#1
The people that offer this know that the vast majority of the people for whom this applies have no idea how the economy works, or what the long term effect will be on unemployment for their own demographic grouping. This is pure pandering to the ignorant for votes....and sadly, it works more and more as the American people become less and less educated.
#4
Once saw a Ted Talk where someone proposed that to fund all the programs for the poor, homeless, illegal aliens, etc.. All we had to do was print more money. Need a trillion dollars to 'solve' the homeless? Simply fire up the printing presses.
The audience cheered and nodded their heads in approval.
And this was a professor - I believe of economics...
#2
The operation is constitutionally mandated (not that anyone pays attention to that old document). It really wasn't intended to be profit making as much as supporting communication. Now if there was one activity that could be rationalized as a patronage priority, this was it. You could directly hold your Congresscritter directly responsible for service. Now it all hid behind bureaucracy and unionism.
#3
...Saw an interesting comment on this elsewhere this morning - basically pointed out that the USPS has something like $335 BILLION dollars set aside in actual cash money for pension requirements even though only less than one percent of that will ever be spent. Now, if the USPS (which has serious money problems anyways) were to go under, Constitutional requirements be damned, you think that money would go back to the taxpayers? Nope. It would go back to Your United States Government, which would then wisely spend it, I'm sure.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/09/2016 12:52
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#4
they're being held to Gov't standards for funding retiree health. I have a good friend who works there that can't understand why adequately funding her own retirement health account is a good thing.
Really
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/09/2016 13:10
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#5
USPS is nothing more than a junk mail delivery service. They even give discounts for it! Unbelievable.
#7
The manager of the corporate mail center where I work stated that you and I are not the customers the USES cares about. It is the bulk mailers.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
04/09/2016 15:02
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#8
Here's an idea.... Cut deliveries to once or twice a week.
One of the reasons companies still use snail mail is because they often need to deliver confidential information (think credit card statements) and email is simply not secure and there s no standard for securing email which regular Joe and Sue will use.
Cut out bulk rates and raise prices as needed. Then give discounts to companies who use some sort of secure email infrastructure so they can send secure email to the above mentioned Joe And Sue. I doubt a discount would be needed. Printing, placing in envelopes, and mailing physical paper has got to be a huge expense.
#9
Their workers comp / disability expenses must be huge. I talked to one of my carriers. She walks 12 miles a day, 72 miles a week, works about 48 weeks a year. I don't think I was ever capable of that constant a level of exertion for years on end even when I was at my best physical condition, decades ago. An older carrier on my route has had back & knee surgery, has been getting sick leave & is definitely showing the effects of this kind of wear & tear on the body.
#10
Then give discounts to companies who use some sort of secure email infrastructure so they can send secure email to the above mentioned Joe And Sue. I doubt a discount would be needed. Printing, placing in envelopes, and mailing physical paper has got to be a huge expense.
Australia Post tried that, but they were up against a consortium of banks who ate their lunch.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/09/2016 12:13
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#3
ARCLIGHT!!!!
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
04/09/2016 14:51
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#4
I think that is a long overdue deployment.
Boy Howdy, I can still remember the first Arc Light I ever saw. I was over 3 clicks away from the fun and I could feel the concussion force in my chest and my ears...and the rumbling that seemed to go on forever. Reminding me of a good Texas thunderstorm only louder.
So could we stitch a couple together and just do the entire road from Raqqa to Mosul?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/09/2016 17:34
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#5
I wonder how an Arc Light would compare to a MRLS bombardment I saw.
We were about 15ish miles away and the 155s were making little poofs. Poof, poof, poof. Then stopped. The Lt. told us the MRLS would be doing a live fire next. Literally the whole fucking horizon went up. BRAAAAHOOOOOOM! Very impressive.
The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, rose to its highest level in four months on Friday, backed by an upswing in demand across vessel segments headed by capesizes.
The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize shipping vessels, climbed 22 points or 4.26 percent to 539 points, a level not seen since Dec. 9.
The capesize index surged 94 points, or about 17 percent, to 656 points, touching its highest level since mid-December.
Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, soared $556 to $5,089.
The panamax index rose 16 points to 643 points.
Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes, rose $128 to $5,131.
Among smaller vessels, the supramax index was up three points to 488 points, while the handysize index was up six points to 286 points.
#1
I think you may have explained it once, but I've slept since then. How are the ups and downs of this index related to world affairs, again?
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/09/2016 9:08
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#2
In simple terms, it is a global index of shipping fees and charges, ergo a fairly reliable indicator of economic activity and demand. Perhaps more important, there is no secondary market for the Baltic Dry. That means there are no futures or options mkts so distortion is minimized and there is no micro tail wagging the global dog, it says what it says.
I would only add that this index has been crashing since 2008, from a high of 11,750 (aprox.) to 288 in February, 2016.
The recovery now being shown in the index indicates that base economic activity ( people building/making stuff for sale) is improving/increasing. But as far down as the index has gone, it can only go up.
Another round of 'Cash for Clunkers' is simply unaffordable. The desired 'kill off' will be managed by science and technology, and paid for by the consumer at the pump.
As Roosevelt envisioned, all farmers to become Democrats.
#1
I don't travel much anymore, but I believe the problem may be localized and exacerbated by urban sprawl. Anthropologists and population biologists might support my theory, 'too many rats in the box' as it were. Multiple roads lead to de-civilization. We've picked several, not the least of which is man's capacity for evil.
The constant and ever increasing struggle to meet Maslow's Physiological Needs may also be a factor.
The Physiological or 'first order' include the most basic needs necessary for survival, such as the need for water, air, food, money, and sleep. (Money added). If we find ourselves too consumed with acquisition of these needs, little time is left for study, research, and learning.
Sorry, I'm beginning to digress and ramble. Must be the Brawndo electrolytes again.
#4
I thought from the title it was about humint and I was going to make a snarky remark about the intellectual level of the species. Instead we have an entire article of snark.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/09/2016 9:10
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#5
Closer to the truth than many want to acknowledge P2k.
Sometimes, 'behavior-based' intelligence is just imitation of observed social mannerisms disguised by claims of cultured refinement.
An example would be the adoption of nontraditional clothing. Business suits made of dark wool are functional in northern climates but serve little purpose in hot environments other than a demonstration of 'northern-ness'. The elongated silk tie adds a bit of color for clan identification but also suggests male 'prowess' in reproduction rather than the bow tie developed to emphasize breadth of shoulders and strength of arms.
In localized subcultures, styles of red or blue membership and billed hats worn left or right perform similar functions.
#6
Thus, evolution consists of variation followed by selection. It is important to remem-ber that this process of variation/selection never stops. Genes responsible for phenotypic attributes are subject to mutation. If a new allele produces a phenotype that has higher (Darwinian) fitness than the "old" phenotype, it will replace the original allele. Alternatively, as is true for most mutations, the new phenotype will have lower fitness than the old phenotype, and the mutant allele will be eliminated. That is, adaptive attributes are maintained by natural selection.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/09/2016 13:08
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#8
Being stupid and making poor decisions are two different things. The poor decision part is way more damaging to society. I know plenty of less than average intelligent people who live decent lives. And I know plenty of smart people who negatively impact large portions of society.
#11
"an average citizen from Athens of 1000 BC were to appear suddenly among us, he or she would be among the brightest and most intellectually alive of our colleagues and companions"
Should I conclude that things had already deteriorated significantly by 399BC?
Posted by: james ||
04/09/2016 20:15
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[Watertown Daily] HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- The former Navy SEAL who says he fired the shots that killed Osama bin Laden was arrested Friday on a drunken driving charge after police found him asleep in a car parked at a convenience store in his Montana hometown.
Customers at the store in Butte called police to report a sleeping man behind the wheel of the running car around 2:30 a.m., Butte-Silver Bow County Undersheriff George Skuletich said. The officer who responded woke the man up, identified him as Robert O'Neill and noticed odd behavior.
"He was confused. His actions were consistent with somebody who might be under the influence of something," Skuletich said.
O'Neill denied drinking, gave different stories about where he had been and at one point told the officers he had taken prescription medication to help him sleep, Skuletich said.
O'Neill failed a field sobriety test and would not perform others. The officers brought him to jail, where he refused a test to determine his blood alcohol level. At that point, he was charged with driving under the influence, which is a misdemeanor, Skuletich said.
Jail records show O'Neill was released at 4:26 a.m. after posting a $685 bond. It is his first arrest.
I never agreed with the publicity, but this fellow may genuinely need some help. I hope he gets it in time.
[Daily Caller] James Harrison, history professor at Portland Community College, said in a lecture Monday for the college’s April Whiteness History Month that peace in the U.S. is impossible so long as whiteness still exists.
In a talk entitled "Imagine A World Without Whiteness," Harrison declared confidently conflict can only cease once the power structure of whiteness is totally eliminated.
"Imagine everyone living life in peace," Harrison said, building off John Lennon’s famous song "Imagine."
“And how do we get to that good world is the question — a world without conflict. And to me, my interpretation of these words, is it would be a world, or U.S., without whiteness, in terms of the power structure,” Harrison said, offering his own interpretation of Lennon’s song. Professor Harrison really should get out more, travel a bit and see the world.
Don't have to imagine. It's pretty much all before 1492. The Euros were pretty much confined to their little corner of the world. China was pretty much the regional super power on the planet. War, pestilence, and famine were the norm. When you have no history, just life experience, you have insufficient data to make view all human history. The people today have less in common with those who lived a hundred years ago, than those who lived a hundred years ago have in common with those who lived a thousand years ago.
#7
For one thing, this page would be hard to read with a black bnot background. For another, there would be fatter lions because zebras would have no stripes and would not be camouflaged.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/09/2016 12:00
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#9
my suggestion: Mr. Harrison should only take home a professor's salary commensurate with the black proportion of taxes paid in Portland. So, assuming a Professor makes $80K, he would get 6.3% of that or about $5K. None of that icky white money. Show some principle, racist asshole
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/09/2016 12:42
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Excerpt:
[Guardian] Reid, the Democratic Senate leader, has previously called Bundy supporters "domestic terrorists".
In a phone interview on Friday, Bailey Logue, Cliven's 24-year-old daughter, who runs the family's Facebook page, said she was not surprised by Reid's announcement. "He's an evil, evil man," she said. Bundy right or wrong, Bailey Logue nails it. Emphasis added.
#1
at least she was kind enough to leave off the "alleged pederast"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/09/2016 6:38
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#2
I have read that Reid has a financial interest in the land adjacent to the proposed wild life sanctuary. Reid is a rich man now. How much more money does he need? At some point his family members will pay a price for his dealings. He.... Will probably rot in hell.
BLUF:
[LI] ... the big story of today is the Big Dog himself, Billy Clinton, going all Sister Souljah on Black Lives Matter protesters who interrupted his speech. This is going to leave a mark--on Hillary.
And I suggest every GOP office holder make a point of quoting Bill Clinton incessantly about BLM. This is why he won two elections in the 1990s. The 'First Black President' defending white wife who uses the inflammatory term 'Superpredator' must be called out. Even the BLM have standards.
[DAWN] Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan said on Thursday the government would not allow anyone to run a parallel judicial system in the province.
Speaking to a TV channel on ’Shariah Court’ set up by a religious party, Mr Khan said the government was going to look into the matter within 24 hours and would take appropriate action.
He said cases would be registered against people involved in running the parallel judicial system. He said the government had not received any report or complaint in this matter.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2016
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Long analysis. The important part would be the physical departure of Saleh.
[Al Ahram] The replacement of Khaled Bahah as both prime minister and vice president suggests a resolution to the Yemeni crisis is closer to hand and may entail the exit of President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... .
[Examiner] A former analyst for the National Security Agency is calling on Hillary Clinton to explain the emerging details of her campaign chief's connection to the Kremlin.
Lobbying forms made public last month indicate that the U.S. branch of the Russian bank Sberbank has retained the Podesta Group, a Washington-based lobbying firm founded by Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta, and his brother, Tony, in 1998.
John Schindler, a security expert and former counterintelligence officer, notes that the bank's majority stockholder is the Russian Central Bank, which controls more than 30 percent of the country's banking assets.
"Sberbank is functionally an arm of the Kremlin, although it's ostensibly a private institution," Schindler wrote in a Thursday article for the Observer.
[Examiner] A former assistant director for the FBI said Friday that authorities would not have gone to the trouble of extraditing a notorious Romanian hacker unless he was key to their investigation of Hillary Clinton.
Marcel Lehel Lazar, known online as "Guccifer," was extradited from a Romanian prison at the end of March and relocated to a facility in Alexandria, Va. He is scheduled to remain in the country for 18 months while he faces a nine-count federal indictment on hacking charges.
Before his 2014 conviction in Romania, Guccifer hacked a range of public figures around the world. That included, most notably, former Clinton aide Sidney Blumenthal, who exchanged private messages with Clinton during her tenure as secretary of state.
Through that action, Guccifer obtained emails Clinton had sent using her secret hdr22@clintonemail.com">hdr22@clintonemail.com account. He subsequently distributed at least some of that stolen information online.
Ron Hosko, a former assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division, told Fox News that it was unlikely U.S. authorities would have taken Guccifer out of a foreign prison unless they had a use for him. "Because of the proximity to Sidney Blumenthal and the activity involving Hillary's emails, [the timing] seems to be something beyond curious," Hosko said.
A 2015 interview that Matei Rosca conducted with Guccifer corroborates Hosko's assessment. Guccifer lacks any real programming skills, Rosca said, but may still hold information on Clinton to which no other person on the globe has access.
A suspect with alleged links to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) was detained on April 8 in the eastern province of Bitlis over his alleged involvement in the deadly Ankara bombing on Oct. 10, 2015.
Bitlis counter-terrorism police officers detained Mehmedin Baraç, who is known by the code name Ömer Hattap, in an operation early on April 8, marking the second such detainment in a week targeting ISIL suspects with alleged links to the deadly terror attack. Baraç was later transferred to the Bitlis Prosecutor’s Office.
Where he then fell down elebeenteen flights of stairs, ran into a stone wall, and proceeded to beat himself senseless with a stick, while handcuffed the entire time...
On April 7, an Ankara court ruled for the arrest of Hüseyin Tunç, another perpetrator in the attack who has links with the jihadist group. Tunç was captured in an operation in the Şahinbey district of the southeastern province of Gaziantep on April 6. He was brought to the Turkish capital in connection with his alleged role in the Oct. 10, 2015 blast, upon the Ankara Public Prosecutor’s Office’s demand.
The deadly double blasts ahead of a peace rally in Ankara in the autumn of 2015 killed 103 people and wounded hundreds, marking one of the deadliest attacks in the country’s history.
So not even their mothers will miss them...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/09/2016
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[DISPATCH] A Pennsylvania man set up a fake drunken-driving checkpoint only to be charged with drunken driving himself when real troopers arrived to investigate.
The (Somerset) Daily American says 20-year-old Logan Shaulis will be sentenced June 27. He pleaded guilty Thursday to drunken driving, possessing instruments of crime, and impersonating a public servant.
Police say Shaulis used a flashing blue light bar, parked diagonally across state Route 601 and set up road flares about 4 a.m. on May 30.
A motorist who stopped says Shaulis claimed he was a trooper with the "drug and alcohol division" and demanded to see her identification.
When police arrived, Shaulis tried to hand a BB pistol to the car's passenger, saying he couldn't get caught with it.
Shaulis' attorney says Shaulis has since completed substance abuse treatment.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2016
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#1
You MIGHT be a redneck if you've ever . . . . . . . . . . . .
[DAWN] India is in talks with the United States to purchase 40 Predator surveillance drones, officials said, a possible first step towards acquiring the armed version of the aircraft and a development likely to annoy Pakistain.
India is trying to equip the military with more unmanned technologies to gather intelligence as well as boost its firepower along the vast land borders with Pakistain and China. It also wants a closer eye on the Indian Ocean.
New Delhi has already acquired surveillance drones from Israel to monitor the mountains of Kashmire, a disputed region .
As defence ties deepen with the United States, which sees India as a counterweight to China in the region, New Delhi has asked Washington for the Predator series of unmanned planes built by privately-held General Atomics, military officials said.
"We are aware of Predator interest from the Indian Navy. However, ars longa, vita brevis... it is a government-to-government discussion," Vivek Lall, chief executive of US and International Strategic Development at San Diego-based General Atomics, told Rooters.
The US government late last year cleared General Atomics' proposal to market the unarmed Predator XP in India. It was not clear when the delivery of the drones would take place.
The Indian navy wants them for surveillance in the Indian Ocean, where the pilotless aircraft can remain airborne for 35 hours at a stretch, at a time when the Chinese navy is expanding ship and submarine patrols in the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2016
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#1
a development likely to annoy Pakistain
I was already sold on doing this, you don't have to lay it on so thick
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/09/2016 9:33
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Danish government said on Friday it will seek to toughen laws on affiliation with terrorist organizations and stop its citizens from entering areas where such groups are in armed conflict.
The proposed bill follows the arrest on Thursday of four men suspected of having been recruited by the holy warrior group ISIS and two others accused of breaking Danish weapons law.
"With the new entry ban, we address one of the biggest threats to our domestic security," Justice Minister Soren Pind said in a statement.
He also proposed increasing the maximum jail sentence for people "who let themselves be recruited for terrorism or promote terrorism in connection with armed conflicts," the ministry said.
The government lacks a majority in parliament, but last year politicians approved an amendment to Danish passport law, making it possible to stop citizens leaving the country if suspected of activities compromising state security.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2016
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Yemeni army and popular committees thwarted an attempt by Saudi-led forces to advance towards Serwah in the central province of Marib.
Field sources in Marib reported that the Saudi-led forces tried to advance toward Serwah early on Friday.
The Yemeni allied forces heroically foiled an attempt to advance towards Serwah, the sources said noting that the attack lasted till 9 a.m. on Friday.Yemeni army and popular committees
The Saudi-led forces were inflicted with heavy losses, the sources reported, adding that several Saudi vehicles were destroyed and that the Yemeni forces seized many types of weapons.
Paris attacks suspect Mohamed Abrini was arrested on April 8, a police source told AFP after a Belgian television station said he was detained in a Brussels district. The police source gave no details about the location or circumstances of Abrini's arrest but VRT television said it took place in the Anderlecht district of Brussels, home to several other suspects linked to the Paris attacks.
Abrini, a Belgian of Moroccan origin, was seen at a petrol station north of Paris two days before the attacks with key suspect Salah Abdeslam, who drove one of the vehicles used in the Nov. 13 assaults across Paris that killed 130 people.
The Belgian federal prosecutor's office said they would provide more details later about the arrests in connection with the Brussels attacks.
More details from The Times of Israel at 12:15 p.m. ET:
Belgian authorities said the remaining fugitive suspect in the Nov. 13 Paris attacks was arrested in Belgium on Friday, after a raid linked to the deadly March 22 Brussels bombings yielded five detentions in all.
The suspect, Mohamed Abrini, could be the mysterious “man in the hat” who escaped the double bombing at the Zaventem airport, but federal prosecutors said they still needed further verification.
“We are investigating if Abrini can be identified as the third person at the Brussels national airport, the so- called man with the hat,” said prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt.
Another man arrested on Friday, Osama K., alias Naim al Ahmed, was seen with Brussels subway bomber Khalid El Bakraoui just before the March 22 attacks, the prosecutor said. Osama K. was also filmed by security cameras in the City 2 shopping mall when the bags were bought that were used by the suicide bombers who attacked Brussels Airport the same morning.
Belgian prosecutors said fingerprints and DNA from Abrini had been found in a Renault Clio used in the Paris attacks, and in an apartment in the Forest area of the Belgian capital that was used by Salah Abdeslam, another Paris suspect, as a hideout until police stumbled upon it.
Friday’s arrest of five suspects came a day after Belgian authorities released photos and video of the “man in the hat” airport suspect. Five hours after the initial detentions, authorities were still carrying out a raid in the same Anderlecht area of Brussels.
Abrini’s precise role in the Paris attacks has never been clear, as is his full link to the Brussels. He is a 31-year-old Belgian-Moroccan petty criminal believed to have traveled early last summer to Syria where his younger brother died in 2014 in the Islamic State group’s notorious francophone brigade. He had not resurfaced since the emergence of surveillance video placing him in the convoy with the attackers headed to Paris. He had ties to Abdelhamid Abbaoud, the ringleader of the Paris attacks who died in a police standoff on Nov. 18, and is a childhood friend of brothers Salah and Brahim Abdeslam.
He went multiple times to Birmingham, England, last year, meeting with several men suspected of terrorist activity, a European security official has told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to provide details on the investigation. He said the meetings, including one later last summer, took place in several locations, including cafes and apartments. He was traveling with Salah Abdeslam, who is in jail in Belgium for involvement in the Paris attacks, in the convoy headed to Paris in the 36 hours leading up to the attacks.
The man in the hat was with the two suicide bombers who killed 16 people at Brussels airport on March 22. A second arrest could also be linked to the Maelbeek subway bombing that killed another 16 people during rush hour that morning.
On Thursday, authorities released photos and video of a man wearing a dark hat, leaving the airport on foot, walking to the nearby town of Zaventem and then into Brussels, where all traces of him were reportedly lost.
Swedish media said Osama K. was Osama Krayem, 23, who grew up in the southern city of Malmo, and published photographs of him holding a Kalashnikov assault rifle in front of an IS flag said to have been taken in Syria.
Osama Krayem is the product of a "now classic cocktail of social marginalization, ideological radicalization" and criminality, Magnus Ranstorp, an expert on radical Islamic movements at the Swedish National Defense College, told AFP.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/09/2016
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[Mil.com] The much-awaited liberation of Mosul from ISIS stalled late last month almost as soon as bullets flew, when Iraqi government troops once again fled from the black-clad terrorist army, members of the broad coalition poised to retake the key city told FoxNews.com this week.
The Iraqi army, which was heavily criticized for abandoning posts -- and weapons -- as ISIS moved in on Mosul in June 2014, had begun taking small villages on the outskirts after Baghdad announced the campaign March 24. But the liberation effort, which was to include Shia and Sunni militias, Kurds, Christians and Yazidis with U.S.-led coalition support, was quickly paused when the opposition struck back.
"The Iraqi Army commenced an assault on ISIS strongholds around Mosul, but when ISIS fired back, the Iraqi Army ran away and the assaults ended," a western, Iraq-based security and defense specialist told FoxNews.com of last week's failed offensive. "So now they are regrouping and rethinking their next options."
Iraqi officials claimed the operation came to a halt when they determined they needed reinforcements to hold onto the villages they took. Iraqi Army Maj. Gen. Najm Abdullah al-Jubbouri said ISIS fighters had dug a network of tunnels and had suicide bombers and truck bombs waiting for them.
U.S. Army Maj. Jon-Paul Depreo, operations officer for the international coalition fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria, said some of the Iraqi army troops were unfamiliar with the territory, contributing to the decision to call off the campaign.
Posted by: Besoeker ||
04/09/2016
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[ARA News] ERBIL – Radical group of the Islamic State (ISIS) has executed one of its own militants on charges of spying for the anti-ISIS forces in the city of Jarablus in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo, local sources reported Saturday.
The city of Jarablus has been under ISIS control for more than a year.
Speaking to ARA News in Jarablus, local media activist Nasser Taljbini said that after Friday’s prayers, ISIS militants shot dead one of their own in a public square in the city of Jarablus.
“The ISIS-led Hisba Police had arrested the militant earlier on Thursday after accusing him of spying for the rebel groups operating in northern Aleppo,” he reported.
Taljbini pointed out that a masked member from the Sharia Court in Jarablus explained the reason behind executing the suspect militant, arguing he had suspicious links with anti-ISIS forces.
The ISIS-masked man read a statement before executing his fellow jihadi, saying that the suspect was belonging to the so-called “Awakening group” fighting alongside the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and other allied rebel groups, saying “he was leaking information about coordinates of the group’s headquarters in the city”.
The Sharia Court convicted the militant of “high treason”, reciting Quranic verses.
“Also, the executed fighter had refused to participate in fighting the Syrian opposition factions,” according to eyewitnesses.
In the meantime, several Syrian rebel groups, including Islamist factions, announced late on Thursday the expulsion of ISIS extremists from the town of al-Raee [35 km to the west of Jarablus] in northern Aleppo.
ISIS leadership believes that some of its militants and locals are leaking security information about the group’s movements to its enemies. Arbitrary arrests and public executions have mounted, and every citizen is being deemed a suspect in the areas under the group’s control, according to local sources.
The radical group had also executed hundreds of civilians across Syria and Iraq on various charges like witchcraft, homosexual acts and cooperating with the U.S.-led coalition forces.
Jarablus is one of our main targets at the moment for the Kurdish YPG forces. If they were able to retake it, they would be blocking one of the main routes in the face of foreign militants who continue to cross from Turkey into Syria in order to join their alleged Caliphate, according to military experts.
Posted by: badanov ||
04/09/2016
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Italy’s coast guard said on Thursday it had rescued more than 300 migrants from a packed boat in which they had traveled hundreds of kilometers (miles) from Egypt to the Strait of Sicily.
People fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East have been arriving in southern Italian waters for years, usually from Libya, where they pay smugglers for the passage. A spokeswoman for the Italian coast guard said migrants had arrived from Egypt in the past, but much less frequently than from Libya, which is about half as far away by boat.
Italy’s coast guard and a Spanish aircraft working for European Union border agency Frontex went on Wednesday to the aid of the boat, rescuing 156 men, 51 women and 107 minors. The migrants were from Syria, Egypt, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Palestinian territory, Libya, Sudan and the Comoros Islands, the coast guard said in a statement.
The rescued migrants are due to arrive in the southern Italian port of Crotone, about 770 nautical miles from the coast of northern Egypt.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/09/2016
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#1
Paging Professor James Harrison, Portland Community College. Professor Harrison to the white courtesy phone please.
[Ynet] The United States and its allies conducted 26 strikes 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.... in Iraq and Syria on Thursday, the coalition leading the operations said.
In a statement released on Friday, the Combined Joint Task Force said eight strikes in Syria, including seven near Mar'a, hit eight tactical units and destroyed four fighting positions, two vehicles and a command and control node.
In Iraq, 18 strikes near eight cities hit several tactical units, a manufacturing facility and destroyed machine guns, rocket systems, supply caches and a tunnel system, among other targets, the statement said.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/09/2016
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
[DAWN] Twelve suspected holy warriors were killed and several others injured in a gunbattle with security forces in Shabek area of Kurram tribal region on Thursday.
Talking to Dawn, a local official said that the clash near the Afghan border in lower tehsil of Kurram erupted after the holy warriors stormed a checkpost of Frontier Corps ...a provincial paramilitary force. Total manpower is about 80,000. They are tasked to help local law enforcement in the maintenance of law and order, and to carry out border patrol and anti-smuggling operations.... He claimed that 12 attackers were killed and several others suffered injuries.
The attack was repulsed by soldiers who took the bodies of the holy warriors in jug.
However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... when a security bigshot was contacted in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. for details, he expressed ignorance about the incident.
Later, security forces mounted a search for suspects in the area.
Security has been beefed up in Kurram Agency ...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora... after attacks on checkposts from across the border in Afghanistan. The authorities have also cautioned local tribes to remain vigilant.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2016
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Top|| File under: TTP
[DISPATCH] Police in Bangladesh on Thursday identified the victim of a gruesome slaying in the capital as a 27-year-old student and secular writer, making him the latest person to be killed in the South Asian nation allegedly for criticizing fundamentalist Islam.
Authorities said the victim was Nazimuddin Samad, 27, who was attending law school in the evenings at state-run Jagannath University. In online writings, including on his Facebook wall, Samad criticized religious extremism. On his profile page, under religious views, he wrote: "I have no religion."
Despite domestic outrage and international concern, Bangladesh seems unable to prevent the grisly killings of secular voices, apparently at the hands of religious fundamentalists. In this overwhelmingly Muslim nation of 160 million people, which has long been described as favoring moderate Islam, at least four secular bloggers and one publisher of secular writings have been killed since 2015, allegedly by Muslim Lion of Islams.
The assailants in the Samad slaying, who were still on the lam, intercepted him as he was walking along a road with a classmate in Old Dhaka around 9:45 p.m. Wednesday, said Dhaka Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Nurul Islam.
Witnesses said a half-dozen gunnies surrounded Samad at an intersection and began hacking him with machetes, in a similar fashion to the bloggers who were previously killed. Samad fell to the street and the attackers shot him before fleeing. Police said they recovered a bullet shell from the scene.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2016
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Top|| File under: Ansarullah Bangla Team
[Dhaka Tribune] The murder of Jagannath University Masters student Nazimuddin Samad by assailants we have strong reason to believe were religious hard boyz was a most despicable crime committed in cold blood, and should be condemned in the harshest manner by all.
The police must leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the killers are found and brought to justice. As of now, the perpetrators have not even been identified yet. And even though the chant "Allahu Akbar" was heard at the site of the murder, which was crowded at the time, witnesses have so far been reluctant to come forward with information.
It should be the topmost priority of our law enforcement to get to the bottom of the Nazim murder, and for the government to send a strong message that those who commit murder, in the name of religion or not, will never get away with impunity.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2016
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Top|| File under: Ansarullah Bangla Team
Two ethnic Armenian troops died in fighting with Azerbaijani forces April 8 as the foes accused each other of breaching a cease-fire that halted the worst outbreak of violence in decades over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The latest clashes are the first serious violation of a Moscow-mediated cease-fire which took effect on April 5, ending several days of fighting over the Karabakh region that claimed at least 90 lives. The unrest has sparked concern of a wider conflict in the strategic area that could drag in regional powers Russia and Turkey.
“Azerbaijan violated a cease-fire overnight” using mortars to shell ethnic Armenian rebel positions in Karabakh, the territory’s Defense Ministry said in a statement, adding that two soldiers were killed.
Armenia accused Azerbaijan of shelling both military and civilian targets on the border.
“The Armenian villages of Karmir, Ttudjur, and Baganis came under Azerbaijani fire,” ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan said in a statement.
Azerbaijan, a mostly Muslim former Soviet republic, said it returned fire after Armenian forces shelled its positions in Karabakh.
“Azerbaijani armed forces responded to Armenian artillery strikes,” Defense Ministry spokesman Vagif Dargahly said. “Civilian targets [in Azerbaijan] were also shelled by the Armenian forces.”
Later in the day, Azerbaijan and Armenian-backed separatists said they had struck a temporary deal to allow each side to safely search for the bodies of their soldiers killed in clashes over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was in Baku on April 8 to hold talks with İlham Aliyev, the Azerbaijani president, aimed at resuming diplomatic efforts to resolve the territorial dispute.
“Russia, no less than Azerbaijan and Armenia, has an interest in there being peace in this region, our region,” Medvedev said. “The cease-fire agreement is the foundation for unfreezing talks between Baku and Yerevan.”
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/09/2016
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#1
Given a chance our betters in Washington would support the wrong side as it has oil.
[VOA News] U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... , visiting Baghdad Friday, said Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition forces have made gains against 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 in Iraq, and he vowed to increase the pressure on terrorists.
In the coming weeks and months, Kerry said, "the coalition will work with Iraq to turn up the pressure even further."
Kerry flew to Baghdad from Bahrain, for his first visit to the Iraqi capital since 2014. He held meetings Friday with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and the Kurdistan regional government's prime minister, Nechrivan Barzani.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2016
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
So, when they started killing people wholesale wasn't a good time?
Posted by: ed in texas ||
04/09/2016 4:01
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#2
and he vowed to increase the pressure on terrorists.
Time to crank up the strongly worded memo machine AND the hashtag generator.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A senior Taliban leader was killed along with 9 others during the counter-terrorism raids conducted by the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF).
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the operations were conducted in Nurgeram district jointly by the Afghan army and police forces who were receiving air support by the Afghan Air Force.
A statement by MoD said the Taliban group’s shadow district governor for Nurgeram was killed along with 9 other murderous Moslems in the raids.
The statement further added that 3 murderous Moslems were killed and 2 others were maimed during an operation in Kamdish district of Nuristan.
MOD also added that 25 murderous Moslems were killed in a separate operation in Gomal district of Paktika ...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo... province.
At least 16 murderous Moslems were killed and 10 others were maimed during the operations in Andar and Qarabagh districts of Ghazni province, MoD said, adding 8 others were killed during Kunduz and 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.. operations.
According to MoD, at least 2 soldiers of the Afghan National Army (ANA) forces also bit the dust during the same operations.
The anti-government armed krazed killer groups have not commented regarding the reports so far.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2016
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A Pak political leader has said they feel proud to support the Afghan Taliban group, emphasizing that the Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam ...the political wing of the Pak Taliban... -Sami (JUI-S) still support the group.
Maulana Yousaf Shah, the party’s chief for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... , said leaders had always raised their voice against the western powers, according to the media reports.
This comes as the Afghan officials have long been criticizing Pakistain for harboring and supporting the Taliban group who are staging deadly attacks in Afghanistan.
The remarks by Shah come as Pakistain’s foreign affairs adviser Sartaj PrunefaceAziz ...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in good jihadis and bad jihadis as a matter of national policy... earlier said Pakistain has influence on Taliban group.
The rare admission by Aziz followed amid ongoing efforts to revive the Afghan peace talks.
According to Aziz, the Taliban group are using certain facilities in Pakistain which according to him could be used as a leverage to encourage the group to participate in talks.
However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... the Taliban group has rejected to join peace talks as the Afghan security officials believe the group will pursue violence during the summer with the full support of Pak intelligence ‐ Inter Services Intelligence.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2016
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Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Ulema Islami
[FRANCE24] Saudi King Salman ...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and Lord of Most of the Arabians.... announced Friday an agreement with Egypt to build a bridge over the Red Sea connecting the two countries, on the second day of his visit to Cairo. It'll make a spectacular target when completed.
The Saudi monarch made the announcement in televised comments after meeting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
"I agreed with my brother, his Excellency President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, to build a bridge connecting the two countries," Salman said.
"This historic step to connect the two continents, Africa and Asia, is a qualitative transformation that will increase trade between the two continents to unprecedented levels," he added.
A beaming Sisi, who had minutes before presented the king with the ceremonial Nile Collar, suggested they name the bridge "King Salman bin Abdel Aziz Bridge".
Following the announcement, representatives of both countries signed 17 investment deals and memorandums of understanding.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2016
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#1
Is this like the one from Gaza to the West Bank?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/09/2016 8:42
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[DAWN] Three people were rubbed out in the city’s North Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... area Friday afternoon in what police suspect is a sectarian attack.
The victims, all of whom belong to the Shia community, had just offered Friday prayers at the Najaf Imambargah ...since Pakistain is very religiously correct, Shia Moslems can't call their houses of worship 'mosques,' which are reserved for Sunnis. It's not clear if imambargahs are used for explosives storage like mosques are... , said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Central Investigation Arab Mahar.
"The victims were riding a cycle of violence and were attacked near Shafiq Mor," the police official said.
One of the victims was a gold medalist in applied physics from Karachi University, while the other two were father and son.
This is the first major incident of sectarian violence in Karachi in 2016. Although incidents of sectarian violence have decreased over the past year, it remains prevalent as professionals continue to be targeted on the basis of their faith, Kamran Arif, co-chairperson of the Human Rights Commission Pakistain (HRCP) said earlier.
An HRCP report released in April said 2015 saw 58 incidents of sectarian violence ─ nearly half as many as those in 2014. Several thousand citizens belonging to religious minority communities are reported to have left the country over the past few years "on account of faith-based violence, discrimination and persecution".
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2016
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Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Jhangvi
[DAWN] Thousands of protesters clashed with police in India-held Kashmire on Thursday after two persons alleged to be bandidosbully boyz were killed in a gunbattle with government forces, the army and witnesses said.
Protesters torched a police armoured vehicle as masked men fired automatic rifles into the air in honour of the dead men, a police officer at the scene said.
The gunbattle broke out early on Thursday morning in Shopian, 45 kilometres south of Srinagar.
"The bandidosbully boyz fired on a patrol party. In retaliation, both were eliminated," army front man, Colonel N.N. Joshi said.
The two were members of Hizbul Mujahideen, the largest Lion of Islam group operating in the disputed Himalayan region.
After the shootout, thousands of angry villagers came out onto the streets, throwing rocks at police personnel and chanting slogans in support of the dead men.
Police fired tear gas at the protesters but later withdrew to avoid an escalation.
Authorities in Kashmire say there has been a rise in violent protests in the restive region.
Local police and the army have issued public warnings asking residents within a two-kilometre radius of a gunbattle to stay indoors, but the request is usually ignored.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2016
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistain Proxies
[SPACENEWS] Concerned that regulatory uncertainty could block its plans to launch a lunar lander mission next year, Moon Express has proposed an alternative approach for carrying out a required payload review that could keep its plans on schedule while a more permanent legislative solution is developed.
The company announced April 8 that it has submitted to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration a request for a payload review of its planned lunar lander, offering additional information that it hopes will bridge a regulatory gap.
At issue is a provision in Article 6 of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 that requires countries to provide "authorization and continuing supervision" of activities in space by companies and organizations under their jurisdiction. That is usually performed in the U.S. through a licensing process for launches as well as communications and Earth imaging.
However, some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... no federal government agency has authority to oversee operations of commercial spacecraft beyond Earth orbit. That has raised concerns about how the U.S. would meet its Article 6 obligations for authorization and supervision for such missions.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2016
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#1
And the State Dept has voiced it's disapproval of space in general as icky...
[Tolo News] Urozgan provincial council members on Friday warned that four districts in the province facing the threat of collapse.
The council members said that in the past few weeks, routes in to Trinkot, the capital of the province, have been closed and bad boy activity has increased.
Meanwhile provincial security officials accept that insecurity has increased in the province.
Deh Rawud, Khas Urozgan, Gizab and Charcheno districts of Urozgan have all witnessed heavy festivities recently, officials said.
The provincial council raised its concerns and said if attention is not paid to the situation, these districts will collapse to bad boys.
"The security situation is deteriorating day by day and the road to Khas Urozgan district has been closed for the past year, and the roads to Shaheed Asas and Deh Rawud have been closed for nearly three months - only military convoys can pass through there," said Abdul Karim Khadamzai, the provincial council head.
"Our districts are in trouble, like Shaheed Asas, Khaz Urozgan, Chinartoo and Deh Rawud districts. Police and army are fighting but in a technical way. One day they go forward and then they retreat,"said Nadiri, a provincial council member.
Meanwhile Urozgan governor also raised concerns over the increase of insecurity.
"We have districts in Urozgan that for three or four moths the roads have been closed and operations have been ongoing to reopen them, such as Deh Rawud. Once the roads are open then we have programs for other districts," said Mohammad Nazir Kharotti, the provincial governor.
Meanwhile, ...back at the wrecked scow, Agent 49 felt gingerly for his head. It was still there. He had been hoping differently... the provincial police chief said bandidos bad boys came from Zabul and Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... to fight in Urozgan.
"Whenever the enemy is defeated in Kandahar or Helmand then they came to Urozgan and for the past year they tried a lot to increase their activity in the province and conduct attacks on government institutions but they failed because government forces are able to defend government institutions," said Ghulam Sakhi Rokh Lewani, the provincial police chief.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2016
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Top|| File under: Taliban
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Once driven to near irrelevance by the rise of ISIS abroad and security crackdowns at home, Al Qaeda in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... now openly rules a mini-state with a war chest swollen by an estimated $100 mln in looted bank deposits and revenue from running the country’s third largest port.
If ISIS’ capital is the Syrian city of Raqqa, then Al Qaeda’s is Mukalla, a southeastern Yemeni port city of 500,000 people. Al Qaeda gunnies there have abolished taxes for local residents, operate speedboats manned by RPG-wielding fighters who impose fees on ship traffic, and make propaganda videos in which they boast about paving local roads and stocking hospitals.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Lebanese court sentences ex-minister Michel Samaha, considered close to Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... , to 13 years in prison on Friday for plotting attacks.
Samaha was earlier this year released on bail after being sentenced after serving a jail term for smuggling explosives into Leb from Syria and planning attacks, prompting days of protests from angry citizens.
The decision to release him drew criticism from Assad's opponents in Leb including former Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri.
Samaha, a close friend to Syrian President Bashir al-Assad, was serving a jail term for smuggling explosives into Leb from Syria and planning attacks, the national news agency said.
The country’s former Prime Minister Saad el-Hariri posted to twitter saying, "The terrorist Samaha returns to his rightful place in prison today for plotting to kill innocent citizens and drag Leb into civil discord."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2016
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[INFORMATIONNG] Vigilant troops of the 3rd Brigade, Nigerian Army, Kano, yesterday intercepted and destroyed 80 bags of poisoned fish brought into the state by suspected 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... Terrorists from Baga, Borno State.
The spokesperson for the Brigade, Eze Ikechukwu, who disclosed this at a press briefing, said the suspected Lions of Islam were intercepted with the consignment at Hadejia Local Government Area of Jigawa State with the intent to sell the poisoned fish to unsuspecting members of the public.
Mr. Ikechukwu, a Captain, said 11 suspected members of the Boko Haram sect were being interrogated in connection with the consignment.
The Brigade front man called for vigilance from members of the public, saying the Lions of Islam have devised another means of attack through traditional biological weapon.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2016
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Top|| File under: Boko Haram
#1
Boko Haram is Daesh without even islam for dummies. It is AL-Q and some saudi support funds this shot or I failed to see.
[AA.TR] Australia’s immigration minister announced Friday that "well over" 100 Australians have left the country to join ISIS in Syria and Iraq while almost 200 have been identified as actively supporting terrorist activity from their hometowns. Seems like if you're going to be a citizen of the Islamic State you shouldn't be a citizen of anyplace else.
At a presser in Melbourne, Peter Dutton warned that those thinking about travelling overseas to conduct terrorism would face very severe consequences on their return.
Australia passed legislation early Dec. 2015 to strip dual nationals of their citizenship if they are convicted or suspected of terrorism offences, or found to have fought with banned groups in an effort to increase anti-terror measures.
"This is a very significant piece of legislation that the Government negotiated through the Parliament, and over the coming months we will see individual cases considered and if people are dual nationals they’ve been involved in terrorist activities, then they have the potential to lose their Australian citizenship," the Australian News Agency that Dare Not be Named reported him as saying.
Dutton added that the number of people who had left Australia to fight for ISIS in Syria had climbed to "well over" 100, and highlighted government concerns that terror groups represented a "very significant threat" -- especially to young people who were being "indoctrinated online".
"We aren’t going to render people Stateless, but we are going to look at individual cases so that we can realistically deal with a threat that we face in this country," said Dutton, confirming that the legislation is being treated carefully.
The legislation does not apply to children under the age of 14, however children whose parents have had their citizenship revoked are not allowed to remain in Australia either.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] Western media is largely ignoring that the US allies Saudi King Salman ...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Cutodian of the Two Holy Mosquesand Lord of Most of the Arabians.... and UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed are directly implicated in hiding millions of dollars in assets and wealth.
Both those countries are considered key allies of the United States on military and financial levels. Most Western media seems to focus on other figures included in the leaks such as Russian President Vladimir Putin
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia
Three Kenyan youths are among Al-Shabaab terrorists captured while fighting government forces in Puntland. It is believed they are among many youths who have been reported missing from their homes after being lured to join the terrorist organizations.
"Yew ain't from 'round here, are yew?"
During the fight 100 Al-Shabaab terrorists were killed and 59 others belonging to various nationalities arrested.
The identities of the youngsters was discovered barely two days after a Kenyan was killed alongside six other Al-Shabaab commanders in Somalia. Sheikh Mansur was the chief trainer of the Somalia terrorist organization.
Others killed are the head of Aminiya, Al-shabaab’s intelligence wing in lower Shabelle Hassan Ali Dole, a Yemeni bomb expert Abu Islam, the commander of Leego region Aden Bale and the “Judge” of Janaale region Mohamed Abribao.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/09/2016
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Top|| File under: al-Shabaab
Somali police officers launched a sweep in Mogadishu following a mortar shelling around the heavily fortified presidential complex by attackers thought to be Al shabaab members.
Several suspects were detained during the operation which took place many parts of Mogadishu’s Hodon district on Friday, according to a police officer who spoke to Radio Shabelle by phone.
“Police is questioning dozens of people whom the security forces arrested on suspicion of being Al shabaab sympathizers linked to the latest attacks in Mogadishu,” said Hodon district police chief Hussein Sheikh Mohamed.
The arrests came hours after unknown assailants fired several mortar rounds towards the presidential palace in Mogadishu on Thursday night, killing at least three civilians, including a woman.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/09/2016
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Top|| File under: al-Shabaab
Greece deported a second batch of migrants to Turkey on April 8 under an EU-Turkey deal to stem mass migration to the bloc, as Germany announced a sharp drop in asylum claims. Greek officials said two boats carrying 124 migrants – most of them Pakistani men – had been sent back across the Aegean Sea where hundreds have lost their lives in a quest to reach Europe.
A small group of activists leapt into the water, clutching onto the anchor of the first ferry in an unsuccessful bid to stop the deportation, while a group of protesters chanted “EU, shame on you” and “Freedom for the refugees.”
Send them to Turkey as well. They'll then understand the educational value of Midnight Express...
Hours later, the boats arrived in the Turkish harbor town of Dikili, where security officials escorted the downcast migrants, clutching blankets and with small backpacks on their shoulders, off the vessels.
A Greek government statement said the migrants included 111 Pakistanis, four Iraqis, citizens of Bangladesh, India, Morocco and Egypt, as well as a man claiming to be of Palestinian origin.
Not a single one other than -- possibly -- the four Iraqis are true refugees. The Paks in particular are either colonists or looking for the gravy train. Those possibilities, of course, are not mutually exclusive...
Given that all those Iraqi Christians chose to give up asylum in the Czech Republic in order to return home, possibly these Iraqis are also not committed refugees...
One of the Pakistanis was not accepted by Turkish authorities at Dikili for undisclosed reasons and was returned to Lesbos, the statement said.
In a separate operation, another 97 people – mainly Pakistanis and Bangladeshis – were returned to Turkey via the land border, Greek police said.
The deportations are taking place under a deal between Turkey and the European Union, which is straining under the pressure from the unprecedented flow of migrants into its territory. Turkey has promised to take back all irregular migrants entering Greece since March 20 while Europe has agreed to resettle one Syrian refugee directly from camps in Turkey for each Syrian deported.
The deported migrants arriving in Dikili underwent health checks and registration before they are due to be sent by bus to the northwestern province of Kırklareli on the Bulgarian border, from where they are expected to be deported back to their home country.
The threat of deportation is aimed at discouraging people from making the often deadly crossing in flimsy boats. The transfers began April 4 with some 202 migrants returned to Turkey, but then stalled after a last-minute flurry of asylum applications.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/09/2016
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The number of ISIS gunnies in Libya has doubled in the last year or so to as many as 6,000 fighters, with aspirations to conduct attacks against the US and other nations in the West, the top US commander for Africa said Thursday.
Army Gen. David Rodriguez, head of US Africa Command, said that local Libya militias have had some success in trying to stop the ISIS from growing in Benghazi and are battling the group in Sabratha. But he said that decisions to provide more military assistance to the Libyans await a working national government.
The latest numbers for ISIS in Libya make it the largest ISIS branch of eight that the bully boy group operates outside Iraq and Syria, according to US defense officials. The officials were not authorized to provide details of the group and spoke only on condition of anonymity.
The US has conducted two Arclight airstrikes in Libya in recent months targeting ISIS fighters and leaders, but Rodriguez said that those are limited to gunnies that pose an "imminent" threat to US interests. He said it’s possible the US could do more as the government there takes shape.
The US and its allies are hoping that a UN-brokered unity government will be able to bring the warring factions together and end the chaos there, which has helped fuel the growth of the ISIS. The US and European allies would like the new government to eventually work with them against ISIS.
The US, La Belle France and other European nations have sent special operations forces to work with Libyan officials and help the militias fight. In February, American Arclight airstrikes hit an ISIS training camp in rural Libya near the Tunisian border, killing more than 40 bully boys. And last November, a US Arclight airstrike killed top ISIS leader Abu Nabil in Libya. He was a longtime al-Qaeda operative and the senior ISIS leader in Libya.
Rodriguez said, however, that it will be a challenge for the ISIS to become as big a threat as it is in Iraq and Syria because of resistance from local Libyan fighters and the population, which is wary of outside groups.
He said the militias in Libya have fought 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.... gunnies in Benghazi and Derna with some success, and fought hard in Sabratha with more limited gains. Efforts to battle the group in Sirte have not worked as well, he said. Their biggest problem, he said, is that often the militias fight among themselves.
"It’s uneven and it’s not consistent across the board," Rodriguez told news hounds at a Pentagon briefing. "We’ll have to see how the situation develops, but they are contesting the growth of ISIS in several areas across Libya, not all of it."
Asked if waiting for the new government to form will allow the ISIS more time to gather momentum, Rodriguez downplayed the risk.
"It’s going to be a challenge for them to get to that point because of the Libyan population, people and militias that are out there," he said. "It could be a bigger fight and everything. But again, we’re watching that very carefully and taking action as we see those threats develop."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2016
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[DAWN] A policeman was killed and two others, including a passerby, sustained injuries when an improvised bomb (IED) went off in the limits of Paharipura cop shoppe on Thursday.
An official of the cop shoppe told Dawn that the incident took place at around 9:30am when an IED targeting a police party went off in Budhu Samar Bagh locality. He said that a policeman identified as Syed Khan, a resident of Mustajab Ghari village of Mathra locality of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. , was killed, while another policeman and a passerby sustained injuries in the blast.
The official identified the injured policeman as Niamatullah, a resident of Shabqadar, and the passerby as Ihsanullah, a resident of Pakha Ghulam village.
He said that the coppers were providing security to a polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... team in the area.
Rescue 1122 took the injured to the Lady Reading Hospital where Syed Khan departed this vale of tears, while two injured were being treated for wounds.
ASP Waseem Riaz Khan told Dawn that it was a roadside IED, which was used to target the coppers. He said that the device was placed beneath a tree and apparently it went off when the coppers were standing in its shade. He said that it was a time device weighing around one kilogramme.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2016
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[Tolo News] Afghan Ambassador to Pakistain Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal has said the Taliban has chosen war over peace talks with Afghanistan as the group believes this will help them reach their goals.
He said: "Taliban believes in war and they [Taliban] think by continuing the war they can reach their goals in Afghanistan, especially in the upcoming war season, which is a big hindrance to peace," said Zakhilwal.
His comments come after Pakistain's national security advisor, Sartaj PrunefaceAziz ...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in good jihadis and bad jihadis as a matter of national policy... , recently voiced concern over the rejection of peace talks by the Taliban. He said Pakistain can play a vital role in Afghanistan's grinding of the peace processor but cannot directly order the Taliban to join the negotiations.
In reaction to Aziz's remarks the Afghan government said if the Taliban does not join the peace talks the group will face the full wrath of the security forces.
"Our request from Pakistain is that on the basis of agreements bring Taliban to the table and if this does not happen we, on the basis of quadrilateral meeting agreements, have fully prepared ourselves for military operations against the Taliban," said President 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. .. 's deputy front man Dawa Khan Menapal.
However, women are made to be loved, not understood... there are still skeptics who claim Pakistain is not being honest in its dealings with Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... "Afghanistan also reaches the conclusion that waiting for Pakistain's commitments is a mistake and Pakistain's promises are false and waste time," said deputy speaker of the senate Abdullah Qarloq.
Meanwhile Pak analysts believe that the new stance of the Taliban is a sign that they are not interested in peace talks.
"Taliban are worrying about their disparities and if they go for peace talks the disparities will be increased," said Rahimullah Yousofzai, a Pak political analyst.
It was hoped that the Afghan delegation and the Taliban would meet in direct face-to-face talks in early March. However, women are made to be loved, not understood... the Taliban refused to join the process ‐ resulting in the current deadlock.
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#1
He said Pakistain can play a vital role in Afghanistan's grinding of the peace processor but cannot directly order the Taliban to join the negotiations.
"we have a facade to maintain"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/09/2016 9:06
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[IBTIMES] Some 800 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... fighters have allegedly surrendered to the Nigerian military in the past three weeks. The director of defense information Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar apparently revealed the information Wednesday in an interview with Nigerian newspaper the Punch, one day after the Nigerian military announced the establishment of a rehabilitation camp for the former terrorists. How do you rehabilitate someone after he's spent a few years raping and pillaging?
"I can confirm that about 800 of the Boko Haram members have surrendered to the military," Abubakar reportedly told the local newspaper. They've fallen on hard times. Shekau was looking all skinny and peaked in his surrender video.
The new rehabilitation camp is for those turbans who have surrendered and are repentant. The camp will provide vocational training to help reintegrate them into society and contribute to economic growth. In an online statement released Tuesday, the Nigerian military urged other Boko Haram members to abandon the Islamic insurgency and warned "that the final onslaught against the remnant group of the gunnies would continue unabated and would not relent until the power of evil forces in the northeast is completely neutralized." The cross-border thingy isn't working that well. Cameroon and Chad are both taking a no-nonsense approach.
The army also said its troops have rescued 11,595 civilian hostages during raids on Boko Haram territory in the mountainous border regions between Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... since Feb. 26. Previous statements from the Nigerian military said dozens of Boko Haram members, including women and kiddies, had surrendered earlier this year and that many appeared emaciated and begged for food. The cannon fodder's demobilizing itself now that the plunder's run low. The big turbans are being unobtrusive someplace. They're not done yet. The "demobs" will contain a proportion of saboteurs and secret agents.
Food shortages among Boko Haram’s members could indicate the Nigerian military is successfully choking supply routes of the Sunni holy warriors, who have expanded their rampages into neighboring Cameroon, Chad and Niger in the past year. Since launching its Islamic insurgency in northeast Nigeria ... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border... in 2009, Boko Haram has killed about 20,000 people and displaced more than 2 million.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has made the war against Boko Haram a top priority. In the 11 months since he took office, Buhari has resupplied soldiers, replaced the entire military’s top brass, and moved its command center for the fight from the West African nation’s distant capital, Abuja, to the heart of the Boko Haram insurgency in Maiduguri in Borno state.
The Nigerian military has made repeated claims of recapturing territory, winning skirmishes against Boko Haram and recovering weapons and equipment. In December, Buhari claimed Nigeria had "technically won the war" against Boko Haram because it could no longer mount "conventional attacks" against security forces or dense cities, and the turbans were reduced to fighting in their last stronghold, Sambisa forest.
But there is evidence against the military’s claims that Boko Haram is losing the war and that the turbans no longer hold any territory in Nigeria. Earlier this year, a Nigerian senator representing Borno told local journalists that Boko Haram still controls about half of the troubled state. The turbans have returned to hit-and-run tactics and suicide kabooms, which have proved extremely deadly and could indicate the terrorist organization is simply regrouping.
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A young Afghan boy saved his life and that of 14 adults by texting for help from inside a refrigerated truck in which they were being smuggled to Britannia, a charity worker who helped him said Friday.
Ahmed, who is aged six or seven, used a mobile phone given to him by a British aid worker in a French migrant camp to warn her that they were running out of oxygen.
Volunteer Inca Sorrell was attending a conference in New York when she received his texts and contacted a colleague in Britannia, Tanya Freedman, who alerted police.
Officers traced the phone and stopped the truck, taking all those inside into the care of immigration authorities.
"It’s an extraordinary story. It’s a global network of people who came together to save lives, led by this young boy," Freedman, who works at British charity Help Refugees, told AFP.
Sorrell had met Ahmed in a children’s center in "The Jungle" migrant camp in the French port of Calais, where thousands of refugees and economic migrants colonists live while waiting to travel to Britannia, often illegally.
As the camp was being demolished last month, she gave the boy a phone with credit and her number on, with instructions to call her if he found himself in danger.
"He texted me to let me know that he'd made it to England," Sorrell told delegates at the conference.
"Then he told me that he was stuck in the back of the lorry and the driver wouldn’t stop, that it was a refrigerated lawyer and he had no way of getting out."
The text read: "I ned halp darivar no stap car no oksijan in the car no sagnal iam in the cantenar. Iam no jokan valla."
This means: "I need help, driver no stop car, no oxygen in the car, no signal, I am in the container. I am not joking, Wallah (I promise)."
A police spokeswoman confirmed a truck was stopped at a motorway service station in Leicestershire in central England on Thursday, and 14 people were placed in durance vile Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! on suspicion of being illegal migrants colonists.
She said one man was arrested on suspicion of smuggling them into Britannia, while "safeguarding measures were put in place for a child who was found in the truck".
Ahmed was travelling with his older brother, estimated to be aged around 20.
Around 40 migrants colonists a day were detained after crossing the Channel from La Belle France to Britannia last summer, according to an official report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2016
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I admit I didn't keep close track of firearms news this week. I have had something come up which has me completely distracted. Sorry for the dearth of writing, but at least there is the data.
Loads.
Rantburg's summary for arms and ammunition:
Prices for pistol ammunition were mostly unchanged. Prices for rifle ammunition were mixed.
Prices for used pistols and for used rifles were mixed.
New Lows:
9mm (Beretta 92FS or other Semiautomatic) Virginia, Helwan: $189
Pistol Ammunition
.45 Caliber, 230 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (3 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: LAX Ammunition, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Cased, .24 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: LAX Ammunition, Tulammo, FMJ, Reloads, .24 per round (From Last week: +.02 Each)
.40 Caliber Smith & Wesson, 180 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (6 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Goose Island Sales, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .22 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Federal Armament, Store brand, Brass, Reloads, .21 per round (From Last Week: +.01)
9mm Parabellum, 115 Grain, From Last Week: -.01 Each After Unchanged (4 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Glen's Army Navy Store, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .16 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: J&G Sales, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .16 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (4 Weeks))
.357 Magnum, 158 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (5 weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Goose Island Sales, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .25 per round
Cheapest Bulk: 1,000 rounds: SG Ammo, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel cased, .25 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (4Q, 2015))
Rifle Ammunition
.223 Caliber/5.56mm 55 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (3 Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Goose Island Sales, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .21 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: Cheaper Than Dirt!, Tulammo, FMJ, steel casing, .21 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (4 Weeks))
.308 NATO 150 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (3 Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Goose Island Sales, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .34 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: LAX Ammunition, Tulammo, steel casing, FMJ, .34 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (4 Weeks))
7.62x39 AK 123 Grain, From Last Week: +.02 Each After Unchanged (3 Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Glen's Army Navy Store, Russian Military, steel case, FMJ, .25 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: Munire USA, Wolf WPA, steel case, FMJ, .23 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (6 weeks))
.22 LR 40 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (3 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Munire USA, Aguila, RNL .08 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds (2 Cases Max): AmmoFast, Aguila, RNL, .07 per round (From Last Week: +.01 Each)
#1
Might be a while before the 'Made in China' HR Pardner shotgun appreciates to the level of the 'Used Gun of the Week' the Colt Python, first introduced in the mid-1950's.
[DISPATCH] Pope Francis said Friday that Catholics should look to their own consciences more than Vatican rules to negotiate the complexities of sex, marriage and family life, demanding the church shift its emphasis from doctrine to mercy in confronting some of the thorniest issues facing the faithful. Didn't somebody else say that? Who was it? Martin Luther? John Wycliffe? John Calvin? John Huss? John Knox? Something about man talking directly to God without going through a priestly intermediary?
In a major church document entitled "The Joy of Love," Francis made no explicit change in church doctrine and upheld church teaching on the lifelong bond of marriage between a man and a woman. "What God has joined together let no man cast asunder."
But in selectively citing his predecessors and emphasizing his own teachings in strategically placed footnotes, Francis made innovative openings in pastoral practice for Catholics who civilly remarry and signaled that he wants nothing short of a revolution in the way priests guide Catholics. He said the church must no longer sit in judgment and "throw stones" at those who fail to live up to the Gospel's ideals of marriage and family life. It's a thorny kind of a problem. Those of us who've cast or been cast asunder maybe didn't take it seriously when we were kids, look back on it with more understanding and guiltier consciences now. Divorce is a sin, like it or not, not something to be done casually. It hurts the principals, like it or not, and it hurts the kids. Yet there are lots of reasons people want divorce: abuse, infidelity, and desertion at the top of the list. But I think we've reached the point where "I'm tired of looking at your face" has become grounds.
"I understand those who prefer a more rigorous pastoral care which leaves no room for confusion," he wrote. I always thought the Pope's job was to define sin and to campaign against it. Silly me. Now I have to think about it myself.
"But I sincerely believe that Jesus wants a church attentive to the goodness which the Holy Spirit sows in the midst of human weakness." I'm sure he does. But I want my granddaughters to grow up to be ladies and the boys to be gentlemen. I want them to be able to tell good from bad from evil from Evil. It seems like a church would be a good idea to offer guidance in those areas, but I guess they'll have to read philosophers. Maybe they'll understand what the hell Bishop Berkeley was talking about, even if I did miss his point.
On thorny issues such as contraception, Francis stressed that a couple's individual conscience -- not dogmatic rules imposed on them across the board -- must guide their decisions and the church's pastoral practice. "We have been called to form consciences, not replace to them," he said. Our first United Methodist Pope.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2016
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You are lost, Pope.
I do not know if you will be found.
#3
"Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. My last confession..."
"Whoa! Don't come in here and expect me to get all judgmental on you. Just say three Hail Mary's as a gesture of feminist solidarity and attend the Bernie Sanders rally out behind the rectory."
Posted by: Matt ||
04/09/2016 7:20
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#4
"I understand those who prefer a more rigorous pastoral care which leaves no room for confusion," he wrote.
So he leaves room for 'confusion' on the issues of right and wrong, good and evil?
Yes, retail shrinkage is very bad, but we don't want to harass the customers. Just let it go.
[ARA News] ERBIL – Captain Islam Alloush, spokesperson for the Islam Army [Jaish al-Islam – key Syrian Islamist rebel group], said in a press statement on Friday that they will punish a field commander for killing civilians in the Kurdish neighbourhood of Sheik Maqsoud in Aleppo last week.
“During these confrontations, one of the field commanders of Jaish al-Islam in Aleppo used weapons he was not authorized to use in this kind of confrontations, which is considered a violation of the internal regulations of Jaish al-Islam,” Alloush said. “This commander has been referred to the Military Justice to receive the proper punishment set forth in the Military Penal Code of Jaish al-Islam,” he added.
The Syrian Kurds see the statement as an admission that the group has used banned chemical agents.
However, the Islamist rebel group said they will continue to fight the Kurds in Aleppo. “The adoption of this procedure stems from our concern for the lives of civilians we pledge to protect since the beginning of the revolution. This does not change anything regarding our military strategy in fighting the PYD’s militia, along with our brothers in the rest of the military formations in Aleppo,” the statement said.
The Kurds also accused the Islamist rebel group of using banned chemical agents in their attacks on populated areas in Sheikh Maqsoud of Aleppo. Meanwhile, the Russian government has asked for the exclusion of the Islam Army (Jaish al-Islam) from the upcoming Geneva talks.
Speaking to ARA News, Kurdish official Idris Nassan said: “Now it is clear that these armed groups have chemical weaponry that they can use in a lager scale, and this is very dangerous. It is an evidence that not just the regime was using chemicals, Jaish al-Islam may have also used them in Damascus suburbs before. So I think Russia is going to check which country provides them with these chemicals and think that Turkey will be accused.”
Leader of the Jaish al-Islam Mohammed Alloush is one of the main opposition negotiators in the Geneva talks.
Kurdish leadership of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) have said they informed both Russia and the US about the violations by the rebel groups to the 27-February ceasefire.
The Kurdish neighborhood of Sheik Maqsoud has been under attack by rebel groups since February 16. On March 24th and April 7th, the armed groups shelled Sheikh Maqsoud with homemade mortars, gas cylinders and rockets which reportedly contained chemicals, according to local and official sources. In total 85 Kurdish civilians have been killed and 620 injured as a result of the attacks. The explosions resulted in a yellow smoke, which led to breathing problems, dizziness, and eye irritation.
The Kurdish neighbourhood was bombed at least three times with chemical weapons in only 24 hours on Friday, local sources and eyewitnesses confirmed.
Of course. In that part of the world Christians are a natural resource, like wheat fields and sheep, and must be regularly harvested lest they forget this fact.
[ARA News] ISTANBUL – Amid intensifying western airstrikes on positions of the radical group of Islamic State (ISIS), and after the group imposed a new batch of restrictions on civilians in Syria’s northeastern city of Raqqa, dozens of civilian families, including Christians, have reportedly left the city into more stable areas, local sources reported on Friday.
This comes after the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) forces–which include the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and allied Arab and Assyrian groups–have gained much territory at the expense of ISIS in Hasakah and the areas bordering the group’s main bastion, Raqqa.
Speaking to ARA News in Raqqa, media activist Salim Raqqawi said that ISIS officials have appointed dozens of brokers to collect an estimated amount of US $ 1,000 as a fee for anyone would choose to leave the group’s controlled areas.
Raqqawi stressed that a number of civilian families, mainly Christians, have paid the designated amount and left the city into relatively safer areas in the northern suburbs of Raqqa, especially with the approaching battles on its border from both northeast and southwest of the province.
“ISIS extremists have recently banned dozens of Christian families from leaving Syria’s northeastern city of Raqqa, especially after the U.S.-led coalition forces intensified their airstrikes on the group’s headquarters in the region,” Raqqawi told ARA News.
The group has been using the Christians, who were stranded in Raqqa along with other minority religious groups, as human shields in its battles with rival forces, according to local activists.
“ISIS extremists would have been eliminated for a long time ago unless they hide among civilians,” Raqqawi argued.
“However, the hardline group is still using civilians as human shields despite the announcement of this kind of taxation on people,” eyewitnesses told ARA News, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
In the meantime, the ISIS-led Hisba Police intensified patrols across the city’s neighborhoods “looking for an argument to impose fines on people,” according to locals.
Imposing $1000 on people indicates that ISIS suffers from plenty of economic problems, and its inability to cover its expenses and military operations.
According to reports, ISIS has recently stopped paying salaries to many fighters in its ranks due to the remarkable deficit in its budget.
Posted by: badanov ||
04/09/2016
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The US-sponsored Multinational Force and Observers that have bases in the Sinai were invaluable as long as the Sinai was a demilitarized zone respected by both Israel and Egypt. Given the present situation the MFO is really worthless and a target waiting to be exploited.
[ABCNEWS.GO] Thirteen North Koreans working at the same restaurant in a foreign country have defected to South Korea, Seoul officials said Friday.
People working in North Korean-operated restaurants overseas have previously defected, but this is the first time multiple workers have beat feet from the same restaurant, South Korean Unification Ministry front man Jeong Joon Hee told news hounds in Seoul.
North Korean defections are a bitter point of contention between the rival Koreas. Pyongyang usually accuses Seoul of enticing North Korean citizens to defect, something Seoul denies.
Overseas North Korean workers are usually thought to be chosen largely because of their loyalty.
Jeong said one male and 12 female North Korean workers arrived in the South on Thursday. He didn't reveal the country where they were working or the route they took to avoid diplomatic problems and possibly endanger North Koreans still working in the country.
The News Agency that Dare Not be Named called a number of North Korean restaurants in Asia, and all were open except one located in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Danang, Vietnam. A person who answered the telephone at the hotel said the Pyongyang Restaurant had closed two weeks ago and all the Korean staff had left the country. She declined to provide more details or identify herself. It was unclear whether the restaurant was connected to the defections.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2016
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[AA.TR] Lebanese security forces disrupted a network of human traffickers who were kidnapping and forcing women into prostitution.
Security forces moved to dismantle the network this week, saving 75 women. Most of the females were identified as Syrians, who fled the war-torn country. The incident has sparked uproar in Leb.
Imad al-Rihawi and Ali Hassan, both Syrian nationals, were the ringleaders of the network. The women were held captive in a basement and forced to perform sexually explicit acts in a nightclub in the city of Jounieh. Police have identified the club owner as Lebanese business man Maurice Geagea. A local physician who performed illicit abortions for the abused women was disqualified from medical practice by the Lebanese health ministry.
Walid Wally Jumblat ... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling... , leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, said on social media that "the network has been working for years in collusion with brass hats".
Abused women told Anadolu Agency that police raided the club because of "licensing violations". Shortly after his arrest, ring leader al-Rihawi identified himself as a customer and was later released. The women were also allowed to leave, only to be kidnapped again.
Forced into sex slavery by al-Rihawi, the women were tossed in the slammer Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! in basements under strict guard.
Sally, a 27-year-old Syrian woman, was captured by the network and held captive for more than two years.
"He [al-Rihawi] told me that I have to work as a waitress for three months to help finance the home we were going to live in once married. The first evening when we went to his restaurant I was surprised to see the clothing of the female workers and I said that I did not want to work there," Sally said. "Imad [al-Rihawi] wanted me to stay the night. The doors were closed when I wanted to leave. His guards told me that I need permission from Imad to get out."
After 15 days in captivity, she was lashed until she was forced to say that she no longer wanted to leave.
"I planned to escape with a number of girls, but the guards caught three of us, including me. Five managed to escape. Imad tied me to the bed and started lashing me. He didn’t lash me as much as the previous time because he said we had to work on Saturday. He taunted me by saying, ’I will beat you on Monday’, but on Sunday, the police raided the house. During my captivity, I had forgotten [the sight of] sunlight and how the streets look."
Rana, a 24-year-old Syrian refugee in Leb, met al-Rihawi after being referred to him during her search for work. He initially promised her a job at his restaurant, but when she later learned the true nature of the work she was getting herself into, she refused.
"After being hit and tortured I accepted," she said. "Later, I became pregnant and they refused to send me to an abortion clinic. Four months later, they gave me medicine that killed the fetus and then they took it out. When police raided our place, I had just had the abortion. I was fainting inside the cop shoppe."
Syrian women in Leb continue to suffer at the hands of sex traffickers who exploit their vulnerable position as refugees.
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(IraqiNews.com) Diyali – A local source in Diyali province said on Friday, that four civilians had been either killed or wounded in a bomb blast near a mosque northeast of Baqubah.
The source reported for IraqiNews.com, “An Imam of a mosque in the village of al-Omraniya in the vicinity of al-Wagihiyah (23 km northeast of Baqubah), known as Farhan al-Dulaimi, was killed along with his son and two other people in a bomb blast near the mosque,” adding that, “The security forces opened an investigation into the incident.”
(IraqiNews.com) Erbil – Witnesses said on Friday, that Turkish warplanes attacked sites for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Qandil Mountains near the borders with Turkey north of Iraq.
One of the witnesses reported for IraqiNews.com, “Turkish warplanes attacked sites belonging to the The Kurdistan Workers’ Party in Qandil Mountains north of the city of Erbil,” indicating that, “The attack lasted for more than an hour.”
The source added, “The attack included the areas of Aiynza kala and Komtan,” pointing out that, “The attack caused the destruction of forests and orchards.”
[AA.TR] Australian Liberty Alliance - launched by far right Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders - has platform of anti-Muslim immigration, as does US Republican presidential front-runner
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PESHAWAR: The Peshawar Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) arrested an alleged Afghan terrorist during a search operation on Thursday.
On tip-off, CTD conducted a raid at a hideout in Peshawar and arrested the Afghan terrorist identified as Ismail. CTD said that the suspect was wanted in an IED bomb attack on a cycle rally on Jan 24, 2016. The suspect was shifted to an undisclosed location for further investigation.
At least five Turkish police officers have been killed and as many injured when Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants carried out three separate attacks in Turkey's southeastern province of Mardin, Press TV reported.
A police chief, identified as Dogan Sakarya, was critically wounded when PKK militants opened fire during a counter-terrorism operation in the Dicle neighborhood of Nusaybin, situated 792 kilometers (492 miles) east of the capital, Ankara, at around 11:40 a.m. (0840 GMT) on Thursday. The wounded officer later succumbed to his injuries at Nusaybin State Hospital.
Two other policemen, identified as Police Chief Zafer Kurt and Major Ahmet Karaman, lost their lives when PKK militants detonated an improvised explosive device in the same city two hours later.
Additionally, two members of security personnel were killed and five others wounded during a joint operation by gendarmes and special police forces in Nusaybin.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/09/2016
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
I don't travel much anymore, but I believe the problem may be localized and exacerbated by urban sprawl. Anthropologists and population biologists might support my theory, 'too many rats in the box' as it were. Multiple roads lead to de-civilization. We've picked several, not the least of which is man's capacity for evil. 
[Daily Caller] James Harrison, history professor at Portland Community College, said in a lecture Monday for the college’s April Whiteness History Month that peace in the U.S. is impossible so long as whiteness still exists.
[Examiner] A former assistant director for the FBI said Friday that authorities would not have gone to the trouble of extraditing a notorious Romanian hacker unless he was key to their investigation of Hillary Clinton.
A suspect with alleged links to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) was detained on April 8 in the eastern province of Bitlis over his alleged involvement in the deadly Ankara bombing on Oct. 10, 2015.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Danish government said on Friday it will seek to toughen laws on affiliation with terrorist organizations and stop its citizens from entering areas where such groups are in armed conflict.
Paris attacks suspect Mohamed Abrini was arrested on April 8, a police source told AFP after a Belgian television station said he was detained in a Brussels district. The police source gave no details about the location or circumstances of Abrini's arrest but VRT television said it took place in the Anderlecht district of Brussels, home to several other suspects linked to the Paris attacks. 
Italy’s coast guard said on Thursday it had rescued more than 300 migrants from a packed boat in which they had traveled hundreds of kilometers (miles) from Egypt to the Strait of Sicily.
Kurram Agency
[VOA News] U.S. Secretary of State 
...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in 
[SPACENEWS] Concerned that regulatory uncertainty could block its plans to launch a lunar lander mission next year, Moon Express has proposed an alternative approach for carrying out a required payload review that could keep its plans on schedule while a more permanent legislative solution is developed.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Tolo News] Afghan Ambassador to Pakistain Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal has said the Taliban has chosen war over peace talks with Afghanistan as the group believes this will help them reach their goals.
[DISPATCH] Pope Francis said Friday that Catholics should look to their own consciences more than Vatican rules to negotiate the complexities of sex, marriage and family life, demanding the church shift its emphasis from doctrine to mercy in confronting some of the thorniest issues facing the faithful.
North Korea
Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling...
