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Helmand’s Sangin district has reportedly fallen to Taliban
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
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11:00 1 16:55 Vast Right Wing Conspiracy []
10:27 9 19:57 CrazyFool []
09:41 8 19:08 Crinegum Ulaigum2776 []
09:01 6 11:12 Vast Right Wing Conspiracy []
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03:48 3 18:18 trailing wife []
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-Land of the Free
Virginia judge upholds Trump's temporary travel ban
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/24/2017 16:17 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm so confused.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 03/24/2017 17:43 Comments || Top||


Vote on Ryan/Trump Care cancelled
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/24/2017 16:16 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Whips didn't like the count, eh?
Posted by: charger || 03/24/2017 17:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Hollyweird and the Democrats are claiming victory. However, it is a Pyrrhic victory!
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/24/2017 22:59 Comments || Top||

#3  That means Ryancare wasn't officially voted down.
Posted by: Nero White 3083 || 03/24/2017 23:43 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Norway's laser-firing underwater drones
Posted by: al aSha-med || 03/24/2017 15:09 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What about freakin' sharks with freakin' lasers on their heads?
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/24/2017 17:30 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Nursing Home Employee Secretly Recorded Seniors Having S3x, Posted Video to Snapchat
A nursing home employee in Florida is in police custody on Wednesday after detectives say she filmed two senior residents having sex without their knowledge or consent and shared the video with her followers on Snapchat in August.

The victims, who haven’t been identified are an 81-year-old woman and a 59-year-old man.
Seems like he likes cougars.
Authorities have identified the suspect as another shortsighted idiot 20-year-old Alexis Williams, an employee at the Bristol Court Assisted Living Facility on 3479 54th Avenue North in unincorporated St. Petersburg.
I'm not sure if I should look into retiring there or not.
Detectives say Williams was working at the facility when she secretly recorded the victims having sex in a private room and later posted the video to Snapchat.

One of her followers saw the video and informed staff at the facility who contacted the authorities and terminated Williams.

Williams confessed her crimes on Wednesday when she was interviewed by Pinellas County detectives at her home in St. Pete.
"Are you a shortsighted idiot?"
"Why yes, I am."

She was arrested and charged with one count of video voyeurism and one count of video voyeurism dissemination and was released this evening on a $10,000 bond.
Lucky for her people can't be charged for being an idiot, too
Posted by: gorb || 03/24/2017 11:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, that certainly puts a new wrinkle in Mr. Williams' life.
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 03/24/2017 16:55 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
F'nBI: We Are Aware of Threats to Hawaii Federal Judge at Center of Travel Ban Suit
The U.S. Marshals Service is rowing has flown in about a dozen deputies from the mainland to provide 24-hour protection to the federal judge whose order blocked the president's travel ban from taking effect.

U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson has received death threats after he issued a ruling last week.

Meanwhile, the FBI is also aware of the threats and are prepared to assist the U.S. Marshals Service if needed.

The FBI would not comment further on how the threats were made.

The agency would also not provide details on what states the threats are coming out of. However, sources say, they are coming from the mainland.

Former federal agent Tommy Aiu said it's not unusual for additional deputies to be brought in to help the local U.S. Marshals office with protection needs.
No big deal. Happens all the time.
"The U.S. Marshals service will do a critical risk assessment, look at the threat, make an analysis, and determine the level of protection needed," he said.
We're sending over Ryan in an orange jumpsuit and armed with a slingshot.
Watson issued the order last Wednesday to temporarily block enforcement of the ban, just hours before it was to take effect. The ban would have frozen immigration from six predominantly Muslim countries for 90 days.

Watson's ruling thrust Hawaii into the center of a polarizing debate over immigration reform, which have spurred protests for and against the ban.

The U.S. Marshals Service refused to comment on security details so it's unknown how long the extra protection will continue.
Hopefully long enough to find a replacement for Ryan.
Posted by: gorb || 03/24/2017 10:27 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How about a little security for those of us who will have to live next door to terrorists?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 03/24/2017 13:10 Comments || Top||

#2  those of us who will have to live next door to terrorists?
We don't count.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 03/24/2017 13:15 Comments || Top||

#3  To be fair, in better times that sort of behavior would have had you tarred, feathered and run out of town on a rail.
Posted by: Iblis || 03/24/2017 13:56 Comments || Top||

#4  While I don't agree with death threats... I really can't bring myself to feel sorry for this piece of shit judge either.
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/24/2017 14:45 Comments || Top||

#5  Actions have consequences - wait until there's a jihadi attack in USA.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/24/2017 14:51 Comments || Top||

#6  The FBI is on the case. They just cracked the case of the Century™,i.e., Tom Brady's stolen Superbowl jersey, so they can do anything.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 03/24/2017 16:46 Comments || Top||

#7  I understand the sarcasm in #6, and sorta agree. But I am happy they found the dirtbag journalist thief.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 03/24/2017 17:50 Comments || Top||

#8  Actions have consequences...

Here's to hoping Judge Watson is reflecting upon that as we speak.
Posted by: Crusader || 03/24/2017 18:49 Comments || Top||

#9  Heck, he's probably the one who made the alledged threat.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 03/24/2017 19:57 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Was Tamerlan Tsarnaev working for the US Government ?
[Daily Mail] Smiling as he meets his family at the airport after arriving from Ankara, Turkey, this is the mastermind of the Boston Marathon bombing as he arrives in America - where he was welcomed as a refugee.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the second from the left in the photo below, stands taller than his father Anzor, despite being just 16 years old in the picture taken in 2003.

To his right is his younger brother Dzhokhar, nine, who Tamerlan would later radicalize and turn against America, a country which gave them both free housing, an education and a future.

Their sisters Ailina and Bella are also in the photo which was obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com from investigative journalist and author Michele McPhee.

In her book Maximum Harm: The Tsarnaev Nrother, the FBI and the Road to the Marathon Bombing to be published in April, she tells how U.S. authorities believed Anzor Tsarnaev's claimed his life was in danger due to his Chechen heritage and his family was granted political asylum.

McPhee's theory - which she admits she cannot definitively prove - is that Tamerlan was a federal informant and that he turned on America after his citizenship application was rejected.

McPhee writes that Tamerlan expected to be granted citizenship quickly and his anger grew when the process was delayed. He was initially told to come in for his swearing in ceremony in October 2012 but it was put off.

The U.S. Immigration service wrote to Cedarleaf, the FBI terrorism chief in Boston, and asked if he was a 'national security concern'. Cedarleaf replied that there was 'nothing I know of'.

In January 2013 Tamerlan tried again to get his citizenship and had another interview where he was asked about his arrest related to a domestic violence charge.

McPhee says that Tamerlan 'fully expected to walk way' with his citizenship'. Instead. his status was delayed again due to paperwork issues.

Two weeks later, on February 6 2013, an 'angry Tamerlan walked into Phantom Fireworks in Seabrook, New Hampshire, and asked for the "biggest and loudest" pyrotechnics in the story', McPhee writes.

McPhee, an Emmy-award nominated reporter with the ABC News investigative team, writes that he felt 'double crossed' and that he turned on America for failing to keep up its side of the bargain after he worked for them.
This article starring:
Tamerlan Tsarnaev
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/24/2017 09:41 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Chechens- from a distance, they don't look so bad.
Posted by: Grunter || 03/24/2017 10:02 Comments || Top||

#2  A cursory review indicates Special Agent David Cedarleaf may be the key to this theory.

Link to Max Harm, page 106.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/24/2017 10:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Him and his family were collecting welfare, for fuck's sake; you think he actually held a job?
Posted by: Raj || 03/24/2017 13:00 Comments || Top||

#4  Smiling as he meets his family

I wouldn't call that a "smile".
Posted by: Bobby || 03/24/2017 13:47 Comments || Top||

#5  a country which gave them both free housing, an education and a future

Does not matter to freeloaders and radicals.
Posted by: gorb || 03/24/2017 13:52 Comments || Top||

#6  Air travel to Russia is quite expensive. You'd have to be thrifty and save up your welfare payments. Perhaps Tamerlan had an alternate source of income. By the way, where did Mrs. Tamerlan Tsarnaev get off to?

(Yes, that's her. The US Citizen mooslim convert wife who had to crawl over pressure cookers and time fuse in the cramped kitchen.)
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/24/2017 14:00 Comments || Top||

#7  And then there's poor old Abdulbaki Todashev. The buddy of Tamerlan Tsarnaev who made the mistake of attacking law enforcement people with a koffee table. Dead Todashev's tell no tales.

LOOK OUT! He's got a koffee table, BLAST HIM! KA POW, POW, POW, POW, POW.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/24/2017 14:07 Comments || Top||

#8 
Posted by: Crinegum Ulaigum2776 || 03/24/2017 19:08 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Illegal Aliens Are Congregating in Sanctuary Cities City-States, Study Shows
[Breitbart] More than 10 percent of the illegal aliens living in the United States congregate in seven sanctuary cities.

New York City tops the list with 525,000 migrants living illegally in the sanctuary jurisdictions. The Daily Wire cites a February Pew Research Center report showing the Big Apple is followed by Los Angeles with 375,000, Chicago with 140,000, Denver with 55,000, and Boston and San Francisco with 35,000 each. These seven sanctuary cities account for more than 10 percent of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S.

The mayors of these cities joined with dozens of other sanctuary city leaders this week for a "Cities Day of Immigration Action," Breitbart Texas’ Lana Shadwick reported. The mayors pledged a list of feel-good commitments stating they will:
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/24/2017 09:01 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Who could have predicted such an outcome ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/24/2017 9:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Watch for these cities to:

Have crime rates skyrocket
Budgets plunge as spending increases like crazy

They will all be asking for federal bailouts in 10 years or sooner.
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/24/2017 9:17 Comments || Top||

#3  They will shift funds from infrastructure and essential services (like emergency medical, fire, and police) to Illegal Aliens. then they will state they need more money (from the federal government) for the essential services - which they will shift to freebies for Illegal Aliens.

Rinse Repeat.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 03/24/2017 9:31 Comments || Top||

#4  B - that's already underway in SF Bay Area municipalities.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 03/24/2017 10:17 Comments || Top||

#5  Operation Sugar Bait. You got them---you own them
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 03/24/2017 11:02 Comments || Top||

#6  My prayers are with those who want to get the hell away from this crap, but, for whatever reason(s), can't.

Aside of this, let 'em burn.
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 03/24/2017 11:12 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Top U.S. general in Europe says Russia might be supplying the Taliban
[Chicago Tribune] The top U.S. general in Europe told lawmakers Thursday that Russia and the Taliban are growing increasingly close, suggesting that the Kremlin might even be supplying the insurgent group.

Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, who is also the Supreme Allied Commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, did not elaborate to the Senate Armed Services Committee on what type of equipment the Taliban might have received or when.

Any type of material support, however, would be a significant escalation of Russia's involvement with the Taliban; it has said in the past that it maintains only limited communication with the group.

"I've seen the influence of Russia of late, increased influence in terms of association and perhaps even supply to the Taliban," Scaparrotti said.

Much to the chagrin of U.S. officials and military officers, Russia has justified its communications with the Taliban by saying the insurgent group is fighting the Islamic State in Afghanistan, not the U.S.-backed Afghan government.

Army Gen. John Nicholson, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, has decried Russia's contact with the Taliban, saying that it has given cover to a group that has worked for years to undermine the United States and the government in Kabul. Russia fought its own bloody war of attrition in Afghanistan in the 1980s, pulling out after suffering heavy losses from U.S.-supplied insurgents.

"This public legitimacy that Russia lends to the Taliban is not based on fact," Nicholson told reporters in December.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/24/2017 05:05 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  When have the Russians, Chinese, or Cubans NOT injected themselves into conflicts involving the West? The tenets of a 'zero-sum game' demand their involvement. But in fairness, it appears to be a game played by nearly everyone.

Regime change at it's finest:

Operation Cyclone was the code name for the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) program to arm and finance the Jihadi warriors, mujahideen, in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989, prior to and during the military intervention by the USSR in support of its client, the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. The program leaned heavily towards supporting militant Islamic groups that were favored by the regime of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in neighboring Pakistan, rather than other, less ideological Afghan resistance groups that had also been fighting the Marxist-oriented Democratic Republic of Afghanistan regime since before the Soviet intervention.[1] Operation Cyclone was one of the longest and most expensive covert CIA operations ever undertaken;[2] funding began with $20–$30 million per year in 1980 and rose to $630 million per year in 1987.[1] Funding continued after 1989 as the mujahideen battled the forces of Mohammad Najibullah's PDPA during the civil war in Afghanistan (1989–1992).[3]
Wiki link
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/24/2017 5:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Russians probably think of it as "turnaround is fair play"
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/24/2017 12:05 Comments || Top||

#3  Popular theme, make new enemies of old.
Possibly because we cannot recognize ancient enemies as new.
Posted by: al aSha-med || 03/24/2017 15:36 Comments || Top||

#4  Russians probably think of it as "turnaround is fair play"

The Russians got the better end of the deal. Between their support for North Korea and North Vietnam, they killed 100K American GI's. The Russians are estimated to have lost 13K soldiers. If they're supporting the Taliban, we need to be bankrolling armed separatist movements in Russia.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 03/24/2017 19:06 Comments || Top||

#5  Heck, forget armed separatist movements. How about funneling $1b worth of weaponry to Ukraine every year? It'll be worth it just to put an end to Soviet flags flying in East Ukraine.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 03/24/2017 19:09 Comments || Top||

#6  Hand the Ukrainians a bunch of mothballed F-16A's and associated equipment and watch them do a number on the Russian-backed separatists.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 03/24/2017 19:15 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Everything you think you know about Islamist attacks is wrong and that's why we are losing
[reddit] Our rulers think Islamist terror attacks are motivated by a desire to divide Muslims from non-Muslims. To turn our society against "moderate" Muslims and drive them into the arms of Islamists.

WRONG WRONG WRONG
From the intel agencies to the Governments that pass laws, to the police and counter-terror units they are all basing policy on a wrong assumption.

If this wrong assumption were true then all the things they have been doing after every attack since 9/11 would be working: all the outreach programs, inclusion programs, the censorship to tiptoe around Muslim sensitivities, the legal concessions to blasphemy laws, the special media platforms, the Eid dinners where Muslims get the ear of our leaders and police, the special funding, the counter-terror programs... but it's NOT WORKING because it's the WRONG ANSWER because they've MISDIAGNOSED THE PROBLEM.

They have censored discussion for 17 years now. Their assumption has never been challenged. And so they think they know our enemy but they don't. They don't actually know what the enemy wants, what its strategic goals are, or how it intends to get them.
That is why we are losing.
Posted by: Barticus || 03/24/2017 04:49 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  No leftist admits it when they make an error.

Ever.
Posted by: no mo uro || 03/24/2017 6:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Don't you know, Uro? Liberals do not make mistakes!
Posted by: gorb || 03/24/2017 9:54 Comments || Top||

#3  We must halt Muslim immigration immediately.

The author claims a Muslim immigration ban is the most important step in combatting Islamist terrorism yet provides zero guidence on how to achieve this initial goal. Don't hold your breath.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 03/24/2017 10:21 Comments || Top||

#4  yet provides zero guidence on how to achieve this initial goal

Well, there is this:

Title 8, Chapter 12, US Code 1182

(f) Suspension of entry or imposition of restrictions by President

Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate. Whenever the Attorney General finds that a commercial airline has failed to comply with regulations of the Attorney General relating to requirements of airlines for the detection of fraudulent documents used by passengers traveling to the United States (including the training of personnel in such detection), the Attorney General may suspend the entry of some or all aliens transported to the United States by such airline.
Posted by: SteveS || 03/24/2017 10:37 Comments || Top||

#5  Legally, title eight,chapter 12 did give the Executive broad authority. Some argue the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 diminished much of that power. Either way a strict prohibition based on religion does run counter to traditional American culture. The question is how to enforce such an order in practical terms. Maybe restoration of an Ideological requirement?
Posted by: DepotGuy || 03/24/2017 12:09 Comments || Top||

#6  The author is giving lefty governments too much credit. They are not merely mistaken. They are hell-bent on destroying the west. This is a suicide pact between our leaders and the invaders.
Posted by: Iblis || 03/24/2017 14:09 Comments || Top||

#7  They are hell-bent on destroying the west. This is a suicide pact between our leaders and the invaders.

I firmly believe this. They have the notion that so long as THEY remain in the seats of power that it matters not one whit what happens to the rest of us. That's why I want them up against the wall when the revolution comes in earnest--they sold us out time and time again so that they could retain their feathered nest.
Posted by: Crusader || 03/24/2017 19:18 Comments || Top||


Britain
London terror – a lesson from Israel
[IsraelNationalNews] A terrorist rams his car into a crowd. Then he steps out and starts knifing civilians.

That was Wednesday in London, but in Israel it can be any day of the week.

So the terrorist attack at Westminster outside Parliament, which killed four, would surprise no Israeli, particularly as to this pattern of terrorism. In Israel it’s been going on for years...deadly car rammings and indiscriminate knifings as a method to strike fear into the heart of an entire population.

Now the entire world knows how it feels, but it all begins in Israel, where Islamic terrorists try out new tactics to see how the rest of the world will respond. I call it spring training for Radical Islam. If the response is full support for Israel, we win, they lose.

But if the world says the terrorists had an excuse...if the world says Israel must give up more land to pacify Muslim extremists...we lose, they win.

So yesterday violent Islam won again, this time in London, from where the UK’s foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, only a few weeks ago, warned Israel that it must absolutely abide by a two-state solution ‐ must split itself in half to make happy Hamas, Abbas, the PA, the PLO and the rest of them that seek Israel’s destruction ‐ along with the rest of Western civilization.
Well, Muzzies don't kill apparatchicks - only the hoi poloi.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/24/2017 03:48 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  The rest of the op-ed is equally interesting. And some of y'all might find the writer's novels worth investigating.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/24/2017 9:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Not until your recommendation did I think of Demi Moore's character as a allegory for Israel, lured into a dalliance by the urbane polish, wealth and might of the US.

More of an 'Interesting Proposal' that continued natural relations with the anarchist Woody Harrelson might have led to a longterm peaceful relationship with her neighboring Arabs.

Thank you for sharing, TW.
Posted by: al aSha-med || 03/24/2017 16:10 Comments || Top||

#3  Not until your recommendation did I think of Demi Moore's character as a allegory for Israel, lured into a dalliance by the urbane polish, wealth and might of the US.

*happy sigh* I hadn't thought of it that way, al aSha-med, but I am awfully glad you did. :-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/24/2017 18:18 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Suspect in JCC bomb threats also harassed Israeli institutions
While Lurid Crime Tales is definitely a legitimate categorization, I moved this to Israel to group it with the previously published report on the nasty little idiot so we can get the full flavour of his actions. Kudos to those who finally ran him to ground.

-- trailing wife at 5:50 a.m. EDT
[IsraelNationalNews] A 19-year old man with dual US-Israeli citizenship was arrested for allegedly making a series of threats to Jewish institutions in the US and Europe. The suspect has a long record of criminal behavior, authorities in Israel said Thursday.

The man, whose identity has not yet been released for publication, was suspected by police of involvement in a string of similar threats targeting institutions in Israel going back two and a half years.

A district court in Rishon Letzion extended the suspect’s arrested by one week at a hearing Thursday afternoon.

During his arrest, the suspect reportedly assaulted a female officer and attempted to steal her firearm.

Police say the teenager, a resident of the southern city of Ashkelon, is believed to have made hundreds of threats against community centers around the world, including in Israel, over the past two and a half years.

If the suspect is found to be the perpetrator of the recent rash of bomb threats at American Jewish Community Centers, much of the fear of a rise in US anti-Semitism will recede.

The suspect was reportedly turned down by the IDF, which ruled him unfit for the military service.
Update from another Israel National News article at 1:10 p.m. EDT on how he dunnit:
To mask his identity, the suspect used a technology called SpoofCard that masks a number’s caller ID, according to the Daily Beast. When police subpoenaed SpoofCard’s parent company to trace the call’s real number, they learned that he had called from a disposable Google Voice number.

He paid for SpoofCard through Bitcoin, also untraceable, and routed his internet through proxies, making his IP address untraceable as well. In addition, he masked his voice in the calls to sound like a woman.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/24/2017 03:44 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "..The suspect has a long record of criminal behavior..."

a known wolf
Posted by: lord garth || 03/24/2017 5:23 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
The science is settled
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/24/2017 02:30 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Not unpleasant, but not safe for Work...
Posted by: ptah || 03/24/2017 8:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Does give a boost...

I'm not standing up for a while though.
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/24/2017 8:44 Comments || Top||

#3  NSFW? I can flip to some page like TMZ or somesuch to see more boobage than this. And get away with it because it's NEWS!
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 03/24/2017 8:47 Comments || Top||

#4  It's a picture of a sagging boob!

How old is the model anyway? 60? 70?
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance || 03/24/2017 10:49 Comments || Top||

#5  I'm feeling some global warming.
Posted by: al aSha-med || 03/24/2017 12:09 Comments || Top||

#6  Great news. I should live a nice, long life..
Posted by: Dave D. || 03/24/2017 12:58 Comments || Top||

#7  I've been telling Mrs. Bobby that for years.

She remains unconvinced.
Posted by: Bobby || 03/24/2017 13:31 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
US stresses 'concern' with Israeli settlements after intensive talks
The Trump administration is encouraging the Israeli government to adapt some of its policies toward the Palestinians in preparation for a new round of peace talks.

Senior administration officials conducted four days of intensive talks with their Israeli counterparts focused on "concrete near-term measures to improve the overall climate in order to advance the prospects for a genuine and lasting peace," both governments said in a joint statement.

Trump's special representative for international negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, led the US delegation, following a visit to the region last week. Yoav Horowitz, the prime minister's chief of staff, as well as Ron Dermer, Israel's ambassador to the US, led discussions from the Israeli side.

"A principal focus of the discussions was specific measures that could have a meaningful impact on the economic environment in the West Bank and Gaza, allowing the Palestinians to more fully realize their economic potential," the White House said, noting Israel's embrace of the initiative.
Et tu, Brute?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/24/2017 02:21 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  near-term measures to improve the overall climate

So, it IS about global warming?
Posted by: al aSha-med || 03/24/2017 12:16 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
NY Times turns up volume on 'climate propaganda machine'
[The Hill] The New York Times announced last week that it will just make shit up expand its coverage on climate change, just as the Trump administration plans to defund most federal climate programs and the global commitment to pay for climate policies starts to wane.

A group of journalists at the Times will now be "devoted entirely to climate issues" and work with their international news bureaus to report how "the calamities caused by climate change seem to be intensifying."
And they'd better be intensifying, youse guys, if youse know what's good for youse...
According to Hannah Fairfield, head of the new climate reporting team, the Times will "produce visual, explanatory and investigative journalism" during a time of "uncertainty regarding the Trump administration’s environmental policies."
By which they mean they're going after Trump. Even more.
This is an interesting move because it’s not as if the paper lacks coverage of climate issues; in fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find a bigger climate change cheerleader than the New York Times.

Rarely a day goes by that the Gray Lady isn’t wringing her hands and clutching her pearls about the certain doom we all face because of anthropogenic global warming. Its opinion page is one sustained wail about the imminent doom we all face at the hands of President Trump and his planet-pillaging cabinet.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/24/2017 01:47 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Roll hard left and die," as Sarah Hoyt says. And perhaps in the short term it will persuade some true believers to actually pony up for subscriptions.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/24/2017 6:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Global Warming is a faux animistic crisis reinvented for the dual purposes of taxation and political disinformation. Who hasn't at one time or another sought answers for bad weather? Blaming an adjacent tribe, absolute genius. For a 'deep dive' of it's likely tribal origins, study the Bantu peoples of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/24/2017 8:25 Comments || Top||

#3  "The science is settled, so shut up!" the New York Times explained.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 03/24/2017 8:38 Comments || Top||

#4  And the glaciers Himalayan reported to 'disappear by 2035' were really thought to 'remain in compact areas by 2350'.

315 years of fast=forward - just a simple slip of the typewriter.
Posted by: Bobby || 03/24/2017 8:56 Comments || Top||

#5  If you pay for this shit, you are a Fidiot.
Posted by: newc || 03/24/2017 12:38 Comments || Top||

#6  They have to go with this. This is one of the few things some of their readers still believe from them.
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/24/2017 13:09 Comments || Top||

#7  The big trouble for the NYT is that you can easily google all their global-cooling hysteria from the 1970s. Compare and contrast.
Posted by: Tom || 03/24/2017 13:20 Comments || Top||

#8  Their Sunday book section also reviews fiction, I'm told
Posted by: Frank G || 03/24/2017 14:50 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israeli army chief: Hezbollah leader killed by his own men
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israel has concluded that Hezbollah's top military commander was killed in Syria last year by rivals within the Shiite militant group, Israel's military chief said Tuesday.

The explosive announcement was the latest sign of an escalating feud between Israel and Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed group sworn to Israel's destruction.

Israel considers Hezbollah to be a potent enemy, with over 100,000 rockets and missiles aimed at the Jewish state. But it also believes the group has been weakened and demoralized after years of fighting alongside President Bashar Assad's forces in Syria.

Israel's military chief, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, told an academic conference on Tuesday that the death of Mustafa Badreddine last May illustrated "the depth of the internal crisis within Hezbollah."

He also said it reflected "the extent of the cruelty, complexity and tension between Hezbollah and its patron Iran."

An Israeli military official said Israel believes the order to kill Badreddine was given by Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/24/2017 01:33 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  Revenge TM?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/24/2017 2:03 Comments || Top||

#2  I thought they only knew Dire Revenge.
Posted by: gorb || 03/24/2017 2:46 Comments || Top||

#3  The Saudi-owned Al Arabiya stated the same point.

Observers in the area said there was no artillery, pictures of the building show no artillery damage and no-one else was hurt.

It could only have been done by someone close to Badreddine
Posted by: BernardZ || 03/24/2017 6:24 Comments || Top||

#4  Nasrallah gave General Order 66

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09n0qd_n4c0
Posted by: lord garth || 03/24/2017 7:56 Comments || Top||

#5  Paging Doug Niedermeyer...
Posted by: Raj || 03/24/2017 8:23 Comments || Top||

#6  Nasrallah hearing footsteps behind him?
Posted by: AlanC || 03/24/2017 8:45 Comments || Top||

#7  Or Quds Force...
Posted by: Pappy || 03/24/2017 11:51 Comments || Top||

#8  GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Iblis || 03/24/2017 14:30 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Trump DONE negotiating, will LEAVE Obamacare in place if bill fails, says Mulvaney
[Right Scoop] OK it looks like we’re finally seeing some "Art of the Deal" action on the "Obamacare lite" bill.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/24/2017 01:18 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They've only had eight years to come up with a workable alternative plan. What can one expect on such short notice ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/24/2017 1:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Hopefully ryancare gets rejected. Repeal Obamacare and then DC stay out of doctors offices.
Posted by: Glavirong the Batty3865 || 03/24/2017 2:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Concessions to moderates(m) and conservatives(c) and specific state representatives Thursday:

(c) End Medicaid expansion sooner

(c) Optional work requirement for Medicaid

(m) $85 billion in additional aid for older Americans

(m) Increased inflation factor for elderly and disabled

(c) Medicaid block grants option

(c) Accelerating the expiration of the ACA’s taxes

Special provision for New Yorkers -
Upstate New York counties to give less to state for Medicaid

Special provision for Illinois -
Increase federal Medicaid funding for Illinois
Posted by: Glavirong the Batty3865 || 03/24/2017 2:16 Comments || Top||

#4  Anyone with a functioning brain knew "we the people" were screwed when "repeal (period)" transitioned to "repeal & replace" or "we're going to fix it."
Posted by: PBMcL || 03/24/2017 2:57 Comments || Top||

#5  ^ I've been saying that ever since I heard liberals start screeching 'what are you going to replace it with?' They got sucked into it, hook, line, sinker and pole.
Posted by: Raj || 03/24/2017 8:33 Comments || Top||

#6  The problem is the establishment Pubs don't want to repeal it. They still hold the leadership positions.

Thus, unless they are terrified of losing their jobs in 2018 they will not push repeal.
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/24/2017 9:15 Comments || Top||

#7  ObamaCare vs RyanCare? Thanks for nothing.
Posted by: Iblis || 03/24/2017 11:46 Comments || Top||

#8  Root and branch repeal. Screw DC.
We hired you idiots to un-do all of obamas shit. Un-do it.
Or just fucking nuke DC already
I hate that place and the scum in it.
Out or patience.
Posted by: newc || 03/24/2017 12:35 Comments || Top||

#9  It is extremely disappointing that Republicans can't seem to get this right. This is how Obama wins. If Republicans only modify ObamaCare then Baraq can always claim that he initiated health care reform in this country and still claim credit for it. ObamaCare needs to be repealed.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 03/24/2017 13:15 Comments || Top||

#10  But the Pubs voted to repeal it - what? 49 times?

Didn't that represent their constituents hopes and dreams?

Are you telling me that was all for show? Kabuki theater?
Posted by: Bobby || 03/24/2017 13:36 Comments || Top||

#11  But the Pubs voted to repeal it - what? 49 times? Didn't that represent their constituents hopes and dreams? Are you telling me that was all for show? Kabuki theater?
Posted by Bobby


After the first two dozen times, there certainly was that thought.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/24/2017 13:55 Comments || Top||

#12  Good on him - one should never be so invested in something that they cannot walk away.
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 03/24/2017 14:18 Comments || Top||

#13  Black re-election marks for the Pubs that don't go along.
Posted by: al aSha-med || 03/24/2017 15:50 Comments || Top||

#14  Aaaaaand it's gone.

Now Zero-Care will collapse under its own weight. Once the downside of that hits home, the voters will demand change of some sort. And the Dems will look like the chumps they were in passing it.

Maybe that was the plan. Interesting times indeed.
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 03/24/2017 16:58 Comments || Top||

#15  #14: "Maybe that was the plan." I don't think they are that smart. Sadly.

Repeal it, go back to a free market and trans-state.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 03/24/2017 17:47 Comments || Top||

#16  Rinos are as susceptible to rent-seekers as Dems. They are all part of the inner party.

The two most important reforms are the creation of nationwide insurance markets and removal of the mandate.

Do those and people will be free to pick the best plan for themselves and companies will compete. Medicaid can be used for the truly destitute.
Posted by: AlanC || 03/24/2017 19:30 Comments || Top||

#17  Considering the republicans passed many different Obamacare repeal bills while obama was president they now look like professional liars when they could have just passed one of the previous repeal bills for trump.
Posted by: Airandee || 03/24/2017 20:50 Comments || Top||


Britain
British Lawmaker: London Terrorist's Religion Is ‘Utterly And Completely' Irrelevant
[Daily Caller] British Lawmaker Lord Digby Jones does not believe the religion of the London attacker is pertinent, The Washington Post reports.
Lord Digby Jones is a particular species of idiot...
But he gets good press...
Jones comments come in the wake of a tweet by Donald Trump Jr. criticizing London Mayor Sadiq Khan for once telling citizens that terrorist attacks are "part and parcel" part of living in a big city.

Some British lawmakers drew offense from the tweet, saying Trump was attacking the mayor in the midst of a terrorist situation.

"You’re safer in London than you’ve ever been," Jones declared. He continued, "If this turns out to be an act of Islamic terrorism, I think the fact that the man is a Muslim is utterly and completely irrelevant." Other critics said Khan’s quote was mischaracterized because he also emphasized that living in a big city also "means being vigilant, having a police force that is in touch with communities, it means the security services being ready, but also it means exchanging ideas and best practice."

British Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed that the attacker, who killed four and injured 40 Wednesday, was a known Muslim extremist to British intelligence services. The Islamic State’s official propaganda arm, Amaq news agency, also claimed responsibility for the attack Thursday calling him a "soldier of the caliphate."
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/24/2017 00:59 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  The ancestors of these people were Brits.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/24/2017 2:16 Comments || Top||

#2  It's only irrelevant if you are trying to cover up the origins of a failed policy of enforced multiculturalism.
Posted by: gorb || 03/24/2017 2:48 Comments || Top||

#3  In ref to #2 'multi-cult' comment - PM Theresa May's "all nationalities and cultures" statement on terrorist attack:

"Those values - free speech, liberty, human rights and the rule of law - are embodied here in this place, but they are shared by free people around the world.

"A terrorist came to the place where people of all nationalities and cultures gather to celebrate what it means to be free. And he took out his rage indiscriminately against innocent men, women and children.
Link
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/24/2017 4:56 Comments || Top||

#4  Let me guess, Digby Jones is a former entranent in the "Upper Middleclass Twit of the Year". That or John Cleese imitator
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 03/24/2017 6:16 Comments || Top||

#5  Fine. We'll ship you off to Syria and you can preach your multi-cultural crap and we'll see how long the "religion" is irrelevant when ISIS comes to set you on fire or cut off your head.
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/24/2017 8:43 Comments || Top||

#6  Digby Jones belongs up against the wall, alongside any other "leaders" who don't value the safety and security of those they allege to lead.
Posted by: Crusader || 03/24/2017 11:03 Comments || Top||

#7  Boy howdy, how much further up his own ass can he stick his head?

Talk about sticking to a message no matter how absurd...
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 03/24/2017 12:13 Comments || Top||

#8  Ostriches.
Posted by: Injun Bucket8891 || 03/24/2017 12:21 Comments || Top||

#9  Liberalism is a death cult
Posted by: newc || 03/24/2017 12:37 Comments || Top||

#10  I wonder just what it would take to pry Progressives loose from their childish, cherished belief that "Islam is a religion of peace"? Simultaneous 9/11-style attacks in multiple US or European cities? A nuclear attack by Iran on NYC?

I doubt even those would do the trick.
Posted by: Dave D. || 03/24/2017 12:55 Comments || Top||

#11  I doubt even those would do the trick.

Of course not. Because we would soon find out that Iran does not follow True Islam.
Posted by: gorb || 03/24/2017 13:57 Comments || Top||

#12  gorb, of course not. The Iranians are Shiites, and therefore apostates to the Sunnis.

Of course, to the Shiites, Sunnis are apostates.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 03/24/2017 15:10 Comments || Top||

#13  If you really study the history of Islam, there is literally NO WAY anyone can call it a religion of peace. Given as how they've been chopping each other to fish bait over the succession to Mohammed, i.e., the Sunni/Shiia divided since 864 or so when Mohammed died.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 03/24/2017 16:09 Comments || Top||

#14  #4 Let me guess, Digby Jones is a former entranent in the "Upper Middleclass Twit of the Year". That or John Cleese imitator

Sadly, just about every member of Monty Python's Flying Circus could now win that award in real life.
Posted by: charger || 03/24/2017 17:56 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Sometimes you get the bull, sometimes the bull gets you
[SUN] Shocking footage has emerged showing a matador being gored by a bull -- and ending up with its horn up his backside.

Antonio Romero was horrifically gored during a bout with the furious beast in Mexico City on Monday.

The matador ended up with the bull’s horn some 11 inches up his rectum, causing "severe" injuries.

The stomach-churning clip shows Romero seemingly in control as he goads the animal with a red cloth, called a muleta. But something goes wrong as he tries to get the bull to pivot around him. The angry beast rears up, catching him on the arm and knocking him off balance.

As Romero stumbles back in an effort to avoid the bull’s deadly horns, the animal throws off the muleta and homes in on its helpless target. Now, with its tormentor in its sights, the bull takes its terrible revenge.
Usually at the end of a bullfight that ends in the typical way, the bull is killed and the ears and tails are presented to the matador as trophies. So I'm wondering: is the matador, in addition to sporting a colostomy bag, minus his ears this morning?
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/24/2017 00:49 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran's Spymaster Claims Pro-Regime Agents Operating in D.C., London, Canada
[Free Beacon] Iran maintains a network of spies and lobbyists who clandestinely push the Islamic regime's agenda in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere, according to the head of Iran's ministry of intelligence, who touted the pro-Iran network's ability to spread its ideology to the West.
I do wonder if the DC bureau will be as successful going forward as it was when President Obama and his dear friend ValJar occupied the White House...
Mahmoud Alavi, Iran's intelligence minister, in recent remarks independently translated by the Washington Free Beacon, bragged about the Islamic Republic's ability to operate an unnamed "lobby group" in D.C. that helps to push the regime's hardline agenda.

Alavi disclosed that Iranians with dual citizenship in the United States, Canada, and England, remain devoted to the "Islamic revolution" and are working to promote this agenda in their adopted homelands.

In D.C., Alavi claimed, a "lobby group for the Islamic Republic of Iran" is working to bolster the regime's international status and help legitimize its nuclear endeavors.

"They have a lobby group for the Islamic Republic of Iran which does not cost us money," Alavi said, without naming the specific organization. "We should not accuse them and say things that discourage them about the ancestral homeland, this is not good, and losing this capital is not good for the regime."

Iranian dual nationals living in the West remain devoted to the Islamic Republic, he added.

"It is wrong to say that all dual nationals are traitors, spies, or foreign agents; many of dual nationals love Iran, are a capital for Iran," Alavi said. "Many who live in Canada, London, or the United States [are devoted] to the [Islamic] revolution and the supreme leader ... In those places some attend religious ceremonies. [Those people] love the [Islamic] Revolution."

While the Iranian official did not name the lobby group in question, the Free Beacon has reported during the past several months that dissident organizations are pushing for a formal investigation into the National Iranian American Council, or NIAC, which has long fought against charges that it lobbies on the regime's behalf.

A group of nearly 100 prominent Iranian dissidents working to undermine the regime petitioned Congress in February to investigate NIAC's ties to the Iranian regime and determine if it is actively helping to push a pro-mullah agenda.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/24/2017 00:42 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Unconscious agents, like the ones who brought down Mike Flynn?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/24/2017 2:09 Comments || Top||

#2  How about conscious agents, like ValJar and Nowrouzzedeh?
Posted by: Whavish Thusoling5684 || 03/24/2017 10:59 Comments || Top||

#3  Alavi disclosed that Iranians with dual citizenship in the United States, Canada, and England, remain devoted to the "Islamic revolution" and are working to promote this agenda in their adopted homelands.

A cluster on every campus, in every metro, gas stations and hot dog stand.

Want some fun? Ask if the rolling dogs under the heat lamp are Kosher.
Posted by: al aSha-med || 03/24/2017 15:43 Comments || Top||


Jihadist rebels mobilize in northeast Latakia for new offensive
[ALMASDARNEWS] The jihadist rebels of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and Harakat Ahrar al-Sham
...a Syria jihadi group made up of Islamists and salafists, not that there's that much difference, formed into a brigade. They make up the main element of the Islamic Front but they don't profess adoration of al-Qaeda and they've been fighting (mainly for survival) against the Islamic State. Their leadership was wiped out at a single blow by a suicide kaboom at a crowded basement meeting in September, 2014...
have been mobilizing their forces in the northeastern countryside of Latakia for a new offensive against the government forces.

A military official told al-Masdar News on Wednesday night that Syrian Arab Army drones captured images of jihadist rebel reinforcements arriving to the Jabal al-Akrad (Kurdish Mountains) and Jisr al-Shughour regions along the Latakia-Idlib axis.

According to the military official, the Syrian Arab Army expects the jihadist rebels to launch offensives in both Jabal al-Akrad and Sahel al-Ghaab (Al-Ghaab Plain).

This latest mobilization of forces in northeast Latakia comes around the same time the jihadist rebels fired over 25 rockets towards the Russian military bases inside the southwestern part of the province.

With Spring descending upon the vast mountains of Latakia, the jihadist rebels will take advantage of the rain and poor visibility to attack the government forces.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra


Iraq
Airstrikes kill 3 senior Islamic State leaders in Anbar
[Iraq News] Airstrikes by Iraqi army jets killed three senior 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....
leaders in western Anbar, according to a source within the Joint Operations Command.

The strikes targeted IS havens at the center of the city of al-Qaem, a major IS stronghold in the west of the province, Waradana website quoted the source saying.
City of al-Qaem, Anbar, Iraq (google maps)

The trio killed in the strike were identified as Zeidan (Abu Sufian) al-Sharqi, Dhaher Mekhlef and Bassem Awwad.

According to the source, the trio belong to the group’s "first generation"

Islamic State held Anbar’s western regions, close to the borders with Syria, since 2014. Those areas have sustained occasional bombardments by Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition fighter jets.

There has not been an officially-declared military campaign to free those regions, but the province’s military command launched a brief assault early January that managed to recapture some western villages before stopping again. The Iraqi government, currently focusing its full combat power in djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, IS’s largest bastion in Iraq, is expected to shift to other IS pockets in Iraq once the campaign in Mosul comes to an end.

Local officials believe Islamic State is holding thousands in those regions to use them as human shields against any future security offensive.

The province’s borders with Syria witnessed exchanges of attacks between IS and border guards earlier ths month.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Palestinian teen throwing firebomb killed by troops — IDF
[IsraelTimes] Army says soldiers opened fire on group hurling Molotov cocktails at West Bank settlement of Beit El; three others reported hurt.

Paleostinian teen was killed and three others were severely injured by IDF fire on a group of Paleostinians said to have been throwing Molotov cocktails in the central West Bank Thursday night.

According to the army, soldiers opened fire on the group after they exited a car and began hurling Molotov cocktails at the settlement of Eli, near Ramallah.

"Hits were confirmed. The vehicle then expeditiously departed at a goodly pace," the IDF said in a statement.

The Paleostinian Ma’an news agency identified the fatality as Mohammed Mahmoud Ibrahim Hattab, 17.

A picture of Hattab holding what appeared to be an assault rifle appeared on social media.

Ma’an quoted Paleostinian health ministry sources who said the three others were being treated at death's door in a Ramallah hospital.

According to reports, all four were hit in the head and chest.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  According to reports, all four were hit in the head and chest

A warning shoot the the head.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/24/2017 2:04 Comments || Top||

#2  That may not be enough to grab their attention.
Posted by: Steven || 03/24/2017 3:00 Comments || Top||

#3  "Not fair! We wore body armor on our legs and feets!"
Posted by: Frank G || 03/24/2017 6:42 Comments || Top||

#4  The NY TIMES headline will probably read "Unarmed Arab Teen Killed by Bloodthirsty IDF Troops". Really, the didn't have GUNS, so they were "unarmed".
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 03/24/2017 8:58 Comments || Top||

#5  Good shooting. Good shoot.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 03/24/2017 17:41 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Police arrest two militants in Bandarban
[Dhaka Tribune] Police arrested two suspected militants from Baishari area of Bandarban early on Thursday, within a week after the death of a militant couple hailing from the area during a raid in Sitakunda.

Md Alam, 45, and Md Rafiqul Islam, 26, of Baishari Union under Naikkhyangchhari, were picked up around 3am, Officer-in-Charge AH Towhid Kabir said.

The due were taken to the police station for interrogation.

Earlier, four members of a new faction of JMB including two from Baishari area – Kamal Hossain and Zubaira Yasmin – were killed during a drive in Sitakunda area of Chittagong on March 16. Their seven-month-old child was found dead.

Following the Sitakunda drive, people in Naikkhyangchhari have started searching for and contacting the persons who have remained missing for quite some time.

Police earlier announced that they were preparing a list of missing persons from the area, where the New JMB militants carried out two murders including one of a Buddhist monk last year.

Islamic State claimed responsibilities for the attacks.

“So far, the local authorities are in the dark about the trace of at least six persons,” Baishari Union Chairman Md Alam said.

“Police are investigating whether the six people have already got involved with any militant group,” Sub-Inspector of Baishari Investigation Centre Abu Musa said.

Locals have said that they support drives against the criminals and requested the police not to harass any innocent person.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (IS)


Iraq
Five killed as Islamic State IEDs target civilians fleeing Kirkuk
[Iraq News] Five people died when two bombs planted by Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
snuffies went kaboom! near civilians fleeing Kirkuk province, according to DPA.

The agency quoted Anwar al-Assi, chief of the Ebeid tribes of Iraq, saying five non-combatants were killed and four others were maimed at the Hamreen Mountains region when they were trying to escape Islamic State-held areas in Hawija, southwest of Kirkuk.

Assi said the civilians were trying to reach locations held by the pro-Iraqi government paramilitary groups, al-Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units).
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Al-Qaeda approaches strategic towns in northern Hama
[ALMASDARNEWS] The al-Qaeda linked rebels of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and their jihadist allies from Jaish al-Nasr and Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) have seized more sites from the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), as they push towards the key towns of Qomhana and Ma’an.

Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and their allies advanced from the recently captured village of Kawkab towards Ma’an, seizing the large hilltops of Tal Bizam and Tal ’Abadi after a short battle with the Syrian Arab Army.

With these points captured, the jihadist rebels are now within striking distance of Ma’an, which is likely to fall in the coming hours if the Syrian Arab Army doesn’t stabilize this front.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra


Home Front: WoT
Palestinian ex-terrorist takes US plea deal, losing citizenship
[IsraelTimes] Rasmea Odeh failed to reveal to US immigration authorities that she was placed in durance vile
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
for 10 years in Israel for her role in 1969 Jerusalem bombing.


A Paleostinian woman who had not told US immigration authorities that she had been imprisoned in Israel for two terror attacks accepted a plea bargain that forces her to leave the country.

Rasmea Odeh, 69,
...also known as Rasmea Youseh, Rasmea Youseh Odeh, Rasmieh Odeh, and other similar variations on the theme...
would not spend time in US prison or detention but would lose her US citizenship, according to a Thursday statement by the Rasmea Defense Committee.

News of the plea bargain came amid criticism from some in the Jewish world about the anti-Israel views of Odeh and Linda Sarsour, two pro-Paleostinian activists who have recently taken public roles in various feminist events and are speaking together at a plenary at an upcoming conference for Jewish Voice for Peace, a group that backs the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.

In 2015, Odeh was sentenced in the US to 18 months in prison for covering up her conviction and imprisonment in Israel when she entered the country in 1995 and applied for citizenship in 2004, but the conviction was later vacated.

Odeh was convicted by Israel of involvement in a 1969 bombing in Jerusalem that killed two and injured nine. She was sentenced by an Israeli military court in 1970 to life in prison for two bombing attacks on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine and spent 10 years in prison before being released in a prisoner exchange in 1980.

Odeh confessed to planting the bomb in the 1969 attack, though in recent years has claimed the confession was given under torture, which is disputed by Israeli officials.

It was not clear if under the plea bargain Odeh, one of the leaders of the grassroots feminist International Women’s Strike, would still be able to participate in the JVP conference scheduled for March 30-April 2 in reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown
... home of Al Capone, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel,...
The Israel advocacy group StandWithUs has slammed JVP for hosting Odeh, but the pro-BDS organization defended its decision earlier this month, saying it was "proud" to host Odeh and questioning the validity of her Israeli conviction.

Sarsour, who organized the Women’s March on Washington in January and also helped plan the Women’s Strike, recently said there is no space in the feminist movement for those who do not criticize Israel.
More thoughts from William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection. He's been covering this story since the beginning.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: PFLP

#1  Sarsour, who organized the Women’s March on Washington in January and also helped plan the Women’s Strike, recently said there is no space in the feminist movement for those who do not criticize Israel.

Because Paleos and Arabs in general are all about the feministing
Posted by: Frank G || 03/24/2017 7:53 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
French National Abducted in Chad:
A French national has been abducted in the central African nation of Chad, a French military source said Thursday.

“All means have been mobilized to secure the person’s liberation,” the source told reporters in Paris.
Posted by: badanov || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Southeast Asia
Thai military downplays BRN leadership changes
[Bangkok Post] Thailand's 4th Army commander has brushed aside concerns over the leadership change in the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) separatist movement. Lt Gen Piyawat Nakwanich said yesterday that authorities were not overly worried about the situation. Lt Gen Piyawat, however, insisted action would be taken against the BRN if it stirred up unrest, admitting the new leader might try to prove himself by acts of violence.

The BRN appointed Doonloh Wae-mano, who uses the nom du guerre Abdullah Wan Mat Noor as Supreme Leader and secretary-general of the Dewan Pimpinan Parti (DPP) or Party Leadership Council, as its new chairman. The BRN's leadership council unanimously voted for Doonloh-Abdullah to head the organisation, which is made up of three BRN bodies -- the BRN-Ulama, the BRN-Congress and the BRN-Coordinate -- under its umbrella. The appointment, which took effect on Jan 17, followed the death of the DPP's former chairman Sapae-ing Basor late last year.

Abdullah is wanted for treason under a Department of Special Investigation arrest warrant. A former headmaster of the notorious Jihad Witthaya School in Pattani, he fled to Malaysia 13 years ago after being charged with training separatists on his school's grounds, sources said. Authorities accuse him of training the insurgents who took part in looting more than 400 assault rifles from a military camp in Narathiwat province in 2004. That raid marked the latest upsurge in separatist attacks, now in its 14th year.

Zachary Abuza, an expert on the deep South and professor at the National War College in Washington, said, "Abdullah Wan Mat Noor [Doonloh] was appointed the DPP's Secretary in 2016, so he is as known a quantity as a shadowy insurgency that delights in the secrecy its inner workings can have. Since September, 2016, he has been the BRN's Number 2, so it seems normal that he would be appointed chairman."

In other changes, the BRN named Abdul Munir as secretary-general of political affairs, Din Wan Cik as military chief and Muhd Arsad Wansor as the group's treasurer. Hasan Khatib was chosen to head international political affairs and Bustaman Salih was named as a party consultant.

One BRN member said he was happy Abdullah was the new BRN leader because he was an able military tactician, which made up for his lack of political experience.
Posted by: ryuge || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Thai Insurgency


Iraq
Iraqi forces recapture Yabessat, another district in western Mosul
[Iraq News] Iraqi government forces recaptured Thursday al-Yabessat district, another area in western Mosul as operations proceed to clear the region from Islamic State militants. The Joint Operations Command said Counter-Terrorism Forces took over the area and raised Iraqi flags above its buildings.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Bangladesh
RAB arrests 5 New JMB militants in Jatrabari, Badda
[Dhaka Tribune] Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has detained five suspected members of a new faction of banned murderous Moslem outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (New JMB) from Dhaka’s Jatrabari and Badda areas, on Monday night.

The detainees are Oliuzzaman alias Oli, 28, an engineer at a multinational company, Anwarul Alam, 29, a coaching centre teacher, Saleh Ahmed Sheesh, 22, Abul Kashem, 27, and Md Mohon Mohsin, 20.

The elite force claimed they foiled their attempt to attack a government building/establishment in Dhaka.

"The five had been planning to conduct an attack on a government establishment in the capital," said Additional Deputy General (Operations) Colonel Anwar Latif Khan of RAB at their headquarters, on Tuesday.

He, however, did not disclose the name or location of the targeted establishment to avoid public panic.

"We are looking for two more JMB men Munir and Salman who were instructed to carry out the attack," said Col Anwar.

RAB claimed Oliuzzaman was JMB’s IT expert and has allegedly been running JMB’s IT cell in Mirpur and Kafrul for about a year.

He also trained other JMB men in IT and how to use social media, said Col Anwar.

Oliuzzaman’s friend and another BUET graduate Anwarul is apparently an explosives specialist according to RAB ADG.

The arrestees during the initial interrogation admitted to their involvement with JMB while RAB found that they were actively spreading communal propaganda on social media, said RAB-10 Operation Officer Senior Assistant Superintendent of Police Kamrul Hasan.

According to RAB, the detainees belong to New JMB’s Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury and Sarwar Jahan faction.

"The absconding members of JMB’s Sarwar-Tamim faction is trying to regroup and conduct further subversive activities across the country," said Col Anwar. Books promoting religious extremism and explosives were recovered from their possessions.

A case has been filed against the five with the Kotwali Thana under the Anti-Terrorism (amendment) Act 2013 and a Dhaka Court has sent them to jail setting March 28 for their 10-day remand hearing.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (IS)


Africa North
Hafter orders unconditional release of militants’ families
[Libya Herald] Armed forces commander-in-chief Khalifa Hafter has ordered the immediate and unconditional release of all women and families detained during the liberation of the west of Benghazi except for those facing criminal charges.

The move follows the local and international outrage at the footage showing the summary execution of prisoners and the parading of the decomposing corpses of faceless myrmidons exhumed from shallow graves in Ganfouda’s long-besieged 12 Buildings. Today the Libyan National Army (LNA) found the bodies of seven of its own soldiers in the complex. It is unclear if they had been captured and executed or killed in the fighting.

The LNA has said that those troops guilty of war crimes will be tossed in the calaboose
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
. This was echoed by Wanis Boukhamada, commander of the Saiqa Special Forces
...Libya's elite army unit, insofar as they have one, formed from a mixture of paratroopers and commandos. The group emerged from a militia with the same name in 2010. It now numbers a few thousand and reports to the Ministry of Defence. It deployed in Benghazi in an attempt to control the carnage. As a result, it has been attacked and several of its officers murdered. The force is popular in Benghazi for its stance against Ansar al-Sharia group...
. A key suspect is Mahmoud Warfali who resembles a gunman seen executing a total of four men in two separate filmed murders. Warfali is a colonel in Saiqa. It is unclear if he has yet been detained and questioned. There are reports that another significant member of the Special Forces was photographed alongside one of the disinterred murderous Moslems.

Benghazi House of Representatives member Jalal al-Shweidi has demanded that Hafter and army chief of staff Abdelrazak Nazhuri come to the parliament to explain how the crimes had been permitted and what they were doing about them.

The furore over the videos has dampened the celebrations in Benghazi at the final defeat of the Ganfouda murderous Moslems. But there were still a small but enthusiastic crowd to greet the reopening of the Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
road through Ganfouda which has been closed for three years by the fighting. Military engineers spent two days checking the route for IEDs and unwent kaboom! ordnance. The reopening means that travellers wanting to head down to Ajdabiya will no longer have to take a 12 mile detour to the south-west of the city.

Troops continue to search for faceless myrmidons who escaped the 12 Buildings siege. One alleged escapee was found yesterday hiding under tin sheeting on a farm and another was caught nearby in Gwarsha. Both were taken to Granda prison.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Ansar al-Sharia


Arabia
Yemeni's officials' son dies in al Qaeda attack in Abyan
SANAA: One person was killed and three others wounded in an attack apparently targeting a Yemeni official’s car on Thursday, a security source said.

The eldest son of deputy interior minister Ali Nasser Lakhsheh was killed when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the family’s car in the southern Abyan province, the official said.

His wife, another son and a daughter were wounded. It was unclear if the deputy minister himself was in the vehicle at the time of the attack.

The official said Al-Qaeda militants were behind the attack which was carried out when the family was en route from Aden, where the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi is currently based.

Abyan has been the site of attacks by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in recent weeks. Five soldiers were killed by suspected militants there earlier this month.

Abyan has also been the target of a string of US air raids targeting AQAP, which Washington regards as the radical group’s most dangerous branch.

AQAP has exploited a power vacuum created by the war between the Hadi government and Iran-backed Houthi insurgents who control the capital Sanaa and number of major cities along the Red Sea coast.

More than 7,700 people have been killed and 40,000 wounded in the conflict, according to the United Nations.
Posted by: badanov || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
The latest delusion of Sultan Erdogan: a protectorate in northern Syria
[ALMASDARNEWS] Reports have emerged about The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
’s real agenda for northern Syria after a recent Erdogan tour to the Gulf States. According to al-Monitor, Ankara outlined plans to militarily take Manbij and Raqqa and establish a "safe zone" administered by a "new national army". Such an army will be created out the merging of rebel groups and will operate under supervision of the Turkish Armed Forces.

Turkey has already been setting up a new police force in the "liberated areas". Pictures at their headquarters show the rebel flag together with the Turkish one and a portrait of Sultan Erdogan. Videos of the new security forces have emerged, with their officials chanting "Long live Turkey, Long live Erdogan".
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  Sounds like a plan. Put a big target on Turkey (aka Erdogan) and tell all the other losers in the area to have at 'em.
Posted by: AlanC || 03/24/2017 8:57 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Yemen Accuses Iran of Stepping Up Support for Rebels
[Asharq Al-Awsat] Aden- A Yemeni official told Asharq Al-Awsat on Wednesday that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were behind all the acts of sabotage in the region.

Adviser to the Yemeni President Abdul Aziz Al-Maflahi said: “It is not surprising that Iran, and particularly its Revolutionary Guards, stand behind such acts to save the Saleh militias and Houthis from their distress after the Yemeni National Army and the Popular Resistance advanced in the western and eastern parts of the country.”

The advisor added there is uncontested evidence that Iran was sending arms shipments to the Yemeni rebels, including the Jihan 1 and Jihan 2 ships intercepted while smuggling weapons to Houthis.

His comments came as Western reports said Iran was stepping up its support to Houthis by sending advanced weapons and military advisers to the insurgents.

Reuters quoted sources with knowledge of the military movements, who declined to be identified, as saying that in recent months Iran has taken a greater role in the two-year-old conflict by stepping up arms supplies and other support.

The sources added that this mirrors the strategy Tehran has used to support its Lebanese ally “Hezbollah” in Syria.

According to a senior Iranian official, Major General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Qods Force – the external arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – met top IRGC officials in Tehran last month to look at ways to “empower” the Houthis, Reuters said.

“At this meeting, they agreed to increase the amount of help, through training, arms and financial support,” the official told the news agency.

At the battlefield, after the liberation of the Red Sea port city of Mokha, all eyes were on the towns and cities of the western coastal governorate of Hodeidah, including the city of Hodeidah, the capital of the Tehama district.

Al-Maflahi said: “The liberation of Hodeidah will represent the final and biggest defeat of the militias.”
Posted by: badanov || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


-Land of the Free
High School Tries Shaming Boy, Demanding He ‘Tolerate’ Undressing with Girls to ‘Make it Natural’
[BREITBART] A teenage boy and his parents have filed a lawsuit against a Pennsylvania high school saying that administrators tried to shame the boy for being "intolerant" and demanded that he undress with girls in the school locker room to "make it seem natural."

The lawsuit, filed by Alliance Defending Freedom and Independence Law Center (ILC), is alleging that the Boyertown Area School District in Boyertown, Pennsylvania, sexually harassed the plaintiff, CBS News reported.

"No school should rob any student of this legally protected personal privacy," said ILC attorney Randall Wenger. "We trust that our children won’t be forced into emotionally vulnerable situations like this when they are in the care of our schools because it’s a school’s duty to protect and respect the bodily privacy and dignity of all students."

"My client is standing up not only for himself but for others who feel bullied," Wenger added.

The student alleges that he became uncomfortable when a biologically female student claiming to be a transgender "boy" began undressing next to him in a school locker room.

The plaintiff and several other boys reported their feelings to the school’s assistant principal, but were verbally assaulted by the school official for being "intolerant."

"Dr. Foley [the assistant principal] told [the plaintiff] to ’tolerate’ it and to make it as ’natural’ as he possibly can," the lawsuit states.

"It’s an egregious violation for the school to just brush off these students and tell them that their feelings don’t matter and to make it ’as natural as they possibly can’," attorney Wenger insisted.

ILC also states that the school never brought any discussion on a transgender policy to either parents or the school board before allowing the transgender student into the boys’ locker room.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You know, when I was a teenager, an order like this ...
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/24/2017 2:17 Comments || Top||

#2  That occurred to me also
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 03/24/2017 6:08 Comments || Top||

#3  I can't even wrap my head around the pandering BS these so called educators throw out there. They've actually been advanced beyond their level of competence. Jeez!
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 03/24/2017 8:42 Comments || Top||

#4  It used to be known as the "Peter Principle", a person advances in an organization until he/she reaches their level of incompetence.
Posted by: Spaise Slaitle1516 || 03/24/2017 9:01 Comments || Top||

#5  Sounds like the leadership is guilty of child abuse and sexual abuse of children.

Lock them all up.
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/24/2017 9:11 Comments || Top||

#6  For starters, they could make the staff bathrooms coed. And take all the doors off the stalls.
Posted by: gorb || 03/24/2017 9:52 Comments || Top||

#7  Our public schools now are little more that Gulags for Children. Sickening
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 03/24/2017 10:15 Comments || Top||

#8  As Instapundit often says, sending your children to public schools is getting to be tantamount to child abuse.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 03/24/2017 11:25 Comments || Top||

#9  It used to be known as the "Peter Principle"

I thought you meant something else.
Posted by: al aSha-med || 03/24/2017 15:56 Comments || Top||

#10  "Dr. Foley [the assistant principal] told [the plaintiff] to ’tolerate’ it and to make it as ’natural’ as he possibly can," the lawsuit states.

"You may as well lay back and enjoy it" the Rapist said
Posted by: Frank G || 03/24/2017 16:44 Comments || Top||

#11  Remove PE as a requirement, then you will get more than half the kids out of the locker room and into the library (or wherever) and the problem is reduced drastically.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 03/24/2017 17:12 Comments || Top||

#12  The 'boys' should all suddenly identify as 'girls' and demand to use the girls locker room.

Sad part is this Doctor would probably permit it.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 03/24/2017 19:54 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Two Malaysian captives rescued from Abu Sayyaf
[Gulf Today] Two Malaysian sailors held hostage by the Abu Sayyaf for the past eight months have been rescued on the island province of Sulu.

Military spokesperson Jo-Ann Petinglay identified the Malaysians as Tayudin Andot and Abduramin bin Sumas. She said the two, who appeared "weak and sickly," were among the five crewmen of a Malaysian tugboat abducted by the Abu Sayyaf off the Malaysia’s island state of Sabah in July 2016.

Members of the elite Philippine Navy Marines launched an operation at dawn on Thursday after receiving information that the two hostages were seen in the company of about 30 militants in a mangrove swamp on Pata island off Sulu. Petinglay said, "The extremists abandoned the two hostages and fled without firing a shot when they saw the Marines approaching."
Posted by: ryuge || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf (ISIS)


Down Under
Australia rejects 500 Syrian refugees on security grounds
[Ynet] Australia rejected 500 Syrian refugees on security grounds during more than a year of vetting while accepting 12,000 eligible for resettlement from Middle Eastern camps, an official said Thursday.

Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton said the deadly rampage near Britannia's Parliament on Wednesday, in which a man used a knife and car as weapons to kill four people, showed Australia was right to be cautious on who it accepted.

"The tragic events in London and elsewhere demonstrate the government's approach was prudent and there are people that we'd excluded on national security grounds and people that we do have concerns about that we have not brought to our country and we never will," Dutton told news hounds.
Update from the Daily Mail at 9:30 a.m. EDT, which has the ugly details:
More than 500 Iraqi and Syrian refugees barred from entering Australia after they were found on a security watchlist - with some also being monitored for terror by ASIO
  • Names of 500 refugees appeared on an international security watchlist

  • The list found risks amongst priority family groups rather than individual males

  • 17,000 biometric scans were done on potential refugees since October 2015

  • 30 refugees were red-flagged as having adverse national security profiles
And another, more comforting article on the subject added at 1:20 p.m. EDT, also from the Daily Mail, which is on a roll:
Christians not Muslims make up most of Australia's 12,000 new refugees from Syria - to stop Islamic extremists slipping in to the country

Christian refugees fleeing Syria were prioritised over Muslims by the Turnbull Government to help weed out extremists after Australia pledged to re-settle 12,000 from the war-torn nation.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  So they were sent to Minnesota?
Posted by: al aSha-med || 03/24/2017 0:58 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
EU summons Turkish ambassador over Erdogan threats
[Hurriyet Daily News] The European Commission said on March 23 it had summoned the Turkish ambassador to explain comments by President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
that Europeans would not be able to "walk safely on the streets" if they kept up their current attitude towards The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
Turkey's relations with the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
have become particularly strained after two member states cancelled planned campaign rallies on their territory by Turkish ministers ahead of an April 16 referendum that will decide whether the current parliamentary system should be shifted into an executive presidency.

Germany and the Netherlands cited security concerns for their decision and Erdogan has accused them of using "Nazi methods" and of trampling on free speech.

On March 22 Erdogan said: "If Europe continues this way, no European in any part of the world can walk safely on the streets. Europe will be damaged by this. We, as Turkey, call on Europe to respect human rights
When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much...
and democracy."
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Iraq
IS burn western Mosul women who refused to slaughter co-civilians
[Iraq News] Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
forces of Evil have burned three women who refused to slaughter fellow residents who had tried to flee areas held by the group in djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, eyewitnesses said.

Shafaaq news website quoted the witnesses saying that the group had sentenced a group of civilians to death for trying to flee Wadi Akab region. They ordered civilian women to execute the sentence, according to the sources. When three women declined, they burned them to death, they added.

News reports about atrocities affecting civilians under IS rule, though largely attributed to anonymous sources, have greatly been corroborated by accounts by civilians reported by aid agencies and U.N organizations.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  When three women declined, they burned them to death, they added.

They shall be remembered among the just.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/24/2017 2:05 Comments || Top||

#2  IS burn western Mosul women who refused to slaughter co-civilians

Seems like a psychological trick to make the population, or at least these women, feel like they are guilty of something and therefore had better side with IS in order to survive.
Posted by: gorb || 03/24/2017 9:42 Comments || Top||


Britain
4 UK men on trial over alleged attack plan
An entirely different story than the car-and-knife attack by Khalid Masood on Parliament the other day, dear Reader.
[Ynet] Four men have gone on trial in London accused of trying to make a pipe bomb and planning an attack inspired by Islamic extremism.

Naweed Ali, Khobaib Hussain, Mohibur Rahman and Tahir Aziz, all in their 20s or 30s, are charged with preparing terrorist acts.

Prosecutor Gareth Patterson told jurors at the Old Bailey court on Wednesday that the men were incarcerated
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
last year after weapons were found in Ali's car, including shotgun cartridges, an imitation handgun and a meat cleaver with the word "kafir" -- infidel in Arabic -- scratched onto the blade.

Patterson said the men also had a "partially constructed pipe bomb."

The defendants, from central England, deny the charge.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists


Europe
Turkish Minister Heads to Switzerland in Europe Row
[AnNahar] Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was heading to Switzerland
...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell...
on Thursday after having to call off a campaign appearance amongst diaspora voters, in a bitter row between Ankara and Europe.

Cavusoglu will meet with his Swiss counterpart Didier Burkhalter during his visit, the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.

"In addition to discussing bilateral relations, the minister and Burkhalter plan to discuss current regional and international issues," the ministry said.

Cavusoglu will then meet members of the Turkish Swiss community at The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
's embassy in Bern, the ministry added.

The visit comes after the Swiss government rejected a request from Zurich authorities to cancel a previously planned visit by the minister earlier this month, after the canton's security front man warned that a rally he was due to attend could be hit by "heavy demonstrations".

However,
a woman is only as old as she admits...
the organisers cancelled the event after the hotel they had booked refused to host it.

Swiss police on March 10 also blocked a rally in the northern canton of Argau supporting a "yes" vote in the referendum.

On April 16, Turks will decide whether to approve constitutional changes that would axe the role of prime minister and could see Erdogan in power until 2029.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  And to check on his numbered account?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/24/2017 3:46 Comments || Top||

#2  Seeking asylum?
Posted by: al aSha-med || 03/24/2017 15:37 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkey Summons Russia Envoy after Soldier Killed by Shots from Syria
[AnNahar] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
has summoned the Russian charge d'affaires after a Turkish soldier was shot by sniper fire from Kurdish militia-controlled Syria, where Moscow has troops, Ankara said on Thursday.

Ankara said the soldier was killed in the southern Turkish province of Hatay during cross-border fire on Wednesday from the northwestern Syrian region of Afrin, which is controlled by the Kurdish YPG militia.

"Immediately after the incident, we invited the Russian charges d'affaires to the ministry and we first shared how seriously disturbed we were," Turkish foreign ministry front man Huseyin Muftuoglu told a presser in Ankara.

"We said to avoid similar incidents after this, whatever necessary must be done. We said if this happens again, an equal response will be given," Muftuoglu said.

Moscow's envoy in Ankara was summoned because under a ceasefire agreed late last year, Russia is responsible for monitoring violations in this region, he added.

A ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey has been in place since late December but both Syrian rebels and the Damascus regime have complained of repeated violations.

Earlier this week YPG front man Redur Xelil told AFP that Russia's military will train Kurdish forces in Syria, adding that Russian forces were already present at a training camp in the Afrin region.

Afrin is one of three "autonomous" cantons that the Kurdish militia control in northern Syria.

Ankara views the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia as a "terror group" linked to Kurdish separatists inside Turkey waging an insurgency since 1984.

Muftuoglu also said Turkey was waiting for Russia to "take steps to close" the Moscow office opened last month of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), whose armed wing is the YPG.

Moscow supports Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Trampler of Homs...
but has also recently worked closely with opposition supporter Turkey to try to end the six-year war in Syria.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  "during cross-border fire"

Who fired first?
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 03/24/2017 9:50 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
11 year old 'tortured and illegally confined' in Karachi's Defence area rescued
[DAWN] 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...
police on Thursday rescued an 11-year-old boy working as a domestic servant in a house in Karachi's Defence Housing Authority (DHA) area, officials said.

The minor was recovered with visible marks of torture on his body, they added.

Darakhshan police raided a house located on Khayaban-e-Shamsheer in DHA and locked away
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
owner of the house over charges of illegally confining and torturing the 11-year-old boy, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Karachi-South Saqib Ismail Memon told Dawn.

SSP Memon said the 11-year-old was recovered in "bad condition".

The senior officer said a complaint had been brought forward by the boy's father, Mohammed Ishaq, who accused Rizwan of preventing the 11-year-old from meeting his family in his hometown in Badin.

He also alleged that the owner was subjecting his son to maltreatment

The police then conducted an investigation and raided Rizwan's house, recovering Ishaq's son.

The boy was sent to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for a medical examination.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Militants attack MLA’s house, car
[Daily Excelsior] In two separate incidents, bandidos turbans today attacked the residence and official vehicle of MLA Shopian at Memander in Shopian district of South Kashmire.

Militants tonight attacked the residence of MLA Shopian Mohammad Yusuf Bhat at Memander in South Kashmire district of Shopian. However,
there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly...
no one was hurt.

Police said that bandidos turbans fired several rounds at the residence of Bhat at Memander and the security guards deployed there retaliated. However,
it's easy to be generous with someone else's money...
no one was hurt in the attack. Security forces immediately cordoned off the area and searches are being conducted.

The MLA was not at his residence when the attack took place as he is putting up at highly guarded official residence.

Earlier in the day, bandidos turbans fired on his official bullet proof vehicle at Hajipora in Shopian. Several rounds of fire hit a police bullet proof vehicles and his ambassador car. However,
the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits...
the MLA was not in his car at the time of attack. Police fired back but bandidos turbans escaped.

Security forces today cordoned off village Moshward in Keller area of Shopian district of South Kashmire after inputs about the presence of three Death Eaters.

However,
if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well...
the operation was later called off after no bandidos turbans were found in the village.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistain Proxies


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian Army storms jihadist-held Al-Qaboun in east Damascus
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) shifted their attention from Jobar on Thursday to the jihadist-held suburb of al-Qaboun, striking Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham’s positions at a number of flanks.

Backed by heavy Arclight airstrikes, the Syrian Arab Army’s 42nd Brigade of the 4th Mechanized Division stormed the area around the Sadkop Soap Factory in al-Qaboun, inflicting heavy damage on the jihadist defenses this morning.

According to an al-Masdar field correspondent in Damascus, the Syrian Arab Army has not made any significant gains as of yet; however, this assault is meant to weaken the jihadist resolve before they launch the main assault.

Syrian Army Continues operations in Damascus’s Jobar

[AlManar] A military source said on Thursday the Syrian army units continued military operations successfully along several axes in Jobar neighborhood on the eastern outskirts of Damascus, inflicting heavy losses upon terrorists.

Earlier SANA reporter in Damascus said army units carried out military operations on al-Nusra Front and other Takfiri terrorist groups affiliated to it north of Jobar neighborhood and Eastern Gouta in the countryside of Damascus.

The military operations targeted the positions to which the terrorist groups infiltrated on Tuesday in the surroundings of the textile factories, north of Jobar neighborhood, inflicting heavy losses upon the terrorists in personnel and equipment.

The army operations on the terrorist positions north of Jobar neighborhood during the past two days left more than 157 terrorists dead, among them foreign terrorists and self-claimed leaders and hundreds others injured in addition to destroying three booby-trapped vehicles before arriving to the army posts, three tanks, four armored vehicles, 5 mortar launcher, 3 cannons and 15 machine gun-equipped vehicles.

The source added that the army shelled the terrorists’ movement axes and supply routes coming from the Eastern Ghouta towards north of Jobar neighborhood inflicting heavy losses upon them in personnel and equipment.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Government
State Department tells embassies to ramp up visa screening
[IsraelTimes] Amid criticism from rights groups over vague instructions, US officials to start flagging applicants who spent time in 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....
-controlled areas.

The State Department has ordered American embassies and consulates around the world to draw up criteria for "population sets" needing extra scrutiny before receiving visas to travel to the United States, according to a recent diplomatic cable.

The message also instructed US posts overseas to review the social media accounts of visa applicants who are suspected of terrorist ties or of having been in Islamic State group-controlled areas.
It's sad that you'd have to order our embassy personnel to screen visa applications to ensure terrorists, nutters and militants don't receive one. You'd think this would be a standing order at every American embassy for the last 230 years...
The guidance was sent in a March 17 cable to all US diplomatic missions to help American officials satisfy President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
’s memorandum for enhanced vetting of visa applicants. The News Agency that Dare Not be Named obtained a copy of the cable. The State Department wouldn’t comment beyond saying it was working to meet the Trump memorandum’s requirements and that "visitor screening and vetting procedures are designed to effectively identify individuals who could pose a threat to the United States."

The cable, which was first reported by Rooters, does not define "population sets." But it quickly drew criticism from rights groups and others who’ve accused Trump of discriminating against Moslems through his now-suspended ban on travelers from six predominantly Moslem countries.

The cable calls for consular chiefs at each post to immediately convene working groups to "develop a list of criteria identifying sets of post applicant populations warranting increased scrutiny" and "attempt to identify individual applicants that fall within the population set during the course of a consular visa interview." Even if the applicant otherwise qualifies for a visa, those identified as meeting the criteria would require additional scrutiny and possible denial.

Amnesia Amnesty International on Thursday called for the department to publicize the guidance.

"These measures could provide license for discrimination based on national origin and religion," the human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
group said in a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. "They could provide a pretext for barring individuals based on their nonviolent beliefs and expression. Social media checks, as well as demands for social media passwords at US borders, have significant implications for privacy and freedom of expression."

The instructions tell officials to refer any visa applicant who "may have ties to ISIS or to other terrorist organizations or has ever been present in an ISIS-controlled territory" to a Fraud Prevent Unit for a mandatory social media review. The results of that review are to be flagged and entered into the applicant’s file.

Additionally, the cable says consular officers must take into account if an Iraqi visa applicant "was ever present in a territory at the time it was controlled by ISIS." If the applicant was, such information must be flagged for additional review.

The Trump administration originally included Iraq among the countries affected by its proposed travel ban. After a court blocked the effort, a second executive order removed Iraq from the travel ban. That order also has been suspended by a court.

The cable anticipates the new requirements may cause backlogs in visa processing.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Damn that Trump!
Posted by: Frank G || 03/24/2017 7:54 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Elite Tiger Forces arrive in northern Hama to drive back Al-Qaeda
[ALMASDARNEWS] Much of the Syrian Arab Army’s elite Tiger Forces have reportedly arrived in the northern countryside of Hama, today, after a long deployment in east Aleppo.

According to al-Masdar’s Yusha Yuseef, most of the Tiger Forces arrived in northern Hama this morning after completing the battle of Deir Hafer.

The Tiger Forces will be tasked with leading the counter-offensive in the northern countryside of Hama against Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and their jihadist allies.

Preliminary reports from northern Hama indicate that the Syrian Arab Army is advancing at Khattab; however, it is still too early to tell if they will seize this village.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra

#1  Hama rules?
Posted by: AlanC || 03/24/2017 8:48 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Hirsi Ali: Islamic Terrorists 'Don't Go to Liberals and Say Thank You' for Being PC
[INSIDER.FOXNEWS] Ayaan Hirsi Ali criticized what she considered the "apologetic attitude" some liberals around the world have toward identifying the religious component to Islamic terrorism.

Ali, a women rights activist who was raised Moslem in Somalia but later became an apostate, called such a mindset "masochistic and stupid."

She said on "Tucker Carlson Tonight" that radical Islamic bully boyz "don't go to liberals and say thank you so much, we'll stop terrorizing you" because of some on the left refuse to identify terrorism's religious component.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


The Grand Turk
Erdogan blasts ‘delusional’ one-man regime accusation ahead of referendum
[Hurriyet Daily News] Claims that the constitutional change shifting The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
to an executive presidential system will introduce one-man rule are "delusional," President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
has said.

"This accusation is a fallacy, a delusion that arises from having nothing to say to the public," Erdogan said in a speech in the capital Ankara on March 23, addressing words from main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

"Let’s assume that the president goes astray and tries [to establish] one-man rule. Before all, the nation will come down on him. We will be asked to give an account by two: The people and God," Erdogan said.

"I look at the comments of the main opposition leader. Are we living in another country? Is this person living in another world? Nothing he says has any relation to the constitutional amendments," he added.

His comments came after Kilicdaroglu criticized the constitutional amendment aiming to bringing about a "one-man regime," granting excessive powers to the president.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


India-Pakistan
Pak has to vacate PoK: Dr Jitendra
[Daily Excelsior] The only issue of dispute between India and Pakistain as far as Jammu and Kashmire is concerned is the illegal occupation of PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan by Pakistain, the Government today said.

Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh reiterated India’s demand that Pakistain should vacate illegal occupation of these areas.

Dr Singh’s sharp remarks came in response to Pakistain High Commissioner Abdul Basit favouring resolution of Kashmire dispute as per the "aspirations of Kashmiris".

Basit was speaking at an event at the High Commission here today to mark Pakistain’s national day.

Talking to news hounds outside Parliament, Dr Singh said "Today if there is any issue between India and Pakistain on J&K, it is only the illegal occupation by Pakistain, whether it is Pakistain-Indian Kashmiree (PoK) or Gilgit-Baltistan".

He also added, "How it can be freed from Pakistain’s occupation and made a part of the Indian republic...That is the only issue now".

Dr Singh said India’s position has been clear for many years now and in 1994, a resolution (on the issue) was also passed in Parliament which all political parties had supported.

Basit had said the aspirations of people "can be suppressed but not quelled and I hope the struggle of the Kashmiris will prove successful".

Kashmire has remained a longstanding unresolved issue between the two countries causing acrimony on both sides.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  No PakPok?
Posted by: al aSha-med || 03/24/2017 1:00 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
I will call Europe fascist as long as they call me dictator: Turkey’s Erdogan
[Hurriyet Daily News] President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
has said he would call the European countries fascists as long as they continue to call him a dictator.

"You have the freedom to call Erdogan dictator but Erdogan does not have the freedom to call them fascist or Nazi. Take no offense but I will call them fascist as long as they call Erdogan dictator," Erdogan told in a live interview with Dogan TV Ankara representative Hakan Celik aired on CNN Turk and Kanal D on March 23.

Erdogan also said he deplored the newly-elected German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s remarks targeting himself.

"German President Steinmeier made a statement targeting me although we are good friends. I deplore him for his statement. I wish he had never made such statement," he said.

In his first speech as president, Steinmeier said Erdogan risked destroying everything his country had achieved in recent years and damaging ties with its partners.

"The way we look [at The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
] is characterised by worry that everything that has been built up over years and decades is collapsing," Steinmeier said on March 22 in his inaugural speech.

"President Erdogan, you are jeopardising everything that you, with others, have built," he said, adding that he would welcome "credible signs" to ease the situation.

Erdogan also added that he had no plans to visit Germany before the referendum.

In addition, the president also clarified his "Nazi" remarks for the Netherlands and Germany, saying that he uttered those words within the context of their definition.

"If I criticize Germany, I say this within its definition. If I say this by using the Nazi comparison, I say within its definition. I also say the same thing for the Netherlands. You will not allow my minister to the [Rotterdam] consulate and you will make your dogs bite my citizen... Where is the international law? Then, you are disturbed when we say Nazism," he said.

He also stated that the European countries could face with surprises depending on the April 16 referendum results.

Erdogan also noted that the problems with Europe were caused by some EU countries, while also acknowledging the U.K.'s Brexit decision.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  How about "Fanatical Fuckstick"?
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/24/2017 0:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Sounds like something a dictator would say.
Posted by: airandee || 03/24/2017 6:23 Comments || Top||

#3  Given what I see of the EU maybe they're both right?
Posted by: AlanC || 03/24/2017 8:59 Comments || Top||

#4  And so Recip's descent down the slippery slope of dictatorship gains momentum. Wonder what is going on with our nukes at the NATO base?
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 03/24/2017 10:59 Comments || Top||

#5  Standard tactic: Accuse the opponent of doing what you are doing.
Posted by: Injun Bucket8891 || 03/24/2017 12:23 Comments || Top||

#6  The EUSSR IS fascist AND Erdogan is a dictator.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 03/24/2017 15:41 Comments || Top||

#7  "I'm rubber, you're glue....."

M.K. Atatürk must be so proud. /sarc
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 03/24/2017 17:01 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
ISIS shoots dead man in western Daraa for ‘blasphemy’
[ALMASDARNEWS] ISIS shot dead a man in western Daraa countryside for the charge of cursing god.

The Jaish Khaled bin Al-Waleed terrorist group (an ISIS-affiliate) that are operating in western Daraa countryside, carried out the execution on Wednesday.

According to Amaq Agency, the media wing of ISIS, the execution occurred in Tasil village.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  ISIS shoots dead man in western Daraa for ‘blasphemy’

seems like overkill, he's already a deader
Posted by: Frank G || 03/24/2017 6:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Corpse BLASPHEMY!
Posted by: al aSha-med || 03/24/2017 15:24 Comments || Top||

#3  seems like overkill, he's already a deader

heh, I had to check, it is ISJV so I wasn't sure.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 03/24/2017 18:00 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkey’s ruling party propaganda machine
[Hurriyet Daily News] Listening to some of the statements from President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
’s advisers, or some pro-government commentators, you may find them absurd or even surreal.

One of the president’s chief advisors once went as far as to suggest in 2013 that foreign powers were attempting to "kill Erdogan with telekinesis."

If you do not assume that a majority of Turkish society is so ignorant that it immediately believes such nonsense, you may have difficulty understanding how Erdogan has been able to secure victory in successive elections, surrounded as he is by a team so detached from reality.

That’s normal, because when you look at the propaganda machine of the AKP, what catches the eye does not necessarily depict the whole picture.

There is actually a three-layered propaganda machine working for the AKP leadership.

On the first and most visible layer, you have the mediocre cadre. This is the first line of contact with the public. None of them is a rocket scientist. On the contrary, there is a reason for their mediocre profile. They are part of the message given by the AKP to the crowds: They are ruled not by elites but ordinary people just like them. They look at the "ruling cadres" and say "one of us is there."

Then you have a second visible layer. In this layer there are hit men and hit women. They have only one main agenda: Conducting smear campaigns against AKP critics, aiming to create a chilling effect on all dissent. Their secondary mission is to muddy the waters and distract attention.

There is actually another category of people in the same layer. Their mission is to have an amplifying effect on the public. If The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
, for instance, is at odds with Russia, they vilify Russia. If the government has decided to mend fences with Russia, they explain the virtues of being on good terms with Moscow.

Then there is a third but largely invisible layer. This layer is the real brain team behind the communication strategies. They use all scientific tools possible to take the pulse of society. They monitor all international and domestic news, using the most sophisticated technology to measures which news and what statements have an impact or go unnoticed in the public.

There is a meticulously calculated strategy behind every statement made by the president. His statements are not just uttered in a vacuum or in a spontaneous emotional outburst.

Against this highly sophisticated teamwork stands the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which completely fails to duplicate a similar network. The CHP rightly complains that the ruling party uses all state mechanisms to campaign, and that most lines of communication are closed to it. But the CHP could work to find alternative and more creative ways of getting its message across. It fails to do so, partly because it lacks a communication team that matches the intellectual and technical skills of the AKP’s communication team.

With such a successful and professional communication strategy, one might think that the AKP would duplicate the same sophistication and professionalism in other policy areas, such as the economy or foreign policy. But this is not the case. Ironically, policy areas like the economy or foreign policy have increasingly become casualties of the government’s communication strategy.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Afghanistan
Policeman kills his 9 comrades in an insider attack in North of Afghanistan
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A policeman killed nine of his comrades in an insider attack in northern Kunduz province of Afghanistan, local officials said Thursday.

The incident took place late on Wednesday night after the assailant policeman belonging to the Afghan Local Police (ALP) forces opened fire on his comrades, leaving nine of them dead.

A front man for the 808th Spinzar Zone in North of Afghanistan Mahfuzullah Akbari confirmed that the incident took place on Kunduz-Aliabad highway.

According to the local officials, the assailant policeman likely had links with the Taliban group as he has beat feet from the post after the attack, taking with him the weapons available in the post.

The anti-government armed holy warrior groups have not commented regarding the incident so far.

This comes as at least eight coppers bit the dust in a similar attack carried out nearly two weeks ago in southern Zabul province.

Provincial governor’s front man Gul Islam Sayal confirmed the incident and said the two assailants managed to flee area after the attack.

He said the coppers belonged to the Afghan Local Police (ALP) forces and the assailants also managed to take several weapons from the check post with them.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Caribbean-Latin America
Bondo-Faced Ex-Evita Faces Argie Trial
A judge on Thursday ordered Argentina's former president Cristina Kirchner to stand trial on charges of financial mismanagement.

It is the first of several cases against the combative 64-year-old leftist leader to go to trial.
"♫ Cry for me, Argentina! 🎶"
A string of cases targeting Kirchner and her rival, current President Mauricio Macri, are clouding Argentine politics ahead of mid-term elections later this year.

Kirchner is accused of ordering the central bank to sell dollar futures at artificially low prices, causing Argentina to lose hundreds of millions. She denies wrongdoing.

Kirchner's defenders say she should not be prosecuted for a mishandled economic policy. But the accusation cited in the court ruling alleges that her and two other defendants' actions amounted to "fraudulent administration" of state funds.

Federal judge Claudio Bonadio ordered a court to set a date for her trial, in a ruling released by the High Court's Judicial Information Center.

He also called to trial Kirchner's former economy minister Axel Kicillof and Alejandro Vanoli, who was head of the central bank at the time, on the same charges.

A further 12 defendants face trial as alleged accomplices.
Posted by: Frank G || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies


Britain
UK parliament attacker named as British-born Khalid Masood
[Dhaka Tribune] The attacker who killed three people near parliament in London before being rubbed out was named on Thursday as a 52-year-old British-born man, Khalid Masood, who was once investigated by MI5 intelligence officers over concerns about violent extremism.

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....
grabbed credit for the attack in a statement issued by its Amaq news agency, but did not name Masood and gave no details. It was not clear whether the attacker was directly connected to the jihadist group.

Police said Masood was born in the county of Kent in southeast England and was most recently living in the West Midlands region of central England.

"Masood was not the subject of any current investigations and there was no prior intelligence about his intent to mount a terrorist attack," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

"However,
today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday...
he was known to police and has a range of previous convictions for assaults, including GBH (grievous bodily harm), possession of offensive weapons and public order offences."

Prime Minister Theresa May told parliament the attacker had once been investigated by the MI5 intelligence agency over concerns about violent extremism, but had been a peripheral figure.

Police said Masood had never been convicted of a terrorist offence. His first conviction was in 1983 for criminal damage and his last one in December 2003 for possession of a knife.

During five minutes of mayhem in the heart of London on Wednesday, Masood sped across Westminster Bridge in a car, ploughing into pedestrians. He then ran through the gates of the nearby parliamentary precinct and fatally stabbed an unarmed policeman before being rubbed out.
Eight tossed in the slammer
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
in the UK

Police arrested eight people at six locations in London and Birmingham in the investigation into the attack, which May said was inspired by a warped Islamist ideology. All were suspected of preparing terrorist acts, police later confirmed.

The Enterprise rental car company said the vehicle used had been rented from its Spring Hill branch in Birmingham, which is in the West Midlands.

About 40 people were maimed, of whom 29 remained in hospital on Thursday evening, seven at death's door. May visited some of the maimed, her front man said.

The bloodshed took place on the first anniversary of attacks that killed 32 people in Brussels, and resembled Islamic State-inspired attacks in La Belle France and Germany where vehicles were driven into crowds.

The dead were Masood, two members of the public, and Keith Palmer, the 48-year-old policeman stabbed by Masood.

"He will be deeply missed. We love him so much," Palmer’s family said in a statement. He was married with a five-year-old daughter.

A minute’s silence was held in parliament and outside police headquarters on Thursday morning. A police Twitter account said it had been held at 0933 GMT because 933 was the shoulder number on Palmer’s uniform, but that tweet was later deleted and police released a different number.

As dusk fell, hundreds gathered in London’s Trafalgar Square in a vigil to remember the victims. With traffic diverted away, volunteers handed out candles in an eerie silence.

Helen Pallot, 26, from just outside London, was holding a bunch of flowers she planned to lay nearby.

"I have got a lot of friends and family that work five minutes away from there, so it just makes you think," she said. "It made me angry and sad and I wanted to come here and show that we can still all be here together."

Speaking at the United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
in New York, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson urged Internet providers and social media networks to do more to curb krazed killer propaganda.

"They’ve got to look at the stuff that’s going up on their sites, they’ve got to take steps to invigilate it, to take it down where they can," he said.

Eight held in UK on suspicion of preparing ‘terrorist acts’

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The eight people enjugged
You have the right to remain silent...
following the attack outside the British parliament are being investigated "on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts," police said Thursday.

They also said that five people remained at death's door and two more had life-threatening injuries after the attacker ploughed into pedestrians on Wednesday before stabbing a police officer and being rubbed out.

Police named the attacker as 52-year-old Khalid Masood, who had a string of convictions but none of them terror-related.

The eight arrested included two women and five men arrested at three addresses in the central city of Birmingham and a woman arrested in London.

The police statement said that there had also been a raid in Wales in which no arrests were made.

"Detectives are continuing to search" the sites that were raided, the police said.

It said the seven arrested in Birmingham were being held under the Terrorism Act, which allows for longer detention times before charging.

The Telegraph's live feed is here.
The Guardian's live feed is here. Both inform us that a 75-year old man has died as a result of his wounds. The Telegraph reports Mr. Masood, a father of three, was born Adrian Elms of Kent; the Guardian is still investigating that claim.


Update at 10:10 a.m. EDT: The Guardian link above is closed. The new live feed can be found here. The killer is confirmed to have been born Adrian Elms. When his mother married he took his stepfather's name, becoming Adrian Russell Ajao. He may have converted to Islam and become radicalized during one of his prison stints. He was a charming boy, according to classmates, and grew into a superficially charming man, according to neighbours and the hotel staff where he stayed the night before driving off in the rented Hyundai and committing jihad, despite a long history of convictions for violence after leaving school at sixteen.


Update at 10:30: the Telegraph link above has also been closed. The new live feed is here. There were two arrests overnight, bringing the collection of miscreants up to nine, and police are going through the collected evidence, including computers, looking for insights and connections. Mr. Masood is now being described as "ISIS-inspired."
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Afghanistan
Helmand’s Sangin district has reportedly fallen to Taliban
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The control of the key Sangin district in southern Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
province has reportedly fallen to Taliban control.

An Afghan army source with the 215th Maiwand Corps confirmed that the Afghan forces were forced to retreat from the district.

The source further added that the retreat was made after growing number f troops casualties and lack of supplies by the government.

The Taliban group in a statement said the group’s fighters have taken control of the district by issuing a statement.

However,
some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them...
another source the security forces have only left a security post without any clash.

Helmand is among the relatively volatile provinces in southern Afghanistan where the Taliban turbans are actively operating in its various districts and often carry out insurgency activities.

This comes as the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces are busy conducting counter-terrorism and clearance operations against the Taliban turbans in some of the volatile districts of Helmand.

Defense Ministry and Local Govt rejects fall of Sangin to Taliban

The Ministry of Defense and the Local Government in Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
have rejected the control of Sangin district has fallen to Taliban.

According to a statement by MoD, the Taliban claims regarding the capture of a military base in Sangin and fall of the district are baseless.

The statement further added that the brigade of the 215th Maiwand Corps is still based in Sangin as the district is active and there are no major security concerns.

MoD said the Lions of Islam are based in the outskirts of the district and the security forces are busy confronting the Lions of Islam who are sporadically conducting insurgency.

However,
there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly...
the provincial military council in a statement said the security forces were forced to tactically retreat from the market of Sangin due to months of heavy fighting that incurred major losses to the local residents.

The source further added that nearly 300 Lions of Islam have been killed during the festivities over the past months and the decision to tactically retreat to around 2 kilometers away from the market was taken to prevent further losses to the residents of the area.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1 
Posted by: Crinegum Ulaigum2776 || 03/24/2017 19:10 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
After Rockville Rape, School Superintendent Accuses Parents of Racism
[INSIDER.FOXNEWS] In the wake of a rape at Rockville High School in Maryland last week, Montgomery County Superintendent Dr. Jack Smith is accusing parents of "racism and xenophobia."

Two young men - at least one of whom is in the U.S. illegally - are accused of raping and sodomizing a 14-year-old girl in a school bathroom.

Tucker Carlson reported tonight on a series of troubling emails sent by Smith to parents in his district following what Smith has called "the incident."

He cited one Smith email, sent Thursday, that says some parents' reactions have "crossed the line."

Smith wrote that "racist, xenophobic calls and emails" will not be tolerated and will be reported to the police.
Do you know your place now, ladies?
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Smith wrote that "racist, xenophobic calls and emails" will not be tolerated and will be reported to the police.

You will *NOT* be permitted to express your first amendment rights! What do you think this is - America?

(/sarc)
Posted by: CrazyFool || 03/24/2017 0:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Dr. Jack Smith didn't get that cushy, high-paying job by sitting idly by and letting enrollment numbers slip away.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/24/2017 0:54 Comments || Top||


#4  Dr. Jack Smith is 58 years old, and although he is from Washington state, his wife was born in Montgomery County.

They have five children, two of whom were adopted from Bulgaria.
LTC. Jack Smith got his degree in medicine in 1993 from St. George’s University in Grenada
Posted by: al aSha-med || 03/24/2017 1:20 Comments || Top||

#5  Animal farm.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/24/2017 2:20 Comments || Top||

#6  Someone's ass needs a serious kicking.
Posted by: Raj || 03/24/2017 8:34 Comments || Top||

#7  A clear example of evil gaining acceptance by being trumped by an alleged greater evil.

The battleline between good and evil runs through the heart of every man. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Good, Man, Heart

The 'battleline' for Dr. Smith appears to be quite blurred.

Posted by: Besoeker || 03/24/2017 8:46 Comments || Top||

#8  Tucker took this somewhat apart last evening. The not-so-"Super" is threatening police and legal action to evaluations of his ass-hattery.

The narrative now is that it was "consensual" (in fairness, that word may have a different meaning in Central America) and the fault of the girl.

Expecting Ashley Jedd to react in anger in 3...2...1...

Crickets make such a nice sound.

Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 03/24/2017 9:07 Comments || Top||

#9  The narrative now is that it was "consensual"

That's what the defense lawyer said. In an overconfident, polished snake-oil salesman manner. I see the administration has hung their hat on it.

Prepare to die get crushed in court. They're probably hoping it takes a long time to wind its way through court and that people will forget. Like they forgot about the girl in Idaho.
Posted by: gorb || 03/24/2017 9:51 Comments || Top||

#10  And if the young victim is overcome and commits suicide ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/24/2017 9:54 Comments || Top||

#11  Maryland moves to be 'sanctuary state’


Fortunately, The Govster has said he will veto the legislation.

Is it time to get pi$$ed yet?
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 03/24/2017 11:09 Comments || Top||

#12  Aside from democrats, islam is the nastiest and most useless shit I have ever laid eyes on.

Curse the lot of you, scum of the earth.
Posted by: newc || 03/24/2017 12:33 Comments || Top||

#13  Here, newc. Lemme fix that for ya:

Aside from islam, democrats are the nastiest and most useless shit I have ever laid eyes on.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 03/24/2017 12:56 Comments || Top||

#14  If the girl was 14 years old she is below the age of consent. Get it? Age of consent? That means she could not legally give her consent to have sex with someone who is 18 years or older and that means the sex rape could not legally be consensual. The judge, jury and prosecution are gonna laugh that one out of court.

Parents in that school district need to crowd into the next school board meeting and demand the superintendent's dismissal. If school board members are unwilling to comply the parents need to organize a recall. That type of action would taken organized and determined parents but it can be done.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 03/24/2017 13:04 Comments || Top||

#15  Unfortunately, the Romeo Defense may be applicable for the younger.
Posted by: al aSha-med || 03/24/2017 15:55 Comments || Top||

#16  @#15: Nope!:

Maryland does not have a close-in-age exemption.

Close in age exemptions, commonly known as "Romeo and Juliet laws", are put in place to prevent the prosecution of individuals who engage in consensual sexual activity when both participants are significantly close in age to each other, and one or both partners are below the age of consent.

Because there is no such "Romeo and Juliet law" in Maryland, it is possible for two individuals both under the age of 16 who willingly engage in intercourse to both be prosecuted for statutory rape, although this is rare. Similarly, no protections are reserved for sexual relations in which one participant is a 15 year old and the second is a 16 or 17 year old.


Assailants 17 and 18. Girl 14. Two new MS-13 Sperm Dumpsters on the way (hopefully).
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 03/24/2017 16:54 Comments || Top||

#17  Parents in that school district need to crowd into the next school board meeting and demand the superintendent's dismissal.

Absolutely.
Posted by: Crusader || 03/24/2017 18:51 Comments || Top||

#18  I wonder if the victim spoke Spanish? The two illegal alien adults in 9th grade were there because they did not speak English. Not sure consent could be given if she did not speak fluent Spanish.
Posted by: Airandee || 03/24/2017 19:51 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Houthi projectile kills toddler and injures father and brother in Najran
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A toddler was killed Thursday when a projectile launched by the Houthi militia from Yemen territories hit a residential area in Najran, southwestern Saudi Arabia. The deputy spokesperson of the Directorate of civil defense said the victim’s brother - a 5-year-old - and his father were injured in the attack that targeted Sakam neighborhood in Najran.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


-Land of the Free
Potential 'smoking gun' showing Obama administration spied on Trump team
[FOXNEWS] Republican congressional Sherlocks expect a potential "smoking gun" establishing that the B.O. regime spied on the Trump transition team, and possibly the president-elect himself, will be produced to the House Intelligence Committee this week, a source told Fox News.

Classified intelligence showing incidental collection of Trump team communications, purportedly seen by committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and described by him in vague terms at a bombshell Wednesday afternoon news conference, came from multiple sources, Capitol Hill sources told Fox News. The intelligence corroborated information about surveillance of the Trump team that was known to Nunes, sources said, even before President Trump accused his predecessor of having wiretappedhim in a series of now-infamous tweets posted on March 4.

The intelligence is said to leave no doubt the B.O. regime, in its closing days, was using the cover of legitimate surveillance on foreign targets to spy on President-elect Trump, according to sources.

The key to that conclusion is the unmasking of selected U.S. persons whose names appeared in the intelligence, the sources said, adding that the paper trail leaves no other plausible purpose for the unmasking other than to damage the incoming Trump administration.

The FBI hasn’t been responsive to the House Intelligence Committee’s request for documents, but the National Security Agency is expected to produce documents to the committee by Friday. The NSA document production is expected to produce more intelligence than Nunes has so far seen or described ‐ including what one source described as a potential "smoking gun" establishing the spying.

Some time will be needed to properly assess the materials, with the likely result being that congressional Sherlocks and attorneys won’t have a solid handle on the contents of the documents ‐ and their implications ‐ until next week.

Bob Woodward: Obama officials possibly facing criminal charges for unmasking scheme

[Washington Examiner] The Washington Post's Bob Woodward warned on Wednesday that there are people from the Obama administration who could be facing criminal charges for unmasking the names of Trump transition team members from surveillance of foreign officials.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said earlier that he had briefed Trump on new information, unrelated to an investigation into Russian activities, that suggested that several members of Trump's transition team and perhaps Trump himself had their identities "unmasked" after their communications were intercepted by U.S. intelligence officials.

The revelation is notable because identities of Americans are generally supposed to remain "masked" if American communications are swept up during surveillance of foreign individuals.

Serious claim: FBI's Comey 'falsely' denied surveillance

[WND] The lawyer who founded Judicial Watch and later Freedom Watch, Larry Klayman, has sent a letter to Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, asking him to look at a whistleblower’s evidence of "systematic illegal surveillance on prominent Americans, again including the chief justice of the Supreme Court, other justices, 156 judges, prominent businessmen such as Donald Trump, and even yours truly."

That spying was done, Klayman’s letter contends, by the FBI.

It’s become a major issue following President Trump’s assertion that he and Trump Tower were spied upon by the federal government, and the subsequent denials by intelligence and law-enforcement officials, including FBI Director James Comey, who famously cleared Hillary Clinton on accusations she mishandled classified information as U.S. secretary of state.

Klayman has been working with Dennis Montgomery, a former NSA and Central Intelligence Agency contractor who "left the NSA and CIA with 47 hard drives and over 600 million pages of information, much of which is classified."

Montgomery then "sought to come forward legally as a whistleblower to appropriate government entities, including congressional intelligence committees, to expose that the spy agencies were engaged for years in systematic illegal surveillance on prominent Americans."

Explained Klayman: "Working side by side with former Obama Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who lied in congressional testimony, and former Obama Director of the CIA, the equally ethically challenged John Brennan, Montgomery witnessed ’up close and personal’ this "Orwellian Big Brother’ intrusion on privacy, likely for potential coercion, blackmail or other nefarious purposes."

GOP Rep Peter King: 99.5 Percent Accurate to Say Obama Admin Surveilled Trump Transition

Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor,” Rep. Peter King (R-NY), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, admitted after his committee’s review of President Donald Trump’s claim the Obama administration had wiretapped his transition team, he had a “legitimate case to make,” but said he may have overstepped with his Twitter claim.

“[T]he president had a very legitimate case to make,” King said. “He overstepped it by saying President Obama ordered wiretapping. That we don’t know, but what we do know is to me this is shameful.”

Host Bill O’Reilly pressed King on the seriousness of Trump being “surveilled,” to which King said it was at least 99.5 percent correct he was surveilled.

“I would say, from all I know, you’re at least 99-and-a-half percent accurate, and probably 100 percent,” he replied.

NSA could provide ‘smoking gun’ proof Obama admin was spying on Trump by Friday

[HOT AIR] Fox News’ James Rosen has a significant entry in the ongoing debate over possible surveillance of the Trump team by the Obama administration. It’s a report based on anonymous sources who claim the NSA will provide “smoking gun” proof the last administration was keeping tabs on the current one:

Intelligence Expert: Obama Committed Surveillance Crimes – Should be Jailed (Video)

[Gateway Pundit] A massive amount of data on 47 hard drives from a government whistle blower was turned over to the Freedom Watch group recently. The information proves Obama and company spied on everyone.

Freedom Watch notifies congress of a “Deep State” intelligence community whistle blower, Dennis Montgomery, with hundreds of millions of documents showing CIA and FBI and Intelligence Committees were spying on, and conducting surveillance on, American citizens for political purposes.

Mr. Montgomery is trying to use a legal “whistle-blower” process and not follow the same approach as Edward Snowden.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If true (and I don't doubt it) that entire gang needs to be arrested, tried and jailed. Let them get away with this and the lawlessness will never stop.
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/24/2017 0:23 Comments || Top||

#2  The spying MAY be legal and appropriate to a point, if warrants were obtained, and especially if claims of Trump campaign collusion with Russia can be supported. The leaks and misuse of the data are crimes though.
Posted by: Glenmore || 03/24/2017 7:01 Comments || Top||

#3  The spying MAY be legal and appropriate to a point, if warrants were obtained...

Lying on warrant requests to get where you really want to go is NOT legal. These people need to be put under the jail. And just to send a message, a few need to have unexpected accidents.

We are at war, the Left is full on treasonous, these actions go way past political differences.
Posted by: Threresh Gurly-Brown3897 || 03/24/2017 9:11 Comments || Top||

#4  And, Comey needs to resign his position immediately.
Posted by: Threresh Gurly-Brown3897 || 03/24/2017 9:12 Comments || Top||

#5  My doubts about Comey have been fully confirmed.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/24/2017 9:15 Comments || Top||

#6  FreeBeacon:
"The incidental collection, subsequent dissemination, and unmasking of individuals related to the presidential transition team needs to be carefully investigated as there are real concerns about whether minimization procedures were appropriately followed," he added.

Intelligence agencies are authorized to spy on foreign targets under two different authorities. One authority is the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a special federal court, and the second is a presidential directive known as Executive Order 12333.

Electronic surveillance under the executive order does not require court approval.


Nunes said some of the information in the reports was of questionable intelligence value.

"But, look, I think the bottom line here is that President Trump, to some degree, is right that he did end up in some intelligence reports and I don't think he knew about it,"
Posted by: Whavish Thusoling5684 || 03/24/2017 11:19 Comments || Top||

#7  If these things are true, then this is even bigger than Nixon/Watergate and the abuse of the NSA back then. At least according to what I read about in non-PC history books.
Posted by: Injun Bucket8891 || 03/24/2017 12:29 Comments || Top||

#8  Hope Montgomery is watching his back. He might be safer at the Ecuadorean embassy.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 03/24/2017 12:36 Comments || Top||

#9  listened to an audio of Tim Blixseth;
https://twitter.com/BinsackSb/status/845155463469547520

Posted by: Jan || 03/24/2017 14:35 Comments || Top||

#10  Thanks Jan. Link to your site.

This fellow is convinced Brennan and Zero are at the bottom of this, and so am I.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/24/2017 14:55 Comments || Top||

#11  Kryptia has been following Manafort for some time here.
Posted by: newc || 03/24/2017 17:34 Comments || Top||

#12  Teamwork works! Well done, y'all.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/24/2017 18:14 Comments || Top||

#13 
Posted by: Crinegum Ulaigum2776 || 03/24/2017 19:02 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Two actions against IS in north Sinai, 12 security forces and 15 jihadis killed
[AlAhram] A police officer and a conscript were killed on Thursday in North Sinai in a shootout with Death Eaters, Egypt's Ministry of Interior said in a statement. Police captain Moataz Abdel-Aziz and conscript Mahmoud Mohammed were killed in an exchange of fire between security forces and forces of Evil in El-Arish city. The police officer and conscript were part of a security patrol in the area.

This is the second deadly attack today by forces of Evil on security forces in North Sinai.

Earlier in the day, three army officers and seven soldiers were killed during a raid on a Death Eater hideout in central Sinai after "two improvised bombs detonated near their vehicles as they chased Death Eaters."

Fifteen forces of Evil were killed and seven were incarcerated
Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!
during the raid, the army said.

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....
Death Eater group has grabbed credit for the killing of the 10 army personnel.
Another Al Ahram article adds the following about that central Sinai raid:
Army front man Tamer El-Refai said the army also destroyed two storehouses, which were used to store half a tonne of TNT, IEDs, and subsistence and medical equipment used by the myrmidons.

Forces confiscated two four-wheel vehicles, explosives, 460 laptops, 640 cellphones, and several vehicle plates used by the myrmidons.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)


Iraq
Iraqi command says IS fabricates reports of civilian casualties in Mosul
[Iraq News] Iraqi military media denied Thursday that security 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....
in western djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
leave civilian casualties, accusing the Death Eater group of fabricating reports in that respect.

"The terrorist ISIS (Islamic State) gangs practice the most heinous kinds of treatments to our people...They film and photograph innocent civilian victims whom they kill, presenting them as victims of strikes by the heroic Iraqi forces to mislead the public," said the statement by the Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell.

The statement reiterated that Iraqi forces remain committed to "engagement rules that ensure protection for civilians".

News reports suggested earlier Thursday that hundreds of civilians died in strikes by fighter jets from the Iraqi army and the allied U.S.-led coalition in western Mosul, where a security campaign has been running since mid February to eliminate Death Eaters.

Anadolu Agency quoted Cap. Ahmed al-Khazraji, from the Rapid Response Forces, saying that 43 people, mostly women and elders, were killed by mistake in Arclight airstrikes "probably" carried out by the coalition.

Rudaw also said aerial bombardments killed more than 200 people, with many others stranded under rubbles, in Mosul al-Jadida district.

Rudaw did not specify the source of the bombardment, but Iraqi forces, the allied U.S.-led coalition and Islamic State members have occasionally shared the blame for civilian deaths during exchanged bombardments in Mosul since security operations to retake the city from IS launched in October 2016.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Putin promotes officers who served in Syria, vows military modernisation
[ALMASDARNEWS] Russian President Vladimir Putin
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
promoted several officers from the Russian Armed Forces, security services, and other law enforcement agencies in Moscow on Thursday.

He the also used the occasion to thank those who participated in Russia’s operations in Syria.

Commending the service men for their contribution to Russian security, Putin noted that the armed forces had been "seriously strengthened" in recent years.

He added that they were now "capable of repelling any aggression against Russia, protecting our citizens, our country, and our allies."

"Today, the highest ranked officers who participated in the operation of the Russian army against bandidos bully boyz in Syria stand in this room. I want to thank you for the high professionalism, for your courage and "We will continue to develop the defence heroism," Putin continued.

"We will continue to develop the defence potential of the country, equip all types of troops with new generation weapons and equipment. First of all, this applies to the strategic nuclear forces. By the end of 2020, modern weapons should comprise 60 percent, and for certain parameters, up to 90 percent," Putin concluded.
With what funds does he plan to accomplish this miracle? Oil prices will remain in the current range for the foreseeable future.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
JCC bomb threat suspect said not cooperating with police
[IsraelTimes] Israeli-American teenager remains silent during police questioning; report says police tracked him after he forgot to mask his IP address.

The Israeli-American teenager whose remand was extended for eight days by an Israeli court on Thursday over suspicions he was behind dozens of bomb threats against Jewish institutions in the US and elsewhere, was not answering police questions or cooperating with Sherlocks, according to a number of reports in the Hebrew press.

The teenager has a nonmalignant brain tumor that leads to behavioral issues and he was home-schooled. The suspect’s medical problems were discovered when he was 14 years old.
The arrest of the suspect, an 18-year-old resident of Ashkelon, was announced by Israel Police on Thursday, after what they said was a months-long undercover joint investigation by the Lahav 433 cyber unit and the FBI.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: Crinegum Ulaigum2776 || 03/24/2017 19:05 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: Crinegum Ulaigum2776 || 03/24/2017 19:59 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
SDF capture Tabqa Dam from ISIS in spectacular behind enemy lines operation
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) captured Tabqa Dam from ISIS after a spectacular attack that saw the fighters launch the multi-pronged attack behind ISIS frontlines.

The risky operation was supported by US war helicopters and artillery fire.

"The Coalition supported this offensive with air movement and logistical support, precision Arclight airstrikes, Apache helicopters in close air support, Marine artillery, and special operations advice and assistance to SDF leadership," the US-led coalition said in a statement.

"Over the last four months, the Coalition has conducted more than 300 Arclight airstrikes around Tabqah and near Raqqa that have killed hundreds of enemy fighters, destroyed more than 200 fortifications, and more than 50 ISIS vehicles," the coalition added.

"It takes a special breed of warrior to pull off an airborne operation or air assault behind enemy lines," said Col. Joe Scirocco of the coalition against ISIS. "There is nothing easy about this ‐ it takes audacity and courage. And the SDF has that in spades."

He then went onto claim that the SDF were the most effective fighting force against ISIS.

"The SDF and their local Syrian Arab Coalition fighters, have proven to be the most effective ground force against ISIS in Syria ‐ and they are proving that once again with this daring operation," said Scrocca.

"It is the SDF on the ground, putting their lives at risk, and violently engaging the enemy," said Scrocca. "And it is the SDF, like the Iraqi Security Forces, who are making the sacrifice so that other Coalition nations do not continue to suffer the threat of ISIS terrorism inside our own borders."
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  The Coalition supported this offensive with air movement and logistical support

As before: transport loggies and ground fighters.
Posted by: al aSha-med || 03/24/2017 15:32 Comments || Top||


Syrian Army destroys jihadist HQ in northern Homs
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) carried out a special operation on Thursday that targeted the headquarters of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham in the northern countryside of the Homs Governorate.

Led by their Special Mission Forces, the Syrian Arab Army destroyed headquarters of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham in the town of Ghanto, killing several turbans during the short operation.

Following the destruction of the jihadist headquarters, the Syrian Air Force emerged in the northern countryside of Homs, striking Harakat Ahrar al-Sham
...a Syria jihadi group made up of Islamists and salafists, not that there's that much difference, formed into a brigade. They make up the main element of the Islamic Front but they don't profess adoration of al-Qaeda and they've been fighting (mainly for survival) against the Islamic State. Their leadership was wiped out at a single blow by a suicide kaboom at a crowded basement meeting in September, 2014...
’s positions in the al-Rastan Plain.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra

#1  Led by their Special Mission Forces

You had to know the S&M were involved.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/24/2017 8:34 Comments || Top||

#2  It seems commonizing SMF across national armies reduces the remaining 'fighting force' to logistics specialization. A dangerous lack of flexibility when the second string is assigned to carry bags.
Posted by: al aSha-med || 03/24/2017 15:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Isn't a dangerous lack of flexibility the very definition of Arab armies?
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/24/2017 21:11 Comments || Top||


No way out of Deir Hafer for ISIL as Syrian Army troops full besiege town
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) gave 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....
(ISIS) turbans inside of Deir Hafer a short period of time to leave their stronghold of Deir Hafer; however, the terrorist group refused to abandon the town.

In response to the terrorist group’s obstinacy, the Syrian Arab Army seized the last two villages standing between their northeastern and southeastern flanks.

Led by their Tiger Forces, the Syrian Arab Army liberated the villages of Lalat Mohammad and Tal al-Sous Latsbah after a short battle with the Islamic State turbans at the eastern outskirts of Deir Hafer.
Posted by: Fred || 03/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State



Who's in the News
22[untagged]
9Islamic State
6Sublime Porte
6Moslem Colonists
4al-Nusra
3Taliban
2Govt of Syria
2Houthis
2Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (IS)
1Govt of Pakistan
1Commies
1Hezbollah
1Abu Sayyaf (ISIS)
1Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)
1Thai Insurgency
1Ansar al-Sharia
1PFLP
1al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
1Govt of Iran
1Govt of Pakistain Proxies

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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2017-03-24
  Helmand’s Sangin district has reportedly fallen to Taliban
Thu 2017-03-23
  It's worse: Jewish Israeli-American, 19, arrested in Ashkelon for phoning in dozens of JCC bomb threats
Wed 2017-03-22
  Jihadi car and knife attack: Parliament in lockdown
Tue 2017-03-21
  U.S. Bans Laptops, Tablets from Cabins on Flights from Middle East
Mon 2017-03-20
  Syrian regulars gain control of regions near Palmyra
Sun 2017-03-19
  Four wanted Maute militants nabbed in Lanao
Sat 2017-03-18
  Man shot dead at Paris Orly airport this morning after taking soldier's gun: official
Fri 2017-03-17
  Four Killed as Bangladesh Police Storm Islamist Hideout
Thu 2017-03-16
  Kommander Abdullah, 10 others die in airstrike in Paktika
Wed 2017-03-15
  Dozens killed in suicide bombing at Damascus "Palace of Justice" courthouse
Tue 2017-03-14
  Suspected ISIS gas attack hits Iraqi forces in west Mosul
Mon 2017-03-13
  Kenyan police nab 6 terror suspects in coastal town
Sun 2017-03-12
  Double suicide attack kills 40 in Damascus
Sat 2017-03-11
  Syrian force a ‘few weeks’ from Raqqa, U.S. Marines deployed
Fri 2017-03-10
   Ax attacker at Düsseldorf main train station arrested

Better than the average link...



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