NASA is soliciting concepts for payloads that could fly on a mysterious satellite it is in discussions to inherit from another government agency.
NASA issued a request for information (RFI) Feb. 15 for a proposed spacecraft called the NASA Science/Technology Platform Satellite, or NSTP-Sat. The RFI was the first time NASA had publicly discussed such a mission.
The RFI, issued by NASA’s science mission directorate, solicits ideas for payloads, including remote sensing instruments and technology demonstrations, which could fly on the spacecraft. The RFI offered few details about the proposed mission, noting NSTP-Sat could fly "to low earth orbit, geostationary equatorial orbit, medium Earth orbit, Earth-Moon L1, or lunar orbit in the 2021 timeframe."
The RFI, which remains open until March 17, seeks ideas for how this spacecraft could be used to meet NASA’s science and technology development goals. The RFI states that NASA will use the responses to determine "whether there are science opportunities for new uses of this spacecraft" and "whether a solicitation for proposals is warranted to enable such opportunities."
The RFI offered few details about the spacecraft itself. "The NSTP-Sat is a spacecraft platform that has become available to NASA as excess Government property through an interagency agreement," it stated. It added the spacecraft was a "Boeing GEO spinner bus" that could launch on an EELV-class rocket or as a secondary payload on a Space Launch System mission.
NASA and other organizations involved with NSTP-Sat have been reticent to provide additional details about how NASA gained access to the satellite bus. Alan Zide, a program executive in NASA’s heliophysics division and the point of contact listed in the RFI, did not respond to email messages with questions about the satellite.
[Breaking911.com] The federal authorities have charged a St. Louis man with making more than half a dozen bomb threats against Jewish community centers, schools and a Jewish history museum, an unsealed court document shows.
Juan Thompson, 31, was arrested in St. Louis, Missouri. He is accused of making at least eight of the threats against JCCs.
Juan Thompson, made some of the threats in his own name and others in the name of a former girlfriend, apparently in an attempt to intimidate her, according to a federal complaint filed by the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan and unsealed on Friday.
Thompson, a former Chicago journalist was previously linked to a “pattern of deception” involving fabricating quotes and creating fake email accounts while writing for The Intercept, a New York-based online publication. Thompson, whose employment at The Intercept ended more than a year ago, previously worked as an intern at Chicago Public Media WBEZ FM 91.5 and at DNAinfo.com Chicago.
Thompson has a twitter account @JuanMThompson full of anti-semitic and racist tweets. He accused President trump of ethnic cleansing in a Feb 23 Tweet. He also claimed in a tweet that he was “reverting to Islam”, in another that 42% of Americans were “filthy fascist appeasers, and should be “taken out along with (President) Trump”, and that he once nearly got killed in a drive-by shooting.
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy ||
03/03/2017
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#1
An anti-Trump communist. He is everything the liberals love.
#2
I sense old souls sitting back, grinning
To see congregations up-spinning,
The public disgusted,
The copycats busted --
A monolith chock-full of winning.
[Jpost] The Anti-Defamation League said on Friday that federal and New York law enforcement had informed them of an arrest made in connection with bomb threats made against the Jewish advocacy group and Jewish Community Centers in the United States.
The group said it had been told of an "arrest made" by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the New York Police Department and the New York State Police, according to a posting on its Twitter account. Further details of the arrest were not immediately available.
Juan Thompson, the 31-year-old suspect, has been accused by federal prosecutors of a "campaign to harass and intimidate," ABC News reported on Friday. He has been charged with cyber-stalking a woman and threatening the JCCs in that woman's name. Prosecutors claim that Thompson made eight threats against JCCs as part of a "sustained campaign to harass and intimidate" the woman after the end of their romantic relationship. Why don't I feel relieved?
That takes care of 8 of the calls. It does not explain the other 90 calls or the desecration of Jewish cemeteries.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
03/03/2017 12:11
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I crawled through his Twitter feed - he's anti Trump nutter who used to write for The Intercept. Does not appear to me major actor in the threats.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
03/03/2017 13:07
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#3
according to one of his tweets he 'reverted' to Islam in 2016 (most Islamic theologians think all babies are born muslim and if they are raised in another religion and then convert to Islam, they are simply reverting to their first religion),
and he's also Black so the folks at the SPLC are very unhappy again today
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A new study shows that an increasing amount of Democrats are likely to embrace conspiracy theories in the media after losing the 2016 election. You could've knocked me over with a feather!
The study, entitled "Conspiracy Endorsement as Motivated Reasoning: The Moderating Roles of Political Knowledge and Trust," compares how Republicans and Democrats changed their responses to a conspiracy predispositions scale. Conspiracy statements at link
The percentage of Democrats who agreed on average with a conspiracy claim increased from 27 percent before the 2016 election to 32 percent after President Donald Trump won. But Republicans' inclination to embrace a conspiratorial claim overall declined in three of the four statements. The amount of Republicans who agreed on average with conspiratorial statements decreased from 28 percent before the election to 19 percent afterwards. One in three Dems are dim, compared with only one in five trunks.
The managing editor of Snopes told The Atlantic in February that since Trump's election, more conspiratorial stories have risen aimed at liberals. "Yes, there has been more coming from the left. A lot of dubious news, a lot of wishful thinking type stuff."
Since the 2016 election, idea-based articles have swept the internet. Including gobs of Russian conspiracy froth.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/03/2017
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#1
There has to be faultfinding and someone to blame. Democrats can never face the fact that they had nothing to sell and were are losers. Hillary was a bad candidate. Next, the call for victimhood; it was Trump and the Russians.
#12
I couldn't stand it. Title typo fixed, while acknowledging that the discussion is utterly delightful, in an extremely painful kind of way. Carry on.
#14
R-burg's resident poet(s) casn take a crack at this. Maybe they can put together something with looser and loser. Rhyming words might be: user, abuser, boozer, lose her, choosers, cruiser, end users, accusers, drug abuser, oozer, schmoozer, …
#15
There, girths grow too great to be girt
But billow from under their shirt.
Like locusts on honey
(but focused on money)
They're blundering through the dessert.
#16
The playwright, reduce-and-reuser:
"Just Hitler, conducting a newser."
Enthused the producer,
"A mortal lock looser!"
"A coup, sir. A guaranteed snoozer."
[Ynet] ISIS weekly magazine exposes a man suspected of spying for Israel; ISIS claims that pursuant to the cell's activities, three collaborators were executed. According to the report, the collaborators' squad planted electronic cards used by Israel to locate ISIS centers of activity.
In a lengthy article published in their weekly magazine, ISIS presented so-called Israeli collaborators in Sinai and shed light on its psychological warfare with Israel.
In order to substantiate their claims, the article also published the photo of an alleged spy named Hussein Dawichi El Bariki. An ISIS source said that "the last cell enjugged You have the right to remain silent... is a spy squad of three people who had confessed to contacting the Jews via telephone." A rogue officer had apparently recruited them after seducing them with the offer of money.
The mission of the exposed spy was "to track the movements of the jihad fighters and instantly update their location over the phone. As a result, three fighters were killed."
Another member was apparently supposed to recruit agents and hand out funds, as well as plant electronic cards, which would then reveal their location.
The official ended his message by saying that "those who insist on heresy will get the sword, with the help of Allah."
A security official in the Sinai Peninsula said that much like in all other ISIS-controlled territories, the Sinai Peninsula has a security mechanism to ensure the safety of the fighters and the civilians under their control.
The article also said that Israel ("The Jewish State") has already expressed its concern over what is going on in Sinai.
The same security official who spoke with the magazine explained that "the Jewish army has helped and is still helping the Egyptian army in its war against the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... . Jewish aircrafts boast a majority of bombings against Moslems in the Sinai Peninsula. As a result, dozens were killed and homes destroyed."
Then, the article continued to explain that Israel is not satisfied with bombings alone, as it is also trying to recruit spies to provide it with information, to be their eyes following the officials of the Islamic State.
The recruiting process includes random phone calls to Moslem residents to lure the weak-spirited ones with the promise of money.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/03/2017
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[IsraelTimes] For 2nd time in 3 weeks, mosque in trouble for online video calling Jews killers, denying Jewish connection to Israel.
Police have been asked to investigate a newly found video hate sermon against Jews, the second complaint against the same mosque in three weeks.
The video, released online Tuesday by the Middle East Media Research Institute, shows Sheikh Wael al-Ghitawi in November, 2014, delivering a sermon at the Al Andalous Islamic Center in Montreal’s St. Laurent borough against the "people who slayed the prophets, shed their blood, and cursed the Lord."
Just luck he wasn't caught procuring for ISIS or explaining why it's a good idea to make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom. But before that idiot phone caller from wherever, nobody but MEMRI and those who pay attention would care.
In his sermon he said that "The [Jews] were disrespectful towards the prophets. They cursed them, maligned them, tortured them, lashed them, banished them from their homes, and even killed them. They killed the prophet Yahya, cutting him in two. They killed other prophets as well."
The imam also rejected any Jewish rights to Jerusalem, saying that "Jerusalem is Arab and Islamic. It is our land, the land of our fathers and forefathers. We are the people most entitled to it. We will not forsake a single inch of this land."
He said that the Jews of today are not the same people mentioned in scripture, but "Tartars, Turkish Mongols, who lived in a land called Khazaria."
"If you examine the annals of history, you will see that the Jews do not have any historical right to Paleostine," he said.
"This is a bizarre strain of radical propaganda," Rabbi Reuben Poupko, of the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs, or CIJA, told the National Post. "It appears in the writings of Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", and other groups like it and claims to debunk Jewish history," he said.
He said that he did not feel that these views were endorsed by the wider Moslem community, but their "presence in this mosque needs to be investigated."
Early last month, in an August 2014 video released on YouTube, a different imam from the same mosque is seen calling on Allah to "destroy the accursed Jews" and that they be killed "one by one."
In reaction to that video, the mosque characterized that imam’s phrasing as "clumsy" and "unacceptable."
In another development, CIJA issued a statement condemning a bomb threat Wednesday against Moslem students at the Montreal’s Concordia University.
Just weeks after six Moslem worshippers were bumped off at a Quebec City mosque, "the pathology of hate persists," Poupko said in a statement co-signed by other Jewish community leaders.
[Breitbart] The president of one of the largest unions in the United States is praising President Donald Trump’s plans to reform immigration policies.
During Trump’s joint address to the Congress, he called for a merit-based legal immigration system, saying that the current law allowing extended-family chain migration hurts American workers and drives wages down.
In an interview with the Fox Business Network, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said his union has been talking about this problem with legal immigration for years, hinting at support for the plan.
"This was the first time the president has talked about legal immigration being used to drive down wages," Trumka told Fox Business. "We’ve been saying that for a long time."
Trumka said he was "particularly surprised" that Trump mentioned the problems with legal immigration, as he has in the past largely focused on ending illegal immigration, which is also seen as a strain on the labor market.
[FOX] Charles Krauthammer has strong advice for congressional Republicans who are reportedly divided on which drafts of health care legislation would be best to replace ObamaCare.
"The Republicans are missing the point. They need one plan," Krauthammer said on "Special Report" tonight. "So, pick a damn plan, since nobody knows for sure which one is ultimately going to be the best."
Krauthammer said Republicans cannot be "counting your pennies" at a time when they can finally draft a repeal-and-replace bill that a sitting president will sign.
He said they must make sure there will not be very many people hurt by the replacement, in that they would lose coverage.
The issue, he said, "Is so complicated, as President Trump has discovered, that nobody can predict with accuracy which of the plans will produce the outcome you want."
A unified Republican Party with a single plan will produce leverage for a "political case" to be made against the Democrats, he said.
#1
Krauthammer simply does not understand. Stock brokerage account impacts must be taken into account. Give our congresscritters a bit more time to sort out their holdings.
#4
He hasn't even finished his first 100 days yet. I know there are fears of McCain and McConnel's rubber spines becoming contagious but they really need to get this right. Give them a bit of time to get it right.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/03/2017 11:57
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#6
Krauthammer wants to rush into it. Bad call. They need to go snow and get it right.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/03/2017 12:07
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#7
Here's the thing - if healthcare is super complicated then why did they promise repeal by Jan 27? Either they don't know what they are talking about, or they are weaseling out on us. Either way, not good.
I suspect they are also trying to do something that Democrats will sign off on, which is also a mistake. Those are the same folks that passed this in the first place without a single Republican vote.
#11
If they are trying to get one (D) on board, that's ... inconceivable.
No matter what the (R)s come up with, the (D)s and their media drones will rip and snort.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/03/2017 13:29
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#12
Well, nothing stops Trump from rescinding all the EO exemptions (I'm looking at you Congressional staffers). That would create fun was they drag this all out.
#13
The issue, he said, "Is so complicated, as President Trump has discovered, that nobody can predict with accuracy which of the plans will produce the outcome you want."
Jesus H. Christ - these Washington people are so fucking dense. If that sentence right there doesn't scream 'THEN LET THE MARKET HANDLE IT!!!', I don't know what does.
When some people here starts repeating the bullshit about what 'replaces' it, guess what? You just bought their narrative. Laws, laws, laws, just pass a fucking law and everything will be fucking wonderful. Just repeal the old law and keep Democrats away from anything you plan to do to return this back to the market. How god damn difficult is this?
#14
Raj, you are right but perception is everything and the media would ensure the airwaves were filled with Trump and Congress are killing old people which would lead to a bloodbath at the midterms.
[Mail] Despite being the granddaughter and daughter of two pro-life presidents, Barbara Pierce Bush expressed her support for the abortion-providing Planned Parenthood organization on Wednesday.
The former first daughter was the keynote speaker at the Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas' annual luncheon, held at Fort Worth's Omni Hotel.
In her speech, the 35-year-old said she was 'very proud to stand with Planned Parenthood' because of the services it provides to women.
'I am proud to stand with Planned Parenthood not only because women, regardless of where they are from, deserve to live dignified, healthy lives, [but] ... because it’s a really good investment.
'We know that when women are healthy, their families and their children are healthier too,' she wrote.
#5
When the parents are successful and famous, the urge in the offspring to claim fame in their own right is very strong. Often, their ambition to be famous isn't matched by their actual abilities, so they get a moment on the stage, get used, and are dismissed by public opinion. Witness Chelsea and her shallow skill set when examined carefully.
#10
"Sleep, child, and I'll sing you a ballad
Of how all my choices are valid,
And equally yummy
and healthy for Mummy!"
Planned Parenthood's chopped baby salad.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A training camp of the Taliban forces of Evil was targeted in an Arclight airstrike in the restive Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province in south of Afghanistan.
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the Arclight airstrike was carried out in Khanshin district, leaving at least 20 forces of Evil dead.
MoD further added that a cache of drugs of the group was also destroyed in the Arclight airstrike.
No further details were given regarding the Arclight airstrike and it is yet not clear if it was carried out by the Afghan Air Force or the Ruritanian US forces based in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2017
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[Iraq News] One army soldier was killed and two others were maimed, while two civilians were maimed Thursday when armed gunnies targeted a checkpoint and in a bombing in southern Baghdad.
Police sources told Alsumaria News that one army soldier was killed and two others were maimed when armed gunnies shot at a checkpoint in al-Madaen, south of the capital.
Meanwhile, ...back at the cheese factory, there was only one thought in the mouse's mind: I can do this! I can do this! Then the trap sprung... two civilians were also maimed when a bomb went kaboom! in a commercial area in al-Makaseb, southwest of Baghdad, the sources said.
Nobody has grabbed credit for the bombing or the gun attack, but IS Lions of Islam have said they had been responsible for several bloody kabooms and attacks that hit the capital in the past months, bringing the governorate municipal and security officials under critics’ fire.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Iraq News] Iraqi Rapid Response Forces’ Captain, Saadon Khaled al-Ramadani, stated on Thursday, that the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group launched attacks on the liberated areas in eastern djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , using rockets containing chlorine gas.
Ramadani said in a press statement, "The Islamic State group launched an attack, yesterday, usinf Katyusha rockets from the banks of the Tigris River in western Mosul, on al-Maliyah area and a garage in eastern Mosul."
"After examining the remnants, it was revealed that the rockets were containing chlorine gas," Ramadani added.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pond, the enormous newt was trying to decide if Gloria was edible... Dr. Bahnam Aziz pointed out that a number the residents of the garage, Nabi Yunus and al-Faisaliyah areas were transferred to medical centers and hospitals after suffering severe poisoning by chlorine gas.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Iraq News] The Chief of Staff of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, Lieutenant General Jamal Mohammed, announced on Thursday, that the Peshmerga forces will not withdraw from the areas that they liberated from the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... , before the start of the battle to liberate djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... Mohammed said in a press statement, "Peshmerga forces will not withdraw from the areas that they liberated before October 10, 2016 (the start of the battle to liberate the city of Mosul)."
"Peshmerga sacrificed nearly 2000 deaders and 12 thousand casualties in the war against the Islamic State. The withdrawal of Peshmerga from these areas is not negotiable," Mohammed added.
Mohammed also pointed out to the importance of preparing new agreement between Erbil and Baghdad, after liberating Mosul, on the situation of the city that includes more than 300 thousand Kurdish persons.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2017
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[IsraelTimes] In recent months, Strip’s rulers said to arrest hundreds of Salafis, prompting them to strike at Israel and draw IDF retaliation.
The spate of recent rocket attacks against Israel from Gazoo are reportedly the result of increased tension between Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", and murderous Moslem Salafist groups in the Strip.
According to a report Thursday in the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat, Hamas has nabbed
Continued on Page 49
[Bloomberg] The threat to U.S. airports from terror groups such as al-Qaeda and Islamic State is expected to grow because of instability in parts of the Middle East and Asia, a former high-ranking intelligence official said Thursday.
The focus on fighting Islamic State, also known as ISIS, has allowed al-Qaeda and its offshoots to "rebound" in countries including Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan, said Michael Morell, former deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
At the same time, as Islamic State loses territory in Syria and Iraq, the tens of thousands of its fighters who poured in from other countries will leave, and some will try to infiltrate the U.S., Morell said.
"The threat is actually going to get worse over the next several years," Morell said in an appearance at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Aviation Summit in Washington.
While the threat emanates from groups based in the Middle East and Asia, Morell said more than 80 percent of the people arrested by the FBI on terrorist-related charges in the past three years were U.S. residents, and the majority of them were citizens.
[NYDailyNews] “Municipal and state plans are the next to go down — that’s a pension tsunami that’s coming,” he said. “In many states, those defined benefit plans are seriously underfunded — and at the end of the day, math trumps the statutes.”
#1
The trucking industry — almost uniformly organized by Teamsters — has suffered enormous financial losses in its pension and welfare funds due to a crippling combination of deregulation and stock market crashes, Nyhan said.
With the exception of the above single sentence addressing a possible cause of this issue the entire story is about the effects. The easy answer for this omission of information is the reporter is either lazy or ignorant. A more plausible explanation is the greed, graft, and gross mismanagement angle doesn't fit into their narrative. The clue to this theory is in the subsequent solution line.
The prognosis is bleak minus some new legislative help.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. in reaction to the coordinated suicide kabooms in Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... said the group is attempting to boost the morale of their fighters following the death of its most big shot Mullah Abdul Salam and the recent defeats the group sustained in the battleground.
Condemning the attacks in strongest words, President Ghanis said the terrorist groups once again attempted to spread fear and terror in Kabul city.
"Following the death of the terrorist group leader Mullah Abdul Salam in Kunduz and back to back defeats on the battleground, the group is attempting to boost the morale of its fighters by conducting terrorist attacks in crowded areas," he added.
President Ghani further added that the Afghan nation endorsed support in one voice to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces during the national day of the defense forces.
He said the Afghan forces are on the frontline in the fight against terrorism more than any other time to eliminate them in all parts of the country.
The Taliban group grabbed credit behind the attacks conducted in Police District#6 and Police District#12 on Wednesday afternoon.
The latest information disclosed by the officials show at least 16 people bit the dust and more than 50 others were maimed although the casualties toll could further rise.
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#1
attempting to boost the morale of their fighters
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Talibs have captured Tala Barfak district in northern Baghlan province of Afghanistan following days of heavy shootout.
Security sources confirmed the district fell to Taliban control after two days of heavy shootout between the security forces and the Taliban holy warriors.
Baghlan is among the relatively volatile provinces in northern Afghanistan where the Taliban forces of Evil and forces of Evil belonging to other holy warrior groups are actively operating in a number of its remote districts.
The Taliban group increased their insurgency activities in Baghlan province late in 2015 and in earlier 2016 amid rampant insurgency led by the group in northern and northeastern parts of the country.
The Taliban forces of Evil started to prepared for the 2016 fighting season after reaching to an agreement with the provincial government earlier last year but their plots were foiled after a large scale operation was launched in Dahana-e-Ghori and other key districts.
In the meantime, a top Taliban leader who was actively in charge of leading the group’s insurgency in northern Baghlan province was killed during festivities with the Afghan cops late last year.
The Ministry of Interior (MoI) said the slain Taliban capo was identified as Salam Uzbek who was killed along with 15 of fighters.
MoI further added that Uzbek was killed after launching a coordinated attack on security posts in the village of Niazullah in Baglan-e-Markazi district.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2017
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[USATODAY] The Senate has confirmed former Texas governor Rick Perry to serve as Energy secretary under President Trump.
The vote was 62-37 on Thursday.
Perry -- who once pledged to eliminate the department -- has repeatedly promised be an advocate for the agency and to protect the nation’s nuclear stockpile. Perry also has said he’d rely on federal scientists, including those who work on climate change.
Perry has said he’ll work to develop American energy in all forms -- from oil, gas and nuclear power to renewable sources such as wind and solar power.
Democrats say they accept Perry’s disavowal of his 2011 pledge to abolish the Energy Department. But they’re worried he may not stand up to GOP proposals to slash the department’s budget.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Ol' Rick overstayed his welcome here in Texas. I don't think he remembers what it's like to actually have a real job
The "Money Shot"
[LawfareBlog] So, Will Congress Investigate?
Congress has the necessary tools and historical precedent to conduct this investigation. The questions at issue here not only fall within Congress’s constitutional authority, but arguably implicate a constitutional duty to investigate.
High-minded rhetoric aside, as with Sessions decision to recuse himself, in practical terms the calculations are political. As Brooking’s Molly Reynolds noted in a recent podcast with Susan, Congress typically undertakes serious investigation of a President of its own party only when the political costs of not investigating are higher than those of investigating. Senator Rand Paul was remarkably frank (if unadmirable) on the matter in saying that it "makes no sense" to have "Republicans investigat[ing] Republicans." And yet, principled conservatives-- Senators McCain, Graham, and Collins Aaaaaannnnnd it's gone.
among others--have held fast in calling on their colleagues to place country before party and undertake a credible independent inquiry. Is it yet time to establish a "Fake News" category?
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] US forces on Tuesday conducted a series of air strikes in 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... against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ...the latest incarnation of various Qaeda and Qaeda-allied groups, including the now-defunct Aden-Abyan Islamic Army that boomed the USS Cole in 2000... , the Pentagon said. "More than 20 strikes targeted AQAP turbans, equipment and infrastructure in the Yemeni governorates of Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... , Al Bayda and Shabwah," Pentagon front man Navy Captain Jeff Davis said.
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#1
So Trump and Mad Dog Mattis were right about the raid that banged AbdulRaouf Dhabhab. The Dhabhab family in AQAP, are like the BinLaden family of al-Qaeda. They needed to be pull out by the roots. These bombing runs are probably the result of the actionable intelligence gleaned from the Special Forces attack in Yemen. As always, McCain and the rest of the left are looking pretty foolish.
Egypt’s Borg El Arab Airport authorities arrested a Russian passenger on March 2 who had an improvised explosive device (IED) and was intending to board a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul, Egypt Independent reports citing a source in the airport in Alexandria.
Airport authorities were suspicious of a strange item in the passenger's luggage, seen via X-ray, the source said, adding that a bomb squad was summoned to inspect the item which was discovered to be an IED.
Thus is demonstrated the vastly improved security of Egypt's commercial airports.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/03/2017
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#1
was it a clock?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/03/2017 11:04
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[Iraq News] A local source informed that the so-called Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... ’s official of the Diwan of mosques in Nineveh Province was killed during festivities, west of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , Alsumaria News reported on Thursday.
The source said, "The Islamic State’s official of the Diwan of mosques in Nineveh Province was killed, along with his son and one of his aides, during festivities with the security forces in the vicinity of Wadi Hajar, west of Mosul."
"The majority of the Islamic State’s leaders of Wilayat Ninewa are from Wadi Hajar, which considers an important stronghold of the group," the source added on condition of anonymity.
Noteworthy, forces from Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) stormed into the area of Wadi Hajar, yesterday, to liberate it from the Islamic State’s grip.
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03/03/2017
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Life gets awfully exciting when there is an unknown but large number of the enemy swimming through the population preparing plots.
[AnNahar] Police and soldiers on Thursday sealed off a part of central Brussels after stopping a car with gas canisters, a police spokeswoman said, as Belgium prepares to mark the first anniversary of the March terror attacks.
The spokeswoman said she had no information about the driver. But reports citing the local mayor Charles Picque said the man was believed to have been radicalized but that it was difficult to know how dangerous the situation was.
"The car was stopped because the driver jumped several red lights. The police then noticed several gas canisters in the boot and rather than take any risks, they called for help from the army bomb squad," the spokeswoman said.
The driver had put up no resistance and stopped of his own accord, she said.
He was detained for questioning, she said, adding that she did not know as yet whether be would be charged with any offense.
A security perimeter was set up in the Porte de Hal area, near the main Midi rail station and famous for a medieval fortress which attracts tourists.
Buildings closest to the car have been evacuated and public transport either halted or diverted.
[IsraelTimes] After third attack in four days, Israeli army strikes two Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, positions in the northern Strip.
Israeli troops operating near the Gazoo security fence came under fire north of the Strip on Thursday, in the third attack in four days, the army said.
No soldiers were reported injured, but an army engineering vehicle was hit by gunfire, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
The military responded to the attack by striking two Hamas positions in the northern Gazoo Strip.
"In response to the gunfire, An IDF force attacked and destroyed two Hamas positions using [Israeli] Air Force crafts and tank fire," the army said in a statement.
The Gazoo health ministry said it had not received any reports of Paleostinian injuries.
According to the Gazoo-based Shehab news agency, the targets were Hamas observation posts, north of Beit Lahiya.
Earlier in the day, the Paleostinian Ma’an news reported that Israeli troops fired shots toward "lands and homes" in the northern Gazoo Strip. An IDF spokesperson said she was "not familiar" with the incident.
The Paleostinian outlet also reported that Israeli vehicles had operated on the Gazoo side of the security fence on Thursday morning.
The exchange came less than a day after a rocket fired from the coastal enclave struck an open field south of the coastal city of Ashkelon, causing neither injury nor damage. The IDF did not immediately respond to the rocket attack with artillery shelling or Arclight airstrikes, as it has done in the past.
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman told the Ynet news site in an interview on Thursday that the army was not required to react in the same way after every incident.
"We don’t have to dance to Hamas’s tune," he said.
The projectile struck the Hof Ashkelon region shortly after 11 p.m. on Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces said. Israeli troops located fragments of the rocket on Thursday morning. No terrorist groups immediately took credit for the attack.
[IsraelTimes] An Israeli company said Thursday it has started exporting gas from an offshore field to Jordan, marking the country’s first ever exports of natural gas.
The exports to Jordan began in January, Delek Drilling -- part of a consortium leading the development of Israel’s offshore gas reserves -- told AFP.
There was no formal announcement at the time but it is the first time Israel has ever exported natural gas, a company spokeswoman said.
Jordanian firms Arab Potash and Jordan Bromine signed a deal in 2014 to import 2 billion cubic metres (around 70 billion cubic feet) of gas from Israel’s Tamar field over 15 years. At the time reports said the deal was worth $771 million.
Jordan is one of only two Arab countries to have a peace deal with Israel but the 1994 agreement is unpopular among Jordanians -- almost half of whom are of Paleostinian origin.
Detractors of the gas deal, including Jordan’s main opposition Islamist party, reject any cooperation with a country they regard as an enemy.
So do without the NG...
However, Switzerland makes more than cheese... the resource-poor Arab country has few alternatives to tackle shortages.
In September 2016, a larger deal worth an estimated $10 billion was signed to export gas from the Leviathan offshore field to Jordan.
In the face of protests, Jordanian Information Minister Mohammed Momani defended the deal, telling state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
it would cut $600 million a year from the state’s energy bill.
Deliveries from Leviathan are expected to begin in 2019.
[PJ] CNN interviewed the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, who said their ambassador is not a spy. She echoed President Trump and said, "Stop spreading lies and false news. This is a good advice for CNN." [sic.] Zakharova described the ambassador as a "world-class diplomat who was a deputy minister of foreign affairs in Russia, who has communicated with his American colleagues for decades on different fields."
#3
Here's a thought. How about an independent commission to investigate inappropriate ties between US politicians and Russia. And China. The initial list of persons of interest would necessarily include dozens of Democrats, including the Clintons. Lets see how far the Left wants to take their Russia scare.
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] The Turkish president said Ankara has not seen that Washington had any clear plan of liberating the ISIS-occupied Syrian city of Raqqa.
The United States does not yet have a clear plan for the liberation of the Syrian city of Raqqa from the ISIS terrorist group (outlawed in Russia), Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... said Thursday.
"I cannot say that the new [US] leadership has a clear plan regarding Raqqa. During the visits to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... of the head of the US Joint Staff and the director of the CIA, steps, which we can call preliminary, have been taken in this process," Erdogan said, as quoted by the Haber7 broadcaster.
He added that the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) should not participate in the operation, calling it "unacceptable."
On Wednesday, the commander of the US-led coalition against ISIS said he expected Syrian Kurds to take part in the liberation of Raqqa.
The city of Raqqa is the ISIS stronghold in Syria. Turkey and the Kurdish troops have voiced their plans to liberate the ISIS-occupied city.
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#1
I think there is a clear plan but some hesitation in applying the ceramic glaze.
#2
Why should we have a "clear plan", O Wise Sultan? Isn't our real objective the attrition of ISIS assets? Occupying land and/or determining who rules Syria when the dust settles, not so much...
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned Denmark’s ambassador over a new attack on the Iranian embassy in Copenhagen, warning the envoy that lack of "serious and deterrent action" on such recurring incidents could damage the ties between the Islamic Theocratic Republic and the Scandinavian country.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Thursday that the Danish ambassador has been summoned to the ministry to voice "strong protest" at the second attack in less than two months on Iran’s diplomatic mission in Copenhagen.
According to the front man, "six hostile elements" attacked the Iranian embassy in a "suspicious move" on Wednesday evening.
The Danish envoy was reminded that such incidents are in violation of internationally-accepted norms and of Denmark’s own laws, Qassemi said, chiding the Danish government for its "weak performance in ensuring the security" of the embassy building and its staff.
The Danish ambassador was also told that recurrence of such attacks along with lack of serious and deterrent measures would not only "seriously bring into question the Danish government’s determination" to counter the anti-Iranian moves, but also could damage Tehran and Copenhagen’s growing relations and "will definitely entail a proportional reaction" from Iran, Qassemi added.
He went on to say that the Danish envoy has slammed the incident as "unacceptable" and pledged to relay Iran’s protest to his government as soon as possible and report back to Tehran.
In a similar incident on January 19, "four anti-revolutionary elements" had scaled the walls of Iran’s embassy in Denmark, entered the mission’s courtyard, put up profane placards and forced down the Iranian national flag from the flagpole.
Danish police locked away ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... six people after that attack, describing them as four Iranian expatriates seeking asylum in Sweden and two others holding Swedish residency.
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[AL.com] A Birmingham teen has been indicted in the killing of an elderly Korean War veteran who was stabbed and then set on fire in his North Birmingham back yard.
A Jefferson County grand jury indicted Thomas Sims, now 19, with capital murder, according to records made public Wednesday. Sims, a neighbor of victim Gene Emory Dacus, has been jailed without bond since August 2016.
Court records show the 85-year-old Dacus, known by his neighbors as "Mr. Gene," was killed during the theft of his Dodge pickup truck, as well as his wallet. The case against Sims, who lived near the victim, was bound over to a grand jury after a preliminary hearing was held last October.
A judge ruled there was enough evidence to present the case for indictment consideration because Sims admitted to being present while Dacus was stabbed, admitted to burning Dacus and was seen by a witness driving Dacus' truck after the slaying. The grand jury issued the indictment Feb. 10.
Attorneys for the teen have argued for bond for their client, saying he has many family members in the area who are willing to help him, and that he has very little criminal history and would not pose a threat to the community. A judge denied that request for bond.
Birmingham police were called to Dacus' 33rd Avenue North home about 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 17, after receiving calls about a person on fire. When they arrived on the scene, they found him burned in the back of his home.
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... on Wednesday threatened to strike Syrian Kurdish militia forces if they do not withdraw from Manbij, a former bastion of ISISTakfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... group that has been taken over by predominantly Kurdish forces.
"We have said before we will strike the YPG if they do not retreat" from Manbij, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told journalists, referring to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units.
The YPG, which Ankara considers a "terrorist" organization, is backed by the United States as the most effective fighting force on the ground in the battle against ISIS.
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[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] Soldiers rubbed out two suspected ’jihadists’ in the mountainous Kasserine region of central Tunisia, the defense ministry said on Wednesday.
It said more might have been killed on Tuesday evening but the operation on Mount Sammama was still continuing so it was a preliminary toll. Tunisian media cited military sources as saying that as many as seven suspected ’jihadists’ might have been killed.
A hospital source in Kasserine said one soldier had suffered a bullet wound.
Mount Sammama is adjacent to Mount Chaambi, considered to be the main rear base of the ’jihadists’ near the border with Algeria.
Soldiers rubbed out two suspected ’jihadists’ in the same area on February 17.
Since its 2011 revolution, Tunisia has experienced an increase in ’jihadist’ attacks that have cost the lives of dozens of members of the security forces and also 59 foreign tourists. The country has been under a state of emergency since November 2015, when a suicide kaboom in Tunis claimed by the ISIS ’jihadist’ group killed 12 presidential guards.
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[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] Iraqi special forces are facing "fierce" resistance as they battle the ISISTakfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... group in southwest djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , a commander said on Wednesday.
Iraq launched a major push on February 19 to recapture the rest of Mosul from ISIS, retaking the airport and then pushing up from the south.
Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Service is fighting "for the (Maamun) Flats area, which is considered very important for control of the Baghdad road and the surrounding neighborhoods," Staff Lieutenant General Abdulghani al-Assadi told AFP.
"The resistance is violent and fierce because they’re defending this line and this line, in our opinion, is the main line for them," said Assadi, a top CTS commander.
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[Iraq News] A local source in Nineveh informed that more than 20 checkpoints belonging to the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... , west of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , disappeared in few hours, Alsumaria News reported on Thursday.
The source said, "More than 20 checkpoints belonging to the Islamic State in the areas of al-Zera’i and Bab al-Taub, west of Mosul, disappeared along with their members in few hours."
"The disappearance of the checkpoints reflects the internal collapse of the krazed killer group, that started to appear obviously with the start of the battle to liberate western Mosul," the source added on condition of anonymity.
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[Iraq News] 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.... bandidossnuffies on Thursday executed two civilians in Anbar whom the group accused of collaboration with security forces, according to sources.
The pair was shot by a firing squad at the centre of the western Anbar town of Annah, the source told Alsumaria News. The group accused them of informing security forces about myrmidons’ locations in the town.
Since taking over several Iraqi cities in 2014 to proclaim a so-called "Islamic Caliphate," Islamic State bandidossnuffies reportedly tortured and enslaved civilians at areas under its control for violating its extreme religious rules, and executed many for either acting as informants for security services or attempting to escape "the land of the Caliphate" as the common charge reads.
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[Iraq News] The cameraman who filmed 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 leader declaring the establishment of the group’s rule in Iraq and Syria was killed Thursday in an Arclight airstrike west of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , sources said.
The myrmidon group’s member who made the video footage of the historic 2014 sermon in al-Nuri mosque in western Mosul, which saw His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ...formerly merely the head of ISIL and a veteran of the Bagram jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us... declaring the inception of an "Islamic Caliphate" in Iraq and Syria, was killed in an Arclight airstrike on Wadi Akab, Alsumaria News quoted local sources as saying.
Iraqi reports about IS leaders’ deaths have on many occasions come from unnamed sources, and the group rarely admits serious losses on the battlefield through its media outlets.
The source, citing preliminary information, told the network that the cameraman was a Syrian national nicknamed "Abu Huthaifaq al-Halabi".
Earlier on Thursday, Rooters reported Arclight airstrikes destroying Omar al-Aswad mosque, an IS-held spot that was located near the mosque where Baghdadi delivered his sermon.
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[Iraq News] 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.... bully boyz have kidnapped 25 civilians for attempting to flee the group’s strongholds in southwestern Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... a source said Thursday as refugees numbers continue to soar amid battles between the group and Iraqi troops.
Alsumaria News quoted a source within pro-government militias at the town of Hawija as saying that the myrmidon group kidnapped early in the morning 25 people from al-Zab region after setting them up in an ambush.
The civilians, who were bound to Shirqat town in the neighboring Salahuddin province, were accused of "abandoning the land of the caliphate," a charge the group recurrently filed against civilians fleeing areas under its control. The accusation, most of the time, has ended up with the civilians brutally executed.
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[Iraq News] Most of commanders within the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... supreme leader’s inner circle have been killed, with holy warriors’ numbers in Iraq’s djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... no more than 2000, according to a commander of the U.S.-led coalition against the holy warrior group.
" In fact, almost all of His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ...formerly merely the head of ISIL and a veteran of the Bagram jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us... ’s inner circle has been killed in the last six months, six to nine months; have been killed with precision strikes by the coalition. So that’s big shots", said Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of the Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve.
"We assess right now that there’s somewhere between 2,000 plus or minus in and around western Mosul, including the area out to Tal Afar," Townsend told news hounds at a Pentagon briefing via a conference call from Baghdad late Wednesday, adding that the total of IS hard boyz in both Iraq and Syria stands between 12,000 and 15,000.
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#1
Perhaps the heart donor search isn't going so well after all.
[Iraq News] Joint Operations Command announced on Wednesday, that security forces managed to foil an attempt to attack the city of Samarra.
The Joint Operations Command Said in a press statement, "The Command received intelligence information indicating that the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... murderous Moslem group is planning to raid the city of Samarra."
"After studying the targets, the Joint Operations Command decided to conduct an extensive air strike, targeting the Islamic State group," the statement explained.
"Iraqi Air Force carried out an air strike, based on information obtained from Falcon Intelligence Cell, on a headquarters belonging to the Islamic State in al-Baida area, killing 15 terrorists, including 10 jacket wallahs," the statement added.
The statement also revealed that Iraqi Air Force conducted another air strike in the same area on a camp belonging to the Islamic State, and managed to kill 25 holy warriors, as well as destroying three vehicles.
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A key commander of the Taliban group was killed along with his five fighters in a US dronezap in eastern Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province of Afghanistan.
According to the local government officials, the murderous Moslems were targeted on Wednesday afternoon in Chaknoor area of Lalpur district.
Provincial governor’s front man Ataullah Khogyani confirmed that a key local leader of the group identified as Elias was killed in the raid.
He said at least five other murderous Moslems were also killed and another one was maimed in the Arclight airstrike.
According to Khogyani, a hideout of the murderous Moslems a several weapons, ammunition, and explosives were also destroyed.
Nangarhar is among the relatively calm provinces in eastern Afghanistan but the anti-government armed Lion of Islam groups including the loyalists of ISIS terrorist group are attempting to expand their foothold in this province.
This comes as the Afghan forces with the support of the US forces based in Afghanistan are busy conducting counter-terrorism operations in some remote districts of Nangarhar under the ongoing Shaheen-25 operations.
The US forces based in Afghanistan resumed their operations against the murderous Moslems last year after they were granted broader role by the B.O. regime.
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The casualties toll from coordinated suicide kabooms in capital Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... has climbed to at least 22 dead while nearly 120 others have sustained injuries.
The officials in the Ministry of Public Health of Afghanistan (MoPH) have said ordinary civilians are also among those killed or maimed.
MoPH front man Mohammad Ismail Kawoosi confirmed Thursday that 22 people bit the dust in the two attacks.
He said around 120 others sustained injuries including civilians.
The Taliban group grabbed credit behind the attacks which was widely condemned with the Afghan government saying the group is attempting to boost the morale of its fighters by conducting attacks in crowded places.
The attack was initially launched in the vicinity of the 6th police district of the city after a boom-mobileexploded to allow the remaining hard boyz infiltrate inside the PD#6 compound.
The shootout between the Afghan cops and the assailants continued for several hours before the compound was cleared of the krazed killers.
The second attack took place in the vicinity of 12th police district of the city but it was shortly brought under the control by the security forces.
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A prominent former Afghan jihadi leader Abdul Rab Rasool Sayyaf ...Afghan Salafist warlord, owned by Saudi Arabia. He was the guy who invited al-Qaeda to come into Afghanistan and make themselves at home... has been hospitalized in Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... with preliminary reports suggesting he has suffered a heart attack.
Sources close to Sayyaf have said he is in a better condition and is currently undergoing treatment.
Sayyaf is an influential political and jihadi leader and is one of the prominent critics of the Taliban group and other hard boyz fighting in the country.
Reports regarding his submission to the hospital due to heart attack come as he survived numerous attacks in the past.
His residence came under rocket in mid-May 2016 but no casualties were incurred to him while numerous other rockets landed close to his residence few earlier than that.
The attack on residence followed weeks after he criticized the Talibs group and dismissed their so called jihad as a move against the principles of Islam.
He has been continuously reaffirming his hard stance against the krazed killer groups and call on bad boy groups last month to end slavery for the outsiders.
He insist that the bad boy and terrorist groups fighting in the country should not brand their insurgency as Jihad, emphasizing that killing of children, women, destroying houses and committing other horrific crimes are not a holy war.
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#1
May inoperable coronary microvascular disease become your ticket to paradise.
[AFP] Philippine soldiers clashed with Islamist rebels behind the beheading of a German hostage in a bloody gun firefight that left 11 soldiers wounded. The Abu Sayyaf killed 70-year-old Jurgen Kantner on Sunday when its demands for a $600,000 ransom were not met.
Philippine troops exchanged fire with the rebels for around 45 minutes on Wednesday. Military spokesman Cirilito Sobejana said, "There were eleven (wounded in) total. Two from gunshot wounds and all others from shrapnel of an M203 (grenade)," referring to the Philippine troops wounded during the encounter. Asked if the group in the clash was the one behind Kantner's death, Sobejana said, "Yes, they are the ones responsible."
Two of the rebels were killed and five injured in the battle, he added.
Sobejana stressed that the military was still seeking to recover Kantner's remains. He said, "It is a relentless effort.
Until we find the body or the head, we will not stop."
Philippine President Duterte apologized on Tuesday for failing to save the hostage and said the military had stepped up operations against Abu Sayyaf.
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[Free Beacon] A judge in Multnomah County, Oregon is under investigation for allegedly helping an illegal immigrant evade federal authorities.
On Jan. 27, Mexican national Diddier Pacheco Salazar appeared before Judge Monica Herranz in a DUI case. After it came to Herranz's attention that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were in the hallway, she allegedly had Salazar leave her courtroom through her private entrance, Fox 12 Oregon reported Tuesday.
U.S. Attorney Billy Williams raised the issue when ICE agents notified him of the incident.
"I felt that it was inappropriate and delegitimizes the work of ICE agents who are out there doing their jobs," Williams said.
"When you're talking about the judicial system, whether it's federal or by state, you have an expectation that people are going to abide by the law and not take steps based on their own motivations, their own politics, whatever the motivation was," Williams added. Judge Herranz is on the Board of Directors of the Oregon Hispanic Bar Association (OHBA)
[Free Beacon] Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained 22-year-old Daniela Vargas as she left a Wednesday press conference in Jackson, Mississippi where she revealed her fear of deportation.
"You know who we are, you know what we're here for," ICE agents reportedly told Vargas before arresting her.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy shielded Vargas from deportation for years after she came to the U.S. as a child from Argentina. Vargas' protection under the law expired before she spoke at the press conference, which was hosted by a group called the Immigrants Rights Alliance, according to The Clarion-Ledger.
The group sought to use the press conference as a way of spotlighting families impacted by deportation. Vargas' father and brother were detained in February by ICE, while Vargas hid in a closet. Agents had discovered her and handcuffed her, but quickly released her.
"Today, my father and brother await deportation while I continue to fight this battle as a DREAMer to help contribute to this country, which I feel is very much my country," Vargas said at the conference.
CIA officials know who has been leaking classified information to The New York Times and The Washington Post, and the officials have passed that information on to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, according to a former U.S. attorney for President Ronald Reagan.
Joseph diGenova, the former U. S. attorney for the District of Columbia under Reagan, told LifeZette that in private conversations with CIA officials they confirmed they have the names of alleged leakers and have given the names to the U.S. Department of Justice.
DiGenova’s claim comes after yet another case of leaked classified information to The Washington Post made headlines late Wednesday night.
The New York Times revealed in a report Wednesday that President Obama’s staffers left bread crumbs for anyone looking to undermine the Trump administration throughout the federal government. The revelation by The Times indicates how a steady drip of embarrassing leaks has tormented the new administration of President Donald Trump.
On Wednesday night, The Washington Post reported that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had met the Russian ambassador twice in 2016. Sessions was then the junior U.S. senator from Alabama.
In his confirmation hearings last month, Sessions said he was not aware of any contact between Russian officials and the Trump campaign, a common complaint Democrats have made since the middle of last year. Sessions appeared to include himself in that denial.
Continues. LifeZette is a division of [Laura] Ingraham Media, Inc.
All these phony scandals are doing is helping Mr. Trump's team identify the moles who are going to have to go. And demonstrating the urgency of cleaning house...
[Washington Examiner] Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is hopping mad about media reports disputing his assessment that the U.S. special operations raid in Yemen last month yielded "vital intelligence."
Aides say Mattis is particularly upset about an NBC News report suggesting that so far none of the intelligence gathered in the raid, which cost the life of Navy SEAL William "Ryan" Owens, has proven to be either "actionable or vital."
"That is inaccurate," said a senior Pentagon official, who said while much of the intelligence is still being exploited, the cache of seized computers, cell phones, and hard drive has already produced leads as to where other al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula terrorists were located in Yemen, and their contacts.
The official said the raid was considered worth the risk of sending U.S. ground forces because AQAP has a history of plotting, inspiring, and exporting terror to America and the West, and because the U.S. has no military presence on the ground.
#1
Don't make Sec Chaos angry. You won't like it when he's angry.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
03/03/2017 10:31
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#2
perhaps a few Obama REMFs need to lead the ground attack on Raqqa, alone?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/03/2017 10:44
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#3
The rot Obama seeded in government is everywhere, nowhere more that DOD, DOJ and the intel community. A good surgeon knows to cut deep to stop the gangrene. They need to be unemployed now!
#4
Trump has been saying the Media are lying (when it is provable). Media is now saying Trump's people are lying (when there is no way the Media would know one way or the other).
I'm not sure the media really gets how to get out of their hole in the public perception because they keep digging and will take their Democrat friends down with them.
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard
(D-Hawaii since 2013)
said that The United States should stop aiding Syrian opposition groups affiliated with Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... terrorist groups.
"For years, our government has been providing both direct and indirect support to these armed Death Eater groups, who are working directly with or under the command of terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS, all in their effort and fight to overthrow the Syrian government. Our bill [HR608] does a simple thing and it says that our tax payers dollars should not be used to provide arms, money, intelligence or other types of support to Death Eater groups who are working with, allied with terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS," Gabbard told the RT broadcaster, referring to Takfiri groups.
That pretty much leaves the Kurds and their allies.
The Stop Arming Terrorists Act (HR608), which prohibits the use of federal agency funds to provide assistance to any individual or group affiliated with terrorists, was introduced to the Congress in January.
The bill accused the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of arming groups allied with the al-Qaeda terrorist organization in an effort to overthrow the Syrian government of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Terror of Aleppo ... In January, Gabbard traveled to Syria with a fact-finding mission, which included a meeting with Assad and a trip to Aleppo, liberated from turbans in late 2016.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2017
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#1
Funny the congresswoman did not mention the Iran deal or surrender to Cuba.
[Department of Justice] A 41-count second superseding indictment was unsealed today in federal court in Central Islip, which charges thirteen MS-13 members with racketeering, seven murders, attempted murders, assaults, obstruction of justice, arson, conspiracy to distribute marijuana, and related firearms and conspiracy charges. Four of those defendants were arrested earlier this morning and will be arraigned this afternoon before United States District Judge Joseph F. Bianco at the federal courthouse in Central Islip.
Goodness. It seems it's not just idle hands that are the Devil's workshop.
Additionally, during the execution of a search warrant at the home of MS-13 leaders ALEXI SAENZ, also known as "Blasty" and "Big Homie," and JAIRO SAENZ, also known as "Funny," this morning, investigators recovered an arsenal of weapons, including a loaded 9mm semi-automatic handgun, numerous rounds of ammunition, including additional 9mm, .38 caliber, .357 caliber, and other assorted rounds, machetes, a sword, a hatchet, and knives. Further, investigators recovered a quantity of marijuana packaged for resale, ledgers, and MS-13 paraphernalia.
NORWAY "The Gastronomical Capital of the World."
Six Syrian "refugees" who have been granted temporary residence in Modum in Buskerud for two years, are not satisfied with the quality of housing they have been offered by the municipality, writes the local newspaper Bygdeposten.
The residences in question are flats that are usually reserved for students, who are quite happy to live in the up to 20 square meter flats in Sevalstunet, but the six Syrian men, aged 20 to 33, refuse to sign contracts to stay there. Instead they want to receive a house each.
Gratitude to the community that takes care of them is not the first one senses, writes the newspaper. The only English speaking of the six is also a lawyer. He claims moral rights:
- It is unfair when others get houses or apartments. We still live at a reception center but we want to get on with life. Get a fresh start as soon as possible, said Abdulhadi Alkhalaf (31).
- We still live at a reception center but we want houses, explains the 31-year-old.
The local newspaper writes that the six seem sane, but that antennas apparently are not what they have the most of:
- Reception center is reception center, house is house. We do not want to seem unhappy and demanding, but we are very impatient to move on, says Abdulhadi Alkhalaf.
The municipality, however, has no obligation to treat them with higher standard than they have been offered, and says that they are obligated to get them "roof over their head," which has been done.
The Refugee Service expresses understanding that it is a big transition for Syrians from the upper social level to live in a flat, but points out that they have heating, water, electricity, a kitchen and a washing machine, and that the residences are located close to public transportation.
Imagine being 20 years and Norwegian-ish, and you could simply get a house for free. Or even a flat. That would be great!
#8
how can they get 2 wives and 16 children if they only live in a flat
come on respect their religion
I mean they believe that a 6th century warlord rode a flying white horse to jerusalem and back in a night via heaven where he talked to Moses and Jesus.
The International Monetary Fund has postponed the second tranche of a loan worth $350 million to Tunisia because of a lack of progress in reforms covering public sector wage bill, the public finances and state banks.
As if Tunisia hasn't got enough problems...
The IMF urged the acceleration of reforms for Tunisia to be eligible to receive the second and third tranches of a loan that is key to completing the North African country’s 2017 budget.
Despite receiving a first tranche of the loan worth $320 million last June, Tunisia still struggles to implement reforms demanded by the IMF, notably cutting 10,000 public sector jobs and reforming three state-owned banks: Société Tunisienne de Banque (STB), Banque Nationale Agricole (BNA) and Banque de l’Habitat (BH)
The loan freeze by the IMF puts Tunisia on the brink of bankruptcy as other donors such as the African Development Bank, the EU, the US and the World Bank may follow suit by retreating from lending.
Last January, Tunisia announced a voluntary lay-off program to cut civil service jobs in a bid to narrow the budget deficit and reduce the public sector payroll. According to Tunisian Finance Minister Lamia Zribi “The wage bill in Tunisia rose to 14.4 percent so far and is among the highest in the world. We will cut it to 14 percent by the end of 2017 and about 12.5 percent in 2020.”
Since its 2011 uprising that led to deposing long-serving autocrat Ben Ali, Tunisia has struggled to enact economic reforms meant to curb public spending and help create jobs. Tunisia’s efforts were hindered by a slowdown in the tourism sector, a major source of income, following terrorist attacks in 2015.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/03/2017
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The "success story" nation of the "Arab Spring..."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/03/2017 12:58
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About 35 local boat captains simulated swarming attack maneuvers in fishing boats rigged with machine guns while fighter jets, attack helicopters, and the A-10 "Warthog" simulated attacks from above in the Choctawatchee Bay, Florida.
The Air Force at Eglin Air Force Base organized the simulation, called Combat Hammer, to address one of the more pressing threats to the US navy -- attacks from swarming fast-attack craft.
In the Persian Gulf, Iran has repeatedly used small, agile attack craft to harass US Navy ships in dangerous encounters that could lead to a broader conflict in a moment's notice.
US Navy ships have had to go as far as firing warning shots at approaching vessels, but that was before Iranian-backed Houthi militants used a suicide boat laden with explosives to kill two aboard a Saudi Arabian Navy vessel off the coast of Yemen.
The Navy was already aware of the threat posed to their large, multimillion-dollar ships by small, cheap ships -- but the January Houthi attack demonstrated the threat was even more acute.
The Air Force's annual Combat Hammer exercise sought in part to answer the question of how the Navy would deal with a large mass of erratic attack craft -- and that involved A-10 Warthogs firing inert 30-millimeter rounds at unmanned ships. I find the test being conducted to be more interesting than the results.
#2
...As much as I love the Hog, keep in mind though is that all it will take is a few hand-held SAMs to make the day most unpleasant. I trust and hope the USAF is taking that into account.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/03/2017 4:48
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#3
Not the up armoured Kenmore 32 cubic foot side by sides with ceramic coated metal lettuce crisper drawers!
#9
I think one of the reasons they aren't used on carriers are the turbofan engines. I'm no expert on those, but I do remember reading that it takes a bit to get that type of engine up to full exhaust volume (spooling up?) which usually occurs during their movement down a runway. I do remember thinking, while seeing an A-10 during takeoff, that they don't ramp up to speed very quickly like a conventional jet.
The fan outputs would have to be up to almost full volume before the catapult activated. Don't know how that would work on a short flight deck.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
03/03/2017 11:57
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#10
OH-58s were used with success on individual IRGC craft in the past.
I think in this case, it's a matter of dealing with small-attack-craft swarms. There are potential sea-based options, but...
Let the Holy Warriors of Is-slime be exterminated by the 'hog!
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
03/03/2017 14:51
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@ Mullah: Lockheed S-3s used big ol TF-34 Turbofans;
Pilots simply firewall the throttle(s) and when everything is shaking at the perfect pitch, he/she salutes the Cat Oficer who directs the punching of the Holy Button; and down the track they go, Zero to flying in 200 feet.
Turbofans would just take a bit longer to wind up than pure jets (no more pure jets; all in the name of fuel mileage).
but even the mighty Lawn Dart uses a 'Fan.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
03/03/2017 15:40
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The A10 has already been trialed off a Enterprise class boat. (i.e., they actually took one off from and landed on it.)
The problem is the lower frame has no provision for the stiffeners required to cat launch or add a tailhook, and the landing gear needs to about twice as strong as it is. It was originally tested against the 'painted deck' on the strip at NAS Virginia Beach (just like Doolittle), and was then tried out on the Forrestal during sea trials in the '90's. Took dang near the entire deck to take off and land, but it happened. Another problem would be the air refueling fittings; AF and Navy drouges aren't compatable (they did that on purpose).
Posted by: ed in texas ||
03/03/2017 17:03
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#16
AF and Navy drouges aren't compatable (they did that on purpose).
Ed seriously what possible reason could they have for that? The only thing I can think of is that different fuels needed and this is a safety thing like diesel vs gas nozzles at the gas station but that don't make much sense either.
#17
The mechanical details of the connection drouges is complex; basically you have to have an interlock with check valves on both ends of the connection, with a male/ female plug that will lock when pushed together, and release and close when pulled apart. Everybody burns JP4, basically kerosene.
The Navy systems have the male plug on the receiving aircraft; it's the round nose on the end of the refueling arm you may have seen in photos of A6's, and the fold out arms on F14's and F18's.
The Air Force boomer system uses the male fitting on the end of the sending boom arm, with a female fitting on the receiving aircraft. There are 'hybrid' tankers out there, notably KC130's and KC135's with the proper refueling kits, that can refuel AF planes from a boom on centerline, and Navy planes on shuttle hoses trailed from reels on the wingtips. Note that everybody's helicopters use the Navy system, if the copter does air refueling at all. It's common to see Pave Low (spec ops) helicopters deployed in tandem with an MC130, that provides air refuel, radar coverage, and com links.
The basic reason the two systems are not compatable is to keep the other blue suits from poaching your refueling assets
Posted by: ed in texas ||
03/03/2017 19:42
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#18
Sorry for going on like that. The logistics of support units and what the Navy calls 'UnRep' is something I find fascinating.
It's why I'm one boring dude.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
03/03/2017 19:52
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#18 Sorry for going on like that
No apollys. I find this background stuff fascinating. It's an example of what makes the 'burg such a valuable resource.
[UPI] The Senate on Thursday confirmed Ben Carson ... a neurosurgeon who is under the delusion that being brilliant qualifies him to be president.... , a pediatric neurosurgeon-turned-politician, as President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... 's secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Yuck. Carson's been parked in the "black" cabinet post. I thought better of Trump.
The vote was 58-41. Carson won over a handful of Democrats, a relative moment of bipartisanship after heated debate and mostly party-line votes over other Trump Cabinet nominees. Carson also received the unanimous vote of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee following his confirmation hearing in January.
During those hearings, Carson pledged to uphold longstanding federal bans on housing discrimination and to continue to work to remove lead paint from public housing units.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2017
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A Boerboel attending the Westminster. Sadly, a gross waste of talent.
Only upside, he'll be immediately available for advice if/when something arises within his true expertise.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
03/03/2017 9:12
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#3
He doesn't rally have political experience, nor does he have management experience beyond the department level. Once he's done this for a while he'll be ready to do other, bigger things.
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] A Paleostinian stabbed and maimed a settler whose ’home’ he broke into in the occupied West Bank before the Israeli shot him dead, the Zionist occupation army said Wednesday.
The identity of the Paleostinian was not immediately available.
The Zionist military said the attack took place in Teneh Omarim, south of Hebron.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2017
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Senior African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) officials met in Nairobi on Tuesday to review its activities and draw up a budget that will guide the operations of the mission in 2017. The five-day conference which has drawn participants from the African Union (AU) will come up with a detailed plan and budget.
The Special Representative of the AU Commission Chairperson (SRCC) for Somalia Francisco Madeira said the meeting will go a long way in helping the mission achieve its objectives.
“This is where we are going to plan in detail what each of our units and clusters is going to do or intends to do in the years to come,” he said in a statement issued in Nairobi.
Madeira said the pan-African body’s mission is finding it increasingly difficult to fund a number of programs, owing to what he called donor fatigue.
“Not all project plans could be implemented, either because we dreamt so much and thought we could do everything and thus lost so much sight or we trusted our partners so much that we thought they would fund everything,” he said.
It might be cheaper for the donors if the AU soldiers stayed home and staged coups instead...
Madeira, who is also the head of the mission, noted that it is time the donors considered themselves as partners in resolving the crisis in Somalia.
“Donors think stabilizing Somalia is a task of the African Union so they get fatigued. Donor fatigue shouldn’t arise. It’s the duty of all of us to make Somalia a functional state. Let’s be partners,” he said.
Among issues being discussed at the Nairobi meeting include support for political processes, security sector, stabilization and recovery, protection of human rights and gender process.
Boy howdy, how is it that no one thought of these things before?
What is gender process?
It's something you worry about in civilized countries, if ever...
Also on the table is how AMISOM should facilitate access to recovered areas and secure main supply routes. Madeira said AMISOM was forced to devise austerity measures to cope up with the low funding.
The new Somali government has developed a National Development Plan 1017-3020 2017-2020 but the country still faces challenges in combating negative clannism, solidifying the rule of law and human rights, countering violent extremism, and engendering the rights of women and girls.
AMISOM Force Chief of Plans Salifu Yakubu painted a security atmosphere that is fluid, largely due to the unpredictability of the situation. Al-Shabaab, he noted, has been weakened but still has the capacity to attack. This militia “remains resilient” and has resorted to asymmetric warfare.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/03/2017
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Text and video at CBS, of all places. This is why whacking Fredo in Malaysia was such a bad idea -- the ability to dodge sanctions just became much more difficult...
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/03/2017
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[AlAhram] Egypt's former strongman Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... is now able to walk free after the Court of Cassation acquitted him on Thursday in his retrial on charges of killing protesters during the 25 January Revolution, a case which has been dubbed "the trial of the century."
Today's verdict is final and cannot be appealed.
The 88-year-old ousted president has been confined to Maadi Military Hospital for treatment since 2012.
Here's betting that he makes a miraculous recovery...
In June 2012, Mubarak was sentenced by a criminal court to life in prison - 20 years in jail per Egyptian law - for his complicity in the murder of protestors during the 18-day January 2011 uprising that ended his 30-year autocratic rule.
However, there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... in January 2013, the Cassation Court overturned Mubarak's conviction and ordered a retrial. The Cassation Court also upheld the acquittal of other defendants in the same case, including Mubarak's last interior minister Habib El-Adly and four of his aides.
In November 2014, the criminal court retrying Mubarak acquitted the former president and all co-defendants of killing protesters, reasoning that the prosecution's initial decision on 23 March, 2011 to charge Mubarak lacked the legal basis to bring a criminal case against him.
On Thursday, Mubarak's defence lawyer Farid El-Deeb called on the court to acquit Mubarak, arguing that the criminal court acquitted El-Adly and his aides over the same charges leveled against Mubarak in 2014.
Since his downfall in 2011, the former President stood trial in a number of criminal cases on various charges, but received a final conviction only in one on corruption charges.
In January 2016, the Court of Cassation upheld a three-year prison sentence for Mubarak and his two sons for corruption in the case known as "the presidential palaces lawsuit," for using public funds -- appropriated for the maintenance of presidential palaces -- to upgrade his private property.
At the time of the verdict in the case, Mubarak's sons had already been behind bars for more than three years and, therefore, were eventually released.
The former autocrat ruled Egypt from 1981 until a popular uprising ousted him on 11 February, 2011.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/03/2017
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Vowing to plant their flag in China and that blood will "flow in rivers", a video released this week purportedly by the Islamic State group shows ethnic Uighur fighters training in Iraq, underscoring what Beijing sees as a serious threat.
China is worried that Uighurs, a mostly Muslim people from western China's Xinjiang region, have gone to Syria and Iraq to fight for militant groups there, having travelled illegally via Southeast Asia and Turkey.
Seems like everyone who fights for ISIS gets there via Turkey...
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the killing of a Chinese hostage in 2015, highlighting China's concern about Uighurs it says are fighting in the Middle East.
Hundreds of people have been killed in Xinjiang in the past few years, most in unrest between Uighurs and ethnic majority Han Chinese. The government blames the unrest on Islamist militants.
The Iraqi arm of Islamic State has released a half-hour long video purportedly showing Uighurs training, as well as some images from inside Xinjiang, including Chinese police on the streets. One shot that shows Chinese President Xi Jinping gives way to flames in front of a Chinese flag.
"Hey, brothers! Today, we are fighting with infidels across the world! I'm telling you this: Come and live here! Stay strong!," one of the fighters says, according to Uighur speakers who analysed the video for Reuters but declined to be identified.
"We will certainly plant our flag over America, China, Russia, and all the infidels of the world," it says.
In another scene, a man chanting in Uighur says: "Our land of sharia has been constructed with spilt blood."
The video then shows pictures of people who were said to have become "martyrs", and identified as "al-Turkistānī", or men from Turkestan, the name many Uighurs use for Xinjiang. One of the men speaking has an accent from Yarkand, close to the old Silk Road city of Kashgar in Xinjiang's southern Uighur heartland, one of the people who reviewed the video said.
Another fighter refers to the "evil Chinese Communist infidel lackeys".
"In retaliation for the tears that flow from the eyes of the oppressed, we will make your blood flow in rivers, by the will of God!" he says.
The video, released this week by the U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors militant groups online, also showed two bloody executions of unidentified people.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Wednesday he was not aware of the video and had not seen it.
"But one point is very clear. We oppose any form of terrorism and proactively participate in international cooperation to crack down on terrorism," Geng told a daily news briefing.
"We have long said that East Turkestan forces are a serious threat to China's security and we are willing to work with the international community to jointly crack down on East Turkestan separatist and terrorist forces," he said.
The government says foreign militants have stirred up tensions in Xinjiang, where it says it faces a determined campaign by separatists who want to establish an independent state called East Turkestan. However, many rights groups and exiles doubt the existence of a coherent militant group in Xinjiang and say Uighur anger at repressive Chinese policies is more to blame for the unrest.
Both reasons, of course, may have a role.
China denies any repression in Xinjiang.
Rian Thum, a Uighur specialist at Loyola University New Orleans, said the Uighurs in the video were presented in the style of Islamic State propaganda.
"To me, the video says more about Islamic State tactics, propaganda, and ideology than it does about the relationship between Uighurs and the Chinese state," Thum said.
Well Thum, since the Uighur fighters are training with ISIS...
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
China, for all their anti Islamic actions, is still anti Iran sanctions. This is probably for commercial reasons.
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/03/2017 1:35
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#2
uighers attack the chinese state, it's the last mistake they'll ever make
this is a country that harvests organs by executing political prisoners.
terrorism doesn't work on a state that doesn't care about human rights. they just execute your family then you.
#6
No question the Uighurs have guts in abundance. Against the Chinese state today, they're likely to be wasted. It's too big, too organized, too flush with cash (both to buy off opposition via quota hires and to fight Uighur rebels) and too ruthless (as in the entire family might end up in the gulag en route to shallow graves as a result of deliberate malnutrition). If they're to have any chance of success, they'll need to bide their time until major ructions in the Chinese political scene, such as an armed conflict between multiple Chinese factions in the course of regime collapse.
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] Syria on Thursday said that the representatives of the gangs (’opposition’ High Negotiations Committee) are taking UN-backed peace talks "hostage" over its refusal to include terrorism on the agenda, insisting the HNC would be responsible if negotiations fail.
"Progress in the Geneva round must not be held hostage by the Riyadh platform", lead Syrian negotiator Bashar al-Jaafari told news hounds, referring to the Saudi-backed HNC, vowing the opposition "will be responsible for any failure of the Geneva talks."
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Bangkok Post] A family of four, including an 8-year-old boy, was gunned down on their way to a school in Narathiwat province on Thursday morning. They were ambushed on a road in Rueso district about 7:40 a.m.
Somchai Thongjan, assistant chief of Ban Sri Pinyo village, was taking his two children to school when gunmen attacked them. Somchai, his wife, his sister-in-law, and his 8-year-old son were killed. The 12-year-old was severely injured and rushed to the hospital. A six-year-old niece had scratches in her thighs, neck and arms.
Officials found more than 20 spent cartridges of assault rifles and a pistol at the scene.
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] The Syrian military, backed by the Russian Air Force, has completed its operation to liberate the key city of Palmyra from murderous Moslems, Kremlin has announced.
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has reported to the commander-in-chief, President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... , that the historic city in Syria’s Homs province has been liberated, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.
Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was one of the most important centers of the Roman Empire.
It fell under ISIS control back in 2015, with the holy warriors blowing up several historic monuments, including the 1,800-year-old Monumental Arch of Palmyra, most of the Temple of Bel, and the Temple of Baalshamin.
The city was liberated in last March after a two-week operation by the Syrian Army, with the backing of Russian aviation.
However, there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... the city was retaken by ISIS in a counteroffensive in December 2016, which forced the Syrian Army to retreat, evacuating 80 percent of the population.
The ’jihadists’ resumed their assault on historic heritage, destroying Palmyra’s Roman theater and the legendary Tetrapylon
The new operation to liberate the city was launched shortly afterwards, with the government forces advancing towards the city on a daily basis.
Earlier on Thursday, the Syrian military took the strategic al-Tar heights near the city of Palmyra.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2017
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Walls work? Who knew -- other than the Israelis, the Turks, the...
A concrete wall built to stop illegal crossings along Turkey’s border with Syria in the provinces of Hatay, Kilis and Gaziantep has dramatically reduced attempts to stage illegal crossings and conduct border smuggling, a Turkish colonel responsible for border security has stated.
The total 2,044 detected smuggling attempts in 2015 fell to just 77 in 2016 in his 169-kilometer area of responsibility, Colonel Alparslan Kılınç from the First Border Regiment Command told reporters in Kilis.
The number of detected illegal crossings has decreased 45 percent, from a total of 12,183 in 2015 when clashes were intense on the Syrian side of the border to 8,531 in 2016, Kılınç said.
In the same section of the Syrian border, there were 2,423 smuggling attempts in 2013, 3,474 in 2014, 2,044 in 2015, and 77 in 2016. However, in the first two months of 2017 there have been only four smuggling attempts, Kılınç stated.
In 2016, 210 third country nationals, mostly made up of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) members but also including 49 Syrian Democratic Union Party (PYD) members, were captured while attempting illegal crossing in his regiment area, the colonel stated.
Work on the construction of modular walls on Turkey’s border with Syria is ongoing. In some sections, the area just behind the wall construction is mined and protected by ditches and reinforced cage wire barriers. In other areas there are patrol units of border guards, backed by first and second degree forbidden military zones.
Overall, a modular concrete wall is planned to be built across 826 kilometers of Turkey’s 900-kilometer border with Syria. After works conducted by the Prime Ministry’s Housing Development Administration of Turkey (TOKİ), more than 350 km of the wall has been completed so far.
A wall was constructed in a 90 km section of the border in the 1st Border Regiment Command, while a 79 km section is planned to be completed within three months, Kılınç also stated, adding that 11 old-style outposts will be renewed. He said the temporary military security zones also contributed to preventing illegal crossings and smugglers.
The border is also monitored by daytime and thermal cameras installed in towers reaching 20 meters in height, while security beyond the wall is monitored through cameras in towers mounted on armored vehicles. Any fugitives trying to cross the border with stairs or tunnels are caught by security forces, Kılınç said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/03/2017
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#1
I wonder if it's affecting the flow of undocumented war materiel from Turkey to Syria?
The top U.S. commander in the campaign against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) argued on March 1 that the Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG), the military wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), does “not pose a threat to Turkey.”
“Of those YPG fighters, I’ve talked to their leaders and we’ve watched them operate and they continually reassure us that they have no desire to attack Turkey, that they are not a threat to Turkey, in fact that they desire to have a good working relationship with Turkey,” Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend told a Pentagon news briefing, speaking remotely via video conference.
“And I have seen absolutely zero evidence that they have been a threat to, or have supported any attacks on, Turkey from Northern Syria over the last two years,” he added.
Turkey regards the PYD and YPG as terrorist organizations due to their links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), but the U.S. sees them as a reliable partner in their fight against ISIL in northern Syria. The U.S. mainly supports the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is comprised mainly of YPG militia and some Arab forces, in the anti-ISIL coalition.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/03/2017
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#1
Then why do we still tolerate Turkey as a NATO member? Just asking.
Ukrainian officials said Thursday that the area around the Avdievka water filtration plant has been cleared of mines, according to Russian language news reports.
Until Thursday, the issue with restoring water service concerned the mortar delivered mines, shot there by Ukrainian and Russian backed rebel forces. The minefield was but one obstacle in getting the plant back on line.
The other issue has been the ongoing fighting between the two warring parties. They have been exchanging artillery fire since the beginning of the war 30 months ago, but only in the last 18 months contesting the area in Avdievka. It is unclear at the moment just how the issue will be resolved.
Earlier reports by Ukrainian media said that Avdievka and nearby towns were running a severe water shortage due to the plant shutdown. The water plant previously had been declared a gray zone by Ukrainian and Russian ceasefire observers, where neither side would be allowed to contest.
Last year Ukrainian forces moved their front line into the gray zone that included the water plant. A few stray artillery rounds had hit the plant, forcing the workers, most of them women, to stop work.
Recent attacks by Ukrainian forces coupled with counterattacks by rebel forces have shifted the fighting to the water plant, but it wasn't until an armed group belonging to the Ukrainian volunteer forces "Azov" moved a fire team including a mortar team into the plant itself -- after it was hit by artillery fire and abandoned -- that fighting ceased, and help in restoring the plant began.
The Ukrainian fire and mortar team abandoned the water plant a few days ago.
Meanwhile, elsewhere along the line of contact, fighting continued.
Ukrainian media reported that rebel mortar fire hit the southern Donetsk towns of Vodyanoye and Gnutovo, while 122mm rocket artillery rounds hit Vodyanoye, according to a news report in lb.ua.
Near Donetsk city, rebel 120mm and 82mm mortar fire hit Avdievka and Butovka mine.
A separate lb.ua news report said that rebel forces used tank gunfire on Ukrainian positions in Avdievka. The report said that the tank rounds destroyed several residential buildings, but did not elaborate on how many.
A news account published on the website of korrespondent.net said that armed men, presumably Russian backed separatists seized control of a football stadium on Thursday. The report notes that the seizure was likely part of the rebel nationalization of property in Donetsk and Lugansk in the wake of an economic blockade imposed by the Ukrainian government.
Rebel media reported that on the night of June 1st and June 2nd Ukrainian artillery hit targets in southern Donetsk as well as in and around Donetsk city. The night time attacks included Petrovskiy district of Donetsk city, where rebel media claimed residential buildings were damaged. Damage was reported in Trudovskoye. An early morning Ukrainian artillery attack which lasted three hours, struck rebel positions at Sahanka, Kominternovo and Novoazovskiy near the Sea of Azov coastal city of Mariupol.
Rebel media said that on Thursday artillery attacks were recorded in western areas of Donetsk and in Yasinovataya. Artillery attacks were also noted by rebel media at Dokuchaevsk.
In the website novorosinform.org, artillery fire and presumably direct fire exchanges were noted in Lugansk, at Pervomaisk and Stakhanov. Direct fire combat and mortar fire was reported in the same website at the Donetsk airport, Spartak, Peski and the Oktyabrskiy district of Donetsk. The report said that rebel forces returned mortar fire. Fighting was reported at the industrial area of Avdievka and in Yasinovataya, including the use of heavy artillery, tanks and infantry fighting vehicles (BMP-2).
[AnNahar] A U.S. federal judge in Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, on Wednesday agreed to release on bail the widow of the gunman who killed dozens of people at an Orlando nightclub last year.
U.S. magistrate Donna Ryu set bail at $500,000 for Noor Salman pending her trial on two charges related to the assault by her husband Omar Mateen ... the Afghan-"American" who decided he was a soldier of the Caliphate and shot fifty unarmed people to death in a Florida gay bar he used to frequent... on the Pulse gay nightclub in Florida that killed 49 people.
Prosecutors had argued that Salman, who was tossed in the clink ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... in January in connection with the massacre, should be kept behind bars because she posed a threat to society. They have until Friday to appeal the judge's decision.
She's also a flight risk no matter how much bail she posts.
In handing down her ruling, Ryu said there was no proof Salman had any connection to the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... jihadist group or had exhibited myrmidon views.
She also said there was no evidence Salman posed a risk of flight or a danger to the community.
"I agree with the pretrial service recommendation and find that Ms Salman has rebutted the presumptions of both risk of flight and danger to the community and that she can and should be released pursuant to strict conditions that will reasonably mitigate those risks," Ryu said.
She ordered the 30-year-old, who had a four-year-old son with Mateen, to wear an electronic monitor while living with her maternal uncle in northern California, where she grew up.
The ruling essentially puts Salman under house arrest, allowed to leave only for court appearances, to meet her attorneys or for medical appointments for her and her son, Ryu said.
Salman, whose case is being prosecuted in Florida, faces up to life in prison if convicted of the charge of assisting her husband in his bid to help a terrorist organization.
She also faces up to 20 years in prison on the second charge of lying to Sherlocks.
Police killed Mateen in a shootout. During the attack, he had called dispatchers to pledge allegiance to the Islamic State group.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/03/2017
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[Iraq News] A U.S.-allied militia in northern Syria said on Thursday it would hand over villages on a front line where it has been fighting Turkish-backed rebels to Syrian government control, under an agreement with Russia.
The villages will be surrendered to the Syrian government in the coming days, an official in the Manbij Military Council told Rooters. An earlier statement by the council said the villages would be handed to Syrian border guards.
The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... ’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told news hounds in Ankara the report was false, but added there was an agreement with Russia that Syrian government and opposition forces should not fight each other in that area.
The villages west of the city of Manbij have been a focus of fighting between the Turkish-backed rebels and the Manbij Military Council, the U.S.-allied militia, since Wednesday.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said this week Manbij was the next target of Ankara’s campaign in northern Syria following the capture of nearby al-Bab from 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.... last week.
"We will move towards Manbij after the al-Bab operation is completed, but the operation has not started yet. We know that the U.S. special forces are in that region, and we want the YPG to leave Manbij as soon as possible," Cavusoglu said.
The Manbij Military Council is part of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a U.S.-backed group of militias that includes the powerful Kurdish YPG group. The SDF captured the area around Manbij from Islamic State Death Eaters last year.
Turkey’s campaign in Syria is aimed at driving Islamic State from its border and at preventing expansion in the area by the YPG, which it regards as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is waging an insurgency against Ankara.
Cavusoglu said Turkey did not want the United States to continue cooperating with Kurdish groups and added that Turkey had repeatedly warned it would strike Kurdish Death Eaters if they remained in Manbij.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2017
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#1
So the US fights Assad and terrorists haha and then Assad gets back his land awesome tactic never saw that coming!
[Iraq News] Crude flows from Iraq’s northern Kirkuk fields resumed on Thursday after being halted for several hours when Kurdish forces stormed a facility in protest at the Iraqi government’s oil policy, several sources with knowledge of the matter said.
Kurdish forces stormed the facility early on Thursday, saying they were searching for explosives planted by 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.... murderous Moslems whom Iraqi forces are fighting with the backing of a U.S.-led coalition.
But a Kurdish official later said the facility had been seized to put pressure on Baghdad to build an oil refinery in Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... and that Kurdish forces would shut down oil flows again unless their demands were met within a week.
"What we did today was a warning bell to the government," said Kurdish official Aso Mamand. "It’s not fair for Kirkuk’s oil to be sent to other provinces whilst Kirkuk is suffering a crisis."
Oil officials and security sources in Kirkuk said the Kurdish forces had not withdrawn from the facility, but had allowed pumping to resume via a pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
Kurdish peshmerga forces took full control of Kirkuk city and the surrounding area in 2014 when Islamic State murderous Moslems overran around one third of Iraq and the army’s northern divisions disintegrated.
But Iraq’s state-run North Oil Company (NOC) now operate the oil fields in the region, which were pumping around 120,000 barrels per day (bpd) into the pipeline before the shutdown, the NOC executive said.
The forces that seized the facility, located around 15 km (10 miles) west of Kirkuk, are loyal to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party, which is dominant in the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] US Attorney General Jeff Sessions came under fire late Wednesday after the Washington Post reported he met twice last year with Russia’s ambassador to Washington, seemingly contradicting statements he made in Senate confirmation hearings in January.
The revelation cast a fresh cloud over President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... ’s administration -- which has repeatedly denied any suspected ties between members of the Republican’s election campaign and Russia -- which US intelligence says interfered in the 2016 election against Trump’s rival Hillary Clinton ... former first lady, former secretary of state, former presidential candidate, sometimes described by her supporters as the smartest woman in the world, usually described by the rest of us as a crook... The White House quickly labeled the report an attack by partisan Democrats, confirming the meetings but arguing Sessions did nothing wrong.
In a statement Sessions said: "I never met with any Russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign. I have no idea what this allegation is about. It is false."
But with US intelligence agencies, the Department of Justice, and four Congressional committees examining the Russia scandal, Democrats demanded Sessions -- the Trump administration’s top law enforcement official -- recuse himself from investigations, and for Congress to name an independent special investigator to oversee a broad probe.
"Given AG Sessions’ false statements about contacts with Russian officials, we need a special counsel to investigate Trump associates’ ties to Russia," said Democrat Senator Ron Wyden, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The Washington Post reported late Wednesday that Sessions -- formerly a senator who advised Trump’s campaign on foreign policy and other issues -- met Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in July and September, just as accusations of Russian interference in the election were mounting.
Sessions, however, told his confirmation hearing at the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 10 that he did not know of contacts between Trump campaign members and Russia.
"I did not have communications with the Russians," he said under oath.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2017
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#1
Dems hate white folk talking to white foreigners.
#4
Trump's speech the other night was a yuuuge success. The Dems need to do something to get control of the news cycle again. Obviously, "Mom, Kelly Anne has her feet on the couch!" wasn't working.
Anyone remember our previous Prez caught on a hot mic saying to Medvedev "I'll have more flexibility after the election"?
#6
All those who have not spoken to a Russian official in the last ten years raise your hand.
That's what I thought.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/03/2017 11:20
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#7
So what if the worst case scenario is true? So what if Sessions told the ambassador to hack the DNC email server, hack Podesta's email and then release all the nonsense they find. Does anyone really believe that? Can they prove that Sessions sold some valuable future consideration for this service...like a uranium mine? Was it anywhere near as bad as illegal aliens and dead people voting in the election? What does any of this prove except that donkeycrats are technologically challenged and incapable of managing email servers?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/03/2017 11:54
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After Nancy Pelosi accused Republicans of “splitting hairs” over Jeff Sessions’ reported meetings with the Russian ambassador, she did the very same thing when she was asked a similar question.
“You’ve been in Congress a little bit and you’re in leadership, have you ever met with the Russian ambassador?” Politico reporter Jake Sherman asked Pelosi on Friday.
After an awkwardly long silence, Pelosi answered, “Not with this Russian ambassador, no,” before quickly trying to move on.
“Is it normal to meet with ambassadors?” Sherman asked.
#12
But they were Soviets back then - so it was okay!
Which brings to mind an interesting point. Given that FSB kept everything of KGB except the name --- in particular, the files --- Putin must have enough dirt on any prominent Democrat to start a banana plantation in Antarctica.
This is not good news for North Korea, as you'll read:
The only North Korean arrested over the dramatic airport assassination of Kim Jong-Nam is to be deported, Malaysia said Thursday, as it announced the abrupt cancellation of a visa-waiver programme with Pyongyang.
Attorney general Mohamed Apandi Ali said 47-year-old Ri Jong-Chol would be released and deported on Friday.
"He is a free man. His remand expires and there is insufficient evidence to charge him," Apandi said. "He has no proper [travel] documents so we will deport him."
Seven other North Koreans are wanted in connection with the killing, including a diplomat and an airline employee who are believed to be in Malaysia. Four others are thought to have fled to Pyongyang on the day of the murder.
Ri was arrested days after Kim suffered an agonising death when he was attacked at Kuala Lumpur International Airport as he waited to board a flight to Macau. CCTV footage shows two women approaching the heavyset 45-year-old and appearing to thrust a cloth in his face. Police say he suffered a seizure and died less than 20 minutes later, without reaching hospital.
Swabs of the dead man's face revealed traces of the VX nerve agent, a synthetic chemical so deadly that it is classed as a weapon of mass destruction. Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, and Doan Thi Huong, 28, from Vietnam, were charged with murder on Wednesday. If found guilty, they will could be hanged.
Both women say they thought they were taking part in a prank video but police have dismissed the claims.
South Korea has consistently pointed the finger of blame at North Korea, citing what they say was a standing order from Kim Jong-Un to kill his exiled half-brother. Pyongyang -- which has never acknowledged Kim's identity -- has denied the charge and disputes the autopsy, claiming Malaysia is in cahoots with its enemies.
In a press conference at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, the North’s deputy envoy to the United Nations, Ri Tong-Il, dismissed the use of a toxin and once again urged Malaysia to release Kim’s body to the North Korean authorities.
The two countries, which had enjoyed relatively warm relations, have been at diplomatic daggers drawn since the killing.
On Thursday Kuala Lumpur -- which had earlier recalled its ambassador -- said it was cancelling its visa-free travel deal with Pyongyang.
Visa-free? Yup, and it was one of the few countries in the world that allowed Nork citizens to travel like that. That's gone now.
The government was implementing the change on the grounds of national security, Malaysian news agency Bernama quoted deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as saying.
The cancellation will take effect on March 6, after which North Koreans entering Malaysia will be required to obtain a visa, the report added.
And just try to get one...
"We are not looking for enemies but if they use Malaysia as a platform to carry out their agenda, they should not accuse Malaysia and tarnish our image on the international diplomatic front," Ahmad Zahid told a public event.
"We will act firmly to guarantee the safety of the people. Do not think you can use Malaysia to do what you want to do. Do not use Malaysia to carry out your illegal activities," he added.
Malaysia was one of only a tiny handful of countries around the world that had such a visa waiver scheme with North Korea.
A senior Malaysian official told AFP that the government was mulling further "downgrading diplomatic ties" with North Korea.
"Malaysia is considering shutting down its mission in Pyongyang," he said, as well as the expulsion of the North Korean ambassador following his "baseless allegations", a reference to accusations of bias in the murder probe.
Malaysia is also one of the few places where the Norks could do their business deals. That's about to disappear, and with it the ability to generate cash for the homeland.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/03/2017
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#1
the abrupt cancellation of a visa-waiver programme
Seems to be catching on faster than the avian flu.
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.
[Ynet] ISIS weekly magazine exposes a man suspected of spying for Israel; ISIS claims that pursuant to the cell's activities, three collaborators were executed. According to the report, the collaborators' squad planted electronic cards used by Israel to locate ISIS centers of activity.
[IsraelTimes] For 2nd time in 3 weeks, mosque in trouble for online video calling Jews killers, denying Jewish connection to Israel.
[Breitbart] The president of one of the largest unions in the United States is praising President Donald Trump’s plans to reform immigration policies.
[Mail] Despite being the granddaughter and daughter of two pro-life presidents, Barbara Pierce Bush expressed her support for the abortion-providing Planned Parenthood organization on Wednesday.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A training camp of the Taliban 
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] US forces on Tuesday conducted a series of air strikes in 
[IsraelTimes] After third attack in four days, Israeli army strikes two 
[IsraelTimes] An Israeli company said Thursday it has started exporting gas from an offshore field to Jordan, marking the country’s first ever exports of natural gas.
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] The Turkish president said Ankara has not seen that Washington had any clear plan of liberating the 
[Iraq News] The cameraman who filmed 
Afghan Salafist warlord, owned by Saudi Arabia. He was the guy who invited al-Qaeda to come into Afghanistan and make themselves at home...
[AFP] Philippine soldiers clashed with Islamist rebels behind the beheading of a German hostage in a bloody gun firefight that left 11 soldiers wounded. The Abu Sayyaf killed 70-year-old Jurgen Kantner on Sunday when its demands for a $600,000 ransom were not met.
[Free Beacon] A judge in Multnomah County, Oregon is under investigation for allegedly helping an illegal immigrant evade federal authorities.
[Free Beacon] Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained 22-year-old Daniela Vargas as she left a Wednesday press conference in Jackson, Mississippi where she revealed her fear of deportation.
CIA officials know who has been leaking classified information to The New York Times and The Washington Post, and the officials have passed that information on to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, according to a former U.S. attorney for President Ronald Reagan.
The Stop Arming Terrorists Act (HR608), which prohibits the use of federal agency funds to provide assistance to any individual or group affiliated with terrorists, was introduced to the Congress in January.
[Department of Justice] A 41-count second superseding indictment was unsealed today in federal court in Central Islip, which charges thirteen MS-13 members with racketeering, seven murders, attempted murders, assaults, obstruction of justice, arson, conspiracy to distribute marijuana, and related firearms and conspiracy charges. Four of those defendants were arrested earlier this morning and will be arraigned this afternoon before United States District Judge Joseph F. Bianco at the federal courthouse in Central Islip. 
[AlAhram] Egypt's former strongman 
[Bangkok Post] A family of four, including an 8-year-old boy, was gunned down on their way to a school in Narathiwat province on Thursday morning. They were ambushed on a road in Rueso district about 7:40 a.m. 
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] US Attorney General Jeff Sessions came under fire late Wednesday after the Washington Post reported he met twice last year with Russia’s ambassador to Washington, seemingly contradicting statements he made in Senate confirmation hearings in January.
Hillary Clinton
