Venezuela's opposition on Friday vowed to speed up efforts to oust President Nicolas Maduro after he defied lawmakers by securing emergency powers to intervene in the crisis-hit oil state's economy.
The maneuvers intensified a political standoff that has raised fears of unrest and deepening economic suffering in the oil-rich, violence-plagued South American state.
The Supreme Court on Thursday overruled opposition from lawmakers by approving Maduro's decree to place the country in a 60-day state of economic emergency. After which everything will be fine.
The opposition reacted with outrage, accusing Maduro of expanding economic policies that they say are ruining the country.
"In the next few days we will have to present a concrete proposal for the departure of that national disgrace that is the government," the opposition leader of the National Assembly legislature, Henry Ramos, told a news conference Friday.
The decree gives Maduro's administration special temporary powers to take over private companies' resources and impose currency controls among other measures.
"The Supreme Court of Justice has spoken, its word is holy and must be respected by all parts of society and all institutions," Maduro said on television. Even if you paid them to say what you want?
Ramos and other leaders in the opposition MUD coalition had already promised to devise a way within six months to oust Maduro, possibly through a new constitution or a referendum, before his current mandate expires in 2019.
"Nobody doubts now that that six-month timeframe is too long," Ramos said Friday.
"It is not we who impose the timing, it is the needs of the country."
It was not clear however how the opposition might overcome resistance from the court, which critics say is packed with Maduro's supporters.
"We will find a method -- have no doubt," Ramos said.
Another senior opposition leader, Henrique Capriles, said he expected the court would overrule a constitutional amendment against Maduro and that a referendum would be better.
"The moment has come," Capriles said Friday. "This government does not want to change anything and every day the situation gets worse."
He acknowledged obstacles to a referendum too, however, alleging that the electoral authorities in charge of such a vote are under Maduro's influence.
- Economic 'catastrophe' -
Venezuela has the world's largest known oil reserves but has suffered as crude prices have fallen sharply, slashing the revenues that the government had used to fund social welfare programs.
Citizens are suffering shortages of basics such as toilet paper and cooking oil. Inflation is higher than 140 percent, according to the government's latest estimate. Next on the list: Food.
Lawmakers on Thursday urged Maduro to launch an international appeal for "humanitarian aid" to help stave off the threat of famine posed by the shortages.
Announcing the decree in mid-January, Maduro admitted Venezuela was in a "catastrophic" economic state, but said his emergency plan would allow the government to shore up its health, housing, education and food services.
Analysts say the political standoff threatens to worsen the hardship that drove voters to hand the opposition a landslide election victory in December.
"The problem Venezuela has is that it lacks a mediator to settle the conflict of power, which complicates the situation even further," said Asdrubal Oliveros, head of analysis firm Ecoanalitica.
Experts have warned of the risk of a repeat of violent street clashes that left 43 people dead in 2014.
In a worsening recession, Venezuela has been seized by a political deadlock since the opposition took majority control of the assembly at the start of January.
Maduro has chipped away at that majority through challenges in the Supreme Court.
Ramos on Friday accused the government of "doing all it can to provoke a coup" but insisted the opposition would only oust him by constitutional means.
And while you're at it, could you please take care of Justin Bieber, too?
Despite polls showing him well ahead of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the South Carolina primary coming up in eight days, Donald Trump seems determined to keep pounding away at his rival, threatening on Friday afternoon to take him to court.
If Cruz doesn't "clean up his act, stop cheating, & doing negative ads" Trump wrote on Twitter, his primary means of communication outside rallies, "I have standing to sue him for not being a natural born citizen."
Trump, who publicly pursued his futile obsession with proving that President Obama was not actually born in the United States, has in recent months turned a similar focus on Cruz, who was born in Canada to an American mother and a Cuban father.
The general consensus is that because Cruz was a citizen at birth due to his mother's citizenship, that he meets the requirement that any U.S. president be a "natural born" citizen. However, there has never been a legal decision making that determination, and a small but very real segment of the legal community believes that it remains a debatable question.
Cruz, who beat Trump in the Iowa caucuses but came in a distant third to the billionaire in New Hampshire, has been taking more and more incoming fire from the former reality television star. After retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson complained that on caucus night in Iowa Cruz supporters incorrectly informed Carson voters that their candidate was leaving the race, Trump took Carson's side.
The fight was a twofer for Trump: He got to call Cruz a cheater in public -- over and over again -- and he also began to claim that he would have won the race if Cruz vote total hadn't been padded with deluded Carson voters. It's far from clear that either of those claims is true.
Trump's "birther" attacks on Cruz seemed to have calmed down in recent weeks, but Friday's flare-up could have several causes. First, Trump really wants to win, and sees Cruz as his most dangerous rival at the moment. Second, Trump appears to believe Cruz is conducting some sort of dirty tricks campaign against him in South Carolina -- not an unlikely scenario in the Palmetto State.
On Thursday afternoon, Trump began a stream of tweets complaining about Cruz, which continued into Friday:
"We are getting reports from many voters that the Cruz people are back to doing very sleazy and dishonest 'pushpolls' on me. We are watching!" [A push poll is a campaign tool that uses a contrived poll with loaded questions to indirectly attack another candidate.]
"Cruz caught cold in lie after denial of push polls like lies w/ @RealBenCarson. How can he preach Christian values?"
"Lying Cruz put out a statement, 'Trump & Rubio are w/Obama on gay marriage.' Cruz is the worst liar, crazy or very dishonest. Perhaps all 3?"
"How can Ted Cruz be an Evangelical Christian when he lies so much and is so dishonest?"
The assault on Cruz appeared to culminate with the lawsuit threat on Friday afternoon.
There has been at least one attempt so far to challenge Cruz's eligibility for the presidency -- a laughably amateurish lawsuit filed in Houston last month. Whether Trump really thinks he would have a legal case is unclear. The more likely explanation is that he simply sees the birther questions as an effective line of attack against a troubling competitor, and will continue to use it as long as he thinks it is working.
North Korea is as unpredictable a regime as a political scientist might imagine. Its decision-making is secret. Its leader is a posterchild for the madman theory: the idea that simulating insanity may be a useful tool of intimidation.
Yet, a new paper by economists Andy Kim, Hyoung Goo Kang, and Jong Kyu Lee suggests that North Korea's aggressive military and diplomatic actions do follow some predictable, though surprising, patterns.
The authors analyze 287 of the country's military and diplomatic interactions between 1999 and 2012. They assign different levels of hostility to these actions, with missile tests as the most aggressive category. They then examine whether a range of different variables can predict the more aggressive acts. Two findings stand out.
Read British newspapers
The first standout finding comes from their coding of print journalism. The authors collected more than 70,000 newspaper reports about North Korea. For each article they used automated text analysis to code how negative the tone of the article was. They then examined whether highly negative reports were correlated with an aggressive North Korean action one or two days later.
It turns out that the tone of newspaper reporting did help the model predict North Korean aggression, improving its predictive value by as much as 47 percent.
But here's what's really surprising: South Korean and U.S. coverage didn't correlate with North Korean action. Only British news stories did. This doesn't imply that the articles' attitudes prompted those actions -- only that we can systematically observe those negative British articles coming before the aggressive actions.
The authors suggest that this is so because British journalists may have more information about what's happening in North Korea. The United Kingdom has an embassy in North Korea, unlike either South Korea or the United States. That's consistent with another finding by Andy Kim and Hosung Jung that British hedge funds show the most significant abnormal short-selling of the South Korean stock market (KOSPI) index two to three trading days before North Korean military actions.
Another possibility (not suggested by the authors) is that British news stories reveal stronger attitudes, period -- whether positive or negative -- than do either South Korean or U.S. reporting, and are therefore easier to code using automated techniques.
Take note of Dear Leader birthdays
The second key finding is that North Korea is more likely to undertake aggressive acts within five days of a past or present "Dear Leader's" birthday. That wasn't true for organizational anniversaries, such as the establishment of the North Korea government (Sept. 9), the Army (April 25), or the Labour Party (Oct. 10).
A note of warning: Kim Jong Il's birthday was Feb. 16, so we're in the danger zone. It is rumored that Pudgy chose the day of his birth.
That's a reminder -- in case we had forgotten -- that North Korea is a personal dictatorship, with an agenda focused much more on entertaining the "Dear Leader" than upholding the country's institutions.
So how does this matter?
North Korea's recent satellite launch, which apparently flew over the Superbowl site last Sunday, illustrated once again that the country will continue to take actions that are threatening to South Korea and the international community. We don't know if the South Korean and U.S. governments have predictive models based on classified information that perform better than this one.
Whether or not they do, the rest of us -- citizens, businesses, and other non-governmental actors -- also have an interest in knowing when to expect aggression. This analysis shows that even these highly secretive and seemingly random actions follow somewhat predictable and publicly observable patterns.
#1
British hedge funds show the most significant abnormal short-selling of the South Korean stock market (KOSPI) index two to three trading days before North Korean military actions.
Over the past two weeks, the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad seized several villages north of Aleppo, the country's largest city and one of the last remaining strongholds of Syria's non-jihadist rebels.
The advance cut off Aleppo's anti-regime groups from their last remaining supply lines into Turkey, and put Assad in a position to retake a fiercely contested city that had a pre-war population of over 2 million.
The regime's advances, backed through an infusion of Iranian manpower and heavy Russian airstrikes around the city, come as efforts to resolve the conflict through diplomatic means have stalled in Geneva. And a recent quote from an unnamed western diplomat shows how facile the current diplomacy really is.
"It'll be easy to get a ceasefire soon because the opposition will all be dead," Reuters quoted the diplomat as saying. "That's a very effective ceasefire."
It's an astonishing statement that speaks volumes on the current realities in Syria. In mid-2012, opposition forces were claiming high-level defections from the government's Syrian Arab Army, sweeping through major cities, and gaining ground in Damascus.
Now, they've been so decimated that representatives of western governments are comfortable publicly discussing the rebel movement's extermination.
The quote also reflects a shift in official western perceptions of the rebel movements' capabilities.
President Barack Obama famously dismissed the Syrian rebels as "former farmers or teachers or pharmacists" in 2014, in spite of groups like the Free Syrian Army's success in holding strategic territory and counterbalancing the influence of jihadist groups in the country.
Western policy decisions told a more complex story.
Suspected CIA assistance for the Syrian rebels, matched with occasionally strong US rhetoric on the need for Assad's removal, suggested that the US and its partners wanted to support anti-Assad groups enough to keep the rebellion from collapsing entirely -- and enough to sustain a viable non-Assad, non-jihadist alternative in case an opening for a negotiated solution to the conflict ever emerged.
The diplomat's quote all but declares that policy a failure.
In the diplomat's view, the key to peace isn't sustaining the rebel movement. It's letting Assad and his partners win.
The quote also reflects the west's exhaustion with the Syria conflict, which has dragged on for over four years and killed an estimated 470,000 people.
The war's threat to western democracies has increased even as the prospects for Assad's ouster wane: on February 5th, French ambassador to the US Gerard Araud tweeted that "The Syrian Civil War is becoming an existential threat to the EU," presumably because of the strain that refugees from the conflict have put on the Union's internal border control system and relations among the union's member states.
It could be considered flippant to characterize the death of Syria's non-jihadist rebel movement -- which is, after all, fighting a regime accused of serial human rights abuses -- as a prerequisite for "an effective ceasefire." But it might also be an accurate reflection of the current mood in the US and Europe.
In any case, the "ceasefire" the diplomat describes wouldn't come close to ending the Syrian Civil War.
Jihadist groups like ISIS and the Al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra are still among the more powerful fighting forces on the ground. It could be years before Assad fully consolidates control over Syria's populated areas, and even the reconquest of Aleppo could take the regime months or years.
As the past four years in Syria demonstrate, turns in battlefield momentum can say surprisingly little about where the conflict is actually going. A ceasefire with even a totally decimated rebel movement might not be enough to end the country's conflict.
Yet another North Korean general is killed by the evil Pyongyang regime.
Excellent! More! Faster! The more generals Pudgy executes, the more the remaining ones will question whether they're next, and act accordingly...
That's the story that's been doing the rounds this week after a South Korean news agency quoted an anonymous South Korean official from an unnamed South Korean agency as saying that Ri Yong Gil, chief of the Korean People's Army [KPA] general staff, had been executed for corruption.
It fit with the pattern that has emerged since Fat Boy Kim Jong Un took over the leadership of North Korea from his father at the end of 2011: Aging member of the old guard dispatched by young upstart leader.
After all, it happened with Hyon Yong Chol, the defense minister executed by anti-aircraft gun for insubordination and treason. And to Pyon In Son, head of operations in the army, said to have disagreed with Kim. The 33-year-old corpulent leader even had his uncle, Jang Song Thaek, shot for amassing too much power.
This rumor about Ri may well be true. But as with almost everything related to North Korea, very little is clear.
That didn't stop our intrepid reporter...
A memo from South Korea's National Intelligence Service, obtained by the Washington Post, said that Ri was executed on Feb. 2 or 3 for factionalism and corruption charges.
"Even though corruption and factionalism were given as reasons behind his execution, Ri had been considered a man on principle so it is more likely that these reasons were just given to justify his execution," the memo said. "This is another sign of Suet Face Kim Jong Un's reign of terror," it said.
But the South's spy agency has a history of being wrong about North Korea almost as often as it's right,
...so they're like the CIA...
and the Daily NK, a Seoul-based news service with informants inside Norh Korea, Friday reported that Ri had been arrested rather than executed.
Ri was "going against the Party's monolithic teachings and monolithic military system" by "exercising privileges and partaking in factional bureaucracy," a source told The Daily NK. He was arrested at a party meeting and dragged out in handcuffs, the site reported.
'Factional bureaucracy' sounds like he was setting up his own power center...
There is also recent precedent for top officials being given a time-out: Choe Ryong Hae, Secretary of the Korean Workers' Party, went missing for three months last year, reportedly because of corruption, then returned to the public eye last month. North Korea's state media reported he gave a speech at a ceremony marking the anniversary of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League in Pyongyang.
There were also rumors in South Korea that Hwang Pyong So, director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean Peoples' Army, had been knocked off at the end of last year after three weeks passed without him putting in an appearance. Then he showed up next to the size XXL Kim during a trip to a tree nursery operated by the army (yes, in North Korea trees are a military issue.)
They're also food...
Further obscuring the truth about Ri, the elderly general had appeared on state television in recent days, alongside the ailing Kim Jong Un, an unlikely occurrence if Ri had in fact been executed. Those who've been put to death are usually edited out of official news broadcasts.
Ri, who has (or had) held a number of top military positions, was ranked number 76 on the national funeral committee formed after Kim Jong Il's death in December 2011, according to Michael Madden's biographical notes on his Web site, North Korea Leadership Watch.
In 2012, Ri delivered a speech at a Korean People's Army rally commemorating the one-year anniversary of the death of Kim Jong Il, and the following year accompanied Fat Boy Kim Jong Un on several field inspections.
Not hard to ride the tiger -- the trick is the dismount...
He was appointed Chief of the General Staff in August 2013, according to Madden. But he did not appear during footage broadcast this week of Kim celebrating North Korea's latest long-range rocket launch.
What is clear is that the Pyongyang regime is in a state of upheaval ahead of the Congress of the Korean Workers' Party, scheduled for May. It would be the first time such a shin-dig has been held in 36 years, and many of Kim's recent moves -- including the nuclear test and rocket launch -- are considered preparation for the Congress.
"The head of the party congress is going through the files of everybody in senior positions in the government, military or party very closely," Madden said. "This is where someone like Ri Yong Gil could possibly get in trouble. I think that's one of the reasons we've seen a lot of secondary personnel changes too."
What that means is that there is plenty more change in and brinksmanship from North Korea over the next three months, Madden said.
I missed an important point in yesterday's column about Russia, Turkey, and the risks of a broader war over Turkey -- but it's something I did cover over a year ago.
You see, two problems remain: Why are we stuck defending an increasingly Islamist and unreliable ally like Turkey, and why can't Europe pull its weight?
Here's what I wrote in November of 2014:
25 years ago, NATO should have thrown itself one hell of a victory party, then dissolved in the afterglow. The core states of northern and western Europe and the US could have enjoyed a less formal ĂŠntente cordiale, and non-core, non-democratic states could have gone on their merry ways. Should a big enough threat emerge (or re-emerge), the threatened states could always form a new alliance. But absent a real threat, a defensive alliance is a contradiction in terms.
Instead of happy dissolution, NATO chose expansion -- right up to the borders of the old USSR. And NATO made promises, and held out the carrot of potential membership, to former Soviet Republics like Ukraine and Georgia. So while it may be true that Vladimir Putin is paranoid, but it's certainly true that NATO has fed his paranoias. Just as bad, or worse if Carpenter has it right, we've invited in, or kept on, states with no democratic traditions, whose democracies are unraveling.
What missed back then -- and yesterday as well -- is that keeping NATO past its Best By date allowed Britain, France, and Germany to live with the illusion that they could go on indefinitely with minuscule defense budgets. Our attention drifted elsewhere, with the Soviet Union gone and al Qaeda all-too-present. Plus China's rise demands more of our attention each year.
But so long as the North Atlantic Treaty's Article 5 was in effect ("an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all") then Europe could (and did) slash defense spending, comfortable in the illusion that America would always be there.
While cutting those budgets, NATO increased its area of responsibility to include the non-Soviet members of the defunct Warsaw Pact and even the once-Soviet Baltic States.
NATO, in short, bit off more than it could chew while letting its teeth rot.
#2
George W. Bush should have dropped out of NATO after (a) The Turks refused to help in the are on Saddam (b) the French (and I think Germans) were found knee deep in working around the oil-for-foods program.
A serious threat of disbanding NATO (or the US walking away which is the same thing) might cause a few allies to start reconsidering anti-American foreign policies.
Quick observations by employees and patrons witnessing an apparently random machete attack on diners at a restaurant helped authorities track down the fleeing suspect, who was fatally shot in a confrontation with officers a few miles away, police said.
Witnesses at the Mediterranean restaurant in northeast Columbus gave a great description of the white getaway car and even took video that provided partial information on the license plate, Columbus police spokesman Sgt. Rich Weiner said.
An officer working special duty nearby at the large Easton Town Center shopping complex spotted the vehicle, and officers confronted the man, who got out of the car holding a machete in one hand and a knife in the other, Weiner said. Police tried unsuccessfully to use a stun gun on him, then shot him when he lunged at them, he said. No officers were hurt.
It's unclear what motivated the Thursday evening attack at Nazareth Restaurant and Deli. Weiner said the restaurant attack appeared to be random.
"There was no rhyme or reason as to who he was going after," he said. A Mediterranean restaurant and deli named Nazereth. Gee. I wonder if it was kosher.
The owner of the restaurant is from Israel - the attacker asked the staff where the owner was from prior to the attack.
Nothing to see here folks, move along.
I've been to this restaurant - good food - good people.
Let's file this in the "Inadvertently Funny" file - The local paper's website this morning said the police were still trying to "piece together' what happened.
#9
The owner was a Christian Israeli originally from Nazareth, Israel. The Somali attacker's name, Mohammed. The investigators need time to come up with a politically correct statement regarding this hideous act by a preferred class of immigrants.
Posted by: Unelet Protector of the Sith2424 ||
02/12/2016 17:19
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#10
Obviously he was denied a job at the place for being named Mohammed. Racist restaurant owner brought it on himself.
/s
Posted by: Charles ||
02/12/2016 18:15
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Four people were injured in the brutal attack Thursday evening at Nazareth Restaurant and Deli, a Mediterranean restaurant in Columbus. The victims were taken to an area hospital and were expected to recover.
The owner of the restaurant, Hany Baransi, is an Israeli Arab originally from Haifa, according to his daughter Rachel Joy Baransi.
Police said the man walked into the restaurant, which was crowded with patrons for a weekly musical performance, had a conversation with an employee and then left. He returned about a half hour later. Thatâs when police said he approached a man and a woman who were sitting just inside the door at a booth and started the attack.
Police said employees and patrons tried to get the man to stop.
âSome of the patrons there started throwing chairs at him just trying to get him out of there,â Weiner said.
The man eventually fled the scene in a white car and led police on a short chase. Officers forced the man off the road a few miles away and when he got out of his car police said they tried unsuccessfully to use a stun gun on him.
A daughter named Rachel does suggest the father is Christian rather than Muslim, as does naming the restaurant Nazareth.
#14
I used to live there, Granville, loved Ohio, was a great place to raise my kids. Sometimes wish I were still there. Zero problems with CC when I was there.
Loved it.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
02/12/2016 22:11
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Ted Cruz released two ads attacking his Republican presidential rivals Donald Trump and Marco Rubio this week--but a revelation about one his ad's actors led that spot to be pulled from the airwaves.
Cruz, who fell to third place in this week's New Hampshire primary after a win in the Iowa caucuses, knocked the New Hampshire winner, Trump, for a "pattern of sleaze" linked to his support for eminent domain. In a one-minute ad titled "Parking Lot," Cruz calls out Trump for booting a woman off of her property in order to make room for a limousine parking lot. In the ad, Trump doesn't deny that he bought the woman's property for his private company. "I offered her a lot of money," he's seen saying in the ad, pointing to his chest as if to say he did so out of the goodness in his heart. Donald Trump has said he still supports eminent domain.
"Trump uses power for personal gain," the ad says. "Imagine what he could do as president."
In another ad released this week, Cruz attacked Rubio as "just a pretty face," in a 30-second South Carolina spot that parodied a self-help group griping over voting for a "Tea Party hero on the campaign" who went to Washington and "played patty cake with Chuck Schumer." The ad was later pulled, however, due to the acting background of one of its actors. It turns out, one of the women his campaign tapped to appear in the video, Amy Lindsay, has been featured in soft-core pornography flicks. Was she nekkid in this one?
That revelation was first reported by BuzzFeed. After the ad was pulled, Lindsay tweeted that she was "disappointed" in the Cruz campaign.
Amy Lindsay â@amylindsayLA
Extremely disappointed the #TedCruz campaign pulled the national television spot I had a role in... @CNN @Foxnews #moretocome #myvotecounts
12:52 AM - 12 Feb 2016
Watch out, Ted. Trump will probably put her in an ad and pick up another 5% in the polls.
#8
In the name of public service I offered to review her career in video, but haven't heard back. Hopefully they have a streaming link
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/12/2016 22:04
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#9
People need to make a living. Sometimes their first choice isn't available. As long as they are working, paying their own way, I Do Not Care! Cruz was dumb to let this go, would have been more 'inclusive'.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
02/12/2016 22:17
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#10
Poor Teddy, shocked out of his Guccis,
Has ordered a clean via Crucis:
"Desist from soft-coring!
I do my own whoring,
Eschewing you nude hootchie-cootchies."
CIA director John Brennan has said that Islamic State fighters have used chemical weapons and have the capability to make small quantities of chlorine and mustard gas, CBS News reported.
"We have a number of instances where ISIL has used chemical munitions on the battlefield," Brennan told CBS News, which released excerpts of an interview to air in full on the "60 Minutes" news program on Sunday.
The network added that he told "60 Minutes" the CIA believes that the IS group has the ability to make small amounts of mustard or chlorine gas for weapons.
"There are reports that ISIS has access to chemical precursors and munitions that they can use," Brennan said.
Brennan also warned of the possibility that the Islamic State group could seek to export the weapons to the West for financial gain.
"I think there's always the potential for that. This is why it's so important to cut off the various transportation routes and smuggling routes that they have used," he said.
When asked if there were "American assets on the ground" searching for possible chemical weapons caches or labs, Brennan replied: "US intelligence is actively involved in being a part of the efforts to destroy ISIL and to get as much insight into what they have on the ground inside of Syria and Iraq."
- 'Toxic chemicals in Iraq, Syria' -
The release of the interview excerpts comes two days after similar comments from spy chief James Clapper before a congressional committee.
"ISIL has also used toxic chemicals in Iraq and Syria, including the blister agent sulfur mustard," Clapper, the director of national intelligence, told lawmakers on Tuesday.
He said it was the first time an extremist group had produced and used a chemical warfare agent in an attack since Japan's Aum Supreme Truth cult carried out a deadly sarin attack during rush hour in the Tokyo subway in 1995.
President Bashar al-Assad's regime and rebel forces have accused each other of using chemical agents in the nearly five-year war that has killed more than 250,000 people.
After an August 2013 sarin attack outside Damascus that much of the international community blamed on Assad's government, the regime agreed to turn over its chemical arsenal.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) -- which oversaw the dangerous removal and elimination of Syria's avowed stockpile -- now says that declared arsenal has been completely destroyed.
But the global arms watchdog has still warned of the continued use of mustard, sarin and chlorine gas in the conflict, without blaming the regime, the rebels or the IS group for use of the weapons, which are banned under international law.
Last year, officials in the autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan said blood tests had shown that IS fighters used mustard agent in an attack on Kurdish peshmerga forces in August.
Thirty-five peshmerga fighters were exposed and some taken abroad for treatment, officials said.
At the time of the attack, The Wall Street Journal cited US officials as saying they believed IS had used mustard agent.
Posted by: gorb ||
02/12/2016
11:21 ||
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[3 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
A show of hands from the politicians who are supposed to represent us, please. Who thinks we don't need a wall?
When Pope Francis arrives in Mexico on Friday he will land in the most dangerous country for priests in Latin America, with dozens killed in the past decade. Bring the Popemobile with the RPG-proof glass.
The drug war that has killed tens of thousands of people in the past 10 years has also claimed the lives of at least 36 priests, targeted by criminal organizations, according to the Catholic Multimedia Center.
The latest victim was Father Erasmo Pliego de Jesus, whose burned body was found in November in Puebla, one of the most religious states in the world's second largest Roman Catholic country.
In April, Father Francisco Javier Gutierrez was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head in Guanajuato, another central state.
Alejandro Solalinde, a priest famous for his defense of migrants at a shelter in the southern state of Oaxaca, had to temporarily flee Mexico in 2012 after receiving death threats.
"We will kill you," said one of the blunt messages that Solalinde received.
"One of them even had a price on my head. They offered five million pesos ($400,000) to have me killed," said the 70-year-old priest.
Solalinde is now watched over by four bodyguards day and night while police guard his shelter.
In addition to the 36 priests assassinated since 2005, two more have disappeared, joining the macabre list of 26,000 missing people across the country.
Mexico is "the most dangerous country in Latin America to be a priest," ahead of other notoriously crime-riddled countries like Colombia, Brazil and Venezuela, according to the Catholic Multimedia Center.
Nelson Arteaga, sociologist at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences, said the deaths of dozens of priests since the government declared war against drug cartels in 2006 shows that they have not escaped the violence.
"Priests and nuns are targeted because we have gotten involved more and more in the human rights crisis of this country," Solalinde said.
"We are side-by-side with the victims and that makes us vulnerable to organized crime and its political arm."
- Bulletproof vest -
The violence worries Mexico's Roman Catholic Church.
"It has been terrible. Many priests are continuously affected by organized crime because there are people who see priests as a symbol of certain values that they don't agree with," Archbishop Norberto Rivera told AFP.
In Mexico City, a metropolis of 20 million people, at least 400 priests have faced extortion and threats, Rivera said.
The most dangerous areas for priests are the states of Guerrero in the south and neighboring Michoacan in the west.
Pope Francis will visit Michoacan's capital, Morelia, on Tuesday.
The avocado and lime growing region is known for a conflict that erupted in 2013 between vigilante militias formed by farmers to combat the cult-like Knights Templar drug cartel.
Authorities had to provide security to Miguel Patino, the bishop of Apatzingan, a city once controlled by the cartel, over fears that he faced an imminent attack in 2013.
A priest in the same city at the heart of Michoacan's so-called "Hot Land," Gregorio "Goyo" Lopez, wore a bulletproof vest during mass.
- Mass grave -
While Francis is not visiting Guerrero, which became infamous following the disappearance and presumed massacre of 43 students, the state has seen horrific violence against priests.
A Ugandan priest, John Ssenyondo, was kidnapped as he left mass in a mountain region and his remains were found later in a mass grave with 12 other bodies in November 2014.
A month later, at Christmas, the body of Father Gregorio Lopez Gorostieta was found with a bullet hole in the head, three days after he was kidnapped by gunmen at a seminary.
"Enough already! We don't want more blood. We don't want more deaths," the Mexican Episcopal Conference pleaded after Gorostieta's murder.
Pope Francis sent a letter to condemn the killing and urge that Mexican priests "continue with enthusiasm their ecclesiastic mission, despite the challenges, following Jesus' example."
[Wash Times] Vermont Sen. Bernard Sanders said former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was "not my kind of guy," and attacked rival Hillary Clinton for speaking of him highly in a previous debate and in a book review because of his role in the Vietnam War.
Mr. Sanders called Mrs. Clinton's praising words for Mr. Kissinger "rather amazing."
"Because I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country," Mr. Sanders said. "I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Kissinger."
Mr. Sanders blames Mr. Kissinger for creating the instability in Cambodia because of the bombing that happened in 1970 and creating a vacuum for the Khmer Rouge and dictator Pol Pot to flourish.
"So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger," he said. Little wonder Sanders enjoys such a following. Kissinger's misdeeds in SE Asia paled in comparison to his adoration of the Communist Chinese and massive wealth accumulation. In that regard, the Clintons, Bernie Madoff, and Henry have a great deal in common. Unfortunately, only one has been successfully convicted.
Two state health researchers in Texas are under fire for co-authoring a study suggesting what Republican leaders have long disputed: cuts to Planned Parenthood are restricting access to women's health care.
If one defines "women's health care" strictly as access to abortion, the study is almost certainly correct. That was the whole point of the cuts to PP. PP doesn't much of anything other than abortion and implantable birth control, so there's no other "health care" to cut...
Texas Health Commissioner Chris Traylor has not said whether the researchers, one a high-level director with more than 20 years in state government, will be disciplined. But a spokesman made it clear that the agency agrees with outraged Republicans over the researchers' contributions to a study that the GOP sees as flawed and biased.
The study was published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine, one of the most prominent medical journals in the nation.
You'll have to work hard to show that a flawed study made it through the NEJM (full disclosure: I know the editor personally). It's top-rate, and while it isn't perfect its in-house statisticians and reviewers are darned good.
It found that fewer women in Texas have obtained long-acting birth control, such as intrauterine devices, after the GOP-controlled Legislature booted the nation's largest abortion provider from a state women's health program in 2013. Births paid for under Medicaid also increased among some women.
Powerful Republican state Sen. Jane Nelson dismissed the findings as invalid, in part because the research was funded by the nonprofit Susan T. Buffet Foundation, which is a major supporter of Planned Parenthood and other abortion rights groups.
Key paragraph in the Methods:
The institutional review board at the University of Texas at Austin determined that the study was exempt from human-subjects review; therefore, no informed consent was required. The authors designed the study, and the funder had no role in the analysis or interpretation of the data, the writing of the manuscript, or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. All the authors vouch for the integrity and completeness of the data and analyses.
Be as angry as you want, that's a standard paragraph in these types of studies. You see the same thing with Pharma-sponsored studies. I have no reason to think that the authors are mis-communicating on this point. The good Sen. Nelson should read this paragraph.
She also questions why two state health employees were among the study's five co-authors.
Because they met the criteria for authorship as published by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Two of the authors are at "the Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin", and two are at "the Texas Health and Human Services Commission". Faculty do research. The Commission? They facilitate dissemination of information.
"It's one thing for an agency to provide data upon request. It's quite another to be listed as a 'co-author' on a deeply flawed and highly political report," said Nelson, an architect of Texas' current women's health program. "I've communicated strong concerns to the agency. This should not have happened, and we need to make sure it doesn't happen again."
Sen. Nelson is the one being political. What the good Senator simply should have done is 1) smile 2) say "precisely" and 3) move on.
Texas Health and Human Services spokesman Bryan Black said the agency "completely agrees" with Nelson and that the agency didn't know of the study until it was published.
Nor should they have...
He did not comment on whether action will be taken against the researchers -- Rick Allgeyer, the director of research and an influential decision-maker in the sprawling 55,000-employee agency, and Imelda Flores-Vazquez, who joined the agency in 2014 and is a program specialist, according to a LinkedIn page.
She and Allgeyer have not returned phone messages and emails seeking comment. The study used data from the Health and Human Services agency, where the researchers work, though the extent of their role in the study is unclear. Gee, everyone had plenty to say just a week ago. What happened?
Political pressure can be mis-used by both sides. You're seeing the Pub side right now.
Peter Schenkkan, an Austin attorney and one of the study's authors, said he is disappointed that anyone would deem the contributions inappropriate.
"The first step of a public official should be to face the facts. Not to punish those who bring the facts to them," said Schenkkan, who was lead counsel for Planned Parenthood in court over its exclusion from the state health program. Let's see the raw data!
First, read the study. The Texas decision did what it was supposed to do -- defund PP. The consequence was one that most anyone with a brain could have predicted: some contraception rates would go down, and birthrates in selected populations would increase. Not exactly a shocker.
Planned Parenthood officials said the study showed the impact of "politically motivated" decisions.
"The truth hurts. Unfortunately for Texas officials, disliking a study doesn't make it not true," said Yvonne Gutierrez, executive director of Planned Parenthood Texas Votes.
Flores-Vazquez and Allgeyer had their names on the top of the study, along with Schenkkan and two University of Texas researchers who are analyzing the impact of women's health laws passed by the Texas Legislature in recent years. School researchers say the Buffet Foundation plays no role in their work.
They didn't influence this manuscript, as stated in the Methods. That's not to say that the Foundation members and the researchers aren't chums...
Joseph Potter, one of the university researchers and the senior author of the Planned Parenthood study, said in an email that he was not in a position to comment on reaction to the study.
Texas barred Planned Parenthood from state planning services the same year that then-Gov. Rick Perry signed tough abortion restrictions that shuttered clinics across the state. Those restrictions will go before the U.S. Supreme Court next month in a major abortion rights case that will likely impact similar measures adopted in other GOP-controlled states.
#1
Jeepers, I read most of the article fairly carefully, but missed how this discovery further proves the settled science.
Why, the settled science of man-made global warmi climate change, of course!
Actually, it might be a fairly decent lesson for the climate "scientists" - it took 100 years to confirm another portion of Einstein's theory. And it's still a theory.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/12/2016 13:46
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#2
But then Al Gore and all those Hollywierd actors, and all those UN bureaucrats are oh-so-much smarter than Einstein! (at least in their own deluded minds...)
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/12/2016 20:18
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#6
Those signals looked astonishingly good.
Posted by: james ||
02/12/2016 21:20
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#7
LIGO is a proof of concept. The merger of two black holes is about the only thing that it is sensitive enough to see. Future instruments will be able to see past 1st light back to the big bang itself.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/12/2016 22:43
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[WSJ] We're in the midst of a rebellion. The bottom and middle are pushing against the top. It's a throwing off of old claims and it's been going on for a while, but we're seeing it more sharply after New Hampshire. This is not politics as usual, which by its nature is full of surprise. There's something deep, suggestive, even epochal about what's happening now.
I have thought for some time that there's a kind of soft French Revolution going on in America, with the angry and blocked beginning to push hard against an oblivious elite. It is not only political. Yes, it is about the Democratic National Committee, that house of hacks, and about a Republican establishment owned by the donor class. But establishment journalism, which for eight months has been simultaneously at Donald Trump's feet ("Of course you can call us on your cell from the bathtub for your Sunday show interview!") and at his throat ("Trump supporters, many of whom are nativists and nationalists . . .") is being rebelled against too. Their old standing as guides and gatekeepers? Gone, and not only because of multiplying platforms. Gloria Steinem thought she owned feminism, thought she was feminism. She doesn't and isn't. The Clintons thought they owned the party--they don't. Hedge-funders thought they owned the GOP. Too bad they forgot to buy the base!
All this goes hand in hand with the general decline of America's faith in its institutions. We feel less respect for almost all of them--the church, the professions, the presidency, the Supreme Court. The only formal national institution that continues to score high in terms of public respect (72% in the most recent Gallup poll) is the military.
#2
Heh. As one of the Establishment "wannabes" (which is why she endorsed Obama), she hasn't even a clue that we lump her in with that group, and thus despise her.
[Free Beacon] Congress is working to shut down the Palestine Liberation Organization's Washington, D.C., office as punishment for breaching agreements barring it from sponsoring terrorism and inciting violence against Israel, according to a copy of new legislation obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
An executive waiver signed by former president Bill Clinton in 1994 nullified laws prohibiting terrorist fronts from operating on U.S. soil and allowed for the establishment of the PLO office in D.C. The Palestinian delegation was tasked with helping to facilitate the implementation of the Oslo Accords peace agreement with Israel.
Lawmakers charge that, since its establishment, the PLO--which was designated by the United States as a terror group in 1987--has violated multiple agreements with Israel and the international community, thereby violating waivers permitting it to operate with immunity on U.S. soil.
The new legislation would alter U.S. anti-terrorism laws to classify the PLO mission in D.C. as illegitimate, according to a copy of the legislation, which was jointly filed in the House and Senate Wednesday by Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R., Fla.) and Mark Meadows (R., N.C.).
The bill would further mandate that to retain its right to exist in the United States, the PLO must stop paying terrorists a salary, end its incitement against the United States and Israel, and enter into good-faith peace negotiations with the Jewish state.
Say there...Beltway Party, after all of these years, what's the rush? Might we simply hold off on the 'shuttering' until the local PLO office financials and emails have been thoroughly examined? Who knows what might turnip.
[NY Times] A black Princeton professor is protesting her arrest during a traffic stop last week, saying she was mistreated because of her race by two white police officers who searched her and handcuffed her to a table.
The police chief in Princeton, N.J., however, said the officers had followed department policy in arresting the professor, Imani Perry.
The arrest of Dr. Perry, a professor of African-American studies, and the divergent views of how it was handled have reignited a debate on social media over police tactics and racial profiling.
The arrest came after officers stopped Dr. Perry around 9:30 a.m. on Saturday for driving 67 miles per hour in a 45 m.p.h. zone, Capt. Nicholas K. Sutter, the department chief, said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
While Dr. Perry said in a message posted online that she was arrested over “a single parking ticket,” Captain Sutter said that the officers who stopped her — a man and a woman — learned during a routine check that her driving privileges had been suspended and a warrant had been issued for her arrest over two unpaid parking violations from 2013. Starbucks can wait, Perry's search for new lesson plan material ends as planned...'and there I was, forced to sit in the very back of the squad car.'
[Daily Caller] he FBI is investigating whether Hillary Clinton's State Department improperly directed contracts to Clinton Foundation donors, in possible violation of public corruption laws, Fox News is reporting.
Three sources confirmed the previously-unknown investigation angle to Fox reporters Catherine Herridge and Pamela Browne.
"The agents are investigating the possible intersection of Clinton Foundation donations, the dispensation of State Department contracts and whether regular processes were followed," one law enforcement source told Fox.
Examples abound of Clinton's State Department opening doors for Clinton Foundation donors, as well as to the then-secretary of state's friends and political allies.
#1
This is so exciting. I can't wait to see the movie. Maybe with a car chase at the end. A convertible flying into a canyon, the protagonists fading in a slow-mo dive, the final explosion never seen, but inevitable.
#2
If the former Secretary of State should be elected to the White House, the majority-Republican Congress will continue these investigations throughout her tenure, even if the FBI is ordered to desist.
#3
Even though the FBI is under the executive branch and technically reports to the AG, the president has very little actual control of the FBI.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/12/2016 11:10
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#4
This is how it will unravel for the Beast. I suspect the FBI has significant resources dedicated to this investigation. The wheels of justice turn slow but when it comes to public corruption - the wheels grind to a find dust. Still have to get by the numerous DOJ gatekeepers though.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
02/12/2016 13:27
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[Daily Caller] The State Department's inspector general last year subpoenaed the Clinton Foundation for documents related to work that required approval from the Hillary Clinton State Department, making it now at least four investigations involving the Democratic presidential candidate being conducted by federal agencies.
According to The Washington Post, the State Department inspector general's subpoena, which was filed in the fall, also sought records related to longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin's concurrent employment in 2012 with the State Department, the Clinton Foundation, and Teneo Holdings, a Clinton-connected consulting firm.
Clinton's critics have asserted that the overlap between the State Department, her family's foundation, and Teneo during her tenure created potential conflicts of interest. The book "Clinton Cash," which was released last year, laid out numerous examples of the Clinton Foundation's wealthy donors gaining special access to Clinton's State Department. Other examples have emerged from the release of Clinton's State Department emails.
The newly revealed IG probe is in addition to the FBI's investigation of Clinton's private email server. That probe began last summer after the Intelligence Community's inspector general discovered "top secret" emails among Clinton's records. It also comes on top of the State Department's investigation of Clinton's emails. And as Fox News reported last month, the FBI also opened an investigation last year into whether the State Department provided special access and agency contracts to Clinton Foundation donors.
[Daily Caller] President Barack Obama's former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) believes Hillary Clinton should drop out of the presidential race to clear the way for the probe of her private email server by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
In an exclusive interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation, Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn (Ret.) said he thought the former Secretary of State should leave the Democratic presidential race: "I think Hillary Clinton, for the good of the country, should step down and let this FBI investigation play out."
#2
Besoeker, considering the Clinton body count http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/BODIES.php#axzz3zxTtc9Ky he might not be around long enough to fill the position.
[LI] At least a dozen email accounts handled the "top secret" intelligence that was found on Hillary Clinton's server and recently deemed too damaging for national security to release, a U.S. government official close to the review told Fox News. The security violations were common knowledge and wide spread. Shocking absolutely SHOCKING !
The official said the accounts include not only Clinton's but those of top aides -- including Cheryl Mills, Huma Abedin, Jake Sullivan and Philippe Reines -- as well as State Department Under Secretary for Management Patrick Kennedy and others. "Others" meaning members of the Obama regime, the Russians, Chinese, Iranians, NORKS ?
A second source not authorized to speak on the record said the number of accounts involved could be as high as 30 and reflects how the intelligence was broadly shared, replied to, and copied to individuals using the unsecured server.
The State Department recently confirmed that the messages in question include the most sensitive kind of intelligence. On Jan. 29, Fox News first reported that some emails on Clinton's server were too damaging to release in any form. The State Department subsequently announced that 22 "top secret" emails were being withheld in full; these were the messages being handled by more than a dozen accounts. As predicted here months ago, the 'Too Big to Fail' train is arriving precisely on schedule.
#1
If the content cannot be declassified and provided to the committee or the public, please provide the 'Date Time Group' (DTG) of the Special Access Program (SAP) related emails.
#2
At least a dozen email accounts handled the "top secret" intelligence that was found on Hillary Clinton's server and recently deemed too damaging for national security to release, a U.S. government official close to the review
I suspect that our enemies/friendmies have looked at all these emails already so the damage is already done. So let the American people in on these critical emails so they can judge the damage done. It may come to that in the courts at some point.
What could go wrong?
Russian scientists have developed a project of upgrading intercontinental ballistic missiles to destroy near-Earth meteorites 20-50 meters in size, leading researcher of the Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau Sabit Saitgarayev told TASS on Thursday.
The scientists would like to test the improved missiles' capabilities against the asteroid Apophis expected to come dangerously close to the Earth in 2036, the scientist said.
#1
...At least somebody's been watching the movies.
Mike
Snark of the day.
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/12/2016 5:27
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#2
What I suspect is reporter not understanding what the goal really is. Small enough rock, yeah could prolly shatter it to tiny bits that burn up. Bigger rocks, the idea is more the nuke(s) pushes the rock to a new course, hopefully away from Earth. In some ways, it's a good idea for the world to real practical knowledge of doing this so that the first time we try it, isn't when the planet is on the line.
#4
Let us say that the Russians succeed in changing the Asteroid's path. The new path could guarantee a collision.
There is no air in space (duh) therefore no pressure wave. Heat is what you got. Is the plan to partially melt it? How will that help?
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/12/2016 11:16
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#5
Someone draft an RFP and ring up DARPA, DoE, or HLS immediately. There's got to be modeling and simulations grant money available somewhere. Come on people !
#6
There still will be an energy shockwave Sven. Depending on where the nuke goes off, the type of asteroid (loose rock vs rocky metal), how fast it is going, etc. will determine what happens.
A blast close to the back quarter of the asteroid will generate a nice push away from the nuke. A very close blast towards the front will cause the shockwaves to work against the velocity of the mass and will cause it to break up. How bad the breakup is again depends on what the asteroid is made up of.
It actually isn't a bad idea to test this on an object that poses no threat. It is much like testing our anti-missile system out first instead of the first time we fire it the system is going after a NORK nuke heading for detonation over the continental US.
#8
The Spartan missile (ABM)was designed to destroy the incoming RV with a blast of X-rays. There is a fireball when exo but I remember that the destructive radius was much less then when in the atmosphere. I recall that Orion needed a filler surrounding the nuclear bomb to provide plasma to push the rocket when in space.
I never studied the blast patterns when exo in detail though. Hmmm.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/12/2016 12:44
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[Daily Excelsior] Making fresh disclosures on the brazen 26/11 attacks, Pak-American terrorist David Coleman Headley today exposed how ISI and LeT majorly funded terror operations in India and financed him from time to time and that Pakistain native Tahawwur Rana visited Mumbai before the terror strikes.
Resuming his deposition before a court here today via video-link after a day's break due to a technical glitch at the US end yesterday, the LeT operative also said that RBI has turned down a request to open a bank account for their office in India.
Giving details of his funding, he said, "Before coming to India in September 2006, he received USD 25,000 from ISI's Major Iqbal."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2016
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It couldn't happen to a more deserving fascist organization.
[AnNahar] On the night of August 13, 2013, Moslem Brüderbundfront man Gehad Haddad sat in a stairwell of a building next to Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque, and said: "We need a miracle."
Police moved in to disperse a sprawling Islamist protest camp in the mosque and an adjacent square the next morning, and within 12 hours about 700 demonstrators had been rubbed out.
[Dhaka Tribune] The BNP-Jamaat backed panel Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Oikya Gay Pareehad bagged 10 out of 19 posts in Chittagong District Bar Association (CDBA) elections held on Wednesday.
Three panels-Awami League backed Chattagram Sommilita Ainjibi Somonnay Gay Pareehad, progressive and left-leaning Somomona Ainjibi Sangsad and BNP-Jamaat backed Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Oikya Gay Pareehad vied for the posts.
The CDBA sources said a total of 45 candidates contested for the posts of 19 office-bearers including 10 executive committee members. Out of 3,406 voters, 2,828 lawyers cast their votes in the elections.
The Chief Election Commissioner announced the result of the polls around 12:30am yesterday.
BNP-Jamaat backed candidate Md Kafil Uddin Chowdhury was elected president defeating his nearest rival AL-backed candidate Ratan Kumar Roy.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2016
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[Libya Herald] Rada, the Special Deterrence Force (SDF) deported 8 Tunisians from Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... to Tunisia this morning suspected of having a connection with IS/Daesh [Islamic State]. If you chop their heads off and deport the rest of them, I'll betcha the rest of them doesn't come back.
Rada reported that some of those departed from Tripoli had entered Libya illegally.
Rada called on the Tunisian and Libyan authorities to cooperate more closely and directly on a continuous basis with regards to issues of security. They particularly called for a better effort at the borders in light of the circumstances that the two countries were going through and their efforts to impose security.
Some of the deportees who had entered Libya legally had their passports stamped "barred" in red by the Libyan authorities preventing them from re-entering Libya at least legally again.
Rada has been conducting a campaign recently to arrest alleged IS members as well as arresting kidnappers and criminals in general.
Rada is officially part of the Ministry of Interior and headed by Abdul Rauf Kara. It has been criticized in the past for alleged human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... violations with at least one prisoner dying allegedly while in its custody.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2016
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[Libya Herald] There are unconfirmed reports that the Libyan navy has intercepted two foreign vessels from Misrata off the coast near Derna with 25 people aboard.
One of the unnamed ships was flagged in Zanzibar and carried 13 Turkish and Syrian nationals but no cargo. Its papers apparently showed it was en route from Misrata to Greece. The second vessel, which was from The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , had a dozen people aboard with a cargo of iron from Misrata destined for Egypt.
No details of the interceptions were given in a report carried by Alwasat, which said the arrests had taken place off Ras Hilal within Libyan territorial waters.
Just under a month ago, in the same waters, the navy intercepted a Panamanian fat merchantman the Abella aboard which it was claimed were 14 terrorist suspects on their way to reinforce IS forces outside of Derna. The navy has never provided any further details of that incident and there appear to be no records of a vessel named Abella.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2016
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Professor Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, the former President of Afghanistan and a Jihadi leader who backed the incumbent President in his election campaign and asked the nation to vote for him, apparently regrets his support.
He has said that President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. has no experience of governance.
Mojaddedi has told Ariana News in an interview published on its website on Thursday that the incumbent President reached to power because of his support.
According to Mojaddedi, the country would move towards crisis and the situation would be out of control if fundamental reforms are not made in the government.
Mojaddedi seemed doubtful over the ongoing efforts for peace talks with Taliban saying that Pakistain's spy agency would continue shedding the blood of soldiers and civilians in Afghanistan.
He has warned Islamabad to eject its hand of interference from Afghanistan or he will announce 'Jihad' against Pakistain as it was declared against the former Soviet Union.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2016
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Several murderous Moslems have been killed in festivities between the loyalists of the terrorist group of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) which is also known by its Arabic name 'Daesh [Islamic State]' and Taliban in Gomal District of Paktika ...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo... province.
Local residents said on Thursday that the festivities have been erupting in Khand and Dinarkhil areas since last two days and that around 80 snuffies have been killed so far.
According to them, drone strikes were also carried out during these festivities in which 18 Taliban were killed and two vehicles belonging to the security guards of the group's shadow governor for Paktika province were destroyed.
Khaista Khan Akhtarzada, governor of Gomal District said three commanders of Daesh [Islamic State] are among those killed in Dinarkhil area.
According to Akhtarzada, the festivities erupted when Taliban opposed Daesh [Islamic State] commanders who were planning to open offices in the area.
Niamatullah Baburi, deputy of the Provincial Council of Paktika also confirmed to Khaama Press that the festivities have been erupting between the fighters of Daesh [Islamic State] and Taliban in the area but did not provide further details.
Meanwhile, ...back at the barn, a little lightbulb figuratively appeared over Bossy's head... Taliban spokesperson confirmed losing five fighters in Gumal District. According to Mujahid the fighters were killed in an Arclight airstrike.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2016
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[REALCLEARPOLITICS] Sen. Harry Reid ... the charismatic senator-for-life from Nevada, currently majority leader ... (D-NV) defended the superdelegate system in the Democratic party nominating process in an interview with NBC's Andrea Mitchell on Thursday. Reid said Iowa and New Hampshire have "no diversity." Reid said he asked himself, "how in the world could we have the future of this country be dependent" on these two states?
"The process was totally unfair before -- eight years ago. Eight years ago, I looked at this and I thought, how in the world could we have the future of this country be dependent on Iowa, which is 93% white, and we have New Hampshire which is 97% white, no diversity, no diversity in Iowa. And have the final decision made as to who is going to be the president of the United States based on those two states, it was wrong," Reid said.
Mitchell asked Reid how the superdelegate system is a fair process if Bernie Sanders ...The only openly Socialist member of the U.S. Senate. Sanders was Representative-for-Life from Vermont until moving to the Senate for the rest of his life in 2006, assuming the seat vacated by Jim Jeffords... "clobbered" Clinton in New Hampshire with a 22-point landslide yet they both came out with 15 delegates each due to 6 superdelegates giving their support to Clinton.
"Even though [Bernie Sanders] won the election by a big margin in New Hampshire, the delegates came out even. It was not a good system, it's getting better," Reid said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2016
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#1
"how in the world could we have the future of this country be dependent" on these two states?
A good question, no matter who asks it. The only time the rest of the US gives any consideration to IA or NH is during the presidential primaries. AFAIC, the first one should be in CA, FL, NY, states like that.
#2
IA and NH has precisely the characteristics needed to "set the tone" of the political war. That is that they are small and relatively inconsequential.
If they weren't than the big money and corruptocrats would be all over them like flies on $hit.
They are also places that outsiders can make a mark in and show who is and isn't vulnerable. The game shouldn't be over in the first inning as it would be if one of the huge states went first.
It is the lack of patience in society that keeps trying to end the contest immediately. We want to know NOW who's going to win. Putting the big states first would just push back the start of the campaign another year because no one could afford NOT to be on top of their game from day one.
#3
What about Nevada, Harry? How diverse is your home state? What are you doing to get more diversity? Accepting Syrian refuges? Haitian boat people? Honduran farmers? Iraqi Christians?
Wotta maroon.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/12/2016 7:56
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#4
Nevada is overloaded with Italians and Mormons.
#7
There is one race, humans. Anyone claiming to be anything else should be immediately vivisected in a lab to determine what sort of alien they are. Anyone claiming racism will also be vivisected.
[USATODAY] Obama Administration Attorney General Loretta Lynch said that the U.S. Attorney was using "prosecutorial discretion.” That discretion protected Lerner from the grand jury.
As Investor’s Business Daily editorialized, this sets an ugly precedent. Under the Obama administration, officials are above the law — at least so long as they’re targeting Obama’s political opponents. Accountability? Rule of Law? That’s just for the little people.
And that’s the worst outcome of all. It’s not just that evidence overwhelmingly points to the IRS having been weaponized in an effort to neutralize Obama’s Tea Party opposition. It’s that ordinary Americans can look at this and conclude that there’s no reason to follow the law if they can get away with breaking it since the people in charge of enforcing the law clearly regard it with contempt.
In an influential essay several years back, Gonzalo Lira warned of the coming middle-class anarchy, when ordinary Americans decide to be no more lawful than they have to be.
There are plenty of nations that work that way — where both the ruling class and the ruled view the law with contempt and obey it only when forced to. Such places are, generally, not as nice as places where the rule of law pertains. But avoiding that kind of outcome requires principles and self-discipline on the part of the ruling class, something that contemporary America conspicuously lacks. Welcome to the era of hope and change.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2016
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#1
"principles and self-discipline on the part of the ruling class" What a quaint and outmoded idea.
[WASHINGTONPOST] Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as For a good time at 3 a.m. call Hillary and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Timothy Pickering ... and Bernie Sanders ...The only openly Socialist member of the U.S. Senate. Sanders was Representative-for-Life from Vermont until moving to the Senate for the rest of his life in 2006, assuming the seat vacated by Jim Jeffords... will meet for their second one-on-one debate Thursday night, just hours after Clinton -- who is now banking on minority voters to help her struggling candidacy -- got a key endorsement from leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus.
The debate in Milwaukee will begin at 9 p.m. and will be televised on PBS.
As the candidates prepared for the debate, Clinton got a bit of good news. She was endorsed by the political arm of the Congressional Black Caucus. Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), the caucus chairman, said no candidate "understands the racial divide" as well as Clinton does.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2016
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[WASHINGTONPOST] Investigators with the State Department issued a subpoena to the Bill, Hillary and Princess Chelsea Clinton Foundation last fall seeking documents about the charity's projects that may have required approval from the federal government during Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as For a good time at 3 a.m. call Hillary and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Edward Stettinius, Jr. ... 's term as secretary of state, according to people familiar with the subpoena and written correspondence about it.
The subpoena also asked for records related to Huma Abedin, a longtime Clinton aide who for six months in 2012 was employed simultaneously by the State Department, the foundation, Clinton's personal office, and a private consulting firm with ties to the Clintons.
The full scope and status of the inquiry, conducted by the State Department's inspector general, were not clear from the material correspondence reviewed by The Washington Post.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2016
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As a uhemm professional courtesy Obama will encourage his AG to rope-a-dope on the emails containing sensitive material. However, it's questionable if he's willing to let Bill the Grifter taint his "legacy".
[NEWS.YAHOO] Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has condemned German Chancellor Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as Mom... 's liberal policy on migrants as "quite simply stupid", in an interview due to appear this weekend.
"It's quite simply stupid to open Europe's doors wide and invite in everyone who wants to come to your country," Medvedev said in an interview with the economic daily Handelsblatt.
"European migration policy is a total failure, all that is absolutely frightening," Medvedev added.
Merkel's immigration policy has sparked a heated public debate in Germany about the country's ability to integrate the nearly 1.1 million asylum seekers it took in last year.
In late summer 2015, she announced that Germany would stop expelling Syrian refugees and in September agreed with Austria to let in tens of thousands of migrants who were stuck in Hungary, which rejected asylum requests.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2016
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Then he signed off on shipping another shipload of barrel bombs to Syria, and then went to his lunch appointment with Schroeder.
[REUTERS] Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev raised the specter of an interminable or a world war if powers failed to negotiate an end to the conflict in Syria and warned against any ground operations by U.S. and Arab forces.
Medvedev, speaking to Germany's Handelsblatt newspaper on the eve of talks between major powers on Syria in Munich, said the United States and Russia must exert pressure on all sides in the conflict to secure a ceasefire.
Asked about Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... 's offer last week to supply ground troops if a U.S.-led operation were mounted against Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... , he said:
"This is bad as a ground offensive usually turns the war into a permanent one. Just look at what happened in Afghanistan and many other countries."
"The Americans and our Arab partners must think well: do they want a permanent war?" It would be impossible to win such a war quickly, he said according to a German translation of his words, "especially in the Arab world, where everybody is fighting against everybody".
"All sides must be compelled to sit at the negotiating table instead of unleashing a new world war."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2016
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US oil triggered the Japanese attack on Pearl harbor. The embargo was intended to force Japan's hand in China. It forced hand in an unexpected direction.
Today, it can be argued that low oil prices impact Iran and Russia's ability to project force. I wonder if this too might backfire....
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/12/2016 8:13
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What's the next Kurdish town on the list, now that this one has been destroyed enough to save it?
[AnNahar] Turkish security forces have ended an almost two-month military operation backed by a curfew in the southeastern town of Cizre against rebels of the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), the interior minister said Thursday.
"The operations in Cizre have been successfully completed as of today," Efkan Ala told state-run TRT television, adding that the curfew would nonetheless continue a little longer.
"Control has been re-established in Cizre and over the bandidosgunnies there," he said.
Cizre, in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's Sirnak province near the Iraqi and Syrian border, has been under curfew since December 14, when the army launched an "anti-terror operation" in a bid to root out the PKK from the town's center where they had erected barricades and dug trenches.
The army said Wednesday some 580 Lions of Islam had been killed in the town since the operations started.
Kurdish activists claim the campaign has cost dozens of civilian lives and argue the army figure for the number of Lions of Islam killed is grossly exaggerated.
The PKK has killed dozens of members of the Turkish security forces in attacks since a two-and-a-half-year truce collapsed in July.
[AnNahar] Suspected holy warriors from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) attacked the offices of two strongly pro-government Turkish newspapers, throwing Molotov cocktails and opening fire on their editorial headquarters, reports said Thursday.
A group of five masked assailants hurled Molotov cocktails at the entrance of the offices of Yeni Safak daily in the Bayrampasa district of Istanbul before opening fire on the building with long-range rifles late Wednesday, the state-run Anatolia news agency and the newspaper said.
An hour later, another group, also armed with Molotov cocktails and rifles, attacked the offices of Yeni Akit in Istanbul's Kucukcekmece district, damaging several cars outside the building, Anatolia added.
Fire erupted outside both buildings, but no casualties were reported. Police were searching for the assailants.
Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus blamed the PKK, which has waged an armed insurgency in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... "I condemn with hatred the ugly attack on Yeni Safak and Yeni Akit newspapers by members of the terrorist organization," he said in an apparent reference to the PKK.
The dailies are strong supporters of the government's military operations against the rebels of the PKK in southeast Turkey which activists claim has cost dozens of civilian lives.
[IsraelTimes] Kafr Kanna man was caught when he went to the West Bank to hand money over to members of the Paleostinian terror group
An Arab Israeli dentist was sentenced Tuesday to 20 months in prison for aiding the Paleostinian terrorist group Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, by transferring large sums of money to members of the organization in the West Bank.
The Nazareth District Court handed down the sentence to 32-year-old Malik Jamil Mubarak Khatib from the northern Arab Israeli town of Kafr Kanna. He also received an NIS 50,000 ($13,000) fine.
Khatib was apprehended in May 2015 in a joint operation by the Shin Bet security service and police while on his way to the Paleostinian West Bank city of Ramallah.
A sum of NIS 170,000 (about $43,700) in cash was found in Khatib's possessions at the time of the arrest.
The court mentioned in its ruling that the Shin Bet had specifically warned Khatib not to engage in such activity on two occasions in the weeks prior to his arrest.
During his interrogation, Khatib admitted he had transferred funds to Hamas activists and further confessed that he had assisted Paleostinians from Gazoo to enter Israeli territory illegally.
Khatib said he had received payments in exchange for driving Paleostinians without permits across the Strip's border on a nearly daily basis. During the trial the court heard that Khatib had been paid 1,000 shekels for each transfer he made.
The judges noted that Khatib had not been involved in any terror activity himself but said his actions warranted a harsh punishment due to use of the money by the terror groups he worked for.
"These crimes have immense potential to harm state security and its citizens," wrote justices Esther Hellman and Danny Tzafarti in the ruling. "Even though the defendant may regret his actions, we have no choice but to treat this behavior with the full force of the law."
[NYPOST] A Canadian man solved his own cold case -- by suddenly remembering his identity 30 years after he disappeared. Ooh! Ooh! I seen dis TV show!
Edgar Latulip was 21 years old when he vanished from a group home in Kitchener, Ontario, in September 1986. Dat's French for Edgar The Tulip...
The last time his mom, Sylvia Wilson, saw her son, he was in a hospital after a failed suicide attempt, and cops figured Wilson, who has the cognitive abilities of a child, traveled to Niagara Falls to kill himself. Mizz Wilson or Monsieur The Tulip?
His mom suspected foul play, "Dat's right. Somebody done him in!"
thinking for decades that he may have been abused because of his mental illness, or accidentally killed and his body hidden, she told The Guelph Mercury. Accidentally killed and his body accidentally hidden?
On Wednesday, Waterloo regional police announced that Latulip was alive and well, living 80 miles away from where he disappeared. His cold case got a big break in January after Latulip told a social worker in St. Catharines that he remembered who he was. A DNA test performed last week confirmed that it was in fact him. "Holmes! How do you do it?"
Police concluded that Latulip had some kind of head injury that caused him to forget who he was. Dat's what happened to dat guy on Da Young and Da Restless, too!
"It's the only case, that I know of, where we've been able to find someone who has been missing for this period of time," Detective Duane Gingerich told CTV News.
Officials are now working on arranging a reunion between Latulip and his family. "They're obviously very happy about it and they're making plans to get together with Edgar and speak with him further," Gingerich said. "Mother!"
"Monsieur The Tulip!"
Wilson told CTV she hadn't spoken with her son yet, but was overwhelmed to know he was alive.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2016
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Sacrebleu!
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/12/2016 0:56
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No, no, this is Quebec, Sven, it would be "Sacrément!" or possibly just "Sac!" Quebecois love their blasphemies.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/12/2016 9:55
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14th century French dialect, got it. My brother was president of his high school French club. Was totally bummed when he went to Montreal and couldn't understand a thing. He was taught 20th century Parisian French.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/12/2016 11:21
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I was taught English in the 50's. I can't understand what is being said TODAY !!!
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/12/2016 12:04
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And they text English when they want money.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/12/2016 12:08
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14th century French dialect, got it. Was totally bummed when he went to Montreal and couldn't understand a thing. He was taught 20th century Parisian French.
Seventeenth century French, I'd think, given when Britain took Canada from France. As for your brother not understanding a word, Sven, my darling Quebecoise mother-in-law came to America and was failed by her high school French teacher.
"I don't know what you are speaking," he said, "but it is not French."
#8
In wintertime chez tabernackers,
No matter how cold the Quebeckers,
Their ears remain toasty
With "Calisse!" and "Hostie!"
Spat out by the frenchified crackers.
We can see what specifically must worry Putin in a new must-read interview with Hamm (courtesy of Christopher Helman at Forbes). Hamm, referencing the fact that American shale producers have in the past half-dozen years nearly doubled America's oil output, says: "We can double it again." If Hamm is correct, then the shale fields alone-never mind the rest of America's onshore and offshore production-would be producing more oil than Russia, and the world markets would again be in oversupply.
For Russia, almost three-fourths of all export revenues and over half its national budget comes from selling oil & gas. The problem is that, according to the World Bank, Russia needs oil at $100 per barrel to balance its domestic budget and fund its military and foreign ambitions. It's expensive to buy modern weapons, including the missiles Russia has deployed across the NATO frontier. And it's expensive to meddle in foreign nations whether by deploying troops in the Ukraine and Syria, or funneling "gray" money to bad actors from Africa to South America.
Following Secretary Ashton's rhetorical call to arms, we now have the New York Times editorial board agreeing with the SecDef that "deterring Russia is essential." Perhaps the Times in calling for alternatives to "big wars" and "costly weapons" in dealing with our adversaries, might come to appreciate that America's new petroleum power presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/12/2016
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There are thousands of Frackers and they all respond in different ways to market forces.
Bakken and Eagle Ford production in Jan 2016 were below production in Jan 2015.
On the other hand the Permian basin produced more in Jan 2016 than in Jan 2015.
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/12/2016 8:08
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It really is a second-time-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Ronaldus Magnus did for the Soviets with some smuggled software and some discreet diplomacy with South Africa.
A total of 68 arrests warrants are said to have been issued for the arrest of unidentified individuals who participated in a 2014 Bundy Ranch and another 2015 Oregon armed protest, according to data.
A news account published in Freedom Outpost quoted an Oathkeepers media director, Jason Van Tatenhove saying that a source within the United States Department of Homeland Security said that 68 arrest warrants have been issued for individuals who were part of the Bundy Ranch and the Sugar Pine Mine armed protests.
According to the report, Tatenhove is investigating whether there is a federal warrant for his own arrest, since he attended the Bundy Ranch protest along with hundreds of others.
The news follows the arrest of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy in Portland directly after his plane landed Wednesday night. It is said that Bundy was encouraged by Nevada state assemblywoman Michele Fiore to go to Portland. Two of Bundy's sons, Ammon and Ryan Bundy are in the Multnomah, Oregon County jail on conspiracy charges from their participation in an armed protest on Malhuer Wildlife Refuge which ended Thursday.
Ammon and Ryan Bundy both were arrested two weeks ago following a violent confrontation between Oregon state and federal police agents along a stretch of highway about 80 miles north of Malhuer Wildlife Refuge. Arizona rancher Lavoy Finicum was shot several times after he exited his vehicle, resulting in his death.
Finicum was armed but did not draw on police.
The Bundy Ranch protest was the first time in the history of armed confrontations between the federal government and armed protesters that the government was forced to back down. Hundreds of individuals flocked to the site to protest federal agents and armed civilian contractors, some of whom had threatened protesters with sniper fire.
A photo released during that time showing a protester lying prone on a bridge aiming his AK-47 rifle enraged government supporters, who demanded violent actions and arrests of the armed protesters.
Even media celebrities such as Montel Williams wanted government agents to kill armed protesters because they were armed.
20 More Arrest Warrants
One of the participants of the Bundy Ranch protest, Lewis Arthur posted on his Facebook page Thursday night that the federal government was preparing as many as 88 warrants, including 18 for the patriots border patrol group, Camp Lonestar.
The Camp Lonestar group conducted armed patrols of the southern border back in 2013. It is unknown if the group is still operating patrols.
Lewis Arthus in his post said that he took command of the situation in Bundy Ranch after an Oathkeepers command group left. The Oathkeepers left after they claimed the government was preparing a drone strike on Bundy Ranch.
Oathkeepers' departure enraged some militia leaders, some of whom, including Ryan Payne, accused them of being cowards. Payne was one of eight individuals who were arrested in Oregon two weeks ago.
According to Arthur, shortly after the Oathkeepers left, many militia groups left as well.
Arthur runs a homeless veterans rescue project in Arizona called Veterans on Patrol.
OhhKayy. But here's a little tip. If you're on record that you're armed and willing to die for your cause you my want to take some extra precautions. For instance, if you encounter a road block encourage your wheelman stop the vehicle. Now, and this is the important part, don't exit said vehicle unless asked to do so. In fact, it's reccommended that you roll down all the windows, stop the engine, and all occupants press their hands so tightly to the roof that you dent the top of your cab. Just sayin.
#3
OhhKayy. But here's a little tip. If you're on record that you're armed and willing to die for your cause you my want to take some extra precautions. For instance, if you encounter a road block encourage your wheelman stop the vehicle. Now, and this is the important part, don't exit said vehicle unless asked to do so. In fact, it's reccommended that you roll down all the windows, stop the engine, and all occupants press their hands so tightly to the roof that you dent the top of your cab. Just sayin.
And if you don't, you deserve to be shot to death, right?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/12/2016 19:16
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LaVoy was not armed. The video released by the FBI... with no sound mind you, shows what looks to many, LaVoy reacting to pain on his left side. He was most likely shot by a rubber bullet, or tased on his left side, which made him move his hands to the area. LaVoy did not own a 9mm... the one reportedly found on his person after he was assassinated was reported as stolen... LaVoy was an honest and lawful man who would not have been carrying a stolen weapon... or anyone else's weapon. Without sound, and with the extremely poor quality of the video, we have no idea if LE may have asked him to 'hold his jacket open on the left side.'.... They were set up, ambushed and LaVoy was murdered.... The Constitution is a foreign document to most in law enforcement and much will be learned from LaVoy's murder.
[SACBEE] A brawl between rival narco gangs at an overcrowded penitentiary in northern Mexico turned into a riot Thursday, leaving 49 inmates dead and 12 injured in the country's deadliest prison melee in years. Just a little relief from our continuous stream of bad news...
No escapes were reported in the clash at the Topo Chico prison in Monterrey, said Nuevo Leo state Gov. Jaime Rodriguez. The riot took place on the eve of Pope Francis' arrival in Mexico, a visit that is scheduled to include a trip next week to another prison in the border city of Ciudad Juarez.
Rodriguez said in the morning that 52 had died, but he lowered that by three in the late afternoon. The reason for the changed corpse count was not clear.
At a news conference the governor read a list of 40 names of confirmed victims, saying five of the remaining bodies had been charred by fire and four were yet to be positively identified. One of the injured was in grave condition.
The fighting began around midnight with prisoners setting fire to a storage area, sending flames and smoke billowing into the sky. Rescue workers were seen carrying injured inmates -- some with burns -- from the facility.
Rodriguez said the clash was between two factions led by a member of the infamous Zetas narco mob, Juan Pedro Zaldivar Farias, also known as "Z-27," and Jorge Ivan Hernandez Cantu, who has been identified by Mexican media as a Gulf cartel figure.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2016
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#1
According to a 2014 report by the National Human Rights Commission, Topo Chico was designed to house 3,635 prisoners but actually held about 4,585 that year. Inmates there used violence as a way of exerting control in the prison, it added.
[YAHOO] A teenager accused of throwing a vicious punch on a Paterson street corner as part of a "Knockout Game" attack made his first court appearance Wednesday, one day after turning himself in to police. Ummm... Rosa Parks Boulevard? "Obsessive Defiance Disorder?"
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Six murderous Moslems have been killed and 10 others maimed in a clash erupted between two rival murderous Moslem groups in eastern Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province.
Spokesperson for the police headquarters of Nangarhar province said the clash erupted between fighters of Taliban and Daesh [Islamic State] in Karkani area of Achin District yesterday.
According to Colonel Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal, five of the murderous Moslems killed were loyalists of Daesh [Islamic State] and the other one was from the Taliban group.
Seven of the 10 maimed belonged to Daesh [Islamic State] and three to Taliban.
Nangarhar has become the battle ground of Taliban and Daesh [Islamic State] where they have announced 'Jihad' against each other.
Loyalists of Daesh [Islamic State] are former members of Taliban. They separated ways with Taliban after the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) myrmidon group which is also known by its Arabic name 'Daesh [Islamic State]' came into shape.
The two sides have fought in a number of Afghan provinces but the most deadly festivities have been erupting in Nangarhar province.
Achin, Haska Meena and Bati Kot are among the districts of Nangarhar where both sides have killed/beheaded dozens of each other's fighters.
Due to the tense situation and continued festivities between the two groups, hundreds of families have been forced to leave their homes in those areas.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2016
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A teacher in southern Saudi Arabia opened fire on colleagues Thursday, killing at least six people and wounding two, state television reported.
The brief reports on the state television channel's website and Twitter account did not elaborate or offer a reason for the shooting at an education department building. It quoted an unnamed police spokesman for the information and said the suspected shooter was in custody.
The state-run Saudi Press Agency did not immediately report the shooting.
State TV posted a still photograph that showed ambulances gathered outside the building where the shooting took place in Jazan province.
[NYPOST] A 4-year-old British boy dubbed "Junior Jihadi" has once again been used in a revolting ISIS propaganda video -- this time showing him detonating explosives in a car with three captives strapped inside.
Isa Dare -- who was taken to Syria by his mom, Grace "Khadija" Dare -- is seen with a young man who addressed the UK with a scarf covering his face.
"You will never fight us except behind fortified fortresses or behind walls," he said, the Independent of the UK reported.
He then mentions spies sent to Syria and the killing of "our brothers" in the West.
"So today, we're going to kill your spies the same way they helped you kill our brothers," he said. "So prepare your army and gather your nations, for we too are preparing our army."
The three doomed captives, wearing the familiar orange jumpsuits, first offer their "confessions" before being cuffed inside the vehicle.
Little Isa, clad in combat fatigues, makes an "OK" sign, presses a detonator to blow up the car and yells "holy shit! Allahu akbar!" -- "God is great."
British Prime Minister David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... 's spokeswoman said officials were studying the vile video -- insisting it was proof that ISIS is losing ground in Syria and Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2016
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[HUFFINGTONPOST] It took murderous Moslems a few hours to burn the small Nigerian village of Dalori to the ground. At least 86 people were killed in the hail of bullets, fire bombs and suicide kabooms that engulfed the village on Jan. 30, officials said.
Nigerian troops showed up about an hour after suspected members of Islamist Death Eater group Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... sped into the village on cars and cycle of violences that Saturday evening. They were outgunned by the armed bad boys, and the assault continued until better-armed reinforcements could arrive about four hours later, local soldiers and residents who survived the attack told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named. Some Dalori residents criticized forces for not showing up in time to stop the massacre, The New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... reported.
At dawn on Tuesday, the bad boy group struck yet again, this time at a camp for people who had already fled its violence in the northeast. Two jacket wallahs killed over 60 people at Dikwa camp. That grisly toll could have been even higher -- a third bomber refused to detonate her explosives when she realized her parents and siblings were in the camp, Nigerian officials said.
Nigeria has invested huge resources in fighting Boko Haram over the past years, and has recaptured a lot of territory previously held by the Death Eater group. But the carnage in northeast Nigeria ... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border... highlights how vulnerable civilians remain to Boko Haram attacks and that authorities still face huge obstacles keeping people safe from the bad boy group.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2016
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[AnNahar] Three turbans from the Qaeda-linked al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli sh-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... Front were killed Thursday in a Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... attack in the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal, Hizbullah's al-Manar and other TV networks reported.
Hizbullah fighters targeted a group of Nusra turbans in the Arsal outskirts area of Harf Wadi al-Kheil, killing three and wounding several others, the reports said.
Militants from al-Nusra and the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... jihadist group are entrenched in mountainous regions in Arsal's outskirts and along the porous Lebanese-Syrian border.
The Lebanese army regularly shells their positions and Hizbullah fighters frequently engage in festivities with them on the Syrian side of the border.
The turbans clash with the army occasionally but a major confrontation erupted in August 2014 when the two groups overran Arsal in the wake of the arrest of a senior IS leader.
Nineteen soldiers and around 60 turbans were killed in the fighting. The jihadists of the two groups also kidnapped dozens of troops and coppers of which four were eventually executed.
[ALMANAR.LB] The Yemeni army and the Popular Committees seized control on Thursday over new positions in more than a front in Marib province east of Yemen, a military source told Al-Manar Website.
Another military source told Al-Massira website that the national military and the Committees inflicted the mercenaries heavy losses in ammunition and ordnance.
Earlier, the Yemeni army established control over the mercenaries' positions near Tala't Al-Hamra in Saraweh directorate.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2016
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[BREITBART] As Hillary Clinton’s campaign looks to the black vote in South Carolina to fend off Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)’ momentum, a look at her staff list reveals an exclusively white leadership team mostly comprised of white males. In fact, her top six campaign officials are all white guys.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2016
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Nothing to be seen here. This simply illustrates the commitment of diversity from the partner of the first 'black president.'
[AnNahar] A customs officer and two non-combatants were killed in an attack by suspected jihadists in northern Mali on Thursday, customs and military sources said.
The assailants arrived in the town of Hombori on two pick-up trucks, a local customs official said told AFP.
"They opened fire on a customs post and killed our colleague Mody Ndiaye, who only arrived on Wednesday to take up his position. Two civilians were also killed," the official said.
They also set fire to a vehicle before ransacking the building, he said.
A military source said "the bandidosmurderous Moslems came from the north with vehicles. They had military weapons. They began shooting in the air before attacking the customs post."
Since Tuesday, Hombori police had noticed "suspicious movements" in the town, source said.
Residents later staged a protest to demand more security for civilians in the town.
Northern Mali fell under the control of Tuareg-led rebels and jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda in 2012.
The Islamists sidelined the Tuareg to take sole control. Although largely ousted by a French-led military operation in January 2013 the jihadist groups remain active.
Thursday's attack occurred not far from the commune of Mondoro, near the border with Burkina Faso ...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other... , where three Malian soldiers were killed by a roadside kaboom on Tuesday.
The two attacks coincide with the first visit to the region this week by the new head of the U.N. mission in Mali (MINUSMA), Mahamat Saleh Annadif.
Annadif notably visited Kidal, a stronghold of the Tuareg-led former rebel group the Coordination of Movements of Azawad (CMA), where tensions sparked by the arrival in the town this month of members of a pro-government group have eased following a deal between the two.
[THEDAILYBEAST] Heavy are the burdens of the men wearing four stars in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Ri Yong Gil, the chief of the General Staff of the North Korean military, has been executed, according to Yonhap News Agency and Rooters. CNN reports that a South Korean government source confirms the top general was put to death.
The general, according to CNN, was killed for "factionalism, misuse of authority, and corruption."
Kim's increasing willingness to execute some of the most senior figures in his military would suggest the young leader is struggling to impose control. Analysts are beginning to wonder how much more the military will put up with.
Ri was last seen in public on Jan. 5, at about the same time as the North's claimed "hydrogen" bomb test, when he participated in an "inspection of coastal artillery" with North Korean leader Kim Pudge Jong-un ...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished... The apparently abrupt termination of his stellar military career was hardly a surprise. General Pyon In Son was put to death, probably in January of last year, for insubordination, specifically for refusing to replace certain junior officers.
Then, General Hyon Yong Chol, the DPRK's defense minister, was executed for napping at a public event--disrespecting Kim who was present at the time--and for disobedience. The specific charge was advocating "militarism-oriented bureaucracy."
Many Korea watchers consider these killings and others to be proof that Kim Jong-un is in command, that he is powerful enough to get rid of anyone. In reality, it is proof that the situation at the top of the regime is fluid. After all, if Kim were truly in control, there would be no need for the continual bloodletting.
Hyon's execution was particularly revealing. It was reportedly carried out by anti-aircraft fire at close range, in front of an audience of hundreds at a military academy near Pyongyang. The spectacle, at the end of last April, was meant to send a message, and the fact that Kim had to do so is a clear indication he was not in firm command of the Korean People's Army.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2016
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#1
The creators of Team America: World Police were not that far off the mark.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/12/2016 0:47
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[IBTIMES] For the last year, many of the world's governments have been trying to answer the same fiendishly difficult question: How does one defeat the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group? Airstrikes have proved insufficient. The holy warriors still occupy vast swaths of Iraq and Syria and have since moved into Libya. Attacks are no longer bound by the borders of conflict -- at least a dozen countries have seen casualties on home soil. Nearly two years since the U.S. assembled an international coalition to counter the threat from the group, also known as ISIS, Defense Secretary Ash Carter and 48 of his allied counterparts are meeting in Brussels Thursday to ask once again -- but this time, they're hoping to find an answer.
The major talking point at NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... headquarters in the Belgian capital is whether ground troops will be the next strike against ISIS. Last week, a Saudi military front man announced the kingdom -- a long-time supporter of Syrian rebel groups opposing Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... -- was willing to send ground troops into Syria. But analysts are skeptical the country will follow through without backing from the U.S., The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... and surrounding Gulf states.
"I certainly appreciate and value the Saudi willingness to engage on the ground. I think that would be a challenge for them if they try to take that on," Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Tuesday.
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02/12/2016
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[Dhaka Tribune] Two people believed to be members of an outlawed party were killed in a reported shootout with members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab)
Which one? Last I looked, there were something like 20 units spread across the country, so great was the need for their rapidity of action.
at Swastipur in Sadar upazila early yesterday.
Mosaddek Ibne Mujib, commanding officer of RAB 12, said they had information
Mahmoud the Weasel builds his 401K in a troubled time...
that a group of members of the outlawed party were staying in the area for holding a secret meeting in the dead of night, a team of the elite force conducted a drive there at about 3am.
Prime time!
Spider senses tingling at the proximity of Rab members, the party members opened fire on the elite force forcing them to fire back that triggered a shootout.
The invitation was engraved on pasteboard in the traditional style, with RSVP in the bottom corner, so naturally a response was required.
Akam Uddin Hia,25, son of Ansar Sheikh, and Liakat, 30, son of Abdul Jalil, both residents of Mrittikapara in Sadar upazila, were caught in the line of fire
...right where they were supposed to be...
and injured. Their other associates managed to flee the scene. ... as though they had never been... Akam and Liakat were rushed to Kushtia General Hospital where doctors declared them dead.
"They're dead, Jim!"
"Both of them, Bones?"
"Both of them, Jim!"
Later, the bodies were sent to hospital morgue for an appointment with Dr. Quincy.
"Overtime special for you, Dr. Quincy!"
"Great, Sam, stack 'em in the back with the others."
Rab members recovered two foreign-made pistols, one rifle, two magazines and some bullets from the spot.
"Which spot?"
"THAT spot!"
While this report was typed up, young Belal Siddique, so new he hadn't even been issued a uniform yet, was set to polishing the ordnance and the bullets before returning them to their velvet-lined boxes in the evidence room until the next time they were needed,
And so we end another tale of the Rab, happy to know that, despite the spread of ISIS and the astounding collection of Americans desiring to become president of the United States, the universe ultimately functions as it should.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2016
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Ahmad Zia Masoud, the Special Envoy to President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. for reform and good governance, believes that the ongoing process for peace talks with Taliban is the game of Pakistain's intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence ...the Pak military intelligence agency that controls the military -- heads of ISI typically get promoted into the Chief of Army Staff position. It serves as a general command center for favored turban groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, tries to influence the politix of neighboring countries, and carries out a (usually) low-level war against India in Kashmir... (ISI).
While talking to a gathering in Takhar province on Wednesday, Masoud said that the purpose of this process is to place Taliban in the government.
He went on to say that if Pakistain brings one group to the negotiation table it will strengthen another group for fighting.
During the government of former President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... 's, High Peace Council came into shape, bombardment of foreign forces, night raids and the use of heavy weapons against Taliban stopped but nothing of this added up to the optimism for peace, Masoud added.
While criticizing government policies, Masoud expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... s over the country's future.
With current policies of government for peace, it is possible that the fighting will further explore, he said.
Pointing to the quadrilateral process started by Afghanistan, Pakistain, the United States and China for bringing Taliban to the negotiation table, Masoud said that "it is waste of time" for keeping Afghan government heedless so they can increase attacks.
President Ghani's Special Envoy also said that a Resistance Shura (Council) needs to be formed under the leadership of the former Mujahideen commanders which would be able to maintain security of the country in one year, he added.
Masoud elaborated that a similar decision was also made in the meeting of the National Security Council that command of the fighting needs to be given to the former Mujahideen commanders.
This is first time government faces a very strict criticism from the President's Special Envoy for reform and good governance.
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02/12/2016
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[IsraelTimes] New unit to combat disproportionate amount of crime in Arab community, will include 1,300 officers, dozens of new stations
Jamal Hakrush has been tapped to become the first Arab Muslim promoted to deputy commissioner in the Israel Police.
Hakrush, a career police officer who hails from the Galilee village of Kafr Kanna, will take up the role at the helm of a new police unit aimed at fighting the disproportionate amount of crime within Israel's Arab community, police confirmed.
Police spokeswoman Luba Samri refused to go into detail regarding the expected appointment, only saying that Hakrush was qualified and had many accomplishments. "He is a suitable candidate to do this job," she said.
Commissioner Roni Alsheich announced the new initiative on Tuesday during an "appreciation day" for police in the Knesset. He explained its necessity due to "frighteningly high" rates of domestic violence, murder, illegal weapons possession, and other crimes in the Arab sector.
At a meeting of the Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee, Alsheich said that although Arabs constitute 21 percent of Israel's population, they account for 58% of total crimes, 55% of attempted murders, 47% of thefts, and 27% drug dealing.
"This picture is not only of concern to the police, but also to the Arab community itself," he said. "There is a strong desire to strengthen policing in the Arab community. I met dozens of heads of Arab local authorities and discovered that there was great willingness. 'Just send in the police already,' they told me."
The new program, the brainchild of Alsheich and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, seeks to recruit 1,300 new officers, and build dozens of new stations in Arab areas of the country.
Mujahid Awawida, the mayor of the Hakrush's hometown of Kafr Kanna in northern Israel, praised the program, particularly as it related to combating the prevalence of illegal firearms.
"Guns are a tool for killing, not a tool of peace," he told Army Radio Thursday. "I call on the prime minister to take the matter with the utmost gravity. There should be no guns in the home."
"Hakrush is a good and faithful man, and he can do the job properly," he said of the reported appointee. "He is a son of the village and my friend and I congratulate him on the appointment. There is no council head who is against participation in the project to confiscate firearms."
[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] The Internal Revenue Service has adopted policies that prohibit staffers who cheat on their taxes from working there, the agency's head told senators on Wednesday. As long as this man remains vertical and continues to take nourishment, I shall remain skeptical.
"I have no indication that anyone working for the IRS ...the Internal Revenue Service; that office of the United States government that collects taxes and persecutes the regime's political enemies... has not followed the updated procedures," IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told the Senate Finance Committee. He added that those who hired tax cheats in the past "were operating under a different set of rules and regulations."
A 2015 report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that 1,580 employees at the agency had willfully failed to pay their taxes, while 18,300 did so unintentionally. Of those who willfully failed, the IG found 61 percent retained their positions.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2016
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#1
"We found it cheaper to develop them internally."~
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/12/2016 0:51
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#2
You, the combined moochers defrauding the working people - the real ones, have already failed the smelly scrotum test. You have all been marked by your collective (COLLECTIVE) erosion of the law and destruction of any political trust in THIS United States.
Nothing you may do will ever (EVER) result in trust again.
The Evil will do (EVIL) still, and the Good will do Good still.
But YOU IRS, you need to be disemboweled and strangled by your entrails by both parties. Then thrown by both parties and your expired "department" into the alligator pit and then we will burn the alligators to ensure there is no way you return.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Treasury Department of the United States says it has added Nayf Salam Muhammad Ujaym al Hababi who is also known as Farouq al-Qahtani, a senior al-Qaeda leader based in Afghanistan, to the list of specially designated global terrorists, The Long War Journal reports.
Hababi wears multiple hats for al Qaeda. And the government's dossier for him demonstrates that there is no firm dividing line between the jihadists' insurgency operations in South Asia and their plotting terrorist attacks in the West.
In his "key leadership role," Hababi "is responsible for planning attacks against US and Coalition forces in Afghanistan, contributing to al Qaeda's external operations planning, and fundraising on al Qaeda's behalf." External operations means terrorist plots in the West or against Western interests.
Indeed, "Hababi planned to carry out attacks in the West, including in the United States and other Western countries" as "Dire Revenge for the deaths of senior al Qaeda leaders." He has been "consulting on al Qaeda operations worldwide" since 2011.
Adam J. Szubin, the Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, noted in Treasury's blurb that Hababi "has a long history of directing deadly attacks against US forces and our Coalition allies in Afghanistan, along with plotting al Qaeda terrorist operations in the United States and around the world."
Hababi's fundraising activities have supported both al Qaeda's international plotting and its role in the Afghan insurgency as well. Since 2010, he has helped raise funds and also had a say in "authorizing spending on behalf of al Qaeda." As of 2012, according to Treasury, Hababi "solicited funds from supporters in Gulf countries to support al Qaeda's external operations and also expected to receive funds from Gulf-based donors for activities in Afghanistan."
Treasury lists a variety of ways in which Hababi has been involved in the fighting in Afghanistan "since at least 2009."
In 2009, "he led operations in northeast Afghanistan that included attacks against US military bases." Hababi "participated in two attacks against Coalition Forces convoys" the following year. He has also overseen the acquisition of weapons, "including rocket propelled grenades," for distribution to jihadists in Afghanistan.
Suicide bombers "affiliated" with Hababi have been "tasked to attack Afghan bases and Coalition convoys in Afghanistan" since 2012. In early 2013, Hababi "and his battalion intended to take control of Kunar Province ...one of the four N2KL provinces (Nangarhar, Nuristan, Kunar and Laghman). N2KL is the designation used by US and Coalition Forces for the rugged and very violent region opposite Pakistain's Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Northwest Frontier Province. Kunar is the center of the N2KL region. Its population is 95% Pashtun. It is adjacent to Bajaur Agency.. , Afghanistan and establish a base to launch external operations on behalf of al Qaeda."
As of 2015, he has been the "emir for the Eastern Zone of Afghanistan" and, in that capacity, has been "responsible for finding a new sanctuary for al Qaeda."
Treasury's designation provides clues concerning Hababi's role in the Death Eaters' gains last year.
He "worked on attack plans for fighting in northeast Afghanistan" in 2015 and "has been in charge of al Qaeda-sponsored training in northeast Afghanistan" for several years. In addition, Hababi "directed the delivery of funds and weapons to Taliban associates in Afghanistan for use in future attacks."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2016
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h/t Instapundent The VA has some dedicated doctors and nurses. It also has a great many people who have retired in place. The VA is in desperate need of a house cleaning.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/12/2016
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#1
I use the VA. My doctors are great (except for one jerk). I don't think it is the med staff so much as the remfs. And they are many.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
02/12/2016 22:21
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[Libya Herald] Egypt has warned that attacks on IS in Libya should be spearheaded by Libyans and that the international community should not intervene militarily before a unified and stable government has been formed.
Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry told Rooters today that precipitate international action against IS could end up replicating the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... intervention against Qadaffy that produced Libya's present troubles.
Shoukry said that, on past experience, Libyans would be a little bit concerned at a further foreign military involvement. He echoed the stance of UNSML chief Martin Kobler that Libya should have a unity government that was operating from Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... as soon as possible.
Kobler had been endorsing the view of House of Representative president Ageela Saleh, who earlier this week was in Cairo where he met Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. Sisi has reportedly also maintained close touch with Government of National Accord prime minister-designated Faiez Serraj, whom he met for the first time last December.
Egypt has long called for the lifting of the UN arms embargo to allow the Libyan army led by Khalifa Hafter to re-equip to take on terrorist who continue to hold out in Benghazi. Hafter has repeatedly announced the imminent conquest of the western parts of the city and the port area where IS, Ansar al-Sharia ...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Libyaand Yemen, with the Libyan versions currently most active. Tunisia's Shabaab al-Tawhid started out an Ansar al-Sharia and changed its name in early 2014. It still uses the old name now and then, probably because the stationery's not all used up and the web site hasn't expired yet... and the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shoura Council continue to hold out.
The international community is still sending mixed messages about any military intervention. Though the official line remains that no action will take place until formally requested by the new Libyan government, there is growing frustration at the delays in the selection of GNA ministers, which cabinet will then have to be approved by the HoR. Some politicians, including Italian defence minister Roberta Pinotti have suggested that military intervention might be necessary in an emergency, even without a request for counter-terrorist support from the new government.
Meanwhile, ...back at the comedy club, Boogie sadly admitted that he was a better peeping Tom than he was a comedian... though the British defence minister Philip Hammond has denied reports that the UK is prepared to commit a thousand combat troops, a foreign office minister, Tobias Ellwood this week told a British parliamentary committee that the Royal Air Force had been flying surveillance missions in Libya airspace.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2016
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(IraqiNews.com) Babel – On Thursday the head of the security committee in Babel Provincial Council, Falah al-Radi, announced the arrest of 34 wanted individuals on criminal charges north of the province.
Radi said in a brief statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “A force from the police carried out raids and searches in the district of Alexandria (50 km north of Babel), resulting in the arrest of 34 wanted individuals, including two [persons] in accordance with Article IV of the Anti-Terrorism Act,” pointing out that, “The force found mortar shells in an abandoned area west of the district.”
Radi added, “The operation was carried out in accordance with accurate intelligence,” noting that, “the detainees were taken to a police station for interrogation.”
Posted by: badanov ||
02/12/2016
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QUETTA: The Frontier Corps claimed to have foiled subversion attempts in Quetta and other places by recovering 10,000 kilograms of explosives and 45 Improvised Explosive Devices from Spochni area in the Nushki district.
“The consignment of huge quantity of explosives was dumped at a place near Pak-Afghan border,” an FC spokesman said, adding that it had been brought to Pakistan from Afghanistan.
The FC troops, he said, raided the area after receiving a tip-off on Wednesday.
Explosives packed in bags were to be used in acts of subversion in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan.
Meanwhile, he said, the FC personnel defused a landmine planted at a roadside in Sui area of Dera Bugti district.
RAWALPINDI: Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif on Thursday confirmed the death sentences of 12 convicts tried by the military courts, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Thursday.
The 12 “hardcore terrorists” were involved in “committing heinous offences relating to terrorism”, which include the Bannu jailbreak, attacks on armed forces, law enforcement agencies and civilians, ISPR said. Of those convicted, eight men belong to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), two belong to Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) and two to al Qaeda, ISPR said. The approval comes just two days after the Supreme Court had stayed execution of four terrorists, including two facilitators of APS attack. Political parties had unanimously agreed over the issue of setting up military courts to tackle terrorism cases in the country following the gruesome attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar in December 2014, following which parliament passed the 21st Constitutional Amendment in January 2015 to set up the said courts.
President Mamnoon Hussain had also promulgated an ordinance further revising the recently amended Army Act to ostensibly aid the functioning of military courts by allowing for trials in camera, i.e without the presence of the public or the media, and over video link if necessary.
The Supreme Court in a majority ruling upheld the establishment of military courts in Pakistan. Petitions challenging the 21st Amendment were dismissed in August this year in a majority 11-6 vote of the 17-member SC bench. Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk and Justice Dost Muhammad announced the verdict. In a 14-3 majority vote, petitions challenging the 18th Amendment were also dismissed by the bench. Judges provided seven opinions and two additional notes on the ruling.
ERBIL – Extremists of the Islamic State (ISIS) on Thursday amputated the right hand of a young man in the city of Raqqa, northeastern Syria, after accusing him of stealing, according to local media activists and eyewitnesses.
The brutal punishment was carried out in front of dozens of people in eastern Raqqa.
Speaking to ARA News in Raqqa, a right activist from the campaign “Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently” –which documents ISIS violations against civilians in the province– reported that ISIS militants have called on the people of Raqqa to gather in the Dawla square to witness the punishment.
“The right hand of the 27-year-old man was amputated by ISIS militants,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Eyewitnesses reported that a member of the Sharia Court in Raqqa read a statement ahead of cutting off the man’s hand, saying he was guilty of stealing a motorcycle.
This comes just five days after ISIS extremists cut off hands of three teenagers in the city of Mosul in northwestern Iraq, after accusing them of stealing.“The three teenagers, who were accused of stealing goods from a store in Mosul, were arrested by the ISIS-led Islamic Police relier on Friday,” a civil rights activist told ARA News in Mosul. “The suspects were referred to the Sharia Court, which ordered the amputation of the right hand of each one of them.”
The ISIS-led Sharia Court had earlier issued a decision to cut off the right hand of every person accused of robbery in areas under the group’s control, arguing that the punishment is originally derived from the Islamic law.
Posted by: badanov ||
02/12/2016
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[NYDAILYNEWS] Police are investigating a second anti-white bias incident in Brooklyn where the attacker called his victim “cracka,” the Daily News has learned.
A 51-year-old white man told cops he was on Nostrand Ave. near Glenwood Road in East Flatbush when a black man ran up and knocked him to the ground about 5:40 p.m. Monday.
“This is for Malcolm X, cracka,” the brute said before storming off.
The victim was not seriously injured but did suffer some “soft tissue damage,” he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2016
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#1
Thug doesn't know his history. Malcolm X was killed by Nation of Islam, not 'crackas.'
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least five coppers were martyred and six others sustained injuries in an insider attack in southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan.
The incident took place late on Wednesday evening in Abdul Rauf area of Zherai district, a local security official said.
The official further added that two coppers opened fire on their comrades while they were having dinner in a security check post.
The official further added that the two coppers were apparently affiliated with the Talibs.
Kandahar is among the relatively volatile provinces in southern Afghanistan where anti-government armed gunnies are actively operating in its various districts and often carry out insurgency activities.
The Talibs group has grabbed credit behind the incident which comes amid rampant insurgency led by the group across the country.
This comes as at least ten coppers were martyred in a similar attack in southern Uruzgan province of Afghanistan late last month.
The incident in Chinartu district late in the month of January followed a week after another policeman opened fire on his comrades, leaving nine coppers martyred.
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ERBIL – Radical group of the Islamic State (ISIS) has executed four women in the city of Mosul in Iraq’s northwestern Nineveh province, after accusing them of “committing adultery”, local sources reported on Thursday.
“The four victims were arrested earlier on wednesday in a raid by ISIS jihadis,” said Raafat Zarari, spokesman of the Nineveh media center.
“The jihadis claimed to have captured the women while committing adultery,” Zarari told ARA News in Mosul.
The ISIS-led Sharia Court issued a decision to publicly execute the four women, without mentioning any details about the men with whom the victims have supposedly committed adultery.
“The four women were stoned to death on Thursday in front of a large crowd of people in central Mosul,” Zarari reported.
Speaking to ARA News in Mosul, media activist Abdullah al-Malla said: “The four women were most likely exposed to sexual abuse at the hands of ISIS militants before being driven out of their homes and transferred to the Sharia Court.”
“The statement of the Sharia Court regarding the case of those four women has avoided mentioning the men who have been involved in the alleged adultery,” the source said. “Apparently, the victims have been raped by ISIS jihadis and then stoned to death on charges of committing adultery.”
Posted by: badanov ||
02/12/2016
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(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – On Thursday the Shiekh of Albu Nimr tribe in Anbar Province Naeem al-Kaoud announced, that 22 members of the so-called ISIS were killed and 2 booby-trapped vehicles were destructed in an operation west of Ramadi.
Kaoud said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “Today, Albu Nimr and Albu Mahal tribal fighters attacked a gathering of ISIS members east of Kabisa area south of Heet.”
“The operation resulted in the killing of 22 ISIS members and the destruction of two booby-trapped vehicles, as well as releasing two families who were besieged by ISIS,” Kaoud added.
Posted by: badanov ||
02/12/2016
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CAIRO: Yemeni pro-government forces backed by Saudi-led airstrikes seized control of a military camp 60 km from Sanaa on Thursday, local officials and residents said, as troops advance toward the capital held by Iran-allied fighters.
Forces loyal to Yemen’s President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi are battling the Houthi movement and loyalists of the country’s deposed President, Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Pro-government forces seized the Fardhat Nahm camp outside Sanaa in battles with Houthi fighters that left a number of people dead and wounded, local officials and residents said, without giving precise figures.
Aircraft from the Arab coalition carried out dozens of strikes during the battles in the area, they said. The camp is located on one of the defense lines for the capital.
[ALMANAR.LB] Syrian Army units destroyed a cannon, a hideout and two fortified sites, killing all terrorists around, during operations in separate areas in Daraa al-Balad in the southern Daraa province, a military source told state-run SANA news agency on Thursday.
The source added that two more fortified posts were hit and a bulldozer was destroyed as an army unit targeted gatherings and movements of terrorists in the towns of Saida and al-Nueima to the east of Daraa City.
To the northeast of Daraa City, a number of terrorists were killed and their ammunition and arms were destroyed during army operations to the south of Tafas town.
Another bulldozer and a fortified post for the terrorists were hit in al-Yadouda village.
In the neighboring Sweida province, an army unit, in cooperation with the popular defense groups, destroyed an oil tanker belonging to terrorists of the so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) takfiri group in the area between Tal Asheihib al-Janoubi and Tal Asheihib al-Shamali in the northeastern countryside of the province.
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(IraqiNews.com) Kirkuk – A security source in Kirkuk Province revealed on Thursday, that 22 members of the so-called ISIS were either killed or wounded by an aerial bombardment carried out by the international coalition aviation on their headquarters in the province.
The source said in a press statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “The international coalition aviation bombarded ISIS headquarters in the areas of al-Riyad and al-Rashad.
The source added, “The bombardment also resulted in the killing of 10 ISIS members and the injury of 12 others, in addition to destructing four tactical units.”
(IraqiNews.com) Kirkuk – A security source in Kirkuk Province announced on Wednesday, that eight people including four police elements were injured in the explosion of a car bomb targeting a police patrol south of Kirkuk (250 km north of Baghdad).
The source said in a brief statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “A car bomb that was parked on the side of the road south of Kirkuk, exploded on a police patrol, wounding eight people including four police elements.”
The source, who asked anonymity, added, “The security forces cordoned off the area and transferred the injured to a hospital for treatment, while opened an investigation to uncover the circumstances and the perpetrators of the bombing.”
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02/12/2016
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[ALMANAR.LB] Kurdish forces managed to take a strategic air base and the adjacent town in northern Syria from Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... terrorists.
The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) expelled krazed killermurderous Moslems from the Minnigh air base and adjacent town, north of Syria's second city Aleppo.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the seizure of Minnigh comes following fierce festivities between the two sides.
"With the defeat at Minnigh, Islamist fighters lost the only military airport they held in Aleppo province," the Britannia-based Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.
"Minnigh airport lies between two key roads that lead from Aleppo city to Azaz" to the north, giving Kurdish fighters a strategic launching pad for offensives against Takfiris further east, Abdel Rahman added.
The Syrian government forces lost control of the airbase in early August 2013, when bandidosmurderous Moslems took it after almost a year-long siege.
The YPG has stated their desire to reestablish the link between Afrin, its stronghold in the region located some 15 kilometers (9 miles) east of Minnigh, and Kobani, another Syrian Kurdish town.
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02/12/2016
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(IraqiNews.com) Basra – The commander of Basra Operations Major General Samir Abdul Karim announced the arrival of military reinforcements including Infantry regiment equipped with tanks and armored vehicles coming from Baghdad according to the orders of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to bolster the security in Basra.
Abdul Karim said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “The security forces participated immediately upon its arrival in the security operations that were carried out by the Operations Command in Abi al-Khasib District to search for weapons and wanted men.”
Abdul Karim added, “The raids and search operations contributed significantly to the reduction of tribal conflicts and organized crime,” pointing out that, “These operations will continue until we make sure the city of Basra is troubles-free.”
Noteworthy, Basra witnessed the arrival of similar troops from Baghdad, but it returned back to Baghdad few days later, and this issue sparked controversy among political mediums after the outbreak of tensions between al-Hashed al-Shaabi and that troops.
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02/12/2016
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[AnNahar] More than a dozen young men have headed from the Paleostinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hellhole in southern Leb to Syria to join the Lion of IslamIslamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group, al-Akhbar daily reported on Thursday.
The newspaper quoted their families and the Paleostinian factions at the camp as saying that around 15 men traveled on Sunday to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... from where they headed to Raqqa, the IS's de facto capital in northern Syria.
Scores of fighters have headed from Leb to Syria to join rebels seeking to topple the Syrian regime.
Scores means nobody knows how many set off for the Caliphate, and how many just joined Lebanon's lucrative drug gangs.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/12/2016
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F*cking killjoys
An Afghan woman has been flogged in public in Kohistanat district of Sar-e-Pul province after being accused of leaving her house with a strange man.
Video footage handed over to TOLOnews shows the woman being flogged by Taliban militants in the once peaceful district.
This is the second such video to emerge in only a few days. The previous incident took place earlier this week when a Faryab woman was subjected to a public lashing after being accused of having a phone conversation with a strange man.
In the latest incident, the Taliban militants accused the woman of traveling with a strange man. However, these claims have been rejected by officials who said she had been with her brother-in-law.
Accusing the woman of going against Islamic values, the Taliban meted out a public lashing against both woman and man.
Local officials in Sar-e-Pul have confirmed the incident but said no one has officially filed a complaint against the Taliban.
A resident of Sar-e-Pul province who sent in the video to TOLOnews said that the Taliban lashed the woman and her brother-in-law after they were on their way to a doctor.
The video shows the woman constantly pleading with the Taliban to stop - saying her husband had not been home and she had needed to see a doctor.
"Oh Allah (God) help me, please do not beat me," the women chants in the video footage.
Insurgents have reportedly controlled Kohistanat district for the past four months.
"Kohistanat is one of the districts which is controlled by the Taliban. We were also informed about the incident and this will not be the first nor the last of such crimes," Sar-e-Pul governor Mohammad Zahir Wahdat said.
Rights groups and the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) have condemned the act of violence against the woman, calling it an act of atrocity and against Sharia (Islamic law).
"The Independent Human Rights Commission condemns such open trials as they are in contradiction to Sharia law and other laws," said AIHRC spokesman Rafiullah Bedar.
Violence against women has increased in the country this year with the Sar-e-Pul incident being the second of its kind in just one week.
That's where Russian marines are deployed. Best of luck with that, boyz. Let us know how that turns out. Write if you survive...
[ARANews] LATAKIA – Syrian rebel fighters of the Army of Conquest launched on Thursday a major offensive on headquarters of the pro-Assad forces in the coastal province of Latakia, western Syria, military sources reported.
Rebel fighters have bombed pro-Assad army’s positions in the vicinity of Mount Al-Turkman in the countryside of Latakia, using heavy artillery and mortar shells.
At least 15 pro-Assad soldiers were killed and dozens more wounded in the attack.
“Subsequent to the operation, the rebels of the Army of Conquest seized control of the Tel Qroujah town near Mount Al-Turkman,” Ahmed Nemat, a spokesman for the Army of Conquest, told ARA News in Latakia.
“Our campaign has caused heavy losses in the ranks of the pro-Assad militias on Thursday,” he said. “After entering Tel Qroujah town, our rebels have collected dead bodies of more than 15 fighters, some of them were from the regime’s army and others from Hezbollah militia (recognized from their uniforms). Dozens of other pro-Assad forces were wounded before withdrawing from the town and its suburbs.”
In the meantime, an officer in the ranks of the regime’s army told ARA News that the retreat of their troops from Tel Qroujah town was “a tactical withdrawal”.
“Our forces have withdrawn from Tel Qroujah to avoid further losses, but we stress that Mount Al-Turkman will be entirely regained from the fist of terrorists (in reference to the rebel groups) in the coming days,” he told ARA News, speaking on condition of anonymity.
In the meantime, Russian warplanes conducted on Thursday evening several airstrikes on rebels’ positions near Mount Al-Turkman in Latakia countryside in a bid to impede the progress of the Army of Conquest fighters, who have been fighting against forces loyal to the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for nearly one year in the coastal region.
The Army of Conquest, aka Jaish al-Fatah, is a joint operations chamber that includes several factions of Syrian rebels. Since its establishment in early 2015, the alliance has been engaged in fierce battles against pro-Assad troops in northwestern Syria.
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02/12/2016
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(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Iraqi Ministry of Interior announced on Thursday, that nine people had been either killed or wounded in a bomb blast south of Baghdad.
The source said in a brief statement received by IraqiNews.com, “A bomb exploded, this morning, near a popular market in Latifiya area south of Baghdad, killing two people and wounding seven others.”
The source, who requested anonymity, added, “A security force rushed to the area and transferred the wounded to a nearby hospital for treatment and the dead bodies to the forensic medicine department, while strict measures were taken in anticipation of the presence of other bombs.”
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – On Thursday, a security source in the Iraqi police revealed, that a civilian was killed in an armed attack carried out by unidentified gunmen east of Baghdad.
The source told reporters, “Today, unidentified gunmen driving a civil car shot a civilian while passing in Hayy Ur area east of Baghdad, killing him immediately.”
The source added, “A security force cordoned off the area and transferred the dead body to the forensic medicine department, while opened an investigation into the incident.”
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source within the police force said on Thursday, that two elements of the Shia militia of al-Hashed al-Sha’bi had been injured in a bomb blast that took place in al-Yusifiyah area in southern Baghdad.
The source said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “This evening, an explosive device that was emplaced on the road side in the district of al-Yusifiyah in southern Baghdad went off while a vehicle belonging to al-Hashed al-Sha’bi was passing in the area,” pointing out that, “The blast resulted in wounding two elements of al-Hashed al-Sha’bi.”
The source added, “A security force cordoned off the area of the incident and transferred the injured to nearby hospital for treatment.”
[IN.REUTERS] South Korea has cut off the supply of power and water into the Kaesong industrial zone run jointly with North Korea, it said on Friday, hours after the North kicked out the South's workers and froze the assets of companies operating there. If they've got any sense at the national level they'll leave it turned off and the assets frozen.
The suspension of the factory park, operated for more than a decade as a symbol of cooperation, deepened the confrontation between the rivals by all but shutting down the last remaining window of regular interaction for the divided Koreas.
South Korea said on Wednesday that it was suspending the operation of the industrial zone as punishment for the North's rocket launch on Sunday and last month's nuclear test. The North called the move "a declaration of war."
The 280 South Koreans who had remained in Kaesong rushed to vacate the industrial park on Thursday evening, completing the pullout at 11:05 p.m. (1405 GMT), said the South's Unification Ministry, which handles ties with the North.
A few minutes before midnight, the South shut off the supply of electricity into Kaesong that powered the factory zone, the ministry said early on Friday. The action also cuts off water supply, it said.
The United States, Japan and South Korea said Sunday's launch was a ballistic missile test, and like last month's nuclear test, a violation of United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... resolutions. They are seeking tougher sanctions against the North.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Masked gunmen suspected of belonging to Al-Qaeda killed three Yemeni soldiers in Aden on Thursday in the latest attack to target security forces in the southern city, an official said.
The soldiers were attacked as they walked down the main road in Inmaa district, the security official said, adding that the assailants managed to escape.
“They died instantly,” he said.
Al-Qaeda controls parts of the port city where the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has set up base in its battle against Iran-backed Houthi militia.
With support from a Saudi-led coalition, Hadi’s forces have driven the rebels out of Aden and four other southern provinces since last July but the Houthis remain in control of the capital Sanaa and much of the north.
Al-Qaeda and the rival ISIS militant group have taken advantage of the conflict to gain ground in southern cities such as Aden.
They have claimed a string of attacks and assassinations in recent months.
Officials from Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) in northern Baghlan province said Thursday insurgents have blown up another pylon and destroyed circuits in Baghaln and Kunduz respectively.
This time the power from Tajikistan to Kabul has been disrupted.
This comes after the recent blast that targeted a pylon in Dand-e-Shahabuddin in Baghlan.
Head of DABS for Baghlan province, Ghulam Hussain, said that insurgents are behind the attacks. However, work to restore the electricity supply has been started, he said.
According to him, electricity to the capital should be restored Thursday.
He said that the attack in Kunduz was against circuits only. "The power has not been cut in the pylon, however, the enemies of Afghanistan have cut two circuits of electricity in Kunduz province," he added.
But a number of security troops near the Kunduz pylon said that a pylon was destroyed in several stages.
"It was night that we heard the sound of an explosion. It was dark, so we could not find the scene of the explosion. When we came in the morning we saw that two pylons had been destroyed. We called the provincial governor's office and they said that they will take action, but they didn't take any action. Two nights later, there was another explosion and the remaining part of the pylon was destroyed," said Hafizullah, an army officer in Baghlan.
Just over two weeks ago, the Taliban blew up a pylon in Dand-e-Shahabuddin area of Baghlan province and suspended the transmission of electricity from Uzbekistan to Kabul.
With the latest attacks on power lines in Kunduz, Kabul has lost all supply of imported power.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
North Korea is as unpredictable a regime as a political scientist might imagine. Its decision-making is secret. Its leader is a posterchild for the madman theory: the idea that simulating insanity may be a useful tool of intimidation.
Yet another North Korean general is killed by the 
I missed an important point in yesterday's column about Russia, Turkey, and the risks of a broader war over Turkey -- but it's something I did cover over a year ago.
Quick observations by employees and patrons witnessing an apparently random machete attack on diners at a restaurant helped authorities track down the fleeing suspect, who was fatally shot in a confrontation with officers a few miles away, police said.
Ted Cruz released two ads attacking his Republican presidential rivals Donald Trump and Marco Rubio this week--but a revelation about one his ad's actors led that spot to be pulled from the airwaves.
Two state health researchers in Texas are under fire for co-authoring a study suggesting what Republican leaders have long disputed: cuts to Planned Parenthood are restricting access to women's health care.
[Free Beacon] Congress is working to shut down the Palestine Liberation Organization's Washington, D.C., office as punishment for breaching agreements barring it from sponsoring terrorism and inciting violence against Israel, according to a copy of new legislation obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
[Daily Excelsior] Making fresh disclosures on the brazen 26/11 attacks, Pak-American terrorist David Coleman Headley today exposed how ISI and LeT majorly funded terror operations in India and financed him from time to time and that Pakistain native Tahawwur Rana visited Mumbai before the terror strikes.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Several 
Harry Reid
[USATODAY] Obama Administration Attorney General Loretta Lynch said that the U.S. Attorney was using "prosecutorial discretion.” That discretion protected Lerner from the grand jury.
[WASHINGTONPOST] Democratic presidential candidates 
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton
[NYPOST] A Canadian man solved his own cold case -- by suddenly remembering his identity 30 years after he disappeared.
We can see what specifically must worry Putin in a new must-read interview with Hamm (courtesy of Christopher Helman at Forbes). Hamm, referencing the fact that American shale producers have in the past half-dozen years nearly doubled America's oil output, says: "We can double it again." If Hamm is correct, then the shale fields alone-never mind the rest of America's onshore and offshore production-would be producing more oil than Russia, and the world markets would again be in oversupply.
[SACBEE] A brawl between rival 
David Cameron
North Korea
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] The Internal Revenue Service has adopted policies that prohibit staffers who cheat on their taxes from working there, the agency's head told senators on Wednesday.
[DAILYMAIL.CO.UK] Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders picked up another endorsement today - that of actor, activist and singer Harry Belafonte 
[ALMANAR.LB] Syrian Army units destroyed a cannon, a hideout and two fortified sites, killing all terrorists around, during operations in separate areas in Daraa al-Balad in the southern Daraa province, a military source told state-run SANA news agency on Thursday.
[AnNahar] More than a dozen young men have headed from the Paleostinian refugee camp of 
North Korea
