, backed by U.N. forces.
Uganda's defense front man, Lieutenant-Colonel Paddy Ankunda, said the fighters who fled with Makenga had been moved to a new site at Kasese, in western Uganda and close to the DRC border.
"We have under our protection 1,320 fighters of the M23," Ankunda told AFP, adding that rebel commanders were also in the camp, not only foot soldiers. "These were fighters, they had guns but we disarmed them."
Ugandan officers had initially said 1,500 or 1,700 men from the M23 had fled to Uganda, but many analysts considered that figure to be inflated.
The U.N. has accused both Uganda and neighboring Rwanda of backing the M23. Both countries have denied the charges.
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11/20/2013
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[Pak Daily Times] Three rubbed out bodies of men were found from separate parts of the city on Tuesday. Body of a young man was found from Ahmed Shah Bukhari road within the jurisdiction of Baghdadi cop shoppe. As per the officials, the victim had been kidnapped before being shot. Police shifted the body to the hospital and later moved to morgue for identification. The motive behind his liquidation could only be ascertained after identification.
In a similar case, another body of a young man was found near Afghan Camp within the vicinity of Gulshan-e-Maymar cop shoppe. Police said that deceased, identified as Mohammad Fahim, son of Saeed Ahmed, lived in the same area and had been kidnapped by unknown cu;prits, who later shot him multiple times before dumping his body. The body was handed over to his family after an autopsy. The motive behind the incident has not been ascertained yet, however, further investigations are underway.
Separately, the body of a man was found from Korangi cost guard's intercept within the limits of Zaman Town cop shoppe. The victim, identified as Ahsan Raza, son of Khalid Sheikh, resident of Korangi locality, had left his house on Monday for some work. His body was taken to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for his appointment with Doctor Quincy and later handed over to his heirs. The motive behind the incident is still under investigation.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2013
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[Tolo News] The Islamic Association of Students gathered in Kabul on Tuesday to rally against the signing of the Kabul-Washington Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), saying the pact was against Afghanistan's national interests.
The BSA will be discussed at a Loya Jirga in Kabul starting Thursday, but has been the subject of heated public debate for weeks. Some say the agreement is critical to Afghanistan's stability and future progress, while others claim it will ensure continued conflict with the Taliban and submissiveness to the U.S.
"If the BSA was in our religious and national interests, we would endorse it, but the BSA isn't in national interests and we won't vote in favor of the agreement," said MP Abdul Sattar Khawasi, who participated in the gathering on Tuesday and will also hold a seat at the Loya Jirga this week.
The security pact is intended to secure a continued military partnership between the U.S. and Afghanistan after the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... combat mission ends in 2014, including a residual foreign troop presence and some 4.1 billion USD of financial aid to the Afghan forces.
A conversation with a member of the Quetta Council -- the leadership of the Afghan Taliban based in Pakistain -- was overheard. Spanta said that in the conversation, the Afghan in Kabul, who he refused to name, had coordinated plans to organize an anti-BSA rally in Afghanistan in order to support the Taliban's efforts to ensure the security pact goes unsigned
The most controversial elements of the accord surround criminal jurisdiction over U.S. troops and the right of American forces to conduct unilateral operations.
"We don't want to give immunity to the U.S. forces, we have witnessed their treatment over the last twelve years," said Abdullah Azim, the of head of the Islamic Association of Students.
Many have mistakenly thought the term "troop immunity" means that U.S. forces would be have impunity to act as they want in Afghanistan post-2014, while in fact it means they would have immunity from prosecution in Afghan courts, but would remain under the criminal jurisdiction of the U.S.
Still, many Afghans are not confident the U.S. would pursue charges against its soldiers found to have committed crimes in Afghanistan.
Although negotiations between American and Afghan officials over the provisions of the BSA are for the most part complete, The New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... reported on Monday that an impasse had been reached on the issue of U.S. unilateral operations.
With only two days remaining before the Jirga convenes, Karzai said he would not budge on the issue, refusing to concede to U.S. officials' demand to have the right to search Afghan houses suspected in relation to hard boy or terrorist activities.
Participants in the anti-BSA meeting on Tuesday government opposition groups, including the Gulbuddin Hekmatyar ... who used to be known in intelligence circles as The Most Evil Man in the World but who now seems merely run-of-the-mill evil... led Hezb-e-Islami Party, to negotiate with the Afghan government to prevent the security pact from being finalized.
Hezb-e-Islami, as well as the Taliban, have openly condemned the BSA and the Jirga for even considering the possibility of approving the accord. The Taliban claimed credit for a suicide kaboom on the Jirga grounds at the Polytechnic University in Kabul on Saturday that left 42 casualties, including women and kiddies.
Civil society activists criticized the Islamic Association of Students gathering and suggested it was part of plans hatched in "neighboring countries" to undermine Afghanistan's relations with the U.S.
Both Pakistain and Iran have voiced apprehensions about the agreement and the possibility of foreign troops continuing to have a presence in Afghanistan post-2014. Reportedly, if the agreement is signed, the U.S. would maintain anywhere between 10,000-15,000 troops in Afghan territory, likely to be accompanied by additional forces from other NATO countries.
"Some movements have been started by neighboring countries and they have sought to prevent the signing of the agreement," commented civil society activist Mir Ahmad Joyenda.
On Saturday, National Secuirty Advisor Dr. Rangin Dadfur Spanta told the Lower House that the phone of a leader in Kabul had been tapped and a conversation with a member of the Quetta Council -- the leadership of the Afghan Taliban based in Pakistain -- was overheard. Spanta said that in the conversation, the Afghan in Kabul, who he refused to name, had coordinated plans to organize an anti-BSA rally in Afghanistan in order to support the Taliban's efforts to ensure the security pact goes unsigned.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Here thought they were protesting the Boy Scouts of America.
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/20/2013 9:49
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So did I. I expected it to be happening at Berkley or Columbia University.
And isn't this the agreement where Obama would admin 'wrongdoing'?
[Libya Herald] The Tourist Police are to take control of the eastern part of the Regatta beach resort in the west 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... suburb of Siyahia.
The move follows two days of talks between Tripoli and Jadu local councils which agreed that it should be handed over to the Ministry of Tourism. The resort, developed by Hannibal Qadaffy, had been the Tripoli base for the Jadu Brigade after the revolution although most of the members have since long departed. However, some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them... anxious not to be tarred with the same brush as the Misratans after last weekend's carnage in Ghargour, the brigade decided that the site should be handed over to appropriate authorities in the capital.
Tripoli Local Council has expressed its appreciation of the Jadu council's decision to comply with its demands that the capital be free of all militias other than the police and army.
The western part of the Regatta club is being held by forces from Zintan.
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[An Nahar] Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi could stay in power after his term ends in February 2014 due to delays in implementing a transition agreement, the U.N. envoy to Yemen said Tuesday.
Hadi was elected for a two-year interim period in February 2012, after his predecessor President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... signed a power transfer deal bowing to a year-long uprising against his 33-year rule.
"There is a campaign by certain parties aiming at causing trouble ... These argue that the president's legitimacy expires with the end of the transitional period in February 2014," U.N. special envoy Jamal Benomar told Agence La Belle France Presse, in reference to Saleh's supporters.
"But the power transfer agreement signed in November 2011 states that the transition period ends when all its milestones are completed," he added.
Last month, Hadi said national dialogue talks aimed at drawing up a new constitution and preparing for elections would be resolved within days.
The talks had been due to end on September 18, but they have been delayed by disagreements about the number of regions that will make up the future state.
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[Libya Herald] The Iraqi embassy in 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... is understood to have been closed and all staff and dependents moved to Tunis. Guards at the building in Gurji Road, next to the Tripoli International School, told the Libya Herald that the embassy and consulate would be shut for five days.
The evacuation is understood to be related to the execution of Adel Zuwai, a Libya convicted of the killing of Iraqi citizens. News of the hanging, which took place in Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... on 7 November, only broke today. Zuwai's family is particularly upset because they have been given no opportunity to reclaim his body.
The building showed no sign of activity today, though a huge new Iraqi flag continues the fly above the entrance.
Attempts to contact embassy staff by phone were unsuccessful, nor could a Libyan foreign ministry front man be reached this afternoon for confirmation.
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[Libya Herald] Prime Minister Ali Zeidan appears to have cut short a high-level meeting in Misrata this evening, after angry revolutionary fighters arrived yelling for him to go.
He had flown into the city accompanied by seven of his senior ministers; for economy, justice, telecommunications, labour, culture and electricity. The last, Ali Muhairiq is head of the commission that has been given the job of enforcing Law 27, which obliges all armed militias to quit Libyan cities.
The government party had come to meet local elders and members of the Shura, as well as Misrata councillors in an apparent effort to ensure that the three-day withdrawal of the city's brigades from 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... continues successfully.
The meeting had lasted for some 20 minutes with journalists present, before all observers were asked to leave and it went into private session. However, today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... very shortly afterwards, angry fighters arrived outside demanding that city leaders cut no deals with the government and that Zeidan and his party leave. After about ten minutes of what one journalist described as "chaos", the prime minister and his team withdrew.
Some Misratans said that Zeidan's arrival by plane had been unexpected, yet the Libya Herald learnt this afternoon that the trip was likely to take place.
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New classified testimony on Benghazi by five CIA employees shows the administration's initial narrative about a protest gone awry was "indefensible," according to a lawmaker who took part in two classified sessions before the House Intelligence Committee.
Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., told Fox News that witnesses described how five mortars rained down on the CIA annex over 90 seconds during the attack -- with three direct hits. King argued that the details raise more questions about why the administration initially claimed the attack sprung from a protest over an anti-Islam film a narrative officials later abandoned.
"It's indefensible what was said back on September 11, 12, and 13 in 2012, and what the facts really were," King said. Two other members of the intelligence committee involved in the briefings echoed Kings assessment.
The first two mortars missed, followed by three direct hits on the roof, killing two former Navy SEALs and severely injuring a diplomatic security agent and CIA contractor.
This testimony is seen by lawmakers as more overwhelming evidence that the attack was premeditated terrorism and that these facts were known almost immediately by then-CIA Director David Petraeus who downplayed the skill and planning needed to use mortars with such accuracy during his Sept. 14, 2012 briefing to Congress.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
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Huh - first two missed (one long and one short?) then 3 R FFE. Just like a trained observer. You don't get lucky with indirect fire. This was no boating accident.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
11/20/2013 6:27
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Sounds, (Overwhelmingly) Like directed fire, there had to be an observer.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/20/2013 7:38
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Yep, drop 50 fire for effect...my favorite instruction to the fire control gunnies.
Oh yeah, there were observers and there were people on the ground well coordinated. The gig in Benghazi was planned months in advance and rehearsed for precision. The bad guys knew they had to do it right to do what they wanted to do, i.e., kill an ambassador and embarrass Obama.
They forgot a toxic narcissist such as the ONE is impossible to embarrass.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
11/20/2013 10:50
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In the Dear Colleague letter, Cruz calls on his fellow lawmakers to join the 24 senators who already support an independent commission on Benghazi Senate Resolution 225.
There may be more who are interested as the 2014 elections near. Maybe even more after the elections. Harry Reid will otherwise block such efforts and they will die in the Senate. Such an effort might get more traction in the House.
#6
They forgot a toxic narcissist such as the ONE is impossible to embarrass.
I think they succeeded in disrupting efforts of crappy movie makers what the CIA was up to, with bonus points for capturing the ambassador. I'm not sure what the overall effect could have been, but I'd guess captain fundraiser would have gone ahead and went to Vaygus. Might have been a little warm hitting up for money while video of the ambassador being tortured was being released with the demand to quit whatever the CIA was doing which has been so covered up.
[An Nahar] 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... contacted on Tuesday Iran's diminutive President Hassan Rouhani and Ambassador Ghazanfar Rokn Abadi to condemn the blasts that targeted the Bir Hassan neighborhood in Beirut on Tuesday.
He said: "The hard boyz must be uncovered, tossed in the calaboose Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! , and brought to justice."
"These criminal messages will not alter our principles and convictions," he declared.
"Terrorists will not turn back time and restore a dark chapter in Leb's history," added Suleiman.
At least 23 people were killed and 150 maimed in the blasts in the Hizbullah stronghold of Bir Hassan.
The powerful kabooms just opposite the multi-storey embassy caused chaos, ripping the facades off nearby buildings and setting cars ablaze.
They come after two other kabooms this year in the southern suburbs of Beirut that are the bastion of Hizbullah.
The group, which is sponsored by Iran, has drawn controversy for sending thousands of fighters to support the regime of Syria's Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now... as he battles a 32-month-old uprising.
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[Pak Daily Times] Pakistain seems to be facing a resurgence of sectarian violence, which seems in no way ready to abate. After the alarming situation in Rawalpindi in which a bloody clash between Sunni students from a seminary and Shia participants of an Ashura procession resulted in a curfew being imposed in the city, the rage and terror has spread to other parts of the country. We are now hearing reports of sectarian festivities occurring in the Kohat district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... where firing in front of a holy manbargah resulted in the death of two people, a policeman being one of them. A curfew has also been imposed in Kohat because of protest demonstrations taken out against the violence in Rawalpindi. The situation in nearby Hangu district ... Hangu is famous for its greenery, hills, beauty and water. Most of the people of this area are Bangash & Orakzai Pashtuns. Part of the Bangash are Shia. The Orakzai and the Sunni Bangash are determined to kill them... was also tense and called for a temporary curfew. The ongoing conditions tell only one truth: Pakistain is a powder keg and the slightest spark can set it off.
The whole country was breathing a sigh of relief this Moharram because the sensitive religious event went by without too much incident. However, the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits... on the 10th of Moharram things got out of hand when provocations by Sunnis during a Friday khutba (sermon) provoked Shia mourners to attack, which resulted in the whole of Rawalpindi coming to a halt, with the army called in to handle the situation. The reaction has spread, even reaching Multan where as many as 40 people have been injured in festivities between Sunnis and Shias. What happened in Rawalpindi has sent almost all of the country into the downward spiral that is sectarian strife, an issue so volatile that once it is provoked, it only gets worse. It seems that Sunnis are now retaliating after the deaths in Rawalpindi, and the Shia minority is not taking things lying down anymore. History has proved that the Shias have had to deal with much brutality in Pakistain, particularly of late. Wherever there has been a concentration of the Shia population in the country, e.g. the Shia Hazara community in Quetta, it has been targeted so extensively that it would not be far-fetched to call the attacks against them a slow but sure genocide. Shias have usually been on the receiving end of fundamentalist ire, faring only slightly better than the officially declared 'non-Moslem' Ahmedi sect. Comprising 20 percent of the population, the Shias have felt their anger boiling and frustration mounting at the injustices against them and the state's inability to do anything to protect them. While the violence that was unleashed in Rawalpindi cannot be condoned, it is understandable why the Shia mourners reacted the way they did, after decades of murder and abuse.
That is the enemy we are facing today -- the strife and bloodshed that accompanies religious extremism. Jihadi terrorism and deep-rooted fundamentalism have given birth to a fratricidal conflict. We are suffering from failure of the state and successive governments in curbing this religious hatred and not allowing it to flourish and become such a nuisance and threat. It is impossible to blame any side in this sectarian game of action and reaction but the focus now must be on preventing any full-scale sectarian mishap. The Punjab government has taken an excellent initiative in which it has urged the Learned Elders of Islam (religious scholars) from both sides to come together; this step should be replicated across the country, especially in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, a province that is mired in a view of religion coloured by tribal culture. A dialogue process must begin to bring all communities together so as to ensure that ancient chasms do not swallow up the country whole.
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[An Nahar] Afghanistan and the United States have solved a key sticking point in a crucial security pact just two days before it was due to be voted on by Afghan tribal and politicians, an Afghan official said Tuesday.
Aimal Faizi, 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... 's front man, told news hounds in Kabul that the deal would allow U.S. troops to enter Afghan homes once NATO
Continued on Page 49
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See also RUSSIA TODAY, TOPIX > [Government Examiner] NEW DEAL COULD KEEP US TROOPS IN AFGHANISTAN FOR TEN MORE YEARS, thru Year 2024.
The Taliban, etal would like to remind everyone in Kabul = Afghan Govt. this Holiday Season that those Politicos whom sign off to this new Agreement = Security Pact are literally putting their Heads at risk.
[An Nahar] Iranian Ambassador to Leb Ghazanfar Rokn Abadi confirmed the death of Iranian cultural adviser Sheikh Ibrahim al-Ansari in the twin blasts near the Iranian embassy in Beirut on Tuesday.
He told al-Manar television that al-Ansari died from wounds he sustained in the attack.
Earlier, he had told Iran's Mehr news agency that all staff who were "inside" the embassy escaped unharmed when the kabooms went off outside the building on Tuesday.
"All colleagues inside the embassy are in full health," he said.
"The agents of the Zionist entity Israel are behind the blasts," he later told al-Mayadeen television.
"This terrorist attack will not affect us, but it will make us stronger and more convinced of our stances," he added.
The kabooms occurred in southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of Iran-ally Hizbullah, killing at least 20 people.
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[Pak Daily Times] Shutter-down strikes were observed and demonstrations were held in various cities of the country on Tuesday in protest against sectarian violence in parts of the country.
According to reports, a strike was observed in Sukkur and Mirpurkhas towns of Sindh where business activities and educational institutions remained closed.
Police and Rangers were deployed in the two cities to deal with any untoward incident.
Protest demonstrations were also held in several other cities, including Nawabshah, Muzaffarabad and Toba Tek Singh, where the protesters demanded that the government bring culprits to justice.
In Kohat, police locked away Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! 15 suspects for their alleged involvement in sectarian festivities in the city on Monday, in which three persons, including a policeman, were killed.
Local authorities imposed a curfew and called out army in aid of civil administration after the two sects clashed using firearms and set rival shops ablaze on Monday.
Police have arrested 15 people allegedly involved in the firing, arson and making provocative speeches. It also recovered a huge quantity of arms and ammunitions from their possession.
Kohat was still under curfew, while all educational institutes remained closed, local residents said by phone.
A jirga of local elders was convened in Deputy Commissioner Amjid Ali's office where the DIG, commissioner, and security officials were present to discuss the situation and measures for damage control after the sectarian violence.
A case under 7-ATA (Anti-Terrorist Act) was registered against the accused. The arms and ammunition recovered from them included seven rifles, one machinegun and three pistols.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... Inspector General of Police (IGP) Nasir Khan Durrani has directed the Kohat police to get the footage of the incident and with its help ensure early arrest of the remaining accused.
The police chief made it clear that law would be enforced at all costs and strict action would be taken against all those found involved in the gruesome incident, without any discrimination.
Meanwhile, ...back at the saw mill, Scarface Al had tied Little Nell to the log and was about to turn on the buzz saw... the corpse count from Friday's festivities in Rawalpindi rose to 11 as Rescue 1122 recovered another body from the site of arson in Raja Bazar.
The victim, identified as Abdul Wahab, worked as labourer in the gutted Madina Market, adjoining the seminary where the festivities took place on Ashura.
According to Rescue 1122 sources, the body was shifted to Combined Military Hospital for an appointment with Dr. Quincy.
Justice Mamoon Rashid Sheikh, head of the judicial commission tasked with probing the Rawalpindi incident, said on Tuesday the commission would not only investigate the tragedy but also suggest preventive measures to avoid such festivities in the future.
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[Pak Daily Times] Unidentified gunnies riding a cycle of violence on Tuesday killed a senior Shia university director along with his driver in an apparent sectarian attack, officials said.
The attack comes after several deadly sectarian festivities in Rawalpindi and in the northwest since Friday. Syed Shabir Hussain Shah, director of student affairs at Gujrat University, was killed while on his way to the campus. "Gunmen riding a cycle of violence sprayed bullets on his vehicle when he was about to reach the university in (the) morning. His driver was also killed in the attack," district police chief Ali Nasir Rizvi told AFP.
"At the moment, we don't know about the numbers of the attackers, but the incident looks like a assassination," he said. A colleague said Shah had previously received threats. Officials suspect the latest attack was in retaliation for violence in Rawalpindi on Friday. The Pak Taliban threatened Tuesday to avenge the Rawalpindi festivities. "He had barely turned the corner of his house when he was attacked," said policeman Amir Malik. "By the time the ambulance arrived, he and his driver were both dead." "We found a note at the scene of Shah's death which read: 'This is retaliation for Rawalpindi'," deputy superintendent of police Manzoor Malik told Rooters, referring to the festivities in Rawalpindi over the weekend in which eight people were killed. "The note was signed, 'Lashkar-e-Jhangvi ... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ... '."
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#1
killed a senior Shia university director along with his driver in an apparent sectarian attack
Either a sectarian attack, or he wasn't grading on a curve.
[An Nahar] A Syrian warplane fired a rocket on Tuesday on the border town of Arsal in the eastern mountain belt without causing any injuries.
"Syrian warplanes shelled the uninhabited Aqabat al- Mobayyideh region in Arsal," MTV said.
The same source noted that Arsal residents and rescue teams could not reach the mentioned area as Syrian warplanes continued to fly over the region.
Two men were killed on Monday in a mine blast in Syria, where they had planned to join the fight against the regime, security sources told Agence La Belle France Presse.
The men from Arsal were headed to Qara, a rebel-held Syrian town near the frontier where loyalist troops have launched a major offensive in recent days.
Arsal has a long shared border with Syria, stretching along much of Damascus province and part of Homs province.
Smugglers have long taken their goods across the mostly non-existent border, and since the beginning of the Syrian conflict in March 2011, weapons and fighters have moved across the border too.
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[Al Ahram] Islamist forces of Evil rammed a boom-mobile into a police compound north of Somalia's capital on Tuesday and opened fire on officers, leaving at least 28 people dead, officials and witnesses said.
Al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... - the al Qaeda-linked group that grabbed credit for a deadly raid on a shopping mall in neighbouring Kenya in September - said it carried out the morning assault.
Continued on Page 49
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[Libya Herald] Hundreds of women turned out in Algeria Square yesterday to protest against the presence of armed militias in 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... streets and across the country.
They called for a complete end to the country's militias and demanded that the security of the country be placed solely in control of the national Armed Forces and the police.
The crowd included a small group of Libyan women who live and study in Manchester in the UK. They had returned to Libya to express their condolences for the country's losses in the recent Tripoli festivities. They also plan to conduct some research into why things in Libya have not been working post-Revolution.
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[Libya Herald] There were kabooms in 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... this evening, but it was not the shell and smalls arm fire that people have come to dread, but the return of noisy fireworks, so beloved of people in the city.
There was a palpable sense of relief at the withdrawal of the majority of the Misratan militias within the 72-hour deadline, which ends tomorrow. Most of the last makeshift barricades had been cleared away by the afternoon.
More striking was the appearance of police at major intersections throughout the capital. Smartly turned out in new blue and white camouflage uniforms, they took control of traffic movements, even where there were functioning traffic lights. Not only did they manage the flows of vehicles very efficiently, but the majority of motorists seemed perfectly content to do as they were being told.
There was remarkably little impatient honking and a lot of waving from people in cars as they drove past coppers, who nevertheless were being tough on traffic offenders. One driver told the Libya Herald that he had been stopped and given a talking to by an officer, when he had driven across a set of lights, three seconds before they went green.
Meanwhile the tide of popular opinion against the militias continued to run high. At its peak, a demonstration in Algeria Square drew some 200 people, who were responding to calls from Tripoli Local Council leader, Sadat Elbadri, to support the national security forces and protest the continued presence of all militias.
Mahmoud Tekalli, an aeronautical engineer told this newspaper that, in particular, he was supporting Elbadri: "We are calling for the activation of the police force and the army and the legitimate forces in the country" he said, "We support the people who have the right to be protected and the institutions which are there to protect them."
Waad Imzdawil, a cofounder of the student-oriented Movement for Public Peace, was busy collecting signatures in the square. She said her group was "focusing on the issues which unite all Libyans". The Tripoli engineering student continued: "We started collecting the signatures on the 1 November, before the Gharghour attacks. We want to demonstrate to the government and the militias, through the sheer number of our supporters, that the situation has to change."
Many in the square had been personally effected by the deaths on Friday. Black banners had been put up alongside the Libyan flag and mourners clutched pictures of those killed.
Jihad Mohammed said he had come to "get the militias out of Tripoli," adding that they "terrorise, steal, and kidnap people". Mohammed, an immigration officer, concluded: "The government is very weak. They cannot protect the people. More people will come here to protest peacefully, but if the militias come again with guns, we will use guns. I am very sad and angry about what happened on Friday. Seven people from my street were killed and it damaged something inside of me."
The crowds began to lessen at around three in the afternoon. However, the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits... this did not prevent a series of victory laps by police cars around Martyrs Square, to the cheers of onlookers. Throughout the day a large police and army presence had been noticeable in the square, where the expected demonstrations failed to materialise.
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The new supercomputer XC30 system at the University of Stuttgart, nicknamed Hornet, will be able to process a quadrillion mathematical calculations per second. The Hornet will be used at the Universitys High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart, providing a useful tool for scientists and researchers in the automotive and aerospace industries.
For a number of years now, we have worked in close collaboration with Cray to provide our researchers and scientists, as well as our industrial partners in the automotive and aerospace industries, with the computational resources of highly advanced supercomputing systems, said Prof. Dr. Michael M. Resch, director of HLRS. Reliability, performance, support and customer service are vitally important to us, and Cray and its supercomputers continue to meet the requirements of our organization and our vast user community.
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[An Nahar] Pakistain on Tuesday set up a special court to try former military ruler Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... for high treason, an official statement said.
The announcement came hours after the Supreme Court forwarded the names of five judges suitable to sit on the special court, following a government request on Monday.
Three judges have since been chosen by the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... who is now on an unprecedented collision course with the all powerful military.
"The Prime Minister has approved names of judges for special court for trial of high treason under article 6 (of the constitution)," his office said in a statement.
"Mr Faisal Arab, from Sindh High Court, being the most senior, will be the head. Ms. Syed Tahira Safdar of Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... High Court and Mr. Yawaar Ali of Lahore High Court will be the (other) members".
"The government has notified the tribunal," the statement added.
After receiving the government request to try Mr Musharraf, the head of Supreme Court, chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, ordered all the high courts from the country's four provinces and Islamabad to put forward the names of any judges eligible for the three member special tribunal.
The decision to try Musharraf for treason, announced live on TV by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Sunday, means the former Pak leader faces the death penalty or life in prison if convicted.
It comes after Musharraf was granted bail in other cases against him, stoking rumors a deal for his departure could be imminent.
The treason accusation relates to Musharraf's decision in 2007 to impose emergency rule shortly before the Supreme Court was due to decide on the legality of his re-election as president a month earlier while he was still army chief.
Musharraf overthrew the government of Nawaz Sharif -- elected to power again in May this year -- in a bloodless military coup in October 1999, but a year later the Supreme Court validated the take over.
During the 2007 emergency rule he suspended the constitution and parliament, and sacked top judges who declared his actions unconstitutional and illegal.
Musharraf technically became a free man this month when an Islamabad district court granted him bail over a deadly raid on a radical mosque in the capital in 2007.
But faced with Taliban threats to his life, he has remained under heavy guard at his villa on the edge of Islamabad.
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#1
Forget the special court. Let Perf run the polio vaccination campaign in Wazoo. Or to really get over on him, send him to...DETROIT!
[Al Ahram] Islamist protesters were driven out of Tahrir Square in central Cairo on Tuesday evening by demonstrators gathered to commemorate the November 2011 Mohammed Mahmoud festivities.
The march by activist group the Youth Against the Coup tried to enter Mohammed Mahmoud Street, just off Tahrir Square, but other groups of protesters blocked their entrance.
They were reportedly holding posters with pictures of ousted 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... , and yellow flags bearing the four-fingered Rabaa sign, a symbol of pro-Morsi protesters.
No festivities broke out between the two groups.
Within Tahrir Square, a number of pro-Islamist protesters engaged in arguments with other protesters who oppose the Moslem Brüderbund.
The Youth Against the Coup, a group of independent Islamist activists backing Morsi and opposed to the military, had announced they would march to Mohammed Mahmoud earlier on Tuesday.
The group was formed to oppose the ouster of Morsi in July.
"We are here for the deaders," Khaloud Abdel-Fattah, 25, told Ahram Online. "I am not a Brotherhood member, but I am with them because Morsi was not given a chance."
"I was in Mohammed Mahmoud in 2011 and I feel nothing good has happened, no justice," Mostafa Anana, 24, said. "I did not vote for Morsi, unfortunately. Perhaps sharia (Islamic law) would have made it better."
The Way of the Revolution Front, a recently-launched group aimed at providing a revolutionary alternative amid the current polarisation between the military and the Brotherhood, had called for demonstrations to take place in Mohammed Mahmoud Street on Tuesday. The group had said that Moslem Brüderbund supporters are not welcome at the celebration.
A banner was hung at the entrance to the street off Tahrir Square reading: "Moslem Brüderbund, military and feloul (remnants of the old regime) are not allowed."
Some 47 people were killed and at least 3,000 injured in days of festivities beginning on 19 November 2011 between anti-military protesters and security forces.
At the time, the Moslem Brüderbund and their Islamist allies denounced the protesters, accusing them of trying to disrupt the parliamentary elections which were scheduled to start a week later.
The festivities took place while the country was being governed by the supreme council of the armed forces following president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... 's ouster in February 2011.
Earlier on Tuesday, scuffles broke out between military supporters who had come to Tahrir Square to demonstrate, and the anti-military protesters. The military supporters were driven out.
Pro-army protester Afaf Mohammed told Ahram Online that she had come to urge army chief Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to run for the presidency in 2014.
"I want to support him and I believe in his agenda," she said. "May God protect him and our army."
Demonstrators opposed to both the military and the Brotherhood continue to protest in Mohammed Mahmoud Street on Tuesday evening.
Meanwhile, ...back at the argument, Jane reached into her purse for her .38... hundreds of supporters of the Moslem Brüderbund held a protest commemorating the anniversay outside of the presidential palace of Qasr El-Qoba in east Cairo.
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[An Nahar] A drone strike in Yemen's southeastern Hadramawt province killed three al-Qaeda suspects on Tuesday, local authority officials said.
The three men were travelling in the Wadi Houaira area when a missile hit their vehicle, the sources said.
No further details on the strike were yet available.
The United States is the only country that operates drones in the region.
The number of victims from the drone strikes in Yemen remains unclear and estimates vary widely.
According to the Washington-based New America Foundation, a think tank that tracks and vets drone activity, 93 strikes in Yemen since 2002 have killed 684 to 891 people including between 64 and 66 civilians.
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[Pak Daily Times] Law enforcers claimed to have placed in durance vile Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! around 147 suspects including members of banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi ... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ... (LeJ) and a hit man during separate raids and operations in various parts of the metropolis on Tuesday.
As per details, the Crime Investigation Department (CID) arrested a terrorist affiliated with outlawed LeJ, who has been identified as Amin alias Munna alias Chingari, from Orangi Town. According to in-charge of the CID's Sectarian Cell Fayyaz Khan, the accused was involved in murders of more than a dozen police officials, 33 political workers and people belonging to the Shia sect. He belongs to Hafiz Qasim Rasheed group of LeJ. The officials also claimed to have recovered 3 rockets with launchers, 20 kilogrammes of explosives with fuse, detonators, wires, and a 9mm pistol.
Separately, Mobina Town police nabbed an accused along with his two accomplices during a raid at their hideout at Abul Hassan Isphani Road. District East SSP Pir Mohammad Shah while addressing a presser said that the accused Ghulam Qasim aka Abba and his two aides, Kallu Bengali and Adil Ali were serial hit mans, involved in more than 100 cases of murders. The officer also said that weapons were recovered from their possession. Meanwhile, ...back at the pie fight, Bella opened her mouth at precisely the wrong moment... further investigations are underway.
Moreover, Pakistain Rangers Sindh apprehended around 20 suspects during separate targeted raids and operations in various parts of the metropolis, including Model Colony, Landhi No 5, Shah Faisal Colony, Pakhtunbabad, New 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... , Nazimabad No 2, Pak Colony, Islamia Colony and Lyari. The officials also recovered weapons from the custody of the suspects. The detainees were shifted to some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location for further questioning. During the targeted operation the entire locality was cordoned.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pie fight, Bella opened her mouth at precisely the wrong moment... Karachi police nabbed around 123 suspects including, 15 absconders, 2 hit mans, 4 kidnappers, 1 extortionist, 17 for illicit weapons, 5 drug peddlers, 7 street criminals and 72 others involved in other heinous crimes. The arrests were made during 75 raids and 8 encounters; the officials also recovered weapons from the suspect's possession.
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[An Nahar] The United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... will stop paying wages to thousands of workers helping Paleostinian refugees next month because of a growing cash crisis, a top U.N. official said Tuesday.
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), one of the U.N.'s oldest agencies, faces a "dire situation" with a $36 million deficit, under secretary general Jeffrey Feltman told the Security Council.
"UNRWA will be unable to adequately fund its core services -- especially in education, health and poverty mitigation -- and will be unable to pay December salaries of its 30,000 teachers, medical personnel and social workers," Feltman said.
The agency was set up in 1950 to help Paleostinian refugees who lost their homes because of the 1948 Middle East conflict. It estimates that it now helps about five million people. Ummm... That was 63 years ago.
The United States and European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... have traditionally been UNRWA's biggest donors to its two year budget of more than $1.2 billion.
The agency also faces a crisis in the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,-controlled Gazoo territory, after Israeli authorities discovered a tunnel from the besieged strip into Israel in October.
Israel suspended the entry of all construction materials into Gazoo and since then 19 out of 20 UNRWA construction projects in the territory have been halted. Eh? Sounds almost like the two things are related.
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[Pak Daily Times] Fazlullah has been chosen to
lead the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP), possibly because of his staunch anti-peace talks stance. After his election, the TTP front man categorically refused to hold talks, calling the government of Pakistain "a US puppet". The backing of the Afghan Taliban -- possibly of Mullah Omar ... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality... -- also played a role in his selection by the Taliban shura (council). It was reported earlier this month that a deadlock in selecting the TTP head was broken by Mullah Omar, considered 'Ameerul Momineen' by the TTP; he stepped in and named Fazlullah as the man for the job. Mullah Omar's support for Fazlullah is not a surprise move as Swati snuffies fought alongside the Afghan Taliban in the first Afghan war and, later, as civil war raged in Afghanistan in the 1990s, they provided their Afghan counterparts recruits and eventually became their junior partners in Pakistain. They are the other side of the same coin.
Fazlullah's rise has many implications. His rise in the ranks of the Taliban can have ominous consequences for Pakistain. Most importantly, by giving the mantle of the TTP's leadership to Fazlullah, Talibs are projecting the image that the TTP is not FATA-centric and has support in the urban areas of Pakistain too. Perhaps it is flexing its muscles to expand its violent campaign to populous and economically prosperous Punjab to cause maximum casualties and inflict financial losses. The statement of the Taliban spokesperson that "We will target security forces, government installations, politicians and police," speaks volumes about this strategy. According to some observers, the TTP might enter into strategic alliances with snuffies in Punjab to carry out a spate of bombings and Death Eater activities.
Mullah Fazlullah ...son-in-law of holy man Sufi Mohammad. Known as Mullah FM, Fazlullah had the habit of grabbing his FM mike when the mood struck him and bellowing forth sermons. Sufi suckered the Pak govt into imposing Shariah on the Swat Valley and then stepped aside whilst Fazlullah and his Talibs imposed a reign of terror on the populace like they hadn't seen before, at least not for a thousand years or so. For some reason the Pak intel services were never able to locate his transmitter, much less bomb it. After ruling the place like a conquered province for a year or so, Fazlullah's Talibs began gobbling up more territory as they pushed toward Islamabad, at which point as a matter of self-preservation the Mighty Pak Army threw them out and chased them into Afghanistan... is against the negotiated settlement of the conflict, so he might begin a long war of attrition with the security forces of Pakistain. Nicholas Schmidle, a staff member of The New Yorker, writes in an article: The ambitions of the Pak Taliban's new chief mean that the "Pak Taliban's centre of power may well shift from Wazoo to the so-called settled areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... , raising the prospect, once again, of pitched battles between the army and the Death Eaters."
Arguably, the snuffies are calculating that the increase in Death Eater activities might push democratically elected governments, both in the Centre and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, to either negotiate favourable terms for a peace agreement, if it is reached in the future, or cause maximum casualties of security personnel to dampen their morale in counter-terrorism operations and to cause war fatigue.
Finally, the backing of Mullah Omar shows a bigger game plan. As the US forces are withdrawing in 2014, the Afghan Talibs are forging stronger bonds with the TTP and sectarian outfits in Pakistain to have better bargaining chips for negotiation in Afghanistan. In this context, what should be the counter-terrorism strategy of the government of Pakistain? Rather than sounding apologetic about the killing of Hakeemullah Mehsud in a drone attack, the need of the hour is to formulate a counter-terrorism strategy that maximises both civilian and military resources. The focus should be on strengthening the capacity and morale of the law enforcement agencies that are going to face the major brunt of Taliban attacks, especially in the urban centres.
To face the Taliban onslaught, civilian law enforcement agencies need to be trained to fight urban insurgency, especially to save the lives of innocent civilians who can get caught in the crossfire. Instead of solely relying on the police force, which is not even properly equipped to carry out routine policing duties and is utterly unprepared to face better equipped and ideologically motivated Taliban fighters, a well-trained, better equipped, and politically neutral anti-terrorism task force must handle counter-terrorism operations in the urban areas. Fortunately, a small step has been taken in this regard: the Punjab government has set up an Anti-Terrorism Force (ATF) as a special wing of the Punjab police to fight militancy. However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... this is a small force, consisting of only 500 coppers -- it must be enlarged.
Our military intelligence and civilian intelligence agencies are poor at gathering actionable human intelligence. The farmhouse in South Waziristan where Hakeemullah Mehsud was killed in a drone strike was reportedly only one kilometre from an army check post. After the death of Hakeemullah, eyewitnesses reported that a convoy of jeeps, with black tinted glasses, went in and out of the farmhouse routinely. However, denial ain't just a river in Egypt... the whereabouts of the enemy number one of Pakistain were apparently not known to the intelligence agencies. As there are reports of rifts in the ranks of the TTP on the selection of Mullah Fazlullah, the intelligence agencies can exploit their differences to permeate the outfits and obtain actionable intelligence to know about their funding sources, targets and hideouts. However, you can observe a lot just by watching... to infiltrate snuffies and obtain human intelligence, the capacity of civilian agencies must be increased and their coordination improved with the military intelligence agencies.
Most important of all, a counter-terrorism strategy must be underpinned by the reality that the Swati Taliban, the Mehsuds of Waziristan, Asmatullah Muawiya of Punjab and the Afghan Taliban are interconnected in their objectives and goals: they want to carve out a territory in Pakistain and Afghanistan where they can practice their version of Islam. To guard against the ideological onslaught of the Taliban, who can misguide religiously inclined soldiers and coppers by issuing proclamations that security personnel are not fighting a just war against the Death Eaters, civilian law enforcement agencies as well as military forces must also be trained about the deceptive narrative of the Taliban who intend to seek power, resources and territory by retaining their monopoly over the interpretation of the Koran. They must also be taught why the war against Talibs is a legitimate war, essential for the existence of Pakistain.
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Rep. Trey Radel, a freshman Republican from Florida, was arrested on Oct. 29 for possession of cocaine in the District of Columbia, according to D.C. Superior Court documents.
Radel, 37, was charged with misdemeanor possession of cocaine in D.C. Superior Court on Tuesday. He is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday
Radel faces a maximum of 180 days in jail, as well as a possible fine up to $1,000.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
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Rep. Trey Radel (R-Fla.) pleaded guilty on Wednesday morning to possession of cocaine before a D.C. Superior Court judge and will be on supervised probation for one year.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
11/20/2013 11:09
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#7
and will be on supervised probation for one year.
Slap on the wrist, the Judge must use cocaine too.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/20/2013 13:02
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[Al Ahram] A ministry of health official has said that 17 people were maimed nationwide on Tuesday, as various demonstrations took place to commemorate the anniversary of violent festivities in 2011.
The injuries are mostly bruises and breathing difficulties, the official said.
Several thousand protesters opposed to both the military and the Moslem Brüderbund gathered on Tuesday in Cairo's Tahrir Square for the second anniversary of the Mohammed Mahmoud Street festivities, which pitted anti-military protesters against security forces in November 2011. The festivities lasted for six days and left 47 dead and at least 3,000 injured.
Continued on Page 49
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[An Nahar] Syrian troops on Tuesday captured the village of Qara in the mountainous Qalamoun region along a key supply route between Damascus and Homs, a military source told Agence La Belle France Presse.
The reported capture came after days of air strikes on the region near the Lebanese border, which is also a key smuggling route for rebels battling to oust Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... .
"After three days of fighting, the Syrian army has taken full control of Qara," some 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of the capital, the Syrian military source said, adding that a "large number of terrorists" had been killed, referring to the rebels.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britannia-based monitoring group that relies on activists and other individuals inside Syria, said Al-Nusra Front, a jihadist rebel group, has announced its withdrawal from Qara and "promised to be back soon."
The fighting in Qara sent at least 1,700 families streaming across the border into Leb, which is already hosting more than 800,000 Syrian refugees and has suffered from rising unrest linked to the Syrian conflict next door.
The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR estimates at least 6,000 people have fled to the town of Arsal, near the border, since last Friday.
On Tuesday a double suicide kaboom targeted the Iranian embassy in Beirut and was claimed by Sunni Moslem jihadists.
Iran is a key ally of Damascus, and Hizbullah has sent fighters to battle alongside Assad's troops, including in Qalamoun.
The Syrian civil war has claimed an estimated 120,000 lives and generated the biggest refugee crisis in two decades, raising fears that the conflict could spill over into volatile neighboring states like Leb and Iraq.
The uprising against Assad began in March 2011 as peaceful pro-democracy protests but escalated into a full-blown insurgency after a brutal government crackdown.
The fighting has taken on an increasingly sectarian character, with fighters from Leb and Iraq fighting alongside regime troops and al-Qaeda-inspired jihadists flooding into the country to join the Sunni-led rebels.
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[DEALBOOK.NYTIMES] Before he served as a United States senator, before he made a run at the presidency and before his political career collapsed amid a sex scandal and fraud trial, John Edwards ...Former senator from North Carolina, former vice presidential candidate, former Democratic presidential contender. Edwards was noted for his Two Americas stump speech and for his pretty hair. People started to notice which of the two Americas he belonged to when he got a $400 haircut in his private plane. While his wife, Elizabeth, was dying of cancer Breck Boy was porking a hussy named Riehl Hunter, with whom he fathered a child, then paid one of his aides to claim that the baby was his. He is currently trying to explain to the friendliest judge he can find how he happened to use campaign funds to do all that, rather than dipping into his own considerable fortune... was a trial lawyer.
Now, Mr. Edwards is returning to his roots and opening a new law practice. The plaintiffs' firm, Edwards Kirby, reunites him with his former partner, David F. Kirby, and includes on its payroll his eldest daughter, Cate Edwards.
"The reason we formed this firm is because we all believe in the same thing -- in standing up for the disenfranchised and those who need an equal chance," Mr. Edwards said in a telephone interview from his offices in Raleigh, N.C. "That's why we exist."
The path back for the 60-year-old Mr. Edwards began in earnest in May 2012, when a federal jury in Greensboro declared a mistrial on five corruption charges and acquitted him on one more. Prosecutors charged Mr. Edwards with misusing nearly $1 million in campaign donations to hide a pregnant mistress as he reached for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008.
Mr. Edwards walked out of court with his law license intact and vindicated legally, but the blow to his family, reputation and ego was devastating.
For nearly six weeks, a jury -- and by extension, a nation -- heard about Mr. Edwards's most intimate sexual secrets and the string of public lies he told regarding his affair with his campaign videographer and her subsequent pregnancy. The trial laid bare Mr. Edwards's efforts to conceal his mistress from his wife, Elizabeth Edwards, an accomplished lawyer who was engaged in a public fight with breast cancer.
Since the trial, Mr. Edwards has done much to repair his family and personal life. He has remained based in his sprawling home in the countryside not far from Chapel Hill, tending to Emma Claire, 15, and Jack, 13, two of the four children he had with Mrs. Edwards.
His son, Wade, was killed in a car wreck when he was 16.
Mrs. Edwards had separated from Mr. Edwards in 2010, but never legally divorced him, and died in December of that year.
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#1
In Edwards' defense, he looks alot "safer" than Carlos Danger/Dangler.
[An Nahar] Syria has strongly condemned a double kaboom outside the Iranian embassy in Beirut on Tuesday that killed at least 23 people, official media reported.
"The Syrian government firmly condemns the terrorist attack carried out near the Iranian embassy in Beirut," state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
said.
It said an "odor of petrodollars comes from all the terrorist acts against Syria, Leb and Iraq," an apparent reference to 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 Qatar, which back the Syrian uprising.
At least 23 people were killed and 150 maimed in the blasts in the Hizbullah stronghold of Bir Hassan.
The powerful kabooms just opposite the multi-storey embassy caused chaos, ripping the facades off nearby buildings and setting cars ablaze.
They come after two other kabooms this year in the southern suburbs of Beirut that are the bastion of Hizbullah.
The group, which is sponsored by Iran, has drawn controversy for sending thousands of fighters to support the regime of Syria's Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... as he battles a 32-month-old uprising.
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For a map, click here. For a map of Sonora state, click here
A total of eight individuals were found dead in far southern Sonora state Tuesday, according to Mexican news reports.
A wire service news account appearing in the online edition of El Diario de Coahuila said that a Mexican joint security force located two mass graves near the village of Navomora in Navajoa municipality.
Among the dead were six men, one adult female and one young female. The news account said the victims were likely killed 18 months ago.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com
In the home stretch of the 2012 presidential campaign, from August to September, the unemployment rate fell sharply -- raising eyebrows from Wall Street to Washington. The decline -- from 8.1 percent in August to 7.8 percent in September -- might not have been all it seemed. The numbers, according to a reliable source, were manipulated.
And the Census Bureau, which does the unemployment survey, knew it.
Just two years before the presidential election, the Census Bureau had caught an employee fabricating data that went into the unemployment report, which is one of the most closely watched measures of the economy. And a knowledgeable source says the deception went beyond that one employee -- that it escalated at the time President Obama was seeking reelection in 2012 and continues today.
"He's not the only one," said the source, who asked to remain anonymous for now but is willing to talk with the Labor Department and Congress if asked.
The Census employee caught faking the results is Julius Buckmon, according to confidential Census documents obtained by The Post. Buckmon told me in an interview this past weekend that he was told to make up information by higher-ups at Census. Ironically, it was Labor's demanding standards that left the door open to manipulation.
Labor requires Census to achieve a 90 percent success rate on its interviews -- meaning it needed to reach 9 out of 10 households targeted and report back on their jobs status. Census currently has six regions from which surveys are conducted. The New York and Philadelphia regions, I'm told, had been coming up short of the 90 percent. Philadelphia filled the gap with fake interviews.
"It was a phone conversation -- I forget the exact words -- but it was, 'Go ahead and fabricate it' to make it what it was," Buckmon told me.
Census, under contract from the Labor Department, conducts the household survey used to tabulate the unemployment rate. Interviews with some 60,000 household go into each month's jobless number, which currently stands at 7.3 percent. Since this is considered a scientific poll, each one of the households interviewed represents 5,000 homes in the US. Buckmon, it turns out, was a very ambitious employee. He conducted three times as many household interviews as his peers, my source said.
By making up survey results -- and, essentially, creating people out of thin air and giving them jobs -- Buckmon's actions could have lowered the jobless rate. Buckmon said he filled out surveys for people he couldn't reach by phone or who didn't answer their doors.
But, Buckmon says, he was never told how to answer the questions about whether these nonexistent people were employed or not, looking for work, or have given up. But people who know how the survey works say that simply by creating people and filling out surveys in their name would boost the number of folks reported as employed.
Census never publicly disclosed the falsification. Nor did it inform Labor that its data was tainted.
"Yes, absolutely they should have told us," said a Labor spokesman. "It would be normal procedure to notify us if there is a problem with data collection."
Census appears to have looked into only a handful of instances of falsification by Buckmon, although more than a dozen instances were reported, according to internal documents. In one document from the probe, Program Coordinator Joal Crosby was ask in 2010, "Why was the suspected ... possible data falsification on all (underscored) other survey work for which data falsification was suspected not investigated by the region?"
On one document seen by The Post, Crosby hand-wrote the answer: "Unable to determine why an investigation was not done for CPS," or the Current Population Survey -- the official name for the unemployment report.
With regard to the Consumer Expenditure survey, only four instances of falsification were looked into, while 14 were reported.
#4
Remember the brouhaha when one of the first acts of the new O administration was to move the Census Bureau to be under direct WH control. Now you know why. MiniTruth in action.
[Libya Herald] A Libyan convicted of murder in Iraq has been executed in Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... , despite apparent assurances for the Iraqi authorities that he would not be hanged for at least a year.
Adel Zuwai is the third Libyan to be executed in Iraq. Two others were hanged in 2011, also the killing of Iraqi citizens.
Taha Shakshuki of the NGO Libyan Prisoners Abroad told the Libya Herald that the execution of Adel Zuwai had not been expected. This was in part because the LPA had been given to understand that the next Libyan to die was to be a man called Abdulsatar Shalmani.
Zuwai was in fact executed on 7 November. However, facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable... news of his death was only confirmed yesterday. His brother said that the family had received no information about the execution, nor had they been able to retrieve his body.
Along with Shalmani, two other Libyans are believed to be on death row. All have been convicted of involvement in the murder of Iraqi citizens. At one point there were up to 14 Libyans convicted of a range of serious offences, some of whom had been sentenced to life or 30 years imprisonment. However as a result of negotiations between 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... and Storied Baghdad, this spring five Libyans were granted an amnesty and sent home.
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Three more bodies were found in the graves in La Barca, Jalisco Tuesday, bringing the total dead found at the site to 21, according to Mexican news reports.
The original find made last Sunday was found during the course of an investigation into the disappearance of two federal ministerial agents, Rene Rojas Marquez and Gabriel Quijadas Santiago. Working from the detention of 20 suspects in Vista Hermosa, Michoacan 10 days ago led police to La Barca where several graves were located and 19 dead were exhumed. At the time it was reported that the investigation at the site ended, but just three days later, three additional skeletons were found. Among the detained were municipal police agents
A total of 15 males and one female were among the victims, and the rest unidentifiable. The news report which appeared on the website of El Diario de Juarez said that members of Caballeros Templarios and Jalisco Nueva Generacion drug cartels were the likely victims.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com
[An Nahar] Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif said deadly kabooms against Iran's embassy in Beirut on Tuesday should be "an alarm for all of us". No previous Beirut kabooms are or have been...
"The tragedy today... should be an alarm for all of us that we need to deal with and unless we deal with it seriously, it will engulf all of us," Zarif said after talks with his Italian counterpart Emma Bonino in Rome.
Asked about the blame laid on Israel by his ministry, he said: "We have reason to be suspicious of every move they make. Every move they make is about spreading tension and mistrust."
He said the attack was a symptom of the "extremism" spreading in the Middle East, particularly from Syria.
"There is every reason to be concerned about it. Extremism cannot be contained in any single country," he said.
"It's a very serious problem. Once we see a flare-up of the tension that is boiling in Syria there will hardly a possibility of stopping it at the Syrian border, or even in the Middle East," he said.
At least 23 people, including an Iranian national, died Tuesday when two jacket wallahs set off successive blasts at the Iranian embassy in southern Beirut. Nearly 150 people were maimed.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2013
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#1
IIUC, the worm has weirdly-n-mysteriously begun turning for those members of the anti-Iran, Hezbollah "March 14" Coalition.
[Pak Daily Times] The new leader of the Maldives has appointed the daughter of former strongman Maumoon Abdul Gayoom as foreign minister, an official said on Tuesday, underscoring the family's renewed influence in the country. In case you're wondering what happened: They had a relatively mild dictator--Gayoom--for something like 30 years. Then they had an election. The dictator's family wasn't pleased with the results. Gayoom's family organized a coup "to protect Islam" that tossed Nasheed, the guy who was elected. They had another election. The Nasheed party almost made it--I'm guessing there was the usual vote rigging; they trumped up some charges and had him tossed into the slammer in the course of the election. The guy they have now is half brother to the dictator so they're back to the old "stability" thing.
President Abdulla Yameen, half-brother of Gayoom who ruled for 30 years till 2008, named Dhunya Maumoon, 43, to the post in his first appointments Sunday before forming a full cabinet later, the official said. ...and I'm sure there's no one more competent to fill the job than His Excellency's favorite niece.
"The foreign ministry is crucial for the Maldives given the country needs to rebuild its international image after nearly two years of political unrest," said the senior administration official, asking not to be named.
The election of Yameen, 54, in Saturday's run-off election ended nearly two years of turmoil in the honeymoon islands.
The official said the new president was considering requests from his coalition partners to fill more cabinet positions. Minister Maumoon, Yameen's niece, was deputy foreign minister in the government of Mohammed Waheed, who took power after his predecessor Mohammed Nasheed was toppled in what he called a coup in February 2012.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2013
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#1
This is the place that's going under the rising oceans soon, right?
Or did The One make them stop rising?
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/20/2013 13:26
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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.
[Washington Post]
[THEHILL] Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is inviting House and Senate Democrats in targeted reelection bids to make the case for ObamaCare.
[NATIONALREVIEW] Representative Jan Schakowsky (D., Ill.) has announced she will fast for a day as part of a push for amnesty. She will join an effort by activists on the National Mall who began fasting over a week ago.
[CNSNEWS] 
Hamid 
[An Nahar] Venezuela's National Assembly on Tuesday gave President Nicolas Maduro wide-ranging special powers to rule by decree for one year. The socialist president of the OPEC member state says he needs the greater personal power as his government struggles with soaring inflation and shortages of basic goods.
Wazoo
[Al Ahram] An Arab ministerial committee charged with monitoring the Middle East 
[Pak Daily Times] Three 
[Tolo News] The Islamic Association of Students gathered in Kabul on Tuesday to rally against the signing of the Kabul-Washington Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), saying the pact was against Afghanistan's national interests.
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Pak Daily Times] Pakistain seems to be facing a resurgence of sectarian violence, which seems in no way ready to abate. After the alarming situation in Rawalpindi in which a bloody clash between Sunni students from a seminary and Shia participants of an Ashura procession resulted in a curfew being imposed in the city, the rage and terror has spread to other parts of the country. We are now hearing reports of sectarian 
[An Nahar] Iranian Ambassador to 
[Pak Daily Times] Unidentified 
Pervez 
Nawaz Sharif
[Al Ahram] Islamist protesters were driven out of Tahrir Square in central Cairo on Tuesday evening by demonstrators gathered to commemorate the November 2011 Mohammed Mahmoud 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
John Edwards
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
In the home stretch of the 2012 presidential campaign, from August to September, the unemployment rate fell sharply -- raising eyebrows from Wall Street to Washington. The decline -- from 8.1 percent in August to 7.8 percent in September -- might not have been all it seemed. The numbers, according to a reliable source, were manipulated.
