What do you get when you combine the right idea with the wrong process, the wrong strategy, and moral preening that ignores the application that the right idea would have had for the other side of an election? This stupid and futile gesture from the progressive wing of the Senate Democratic caucus. It ostensibly seeks to force Donald Trump into divesting himself of his businesses and putting his assets in a blind trust. It operates more as a sour-grapes shot that might actually weaken the argument for its core idea:
A group of Senate Democrats will introduce legislation requiring President Elect Donald Trump to divest any financial assets that pose a conflict of interest and place the money into a blind trust.
The bill would also consider any violation by Trump of conflict of interest or ethics laws a "high crime or misdemeanor under the impeachment clause of the U.S. constitution," according to a fact sheet on the forthcoming bill from Sen. Elizabeth Warren's office.
"The American people deserve to know that the President of the United States is working to do what's best for the country – not using his office to do what's best for himself and his businesses," the Massachusetts Democrat said.
Democrat Sens. Ben Cardin (Md.), Chris Coons (Del.), Dick Durbin (Ill.) and Jeff Merkley (Ore.) also back the legislation. They'll formally introduce the bill next month when lawmakers return to Washington.
First off, the core principle here is the correct path to take. Any incoming president should follow tradition to eliminate potential conflicts of interest, because voters should know that their interests come first. I wrote about this earlier in the week, explaining that it eventually redounds to the president's benefit too:
In order to succeed politically ‐ i.e., get an agenda passed in Congress ‐ a president has to acquire and guard his or her political capital carefully. If an executive is seen as using the office for his personal enrichment, that political capital will dissipate quickly. Just ask Jesse Ventura what happened when he decided to moonlight as an XFL television commentator during his tenure as Minnesota governor. …
Like it or not, running for president means becoming a public servant and prioritizing the public trust over private fortunes. The best way to avoid those political landmines is to divest his interests in the business as soon as possible and hand the reins off to his sons. Trump's been running for this office for almost two years now, and he should already have a succession plan in place for this eventuality. It's time to put it into action.
However, the introduction of this bill is nonsensical, and Senate Democrats should know it. Congress can set conflict-of-interest statutes that apply to people who work in federal agencies because those operate under shared authority with the president. Congress cannot pass laws pertaining to the president (and much of his or her direct staff) because of the separation of powers in the Constitution. Presidents get voted into office by the states through popular votes within them, which makes them accountable separately from Congress. This is why divestiture and blind trusts for presidents have been tradition rather than a legal requirement. Congress cannot set conditions or qualifications for the office of the presidency without amending the Constitution to do so, and a bill requiring divestiture would in essence do exactly that.
Next question: Who enforces such a statute, and what would it entail? Congress can't conduct law enforcement actions; they can only recommend enforcement by the executive branch. The Constitution explicitly prohibits Congress from a law-enforcement and judicial role with the ban on "bills of attainder." We saw how that works with the contempt charges against Eric Holder a few years ago. Presidents who break laws can be prosecuted, as Bill Clinton discovered, but those prosecutions don't remove a president from office. Only Congress can do that, and it has to be through impeachment ‐ which is a political process, not law enforcement.
That's why citing the threat of impeachment as a consequence of this statute is redundant and silly. The Constitution already grants Congress the authority to impeach without passing statutes defining which actions are and are not "high crimes and misdemeanors." The House gets to define those for themselves when the issue arises. The Senate defines them if and only when the House approves articles of impeachment and sends them to the upper chamber for a vote on conviction and removal. (The Emoluments Clause offers a wide opening for the House on this score without Warren's bill.) In both of the only two impeachments in American history, the House thought presidential behavior qualified for it, and the Senate disagreed. The latter case involved convictions for perjury and obstruction of justice ‐ and Dick Durbin, one of these signatories, didn't find perjury and obstruction of justice to be "high crimes and misdemeanors" at the time. It's unclear why theoretical conflicts of interest would rise above Bill Clinton's false testimony in court, to which he had admitted and for which he got disbarred, but YMMV.
Furthermore, we didn't hear Warren et al warning Hillary Clinton of impeachment over the Clinton Foundation when everyone assumed she would win. The plan for the foundation if Hillary won, as it eventually emerged, was almost identical to Trump's ambiguous plans ‐ to turn over operations to offspring, in this case Chelsea Clinton. Had Republicans tried to offer a bill threatening "impeachment," we would have heard screeches of "extremists," "haters," and who knows what else from the media, even though the Clinton Foundation has been part of serious questions about conflicts of interest ever since Hillary became Secretary of State and the FBI is still probing those arrangements.
Warren and her colleagues could have made their point by proposing a "sense of the Senate" bill, which would have made the point without tipping over into self-parody. Now, though, Trump and his supporters will dig in their heels and triple-dog-dare Democrats to follow through on this empty threat. That would be a mistake for them, compound the mistake that Democrats are making now, and create years of headache for Americans who want their president focused entirely on the toughest executive job in the country, if not the world. Let's hope that Trump grasps this and finds a way to transfer the businesses to his family while putting his own assets into a blind trust.
In the future, Democrats might want to avoid taking advice from Eric "Otter" Stratton, even if they're just the ones to do it.
#3
Mr. Trump has already turned over the running of the businesses to his children, and sold a bunch of stocks back in June. Is there anything left to fuss about?
[FOX] Anger on Capitol Hill boiled over Wednesday night after the intelligence community’s alleged "intransigence" forced the cancellation of a House Intelligence Committee briefing on claims of Russian interference in the U.S. election.
"Somebody has the time to leak it to The Washington Post and The New York Times, but they don’t have the time to come to Congress," Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., a member of the committee, told Fox News' "The Kelly File." "It’s their job to come. They don’t have any choice. They have to come in, especially when they have created this."
Amid concerns about reports that conflict with details previously provided to the committee, Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., originally had requested a closed, classified briefing for members from the FBI, CIA, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and National Security Agency.
#2
Yet as soon as the senior civil service management gets booted by Pompeio, watch the MSM horror and shock over the "catastrophic loss of highly skilled intelligence professionals".
If the Obama SES's are keeping the agencies from being responsive, now would be a good time to signal that. Jan 20th is coming idiots!
#4
If they were really pissed they'd be talking about a proposed 20% cut in their budget for next year. Then again, why bother with the meeting when you (CIA) have no evidence?
h/t Instapundit
A U.S. think tank says recent satellite images appear to show that China has installed anti-aircraft and anti-missile weapons on its man-made islands in the strategically vital South China Sea, upping the stakes in what many see as a potential Asian powder keg. Now, that's serious boys & girls
#3
Building islands in the South China Sea apparently hasn't upset the environmentalists. Therefore, Mr. Trump should say we're going to build a few for ourselves. There have to be a few reefs that are suitable for this.
Then watch heads explode.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/15/2016 18:06
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#4
The Japanese fortified a number of Pacific islands. Didn't help in the long run.
#5
They are just stationary targets. Missiles (and possibly typhoons) can neutralize them. This is just the PRC being the neighborhood bully.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/15/2016 20:19
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#6
an underwater neutron nuke (of unknown ownership) going off near those islands would remove them from the "usable" category with the resulting wave. Claim it was the NORKS misfiring...
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/15/2016 20:40
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Egypt's Civil Aviation Ministry says traces of explosives have been found on some of the victims of an EgyptAir flight from Paris that crashed in the Mediterranean Sea in May.
A ministry statement issued Thursday says a criminal investigation will now begin into the crash of Flight 804, which killed all 66 people on board.
No one has claimed to have attacked the plane. The crash came seven months after a Russian airliner crashed in the Sinai Peninsula shortly after taking off from an Egyptian Red Sea resort, killing all 226 people on board.
The local affiliate of the extremist Islamic State group said it had downed the Russian plane with an explosive device planted on board. Russia said the aircraft was likely downed by explosives.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/15/2016
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#1
Looks like yet another terrorist attack. Airplane departed from Paris. When will we get tough, smart and vigilant? Great hate and sickness!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 19, 2016
Back in May, Trump was criticized and vilified by the establishment for making this eminently reasonable assumption.
[WND] May I be so bold as to present some key, undisputed facts with regard to the kerfuffle over allegations ‐ including some by the CIA ‐ the Russian government hacked into the computers of the Democratic National Committee to find embarrassing emails in hopes of swaying the 2016 presidential election to Donald Trump?
1. No one is alleging that the Russians hacked into election computers to change votes. Nevertheless, some of the hysterical rhetoric from Democrats seems determined to give that impression to their low-information voters.
2. If the Russians did hack into the computers of the DNC, released documents embarrassing to Democrats and it impacted the election (something that could never be proved, of course) this would be exposing the truth of something the Democrats were trying to hide. Isn’t more information always better than less for those earnestly trying to make the right decision on how to vote?
3. Hasn’t Russia since the Cold War days always used disinformation techniques to promote its interests and impact U.S. elections, American opinion, etc.? And, at the end of the day, isn’t this simply another form of propaganda? Usually, propaganda is one-sided information or even flat-out lies that are used to sway opinion. In this case, it would appear the information supposedly disseminated was accurate and truthful, just kept secret by the Democrats. Again, Russia isn’t being accused of changing votes through hacking of election systems. It is being accused to trying to persuade Americans by giving them accurate information they were previously denied.
#1
Even if Russia did hack and did influence the election (unproven), why would that Trump's fault? Would not the responsible parties be those who had inadequate IT security? That would be the DNC and various agencies in the Executive branch of the government?
#2
The first point in the 9 facts is the only relevant one. The liberals are trying to make it appear voting machines were hacked.
My own points, beyond that one.
(1) Podesta was hacked because he was stupid and careless with secrets.
(2) Emails were released and not a single one has even been denied as untrue.
(3) Hacks were 'once removed' from Russia whatever that means. Painting of the security services as being in lock-step about the hacking is a fiction created by the NY Times.
(4) British Ambassador to Uzbekistan says he was handed a thumb drive of info from a disgruntled Democrat sick of the way the party was treating Bernie and he gave it to Assange.
#3
One very pertinent fact was left off of this list: We know the Democrats lie. They all lie about everything and in all likelihood they are lying about this too.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/15/2016 11:56
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#5
If the CIA ever does agree to a hearing with the House, and I were to be a congress-critter, here's question #1 to the Klingon at the microphone:
"Based on your agency's review, are there any emails in this group that are not genuine -- that is, were not written by the people who are listed as the authors of the emails?"
Boy wouldn't that be a fun answer, as the CIA then would have to testify that yes, all these emails came from Hillary, Podesta, Huma, Ms. Cheryl, etc.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/15/2016 18:09
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[Wash Times] A WikiLeaks figure is claiming that he received leaked Clinton campaign emails from a "disgusted" Democratic whistleblower, while the White House continued to blame Russian hackers Wednesday for meddling in the presidential election and asserted that Donald Trump was "obviously aware" of Moscow’s efforts on his behalf.
Craig Murray, a former British ambassador to Uzbekistan and a close associate of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, said in the report by the Daily Mail that he flew to Washington for a clandestine handoff with one of the email sources in September.
He said he received a package in a wooded area near American University.
"Neither of [the leaks] came from the Russians," Mr. Murray told the British newspaper. "The source had legal access to the information. The documents came from inside leaks, not hacks."
WikiLeaks published thousands of emails stolen from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, providing a steady stream of negative news coverage of the Democratic presidential nominee during the final weeks of the campaign. Mr. Murray said the leakers were motivated by "disgust at the corruption of the Clinton Foundation and the tilting of the primary election playing field against Bernie Sanders."
The Daily Mail report noted that Mr. Murray was removed from his diplomatic post amid allegations of misconduct.
#5
Murray separated from his first wife, Fiona, with whom he has two children,[11] in 2004[49] after beginning a relationship with Nadira Alieva, an Uzbek woman whom he met while she was working as a belly dancer in a nightclub in Tashkent.
No mystery about his politics. The man certainly does have class.
#7
Nadira Alieva, an Uzbek woman whom he met while she was working as a belly dancer in a nightclub in Tashkent.
Visited many a "nightclub" in Tashkent. They was a dancin' but it wasn't belly dancin'. Late 2001/early 2002 and the only way into Kabul was w/Klingon Air outta Tashkent. Good times were had by all and local GDP increased as well.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
12/15/2016 12:02
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#8
But the leaker was a Russian spy, right?
No reason he couldn't be a Russian spy and a disgusted Democratic whistleblower.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/15/2016 12:54
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#9
One wonders if there's a potential corollary between the 'informant' and the list of HRC campaign and DNC employees who died during the election season.
#10
"Neither of [the leaks] came from the Russians," Mr. Murray told the British newspaper. "The source had legal access to the information. The documents came from inside leaks, not hacks."
It's no surprise that the most successful hacks are executed with the help of people who have physical access to the servers.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/15/2016 12:58
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#11
One wonders if there's a potential corollary between the 'informant' and the list of HRC campaign and DNC employees who died during the election season. Posted by Pappy
If it helps narrow the narrow the field of suspects and arrive at a potential motive, none of the victims were....belly dancers.
BLUF: [WAPO] There’s no question the White House worried, right up to Election Day, that Russian hackers might ignite what was already a toxic, combustible political environment. Trump’s bogus claims that the election was rigged and that he might not accept the outcome added to Obama’s concerns.
Obama has five weeks left to shape the transition and deter Russian actions. The administration doesn’t rule out the possibility of taking covert action in retaliation, which officials privately said hadn’t been done before the election. The rubric now is simply that the administration will respond at a time and place of its choosing.
Perhaps the trickiest task will fall to Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.), Trump’s nominee to head the CIA. He must reassure a battered agency workforce that the next administration values its own intelligence officers and is vigilant against machinations by foreign spies.
#1
He must reassure a battered agency workforce that the next administration values its own intelligence officers and is vigilant against machinations by foreign spies.
Somehow, besoeker, this strikes me as an odd statement.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/15/2016 12:16
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#5
If the new director can't succeed because the Agency's become too politicized then maybe it's time to shut it down and start a new one from scratch -- employees of the current agency ineligible to apply..
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2016 14:15
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[Wash Times] President Obama is delivering a generous parting gift to Planned Parenthood in the form of a rule prohibiting states from divesting millions of dollars from the nation’s largest abortion provider.
The final version of the rule, issued by the Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday, requires states to distribute dollars from Title X of the Public Health Service Act without taking into account whether recipient clinics perform abortions.
The edict is set to go into effect Jan. 18, two days before the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump.
Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, praised Mr. Obama as a "champion for women’s health" but expressed doubt as to whether the rule will survive under Mr. Trump’s pick to head HHS, Rep. Tom Price of Georgia.
"This rule protects birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, and other health care for millions of people," Ms. Richards said in a statement. "Yet this fight is not over. We are deeply concerned about the future of health care access in this country with extremists like Mike Pence and Tom Price at the helm."
Rep. Diane Black, a Tennessee Republican who sits on the Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives, said the Obama administration "will not have the last word" on the rule.
#1
Seeing as how most all of the PP locations only 'refer' women to accredited facilities for "cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment" (in other words, they don't do it in-house), give the money to the accredited facilities that actually do that work.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
12/15/2016 8:31
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#2
Gosh, Mullah, wouldn't that make too much sense?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/15/2016 12:24
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#3
Public funding.
Is there any human it cannot destroy?
Posted by: no mo uro ||
12/15/2016 17:39
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#4
I don't think the Feds can mandate the states do anything. I do think funding should come from the states though, so we are halfway there.
BLUF: [PJ] On Fox Business' Varney and Company Wednesday, Napolitano said that the the over-counting of Democrat votes is an example of the "government defrauding itself."
Host Stuart Varney described the type of"human error" that caused the discrepancies. "The poll worker takes the ballot, and puts it into a scanning machine, and says, 'oh good gosh, it jammed.'" The poll worker then proceeds to rescan the ballot "again, and again, and again."
"That is a different kind of fraud," Napolitano said. "Because that is the government defrauding itself. "The poll worker is an employee of, or a volunteer in behalf of the government. You're talking about a crime now. ... The law guarantees fair elections -- not perfect ones. If this had changed the outcome, it would be unfair and it would warrant a serious inquiry."
"But it happened in 248 precincts!" Varney exclaimed. "More votes were cast than voters!"
[Breitbart] A Pennsylvania woman has been arrested for collecting more than $100,000 in welfare benefits for three children that don’t exist, authorities said.
Sabrina Strothers, 23, of Pittsburgh, is charged with two counts each of forgery and making false statements in a welfare investigation and one count of theft by deception, Trib Live reported.
Detectives from the Allegheny County Court District Attorney’s Office said Strothers was pregnant with triplets in 2008, but they were never born.
Strothers told officials that three children -- Thomas, Tomalyia, and Tyreik Wilson -- were born on Nov. 20, 2008. She collected benefits for them until March, after her cousin reported her to authorities in January, WTAE reports.
#6
Strothers received $89,453 in medical assistance funds, $37,269 in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, and $2,073 in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families grants — totaling $128,795 of illegal benefits
I can understand SNAP payments but $90k in medical benefits? Doesn't the gov pay the medical provider company directly? And if so, it seems the medical company would have to be neck deep in the fraud.
#8
In related news: today's Kalmazoo Gazette reveals the heart warming story of how the state welfare agency cut 20 families off the dole because the kids were truants.
yeah 20 is only a real small drop in the bucket, but gotta start somewhere and when the jungle drums get going, perhaps some others will start going to school.
[Vanity Fair] Maybe I'm just pi**ed off, but I really don’t give a shi* about what happens to Huma to be honest with you," one close adviser to Hillary Clinton told me recently. He was irked, in particular, at Abedin’s seemingly superfluous breach of decorum during a post-election event.
On the day after Hillary Clinton’s stunning loss to Donald Trump, this person said, Abedin appeared within the rope line while Clinton greeted her morose and woebegone supporters. "You’re staff, O.K.?" this adviser continued. "Staff is staff. You’re not a principal." (A spokesperson for the Clinton campaign notes that Abedin was seated alongside the rest of the campaign’s senior leadership team that morning. Abedin declined an interview request.)
In the bizarre month since Clinton’s loss, few people besides the candidate herself have seen their fortunes overturned as significantly as has Abedin, 40, the glamorous and charismatic former vice-chair of the campaign. For two decades, Abedin has been a fixture inside Clinton’s inner circle; she began her career as a college-aged White House intern and rose to become Clinton’s deputy chief of staff at the State Department. As a former adviser to Bill Clinton once put it to me, over time Abedin morphed into "a mini Hillary" herself. She wasn’t merely an aide, but rather an amalgamation of adviser, best friend, confidante, and perhaps even surrogate daughter. Abedin "inspires loyalty, and she’s loyal back," one Clinton aide told Amy Chozick in her widely read dissection of Clintonworld for The New York Times Magazine, in 2014.
In fact, according to Chozick, Clinton appeared to countermand those who suggested that Abedin should be relegated on behalf of the sexting antics of her spouse, the randy former congressman Anthony Weiner. Clinton, Chozick reported at the time, appeared more concerned with quarantining the so-called "night stalkers"--sycophants and hangers-on from her many decades in public life--who might try to re-exert their influence. Abedin, meanwhile, was widely expected to get a big job inside a Clinton White House. 'Hot Air' - Same subject.
#5
The MB's gotta be pretty steamed about her as well. All that long term planning, grooming, money spent to get her placement alongside the Hildabeast? All to waste? Especially galling that her sham marriage to that Jooooo pervert helped lose it?
Yep. Pissed.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/15/2016 12:20
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#6
Time for her brother to restore the family honor?
#7
The emails on Huma/Pervert husband's computer were inexcusable. They should blame her to some extent as it brought the email deal back near the end. It was hard enough for them to drag Hillary that close to the finish line without Huma creating additional obstacles through negligence.
A massive security agreement Israel recently signed with Honduras could run into major hurdles in Washington, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
...The Honduran Air Force is a key component in the government’s battle against drug traffickers in the country. Gangs, organized crime and drugs have long plagued the Central American nation, and for many years it held the dubious title of "murder capital of the world."
Hernandez has said the deal with Israel will give the Honduran government capabilities it has never had before to "protect its territory, sovereignty and people."
According to IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly, the contracts with Israel ‐ valued at $209 million ‐ include the refurbishment of the Honduran Air Force’s entire helicopter fleet, as well as many of its fixedwing aircraft. These include US-made F-5 and A-37 jets and Bell UH-1 Hughes 500 "Huey" helicopters.
And that is what may become an issue for Washington, and what ‐ according to one diplomatic source ‐ "throws a wrench into what otherwise sounds like a simple deal."
The US stopped most of its assistance to the Honduran Air Force in 2014, after one of Hernandez’s first acts as president was to get the "Law of Aerial Exclusion" passed.
This law authorizes the air force to shoot down suspected drug planes flying through Honduran airspace, something the US considers a violation of the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation. Air America to the white courtesy phone?
[LI] I appeared on the Mark Levin radio show on Wednesday night, December 14, 2016, to talk about my post, VIDEO: Activists manipulate third-graders into hating Israel.
Video of the event is at the link above, which also has extensive background. The short version is that Ariel Gold from Code Pink and Jewish Voice for Peace arranged for Bassem Tamimi to appear before the third grade classes at an elementary school in Ithaca, NY. Tamimi is best known for using children, including his own, to confront Israeli soldiers in the hope of creating viral photos and videos. Tamimi urged the children to become activists and "freedom fighters for Palestine."
[PJ] The president-elect has signaled that he may be interested in reeling in some of the current president's climate change obsession, which is expressing itself in a variety of federal arenas. A recent questionnaire sent to the Department of Energy by Trump's transition team was designed to ascertain exactly which employees were wasting everybody's time and money working on climate change-related projects. Apparently unaware of the chain of command, the DoE is refusing to cooperate:
The Department of Energy is refusing the Trump transition team's request to name those who have worked on climate change within the department, because of concerns about what the incoming administration will do with the names. President-elect Donald Trump has denied climate change is real.
NPR's Jennifer Ludden tells our Newscast unit the request of such names was included in a 74-question document distributed to the agency's workforce. Jennifer says, "The Trump team wants the names of career employees and contractors who have attended U.N. climate talks over the past five years. It also wants emails about those meetings."
#3
Simple solution here is to stop by "Accts Payable" and run a list of expense reports reimbursing employees for travel to these conferences...You think these folks paid for the airport shuttle to the conference hotel out of their own pockets?
#4
It can't be overly difficult to flip one person there and at least get a few names. If not, repeat the process on January 21 and take a blowtorch (metaphorically speaking, of course) to the place if they again refuse to cooperate.
#7
Real easy: refuse the cheif executive's request to know who is doing what in an executive branch office? You're Fired. On the spot. For cause: insubordination.
#8
#5 - That will already happen when Rick Perry takes over
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/15/2016 20:56
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#9
Take out an Organization Chart and directly contact the top two tiers of permanent, not political appointed, government officials. Require signed receipt of this warning letter, warn not to destroy any documents and have the information requested ready January 20 on penalty of termination January 21. See who blinks first.
[DeutscheWelle] A new Privacy International report has revealed how Western technology companies turned a profit from building up the Syrian surveillance state. But their governments are also dependent on these businesses.
[Breitbart] TEL AVIV ‐ Mike Morell, the former acting director of the CIA, is generating headlines for claiming that alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election amounts to "the political equivalent of 9/11."
Morell further suggested that the U.S. should respond in a significant way to the alleged Russian actions and he has given interviews supporting reports that the CIA believes Russia tried to influence the election in favor of President-elect Donald Trump.
Absent from the news media coverage of Morell’s statements is that he is known for his leading role in helping to craft the infamously misleading talking points used by Obama administration officials to blame the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks on a YouTube video.
Beacon was founded by Phillippe Reines, who served as Communications Adviser to Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state. From 2009-2013, Reines also served in Clinton’s State Department as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Strategic Communications. Reines is the managing director of Beacon.
#1
So the story's not actually based on fact, but on the opinion of a guy who resigned three years ago? Just that should highlight the vaporous content of the story, much less being one of Hillary's remorae.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2016 1:40
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#2
What an amazing coincidence. Phil Reines, Mike Morell, Leon Panetta, a fantastic team with worldwide offices and high-level contacts. And what was it they manufactured again at BGS ?
#3
Little wonder Trump is keeping them at arm's length. I can almost hear Mike Flynn saying.....'hey boss, you don't need that redundancy every morning, ask them for updates and spot reports. I'll read the traffic for you.'
Does anyone ever really resign from Morell's 'former' employer ?
#8
Morell further suggested that the U.S. should respond in a significant way to the alleged Russian actions...
If you leave your barn door open don't come crying to me when your cows go missing and if your server gets hacked it's your own damn fault.
OK, I made a similar comment under the post about Lindsey Graham. Instead of risking a real live shooting war with Russia, how about paying attention to cyber security? Because it isn't just the Russians who are trying to hack you. The Chinese have an entire division of the PLA dedicated to cyber warfare. Then there are all kinds of smaller players; the Romanians, the Ukrainians, the Iranians, the Pakistainians, the Brazilians, the Filipinos and on and on not to mention our own government and the kid next door.
This is all a squirrel.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/15/2016 12:51
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[IsraelTimes] A Kenyan court has ordered the deportation of two Iranian men who were accused of plotting an attack on the Israeli embassy in the capital, Nairobi.
A court order issued Wednesday said an agreement had been reached between prosecutors and the Iranian Embassy ...You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy!... leading to the termination of criminal charges and deportation.
The suspects, Sayed Nasrollah Ebrahim and Abdolhosein Gholi Safaee, had been in jug since November 29, when they were tossed in the slammer Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! outside the Israeli Embassy with video footage of the facility.
They had been traveling in an Iranian diplomatic car after visiting a prison where they saw two other Iranians who have been jugged Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! for 15 years on terrorism charges, according to prosecutors.
They were charged with collecting information to facilitate a terrorist act.
Iranian agents have been suspected in attacks or thwarted attacks around the globe in recent years, including in Azerbaijan, Thailand and India. Most of the plots had Israeli targets.
For those who care about Palestinian politics, now you know.
[Ynet] A Paleostinian court on Wednesday sentenced Mohammed Dahlan, a political foe of President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... , to three years in prison for allegedly embezzling $16 million as a Cabinet minister.
Dahlan has lived in exile since falling out with Abbas in 2010. He was sentenced in absentia.
Since the rift, Abbas has taken a series of steps to block Dahlan's possible return to a West Bank leadership position. Egypt and other Arab states urged Abbas to allow Dahlan's return.
Wednesday's ruling came after a constitutional court upheld Abbas' right to strip Dahlan and four of his allies of their parliamentary immunity
[Ynet] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's military operations in Syria have killed around 1,800 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 Kurdish militia fighters since being launched in August, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday.
Turkey launched "Operation Euphrates Shield" four months ago in a bid to push Islamic State bandidosmurderous Moslems away from its border in northern Syria and prevent Kurdish militia groups from seizing territory in their wake.
It seems safe to assume that most of the dead are Kurds, and that the real number is less than the announced one.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/15/2016
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#1
probably a Turkish unit took some heavy causalties recently and thus prompted Erdogan to put out a puff piece about the guys his team killed
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/15/2016 9:15
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In an interview with the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency on 8 December, Syria President Bashar Assad said that "as long as the Turkish policy is run by an "abnormal" and "psychologically-disturbed person" like Erdogan, we have to expect all possibilities."
#3
In a 21 October report from Jarabulus, the Financial Times assessed Turkish aims towards the SDF and as a conclusion quoted that "Mr Erdoğan is very good at perceptions. It is not important what reality is: people [in Turkey] love hearing Mr Erdoğan’s ambitions on the eight o’clock news when they come home."
[AlAhram] A female would-be jacket wallahplaced in durance vile Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! last week one day before her planned attack in Indonesia's capital said she took orders from Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian with the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group in Syria accused of orchestrating several attacks in the past year.
Dian Yulia Novi and her husband Nur Solihin were among four suspected Lions of Islam arrested Saturday after police detected their plot to bomb a guard-changing ceremony at the presidential palace. A neighborhood on the outskirts of Jakarta was evacuated after a bomb was found.
Police suspect the four were part of a bad boy network responsible for a bomb-making lab in West Java province that was operating under the direction of Naim.
Novi, a former migrant worker in Singapore and Taiwan, said in a TVOne interview broadcast Wednesday that she learned about jihad on social media such as Facebook. She said she was influenced by articles from an Islamic website on upholding monotheism and defending the caliphate and Aman Abdurrahman, a radical holy man serving a nine-year prison sentence in Indonesia.
The active involvement of a woman in the plot is a new development for violent radicalism in socially conservative Indonesia, where women married to or associated with Lions of Islam have typically stayed in the background.
The 3-kilogram bomb that Novi was to detonate would have went kaboom! as crowds of people gathered to watch the presidential guard changing ceremony, a popular family attraction in Jakarta. In the interview, she revealed a chilling disregard for her fellow Indonesians.
"The target is not ordinary people, not hawkers, not babies. The target is the enforcers of man-made laws," Novi said.
How noble.
Naim "himself has explained that there are spectators," she said. "I would mingle with them ... then I would run toward the presidential guard and explode myself. That will be far from the spectators so they would not be hit directly."
'Tis rumoured that last year she spent her savings buying the Brooklyn Bridge. Her profits from the tolls were to pay for the current project, so we can be grateful she is such a gullible fool.
Naim has been linked by police to several attacks in Indonesia this year including a January attack in Jakarta that killed eight people including the attackers.
Moslem-majority Indonesia has carried out a sustained crackdown on Lions of Islam since the 2002 bombings on the tourist island of Bali by al-Qaeda-affiliated Lions of Islam that killed 202 people. But a new threat has emerged in the past several years from IS sympathizers. Several hundred Indonesians have traveled to Syria to join IS.
Novi said she communicated with Naim on three occasions through the encrypted chat app Telegram and said it was he who decided the target of the attack.
Her husband, Solihin, also interviewed by the TV station, said he married Novi to facilitate her desire to be a suicide bomber.
So much for vows to love, honour, and cherish...
Solihin said he was ordered by Naim to drop his wife at Jakarta's Istiqlal Mosque, where she would walk for about 500 meters (yards) to the target.
"I did not know what the target was. Only after police revealed the bomb plot, then I realized that the target was the presidential palace," he said.
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[DeutscheWelle] Ditib, a key Turkish Moslem network inside Germany, has denied spying on Gulen movement supporters ostracized by President Tayyip Erdogan. Ditib says its 970 mosques never received instructions to compile lists.
The denial from the Cologne ...a lovely city in Germany. They invented perfume there... -based Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (Ditib) was carried late Monday by KNA, the Catholic news agency in Bonn.
Preachers or imams at Ditib mosques in Germany have over decades been trained in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... and had their salaries paid by Diyanet, the religious affairs presidium attached to the office of Turkey's prime minister.
Ditib said it had no party-political ties and neither its main office, nor its regional branches, nor its communities had received [Turkish] instructions to spy on adherents of the "Hizmet" [Service], the movement the US-exile holy manFethullah 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... "On the contrary: a clear instruction has been sent to all mosques that our mosques and prayer are open for everyone and that our mosques are places of spirituality, not political polemic," said Ditib, which also provides social services to members.
Erdogan accuses Germany
Since Turkey's failed July 15 coup, Erdogan's administration has purged Gulen supporters from Turkish state institutions. Erdogan has demanded that the USA extradite Gulen, who denies instigating the bid and accused Germany of harboring "terror groups."
Last month, Ditib's front man in Cologne, Zekeriya Altug said Germany's diverse religious faiths each had the right to define standards for pastoral care of their members.
Germany has some three million residents of Turkish origin, stemming mainly from industrial recruitment in the 1960s. About half of them have German citizenship.
Letter sent to Turkish missions
The "Frankfurter Rundschau" (FR) newspaper, citing the newspaper "Cumhuriyet," which is critical of the Turkish president said Turkish foreign missions had been told by Diyanet in a letter sent to all Turkish foreign missions to provide "detailed reports."
"Cumhuriyet" claimed to have obtained lists showing purported Gulen supporters opposed to Erdogan compiled by Ditib preachers in Germany.
FR said it had unconfirmed reports that Gulen supporters no longer had access to Ditib mosques.
'Stasi methods'
Ali Ertan Toprak, the chairman of the Kurdish community in Germany, told Deutschlandfunk public radio on Monday: "Imams posted to Ditib mosques in Germany are Turkish civil servants."
"And they are also utilized to control the Moslem communities they look after and to report critical remarks to the [Turkish] state," Toprak said. "And these are Stasi methods. That should not be allowed in Germany," he added, referring to the former East German intelligence service.
On December 5, in remarks to KNA in Dusseldorf, Ercan Karakoyun, the chairman of a Gulen-related education trust, claimed: "Every imam functions concurrently as an informant for Turkey."
"Anyone who doesn't go along, risks his job," Karakoyun said, adding that numerous Ditib imams had quit and had applied for asylum in Germany.
"They don't want to participate in Erdogan's campaign of hate," said Karakoyun, who is also a member of Germany's center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD).
Intimidation
Early this month, Ralf Jäger, the interior minister of Germany's most populous state North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW), said 50 cases of intimidation against Hizmet facilities and activists had been registered in his region.
At a Ditib mosque in Hagen, police had discovered a placard with the slogan "traitors [stay] out."
Turkey's MIT active in Germany
In August, the widely-read German newspaper "Die Welt" said Germans of Turkish origin were being "menaced" in Germany by informers and officers of Turkey's Milli Istihbarat Teskilati (MIT) national intelligence agency.
Ankara had some 800 regular agents in Europe as well as 6,000 informants in Germany who were putting pressure on "German Turks," the newspaper reported, quoting security sources.
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A foreigner was left dead and at least two others were maimed in a shooting incident 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.... airport this afternoon, security sources said.
According to the sources, the incident took place after a policeman opened fire on the foreign national, leaving him dead along with two others maimed.
The sources speaking on the condition of anonymity further added that the rogue policeman was locked away ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... shortly after the incident and is in the security forces custody.
The main motive surrounding the shooting spree has not been ascertained so far, the officials said, adding that an investigation is underway regarding the incident.
According to the officials, the dear departed man hails from Uganda and was apparently working for a security company.
The officials also added that the injured Afghan man is believed to be his translator who was injured in the attack along with another Afghan civilian.
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[KhaleejTimes] Deadly clashes erupted in Syria's Aleppo on Wednesday as a deal for the evacuation of rebel areas was put on hold, leaving thousands of cold and hungry civilians uncertain of their future.
Qatar announced that it will call off its National Day celebrations next week out of solidarity with the people Aleppo.
Aleppo families had gathered in the streets before dawn hoping to leave the ravaged city after an agreement announced the night before to evacuate civilians and rebels. The first departures had been expected around 5am but there was no movement, and a few hours later, fierce fighting shook the city.
The landmark evacuation deal, brokered by Russia and Turkey, came after the army seized more than 90 per cent of east Aleppo from the rebels. It would have marked the end of opposition resistance in Syria's second city after years of fighting and dealt the op-position their worst blow since the conflict began in March 2011. But it appeared increasingly fragile by Wednesday afternoon as the government and the rebels, as well as their foreign allies, traded accusations.
Iran, one of President Bashar Al Assad's main backers in the battle, imposed new conditions, saying it wanted the simultaneous evacuation of wounded from two villages besieged by rebel fighters, according to rebel and UN sources.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would speak with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin later in bid to rescue the deal. "The situation on the ground is very fragile and complicated," he said.
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] ISIS organization revealed its new executioner who appeared in the latest videos released by the organization. The man with the western look couldn’t fluently speak Arabic. He had a very weak yet a very violent performance unlike his predecessor Mohammed Emwazi.
Mohammed Emwazi
He is ISIS famous masked executioner, also commonly known as Jihadi John, The Beatles or Georges. He has already appeared in several videos.
Ammar al-Husseini
After the killing of Jihadi John, the executioner, Ammar al-Husseini from Deir al-Zor emerged.
Kadouri Sahab
After al-Husseini’s death in Mosul, the organization released a new publication with another executioner called Kadouri Sahab.
He was arrested by border guards in Anbar.
Abu Aisha al-Kurdi
He is executioner Abu Aisha al-Kurdi, commander of Mosul brigade. He was killed in confrontations in the southern region of Mosul.
ISIS Bulldozer
The famous Libyan Bulldozer of ISIS. He was known for his huge body. The Syrian regime army arrested him. He has already appeared in several videos beheading prisoners and hostages, while wearing a black Kandahari outfit and a mask, only showing his eyes.
The first Algerian executioner in ISIS
Abu Ayyub the Algerian is the first slaughterer in ISIS. He appeared in one of the executions videos before being succeeded by Emwazzi. Before joining the organization in 2013, he was the champion of Algeria in weightlifting in 2002. He was also a volunteering Imam in Abu Bakr al-Razi mosque.
Posted by: Fred ||
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In the meantime, president-elect Donald Trump continued his post-election thank-you tour throughout the country, expressing gratitude to Russian hackers everywhere who helped him get to the White House. After making a stop in Cincinnati, Ohio, known for its thriving Russian hacking community, Trump went to Iowa, Michigan, and other predominantly Russian states whose hackers were vital to his win.
At every leg of his tour, the president-elect's speeches attracted large crowds of enthusiastic Russian hackers, whose numbers turned out to be much greater than any Democratic strategist within the intelligence community had anticipated.
"It's really terrifying that these tens of thousands of embedded Russian hackers look no different than everyday working class Americans," admitted John Podesta, a CIA insider responsible for the recent leak concerning RussiaGate to the Washington Post. Much more at the link.
[Gulf Today] The Abu Sayyaf released three hostages - two Indonesian crewmen of a tugboat and a Filipino businesswoman - due to pressure from what the military called the intensified "search and destroy operation" launched against them by Philippine security forces.
Military spokesman Filemon Tan said the two freed Indonesian hostages were the last two of the seven crewmen abducted by the Abu Sayyaf from an Indonesian tugboat while sailing off the Sulu Sea on June 22. He disclosed the militants turned over the two Indonesian hostages to the Moro National Liberation Front in the town of Patikul, Sulu on Monday but admitted he was not aware that a ransom has been paid.
In a related development, an official of the National Bureau of Investigation reported that a group identified with the Abu Sayyaf freed Filipino businesswoman Clarita Belisario who was kidnapped while working at her gasoline station in the town of Linamon, Lanao del Sur in September.
Jam Dimaporo revealed that Belisario was released after her family paid $3,400 to the abductors representing the fee for her "board and lodging" while in captivity, a euphemism for ransom.
With the release of the two Indonesians, Tan said the Abu Sayyaf are still holding a total of 23 foreign hostages, composed of six Vietnamese sailors, five Malaysians, four Indonesians, one Dutch, one German and one Korean.
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[AlAhram] The Ministry of Interior said Mahmoud Shafik Mohamed Mustafa, 22, a.k.a. Abu Abdallah El-Masri, was a member of a Moslem Brüderbund terrorist cell managed by an Egyptian runaway "doctor" in Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... identified as Mohab Mustafa al-Sayed Kassem.
According to the Ministry of Interior’s statement, the cell which recruited the jacket wallah was told by their Brotherhood leader, the doctor, to make contact with Ansar Beit al-Maqdis in North Sinai. It was Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, said the statement, which trained members of the cell in the use of explosives.
Continued on Page 49
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IRBIL: Daesh has been producing weapons on a scale and sophistication which matches national military forces and has standardized production across their self-styled caliphate, an arms monitoring group says.
Conflict Armament Research (CAR) said the terror group had a “robust supply chain” of raw materials from Turkey,
From Turkey? How expected.
and the technical precision of its work meant that it could not be described as “improvised” weapons production.
“Although production facilities employ a range of non-standard materials and chemical explosive precursors, the degree of organization, quality control, and inventory management indicates a complex, centrally controlled industrial production system,” it said in a report following visits last month to six facilities once operated by Daesh in eastern Mosul.
CAR, which identifies and tracks weapons and ammunitions in conflicts, said the facilities it visited were part of a system producing weapons according to precise guidelines issued by a central authority.
Production included a monitoring system with regular, detailed reports on production rates and quality that helped ensure standardization — usually to the tenth of a millimeter — across the terrorists’ once sprawling territory in Iraq and neighboring Syria.
“Mortar rounds manufactured in one part of Daesh forces’ territory are calibrated to fit mortar tubes produced in facilities located elsewhere,” the report said.
Standardization required consistency in the supply of source materials, the report said, achieved through a major acquisition network in neighboring Turkey and a supply chain extending from that country, through Syria, to Mosul.
In addition to technical advantages of standardization, CAR said Islamic State sought to mirror the functions of a national military force in a bid to “legitimize the group’s capacity and coherence in the eyes of its fighters.”
The monitor also said documents it had seen in Mosul suggested Daesh had provided its fighters with sophisticated instructions on making and planting improvised explosive devices as well as the operation of complex weapons systems, such as anti-tank guided missiles.
Posted by: badanov ||
12/15/2016
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#1
has standardized production
Somebody show get the Navy to call ISIS and see how that is done so the USS Zoomie (DDG-Brokendown) can actually shoot something.
[IsraelTimes] IDF and police confiscate weapons, ammo and equipment in ongoing crackdown on homemade weapons used in terror attacks.
Israeli security forces this week tossed in the clink Please don't kill me! four Paleostinian minors from the West Bank suspected of throwing Molotov cocktails and making homemade weapons, police said Wednesday.
On Monday, IDF forces and police arrested two minors in the West Bank town of Beit Fajjar suspected of recently launching multiple rock and firekabooms at the nearby settlement of Migdal Oz, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a statement. During their interrogation, police said, the pair confessed to belonging to an illegal weapons-making cell in their village.
Security forces returned to Beit Fajjar overnight Tuesday and arrested two more minors in connection to the operation.
Ammunition and various gun parts were seized during the arrest raid.
Police said the investigation into the four minors was ongoing. Their identities were not released.
Separate arrest raids carried out the West Bank overnight Tuesday, saw another 10 Paleostinians wanted by Israel detained by the IDF and Shin Bet, the army said.
A statement from the IDF said five of the suspects were detained for low-level acts of violence and disturbing public order. The other five were detained over their affiliation with various Paleostinian terror groups, including Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,.
An Al shabaab commander is reportedly killed in Somalia following clashes between armed residents and militants near Jowhar town, 90Km north of Mogadishu. The Al shabaab commander who was identified as Abdirahman Rahole has been shot dead by two armed men at Barsane area, about 50Km away from Jowhar.
Ibrahim Aden Moalim, one of the killers, told media that they killed the Al shabaab commander after he took forcefully money and livestock from local residents.
The local police officers in Jowhar said they welcome the murder of the alleged Al shabaab leader, and called on residents to take army against Al shabaab militants.
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[Israel] IDF searches for perpetrator after vehicle shot multiple times near Deir Abu Mash’al; earlier, stab attacker rubbed out by police in East Jerusalem.
A gunman shot up an Israeli car with two children in the back seat outside Ramallah in the West Bank on Wednesday evening, causing damage to the vehicle, but no injuries, the army said. The Israel Defense Forces launched a search for the perpetrator of the shooting attack, who had expeditiously departed at a goodly pace.
An Israeli woman was driving near the Paleostinian village of Deir Abu Mash’al, northwest of Ramallah, when a gunman shot up her car, the army said. Photos from the scene showed multiple bullet holes on the side of the vehicle and on the door; the pictures also showed the children in the back seat.
The shooting attack came hours after a 21-year-old Paleostinian man attacked a group of coppers in the Old City of Jerusalem with a screwdriver, stabbing one of them in the head and another in the upper body, police said.
In response, the officers opened fire, shooting the assailant and mortally wounding him.
A 12-year-old resident of East Jerusalem with a light head wound claimed he was also attacked by the assailant. Police said they were still investigating the claim.
According to police, the assailant was a 21-year-old Paleostinian man from the Paleostinian village of Bayt Surik, northwest of Jerusalem, who entered Israel without a permit.
He was taken to Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus at death's door. After extensive CPR attempts, doctors pronounced him dead He's dead, Jim! , a hospital spokesperson said.
#1
You Rantburgers have had a very bad effect on me. Every time my dear wife of 53 years tells me of someone we know who has died I find myself saying aloud "He's dead, Jim".
I then get a lecture about civility from my dear wife.
#2
Dear Cs: at least you don't catch yourself (sometimes) writing reports to the boss and using words like 'Crossfire', 'festivities,' RAB or other Burg-isms......
[DAWN] Saudi police detained a young woman for violating 'modesty rules' after she removed her abaya, the loose-fitting, full-length robes women are required to wear, on a main street in the capital Riyadh, local media reported on Monday.
The conservative Moslem country enforces a strict dress code for women in public, bans them from driving and prohibits the mixing of sexes.
The Arabic-language al-Sharq newspaper reported that the woman was detained after a complaint was filed by the inquisitors religious police.
"Police officers have detained a girl who had removed her abaya on al-Tahliya street, implementing a challenge she announced on social media several days ago," the newspaper quoted Colonel Fawaz al-Maiman, a Riyadh police front man, as saying.
The sabq.org news website said the unnamed woman had posted on Twitter that she would go out in public without her abaya.
Both sabq.org and another news website, alweeam.com.sa, carried a picture of the woman wearing a black jacket over an ankle-length orange and pink dress. Sabq.org concealed the exposed parts of her body.
The post had drawn an angry reaction from some Saudis.
"She has been enjugged I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! and we demand utmost punishment, for the state has rules that she did not respect," one Twitter user said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
I fully expect Trump to take a shot across their bow like he did with China (Taiwan phone call) two weeks ago, just as a reminder that there's a new sheriff in town.
#2
Taiwan call was opening negotiation with China. There is nothing to negotiate with Saudis - once restrictions on hydrocarbon production in USA are removed, Saudis can try to figure out how to drink sand.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The US forces based in Afghanistan conducted at least three more Arclight airstrikes against 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, leaving at least 12 of them dead.
The local security officials said the Arclight airstrikes were conducted using unmanned aerial vehicle in Achin district.
The officials further added that the Arclight airstrikes were carried out in different times on Tuesday in Mazdaki, Bazar and Gand areas.
According to the officials, at least 2 loyalists of the terror group were also maimed in the Arclight airstrikes.
The officials also added that the local residents did not suffer any casualties.
The loyalists of the terror group have not commented regarding the report so far.
This comes as a commander of the terror group was killed along with his three fighters in a similar Arclight airstrike a day earlier.
According to the local security officials, the Arclight airstrike was carried out in the restive Achin district, targeting the bandidosDeath Eaters in Abdul Khel district.
Earlier, another commander of the terror group who was actively recruiting for the terror group was killed during an operation in Khogyani district.
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.
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When I was in Vietnam they kept warning us about the Incurable Clap (aka Hong Kong Dong and Terminal Drip). I never heard of anybody actually catching it.
[ARA News] Raqqa – The Islamic State (ISIS) radical group launched on Wednesday several suicide attacks in western Raqqa, targeting defences of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
ISIS suicide bombers targeted security checkpoints of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG)–leading member of the SDF– near Ain Issa town.
“Members of the radical group carried out four simultaneous attacks at YPG checkpoints in the vicinity of Ain Issa,” media activist Jivan Mustafa told ARA News.
The number of casualties remained unknown.
The Kurdish forces have not issued any statements yet with regard to the attack.
This comes days after the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces launched the second phase of the Euphrates Wrath Operation to capture western Raqqa.
“Daesh terrorists try to impede our progress through launching such suicide attacks,” an SDF officer told ARA News in western Raqqa, using another acronym for ISIS. “But such cowardly attacks won’t affect our advance.”
The Syrian Democratic Forces announced the beginning of the second phase of the Euphrates Wrath Operation last Saturday. While the first phase focused on securing both banks of the Balikh River, the second phase aims “at liberating the western countryside of Raqqa.”
The SDF and the US-led coalition have liberated 37 km2 so far as part of the second phase of the operation. During the first phase of Euphrates Wrath, SDF soldiers captured an area measuring approximately 560 km2. The long-term objective of Euphrates Wrath is the elimination of the Islamic State in its de facto capital, Raqqa city.
Military sources told ARA News that more than 200 ISIS jihadists have been killed since November 6. Cihan Shekh Ehmed, an SDF spokesperson, declared that the “operation will continue until all of its goals are accomplished.”
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Reports have emerged regarding the possible return of a notorious commander of Hezb-e-Islami, Zardad, is returning to 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.... today.
The issue became viral in social media shortly after scores of people gathered in the airport to welcome the notorious commander who is believed to be returning from London.
Dozens of photographs purportedly showing the supporters of the notorious commander have been shared in the social media.
There are mixed reactions regarding his return to Kabul with majority recalling the grave human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. violations Zardad committed while he was fighting during the devastating Kabul war.
Reports regarding the return of Zardad come as the Afghan government is busy requesting the UN Security Council to lift sanctions against the leaders of Hezb-e-Islami.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[DAILYPOST.NG] The Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Major General Lucky Irabor has disclosed that the Operation Rescue Finale launch by the command was making headway in its activities in the Sambisa Forest.
The commander while briefing newsmen at the headquarters, Wednesday, in Maiduguri, told journalists that troops has so far cleared almost the entire Sambisa Forest and have continued to make progress with good records in various operations in the last one week.
According to him, 17 Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... fighters have been wasted while engaging troops fighting in various locations within the forest, an operation which also led to the rescue of 605 hostages.
"These victims who have been rescued include, 69 adult male, 180 adult female, 227 male children and 229 female children." he added.
While speaking on the money recovered from the Boko Haram fighters as well as the pile of weapons so far recovered, General Irabor said, " the weapons are being destroyed as the army do not use them." He, however, added that, the money are being return to the treasury through the appropriate channel after proper record had been taken.
He also said that Boko Haram fighter that have been locked away Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! are in the custody of the Nigerian army where they’re being taking care of, and will subsequently be counseled before they are reintegrated into the society.
While answering questions on whether or not the military is ready to open the road to Kukawa local government in the northern Borno by December 4, 2016 as claimed by the Chairman of Kukawa local government , General Irabor said, there was nothing like that, as the road will remain close due to activities of the bully boyz in northern Borno.
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Talibs suffered heavy casualties in an Arclight airstrike conducted in northern Balkh province of Afghanistan, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said Wednesday.
According to a statement by MoI "Today early morning, during an Arclight airstrike 21 armed Taliban were killed and some amount of light and heavy rounds of ammunitions destroyed as well."
The statement further added that the Arclight airstrike took place in Chamtal district but no further details were given.
The Talibs group has not commented regarding the report so far.
Balkh is among the relatively peaceful provinces in northern Afghanistan but the anti-government armed murderous Moslem groups have recently been trying to destabilize the province.
Numerous have operations have been launched by the acting governor and prominent politician Ata Mohammad Noor in some remote districts of the province to suppress the gunnies activities.
According to the local officials, several signs showing attempts being made by 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 to expand foothold in this province were also found.
On the other hand, the officials warned that the loyalists of the terror group are attempting to expand foothold in some other provinces as well.
The move by ISIS loyalists came as the Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant in some northern provinces during the recent months, including the strategic Kunduz city.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2016
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The commander of the U.S. Forces Korea said Tuesday there will be no delay in the deployment of an advanced U.S. missile shield in South Korea next year.
Opposition parties have stepped up their objection to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system since the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye last Friday, demanding the decision to introduce THAAD be delayed to the next administration.
"I don't expect any delays," Gen. Vincent K. Brooks told Yonhap News Agency when asked if he expected the political crisis to affect the deployment.
He made the remark after a meeting with Defense Minister Han Min-koo at the ministry's headquarters in Seoul.
Gen. Brooks said early last month the anti-missile system will be installed within eight to 10 months to counter growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.
"You're gonna see the deployment of a THAAD battery. This is an alliance decision. It will come in the next eight to 10 months. That is an Army unit and ... a larger configuration than the one in Guam," he said during a seminar on Nov. 4.
During the 30-minute meeting, Minister Han and Gen. Brooks confirmed the two countries would push for the deployment as planned, according to the ministry.
Han also called on the U.S. troops here to stay on high alert as North Korea could raise military tension from its miscalculation at a time of power transition in both South Korea and the U.S., the ministry said in a statement.
Gen. Brooks was quoted as saying that the U.S. troops will be equipped with the "fight tonight" spirit to deter any types of North Korean attacks on the South. The four-star general said the U.S. will consider deterrence measures including the deployment of U.S. strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/15/2016
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[Bangkok Post] Four Thai border patrol officers were slightly injured in a bomb attack while traveling in a vehicle in Narathiwat province on Monday morning.
After being alerted about the bomb, police sent a team of explosive ordnance disposal and forensic officials to the scene. Bomb parts in a steel box indicated around 10 kilograms of explosives might have been used and triggered remotely by radio. A damaged pickup truck and motorcycle were found near the scene. Four policemen were sent to the hospital with chest pains and ringing in their ears.
A preliminary investigation indicated that a team of six policemen were on patrol in a pickup truck and a motorcycle. A kilometer from their base, a bomb planted near a sign was triggered.
Police suspect the attack was the work of insurgents.
[Libya Herald] The head of the Libyan National Army, His Enormity Field Marshal Lord Khalifa Hafter, has called on officers and soldiers to be ready for the offensive to free Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... . He was speaking to members of the LNA. A top LNA official confirmed to the Libya Herald this evening that Hafter had made the call.
Exactly what sort of offensive Hafter intends was not stated. He has previously stated that he would never go to Tripoli if it involved a fight. However, a lie repeated often enough remains a lie... although there are reports of him being in contact with some forces in the capital, it is generally thought that any attempt by LNA forces to take Tripoli will unite the currently divided militia forces there against them.
For the past two and a half years Hafter has been regularly predicting the liberation of Benghazi.
Hafter also spoke about the rape case in Tripoli, saying that he had been deeply upset by it, as if it had affected him personally.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2016
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President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke, who has represented Montana’s at-large congressional seat for one term, to serve as secretary of the Department of the Interior, according to an individual with firsthand knowledge of the decision.
Zinke, who studied geology as an undergraduate
... another one with an opinion on the current climate brouhaha, I'd bet...
at the University of Oregon and served as a Navy SEAL from 1986 to 2008 before entering politics,
...ooooohhhhh another former military type OODA-ing around the place, expecting results from his people -- Mr. Trump does not play games...
campaigned for his House seat on a platform of achieving North American energy independence. He sits on the House Natural Resources Committee as well as the Armed Services Committee.
A lifelong hunter and fisherman, the 55-year-old Zinke has defended public access to federal lands even though he frequently votes against environmentalists on issues ranging from coal extraction to oil and gas drilling. This summer, he quit his post as a member of the GOP platform-writing committee after the group included language that would have transferred federal land ownership to the states.
“What I saw was a platform that was more divisive than uniting,” Zinke said at the time. “At this point, I think it’s better to show leadership.”
Trump also opposes such land transfers, but the provision made it into the official Republican platform.
Zinke recently criticized an Interior Department rule aimed at curbing inadvertent releases of methane from oil and gas operations on federal land as “duplicative and unnecessary.”
“Clean air and clean water are absolute top priorities when we talk about responsible energy development, however the final rule issued by the Obama administration does nothing to further protect our resources,” he said in a statement. “This rule is a stark reminder that we need to invest in infrastructure projects like the Keystone pipeline, so we don’t need to flare excess gas.”
During his time in Congress, Zinke has established a 3 percent voting score with the League of Conservation Voters. But he has broken ranks with the panel’s GOP majority on occasion, opposing a measure by Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) that would have allowed each state to buy up to 2 million acres in U.S. Forest Service land to boost timber production. He has also pushed for full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a high priority for outdoors groups.
Land Tawney, president and chief executive of the Montana-based Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, described Zinke on Tuesday as “a straight shooter” who has established credibility with outdoors enthusiasts in the state. During a recent meeting with him at a distillery in Whitefish, the congressman’s home town, Zinke walked into the place in flip-flops.
“You wouldn’t know he’s a congressman,” Tawney said. “He really prides himself on being a Theodore Roosevelt Republican, and he lives that a little bit more than other people.”
Outdoors activities such as mountain biking and skiing are a major economic driver in Whitefish as well as in Montana overall, where roughly 200,000 residents have big-game hunting licenses and 300,000 have fishing licenses. Zinke, who has been endorsed by the Outdoor Industry Association, has embraced that sector of the state’s economy.
Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership President Whit Fosburgh, whose hunters and anglers group has worked with Zinke, said in an interview that it would be “very supportive of Ryan Zinke” as a Cabinet nominee.
Still, a slew of environmental groups came out Tuesday against Zinke, who opposes safeguards the Obama administration has provided for temporary wetlands and intermittent streams, as well as its temporary moratorium on coal leasing on federal land. While he supported subsidizing renewable energy programs and climate change legislation before being elected to the House, during a 2014 debate he said of climate change, “It’s not a hoax, but it’s not proven science either.”
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/15/2016
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#1
Zinkehas defended public access to federal lands even though he frequently votes against environmentalists
I see our news hounds has cleverly connected two completely different issues to present them as if Rep. Zinke is somehow inconsistent. Some would call that bias.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/15/2016 7:55
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[THENATIONONLINENG.NET] A newborn baby delivered on Tuesday at a hospital in Ogudu on the outskirts of Lagos has two heads with oxygen tube strapped on each, a neck, chest, two legs and two hands. Picture at site.
Doctors at Med-In Specialist Hospital, Osogbo Street, who took the delivery, said the baby was born around 6:30pm on Tuesday through an elective caesarean section. Its mother, surgeon and nurses entered the theatre prepared to take delivery of a set of twins as indicated by the various scans she underwent in the course of the pregnancy.
But what they saw were two heads sharing a body.
At the hospital yesterday, it was gathered that the baby was resuscitated and transferred to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) for advance care.
According to one of the nurses who was in the delivery room, they had prepared two cots for each of the twins but were shocked when they saw that they were conjoined.
"This is the first time I am seeing anything like this. I have watched it in movies but seeing it in real life was such an experience for me. Thankfully, the surgeon ensured that they survived.
"As I speak to you, the mother doesn’t know the condition of the babies. She still believes and expects to carry her twins. We haven’t told her yet. Only her husband was brought into the theatre to see his children and he was the one who went with the doctors to LUTH," said the nurse.
In medical parlance, the condition is known as Parapagus. It is a rare form of partial twinning where there are two heads and two necks side by side on one torso.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2016
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#1
Sounds rather like "The Old Tomater Woman" from "A Canticle For Leibowitz" by Waiter Miller Jr.
Oh the stupid is strong with this one
[Medium.com] For the dense, let me just state unequivocally up front that I do not support this plan, and I do not advocate that violent measures be used to stop Trump. That said, there are innumerable high-profile pundits and political figures who have characterized the threat Trump poses as unprecedented. Many have thrown around the word "fascist." If that's your view of Trump, that he's not just a garden variety-level threat ‐ the kind we should be accustomed to by dint of living in a rapidly declining hegemonic imperial prison state ‐ but something exponentially more destructive and terrifying, then certain previously-unthinkable preventive tactics would be warranted. Assuming the average cock splash of a liberal is trained in anything more than yelling and waving signs
If I took this view of Trump, and was able-bodied, here's what I'd do to prove that I actually believe my own rhetoric, rather than just spout alarmist nonsense for political effect.
I'd assemble armed resistance brigades in and around states that voted for Trump. I'd make sure the participants are well-trained in urban combat. I'd do drills. I'd ensure that secure communications have been established to enable inter-state coordination. I'd impart to participants that they should be prepared to face severe state punishment for their rebellious acts‐ perhaps even death. These are called "militias". Currently, people you call "right wing" are involved in such organizations. Also another flaw in the plan is to assume your gun controlling spunk wastes would actually have guns and be trained in their use. Another stupid assumption is that "urban warfare" thingy. What happens when you storm the Winter Palace and there's nobody there? Your heroic urban guerrilleros could find themselves without water, light, and a few other things, since they're supplied from the 'burbs. You know that lefty saying about "what if they gave a war and nobody came?" How about what if they gave a war and somebody turned the power off. It's not hard to reinvent siege warfare if you get good and pissed.
The plan would be as such. The brigades would position at Republican state capitals (Harrisburg PA, Lansing MI, Raleigh NC, etc.) where the Electoral College is due to meet on December 19. I'd make sure every Elector expected to vote for Trump is identified. The night of December 18, the brigades would forge a blockade at the various state capitol buildings. Electors identified as Republican and/or Trump supporters would be physically prevented from entering, if necessary by lethal force. It's possible that Electors would scramble to meet someplace other than the state capitol building; the resistance must take precautions to ensure this does not happen, possibly by physically restraining the Electors, imprisoning them, or worse. News flash... the "militias" and common gun toting citizen would shoot your asses down faster than you can say "Not my president". "Active shooters" also tend to get bumped off by responding police. Preventing the electors from gathering would put the election into the House.
If this is carried out successfully in enough Republican state capitals, Trump will fail to receive the requisite 270 electoral votes, and the election would be decided in the House of Representatives. Who the hell knows what would happen at that point. Full scale civil war and the slaughter of your gun control loving idiots. Next question.
Again: I don't support the enactment of this plan. In fact, I vigorously oppose it. However, if I took the extreme view of Trump that so many in our media class do, I'd see it as morally obligatory. I see you as intellectually wanting and not in this realm called "reality", but go ahead. Try it. I dare you.
#2
This genius is making "plans" working on the assumption that no one's going to resist them. Brilliant. Simply brilliant.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2016 2:11
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I'm not gonna lie. This got me, too. But that second paragraph... you hardly ever see anyone that stupid, that ignorant, and that confident all at the same time. Sniff sniff dig dig. Too sleepy now to figure the intended target(s). Tentatively filed under "mad genius."
We could take your sorry ass out by shutting off the roads and railroads into your city, and/or shutting off the EBT cards, and/or firing every do-nothing government employees around those state capitals.
After three days, most American cities will run out of food. The thugs five blocks away will come to Mr. Medium's adolescent playground urban neighborhood. They will demand all your food and likely rape your daughters and wife and kill you as a bonus. There aren't enough cops to protect you when this happens.
And the part that Mr. Medium doesn't get is that when they burst into his house and are raping his women while ransacking his food stores, he'll stammer, "B-b-but I was against the Iraq War, and I voted for Obama and Clinton, and I hate Christians, and I'm diverse, n'stuff, don't do this to me, do it to right-wingers in Kansas!", thinking the thugs will say, "Oh, OK, sorry".
The reality is that they won't even spare the breath to laugh at him while pulling the trigger of the 9 MM that blows his brains all over his expensive wall art.
Perpetual adolescents, living in their urban playgrounds, listening to NPR, and telling themselves they've got it all figured out and are always the smartest person in the room self-identify as idiots when they do not realize the truth of the three days supply scenario.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
12/15/2016 6:26
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#6
'I'd make sure the participants were well trained in urban combat.' Leaving aside the whole entire time table issue and all, that is pure comedy gold. A mere suggestion sweet heart, don't forget adequate supplies of papier mache and Laurie Anderson albums to keep your motivation going.
Make sure .40 G22 is clean and fully loaded with 500-rounds reserved. (Should probably get more now)
Take 'upland gamebird plug' out of older Browning 12-guage auto (plus change barrel to 'modified' or 'improved' - have both + full) and load five + chamber with 00 (100 rounds reserved). Don't use slugs, 00 through 2 have the required patterns and outcomes in an urban environment.
Get more ammo for both, then go hunting.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
12/15/2016 9:46
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#8
It's funny how quiet the lefties get when you point out killing the power grid to the cities, shutting down the highways bringing in food and turning off the water pipelines coming into the city will end any 'civil' war in two weeks.
#9
There are not many democrats that understand urban warfare. This would be nothing more that a gathering in a park, a blocked highway, and a bunch of yelling and crying because someone turned off the cel towers. But what this guy is explaining IS the next step from liberal/progressivism to fascism. They are describing a version of crystal night. This is upsetting and should be met with violence. The same way the Hitler brown shirts should have been met with violence.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/15/2016 9:51
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#10
"I'd assemble armed resistance brigades in and around states that voted for Trump (the states with well armed citizenry). I'd make sure the participants are well-trained in urban combat (which would mean mostly veterans who tend to vote overwhelmingly for Trump)."
I think this guy just wants to get lefties killed.
#11
Oh no, by all means take your brigade of special snowflakes to downtown Topeka. Urban combat is tough, so I suggest light clothing and lots and lots of 3.1415 assault rounds.
If I may, I would also suggest activating 30 person brigades out in territorial capitals such as Dodge City because there is a lot of land in flyover country. Available are the 48th 'groundhogs' and the 14th 'coyotes'. Locally to Topeka is the 18th 'bed knobs and broomsticks'. They could urban assault perimeter patrol from Topeka to Leavenworth and back twice daily.
#12
I hope they do not figure out the best way to preserve covert operational security tactical is a white uniform with randomly arranged reflective circles. With the veganball-z shoes, one does not have to even be initially physically fit. Nightmare scenario.
#14
Violent measures were used against Trump through out the Presidential campaign. Many supporters were chased down in the streets and bludgeoned. The left has plenty of trained assassins. 12 cops were cut down in a few seconds in Dallas.
Almost 40 troops cut down in Ft Hood.
With all of the over confidence displayed here amidst years of left wing sanctioned militant attacks, the right has a long way to go.
Cut off the water, electricity, comm, and transport and you have just reduced the ammo requirements down to minimal. No electricity and no refrigeration, light, sewage removal and treatment. It will get very nasty, like a city-sized petri dish for disease. 4 Horseman style. This will be horrific and devastating. Sun Tzu is smiling somewhere, realizing that someone read his book, and put it to good use.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/15/2016 15:53
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#16
#13 How will you do all this from your safe space?
"With our bongs and our dildos, we will lead the People to a great Victory!"
"Wait. Victory is like winning, which is oppressive and patriarchal."
"Yah, OK. Howzabout to a great Triumph?"
"No, that sounds too much like Trump."
"Hmmm, we better appoint a committee to develop a slogan"
While I do appreciate the passive-aggressive, your-wife-is-ugly-haha-just-kidding nature of this fantasy, you realize the whole thing could be stopped cold by just giving everyone a t-shirt for participation and telling them to go home.
#17
Nero has a point; collectivists are among history's most prolific murderers.
However:
General Mills here, safe in his mother's bunker, knows as much about fighting and strife as I know about spiced coffee and man-buns. In no physical shape, admits that.
Yeah, I love the tone, "I'm not going to sit here and talk about how ugly your wife is, but if I would, it would include something about a horse's ass and your wife's beard."
So he cannot form The Devil's Food Brigade, asking others to do so - the true believers, BLM, MB. Really he is just diddling himself to Command and Conquer music before mother's cake is ready.
Anyone ready to fight and die for General Mills here?
#18
Nero White, the left has still not woken up the sleeping giant when it comes to conflict. The article and the responses here are all talking about that day.
[AlManar] Armed groups operating in the Syrian province of Aleppo shelled the city neighborhoods with rocket projectiles and explosive bullets, killing 3 civilians and injuring scores others, in addition to causing material damage in homes and properties.
“Terrorist takfiri groups shelled today [Wednesday] afternoon several rocket projectiles and explosive bullets against Al-Khalidiya, Al-Neel, Al-Fayd, Al-Sukkari, Al-Ferdows and Al-Salehin,” state-run news agency SANA reported citing a security source.
Armed groups attacks left three martyrs and 45 injured.
Earlier on Monday, armed groups shelling on Aleppo’s Bab Al-Faraj and Al-Ma’di killed eight people and injured 47 others.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] A deal to evacuate rebel districts of Aleppo stalled on Wednesday as fierce fighting rocked the city and insurgents appeared to have rejected new conditions imposed on the deal by Iran.
A ceasefire agreed on Tuesday by Turkish intelligence and the Russian military was to have permitted evacuations to Idlib province to begin on Wednesday morning. However, fighting resumed on Wednesday after Iran demanded the simultaneous evacuation of wounded from two villages, Foua and Kefraya, that are besieged by rebel fighters, according to rebel and U.N. sources.
There was no sign of that happening. Air strikes, shelling and gunfire erupted on Wednesday and Turkey accused regime forces of breaking the truce. Also, Syrian state television said rebel shelling had killed six people.
There was no immediate indication when the evacuation might take place but a pro-opposition TV station said it could now be delayed until Thursday.
Residents said shells had fallen on the road on which the evacuations were supposed to take place.
They said the bombardment with artillery and airstrikes as well as alleged use of cluster bombs, had resumed at a pace greater even than before the ceasefire deal.
“Save us, people. Save us, people, world, anyone who has even a bit of humanity,” said one doctor in a voice message from a besieged district. “We beg you, we beg you, the dead and wounded are in the streets and people’s homes have collapsed on top of them. Save us. Save us.”
Another resident said: “We want to leave. We don’t want more massacres, let us leave. What is happening?”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that rebel resistance was likely to end in the next two or three days.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan will discuss Aleppo later on Wednesday, the Kremlin was quoted as saying.
Nobody had left by dawn under the plan, according to a Reuters witness waiting at the departure point, where 20 buses stood with engines running but showed no sign of moving into rebel districts.
People in eastern Aleppo packed their bags and burned personal belongings, fearing looting by the Syrian regime and its Iranian-backed militia allies.
In what appeared to be a separate development from the planned evacuation, the Russian defense ministry said 6,000 civilians and 366 fighters had left rebel-held districts over the past 24 hours.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Wednesday all sides to abide by the ceasefire agreement for the Syrian city of Aleppo.
Erdogan said in televised remarks that the ceasefire was “perhaps the last hope for the innocents” of eastern Aleppo and appealed for the immediate opening of a humanitarian corridor “without any obstruction or sabotage” so people can safely leave the area.
Erdogan decried the violent acts committed by Assad’s regime, saying: “not even a few hours had passed since the agreement was reached that the regime forces broke the ceasefire and once again started to attack civilians.”
Erdogan added that “Assad’s regime is clearly committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Aleppo. Everybody needs to see this reality, including those who give him support.”
At the United Nations, the United States said the violence in the city, besieged and bombarded for months, represented “modern evil”.
The once-flourishing economic centre with its renowned ancient sites has been pulverised during the war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people, created the world’s worst refugee crisis and allowed the rise of ISIS.
As the battle for Aleppo unfolded, global concern has risen over the plight of the 250,000 civilians who were thought to remain in its rebel-held eastern sector before the sudden army advance began at the end of November.
Tens of thousands of them fled to parts of the city held by the government or by a Kurdish militia, and tens of thousands more retreated further into the rebel enclave as it rapidly shrank under the army’s lightning advance.
The rout of rebels in Aleppo sparked a mass flight of terrified civilians and insurgents in bitter weather, a crisis the United Nations said was a “complete meltdown of humanity”. There were food and water shortages in rebel areas, with all hospitals closed.
Posted by: badanov ||
12/15/2016
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[Libya Observer] A Zintan-based gang, dubbed Rayayna Patrols Brigade, of the Petroleum Facilities Guard reopened the Rayayna oil pipeline on Wednesday after receiving instructions to do so by the western operations room of the armed forces led by Khalifa Haftar ... served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all... Rayayna oil pipeline connects al-Sharara and al-Feel oilfields to the oil terminals in western Libya.
In a statement issued by the gang, it said it shut the pipeline for two years disallowing oil to be pumped through it based on the necessities of the war in the western region as oil was used to fund illegitimate wars.
The Zintani gang that is affiliated with Haftar’s forces shut the pipeline in late 2014 after Zintani forces had pulled out from their positions in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... as they were defeated by Libya Dawn ...aka Fajr Libya, the Islamist operation launched to counter that of General Khalifa Haftar (Operation Dignity). It is made up of the Libya Shield militia (Misrata and Moslem Brotherhood), Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room (Moslem Brotherhood), and Tripoli Brigade (close to Abdul Hakim Belhaj, head of Al-Watan party). Financing and moral support come from Turkey and Qatar... forces, which were formed from different brigades from various Libyan cities following the surfacing of Dignity-like operation in Tripoli.
The Chairman of the Libyan National Oil Corporation, Mustafa Sanallah, said they filed a lawsuit in last October at the Attorney General’s Office against the militia that is shutting down Rayayna oil pipeline and he immediately accepted the lawsuit.
Sanallah added that the Zintan-based militia closed the pipeline in Rayayna district and made Libya lose over 27 billion dollars, although the pipeline is located 30 km away from Zintan.
The Head of the Audit Bureau, Khalid Shakshak said in a televised interview last November that the reopening of Rayayna oil pipeline and the resumption of pumping oil through it would solve 70% of Libya’s economic crises.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2016
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[Daily Excelsior] The divisional commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... was killed in a shootout in North Kashmire’s Sopore area while a local bad boy was bumped off in South Kashmire today.
Sources said that security forces got information about presence of LeT divisional commander, Abu Bakar, hiding in Bomai village of Sopore. The area was cordoned of by Army, police and CRPF during which the bad boy opened fire on troops leading to a shootout in which security forces killed him.
Abu Bakar was active since 2009 in Kupwara and Handwara areas of North Kashmire but for one year he was active in Sopore area but failed to establish base in Sopore town.
Sources said that he was motivating local youth for joining militancy and launching infiltrating hard boyz to Central and South Kashmire.
Commander 5-Sector of Army, Brigadier Vikram Nagpal while giving details about the operation said: "We got information about presence of one of the holy warriors of LeT in Zaingair area of Sopore. His name was Abu Bakar who happened to be commander of LeT. He had been active in this area for quite some time. Based on the specific information, a joint operation was launched along with the Army, SOG of Sopore, J&K Police component and a component of CRPF in the Bomai village of Sopore town. During the initial fire fight we tried to get this bad boy surrendered but he refused to do so and in the ensuing fire fight he got eliminated. From him we have recovered one AK-47 rifle, four magazines, few rounds and two hand grenades. His body has been handed over to the police. He has been active in the area for last four years."
A senior police officer said that the mobile services were temporarily suspended in the area to stop rumours about the encounter.
The killing of bad boy sparked protests in the area during which protesters pelted stones on the security forces. Security forces fired teargas to chase away the protesters.
In the meantime, a local Hizb bad boy from South Kashmire was killed in an encounter with security forces today while two of his associates managed to flee from the spot.
The shootout between hard boyz and security forces started in an apple orchard at Bewoora Mirhama village of South Kashmire’s Anantnag district. Security forces received an information that a group of hard boyz will pass through an apple orchard and they laid ambush.
A bad boy was killed on spot when he along with two associates walked into ambush while two others managed to escape.
The dear departed bad boy was identified 24 year old Basit Ahmed Dar alias Sameer son of Ghulam Rasool Dar, a resident of Mirhama Bijbehara.
Basit, the son of a Bank Manager according to family sources, had gone missing two months ago and had joined militancy. He was studying in Islamic University of Science and Technology Awantipora.
People took to streets and clashed with security forces in Bijbehara, Kanelwan, Bewoora and Sirgufwara areas of the district after the news of death of Basit Rasool spread in the area.
Security forces fired teargas and pellets to quell the protests in which at least four persons from Sirgufwara were maimed.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2016
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Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba
[DAWN] Chaos ruled the National Assembly (NA) on Wednesday with the return of the Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) to parliament as NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq rejected the opposition's privilege motions on Panamagate.
Footage of the NA showed incensed members of opposition ripping up copies of the session's agenda and the privilege motions as both PML-N and opposition politicians yelled slogans accusing each others' leaders of corruption.
The PTI and PPP submitted privilege motions in the NA claiming that 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... had misguided politicians in a speech regarding his assets delivered earlier this year.
The PPP in its privilege motion said the PM, through his lawyers, told the Supreme Court that his speech in the Parliament on May 16 was a ""political statement" and was not [meant] to be taken seriously. This implies that all his previous policy statements are also to be taken likewise."
In a similarly privilege motion, the PTI said the PM had told the House that he had "documents to prove his case." But his lawyers said no records were kept as business was conducted via ""parchis" (chits)", it stated.
The NA speaker clarified his decision to reject the motions, saying the matter is subjudice.
Having failed to win a verdict from the Supreme Court against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over the Panamagate case last week, PTI on Tuesday decided to end its boycott of the NA and return to parliament. The SC last week deferred the hearing of the case till the first week of January.
Pandemonium broke out in the PTI benches when the NA speaker opened the floor to the PML-N's Saad Rafique on a point of order following PPP leader Khursheed Shah's speech instead of allowing PTI leader Shah Mehmood Wormtongue Qureshi to speak.
Amid chants of 'thief, thief', Rafique lashed out at the members of opposition clustered before the speaker's bench who were throwing papers in the air, and accused PTI politicians of 'only wanting to fight'.
"The PTI is scheming against democracy," he said. "PTI workers are hooligans, that's all they do in politics... They are only attending the session so they can collect their salaries," he claimed.
Talking to the media outside the parliament, he strongly criticised the opposition parties in general and PTI in particular.
"The parliament is a political space, hence each and every word uttered on the floor is political. In the court one gives a legal statement which requires detailed elaboration as well as proofs," said the PML-N stalwart.
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12/15/2016
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Libya Observer] Military commanders of al-Bunyan al-Marsoos Operation have agreed to name Brig. Ahmed Abu Shahma as a military governor of Sirte.
The nomination came in response to the election of Mukhtar al-Maadani as a new mayor of Sirte. al-Maadani is accused of being a loyalist to Khalifa Haftar ... served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all... and Dignity Operation.
Sirte was announced fully liberated from ISIS last week after seven months of fierce festivities in the city and its suburbs, but Dignity Operation claimed that Misrata-led forces' victory over ISIS was only a handover of the city from ISIS to al-Qaeda.
"Sirte war was not for the sake of the nation, it was intended to raise al-Qaeda over ISIS," spokesperson of Dignity Operation said last week.
Members of Sirte municipality elected Mukhtar al-Maadani as a mayor for the city in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... on Monday. His election has sparked anger among al-Bunyan al-Marsoos brigades and social media activists.
Misrata-led forces fear that the election of al-Maadani would hand over the city to Dignity Operation in spite of the high numbers of casualties during the seven-month fighting against ISIS.
Last April, Mukhtar al-Maadani appeared in a video showing support to Khalifa Haftar and Dignity Operation. The video was filmed in Almarj, the stronghold town of Dignity Operation in east Libya where he received military vehicles and weapons for Sirte Police Department, which was established by the Interim Government of al-Thanni government.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2016
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Top|| File under: Arab Spring
#2
The more he pisses them off, the more sure I am that Trump is the right man for President at this juncture. I was a Cruz guy, and as committed to small government and free market principles as Cruz is, he doesn't have the panache (for lack of a better word) of Trump to pull all of this off and tell the national media to GFY in the same breath. I think Trump just might be that rare character to stop a cruise ship on a dime.
I liked Ted too, but, you need a different skill set right now. First you need the exterminator to clean out the vermin, then you get a craftsman to seal up the leaks.
#8
I've never really understood why the President couldn't have the exact staff he wants. It's not like the Executive branch has any say over who works for each Senator. The President is responsible for each choice and all of the policies so how does it make a difference?
#9
Trump will have to put on the charm hat to work with McConnell and Ryan. Then when that does not work, he will have to put on his A$$hole hat and deal with McConnell, who will sabotage Trump's reforms. After he gets done with McConnell, Ryan will fold.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/15/2016 15:22
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#10
If McConnell messes with him Trump should start talking to other Republicans in Kentucky that might be Senate candidates. McConnell will get the message.
#11
If McConnell messes with him Trump should start talking to other Republicans in Kentucky that might be Senate candidates. McConnell will get the message.
He needs to do that anyway, upfront. Didn't he give the Turtle's wife a spot on his Administration?
#12
rjschwarz,
At the least, at the end of the day, even if the only thing John Kerry does in a negotiation is show up for the photo finish, he is still the foremost head of USA diplomacy and is second behind the Vice-President should something happen. This is at least a nod towards representation.
Also, could you imagine SoS Valerie Jarret? DoD Bill Ayers? They may have influence on the president, but then the president has to convey to those departments and there may be a series of hidden check/balance going on there.
Presidents have had their kitchen cabinets and czars, their phone and pen, so forth. Even if it is mostly for show, an official structure is endorsed by Congress.
[Libya Herald] The least 11 soldiers died today and eight were maimed during heavy fighting as the Libyan National Army worked its way further into the terrorist-held enclave in Benghazi’s Ganfouda district.
Airstrikes and artillery fire preceded the advance to secure the Tarek Alharaba (Smugglers’ Road) between Ganfouda and Bousneeb which army commanders consider strategically significant.
In the course of the last 24 hours it is said that a major food dump has been overrun along with a building housing an IS radio station. A small ammunition store was also said to have been found and destroyed.
The flow of civilians leaving the enclave continues to be intermittent. LNA sources have denied that social media pictures of fleeing families which were published earlier in the week were fakes. Today the army said that only four families had come over. There are however reports that two prisoners held by the hard boyz somehow found freedom. The pair had originally been picked up in 2011 during the Revolution and later fell into the terrorists’ hands.
Despite now being apparently entirely cut off from any resupply, fighters from the Benghazi Revolutionaries’ Shoura Council and their terrorist allies from IS and Ansar al-Sharia ...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Libyaand Yemen, with the Libyan versions currently most active. Tunisia's Shabaab al-Tawhid started out an Ansar al-Sharia and changed its name in early 2014. It still uses the old name now and then, probably because the stationery's not all used up and the web site hasn't expired yet... continue to exact a heavy toll. The fight has been notable for the number of senior officers to be killed. Saiqa Special Forces ...Libya's elite army unit, insofar as they have one, formed from a mixture of paratroopers and commandos. The group emerged from a militia with the same name in 2010. It now numbers a few thousand and reports to the Ministry of Defence. It deployed in Benghazi in an attempt to control the carnage. As a result, it has been attacked and several of its officers murdered. The force is popular in Benghazi for its stance against Ansar al-Sharia group... field commander Akhram al-Bassiouni was the latest victim, one of four soldiers to die on Sunday.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] At around the same time, terrorism has once again revealed its hideous face in Egypt and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... . A monstrous strike targeted women, children and worshippers at the famous Saint Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Abbasiya, Cairo. At least 25 were killed and 31 others injured.
The terror that struck Istanbul was another evil act of terrorism. The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) claimed the twin attacks ‐ a boom-mobile followed by a suicide kaboom less than a minute later ‐ that killed 38 people outside a sports stadium. This madness will unfortunately continue as there is a link between all that is happening and even if it does not appear to be the case.
The terror targeting Turkey is being nurtured through Syria and perhaps through Iraq as ISIS has categorized Turkey an enemy after it engaged in the war against it. There is also the war against the Kurdish militias in support of Russia and Iran and which aim to establish a Kurdish state that separates between Turkey, Syria and Iraq.
ISIS is the final form of armed fundamentalist outburst, which uses the concept of the "caliphate" and "jihad", and are fighting the "enemies of Islam" as a means to recruit and mobilize especially after the West let down the Syrian people and the Russian and the Iranian regimes conspired against Syria and Iraq.
Egypt has a different kind of terrorism even though there is a link to ISIS in all these places and to Syria and Iraq and to al-Qaeda. Ahmad Salama Mabruk, aka Abu al-Faraj al-Masri, sat next to Abu Mohammed al-Julani when the new alliance of Fateh al-Sham ...formerly al-Nusra, the current false nose and mustache of al-Qaeda in the Levant... was announced. In other words, the source of chaos, destruction and incitement to terrorism, as these groups put it, is what is happening in Syria.
Syria’s volcano, and now Iraq’s, is spewing out its lava on everyone. Torrents of fire are spilling into neighboring countries or rather across the entire world. The US, the world’s major superpower, probably thinks that its "isolation" from the Middle East is the solution and that it can settle down to just fighting ISIS and al-Qaeda.
Major illusion
This is a major illusion because letting Iran and Russia commit crimes in Syria and Iraq clearly means more of ISIS and non-ISIS terrorism and more of international terrorism in the West and the US itself. It’s all crystal clear.
In his The National Interest article last week, Amitai Etzioni,
...Wikipedia says Mr. Etzioni, born Werner Falk, 4 January 1929 in Germany, is an Israeli-American sociologist, best known for his work on socioeconomics and communitarianism [whatever that is]. It is a sign of our changing times that Al Arabiya quotes a former Palmachnik...
Professor of International Relations at The George Washington University, wrote: "Such a Shiite-dominated Middle East is going to be ‐ and, in effect, already is ‐ a major breeding ground for transnational terrorism that is spreading into Europe and is threatening the US homeland."
The roads to terrorism lead to one another and the solution is to block all of their supply chains. Is Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... , the new leader of America, aware of that?
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Top|| File under:
[AnNahar] 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.... fighters possibly seized air-defense weapons when they recaptured the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, a U.S. general said Wednesday, adding a potential complication to the coalition's air war.
Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, who commands the US-led coalition bombing IS in Iraq and Syria, said jihadists seized a trove of gear when they retook the desert city from Russia-backed Syrian regime troops on Sunday.
"We believe that includes some armored vehicles and various guns and other heavy weapons, possibly some air-defense equipment," Townsend said in a video briefing from Baghdad.
The U.S.-coalition that has been bombing IS since 2014 has enjoyed near-total air superiority across Iraq and Syria, sustaining only limited small-arms damage to a couple of aircraft.
"Basically, anything they (IS) seize poses a threat to the coalition, but we can manage those threats and we will," Townsend said. "I anticipate that we'll have opportunities to strike that equipment and kill the ISIS that's operating it soon."
Townsend did not describe whether the air-defense weapons were anti-aircraft guns or missiles.
Townsend said the coalition would, at least initially, defer to the Russians to try to retake Palmyra.
"If they don't, we will do what we need to do to defend ourselves and we'll de-conflict those actions with the Russians."
The Pentagon and coalition partners have accused Moscow and Damascus of taking their eyes off Palmyra to focus on bombing the former rebel bastion of Aleppo.
The U.S.-led coalition, which is narrowly focused on fighting the IS group, has not had an active role in Aleppo, and Townsend said the regime's recapture of the city would have only a "relatively moderate" effect on coalition actions in Syria.
"Because I think the regime and the opposition forces that are fighting their war adjacent to ours will take their fight elsewhere," he said without giving details.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
This presumes they have the IQ to operate the equipment, if it isn't already shit equipment.
[al Manar] Russia’s defense ministry said on Wednesday that the militants broke a truce intended to allow them to evacuate from eastern Aleppo, prompting the Syrian army to resume its operation there.
The ministry said that its military monitors in Syria had organized the evacuation of militants from the city by bus following an agreement between militant commanders and the Syrian government, a process that was supposed to begin at 0400 GMT.
But the convoy of civilian buses gathered in the Salaheddin neighborhood came under fire from territory held by militants after the insurgents regrouped and relaunched hostilities in an attempt to break through Syrian positions to the northwest, the ministry said.
“The attack by the terrorists was warded off. The Syrian army continued its operation to liberate the eastern districts of Aleppo controlled by the militants,” Russia’s military said in a statement.
A deal reached Tuesday, which would end years of fighting in the city, called on militants and civilians whom the insurgents use as human shields start evacuating from Aleppo.
If implemented, the deal would mark a major victory for the Syrian government and the worst defeat for militants. It will leave the government in control of the country’s five major cities.
Earlier Wednesday Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow expected fighting by militants in Aleppo to end in the next “two to three days” and for the situation to be resolved.
The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement that Lavrov had on Tuesday discussed the situation in Aleppo with Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.
Turkey on Tuesday confirmed that a ceasefire deal had been struck and that those leaving would go to the northwest province of Idlib, held by Takfiri militant alliance known as the “Army of Conquest”.
Posted by: badanov ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... ’s Justice Minister Waleed bin Mohammad al-Samaani, who is also the chief of the Supreme Judicial Council, has expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... over the disappearance of Sheikh Mohammad al-Jirani, a judge at the Endowments and Inheritance Department in the Qatif court, justice ministry spokesperson Sheikh Mansour al-Ghefary has said.
Reports earlier said that the police have launched an operation to locate Sheikh Mohammad al-Jirani who was kidnapped by masked men in front of his house in Al Qatif in the Eastern Province.
Mayor of Tarout, Abdulhalim Kidar, condemned Jirani’s abduction under mysterious circumstances on Tuesday morning. Kidar told al-Arabiya.net that he saw Jirani’s shoes in front of his home, near his car, which indicates he was brutally kidnapped by a terrorist group that wants to target the country.
He added that the security forces have been working since early Tuesday and have carried out checks in the neighborhood looking for evidence. They are trying to investigate the incident which was reported to them by Jirani’s wife.
Meanwhile, ...back at the chili cook-off, Chuck and Manuel's rivalry was entering a new and more dangerous phase... a news report carried out by Gulf News, quoted family members of Sheikh Mohammad Al Jirani as saying that he was forced into a car by three assailants as he was leaving his home on Tuesday morning. The judge’s wife, according to the report, said the kidnapping occurred at around 9 am as he was waiting for her in his car to take her to a woman’s sports club.
According to the newspaper, other judges at the department condemned the kidnapping, saying that it was a strange behavior associated with gangs and criminals.
"This is a new attitude that reminds us of criminal gangs. I am confident the security authorities will be able to deal with it appropriately, and I call on all people to cooperate to help locate Sheikh Al Jirani," Sheikh Hassan Al Saffar was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
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Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Some of those who have received counselling and participated in training courses at the Prince Mohammed bin Nayef Counseling and Care Center in Riyadh shared their past experiences while being involved in terrorism, during a seminar during the second session of the intellectual awareness forum entitled ’Extremism: Between misleading theory and ominous reality’ at the Imam University
Juhani: I had not found the right counseling and Fatwa
Khalid al-Juhani, one of those who benefited from Prince Mohammed bin Nayef Center, spoke about his 10-year experience where he was lost and got involved in al-Qaeda as an electronics and remote detonation instructor. He used to provide training at that time, before the collapse of Afghanistan, under the leadership of the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now neither a strong horse nor a weak horse, but a dead horse... at Tora Bora. Later he and some others fled to Pakistain where they were incarcerated Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! and handed over to the US authorities. He was held for five years in Guantanamo and came out psychologically broken due to what he had endured. When he got back to 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... , he was afraid because he did not know how the Saudi society and his family would welcome him. But he was well received and relieved of those concerns.
At that moment, he regretted what he had been through. In prison, counseling sessions began. "Things got clearer and it is not as they had said for the victory of Islam. They brainwashed us to be a weapon against one’s own country, so don’t be fooled by these fantasies," he said.
Life in Afghanistan is not beautiful and it is not true that they are very happy to have us there. They hate us and are surprised that we are engaged with them in their wars and the discord they fell into," he added.
Al-Anzi: The instigators isolated us from our society
Badr al-Anzi said that he initially was a young man who was excited for the victory of Islam. He was moved by scenes he was shown of massacre and despotism against Moslems in Afghanistan and many other neighboring countries. There were also some newspaper reports that mocked the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him), so he was brainwashed and incited through speeches that dragged him to unbridled ideology.
Yahya: My advice for young people is not to be influenced by emotional scenes
Yahya bin Hassan spoke about his experience, saying that following up the news and seeing photos of the violations and abuses happening to Moslems drew him to those areas of conflict. Indeed, he went to those areas and found that all of the wars were purely political, where they are using innocent young people to achieve their ends.
Hani: Openness to knowledge and cultures is the stronghold of the youth
As for Hani al-Mulla’s experience with joining the fronts of combat, he said labeling the conflict zones as angelic societies would be a misnomer. He said that if it wasn’t for God, he wouldn’t have been aware of what he was going through. He described the openness to knowledge and diverse cultures as one of the most important things that would make young people immunized against bad boy groups.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia
[IsraelTimes] Istanbul-based Kanadil Institute said to be funneling money to terror organization, Moslem Brüderbund for projects in Jerusalem.
I'd give high odds the Kanadil Institute is quietly supported by President Erdogan's government...
An order outlawing a Turkish aid group accused of funneling money to Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, and the Moslem Brüderbund was signed by Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman Wednesday.
The Istanbul-based International Kanadil Institute for Humanitarian Aid and Development is accused by Israeli authorities of sending money to organizations listed as terror groups by Jerusalem.
"The Kanadil foundation is identified with Hamas and with the Moslem Brüderbund and in recent years had been used as a main pipeline for funding projects by Hamas in Jerusalem," Liberman’s spokesperson said in a statement.
The front man said the organization’s director and numerous employees are closely associated with Hamas and the Moslem Brüderbund.
The move comes days after Israel and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... re-established full diplomatic ties after a several-year freeze. Israel has criticized Turkey and its ruling AKP party for its continued support of Hamas, though the detente between the countries has moved forward despite Ankara’s backing of the group.
There was no immediate reaction from Kanadil or Turkey to the move.
The ministry had blacklisted Kanadil in October, according to the Israel Money Laundering and Terror Financing Prohibition Authority, but the order was only signed Wednesday.
The Defense Ministry did not specify what projects in Jerusalem the group was helping Hamas fund.
On its website, Kanadil lists a number of projects in Jerusalem it is involved with, including social programs, job training, education, loans to small business and farmers and procurement of raw materials for small manufacturers.
Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by Israel, while the Jerusalem branch of the Moslem Brüderbund was outlawed in 2007. Hamas was originally founded as an offshoot of the Moslem Brüderbund.
The terror group has grabbed credit for numerous terrorist attacks in Jerusalem over the past year, including a recent shooting in October at the city’s Ammunition Hill light rail station in which two Israelis were killed.
[DAWN] IN this age of 24/7, wall-to-wall coverage, journalists are confronted with difficult ethical and professional questions when it comes to reporting incidents of a sensitive, communal nature. While censorship is out of the question, some degree of restraint must be exercised to ensure that violent images and footage from one location do not end up inflaming the situation on a larger scale. This dilemma surfaced on Monday during a communal riot in Dulmial, a village near Chakwal city. As reported, a mob descended on an Ahmadi place of worship and proceeded to ransack it. In the melee, two deaths occurred. The attack occurred on 12 Rabiul Awwal, a day when religious fervour is high and mass processions are taken out countrywide. Perhaps this fact -- along with the sensitivity of the incident -- led the electronic media to downplay its coverage. As mentioned in this paper, the reportage was limited to tickers; media professionals say this was done out of ’self-restraint’. Such restricted coverage has been witnessed before, most notably during the 2013 communal riot in Rawalpindi on Ashura. There is, of course, a thin line between self-restraint and self-censorship. Where attacks on minorities are concerned, there can be no room for self-censorship. Heads of media organizations, rather than any government body, need to formulate standard operating procedures where coverage of communally sensitive incidents is concerned. These guidelines must be adhered to by all channels, and coverage should not be selective regarding different incidents of a communal or sectarian violence.
However, women are made to be loved, not understood... while coverage of the attack may have been subdued, the state should under no circumstances brush this shameful incident under the carpet. Prima facie, there is evidence that the attack was pre-planned, as holy mans had apparently been riling up people along sectarian lines many days before the incident. A full investigation should be conducted and those responsible for instigating the violence, as well as those who participated in the attack, must face justice. In particular, the media needs to expose the culprits behind such communal violence in order to inform the public, as well as to put pressure on the state to take action against hate-mongers. The long-term battle against extremism and militancy will not be won until those involved in hate speech and instigating communal conflict are prosecuted and punished. All communities must be free in this country to follow their religious beliefs without being intimidated.
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Libya Herald] The Benghazi Defence Brigades (BDB) says that its front man and another leading member of the group were killed during last Wednesday’s attack on the oil crescent area. It also accuses Europe and the West of being behind a number of kidnappings and killings in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... , including that of Salafist holy man Sheikh Nadir al-Omrani.
In a statement today, the BDB said that its front man, Mansour al-Faydi, was killed in Libyan National Army Arclight airstrike on Jufra airbase. Another commander, whom it named as Ahmed al-Shaltami, later died of wounds received in a subsequent air raid on the base. A number of other, unnamed fighters were also said to have died.
Shaltami was reportedly a leading member of Ansar al-Sharia ...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Libyaand Yemen, with the Libyan versions currently most active. Tunisia's Shabaab al-Tawhid started out an Ansar al-Sharia and changed its name in early 2014. It still uses the old name now and then, probably because the stationery's not all used up and the web site hasn't expired yet... in Benghazi ‐ part of the Benghazi Revolutionaries’ Shoura Council ‐ before being forced to flee the city.
The BDB also claims that Libyans acting as agents of Europe and the West were behind the abduction and killing in Tripoli of al-Omrani and of Abdul Latif al-Kreek.
Al-Kreek was one of the commanders of the Bunyan Marsous operations room. He disappeared in Tripoli on 15 November. An alleged supporter of the so-called 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.... who was placed in durance vile ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... and is being held in the capital has supposedly confessed to involvement in his kidnapping and murder. A video of his confession was published today. Significantly, it shows signs of him having been beaten on the head.
In its statement, the BDB also claimed that the West’s Libyan agents were planning to kill a number of other holy warriors including Ziyad Belam (former head of the Omar Mukhtar Brigade in Benghazi), Ismail Salabi (a former commander of the 17 February Brigade), Benghazi Death Eaters Ahmed Majberi and Nasser al-Maqsabi (0ne of the leaders of Libya Shield ...a conglomerate of pro-Islamist militias deployed across Libya. It reports to the Libyan defense ministry and is organized like a real army unit. Its commander used to head a Benghazi brigade called Free Libya Martyrs... No 1 brigade).
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Top|| File under: Ansar al-Sharia
#1
The BDB also claims that Libyans acting as agents of Europe and the West were behind the abduction and killing in Tripoli of al-Omrani and of Abdul Latif al-Kreek.
Whatever happened to the good old days of being a "CIA lackey"?
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Saudi King Salman ...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Cutodian of the Two Holy Mosquesand Lord of Most of the Arabians.... bin Abdul Aziz inaugurated the works of the first year of the seventh session of the Shoura Council on Wednesday.
In his speech, he said that the Kingdom is steadily working to adapt to the challenges it is encountering, adding that it will face whoever is calling for religious extremism or fanaticism.
The Saudi king also said that the Kingdom supports any political solution to international crises in order to pave the way for development efforts. He added: "We will continue our cooperation with the international community to restore world peace. 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... will deploy all possible efforts to protect the state and society and to serve the Two Holy Mosques."
King Salman explained that the 2030 vision of Saudi Arabia aims to provide a decent livelihood for citizens. The economic reforms depend on the fair redistribution of resources; all parties shall provide the Council with all what is necessary for the reports.
Regarding Yemen, King Salman said that the security of Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... and the Saudi kingdom is intertwined, adding that the Kingdom does not seek to interfere in Yemen’s internal affairs. He said "we deployed all our efforts to protect the state and the security of the society and we work hard to serve the Two Holy Mosques. Our country was founded on the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger." He added: "Extremism was always rejected and we have always been a religion of moderation."
King Salman also pointed out that the economic reforms depend on the fair redistribution of resources. He believes that the political solution to international crises is the right option to bring peace, stressing that "they support any political solution to international crises in order to pave the way for development efforts. We will continue to cooperate with the international community to restore world peace."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2016
00:00 ||
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[6 views]
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#1
"...And give them big bucks!"
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/15/2016 8:07
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#2
... as long as they're fanatics outside the Magic Kingdom.
[THENATIONONLINENG.NET] The Federal Government has said it will prosecute 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... Death Eaters and anyone engaging in terrorism.
National Security Adviser (NSA) Maj-Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd) spoke yesterday in Abuja during consultations on how to prosecute, rehabilitate, and re-integrate former murderous Moslems.
Monguno said Nigeria would win the war against terrorism through its core values, including respect for human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... , as guaranteed by Chapter 4 of the 1999 Constitution, and relevant international rights conventions.
Monguno said: "Whereas, violence does not respect human rights and share no such values, we are committed to ensuring that every suspect charged with terrorism has a day in court."
The NSA said Nigeria would partner the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... (EU), United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC), Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) and other agencies to find the best "approach to prosecute, rehabilitate and re-integrate former members of Boko Haram".
"We are, therefore, looking beyond the counter-insurgency campaigns in Northeast to the next phase where Violent Extremist Offenders (VEOs), who had either repented or passed through the criminal justice process, are rehabilitated and re-integrated into society," he added.
Representative of EU delegation Mr. Richard Young noted that there are those believe terrorists, who surrender and are captured, be sent to prison, de-radicalised and re-integrated into society, and others who think Death Eaters should be prosecuted and made to face the law.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2016
00:00 ||
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[1 views]
Top|| File under: Boko Haram
#1
"prosecute" as in "kill to death"?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/15/2016 11:15
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ADEN: Eleven headless bodies have been dumped in a nature reserve in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden, a local news website reported on Wednesday. If one of them is yours step right up and claim it.
The Aden Al-Ghad news website quoted a security source in the city as saying that the male bodies were found on Tuesday evening in Al-Hiswa reserve, west of Aden.
It was not clear who killed the men and why, but Aden Al-Ghad said the condition of the bodies suggested they had been dumped there more than a month ago.
Yemen's second largest city has been suffering from lawlessness, as armed groups including Daesh and Al-Qaeda continue to maintain influence nearly a year and-a-half after supporters of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, backed by Arab coalition troops, drove the Iran-aligned Houthis out.
The government is struggling to restore security to the city of one million. The southern port city is under the control of the internationally recognized government.
Last Saturday, a suicide bomber killed 50 soldiers when he blew himself up at a military base in the city in the latest of a series of attacks claimed by Daesh.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
What do you get when you combine the right idea with the wrong process, the wrong strategy, and moral preening that ignores the application that the right idea would have had for the other side of an election? This stupid and futile gesture from the progressive wing of the Senate Democratic caucus. It ostensibly seeks to force Donald Trump into divesting himself of his businesses and putting his assets in a blind trust. It operates more as a sour-grapes shot that might actually weaken the argument for its core idea:
Egypt's Civil Aviation Ministry says traces of explosives have been found on some of the victims of an EgyptAir flight from Paris that crashed in the Mediterranean Sea in May.
[Wash Times] A WikiLeaks figure is claiming that he received leaked Clinton campaign emails from a "disgusted" Democratic whistleblower, while the White House continued to blame Russian hackers Wednesday for meddling in the presidential election and asserted that Donald Trump was "obviously aware" of Moscow’s efforts on his behalf.
[Vanity Fair] Maybe I'm just pi**ed off, but I really don’t give a shi* about what happens to Huma to be honest with you," one close adviser to Hillary Clinton told me recently. He was irked, in particular, at Abedin’s seemingly superfluous breach of decorum during a post-election event. 
[LI] I appeared on the Mark Levin radio show on Wednesday night, December 14, 2016, to talk about my post, VIDEO: Activists manipulate third-graders into hating Israel.
[AlAhram] The Ministry of Interior said Mahmoud Shafik Mohamed Mustafa, 22, a.k.a. Abu Abdallah El-Masri, was a member of a 
An Al shabaab commander is reportedly killed in Somalia following clashes between armed residents and militants near Jowhar town, 90Km north of Mogadishu. The Al shabaab commander who was identified as Abdirahman Rahole has been shot dead by two armed men at Barsane area, about 50Km away from Jowhar.
[DAWN] Saudi police detained a young woman for violating 'modesty rules' after she removed her abaya, the loose-fitting, full-length robes women are required to wear, on a main street in the capital Riyadh, local media reported on Monday.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Reports have emerged regarding the possible return of a notorious commander of Hezb-e-Islami, Zardad, is returning to 
The commander of the U.S. Forces Korea said Tuesday there will be no delay in the deployment of an advanced U.S. missile shield in South Korea next year.
[Bangkok Post] Four Thai border patrol officers were slightly injured in a bomb attack while traveling in a vehicle in Narathiwat province on Monday morning. 
[Daily Excelsior] The divisional commander of 
Mehmood 
[DAWN] IN this age of 24/7, wall-to-wall coverage, journalists are confronted with difficult ethical and professional questions when it comes to reporting incidents of a sensitive, communal nature. While censorship is out of the question, some degree of restraint must be exercised to ensure that violent images and footage from one location do not end up inflaming the situation on a larger scale. This dilemma surfaced on Monday during a communal riot in Dulmial, a village near Chakwal city. As reported, a mob descended on an Ahmadi place of worship and proceeded to ransack it. In the melee, two deaths occurred. The attack occurred on 12 Rabiul Awwal, a day when religious fervour is high and mass processions are taken out countrywide. Perhaps this fact -- along with the sensitivity of the incident -- led the electronic media to downplay its coverage. As mentioned in this paper, the reportage was limited to tickers; media professionals say this was done out of ’self-restraint’. Such restricted coverage has been witnessed before, most notably during the 2013 communal riot in Rawalpindi on Ashura. There is, of course, a thin line between self-restraint and self-censorship. Where attacks on minorities are concerned, there can be no room for self-censorship. Heads of media organizations, rather than any government body, need to formulate standard operating procedures where coverage of communally sensitive incidents is concerned. These guidelines must be adhered to by all channels, and coverage should not be selective regarding different incidents of a communal or sectarian violence.
[YahooNews] Top US Republican senator says Russians hacked his campaign.
