[NY Times] State governments will serve as an important bulwark against any attempt by President-elect Donald Trump to roll back the progress the United States has made in addressing climate change. And that's good news for the planet. So when you can't depend on the Feds, put your trust in the states. From the NYT, no less.
Over the last decade or so, most states have reduced their greenhouse gas emissions by promoting energy efficiency and renewable fuels. These trends should continue as clean energy costs continue to decline and, in some parts of the country, fall below the cost of dirtier fuels like coal. Farther down in the article, the Times does seem aware that some of the states are controlled by Republicans.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/28/2016
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#1
And ignore a vast amount of 'western lands' belong to the feds, not the states. You think the NYT would support transferring them, now? Or just the Left Coast?
HT AOSHQ sidebar
This may have been reported last month, but it's still joyous news to be spreading during the yuletide.
The New York Times Co. reported an astounding 95.7 percent drop in profit in the third quarter, Reuters reported. Buried way, way down in the Nov. 2 article, the third-to-last paragraph to be precise, it states:
Net profit attributable to the company fell 95.7 percent to $406,000, or break-even per share, hit mainly by restructuring charges related to headcount reductions.
In other words, profitability for the parent company of the rotten, anti-American New York Times was more or less eliminated.
Wow.
Keep up the good work.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/28/2016
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#1
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Die you evil bitch!!! DIE!!!!
I may be getting waaaay to much enjoyment out of this...
#2
Search Results -
headcount reduction. Process in which the number of employees at a specific organization are reduced due to a change in circumstances. This reduction in the number of employees may be attributed to a drop in sales or other services.
Q3 in 2015 had an extra ordinary gain which makes the comp look bad.
Once the NYT rents out the bottom 8 floors of their biz, they will have a nice revenue flow not related to the journalism biz (other newspapers have done this). Of course the newspaper business model is failing but that's for almost all newspapers.
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/28/2016 15:39
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#5
Next stop - penny stock
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/28/2016 16:22
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#8
lord garth - that rental won't help for a while. They have 8 floors of dead space (actually, have - I understand these floors have been empty for the better part of the year), then it'll take them 6 months (best case scenario) to renovate to the new lessee's specs, all the while getting no $ from it. It's worse than it looks until the space is rented.
Congress is already setting the stage to cut off U.S. funding to the United Nations in the wake of a contested vote last week in which the Obama administration permitted an anti-Israel resolution to win overwhelming approval, according to congressional leaders, who told the Washington Free Beacon that the current administration is already plotting to take further action against the Jewish state before vacating office. It does sound like Obumble is trying to fulfill all the anti-antisemitism wet dreams of the left and muzzies before he leaves office.
Other punitive actions by Congress could include expelling Palestinian diplomats from U.S. soil and scaling back ties with foreign nations that voted in favor of the controversial measure, according to multiple sources who spoke to the Free Beacon about the situation both on and off the record. I would be for shooting the "diplomats" as Islamic terrorists... but just getting them the hell out of our country works too.
The Obama administration is still under bipartisan attack for its decision to help craft and facilitate the passage of a U.N. resolution condemning the construction of Jewish homes in Jerusalem, a move that reversed years of U.S. policy on the matter. Along with that resolution stating that Jerusalem isn't a Jewish city and all settlements past the 1967 border is illegal, guaranteeing decades more of blood.
The Free Beacon was the first to disclose on Monday that senior Obama administration officials played a key role in ensuring the measure was passed unanimously by the U.N. Security Council. This included a phone call by Vice President Joe Biden to Ukraine's president to ensure that country voted in favor of the measure.
While Biden's office continues to dispute the claim, reporters in Israel and Europe confirmed in the intervening days that the call between Biden and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko did in fact take place. Don't worry Petro. They'll get around to fucking you over in favor of Russia later.
With anger over the issue still roiling, leading members of Congress told the Free Beacon on Wednesday that they will not delay in seeking retribution against the U.N. for the vote. This could include cutting off U.S. funding for the U.N. and stripping the Palestinian mission's diplomatic privileges.
Lawmakers also will work to rebuff further attempts by the Obama administration to chastise Israel on the international stage. This would include freezing funds that could be spent by the administration on further U.N. action. Giving those funds to Israel would be a nice spit in the eye of these islamists
"The disgraceful anti-Israel resolution passed by the UNSC was apparently only the opening salvo in the Obama administration's final assault on Israel," Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) told the Free Beacon. "President Obama, Secretary Kerry, Ambassador Power, and their colleagues should remember that the United States Congress reconvenes on January 3rd, and under the Constitution we control the taxpayer funds they would use for their anti-Israel initiatives."
"The 115th Congress must stop the current administration's vicious attack on our great ally Israel, and address the major priorities of the incoming administration," Cruz said, expressing his desire to work with the incoming Trump administration to reset the U.S. relationship with Israel.< Senior congressional sources currently working on the issue further disclosed to the Free Beacon that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are in an uproar over the Obama administration, which they accuse of plotting behind closed doors to smear Israel.
"Not content with spending the last eight years using the United Nations to undermine American sovereignty, the Obama administration has finally trained their sights on Israel and is trying to exploit this unelected and unaccountable international body to impose their resolution of the Palestinian issue on Israel," one senior congressional aide told the Free Beacon. "Enough is enough." Amen. The UN out of the US!
While the Trump administration will not take office until the end of January, Congress will be working overtime before then to stop the Obama administration from further damaging the U.S.-Israel relationship, according to the source, who hinted that a full cut-off of U.S. funding to the U.N. currently is on the table.
"A new administration will arrive on January 20th, but in the intervening weeks Congress has an important role mitigating the damage President Obama can do in his final hours," the source said. "Why on earth would we throw good taxpayer dollars after bad in support of the UN, which has proven itself again and again utterly unable to encourage any positive progress? Just take Syria ‐ if they were doing anything over the last five years, it should have been working out a fair and equitable adjudication of the Syrian war."
"Instead, they've proven themselves utterly useless–in fact they've probably made a gut-wrenching catastrophe worse," the source explained. "There's no reason to think this action will turn out any more favorably."
A second senior congressional aide working on a package of repercussions expressed fear that the U.N. vote was just the first salvo targeting Israel.
"The question now is whether this was the finale or the prologue of what this administration has planned against Israel," the source said, adding that "everything is on the table right now ‐ including funding cuts and scaling back diplomatic relations with countries that brought forward this resolution."
A similar list of punitive actions was confirmed by multiple congressional sources who spoke to the Free Beacon about the matter. The sources were granted anonymity so they could speak freely.
"Obama went to the U.N. because a U.N. resolution is functionally irreversible by normal means," added a veteran foreign policy insider who is currently working with the incoming Trump administration. "Obama's goal was to eliminate any limited options that could be used to repair the damage to Israel, and he gambled that Trump and Congress would be too intimidated to use the remaining big stick options. He's going to lose that gamble." We'll see if the current crop of 'pubs actually have balls. I'm not holding out hope unless Trump holds their feet to the fire, but I was wrong before so I hope I am wrong here.
"American leaders will now use exactly those options," the source explained. "Everything is on the table, from systematically going after the U.N., to moving the U.S. embassy into parts of Jerusalem the U.N. says aren't Israeli, to kicking the Palestinians out of Washington."
"Members on both sides of the aisle are furious, so our response will be swift and forceful," the second congressional source said. "With a Trump administration in place, any nation that seeks to delegitimize the Jewish state will need to answer to the United States." I only hope this is the beginning of pushing back against the UN and its islamofacist enablers. Draining the swamp means getting rid of the UN too.
#6
My Geneva recommendation remains a genuine option, and the Swiss really do love the circus and clowns, especially if they wear funny costumes, so the UN is a perfect fit. Maybe Jawn Kerry can join as an animal act, the worlds greatest blowhard option is open now that Fidel is dead.
[CNN] Washington - As he prepares to leave the Oval Office after eight years, President Barack Obama recently reflected on the role his mother played on him becoming commander-in-chief, and how one of her biggest influences were her lessons on love.
Obama describes his mom as "eccentric in many ways" In an effort to minimize reader discomfort, the length of this posting kept to 67 words.
#4
The President has often spoken about his nontraditional upbringing. He was born in Hawaii to a father from Kenya and a Caucasian mother from Kansas. After his father abandoned his family when Obama was around age two, his childhood was spent with his grandparents in Hawaii while his mother studied in Indonesia and married again.
So many lies by omission in those few sentences! His mother took baby Barry up to Seattle shortly after he was born, returning only when his father set off for Harvard. It was after several years at far away Harvard that his father formally abandoned them for other countries and other wives, one of them predating his mother's marriage; his mother married an Indonesian she met at school in Hawaii, and she took little Barry with her when they followed her new husband home -- it was based on his childhood years in Indonesia that he claimed a more sophisticated understanding of Islam and the world than could possibly be attained by the rubes in flyover country; for reasons never explained, though possibly because Barry was bonding too strongly for her taste to his stepfather, Barry was sent back to his "Caucasian" grandparents to rear while Mumsy stayed on in Indonesia with the offspring she kept when she divorced their dad, because that's where the career she loved was; and of course, one of the marks of his maternal grandparents' love was that they sent him to spend his Saturdays with that Black, Communist pedophile writer, so that he would get to know his father's heritage.
Feeling special was the only defense that poor child had against the harsh lessons on love he received, thanks to his eccentric mother.
[Breitbart] On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s "Special Report," columnist Charles Krauthammer argued that the UN resolution on Israeli settlements was "a US operation all the way."
Krauthammer said, "Does anybody think that Venezuela and New Zealand spent nights slaving over the wording of this resolution? They were the ones who introduced it. Of course not. This was a US operation all the way."
He added that the UN resolution was akin to passing one declaring Mecca and Medina "sovereign Jewish or Christian territory."
#2
If true, and I suspect it is, an act of subterfuge that borders treason and one which totally ignores the congress and the will of the people. There may be no end to the mischief this fellow and his cohorts are capable of.
#3
This is only the set up. I expect that Kerry will announce today that Obastard and the "US" proclaim that there IS a Palestinian sovereign state and that it's borders include all of Jerusalem and the entire west bank, Gaza and probably the Golan as well.
Prepare yourself for 3 weeks of total chaos being perpetrated by this regime until they are run out of town.
[Breitbart] The Times of Israel reports: An Egyptian paper has published what it claims are the transcripts of meetings between top US and Palestinian officials that, if true, would corroborate Israeli accusations that the Obama administration was behind last week’s UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements.
According to the Egyptian report, the US diplomats had expressed their mistrust of Netanyahu, saying he wanted destroy the two-state solution and was only interested in maintaining the status quo between Israel and the Palestinians.
The transcript showed Kerry and Rice advising the Palestinians not to make any provocative moves when US President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20, calling him dangerous.
#1
Little 'corroboration' necessary. The Obama regime's categorical denial of facilitation, coupled with the timing and total disregard for obvious perception, should be quite enough. I'm going with Krauthammer on this one.
Liberation theology, like die Herrenrasse, has an obvious political component. The Jew has not been left out of either equation.
[Breitbart] Monday on MSNBC while discussing if Democrats should try to find common ground and work with President-elect Donald Trump, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) said, "I don’t trust him. I don’t believe him. I have no intentions sitting down with him. I am going to fight him every inch of the way." The most predictable of predictable outcomes.
[IsraelTimes] Twenty-nine Turkish former coppers went on trial in Istanbul on Tuesday accused of aiding the failed military coup in July -- the first trial over the attempt that led to some 270 deaths.
Renegade officers in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... ’s military used tanks, fighter jets and helicopters in their July 15 attempt to unseat the government, attacking the parliament and other key buildings. Turkey blamed it on a network of followers of the US-based Moslemholy manFethullah Gulen ... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world... -- an ally turned foe of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... More than 40,000 people have been tossed in the clink Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! for alleged involvement in the coup while tens of thousands of other suspected Gulen followers have been purged from government jobs.
The coppers standing trial in a prison and courthouse complex in the outskirts of Istanbul include three police helicopter pilots. They are accused of aiding the coup by not carrying out their duties, including disobeying orders to protect Erdogan’s Istanbul residence on the night of the coup, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.
Prosecutors have demanded aggravated life prison terms for 21 officers charged with "attempted coup" while eight others face maximum 15 years in prison for membership in a terrorist organization.
The court was scheduled to hear the suspects’s statements in their defense on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/28/2016
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[AlAhram] More than 3,000 people in northeast Nigeria ... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border... who were forced to flee the seven-year insurgency waged by Islamist forces of Evil have returned to their hometown following the reopening of major roads in the area, the army said on Tuesday.
Damasak - in the northwest of Borno, the state worst hit by the forces of Evil - was taken over by Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... in late 2014, when it controlled an area the size of Belgium in northeast Nigeria. The bandidos bully boys were pushed out of the town by the army in July.
President Muhammadu Buhari said on Saturday that the army had taken back Boko Haram's main camp in the Sambisa forest.
On Sunday, the government said it was reopening two roads between Borno's capital, Maiduguri, and the northern towns of Damasak and Baga.
Army front man Sani Usman said more than 3,000 people used one of the roads to return to Damasak on Monday.
Rooters was unable to independently verify his statement.
"They were residents of Damasak displaced by the insurgency staying as refugees in the neighbouring Niger Republic and internally displaced people in Maiduguri," he said.
Usman said the returnees went through military security checks when they arrived and were met by local government officials and community leaders.
After the announcement that the Sambisa camp had been taken, the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, said the former game reserve would be used as a military training base to prevent the bandidos bully boys returning.
Security analysts say Boko Haram split this year with one faction led by Abubakar Shekau ... the lunatic leader of Boko Haram who has been reported dead at least eleven times, pledged his body and soul to ISIS, told his fighters to hang it up once or twice, and been fire by the Caliph and refused to step down ... operating from the Sambisa forest and the other, allied to 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.... (IS) Death Eater group and led by Abu Musab al-Barnawi, based in the Lake Chad region.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/28/2016
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Especially for anon1, who objects to being forced to buy halal meat because it's all halal. A taste from a much longer essay:
[Medium.com] How Europe will eat Halal — Why you don’t have to smoke in the smoking section — Your food choices on the fall of the Saudi king –How to prevent a friend from working too hard –Omar Sharif ‘s conversion — How to make a market collapse
The best example I know that gives insights into the functioning of a complex system is with the following situation. It suffices for an intransigent minority –a certain type of intransigent minorities –to reach a minutely small level, say three or four percent of the total population, for the entire population to have to submit to their preferences. Further, an optical illusion comes with the dominance of the minority: a naive observer would be under the impression that the choices and preferences are those of the majority. If it seems absurd, it is because our scientific intuitions aren’t calibrated for that (fughedabout scientific and academic intuitions and snap judgments; they don’t work and your standard intellectualization fails with complex systems, though not your grandmothers’ wisdom).
The main idea behind complex systems is that the ensemble behaves in way not predicted by the components. The interactions matter more than the nature of the units. Studying individual ants will never (one can safely say never for most such situations), never give us an idea on how the ant colony operates. For that, one needs to understand an ant colony as an ant colony, no less, no more, not a collection of ants. This is called an “emergent” property of the whole, by which parts and whole differ because what matters is the interactions between such parts. And interactions can obey very simple rules. The rule we discuss in this chapter is the minority rule.
The minority rule will show us how it all it takes is a small number of intolerant virtuous people with skin in the game, in the form of courage, for society to function properly.
This example of complexity hit me, ironically, as I was attending the New England Complex Systems institute summer barbecue. As the hosts were setting up the table and unpacking the drinks, a friend who was observant and only ate Kosher dropped by to say hello. I offered him a glass of that type of yellow sugared water with citric acid people sometimes call lemonade, almost certain that he would reject it owing to his dietary laws. He didn’t. He drank the liquid called lemonade, and another Kosher person commented: “liquids around here are Kosher”. We looked at the carton container. There was a fine print: a tiny symbol, a U inside a circle, indicating that it was Kosher. The symbol will be detected by those who need to know and look for the minuscule print. As to others, like myself, I had been speaking prose all these years without knowing, drinking Kosher liquids without knowing they were Kosher liquids.
Criminals With Peanut Allergies
A strange idea hit me. The Kosher population represents less than three tenth of a percent of the residents of the United States. Yet, it appears that almost all drinks are Kosher. Why? Simply because going full Kosher allows the producer, grocer, restaurant, to not have to distinguish between Kosher and nonkosher for liquids, with special markers, separate aisles, separate inventories, different stocking sub-facilities. And the simple rule that changes the total is as follows:
A Kosher (or halal) eater will never eat nonkosher (or nonhalal) food , but a nonkosher eater isn’t banned from eating kosher.
Or, rephrased in another domain:
A disabled person will not use the regular bathroom but a nondisabled person will use the bathroom for disabled people.
[GEO.TV] Pakistain People’s Party leader and slain Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... ’s close aide Naheed Khan in a no holds barred talk said that Bilawal Baby Bhutto Zardari ...Pak dynastic politician, son of Benazir Bhutto and grandon of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. As far as is known, Bilawal has no particular talents other than being pretty and being able to memorize political slogans, but he had the good luck to be born into the right family and he hasn't been assassinated yet... should question his father about his mother’s murderers.
"Zardari ruled for five years, why did he not arrest her murderers," she said speaking at morning show Geo Pakistain.
The United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... was contacted for help in investigating the murder after 13 months, and when the report came out it was initially praised but later rejected, she said.
Naheed Khan alleged that Zardari does not let Bilawal take bold stances, and when he saw Bilawal’s politics had matured during his recent visit to Punjab, he returned to Pakistain.
She said that Zardari was the worst thing that happened to the party, and the workers consider themselves orphans now. "They visit Benazir’s grave with heavy hearts," she said.
Naheed Khan added that many die-hard workers of the PPP distanced themselves from the party after Zardari took over.
When Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on December 27, 2007 she fell into Naheed Khan’s lap who was riding the car with her. Journalists who covered her rallies recall how she would act as a human shield for Benazir.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2016
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[Libya Herald] There has been more unrest in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... following the kidnapping and liquidation of two coppers from the Tripoli Criminal Investigation Department. There are a number of theories circulating on social media for the possible motive for their liquidation, but none have been substantiated.
Roads were blocked and tyres were set on fire in the Bab Ben Ghashir cop shoppe area of Tripoli. Gunfire was also heard in the area in reaction to the report of the two coppers’s deaths. The victims were believed to be from the area.
The two CID coppers were initially reported to have been kidnapped from their Bab Ben Ghashir cop shoppe. However, Switzerland makes more than cheese... it is now believed that they were kidnapped at the Hadba Agricultural Project (Mashroo al-Hadba) as contact was lost with them on Sunday while they were conducting an investigation there. The Hadba Agricultural Project area of Tripoli spreads to the border of Airport Road.
On Monday their bodies were found at the Hadba Project district with reportedly execution-style shots to the back of their heads and their hands tied behind their backs.
The Government of National Accord’s (GNA) Ministry of Interior (MoI) has released a statement acknowledging the liquidation of the two coppers who have been given a military funeral with full deaders’ honours. In the statement the MoI condemned the ’’criminal and cowardly’’ act promising it will take action to pursue the criminal perpetrators.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shouting match, the spittle had reached unprecedented levels... there has been more inter-militia fighting, including militias from or allied to Haithem Tajuri’s Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigades, over the last three days in the Busleem and Ain Zara areas, with reports of Dire Revenge action for the killing of one militia member.
The inter-militia fighting is seen by some analysts as no more than "school yard-type" fighting, whilst others see it as a more strategic attempt by one group of militias to impose their total dominance on the capital at the expense of others. With the House of Representatives’ LNA Chief of Staff Nadouri threatening to enter Tripoli soon, some see the inter-militia fighting as part of a larger strategic game.
The continued insecurity and criminality in the capital Tripoli underline the weakness and ineffectiveness of the Faiez Serraj GNA which is more often than not no more than a reactive spectator to events, totally powerless to initiate positive effective policy change on the ground ‐ one year on from the signing of the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA).
Posted by: Fred ||
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[AlAhram] Belgium has prevented six attacks over the past two years, a senior police official said Tuesday, with the country still a prominent target for Islamist holy warrior assaults.
"I can announce... that over two years, since November 2014 precisely, we have been able to foil at least six attacks," Eric Jacobs, head of judicial police in Brussels, said in an interview with the daily La Derniere Heure, without offering further details.
Jacobs said Belgium has been fighting terrorism for 20 years but with population growing in the Belgian capital, the number of groups has multiplied.
"There are more than 200 nationalities in the capital. There is not only ISIS (an acronym for 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.... (IS) holy warrior group). There are other radical movements," he said.
In January 2015, Belgian police dismantled a cell in Verviers in the east of the country which was later seen as the rough beginnings of the Islamist holy warrior group that attacked Gay Paree in November that year.
And on March 22, IS-linked attackers struck Brussels airport and the metro killing 32 people, despite the arrest in the Belgian capital only four days earlier of the last surviving Islamist bandidoshard boyz from the Gay Paree attacks, Salah Abdeslam.
Since that attack, Belgian police and intelligence services have seen a major increase in information, "up to 600 tips daily", Jacobs said.
Goodness. They must be exhausted.
"A lot of the tips are not relevant but when we're told that some grey car is suspect, if we don't verify it and there is an attack the next day, they are going to say that we knew and didn't do anything," he said.
The threat level in Belgium remains high at three on a scale of four levels and is expected to be unchanged through the New Year holiday.
"Forty-five percent of the federal judicial police in Brussels are assigned to combat terrorism," Jacobs said, urging continued reinforcement of the police services.
[Ynet] Mohammad Masri, a member of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, allegedly sought Dire Revenge for the outlawing of the group and planning to target soldiers with a rifle or IEDs in Dimona, Arad, or the Netavim Air Base.
Israeli security forces have stopped a terror cell made up of Israeli Arabs who were planning to carry out attacks against soldiers in the Negev, it was cleared for publication on Tuesday. Two of the cell’s members ‐ Mohammad Masri, 37 of Be’er Sheva, and Abdullah abu Iyash, 26, from Kuseife, were tossed in the calaboose Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! by the Shin Bet last month.
A joint Shin Bet and Israel Police investigation revealed that Masri, the leader of the cell, was seeking to take Dire Revenge on the government for outlawing the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel. Masri then went to abu Iyash, with whom he worked, for assistance, with the latter agreeing to help. The two worked together at a grocery store in Be’er Sheva called "King Store Mashadawi," where Masri was the assistant manager.
The two decided to attack IDF troops and planned to target three possible places in the southern region of the country‐in Dimona, Arad, or at the gates of the Netavim Air Base. The two also conducted observations of their targets. A Carl Gustav homemade assault rifle was found in the cell’s possession, along with IED detonators. The authorities believe that the cell would have carried out IED attacks using the detonators.
Mohammad Masri is known to the Shin Bet. He was a member of the Fatah military wing, the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade and was involved in a pipe bomb kaboom that killed a 15-year-old girl. He was arrested and served a 12-year prison sentence. While in prison, Masri met and cultivated connections with Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, members both from Gazoo and in the West Bank, including the high ranking Hamas official Yahya Sinwar.
Upon his release, he became an active member of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel.
A third Israeli-Arab was arrested for involvement in the cell, but this time from the Arab city of Qalansuwa. He too worked at a King Store branch in Qalansuwa, where he was an assistant manager. He too was an active member of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement and served time in prison between 2006 to 2010 for serious security offences, including the sale of weapons to gunnies from Tulkarm and for planning to attack IDF troops with an IED.
Three additional Israeli Arabs from the Negev area were arrested on suspicion of selling weapons to the terror cell: Bakr Abu Takfa, 21, from Shaqib al-Salam; Rami Abu Takfa, 22, from Shaqib al-Salam; and Mohammad Abu Qif, 26, a Bedouin living in the Nevatim area.
The investigation of the case found that other Negev residents were involved in arms trade under criminal circumstances, and more arrests are expected as the investigation continues.
Marsi and Abu Iyash will be indicted in the coming days.
[IsraelTimes] At an award ceremony for the Shin Bet security agency, the head of the service Nadav Argaman says 400 “significant” terror attacks were foiled in the past year.
“We are gathered here this evening to express gratitude to our people, thanks to whom unique and unprecedented missions were advanced and implemented,” he says. “Missions that led to intelligence achievements and thwarted significant [attacks]. The quality intelligence, advanced technology, and excellent human capital — it is in their merit, that the Shin Bet thwarted over 400 significant attacks.”
Speaking at the event, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praises the agents who “demonstrated creativity, boldness, sophistication and exceptional courage.”
“Many civilian lives were saved thanks to the amazing counterterrorism operations led by the Shin Bet,” which combined “advanced technological means, groundbreaking cyber technology and in particular creativity and relentless determination,” the prime minister says.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/28/2016
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Diyala (IraqiNews.com) Al-Hashd al-Shaabi militia announced on Tuesday, that joint security forces destroyed a hideout of the Islamic State, as well as discovering a warehouse containing food materials in the areas of Hamrin Mountains, north of Baqubah.
Commander of the 24th brigade of Badr Organization, Ziad al-Tamimi said in a press statement, “Forces from the 24th brigade, in coordination with the armored regiment of the 5th brigade, conducted an extensive security operation in the areas of Hamrin Mountains and the gas station, north of Baqubah.”
“The security operation resulted in the destruction of a hideout belonging to the Islamic State in the area,” Tamimi explained.
“A warehouse containing food materials belonging to the Islamic State was discovered in the areas of Hamrin Mountains during the security operation,” Tamimi further added.
The Islamic State, and its allied armed groups such as Naqshbandi Army, imposed their control over Diyala Province, after taking over the cities of Mosul and Tikrit in June 10, 2014.
Posted by: badanov ||
12/28/2016
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Officials said a suicide car bomber targeted high-ranking officials traveling in a police Humvee in Lashkargah city, in Helmand, early Monday.
Early reports indicated at least one police officer was killed and a number of others wounded.
According to the provincial governor’s spokesman Omar Zwak police had been on their way to launch an operation to reopen the Kandahar-Lashkargah highway when the incident occurred.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
[ALMASDARNEWS] Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has claimed that his country will be eradicated of ISIS elements in as soon as only three months.
"Conditions indicate that Iraq needs three months to eliminate ISIS (ISIS)," Abadi told state TV on Tuesday.
This contradicts US Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend claim made on Monday that it will take at least two years.
Asked about the assertion, the Iraqi premier said, "The Americans were very pessimistic. They used to talk about a really long period, but the remarkable successes achieved by our brave and heroic fighters reduced that. I foresee that in Iraq it will take three months."
That would be great, it really would, and it would validate the effectiveness of the Iraqi Army v3.0 v4.0. But as they say, first you have to do it...
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2016
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#1
I figure closer to three years, with a substitution of home grown fanaticism for ISIS.
This SOB has no bottom. Mr. Trump will have problems unwinding this one. But that, of course, is the point.
Executive orders will be rescinded promptly on January 21st. Congress won't enact any proposed law. Champ is near toothless here at home. But abroad...
#3
If there is a memorial to the dead of the recent Russian plane crash involving the famous Russian army choir, Trump should attend it and say nothing to the western press.
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, unsuccessful presidential candidate, and utterly failed Secretary of State... will make remarks regarding Middle East peace on Wednesday and discuss next steps needed to resolve the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict, State Department front man Mark Toner said on Tuesday.
Toner rejected claims that the B.O. regime had pushed for a United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... Security Council resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlement building. The United States abstained in the Security Council decision, which passed with 14 votes in favor.
"There was nothing pre-cooked, this was not some move orchestrated by the United States," Toner said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2016
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#1
Is he going to talk about Syria, or Iraq, or Libya, or what?
#4
Rumors of he and O going for Palestinian state.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/28/2016 8:48
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Of this you may be certain - our "leaders" are, as planned, throwing gasoline on fires they have already started. Acting provocatively as they depart the stage, giving DJT, "bonus" alligators - with lasers on their heads.
It would be reassuring to know that DJT and company have a political version of the neutron bomb to set off above DC.
I hope the world recognizes the difference between patriotic USA citizens and their mutually exclusive short-timer USA politicians.
#7
A full court press on damaging any hope of the new administration having any success in the ME
This complete and utter BULL SHIT about abstaining instead of vetoing is just a complete crock. I hope all of those Orthodox Jews in New York that voted for this crap ass POTUS and for the Hildabeast are happy. Boy talk about self loathing.
#11
Evidently we have no ability to stop the UN from doing more incredibly stupid things until January 20, 2017, given O&Co's determination to stick it to Israel.
Non binding resolutions by the Congress don't mean sh*t. And O&Co don't care anyway. So use the time to start a defunding bill for the UN now as soon as Congress gets in session. At least lay the groundwork. Then when the new Congress and the new President take office, run this bill through and cut off funding to the UN by the US. It will send a message. Then tell the UN to move and get the hell out of the US. They can take their dictator members, corruption, and unpaid parking tickets elsewhere.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/28/2016 14:00
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Better yet setup some snipers outside the U.N, building to take blind potshots into the windows - kind of like the Palieo's launch rockets into Israel. When they complain wring your hands and say so sorry - nothing can be done... The snipers beling to a sepearate organization. Do that for a few weeks or months. Then declare a two-occupancy for the U.N. building. The upper floors are the U.N. and the lower floors are John and Jake's Pig Farm and rendering plant.
#14
It just boggles the mind to see how O&Co carry through their chickensh*t and underhanded actions against Israel. It disgusts but does not surprise me how the other nations like the UK, France, and NZ go along with this behavior. If the Security Council wants to behave that way toward a sovereign nation, they can do it on their own nickel and a venue outside the US.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/28/2016 16:14
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#15
That building needs to be abated for hazardous materials and the steel needs to be melted for scrap. It's the only way.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/28/2016 16:15
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[ISRAELNATIONALNEWS] Former House speaker urges Congress to condemn Obama for allowing anti-Israel resolution to pass the UN Security Council.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
It was the delay between election and seating in 1861 that moved the inauguration from March to January, also the reflection of new technology (rail) to move people quicker. The better blast would to introduce a new amendment to move it further to December. We have better technology and we have ample proof it takes too long to transition given the evil men can do.
[snip]CBS Atlanta affiliate WGCL reports aspiring rapper Yung Mazi is recovering after being shot inside a Waffle House Surprise!
restaurant in Atlanta early Tuesday morning.[snip] This TMR doesn't understand the difference between "bulletproof" and "lucky."
Guessing inner city Atlanta schools don't cover Ghost Shirt history
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy ||
12/28/2016
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‘God Made Me Bulletproof a bullet magnet,' Atlanta Rapper Tweets After He's Shot Again
FTFY, Yung.
BTW, I firmly believe that Waffle House should be an internationally recognized neutral zone, guaranteeing physical safety and good coffee at all times.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/28/2016 5:10
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Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Ten civilians were either killed or wounded in the explosion of a booby-trapped vehicle, north of Mosul, an Officer at Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service said on Tuesday.
Major Iyad Ziad, in a brief statement said, “A booby-trapped vehicle exploded near a popular market n al-Masary area, north of Mosul.”
“The blast resulted in the killing of seven civilians and injury of three others,” Ziad added. “The wounded were transferred to a nearby hospital and the bodies to the forensic medicine department,” he explained.
Last week, Islamic State launched attacks on Kokjali area, which was declared IS-free two months ago, using three booby-trapped vehicles driven by IS suicide bombers. They left at least 30 dead, including army soldiers, and 60 wounded.
Meanwhile, some rights organizations and news reports informed that the Islamic State has been targeting areas it had lost to Iraqi forces, leading to civilian deaths.
Posted by: badanov ||
12/28/2016
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At least five insurgents were killed and five others were injured in clashes with security forces in northern Jawzjan province on Sunday, local officials said.
The clash took place after a number of insurgents attacked the security forces check posts and started clashes, a police security official, Abdul Hafiz Khashi said.
The Taliban fled the area after security forces fought back, Kashi said adding that the forces seized some weapons.
There were no security forces casualties in the clash, according to Kashi.
However, the Taliban has not yet commented on the clash.
A senior Taliban commander named Mullah Firoz Jahadi, along with five other armed Taliban, were killed in Aab Band district of Ghazni province in an Afghan National Police operation.
The Ministry of interior (MoI) said in a statement that during the operation, nine other armed Taliban were wounded. They said two rocket launchers, two PK machine guns and one vehicle were seized.
According to the MoI, Jahadi had been one of the leaders of the Kunduz battle.
[RUDAW.NET] Iraqi journalist Afrah al-Shawqi has been kidnapped from her home by unknown gunnies in the capital Baghdad, the police said, hours after she wrote an article against gangs.
Al-Shawqi, a journalist and head of the media department of the ministry of culture’s art section was kidnapped by a group of unknown gunnies who stormed her house in a pickup truck Monday night, the police said.
Al-Shawqi is believed to have been kidnapped in retaliation for an article she published on Monday criticizing gangs who roamed the country with impunity.
In the article published on www.aklaam.org she also blames the government for not curbing the power of militia groups and urges the state to punish anyone who uses illegal weapons, especially on university and school campuses.
Al-Shawqi’s sister Nibras al-Shawqi confirmed the abduction of her sister.
Al-Shawqi, a graduate of Baghdad University’s school of journalism was also a former employee the Alif Ba magazine.
Her sister told the media that the gunnies took from al-Shawqi’s home jewelries and an amount of money.
She hasn’t been heard of since the gunnies sped away with al-Shawqi in their car, she added.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi asked the police to follow up on al-Shawqi’s case and rescue her, said his office on Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2016
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Badakhshan local officials said Tuesday the Taliban in the province has changed its war strategy and are now bombing security check posts opposed to storming them.
According to local officials, the Taliban has conducted two suicide bombings against check posts this month and have moved their focus from Wardoj district to Baharak district.
Baharak district police chief Abdul Wodoud said both suicide bombings have been carried out in Baharak district.
In the first suicide attack two policemen were killed and three others wounded, Wodoud said.
According to Wodoud, insurgents carried out their second suicide bombing on Monday night in the same district. As a result of ensuing clashes, one insurgent was killed and two were wounded. The rest fled the area.
There were no casualties among security forces.
“We have families in Baharak district that cooperate with the Taliban but we are trying to stop the suicide attacks as we have already stopped their aggressive attacks,” Wadoud said.
Meanwhile a number of civil society members in the provincial capital Faizabad have raised concerns over the Taliban’s new tactics and said this will affect civilians.
Civil society members have criticized government forces for delaying the launch of their winter operation.
“Taliban techniques are very dangerous; with these techniques more civilians will suffer,” said Abdul Basir Wasiq a civil society activist.
Meanwhile, security forces in Badakhshan said they are waiting for orders to launch winter operations.
“We have all forces on the front line waiting for orders and when we receive orders we will launch our operation,” Wadoud added.
Badakhshan local officials said that preparations are being taken for an operation to eliminate insurgents during winter.
“Soon we will launch operations and it is expected that within two or three days we will launch our local operation and Wardoj district clearance operation will be conducted in three months of winter,” said Gul Mohammad Bedar deputy governor.
Taliban has controlled Wardoj and Yamgan districts for more than a year and are active in several other areas in Badakhshan.
[al-Manar] After the killing incident of army corporal Ali al-Qaq on Monday, the Lebanese Army Airborne Regiment staged raids at dawn on Tuesday on several houses in the border town of al-Qasr in northeast of the Hermel district in search for the culprits, the National News Agency reported.
Two individuals suspected of being involved in the incident were arrested. The army confiscated military weapons and ammunition, NNA said.
At night, army troops patrolled the area and intensified security measures as they set temporary checkpoints.
A military source who spoke on condition of anonymity, told local media outlet the army will take the needed measures and will track down the perpetrators to hand them over to justice.
Media reports said al-Qaq was killed by the relatives of slain Hani Jaafar whose killing was reportedly blamed on al-Qaq three months ago.
They claimed that Jaafar was killed at an army checkpoint in Hermel.
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] President-elect Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... appointed an experienced hand from the George W. Bush era to his national security circle Tuesday and a figure from the Trump Organization to make international deals.
Thomas Bossert will become as assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism. A statement from Trump's transition team said Bossert will advise the president on issues related to homeland security, counterterrorism, and cybersecurity, and coordinate the Cabinet's process for making and executing policy in those areas.
The position notably "is being elevated and restored to its independent status alongside the national security adviser," the statement said. Policymakers have long debated whether such national security jobs should operate independently from the White House.
Bossert will work closely with Trump's pick for national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. Bossert is currently president of the risk management consulting firm CDS Consulting. He previously served as deputy assistant to the president for homeland security under Bush.
The president-elect also appointed one of his main advisers on U.S.-Israel relations as special representative for international negotiations. Jason Greenblatt has worked for the Trump Organization for over two decades and currently serves as its executive vice president and chief legal officer.
In the statement, Trump said Greenblatt "has a history of negotiating substantial, complex transactions on my behalf," and has the expertise to "bring parties together and build consensus on difficult and sensitive topics."
Trump's West Wing is shaping up to have multiple power centers. Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and senior adviser Steve Bannon will work as "equal partners," according to Trump, and counselor Kellyanne Conway is also expected to have autonomy. Trump's influential son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will also have a direct line to the president.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2016
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[LAW NEWZ] Just when you thought that the Hillary Clinton email saga was over, a new development surfaced on Tuesday by way of a federal appellate judge’s ruling. Judge Stephen Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in favor of conservative groups Judicial Watch and Cause of Action in their lawsuits against the State Department over whether or not enough was done to try to restore Clinton’s missing emails. After it looked like the lawsuits had been squashed, the appeals court revived them.
In January, a District Court judge had thrown out the lawsuits with the reasoning that both the State Department and National Archives had put in a "sustained effort" to recover the emails. In his ruling Williams wrote that this wasn’t enough. "The Department has not explained why shaking the tree harder ‐ e.g., by following the statutory mandate to seek action by the Attorney General ‐ might not bear more still," he said. "Absent a showing that the requested enforcement action could not shake loose a few more emails, the case is not moot."
As a result, Williams feels that it’s "abundantly clear that, in terms of assuring government recovery of emails, [Judicial Watch has] not ’been given everything [they] asked for.’"
#2
But would she ever accept a pardon considering she doesn't believe she did anything wrong?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/28/2016 8:38
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If offered a pardon by O we will find out how delusional she really is. Take the pardon and she stays out of jail. Refuses the pardon and she gets endless legal battles until her health is destroyed.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/28/2016 9:16
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#4
It will only be over when she is in prison for at least the rest of her life.
Although I wouldn't turn down a hanging for treason either.
PHILADELPHIA – Dec. 27, 2016 – Islamists in the United States increasingly rely on prominent non-Muslims to spread their message and impose their views.
In response, the Middle East Forum's Islamist Watch presents A Journalist's Manual: Field Guide to Useful Infidels, a 20-page report available gratis online or as a PDF download. It identifies 15 prominent non-Muslims who facilitate or directly aid Islamists, thereby helping the media and public understand the tactics used to empower Islamists within American culture, and confronts them with their own words.
The enablers inhabit the fields of entertainment, journalism, government, and academia. Then the article gives 15 examples of "Useful Infidels." Read the whole thing and download the PDF.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/28/2016
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#1
for those in a hurry, here is the list
Ben Affleck
Christiane Amanpour
Karen Armstrong
Max Blumenthal
John Brennan
Chris Christie
Morris Dees
Matt Duss
John Esposito
Glenn Greenwald
Martin Indyk
John Kerry
Grover Norquist
Leslie Wong
James Zogby
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/28/2016 11:33
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I misread at first, I thought it read "useless idiots"
[Libya Herald] Misrata airport is to start operating again as of Thursday. It follows a partial deal between the Libyan Ground Services Company and the union representing striking employees.
Misrata closed for the second time this year, along with all other airports in the country except Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... ’s Mitiga, a week and a half ago when the Libyan Ground Services Company failed to resolve the issue of a year’s unpaid salaries to baggage handers. Labraq and Tobruk reopened three days later after the interim government in Beida found the money to pay them.
The reopening announcement follows a separate one two days ago by private Libyan carrier Libyan Wings that it would be launching a twice-weekly service flights from Misrata to Tunis, on Mondays and Thursdays, as of 5 January.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Big Shirley was still trying to snatch Nunzio bald-headed. She was already halfway there... the first cargo plane in three years landed at Ghadames airport today. The C-130 military aircraft was carrying cash for local banks in both Ghadames and nearby Darj as well as medical supplies for Ghadames hospital as well as bank staff and some patients returning from hospital treatment in the capital.
Reports that Benghazi’s Benina airport today started partial services with a flight to Tunis have been denied by senior airport staff.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2016
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[ALMASDARNEWS] Moscow considers the permission to supply MANPADS to Syria in the new law on US defense spending to be a hostile move, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said on Tuesday.
She noted that the transferred weapons would quickly end up in the hands of jihadists, and Washington must realize this. "Perhaps, they even expect this to happen, since they actually sponsor the Jabhat al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... [terrorist group, outlawed in Russia - TASS], which is a unit of al Qaeda. This can hardly be called otherwise than aiding and abetting terrorists," the diplomat went on to say.
"The relevant decision also poses a direct threat to aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces, other Russian military personnel and our Embassy in Syria that has been shelled repeatedly," she said. "That is why we consider this to be a hostile move."
"Instead of pooling efforts to counter rampaging bandidosLions of Islam of every stripe and color, as we have suggested for a long time, Washington is staking on the provision of military aid to anti-government units, which differ little from bloody thugs," the diplomat stated.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Well, I don't think ISIL is flying attack aircraft.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan National Police (ANP) forces thwarted at least 8 kaboom plots in the city in past two weeks besides arresting around 597 people on various criminal charges.
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.... Police Chief General Abdul Rahman Rahimi told news hounds that the suspects were tossed in the clink Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! in connection to organized crimes, including murder, robbery, smuggling of drugs, morale crimes, possession of illegal weapons, and attempts to disrupt the order of the city.
Gen. Rahimi further added that the snuffies had planted at least 8 Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in various parts of the city which were discovered and defused by the security forces.
In regards to the growing issue of drug addicts in the city, Gen. Rahimi said the government lacks capacity to provide care and treatment to the addicts.
He said Kabul police is able to gather and clean the city from the presence of drug addicts if facilities are available to provide them care and treatment.
Gen. Rahimi also urged the city residents to assist the police forces in maintaining the stability and order of the city as he insisted on the urgent need of coordination and cooperation with the police forces.
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[GEO.TV] Russia, China and Pakistain have agreed on efforts to remove Afghan individuals from the UN sanctions lists as part of efforts to foster peaceful dialogue between 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.... and the Taliban movement in Afghanistan.
Representatives from the three countries, meeting in Moscow on Tuesday, also warned of the growing influence of the ISIS myrmidon group in Afghanistan and agreed to invite the Afghan government to such talks in the future, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The three countries agreed a "flexible approach to remove certain figures from UN sanctions lists as part of efforts to foster a peaceful dialogue between Kabul and the Taliban movement," ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told news hounds after the meeting.
"(The three countries) expressed particular concern about the rising activity in the country of holy warrior groups including the Afghan branch of ISIS," she said.
Zakharova said Russia, China and Pakistain had "noted the deterioration of the security situation (in Afghanistan)".
"The parties agreed to proceed with consultations in an expanded format and would welcome the participation of Afghanistan," she added.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[LAHT] Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA admitted that it had mortgaged a 49.9% stake in the biggest three refineries it still owns outside Venezuela to Russian state-controlled oil giant Rosneft, after an article by the Latin American Herald Tribune exposed the transaction Thursday.
A 49.9% stake in the three refineries and the extensive U.S. pipelines owned by Citgo was "used to raise new financing", PDVSA said in a defensive statement.
Hugo's daughter needed some new baubles, you see...
PDVSA did not reveal what they received in exchange for the shares -- nor why it was kept secret -- but it is believed that Rosneft lent the Venezuelan state oil company $1.5 billion with the above mentioned stake in the Citgo refineries as collateral.
"Citgo is still owned by PDVSA", PDVSA's statement begins by saying, but later in the text PDVSA also admits that "in October it used as guarantee a 50.1% of Citgo in a bond swap operation." If PDVSA defaults,
...which it will...
Rosneft and bondholders could end up owning the refineries.
In short, the assets accumulated by previous Venezuela governments over 40 years were liquidated by "chavismo" in less than 10 years and with the proceeds disposed of in a manner not at all transparent.
Communism doesn't work. All else is mere detail. Socialism doesn't work a bit more slowly, but follows the same broad, pot-holed road to ruin.
"It is important to stress that any world class company, such as Petroleos de Venezuela, uses its assets to back its transactions and leverage its investments," PDVSA said.
Since 2005 onwards, PDVSA has also sold assets abroad other than refineries, such as pipeline companies, ports, terminals and storage capacity.
PDVSA's statement says the latest deal was carried out in the midst of "attacks from the press, but also during an adverse period for the world oil industry."
"PDVSA denies the media reports and comments based on speculation, rumors and biased information that discredit the Corporation made by spokespersons interested in generating political destabilization in our country," PDVSA said in its statement.
At the same time as it was confirming the secret deal, the monolithic ruling Chavista regime political party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), went on the attack against LAHT, Russ Dallen and Redd Intelligence in an article called "Five Points that deny the sale of shares of Citgo."
"Beyond the recurring manipulation of anti-Chavez economists, journalists and politicians around PDVSA's financial operations, the decision -- ratified in an official communiqué -- to place shares of its subsidiary in the United States as a guarantee to improve its financial position is far from what other oil corporations are doing," the statement defensively begins, not mentioning that it only issued its "official communique" after LAHT's article dominated headlines.
Utterly adorable in their transparency.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Eminent domain, see also Kelo, see also - nationalization (a practice Venezuela is very familiar with). If Moscow objects, point out the former American companies in pre-Fidel Cuba.
The NYT frames it as Israel "Defying UN", but I think it's expressed a little differently in Jerusalem...
Undeterred by a resounding defeat at the United Nations, Israel’s government said Monday that it would move ahead with thousands of new homes in East Jerusalem and warned nations against further action, declaring that Israel does not “turn the other cheek.”
Just a few days after the United Nations Security Council voted to condemn Israeli settlements,
...and let's all remember how it happened that the UN now believes it is illegal for a Jew to live in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem...
Jerusalem’s municipal government signaled that it would not back down: The city intends to approve 600 housing units in the predominantly Palestinian eastern section of town on Wednesday in what a top official called a first installment on 5,600 new homes.
The 'predominantly Palestinian' section used to be the Jewish quarter -- back before 1948 when Jews lived there...
The defiant posture reflected a bristling anger among Israel’s pro-settlement political leaders, who not only correctly blamed Barack Obama the United States for failing to block the Council resolution, but also claimed to have secret intelligence showing that President Obama’s team had orchestrated it. American officials strongly denied the claim, but the sides seem poised for four more weeks of conflict until Mr. Obama hands over the presidency to Donald J. Trump.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lashed out at Security Council countries by curbing diplomatic contacts, recalling envoys, cutting off aid and summoning the American ambassador for a scolding. He canceled a planned visit this week by Ukraine’s prime minister even as he expressed concern on Monday that Mr. Obama was planning more action at the United Nations before his term ends next month.
The prime minister defended his retaliation. “Israel is a country with national pride, and we do not turn the other cheek,” he said.
Certainly not in that part of the world; it's an open invitation to having your eye gouged out...
“This is a responsible, measured and vigorous response, the natural response of a healthy people that is making it clear to the nations of the world that what was done at the U.N. is unacceptable to us.”
The Security Council resolution that passed Friday condemned Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as a “flagrant violation under international law” and an obstacle to peace. The Council approved it 14 to 0, with the United States abstaining instead of using its unilateral veto, as it has in the past.
Let's remember the other 14, including France and Britain...
Mr. Trump publicly pressed for a veto of the resolution and has chosen a settlement advocate as his administration’s ambassador to Israel. He turned to Twitter on Monday night to air complaints that the United Nations “is just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time.”
Palestinian leaders made clear that they would use the resolution in international bodies to press their case against Israel. With the imprimatur of a United Nations finding of illegality, they said, they will campaign to require that other countries not just label products made in the settlements, but ban them.
“Now we can talk about the boycott of all settlements, the companies that work with them, et cetera, and actually take legal action against them if they continue to work with them,” Riad Malki, the Palestinian foreign minister, was quoted as saying by the Palestinian news media.
Which is what Barack has wanted -- he doesn't have to lift a finger, he lets everyone else stir the pot and create problems.
He outlined other steps the Palestinians could now take, using the resolution to press the International Criminal Court to prosecute Israeli leaders, file lawsuits on behalf of specific Palestinians displaced by settlements and urge the international authorities to determine whether Israel is violating the Geneva Conventions.
“We are looking to devise a comprehensive vision, and hopefully 2017 will be the year when the Israeli occupation ends,” Mr. Malki said.
Israeli officials said such pronouncements showed that the resolution actually undermined chances for a negotiated settlement because the Palestinians now have less incentive to come to the table. By declaring Israeli settlements illegal, they said, the United Nations essentially took away the one chip that Israel had to trade, meaning land.
I seem to recall another tenet of international law: when you kick the other's ass seven times (four wars and three intifadas) you're pretty much allowed to take all the other guy's shit away from him.
“The Palestinians are waging a diplomatic and legal war against Israel. That’s the strategy,” Ron Dermer, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, said in a phone interview. “Their strategy is not to negotiate an agreement with Israel because a deal is give and take. They want take and take.”
The Palestinians want a one-state solution from the Jordan to the Sea. They want the Jews dead, converted or expelled, preferably dead. There is no give on any of that, and so there is no give on anything.
Israel’s settlement project, once a scattering of houses across the so-called Green Line marking the borders before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, has grown substantially over the years. In 2009, the year Mr. Obama took office, 297,000 people lived in West Bank settlements and 193,737 in East Jerusalem. That increased to 386,000 in the West Bank by the end of last year and 208,000 in East Jerusalem by the end of 2014, according to Peace Now, a group that opposes settlements.
The Israelis should go for broke now: make it a million.
Israeli officials note that when Mr. Netanyahu acquiesced to a 10-month settlement freeze sought by Mr. Obama in 2009, the Palestinians still did not agree to negotiate until just before time ran out. But the addition of more than 100,000 settlers during Mr. Obama’s tenure convinced him that it was time to change his approach at the United Nations, aides said.
By being a weasel...
The 618 housing units to be granted building permits in East Jerusalem on Wednesday have been in the works for a while, and the planning committee meeting agenda was set before the United Nations acted. But the committee chairman said he was determined to go forward with units totaling 5,600.
“I won’t get worked up over the U.N. or any other organization that might try to dictate to us what to do in Jerusalem,” Deputy Mayor Meir Turgeman, the planning committee chairman, told the newspaper Israel Hayom. “I hope that the government and the new administration in the United States will give us momentum to continue.”
Although he did not specify which projects he had in mind, Ir Amim, a private group tracking settlements in East Jerusalem, said he was probably referring to projects in Gilo and Givat Hamatos. Betty Herschman, the group’s director of international relations and advocacy, said it was “defiance demonstrated after Trump’s election, now reinforced by the U.N. resolution.”
Anat Ben Nun, the director of development and external relations for Peace Now, said such construction was problematic. “Netanyahu’s attempt to avenge the U.N.S.C. resolution through approval of plans beyond the Green Line will only harm Israelis and Palestinians by making it more difficult to arrive at a two-state solution,” she said.
Israeli leaders said they had no reason to stop building. The Security Council resolution “was absurd and totally removed from reality,” said Oded Revivi, chief foreign envoy for the Yesha Council, which represents West Bank settlers. “Israeli building policies are set in Jerusalem, not New York.”
For the fourth day, Israeli officials accused Mr. Obama’s team of ambushing them at the United Nations. While the White House denied it, Israeli officials pointed to a meeting between Secretary of State John Kerry and his New Zealand counterpart a month before the Council vote discussing a resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. New Zealand was a sponsor of Friday’s measure.
Mr. Dermer, the ambassador, said Israel had other, nonpublic information proving the Obama administration’s involvement but provided no evidence and would not elaborate beyond saying it would be provided to Mr. Trump’s team when he takes office.
“They not only did not get up and stop it, they were behind it from the beginning,” Mr. Dermer said. “This is why the prime minister is so angry. We’re going to stand up against it.”
The fury of Mr. Netanyahu’s response has generated debate at home. Mitchell Barak, a political consultant, said the political left considered the resolution “an epic foreign policy and diplomatic debacle” by Mr. Netanyahu.
But to his base, the Security Council action confirmed what they believed all along, that Mr. Obama is inherently anti-Israel, and so the prime minister comes across as a champion beset by enemies. “For them,” Mr. Barak said, “Netanyahu emerges from this unscathed, as the lone wolf in a lion’s den of hatred.”
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/28/2016
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#1
Trump will take Office in about another three weeks and some.
The weasel will be gone.
Israel can hold out until them and for the Palestinians....the goat and a small closet.
Settlements WORK. Keep them up, and keep it coming. The Palestinians know they work and that is why they are squealing. Roll on....
The UN? Screw the UN. Move to Brussels. Or Jimbobway.Whichever.
Worked across North and South America. Worked in Europe too for the Romans, till outsiders decided to play the same game on Rome (now being repeated by Muslims).
#4
BHO has (had?) 50% of the US Population in his corner
That's certainly how he polled. But when you know that saying anything against him will be greeted with cries of "Racist!", that result is to be expected. On the other hand, his signature programs are strongly disliked -- it seems likely those who loathe his programs do not love the man.
Alinsky counsels making 'em live up to their own rules.
[Breitbart] Imam Habib Rizieq Shihab, the leader of the Shariah promotion group the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) is facing criminal charges of violating Indonesia’s laws against blasphemy after a Catholic group accused him of mocking the birth of Jesus Christ.
[Breitbart] An Indonesian court will prosecute Jakarta’s Christian governor who has been accused of blasphemy against the Qur’an, a judge announced on Tuesday.
A panel of judges rejected a petition by the legal defense team of governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, known by his nickname "Ahok," to throw out the case because it had violated the politician’s human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... and disregarded procedural protocol.
As a Christian and an ethnic Chinese, Mr. Purnama has two strikes against him in the world’s most Moslem country and hardline Islamic groups have protested his rule ever since he was elected in 2014.
Last month, Islamic conservatives rose up against Ahok accusing the governor of having manipulated a verse from the Qur’an to support his claim that it is permissible for Moslems to be governed by non-Moslems. On November 4, a mob of 150,000 Islamic protesters staged a massive march in the capital city of Jakarta, demanding a death sentence for Ahok. Similar demonstrations took place in other cities throughout Indonesia.
On Tuesday morning, hundreds more protesters dressed in white gathered outside the courthouse in north Jakarta chanting "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) and calling for the governor to be incarcerated Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! .
The lead judge on the panel, Dwiyarso Budi Santiarto, said the defense could appeal to a higher court if they did not agree with the decision to move forward with the case. After consulting his lawyers, Ahok told the court he would "think about it."
all Muslim societies eventually tend towards theocracy and that's why they end up either under secular dictatorship or sharia
Indonesia has only been out of dictatorship since the 1990s. In another 20 years it will be a theocracy or another dictatorship
that's because the problem with Islam is not just in the interpretation but also in the texts
so given a liberal democracy the theocrats use their freedom to grow their religitarded power base, and because they accurately quote holy books of islam to support their position, they gain ground
it happens everywhere. Look at the 56 Islamic nations: how many democracies? And of those are they moving towards theocracy? Yes. Even Turkey requires periodic secular army coups to beat back the Islamotards - and Erdogan prevented that this cycle.
‘Jesus 2016 Is a Refugee in a Boat’, Says Catholic Bishop
Sentimental pap with seriously heretical underpinnings. The bishop needs to review his catechism before checking in with his archbishop.
26 Dec 2016
Nestled in a boat for a crib with a barbed-wire Christmas star, the infant Jesus was given a “contemporary face” by an Austrian Catholic bishop who claimed that “Jesus 2016 is a refugee in a boat”.
Orbán: EU Must Change After ‘Christians Murdered at Christmas’ in ‘Heart of Europe’
25 Dec 2016
Illegal migrants must be deported and Europe’s borders sealed shut, following the “unprecedented” attack in Berlin, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has said. “It is unprecedented that in the heart of Europe, Christians were murdered at Christmas”, Orbán said in an
Italian Politicians: We Are in a ‘Time of War’ as ‘Schengen Is Out of Control’
25 Dec 2016
Italian populist politicians Matteo Salvini and Beppe Grillo are calling for the Schengen zone to be suspended, Grillo calling Europe “a sieve” for terrorists and Salvani stating “we are at war”.
Archbishop of Vienna: Migrant Crisis Has Gone Too Far, Better to Help Asylum Seekers In Their Home Countries
24 Dec 2016
Vienna’s Cardinal Schönborn has made headlines after speaking out about the migrant crisis in a special Christmas discussion programme. Speaking in discussion with Protestant Bishop Michael Bünker on a faith issues roundup of 2016 on Austrian television, Cardinal Schönborn — a central European aristocrat
EU Chief: Borders Must Stay Open Despite Deadly Terror Attacks
24 Dec 2016
The best way to fight terror is with “openness”, European Union (EU) head Jean-Claude Juncker has said, stressing that Europe must continue to receive migrants in the wake of the deadly truck attack in Berlin.
Officials Alarmed After Discovering Young Migrants Watching Islamic State Videos
Get photos, fingerprints, DNA, clone their cell phones, and send 'em home permanently.
24 Dec 2016
Officials in an asylum home in Germany have raised the alarm after discovering several young asylum seekers have been watching Islamic State propaganda films and may have been radicalised.
Austrian cardinal tipped to become the next Pope warns Europe's migrant influx 'goes beyond our capacities and possibilities'
27/12/16
The Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Schoenborn, said an 'unbelievable number' of refugees had come to Europe causing him to 'rethink' his stance on the issue. Cardinal Schoenborn called for more support for nations in Africa and the Middle East, in the hope that migrants 'could live in their homeland again', it has been reported. The 71-year-old, one of the favourites to become the next Pope, said he had become 'more cautious' in his attitude to migration.
Father of Syrian family locked in visa battle with Belgium's immigration minister is accused of fraud
27/12/16
Syrian businessman Mohamad Omar N., 38, applied at the Belgian consulate in Lebanon in August for a visa for his family from war-torn Aleppo. His visa was initially denied.
Seven migrants arrested after a homeless man was set on fire on Christmas Eve at a Berlin subway station
27/12/16
Six Syrian men and one Lybian, aged 15 to 21, are suspected of torching the victim at Schönleinstraße station (pictured) in the German city and police have opened an attempted murder investigation.
Is the Jungle reforming? Hundreds of refugees 'are returning to squalid camps' near notorious Calais shanty town just weeks after it was bulldozed
27/12/16
The sprawling Jungle migrant camp in Calais was razed in October with thousands of migrants transported around France to new official accommodation.
Migrant who is accused of raping and assaulting six women in Germany tells court he couldn't find a girlfriend and wanted to have sex
24/12/16
The 26-year-old from Pakistan, identified only as Asif M., is alleged to have approached the women on the street in Berlin, before dragging them away to assault them.
PETER OBORNE: How 2017 will see a civil war for the soul of Labour over immigration
Good.
24/12/16
Labour was thrown into confusion this week by the resignation of Jamie Reed, the MP who represents the Cumbrian constituency of Copeland, writes PETER OBORNE
Stupid or dangerous? Masked man parading an ISIS flag films himself 'walking straight across the German border' as he taunts officials over the non-existent security checks
26/12/16
It was posted in the wake of the Berlin terror truck attack, during which the German officials were criticized for allowing killer Anis Amri to roam out of the country to Italy undetected.
How combating the mafia helped Italy fight ISIS: Surveillance techniques and the help of organised crime are keeping extremists at bay, claim experts
24/12/16
Marco Lombardi, a terrorism expert at the Catholic University in Milan (pictured), said the same approach can help tackle terrorists as organised crime.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/28/2016
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#1
How combating the mafia helped Italy fight ISIS
The FBI so infiltrated the KKK and other groups that the running joke was that every other KKK member was an informant. Apparently the same is being done with certain anti-government groups out west.
On the other hand, the NYPD had a pretty good counter-intelligence program aimed at Islamic radicals, until it was forced to end it. And the FBI invites Islamists to 'counsel' it.
He didn't need a lot of things; a lot of things he asked for, though, are difficult to fulfill. Something our 'Red' Christians seem to leave out of the equation.
A 30 year old woman was beheaded on Monday evening in Sar-e-Pul province by a group of armed men, local officials said Tuesday.
Provincial governor spokesman Zabiullah Amani, confirmed the incident and said that the armed men were linked with Taliban. The incident took place in the remote village of Latti in Sar-e-Pul.
Amani said that the women was beheaded because she visited the city alone without her husband.
Amani said that the victim’s husband is in Iran and they don’t have children.
Sar-e-Pul women's affairs head Nasima Arezo, also confirmed the incident.
The village is under Taliban control and so far no one has been arrested.
[WarOnTheRocks] Niccolo Machiavelli is best known for The Prince, his guidebook on ruling an Italian city-state. But for a long time after his death, Machiavelli’s Art of War was better known and more influential (alongside his Discourses on Livy, both of which were written after The Prince but published before).
Machiavelli’s Art of War takes the form of Socratic dialogue between the warrior Lord Fabrizio Colonna and Florentine nobles. Fabrizio was a real person, but his character in this book has been interpreted as a stand-in for Machiavelli himself. In Art of War, the dialogue explains and predicts changes in European warfare and military affairs as a consequence of larger social, economic, and technological evolutions. The text is wide-ranging. At the end of the dialogue, in Book Seven, Machiavelli’s Fabrizio offers 27 "general rules" of war, which are listed here:
1. What benefits the enemy, harms you; and what benefits you, harm the enemy.
Continued on Page 49
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] Twelve people were shot dead in Chicago over the holiday weekendMore than 40 people total were shot in gang-related violence, police said
Authorities said they seized more than three dozen guns since Friday afternoon
More than 750 people have been killed in the city in 2016, marking the first time in nearly two decades that the number of homicides has exceeded 700
Last year's Christmas weekend saw 30 people shot and six of those died
[ARA News] Homs – Militant fighters of the Islamic State (ISIS) on Tuesday captured more ground in Syria’s central governorate of Homs.
Subsequent to clashes with Syrian Army troops, ISIS fighters took over a number of strategic hills in the vicinity of the regime-held al-Qaryatain town in eastern Homs.
The militant group captured the Black Hills, known as al-Tilal al-Soud, that overlook the eastern part of Homs city.
“ISIS launched a fierce attack on headquarters of the pro-regime forces in the vicinity of al-Qaryatain town, using mortar shells and Grad rockets. The heavy bombardment forced the army to withdraw from the Black Hills, that are now under ISIS control,” media activist Amro al-Hussein told ARA News in Homs.
The ISIS bombardment reportedly resulted in dozens of casualties in the ranks of the Syrian Army.
Last week, ISIS militants captured parts of the T4 airbase east of Homs, after seizing security checkpoints in the nearby Mashtal and Qasr al-Hir Districts. The group had imposed a siege on the airbase on December 12 and destroyed at least five warplanes. Located in the Homs’ eastern countryside, the T4 Airport used to be a critical security installation, providing regime forces with close air support.
On December 13, ISIS fighters captured the main road between al-Qaryatain town and Homs city, which used to be a key supply route for the Syrian regime’s army forces. The radical group seized control of the supply-line after capturing military checkpoints that were previously held by the Syrian regime’s troops.
Also, on December 11, the Islamic State recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra in Homs Governorate subsequent to heavy clashes with pro-regime army forces.
Posted by: badanov ||
12/28/2016
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[DCclothesline] Multiple media outlets are reporting that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is finalizing a document that the Obama administration hopes will form the basis for a UN Security Council resolution that officially recognizes a Palestinian state before the end of Barack Obama’s term on January 20th. This comes on the heels of the UN Security Council’s adoption of resolution 2334 on December 23rd. That resolution declared that all Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal, it stated that the Security Council recognizes the 1967 ceasefire lines as the border between Israel and "Palestine", and it officially gave East Jerusalem to the Palestinians. But it stopped short of formally recognizing a Palestinian state. Resolution 2334 speaks of a Palestinian state in the future tense, but this new resolution that John Kerry is reportedly working on would give immediate and permanent UN Security Council recognition to a Palestinian state. Giving validity to a criminal gang every sane Arab "country" has thrown the hell out. Nice.
#6
....Which means a Peas Prize for Jawn and Obama. Book it.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/28/2016 10:08
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#7
From the speech "This administration has done more for Israel than any other". "Two state solution only way to insure peace".
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/28/2016 13:39
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#8
As I thought this speech was basically a vision with some small number of rational statement, numerous contradictory ideas, equivocation and outright nonsense.
I liked the idea that a future Palestinian state should be non militarized but of course the only way to enforce that would be if Israel kept troops in the Palestinian State. Uh, isn't that what we have now.
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/28/2016 14:49
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#9
No worries. Picture this. Obama is on the 18th hole, swinging wildley into another double bogie.
#10
Video of soon to be former Secretary of State John Kerry giving the speech today, all almost 75 minutes of it here.
For those interested but with less time, The Times of Israel liveblogged the thing along with other events of the day, starting at their time 18:24 here.
[Libya Herald] The local radio station in Gharyan has been prevented from broadcasting for the second day in a row by the militia supposed to protect it, according to the Libyan news agency LANA.
It quoted the station’s director, Mohammed al-Talib, saying that the militia, which had been based at building housing the radio station for some considerable time, was demanding money. It claimed the station had no right to be there and was preventing staff from entering.
In a separate incident, gunnies closed the road heading north from Gharyan to Gawasim on the way to Aziziya. They were demanding the release of colleagues jugged Please don't kill me! last week after they set up illegal checkpoints on the road.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2016
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[IsraelTimes] PM believes the carrot of Israeli cyber, intel and anti-terror expertise is so attractive that nations will ignore concerns about the Paleostinians. He’s using the stick to make plain such expertise will be denied to those he sees harming Israel.
One of the thirteen principles of the Jewish faith, compiled by the medieval philosopher Maimonides, reads as follows: "I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah, and although he may tarry, I wait every day for his coming."
Replace "the Messiah" with "a drastic increase in Israel’s global popularity," and you’ll get the first article of faith from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s foreign policy gospel.
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An F-16 Fighting Falcon receives fuel from a KC-10 Extender over Iraq, Dec. 25, 2016. Many pilots wore a traditional red "Santa" hat while flying on Christmas Day. F-16s are providing precision guided close air support during Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, a multinational effort to weaken and destroy Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant operations in the Middle East region and around the world. (U.S. Air Force photo | Senior Airman Tyler Woodward)
#2
...OTOH, I remember B-52 crews on alert wearing Santa hats. Slightly jarring.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/28/2016 5:18
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#3
Up on the rooftop, click, click, click!
Down through your chimney.....
Posted by: no mo uro ||
12/28/2016 5:47
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#4
According to the U.S. Air Force, “many pilots wore a traditional red “Santa” hat while flying on Christmas Day,” in support of Operation Inherent Resolve against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
Or could there have been yet another, more subtle reason ?
#6
lease once again watch language when referring to Allied troops and using the word RED for with it it carries a connentation of them all being communist sypmathizers and would go aganist the NARRATIVE thus opening this site up to seizure and jail time starting in January watch your language girls!
An emblem, when getting your mitts in,
Enspirits ("On Donner and Blitzen!")
But next they'll be donning --
Extremism spawning! --
Jerusalem crosses on Whitsun.
[RUDAW.NET] There is no agreement between Erbil and Baghdad regarding Peshmerga withdrawal from areas the Kurdish forces liberated after the launch of the djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... operation on October 17, a senior Kurdish commander said in response to remarks made by the spokesperson for the Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi force.
"Where should Peshmerga go?" Kamal Kirkuki told Rudaw on Tuesday. "Peshmerga are in their homeland. We are going nowhere."
Ahmad al-Asadi from the Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi who are fighting ISIS west of Mosul as part of the military operation, told Irani Mehr News agency on Sunday that Baghdad and Erbil had agreed to the withdrawal of Peshmerga forces from liberated areas after the defeat of ISIS.
"There is an agreement signed between the central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government, between brother Masoud Barzani and Dr. Haider al-Abadi which stipulates the withdrawal of the Kurdish forces after the liberation of Mosul to the areas where they were before the launch of the operation."
Kirkuki said the Peshmerga would not withdraw and they have an obligation to save Kurdish areas from terrorists, now and in the future.
"We will not hand over the liberated areas to a defeated army," he said in reference to the Iraqi army that retreated when ISIS snuffies swept through Mosul and northern Iraq in the summer of 2014.
In mid-November, Kurdish President Masoud Barzani said that an agreement was in place between his government, and the governments of Iraq and the United States that the Kurdish forces would not withdraw from lands they reclaimed from ISIS before the start of the Mosul operation.
"We have a deal with America, between the Pentagon and the Peshmerga ministry ‐ and with the Iraqi government ‐ that the defense lines before the Mosul operation are non-negotiable," Barzani said in a speech in Bashiqa shortly after it was liberated by the Peshmerga.
"There will be no negotiations about territories liberated by Peshmerga before the Mosul offensive," he stressed.
Regarding land that has come under Peshmerga control since October 17, these territories "will be left to locals to defend," Barzani said. "Peshmerga will help where possible. We will not abandon you."
"Our only goal is to protect the security of people in these areas and for the Peshmerga to back it. We will never ever again let you be displaced and you can count on us for that," he said.
Kurdish authorities have said they have extended their territories by as much as 40 percent since 2014.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[DAWN] THE gradual but steady transformation of Mumtaz Qadri’s grave into a shrine is a powerful indictment of both society and state. Qadri was tried, convicted and hanged for murdering the then governor Punjab, Salmaan Taseer -- the man who Qadri, as part of his security detail, was duty-bound to protect. Instead, the police commando turned his gun on Taseer for the ’crime’ of sympathising with Asia bibi, a poor Christian woman accused of blasphemy, and asking that changes be made to the blasphemy law to prevent its abuse. And he gloried in his act till the very end, without compunction or regret -- and garnered a huge following in the process. The travesty that a killer is on track to being immortalised as a saint flies in the face of our cultural traditions where saints in their lifetimes were recognised as icons of tolerance and pluralism. It also makes a mockery of the state’s claims of tackling extremism.
What we are witnessing is the effects of a far right narrative allowed to percolate unchecked through society for decades. No doubt, the state has vowed to counter the religious extremism that has exacted such a terrible toll on the people of Pakistain, and its prosecution of Qadri may have been an effort to assert its writ. Nevertheless, the varied manifestations of religious extremism, the different strands that make up the whole, continue to flourish. Banned organizations hold public rallies; sectarian elements participate in the electoral process; religious activists are mainstreamed as charity workers; madressahs continue to resist government regulation and control, etc. Lal Masjid ...literally the Red Mosque, located in Islamabad and frequented by all sorts of high govt officials. The proprietors, Ghazi Abdul Rasheed and Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi, unleashed their Islamic storm troopers on the city, shutting down whorehouses and beating people up who weren't devout enough. The Musharraf govt put an end to the nonsense by besieging the place. Abdul Aziz Ghazi was nabbed while he was trying to escape dressed up like a girl. BBC reported that the corpse count at 173, but other claims, usually hysterical, say there were up to 1000 titzup. Among their number was Abdul Rashid Ghazi. Everyone then said tut-tut and what a nice guy he had been... ’s Maulana Abdul Aziz ...nutball holy man who runs the Lal Masjid in the heart of Pakistain's capital. After instigating a rebellion against the state in 2007, he was caught trying to sneak away dressed in a burka. He rejects democracy as un-Islamic, which it probably is... , who not too long ago declared his support for the krazed killerIslamic 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, named his library after the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now beyond all cares and woe... , and called for jihad against the government, apparently remains above the law. While no longer in retreat as it appeared to be in the last few decades, the state seems unwilling or unable to confront the problem in its entirety. Its politically expedient approach -- or timorousness, as the case may be -- can only send mixed signals at a time when there must be a clear-cut policy based on an unequivocal rejection of any semblance of religious zealotry. Military campaigns and intelligence-based operations can only rid the country of the symptoms of extremism. It is the disease itself that must be cured, and that requires far more consistency than the state has thus far demonstrated.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
We are blessed and fortunate to have people keeping a keen eye on Pakistan.
[Al Jazeera] Romania's president has rejected the left-wing Social Democrats' candidate for prime minister, Sevil Shhaideh, who would have been the EU nation’s first female and Moslem prime minister.
Klaus Iohannis has not elaborated on his reason for rejecting the candidacy of Shhaideh, a 52-year-old politician of Turkish origin who comes from Romania's 65,000-strong Moslem community.
"I have properly analysed the arguments for and against and I have decided not to accept this proposal," Klaus Iohannis said in a televised statement on Tuesday. "I call on the PSD coalition to make another proposal."
The PSD, which has yet to comment on the issue, had put forward Shhaideh after its sweeping election victory on December 11 when it won 45 percent of the vote.
The PSD, along with its junior coalition partner and longtime ally ALDE, control 250 of the combined 465 seats in the two-house assembly - enough majority for their leader to be elected as the prime minister.
Liviu Dragnea, leader of the PSD, had withdrawn his bid to become prime minister because he is serving a two-year suspended sentence for electoral fraud.
Klaus Iohannis gave no reasons for his rejection of Sevil Shhaideh, put forward by the Social Democrats (PSD), but there was speculation that it was due to her Syrian husband’s background.
Her husband, 54, worked in the Syrian agriculture ministry for 20 years before emigrating to Romania in 2011 and marrying Shhaideh the same year, according to the PSD.
Non-profit investigative journalism group the Rise Project said that he has several times expressed his support for Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... and for Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah.
Website HotNews cited unnamed sources as saying that the security services had "strongly cautioned" against Shhaideh’s nomination because of the closeness of her husband and his two brothers to the Assad regime.
This might have made giving Shhaideh the necessary security clearances to be the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... member’s prime minister problematic.
"I suppose that his rejection is linked to questions of national security and because the United States would not have been very keen," political analyst Andrei Taranu told AFP.
PSD leader Dragnea had withdrawn his own bid to become prime minister because of a conviction that bars him from office. Shhaideh’s personal closeness to Dragnea -- he was a witness at her wedding -- has led to accusations that he will remain in charge behind the scenes.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least four holy warriors were killed in Arclight airstrikes conducted in southern Zabul province of Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) said Tuesday.
According to MoD, the Arclight airstrikes were conducted in Dai Chupan and Mizan districts of Zabul.
The ministry further added that at least four holy warriors were also maimed in the Arclight airstrikes but did not elaborate further.
It is yet not clear if the holy warriors killed in the Arclight airstrikes belonged to Taliban Death Eaters group or any other holy warrior group.
This comes as Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... said Monday that special military operations will kick off soon in southeastern Ghazni and southern Zabul provinces to suppress the loyalists of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group and Taliban Lion of Islams.
He made the remarks during a meeting with the elders of the two provinces which organized amid concerns that the fighters of the two group are attempting to expand foothold in some districts of the two provinces.
The elders of Zabul said the local residents in Khak-e-Afghan and Nawbahar districts have noted movements of the two groups to establish and strengthen their presence.
The Ghazni representatives also said the ISIS loyalists and Taliban Death Eaters have started to expand their foothold in Nawa district.
According to the Office of the Chief Executive, the elders of Zabul have said thousands of ISIS holy warriors have arrived in Khak-e-Afghan district.
The ISIS holy warriors have reportedly arrived with their families and are fully equipped with the area turning into an entry point for the foreign Lion of Islams.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2016
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[Dhaka Tribune] Terrorist group 'New Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB)' was plotting to attack a church in Dhaka on Christmas day, police have claimed.
The group, many of whose members have been named by 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.... (IS) as its operatives in Bangladesh, was plotting this attack under the leadership of it’s new operational leader Moinul Islam alias Abu Musa.
This information was gleaned from the latest raid on a New JMB raid in Dhaka’s Ashkona, a police Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit officer told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
The raid took place on December 24.
Although the CTTC would not disclose details of Christmas day attack, a highly placed source in the force said that the documents they had received from the Ashkona safe house and statements of the surrendered female snuffies indicated that the attack would have taken place at Banani Church using at least one member of a female squad.
CTTC chief Monirul Islam said Surjo Villa in Ashkona was being used by New JMB as a shelter home, where Musa used to live with his wife Trisha Moni.
"Four days back, Musa visited the shelter home from where we found 19 grenades, three boom jackets and Tk12 lakh in burnt notes," he said.
"We are suspecting their plan was to carry out massive violence on Christmas."
Regarding Musa’s role, Monirul said, by interrogating Musa’s wife Trisha and killed krazed killer Maj Zahid’s wife Jebunnahr Shila, police had come to know that after the death of top leaders of the group, Musa had become the operational chief.
"We are trying to learn about their operational strength, funding and arms sources from Trisha and Shila," he said.
"We got some clues which are now being scrutinised but we will know everything clearly once Musa is tossed in the clink." Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2016
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Top|| File under: Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (IS)
[BREITBART] Two and half thousand Europeans plan to march into Aleppo waving white flags in a three month long, 2,000 mile demonstration against the civil war taking place in Syria. White flags to ISIS being just a convenient way to grid their rocket artillery
This year, like last, has been characterised by the massive flow of people northwards through Europe, many of them Syrians fleeing the bombs of Assad and the opposition factions. But a group of Europeans has decided to make the trek in the other direction in order to bring an end to the war, now in its fifth year.
"We’re carrying these white flags to let the whole world know our message: Enough is enough. This war has to stop!" the group say in their manifesto. ISIS are like every other artillery gunner on the planet. They like target rich environments. Saves ammunition and make for an awesome display.
The march, which departs Berlin on Boxing Day, 26 December, was organised by journalist Anna Alboth. Checks from the EU, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Soros' Open Society musta cleared.
"I was having dinner with Syrian women I know in a refugee centre and they were showing me photos of a lot of people who had died," she told the BBC. Who picked up the check, Anna? I s'pect it wasn't you.
"People like me in safe countries can’t take it any more, and we see this as a chance to transform things. She's right, you know. 2.5K Euros to be transformed into hamburger meat.
"Refugees who hear about it say that if we are willing to give up our comfortable lives to do this, then it is a real demonstration." Yew betcha!
The precise route the march will take is yet to be finalised, but the group will leave Germany via the Czech Republic, then head through Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Greece, and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... before finally entering Syria.
Lawyers in each of the countries en route are preparing paperwork to ease the crossing of borders along the way. "If no-one will stop us, we will go all the way," Alboth said.
About 400 peace activists were marching Tuesday from the outskirts of Berlin towards the devastated Syrian city of Aleppo, heading down the refugee trail in reverse.
Carrying white flags and hiking backpacks and wearing outdoor gear against the cold and wet December weather, the marchers had on Monday left from the center of the German capital.
Alboth told Germany's left-leaning Tageszeitung daily that only a core group of 30 activists planned to walk all the way,
Thirty? Golly.
adding that she expected they may be blocked at the Turkish border.
So much for the grand gesture of 2,500 marching into the devastated city of Aleppo, waving their white flags in triumph...
The marchers plan to cover around 20 kilometers (12 miles) a day
... in literature this is described as "going by easy stages." No doubt the rest of the day will be spent cooking delectable dinners and breakfasts (the supplies having been brought by van), pitching and packing up tents, and singing together round the campfire, if any of the group were once Boy or Girl Scouts and there's any wood to be found...
Twelve miles a day? I cover that on a bicycle in an hour, and I'm an old man...
and walk through the Czech Republic, Austria and several western Balkan countries to Turkey -- and then on to Syria.
It is the route into Europe that was taken last year by more than a million people, many fleeing battlefields in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East, with the majority ending up in the top EU economy Germany.
Several thousand people have pledged on Facebook
Golly.
they would join at least a section of the about 3,000-kilometer (1,900-mile) trek
...drive up to the meeting point in time for breakfast, hop out of the car, and be picked up at the next meeting point by the car at breakfast the next day, proud of having made a statement of conscience among kindred spirits...
Reminds me of the "hunger strike" led by Cindy Sheehan once upon a time, where they sustained the hunger strike by drinking smoothies, which didn't count...
bound for Syria's second city, which is now squarely under the control of President Bashar Assad's regime.
Germany has pledged 15 million euros ($15.6 million) in aid to pay for medical staff and trauma counselors for Aleppo, Development Minister Gerd Mueller said.
So effective that they met the goal before starting out.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2016
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#3
Refugees who hear about it say that if we are willing to give up our comfortable lives to do this, then it is a real demonstration."....and opens up a lot of prime housing in Europe for invaders.
[ARA News] Aleppo – The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Tuesday captured a number of ISIS militants after clashes in western Raqqa Governorate, military sources and activists reported.
At least four Islamic State’s (ISIS) jihadist fighters were taken captive by the SDF in the western suburb of Raqqa.
“They were captured in the evening on Tuesday while trying to infiltrate into the recently liberated Jaabar town to carry out suicide bombings,” a spokesman for the SDF told ARA News.
In the meantime, at least 18 ISIS fighters were killed in renewed clashes with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in western Raqqa.
This comes amid an ongoing military campaign by the SDF, backed by an air cover from the US-led coalition, as part of the second phase of the Euphrates Wrath Operation for Raqqa. The SDF has so far captured over 1400 km² in western Raqqa within the second phase of the operation, that started on December 10. During the first phase of Euphrates Wrath, that was launched on November 6, the SDF captured roughly 560 km² of land in northern Raqqa.
The SDF launched the second phase of the Euphrates Wrath Operation with the objective of securing Raqqa’s western countryside and Tabqa Dam, which bridges the Euphrates River. The long-term objective of Euphrates Wrath is the elimination of the Islamic State in its de facto capital, Raqqa city.
[AlAhram] One 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.... 's top commanders in Syria was probably killed in combat as the Islamist bandidoshard boyz sought to stave off an advance by U.S.-backed Syrian forces towards a strategic dam in northern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday.
The commander known as Abu Jandal al-Kuwaiti was killed as Islamic State fighters tried to drive the Syrian Democratic Forces from the village of Jabar captured from the Islamist bandidoshard boyz on Monday, Observatory Director Rami Abdulrahman said.
The Islamic State counter attack, launched overnight, failed. The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), including the powerful Kurdish YPG militia, have advanced to within 5 km (3 miles) of the dam, Abdulrahman said.
Posted by: badanov ||
12/28/2016
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Well written analysis, and I agree with the writer: Obama will offer a pardon, and Hillary will accept it.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2016
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#1
I respectfully disagree. Clinton does not believe she did anything wrong, and Obama really doesn't care whether she is convicted. After all, he found out about the email mess in the news. Obama intends to run a shadow government and the Clintons are in the way.
#2
Obama intends to run a shadow government and the Clintons are in the way. Posted by brujotejano
Emphasis added.
It's worked [his shadow gov't] for him for eight years, why break it up now. Do you see anyone, Brennan, Valjar, or top advisors leaving the current administration ?
I believe Rush may be correct in his recent assessment. Our Kenyan master is not simply going to pack up and go away quietly.
“I’m confident that if I — if I had run again and articulated it, I think I could’ve mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind it,”
~ Obama
#3
Mr. Obama may offer a pardon. I'm not sure that HRC will accept it. But pardoning HRC wouldn't be the objective. Marginalizing the Clintons would. Call it a shadow government, call it an insurgency. Mr. Obama and his ilk don't want competition.
#6
From just before one of the debates I didn't watch -
H: Pardon me.
D: After the election.
So he already promised!
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/28/2016 12:39
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#7
I suspect that Obama won't offer a pardon because the hearings and trials or whatever will drag on for years and years and in the end will either hurt the Republicans or purge the Democrats of the Clinton's forever (I suspect he'd be happy with either option).
#8
Hillary is now a spent force and the whole money for access scheme is defunct. Better to make the mess go away and let BHO start working the rope lines for cash. Only problem, all the Jewish guys just got suckerpunched and that Hollywood/lawyer money is gonna dry up real fast for a while.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2016
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#1
Underneath Fisher's and Michael's white lines, Richard Adams, of Watership Down, passed.
Thomas Sowell dipped his pen for the last time, taking time for his photography, good for him. What a great mind; enjoy your time with your family and friends Mr. Sowell.
[BREITBART] The W.K. Kellogg Foundation gave nearly two million dollars to the John Podesta-founded Center for American Progress ...George Soros-funded think tank headed by John Podesta, White House chief of staff under Bill Clinton, supplied progressive talking points and policy positions for the Obamaregime. There was a revolving door between the White House and its nerve center, with the president staffing his administration with many of its operatives.... and a closely affiliated organization called Washington Center for Equitable Growth that also lists John Podesta as a founder.
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation is the namesake nonprofit arm of the Kellogg Company, which weeks ago pulled advertising from Breitbart News, declaring in an official statement that Breitbart is not "aligned with our values as a company."
The Foundation describes itself as being "founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal pioneer Will Keith Kellogg" and "among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States."
Although the Foundation states that its mission is to "create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life," the donations to John Podesta’s Center for American Progress--which Politico described as "the leading progressive think tank in Washington"--is part of W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s pattern of giving to partisan, far left-wing political organizations such as Black Lives Matter, George Soros’ Open Societies Institute, and the Tides Foundation.
I'd say the Foundation has strayed a tad from its original goals.
My proposals for new tax laws (I do so like the Instapundit's proposals and tag on to his):
all nonprofit foundations with a net worth in excess of $10 million dollars are to be disbanded on the 30th anniversary of their founding, with all undisbursed proceeds to be distributed equally among the state (not Federal) governments proportional to their representation in Congress
all nonprofit foundations will pay appropriate taxes on income generated from investments at the current short-term capital gains rate
donations made by nonprofit foundations to other nonprofit foundations shall be taxed at the current short-term capital gains rate
I could go on!
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2016
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"To help inner city children of promise without the necessary means for a necessary means for a higher education."
#3
You could wind up dissolving just as many nonprofits (both charities & foundations) just auditing them for compliance items. I'm not aware of any sizable team or group dedicated to compliance spot checks (by that I mean ever during my professional near-30 year career); they're probably audited at the same rate as partnerships (1/100 of 1%, last I checked).
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) A Counter-Terrorism Officer announced on Tuesday, that the self-proclaimed Islamic State group executed seven civilians for collaborating with security forces, east of Mosul.
Major Ali Mohsen, in a brief statement, said, “Members of the Islamic State group executed seven civilians on charges of collaboration with Iraqi security forces in al-Mohandessin area, east of Mosul.”
“The terrorist group transferred the civilians’ bodies to the forensic medicine department in Mosul,” Mohsen added.
Earlier today, Human Rights Watch condemned Islamic State militants’ execution of 13 people in Iraqi villages after a local uprising to drive the group out in October.
The executions took place in the neighboring villages of al-Hud and al-Lazzagah (50 kilometers south of Mosul), following local attempts to expel IS fighters who controlled the villages.
[ARA News] Erbil – The Islamic State group (ISIS) summarily executed at least 13 people, including two boys, following a village uprising in northern Iraq in October 2016, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.
The development was deemed another sign of desperation among the militant group.
The executions, described by HRW as war crimes, took place in the neighboring villages of al-Hud and al-Lazzagah, 50 kilometers south of Mosul, following local attempts to expel ISIS fighters who controlled the villages.
“ISIS responded to the village uprising by unlawfully executing people captured in the uprising and civilians who weren’t involved,” said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Security forces who capture ISIS fighters should properly investigate their participation in alleged war crimes like these.”
“Iraqi security forces should appropriately investigate incidents of alleged war crimes so that those responsible, if in government custody, can be fairly prosecuted,” Human Rights Watch said.
ISIS captured al-Hud and al-Lazzagah on June 10, 2014. Under ISIS, villagers said they lived in constant fear of punishment, including death, for activities like smoking or using a cell phone.
Human Rights Watch spoke to seven residents of the villages, who said that on the morning of October 17, as Iraqi security forces were closing in, about 30 villagers in al-Lazzagah and 15 in al-Hud attacked ISIS forces to clear them from their villages, killing 19 ISIS fighters. In response, ISIS killed and execute several civilians.
“After two years of ISIS abuses committed with complete impunity, Iraq’s government has an opportunity to bring real justice to some of its victims,” Fakih said. “Prosecutors should give particular attention to ISIS war crimes committed against people who were forced to live under its control.”
Posted by: badanov ||
12/28/2016
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#1
The development was deemed another sign of desperation among the militant group.
Thank you, Mr. President. Too bad you couldn't have made them scarce, instead of just desperate.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/28/2016 7:24
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Ministry of Interior (MoI) has said a senior Taliban leader was placed in durance vile Please don't kill me! during an operation in central Pashtun-infested Logar province while at least 60 others were killed during the counter-terrorism operations.
"Yesterday evening, a senior armed Taliban member named Shaista Mohammad was arrested when Afghan National Police launched a special operation in Qala-e-Ghafar village, Pul-e-Alam City capital of Pashtun-infested Logar province," MoI said in a statement.
The statement further added that Shaista Mohammad was involved in many terrorist and destructive activities in Kharwar, Charkh and Azra districts of Pashtun-infested Logar province.
In another statement, MoI said "In past 24 hours, Afghan National Defense and Security launched 22 Counter-Terrorism joint operations to clear some of the areas from Lions of Islam and enemies of peace and stability of Afghanistan."
According to MoI, the operations were conducted 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.... , 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.. , Kandahar, Zabul, Oruzgan, Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... , Sar-e-Pul ...a city and eponymous province in northern Afghanistan, population about 500,000. Demographically it is majority Tadjik and Uzbek. There are small Pashtun, Arab, and Hazara communities, of which the Hazaras mostly don't bother anyone... , Faryab and Kunduz provinces. "As a result 60 armed forces of Evil were killed, 18 maimed and 10 others were arrested by Afghan National Defense and Security Forces."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2016
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[Al Arabiya] Commander of the Elite Republican Guards at the Nahm front, east of Sanaa, Colonel Ali Abdullah Muqaiteb and a number of soldiers have defected from militias and joined the armed forces of the legitimate government of Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi, media sources said according to al-Arabiya news channel.
Prominent military leader’s defection from the Elite Republican Guards’ units affiliated with ousted President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... have come at a time when the legitimate government’s forces made advances in the Nahm front.
According to the report, legitimate government troops, aided by the coalition’s air force, shelled militias’ posts and reinforcements and seized control of a number of posts, including those in Jabal Qurn and Daa, after militias escaped.
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.
[NY Times] State governments will serve as an important bulwark against any attempt by President-elect Donald Trump to roll back the progress the United States has made in addressing climate change. And that's good news for the planet.
[CNN] Washington - As he prepares to leave the Oval Office after eight years, President Barack Obama recently reflected on the role his mother played on him becoming commander-in-chief, and how one of her biggest influences were her lessons on love.
[Breitbart] The Times of Israel reports: An Egyptian paper has published what it claims are the transcripts of meetings between top US and Palestinian officials that, if true, would corroborate Israeli accusations that the Obama administration was behind last week’s UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements.
[Libya Herald] There has been more unrest in 
[ISRAELNATIONALNEWS] Former House speaker urges Congress to condemn Obama for allowing anti-Israel resolution to pass the UN Security Council.
[Libya Herald] Misrata airport is to start operating again as of Thursday. It follows a partial deal between the Libyan Ground Services Company and the union representing striking employees.
[LAHT] Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA admitted that it had mortgaged a 49.9% stake in the biggest three refineries it still owns outside Venezuela to Russian state-controlled oil giant Rosneft, after an article by the Latin American Herald Tribune exposed the transaction Thursday.
[DCclothesline] Multiple media outlets are reporting that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is finalizing a document that the Obama administration hopes will form the basis for a UN Security Council resolution that officially recognizes a Palestinian state before the end of Barack Obama’s term on January 20th. This comes on the heels of the UN Security Council’s adoption of resolution 2334 on December 23rd. That resolution declared that all Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal, it stated that the Security Council recognizes the 1967 ceasefire lines as the border between Israel and "Palestine", and it officially gave East Jerusalem to the Palestinians. But it stopped short of formally recognizing a Palestinian state. Resolution 2334 speaks of a Palestinian state in the future tense, but this new resolution that John Kerry is reportedly working on would give immediate and permanent UN Security Council recognition to a Palestinian state.
[Libya Herald] The local radio station in Gharyan has been prevented from broadcasting for the second day in a row by the militia supposed to protect it, according to the Libyan news agency LANA.
[IsraelTimes] PM believes the carrot of Israeli cyber, intel and anti-terror expertise is so attractive that nations will ignore concerns about the Paleostinians. He’s using the stick to make plain such expertise will be denied to those he sees harming Israel.
An F-16 Fighting Falcon receives fuel from a KC-10 Extender over Iraq, Dec. 25, 2016. Many pilots wore a traditional red "Santa" hat while flying on Christmas Day. F-16s are providing precision guided close air support during Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, a multinational effort to weaken and destroy Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant operations in the Middle East region and around the world. (U.S. Air Force photo | Senior Airman Tyler Woodward)
[DAWN] THE gradual but steady transformation of Mumtaz Qadri’s grave into a shrine is a powerful indictment of both society and state. Qadri was tried, convicted and hanged for murdering the then governor Punjab, Salmaan Taseer -- the man who Qadri, as part of his security detail, was duty-bound to protect. Instead, the police commando turned his gun on Taseer for the ’crime’ of sympathising with Asia bibi, a poor Christian woman accused of blasphemy, and asking that changes be made to the blasphemy law to prevent its abuse. And he gloried in his act till the very end, without compunction or regret -- and garnered a huge following in the process. The travesty that a killer is on track to being immortalised as a saint flies in the face of our cultural traditions where saints in their lifetimes were recognised as icons of tolerance and pluralism. It also makes a mockery of the state’s claims of tackling extremism.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Ministry of Interior (MoI) has said a senior Taliban leader was 
