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South Carolina man charged with trying to join Islamic State
Today's Headlines
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Europe
Merkel: Migrants and Germans Can Learn from Each other
[AP] BERLIN (AP) -- Chancellor Angela Merkel says newcomers to Germany must learn the country's values and customs, but that Germans can also learn from them.

More than 1 million asylum seekers have arrived in the past two years, and Germany's been working hard on integration.

Speaking in her weekly podcast this Saturday, in a question-and-answer form with a Syrian journalist who arrived as a refugee in 2015, Merkel emphasized migrants need to respect Germany's values of "tolerance, openness, freedom of religion and freedom of expression" and also "be a little curious about our way of life."

On the flipside, Merkel says Germans should be open, and "seize upon it as a possibility to learn and experience more."

Merkel meets with three organizations next week to thank them for their help with migrants.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2017 10:56 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I wonder how many cats she lives with.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 04/01/2017 12:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, now that you mention it....
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/01/2017 12:10 Comments || Top||

#3  Old Merk is the epitome of Strength in Diversity insanity.
Posted by: Mugsy Glink || 04/01/2017 12:37 Comments || Top||

#4  A tautology with a hook.

While both sides of the equation are true only one side is an obligation. New comers are obliged to learn the language and customs of their hosts and to share their own values if they do not conflict.

This is the basis of the American melting pot. Our incipient disaster is caused by the self-segregating and demanding ways of the entitled.
Posted by: AlanC || 04/01/2017 13:26 Comments || Top||

#5  I wonder when the tipping point will come when German natives object strongly enough to this "leader" to remove her from office thru whatever means necessary?
Posted by: Crusader || 04/01/2017 16:28 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Rioters in Paraguay set fire to Congress after secret Senate vote to allow president 2nd term
Protesters stormed and set fire to Paraguay's Congress on Friday after the Senate secretly voted for a constitutional amendment that would allow President Horacio Cartes to run for re-election. The country's constitution has prohibited re-election since it was passed in 1992 after a brutal dictatorship fell in 1989.

"A coup has been carried out. We will resist and we invite the people to resist with us," said Senator Desiree Masi from the opposition Progressive Democratic Party.

Firefighters managed to control the flames after protesters left the Congress building late on Friday night. But protests and riots continued in other parts of Asuncion and elsewhere in the country well into the night, media reported.

Earlier, television images showed protesters breaking windows of the Congress and clashing with police, burning tires and removing parts of fences around the building. Police in riot gear fired tear gas and rubber bullets.

Several politicians and journalists were injured, media reported, and Interior Minister Tadeo Rojas said several police were hurt. One member of the lower house of Congress, who had been participating in protests that afternoon, underwent surgery after being hit by rubber bullets.

The number of casualties was unknown.

Cartes called for calm and a rejection of violence in a statement released on Twitter.

"Democracy is not conquered or defended with violence and you can be sure this government will continue to put its best effort into maintaining order in the republic," he said. "We must not allow a few barbarians to destroy the peace, tranquility and general well-being of the Paraguayan people."
How about the barbarians in the Senate who voted to undermine the people?
The people have a point here: in a land and continent where "banana republic" was frequently a reality, and where caudillos managed to repress and brutalize their people, the people put in place limits to power to ensure that, having finally gained a democratic republic, such things couldn't happen again. The people are a tad suspicious and a little wary.
The unrest coincides with a rare high-level international event in the landlocked South American country. Thousands of businessmen and government officials descended on Asuncion this week for the Inter-American Development Bank's annual board of governors meeting.

While Paraguay long suffered from political uncertainty, the soy- and beef-exporting nation has been attracting investment in agriculture and manufacturing sectors in recent years as Cartes offered tax breaks to foreign investors.

Instability in the country of 6.8 million is a concern for its much larger neighbors Brazil and Argentina.
And for the people of Paraguay...
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said it was monitoring the events.

"I call on political leaders to avoid inciting violence and seek dialogue," the commission's regional representative for South America, Amerigo Incalcaterra, said in a statement.
Wrong call. Call instead for the Senate and the President to stop sneaking around.
The Senate voted earlier on Friday during a special session in a closed office rather than on the Senate floor. Twenty-five lawmakers voted for the measure, two more than the 23 required for passage in the 45-member upper chamber.

Opponents of the measure, who claim it would weaken Paraguay's democratic institutions, said the vote was illegal.

The proposal will also require approval by the House, where it appeared to have strong support. A vote which had been expected early on Saturday was called off until the situation calmed down, said the chamber's president, Hugo Velazquez.

Several Latin American countries, including Paraguay, Peru and Chile, prevent presidents from running for consecutive terms in a region where memories of dictatorships remain ripe.
Understandably...
Others, including Colombia and Venezuela, have changed their constitutions to give sitting presidents a chance at re-election.
For which you got Nick the Mad...
Paraguay's measure would apply to future presidents and Cartes, a soft-drink and tobacco mogul elected to a five-year term in 2013. His strongest backers want him to be allowed to run for another term, but critics have said a constitutional change aimed at benefiting a sitting president would be unfair.

The change would also apply to former President Fernando Lugo, whose supporters want to be allowed to run for another term. Congress ousted Lugo in 2012, saying he had failed in his duty to maintain social order following a bloody land eviction. The rapid impeachment drew strong criticism in Latin America, especially from fellow leftist governments.

A similar re-election proposal had been rejected in August and Congress this week voted to change the rules that required lawmakers to wait a year before voting again.

"Everything was done legally," said Senator Carlos Filizzola of the leftist Guasu Front coalition, which supports the constitutional amendment as a way of allowing Lugo to return as Paraguay's leader.
There's a fine statement that would have been sounded equally valid if enunciated in German in 1934...
Posted by: Steve White || 04/01/2017 10:05 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Culture Wars
Montana Democrats Vote Against Bill Banning Sharia Law, Call It ‘Repugnant'
[Breitbart] Democrats in Montana have opposed a bill banning the use of foreign law in its state courts on the grounds that such legislation would target Muslims.

Senate Bill 97, introduced by Keith Regier (R-Kalispell) bans the application of foreign law in Montana’s courts, with the debate particularly focused on Sharia Law, a form of Islamic law typically used in the Middle East.

Although the bill passed on party lines by 56-44, Democrats claimed it was designed to target Muslim communities.

"I think it sends a dangerous message to minority groups both here living in our state and wanting to come visit our state, just merely on the fact that you may be different," said Rep. Shane Morigeau, D-Missoula, while debating the bill. "I truly believe this law is repugnant. I believe this is not who we are as Montanans."
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2017 09:02 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I believe the term you are looking for is 'Judas'.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/01/2017 10:13 Comments || Top||

#2  What do they think about Branch Davidian Law? Talmudic law?
Posted by: Bobby || 04/01/2017 11:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Don't forget the Napoleonic Code.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 04/01/2017 11:12 Comments || Top||

#4  Just don't mention the 10 Commandments.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/01/2017 11:15 Comments || Top||

#5  "I think it sends a dangerous message to minority groups both here living in our state and wanting to come visit our state, just merely on the fact that you may be different," said Rep. Shane Morigeau, D-Missoula, while debating the bill. "I truly believe this law is repugnant. I believe this is not who we are as Montanans."

If you think that law is repugnant, wait until you get inundated with Muslims demanding your obedience to THEIR law. Then you'll find out what repugnant REALLY is.

Idiot...
Posted by: Dave D. || 04/01/2017 12:31 Comments || Top||

#6  The main thing, it's passed.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/01/2017 12:39 Comments || Top||

#7  When the revolution comes in earnest, I look forward to those who voted against the *safety* of their own citizenry being placed against the wall.
Posted by: Crusader || 04/01/2017 16:30 Comments || Top||

#8  #2  What do they think about Branch Davidian Law?

After the Waco siege, I got a good idea what they think of that. The count was a total of 76 people dead including cultists burned to death and the 4 government agents and 6 Davidians shot to death. This occurred during the 1st Clinton administration.

The question is why do the Democrats have all this new-found liking for Sharia Law? Is it the "supremacy" aspects? Or the possibility of new recruits into the Donk Party?
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/01/2017 17:31 Comments || Top||

#9  They somehow think they will escape the slaughter and that Islam will suddenly welcome the homosexuals and trannies with open arms.

Open knives maybe...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/01/2017 17:42 Comments || Top||

#10  WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF THE incredible blindness?
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/01/2017 21:58 Comments || Top||

#11  Did a comment of mine in this thread get removed?
Posted by: Crusader || 04/01/2017 23:39 Comments || Top||

#12  With hands that've never held helves,
They'll shovel sharia by shelves,
Then shout, as they light it,
"You fascists should fight it!
We would, but we're too tired, ourselves."
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 04/01/2017 23:51 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Spicer asks reporter: 'Why they were 'rushing to defend' Evelyn Farkas ?
[Free Beacon] White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer asked members of the White House press corps why they were "rushing to defend" a former Obama administration official during Friday's press briefing.

Spicer's comment came during an exchange with National Public Radio correspondent Tamara Keith, who asked about the relevance of recent comments made by Evelyn Farkas, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia until 2015.

Farkas said earlier this month that she urged Obama administration and Capitol Hill officials to gather information on Russian hacking before Trump took office to preserve intelligence.

Spicer responded to Keith by asking if she had asked Farkas about her comments.

"The question I would have to you is exactly, why is it? She says in her things I'm urging my colleagues, I'm urging it to get the Hill, but it's odd that the presumption seems to be why is it interesting? Have you asked her?" Spicer said to Keith.

Keith told Spicer she had not asked Farkas about the relevance of her comments.

After a brief exchange over the fact that Farkas was a "former" official, Spicer continued his line of questioning directed to a separate reporter.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2017 08:16 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I think more to the point would be to ask why, after admitting she disseminated classified information and why she had access to it, is she now claiming she knows nothing. Someone told her she is in deep doodoo and she is trying to backpedal.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 04/01/2017 9:23 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
The Green Beret Who Wouldn't Go Home
[WSJ] KABUL-- John Allen’s war officially ended in 2002, only months after it began, when an enemy grenade blast sent the young Green Beret hurtling through a windshield.

Fifteen years later, he’s still in Afghanistan, holed up in a friend’s attic with a whiskey bottle and a piano for company. Mr. Allen is hoping to ride out the latest controversy surrounding his private security firm, which flared up when Afghan militiamen he was advising cut off the heads of four enemy fighters and put them on display.

The former Green Beret was helping mobilize the militia to target and kill commanders from the terrorist group Islamic State. At the time of the beheadings, in late 2015, a U.S. Special Forces team based in Nangarhar province was assisting Mr. Allen in his efforts. Islamic State had begun to lay roots there, sparking fears that Afghanistan would become another haven for the terrorist group like Syria, Iraq and Libya had.

After the ghastly display, Mr. Allen was told to drop his project. "You’re f---ing done," Mr. Allen said a U.S. Special Forces captain told him.

Afghanistan is full of U.S. veterans who served here in the early years of the war and returned to work as contractors, part of an industry worth billions of dollars. The U.S. Defense Department alone employs more than 9,000 U.S. contractors in Afghanistan to handle logistics, help train local forces and provide security.

Early on, there was little oversight over guns for hire before a series of scandals led then-President Hamid Karzai in 2010 to issue strict regulations that dramatically reduced the number of providers and scaled back their freedom to operate. The U.S. embassy and the command of North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces here say the Wild West days are gone for good. Mr. Allen’s misadventures in Nangarhar show that the slow withdrawal from America’s longest-running war sometimes leaves loose ends--including soldiers who have spent so long at war that they don’t know how to go home.

The vets are prized in some military circles for their institutional knowledge--a counterweight to the short tours of duty for troops and diplomats who rotate in and out and barely get to know the country. They are free of the many restrictions that bind the military and U.S. embassy. The danger, of course, is what happens if they go rogue.

If anyone could navigate Afghanistan’s complex conflict it was Mr. Allen. The son of a military pilot, Mr. Allen arrived in Afghanistan as a Green Beret after the Sept. 11 terror attacks to fight the Taliban. In 2002, a grenade blast left him so badly injured that he spent over 18 months in the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

Doctors warned he might never walk again. But Mr. Allen recovered enough to return to Afghanistan to set up a private military company, Four Horsemen International, or FHI, which provided wartime services for clients ranging from the Afghan government to the Central Intelligence Agency.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2017 07:39 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Early on, there was little oversight over guns for hire before a series of scandals led then-President Hamid Karzai in 2010 to issue strict regulations that dramatically reduced the number of providers and scaled back their freedom to operate. The U.S. embassy and the command of North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces here say the Wild West days are gone for good.

Note that this coincided with territorial losses to the Taliban. Bush chose Karzai. Nuff said.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 04/01/2017 19:21 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Indians pelt each other with cow dung to mark Marathi Hindu New Year
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/01/2017 07:01 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Coming soon to a college campus near you?
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 04/01/2017 19:34 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Real-life ‘Iron Man' flying suit built by British inventor
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/01/2017 06:53 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Shouting match over man at Victoria's Secret becomes shooting match
COLUMBUS (WCMH) -- Police say a woman was shot in the upper chest at a store at Easton Town Center.

The victim, identified as Daneshia Elmore was taken to an area hospital in stable condition.

According to Columbus police, Elmore and the shooter, identified as Anikqua Williams knew each other. They met by chance at the PINK store and began arguing. During the fight, Williams pulled out a gun and shot Elmore, police said.

Police officers were on the scene within two minutes and arrested Williams. Easton Town Center’s management released the following statement about security at the mall.
Graphic from archive, but you knew that.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2017 02:31 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Jerry Springer to the courtesy phone.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/01/2017 10:12 Comments || Top||

#2  Daneshia Elmore, Anikqua Williams

Vitamin D deficiency?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/01/2017 10:23 Comments || Top||

#3  they REALLY need spellcheck at some urban hospital obstetrics desks
Posted by: Frank G || 04/01/2017 10:36 Comments || Top||

#4  All 2nd language spellers, Frank.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/01/2017 14:36 Comments || Top||

#5  Anikqua was the shooter and Daneshia the shootee.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/01/2017 16:58 Comments || Top||

#6  Vibrant!
Posted by: charger || 04/01/2017 18:57 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
New terrorist laptop bombs may evade airport security, intel sources say (Video)
[CNN] US intelligence and law enforcement agencies believe that ISIS and other terrorist organizations have developed innovative ways to plant explosives in electronic devices that FBI testing shows can evade some commonly used airport security screening methods, CNN has learned.

Heightening the concern is US intelligence suggesting that terrorists have obtained sophisticated airport security equipment to test how to effectively conceal explosives in laptops and other electronic devices.

The intelligence, gathered in the last several months, played a significant role in the Trump administration's decision to prohibit travelers flying out of 10 airports in eight countries in the Middle East and Africa from carrying laptops and other large electronic devices aboard planes.

The findings may raise questions about whether the ban is broad enough. CNN has learned that, through a series of tests conducted late last year, the FBI determined the laptop bombs would be far more difficult for airport screeners to detect than previous versions terrorist groups have produced. The FBI testing focused on specific models of screening machines that are approved by the Transportation Security Administration and are used in the US and around the world.

"As a matter of policy, we do not publicly discuss specific intelligence information. However, evaluated intelligence indicates that terrorist groups continue to target commercial aviation, to include smuggling explosive devices in electronics," the Department of Homeland Security told CNN in a statement. "The U.S. government continually re-assesses existing intelligence and collects new intelligence. This allows DHS and TSA to constantly evaluate our aviation security processes and policies and make enhancements when they are deemed necessary to keep passengers safe. As always, all air travelers are subject to a robust security system that employs multiple layers of security, both seen and unseen."
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2017 02:22 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  FBI determined the laptop bombs would be far more difficult for airport screeners.

The primary purpose of the TSA is political, a convenient federal jobs program for arse grabbing, ghetto chimps. There has been no serious effort to go after Wahhabism and the culprits of terrorism, 9/11 style, or otherwise. The science of non-metallic explosives is far from difficult. Lockerbie will happen again. It is simply a matter of time.

After 9/11 the holy sites of Mecca and Madina should have been vaporized with survivors put to flight in the desert and hunted like Jerboas.

Any attempt to compromise with Islam is insanity. Only a casual examination of it's origins and history will reveal it's true intent and purpose. It is an evil which cannot be contained and must be destroyed. The West fails at this task at it's own peril.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2017 8:06 Comments || Top||

#2  I agree with you.
I loved Tom Tancredo who said threatening to bomb Muslim holy sites would be the right way to deter any kind of aggression from terrorists. Tancredo was mercilessly attacked for his comments that were labeled reprehensible and crazy.
Tancredo a true patriot. I want to see America show some guts instead of all this political correct crap.

Posted by: Jan || 04/01/2017 15:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Sounds harsh, but left unattended, gangrenous cholecystitis (like Islam) is also life threatening. You deal with it, or the problem quickly removes you from the equation.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2017 16:05 Comments || Top||

#4  After 9/11 the holy sites of Mecca and Madina should have been vaporized.

Absolutely. I've said this for more than a decade. Its criminal what Bush did instead. Not because Iraq wasn't (separately) asking for it, and not because Afghanistan (separately) need attention. But instead because there was NEVER any SERIOUS plan to NAME Islam (rather than "terror"), much less DEFEAT it. We took ineffective half-ass steps, and we lost lots of American citizens in the process.
Posted by: Crusader || 04/01/2017 19:50 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Mike Pence breaks TIE to repeal abortion regulation in Senate
[Right Scoop] 'The Hill' reports - Vice President Mike Pence returned to the Senate Thursday afternoon -- the second time in one day -- to cast a tie-breaking vote on legislation to undo an Obama-era regulation on funding for abortion providers.

Pence cast the deciding 51st vote in favor of nixing the rule, after the legislation stalled in a 50-50 tie.

Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) sided with Democrats to vote against repealing the Obama-era rule, prompting the need for the vice president to break the tie.

The vote marks the third time Pence has had to break a tie since becoming vice president.

Republicans are using the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to roll back some Obama-era regulations with a simple majority vote.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2017 02:13 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Palestinian teen suspected of throwing rocks shot by IDF near Ramallah
[IsraelTimes] Earlier Friday, soldiers arrest resident of a village near Hebron carrying knife at Tomb of the Patriarchs.

IDF troops shot a Paleostinian teen Friday night who was suspected of hurling rocks at vehicles on a highway west of Ramallah in the West Bank.

The teen was shot and moderately injured outside the West Bank village of Nil’in, Paleostinian media reported.

Paleostinian media identified the teen as 15-year-old Utbah Jiad Amirah.

Amirah received medical treatment on site and taken to a hospital under arrest, Hebrew website Ynet reported.

Earlier on Friday evening, a Border Police officer was lightly maimed when he was hit by a rock thrown at him by Paleostinians during a protest against the security barrier near Nil’in. The officer was taken to the Sheba Hospital for treatment.

Border Police officers also stopped a Paleostinian Friday evening near the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron who raised their suspicions. A search of the man’s person found he was carrying a concealed knife. The suspect was taken into custody.

Police are investigating the incident and suspect that the man, a resident of the Paleostinian village of Yatta, was planning to carry out a stabbing attack against security forces or worshipers at the site.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/01/2017 00:41 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Caribbean-Latin America
Paraguay: Rioters set fire to Congress after secret constitutional amendment vote
[Reuters] Protesters stormed and set fire to Paraguay's Congress on Friday after the Senate secretly voted for a constitutional amendment that would allow President Horacio Cartes to run for re-election.

The country's constitution has prohibited re-election since it was passed in 1992 after a brutal dictatorship fell in 1989.

"A coup has been carried out. We will resist and we invite the people to resist with us," said Senator Desiree Masi from the opposition Progressive Democratic Party.

Firefighters managed to control the flames after protesters left the Congress building late on Friday night. But protests and riots continued in other parts of Asuncion and elsewhere in the country well into the night, media reported.

Earlier, television images showed protesters breaking windows of the Congress and clashing with police, burning tires and removing parts of fences around the building. Police in riot gear fired tear gas and rubber bullets.

Several politicians and journalists were injured, media reported, and Interior Minister Tadeo Rojas said several police were hurt. One member of the lower house of Congress, who had been participating in protests that afternoon, underwent surgery after being hit by rubber bullets.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/01/2017 00:37 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  after the Senate secretly voted for a constitutional amendment that would allow President Horacio Cartes to run for re-election

Important to note.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/01/2017 8:49 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Man sentenced to death for killing father
[DAWN] KARACHI: A sessions court sentenced on Friday a man to death for killing his father.

Sharafat Ali was found guilty of stabbing his father Abdul Hameed after an exchange of hot words as the convict misbehaved with his mother in their house in an Orangi Town locality in January 2010.

The additional district and sessions judge (west), Ilimuddin Janwari, also imposed a fine of Rs200,000 and in case of default the convict would undergo six-month imprisonment.

Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "...misbehaved with his mother ..."

HoBoy.........
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 04/01/2017 19:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Pak etiquette, ever complex
Regarding relations and sex,
Sees fatherless Sindhi
Caught dancing the Lindy
With Mum through Orangi-tone specs.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 04/01/2017 21:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Trust me, ZF is even better if you can smell the poem.
Posted by: Shipman || 04/01/2017 22:02 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Taliban militants suffer heavy casualties in US airstrike in East of Afghanistan
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Taliban hard boyz suffered heavy casualties in an Arclight airstrike conducted by the US forces in eastern Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
province of Afghanistan.

The provincial police commandment said the US forces targeted the Taliban hard boyz in Khogyani district late on Wednesday night.

Zakir famous as Adal, the shadow district chief of the group for Khogyani, was killed along with three other senior commanders, the source added.

According to the police commandment of Nangarhar, the three commanders killed in the Arclight airstrike have been identified as Gul Mohammad famous as Haji Barakat, Usman and Gharawal.

At least four snuffies also sustained injuries in the Arclight airstrike, the police commandment said.

Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Children killed in Taliban mortar attack
[NEWS.AU] A mortar attack in northern Afghanistan has killed five civilians, including four children from the same family.

The incident occurred on Thursday when Taliban fighters attacked a security post, a front man for the governor of Takhar province said.

One of the mortars hit a nearby home, killing everyone inside.

In the same district of Khwaja Bahuddin, Taliban fighters killed a security policeman and his wife and mother, the front man said.

Taliban infiltration into the northern provinces is increasing as the weather improves.
Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Iraq
6 ISIS leaders die in airstrike in Kirkuk
Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) Airstrikes killed six Islamic State leaders southwest of Kirkuk on Friday, according to Kurdish military sources.

The six members were killed when an airstrike targeted their gathering on an IS-held road between al-Riyadh and al-Khaled regions west of Kirkuk, military sources within Peshmerga troops were quoted saying.

Iraqi government forces have been backed by fighter jets from the U.S.-led international military coalition in its campaign running since 2014 to clear Iraqi cities from Islamic State militants.

IS has been holding a few strongholds in southwestern Kirkuk since it emerged in 2014 to proclaim an “Islamic Caliphate”. IS has been losing personnel and ground since a campaign launched in October to retake areas held by the group, most notably the city of Mosul, its largest bastion in Iraq.

The Iraqi government, once finished with its campaign in Mosul, is expected to launch further offensives at other areas held by IS, including Kirkuk.

IS has executed hundreds of civilians in Kirkuk’s town of Hawija over accusations ranging from fleeing its strongholds and collaborating with security forces.
Posted by: badanov || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


-Land of the Free
This Week in Guns, April 1st, 2017


By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

Housekeeping Note: The quarterly ammunition report is below.

Rantburg's summary for arms and ammunition:

Hand gun ammunition prices changed very little since the beginning of 2017. However, some rifle ammunition prices dropped drastically, with the two most popular cartridges, the 5.56x45mm AR and the 7.62x39mm AK ammunition both dropping an average of 7.5 percent from the previous quarter.

This follows my observations in January that ammunition prices did not follow their usual pattern of price spikes during Christmas, then dropping for the next few months.

Some ammunition manufacturers are already taking countermeasures. I suspect that lifting the lid off business regulations by the national government will cause the cost of inputs, such as metal, powder and personnel to drop as well. There's only so much a manufacturer can do to stop declines in a potentially deflationary environment.

Remember Badanov's Basic Economic Law: Abundance is the natural state of free markets.

Prices for pistol ammunition were steady. Prices for rifle ammunition were mostly steady.

Prices for used pistols were mixed. Prices for used rifles were mostly lower.

New Lows:

None

I have been having a good ole time with Facebook acquaintances guffawing at leftists and firearms, such as the kommies in Arizona displaying their firepower. Something reassuring about young men and women, untrained and unfit, hauling around semiautomatics and criticizing their choices like a woman criticizes fashion.

Something is unfunny, however, about the notion that these young people have been talked into doing this demonstration. Rather than a bald display of potential firepower, what we are seeing are several candidates for federal prison, just as soon as one or more makes a statement to the snitches and informants who are without doubt in their midst. How many times have we seen federal employees try to elicit statements made in private, then once in custody, not being aware of their rights, confess to crimes the government can then convict.

In Nevada the government's case against the Bundys and those who tried to help continues, based in part upon incendiary statements the government's own informants made. And now they have arrested a blogger who outed several snitches. According to the material I have read, the government intends to use the testimony of snitches without allowing the defendants' lawyers to confront them.

The law is supposed to help people, but instead it has been weaponized by the government.

Loads.

Pistol Ammunition

.45 Caliber, 230 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (4 Weeks)
(From Q4, 2016: .24 per round, Unchanged)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Wolf, FMJ, Steel Casing, .23 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Wolf, FMJ, Steel Casing, .23 per round (From Last week: Unchanged (9 Weeks))

.40 Caliber Smith & Wesson, 180 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks)
(From Q4, 2016: .22 per round, -.01 Each)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Freedom Munitions, Own Brand, RNFP, Brass Casing, Reloads .21 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: LAX Ammunition Own Brand, RSFP, Brass Casing, Reloads, FMJ, .21 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks))

9mm Parabellum, 115 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (4Q, 2016)
(From Q4, 2016: .24 per round, Unchanged)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .15 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Bullet Barn, Own Brand, TMJ, Reloads, Brass Casing, .15 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (8 Weeks))

.357 Magnum, 158 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (1Q, 2017)
(From Q4, 2016: .25 per round, -.01 Each)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .24 per round
Cheapest Bulk: 1,000 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .24 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (1Q, 1017))

.38 Special, 158 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks)
(No Data Available)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Freedom Munition, Own Brand, RNFP, Brass Casing, Reloads .24 per round
Cheapest Bulk: 500 rounds: Hyperion Munitions, Own Brand, RN, Brass Casing, Reloads .25 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (5 Weeks))

Rifle Ammunition

.223 Caliber/5.56mm 55 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (3 Weeks)
(From Q4, 2016: .24 per round, -.03 Each)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Outdoor Unlimited, Wolf WPA, FMJ, Steel Casing, .20 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Outdoor Unlimited, Wolf WPA, FMJ, Steel Casing, .20 per round (From Last Week: -.01 Each After Unchanged (4 Weeks))

.308 NATO 150 Grain, From Last Week: +.01 Each After Unchanged (9 Weeks)
(From Q4, 2016: .34 per round, -.02 Each)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Outdoor Unlimited, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .32 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Outdoor Unlimited, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .32 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (1Q, 2017))

7.62x39mm AK 123 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (8 Weeks)
(From Q4, 2016: .25 per round, -.05 Each)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Outdoor Unlimited, Wolf WPA, Steel Casing, FMJ, .20 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: Outdoor Unlimited, Wolf WPA, Steel Casing, FMJ, .20 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks))

.30-06 Springfield 145 Grain. From Last Week: Unchanged (4 Weeks)
(No Data Available)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Outdoor Unlimited, Wolf WPA, Steel Casing, FMJ, .54 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: United Nations Ammo, Wolf WPA, Steel Casing, FMJ, .54 per round (From Last week: Unchanged (6 Weeks))

.300 Winchester Magnum 150 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (5 Weeks)
(No Data Available)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Ammunition Depot, Prvi Partizan, Brass Casing, SP, .95 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: Ammo Liquidator, Hornady Whitetail, Brass Casing, SP, 1.05 per round (From Last Week: +.01 Each After Unchanged (8 Weeks))

.338 Lapua Magnum 250 Grain, From Last Week: -.03 Each After Unchanged (4 Weeks)
(No Data Available)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Bud's Gunshop, Federal Eagle, Brass Casing, JSP, 2.35 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 200 rounds: Target Sports USA, Prvi Partizan, Brass Casing, FMJ, 2.40 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (1Q, 2017))

.22 LR 40 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks)
(From Q4, 2016: .05 per round, Unchanged)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Ammomen, Federal, RNL, .05 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Ammo 2U, CCI Blazer, RNL, .05 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (5 Weeks))

Guns for Private Sale
Rifles


.223/5.56mm (AR Pattern Semiautomatic) Average Price: $489 Last Week Avg: $506(-) ($616 (2Q, 2015), $468 (16 Weeks))
Arizona (143, 143): Palmetto State Armory: $500 ($600 (11 Weeks), $450 (4 Weeks))
Texas (346, 352): DPMS: $525 ($700 (1Q, 2015), $350 (2Q, 2015))
Pennsylvania (197, 195): Mixed Build: $490 ($700 (2Q, 2015), $300 (3Q, 2015))
Virginia (219, 211): American Tactical Imports: $450 ($750 (1Q, 2015), $415 (16 Weeks))
Florida (475, 453): Mixed Build: $480 ($650 (2Q, 2015), $380 (1Q, 2015))

.308 NATO (AR-10 Pattern Semiautomatic) Average Price: $826 Last Week Avg: $900(-) ($1,359 (2Q, 2015), $820 (3Q, 2015))
Arizona (32, 30): Armalite: $950 ($1,350 (7 Weeks)), $650 (12 Weeks))
Texas (120, 120): DPMS Oracle LR308: $850 ($1,500 (4Q, 2014), $700 (35 Weeks))
Pennsylvania (41, 39): DPMS: $830 ($1,600 (20 Weeks), $700 (3Q, 2015))
Virginia (57, 56): DPMS Oracle: $800 ($2,750 (1Q, 2016), $750 (7 Weeks))
Florida (67, 69): Palmetto State Armory: $700 ($1,950 (47 Weeks), $500 (3Q, 2015))

7.62x39mm (AK Pattern Semiautomatic) Average Price: $538 Last Week Avg: $630(-) ($668 (29 Weeks)), $450 (3Q, 2015))
Arizona (28, 24): Vepr: $700 ($800 (3 Weeks), $500 (12 Weeks))
Texas (104, 100): VZ2008: $440 ($800 (1Q, 2016, $350 (3Q, 2014))
Pennsylvania (52, 55): IO: $525 ($750 (1Q, 2015), $375 (1Q, 2015))
Virginia (49, 44): IO: $525 ($700 (42 Weeks), $350 (1Q, 2015))
Florida (131, 140): IO: $500 ($700 (1Q, 2016), $300 (4Q, 2014))

30-30 Winchester Lever Action Average Price: $371 Last Week Avg: $365(+) ($495 (25 Weeks), $296 (3Q, 2015))
Arizona (8, 10): Winchester: $450 ($500 (10 Weeks), $350 (3 Weeks))
Texas (15, 18): Winchester 94: $380 ($550 (1Q, 2015), $300 (1Q, 2015))
Pennsylvania (12, 13): Mossberg 464: $375 ($450 (1Q, 2015), $250 (4Q, 2014))
Virginia (17, 17): Marlin: $350 ($670 (45 Weeks)), $250 (4Q, 2015))
Florida (25, 23): Rossi Rio Grande: $300 ($500 (1Q, 2015), $250 (2Q, 2015))

Pistols

.45 caliber ACP (M1911 Pattern Semiautomatic Pistol) Average Price: $446 Last Week Avg: $448(-) ($515 (34 Weeks)), $350 (4Q, 2015))
Arizona (82, 79): Dan Wesson: $450 ($600 (9 Weeks), $400 (13 Weeks))
Texas (267, 267): Taurus 1911: $525 ($600 (4Q, 2014), $300 (17 Weeks))
Pennsylvania (155, 148): Taurus: $475 ($575 (12 Weeks), $300 (2Q, 2015))
Virginia (141, 144): Llama 1911: $400 ($600 (9 Weeks)), $250 (4Q, 2014))
Florida (323, 329): Llama 1911: $380 ($500 (1Q, 2016), $250 (1Q, 2015))

9mm (Beretta 92FS or other Semiautomatic) Average Price: $277 Last Week Avg: $275(+) ($358 (1Q, 2016), $231 (13 Weeks))
Arizona (138, 139): Canik 55: $395 ($400 (2 Weeks)), $275 (13 Weeks))
Texas (360, 358): Taurus PT111 G2: $220 ($355 (1Q, 2015), $200 (3Q, 2015))
Pennsylvania (312, 295): Taurus PT111: $225 ($350 (4Q 2014), $150 (6 Weeks))
Virginia (252, 236): Diamondback DB9FS: $299 ($425 (4Q, 2016), $189 (2Q, 2016))
Florida (546, 540): Kel Tec P11: $250 ($400 (1Q, 2016), $190 (34 Weeks))

.40 caliber S&W (Glock or other semiautomatic) Average Price: $318 Last Week Avg: $306(+) ($399 (1Q, 2016), $262 (42 Weeks))
Arizona (38, 40): Smith and Wesson M&P: $450 ($500 (12 Weeks), ($250 (3 Weeks))
Texas (112, 118): Springfield Armory XDM: $220 ($425 (4Q, 2014), ($210 (27 Weeks))
Pennsylvania (102, 95): Taurus PT740: $225 ($450 (50 Weeks), $200 (30 Weeks))
Virginia (85, 88): Smith and Wesson SW40VE: $300 ($450 (2Q, 2015), $275 (1Q, 2015))
Florida (142, 140): Smith & Wesson M&P: $399 ($400 (1Q, 2015), $199 (4Q, 2015))

Used Gun of the Week: (Florida)
Sig Sauer MPX-9 Pistol chambered in 9mm Parabellum
Posted by: badanov || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A picture is worth a thousand words and the commies seem to be a bit out of shape and not fully armed. Assault rifles are intimidating to the novice but these people were present as counter demonstrators, a wide open, close quarter environment. If they were trying to immolate right wing armed protestors they failed. Did not see any handguns on the lefties, which right wing protesters appear sometimes with assault rifles AND with hand gun combinations.

In close quarter, face to face confrontations, an opponent can grab the barrel of an assault rifle and counter with a lethal shot with a pistol.

Motion is a close quarter tactic. Seems a little un-orthodox to approach an aggressor armed with an assault rifle but you are the one initiating movement momentum to dodge a shot from your stationary opponent and you are also moving closer to get a more accurate kill shot.

The one with the first shot on target usually is the one who lives. When you are in motion you minimize your self as a target because you can react quicker when in motion. TALK. And your speech causes your opponent to temporarily focus on you, not your weapon, you are creating a verbal distraction for at least a split second.

1) Quick first shot on target method.


2) Using motion to your advantage. Sometimes Hollywood gets the finer details right...

Posted by: Snolurt Schwarzeneggar9713 || 04/01/2017 1:12 Comments || Top||

#2  There's only so much a manufacturer can do to stop declines in a potentially deflationary environment.

Higher import taxes will also advantage domestic suppliers.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/01/2017 8:44 Comments || Top||

#3  "Open Range" is one of my favs. Great movie
Posted by: Frank G || 04/01/2017 10:45 Comments || Top||

#4  Thanks badanov.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/01/2017 14:02 Comments || Top||


Government
State [Department] employee charged in FBI probe
[TheHill] A State Department employee pleaded not guilty in court on Wednesday after being charged in an FBI investigation, the Department of Justice announced.

Candace Claiborne,
...who accepted gifts from Chinese agents for five years...
who worked in the Caucasus Affairs office of the State Department, is being charged for two felony offenses.

Claiborne is being charged with "obstructing an official proceeding and making false statements to the FBI, both felony offenses, for allegedly concealing numerous contacts that she had over a period of years with foreign intelligence agents," a Justice Department release said.

Claiborne, who has a top-secret security clearance, failed to disclose her foreign contacts abroad despite being required to do so.
Boodle list HERE. Continues.
This article starring:
Candace Claiborne
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Commies


VA retaliation against whistleblower: doctor kept in empty room

Dr. Dale Klein may be the highest-paid U.S. government employee who literally does nothing while he's on the clock. A highly rated pain management specialist at the Southeast Missouri John J. Pershing V.A., Klein is paid $250,000 a year to work with veterans, but instead of helping those who served their country, he sits in a small office and does nothing. All day. Every day.

Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Maintaining workload and assignment management do NOT fall under Whistleblower Protections.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/01/2017 8:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Internal retaliation sends a message to other employees. 'Don't be that guy.'
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2017 8:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Firing the senior level management would also send a message.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/01/2017 10:13 Comments || Top||

#4  There are people who'd kill to get his job, just saying.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/01/2017 10:20 Comments || Top||

#5  I dunno, grom. When you don't have anything to do at work the boredom is crushing.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 04/01/2017 11:09 Comments || Top||

#6  he's not doing it by choice. The VA Hospital is assigning him to the empty room and not giving him any patients - and *you* are paying for it.
People need to go to jail for crap like this.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/01/2017 11:17 Comments || Top||

#7  Books
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/01/2017 11:24 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Taliban imposing tribute in Zabul
A number of truck drivers said this week that the Taliban has started imposing illegal taxes on them in the Shamalzai district of Zabul province and when they cross the Durand Line and enter the district, they give 8,000 to 15,000 (Pakistani) Rupees to the Taliban and receive a customs receipt.

“They have built camps there and are always there. We cannot tell them anything,” said Rahimullah, a driver.

The drivers also said border police and local police in the Shamalzai – Qalat road force them to pay money.

“We cannot say no to the Taliban or government. They stand in our way and ask for money,” said Abdul Shokor, a driver.

Zabul provincial police chief, Mirwais Khan Noorzai confirmed Taliban takes money from the drivers, but Taliban have not officially commented on the issue.

“Taliban have not established a custom, they are thieves and sometimes come there and stand on the road,” Noorzai said.

Zabul provincial council meanwhile said Taliban takes money from 3,000 trucks that use the road through Shamalzai district.

“In the regions out of government control, Taliban have established a custom and take 15,000 Rupees from every truck,” said Assadullah Kakar, deputy head of the council.

Shamalzai district is the most insecure district in Zabul province, which shares a 64km border with Pakistan. According to local officials, 34km of the border of the district is controlled by security forces, while the remaining 30km is controlled by Taliban.
Posted by: badanov || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Iraq
5 ISIS militants die in Mosul


Mosul (IraqiNews.com) U.S-led coalition airstrikes have killed three senior Islamic State leaders in western Mosul, while two suicide bombers were killed before carrying out an attack.

A statement by the Defense Ministry said late Thursday that coalition strikes pounded IS locations in al-Islah district in western Mosul, killing three senior leaders of the militant group.

According to the statement, those killed included one nicknamed Abu Gamal al-Baljiki, a military area commander, ahmed Suhaib al-Takriti, the group’s “economy official” and Mohamed Elwan al-Takriti, who was in charge of IS camps in western Mosul.

A separate statement by the Interior Ministry also said security forces killed two suicide attackers from IS putting on explosive vests at Hammam al-Alil, an area in southern Mosul recaptured late 2016 by security forces, which also hosts refugee camps.

Iraqi government forces recaptured eastern Mosul in January, and have been struggling since mid February to retake the western side of the city that fell to IS in 2014.

Iraqi and coalition generals have reiterated that IS combat powers were waning and many senior leaders had been killed or fled the city since operations launched to liberate the western region.
Google Map at the link
Posted by: badanov || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Iraqi militia shoots down ISIS drone in Salahuddin
Shirqat (IraqiNews.com) Pro-Iraqi government paramilitary forces downed a drone guided by Islamic State militants in Salahuddin province on Friday.

Al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units) said through its media service they brought down a drone guided by the militant group in Ein al-Baida village, south of the town of Shirqat.

IS militants still pose a security threat in Salahuddin though security forces had recaptured large areas of the province since the group emerged in 2014 to proclaim an “Islamic Caliphate”.

Islamic State members have increasingly relied on weaponized drones in bombing civilians and security troops in Mosul, where IS has been losing ground and personnel since a security campaign launched in October to retake the city.

PMUs have been actively fighting IS in Iraq alongside the Iraqi government troops since 2014. They won official recognition as a national force that responds to the Prime Minister last November.
Posted by: badanov || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Government
Top US officials defend courthouse arrests of undocumented immigrants in escalating feud with California justice
[Salt Lake Tribune] Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly fired back at California's chief justice for criticizing the use of courthouses to arrest undocumented immigrants, writing in a letter released Friday that the practice was only necessary because the state was so uncooperative on immigration enforcement matters.

Responding to a missive from California Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye, Sessions and Kelly wrote that the characterization of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers "stalking" undocumented immigrants at courthouses was "particularly troubling," and that officers were within their rights to arrest undocumented immigrants in public places.

They blamed state and local officials for enacting "statutes and ordinances designed to specifically prohibit or hinder ICE from enforcing immigration law" and "denying requests by ICE officers and agents to enter prisons and jails to make arrests." Such policies, they wrote, made it necessary for officers to arrest undocumented immigrants at courthouses.

"We would encourage you to express your concerns to the Governor of California and local officials who have enacted policies that occasionally necessitate ICE officers and agents to make arrests at courthouses and other public places," the two men wrote.

Responding to their letter, Cantil-Sakauye said in a statement she appreciated the reply but "making arrests at courthouses, in my view, undermines public safety because victims and witnesses will fear coming to courthouses to help enforce the law."

"I am disappointed that despite local and state public safety issues at stake, courthouses are not on ICE's 'sensitive areas' list that includes schools, churches, and hospitals," she said.

The back-and-forth marks an escalation in the burgeoning battle between federal and some state governments over immigration enforcement matters, with both sides staking out aggressive postures.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If your so concerned about public safety perhaps you should talk to the CA Assembly, Mayors, and Governor. *THEY* are who created the situation.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/01/2017 1:48 Comments || Top||

#2  And besides, these are Neighbors Whom we may chose to have or not.

You ignorant robe throwers.
Posted by: newc || 04/01/2017 2:04 Comments || Top||

#3  A 'courthouse arrest' might have saved Kate, but we'll never know.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2017 2:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Start arresting the California lawmakers that support this lawlessness.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/01/2017 9:55 Comments || Top||

#5  There must be some kind of criminal charge that can be made against Gov. Moonbeam along with many of California's mayors, legislators and city council members. It's time to put some of these people in jail.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 04/01/2017 11:05 Comments || Top||

#6  I say this with all seriousness. If we are to be a nation of laws then laws must be enforced. Public officials who obstruct law enforcement need to be put in jail just like anybody else who aids and abets the commission of a crime.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 04/01/2017 11:07 Comments || Top||

#7  Cantil-Sakauye said in a statement she appreciated the reply but "making arrests at courthouses, in my view, undermines public safety because victims and witnesses will fear coming to courthouses to help enforce the law."

Good! I hope they're so afraid that they get the fuck out of my country.
Posted by: Crusader || 04/01/2017 16:33 Comments || Top||

#8  "Gentlemen, you can't enforce the law in here. This is a courthouse!"
Posted by: charger || 04/01/2017 19:02 Comments || Top||

#9  Sadly, the good ones try to follow the rules and go to court.
Get the urban APCs and violate the barrios.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/01/2017 22:02 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian military summary
More members of terrorist organizations are being killed as the army continues to hit their positions and gatherings in various provinces.

Hamah

Syrian Army units, in cooperation with the supporting forces, restored security and stability to five towns and villages and a number of strategic areas in the northern countryside of Hamah.

A military source said that army units, in cooperation with the supporting forces, restored security and stability to the towns of Khattab, al-Sheer, al-Majdal, Soubin, Zour Jadidd, Tallet Beijo and Rahbat Khattab after inflicting heavy losses upon al-Nusra terrorists.

The source added that the army is continuing its military operations in chasing terrorists of al-Nusra and other affiliated terrorist groups in several directions in parallel with the dismantling of explosive devices planted by the terrorists on Hamah-Maharda road.

Homs

The source also said that the army killed at least 10 members of al-Nusra terrorist groups that attacked the locals in the villages of Akrad al-Dasnyieh and Qniet al-Assi in the northern countryside of Homs.

Daraa

Army units carried out operations against gatherings and sites for al-Nusra Front and other terrorist groups affiliated to it in Tariq al-Sad neighborhood, al-Nazihin Camp, to the south of al-Abbasyia Bakery and to the north of al-Masri Rotary in Daraa al-Balad area in the southern province of Daraa.

The source added that 8 terrorists were killed during the operations, in addition to the destruction of 3 command centers, 4 barricades, an SUV car, a bulldozer, a machine gun and a number of motorcycles which were used by terrorists to attack military points and infiltrate into safe areas.

Source: SANA
Posted by: badanov || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Africa North
Police ignoring attacks on it says Tripoli’s Dar Al-Ifta
[Libya Herald] The Dar al-Ifta in 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...
has claimed that the city’s security directorate has taken no action after it reported that its building was attacked yesterday by gunnies. It said the police had not responded to its official complaint.
Dar al-Ifta is the Fatwa House, which was last seen under control of the Mad Mufti al-Ghariani.
A Dar al-Ifta source said that the attackers had been travelling in an armoured vehicle and had sprayed the building with bullets.

It is also being claimed that this is the second attack within a fortnight the Dar al-Ifta has been assaulted. On the first occasion gunnies had broken into the building at dawn. They had tied up the occupants and beaten them. They thereafter broke the locks off office doors and took items.

The Dar al-Ifta gave no further details of the two attacks.

Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Afghanistan
Militants involved in major target killings arrested by Afghan forces
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Two bully boyz involved in major murders have been tossed in the calaboose
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
by the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) personnel.

The Ministry of Interior (MoI) said the two individuals were involved in the killing of three Special Forces of the Afghan National Police (ANP) forces.

MoI further added that the two individuals were also involved in at least twenty terrorist attacks in southeastern Paktika
...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo...
province of Afghanistan.

The ministry did not disclose further information regarding the exact location where the two individuals were arrested.

According to MoI, the two men were also involved in some other criminal activities, including kidnappings and roadside kaboomings.

This comes as the Afghan forces have been involved in the annual clearance operations conducted under name of Shafaq operations.

However,
Switzerland makes more than cheese...
the Minister of Interior (MoI) Taj Mohammad Jahid said two days ago that another major operation will be launched under the name of Khalid to retake the lost areas.

The operations Khalid will also focus on counter-terrorism operations which will be conducted during the year as the Afghan forces are facing resurgent Taliban and threats posed by other terrorist groups including the offshoot of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group.

Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Home Front: Culture Wars
Purdue U hires SJW for endowed chair to head Engineering Ed Dept
from professor Donna Riley's bio page at Smith (where she currently works)
My scholarship currently focuses on applying liberative pedagogies in engineering education, leveraging best practices from women's studies and ethnic studies to engage students in creating a democratic classroom that encourages all voices. In 2005 I received a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation to support this work, which includes developing, implementing, and assessing curricular and pedagogical innovations based on liberative pedagogies and student input at Smith, and understanding how students at Smith conceptualize their identities as engineers. I seek as an engineering educator to be part of a paradigm shift that these pedagogies demand, repositioning concerns about diversity in science and engineering from superficial measures of equity as headcounts, to addressing justice and the genuine engagement of all students as core educational challenges.
Apparently this is not a satire.
Posted by: lord garth || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "If a foreign government had imposed this system of education on the United States, we would rightfully consider it an act of war."

Glenn T. Seaborg, National Commission on Education, 1983
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/01/2017 5:00 Comments || Top||

#2  And if the facts and the data don't agree, we'll get some new facts and data.
Posted by: ed in texas || 04/01/2017 11:43 Comments || Top||

#3  World-class drivel right there.
Posted by: Raj || 04/01/2017 12:10 Comments || Top||

#4  Raj :yep, that's some serious word salad right there.

So... can we assume that the Purdue engineering students won't be allowed to learn all of that ucky white patriarchy stuff like math, physics, chemistry, thermodynamics, statics, dynamics, electromagnetism, etc., etc., etc?

SpaceX recruiter: "Have you had much exposure to basic rocket engine design?"
Purdue grad: "How hard can it be? I'll just Google it."
Posted by: PBMcL || 04/01/2017 12:49 Comments || Top||

#5  SpaceX recruiter: "Have you had much exposure to basic rocket engine design?"
Purdue Grad: Thats { racist | sexist | islamophobic | homophobic | moronophobic } !!!!! I'll sue because my feelings are hurt!
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/01/2017 13:20 Comments || Top||

#6  What's 2 + 2?

What do you want it to be?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/01/2017 15:17 Comments || Top||

#7  ...creating a democratic classroom that encourages all voices
YJCMTSU! The bio page at Smith College: Donna Riley, AssocProf. of Engineering..
Pseudo-Marxist drivel, assuming that dogma can reshape reality through the magic of reification.
Posted by: magpie || 04/01/2017 16:29 Comments || Top||

#8  Putting the A SJW in STEAM STEASJWM

Don't hire grads from SJW colleges. The angry parents who paid tens of thousands for an unemployable HR-nightmare will do your work for you in reforming academia. Also, don't forgive student loans for unemployable SJW degrees
Posted by: Frank G || 04/01/2017 18:05 Comments || Top||

#9  Lysenko laughs.
Posted by: charger || 04/01/2017 18:59 Comments || Top||

#10  I'm afraid it isn't drivel. It requires a little translation, but the meaning is quite clear: "Ya'll are screwed up. I'm here to teach you goodthink. When the miracles don't happen, that will just prove how much you need me."
Posted by: james || 04/01/2017 19:05 Comments || Top||

#11  ''This can't be real, Mitch Daniels is still President, seriously, I can't believe this
Posted by: TzSenator || 04/01/2017 22:05 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Kenya Arrests 'Wanted Islamic State Militant' Who Trafficked Recruits
More on this story from yesterday.
[All Africa] Kenya has incarcerated
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
a suspected Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
murderous Moslem on the country's "most wanted" list who allegedly helped send recruits to Libya and Somalia, police said on Thursday.

Police seized Ali Hussein Ali, who is nicknamed "Trusted One", and two accomplices in the coastal town of Malindi on Monday.

In a statement, the police said Ali had helped smuggle recruits to Islamic State in Libya where he has ties with a human trafficking ring, and to the al-Shabaab
... the personification of Somali state failure...
murderous Moslem group in Somalia.

He also moved money around East Africa and beyond for Islamic State, police said.

Kenya has in recent years suffered a series of attacks by al-Shabaab, which is waging an insurgency against the U.N.-backed government in Somalia, where Kenya has deployed peacekeepers.

Islamic State has also claimed at least two low-level attacks in Kenya.

Kenyan police said Ali was born in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, and moved to Kenya in 2010 under the guise of being a tourist. He then moved to Libya, via South Africa and Sudan, where he joined IS, before returning to Kenya last November, police added.

The two men he was arrested with are also suspected of having links to Islamic State and al-Shabaab, the police said.
Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Afghanistan
Over 70 rockets fired on Kunar from Pakistan in past 24 hours
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The restive eastern Kunar province
... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country.....
of Afghanistan once again witnessed artillery shelling from the other side of the Durand Line as dozens of shells landed in its two districts in the past twenty four hours.

According to the local officials, the artillery shelling took place on Sarkano and Khas Kunar districts.

Provincial police front man Faridullah Dehqan confirmed that more than 70 artillery shells landed in the vicinity of the two districts.

He said no human loss or collateral damage was reported as a result of the shelling.

This comes as the Afghan government earlier this month wrote a formal memo to the United Nations
...boodling on the grand scale...
Security Council to file a complaint regarding the growing artillery shelling by the Pak military in eastern provinces of the country located along the Durand Line.

The Afghan government in its memo mentioned regarding the 1,266 artillery shells fired on eastern provinces since the month of January that has inflicted casualties to the residents besides causing collateral damage.

The memo also contained information regarding the displacement of more than 400 families due to the shelling.

Tensions between Kabul
...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either....
and Islamabad intensified following a series of deadly terrorist attacks in both the countries.

Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Arabia
Houthis kidnap 5 NGO workers in Ibb
SANAA: Yemeni security officials said Houthi rebels have detained seven local employees of the International Medical Corps, accusing them of spying for foreign intelligence.

They said the Houthis raided a hotel the humanitarian group was using in Ibb province, taking the employees to a prison in Sanaa.
Meanwhile, three suspected Al-Qaeda members were killed overnight in what local officials believed was a US drone strike in southern Yemen.

Residents and local officials said on Friday the attack took place in Mozno in Al-Wadie district of Abyan province. The three killed included the local leader of the militant group, Waddah Muhammed Amsouda, who was meeting the others in a house in the area, they said. Residents also reported a separate attack on a suspected Al-Qaeda vehicle, in the same province, but said the number of casualties was unknown.
Posted by: badanov || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Bangladesh
Operation Maximus suspended due to low light, militants still inside
[Dhaka Tribune] ‐ CTTC Chief Monirul Islam says that the operation is ongoing and has been halted for the night due to low light.

‐ Operation will be resumed from tomorrow morning, weather permitting.

‐ Explosions that have been heard were IEDs set off by snuffies whenever SWAT tried to approach the building.

‐ The number of snuffies inside the building is still unknown.

‐ The snuffies are suspected to have a huge cache of explosives.

‐ The operation is proving difficult as the hideout has a number of different rooms wherein snuffies may be hiding.
Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (IS)

#1  Police have urged landlords across the country to be careful before renting their houses.

Always a good policy.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/01/2017 7:26 Comments || Top||

#2  how about demolishing the building in the dark?
Posted by: Frank G || 04/01/2017 8:43 Comments || Top||

#3  ...former Attorney General Reno to the courtesy phone.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/01/2017 10:05 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Govt told to fix punishment for false blasphemy accusers
[DAWN] The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday set a month’s deadline for the federal government to amend the law to fix punishment for falsely accusing someone of blasphemy.

In a short order, the IHC asked the federal government to amend the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 adding in it offences related to blasphemy and pornography as well.

The court disposed of a petition filed to block sacrilegious material from the social media after Attorney General Ashtar Ausaf submitted a statement that since the court had already pointed out the need for providing penal consequences for false accusations regarding blasphemy, the prime minister may direct the ministries to form a committee for assessing the existing legal regime and providing suitable amendments to various laws, including the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016.

According to the statement of the attorney general, the proposed committee, headed by the minister of law and justice, would comprise the ministries of interior, information technology and religious affairs.

Justice Siddiqui gave the government a month to take appropriate measures in this regard after which it would pass a detailed order.

Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Africa North
Appointments of Qaddafi-era military officials unacceptable Zintan tells Hafter
[Libya Herald] The appointment by Khalifa Hafter of officials who supported the Qadaffy regime to military and security posts is not acceptable, Zintan Military Council has said in a letter to the general command of the Libyan National Army (LNA). In a statement issued yesterday saying that such appointments had to be reversed, it accused the LNA of pursuing a vision "radically different from the vision of the revolution of the 17th of February".

It also said that attempting through such appointments to bring tribes into alliance with the LNA would in fact divide the country, not unite it,

The LNA leadership had to put the interests of the country first, Zintan military council demanded.

Although no names were mentioned in the statement, it is believed that it was triggered by theLNA’s appointment this week of Brigadier Mabrook Sahban as its commander of the Sirte military zone. A senior officer in the Qadaffy forces during the revolution, Sahban is hated in Zintan for his role dueing the revolution when his forces besieged and bombarded the mountain town.

Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
UN agency suspends Gaza missions after Hamas restrictions
[AlAhram] A United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
political agency suspended its missions to Gazoo Friday after the Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, authorities in the Paleostinian enclave partly closed the key border crossing into Israel, a source said.

The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East grinding of the peace processor (UNSCO) will not send staff to Gazoo until further notice, the source close to the organization told AFP on condition of anonymity, after Hamas imposed tough new restrictions following the liquidation of one of its members.

The decision was made, the source added, as frustration grows at the negative impact of the restrictions for aid work and Gazook citizens.

UNSCO is the key UN agency working on the currently stagnant Paleostinian-Israeli grinding of the peace processor, and the restrictions will apply to its head, UN envoy for the Middle East Nickolay Mladenov.

In previous conflicts between Hamas and Israel UNSCO helped to negotiate ceasefires, and Mladenov reports regularly to the UN Security Council.

Hamas, which runs the Gazoo Strip, shut the Erez crossing into Israel on Sunday after blaming the Jewish state for assassinating senior military figure Mazen Faqha, 38, near his home last Friday.

Erez is the only crossing for people, although a separate route is available for goods.

On Monday, they reopened Erez for those entering Gazoo, but men between 18 and 45 are still largely prevented from leaving the enclave of two million people.

Reports said Hamas was looking for the assassins, believing they are still in Gazoo, but the knock-on effects have been significant.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


India-Pakistan
‘TTP leader’ killed in South Waziristan operation
[DAWN] A close aide of Khan Said, naib emir of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP), and his guard were killed during a search operation conducted by security forces on Friday along the border of South Wazoo Agency with Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
province.

Mehmoodul Hasan alias Khwaja Madni was said to be an important member of the TTP.

According to sources, the security forces conducted the search operation in Tor Mazdak area of the agency, close to the Balochistan border, after receiving information about the presence of Lion of Islam leaders there.

They said a clash erupted when the security personnel were searching houses in the area, leaving the two men dead.

The sources said Khwaja Madni had remained affiliated with TTP chief Baitullah Mehsud. He joined Waliur Rehman after Baitullah died in a drone attack.

They said Khwaja Madni stayed back in Waziristan after all leaders of the TTP escaped to Afghanistan in the wake of military operations.
Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Science & Technology
SpaceX successfully launches first recycled rocket booster
[DAWN] A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket recovered at sea from its maiden flight last year blasted off again from Florida on Thursday in the first successful launch of a recycled orbital-class booster, then capped the feat with another return landing on an ocean platform.

The unprecedented twin achievements of re-launching a used rocket and salvaging the vehicle yet again were hailed by billionaire SpaceX founder Elon Musk as a revolutionary step in his quest to slash launch costs and shorten intervals between space shots.

"This is a huge day," Musk told news hounds after the launch. "My mind's blown." It took Space Exploration Technologies Corp, as the Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,-based company is formally known, 15 years to demonstrate that a rocket typically discarded in the ocean after a single flight could be recovered and reused.

The SpaceX chief executive said his next goal is to turn the booster around for relaunch in 24 hours, a milestone he said could be accomplished before the end of the year.

The potential is there for an over 100-fold reduction in the cost of access to space. If we can achieve that, it means humanity can become a space-faring civilization and be out there among the stars. This is what we want for the future, he said.

The Falcon 9 booster, which previously flew in April 2016, lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center at 2227 GMT to put a communications satellite into orbit for Luxembourg-based SES SA.

The boosters main section then separated from the rest of the rocket and flew itself back to a landing pad in the Atlantic, where it successfully touched down for its second at-sea return.

"We made a little bit of history today ... opened the door into a whole new era of spaceflight, said Martin Halliwell the chief technology officer for SES, who joined Musk at the news conference.

SpaceX landed an orbital rocket after launch for the first time in December 2015, a feat it has now repeated eight times. The Falcon 9 booster launched for the company's 33rd mission on Thursday was also the first to make a successful return landing in the ocean.
Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Karachi suffers crippling traffic jam as JI blocks major thoroughfare
[DAWN] Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
(JI) workers protesting the arrest of 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...
chapter Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, who was placed in durance vile
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
earlier, blocked Karachi’s Sharea Faisal and other major thoroughfares causing hardship to commuters and skirmished with law enforcing authorities.

Rehman was released later in the evening and reached the party head office. He said that JI is an ideological party and it stands for non-violence.

"We wanted to hold a peaceful demonstration. Instead, it was turned into a violent one," the JI Karachi emir added.

"We were willing to cooperate with the authorities. We even offered to switch tracks on Sharea Faisal if the traffic load increased," said Rehman.

The local JI emir said it was for "the beloved KE" that people were arrested today.

The party has announced a protest on Saturday.
Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


Gujarat greenlights life sentences for cow slaughter
[Dhaka Tribune] India Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat
...where rioting seems to be a traditional passtime...
on Friday increased the punishment for cow slaughter from seven years to life imprisonment as Hindu hardliners push for tougher protections for the holy animal.

Under the stiffened penalties passed by Gujarat’s state assembly, anyone caught transporting cows for slaughter could also face up to 10 years in jail.

Cows are considered sacred in Hindu-majority India, and their slaughter is illegal in most states.

"A cow is not an animal. It is symbol of universal life," Gujarat law minister Pradipsinh Jadeja told the state’s assembly. "Anybody who does not spare the cow, the government will not spare him."

The amendment still needs the approval of the state governor, a formality all but assured, before becoming law.

Millions from India’s huge minority populations, including Moslems, Christians and lower-caste Hindus, eat beef, although it is not widely available.

But Modi’s ruling right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party, which recently won India’s largest state Uttar Pradesh in a landslide, has long campaigned for the protection of cows.

The BJP’s new chief minister in Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, has launched a crackdown on abattoirs since taking office in March that has ground the state’s meat industry to a halt.

Hindu activists have long accused the Moslem-dominated meat industry of covering up the slaughter of cows and passing off the meat as buffalo, which are not revered as holy.

Cow slaughter is a hot-button issue in India, where even rumours of cows being transported can spark murderous reprisals and religious riots.

Squads of "cow protection" vigilantes are known to roam highways inspecting livestock trucks for any trace of the animal.

In 2015 a 50-year-old Moslem man accused of eating beef was dragged from his home in 2015 and beaten to death by a mob. Police later said it was mutton.
Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  India Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat on Friday increased the punishment for cow slaughter from seven years to life imprisonment as Hindu hardliners push for tougher protections for the holy animal.

Sounds like the Man-Made Climate Change proponents on the "Deniers"
Posted by: Frank G || 04/01/2017 10:43 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
South Carolina man charged with trying to join Islamic State
[WHTC] An 18-year-old South Carolina man accused of attempting to join 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....
was locked away
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
late Thursday before boarding a flight in Charleston, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday.

Zakaryia Abdin of Ladson, South Carolina, appeared in federal court on Friday in Charleston on the charge of trying to aid a designated foreign terrorist organization, the department said in a statement.

The charge is based on Abdin’s suspected attempt to travel overseas to join Islamic State, whose fighters seized control of large areas of Syria and Iraq but have been losing ground in both countries.

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arrested Abdin at Charleston International Airport, the statement said. It did not give details about the evidence against him.

It was not immediately clear if Abdin had a lawyer to comment on the case against him.

Forces backed by the United States, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
and Russia are advancing on Islamic State's Syrian stronghold of Raqqa. Iraqi government forces also retook several Iraqi cities last year and the eastern part of the city of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
.
Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Government
Intel official who 'unmasked' Trump assoc. is 'very high up,' source sez (Video)
[FOX] The U.S. intelligence official who "unmasked," or exposed, the names of multiple private citizens affiliated with the Trump team is someone "very well known, very high up, very senior in the intelligence world," a source told Fox News on Friday.

Intelligence and House sources with direct knowledge of the disclosure of classified names told Fox News that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., now knows who is responsible -- and that person is not in the FBI.

For a private citizen to be "unmasked," or named, in an intelligence report is extremely rare. Typically, the American is a suspect in a crime, is in danger or has to be named to explain the context of the report.

"The main issue in this case, is not only the unmasking of these names of private citizens, but the spreading of these names for political purposes that have nothing to do with national security or an investigation into Russia’s interference in the U.S. election," a congressional source close to the investigation told Fox News.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Democrats have nothing to do with national security. They hate us.
This we knew long, long ago
Posted by: newc || 04/01/2017 2:21 Comments || Top||

#2  This "very high up person" will probably receive the same punishment as HRC has for her server.
Posted by: jvalentour || 04/01/2017 8:31 Comments || Top||

#3  Barry Soetoro's puppet master will soon be revealed. I too, doubt anything will come of it. The Congress as a governing body is a fiction. It's feckless investigations are little more than a pretense for justice. If the evil Clinton's could not be brought to heel, no one can.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2017 8:32 Comments || Top||

#4  However, after viewing the evidence, Schiff is urging all members view it securely so they will know Congress is not being partisan! If nothing to do with Russians or of intel value...this may end up being a big vindication for Trump. And I suspect it is not unmasking of names at issue, but they were never masked in the first place. This sounds like raw intel few should have access to....
Posted by: Whavish Thusoling5684 || 04/01/2017 10:14 Comments || Top||

#5  *cough* Clapper *cough*
Posted by: Frank G || 04/01/2017 10:33 Comments || Top||

#6  "cough possibly Brennan cough cough."
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/01/2017 16:44 Comments || Top||

#7  What little money I have is on Brennan.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2017 16:52 Comments || Top||

#8  If the CIA can do this, it is hard telling what else they can do.

It (WikiLeaks latest Vault 7 release) says the CIA disguised its own hacking attacks to make it appear those responsible were Russian, Chinese, Iranian or North Korean.

WikiLeaks says the source code suggests Marble has test examples in Chinese, Russian, Korean, Arabic and Farsi (the Iranian language).

It says: 'This would permit a forensic attribution double game, for example by pretending that the spoken language of the malware creator was not American Englishbut Chinese.'

This could lead forensic investigators into wrongly concluding that CIA hacks were carried out by the Kremlin, the Chinese government, Iran, North Korea or Arabic-speaking terror groups such as ISIS.
  Daily Mail article.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/01/2017 17:09 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
A Lame Evelyn Farkas Walks Back MSNBC Comments, Blames Russian 'Fake News'
[PJ] Evelyn Farkas, the former Obama administration official who dropped a bombshell on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" earlier this month, is now furiously back-peddling. Farkas, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense under Obama, seemed to admit during that March 2 appearance that her colleagues had gathered intelligence on the Trump campaign's alleged ties to Russia before Donald Trump took office and then tried to hide the sources of that intelligence from the incoming administration.

"I was urging my former colleagues and, frankly speaking, the people on the Hill, it was more actually aimed at telling the Hill people, get as much information as you can, get as much intelligence as you can, before President Obama leaves the administration," said Farkas.
I fear for Evelyn.
"I had a fear that somehow that information would disappear with the senior [Obama] people who left, so it would be hidden away in the bureaucracy," she said, adding that if "the Trump folks" found out how they knew what they knew, "they would try to compromise those sources and methods, meaning we would no longer have access to that intelligence."

And then we have the following from Gateway Pundit. You decide:
Evelyn Farkas Was a Hillary Campaign Advisor Touted for Clinton Admin Appointment

The media, including some in conservative media, are not reporting or are burying key information about Dr. Evelyn Farkas, the former Obama official at the center of a controversy over her remarks about Obama government intelligence gathering and dissemination about President Donald Trump’s campaign and transition staffers: Farkas was an advisor to the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign and was touted to be in line for an appointment in the expected Clinton administration by over-confident campaign officials.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Don't hold back. Remember all of this classified information belongs to You after you left Federal Service.

Trump must be a big meany because he is not a Communist like you.
I AM NOT FINISHED WITH YOU YET- Stay in town.
Posted by: newc || 04/01/2017 2:01 Comments || Top||

#2  People like Evelyn are why Vlad goes fishing.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2017 3:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Once you pull the pin on a grenade, its really interesting (from a distance) watch someone try to put it back in.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/01/2017 8:59 Comments || Top||

#4  She figured out she will be thrown to the wolves by the Democrats.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 04/01/2017 9:31 Comments || Top||

#5  'Fake News' functions pretty much like 'wreckers' did in the days of the Soviet Union; with a little hammering, it can be made to fit most anywhere.
Posted by: ed in texas || 04/01/2017 11:47 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
6 people working at US Embassy in Afghanistan fired over drugs
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least six people working at the Embassy of the United States of America have been fired over drugs, it has been reported.

The individuals were reportedly fired for using or possessing drugs after a thorough investigation was conducted.

A State Department official has told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that the firings followed an investigation into allegations of misconduct.

The official further added that those who were embassy employees have been fired and others who were contractors for the embassy have been removed from the contract.

No further details were given regarding the circumstances that led to the launch of the investigation which eventually led to the firing of the individuals.

This comes as there has been a sharp rise in opium cultivation, production and smuggling across the country during the recent months.

According to the last survey report, there has been a 43 per cent rise in opium cultivation in Afghanistan.

The survey jointly conducted by the Afghan authorities and United Nations
...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships...
Office on Drugs and Crime, around 201,000 acres of land were cultivated with opium in 2016.

Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sheesh. Back in the day, State and MACV hired sappers for laundry and landscaping. No imagination here.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 04/01/2017 3:14 Comments || Top||


27 ISIS militants killed in Afghan commandos operations and airstrikes
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least twenty seven Death Eaters affiliated with 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....
of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group were killed during the operations of the Afghan Special Forces (Commandos) and Arclight airstrikes in eastern Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
province of Afghanistan.

The 201st Silab Corps of the Afghan National Army in Eastern Afghanistan said the operations and Arclight airstrikes were conducted in the vicinity of Kot district.

The district was once one of the main strongholds of the loyalists of the terror group from where they launched their operations in Afghanistan.

In the meantime, the 201st Corps of the Afghan Army said the Afghan forces and the local residents did not suffer any casualties during the operations.

The provincial police commandment earlier reported that 24 Taliban turbans including four big shots of the group were killed in an Arclight airstrike in Ghani Khel district last night.

This comes as the Afghan forces are busy conducting clearance operations under the name of Shaheen-25 operations which were launched more than one ago to suppress the growing insurgency of ISIS terrorist group in Nangarhar province.

The operations led by 201st Silab Corps of the Afghan National Army (ANA) forces were launched after receiving approval from the national security council of the country.

Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Driver in recent TX Hill Country church van crash admitted texting before collision
HOUSTON (AP) -- The driver of a pickup truck that collided with a church minibus in rural Texas, killing 13 people, apologized after the crash and acknowledged he had been texting while driving, a witness said Friday.

Jody Kuchler told The Associated Press he was driving behind the truck and had seen it moving erratically prior to the Wednesday collision on a two-lane road about 75 miles west (120 km) of San Antonio, near the town of Concan. Kuchler said the truck had crossed the center line several times while he followed it.

Kuchler said he called the sheriff’s offices for both Uvalde and Real counties while he followed the truck and told them "they needed to get him off the road before he hit somebody."

Kuchler said he witnessed the crash and afterward, he checked on both the bus and the truck and was able to speak with the driver, who has been identified by the Texas Department of Public Safety as 20-year-old Jack Dillon Young, of Leakey, Texas.

"He said, `I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I was texting.’ I said, "Son, do you know what you just did? He said, `I’m sorry I’m sorry,"’ Kuchler quoted the pickup driver as saying.

Department of Public Safety Sgt. Conrad Hein declined to comment on Friday on the cause of the crash or if texting might have played a role. But officials have said the truck driver appeared to have crossed the center line.

Young remains hospitalized following the crash.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Rule #1 of aircraft maintenance is applicable here: Everybody is always sorry AFTER the crash.
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 04/01/2017 18:58 Comments || Top||

#2  The driver needs to get the needle.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 04/01/2017 19:15 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Russia offers Serraj ‘assistance’ to rebuild Libya stability
[Libya Herald] Russia’s deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov has told Presidency Council head Faiez Serraj that Russia is willing is willing to provide help to Libya to deal with the political crisis in the country. However,
Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried...
the nature of the help has not been publicly disclosed although Bogdanov, who has special responsibility for the Middle East and Africa, is reported saying that Moscow wants to see Libya a prosperous and united country.

Ultimately though, he added, the Libyans themselves have to settle their own differences and do so through national dialogue.

The two met on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
summit in Jordan.

Noting the potential importance of Russia’s role in helping resolve the Libyan situation, Serraj, who last saw Bogdanov during his visit to Moscow at the beginning of March, also once again raised the issue of Russian companies returning to work in Libya.

The issue of Libya-Russian relations has become something of a problem in the context of Libyan-US relations. The Trump administration in Washington is reported not only to be angry with Khaifa Hafter for his moves to rebuild ties with Moscow, particularly military ties, it is also said to be wary of Serraj’s efforts at what it sees as much the same.

Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  "and a port"
Posted by: Frank G || 04/01/2017 11:04 Comments || Top||


Europe
Europe migrant colonist briefs

French Jews brace for BDS demonstration in Paris

[IsraelTimes] MP Meyer Habib asks interior minister to ban Saturday protest; CRIF officials warn Jewish citizens that demonstrators may target them.

Two German-born ISIS terror suspects will be deported to their parents' homelands in the first case of its kind as the country gets tough on extremists
22/03/17
[DailyMail] The two men were both born in Germany and live with their Algerian and Nigerian parents in Göttingen, but will be permanently banned from their country of birth over a bomb plot.

From Breitbart -- Europe migrant crisis:
Video: Migrant Groups Cry ‘Allahu Akhbar’, Clash With Locals, Police
31 March
A large group of migrants fought with locals in the German town of Peine, Lower Saxony, throwing stones, damaging cars, and shouting “Allahu Akbar”. The clash began at around 9 p.m. Wednesday when a group of 10 migrants, some Syrian and

Migrant Deaths in Mediterranean Sea Spike by 42 Per Cent in 2017
31 March
The percentage of migrants who have died attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea into Europe has risen sharply in 2017 according to new data from the International Organization for Migration.

Germany Expects 400,000 African Migrants in 2017
31 March
The German government expects at least 400,000 African migrants to try and make the voyage to Europe in 2017, according to Federal Development Minister Gerd Müller.

Orban: ‘EU Court of Human Rights Is a Security Threat to Europeans’
31 March
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told the annual congress of the European People’s Party (EPP) that the European Court of Human Rights (EHCR) is a “threat to the security of EU people” and an invitation to migrants. He urged the EPP to advocate for “national pride and Christian identity” or Europe will have a Muslim majority within a generation.

From the Daily Mail:
Teenage Moroccan migrant is jailed for five years for raping and strangling a 90-year-old German woman after she refused to give him money as she left church
31/03/17
The Dusseldorf state court convicted the 19-year-old defendant under juvenile law on Friday of rape, robbery and bodily harm. The victim was attacked in Dusseldorf on a Sunday in October last year. During the trial, the Moroccan-born man, identified only as Souhayl M. in line with German privacy rules, admitted to committing the attack and said he had been drinking and taking cocaine beforehand. The defendant grew up in Spain, where he was convicted of narcotics and other offenses.

More than ONE MILLION migrants hoping to cross to Europe are 'in the pipeline' in Libya: Senior diplomat warns EU has done 'too little, too late' to tackle the crisis
31/03/17
Joseph Walker-Cousins, former head of the British Embassy Office in Benghazi, said refugees were massing in the war-torn country having fled conflict and poverty.

Afghan migrant is charged with raping and murdering EU official's teenage daughter who worked as a volunteer with asylum seekers in Germany
30/03/17
Hussein Khavari, 22, has been accused of ambushing Maria Ladenburger, 19, as she cycled home from a party, raping her and drowning her in a river in Freiburg, Germany, last October.

Flights are delayed as a dozen activists break through security at Stansted Airport and chain themselves together on runway to stop failed asylum seekers being deported
29/03/17
The left-wing activists were trying to stop a flight taking up to 100 immigrants back to Nigeria and Ghana. The runway was closed at about 10pm, resulting in eight flights being diverted to other London airports.

Migrants are 'shopping around' to see which EU country offers them the best cash bribe to be sent home, Brussels warns
28/03/17
Last year EU countries paid more than 80,000 migrants to return home, but because each country offers different benefits, Brussels says some are 'shopping around' to get the best deal.

More from Breitbart --immigration:
Swedish Feminists Flee Suburbs Due to Islamic Fundamentalists
31 March
Feminists in Stockholm are leaving areas like the notorious migrant-heavy no-go zones of Husby and Tensta because they say religious fundamentalists now rule those suburbs.

Swedes ‘Scream and Cry’ as ‘Refugee Children’ Deported for Lying About Their Age
31 March
Swedes were “screaming and crying” as they tried to prevent around a dozen Afghans from being deported.

Visegrad Nations: ‘We Will Not Yield to EU Blackmail over Migrant Redistribution’
30 March
At a summit in Warsaw, Poland, leaders of the Central European Visegrad Group have said they will not yield to “blackmail” from the European Union (EU) over the forced redistribution of asylum seekers.

Claim: Mass Migration Will Not Help Solve Skilled Worker Shortage
26 March
Head of the Federal Agency for Labor, Frank-Jürgen Weise has said that new migrants and asylum seekers have little chance of filling Germany’s skilled worker problem because very few of them meet the needed qualifications. Frank-Jürgen Weise has had a long

Report: 9 in 10 Gang Rapists In Sweden Have Foreign Origins
23 March
A new report suggests that in cases of gang rape or sexual assaults involving two or more attackers in Sweden, 85 percent of the attackers come from a foreign origin.

Several Regions Majority Migrant as 2016 Saw Citizenship for Record Number of ‘New Swedes’
23 March
Granting citizenship to 60,343 people, Sweden saw a record number of new nationals in 2016. The largest share of ‘new Swedes’ hail from Somalia.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists


China-Japan-Koreas
What would ground combat in North Korea look like?
[MWI.USMA.EDU] Warfighting in North Korea would be hard; much harder if US-South Korean alliance forces set assumptions on a foundation of sand. Here are five fatal challenges that planners ought to keep in mind when establishing their own plans and loadbearing assumptions for successful combat in Korea.

1. Digital and computer networks will function without interruption in combat.

Counterpoint: Everything is networked and susceptible to attack from a country with a demonstrated cyber capability. In the cyber world, the offense has the advantage.

2. Ground forces will complete required non-combatant evacuation operations rapidly and without major issue.

Counterpoint: While Marines typically handle non-combatant evacuation operations (NEO), in Korea, that task falls to US Army ground forces. Logically, this mission would occur early in a conflict and those ground forces utilized for the NEO mission would be subject to contingencies well beyond their own control--from massive civilian casualties to spontaneous riots to mistaken headcounts--that might tie up these forces and prohibit them from participation in follow-on combat missions for a considerable amount of time.

3. Movement, maneuver, and supply routes will be fluid.

Counterpoint: North Korea has a mountainous, Afghanistan-like geography and road network. Even if US-South Korean forces cut the North Korean military down significantly, their bypassed and remnant forces will still represent a more numerous, much better-trained, much better-armed version of the Taliban (and considering their ideological orientation and upbringing, while some may surrender, the bulk will probably fight, and fight hard). They will exploit advantageous terrain to conduct lethal harassment ambushes. Simply assuming this problem away is tactically problematic; narrow roads and choke points dictate that whoever is on the road will have to fight from the road--a poor proposition.

4. There will be sufficient time and assets to deal with the weapons of mass destruction problem.


Counterpoint: Putting together two facts makes for a tough conclusion. The US Army’s military mission in North Korea includes responsibility for weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and it has long been publicly known that North Korea has underground facilities numbering in the tens of thousands. And so the innocent children’s game, "hide and seek"--in North Korea becomes a scary, subterranean, "where’s the WMD" nightmare. It’s not hard to anticipate this will mean an exponential increase in energy expended and time required for this mission, no matter what resources are available on day one, to get after these likely underground-stored weapons.

5. We are prepared to engage with guards and managers at North Korean WMD facilities.

Counterpoint: It stands to reason that, if the United States is responsible for the WMD mission, then at least some effort will go to engaging with the North Koreans at these facilities. The first handshake, the result of that last 50-meter walk on the approach, will be crucial. Everything taught to those guards and managers, over the entire course of their lives, will have been that Americans are evil and put on earth to destroy North Koreans. It doesn’t help that our fully armed, geared-up final approach will confirm this narrative. This will be the highest-stakes engagement of any military leader’s career. How are we going to change those North Korean individuals’ narratives and get them to accept ours? Not to mention the bulk of these engagements will likely have to be performed by relatively junior officers (lieutenant colonels and majors; maybe even captains and lieutenants) that will mostly have just arrived in theater.

The truth is, no matter where or when, "war is an option of difficulties." But today, in North Korea, the ground combat option is particularly vexed by geography, physics, and the ability of propaganda to dominate the (North Korean) mind. That said, it may be the only option available--and so a clear understanding of the challenges ahead is indispensable.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  I don't think ground operations in Nork are a good idea, and I'll be surprised if they happen.

All that's needed is too smash stuff above ground, bridges in particular and wait for logistics breakdown and starvation to do it's work. The Nork's only options are to invade the south or go nuclear against the south. I doubt an invasion would get very far against prepared defenders, and I'd assume any delivery capability would be destroyed asap.
Posted by: phil_b || 04/01/2017 4:22 Comments || Top||

#2  "No war plan survives contact with the enemy."
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 04/01/2017 4:33 Comments || Top||

#3  What would be left of Seoul 24 hours after the festivities begin?
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/01/2017 6:15 Comments || Top||

#4  6. Do not allow your Hubris to engage.
Wireless networks in mountainous regions, won't and all land access from south to north is mountainous. Assume passes are also tunneled and mined. PT and humping daypacks on roadruns will NOT provide the leg and back strength generations of hillclimbing have developed.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/01/2017 8:41 Comments || Top||

#5  You kill the snake by cutting off it's head. Pyongyang must disappear. The complicit Chinese should be given but one warning.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2017 8:45 Comments || Top||

#6  Of course this all supposes that the Norks do everything right and won't have any significant execution failures either (or political failures - like senior officials concerned about their own hides looking to work a deal rather than fight).
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/01/2017 9:56 Comments || Top||

#7  Planners will have to assume the Samson option. North Korea will strike out to take out as many allies as possible. Expect missile strikes for the South and Japan with both nuclear, dirty warheads and chemical weapons. Protection of allies will be critical.

Also the leadership will be as hard to find after the fighting as the Iraqi leadership was. Some will flee to China and others will be in a hole somewhere leading what is left of the resistance.

Expect a humanitarian crisis like never before seen. The population mostly won't be fanatical as say the Japanese were during WWII, but they will be hungry and desperate. Supply lines will be rapidly overwhelmed with the demand for their care as the simple act of feeding them will keep them from going gorilla.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/01/2017 10:02 Comments || Top||

#8  The population mostly won't be fanatical as say the Japanese were during WWII

I don't know about that. They have been brainwashed for generations that we are the enemy and the Kims are the saviors.
Saw a documentary of an eye doctor who went to Pyongyang to treat people who had eye problems - in some cases restoring eyesight. I think it was a National Geo. documentary. Keep in mind, only the party faithful and higher-up are allowed to live there.
At the end the people and their relatives thanked, not the foreigner, but Kim, or a picture of him - some even appear to pray to him. It was very creepy.
One might think they would appreciate it after they figure out that they have been lied to all these years - but many, if not most, simply will not accept it.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/01/2017 10:15 Comments || Top||

#9  A dictatorship that starves and enslaves the populace won't hesitate to use them as human shields
Posted by: Frank G || 04/01/2017 10:48 Comments || Top||

#10  CrazyFool---I saw the same documentary. The end was creepy. It will take several generations to fix this once the NORK dictatorship is gone.

Ground pounding stuff up there will be a meat grinder. We are talking decapitation of the regime and some serious kinetics on missile and nuclear sites. This will be war at its worst.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 04/01/2017 15:54 Comments || Top||

#11  A ground engagement is what the NORKS desire. Avoid giving your adversary what he desires. See comment #5.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2017 16:08 Comments || Top||

#12  There is no reason to fight Nork ground troops. They can't be sustained or maneuvered. Leave them where they are. Simultaneously, use counter-fire assets to destroy their ranged fires and SOF to clean out high value installations. The first couple of days will be very bad. Probably hundreds of thousands of Sork civilian casualties. Then the Norks will run out of food, ammo, water, nukes and ambition.

At that point leading the charge into Norkland with food trucks would pretty much end the conflict.
Posted by: rammer || 04/01/2017 19:28 Comments || Top||

#13  Does the North Korean leadership trust the regular troops enough to give them bullets for their guns? I seem to recall that's an issue.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/01/2017 21:10 Comments || Top||

#14  NORK Special Purpose Units will be deployed as far forward as possible prior to the initiation of hostilities - overseas if possible. That is another complexity to deal with
Posted by: Blossom Hupager6063 || 04/01/2017 21:37 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Three Suspected Al Qaeda Members Killed in Yemen Drone Strike
[USNEWS] Three suspected al Qaeda members were killed overnight in what local officials believed was a U.S. dronezap in southern Yemen.

Residents and local officials said on Friday the attack took place in Mozno in al-Wadie district of Abyan
...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues...
province. The three killed included the local leader of the Lion of Islam group, Waddah Muhammed Amsouda, who was meeting the others in a house in the area, they said.

Residents also reported a separate attack on a suspected al Qaeda vehicle, in the same province, but said the number of casualties was unknown.

Abyan is one of several provinces in central and southern Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
where Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
...the latest incarnation of various Qaeda and Qaeda-allied groups, including the now-defunct Aden-Abyan Islamic Army that boomed the USS Cole in 2000...
(AQAP) and its local affiliate Ansar al-Sharia
...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Libyaand Yemen, with the Libyan versions currently most active. Tunisia's Shabaab al-Tawhid started out an Ansar al-Sharia and changed its name in early 2014. It still uses the old name now and then, probably because the stationery's not all used up and the web site hasn't expired yet...
operate.

The United States has repeatedly attacked AQAP, using aircraft and unmanned drones in what U.S. officials say is a campaign to degrade the group's ability to coordinate attacks abroad.

AQAP has exploited two years of civil war in Yemen to recruit followers and cement its dominance in central and southern parts of the poor Arabian Peninsula country.

The Pentagon has said that a March 2 strike against AQAP killed Yasir al Silmi, also know as Mohammed Tahar, a former detainee from the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay.

Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula


Home Front: WoT
Drug seizure bonanza: Newest Coast Guard Cutter has banner week of busts
[FOX] FORT LAUDERDALE – The US Coast Guard can barely offload the cocaine it intercepts at sea before drug runners load up their go-fast boats and head toward U.S. shores.

This Tuesday, the crew of the Coast Guard’s newest Cutter, James, offloaded a record 16 tons of narcotic in Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades. Just two days later, the agency announced another cocaine bust, this time almost two tons near Puerto Rico.

“We’re averaging about 12 of these per month,” said Coast Guard Capt. Kevin Gavin. “As I like to say, unfortunately business is very good for us and I wish it wasn’t.”
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Narcos


Arabia
Al-Qaeda claims responsibility for Yemen terrorist attack, photos released
[ALMASDARNEWS] Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility on Friday for the recent Lahij suicide attacks.

Despite Al-Qaeda in Yemen using ISIS logos and flags to make their announcement, confusingly it was Al-Qaeda who claimed responsibility, and not ISIS.
That would seem to imply that the two are one.
The attack by Al-Qaeda on 27 March by four suicide bombers killed six soldiers and five civilians.
Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Mexican state attorney general arrested at U.S. border in San Diego on drug trafficking charges
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Narcos


Bangladesh
Militants by inheritance?
[Dhaka Tribune] Members of law enforcement agencies were shocked at the horrifying scene when they entered the Nasirpur den after they ended the 33-hour-long Operation Hit Back on Thursday.

The bodies of four children, all under 10 years of age, were strewn around in the krazed killer den in Nasirpur village in Moulvibazar.

The bodies were so badly disintegrated that it was only after a scene of the crime unit went through the place, it was determined that there were two females, one male and four children there.

Police believe that the three adults in that bungalow, who were suspected members of the New Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (New JMB) terrorist group, blew themselves up along with the children in the face of a raid.

This brings up the number of children killed by New JMB to five ‐ all of whom were children of one or more members of the group ‐ and there is reason to fear that another four young lives may be lost soon.

DMP’s Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit chief Monirul Islam said: "There was a big kaboom at the beginning of our operation. That was when they blew themselves up, including the children."

Locals of Nasirpur are unable to understand what compelled the bandidos bully boyz do this.

Khalilpur Union Gay Pareehad Chairman Arbid Poddar said: "What was their benefit from this atrocious act? What did the bandidos bully boyz accomplish by killing their own children?"

Mukaddesh Ali, imam of a local mosque, would only say: "What kind of Islam is this? How are they establishing Islam through such acts?"

There are now increased concerns about the other den in Moulvibazar, a duplex-residence in Borohat that is being raided. By account of locals, there were 10 people including four children inside the house.

Moulvibazar Municipality Ward 6 Councillor Jalal Ahmed, whose house is located near the Borohat hideout, said that the death of four children in Nasirpur had created anxiety among locals about the four in this den.

"People of Sylhet condemn such misdeeds. This is murder and nothing else," he said.

On March 16, a child was found dead in the Premtola krazed killer den in Sitakunda, Chittagong where four snuffies including a woman blew themselves up during a police operation.

Before that, a four-year-old girl named Sabina, suffered splinter injuries when a female New JMB member, that was her mother, came out of a krazed killer hideout with her and blew herself up during police raid in Dhaka’s Ashkona on December 26 last year.

The kaboom broke her left arm, and splinters pierced her belly and made some holes in the oesophagus. She underwent a surgery at Dhaka Medical College Hospital and was brought back from the edge of death.

Afif Qadri, whose father Tanvir Qadri, a New JMB leader, did away with himself during a raid on September 10 last year on a krazed killer hideout in Azimpur, refused to surrender during the raid.

His twin brother Tahrim Qadri alias Russell, who was placed in durance vile
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
two weeks later, confessed before the court that their parents- Tanvir Qadri and Abedatul Fatema Khadiza- were involved in krazed killer activities and they got involved with the militancy by inheritance.

Mawlana Farid Uddin Masud, who is leading a campaign of Islamic scholars against militancy, said: "Children are beyond sides in any war, conflict and ideology in the eyes of Islam and Shariah."

Masud, who is the imam of the Sholakia Eid congregation, told the Dhaka Tribune: "Our Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (SM) always instructed keeping children and woman away from any unrest or humiliation. Hadith says in many places that children would get Jannat (heaven) if they are killed in any situation. They have no sin.

"If anyone uses children as shields in such a heinous manner, they will be punished. This practice of snuffies is unacceptable. Militancy is not recognised by the holy religion," he added.

Bangladesh Islamic Foundation’s Director General Shamim Mohammad Afzal said: "This is not Islam. Islam always respects and protects Moslems and other believers. Killing children is unacceptable in our religion."

Psychologist Dr Mehtab Khanam said the snuffies who were arrested alive needed to be examined to find out what drives them to do this.

"We must carry out campaigns against such activities," she suggested.
Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (IS)


Africa North
Tebu, Tuareg and Awlad Suleiman make peace in Rome
[Libya Herald] A three-cornered peace deal between the Tebu, Tuareg and Awlad Suleiman tribes has been signed in Rome after months of direct and indirect talks, brokered in part by the Presidency Council .

A much-praised November 2015 Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates...
i-arranged ceasefire between Tebu and Tuareg in fact broke down almost immediately. Almost a year later the Awlad Suleiman from Sebha and the Tebu were brought to Italia by the Community of Sant’Egidio. The upshot was a commitment to work together to restore mutual trust and stability. A month later Tebu and Tuareg elders also reached a deal to end their fighting in and around Obari.

In this week’s deal the newly-reconciled three tribes agreed to push for development in the south of Libya and discussed illegal migration. Their three days of talks were mentored by PC member Abdelsalam Kajman said Italia’s Agenzia Nova. The shared concern was that the south had been marginalised under Qadaffy and since the Revolution, too little had been done despite frequent promises of development .

Earlier this month Kajman hosted eleven southern mayors in 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...
where to the disappointment of his guests, he seemed only interested in border security.

The return of Turkish construction company ENKA to complete the Obari power station where work was abandoned after the revolution, is one of the few bright spots in the region, which has endured long and regular power cuts.
Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian rebels seize swathes of south as Islamic State retreats
[REUTERS] Syrian rebels have seized large areas from Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
in southern Syria in the last two weeks as the jihadist group prepares to defend its Raqqa stronghold in the north from a U.S.-backed assault, rebel commanders say.

The advances by Western-backed Free Syrian Army
... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund...
(FSA) factions have helped to reduce the risk of Islamic State fighters regrouping in areas near Damascus and the Jordanian border as they face major defeats in Syria and Iraq.

Western intelligence sources have worried for months that Lions of Islam fleeing from their main urban strongholds of Raqqa in Syria and djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
in Iraq could find a safe haven in the vast areas of the Syrian Desert bordering Jordan.

The rebels fighting in southern Syria have received military aid funneled via Jordan in a program overseen by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

Their sudden gains are a culmination of months of covert operations in which they have ambushed and cut communications lines to weaken the Death Eaters' stronghold in the southeastern border area close to Iraq, the rebels say.

"Extensive areas have fallen into our hands. (Islamic State) has been pushed out of them in heavy festivities in 16 days of battles," said Talas al Salameh, the commander of the Osoud al Sharqiya, the biggest of the FSA groups in the area.

"(Islamic State) had cut roads and were in control and had been positioned in former Syrian army bases with a strong presence and with heavy armor. We cut links between their areas and as a result they began to retreat," al-Salamah said.

In northern Syria, Islamic State has come under growing military pressure in recent months from separate campaigns being waged by the U.S.-backed Arab and Kurdish fighters, by the Russian-backed Syrian army and by The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
-backed FSA groups.

The U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State is backing an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters - the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - in the campaign to isolate and capture Raqqa city on the other side of the country.

Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


India-Pakistan
Pakistani Taliban claims bombing at mosque
[NEWS.AU] A powerful boom-mobile has went kaboom! near a minority Shi'ite Moslem mosque in the northwest town of Parachinar, killing at least 24 people and wounding over 70 others, officials say.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of Pak Talibs, grabbed credit for Friday's attack.

Spokesman Asad Mansoor said in a statement that the suicide kaboom was carried out by one of the group's members, Abul Durda, using a boom-mobile to target Shi'ites who the snuffies consider heretics.

The blast was so powerful it also damaged vehicles and nearby shops, according to government administrator Zahid Hussain.

Parachinar is a key town in the Kurram tribal region bordering Afghanistan and has been wracked by sectarian violence in the past.

The region was also once a stronghold of Pak Taliban and Sunni myrmidon groups.

Although the army says it has cleared Kurram of myrmidons, violence has continued in the region.

Sabir Hussain, a hospital official, said the Pakistain army used helicopters to transport 40 maimed to hospitals in the northwestern city of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
Later, the mourners marched again carrying the blast victims in caskets and staged a sit-in near the office of the area administrator.

Earlier, the Mighty Pak Army said it dispatched a helicopter along with a team of doctors to help the victims and evacuate maimed persons.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
condemned the bombing in a statement and vowed to eliminate terrorism.
Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat ul-Ahrar


Carnage in Parachinar again
[DAWN] THE scene is grimly familiar, as is the location. A market has been struck in Parachinar -- the second market bombing this year in the town and the fourth since 2013. The Friday bombing, likely aimed at inflicting maximum harm ahead of the weekly congregation at a nearby Shia imambargah, further crystallised what has long been clear about the violence in the Parachinar region of Kurram Agency
...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora...
: militancy with an overtly sectarian dimension. And after rival claims to this year’s January bombing in the area, yesterday’s attack has been followed by a claim of responsibility from Jamaatul Ahrar
...A Pak Taliban splinter group that split off from the Mullah Fazlullah faction because it wasn't violent enough...
, the TTP splinter that has been at the forefront of recent attacks across the country. The long war against militancy, longer in the Parachinar region than most parts of the country, looks set to grind on, undermining the gains made elsewhere.

For Pakistain, the questions are many, and all wearily familiar. The tone of the politicianship may have changed somewhat since earlier this year, when senior government officials openly and at odds with the facts tried to downplay the sectarian underpinnings of militancy, but there is no clear path ahead either. Perhaps nowhere is the connection between extremism and militancy more apparent than at the sectarian intersection. While the roots of the animosity may indeed be historical, stretching back many centuries as some government officials glibly claimed, it is actively encouraged by a vast infrastructure of extremism. The tentative steps taken under the National Action Plan and by provincial governments to fine or arrest preachers of hate has done little to slow the poison being spread across the land. The need for an unequivocal, firm and determined message -- that Pakistain is and will remain an inclusive state and society -- remains as strong as ever. What the message must be is clear; whether the state has the will or ability to carry it forward until it becomes uncontested and undeniable across the country is unclear.

There is also the problem of the state choosing to emphasise one part of the problem and in doing so distorting the real scope of militancy. With Jamaatul Ahrar claiming responsibility for yesterday’s attack, the problem of cross-border militancy and Pakistain’s growing discontent with Afghanistan will likely come into focus again. But terrorism and militancy blighted Parachinar before the emergence of Jamaatul Ahrar, and the relationship with Afghanistan is far more complex than the now undeniably serious problem of anti-Pakistain Death Eater sanctuaries in eastern Afghanistan. The answer lies in drawing together seemingly disparate threads such as NAP, Operation Raddul Fasaad, and national security and foreign policy into a coherent, effective and strategic approach. It will not be easy, but there is also no realistic alternative. The suffering in Parachinar must not be in vain and with no end. The ugly reality of sectarianism must be confronted directly and decisively.

Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Three arrested in connection with I-85 fire in Atlanta
Atlanta (CNN) Three people were arrested Friday in connection with a huge fire that caused part of an elevated interstate running through Atlanta to collapse, the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department said.

Fire department spokesman Cortez Stafford said two men and one woman were arrested.
Vagrancy laws, who needs them ?
The three are thought to be homeless, Georgia Deputy Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner Jay Florence said. Florence identified one suspect as Basil Eleby who was arrested on suspicion of first-degree criminal damage to property. Investigators think he started the fire intentionally, Florence said. Eleby is still in jail after being taken into custody. If convicted, he faces one to 10 years in prison.

Sophia Bruner and Barry Thomas face criminal trespassing charges, Florence said.

The mysterious fire, which started in a storage lot underneath the highway, caused the collapse of part of Interstate 85 northbound Thursday evening -- injuring no one -- and also damaged the southbound portion, forcing the closure of all five lanes in each direction for the foreseeable future.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How long will it take them to pay for the repairs?
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance || 04/01/2017 10:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Those darned kids!
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/01/2017 14:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Why would there be a storage lot underneath a major highway? Can no one foresee that something like this might happen? Perhaps I'm too old and/or naive.
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 04/01/2017 18:57 Comments || Top||

#4  Couple of folks elsewhere noted that there seemed to be a lot of PVC underground 'duct' (used for fiber optics) stored on spools under the overpass.

Checked Google's street-view timelines and the materials first showed up in April 2012. November 2011 shows the space empty.

The same spools and quantities remained in the most recent 'view' (November 2016). Doesn't look like any inventory changes occurred at the space over the last 5 years.

No real security, only a chain-link 'vehicle gate'. Anyone could step over the roadway bumper guards and gain access to the storage area.

If anyone is interested, check out 2123 Piedmont Rd NE, Atlanta, Ga. or Google Street View
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 04/01/2017 19:33 Comments || Top||


Government
Drones at the border: Agents ask Silicon Valley for help securing nation
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan
10 militants killed in an airstrike in Uruzgan province of Afghanistan
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least ten bully boyz were killed in an Arclight airstrike conducted in the southern Uruzgan province of Afghanistan.

The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the Arclight airstrike was carried out in the vicinity of the bustling provincial capital Tarinkot targeting a group of murderous Moslems.

MoD further added that twelve bully boyz were also maimed and two vehicles along with a cycle of violence in the custody of the holy warriors were destroyed.

In the meantime, MoD said at least 18 holy warriors were killed during a separate operation conducted in Nish district of Kandahar province.

According to MoD, a local leader of the group identified as Rahmatullah was also among those killed.

Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa Subsaharan
Uganda: Another Kony Rebel Surrenders
[All Africa] A former senior signaller in the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a perennial thorn in Africa's side led by elusive rebel leader Joseph Kony
... The Lords Resistance Army is a religious and military group formed in 1987. It is led by Joseph Kony, who proclaims himself the spokesperson of God and a spirit medium, and who is periodically possessed by demons, Beelzebub and Legion prominent among them. Kony advises his soldiers to draw crosses on their chests as a protection against bullets. This does't work, but nobody outside the LRA minds. The group is based on a hodge podge of apocalyptic Christianity, mysticism, and traditional Acholi religion, and claims to be establishing a theocratic state based on an odd interpretation of the Ten Commandments. The LRA is famous for systematic criminal conduct, including murder, abduction, mutilation, sexual enslavement of women and children, forcing children to participate in hostilities, and occasional cannibalism. The LRA operates mainly in northern Uganda and also in parts of Sudan, Central African Republic and DR Congo...
has defected from the rebel outfit to the Uganda People's Defense Forces (UPDF).

Lt Michael Omona, 33, defected on January 20, from the jungles of Central African Republic (CAR) after spending 23 years in captivity.

He was airlifted to Gulu on Monday and welcomed by religious leaders led by Gulu Archbishop John Baptist Odama, security officials and cultural leaders amid ululation from relatives at Gulu Airfield.

Mr Omona joins two other former ex-LRA fighters; Sgt Peter Kidega, a former radio signaler and Julius Obira. They both surrendered to the UPDF in October last year and February last month respectively.

He was kidnapped by LRA rebels in 1994 at his ancestral home in Alero Sub-county in current day Nwoya District while still in Primary Five at Alero Primary School. According to Ugandan security officials, Mr Omona, a father of two, first surrendered to the Seleka
...a 'mainly' Moslem rebel force in the Central African Republic that overthrew the govt, imposed a regime of rapine and looting on the country's non-Moslem population, and was then tossed by France. They still exist, getting funding and weapons from somewhere or other, licking their wounds, complaining about the oppression of Moslems, and occasionally raping and looting someone...
rebels in Central African Republic before being handed over to the UPDF and American security agents in Obo. Speaking to Daily Monitor in an interview on Monday, Mr Omona said his plans of defection followed an order by Mr Kony, who summoned his group comprising 30 rebels, to meet him at an undisclosed venue in CAR.

"We had lost touch with other LRA commanders and Mr Kony himself for two months. We were being commanded by Maj Okot Owila but we later got reports that Kony wanted to meet us and I thought to myself I wasn't going to go back to him, so I escaped on my way from Lukoto river," Mr Omona said.

He added: "I wandered in the jungle for ten days before entering the Seleka rebels' held territory in Sam Ouandja. I surrendered to them and their commanders later took me to the UPDF who treated me well."

"I want to thank my parents, religious and cultural leaders for the prayers. I want to thank God that I escaped and reached home safely because it wouldn't have been possible without Him," Mr Omona said.

Archbishop Odama applauded the UPDF and the American government for their efforts in bringing home ex-LRA fighters and urged those still in captivity to take the opportunity and surrender.

Lt Hassan Kato, the 4th Division infantry spokesperson, said the continued pressure UPDF has put on LRA remnants in the jungles of CAR has made life unbearable for Kony and his men.

"Kony can no longer administer his men and they are left with no option but to defect to UPDF," Lt Kato said.

The LRA war that lasted for nearly two decades led to the displacement of more than 1.5 million people with tens of thousands losing their lives while women and kiddies were kidnapped and turned into child soldiers and sex slaves.
Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
N.Korean Missiles to Target U.S. Reinforcements
The short-term objective of North Korea's frantic missile development is to prevent U.S. troop and weapons reinforcements from reaching the Korean Peninsula in the event of war, analysis suggests.

North Korea launched 46 missiles since leader Fat Boy Kim Jong-un came to power in 2012, often at high angles or in groups.

The Chosun Ilbo on Wednesday asked military sources and experts to analyze the launches, and they concluded that while the long-term goal is to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of striking targets on the U.S. mainland, the immediate targets are closer to home.

The experts said the North seems to have developed the capability to deliver a "significant blow" to U.S. troop and weapons reinforcements. If they are unable to reach the peninsula in the event of a war between North and South, proper defensive maneuvers will be extremely difficult to carry out, to say nothing of reprisal attacks.

The North is developing the technology to deliver precision strikes on its intended targets rather than showering the South with missiles.

Out of the 46 missiles North Korea has launched so far, 30 were Musudan with a range of 3,500 km, Rodong with a range of 1,300 km, Scud ER with a range of 1,000 km, and Pukkuksong with a range of 2,500 km. That means 65 percent are probably intended to strike U.S. troop and weapons reinforcements in Japan and Guam.

The 16 Scud C missiles with a range of 500 km the North has launched are believed to target Busan and other ports and airports in the South.

Kim Yeol-soo at Sungshin Women's University said, "When North Korea launched the Scud and Rodong missiles in Hwangju last July, a photo showed Kim Jong-un poring over a map with curved lines indicating that Busan is within the range of the missiles."

Yang Wook of the Korea Defense and Security Forum said, "The launch of Rodong missiles at a high angle is probably supposed to publicize its ability to strike Busan, where the reinforcements would arrive."

Firing the missile at a high angle increases the speed of the projectile's descent, making it impossible for South Korea’s current weapons to intercept them.

The new Pukkuksong-2 solid-fuel missiles North Korea launched in February, which have an estimated range of 2,500 to 3,000 km, and four Scud ER missiles the North launched simultaneously on March 6 appear intended to strike U.S. military bases in Japan. North Korea admitted on March 7 that it was practicing to hit them.

Shin Won-shik, a former officer with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, "North Korea puts higher priority on targeting U.S. troops and weapons stationed in Japan or Guam, which will arrive on the Korean Peninsula sooner than forces on the U.S. mainland. If the North fully utilizes its missile capacity, U.S. reinforcements could receive a fatal blow."
I think we'll have something to say about that...
Posted by: Steve White || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Well, that's a relief. Squatted down at Camp Casey I always thought the first indications of the Norks doing something was to be a barrage of SCUDs impacting around me while the politicians pondered whether or not to allow us to get to our field deployment locations [through only 2 gates and taking 24 hours to get the whole camp on to the single MSR out of town].
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/01/2017 10:11 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
The Democratic Party and Its Media Propaganda Arm Are Nothing More Than Organized Crime
[OpsLens] "It had to be a scary thought--the thought of a special prosecutor with strong investigative powers looking under the hood of the Obama and Clinton getaway car..."

As I’m writing this, the news is reporting possible bombshell evidence being released in the next few days regarding the Obama administration spying on Donald J. Trump and his transition team. If the roles were switched and the Republicans were to blame (think Richard Nixon), Washington would be in flames. Instead, we have casual avoidance of the subject by the media, who continues to scream "the Russians!" whenever any derogatory evidence is brought up against our previous Dear Leader Obama.

But this is not the first time, is it? There has been a long string of evidence implicating the Obama administration in abusing the power of the state he was given by the American people.

The IRS first comes to mind. Using the tax agency of the federal government against political opposition is something straight out of Moscow; it’s ironic that the Democrats are the ones screaming, "the Russians are coming!" Vladimir Putin regularly ransacks offices and homes of his foes on trumped up (pardon the pun) tax evasion charges.

The Obama IRS famously prevented conservative groups from getting tax-exempt status prior to the 2012 election, and then his smug IRS commissioner lied to Congress about it. The woman in charge of the issue at the IRS pleaded the Fifth. Recent reports say the IRS is still slow-rolling conservative non-profit applications. This is corruption, pure and simple--using the agencies of the federal government against your adversaries. It’s right out of the handbook any totalitarian regime or banana republic dictator. It’s not supposed to happen here, but it did. And it is still going on.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, I didn't want to say anything but I've had my suspicions since about 1993.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/01/2017 17:11 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Islamic State propaganda outlet Amaq targeted by computer hack
[WASHINGTONTIMES] 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....
’s propaganda arm, Amaq, issued a warning Wednesday after its website was compromised in a manner that made visitors susceptible to cyberattacks.

Amaq took to its Telegram account on Wednesday after learning that individuals who attempted to load its website were being asked to download a covert piece of malware.

"Warning! Amaq’s website has been penetrated and requests downloading a virus file disguised as a Flash installer. Please exercise caution," the propaganda outlet warned Wednesday, according to a translation shared by independent researcher Raphael Gluck.

Vice.com’s tech news website Motherboard obtained a copy of the bogus Flash installer from Mr. Gluck this week and said the file appeared to be a widely-known piece of malware designed to give an attacker backdoor access to a victim’s computer.

"This remote-access-tool (RAT) has the capability to steal credentials, take screenshots, take pictures or video through the webcam, log keystrokes and transfer files. This tool has been around since at least 2013 and is very common due to a leaked builder and server freely available on low-level criminal forums that allows the attacker to create their own customized RAT," Willis McDonald, a threat researcher at Boston-based IT firm Core Security told Motherboard.

Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State



Who's in the News
26[untagged]
8Islamic State
5Taliban
4Arab Spring
3Commies
3Govt of Pakistan
2Narcos
2Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (IS)
2al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
2Hamas
1TTP
1Govt of Syria
1Houthis
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1Jamaat ul-Ahrar
1Moslem Colonists

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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2017-04-01
  South Carolina man charged with trying to join Islamic State
Fri 2017-03-31
  Mortars hit near Somali Presidential Palace, 2 hurt
Thu 2017-03-30
  503 militants surrender in Homs
Wed 2017-03-29
  Taliban commanders among 21 killed in Helmand airstrikes: MoD
Tue 2017-03-28
  33 ISIS troops die in Nangarhar airstrike
Mon 2017-03-27
  Leading member of Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis killed in North Sinai raid: Egyptian army
Sun 2017-03-26
  Police clash with anti-Christian mob in southern Egypt
Sat 2017-03-25
  ISIL withdrawing fighters from southern Syria to concentrate on Raqqa
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

Better than the average link...



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