h/t Instapundit
A new video of U.S. celebrities urging electors to vote against President-elect Donald Trump was made by an organization whose website was registered in a foreign country, despite its accusations that foreign influence was to blame for Trump’s victory in the presidential election.
...According to a search on ICANN WHOIS, a website that provides public access to data on registered URL names, UniteForAmerica.org was created on Nov. 26 with internet service provider Tucows Inc., located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Instapundit: "Canadians are attempting to subvert the results of our election" doesn’t actually sound any crazier than anything else I’ve read in the last five weeks or so.
[Huron Daily Tribune] SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- California's policy of withholding weapons for 10 days from buyers who previously purchased a gun and clear a background check before the state's waiting period is a reasonable safety precaution that does not violate the Second Amendment, a federal appeals court said Wednesday.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower-court decision that found the law was unconstitutional when applied to existing gun owners and people with concealed-weapons permits who pass the checks before the 10-day waiting period.
U.S. District Judge Anthony Ishii said in his 2014 ruling that the state's goal of implementing a cooling-off period to prevent impulsive acts of violence will not deter those who already own a gun.
But 9th Circuit Judge Mary Schroeder said the waiting period makes sense, for example, for someone who already owns a hunting rifle but may want to buy a larger-capacity weapon that will do more damage when fired into a crowd.
"A 10-day cooling-off period would serve to discourage such conduct and would impose no serious burden on the core Second Amendment right of defense of the home," she said.
#1
There are no new scams, just old ones people have largely forgotten about. Gerbil worming is an indulgence selling scam. The fact that the Red Pope recently announced that Catholic priests are going to be indoctrinated to service this indulgence scam should be a clue and a reminder.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/16/2016 10:06
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#3
The thing about Gerbil Worming that most twists my knickers is the fact that there was no science.
Those computer models need to be audited to see exactly what and how they work.
Having been in software for 30+ years including several in systems auditing and modeling I know what to look for and with these scam artists there is no there there. It's BS all the way down.
#5
Yep, Al Gore became a very rich man selling his BS.
You know that the silly urea injection mandated for diesels that costs $4000 for a gallon refill? Well guess who owns the patent for that idiocy? Yep none other than one of Al Gore's companies.
So tell me, who decided to mandate that and why?
#6
Sure, issues of bona fide pollution like smog and untreated sewage are still out there a little, but they are largely under control and don't really stir the emotions much any more.
Last I heard smog is most definitely not under control in Peking. But what are ya gonna do?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/16/2016 14:55
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#7
Abu, check out the pollution of rivers in India.
Why can't all these screaming greenies go where the real problems are and stay there till they're fixed?
#9
Why can't all these screaming greenies go where the real problems are and stay there till they're fixed?
Lack of 5 star hotels and potable water. There, fixed.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/16/2016 16:13
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#10
Lack of potable water is the biggest, easy to fix problem there is. It kills millions every year, and puts a huge health and financial burden on the poorest several billion people.
If Trump wants a global program to genuinely help people, I'd suggest Potable Water for All.
Lack of potable water is the biggest, easy to fix problem there is. It kills millions every year, and puts a huge health and financial burden on the poorest several billion people.
Solving that problem would improve and save lives. Greens don't want that.
What they ultimately want is to live as kings among an impoverished, desperate populace.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
12/16/2016 18:45
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#14
Me Too!
"Agree with the potable water and DDT."
[CFP] Barack Obama has two faces. After Trump’s victory and Hillary’s defeat, the public Obama has been gracious and diplomatic. His lectures to Trump, directly and indirectly, are couched in praise. He echoed the feeling of millions on both sides when he said, "We are now all rooting for his success".
That’s a lie. Or rather a disguise.
Obama and his aides had, in one insider narrative, decided to don the "mask of decorum". The contempt for Trump still seeps through the mask. And the mask hides Obama’s next big move.
President Obama is over. He knows that. There are still some things that he can do before he leaves office, but everything except the most destructive, can be undone by his successor. The next phase of his campaign will not be fought from the White House. It will be fought against the White House .
The other Obama is emerging in conference calls with his supporters. "One of the challenges that I’ve discovered being president is I’d like to be organizer-in-chief, but it’s hard," he said in one call.
Obama can no longer be commander-in-chief. Instead he’s plotting to become organizer-in-chief.
The infrastructure for the organization was put into place long before anyone thought that Hillary might lose. Organizing for Action gave him his own organizing hub. If Hillary had won, it would have been a pressure group. Now that Trump won, it’s an axis to build a personal counterrevolution around.
In his post-election conference call with his OFA troops, Obama told them, "I’m giving you like a week and a half to get over it". Then it would be time to "move forward not only to protect what we’ve accomplished, but also to see this as an opportunity". What opportunity could there be in Trump’s win?
#8
It's a small thing, but I am going to be a little happier in 34 days when I can drop POSOTUS and use POTUS again.
Obama will never go away. The press will use him as a cudgel to beat up the incoming administration non-stop, he will get all the airtime he wants. I am looking forward to the huge public ceremony that will be his "reversion" to Islam.
Posted by: Bov Flimbers ||
12/16/2016 16:09
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#9
RE: #7 comment on the funded organization. After Jan 20, needs a RICO investigation.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/16/2016 16:16
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#10
More "The Handler" from Damon Knight than a Pierson's puppeteer.
#12
Obama had two terms and twice as bad as Carter so he should build houses for Habitat for Humanity for twice as long as Carter did before considering returning to public life.
[Breitbart] On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s "At This Hour," State Department Spokesperson Admiral John Kirby (Ret.) stated that the failure in Syria "is not on the leadership of the United States, or even other members of the international community."
Kirby said, "[I]t’s clear that diplomatic efforts have not achieved the results that we wanted to achieve, but that doesn’t mean it’s the wrong approach. It doesn’t mean that through diplomacy we weren’t able to get, at times, meaningful cessations of hostilities where people could start to live normal lives, and things could at least get back to some sense of normalcy. But what -- the failure here, is not on the leadership of the United States, or even other members of the international community. The failure here is on Russia, and it’s on the regime, it’s on Iran, that have, despite coming to the table and saying they want a peaceful solution in Syria and a diplomatic way forward, have in fact bolstered Assad’s brutality, have in fact reinforced his military, helped him with targeting, helped him with intelligence, put advisers on the ground that have done nothing but try to prove that what they really want is a military solution. The blood’s on their hands."
#3
No, it is a failure of the leadership of Outer Mongolia
Posted by: John Frum ||
12/16/2016 9:28
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#4
Kirby is at least partly correct. There are a lot of villains in Syria (besides Iran and Russia and Assad, there is Al Q and ISIS and there allies).
Nonetheless, 500k fatalities and untold misery has unfolded on Obama's watch. Remember that every time a leftist complains about some foreign policy glitch during the next few years.
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/16/2016 10:11
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#5
The US is the one that paid Iran the money for the bombing campaign.
#6
No shortage of villains and scoundrels, but I doubt the situation has been improved by America's empty threats and ultimatums. But to be fair, they did let our POTUS appear manly and forceful for a couple news cycles.
#7
[I]t’s clear that diplomatic efforts have not achieved the results that we wanted to achieve, but that doesn’t mean it’s the wrong approach.
Robert A, Pape's Bombing To Win:Air Power and Coercion and War(1996) made a point that Kirby missed: Some People can not be coerced. Period. If a Regime feels that surrendering equals suicide the "JawJaw" of diplomacy is useless.
#8
"...We can't figure out how we lost the election, either."
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/16/2016 11:59
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#9
The career diplomats never understand that after a while "open and frank discussions" and sternly written letters and memos don't cut it. Sometimes you either have to stick a knife in the table or shoot the guy sitting across from you.
No one will seriously negotiate unless they know you are going to bring down hell if they don't.
[Politico] Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle has emerged as a contender to be Donald Trump’s White House press secretary, and is expected to have a third meeting with his transition team this week, according to two sources familiar with the meetings.
Guilfoyle, a host on Fox News’ "The Five," was spotted last week at Trump Tower, where she had lunch with top staffers in the transition team. She did not personally meet with Trump, but she’s slated to return this week to the Fifth Avenue building where Trump has paraded his potential appointments.
The Trump administration is expected to finish selecting top White House staff by the end of the week.
While Republican National Committee and Trump transition spokesman Sean Spicer is considered the front-runner for the top communications job, some are still quietly pushing for Guilfoyle, a Latina who is a former assistant district attorney in San Francisco.
Some in Trump’s inner circle have argued that Guilfoyle, who is half-Puerto Rican, would be a more sympathetic face when flacking some of Trump’s more divisive stances on immigration and pro-life issues.
[GP] Arizona Electoral College member Sharon Giese spoke with "FOX Business Network on Thursday to discuss the upcoming vote on Monday.
Geise said she is receiving thousands of emails and calls from Hillary supporters telling her to change her vote on December 19th when the electors meet.
Sharon Geise: I’ve had tons. Ever since right after the election it started. Like one day I had 12,000. And it is unreal. Today I probably, it’s probably less today I’ve had maybe 2,500 or so, but I woke up this morning and there were over 1,000 emails there.
#1
The left knows it cannot alter the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. What appears to be happening is an attempt to derail the Electoral College process for future elections.
[Daily Caller] Department of Homeland Security officials knew Ohio State University attacker Abdul Razak Ali Artan was a possible recruitment target of Islamic terrorists but granted him asylum anyway, along with his mother and six of his siblings, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley revealed in a letter sent Wednesday to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.
While seeking asylum as refugees from Mogadishu, Somalia in 2013,
...that there is a term of art. Artan, his mother and siblings moved to Pakistan in 2007, where Artan eventually graduated from an advanced program at a top Islamabad high school. At some point his father got a job in Dubai, where apparently he remains.
Artan’s mother told immigration authorities that she feared persecution from al-Qaeda affiliate group al-Shabaab,
In Pakistan?!
and worried that Abdul and his siblings would be recruited by the terrorist organization if they remained in Somalia.
Must've happened in that fancy school in Islamabad. Unless it was in Columbus, Ohio, where there are lots of Somalis, because y'all left Somalia nine years ago, when our dead miscreant was only "nine".
That knowledge should have lead USCIS officials to "conduct additional questioning better understand ties to a group that the United States designated as a foreign terrorist organization in 2008." But the additional questioning, which the Committee describes as "common practice" in those situations, never happened.
Artan’s father, according to the letter, had been kidnapped by the terrorist group. According to the Committee, one of Abdul’s siblings did not travel to America with the rest of the family, for reasons left unclear.
#8
It's not like any of them bombed a federal office building. That'll get you a swift death penalty and allow the government to broad brush an entire race as a preeminent threat to their power.
#10
Its like our governments has declared war on us but their only goal is to snuggle up to jihadis and call us racists every time one of them goes on rampage.
#13
It's not like any of them bombed a federal office building. That'll get you a swift death penalty and allow the government to broad brush an entire race as a preeminent threat to their power.
Sociopaths operating under the shield of religious fervor?
#14
I realize they are using them as mercenaries, but they don't really seem to have an end goal in mind...or maybe I can't see it because I'm sane and realize that the ultimate effect will eventually be civil war and a pogram that will be the exact opposite of what they want when they drive Americans too far. It's not nice but hey, it's on their on head.
#15
"The Age of Fallibility that "the main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States." George Soros
In other words, he is bankrolling anyone who will tear down the U.S. and promote a one world order.
Posted by: Pearl Hupomorong1598 ||
12/16/2016 13:39
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#16
#10 Its like our governments has declared war on us but their only goal is to snuggle up to jihadis and call us racists every time one of them goes on rampage.
Considering the degree to which the federal government has been infiltrated by Muslim brotherhood, converts and islamophiles; we are under attack. Going to have to be a purge.
Posted by: Grarong Spawn of the Heathen Rus2966 ||
12/16/2016 14:46
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[PJ] CNN's Brian Stelter posed this question about Donald Trump's election to his panel on the ironically named "Reliable Sources" show: "Is this something of a national emergency? And are journalists afraid to say so because they're gonna sound partisan?" He thinks that a president who won an electoral landslide is a threat to our nation's very existence. How demeaning can CNN be?!?
...big man in Ansar Bayt al Maqdis since back when it was a mere Al Qaeda affiliate murdering police and soldiers in the Sinai. His full name is Adel Mohamed Ibrahim, but he is sometimes called Adel Mohammed...
a Sinai holy warrior who was convicted of murder in relation with terrorist attacks that killed dozens of Egypt's security personnel.
On Wednesday evening, Egypt's president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi ratified Habara's death warrant according to the law.
Habara was handed final death sentences in two cases for his involvement in terrorist attacks against Egyptian security personnel.
On Monday, Egypt's Court of Cassation upheld the second death sentence against Habara for killing a police detective in Sharqiya governorate in 2012.
The same court rejected Habara's final appeal against the other death sentence he'd received for plotting the execution-style killing of 25 soldiers in an ambush in North Sinai in August 2013, known as the "Second Rafah Massacre."
Habara was jugged Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! in September 2013 and first stood for trial in November that year.
It's like they're embarking on the Children's Crusade.
[Ynet] Two trucks filled with 20 tonnes of first aid supplies and construction materials left Gay Paree for northern Syria on Thursday to help those fleeing conflict in Aleppo.
Doctors and health workers from the La Belle France-based Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations organised the convoy, which will cross nearly 4,000 km (2,500 miles) by land to Syria.
What odds that the shipment arrives intact?
"(The objective) is to provide supplies to the hospitals to face the increased demand from the people who will arrive," Chadi Homedan, a doctor and member of the Union of Relief and Medical Organisations, told Rooters.
An operation to evacuate thousands of civilians and fighters from Aleppo began on Thursday, part of a ceasefire deal that would end years of fighting for the city, once Syria's most populous.
[AnNahar] Belgian authorities have detained four people after a series of raids to break up a weapons smuggling ring trying to send guns into Libya in defiance of a U.N. arms embargo.
The Federal Prosecutor's office said Thursday that the raids are part of an inquiry into money laundering and arms smuggling involving companies in the U.S., United Arab Emirates, Niger and Belgium.
It said the weapons were imported and exported with fake "end user certificates."
None of the four people detained had permits to import or export weapons or military equipment.
The four weren't identified, but one of them, a Belgian, was charged with belonging to a criminal organization and breaking an arms embargo.
Several objects, including computer materials, were seized during the raids, which took place Wednesday.
[AlAhram] Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi ordered on Thursday the renovation of St. Peter and St. Paul Church, the site of 11 December's devastating kaboom, to be completed before Coptic Christmas on 7 January.
The president announced the renovation during the inauguration ceremony of the four highways project, saying that the Armed Forces Engineering Authority will be responsible for executing the project.
Head of the Armed Forces Engineering Authority Kamel El-Wazir has said that the church will be restored to its original condition within 15 days.
At least 25 people were killed and 49 injured on Sunday in a suicide kaboom on the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, which is attached to Cairo's main Coptic cathedral in Abbasiya.
The kaboom caused severe damage to several parts of the church.
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Thirteen Islamic State (ISIS) militants were killed on Wednesday when US-led international coalition fighter jets carried out two airstrikes in eastern Mosul, a security source told the National Iraqi News Agency (NINA).
The deaths included foreign senior members, according to the source.
Federal Police forces are, meanwhile, advancing at the districts of Wahda, Mithaq and Sabaawi in southeast of the eastern shore of the city.
Earlier on Wednesday, London-based the New Arab reported that at least 40 civilians were killed and scores were wounded in bombardments of liberated areas of Mosul as battles continue between Islamic State militants and Iraqi security forces since dawn.The shelling was concentrated on the districts of al-Nour, al-Falah and al-Quds, east of Mosul, according to the newspaper.
In western Mosul, Al-Hashd al-Shaabi militias said they thwarted an attack by ISIS militants on Wednesday west of the strategic town of Tal Afar. The militia’s media service added that four vehicles belonging to the extremist group were destroyed in the failed attack.
Iraqi government troops, backed by popular mobilization militias and US-led air forces, continue to advance in the eastern section of Mosul against a fierce resistance from ISIS. Iraqi commanders have said they became in control over most of eastern Mosul, and that only a few districts remain to declare the whole region free from ISIS. But the extremist group has reportedly made it a difficult endeavor for the Iraqi troops by relying on street-to-street fights, booby-traps and suicide bombings. The existence of civilians in the battlefield had also slowed down progress, according to Iraqi field commanders.
Iraqi security forces hope to reach the eastern shore of Tigris River as soon as possible so as to proceed towards the western section, where ISIS strongholds have been cut off from group-held territories in Syria, according to popular militias fighting ISIS in that region.
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Five Iraqi army troopers and dozens of Islamic State (ISIS) militants died in battles in the eastern section of Mosul on Wednesday as a security campaign launched in October continues to recapture the city from militants.
Anadolu Agency quoted Lit.Col. Khalaf al-Qaisi, an Iraqi army officer, as saying that the battles occurred southeast of the eastern shore of Mosul. “Troops from the 9th division advanced today towards al-Salam hospital in Wahda district, and has been engaging in fierce street-to-street fights with Daesh (ISIS) who used high buildings as firing positions so as to hold off the advancing troops,” he said. “The clashes left five soldiers dead, eight others wounded and one army Hummer vehicle destroyed,” Qaisi said, adding that scores of militants were also killed and had their military equipment destroyed.
The same division had sustained severe losses at the hospital’s vicinity which forced troops to withdraw a week ago.
Earlier on Wednesday, 13 Islamic State (ISIS) militants were killed on when US-led international coalition fighter jets carried out two airstrikes in eastern Mosul, a security source told the National Iraqi News Agency (NINA). London-based the New Arab reported that at least 40 civilians were killed and scores were wounded in bombardments of liberated areas of Mosul as battles continue between Islamic State militants and Iraqi security forces since dawn.
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Security Committee of Nineveh Provincial Council announced on Wednesday killing a number of the Islamic State (IS) suicide bombers who attacked three neighborhoods in the eastern side of Mosul.
Head of the Security Committee, Mohamed al-Bayati, said in a press statement, “Members of the IS attacked the neighborhoods of al-Nour, al-Ta’mim and al-Qadisiyah in the eastern side of Mosul.”
“The terrorist group used suicide bombers and booby-trapped vehicles in the attacks that were repulsed by the Counter-Terrorism forces,” Bayati added.
“The Counter-Terrorism forces killed a number of the attackers, as well as destroying some of the booby-trapped vehicles used in the attack,” Bayati further explained.
Moreover, Bayati revealed that the IS takes advantage of the bad weather to launch attacks on liberated neighborhoods.
He also revealed that security forces are completely controlling the situation in these neighborhoods, and IS couldn’t advance any further in these areas.
Joint security forces, backed by Army Aviation and international coalition, continue liberating the remaining areas of Mosul.
Nineveh (Iraqinews.com) Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service has so far recaptured 40 out of 56 districts in eastern Mosul from Islamic State militants, the force’s commander was quoted as saying on Thursday as forces struggle to reach the eastern shore of the Tigris River.
The force’s commander, Abdul Ghani al-Assadi, was quoted as saying that “the first phase of operations to liberate the eastern shore has been concluded with 40 districts out of 56 liberated.”
Iraqi government forces, backed by tribal militias and US-led air forces, have been leading a military campaign to retake Mosul from ISIS since mid October. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Monday during a visit to Mosul’s Hammam al-Alil that two thirds of Nineveh have been retaken from ISIS. Government forces are eyeing the eastern shore of the Tigris River, which cuts through Mosul, so as to consummate the liberation of the eastern region.
ISIS remains in control of several areas of the western section, which is adjacent to its strongholds in Syria, but Al-Hashd al-Shaabi forces are reporting daily advances towards liberating ISIS locations in that region.
Commanders from the US-led coalition have been quoted recently as saying that ISIS lost 75 percent of their fighters in Iraq and Syria.
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Seventy Islamic State militants were killed in Iraqi army airstrikes on western Mosul on Wednesday, said the defense ministry.
Those included twenty senior leaders as well as their guards who were holding a meeting a few kilometers west of the town of Tal Abta to plan for Iraqi troops besieging the strategic town of Tal Afar , the ministry said, quoting intelligence information.
Iraqi government forces, backed by tribal militias and US-led air forces, have been leading a military campaign to retake Mosul from ISIS since mid October. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Monday during a visit to Mosul’s Hammam al-Alil that two thirds of Nineveh have been retaken from ISIS. Government forces are eyeing the eastern shore of the Tigris River, which cuts through Mosul, so as to consummate the liberation of the eastern region.
ISIS remains in control of some areas of the western section, which is adjacent to its strongholds in Syria. But Al-Hashd al-Shaabi forces are reporting daily advances towards liberating ISIS locations in that region, saying the region had been isolated from Syria, depriving the group of supplies from Syria.
Earlier on Thursday, Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service declared it had has so far recaptured 40 out of 56 districts in eastern Mosul from Islamic State militants.
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Federal Police Chief, Raed Shaker Jawdet, announced on Thursday capturing the Media Center Official of the Islamic State (IS) group, south of Mosul.
Jawdat said in a press statement, “Federal Police forces arrested the Media Center Official of the Islamic State, the so-called Saleh Najem Abdullah, during a security operation in al-Shura area, south of Mosul.”
Joint security forces, backed by Army Aviation and international coalition forces, continue liberating the remaining areas of the city of Mosul, after an offensive being launched in October to free Nineveh province.
Posted by: badanov ||
12/16/2016
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[Al Arabiya] Houthi militias and forces loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh heavily shelled residential neighborhoods in Taiz on Wednesday night, Al-Arabiya’s correspondent has reported. There have also been violent clashes between the national army and rebels in the areas surrounding air defense military camp in north of Taiz.
Meanwhile, 11 headless bodies were found in the southern city of Aden where extremist groups are still active, a security source said on Wednesday, adding that residents found the bodies on Tuesday evening.
The police did not specify who the suspects are but it said the bodies were dumped in al-Hiswa natural reserve, west of Aden, more than a month ago. A security official told AFP that the bodies were decomposed and slaughtered.
Yemeni authorities have declared Aden as a temporary capital after regaining restoring it in 2015 from Houthi militias that control the capital Sanaa.
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Three Islamic State (ISIS) militants were killed and two others were arrested Wednesday in a foiled attack on al-Haditha dam west of Anbar, a local intelligence commander said.
“A force from Haditha’s popular mobilization troops managed to thwart an attack with Katyusha missiles on Haditha dam,” said Nazem al-Jugheifi, intelligence official at Haditha tribal mobilization.
“The force killed three Daesh (ISIS) terrorists and arrested two, while two others fled,” he added.
Iraqi government and tribal forces are imposing full control over the town of Haditha, and have occasionally fought off attacks by ISIS which remains in control over other towns in the west, most notably Annah and Rawa, for which Iraqis are preparing a security campaign to recapture from the militant group.
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi army aircraft killed five Islamic State (ISIS) militants on Thursday west of Ramadi, Anbar province, an al-Hashd al-Shaabi intelligence official said.
The five killed in a haven at the center of the town of Rawa included five foreigners, according to Nazem al-Jugheifi, an intelligence official at Anbar’s popular mobilization.
He said military equipment belonging to the group were destroyed in the strike.
Some regions in western Anbar are still under ISIS control since the extremist group came to light in 2014. The province is anticipating ground operations by security and tribal forces to liberate those towns which the group used as launching points for attacks on security and civilians.
Iraqi government forces, assisted by popular mobilization groups and US-led air forces have been launching offensives on several ISIS strongholds in Iraq since October, most notably at the city of Mosul, ISIS’s last bastion in Iraq and the country’s second biggest city.
Posted by: badanov ||
12/16/2016
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[Reuters] The fall of Aleppo to Syrian government forces backed by Russia and Iran has heightened alarm in Israel about potential threats to its borders and a wider reshaping of the region.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left no doubt on Wednesday about the depth of Israel's concern about Tehran, whose position and that of its proxies in Syria has been strengthened by the crushing of rebel resistance in Aleppo.
At a meeting in Astana with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Netanyahu was asked whether he had a message for Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who is scheduled to visit Kazakhstan next week.
"Don't threaten us. We are not a rabbit, we are a tiger," the Jerusalem Post newspaper quoted Netanyahu as telling Nazarbayev. "If you threaten us, you endanger yourself."
Asked by Nazarbayev if he seriously believed Iran wanted to destroy Israel, Netanyahu replied: "Yes, I do."
The more than five-year-old civil war in Syria has enabled Iran, whose Supreme leader has called for an end to the Jewish state, to steadily increase its influence across the region.
Whether via its own Revolutionary Guard forces or Shi'ite Muslim proxies, especially Lebanon's Hezbollah militia, Tehran's reach extends from Afghanistan to the Mediterranean Sea.
As well as concerns about an increased flow of arms now Iran has access to a port on the Mediterranean at Tartus, on the southern Syrian coast, Israel worries Hezbollah, emboldened by Iran's patronage, may launch new attacks on its territory.
Posted by: Besoeker ||
12/16/2016
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Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) A civilian was wounded on Wednesday when two IEDs exploded in central Baghdad, a security source has said.
The bomb went off inside an alley near an oil station in Fadwat Arab, and originally targeted an alcoholics shop, the source told Alsumaria News.
A civilian was passing by at the moment of the explosion and was wounded, while a number of shops sustained damages from the blast.
Violence surged across Iraq as Islamic State extremists captured several Iraqi cities in 2014, and continues even as the group is sustaining defeats during a current wide-scale campaign by Iraqi forces and tribal militias.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) said early December that violence during November claimed the lives of 926 civilians and wounded 930 people.
Observers believe ISIS have begun to target several areas across Iraq to divert security focus on Mosul, where the group fights to defend its last bastion in Iraq under the brunt of continuous advancements by Iraqi government and popular troops.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) One police officer was killed, two policemen and nine civilians wounded when blasts rocked areas west and north of Baghdad.
One policeman was killed and two others were injured when an IED blast hit western Baghdad, according to a security source.
“An IED exploded at a police patrol passing at Hamid Shaaban neighborhood, Abu Gharib, west of Baghdad,” the source was quoted by Rudaw agency as saying.
Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack.
Meanwhile in al-Shaab region, north of Baghdad, six IEDs exploded at different areas, wounding nine people, according to a statement by the Interior Ministry’s Baghdad Operations.
[DAWN] Pak Moslems, who form one of the largest adult Moslem populations globally, have 3.8 years of schooling on average, a recent Pew Research Center study found.
Released on Tuesday, the study stated Moslems tend to have the fewest years of formal schooling. Jews, on the other hand, it said, are more highly educated than any other major religious group around the world.
The report's findings were based on data collected from 151 countries, which according to Pew, represented 95 per cent of the 3.6 billion people in the world who were over the age of 25 in 2010.
It focused on adherents of five major world religions such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism as well as those who identified as being religiously unaffiliated.
Researchers did not measure the quality of education the adherents had received. Instead, they focused on the number of years the adherents had spent while enrolled.
Theism, gender gap and education
The Moslem gender gap in educational attainment worldwide has narrowed, the report found.
However, we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by... it also stated that Moslem women around the world lagged behind Moslem men in average years of schooling by a year and a half (4.9 years vs 6.4 years).
It further stated that Moslem gender gaps were larger than the gaps for non-Moslems. Globally, non-Moslem men on average had 8.7 years of schooling compared with 7.7 years for women.
Researchers did not find any educational gender gap among Jews.
Education and religion
Conrad Hackett, the lead researcher, told The New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... that the study found there was a connection between education levels and the number of people who described themselves as having no religious faith.
"The higher the level of education in a country, the larger the share of people with no religion tends to be," he said.
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#1
How much schooling do you need to set off a suicide vest?
#5
Interesting how NPR spins (what appears to be) the same research - Hindus and Muslims in the United States are a pretty elite segment of the global Hindu and Muslim population.
And - The disparity in schooling levels between Hindus and Muslims worldwide and those in the United States may be diminishing, however. The Pew study found education for Hindus and Muslims is improving around the world, with especially notable gains for Hindu and Muslim women.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/16/2016 8:00
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Well, when you keep blowing up your schools and stick to only "holy" texts and days of rage... this is what you get.
[DAWN] GUJRAT: The Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi Bench on Thursday accepted the bail plea of Chaudhry Shahid, the father of Samia Shahid, a Brit of Pak origin who had been killed for honour allegedly by her former husband and other family members at her native village near Dina back in July last.
The court ordered the applicant to submit the surety bond of Rs200,000 for his release as bail was granted for insufficient evidence by the prosecution.
Samia’ father and Chaudhry Shakil, ex-husband, were in the Jhelum jail for the last few months.
Police enjugged Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! them in the light of the forensic evidence that had proved that she was strangled after being intoxicated.
The Mangla police had started the paperwork but haven't done much else of Samia’s murder against five members of her family -- parents, ex-husband, a sister and a cousin -- on the report of her second husband. Her mother and sister are yet to be arrested as they fled to the UK.
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[TakiMag] An odd thing about today’s leftists is that as rigid and prudish as they are regarding language and images that might come off as “racist” or “sexist,” the sexualization of children is something that is still seen as a positive, a hip, cool, edgy way to prove how progressive one is. Exposing children to dark and sexual content is the last remaining vestige of George Carlin’s influence on the left. The legacy of the man who pushed people to stop being afraid of “bad” words has been almost entirely purged from 21st-century leftism. These days, the left is uniquely defined by its fear of words and its belief that “racist” or “sexist” words can kill or rape in as physical a sense as a gun or a penis. But when it comes to children, this is where the left loves to trot out its Carlinism. From hipster god Louis C.K.’s career-making routines about his young daughters and their vaginas, to Lena Dunham boasting about fingering her little sister, to the continued glorification of the work of Robert Mapplethorpe, to the chorus of huzzahs that greet every story about a small child who “decides” (with a tiny push from mommy and daddy…or mommy and mommy…or daddy and daddy) to “come out” as a different gender, when it comes to kids, we see left/right revert to their more traditional, 20th-century roles—the leftists as the “say anything, do anything” free spirits, and the rightists as the “prudes.”
#3
to the chorus of huzzahs that greet every story about a small child who “decides” (with a tiny push from mommy and daddy…or mommy and mommy…or daddy and daddy) to “come out” as a different gender
...which is why he is working to bring in more refugees from Syria and elsewhere. But he is decorative, so he's got that going for him.
[Guardian] Ordinary people around the world have been failed by globalisation, Justin Trudeau has told the Guardian, as he sought to explain a turbulent year marked by the election of Donald Trump, the Brexit vote and the rise of anti-establishment, nation-first parties around the world.
"What we’re facing right now ‐ in terms of the rise of populism and divisive and fearful narratives around the world ‐ it’s based around the fact that globalisation doesn’t seem to be working for the middle class, for ordinary people," the Canadian prime minister said in an interview at his oak-panelled office in the country’s parliament. "And this is something that we identified years ago and built an entire platform and agenda for governing on."
"So that we can beat the proles back into submission," he continued...
Last year, at a time when Trump was being described as a long shot for president and the threat of Brexit seemed a distant possibility, Trudeau, 44, swept to a majority government on an ambitious platform that included addressing growing inequality and creating real change for the country’s middle class.
#5
Pierre Trudeau was a nazi following Adrien Arcan, the chief of Adolf Hitler in Canada, how did thousand of Jews got expelled out pack to Germany to be murdered!...When nazis were kicked out, Trudeau flipped to communist, the follower of Fidel Castro...Today, his brat Justin Trudeau is a hidden muslim, a danderous hypocrite...DEWARE!
[AnNahar] A former Syrian diplomat convicted in Geneva of raping and torturing a 60-year-old woman has been arrested in France after 15 years on the run, Swiss officials said Wednesday.
A statement from the Geneva prosecutor's office said the fugitive targeted in an international warrant was picked up on Tuesday in Versailles, where he had been living under a false identity with refugee status.
An extradition process to return the 54-year-old to Switzerland has been launched, the statement said.
The man, whose identity was not disclosed, was convicted in Geneva in absentia in 2001 for the 1997 rape which the court said amounted to torture. He was given a 13-year prison sentence at the time and has been "on the run" ever since, the statement further said.
Following the crime, Switzerland asked the Syrian government to lift the suspect's diplomatic immunity. Instead, he was quickly recalled to Damascus, which meant he no longer had immunity in Switzerland.
[DeutscheWelle] Never before has Bavaria's Minister President spoken so bluntly about limiting the influx of migrants. Now, Merkel's conservative ally has said a cap will be a prerequisite to forming a new government next year.
[DeutscheWelle] Germany's Constitutional Court has postponed the deportation of an Afghan man until he can complete an application for asylum. The court did not, however, stop the deportation of some 34 other Afghans.
[al-Manar] The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has prevented series of terrorist attacks in Moscow planned by terrorists of the so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) terrorist group.
According to the FSB, the attacks were planned by a senior ISIL commander in Turkey who had been put on an international wanted list by Tajik authorities.
“The activity of a terrorist cell consisting of citizens of Tajikistan and a citizen of Moldova, who planned to commit a series of resonant terrorist attacks in Moscow using improvised explosive devices of high capacity, has been terminated,” the FSB said.
Four members of the terrorist group have been detained on Thursday. Improvised explosive devices, firearms and a “significant amount of explosive material to develop explosives of high capacity” have been found and seized from the suspected terrorists.
Earlier in December, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with senior officers and prosecutors that the FSB prevented 10 terrorist attacks in the first 10 months of 2016.
Many foreign fighters from Russia’s Muslim-majority Caucasus republics such as Chechnya and Dagestan have gone to Syria to fight on behalf of the Islamic State. The Islamic State has a local branch in Russia known as the Caucasus Province, which broke off from the al-Qaeda linked Caucasus Emirate in 2014 and has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks in Russia.
The Russian defense ministry told local media Thursday that more than 2,000 jihadists from Russia and other former Soviet republics were killed in Syria last year.
[Khaosod] Thai officials disclosed Wednesday the arrests of six more people accused of plotting bomb attacks in Bangkok but had yet to say they were linked to southern separatists. Police spokesman Chayapol Chatchaidej said, "Primarily we did not find their history with the movement yet. But we are still investigating."
In their announcement, police did not say when the men were arrested, but indicated they had been held under special policing powers before being charged on Tuesday. Authorities said they had confessed to planning a series of bomb attacks in Bangkok.
Few details of the plot were made public other than warnings put out in October listing several possible targets in the capital. On December 1, police arrested three people from the southern border province of Narathiwat they accused of being involved in the plot. They were said to have links to the southern insurgency.
They were also said to be connected to 14 other people, including the six new arrests: Niheng Yeeing, Usman Jor-ngor, Meeseh Jehha, Patomporn Mihi-ae, Umrum Mayee, and Wirat Hami. They now stand charged with possessing explosives and being part of a criminal conspiracy.
Five of the suspects were arrested in the southern border provinces, while one was taken into custody in Bangkok. Police said they were tracking down eight other suspects.
[Reuters] U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced two appointments to the National Security Council on Thursday: retired Army Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg as chief of staff and executive secretary, and former Fox News Channel analyst Monica Crowley as senior director of strategic communications.
Ms Crowley doesn't use her PhD in international affairs from Columbia socially, it seems, nor flaunt her membership in the Council on Foreign Relations.
Kellogg served in the Vietnam War and has worked in the private sector since retiring from the Army in 2003, said a statement by Trump's transition team.
The statement said Crowley is a foreign affairs and political analyst for the Fox News Channel, but a Fox News spokeswoman said Crowley's contract had been terminated.
The two will serve under Michael Flynn, a retired general Trump earlier named as his national security adviser.
#1
The statement said Crowley is a foreign affairs and political analyst for the Fox News Channel, but a Fox News spokeswoman said Crowley's contract had been terminated
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least 8 loyalists of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group were killed in separate Arclight airstrikes conducted by the US forces in eastern Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province of Afghanistan.
The provincial police commandment said the bully boyz were killed in Haska Mina and Achin districts.
According to the local security officials, at least six of the bully boyz were killed in Kharga area of Haska Mina district while two others were killed in Pekha area of Achin.
The officials further added that the local residents did not suffer any casualties in the Arclight airstrikes.
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Apparently ISIS is too bloodthirsty even for al-Qaeda
ADEN: Al-Qaeda in Yemen has labeled the rival Daesh group “deviant” and distanced itself from a Daesh-claimed suicide attack in Aden last week that killed dozens of soldiers.
“We explicitly declare that we were not involved in any way in this operation,” Ansar Al-Sharia, Al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen, said in a statement received Thursday by AFP. "U!"
"No, U!"
"No, U!"
The Dec. 10 attack in Aden targeted a crowd of soldiers gathered to collect their monthly pay at a barracks in Al-Sawlaban near the southern city’s international airport.
The attack left 48 soldiers dead and 29 wounded, a health department chief said.
“At the request of the Ba Kazem tribe, which lost many of its sons in the attack, we are issuing this statement to prevent anyone trying to... sow discord between the tribes and their sons, the warriors of Ansar Al-Sharia,” the group said.
“We see Daesh as a deviant group... that has shown its enmity toward Ansar Al-Sharia and other Islamic groups,” it said.
The statement stressed that Al-Qaeda has repeatedly said it is determined to fight “Americans and their allies” while avoiding “the shedding of any Muslim blood.”
Al-Qaeda and Daesh have exploited a conflict between the Yemeni government — backed by a Saudi-led coalition — and Iran-backed Houthi rebels who control the capital Sanaa, to bolster their presence across much of the south.
The rival militants have carried out a spate of attacks in Aden, Yemen’s second city and headquarters of the internationally recognized government whose forces retook the southern port from the Houthis last year.
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Show of hands: Who's surprised?
[Al Arabiya] In an unprecedented move, Tehran is publicly hosting leaders of hardline Taliban movement in the ‘Islamic Unity’ conference.
Tehran had previously denied any direct contact with the movement.
According to the Iranian Mehr news agency, Iranian cleric Mohsen Araki, who is the Secretary-General of the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought, said at a press conference on Tuesday that Tehran has invited moderate figures such as Taliban to attend the two-day International Islamic Unity Conference in Tehran.
Araki said that “the invitation was sent to some Islamic and political figures in the Taliban movement who believe in the unity of Muslims,” stressing that “Iran has always held contacts with some parties in the Taliban movement, who believe in the Islamic unity.”
This announcement comes two days after the statement of the Iranian ambassador to Kabul, Mohammad Reza Bahrami, who spoke about talks between his country and hardline Taliban.
Afghan authorities had accused Tehran of providing military and logistical support to Taliban, which in turn has in recent months escalated its operations in various regions of the country.
[DAWN] The Foreign Office (FO) on Thursday strongly condemned Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh's "irresponsible statements" earlier this week, terming them a 'complete violation of international norms', Radio Pakistain reported.
According to Indian media, Rajnath Singh had said Pakistain would "soon be in ten pieces" if cross-border terrorism does not come to an end.
"Pakistain has been divided into 2 countries (in 1971). If it does not stop cross-border terrorism, it will soon be in 10 pieces," Singh had said.
FO Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria alleged Singh's remarks vindicated Pakistain's long-standing position that the Indian government and its intelligence agencies are involved in subversive activities in Pakistain and are trying to destabilise it.
He called on the world community to take notice of Singh's "irresponsible statements", as well as alleged Indian interference in Pakistain.
Zakaria said Pakistain believes the peaceful way is the best method for resolution of outstanding issues between Pakistain and India, including the Kashmire dispute.
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[DAWN] ISLAMABAD: The inquiry commission on the Aug 8 Quetta carnage has called for banning terrorist organizations without any delay by enforcing the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) in letter and spirit.
Terrorist organizations must not be permitted to hold meetings and people must be informed about the reasons for banning such organizations, said the Justice Qazi Faez Isa-led commission in its 110-page inquiry report submitted to a three-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali on Thursday.
The commission was formed by the Supreme Court on Oct 6 to investigate the Aug 8 suicide kaboom on Quetta’s Civil Hospital in which at least 74 people, mostly lawyers, had bit the dust.
Continued on Page 49
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Nothing gets by John "Effin" Kerry WASHINGTON/ALEPPO: US Secretary of State John Kerry accused the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad of carrying out “nothing short of a massacre” in Aleppo, where thousands were evacuated on Thursday from the last opposition bastion in a city besieged for years.
Kerry, speaking at a news briefing, said the United States was seeking an immediate, verifiable, and durable cessation of hostilities in Aleppo, and said it appeared that airstrikes and shelling had stopped and that convoys were moving out.
“There is absolutely no justification whatsoever for the indiscriminate and savage brutality against civilians shown by the regime and by its Russian and Iranian allies over the past few weeks, or indeed over the past five years,” Kerry said. “We are seeing the unleashing of a sectarian passion.”
He added: “The Assad regime is actually carrying out nothing short of a massacre.”
The evacuation began with a convoy of ambulances and buses crossing into a regime-held district in southern Aleppo around 2:30 p.m. (1230 GMT).
A regime source said that 951 evacuees, including 108 wounded, were in the convoy. Most were civilians but about 200 opposition fighters were among them, the source said. More at the link
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#1
That was the idea, Jawn.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/16/2016 8:21
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“The Assad regime is actually carrying out nothing short of a massacre”
And compared to his father, he's doing it ineptly.
[DAWN] KARACHI: The federal government has issued special permits to three princes from 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... to hunt the internationally protected migratory bird, houbara bustard, in Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... and Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... during the hunting season, it was learnt on Thursday.
According to sources, the hunting permit holders include the governor of Tabuk and two sons of the former King of Saudi Arabia, the late Saud bin Abdulaziz al-Saud. Residents of colder Central Asian regions, houbara bustards migrate every year to spend winters in a relatively warmer environment like Pakistain.
Sources said Prince Fahad bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, the governor of Tabuk, was allocated Awaran district and Noshki (not Noshki city) and Chaghai district (excluding the northwest).
Prince Mansoor bin Saud bin Abdulaziz al-Saud and his brother Prince Mishal bin Saud bin Abdulaziz al-Saud were allocated Layyah district in Punjab.
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[FoxNews] The Obama administration is finding itself back on the defensive over its Syria policy as Aleppo falls to Bashar Assad's government and civilians are evacuated, an operation preceded by desperate pleas from the city's battered residents and reports of atrocities against them.
Ambulances reportedly were carrying out the first groups of wounded and other residents on Thursday, under a cease-fire deal that would seal a rebel pullout from what had been their stronghold in the eastern part of the city.
Outgoing Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters Thursday he was "encouraged" by the cease-fire arrangements as well as the start of convoys moving out of the city.
But he also cited a report that a convoy of injured people were fired upon, and reports that Syrian men are being detained or conscripted at checkpoints. He condemned "inexcusable attacks" on civilians and humanitarian personnel, calling for an "immediate and verifiable, durable cessation of hostilities."
"We’re going to continue to do our part" to push all parties toward "resolution," Kerry said.
At the same time, Kerry noted that if Aleppo falls completely, it will be harder to bring the parties around and will not end the war.
He put the onus on Damascus and its allies in Moscow to pursue peace. Within minutes, State Department spokesman John Kirby took the podium and was peppered with tough questions about how the administration sees any political transition or deal playing out at this stage.
Asked whether the U.S. is prepared to take action beyond talks, Kirby said it was determined that military options will not "get us to the end we seek," while insisting the U.S. is "leading" and acting on behalf of the Syrian people. He conceded diplomacy has fallen short so far. Soon to be Exxon US Secretary of State sez situation is "fluid". Apparently oil people use the word "fluid" a lot.
#1
Obama probably is envious in that Pencil Neck will still be in power and the resistance to his regime destroyed whereas he'll live through the the dismantling of his.
Basra (IraqiNews.com) Basra Police Directorate announced on Wednesday, that security forces captured wanted persons on charges of terrorism, including one of the perpetrators of a car bomb explosion in al-Ishaki area.
The Directorate said in a press statement, “Forces from police’s 5th emergency regiment that participate in Samarra Operations arrested persons wanted on charges of terrorism,” pointing out that, “One of them participated in car bomb explosion in al-Ishaki area.”
“The operation was carried out based on accurate intelligence information,” the statement explained. “The police forces handed over the suspects to the Commando Brigade’ intelligence of Samarra Operations Command to start the interrogation,” the statement added. "Mahmoud! Wax my mustache. And bring me the Number Seven truncheon!"
Security and military forces moved to Basra province that witnessed large military operations against the Islamic state.
I checked the original article -- that's just an interesting typo, thank goodness.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] One of the most notorious commanders of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of Hezb-e-Islami, is in the custody of the Afghan intelligence, the National Directorate of Security (NDS).
A source in Afghan intelligence confirmed to RFE/RL that commander Zardad has been detained and is serving in the custody of the National Directorate of Security.
Commander Zardad, accused of grave human rights violations, returned to Kabul on Wednesday as scores of his supporters gathered in the airport to welcome him home.
The notorious Hez-e-Islami commander was reportedly running a check post and a cell to torture the Afghan civilians during the devastating civil war for which Hekmatyar is believed to have a major role along with the other notorious jihadi leaders.
Apart from his supporters, the ordinary Afghan civilians were shocked with Zardad’s return who are pessimistic regarding Hezb-e-Islami’s role to ensure stability in the country by joining peace process as they believe Hekmatyar’s party is no more a prominent insurgent as compared to Taliban who are accused of the major stakeholders in the ongoing violence.
According to reports, commander Zardad was deported after serving in UK jail for several years for his involvement in the devastating Afghan civil war.
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#1
Which tells you Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's security was like a sieve. The insurgency has obviously been a strain; a drain on Hezb-e-Islami's resources.
Krikuk (IraqiNews.com) More than 16800 soldiers and volunteer combatants have been prepared to retake Islamic State (ISIS)-held towns in southwest of Kirkuk, a security source has told Alsumaria News.
The forces are comprised of personnel from the ministries of defense and interior, as well as from al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization) volunteers, said the source, adding that they are all from Iraq’s Arab sect and “fully prepared to set on the liberation battle.”
“They had all been well-trained by experts from the (US-led) international coalition,” the source added.
“Al-Hashd al-Shaabi in Hawija comprises 2800 of locals, and the expansion of that force is under way so as for it to have a role in liberating and taking hold of territory,” the source stated, adding that security authorities maintains a database of ISIS leaderships and affiliates in the targeted regions.
“The timing of the operation remains up to the government and and the Joint Operations Command,” the source explained.
Al-Zab, al-Abbasi, al-Riyadh, al-Rashad and Hawija are all Kirkuk precincts remaining under ISIS control and are all launching points for attacks on several provinces.
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[GP] Sean Hannity spoke with founder and editor-in-chief of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, on his radio show today to clear up the source of the DNC hack.
When Hannity asked him if the Russian government was the source of the hack, Assange said the following:
Julian Assange: "Our source is not the Russian government."
Sean Hannity: "So in other words, let me be clear, Russia did not give you the Podesta documents or anything from the DNC?"
Julian Assange: "That’s correct."
Sean Hannity: "Can you confirm whether or not you have information involving hacked info from the RNC?"
Julian Assange: "We received about 3 pages of information to do with the RNC and Trump, but it was already public somewhere else."
Sean Hannity: "The CIA supposedly says that the Russians definitely tried to influence the U.S. election. What is your thoughts on that?"
Julian Assange: "I think it is very interesting ..the key quote for us is from James Clapper on the 17th of November. James Clapper is head of DNI (Director of National Intelligence)...who oversees all 17 U.S. intelligence agencies and so his statement is as far as Wikileaks connection is made to the House Intelligence Committee."
James Clapper audio: "As far as the Wikileaks connection, the evidence there is not strong and we don’t have a good insight into the sequencing of the releases or when that data may have been provided. We don’t have as good insight into that."
ISIS has been shifting forces from Iraq since three weeks ago
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State (ISIS) extremists are withdrawing many of their militants from the western regions of Anbar to Syria to join the extremist group’s battles against Syrian and Russian forces, a high-profile Iraqi army officer has said.
ISIS are withdrawing a “large number” of militants from the towns of Rawa and al-Qaem to join battles in Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra which the group reportedly took over recently after fierce battles with Syrian troops backed by Russian aircraft, the senior officer was quoted as saying by Almaalomah news website.
The officer attributed the move to to offset what he described as “severe human losses” the group sustained at the Syrian front.
ISIS is currently in fierce battles against US-backed Iraqi troops seeking to recapture the city of Mosul, the group’s last bastion in Iraq which Iraqi government and militia commanders say had been isolated from ISIS’s Syria strongholds.
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DAMASCUS: At least 4,000 opposition fighters and their families will be evacuated from the last opposition-held districts of Syria’s Aleppo, state television reported on Thursday.
“Four thousand opposition fighters with their families will be evacuated from the eastern districts of Aleppo,” the television said in a breaking news alert.
“All the procedures for their evacuation are ready,” it added.
Buses were waiting to carry out the evacuations under a new agreement reached after a first plan collapsed on Wednesday amid fresh fighting.
And by late morning a convoy of ambulances was moving to a staging area where the first evacuees were expected to arrive for transport to the west of Aleppo province.
The deal, brokered by Syrian regime ally Moscow and opposition supporter Ankara, will mark the end of years of fighting for control of the second city and a major victory for President Bashar Assad.
A source close to the regime with knowledge of the negotiations initially said the army would “receive the names of all evacuees” but subsequently said it was unclear if such a list would be turned over.
The issue of the handover of a list of names had reportedly been one factor in the collapse of the earlier deal.
The source also said the agreement would involve the evacuation of sick and wounded residents of Fuaa and Kafraya, two regime-held villages in Idlib province that are besieged by opposition forces.
The army began an offensive to recapture east Aleppo in mid-November, and now holds more than 90 percent of the onetime opposition bastion.
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Several key figures of the loyalists of Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group involved in plotting and executing a number of deadly attacks 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.... city, were placed in durance vile Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! by the Afghan intelligence operatives.
The National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS) said at a group of at least 10 people were arrested in connection to the previous attacks and a number of other attack plots in the capital.
A statement by NDS said the snuffies were involved in plotting and executing the deadly attack on Sakhi shrine in Kabul and another deadly attack on the VIP protection unit in Kabul city.
The statement further added that the group was looking to carry out more attacks on Shi’ite sites in Kabul city, including an attack on Karte Se mosque and a number of televisions, including Tolo tv, Shamshad, and Arian television network.
NDS said the group was also tasked to spark religious and ethnic tensions among the city residents, specifically the Shi’ite and Sunni followers of the capital by equipping them with the necessary equipings to spread their propaganda.
The anti-government armed bad boy groups have not commented regarding the report so far.
The recent deadly attacks by the loyalists of the terror group include a coordinate suicide kaboom on Baqir-ul-Uloom mosque, Sakhi shrine, peaceful demonstration in Deh Mazang area, and some other deadly attacks that left dozens of people dead and hundreds of others maimed.
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[PJMedia] The Justice Department says that a Michigan city practiced religious discrimination in turning down an Islamic center's request for zoning approval to build a mosque. One last stab at freedom and the pushing of Islamic law before the idiots go.
The government lawsuit announced today comes after the American Islamic Community Center sued the city in August over the denial. The center wanted to build in Sterling Heights as they said they've outgrown their building in Madison Heights, and most of their members currently live in Sterling Heights.
The city said then that the denial was based on "established land use criteria and not emotional feelings tied to religious beliefs either for or against the applicant."
The American Islamic Community Center originally submitted the application in 2015, and said in their lawsuit that they met requirements but "with a vociferous and racist member of the planning commission leading the charge, the planning commission voted to reject the site plan." They disagreed. They are racist (How can you be racist against a religion?)
According to the Detroit News, a former city planner urged rejection of the project because the spires in the construction plan, which spanned five adjoining parcels, were 27 feet taller than the maximum height allowed by the city and the 65-foot dome would "far exceed the height of other structures" nearby, making the scale and height "not harmonious with existing buildings." Any town I know would say no to that.
Azzam Elder, attorney for the Islamic center, said in the lawsuit that there is evidence of Muslims being spat on, assaulted and threatened at public hearings, incidents that were reported but dropped by police. Just like all the other fake hate crimes against mooslimbs lately
Today's Justice Department lawsuit said the city violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 and imposed a "substantial burden" on the mosque members' right to exercise their faith. The DOJ said the current mosque building is "overcrowded during important religious observances and lacks space for educational activities, youth activities and special events." Whaaaa.... rent out a warehouse until you build a mosque within code
"The Constitution protects the rights of religious communities to create the institutions and physical spaces they need to observe and practice their faith free from discriminatory barriers," Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Civil Rights Division, said in a statement. "The Justice Department will continue to aggressively protect the rights of all communities to live, pray and worship free from religious discrimination and substantial burdens in local land use decisions." But not by forcing everyone else to bend to one special, idiotic, 7th century "religion".
U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade of the Eastern District of Michigan said the lawsuit was filed "to protect the rights of all of our citizens to freely practice their religion and have a place to gather with members of their community." Keep it up assholes. Payback is coming.
#1
The framers of the US Constitution were truly not aware of the tenants of Islam. Jefferson, before he became president was shocked to hear a Muslim describe his religion to him while addressing problems with shipping above North Africa. It would be interesting to see how the Constitution would be worded if Islam and Islam's Sharia Law was familiar to them.
#2
U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade of the Eastern District of Michigan said the lawsuit was filed "to protect the rights of all of our citizens to freely practice their religion
Attorney McQuade should know that Islam does not support that freedom for any other faith.
Posted by: Black Charlie Oppressor of the Platypi5989 ||
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[Reuters] A group of Rohingya Muslims that attacked Myanmar border guards in October is headed by people with links to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the International Crisis Group (ICG) said on Thursday, citing members of the group.
The coordinated attacks on Oct. 9 killed nine policemen and sparked a crackdown by security forces in the Muslim-majority northern sector of Rakhine State in the country's northwest.
At least 86 people have been killed, according to state media, and the United Nations has estimated 27,000 members of the largely stateless Rohingya minority have fled across the border to Bangladesh.
Predominantly Buddhist Myanmar's government, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, blamed Rohingyas supported by foreign militants for the Oct. 9 attacks, but has issued scant additional information about the assailants it called "terrorists."
A group calling itself Harakah al-Yakin claimed responsibility for the attacks in video statements and the Brussels-based ICG said it had interviewed four members of the group in Rakhine State and two outside Myanmar, as well as individuals in contact with members via messaging apps.
The Harakah al-Yakin, or Faith Movement, was formed after communal violence in 2012 in which more than 100 people were killed and about 140,000 displaced in Rakhine State, most of them Rohingya, the group said.
Rohingya who have fought in other conflicts, as well as Pakistanis or Afghans, gave clandestine training to villagers in northern Rakhine over two years ahead of the attacks, it said.
"It included weapons use, guerrilla tactics and, HaY members and trainees report, a particular focus on explosives and IEDs," the group said, referring to improvised explosive devices.
It identified Harakah al-Yakin's leader, who has appeared prominently in a series of nine videos posted online, as Ata Ullah, born in Karachi, Pakistan, to a Rohingya migrant father before moving as a child to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
International Crisis Group Receives $5 Million Grant for General Operations
The International Crisis Group launched today in New York its new $50 million Securing the Future Capital fundraising campaign, with commitments totaling $20 million from the MacArthur Foundation, George Soros, Frank Giustra, and Victor Pinchuk.
[DAWN] The Pakistain Rangers, Sindh, on Thursday claimed to have killed three suspects involved in Lyari ...one of the eighteen constituent towns of the city of Karachi. It is the smallest town by area in the city but also the most densely populated. Lyari has few schools, substandard hospitals, a poor water system, limited infrastructure, and broken roads. It is a stronghold of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. Ubiquitous gang activity and a thriving narcotics industry make Lyari one of the most disturbed places in Karachi, which is really saying a lot.... gang warfare while their accomplice managed to flee in an ’encounter’ in Yousaf Goth.
He was a small fish, so they threw him back while carefully placing bullets behind each ear of the other three. They did shout "Bang! Bang! Bangetty-bang!" while doing so, though, for that all-important air of verisimilitude.
Two Rangers personnel also sustained injuries during the exchange of fire, officials said.
A stubbed toe and a hangnail. Both were briefly life-threatening.
One of the dear departed, Nawaz Ali alias Mulla, had received military training along with Taliban for three months in Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... , according to the Rangers spokesperson.
Didn't seem to do him any good in the end, though.
The official said that the paramilitary force conducted an intelligence-driven targeted raid at the hideout of the suspects in Yousaf Goth in the early hours of Thursday.
Sounds dreadfully impressive. Mahmoud the Weasel's nephew's cousin -- Abdullullahullah has the local territory -- called it in, then.
On seeing the troops, the suspects resorted to firing,
"Hark! My Spidey Sense --
"Lookit that over there! Commence random firing, boys!
"prompting the law enforcers to cordon off the area, he added.
"A row of garbage cans right about....there should do it, Cpl. Ibrahimullah."
"Yessir, Sarge! Garbage cans there it is, sir!"
"After a heavy exchange of fire, three suspects got killed while one managed to escape," said the paramilitary force spokesperson. The dear departed were identified as Nawaz Ali alias Mulla, Junaid and Amin Mustafa alias Chamber.
I will never understand the naming conventions in that part of the world.
"They belonged to Lyari gang warfare and were wanted in cases of assassination'>assassinations and terror incidents," according to the Rangers statement.
Not to mention mopery and dopery on the spaceways.
"A large quantity of arms and ammunition and hand grenades were seized from their custody," said the Rangers official.
Back in Bangladesh the newest RAB recruit would be set to polishing those up for storage in the sergent's vault until next needed -- Bangladeshis are a saving sort of folk -- but in Pakistan the sergeant sells such things at the station's back door to cover the cost of tea and biscuits in the break room. Miscreants bring their own weaponry in Pakistan.
Link with Taliban
"Nawaz Ali alias Mulla got training along with Taliban for three months in Chaman, Balochistan, in the year 2011," said the Rangers spokesperson.
Three months? Golly.
He was a member of the ’Kutchhi Group’ of gangsters.
The gangster was involved in 66 cases of assassination'>assassinations, 11 hand grenade incidents besides extortion and robberies, the official said.
Good lord. He certainly was both ambitious and effective.
Mulla had killed 15 members of the Baba Ladla gang, besides being involved in nearly a dozen hand grenade attacks in Lyari and Old Golimar since 2012, said the paramilitary spokesperson."He used to collect Rs120,000 as extortion money from different people in Pak Colony on a monthly basis," said the official, adding that he was allegedly involved in the murder of three brothers in September and the killing of at least six people last month.
But his mother and all his female friends and relations simply loved the pretties their dear Mulla bought them will his ill-gotten gains, in their selfishness never thinking on the harm they were doing to his soul.
The dear departed was allegedly involved in Rs20.5 million robberies in Hub, the official said.
That looks awfully impressive.
"Nawaz Ali had also procured illegal weapons worth Rs20 million from Quetta, Balochistan," added the Rangers statement.
The sergeant will be able to afford the good biscuits when he sells those, and some bottles of something stronger than tea to warm the bellies of the lads on patrol this winter. It's medicinal, so that's permitted donchaknow.
Amin Mustafa alias Chamber was involved in 21 assassination'>assassinations. He was wanted by the police in connection with the killing of Urdu-speaking persons in different areas in 2012 and 2013. The suspected gangster used to kill the people brutally and threw their bodies in the Lyari river.
What on earth did he have against Urdus?
The other deceased, Junaid, was allegedly involved in 10 assassination'>assassinations besides armed robberies, the Rangers said, adding that most of the victims were Urdu-speaking people while he had killed a Sindhi-speaking person in the Manghopir area in 2012, according to the Rangers official.
*GASP!*
He added that the paramilitary force would continue the targeted operation till the elimination of all turbans and targeted killers.
Infinite employment, then. They generate spontaneously over there, you know, like flies from dung.
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Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State (ISIS) militants have executed 28 army recruits and tribal fighters southwest of Kirkuk, a police official said Wednesday.
“ISIS members executed today 28 army and Sahwa recruits by a firing squad at a district in Hawija (55 km southwest of Kirkuk,” said the head of municipalities police, Brig. Gen. Sarhad Qader. “The group executed them over charges of collaboration with government forces and Peshmerga. They had been detained earlier,” he said, adding that the executioners filmed the process.
Since taking over several regions of Iraq in 2014 to establish a self-styled “Islamic Caliphate”, ISIS militants occasionally posted videos and photos of executions of civilians and security personnel over multiple reasons, most commonly collaboration with security authorities.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) At least 40 civilians were killed and scores were wounded in bombardments of liberated areas of Mosul as battles continue between Islamic State militants and Iraqi security forces since the dawn of Wednesday, according to local and medical sources.
The shelling was concentrated on the districts of al-Nour, al-Falah and al-Quds, east of Mosul, according to London-based The New Arab newspaper.
ISIS has reportedly bombarded areas it had lost to Iraqi troops since a major security campaign launched in October to retake Iraq’s second largest city. The newspaper said, however, it was still premature to decide whether Iraqi forces were involved in the civilian deaths.
It quoted sources as saying that the majority of victims were still under debris, and that it remains difficult to reach them as fighting intensifies. More at the link
Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) A security source in Kirkuk Province revealed, that dozens of civilians who fled ISIS-held areas in Hawija district, arrived in the center of the city, Alsumaria News reported on Wednesday.
The source said in a statement, “Tens of displaced families, mostly women and children, arrived today in Maktab Khaled area, in western Kirkuk.” More at the link
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State (ISIS) has deployed its local members in Mosul to the frontline of battles with Iraqi troops, replacing foreign fighters as a punishment for tolerating escapes by civilians, an intelligence source said Thursday.
The extremist group withdrew its foreign fighters to the inside of the city, the source told Alsumaria News. He explained that the move came as a punishment for “slackness among local members regarding civilians escaping ISIS-controlled areas,” and for the fighters’ “turning themselves in for Iraqi security forces”. More at the link
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) In a video released by Alsumaria News, Abdel Azim Laith, one of the displaced people from the city of Mosul, talked about the IDP camps, and how was the Islamic State (IS) dealing with the people of Mosul.
Laith, who was flogged by members of the extremist group for not attending prayers at the mosque, revealed that the situation in the IDP camps is agonizing, and displaced people are suffering from cold weather.
IS was also flogging anyone who smokes or sells cigarettes, while some persons were selling cigarettes secretly, Laith added.
Furthermore, he said that the Islamic State group was deploying detectives in the streets of Mosul to arrest anyone who smokes or not attends prayers at mosque, as well as monitoring the implementation of its instructions. Video at the link
(Reuters) His right arm strapped with a tourniquet and numbed by anaesthetic, Azad Hassan sat before the crowd waiting for Islamic State militants to chop off his hand as a punishment.
First, he had watch them do the same to his brother.
Freed from Islamic State rule in Mosul by Iraqi forces who are fighting to recapture the city, the Hassan family bear more scars than most from two years under the jihadists’ self-declared caliphate.
The family tragedy parallels Mosul’s own recent history, from its storming by Islamic State in 2014, and the imposition of the group’s ultra-hardline rule in its de facto capital, to the Iraqi military campaign to retake it which has led to ferocious fighting in eastern districts.
A dispute over flour deliveries brought the two brothers before an Islamic State court more than a year ago. Militants had already taken another brother a few months before – a document given to the family says he was shot suspected of working with the Iraqi army, but they never saw his body. More at the link
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) A local source in Nineveh province revealed, that the Islamic State group redistributed Zakat (alms-giving treated as a religious tax in Islam) in the neighborhoods of the eastern side of Mosul, Alsumaria News reported on Thursday.
The source said, “The Islamic State group redistributed ‘Zakat’ in the neighborhoods of the eastern sides of Mosul during the so-called ‘Zakat Festivals’ that are attended by poor families.”
“The Zakat, which ranges between 100-150 thousand dinars, will be given to any poor family on condition that one of its members join the ranks of the Islamic State,” the source explained.
“Some of the poor families were forced to accept, while other families refused to go to mosques to receive the Zakat,” the source further added.
Joint security forces, backed by Army Aviation and international coalition forces, continue liberating the remaining areas of the city of Mosul, after an offensive being launched in October to free Nineveh province. More at the link
ISIS calls for capturing wimmin Everybody wants to capture them. No one wants to be a ring on their fingers
[Al Arabiya] ISIS infiltrated the liberated neighborhoods of al Noor, al Ilam, and al Taameen in Mosul on Wednesday evening, taking advantage of the cloudy weather conditions that led to the ease of air-strikes that target them, reported Al Arabiya’s correspondent in Iraq.
This pushed the Counter-Terrorism forces to send more back-up to the neighborhoods to repel the counter-attacks in which ISIS used car bombs and mortars.
The correspondent reported that ISIS called on their supporters to kill the men and capture the women in the liberated neighborhoods, prompting residents to flee to more secure areas such as Kokajala neighborhood.
In contrast, Abdulwahab al-Saadi, head of the Counter-Terrorism forces called on the civilians to stay in their homes and not flee, stressing that things are under control
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Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Bad knee. Common to women in sports. Tends to swell in that area. Lower back pain as well I'd bet hence the wrap about her waist for support. Interesting to see in those times how a person could deal with these issues. She is young but I'd bet not many years in her activities. Just rambling on today.
#2
The wrap around her waist is a very abbreviated skirt to modestly cover the fleshy part of the upper thigh, Dale -- the lady is wearing a corset. According to Wikipedia, Miss Vulcana was a strongwoman.
[al-Manar] A bomb blast killed four people and wounded others near a Red Crescent centre in government-held Homs city in central Syria on Thursday, state television said.
“A bomb exploded near a Red Cross centre in the Zahraa neighborhood,” a breaking news alert said.
“Four civilians were killed and others wounded, some of them seriously,” it added.
In September, four people were killed in an explosion at the entrance to the neighborhood that was claimed by the ISIL group.
The terrorist group also claimed a double bomb attack in the neighborhood in February that killed 57 people.
[Free Beacon] IRS employees spent $1.4 million in taxpayer funds on lavish travel and hotels, according to a new report from the Senate Finance Committee.
Sens. Orrin Hatch (R., Utah) and Ron Wyden (D., Ore.), the committee’s chairman and ranking member, respectively, wrote in May 2016 to the IRS and other federal agencies to evaluate their travel policies and practices, asking what the costs of those activities were and whether or not the agencies have done anything to reduce costs.
The Finance Committee found that the IRS had 27 employees who traveled 125 business days at a cost of more than $1.4 million in fiscal year 2015. The average cost of each trip totaled $52,800 and lasted an average of 207 days.
One employee racked up $72,544 in hotel costs, spending $43,726 at the Ritz Carlton in Arlington, Virginia, alone. Another employee spent nearly half a year living in the Grand Hyatt in Washington, D.C., which cost taxpayers $38,799.
[Daily Excelsior] Militants today looted over Rs 9 lakh from Jammu and Kashmire Bank and Police said that 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... (LeT) murderous Moslems are behind the recent bank robberies in Kashmire.
Superintendent of Police, Pulwama, Rayees Bhat said that LeT is responsible for the recent bank robberies in Kashmire. He said that they have identified two foreigners and one local who are among the robbers.
Bhat said: "From the Ratnipora bank branch, Rs 9.84 lakh have been looted and out of which 16,000 is old currency while rest is new currency. We have taken CCTV footage from the bank and we have been able to atleast identify two of these dacoits."
The SP said that in Budgam and Pulwama, same group was involved in robbery. "And in Budgam we have shown the photographs to the employees and two of the dacoits have been identified as Abu Ali and Abu Ismail, both foreign snuffies and one local holy warrior Arif of Lelhar. Today when we spoke to the bank officials, same identification was established", he said.
"Today we got the CCTV footage from the bank and it has been established that Lashkar-e-Taiba is behind the bank robberies. The murderous Moslems involved in today’s robbery are Arif Dar of Lelhar and Abu Ali. They are wanted in the bank robbery and two others who were outside acted as scouts and were guarding their colleagues".
The SP said that after recent bank robberies, police had taken certain measures which helped them. "After bank robbery at Arihal we had taken some security measures and we had given bank officials the list of banks which are sensitive and where response time is more for us. There are some branches which are nearer and near our establishments and there are banks which are in far flung areas. We had asked the officials of far flung areas when there are huge transactions they should cooperate with us", he added.
Bhat said that police reached in no time but murderous Moslems had managed to flee. "Today we had put some our men in civvies in the bank and some private persons as well. By this our response time was quick. We reached immediately and we thought two of them are still inside. We laid the cordon and searched the area but unfortunately they had left", he said.
The SP said that stone pelting diverted the attention of police which gave murderous Moslems enough time to flee. "Due to stone pelting our attention got diverted. Otherwise the leads we had got we could have chased them", he said.
Last Thursday, gunnies targeted a branch of the J&K Bank at Arihal in the same district and looted Rs 13.38 lakh. This is the fourth bank robbery in the State since November 8.
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[PULSE.NG] Factional Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ali Modu Sheriff has denied sponsoring 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... Sheriff said further, while receiving some PDP members in Abuja, on Wednesday, December 14, that the rumour was being spread by his enemies.
"Permit me therefore to state that I have in all sincerity tried to resolve this party crisis. I have offered that both the caretaker committee and the NWC be dissolved to give way for a new Independent leadership," he said according to The Tribune.
"But the caretaker committee has refused to agree to anything except recognise them and let the caretaker committee run the party till 2018. We have therefore resigned our fate to the decision of their lordships of the Court of Appeal and Supreme Courts. However, corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds... we are ready to return to the negotiation table today if Senator Makarfi sees reason to do so.
"I have been blackmailed to the extent that I am alleged to be sponsored by the APC to build a one party system. Contradictorily, I have been accused at the same time of staying on to stage my emergence as the presidential candidate of the PDP.
"This is the extent to which the illegal caretaker committee can go to hold on to power. Blackmail has been their stock in trade. My detractors go to the extent of alluding to the fact that I sponsored Boko Haram. This is in spite of the fact that Boko Haram was completely annihilated under my tenure as Governor of Borno State," he added.
Sheriff also said that he would vacate the office of PDP Chairman if Senator Ahmed Makarfi dissolves the party’s National Caretaker Committee.
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(Reuters) Ambulances trying to evacuate people from rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Thursday came under fire from fighters loyal to the Syrian government, who killed at least one person, a rescue service spokesman said.
But other buses and ambulances later started moving into rebel-held areas of the city under a deal to evacuate civilians and fighters following rapid advances by government forces, while the Russian defense ministry said the evacuation of 5,000 rebels and their family members had begun.
The evacuation of Aleppo’s last rebel enclave would end years of fighting for the city and mark a major victory for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“(Pro-government fighters) fired at us and at ambulance vehicles and those people opening up the road,” the rescue service spokesman told Reuters, adding that one person was killed.
A Reuters witness in nearby government-held territory heard a burst of gunfire that lasted several minutes.
An official with an Aleppo rebel group said the medical convoy had stopped before clearing the besieged eastern part of the city.
Another group of ambulances, and more than 20 buses, began to move towards the rebel-held area of Aleppo.
“Thousands of people are in need of evacuation, but the first and most urgent thing is wounded, sick and children, including orphans,” said U.N. humanitarian adviser for Syria Jan Egeland.
A Reuters witness in government-held territory said columns of black smoke could be seen rising from rebel-held area.
Residents hoping to be taken out have been burning personal belongings they cannot take with them. “Outside every building you see a small fire, papers, women’s clothes,” one resident told Reuters.
Russian soldiers were preparing to lead rebels out of Aleppo, the defense ministry in Moscow said. Syria had guaranteed the safety of rebels and their families, who would be taken towards Idlib, a city in northwestern Syria.
Russia would use drones to monitor how rebels and their families were transported on 20 buses, accompanied by 10 ambulances, along a humanitarian corridor, the ministry said.
A truce brokered by Russia, Assad’s most powerful ally, and opposition backer Turkey on Tuesday broke down following renewed fighting on Wednesday and the evacuation did not take place then as planned.
An official from the Jabha Shamiya rebel group said a new truce came into effect at 2.30am (0030GMT) on Thursday.
Shortly before the new deal was announced, clashes raged in Aleppo.
Government forces made a new advance in Sukkari – one of a handful of districts still held by rebels – and brought half of the neighborhood under their control, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group.
The Russian defense ministry said – before the report of the government forces’ advance in Sukkari – that the rebels controlled an enclave of only 2.5 square km (1 square mile).
RAPID ADVANCES
The evacuation plan was the culmination of two weeks of rapid advances by the Syrian army and its allies that drove insurgents back into an ever-smaller pocket of the city under intense air strikes and artillery fire.
By taking control of Aleppo, Assad has proved the power of his military coalition, aided by Russia’s air force and an array of Shi’ite militias from across the region.
Rebels have been backed by the United States, Turkey and Gulf monarchies, but that support has fallen far short of the direct military assistance given to Assad by Russia and Iran.
Russia’s decision to deploy its air force to Syria 18 months ago turned the war in Assad’s favor after rebel advances across western Syria. In addition to Aleppo, he has won back insurgent strongholds near Damascus this year.
The government and its allies have focused the bulk of their firepower on fighting rebels in western Syria rather than Islamic State, which this week managed to take back the ancient city of Palmyra, once again illustrating the challenge Assad faces reestablishing control over all Syria.
Carla del Ponte, a United Nations investigator and former U.N. war crimes prosecutor, told German newspaper Die Zeit that Russian and Syrian bombing of homes, hospitals and schools amounted to war crimes, as did the starving out of parts of Aleppo for months by militias loyal to the government.
[ARA News] Aleppo – The United Nations was invited on Thursday to assist and monitor the evacuation of thousands of sick and injured people, including civilians and opposition fighters, from the remaining rebel-held districts of Syria’s war-torn city of Aleppo, officials reported.
After a meeting with members of the Humanitarian Access Task Force of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) in Geneva, UN senior advisor on Syrian, Jan Egeland, explained the UN’s “three-pronged evacuation plan”.
“The plan includes medical evacuations for the wounded and sick, evacuations for vulnerable civilians, and evacuations of fighters,” according to Egeland, who added that the agreement was not made on behalf of the UN, “but rather through direct talks of the various parties to the Syrian war.”
The evacuees from the formerly rebel-held eastern Aleppo will be accompanied by representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), with assistance and monitoring from the United Nations. Most of the evacuees are expected to head to Idlib Governorate.
According to Mr Egeland, Russia will also monitor the situation and ensure that the evacuations that follow are “swift, [non-bureaucratic] and non-intrusive” and that those being evacuated would be guaranteed safety.
“We all feel strongly that the history of Aleppo through this war will be a ‘black chapter’ in the history of international relations. It took 4,000 years to build Aleppo, hundreds of generations, yet one generation managed to tear it down in four years. Aleppo, for three thousand years, gave to the world civilization and world civilization was not there to assist the people of Aleppo when they needed us the most,” the senior official said.
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Diyala (IraqiNews.com) Diyala Police Chief, Lieutenant General Jassim Hussein al-Saadi, announced on Wednesday, that police forces dismanted 26 terrorist cells, as well as arresting 36 of their members, during search operations in the province.
Saadi said at a press conference in the Command’s headquarters in central Baqubah, “Diyala Police managed to dismantle 26 terrorist and criminal cells, in addition to arresting 36 of their members during search operations in different areas of Diyala.”
“Diyala Police Command continue exercising efforts to pursue and dismantle terrorist cells, as well as capturing their members,” Saadi added.
“The police command also managed to lessen abduction rate by 90% compared with last year,” Saadi explained.
Noteworthy, security forces were able in the previous months to dismantle and arrest a large number of terrorist cells in Diyala Province.
[DAWN] ONCE a key node on Levantine trade routes, Aleppo, today resembles a graveyard. In many ways, the state of Aleppo reflects the state of much of Syria after nearly six years of a devastating civil war. This is a war that has reverberated across continents, one in which major world powers have been heavily involved, and one that has brought death, disease and displacement to hundreds of thousands of Syrians. This week, after a four-year grinding war of attrition, Bashir al-Assad’s forces managed to retake almost all of Aleppo. However, there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... as has been the case throughout the civil war, it is the Syrian people who have suffered the most. While on Wednesday efforts to evacuate rebel-held areas were thwarted by renewed fighting, yesterday, there were reports that evacuation of both fighters and non-combatants had restarted.
As in all conflicts, the truth in Syria was an early casualty. Much of the coverage of the Syrian war, especially the ongoing events in Aleppo, has been coloured by geopolitical perspectives. Media with a soft spot for Damascus have shown citizens celebrating the ’liberation’ of Aleppo, while outlets sympathetic to the rebels have portrayed a wasteland put to fire and the sword by the ruthless legions of Mr Assad. Even the language about the Aleppo operation is partisan: is it ’liberation’ or a ’fall’? Perhaps -- away from extreme partisan positions -- the world needs to look at the conflict from a humanitarian perspective. The fact is that both the Assad regime as well as the rebels -- whose ranks are populated by a number murderous Moslem factions -- have committed atrocities in this conflict. Moreover, those in the international community who are today shedding tears for the people of Aleppo have helped stoke the fires of conflict in Syria by meddling in the civil war, pushing for regime change and using the country as a proxy battlefield to settle geopolitical scores. Whether it is the West, the Arabs, Iran, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... or Russia, all players have had a hand in making Syria what it is today. Aside from meddling in the Syrian imbroglio, the international community’s efforts to bring the conflict to a negotiated close have been half-hearted.
Is it too late to negotiate? Indeed, Mr Assad will be emboldened by capturing Aleppo. But ploughing on to retake territory in the same brutal fashion will prolong the conflict indefinitely. On the other hand, while the battle for Aleppo was raging, the turbanIslamic 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 managed to sneak back into Palmyra and take the town from the government. In this complicated war, the threat turban groups pose to global security must not be lost sight of. Negotiating peace will be far from uncomplicated. But should the stakeholders decide that Syria’s future will be decided on the battlefield, more bloodshed and suffering await its forsaken people.
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[DAWN] CHAKWAL: Members of the Ahmadi community in Chakwal’s Dulmial village have left the village because of security concerns, sources said on Wednesday, days after a violent mob attacked an Ahmadi place of worship.
Two people were killed and one injured in the attack. Among the dead was Malik Khalid Javed, an Ahmadi who was present at the religious site when the attack happened and suffered a cardiac arrest. His body was taken to Chenab Nagar, where he was laid to rest.
A number of people who went to the funeral have not returned to the village yet, and other families have left the village for their own safety.
"There are three Ahmadi families living next to my house, but they left their homes and moved to safe places after the incident," a villager told Dawn.
"Their cattle are tied up in their homes. I arranged some fodder for their cattle today and gave them some water; the animals were tied up, hungry and thirsty since Monday," he said. The villager added that many other members of the community have also left the village, and the few who have remained are guarded in their homes by police, Rangers and military personnel.
A member of the local Ahmadi community also told Dawn some families have moved from the village, but the district police officer (DPO) and the district coordination officer (DCO) have said Ahmadis are staying in their homes.
Army, police and Rangers personnel are still deployed in the village, where they can be seen patrolling.
The police have also tossed in the calaboose Book 'im, Mahmoud! 32 people involved in the attack, two of whom are Ahmadi.
The FIR of the attack includes charges from the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Pakistain Penal Code. Lodged by Sub-Inspector Mohammad Nawaz, who is also the station house officer (SHO) of the Choa Saidan Shah cop shoppe, the FIR states that he, accompanied by 20 other police officials were deployed at the Dulmial Rabiul Awwal procession.
The SHO said in the FIR that three men who were leading the procession of 2,800 to 3,000 people incited anti-Ahmadi sentiment within the crowd. The leaders of the procession resolved to take over the Ahmadi place of worship, claiming they would take possession of their mosque from the Ahmadi community.
"The members of the procession, led by the organisers, moved towards the place of worship by violating the set [procession] route. The police tried their best to stop them, but they stormed the place of worship by breaking the police cordon and began [attacking] the main gate with bricks and clubs."
The FIR said some members of the mob climbed the wall and entered the site, and two people present at the place of worship began firing. It said 46 people fled to their homes using a back door. One person was killed and three injured in the firing, and Malik Khalid Javed, who suffered a cardiac arrest, was found dead by the police.
The mob occupied the Ahmadi place of worship and began burning articles.
The police have nominated the four procession organisers and 35 participants, including unknown individuals. Two members of the Ahmadi community have also been nominated and, according to sources, have been arrested alongside 30 others.
DPO Masood Marath told Dawn: "A joint investigation team is going to be set up while we are arresting the suspects."
DCO Mehmood Javed Bhatti added: "A meeting of the district peace committee was held today in which leaders of all sects assured the district administration of their complete cooperation."
"No one is above the law. Every suspect will be treated equally according to the law," he said, adding that a majority could not be allowed to usurp the rights of a minority. Then his lips fell off.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2016
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[FrontPageMagazine] The Ignorance Cultural Revolution continues. The glorious cultural warriors against literacy have triumphed at the University of Pennsylvania where Shakespeare was declared a non-person and purged by what was formerly known as the English Department. Then he was swiftly replaced with an angry black illiterate lesbian racist womanist.
#2
I am pretty sure there's nearby community college that can be hired/contracted to teach English for technical writing and just dump the entire department. Lots of savings to be found there.
"The portrait has resided over the main staircase of Fisher-Bennett — home to Penn’s English Department — for years. The English Department voted to relocate and replace the portrait a few years ago in order to represent a more diverse range of writers, according to an emailed statement from Esty, who declined to be interviewed."
The article's author then makes the point:
"Not merit. Not worth. Diversity. And diversity means meritless worthlessness. Always remember that. Diverse equals worthless."
#7
Why do they even *have* an English department?
English is the language of the white, colonial oppressors. Plus all those words stolen from oppressed languages around the world.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The former Afghan politician and a prominent rights activist Farkhunda Zahra Naderi has been appointed as the senior adviser of President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. on United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... affairs.
According to a President Decree, Ms. Naderi’s appointment is approved for the post as President’s senior adviser for the United Nations Affairs in accordance with the Paragraph 13 and Article 64 of the Afghan constitution for the addition of this high level government position.
The former female politician in the Lower House of the Parliament, Wolesi Jirga, continued to serve as a prominent women’s rights activist after her term ended as a member of the parliament.
Her appointment as the special presidential adviser in United Nations could play a key role in empowering the Afghan women who have suffered the most in decades of devastating civil war and insurgency, still being faced by the citizens of the country.
Some of her major contributions during and following her service as a prominent female parliamentarian and activist, include the tireless efforts to secure a prominent position for the women in the Supreme Court and a major campaign to align the responsibilities of the citizens of the country and the Afghan National Police, which plays a key role in strengthening the civil society.
As part of her campaign to strengthen the women’s role and secure their presence in Supreme Court, a historic move in the Afghan history, Ms Naderi, said "Our institutions are steeped in patriarchy. I can’t see how women will achieve their basic rights as long as the Supreme Court has not opened its doors to women. Women’s rights are imprisoned in that institution and it is men who define those rights."
Ms Naderi further added "But I also represent and advocate for men’s rights. If men are being oppressed, I won’t just stand by and ignore it. But our statesmen do exactly this when it comes to women’s rights being violated: with respect to half the Afghan population, they keep silent. They do not see; or at least, they don’t want to see."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2016
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GUJRANWALA: The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) claimed to have arrested four militants of banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and recovered explosives here on Thursday.
A CTD spokesman said that a team of the department on an intelligence tip-off conducted a search operation in Gujranwala.
He said that during operation four alleged militants of banned LeJ were apprehended with explosive material.
The alleged militants identified as Rafique, Javed, Ashraf and Faheem were shifted to an undisclosed location for investigation and according to CTD spokesman important revelations were expected.
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.
[Huron Daily Tribune] SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- California's policy of withholding weapons for 10 days from buyers who previously purchased a gun and clear a background check before the state's waiting period is a reasonable safety precaution that does not violate the Second Amendment, a federal appeals court said Wednesday.
[Breitbart] On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s "At This Hour," State Department Spokesperson Admiral John Kirby (Ret.) stated that the failure in Syria "is not on the leadership of the United States, or even other members of the international community."
[Daily Caller] Department of Homeland Security officials knew Ohio State University attacker 
[DAWN] GUJRAT: The Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi Bench on Thursday accepted the bail plea of Chaudhry Shahid, the father of Samia Shahid, 
[al-Manar] The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has prevented series of terrorist attacks in Moscow planned by terrorists of the so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) terrorist group.
[Reuters] U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced two appointments to the National Security Council on Thursday: retired Army Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg as chief of staff and executive secretary, and former Fox News Channel analyst Monica Crowley as senior director of strategic communications.
WASHINGTON/ALEPPO: US Secretary of State John Kerry accused the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad of carrying out “nothing short of a massacre” in Aleppo, where thousands were evacuated on Thursday from the last opposition bastion in a city besieged for years.
[DAWN] KARACHI: The federal government has issued special permits to three princes from 
[FoxNews] The Obama administration is finding itself back on the defensive over its Syria policy as Aleppo falls to Bashar Assad's government and civilians are evacuated, an operation preceded by desperate pleas from the city's battered residents and reports of atrocities against them.
Basra (IraqiNews.com) Basra Police Directorate announced on Wednesday, that security forces captured wanted persons on charges of terrorism, including one of the perpetrators of a car bomb explosion in al-Ishaki area.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] One of the most notorious commanders of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of Hezb-e-Islami, is in the custody of the Afghan intelligence, the National Directorate of Security (NDS).
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Several key figures of the loyalists of 
[PJMedia] The Justice Department says that a Michigan city practiced religious discrimination in turning down an Islamic center's request for zoning approval to build a mosque.
[Reuters] A group of Rohingya Muslims that attacked Myanmar border guards in October is headed by people with links to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the International Crisis Group (ICG) said on Thursday, citing members of the group.
[Free Beacon] IRS employees spent $1.4 million in taxpayer funds on lavish travel and hotels, according to a new report from the Senate Finance Committee.
Yes, there's something to be said for congressional resolve. Not very much mind you. But something to be said. 
[PULSE.NG] Factional Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ali Modu Sheriff has denied sponsoring 
[DAWN] CHAKWAL: Members of the Ahmadi community in Chakwal’s Dulmial village have left the village because of security concerns, sources said on Wednesday, days after a violent mob attacked an Ahmadi place of worship.
[FrontPageMagazine] The Ignorance Cultural Revolution continues. The glorious cultural warriors against literacy have triumphed at the University of Pennsylvania where Shakespeare was declared a non-person and purged by what was formerly known as the English Department. Then he was swiftly replaced with an angry black illiterate lesbian racist womanist. 
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
