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19 Killed in Failed French Raid to Free Somalia Hostage
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
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-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Miss New York Mallory Hagan Named Miss America 2013
Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 01/13/2013 15:26 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan
Blast in Afghanistan kills seven civilians
An explosion killed seven Afghan villagers Sunday as they tried to pull bodies of insurgents killed from the rubble of a village mosque after a night raid by Nato and Afghan troops in the country’s east, officials said.

The predawn operation in Sayedabad district was aimed capturing a Taliban fighter who had holed up in a village, said Wardak province spokesman Shahidullah Shahid .

The international and Afghan forces captured their target but came under attack from insurgents, sparking a two-hour gunfight during which at least one large blast sounded, he said. Four insurgents were dead by the time fighting ended around 4:30 a.m.

Then at about 6 a.m. local time, residents came out to find the local mosque partly destroyed and started digging through the rubble to uncover bodies.

Shahid said something exploded as they dug, killing seven civilians.

He said the insurgents were wearing suicide vests, but it was not immediately clear if that caused the explosion.
Posted by: tipper || 01/13/2013 13:32 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336095 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Blast in Afghanistan kills seven civilians

At least we Americans are expected to believe that,

He said the insurgents were wearing suicide vests, but it was not immediately clear if that caused the explosion.

Rigght the KABOOMS were purely accidental.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/13/2013 17:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Eleven years since the overthrow of the Taliban and they still don't have OSHA.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/13/2013 22:17 Comments || Top||


Britain
'Mosque buster' claims he can stop 'tide of Islam'
A planning lawyer and self-styled 'mosque buster' claims he is fighting to stop the 'tide of Islam' by successfully blocking plans for the building of mosques across the UK.

Gavin Boby, once linked to the far-right English Defence League, boasts he has already blocked plans for 16 out of 17 mosques being built.

Under the banner of the Law and Freedom Foundation, he calls for people to come to him for free professional legal help in opposing mosque proposals and claims that Islam encourages paedophilia, sexual abuse and pimping.
Posted by: tipper || 01/13/2013 11:25 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336080 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Who you gonna call?
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/13/2013 11:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Who you gonna call?

Mr Mayor, do you have a minute/
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/13/2013 15:14 Comments || Top||

#3  "Tide"?
Flood tide, or ebb tide.

More like a trickle.

(Outside of their wild claims)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/13/2013 17:09 Comments || Top||

#4 
claims that Islam encourages paedophilia, sexual abuse and pimping


Hey, Mohammed did it!
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 01/13/2013 17:17 Comments || Top||

#5  Radical Islam + aligned have their own set of Lawyers as others do - They will use the Left's own strategy of PCorrect "Universalism = Stratification" against it, i.e. WHAT THE LEFT + PUBLIC GOVT. HAS DONE FOR OTHERS, IT CAN DO FOR ISLAM + SHARIA.

"DOUBLE-STANDARDS" FOR WOMEN + MINORITIES, ETAL. I.e. THE REPRESSED + OPPRESSED IN SOCIETY = NO ONE OR GOVT. HAS ANY REASON TO PREVENT
"PEACEFUL" LEGAL/FORMAL SHARIA IN THE US-WEST.

The Left can't complain because its their own argument or standard - WHY SHOULD SECULAR LEFTISTS-SOCIALISTS BE HYPOCRITICAL + N-O-T HELP A FELLOW OR COMRADELY SOCIALIST JUST BECAUSE HE OR SHE IS A MUSLIM = ISLAMO/THEO-SOCIALIST???

DOES NOT "SECULARISM" = NO FAVORITES = NO CHOOSING OF ONE OVER THE OTHER(S), CORRECT???

To paraph "RAISING ARIZONA' = "OKAY-Y-Y THEN"!

The only difference is that where the Left + Politicos are too politically "smart" = "chicken little"? to be held accountable or responsible, THE ISLAMISTS + MUSLIMS, etc. WILL BE OPEN ABOUT IT - GOTTA GIVE RESPECT TO THE ISLAMISTS + MUSLIMS FOR THAT.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/13/2013 18:35 Comments || Top||

#6  Iff the Lefties refuse, THEY WILL BE BEHEADED OR OTHERWISE EXECUTED FOR LYING TO ISLAM = ALLAH!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/13/2013 18:36 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Something To Kill And Die For In Iraq
[Strategy Page]
Posted by: tipper || 01/13/2013 11:21 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under:

#1  While al Qaeda still considers Iraq a major battleground, al Qaeda does not have the resources it had seven years ago. Back then, al Qaeda had over 30,000 active members, now it has less than 2,000. Back then Iraq was the major front for al Qaeda and over a hundred volunteers (most for suicide bomb missions) entered Iraq (usually from Syria) each month. Now only one or two volunteers come in each month, and usually not via Syria. More al Qaeda members leave Iraq each month, to Syria mainly, as well as Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, Africa and other places where al Qaeda groups still survive.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/13/2013 14:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Lemmings looking for cliffs?
Posted by: Water Modem || 01/13/2013 15:30 Comments || Top||

#3  I guess the Brotherhood looks like the strong horse these days.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/13/2013 15:32 Comments || Top||

#4  The Quran says Kill, so kill yourself and get Immediate entry into Paradise, (I won'r stop you)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/13/2013 16:56 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistan roadside bomb 'kills 14 soldiers'
At least 14 Pakistani soldiers were killed and 25 others injured Sunday when a roadside bomb hit a military convoy in a lawless tribal area bordering Afghanistan, officials said.

The improvised explosive device struck the convoy in Dosali village in the troubled North Waziristan tribal district, a notorious stronghold of Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked militants, a senior military official said.

"At least 14 soldiers embraced martyrdom and 25 others were wounded in an IED (attack)," he said about the bombing which was confirmed by local security officials.

All the soldiers killed were in one truck and those injured were in vehicles behind it, he added.

Local residents said military helicopter gunships had reached the scene after the attack. Nobody immediately claimed responsibility but Taliban militants frequently attack security forces in the area.

The seven northwestern tribal districts are rife with homegrown insurgents as well as Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked operatives.

The Al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network in North Waziristan, blamed for some of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan, is one of the thorniest issues in relations between Islamabad and Washington.
Posted by: tipper || 01/13/2013 11:05 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Musta been the Juice of Djinns. The Pak Taliban wouldn't do that
Posted by: Frank G || 01/13/2013 13:33 Comments || Top||

#2  "or"
Posted by: Frank G || 01/13/2013 13:34 Comments || Top||

#3  Will Pakistani Army Liaison officers be pulled out of AFG? Will the US Gov't be required to apologize and make monetary restitution ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/13/2013 13:36 Comments || Top||

#4  More likely Frontier Constabulary (it commonly gets referred to as 'army') or second-line troops.

Since no US drones were involved and the area is a "notorious stronghold", I doubt the Pak army can push the blame onto the USG; that would take moving the attacks a few more miles westward. No doubt the ISI will be a little more on its toes next time.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/13/2013 17:13 Comments || Top||


Africa North
MEMRI: Morsi in 2010: No to Negotiations with the Blood-Sucking, Warmongering "Descendants of Apes and Pigs"
Posted by: tipper || 01/13/2013 06:10 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Considering Memri is an Uncultured Babboon, I thank you.

(Limited, we don't want the Babboons to get Uppity)

And any Babboon descendants. (If any)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/13/2013 16:46 Comments || Top||


Europe
Criticizing Islam considered national security threat
Spanish authorities threaten to deport Christian to certain death for speaking out
Posted by: tipper || 01/13/2013 05:52 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under:

#1  America must be Hell for them.

Too bad.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/13/2013 16:48 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
EU 'to propose' peace plan after Israel vote
The European Union is drawing up a detailed new plan to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, and expects to present it after this month's Israeli general election, Yediot Aharonot reported Sunday.

Citing diplomatic sources in Jerusalem, Israel's top-selling daily said the plan was intended to "bring about the establishment of a Palestinian state on the basis of the 1967 lines with east Jerusalem as its capital."
Hasn't that ship sailed?
The plan will include "clear timetables for the completion of the negotiations on all the core issues in the course of 2013."
Timetables being the preferred way to hammer the Israelis, since they are the ones who are supposed to cave whenever the negotiations reach the 'last minute'...
The newspaper said the plan is expected to be presented around March, to give time for the formation of a new Israeli government after the general election on January 22.
How generous of them...
The newspaper said the plan "apparently will also include a demand to freeze all construction in the settlements."
Any demands on the Paleos? Like for example a freeze on importing Fajr rockets?
The report said the British and French foreign ministries are sponsoring the initiative, which is also backed by Germany and could be adopted by the full EU.

"There's a lot in the works behind the scenes," the newspaper quoted high-ranking Israeli political officials as saying.

"The Europeans don't have the capability to force an agreement on us, but they definitely may embarrass themselves us," they added. "It is reasonable to assume that the Palestinians will accept a document of that sort, but Israel will be hard put to do so. That's going to paint us into a corner."
Posted by: tipper || 01/13/2013 05:36 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Among other things Europeans have forgotten is, "what goes around, comes around".
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/13/2013 13:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Among other things the Europeans have forgotten is that they want to buy natural gas, and maybe oil, from the Israelis, replacing untrustworthy Russian sources, before they freeze in the dark after shutting down their nuclear power plants. Also, they really want partnerships with Israeli technology companies.

But give up bullying the Juices? Never!!!
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/13/2013 14:47 Comments || Top||

#3  No doubt the Palestinians will rocket to the top of the technology world just as soon as the Juices stop oppressing them.

I mean, the signs are all there, no?
Posted by: lotp || 01/13/2013 17:18 Comments || Top||

#4  at least modern Emergency Podiatry Methods
Posted by: Frank G || 01/13/2013 18:23 Comments || Top||

#5  Fully expect that Israel will listen to the EU-weenies as much as they listened the the
WH-weenie.
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 01/13/2013 21:49 Comments || Top||

#6  IIRC Israel has a "peace plan" - its called *********** the Too-Many-Headaches-for-Aspirin "Two-State Solution" ["Two Govts, One Land/Israel"] + helping the Paleos take over or dominate Jordan vee the anti-Paleo ruling Hashemites.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/13/2013 23:51 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Britain assists operations in Mali
Britain is to transport foreign troops and equipment to Mali amid efforts to halt an advance by rebels, it has been revealed.

The help was agreed in a phone call between David Cameron and President Francois Hollande, after France sent in forces to support the Malian government.

Downing Street stressed that no UK troops would engage in combat operations in the country, but two transport planes are expected to be deployed within 24-48 hours.

"The Prime Minister spoke to President Hollande this evening to discuss the deteriorating situation in Mali and how the UK can support French military assistance provided to the Malian Government to contain rebel and extremist groups in the north of the country," a spokeswoman said. "The Prime Minister has agreed that the UK will provide logistical military assistance to help transport foreign troops and equipment quickly to Mali.

"We will not be deploying any British personnel in a combat role. They also agreed that the peacekeeping mission from West African countries needs to be strongly supported by countries in the region and deployed as quickly as possible. Both leaders agreed that the situation in Mali poses a real threat to international security given terrorist activity there."
Posted by: tipper || 01/13/2013 05:32 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336094 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Both the UK + USA allegedly gave physical support to France as per failed French-led Commando raid [French DGSE] in Somalia to rescue French hostages.

IMO NOT A GOOD SIGN OR 2013 Ne YEAR START FOR THE BAMMER AS PER CHINA-VS-JAPAN OVER THE SENKAKUS/DAOYUS IN NE ASIA???

UK PM Cameron, but NOT the US' POTUS Bammer [yet?], is now repor coming fire in Britain ...

* TOPIX > [Daily Mail.UK] CAMERON ACCUSED OF PUTTING BRITAIN AT RISK OF TERROR ATTACK AFTER AGREEING TO HELP FRENCH FIGHT AL-QAEDA MILITANTS.

* RELATED SAME > FRENCH MISCALULATES REBEL FIREPOWER IN FAILED SOMALIA HOSTAGE RAID.

* RELATED SAME > US ADMITS ROLE IN FRENCH FAILED HOSTAGE RESCUE.

* LUCIANNE > OBAMA AUTHORIZED US PARTICIPATION IN BOTCHED FRENCH SOMALIA MISSION [raid].

And so it begins ...
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/13/2013 23:44 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
"It can't happen here."
h/t Instapundit
The Second Amendment is obsolete, some say. The idea that the United States could ever turn tyrannical is pure paranoia, some say.

Well, let's look at that.

Rounding up people and sending them to concentration camps (whether called "reservations" or "relocation centers"). Check. (Treatment of Native Americans. Japanese-American "Relocation Centers" during World War II).

Illegal medical experiments involving infecting people with diseases, not treating them, and observing the effects done on people without their knowledge or consent. Check. (Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment--and particularly interesting how that was "explained" to the victims as they were getting free health care from the US Government.)

Arbitrary searches of American citizens' households aimed at the seizure of property without either probable cause or any kind of warrant. Check. (post-Katrina gun Confiscation)

Laws passed allowing the indefinite detention of American Citizens without due process of law. Check. (NDAA 2012)

American citizens going about their daily business being stopped and searched again without probable cause or any kind of warrant (or even the "reasonably articulable suspicion" for a "Terry Stop"). Check. (TSA, not just at Airports, but at bus terminals, rail and subway terminals, highways, even High School Proms.)

"Can't happen here?" It has and is happening here.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/13/2013 05:11 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336083 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Some might preferred a walled community in Idaho where the 2nd Amendment is strongly adhered to: Link. One has to be able to shoot straight and make 7 out of 10 hits at 100 yards with iron sights.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/13/2013 10:46 Comments || Top||

#2  "Unfortunately for America and those who believe that our nation is immune from reverting into a totalitarian dictatorship, one of the key aspects of the original 1948 legislation, also known as the Smith-Mundt Act then, has now been swept aside by both political parties as a rider on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2013. The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) issued a gleeful and innocent sounding press release on January 3rd which stated in part:




The defense authorization bill that the President signed last night includes a provision that reduces restrictions on the dissemination of materials within the United States that were originally intended for audiences overseas. This means that news and information programs produced by BBG journalists for people in more than 100 countries can also be made available for broadcast within the United States; many already are available worldwide via the Internet. The provision was originally known as the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act when it was first introduced in Congress in 2010 and re-introduced last year."
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 01/13/2013 12:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Does the fancy wording PROHIBIT BBC from reporting it?

If not, Good.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/13/2013 16:50 Comments || Top||

#4  AFAIS the US is intent on anti-Constitutionally surrendering sovereign Power-n-Authority to the future OWG + OWG NAU, but widout haven't having to ask the American People or Electorate iff they want OWG, NAU, Socialism or even to legally or popularly amend the US Constitution.

Everyone about talking about bring foreign workers to CONUS to takeover the jobs from AMericans + US Corporations - NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT BRINGING US WORKERS TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES TO WORK.

Americans will have few to no jobs or $$$, but yet under OWG + OWG NAU Americans [interim?] the USA are still expected to dominate + payout scarce $$$ to support the quality-of-life of other sovereign? countries.

AMERICANS = NO JOBS OR $$$ WHETHER ON THE LEFT, CENTER, RIGHT, FAR OR "ULTRAS", OR INDEPENDENT.

Iff the People or Electorate are lucky, they'll be asked circa 10-15 years or more down the road after OWG + OWG NAU, etc. is PDeniably already in place. IOW, THE PEOPLE OR ELECTORATE HAVE TO SUFFER FOR 10-15 YEARS OR MORE BECAUSE OUR GOVTCRITTERS DON'T WANNA LOSE THEIR JOBS OR BE HANGED FROM THE NEAREST HIGH TREE, FOR DECEPTION = MISREPRESENTATION, MANIPULATION, + VIOLATING THE US CONSTITUTION.

Alas, History says that economic chaos or anarchy isn't enuff by itself - thusly IMO the real sign of any "Civil War II" occurring in the US will be in 2014 iff US State-local Govts vote to formally secede from the Federal Union of States as back in 1860 + 1861, as extended from what occurs this year in 2013 vee the US-World economy + IRAN, CHINA espec CHINA [NE Asia = East Asian military conflict? Limited to Full Nuclear Confrontation].

Lest we fergit, 1990's CLINTONISM + OWG-NWO > "THE USA MUST BE RESTRAINED OR CONTROLLED" = THE US MUST ACCEPT OWG GLOBALISM + SOCIALISM [Commie-Socialist World Order = CWO-SWO] OR THE US WILL BE DESTROYED".

lEST WE FERGIT II, SAME > "THE US-N-ONLY-THE-US MUST 'ABSORB' OR 'TOLERATE' A MAJOR TERROR OR "ROGUE" NUCLEAR STRIKE, + N-O-T RESPOND TO SAME WID OVERWHELMING MILITARY OR NUCLEAR FORCE".

Our Mainstream "SACRED NATIONAL COMMUNISM", as perverted + corrupted by "Arrogant Fascist Capitalist Male Brute" GOP-Rightists. IOW, POST-COLD WAR 1990'S WASHINGTON = USA WAS A DE FACTO COMMUNIST GOVT + COUNTRY, JUST WID "FASCIST" = "LIMITED COMMUNIST" = NATIONAL SOCIALIST OR ANTI-GLOBALIST SOCIALIST/LIBERAL COMMUNIST DISSENTERS.

Iff the above was not a recipe for Martial Law, Authoritarianism-Totalitarianism, + despotic SOcialism in America = Amerika, I don't know what is.

GEE WHIZ, WEREN'T OUR POLITICOS BACK IN THE 1990'S NICE FOR N-O-T TELLING AMERICANS THE US IS ALREADY SSSSSSSSHHHHHH ....CCCCCCCCCCC A COMMUNIST-SOCIALIST COUNTRY, "JOB DESCRIPTION" + "REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY" NOTWITHSTANDING.

D *** NG IT, its only been a mere 12 years going on 13 going on ... since POTUS Billary!

The US is ...
> Communist
> Leftist-Socialist
> "Globalist"
> Anti-Sovereign or soon will be - OWG NAU 2015.
> "Birther-ist" - OWG AMerika led by National + OWG Leaders whom may have little to no ties or allegiance to the OWG Mighty USSA = OWG Weak USRoA [USRoNA] Global SSR.
> NO GUNS-N-NO-FREEDOMS, or soon won't have any.

OWG + OWG NAU 2015 [interim?] = SSSSHHH...CCCCCC MORE SOCIALISM, NOT LESS. Iff Amerikans were complaining before, theirs + US State-Local Govts' pecking order just got much Much M-U-C-H MMMMUUUUUUCCCCCHHHHHH LOWER, N-O-T HIGHER.

All dats missing is "SOLYENT GREEN IS PEOPLE"!

Oh wait, NASA-JPL wants to recycle human + other waste into something edible for Space Travel - OOOOOOOOPPPPPSSSSSSIES, MY BAD.

But I digress ...
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/13/2013 19:48 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Krauthammer: The meaning of Hagel
Smart man, that Charles Krauthammer.
Posted by: tipper || 01/13/2013 02:37 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
Boundaries of the permissible
"I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it."

— Col. Nathan Jessep to Lt. Daniel Kaffee

"A Few Good Men" (1992)
Posted by: tipper || 01/13/2013 02:33 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336079 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey goes further: Khalid Sheik Mohammed "broke like a dam" under harsh techniques, including waterboarding, and his "torrent of information" included "the nickname of a trusted courier of bin Laden," perhaps the one who is central to the movie's narrative.

I'm not as much concerned with the military aspects of the operation as I am the political. But then, the movie and this shocking, Hollywood orchestrated 're-heat and serve' waterboarding controversy should be sufficient to re-focus my political focus and questions.....if only I would go see the movie, which I will not.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/13/2013 3:28 Comments || Top||

#2  I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the actual blanket that I provide, and then demands a better blanket.
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/13/2013 8:20 Comments || Top||


Chuck Hagel Joins the Palestine Firsters
Posted by: tipper || 01/13/2013 01:21 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336083 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What do you mean 'joins'?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/13/2013 14:12 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
As depth of betrayal sinks in, followers of Al Gore feel confused and misled
Posted by: tipper || 01/13/2013 01:11 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336084 views] Top|| File under:

#1  there are lots of other celeb enviros to worship

Posted by: lord garth || 01/13/2013 7:14 Comments || Top||

#2  The dazed and confused have trouble with their global warming icon? The Jonestown People's Temple syndrome--just the Koolade is missing. Ah, what can go wrong with global warming and socialism? Never mind; just a rhetorical question.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/13/2013 10:54 Comments || Top||

#3  Are we supposed to be sympathetic?
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 01/13/2013 10:56 Comments || Top||

#4  Greenism is Economic spiked "Koolaid".
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/13/2013 10:57 Comments || Top||

#5  Its called being so very wrong, not the oops left the milk out wrong, but people getting hurt wrong. Could have woke up when he come on as a sex offender, but y'all thought you were the line chef when you were merely eggs the whole time. Teach others the folly of worshiping men and consider that there are other personalities taking you for easy marks.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/13/2013 11:54 Comments || Top||

#6  Jeez, noble lefties suckered...AGAIN!
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/13/2013 12:13 Comments || Top||

#7  Can I point and laugh now, or would doing so only harden their denial and make them double their efforts?
Posted by: gorb || 01/13/2013 13:17 Comments || Top||

#8  They'll find another god. They always do...
Posted by: Steve White || 01/13/2013 13:24 Comments || Top||

#9  Obama was a contender for awhile. Has that changed recently?
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/13/2013 14:03 Comments || Top||

#10  The wailing and lamentations of believers are music to my ears.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/13/2013 14:05 Comments || Top||

#11  "Obama was a contender for awhile. Has that changed recently?"

I think that changed with their first (smaller) paycheck this year, JohnQ. :-D
Posted by: Barbara || 01/13/2013 14:06 Comments || Top||

#12 
Posted by: Frank G || 01/13/2013 14:49 Comments || Top||

#13  Finaly figured Him out, did you?

He's in for the MONEY, not the fame.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/13/2013 16:58 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Riot breaks out at housing assistance event in Metro Detroit
The good news is that Barky has another four years in the White House.

And contraceptives are free, so there's that...
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336084 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Section VIII? When did they start using WWII military terminology to describe public housing?
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/13/2013 10:41 Comments || Top||

#2  It's because you gotta be crazy to live in Detroit public housing.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/13/2013 12:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Correct me iff I'm wrong, but I'm a'guessin that Detroit's City Fathers have the Houses, but NOT the Federal $$$ as per Section 8???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/13/2013 23:59 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Damascus Hit by Clashes after Key Rebel Gain, Says NGO
[An Nahar] The outskirts of the Syrian capital were rocked by festivities early on Saturday a day after rebels seized a key regime airbase in the north, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Britannia-based watchdog said two children and two men were killed when Mleha just southeast 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...
was bombarded, and that two rebels battling forces loyal to Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Lord of the Baath...
were also killed there.

"Regime forces used warplanes to bombard the area between Mleha and Jaramana on Saturday a day after rebels assaulted an air force security building there," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

Mleha's outskirts are next to Jaramana, a regime-held majority Christian and Druze suburb, some of whose residents have struggled to remain neutral in the country's spiraling conflict.

"Many people from Jaramana were maimed in the air raid on the outskirts," a resident of the district who identified herself as Mary told AFP by Internet.

"On the streets and on Facebook pages, even people who have long defended the regime are saying they've had enough."

Saturday's violence came a day after at least 86 people were killed across Syria, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of activists and medics on the ground to compile its reports.

It gave a a preliminary toll of at least 22 people were killed nationwide on Saturday.

Among Friday's casualties were nine rebels, eight soldiers and two regime cut-throats killed when bully boyz overran the key Taftanaz air base in northwestern Syria, in one of their most important military gains to date.

Capturing Taftanaz, from which regime forces launched deadly helicopter gunship sorties, eases the pressure on rebels who already control vast swathes of Syria's north and east.

Government forces managed to evacuate most of the 60 helicopters deployed there, leaving behind 20 that are no longer serviceable, the Observatory said.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336079 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  "On the streets and on Facebook pages, even people who have long defended the regime are saying they've had enough."
I say it looks like broccoli and I say to Hell with it.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/13/2013 7:09 Comments || Top||

#2  They've lost Facebook?!?! Z. O. M. G. WTF?
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/13/2013 22:20 Comments || Top||


Foreign Fighters Seek Islamic State In Post-Assad Syria
[Maan] Huddled around a fire in a bombed-out building in Aleppo, foreign jihadists say they are fighting for a radical Islamic state in Syria - whether local rebels trying to topple Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Scourge of Qusayr...
like it or not.

Among their fellow revolutionaries and civilians, these foreigners draw both respect for their iron discipline and fear that if Assad falls, they may turn on former allies to complete the struggle for an Islamic caliphate.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336076 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Can we have a surprise metter?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/13/2013 14:01 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Morsi opponents attacked at presidential palace in Cairo
At least 14 people were injured Saturday when unknown assailants
Who, oh who could they be...
attacked opponents of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi who were camping outside the presidential palace in Cairo, health officials said, dpa reported.

Around 30 unmasked attackers threw petrol bombs at the protesters' tents and fired pellets in the air outside the palace in the eastern Cairo quarter of Heliopolis, said witnesses. The injured included seven police officers who were on duty near the palace, the Interior Ministry said.
Sorry boy, friendly fire...
The state-run newspaper al-Ahram, citing a security official, said police were intensifying efforts to identify and arrest the assailants.
"Any of youse guys see a bunch of polic ... er, assailants with petrol bombs?"
"Nope, not a one."
"Hokay, thanks!"
Morsi had left the palace before the attack, added al-Ahram, quoting a presidential source.
Roasted flesh makes him nauseous...
The protesters have camped out near the palace for more than a month now, decrying a constitution drafted by an Islamist-dominated constituent assembly and Morsi's insistence to put it up for a referendum.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under:

#1  last week was another bad one for the EGYPTIAN pound. It lost about 5% in value vs the dollar.

The official rate is now 1 E pound = 15 cent.
The unofficial rate is probably more like 12 cents.

Back in 1990 or so, the E pound was about 1 dollar.
Posted by: lord garth || 01/13/2013 10:13 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Cannon Found Loaded with Powder, Ball
[An Nahar] An 18th century cannon was found loaded with gun powder and a cannon ball Friday during a routine cleaning at the Central Park Conservancy.

Residual gun powder was spotted after a piece of rust was removed from the cannon, exposing the cannon ball, New York City Police said. Authorities were summoned to remove the gun powder and make the cannon safe for public display. The cannon came from a British Royal Navy Ship, the HMS Hussar, circa 1763 to 1780.

"We silenced British cannon fire in 1776 and we don't want to hear it again in Central Park," NYPD front man Paul Browne said.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's Bloomberg's fault.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 01/13/2013 0:10 Comments || Top||

#2  We silenced British cannon fire in 1776 and we don't want to hear it again in Central Park,"

Bull shit. Cannon fire in fucking New York City was only halted by the surrender of the city to the British, it was occupied until the end of the war, and a good portion of the city population left with the Redcoats.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/13/2013 7:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Well, that was a century ago so it's not relevant anymore.

/sarc off
Posted by: gorb || 01/13/2013 8:40 Comments || Top||

#4  They must've forgot to check the chamber when they removed the high capacity cannonball magazine clip.
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/13/2013 11:49 Comments || Top||

#5  I didn't realize the NYPD was so effective back then.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/13/2013 14:25 Comments || Top||

#6  and a good portion of the city population left with the Redcoats.

Judging by today's New York, a goodly portion of them done come back.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/13/2013 14:29 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian Intelligence Official 'Says He Has Defected'
[An Nahar] A man identifying himself as a senior foreign intelligence official has announced his defection from the ranks of the Syrian regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
The Scourge of Hama...
in a video statement posted on the Internet.

"I, Jumaa Farraj Jassem, head of Section 30 of the foreign service of the General Intelligence Directorate, announce my defection from this criminal regime, as I join the ranks of this blessed revolution," said the man.

AFP was unable to verify the authenticity of the video, which was posted on Friday.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336074 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  History shows defectors are not treated kindly after hostilities end. Whoever wins will not trust them. They will likely be killed, officially or unofficially, by either side. He'd be better off to move to Argentina or such, if he stole enough money.
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/13/2013 8:08 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Malik terms Qadri's march as "suicide attack on democracy"
[Dawn] 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 Saturday said that Dr Tahirul Qadri's long march was nothing but a "blanket mach" and a "suicide kaboom on democracy," DawnNews reported.

Speaking to media representatives after offering condolences to Sharif brothers over the demise of Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
's younger brother, he reiterated that there were "confirmed intelligence reports" of terrorism threats for the long march.

Malik questioned financial assistance for the march. "Where is he (Qadri) getting funds for the long march from? Who is behind all this? What are the purposes behind holding the march?," asked the minister, adding that Dr Qadri should himself answer all these questions, otherwise, he said the FIA holds the right to investigate and find out itself.

He said the Jan 14 march is a conspiracy to delay the upcoming general elections in the country and vowed to fail all efforts of derailing the democratic process.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Senate, the partisans of Honorius went for their knives and the partisans of Stilicho went for the doors...
the minister also chaired a high level meeting in Islamabad to review law and order situation and security arrangements for the Jan 14 long march proposed by Tehrik-e-Minhajul Koran (TMQ) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri.

The minister approved the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) evolved by CCPO Lahore for security arrangements in buses, said a blurb issued here.

During the meeting it was pointed out by the Police representatives of KP and Punjab that as per credible intelligence information Dr Tahirul Qadri and his long march is under imminent threat of attack by banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) and other terrorist groups.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


MQM pledges support for Hazara Shia protest
[Dawn] The Muttahida Qaumi Movement
...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead...
(MQM) on Saturday pledged support for the sit-in protest by the Hazara Shia community in Quetta, calling on the federal and Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
governments to accept the legitimate demands of the grieving relatives of victims of Thursday's blasts in the city.

Hundreds of people belonging to the Hazara Shia community were staging a sit-in on Alamdar Road, refusing to bury the dead till the army takes control of Quetta.

The corpse count from the three blasts on Thursday -- two targeting Hazara Shias claimed by the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ...
(LeJ) -- has risen to 104.

In telephonic conversations with Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and Federal 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 Saturday, MQM chief Altaf Hussain condemned the 'continued apathy' of the Balochistan government despite protests by the Hazara community in Quetta and their refusal to bury the bodies of the blast victims.

Hussain said that the Hazara community was being repeatedly massacred in Quetta, however no protection was being provided to the persecuted minority. He also protested against the fact that no prominent official from the government had visited Alamdar Road to express their solidarity with the victims.

The MQM chief urged the PM and interior minister to immediately take notice of the legitimate demands of the demonstrators, and to make arrangements for the burials of the victims.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Senate, Odius Sepulcher rashly called for war against the Visigoths...
deputy convener of the MQM's Rabita Committee, Farooq Sattar spoke to the chairman of the Hazara Qaumi Jirga, Haji Abdul Qayyum Hazara, and expressed his party's solidarity with the relatives of the victims, and the MQM's support of the protesting members of the community.

MQM is the largest political party in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
and an ally of the ruling Pakistain People's Party (PPP) coalition in the National Assembly.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336065 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Qadri refuses to meet Malik Riaz; persists with long march
[Dawn] In a theatrical twist of events, Tehrik-e-Minhajul Koran (TMQ) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri on Saturday evening refused to meet the top leadership of PML-Q because controversial property tycoon Malik Riaz came along with them to woo him to cancel the Jan 14 long march.

Qadri later decided to hold the meeting with Chaudhry brothers when Riaz announced to leave the venue.

Malik Riaz along with Pakistain Mohammedan League-Quaid leaders, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, had arrived at Qadri's residence to try to convince him to delay or cancel the protest.

Speaking to media representatives later, Qadri said that there is an impression that Malik Riaz is used to 'purchase people' and said that, "no one in the world can buy even his shoe."

Qadri categorically refused to postpone his protest and said his long march could not be purchased. He reaffirmed his resolve three times that the march would be carried out at any cost, adding that Malik Riaz was not a stakeholder.

Commenting on terrorist threats for his long march, Qadri said that threat of any terror attack could be decreased by 75 per cent if only 'two individuals' were sent to prison. He refused to name the persons.

Speaking to news hounds, Elahi clarified that they had brought Malik Riaz with them as his 'speedy wisdom' had previously worked under this sort of circumstances.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336063 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Blast near ANP leader Shakeel Omarzai's convoy; 12 injured
[Dawn] CHARSADDA: A kaboom occurred near a convoy of Awami National Party (ANP) leader and member of provincial assembly (MPA) Shakeel Bashir Omarzai in the Charsadda district's Omarzai tehsil on Saturday.

The incident took place near Hari Chand Road in Khan Ghari village of the tehsil.

Twelve people, including Shakeel Omarzai, his father and former MPA Bashir Omarzai and three police personnel who were part of Shakeel's security detail were maimed in the blast.

District Coordination Officer Zafar Ali Shah confirmed that 12 people were maimed in the attack, adding that none had sustained life-threatening injuries.

Some of the injured were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital, Charsadda, whereas the remaining injured were transported to the Lady Reading Hospital, Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
The blast was caused by a remote-controlled device, police sources said, adding that it was followed by heavy gunfire in the area.

The blast occurred when the convoy was returning from a local court where Bashir Omarzai had appeared for a hearing.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336073 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  "ANP is the largest Pashtun party in Pakistan. Although its popular vote center or influence lies in the Pashtun dominated areas in and around Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, it has also gained considerable amount of momentum in the Balochistan and Sindh provinces of Pakistan. The ANP party enjoys friendly ties with neighboring Afghanistan and India, including the United States." --Wikipedia

Looks like more people volunteering to be drone zap targets.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 01/13/2013 15:15 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Gold price continue rise at Iran's free market
Each Azadi gold coin was sold at the price of 12.97 million rials at the free market on Friday. It is while the price of gold coin stood at 12.95 million rials at Iran's free market on Thursday.
The sanctions continue to do something right...
Euro was also sold at 42,900 rials at Iran's free market on Friday, while US dollar was presented at 32,950 rials. US Dollar and euro were traded at the prices of 32,850 and 42,950, respectively on Thursday.

The government has set the 28,500 rials price for the free market but the brokers refuse to trade dollar at the mentioned price.

Dollar price had reached 40,000 rials in October but by inauguration of the foreign exchange center the prices fell to 27,000 rials.

Critics believe that Iranian government is not controlling the price of dollar at the free market on purpose. They claim that the government wants to take advantage of selling dollar at the free market in order to compensate its lack of budget.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336078 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The price here in the USA for Gold has fallen from this past Summer. We now have gold at about $1658/oz. or so. If you go into any ubiquitous WE BUY GOLD shop which have sprung up all over the place you meet people who will exchange your Gold and other precious metals into cash or checks right there as soon as you lay your gold on the scale and hold out your hand. Avoid the people who pay with checks. ( think people, c’mon )Take the Cash. Go through your mother’s jewelry box if you are still at home and over 18. Feed your crack habit with what you get from breaking into homes or muggings. Sell your aunt’s boyfriends engagement ring, there are so many stories, you will hear them all. The kiddies need new shoes.
The man behind the desk will pass a very powerful magnet over your offering. Its a ritual from start to finish, genuflect and have a chair.. They will look for marks on the jewelry with a jeweler’s loupe, these people are subtle and slicker than pawnshops and more savvy and untrusting. Technological paranoia is rampant, there are buzz locks on the door and guns you can’t see, little cameras in the ceiling too probably. (Oh no? Well, then, you tell me.) A digital scale and small bottles of various acids that reveal all. Fakes won’t be accepted and neither will electroplate.
But the cash is good. Obama and Al Gore are both in the pantheon that brought us to all this. Next stop the grocery store or the Liquor shop...depending on what you deem important. Food stamps and 47 million people looking for a job.
Oh, Iran? They have their problems also. But here in the USA? You won’t see anybody asking for your vote who isn’t wearing a Rolex. That, and hock shops and WE BUY GOLD on every corner. It ain’t Mayberry anymore.
By the way, do you own a gun?
Posted by: Threater Flusoper9823 || 01/13/2013 3:24 Comments || Top||

#2  As a person who been several times to Iranian recently, the sanctions are hurting badly the people but the Iranian government does not care.

People in Iran will pay way above the unofficial rate just to get something of value.



Posted by: Bernard Z || 01/13/2013 5:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Technological paranoia is rampant

I am forced by circumstance to agree for once.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/13/2013 7:18 Comments || Top||

#4  Jewelry shops have buzz lock doors and other security features as well. This is normal for a business with easily portable, high value stock.

Do stop hyperventilating, Threater Flusoper9823.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/13/2013 14:51 Comments || Top||


Economy
Time Inc. Will Lay Off 700 After 5% Ad Decline
[BUSINESSINSIDER] Time Warner's
...contributed $624,618 to the 2008 Obama campaign...
Time Inc. will lay off up to 700 staffers out of just under 8,000 total as the publisher's new chief struggles to transform famous titles and massive market share into a digital profit center.

The staff cuts will come sometime in the first quarter, said a person familiar with the company's plans, and will be across the board -- not just focused on editorial, where staffing has already been hard hit.

A Time Warner front man declined comment.

Time Inc. revenue fell 6% for the nine months ended in September to $2.5 billion. Profit dropped 14% to $220 million. During that period, it dominated 21.5% of overall domestic magazine advertising.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336087 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I never Intend to advertise in the Times, and won't now so you can finish going OUT OF BUSINESS right now, and good riddance.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/13/2013 9:31 Comments || Top||

#2  still has about 3.5M subscribers

they may hold out long enough to put Obama on the cover a few more times (so far he has been on the cover 7 times)
Posted by: lord garth || 01/13/2013 9:50 Comments || Top||

#3  Time Inc. will lay off up to 700 staffers

Another definition for "good start".
Posted by: gorb || 01/13/2013 12:51 Comments || Top||

#4  "2013 Person(s) of the Year - Our creditors"
Posted by: Frank G || 01/13/2013 13:10 Comments || Top||

#5  LOL not funny Frank. Seriously, LOL, not funny, these are LOL real hahahahhaha peoples, with dawgs and Mercedes just like, well just like the other folks that work at Time.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/13/2013 13:40 Comments || Top||

#6  "still has about 3.5M subscribers"

How many of those are free "subscriptions" to doctors' offices, lg? :-(
Posted by: Barbara || 01/13/2013 13:58 Comments || Top||

#7  A great many "Free" Of course.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/13/2013 17:04 Comments || Top||

#8  They can't go out of business soon enough for me.
Posted by: DarthVader || 01/13/2013 20:27 Comments || Top||

#9  Hard to peddle left wing propaganda when it can readily be had for free.
Posted by: Thrater Thrineger7877 || 01/13/2013 22:45 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistani Taliban say they will not attack Pak army
Taqiyyah or hudna?
[Dawn] The Pak Taliban said on Saturday they would cease their occasional attacks on the Mighty Pak Army in the Taliban stronghold of North Wazoo and concentrate attacks on NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
forces in Afghanistan instead
Remembering always that the Afghan Taliban are a wholly owned subsidiary of the ISI...
-- an announcement possibly designed to head off divisions in the insurgency.

The ceasefire does not apply to the rest of the country, where there are often fierce festivities between the Taliban and security services.

Thousands of Pak soldiers are stationed in North Waziristan, a tribal region along the Afghan border.

There have been occasional festivities there between the soldiers and Taliban, but a leaflet issued by Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud ordered those to stop. A senior commander confirmed the pamphlet's veracity.

"O Mujahideen brothers! As you know, the Pak and Afghan Taliban under the leadership of Mullah Mohammad Omar Mujahid are engaged in jihad against the crusaders and infidels,
That is to say, the American-led Coalition...
and are supporters of each others in the ongoing holy war," the pamphlet said.

"The enemy does not want to see us united and disciplined against them and are trying to divide us," it continued.

The Taliban have formed alliances with a number of other jihad boy groups in North Waziristan who are violently opposed to the Pak state.

DIVISIONS IN THE INSURGENCY

Some Taliban capos are divided over whether the Pak state or NATO forces are their top target.

Those divisions were laid bare in November by an attempted suicide kaboom on Mullah Nazir, a top jihad boy commander from the Wazir tribe in South Waziristan. He had signed a peace deal with the Mighty Pak Army but supported attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan.

The attack was widely believed to be the work of rival Taliban capos, and the Wazir tribe ordered Hakimullah Mehsud's tribe out of their lands.

Mullah Nazir was killed in a drone strike this month and it is unclear if his successor will continue his policies, or what relationship the Wazir tribe will have with the Mehsud tribe.

Mighty Pak Army officials have also told Rooters that there are tensions between Mehsud and his deputy. The two men recently appeared together in a video to deny the allegations.

The decision to halt attacks against the Mighty Pak Army in North Waziristan could signal the Pak Taliban's intention to help the Afghan Taliban fight US-led NATO forces in the neighbouring country, or focus more closely on attacking Western targets inside Pakistain.

Or it could be more specifically aimed at unifying local factions. Mehsud's statement specifically addressed both imported muscle and local Taliban.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Sectarian killings in Balochistan: DNA samples of Mastung victims lost
[Dawn] DNA identification and burial of the 19 city residents killed by sectarian faceless myrmidons in Mastung on new year's day has been further delayed as the samples collected from the bodies got lost.

Two local hospitals collected fresh samples on Friday and the process of identification would take a week or 10 days for the bodies to be handed to legal heirs for burial.

Officials said that samples of the relatives of the dead were collected for DNA matching soon after the bodies arrived in the garrison city and kept in mortuaries -- 16 in the Holy Family Hospital (HFH) and three in the DHQ Hospital.

How the samples collected from the bodies in Mastung got lost on their way to the Khan Research Laboratory (KRL), nobody knows.

But it became known when relatives got restive over the long wait for the bodies of their dear ones and pestered the hospitals and the KRL for information and were made to shuttle between the two.

Eventually some relatives, with influence, came to know from the KRL that no samples reached them from Mastung for DNA testing to match them with those of the relatives.

An HFH official approached by Dawn said the Mastung administration had to send the samples directly to KRL and blamed it for misplacing them.

When the KRL confirmed that it had not received the samples from Mastung, the HFH sought the help of Rawalpindi district coordination officer.

"DCO Saqib Zafar contacted the Mastung administration which said, in ambiguous terms, that it had dispatched the samples on January 1," said the HFH official.

With the relatives getting impatient and angry, he said the DCO decided to collect fresh samples from the bodies kept in the mortuaries of two hospitals to get the identification job done.

A doctor who had access to the bodies of the victims of sectarian madness confided to Dawn that they were charred beyond recognition.

"We collected tissues from the bodies and dispatched them to the laboratory. Nail is the ideal sample for DNA testing but flesh can also be used for this purpose. The whole process will take approximately 10 days," he said.

"It was negligent of the local hospitals not to re-check whether the laboratory had received the samples from the bodies of the dead before sending the samples of the relatives," he remarked.

HFH Medical Superintendent Dr Arshad Sabir said the bodies would be handed to legal heirs "as soon as we receive the DNA report from the laboratory".

Meanwhile,
...back at the palazzo, Count Guido had escaped from his bonds and overwhelmed his guard using the bludgeon the faithful Filomena had smuggled to him in the loaf of bread...
the agony of relatives of the victims persists. "It has been a painful, long wait for my grieving family. What a sorrow it is for everyone in our house waiting for the body of our dear mother to arrive," moaned Mazhar Ali whose family lives in Hasanabad.

She was among the 20 people killed in the terrorist attack on the pilgrims bus heading to Iran.

Like many, Mazhar accused the government of not just failing to provide protection to pilgrims but even delivering the dead for burial.

"My family members have not the heart to do any other work until the burial rituals are completed. We love our mother. She was not an abandoned person. The thought is unbearable for me," he said, with tears welling up in his eyes.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336085 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Uh, uh, DEAD SHIAS TELL NO TALES???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/13/2013 23:55 Comments || Top||


Uncle turns out to be nephew's kidnapper
[Dawn] An uncle turned out to be the main culprit who had kidnapped his two-and-a-half-years old nephew for ransom on January 6.

A special cell constituted for handling kidnapping for ransom cases safely recovered the boy, jugged
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
the three accused and recovered the ransom money of Rs0.2 million from them on Friday.

CIA SP Umar Virk told news hounds that Khalid Hussain had his nephew Ali Ahmad, son of Shahzad Ahmad of Samanabad, kidnapped when he went to a nearby shop to buy chocolates along with his another uncle Mobeen Ahmad.

He said the kidnappers later demanded Rs0.3 million from the family for the release of the boy and threatened to kill him if the matter was reported to the police.

Samanabad police had registered a kidnapping for ransom case.

Mr Virk said that a special cell against kidnapping for ransom in charge Inspector Tariq Ilyas Kiyani traced the calls of kidnappers and found the role of the kidnapped boy's uncle Khalid Hussain in the case.

He said the victim's father settled the amount of Rs200,000 for the release of his son with kidnappers when they contacted him on telephone.

On the direction of kidnappers, the parents along with the ransom amount reached the Katchi Kothi stop in Raiwind where culprits handed over the child to them.

After the recovery of the child, the police separately interrogated Khadim Hussain and Mobeen Ahmad.

Mr Virk said that Khadim Hussain confessed that he was a gambler and had conceived the plan to kidnap his nephew in connivance with his friends Muhammad Javed and Muhammad Salman.

On the information provided by Khadim, the police also arrested his accomplices.

Mr Virk said another similar incident took place in the Naulakha cop shoppe jurisdiction when Mehmood Alam of Faisalabad
...formerly known as Lyallpur, the third largest metropolis in Pakistain, the second largest in Punjab after Lahore. It is named after some Arab because the Paks didn't have anybody notable of their own to name it after...
visited his in-laws in Township in Lahore along with his wife and children on Dec 23, 2012.

After leaving the family at his in-laws, Alam reached the railway station at 4.30pm to catch a train for Faisalabad.

In the meanwhile, his wife received a call from a kidnapper who demanded Rs2 million for his release.

Lahore CCPO Aslam Tareen also assigned the task to the special cell for the recovery of Alam.

The cell traced the call records of Mehmood Alam and came to know that 'unidentified' kidnappers were hiding in Rawalpindi.

A special team led by Tariq Kiyani reached Rawalpindi and 'recovered' Alam from a hotel in the Saddar area.

During interrogation, Alam told police that he had been jobless for many years and had staged the drama of his kidnap for ransom to get money from his in-laws.

Investigation DIG Chaudhry Shafique Ahmad announced cash awards and commendation certificates for the police team.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336064 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
Obamacare's Other Shoe
John Kerry, and the Pentagon and Chuck Hagel
by Mark Steyn
Just because we deserve it, dear Reader. It's been a while since we indulged ourselves like this.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under:

#1  More like the hob-nailed boots of ObamaCare.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/13/2013 10:56 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Britney Spears Calls off Engagement
[An Nahar] U.S. pop veteran Britney Spears has called off her engagement to talent agent Jason Trawick after a one-year committed relationship, Hollywood media reported Saturday.

"Jason and I have decided to call off our engagement," Spears said in a statement published by today.com. "I'll always adore him and we will remain great friends."

Trawick is quoted as saying that despite the split, the two "will be close forever."

Spears, 31, and Trawick became engaged on Trawick's 40th birthday in December 2011. They began dating in 2009.

Spears has two sons, Preston, 7, and Jayden, 6, with her former husband Kevin Federline, from whom she divorced in 2006.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under:


Government
State removes violent games from rest stops
[BOSTONGLOBE] Something didn't feel right to ­Andrew and Tracey Hyams when they entered the rest stop in Charlton on the ­Massachusetts Turnpike on Christmas Eve with their 12-year-old son and saw another boy absorbed in an arcade game.

The youth was firing a machine gun replica at the screen, licking off simulated rounds with a rapid-fire rat-tat-tat that reverberated off the walls. "You could even hear it in the bathroom," Andrew Hyams, 58, of Newton, said in a telephone interview Thursday.
I've tagged this under "Tales of the Easily Offended," but I actually agree with the state action, probably for the "wrong" reasons. A highway rest stop is for going to the bathroom or taking a nap, maybe buying a cup of coffee or a snack. It's not for hanging around playing games, violent or otherwise. And I don't like violent video games because of 50 percent if everybody is below average, so is 50 percent of the violent games audience. I know lotsa people like to play them, but we have enough violence-fixated brats in this country.
Because the plaza is close to Newtown, Conn., Hyams said, a relative of one of the school shooting victims could have walked in and seen a player firing away, 10 days after the massacre that took the lives of 20 first-graders and six adults.

"People have the freedom to have whatever video games in their own homes that they want," Hyams said. "We were struck by walking into a [state-owned] rest stop within an hour's drive of Newtown and seeing and hearing a life-sized, mounted machine gun on a video game."

The couple felt that such games had no place in public rest stops, and the state Depart­ment of Transportation agreed. After receiving an ­e-mail from the Hyams, the Massachusetts agency removed nine violent games from service plazas in Charlton, Ludlow, Lee, and Beverly.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336088 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Killed one of their main Profit makers, the rest areas will Love you for this.

Those games are a sink hole for Quarters.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/13/2013 0:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Doubt it will be much of a problem in Illinois. Many of the rest stops were closed years ago and are now overgrown with weeds and brush. Couldn't afford to keep them open.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/13/2013 3:04 Comments || Top||

#3  I've been near driven to mass murder by certain pin-ball machines. XOX comes to mind as does FireBall and of course Jumbo. I hate Jumbo, I really hate it, Jumbo picked on me since I was 5 and I had to stand on a bucket to work the flippers. It's Satan in disguise.

If I had a Hammer, oh Lord send me a hammer or a big ass magnet.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/13/2013 7:49 Comments || Top||

#4  “We were struck by walking into a [state-owned] rest stop within an hour’s drive of Newtown and seeing and hearing a life-sized, mounted machine gun on a video game.”

After fuming about Video games at Rest Stops perhaps these folks can visit some Places where the phrase “struck by” takes on a whole new meaning. Coincidentally, they’re also about an hour’s drive from Newtown.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 01/13/2013 10:40 Comments || Top||

#5  #3 Ship - All of the old Rantburg regulars have always known that you were in thrall to the Dark Lord. But it's good to see you admit it. The first step on the road to recovery, etc., etc.
Posted by: PBMcL || 01/13/2013 11:33 Comments || Top||

#6  Heh...Try getting Mass DOT to act this fast if they screw up the credit card billing on your Fast Pass.
But for a futile PC gesture, they're on it like white on rice. The only thing that happens faster is the press release to the Globe...
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/13/2013 12:00 Comments || Top||

#7  Because the plaza is close to Newtown, Conn., Hyams said,

Yes, indeed - 96 miles from Charlton, MA to Newtown, CT is 'close' when it suits the purposes of the Boston Globe. Good job, copy desk!
Posted by: Raj || 01/13/2013 12:48 Comments || Top||

#8  I didn't realize you could stand on kids' graves from 96 miles away...
Posted by: Pappy || 01/13/2013 14:47 Comments || Top||

#9  First is the Arcade, next will be Internet Cafes + Personal Laptops.

These "violent" games, Contemporary or Retro, are mainly oriented towards Young, Adult, or Working-class Males, as are "Truck Stops" in general. + are key sources of revenue. It will be simialr even as per non-Gun/Weaponized SPORTS or GAMBLING GAMES.

MALE PSYCHOLOGY = THE LESS VIOLENT OR "HARD-HITTING" OR "REALISTIC" A GAME IS, THE MORE BORING IT IS.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/13/2013 23:01 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
After Karzai's visit to Washington, fears about U.S. withdrawal linger in Afghanistan
[Washington Post] When President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
left for Washington this week, some Afghans wondered what he would bring back. Their leader had a long list of demands, but he would be meeting with an American president whose top priority was a U.S. military withdrawal.

The meeting between the two leaders at the White House on Friday appears to have yielded progress on at least a few of the issues on Karzai's list -- a U.S. pullout from Afghan villages and a full handover of the country's military detention center at Bagram.

But neither Obama nor Karzai spoke concretely about the future size of the U.S. presence here after 2014, with Karzai saying, "Numbers are not going to make a difference to the situation in Afghanistan."

In Kabul, though, there's still great interest in that question, and some voiced disappointment Saturday that neither president offered clarity on an issue that weighs heavily on the minds of many Afghans.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336064 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria talks end in Geneva without solution
[Dawn] International envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said Friday that Russia seems as determined as the United States to end Syria's civil war, but that he doesn't expect a political solution to emerge anytime soon.

Brahimi, who is the joint UN-Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
envoy for Syria, spent the day at the United Nations
...what started out as a a diplomatic initiative, now trying to edge its way into legislative, judicial, and executive areas...
' European headquarters meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns.

"We are all very, very deeply aware of the immense suffering of the Syrian people, which has gone for far too long. We all stressed the need for a speedy end to the bloodshed, to the destruction and all forms of violence in Syria. We stressed again that in our view, there was no military solution to this conflict," Brahimi told news hounds.

But he acknowledged that "if you are asking me whether a solution is around the corner, I am not sure that is the case. What I am certain of is that there is an absolute necessity for people to continue to work for such a peaceful solution, and that it is the wider international community, especially members of the Security Council that can really create the opening that is necessary to start effectively solving the problem."

Brahimi's five hours of talks with Bogdanov and Burns on Friday ended without any apparent deal. It was Brahimi's second meeting in as many months with Bogdanov and Burns, who each left without making any public comments.

In December, Brahimi also met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another John C. Calhoun ...
to discuss Syria.

At the Security Council, the most powerful arm of the UN, Russia has joined China in blocking several resolutions aimed at pressuring Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
The Scourge of Hama...
, but Moscow says it is not propping up his regime.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Caribbean-Latin America
New plans to defend Falkland Islands
A series of military options are being actively considered as the war of words over the islands intensifies. It is understood that additional troops, another warship and extra RAF Typhoon combat aircraft could be dispatched to the region ahead of the March referendum on the Falkland Islands' future.

The options being proposed by planners at the Permanent Joint Headquarters in Northwood, north-west London are also said to include a "show of force" such as conducting naval exercises in the South Atlantic.

These could involve the deployment of the Royal Navy's Response Task Force Group, a flotilla comprising destroyers, a frigate, a submarine and commandos. Alternatives include deploying elements of the Army's 16 Air Assault Brigade -- the airborne task force which includes members of the Parachute Regiment -- which has just completed a series of demanding exercises in Spain preparing for "general war".
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336076 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If the Argies do somehow manage to take the islands the Brits will be hard-pressed to get them back.

True. It would be a lose-lose situation. The crater formerly known as Buenos Aires for the temporary loss of the Falklands.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/13/2013 7:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Evita Fernandez is boasting her way into a war they won't win, just to satisfy her machismo and mask her incompetence at governing
Posted by: Frank G || 01/13/2013 13:09 Comments || Top||

#3  I seen dis movie only it was a man in charge of Argentina and an Iron Lady in charge of Great Briton.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 01/13/2013 17:59 Comments || Top||

#4  I'm thinkin that England isn't quite as firm in the driver's seat this time. Almost no Navy and the RAF is a mere shell of itself. all the Eurofighters and F-35s aren't quite there yet, so Evita may be in a good spot to try this.
if Bammy decides to get involved he will probably want to fight Britain.
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 01/13/2013 21:56 Comments || Top||

#5  Some submarines could do some real damage near the naval bases, if they are on station early enough. Hope some are swimming about now.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/13/2013 23:24 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Oops! DiFi doesn't buy her domain name
And great fun is being had by those who beat her to it.
Posted by: Beavis || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Talks between govt, Hazara Shia protesters end inconclusively
That's because the only satisfactory outcome is that the nation is Shia-frei.
[Dawn] Negotiations aimed at convincing members of the Hazara Shia community to call off their protest ended inconclusively on Saturday after efforts by Governor Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
Nawab Zulfiqar Magsi and Federal Minister Syed Khursheed Shah.

Thousands of protesters have been braving chilly weather in Quetta to protest over killings of Hazara Shias in twin suicide kabooms on Alamdar road area of the city. In sub- zero temperature, women and kiddies spent Friday night to mourn the killings on the road, refusing to bury the bodies of the victims until the army takes control of the bustling provincial capital.

The big shots of Pakistain's federal and Balochistan government reached Quetta's Alamdar Road on Saturday for negotiations with Shia leaders after almost 25 hours of a continuing sit-in by thousands of Hazara Shia community members.

Speaking to news hounds after the talks, Khursheed Shah said that an important meeting has been convened in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
to discuss law and order situation in Balochistan on Sunday.

Shah further said that he has sought one day to meet the demands of protesters.

"We will continue our sit in until Quetta is handed over to Army," Syed Dawood Agha, the Chief of Balochistan Shia Conference had earlier said. Agha said that the provincial government and police had completely failed to provide protection to them.

The mourners have brought 86 bodies of victims of Alamdar road blast and blocked the road connecting main government offices with Quetta city. Women and children are also part of the protest.

"We have requested them to bury the dead bodies but they are not listening," Capital City Police Officer Quetta Zubair Mehmood said. He said the government had given an assurance to the family and friends of victims that the perpetraters would be brought to book.

The leaders of the newly formed Milli Yakjehti Council have refused to bury the dead bodies despite repeated requests made by Governor Balochistan Nawab Zulfiqar Magsi and the two federal ministers.

Markets and shops centers in the Hazara Shia dominated areas of Quetta are still closed.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336074 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Africa Horn
19 Killed in Failed French Raid to Free Somalia Hostage
[An Nahar] Two French soldiers died and 17 "terrorists" were killed in a failed bid to free a French hostage in southern Somalia from Islamists holding him since 2009, the French defense minister said Saturday.
Props to the French for trying, and condolences for the families and mates of the two soldiers.
The overnight operation was launched by La Belle France's elite DGSE secret service, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a statement, adding that the raid was sparked by the "intransigence of the forces of Evil who have refused to negotiate for three and a half years and were holding Denis Allex in inhuman conditions."

But the Shabaab bully boyz denied Le Drian's assertion that they had killed the hostage, a secret agent whose alias is Denis Allex, adding that they would decide his fate in two days and issuing a stern warning to Gay Paree.

Two French soldiers "bit the dust (and) 17 bad boyz were potted" in the battle, Le Drian said, offering the "most sincere condolences" to the dead soldiers' families and praising the men for their "courage and remarkable work".

He said the families of the dead soldiers had been informed.

A Shabaab statement said "in the end, it will be the French citizens who will inevitably taste the bitter consequences of their government's devil-may-care attitude towards hostages."

Sheikh Mohamed Abdallah, a local-Shabaab
... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
military commander, told AFP: "Mujahedeen fighters defeated the so-called commandos of the French government who tried to rescue a hostage, and they (the commandos) left the bodies of several of their own at the site of the attack."

Abdallah is the commander of Bulomarer, where the raid allegedly took place.

The Shabaab statement said the French carried away "several" of their dead.

"The helicopters attacked a house ... upon the assumption that Denis Allex was being held at that location, but owing to a fatal intelligence blunder, the rescue mission turned disastrously wrong.

"Several French soldiers were killed in the battle and many more were maimed before they fled from the scene of battle, leaving behind some military paraphernalia and even one of their comrades on the ground.

"The injured French soldier is now in the custody of the mujahedeen and Allex still remains safe and far from the location of the battle."

A Bulomarer resident, Idris Youssouf, told AFP: "We don't know exactly what happened because the attack took place at night, but this morning we saw several corpses including that of a white man.

"Three civilians were also killed in the shootout," he said.

The French secret agent was kidnapped in Somalia in July 2009 along with a colleague who was freed the following month.

Four military helicopters were used in the raid in Shabaab-controlled Bulomarer, some 110 kilometers (70 miles) south of the Somali capital Mogadishu, witnesses said.

The Al-Qaeda linked Shabaab lost their main strongholds in the south and center of the country following an offensive launched in mid-2011 by an African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
force, but they still control some rural areas.

Allex is among nine kidnapped Frenchies in Africa of whom at least six are held by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

He appeared in a video in June 2010 appealing to Gay Paree to drop its support for the hapless Somali government.

He last appeared in another video in October looking gaunt and calling on French President Francois Hollande
...the Socialist president of La Belle France, and a fine job he's doing of it...
to work for his release.

Somalia has not had an effective central government since 1991. However,
alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk...
a new administration took office last year, ending eight years of transitional rule by a corruption-riddled government.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336106 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Africa North
Italian Consul in Libya Escapes Gun Attack
[An Nahar] Italia's consul to Benghazi in eastern Libya escaped unscathed after an attack on his bullet-proof car in the city on Saturday, Italian news agency ANSA reported, quoting local security sources.

The car in which the consul, Guido De Sanctis, was travelling was shot at when it stopped at a crossroads, but no one was injured, the report said.

The consul was returning home after work and the car was hit by several bullets, which were reportedly fired from another car and aimed directly at where the consul and his driver were sitting.

The incident comes four months after US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the city in an attack on the U.S. mission there.

Italia is Libya's former colonial ruler and enjoyed close ties with slain dictator Muammar Qadaffy
... who had more funny outfits than Louis XIV...
, though it then joined NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants...
-led efforts to unseat him.

Italia is also the biggest foreign investor in Libya's energy industry and has been trying to build up relations with the new government in recent months.

De Sanctis, 51, has been in Benghazi since the start of the uprising against Qadaffy in February 2011.

He is due to leave for a new posting in Qatar next week.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336065 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Hey Guido! Is that a rock chip in your windscreen, or has somebody been shoot'n at ya ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/13/2013 13:52 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Olmert slams Netanyahu for Iran spending
Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert slammed current Premier Benjamin Netanyahu for wasting billions on "crazy adventures" against Iran that never materialized, in an interview that appeared Saturday, dpa reported.

The comments come just weeks ahead of national elections, which will partially be decided on whether Israelis feel that Netanyahu's hardline stance on Iran has made them more or less safe.

Olmert said the 11 billion shekels (2.9 billion dollars) spent on preparing possible attacks upon Iran - which Israel says is building a nuclear bomb, possibly for use against Israel - was, in the end, "used for crazy adventures that never became reality and never will," said Olmert, according to the Times of Israel.
Easy to be a nay-sayer when nothing bad happened to Israel. If something bad had happened, Olmert would be hammering Bibi for that. Olmert had his chance and as I recall, he didn't do too much with it except feather his own pockets.
The administration "set the world into a state of fear for a year and, in the end, did nothing," said Olmert, looking back at a year during which Israel had more than once threatened an attack against Iran to knock out its nuclear capabilities.

Netanyahu's campaign lashed out, noting that Olmert, who has been found guilty of breach of trust charges, was "the last person who should moralize about Prime Minister Netanyahu," noting that the current premier had strengthened Israel in the face of global threats.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sore loser.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/13/2013 14:00 Comments || Top||

#2  naive, corrupt, and ineffective is no way to go through life, son
Posted by: Frank G || 01/13/2013 14:44 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Central Africa Deal Moves Forward after PM Dismissal
[An Nahar] Central African President Francois Bozize on Saturday sacked his prime minister to comply with the terms of a ceasefire deal reached with a rebel coalition during peace talks in Libreville.

Faustin Archange Touadera was dismissed as prime minister in a decree read out on public radio and should be replaced by a member of the opposition.

Opposition sources have touted a possible candidate to replace Touadera as lawyer Nicolas Tiangaye, who led the opposition's delegation to the Libreville talks. But another opposition lawyer, Henri Pouzere, was also in the running.

The appointment marks the first political step towards resolving a conflict which began on December 10 when Seleka rebels launched an armed offensive, sweeping from the lawless north of the Central African Republic southwards before stopping short of the impoverished nation's capital Bangui.

Three days of tough negotiations mediated by the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) -- whose base is the Gabonese capital Libreville -- on Friday produced an accord signed by the rebels, the ruling group and the democratic opposition.

As well as calling for an immediate ceasefire, the accord establishes a one-year transition period before general elections are held.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336063 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
IED blast kills child, leaves one injured in Quetta
[Dawn] A blast killed a child and injured another person in Brewery road area of Quetta on Saturday night, police said.

Wazir Khan Nasar, the Deputy Inspector General Police told Dawn.Com that the Islamic fascisti planted an improvised bomb near an internet cafe in Brewery road area.

"The blast killed a passerby child and injured another person," he said. Nasar said the blast caused damage to the internet cafe and other nearby shops.

Brewery road is almost five km west of Alamdar road, where thousands of Shia Hazaras are currently staging a sit-in to protest deaths of their community members.

The incident has happened a day after a series of blasts that killed 97 people in Quetta.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  Was that the Same "Child" Killed around three times before now?

You're not supposed to know that.

Well tough, I do.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/13/2013 17:37 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
NASA: 'Doomsday Asteroid' Poses no Threat
[An Nahar] A space rock popularly dubbed the "doomsday asteroid" because of fears it could smash into Earth a couple of decades from now poses no risk, NASA said after new observations of the object.

Asteroid 99942 Apophis was scanned by optical telescopes and deep-space radars as it made a flyby this week, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said in a press release.

Named after the god of evil and darkness in Egyptian mythology, Apophis sparked a scare when it was first detected in 2004.

Early calculations suggested a 2.7-percent probability of collision in 2029, the highest ever for a detected asteroid, but this risk was soon discarded after further observations.

A question mark, though, remained over an impact for April 13, 2036, which NASA initially put at one in 45,000 and then lowered to one in 250,000.

The new observations show that even this remote probability can be excluded, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) said in the statement Thursday.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336101 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sorry, but I'll trust God + my ancestors + NOstradamus + Madonna before I rely on "agree to disagree" waffling Perts.

Iff its NOT an impact ala APOPHIS which causes Guam, Earth-observed lunar explosions in the future then it could be VOLCANISM, which given the status of the Moon's core + its general composition it could only be vee the SUN.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/13/2013 1:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Further info -

"That possibility has dropped to one in a million that this object will hit in 2036, so we can breathe a sigh of relief,"
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/13/2013 7:49 Comments || Top||

#3  How can it be both a "doomsday asteroid" and not pose a risk?
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/13/2013 10:36 Comments || Top||

#4  "Innocuous Asteroid" doesn't sell papers...
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/13/2013 11:45 Comments || Top||

#5  Frankly I'm going with Joe here.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/13/2013 13:38 Comments || Top||

#6  SO...does anything happen if it hits the moon in 2036 instead... the conspiracy minded need to know!
Posted by: Water Modem || 01/13/2013 15:26 Comments || Top||

#7  *uploads coordinates for Mecca*
Posted by: Frank G || 01/13/2013 15:36 Comments || Top||

#8  APOPHIS 2029/30-2036 remains a viable threat because our super-PCorrect, "agree to disagree" future OWG Govts-Perts can't agree on "the Math" or effects.

ADVANTAGE = GOD + GHOSTS + NOSTRADAMUS + MADONNA.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/13/2013 18:40 Comments || Top||

#9  CHINESE MILITARY FORUM [old] > IS OBAMA A NUT? NO DEATH STAR FOR AMERICA | [PCMag.com] WHITE HOUSE: SORRY, WE'RE NOT CREATING A DEATH STAR, starting in 2016 or any other time.

'Tis would cost US$850.00Quadrillion, IMO not counting anti-Rebel TIE Fighters???

Not counting the fact that US Debt-to-GDP is at 175%, not that far off from Japan's 250% but way better than the pre-2014 UK's 600%.

FEAR NOTTETH, AMERIKA, RUSSIA IS ONCE AGAIN TO THE RESCUE, SAVING AMERIKANS FROM AMERICANS ...

* TOPIX > [Russia Beyond the Headlines] RUSSIAN SCIENTISTS COME UP WID PROJECT TO SHOOTDOWN APOPHIS ASTEROID.

Apparently, not everyone on Earth trusts NASA-JPL.

Russian Project would divert or deflect smaller asteroids onto the path of bigger ones, thus inducing certain space rocky oblivion - hilarity to ensue.

[Lest we fergit, TOM CRUISE = "FRANCIS" + "ITS THE WAY THAT YOU USE IT" 1980's MTV Video here].

versus

* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > 2033: A MANNED MISSION TO MARS [ESTIMATED COST: US$1.0TRILYUHN).

* IIRC DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS [old] > CHINA PLANS TO GROW VEGGIES ON MARS.

First thingys come first - US-World Perts = future OWG-NWO have to settle the controversy over "Peak Oil/Resources" lest the only thing that will be accomplished in the Mars mission is sending Astronauts + similar to their inevitable deaths on Mars due to lack of Earth relief as due again to Earth's + OWG's lack of available resources for such. THE EARTH-NAUTS WILL BE LOOKING OUT OF THEIR PORTALS FOR SIGNS OF INCOMING RESUPPLY ANDOR REPLACEMENT SPACE SHIPS THAT MAY NEVER COME???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/13/2013 23:28 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Utah A.G. tied to alleged fraud, says indicted businessman
More from yesterday.
[Salt Lake Tribune] Embattled St. George businessman Jeremy Johnson says new Utah Attorney General John Swallow helped broker a deal in 2010 in which Johnson believed he was to pay Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
... the charismatic senator-for-life from Nevada, currently majority leader ...
$600,000 to make a federal investigation into Johnson's company go away.

But when the federal government filed a lawsuit Johnson thought he had paid to quash, he demanded Swallow return some of the $250,000 initial payment. Then, just days before the Nov. 6 election, Johnson engaged in a frenetic but unsuccessful effort to get Swallow to drop out of the race, saying information about what Johnson called a "bribe" would come out and force the Republican's resignation if he became attorney general.

Johnson's allegations come less than a week after Swallow took the oath of office. Federal agents have interviewed several Utahns about Johnson's relationship with Swallow, among other issues, according to those interviewed. The FBI would not comment.

Johnson said he does not know if any of the money he paid in the deal actually reached anyone connected to Reid.

Reid's office declined to comment, spokeswoman Kristen Orthman said Friday.

To back his allegations, Johnson provided an email from Swallow that Johnson identified as key in supporting his claims. Johnson also granted access to at least several dozen other emails, two financial records, several photos and a transcript of about 60 pages of a secretly recorded April 2012 meeting Johnson had with Swallow, who was then Utah's chief deputy attorney general.

The documents appear to support Johnson's story that in 2010 Swallow brokered a deal between Johnson and Richard M. Rawle, owner of the Provo-based payday-loan company Check City, to enlist Rawle to use his influence to get Reid involved on behalf of Johnson and I Works, Johnson's Internet marketing company that was under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission.

Swallow emphatically denies Johnson's allegations and said he doesn't understand why Johnson is spreading lies about him.

"Any suggestion by Mr. Johnson that I have been involved in illegal or inappropriate activity regarding his FTC case or any other matter is false and defamatory," Swallow said.

Swallow insists Johnson approached him in 2010 and sought help to hire a lobbyist to deal with his FTC issues. "I told Jeremy I could not and would not intervene with the FTC on his behalf, given my position with the state [attorney general]," Swallow said. Johnson later asked Swallow to approach the U.S. attorney on his behalf, but Swallow said he refused.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Reid's office declined to comment, spokeswoman Kristen Orthman said Friday.

So this guy sez Harry took 600 grand to stiff a federal case for him and Harry's office doesn't deny it. So, according to the standard Harry holds everybody else to, this means he's guilty, yes? Prove you didn't take the money, Harry.
Also, what about that pedophile thing you never denied?
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/13/2013 1:58 Comments || Top||

#2  tu, most Americans have already forgotten Whorey Ried's allegations about Romney, so your allusion will go right over their heads. But not here at Rantburg.
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/13/2013 8:23 Comments || Top||

#3  Mr. Jeremy Johnson's problem was that his wasn't a 'Green' company with connections to the White House. Now that's the way to make investigations go away. Or be the host of an MSM Sunday talk show program from Washington.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/13/2013 9:36 Comments || Top||

#4  this doesn't mitigate Reid's alleged pedohilia
Posted by: Frank G || 01/13/2013 13:24 Comments || Top||

#5  Reids alleged pedohilia is so yesterday, it's like trying to tie him to whip loving Nazi's like Max Mosley and the green gum cult.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/13/2013 13:45 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Obama: U.S. Has Fallen 'Short of the Ideal' in Afghanistan
[WEEKLYSTANDARD] In remarks with Afghan president Hamid Karzai at the White House this afternoon, President Barack Obama said the U.S. has fallen "short of the ideal" in Afghanistan:

"So, you know, I think that, have we achieved everything that some might have imagined us achieving in the best of scenarios? Probably not. You know, there's a human enterprise, and you know, you fall short of the ideal," said Obama.

The president went on to say that America has achieved some measure of success in Afghanistan, however. "Did we achieve our central goal? And have we been able, I think, to shape a strong relationship with a responsible Afghan government that is willing to cooperate with us to make sure that it is not a launching pad for future attacks against the United States? We have achieved that goal. We are in the process of achieving that goal. And for that, I think we have to thank our extraordinary military, intelligence and diplomatic teams, as well as the cooperation of the Afghan government and the Afghan people."
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Verbal softening of .... we are once again losers.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/13/2013 3:38 Comments || Top||

#2  We have achieved that goal. We are in the process of achieving that goal.

Huh? Which one is it?
Posted by: Omomp Gray8508 || 01/13/2013 7:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Whatever happened to "I"?
Posted by: gorb || 01/13/2013 8:35 Comments || Top||

#4  We have also fallen short of the ideal in the WH.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/13/2013 10:32 Comments || Top||

#5  "We" fall short. "He" succeeds. When "he" doesn't, "we" are at fault.
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/13/2013 11:43 Comments || Top||

#6  Nice tribute to those who never returned from that God forsaken place. Very nice indeed.

I will never forget sitting there, listening to radio's. Watching a solemn QRF (Quick Reaction Force) sit and wait, hopelessly.

Klik
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/13/2013 12:13 Comments || Top||

#7  We have also fallen 'short of the ideal' in Electing Presidents. I see the two as being related.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/13/2013 13:11 Comments || Top||

#8  We still get a trophy tho... amirite?
Posted by: Shipman || 01/13/2013 13:35 Comments || Top||

#9  Klik

Thank you for what you've been doing, Besoeker, whatever it is. I wish I had the strength to read it all the way through, but it's too much for me to handle.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/13/2013 14:22 Comments || Top||

#10  Thanks Besoeker for the post and "Klik" about the Pathfinder action. Sometimes, those of us back home forget what our military goes through in far away places. We often don't get the information regarding the deprivations and sacrifices our military goes through. I only wish our civilian leaders were worthy of and met the standards set by our troops. Thanks again.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/13/2013 14:29 Comments || Top||

#11  So senseless. The aviation unit didn't contact the US Brigade 'battle space owner' or AFG Border Patrol (ABP) less then 10k's away, they just conducted aerial surveillance the trailer for a few weeks and INFILLED. No notice to friendlies or the ABP. they must have thought it so cool to go it alone and snatch a IED or weapons cache right under the noses of a US Brigade HQ. The stories coming back from the site were terrible. We all went back to our CHU's and wept.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/13/2013 16:58 Comments || Top||

#12  Read the story. Heartbreaking, utterly heartbreaking. It sounds like none of it needed to happen at all. And if what Besoeker said is right it shouldn't have happened at all. Some idiot decided to steal glory and got the men sent out killed rather than checking.
Posted by: Charles || 01/13/2013 17:09 Comments || Top||

#13  The Picture reminds me of the Poem "Ozymandias".
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/13/2013 17:10 Comments || Top||

#14  "Ozymandias"

I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Yep, that's Obama
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/13/2013 17:16 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Man with shoe camera arrested for photographing up women's skirts
[KJONLINE] A Saco man was jugged
I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece!
Friday night for using a camera in his shoe to take photographs up women's skirts and dresses at the Walmart store in Scarborough in July.

William Tibbals, 31, of Pepperal Street, was charged with a felony count of visual sexual aggression against a child under 12 and multiple counts of violating privacy.

Tibbals is being held at the Cumberland County Jail. Bail information is not yet available, Scarborough Police said.

The arrest followed a long investigation triggered by reports by customers that a man with a camera in his shoe was capturing images up women's skirts, said Scarborough Police Detectives.

They were aided by the Saco Police Department Computer Forensics Unit and the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit out of Lewiston.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I see that picture and I miss PD all over again.

Posted by: Shipman || 01/13/2013 7:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Up Walmartians' skirts? This guy is seriously ill!
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/13/2013 8:16 Comments || Top||

#3  I see a miserably failed 'Walmart Paparazzi Gone Wild' video. Tibbals to the Terre Haute and the general population please, without delay.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/13/2013 8:38 Comments || Top||

#4  ...was charged with a felony count of visual sexual aggression against a child under 12..

That ain't no women. Can you just say pedophile. Let'm loose in the general population of the jail.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/13/2013 9:30 Comments || Top||

#5  first a shoe phone, now a Smart Shoe with a camera. Maxwell Smart was ahead of his time
Posted by: Frank G || 01/13/2013 12:31 Comments || Top||

#6  Maybe the camera was unobtrusive, but sticking his foot between girlies' legs sure wasn't.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 14:33 Comments || Top||

#7  For anyone not familiar with Walmart I give you a link to The People of Walmart.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 01/13/2013 16:58 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian troops capture majority of key Damascus suburb
[CTVNEWS.CA] Syrian troops advanced in a strategic suburb of Damascus
...The capital of Iran's Syrian satrapy...
and bombarded other areas around the capital Saturday in a push to secure Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Lord of the Baath...
's seat of power as rebels make gains in the north.

A government official said regime forces had taken much of Daraya, an area on the edge of a major military air base just south of the capital, after nearly two months of heavy fighting
... as opposed to the more usual light or desultory fighting...
that anti-regime activists say has killed dozens of people and uprooted tens of thousands more from their homes.

The announcement came a day after rebels and Islamic beturbanned goons seeking to topple Assad took full control of the northwestern Taftanaz air base in a significant blow to the military. The back-to-back declarations highlight the see-saw nature of the conflict in Syria, where one side's victories in one area are often followed by reverses in another.

In other violence, athletic champion Hisham Raqsha was shot to death in Damascus while on his way back home, according to the Observatory and state-run news agency
...and if you can't believe the state-run news agency who can you believe?...
SANA. SANA said Raqsha was the coach of Syria's walking team. His age and other details were not available.

Syrian troops have been battling since November to regain Daraya from the hands of anti-government fighters. The suburb is flanked by the key districts of Mazzeh, which is home to the military air base of the same name, and Kfar Sousseh, which holds the government headquarters, the General Security intelligence agency head office and the Interior Ministry.

It also is less than 10 kilometres (six miles) from the People's Palace -- one of three palaces in the capital used by Assad.

The government official told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named in Damascus that the army still faced "small pockets" of resistance but he expected the area to be cleared in a few days. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, acknowledged "the army has entered most of Daraya's neighbourhoods." He added the number of casualties on both sides was high after weeks of fighting.

"Daraya is very important for the regime because the Mazzeh airport is a main artery for it," Abdul-Rahman said.

Daraya, which had a population of about 200,000 before the fighting, has been a stronghold of support for the rebels fighting the government since the start of the uprising in March 2011, posing a particularly grave threat to the capital.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Frederick the Great once said "He who defends everything defends nothing". Is Assad now ending the penny packet formations spread out across the country and concentrating his forces? Or is he on the run? Only time will tell.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 01/13/2013 0:25 Comments || Top||

#2  It could be both. On the run and a change in strategies. Keeping open a corridor to the Alawait homeland scaring the rebs with concentrated forces where they can.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/13/2013 7:12 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Sharpton: Is Obama Ready for Mt. Rushmore?
[FREEBEACON] civil rights hustler Al Sharpton
...Tawana Brawley's spiritual advisor...
aired a segment concerning a recent National Journal article which analyzed President B.O.'s chances of attaining a coveted spot on Mt. Rushmore Friday evening on MSNBC. Teddy Roosevelt's presence on the landmark garnered particular attention from Sharpton, who expressed his opinion that Roosevelt's thin resume as a "transformative president" strengthens the case for Obama to be included:
ABBY HUNTSMAN: You look at Reagan, he ended the Cold War. I think they have to have a legacy that changed America. Obama was the first black president. That is something that will always be remembered.

AL SHARPTON: And he stopped two wars and the whole question of finance reform on Wall Street and health care. I mean, he has done some concrete things. I can, again, the reason I raised Teddy Roosevelt is that a lot of people could say that Teddy Roosevelt was more of a character than a transformative president. I can name, literally, things that President B.O. has done. Now, I'm going to say that if Teddy Roosevelt is the measure, I think it strengthens the case for President B.O..
Teddy Roosevelt is credited with accomplishments such as completing the Panama Canal and establishing the National Parks system. Historians typically rank Roosevelt among the top five greatest presidents.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336090 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There's no more room for anybody on Mt Rushmore, as far as Obama, there's not enough room period, His ego wouldn't stand for any sharing.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/13/2013 0:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Will he stay there?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/13/2013 5:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Obviously thousands of street names, gov't buildings, schools, and possibly Lake Michigan must be re-named first. I'll take the contrarian view and support it, as long as Stone Mountain remains undisturbed.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/13/2013 6:53 Comments || Top||

#4  Washington has a State. It's time for Pureto Rico to join the union and be renamed.

Posted by: Shipman || 01/13/2013 7:52 Comments || Top||

#5  Trivia question who are the four presidents?.
I know just where I would suggest putting him.:)
Posted by: Dale || 01/13/2013 7:53 Comments || Top||

#6  Well Cary Grant is certainly one of them and FDR, Ford and Jefferson Arms.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/13/2013 8:09 Comments || Top||

#7  He might be from Hawaii - carve it into the crater of Kilauea. Or since he likes to swim, maybe Loihi. Better than Rushmore too - that Hawaiann basalt is black rock.
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/13/2013 8:33 Comments || Top||

#8  If its to be Hawaii, I recommend a bronze overlooking the Blow Hole.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/13/2013 8:41 Comments || Top||

#9  Can we have a vote on Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck instead?
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/13/2013 10:57 Comments || Top||

#10  #2 Will he stay there? Good question.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/13/2013 10:58 Comments || Top||

#11  Mount Kenya may be more appropriate.
Posted by: airandee || 01/13/2013 11:17 Comments || Top||

#12  Isn't there a mountain in Kenya his ego-sized?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/13/2013 11:17 Comments || Top||

#13  I think Barry would put the kibosh on it. Why should he have to share space with those other four guys?
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/13/2013 11:24 Comments || Top||

#14  Actually, I think he's ready for his photo to be put up in the post office.
Posted by: warthogswife || 01/13/2013 11:26 Comments || Top||

#15  Since tourists make up a large portion of the visitors to the Mt. Rushmore monument, a very democratic method would be to let voters and tourists decide. As I recall, there is a huge annual tourist event in nearby Sturgis during the 5-11th of August 2013. Let those in attendance... VOTE on the issue!
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/13/2013 11:42 Comments || Top||

#16  @Besoeker - Like
Posted by: warthogswife || 01/13/2013 13:02 Comments || Top||

#17  carve his image on the backside
Posted by: Frank G || 01/13/2013 13:27 Comments || Top||

#18  #15 B - Heh.™
Posted by: Barbara || 01/13/2013 14:01 Comments || Top||

#19  Hark! Barry rallies his boys in a charge up Beacon Hill. Lore, so they say, t'was named San One Hill.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/13/2013 14:45 Comments || Top||

#20  Besoeker, have you seen who goes there? They are more likely to vote for the American Chopper trio to be put on the mountain.
Posted by: Charles || 01/13/2013 17:17 Comments || Top||

#21  Why do you think he made the proposal, Charles? :-D
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) || 01/13/2013 17:36 Comments || Top||

#22  A giant likeness won't work, the ears won't fit. But I have no problem with putting Obama himself up there.
Posted by: KBK || 01/13/2013 20:12 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
PM orders delegation of policing powers to FC in Quetta
[Dawn] Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Saturday issued directives to delegate policing powers to the Frontier Corps (FC) in Quetta, DawnNews reported.

The premier issued the directives after a meeting with 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.
Fortunately a non-fatal mistake in a country where so many win Darwin awards.
The FC has been directed to assist the Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
government in maintaining peace and controlling the law and order situation in the province in the wake of the multiple bombings that have claimed the lives of over 100 people.

Furthermore, the prime minister directed Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira to immediately leave for Quetta in order to monitor the situation in the quiet provincial capital.

Prime Minister Ashraf has moreover announced compensation of rupees one million for the heirs of each victim killed in the bombings and rupees 100,000 for each person injured in the kabooms.

He moreover ordered that C-130s be sent to Quetta in order to shift the maimed to Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
for medical treatment.

The premier has moreover directed Chief Minister Balochistan Aslam Raisani, who is currently abroad, to return to the country without further delay.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336064 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Africa North
New Clashes Erupt in Tunisia Town near Libya
[An Nahar] Clashes broke out again on Saturday between residents and police in Ben Guerdane near Tunisia's border with Libya after nearly a week of demonstrations over poor living conditions.

Ben Guerdane, around 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, has witnessed sporadic unrest since Sunday, fuelled by Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
's decision to close the Ras Jdir border crossing in early September for security reasons.

Dozens of youths, many of them masked, gathered outside the cop shoppe, which was torched on Thursday, and threw stones at police who responded with tear gas, an AFP journalist reported.

By late afternoon the coppers evacuated the station to seek shelter in the headquarters of the national guard, and a tense calm spread over the region.

In the evening, fresh festivities erupted and protesters torched the cop shoppe again, with demonstrators saying the violence was fueled by comments made by Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali.

"The state understands (protesters') demands and respects freedom of expression, but it does not tolerate vandals, narcos and aggressors," the official TAP news agency quoted Jebali as saying about the unrest.

Earlier in the day protesters hurled abuse at the ruling Islamist Ennahda party, whose local headquarters were also ransacked this week. A customs office was also torched.

"Ben Guerdane is Free! Jebali out!" the protesters chanted, two days ahead of the second anniversary of the revolution that sparked off the Arab Spring.

The latest demonstration came as representatives of the authorities, trade unions and local tribes met in Ben Guerdane in an attempt to thrash out a solution to the crisis.

But Amar Hamdi, who heads the local branch of Tunisia's main trade union confederation, the UGTT, said the talks had foundered, and blamed the government.

"The authorities say this is a security problem, but we want development projects" for the region, Hamdi said, denouncing the fact that "no member of the government has come to Ben Guerdane to try to resolve the problem."

Despite the border crossing being reopened on Thursday, the local UGTT branch went ahead with a general strike in the town to demand investment and jobs, with only chemists, hospitals and bakeries remaining open.

"We don't want Ras Jdir reopened -- we want development," one protester in Ben Guerdane told AFP on Saturday.

There is ongoing social discontent in Tunisia two years after the uprising that overthrew dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, with strikes and protests often degenerating into violence.

Unemployment and tough living conditions were key factors behind the revolt that touched off the Arab Spring, whose second anniversary will be celebrated on Monday.

Violent attacks by Islamists and political deadlock over a new constitution also continue to threaten the country's stability.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336076 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


India-Pakistan
40 arrested over Mingora blast
[Dawn] Police on Friday tossed in the clink
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
40 people in connection with a kaboom at a Tableeghi centre in Takhtaband area here.

Also in the day, the people, who died in the terrorist activity, were laid to rest at their ancestral graveyards in Swat
...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat...
district amid tight security.

SP (Investigation) Irshad told Dawn that five kilogrammes bomb was used in the blast.

An official at Rahimabad cop shoppe said 40 suspected persons were arrested and shifted to undisclosed location for interrogation.

He said FIR of the snuffies act had been registered against unidentified people at Rahimabad cop shoppe.

Deputy medical superintendent at District Headquarters Hospital, Saidu Shairf Dr Jamil said currently, over 70 injured people were under treatment on the premises.

He said two injured people had already been referred to Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
for being in dangerous condition.

The DMS said emergency had been declared at the hospital to provide better facilities and care to the inured.

The dead people hailing from various localities of Swat were laid to rest in their ancestral graveyards in Najigram, Nawi Kalli, Gogdara, Serai, Kokarai, Melagah, Tendo Dag, Balogram, Rahimabad and other places of Swat district amid moving scenes.

In the day, coppers were deployed to guard mosques during Friday prayers in Swat, while all entry and exit points to the district were sealed to counter terrorism.

After the blast, panic and fear gripped the people, who called for end to violence and restoration of peace in the scenic valley of Swat.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  Sunni, Shiite, Other? Red/Green confusion?

Much left out of this story.
Posted by: tipover || 01/13/2013 12:22 Comments || Top||


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336091 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Birthday Gam Shot

Nicole Eggert[Filmography](age 41)



Intelligent Design

Women Who Bathe

Caution the links below may spoil your morning coffee!

Time changes voguish ankle tattoo, into passe ankle tattoo.



Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 01/13/2013 2:47 Comments || Top||

#2  I didn't need to see that! RIP, Nicole. Now where is that retina decontamination kit with the bleach and Brillo pads?
Posted by: gorb || 01/13/2013 8:31 Comments || Top||

#3  Anita Page; not to be confused with Bettie Page( often referred to as the Queen of Pinups).
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/13/2013 10:27 Comments || Top||

#4  Anita and Bessie Love were in the very first ever talkie musical.

Silent musicals never really took off.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 14:35 Comments || Top||

#5  If you read her bio... she quit acting for 60 years to avoid the casting couch.
Posted by: Water Modem || 01/13/2013 15:13 Comments || Top||

#6  That ought to about do the trick.
Posted by: gorb || 01/13/2013 16:08 Comments || Top||

#7  It's worked for me
Posted by: Frank G || 01/13/2013 16:22 Comments || Top||

#8  Tattoos, spoiling the body any way they can, and unsightly too.

Yes I was Navy, NO I DON'T have any.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/13/2013 17:25 Comments || Top||

#9  I know a guy who had a half-and-half smiley-face/smiley-skull tattooed onto a shaved patch on his head. It's going to be interesting how he explains that to the grandkids.
Posted by: gorb || 01/13/2013 19:05 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Bahrain Shiites Protest at Jail for 13 Activists
[An Nahar] Thousands of Shiites demonstrated near Manama on Saturday in a new protest against an appeals court upholding jail terms for 13 activists on charges of plotting to overthrow Bahrain's monarchy, witnesses said.

"We will not resign ourselves to it" and "we will not forget the prisoners," shouted demonstrators during the peaceful protest that was monitored by a heavy security presence. Some carried photos of those convicted.

On Monday, the Court of Cassation upheld sentences ranging from between five years and life in prison against the 13, who took part in 2011 anti-government protests.

They were convicted by a military tribunal on charges that included "setting up terror groups to topple the regime," and were later retried in a civilian court.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
A Trail of Bullet Casings Leads From Africa's Wars Back to Iran
Not just Africa, actually. That's just where the trail started in 2006. You, dear Reader, will not be surprised at the various countries where what turned out to be Iranian bullets were found, though neither Venezuela nor Mexico are mentioned. Photos of one type of bullet can be seen at the link or here.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336083 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Thomas R. Picking was appointed as what again ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/13/2013 3:13 Comments || Top||

#2  The trail of crumbs leads back to Iran in a lot of other places as well.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/13/2013 10:34 Comments || Top||

#3  Is that why Iran signed a multinational compact and Egypt and Libya were the ones who gave the French frogs etc grief and were the first invaded under the bullshit democratic trade crap,can't you still buy everything over the Internet including bullets,not to mention all of the years of bullets and weapons gathering dust etc etcetera. It is all crap a euro trash nazi wet dream of controlling Africa etc and setting up some craker club med on the shores of the med and using the locals like Jews were used however their own people sold them into slavery once before , are they in need of shackles and balls yet and if so when does the contract go out to bid?
Posted by: Maggie Flomong2662 || 01/13/2013 17:46 Comments || Top||

#4  jeez Maggie. Ya pushed all the right buttons, but in such intellectual disarray, it failed. Come back when you're coherent
Posted by: Frank G || 01/13/2013 18:27 Comments || Top||

#5  And bring some punctuation when you come.
Posted by: Unurt Gleang9484 || 01/13/2013 18:59 Comments || Top||

#6  The newspaper and island home where the article comes from says it all. Blank. 50 stress on the 50. Anyway how is that French Iran luck oil and I will have more freedom if I get elected again to work worth Russia thing going anyways kids? It is a joke and a cluster puck at best!
Posted by: Maggie Flomong2662 || 01/13/2013 19:00 Comments || Top||

#7  Maggie may well be a bot, but not a particularly sophisticated one if so.
Posted by: lotp || 01/13/2013 19:26 Comments || Top||

#8  LOL - Joe M -please assimilate
Posted by: Frank G || 01/13/2013 20:41 Comments || Top||

#9  I confess I once thought Joe M was a perl script. But that was before I learned JoeSpeek(tm).
Posted by: SteveS || 01/13/2013 20:44 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Hundreds back Maliki amid Calls for Iraq PM to Quit
[An Nahar] Hundreds of demonstrators rallied in central Storied Baghdad
...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
backing Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki
... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party....
on Saturday as the latest in weeks of anti-government rallies in Sunni areas of Iraq called for him to quit.

The demonstrations have worsened a political crisis, pitting Maliki against his erstwhile government partners, with the premier facing accusations of authoritarianism and sectarianism ahead of key provincial polls.

At Tahrir Square in the heart of the capital, demonstrators held up posters of the prime minister alongside banners that read: "I am Iraqi, I love Maliki," and: "We strongly support Nouri al-Maliki," while many shouted in unison: "All the people support Nouri al-Maliki".

Other banners blamed parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni Arab opponent of Maliki, for cut-thoat attacks and slammed calls in anti-government protests for a wide-ranging prisoner amnesty and reform of anti-terror laws.

In a sign of increasing sectarian rhetoric at the rallies, many demonstrators held up banners describing themselves as "followers of Hussein", a revered figure in Shiite Islam, and a speaker led the crowd in chants of "Labeika Ya Hussein", or "We will follow you, Hussein".

"In the names of all the deaders, the victims, the widows, we call on the government not to cancel Article 4," said one protester, a 67-year-old who gave his name as Abu Hussam, referring to anti-terror legislation.

He noted that his son was killed by gunfire in west Storied Baghdad in 2006, adding: "He was 20, I was about to get him married. For six years, I have not slept, I hope one night I can sleep."

Meanwhile,
...back at the buffalo wallow, Tex and his new-found Indian friend were preparing a little surprise for the bandidos...
anti-government rallies blocked a key highway linking Storied Baghdad to Jordan and Syria for a third week, while protests were also held in Samarra, Tikrit, Baiji and djinn-infested Mosul, all Sunni-majority areas north of the capital.

The protesters have railed against alleged targeting of the minority community by the Shiite-led government, in particular claiming abuse of anti-terror laws to detain community members.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336074 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq

#1  "I am Shia Iraqi, I love Maliki," and: "We strongly support Iran Nouri al-Maliki," while many shouted in unison: "All the Shia people support Iran Nouri al-Maliki".
Posted by: Frank G || 01/13/2013 12:25 Comments || Top||

#2  The good news: he may be ego putz enough to defy Iran.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/13/2013 14:04 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Champ sez Taliban must renounce workplace violence
Posted by: Clomorong Elmeagum4956 || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I see whut you did there
Posted by: Frank G || 01/13/2013 12:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe toss in an assault weapons ban...
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/13/2013 12:26 Comments || Top||


Britain
Islamists Protest in London against French Mali Role

[An Nahar] Around 60 Islamists including women in veils protested outside the French embassy in London on Saturday against La Belle France's military intervention in Mali.
That's a bunch of dumbasses wearing dresses and holding signs on 8.5x11 paper saying "Jihad" burped out of their Islamic laser printers. Are you intimidated?
The demonstrators held placards reading "French army, you will pay, the Mohammedans are on their way", "United Nations,
...an idea whose time has gone...
go to hell" and "Sharia is the only solution for Mali".
But most of them seem to just say "Jihad"...
French President Francois Hollande
...the Socialist president of La Belle France, and a fine job he's doing of it...
sent troops on Friday to help Malian forces hold back an advance by beturbanned fascisti, and on Saturday Gay Paree announced that a French military pilot had been killed.

"Francois Hollande, you are a Satan," one of the protesters, Abu Shaafehi, said in French through a loudspeaker. "Sharia for La Belle France!"

The protest was divided into two groups, separated by several meters, of men in traditional dress and women in veils.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under: Salafists

#1  Francois Hollande, you are a Satan
No way Froggy wannaBe
USA is King Hell Satan and don't you pajama wearing fuckups forget it.

Protip: Use colored copy paper for maximum impact.

Posted by: Shipman || 01/13/2013 7:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Arrest them all for Blocking Traffic.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/13/2013 17:17 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Guard killed, four hurt in attack on JUI-S leader
[Dawn] A security guard was killed and four others were maimed in firing on a car of the Sindh chief of the Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam
...Assembly of Islamic Clergy, or JUI, is a Pak Deobandi (Hanafi) political party. There are two main branches, one led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, and one led by Maulana Samiul Haq. Fazl is active in Pak politix and Sami spends more time running his madrassah. Both branches sponsor branches of the Taliban, though with plausible deniability...
(Samiul Haq
...the Godfather of the Taliban, leader of his own faction of the JUI. Known as Mullah Sandwich for his habit of having two young boys at a time...
) in Gulshan-e-Iqbal on Friday, police said.

While Sindh JUI-S chief Maulana Hammadullah Madni remained unhurt in the intense firing, his two guards, a brother, a school van driver and a passer-by sustained gunshot wounds, the police added.

Six gunnies riding three cycle of violences opened fire on the white car carrying the Maulana and his associates close to the railway crossing in Gulshan-e-Iqbal's Block 13-D-3, the police said.

They said a school van passing through the area also came under fire that left its driver, Imdad Akbar, maimed, while the schoolchildren remained safe. Similarly, a passer-by, Osama, also sustained gunshot wounds, they said.

The maimed victims were taken to a private hospital on Stadium Road where one of the private guards, Mohammad Safdar, died during treatment while the other guard, Jahan Akbar, and Maulana's brother Affan Bin Ahmed were admitted, the police said.

The shooting caused panic as people ran for cover, witnesses said.

The police said that Maulana Hammadullah was going to the Sindh Secretariat mosque for Friday prayers from his seminary located in Gulshan-e-Iqbal.

They said that firing was carried out from all sides of the car. The police claimed to have collected half a dozen spent bullet casings of 9mm pistol from the crime-scene.

A senior police officer of the area said the killing seemed to be part of sectarian unrest in the city.

A statement issued by Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), said to be a reincarnation of the banned cut-thoat outfit Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain
...a Sunni Deobandi organization, a formerly registered Pak political party, established in the early 1980s in Jhang by Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi. Its stated goal is to oppose Shia influence in Pakistain. They're not too big on Brelvis, either. Or Christians. Or anybody else who's not them. The organization was banned in 2002 as a terrorist organization, but somehow it keeps ticking along, piling up the corpse counts...
, condemned the attack describing the JUI-S leader a close sympathiser of the ASWJ.

ST activist rubbed out

A Sunni Tehrik
...formed in Karachi in 1992 under by Muhammad Saleem Qadri. It quickly fell to trading fisticuffs and liquidations with the MQM and the Sipah-e-Sahaba, with at least a half dozen of its major leaders rubbed out. Sunni Tehreek arose to become the primary opposition to the Deobandi Binori Mosque, headed by Nizamuddin Shamzai, who was eventually bumped off by person or persons unknown. ST's current leadership has heavily criticized the Deobandi Jihadi leaders, accusing them of being sponsored by Indian Intelligence agencies as well as involvement in terrorist activities...
activist was rubbed out in the Preedy Street area in the early hours of Friday, police said.

They added that the body was found at a corner of the Technical High School, Lines Area, within the remit of the Brigade cop shoppe.

The body bore a bullet wound in the neck, the police said, adding that they shifted it to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for medico-legal formalities.

The victim was identified as Ali Qadri, 20, belonging to the party's unit-196, a front man for the Sunni Tehrik said.

Another ST worker dies

Another activist of the Sunni Tehrik, who had sustained gunshot wounds in an attack on his shop within the remit of the Jamshad Quarters cop shoppe two days ago, died at the Civil Hospital Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
during treatment on Friday.

A front man for the ST said that Danish Qadri was a resident of PIB Colony.

The area remained tense with closure of markets during his funeral. Later, the victim was buried at a local graveyard.

Body found

The body of an unidentified young man was found on a bank of the Lyari
...one of the eighteen constituent towns of the city of Karachi. It is the smallest town by area in the city but also the most densely populated. Lyari has few schools, substandard hospitals, a poor water system, limited infrastructure, and broken roads. It is a stronghold of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. Ubiquitous gang activity and a thriving narcotics industry make Lyari one of the most disturbed places in Karachi, which is really saying a lot....
River within the remit of the Pak Colony cop shoppe, officials said.

The body bearing torture marks was shifted to the Civil Hospital Bloody Karachi for medico-legal formalities before it was taken to the Edhi morgue for want of identification.

The police believed that the victim had been killed several days ago.

Man rubbed out in Surjani

A man was rubbed out and a school watchman was maimed in Khuda Ki Basti, Surjani Town, on Friday, police said.

A duty officer of the Surjani Town cop shoppe said that the shooting was carried out after a woman running a school canteen called her husband informing him that school's watchman and his brother had misbehaved with her.

Subsequently, the police said, her husband along with two accomplices arrived at the school and after meeting her they fired at the watchman and his brother.

The maimed were rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where Ghulam Israr Magsi died while watchman Ghulam Mohammad Magsi was provided treatment, the officials said.

Body found

The body of a young man was found from a house in Gul Mohammad Goth within the remit of the Sohrab Goth cop shoppe.

The police said that the victim, in his mid-30s, had been killed with a blunt weapon.

The body bearing multiple injuries was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under: Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan


Africa North
Libya, Algeria, Tunisia Join Forces to Secure Borders
[An Nahar] The prime ministers of Libya, Algeria and Tunisia decided on Saturday to reinforce border security
Shoulder to shoulder and all that, no doubt...
and join forces tackling regional challenges including terrorism, arms trafficking and organized crime.
A noble goal. Now which of you are working toward reestablishing the Caliphate?
The decision was taken by Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan, Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalik Sellal and Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali during a meeting in the southern Libyan oasis of Ghadames.

They pledged in an 11-point plan to "create common border checkpoints and intensify cooperation in the security sphere through joint patrols," and vowed as well to tackle organized crime and terrorism.

The premiers also addressed the crisis in Mali, which shares a border with Algeria and where troops are poised to reclaim a key town from Islamists threatening to advance on the capital after La Belle France sent in its air force.

"It is necessary to find a political solution to this crisis by fostering dialogue between the different parties in Mali to preserve the illusory sovereignty and unity of its territory," they said in a joint statement.
Except that the jihadis are only interested in kinetic conversations, in between which they happily abuse the non-jihadi natives.
The Libyan prime minister told journalists the "situation in Mali has made it necessary for us to meet in order to prevent and tackle its consequences."

It requires close "coordination between our military and intelligence services to prevent anything that might affect our security, the movement of persons, arms and drugs trafficking, terrorism and human trafficking," he said.
Is that the American professor that NPR was so excited about, or did he give up and return to his lectern?
Libyan authorities in December decided to close the country's borders with Algeria, Niger, Chad and Sudan, decreeing the oil-rich south a military zone, in a move seen by analysts as a response to the crisis in Mali.

Although Libya does not share borders with Mali it has been the worst affected by the spillover of weapons and fighters, both Tuareg and Islamist, that accompanied the 2011 uprising that ousted dictator Muammar Qadaffy
... the like of whose wardrobe will never be seen again. At least that's what we hope...
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Notice the one, essential, country that is missing...
Posted by: Pappy || 01/13/2013 13:26 Comments || Top||


Government
Bloomberg Slaps Down Criticism of Painkiller Restriction Plan
[POLITICKER] Yesterday, Mayor Michael Nanny Bloomberg and city officials unveiled a new initiative to limit supplies of prescription painkillers in the city's emergency rooms as a way to combat what they described as a growing addiction problem in the region. Some critics, as documented by The New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
, however, felt the move would unnecessarily hurt poor and uninsured patients who use emergency rooms as their primary care doctor. Needless to say, Mr. Bloomberg was not swayed by this line of argument.
After all, who better to prescribe the right levels of medication than a politician?
"The city hospitals we control, so ... we're going to do it and we're urging all of the other hospitals to do it, voluntary guidelines. Somebody said, oh, somebody wrote, 'Oh then maybe there won't be enough painkillers for the poor who use the emergency rooms as their primary care doctor,'" the mayor said on his weekly radio show with John Gambling. "Number one, there's no evidence of that.
Possibly because nobody's looked for it.
Number two, supposing it is really true, so you didn't get enough painkillers and you did have to suffer a little bit.
Ever had a dislocated hip, bub?
The other side of the coin is people are dying and there's nothing perfect ...
Meaning the the city government-imposed dosage limits won't be, either.
There's nothing that you can possibly do where somebody isn't going to suffer, and it's always the same group [claiming], 'Everybody is heartless.' Come on, this is a very big problem."
Ever slip a disc, yerhonner?
In the same interview, Mr. Bloomberg stressed the initiative's simple rationale is to prevent extra pills from piling up in the cabinets of New Yorkers who no longer need them, where they can pose a health risk if they're abused.
There's a solution to that. It's called a "toilet."
"We talk about drugs, heroin and crack and marijuana, this is one of the big outbursts--and it's a lot worse around the country than it is here. It's kids and adults getting painkillers and using them for entertainment purposes, or whatever field of purposes, as opposed to what they are designed for," he explained. "If you break a leg, you're going to be in pain, nothing wrong with getting something that reduces the pain. But if you get 20 days worth of pills and you only need them three days, there's 17 days sitting there.
I've got thirty days' worth of painkillers. Some days I gulp 'em down like candy. Sometimes I go for a week without needing them. No doubt hizzonner will send me an email telling me when's good.
Invariably some of the kids are going to find them, or you're going to take them and get you addicted."
The addict's method of taking percocet: first lick the time release coating off the pill. Second, grind it up nice and fine. Third, sniff it up your nose. I don't think merely limiting the number of pills dispensed will do anything to effect that kind of usage.
Mr. Bloomberg also argued the number of pain pills currently being prescribed had even contributed to an uptick in violent crimes outside of pharmacies from robbers looking to steal the drugs.
Wouldn't it be a better idea to control the crooks than to control... Oh, wait. I see. It's the law-abiding that get the drugs, the crooks that steal them. It's so much easier to bully the law-abiding, isn't it?
"You see there's a lot more hold-ups of pharmacies, people getting held up as they walk out of pharmacies," he explained. "What are they all about? They're not trying to steal your shaving cream or toothpaste at the point of a gun. They want these drugs."
"Therefore you shouldn't have the drugs. So suck it up."
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336083 views] Top|| File under:

#1  the crooks that steal them.

Are a Law fnforcement Problem, How about an Armed Lawman inside esch drugstore, instead of Looking for "Gun Conreol" Use "Criminal Control"?

But that wouldn't stop EEVIL GUNS, (crime). (Sarc)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/13/2013 0:35 Comments || Top||

#2  "If you break a leg, you're going to be in pain, nothing wrong with getting something that reduces the pain. But if you get 20 days worth of pills and you only need them three days, there's 17 days sitting there."

I can't wait until this asshole breaks a leg and they give him THREE DAYS worth of painkillers...

Posted by: tu3031 || 01/13/2013 1:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Paging Tonya Harding.....Paging Tonya Harding to the white courtesy phone.....




Just saying....
Posted by: Silentbrick - Schlumberger Squishy Mud Division || 01/13/2013 2:18 Comments || Top||

#4  Money quote: "supposing it is really true, so you didn't get enough painkillers and you did have to suffer a little bit."

Typical progressive attitude of 'we all have to suffer some for the good of the collective' - actual guilt is irrelevant. Somebody else got fat, I can't have a big soda. Somebody else shot a kid, I can't have my rifle. It NEVER ends.
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/13/2013 8:27 Comments || Top||

#5  Well a new study says that three out of four people who end up in th emergency room have soda on a daily basis.

The obvious solution komrades would be a cup buy-back program. After 30 days police and certified public sugar deputies will be dispatched to search random blocks for high capacity styrofoam cups, with the authority to confiscate and arrest for other found contriband.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/13/2013 8:54 Comments || Top||

#6  Wonder if New Yorkers are regretting giving this fool a third term or if they agree.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 01/13/2013 12:16 Comments || Top||

#7  He's an egomaniac. One of these days his subjects will have had enough of his decrees. Of course, free money will take a lot to overcome. But I have every confidence in the guy in this regard. He gets more and more emboldened every time his sheeple submit to his ever-more-insane ideas.
Posted by: gorb || 01/13/2013 13:06 Comments || Top||

#8  Hell pain is good for 'ya! He sure sounds like 1820 Massachusetts....
Posted by: Shipman || 01/13/2013 13:56 Comments || Top||

#9  Hell pain is good for 'ya! He sure sounds like 1820 Massachusetts

Or a modern German dentist. I discovered the hard way they don't believe in Novacain. It's related to cocaine, y'know... *shudder*
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/13/2013 14:29 Comments || Top||

#10  "Is it safe?"
Posted by: Frank G || 01/13/2013 14:39 Comments || Top||

#11  Who needs a Death Panel, we have a Pain Executive!
Posted by: Charles || 01/13/2013 17:19 Comments || Top||

#12  That's a precursor, Charles.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/13/2013 21:07 Comments || Top||

#13  I want a root canal---a long, slow root canal.

(without painkillers)
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/13/2013 21:32 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Report: Israeli Nabbed In Egypt Asks For 'Political Asylum'
[Ynet] Cairo paper says Israeli-Arab jugged after infiltrating Taba crossing; man says he's 'persecuted by Israeli government.' He previously spent six months in Lebanese jail

Egypt's al-Ahram weekly reported Saturday that an Israeli-Arab man was detained
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
by authorities over the weekend after he illegally infiltrated the border.

Sinai security sources said that the man, Ahmad Daif, who was detained near the Taba crossing, had no form of identification on his person.

According to the report, Daif said he was a resident of Tel Aviv and that he wanted to apply for "political asylum" in Egypt because he felt "persecuted by the Israeli government."

He further told Sherlocks that he fled to Egypt because "he felt safe there."

Previously tossed in the calaboose in Leb
Daif, 32, was previously arrested
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
by the authorities in Leb in September 2011 after drifting into the country's waters while diving. He was returned to Israel last March, after spending six months in Lebanese prison.

"He's been at home the whole time since he got back," Daif's brother, Khaled Daif, said. "About a week ago he told us he found a job at a Tel Aviv restaurant."

The family hasn't been in touch with Daif after he left last week, and learned he was arrested in Egypt from the news.

"We don't understand why he is behaving this way," the brother said. "He isn't in want of anything."

Another relative said that the family couldn't believe Daif had the nerve to "repeat the same mistake he made last year."

The Egyptian prosecution has reportedly remanded the man for four days, pending further investigation.
Sometimes, it seems, a cigar is just a cigar.
Two weeks ago, Cairo authorities arrested 24-year-old Israeli national Andre Pshenichnikov on suspicion of espionage. Pshenichnikov has been remanded for 15 days.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Political asylum, no. Insane asylum, maybe.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/13/2013 2:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Trying to escape Crazy Horse, Gall, + the Little Big Horn is he - NO, I SAY!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/13/2013 19:53 Comments || Top||


Egypt Authorities Seize 500 Kg Of Explosives Meant For Sinai
[Ynet] Egyptian media outlets reported that the police in the Suez district have seized 500 kg of explosives that were on their way to south Sinai.

The security forces have said they have foiled several attempts to smuggle weapons and explosives near Egypt's border with the Gazoo Strip over the past few days.
Ma'an reports another seizure in the Sinai:
Egypt seizes 2.5 tonnes of explosives en-route to Sinai

Egyptian authorities on Saturday seized 2.5 tonnes of explosives hidden in three trucks en-route to the Sinai peninsula.

The trucks contained different types of kabooms and mortar devices, Egyptian sources said, which were hidden in tires within the vehicles.

Four suspects confessed to trying to smuggle the explosives into Sinai, the sources added.

Egyptian security forces have waged a security campaign in the desert Sinai region to reign in krazed killer groups, after 16 Egyptian border guards were killed in an attack on their post in August.

On Friday, an Egyptian army officer was rubbed out by snipers in the city of El-Arish, while earlier this week Egyptian military forces foiled an attempted car-bombing near a Sinai military base.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336073 views] Top|| File under:


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Robbery victim wants to thank Good Samaritans who came to his rescue
[KHOU] A couple of strangers came to the rescue when a man was robbed at gunpoint. Now, the victim wants to say thank you to the Good Samaritans.

Police believe the criminal who was canvassing a neighborhood in the 2500 block of Wichita near Hermann Park had no idea what he was in for when he picked his target.
"Hmmm... This 'un looks like an easy touch! Prosperous, too..."
The victim in this case had just walked back to his car from a bar around the corner.
"Shay! Izzat my car? I shink [hic!] it might be!"
Kevin Dorsey says he hadn't even closed his car door Thursday night when a man wearing all black and a ski mask put a gun to his chest. The man took Dorsey's wallet, cell phone and car keys.
"Shay! Nice ski mashk!"
"Gimme yer dough! And yer car keys! And yer phone!"

After he was robbed, Dorsey began running down the street and says two men in a Mercedes asked him what had happened.
"Hey, you! Thop, stief!"
"Hey, buddy! Wossa motta?"

Dorsey told them and they not only caught up with the suspect, but they started shooting at him.
"There he is, Mel! The guy dressed in black with the ski mask!"
"You sure that's the guy?"
"Yep!"
[BANG!]

The suspect fired back.
[BANG!]
[BANG! BANG! BANGETY BANG!]

In the end, the two witnesses turned vigilantes won and took down the bad guy.
"Aaaaiiieeee!"
"I think I winged 'im, Mel!"

"I don't believe in guns," said Dorsey.
"I like being regarded as easy meat for street lice. That's why I drink."
"I don't own a gun. I'm totally at the mercy of my saviors.
More like being at the mercy of the predators. Unless he's referring to Savior, capitalized and singular. Or he's some kinda polytheist and has multiple.
They obviously sent two angels to help me.
I think I'm going with the polytheist idea.
These people protected me when I wouldn't couldn't protect myself."
That's why we have people named Mel and Herb who pack heat.
After the robber had been shot, police say he jumped over a fence and was attacked by a German Shepherd.
"Awww! Spit! Nize doggy!"
[GRRR! CHOMP! SHAKE!]
"Aaaaiiieee! I am undone!"

That attack prevented him from getting away.
German shepherds do that, y'know.
The suspect, identified as Christopher Hutchins, is being treated at Ben Taub Hospital. He's expected to recover.
Too bad.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You heard about the joke with the robber, a drunk, two guys packing heat, and a German shepherd? This one will kill yuh!
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/13/2013 0:40 Comments || Top||

#2  I want a German Shepherd now, perhaps one trained to use an assault rifle.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/13/2013 7:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Obviously, the Samaritans' tools were lacking in sufficient capacity.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/13/2013 9:24 Comments || Top||

#4  Mel and Herb should apply for one of the many Crossfire training courses held at random intervals by the RAB to eliminate those taxpayer funded miscreant hospitalizations.
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 01/13/2013 10:50 Comments || Top||

#5  While this story has received national attention, including the Drudge Report, here in Houston where it happened the story was not even the lede. Mel and Herb having some weekend fun. Nothing to see here, move along.
Posted by: BrujoTejano || 01/13/2013 12:04 Comments || Top||

#6  A pack. Not a herd.
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 01/13/2013 17:26 Comments || Top||

#7  "I don't believe in guns," said Dorsey.
But I bet he believes in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 01/13/2013 17:53 Comments || Top||

#8  "'I don't believe in guns,' said Dorsey."

You believed in the one the robber stuck in your chest. Why didn't you just tell him you don't believe in guns and go on about your business?
Posted by: Barbara || 01/13/2013 20:50 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
George P. Bush Weighing Run In Texas
[HOSTED.AP.ORG] George Prescott Bush is gearing up to run for a little-known but powerful office in a state where his family already is a political dynasty and where his Hispanic roots could help extend a stranglehold on power Republicans have enjoyed for two decades.

The 36-year-old Fort Worth attorney says he is close to settling on campaigning for Texas land commissioner next year. He doesn't expect to make up his mind until he knows what Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a fellow Republican, decides to do.

"We for sure are running, the question is the office," Bush told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named during the first interview about his political future since filing paperwork in November to seek elected office in Texas.

Bush's father is former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, his grandfather is former President George H.W. Bush and his uncle is former President and Texas Gov. George W. Bush. Perry has been governor since George W. left for the White House.
Posted by: Fred || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336074 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hope he speaks better spanish than his uncle.
Posted by: BrujoTejano || 01/13/2013 0:19 Comments || Top||

#2  I hope he picks a different hobby, like maybe those garden-scale choo choo trains.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/13/2013 0:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Government paid interpreters!
Posted by: badanov || 01/13/2013 1:37 Comments || Top||

#4  The Primitive, albeit heavily furred creature makes a good point..... The National Train Set..... would be something we can all agree on.

The Rethuglicans want an O Gauge layout, handbuilt using nickel chromium steel tracks, with serious ballast. Only qualified cranks will be allowed to make it go.... The Donks want everymans layout, based on HO scale, with a shit load of cars and stuff and all and cost way the hell more than you would have thought considering everything. Everyone gets to play with it, but it only works 3 weeks every four years before election day. Still it looks good, and it has that going for it. Unless the Chineese kitteh sits on the track and then everything goes to hell in a high speed hopper.

Posted by: Shipman || 01/13/2013 8:00 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Retiring Pirate - Next Career Politics?
Wired Magazine has background.
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 01/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336073 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Has the experience to run a "welfare" state. Loot the productive, buy votes with the booty.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/13/2013 11:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Piracy is at least an honest trade, why sully yourself?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/13/2013 14:49 Comments || Top||



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  19 Killed in Failed French Raid to Free Somalia Hostage
Sat 2013-01-12
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Fri 2013-01-11
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Thu 2013-01-10
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Tue 2013-01-08
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Wed 2013-01-02
  Fourteen Killed as Nigerian Troops Clash with Islamists
Tue 2013-01-01
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