[Fox] Sen. Tom Cotton suggested Sunday that he’ll accept President Obama’s explanation that the roughly $400 million in cash to Iran amid the country holding several Americans captive was part of a decades-old settlement, but said the move sends a "dangerous" message to terrorists and others around the world.
"He said this payment was not a ransom," Cotton, R-Ark., a top critic of Obama’s recent Iran nuclear deal, said on "Fox News Sunday."
"It doesn't really matter though what President Obama says. It matters what the Iranians think and it matters what dictators and terrorists and gangsters all around the world think. And they clearly think that this was a ransom payment ... That's why it's so dangerous."
The freshman senator also accused administration officials of stonewalling Congress and the American public about the specifics of the deal and the cash delivery roughly six months ago, continuing his criticism last week of the deal.
"We didn't know the cash payment, for instance," Cotton said. "We didn't know that it was paid for with bills that could be easily laundered or used for terrorism or support for Iran's allies throughout the region. And we didn't know that the Department of Justice opposed it. ... There are still a lot of questions left to be answered. And the Obama administration continues to stonewall on this."
The first-term senator also used a litany of strong words to describe the money delivery, in Euro notes, and how the administration behaved, including acting like a "third world gun runner" and a "drug cartel to the world's most dangerous terror state."
[Hot Air] This report from the BBC is confirmed by first hand accounts from not only the Israeli team, but from the hateful Lebanese team as well. More on the Lebanese reaction in a moment. Here are the basics from BBC: Perhaps the Lebanese team got the memo.
Lebanese athletes refused to share a bus with the Israel team to get to Friday’s Rio Olympic Games opening ceremony, members of both teams said.
Lebanon and Israel are officially at war and have no diplomatic relations.
The incident happened as the Lebanon team sat on the bus waiting to head to the Maracana stadium, before demanding the Israeli athletes must not board. The Israeli team refused to be bullied and they boarded the bus heading for the Kumbaya, world peace ceremonies.
Hateful little men pretending to be big. More of the same will be seen throughout this Olympics, just like many other international sports competitions. Update at 1:00 pm ET:
[USA Today] More than 40 people were injured when a railing gave way during Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa's concert in southern New Jersey on Friday night, according to a county dispatch.
A three-foot railing collapsed at the BB&T Pavilion in Camden, N.J., sending fans tumbling to the concrete below, according to multiple published reports. The railing separated fans from a sloping lawn near the concert area.
42 concertgoers were reportedly transported to local hospitals, most with minor injuries.
[NYT] A senior Afghan police official regarded as one of the country's most powerful men has banned the use of the Pakistani currency in the key southern province of Kandahar. Well they did kill his father.
The police chief of Kandahar, Gen. Abdul Raziq, said he has declared the use of the Pakistani rupee in business transactions a crime. But he says he hasn't yet decided on the punishment. Disappearance was a common punishment while he was in charge of the Afghan Border Police (ABP) in Kandahar Province. I suspect the punishment will be more like confiscation, with the proceeds being used to look after Mr. Big...
The rupee has been widely used in Afghanistan's eastern and southern provinces bordering Pakistan. The Iranian currency is used in the western border provinces.
"I'm not against business, but I don't want any other currency to be used in our country, especially the Pakistan and Iranian currencies," Raziq told The Associated Press Sunday.
Raziq's ban came into effect last week. Traders said it had an immediate effect, with the afghani strengthening in recent days.
"This is very good news, as people have been confused about what currency they should use and keep," said Kandahar tribal elder and businessman, Ahmad Shah Khan.
He said the afghani had strengthened to 560 for 1,000 Pakistani rupees, from 630 per 1,000 before the ban. The official Central Bank exchange rate Sunday was 622 per 1,000.
The afghani has also strengthened against the dollar, from 68 to 65 since the ban was introduced, traders said. The official rate is currently 67.5 afghanis to the dollar.
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) -- The president of Planned Parenthood is heading to New Hampshire to campaign on behalf of Hillary Clinton and the state’s Democratic candidates.
Cecile Richards will attend events in Manchester, Concord and Portsmouth on Saturday and Sunday. Richards will kick off canvassing events and host a "women’s house party," focusing on women’s health and family issues.
Access to reproductive health care and other women’s health services, including abortion, is a core issue for Democrats, and Planned Parenthood is a key ally for the party. Democrats statewide campaign on women’s health issues and have slammed Republicans who oppose Planned Parenthood.
Clinton’s campaign says Richards will also talk about the gender pay gap, paid family leave programs and Clinton’s economic policies.
[Wash Times] In a wide-ranging interview on the racial climate in America, Baltimore Ravens tight end Benjamin Watson brought up Planned Parenthood’s founding, saying the organization was created to "exterminate blacks."
Mr. Watson said black support for Planned Parenthood is "ironic," given that the organization was founded by eugenicist Margaret Sanger in order to control "unfit" populations.
"I do know that blacks kind of represent a large portion of abortions, and I do know that honestly the whole idea with Planned Parenthood and Sanger in the past was to exterminate blacks, and it’s kind of ironic that it’s working," he said in an interview with Turning Point Pregnancy Resource Center.
"We support candidates, and overwhelmingly support the idea of having Planned Parenthood and the like, and yet, that is why she created it," he added. "We are buying it hook, line and sinker, like it’s a great thing."
Mr. Watson, who is promoting a new book about racial reconciliation, "Under Our Skin," has previously been outspoken about his Christian beliefs.
He said it’s difficult for black people to climb the socioeconomic ladder when abortion is so prevalent in the black community.
#1
He said it’s difficult for black people to climb the socioeconomic ladder when abortion is so prevalent in the black community.
Yes, abortion and BoB (Black on Black) crime make climbing the socioeconomic ladder very difficult indeed. Something about being dead that appears to inhibit the ladder climbing process.
#4
...they obviously suppress it very well. Given his position doesn't fit the Inner Party narrative, he'll be officially classified as not a 'real black'. He now joins the likes of Justice Thomas.
#5
Make it easy for blacks to get abortions and drugs. Encourage single parent, fatherless families. Yep. Then import low end workers from another part of the Third World to replace them.
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08/07/2016 10:59
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I don't know, I think legalized abortion has pretty well wiped out the white population. Certainly the most intelligent, college educated whites.
It was certainly a dark and nefarious decision on the part of politicians and the legal system.
Now we get to be invaded by the third world who cares not about population control other than to conquer and control others with their high birthrates.
Posted by: Herman Snease8631 ||
08/07/2016 17:22
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[Wash Times] Former acting CIA Director Michael Morell has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, saying Donald Trump is an "unwitting agent" for Russia who will threaten America’s national security. If you can't believe Mike Morell, who can you believe ?
[sarc off]
Michael Morell, who worked under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, wrote in an op-ed Friday for The New York Times that he will do everything he can to ensure Mrs. Clinton wins the White House.
"Two strongly held beliefs have brought me to this decision," he explained. "First, Mrs. Clinton is highly qualified to be commander in chief. I trust she will deliver on the most important duty of a president -- keeping our nation safe. Second, Donald J. Trump is not only unqualified for the job, but he may well pose a threat to our national security."
Mr. Morell said that in the four years he spent working with Russian witting agent Mrs. Clinton when she was secretary of state, he never saw her bring politics into the Situation Room.
"In these critically important meetings, I found her to be prepared, detail-oriented, thoughtful, inquisitive and willing to change her mind if presented with a compelling argument," he wrote. "In sharp contrast to Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Trump has no experience on national security. Even more important, the character traits he has exhibited during the primary season suggest he would be a poor, even dangerous, commander in chief."
#1
Employee of Clinton Foundation endorses a Clinton, news at 11.
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08/07/2016 5:58
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It's just a little 'Think Tank' Phil Reines started. You remember Phil right? ....Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Strategic Communications & Senior Communications Advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Senior Advisor & Press Secretary to Clinton.
[Daily Caller] Former NSA Director (1999-2005) and CIA Director (2006-2009), retired General Michael V. Hayden told The Daily Caller News Foundation that he believes Donald Trump is "erratic" and that relations between China and the U.S. represent "the most important geo-strategic question facing us."
In a brief Q&A with The DCNF, Hayden discussed Wikileaks, Russian intelligence, and what he thinks about the nominees.
TheDCNF: Do you think it is likely that Russia, Russian intelligence specifically, have seen Secretary Clinton’s emails and whether or not they have, why do you think they are targeting her?
Hayden: So, without concrete evidence, which I don’t have, and apparently the FBI doesn’t have either, what I have felt comfortable saying about this is that I would lose a whole lot of respect for a whole bunch of intelligence agencies around the world, if they hadn’t penetrated that server and gotten access to the emails. It’s what nation-states do to one another, and with emails of such an official, in that circumstance, I just think that would have been a natural magnet for a whole bunch of intelligence services, and the Russians are quite good at this.
#3
But General Hayden, have you lost any respect for Hillary Clinton for opening the door and putting out the "Welcome" mat to Russia, China and anyone else who might want to look at secrets on her server?
[LI] Got to give Gregory Meeks credit. The Dem congressman managed to keep a straight face on MSNBC this morning while telling a string of whoppers about the Iran hostage deal.
Among Meeks’ laugh lines: 1. the Obama administration did not pay ransom for the release of American hostages held in Iran; 2. the way the deal was handled shows the "efficiency" of the Obama administration; 3. the goal was to "save the American people hundreds of millions of dollars;" 4. "No. I doubt" and "am not going to say" that the hostages were not released until a plane carrying money from the US arrived--this despite the first-hand account of a hostage indicating that is what happened.
[StrategyPage] Driving ISIS (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 the Levant) out of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... is now a matter of when, not if. More ISIS personnel and their families are leaving the city (with or without permission). The coalition air raids are becoming more frequent and increasingly effective. This is because more target information is coming from inside the city and nothing ISIS does seems to reverse this process. A growing number of ISIS personnel and operations in the city are being moved from captured government and military compounds to residential areas in an effort to avoid air attack. Worse these attacks are largely against specific targets, like ISIS leaders and key technical experts. Weapons and critical equipment (like communications and military vehicles) are also more vulnerable. This is not a new problem, a lot of ISIS artillery and armored vehicles were ordered to leave Mosul for Syria in June. But the coalition keeps finding essential ISIS vehicles and destroying them. ISIS leaders appear to be getting more key people (leaders, tech experts, most reliable fighters) out of the city and back to Syria. Thus when Iraqi troops move into the city there will probably be less than 5,000 ISIS fighters (plus lots of mines, booby traps and roadside kabooms) and few (but still over 100,000) civilians to deal with.
The U.S. led air coalition over Iraq and Syria has been averaging about a hundred attacks (using either a guided missile or smart bomb) a day in June and July. About a third of that is in Syria but more will be switched to Iraq when the fighting is heavy inside Mosul.
As always, Strategy Page articles are information-dense and and well worth reading.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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[Ynet] The United States has resettled 8,000 Syrian refugees inside US borders since October, Anne Richard, assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, told news hounds on Friday.
The United States is on track to meet President Barack Obama That’s just how white folks will do you.... 's goal to resettle 10,000 refugees from Syria's civil war by the end of the fiscal year, Richard said.
[IsraelTimes] A member of the Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, terror group was killed on Saturday when a tunnel collapsed in the Gazoo Strip, Paleostinian health officials and the group’s military wing said.
The front man of the Paleostinian health ministry in Gazoo, Ashraf al-Qodra, identified the man as Khaled al-Hoor, 22.
The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades in a terse statement said it "deplored" Hoor’s death.
[AlAhram] Four non-combatants were killed in North Sinai's El-Arish after an improvised bomb planted in a garbage bag detonated late Friday in the vicinity of a cop shoppe, state owned MENA agency reported.
According to a security source, the IED went kaboom! on El-Bahr Street as a sanitation truck was collecting garbage, killing a cleaning worker and a passerby.
Two members of the same family were also killed in the blast, 21-year-old Basma Said Mostafa Rashad, who died of her injuries on Saturday, and her brother Mohammed Said Mostafa, who died instantly when caught in the blast.
Three other people were maimed in the kaboom.
No group has yet grabbed credit for the attack, which comes only one day after Egypt's army announced that it killed the leader of Egypt’s 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.... affiliate Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis in Arclight airstrikes south of El-Arish.
The group, which originated in Sinai and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State holy warrior group in November, has grabbed credit for most of the attacks against security personnel and installations in the restive governorate.
[DAWN] Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday left the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Interior Ministers’ meeting halfway through after losing a war of words with his Pak counterpart Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan ...Currently the Interior Minister of Pakistain. He is the senior leader of the Pak Moslem League (N) and a close aide to Nawaz Uncle Fester Sharif. He is noted for his vocal anti-American railing in the National Assembly. However (comma) Khan told the U.S. ambassador that he was in fact pro-American but he and the PML-N would have to be critical of US actions in order to remain publicly credible. Khan cited his wife and children's US citizenship as proof, which means he's lying to one side or the other and probably both. He wears a wig, but you probably guessed that. since hair doesn't grow naturally in that shape or texture... .
The Indian minister indirectly accused Pakistain of sponsoring terrorism. But when Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan responded -- after relinquishing his position as the chairman of the meeting -- Mr Singh found it difficult to digest.
Chaudhry Nisar called for respecting the fundamental rights of people and stressed that legitimate freedom struggles should not be suppressed in the name of the fight against terrorism. He called upon the countries from the region to differentiate between terrorism and freedom movements, sanctified by the UN Security Council, and observed that violence against freedom fighters in a disputed territory under Indian occupation was state-sponsored.
He highlighted how Pakistain itself was one of the biggest victims of terrorism. "Instead of engaging in a blame-game and taking swipes at each other, we should take time out to reflect and sit together to try and work out the problems and reservations that we might harbour towards each other," he remarked.
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[DAWN] Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh, a day after a terse war of words with Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar at the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Interior Ministers’ meeting in Islamabad on Thursday, apprised the Indian parliament of his visit.
"All of our prime ministers have done their best to improve relations with our neighbours, but this neighbour never learns," he said referring to Pakistain amid a smattering of laughter in the house.
In a response to Nisar's remarks about Indian violation of human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... in Kashmire, Rajnath told the Indian parliament that "Pakistain is the biggest violator of human rights", NDTV reported.
The Indian home minister said he had skipped a luncheon meeting as he 'had not gone there to have lunch'.
"It is true that Chaudhry Nisar invited everyone for lunch. But then he left in his car. I also left. I have no complaints or grudges as I had not gone there to have lunch," he said.
Singh said that journalists accompanying him were not allowed to cover his speech, according to Indian media reports.
"I will not comment on whether Pakistain was right or wrong in not allowing coverage. I did not register any protest there. I will need to ask the foreign ministry about protocol of past occasions," he said.
The only broadcaster allowed inside the venue was Pakistain Television, Dawn earlier reported.
The Press Trust of India quoting a government source said it is standard Saarc practice for the host country's opening statements to be made public and open to the media, while the rest of the proceedings are in camera, which allows for a frank discussion of issues.
According to the Press Trust of India, an interior ministry official in Islamabad also said that there was no such blackout of Singh’s speech as none of the speeches of participating ministers was shown.
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar during the Saarc meet ─ after relinquishing his position as chairman of the meeting ─ had issued a rejoinder to Rajnath Singh when the Indian home minister indirectly accused Pakistain of sponsoring terrorism.
Nisar termed the use of "torture against innocent children and violence against civilians" as terrorism and added there was a need to "take time out to reflect and sit together to try and work out the problems and reservations that we might harbour towards each other" instead of engaging in blame games and taking swipes at each other.
The interior minister said Pakistain was ready to engage in any dialogue process based on mutual respect and dignity with no string attached. "It is for those who have put conditions and sub-conditions for initiating dialogue to reconsider and realign their position," he said.
The interior minister’s remarks came at a time when tensions are running high between the two nuclear-armed neighbours over fresh unrest and killings by security forces in India-held Kashmire. His remarks rendered Rajnath Singh speechless, and he chose not to respond.
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[RUDAW.NET] 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.... holy warriors have reportedly collected and burned all deeds to houses and land in djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... and issued owners with new ownership documents, a Kurdish official said on Friday.
"After forcefully seizing the documents, on Friday August 5, ISIS [ISIS] organization torched all the house and land deeds and documents from [the time of the] Iraqi government in Mosul," Saeed Mamuzini, who was the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s representative in Mosul before the city was taken over by the Islamic State, told Rudaw.
Mamuzini added that ISIS holy warriors have printed new deeds and documents bearing the ISIS logo and given them to those occupying homes and land in the city. The fear is that property owners who fled the city and whose houses have been taken over by others will now have problems establishing ownership of their houses and land.
This destruction of the deeds threatens minorities in the region, Mamuzini said, "Because [any house and property of] Kurdish families who fled ISIS in the region has been occupied by an Arab family."
Homes and property of Yezidi and Christian minorities have also been appropriated by the Death Eater group.
ISIS holy warriors took over Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city in June 2014, and the city has been the group’s main stronghold in Iraq for more than two years.
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The United States’ ambassador to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... has again denied allegations his country was involved in last month’s failed coup attempt, Turkish media reported Saturday.
"I just want to say again, as I’ve said before and as we’ve said from Washington, the United States government did not plan, direct, support or have any advance knowledge of any of the illegal activities that occurred the night of July 15 and into July 16. Full stop," US ambassador John Bass said in remarks published in English daily Hurriyet Daily News.
He added that he was "deeply disturbed and offended by the accusations" targeting his country.
The July 15 military action blamed by Ankara on US-based Moslemholy man Fethullah Gulen has rattled Turkey’s relations with the United States and the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... has accused the West of supporting the plotters and warned Washington that relations will suffer if it fails to extradite Pennsylvania-based Gulen.
Erdogan has also accused the US of hiding and sheltering the preacher and described the failed military action as a "scenario written from outside" in an allusion to foreign involvement.
Shortly after the coup attempt, Labor Minister Suleyman Soylu went even further to say "the United States is behind the coup."
And this week, Turkey’s former army chief, Ilker Basbug, claimed that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was also behind it.
"Frankly, if we would have had knowledge we would have told the Turkish government about it immediately," Bass said.
[IsraelTimes] Massive sweep against alleged supporters of US-based holy man continues ahead of Sunday pro-Erdogan rally in Istanbul
Dozens of special forces personnel were tossed in the clink Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... Saturday in the latest development in a sweeping crackdown following the failed coup in the country that killed over 270 people, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.
Nearly 90 staff members were arrested after being identified by a commission established by the Special Forces Command following the July 15 coup, the agency reported.
The crackdown targets suspected followers of US-based holy man Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara accuses of criminal masterminding the coup attempt. Tens of thousands of employees in the military, police force, judiciary and throughout the public sector have been dismissed, detained or arrested.
Turkey has also been reforming its security apparatus in the aftermath of the failed coup, with the military being brought firmly under civilian authority in a series of governmental decrees following the declaration of a state of emergency.
Earlier on Saturday Prime Minister Binali Yildirim hosted a security summit of high-level government and military officials in Ankara. Those attending included the country’s foreign, justice, interior and defense ministers, the chief of general staff and the heads of Turkey’s national intelligence agency and the national police. No decisions were announced following the meeting.
As part of its anti-coup campaign, Ankara has been encouraging nightly anti-coup rallies throughout the country, with officials preparing for the grand finale to be held in Istanbul on Sunday.
The "Democracy and Martyrs’ Rally" is meant to represent the unity of the country, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... urging attendees to bring only the Turkish flag instead of party banners.
"There we will stand together as a single nation, a single flag, a single motherland, a single state, a single spirit," he said.
The event will be attended by the highest levels of Turkish leadership and two of Turkey’s three opposition parties. The pro-Kurdish People’s Democracy Party, or HDP, was not invited.
Anadolu news agency estimates that millions could attend the event.
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(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – The commander of Anbar Operations Maj. Gen. Ismail Mahlawi announced on Saturday about the discovery of an ISIS booby-trapping laboratory east of Ramadi.
Mahlawi in a press statement, said, “A force of the army belonging to the 10th Division managed, through inspections and cleansing operations in Khalidiya Island, find a booby-trapping plant containing explosive materials.”
Mahlawi added, “The force killed three terrorists who were hiding in a house in Khalidiya Island, east of Ramadi.”
Posted by: badanov ||
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(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – Ramah village in southern Mosul has been liberated from ISIS control, informed Iraqi army.
Commander of Nineveh Liberation Operations General Najim al-Jabouri, sharing details, said, “Security forces liberated Ramah village toward al-Qayyarah axis in southern Mosul.”
“Forces from the police and army are continuing to advance after liberating Qayyarah and controlling the majority of areas and villages in and around Mosul,” Jabouri added.
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[FOXNEWS] A new elite Taliban force is proving its strength in the strategic southern province of Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... , pointing to the krazed killers' ability to refine their battlefield techniques to match Afghanistan's increasingly professional national army.
The Taliban regard Helmand as their heartland. They share Pashtun ethnicity with its residents and the province's vast opium output has helped fund the war against the government in 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.... , now in its fifteenth year.
In recent weeks, the Taliban have taken huge swaths of the province and now they appear to be closing in on the capital, Lashkar Gah.
Afghan officials in Helmand say the army is facing an krazed killer fighting force that is better-organized and more skilled than ever. They say the Taliban have been sending men into the fight who appear to be members of a commando-like unit, believed to consist of several hundred elite fighters.
A senior Taliban capo confirmed the existence of the new, highly-trained force.
Speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media, the commander said the force numbered "around 300 fighters now, after starting out with 200." The new commando unit is called Sara Khitta, which means Red Group or Danger Group in Pashto.
"This kind of force is giving us very good results, and we have been discussing whether or not we should deploy this sort of unit more widely," he said.
The Taliban would give no further details, and military officials refused to discuss the subject. But civilian officials in Helmand said the force is led by a commander known as Haji Nasar, former operational head of the Taliban operating in Kandahar and Zabul provinces.
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[DAILYCALLER] Telemundo national correspondent Lori Montenegro complained on Friday to an understanding Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as America's Blond Eminence and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Henry Kissinger ... that people who are illegal immigrants colonists are "not criminals" that are deported.
At the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Montenegro said, "Madam Secretary, you spoke about the deportations, President B.O., some call the ’Deporter-in-Chief,’ you have eluded already your priority will be criminals, how do you walk back the deportations?"
"There are people not criminals that are deported daily from this country," Montenegro said. "How do you walk back the deportations, comply with the law and not inherit the title of ’Deporter-in-Chief,’ and at the same time, all these steps to help mobilize the Latino community to the polls, many who still believe that their vote was taken for granted in 2008 and 2012, and then we have the e-mails from Wikileaks that say that they are the loyalty brand of the party."
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#1
Except in Mexico being an illegal alien will cost you about 15 years of your life. But that's okay.
[DAWN] Five suspects were killed after an attempted robbery in Burewala city, some 45km from here, on Friday afternoon.
The suspects forcibly entered the house of Mirza Jawed, a UK-based businessman who was visiting his hometown, in New Model Town of Burewala. They took the family hostage in a room. One of the family members informed police through Whatsapp.
Model Town police led by Station House Officer (SHO) Malik Tahir Aziz reached the house. On seeing police, the suspects opened fire on them that was retaliated. Two hours later, the five suspects were found dead.
According to SHO Aziz, the suspects used a car with a fake registration number. They were identified as Ziafat, Naeem, Imran, Sajid and Raja Khawar.
District Police Officer (DPO) Muhammad Saleem told Dawn the suspects were involved in dozens of cases of dacoity and murder in Sargodha. Police seized five 9mm pistols and a number of bullets.
He said these pistols were only used in anti-terrorist operations by security forces. Police were collecting criminal data from various towns, including Sargodha, Kamalia, Khushab, and other cities of the province.
He added the bodies were sent to the Burewala THQ Hospital for an appointment with Dr. Quincy.
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#1
Model Town police were initially stymied by their inability move. Luckily Mr. Hands came to the rescue and victory was assured. Unfortunately a civilian, one Mr. Bill was cut down in cross fire while he was walk Spot is dog across the street. First aid had to be suspended when a Sluggo Services garbage truck ran over Mr. Bill and then back up.
A 15-year old girl was killed and four other family members were wounded after al-Shabab militants fired mortars on the southwestern town of Baidoa early Saturday morning, witnesses said.
The militant group fired 11 rounds of mortars on several targets in the town including the airport and residential areas according to witnesses. One of the mortars landed on a home killing the girl and wounding her mother, two siblings and a sister in-law. Baidoa is 245 kilometers southwest of Mogadishu.
The father of the girl, Sheikh Ibrahim Sheikh Mohamed told VOA Somali said his daughter was in grade nine in high school. He said the youngest victim, his son, is seven years old. The attack occurred at around 3:30 am when the family was sleep, Mohamed said.
Deputy Director of Baidoa hospital Ahmed Ibrahim Ali said he expects the wounded to recover.
Somali MP Sidow Aden Abadir who visited the victims condemned the militant group for the shelling.
“Innocent victims were hurt in the hand of evil; may Allah bless the dead and heal the injured,” he said.
It’s the second heaviest bombardment on the town by al-Shabab in just over a month. In July two children were killed and 19 others were wounded after heavy mortar attack by al-Shabab.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/07/2016
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[FireAndreaMitchell] Now I know why Hillary Clinton picked creepy Tim Kaine. She needs him help her get up a few stairs. This is how unwell Hillary Clinton is. She can't even walk up two or three steps on her own anymore.
Not only is Hillary Clinton mentally unstable to serve as president, she's apprently also falling apart in physical health too. She can't climb up a few stairs, she has that herpes thing on her tongue, she "short circuits" and has seizures and forgets who her husband is. Hillary Clinton is more suited for the retirement home than the White House. All that boozing has really crippled old bag Hillary.
Even the 74 year old Communist who Clinton had to beat with a rigged primary is in better physical shape than unwell Hillary Clinton.
#7
She is a pathological liar. She does seem to be in a Donk protective bubble that insulates her from people. The Donks don't seem to want to run the risk of exposing voters to the real Hillary. When was the last time she gave a real press conference? Moreover, she is just not a nice person--hateful (and perhaps dangerous to) of anyone she perceives to cross her.
#8
hateful (and perhaps dangerous to) of anyone she perceives to cross her.
"In fact, 46 people who were close to the Clintons have died during their 3 decades of political power. That number should give us all pause. If Hillary Clinton was a Republican, that number would be the question asked by reporters every day."
"Now, the latest to be added to the list, maintained by WhatReallyHappened.com, is Walter Scheib. He was hired by the Clinton White House to work as a Chef, and continued to serve the Bush administration. Interestingly, he was reported missing during a hike, and his body was found almost 2 miles away at the bottom of a river. No cause of death has ever been made, but the death date is listed as June 13, 2015.
#16
Mr. B. Nice dawg and large, note his position, I think that settee had wheels. The press wasn't that much different then, they were pretty much in the tank for FDR
Last month, newly-appointed Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort issued a request that the campaign hire on Cambridge Analytica, the very same marketing firm that helped to defeat the establishment powers in Great Britain earlier this year with the stunning Brexit vote; a vote that was a direct shot across the bow of globalist powers intent on seeing a world without individual nations and borders.
Cambridge Analytica is particularly adept at focusing on the concerns of first-time voters using a multitude of issues-based data points.
Many within political circles consider them the best of the best when it comes to this kind of political messaging technology.
As recently as a few months ago, Trump had considered this technology to be "overrated" which some have suggested had more to do with its cost rather than its potential effectiveness.
With the urging of Manafort, and Trump's own ever-growing experience in the rough and tumble world of national politics, the Republican presidential candidate is now willing to give Cambridge Analytica a try, a reversal that is likely good news for Trump supporters grown despondent over the candidate's messaging difficulties the last two weeks that has Hillary Clinton once again emerging on top of various recent polls.
#1
Cambridge Analytica has a bunch of egghead Ph.D. number crunchers on staff. Whether their number crunching efforts translate into votes is the question. Seems like they ought to be targeting voters who usually don't get out, independents, Bernie's ticked off supporters, and minorities who might be peeled off from their usual voting habits.
#2
It stunned the hell out of British bookies who were fortunate not to have taken a bath; fortunate because those who thought Brexit would succeed were not so convinced as to put their money down.
#3
There is a tension between the kind of spontaneous insanity and emotional thralldom that secured this idiot the nomination, and the kind of cold hard, fact driven, cash gulping, by-the-numbers campaign that might deliver a victory.
Don't think Donald has the patience or self-discipline, and don't think his Trumpkins will follow him down that path. As for actual conservatives, I know that no slick ad is going to change my mind.
“A man will be imprisoned in a room with a door that's unlocked and opens inwards; as long as it does not occur to him to pull rather than push.”
― Ludwig Wittgenstein, Culture and Value
A police officer says Puntland security forces have detained hundreds of Ethiopian migrants heading to Yemen in the coastal city of Bosaso on Saturday.
I cannot imagine how Yemen would be preferable to Ethiopia, but then again I've never been to either place...
Col Abdihakin Hussein, the police boss of Bar region, told reporters that the army netted 200 of people, including Somalis who were trying to depart from Bosaso coast. Hussein said the arrested migrants have determined to risk their lives to try and enter Yemen on unseaworthy boats in search for a better life in Saudi Arabia.
Define "better" life...
The illegal Ethiopian migrants, along with the Somalis who have been arrested by Puntland state police are being questioned at Bosaso detention police station.
The war-torn Yemen is mainly used as a transit country, with African migrants often aiming to move on to neighbouring oil-rich Gulf nations to find work.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/07/2016
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The town of Tor Al-Baha, described by its governor Ulwan Al-Atri as the first line of defence for the temporary capital Aden, is suffering from poverty, unemployment and a lack of food after violent military confrontations between Popular Resistance forces and the rebels have been ongoing since the beginning of last year.
Tor Al-Baha is now dripping with the blood of Popular Resistance fighters who sacrificed their lives to stop Houthi militias and rebel forces from advancing. Rebel militias are stationed in Al-Qabita and Hayfan which are on the town’s northern border and they seek to reach the centre of the town which is only a few kilometres away from these locations. However, the militias are being faced with fierce resistance from the Popular Resistance in Tor Al-Baha.
In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, the governor of Tor Al-Baha Ulwan Al-Atri said that the town is the “first line of defence for the interim capital Aden” as Tor Al-Baha’s border with the province of Taiz starts with the Al-Anad airbase border in the east and ends with the Al-Utayrah area in the west. He continued by saying that the continuation of the war and its duration has caused economic collapse and a rise in unemployment and begging. The situation of citizens is bordering on a humanitarian catastrophe in the absence of employment opportunities, salaries that have been delayed for several months and the collapse of the currency. The disappearance of petroleum products has caused the collapse of workshops, transport vehicles being taken out of service and the disruption of irrigation systems used on farms.
[DAWN] ISLAMABAD: A man was killed and two others injured, police said on Friday.
The incident took place at Ghori Town after a man and three of his sons responded to a call regarding a scuffle between the man’s daughter and her husband.
The man, who is a naib qasid, went to Ghori Town where he and his sons exchanged harsh words with his son-in-law and his brother. Later they attacked each other with batons. Two of the man’s sons and another man, Hamid, from the other party, were maimed. They were shifted to a hospital where Hamid died.
The naib qasid told the police he received a call from his son-in-law asking him to come and take his daughter away, as he had divorced her. The police, however, suspected the call was actually made by the man’s daughter and not his son-in-law. The man, two of his sons and his daughter were placed in durance vile Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! .
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2016
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#1
Things like this almost make me appreciate lawyers.
#3
I took a class in baton twirling when I was young, Shipman. When Mr. Wife started studying staff fighting, I noticed that the skills were exactly the same. It was interesting picking it up again so I could oblige him with two man forms.
How does one "provoke" an acid attack? Ask an Afghan. Or a Pakistani. Or a Saudi. Or a Yemeni. Or a Syrian...
[FOXNEWS] A 17-year-old in Essex was sentenced to eight years in jail Friday for an acid attack on a group of friends at a train station, The Guardian reported.
Alexander Bassey, who reportedly showed no remorse after the March 22 attack, admitted to three charges of causing grievous harm, according to the report. The three victims suffered permanent scars and one of them may have suffered a life-changing eye injury.
The Sun reported that the teens said they thought they were going to die when splashed with the highly corrosive substance that “burned into their flesh.”
A video provided by the British Transport Police showed the brief interaction at the South Ockendon station in Essex. Police said it shows Bassey running up to the teens who were sitting on a bench on the train platform.
He takes out what appeared to be a water bottle and squeezes its contents out into the vicitims’ direction. The teens can be seen running. The Sun said the substance was an alkaline liquid.
Jason Corden-Bowden, the prosecutor in the case, said Bassey “went out that evening with a bottle of highly corrosive industrial strength drain cleaner with the intention of brining harm to someone.”
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least ten non-combatants were killed in separate bomb kabooms in southeastern Paktia province of Afghanistan on Friday, local officials said.
Provincial governor’s front man Naqib Ahmad Atal said at least five members of a single family bit the dust in the first kaboom in Samkanai district.
He said the incident took place after a vehicle carrying the civilians struck an Improvised Explosive Device (IED).
Atal further added that five more were killed in a separate kaboom targeting a tractor vehicle in the same district.
No group including the Talibs has so far grabbed credit behind teh incident.
Taliban bandidos myrmidons and forces of Evil belonging to the other myrmidon groups frequently use Improvised Explosive Device (IED) as the weapon of their choice to target the security forces but the ordinary civilians are often targeted in such attacks.
This comes as the United Nations ...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... Assistance Mission in Afghanistan released the latest civilian casualties report late last month which stated at least 3726 non-combatants were killed or maimed between January and June of this year.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2016
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[DETROITNEWS] FBI counterterrorism agents have uncovered a link between Sebastian Gregerson, the American Moslemlocked away You have the right to remain silent... Sunday after he allegedly bought illegal grenades, and an al-Qaeda leader who radicalized underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, The News learned Friday.
When FBI agents raided Gregerson’s home on the west side of bankrupt, increasingly impoverished, reliably Democrat, Detroit ... ruled by Democrats since 1962. A city whose Golden Age included the Purple Gang... on Sunday, they found several CDs marked "Anwar al-Awlaki ... Born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, zapped in Yemen, al-Awlaki was a dual citizen of the U.S. and Yemen. He was an Islamic holy man who was a trainer for al-Qaeda and its franchises. His sermons were attended by three of the 9/11 hijackers, by Fort Hood murderer Nidal Malik Hussein, and Undieboomer Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. He was the first U.S. citizen ever placed on a CIA target list... ," the al-Qaeda recruiter who met with Abdulmutallab before the failed Christmas Day 2009 terror attack on a Detroit-bound plane, according to sealed search warrant records obtained by The News.
The CDs are listed among dozens of items seized Sunday, including seven rifles, two AK-47 assault rifles, a shotgun, handguns, thousands of rounds of ammunition, computer equipment and cellphones, according to a sealed search warrant inventory.
The contents of the al-Awlaki CDs are unclear, but the late, radical U.S.-born holy man was known for Internet sermons that helped inspire attacks on the U.S. Abdulmutallab spent hours listening to al-Awlaki’s video clips posted online, FBI Special Agent Timothy Waters testified in 2011.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2016
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[THEHILL] Top officials at the biggest police union in the country are upset with Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as For a good time at 3 a.m. call Hillary and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Daniel Webster ... , saying she snubbed them.
The leader of the National Fraternal Order of Police told The Hill that the Democrat sent a signal through her staff that she wouldn’t be seeking the union’s endorsement.
"It sends a powerful message. To be honest with you, I was disappointed and shocked," said Chuck Canterbury, the president of the National Fraternal Order of Police.
"You would think with law enforcement issues so much in the news that even if she had disagreements with our positions, that she would’ve been willing to say that."
Clinton’s opponent, Donald Trump, is now actively seeking the union’s support as he trumpets a "law and order" message on the campaign tail.
Canterbury spoke to The Hill in a telephone interview Friday, shortly after he left Trump Tower in Manhattan.
He and other leaders of the police union -- which says it represents 335,000 members -- visited with Trump on Friday morning to sound out the Republican nominee about his positions on issues of importance to law enforcement officers. Politico first reported the meeting.
The union will not be meeting with Clinton because her campaign decided not to fill out a questionnaire that is required for seeking the police union's endorsement.
"We were talking to the highest levels of the campaign, and we had all indications that she was going to return the questionnaire," Canterbury said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2016
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#1
But they will still vote for her.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/07/2016 16:11
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Afghanistan has ordered a commission to launch an investigation regarding the crash-landing of a Pak Mi-17 helicopter in Azra district of Pashtun-infested Logar province.
The Office of the President in a statement confirmed that the Pak authorities had requested to use the Afghan airspace for the flight of the Mi-17 helicopter to Uzbekistan for repair.
The statement further added that the Civil Aviation Authority of Afghanistan only granted permission for the helicopter to use the Afghan airspace after recording the specifications of the helicopter.
President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. chaired a security meeting today and discussed regarding the latest information concerning the crash-landing of the helicopter in Azra district.
The Office of the President said it was agreed during the meeting that a delegation should investigate the different angles of the issue including the crash-landing of the helicopter to confirm the specifications of the Mi-17 helicopter which was forwarded to the Afghan authorities in the request letter by Pakistain.
A committee was also tasked to review the existing laws and regulations in a bid to immediately resolve the possible gaps and present a comprehensive plan for the full prevention of such incidents.
The Mi-17 helicopter crash-landed in Azra district late on Thursday afternoon and at least 7 on board the helicopter were captured by the bully boys.
There are still no reports regarding the fate of the missing crew members and passengers on board the helicopter but media reports in Pakistain suggest that the Taliban group in Afghanistan has confirmed the safety of the crew members in their custody.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
I suspect the sudden and unforeseen effects of the mass of the Earth on objects with little weight and no power.
Which brings to mind:
Yo mama so fat she got Notice to Airmen making her crib a no fly 4 miles around.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least five coppersbit the dust in an kaboom in the outskirts of 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.... province late on Friday, local officials in Pashtun-infested Logar province said Saturday.
Provincial governor’s front man Salim Saleh said a commander of the Public Order Police Forces lost his life along with 4 coppers in Khak Jabar district.
He said Gen. Abdul Satar Hashemi was killed on Friday evening as he was on his way from Pashtun-infested Logar to Kabul and his vehicle was hit by an Improvised Explosive Device.
Saleh further added that Gen. Hashemi was serving as the commander of the 5th brigade of the Public Order Police Forces.
No group including the Talibs has so far grabbed credit behind the incident.
According to reports, at least six civilians including a woman were killed in a similar incident on Azra-Khak-e-Jabar highway around four days ago.
Taliban Death Eaters and snuffies belonging to the other myrmidon groups frequently use Improvised Explosive Device (IED) as the weapon of their choice to target the security forces but the ordinary civilians are often targeted in such attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The loyalists of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group have beheaded two men in eastern Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province of Afghanistan on charges of supporting the pro-government forces in their fight against the terror group.
The two men were reportedly executed in the restive Kot district on Friday which comes as the Afghan forces are busy conducting operations against the terror group in this district.
The sympathizers of the terror group started circulating the photographs of the brutal execution of the two men in social media.
The ISIS loyalists have threatened everyone who backs the Afghan government against its self-declared Caliphate to face a similar punishment once captured by the group.
The latest execution by ISIS loyalists comes as the terror group received major blows during the ongoing operations in eastern Nangarhar province during the recent weeks.
Both the Afghan and US forces conduct regular raids against the loyalists of the terror group in Nangarhar province.
The Afghan forces captured numerous key compounds used by the terror group in Nangarhar province after launched a major operation this province around two weeks ago.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2016
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[DAWN] The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) early Saturday morning said it jugged Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! a "blacklisted" US national after he was granted entry by a FIA sub-inspector and his son at the Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... International Airport (BBIA).
The US national, identified as Mathew Barret, was blacklisted from Pakistain in 2011 on charges of espionage.
The FIA has registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the officials.
According to the FIA, Barret forged documents to enter the city. The move alerted the organization's Islamabad chapter.
After arresting Barret, the FIA transferred him to the immigration cell.
Allegedly, sub-inspector Raja Asif and his son Ihtesham-ul-Haq's negligence led to the security breach for which the two were also named in the FIR.
FIA is conducting raids to arrest the accused.
Houston-based Vice Councilor for Visa Sayeda Altaf was also named in the FIR for issuing visa to Barret, said FIA, assuring, that the main culprits will be unveiled.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[DAWN] Three decades after media mogul Rupert Murdoch instigated its demise as the centuries-old home of Britannia’s newspaper industry, London’s Fleet Street bade farewell on Friday to its last two journalists.
Fleet Street once housed thousands of news hounds, editors and printers working for the country’s biggest national papers as well as international and provincial publications. While the British press is still collectively known as "Fleet Street", there will no longer be any working journalists there after the Scottish-based Sunday Post newspaper closed its London operation.
"It’s a far sadder day for journalism than it is for me personally," said Darryl Smith, 43, one of the street’s last two "hacks". "Journalism is no more in Fleet Street."
The thoroughfare became synonymous with publishing from 1500 when Wynkyn de Worde established a printing press. The first daily newspaper, the Daily Courant, was launched in 1702.
In the shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral, the street was ideally located for journalists, being in walking distance of the city’s financial district, the Royal Courts of Justice and politicians in Westminster.
Murdoch, who bought the News of the World tabloid in 1969, was at the heart of the street’s decline when in 1986 he moved his newspaper stable, which by then included the Times and Sunday Times broadsheets and the Sun tabloid, to a new purpose-built operation in east London, where new technology replaced the hot metal printing presses.
Within three years, all other national newspapers had followed, anxious to cut costs in an industry now decimated by the growth of the internet. Journalists have long departed the old Rooters headquarters at number 85, now the site of a smart restaurant.
Nowadays the street that once echoed to the sounds of clattering typewriters is the haunt of bankers and accountants; the Art Deco building that once housed the Daily Express is now home to Goldman Sachs.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
....where new technology replaced the hot metal printing presses.
..and a horde of union (we hates Baggins management) [now former] employees.
At least 14 people were killed and more than 20 others injured after terrorists opened fire and hurled grenades at a busy market area in the northeastern Indian state of Assam Friday, a top police official said, Xinhua reported.
The incident took at the busy weekly Balajan Tiniali market outside the state's Kokrajhar town, around 220 kms from Guwahati, where hundreds of people had gathered for trade. The terrorists came in an auto-rickshaw and started firing indiscrimately at the market.
"At least three to four militants attacked the market place in the afternoon. One militant has also been neutralised. We have launched an intensive operation to track down others involved in the terror attack," state police chief Mukesh Sahay told the media.
While 14 people lost their lives, those injured have been admitted to nearby hospitals where the condition of some are said to be serious, the official said.
Local TV channels reported the area has been cordoned off by the security forces and operations have been launched to track down the militants who are suspected to be hiding in nearby buildings in the area. Some reports said a building adjacent to the market place caught fire in the attack.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was saddened by the attack. "We strongly condemn it. Thoughts and prayers with the bereaved families and those injured."
Assam's Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has also condemned the attack and promised action. "Whoever is responsible for this will not be spared. Our policy is zero tolerance for terrorism," he told the media in the national capital.
Though no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, police suspect the militants were rebels of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland in Kokrajhar, which has been fighting for a separate homeland for the region's ethnic Bodo people.
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[DAWN] PARACHINAR: Three children were maimed when an unwent kaboom! shell went off in Belyamin area of lower 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... here on Friday.
Local people said that the children identified as Kashif Hussain, Akbar Abbas and Qaim Hussain, all of them students, were grazing cattle in the nearby mountain when they came across a shell.
The shell went kaboom! when the children tried to break it. As a result, they were maimed.
The injured children were shifted to Alizai hospital where the doctors said that they were in stable, pH balanced condition. The political administration registered the case and started investigations.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as The Heroine of Tuzla and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Bainbridge Colby ... ’s lead over Republican rival Donald Trump narrowed to less than 3 percentage points, according to a Rooters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Friday, down from nearly eight points on Monday.
About 42% of likely voters favored Clinton, to Trump’s 39%, according to the July 31-August 4 online poll of 1,154 likely voters.
The poll had a credibility interval of plus or minus 3 percentage points, meaning that the results suggest the race is roughly even.
Among registered voters over the same period, Clinton held a lead of five percentage points, down from eight percentage points on Monday, according to the poll.
The reasons behind the shift were unclear.
Clinton had pulled well ahead of Trump on the heels of the Democratic National Convention last week, where she became the first woman to accept the US presidential nomination from a major political party.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2016
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#1
"The reasons behind the shift were unclear."
Bad polling. People don't change their opinions like that. I think most polls at this point are bogus. This is a totally unpredictable race and phoning up 500 people for the next "poll" won't change that.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
08/07/2016 1:53
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#2
Whenever anybody calls my home asking me to participate in a survey or a poll or anything like that I hang up on them. The only poll that counts is the one in November. A lot can happen between now and then.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
08/07/2016 10:51
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A barrage of air strikes on Saturday near a hospital in northwestern Syria killed at least 10 civilians, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The monitor said the raids targeted the town of Milis in Idlib province, which borders The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... and is controlled by a rebel alliance led by Al-Qaeda’s former Syrian branch.
The Britannia-based monitor said three children and two women were among the dead, adding that the raids were carried out by either Russian or regime warplanes.
The Idlib Media Center, which publishes news on developments in the province, said a hospital was hit in the raid by unidentified aircraft and that at least six people had been killed.
The World Health Organization said Syria was the most dangerous place for health care workers to operate last year, with 135 attacks on health facilities and workers in 2015.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A front man said on Saturday that the Saudi-led Arab Coalition will revive its Operation Restoring Hope after Yemeni peace talks in Kuwait ended in the same day without any real results.
While the operation began on April 21, 2015 and it is still active, "Operation Restoring Hope will be revived again," Saudi Brig. Gen. Ahmed Al-Asiri, front man of the Arab Coalition, told Al Arabiya’s sister channel Al Hadath.
The operation was launched to bolster political and peace efforts but without ruling out the use of force. The operation followed the military Operation Decisive Storm.
Asiri, who is also an advisor to the Saudi defense minister, said Iran-backed Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... militias considered the ending of Yemeni peace talks in Kuwait as an "opportunity" to expand their operations.
He said after suspending the talks between the two warring Yemeni sides, the Houthis started launching operations on the Saudi borders.
The brigadier general said a fire exchange following an aggression by the Houthis led to the killing of a Saudi soldier on the border, reiterating that the kingdom won’t tolerate such violations.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2016
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A group believed to be affiliated to the banned Egypt’s Moslem Brüderbund movement claimed on Friday responsibility over the failed attempt Curses! Foiled again! to kill the country’s former Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa.
Movement of the Hands of Egypt, also known as Hasem, said on its Facebook account that Gomaa was targeted on Friday at 12:05 PM local time in October 6 city, 32 km south of Cairo.
But with many civilians being present at the scene and with Gomaa running to a mosque nearby, the operation proved to be futile, Hasem said.
Hasem said the operation was against what it described as "the military and its militias belonging to [Egyptian President] Abdullfatah Al-Sisi."
While it is not possible to verify the authenticity of Hasem’s Facebook account, the group sees Gomaa as a supporter to the military establishment, and vowed more attacks against Sisi’s government.
In late June, Cairo celebrated the army’s 2013 overthrow of an Islamist president belonging to the Moslem Brüderbund, which is now a blacklisted movement in Egypt, with a new national holiday.
The government referred to as the holiday as the "June 30 Revolution."
Shortly after the incident, Gomaa stayed resilient.
"If Ali Gomaa dies there are millions who will take his place," Gomaa told state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
shortly after news of the attempt was made public. "I gave my sermon right after my survival."
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[RUDAW.NET] Three officials in Rojava, northern Syria have been fired after last month’s kaboom in Qamishli, the Directorate of Rojava Asayesh (security forces) announced in a statement on Friday.
"Due to the terrorist kaboom which targeted the Gharbi neighborhood of Qamishli, several Asayesh officials have been fired," the statement said.
The statement named the three officials who have been removed from their positions as Abdul Baset Mohammad Kute, director of the Rojava traffic police, Sheikh Mus Ahmad Ahmad, head of checkpoints for the Rojava Asayesh, and Abdullah Mohammad Sadoun, spokesperson for the Rojava Asayesh.
"We, the Asayesh forces of Rojava, promise our people the full provision of security and safety and we will preserve the lives of citizens and personal property from acts of terrorism, which threatens the entire world," the statement promised.
The directorate added that they have allocated 200 million Syrian pounds (approximately $930,000) for reconstruction of buildings destroyed by the kaboom.
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[DW] The Syrian Democratic Forces have cleared 90 percent of the strategic city of "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.... " Lion of Islams. Manbij had been "a citadel of foreign terrorists," said a front man for the US-led coalition against the group.
"The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) took control of Manbij on Saturday and are combing the city in search of the last remaining jihadists," the Observatory said.
Around 90 percent of the city had been cleared of the IS fighters, but skirmishes continue in parts of the city, including the center, SDF-allied Manbij military council front man Sharfan Darwish told Rooters news agency.
In May, the SDF launched a major offensive in and around Manbij to sever the key transit point in the Lion of Islam group's supply route from the Turkish border to Raqqa, its de facto capital.
Backed by US Arclight airstrikes, the SDF surrounded the city in June. However, the man who has no enemies isn't anybody and has never done anything... the alliance of anti-IS Syrian groups, including Kurdish YPG fighters, faced setbacks as the Lion of Islam group fought back using jacket wallahs and boom-mobiles.
The offensive witnessed a series of successes in August, with US-led coalition front man Mark McGurk saying the Lion of Islam group's defenses had been degraded "in what had been a citadel of foreign terrorists."
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As battles continue raging in the war-hit southern province of Helmand, some lawmakers on Saturday blasted provincial authorities for what they called a lack of coordination between security forces.
They said that several areas in the province have collapsed to the Taliban over the past few weeks and that the fighting is taking a heavy toll on security forces.
"They (Taliban) fight in groups including guerrilla war, they can not be deployed in a certain location forever," said Mohammad Radmanish, deputy spokesman of the ministry of defense.
At the same time, rumors have surfaced that the Taliban has cordoned off the Kandahar-Lashkargah highway.
"The Army and other forces are deployed over there, but the coordination between these forces is not good, drug smuggling and an intelligence war are other issues, ISI (Pakistani military intelligence service) has established another commission in the Quetta Shura (Afghan Taliban's powerful council) for Helmand war," said senator Sher Mohammad Akhondzada.
It is said that the Taliban has also widened its insurgency campaign in districts across the province – in a bid to mount pressure on security forces, of whom many are cornered in trenches in the particularly volatile district of Nad Ali.
"All government officials in Helmand are in a deep sleep, they wait for the Americans to come and conduct air strikes or when the commandos come and conduct operations, the forces are still in a defensive position in Helmand," said senator Hashim Alokozai.
It is reported that Taliban outfits control many areas in both Kunduz and Helmand and that military forces are battling to hold on to the provincial capital's in both provinces.
"In Helmand only some government compounds are under control of government, enemy exists three kilometers from there and they control the majority of Helmand areas, this is a collapse," said MP Obaidullah Barakzai.
Drug smuggling is one of the key elements of the longstanding war in Helmand as the province produce large of amounts of opium in the country
Analysts criticize the ministry of defense for not having taken control of the war in the province over the past ten months – which has resulted in the war spreading as far as the outskirts of Lashkargah city, the center of Helmand.
Contentious as it might sound, And yes, it sounds mighty contentious...
there are significant similarities between the Islamic State terrorist organization, ISIS, and the National Rifle Association (NRA). Of course there are differences as well, but examining issues of congruence adds another dimension to the gun violence controversy. No controversy. Bad Guys cause gun violence, Good Guys help end it.
The most important parallels between ISIS and the NRA are:
Continued on Page 49
#1
I'm glad for the many comments by R-Burgers as the article is full of mucho crapola. A Hit piece. If the Huffington Post doesn't see the differences between the NRA and ISIS they are very disturbed individuals. Obviously they do not belong to the NRA. They might just have a membership in ISIS. JQC, A proud lifetime member of the NRA.
Outgunned, outmanoeuvred, hopelessly outnumbered and besieged in the Afghan desert, a small band of British soldiers chose to save a final bullet for themselves rather than fall into Taliban hands.
For nearly two months, the 88 men of Easy Company – a mix of Paratroopers and the Royal Irish – had faced the overwhelming force and firepower of up to 500 Taliban determined to over-run the remote Helmand outpost of Musa Qala.
And their near miraculous survival has been described as a latter day Rorke’s Drift, evocative of the 1879 siege in which 140 British soldiers held off a Zulu force of 3,000, later immortalised in the blockbuster film starring Michael Caine.
For 56 days in the autumn of 2006, the men at Musa Qala faced constant fire from fixed machine gun posts and mortars.
Hungry and frequently at the point of exhaustion, they were forced to somehow fend off 360-degree attacks from the Taliban, with little protection beyond a series of low mud walls.
They used up a quarter of all the British Army’s Afghan ammunition for that entire year.
Yet today their heroism remains little known, not least because the Ministry of Defence has never permitted the full story of what happened there ten years ago this month to be told.
It has taken a Channel 4 documentary team to piece together fragments of testimony from survivors who have now left the Army, to reveal in devastating detail how close the 88 officers and men came to being massacred.
They lost three men and saw 12 badly wounded before a ragged ceasefire was brokered by tribal elders, allowing them to evacuate their Helmand hell-hole. As with Rorke’s Drift, the final, devastating assault somehow never came.
Their ordeal began almost immediately when, on August 23, Easy Company was dropped by Chinook to replace a mainly Danish Nato contingent struggling to bring stability and security to the remote region. It was a terrible start.
The Taliban watched in satisfaction as the Danes took with them more than 40 armoured vehicles, eight heavy machine guns and a 12-strong medical team with armoured ambulances.
Their British replacements had just two heavy machine guns, one doctor, two medics and a quad bike. When Taliban spies reported the huge reduction in armour and weaponry, the terror leaders scented an easy victory.
To make matters worse, the village was often too dangerous for helicopter support, and reinforcements – although it is still not entirely clear why – simply never came. More at the link
As an aside, the film Zulu Dawn is easily one of the best war flicks ever filmed.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] La Belle France has expelled a Malian believed to pose a "serious threat to public order for belonging to a Lion of Islam Islamist movement," the interior ministry said Saturday.
"Malian national Moussa Keita was expelled to his homeland yesterday bringing to 81 the number of expulsion measures taken since 2012," the ministry said.
The ministry said Keita was expelled Friday on his release from jail after serving "a heavy sentence for common law offences," the ministry said. Those included armed robbery, according to a source close to the case.
The source also said Keita had indicated interest in joining Islamist snuffies in Syria and Iraq.
On Thursday, La Belle France had expelled Algerian Abdelkrim Mostefai on suspicion of links to Lion of Islam networks, according to a police source.
[AnNahar] In Nice mayor Philippe Pradal told a news conference that the decision to cancel the European road championships had been taken due to the level of policing available.
"Given that it was an event that would have required a large police presence, and that we have not received any guarantees about their deployment, the cycling championships that Nice was due to hold in France's name are cancelled," he said.
Many traditional and cultural festivities have been either downsized or cancelled altogether, with Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian saying the series of jihadist attacks in France put the country in a "war situation".
"Everyone must understand that we are in this situation and that sometimes that entails constraints," he said.
[Ynet] France has returned some 200 migrants to Italy who plunged into the sea to cross into France, evading border controls.
They were among some 300 who had moved to the rocky shoals on the Italian side of the border in recent days, in defiance of authorities who had removed migrants from the shoreline last summer. The No Borders activist group said the action was aimed at forcing the border to re-open. They plan a protest on Sunday.
Paris prosecutor's office said a Frenchman arrested in the Netherlands in March was transferred to France Thursday. Anis Bahri was handed preliminary terrorism charges for an alleged attack plot and placed in custody. French investigators suspect him of being an accomplice of Reda Kriket, a Frenchman arrested a few days before him in the Paris region for allegedly plotting an attack in France.
Dozens of summer events have been canceled because maximal security cannot be assured despite an additional injection of security forces.
However, one major event that draws thousands, including many suffering serious illnesses, is not being scratched: the Feast of the Assumption on Aug. 15 in the pilgrimage site of Lourdes in southern France, with its sanctuary reputed for its curative spring waters. Security plans for Lourdes' biggest annual event were being announced next week.
Marseille, France's second largest city, has canceled a string of events, including the Aug. 13 flyover of the "Patrouille de France" air team that streams the French colors through the sky.
"This is absolutely not surrender to terrorism," Prefect Laurent Nunez insisted in an interview with the AP on Thursday, noting that numerous events were not scratched.
The number of soldiers patrolling Marseille increased from 350 to 600 after the attack in Nice.
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#1
France started phasing out PeaceTime conscription in 1996 (sez wiki) however...
/France accordingly suspended peacetime military conscription in 1996. President Jacques Chirac's government formally announced the end of compulsory military service[4] in 2001. Young people must still, however, register for possible obligatory service of an unspecified nature (should the need arise). A recent change is that women must now register as well.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] UN envoy to 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... Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed announced on Saturday the end of Yemen peace talks in Kuwait, but said negotiation between the two Yemeni warring sides will resume within a month.
"Yemen peace talks will resume in a month, and the location will be decided later," Ould Cheikh Ahmed told news hounds during a presser in Kuwait.
The UN, meanwhile, did not ask Kuwait to hots the second rounds of talks, Ould Cheikh Ahmed said.
The envoy thanked the two sides: the internationally recognized government of Abedrabu Mansur Hadi, and the Iran-backed Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... militias and their allied former Yemeni President 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... and his loyalists.
The diplomat said bringing the two sides "at one negotiation table was an achievement in itself," but said "trust was missing," calling to implement measures to build "trust" between the two.
The envoy highlighted nine points as recommendation for the two, including the release of all political prisoners and bringing military experts to the next round of talks.
He said: "We will leave the two sides time to consult with their leadership."
The envoy rejected that the talks in Kuwait have failed, and criticized any "unilateral" steps taken by any of the two sides.
But he did not make any further mention of how the Houthis and forces loyal to Saleh on Saturday appointed a council set up to govern Yemen, in a new blow to the UN-mediated peace talks.
The militia alliance announced the creation of the council on July 28, a move denounced by Yemen’s internationally recognized government.
Ould Cheikh Ahmed said previously it would damage the talks and represented a "grave breach" of UN Security Council Resolution 2216.
The council includes 10 members, equally divided between Houthi and Saleh loyalists, according to a list published by the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency on Saturday.
They include Salah al-Sammad, head of the Houthis’ political wing Ansarullah, and Sadek Abu Ras, deputy head of Saleh’s party, the General People’s Congress.
Ould Cheikh Ahmed is expected to announce the suspension of the talks on Saturday in Kuwait, in the presence of the Houthis and government delegations.
The UN envoy told Kuwaiti TV on Thursday that he hopes to relaunch talks in the future.
The talks began on April 21 but broke down last month when the Houthis rejected a UN peace plan, saying any settlement must include the formation of a unity government.
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#1
The diplomat said bringing the two sides "at one negotiation table was an achievement in itself," but said "trust was missing," calling to implement measures to build "trust" between the two.
Maybe a Houthi could fall backwards off a table, and the Hadis could catch him?
(IraqiNews.com) Salahuddin – ISIS today attacked the buses that were carrying displaced persons out from Tikrit. Over 20 mortars were shelled on the buses but nobody was hurt or there was no fatality in the attack.
General Manager of the State Company for Travelers and Delegates Transportation Abdullah Laibi, in a statement issued to the media, said, “Seven buses of the company were attacked by ISIS with over 20 mortar shells. The attack was made when the buses were leaving Tikrit and were carrying the internally displaced persons (IDP) out of the city.”
“Apart from damaging the windshields, the buses received no other damage. No person were also hurt,” Laibi added.
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) informed on Friday that according to reports available with them, ISIS detained around 3000 persons who tried to escape to Kirkuk city in Iraq.
As per reports, UNHCR office received reports that ISIS, on August 4, 2016, arrested about 3000 displaced persons while they were trying to flee Hawija to Kirkuk city. Reports further suggest that 12 of them were killed by the outfit.
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – An official of al-Hashed al-Shaabi announced on Saturday about the discovery of an ISIS mass grave in Khalidiya Island in Anbar province.
Commander of Imam Ali Division Ahmed al-Fatlawi said, “A mass grave, including around 200 bodies, which are believed to be that of ISIS fighters, was discovered in Khalidiya Island in Anbar province.”
“The graveyard of dead members of the outfit was from previous battles. ISIS buried its dead members in a collective manner,” Fatlawi added.
It may be mentioned here that the army, police and federal police in the past few successfully liberated Khalidiya Island.
(IraqiNews.com) Salahuddin – A security source in Salahuddin province informed that a team of the province police successfully rescued three families who fled from Hawija from ISIS control in eastern Tikrit.
Sharing details the source said, “Police forces today clashed with ISIS members at al-Abyad, 40 km northeast of Tikrit. The ISIS members were chasing the families who fled from Hawija district in western Kirkuk while the police had this face-off. In the exchange of fire, two ISIS fighters were killed and they rescued the fleeing families. The families were later transferred to al-Alam in eastern Tikrit.”
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – An official from al-Hashed al-shaabi mitia, Jabbar Maamouri announced on Saturday, that 85 civilians were killed in Hawija district, southwest of Kirkuk.
Mamouri, in a press statement, said, “Intelligence reports indicate that at least 85 civilians were killed in a mass massacre carried out by ISIS in Hawija, southwest of Kirkuk. The dead included women and children,” further adding, “Hundreds of families are being currently held hostage by the outfit.”
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[Libya Herald] The lawlessness gripping Sebha has extended to the plundering of the town’s airport. A large generator was stolen from outside the main building. Five days ago computers and printers were also taken.
An official at the airport complained that this was not the first time that the airport had been raided by thieves. The original use of the stolen computer equipment is unclear but without the emergency generator, the airport is now at the mercy of frequent and extensive power cut in the town.
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#1
One of the huddud punishments defined by Mohamed either in the Kuran or the Hadith is the amputation of limbs for thievery. If the same punishment were imposed in the USA we would have a lot of handless beggars.
[RUDAW.NET] Kirkuk Governor Najmadin Karim has urged Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to ramp up efforts and stop delaying the launch of a military offensive to liberate Hawija from 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.... (ISIS) control.
Karim said in a statement late Friday that any more delay in the Hawija offensive "will bring with it more troubles and persecution for the city’s people. We have also in the past asked the Iraqi government for quick liberation of Hawija from ISIS."
Karim also condemned the execution of civilians who were among thousands trying to flee villages around Hawija. The UNHCR reported that 237 families reached safety in Kirkuk but many more were prevented from leaving by ISIS and 12 were killed by the bad boys.
"ISIS bandidosLions of Islam committed another crime, adding it to their disgusting acts after they besieged thousands of civilians and executed a number of them on charges of attempting to flee ISIS-controlled areas in southern and western Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... " Karim said.
He reiterated that if there are no existing reasons to delay the offensive, then "the government should immediately make plans to clear Hawija of ISIS bad boys."
Peshmerga officials recently revealed that plans were being developed for an offensive to rout ISIS from Hawija and its vicinity.
"ISIS in Hawija is a threat to Kirkuk and Kurdistan," Sheikh Jaafar Mustafa, commander of the Peshmerga 70 army, told Rudaw in May.
The Hawija offensive has, however, been delayed because of Sunni-Shiite rivalries. Shiite militias have insisted that they should participate in any offensive that might be launched on Hawija. While Sunnis say that in previous battles where the Shiite militias were involved, they have committed war crimes against Sunni populations.
The operation to recapture areas south and west of Kirkuk including Hawija, Ryaz and Rashad from ISIS was suspended last month for the third time by Sunni Arab groups in the Kirkuk Provincial Council.
They said they want Peshmerga and Sunni Arab forces to take part in the operation without the participation of Shiite militia forces, known as the Hashd al-Shaabi.
"Our political entities, tribes and organizations do not want Hashd al-Shaabi taking part in the Hawija battle. The power of the Peshmerga forces is enough to capture the occupied areas," Rakan Saeed, head of the Iraqi Arab Republicans, told Rudaw.
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[ALLAFRICA] Erstwhile leader of Jama'atu Ahl as-Sunnah li-Da'awati wal-Jihad, otherwise known as 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... , Abubakar Shekau, has released a recorded message a few hours after news of his successor was made public by ISIS.
This came as the Federal Government, yesterday, dismissed as cheap propaganda reported appointment of a new leader for the sect, saying it was too late to employ such tactics to revive the defeated terrorist group
The Islamic state bad boy group on Wednesday announced Abu Musab al-Barnawi as the new leader of its West African affiliate, Boko Haram.
Shekau in the 10-minute 23-second audio message in Arabic and Hausa, said he was deceived, but vowed never to stray from the ideology of the Jama'atu Ahl as-Sunnah li-Da'awati wal-Jihad which he said had a basis in the Koran.
Shekau in the recorded message said nothing would deter the sect from pursuing its cause, even if they were called 'kwawarij', meaning those that opposed arbitration as a means to chose a new leader.
Meanwhile, ...back at the laboratory, Igor and Oleg were discussing what the quickest way might be to deal with the monster... the Federal Government has described as cheap propaganda the report that ISIS had appointed a new leader for Boko Haram, saying it was too late to employ such tactics to revive the defeated terrorist organization.
The government, in a remark made by Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, at the ongoing All Nigerian Conference of Editors in Port Harcourt, said: "By the way, don't believe the cheap propaganda by the global terrorist group, ISIS, which has reportedly named a new leader for Boko Haram.
"Our gallant military has put Boko Haram on the run and nothing will bring back the terrorists, not even the wishful thinking by ISIS."
[RUDAW.NET] A high committee has been established to lead the long-anticipated operation of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , announced the Governor of Nineveh, Nofel Hamadi, who added that the committee has sufficient troops for the offensive.
"There is a high committee who will be responsible for the Mosul operation and I’m the head of the committee," Hamadi told Rudaw. "We have enough forces to liberate Mosul and no other troops are needed."
"We have taken over the most important military base through the efforts of the Iraqi army and security forces with no participation of any other force," Hamadi added, referring to the successful offensive to retake Qayara airbase.
Hamadi said that they can liberate Mosul without relying on any other parties, claiming that the plan has been finalized and they are just waiting for the right time to launch the operation.
Some people from Mosul who are currently living in the Kurdistan Region have expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... about the participation of Shiite militia, known as Hashd al-Shaabi, in the battle.
"What we witnessed from Hashd al-Shaabi was inhumane. That is why we refuse to agree to their participation in the battle," said a family.
Sunni leaders have warned that the Shiite militia have detained and tortured civilians fleeing Fallujah.
The majority of the population of Mosul, like Fallujah, ... the City of Mosques, which might have somthing to do with why it's not called Center of Prosperity or a really nice place to raise your kids... is Sunni.
The United States announced last month that they would send an additional 560 troops to Iraq. About 400 from the 101st Airborne Division in Fort Campbell, Kentucky will be deployed to Qayara airbase where they will assist in setting up a logistics base as part of the preparations for the liberation of Mosul, the News Agency that Dare Not be Named reported Friday.
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[Dhaka Tribune] Police have said they have identified the criminal mastermind and the perpetrators of the killing of Jagannath University (JnU) Masters student Nazimuddin Samad in Old Dhaka, and they belong to the banned Lion of Islam outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT)
A "sleeper cell" of the outfit from Sylhet targeted 28-year-old Nazimuddin Samad for his writings online, followed him and carried out the killing.
Police have gleaned these information by interrogating one of the attackers who was tossed in the calaboose Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! in April, a senior Detective Branch (DB) official told Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
The arrested attacker is Mehedi Hasan Ami alias Rafi alias Osama alias Hasan alias Abdullah, from Purba Darga gate area of Kotwali cop shoppe in Sylhet city.
A Dhaka police team arrested him on April 19 from Sylhet.
Interrogating Ami, Sherlocks gleaned the identities of five others responsible for the attack, including the criminal mastermind of the gruesome killing. The criminal mastermind was identified as Saiful Islam, an ABT member who is on the run.
On April 6, Nazim, information and research secretary of Sylhet district unit Bangabandhu Jatiya Jubo Gay Pareehad, also a Gonojagoron Moncho activist, was hacked to death in Old Dhaka’s Sutrapur.
A day after the incident, Nurul Islam, sub-inspector of Sutrapur cop shoppe, filed a case against four to five person or persons unknown.
Within a few days, ABT, the Bangladesh division of al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), claimed the murder, calling Nazim a blasphemer.
Sutrapur police investigated the case at first but handed it over to Criminal Investigation Department, and then it was given to the DMP Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit for further investigation.
Nazim was a student of Leading University of Sylhet and completed LLB there in 2014. Ami was also a student of the university.
At that time, Nazim used to write against extremism and radicalism on facebook.
When bloggers Ananta Bijoy Das and Niladri Chatterjee were killed, the former in Sylhet on May 12 last year and the latter on August 7 in Dhaka, Nazim grew concerned.
He even possibly escaped one attack, a few days after Niladri’s killing, when four to five youths followed him in Ambarkhana area of Sylhet and he took shelter in a nearby mess. Later, Nazim stopped writing online.
He came to Dhaka in January and got himself admitted to JnU in February and began living in Gendaria. Just two weeks later, he was killed in the Ekrampur intersection area nearby.
An official involved in the investigation process, requesting anonymity, told the Dhaka Tribune that Nazim was targeted when he used to write. The planning was made in Sylhet but the execution was done in Dhaka.
One of the attackers, Ami, during interrogation gave sensational information to Sherlocks, who was earlier a Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) member and later joined with ABT activities.
An investigating source said Ami’s information has already helped law enforcement break down ABT’s network in Sylhet and led to arrests.
On August 2, CT unit arrested Ifat Ahmed Chowdhury Nahid, a student of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, for suspected involvement with ABT.
On July 19, CT unit arrested another suspect, Abdul Aziz from the same department at SUST.
Saiful Islam, additional deputy commissioner of CT unit, told the Dhaka Tribune that they had information and idea on the numbers of ABT leaders in Sylhet.
"Some have already been arrested and others will be arrested soon," he said.
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#3
"The barbecue sauce on the Rose!
The audience licking your toes!
The roar of the greasepaint,
The smoke in a cloud..." "Ain't
It tough to get dose out yer clothes?"
Igor Plotnitsky, president of the Lugansk People's Republic was wounded in a bombing attack on Saturday morning, according to Russian language news accounts.
Plotnitsky is reported in serious condition, but he is expected to survive the attack.
According to a news account on korespondent.net, the attack took place at 0750 hrs in Lugansk city at the intersection of Karpinski and Vatutin when the Toyota SUV he was riding in passed a roadside directional bomb packed with about 15 kilograms of explosives.
Though speculation as to the culprits has been muted in Lugansk official media, Ukrainian officials have denied involvement in the attack, themselves speculating that the attack may be part of a larger power struggle within Lugansk.
Adviser to Ukrainian president Igor Poroshenko, Alexander Motuzyanik said in a separate korrespondent.net report that Lugansk officials have been involved in an internal power struggle for "cash" and resources. Other news reports say that recent statements by Plotnitsky regarding how his forces would respect the truce regardless of what happens in Donetsk may have deepened a rift between the two republics.
Motuzyanik also pointed to past attacks on commanders of military formations who have been killed through unknown circumstances. The best known, Alexei Mozgovoy, commander of the Ghost Brigade in Alchevsk was killed almost a year ago in a bomb and small arms attack. The involvement of Plotnitsky and his government was vehemently denied by both Lugansk and Donetsk officials at the time. Some of Mozgovoy's aides at the time openly fingered Plotnitsky in that attack.
The death of Mozgovoy, one in a line of several commanders who were killed in roadside attacks, did not set well with other formation commanders in Lugansk.
A number of other rebel formation commanders in both Donetsk and Lugansk have seen a violent end since the winter of 2015, many of them Cossacks who had been angered by Lugansk's insistence on dealing with Ukrainian authorities by selling products for cash. The most famous of these, Colonel Pavel Dremov was killed in December, 2015, seven months after he made severe public criticisms of military commanders in the Debaltsevo defensive operation in February, 2015. Those remarks came on the heels of Dremov being awarded the rank of colonel and an honorific for his regiment.
Like Dremov, Mozgovoy has severely criticized the leadership of both Donetsk and Lugansk for the defensive operation in Debaltsevo.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least 10 Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers bit the dust in the latest counter-terrorism operations across the country in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) said Saturday.
According to a statement by MoD, the operations were conducted in Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... , Khost, 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.. , Ghazni, Kunar, Pashtun-infested Logar, Uruzgan, and Farah province.
The statement further added 61 bandidosLions of Islam were killed, 53 others including the 13 were maimed during the same operations.
At least 13 of the bandidosLions of Islam were killed in Nad-e-Ali district of Helmand, 13 others were killed in Moosa Khel district of Khost, and 21 loyalists of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group were killed in Achin district of Nangarhar.
According to MoD, at least 10 Taliban Lions of Islam were killed during a separate operation in Andar district of Ghazni province and 4 others were killed in separate raids in Kunar, Pashtun-infested Logar, Uruzgan and Farah provinces.
The anti-government armed krazed killer groups have not commented regarding the reports so far.
This comes as the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) are busy conducting their annual counter-terrorism operations across the country.
The annual operation ’Shafaq’ was launched in response to Taliban’s annual spring offensive which the group launched in mid-April this year.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2016
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[DAWN] BY all accounts, over the last two decades ’honour’ killings have increased manifold; they are going to increase even more in the foreseeable future. This is because a gender-segregated patriarchal society, which has traditionally used violence for settling even petty disputes, is finding it difficult to come to terms with new realities.
These include working women, adult female students, ’free-will’ marriages, women in sports, a media landscape that is both loved and hated, emancipated role models, and aspirations for greater freedoms. Observations, surveys and available statistics all show that Pak society is changing rapidly and that these changes cannot be digested by a conservative establishment and its support groups.
I started working in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... ’s informal settlements in the mid-1970s and since 1981 with the Orangi Pilot Project in katchi abadis (slum areas). In Karachi at that time, katchi abadis were purely working-class settlements in which women did not work outside their homes.
Today, Suzuki-loads of women are taken to garment, packaging and pharmaceutical factories, to return late in the evening. Thousands more take the long bus ride to affluent areas of the city to work as domestic staff; they are forced to deal with men during the journey and at their workplaces. Over the last decade, they have become well groomed and many today are indistinguishable from their female employers. Without their income, the kitchen at home could not function.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Kinnison began his slow infiltration of the sewer system... most of the older settlements are now multiclass as an increasing number of their residents, both male and female, have white-collar jobs in which women work alongside men. Also, private schools used to be rare in these settlements and there were no beauty parlours. Now almost every neighbourhood in the older settlements has at least one of each and the vast majority of teachers, and sometimes education and other entrepreneurs, are local women.
Marriage halls also exist in these settlements today and over the years, the strict gender segregation at marriage ceremonies has relaxed considerably. All this is in spite of the fact that these changes have been opposed, often with violence, by the more conservative residents and activists of hard boy groups created as a result of the Zia era and our involvement in the Afghan war.
Census statistics tell us that other changes at the overall city level are also taking place. The most important age group in any census is between 15 and 24 years. This is because it is both the present and the future.
In Karachi in 1961, 66.71 per cent women and 23.38pc men were married in this age group. If we extrapolate the statistics of the 1998 census to 2016 (keeping all things constant) then the percentage of married women in this age group today is 17 and married men 7pc. So, for the first time in Karachi, we have an overwhelming majority of unmarried adolescents which any sociologist knows is enough to change gender relations and family structures.
Surveys conducted for the Karachi Strategic Development Plan 2020 tell us that 82pc of Karachi families are nuclear. This is an over 80pc increase from some area-specific surveys of the 1990s. Though no reliable data for free-will marriages is available, lawyers dealing with court marriages say that they have increased in geometric progression over the last decade and half.
These changes are taking place all over Pakistain. The figures for even small 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.... towns such as Chiniot and Kasur, for the age group of 14 to 24 years, are similar to those of Karachi. (In the rest of Sindh apart from Karachi, the trends are similar but somewhat slower than those in Punjab.)
Women dominate universities in Karachi and many other cities in Pakistain, and their presence is increasing. Critics point out that once educated, women do not work. However, the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits... alumna and university reports suggest that this is changing rapidly. What policymakers should be made to look at are societal trends, and not simply existing conditions.
The trends discussed are nothing short of a revolution for a country like Pakistain. They will change Pakistain in the coming decade, whether the country becomes a ’secular’ democracy or not. However, the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits... addressing or even recognising these trends in clear terms does not figure in the state’s development policies. Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Kinnison began his slow infiltration of the sewer system... civil society is waging a battle against oppressive tradition and the ugly incidents it creates, and for appropriate legislation.
Still, there is a dire need to understand the changes taking place, their causes and repercussions, and to see how new societal values can be built and promoted around them. For this the most important role is that of the media and the more liberal right-wing groups in society. In the absence of these values, change will only consolidate itself through a long process of which pain and frustration, mainly for women, will be an integral part.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2016
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
and this country, with all its disfunctions, all its poverty, all its islamic fanaticism actually has nuclear weapons
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/07/2016 0:14
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Two soldiers were killed and six others were wounded in the Şemdinli district of the southeastern province of Hakkari on Aug. 5 in an attack by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
PKK militants targeted the Tekeli Battalion Command’s base area with long-barrel guns. An aerial operation was initiated in the area to apprehend the militants.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/07/2016
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#1
PKK is not as communist as it used to be. They have an ideology called Democratic Con-Federalism which seems to be a fusion of various ideologies. I'm sure some of the rank and file are still commies but I'm not real sure if the movement can still be called commie.
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/07/2016 0:21
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[BOSTONHERALD] Indonesia's counter-terrorism police on Friday jugged Book 'im, Mahmoud! six suspected turbans who were allegedly planning to launch a rocket attack on downtown Singapore from nearby Batam island.
The Indonesian men were captured Friday on the Indonesian island, which is about 25 kilometers (15 miles) southeast of Singapore, said National Police front man Maj. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar.
He said the arrests, which included the 31-year-old alleged leader of the group, highlight the continued threat posed by snuffies in Indonesia despite a sustained crackdown by authorities.
"We have strong indications that the six men were planning to launch a rocket at Singapore's Marina Bay from Batam," Amar said. He would not confirm whether an actual rocket had been found in the police raid.
Marina Bay is a busy area close to the heart of Singapore's downtown filled with office towers, waterside eateries and tourist attractions, including one of Asia's biggest casinos.
Amar said all the men claimed they were members of Katibah Gigih Rahmat, a little-known Death Eater group that helps Indonesian turbans travel to Syria. Police believe it has received funds from Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian fighting with 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 Syria.
Naim has been linked to a succession of poorly executed attacks in Indonesia, including a suicide kaboom outside police headquarters in the city of Solo last month that killed the bomber.
Singapore state media reported that local authorities were aware of the rocket plot.
The Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement that Singapore's security agencies had coordinated with Indonesia to monitor the activities of the group and apprehend those involved.
Indonesia, the world's most populous Moslem nation, suffered a spate of deadly attacks by members of the Jemaah Islamiyah murderous Moslem network, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2016
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
[History.com] On this day in 1945, a second atom bomb is dropped on Japan by the United States, at Nagasaki, resulting finally in Japan's unconditional surrender.
The devastation wrought at Hiroshima was not sufficient to convince the Japanese War Council to accept the Potsdam Conference's demand for unconditional surrender. The United States had already planned to drop their second atom bomb, nicknamed "Fat Man," on August 11 in the event of such recalcitrance, but bad weather expected for that day pushed the date up to August 9th. So at 1:56 a.m., a specially adapted B-29 bomber, called "Bock's Car," after its usual commander, Frederick Bock, took off from Tinian Island under the command of Maj. Charles W. Sweeney. Nagasaki was a shipbuilding center, the very industry intended for destruction. The bomb was dropped at 11:02 a.m., 1,650 feet above the city. The explosion unleashed the equivalent force of 22,000 tons of TNT. The hills that surrounded the city did a better job of containing the destructive force, but the number killed is estimated at anywhere between 60,000 and 80,000 (exact figures are impossible, the blast having obliterated bodies and disintegrated records).
General Leslie R. Groves, the man responsible for organizing the Manhattan Project, which solved the problem of producing and delivering the nuclear explosion, estimated that another atom bomb would be ready to use against Japan by August 17 or 18--but it was not necessary. Even though the War Council still remained divided ("It is far too early to say that the war is lost," opined the Minister of War), Emperor Hirohito, by request of two War Council members eager to end the war, met with the Council and declared that "continuing the war can only result in the annihilation of the Japanese people..." The Emperor of Japan gave his permission for unconditional surrender.
#1
There was a coup attempt on the 15th by junior officers, who were going to "free" the Emperor from the clutches of the Japanese diplomats but it collapsed when the General commanding the Home Guard wouldn't support them. The General committed seppukku later that day.
#3
Notice that the evil is never call upon those who knew they had lost the war, but refused to take the opportunity to do the unthinkable till after the bombs were dropped. Never hold the Japanese militarists responsible. They could have called it quits when Germany surrendered. Instead they were training Japanese school girls to die holding a bamboo pole with knife in the end of it*, to try to save their worthless skins. Make no mistake. They were the evil. They didn't care about civilians deaths. They ordered their own citizens at Saipan and Okinawa to commit suicide rather than be captured by Americans. Remember Manila.
*see World at War, episode Japan, last two minutes for the archival film.
My father was a CB on Saipan and the only war story he ever told me after having a few drinks at the bowling alley 30 years later was about cleaning up the rocks and beaches after the Japanese defeat.
Dealing with dead women and children left deep scars.
#5
It was is their way. Most of the women and children who jumped were Korean farm workers. Japanese soldiers rarely jumped preferring to die by blast or shot to the eye. Saipan was the first island assaulted with any kind of civilian population and the last until Okinawa. Tinian was fine flat county with a large number of forced laborers to cut sugar cane. Their losses were low since the 4th MD surprised the hell out of them.
#6
Alternative explanation: USSR Declares War on Japan August 08, 1945. Japanese high officials had a Forlorn Hope that Stalin could be persuaded to soften the US position.
The atomic bombs did serve as an balm to Japanese pride: it wasn't that their Army, Navy, and Industry was overwhelmed, No!, The US Cheated! With A-Bombs! Cheaters!
#7
Then there is the theory that Truman dropped the bomb to convince Stalin not to mess with him.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
08/07/2016 14:10
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#8
After photos of G.I. beheadings started filtering back to the U.S. rules of war were out the window--little mercy was shown to the Japanese during the Pacific islands campaigns. Today, there does not seem to be the outrage with regards to beheadings, burning prisoners alive, drownings in cages or rapes of civilian women by ISIS. PC has run amok. There are no consequences anymore. Photos.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A major Syrian opposition body announced on Saturday that rebel fighters have broken a devastating government siege of the battered city of Aleppo after six days of fierce battles.
"Rebels break Aleppo’s siege," wrote the Istanbul-based National Coalition on Twitter. The Islamist faction Ahrar al-Sham ...a Syria jihadi group made up of Islamists and salafists, not that there's that much difference, formed into a brigade. They make up the main element of the Islamic Front but they don't profess adoration of al-Qaeda and they've been fighting (mainly for survival) against the Islamic State. Their leadership was wiped out at a single blow by a suicide kaboom at a crowded basement meeting in September, 2014... also confirmed on Twitter that a rebel advance had "opened the route to Aleppo."
A monitor said earlier that a Syrian coalition of rebels on Saturday seized key positions south of Aleppo as they press a major offensive to break the government siege of the city.
"The Army of Conquest on Saturday took control of the armament school, where there is a large amount of ammunitions, and a large part of the artillery school" at a military academy south of the city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
A quarter of a million civilians still live in Aleppo’s opposition-controlled eastern neighborhoods, effectively under siege since the army, aided by Iranian-backed militias, cut off the last road into rebel districts in early July.
Fighters from a coalition of Islamist rebel groups called "Jaish al Fateh" that includes Jabhat Fateh al Sham, the former al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front, Ahrar al Sham and other smaller groups, said they had taken the main fortress-like artillery academy in the Ramousah quarter in southwestern Aleppo.
They were now fighting to take the other military academies adjoining the artillery base that are among the country’s largest.
The artillery base is almost 2 km from the besieged opposition area. It has a huge supply of ammunition and is used regularly to shell parts of the city held by opposition forces.
The rebels are trying to break through a strip of government-controlled territory to reconnect their encircled sector of eastern Aleppo with a swathe of Death Eater territory in the west of Syria, effectively breaking the siege.
The fall of that strip would also cut off western Aleppo, which is in government hands.
"There are two jacket wallahs who have driven into regime posts inside the artillery base," said Abu al-Walid, a fighter with Ahrar al Sham, who said there was fighting inside the base.
Hundreds of fighters were clashing with government troops only a few hundred meters from each other in parts of the artillery base after breaking into government defenses around the heavily fortified compound, rebels said.
500 killed in Aleppo battle
More than 500 rebels and government forces have been killed in one week of fierce fighting to control the Syrian city of Aleppo, the Observatory said.
The Observatory said the majority of those killed since July 31 were rebels fighters and turbans "because of the aerial superiority of the regime and intense Russian air strikes" but it could not immediately provide a breakdown of the toll.
Aleppo, Syria’s biggest city before the outbreak of the civil war five years ago, has been divided between government forces and rebels since the summer of 2012.
Seizing full control would be the biggest victory for Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators... in five years of fighting and demonstrate the dramatic shift of fortunes in his favor since Russia joined the war on his side last year.
Extremist rebels have poured in thousands of fighters mainly from the rebel-held province of Idlib in north western Syria and deployed dozens of tanks and armored vehicles in the operation that was named the "Epic battle of Aleppo."
Inside the city, Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... (FSA), among them vetted US-backed groups, helped pile pressure on the army and its allies along other front lines.
Foreign opponents of Assad including Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... have been supplying vetted rebel groups with weapons via a Turkey-based operations center.
Some of these groups have received military training overseen by the US Central Intelligence Agency. The vetted groups have been a regular target of the Russian air strikes.
Jabhat Fateh al Sham, which is believed to have carried out at least three suicide kabooms so far, said it also killed a number of Lebanese Shi’ite Hezbollah fighters it said were defending the artillery school.
The holy warrior Shi’ite group that fights alongside Assad’s government forces is an ally of Iranian-backed militias and the Russians in trying to help Assad regain control of the opposition-held parts of Aleppo.
The deputy head of the powerful Lebanese Islamist group, Sheikh Naim Qassem ... the Grand Vizier of the Hezbullies... , said in an interview with Rooters this week he saw no immediate end to the war in Syria.
The army said it had foiled the attack on the artillery base and two major military academies. Hundreds of murderous Moslems had been killed and much of their armoured vehicles and tanks destroyed, the army said. It said the assault was the biggest by rebels against government-held areas in the last few years.
"Today there was a large scale attack by the terrorist gangs and they used all types of weapons but were are fighting this attack and will defeat them," said Brigadier General Deeb Bazi, the head of one of the military academies targeted.
The army said at least a thousand murderous Moslems had been killed since the assault began earlier this week.
An army statement later said it had succeeded in containing the attack with help of allied forces and destroyed three explosive laden suicide vehicles. Reinforcements from pro-government militias were also coming to shore up army positions.
Rebels said jets flying at high altitude, believed to be Russian, intensified their strikes on the area but were unable to hold back rebel advances because of the terrain.
Both Moscow and its Syrian and Iranian allies see the outcome of the battle over Aleppo as decisive, counting on a crushing blow to murderous Moslems who were on the march until Russia intervened, shoring up Assad’s rule.
The complex, multi-sided civil war in Syria, raging since 2011, has drawn in most regional and global powers, caused the world’s worst humanitarian emergency and attracted recruits to Islamist militancy from around the world.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2016
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Not sure if the siege is broken, still 2 km away?
#2
Poorly phrased line in the article. The rebels inside east Aleppo also attacked southwestwards at the same time, and took a district to the southeast of the artillery college. It looks to be a legitimate defeat, there are tons of images of entire parks of captured artillery from the Idlib rebels. It'd take another major offensive to break back through and re-establish the supply route and the siege line. Theoretically the SAA and Hezbollah forces now stuck in west Aleppo along with god knows how many civilians could be supplied via the corridor blown through the rebel lines in the north last month, but that was just heavily fought over, and probably isn't clear enough to make a decent line of communication, not to mention it's mostly an isolated Kurdish enclave tentatively allied with the Syrians out of survival concerns.
The infuriating thing from a regime point of view is that the air force and the Russians were used throughout the breakout battle in bombing interior Idlib crossroads and civilian areas rather than any sort of serious CAS in support of the siege. Of course, there is a question about whether either the regime or the Russian air arms are *capable* of effective CAS, it requires forward air controllers, proper communication assets and training. Meanwhile, the Manbij siege is wrapping up, which saw effective CAS cooperation between a coalition air-force and mostly untrained Kurdish militia, probably with a strong leavening of American special forces on the ground.
Now, Manbij and Aleppo are an order of magnitude different from each other - the forces on both sides were much smaller, the urban areas aren't in the least comparable, so take that for what it's worth.
Posted by: Charles M. Hagmaier ||
08/07/2016 5:50
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[DAWN] SEVERAL Pak commentators have concluded that Pakistain is isolated because its relations with three of its four immediate neighbours are hostile. Some have ascribed this ’failure’ exclusively to the absence of a fulltime foreign minister and the hydra-headed leadership at the Foreign Office.
Pakistain is far from isolated. It enjoys a very close strategic relationship with its largest neighbour China, the emerging superpower. Relations with Iran are complex, but not hostile, and can become cooperative. Relations with regional neighbours Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... , the GCC and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... remain friendly, with considerable potential for collaboration. Pakistain enjoys influence within the wider international community due to its size, strategic location, military strength and economic potential.
That Pakistain’s relations with India are tense should come as no surprise. This is almost a historical norm. The hostility of a Hindu supremacist BJP government was anticipated by most Paks, except the purblind. But Modi’s arrogance and belligerence towards Pakistain have outstripped anticipation, partly because of the perceived weakness in Islamabad, but mostly due to the shift in the global and regional strategic environment and India’s growing alignment with the US in the context of its rising rivalry with China.
This emerging US-Indian alliance has not only encouraged New Delhi’s belligerence, it has exacerbated Pakistain’s security challenges, reflected in American support for India’s massive arms build-up; wide-ranging US attempts to contain and neutralise Pakistain’s nuclear and missile deterrence capabilities; and growing US pressure on Pakistain to act against ’terrorists’.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2016
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[The Nation] Three people were injured in two separate shooting attacks in Pattani's Ma Yor and Khok Pho districts on Thursday night.
In the Ma-Yor attack, an official from the Narcotics Control Board and a local resident were injured in an ambush at 10:30 p.m. In the Khok Pho attack, which occurred around the same time, two gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire at ten young Muslim men having a meal at a house near the Nurudin mosque.
Police suspect that both incidents were part of the ongoing insurgency in southern Thailand.
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Ministry of Interior informed that shelling towards southwest of Baghdad killed at least one person and injured around eight others.
“Two mortar shells were lobed near Radwaniyah. Ambulances rushed to the incident area and transferred the wounded to a nearby hospital and the body of the deceased to the forensic department,” the source further added.
Good luck getting the poodle press to ask Obama if he's proud of giving $400 million to the people who do things like this.
Iran’s regime executed a gay adolescent in July - the first confirmed execution of someone convicted as a juvenile in the Islamic Republic in 2016 - Amnesty International reported this week.
Hassan Afshar, 19, was hanged in Arak Prison in Iran's Markazi Province on July 18, after he was convicted of "forced male-to-male anal intercourse" (‘lavat-e be onf’) in early 2015, the NGO said in a statement Tuesday.
Stefan Schaden, a LGBT rights activist and spokesman for the European 'STOP THE BOMB' campaign, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday, “Consensual homosexual conduct remains illegal under Iran’s Sharia law and is punished with public flogging or even execution. While the Islamic State throws gays from rooftops, the Islamic Republic [of Iran] hangs them.”
Amnesty said the Iranian authorities received a complaint accusing Afshar and two other adolescents of forcing a teenage boy to have sex. Afshar, who was arrested in December, 2014, said that the same-sex relations were consensual and the accuser had freely engaged in prior homosexual relations.
“Iran has proved that its sickening enthusiasm for putting juveniles to death, in contravention of international law, knows no bounds," said Magdalena Mughrabi, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Programme Director at Amnesty International.
She added that Hassan Afshar was a 17-year-old high school student when he was arrested.
"He had no access to a lawyer and the judiciary rushed through the investigation and prosecution, convicting and sentencing him to death within two months of his arrest as though they could not execute him quickly enough,” Mughrabi stressed.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/07/2016
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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.
[Fox] Sen. Tom Cotton suggested Sunday that he’ll accept President Obama’s explanation that the roughly $400 million in cash to Iran amid the country holding several Americans captive was part of a decades-old settlement, but said the move sends a "dangerous" message to terrorists and others around the world.
So 'bus' them all home. 
[Wash Times] In a wide-ranging interview on the racial climate in America, Baltimore Ravens tight end Benjamin Watson brought up Planned Parenthood’s founding, saying the organization was created to "exterminate blacks."
[Wash Times] Former acting CIA Director Michael Morell has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, saying Donald Trump is an "unwitting agent" for Russia who will threaten America’s national security.
[LI] Got to give Gregory Meeks credit. The Dem congressman managed to keep a straight face on MSNBC this morning while telling a string of whoppers about the Iran hostage deal.
Currently the Interior Minister of Pakistain. He is the senior leader of the Pak Moslem League (N) and a close aide to Nawaz 
[DAWN] Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh, a day after a terse war of words with Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar at the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Interior Ministers’ meeting in Islamabad on Thursday, apprised the Indian parliament of his visit.
Hillary Clinton
[FireAndreaMitchell] Now I know why Hillary Clinton picked creepy Tim Kaine. She needs him help her get up a few stairs. This is how unwell Hillary Clinton is. She can't even walk up two or three steps on her own anymore.
Hillary Clinton
...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. ..
[DAWN] Three decades after media mogul Rupert Murdoch instigated its demise as the centuries-old home of 
Kurram Agency
Hillary Clinton
Outgunned, outmanoeuvred, hopelessly outnumbered and besieged in the Afghan desert, a small band of British soldiers chose to save a final bullet for themselves rather than fall into Taliban hands.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] UN envoy to 
[ALLAFRICA] Erstwhile leader of Jama'atu Ahl as-Sunnah li-Da'awati wal-Jihad, otherwise known as 
Police have gleaned these information by interrogating one of the attackers who was 
[DAWN] BY all accounts, over the last two decades ’honour’ killings have increased manifold; they are going to increase even more in the foreseeable future. This is because a gender-segregated patriarchal society, which has traditionally used violence for settling even petty disputes, is finding it difficult to come to terms with new realities.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
