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Tunisian Salafists attack bar, call drinkers 'infidels'
Today's Headlines
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16:52 4 18:17 Thing From Snowy Mountain [1]
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Home Front: Culture Wars
“Civil Liberties” Groups Defeated Conn. Law Aimed at the Violent Mentally Ill
Posted by: tipper || 12/15/2012 20:09 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Man pulled over while driving with traffic sign in his head
Guess that State. "Officers believe alcohol is a factor". No! Really?
Posted by: Frank G || 12/15/2012 16:52 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Can't believe I'm the first to think of this: "Traffic division run by Captain Obvious."
Meh!
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 12/15/2012 17:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Newton was transported to U.F. & Shands Jacksonville with life-threatening injuries.

Well...let's hope so.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/15/2012 17:15 Comments || Top||

#3  In a bitchn camero, ftw!
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/15/2012 17:46 Comments || Top||

#4  Ooh wow, it's in Florida. I'm shocked.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 12/15/2012 18:17 Comments || Top||


Economy
To solve our debt problems, let's sell Alaska
The prospect of once again hitting the federal debt ceiling has provoked the ritual round of hand-wringing about the intractable nature of this $16 trillion conundrum. But there is a simple, elegant option that involves no tax increases, no spending cuts and just a bit of imagination.

Sell Alaska.

That's right. Put the entire state -- from Juneau to Deadhorse, from the Bering Strait to the Beaufort Sea -- on the auction block.

Absurd? No more absurd than the spectacle taking place right now as we skid closer to the "fiscal cliff."

Selling real estate at top dollar is all about timing, and now's a great time to unload the Klondike state. The federal government, which owns 69 percent of Alaska, could cash in on the vast, resource-rich state at a time when oil prices are high and wild salmon is flying off the shelves at Whole Foods. Selling Alaska could fetch at least $2.5 trillion and maybe twice that amount, enough to lop off a huge chunk of the national debt and perhaps as much money as President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner hope to save or raise over the next decade.

The return on investment would look great, too. Secretary of State William H. Seward -- you might know him as the handsome fellow played by David Strathairn in the new Steven Spielberg movie, "Lincoln" -- bought Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million, drawing ridicule. One New York newspaper that year called Alaska a "sucked orange," saying Russia had already drained all the value out of it. But even after adjusting for inflation, the price paid for "Seward's folly" or "Seward's icebox," as it was known back then, looks pretty cheap -- about $114 million.
Posted by: tipper || 12/15/2012 13:42 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Here's a better idea. Lets sells Manhattan island.
Posted by: Iblis || 12/15/2012 14:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Im sure the Alaskans would love to cash out of the US. They could probably self finance with their resources.
Posted by: bigjim-CA || 12/15/2012 14:42 Comments || Top||

#3  D.C. secret auction. Winner gets inhabitants, both full-time and elected.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2012 15:03 Comments || Top||

#4  ibls - yes and DC
Posted by: Water Modem || 12/15/2012 15:17 Comments || Top||

#5  Sounds like a damn good idea t mee. What squealing Washington would Make if the "Sell Alaska" Offer were genuine, It'd put the fearof the People in Government, once and for all.
I' suggest it, as a "Proof" tht there's other (Undisclosed) ways to end this FISCAL CLIFF screaming.

Not that there's anything wrong with it, But, it won't happen.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/15/2012 15:24 Comments || Top||

#6  It may be a bit too late. The alarms and audible warnings (Pull UP! Pull UP!) were ignored long, long ago.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2012 15:30 Comments || Top||

#7  I'd say sell California but it's not worth a Tinker's damn.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 12/15/2012 16:26 Comments || Top||

#8  This article got me to thinking. Maybe the citizens of each state could pool their resources and buy back their individual states.
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 12/15/2012 16:41 Comments || Top||

#9  Libs will do anything to get rid of Palin.
Posted by: KBK || 12/15/2012 17:49 Comments || Top||

#10  Thought I'd heard that Sarah et al. moved to Arizona.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 12/15/2012 18:45 Comments || Top||

#11  Sell the entire west coast, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Taxachussets, and Minnesota - and tell Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Wisconsin, Connecticut that they are next, unless they get their financial houses in order.
Posted by: Lone Ranger || 12/15/2012 20:29 Comments || Top||

#12  Sell Texas and let Texas buy themselves. That way they could secede without a fuss.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/15/2012 20:42 Comments || Top||

#13  The Chinese will also take Guam + Hawaii since you're offerring.

FEAR NOTETH, OWG AMERIKKA, AHMADINEJAD + IRAN'S BLUE-WATER NAVY WILL STOP 'EM!

[WAYNE'S WORLD "THUMBS UP" here].

Turkey? Pakistan Navy? Come on now, its gotta be one of them!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/15/2012 21:17 Comments || Top||

#14  I like your thinking, rj.

Just give me a chance to move there so I can be a native-born citizen when they become a separate nation again. :-D
Posted by: Barbara || 12/15/2012 21:44 Comments || Top||

#15  The Federal government owns way too much land. It depresses local property taxes and economic development. We should not sell sovereignty of this land only title to the highest bidder.

We could easily raise 5 trillion dollars at the outset, and then raise more every year from ongoing economic activity.

Let's start now.


Posted by: rammer || 12/15/2012 22:19 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Rocket attack near Peshawar airport kills at least five
Posted by: Water Modem || 12/15/2012 12:27 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  create a monster, lose control, suffer the consequences. Insh'Allah!
Posted by: Frank G || 12/15/2012 17:16 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Russian circus trainer saves elephants with vodka
[Click Orlando] Two elephants that were forced out of a trailer and into the frigid Russian winter were saved by vodka, their trainers claim.
So this elephant walks into a barroom and sez "Gimme a gallon of vodka!"
The bartender slams it down and sez "That'll be 220 rubles!"
The elephant pays up and slams it down.
The bartender leans his elbows on the bar and sez "Y'know, we don't get many elephants in here..."
And the elephant sez: "And you ain't gonna get many more at 220 rubles a gallon!"

The circus animals were evacuated from their trailer when it caught fire and had to wait outside for a truck that could take them to an emergency shelter -- in this case, a community college's gym.
[CRUNCH!]
"Jumbo! What're y'doin' to our circus trailer!"
"I'm breakin' down this wall! [CRUNCH!] Gimme a trunk, will ya?"
"But where're ya goin'?"
"Out for a drink!"
"Wait a minute! Lemme get my Dumbo hat!"

To keep the animals warm, trainer Leonid Labo gave them each 2.6 gallons of vodka mixed with warm water, which the local zoo's director credited with keeping the animals from getting frostbite, according to the AP. A veterinarian said the elephants only had frostbite on the tips of their ears.
"How cold was it, Johnny?"
"Cold enough to frostbite a liquored-up elephant's arse ears!"
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 11:18 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  As noted in the Orlando link... looks like someone burnt down the trailer to cover a loss of 5 gallons of kickaposko joynisiti.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2012 11:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Give me a double "Labo" with a twist, but hold the water.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2012 11:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Also as noted in deh links...

Did they see little pink peoples?
Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2012 15:44 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Yemen Security intercepts tons of explosives intended for capital
Sana'a security intercepted a vehicle loaded with explosives trying to enter the capital, a security official said.
They waved through the other cars where the drivers had paid the squeeze...
A car laden with explosives was intercepted at a security checkpoint at the entrance to the capital on December 13. The source said that the explosives are now in the custody of Central Security. The vehicle is believed to have come from Thamar province, some 100 km to the south of the capital. The plate of the vehicle, 9, indicates it is from Thamar also.

The explosives were hidden under parcels and are estimated to weigh between three to four tons. There is no information regarding the specific target locations, the Counter-Terrorism Unit is undertaking a full investigation, according to the source.

The capital Sana'a has witnessed a security breakdown over the past year which has been rife with suicide bombs and explosive devices. A shipment of Turkish guns was intercepted in Hodeidah province last Friday, the third of such originating in Turkey. A number of security and military officers have also been assassinated.
Posted by: tipper || 12/15/2012 11:05 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Maybe they're just building a road or something.

Could have been for clearing of some old tree stumps, too. Those can be pretty tenacious and there's most likely not an overabundance of tractors or bulldozers available to the common folks. Explosives, yes.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/15/2012 13:26 Comments || Top||

#2  You bet. Lotsa uncleared tree trunks in Yemen...
Posted by: Steve White || 12/15/2012 16:11 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Brutal Caning Under Sharia Law In Indonesia
Posted by: tipper || 12/15/2012 11:03 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Looks like he backed into the prop of a Piper PA-28. Whatever the offense, I'll wager he'll not let it happen again.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2012 12:04 Comments || Top||

#2  If you look at that pic just the right way it sorta looks like a picture of Mo-Ham-Head, dun't it?
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 12/15/2012 14:28 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Karzai wants NATO-led troops out of Afghan villages
While insisting on war on terrorism, Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai said Saturday, Dec 15, he hopes for NATO-led troops to quit Afghan villages and remain confined to their bases, The Frontier Post reports.

During an annual conference of ambassadors and consuls-general, Karzai said the U.S. and its allies had come to Afghanistan for the war against terrorism.

The coalition ousted the Taliban from power and forced Al Qaeda from the country with the cooperation of the Afghan people, he told the conference aimed at developing Afghanistan's foreign policy strategy for the next three years.

The Afghans had suffered on a daily basis during the war on terrorism, and the world should not ignore their sacrifices, he insisted, suggesting the fight should be taken to areas where terrorists were shielded and financed.

“We want foreign troops to leave our villages, streets and bazaars, go to their bases and leave the country gradually by the end of 2014,” Karzai remarked.
Posted by: tipper || 12/15/2012 10:41 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I take it he still wants the bodyguards/praetorian force?
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 12/15/2012 11:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Got to protect his opium caravans.
Posted by: Water Modem || 12/15/2012 12:59 Comments || Top||

#3  Doable, very doable.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2012 14:57 Comments || Top||

#4  Make some infra-red shit, make some noise, line up the C-17s and get the fuck out. Let it burn.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2012 15:37 Comments || Top||

#5  'Roger Roger' Shipman. Seemed like a good idea at the time..... to some. We tried 10+ years of extensive immunosuppressant medication therapy, but we CONTINUE TO BE REJECTED BY THE HOST! Time to move on to those we have chance at saving.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2012 15:46 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Philippines police shoot Malaysian terror suspect
A man with alleged ties to Islamic militants was shot dead in the Philippines after he threatened to set off a backpack bomb in a stand-off with local police, an official said on Saturday.

A suspect identified by police as Mohammad Noor Fikrie of Malaysia was killed in the southern city of Davao late on Friday after he threatened to blow up an explosive device in a rucksack, city police chief Ronald de la Rosa said.

"'If you arrest or shoot me I have a bomb. I will explode it,'" de la Rosa quoted the suspect as telling police at the lobby of a hotel during a three-and-a-half-hour stand-off.

The authorities had raided the hotel after a tip-off that one of its guests was planning a "terror" attack in the city of 1.4 million people, de la Rosa told reporters, without elaborating on the source of the information.

He said the Malaysian was a suspected member of Jemaah Islamiyah, an Islamic militant group blamed for attacks in Southeast Asia including the Bali bombing in Indonesia in 2002 that claimed 202 lives.

While in the hotel lobby the suspect brandished a mobile phone, which, he said was the trigger for the explosives contained in the backpack that was being carried by his Filipina wife, de la Rosa said.

The warning triggered a stampede by guests and hotel staff for the exits and the suspect and his wife took advantage of the ensuing chaos to flee the building and run to a nearby park, the official said.

The couple weaved among park visitors in a bid to shake off the authorities, but when they reached a deserted area police snipers opened fire, killing the man, de la Rosa said.

He said police arrested the woman, Anabelle Nieva Lee, and disarmed an "improvised explosive device" that included a mortar shell retrieved from the backpack.

Authorities are investigating the woman's possible involvement with Jemaah Islamiyah, de la Rosa said, adding police believe she had converted to Islam when she married the Malaysian.

Philippine authorities said a small number of Jemaah Islamiyah militants have taken refuge with Filipino Muslim militants operating on the southern island of Mindanao.
Posted by: tipper || 12/15/2012 10:09 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Great White North
Anti-terror law gets high court's approval
The Supreme Court of Canada has declared the country's controversial anti-terror law constitutional in a series of unanimous, precedent-setting rulings Friday that affirm how terrorism is defined in the Criminal Code.

In a 7-0 ruling written by Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, the court dismissed a series of charter appeals brought by three men, including terrorist Momin Khawaja -- the first person ever charged under the anti-terror law, which was passed in the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, in the United States.

McLachlin said an Ottawa trial judge erred by giving Khawaja too light a sentence at 101/2 years in prison and said the life sentence later imposed by the Ontario Court of Appeal sent a "clear and unmistakable message that terrorism is reprehensible and those who choose to engage in it (in Canada) will pay a very heavy price."

The rulings also upheld extradition orders against two other men, Suresh Sriskandarajah and Piratheepan Nadarajah, who can now be sent to the U.S. to face trial on charges of supporting the Tamil Tigers, a banned terrorist group.

The court flatly rejected a series of constitutional challenges brought by the three men, dismissing arguments that the new law was too broad, criminalized harmless activity and violated the charter guarantee of freedom of expression.

The ruling essentially means the December 2001 anti-terror law, introduced by the then-Liberal government and supported by the two opposition parties that eventually became the Conservative party, contains no rights violations and doesn't have to be changed.
Posted by: tipper || 12/15/2012 10:01 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This will cause a bit of shuffling and gulping on the part of some . . . busy . . . people in the more heavily populated citiues. Them Supreme Court types tend not to have much of a sense of humour (note the Canuckistanian spelling).
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 12/15/2012 14:32 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
World weather events are historic, SNow, Snow, Snow.
Posted by: Dale || 12/15/2012 02:30 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Snow for Norway this weekend.
Posted by: Dale || 12/15/2012 2:34 Comments || Top||

#2  China Blue Alert.
Posted by: Dale || 12/15/2012 2:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Balkins deep freeze
Posted by: Dale || 12/15/2012 2:39 Comments || Top||

#4  Anthropomorphic global warming reaches a critical stage!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/15/2012 4:05 Comments || Top||

#5  2 days ago, here in Western Australia we had the heaviest 1 day rainfall ever recorded in the south of the state. An area somewhat larger than Texas.

A region the warmists have been confidently predicting reduced rainfall.
Posted by: phil_b || 12/15/2012 4:41 Comments || Top||

#6 



Checking in from Estonia.
Posted by: Mizzou Mafia || 12/15/2012 8:47 Comments || Top||

#7  Canada has enough of the charade.
Canada officially becomes first country to withdraw from Kyoto agreement
Posted by: tipper || 12/15/2012 9:58 Comments || Top||

#8  Damn, Canada keeps seeming smarter and smarter.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/15/2012 10:34 Comments || Top||

#9  Yup, Canada does seem to have a leg up on some foreign politicians. Are silly bastids explained by nurture or nature? Didn't G.W. Bush pull out of Kyoto while he was Prez.?
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/15/2012 11:02 Comments || Top||

#10  And that, kiddies, is why we call it "climate change" now instead of global warming. That way no matter what happens we were always right!
Posted by: Unererong Spawn of the Pixies4293 || 12/15/2012 11:05 Comments || Top||

#11 
A region the warmists have been confidently predicting reduced rainfall.

Yeah, but them being 180-degree wrong like that is one of the symptoms of global warming. Everybody knows that.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 11:23 Comments || Top||

#12  Canada's just pissed because they know it's a lie and were hoping for better times.

Gawd help us all, the damn Canadians might end up saving us.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2012 11:52 Comments || Top||

#13  If we don't get serious and do something about Global Warming before the next ice age starts, we're gonna look like a bunch of morons. Well, some of us, anyway.

Of course, when the ice comes, the rest of the world will be begging for our C02. BWAHAHAHA! Unless CO2 has diddly-squat to do with the climate cycles, and then we're back to Stupidville.
Posted by: SteveS || 12/15/2012 13:49 Comments || Top||

#14  Didn't G.W. Bush pull out of Kyoto while he was Prez.?

Ummm...nope. The US Senate said no fucking way to Kyoto a full 3 1/2 years before G-Dub even took office. But the MSM/enviro propaganda machine has been doing the full Goebbels on this issue for so long that even many well-informed folk believe that G-Dub singlehandedly scuttled the damned thing.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) || 12/15/2012 14:15 Comments || Top||

#15  Shipman Hello, Canada has its share of troubles now. Real estate market bubble now popping. General business declines also.

Posted by: Dale || 12/15/2012 14:37 Comments || Top||

#16  Oh yeah. Blame Canada!
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 12/15/2012 14:39 Comments || Top||

#17  Blame Canada
Posted by: Frank G || 12/15/2012 15:33 Comments || Top||

#18  Cut them some slack. Hilton Head would be a giant KOA without them.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2012 15:36 Comments || Top||

#19  Silly Warmists - the massive rains tarnt goin' to start for a while yet.

JHC, as a dedicated Madonna fan + newbie Lindsay hair-lover do I have to do everything?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/15/2012 21:11 Comments || Top||


Economy
Russia miffed with American growth hormone issues
Posted by: Dale || 12/15/2012 02:24 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I have always said the weight gain for many of us; in my opinion, is related to the use of growth hormones.
Posted by: Dale || 12/15/2012 2:28 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
NATO says Syrian Scuds hit "near" Turkey
NATO accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces of firing Scud missiles that landed near to the Turkish border, in explaining why it was sending anti-missile batteries and troops to the bloc's frontier.

The Syrian government, which finds itself under attack from rebels in the capital Damascus and by a diplomatic alliance of Arab and Western powers, denies firing such long-range, Soviet-built rockets and had no immediate comment on the latest charge.

Admiral James Stavridis, the American who is NATO's military commander, wrote in a blog on Friday: "Over the past few days, a handful of Scud missiles were launched inside Syria, directed by the regime against opposition targets. Several landed fairly close to the Turkish border, which is very worrisome."

It was not clear how close they came. NATO member Turkey, once friendly toward Assad but now among the main allies of the rebels, has complained of occasional bullets and artillery fire, some of which has been fatal, for many months. It sought the installation of missile defenses on its border some weeks ago.

"Syria is clearly a chaotic and dangerous situation; but we have an absolute obligation to defend the borders of the alliance from any threat emanating from that troubled state," Stavridis wrote.

Batteries of U.S.-made Patriot missiles, designed to shoot down the likes of the Scuds popularly associated with Iraq's wars under Saddam Hussein in the 1990s, are about to be deployed by the U.S., German and Dutch armies, each of which is sending up to 400 troops to operate and protect the rocket systems.
Posted by: tipper || 12/15/2012 00:49 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  When (approx) 3.4 million Alawites are massacred, who's going to take responsibility?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/15/2012 1:52 Comments || Top||

#2  They had it coming, they are sneaky, look funny and are overly successful.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2012 15:39 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Elementary school shooting leaves scores dead in Newtown, Connecticut
A mass shooting at a school has left a staggering death toll and a town in crisis after a gunman opened fire in Newtown, Connecticut Friday. With at least 28 dead, the Sandy Hook School Elementary shooting was worse than Columbine.

Among the dead Friday were six adults who were at the school, 20 children, the gunman and his mother.

Reporters are identifying 20-year-old Adam Lanza as the suspect. Lanza’s mother was a teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The suspect’s older brother, Ryan, was taken into police custody in Hoboken, New Jersey.
related
'We’re going to have to take meaningful action': Tearful Obama responds to ‘heinous’ shooting
Posted by: tipper || 12/15/2012 00:43 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I take it 'meaningful action' does not include getting rid of the gun-free free-fire zones.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/15/2012 9:10 Comments || Top||

#2  The comments are tired.

What they are not discussing is that a gun ban would, in effect, attempt to do what that school already was - gun free, intimate positive social network.

Say guns were illegal for the ordinary citizen, and one of our neighboring countries, one who we think of as mostly friendly, suddenly decides to arm a brigade's worth of violent criminals. No not the USA in the near future minus the 2nd ammendment, Mexico and Fast/Furious, right President Barry?

Nobody with a good arguement would use arming the kids, that is silly. Even if a person wanted to it is impractical.

Second, nobody is talking about arming everybody. Obviously, some people do not have the capacity or respect necessary for safe firearm handling. This cornhole decided he had no respect for life or law, and at that point people were going to die whether he killed his mom and stole her rifle, or got into a car and started running over people.

Then there are the people out there who think firearms are possessed by djinns who turn clark kent into evil-superman-who-cannot-control-his-power! , the AK-47 of Sauron or some crap. I don't think those people should have firearms either, at least not until extensive technical and cultural training. People who think ghosts haunt machine rifles can have no rational or positive role in this discussion. People choose not to have firearms, happens all the time, I respect that. Y'all think that because somebody killed his own mother forcrissakes stole her rifle and ambushed children at a school that I can or cannot make that decision because I may pick up a firearm and have robin williams materialize from the barrel and grant me three wishes to kill kill and kill more.

Don't know CT laws, but in KS a person cannot take a conceal carry or any firearm onto school grounds.

From what I understand the bad guy went into a room, shot the teacher, presumably blocked the door and shot the kids..but at that point five (?) more adults are killed but no more children. I would think that if the adults were killed escorting children then there would be more children killed after the initial scene. Were the adults attempting a counter-attack on the bad guy, taking pens to a gun fight?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/15/2012 10:12 Comments || Top||

#3  I don't seem to find commenters tying recent massacres to the culture's climate in which it was okay to express hatred towards a sitting president (GWB) and to wish for his death. Or in which thugs spew anti-White venom without repercussions. But sow the wind and the country will reap the crop.
Posted by: lotp || 12/15/2012 10:46 Comments || Top||

#4  In addition to being very screwed up, the shooter was a coward. He like many others who do this, go where they know people are unarmed and/or defenceless. This is very sad. The parents of these little children must be going through all kinds of suffering and grief.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/15/2012 10:57 Comments || Top||

#5  I don't have any good answers, but I know this isn't one.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2012 11:36 Comments || Top||

#6  This has probably been said better elsewhere but isn't the pyschotic shooter at fault here and not guns, video games or conservatives?

If school districts want to "take meaningful action" I suggest following the protocols adopted by several Texas school districts without the means to hire security staff: Encourage several administrators or other school personnel to train and obtain concealed weapons licenses at each campus, and keep the names of the licensees secret.
Posted by: BrujoTejano || 12/15/2012 11:41 Comments || Top||

#7  I just get tired of these. They ALWAYS happen in gun free zones, where they know there will be no one to stop them. I refuse to lose my freedoms and rights just because someone else is flaming evil.
Posted by: Silentbrick - Schlumberger Squishy Mud Division || 12/15/2012 12:07 Comments || Top||

#8  The press is calling it a "tragedy", but in Chicago, they call 18 dead kids "Saturday night".
Posted by: badanov || 12/15/2012 12:21 Comments || Top||

#9  I saw CNN's coverage of the event. The anchor was interviewing a reporter at the scene. As soon as the reporter said there was a Bushmaster in the car's trunk, the anchor went ballistic. The reporter tried to remind her the rifle was in the trunk, but she wouldn't listen. She was off on a diatribe on how assault rifles are the cause and how they have to be taken off the streets RIGHT NOW.

I haven't seen such biased reporting since the election.

I predict the investigation will find:
1) Adam Lanza was mentally unstable.
2) He had trouble controling his anger / inappropriate behavior.
3) His family had been trying to commit him for years.
4) The state wouldn't do it because it might infringe on his "civil rights."

Instead of infringing on one lunatic's civil rights, it infringed on 26 families' right to life liberty and pursuit of happiness. This seems to be the normal ratio for "do good" liberals.

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al || 12/15/2012 12:33 Comments || Top||

#10  Several thoughts:

An Israeli-American of my acquaintance pointed out in response to this story that in Israel every school has a guard -- usually a volunteer parent, and often carrying a gun. He wondered why we don't do this in America.

The killer's brother said he is autistic and has a personality disorder, whatever that means. He former classmates remember him as never interacting with people. His parents are divorced.

On the same day that this man killed school children were killed using guns, a man in China attacked 22 school children with a knife. Drudge linked to the story. Thus it is demonstrated that guns don't kill people, people determined to kill find any sort of weapon with which to kill people.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2012 12:52 Comments || Top||

#11  Adam Lanza described by neighbors as ticking time bomb.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 12/15/2012 12:58 Comments || Top||

#12  School shootings are a very rare thing indeed in the UK / One wonders why
Posted by: Albert 1916 or 06 || 12/15/2012 13:02 Comments || Top||

#13  Cause they get shot on the streets and their dorms instead. My sister had two people killed outside her dorm in London England for their cell phones.

How's that gun ban working for ya?
Posted by: Silentbrick - Schlumberger Squishy Mud Division || 12/15/2012 13:10 Comments || Top||

#14  London is no longer English, the census proves that. Don't assume London scum is pat of the UK.
Posted by: Albert 1916 or 06 || 12/15/2012 13:23 Comments || Top||

#15  O r O r O r I'm a cider drinker. But not a gun totting nutter.
Posted by: Albert 1916 or 06 || 12/15/2012 13:27 Comments || Top||

#16  Remember in the old Soviet Union dissidents who didn't tow the dialectic of the party were considered 'mentally ill' and sent off to institutions. Watch that the loophole to first classify those who don't agree with the Left (ie Tea Party) as mentally ill, then confiscate their guns. We've already chronicled the former in Leftest circles.
Posted by: P2Kontheroad || 12/15/2012 13:37 Comments || Top||

#17  London is no longer English, the census proves that. Don't assume London scum is pat of the UK.

If we're not going to be politically correct, you can look at the stats for gun violence by race and you could make similar statement that such destructive behavior is grossly disproportionate among certain groups.
Posted by: P2Kontheroad || 12/15/2012 13:47 Comments || Top||

#18  Hope
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2012 13:54 Comments || Top||

#19  Dawn Hochsprung (the school Principle) was gunned down in Friday's massacre in Newtown. Board of Education chairwoman Debbie Liedlien says administrators were coming out of a meeting when the gunman forced his way into the school and (she) ran toward him.

Gun control freaks should take the rap for the murder of these little, innocent children. This could have been prevented at the start if the staff had concealed permits.
Posted by: Dino Shomomp7692 || 12/15/2012 13:59 Comments || Top||

#20  Proves conclusively that time travel does NOT exist, he's one i'd consider for "Retroactive Birth Control", along with the 9-11 Plane bombers, But it's NOT a sane world, (Why I carry).
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/15/2012 15:16 Comments || Top||

#21  In Germany, it's almost impossible to legally own a gun as a private citizen if you are not a hunter or member of a Schützenverein. And yet we did have mass shooting events in schools (e.g. Winnenden).

Private households usually won't "need" a gun for protection because trespassers are very unlikely to be armed.

In America, gun control would only work if you could effectively stop unlawful possession of guns. That would be quite impossible (remember the Prohibition?).

So tougher gun control would simply affect law abiding citizens who are simply exercising their 2nd Amendment rights and want to own a gun to protect themselves.

In Germany nobody has automatic guns so the question, whether automatic guns belong in the hands of ordinary people, is irrelevant.

In the U.S., the answer is: As long as felons have them, law abiding citizens should not be barred from having them.
Posted by: European Conservative || 12/15/2012 16:06 Comments || Top||

#22  This is a horrible situation, and I pray to God for some solace for the injured.

But fact is crazy, is crazy. Crazy and evil has been with us for a damn long time now. All we can do is regroup and move on.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2012 16:10 Comments || Top||

#23  Schützenverein....? If I can't sing and drink in a large tent, I won't join!
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2012 16:15 Comments || Top||

#24  The latter is done without guns though
Posted by: European Conservative || 12/15/2012 16:31 Comments || Top||

#25  Albert 1916 or 06 dear, your very own Daily Mail claims that Britain is not only the most violent country in Europe, but considerably more violent than America.

Separately, some years ago when English friends came to visit from Surrey they observed in shock the mail boxes we Americans have at the ends of our driveways in the suburbs, and attached to the house near the front door in the city, and that we even leave bills visible in the boxes for the postman to take away. "We would never dare do that back home," said she. "All our letters would be stolen, and the checks cashed."
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2012 17:43 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Family of slain Border Patrol agent sues over 'Fast and Furious'
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Where's Holder and Champ in this lawsuit?
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/15/2012 10:52 Comments || Top||

#2  In Connecticut, telling us how bad people with violent tendancies who illegally get firearms are dangerous.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/15/2012 12:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Authorities say the ring was believed to have supplied the Sinaloa cartel with guns. Mexico's drug cartels often seek out guns in the U.S. because gun laws in Mexico are more restrictive than in the U.S.

Could we conduct an extensive 'deep dive' on the Sinaloa cartel please ?

Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2012 15:00 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Accused in two high-profile cases escape from Gilgit jail
[Dawn] Two under-trial prisoners kept in separate barracks of Cheeta sub-jail hoodwinked the jail officials and escaped the other day, police said on Thursday.

"The two prisoners were tossed in the slammer
Please don't kill me!
in two high-profile liquidation cases of murder of a religious scholar and senior revenue officer," the officials said.

They said that Shakirullah was allegedly involved in the murder case of Aga Ziauddin whose death followed riots.

They said that the same man was also declared as the main culprit in a case of life attempt on former president Pervez Perv Musharraf
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
at Shandur Point of Ghizer district.

Another accused, Qari Arifullah, was allegedly involved in the murder of tehsildar Akbar, who was killed two years ago.

The police said that six officials, including two jail wardens and four coppers, were tossed in the slammer
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
for negligence of duty and an inquiry had been ordered to fix the responsibility.

Cases have also been registered against these officials, they said. GB Chief Minister Mehdi Shah has also ordered investigations into the prisoners' escape through a judicial commission and directed the home department to ensure compliance of Section 144.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan


Africa North
Mauritanian president returns from France
[Magharebia] Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz returned to Nouakchott on Thursday (December 13th), ANI reported. After completing treatment in France for a bullet wound and spending a few days in Mauritania, he returned to Paris on November 30th to undergo new medical procedures. On October 13th, the 55-year-old president was shot by a soldier in what the government has described as an accident.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
Head of Sudan opposition says he is detained
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] The head of Sudan's opposition political alliance told AFP on Thursday he had been nabbed
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
by Sudanese state security agents after he spoke in support of four dead Darfuri students.

The youths' deaths, following a crackdown on a tuition protest at Gezira University south of Khartoum, has sparked the largest outpouring of Arab Spring-style discontent since anti-regime protests in June and July.

Farouk Abu Issa, who represents about 20 opposition parties, told AFP by phone that he had just been taken into custody by the powerful security service.

"I was participating in a forum supporting the students of Gezira University," Issa said.

After giving a speech he returned home and shortly afterwards was detained, he said.

Protests, sometimes involving hundreds of people, have occurred since Saturday outside Khartoum universities and elsewhere in support of the dead youth who were originally from the conflict-plagued Darfur region.

Demonstrators have called for "revolution" and the fall of President Omar al-Bashir
Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it.
's 23-year regime.

The Darfur Students Association has said the four went missing -- and were later found dead -- after taking part in a peaceful sit-in which was disrupted by the pro-government student union.

They were protesting for their "right" to free education, the association said.

Ambassador Dane Smith, the US government's senior adviser for Darfur, said on Wednesday that Sudanese authorities have used excessive force against the Darfuri student demonstrators, whom he said were protesting for their rights.

Smith called the deaths "shocking" and said the protests were "quite reasonable".
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan


Africa North
Son-in-Law of Tunisia's Ben Ali Arrested in Seychelles
[An Nahar] The son-in-law of Tunisia's deposed former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has been incarcerated
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
in the Seychelles, the Tunisian authorities announced on Friday.

Sakhr El Materi, who was convicted in absentia for corruption by a Tunisian court, fled to Qatar after the mass uprising that toppled his father-in-law in January 2011, but the Gulf emirate agreed to expel him in September this year.

Fadhel Saihi, an adviser to the Tunisian justice minister, told Mosaique FM that Materi was arrested as he tried to enter the Seychelles with an expired diplomatic passport, and that he was being interrogated by police there.

Justice Minister Noureddine Bhiri said Tunis was doing everything it could to get him extradited.

"Sakhr El Materi went to the Seychelles after leaving Qatar. The Seychelles authorities opened an inquiry, because he was the subject of an international arrest warrant and because his passport had expired," Bhiri said.

"The Tunisian authorities will do everything they can to get Sakhr El Materi extradited," he added, speaking at a seminar on recovering the assets of the ex-president's family.

Said to be Ben Ali's favorite son-in-law and long seen as a possible successor before the revolution, Materi was sentenced last year to 16 years in prison and fined 97 million dinars ($61 million) for corruption and property fraud.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


India-Pakistan
No credible evidence yet to act against Hafiz Saeed: Malik
[The Hindu] Conceding that "non-state actors" were hampering India-Pakistain relationship, the visiting Interior Minister Rehman Malik
Pak politician, Interior Minister under the Gilani government. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. He had to give up the interior ministry job because he held dual Brit citizenship.
on Friday said he would order the arrest of Hafiz Muhammad Saeed
...who would be wearing a canvas jacket with very long sleeves anyplace but Pakistain...
, the criminal mastermind of the Mumbai terror attacks, the moment he got credible evidence.

"We have to follow the law of the land. And of course [satisfy] the [Pak] court ... There has been a lot of propaganda about Hafiz Muhammad Saeed. I assure you that we are still investigating the [Indian] evidence. And if that evidence can stand the test of courts of international standards, I will order his arrest even before returning home. We have no love lost for Hafiz Muhammad Saeed," Mr. Malik told journalists here on arrival. He is on a three-day visit to operationalise the historic visa agreement between the two neighbours that was signed in September.

Mr. Malik noted that Pakistain was receiving dossiers that had only information and no evidence. The statement of Ajmal Kasab, the Pak national and Lashkar-e-Taiba
...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI...
terrorist who was hanged last month after having been convicted in the 26/11 case, on Saeed's involvement in the Mumbai attacks was not enough, he said. "It needs further corroboration ... I will make public official documents from the court's judgment where Hafiz Muhammad Saeed has been declared innocent."

Referring to the execution of the gunman, he said: "When Ajmal Kasab was hanged. I was the first one to come on television and [I] gave the statement that we respect the judgments coming from your courts. Similarly when the trial is going on [in Pakistain] I have already told you that it is on fast track and of course we have gone to every level to make it on the fast track."

Mr. Malik said non-state actors were playing havoc with the relationship between the two countries, both facing the scourge of terrorism for many years. "I come with a message of love and peace from the people of Pakistain. I do not want any negativity today. What I want is a positive message, positive view forward ... Let's forget the dark days, let's enter with shining stars, with smiling faces and clear hearts."

The Pak Minister, however, raised the issues of Babri mosque demolition and Samjhauta train blasts. "We do not want any 9/11. We do not want any Bombay blasts, we do not want any Samjhauta Express, we do not want any Babri mosque issue and we can work together not only for peace in Pakistain and India, but also for the region."

Mr. Malik said the "journey to peace is progressing very well" because of the meetings between the leaders of the two countries. For this, I must give full credit to my leader, President [Asif Ali] Zardari, the Prime Minister, and equal credit to the Prime Minister [Manmohan Singh] and [former Home Minister and now Finance Minister] P. Chidambaram."
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Blast in Quetta injures six
[Dawn] A bomb went kaboom! on Quetta's Sariab road injuring six persons and damaged several vehicles on Friday, DawnNews reported.

The bomb was planted on a motor cycle and destroyed two rickshaws as a result of the kaboom.

The injured were rushed to a nearby hospital where the condition of two maimed was reported as critical.

Security forces cordoned off the area as investigations into the incident went underway.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Cameron Says 'Inaction' Not Option in Syria, EU 'Appalled'
[An Nahar] Doing nothing is not an option in Syria, British Prime Minister David Cameron
... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ...
said Friday as his European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
counterparts pledged to look at "all options" available to support the opposition and civilians.

"Inaction and indifference are not options," said Cameron, whose government has formally recognized a recently formed Syrian opposition coalition.

The situation in Syria, with more than 40,000 now dead, was "truly dreadful and getting worse," he said, adding that there was "no single, simple answer."

In a statement issued at the close of an EU summit, leaders said they were "appalled by the increasingly deteriorating situation in Syria" and urged their foreign ministers to "work on all options to support and help the opposition and to enable greater support for the protection of civilians."

They said Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
had to go, with Cameron wanting the "speediest transition possible" to avoid more bloodshed.

Earlier, French President Francois Hollande
...the Socialist president of La Belle France, and a fine job he's doing of it...
had said Assad was losing and must be made to leave as quickly as possible.

"On the ground, the war is now turning against Assad and we should set ourselves this objective -- make Assad leave as quickly as possible," he said.

The EU so far has stopped short of full recognition of the opposition, although earlier this week EU foreign ministers met the leader of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces at talks in Brussels.

Some EU member states are cautious about extending full recognition to the coalition because of doubts over how representative it is and its democratic credentials.

In their statement Friday, EU leaders said they supported a future Syria that "is democratic and inclusive with full support for human rights
...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you...
and the rights of minorities.

"The European Council will continue to address the situation in Syria as a matter of priority," they added.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Send a, strongly worded, communique.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/15/2012 1:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Cheeze, g(r)om! Take a deep breath! Next thing you'll be having them call in the ambassador!
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 11:42 Comments || Top||

#3  It's a lose-lose situation. What could go right?
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/15/2012 12:21 Comments || Top||

#4  A deeply furled brow is a sort of..... action.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2012 15:34 Comments || Top||

#5  Y'all go right ahead and do something about it then.
Posted by: Silentbrick - Schlumberger Squishy Mud Division || 12/15/2012 15:40 Comments || Top||

#6  Cameron might very well, cut-them-cold.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2012 15:42 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Islamists lose popular trust
[Magharebia] Street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire on December 17th, 2010 and ignited the Arab Spring. Two years gone, people are now asking whether their lives are better under Islamist rule.

Recent polls suggest that Tunisians today are less enthusiastic about political Islam than they were a year ago, when they elected the Ennahda party.

However,
if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well...
the ruling Islamist movement still holds a plurality in opinion surveys.

Young Tunis resident Moez Jabli says that the Tunisians who voted for Ennahda counted on moderate Islam and a safe state.

"Instead, they got a lack of security, threats to freedom, and a failure to achieve the demands of the people, especially youth," he tells Magharebia. "This explains the break in trust between Tunisians and Ennahda," he said.

However,
it's easy to be generous with someone else's money...
the ruling Islamist movement still holds a plurality in opinion surveys.

Ennahda made plenty of attractive promises during the election campaign. The movement promised to create 400,000 jobs within five years. It also promised to defend the modernist identity of the country and maintain the 1956 "Code of Personal Status", which protected women's rights.

But the party is paying a price for letting down its voters.

One year after winning the most seats in the new Constituent Assembly, Ennahda has lost 31% of its electorate.

A November survey conducted by Tunis-based marketing and public opinion research institute "3C Etudes" found that 31.4 per cent of Tunisians would vote for Ennahda if legislative elections were to be held now. That figure was estimated at 48 per cent in April.

The poll also found that the worst approval rating for the governing party came from respondents in Sidi Bouzid. Indeed, Ennahda realised its lowest approval score of any community in the country - just 19% - in the cradle of the revolution.

And when asked their choices for president, only one per cent of poll respondents chose Ennahda party leader Rachid Ghannouchi.

Ousted President-for-Life Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
...who departed by popular demand in January, 2011, precipitating the Arab Spring...
ranked higher, with 1.2 per cent.

In an interview with al-Hayat last September, Ghannouchi attributed Ennahda's decline in popularity to the facts of governing.

"This is power," he told the paper. "It is known that power is an element of decay, and there is a difference between those who talk about high ideals and those who live up to them."

"There is a difference between those who are asked to deliver a speech and those who are required to provide the people with food, security and medication," the Ennahda leader added.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Recent polls suggest that Tunisians today are less enthusiastic about political Islam than they were a year ago, when they elected the Ennahda party.

You broke it, you bought it.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/15/2012 9:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Insh'Allah...
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/15/2012 17:31 Comments || Top||


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: East Turkestan Islamic Movement

#1  Sophie's handlebars?
Posted by: gorb || 12/15/2012 0:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Biker Babe?
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/15/2012 10:42 Comments || Top||

#3  That's what I like: A girl with a sense of humor and no class at all.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 11:28 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Man suffers heart attack dancing to 'Gangnam style'
[KSAT] A father of three collapsed and died from a heart attack after dancing to Psy's "Gangnam Style" at his office Christmas party in Blackburn, England.

Eamonn Kilbride, 46, an IT manager at Thwaites brewery, had been enjoying an office party at a country club with his wife, Julie, on Saturday night. Julie Kilbride told The Sun that her husband had been on a stage dancing and making a fool of himself "entertaining everybody." Shortly after, he collapsed.

After failed attempts at resuscitation, Kilbride was rushed to Royal Blackburn Hospital, where paramedics pronounced him dead a short time later. A coroner's report indicated Eamonn Kilbride died from acute heart failure, a condition which can be exacerbated by vigorous exercise.
That's why I try never to move...
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Man, they'll be talking about this party at Thwaites for the next 50 years...
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/15/2012 0:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Job Opening: IT Manager needed, applications now ring accepted.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man || 12/15/2012 3:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Kind of goes along with the Rantburg story on TLC's "Best Funerals Ever" or "What Got Me Here, My Last Day"
Posted by: Au Auric || 12/15/2012 5:21 Comments || Top||

#4  We'd better regulate Gangnam style dancing (sarc on).
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/15/2012 10:53 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Two Strong Quakes Strike Off California
[An Nahar] A strong 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Caliphornia early Friday immediately followed by a 6.1-magnitude temblor, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties from the earthquakes, which took place 262 kilometers (163 miles) and 93 kilometers (58 miles) off the coast, respectively, according to seismologists.

There was no immediate warning of any tsunami from the quakes.
Options on Nevada waterfront lots jumped 18 percent...
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ....And in this map of the California, you can make out what is the former Baja Peninsula, now called Baja Island....

Posted by: Au Auric || 12/15/2012 5:32 Comments || Top||

#2  bah! We use 6.4's to stir the ice in our cocktails!
Posted by: Frank G || 12/15/2012 8:53 Comments || Top||

#3  I predict Bajaland will one day be a great naval power and be inhabited by a people greatly fond of football, but short on culinary prowess and humour.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2012 16:02 Comments || Top||

#4  With a North and South Island?
Posted by: Pappy || 12/15/2012 17:32 Comments || Top||

#5  short on culinary prowess and humour

I dunno - BBQ'g Carne Asada tonight with a refries/cilantro/salsa side and Spanish rice, and I at least amuse myself.....

OK. I concede the humour part
Posted by: Frank G || 12/15/2012 17:39 Comments || Top||

#6  Guam is still getting very brief rumblers from this + previous quake activities around the Pacific Rim.

"Over there" far-n-away across the Pacific to "over here".

Aftershocks? Parallel?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/15/2012 21:22 Comments || Top||

#7  ION RENSE > [Guardian.UK] CALIFORNIA SEES UNUSUALLY HIGH "KING TIDES", flooding the inland.

and

* SAME > 10 RICHTER QUAKE POSSIBLE - COULD SHAKE FOR AN HOUR | [Japan Times] MAGNITUDE TEN TREMBLOR COULD HAPPEN [in the World]: STUDY.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/15/2012 21:35 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Cambodia snubs critical UN rights envoy
[Bangla Daily Star] The UN human rights
...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
envoy to Cambodia voiced regret yesterday at an apparent snub by government officials adding he was also "surprised" by criticism he has received for highlighting rights abuses.

"I very much regret that I was not able to interact with government interlocutors this time," Surya Subedi told news hounds in Phnom Penh, after a trip to Cambodia concluded without the usual meetings with bigwigs.

"I would be looking to hear directly from the government, from appropriate channels, as to the reasons why," he said.

The snub comes after Subedi published reports this year expressing concern over an uptick in violent land conflicts, freedom of speech restrictions and a perceived lack of independence in the court system.

Strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen indicated on Thursday that he had no intention of meeting Subedi, warning against people acting "like the bosses of Cambodia".
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
PML-N likely to enter poll alliance with Jamaat
[Dawn] The Pakistain Mohammedan League-Nawaz is likely to form electoral alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
in the next general polls in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
, according to sources.

They said that PML-N leaders had contacted Jamaat-e-Islami to hold negotiations with it for entering into an electoral alliance.

PML-N provincial general secretary Rehmat Salam Khattak, when contacted, though rejected reports about negotiations with political parties for electoral alliance, yet said that Jamaat-e-Islami could be suitable ally for them in the province.

He said that provincial chapter of the party had to follow instructions of central leadership in that regard. He said that they would talk to other parties if central leadership directed them to do so.

"We have informal contacts with some of JI leaders but formal meeting in this connection has so far not been held," Mr Khattak said.

He said that PML-N had completed homework for selection of candidates on recommendations of survey committees. The final decision would be taken with approval of central leadership, he added.

"No doubt some of the candidates are weak and need assistance of another political party. However,
a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth...
we will not leave any seat vacant and suitable candidates will be fielded in all constituencies in the province," the PML-N leader said. About a possible visit of PML-N central president Mian 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...
to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, he said that the visit was due for the past one month and preparations were completed for holding public meetings in different districts.

Mr Khattak said that main public meetings would be held in Karak, Dera Ismail Khan
... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ...
, Dir, Swat, Abbottabad
... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden....
, Kohat and Bannu. He said that election campaign had already been initiated and it would formally be launched by the party's president.

Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif, he said, would also visit some districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to address public meetings.

Meanwhile,
...back at the wreckage, Captain Poindexter wished he had a cup of coffee. Even instant would do...
PML-N has decided to unseat former central general secretary of its women wing Shazia Aurangzeb from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly for joining Pakistain People's Party.

"We have issued her show cause notice to reply within three days as to why she has joined PPP despite the fact that she is still member of provincial assembly on the reserved seat of PML-N," said Mr Khattak.He said that after three days the party would issue another statement to declare that she would be removed from the seat and thus as per procedure the speaker would have to send recommendations to election commission for unseating her.

Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


Bangladesh
BCL embarrasses AL, its associates
[Bangla Daily Star] Top leaders of ruling Awami League and its associated bodies feel embarrassed at Bangladesh Chhatra League's
... the student wing of the Bangla Awami League ...
criminal activities, including the Bishwajit murder.
Embarrassment is a start, I s'pose...
As the much-talked-about killing has made the government and AL high-ups furious, party leaders believe the time has come to take "strict decision" against BCL.

At least four top leaders, who include two senior ministers, didn't even want to talk about BCL, when The Daily Star approached them for comments.

A few others said they feel embarrassed after Bishwajit was hacked to death by a group of Chhatra League brutes in broad daylight during the December 9 opposition blockade.

They think much of their "achievements in recent months" and "regained public sympathy" following Jamaat-Shibir's countrywide attack on police has been ruined because of Chhatra League.

In these circumstances, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since 1981. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide...
yesterday directed the leaders of her party's associated bodies to remain alert so that none can infiltrate into their organizations with a plot to tarnish the image of the government.

"We are in power. People of vested interests will try to change their political colour and engage the party in different anti-organizational activities. Remain careful about it," said Hasina, also the chief of AL and its different associated bodies.

The PM was addressing a discussion marking Martyred Intellectuals Day in the capital.

AL's two influential associated bodies Jubo League
... the youth wing of the Bangla Awami League...
and Swechchhasebak League reportedly kept their workers away from the street showdown during the BNP's hartal
... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ...
on Tuesday and Thursday after Bishwajit was killed by Jagannath University unit BCL men.

Jubo League Chairman Omar Faroque Chowdhury said they had directed their party men not to be violent in any circumstances during the opposition blockade and hartal.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Pakistani court bails acid attack parents: lawyers
[Dawn] A Pak court granted bail on Friday to a couple who confessed to murdering their daughter with acid, citing lack of evidence and witnesses, lawyers said.
You've got a dead, half-dissolved kid, two parents standing over what's left of the body, and that's not enough evidence...
Police tossed in the clink
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
Mohammad Zafar and his wife Zaheen Akhtar a week after the October 29 attack on their 15-year-old daughter Anusha, who died in agony from horrific burns in Pakistain-administered Kashmire after allegedly looking at boys.
Oh, well, hell, that's reason enough to kill her. I'm surprised they didn't gouge her eyes out before dissolving her.
But district and sessions judge Munir Gilani granted bail because "police had no evidence and they could produce no witnesses," public prosecutor Mohammad Ali Rathor told news hounds.

"The court found it a weak case and, giving the benefit of doubt, granted bail to her parents," he said. "No one appeared on behalf of the dear departed girl and no human or women rights activists came to pursue the case."
Does anybody see an elemental flaw in the Pak legal system or semblance thereof? Anyone? Bueller?
Defence lawyer Riaz Naveed Butt said the couple were released in Kotli, 130 kilometres (80 miles) north of regional capital Muzaffarabad, after depositing bonds worth 100,000 rupees ($1,020) each.
The state presumably has no function to act as the injured party in cases that in infidel countries would be billed as "State vs. Mohammad Zafar et al."
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Clashes outside Alexandria mosque after imam urges 'Yes' vote in referendum
[Al Ahram] Clashes have erupted in Alexandria in front of the Qaed Ibrahim mosque and along the nearby corniche between several thousand opponents and supporters of the draft constitution.

The fight extended to the surrounding Azareeta neighbourhood with anti and pro constitution groups exchange slogans and rock throwing.

Stones are being exchanged between the two groups and cars parked on the corniche have been torched. Central Security Forces (CSF) are attempting to end the fighting.

A member of the CSF told Ahram Online that four bearded men had been locked away
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
carrying knives.

Ahram Online's Randa Ali says she saw security forces confiscating knives from a bearded man with an injured head before arresting him.

Fighting erupted following Friday prayers at the Qaed Ibrahim mosque where prominent preacher Ahmed El-Mahalawy had urged worshippers to vote 'Yes' in the constitutional referendum on Saturday, stating it would bring stability.

A man with his head wrapped in bandages, told Ahram Online that after the preacher's statement he had started chanting "down with the rule of the Supreme Guide" from inside the mosque. Five sheikhs then beat him up and two of his friends were being locked away
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
inside the mosque by members of the Moslem Brüderbund.

The early skirmishes halted then erupted again when anti-constitution protesters were attacked by bearded men, an eyewitness told Ahram Online. Many knives were found inside the men's cars so protesters set the cars on fire, the eyewitness added.

Nine people were killed and hundreds were maimed last week during festivities between supporters and opponents of President Morsi and the draft constitution.

Half the country will vote on the constitution on 15 December, the second half a week later on 22 December.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
United States to Deploy Anti-Missile Units in Turkey
[NY Times] Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta signed an official deployment order on Friday to send 400 American military personnel and two Patriot air defense batteries to Turkey as its tensions intensify with neighboring Syria, where government forces have increasingly resorted to aerial attacks, including the use of ballistic missiles, to fight a spreading insurgency.

Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Terrorist targets.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/15/2012 1:56 Comments || Top||

#2  The American batteries will be part of a broader push to strengthen Turkey’s defenses…

Pencilneck has absolutely no reason to expand into cross-border attacks. Let’s cut the crapolla. The US is now providing cover for the Ratlines coming out the Turkish “refugee” camps. It makes sense when one realizes that, after the Libyan junket, the NATO charter has been overridden and replaced with ‘Unity of Vision’.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 12/15/2012 10:36 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Tens of Thousands at Funeral of Morocco Anti-Regime Islamist Leader
[An Nahar] Tens of thousands of devotees gathered in Rabat on Friday for the funeral of Abdessalam Yassine, the founder of a radical Moroccan Islamist movement whose outspoken criticism of the monarchy landed him in jail.

Sheikh Yassine founded the Adl wal Ihsan (Justice and Charity) movement, which actively participated in Arab Spring protests that erupted in Morocco in February 2011, as revolutions swept Egypt and Tunisia.

But it distanced itself from the February 20 protest movement last December, considering its demands too limited, and analysts say that was a key reason why the street protests lost momentum.

"It is our father who has left us," Mohammed, a young supporter from Kentira, 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Rabat, said at the funeral, which took place at the 18th-century Sunna mosque next to the royal palace.

The crowd said the Islamic prayer for the dead after midday prayers at the mosque in the capital's center, before heading to Martyrs Cemetery next to the Kasbah for the burial of Sheikh Yassine, who died on Thursday aged 84.

A large security detachment was deployed in the area.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Salafists


Tunisia arrests terror suspects
[Magharebia] Tunisian security forces placed in durance vile
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
several members of a Kasserine terror group linked to the recent clash near the Algerian border, TAP reported on Thursday (December 13th). Tunisian Interior Minister Ali Larayedh on Wednesday said that he could not disclose any further details, as the operation was still under way.

On Wednesday, AFP quoted a security official as saying that 11 Islamists had been captured and another was still on the run.

The arrests followed the Monday clash between the National Guard and armed gun-hung tough guys in Bou Chebka, near the Algeria border.

The border post chief in Feriana, 27-year-old Anis Jlassi, was killed in the shootout.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Salafists


'We will produce thousands of martyrs to protect Egypt': Brotherhood's El-Beltagy
[Al Ahram] Moslem Brüderbund leader Mohamed El-Beltagy has accused the US, Zionists and Gulf states of trying to ruin Egypt's democratic process.

El-Beltagy, secretary-general of the group's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), said people who seek support from Western countries are misled.

"The people are the best judges," he added. "A revolt against the legitimate authorities will produce thousands of deaders."

People who say the constitution was rushed are "liars," he said.

The Islamist leader was speaking during a presser in the 10th of Ramadan suburb of Cairo.

Critics have accused the Islamist-led Constituent Assembly of rushing to finish the constitution after it held a 14-hour voting session on 30 November and presented the completed document to President Mohamed Morsi the next day.

El-Beltagy rejected the accusation, saying the assembly had looked at 70,000 recommendations and dealt with over 1.5 million amendments to the 236-article draft charter.

The draft stipulates that disabled and unemployed people will get social security payments and contains a minimum and maximum wage for workers, he added.

Article 80 of the constitution criminalises the violation any freedom covered by the constitution, he concluded.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood

#1  That would be interesting.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/15/2012 1:54 Comments || Top||

#2  "Thousands Hunh, " that'll be anarchy supreme.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/15/2012 8:45 Comments || Top||

#3  Kill yourselves (or each other) and avoid the Chrismas rush.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/15/2012 10:33 Comments || Top||

#4  Meh. They ain't so hat. Arafat and Sammy were both gonna produce "millions of martyrs."

I think it's the emphasis on lotsa people getting killed this early in the game that's significant. And mega-Islamic.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 11:27 Comments || Top||

#5  Our blood and bile for You O' Whoever.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2012 11:42 Comments || Top||

#6  And Ol' Mo will be right up at the head of the line, right?
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/15/2012 12:26 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russia's counterterrorism committee lists accomplishments
The special representative of Russia's Counterterrorism Committee (NAK),Andrei Przhezdomsky, listed the committee's achievements at a press conference.

Przhezdomsky said some 360 militants have been killed so far this year,"99 percent of them in the North Caucasus," but also referred to terrorist attacks in Tatarstan during the year. He said the number of terror victims in 2012 decreased to 58 from 128 in 2011.

Przhezdomsky said 466 "improvised explosive devices, some of which were already functional" were seized, including 21 suicide bomber belts.

The NAK representative credited part of the committee's success to three elements -- "the prevention of terrorist attacks, the arrest of suspected terrorists, and minimizing the damage from acts of terror."

Przhezdomsky also said that better coordination between authorities and law enforcement agencies has furthered the advances that the committee has made in the war on terror.

Przhezdomsky said a "total of 515 militant bases and arms caches" were discovered this year and nearly 1,500 were found in the last four years. He said some of the militant bases had "laboratories, fortified bunkers and [supplies] that could allow people to live there autonomously."

Przhezdomsky also warned that there are more than 7,000 websites identified by the NAK as "terrorist" websites, "some 500 of which are in Russian." He said that while it was possible to counter such websites in Russia, many sites such as KavkazTsentr, a Chechen rebel website, are posting material from outside Russian borders. He said even YouTube "is filled with terrorist elements."
Posted by: ryuge || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Four Dead In Clashes Between Tribesmen, Militants in Yemen
[Yemen Post] At least four people have been killed in the battles that erupted Tuesday night between rustics and Al-Qaeda Death Eaters in Yemen's Marib province, Almasdar Online reported on Wednesday.

The dead were three Death Eaters including the son of the Al-Qaeda leader Saud bin Moaily and a primitive, it reported quoting local sources.

"The battles erupted in the Selwa area south of the Wadi Abida district after suspected Al-Qaeda Death Eaters attacked the house of a primitive who cooperated with the authorities," the sources said.

The Yemeni army has been fighting Al-Qaeda Death Eaters and tribal saboteurs in Wadi Abida after repeated attacks on the Marib oil pipeline and a bushwhack that killed key military and security officers and several soldiers.

The ambush targeted the victims while they were patrolling the area to prevent more attacks on the pipeline, which stopped pumping in early last month after successive bombings in the district.

Separately, the Yemeni authorities have been meeting with tribal elders in an effort to convince them to play a key role in enabling the technical team to fix the pipeline.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


Europe
Islamist Radicals Suspected in Botched German Bomb Attack
[An Nahar] German prosecutors said on Friday they believed Islamist cut-throats were behind a botched kaboom at Bonn train station.

The federal prosecutor said in a statement that there was enough evidence to suggest Monday's incident was "an attempted explosives' attack by a terrorist organization with a radical Islamist bent".

The prosecutor's office, which is responsible for probing matters of terrorism, has taken over the investigation, it said.

A blue sports bag was discovered on Monday on a train platform at the station in western Germany containing an improvised bomb.

Its contents included four pressure gas canisters, a 40-centimeter (16-inch) long metal pipe, batteries, a clock and ammonium nitrate.

"Why the bomb did not detonate, requires further investigation," the prosecutor's statement said.

But it added that there was serious evidence "that the suspicious person has connections in radical Islamist circles", but gave no details.

Its discovery sparked the complete evacuation of Bonn station.

Norbert Wagner, who headed the investigation for Cologne police, told news hounds on Wednesday that had the gas went kaboom! and caused the ammonium nitrate to ignite, "there would have been a significant kaboom ... that of course would have caused considerable harm to people."

On Tuesday, police tossed in the calaboose
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
two men, one with links to an myrmidon Salafist group, but released them, and a day later announced they were looking for two men in connection with the incident.

In July 2006 Islamist Islamic fascisti placed suitcases with homemade bombs on two regional trains at nearby Cologne's main station. They failed to detonate, averting an almost certain bloodbath.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Salafists


Africa Subsaharan
Gunmen kill Nigeria politician
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Gunmen on a cycle of violence rubbed out a prominent politician in northern Nigeria on Friday, police said, in the latest in a series of such attacks in a region hit hard by a radical Islamist group.

It was not clear who carried out the shooting in Kano, Nigeria's second city, but Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
Islamists have repeatedly targeted politicians in the north as part of an insurgency that has killed hundreds since 2009.

"I can confirm that Danladi Isa Kademi, a politician at the Kano state house of assembly was rubbed out by two gunnies around 6:00 pm (1700 GMT) today," said Kano state police front man Magaji Majia.

"The gunnies came on a cycle of violence and fired several shots into the politician," who was serving as the minority leader in the state assembly.

Kademi was shot outside a guesthouse he owned, Majia said.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Africa North
Tunisian Salafists attack bar, call drinkers 'infidels'
[Al Ahram] Ultra-conservative Salafist Mohammedans attacked a hotel in the Tunisian city of Subaytilah on Thursday, police sources and eyewitnesses told AFP.
An estimated 15 Salafists
...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them...
destroyed the hotel's furniture and bar and burned a vehicle parked in front of the building. Bearded men threatened hotel guests with meat cleavers and called them "infidels," eyewitnesses said.

The eyewitnesses could not confirm if there had been any injuries because they had left the area before the police arrived.

The interior ministry has not issued an official statement.

The North African country has witnessed numerous violent incidents linked to hardliners, prompting opposition activists to accuse the Islamist-led coalition government of not doing enough to rein them in. There has been a complex domestic struggle over the role of religion in government and society during the post-revolutionary period.

The bar-related incident in Subaytilah comes after a similar attack on a bar in Sidi Bouzid. Bottles were smashed and customers were chased away with cries of "God is Great" and "drinking is forbidden."

Sidi Bouzid, the birthplace of the uprising that toppled former president Ben Ali last year, is a stronghold of the Salafist movement, which has grown increasingly assertive in recent months.

Violence later spread to the capital where there were festivities between alcohol sellers and Salafists, wounding a police commander.

Ennahda, a moderate Islamist group lead by Rachid Ghannouchi, formed a coalition with two non-religious parties and has promised not to ban alcohol, impose the veil or use sharia [Islamic law] as the basis of Tunisian law.

It is under pressure from both Salafists calling for the introduction of Islamic law and secular opposition parties determined to prevent this.

Ennahda's stance carries weight. Its secretary-general, Hamadi Jebali, is prime minister, and the party controls more than 40 percent of the seats in the constituent assembly. Salafists are not fully represented by any bloc in the assembly, but have stepped up street protests to press for their demands

Secularists fear that Ennahda has been too soft on the Salafists who since the revolution have attacked or threatened theatres, cinemas and journalists, and most recently Tunisia's tiny Jewish community.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Salafists


India-Pakistan
Two more police officials gunned down
[Dawn] Targeted attacks on coppers in the city continued on a second consecutive day on Thursday, when two more police officials were bumped off, bringing the total number of coppers killed this year in the metropolis to 109.

One of the latest two victims had completed his training at the Razzakabad police training centre only a day ago, police sources said.

Earlier on Wednesday, a sub-inspector heading to work was bumped off in a drive-by shooting in Saeedabad.

In a similar incident, police constable Shamim Ahmed, 45, was heading to work on a cycle of violence on Thursday morning when he was killed close to the Malir district courts, where he was posted, within the remit of the Malir City cop shoppe.

The police rushed to the crime-scene and shifted the body to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for medico-legal formalities.

"The victim was a resident of Gulshan-e-Qadri, Malir City," said Malir DSP Rao Iqbal. He added that the constable was posted in the security zone-I and was deputed at the Malir courts.

While the investigation was under way to ascertain the motive for the killing, another constable was targeted in the Pirabad area.

Police constable Mohammad Kaleem was targeted near Baitul Maymar mosque in Kunwari Colony late Thursday night.

The victim was riding a motorbike when he was bumped off, the police said.

Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
police front man SSP Imran Shaukat said the slain constable had passed out from the Razzakabad police training college on Wednesday.

'Sectarian' killing
A young man was rubbed out in Liaquatabad in what police described as a 'sectarian' attack after they could not find any other motive for the killing. The shooting caused panic as people ran to take cover resulting in a massive pile-up on the main road.

Syed Sheraz Abbas Rizvi, 35, was driving a car (T-5962) when gunnies riding a motorbike fired at him on Sir Shah SLearned Elders of Islamn Road near Bakra Peeri in Liaquatabad No 10, said an official at the Sharifabad cop shoppe.

The victim was rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
He's dead, Jim!
on arrival, police said. The police Sherlocks later collected several spent bullet casings of 9mm pistol at the crime-scene.

The dear departed was a resident of Federal C Area and was a construction contractor. He was father of a child. A senior police officer said initial reports indicated sectarian motive for the killing, adding that there was no other apparent reason for it. Following medico-legal malities at the hospital, the body was taken to Rizvia and then to Incholi.

Meanwhile,
...back at the the conspirators' cleverly concealed hideout the long-awaited message arrived. They quickly got to work with their decoder rings...
a truck was set on fire in Gulbahar.

'Sectarian' attack victim dies

One of the two victims of a Dec 11 sectarian attack, who was under treatment at a private hospital, died on Thursday evening, police said. They added Zaheer Hussain and Hashmat Ali had sustained gunshot wounds in an attack outside Salman Farsi mosque in Toori Bangash Colony of Orangi Town. While Mr Hussain had was struck down in his prime, Mr Ali was rushed to the hospital where he was admitted. On Thursday, Mr Ali died. His body was taken to the Incholi Imambargah on Thursday night.

Man found rubbed out

The body of an unidentified man was found in Ranchhore Line within the remit of the Eidgah police staOfficials said the victim had been shot in the head. After a post-mortem examination at the Civil Hospital Bloody Karachi, the body was shifted to the Edhi morgue for want of identification. tion.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Yemen Reveals 100.000 Fictitious Soldiers in Elite Military Units, Site
[Yemen Post] There are more than 100.000 fictitious soldiers in Yemen's elite forces
...that aren't so elite...
of the elite republican guard and the Special Forces
...which aren't so special...
commanded by the elder son of the former president Ahmed 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...
, Alahale reported on Wednesday.

The website quoted presidential sources as saying President Abdrabu Mansour Hadi had obtained the information about the fictitious soldiers through the field committees in charge with counting and registering the Yemeni forces.

The committees were part of the plans to restructure the Yemeni armed and security sources.

Earlier, Hadi himself revealed huge corruption in the military, pointing there are about 52.000 fictitious soldiers in the elite republican guard receiving monthly salaries, about 50.000 YR each, from the state budget, according to Alahale.

The website also said Hadi met with a number of sheiks, holy mans and dignitaries and discussed the situation in Yemen quoting statements by some of the attendants that Hadi told them the committees found the number of the elite republican guard was 130.000 including the fictitious soldiers.

"The real number of the elite republican guard personnel is only 78.000 soldiers," the sources were quoted as saying.

The Yemeni government is now seeking to restructure the armed forces with a focus on the elite republican guard and, the first armored division which defected to the popular uprising early last year.

The Yemeni army has been divided since March 2011, and the government is facing big challenges to reunify the forces.

The restructuring comes under the West-backed power-transfer deal which was reached after the unrest.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Lessee... 52,000 times 50,000 is... 2,600,000,000 YR's per month. No doubt a substantial amount of scratch/boodle unless it's, like, ZimBob dollars. Or U.S. dollars, soon...
Posted by: PBMcL || 12/15/2012 8:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Yup, MOOLAH, MOOLAH
I have aTen million Dollar Zimbob bill, worth nothing, so Business as usual.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/15/2012 8:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Makes the New Orleans Police look like pikers.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/15/2012 9:27 Comments || Top||

#4  Good news is that they found the 100K, bad news is that they got hit by Agent Grape and will need care for the rest of their virtual lives, along with their virtual progeny, 'lo down to the 7th generation.


Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2012 17:58 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
BNP, Jamaat leading nation to civil war
[Bangla Daily Star] LGRD and Cooperatives Minster Syed Ashraful Islam yesterday alleged that the BNP-Jamaat alliance was trying to push the country towards a civil war in a bid to save war criminals.

"The war crimes trial is going on and so is the conspiracy against it. In the name of hartal
... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ...
, they [the opposition alliance] are carrying out masked attacks. They want to push the country towards a civil war," he said.

The minister was talking to news hounds after placing wreaths at the Rayerbazar mass grave in the capital commemorating the martyred intellectuals on behalf of his party, the Awami League.

Party leaders Tofail Ahmed, Suranjit Sengupta, Matia Chowdhury, Mahbubul Alam Hanif, among others, accompanied him there.

Nine leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
and BNP are facing trials in two international crimes tribunals on charges of committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.

Terming Khaleda Zia
Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ...
"saviour of the war criminals", Syed Ashraf, also general secretary of ruling AL, alleged that the opposition leader was trying her best to stop the trials.

"But none will be able to do that. No matter how hard Khaleda Zia tries to save the war criminals, she won't succeed," said Ashraf, adding, "We are pledge-bound to the people and hence no power or whatsoever can foil the trial."

"We have heard that they are preparing, collecting weapons. They would not hesitate to use the weapons, if necessary, to foil the war crimes trials. They are getting ready for a mass killing," he said, urging people to remain as alert as the government is.

The trial was taking a little longer time for the sake of transparency and fairness, said Ashraf, hoping that the verdict delivery would start from this month.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Assad losing, must go as quickly as possible: France
[Al Ahram] Syrian leader Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
is losing the fight against rebel forces and must be made to leave as quickly as possible, French President Francois Hollande
...the Socialist president of La Belle France, and a fine job he's doing of it...
said Friday.
"On the ground, the war is now turning against Assad and we should set ourselves this objective -- make Assad leave as quickly as possible," Hollande said as he went into a meeting of EU leaders where the Syrian conflict will be discussed.

Hollande said La Belle France had been the first to recognise fully the recently formed Syrian opposition coalition and that most countries now do so.

The European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
so far has stopped short of full recognition although earlier this week EU foreign ministers met the leader of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces at talks in Brussels.

Some EU member states are cautious about extending full recognition to the National Coalition because of doubts over how representative it is and its democratic credentials.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  He goes to France, they are going to tax him 75%.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/15/2012 15:56 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Lal Masjid operation SC petitioned against formation of commission
[Dawn] A citizen on Thursday petitioned the Supreme Court of Pakistain to withdraw its decision of appointing a one-man commission on the causes of the 2007 military operation in Lal Masjid.
Most people would consider a "one-man commission" to be "an investigator."
Shahhid Orakzai in his petition contended that under its rules the apex court cannot appoint a fact-finding body in criminal matters.

On December 4, the Supreme Court appointed the commission consisting of Justice Shahzada Sheikh of the Federal Shariat Court. The commission was given 45 days to probe the causes that led to the festivities between security forces and the Lal Masjid people, the number and gender of those killed, whether the dead were identified and bodies handed to legal heirs and whether it was possible to fix responsibility against those behind the entire incident.

However,
facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable...
when Dawn approached legal experts to seek their opinions whether the petitioner was right in raising the question over formation of the commission, they expressed conflicting views.

Yasin Azad, a former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), said there was no harm or any legal hitch in the appointment of such a commission in criminal matters. Because the commission will point out who was responsible for the bloody operation, he said.

Senior lawyer Chaudhry Ramzan, who is also a member of the Pakistain Bar Council, said after the appointment of Dr Shoaib Suddle commission he did not think that a commission on criminal matters could not be appointed. The Suddle commission was formed to probe into the allegations of financial wrongdoing in a business deal between Dr Arsalan Iftikhar and property tycoon Malik Riaz.

Advocate Ahmed Raza Qasuri, however, observed that the petitioner was right since it was the first time in Pakistain's judicial history that the commission was appointed to investigate the incident in the criminal side which otherwise was a prerogative of the police and the FIA.

Another senior lawyer on the condition of anonymity also agreed that under the Commission of Inquiry Act 1956, only the federal government could appoint such a body in criminal matters. He referred to the commissions formed to probe the May 2, 2011, Abbottabad
... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden....
incident and the murder of journalist Saleem Shahzad.

Mr Orakzai in his petition argued that the 11-day-long armed encounter between a unit of the Special Services Group (SSG) and an armed band led by Ghazi Abdur Rashid and his brother Maulana Abdul Aziz was not a civil matter for which the court could form a commission.

He stated that the order of the Supreme Court was not binding on Justice Shahzado Sheikh, because it does not "enunciate a law or lay down a principle of law" as emphasised by Order 32 of the Supreme Court Rules 1980. He said the court under its rules cannot issue a commission like a magistrate or a sessions court.

Quoting several articles of the constitution, he emphasised the independence of the FSC, saying no judge thereof could be asked to do an assignment outside his oath.

He added that he was the first to move the apex court on the Lal Masjid standoff in June 2007 but his petition was not heard.

On the contrary, the court took up an "anonymous petition" on the subject when there was no provision under the Supreme Court Rules for that.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Bangladesh
Islamist parties threaten to call hartal for Dec 20
[Bangla Daily Star] Twelve like-minded Islamist parties yesterday threatened to enforce a hartal
... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ...
on Thursday if the left-leaning political parties do not withdraw their Tuesday's hartal.

The Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) and Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (BSD) on December 7 called a countrywide daylong hartal for December 18 [Tuesday] demanding ban on communal politics including that of the Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
, and quick disposal of the war crimes trials.

While paying tribute to the martyred intellectuals at Rayerbazar mass grave yesterday, the leaders of these two parties hoped that people would strongly response against Jamaat-e-Islami by making the hartal a success. They alleged that Jamaat was becoming desperate to foil the ongoing war crimes trial.

The Gonotantrik Bam Morcha also called a countrywide dawn-to-dusk shutdown for the same day [Tuesday] to realise their seven-point demand including that for stopping power, oil and gas price hike. The party yesterday held a procession and is also set to hold a rally today in front of the Jatiya Press Club in favour of the hartal.

Meanwhile,
...back at the hoedown, Bob finally got to dance with Sally...
Zafarullah Khan, member of the 12 like-minded Islamist parties, yesterday told The Daily Star that they would formally announce their dawn-to-dusk hartal for Thursday at a presser on Tuesday if the left parties do not withdraw their hartal.

Against such backdrop, the city dwellers are likely to suffer three hartals next week while Sunday is going to be a holiday for the Victory Day.

An organization named Gorbo Bangladesh Biplobi Dal called a half-day hartal in the capital for December 17 [Monday] demanding Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since 1981. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide...
's and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia
Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ...
's retirement from politics.

On Wednesday, spokespersons of the organization Shaheda Obaid and Kamrul Hasan announced the eight-hour hartal at a presser in Dhaka Reporters Unity.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Man Tries To Drown Wife In Dog Bowl After Fight Over Frozen Pizza
[Tampa.CBSLocal] Orange City police say a man tried to kill his wife by holding her head in a dog bowl full of water after they fought over pizza.

Police arrested Richard Watson, 47, after they received a violent disturbance report in an apartment.

According to the police report, Debra Watson started watching the "12-12-12" benefit concert while her husband was in another room and he joined her after his show was over.

The two then got into a fight about the frozen pizza that was cooked after Richard Watson complained the crust was "raw" and flung his dinner plate on the floor. Debra Watson also threw her plate on the floor in response.

Police say that is when Richard Watson tackled his wife, grabbed her head, and shoved her face into the dog's water bowl.

"She felt her life was going to end," Orange City Commander Jason Sampsell told the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

The paper reports that Debra was able to break free, but then her husband backed her against a corner and tried to strangle her.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wasn't this an "X Files" episode?
Posted by: Slitle Angoluling3666 || 12/15/2012 1:14 Comments || Top||

#2  In reality one of her high heels gave out and she sorta fell onto the water bowl.
The husband is a good kid and the couple's privacy should be respected.
</sarc>
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 12/15/2012 1:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Other than that, Wednesday night was mostly peaceful...
Posted by: badanov || 12/15/2012 2:15 Comments || Top||

#4  There are deeper problems with this relationship.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man || 12/15/2012 3:17 Comments || Top||

#5  Nothing to see here, just another case of Water Boarding Bowling.
Posted by: Au Auric || 12/15/2012 5:10 Comments || Top||

#6  Hide the kittie litter.
Posted by: Dino Shomomp7692 || 12/15/2012 13:26 Comments || Top||

#7  Dawn Hochsprung (the school Principle) was gunned down in Friday's massacre in Newtown. Board of Education chairwoman Debbie Liedlien says administrators were coming out of a meeting when the gunman forced his way into the school and (she) ran toward him.

Gun control freaks should take the rap for the murder of these little, innocent children. This could have been prevented at the start if the staff had concealed permits.
Posted by: Dino Shomomp7692 || 12/15/2012 13:55 Comments || Top||

#8  oops
Posted by: Dino Shomomp7692 || 12/15/2012 13:55 Comments || Top||

#9  Yet unconfirmed, but it has been reported that Ben Laden had three wives and vectored the SEALS in on his own position.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2012 15:50 Comments || Top||

#10  Next, expect calls for dog bowl regulation.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/15/2012 16:39 Comments || Top||

#11  flung his dinner plate on the floor. Debra Watson also threw her plate on the floor in response

Ima thinkrn "avocado or goldenrod shag carpet. Not recently raked"
Posted by: Frank G || 12/15/2012 17:11 Comments || Top||

#12  How low can you go? HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?
Posted by: KBK || 12/15/2012 17:45 Comments || Top||

#13  Ballgames on, wife commoderes the TV for that concert, then get served frozen frozen pizza.

If she had the volume turned up and was singing along, it may be tough to get a jury to convict.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/15/2012 18:00 Comments || Top||

#14  commoderes the TV? Ima offended myself.
Posted by: Frank G || 12/15/2012 18:29 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Clashes in Egypt on Eve of Divisive Referendum
[An Nahar] Stone-throwing festivities broke out Friday in the Egyptian city of Alexandria between Islamists and opposition protesters, on the eve of a highly charged referendum on a new constitution, witnesses and state media said.

Fifteen people were maimed, according to medics, and several cars set on fire in the violence in the Mediterranean city, Egypt's second largest.

State television showed at least one protester brandishing a sword.

Riot police quickly moved to separate the protesters, who clashed after a holy man urged worshipers to vote yes for the constitution.

Tensions are high over the staggered referendum, which is being held on this and the following Saturday, after weeks of protests and violence between rival camps in Cairo that killed eight people and injured hundreds last week.

Further rallies by both sides were taking place in Cairo on Friday.

A pro-constitution rally by the Moslem Brüderbund backing Islamist President Mohamed Morsi gathered more than 2,000 people, and separately, hundreds of Morsi's opponents demonstrated outside his palace.

The protests were modest in size compared with mass rallies in recent weeks by the opposition that forced Morsi to give up sweeping powers, and huge protests by Islamists to show that the president had supporters.

Morsi's Moslem Brüderbund and ultra-orthodox Salafist groups backing the draft charter have been campaigning for days for Egypt's 51 million voters to approve it.

A senior Islamist official involved in drafting the charter, Amr Darrag, branded opposition attacks against the document an "unjust campaign to paint a lying picture of the constitution."

Egypt's mainly secular opposition has criticized the draft charter as divisive
...politicians call things divisive when when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive, they're principled...
and a possible attempt by Islamists to introduce sharia-style law.

"We are confident that the Egyptian people will topple the Moslem Brüderbund's constitution," Amr Hamzawy, a leader of the opposition National Salvation Front, told a news conference.

"The National Salvation Front calls on people to flood into polling stations to say no" to the draft charter, another Front leader, Hamadeen Sabahi, said.

The Front was holding last-ditch rallies on Friday against the new constitution. It has said it could yet call a boycott if its "deep concern" over the referendum's fairness turns out to be founded.

The opposition took out half-page advertisements in major independent dailies describing the charter as "a constitution that divides Egypt."

The opposition -- which initially wanted the referendum postponed -- only started urging a "no" vote on Thursday.

"It's you who will pay the price if you vote 'yes.' 'No' to the constitution," said an online campaign advertisement by the opposition April 6 youth movement.

Morsi has ordered Egypt's military to help police maintain security until the results of the referendum are known. A total of 130,000 police and 120,000 soldiers will be deployed, interior ministry and military officials told Agence La Belle France Presse.

Polling in the referendum was staggered over a week because of a shortage of judges willing to provide the statutory supervision for the vote.

Voting will begin on Saturday in Cairo and Alexandria and in eight other provinces. The other half of the country will vote on December 22.

International watchdogs, including the U.N. human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
chief, and the United States and the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
, have expressed reservations about the draft because of loopholes that could be used to weaken human rights, the rights of women and the independence of judges.

Analysts said the proven ability of the Moslem Brüderbund to muster voters was likely -- but not certain -- to ensure that the draft constitution is passed.

If it is adopted, "it will exacerbate political tension and result in more acrimony," Hani Sabra, an Egypt specialist for the Eurasia Group, said in an evaluation note.

"The Brotherhood and Morsi believe that if the constitution is adopted, it represents a mandate to pursue their policies. However,
there's more than one way to skin a cat...
majority support does not translate into the bureaucracy falling in line. It will also not silence the opposition."
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian Protesters Slam U.S. Blacklisting of al-Nusra as Fighting Rocks Capital, North
[An Nahar] Thousands of Syrians erupted into the streets on Friday, criticizing Washington for blacklisting the rebel jihadist group Al-Nusra Front, as regime troops bombed southern districts of Damascus
...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
and festivities were reported around two military schools in the north of the country.

The protesters demonstrated under the slogan: "There is no terrorism in Syria except that of Assad."

Protesters in the Eastern Ghouta region, just outside Damascus and which has come under regular air raids by the regime army, held up a sign reading: "Thank you to all the 'terrorists' in Syria who are fighting Assad."

"We are all Al-Nusra Front," it said, in reference to the jihadist group blacklisted by Washington on Tuesday.

Lines of children and men linked arms and carried the three-starred flag of the revolution as they called for downfall of the regime in the street as shopkeepers looked on.

U.S. blacklisting of Syria's hardline Islamist Al-Nusra Front as a "terrorist organization" has drawn fierce criticism from rebels, opposition groups and activists, who have condemned the move as both ill-timed and ill-conceived.

The broad view is that the Salafist group is fighting courageously against Assad, whose ouster its members consider a religious duty, and has done nothing to warrant censure.

Washington blacklisted al-Nusra, which has claimed the majority of suicide kabooms that have rocked the country in recent months, warning that hard boyz could play no role in building the nation's future.

Protesters, meanwhile, were also vocal on social media networks like the Facebook.

On the Syrian Revolution 2011 Facebook page, a retrospective of the most powerful scenes of the 22-month anti-Assad uprising were shown in a video footage -- from the original protests in Daraa to the massacre in the town of Houla in May.

"From the famous honor Friday we demonstrated in all cities and towns, to make the freedom dream a reality," read the subtitles, set against a dramatic musical score, and referring to the first protest in Daraa on March 18 last year.

"When Western countries feel threatened ... they try to minimize our great revolution and describe some revolutionaries as terrorists," the video said, professing "we will not allow anyone to interfere in our internal issues."

In the northwestern town of Kfar Nabal, demonstrators rejected exile for Assad, demanding that he be put on trial in Syria, where more than 43,000 people have died since the revolt erupted in March 2011, according to activists.

Syrian activists also had a revolutionary message for the citizens of Damascus allies Russia and China: "Intelligent peoples governed by idiots, remove your tyrants!" read a banner held aloft in Kfar Nabal as a line of children cheered.

Meanwhile,
...back at the revival hall, the SWAT team had finally arrived...
regime troops bombed southern districts of Damascus while rebels and soldiers battled around two military schools in the north of the country, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"Several blasts rang out in Damascus as southern areas of the city were bombarded," said the Britannia-based group.

Nine rebels and eight soldiers were killed in heavy festivities near the School of Administrative Affairs, a military academy between Aleppo
...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins...
city and the town of Saraqeb to the southwest.

"Classes were suspended there several months ago after rebels seized much of the surrounding area," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence La Belle France Presse.

Just north of Aleppo, fighting broke out near another military academy, one of the largest in the country, said the watchdog, which relies on a countrywide network of activists and doctors in compiling its reports.

The cut-thoats, who have encircled the sprawling infantry school for three weeks, will nevertheless have to mobilize significant numbers of fighters to take on the 3,000 soldiers stationed there, Abdel Rahman said.

In the Tassil area of the southern province of Daraa, three non-combatants were killed and several maimed by artillery fire at dawn, the watchdog said.

Fighting also broke out in the northwestern province of Idlib around the military base at Wadi Daif, under siege by rebels since they seized the nearby town of Maaret al-Numan, which was hit by air raids on Friday.

The Observatory said at least 42 people -- 14 civilians, 20 rebels and eight soldiers -- had been killed nationwide on Friday.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Caribbean-Latin America
Outlook for Chavez Darkens, Doctors Say
[Online.WSJ] Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's cancer is most likely terminal given the disease's recurrences, and while the president may bounce back for periods, his health is increasingly at risk, say several leading cancer specialists not involved in the treatment.
I've always thought "mets" was synonymous with "goner."
Mr. Chavez is recovering from surgery in Cuba this week after the president said malignant cells reappeared for a third time in his abdomen. Venezuela's government hasn't disclosed what type of cancer he has or what the surgery was for. But it has described the more than six-hour operation as "complex and delicate" and said Mr. Chavez might not be back in Caracas in time for his Jan. 10 inauguration for a new term after 14 years in power.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I was wondering when you'd do that to that picture.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/15/2012 0:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Pining for the fjords.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/15/2012 8:49 Comments || Top||

#3  I think Ship noted that Simon Bolivar pegged out on a Dec 17th. I've got the 17th for when they announce Hoogo went out as well. He's prolly already dead
Posted by: Frank G || 12/15/2012 8:57 Comments || Top||

#4  It was, indeed, Shipman, Frank G.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2012 9:24 Comments || Top||

#5  Darkens?
Posted by: gorb || 12/15/2012 11:59 Comments || Top||

#6  Must suck to be dying and know that no one anywhere will mourn you.
Posted by: Unererong Spawn of the Pixies4293 || 12/15/2012 12:06 Comments || Top||

#7  Hugo should be comforted that he will pass on, leaving a legacy.......not a good one, but still a legacy.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/15/2012 12:19 Comments || Top||

#8  Sean Penn will mourn Hugo.
Posted by: Crazyhorse || 12/15/2012 12:21 Comments || Top||

#9  ...and Harry Belafonte.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/15/2012 13:28 Comments || Top||

#10  Gonna be a hell of a party in Bolivia, and on the anniversary.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/15/2012 15:04 Comments || Top||

#11  Show him the photo of the 14m bronze of him seated on the horse and whisper to him that he can just....let go!
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2012 15:25 Comments || Top||

#12  Hell that SOB is gonna be back in time for the January 10th inauguration, he's crazy perverse. It will be fun to see if it's televised tho. And I will note his days of 7 hour Cadenas are over.

Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2012 16:04 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Ansar al-Sharia sets up shop in Mali
[Magharebia] Malian Islamists last Sunday (December 9th) announced the creation of their own "Ansar al-Sharia
...a Yemeni Islamist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends...
" group in Gao, the largest city in northern Mali.

Most of the new group's leaders hail from the Barabiche tribe in Timbuktu and are close to Ansar al-Din official front man Sanad Ould Bouamama.

According to Mauritania's al-Akhbar, the announcement raises the number of gangs in the region known as Azawad to five: Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb's Sahara emirate, the Movement for Tawhid and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), al-Qaeda's El Moulethemine Brigade, Ansar al-Din and now Ansar al-Sharia.

Creating such a group at this time came as no surprise, since the terrorist groups and allied movements believe that Ansar al-Sharia, whose influence has been growing in the Maghreb, represents a real solution for the northern Mali crisis.

According to Djazair News, new intelligence reports have confirmed that al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) leaders in northern Mali are exerting concerted efforts to establish links with Ansar al-Sharia in Libya so they can set up a base to hit Western interests in the region in response to calls for waging a war on terrorist groups in Mali.

The Daily Telegraph reported on December 4th that AQIM leaders "regularly travel to Ghat, a desert town in south-western Libya near the border with Niger".

"Their aim is to establish a foothold in Libya from which to launch attacks against Western targets, as well as gaining access to the large stockpiles of weapons -- including Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles -- that were looted by Libyan rebels during the fall of Colonel Moamer Qadaffy's regime at the end of last year," the paper reported.

"In return, AQIM is offering to provide Libyan Islamist groups with training and finance," The Telegraph added.

A number of weapons from Qadaffy's arsenal have made their way to Islamists in Algeria and Tunisia, Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki recently told World Today magazine.

At the same time, the leader of Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia called for waging jihad against those whom he described as enemies of religion in Tunisia.

Ansar al-Sharia first appeared in Yemen in April 2011, where the group was established by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The group is largely believed to have been created in response to the late Osama bin Laden
... who used to be alive but now he's not...
's request to rebrand al-Qaeda.

"The armed Islamist groups now take promotional names through which they seek to win the sympathy of general Mohammedan populations," explained Abdallah Ould El Nah, a researcher in security and defence affairs.

"Such gangs present themselves as supporters of Islam, whether as a religion or Sharia, although they are far away from its tolerant teachings and peaceful call," he added.

Ansar al-Sharia in northern Mali is just one part of an organization that is expanding virally. In addition to branches in Tunisia and Yemen, similar groups have sprung up in Morocco and Libya, where Ansar al-Sharia was blamed for the terror attack on the US consulate in Benghazi.

All of the groups share a common jihadist ideology, according to a document written by a Mauritanian salafist preacher and posted to online forums.

Abu Mondhar al-Chinguetti wrote last May that the new groups were based on certain principles, such as "opposition to democracy, jihadist salafist ideology, the dream of establishing Islamic emirates as per their own unilateral views, and attempts to impose restrictions on freedoms".
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


Africa Horn
Three Killed in Somali Capital Car Bomb
[An Nahar] A boom-mobile in the Somali capital killed three people and maimed several others in the latest attack in war-ravaged Mogadishu, police said Friday.

"The car went kaboom! while the driver was moving in it... three people were killed," said police officer Aden Mohammed, adding it was not clear if the driver had been targeted. "We are still investigating the blast."

No group immediately grabbed credit for the kaboom, but the al-Qaeda linked Shabaab gun-hung tough guys have conducted a series of guerrilla style attacks in the capital since pulling out of fixed positions there last year.

The gun-hung tough guys have vowed to topple President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud, who took office in September after being chosen by the country's new parliament, bringing an end to eight years of transitional rule.

An offensive led by the 17,00-strong African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
force alongside Somali forces has stripped the Shabaab of most of the towns they held.

But the Shabaab remain a potent threat, still controlling rural areas as well as carrying out guerrilla attacks -- including suicide kabooms -- in areas apparently under government control.

Some of the fighters have reportedly relocated to the Galgala region of the northern Golis mountains in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland
...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion...
region.

The Golis mountains, straddling the mostly non-existent border between the autonomous state of Puntland and self-declared independent Somaliland, are honeycombed with caves and difficult to access.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Mother of Nigerian Finance Minister Freed from Kidnappers
[An Nahar] The elderly mother of Nigeria's finance minister was on Friday freed from kidnappers after being kidnapped from her home in the country's south last weekend in a crime that shocked the country, police said.

Details of the release were unclear and there was no indication of whether a ransom was paid to free the 82-year-old Kamene Okonjo, whose daughter Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a high-profile minister and ex-World Bank managing director.

"She has been sprung," police front man Frank Mba told Agence La Belle France Presse. "She is in good health." He declined to provide further details other than to say that she was freed earlier Friday.

The minister's front man issued a statement confirming the release, but also without providing further details.

One local television station reported that the mother had been dropped off from a cycle of violence on Friday morning, but the information could not be immediately confirmed.

Kamene Okonjo was kidnapped Sunday at her home in Delta state in the country's Niger Delta region, where ransom kidnappings occur regularly.

Local media reported that a gang of gunnies went to the house -- locally called a "palace" due to her husband's position as a traditional ruler in the area -- in broad daylight in the afternoon.

When Kamene Okonjo, a professor, went outside to offer drinks to laborers carrying out work around the front gate, the gunnies emerged from hiding and seized her.

Some reports said one of the suspects went inside to steal her handbag. The victim's husband was said to have been away.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Most Dear Sir, my sainted mother is being held ransom. You have come to our attention as an honest intermediary. My mother means everything to me and muh clan. We are willing to pay you 10 percentum of the ransom as a sign of excellent faith.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2012 11:47 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Russia 'Has Not, Will Not' Change Syria Stance
[An Nahar] Russia said on Friday that it had not changed and would not change its controversial stance on Syria, after a top Russian diplomat said the defeat of the Syrian regime was possible.

"We have never changed our position (on Syria) and we never will," foreign ministry front man Alexander Lukashevich said.

Deputy Foreign Minister Bogdanov said earlier this week the Syrian regime "is losing more and more control" and it was not excluded that Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Supressor of the Damascenes...
could lose the conflict with the rebels.

The United States swiftly welcomed Bogdanov's comments, saying it appeared Moscow was "finally waking up to the reality."

Lukashevich retorted Friday that "we were never sleeping to begin with."

"Our position remains in effect," he told news hounds. "It is unchanged."

It is not clear if Bogdanov -- who is also the Kremlin's special envoy for the Middle East -- was aware that his remarks Thursday were on the record and would be reported by Russia's news agencies.

Russia has so far refused to turn against Assad's regime despite the conflict, which according to rights groups has killed 42,000 people since March last year.

It infuriated the West and anti-Assad Arab states by refusing to cut military and other ties with Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
established during the Soviet era with the president's father and predecessor Hafez Assad.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Thomas Eaglenton nods in understanding.

Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2012 15:41 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
TLC orders 'Best Funeral Ever' reality show
[Insidetv.EW] TLC is ready to put the "fun" back into funeral.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, for your entertainment pleasure, here's Episode One of 'Burying Grandmaw'!"
The network has ordered a special/backdoor pilot, Best Funeral Ever, that goes behind-the-scenes of a unconventional funeral parlor.
"As you can see, Barbara, we're embalming the old girl with bourbon..."
At the Golden Gate Funeral Home, Dallas-based funeral director John Beckwith, Jr. works with the families to create a central theme for a memorial and then throws a wild party.
Oh, when I die, bury me
In my high top Stetson hat;
Put a twenty-dollar gold piece on my watch chain
God'll know I died standin' pat.

Examples include a Christmas-inspired funeral complete with reindeer, elves and snow,
... as in "Jingle All the Way to the End"...
and a singer known for his famous rib sauce jingle remembered at a BBQ-themed funeral -- including live pigs, praise dancers, and a BBQ sauce fountain where loved ones dip a ceremonious rib to say goodbye.
I want six crap shooters for pall bearers.
Chorus girl to sing me a song.
Put a jazz band on my hearse wagon.
Raise Hell as I roll along.

"We're going to make these families extremely happy at the worst moments of their lives," Beckwith says.
"... and then extremely embarrassed for the rest of their lives..."

Roll out your rubber tired carriage,
Roll out your old time hat.
Twelve men going to the graveyard
And eleven coming back.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Reason No. 1028 I'm glad I got rid of the television.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/15/2012 0:14 Comments || Top||

#2  If only Steve Goodman had gotten his wish:


He said, "Give me a double header funeral in Wrigley Field
On some sunny weekend day (no lights)
Have the organ play the "National Anthem"
and then a little 'na, na, na, na, hey hey, hey, Goodbye'
Make six bullpen pitchers, carry my coffin
and six ground keepers clear my path
Have the umpires bark me out at every base
In all their holy wrath
Its a beautiful day for a funeral, Hey Ernie lets play two!
Somebody go get Jack Brickhouse to come back,
and conduct just one more interview
Have the Cubbies run right out into the middle of the field,
Have Keith Moreland drop a routine fly
Give everybody two bags of peanuts and a frosty malt
And I'll be ready to die

Build a big fire on home plate out of your Louisville Sluggers baseball bats,
And toss my coffin in
Let my ashes blow in a beautiful snow
From the prevailing 30 mile an hour southwest wind
When my last remains go flying over the left-field wall
Will bid the bleacher bums adieu
And I will come to my final resting place, out on Waveland Avenue
.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 12/15/2012 6:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Damn Eric, that's freaking beautiful.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2012 11:53 Comments || Top||

#4  Why do I get the feeling that someone at TLC was joking but nobody got it?
Posted by: gorb || 12/15/2012 12:04 Comments || Top||

#5  That was "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request," by the late Steve Goodman. He wrote it 12 years after he was diagnosed with leukemia, and 3 years before that killed him. He died 11 days before the Cubs made their first playoff series in ages. So, he wrote something other than "City of New Orleans."
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 12/15/2012 13:50 Comments || Top||

#6  So, he wrote something other than "City of New Orleans."


AND!
The most important song ever written.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2012 16:00 Comments || Top||

#7  this is close - for the Holiday Season
Posted by: Frank G || 12/15/2012 16:59 Comments || Top||

#8  Sniff, sniff, is there no one that will righteously say WTH???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/15/2012 21:19 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Yemeni Counterterrorism Forces Arrest Four Suspected Militants
[Yemen Post] The Yemeni counterterrorism unit has tossed in the calaboose
You have the right to remain silent...
four Al-Qaeda suspects who were believed to be involved in liquidations of military and security chiefs.

The arrests took place in the capital Sanaa amid a series of failed and successful plots to assassin key military and security chiefs in main cities including Sanaa.

In the past two days, suspected Al-Qaeda faceless myrmidons attacked two intelligence officers in Sanaa and in Hadramout
...the formerly independent Qu'aiti state and sultanate, annexed by Communist South Yemen in 1968, encompassing a region along the Gulf of Aden, extending eastwards to the borders of the Dhofar region of Oman. The people are called Hadhramis and speak Hadhrami Arabic. The city Tarimis estimated to contain the highest concentration of descendants of the Prophet Muhammad (PTUI) anywhere in the world, approximately seven in every square yard...
killing the latter.

The raid on the suspects' house had been planned several days ago and occurred two days ago after the failed liquidation attempt of the intelligence Captain in Sanaa.

The house is located in the Hadda area and the counterterrorism forces sized weapons and ammunition with the suspects.

Tens of Yemeni military and security officers, mostly intelligence officers, have been killed since the Yemeni army launched a US-backed offensive and drove Al-Qaeda faceless myrmidons out of their strongholds in the
south earlier this year.

The killings including those by suicide kabooms occurred in main cities including the capital Sanaa which has seen the deadliest ever suicide kabooms against military and security targets.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


China-Japan-Koreas
N. Korea Holds Mass Celebration of Rocket Launch
[An Nahar] Hundreds of thousands of North Korean soldiers and civilians rallied Friday in the center of Pyongyang for a mass celebration of the country's long-range rocket launch, state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
showed.

The huge crowd in Kim Il-Sung Square, standing in neat, organised ranks, applauded speeches by senior military, party and government officials hailing the success of Wednesday's launch and praising the country's young leader, Kim Jong-Un.

"This was achieved thanks to the Great Marshall Kim Jong-Un's endless loyalty, bravery and wisdom," said Jang Chol, president of the State Academy of Sciences.

The rally came hours after state media published a statement by Kim Jong-Un ordering more satellite launches in the future, despite the global outrage and U.N. condemnation triggered by Wednesday's launch.

North Korea says it placed a satellite in orbit for peaceful research, but critics say the launch amounted to a banned ballistic missile test that marked a major advance for the communist state's nuclear weapons program.

The U.N. Security Council held emergency talks on Wednesday after the North, already under international sanctions for nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, ignored pleas from friends and foes and went ahead with the launch.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth had turned a paler shade of blue. Star-A-Star had struck again...
South Korea's navy has retrieved debris from the first stage of the long-range rocket, which will be analyzed to determine its level of ballistic expertise, the defense ministry said Friday.

"This debris is expected to be an important piece of information in determining North Korea's rocket capability," said defense ministry front man Kim Min-Seok.

The section salvaged by the navy appears to be a fuel tank, inscribed with the name of the "Unha-3" rocket.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies


Caribbean-Latin America
Chavez Suffered 'Complications' but Recovering
[An Nahar] Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez experienced "complications," including bleeding,
"Cheez, nurse! Get a bucket! Quick!"
during his cancer surgery, but is showing positive signs of recovery, senior aides said Thursday.
"Doctor Kildare! Code Blue! Doctor Casey! Code Blue! Doctor Quincy, pick up the white courtesy phone...!"
During his treatment, 58-year-old Chavez had suffered "bleeding that required the adoption of corrective measures," Communications Minister Ernesto Villegas said in a television and radio address.
"Not that sponge, nurse! The big one, the rubber one!"
It was the first time Venezuelan officials had acknowledged complications in the six hours of surgery that Chavez underwent on Tuesday in Havana.
"No, really, he's fine... Mostly."
Chavez is undergoing "a progressive and favorable recovery," Villegas told the nation,
"He hasn't coded yet has he?... No, don't unplug that yet!"
warning that this "requires a precautionary time" due to "the complexity of the operation and also because of complications that arose."
"Do you think you can get it back in, doctor?"
"I can get it back in. I'm just not sure it'll stay."

Vice President Nicolas Maduro, the former foreign minister to whom Chavez bequeathed the reins of power before flying to Havana on Monday, also said that the president's condition was improving.
"No, no! He's breathing and everything! Mostly."
"In the last hours the process of recovery has evolved from stable to favorable," Maduro said, describing it as one of "progressive recovery."
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Classify as "Not dead yet" but close, the Devil's cheering.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/15/2012 8:33 Comments || Top||

#2  His chart says there's an odor of sulphur in his room.
Posted by: Grunter || 12/15/2012 9:22 Comments || Top||

#3  "Dr. McCoy on standby please....remember your line."
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 12/15/2012 11:02 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Bomb in southern Thailand injures six rangers
Six army and volunteer rangers were injured in an explosion and ensuing gunfight while on patrol in Narathiwat province yesterday morning. The bomb exploded while the rangers were traveling in an armored vehicle.

Sgt Abdulrahim, the unit leader, said that the armored vehicle's rear wheels became stuck in the blast crater after the bomb went off. He ordered his men to leave the vehicle and take cover. The rangers then engaged in a 15-minute gun battle with suspected terrorists militants who were hiding in roadside bushes. The attackers fled after back-up was called.

Investigators said the bomb was placed inside a gas cylinder. A 150-meter long wire was found linking the bomb to nearby bushes.

Meanwhile, Education Minister Phongthep Thepkanchana yesterday said that security measures for teachers will be extended to cover their homes, travel routes and schools. He said, teachers will need to inform officials in advance if they are leaving their protection zones, adding that security units will be deployed to schools on a case-by-base basis.
Posted by: ryuge || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Bangladesh
Jamaat acting secy general remanded
[Bangla Daily Star] A Dhaka court yesterday placed Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
acting secretary general Shafiqur Rahman on a four-day remand in a case filed under anti-terrorism act.

Metropolitan Magistrate M Saifur Rahman passed the order, rejecting the defendant's bail petition.

Sub-inspector Jahirul Islam of Hazaribagh Police Station, also the investigation officer of the case, produced the Jamaat leader before the court seeking 10 days' remand.

Police recovered 10 crude bombs from Shafiqur's Dhanmondi residence following information gleaned from the arrestee, said the IO in his petition.

Shafiqur's lawyers filed a bail petition.

After hearing, the court rejected the bail petition and granted four days' remand.

Rapid Action Battalion members incarcerated
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
Shafiqur on Thursday.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami

#1  "information gleaned.." what a quaint turn of a phrase.
Just how does one glean infromation? 12VDC applied to sensitive body parts?
#7 sap to the back of the head?
6" Craftsman pliers to the fingernails?

and finally, where will the RAB allow the "10 crude bombs" reside? Surely not beside the hallowed shutter gun.

too many questions and not one decamped miscreant....
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 12/15/2012 10:52 Comments || Top||

#2  USN, Ret., it is much to early in the morning to be so clever. Well done!
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2012 12:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Altho USN. Ret. is doing outstanding work interpreting the weirdness that is Bangla, I am forced to say he is messing up to hell the narrative that is always associated with the Bangladesh Police.

Pls, outline the action in a form OCC types like myself can deh understand.

to wit:

1: Shafiqur Rahman remanded
B: No bail for u
iii. Islam of Hazaribargh produced the defendend
iV. Crude booms discovered
funf. Lawyers file for a bail petition
110. Courts Reject
RAB. It was a dark an stormy nite under the upazila

Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2012 15:35 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Wadi Khaled Residents Fleeing Syrian Gunfire, Shells
[An Nahar] The residents of the Wadi Khaled town of al-Boqaiaa have fled their homes on Friday as a result of heavy shooting coming from the Syrian side, the National News Agency reported.

"Gunfire from light- and medium-caliber weapons and shells coming from Syria have landed in al-Boqaiaa area of Wadi Khaled near the Lebanese side of the Grand River," the NNA said.

Al-Boqaiaa residents said they have heard gunfire and shell kabooms on the Syrian side of the river, without knowing their source or motive.

"Some of our houses have been targeted," the residents said explaining the reasons that made them chose to flee their town.

Meanwhile,
...back at the pound, Zebulon finally found just the friend he'd been looking for...
OTV reported that gunnies in Wadi Khaled were shooting towards Syria and the Syrian army responded with fire.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Southeast Asia
MILF order fighters not to carry guns
Philippine Muslim rebel leaders who are negotiating a peace deal with the Philippine government ordered their fighters on Friday not to wear military uniforms or carry guns in public. The order to members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was sent out following complaints that rebels were increasingly visible, wearing their camouflage uniforms and carrying firearms.

MILF spokesman Von al-Haq said the rebel leadership had acted on the complaints immediately and issued orders to the 12,000-strong rebel force. He said, "This is in order to show that the officials and men of the Bangsamoro (Filipino Muslim) armed forces are disciplined."

MILF fighters were instructed to not wear uniforms in "public places", to not make "uncoordinated movements" carrying firearms, or set up checkpoints without orders from the leadership. Von al-Haq added that some MILF fighters had been wearing military gear and carrying weapons more openly since a "framework agreement" between the government and rebels in October.
Posted by: ryuge || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Moro Islamic Liberation Front



Who's in the News
31[untagged]
6Govt of Syria
4Salafists
4Arab Spring
4Jamaat-e-Islami
2al-Qaeda in Arabia
2Govt of Pakistan
1Commies
1East Turkestan Islamic Movement
1Govt of Sudan
1al-Qaeda in North Africa
1Moro Islamic Liberation Front
1al-Qaeda in Pakistan
1Muslim Brotherhood
1al-Shabaab
1Boko Haram

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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.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2012-12-15
  Tunisian Salafists attack bar, call drinkers 'infidels'
Fri 2012-12-14
  Coca-Cola resumes its production in Somalia
Thu 2012-12-13
  'Friends of Syria' Recognize Syrian Opposition
Wed 2012-12-12
  Syria Fires Scud Missiles at Insurgents, U.S. Says
Tue 2012-12-11
  North Korea 'launches long-range rocket'
Mon 2012-12-10
  Rebels Seize Chunk of Aleppo Base as Fighting Rages across Syria
Sun 2012-12-09
  Mohammad Ahmed Almansoor Drone-zapped in North Wazoo
Sat 2012-12-08
  Abu-Zaid al Kuwaiti Drone-zapped During Breakfast
Fri 2012-12-07
  6 dead, 450 injured in clashes at Egypt's presidential palace
Thu 2012-12-06
  Two Dead as Egypt Islamists Overrun Opposition Tents
Wed 2012-12-05
  Hundreds of thousands besiege Egypt's presidential palace to protest draft constitution
Tue 2012-12-04
  Syria FM Spokesman 'Defects' from Regime, Leaves Syria
Mon 2012-12-03
  Car bomb in Syria's Homs kills 15: State media
Sun 2012-12-02
  Mullah Nazir orders out Mehsud Taliban fighters
Sat 2012-12-01
  Egypt assembly approves new draft constitution

Better than the average link...



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