Posted by: Fred ||
01/02/2017
19:23 ||
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#1
So here lies wee 2016,
The rascally scampish spalpeen,
But please don't be bothered --
I'm sure that he fathered
Such schemes as'll turn himself green.
Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Jerry Knowles wants to put a stop to the sanctuary campus movement in his state as soon as he and his legislative colleagues get back to work in January.
He circulated a co-sponsorship memo in December in an effort to find like-minded lawmakers to help push a bill that would cut off state funding to any institution of higher education that sets itself up as a "sanctuary campus" to protect illegal immigrants.
Knowles' memo followed by only a few days the news that two Pennsylvania schools ‐ Swarthmore College and the University of Pennsylvania ‐ had pledged to refuse to allow federal authorities on campus without a warrant. They directed their campus law enforcement not to communicate, coordinate or cooperate with federal authorities regarding undocumented individuals on campus and refuse to share information about undocumented students with federal agencies unless presented with some form of legal process.
In other words, Swarthmore and Penn administrators are setting their schools up as sanctuary campuses.
That is an attitude that Knowles finds abhorrent.
"By declaring themselves ‘Sanctuary Campuses,' these institutions of higher learning are blatantly disregarding federal law, thumbing their noses at the taxpayers of Pennsylvania," Knowles said. "Turning a blind eye to the issue of illegal immigrants on campuses for the sake of making some kind of political statement on this nation's immigration policy is unconscionable."
Thomas E. Spock, chairman of the Swarthmore Board of Managers, and Valerie Smith, president of Swarthmore, issued a statement in which they claimed the school had no choice but to go sanctuary, given President-elect Trump's anti-DACA attitude.
"Swarthmore College supports the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and urges its continuation in the next administration," Spock and Smith wrote. "Accordingly, we reaffirm our commitment to ensure that undocumented and DACA students continue to be admitted without regard to their financial status and continue to have full access to financial aid."
The three top administrators at the University of Pennsylvania threw down a similar gauntlet in late November.
"Let us be unequivocally clear: We are and remain resolute in our commitment to Penn's undocumented students, and will do all that we can to ensure their continued safety and success here at Penn," read a statement signed by Penn President Amy Gutmann, Provost Vincent Price and Executive VP Craig R. Carnaroli.
This is not just a Pennsylvania issue. The Associated Press reported the president of the Southern Illinois University system had promised to explore the idea of setting SIU up as a sanctuary campus.
The Texas Tribune reported students are circulating petitions at Texas State, the University of Texas at Austin and University of North Texas asking their administrators to "guarantee students privacy by refusing to release information regarding the immigration status of students, staff, and/or university community members."
This is all about DACA, the Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, and the fear the Trump administration is going to start rounding up students and shipping them back to wherever their parents came from.
WBUR reported Massachusetts universities have "quietly counseled" their DACA students who traveled overseas for the holidays to get back to the United States before Trump takes office.
"(Trump) is going to take away all the executive orders under President Obama, so it's very likely that the DACA students may be undocumented yet again," said associate professor Laila Hlass, the director of the Immigrants' Rights Clinic at Boston University Law School. "And now the immigration agency has all of their information, so they could easily be put onto a deportation list, and they could be prioritized, if that's what this administration wants to do."
More than 550 college and university presidents nationwide signed a statement calling on business, civic, religious and nonprofit organizations to support an effort to ensure DACA continues after President-elect Trump takes his right hand off the Bible and moves into the White House on Jan. 20.
"This is both a moral imperative and a national necessity. America needs talent – and these students, who have been raised and educated in the United States, are already part of our national community," read the statement. "They represent what is best about America, and as scholars and leaders they are essential to the future."
Rep. Knowles said Pennsylvania higher-education leaders who make the decision to go with a sanctuary campus to protect their DACA students had better be prepared to pay the consequences of essentially breaking federal law.
"The intent of this bill is very simple, it just requires universities or colleges in the state of Pennsylvania to comply with federal law," Knowles said. "If they choose to not comply, they will forfeit their state funding. Go by the rules or you don't get the money. We cannot begin to select which laws we want to obey, and which laws we want to ignore and break."
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) took a similar stand as soon as he heard that colleges and universities in his state might set up sanctuary campuses.
"Texas will not tolerate sanctuary campuses or cities," Abbot tweeted. "I will cut funding for any state campus if it establishes sanctuary status." Losing all federal even before state funding would put a financial spike through most school's heart. Hopefully everyone follows up on their statements.
#1
And they should make it so any school claiming to be sanctuary is denied all grants, scholarships, loans to any student going there. Any student with loans must begin immediate payments or go to jail. Then charge school administration members with RICO violations in conspiring to violate federal law. Make the petulant crybabies squeal.
[CNN] President-elect Donald Trump plans to repeal a raft of President Barack Obama's executive actions in his first day in office, Trump's incoming White House press secretary said Sunday.
Sean Spicer, Trump's incoming White House press secretary, said on ABC's "This Week" that Trump will immediately "repeal a lot of the regulations and actions that have been taken by this administration over the last eight years that have hampered both economic growth and job creation." I would have a group of people looking over every regulation and order that Obumble did and most likely repeal 99% of them.
It was one of two moves Spicer said Trump will make immediately after he takes the oath of office.
He didn't specify which executive actions Trump will repeal.
However, Trump has long been critical of Obama's moves on immigration, energy regulation and foreign policy, and could look for ways to undo those and other actions.
Spicer also said Trump will begin reforms intended to "bring a new brand to Washington" with a restriction on members of his administration becoming lobbyists for a period of five years after they leave Trump's government.
"It's very forward-thinking," Spicer said. "What we've had in the past is people who have looked in the rearview mirror. This time, we're thinking forward. If you want to serve in a Trump administration, you're going to serve this country, not yourself."
#2
All Trump has to do on day one is place all those EOs on hold "for review." Some of those "reviews" can take a long time and there are so many of them to do...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/02/2017 11:31
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#3
He just needs one, revoking all EO's over the past 8 years. Then Congress needs a one page bill stating that all laws signed by Obama are hereby repealed and therefore null and void. Then once it's signed, Obama's legacy is almost erased.
#4
Then once it's signed, Obama's legacy is almost erased.
The one that will be the hardest to erase is all the hacks he's added to the Federal payroll, which was in the vicinity of 1/2 million the last I checked.
#9
It's very simple, unions among government employees denote an attempt to hold our government hostage. Government unions should be considered terrorists and treated as such.
Two men shot to death Sunday morning in the North Side Uptown neighborhood are the first two reported homicides of 2017 in Chicago, after a bloody 2016 saw 780 homicides in the city.
The two men were shooting at each other inside of a business in the 4600 block of North Broadway at 4:25 a.m., according to Chicago Police. A 38-year-old man was shot in the chest and right leg and a second man, between the ages of 35 and 40, was shot multiple times in the right side, police said.
They were both taken to Illinois Masonic Hospital, where they were pronounced dead, police said. "They're dead, Jim"
The Cook County medical examiner's office did not immediately provide information on the fatalities, which are believed to be the first homicides of 2017. They should be proud
Last year ended with 780 homicides in the city, according to Sun-Times records. Heyjackass sez 790
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/02/2017
10:03 ||
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[New Orleans Advocate] "CNN Tonight" anchor Don Lemon was the most liquored name in news Saturday night.
Lemon, who co-hosted the network's New Year's Eve coverage from New Orleans, ended the night with a freshly pierced ear, a tequila hangover and the distinction of being the first TV personality of 2017 to have his microphone cut off during a live broadcast.
Lemon had just ordered up another in a night-long series of rounds -- pouring some, drinking many from behind the bar at the Spotted Cat Music Club on Frenchmen Street -- when the network apparently had heard enough.
"I need a little more. Pour me a little more. A little more. Perfect," Lemon was heard saying just after the clock struck midnight. "So, 2016 was awful."
Well, I wish I was in New Orleans, I can see it in my dreams,
Arm-in-arm down Burgundy, a bottle and my friends and me
Hoist up a few tall cool ones, play some pool and listen
To that tenor saxophone calling me home
And I can hear the band begin When the Saints Go Marching In,
And by the whiskers on my chin, New Orleans, I'll be there
I'll drink you under the table, be red-nosed, go for walks,
The old haunts what I wants is red beans and rice
And wear the dress I like so well, and meet me at the old saloon,
Make sure that there's a Dixie moon, New Orleans, I'll be there
And deal the cards roll the dice, if it ain't that old Chuck E. Weiss,
And Claiborne Avenue, me and you Sam Jones and all
And I wish I was in New Orleans, 'cause I can see it in my dreams,
Arm-in-arm down Burgundy, a bottle and my friends and me
New Orleans, I'll be there
[Daily Caller] Some small-town residents of Rutland, Vt., are upset at their mayor’s decision to resettle 100 Syrian refugees throughout 2017 in the area.
Rutland Mayor Christopher Louras defended his decision, saying the town’s demographics are declining, and they are having trouble recruiting younger workers. He also thinks refugees will bring cultural diversity.
"We need people," Louras declared to The New York Times.
Louras’s decision sparked outrage among some residents who say they had little say in the mayor’s decision, which would effect them all. They formed an advocacy group called Rutland First to pressure Louras to reverse his decision.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/02/2017 10:10
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#2
So, workers who are able are leaving your little patch 'o sunshine, and your solution is to import as much slave labor as you can make other people pay for?
Posted by: ed in texas ||
01/02/2017 10:27
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Except you're not getting people. You're getting masters. You just don't know it yet.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/02/2017 12:23
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#5
Rutland Mayor Christopher Louras defended his decision, saying the town’s demographics are declining, and they are having trouble recruiting younger workers.
#6
Rutland Mayor Christopher Louras defended his decision, saying the town’s demographics are declining, and they are having trouble recruiting younger workers.
If five of those 100 are 'working', I'd be shocked.
#9
1980 Refugee Act gives the Feds the right to resettle refugees.
Govs and Mayors and NGOs may make this go smoothly or not and Govs and Mayors may ask the Feds for more refugees but the 'decision' is not theirs. It is the Feds.
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/02/2017 15:17
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#10
Time to repeal the 1980 Refugee act, then. Replace it with the 2017 Stay In Your Own Cesspool Act.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/02/2017 17:13
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#11
Yes. Shut it down. I like RC's working title, but would add some "save the children" wording to the name of the actual act.
Posted by: Regular joe ||
01/02/2017 18:46
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#12
How fraught are the ethical quandaries
Of melting pots, liberty's bigotry's foundries!
Let's act for the migrants,
Protecting their vibrance,
And call it "Respecting Their Boundaries."
#13
Empirical souls put in peril
By facts -- fertile, footloose, and feral --
Are tempted to query,
But critical theory
Stays crystalline, pristine, and sterile.
#14
And speaking of souls, and going all racist...
So sad that most coloreds play roles
(thick Coates, or the dullardly Knowles),
Convinced by brown wrappers
And cynical yappers
To doubt their avuncular Sowells.
"Some" might be truer than "most" (maybe... I hope... for a while yet), but dammit, I need that long O.
[GP] After eight dark years of turbulent relations with anti-Israeli American President Barack Obama a new era is on the horizon.
President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team, led by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, has been pushing for Netanyahu to attend the January 20th festivities.
US President-elect Donald Trump’s team has "aggressively courted" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to attend the incoming president’s January 20 inauguration, according to a report on Saturday by the New York Post.
President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team, led by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, has been pushing for Netanyahu to attend the January 20th festivities and for the two world leaders to meet before then, a source told the Post.
"There’s a plan for Trump to meet with Netanyahu," said the source. "They’re talking all the time. And Netanyahu is talking about possibly going to the inauguration."
#3
Maybe Bibi can sit on the dais right next to the Churchill bust that will be returning to the West Wing. Bringing Israel back to the place a trusted ally deserves is great symbolism and heartening on so many levels.
ISTANBUL (AP) -- The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the Istanbul shooting that killed 39 people and wounded scores of others. The IS-linked Aamaq News Agency said the New Year’s Eve attack was carried by a "heroic soldier of the caliphate who attacked the most famous nightclub where Christians were celebrating their pagan feast."
It said the man opened fire from an automatic rifle in "revenge for God’s religion and in response to the orders" of IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (pictured).
The group described Turkey as "the servant of the cross".
Posted by: Besoeker ||
01/02/2017
08:55 ||
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#1
"but of course it has nothing to do with Islam, which is a Religion of Peace™"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/02/2017 9:00
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#2
ISIS pronounces the Turkish branch of the Muslim Brotherhood not Muslim enough. That must hurt.
[Daily Caller] Food stamp enrollment dropped by 25,000 people in Arkansas in 2016, after the state reinstated work requirements limited individuals to three months of benefits unless they found or trained for a job, Arkansas Online reports.
Arkansas stopped granting waivers to work requirements January 1, 2016, and by April, 9,000 people were off of food stamps, also called Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. Another 15,000 more lost their benefits between April and November, a spokesperson for the Arkansas Department of Human Services told Arkansas Online.
Nationwide enrollment in the food stamps peaked at 47 million people in 2013, after President Barack Obama allowed states to waive work requirements for the program in qualified counties while the economy recovered.
More than 44 million people are still on food stamps according to Department of Agriculture data, but that number is dropping as states reinstate the work requirements even before required to do so by federal law.
[Independent] Following her untimely death, Star Wars fans across the world paid tribute to Carrie Fisher, the actor behind the iconic character, Princess Leia. In New Orleans, thousands took to the streets to honour Fisher, many dressed as the tough-talking princess.
Organised by the Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus - who celebrate all things Star Wars - the parade saw members of the community join in merriment to celebrate Fisher’s life.
"This is a public demonstration of our love for Princess Leia," Brooke Ethridge - a member of the Leijorettes, a dancing group made up of fans who dress like Princess Leia - told the Associated Press.
"Our first instinct was to hit the streets and parade and celebrate Princess Leia and Carrie Fisher."
A local waitress who fired her gun at three fleeing robbers is now out of a job.
Heather "Shorty" Burkinshaw-Stanley learned Friday by phone that she was terminated from her job at Waffle House a day after the restaurant was robbed.
Three men ate a meal and then, instead of paying, gave the cashier a note warning everyone in the building would be shot if money in the cash register wasn’t handed over to the trio.
After they departed on foot, Stanley retrieved a gun from her own car in the parking lot and fired over the heads of the robbers.
"I wasn’t sure if they were coming back or not," she said Friday afternoon following her dismissal. "I was in fear for my life, my co-workers’ lives, and I did what I thought was right."
Corporate spokesman Pat Warner declined to discuss specifics of a personnel matter but said local managers do the hiring and firing with consultation from the home office.
Like most businesses, the company has internal security measures but doesn’t ask workers to be heroes. Employees are trained on how to act in the case of a robbery. That training must go something like "cower in the corner in a puddle of your own urine".
"We want people to feel safe on both sides of the counter," he said. WTF is that supposed to mean? Does this include the employees somehow?
Stanley had worked at the Waffle House at 1363 S. Highway 29 for almost two years. A video about the incident can be accessed on times-herald.com. I imagine Heather could always come back as a customer. Wearing a large coat. In the summer. And stare at the manager.
Thursday’s incident comes in the wake of a surge in robberies at Newnan-area Waffle Houses. A restaurant on Highway 154 at Interstate 85 was robbed twice in one month this fall. Robbers be advised: Well, I know of one Newman, Georgia Waffle house that welcomes your business. Head on down there with your squirt guns 'cause the only one with any balls got fired.
#7
Props to Shorty for being spunky, but shots fired over their heads sounds more peevish than defensive. But we've all had days like that. Waffle House should give her job back if she promises not to fire unless she has a clean shot.
President Obama has been squeaky clean, according to his closest adviser, Valerie Jarrett.
"The president prides himself on the fact that his administration hasn’t had a scandal and he hasn’t done something to embarrass himself," Jarrett said in an interview broadcast on CNN Sunday.
The aide, also a close friend of Obama and his wife Michelle, credited the first couple with being good people and getting good results.
"That’s because that’s who he is--that’s who they are -- and I think that’s what really resonates with the American people," Jarrett said. And if you believe any of that, you need to get your head checked.
Critics of the Obama administration said Jarrett was trying to re-write history.
“This is delusional,” said Tom Fitton, executive director of the government watchdog group Judicial Watch, which has filed numerous lawsuits to illuminate many of the Obama administrations shortcomings.
“The Obama administration has a scandal rap sheet longer than my arm. Between just the IRS abuses, Benghazi, and the Hillary Clinton scandals, this administration was even more corrupt than Nixon’s,” Fitton concluded.
I guess there was a dividing line in the article between insanity and reality.
#2
In his biography of Obama, “The Bridge,” David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, quotes White House senior adviser and longtime Obama friend Valerie Jarrett: “I think Barack knew that he had God-given talents that were extraordinary. He knows exactly how smart he is. … He knows how perceptive he is. He knows what a good reader of people he is. And he knows that he has the ability — the extraordinary, uncanny ability — to take a thousand different perspectives, digest them and make sense out of them, and I think that he has never really been challenged intellectually. … So what I sensed in him was not just a restless spirit but somebody with such extraordinary talents that had to be really taxed in order for him to be happy. … He’s been bored to death his whole life. He’s just too talented to do what ordinary people do.”
#3
The rodent-faced Iranian satrap sez he's scandal-free? Mwahahahahaha
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/02/2017 7:03
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#4
I think what Valjar meant to say was that the mainstream media did not investigate or pursue any of the Obama scandals therefore his legacy can be viewed as scandal free.
#7
I promise you that once this evil creature leaves power the things that come to light will shock even those of us who saw what she was and what she led stupid to do.
I would hope some of the people share her actions supporting her mother country.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/02/2017 12:16
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#9
I promise you that once this evil creature leaves power the things that come to light will shock even those of us who saw what she was and what she led stupid to do.
Came here to say that - we're going to find out at least two or three doozies after Jan 20, which can't come fast enough for any of us.
[Wash Times] President Obama has said he’ll stay out of the day-to-day scrum in Washington once he vacates the White House, but a top Republican in Congress hopes the president’s second in command sticks around and works to facilitate deals between the two political parties. Because he's been so effective in the past.
Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican, said Vice President Joseph R. Biden can play a critical role in finding bipartisan solutions on health care and a host of other issues, even after Donald Trump assumes the presidency.
"My friend Joe Biden needs to stay engaged. He’s going to leave the office, but he says he’s going to stay engaged -- be able to drive his Corvette, but be engaged," Mr. Issa told CNN’s "State of the Union." "He’s been a deal-doer for a long time, and I think he’s freed up now as a senior statesman to be involved with us."
#3
why is it that whenever conservatives make strides, a so-called conservative stabs us in the back?
Posted by: Jack Salami ||
01/02/2017 10:11
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#4
This isn't Issa's usual schtick. Perhaps he got scared by a Dem trial atty ("Colonel" Doug Applegate) playing off his military career almost beating him and is trying to show a little more bipartisanship? If so it's wasted effort - Applegate's already said he'll try again in 2018
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/02/2017 10:19
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#5
No, you don't understand. What could possibly destroy the Democratic party faster than having Joe Biden involved in day to day operations?
Posted by: ed in texas ||
01/02/2017 10:40
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Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/02/2017 11:38
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#7
If Obama stays engaged, and Biden stays engaged, and Warren and Ellison take over the Democrat party, I see the Dems marching off into the wilderness for at least 8 years (unless Trump really blows it).
#8
Remember when Nixon used China as a part of triangulation against the USSR? Canny old fox seeing the role hegemonies play in geopolitics. Now Vlad can be the same tool since apart from nukes and oil, he's got a thin hand to play from. In the game of thrones china is a bigger threat since they have decided to be expansionistic with our money. When it dries up next few years they are going to get grumpy as internal demands for sustained improvements in life for the average chinaman get hard to sustain.
[PJ] On CNN, liberal activist Anthony Kapel "Van" Jones said that "the Clinton days are over" in the Democratic Party, and pointed to two emerging leaders as the future of a more progressive political party focused on identity politics. Naturally, he chose two racial minority members of Congress -- and the extremely controversial first Muslim congressman.
"You have to understand, I think that the Clinton days are over," Jones told CNN's Jake Tapper on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday. "This idea that we're going to be this moderate party ... those days are over." Jones called for a new generation of Democrat leadership, touting California Attorney General Kamala Harris (an anti-free speech activist) and Representative Keith Ellison, the first Muslim member of Congress and a candidate for the Democratic National Committee chairmanship.
"I think that Keith Ellison is very important because he is somebody who represents the progressive wing of the party," Jones declared. "On thing that happened, when Hillary Clinton had a chance to make a VP pick, she didn't pick someone from the progressive wing, which made it much harder to heal the wounds with the [Bernie] Sanders and Elizabeth Warren wing. Keith Ellison represents that wing very, very well." Insightful, profound, what more can be said ?
#3
The last year I've been hearing about the 3rd party that would result from the splits in the Republican party.
If this actually is the direction that the 'rats choose to go I think that a 3rd party becomes very likely with a combination of what passes for moderate Dems and Rinos.
#5
Logical evolution to the Liberal "Beltway" Party. Leaving the Socialist and Chamber of Commerce Parties to their own agendas.
Posted by: P2Kontheroad
Unmasked as it were, for those who could not recognize the voices.
#7
In 1973-75 I saw the demographic shift in the "Rainbow Coalition" Democratic future alliance: the Dixiecrats were out, good riddance, but every white male in Flyover Country got the boot unless they passed the new GroupThink tests. Logically, Politics is a Zero-Sum Game and after the Coastal Elites paid off their immediate cronies a yokel like myself living in the cultural wasteland of Oklahoma would get to lick the empty bowl, maybe, but only after a grovel or two. I registered (R) and voted "For" Ford.
Seems like '73 all over again, McGovern Clinton lost and the New Coalition is a subset of the old Coalition.
Background info:
A landmark bill allowing for the prosecution of climate change dissent effectively died Thursday after the California Senate failed to take it up before the deadline.
Senate Bill 1161, or the California Climate Science Truth and Accountability Act of 2016, would have authorized prosecutors to sue fossil fuel companies, think tanks and others that have “deceived or misled the public on the risks of climate change.”
The measure, which cleared two Senate committees, provided a four-year window in the statute of limitations on violations of the state’s Unfair Competition Law, allowing legal action to be brought until Jan. 1 on charges of climate change “fraud” extending back indefinitely.
The measure was introduced amid a national push by Democrats and activist groups to use the legal system to prosecute climate change “fraud,” prompting a backlash from skeptics who have denounced the campaign as an assault on free speech.
A coalition of 17 state attorneys general, including California Attorney General Kamala Harris, have joined forces to pursue climate change skeptics. At least four prosecutors reportedly have launched investigations into Exxon Mobil for climate change “fraud.”
#9
That bill would have been wonderful to watch as folks went after Mann for his deceptive hockey stick and emails suggestion they had to exaggerate the threat to ensure compliance.
I suspect it is this potential embarrassing blow-back that caused California's super-liberal judicial blokes to let it slide.
#12
The last year I've been hearing about the 3rd party that would result from the splits in the Republican party. If this actually is the direction that the 'rats choose to go I think that a 3rd party becomes very likely with a combination of what passes for moderate Dems and Rinos.
Aside from the traditional GOP, a significant portion of the 'moderate' (and much of the Establishment) wing of the GOP are what would have constituted the 'conservative' wing of the Democratic Party some forty years ago.
Things could get very messy, nasty and dangerous.
Likely. The question is how quickly a third party gets formed. I suspect politicians of both parties will wait until they see how the political winds blow before they jump ship.
Meanwhile, the media is dragging Evan McMullin to pontificate before the cameras. It'd be interesting to see if they bring Jill Stein on stage as well.
#13
Will American Jewish Democrats finally leave the democrats with move toward Ellison? Will be interesting to see already elected Jewish dems response.
[WAPO] A hotel guest who had gone to the roof of the Dupont Circle Hotel to see the sights shortly after New Year’s was killed when he fell into a boiler shaft and tumbled 10 floors to the basement, according to the D.C. police and fire departments. 'Here, hold my beer.'
It took firefighters about an hour to retrieve the man’s body. It happened Sunday shortly before 2:30 a.m. at the nine-story hotel in the 1500 block of New Hampshire Avenue NW. The hotel is owned by the Doyle Collection group.
"It looks like a fall," said Rachel Schaerr, a spokeswoman for the D.C. police. "He went up to the roof to catch a really good view."
[Breitbart] During a tour of the Baltic states, Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called for tougher sanctions against Russia Sunday over hacking allegations.
"We will be working for much tougher sanctions against Russia," McCain said. "They attacked the United States of America. The hacking was an attack and it should be treated as such."
"We strongly urge our colleagues to enact more meaningful and stronger sanctions against Russia because of their attack," he added.
Graham said he hopes to "make 2017 a year of offense."
He said in front of reporters, "We believe that [Vladimir] Putin has hacked into our elections in America, that he’s trying to undermine democracy all over the world, and it’s time for new sanctions to hit him hard."
#5
While yes, Russia is a threat to democracies all over the world and yes, they did hack the DNC server (not the elections), the amount of damage they do is minimal compared to what China does on a daily basis.
I would prefer to keep Russia as a friendly neutral and go after China.
#6
You just explained the beautiful friendship between Putin & Trump (besides both being horny bastards), Darth - both see China as a Numero Uno long term threat.
Had a front row seat as 4 RU diplomats were PNG's yesterday out of LAX. Pretty much a non-event with zero fanfare. The RU folks were cordial and professional and we maintained distance. No press no asshats asking questions other than "Can you tell me where the Swiss Air counter is??" The LAX ID card is a moron magnet.
Posted by Bangkok Billy 2017-01-01 21:03
#3
Saw a statement reportedly from Trump:
"If you want to send a secure message, write it down on paper and send it by courier. My ten year old can find anything on the Internet."
If a message you sent by courier leaks, it doesn't take much to find the leakier. If you use a bonded courier the leak is probably going to be on one of two ends.
[Politico] A little over a year ago, on a pleasant late fall evening, I was sitting on my front porch with a friend best described as a Ukrainian freedom fighter. He was smoking a cigarette while we watched Southeast DC hipsters bustle by and talked about ’the war’ -- the big war, being waged by Russia against all of us, which from this porch felt very far away. I can’t remember what prompted it -- some discussion of whether the government in Kyiv was doing something that would piss off the EU -- but he took a long drag off his cigarette and said, offhand: "Russia. The EU. It's all just more Molotov-Ribbentrop shit."
His casual reference to the Hitler-Stalin pact dividing Eastern Europe before WWII was meant as a reminder that Ukraine must decide its future for itself, rather than let it be negotiated between great powers. But it haunted me, this idea that modern revolutionaries no longer felt some special affinity with the West. Was it the belief in collective defense that was weakening, or the underlying certitude that Western values would prevail?
Months later, on a different porch thousands of miles away, an Estonian filmmaker casually explained to me that he was buying a boat to get his family out when the Russians came, so he could focus on the resistance. In between were a hundred other exchanges -- with Balts and Ukrainians, Georgians and Moldovans -- that answered my question and exposed the new reality on the Russian frontier: the belief that, ultimately, everyone would be left to fend for themselves. Increasingly, people in Russia’s sphere of influence were deciding that the values that were supposed to bind the West together could no longer hold. That the world order Americans depend on had already come apart.
From Moscow, Vladimir Putin has seized the momentum of this unraveling, exacting critical damage to the underpinnings of the liberal world order in a shockingly short time. As he builds a new system to replace the one we know, attempts by America and its allies to repair the damage have been limited and slow. Even this week, as Barack Obama tries to confront Russia’s open and unprecedented interference in our political process, the outgoing White House is so far responding to 21st century hybrid information warfare with last century’s diplomatic toolkit: the expulsion of spies, targeted sanctions, potential asset seizure. The incoming administration, while promising a new approach, has betrayed a similar lack of vision. Their promised attempt at another "reset" with Russia is a rehash of a policy that has utterly failed the past two American administrations.
And if they won't to blame someone. Blame the United Nations. They are the ones proclaiming national borders fixed for all time (because African kleptocrats like it that way), but do nothing when they get redraw.
#4
Russia has s demographic problem. If I were Putin I'd be trying to really stoke Russian pride hoping to get Russians from around the globe to move back to mother Russia.
[Ynet] The terrorist who killed at least 39 and maimed 69 in Istanbul during New Year's Eve on Saturday has yet to be caught, with Turkish authorities in pursuit of the assailant. In the meantime, another video and photos of the supposed terrorist have surfaced. The video shows him breaking into the Reina nightclub where he opened fire, while the pictures appear to be of him at Istanbul Ataturk Airport.
Video and very clear screenshots of the alleged terrorist from Istanbul Atatürk Airport can be seen at the link.
Four Israeli women who were at the club on the night of the attack were caught in the midst of the shooting attack. One of them was 18-year-old Leann Nasser, who succumbed to her wounds and was pronounced dead shortly after noon on Sunday. Nasser's body was initially not identified, as it was separated from her purse and phone. However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... she was eventually found to be at an Istanbul hospital. As she was uninsured, Israel's Interior Ministry funded the return of her body, which is expected to arrive in the country on Monday.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim issued a statement following the attack. In it, he denied initial reports that the terrorist had dressed up as Santa Claus to dissuade any suspicion as to his presence on New Year's, though reoprts from those injured stated that he did. Among them was Israeli Ruaa Mansour, who was flown back to Israel on Sunday.
Presently, no organization has grabbed credit for the attack.
Turkish Minister of the Interior Suleyman Soylu stated that out of the 20 victims who have already been identified, 15 are foreigners. He added that the assailant arrived at the club concealing his weapon, but left wearing a different outfit.
This is the first picture of the prime suspect police are hunting after a gunman 'screamed Allahu Akbar' before opening fire in a Turkish nightclub - slaughtering 39 people.
Grainy photo can be seen at the link. The Mirror's live updates page, with the latest plus all the details about each of the dead and all the national leaders expressing anger and condolences can be seen here.
The suspect is a member of the East Turkestan branch of ISIS, according to Turkish media reports.
Turkish intelligence forces are said to be closing in on the unnamed suspect who allegedly 'screamed Allahu Akbar' as he shot at revellers celebrating the New Year inside Reina nightclub.
The man is described as being from East Turkestan, Afghanistan or Chechnya, but authorities still do not know his name or precise nationality.
The Reina nightclub is a symbol of everything Islamists hate about modern Turkey – fun, wealthy and unashamedly decadent.
The lone gunman who slaughtered 39 revellers at Reina’s New Year’s Eve party was attacking not just Istanbul’s secular, sinful elite – but also the very idea that Turkey can be a modern, Westernised country.
What’s more, the attack struck at the heart of Turkey’s already beleaguered tourist industry, making a mockery of government claims that it can guarantee the security of its own citizens, let alone visitors.
In the run-up to New Year’s Eve, Istanbul authorities boasted that they would be deploying 17,000 security personnel to protect the city – yet a lone jihadi gunman was able to shoot his way into the city’s most exclusive and most secure nightclub.
The timing of this attack was symbolic. Last month posters appeared in conservative areas of Istanbul denouncing the celebration of Western festivities.
‘We are Muslims,’ read the banners, which featured a musclebound Muslim punching Father Christmas. ‘No to New Year’s Eve and Christmas celebrations.’
Though Turkey’s directorate of religious affairs was quick to condemn the attack, it exposes deep divisions in Turkey between a religious and conservative majority and the secular, Westernised elite.
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#3
Key items from the Mirror live update link. Check out the images at 15:54:
18:14 Shooter 'spotted hitchhiking' from the scene
Police are investigating reports the ISIS gunman was seen hitchhiking away from Istanbul after the attack.
This afternoon the towns of Yalova and Bursa were targeted by police after members of the public claimed to have spotted the nightclub killer. The gunman was reportedly first spotted in the port town of Yalova after crossing about 40 miles across the Sea of Marmara on a passenger ferry. He then was reportedly seen hitchhiking to Bursa.
17:49 Gunman "aimed for most crowded areas"
Mehmet Yilan, 36, a barman at Reina for 12 years, said the attacker deliberately targeted the most crowded areas of the club.
“He stormed in and immediately headed for the people to the left, which is always more crowded ... I wonder if he came here before because he seemed to know where to go,” Yilan said, describing how his manager yelled at people to run. “He was shooting randomly but aiming for their upper bodies. He didn’t want to just injure them.”
16:32 Turkey's deputy prime minister says they have the killer's fingerprints
15:54 Police release new images from CCTV
Shooter, aged about 25, likely from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan or Is a Uighur from Xinjiang, China. Analysis of CCTV tapes suggests military training and war-fighting experience.
13:48 Anti-terror police detain eight suspected of links to attack, including taxi driver
11:10 Gunman 'likely to be linked to June airport attack'
A reporter has cited sources that claim the gunman is likely to be linked to the attack on Istanbul Ataturk Airport in June.
ITV News Correspondent Sally Lockwood also tweeted ‘UPDATE. I’ve been told by credible source gunman is not Turkish, has been identified by police &likely he’s linked to airport attack in June’
During the airport attack, gunmen armed with automatic weapons and explosive belts staged a simultaneous attack at the international terminal of Terminal 2. Forty-five people were killed, in addition to the three attackers, and more than 230 people were injured.
11.02 Gunman fired 180 bullets during 7-minute ordeal
5:52 Attacker was 'well-trained professional with experience of war"
Chilling new details about the nature of the gunman have emerged in the Haberturk newspaper.
Police believe he was “well-trained professional with experience of war”, it is claimed.
This assessment comes from a number of reasons:
- The killer used a Kalashnikov, a heavy-duty weapon, and fired it from the waist, aiming it towards the upper body of his victims for maximum casualties
- He fire at least 180 rounds, leaving six empty cartons of ammunition at the scene
- The attacker spoke in “broken” Turkish and was wearing a green shirt, dark pants and black boots.
- He was said to be aged around 25-years-old and may be from East Turkestan
[AA.TR] At least six people were hurt in an kaboom near a mosque in western Afghanistan on Sunday evening, security sources have said.
A device went off near the Imam Baqir Shia mosque in the Bagh-E-Zubaida area, west of Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... city, a local police officer told news hounds.
The improvised bombwent kaboom! as Shia Moslems gathered for evening prayers.
"Six maimed people were shifted to our hospitals so far; one of them is at death's door," Mohammad Rafiq Shirzai, a front man for Herat hospital, told Anadolu Agency.
No group has yet grabbed credit for the attack.
Earlier on Sunday, the Afghan Interior Ministry claimed 49 bully boyz were killed and 16 others maimed in an operation in the eastern provinces of Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... , Nangrahar and Paktika ...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo... , near the Pakistain border.
Ministry sources said five Afghan army soldiers, including a senior commander, were maimed during the operation.
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[YAHOO] Armed men on Sunday attacked a prison in Bahrain where Shiites convicted over anti-government protests are held, killing one policeman and allowing 10 inmates to escape, the interior ministry said.
The security forces launched a manhunt for the attackers and the escapees, the ministry said on Twitter.
The attack took place at Jaw prison south of the capital Manama.
The ministry said four or five members of a "terrorist group" armed with automatic rifles and pistols attacked at 05:30 local time (0230 GMT).
It said one policeman was killed and another maimed in the attack, which allowed 10 prisoners to flee.
Seven had been serving life sentences and three were serving lengthy jail terms for "terrorist acts", the ministry added.
The tiny but strategic Gulf state has been rocked by unrest since its Sunni authorities crushed Shiite-led protests in 2011 demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister.
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[Libya Observer] The front man of the Third Force that is appointed to secure the south, Mohammed Gliwan, confirmed that their fighters attacked Barak al-Shatti airbase on Sunday dawn and laid a tightened siege around it, aiming at regaining control and securing it.
In a press statement, Gliwan said their forces targeted the airbase with Grad rockets ...Soviet-developed 122-mm rockets, usually launched from trucks. Newer versions are reported to have a range of up to 30 km.... , without saying if they hit a specified target, confirming that there foreign mercenaries and pro-Dignity Operation militia inside the airbase.
"The Third Force called on the notables of Barak al-Shatti to interfere and hold back the militias inside the airbase from repeating their attacks on its forces so that they can preserve the social fabric of the district and prevent war from happening, otherwise, the Third Force fighters will eliminate any threat in the area." Gliwan added.
He indicated that they would have to wage a war on those militias if the social efforts to contain the conflict, abstain from supporting Sirte IS escapees and refrain from attacking the Third Force failed.
The commander of the Third Force, Jamal al-Treiki, said Saturday that the force’s fighters foiled an attack on Tamnahent airbase by Dignity Operation forces led by Mohammed Ben Nayel and added that the fighters are ready to thwart any attack that is jeopardizing the security of the Libyan south.
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[MIDDLEEASTMONITOR] A Paleostinian woman was injured after being shot by Israeli soldiers at the Qalandiya checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem in the central occupied West Bank.
Witnesses told Ma’an that Israeli soldiers shot up the woman who was walking towards the vehicle lane of the checkpoint.
In a statement, Israeli police spokeswoman Luba al-Samri said that "an Arab ID-holder suspect" approached Israeli security forces via the vehicles’ lane. "Israeli security forces noticed her approaching with a knife in her hand. They told her to stop, but she ignored and kept walking towards them, and they shot at her."
Lawyer Muhammad Mahmoud of prisoners’ rights group Addameer told Ma’an that the woman was identified as Jihan Muhammad Hashimeh, 35, from the neighbourhood of al-Issawiya in occupied East Jerusalem.
Locals said that Hashimeh was ill, and that she was on her way to Jerusalem for medical treatment when she entered the vehicle lane by mistake.
According to witnesses, the victim remained on the ground bleeding and screaming in pain while Israeli soldiers prevented ambulance crews from approaching her for almost an hour. She was then detained and transferred to a hospital for treatment.
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#1
According to witnesses, the victim remained on the ground bleeding and screaming in pain while Israeli soldiers prevented ambulance crews from approaching her for almost an hour.
[Bangla Daily Star] Investigators suspect a bad boy group was behind the killing of ruling Awami League politician Manzurul Islam Liton but they are yet to get concrete information on this.
After the Gaibandha politician was rubbed out by armed assailants at his house in Sundarganj Saturday evening, police launched a probe focusing on two aspects -- intra-party feud and Islamist bad boy attack.
"We are looking into all possible sides but involvement of holy warriors or Jamaat is on top of them," Deputy Inspector General of Police (Rangpur Range) Khandker Golam Faruq told The Daily Star last night.
He said police so far detained 18 people for interrogation but no mentionable progress could be made.
A senior police official, requesting anonymity, said, "There were some feuds involving the politician but we don't believe his killing is a result of those. The style of the killing indicates that it was the act of bad boys."
Liton had drawn widespread flak after he allegedly shot a 10-year-old boy in Gaibandha on October 2 last year.
Sourav Mia, son of Sazu Miah of Gopalcharan village in Sundarganj, was shot twice in the legs. Liton was nabbed I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! on October 14 in the capital's Uttara after Sazu filed an attempted murder case against him.
Meanwhile, ...back at the wine tasting, Vince was about to start on his third quart... the Awami League pointed the finger at religious murderous Moslems for the killing of Liton and also the attack on Khulna district AL leader ZA Mahamud Don.
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[Bangla Daily Star] A Brahmanbaria court yesterday placed Awami League leader Sheikh Abdul Ahad, who was incarcerated Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! in connection with the October 30 attack on the Hindus in Nasirnagar, on a one-day police remand.
Senior Chief Judicial Magistrate Sharaf Uddin Ahmed granted the remand for Ahad, former joint secretary of Nasirnagar upazila unit AL and also former chairman of Sadar union of the upazila.
Mahabubur Rahman, court inspector, said investigation officer of the case Shawkat Hossain, sub-inspector (investigation) of Nasirnagar Police Station, prayed to the court for a five-day remand. The court granted a one-day remand.
Police arrested Ahad at his Ghoshpara house in the upazila town Tuesday afternoon. The following day, police sought a seven-day remand for Ahad. The court rejected the prayer and ordered police to interrogate him at the jail gate.
On October 30 last year, unruly mobs and zealots vandalised many Hindu houses and temples in five villages of the upazila over a Facebook post.
Eight cases were filed in connection with the attack.
Law enforcers have so far arrested 108 people, including Ahad, in the cases.
Meanwhile, ...back at the wreckage, Captain Poindexter wished he had a cup of coffee. Even instant would do... over 100 people of the Hindu community held a protest rally in Ghoshpara yesterday, demanding the release of Ahad.
At the rally, Bijoy Ghosh, a resident of Ghoshpara and clothes trader, said Ahad saved them during the October 30 attack risking his life.
Bijoy said Ahad was injured while he was trying to resist the attackers.
When Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal visited Nasirnagar on November 8, he informed the minister about what kind of role Ahad had played during the attack, Bijoy added.
Anil Das and Mohan Lal Das of Mahakalpara said the Hindu community people did not bring any allegations against Ahad.
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[Libya Observer] Libya's social media pages are awash with anger and insults to the member of Tobruk-based House of Representatives Ali al-Tikbali after a sexy video of him went viral on Saturday.
A Libyan hacker called "the simple citizen" published a Skype video chat between Chief of Defense Committee of HoR Ali al-Tikbali and a whore.
The 3-minute video showed al-Tikbali performing sex acts on camera using sexually explicit language.
The sexy video sparked social media fury with calls on al-Tikbali to step down from his current position and quit Libyan politics forever.
The hacker has also threatened to leak scandals related to Abdul-Majeed Maligta, the co-chairman of National Forces Alliance and a foreign affairs adviser for the eastern government of Abdullah al-Thanni.
The simple citizen hacker had before published several sex scandals of pro-Dignity Operation politicians and krazed killers.
Earlier last year, the hacker published a video of Tobruk MP Moftah Kodier stripping off for his girlfriend while exchanging sexy acts on camera.
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[Libya Herald] Terrorists were stopping "hostages" escaping from the besieged Benghazi enclave of Ganfouda, the Libyan National Army insisted today.
LNA front man Ahmed Mismari said today that for the last two weeks troops had maintained two no-fire zones to the east and west of Ganfouda to allow civilians, whom he described as "hostages" to flee. However none had done so.
He repeated reports that women and kiddies could be heard in buildings now on the frontline. He added that the LNA had an hostage evacuation plan and were about to put it into effect.
"Unfortunately these routes have been blocked by the terrorist groups" said Mismari, "They refuse to let them go and want to use them to help them to escape from the area. That is why they have asked several times to evacuate the families by sea without our supervision so they can escape with them. And this is something we will not accept".
The front man said that as they lost control of Benghazi, the bully boyz had moved civilians along with captured LNA troops and already locked away Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! members of the Qadaffy regime, into Ganfouda. He did not specify the numbers involved.
Mismari also said that it was no longer certain what foodstuffs both the civilians and bully boyz had left to eat, after troops took over large stocks of "food, commodities and medicines" in their rapid advance early in December.
Mismari gave no details of fighting around Ganfouda. However social media footage posted by a soldier suggested some troops are becoming bored. The clip showed a pair of tracked armoured personnel carriers belonging to the 210 Infantry Battalion being "drifted" at speed in the main Customs Service compound in Ganfouda. Shooting up dust and belching black exhaust smoke, one of the APC did a 180 degree "half-donut" skidding to a halt neatly alongside one of the TEU containers.
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] An Afghan migrant attacked a Bible-reading woman in a refugee camp in Austria, it has been reported.
The 50-year-old woman was reportedly attacked by a 22-year-old Afghan migrant whose identity has not been disclosed by the authorities yet.
According to the local media reports, citing the police authorities, the man has confessed he attacked the woman and described ’personal issues’ as the motive behind the attack.
The woman was invited to read Bible by some residents of the Asylum center which apparently angered the migrant.
The authorities have said the woman sustained minor injuries and was apparently saved by her thick clothes after attacked with the kitchen knife.
The latest incident involving knife attack comes as the Afghan refugees are already facing numerous problems in the European countries besides thousands of them are stranded in eastern European countries.
Earlier, a court in Sweden awarded jail terms for a group of five Afghan teens after they were convicted with gang rape of a fellow refugee.
The prosecutors had earlier urged the court to deport the convicts but the request was overturned considering the deteriorating security situation of Afghanistan.
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#1
Yeah, because, for instance, the continued belief in the Buraq is important to Islamic culture.
A Muslim's dysfunction is versatile:
Things you might regard as just personal,
Addressing your issue
With pastime or tissue,
Send him to his improvised arsenal.
[AA.TR] A Nigerian local government official was detained in the country's restive northeastern region for allegedly shielding a 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... suspect at his home.
According to a ministerial statement on Sunday from the provincial Borno government, Shettima Lawan Mafa, a council chairman, was held by the military on suspicion he hid a top terror suspect.
"(Hon. Mafa) reported himself to the military last week and was detained pending the outcome of ongoing investigations being conducted by the military," Borno commissioner for local government affairs Usman Ali Zannah said -- the first official comment on the issue.
The army had yet to comment at the time of this report.
A number of top government officials have previously been indicted for alleged involvement in the insurgency. The country's senate majority leader Ali Ndume and former Borno governor Ali Modu-Sheriff face similar charges, although they have not yet been prosecuted.
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[ARA News] Raqqa – The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Sunday reported the liberation of 110 villages in the western countryside of Raqqa Governorate since the launch of the second phase of the battle for Raqqa last month.
“Our forces have so far liberated 110 villages in western Raqqa since the launch of the second phase of Euphrates Wrath Operation on December 10,” the SDF leadership said in a statement.
The US-backed forces also reported the death of 277 ISIS jihadists in three weeks of military operations.
“We have also taken 13 ISIS terrorists as captives during the recent clashes,” an SDF officer told ARA News, adding that one ISIS fighter surrendered to the SDF along with his family after deserting the Islamic State in Raqqa.
The Syrian Democratic Forces, however, have not revealed yet the number of casualties in their ranks in the anti-ISIS Raqqa campaign.
Supported by an air cover from the US-led coalition, the SDF has so far captured more than 1500 km² in western Raqqa within the second phase of the Euphrates Wrath 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.
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Anbar (IraqiNews.com) A drone belonging to Islamic State militants was brought down in Anbar’s town of Ramadi while nine people suspected of affiliation with the group were detained on Sunday, security commanders in the province said.
Ismail al-Mahalawi, commander of the Interior Ministry’s Anbar Operations, said a “preemptive security operation in Soufiya, Ramadi, resulted in the arrest of nine suspects and the bringing down of an IS-flown drone at the center of the town.
Islamic State militants are still holding some hideouts in western Anbar, launching occasional attacks on security from there.
However, Qassem al-Mohammadi, who leads the army’s al-Jazeera Operations division in the province, said Sunday the volume of attacks by the group has receded recently due to regular airstrikes by Iraqi and US-led fighter jets. He said that preparations continue by security forces to storm IS-held regions at the west of the province.
Iraqi government forces, backed by international air forces, popular militias and Kurdish fighters, have been carrying out a major campaign since October 2016 to clear Iraq’s city of Mosul from IS extremists.
Mohammadi said IS defeats in Mosul leave a positive effect on the situation in Anbar by weakening the intensity of the group’s attacks.
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Commander of Anbar Operations, Major General Ismail al-Mahalawi announced on Sunday, that security forces discovered 50 missiles of Jahannam (Hell) cannon belonging to the Islamic State in Albu Diab area, in northern Ramadi.
Mahalawi said in a press statement, “Securing forces are searching and securing the areas of Ramadi, including Albu Diab, that were controlled by the Islamic State for more than three years.”
“During search operations, security forces discovered 50 Jahannam missiles that were used by the terrorist group to attack innocent civilians,” Mahalawi added.
Mahalawi also pointed out that Anbar Operations Command continue combing the liberated areas, backed by police forces and army’s engineering teams, in order to dismantle improvised explosive devices and remnants left by the Islamic State.
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Somaliland troops are reported to shot shot dead two innocent civilians near the northern town of Buhodle on Sunday, residents said.
Locals said Somaliland soldiers killed the two people in a minibus which refused to stop at a checkpoint near Soojeede area, about 40Km away from Buhudle town in Togdheer region.
Somaliland is yet to release its own statement concerning the bus attack.
The residents in the area said they have shocked and terrified about the incident, urging Somaliland state to investigate the civilian shooting and bring the killers into justice.
Perhaps the 'residents' are cousins of the deaders...
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Talibs suffered heavy casualties in the ground and Arclight airstrikes conducted by the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) in southern Uruzgan province.
According to the local security officials, the forces of Evil suffered the casualties in the past 24 hours in the vicinity of the strategic Tarinkot city, the picturesque provincial capital of Uruzgan.
The officials further added that their information indicate at least 24 forces of Evil were killed during the operations.
The 205th Atal Corps of the Afghan National Army confirmed the report and said several weapons, ammunition, and explosives of the forces of Evil were also destroyed during the operations.
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[ARA] A US-led coalition Arclight airstrike on Sunday killed several members of the al-Qaeda splinter group of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham ...formerly al-Nusra, the current false nose and mustache of al-Qaeda in the Levant... in Syria’s northwestern Idlib Governorate, including a senior jihadist.
Abu Omar al-Turkistani, a military commander in Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, was reported dead along with three other myrmidons.
"The US-led coalition hit al-Turkistani’s convoy in the vicinity of Sarmada town in Idlib Governorate, near the Turkish border. The jihadist leader and three of his guards were killed in the air raid," local media activist Saeed al-Hamwi told ARA News.
Also, a member of the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, who spoke to ARA News on condition of anonymity, confirmed the death of Abu Omar al-Turkistani in the Arclight airstrike on Sunday evening.
Jahbat Fateh al-Sham was previously known as 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 .. ... or al-Nusra Front. In July 2016, the myrmidon group announced that it had split from al-Qaeda and was rebranding. However, you can observe a lot just by watching... the US State Department said that group’s holy warriors remained a fair target for US warplanes in Syria despite Nusra’s decision to cut ties with al-Qaeda and change its name to Jabhat Fatah al-Sham.
On November 12, he United States amended the designation of Jabhat al-Nusra as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, listing Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS) as a terrorist alias. Security analysts told ARA News that the United States has expanded its anti-JFS campaign ever since.
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[MIDDLEEASTMONITOR] A total of 34 ISISbandidosforces of Evil were "neutralised" in the Syria’s north during the ongoing Turkish-led Operation Euphrates Shield, according to the Turkish military.
The Turkish Armed Forces said on Sunday that Turkish jets destroyed 17 ISIS buildings used as weapon emplacement and shelter in al-Bab, Suflaniyah, Bzagah and Shamaviyah.
34 ISISbandidosforces of Evil were neutralized in ground festivities while three opposition fighters were maimed, the military said.
The operation focused on capturing al-Bab district of Syria, with intensified land and air attacks, the statement said.
The statement added that on Sunday, a total of 166 ISIS positions had been targeted and besieged.
Turkish authorities often use the word "neutralised" in their statements to imply that the terrorist in question was either killed or captured.
Turkish explosive ordnance disposal teams have neutralized 2,579 handmade explosives and 43 mines in areas cleared of ISIS since the beginning of Operation Euphrates Shield.
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01/02/2017
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
[MIDDLEEASTMONITOR] Lebanese police have bumped off a suspected Hezbollah member after he attempted to rob a bank in the capital Beirut, local media sources and activists have said on social media.
The perpetrator, identified as Abbas Ali Ziaytar, attempted to rob a branch of the Itimad bank in Beirut yesterday before he and an accomplice were intercepted by police.
MEMO has seen footage showing Ziaytar laying on the ground with a single gunshot wound just beneath his neck. He was still breathing and in subsequent footage can be seen being rushed for treatment by Lebanese security forces.
Ziaytar, 22 years old from Baalbek, later succumbed to his wounds.
According to the Lebanese outlet Janoubia, which focuses on news from the Lebanese south where the Shia Hezbollah bully boy group is strongest, Ziaytar had travelled to Syria many times in order to fight on the side of Syrian dictator Bashir al-Assad.
Several Lebanese outlets covered the story of the Hezbollah bank robber being killed, but some later took it down after Ziaytar’s Hezbollah links were confirmed by multiple sources. Lebanese MTV was one of those to remove the story.
Janoubia also said that Hezbollah released a statement saying that it had dismissed Ziaytar from the Shia jihadist group a long time ago due to "behavioural reasons".
However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... considering Ziaytar’s young age and the fact that the Syrian civil war has been ongoing since 2011, there is speculation that Ziaytar was either an active member of Hezbollah at the time of his killing, or else he had only recently been let go by the Iranian proxy.
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Top|| File under: Hezbollah
[YAHOO] 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.... said it carried out a kaboom on the Syrian coastal city of Tartous that Syrian state media said killed two security officers.
Islamic State said in an online statement claiming the attack that two of its members detonated boom-mobiles. It did not say whether they were suicide kaboomers or provide any further details.
Syrian state media said the attack, first reported early on Sunday, was carried out by two jacket wallahs wearing explosives.
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[YAHOO] At least five people were killed over the New Year's weekend in the resort city of Acapulco, including three men found decapitated in a central neighborhood, officials said Sunday.
The three severed heads were found Saturday on a residential street on the roof of a car, with the bodies inside. The killings were confirmed by a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Later the same day, unknown gunniesshot up police who were assisting at the scene of a traffic accident in a tourist quarter near the beach, killing one officer. City government front man Jose Luis Mendez said it was not clear why the officers were attacked.
Early Sunday, a taxi driver was bumped off in his cab on a road that leads out of the city.
At least 35 people have been killed along Acapulco's touristy beach areas this year, something that rarely happened in the past, as narco gang violence plagues the city and the surrounding state of Guerrero.
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Top|| File under: Narcos
[YAHOO] A gunman stormed a house party and killed 11 people, including his former wife and 8-year-old son, before shooting himself in the head during a New Year's party in the southeastern Brazilian city of Campinas late on Saturday.
Police in the state of São Paulo said the shooter, identified as 46-year-old Sidnei Ramis de Araújo, is believed to have been angry over a split with his wife, Isamara Filier, 41, and their son João Victor.
Three other people remain hospitalized, police said, while four people survived the attack unharmed, including one party attendee who managed to flee to a bathroom and phone the police when the shooting began.
Survivors, according to a police front man, said that just before midnight, the shooter jumped over a fence surrounding the house, burst through a door and began firing even as he berated Filier for taking their son.
Araújo possibly sought to take advantage of the commotion of New Year's Eve to disguise the shooting, police said.
One neighbor told local television that he and his family heard shots, but had thought they might be fireworks until one of the maimed ran to their property, bleeding and pleading for help.
Despite high rates of crime and violence in Brazil, including significant problems with assaults against women, the attack alarmed Latin America's biggest country on a holiday associated with family gatherings.
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Top|| File under:
What's your bet on when it goes down in flames, dear Reader? Based on nothing at all I'm putting down three weeks.
[AA.TR] Representatives of the government and opposition on Saturday reached a deal for peaceful political transition in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... As part of the deal, President Joseph Kabila will step down after elections get held in 2017.
Talks between the government and opposition took place under the mediation of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO).
Discussions that began on Dec. 9 finally came to fruition after several blockages. Participants finally agreed on several issues of divergence.
The political compromise signed in the presence of diplomats accredited in the DRC under the eye of the Catholic bishops notes: the retention of Joseph Kabila in power until the election and effective establishment of his successor; the primacy is granted to the Rally of the Opposition, which will appoint a Prime Minister; the setting up of a committee to monitor the agreement; the exclusion of any referendum; the organization of elections before the end of 2017; the end of prosecution of pro-democracy movements and opponents.
In his speech to the nation, a few hours before the signing of the agreement, Congolese president Joseph Kabila welcomed the agreement that will emerge from these direct talks and called on all the institutions of the Republic to get involved in its implementation.
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[The Grauniad] Eager to stop Republicans from destroying his signature healthcare law, Barack Obama and Democratic lawmakers will meet next week to try to forge a common strategy. Obama also plans a major valedictory speech in Chicago, his hometown, shortly before his presidency ends.
Obama will travel to the Capitol on Wednesday morning for the meeting with House and Senate Democrats, according to an invitation sent to lawmakers. The White House is casting it as an effort to unite Democrats behind a plan to protect the Affordable Care Act before Republicans have a chance to settle on a plan for repealing it.
Democrats are on edge over the future of the ACA, given the GOP’s disdain for “Obamacare” and Donald Trump’s vows to gut it. Though Republicans are united behind the notion of repealing the law, they are split over how best to replace it. Some want to strip out unpopular provisions while leaving others intact, while others prefer a start-from-scratch approach.
Obama and Democrats hope that lack of unity can be exploited. To that end, the president also planned to answer questions about the future of the healthcare law next Friday in a live-streamed event at Blair House, just across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House.
Initially stunned by Trump’s defeat of Hillary Clinton, Democrats are now trying to organize a counterattack to preserve the ACA, among the most significant expansions of the social safety net since Medicare and Medicaid were created 50 years ago. The House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, has urged her lawmakers to make healthcare their focus at the start of the year.
Defenders of the law have also launched a political coalition called Protect Our Care, bringing together more than 20 groups, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Service Employees International Union. One of their objectives is to try to prevent Republicans from repealing the ACA without also enacting a replacement. Another goal is to pre-empt bigger healthcare changes to Medicare and Medicaid long sought by Republicans.
A recent poll suggests that defenders of the law may get a receptive hearing from the public. Only about one in four Americans want Trump and the GOP-led Congress to completely repeal the ACA, according to a post-election survey by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.
Obama’s speech in Chicago on 10 January is expected to serve as his closing words to the nation as president. His appearance will be open to the public and followed by a “family reunion” for alumni of Obama’s former campaigns, according to a save-the-date notice sent to Obama alumni.
The White House has not confirmed Obama’s speech or trip to Chicago.
#4
Their strategy will be oh so clever. First,target Pub districts and with a high concentration of people enrolled in the ACA. Then flood the airwaves with "Throw gramma over the cliff" style ads. Spoiler alert; Expect orange colored hair on the villain this time.
[YAHOO] At least 800 sub-Saharan African migrants colonists tried to cross into Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco on Sunday by storming a border fence, though most were eventually turned back, the Spanish and Moroccan governments said.
Dozens of migrants colonists made it to the top of the six-metre barbed wire fence early on Sunday before being lifted down by cranes, footage from local TV station Faro TV showed.
Spain said about 1,100 migrants colonists attempted the crossing. Only two were allowed into Ceuta to be taken to hospital while the rest were returned to Morocco, the Spanish government said in a statement.
Five Spanish police and 50 from Morocco were maimed, the government added, after migrants colonists used rocks and metal bars to try and break through gates to access the fence and clashed with authorities.
Morocco's interior ministry reported that some 800 migrants colonists had tried to storm the enclave, and that all had been placed in durance vile Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! . It said 10 members of its security forces were seriously maimed.
"From now on those making such attempts will be presented before the competent judicial authorities who will decree their expulsion from the kingdom (of Morocco) or heavier penalties, according the gravity of the act," the ministry said in a statement.
Spain's two enclaves in Morocco, Ceuta and Melilla, are often used as entry points into Europe for African migrants colonists, who either climb over their border fences or try to swim along the coast.
Photos at the link. It looks dreadfully uncomfortable.
[DailyMail, of course] A Moroccan woman has been jugged Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! for trying to smuggle a 19-year-old migrant from Gabon across the border with Spain curled up inside a suitcase.
The Spanish Civil Guard arrested the woman in Ceuta, a Spanish enclave next to Morocco, on December 30.
It comes as around 1,100 sub-Saharan African migrants colonists today tried to cross into Spain from Morocco via Ceuta by storming a border fence.
Spain has drawn criticism from human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... groups for allowing some migrants colonists to be immediately turned back to Morocco in such incidents. They argue that skipping the lengthier deportation procedures deprives people of the opportunity to claim asylum.
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Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists
[Libya Herald] A high-profile Misratan militia leader is understood to have declared Misrata Municipal Council out business and said that the city should now be run by its military council.
The statement by Saleh Badi of al-Marsa Brigade comes as the council seeks to close down hard boy Islamist militia camps. This has prompted the Benghazi Shoura Council, which is currently located in Misrata, to protest that it has no relations with 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.... nor al-Qaeda terrorism, the Moslem Brüderbund nor the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group.
The BSC insisted that it had nothing to do with political and regional conflicts and said that the council’s move was aimed at killing off "all honest revolutionary fighters".
Nevertheless, analysts believe that the BSC is virtually identical to the Benghazi Revolutionaries’ Shoura Council whose fighters are now surrounded with their IS and Ansar al-Sharia ...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Libyaand Yemen, with the Libyan versions currently most active. Tunisia's Shabaab al-Tawhid started out an Ansar al-Sharia and changed its name in early 2014. It still uses the old name now and then, probably because the stationery's not all used up and the web site hasn't expired yet... allies in three small areas of Benghazi.
Resistance to the Libyan National Army in Benghazi for the last two years has been sustained by the regular maritime delivery of supplies from Misrata.
However on two occasions, a pair of vessels being used on these runs has been blown up and sunk alongside the same dock at the Libyan Iron and Steel Works. Islamist leaders have recently taken to meeting near the steel works which lied to the east of the city. It remains unclear how the boats were sabotaged but the first attack appears to have been carried out with limpet mines.
Unlike IS and Ansar al-Sharia, the BRSC has not been declared a terrorist group. There are also thought to be strong links with a third hard boy Islamist group, the Benghazi Defence Brigade.
Commanded by Mustafa Sharksi, who led revolutionary forces in Misrata in 2011, the BDB launched a quixotic action pushing a relief column from Ajdabiya toward the besieged Ganfouda enclave to the south west of Benghazi. It was broken up by Arclight airstrikes and driven back.
Meanwhile the Misratan Third Force claims to have tightened its siege on the Brak al-Shatti airbase taken by pro-LNA forces at the start of December. A Third Force front man said that an attack this morning on the southern airbase had included Grad rocket strikes. He maintained that imported muscle were among the base’s defenders.
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Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[TIMESOFISRAEL] Its slogan was "the voice of the voiceless," but after four decades the prestigious Lebanese daily As-Safir published its final issue Saturday amid a crisis in the country’s print media.
A front-page editorial entitled "The nation without As-Safir" said the paper had "become exhausted... but we continue to see some light on the horizon of the profession."
Founded one year before the start of Leb’s 1975-1990 civil war, As-Safir was known for its pan-Arab outlook and opposition to American policy in the Middle East.
It gave a platform to some of the Arab world’s leading intellectual and artistic voices, including Paleostinian national poet Mahmoud Darwish.
In March, founder and editor-in-chief Talal Salman announced that the paper, also known for its support for the Shiite holy warrior group Hezbollah and the Syrian regime, would be closing.
"We’ve run out of funds and we’re desperately looking for a partner to finance the paper," he told AFP at the time.
Salman blamed Leb’s political stalemate and internal divisions exacerbated by the war in neighboring Syria.
As print media around the world struggle to adapt to the digital age, Lebanese papers have also faced a slump in funding from rival regional powers.
During the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war, Libya’s Muammar Qadaffy ...Proof that a madman with money will be politely received for at least 42 years until his people get tired of him and kill him... , Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and the Paleostine Liberation Organization’s Yasser Arafat were key financiers.
As-Safir acted as the voice of Arab nationalists and defenders of the Paleostinian cause while its rival An-Nahar stood for Lebanese pluralism.
After the war, Saudi, Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... i and Iranian money took over, but today even Riyadh’s vast coffers are running dry.
Financial hardships have also hit An-Nahar. On Friday it told 40 employees not to turn up to work from January until its money situation was resolved, an employee told AFP.
The paper has not paid salaries for almost 15 months.
The Lebanese journalists’ union said print media, the "national memory of Leb," was facing a "major national crisis."
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Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi army and police forces have recaptured a strategic street and liberated three more districts in the eastern section of the city of Mosul since late Saturday and through Sunday as operations resume to clear the city from Islamic State militants, an army officer said late Saturday.
Federal police forces said Sunday they became in control over the strategic No.60 Street southeast of Mosul.
“Army forces have managed to liberate the districts of al-Malayeen, al-Kindi and al-Arabi al-Thania after storming them on Friday,” Bas News quoted army major Ali Mohsen as saying. He added that the offensive on the three villages resulted in the killing of 40 IS militants, mostly foreigners.
Iraqi government forces declared on Thursday they were starting a second phase of operations to retake Iraq’s second largest city from militants after a few weeks of recess for resupply and reinforcement. Liberating Mosul, IS last outstanding stronghold in Iraq, could deal a final fatal blow to group’s influence in the country.
Forces have now become in control over more than 40 out of a total of nearly 60 districts of the city’s eastern section, and are hoping to push forward towards the west, where IS still maintain several locations near the borders with Syria.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said yesterday the battle for Mosul was entering a “decisive” stage, and predicted in December that the operations could realize final victory within two months.
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Left over after ferocious battles with security forces, Islamic State fighters’ dead bodies are dumped with garbage cleared from areas recaptured by government troops, a local official at Nineveh was quoted as saying.
Abdel-Sattar al-Habbou, a member of the Nineveh Province’s board, told AlMaalomah news website that “the majority of the dead bodies of Daesh (IS) fighters go with trash when concerned authorities carry out purging and cleaning works after liberation (of IS-held areas).”
He said deaths among the extremist group have jumped to more than 160 a day over the past few days as security forces besiege occupied areas and maintain a blockade over supplies to the group from western Mosul.
While rights and aid groups have regularly decried human rights abuses by Islamic State militants against Iraqi civilians since the group emerged in 2014, Iraqi government forces and allied militias have also, in some occasions, got a share of criticism.
“ Militiamen, Iraqi Security Forces, and civilians mutilated and dragged the bodies of at least five dead fighters of the Islamic State (also known as ISIS) in the Iraqi town of Qayyarah on October 3, 2016,” Human Rights Watch said in a report mid November.
“The Iraqi government should control its own forces and hold them accountable if it hopes to claim the moral upper hand in its fight against ISIS,” said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The failure to hold commanders and abusers to account does not bode well for the looming battle inside Mosul. Mutilation of corpses is a war crime, as is killing captured combatants or civilians.”
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi forces recaptured more districts from Islamic State militants on Sunday as a second phase of operations that launched last October grind on to clear eastern Mosul from militants.
Lt. Col. Eyad al-Awsyi told Anadolu Agency that the army’s 9th division and Federal Police teams regained full control over al-Intissar district, also becoming closer to retaking al-Karama, another neighborhood. He said 19 IS militants were killed and a trapped car was exploded during the operations.
The Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell also reported that the forces recaptured the districts of Yunus al-Sabaawi and Yafa in southeast of the city.
Operations on Sunday and Saturday were carried out under an aerial cover from Iraqi and US-led coalition fighter jets.
Iraqi government forces declared on Thursday they were starting a second phase of operations to retake Iraq’s second largest city from militants after a few weeks of recess for resupply and reinforcement. Liberating Mosul, IS last outstanding stronghold in Iraq, could deal a final fatal blow to group’s influence in the country.
Forces have now become in control over more than 40 out of a total of nearly 60 districts of the city’s eastern section, and are hoping to push forward towards the west, where IS still maintain several locations near the borders with Syria.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Saturday the battle for Mosul was entering a “decisive” stage, and predicted in December that the operations could realize final victory within two months.
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) We Are Coming Nineveh Operations Command announced on Sunday liberating the neighborhood of southern al-Karama completely, in the city of Mosul.
Commander of operations, Major General Abdel Amir Yarallah, in a press statement, said, “Troops of the Counter-Terrorism Service managed, today, to liberate southern al-Karama neighborhood completely, as well as raising the Iraqi flag over its buildings.”
“The security troops inflicted heavy human and material losses on the enemy,” Yarallah added.
Nineveh Province is witnessing wide-scale military operations to retake the city of Mosul, which was captured by the Islamic State in June 10, 2014.
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Federal Police Command announced on Sunday liberating Gogjali-Intsar road, east of Mosul.
Federal Police Chief, Lieutenant General Raed Shaker Jawdat, said in a press statement, “Troops of the Federal Police liberated the road of Gogjali-Intsar and raised Iraqi flag on it,” adding that, “Security forces also killed the terrorist known as Ahmed Manati.”
Joint security forces, backed by Army Aviation and international coalition, continue the battle to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic state, after General Commander of Armed Forces Haider al-Abadi launched the operations in October 17.
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) A local source in Nineveh Province revealed, that two civilians were killed and ten others were wounded in a suicide attack against displaced people coming from al-Karama neighborhood, east of Mosul, Alsumaria News reported on Sunday.
The source said, “A suicide bomber, wearing an explosive vest, detonated himself this evening on displaced families coming from al-Karama neighborhood, east of Mosul, killing two civilians and wounding ten others, mostly women and children.”
“Security forces evacuated the wounded to nearby hospitals,” the source added on condition of anonymity.
Joint security forces, backed by Army Aviation and international coalition, continue the battle to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic state, after General Commander of Armed Forces Haider al-Abadi launched the operations in October 17.
[ARA News] Duhok – Iraqi Army forces on Sunday bombed ISIS strongholds in northern Mosul in a bid to cut off the Tel Kef supply line, military sources reported.
The Iraqi troops hit three ISIS checkpoints along the Tel Kef road in northern Mosul city, using heavy artillery. The shelling led to the destruction of the ISIS security checkpoints and the death of several ISIS militants.
The Tel Kef road is considered one of the main supply lines for the Islamic State’s (ISIS) militants to support their operations against the Iraqi forces in northern Mosul.
In the meantime, the US-led coalition’s air forces launched a fresh wave of airstrikes on Mosul, targeting ISIS tactical units and fighting positions.
“At least 70 ISIS terrorists have been killed under renewed coalition air raids since Friday,” Iraqi Army General Najm al-Jabouri said.
Al-Jabouri also reported that their forces captured the Intisar District, while fierce clashes continued in the vicinity of Palastine District in southeastern Mosul.
This comes as US-backed Iraqi forces started the second phase of the battle for Mosul against Islamic State’s militants.
On October 17th, 2016, the Iraqi Army and Kurdish Peshmerga forces launched a major battle for Mosul to liberate the city and its surroundings from ISIS.
[ARA News] Erbil – The US-led coalition said in a statement on Sunday that ISIS is increasingly using civilian buildings as weapon storage facilities “which is forbidden according to international law”. Islamic State’s (ISIS) militants have been implementing such tactics due to increased pressure by Iraqi security forces that recently launched the second phase of the Mosul operation.
On Sunday, the Iraqi Joint Operations Command announced the liberation of the al-Karama district in eastern Mosul. At request of the Iraqi Army, the US-led coalition artillery struck an ISIS mortar tube in support of the operation.
“A precision guided artillery round hit the mortar tube in between two empty school buildings. No civilians were in the area and minimal damage was reported to the buildings,” the coalition said.
“ISIS is known to use facilities such as mosques, hospitals, and schools, which are protected under the rules of international law as weapons storage facilities, fighting positions, and bases for its terrorist operations. We have seen this tactic used in ever greater numbers as the Iraqi Security Forces successfully push further into Mosul,” it added.
“While the Coalition takes extraordinary effort to protect civilians and strike appropriate military targets, we will continue to strike ISIS wherever and whenever our partner’s lives are in danger in accordance with the Law of Armed Conflict.”
Human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch in November called on ISIS to stop using civilians as human shields.
“Using civilians as human shields is a war crime. Forces fighting ISIS should take all feasible precautions to protect civilians during attacks,” HRW said.
“The use of human shields by ISIS is just their latest cruelty against beleaguered civilians,” said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “But the horrors inflicted by ISIS do not give anti-ISIS forces a pass to attack ISIS forces without regard to the safety of the civilians in their midst.”
Since the start of the Mosul operation on Oct. 17, the US-led coalition has struck ISIS with more than 7,650 munitions in support of the Iraqi Security Forces.
Last Thursday, the Iraqi forces announced that several elements of the Iraqi Army, Federal Police and Counter Terrorism Service initiated a simultaneous advance along three axes in Mosul to defeat ISIS.
[al-Manar] Iraqi forces have retaken around two thirds of the eastern half of Mosul from the ISIL terrorist group since the start of an offensive in mid-October, a top commander said Sunday.
“From east Mosul… more than 60 percent” has been retaken from ISIL, Staff Lieutenant General Abdulwahab al-Saadi, a top commander in Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), told AFP.
He was speaking from his headquarters northeast of Mosul, where ISIL proclaimed a “caliphate” in June 2014 after occupying the city.
Iraq’s elite CTS forces are the best-equipped, best-trained and most seasoned forces in the country but the going has been tough since Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the beginning of an operation to retake Mosul on October 17 last year.
CTS and other forces more recently deployed inside the city have been moving house-to-house, dodging sniper fire, suicide car bombs and booby traps to retake one neighborhood after another.
[al-Manar] 20 ISIL terrorists were killed on Sunday on the right coast of the city of Mosul by an unmanned Iraqi warplane (CH4) used by Iraqi forces for the first time, a security source in Nineveh province reported.
The source said that this type of aircraft is bombing ISIL gatherings on the right coast of the city for the first time, adding that “the operation was proactive, accurate and was based on reliable intelligence which led to target their gathering which is important to the terrorist organization.”
Iraqi army and police forces have recaptured a strategic street and liberated three more districts in the eastern section of the city of Mosul since late Saturday and through Sunday as operations resume to clear the city from ISIL militants, an army officer said late Saturday.
Federal police forces said Sunday they became in control over the strategic No.60 Street southeast of Mosul.
“Army forces have managed to liberate the districts of al-Malayeen, al-Kindi and al-Arabi al-Thania after storming them on Friday,” Bas News quoted army major Ali Mohsen as saying. He added that the offensive on the three villages resulted in the killing of 40 IS militants, mostly foreigners.
AFP reported Sunday that Iraqi helicopter wheels overhead, firing a barrage of bullets towards terrorists below, adding that Mosul crackled with gunfire and explosions as the Rapid Response forces fight their way north alongside contingents from other units.
It added that the advance was quick but careful, with an Iraqi army Humvee mounted with an anti-tank missile launcher on hand to target car bombs and a bulldozer that erects dirt barricades to block their approach.
Humvees provide cover for those on foot, who move alongside, weapons at the ready.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said yesterday the battle for Mosul was entering a “decisive” stage, and predicted in December that the operations could realize final victory within two months.
[AlAhram] An artillery strike by the U.S.-led coalition in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul struck a mortar position next to two empty school buildings that Islamic State group had been using to target Iraqi security forces, the U.S. military said on Sunday. No civilians were in the area and minimal damage was reported to the buildings, the Combined Joint Strike Force said in a statement. Schools, like hospitals and mosques, are protected under international law.
Golly.
"While the Coalition takes extraordinary effort to protect civilians and strike appropriate military targets, we will continue to strike ISIL wherever and whenever our partner's lives are in danger in accordance with the Law of Armed Conflict," it said, using an acronym for Islamic State group.
Posted by: badanov ||
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Pudgy Kim Jong Un said North Korea is in the “last stage” of preparations to test-fire an inter-continental ballistic missile, refusing to slow his nuclear arms development as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office in Washington.
The corpulent Kim made his remarks in a New Year televised address as he outlined his country’s military achievements for the past year, North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Sunday. North Korea has conducted three nuclear tests under Fat Boy Kim and launched a series of long-range rockets.
North Korea “will continue to strengthen its ability based on nuclear might to mount a preemptive attack,” the enormous Kim said during a half-hour speech that touched on a range of issues, including economic policy and relations with South Korea.
Since taking power in late 2011, the ginormous North Korean leader has concentrated on developing nuclear missiles that could reach the U.S. The country has refused to accept U.S. demands to freeze its arms development before the two sides can resume international disarmament talks.
Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, correctly likened Kim to a “maniac” during his campaign while suggesting he could meet with the North Korea leader for nuclear talks. While Kim made no mention of Trump in his speech, his comments released Sunday signal North Korea may seek to test-fire a long-range missile around the inauguration to raise stakes ahead of potential talks with the Trump administration.
“North Korea is showing its leverage ahead of future negotiations with the Trump administration,” said Kim Tae-woo, who teaches military issues at South Korea’s Konyang University. “North Korea’s hope to be recognized as a nuclear power through some sort of big deal with the U.S. hasn’t lessened, and we may even be seeing Kim deploying ICBMs this year.”
The regime said previously it had the ability to mount nuclear warheads on to missiles with the range to reach the U.S., an assertion that was bolstered by its launch of a long-range rocket in February and another in August. It conducted its fifth nuclear test in September.
Kim said he would “gladly join hands” with anyone who seeks better relations between North Korea and South Korea.
Korea is banned under UN Security Council resolutions from developing ballistic missiles and testing nuclear devices. The council in late November unanimously passed sanctions that include cutting North Korea’s coal exports, one of the few sources of hard currency for the Kim regime after the country conducted its fifth test in September.
Worked well, hasn't it...
Posted by: Steve White ||
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Top|| File under: Commies
#2
...On the one hand, I feel we should park a couple of BMD-capable missile cruisers in the Sea of Japan and blow the damn thing out of the sky. On the other hand, if it fails...I kinda feel sorry for the poor so-and-sos in charge of the test.
On the third hand, though, let him fire it. A successful test of a real, honest-to-God ICBM will guarantee a massive BMD program in Japan, Korea, Australia, and Guam. The PRC will be so pi$$ed at Un they won't be able to see straight and might finally lower the boom on him.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/02/2017 7:39
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#3
Need something that will hit a target beyond the Left Coast?
[YAHOO] One person was maimed when a jacket wallah aged around 10 blew herself up in a New Year's Eve attack in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, witnesses and aid workers told AFP Sunday.
The girl approached a crowd buying noodles from a food vendor in the Customs area of the city around 9:30 pm on Saturday and detonated her explosives, they said.
Although no one has grabbed credit the attack bore the hallmark of 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... Islamists who are notorious for using suicide bombers, mostly women and maidens, in attacking civilian targets.
"The girl walked towards the crowd but she blew up before she could reach her target," said witness Grema Usman who lives in the area.
"She died instantly, while one person was seriously hurt after after he was hit by shrapnel."
"(Judging) from her corpse the girl was around 10 years old," Usman said.
An aid worker involved in the evacuation of the body gave a similar estimate of the bomber's age.
"The girl was clearly not more than 10 and this could have made her too nervous, making her to detonate the explosives prematurely," the aid worker suggested.
Borno state police front man Victor Isuku, meanwhile, said a secondexploding trollop female suicide bomber was caught and lynched by an angry mob. Her bomb was safely detonated by security forces, he said.
In December two girls aged between seven and eight detonated explosives in suicide kabooms on market in the city, injuring 19 people.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/02/2017
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Top|| File under: Boko Haram
#1
If nobody files a missing person report, we'll know the parents were in on it.
A remote-controlled land mine blast has ripped through a convoy of military vehicles belonging to African Union mission in Somalia known as (AMISOM) near Leego area in southern Somalia.
Witnesses reported loud explosion resulted from the improvised explosives device (IED) targeted AMISOM convoy as it was en route to Ballidogle air base in Lower Shabelle region.
Reports said several armored vehicles were damaged in the blast and there was no immediate confirmation of the casualties. No group has yet claimed credit for the massive explosion.
The convoy has been transporting a military supply from Mogadishu to AMISOM base in Ballidogle air base at the time of the attack, according to the sources.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/02/2017
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[YAHOO] Guatemalan authorities have seized more than 1,500 pounds (680 kilograms) of cocaine from a boat off the coast of the Central American nation.
Police front man Jorge Aguilar said Sunday that the Guatemalan navy's Pacific forces intercepted the vessel carrying 35 packages of the drug on New Year's Eve.
Two Ecuadorean men and a Colombian were detained. The cocaine is believed to have originated in Ecuador.
Police say a total of 28,258 pounds (12,818 kilograms) of cocaine was seized during 2016.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/02/2017
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[MIDDLEEASTMONITOR] A Saudi soldier was killed Saturday by Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... fire along border with war-torn Yemen, the kingdom’s interior ministry said.
Ministry front man Mansur al-Turki said a Saudi border post came under heavy fire from Houthi snuffies holed up in a mountainous area, according to the official SPA news agency.
He said a soldier had been killed in an exchange of fire with the attackers. The soldier was the third to have been killed by Houthi fire since last week.
The Houthis, for their part, said their snipers had rubbed out a Saudi soldier in southern Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... , according to the pro-Houthi al-Masira television.
Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... has been wrecked by chaos since late 2014, when the Houthis and their allies overran capital Sanaa and other parts of the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Taiz – Yemen bids farewell to 2016 with its territories controlled by different parties, while the legitimate forces succeeded in liberating some regions, other parts have remained under the control of Houthis and supporters of Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The map of control of Yemeni territories:
Azal Province
(Governorates of Saada, Amran, Sanaa –the capital and the governorate – and Dhamar)
All the governorates of Azal’s province have remained under the control of the Houthi militias and the rebellion supporters of Saleh – except for a number of sites in Saada’s governorate, the stronghold of Houthis – the Yemeni National Army has carried out military operations in Amran and Sanaa to target the rebellion militants.
In Saada, the Yemeni army has succeeded in liberating the border port of Alab and most of the Mandaba region of the directorate of Baqim in Saada province, northern Yemen; considered a strategic point as it tops villages of Sahar and road of Baqim, Abwab al-Hadid, Jabal al-Shaer and the other regions controlled by the Houthis.
As per the Capital Sanaa controlled by militias, the Yemeni National Forces reached to its eastern gates after capturing and imposing control in the Naham. This front has witnessed clashes between the two parties close to Bani Hashish’s region dominated by the Houthi Militias and Saleh’s supporters. On 6 August, the National Army launched a military campaign for liberation, which kicked off from Naham aiming at recapturing the Capital.
Sabaa Province
(Governorates of Ma’rib, Al Jawf, Al Bayda)
The National Yemeni Army backed by the Arab Coalition Forces has completely recaptured the city of Ma’rib, capital of Saba’, the southern entrance of Sanaa including oil and gas fields, except for parts of Al-Sarwah, which remained under the control of rebellion militias.
The Yemeni forces have also controlled 85% of Al-Jawf region including many areas in the north of the governorate, with the biggest geographical surface. However, militias still control al-Matma, al-Zaher, Al-Shaab, al.-Masloub and many other regions.
As per Al Bayda governorate, it still witnesses violent clashes between the National Army and the rebellion militias, which control the majority of the governorate’s regions except for a number of sites.
Tihamah Province
(Governorates of Hodaida, Heja, Mahwit, Rima)
All these provinces have remained under the control of the rebellion militias, this district has seen continuous military operations targeting the strongholds, sites, and inspection points of Houthis. Operations violently concentrated in Hodeida, the second biggest port following Aden and Heja’s governorate which witnessed heavy battles recently along other regions on the Yemeni-Saudi borders. Forces of the National Army and the Arab Coalition have advanced in the Midi governorate and expanded their control over the city in addition to the Hard port on the borders with Saudi Arabia and some surrounding military sites.
Al-Janad Province
(Governorates of Taiz and Ibb)
This district is located on the south of Sanaa with its two governorates Taiz and Ibb which have witnessed heavy and constant clashes between the Yemeni National Army – backed by the Arab Coalition’s air forces and the Houthi militias and Saleh’s supporters. The most violent battles have occurred in Taiz, the third biggest third city in the country, which is close to be liberated from Houthis and their constant bombing over its residential neighborhoods with all kinds of weapons.
It is worth noting that the city has lived under a restricted blockade that obstructs the delivery of food and medicines.
Concerning Ibb, this governorate has totally resigned under the control of the rebellion militias including the main city of Ibb -the legitimate forces dominate regions of Hamak and Biar on the borders of the southern governorate of al-Dale’a.
Aden District
All its governorates have been completely liberated from the rebellion militias, except for some cities in al-Dale’a.
District of Hadhramaut.
All the district’s cities have been also recaptured by the National Yemeni Army except some small cities.
[ARA News] Aleppo – At least 277 civilians were killed by Turkish fire since Turkey’s intervention in Syrian last August, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) on Sunday.
“Turkish bombardment continued targeting ISIS-controlled areas of Aleppo’s north-astern countryside, leading to more human losses among civilians who were targeted in their homes or other locations,” SOHR said.
The organization documented the death of 277 civilians since the Turkish intervention in Syria on the 24th of August 2016 until today the first of January 2017, including 65 children and 38 women, in addition to hundreds of civilian injuries by the Turkish airstrikes and bombardment in the northeastern countryside of Aleppo.
On December 23, Sharvan Darwish, a spokesperson for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said at least 120 civilians were killed in ongoing Turkish airstrikes on al-Bab city. “Mostly children and women. This is an attempt by Turkey to cover up its defeats there,” Darwish said.
So far, the Turkey-based Syrian National Coalition for the opposition forces (SNC) has not condemned the death of civilians by Turkish bombardment, while the same Syrian opposition group in July asked the US-led coalition to end air support to the Syrian Democratic Forces in Manbij due to civilian deaths.
The Turks launched the Euphrates Shield Operation on the 24th of August with the goal to stop the Kurds from connecting their canton administrations into one federal region in northern Syria.
While the Turkish-backed rebels had more ease in taking the area near the Turkish border between al-Rai and Jarabulus, they are struggling to advance in the town of al-Bab which led to dozens of Turkish soldiers being killed and tanks taken by ISIS.
Turkey also moved hundreds of rebels from Aleppo City to northern Aleppo, which weakened the Syrian opposition in the city–that recently fell completely to regime forces.
Abu Abd Ashidaa, the head of Aleppo rebels, partially blamed Turkey for the fall of Aleppo in a speech released on December 29.
“In addition to that many factions left Aleppo by the orders of their backers, especially in the northern and eastern parts of Aleppo, as they left to fight in the rural North,” he said about Turkish-backed groups.
“So these territories were the first ones to fall in Aleppo. And the Euphrates Shield Operation in the rural North did nothing to ease the burden on Aleppo City. These countries advised many of the factions in Aleppo to leave with all kinds of promises, and this destroyed the soul of resistance among the rebel factions, so many of them left their lines of defense against the regime,” Ashidaa stated.
Posted by: badanov ||
01/02/2017
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[BBC] Israel will not return the bodies of Paleostinian Lions of Islam to their families, but will bury them instead, officials said.
Israel said it was taking measures to ensure the return of Israeli remains from Paleostinian territory.
But the country's security cabinet announced the move after the release of mocking videos from the armed wing of Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",.
The decision will now become a permanent change in policy, it said.
The two video clips published by the Hamas military wing show a mock birthday for Oron Shaul, who Israel said was killed during the Gazoo War in 2014.
In one, his face has been digitally inserted over someone else's body, bound and in army fatigues.
He is visited by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a clown's costume, who blows out the candles on a birthday cake.
Sgt Shaul, 21, was one of seven soldiers reported killed in an incident in Shejaiya, near Gazoo City.
But Hamas has never confirmed that Sgt Shaul is dead.
After the meeting of the security cabinet, the prime minister's office released a brief statement on the decision.
The Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, terror group has long demanded Israel first release hundreds of Paleostinians who were renabbed Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! after they were freed in the 2011 Shalit deal before they would even enter into negotiations with Israel over a prisoner exchange.
In September, a senior Israeli official said that Israel had been holding since the 2014 Gazoo war 18 Paleostinians from the enclave as well as the bodies of 19 others and "offered to swap them for the bodies of the two Israeli soldiers."
However, nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits... Netanyahu's coordinator on the issue of POWs and MIAs Lior Lotan said at the time that Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, rejected the offer.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[MIDDLEEASTMONITOR] ISIS attacked an Iraqi police checkpoint near the southern city of Najaf on Sunday, killing seven coppers as government forces in the north made more gains against the bully boyz in djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , their last major stronghold in the country.
The Najaf attack, which involved gunnies and a suicide boom-mobile, followed blasts a day earlier in Baghdad that left 29 people dead, a reminder 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 continued ability to operate away from territory under its control.
The recapture of Mosul would probably spell the end for the group’s self-styled caliphate in it areas seized in 2014, but the bully boyz would still be capable of fighting a guerrilla-style insurgency in Iraq, and plotting or inspiring attacks on the West.
Since the US-backed offensive began on October 17, elite forces have retaken a quarter of Mosul in the biggest ground operation in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said the group would be driven out of the country by April.
The second phase of the campaign launched on Thursday following weeks of deadlock has pushed ISIS out of several more areas despite fierce resistance.
The fourth day of the renewed push saw incremental advances on the eastern and southeastern fronts.
A military statement said the counter-terrorism forces had retaken part of Karama district.
A federal police officer said Iraqi forces had taken near total control of Intisar and Siha neighbourhoods, and were clearing Salam. "For the fourth day in a row, federal police units supported by the army are on the offensive," he told Rooters at a forward base in Intisar.
The attack near Najaf, 500 km (310 mile) south of Mosul, happened when two vehicles travelling through the desert were stopped at a police checkpoint around al-Qadisiya town, local police sources said.
The driver detonated an explosive load and the second vehicle fled. Police pursued it and killed the two bully boyz inside.
In a statement distributed online by supporters, ISISgrabbed credit for the attack, which also maimed 17 people including civilians. It said four gunnies had opened fire before detonating explosive vests and then a fifth assailant launched a suicide boom-mobile.
Posted by: Fred ||
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The United States said Sunday that North Korea's ballistic missile launches are unacceptable and vowed to show Pyongyang consequences in the event of such firings after North Korean leader Fat Boy Kim Jong-un strongly hinted the country is close to test-firing a long-range missile.
If it's unacceptable, why are we doing nothing about it?
The corpulent Kim said in his New Year's Day address that the communist nation has reached the final stage of preparations to test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in a veiled threat that it's about to develop a nuclear missile capable of reaching the U.S.
In response, the State Department said that any launches by the North using ballistic missile technology are explicitly banned under multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions.
And there you go. We respond by saying they aren't allowed to do it.
"We call on all states to use every available channel and means of influence to make clear to the DPRK and its enablers that launches using ballistic missile technology are unacceptable, and take steps to show there are consequences to the DPRK's unlawful conduct," spokeswoman Anna Richey-Allen told Yonhap News Agency.
"Every available channel and means of influence": like what?
"We call on the DPRK to refrain from provocative actions and inflammatory rhetoric that threaten international peace and stability, and to make the strategic choice to fulfill its international obligations and commitments and return to serious talks," she said.
U.S. experts have warned that the communist nation could undertake provocations around the time when incoming U.S. President Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20, noting Pyongyang has a record of staging provocations around U.S. elections and transition periods.
Pyongyang is known to be developing a road-mobile ICBM, known as the KN-08, which is believed to have a range of more than 13,000 kilometers and could be capable of flying as far as the U.S. mainland. But the North has never conducted an actual test of that missile.
Experts said that North Korea will focus on advancing its nuclear and missile capability in the new year, raising the possibility that it engages in more powerful provocations around its key anniversaries in the first half, including Kim's Jan. 8 birthday.
The KN-08 missile has been considered a key concern for the U.S., as the missile can be fired from mobile launchers and is harder to monitor. The U.S. has steadily strengthened its missile defense system to guard against such threats.
In October, U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said, referring to the KN-08, that the North is believed to be capable of launching "a missile that has a weapon on it that potentially could reach parts of the United States, certainly including Alaska and Hawaii."
The North has advanced ballistic missile technologies, and succeeded in putting satellites into orbit aboard long-range rockets twice, first in 2012 and again in February last year. Experts say long-range rockets and ICBMs are basically the same with differences only in payloads. Pyongyang has also conducted five nuclear tests, including two last year.
Experts have warned that it is only a matter of time until the North develops nuclear-tipped missiles.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/02/2017
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[IsraelTimes] Diamond and Silk pronounce Secretary Kerry to be ‘trippin” over recent spat with Jerusalem: ‘Israel is our ally, so that means we have to have their backs!’
#2
Now you may laugh but I'm telling you, 'click-finger' RSI is painful and in some cases debilitating. It can also cause temporary loss of trigger control with flinching.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A top commander of the Taliban group was killed by one his relatives in northeastern Takhar province of Afghanistan.
According to the local government officials, the slain Taliban capo has been identified as Majeed who was operating for the group in Yangi Qala district.
The officials further added that Majeed was killed by his nephew in what appears to be having links with personal enmity.
A local security official speaking on the condition of anonymity said the assailant joined the public uprising forces following the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Must make the Eid al-Fitr family gathering awkward.
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Eight thousand civilians are being confined by Islamic State militants inside Anbar’s western town of Annah, its mayor said Sunday.
Saad Awwad said those are mostly children and women who are denied exit from their regions. “Intelligence information received by security forces reveal that the number of Daesh (IS) militants vin Annah, west of Anbar, does not exceed 250, especially as most of its leaderships and emirs had fled to Syria over the past months,” he said in statements.
“Joint forces are preparing to clear the western regions, including Annah, Rawa and Qaem, as well as the borderline between Iraq and Syria, within the next few days so as to eliminate Daesh from the whole of Anbar and free civilians stranded at those regions,” said Awwad, who added that the stranded families experience difficult conditions due to food, medicine and petroleum shortages.
Rights organizations and news reports have accused IS militants of deliberately shooting at, or executing, civilians who attempt to flee regions held by the extremist group.
Iraqi and US-led fighter jets have regularly bombed IS locations west of Anbar since major operations launched by the government and the US international coalition against the group last year.
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Diyala (IraqiNews.com) Head of the Security Committee in Abu Saida Council, in Diyala Province, Awad al-Rabiei, revealed on Sunday, that an army officer was killed and three soldiers were injured in the explosion of a booby-trapped Islamic State’s flag, northeast of Baqubah.
Rabiei said in a press statement, “A booby-trapped Islamic State’s flag, placed near al-Rashedeen school in Abu Karma village, exploded today, after an army patrol arrived in the area, killing an army officer and wounding three soldiers.”
“The orchards of Abu Karma and nearby villages became a hideout for extremist groups,” he added. “An extensive military operation is needed to eliminate terrorism in the area,” he explained.
Earlier today, the Islamic State raised its flag over a school in a village in Abu Saida, northeast of Baqubah in Diyala province.
Diyala (IraqiNews.com) Head of Mukdadiyah District Council, Adnan al-Tamimi, announced on Sunday, that the Islamic State launched an armed attack on checkpoints belonging to al-Hashd al-Ashaeri, northeast of Baqubah.
Tamimi, in a press statement, said, “The Islamic State launched a violent armed attack on checkpoints belonging to al-Hashd al-Ashaeri in the villages of Albu Mousa and al-Lahib, north of Muqdadiyah,” adding that, “The attack was launched from the nearby Hud al-Zour area.”
“The clashes are ongoing, however, the fighters of al-Hashd al-Ashaeri are steadfast in their position,” Tamimi further added.
“Hud al-Zour area lacks any security presence, which makes it easy target for the Islamic State,” Tamimi explained.
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[Ynet] Assad Daka is suspected of providing MK Ghattas with the cellphones he allegedly tried to smuggle into prison; Daka's lawyer: 'He didn't know he was delivering phones. He didn't know what he received in the packages.'
Assad Daka, the brother of terrorist Walid Daka, was indicted on Sunday on the suspicion he provided MK Basel Ghattas (Joint List) with the cellphones the MK allegedly tried to smuggle to Lions of Islam in prison.
According to the indictment, the 51-years-old Assad Daka met with Ghattas at a Dor Alon gas station along the northbound side of Highway 6 in the early morning hours of December 18, where he handed him four packages containing 12 cellphones, 16 SIM cards, two charges and an earpiece.
Continued on Page 49
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.
[CNN] President-elect Donald Trump plans to repeal a raft of President Barack Obama's executive actions in his first day in office, Trump's incoming White House press secretary said Sunday.
Two men shot to death Sunday morning in the North Side Uptown neighborhood are the first two reported homicides of 2017 in Chicago, after a bloody 2016 saw 780 homicides in the city.
[New Orleans Advocate] "CNN Tonight" anchor Don Lemon was the most liquored name in news Saturday night.
[Daily Caller] Food stamp enrollment dropped by 25,000 people in Arkansas in 2016, after the state reinstated work requirements limited individuals to three months of benefits unless they found or trained for a job, Arkansas Online reports.
[Independent] Following her untimely death, Star Wars fans across the world paid tribute to Carrie Fisher, the actor behind the iconic character, Princess Leia. In New Orleans, thousands took to the streets to honour Fisher, many dressed as the tough-talking princess. 
A local waitress who fired her gun at three fleeing robbers is now out of a job.
Scandal, what scandal?
[Wash Times] President Obama has said he’ll stay out of the day-to-day scrum in Washington once he vacates the White House, but a top Republican in Congress hopes the president’s second in command sticks around and works to facilitate deals between the two political parties.
Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican
[PJ] On CNN, liberal activist Anthony Kapel "Van" Jones said that "the Clinton days are over" in the Democratic Party, and pointed to two emerging leaders as the future of a more progressive political party focused on identity politics. Naturally, he chose two racial minority members of Congress -- and the extremely controversial first Muslim congressman.
[Breitbart] During a tour of the Baltic states, Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called for tougher sanctions against Russia Sunday over hacking allegations.
[Ynet] The terrorist who killed at least 39 and 
[MIDDLEEASTMONITOR] A Paleostinian woman was injured after being shot by Israeli soldiers at the Qalandiya checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem in the central occupied West Bank.
[ARA] A US-led coalition 
[MIDDLEEASTMONITOR] A total of 34 
[MIDDLEEASTMONITOR] Lebanese police have 
[YAHOO] 
[YAHOO] One person 
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A top commander of the Taliban group was killed by one his relatives in northeastern Takhar province of Afghanistan.
