[The Hill] Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) urged President Trump in a tweet on Sunday to "purge Leftists from executive branch."
Trump "needs to purge Leftists from executive branch before disloyal, illegal & treasonist acts sink us," King wrote on Twitter.
King included a link to a Conservative Review article titled " 'You're Fired!': Trump could become lame duck unless he clears out Obama holdovers" by Daniel Horowitz.
In the article, Horowitz says the president "is at the cusp of losing control over his presidency if he doesn't immediately fire all of the Obama appointees."
Horowitz also writes that it is the job of Trump's chief of staff, Reince Priebus, to call for the "resignation of any political appointees and special counsels who do not share the views of the president."
Horowitz wrote critically of Priebus, echoing the sentiments of many far-right conservatives who believe the former Republican National Committee chairman is responsible for the Trump administration's stumbles.
Trump has blamed former President Obama and his staff for the press leaks that have contributed to damaging news stories about the administration.
"I think President Obama's behind it, because his people are certainly behind it," Trump told Fox News's "Fox and Friends" last week.
"And some of the leaks possibly come from that group. You know, some of the leaks, which are really very serious leaks, because they're very bad in terms of national security, but I also understand that's politics. And in terms of him being behind things, that's politics, and it will probably continue."
Press secretary Sean Spicer, asked in late January about State Department officials who opposed Trump's original travel ban, said: "I think that they should either get with the program or they can go."
The Trump administration has revealed what the wall on the Mexican border will look like: 30-foot concrete barriers.
The description was included in a modification the Department of Homeland Security made Friday to a preliminary notification for bids.
"For planning we anticipate procuring concrete wall structures, nominally 30 feet tall, that will meet requirements for aesthetics, anti-climbing, and resistance to tampering or damage," says the updated notice.
The bid request "for the design and build of several prototype wall structures in the vicinity of the United States border with Mexico" is due to be published Wednesday.
Days after being sworn in, President Donald Trump issued two executive orders to control immigration: one to build a wall on the southern border and another temporarily banning immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations. The president unveiled a revised immigration order Monday.
The bid process for Trump's signature issue is off to a fast start. Vendors have until March 20 to submit concept papers, with bids, including pricing, due May 3. Homeland Security will select several manufacturers, according to the notice.
However, the notice makes clear that the wall will not be a 2,000-mile concrete structure stretching from Brownsville to San Diego. No need in most places
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/07/2017
14:55 ||
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I don't know...it seems to me that $12-25B would pay for a lot of guards. Prob same argument Rex(?) made earlier about lasers on the India/Pak ridge; Hard to bribe or threaten a wall.
h/t Instapundit
Democrat super-lobbyist Tony Podesta was paid $170,000 over a six-month period last year to represent Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, seeking to end one of the Obama administration’s economic sanctions against that country, The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group has learned.
Podesta, founder and chairman of the Podesta Group, is listed as a key lobbyist on behalf of Sberbank, according to Senate lobbying disclosure forms. His firm received more than $24 million in fees in 2016, much of it coming from foreign governments, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. But, at least, he wasn't talking to Russian Ambassador.
This is the inevitable expected result when Paul Ryan and the rest of the GOP bought into the following shtick 'What are you gonna replace it with?' Thanks, guys!
After months of confusion and secrecy, House Republicans have finally revealed their Obamacare repeal legislation. While it's useful to have House Republicans on the record with a legislative plan, the plan doesn't offer any estimate for how much it would cost, or how many people it would (or wouldn't) cover. In general, it's not clear what problems this particular bill would actually solve.
The bill would replace Obamacare's subsidies with a system of tax credits and halt the law's Medicaid expansion at the end of the decade while grandfathering in many beneficiaries over the long term and giving states $100 billion in funding to work with to care for hard case patients. All in all, it's a fairly conventional Republican plan, modified in ways designed to mitigate recent political objections.
#5
In general, it's not clear what problems this particular bill would actually solve.
That's because it doesn't. It doesn't repeal Obamacare; it modifies it. The mandate & penalty is gone, but the exchanges are still there, the wealth transfers subsidy is still there, and the death spiral will continue. Nothing substantive changed here.
One more point - if Congress and their staff were subject to this law, full unconditional repeal would have been done by now. Since they're isolated from this shit law they've inflicted on everybody else, they simply don't give a flying fuck.
#10
If this bill passes, the exchanges will disappear as will most of the employer health plan taxes that were the source of your (e.g. working American) health plan premium and deductible increases.
Subsidies in the form of tax credits will help offset the costs of community underwriting and guaranteed issue. And people who liked their plans but lost them will be able to participate in the market once again.
So be of good cheer. This is a step in the right direction.
Posted by: regular joe ||
03/07/2017 16:53
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Thanks, regular joe. I just kind of skimmed it and obviously missed key parts. That's what I get for doing posts that require research in the middle of tax season.. For some reason, the Obamacare law bugs the living hell out of me and I want to see it die, if for no other reason to see Obama's 'legacy' take it in the shitter.
#12
Most Rantburgers could have figured out sustainable plan on a cocktail napkin. But no, we got this unkillable monstrosity.
Anyway interstate works for insurance groups not individual plans. Here's why: local docs set the prices. For example, Idaho docs charge less than NY docs, but that doesn't help you if you're a NYer.
Posted by: Regular joe ||
03/07/2017 19:04
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It could still work. Depending on where you live it will cost more just like car insurance, but not as much as having just a state exchange as the insurance company can spread the cost over several states. That will take into account the price fluctuations for each region.
China warned Tuesday of “consequences” for South Korea over the deployment of a U.S. antimissile system, raising regional tension and questions about China’s commitment to free, open trade.
The U.S. military began deploying the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to South Korea on Monday, the same day North Korea launched four missiles that landed off the Japanese coast. The United States and South Korea say the system is a necessary defense against Kim Jong Un’s regime, but Beijing rejects the plan.
Of course they do. It complicates life for them, which is the whole point...
“I want to emphasize that we firmly oppose the deployment of THAAD,” said Geng Shuang, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, at a daily press briefing in Beijing on Tuesday. “We will resolutely take necessary measures to defend our security interests."
“All consequences entailed from this will be borne by the U.S. and the Republic of Korea,” he said.
Geng did not provide details on what “consequences" are in store, but South Korea is bracing for retaliatory measures against its business interests, according to a South Korean official.
The Chinese side sees THAAD as a threat to the Chinese military and evidence of U.S. meddling in East Asian affairs.
Which only China has the right to do...
To signal its anger, Beijing has been taking aim at South Korean businesses in China and, since March 3, warning would-be Chinese tourists about booking trips. Although some travel agencies have already stopped selling tickets and tours to South Korea, China’s National Tourism Administration has officially ordered travel agencies to stop all tour groups and cruise ships by March 15, the South Korean official said.
The new measures would also shut down duty-free shops run by Lotte, the South Korean conglomerate that helped Seoul secure land for THAAD, according to the South Korean official.
A representative of China’s Tourism Administration said by phone that the agency has indeed advised travel agencies not to sell South Korea tours or tickets. Three large Chinese travel agencies confirmed the order from the Tourism Administration. Two said they have already stopped selling packages; the other said itwould stop selling by March 15.
The effort to throttle South Korea’s thriving tourist trade is part of an ongoing campaign.
Much more at the link about the specifics of the "effort to throttle" tourism. If that's the only price the South Koreans have to pay, pay it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/07/2017
09:26 ||
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I believe the official response from SKOR and the US should be, "Eat a bag of dicks, China."
Get control of your little puppet or we will end his pathetic ass.
The files are the most comprehensive release of US spying files ever made public, according to Julian Assange. In all, there are 8,761 documents that account for "the entire hacking capacity of the CIA", Mr Assange claimed in a release, and the trove is just the first of a series of "Vault 7" leaks.
Already, the files include far more pages than the Snowden files that exposed the vast hacking power of the NSA and other agencies.
In publishing the documents, WikiLeaks had ensured that the CIA had "lost control of its arsenal", he claimed. That included a range of software and exploits that if real could allow unparalleled control of computers around the world. That isn't going to ease the anxiety of the tin foil hat brigade
It includes software that could allow people to take control of the most popular consumer electronics products used today, claimed WikiLeaks.
"'Year Zero' introduces the scope and direction of the CIA's global covert hacking program, its malware arsenal and dozens of "zero day" weaponized exploits against a wide range of U.S. and European company products, include Apple's iPhone, Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows and even Samsung TVs, which are turned into covert microphones," the organisation said in a release. There is a reason no electronic devices are brought into a SCIF
The public files don't include the cyber weapons themselves, according to a statement. The organisation will refrain from distributing "armed" software "until a consensus emerges on the technical and political nature of the CIA's program and how such 'weapons' should analyzed, disarmed and published", it said.
The files were made available by a source who intended them to start a conversation about whether the CIA had gained too much power, according to the organisation.
"In a statement to WikiLeaks the source details policy questions that they say urgently need to be debated in public, including whether the CIA's hacking capabilities exceed its mandated powers and the problem of public oversight of the agency," a release read. "The source wishes to initiate a public debate about the security, creation, use, proliferation and democratic control of cyberweapons."
It also leaves redacts the details of some of the names, locations and targets that are identified in the documents. I don't think people realize how vulnerable they have made themselves to snooping and intensive data mining. There are really good things that we get from our electronics, but privacy wise we might as well be walking around naked and all of our dirty secrets printed out on a banner streaming behind us.
Welcome to the new world.
#3
"CIA turns Smart TVs, iPhones, gaming consoles and many other consumer gadgets into open microphones" and added " CIA turned every Microsoft Windows PC in the world into spyware. Can activate backdoors on demand, including via Windows update" As of October 2014 the CIA was also looking at infecting the vehicle control systems used by modern cars and trucks.
The purpose of such control is not specified, but it would permit the CIA to engage in nearly undetectable assassinations.
Covers period of 2013-2016. Excuse me while I turn off my smart TV and telephone. Time to swap the newer car for an old beater pickup truck. So is it possible Trump Towers really was hacked in this manner?
#5
I think the public would be far more outraged over leaks like this if it wasn't the case that all of these tools are being used on citizens, including journalists, Congress and candidate Trump.
Law enforcement keeps telling us that they need access to all of our private information in order to catch child molesters and terrorists. But just a few days ago the FBI dropped its prosecution of an alleged child molester in order to preserve the secrecy of the hack it used. So, they can't be that worried about pedos.
So here is a modest suggestion. If the government can hack into private communications, then so can everyone else. So let's forget about making these communications accessible to government, and focus instead on making them as secure as possible. Life might get a little harder for police, but I'd be willing to live with that. In exchange, we could worry less about hackers and government snooping on citizens.
#6
According to Wikileaks, this was on a isolated network within Langley itself. Someone walked in, downloaded, and walked out with all this info.
Am I the only one who is thinking that a Obama stooge did this to kneecap Trump? Or perhaps in fear that the tools they used would be turned on them?
Posted by: Charles ||
03/07/2017 14:52
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Excuse me while I turn off my smart TV and telephone. Then you must put all of its circuitry through a shredder. Myself, I will move into my backyard, where I have a hollow log and a puddle of muddy water drink from. Even then an eye in the sky can probably study the local vibrations of said log and water to follow my every thought & action from low earth orbit.
[NBC] HAUTE-KOTTO PREFECTURE, Central African Republic -- The helicopter settles in the elephant grass, rotor wash flattening the six-foot-tall fronds.
The first man on the ground is Travis, a brawny Green Beret with a solemn demeanor. He scans the treeline, carbine at the ready, and the rest of the soldiers follow.
Three Ugandan troops lead the way as a trio of Americans disperse through the column, weapons at the ready.
On its surface, this is a simple mission. U.S. Army Special Forces, or Green Berets, have been ordered to "apprehend or remove" one of the world's most notorious warlords from the battlefield, along with his top commanders.
Joseph Kony built an army of child soldiers indoctrinated in his personality cult, robbing central Africa of a generation.
The self-proclaimed Christian prophet is accused of crimes including murder, rape, kidnapping and torture by the International Criminal Court.
The U.S. considers the elusive Kony a "specially designated global terrorist" and has offered up to $5 million for information leading to his capture.
The area of operations is the size of California, with about 80 military personnel and several dozen support personnel tasked with finding around 150 fighters with Kony's Lord's Resistance Army, operating across portions of four countries in some of the world's most inaccessible terrain.
[Scout Warrior] The SM-3 IIA can hit bigger targets, such as incoming enemy ballistic missiles, at longer distances than previous SM-3 interceptor missiles
The Missile Defense Agency and Raytheon fired a new SM-3 missile variant into space and destroy an approaching enemy missile target - as a way to develop a new interceptor better able to detect and attack ballistic missile threats approaching the earth’s atmosphere from space.
For the first time, the new SM-3 IIA missile intercepted a ballistic missile target firing from the USS John Paul Jones - a Navy destroyer.
"John Paul Jones detected and tracked the target missile with its onboard AN/SPY-1D(V) radar using the Aegis Baseline 9.C2 weapon system. Upon acquiring and tracking the target, the ship launched an SM-3 Block IIA guided missile which intercepted the target," a MDA statement said.
The new SM-3IIA missile is slated to fire from a land-based missile defense site planned by the Pentagon for Poland by 2018, a Missile Defense Agency spokesman, told Scout Warrior in a statement.
The SM-3 Block IIA is being developed cooperatively by the United States and Japan to defeat medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles.
The SM-3 Block IIA interceptor operates as part of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system and can be launched from Aegis-equipped ships or Aegis Ashore sites, MDA Spokesman Chris Johnson said in a written statement.
[Scout Warrior] In 1942, the culmination of a crazy idea from a British officer -- known as Project Plough -- yielded one of the most top-notch fighting forces of World War II.
The project called for a small, highly-trained group to parachute into Norway to conduct guerrilla operations against the Germans there. When the plan came across the desk of Lt. Col. Robert Frederick at the War Department in 1942, he reported to his boss, then-Maj. Gen. Eisenhower, that the plan was unworkable.
[Breitbart] The following is an open letter from conservative radio and television host Mark Levin to CNN host Brian Stelter, in response to Stelter’s article Monday at CNN.com, "Birth of a conspiracy theory: How Trump’s wiretap claim got started."
Did you listen to my show on Thursday, before President Trump tweeted? Did you watch my appearance on Fox and Friends Sunday morning? I know you are ticked I did not appear on your show, despite your numerous requests. Your ad hominem attacks about "right wing" radio host and conspiracy theory stuff ... incredible.
I simply put together the stories that YOUR profession reported, on the public record. Do you deny there were two FISA applications? Do you deny the first was turned down? Do you deny the second was approved? It’s called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. It is about surveillance. The fact that we cannot discern all the details because of the secrecy, except for what the media have revealed and selective leaks by the government, should cause you to want to know more, not to trash those who point it out.
And yes, we can make several logical implications based on events and experience. A FISA application is a big deal. One, or two in this case, that involve campaign surrogates, or a server or computer related to a candidate or campaign, etc., is a big deal. President Obama’s statement is not a definitive statement of anything, other than he, personally, did not order a wiretap, which I never claimed. But that does not mean he was unaware of surveillance activity by several of his departments, even through routine reports to the president, such as the Daily Intel Briefing or information conveyed to him or his staff via the Justice Department re the FBI counter-intelligence activities. As for Clapper, despite his past dissembling before Congress, he may not have been aware of what was taking place since the FBI counter-intel operation reportedly sought the warrant. The Daily Intel Briefing might provide useful information in that regard as well.
Of course, the release of the FISA applications would also shed a lot of light on events, assuming YOU believe reports that they were filed.
Furthermore, Clapper has said, as recently as yesterday, that no connections between the Russians and the Trump campaign have been found. I am extremely critical of Russia, Putin, and the efforts to influence our election, although I do not believe they succeeded. That said, how would Clapper know of no connections if he, as former Director of National Intelligence, didn’t look? On what is that based?
Your lack of curiosity and dishonesty about such matters and in dealing with me demean you and your profession. You are free to circulate this communication to whomever you wish, as I am making it public.
#1
President Obama's statement is not a definative statement of anything other than he, personally, did not order a wiretap, which I never claimed.
Your right Mark you never made that claim. But you know who did make that claim? That would be POTUS Trump. And if he doesn't conclusively prove, at the very least, collusion from the Obama WH (Not some agency - The WH itself) his credibility as President will be forever damaged.
#2
There is ample evidence that it did happen. Nyt reported it last year and Hillary referenced last year as well. Trumps game is to throw it out there, let everyone deny it and call him a liar. And then own them as it proves to be true. He does this time and time again. The media, fox included, research an inch deep and go to press. They, oriley specifically, will get imbarased as this all comes to light.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
03/07/2017 10:43
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But you know who did make that claim? That would be POTUS Trump.
Remember we are talking Twitter here and not a legal brief. While it would have been more correct for Trump to say "Obama's Justice Dept , headed by Loretta Lynch, obtained a FISA warrant, tapped comms in the Trump Tower and then illegally leaked the transcripts", that's a bit wordy for a tweet.
And you are right that without evidence, this is just he said/she said. Call me Shirley skeptical, but the over-lawyered denials make me suspicious. And remember that Trump has access to info that you and I don't. The next few weeks should be both interesting and entertaining.
#4
I hate when Trump pulls that crap because no matter how true it is, the Left waves the sentence around like Chamberlain waving around the treaty and loudly proclaims the whole thing is false and we needn't talk about it any more.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 ||
03/07/2017 11:52
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Remember we are talking Twitter here not a legal breif.
WADR, the vehicle of communication is irrelevant. It's his statements that are important. Most everyone views President Trump's tweets as an accusation that his predecessor had a hands on role in surveillance of his personal communication. To quote former VP Biden "This is a big fucking deal". Any attempts to explain this one away as simply imprecise language will be met with justifiable indignation. Here's hoping there's meat on that bone.
#6
Depot guy are you really saying that the DoJ would undertake such a purely political attack without clearance from Obama?
If you want to devolve into semantics the only person that can "order" this "tapping" is a FISA judge. Now who asked for this ? The DoJ? Who asked, suggested or surmise that it happen?
Even on the off chance that Lynch did it on her own hook Obama is responsible. That's where the buck stops whether he liked it or not.
#7
Jerry Pournelle offers an interesting point.
We know they've listened to Flynn's conversation - from Trump's Tower, with Russian ambassador - from Russian embassy. So they had either Trump's Tower or Russian embassy wiretapped. Now, Pournelle doesn't believe they could wiretap Russian embassy.
#8
Depot guy are you really saying the DoJ would undertake such a purely political attack without clearance from Obama?
AlanC I've made no suggestion whatsoever. First I made an observation; Trump's tweet accuses Obama of being complicit in what many would consider to be an illegal wiretap. Next I made a prediction; If Trump can't provide clear evidence of his charges his credibility will suffer greatly. Finally I offerd an opinion; This is POTUS speaking not some high school slumber party. And dismissive excuses of out of context twitter rants ain't gonna cut it on allegations this serious.
#10
Well as I see it the Obamites said they didn't wiretap Trump.
Wiretaps are old technology and easily detected. Electronic surveillance by a variety of gizmos and gadgets are more effective and less easily detected.
So they are playing with semantics and word choices and always with "to the best of my knowledge"...
This whole mess goes further up the food chain than some second echelon US Attorney and a FISA magistrate. The danged request has to be signed by the AG.
I'm beginning to think the reason the FBI didn't go after Shillary was because their best evidence came from sources that could not be used as evidence.
I think the President is giving the whole bunch of them enough rope to hang themselves.
#12
Darth, it is good to remember that a Trump tweet is not a legal brief. When the time comes to quote chapter and verse as it was, then we will see.
However, what evidence did the NYT have when they put it on their front page, etc. etc.? If it quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, walks like a duck and tastes good with orange sauce it is probably time to believe the menu.
#13
And if he doesn't conclusively prove, at the very least, collusion from the Obama WH (Not some agency - The WH itself) his credibility as President will be forever damaged.
The Democrats have claimed that Trump is working for the Russians. So far, they've offered no conclusive proof. Is their credibility forever damaged?
[Breitbart] The Trump administration has informed Planned Parenthood it will have to quit performing abortions in order to keep its federal taxpayer funding.
Maggie Haberman at the New York Times reports the White House has made an "informal pitch" to Planned Parenthood, offering continued federal funding to the nation’s largest abortion business if it agrees to stop performing abortions.
"As I said throughout the campaign, I am pro-life and I am deeply committed to investing in women’s health and plan to significantly increase federal funding in support of nonabortion services such as cancer screenings," Trump reportedly said in a statement to the Times. "Polling shows the majority of Americans oppose public funding for abortion, even those who identify as pro-choice. There is an opportunity for organizations to continue the important work they do in support of women’s health, while not providing abortion services."
However, Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), rejected Trump’s proposal.
#4
I think Judicial Watch's FOIA request/lawsuit is going to wind up being the tipping point as the stuff Judicial Watch is asking for was leaked to CNN and the NYT already so the CIA has no excuse.
#8
I actually tie this in with the Wikileaks disclosure. There's a part of the files that say the CIA could impersonate foreign countries to blame the hacking upon them.
DNC/Russia hacking anyone? Maybe that's the big story about to break open.
Posted by: Charles ||
03/07/2017 14:57
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Wikileaks: Michael Hastings death confirmation! Street word was he was working on a story re: Podesta....why would the CIA be interested in the accidental death of a Buzzfeed journalist unless they orchestrated it? The first installment should have the roaches running....
#11
Or from a car wreck, mugging attempt, work-out mishap, suicide, erotic self asphyxiation...
I'm thinking of 'while leasurly walking in Ft. Marcy Park he became so despondent about Hillary's loss that he shot himself in the back of the head -- twice.'
But in truth I really hope he has a long, healthy, life so he can watch the dismantling of his life work and legacy to its full bitter end.
[The Hill] Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has opened an inquiry into allegations the FBI worked with the British spy who authored a controversial opposition research dossier on President Trump during the 2016 election.
In a Monday letter to FBI Director James Comey, Grassley asked for records pertaining to any agreements the agency may have had with Christopher Steele. The MI6 agent wrote an explosive memo on behalf of Trump’s political enemies alleging that the Russians had compromising information on the president.
Comey briefed Trump on the existence of the memo in a private meeting in January.
Shortly after, several news organizations published the unverified allegations, which the White House denied.
In late February, The Washington Post reported that the FBI reached an agreement with Steele whereby the British spy would continue his investigation on behalf of the bureau.
"While Trump has derided the dossier as 'fake news' compiled by his political opponents, the FBI’s arrangement with Steele shows that the bureau considered him credible and found his information, while unproved, to be worthy of further investigation," the Post reported at the time.
Our word for today is a favourite with Senator Cruz of Texas. According to the (Internet) Urban Dictionary it refers to, "something lame, dead-end, a dud, insignificant; especially something with high expectations that turns out to be average, pathetic, or overhyped." A more exhaustive explanation might include the simile of a hamburger with no meat patty. (Lenten suggestion, with nothingfries and water.) This would be a nothingburger definition of a nothingburger.
The latest examples are any of the endless series of lame, dead-end, dud, insignificant revelations about various Trump appointees having met the Russian ambassador in Washington -- along with, apparently, everyone else in Washington, or at least, everyone on the right descending edge of Charles Murray’s Bell Curve.
Alternatively, a nothingburger might be like any of who-knows-how-many franchise combos which centre on a meat filling which, under laboratory examination, turns out to be at least half soya filler.
The question becomes an interesting one, for observant Catholics. At what point can we be sure that the actual meat content of a Something Burger is so low that it will count as a nothingburger for the purposes of Lenten abstinence?
Now, I have no opinion on the allegations raised, via leaks from Obama holdovers in Deep State, against Trump’s minions, beyond observing that they are all nuts. I have no memory of having met Ambassador Kislyak myself, but fear that when my staff consult the charred remains of my dayplanner, they may discover that we discussed the USA election, NATO’s logistical arrangements, and the political situation in eastern Ukraine, on seventeen occasions between July 21st and November 8th, 2016. Fortunately, I am not a Trump appointee, so the world may never know.
He is a very charming man, incidentally. Who knows I need more money.
And not a nothingburger at all, or more precisely, not a consumer of nothingburgers, as I judge from his formidable girth, and the tightness of his shirt collars. Whatever one might say against the old KGB, from whose ranks Kislyak ascended, they didn’t leave their operatives hungry.
Turning from Bell Curves to Pareto, and my old saw about the "rule of thumb" (based on the numerical ratio between thumb and fingers), about 20 percent of everything is opposed. Example: make a list for any purpose and you will find that 80 percent of entries arguably belong on the list, and the rest don’t. This will remain true no matter how many times you edit the list. It is one of the interesting things about nature, and it explains much otherwise inexplicable to science. Given about eighty years of the next century, I could write a book on this. One might even say that it is on the 20 percent that seems totally irrelevant that the life or use of the 80 percent depend.
Or vice versa, from a thumbic point of view. No matter how you focus your reading, four-fifths will prove to be a waste of time. Just nothingburgers, like today’s Idlepost.
If you were to come across someone who cried in the streets, who saw the world in terms of black and white and made death threats against strangers, who cowered in a special room and made public displays of naked self-harm and blood letting, you might conclude that they were suffering from a personality disorder.
All these symptoms can be found in the High Conflict Personality Disorder category known as Axis II in DSMV, including Anti-Social PD, Histrionic PD, Paranoid PD, Narcissistic PD, and Borderline PD.
Alternatively, you might reason that these are the everyday behaviors of the modern Social Justice Warrior (SJW).
Of course, not every SJW has a personality condition, but sufferers from High Conflict disorders are often drawn to extreme beliefs and behaviors under the illusion that they are acting politically.
A 2016 UK survey found that, since 1990, rates of depression and anxiety among the young have increased by 70%, while the American Counseling Association has reported a "rising tide of personality disorders among millennials."
That such disorders appear to be an acute problem with this generation may be an unintended outcome of the unprecedented experiment conducted in the 1990s and 2000s by progressive parents.
...The majority of millennial children (now aged 18-34) had two working parents; this was partly an ideological project of feminism and partly economic necessity. The downside was the damage done by daycare, services for which grew by 250% between the 1970s and ;90s (see Laura Perrins’ work on psychological trauma caused by daycare). According to Bowlby’s Maternal Deprivation Thesis, babies require two years of intimate attention to enable them to form the caregiver-child bond essential for secure ego formation. Any disturbance of this process will "predispose the children to respond in an anti-social way to later stresses."
...For the SJW, everyday speech contains a multitude of "microaggressions," or subconscious power dynamics which conceal colonial or patriarchal oppression.
...People with High Conflict Personality disorders experience similarly paranoid emotions about hidden messages, omnipotent threats, and imminent violence. In middle ages they used to beat crazy people - "to drive the demons out". Now, I wonder...
h/t Instapundit
[AceOfSpades] Just in case people don't get this: I'm not being rhetorical when I say that a large fraction of the country, on both the left and the nevertrumper/GOPe side of things, has gone insane.
The world feels like a Twilight Zone episode to them -- the world they went to sleep in on November 8, 2016 was not the same world they woke up to the next day of November 9, 2016.
Parts of it looked the same, but nothing looked quite the same.
The feeling they have is the horrific, creepy feeling of the uncanny -- a feeling that things look normal and familiar from most angles, but you can't shake the sense that there's something off or alien about them. A classic trope of the uncanny is the automaton or doll which appears human, or, even worse, the human who appears to be a doll. (Content warning on that -- very creepy.)
...They were wholly unprepared for the reality of Trump -- they never even prepared themselves psychologically for such an outcome, because it was inconceivable and absurd, and only Dumb People thought stuff like "Trump could win," and as they're fond of telling you, they are definitely not the Dumb People.
...They lost their feeling of control and power over America. And believe me, after 8 years of Obama, and with the social and cultural winds at their back, able to gin up social media hate-mobs against anyone who even said something they didn't like, and able to sic the IRS on conservative groups and get away with it scot-free -- they felt like they were in total control.
And they were right to feel that way: They were in total control.
And now that's gone.
November 9, 2016 -- the day they realized it was not a nightmare, but a reality akin to a nightmare -- was the progressives' 9/11. Just as real Americans felt the loss of security and control over their own fates that day, so did progressives feel that on 11/9.
What you're seeing from progressives now, and the media, is the same sort of urgent fury you saw from real Americans after 9/11 -- an anger that a great evil had been done, and honor demanded furious retribution.
Many people might have gone a little round the bend after 9/11. I think I did. In fact I know I did. I'm not proud of that, but neither am I too ashamed to admit it.
At least there was justifiable cause.
And now a great evil has finally shaken the progressives in the same way-- they lost all three branches of government.
And they've gone crazy.
In my experience, there is nothing quite so dangerous as an inflated but brittle ego. An inflated ego which is resilient is annoying and dangerous, but, being resilient, it does not really react bigly to threats. It shakes threats off, so it doesn't need to lash out or go on little Nervous Breakdown Picnics out in Ego Protection Park.
But large brittle egos do. Large egos lash out, and brittle ones -- ones that are easily punctured by pins -- must lash out aggressively, constantly, almost randomly.
11/9 stole from them the two things most sacred: their sense of superiority and infallibility, and their precious political power over the people they hate.
h/t Instapundit
Israel is ratcheting up its deregulation efforts to stimulate economic growth and attract multinational companies, according to the director general of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
Eli Groner, who coordinates among various government agencies to implement Netanyahu’s economic policies, says regulations have been cut in 27 areas of the economy, from cosmetic imports to the hotel industry, with a goal of reaching 60 areas by the end of next year. Efforts to simplify regulation were presented this week to the cabinet as part of a wider two-year plan for government ministries.
"Over the last couple of decades we’ve had regulatory creep and we’ve created an environment that’s over-regulated," said Groner, a former McKinsey & Co. consultant who immigrated to Israel at age 15 from New York.
"There’s a very clear correlation between a country’s standard of living and an excessive regulatory environment," he said in an interview in his Jerusalem office. "When you increase a lot of wasteful costs into the system that don’t create value, at the end of the day those wasteful costs filter down to the end consumer."
The Knesset plenum passed a bill on Monday 46-28 in its third and final reading that will allow the Interior Ministry to ban those who support the boycott of Israel from entering the country.
The measure will enable the interior minister to refuse to grant visas to non-Israeli citizens if they are active in a body aligned with the BDS movement or if they publicly support the boycott of Israel. Now, we need something similar for deporting pro-palestinian Israeli "citizens".
Some schools are actually going to be closed on Wednesday for the "Day Without A Woman" strike. Why? Well, because teachers are primarily women, and there are some schools out there who are now expecting to be shorthanded.
Nope, this is not a joke.
"Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools will be closed to students on March 8 ‐ proclaimed as "A Day Without A Woman" ‐ because the school system expects to be shorthanded.
Durham Public Schools also is discussing closing schools on March 8 but no decision had been made. Superintendent Bert L’Homme said he’ll talk about the possibility with staff and make an announcement on Friday.
Chapel Hill-Carrboro Superintendent Jim Causby made the call, changing next Wednesday to a teacher workday. Students won’t be expected to make up the day because the school system is on schedule to meet the required number of instructional hours anyway.
Causby made the decision because principals and other supervisors in the school system reported that they expected a high number of staff members to be absent on March 8." - Continues
#2
chapel hill carrboro has a lot of precincts that are filled with leftists
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03/07/2017 6:42
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#3
...because teachers are primarily women
Not even a flinch of irony that those who decry 'sexism' acknowledge the self evident truth of their institutionalized social discrimination against males in their own profession.
#7
Irony is that kids staying home because school is closed, puts an extra burden on the primary caregiver, Mom, especially on low income families that have difficulty affording day care...or you have a bunch of latch key kids roaming the streets in the middle of the day for an entire day...
Nothing like continuing to fuck with the nuclear family
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/07/2017 13:54
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#10
On wonderful womanless Wednesday,
We'll say what no mealymouthed man may:
"Okay, patriarchy,
Take all your malarky
And shove it... but just until payday."
[DAWN] Five soldiers of the Pakistain Army and over 15 suspected forces of Evil were reportedly killed in a cross-border "terrorist attack" on three Pak border posts along the Pak-Afghan border area on Sunday night, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a blurb.
In addition to the 15, some 20 suspected forces of Evil were also injured in the operation, ISPR said.
It further said that there are "credible reports" that six of the 15 who were killed Sunday night were "operational level terrorists", namely Kuchay Bajuari, Zar Mohammad alias Madni, Huzaifa, Sangary, Lakhkari and Sangeen
ISPR said "terrorists" from across the border had targeted the posts late on Sunday night in Mohmand Agency ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... "Effective presence, vigilance and response repulsed turbans attempt," read the statement.
The slain soldiers were identified as Naik Sanaullah, Naik Safdar, Sepoy Altaf, Sepoy Nek Mohammad and Sepoy Anwar.
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Qamar Javed Bajwa appreciated the response by Pak troops to the krazed killer attack in Mohmand Agency. He said: "Terrorists are [a] common threat and must be denied freedom of movement/action along the border."
The army chief emphasised the need for physical presence of troops on Afghan side of the border for "matching [the Pak side] and effective border security".
The COAS expressed grief on loss of precious lives and hailed the slain soldiers' sacrifice.
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[Iraq News] A local source in Nineveh Police informed on Monday, that the US-led coalition warplanes destroyed vehicles 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.... , while security forces discovered a mass grave, west of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... Major Ali Mohsen said in a press statement, "US-led international coalition’s warplanes destructed vehicles belonging to the Islamic State group in Gabret al-Bent area, west of Mosul."
"The air strike also resulted in the killing of 14 members of the Islamic State, as well as wounding others," Mohsen added.
Meanwhile, ...back at the barn, Bossy was furiously chewing her cud and thinking... security forces discovered a mass grave containing remains of 50 civilians, who were executed by the Islamic State group in al-Yarmouk area, west of Mosul.
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[Iraq News] A local source in Salahuddin Province revealed that four members of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group, including an explosives expert, were killed by a boom-mobilekaboom, north of the province, Alsumaria News reported on Monday.
The source said, "Four Lions of Islam from the Islamic State group were killed in an kaboom, while trying to plant explosives in a vehicle, in the outskirts of one of the villages in Sharqat District, north of Salahuddin."
"The killed Lions of Islam include the Islamic State’s explosives expert, who was known as al-Masry," the source added on condition of anonymity.
In March 2, 2017, Governor of Salahuddin Ahmed al-Jabouri called on Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to launch operations to liberate the eastern side of al-Sharqat District, al-Zawiya, al-Fatha and Hawija, as well as eliminating terrorism in the areas of al-Daur, Mutaibija and east of Samarra.
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North Korea said on Tuesday it has temporarily banned Malaysians from leaving the country to ensure the safety of its diplomats and citizens in Malaysia amid an escalating row over the killing of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's half-brother.
The North's foreign ministry has notified the Malaysian embassy in Pyongyang of the reason for the measure and said it had hoped the case would be swiftly and fairly resolved in order to develop bilateral ties with Malaysia, the North's KCNA news agency reported.
Malaysia has responded with a tit-for-tat ban in an escalation of the row over the killing of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half-brother in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia’s prime minister, Najib Razak, called it an “abhorrent act, effectively holding our citizens hostage” in disregard of international law. He said he had instructed police to prevent all North Korean citizens in Malaysia from leaving until the safety of Malaysians in North Korea was assured.
Malaysia’s foreign ministry said it had 11 citizens in North Korea, including three embassy staff, six family members and two others. Neither country has announced how many North Koreans live in Malaysia.
[Dhaka Tribune] Salafist platform Hefajat-e-Islam ...a madrassa-based false nose and mustache of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, formed in 2010 to protest against secular education. In 2011 demonstrated violentyly against women's rights and in 2013 held large rallies demanding capital punishment of Shahbag Square protesters and banning women working outside the home... issued a blurb on Monday stating the arrest warrant issued against their leaders was to deflect the idol issue on the Supreme Court premises.
The Shariah law-pursuing group has been actively campaigning to remove the sculpture representing justice, claiming it is a Greek idol. They have also used children in their public protest, a political act which is forbidden in the Children’s Act 2013.
Hefazat Nayeb-e-Ameer Shamshul Alam among many signed the brief, saying there is no place for idols in a Moslem-majority country and that it was strategically placed on the court grounds to undermine Islam.
Hefazat leaders claimed the warrant was issued by anti-Islamic atheists to silence Islamic scholars leading the fight against the anti-Islamic conspiracy.
They further threatened to launch countrywide unrest if the warrant was not withdrawn swiftly.
Earlier on Sunday, a Dhaka court issued an arrest warrant against 25 people including Hefazat leaders, in a four-year-old case for instigating an attack on the Gonojagoron Moncho on February 22, 2013.
A special tribunal issued the arrest warrant based on the charge sheet filed by Shahbagh police accusing 29 people of bombing.
The court also ordered Shahbagh police to submit a report by April 6 on whether the accused have been placed in durance vile Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! .
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[Dhaka Tribune] At least 30 people were killed Monday in a day of intense fighting in a town on Myanmar’s border with China, authorities said, after rebels dressed in police uniforms launched a surprise raid.
Artillery and small arms fire continued throughout the day in Laukkai, a main town in the Kokang region of the northeastern state of Shan.
The festivities are some of the worst to break out in the Chinese-speaking Kokang region since fighting in 2015 left scores dead and forced tens of thousands to flee across the border into China.
Myanmar is already torn by various ethnic insurgencies. But the Kokang conflict has raised tensions with its giant neighbour.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s government is desperate to end the decades-long borderland conflicts, but intensifying fighting threatens peace efforts.
Rebels from the Myanmar Nationalities Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) launched an attack early Monday against police and military posts, according to Suu Kyi’s office.
A separate group of fighters later attacked locations in the main town.
"According to initial information, many innocent civilians including a primary school teacher... were killed because of attacks by the MNDAA gang," the State Counsellor’s Office said in a statement, adding some attackers wore local police uniforms.
The statement, accompanied by grisly pictures of the dead and maimed, said at least five civilians and five local police were killed in the fighting.
It added that a further 20 "burned bodies" had been found alongside weapons.
Unverified video shared on social media appeared to show parts of the town still ablaze on Monday afternoon while civilians scurried to safety amid the rattle of small arms fire.
The Northern Alliance, an umbrella group of rebels including the MNDAA which has yet to join national peace talks, confirmed its members were fighting in Laukkai.
But in a Facebook post it said they carried out the attack "to resist an enemy offensive in self-defence" and cited Myanmar military operations since December.
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This may be China taking steps. It was a major backer of ethnic Chinese-led Communist guerrilla movements in non-Communist Southeast Asia until the late 70's, when Uncle Sam normalized relations with China, leading to a kind of detente between China and its non-Communist neighbors.
[Iraq News] Iraqi forces recaptured a district in western djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... on Monday 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.... Lions of Islam and stormed another one on their way towards central Mosul’s Old City, the security command said in a statement.
The army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Forces recaptured al-Sumoud district before storming the nearby al-Mansour, Lt.Gen. Abdul-Amir Yarallah, commander of the Nineveh operations, said in a statement.
Old Mosul is a major target for U.S.-backed Iraqi forces seeking to clear the western side of the city from Death Eaters. It is home of a government compound, the recapture of which is believed to be highly decisive in ending the campaign in the government forces’ favor.
Shortly earlier, news reports quoted security officials saying the forces took over a major bridge leading to the Old City.
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[Iraq News] U.S.-backed Syrian militias cut the last main road out of Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... -held Raqqa on Monday, severing the highway between the group’s de facto capital and its stronghold of Deir al-Zor province, a Kurdish military source and a war monitor said.
It marks a major accomplishment for the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the multi-phased campaign being waged since November to encircle and ultimately capture Islamic State’s base of operations in Raqqa city in northern Syria.
"Cutting the road between Raqqa and Deir al-Zor means that practically the encirclement of the ISIS (Islamic State) capital is complete by land," the Kurdish military source told Rooters, adding that the only remaining way out was south across the Euphrates River.
Air strikes by the U.S.-led coalition have destroyed the bridges across the Euphrates to Raqqa city, the British-based monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said.
"It is a big victory but there is still a lot to accomplish," the Kurdish military source said, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... The Observatory said families brought recently by Islamic State to Raqqa from areas to the west had been forced to cross the river by boat, reflecting the problem facing IS in reaching the city.
The SDF confirmed that its forces had taken the Raqqa-Deir al-Zor road.
"The road is under the control of the SDF," front man Talal Silo said in a voice message sent to Rooters.
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In which Al Ahram presents information President Trump and like-minded others can use to support banning the Moslem Brotherhood as the terror organization it is.
[AlAhram] Ahram Online looks in to Egypt’s latest bully boy groups and how they are different than the usual bully boy Jihadi group.
Last February, an Egyptian court of urgent matters designated the bully boy group Hasm a terrorist organization, banning its activity in the country.
In January, Egypt's High State Security Prosecution referred 304 people to military prosecution for membership in Hasm, which committed 14 attacks on security forces and public figures over the past six months.
[Iraq News] Unknown gunniesrubbed out a preacher 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.... and a companion in western djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , sources said as government troops become closer to the group’s strongholds in central Mosul.
Alsumaria News quoted a local source saying that "Abu Huthaifa", an Iraqi, was bumped off along with another member in Zanjili, a district north of Mosul’s Old City, the target of current Iraqi forces operations in western Mosul.
According to the source, the attack, having occurred in areas under IS control prompted the holy warrior group to launch searches for perpetrators and arrest some suspects.
Earlier on Monday, Iraqi forces recaptured recaptured al-Sumoud district before storming the nearby al-Mansour, all near the city center.
Old Mosul is a major target for U.S.-backed Iraqi forces seeking to clear the western side of the city from murderous Moslems. It is home of a government compound, the recapture of which is believed to be highly decisive in ending the campaign in the government forces’ favor.
Shortly earlier, news reports quoted security officials saying the forces took over a major bridge leading to the Old City.
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[DAWN] The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of police on Monday claimed to have killed one suspected krazed killer and detained four others allegedly linked to a banned sectarian outfit after an 'encounter' in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... 's Korangi area.
CTD Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Amir Farooqi, addressing a presser at CTD Civil Lines, said the five men were suspected of involvement in major terrorist acts in the metropolis and were planning more similar attacks.
Continued on Page 49
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[Iraq News] Iraqi forces recaptured more government facilities and a district in western djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... on Monday as they pushed closer to the Old City to clear the district 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.... holy warriors.
The Federal Police command said in a statement that the service, aided by the Rapid Response forces, took over the water and sewage department’s offices in western Mosul’s district of Dindan, raising the Iraqi flags above the facility. It added that the forces also recaptured the "police directorate and the courts complex".
Other news reports quoted security sources saying that the troops also took over Dour al-Sukar district in the south.
Earlier on Monday, Iraqi forces recaptured recaptured al-Sumoud district before storming the nearby al-Mansour, all near the city center.
Old Mosul is a major target for U.S.-backed Iraqi forces seeking to clear the western side of the city from holy warriors. It is home of a government compound, the recapture of which is believed to be highly decisive in ending the campaign in the government forces’ favor.
Shortly earlier, news reports quoted security officials saying the forces took over al-Hurriya, major bridge leading to the Old City.
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[Iraq News] Muhammad Ali Karim is an Iraqi-Kurdish sniper and soldier in the Peshmerga forces fighting the holy warriorIslamic 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.... in Iraq, and due to his extraordinary courage and daring, he is known as Captain Rambo.
Muhammad killed 260 turbans and is considered a threat to the Islamic State group, so it placed a large reward on his head.
Rambo, who was born in 1977, has always been prepared to defend his homeland, and was trained by his father who was a Peshmerga sniper fighting the old regime.
He lived briefly in Norway but returned home in 2014 to join the fight against the Islamic State, after being sickened by atrocities carried out by the group and its ideology of hate and cruelty.
"As soon as ISIS invaded my country (in June 2014) I returned to Kurdistan to destroy this evil," he says. "I want to kill them, get rid of them, because they are not human, they are evil," he added.
Now, he serves as a lieutenant in Unit 70, one of three Kurdish brigades formed in 2015 with soldiers belonging to the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, in an attempt to unify rival Kurdish groups.
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[DAWN] Anti-India protests erupted in held Kashmir following a fierce gunbattle in which two suspected snuffies and a counterinsurgency policeman were killed, police said on Sunday.
Government forces, acting on a tip, encircled a house in the southern Tral area overnight, said police chief S.P. Vaid. He said fighting erupted after snuffies hurled grenades and fired automatic rifles to break a security cordon.
Two snuffies and a policeman working with a counterinsurgency unit were killed, he said. At least three other security officials, including an army officer, were maimed.
As the fighting raged, clashes erupted between the government forces and villagers who tried to march to the site of the fighting in solidarity with the suspected myrmidons.
Troops fired shotgun pellets and tear gas to stop the rock-throwing protesters.
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[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] A fourth German local authority said Monday it had cancelled a public appearance by a Turkish minister to campaign ahead of a referendum on expanding President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... ’s powers.
Police in the city of Hamburg said a venue where Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had planned to speak Tuesday could not be used "after serious fire safety deficiencies were identified and the use of the property was immediately prohibited".
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[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] The USNS Invincible, escorted by the British Royal Navy, experienced a close encounter with high-speed attack ships deployed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, ultimately compelling the US spy ship and her formation to alter her course.
The Invincible, while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, which the US Energy Information Agency calls "the world’s most important oil chokepoint," was approached by "multiple" Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRG) fast-attack ships. When the IRG ships were within 600 yards of the naval formation, they halted their advance, a US official said on Monday.
The Navy attempted to contact the IRG via radio to discuss their position, but received no response, the US official said, adding that it was an "unsafe and unprofessional interaction."
The Invincible is under the aegis of the Military Sealift Command, according to a War is Boring report, and is led by 18 civilian contractors manning the 224-foot, 2,285-ton vessel. While the white, mostly unmarked ship does not appear to have any formal weapons systems, hence the escort, it does carry a radar the US Air Force uses to collect intelligence. The Navy classifies the Invincible as a "Missile Range Instrumentation" ship which, according to the service, "monitors missile launches and collects data."
A CBS report indicated that Iran had sent a frigate that closed to within 150 yards of the spy ship while in the Gulf of Oman, just south of the Strait of Hormuz.
In January, an interaction the Navy called "unsafe and unprofessional" was ended after the USS Mahan, a guided-missile destroyer, fired off warning rounds at four approaching IRG vessels. The US and Iran have become increasingly provocative toward one another since the start of 2017, officials said, despite the number of tense encounters declining in the second half of 2016.
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#3
The Iranians are going to get a little bit too bold one of these days. They seem to have forgotten that there is a new regime in Washington. Our Secretary of Defense is informally nicknamed "Mad Dog", although he prefers "Chaos".
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#4
Anybody see the irony in the 'Invincible' being not so?
#6
The British Royal Navy sincerely regrets the accidental discharge of a 5" gun that resulted in damage to an Iranian speedboat. The seaman responsible, one James Pogue, has been severely reprimanded. Claims for damages may be submitted to P.O. Box 237, Buckingham Palace, London, England.
The carrot offsetting the tunnel-destruction stick.
[AlAhram] Egypt opened the Rafah border crossing with Paleostine's Gazoo strip on Monday for three days, state news agency MENA reported.
Based on the directives of President Abdel-Fatah El-Sisi, the crossing will be open in both directions to allow humanitarian cases and students to cross, as well as to "allow the passage of humanitarian assistance to the Gazoo strip."
The Rafah border crossing between Gazoo and the Sinai Peninsula is the only way for 1.8 million Paleostinians, who have been living under Israeli siege since 2006, to enter and exit the strip.
The crossing has been mostly closed by Egyptian authorities since October 2014 on security grounds.
Cairo periodically opens the border for short periods to allow civilians with foreign passports, Paleostinian students, and those with medical needs to travel back and forth.
The crossing was last opened in mid-February for humanitarian cases and students.
It was also opened as an exception for some Paleostinian social and political figures, as well as youth, to enter Egypt to take part in a conference at Ain El-Sokhna Saturday, in Suez governorate.
The two-day conference, which around 170 Paleostinians attended, focused on Egypt and the Paleostinian cause as well as the unification of the Paleostinian factions.
The border opening comes amid signaled improvement between Cairo and the Paleostinian movement Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, which rose to power in Gazoo in 2006, with the group's leader Mahmoud El-Zahar saying Paleostinian and Egyptian officials have reached a border control agreement.
No further details have been released on the deal, which was discussed during the visit of a Hamas senior delegation to Cairo in late January.
[Ynet] Suspected jihadists from Burkina Faso ...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other... have attacked a Malian military post across the border, killing at least a dozen Malian soldiers.
The attack was on a military base in Boulkessi, according to an announcement on Malian state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
late Sunday.
A resident who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals said that Malian soldiers fled Boulkessi after the assault.
While there was no immediate claim of responsibility, suspicion fell on a group from Burkina Faso known as Ansaroul Islam, which is linked to bully boy groups in northern Mali.
[Ynet] Armed groups took over parts of Timbuktu on Monday to prevent Malian interim authorities from being installed there under a peace pact meant to end years of lawlessness, the defence ministry said.
The return of state authority to northern Mali was supposed to fill a vacuum that has rendered it a launch pad for regional jihadi attacks across the region.
[UPI] The four missiles North Korea launched on Monday were likely practice for targeting U.S. military bases in Japan.
According to South Korea's joint chiefs of staff, three of the four missiles landed in Japanese territorial waters, making it likely North Korea is rehearsing attacks against U.S. military stations in Japan, from where reinforcements for the Korean peninsula would arrive in the event of war.
Seoul said all four projectiles were most likely midrange ballistic missiles that are not capable of reaching the continental United States, South Korean newspaper Kukmin Ilbo reported Monday.
The rockets, which all flew distances of 620 miles or less, could have been projectiles like the Rodong, the Scud-ER, or a modified missile like the Pukguksong-2, launched Feb. 12.
But the South Korea military is not ruling out the possibility that at least one of the missiles was an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, because of the location of the launch.
The station in Tongchang-ri, North Pyongan Province, has been the site of previously long-range rocket tests.
When the four missiles were launched at 7:34 a.m. Monday, South Korea's ground-based Green Pine radar and an Aegis Combat System were able to detect then track the projectiles.
One missile flew as high as 160 miles in altitude, before reaching a horizontal distance of 620 miles, then crashing into Japanese territorial waters.
The four missiles were fired in succession in 10 minutes, and each missile was launched at different angles.
North Korea may have been sending a message in response to a joint U.S.-South Korea decision to deploy the THAAD anti-missile defense system, according to the report.
The United States and Japan are stepping up military coordination and launched a 12-day drill that is to include the deployment of the MV-22 Osprey, a multi-mission aircraft with both vertical takeoff and landing, and short takeoff and landing capabilities, the Mainichi Shimbun reported.
The exercises mark the first time the military is deploying the aircraft since a plane crash-landed in waters near Okinawa.
The U.S. military had grounded its entire fleet of Osprey aircraft after the incident.
[DW] North Korean state media has said the country's recent missile launches involved units tasked with targeting US bases in Japan. Supreme leader Kim Pudge Jong-un ...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished... reportedly supervised the drill.
"Feasting his eyes on the trails of ballistic rockets," he praised the Hwasong artillery unit that launched them, the report said. Kim also said that the rockets were "so accurate that they look like acrobatic flying corps in formation."
The artillery units are "tasked to strike the bases of the US imperialist aggressor forces in Japan in contingency," KCNA added.
But really, it's just good business practice to put one's bankers on the company's board of directors.
[IsraelTimes] Muhammad al-Jamassi, UNRWA’s infrastructure chief, reportedly sits on terror group’s political bureau; UNRWA last week suspended teacher accused of senior Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", role.
A senior Paleostinian employee of a Gazoo-based United Nations ...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... humanitarian agency was reportedly elected to Hamas’s political bureau, the top governing body of the terrorist organization the rules the Strip.
One the 15 members elected to the bureau in February’s internal elections was Muhammad al-Jamassi, a senior engineer employed by UNRWA, the UN agency in charge of Paleostinian refugees, according to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.
Jamassi has held various positions within Hamas since 2007, including in the group’s public relations department and its affiliated charities, the center said.
Oh. He isn't an Arab UN employee who was elected to Hamas' board, but a career Hamasnik who got a sinecure with UNRWA.
He currently serves as board chairman for the UNRWA engineering department in central Gazoo, and oversees all off the agency’s infrastructure projects in the area.
The February 13 vote saw another UNRWA staffer elected to a top leadership position in Hamas.
Suhail al-Hindi, a teacher heading the agency’s employee union in Gazoo, was suspended by UNRWA after Israel demanded his immediate termination.
The claims against al-Hindi were made by COGAT, the Israeli Defense Ministry agency responsible for civilian affairs in the West Bank and Gazoo, and the Foreign Ministry.
UNRWA initially denied Hindi’s Hamas affiliation, saying in a statement that the agency had "neither uncovered nor received evidence to contradict the staff member’s denial that he was elected to political office." Its statement quoted Hindi as saying that he has "no relation whatsoever with the issue."
Three days later, however, UNRWA front man Chris Gunness announced Hindi was suspended based on "substantial information" it had been provided.
He insisted the decision to suspend Hindi pending the outcome of an internal investigation was made independently of Israeli demands.
Israel has long claimed that some of UNRWA’s Paleostinian employees support terrorist activities and spread anti-Semitism online.
Last month, a UN watchdog group released a report showing screenshots from the Facebook pages of 40 UNRWA school employees in Gazoo and other parts of the Mideast that it said "incite to Jihadist terrorism and anti-Semitism, including by posting Holocaust-denying videos and pictures celebrating Hitler."
UN Watch said it had petitioned UN chief António Guterres, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley ...first woman to serve as Governor of South Carolina, and the second Indian-American governor in the country, after Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. At the age of 39, Haley is the youngest current governor in the U.S., a distinction formerly held by Jindal. She is a Republican, which really grates on the Dems... , urging them "to take action and demand UN and UNRWA condemnation of the incitement, and the immediate termination of the implicated employees."
In 2015, the US gave UNRWA -- which provides Paleostinian refugees and their descendants with education, health care, and social services -- $380 million in funding.
Gunness recently told The Times of Israel that UNRWA was aware of the incitement allegations, and was "looking into [them] as part of our ongoing commitment to maintaining the Agency’s neutrality."
In the coming months, Gunness said UNRWA would begin rolling out "compulsory" online social-media training to all of its 30,000 local staff members.
[IsraelTimes] Soldiers on overnight arrest raid exchange fire with alleged terrorist, resulting in his death, wound two others; M-16 rifle, submachine gun found in home
An alleged Paleostinian terrorist was killed in an exchange of gunfire with Israeli troops during an arrest raid in the West Bank city of Ramallah overnight Monday, the army said.
No Israeli servicemen were maimed in the incident.
The troops, from the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Police’s counterterrorism unit, surrounded the house where the suspect, Basel al-A’araj, was located. As they approached, he shot up them, the army said.
The soldiers fired back, killing the man.
Two more Paleostinians were also shot and injured in festivities with Israeli troops after the gunfire exchange, police said.
Al-A’araj, 31, originally from Bethlehem, was allegedly part of a terrorist cell planning to carry out attacks on Israeli targets, Israeli officials said.
"Al-A’araj directed the cell and was responsible for purchasing the weaponry," police said in a statement.
Inside his home, troops uncovered an M-16 rifle and an improvised Carlo-style submachine gun, the IDF said, referring to the suspect as a "terrorist."
Carlo-style submachine guns are relatively affordable and common in the West Bank, as they can be hobbled together from water pipes and scrap metal. M-16 assault rifles, on the other hand, are several times more expensive and thus normally purchased by more organized groups with access to funds.
However, corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds... no terrorist organization immediately claimed al-A’araj as a member.
The Shin Bet security service said Monday morning that al-A’araj was "connected to a local terror cell," but his relationship with a specific organization was "still being investigated."
Al-A’araj was enjugged Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! by the Paleostinian Authority in April of last year for planning attacks against Israelis and imprisoned for six months, prompting calls for his release from Paleostinian activists.
Al-A’araj, a pharmacist by training and profession, was a prominent supporter of the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel. Shortly after his death on Monday morning, videos of his anti-Israel speeches circulated on Paleostinian social media. He also led tours around the West Bank in which he lectured on the history of the Paleostinian armed conflict. A failed attempt Curses! Foiled again! by Israeli forces to arrest him at his Bethlehem home in November made headlines in the Paleostinian news.
Following Monday’s shootout at the entrance to al-A’araj’s home, festivities between the soldiers and residents also erupted nearby, with Paleostinians throwing rocks at the force, police said.
The troops shot at the rioters, hitting two men in the lower body. They received treatment from Red Islamic Thingy medics, police said.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli troops arrested a dozen Paleostinian suspects, seven of them alleged members of the Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", terrorist group.
Four suspected Hamas members were arrested in Bethlehem, two in Jenin and one in Qalqilya, the army said. According to Paleostinian media, two of the men arrested in Bethlehem were Hamas members of the Paleostinian parliament Anwar Zabun and Khaled Tafesh, and a third was identified as Ghassan Hermas, a professor at al-Quds University in nearby Abu Dis. All three have been arrested by Israel in the past.
In Bethlehem, Israeli troops also seized thousands of shekels that the army said came from terrorist organizations, "according to intelligence information."
Four of the other five Paleostinians arrested early Monday morning were suspected of taking part in violent protests or throwing rocks at Israeli troops and civilians, the army said.
The IDF did not specify the charges against the twelfth suspect.
In Kifl Haris, in the northern West Bank, Israeli troops escorted a group of religious Jews to a holy site in the village, believed to be the burial place of the biblical figure Joshua. These visits can sometimes serve as catalysts for festivities between residents and Israeli troops, but the visit early Monday morning saw "no incidents out of the ordinary," the army said.
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] The Syrian Army and Armed Forces units on Monday carried out concentrated operations against al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... Front in the countryside of Hamah and Idlib, restored control over several blocks of buildings in Daraa al-Balad, and continued to advance against ISIS in Deir Ezzor
Hamah & Idleb
SANA news hound in Hama said that army units carried out intensive bombardments against gatherings and positions of al-Nusra Lions of Islam in al-Latamineh town in the northern countryside, destroying three vehicles and killing many Lions of Islam including terrorist Abdul-Salam al-Sattouf.
The news hound indicated that army units carried out precise operations against dens and positions of the terrorist groups in Taybet al-Imam and Lahaya, destroying a car and injuring at least 15 terrorists.
Meanwhile, ...back at the dirigible, the pilot and the copilot had both hit the silk.
Jack! Cynthia exclaimed. Do you know how to drive one of these things?
Jack wiped some of the blood from his knuckles.
No, he said. Do you?... army units carried out a number of concentrated bombardments, destroying a position for Lions of Islam in Tal Hawwash town in Hama northern countryside.
28 km to the southeast of Idlib city, the news hound said that the Syrian army air force targeted gatherings of al-Nusra Lions of Islam in the surroundings of Tal Mardikh, killing and injuring six terrorists.
Deir Ezzor
Army units, in cooperation with the supporting forces, clashed severely with terrorist groups affiliated to ISIS terrorist organization in the remaining parts of al-Maqaber area on the southern outskirts of Deir Ezzor city.
SANA news hound said Monday that the army units achieved advance in al-Maqaber area after eliminating a number of ISISLions of Islam and destroying a number of their barricades near Talet Alloush in the area.
Another army unit destroyed ISIS gatherings and a heavy machinegun-equipped vehicle near al-Thardah area roundabout, south of Deir Ezzor city.
The army air force carried out Arclight airstrikes on the ISIS movement axes and gatherings in al-Makabat, al-Muhandessen area, in the surrounding of Liwa al-Taamin and in al-Thardah Mountain in the surrounding of Deir Ezzor city.
The source added that the Arclight airstrikes left many ISISLions of Islam dead or injured and destroyed their equipment and ammunition.
Later, a military source said that army units, supported by the Syrian Air Force, targeted with artillery fire the fortifications and hideouts of ISIS in al-Sunouf hill, al-Warad hill, hill no. 17, Mazloum crossing, al-Reshdiye neighborhood, al-Sina’a neighborhood, and al-Bghaliye village, which resulted in destroying a number of hideouts and killing a number of terrorists.
Daraa
Army units expanded their control in Daraa al-Balad area in Daraa city after intensive operations targeting the sites of Nusra and other terrorist groups affiliated to it.
A military source said that army units engaged in heavy festivities with terrorist groups, restoring control over several blocks of buildings and destroying the last remaining positions of Lions of Islam there.
The source added that as a result of the army’s operations a machinegun nest was destroyed southeast of Bilal al-Habashi Mosque and all the Lions of Islam manning it were killed.
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[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] Germany’s chancellery on Monday hit out against Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... for likening a German ban on rallies by his ministers to "Nazi practices", calling the comparison "absolutely unacceptable".
"The government will make this very clear" to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , Peter Altmaier, chief of staff at the chancellery, told public broadcaster ARD.
"There is absolutely no reason to allow ourselves to be reproached over this," he added.
Several local authorities in Germany last week banned rallies by Turkish ministers seeking to campaign for support ahead of an April referendum on boosting Erdogan’s powers.
The authorities had cited capacity problems in hosting the rallies, which they said would likely attract large crowds.
Chancellor Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany and the impetus behind Germany's remarkably ill-starred immigration program. Merkel used to be referred to by Germans as Mom... has said her government did not have a hand in the decisions, which fell under the jurisdiction of local authorities.
But Ankara responded to the cancellations with fury.
In a bid to defuse the row, Merkel rang Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Saturday.
But a day later, Erdogan lashed out against Berlin, telling a rally in Istanbul: "Germany, you are not even close to democracy. Your practices are not different from the Nazi practices of the past."
On Monday, Altmaier repeated Merkel’s argument that campaign rallies by Turkish ministers, in general, should not be banned.
"But they must adhere to existing rules. They must be registered and subject to checks," he said.
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] Chancellor Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany and the impetus behind Germany's remarkably ill-starred immigration program. Merkel used to be referred to by Germans as Mom... called for calm Monday in an escalating dispute with The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , a day after President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... labeled a German ban on rallies by his ministers "Nazi practices".
"To our Turkish partners, let us talk openly and critically, but let us remember the special meaning of our close relationship and let cool heads prevail," said Merkel’s front man Steffen Seibert.
The front man sharply rejected Erdogan’s claim.
"Nazi comparisons are always absurd and out of place, because they lead only to one thing -- the trivialising of the crimes against humanity committed by the Nazis," said Seibert.
Ankara and Berlin are locked in a new dispute weighing on already frayed ties, this time over rallies in Germany by Turkish ministers to promote Erdogan’s bid for greater powers.
The row erupted late last week after three German local authorities banned ministers’ scheduled rallies ahead of an April referendum over the plan to scrap the prime minister post in Turkey altogether.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Is "Cool" the same as "submissive" there Angie?
Yup - jack up your rates over time and piss off most of your audience with left-wing politics - that's a winning formula! This time around, they're concentrating on letting go of the on-air 'talent' (I use that term very loosely) and contract buyouts; in 2015 it was 400 behind the scenes types.
I'll skip to the crux of the biscuit:
[AwfulAnnouncing.com] An ESPN spokesman gave SI the following statement in response:
"We have long been about serving fans and innovating to create the best content for them. Today’s fans consume content in many different ways and we are in a continuous process of adapting to change and improving what we do. Inevitably that has consequences for how we utilize our talent. We are confident that ESPN will continue to have a roster of talent that is unequaled in sports."
One major factor for ESPN’s lower revenue is the fact that since 2011 when the network was in 100 million homes, it has lost subscribers and is now available in 88.4 million homes. 'Your appeal is becoming more selective...'
#1
Wait and wait and wait till its "a la carte" subscription and see your income drop. When it comes, a lot of programming will die. To quote the professor, "Faster, Faster".
#2
All you have to see is how the "cool" new show is Michael Smith and Jemele Hill. This is a show aimed at BLM types and concentrates less on sports then pop culture.
There are still a few shows I like on ESPN but they are no longer the go to if I want to spend some time vegging out.
#7
#2 All you have to see is how the "cool" new show is Michael Smith and Jemele Hill. This is a show aimed at BLM types and concentrates less on sports then pop culture.
absolutely unwatchable. The establishment I frequentoccasionallyinfrequently visit once when to turned it off after the complaints rolled in. They're worthless and trying to be SJW and URBAN. Good luck paying yer bills, bitches
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/07/2017 20:06
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[DAWN] Former national security adviser Mahmud Ali Durrani speaking to journalists in India on Monday said the Pak government should take action against Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... (JuD) chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed ...who would be wearing a canvas jacket with very long sleeves anyplace but Pakistain... , India media reported.
Durrani, who was a speaker at the 19th Asian Security Conference in Delhi, responding to a journalist's question said that Hafiz Saeed ...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat... "has no utility" for Pakistain. "We should act against him," he asserted, according to NDTV.
The Interior Ministry announced in January this year that Saeed had been sent to his room for three months.
The JuD and Falah-e-Insaaniat Foundation (FIF), a charity organization affiliated with the JuD, were both included in the second schedule and were to be placed on the government’s watch list for six months under Section (1) 11EEE of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar earlier confirmed that the JuD had been on the government's watchlist for several years.
The organization was also listed under United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... Security Council Resolution 1267, which is known as the Al Qaeda and Taliban sanctions committee.
Nisar had said certain actions were to be taken by the state after its enlistment, which had not been taken, adding that the government was now moving to meet those obligations.
The United Nations Security Council had placed sanctions against the JuD, declaring it a terrorist organization in December 2008.
The US State Department in June 2014 had termed the JuD a "foreign terrorist organization", a status that freezes any assets it has under the US jurisdiction.
New Delhi blames Saeed for the Mumbai attacks, but Pakistain argues that India has failed to provide incriminating evidence against him.
The JuD chief remained under house arrest for months during the Musharraf regime in 2002 after an attack on the Indian parliament and once again after the Mumbai attacks in 2008.
The Lahore High Court had ordered his release in June 2009 after the government had failed to establish a case against him.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Yeah, and the US should act against Obama. Won't see much there either.
[DAWN] LAHORE: Shahid Aziz alias Gullu Butt was released from Kot Lakhpat Central Jail on Monday evening following his acquittal orders issued by the Lahore High Court (LHC) last month.
Butt’s family members and friends showered rose petals on him when he came out of the jail.
An anti-terrorism court had awarded a collective punishment of 11 years and three months imprisonment to Gullu Butt under five sections of laws on Oct 30, 2014.
The maximum punishment was five-year jail under section 7 of Anti Terrorism Act, 1997. He was handed down three-month imprisonment under section 186 of Pakistain Penal Code (PPC), and two years each under sections 353, 427 and 506 of PPC. As the punishment was to run concurrently, Butt was due to come out of jail after undergoing maximum penalty of five years.
Gullu Butt was accused of rowdyism, obstructing public servants in discharge of official duties, smashing private vehicles with a club outside Minhajul Koran Secretariat in Model Town on June 17, 2014 when a heavy police contingent allegedly engaged the protesting supporters of Dr Tahirul Qadri ...Pak politician, and would-be dictator, founder and head of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran and Pakistain Awami Tehrik. He usually resides in Canada, but returns to Pakistain periodically to foam at the mouth and lead demonstrations. Depending on which way the wind's blowing, Qadri claims to be the author of Pak's blasphemy law. Other times he says it wasn't him... Police personnel had not stopped Butt from his illegal activities rather acted as a silent spectator.
Gullu Butt had challenged his conviction before Lahore High Court and a two-member bench headed by Justice Muhammad Tariq Abbasi allowed his appeal.
The LHC bench later quashed Gullu Butt’s sentence awarded under ATA while upheld his conviction under provisions of PPC.
As the high court had set aside the five-year term as per ATA and he completed his maximum imprisonment of two years under the PPC, Gullu Butt was released.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[DAWN] Pakistain will temporary open border crossings at Torkham and Chaman for two days to allow stranded Afghan nationals to return to their country, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said on Monday.
A MoFA blurb said the government decided to open the border crossings on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 7 and 8, "in order to provide an opportunity to those nationals of Afghanistan who had come to Pakistain on valid visas and wish to return to their country."
Crossing points will also allow Paks visiting Afghanistan on valid visas to return to the country, the Foreign Office said.
"All concerned at the two crossing points have also been informed, the FO statement added.
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[DW] A suspected German Islamist, nabbed I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! last week for planning a terrorist attack, reportedly used to post hate-speech online against Moslems. De-radicalization experts say switching Death Eater movements is not uncommon.
The suspected Islamist terrorist, arrested in the central German town of Northeim last week, previously expressed neo-Nazi sympathies, a press report has revealed.
Citing anonymous insider information, news magazine "Der Spiegel" said that Sherlocks had tracked down a YouTube channel and a Facebook profile belonging to Sascha L. that showed he had previously railed against Moslems and anti-fascists in the country.
In 2013, the now 26-year-old posted videos in which he spoke of a "creeping death of the people," because of Moslems trying to impose sharia law in Germany. "Even a dog knows where it belongs. And where do you belong? Don't be stupider than a dog and save the German population from this planned extinction!" he was quoted in "Der Spiegel" as saying.
The "death of the people" rhetoric, as well as a specific white mask he wore in some of the videos, suggested that Sascha L. then identified with the neo-Nazi campaign known as the "The Immortals," which carried out a series of flash mobs in Germany around 2012. There was another video dated May 2013, entitled "Tips for fighting cockroaches," which called for attacks on immigrants colonists in Germany.
But it appears that Sascha L. converted to Islam some time in 2014, when he faced a court charged with spreading "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.... " messages online. State prosecutors in Celle refused to comment on the "Der Spiegel" report to DW, saying only that an investigation was currently under way.
Sascha L. was arrested on February 21 on suspicion of planning a terrorist act and storing "items and chemicals" for manufacturing explosives. "The accused belongs to the Salafist scene," a state prosecutor's statement said, referring to the conservative Islamic movement. "During his first questioning, he admitted to planning to lure coppers or soldiers into a trap and then kill them with a home-made explosive."
Switching radical sides
This is not the first time that an individual has switched Death Eater groups. In 2012, Bernhard Falk, a former member of the leftist "Anti-Imperialist Cell" who converted to Islam while in prison, published a document calling for attacks on the Ramstein US military air base in Germany, after having apparently pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda. Most famously, Horst Mahler, a lawyer for the leftist Red Army Faction (RAF) terrorist group, later turned to far-right extremism.
These examples illustrate why Thomas Mucke, head of the Violence Prevention Network, an organization that runs de-radicalization programs in Germany, was not surprised by Sascha L.'s story. "Whatever extremism is concerned, it's always about marginalizing other people, seeking out a homogenous community opposed to democracy," he said. "The ideologies of far-right extremism and religious extremism are very similar."
"If there is no basic acceptance of human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. , they either stay in their scene or switch to another problematic scene," he added.
Psychology or social conditioning
Michaela Glaser, who runs a Halle-based research unit on preventing violent extremism at the German Youth Institute (DJI), thinks a tendency towards extremism is less about psychological patterns and more about social conditions:
"It's a combination of someone's experiences out of which certain things become plausible," she told DW. "Of course that has something to do with the individual and their needs, but 'psychological patterns' makes it sound too mechanical. There are certain socialization experiences that people have, that lead to Death Eater options becoming generally more attractive."
"There are very different motives as to why people join such groups, but among those motives are definitely compensating for a lack of appreciation, a lack of a sense of belonging, a search for clarity, for knowing where you stand," she said. "And those are things that those ideologies always cater to. They do it differently, and of course they belong to different social groups. For example, it's obviously a lot more difficult for someone with an immigrant background to access a far-right Death Eater group."
Glaser argues that what all Death Eater ideologies offer people is a clear distinction between good and evil and a sense that its adherents belong to a special, chosen group - and that a sense of self-worth is imparted through belonging to the group. In other words, whereas far-right extremism works by making distinctions between race, Islamist extremism functions by dividing people between believers and non-believers. But the structure is similar.
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] US 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... has issued a new executive order, temporarily blocking travel to the US for residents of six Moslem-majority countries pending revision of visa procedures. The previous travel ban, issued in January, was blocked in federal courts.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the new executive order to news hounds on Monday.
The order halts the issuance of new US visas to citizens of Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and 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... for the next 90 days.
Iraq, which was included in the January ban, was left off the list this time after the government in Baghdad agreed to increase cooperation with the US on background checks for its citizens applying for visas, AP reported.
Iraqi Foreign Ministry front man Ahmed Jamal called the decision "an important step in the right direction" that "consolidates the strategic alliance between Baghdad and Washington in many fields, and at their forefront the war on terrorism."
Tillerson thanked the government in Baghdad for working with the State Department on improving vetting, and called the order "a vital measure for protecting our national security."
The new order also imposes a 120-day halt on refugee admissions from the six countries. Legal permanent residents (’Green Card’ holders) from the countries will not be affected; however, Rooters reported citing a fact sheet supplied by the administration.
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#1
It's less restrictive than Obama's ban. Looks like the Donks/left are going to oppose Trump on everything.
[Dhaka Tribune] In movie-style high drama, an attempt was made to snatch Mufti Hannan, one of the biggest turbancriminal masterminds, from police custody on Monday evening.
A prison convoy carrying bully boyz en route to Kashimpur Central Jail was attacked near College Gate in Tongi around 6pm by a lone bomber.
Tongi SP Harun-ar-Rashid confirmed that the would-be rescuer were tossed into the calaboose.
Mufti Hannan, a death row convict, was read out his death warrant earlier in February. He had also filed a review petition against the sentence.
According to Tongi OC Firoz Talukdar, when the prison convoy was passing through College Gate area, a young man attacked the van with a pair of crude bombs, which missed and went kaboom! harmlessly on the road.
A nearby traffic patrol was alerted by the kaboom. Rushing to the scene, they managed to capture the young man, who has since been identified as Mostofa Kamal, 25, from Mymensingh.
Mostofa has been captured with about a dozen crude bombs and Tk7,500 in cash. During his primary interrogation, he told the police that he was paid Tk10,000 to hurl the bombs at the prison van.
It has been confirmed that some of the prisoners on the van are close associates of Mufti Hannan, chief of a faction of Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami Bangladesh (HuJI Founded in 1984 by Fazlur Rehman Khalil and Qari Saifullah Aktar. The Bangla branch was established in 1992 with assistance from Osama bin Laden. Recruits come mostly from Deobandi madrassahs. HuJI and Fazlur Rehman Khalil are signators of bin Laden's declaration of war on the west. B).
When contacted for further details, Senior Jail Superintendent Mizanur Rahman said four prisoners had been sent out to appear before a court on Monday.
Mizanur said: "Four vans had been despatched and all four have returned."
Asked whether Mufti Hannan or any of his associates were able to escape during the rescue attempt, Mizanur said they had all returned to the prison.
Mufti Hannan’s faction of HuJIB was allegedly involved in the August 21 bombing on an Awami League rally, the 2001 Ramna kabooms, the 1999 bombing on a cultural event of Udichi in Jessore and an attempt to assassinate the then British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury in Sylhet in 2004.
He was sentenced to death for the death of three people in the attack on Bangladesh-origin envoy Anwar Choudhury. After his appeals were rejected by the High Court and the Appellate Division, the jail authorities read out the death warrant to him on February 6.
Earlier, Sherlocks had announced they had captured three bully boyz over the past two weeks from Dhaka who were planning to bust Mufti Hannan out of prison. Two were placed in durance vile Please don't kill me! from Mohammadpur on February 22 and one was seized from Shahjahanpur on March 1.
Authorities had also claimed that HuJIB was going to attempt to break Mufti Hannan out of jail before his execution.
The HuJIB has carried out at least 14 attacks in which over 100 people have been killed since its formation in 1992 with a view to establish Shariah Law in the country.
According to law enforcers, the plan was very similar to the one used to snatch three condemned JMB bully boyz from police custody in 2014 killing a police constable. Two of the bully boyz have since escaped to India but the third was recaptured within hours by the police.
The audacious rescue involved over two dozen bully boyz rushing the prison van in Trishal in Mymensingh.
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[Daily Caller] Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and genetically-engineered food have helped eradicate global hunger, according to a simulation conducted at the University of Virginia (UVA).
Food production climbed to record-highs throughout the 20th Century as farmers have found new ways to produce more food per acre of land. Anti-hunger groups have taken that surplus food to people in countries ravaged by war and famine. Earth has seen a sharp decrease in world hunger thanks to both those efforts.
[AnNahar] 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... was hit by a fifth consecutive night of suspected US air strikes targeting al-Qaeda members in the impoverished nation, a Yemeni security source said Monday.
The source said the early dawn raid hit the town of al-Nasl in the southern 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... province, which has been the target of air strikes as well as an al-Qaeda attack on the army in recent days.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in Monday's raid.
Washington on Thursday launched a series of air and drone raids on Yemen, focused on the southern provinces of Abyan and Shabwa as well as Baida, slightly to the north.
Gunmen suspected of belonging to 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... (AQAP) meanwhile launched two separate attacks on Yemeni troops in recent days, killing at least 10 soldiers in Abyan and the southern Hadramawt province.
AQAP on Sunday evacuated suspected members from more than one area hit by the raids, including one town where top AQAP commander Abdulelah al-Dhahab had reportedly been in hiding.
Two years of fighting in Yemen have allowed AQAP, which the US regards as the krazed killers' most dangerous branch, to consolidate its grip on territory in southern and eastern Yemen.
The Pentagon has confirmed at least 30 strikes against AQAP since Thursday in coordination with the Yemeni government. Washington, which began dronezaps on Yemen after the attacks of September 11, 2001, rarely gives reports on the raids.
The United Nations ...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... estimates more than 7,500 people have been killed in the two years since and another 40,000 maimed.
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[AnNahar] Hundreds of Fatah Movement fighters are receiving military teachings and combat lessons in the Paleostinian refugee camp of al-Rashidieh in the southern town of Tyre, An Nahar daily reported on Monday.
"The activity which has been going on for a year now, is carried out with the cognition of the Lebanese Security Forces. The matter was thoroughly discussed during the recent visit of Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... to Beirut in February, through Paleostinian Authority security chief Majid Faraj who spoke at length in that regard with General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim and senior army intelligence officers," added the daily.
"The development in the Lebanese-Paleostinian relations are much welcomed by Fatah," said the daily. "According to Paleostinian leaders, it would support the Paleostinians' position mainly in the fragile Ein el-Hellhole refugee camp and maintain safe security situation --that was highly emphasized by Abbas during his meetings with Lebanese officials."
According to Paleostinian sources, "some parties are still trying to perturb the latest visit of Abbas in a bid to prevent Fatah Movement from showing a leading position in the Paleostinian file. But its opponents do not expect the Fatah "project" to succeed over internal differences between a large number of its leaders and a series of contradictions despite the attention it receives from Lebanese authorities," according to the daily.
Late in February, heavy festivities rocked Ein el-Hellhole for six consecutive days leaving one civilian killed and four maimed.
The fighting near Leb's southern port city of Sidon has pitted members of Paleostinian president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement against hardline Islamist groups.
Intermittent fighting first broke out after Fatah pulled out of a joint committee that maintained security in Ein el-Hellhole, but the violence later intensified.
Paleostinian factions meeting at their embassy in Beirut later announced that they had agreed on a ceasefire to end the fighting.
By long-standing convention, Leb's army does not enter Paleostinian refugee camps, where security is managed by joint committees of Paleostinian factions.
In recent years, tensions have risen between Fatah and the Jund al-Sham Islamist group
... the name translates as "Soldiers of the Levant". The Syrian version is a Chechen jihadi group led by Murad Margoshvili (AKA "Moslem Abu Walid al-Shishani") that started in the Kurdish Mountains (Jabal al-Akrad) of northern Latakia and the Jisr Shughour area of Idlib, but moved to the northern Hama countryside to aid rebel allies. The one that has been feuding with Fatah in Lebanon's Ain al Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp is a Sunni group that split off from Osbat al-Nour in 2004....
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] Iraqi military sources announced that the security forces managed on Monday to liberate the police directorate headquarters and the courts complex in western djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , raising the national flag over them.
Iraqi military commander Abdul Amir Rashid Yarallah had announced that the counterterrorism troops also regained the entire neighborhood of Sumud in western Mosul, raising the national flag over its buildings.
Yarallah added that the Iraqi forces also stormed Mansour neighborhood in the same area.
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[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] Two armed bandidosbandidos bully boys were killed in an army operation east of the Algerian capital on Monday, the defense ministry said.
It said the murderous Moslems were bumped off in Dellys, 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Algiers. Two other bandidosbandidos bully boys were captured and two Kalashnikovs and two automatic guns seized.
Algeria’s army has stepped up operations in mountainous regions of the east, killing at least 32 armed bandidosbandidos bully boys this year, including the two on Monday, according to an AFP count compiled from official reports.
Algerian police said they foiled a suicide kaboom targeting a cop shoppe in the eastern city of Constantine last week that was claimed by the ISIS ’jihadist’ group.
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[AnNahar] Turkish security forces on Monday night launched one of their largest "anti-terrorist" operations in recent years in the restive south-east against Kurdish krazed killers, security sources said.
Some 7,000 gendarmerie -- who look after domestic security -- 600 special forces and dozens of tanks and helicopters were used in an operation in Lice in the largest Kurdish-majority province of Diyarbakir, sources told AFP.
In Lice, 18 villages were placed under strict curfew until further notice, the Diyarbakir governorate said in a statement.
The aim of the operation, the governor's office said, was to "neutralize" members and accomplices of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
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[DAWN] GWADAR: The perforated carcass of a government schoolteacher was found in the Hoshab area of Kech district on Sunday.
Levies officials said the body was spotted by area people who informed the administration about it. Levies’ personnel took the body to a local hospital.
The victim was identified as Master Karim Dad, who was kidnapped by a group of gunnies two months ago.
The gunnies after killing him left his body in the area of Kech district.
Mr Dad was a teacher in a government primary school in the Tajban area.
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#1
Mr Dad was a teacher in a government primary school in the Tajban area
Was told repeatedly not to fail children who couldn't master fractions. Didn't listen.
[DAWN] CHARSADDA: The Charsadda police on Monday seized explosives and huge cache of arms dumped in a drum and a plastic canister along an under construction road here.
The city police, on a tip off, rushed to the spot and recovered nine hand grenades, 10 rocket shells, 38 grenade launchers, three IED devices, prima card, receivers used in bombs and other material. Officials said the recovery was made along the under construction Takhbhai road.
The police had called bomb disposal unit personnel and cordoned off the area during the action.
DPO Suhail Khan told Dawn that the material was recovered from a drum and a plastic can. He said miscreants failed to find space for carrying out sabotage activities owing to police’s alertness. He said every attempt of miscreants would be frustrated through such timely actions. He said the lives and properties of public would be protected at all cost.
Meanwhile, ...back at the argument, Jane reached into her purse for her .38... the legal fraternity held on Monday a protest rally against the murder of senior lawyer Mohammad Jan Gigyani.
The lawyers warned of coming onto the roads if the killers of their colleague were not enjugged Book 'im, Mahmoud! within 10 days. The rally started from Bar Room and culminated at Shabqaddar Chowk after passing through various roads. The protesters were holding placards and banners written with their demands. Members of civil society also joined the lawyers’ protest.
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[Ynet] German officials are worried, as it appears the 'special' relationship between Israel and Germany is slowly deteriorating due, in part, to Trump's influence; 'Netanyahu does not listen to us and the situation may only get worse with Trump.'
In 2008, the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel, Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany and the impetus behind Germany's remarkably ill-starred immigration program. Merkel used to be referred to by Germans as Mom... delivered a speech in the Knesset in which she described relations between Germany and Israel as "excellent."
Continued on Page 49
[Business Live] SA trade and investment are losing their attraction in UK boardrooms because of corruption and cronyism under Jacob Zuma, says former British government minister Peter Hain.
"The perception of this country is very negative," he says.
"In government circles, too, SA is plunging down the priority ladder."
The country, he says, has lost the moral authority it enjoyed under Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki. The state of public finances is also causing concern. Yes of course, Madiba and Mbeki, paragons of moral authority.
All is not lost, however. "Civil society here is very strong, you have a unique constitution and Thuli Madonsela was a wonderful example of the checks that exist. There is still a sense in London that you can be a success story but the longer bad governance continues, the harder it will be to reverse. And your education in African schools is absolutely criminal."
Hain, a former Pretoria Boys’ High School pupil who fled to the UK with his family in 1966 and later became a leader of the anti-apartheid campaign to isolate SA sport, is officially Baron Hain of Neath these days, after gaining a life peerage in 2015. Neath is the Welsh constituency he represented as a Labour Party MP between 1991 and 2015.
Hain was in Johannesburg last week to teach at Wits Business School, where he is a visiting professor. This week, he is back in the House of Lords, where he is campaigning against the Conservative government’s plans to withdraw Britain from the EU.
[Zero Hedge] Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the United States Department of Justice and the Department of the Treasury regarding records related to the investigation of retired United States Army Lieutenant General Michel Flynn’s communications with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak (Judicial Watch v. Central Intelligence Agency et al. (No.1:17-cv-00397)). (The National Security Agency refused to confirm or deny the existence of intelligence records about communications between Gen. Flynn and Amb Kislyak.)
Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit after the agencies failed to respond to a January 25, 2017, FOIA request seeking:
Any and all records regarding, concerning, or related to the investigation of retired Gen. Michael Flynn’s communications with Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak between October 1, 2016 and the present.
This request includes, but is not limited to, any and all related warrants, affidavits, declarations, or similar records regarding the aforementioned investigation.
For purposes of clarification, please find enclosed a CNN report regarding the investigation, which cites information that was provided to CNN by members of the Intelligence Community.
In its complaint Judicial Watch asks the court to order the agencies to search for all records responsive to its FOIA requests and demonstrate that they employed reasonable search methods; order the agencies to produce by a specific date all non-exempt records and a Vaughn index of all withheld records; and instruct the agencies to cease withholding all non-exempt records.
On January 23, 2017, the establishment shot itself in the foot as CNN reported that the government was investigating Flynn, former national security adviser to President Trump:
"More than a thousand applications for electronic surveillance, all signed by the attorney general[em added], are submitted each year, and the vast majority are approved. From 2009 to 2015, for example, more than 10,700 applications for electronic surveillance were submitted, and only one was denied in its entirety, according to annual reports sent to Congress. Another one was denied in part, and 17 were withdrawn by the government."
#3
Kinda blows a hole in all of Josh Earnest's comments over the last few days.
That and the famous Hillary tweet in October that someone fed her information about the FISA warrant to bug Trump's campaign.
AND the WikiLeaks dump shows that the CIA can false flag a "Russian" hack attempt with stolen or captured Russian Malware...
Ha Ha, that and the NTY January articles give me the feeling that like that Secret Service guy saying this was going to blow sky high in the Democrats face, things are going to get interesting...
#4
Every single judge on the FISA Court as of today was appointed during Obama’s Presidency!
Five of the current eleven judges on the court are scheduled to be on the court for President Trump’s entire first term with six of the judges’ terms expiring before January 2021. Seven of the judges are scheduled into the year 2020.
"How did our extensive intelligence apparatus come to be misused against members of the Trump campaign?
Well, the simplest answer seems to be Team Obama misled the courts:
This raises the second problem: Obama’s team submission of an affidavit to to the FISA court. An application for a warrant of any kind requires an affidavit, and that affidavit may not omit material factors. A fact is “material” if it could have the possible impact of impacting the judicial officer deciding whether to authorize the warrant. Such affidavits are the most carefully drawn up, reviewed, and approved affidavits of law enforcement in our system precisely because they must be fully-disclosing, forthcoming, and include any information a judge must know to decide whether to allow our government to spy on its own. My assumption would be that intelligence officials were trying to investigate hacking of DNC which is not even a FISA covered crime, so therefore serious questions arise about what Obama administration attorneys said to the FISA court to even consider the application. If the claim was “financial ties” to Russia, then Obama knew he had no basis to use FISA at all."
Since Trump was the obvious target, the alleged failure to disclose his name in the second application could be a serious and severe violation of the obligation to disclose all material facts.
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.
The Trump administration has revealed what the wall on the Mexican border will look like: 30-foot concrete barriers.
China warned Tuesday of “consequences” for South Korea over the deployment of a U.S. antimissile system, raising regional tension and questions about China’s commitment to free, open trade.
The files are the most comprehensive release of US spying files ever made public, according to Julian Assange. In all, there are 8,761 documents that account for "the entire hacking capacity of the CIA", Mr Assange claimed in a release, and the trove is just the first of a series of "Vault 7" leaks.
[NBC] HAUTE-KOTTO PREFECTURE, Central African Republic -- The helicopter settles in the elephant grass, rotor wash flattening the six-foot-tall fronds.
[Breitbart] The Trump administration has informed Planned Parenthood it will have to quit performing abortions in order to keep its federal taxpayer funding.
[The Hill] Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has opened an inquiry into allegations the FBI worked with the British spy who authored a controversial opposition research dossier on President Trump during the 2016 election.
Some schools are actually going to be closed on Wednesday for the "Day Without A Woman" strike. Why? Well, because teachers are primarily women, and there are some schools out there who are now expecting to be shorthanded.
Mohmand Agency
[Iraq News] A local source in Nineveh Police informed on Monday, that the US-led coalition warplanes destroyed vehicles belonging to the 
[Iraq News] A local source in Salahuddin Province revealed that four members of the 
[Iraq News] Unknown 
[DAWN] The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of police on Monday claimed to have killed one suspected.jpg)
[DAWN] Anti-India protests erupted in held Kashmir following a fierce gunbattle in which two suspected 
North Korea
[IsraelTimes] Soldiers on overnight arrest raid exchange fire with alleged terrorist, resulting in his death, wound two others; M-16 rifle, submachine gun found in home
[DAWN] LAHORE: Shahid Aziz alias Gullu Butt was released from Kot Lakhpat Central Jail on Monday evening following his acquittal orders issued by the Lahore High Court (LHC) last month.
[Dhaka Tribune] In movie-style high drama, an attempt was made to snatch Mufti Hannan, one of the biggest
[AnNahar] 
[AnNahar] Hundreds of Fatah Movement fighters are receiving military teachings and combat lessons in the Paleostinian refugee camp of al-Rashidieh in the southern town of Tyre, An Nahar daily reported on Monday.
[AnNahar] Turkish security forces on Monday night launched one of their largest "anti-terrorist" operations in recent years in the restive south-east against Kurdish
[Ynet] German officials are worried, as it appears the 'special' relationship between Israel and Germany is slowly deteriorating due, in part, to Trump's influence; 'Netanyahu does not listen to us and the situation may only get worse with Trump.'
[Business Live] SA trade and investment are losing their attraction in UK boardrooms because of corruption and cronyism under Jacob Zuma, says former British government minister Peter Hain.
