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Haftar forces claim victory in Benghazi
Today's Headlines
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Home Front: Politix
Buster O'Bama's Effete Last Stand
As the blustering general of his last battle, Barack Hussein Obama, sent a message back home to anti-Donald Trump protests from Germany yesterday--egging on all those taking part not to remain "silent".

They’re not. Remaining silent, that is. The biggest noise coming from the protesters is a never-ending whine: "Donald Trump’s coming and nobody can stop him!"

For all of his muster and bluster in Germany and other ports of call, it has become clear that Obama, no Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer, is hiding behind an Army of Snowflakes.

Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 11/18/2016 14:11 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I can't wait until this whiny bitch is off the world stage.

He'll still bitch and moan and home, but thankfully we can ignore that.
Posted by: DarthVader || 11/18/2016 14:53 Comments || Top||

#2  He plans to be post-Prez Jimmy Carter all over again.

But even worse.
Posted by: charger || 11/18/2016 18:22 Comments || Top||

#3  He'll be like Carter except instead of Habitat for Humanity he'll golf endlessly.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 11/18/2016 20:57 Comments || Top||

#4  another reason to prevent the "whitewash" of his Foreign Policy disasters. To avoid repetition by ignorance. Carter ("History's Greatest Monster" - the Simpsons) is no longer America's Worst Preznit™
Posted by: Frank G || 11/18/2016 21:01 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Not So Fast - Trump Can't Roll Back Environmental Laws

[BNA.com] There is no "short cut" for President-elect Donald Trump to roll back environmental regulations but the incoming administration still could target Obama era rules, a former Justice Department official said Nov. 15.
So he can't roll back Obama's edicts?
"The beauty of the administrative process is that the agency can change its mind, but it has to support its decision-making with an appropriate administrative record. It has to be rational and reasonable and in accordance with the law," said the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources vision from 2009 to 2013.

Congress, however, could overturn Obama administration rules or pursue revisions to laws like the National Environmental Policy Act that could weaken environmental protections. Meanwhile, the Trump administration could place a freeze on any rulemakings the outgoing Obama administration has not yet completed, he said at a conference on environmental policy.
Laws were made by Congress; regulations were not.
Though Republicans will control both Congress and the White House, a Stanford University law professor who was deputy secretary of the Interior Department from 2009 to 2013, said repealing environmental laws is unlikely.

"I'd be surprised if that happened," he said. "These laws have endured and typically have been the classic statutes for being broad and leaving room underneath for administrative tweaking."
Tell me, Professor, were you surprised by the election?
He added: "I think the ballgame will be in the regulatory sphere," with the possible exception of any attempts to amend the Endangered Species Act over California water rights issues.
Sounds like some special interest group has made some contributions.
On natural resources policy, he said, based on campaign rhetoric and public positions, "we'll be back to 'Drill, baby, drill' " with the Trump administration.
Posted by: Bobby || 11/18/2016 13:09 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Read an article yesterday (sorry - no link)referring to an law passed at Gingrich's behest back when he was in Congress that allows Congress to nullify administrative regulations - some indication that EPA, DoE and Education's magnum opi were being considered for a first pass by the new Congress. Once passed, Trump's signature would be all that was needed to roll them back.
Posted by: Mercutio || 11/18/2016 13:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Reasoning by analogy, did Obama change Emigration rules?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/18/2016 14:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Oooops, Immigration
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/18/2016 14:24 Comments || Top||

#4  You would think that after the fiasco of Obama's 8 years that Congress would rein in the authority *they have granted* to administrative agencies.
Posted by: Iblis || 11/18/2016 14:25 Comments || Top||

#5  Ignacia Moreno, who was assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division

So an Obama apparatchik says... Well, okay, I guess that settles it.
Posted by: magpie || 11/18/2016 16:28 Comments || Top||

#6  Pan and a phone, bitches.
Posted by: charger || 11/18/2016 18:16 Comments || Top||

#7  Lots Trump can do since environmental law is not in the constitution. Day 1 shut down EPA. Day 2 announce he will not enforce any regulations. Day 3 pass out pardons and reduce existing fines to zero......
Posted by: Airandee || 11/18/2016 18:33 Comments || Top||

#8  Tell Congress up front, NO omnibus funding bills. Then just veto any Department or agency funding. Compromise or starve.
Posted by: P2Kontheroad || 11/18/2016 19:12 Comments || Top||

#9  The guy crossed his facts. Regulations, placed by executive order or any other means than a law can be removed Jan 21st. The professor is dead wrong.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 11/18/2016 21:27 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Trump's secret weapon to make friends with Beijing is revealed! Video of his grand-daughter Arabella perfectly reciting poetry in Mandarin goes viral in China
[DailyMail] Five-year-old Arabella Kushner, daughter of Ivanka Trump, was filmed reciting Chinese poetry

Since Trump's election, it has been widely shared in China
Social media users heaped praise on the youngsters for her pronunciation

During his campaign, Trump accused China of illegally subsidising exports, manipulating its currency and stealing intellectual property
It's going to be an interesting 4 years.

Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 11/18/2016 10:22 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
Memo to millennials, that awful feeling you've got is called losing. It happens. If you want to know how to win, stop whinging [sic] for a bit and learn some lessons from Trump

Piers Morgan:

Cheer up, American millennials!
I mean, seriously, CHEER THE **** UP!
Oh, I know you’ve had a rough week ever since Donald Trump won the election.
But it’s time to get a grip.
STOP crying.
STOP taking personal days off work to ’process’ what happened.
STOP huddling with your equally distraught buddies in Starbucks over your Venti Iced White Chocolate Mocha.
STOP howling away on social media about how unfair life is and how it’s the end of the planet as we know it.
STOP updating the exact number Hillary won the popular vote by, because it doesn’t bloody matter.
STOP marching around screaming your fury at the result when many of you couldn’t even bothered to vote.
STOP retweeting all your favourite celebrities’ own outbursts of pique, rage and anguish.
STOP demanding the Electoral College reverse the decision in December.
In short, STOP being such a faux-tormented bunch of absolutely deluded cretins.
Want to know why Trump is going to be your next president?
It’s because he is what’s called a ’winner’.




Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 11/18/2016 10:05 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Read whole thing, then send it to another Grown-Up.
Posted by: Bobby || 11/18/2016 14:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Piers Morgan - usually an idiot esp. on gun control - but he really hits the mark here
Posted by: Warthog || 11/18/2016 15:39 Comments || Top||

#3  "Whinging" is a great little British term, defined as 'to complain persistently and in a peevish or irritating way'.

We've used that term at our household for quite a while now. Carries a bit more weight when used with the grandchildren as it's something they don't hear at home or school, plus they'll actually pay attention when we say it.

The 4 year old thinks it's a great word and apparently he uses it at pre-school with the other kids, much to the consternation of the teachers who actually had to ask him what it meant. He told them that it was 'irwatating'.
Posted by: Mulla Richard || 11/18/2016 16:02 Comments || Top||


Trump announces CIA director and attorney general picks
[Allen B. West] You might call this transition period of Donald Trump’s administration "Fast and Furious."

He’s already announced Lt. General Michael Flynn has been chosen for National Security Advisor. And today, two more big picks.

The New York Times reports President-elect Donald J. Trump has selected Senator Jeff Sessions, a conservative from Alabama who became a close adviser after endorsing him early in his campaign, to be the attorney general of the United States, according to officials close to the transition.

Mr. Sessions was also under consideration for secretary of defense, creating debate within the Trump transition team over which job he should fill.

Trump has selected Senator Jeff Sessions, a conservative from Alabama who became a close adviser after endorsing him early in his campaign, to be the attorney general of the United States, according to officials close to the transition.

Mr. Sessions was also under consideration for secretary of defense, creating debate within the Trump transition team over which job he should fill.

Also Fox reports, Trump has picked Kansas congressman and Tea Party favorite Mike Popeo to head the CIA under his administration, Fox News has confirmed.

Pompeo, 53, initially supported Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in the GOP primary but later played a key role in helping Vice President-elect Mike Pence prepare for his debate against Tim Kaine.

Pompeo, of Wichita, met with the president-elect’s transition team in New York’s Trump Tower earlier this week. He is a member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence and has been an ardent supporter of the Patriot Act and the National Security Agency’s collection of bulk data.

Pompeo was a vocal critic of President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran and has come under fire for what his critics have called anti-Islamic rhetoric.

Pompeo biography
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/18/2016 09:02 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  All good picks so far. I have some issues with Sessions, but as an AG I think he will do well.

So far, not seeing anything from Trump that is making me cringe, and as a libertarian that is a good thing.
Posted by: DarthVader || 11/18/2016 9:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Trey Gowdy for AG dammit!
Posted by: Elmavish Panda1401 || 11/18/2016 10:33 Comments || Top||


#4  I should have added a warning that it is the NYTs report.
Posted by: JohnQC || 11/18/2016 11:19 Comments || Top||

#5  Now, here’s the kink in the mix – Alabama Governor Robert Bentley just recently changed his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat (April 2015)...

This is an April Fools joke. Didn't happen.
Posted by: Snalet Hupagum3565 || 11/18/2016 14:50 Comments || Top||

#6  Ref #5. Thanks Snalet. Comment deleted.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/18/2016 14:57 Comments || Top||

#7  I'm thinking Trump is sending up a lot of trial balloons to test public opinion. It doesn't matter who Trump chooses they are going to take hits from the opposition. It's the nature of life in the swamp.
Posted by: JohnQC || 11/18/2016 17:53 Comments || Top||

#8  I'm thinking that Trump is tossing out lots of raw meat just to watch the media snap their jaws, snarl and foam at the mouth. Good times.
Posted by: Omomort Cheager7040 || 11/18/2016 19:06 Comments || Top||

#9 
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 11/18/2016 21:02 Comments || Top||

#10  clean the Aegean Stables
Posted by: Frank G || 11/18/2016 21:58 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Central Ohio becomes front line in Hamas-linked CAIR's fight for popular support
[Jihad Watch] The Columbus, Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is soliciting the public for any perceived instances of Islamic hate, with assurances of support from the local media and city lawmakers.

The appeal comes on the heels of a landslide electoral victory for Donald Trump, whose administration CAIR believes will be "packed with anti-Muslim bigots."
"Anti-Moslem" is CAIR-speak for "non-Moslem."
CAIR Columbus has stated that verbal assaults against Muslims have risen exponentially since Trump became the president-elect.

The allegations of Trump-inspired hate, coordinated and reported directly by CAIR and often without any corresponding police reporting, come as Trump indicates support for a bill that will ostensibly name the Muslim Brotherhood, with which CAIR has been linked, as a terrorist group.

CAIR enjoys the complicity of the city of Columbus in its campaign to highlight Islamophobia. City council members did CAIR’s bidding by passing a resolution condemning Islamophobia.

Even Ohio State University, the pride of Columbus and a huge influence on local politics, has bowed to prevailing trends and added its support to CAIR. When CAIR complained of two incidents in which women wearing head scarves were allegedly threatened on campus, Ohio State President Michael Drake responded by publishing an open letter condemning such assaults. Yet criminal charges were not filed in either case, and it appears that only one of the victims was an actual student at the university.

A virtual immigration nexus exists between Columbus and Somalia that has led to the fact that now the Midwestern town houses the country’s second largest concentration of Somalis. Since then, Columbus has been no stranger to terrorist activity.

CAIR Columbus supporters have expressed outrage over the conviction and imprisonment of local Muslims who in 2002 plotted to bomb a Columbus-area mall. Nuradin Abdi, Iyman Faris, and Christopher Paul are known al-Qaeda operatives who each served time for their participation in plots that targeted a variety of public gathering places around the country and in Ohio.

On February 11, 2016, local Somali Mohamed Barry attacked four people at a Columbus establishment, the Nazareth Restaurant. CBS News and many other media outlets were quick to call the assault a "lone wolf terrorist attack" in an attempt to distinguish Barry from other violent Islamic jihadists. Journalists refused to name a motive for the attacks, even though Barry returned to the restaurant and began attacking customers with a machete after he was told, upon inquiring, that the owner hailed from Israel.

CAIR has been extremely successful in Ohio and elsewhere at dissuading the public from associating Islam with terror attacks. Barry was given the benefit of the doubt by the media regarding his intentions, though the same cannot be said of allegations of attacks initiated by Muslims. These receive the weakest attention and scrutiny from not just the mainstream media, but also from the the highest political office in the land. President Barack Obama urged the nation to show restraint to Muslims following the San Bernardino massacre that killed 14 Americans in December of 2015.
Con't.
This article starring:
Con't.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/18/2016 07:26 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Coincidentally, Columbus is the bed bug capitol of the US.
Posted by: jvalentour || 11/18/2016 8:24 Comments || Top||

#2  An unfortunate decision. As you recall CAIR was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation trial. Maybe some of this will be cleaned up in a new administration.
Posted by: JohnQC || 11/18/2016 10:58 Comments || Top||

#3  CAIR = MB = Banned
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/18/2016 12:05 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Dr. Marc Lamont Hill supports supports raising money for 'Afro-Paleo' terrorists
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/18/2016 06:11 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yes he's diabetic and gay.
Posted by: Shipman || 11/18/2016 16:48 Comments || Top||


Europe
NATO says 'absolutely confident' of Trump leadership in alliance
[Reuters] NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday he was certain that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will lead the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, and he is hoping to speak to Trump soon.

Trump questioned during his election campaign whether the United States should protect allies that have low defense spending, raising fears that he could withdraw funding for the alliance at a time of greater tensions with Russia.

"I am absolutely confident that President Trump will maintain U.S leadership in the alliance," Stoltenberg told a conference in Brussels, saying his team was seeking to set up a telephone call with the president-elect.

Stoltenberg said he would tell Trump that increasing European defense spending was one of his top priorities and that he had raised it with every NATO member, winning support from defense ministers. He said the main obstacle was convincing the finance ministers who have the keys to treasuries.

"You have to increase defense spending when tensions go up," Stoltenberg said, citing failing states in North Africa, the threat of Islamic militants and Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea as proof.

"Stop the cuts and gradually increase (defense spending) to reach 2 percent (of economic output) is a very robust message," he said.
No, it sends the message that you're a bunch of spineless Europeans. You were supposed to be spending 2 percent of GDP on defense already -- that was the floor established by NATO, and most of your members plunged right through it.
"We have started to move, although there is a very long way to go," he said. "I am certain that Trump will make this his top priority (for NATO)."
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/18/2016 05:50 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But the Nobel committee hasn't given him a prize, so there's that.
Posted by: Pappy || 11/18/2016 8:26 Comments || Top||

#2  NATO Guy is concerned about "Failing States in North Africa" you say...go figure.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 11/18/2016 14:05 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Calling on the State of Israel
[IsraelNationalNews] The mere suggestion of Israeli willingness to make territorial compromise has always invited political pressure in the form of bloodshed.

The idea of a "two-state solution" takes us far beyond "mere suggestion", as snowballing European momentum for Palestinian statehood raises the spilling of Jewish blood to the level of legitimate statecraft.

The Palestinian Authority is a corrupt, genocidal entity unprecedented in history, from which the removal of one or two toxic leaders is immaterial.
And the EU is worse
Even if the Palestinian Authority were not murderous and degenerate, it was invented to serve as an instrument by Arab ultranationalists for the eventual elimination of Israel.

A certain element within Israel is even willing to overlook the Palestinian Authority's aforementioned flaws and growing lethality in exchange for an instrument to sever Israel's link with her roots.

As long as we continue asserting our sovereignty in Judea and Samaria by living here, it is possible for us to take action to roll back the process of our phased abandonment and Israel's disintegration.

But our passive existence here is no longer enough. The government of Israel is powerless to draw a red line for us that we ourselves have not yet drawn. We must awaken, organize, and get active
Personally, I came to believe that the successive governments of Israel understood perfectly well that peace with Arabs is neither possible nor desirable. That they were doing is buying time - time until the flow of petrodollars dries out. And the time, unless tranzies somehow manage to stop Trump, is now.
About the EU:
In Wake of Brexit, Trump, European Union May Break Apart
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/18/2016 03:33 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yep, fracking will be the end of the Paleos.

And the Euros, how ever long they last, will be the last to realise.
Posted by: phil_b || 11/18/2016 4:59 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Anguished by Trump, Lena Dunham Flees to Posh Arizona Resort, Asks Rocks for 'Guidance'
Woke celeb Lena Dunham sought solace in the Arizona wilderness this week as she works to overcome her post-election anxiety. She posted of photo on Instagram that shows her hiking in a fashionable sports bra and flashing a "true smile" while hiking in exclusive Sedona, Ariz., on Monday.

Sedona is home to a number of facilities offering "spiritual retreats," "vision quests," and other forms of "emotional healing" adventures. In a note accompanying her Instagram post, Dunham expressed love for her fans and described how she had "whispered some wishes for you into the big red rock" after asking "the Canyon for some guidance."

Dunham's spirit quest mirrors a plot line in the most recent season of her HBO show, "Girls", in which her character Hannah goes on a new age retreat in the wilderness, walks around in a sports bra, and has a lesbian sexual encounter with a resort staffer.

In real life, Dunham has expressed her anguish at Donald Trump's upset victory over Hillary Clinton in the presidential election. The celeb recently said she was "terrified" that a "predator will soon be residing in the White House," and described the sad scene at the Hillary Clinton "victory" party on election night.

After initially pledging to move to Canada if Trump won, Dunham and other celebrities flip-flopped, and decided to stay in America.

Dunham has expressed controversial beliefs in the past, for example, when she suggested that serving sushi in a university dining hall was an example of "cultural appropriation."
Posted by: gorb || 11/18/2016 02:51 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Cause lizards wouldn't talk to her?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/18/2016 4:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, the rocks are probably brighter than she is
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 11/18/2016 6:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Sedona: Home to the John (all hat and no cattle)McCain ranch of eleven acres.
Posted by: Heriberto Greper9897 || 11/18/2016 6:15 Comments || Top||

#4  After initially pledging to move to Canada if Trump won, Dunham and other celebrities flip-flopped, and decided to stay in America.
They're staying where the money is. She is so original [not], using the plot from here so called series. These people get told where to stand, spout words that other people write, get "do overs" when they can't do it right the first time, wear clothes others pick for them, on and on ... So, listen to what they say, they are so smart!
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 11/18/2016 8:09 Comments || Top||

#5  I really don't want to know about any lez relationships she cultivates along with her rocks.

Posted by: DarthVader || 11/18/2016 8:43 Comments || Top||

#6  That worshipping a rock thing. Where else have I heard of that?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 11/18/2016 8:48 Comments || Top||

#7  For some reason, the phrase "coyote-gnawed carcass" is bouncing around in my head.
Posted by: SteveS || 11/18/2016 11:56 Comments || Top||

#8  SteveS,

The coyote-American community strongly objects to any suggestion they might gnaw on that.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 11/18/2016 12:19 Comments || Top||

#9  I dunno, much fat.
Posted by: Shipman || 11/18/2016 16:50 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Japan PM: 'I have great confidence in Trump'
[BBC] Japan's PM Shinzo Abe has said he has "great confidence" in US President-elect Donald Trump and he believes they can build a relationship of trust.

Mr Abe described the 90-minute meeting in Trump Tower, New York, as "candid", with a "warm atmosphere".

Some of Mr Trump's campaign rhetoric cast doubt over long-standing US alliances, including with Japan. The meeting was Mr Trump's first face-to-face with a world leader since winning the presidential election. The US and Japan have been key allies since the end of World War Two, when the US helped Japan rebuild its economy.

The president-elect has vowed to scrap the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, which Mr Abe strenuously supports as a means of countering China's growing economic strength.

The deal was approved by the Japanese parliament, despite the likelihood that the deal will be cancelled when Mr Trump takes office.
Con't.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/18/2016 02:22 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just don't call him Rory Mercury to his face.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/18/2016 5:08 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Airsoft armed pizza store thieves no match for customer with Glock
[Bearing Arms] An armed customer shot and killed an armed masked robber and injured the suspect’s armed brother after they burst into Bucks County pizza shop around closing Tuesday night, said police.

Two armed robbers entered Porfirio’s Pizza and Pasta in a shopping center on the 900 block of Veteran Highway in Levittown around 10 p.m.

"Two subjects enter the store in a rapid, aggressive, violent manner," said Middletown Township Police Department Lt. Stephen Foreman.

A customer -- who had stopped in to pick up some food on his way home -- and two employees were inside the restaurant at the time, said police.

One gunman targeted an employee, the other the customer, who happened to be carrying a Glock handgun. The one robber, a 30-year-old, began to pistol whip the customer, said police.

The customer shot the man pistol whipping him then shot the second suspect, a 22-year-old, who was threatening the pizzeria owner with a gun, said Foreman. The older brother died while the other collapsed after being shot twice.

"Obviously they never expected the customer to be armed," said Foreman.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/18/2016 02:10 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You have to be really determined - or worked up - to deliver a convincing pistol whipping with an airsoft
Posted by: M. Murcek || 11/18/2016 8:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Language warning.

Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/18/2016 11:33 Comments || Top||


Government
Wind farm industry funding the Dakota Access pipeline squabble
[Wash Times] The Standing Rock Sioux tribal council accepted $375,000 in donations from wind farm companies as it prepared earlier this year to fight the Dakota Access pipeline, raising questions about whether the green-energy industry is fueling the increasingly violent protests.

The council voted unanimously at its April 5 meeting to accept two $125,000 donations from Consolidated Edison Development, which owns a wind farm in nearby Campbell County, North Dakota, and Fagen Inc., a contractor on the project.

At its March 9 meeting, the council accepted $125,000 from ConEdison for "Oyate/community development," according to the minutes posted online on the tribe’s website.

The donations came as the tribe girded to beat back the oil pipeline, which runs a half-mile from its reservation. On March 22, the council agreed to retain the environmental law firm Earthjustice "for the tribe’s co-counsel to oppose the Dakota Access pipeline."

ConEdison did not respond immediately to requests for comment on the donations, first reported Wednesday by the Washington Free Beacon, while a Fagen spokeswoman said the chairman was out of town and could not be reached until next week.
Con't.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/18/2016 01:39 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why am I not surprised?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/18/2016 4:03 Comments || Top||

#2  The beltway version of the virtuous circle: Politicians take money from taxpayers -> give taxpayer money to "favored entities" -> "favored entities" spend money on lobbyists -> lobbyists give money to politicians. Rinse, repeat.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 11/18/2016 8:22 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Smart people need more time alone, according to this study
[Independent] There’s no fighting it ‐ humans are innately social creatures. But while it's widely accepted that socialising makes us happier, this might not be strictly true if you’re highly intelligent.

Evolutionary psychologists from Singapore Management University and the London School of Economics and Political Science found exactly this when they studied more than 15,000 young adults.

They concluded that, while people generally feel happier when they spend time with others, very smart people are an exception to this rule.

The study said this could be because of evolution.

Smarter people can more easily adapt to their surroundings in the modern world, so they don’t need close relationships to help them with food and shelter, like our ancestors did. Or, in the modern equivalent, the Wi-Fi password and a spare phone charger.

Their other theory is that smarter people are more aspirational, and want to spend more time working towards their goals, rather than socialising.

The study found that more intelligent people actually had lower life satisfaction the more frequently they socialised with friends - spending time with friends actually made them unhappy. But the researchers discovered that these highly intelligent participants actually spent more time socialising with friends.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/18/2016 01:18 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Last graph reminds me Thanksgivings close at hand.
Posted by: Shipman || 11/18/2016 7:43 Comments || Top||

#2  The study found that more intelligent people actually had lower life satisfaction the more frequently they socialized with friends

Well sure.
I don't know my life is shit unless someone tells me.
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/18/2016 9:23 Comments || Top||

#3  Of course, we don't want to be with the rest of ya'll, ya'll's bunch o' idjits and maroons.
The science is solved.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 11/18/2016 10:04 Comments || Top||

#4  Sometimes, instead of having other people tell you what to think, you just wanna think for yourself.

WILSON!!!
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 11/18/2016 12:02 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Gun-Running Probe Uncovers Pipeline of Weapons & more
[PJ] A report issued this month tracking the flow of weapons across Libya and the Sahel revealed that terror groups operating in West Africa are getting much more than just inspiration from terror hubs in Iraq and Syria.

The study by UK-based Conflict Armament Research, an independent organization that tracks the flow of conventional weapons and materiel, found that weapons stockpiles remaining from the nearly 42-year dictatorship of Moammar Gadhafi have migrated as far as Mali and Syria.

But investigators found that the unstable country awash in more than 100 militia groups with around 125,000 fighters -- some support the unity government, some don't -- is not the only source of illicit weapons in the region.

"The profile of illicit weapons in the region reflects the consequences of other state crises, particularly in Mali, and of weak control over national stockpiles in the Central African Republic and Côte d’Ivoire," states the report. "The prevalence of Ivorian-origin small arms across the region is a particularly unexpected finding of this investigation."

And even through the flow of weapons out of Libya has been decreasing, importation of arms and ammunition into Libya has been increasing -- particularly from Sudan.

The report highlighted "a new set of weapons" now in use among Islamist armed groups in the southern Sahel, noted when al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Al-Mourabitoun attacked hotels, restaurants and resorts this year and last, killing Americans among other foreigners and locals, in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast with "a common set of small arms unlike any previously documented in the sub-region."

"These include Iraqi-origin assault rifles and a batch of Chinese rifles manufactured in 2011 whose serial numbers interleave with matching rifles that Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) seized from IS fighters in Syria in 2015. These findings indicate that the Islamist groups responsible for the Sahelian attacks have a common source of supply or constitute a single cell, and point tentatively to possible links or commonalities of supply sources between Islamist fighters in West Africa and those operating in Iraq and Syria."
Con't.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/18/2016 01:07 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In the old days Sahelian and sub-Saharan Africa were the plaything of France's Military and Diplomatic establishments. The CAR was an especial prize because of the gems harvested there. Today, all that seems to be falling apart. Instead, a new cabal seems to have emerged. The narcotics traffickers who built the trade from Mali and Ivory Coast have become much more powerful. And, as is the case everywhere, arms trafficking marches hand-in-hand with the drug trade. In sum, the whole damned region is a viper's nest.
Posted by: Heriberto Greper9897 || 11/18/2016 5:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Fast and Furious has gone overseas?
Posted by: Glish Creretch4732 || 11/18/2016 15:37 Comments || Top||


Iraq
President-Elect Donald Trump Brings Renewed Hope to Kurds
[Breitbart] As the reality of President-Elect Donald J. Trump’s dramatic victory began to sink in around the world, at least one region’s leaders popped open the champagne ‐ if only metaphorically speaking, as they are Muslim.

The Kurdish People -- America’s steadfast allies in Iraq -- also feel taken for granted by President Obama’s foreign policy, and long for a course correction.

During the primaries, candidate Trump declared his solidarity with the Kurdish people on at least three separate occasions, establishing his position early on. Trump allies recently elaborated, expressing openness to the idea of an independent Kurdistan.

Secretary Hillary Clinton paid lip service to the Kurds during general election debates, but laced with nuanced caveats. She mentioned the intention to "consider" arming the Kurdish forces, but within the context of a united Iraq. As Kurdish participation in liberating areas from the Islamic State draws to a close, the issue would become politically and practically irrelevant by the time that her Pentagon would start assessing a change in policy.

There are very compelling recent and historic reasons that the Kurds hold hope that President-Elect Trump represents an opportunity to break from a status quo of neglect and betrayal.

Writing as someone who has been on the front lines on multiple occasions, it is an injustice to see the Kurdish forces endure years of ambush suicide attacks by ISIS jihadists emboldened with captured American equipment once provided to the Iraqi Army. Holding a 600-mile front against the deadliest terrorists in the world isn’t easy when lacking the essentials: vehicles, munitions, night vision, medical supplies. Ironically, the Kurdish forces sometimes get an upgrade when they capture American equipment from the Islamic State.
Con't.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/18/2016 01:01 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  During the primaries, candidate Trump declared his solidarity with the Kurdish people on at least three separate occasions, establishing his position early on. Trump allies recently elaborated, expressing openness to the idea of an independent Kurdistan.

Let's hope he sticks to it. The Kurds deserve it, and would I believe be staunch allies. With the 3-for of screwing the Turks, Iranians and feckless Arabs all at the same time.
Posted by: phil_b || 11/18/2016 3:25 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Update: Potential trouble for Trump National Security Advisor selection
[The Hill] Donald Trump adviser Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn received classified national security briefings last summer while also running a private consulting firm that offered "all-source intelligence support" to international clients, Yahoo News reports.

Flynn, who has reportedly been offered the role of national security adviser in Trump's administration, said his relationship with his company, the Flynn Intel Group, would be "severed" if he returned to government.

But Flynn began sitting in on briefings for Trump in August while working for foreign clients. Those classified national security briefings are provided to the major presidential candidates and their top aides.

Norm Eisen, who served as President Obama's ethics adviser, called Flynn's conflict "profoundly troubling" and "disqualifying."

Flynn was reportedly offered a position as national security adviser to Trump on Thursday.

Flynn has held a number of military roles throughout his career, serving as the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and chair of the Military Intelligence Board.

Throughout Trump's campaign, Flynn has also served as a military adviser, giving Trump advice on questions of foreign policy and military strategy.
More from Gateway Pundit and Megyn Kelly
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/18/2016 00:43 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Flynn obviously still holds a security clearance and would be required to make full disclosure of foreign contacts [unless regulations have changed dramatically]. If full disclosure was made, then this is a non-problem.

I suspect a non-problem.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/18/2016 0:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Yet Hillary and Huma are pure as driven snow...



Posted by: Hupack Smith9359 || 11/18/2016 0:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Norm Eisen, who served as President Obama's ethics adviser, called Flynn's conflict "profoundly troubling" and "disqualifying."

President. Obama's. Ethics. Adviser.
ROFLMAO.
Posted by: magpie || 11/18/2016 1:31 Comments || Top||

#4  The Flynn Intel Group, tFIG, seems to have several contracts to provide advice to Russian and Turkish entities. Even though those entities are ostensibly non Govt., both Russia and Turkey are known to work through proxies.

If tFIG is able to keep their privately derived info separate from info derived from info derived from Nat Sec briefs, everything would be fine but that is a tough task and there are legitimate doubts that tFIG has really done that.
Posted by: lord garth || 11/18/2016 5:38 Comments || Top||

#5  Even though those entities are ostensibly non Govt., both Russia and Turkey are known to work through proxies. Lord Garth

Which could mean hahmmm, we're talking about a game of equals.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/18/2016 5:54 Comments || Top||

#6  Russia, Turkey? Someone pulled the old Diplomacy game out again?
Posted by: P2Kontheroad || 11/18/2016 6:53 Comments || Top||

#7  Nice to see that we now have higher standards than, oh, a month ago...
Posted by: Steve White || 11/18/2016 9:14 Comments || Top||

#8  At least Flynn had a clearance, did Hillary's maid?
Posted by: AlanC || 11/18/2016 9:16 Comments || Top||

#9  Besoeker is correct on the clearance front. Most of the people at that level have worked with foreigners. Eisen is talking political nonsense out his ass again.

I think he is just butthurt that a democrat went over to Trump.
Posted by: DarthVader || 11/18/2016 9:23 Comments || Top||

#10  Flynn's a good man and should do fine. Recall this luminary (sarc).
Posted by: JohnQC || 11/18/2016 11:29 Comments || Top||


Europe
Europe migrant colonist briefs
German prosecutors charge Syrian man with war crimes

[Ynet] German prosecutors say they have charged a 41-year-old Syrian man with committing war crimes and carrying out kidnappings. Federal prosecutors say the man, identified only as Ibrahim Al F., in line with German privacy laws, was a commander in the group Ghurabaa al-Sham. The group was part of the Free Syrian Army
... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund...
, which took up arms against the army of Syrian President Bashar Assad in 2012.

Swedish Journalist Accused of Smuggling Syrian Boy

[AnNahar] A Swedish TV journalist is to face trial over human smuggling after helping a Syrian boy migrate from Greece to the Nordic nation, an offense punishable by imprisonment, a legal source said Thursday.

In the spring of 2014, Fredrik Onnevall was filming a documentary about European nationalist parties' response to the migration crisis when he met the 15-year-old Abed in Greece. Along with two colleagues, Onnevall helped Abed enter Sweden.

The Swedish Prosecution Authority said on Wednesday that Onnevall and his colleagues had "during the period of May-June 2014 intentionally helped a foreigner pass through Greece...(to) Sweden despite the fact that the person was missing a passport or any other permission required to enter these countries."

The journalist, a program host for the Swedish public broadcaster SVT, who along with his two colleagues could face up to three months in prison, has pleaded not guilty.

"I regret absolutely nothing! I know what we did and I would have done the same today," Onnevall told SVT in March when he was called for questioning over human smuggling. "How can I regret helping a terrified boy begging for my help?"

Broadcast nearly two years ago, the documentary sparked a wave of sympathy among Swedes as well as anger, prompting complaints over the Syrian boy's entrance to Sweden.

Report: Flow of German jihadis almost at 'standstill'

[DeutscheWelle] The self-proclaimed "Islamic State" (IS) caliphate has "pretty much no power left to draw in" recruits from Germany, the police and intelligence services say, according to reports first published on Thursday. In the reports, German state broadcasters and the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung cited a study which is allegedly set to be discussed in late November.

The IS offensive in 2014 and establishment of what it calls a "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria and had initially "mobilized and emotionalized" the Islamists in an unprecedented measure, the officials said. Also, the developments in the Middle East motivated thousands of Europeans to join the IS and similar militias. At its peak, nearly one hundred people left Germany every month to take part in the fighting, officials say.

However, the numbers dropped quickly and reached an average of "fewer than five travelers per month" between the summers of 2015 and 2016.

Although reasons for the plunge are not completely clear, they may include tougher travel controls and seizure of passports, officials claim. Other motives could be "violence and brutality" of living in the self-proclaimed caliphate, as well as current military pressure on the IS.

At the same time, the IS itself urged its supporters "not to travel to the caliphate, but to commit attacks in their home countries." The officials said they could not determine whether this recommendation also helped drive the numbers down.

In general, the security situation in Germany has grown more dangerous, according to the study. Alongside returning jihadis, the country also faces "radicalized people who have stayed in Germany and whose number is difficult to estimate," officials say.

Germany to repatriate about 12,000 Afghans: report

[DeutscheWelle] Around 12,500 Afghan migrants to Germany are to be repatriated despite the civil war still raging in parts of their home country, a newspaper report said on Thursday.

According to the report in the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung," which cited a German government document, the Interior Ministry estimates that 5 percent of the almost 247,000 Afghans who had reached Germany by the end of September will probably have to leave.

The government statement justifies the planned move by saying that security was guaranteed in Afghanistan's larger cities. "A worsening of the security situation in the entire country cannot be confirmed," the newspaper cited the document as saying.

The document said the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) would, however, handle applications for asylum by Afghans on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the risks faced by each applicant. Some migrants were expected to return of their own accord, it said, but noted that other removals might be by force.

The document is the response by the government to a question posed by the hard-left Left party.

At the start of October, the EU and Afghanistan signed a much-criticized agreement that would make the deportation of rejected asylum-seekers easier. In the past few years, there have been few Afghan deportations owing to the civil war there. The "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung" reported in its article that just 27 rejected Afghan asylum-seekers had been deported so far this year, and only nine in 2015.

However, the rate of acceptance of Afghan asylum applications fell in 2016 to 52.4 percent as compared with 77.6 percent the year before.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/18/2016 00:08 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  In the spring of 2014, Fredrik Onnevall was filming a documentary about European nationalist parties' response to the migration crisis when he met the 15-year-old Abed in Greece. Along with two colleagues, Onnevall helped Abed enter Sweden.

Betcha Abed is 25 & member of ISIS.

Welcome to Sweden
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/18/2016 4:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Repatriated - is that European for deported? /sarc
Posted by: AlanC || 11/18/2016 9:05 Comments || Top||

#3  "Repatriated" means you get some lovely parting gifts
Posted by: Pappy || 11/18/2016 11:19 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkey detains mayor, appoints administrators in southeast : sources
[AlAhram] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
detained the mayor of the southeastern city of Van on Thursday, replacing him and two other mayors in the region, security sources said, pressing on with a crackdown on pro-Kurdish politicians.

The government appointed administrators to run the municipalities in Van and the provinces of Siirt and Mardin in the mainly Kurdish southeast, said the sources, who declined to be identified as they are not authorised to speak to media.

State-run Anadolu Agency said police detained Van mayor Bekir Kaya at the council offices in the city on the shores of Lake Van, the heart of a province with a population of 1.1 million.

Police searched municipality offices and the houses of Kaya and four other council officials, Anadolu reported. Kaya was sentenced to 15 years in jail in January on a charge of "terror group membership", the agency said, but was appealing the verdict.

It said the interior ministry appointed Van Governor Ibrahim Tasyapan to run the municipality in place of Kaya, who is from the sister party of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), parliament's second biggest opposition party.

Thousands of their members, including party leaders and dozens of mayors have been detained in investigations accusing them of PKK links. The parties deny such ties and say they working for a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

At the start of November, Turkish authorities appointed an administrator to run the southeast's largest city of Diyarbakir, having tossed in the calaboose
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
its co-mayors over alleged PKK ties.

On Wednesday, the mayors of Siirt and the eastern city of Tunceli were arrested over similar accusations.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/18/2016 00:08 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Court rejects US soldier's request for asylum in Germany
This is very strange.
[Ynet] A Munich court on Thursday rejected a U.S. soldier's asylum application in Germany, arguing that he hasn't exhausted all avenues to leave the military.

Army Spc. Andre Shepherd deserted from his military base in southern Germany in 2007, claiming he wanted to avoid returning to Iraq where he feared being involved in war crimes.

The 39-year-old, who has permanent residency in Germany because he is married to a German woman, took his case to court after German authorities rejected the asylum bid.

The Munich administrative court noted in its ruling that the Apache helicopter mechanic had repeatedly re-enlisted with the U.S. military.
What kind of war crimes does a helicopter mechanic commit?
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/18/2016 00:08 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What kind of war crimes does a helicopter mechanic commit?

smuggling body parts
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/18/2016 2:11 Comments || Top||

#2  But if he'd deserted from the Syrian army they would have welcomed him with open arms.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 11/18/2016 12:06 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Boko Haram's onslaught against Cameroon waning, analyst says
[DeutscheWelle] In a report just released, the International Crisis Group (ICG) said that two years ago Cameroon
...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there...
was being attacked by 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...
murderous Moslems on an almost daily basis. But since September 2016, the number of attacks has fallen to between six and eight a month.

Back in 2014-15, as many as 1,000 Boko Haram fighters, with heavy weaponry and armored vehicles, joined attacks in Cameroon's Far North Region, the ICG said.

Up to 4,000 Cameroonians are thought to have joined Boko Haram and some were given bonuses of up to $2,000 (1,870 euros) and a cycle of violence. Those who proved their loyalty by killing their parents often enjoyed quick promotion, ICG said.
In the meantime, Boko Haram has suffered heavy losses and seen its conventional capacities reduced, partly because of the formation last year of 10,000 strong regional force with troops from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin.

Up to 4,000 Cameroonians are thought to have joined Boko Haram and some were given bonuses of up to $2,000 (1,870 euros) and a cycle of violence. Those who proved their loyalty by killing their parents often enjoyed quick promotion, ICG said.

DW has been talking to one of the report's authors, Hans De Marie Heungoup, who said that Cameroon and other Lake Chad countries should now be planning for the post-Boko Haram era. Abdullahi Tanko Bala began by asking him about the difficulties in fostering effective regional cooperation in the fight against the Islamist insurgency.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
US airstrikes hit ISIS HQ in Raqqa
Raqqa – Warplanes of the US-led coalition launched on Thursday several airstrikes on the Islamic State’s (ISIS) headquarters in Syria’s northeastern Raqqa Governorate.

The airstrikes come in support of the Euphrates Wrath Operation for Raqqa, which has been launched by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) nearly two weeks ago with the ultimate goal of isolating and eliminating ISIS in Raqqa.

The coalition hit ISIS defences and security centres in Raqqa’s northern suburb with several air raids.

“At least 13 ISIS militants were killed and several others were wounded under heavy airstrikes by the coalition’s fighter jets,” local media activist Abdulkarim al-Yousef told ARA News.

Thursday’s raids targeted ISIS headquarters in the towns of Allou and Mashada, north of Raqqa city.

In the meantime, clashes broke out between the SDF troops and ISIS militants in the vicinity of Tel al-Samn town northeast of Raqqa, amid efforts by the SDF to bring the fight to the ISIS de facto capital–Raqqa City.

The Syrian Democratic Forces has recently liberated dozens of villages and farms in northern Raqqa, in an area measuring approximately 550 square kilometres during the first phase of the Euphrates Wrath Operation–which was launched on 6 November. Military sources reported the death of at least 167 ISIS militants so far in the operation.

The Kurdish People’s Protection Units, Women’s Protection Units, Syriac Military Council, Raqqa Revolutionaries Battalion and Tel Abyad Revolutionary Brigade are participating in Euphrates Wrath Operation for Raqqa. These ground forces are being bolstered by the US-led coalition, which is providing air support and advice from US military experts.
Posted by: badanov || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Home Front: Culture Wars
Snopes Fact Checker is Exposed as a Fraud
[DailyHeadlines.net] Snopes started out fact checking news of the weird and eventually tried to remake itself as a political fact checking site. But now it has been exposed as a fraud. The main fact checker is Kim Lacapria, who was formerly with Inquisitr, a site known for publishing fake quotes and hoaxes. Lacapria was a huge disaster as a writer with many of her stories getting just 10 to 20 shares. She was a vitriolic far left wing blogger. While at Inquisitr she described herself as an openly left leaning liberal.

In her articles, she described Bill Clinton as one of the greatest presidents of all time and called Tea Party members as Teahadists.

From The Daily Caller:

She once wrote: "Like many GOP ideas about the poor, the panic about using food stamps for alcohol, pornography or guns seems to have been cut from whole cloth‐or more likely, the ideas many have about the fantasy of poverty." (A simple fact-check would show that food stamp fraud does occur and costs taxpayers tens of millions.)

Lacapria even accused the Bush administration of being "at least guilty of criminal negligience" in the September 11 attacks. (The future "fact-checker" offered no evidence to support her accusation.)

Her columns apparently failed to impress her readership, oftentimes failing to get more than 10-20 shares.
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Snopes' left wing proclivities have been obvious for years. Haven't visited the site in a long, long time.
Posted by: Iblis || 11/18/2016 14:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Snopes blew all credibility when they went political. They are still good for checking on non-political stuff. They should have learned from wikipedia which is great on non-political stuff but isn't really trusted any longer because their political editors are nuts.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 11/18/2016 14:27 Comments || Top||

#3  Them fact-checking People's Cube was crazy funny.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/18/2016 15:07 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Heavy shelling in Pallanwalla, Rajouri, Poonch sectors
[Daily Excelsior] Pakistain army resorted to heavy firing and mortar shelling targeting forward villages and Indian Army posts in Pallanwalla, Balakote and Manjakote along the Line of Control (LoC) this evening.

Official sources said Pakistain started heavy firing with automatic weapons followed by mortar shelling in forward villages of Chakala, Battal, Keri and Palatan in Pallanwalla sector in Akhnoor tehsil of this district at 7.15 pm today.

"Army from this side immediately gave befitting response to Pakistain, leading to heavy exchanges," sources said, adding that exchange of firing and shelling continued till late tonight.

Pakistain Army directly targeted the civilian population in Chakala, Battal, Keri and Palatan villages of Pallanwalla sector, apart from forward posts of the Army.

"A very effective response was given to Pakistain army," sources said.

However,
there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened...
there were no reports of any casualties on the Indian side in Pakistain shelling and firing, they added.

A number of people from forward villages of Pallanwalla immediately shifted to safer locations after start of firing and shelling.

Late in the evening, Pakistain also resorted to heavy shelling at Tarkundi in Balakote sector of Poonch district and Kanga Gali and Panjgrain in Manjakote sector of Rajouri district targeting forward Army posts and civilian areas. Indian side was giving very effective response, sources said.

There has been no let up in Pakistain shelling and firing on the LoC since September 29 when Indian troops had carried out surgical strikes in Pakistain Indian Kashmiree (PoK) killing 50 snuffies and Pakistain army personnel. Recently, seven army jawans of Pakistain army were killed at Bhimber sector across Nowshera in Rajouri district.

However,
there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened...
the International Border (IB) has been calm since November 1.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Palestinian carrying M-16 rifle arrested in West Bank
[IsraelTimes] A Paleostinian man was jugged
Please don't kill me!
on Thursday after security forces, acting on previously obtained intelligence, found an M-16 in the trunk of his car in the West Bank. The 21-year-old Nablus resident was detained at the Tapuah Junction, an area that has seen several terror attacks over the past 14 months. The suspect was transferred to Israeli security authorities for interrogation.

M-16s are often carried by IDF soldiers, Border Police troops and some police units.

2 Palestinians arrested after crossing from Gaza with grenades

[IsraelTimes] Soldiers picked up 2 Paleostinians, armed with grenades, who crossed into Israel from southern Gazoo, the army says. They were tossed in the slammer
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
near the security fence and have been handed over to the Shin Bet for interrogation.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Don't you know your gang rolls with AKs? Loser.
Posted by: DarthVader || 11/18/2016 8:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Every year Gretna just gets worse and worse.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 11/18/2016 22:24 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkey Arrests 2 Czechs who 'Fought for Syria Kurdish Militia'
[AnNahar] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
has nabbed
I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece!
two Czech nationals on suspicion of fighting for the Syrian Kurdish Peoples' Protection Units (YPG), seen as a terror group by Ankara but an ally by Washington, reports said Thursday.

Turkish security forces detained the man and woman -- Miroslav Farkas and Marketa Vselichova -- in the southeastern Sirnak province that borders Syria and Iraq, the pro-government Sabah daily said. It said they adopted the names Serxwebun Botan and Zelane Botan to fight with the YPG and also printed the identity pages of their Czech passports. The Sabah report said the two Czechs had been trained by German special forces and the French foreign legion.

The two were detained while illegally trying to cross back into Turkey and have now been remanded in jug, the report said. Czech media said the foreign ministry had confirmed the arrests, without giving further details.

It said this was the first such operation aimed at detaining foreigners suspected of operating with the YPG.

Several Western nationals are believed to have been killed while fighting with the group in recent months.

Ankara has accused EU states -- in particular Belgium and Germany -- of giving sanctuary to wanted PKK turbans and turning a deaf ear to demands for their extradition.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
25 die in Russian, Syrian airstrikes in Aleppo
Russian and Syrian air raids and extensive shelling killed at least 25 people in rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Thursday on the third day of renewed bombing, a monitoring group said, and the mayor of the besieged sector warned of a total lack of fuel and food as winter encroached.

The bombardment of eastern Aleppo renewed on Tuesday after a weeks-long pause, part of a wider military escalation by the Syrian regime and its allies, including Russia, against insurgents.

Moscow is using an aircraft carrier and missiles fired from another warship against targets around Syria.

The United Nations says 250,000 civilians remain in Aleppo’s opposition-controlled neighborhoods, effectively under siege since the army, aided by Iranian-backed militias and Russian jets, cut off the last road into rebel districts in early July.

Frequent air strikes on hospitals, and the disruption and pollution of water supplies, have worsened the humanitarian crisis. Medicines, food and fuel are all severely depleted.

“There is only enough to keep the bakeries going to give people at least some bread. People are only getting about 15 percent of what they need,” Brita Hagi Hassan, president of the city council for opposition-held Aleppo, told Reuters.

Hassan is outside eastern Aleppo and cannot return because of the siege but he is still running the council remotely, he said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based organization that monitors the war, said shelling and air strikes from helicopters and jets hit the eastern half of the city, causing severe damage. Air strikes also hit rebel-held areas west and south of Aleppo.
Posted by: badanov || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Arabia
Yemeni Army Makes Advances in Various Governorates
[AsharqAl-Awsat] Clashes in Yemeni provinces that are still controlled by Houthi militias and those loyal to the ousted president Saleh have intensified in light of the progress being made by the Yemeni army’s forces which are supported by the Saudi led Arab coalition’s aircraft.

According to what sources on the ground told Asharq Al-Awsat, more than a hundred Houthi rebels and those loyal to the ousted president Saleh were killed and dozens of them were wounded in fierce battles between the rebels and the Yemeni army’s troops during the last 24 hours in the governorates of Hajjah, Jawf and Taiz.

There has been a major escalation of military operations on the front between Yemen and Saudi Arabia. In addition to this, there were fierce battles in the border area and on the coastal fronts of Hardh and Meedi in the Hajjah governorate. The Arab coalition also bombed front lines and sites belonging to the rebel militias.

The Yemeni army has also gained control of the connecting supply line between Hardh and Meedi and have gained access to the area around the government complex in Meedi after the village of Ashish in Hardh was liberated.

The Yemeni army is engaged in fierce battles with rebel militias in the governorate of Al-Jawf on the Al-Matoon front after it made progress in the last few days and arrived at Souq Al-Thulouth. The Yemeni army and Arab coalition forces also liberated the districts of Khabb and Asha’f in Al-Jawf after violent clashes in which the rebel militias were hit by human and financial losses.
Posted by: badanov || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  If the Saudis have their way when this war is over the Shiite homeland in Hajjah and Jawf will have been leveled and their people scattered.
Posted by: Heriberto Greper9897 || 11/18/2016 6:02 Comments || Top||


Iraq
ISIS reportedly using anti-tank missiles against Iraqi forces in Mosul
[RUDAW.NET] ISIS is reportedly using advanced weaponry against advancing Iraqi forces in djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, including laser-fitted weapons and Russian-made Kornet anti-tank missiles.

"We cannot transport our soldiers in tanks and armored vehicles because of the smart- and high-precision weapons that ISIS is using on the battlefield," an Iraqi military commander from the 9th Armored Division told Rudaw in Mosul.

"We cannot move our tanks and armored vehicles into the districts until our forces take control of the alleys," he said.

Iraqi forces say they have taken control of a third of Mosul’s east bank, but are facing stiffer resistance from ISIS fighters as they push to penetrate deeper into the city.

ISIS fighters have reportedly destroyed a number of Iraqi army tanks and armored vehicles using the Russian-made anti-tank weapon known as "Kornet," which is similar to European-made Milan missile.

A Peshmerga commander said that Iraqi Army advances in Mosul are expected to go slower because of the weapons and tactics the gunnies have been using.

"The Iraqi army’s advance into Mosul will be slower (in the next phases) as war plans change with ISIS using new tactics, especially now that we know ISIS has modern weapons, such as laser-fitted weapons and the Kornet, which is an anti-tank weapon," said Lt. Gen. Jamal Imniki, chief of staff of the Peshmerga forces.

The Iraqi and Syrian armies both had supplies of the missiles, but it is unclear where ISIS may have obtained the weapon.

ISIS largely armed itself with large caches of weapons left on the battlefields by retreating Iraqi forces in June 2014.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Iraqi Army advances in Mosul are expected to go slower

Well, damn skippy there sarge. I don't think anybody expected different.
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/18/2016 2:05 Comments || Top||

#2  ... except the journalists.
Posted by: Pappy || 11/18/2016 10:57 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Haftar forces claim victory in Benghazi
BENGHAZI, Libya: The armed forces led by Marshal Khalifa Haftar announced a “great victory” against jihadist fighters in Libya’s second city of Benghazi on Thursday.

“We now have total control of the Qawarsha sector,” 10 kilometers (six miles) west of the center of Benghazi, said Ahmad Mesmari, spokesman for Haftar’s forces.

Mesmari hailed what he termed a “great victory” in what had been a stronghold of Ansar Al-Sharia, a group close to Al-Qaeda that is classified as a terrorist group by the United Nations and United States.

Haftar’s forces, called the Libyan National Army, were persuing the jihadists in Qanfouda, further west, one of the last remaining jihadist-held sectors of the Mediterranean city.

He did not give a casualty toll for the fighting but a military source said Wednesday that 12 of Haftar’s soldiers had been killed in clashes since Tuesday.

Thirteen “extremists” died in three days of battle, according to another spokesman for Haftar’s forces, Ali Al-Thabet, but there was no independent confirmation of that toll.

The US envoy to Libya, Jonathan Winer, on Thursday issued a rare show of support for the forces of Haftar, a controversial and divisive figure in Libya.

“Tough sacrifices by #Libya National Army soldiers this week reported — 20 killed & 40 injured in counter terror fighting in Benghazi,” he wrote on Twitter.

Benghazi, birthplace of the 2011 revolution which toppled Libya’s longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi, has been the scene of daily clashes for the past two years between Haftar’s forces and jihadist militias holding onto pockets of the city.

Five years after the revolution, the country is embroiled in violence and run by two rival administrations.
Posted by: badanov || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Russian Strategic Bombers Strike ISIL & Al-Nusra in Syria with Cruise Missiles
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] Russia has deployed strategic bombers to launch strikes on ISIS and al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
Front targets in Syria, the Defense Ministry reported. The bombers flew from Russia for the mission, and fired cruise missiles while over the Mediterranean Sea.

With in-flight refueling on two occasions, the bombers covered a distance of some 11,000km (6,835 miles), flying over a northern sea route and the eastern Atlantic.

Su-33 fighter jets from Russia’s Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier and air forces from the Khmeimim base in Syria were also deployed in the strikes on Thursday, Interfax reported, citing the Defense Ministry. Su-30 jets provided cover for the mission, the report added.

After launching cruise missiles at terrorist targets in Syria, the Russian jets returned to base, the ministry said.

Terrorist command points, weapons and ammunition depots, as well as an arms production facility were targeted by the strikes, the Russian military said, adding that all coordinates had been checked through several intelligence channels.

"The results of the strikes were also controlled by drones," the Defense Ministry reported.

Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra

#1  I guess the Iranian airfield is off limits again?
Posted by: Shipman || 11/18/2016 0:19 Comments || Top||

#2  the bombers covered a distance of some 11,000km (6,835 miles)

Possibly didn't want to risk their polar route, nuke capable, cruise missile launch platforms in Iran, Ship. Might also be special fuel they brought from home.
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/18/2016 2:03 Comments || Top||

#3  An expensive demonstration, but probably good training too. Of course, the usual suspects in congress and at the "think tanks" are claiming that the US should not develop the LRSM cruise missile, as it is "unnecessary" and would be "destabilizing."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 11/18/2016 8:30 Comments || Top||


UN raises exception over hospital bombings
Geneva – The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) Thursday condemned attacks on five Syrian hospitals –including two trauma centres and an emergency obstetric centre as well as a mobile medical clinic. The UN health agency demanded that all parties to the five-year conflict in Syria “respect the neutrality of health workers, health facilities and medical supplies”.

“The pattern of attacks indicates that health care is being deliberately targeted in the Syrian conflict – this is a major violation of international law and a tragic disregard of our common humanity,” WHO said in a statement.

“These attacks have seriously reduced the availability of health services in northern Syria and resulted in a major disruption of referrals of critically injured and ill patients,” the agency added.

The WHO statement comes one day after the Syrian Air Force launched several airstrikes in eastern Aleppo, targeting rebel-held districts. A major children’s hospital was repeatedly hit along with an adjacent blood bank.

“Assad’s air force bombed al-Bayan Children’s Hospital in Aleppo, causing dozens of casualties,” local media activist Ahmed Halwani told ARA News.

At least 26 civilians, including children, were killed. Halwani said that “many others remained trapped under the rubble.”

Such attacks in the war-ravaged country have increased in both frequency and scale, according to the UN health agency. The United Nations has documented 126 such attacks across Syria thus far in 2016.
Posted by: badanov || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Iraq
Iraqi forces fight ISIS street-to-street in Mosul as civilians flee
[RUDAW.NET] Iraqi forces were fighting ISIS street-to-street in eastern djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
on Thursday, as civilians continued to flee to the safety of the Kurdistan Region.

Clashes were ongoing in four neighborhoods, where people were raising white flags above their homes to indicate they are civilians and avoid being targeted by mistake by Iraqi forces, Rudaw’s Hevidar Ahmed reported from the eastern Mosul neighborhood of al-Zahra.

He reported the bandidos Death Eaters were burning tires that were raising thick plumes of smoke, in an effort to hide from Arclight airstrikes.

Rudaw cameras showed clouds of thick smoke above al-Zahra, days after Iraqi forces said they had liberated one-third of eastern Mosul.

As the Iraqi army pushed deeper into the city, hundreds of civilians were fleeing to Kurdistan, most accompanied by their livestock, AP reported.

An estimated 300 people fled Mosul and its outskirts on Wednesday, making their way to Omer Qamchi, a village northeast of Mosul that was liberated late last month.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Africa Subsaharan
Nigeria: Corruption Is Fighting Back, Says Buhari
[All Africa] President Muhammadu Buhari has reassured that the ongoing anti-corruption campaign in Nigeria will be won in spite of the fact that "the anti-corruption war is tough and gruelling".

A statement released on Thursday in Abuja by Mr Femi Adesina, the President's Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, said Buhari gave the assurance at a meeting with the American Secretary of State, John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
, on Wednesday.

The meeting was on the margin of the conference on climate change, COP22, in Marrakech, Morocco.

Buhari was quoted as saying: "corruption is fighting back vigorously".

The statement further quoted the President as saying that corrupt people had accumulated a formidable arsenal of illicit wealth, which they were now deploying against the government on diverse fronts.

Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
ISIS Was Here: How the extremists ruled and destroyed Qayyara
[RUDAW.NET] This is the main road to the town of Qayara. It is no longer used by travelers because the bridge that connects the city to the nearby villages was permanently destroyed by ISIS holy warriors. By cutting off the town, ISIS hoped it could prolong its rule in Qayara.

The holy warriors' control was temporary as the Iraqi army marched into the city on August 2016 despite the broken bridge, ending the brutal rule of the Islamic fanatics.

When we arrived in Qayara, security conditions were still largely fragile, forcing us to wear bulletproof vests for safety reasons.

Villagers greeted us and began their heartbreaking stories of the time they had endured under ISIS rule.

The thick smoke from oil wells that the group set on fire is still rising. As we enter the gates of the city, the magnitude of the destruction becomes evident. It is like the remains of a total war or as if a big earthquake has just struck the city.

But the destruction is mainly the outcome of allied forces' intense bombings of holy warrior targets. Judging from the many dead ISIS bodies lying around the city streets, one can imagine that the group has put up stiff resistance before losing the town.

Now, the only reminders of the ISIS rule in Qayara are the group's infamous black signs and slogans written here and there on the walls.

During its two-year reign in the city, the ISIS put into practice nearly all its principles. In the end it managed to turn the town into a giant prison for the residents who were living under constant fear and surveillance.

The group also had a new administrative planning, creating a new province called the Tigris containing Zab, Shargat and, of course, Qayara itself.

What separated Qayara from the rest of other cities under ISIS rule, is that only Sunnis lived in the town which had an estimated 89,000 people when the group arrived. These people have directly witnessed the atrocities committed by the group and suffered just as any other religious community.

The people here have horrific stories that depict a dark age in the recent history of the town.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  But there are no horrific stories, here *or* at the link!

Come to think of it, I got a pretty good idea what those horrific stories are.
Posted by: Bobby || 11/18/2016 10:32 Comments || Top||

#2  forcing us to wear bulletproof vests for safety reasons.

I only wear them for the look.
Posted by: Shipman || 11/18/2016 16:42 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Woman’s body exhumed to find cause of death
[DAWN] ABBOTTABAD: The body of a woman, who had died of burns in the Ayub Teaching Hospital on Oct 26, was exhumed here on Wednesday in the presence of a civil judge and police to take samples for probing the actual cause of her death.

According to police, Shumaila Bibi, wife of Qasim, was brought to the Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad
... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden....
, on Oct 21 and she expired in the burns unit on Oct 26 and was buried the same day.

However,
it's easy to be generous with someone else's money...
her brother filed an application at Donga Gali cop shoppe regarding the alleged burning of his sister by her husband and in-laws.

Police sources confirmed that the investigation was started on the application of brother of the dear departed girl, Mohammad Waseem, and a case had been registered under Section 156/3. They said that the body was exhumed after the approval of court to take samples from the body to find the cause of her death. A woman doctor collected samples from the body after exhumation in Tatreela village in the presence of a civil judge, DSP Galyat and relatives.

Galyat DSP Jamailur Rehman said that the police had booked three persons as nominated by the complainant and the result of examination of the body samples was awaited.

Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  A woman doctor collected samples from the body

Because, well...a man doctor just doesn't know about those things.
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/18/2016 2:17 Comments || Top||


Police storm several villages, destroy 10 houses
[DAWN] SUKKUR: A strong contingent drawn from various cop shoppes of the Sukkur range on Wednesday carried out a big operation in many villages, bulldozed several houses and torched some of them near Khanpur Mahar town of Ghotki district and locked away
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
10 suspected criminals.

Led by Mirpur Mathelo DSP Abdul Qayyum Mahar, a convoy of police vans and an armoured personnel carrier stormed Pir Bharee, Sahanjro, Kandair Sheikh, Gopo Pitafi, Saropo Bozdar and other villages in what was described as an ’anti-criminals operation’.

The police carried out a house-to-house search for some wanted suspects and marked 10 houses, five of which were later bulldozed and the others set on fire.

Ali Bukhsh, Shabbir, Shahmir, Ilyas, Imam Bukhsh, Lalu, Fateh Mohammed and three other members of the Bozdar community were arrested during the operation.

The affected villagers alleged that police teams took away their livestock, grain stocks and household articles whereas some of them claimed that they [police] also seized their vehicles, including a cycle of violence, a rickshaw and a tractor.

According to DSP Mahar, a few suspected criminals were taken into custody for interrogation. He said the houses belonging to wanted criminals and those where they had been hiding to escape arrest had been demolished.

A large number of people held a protest demonstration after the police operation accusing the DSP and his subordinates of committing excesses against them and illegally seizing their belongings in the name of action against criminals.

Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Panama Papers have no credibility in eyes of law, Sharif tells LHC
[DAWN] Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
has said that contents of the Panama Papers have "no credibility/standing in the eyes of law and are inadmissible as evidence before any court".

He said so in a written reply submitted on Wednesday to Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, whose court is seized with a petition challenging the National Assembly speaker’s act of dismissing a reference for Mr Sharif’s disqualification as a member of the legislature in the wake of Panama Papers leaks.

The reply was filed by former attorney general Salman Aslam Butt on behalf of the premier.

In his reply, Mr Sharif not only challenged the territorial but also the constitutional jurisdiction of the LHC in taking up the petition moved by a member of the Pakistain Justice and Democratic Party, which was set up by former chief justice of Pakistain Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. He also challenged locus standi of the petitioner.

The reply said the speaker duly passed the impugned order in exercise of the powers conferred upon him under Article 63(2) of the Constitution and it did not merit any interference by the court as already settled by the Supreme Court in various judgements.

Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Iraq
Iraqi Informant: ISIS’ Baghdadi sleeps with a suicide belt
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A few weeks ago, one djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
resident began sending text messages to Iraqi intelligence in Baghdad, saying that ISIS chief His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
...formerly merely the head of ISIL and a veteran of the Bagram jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us...
has begun to crack under pressure.

The text messages, which started in the first week of November and obtained by Rooters News Agency, said Baghdadi "has become very temperamental" and that "he has even let go of himself in terms of his appearances."

"He used to care a lot about how he looks and portrays himself. Not much these days though," one text message read.

The informant said Baghdad currently lives underground, using tunnels that extend to wider parts of the city.

"He also goes to bed wearing a suicide belt. He is convinced that he will never be taken alive so he wears it in case he gets tossed in the calaboose
I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece!
," the informant said.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  I used to have my special pillow for times of stress.
Posted by: Shipman || 11/18/2016 0:17 Comments || Top||

#2  But you know, Suicide Pillow WMAPGNFAB.
Posted by: Shipman || 11/18/2016 0:17 Comments || Top||

#3  Pleasant Dreams.. Some people go to Hell while they are still alive.
Posted by: Theanter Elmeck1752 || 11/18/2016 8:45 Comments || Top||

#4  Apparently his favorite goat left him.
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/18/2016 9:48 Comments || Top||

#5  It's all fun and games until the Hellfire missiles might rain down on you.
Posted by: gorb || 11/18/2016 10:41 Comments || Top||

#6  To use a hoary Old Patriot meme - the time is coming for an Arclight or three.
Posted by: Pappy || 11/18/2016 11:03 Comments || Top||

#7  Do we got Clamato juice in the back?
Posted by: Shipman || 11/18/2016 16:07 Comments || Top||

#8  Hahaha...peppered vodka with a clam back!
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/18/2016 20:21 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran arrests 12 officials on spying charges
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iranian MP Hussein Ali Haji Degana has revealed that at least 12 brass hats holding dual citizenship have been tossed in the calaboose
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
in Iran on spying charges.

The MP added that among the 12 detained were officials who played key roles in the Iran nuclear deal signed last year.

The MP demanded that the judiciary apparatus delivers its rulings with transparency, and that the officials’ identity also be made public.

Some of the officials who were arrested simply for holding dual citizenships.

Many high-ranking Iranian officials like Minister of Intelligence Mahmoud Alavi have denied in the past the presence of dual-citizens among Iran’s decision makers. But it has been reported that Abdol-Rasool Dorri Esfahani, one of the nuclear deal negotiators, was arrested based on the claims of owning dual citizenship with his family currently residing in Canada.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Afghanistan
Woman poisons 7 family members to escape with lover in Ghor province
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A woman has poisoned seven members of her in-law’s family to elope with her lover in central Ghor province of Afghanistan.

According to the local government officials, the incident took place on Wednesday noon after the woman added toxic material to the food of her in in-law’s family who were later admitted to the hospital for treatment.

The officials further added that the woman managed to flee and a search operation is underway to arrest the woman along with her lover who is believed to be a member of the police forces.

According to the officials, the health condition of the family of the woman is satisfactory and they are being treated in the provincial hospital.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Feral child bride sex slave?
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/18/2016 9:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Could be something as simple as sleeping powder.
Posted by: Pappy || 11/18/2016 11:53 Comments || Top||


Airstrike kill 6 ISIS militants, leaves 2 others wounded in East of Afghanistan
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least 6 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 and 2 others were maimed in an Arclight airstrike 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.

The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the Arclight airstrike was carried out in Pacher Agam district of Nangarhar.

No further details were given regarding the Arclight airstrike and it is yet not clear if the raid was conducted by the Afghan Air Force or the US forces based in Afghanistan.

Both the Afghan and US forces conducted regular strikes against the loyalists of the terror group in this province.

The increased raids, usually involving dronezaps, by the US forces followed a broader role granted by the B.O. regime earlier this year.

The broader role was granted amid concerns that the loyalists of the terror group are attempting to expand foothold in the country and turn the eastern Nangarhar province into a regional operational hub for its fighters.

The deputy house speaker in the Afghan parliament, Haji Zahir Qadir, earlier warned that the loyalists of the terror group will become successful in establishing the Khurasan Caliphate if they managed to take control of Tora Bora mountainous terrain located close to Pacher Agam district.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Well-Known Transgender Activist Arrested In Connection With Oakland Triple Murder
[ABC7NEWS] Police in Oakland have made an arrest in a triple homicide. The three victims were found dead last week.

The suspect is Dana Rivers, is a well-known transgender activist.

The three people Rivers is accused of killing are 19-year-old Benny Wright, his mother Patricia Wright and her partner Charlotte Reid.

Oakland police rushed to the family's East Oakland home Friday morning, just after midnight. They found Benny, stabbed and bleeding on the street.

Then, they heard gun shots and saw smoke coming from the garage. Investigators believe Rivers shot the two women and then set the garage on fire in an attempt to destroy evidence.

Police stopped Rivers as she ran out of the house covered in blood.

Rivers made headlines when she was asked to leave her teaching job in Sacramento, when she started living as a woman.

ABC7 News interviewed Rivers back in 2000, when the Boy Scouts tried to exclude members based on sexual orientation. Rivers opposed that policy.

"The principals that scouting taught me were tolerance, acceptance, love for my fellow American," Rivers said in 2000.

Police have not said what the motive is for these murders. Rivers will be in court Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Obviously, the doctor missed removing the rest of the "corrosive masculinity".
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 11/18/2016 7:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Mental illness is as mental illness does.
Posted by: AlanC || 11/18/2016 9:25 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
SpaceX wants to launch 4,425 satellites into space to bring super-fast internet to the world
[CNBC] Elon Musk's SpaceX wants to launch thousands of satellites into space with the aim of providing super-fast global internet coverage, according to a regulatory filing.

SpaceX ‐ the company on a mission to colonize Mars ‐ outlined plans to put 4,425 satellites into space in a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) filing from earlier this week.

That's three times the 1,419 satellites that are currently in space, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, a not-for-profit group made up of scientists across the world.

Billionaire Musk ‐ who is also the chief executive of electric car company Tesla ‐ first announced plans for the project in 2015, with an estimated cost of around $10 billion. The FCC filing did not outline the financials of the project.

Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "wants to"

So that's:
1) 'high end electric cars'-well, maybe
2) 'private launch facility rocket man'-yeah, OK
3) 'house batteries'-TBD
4) 'solar rooftops'-kinda hope this does work
5) 'hyper loop trains'-not really
6) 'nuke Mars to make an atmosphere'-unlikely

Just trying to keep up with Branson and Besos I guess but they aren't really doing 'new' things.

Why not code DNA for a skin of chloroplasts? Sure the poor starving children may look like chiapets but they won't be hungry.

Or the warp drive, eh?
So we can escape the upcoming asteroid storm.

Maybe decode this bicameral mind thing so we can stop having wars over ideology.
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/18/2016 1:05 Comments || Top||

#2  according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, a not-for-profit group made up of scientists across the world.

And Anthony Watts dog.
Posted by: phil_b || 11/18/2016 3:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Mr. Musk is an "Idea Guy," who's idea is to milk the American taxpayer.
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 11/18/2016 12:42 Comments || Top||

#4  Last minute winner of Snark of the Week. Tip my hat.
Posted by: Regular joe || 11/18/2016 16:50 Comments || Top||


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ahhh...swingers.
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/18/2016 0:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Nice trapezoid, Fred!
Posted by: gorb || 11/18/2016 0:54 Comments || Top||

#3 
Posted by: Goober Glemp2432 || 11/18/2016 1:14 Comments || Top||

#4  Kansas City? Looks like she stepped in it.
Posted by: KBK || 11/18/2016 2:25 Comments || Top||

#5  If I had a swing like that, I'd pull the seat down to see if there were any screws in it.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 11/18/2016 8:11 Comments || Top||

#6  The gals alleged Lil was the easiest;
Her breathless reply was the breeziest:
"You betcha... I'm daring...
But what am... I baring...?
(the fellas... all love my... trapezius!)"

Eh.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 11/18/2016 11:02 Comments || Top||

#7  ZF6220, can you somehow make it work with "gluteus maximus?"
Posted by: JohnQC || 11/18/2016 11:36 Comments || Top||

#8  Sideboob! YAY!
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 11/18/2016 12:51 Comments || Top||

#9  I wish, but probably not. I vaguely recall bouncing off of it early in my "career." I could weasel (Gluteus Maximus Trumpus... pompous... hump us) or pluralize (pronunciation issues) or try for whimsy (craximus, waximus, staximus, faximus, blaximus... sigh... hasn't been a real whimsical year), but ultimately, no. I got nothing. I'll ponder it on the bus, htough (or, more likely, dream on it). Heh.

While I'm yacking... I'll often glance at the bloid pic (or some random story, for that matter) and get a vague idea that Fred's up to something (beyond the obvious, routine brilliance) that I'm just a little too dense to spot. Anyone else? Or maybe I'm the only one not getting the jokes?
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 11/18/2016 13:10 Comments || Top||

#10  JohnQC, I see I kinda missed your point. Can I make it work in that particular context? Oh, hell no. Brain says, "Don't even wear me out trying that shit." Maybe somebody else?
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 11/18/2016 13:20 Comments || Top||

#11  On a swing seat of uncommon size
Dear Lily's gluteus did maximize
She polished gently its strong wood
Giving it a finish of uncommon good
A bright shine to reflect fair skies.
Posted by: JHH || 11/18/2016 15:32 Comments || Top||

#12  Sometimes I see puppies in the clouds, does that count?
Posted by: Shipman || 11/18/2016 15:54 Comments || Top||

#13  The Haiku Josie Wales

Puppies soft and warm
Teeth that nip their master's hand
Float through a sky blue mind
Posted by: JHH || 11/18/2016 16:11 Comments || Top||

#14  Absolutely nobody does poetry like Rantburgers do poetry.

:-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/18/2016 19:32 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Bangladesh Arrests Five Linked to Deadly Cafe Siege
[AnNahar] Five people linked to the Islamist murderous Moslem group behind July's Dhaka cafe siege that left 22 hostages, most of them foreigners, dead have been tossed in the calaboose
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
, Bangladesh police said Thursday.

An Islamic spiritual leader and an explosives expert were among the group detained in a series of raids in the capital late Wednesday and early Thursday, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) police unit said.

"They belonged to Sarwar-Tamim group of the Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB)," RAB said in a statement, referring to the murderous Moslem group the government has blamed for the July attack.

RAB said a 27-year-old electrical engineer who made explosives for the group and provided training, and a 40-year-old spiritual leader who preached Jihad to the group's budding snuffies were among those arrested.

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 and al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent grabbed credit for the siege at Holey Artisan Bakery cafe in Dhaka's posh Gulshan neighborhood.

But Prime Minister the loathesome Sheikh Hasina
...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums..
's government has blamed the homegrown JMB and another group called Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT).

The leader of the JMB, Sarwar Jahan, and the criminal mastermind of the cafe siege, Tamim Chowdhury, a Canadian citizen of Bangladeshi origin, were both killed in raids outside the capital by security forces in recent months.

The July carnage triggered a security force crackdown on Islamist murderous Moslems, with police shooting dead nearly 40 suspected murderous Moslems and arresting scores more since.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  An Islamic spiritual leader and an explosives expert

Walked into a bar in a tony upazilla in Swat. The barkeep on seeing the Imman sez, you know we don't get to many holy men's here. The Immam smiled and nodded to the barista and then to his companion.


Ker fucking BOOM

/olde Bangla joke
Posted by: Shipman || 11/18/2016 16:05 Comments || Top||

#2  :-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/18/2016 19:44 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
ISIS claims responsibility for Kabul attack that left 4 dead, 11 wounded
[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 grabbed credit behind the attack 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....
that left at least 4 dead.

ISIS loyalists operating under the name of Khurasan province issued a statement and released the picture of the jacket wallah who carried out the attack on Wednesday morning.

The suicide bomber has been identified as Talha al-Khurasani
So that'd be "Talha from Afghanistan?" Kinda like "Bob the American" or "Jose the Paraguayan." See why we have social security numbers and driver's license numbers?
and the loyalists of the terror group have claimed that the target of the kaboom was the operatives of the Afghan intelligence.

The incident on Wednesday took place in Pul-e-Mahmood Khan area of the city around 8:00 am local time.

The officials confirmed that 4 people were killed and 11 others were maimed in the attack.

The statement by ISIS loyalists claiming responsibility for the attack comes as the terror group has received major setbacks during the counter-terrorism operations conducted by the Afghan and US forces based in Afghanistan.

Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Iraq
Bitter fight for Tal Afar ahead; violence may not end there
[Independent] Tal Afar is a small city notorious for sectarian hatred and slaughter, which may soon be engulfed by a final battle between Isis and its bitterest enemies. Shia paramilitaries seeking revenge for past massacres of their co-religionists may soon assault the place which has provided many of the most feared Isis commanders, judges and religious officials.

“Isis is full of killers, but the worst killers of all come Tal Afar,” says a senior Iraqi official who did not want his name published. Abbas, a 47-year-old Shia Turkman from Tal Afar living in exile in the Kurdish city of Zakho, agrees, saying that several of the senior military commandersof the self-declared Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi come from there. He adds that officers from the Shia paramilitaries have been told that they will soon attack the city. The Turkmen are on of Iraq's smaller minorities but important because of their links to Isis and to Turkey.

Between 10,000 and 15,000 Shia Hashd al-Shaabi are now massing to the south and west of Mosul with Tal Afar in their sights. A spokesman for them said on Tuesday that they were within twelve miles of Tal Afar airport. The paramilitaries, often referred to as militia, include an estimated 3,000 Shia Turkmen from Tal Afar who were forced to flee in 2014 when Isis seized the city, though it had long been infamous for its death squads operating on behalf of both the Sunni majority and Shia minority. The difference between the paramilitaries and government security forces is not entirely clear cut, because the former have been known to change into federal police and other uniforms in the past to hide their presence in the battle zone.

Abbas says that he believes that the Iraqi Army can take the city though only after heavy fighting because “the locals of Tal Afar which are with Isis will never leave the the city. They have a strong belief that Tal Afar is Sunni not Shia and they prefer Isis to the Iraqi government.” But, bad though occupation by the Iraqi Army would be in their eyes, its capture by the Hashd would be even worse says Abbas.

What happens next in Tal Afar has international implications because Turkey has threatened military intervention in defence of the Sunni Turkmen if the Shia paramilitaries enter the city. A Turkish mechanised brigade has been moved to the Turkish Iraqi border to give substance to the threat. The KDP, the dominant Kurdish party in this part of northern Iraq, is likewise worried by the presence of powerful Shia militia forces in the region.

Abbas says that as of last weekend the Hashd were within four miles of Tal Afar. He believes that for Isis the city has always been of great importance because of its position close to the border with Syria and Turkey. Aside from their sympathy for Isis, Abbas says that these days “the Sunni Turkmen lean towards Turkey and the Shia Turkmen lean towards the Baghdad government and Iran.”

The capture of Mosul and Tal Afar by the Iraqi government and the Hashd would severely weaken Isis and re-establish the authority of the Baghdad government in northern Iraq. The Sunni population of Iraq, a fifth of the population, would lose their last urban strongholds. Turkey may be tempted to intervene, but this will be opposed by the US and Baghdad. Isis has evidently decided to draw out the fighting for Mosul and Tal Afar, and, if it is able to do so, not much of either city will survive the battle.
Posted by: Pappy || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Home Front: WoT
Alleged NY bomber pleads not guilty to terror charges
[IsraelTimes] Ahmad Khan Rahami,
...the probably Taliban-trained Afghan-"American" whose various bombs in New York and New Jersey caused havoc in late September...
28, is the only suspect in al-Qaeda-inspired bombing in Manhattan in September in which 31 were maimed.


The suspect behind a bombing that maimed 31 people in New York in September pleaded not guilty
"Wudn't me."
to terrorism-related charges Thursday in a Manhattan federal court.

Ahmad Khan Rahami pleaded not guilty to all eight counts of the indictment, a front man for the prosecutor said.

All counts are linked to homemade bombs he is suspected of planting in Manhattan and New Jersey. The charges include the use of a weapon of mass destruction, the inter-state transportation and receipt of explosives, and the bombing of a place of public use.

One bomb went kaboom! in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, lightly wounding 31 people. Police found five additional pipe bombs in Rahami’s hometown of Elizabeth, New Jersey and a second device in Chelsea that was defused. Most of the other bombs did not explode and no one was killed.

Rahami, 28, an American of Afghan descent, was unable to appear before a judge until last week because he was recovering from multiple gunshot wounds sustained during a shootout with police that led to his arrest in New Jersey on September 19.

Police found a handwritten journal in which Rahami lauded the late Osama bin Laden
... who is now sometimes referred to as Mister Bones...
and US-born al-Qaeda recruiter 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...
, and criticized US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.

Officials say he traveled extensively to Afghanistan and spent around a year in Pakistain, where he married and his wife became pregnant.

The FBI believes Rahami acted alone and is not connected to any myrmidon groups. The only suspect in the New York case, he faces life in prison if convicted.

Rahami faces other charges in New Jersey in connection with his shootout with police, including attempted murder of a law enforcement officer.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  NY bomber pleads not guilty to terror charges

"I didn't mean to scare anybody!"
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/18/2016 2:19 Comments || Top||

#2  he was recovering from multiple gunshot wounds sustained during a shootout with police

Yet ANOTHER argument for more gun control!
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/18/2016 2:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Yep, Skid, seems like multiple coppers need more range time to learn how to hit the target in the 10 ring.
Posted by: AlanC || 11/18/2016 9:07 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iraqi mufti accuses former prime minister of following foreign agenda
[RUDAW.NET] A prominent Iraqi Sunni holy man on Thursday blamed former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki for allowing ISIS to take over djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
and accused him of now following an "outside" agenda.

Dr. Rafi Rofaai said that Maliki, a Shiite backed by Iran, there was not a party in Iraq that that the former prime minister had not criticized, including his own Dawa party. The mufti, or holy man, accused him of bearing a grudge against the country’s Kurds and Sunnis.

"Maliki is a shedder of blood and a dictator who is promoting sectarianism and holding grudges against every party, including his own," Rofaai said in an interview with Rudaw.

He noted that when Kurdish President Masoud Barzani "defends the national rights of the Kurdish nation, Maliki opposes that. When Sunnis defend themselves, he also opposes them."

Tensions between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi government under Maliki peaked in February 2014 as Baghdad froze the Kurdish share of the national budget.

The KRG has since struggled to finance its staggering public servant salaries and the war against ISIS through international loans, austerity measures and its own oil exports.

Responding to a question about whether Kurds can have their own state, Maliki had stated: "No one has the constitutional right to exit Iraq."

Rofaai said, "There is no party in Iraq that Maliki has not attacked." He accused him of "implementing an outside agenda," a reference to neighboring Iran, which wields immense power in Iraq.

He said there are even "people within the Dawa party and State of Law coalition who are attacked by Maliki. So for the time being he does not have a clear and good agenda."

Referring to comments Maliki has persistently made in support of the Iranian-backed Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitary forces that are fighting alongside Iraqi Army in the battle for Mosul, Rofaai said it was under Maliki’s own premiership that ISIS ‐ or ISIS in Arabic ‐ had taken over Mosul.

"Maliki is saying that he fights ISIS with Hashd al-Shaabi forces. Who brought ISIS into Mosul? Maliki and his men pulled out a number of Lions of Islam from prisons and sent them to Mosul," Rofaai charged.

In June 2014, Iraqi forces turned and fled ‐ leaving massive caches of arms that were taken by ISIS ‐ when the snuffies stormed across Iraq and took over Mosul without much of a fight.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Mosul Offensive News
Iraqi militia turns over 16 villages to Iraqi Army

Nineveh – (IraqiNews.com) Al-Hashed al-Shaabi militias started Thursday to hand over to the Iraqi army 16 villages in Mosul they had recaptured from Islamic State militants, according to a local official.

“Al-Hashed al-Shaabi forces have begun to hand over 16 liberated villages in Tal Afar, east of Mosul, to the army’s 15th division,” said Hossam Eddin al-Abbar, a member of Nineveh province’s council.

He said that the army will take hold of those territories as al-Hashed proceed to free more villages.

Al-Hashed al-Shaabi has been actively partaking in the Iraqi government’s campaign to liberate the city of Mosul, ISIS’s last foothold in Iraq. On Wednesday, the militia announced it recaptured the strategic Tal Afar air base after violent clashes with ISIS. The militia’s media said the development represented a major step in its quest to advance to the center of Mosul, where ISIS militants are reported to have relocated many civilians as human shields.

120 families evacuated from Mosul

Nineveh – (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi anti-terrorism forces have evacuated 120 families from Mosul to a refugee camp in the province of Nineveh as battles continue to liberate Mosul from Islamic State militants.

A source within the forces told Almasalah news website that the forces relocated the refugees, who belonged to diverse areas of Mosil, to al-Khazer camp, northeast of Mosul.

On Wednesday, the International Organization for Migration said the number of refugees leaving homes in Nineveh due to battles doubled has stood at 56400 since battles in Nineveh began in October.

Iraqi government forces continue a security operation launched mid October to retake the city of Mosul, ISIS’s last bastion in Iraq, assisted by an international coalition air cover and popular ground militias. Hundreds of families had either moved to refugee camps or were forced by ISIS to relocate to other parts of the city as the group reportedly uses their residences as barracks or weaponry stores.

Iraqi advance yields 18 dead ISIS Jihadis

Baghdad – (IraqiNews.com) Eighteen Islamic State militants were killed on Thursday while the number of those arrested reached 100 as Iraqi security forces proceed with clearing Mosul villages from the group.

Raed Shaker Jawdat, commander of the Iraqi federal police, said in a statement that an elite force killed 18 ISIS fighters west of Hammam al-Alil, a region recaptured last week.

Meanwhile, Abdul Gani al-Assadi, commander of Iraq’s anti-terrorism apparatus, told All Iraq News website that the number of ISIS militants arrested has reached 100.

“Anti-terrorism forces have managed to achieve all their important targets in the city’s western coast, and the districts left in that region are less burdensome,” said al-Assadi, adding that there are three bridges to the eastern coast of Mosul which militants will use to flee the battles.

Last week, the US-led coalition said 1363 ISIS militants were killed since the start of battles for Mosul. On Tuesday, the joint forces said in a press conference Iraqi and international forces had killed more than 1300 militants on the southern axis of Mosul operations.

Photos from Nimrud show damage to antiquities

Nineveh – (IraqiNews.com) Only damage and destruction left in the historic city of Nimrud, after being liberated by security forces from the Islamic State’s control.

In 2015, the Islamic State extremist group (ISIS) announced its intention to destroy the archaeological sites in the city of Nimrud due to its “un-Islamic” nature. In the same year, the Iraqi government announced that ISIS used bulldozers to demolish remains of the city.

A video released in March 2015, showed a lamassu (an Assyrian winged bull which had guarded the palace entrance and stood as symbols of the strength and culture of the Assyrian empire when it was at the height of its powers) statue in the city being attacked by an ISIS terrorist with a sledgehammer. Another video posted online by the group in April 2015 showed the site being destroyed by bulldozers and explosives.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Museum published the following photos on its Facebook page to show how the hatred of the terrorist group toward citizens also extended to historical and archaeological sites.

Iraqi militias discover tunnels to Tel Afar airfield

Nineveh – (IraqiNews.com) Al-Hashd al-Shaabi media outlets announced on Thursday, that security forces found a network of tunnels belonging to the Islamic State group in the vicinity of Tel Afar Airport, west of the city of Mosul.

The media outlets stated, “Forces from al-Hahsd al-Shaabi militia are besieging a number of ISIS members inside Tel Afar Airport,” adding that, “Shia militia of al-Hashd al-Shaabi discovered a network of tunnels belonging to the Islamic State in the vicinity of the airport, and also liberated the village of al-Abra in the airport’s area.”

Yesterday, al-Hashd al-Shaabi forces announced liberating Tel Afar Airport, in western Nineveh.

Earlier today, the Shia militia also announced that its forces continue cleansing and securing the area of Tel Afar Airport, west of the city.

Iraqi forces capture new area in Mosul

Nineveh – (IraqiNews.com) Commander of operation ‘We Are coming, Nineveh’ announced on Thursday liberating al-Tahrir neighborhood, in eastern the city of Mosul, from the grip of the Islamic State extremist group, and raising Iraqi flag over its buildings.

Major General Abdel Amir Yarallah said in a press statement, “Troops of the Anti-Terrorism Directorate stormed into al-Tahrir neighborhood in eastern Mosul, and raised Iraqi flag over its buildings.”

“The security forces advised the families to stay at their houses, and will continue removing improvised explosive devices from the neighborhood,” Yarallah explained.

Yesterday, Anti-Terrorism forces conducted an extensive military operation to liberate Hayy Adan and al-Tahrir in the western coast of Mosul.

Joint security forces, backed by Army Aviation and international coalition continue their advance in the battle launched in 17 October 2016, to liberate the city of Mosul.

10 ISIS Turbans die in Iraqi airstrike

Nineveh – (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi media outlets reported on Thursday, that 10 members of the Islamic State extremist group were killed and three vehicles belonging to them were destroyed by an Army Aviation air strike, in western the province.

Alsumaria News stated, “Today, Iraqi Army Aviation conducted an air strike to target ISIS members in the western axis of Nineveh, killing 10 ISIS members and destroying three armed vehicles.”

“The air strike was carried out based on accurate intelligence information indicating that a number of ISIS members fled from the battles of Tel Afar,” Alsumaria added.

Yesterday, al-Hashd al-Shaabi forces announced liberating Tel Afar Airport, west of Nineveh, and pointed out that the security forces are cleansing the airport area and searching for terrorists.

Iraqi forces capture 6 more areas in western Mosul

Nineveh – (IraqiNews.com) Joint Operations Command announced on Thursday, that the security forces continue liberating six areas in the western coast of the city of Mosul.

The command said in a press statement, “Troops of Federal Policed in the southwest axis of Nineveh managed, today, to fully liberate al-Ezba village,” adding that, “Anti-Terrorism forces in the eastern axis continue liberating the areas of Adan, al-Bakr, al-Zahabiya, al-Khadra’, al-Qadisiyah al-Oula and al-Tahrir.”

“Troops of al-Hashd al-Shaabi in the western axis managed to besiege Tel Afar Airport, and continue the cleansing operations inside the airport,” the statement added.

Joint security forces, backed by Army Aviation and international coalition continue their advance in the battle launched in 17 October 2016, to liberate the city of Mosul.

Iraqi forces move in 2nd airfield in Tel Afar

Iraqi forces piled pressure on the so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) terrorist group around Mosul Thursday, moving closer to cutting off the terrorists’ escape route west to Syria and thrusting deeper into the east of the city.

Pro-government paramilitaries advancing on the town of Tal Afar, which commands the city’s west approaches, entered its airport, while troops moving up from the south had the Mosul airport in their sights.

Wounded civilians continued to stream out of the east of Mosul as government forces battled ISIL militants on the streets.

Mortar fire and bombs killed three children and wounded more than two dozen people on Thursday morning alone, one of the clinic’s staff, Hossam al-Nuri, told AFP.

“ISIL has planted bombs in large parts of Tal Afar airport and operations are under way to clear it completely,” the Popular Mobilization Forces said in a statement.

Control of Tal Afar, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Mosul, would bring pro-government forces closer to surrounding ISIL in its last major Iraqi stronghold.

South of Mosul, advancing troops were nearing the city’s airport. An officer with elite interior ministry forces said a planned advance on Thursday would bring them to within four kilometres (two and a half miles).

Human Rights Watch issued a statement on Thursday that included accounts by residents of the Hamam al-Alil area south of Mosul suggesting that a mass grave found there contains the bodies of former police killed by ISIL.

Most of the first weeks of fighting were in sparsely populated areas outside the city but forces are now pushing into heavily built-up areas where aid delivery is complicated.
Posted by: badanov || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Take a look at these pictures of ISIS destroying ancient stone carvings.
These artifacts were 3 - 5000 years old. They are now powder. These people are Satanic monsters.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 11/18/2016 12:09 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Yemen loyalists retake parts of eastern Taiz
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Sources from Yemen’s army and resistance forces have confirmed they were able to retake complete control in parts of eastern Taiz.

The forces were able to regain control of al-Jehmaliah town and other eastern parts of Taiz city from 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 forces loyal to ousted former 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...
Civilian sources also said parts of the Republican Palace neighborhood in the city were liberated after months of siege by militia forces.

Key facilities in the areas liberated included a military hospital, an army supplies center, two schools and a cultural center.

Recently, Houthi militias have been accused of attacking civilian buildings in Taiz, including places of worship, pictures obtained by Al Arabiya News Channel have shown.

Images have revealed how the armed militias violated the sanctity of the Tawhid mosque in Taiz.

Soddys shell parts of Taiz

[al-Manar] The Saudi-led mercenaries committed on Thursday night a new massacre in Yemen’s city of Taiz as they shelled a residential area, killing or injuring scores of civilians.

In details, the mercenaries launched an artillery attack on a residential area and a popular market in Softil neighborhood in Taiz, leaving over 50 locals killed or wounded.

The massacre was committed few hours before the announced ceasefire in Yemen comes into effect tonight at 23:59 (Sanaa Time).

Yemen has been since March 26, 2015 under brutal aggression by Saudi-led coalition.

Thousands have been martyred and injured in the attack, with the vast majority of them are civilians.

Riyadh launched the attack on Yemen in a bid to restore power to fugitive ex-president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi who is a close ally to Saudi Arabia.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


India-Pakistan
Five peace volunteers gunned down
[DAWN] LANDI KOTAL: Five volunteers of the Zakhakhel Peace Committee were bumped off and another one was injured in an attack on Wednesday.

Khasadar officials said that the volunteers were going to the Gogrina area in Bazaar-Zakhakhel from Tirah when they came under fire.

The bodies were taken to Gogrina village and the injured was shifted to a hospital in Landi Kotal, they said.

APP adds: The banned Lashkar-e-Islam
...a group of Islamic bandidos infesting Khyber Agency. It's headed by a former bus driver....
organization of Mangal Bagh
...a former bus driver, now head of the Deobandi bandido group Lashkar-e-Islam and the Terror of Khyber Agency...
grabbed credit for the attack, political authorities said.

Peace committees comprising local volunteers were formed in sensitive parts of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas to keep an eye on the activities of suspected elements and inform the security forces accordingly.

Several members of these committees have bit the dust in similar attacks in the past.

Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  Peace committees spying and informing on suspected elements to security forces? Wouldn't seem to help the peace process much.
Posted by: JohnQC || 11/18/2016 10:51 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
US buys ads on Facebook to fight jihadists
[IsraelTimes] Social media companies’ detailed user data allows easy access to audiences susceptible to bad boy propaganda.

Social media has long been a key battlefield in the war on Islamic extremism.

But the US has found this year that online ads on media like Facebook, rather than posts, are a cost-effective way to fight the jihadist propaganda 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....
and other such groups.

Michael Lumpkin, the State Department’s point man in the "soft power" fight against Islamist bad boys, said Thursday at the Defense One Summit in Washington that Facebook’s detailed metrics for advertisers helps the government campaign reach its targets -- people who might be groomed online by jihadists.

"Using Facebook ads, I can go within Facebook, I can grab an audience. I can pick country X, I need age group 13 to 34, I need people who liked His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
...formerly merely the head of ISIL and a veteran of the Bagram jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us...
or any other set, and I can shoot and hit them directly with messages," he said.

"In some places in the world, it’s literally pennies a click to do it," he said.

Lumpkin is the Coordinator of the Global Engagement Center at the State Department, a unit focused on both conducting its own campaigns against gunnies and coordinating with other groups to the same end, especially in on-line and mobile spaces.

He said that the detailed user data that social media giants collect is crucial in identifying his target audience, on the social media that they prefer.

"That’s why these Facebook ads that I mentioned are kind of a fundamental change for us: for very low investment we can be highly targeted towards the enemy."

Facebook, he noted, offers the government access to affordable amassed and collated user data for singling out target groups and individuals for the anti-extremism ads the US government runs.

"The best I can do right now is to have access to big data and to use the analytics tools on the social media platforms, the Facebooks and the others," he said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  How many days left?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/18/2016 14:25 Comments || Top||

#2  "Try this one crazy simple trick to stop jihading!"

Accompanied by profile photo of homeless-looking FB user.
Posted by: charger || 11/18/2016 18:27 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iraqi VP says referendum in Nineveh to solve disputes, backs Sunni autonomous region
[RUDAW.NET] In what appears to be a Sunni endorsement of referendum in the disputed Nineveh Plains, Iraq's Vice President Osamah Nujafi, a Sunni, announced Wednesday his support for the long anticipated public vote to settle the territorial disputes in the vast areas north of the country.

Speaking to Rudaw TV, the influential Sunni leader also said he would support the formation of a semi-independent region in Nineveh after the ISIS war.

"The solution is a referendum in which the people are given a chance to decide their future, but this should be done in a stable environment and away from military rule," Nujaifi said adding it would take place in accordance to previous agreements with Baghdad and Erbil governments.

Heading a large Sunni delegation, Nujafi is in Erbil for talks about post-ISIS djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
and the return of refugees to their homes in Nineveh Plains after the war.

Nujaifi "expressed gratitude" towards Kurdistan Region for embracing a half a million displaced families from Mosul since 2014, according to a statement by Kurdish presidents office Monday.

The Iraqi VP also showed support for an autonomous region in Nineveh with Mosul as its capital, something the Sunnis have long been championing.

"The majority of people in Nineveh believe that the province should become a region encompassing several provinces, 6 to 7 provinces, according to the population makeup of these areas," Nujaifi said.

"Shingal could become a province, as well as Tal Afaar, the Nineveh plains, the Mosul city and South Nineveh and all of these within the Nineveh Region," he added.

Nujaifi said the referendum and formation of a region would be in line with the country's constitution.

"The people of the provinces then will have a say about their future and that should be respected, if not, then the constitution has not been respected," he added

Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has openly supported the formation of a Sunni region but Erbil also demands the return of Kurdish territories in Nineveh in case of a "yes" vote at the referendum.

Kurdish President Massoud Barzani
... hereditary head of the Kurdish Democratic Party, maybe a little too close to the Medes and the Persians for most people's tastes...
has said Peshmerga forces will not enter Mosul city as the operation advances, but he has publicly announced that the Peshmerga will refuse to retreat from Kurdish areas which they recapture from ISIS.

The Nineveh Plains, with Mosul as its scenic provincial capital, is home to Iraq’s largest mixture of populations with different ethnic and religious backgrounds. In most of these villages Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen, Christians and many other groups have lived together for centuries. The area also has been one of the most volatile regions in Iraq where rivalling groups share territorial claims.

After the collapse of the Baathist rule in Iraq in 2003, these areas came under a new constitutional article which determined their status as disputed territories whose fate should depend on a referendum.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Baghdad Bomb and Bullet Bulletin: 2 die


2 die in bomb attack in Diriya

Baghdad – (IraqiNews.com) Two civilians were killed and eight others were wounded when a roadside IED exploded southeast of Baghdad, babil24.com quoted a security source as saying.

The bomb was placed on the side of a road in Diriya, southeast of Baghdad, said the source.

Baghdad has recently witnessed a surge in deadly bombings, with observers commenting that the attacks were possibly carried out by Islamic State militants to divert security authorities attention from Mosul, where the extremist group has witnessed a month of consecutive defeats to Iraqi forces and popular militias struggling to liberate the city.

The United Nations has recently said that 58000 people were killed across Iraq since ISIS occupied wide parts of the country
Posted by: badanov || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


International-UN-NGOs
European court rejects claim by detained Turkish judge
[DeutscheWelle] The European Court of Human Rights has dismissed the first case to reach it over Ankara's crackdown following a failed coup in July. The applicant, a young Turkish judge, complained over her treatment in detention.

The Strasbourg-based judges decided on Thursday that the claimant, 30-year-old Zeynep Mercan, failed to exhaust all legal instances in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
before addressing the tribunal. Specifically, the Turkish judge needed to appeal to Turkey's Constitutional Court.
Seriously? Wow.
However,
there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened...
Mercan argued that the Turkish court was no longer capable of unbiased judgment after the crackdown. Authorities tossed in the calaboose
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
two members of the body in the continuing purge, alongside with 30,000 other judges and prosecutors.

Before the coup attempt, Mercan served as a judge in the town of Giresun on Turkey's Black Sea coast. She was arrested only days after the violence in July and accused of links to the movement of Fetullah Gulen. Her appeal against the arrest was rejected by a Turkish court.

The defendant then addressed the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), complaining that her right to a fair trial and protection from inhuman or degrading treatment have been breached.

Fair trial complaint 'premature'
In its decision, the Strasbourg tribunal said it would stay with the current practice of only accepting cases after all legal outlets have been exhausted at the national level. Also, the court noted that "Ms. Mercan fears as to the impartiality of the Constitutional Court judges did not in themselves relieve her of the obligation to lodge an application before that court." The human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
court dismissed her complaint about the right to fair trial as premature.

This is the first case to be considered in Strasbourg after the Turkish crackdown. The court has so far registered over 3,000 complaints over the issue, and this number is expected to rise. Following the failed coup, there has been a widescale crackdown in Turkey on any officials, politicians, police, military, academicsand journalists, among others, thought to have ties to the Gulen movement.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Arab coalition intercepts boats carrying weapons to Yemen
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Arab coalition helicopters and naval units intercepted two boats off the port of Salif, north of the Hudaydah governorate in the Red Sea and forced them to stop for inspection and found arms, ammunition and modern telecommunications equipment on board.

This comes two days after the coalition's air force destroyed two boats at the entrance of the Salif port for smuggling weapons to 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.

According to the media center of the popular resistance in the Hudaydah governorate, the smugglers who were on the two boats were interrogated and confessed that they were on their way from Iranian regional waters to the Yemeni Salif port to deliver the load to the Houthis.

Surveillance and investigative operations revealed that militias are using a number of islands, such as Zagar and Hanish, to smuggle arms and equipment with the help of Iran.

After the coalition forces imposed their control on these two islands earlier this year, the militias used the Kamaran island, which is close to the Hudaydah port and which is the only inhabited island.

Iranian smuggling ships either unload their cargo in these islands or in militias' boats in the sea to later be transferred to western shores in Yemen.

A number of western reports revealed that arms have been smuggled through the area of Zabab, 30 kilometers north of Bab al-Mandeb, and the Mocha port, 60 kilometers north of Bab al-Mandeb and west of the Taiz governorate. Arms have also been smuggled through Hudaydah such as through al-Khoukha which is 90 kilometers north of Bab of al-Mandeb and through the major Hudaydah port.

And most recently, smuggling operations were detected through al-Salif port which is 70 kilometers north of the Hudaydah port.

According to local and international reports, smuggling operations included thermal rockets, ammunition, spare parts and huge missiles that were unloaded from Iranian ships in the middle of the sea in the Gulf of Aden on medium-sized boats which most of the time unloaded in the Mocha and Hudaydah ports despite the surveillance imposed by coalition forces on the western shores of Yemen.

Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Iraq
Iraqi sheikh: ISIS suspects families placed in ‘camps’ in Anbar
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Families of ISIS "criminals" have been separated from those who fell victim of the holy warrior group in the western Iraqi province of Anbar, by placing them in "separate camps," a sheikh has told Al Arabiya English.

"We need to separate families of ISIS criminals from the victim families, to avoid friction and confrontation between them," Sheikh Abdulwahab Sarhan al-Dulaimi, head of the Anbar Tribes Council Against Terrorism, said.

"This is to protect [ISIS suspects’ families] their lives and to prevent Dire Revenge acts," he added, emphasizing "there is no vengeance taking place between tribes [in Anbar]."

In February 2016, Iraq announced Ramadi city, Anbar’s capital, had been liberated from ISIS holy warriors. ISIS captured Ramadi in May 2015 in the largest defeat for Iraq’s military since the fall of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
in 2014.

Many observers were fearful that Anbaris, who supported ISIS, would be targeted by families who lost family members at the hands of the holy warrior group.

But US-based al-Hurra TV recently reported that rustics in Anbar were taking Dire Revenge against ISIS culprits and sympathizers by bombing their homes.

In an interview with al-Hurra, Sheikh Omar al-Alwani said if a home belongs to one of the ISIS criminals, "we take 10 signatures from tribal notables and destroy their homes."

Speaking to Al Arabiya English, Major-general Hadi Irzij, head of Anbar police, dismissed the claims.

"We do have cases of homes being blasted, but these residential places were already booby-trapped by ISIS, and sometimes animals enter these homes and the bombings take place," he said.

"Intentionally destroying homes by people is not happening," he added, describing local authorities as being "in control of the security situation."

Irzij also vowed to arrest take to trial would-be vigilantes, if they took the law into their own hands. "We cannot allow this to happen," he said.

He said the security apparatus had a data bank, which has a "a security indicator." "Those who have no security indicator will be allowed to return home."

Irziju said "there is a memorandum of understanding signed by sheikhs, which state those who committed a crime against innocent lives will not be allowed to enter at the moment," leaving them stuck at their camps.

He said about 51,000 families have returned home to their homes in Ramadi, and 59,000 returned back to another city in Anbar called Fallujah.

"Each family has approximately five members," he said. "This is a big number." The population of Anbar is approximately 1.561 million.

The sheikh, meanwhile, reiterated that Iraqi courts, local authorities and the central government are the "ultimate deciders" over the "crimes committed in Anbar" by ISIS holy warriors.

He said tribal customs ushered in and became fortified following the weakening of the central government in Baghdad following the 2003 invasion of Iraq that saw the toppling of late President Saddam Hussein’s government.

"Some security sides were not competent in administering investigations, that’s why tribal customs came in continuation for the law to protect societal peace," he said.

Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


The Grand Turk
Will Demirtas arrest in Turkey diminish Kurdish support for ruling party?
[RUDAW.NET] Analysts are divided on the impact that The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
’s arrests of HDP officials will have on Kurds supporting the country’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which backs the president. Some believe these arrests will sway Kurds to leave the AKP, while others argue they will continue to back it.

Turkish police jugged
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Africa North
Benghazi Bomb and Bullet Bulletin
LNA claims progress in Benghazi’s Ganfouda and Gwarsha

Benghazi, 17 November 2016:

The Libyan National Army (LNA) says it made progress yesterday in the battle in south Benghazi’s Ganfouda and Gwarsha districts and now fully controls Tripoli Road separating them, having destroyed all the militants’ checkpoints along it. It also says that 12 Sudanese nationals being held by the militants as human shields in Ganfouda managed to escape. However, it also says that that there are still 180 foreign workers of various nationalities held prisoner in the district.

According to a spokesman for Saiqa Special Forces, the 12 Sudanese managed to escape under cover of darkness during the night and make their way to LNA lines. As well as being used as human shields, the Sudanese reported that they and others were forced to work for the rebels, transporting arms and equipment for them.

The LNA also says that it discovered a field hospital used by the militants with lists of names of those who were treated there and a bomb-making factory at one of the farms in Gwarsha.

Claiming that the militants were now fully surrounded with their supplies cut off, the LNA added that yesterday it bought in a mine flail machine from Ajdabiya to make a safe path into Ganfouda which has been extensively mined by the militants.

Many LNA fighters have been blown up by mines. Four more were reported killed yesterday, although the exact circumstances have not been disclosed.

Yesterday also saw continued air strikes against the rebel positions in both districts. The LNA later said that several militants’ bodies were lying in Ganfouda and that they had removed one of them.

Celebrations in Benghazi after LNA announce capture of Gwarsha

Benghazi, 17 November 2016:

People took to the streets in Benghazi this afternoon celebrating the liberation of the city’s Gwarsha district from militants after the commander of the Libya National Army’s Operation Dignity announced that it had finally been taken.

The LNA also announced that it had moved forwards deep into Ganfouda from the east and now controlled the customs warehouse where it found the bodies of 15 militants.

Today’s fighting unfolded first the capture of the European hospital in Gwarsha but then turned into something of a rout. It involved ground, air and, off Ganfouda, sea power by the LNA. There was also an air strike on militants in the Suq Al-Hout in the city centre which an LNA official said hit the intended target, with a truck being seen to remove bodies afterwards.

The clashes were reported as being “very violent” near Ganfouda’s residential area beside the customs warehouse, where the militants tried to use suicide drivers to hold off the LNA. In one attack against the Zawia Martyrs’ Brigade at the customs warehouse, a tank crew from 204 Brigade died when the suicide vehicle exploded. Earlier, Akram Bukhamada, the son of Saiqa commander Wanis Bukhamada posted a note on social media saying that another attack on the Zawia Martyrs’ Brigade at the warehouse failed. It is not known if it was the same tank. There was at least one other attempted suicide attack.

Altogether though, it is reported that 15 LNA soldiers were killed in today’s actions and 43 wounded. Among those who died was an LNA field commander, named as Hatem Al-Mismari, killed in a landmine explosion in Gwarsha.

There are no official figures of the militants’ casualties other than the 15 bodies found in Ganfouda. Two militants were discovered hiding in Gwarsha and surrendered to the LNA.

Commenting on the Ganfouda advance, the LNA’s spokesman, Colonel Ahmed Mismari said that civilians in the area had not been harmed. However, all efforts would now be concentrated on the liberation of the district and families still there should try to head towards LNA lines.

Responding to the developments, Benghazi Medical Centre issued an appeal to all its doctors to go to its emergency department.

Fighting this evening in Ganfouda was reported to be very heavy as the trapped militants tired to defend their last stronghold.
Posted by: badanov || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Iraqi Turkmen MP says Peshmerga best guarantee for Tal Afar, post-ISIS
[RUDAW.NET] Peshmerga forces should be based in Tal Afar to prevent "sectarian tensions" once ISIS has been driven out of the predominantly Turkmen town of Tal Afar north of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, an Iraqi MP suggests.

Nabil Harbo, a Turkmen himself, also said that another possible way to avoid possible sectarian or ethnic festivities is to divide the town into two zones, one for Sunni Turkmen and the other for Shiite Turkmen.

"Tal Afar should be divided into two zones between the Sunni and Shiite Turkmen," Harbo said Monday at a panel titled "The Future of Mosul," which was organized by the Rudaw Research Center.

"There was also a similar proposal in 2007 and 2008 to place concrete barriers between Shiite and Sunni Turkmen neighborhoods and each side administers itself independently, militarily and socially," he explained.

Harbo believes that after ISIS is pushed out of Tal Afar there is great likelihood of sectarian conflict there. He said that stationing Peshmerga forces there could guarantee security.

"We want an international protection force to be based in Tal Afar after its liberation. This move is to find a proper solution for the town," he said. "If that idea does not work, then we want the Peshmerga to be stationed in the town in order to prevent one sectarian force from attacking another."

He also warned of Dire Revenge and destruction at the hands of Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi forces, against the town’s population, who are now just a few kilometers away.

"We are in the midst of the liberation of Nineveh province and in this context Tal Afar is going to face several challenges. One of them is the central government’s insistence that Hashd al-Shaabi and federal force have to liberate Tal Afar," he said.

"This means Tal Afar will suffer Dire Revenge by the conflicting parties, mass killings, destruction of houses, temples and human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
violations," he warned, adding that this would ultimately lead to "long-term hostility" between the rival parties.

Earlier this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi assured a delegation of tribal leaders from the Turkmen town that Hashd al-Shaabi forces would not enter the town. He said official Iraqi forces will take that responsibility, according to an Iraqi MP who attended the meeting.

The Shiite militia launched an offensive to the west of Mosul earlier this month with the aim of liberating areas west of the city from ISIS, in particular the town of Tal Afar.

Habro also warned that any conflict in Tal Afar "will lead to instability, not in Nineveh province alone, but the whole of Iraq, as it might become the center of sectarian and ethnic conflicts."

Another challenge that the population of Tal Afar is going to face is a possible return of the Sunni Turkmen who had joined ISIS and committed crimes against Yezidis and Christian residents of Mosul, he said.

The third challenge that the Turkmen are afraid of is that "the city may be turned into a battlefield by the regional powers, including The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
and Iran, especially if the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and Hashd al-Shaabi enter the town."

That way, he warned, "the Turks could justify their military interventions in Tal Afar."

He further warned that "the central government of Baghdad will most probably connect Tal Afar directly to Baghdad, separating it from Mosul, as it had initially planned long before the town fell to ISIS."
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Fifth Column
Venezuelan Diplomat Joins Chicago Communists Plotting Trump Resistance
[DAILYCALLER] A Marxist, a Venezuelan diplomat and an illegal alien headlined a meeting of organizers of the Trump resistance as they announced their plan to shut down reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown
... home of Al Capone, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel,...
on Saturday and Washington, D.C. on Inauguration Day.

The Chicago branch of Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER)
...a blanket far-left anti-American group. Its steering committee consists of socialists, communists, civil rights advocates, and left-wing organizations from Moslem, Arab, Paleostinian, Filipino, Haitian, and Latin American bunds. Many of the organization's founders had ties to Ramsey Clark's International Action Center, and the Workers World Party...
met in Chicago’s northwest side neighborhood of Albany Park to plot their next move in their resistance of the Trump presidency.

Chicago ANSWER was one of the radical leftist groups that helped to organize anti-Trump protests when his campaign tried to hold a rally in March; that rally was canceled after protesters clashed with attendees.

As TheDC reported last week, the group is responsible for organizing rallies in Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C., the Socialist paradise of San Francisco
...where God struck dead Anton LaVey, home of the Sydney Ducks, ruled by Vigilance Committee from 1859 through 1867, reliably and volubly Democrat since 1964...
and Albuquerque.

Since holding those rallies, the group has announced "mass marches" on Inauguration Day in Washington and another one in reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown
... home of Al Capone, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel,...
on Saturday; the group hopes to "shut the streets down" at both rallies.

On Nov. 15, the group held a meeting to plot its next move in its ongoing resistance of the Trump in a space normally operated by the Mexican Solidarity Network, a less well-known group in the mold of La Raza.

CHICAGO ANSWER organizers, Stephanie and Mika, co-chaired the evening and Mika said he was also an organizer with the Party for Socialist and Liberation, a radical Marxist group and a frequent partner of ANSWER.

Mika fired up the crowd.

"What do want?" he yelled at the crowd.

"Justice," the crowd roared back.

"When do we want it," he screamed again.

"Now," the crowd roared even louder.

"People can and must be organized in a deepening resistance," Stephanie said. "As united as possible, as myrmidon as possible."

She also said she was willing to "work with anyone to resist this administration."

Stephanie said Hillary Clinton
... former first lady, former secretary of state, former presidential candidate, sometimes described by her supporters as the smartest woman in the world, usually described by the rest of us as a crook...
used "sexist fear" to get elected but was still "fighting the right wing by any means necessary.

Jesús Rodríguez-Espinoza is the Counsel General for the Venezuelan consulate in Chicago and while the rest of the speakers accused Trump of the normal litany of grievances -- that he’s a racist, homophobe, misogynist and charlatan -- Rodriguez said his diplomatic position forbade him from weighing in on Trump.

"Because of my diplomatic position, I’m going to be very careful about what I’m going to say tonight," Rodriguez-Espinoza said.

"Before I was the Counsel General in Chicago, I was a regular citizen in Venezuela just like you, in 2002, was moved in my basement because of the attack against Hugo Chavez. Because of that I started getting involved in politics.

Rodriguez-Espinoza said he became a supporter of Chavez after that.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sufficient cause to liberate the people of Venezuela and incarcerate Presidente Nicolás Maduro and Ambassador Mr. Jesús Rodríguez-Espinoza.
Posted by: Goober Glemp2432 || 11/18/2016 0:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Had his cover been 'community organizer' no difficulty would have befallen him.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/18/2016 0:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Does 'conspiracy to commit treason' even mean anything anymore?
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/18/2016 1:07 Comments || Top||

#4  Does 'conspiracy to commit treason' even mean anything anymore?

Skidmark, you forget: Republican President = Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/18/2016 2:44 Comments || Top||

#5  Well, it can't be racist anymore, g(r)om
Posted by: Bobby || 11/18/2016 7:53 Comments || Top||

#6  " A Marxist, a Venezuelan diplomat and an illegal alien "....

If they truly believed in Multicultural diversity why didn't they include a Transgender whatsis in their deliberations? A Hillary voter and proud of it ?

Something with the private parts of a Duck and a Weasel.
Posted by: Theanter Elmeck1752 || 11/18/2016 9:06 Comments || Top||

#7  Foreign citizen means he is not a traitor but a spy and saboteur.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 11/18/2016 10:50 Comments || Top||

#8  A Marxist, a Venezuelan diplomat and an illegal alien walk into a bar.
The bartender says "What'll ya have?"
The three look at each other and ask simultaneously, "Who is paying?"
Posted by: SteveS || 11/18/2016 11:14 Comments || Top||

#9  ....This nonsense keeps up, I would SO love to see President Trump order a blockade of Venezuela. Cut off what little money they have left, and Madman Maduro would last about a week.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 11/18/2016 12:23 Comments || Top||

#10  Mr. Venezuelan diplomat should find himself declared persona non grata in late January.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 11/18/2016 18:00 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
10 die in car bomb attack in Aleppo
[al-Manar] Ten people were killed Thursday when a car bomb rocked the city of Azaz in Syria’s northwestern Aleppo province near the border with Turkey, according to local sources.

The bomb-laden vehicle was detonated near an ammunition depot belonging to the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement, a terrorist armed faction opposed to the Syrian government that fights under the umbrella of the so-called ‘Free Syria Army.’

Several people were seriously injured by the blast, including four who were later taken to hospitals in neighboring Turkey via the Oncupinar border crossing.

Posted by: badanov || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Family squabble among terrorists?
Posted by: JohnQC || 11/18/2016 10:41 Comments || Top||


Iraq
LIVE UPDATES: Battle for Mosul, Day 31
[RUDAW.NET] 10:34pm

The Hashd al-Shaabi forces say they have completely taken over Tal Afar airport from ISIS. Hashd front man Ahmed al-Assadi said his forces will shortly start hunting for ISIS holy warriors who have remained at the airport and who may be hiding.

5:04pm

Iraq's War Media Office says federal police forces have liberated the village of al-A’zba, south of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, from ISIS and raised the Iraqi flag there.

4:27pm

At least one child was killed and tens of other people maimed in ISIS mortar attacks in Mosul's Zahra neighborhood today . Some locals who spoke to Rudaw said they were caught in the crossfire, suffering both from ISIS bombs and retaliatory fire by the Iraqi Army.

A maimed woman, clearly in pain, complained there is no hospital anywhere near to treat her injury from a mortar attack.

4:02pm

Iraqi forces control most of Mosul’s Tahrir neighborhood

Iraqi forces are now in control of "the larger part" of the Tahrir neighborhood in northeastern Mosul, Lt. Gen. Abdulwahab al-Saadi from Iraq’s Golden Brigade forces told Rudaw in Tahrir.

2:14pm

Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi closes in on Tal Afar airport

The Shiite paramilitary group known as Hashd al-Shaabi said on Wednesday that with support from the Iraqi air force they are closing in on Tal Afar airport which would mean cutting off ISIS from its Mosul stronghold.

"The Tal Afar airport has fallen militarily to our forces after the liberation of Tal Ramh village which is 2 kilometers away from the airport," the Shiite paramilitary said in a statement on Wednesday.

It also said the Iraqi air force is providing air cover to the advancing forces.

The Hashd al-Shaabi said on Tuesday "that control over the airport will pave the way to liberate Tal Afar district and will cut the last ISIS supply line between Tal Afar and Mosul."

10:31am

Child killed in ISIS mortar attack in Mosul, dozens of civilians injured

At least one child was killed in an ISIS mortar attack on the newly liberated eastern neighborhood of al-Zahra Wednesday morning, and a number of others injured as captured by Rudaw cameras.

Relatives rushed the maimed to Iraqi troops stationed in the area for treatment.

Rudaw’s Nalin Barwari reported that many civilians still living in the area.

Also in Tahrir neighborhood 12 civilians were maimed in what appeared to be an ISIS bombardment.

Clashes between the Iraqi forces and ISIS holy warriors resumed today after a day of calm.

Iraqi military officials said they silenced their guns for a day to clear several liberated neighborhoods of explosives and fortify their positions.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Some locals who spoke to Rudaw said they were caught in the crossfire, suffering both from ISIS bombs and retaliatory fire by the Iraqi Army.

It would seem that who is killing civilians all depends on who is writing the press releases.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 11/18/2016 11:53 Comments || Top||


The Beatings Will Continue: Iraqi Edition


Kirkuk – (IraqiNews.com) Leader at al-Hashd al-Shaabi in Hawija district, Hassan al-Sawfi, announced on Thursday, that the Islamic State extremist group abducted 75 civilians, southwest of Kirkuk for leaving the land of Caliphate.

Sawfi said in a press statement, “This evening, ISIS militants abducted 75 civilians from Hawija district, while fleeing the district,” adding that, “The civilians were abducted for leaving the land of caliphate and helping other civilians to flee the ISIS-held areas toward Kirkuk and Salahuddin.”

“The abduction took place in the area between Hamrin Mountains and southwest of Kirkuk,” Sawfi explained. “ISIS militants are collapsing and lost their ability to fight,” Sawfi added.

Sawfi also called on officials to accelerate the battles to liberate the district of Hawija to rescue the civilians who are used as human shields.
Posted by: badanov || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


-Land of the Free
Obama sets new record for regulations, 527 pages in just one day
[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] President B.O. has just set a new record for rules and regulations, his administration spitting out 527 pages worth in just one day, as he races to put his fingerprint on virtually every corner of American life and business.

According to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the administration has just shattered the old record for pages of regulations and rules published by the in-house journal, the Federal Register.

At 81,640 total pages for 2016, it ranks first and 235 pages more than all of those published in 2010, the previous record.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Take away his pen.
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/18/2016 2:12 Comments || Top||

#2  Let him keep his pen. In a place that makes it impossible to use.
Posted by: gorb || 11/18/2016 3:10 Comments || Top||

#3  That's alot of hope and change
Posted by: newc || 11/18/2016 3:15 Comments || Top||

#4  Why is he bothering. They will be swept away soon, and ignored in the interim.
Posted by: Omomort Cheager7040 || 11/18/2016 5:59 Comments || Top||

#5  It's his Legacy, man. He's putting his imprint on G-- d--- Amerikkka.
Posted by: Bobby || 11/18/2016 7:51 Comments || Top||

#6  In a place that makes it impossible to use.

Well, that would mean writey end first, or he could still twerk out regulations...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 11/18/2016 8:53 Comments || Top||

#7  But...but... I thought he was the Messiah. Oh, I am so confused.
I've cried for days.
Posted by: Theanter Elmeck1752 || 11/18/2016 9:09 Comments || Top||

#8  Why is he bothering. They will be swept away soon, and ignored in the interim.

This is Obumble's version of a temper tantrum.
Posted by: DarthVader || 11/18/2016 9:24 Comments || Top||

#9  I'm literally shaking ... oh, wait that's been trademarked by the progs.
Oh, well, what can be done can be undone. Except for entropy, broken glass, and some other stuff.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 11/18/2016 9:57 Comments || Top||

#10  I thought this administration was made up of tree huggers and they wanted to save trees.
Posted by: JohnQC || 11/18/2016 11:33 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
'Feto a threat to Pakistan's security': Turkey's Erdogan rails against 'coup plotter' Gulen in Islamabad
[DAWN] Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
addressed a joint presser in Islamabad alongside Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
on Thursday where he announced the Turkish government is determinedly taking on what he termed the Fethullah Terror Organisation (Feto).

He said, "We are in the process of warning all of our friends and countries across the globe with whom we have solidarity" against Feto ─ what The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
calls an alleged terrorist organization headed by US-based self-exiled holy man Fethullah Gulen
... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world...
who President Erdogan accuses of instigating a botched coup to remove him from office earlier this year.

Pakistain had earlier promised Turkey it would look into the affairs of the Pak-Turk education network that Ankara wanted shut down for its alleged links with Gulen.

"It is now certain that behind the [July 15] coup attempt we have the Gulenist terrorist organization and its leader residing in Pennsylvania," Erdogan alleged.

"It is necessary to dismantle this evil network... The terrorist organization is a threat to the security and public order of Pakistain," he claimed.

The Turkish president claimed Feto "has been hiding behind the facade of acceptable concepts and terms such as delivering service, education and dialogue... But we saw on July 15 that they would not refrain from aany methods, including bloodshed to gain their purposes."
An Nahar adds:
Pakistain confirmed Wednesday it had ordered the deportation of 130 teachers along with school staff and their families -- some 450 people in total -- by November 20.

The private PakTurk International schools are allegedly backed by U.S.-based Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen
... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world...
's Hizmet group.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Iraq
HRW: ISIS killed 300 ex-policemen south of Mosul
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] ISIS gunnies probably killed more than 300 Iraqi former police three weeks ago and buried them in a mass grave near the town of Hammam al-Alil south of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday. A Rooters news hound visited the site of the mass grave, where residents said the gunnies buried victims who had been shot or beheaded. The residents said they believed up to 200 people were killed in the weeks before ISIS withdrew from the town.

Human Rights Watch said some of the former coppers were separated from a group of about 2,000 people from nearby villages and towns who were forced to march alongside the gunnies last month as they retreated north to Mosul and the town of Tal Afar.

It quoted a laborer who said he saw ISIS fighters drive four large trucks carrying 100 to 125 men, some of whom he recognized as former coppers, past an agricultural college close to the site which was to become the mass grave. Minutes later, he heard automatic gunfire and cries of distress, he said. The next night, on Oct. 29, a similar scene was repeated, with between 130 to 145 men, he told HRW.

Another witness, a resident of Hammam al-Alil, said he heard automatic gunfire in the area for approximately seven minutes, three nights in a row. "This is another piece of evidence of the horrific mass murder by 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....
) of former law enforcement officers in and around Mosul," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "ISIS should be held accountable for these crimes against humanity."

Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


India-Pakistan
ISIS cell busted in Lahore
The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Punjab claimed on Thursday that it busted a cell of the militant Islamic State (IS) group operating in Lahore and arrested eight suspects along with their ringleader.

Some members of the Daesh cell had already travelled to Syria and Afghanistan while some were preparing to leave when the raid took place, said a CTD spokesman, using the Arabic acronym for the militant group.

"[The] whole method [is] unearthed," he added.

The CTD also recovered IS literature, laptops and mobile phones from the suspects.

The spokesman claimed that the CTD had been "working" on the cell for last three months but arrested the suspects on Nov 16 as they were readying to leave for Syria and Afghanistan.

Nabeel alias Abu Abdullah of Lahore was the lynchpin of the group in Punjab while Qari Abid, who is now in Syria, is the main "motivator" who conducted his activities through social media, he said.

A First Information Report was lodged in the CTD police station. An investigation of the case is underway, the CTD said.

Posted by: badanov || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Iraq
Suicide attack kills at least 16 at Iraq wedding: officials
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] A jacket wallah detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at a wedding gathering in a town west of Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 16 people, hospital and security officials said. The attack, which took place in Amriyat al-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...
a town in Anbar province 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of the capital, also left at least 30 people maimed.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Arabia
Houthis accused of torture by HRW
DUBAI/CAIRO: Human Rights Watch accused Yemeni rebels on Thursday of arbitrarily detaining, torturing and forcibly disappearing opponents since they overran the capital in September 2014.

The group said it had documented two deaths in custody and 11 cases of alleged torture, one of of a child.

It said they were among hundreds of reported cases of arbitrary detention by the Shiite Houthi rebels and their allies — renegade troops loyal to ousted strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The rebels are battling government forces who are backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition, which intervened in March 2015 when President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi fled into exile.

The New York-based group also urged the Houthis to release the detainees and hold officials accountable.

“The authorities (in Sanaa) should free those wrongfully held immediately, end detention without access to lawyers or family members, and prosecute officials responsible for mistreatment,” HRW said.

Sarah Leah Whitson, the Mideast director at Human Rights Watch, said the war between the Houthis and the Saudi Arabia-led coalition "provides no justification for torture and 'disappearance' of perceived opponents."

The United Nations says more than 7,000 people have been killed and nearly 37,000 wounded since the coalition intervention started. Millions more are in desperate need of aid.
Posted by: badanov || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


India-Pakistan
Pakistan ranked among worst 10 countries for internet freedom: report
[DAWN] Pakistain has been included in the list of countries with lowest score for "Freedom on the Net".

The only countries that ranked below Pakistain included China, Iran, Syria, 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...
, Æthiopia, Vietnam, Cuba, Uzbekistan and Bahrain.

The index is prepared by a Washington DC-based research firm called Freedom House.


Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  And most everything else.
Posted by: Shipman || 11/18/2016 0:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Wonder why NKor isn't on the list?
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/18/2016 2:14 Comments || Top||

#3  The Norks don't Have Internet. They are a bit like the Takla Makan desert in Outer Mongolia in that respect.

And I would avoid paying too much attention to anything which calls itself " Freedom House " in a place like Washington DC.

Now go wash you hands.
Posted by: Theanter Elmeck1752 || 11/18/2016 9:16 Comments || Top||

#4  The NorKs have internet, Hemingway. It's tied into the Chinese network and restricted to the inner circle. The rest have to deal with an intranet, of sorts.

Feel free to look up the difference.
Posted by: Pappy || 11/18/2016 12:01 Comments || Top||

#5  Just when you thought you were clear, the Pappy shows up with a new metre.
Posted by: Shipman || 11/18/2016 17:14 Comments || Top||


Europe
UN asks Norway not to send refugees back to Somalia
Just a few weeks after the Norwegian authorities said they will send refugees back to Somalia, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has urged Norway to change its mind.
The Norwegians don't have to send ALL their refugees back to Somalia. Just the Somali ones...
In October, Immigration Minister Sylvi Listhaug said that the Norwegian government had concluded that the situation in Somalia has settled down and that 1,600 Somali refugees living in Norway should have their refugee status revoked.

In a letter dated November 7th, but first reported on Wednesday night, the UNHCR wrote to the Norwegian government and said that the security situation in Mogadishu was far too unstable to warrant Norway’s decision.
Mogadishu is no worse than Chicago...
Just two days before the letter was sent, a car bomb attack near the Somali parliament building in Mogadishu killed at least two police officers, with some reports indicating that up to 20 people were killed.
Okay, we haven't seen that in Chicago. Yet...
The agency encouraged the Nordic nation to not take refugee status from Somali citizens, Dagbladet wrote.

Unaccompanied minor and families with small children were among the first 120 Somalians to have received notification of their repatriation.

The UNHCR’s letter pointed out that there is a difference between those who choose to go back voluntarily and sending people back by force.
Posted by: Steve White || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists


Iraq
Mayor warns of starvation in Iraqi town caught between ISIS and Shiite force
[RUDAW.NET] More than 5,000 civilians are threatened with starvation and disease in Hazar, an ISIS-controlled town west of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
that remains besieged by the Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitaries.

"More than 5,000 civilians in the township of Hazar and its sub-district of Tal Abta are trapped and besieged," said town mayor Ali Ahmedi, explaining that ISIS will not allow civilians to leave and the Hashd have the area surrounded force the collapse of ISIS rule.

He said residents needed food, water and medicines but remained trapped.

"They are threatened by death because of a lack of food and water," he said, warning that chronic diseases had also broken out and were spreading.

He appealed to all "associated parties" in Iraq for help.

Hazar, a town near Tal Afar, fell to ISIS when the group swept across Iraq in a blitzkrieg in June 2014.

Hashd forces announced Wednesday that they had taken over the airport in Tal Afar, a strategically important town whose recapture would cut the Sunni myrmidons’ supply lines from Syria to Mosul in northern Iraq.

A massive multi-pronged offensive to recapture Nineveh province from ISIS began last month, with Kurdish and Iraqi forces reclaiming large portions of territory from ISIS and the Hashd closing off the myrmidons’ western supply lines from Syria to Mosul.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Jihadist rebels on the verge of surrendering last stronghold in West Ghouta
[ALMASDARNEWS] Winter is quickly approaching rural Damascus, as the frigid temperature and scarce provisions hamper the jihadist rebels attempting to fight off the swarming Syrian Army soldiers in the West Ghouta region.

Most recently, the Syrian Arab Army's 4th Mechanized and 7th Armored divisions resumed their large-scale offensive at Khan al-Sheih, in a new bid to force the jihadist rebels of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham
...formerly al-Nusra, the current false nose and mustache of al-Qaeda in the Levant...
(formerly al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
Front) to surrender the town.

According to a senior officer from the 4th Mechanized Division, the second round of negotiations with the jihadist rebels went sour after they demanded transportation to the Dara'a Governorate.

The Syrian Arab Army's High Command has made it clear to the jihadist rebels that they will only transport them to the Idlib Governorate; and with winter quickly approaching, the government forces will continue to wear down the faceless myrmidons until they agree to terms.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra


Arabia
Two more Iranians held on terror charges in Saudi Arabia
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Saudi security forces recently apprehended two Iranians accused of terrorism and crimes against the State, local daily al-Watan reported on Wednesday, quoting informed security sources.

With the two new suspects, the number of Iranians being held has risen to six. One was already tried but has appealed the verdict.

The case file of one of the Iranian suspects is currently being investigated by the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution (BIP) while the other four are still under interrogation.

Since the beginning of the year, the security forces tossed in the calaboose
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
30 Syrians raising the number of Syrian terror suspects in intelligence prisons to 214.

As many as 15 Yemenis were recently arrested, raising the number of suspected Yemenis in Saudi prisons to 352.

Ten Paks accused of terrorism were also arrested, raising the number of Pak detainees to 62.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanese Army arrests wanted jihadist near Syrian border
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Lebanese Army tossed in the slammer
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
a wanted jihadist on Thursday after receiving a tip from a local resident regarding the suspect's location.

According to the National News Agency (NNA) of Leb, the army conducted a successful raid of a house hosting this jihadist, arrresting the suspect and seizing his weapons in the process.

The raid was conducted inside the town of al-Riyhaniyah, which is located in the 'Akkar District of the North Governorate; this are borders the southwestern part of Syria's Homs Governorate.

The suspect was wanted for a number of shootings and terror related activities; he was allegedly planning another terrorist attack in Beirut
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra


Africa Horn
Ruritanian jets bomb Al Shabaab bases, 4 killed
Suspected Ruritanian Kenyan air force jets have carried out an airstrike on Al Shabaab training camps in lower Jubba region of southern Somalia on Thursday, reports said.

Source said the warplanes struck Laan-Goori, some 120Km away from Kismayo
...a port city in the southern Lower Juba province of Somalia, at the extreme southern end of the country (assuming Somalia can be called a country). It is the commercial capital of the autonomous Jubaland region...
city, killing at least four Al Shabaab members, including Abdullah Adow, who is a middle-level militant commander. The fighter jets bombed two operational and training bases in the area, according the sources.

There was no immediate confirmation from Al shabaab about the latest airstrike in Somalia. KDF jets have been carrying such air raids over the past few years as part of the war on Al Shabaab.
Posted by: Steve White || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas clamps down on Israeli SIM cards in Gaza
[Ynet] Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, wants to ban the sale of Israeli SIM cards in Gazoo amid fears that they pose a security risk and that they undercut local providers; Paleostinians use Israeli SIMs to save money and access internet content that is deemed 'unacceptable.'

Israeli security sources say Israel has long been able to eavesdrop on any conversations in the Paleostinian territories, whatever the network, especially among suspected bad boys.
Hamas-run authorities in Gazoo are trying to stop the sale and distribution of pre-paid SIM cards from Israeli cellular providers, arguing the cards pose economic and security risks and allow users to access "immoral" content.

Officials from the Paleostinian telecommunications and interior ministries, which are overseen by Hamas, said there have always been restrictions on the use of Israeli SIMs in the territory, but now they are determined to stamp them out entirely.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/18/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  One ringy ding, two ringy ding, meh, Ernest Stein knows all.
Posted by: Shipman || 11/18/2016 16:47 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
34[untagged]
17Islamic State
5Govt of Pakistan
4Houthis
4Sublime Porte
3Govt of Iraq
3al-Nusra
2Govt of Syria
2Moslem Colonists
1TTP
1al-Shabaab
1Boko Haram
1Govt of Iran
1Govt of Saudi Arabia
1Hamas

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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2016-11-18
  Haftar forces claim victory in Benghazi
Thu 2016-11-17
  Final 3 Minnesota men sentenced in Islamic State case
Wed 2016-11-16
  Police make raids against suspected 'IS' supporters across 10 states in Germany
Tue 2016-11-15
  167 ISIS Turbans die in rebel combat operations in Raqqa
Mon 2016-11-14
  Turkey backed rebel units close on Al-Bab
Sun 2016-11-13
  Rangers kill Jundallah chief in Hub
Sat 2016-11-12
  Iraqi forces massing to break into Mosul airport
Fri 2016-11-11
  Iraqi forces capture Zahar district of Mosul
Thu 2016-11-10
  30 al-Qaeda fighters die in security operation in Yemen
Wed 2016-11-09
  Two ‘LJ militants’ held for killing Amjad Sabri, army personnel
Tue 2016-11-08
  German police arrest five in raid on 'IS network'
Mon 2016-11-07
  74 die in rebel Aleppo offensive
Sun 2016-11-06
  Human Shields, Barricades Slow Iraqi Advance Into Mosul
Sat 2016-11-05
  Ten-member jihadi cell linked to ISIS 'led by fundamentalist preacher was planning attacks on Sydney'
Fri 2016-11-04
  12 Die In Rocket Attack At Faryab Wedding Ceremony

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