h/t Instapundit
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Purpose. This order is intended to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of the executive branch by directing the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (Director) to propose a plan to reorganize governmental functions and eliminate unnecessary agencies (as defined in section 551(1) of title 5, United States Code), components of agencies, and agency programs.
#1
Isn't this, like, kicking over the fire-ant mound?
For you folks in cooler climes, fire ants are faster and much, much meaner than regular ants. They like to swarm you and them all bite at the same time, and the bites are where they got their name.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/14/2017 18:56
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h/t Instapundit
Every president has both a personality and an agenda. Sometimes they work in tandem, sometimes they don’t.
Bill Clinton’s charm enhanced his platform--until his sexual appetites nearly wrecked it. Barack Obama was both charismatic and snarky, sometimes turning off and sometimes wooing his opponents. Richard Nixon’s neuroses finally empowered his enemies and ruined his foreign policy initiatives. Ronald Reagan’s upbeat persona helped convince the public to "stay the course" with his bitter anti-inflationary medicine.
The outsider Donald Trump faces the same dilemma but in a fashion rarely seen before. For now there are two manifestations of Trump. First is Trump’s message: that of the populist counterrevolutionary determined to recalibrate the last half-century of liberal and therapeutic government and its affiliated culture. Second is Trump the messenger: the ex-reality TV star who tweets nonstop in the early morning hours often to the outrage of his enemies, to the delight of his supporters, and to the embarrassment of the undecided.
The media focuses on Trump the messenger, either because they are not interested in his message or because they see the personal destruction of Trump as essential to the implosion of his agenda.
...Even as Trump tweets, quietly he is also attempting--both through executive orders and anticipated congressional action--landmark deregulation, tax reform, and health care reformulations. If successful, he will remake the economy, tilt the Supreme Court rightward, and prune the deep state. He has green lighted energy production, including coal, natural gas and oil, whose consequence could prove an increasing bonanza for the United States and its allies.
...The point is not that after two months Trump has achieved radical reform or has won over skeptics, only that he embraced a conservative correction of progressivism beyond what most past Republican presidents have envisioned or what congressional conservatives believed was possible after 2008. Because he has rhetorical gifts and personal charm, Trump could prove to be a dynamic president if his own excesses do not eventually empower his enemies.
...For all of Trump’s blasts, so far he has survived the press assaults and faux-scandals. We have reached a point of progressive exasperation in which New York Times columnists compare him to 9/11 and Pearl Harbor or have asked the IRS (apparently on the theory that the agency was long ago prone to political corruption in the Obama era of Lois Lerner) to commit a felony by leaking Donald Trump’s tax returns.
...In trying to destroy Trump rhetorically, the media has instead committed veritable suicide, and it will never restore the patina that it is fair, disinterested and competent. The tumor of Obama-era obsequiousness has terminally metastasized into Trump Derangement Syndrome.
...For now, only one thing remains certain: the candidate whom the Republican establishment most disliked has the greatest potential in a generation to stop the progressive project and enact the agendas that the Republican establishment most wants. And that paradox has become a source of both great wonderment--and fear.
When Muslims work one with another,
It's rubbing two camels together
And racing the offspring.
Replacing a watchspring
Takes dhimmis. It must be the weather.
A Brooklyn-based Arab-American group that has raked in more than $200,000 in city cash since 2014 hosted political events at its headquarters — a violation of federal nonprofit rules, experts said.
The Arab-American Association of New York’s treasurer, Khader El-Yateem, is running for City Council. Its former executive director is the controversial activist Linda Sarsour, who stepped down last month.
Under Sarsour and El-Yateem, the nonprofit hosted the Muslim Democratic Club of New York City for several events, including phone-banking for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in 2016.
Dick Dadey, of the watchdog group Citizens Union, said the group’s actions violate the rule that “no political activity be undertaken by a nonprofit.”
Sarsour and El-Yateem did not return messages.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/14/2017
09:59 ||
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Say the name George Soros and liberals see dollar signs ‐ literally. The world’s 22nd richest man, according to Forbes, is now worth $20 billion. But Soros isn’t just noteworthy for the money he has ‐ he’s notable for the money he has given away. Since launching his Open Society Foundations in 1984, Soros has donated more than $8 billion to charities around the world.
But instead of gaining a mighty reputation for his philanthropy, or his investment prowess, Soros is reviled abroad and criticized here in his adopted country. Most everywhere Soros, his foundations or his investing have gone, trouble has followed. He’s helped foment revolutions, undermined national currencies and funded radicals around the world. Soros has been convicted of insider dealing in France and fined $3 million, fined another $2 million in his native Hungary. His "foundations have been accused of shielding spies and breaking currency laws" and his investing strategy has been targeted for harming several national currencies.
Even his support for higher education raises huge red flags. Soros has contributed more than $400 million to colleges and universities, including money to most prominent institutions in the United States. He also helped establish Central European University which, in turn, uses its resources to promote his personal goal of an "open society."
Here in the United States, Soros money provides the foundation for liberal organizations promoting everything from gay marriage and drug legalization to anti-death penalty strategies. While his charitable giving goes to liberal organizations with close ties to the Democratic Party, his political giving goes almost entirely to Democrats.
That’s not the story the broadcast networks have been telling about Soros for the past five years. There were 29 mentions of Soros during that time but only one gave any hint at trouble, and that was merely to mention he was "still known as the man who broke the Bank of England." But ABC followed it up with: "That was all legal." Only a sex scandal with a 28-year-old Brazilian actress gave Soros any negative publicity at all. Continues, including donations analyses.
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy ||
03/14/2017
09:32 ||
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#1
How different would the world be if this fellow had not been born.
#6
I wonder how much of his 'fortune' stem from his, and his 'adopted' father's job of confiscating jewish property for Nazi Germany back when he was 10.
He has absolutely no remose or morals - that is what was really creepy about that interview he gave. No empathy whatsoever.
[IsraelTimes] Dutch Muslims shouted anti-Semitic slogans amid violent clashes with police in Rotterdam over the authorities’ refusal to allow a Turkish cabinet minister to campaign in Holland for a Turkey referendum vote.
Dozens of protesters gathered Saturday night in front of the Turkish consulate
...or possibly 2,000, as has been reported elsewhere, including a contingent that followed the Turkish minister in her forbidden trip from Germany...
in the Dutch city to listen to Family Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya. Upon receiving a false rumor that she had been arrested, the crowd began roaring “cancer Jews” and “cancer Wilders” shortly before the outbreak of violence that led to the injury of five people, including one policeman, the Algemeen Dagblan reported.
So now we know why the crowd started attacking the police that night.
[Ynet] Images surface showing ISIS fighters in the Sinai manning checkpoints and performing security inspections in the Egyptian city of al-Arish on the Mediterranean coast.
Photos can be seen at the link.
Images have surfaced of ISIS-Sinai Province (ISIS-SP) fighters manning checkpoints and performing security inspections in the city of al-Arish in the northern Sinai.
Pictures show ISIS fighters armed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) moving through traffic and inspecting the IDs of drivers. Another picture even showed a suspicious man being detained in the city square.
ISIS-SP has recently been receiving a lot of "media" attention from the organization given their recent setbacks in Iraq and Syria.
Al-Arish is the capital of the North Sinai and the largest city on the entire peninsula. The city also lies at the heart of friction between Egyptian security forces and the terror organization.
ISIS-SP recently took responsibility for two bombing attacks in the city, which killed three officers--including the supervisor of general security in the southern Sinai--and maimed seven others.
In addition to the bombings in the city, dozens of Coptic Christian families have fled al-Arish to Ismailia after ISIS-SP murdered several Copts. The organization's publications routinely call for violence against Copts and other Christians in the region.
A front man for the Egyptian military also published an account of Egyptian military activities in the region against ISIS-SP, but it would appear there is still work to be done. The Islamic Lion of Islam organization is estimated to have at least 1,000 fighters in the area.
[bankrupt, increasingly impoverished, reliably Democrat, Detroit ... ruled by Democrats since 1962. A city whose Golden Age included the Purple Gang... News] Sentencing for an accused ISIS supporter from Dearborn Heights was rescheduled on Monday after the federal courthouse in Detroit was ordered closed due to inclement weather.
About an hour into sentencing for Khalil Abu Rayyan,
...a photo of the nasty creature can be seen at the link. For some reason Gollum comes to mind...
U.S. District Judge George Caram Steeh announced the U.S. District Court in Detroit was ordered closed at 4 p.m. and that sentencing would be continued on March 27.
Rayyan had pleaded guilty last year to charges of false statement to acquire a firearm and unlawful possession of a firearm.
Rayyan, 22, came under FBI surveillance in 2015 after he boasted about plans to "shoot up" a Detroit church. He was never charged with terrorism-related crimes. At the time of his arrest, he lived at home with his parents and siblings and worked at his father’s pizzeria.
Sentencing guidelines call for Rayyan to get 15 to 21 months in prison. Rayyan has been in federal detention for more than 13 months since being charged.
Defense lawyer Todd Shanker wrote in a March 2 sentencing memo that Rayyan "fully and completely" understands why the FBI targeted him and why officials were concerned about his threatening statements and behavior, particularly his social media messaging and statements supporting ISIS.
"Rayyan now unequivocally denounces ISIS -- its predations, brutality and terrorism. He now has a more informed understanding of his faith and the bastardization of the religion by radical elements (like ISIS)," Shanker said.
But the U.S. Attorney’s Office wants Rayyan behind bars for eight years to protect the public from a man they say cannot be watched around the clock if released.
In court records, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Waterstreet said after supporting ISIS for almost two years, Rayyan announced that he wanted to "shoot up a church," kill a police officer in a hospital and "behead someone." The FBI quickly intervened and enjugged Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! him, Waterstreet said.
"If there were any doubts that Abu Rayyan was serious, his previous conduct dispelled them. He spent years dedicated to ISIS -- promoting and celebrating the terrorist organization’s aims. He exulted in some of ISIS’s most gruesome violence. He bragged about wanting to behead people," Waterstreet said.
Shanker, who works for the Federal Defender Office in Detroit, wants Steeh to put that sentence at 15 months.
If approved, Rayyan would get credit for time served and would be released within a few months. He would likely be placed on supervised release by the federal court.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/14/2017
05:49 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Six JCCs receive warnings on Sunday; New York governor orders large-scale probe after Rochester building evacuated for second time in week.
Several Jewish centers in the US and Canada received bomb threats Sunday, as a wave of menacing calls and emails showed little sign of subsiding.
Threats were reported at JCCs serving Rochester, New York, reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown ... home of Al Capone, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel,... , Illinois, Indianapolis, Indiana, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Vancouver, British Columbia, and Houston, Texas.
All the threats were found to be non-credible and the centers were able to resume operations a short time later. In Houston, the threat was emailed and the building was not evacuated, as a police K-9 unit checked for explosives, according to local media.
The calls and email came as Jewish communities around the globe celebrated the holiday of Purim.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, there have been 152 threats this year against Jewish institutions in 37 states and two Canadian provinces.
Many of the institutions have been threatened more than once.
In New York, where the Rochester JCC was evacuated for the second time in a week, Governor Andrew Sonny Cuomo called the threat "a despicable and cowardly act" of anti-Semitism on the Jewish holiday of Purim.
He directed the New York State Police to work with federal and local law enforcement on an investigation.
The building had been sheltering residents who had lost power following a wind storm in the area.
"We are open. We will remain open. Whoever is doing this doesn’t realize this only makes us #stronger," the center wrote on Facebook.
On Thursday, a top New York police official said most of the threats were likely being carried out by a single individual using phone spoofing technology to mask the source of the calls.
[IsraelTimes] Hezbollah overseeing production, with help of advisers from Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Kuwaiti newspaper says.
Iran has established rocket factories in Leb that are under the full control of the Hezbollah terror group, a top Iranian general told a Kuwaiti newspaper.
Citing one of the deputy heads of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the al-Jarida newspaper reported Monday that Iran in recent months has established factories for manufacturing both rockets and firearms in Leb.
The newspaper did not say which of IRGC chief Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari’s deputies made the assertion.
The report came just days after Iran’s Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan, a former brigadier general in the IRGC, said Hezbollah is now capable of producing rockets that can hit any part of Israel. Dehghan offered no details of the new capabilities.
The new factories, said to be located underground, have reportedly been in operation for the past three months.
Among their staff are advisers from the IRGC, as well as Lebanese experts trained at the Imam Hossein University in Tehran, a key training institution for IRGC personnel. Hundreds have reportedly been trained by the university in rocket manufacturing techniques.
The manufacturing sites are located some 50 meters (160 feet) underground, according to the report, and are protected by multiple layers of defenses from potential Israeli aerial bombardment. No facility produces rockets in their entirety; rather, each site produces separate parts that are then collected and assembled into complete rockets.
The Iranian general was quoted by al-Jarida as saying that the decision to produce rockets indigenously in Leb came after Israel bombed weapons factories in Sudan and supply routes for Iranian rockets via Syria.
The new factories would mark a dramatic upgrade in Hezbollah’s ability to acquire more, and more precise, rockets than ever before.
Rockets produced by the new facilities have already been used by Hezbollah in battles in Syria, the report said.
The development highlights the depth of Iran’s involvement in Syria and Leb. During Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Moscow last week, he reportedly presented Russian leaders with information acquired by Israel, according to which Iran is seeking to establish a naval base on Syria’s Mediterranean coast, likely in the Latakia area.
[Daily Caller] The Justice Department asked House intelligence leaders for more time to provide evidence to support President Donald Trump’s claim that former President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower during the election.
The House Intelligence Committee initially gave a deadline of Monday for the DOJ to comply with their request, but said it would grant a one week extension to March 20, the date of the committee’s first open hearing on the investigation into Russia’s influence peddling during the 2016 election.
"If the committee does not receive a response by then, the committee will ask for this information during the March 20 hearing and may resort to a compulsory process if our questions continue to go unanswered," Jack Langer, a spokesman for Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, told the Associated Press.
[PJ] Former Ohio Democrat Congressman Dennis Kucinich defended President Donald Trump's claims about being wiretapped by the Obama administration during the 2016 presidential election.
"It's important because there are people who are saying about President Trump's claim, 'Oh, it could never happen.' Well, frankly, it happened to me," Kucinich told Fox News on Friday. Also on Friday, the former congressman penned an article on Fox News describing the incident -- a phone call in his congressional office from a foreign leader had been tapped in 2011, and he listened to a recording of it in 2015.
"Members of Congress ought to be aware that my experience was that my phone wasn't safe in a congressional office," Kucinich, who served in the House of Representatives from 1997 to 2013, said. "Now, if they can do that to a member of Congress, they can certainly do it to a presidential candidate, and they can do it to private citizens as well."
#2
I believe the tape was made by an American intelligence agency and then leaked to the Times. If so, this episode represented a gross violation of the separation of powers.
Some UFOlogists believe the circular markings in the Nevada desert indicate a landing pad for ancient alien spacecrafts. If so, this would go along way in proving the theory of a Reptilian race that lives under Area 51.
#3
"I believe the tape was made by an American intelligence agency and then leaked to the Times for political reasons," Kucinich wrote. "If so, this episode represented a gross violation of the separation of powers."
Our government involved in a.... disinformation campaign ?
[Defense One] Former National Security Agency Director Gen. Keith Alexander wants government to take a more active role defending private-sector networks from cyberattacks and he thinks President Donald Trump can help make that goal a reality.
Alexander was one of several cybersecurity experts who met with Trump and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani shortly after the inauguration to discuss early-stage plans for a major government push on cybersecurity.
Alexander declined to provide details about the closed-door portions of that meeting, but told Nextgov he was impressed with the new president’s demeanor and his interest in the issue.
"I was impressed with the way he took on advice and came back with questions," Alexander said. "I think, if the nation could have sat in and watched it, they would have said, ’that’s our president; that’s what we need done.’ I’m very upbeat based on that."
He also hopes Trump will allow the Defense and Homeland Security departments to pivot from responding to private-sector breaches and cyberattacks after they happen to more actively preventing adversary nation-states and other cyberattackers from penetrating U.S. companies’ networks in the first place.
"Here’s the question: Is defense of the country incident response or preventing an attack?" Alexander said. "In the [Obama] administration, it was incident response. That means after the attack. That means, the missile landed and blew up the city and now, we’re in there cleaning up. If that’s your city, you’d say, ’we’d like to stop that missile’ and that’s what we should be doing [in cyberspace] in my opinion."
[SultanKnish] After Trump secured the nomination, Obama’s people filed a wiretapping request. As he was on the verge of winning, they did it again. After he won, they are doing everything they can to bring him down.
h/t Instapundit
[WashingtonTimes] It may be unanimous: China has officially declared that the U.S. media were in the tank for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.
The finding was included in a lengthy report by the Communist government in Beijing listing human rights and civil liberties violations by the United States in 2016 -- a direct response to the March 3 release of the State Department’s annual survey of human rights violations in China and around the world.
In the section titled "Political Rights Undermined," the Chinese government document contends that "U.S. media published a lot of biased reports and commentaries during the 2016 election, fully demonstrating their failure in staying objective or impartial."
American press outlets "clearly chose their side in covering the election," the survey continues. "Among the top 100 newspapers based on circulation, 57 endorsed the Democratic nominee while 2 the Republican."
[Jpost] US President Donald Trump has given the Central Intelligence Agency new authority to conduct drone attacks against suspected militants, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing US officials.
The move would be a change from the policy of former President Barack Obama's administration of limiting the CIA's paramilitary role, the newspaper reported.
[GMANETWORK] At least 11 members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters ...a MILF splinter group aligned with the Islamic State... (BIFF) have been killed in air strikes launched by the military at the bandit group's known lairs in two villages in Datu Salibo, Maguindanao.
Capt. Ervin Encinas, spokesperson of the Philippine Army's 6th Infantry Division, said the offensive's target was the group of a certain Kumander Bungos of the BIFF and three foreign terrorists.
Encinas said several other BIFF members were also injured in the air strikes, which started on Monday afternoon.
He said the group of Kumander Bungos has encampments in barangays Andavit and Tee.
Local officials said that at least 300 families have been forced to evacuate due to the military's offensive.
Col. Diosdado Carreon, commander of the 601st Infantry Brigade, said senior Jemaah Islamiyah member and known bomber Mohammad Ali alias Muawiyah is among the foreign turbans included in Kumander Bungos' group.
It can be recalled that the military had claimed that Ali was killed in an assault in 2012, but later took back the announcement and said that the international terrorist was alive.
[REUTERS] North Korea warned the United States on Tuesday of "merciless" attacks if an aircraft carrier strike group led by the USS Carl Vinson, which is joining South Korean forces for exercises, infringes on its illusory sovereignty or dignity.
North Korea, which has alarmed its neighbors with two nuclear tests and a string of missile launches since last year, said the arrival of the U.S. strike group was part of a "reckless scheme" to attack it.
"If they infringe on the DPRK's illusory sovereignty and dignity even a bit, its army will launch merciless ultra-precision strikes from ground, air, sea and underwater," the North's state news agency KCNA said.
North Korea's official name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"On March 11 alone, many enemy carrier-based aircraft flew along a course near territorial air and waters of the DPRK to stage drills of dropping bombs and making surprise attacks on the ground targets of its army," KCNA said.
A U.S. Navy front man said the Carl Vinson was on a regular, scheduled deployment to the region during which it would take part in exercises with the forces of ally South Korea.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2017
00:43 ||
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#1
Oh, good grief. These feces-flinging commiemonkeys have been jumping up and down screaming about "dire revenge" or whatever for the last 60+ years.
Time for this shit to end. Nuke 'em, and be done with it.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
03/14/2017 11:28
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#2
Do I hear a motion to accept Dave D's recommendation at #1? Do I have a second ?
#5
If I were Trump...
I'd invite Pudge for a personal meeting at Mar-a-Lago and make a deal. No, not to buy him off, silly! That just encourages more of the same behavior, but to explain the facts of life and how the current situation cannot continue.
First, of course, you'd need to meet with Xi Jinping to sort things out. (That's scheduled for next month I believe)
And in the meantime, I'd continue assembling the Big Stick as per #1. War games, positioning assets and missile defense. All very public. Here's Seal Team Six memorizing the floor plan of the Pudgidential Palace and all that. Without a stick, there is no carrot.
[Iraq News] Head of Forensic Department Zayd Ali announced on Sunday discovering a new mass grave containing remains of Camp Speicher victims, in the Presidential Palaces area in Tikrit, while pointed out that the exhumation of the remains is ongoing.
Ali said in a press statement, "Officials of the Forensic Medicine Department, Ministry of Health, Martyrs Organization and civil society organizations discovered a new mass grave containing remains of Camp Speicher victims, in the Presidential Palaces area in Tikrit."
"The concerned authorities continue the exhumation process, but the number of the remains was not identified yet," Ali explained.
"The specialized teams continue searching for more mass graves and remains of Camp Speicher victims in the area of the Presidential Palaces, and nearby places," Ali further added.
The massacre occurred at Speicher air base in Tikrit in 12 June 2014, when 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.... bandidosholy warriors executed more than 1700 Shia students at the air base. The victims were either shot at or beheaded before their corpses were dumped into the Tigris River.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2017
00:41 ||
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[Iraq News] Iraqi Federal Police announced on Sunday liberating Souk al-Arbaa and al-Remah Square in Bab al-Toub, in central djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... Federal Police Chief, Lieutenant General Raed Shaker Jawdat, said in a press statement, "Troops of the Federal Police liberated Souk al-Arbaa and al-Remah Square in Bab al-Toub, in central Mosul."
Earlier today, the Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell announced that elite Counter-Terrorism Forces also took over al-Aghawat district, near Mosul’s Old City.
Nineveh Province is witnessing extensive military operations, after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced launching an offensive to liberate the western side of the city of Mosul, in addition to capturing the last stronghold 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.... in the city.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2017
00:39 ||
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[Iraq News] The Syrian army and its allies gained control of an arterial road in a small rebel pocket in northeast Damascus early on Monday, bringing them close to splitting the enclave in two, a Britannia-based war monitor reported.
The advance was along a road that links the besieged districts of Barza, al-Qaboun and Tishrin near the Eastern Ghouta area of towns and farms that spreads out from the Syrian capital, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Barza, Qaboun and Tishrin area had already been isolated from the main rebel enclave in Eastern Ghouta, a region that has witnessed increasing violence since the beginning of the year.
There was also fighting overnight between the army and its allies and rebels in the southern city of Deraa and in areas near Aleppo in the northwest and Hama in the west accompanied by heavy bombardment and air strikes, the Observatory said.
Syria’s civil war pits Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... backed by Russian air power, Iran and regional Shi’ite militias against mostly Sunni rebels that include jihadists as well as groups supported by the United States, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... and Gulf monarchies.
The war has dragged in regional and global powers, caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and sparked the worst refugee crisis since the second world war since it grew out of a mass uprising against Assad that began six years ago on Wednesday.
Assad’s allies Russia and Iran and the rebels’ backer Turkey sent delegations on Monday to Astana in Kazakhstan for a new round of peace talks but holy warriors on Saturday demanded it be postponed because fighting has continued despite a ceasefire.
The army and its allies are trying to force rebels to agree to truces similar to those that have led to the evacuation of thousands of opposition fighters to northern Syria from other besieged pockets.
It has for weeks concentrated air strikes on Qaboun district, effectively ending a ceasefire that rebels in the area agreed with the Syrian army which had been in place since the end of 2013. Barza also agreed a full truce with the government in 2014.
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03/14/2017
00:37 ||
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[Iraq News] al-Hashd al-Shaabi leader in Diyala, Ahmed al-Tamimi, announced on Monday, that joint security forces destroyed a boat and two hideouts 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.... group, as well as dismantling four bombs, northeast of Diyala.
Tamimi said in a press statement, "Joint security forces from army, police and al-Hashd al-Shaabi’s 24th brigade managed to destroy a boat belonging to the Islamic State, which was used by the group to transport in Diyala River, by a proactive operation to raid the terrorist group’s hideouts in areas on Diyala River, north of Mukdadiyah."
"The proactive operation also resulted in dismantling four bombs and destroying two hideouts, one of which was used as cache of weapons and equipment, belonging to the Islamic State in al-Asyoud area, north of Mukdadiyah," Tamimi added.
Earlier today, Tamimi announced launching a joint military operation to raid the hideouts of the Islamic State, as well as eliminating its sleeper cells in the northeastern areas of Diyala Province.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2017
00:31 ||
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[Iraq News] The Joint Operations Command denied on Monday news regarding the arrival of 2000 US Marine soldiers in Anbar Province.
The Ministry of Defense’s War Media Cell said in a press statement, "Some media outlets reported that 2000 US soldiers have arrived in Ayn al-Assad base in Anbar Province," adding that, "These news is false and inaccurate."
Yesterday, some news claimed that 2000 US Marine soldiers arrived in Ayn al-Assad base in Anbar Province, as an aid from the United States, which leads the international coalition, to Iraq in its war against the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... The news also pointed out that these troops will participate in the expected military operations to liberate the areas of Anah, Rawa and Qaim, west of Anbar.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2017
00:28 ||
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[MSNBC] A great video montage made the rounds over the weekend showing Donald Trump, before he was elected president, talking about the unemployment rate. It’s a jarring video for a reason: the Republican not only dismissed the nation’s unemployment rate as “phony,” he acted as if only an idiot would believe the official data.
It was, to a very real extent, one of the core messages of his campaign: right-thinking people should listen to Trump and treat the unemployment rate as a ridiculous fiction. That is, until last week, when the GOP president and his team decided the phony number is now “real” – because Trump says so.
Obviously, this is absurd, but as it turns out, the president isn’t the only one saying nutty things about U.S. job data. Take the new director of Trump’s Office of Management and Budget, for example.
#2
Obviously, this is absurd, but as it turns out, the president isn’t the only one saying nutty things about U.S. job data.
The news for the last eight or so years has been full of statements like this. The MSM is so invested in this that to admit otherwise would mean to say they were idiots.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least five Taliban bandidos holy warriors were killed in an kaboom triggered by own bomb in southern Uruzgan province of Afghanistan.
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the incident took place in Chora district as the Lions of Islam were planting an Improvised Explosive Device on a roadside.
Taliban bandidos holy warriors and Lions of Islam belonging to the other holy warrior groups frequently use Improvised Explosive Device (IED) to target the security forces and government officials.
However, the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits... the Afghan officials are saying in majority of such incidents the ordinary civilians are targeted.
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least thirty two soldiers of the Afghan Local Police (ALP) forces were rescued from a Taliban-run jail in southern Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province of Afghanistan.
A front man for the 215th Maiwand Corps of the Afghan National Army Gen. Mohammad Rasool Zazai confirmed the release of the ALP personnel.
He said the hostages were kept inside a jail in Nad-e-Ali district and were freed during a night operation conducted by the Special Forces of the Afghan army.
Gen. Zazai did not provide further information regarding the operation and it is yet not clear if any murderous Moslem was killed or captured during the operation.
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A plan by the Taliban bully boyz to capture the eastern Laghman ...It has a population of about 445,600, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a rural society. During the invasions of Alexander the Great, the area was known as Lampaka, wich is apparently Olde Macedonian for Laghman.The city of Mihtarlam serves as the bucolic capital of the province. The population is half Pashtun, the remainder Tadjik and Pashai. It had a reputionagreat wealth until it was conquered in the tenth century by Abu Mansur Sabuktigin.
He conquered it and set fire to the places in its vicinity which were inhabited by infidels, and demolishing the idol-temples, he established Islam in them, He marched and captured other cities and killed the polluted wretches, destroying the idolatrous and gratifying the Musulmans. After wounding and killing beyond all measure, his hands and those of his friends became cold in counting the value of the plundered property.
.. province was foiled by the Afghan a security forces.
The group planned to capture the province after they suffered heavy casualties during the ongoing counter-terrorism operations.
The provincial government media office in a statement said the top Taliban leaders and commanders who had been deployed to execute the plan have escaped along with scores of bully boyz after the Afghan forces in coordination with the provincial government successfully thwarted the group’s plan.
The statement further added that nearly 70 Taliban bully boyz have been killed and around 50 others have sustained injuries during the joint counter-terrorism operations launched some days ago.
According to the provincial government, a number of senior Taliban leaders and commanders, including Khalis, Khalid, Janat Gul, Mohammad, Atal Omarzai and some others are among those killed or maimed.
The Afghan cops also sustained casualties during the operations, the officials said, adding that four security personnel bit the dust and around eight others were maimed.
The statement by the provincial government also added that the area is in total control of the security forces as efforts are underway to further strengthen the security posts in key districts including Alingar and Alisheng.
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] An kaboom rocked Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... city in the vicinity of the 10th police district earlier this evening, leaving at least one person dead and nearly eight others maimed.
A minibus was targeted as it was travelling between Taimani and Qala-e-Fatullah area of the city, carrying the employees of a private telecommunications company.
The Ministry of Interior (MoI) front man Sediq Sediqi confirmed the incident and said preliminary reports suggest at least one person was killed and eight others were maimed in the incident.
He said the person killed in the attack was a woman and at least eight other were maimed.
The type of the kaboom has not been ascertained so far but another official confirmed that the vehicle was carrying the employees of a private telecommunications company and was targeted in a roadside kaboom.
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03/14/2017
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[BOSTONHERALD] A teenage girl in Philadelphia was the victim of sex trafficking, over two years, at a motel that knowingly profited from her exploitation, she alleges in a new civil suit.
The suit -- filed Friday in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court -- specifically accuses the Roosevelt Inn in Philadelphia, its manager, Yagna Patel, and its parent company, UFVS Management Company, of profiting by renting rooms used in the teen’s prostitution.
The girl "was 14 years old when she was forced into the illegal sex trade in 2013 and was exploited through 2014," her lawyers alleged in a statement.
She is identified in the suit, which was obtained by PEOPLE, by the initials M.B.
"The Philadelphia girl, now 17, was dressed in sexually explicit clothing and was ’visibly treated in an aggressive manner’ by traffickers," the statement claims, quoting from the lawsuit.
The complaint alleges the defendants "knew or had constructive knowledge" that the victim was "being sexually exploited" at the Roosevelt motel. The suit further alleges they failed to intervene or contact police and continued to pocket revenue for the room rentals, as M.B. was trafficked.
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[PREMIUMTIMESNG] Two teenageexploding trollop female suicide bombers were on Saturday night rubbed out by troops as they made a futile attempt to sneak into Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, wearing explosive vests hidden under their clothes, officials said.
A top military official informed PREMIUM TIMES that the deafening kaboom that resonated in most part of Maiduguri at about 9 p.m. on Saturday was as a result of the safe detonation of the explosive vests retrieved from the bodies of the dead girls. They were both in their late teens.
"It happened at about 8.45 p.m., when twoexploding trollop female suicide bombers, about 18 years of age, attempted to enter Maiduguri through Umarari in Molai General area about 9km to Maiduguri township", said the source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"They were sighted by the Civilian-JTF and consequently rubbed out by security personnel on duty at the area.
"No other loss of life or injury was recorded. The police EOD (explosive ordinance department) team was mobilized to the scene to render the unwent kaboom! IED safe, while normality has been restored to the area."
Hours before the interception of the two suicide bombers, troops of the Nigeria Army had bumped off a Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... kingpin during an operation that led to the rescue of 211 civilian captives from a Boko Haram den.
The spokesperson of the Nigeria Army, Sani Usman, confirmed the development in a statement he sent to the media.
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[Iraq News] An officer informed on Monday, that Iraqi army forces, backed by Army Aviation, launched an extensive offensive to chase 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.... bandidosbully boyz in Diyala Province.
Captain Habib al-Shamri, said in a press statement, "Forces from the army’s 5th infantry brigade, backed by Army Aviation helicopters, launched a wide-scale military operation in Houd al-Zor area, near Mukdadiyah District, north of Diyala, to hound the members of the Islamic State group."
"The operation was launched in uninhabited mountain areas, which consider safe havens for the Islamic State krazed killers," Shamri added.
The areas northeast of Diyala witnessed a surge of violence and increased attacks by the Islamic State bandidosbully boyz on security forces and volunteer fighters, in the last few weeks.
The IS fighters launch their attacks from rugged mountain area such as Hamrin Mountains, areas east of Salahuddin and south of Kirkuk Province, while the military operations launched by Iraqi forces did not prevent the group’s attacks.
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[Iraq News] Central Criminal Court in Baghdad on Monday sentenced a hacker working in the so-called ’digital army of caliphate’ 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 to death, Sky Press reported on Monday. "Hacking" can have multiple definitions in the Caliphate.
Spokesman for the Supreme Judicial Council, Abdel Satar Berkadar said that the Central Criminal Court reviewed a lawsuit of a hacker working in the Islamic State Hacking Division (digital army of caliphate) that belongs to the Islamic State terrorist group.
The accused, in cooperation with partners from Arab countries, was hacking several important websites, Berkadar added. The evidences were sufficient to sentence him to death according the counter-terrorism law.
Islamic State Hacking Division refers to a self-identifying group as the digital army for Islamic State. It had pledged allegiance to Islamic State in late 2014.
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[Dhaka Tribune] Aiming to root out militancy from the country, police in three days of their countrywide special raids till late Saturday night tossed in the slammer Book 'im, Mahmoud! at least 49 suspected Death Eaters and terrorists.
The nationwide police action started on Thursday, two days after a retired army official’s son and his cohort were arrested for attacking police in Comilla.
Terming the raids a continuous process against militancy, police headquarters special task group chief Md Moniruzzaman, said the crackdown will continue until March 19.
In the first two days, 19 suspected members of the banned holy warrior outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and one each belonging to Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami Bangladesh, Allahr Dal and another bad boy group were arrested.
On the third day, 27 more people with their alleged links to militancy were arrested. Police did not reveal what outfit they belonged to, though.
On March 7, two youths‐ Ahmed Azwad Imtiaz Talukder Omi and Mahmudul Hasan‐ hurled grenades at a patrol team of highway police in Chandina upazila of Comilla.
They were later detained, leading to Omi’s confession that he was in touch with Dhaka cafe attack criminal mastermind Tamim Chowdhury, also the military commander of New JMB.
Later, acting on the information the two had divulged, police discovered a holy warrior hideout in Chittagong’s Mirsarai upazila, seizing a huge cache of explosives and bomb-making material.
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[RUDAW.NET] The Kurdistan Region expects armed members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to act "reasonably" and leave the Yezidi region of Shingal, Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said in a meeting with Yezidi community leaders in Duhok on Monday.
Barzani told attendees of the meeting that his government wants to help with rebuilding the war-torn Yezidi areas, but claimed that the presence of the PKK fighters has limited this process.
"[T]he Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) wishes to start rebuilding Shingal as soon as possible, but the presence of the fighters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the region has become a problem that made the Kurdistan Regional Government unable to work seriously enough in this regard," Barzani said, according to a blurb from his office.
ISIS captured Shingal on August 3, 2014, committing genocide against the Yezidi population. The town was liberated in November 2015 by a coalition of Kurdish forces, including KRG Peshmerga and PKK fighters. The PKK has maintained a presence in the area, refusing calls from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to leave.
Barzani repeated the official line that the KRG is thankful for the efforts of the PKK who helped with the protection of the Yezidi people in Shingal, adding that his government expects the PKK to leave these areas as the Peshmerga did after the liberation of Kobane in 2015.
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[RUDAW.NET] Some 1,000 fighters of the Ezidkhan Protection Force, a military group in the Shingal region, has officially been put under the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga Ministry as the move is criticized by many whose names were excluded from the deal.
Haider Shasho, commander of the force reassures all his men that they will be added to the list of his force within the Peshmerga Ministry in the near future.
Shasho said: "The number of our force is 4,780. For the time being, only 1,000 have been registered. And those registered were initially with us."
He assured the majority of his force that they will also be registered "in the coming weeks. I will not let the effort any fighter has made be wasted."
According to Shasho, his 1,000 strongman force has joined the Peshmerga Ministry on the condition that it would protect its "name and flag."
"We will maintain our logo and name. We will also be a neutral force even within the Peshmerga Ministry."
Khdir Khalid, 34, one of the fighters whose name has been excluded told Rudaw, "Since the beginning of the fight against ISIS, I have been fighting alongside this force with my own rifle. But, since I was not a close associate with Haider Shasho, my name was not included."
He accused the commander of nepotism.
When ISIS attacked Shingal in August 2014, Shasho, also member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) fought the group near Sheikh Sharafadeen shrine on Mount Shingal, encouraging many to stand by him and fight.
Later on he formed the Ezidkhan force.
Shasho got into trouble with Kurdish authorities in Erbil for having ties with Baghdad, an issue that was solved after he was promised that his force will be incorporated into the Peshmerga forces.
He was also briefly locked away Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! in 2016 on charges of receiving salaries from Baghdad.
The Peshmerga Ministry announced the incorporation of Shasho’s Yezidi force on Sunday.
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[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] President Trump will visit bankrupt, increasingly impoverished, reliably Democrat, Detroit ... ruled by Democrats since 1962. A city whose Golden Age included the Purple Gang... Wednesday to halt Environmental Protection Agency regulations that would force manufacturers to make cars that average more than 50 miles a gallon.
An industry executive privy to the White House plan told the Washington Examiner to expect Trump to roll back a final decision that the EPA rushed out late last year, when President B.O. was heading for the exit, imposing stricter fuel economy and emissions standards for vehicles beginning this year.
Trump will make his announcement at the American Center for Mobility in the Detroit suburb of Ypsilanti, Mich. He'll also visit Nashville, Tenn., that day.
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#1
"Low gasoline prices mean people are buying more SUVs and pick-up trucks than fuel-efficient cars, hybrids and electric vehicles. Ninety-five models of electric, hybrid and other fuel-efficient small vehicles have failed to match the market demand for a single model of pick-up truck, industry says."
Free markets at work. Forcing people to buy certain vehicles they don't want is like forcing people to buy crappy, high-priced health insurance with a penalty if you don't. I recall when Joan Claybrook's (Nader's pal) NHTSA, under Carter tried to come up with a government safety car back in the '70s. You don't see any of them on the road. The govmint is not too good at design.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... ’s King Salman ...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Cutodian of the Two Holy Mosquesand Lord of Most of the Arabians.... has said that there is an urgent need to intensify international efforts to resolve issues and crises in the Middle East, including the Paleostinian cause and ending Syrian and Yemeni crises.
The Saudi monarch’s comments come during his four-day visit to Tokyo as part of his month-long Asia tour where he already visited Indonesia, Brunei and Malaysia. He is due to travel on to China and the Maldives.
"These crises have affected negatively on the region's stability and development, impeding the growth of international trade, and threatening ensuring of energy supplies to the world," King Salman said.
"Terrorism has become the greatest danger to the security of nations and peoples, we are major partners in fighting it, and we are in need of concerted international efforts and hard work to deepen the concepts of dialogue between the followers of religions and cultures, and enhance the spirit of tolerance and coexistence between peoples," he added.
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#1
And here I thought that for Saudis terrorism is popular sport and fracking is the greatest danger - you live and learn.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said on Monday that Moscow was ready to resume contacts with the United States on Syria, the Interfax news agency reported.
"Up to this point, we've had no contacts with the US on a political settlement in Syria," Gatilov was quoted as saying.
"If the situation changes on the American side, we, of course, will be ready to resume consultations on Syrian matters, including those within the Geneva grinding of the peace processor."
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[PNA/Xinhua] Malaysian police said on Monday they have arrested seven suspects, including five Filipinos and one Malaysian immigration officer, in connection with Daesh
The first Filipino suspect, who has permanent residence in Malaysia, was found to have provided funds to Malaysian fugitives "Dr. Mahmud Ahmad" and Mohamed Joraimee Awang Raimee, who joined Daesh in southern Philippines as recruiters for the terror group.
Khalid Abu Bakar, inspector general of the police, said that another two were believed to have assisted the transit of three Indonesian Daesh militants to southern Philippines through the Malaysian state of Sabah.
Khalid said the suspects were arrested in a series of counter-terrorism operations between Wednesday and Sunday in Sabah and Selangor.
This was not the first time the police unveiled links between Sabah and the southern Philippines. The Malaysian police busted a four-man terror cell in Sabah in January, in which the police found that the cell helped new recruits of Daesh-linked militants from Malaysia, Indonesia and the ethnic Rohingya community in Bangladesh to transit via Sabah to Marawi City in Mindanao.
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[AA.TR] NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and structure.... Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday called on The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... and the Netherlands "to show mutual respect" in order to defuse the growing tension between the two allies after the Dutch government banned a Turkish minister from entering the Turkish Consulate in Rotterdam.
"I would encourage all allies to show mutual respect, to be calm and have a measured approach," Stoltenberg told news hounds at the NATO headquarters in Brussels.
He urged that two of the alliance’s members ‐ Turkey and the Netherlands - should "focus on everything that unites us" rather than escalating tension.
"Robust debate is at the heart of our democracies but at the same time mutual respect is important," Stoltenberg said adding that he had discussed about the issues with both governments over the weekend.
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[AA.TR] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's EU minister on Monday suggested reconsidering the EU-Turkey refugee deal, especially the parts concerning with refugees trying to enter Europe by land.
"Turkey has no obligation at this stage to continue the agreement since the EU has failed to comply with it," Celik told a news conference in capital Ankara.
"Nonetheless, we have acted [all this time] out of humane responsibility," he said, adding Turkey had prevented a lot of deaths in the Aegean Sea after the deal.
"But Turkey should reconsider this issue [the refugee deal] especially in terms of land crossings," Celik said.
Turkey and the EU signed a refugee deal in March 2016, which aimed to discourage irregular migration through the Aegean Sea by taking stricter measures against human traffickers and improving the conditions of nearly 3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey.
The deal included a 6 billion euro ($6.8 billion) aid package to help Turkey care for millions of refugees hosted in the country. However, it's easy to be generous with someone else's money... Turkey has so far received only 677 million euros ($716 million).
The agreement also allowed for the acceleration of Turkey’s EU membership bid and visa-free travel for Turkish nationals within the Schengen area that comprises most EU states.
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#1
What would happen if all of the EU members suddenly became interested in an Independent Kurdistan?
[DAWN] A jirga in Azad Jammu and Kashmire’s (AJK) Neelum Valley, in order to settle a dispute, had a three-year-old girl married to a nine-year-old boy which police claim to be a case of Vani.
Athmuqam Station House Officer (SHO) Mohammad Farooq said the jirga in the nearby village decided to marry off Aurangzeb's daughter to Mohammad Younis's son in order to settle a dispute between the two.
Aurangzeb, who filed the First Information Report (FIR) with the area police, alleged that Younis had accused him of cheating with his wife and had demanded Rs500,000 from him as penalty if he were to absolve Aurangzeb of the alleged misconduct.
However, nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits... since Aurangzeb was unable to come up with the amount, Younis allegedly bribed the area police and had him tossed in the clink Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! "That is when the jirga gathered and got my daughter married to Younis's son to settle the dispute," the petitioner alleged, claiming that his father conceded to the jirga's demand following which the marriage was solemnised.
Aurangzeb also claims that he was "forced" to give his thumbprint impression on the document the jirga prepared.
The document states that if Aurangzeb married his daughter to Younis's son, all allegations against him would be withdrawn, he would not have to pay the amount asked for and that he would not be sent to jail again.
"However, nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits... things did not go as planned and I could not send my daughter away," he claims.
The Athmuqam SHO said six out of the fifteen people who allegedly participated in the jirga have been taken into custody.
Three of the six tossed in the clink ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... include Younis, the girl's grandfather and the holy man who solemnised the marriage.
The marriage was not registered, said the police official, adding that the police is still looking for the others accused in the case.
AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider has taken notice of the incident.
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#1
I'm sure the new husband will wait at least six years - like the profit did.
BDS is war by other means. No reason for Israel to cater to such persons.
[AA.TR] The head of a U.K.-based pro-Paleostinian activist group that supports a boycott of Israel was barred from entering the country Sunday night, Israeli authorities said.
Hugh Lanning, Chairman of the Paleostine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), was turned away at the airport a week after Israel's parliament passed a law allowing it to ban activists who call for boycotting the self-proclaimed Jewish state.
The Israeli immigration authorities said in a subsequent statement that the PSC had tried to delegitimize Israel in Britannia and Europe.
They also noted that PSC members had been part of the Mavi Marmara aid flotilla, which tried to break the sea blockade of the Gazoo Strip in 2010 but was stopped by Israeli forces, who killed 10 Turkish activists aboard in international waters.
The Israeli government has increasingly tried to block mounting international support for an economic, cultural and academic boycott of Israel, which many pro-Paleostinian activists support as a form of non-violent opposition to Israel's decades-long occupation of Paleostinian land.
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Libyan Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar ... served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all... ’s plans for Libya took an abrupt turn for the worse marking yet again another stage of the Libyan Civil War.
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#1
Has anyone noticed that Libya's natural wealth is declining in importance rapidly?
There is an oil glut, prices are low if not falling and technology is improving to push oil even harder. This is no longer the time of oil equals instant wealth for the oligarchs.
[IsraelTimes] Brother, parents and one other family member of Muhammad Ibrahim Mattar kept under arrest over early Monday attack.
A Jerusalem court remanded for two days four family members of a Paleostinian from East Jerusalem who was killed stabbing two border guards in an attack outside the capital’s Old City early Monday.
The suspects include one of Muhammad Ibrahim Mattar’s brothers, his parents, and one other family member, police said.
Police raided Mattar’s home in the Jabel Mukaber neighborhood on Monday morning, hours after he stabbed the two coppers outside the Old City’s Lions’ Gate.
Mattar was shot by the guards during the attack and later died of his wounds.
Evidence collected from the family home included a flag with the logo of the Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", terrorist group, police said.
It was not immediately clear from police statements why the family members were under investigation.
Mattar, 25, stabbed the officers with a large butcher’s knife shortly before dawn, moderately injuring them, according to police.
The officers were taken by paramedics to Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in the city for treatment. Their condition was stable and they were fully conscious when they arrived, a hospital spokesperson said.
Pictures posted on social media showed large numbers of coppers in Jabel Mukaber in the hours that followed, as well as the four family members being taken away by officers.
Several snuffies have emerged from the Jabel Mukaber neighborhood, southeast of the Old City, including a man who drove a truck into a group of soldiers in January, killing 4.
Monday’s attack came as extra police were deployed around Jerusalem for the holiday of Purim, celebrated in the capital a day later than most other places.
"General security measures continue in Jerusalem as the Purim festival is being celebrated today," a police spokesperson said.
Police credited the "increased deployment" with "bringing this incident to an end in a short amount of time."
A closure was also placed on the West Bank and Gazoo, a standard procedure during Jewish holidays.
[Inquirer] A day after Philippine government negotiators met with their Maoist militant counterparts, New People's Army rebels burned a bus in Mindanao and injured five policemen in an ambush in northern Luzon.
On Monday, suspected NPA militants torched on Monday a Davao City-bound bus in Makilala, North Cotabato. Another group of militants injured five policemen in an ambush on a convoy headed towards a police station that was attacked on Sunday night in Malibcong town.
Police spokesman Roneo Galgo said suspected NPA rebels flagged down the bus at Makilala town on Monday morning. The bus driver, said six militants boarded the bus, introduced themselves as NPA members and directed him to drive toward Barangay San Vicente.
The driver said, "One of the suspects drew a pistol and told me to divert the vehicle to the secluded area toward San Vicente village.The suspects ordered us to vacate the bus and look for a safe place before they set it on fire."
Galgo said the attackers belonged to the NPA's Guerrilla Front 72 operating in Makilala and in Bansalan, Davao del Sur province. The attack came five days after NPA militants killed four policemen in an ambush in Bansalan.
Four policemen were injured when their vehicle on its way to Bansalan hit an explosive device, followed by a burst of gunfire. A police spokesman said investigators did not know if the attackers were the same militants who raided a house serving as temporary police station in Malibcong.
Five Malibcong policemen engaged 30 armed men in a 10-minute firefight on Sunday evening. The gun battle stopped when town elders intervened, allowing the five to retreat to the house of Mayor Romando Bacuyag. But the militants managed to ransack the temporary police station, and fled with police-issued weapons.
The attacks did not violate any ceasefire agreement between the government and the communist-led National Democratic Front of the Philippines, since no cessation of hostilities has yet been declared.
In a joint statement issued on Saturday, government and NDFP representatives agreed that indefinite unilateral ceasefire declarations would be issued before the fourth round of talks in the first week of April.
The two sides are scheduled to meet in Oslo during the first week of April to resume the next round of talks, which were scuttled last month. The insurgents lifted their unilateral ceasefire on February 10 after accusing the government of failing to release all political prisoners and the military of deploying troops in rebel-held areas. The Duterte administration responded by scrapping its own unilateral ceasefire and suspending the peace talks.
#5
Let's get it moved out of the US as well. Letting all those "diplomats" into our country increases the stench and the crime rate. As an added bonus, if those "diplomats" were located in some Islamic hell-hole, perhaps they'd be forced to concede that perhaps there ARE other problems in the world than the US and Israel.
#3
She also knows how to get people off their sofas and into communal spaces vomiting in the streets on a Saturday night.
Posted by: james ||
03/14/2017 17:30
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#4
The pastiest rake in all Vauxhall,
She's racy right down to her foxhole.
They'll wonder, in Flanders,
"From London, what thunders?"
"Just Amy Lamé's knocking shops'l."
#6
"I'd love to see how she'll do against the sharia patrols"
Sit on them?
Posted by: Barbara ||
03/14/2017 20:02
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#7
The souk, where the future is bright
To the butchers' and tanners' delight.
At the close of the day,
Who should come out to play
But the cockroaches: "We own the night!"
#6
"Angry mob of Middlebury,
I support you in your fury.
We had such a brave discussion!
Thank you for this nice concussion.
Next time, lynching Dr. Murray,
Please don't be in such a hurry:
Give me time to run away
And praise the anger you display."
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A key leader of the Taliban group identified as Abdul Wali was killed during festivities with the security forces in eastern Laghman ...It has a population of about 445,600, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a rural society. During the invasions of Alexander the Great, the area was known as Lampaka, wich is apparently Olde Macedonian for Laghman.The city of Mihtarlam serves as the bucolic capital of the province. The population is half Pashtun, the remainder Tadjik and Pashai. It had a reputionagreat wealth until it was conquered in the tenth century by Abu Mansur Sabuktigin.
He conquered it and set fire to the places in its vicinity which were inhabited by infidels, and demolishing the idol-temples, he established Islam in them, He marched and captured other cities and killed the polluted wretches, destroying the idolatrous and gratifying the Musulmans. After wounding and killing beyond all measure, his hands and those of his friends became cold in counting the value of the plundered property.
.. province.
The provincial government media office in a statement said Wali was killed during the festivities between the Afghan forces and Taliban snuffies in Alishen district.
The statement further added that the festivities took place late on Saturday afternoon in the vicinity of Kotali area.
Wali was involved in a number major terrorist attacks in various parts of Laghman province, the provincial government said, adding that his dead body was left for several hours in the battlefield after the remaining snuffies fled the area.
The provincial government also added that sporadic festivities had taken place in other parts of the quiet provincial capital on Saturday evening which left at least three forces of Evil dead or maimed.
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iraqi forces battling ISIS faced tough resistance from snipers and mortar rounds on Monday as they tried to advance on djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... ’s Old City and a bridge across the Tigris river in their campaign to retake the western part of the city.
Progress by Rapid Response units was slowed by heavy rain on Monday morning, but they were only 100 meters (yards) from the Iron Bridge which connects the Old City with the eastern side of Mosul, military officials said.
Since starting the campaign in October, Iraq forces with US-led coalition support have recaptured eastern Mosul and around 30 percent of the west from snuffies who are outnumbered but fiercely defending their last stronghold in Iraq.
Federal police and Rapid Response brigades, an elite Interior Ministry unit, said at the weekend they had entered the Bab al-Tob area of the Old City, where fighting is expected to be toughest because of its narrow alleyways where armored vehicles cannot pass. But the advance there stalled on Monday.
"Due to the bad rainy weather, operations have been halted for now. We are facing stiff resistance from the ISIS snuffies with sniper shots and mortars," a rapid response unit officer told Rooters.
A Rootersnews hound on the ground said mortar rounds and sniper fire hit near the Mosul museum area, which Iraqi forces had seized from snuffies a few days ago. The stench of tear gas hung in the air.
Federal police forces also fighting in areas close to the Iron Bridge were battling pockets of snuffies in Bab al-Tob district and carrying out house to house searches, a federal police commander’s front man said.
A military statement said on Monday that Iraqi elite Counter Terrorism Service troops, known as CTS, managed to retake al-Nafut district of west Mosul.
As many as 600,000 civilians are caught with the snuffies inside Mosul, which Iraqi forces effectively sealed off from the remaining territory that ISIS controls in Iraq and Syria. The Iraqi forces include army, special forces, Kurdish Peshmerga and Shi’ite militias.
More than 200,000 Mosul residents have been displaced since the start of the campaign in October, of which more than 65,000 fled their homes in the past two weeks alone, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Capturing the Iron Bridge would mean Iraqi forces control three of the five bridges spanning the Tigris river between eastern and western Mosul, all which have been damaged both by ISIS snuffies and US-led air strikes. The southernmost two have already been retaken by Iraqi forces.
Losing Mosul would be a major strike against ISIS. It is by far the largest city the snuffies have held since their leader His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ...formerly merely the head of ISIL and a veteran of the Bagram jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us... proclaimed himself leader of a self-styled caliphate spanning Iraq and Syria from a mosque in Mosul in the summer of 2014.
As Iraqi forces slowly take territory from the group, more evidence is emerging of war crimes committed by the turban group, who targeted Shi’ite Moslems and religious minorities as well as opponents from their own sect.
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[RUDAW.NET] A mortar believed to be fired by ISIS landed near a Rudaw team embedded with Iraqi forces in djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , causing severe respiratory problems among the advancing Iraqi soldiers and media.
The incident happened as Iraqi forces were battling the bully boy group near Ashur hotel in the center of Mosul, facing ISIS mortar and sniper fire.
Rudaw’s camera captured the moment blue-tinged smoke made its way towards a school building where Iraqi forces and Rudaw’s team were stationed.
As a thick plume of smoke reaches the Iraqi forces, they start panic and flee the school.
"My eyes have gone blind," Rudaw’s cameraman Sirwan Jalal cries out to news hound Nabard Hussein, both of whom run with the Iraqi forces out of the area.
"I am suffocating," Jalal tells Hussein, asking him not leave him behind. People can be heard coughing and retching.
Hussein tells Jalal to hurry up, but Jalal continues to say, "My eyes cannot see." He asks for water while making their way out.
Hussein, who has been covering the war against ISIS for almost three years, said that this mortar attack was different.
"There were many instances that mortar and boom-mobiles went kaboom! near us. But this one was so different," Hussein told Rudaw TV in Erbil after he received treatment at a military hospital in Mosul and then at the Rozhawa hospital in Erbil.
"A smoke, which we first thought was a normal fire, after 10 seconds we felt suffocation and tears came out from our eyes and from our nose. Our eyesight went dark. In 10 seconds, I, the force that was there, and my cameraman, as it is seen, all of us pulled back. Some lost consciousness and many experienced vomiting. Our skin was itching. A lot of water came out of our eyes and nose, and our skins felt like burning... you feel your throat is blocked."
"It smelled like hot pepper or onion. A very bad and suffocating smell," Hussein added.
Hussein said that doctors could not immediately confirm what the substance was, but said that he has to go back to the doctor after 24 hours for further medical inspections.
He said that Rudaw’s driver, who was at the time about 400 meters away from the incident, also experienced some of these symptoms.
Iraq has "no evidence" that ISIS had used chemical weapons in Mosul, the country’s ambassador to 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... Mohammed Ali Alhakim told news hounds on Friday.
Alhakim made the remarks as the UN Security Council was briefed on the situation of Mosul behind the closed doors. He said that he talked to Iraqi officials from Baghdad on Friday midday, and "there was really no evidence that ISIS has used this chemical weapon," he said using an Arabic name for ISIS.
The International Committee of the Red Thingy (ICRC) said on March 5 that at least 15 people had been admitted to Rozhawa hospital since March 1 with symptoms indicating they were exposed to toxins from a blistering chemical agent.
Blister agents, or vesicants, are one of the most common chemical weapon agents, according to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
"These oily substances act via inhalation and contact with skin," the OPCW writes on its website. "They affect the eyes, respiratory tract, and skin, first as an irritant and then as a cell poison. As the name suggests, blister agents cause large and often life-threatening skin blisters which resemble severe burns."
The president of the UN Security Council, currently held by Britannia, Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told news hounds Friday that Iraq’s investigation into the use of the chemical weapon in Mosul was "ongoing."
"We expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... over reports of possible use of chemical weapons by ISIS and we look forward to the results of Iraq's investigation into those allegations," Rycroft told news hounds after the closed door meeting of the Security Council.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[AA.TR] At least nine people were killed and a dozen others were maimed in two separate kabooms in the Somali capital Mogadishu Monday, police officials told Anadolu Agency.
In the first attack, two people were killed and four others were maimed when a suicide boom-mobilewent kaboom! a few meters away from a Somali army training center in the neighborhood of Wadjer, east of Mogadishu, a security source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media, said.
Later, in another attack, at least seven people were killed and more than eight others were maimed when two boom-mobiles targeted the Weheliye hotel in the capital, Ali Yusuf, a police captain in the area, said by phone.
"It is very early to know how many people have been killed but [from] what I know we have seen is at least seven people killed, including soldiers and eight others maimed. The maimed people were rushed to Madina and Darushifa hospitals for treatment," Yusuf said.
Howlwadag district commissioner also confirmed the corpse count to Anadolu Agency.
Weheliye hotel is said to be frequented by government officials, including MPs and is located just a few steps from the Somali parliament building.
The Somali holy warrior group al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... grabbed credit for the Weheliye hotel attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2017
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[IsraelTimes] Toll includes over 96,000 civilians, among them over 17,400 children, says Syrian human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... group.
Syria’s war has killed just over 320,000 people since it erupted six years ago, a monitor said Monday, noting that a fragile ceasefire had helped to slow the rising corpse count.
The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had recorded the deaths of 321,358 people since the conflict broke out in March 2011 with protests against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now... The toll represented an increase of about 9,000 since December, when government ally Russia and rebel backer The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... brokered a nationwide cessation of hostilities.
"There have been fewer people dying in the three months since the ceasefire was put into place," said Observatory Rami Abdel Rahman.
"The deaths haven’t stopped, but they have been slower in the past few months," he said.
The new toll included more than 96,000 civilians, among them over 17,400 children and nearly 11,000 women.
The Observatory said just over 60,900 government soldiers were killed, as well as 45,000 Syrian Lions of Islam and over 8,000 imported muscle loyal to Assad’s government.
Fighting also killed nearly 55,000 rebels and just as many jihadist fighters, most of them 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.... group or former al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham ...formerly al-Nusra, the current false nose and mustache of al-Qaeda in the Levant... Front, but also from smaller groups.
Abdel Rahman told AFP that his team had worked hard to verify the identities of 4,000 victims whose identities had been unknown.
"Most were civilians, but there were approximately 300 rebel fighters among them," he said.
[AlAhram] The owner of a venue in Sweden's capital where a bigwig from The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's ruling party was due to hold a rally on Sunday cancelled the rental contract, Turkey's private Dogan news agency reported.
The news agency said the owner had not given a reason for their decision.
In the past week several other European countries have prevented Turkish politicians from holding political rallies among Turkish emigres.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/14/2017
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Russian Reserve FSB Colonel Igor Girkin said in a television interview that a total of 15,000 well paid contractors are part of the rebel army in the separate republic of Donetsk, according to a korrespondent.net news reports.
The Donetsk army counts 40,000 effectives in their ranks including, according to Ukrainian reports, about 4,000 Russian regulars.
Col. Girkin, who goes by the call sign Strelkov, was a key figure in the start of the civil war in Ukraine, and played a central role in the takeover of Crimea during the spring of 2014.
Girkin also said in his remarks that the rebel army no longer has the combat power to expand the territory Russian backed separatists now control, save for a Russian-backed general war and offensive. The reasons include the increased strength of the Ukrainian Army in the area.
Despite temporarily holding the post of Donetsk minister of defense before Vladimir Kononov took over in early August of 2014, Girkin has not had friendly relations with the political and military leadership of Donetsk.
In a Live Journal post last Sunday, Girkin all but called Donetsk president Aleksandr Zakharchenko and Lugansk president Igor Plotnitsky criminals who would not be able to maintain their posts in any future administration, even in the unlikely event a political solution to the Ukrainian civil war could be found. Girkin's suggested solutions included the formation of a Transnistria-like autonomous entity which would presumably fold both former Ukrainian provinces into a single autonomous region.
Transnistria is a nation state between western Ukraine and Romania recognized by only three other nations, including Russia. It was formed following a brief civil war just after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1992.
Since the start of the Ukrainian civil war in the spring of 2014, autonomy for Donetsk and Lugansk has been discussed between Ukraine, Russia and the European Union as a possible solution to the conflict, the most immediate effect of which would be to turn Ukraine into a federation. Ukrainian nationalists, such as members of Right Sector and other political blocks, vehemently oppose federalizing the nation to suit a Russian speaking minority in southeastern Ukraine.
Recriminations have been flying between Girkin and the former and current political leadership of Donetsk in recent days.
According to former foreign minister of Donetsk Aleksandr Koffman, it was Girkin's actions in the early part of the civil war while in Slavyansk in the spring of 2014 that provoked the Ukrainian military into attacking the separatists with military force. Girkin already had been fingered along with Ukrainian GRU Colonel Igor Bezler for the murder of Vladimir Rybak, a Gorlovka politician in March of 2014.
Reports following the separatists' retreat from Slavyansk in the summer of 2014, even those most favorable to Girkin, painted his charges as armed thugs who conducted checkpoints to rob passersby.
Fighting in Donetsk and Lugansk
According to several news reports in lb.ua, a total of seven Ukrainian soldiers and volunteers were wounded in the ongoing fighting in Donetsk and Lugansk on Monday.
According to one of the lb.ua accounts, rebel 120mm mortars struck Ukrainian positions in southern Donetsk at Shirokino, Novotroisk, Marinka and Krasnogorovka. Rebel 82mm mortar fire hit Gnutova.
The report said that rebels used rocket artillery, tank gunfire and mortar fire in Avdievka. Rebel 82mm mortar fire hit Opytnoye, Kamenka and Zaitsevo.
In Lugansk, rebel 120mm mortar fire hit Ukrainian positions at Krimenskoye.
Rebel media claimed that Ukrainian artillery fire damaged 13 buildings in western Donetsk city and in Zaitsevo overnight.
Ukrainian artillery fire was reported at the Kuibyshevsky district of Doentsk city, at the Donetsk airport, at Spartak and Zaitsvo.
In southern Donetsk, Ukrainian artillery hit rebel positions at Novoazovskiy, Sakhanka and Kominternovo.
A mortar duel between rebel and Ukrainian forces was recorded near Debaltsevo, near the Svetlodarsk region.
DR NIAZ MURTAZA [DAWN] MANY people say Pakistain’s problems today stem from the wilful failure of rulers to establish an Islamic system. These are not supporters of the murderous MoslemIslamic 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 but well-meaning individuals who abhor IS excesses. For them, this system is like turning on a water tap waiting to deliver unlimited sustenance.
But when asked for specifics, they can only express vague generalities and wishful desires for an egalitarian system. However, it was a brave man who first ate an oyster... egalitarianism is a final outcome that cannot be reached directly but through effective policies which they struggle to identify. Their basic belief, sold widely by holy mans, is that the human mind is weak and leads us astray, so we must follow religious injunctions even for small things by gleaning Islamic history for edicts which only holy mans can decipher.
There are many issues with this view. Firstly, what constitutes God’s word? Besides the Koran and hadith, even broad and often questionable interpretations by latter-day and present-day holy mans and often even their unsupported opinions are termed God’s word.
The high disregard for human intellect also seems contrary to the message of the Koran which extols it. Human beings are called the best species only since they have high intellect. The Koran says things have been made easy to fathom and those who use their minds can fathom divine signs easily. It is unlikely that a faith which values human intellect so much would expect humans to constantly copy ancient eras with very different contexts for minor things.
There are many societies globally without any history of revealed religions or adherence to detailed religious dogma which have still built materially and morally advanced states, eg, Japan, which far excels all Moslem states on both counts today. The human mind has made amazing discoveries with no holy manal input. Disparaging it makes little sense.
Thus, this view seems designed to empower holy mans by making them the custodian of divine knowledge while disempowering the masses as incapable of discovering the right way without holy mans’ help. But this is contrary to Koranic edicts that everyone can understand Islam directly without holy mans’ help. In reality, especially when it comes to statecraft, Islam expects people to use their intellect to identify policies relevant to their times. So, even the most important issue in governance, ie, how rulers should attain power, is left to people to decide as both the Koran and hadith appear silent on such matters. Thus, it stretches credulity to claim that Islam expects the divine word to be followed strictly for lesser decisions when even the most key decision has been delegated to people.
Similarly, while the debate on edicts vis-à-vis present-day governance, eg monetary, fiscal, industrial policies, continues, they are questions about their applicability to the challenges of the current times. Islam seemingly expects policies in all such areas to be developed by people. But many things that holy mans present as divine injunction and mandatory policies to be adopted by states are either irrelevant or even harmful to the establishment of an egalitarian society today.
So, while we may think that establishing an Islamic system is like turning on a water tap, the obstacles in doing so are far more structural than unwilling rulers.
The Medina system was heavily reliant on the presence of people of very high morals, the likes of whom are absent today. Even if such people could be assembled, the next challenge would be for them to find an easy and peaceful way of attaining power. But if honest people could attain power, they could perform wonders even within a secular social democratic system.
So the next challenge would be to demonstrate that they have a vision and concrete policies based on Islam which can outperform secular systems, ie, deliver the strengths of Western democracies while avoiding their weaknesses. Even so, the next challenge would be to overcome the vehement opposition of holy mans since this new vision will likely be very different from the holy mans’ brand of Islam and will marginalise them. Finally, they will have to win the trust of people who, weary of decades of misuse of religion’s name in politics, largely shun religious politics in Pakistain.
Despite being a firm believer in secular democracy, I still believe if someone builds on Islam’s progressive elements, like egalitarianism, rights for women and minorities, etc., they should be able to develop such a vision. I am a firm believer in secular democracy not because I don’t believe in Islam’s progressive elements, but because I see the faith hijacked by retrogressive forces and little inclination within the majority to challenge their hold and develop a progressive Islamic vision. In such a situation, secular democracy seems the best available option.
The writer heads INSPIRING Pakistain, a progressive policy unit, and is a senior fellow with UC Berkeley.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Dr Niaz Murtaza being that his name starts with Dr is clearly the best that "secular" has to offer and after many words his conclusion sounds like an opinion. So my opinion, Islam is an entitlement demanding ideology with enforcement by violent means. Violence leads to desolation and death, not success and life. Entitlement leads to bankruptcy, not productivity.
His apples and oranges are Atheism vs Islam. And so where has atheism ever succeeded? The Soviet Union that crushed any religion that would be a threat to "secular" power figures? Venezuela? Cuba? North Korea? Detroit?
Being in a Muslim environment the Dr cannot and will not even mention Christianity or he may loose his life to Islamists, the very religion he is trying so hard to find an answer to Islam bringing success to society comparable to the Western success.
So he finds that the very core of success under Islamic is hard to pin down, indeed impossible.
That is what makes Christianity so simple and successful, the core of which is this, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." (John Chapter 1, A Disciple of Jesus of Nazareth, foretold of by Isaiah 700 years prior to his time) With the core of his message being Love and Peace which leads to Life and Prosperity.
#4
"...The Medina system was heavily reliant on the presence of people of very high morals, the likes of whom are absent today."
Mohammud's rule from Medina was characterized by killing lots of people, robbing caravans and forcing his religion on anyone left alive. Yup. High morals.
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/14/2017 8:16
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#5
In Scarne's New Complete Guide to Gambling the author tells of his reply when asked to describe a winning system for a game where a ball rattles around on a wheel and settles in a slot (you know the game I'm talking about, but using the name will bin this comment).
Scarne's advice _ "Go play some other game..." I'd say that applies in the case of pisslam also.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/14/2017 8:36
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#6
MANY people say Pakistain’s problems today stem from the wilful failure of rulers to establish an Islamic system.
Replace Pakistain with Western culture, God with Social Justice, and Islam with Socialism and the article still works.
[RUDAW.NET] There is "zero threat" to the security of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... in Manbij, said the coalition spokesperson as the US and Russia show support for Kurdish forces in Syria in the face of Turkish objections.
Earlier this month, Col. John Dorrian, spokesperson for the global anti-ISIS coalition, tweeted that US forces were deployed to the Manbij area as a "deliberate" act to "deter aggression" and reassure coalition partners as Turkish-backed forces advanced on Manbij and Turkish leaders spoke of a military offensive to oust Kurdish forces Ankara alleges control the northern Syrian city.
"Our forces have been present there for some time," Dorrian told Rudaw TV on Monday, explaining the US presence on the ground around Manbij.
"They've had a visible presence more recently, and the purpose of their presence right now is to make sure there is no security incident and to make sure there is no persistent [the Kurdish force] YPG presence in the city, or anything that would threaten Turkey because we are also committed to Turkey's security. And what we've found so far is that there is exactly zero threat to Turkey's security in Manbij."
Turkey launched its military operation, Euphrates Shield, after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) liberated Manbij from ISIS control. Ankara’s stated aim was to clear the Turkey-Syria border area of bandidossnuffies ‐ naming both ISIS and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), one of the dominant forces fighting under the SDF flag. Turkish towns on the border with Syria came under repeated attack from cross-border ISIS fire.
Turkey considers the YPG a terrorist organization with ties to the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and strongly objects to the coalition’s backing of the YPG and the SDF in the fight against ISIS in northern Syria.
The US reportedly promised Turkey that the YPG would leave Manbij after ISIS was defeated and security in the city was reestablished. The YPG announced last November that they had withdrawn their forces from Manbij and were focusing on the offensive for Raqqa, but Ankara claims that the YPG has in fact not left the city.
Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... vowed that his forces would march on Manbij after completing operations against ISIS in al-Bab, to force the YPG east of the Euphrates River.
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[IsraelTimes] Across West Bank, security service arrests additional alleged Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, members for attacks near Jerusalem.
The Shin Bet security service incarcerated Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! two Paleostinian men suspected of planning to carry several attacks on behalf of Hamas, the agency announced on Sunday.
The arrests were made during a West Bank-wide crackdown, in which several other suspected Hamas members were detained, the Shin Bet said.
Military prosecutors are expected to file indictments against all of the suspects in the coming days.
The two men -- Muhammad A’azi from Jama’in in the northern West Bank and Noor Aldin Ghaith from Hebron -- allegedly planned to lay down nails along a roadway in order to force cars to stop and then open fire, making their attack more lethal, the Shin Bet said.
The two had reportedly scouted out different roads ahead of their attack. After his arrest, A’azi also handed over a weapon to the Shin Bet, which they said he planned to use in the attack.
The pair is also suspected of creating improvised bombs and testing them out ahead of a potential attack.
"They planned to put a propane tank rigged to explode at the entrance to a village and detonate it on a military vehicle," the Shin Bet said.
The security service also picked up a group of alleged Hamas members from Biddu, in the central West Bank, who are suspected of carrying out a number of attacks near the Jerusalem suburbs of Har Adar and Ma’ale Hahamisha.
The Shin Bet did not respond to a Times of Israel’s request for an exact number of people arrested in the crackdowns.
The suspects are believed to have thrown improvised bombs and Molotov cocktails at the two communities, as well as carrying out one shooting at Har Adar and planning a second. There were no injuries reported in the incidents.
In recent weeks, the security service has also arrested several students from Birzeit University in the West Bank, members of the Hamas-affiliated Kutla Islamiyah, believed to be helping the terrorist group strengthen its grip on the campus, the Shin Bet said.
"[The group’s] activities included rallies, recruiting new members and raising funds," the agency said.
[RFE/RL] Tajik authorities say an explosion near a military court in the nation's south has killed one person. The Interior Ministry said the blast struck a school near the Khatlon military court in the southern city of Qurghon-Teppa, where thousands of Russian troops are based.
The Interior Ministry said a 67-year-old man, who worked as a guard at the school next to the court building, was killed by an explosive device that was detonated on the evening of March 12. It was not clear if the man -- identified as Hasanboi Rahmonov, an ethnic Uzbek -- had detonated the explosives himself.
Qurghon-Teppa, as well as Kulob and Dushanbe, are sites in Tajikistan, where some 7,000 troops from Russia's 201st Motorized Rifle Division are stationed.
[RUDAW.NET] Turkish minister who was announced persona non grata in Netherland’s Rotterdam and subsequently deported to Germany overnight following a row between both countries over a cancelled rally said that she witnessed "inhuman treatment" at the hands of the Dutch authorities. Yes. She would, wouldn't she?
Fatma Beytul Sayan Kaya, the minister for Family and Social Policies, was in the Netherlands to encourage the Turkish voters there to support the Yes campaign in the coming April referendum in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... on a number of constitutional reforms. Disagreeing with the sultan is inhuman.
She travelled to the country via land after the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s flight was cancelled by the Dutch authorities earlier on Saturday.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2017
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#1
If the Netherlands is so horrific perhaps the Turks should call on their citizens to return to Turkey where they can find proper Islamic inhuman treatment.
[WASHINGTONTIMES] Senate Democrats said Monday that they will block any spending bill that includes money for President Trump’s border wall, even if it leads to a government shutdown, saying it’s up to Republicans to resist touchy issues in the looming spending debate.
In a letter led by Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, top Democrats also said they will insist that bills allow Planned Parenthood ...has received federal funding since 1970, when President Richard Nixon signed into law the Family Planning Services and Population Research Act. It is sometimes described as the gynecololgical wing of the Democratic party. to collect taxpayer money.
But though Democrats are in the minority and would have to filibuster to block the bills, they insisted it’s Republicans who will be blamed for a government shutdown.
"If Republicans insist on inserting poison pill riders such as defunding Planned Parenthood, building a border wall, or starting a deportation force, they will be shutting down the government and delivering a severe blow to our economy," the Democrats said in a letter to top Republicans.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2017
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#1
Because the media will lie and cheat to say so.
#4
Darth, that's what the Dems did to pass Obamacare.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
03/14/2017 9:23
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#5
When the revolution begins in earnest, I would hope the first officials placed up against the wall are those who felt national security was a "touchy issue".
#7
Allow planned parenthood to have funding for mamagrams only (since that's what they claim they do all the time). Then withhold other funding until it can be straightened out if they are in fact doing an excessive amount of abortions in the black community along the lines of Margrett Sanger's plan and let the Dems defend that.
#8
Morons! Don't they understand Planned Parenthood is reducing future Democratic voters?
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/14/2017 12:49
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#9
Morons! Don't they understand Planned Parenthood is reducing future Democratic voters?
Posted by Bobby
I'll try and be subtle. Planned Parenthood is basically a culling tool. Hard working brick layers, roofers, framers, landscapers, and seasonal farm workers generally do not participate in such programs.
#12
Yes indeed, RJ. Not difficult at all to decipher the 'target population.' All one has to do is examine the placement of Planned Parenthood Centers.
[DAWN] Top government officials in Islamabad on Monday reaffirmed their support to Yemeni leadership amid reports that the Pakistain army is sending combat troops to reinforce Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... 's southern border from attacks by Yemen's Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... rebels.
President Mamnoon Hussain in a meeting with Yemeni Deputy Prime Minister Abdulmalik Aduljalil al-Mekhlafi today asserted that Moslem countries should work together for progress and stability by avoiding mutual differences, Radio Pakistain reported.
He told al-Mekhlafi, who is also Yemen's foreign minister, that Pakistain wishes to contribute to progress and stability in Yemen, and desires the restoration of piece in the conflict-stricken country.
Manoon said Pakistain supports Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's efforts for peace in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... and regards him as the legitimate leader of the country. He added that Pakistain would continue to support Hadi and Yemen for peace and progress in the region.
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj PrunefaceAziz ...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in good jihadis and bad jihadis as a matter of national policy... in a separate meeting with al-Mekhlafi assured the Yemeni foreign minister that Pakistain has always supported the unity, illusory sovereignty and territorial integrity of Yemen, and would continue to offer all possible assistance for restoration of peace and stability in the country, Radio Pakistain reported.
Aziz appreciated the Yemeni government's efforts towards restoring peace, harmony and stability in the war-torn country.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2017
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[Iraq News] Pro-Iraqi government paramilitary forces said Monday they killed 15 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.... in western djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... as government troops close in on the murderous Moslem group in the region.
Al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units) have said they killed 15 holy warriors at al-Hadar region. The force killed the holy warriors after 30 minutes of festivities that followed a failed attack by the group.
Iraqi government forces recaptured eastern Mosul from Islamic State on january 24th after three months of battles, and recently said they became in control of 30 percent of western Mosul since another offensive launched in February.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2017
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The provincial governor of the northern Balkh province and a prominent political figure heading the influential Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... party has apologized for supporting Abdullah Abdullah ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... during the 2014 presidential elections.
He accused the Chief Executive of the unity government for supporting a specific circle around him and announced to halt cooperation with the Chief Executive Office.
Noor was one of the main supporters of Abdullah Abdullah during the controversial presidential elections in 2014 and played a key role in both the first round of the elections and during the run-off elections.
This comes as Noor said late in December last year that he is no more counting on decision making capabilities of Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah.
He claimed that his lack of confidence on Abdullah has led to opening of direct talks with President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. Noor further added that Abdullah has performed with weakness in the past two and half years and the reason behind direct talks between him and President Ghani is due to lack of proper presentation of Jamaat-e-Islami by Abdullah.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2017
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[AA.TR] A new group that has pledged allegiance to ISIS is responsible for a plot to carry out attacks on Indonesian security forces, authorities said Monday.
The police chief of Central Sulawesi province told Anadolu Agency that nine suspected holy warriors incarcerated Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! last week were affiliated to the group based in South Sulawesi’s thriving provincial capital Makassar City.
"This group has declared allegiance to ISIS," Brig. Gen. Rudy Sufahriadi said, referring to ISIS by another acronym.
Sufahriadi described the new group as not being related to the Sulawesi-based East Indonesia Mujahideen -- whose hideout in the jungles of troubled Poso Regency has been the target of a months-long military operation.
During the capture of the nine suspects Friday, police reportedly seized fertilizer, sulfur and nails they suspect would have been used in assembling explosives to attack local police and army headquarters.
National police front man Insp. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said two of those arrested are minors.
"We are still investigating their role in the terror plan," he was quoted as saying by detik.com.
Amar also revealed that anti-terror squads had arrested two suspected holy warriors believed to have connections with a bomber who was rubbed out by police last month in West Java’s thriving provincial capital Bandung City.
The men are accused of planning attacks on several cop shoppes in the city "to take Dire Revenge on the police for the arrest of their friends", according to Amar.
Police believe the three belong to Jamaah Ansharut Daulah, a terror network that includes several bad boy groups that have pledged allegiance to ISIS.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2017
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[AA.TR] The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... on Monday extended its sanctions related to the Ukrainian crisis for another six months.
The renewed sanctions, which include asset freezes and travel bans, target 150 persons and 37 entities the EU says undermine or threaten Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
The sanctions were first introduced in March 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea following an illegal independence vote.
They aim to put pressure on Moscow to implement the Minsk Agreement in Ukraine and work towards a de-escalation in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2017
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#1
"EU says undermine or threaten Ukraine’s territorial integrity"
Yet the EUSSR was part of the coup that removed the democratically elected president.
A phobia is an irrational fear. A legitimate concern is something else altogether.
[AA.TR] A U.S. politician on Monday stood by his comments in support of a far-right Dutch politician notorious for his Islamophobic views.
Republican Representative Steve King of Iowa tweeted over the weekend that Geert Wilders "understands that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies."
When confronted during a CNN interview, King said he "meant exactly what I said.
"You've got to keep your birth rate up, and that you need to teach your children your values. In doing so, you can grow your population, you can strengthen your culture, and you can strengthen your way of life," King said.
He repeatedly dodged the question of whether he considered all Americans equal irrespective of differences.
King’s remarks have sparked outrage, including among Republican politicians who viewed the comments as racist and xenophobic.
Former Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush said: "America is a nation of immigrants colonists. The sentiment expressed by Steve King doesn't reflect our shared history or values."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Former Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush said: "America is a nation of immigrants. The sentiment expressed by Steve King doesn't reflect our shared history or values."
Yes, we're a nation of immigrants. But we're NOT a nation of criminal border-jumpers. Steve King's remarks were spot-on.
Jeb, just STFU, wouldya? Please? You are irrelevant.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
03/14/2017 11:16
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#2
When are they going to realize islam is not a race?
Posted by: chris ||
03/14/2017 12:03
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#3
Former Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush said: "America is a nation of immigrants. The sentiment expressed by Steve King doesn't reflect our shared history or values."
That politicians seize onto these things and never let go amazes me. Republicans don't seem to understand that free trade must also be fair, and liberals don't seem to get that some immigrants are the same as drinking poison.
#4
Former Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush said: "America is a nation of immigrants. The sentiment expressed by Steve King doesn't reflect our shared history or values. Please clap"
Whatever happened to assimilating and the melting pot. Dems, SJW's and racialist grifters have killed that for Identity Politics and a grab for the spoils. King is spot on
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/14/2017 14:10
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#5
immigrants that assimilate are fine. Immigrants that form their own ghettos for generations and live off of welfare are not. It's not difficult.
Scandinavian experts are urging the use of child-like sex dolls in a bid to stop pedophiles from abusing real life children. Bag limit ?
The Sexpo Foundation in Finland wants the disgusting dummies to be made available to pedophiles following a reported boom in imports in neighboring Norway.
Norwegian cops revealed they are increasingly seizing creepy child-like sex dolls, mostly made in Hong Kong.
More than 20 have been impounded by customs officials in the past six months.
Child sex dolls are banned in Norway.
Norway’s National Criminal Investigation Service says those who have ordered the dolls are men aged between 18 and 60. Some of the men have been convicted of sexual offenses against children in the past.
Police fear the purchasers “may pose a risk of committing abuses against children in the future.”
But in an open letter to the Norwegian authorities, the Sexpo Foundation argues that the dolls should be made available.
The letter by Sexpo executive director Tommi Paalanen says: “Both Sexpo services and international studies have shown that the risk of a sexual offense against a child can be reduced by providing a pedophile with a channel for their desires.”
“Sex dolls are one such channel.”
“A person who uses a lot of money and effort to purchase the doll has already made the decision that he wants to carry out the sexual tendency.”
[SCMP] The Japanese government’s decision to withdraw its Self-Defence Forces (SDF) from their UN peacekeeping operation in South Sudan has raised a host of questions about the depth of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s commitment to global security.
Abe’s stated reason ‐ that the peacekeepers’ mission to rebuild infrastructure destroyed by the ongoing civil war has been completed ‐ met widespread scepticism, including from within the SDF.
Abe announced on Friday the 350-strong unit presently in South Sudan would be returning to Japan in May after a deployment lasting seven months.
"As South Sudan enters a new phase of nation-building, we have decided that we can now put an end to our infrastructure building efforts," Abe said in Tokyo.
Yoshihide Suga, the chief cabinet secretary, was quick to emphasise the troops were not being recalled "because of the deteriorating security situation". Some were unconvinced.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2017
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#1
I agree, South Sudan is a lost cause.
NATO does not have the backbone or the will to do what is needed, so no point is wasting good money and personals there.
JSDF is better used where they can actually do some good!
[DAWN] Pakistain Rangers, Sindh, on Monday claimed to have seized a huge quantity of arms and ammunition allegedly belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... -London from a government school in New 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... A Rangers spokesperson said in a statement that the paramilitary force received secret information that some "miscreants affiliated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (London)"
What does London have to do with the MQM in Pakistan?
had hidden arms and ammunition in a school (Godhra Tameer-e-Millat School) in New Karachi’s Sector F-11 with an intention to carry out terror acts in the metropolis.
The Rangers immediately searched the school and seized arms stashed underground.
The seized weapons include four light-machine guns with 258 rounds, two 8-mm rifles with two magazines, two 7-mm rifles with 74 rounds, five 12-bore pistols, two 224-rifles, one 44-bore rifle with one magazine, one 222-rifle with 30 rounds, two 30-bore pistol with three magazines, two 9mm pistols with two magazines, two 0.22 rifles with three magazines and 403 rounds of SMGs, 35 rounds of 0.22 rifle and three telescope, the statement said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2017
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#1
London is their primary recruiting and fund-raising ground.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
03/14/2017 6:39
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#2
The Rangers immediately searched the school and seized arms stashed underground.
I wonder if coating them with a fast-acting contact poison wouldn't have been better.
[Iraq News] Iraqi government troops consummated Monday the recapture of a district near central djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... ’s Old City which it invaded Saturday.
The Joint Operations Command said in a statement that the army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Forces fully retook Mosul al-Jadida (New Mosul), a district adjacent to the Old City. The latter is a densely-populated neighborhood and an outstanding target of operations against 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.... bandidosgunnies in western Mosul.
Government forces swept through Mosul al-Jadida’s neighborhoods since Saturday, engaging in ferocious fights with IS bad boys. Iraqi generals were quoted earlier on Monday saying three soldiers were killed in IS attacks, while troops killed at least 20 bad boys.
Iraqi generals have labeled Old Mosul as decisive in realizing victory against IS in western Mosul.
Iraqi government forces recaptured eastern Mosul from Islamic State on january 24th after three months of battles, and recently said they became in control of 30 percent of western Mosul since another offensive launched in February.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2017
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
[DAILYCALLER] An Arlington, Va., woman allegedly falsified welfare applications to receive more than $100,000 in benefits while her husband raked in $1.5 million salary.
Police say Helen Agbapuruonwu, mother of four, collected food stamps and Medicaid benefits from 2010 to 2016, while here husband, Fidelis Agbapuruonwu, was earning $1.5 million as a lawyer in Washington, D.C., NBC News 4 reports.
Helen Agbapuruonwu "fraudulently obtained public assistance in excess of $100,000 under false pretenses" police allege, and she has been charged "with felony welfare fraud and document forgery," according to a police report.
Fidelis Agbapuruonwu, who immigrated to the U.S. from Nigeria in the 1990s, worked as an associate at Mayer Brown in D.C., according to his LinkedIn profile. A front man for Mayer Brown told NBC 4 that Agbapuruonwu no longer works there. Agbapuruonwu received a Paul & Daisy Soros Scholarship for New Americans, which he used to pay for law school at Ohio State University.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2017
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Top|| File under:
#1
Oh, liquor up, Muse, and regale us
With news of attorney Fidelis,
Bold immigrant, model
For all who would waddle
To Washington, there to assail us.
#2
Fidelis Agbapuruonwu, who immigrated to the U.S. from Nigeria in the 1990s
"It's a cultural thing. You wouldn't understand.
However, I am pleased to share with you that I am the recipient of a great fortune from the Late Sani Abacha..."
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/14/2017 8:55
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#3
She didn't have any grocery money because Fidelis gave all he earned to the Clinton Global Initiative.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/14/2017 12:44
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#4
Fidelis bailed on her. Is there no honor among thieves?
Note:
A lawyer and recipient of a prestigious Paul & Daisy Soros fellowship for immigrants has reportedly fled the U.S., possibly to Africa, as his wife faces criminal welfare fraud charges in Arlington, Va.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/14/2017 14:33
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#5
So I guess Fidelis isn't a nephew of an Oil Minister?
[SCMP] The family of Myanmar’s last king hit out on Sunday at a Thai soap opera inspired by the palace intrigue of their ancestors, accusing Thailand of double standards in how it treats another country’s royals.
Soe Win, the great grandson of Myanmar’s last monarch King Thibaw, said his family was angered by A Lady’s Flame, a new hit prime-time soap that recounts a bloody dynastic power struggle.
The show is set in a fictional kingdom but almost entirely mimics the final years of the Konbaung dynasty in the 19th century in the country formerly known as Burma.
It portrays the scheming among a key queen and princesses who orchestrated the massacre of nearly a hundred people to ensure Thibaw had no rivals to the throne following his father’s death in 1878.
While the massacre is historical fact, Thibaw’s scions are upset with their family’s portrayal by a country that shields its own monarchy from any criticism.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2017
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[AlAhram] Egypt's prosecutor-general ordered on Monday the release of ousted President Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... following his acquittal earlier this month on charges of killing protesters during the 25 January Revolution.
In January 2016, the Court of Cassation upheld a three-year prison sentence for Mubarak and his two sons for using public funds ‐ slated for the maintenance of presidential palaces ‐ to upgrade their private properties.
According to judicial sources, Mubarak will be released as his sentence in the presidential palaces case is considered already served due to the time he spent in pre-trial detention.
Following the verdict in that case, Mubarak's sons were released for time served, as they had already been behind bars for more than three years pending trial.
Mubarak is still banned from travel pending investigations by the Illicit Gains Authority into an increase in his personal wealth since the 2011 revolution, according to his lawyer Farid El-Deeb.
El-Deeb added that the ousted president's assets are still frozen.
The 88-year-old Mubarak has been confined to Maadi Military Hospital for treatment since 2012.
The former autocrat ruled Egypt from 1981 until a popular uprising ousted him on 11 February 2011.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/14/2017
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Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[AA.TR] A Turkish Foreign Ministry front man blasted Monday a Swiss newspaper over its "derogatory" remarks against the Turkish president and its "misleading" report about an upcoming constitutional referendum in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... "We strongly condemn today's edition of the Swiss Blick newspaper, which includes insults against President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan and misleading remarks about the referendum on a constitutional amendment package in our country. We cannot accept these accusations and allegations," Huseyin Muftuoglu said in response to a question over the Blick news report.
The daily -- both in Turkish and German -- urged Turks living in Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... for a 'No' vote in the April 16 referendum.
"Taking a biased and partial attitude on the referendum and the call for Turkish citizens in their country to vote clearly in a certain way and the derogatory remarks directed against Turkey's president who has the support of his country's people can have nothing to do with the freedom of press or journalism," Muftuoglu said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2017
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Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
[SCMP] Malaysia’s health minister said on Monday the government will give relatives of North Korean 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... ’s estranged half brother two to three weeks to claim his body before deciding what to do with it.
Malaysian authorities said Kim Jong-nam died after two women smeared his face with the banned VX nerve agent at Kuala Lumpur’s airport on February 13 but North Korea ‐ which is widely suspected to be behind the attack ‐ rejected the findings.
North Korea demanded the body back from day one and objected to Malaysia’s autopsy. Pyongyang also refused to acknowledge Kim Jong-nam was the victim and referred to him as Kim Chol, the name on the passport Kim was carrying when he was attacked in a crowded airport terminal.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2017
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Top|| File under: Commies
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.
"I believe the tape was made by an American intelligence agency and then leaked to the Times for political reasons," Kucinich wrote. "If so, this episode represented a gross violation of the separation of powers."
North Korea
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[MSNBC] A great video montage made the rounds over the weekend showing Donald Trump, before he was elected president, talking about the unemployment rate. It’s a jarring video for a reason: the Republican not only dismissed the nation’s unemployment rate as “phony,” he acted as if only an idiot would believe the official data.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least five Taliban 
[Iraq News] Central Criminal Court in Baghdad on Monday sentenced a hacker working in the so-called ’digital army of caliphate’ of the 
[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] President Trump will visit 
[PNA/Xinhua] Malaysian police said on Monday they have arrested seven suspects, including five Filipinos and one Malaysian immigration officer, in connection with Daesh
[DAWN] A jirga in Azad Jammu and 
[Inquirer] A day after Philippine government negotiators met with their Maoist militant counterparts, New People's Army rebels burned a bus in Mindanao and injured five policemen in an ambush in northern Luzon.
Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[DAWN] MANY people say Pakistain’s problems today stem from the wilful failure of rulers to establish an Islamic system. These are not supporters of the
[RUDAW.NET] There is "zero threat" to the security of 
[RFE/RL] Tajik authorities say an explosion near a military court in the nation's south has killed one person. The Interior Ministry said the blast struck a school near the Khatlon military court in the southern city of Qurghon-Teppa, where thousands of Russian troops are based. 
[WASHINGTONTIMES] Senate Democrats said Monday that they will block any spending bill that includes money for President Trump’s border wall, even if it leads to a government shutdown, saying it’s up to Republicans to resist touchy issues in the looming spending debate.
...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in 
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
[DAILYCALLER] An Arlington, Va., woman allegedly falsified welfare applications to receive more than $100,000 in benefits while her husband raked in $1.5 million salary.
North Korea
