[Bloomberg] White House lawyers last month learned that the former national security adviser Susan Rice requested the identities of U.S. persons in raw intelligence reports on dozens of occasions that connect to the Donald Trump transition and campaign, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.
The pattern of Rice's requests was discovered in a National Security Council review of the government's policy on "unmasking" the identities of individuals in the U.S. who are not targets of electronic eavesdropping, but whose communications are collected incidentally. Normally those names are redacted from summaries of monitored conversations and appear in reports as something like "U.S. Person One."
The National Security Council's senior director for intelligence, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, was conducting the review, according to two U.S. officials who spoke with Bloomberg View on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly. In February Cohen-Watnick discovered Rice's multiple requests to unmask U.S. persons in intelligence reports that related to Trump transition activities. He brought this to the attention of the White House General Counsel's office, who reviewed more of Rice's requests and instructed him to end his own research into the unmasking policy.
[Variety] Julie Roginsky, a Fox News Channel contributor who was best known, perhaps, for her appearances on the cable-news outlet’s "The Five"and "Outnumbered," raised new allegations of sexual harassment at Fox News Channel in a lawsuit detailing her account of being harassed by former Fox News chief Roger Ailes and then discriminated against in retaliation. Her complaints are the latest in a parade of disturbing grievances levied at the 21st Century Fox-owned outlet, which ousted Ailes last year after similar charges were made by former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson.
Spokespersons for Fox News Channel and 21st Century Fox were not able to offer immediate comment on Roginsky’s suit, which was filed Monday in the Supreme Court of the State of New York. The suit was filed against Fox News Channel, Ailes and Bill Shine, a longtime staffer who is currently co-president of the network.
"We look forward to a public trial in front of a jury in New York City," said Nancy Erika Smith of the Smith Mullin law firm in Montclair N.J. Smith represented Carlson in her lawsuit against Ailes. Carlson was awarded as much as $20 million in a settlement after alleging Ailes had subjected her to sexual come-one and other unwanted behavior. Her lawsuit sparked an internal investigation that resulted in lurid disclosures from several current and former Fox News employees about Ailes’ behavior. Since that matter was resolved, 21st Century Fox has offered settlements to other female staffers. In an unrelated matter, The New York Times reported Saturday that Bill O’Reilly, the network’s star anchor, has also faced allegations of unwanted and inappropriate behavior from female employees.
#5
Russia Today has opened a tab specific to the incident here.
Both CNN and Russia Today are updating -- thank you for the links, gentlemen. From both: ten dead, fifty wounded, twenty-five of the wounded sent to hospital. Explosion took place in a subway car in a tunnel berween stations, the entire St. Petersburg subway system has been shut down and passengers evacuated -- presumably in case there is another bomb somewhere.
President Putin announced they do not yet know who dunnit, and they are looking into all possibilities including accident and terrorism.
Two suspected terrorists are on the run after a nail bomb planted in a St Petersburg train ripped through the carriages - killing at least 10 people and injury 50 today.
Several Russian media outlets have released the CCTV picture of the bearded suspect who was wearing a long, black top and a hat blamed for causing the carnage by detonating a bomb that was packed with shrapnel.
The terrifying incident took place on a train that was travelling between Sennaya Ploshchad and Sadovaya metro stations. A second explosive device disguised as a fire extinguisher was found and defused in a nearby station.
Nobody has claimed responsibility for the explosion, but previous attacks on Russia have been blamed on ISIS and Chechens.
A search warrant has now been issued for two people in connection with the attack - one for planting the bomb which detonated at Sennaya Ploshchad and the other for leaving an explosive device at Ploshchad Revolutsii station.
A source said: 'Two people are being sought on suspicion of planning the blasts, one of whom is thought to have placed the explosive device in the metro wagon and the second person for leaving a bomb at the metro station Ploshchad Revolutsii.'
Dozens have been injured, including at least three children, as it was reported the man left a briefcase on a train before moving carriages moments before the deadly blast.
The DM photo of the fire extinguisher bomb shows it was filled with ball bearings, and the photos of the man who left the bomb that went off between stations are black & white and grainy -- hopefully the experts can make more of them than I can. RT reports six of those in hospital remain in critical condition. Various reports have ten or eleven dead. CNN reports that the train conductor saved lives by continuing to the next station after the explosion, so that the wounded could more easily be evacuated and treated, and 39 remain hospitalized. CNN is providing background on several attacks by Chenchnyan jihadis, showing their thinking about the miscreants, and has many of the same photos as the Daily Mail.
Drudge Report links to a Vocativ report that ISIS is celebrating, which does not prove they were involved in any way, but that may make the Russian response more interesting.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Senate Democrats who are threatening to filibuster a "qualified" judge like Neil Gorsuch would "filibuster anyone."
"It leaves me then very stunned why there’s this talk about a filibuster. It’s quite clear that if he isn’t qualified, then nobody is. If you would be filibustering a judge like this, it’s obviously that you’d filibuster anyone, so the actions that some would want to filibuster is quite purely politics because if you’re voting on his qualifications it’s a very easy ’yes’ vote," Grassley said at a news conference with former law clerks for Supreme Court nominee Gorsuch who are supporting his confirmation.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Merrick Garland, President Obama’s pick for the seat once filled by late Justice Antonin Scalia, was "credibly qualified" but a victim of the "Biden rule," referring to then-Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) saying that President George H.W. Bush should not nominate a Supreme Court justice in the middle of an election year.
"To my Democratic colleagues, if he can’t get 60 votes, Neil Gorsuch, that tells me that you don’t care about qualifications any longer. I voted for [Sonia] Sotomayor and [Elena] Kagan under the Obama administration. I would not have chosen either one but I thought they were well-qualified. And I can say without hesitation, according to the American Bar Association, Neil Gorsuch is one of the most qualified people in the country to be on the Supreme Court," said Graham at the conference held outside of the Supreme Court.
Graham said the Democrats should give President Trump the same treatment he and other Senate Republicans gave Obama’s first two Supreme Court nominees.
"I just assumed like most people it would probably be a Democrat [president] and [the nominee] might be more liberal than Garland. President Trump won. He defied my expectations," he said. "He won the White House and he deserves, I believe, the same respect and treatment that was given to President Obama for his two nominees that reported out of committee."
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said the arguments Senate Democrats used to justify filibuster rule changes in 2013 for judicial appointments below the Supreme Court level could also apply to Senate Republicans using the "nuclear option" for the Gorsuch nomination.
"There is not one argument advanced in justification for the Democratic Senate majority’s decision to go nuclear in November 2013 that doesn’t also apply with equal force throughout the executive calendar," Lee said.
"There is not one argument they’ve made that can apply there, so in my view that decision was made in November 2013."
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) questioned why Democrats who voted to confirm Gorsuch a decade ago to the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals would reject him now. Because Trump
"Not a single senator spoke out against him ‐ not Dianne Feinstein, not Pat Leahy, not Barack Obama, not Joe Biden, not Hillary Clinton. Every one of them went along with confirming him to the court of appeals ‐ a question anyone should ask. If they supported him being on the court of appeals a decade ago, what’s changed?" Cruz said. They not only lost, they got their asses beat with a steak tenderizer. And they are throwing a tantrum.
"And the only thing that has changed is our energized activist friends that have Democrats senators terrified they will be primaried from the left in a Democratic primary ‐ that’s the only thing that’s changed," he added, referring to the activists that had gathered outside of the Supreme Court to protest Gorsuch.
Cruz said the Supreme Court seat was on the ballot when Trump won the presidency, since Hillary Clinton promised a liberal nominee while Trump said he would nominate someone in the mold of Scalia.
"This election was in a very real sense a referendum on the Supreme Court ‐ that has no precedent, the degree to which the voters knew precisely what they were getting," he said. "The overwhelming election results in November as the American people chose the direction gives this nomination a kind of super legitimacy."
Cruz said Democrats were very "animated" about their opposition to Justice Clarence Thomas, who was ultimately confirmed with 52 votes, and no Democrats had demanded a 60-vote threshold.
"He was confirmed with a simple majority ‐ that, if the Democrats make the ill-advised decision to filibuster [this] week, will be the rule to which we return, the rule that has governed the Senate for Supreme Court nominations for two centuries," Cruz said.
In a press conference on Capitol Hill, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said special interest money is being used to "prop up" Gorsuch’s nomination.
"He was hand-picked for the Supreme Court by the right-wing, special interest-laden Heritage Foundation and Federal Society. Now millions of dollars of undisclosed special-interest donations are being used to prop up his nomination," he said on Wednesday. "Let me be clear: he was hand-picked by special interests, supported by special interests and has a record of siding with special interests. This is no neutral, down-the-middle judge." He *GASPS* rules according to how the law is written!!!
Schumer recommended that the Republicans change the nominee rather than change the Senate rules.
"If Judge Gorsuch fails to earn 60 votes and fails to demonstrate he is mainstream enough to sit on the highest court, we should change the nominee, not the rules," Schumer said. "They could easily come to another nominee who might be a little more mainstream." Who you would filibuster
Schumer warned that Senate Republicans could change the rules for the next Supreme Court nominee as well.
"If they are so quick to change the rules this time, they will be just as quick to change it next time," he said. "If right now, already, with this kind of nominee chosen by this kind of group, they are saying ’we are going to change the rules’ they will change it again."
Toward the end of the news conference, Schumer was asked if he would be willing to work with Trump on issues like healthcare. In response, Schumer said Democrats have suggestions to improve the healthcare system.
"Once they get off this kick of repeal and stop undermining the healthcare system, we have suggestions we want to make to make the system better. They’ll have suggestions. We should get in a room and try to make the system better. We’re happy to do that," Schumer replied.
"You can’t govern from the hard right," he added. "President Trump campaigned against both the Democratic and Republican establishments but when he came into office. He chose his appointments, including Supreme Court, and governed from the hard right ‐ even without Democrats, he’s having trouble doing that as Trumpcare shows.
That's Ryancare, Senator Schumer. President Trump did not send the House a draft bill to work on. Speaker Ryan and his cronies came up with it on their own, then couldn't sell it to either the Democrats or the Tea party Republicans. But he only been been Speaker for a few months -- this was a learning experience.
He’ll have trouble constantly unless he moves to the middle. We’re waiting for him to do it." Well according to you it is only possible to govern from the hard left and no matter what it seems you are determined to throw your temper tantrum.
Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational Reid Rule!!!
#2
The Donks say the Garland SCOTUS nomination was stolen from them as well as the POTUS office. Hillary, the predestined and entitled candidate wasn't coronated. These losses brought about widespread derangement syndrome in the Party.
#3
Donks allowed the Pubs to get away with not voting on Obama's choice because they were certain Hillary would win. They were wrong and are now throwing a spat. Grassley is 100% correct.
#8
Hold on... despite McStain bemoaning not having a gang to suck off the collective demoncrats with... he is now saying (reported by several media outlets) that he will vote for the nuclear option.
[PJ Media] Adding to the proof that the left is basically a fundamentalist cult, the University of Regina has unironically set up a confessional booth so that men can confess to the sin of being ... well ... men. Masked as an initiative to combat sexual harassment, the university's Man Up Against Violence program is a function of identity politics designed to emasculate men. The first step in that emasculation is requiring men to seek forgiveness for the sin of being a man.
For the record, real men do not enact violence against women. Period. As I raise my son to be a man, and I am raising him to be a man in ways that embrace masculinity, I'm teaching him to respect women and to defend them. Teaching my son that masculinity means respecting and protecting women is a cardinal sin of the left, of course. Fathers like me are pilloried for daring to believe that women might need a man to occasionally protect them. That's the kind of sin that demands repentance in a leftist confessional booth and then penance of some sort.
Lest you think that the confessional booth set up by leftists at the University of Regina is a one-off event, pay attention to the number of emasculated males who apologize for being men. Many liberal men use their social media accounts as a confessional booth, of sorts. Exhibit A:
#9
I'm male and not sorry for it. Now get the f*%# out of my face with your silly male confessional nonsense. Don't you have to be somewhere and have something better to do in Canada?
[Wash Times] The Homeland Security Department has been reluctant to send helicopters on nighttime missions to aid the Border Patrol, leaving agents to face drug smugglers and illegal immigrants without critical air cover, the chief of the agents’ labor union told Congress late last month.
Brandon Judd, an agent who is also president of the National Border Patrol Council, said that unless President Trump can solve that kind of bureaucratic bungling -- and is willing to oust the Obama administration figures who botched the policies -- he will struggle to secure the border.
The helicopters are one example of that, Mr. Judd said.
Mr. Judd said that when the Border Patrol controlled its own helicopters, it got the air support it needed. But after the Homeland Security Department was created more than a decade ago, the helicopters were turned over to the Office of Air and Marine, which has been reluctant to fly the nighttime hours the agents need.
"Right now the Office of Air and Marine, they fly very little at night," he told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. "In fact, in [the Rio Grande Valley sector], we had to use Coast Guard to fly sorties in certain areas. And when their apprehensions became so great, it’s my understanding the officer at Air and Marine asked them not to fly anymore at night in RGV because it was making them look bad."
#1
And when their apprehensions became so great, it’s my understanding the officer at Air and Marine asked them not to fly anymore at night in RGV because it was making them look bad."
There you see, mediocrity isn't so difficult after all.
#2
One gets the impression that ICE has somehow managed to avoid being remade. Champ inflicted deep and lasting damage to DOD. ICE, on the other hand, seems to have some people left who genuinely want to do their job. Would be interested to know how this was accomplished.
[Breitbart] Border Patrol officials in the Rio Grande Valley Sector report that their agents arrested more than 100 previously deported sex offenders that illegally re-entered the U.S. Agents arrested two during a one-hour period in separate locations in the sector on Wednesday. Channeling and blocking positions work.
Rio Grande Sector Spokesperson Melissa Ash responded to an inquiry from Breitbart Texas as to how many previously deported sex offenders their agents arrested in their sector during Fiscal Year 2017 which began on October 1, 2016. She responded on Friday that as of March 13, agents apprehended 99 previously deported sex offenders. Since that time, agents arrested at least two more sex offenders after they illegally crossed from Mexico.
[Ynet] Two holy mans from the al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount were tossed in the clink Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! as part of an investigation into Saturday’s stabbing attack on Hagai Street. A gag order has been issued on the details of their alleged involvement.
Two civilians and one policeman were slightly injured in the attack.
The two suspects, da’is (charitable workers for Islamic organizations) at the mosque, are named Sami Abed Fatiha and Hasnin Zahnir. Their remand was extended by four days, and a gag order was imposed on every detail of the investigation, apart from the arrest of the two.
It sounds like they belonged to the group paid a salary by Hamas to cause trouble on the Temple Mount.
[IsraelTimes] Police arrested two East Jerusalem residents for suspected incitement to violence over posts on their Facebook pages, a police spokesperson said Sunday. The two suspects, who police said were not associated with each other, were arrested for uploading posts to their Facebook accounts that are said to praise terrorists and terror attacks in Israel.
Police said that during a search of the homes of the two suspects, who are 20 and 24 years-old, “media materials and incitement materials were seized.”
An investigation into the two suspects was opened and police requested they be held in detention until the end of proceedings against them, Israel Radio reported.
[IsraelTimes] A Palestinian man was arrested after brandishing a screwdriver and threatening to stab a soldier at a West Bank checkpoint on Sunday, the army said. The Palestinian man approached the soldiers’ post near the Tzufim settlement near the northwestern West Bank city of Qalqilya armed with a screwdriver. He threatened to stab the soldier at the gate. Following military protocol the soldiers called for him to stop, and the man “surrendered himself to them,” without the use of force, the army said.
[IsraelTimes] Police say a Palestinian man in possession of nearly a million dollars of US currency has been arrested in the West Bank. The 35-year-old man from the Hebron-area village of Yatta is detained after an undercover investigation by Israeli security forces into a suspected counterfeiting ring. At the time of his arrest, Israeli troops uncover $800,000 in a suitcase the suspect is carrying.
Police say their investigation into the incident is ongoing.
[Daily Caller] A federal grand jury has indicted the former president of the United Dairy Workers of Le Mars in Iowa for allegedly embezzling more than $45,000 from the organization.
Curtis Dean Lang was charged with the theft of $45,040 while serving as president of the United Dairy Workers of Le Mars, which represents workers at Wells Enterprises, the largest family-owned ice cream manufacturer in the United States.
The alleged embezzlement took place between 2012 and June 9, 2015, according to court documents from the United States District court for the Northern District of Iowa, Western Division.
The indictment said that Lang "did embezzle, steal and unlawfully abstract and convert to his own use, the moneys, funds and assets" of the United Dairy Workers of Le Mars, according to the Sioux City Journal.
#1
So, a politician like so many others. Guess he didn't have a reelection slush fund to dump it into. Sort of like not having a Foundation to direct Chinese gifts to.
[Breitbart] Britain’s most dangerous Islamists will be housed in a special unit to stop them converting their fellow inmates. The Times reports work is currently under way at HMP Frankland near Durham, which will have a "prison within a prison" to keep Islamic extremists away from other prisoners.
#8
Not sure why this took so long. Radicals should be treated like a virus so they can't infect anyone else. Isolate them (for their own safety of course).
It’s been a couple of weeks since NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick entered the free agency market and, as of today, he remains gainfully unemployed. Despite his long running battle with the league over his demonstrations of protest before kickoff time, refusing to stand respectfully for the National Anthem, it had been widely assumed that he might land a job somewhere. So what gives? At the Washington Post, Kevin B. Blackistone assures us that the league has secretly decided to “blackball” Kaepernick because of his bold stand in support of social justice or something. Blackistone begins his column by comparing Kaepernick to NBA All-Star Craig Hodges, who once famously wore some African themed attire to the White House and gave a letter to then President Bush calling for more assistance to people of color. But let me bring up another famous (or infamous) NFL figure for you.
Does anyone remember Plaxico Burress? While playing for the Giants (and even after) he racked up a number of collisions with the law over failure to pay taxes and some, shall we say… creative interpretations of personal medication regimens. But all of that paled in comparison to the time he literally shot himself in the thigh at a bar with a handgun for which he had no valid permit to carry in the city. The Giants eventually dismissed him, but he wound up with a starting spot with… the Jets. (For we Jets fans that was no surprise. It was just another day at the front office for us.)
But why did Burress have a job at all? Because even though he was every bit as much of a walking public relations disaster as Kaepernick, he was also one of the hottest receivers in the NFL at the time. The league is simply too competitive to leave that sort of talent out on the street if it can be avoided. Conversely, you can be the most clean cut, law abiding do gooder imaginable, but if you stink up the place when it’s game time you’ll be out of a job. Despite having come within inches of perforating his own tender bits with a hot lead injection, Burress was at the top of his game.
Colin Kaepernick falls somewhere in between. As quarterbacks go, his more recent performance was somewhere between dismal and mediocre. His passer rating was easily thirty points below the guys who made it to the final dance. But even for all that, he wasn’t that bad. Even the bottom quarter of ranked NFL passers are still light years ahead of the hundreds of hopefuls coming out of college every year. So at least one part of Blackistone’s theory is true. His antics definitely affected the outcome, but that’s because we’re talking about a sliding scale here. Allow me to offer a quick rule of thumb when it comes to profession sports as perceived by one of the fans:
The amount of embarrassment your team is willing to put up with is directly proportional to your measured value in terms of how likely you are to get them into the Superbowl.
In those terms, Kaepernick was okay, but not stellar enough for anyone (so far) to take on all that public relations baggage in exchange for what he offers on the field. Maybe somebody will be desperate enough for this condition to change in the coming weeks. (Note to the Jets… please don’t do this to us again.) Perhaps nobody will. But the NFL is a business just as much as it’s a national fixation. Kaepernick could have gotten away with protesting a lot more with a shiny new conference championship ring on his finger, believe me.
#6
A) the QB is the face of the franchise so the embarrassment factor is an order of magnitude over that of a WR.
B) He never showed serious pro caliber QB skills in the pocket which is where you have to do it. One season of success when you were a sort of freak show doesn't always continue.
C) The draft is yet to happen. There is plenty of time for some desperate team to pick him up.
D) Blackstone is a race baiting whiner, a face of the new ESPN.
#7
Yep - bottom line is Kap is a terrible quarterback. He has no leadership skills, can't read defenses, passing skills are mediocre at best and he's completely whipped by his activist girl friend. None of those attributes belong on the gridiron.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
04/03/2017 9:19
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#8
They don't need to. He is a crap quarterback with shitty leadership skills, toxic personality and lots of baggage.
#10
Two points:
(1) He was on the way out anyway before he started the brew-ha-ha that made him a household name.
(2) He has an epic fro that makes me smile whenever I see it and wonder how it can crush down inside his helmet.
#11
I always thought he had the physical skills. IIRC he had one pretty good season. But even before his protest it was clear he was something of a head case.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/03/2017 11:22
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#20
So, red ink has bearded poor Kaepernick,
Who's snoozing, sub rosa, like Frederick.
Will bed-headed hep child,
Unwoke, get his hair styled
To match his less barbarous leonine rhetoric?
The United States is prepared to respond to North Korean nuclear threats on its own if China fails to pressure Pyongyang, President Donald Trump said in an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday.
"Well if China is not going to solve North Korea, We will. That is all I am telling you," he was quoted as telling the newspaper.
"China, curb your dog!"
Trump will host Chinese President Xi Jinping this Thursday and Friday at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where the two leaders are expected to discuss North Korea, China's ambitions in the South China Sea and trade.
"China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won't," he was quoted as saying in the paper.
"Strategic patience", the policy of both the Obama and Bush 43 administrations, has not worked. It was worth trying in some ways, though we didn't implement the financial sanctions near as well as we could have. But now that the Norks have nuclear weapons, and two-stage long-distance missiles, and re-entry vehicles, the time for patience is at an end.
Trump's Deputy National Security Adviser K.T. McFarland said there is a "real possibility" North Korea could be capable of hitting the United States with a nuclear-armed missile by the end of Trump's first term, the newspaper reported.
Intelligence experts disagree with McFarland's assessment and say North Korea's ability to launch a nuclear missile is at least "years away."
Which "intelligence experts"? McFarland at least goes on record.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/03/2017
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#1
Trump: 'Totally' possible for U.S. to address North Korea threat alone
GOOD NEWS: He's right.
BAD NEWS: You do NOT want to know how we'd have to do it.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/03/2017 3:41
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#2
blaming China is not entirely justified
South Korea has had as much or more trade with North Korea than China has over the past decade or so
of course, SKor didn't provide weapons to NKor for 50 years so there is that
Posted by: lord garth ||
04/03/2017 6:13
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#3
I'm looking for a trade deal.
Maybe storing nuclear waste.
#5
Adversaries must continue to be seen as strong and ominously threatening. If not, your own funding stream will eventually be reduced. A successful insurance business is dependent upon good advertising.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan government reacted at Moscow’s stance regarding the Taliban demands for the full withdrawal of the foreign forces from the country.
Presidential front man Shah Hussain Murtazawi told news hounds that no one has the right to dictate terms or issue instructions regarding the presence of the foreign forces in the country.
He said the issue relates to the Afghan nation and the Afghan government to decide regarding the presence of the foreign forces or the forces belonging to the international allies of Afghanistan.
This comes as the Russian special envoy for Afghanistan Zamir 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.... ov earlier endorsed Talibs group’s call for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Afghanistan.
"Of course it’s justified" for the Taliban to oppose the foreign military presence," Kabulov said during an interview.
Kabulov further added "Who’s in favor? Name me one neighboring state that supports it."
The latest remarks by Kabulov followed concerns by the American officials regarding the growing attempts by Moscow to strengthen links with the Taliban group.
The American defense secretary James Mattis said Washington is concerned regarding the ties between Moscow and Taliban group.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2017
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#1
if Russia is cozying up to the Taliban in order to thwart ISIS (ISIS could be considered 'foreign troops', it is playing an odd game indeed
Posted by: lord garth ||
04/03/2017 16:29
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[An Nahar] Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Sunday Israel did not seek "adventures" in Gazoo after Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, accused it of assassinating an official, and suggested the group itself could have killed him.
Hamas, which runs the Gazoo Strip, has blamed Israeli intelligence agency Mossad and its "collaborators" for the March 24 killing of Mazen Faqha in the Paleostinian territory.
Israeli officials had previously not commented on the killing.
"We are not looking for adventures," Lieberman said during a visit to the Israeli city of Sderot near the Gazoo border, according to his office.
"We are conducting security policy with responsibility and determination.
"It does not matter what Hamas says, it's important what the Jews do."
He added: "Let Hamas do what it wants and we will do what we need to do. Hamas is known for internal liquidations, for settling accounts. I suggest that they look there for it."
In response, both Hamas and its armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, accused Lieberman of seeking to evade responsibility for the killing.
"The Israeli occupier bears all responsibility for the liquidation of Mazen Faqha and the ensuing results," Hamas front man Fawzi Barhum said in a statement.
The killing has raised the possibility of a response from Hamas and a fresh escalation of violence.
On Saturday, Hamas vowed "radical measures" against Paleostinians who "collaborated" with Israel, with interior ministry front man Iyad al-Bozum saying that could mean arrests, trials and even executions.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2017
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[NYPOST] More people are leaving the New York region than any other major metropolitan area in the country.
More than 1 million people moved out of the New York area to another part of the country since 2010, a rate of 4.4 percent -- the highest negative net migration rate among the nation’s large population centers, US Census records show.
The number of people leaving the region -- which includes parts of New Jersey, Connecticut, the lower Hudson Valley and Long Island -- in one year swelled from 187,034 in 2015 to 223,423 in 2016, while the number of international immigrants colonists settling in the tri-state area dwindled from 181,551 to 160,324 over the same period, records show.
The nation’s economy is improving, there are more jobs in cheaper places to live, and retirees are choosing to move to warmer climates, experts say.
"The historical trend is that out migration grows when economy is getting better," said Empire Center for Public Policy research director E.J. McMahon.
"As the economy gets better there are more jobs outside the region and by the same token . . . more people to buy your house if you’re a baby boomer looking to move to Boca Raton or Myrtle Beach."
Rick: Now, you've got to listen to me! You have any idea what you'd have to look forward to if you stayed here? Nine chances out of ten, we'd both wind up in a concentration camp. Isn't that true, Louie?
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2017
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#1
Lose water in a city like New York and you will have to evacuate the city in 3 days. Place is a death trap.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/03/2017 0:31
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#2
But so far only a couple of Trumps have made the move south, though perhaps Melania and Barron will follow later.
#8
The last 5 or 6 years my area of Tennessee has seen an influx of retirees coming from New York and Pennsylvania. For the most part they have "assimilated". There are some, however, who miss "how we do stuff back home". The other retirees tell them to go back home, they came here to escape back home.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/03/2017 10:14
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#9
Who has been running New York since 2010? Running the COuntry? We've been told the economy is great again and again but I'm guessing the people moving aren't moving because of extra wealth to by homes in the suburbs as Mr McMahon suggests. I'm guessing folks can't afford rents any longer and are moving where they hope to find a job, or moving back in with the parents.
#10
I remember in California back in the 1970's it seemed like every other car had New York or New Jersey license plates. There were all these people running around who got the letter "r" in the wrong places when they spoke and forgot to use it where it belonged. Back in those days California was a red state. Not anymore.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/03/2017 11:10
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#11
Abu Uluque points out the saddest part of migration. Too many folks leave their own failed state (or nation state) and then try to recreate the very things that caused that failure (be it liberalism or Islam).
#12
Too many folks leave their own failed state (or nation state) and then try to recreate the very things that caused that failure (be it liberalism or Islam).
As evidenced by the increasing number of California license tags in Georgia.
#15
while I generally agreed with the No-CA meme, I was a CA refugee here in Idaho. Keep in mind that it's probable that some of the CA tags belong to conservative political refugees (like me) yearning for a better life out of Kalifornia..
#16
Even back in 1990 when I was in Portland, Oregon the natives there did not like Californians moving in to Oregon. Go figure.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/03/2017 15:52
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Same for me, I moved to Eastern Washington in the 90s and they were fed up with Californians. But most Californians return to California when the economy returns.
With Jerry Brown in charge that may be some time though.
#18
Rammer- I surmise that those who leave Commiefornia are good people who just couldn't take the one-party system of corruption and leftism. I myself will move to NV or FL.
Posted by: Jack Salami ||
04/03/2017 19:20
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"Idaho - Keep in mind that it's probable that some of the CA tags belong to conservative political refugees (like me) yearning for a better life out of Kalifornia.."
Most of them are retired cops from SoCal. I know a guy still working who commutes.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
04/03/2017 19:43
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Tuz Khurmatu (BasNews) Two improvised explosive devices (IED) injured six Peshmerga troops in west of Tuz Khurmatu, south of Kirkuk province, early on Sunday.
Mohamed Fayaq, head of Tuz Khurmatu media department said that the planted IEDs targeted a convoy of Peshmerga forces in western Tuz Kharmatu district, wounding six Peshmerga troops.
Tuz Khurmatu is a disputed Kurdish area. It is a religiously and ethnically diverse city in northern Iraq where Kurds, Arabs and Turkmens live altogether.
Kirkuk (BasNews) (IraqiNews.com)The Global Coalition against the Islamic State (IS) Air Force killed seven militants including two leaders in southwest of Kirkuk province.
Depending on a source from the Peshmerga forces, Anadolu Agency reported a fighter jet belonging to the coalition conducted a precise strike against a position of the IS militants in Rashad town, southwest of Kirkuk.
The strike led to the elimination of seven militants, including two leaders, of the extremist group.
The air raid which targeted the IS militants in Rashad town near the group’s held town of Hawija was undertaken based on Peshmerga military intelligence, the source said.
Hawija is a strategic town which has fallen into the hands of IS since mid-2014. Iraqi authorities postponed an operation to liberate the town last year, instead they moved onto central Mosul.
Kurdish authorities in Kirkuk have repeatedly warned that Kirkuk may not be completely secured as long as IS rules the nearby town of Hawija.
Military operations in Iraq are resumed at places where IS control it. International coalition launch airstrikes against the IS sites leaving casualties.
The Iraqi government is expected to launch an offensive to retake IS-occupied areas in Kirkuk once it is done with eradicating IS from Mosul, the group’s biggest bastion in Iraq where U.S.-backed government troops and allied militias have entered a sixth month of operations seeking to recapture the city.
Posted by: badanov ||
04/03/2017
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Al-Shabaab militants have retaken a key district near Baidoa, the regional capital of Baay province on Sunday from Somali troops after a brief gunfight. Heavily armed Al Shabaab fighters with militants vehicles had dislodged the National Army (SNA) soldiers from Goofgaduud town, which lies just 30KM north of Baidoa city.
“The Somali Government troops pulled out of the town and Al-Shabaab militants entered and secured control after attack,” said a resident who spoke to Radio Shabelle by phone.
The Al Qaida-linked Al shabaab fighters hoisted their black banner on the top buildings and implored residents to inform them their comeback, according to the anonymous resident.
Somali troops who vacated Goofgaduud retreated back to a nearby area outside Baidoa, where reports say they are planning a new counter-attack to regain control of the village.
That doesn't make a bit of sense...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/03/2017
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[DAWN] Four missiles were fired from across the Pak-Afghan border into 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... Sunday morning, according to local political administration.
A spokesperson of the local administration said the attack which left locals panicked did not cause any loss of life. However, a woman is only as old as she admits... one missile struck a shop in the Shingak area, another landed near a mosque, and two others in a graveyard at Kachkina, he said.
The spokesperson claimed the missiles were fired from Afghanistan's Paktia province.
Kurram is one of the most sensitive tribal areas as it borders three Afghan provinces and at one point was one of the key routes for Death Eater movement across the border.
Bilateral relations between Pakistain and Afghanistan have been tense as of late, with officials from both sides traded allegations over terrorism.
Pakistain's border crossings with Afghanistan had been sealed in the aftermath of a suicide kaboom at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sindh ─ the deadliest in a series of recent attacks in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2017
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Some of the prisoners of Hezb-e-Islami will be released next week as the Afghan government is waiting for the return of the party’s leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar ... who used to be known in intelligence circles as The Most Evil Man in the World but who now seems merely run-of-the-mill evil... Shah Hussain Murtazawi, a front man to President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. , told news hounds that the peace deal with Hezb-e-Islami is being implemented.
President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani chaired the National Security Council meeting late in February and instructed the relevant authorities to take immediate steps in implementation of the peace deal with Hezb-e-Islami.
It was also concluded that all provisions of the agreement, specifically the release of the prisoners must be implemented.
The peace agreement with Hezb-e-Islami was signed late in the month of September last year.
The United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... Security Council further paved the way for the proper implementation of the peace agreement provisions by remove Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s name from the sanctions list few weeks ago.
The peace deal was signed amid optimisms that the other myrmidon groups will follow Hekmatyar in participating in an Afghan-led grinding of the peace processor.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2017
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[PJ Media] Once you wave away all the smoke created by our dishonest media, the story of this past week was pretty simple. The Trump-Russia-Conspiracy narrative is falling apart. The Obama-Spied-on-his-Political-Opposition narrative is coming together. The media has given credence to Democrat Congressman Adam Schiff's hysterical charges about how the Republican chair of the committee, Devin Nunes, made his latest discoveries. But Schiff is a dishonest McCarthyite, spewing insinuations and accusations without any proof to back them up. Nunes, on the other hand, has obviously gotten hold of solid intel showing that Obama spied on Trump and his people, pretty much as the president tweeted back on March 4. The willing Democrat executioners of truth -- i.e. the news staffs at ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and the New York Times -- give equal weight to the statements of both men, making it seem like the House Intelligence Committee has simply descended into partisan bickering. But that's a lie. Nunes has found something. Schiff is smearing him and the president. Those two actions do not deserve the same sort of coverage.
An intelligence whistle blower has apparently shown Nunes documents containing intelligence gathered on members of Trump's transition team. Though this intelligence may have been gathered legally -- i.e. as part of a wiretap on foreigners -- at least two of the names of Americans, including the name of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, were illegally revealed and shared widely. Other names were made obvious even though they remained concealed. None of the investigations seems to have had anything to do with Russia.
You can tell that Nunes has got this stuff solid because after he saw the documents he first informed the media, then informed the president, then informed the media that he had informed the president. The White House has since invited members of both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees to view certain documents which may or may not be the ones Nunes saw. That's a lot different than Schiff making McCarthyite noise about there being "more than circumstantial evidence" that Trump works for SMERSH. Schiff and other Democrats have tried to confuse the issue with cries that Nunes isn't playing fair and demands that he recuse himself.
#1
Schiff is a dishonest McCarthyite, spewing insinuations and accusations without any proof to back them up. Nunes, on the other hand, has obviously gotten hold of solid intel showing that Obama spied on Trump and his people, pretty much as the president tweeted back on March 4.
Since Schiff viewed the same intelligence as Nunes, Schiff has been fairly quiet. Most likely, the info is damaging to Obama's previous administration. It was an official high up according to Nunes. I'm betting on the former CIA head.
Jeebus, I recall the Valerie Plame affair in the Bush days. The Donks carried on for a very long time with their faux self-righteous indignation. Didn't it turn out that a leftie outed her and not a Pub?
#4
Susan Rice of fake Benghazi memes. I'd bet she is not alone in the current spying on Trump mess. Obama going to stay in French Polynesia awhile longer trying to create his fictional account of his presidency?
[NYDAILYNEWS] The homeless man accused of starting a fire that caused a section of a major Atlanta interstate to collapse was smoking crack before the blaze erupted, his arrest warrant shows.
Basil Eleby, 39, was charged with first degree arson and criminal damage to property in connection to the fire, and is being held in Fulton County jail on a $200,000 bond.
Eleby has been arrested 20 times since 2000, mostly on drug possession and drug trafficking charges, according to Fulton County jail records.
Thursday’s fire affected a busy stretch of I-85, causing millions of dollars in damage and substantial traffic disruption, possibly for months as the state works to rebuild the heavily-trafficked route.
If he'd only had a crack 'Safe Area' all of this unpleasantness could have been prevented. Perhaps the working privileged will finally come to their senses.
While Basil was an idiot and a crack-head, I have to wonder what on earth the Georgia DOT was doing storing a large quantity of highly flammable material under an expressway bridge...
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2017
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#1
While it's fun to read, I refuse to believe hobos, winos, homeless and crackhead flotsam are the cause. They are just convenient dupes.
Much like delivery trucks and crowds, expect to see casual acts of arson against critical infrastructure increasing in number.
Eleby intentionally set a chair on fire; the chair was near a stockpile of polyethylene pipe which in turn caught fire
Posted by: lord garth ||
04/03/2017 8:48
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#4
But the government said nothing flammable was stored under the bridge! I guess they lied.
"McMurry said his department stored coils of plastic conduit, used in fiber optic networks, beneath the span but insisted they were noncombustible."
#5
There are different definitions of non-combustible. I'll bet the department was using a very lax one, suitable for conduit that was going to be buried.
Posted by: James ||
04/03/2017 9:51
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#6
About 20 years ago, I reconstructed a semi-crash on the interstate. The semi was hauling plastic beads that were used in some process. The semi hit a van, an SUV and another semi killing several people. Diesel fuel was spread over the highway. The diesel fuel ignited and scorched the surface of the divider and roadway but little other damage was done to the highway. The plastic beads did not seem to contribute to the fire. I find it difficult to believe so much damage could be done on I-85 by plastic conduit catching fire underneath the highway. Could be that thermite caused the fire which would put this into terrorism consideration. Concrete doesn't usually burn and steel (assuming steel supports or I-beams were used) melts at a high temperature.
The Syrian Army targeted gatherings and positions of Nusra Front and ISIL terrorists in Daraa and Deir Ezzor provinces.
Daraa
A military source told SANA that army units targeted with concentrated fire the fortifications of Nusra terrorists to the north of al-Nu’aima town in Daraa province and destroyed one of their command centers, leaving all terrorists inside it dead or injured.
In the northern countryside, the source added that an army unit targeted gatherings of Nusra terrorists in the town of al-Tiha and the farms to the east of Ebta’a, destroying a tank and two heavy machineguns.
Another army unit targeted dens of terrorist groups in the neighborhoods of Daraa al-Balad and al-Karak, killing a number of terrorists and destroying their arms and ammunition.
Deir Ezzor
An army unit killed 10 ISIL terrorists in operations against their gatherings and infiltration axes in Deir Ezzor city and the surrounding area.
A military source told SANA that an army unit targeted with concentrated fire the gatherings of the ISIL terrorists in al-Erifi neighborhood in Deir Ezzor city and their positions in the surroundings of the Regiment 137 to the southwest of the city, killing 10 terrorists and destroying two machinegun nests and a vehicle.
Homs
A military source said that army units foiled infiltration attempts by Nusra terrorists from the direction of the villages of Ghajar Amir and Kafrnan towards military posts and from the direction of the projects area towards Qinyat al-Asi village in Homs province’s northern countryside, killing a large number of terrorists and injuring others, in addition to destroying a number of their vehicles.
Source: SANA
Posted by: badanov ||
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AMMAN: US-backed Syrian forces repelled a major counter-attack by Daesh militants holding out at the country’s largest dam and in the nearby town of Tabqa, the group and activists said on Sunday.
The dam is a key strategic target in the military campaign to isolate and capture the Syrian city of Raqqa, 40 km to the east and Daesh’s biggest urban stronghold.
The US-backed group said militants attacked its positions north-east of Tabqa and at an airbase to the south of the town where dozens of its fighters were killed; but the coalition of Kurdish and Arab militias was making slower advances in a village east of the town.
Jehan Sheikh Ahmad, a spokeswoman for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), spearheaded by the powerful Kurdish YPG militia, said the militants were stepping up their resistance as SDF forces got closer to encircling the town and the dam.
“Our forces are advancing...(Daesh) are facing large difficulties and so they are starting counter-attacks,” said the official whose forces have US special forces with them.
The SDF began an assault to capture the dam and the nearby town almost two weeks ago after the coalition landed some of its fighters on the southern side of the Euphrates near Tabqa, leading to its capture of an air base.
The SDF has been waging a multi-phased offensive since November to isolate Raqqa, with backing from the US-led coalition taking territory to the north and east of the province.
Hundreds of families with their cattle, property, motor bikes and vans continued on Sunday to flee from villages under Daesh control.
The US-backed forces say at least 7,000 people have taken shelter in their areas since the campaign to capture Tabqa.
Many are also fleeing airstrikes on civilian areas in Raqqa province that have left dozens dead according to activists and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Last month strikes believed to be conducted by the US-led coalition hit a bakery and a local market in Tabqa town with dozens of civilians killed. Another raid that hit a school sheltering displaced people near Raqqa also killed scores. The SDF denies civilians are targeted.
Daesh and the Syrian government have both said the hydroelectric dam is vulnerable to collapse after strikes by the US-led coalition.
Syrian officials say that would lead to catastrophic flooding in the cities and towns in the Euphrates valley downstream.
The SDF and the coalition have denied the dam is in danger.
Residents, however, say an SDF attempt last week to relieve the dam’s water levels by opening a canal from the Balikh River that flows into the Euphrates had flooded cultivated agricultural land in several villages.
Posted by: badanov ||
04/03/2017
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Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Baghdad Operations Command, on Sunday, announced killing a suicide bomber, wearing an explosive belt, north of the province.
The command said in a press statement that forces from the army’s 22nd brigade managed, during a proactive intelligence operation, backed by the National Security, to kill a terrorist wearing an explosive belt in al-Tarmiyah District, north of Baghdad.
The terrorist was the Islamic State Supply Official in the area, the statement added.
The capital, Baghdad, is witnessing a surge of violence and suicide attacks using booby-trapped vehicles and explosive vests, in addition to separate attacks against civilians and security forces.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Eights persons were killed and injured in two blasts, south of Baghdad, a source from police said on Sunday.
“A bomb placed near the commercial stores in al-Wardiya region in al-Mada’en district, south of Baghdad, exploded on Sunday, leaving three civilians wounded,” the source told AlSumaria News.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source said, “another bomb was planted near a market at al-Sayyed Abdullah region in Mahmoudiya district, south of Baghdad. The explosion left one killed and four others injured.”
Security troops, according to the source, arrived at the two accident spots and took the injured to a nearby hospital for treatment.
While several blasts are not followed by a claim of responsibility, Islamic State militants said they had been behind some bloody explosions and attacks that hit the capital in the past months, leaving casualties among civilians and security troops.
Some observers believe Islamic State has been escalating attacks outside the city of Mosul, where the group has been losing ground and personnel since October, so as to relieve pressure by government forces on that front and to divert attention from group losses.
Posted by: badanov ||
04/03/2017
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The chief executive of Gap sent a personal letter this week replying to a 5-year-old girl who asked the retailer to carry less gendered children’s attire.
Alice Jacobs, 5, is “a girl who likes boy stuff,” refuses to wear dresses “and “doesn’t mind being confused for a boy,” wrote her mom, Beth, in a Washington Post op-ed published in early March. Instead of ribbons and curls, she’s into dinosaurs, planets, bugs and reptiles.
The piece included a letter dictated by Alice, where she complimented Gap’s “really cool” boys’ shirts. “Can you make some cool girls’ shirts please?” the tomboy said. “Or, can you make a ‘no boys or girls’ section?”
Alice’s entreaty was picked up by other national media, and it eventually ended up on the desk of Gap’s top executive, Jeff Kirwan. “You are right, I think we can do a better job offering even more choices that appeal to everyone,” Kirwan wrote to Alice, also enclosing some t-shirts for her. “I’ve talked with our designers and we’re going to work on even more fun stuff that I think you’ll like.”
Kirwan also noted that some of its existing t-shirts for girls include firetrucks, dinosaurs, sharks, footballs and superheroes.
Teen Vogue—which has increasingly made gender identity a priority in its coverage-—reported that Gap is creating a gender-neutral clothing line. By deadline, Gap neither confirmed nor denied that claim.
The magazine also noted that a handful of other brands have changed their children’s offerings to meet culture’s increasingly bendable ideas about gender; Target and Land’s End already include “more inclusive options in their kids’ section.”
#2
She can just buy stuff in the boys department - it's not like they're cut different or anything. (But then again, Mrs. Glenmore buys her hunting clothes in the mens department... they fit better, more to choose from, and cheaper.)
#4
replying to a 5-year-old girl who asked the retailer to carry less gendered children’s attire. I call this fake news. It doesn't pass the smell test.
[Libya Herald] A sailor and a civilian were killed by a sniper in Benghazi today when a family car tried to cross the Guiliana Bridge.
The driver’s wife was killed when the gunnies opened up on the car and his niece, who was eight-months pregnant, was shot in the side. A sailor who rushed to help was then rubbed out. The dead serviceman has been named as Ahmed Mousa al-Zwai from the nearby navy operations room. The family has not been identified.
The driver, who was also injured, was taken to hospital along with his niece. The baby was delivered prematurely but healthy. The mother however is still in a serious condition.
An army source said the sniper was positioned in a high building in Suq al-Hout on the other side of the bridge. However Suq al-Hout is too far away. The sniper may therefore have been operating outside the myrmidon enclave.
Meanwhile as Libyan National Army continues to surround their positions in the city’s Sabri and Suq al-Hout, bandidoshard boyz blew up a bridge at al-Thama on the coastal road heading into Sabri.
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04/03/2017
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[Libya Herald] French ambassador Brigitte Curmi has had talks with Khalifa Hafter on the crisis in Libya. The two met on Wednesday at the field marshal’s Rajmah headquarters, near Benghazi’s Benina airbase. It followed a meeting in Tobruk the previous day with House of Representatives’ president Ageela Saleh.
Ambassador Curmi is reported to have told Hafter that as far as La Belle France is concerned there could be no military solution to the crisis, only a political one. That meant reconciliation.
La Belle France would be willing to help in that process, the Libya Herald has been told.
It is the first time that the two have met, indeed it is thought to be the first time that any French ambassador has met Hafter.
La Belle France has taken the view for the past six months that while it fully supports the Libyan Political Agreement and the Presidency Council, Hafter has a role to play and should be brought into the government’s framework.
French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault spelled this out in a TV interview last October. At the time, Italia was one of the few Western powers also supporting the idea. Since then, others, including the British and Americans, have also come out in support of the plan.
Meanwhile, ...back at the laboratory the smoke and fumes had dispersed, to reveal an ominous sight... it is reported today that the Italian and Dutch ambassadors will meet Ageela Saleh in the next couple of days and possible also Hafter.
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[Libya Herald] Because it says he is obstructing the political process, the EU has renewed sanctions on Nuri Abu Sahmain, the former General National Congress president, along with the House of Representatives’s Ageelah Saleh and the prime minister of the so-called National Salvation Government (NSG) Khalifa Ghwell.
The oddity is that Abu Sahmain, an Amazigh, has played no role in Libyan politics for almost a year and is believed to have left 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... for Zuwara. His most recent pronouncement was in April last year when he attacked the old parliament for dissolving itself and morphing into the State Council.
It is hard therefore to understand how the EU’s continued financial and travel sanctions might influence Sahmain’s behaviour. It was not possible to contact Sahmain for his reaction.
The European Council first imposed sanctions on Sahmain, Saleh and Ghwell last April because they were considered to be blocking the implementation of the Libyan Political Agreement of December 2015.
Saleh remains the president (speaker) of the HoR but Ghwell’s attempt to resuscitate the NSG in Tripoli has thus far met with limited success. Meanwhile, ...back at the mall, Clarissa suddenly spied Mr. Bartlett at the checkout counter. He was buying Grecian Formula!... Sahmain is widely no longer considered to be a political player.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2017
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[An Nahar] An Egyptian court ruled Sunday that a judicial decision to block the transfer of two Red Sea islands to Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... was invalid, lawyers said, in a blow for opponents of a handover.
The urgent matters court in Cairo invalidated a verdict by Egypt's highest administrative court that went against the islands' transfer.
Saudi Arabia has been a main financial backer of President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi since the former army chief toppled his Islamist predecessor in 2013.
The deal to hand over the islands, signed during an April 2016 visit by Saudi King Salman ...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Cutodian of the Two Holy Mosquesand Lord of Most of the Arabians.... during which Riyadh showered Egypt with aid, provoked accusations that Cairo had "sold" the strategic islands.
Cairo said the two islands -- Tiran and Sanafir -- were Saudi territory to start with, but had been leased to Egypt in the 1950s.
The accord has sparked street protests and a legal battle between the government, which insists along with Sisi that the islands are Saudi, and lawyers opposed to the measure.
The urgent matters court ruled "in favor of disregarding the ruling of the high administrative court," as "the judiciary doesn't have the authority to interfere with matters of illusory sovereignty," said Ashraf Farahat, the lawyer who filed the latest lawsuit.
Khaled Ali, a lawyer who argued in the administrative court that the islands belonged to Egypt, said Sunday's verdict aimed to give the government "judicial cover" as it pushes to hand over the territory.
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[ABC7CHICAGO] CHICAGO (WLS) -- A 14-year-old boy was in jug Sunday in the sexual assault of a 15-year-old reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown ... home of Al Capone, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel,... girl which was streamed on Facebook Live.
An arrest warrant was also issued for a 15-year-old boy. Police said Sunday they could arrest as many as five more boys and an adult relative of one of the teenagers.
The girl went missing on March 19 and was lured to a home by one of her attackers. The Facebook Live video was viewed by at least 40 people. None of them called 911, police said.
"It just disgusts me that people would look at those videos and not pick up the phone and not dial 911," said Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson.
Police said Sunday that they have worked with Facebook and obtained social media search warrants, which they have used to identify two suspects and that multiple videos were made in addition to the one streamed on Facebook.
The 14-year-old boy, who is scheduled to appear in juvenile court on Monday, faces felony aggravated criminal sexual assault, manufacturing child pornography and dissemination of child pornography. His name will not be released because he is a juvenile. The boy does not have a prior criminal record.
Police said the victim is traumatized and having trouble talking about the assault, but Supt. Johnson praised her for her courage in working with police. Police said she knew one of the victims and was lured to the residence where the sexual assault took place.
The 15-year-old girl, a freshman at Lane Tech High School, has also received online harassment.
Community activist Andrew Holmes, who spoke to the girl's mother on Sunday, said the family is having trouble coping.
"This was a torture, not just a sexual assault," Holmes said.
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[AlAhram] A 35-year-old low-ranking police officer, Mohammed Ahmed Nofal, died Saturday night from injuries sustained in a kaboom near a police training centre in Egypt's Nile Delta city of Tanta, al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.
A Tanta health ministry official said four of the injured were still in a critical condition and undergoing surgery.
A military funeral for the policeman will be held later Sunday, according to authorities.
On Saturday night, Lewaa al-Thawra
...The Revolution Brigade, which along with Hasm (Decisiveness or Determination) is one of the fighting arms of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, established to fight back against the overthrow of President Morsi...
posted a new statement on their Twitter account under the name of "traps for traitors", referring to 20 casualties, and claiming their attack as Dire Revenge of their "four deaders" who were killed last month, and also for "the residents of Basarta in Damietta."
A heavy security crackdown has been in effect in Basrata village in the northern governorate of Damietta for the past few days. Officials were reported in local newspapers as saying that the crackdown was to arrest gunnies who killed a low-ranking policeman in the village.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/03/2017
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[CNN] A custodian and four other suspects have been nabbed Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! after 20 people were killed at a Moslem shrine, authorities in Pakistain said Sunday.
Three more people are hospitalized at death's door after the attack in Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... province, said Liaqat Chattah, deputy police commissioner for Sargodha city, where the attack happened.
Custodian Abdul Waheed drugged and stripped the victims before they were killed at the Sufi shrine, which is named the Ali Ahmad Gunnar Shrine, said Chattah.
Knives and clubs were used to attack the devotees before police were alerted by two men and two women who had expeditiously departed at a goodly pace, Chattah said.
Waheed was arrested, along with four other suspects. The police official described Waheed as mentally unstable. An investigation is underway, he said.
Shrines to various saints are scattered all over Pakistain, where they are considered places of meditation and refuge, where the homeless find shelter and alms are handed out. Shrine custodians generally perform caretaker duties -- keeping the area clean and managing events and rituals.
Sargodha is about 105 miles northwest of Lahore.
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#1
another reason why Pakistan is valued by many countries
[An Nahar] Israel is ready to launch a military operation in Syria against Leb's Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... and its allies should a real threat to Israel arise there, Israeli Ambassador to Russia Gary Koren has said.
"The Iranian regime has always been keen on supporting Syria and Hizbullah and exploiting them as two tools aimed at threatening and deterring Israel," Koren was quoted as telling a group of Russian news hounds.
"Our territory is being subjected to deliberate or non-deliberate shelling with all types of weapons and our army is retaliating and not standing idly by. However, we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by... should the situation change and Hizbullah or any other Shiite militia or Iran start to amass a second front at the Golan Heights, we will not tolerate that and we will respond as quickly as possible," the envoy added.
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A heavy kaboom was reported in southeastern Khost province ... across the border from Miranshah, within commuting distance of Haqqani hangouts such as Datta Khel and probably within sight of Mordor. Khost is populated by six different tribes of Pashtuns, the largest probably being the Khostwal, from which it takes its name... of Afghanistan late on Saturday leaving a number of the security forces and civilians dead or maimed.
The local officials confirmed the incident took place in the vicinity of Domand district in northern part of the province.
Provincial governor’s front man Mubariz Mohammad Zadran said the government has received reports regarding the six students who suffered injuries in the attack.
He said the health condition of a number of the maimed is critical but there are still no reports regarding the Afghan forces casualties.
In the meantime, another official said at least three Afghan security personnel were killed in the attack and some others were maimed.
The eyewitnesses and local residents said the kaboom was powerful enough to shatter the glasses of the several houses in the area.
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[SCMP] Aung San Suu Kyi’s one-year-old government won a string of seats in Myanmar by-elections on Sunday but was bruised by losses in ethnic minority areas.
The voting to fill 19 seats in the national and regional parliaments was seen as a test of the icon’s popularity after a bumpy first year in office.
Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won nine out of 19 seats in the national and regional parliaments, according to the Union Election Commission, following a period in which she has struggled to match sky-high expectations.
The NLD stormed to power after dominating a historic 2015 poll that ended half a century of brutal military rule.
But disillusionment with her administration has grown in some circles as the young government has struggled to push through promised reforms.
The NLD’s comfortable majority was not threatened by Saturday’s by-elections, which were mostly held to fill a handful of offices emptied by politicians who took on ministerial posts.
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[An Nahar] Paraguay's president sacked his interior minister and police chief Saturday, following a clash that led to the death of a young activist as rioters angry about electoral reform stormed Congress.
Closed circuit cameras captured the death of 25-year-old Rodrigo Quintana, leader of the opposition Liberal Party's youth branch, who was apparently shot by police early Saturday as they searched the party's offices in Asuncion for protesters.
About 30 people were maimed, including three politicians, according to firefighters and an opposition senator. Police said 211 people were tossed in the slammer Please don't kill me! , some of them minors.
President Horacio Cartes on Saturday responded by firing Interior Minister Tado Rojas and Police Commissioner Crispulo Sotelo.
But Foreign Minister Eladio Loizaga slammed the unrest as "the work of a violent group that does not understand what democracy is, does not understand tolerance."
"Paraguay's democracy is stronger than ever," he said, adding that security forces acted with "total responsibility."
Furious protesters broke into the Congress late Friday, ransacking politicians' offices and starting fires after senators approved a proposal to allow the president to run for reelection.
Opposition leaders denounced the secretive vote Friday as a "congressional coup," saying it could clear the way for a return to dictatorship in the landlocked South American nation of 6.8 million people.
Right-wing leader Cartes is seeking to amend the constitution to enable himself to run for office again in 2018 after his current term ends.
He blamed the violence on "a group of Paraguayans embedded in politics and the media aimed at destroying democracy and political and economic stability."
"Democracy is not won or defended by violence," he said on Twitter.
"We must not allow barbarians to destroy the peace, tranquility and welfare of the people."
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[PJ Media] It’s as much a rite of the spring season in Philadelphia as the Phillies’ home opener. But it won’t happen this year.
The city’s largest annual event associated with the Cinco de Mayo holiday has been canceled for fears that ICE agents would be able to round up large numbers of illegal immigrants.
ICE agents are that good, you know. They can just look at someone and spot an illegal. Really. Our government is always this powerful and efficient, just like you saw in the "Jason Bourne" movies. Head for the hills of Mexico, 'cause ICE is on the loose...
This is more than just the paranoia of people who spend their days looking over their shoulders for federal agents. Philadelphia and Pennsylvania have been specifically targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Immigration lawyer David Kaplan told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the fears expressed by Puebla Carnival organizers were justified.
El Fake! This is clearly an attempt by gringo conservative haters to harsh your heritage. Please plan to turn up for the festivities as planned. Don't forget to bring an amigo.
#1
It's not even a national holiday in Mexico. It was only celebrated in the state where the Mexican republican forces beat back French interventionist forces in the 19th Century. It was originally promoted as a marketing gimmick by a beer company in the US. Fake holiday.
#4
Once again, the elites are showing their ignorance. Cinco de Mayo is an excuse for gringos to drink Mexican beer and tequila. You'd have a tough time finding a Mexican of any sort, legal or illegal, in the crowd.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/03/2017 11:14
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#5
Cinco de Mayo is an excuse for gringos to drink Mexican beer and tequila.
#8
A theory on the popularity of Cinco de Mayo in the US is that the defeat of the French at Puebla came at a time when the French were still very real potential material allies of the Confederate States of America. The loss to the Mexicans pretty much put the quietus on that and elated the supporters of the Union. Thus the genesis of the affinity north of the border for the 5 Mayo celebration. Come for the French defeat, stay for the tequila shots.
AMMAN: Jets believed to be Russian hit an outpost run by moderate Syrian fighters forces in northwestern Syria near a major border crossing with Turkey, killing at least one fighter and wounding several people, two Syrian fighters sources said on Sunday.
They said several raids overnight hit Babeska, a village in Idlib province that has become a haven for several moderate Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups, mainly Jaish al Islam, a major insurgent group that controls the last major Syrian fighters stronghold on the doorstep of the Syrian capital.
Jaish al Islam is a signatory to a fragile cease-fire brokered by Russia and Turkey at the end of last year. Syrian fighters say Russia has failed to put pressure on the Syrian government to ensure the cease-fire holds.
The Syrian government considers Jaish al Islam a terrorist group and blames it alongside other insurgents for waging recent attacks on the government-held areas in the capital.
The village also houses hundreds of families and fighters from the Damascus suburb of Daraya which was evacuated by Syrian fighters and surrendered to government control last year.
War jets also believed to be Russian also struck Urum al Kubra town in fighters-held western Aleppo countryside where five civilians were killed, in an area that witnessed fighting between Syrian fighters and the Syrian army, Syrian fighters said.
At least 10 Taliban insurgents were killed in an attack on Durqad district of northern Takhar province on Saturday night, local officials said on Sunday.
In addition, nine other insurgents were injured.
The incident took place after Taliban insurgents attacked the district from different directions and clashed with security forces, 808 Police Spinzar zone said in a statement.
“The attack started at about 8 pm local time and ended at 4 am - early Sunday,” according to the statement.
However, the statement did not provide details on casualties among security forces.
[IsraelTimes] In response to new curbs on West Bank construction, Israeli settlement supporters hoped for the best and expected the worst, tempering their initial euphoria at US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... ’s election.
Pro-settlement leaders who advocate Jewish control of the entire West Bank went as far as to cautiously welcome the government’s announcement Thursday that construction would be largely restricted to developed areas of existing Jewish communities in the West Bank. Others hoped the restrictions did not amount to a freeze on settlement building.
"You need to understand that people built up an expectation that there would be a new president, the old era would end, and we’d be able to do whatever we want," Yesha Council foreign envoy Oded Revivi told JTA on Sunday. "All of a sudden, reality doesn’t look like our expectations."
Much of the Israeli right anticipated Trump would give Israel a freer hand in the West Bank than had his predecessor, Barack Obama I am the change that you seek... . But since being elected, Trump has backed off his pledge to move the US Embassy in Jerusalem to Tel Aviv and made moves toward the final status agreement he has said he wants to broker between Israel and the Paleostinians.
Having welcomed Trump’s election in January by announcing: "The era of a Paleostinian state is over," Education Minister Naftali Bennett expressed cautious optimism Sunday at the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. "The arrangement is a fitting one, but the proof will be in the pudding," Bennett said, according to the Walla news website.
They were the first comments by Bennett, the head of the fiercely pro-settlement Jewish Home party, since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday announced the new settlement policy in a meeting of the security cabinet. Netanyahu told his top ministers that the policy was a goodwill gesture to Trump, who last month said settlement expansion "may not be helpful" in achieving peace and asked Netanyahu to "hold back on settlements a little bit."
"This is a very friendly administration and we need to be considerate of the president’s requests," Netanyahu said, according to the Israeli daily Haaretz.
The policy Netanyahu laid out was that settlement construction would be limited to previously developed areas of the West Bank. But where security or topography prevented this, new homes would be built as close as possible to the developed areas. Israel would not allow the creation of any new illegal outposts, he said.
Hours earlier, the security cabinet decided to establish the first entirely new settlement in two decades for families evicted last month from Amona, an illegal West Bank outpost. That settlement would not be affected by the policy.
Most of the world considers all Israeli construction in the territories it captured in the 1967 Six-Day War illegal. But Israel disputes this and allows government authorized settlements on land not demonstrably owned by Paleostinians. While Israel stopped establishing new settlements in the early 1990s, it has retroactively approved outposts and let existing settlements expand.
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi government forces discovered 16 dead bodies of civilians in western Mosul’s Old City district on Sunday, saying they had probably been executed by Islamic State militants.
Quoted by Anadolu Agency, Karim al-Nuaimi, a lieutenant at the Interior Ministry’s Rapid Response forces, said Sunday that the victims belong to Ras al-Jada district, and had apparently been executed by a firing squad for attempting to flee the area.
News reports said last week that IS executed 23 civilians from Ras al-Jada for refusing to evacuate their residences and move to another location with IS fighters.
Anadolu Agency also quoted Khaled al-Hilli, a colonel at the Iraqi army, saying that IS militants als shot dead two civilians trying to flee Bab Lakash area in central Mosul towards security forces.
Iraqi troops have been struggling to retake the densely-populated and-structured Old City since operations launched in February to retake western Mosul in February.
Iraqi commanders and officials at the allied U.S.-led coalition have admitted to the difficulty of battles in that region, especially at the Old City, due to the high numbers of civilians stranded there, and who are believed to be used by IS as human shields.
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) 13 civilians were killed by the Islamic State militants while escaping areas controlled by the group to freed areas, west of Mosul, a source from Federal Police said on Sunday.
“13 civilians were killed while trying to escape Tamouz region heading to Bab al-Sham, western Mosul,” Colonel Khodeir Saleh told BasNews.
“IS opened fire against the civilians. Security troops were able to take the bodies then to medical centers,” he added.
Islamic State has executed hundreds of civilians and security members since it took over large areas in Iraq to proclaim a self-styled “Islamic Caliphate”in 2014.
The group carried out the executions of its victims, which it proudly posted through its media, over accusations of collaboration with the Iraqi security authorities or for attempting to flee areas under its control.
Mosul is the Islamic State’s strongest stronghold in Iraq. Eastern Mosul was recaptured from IS in January, after a US-backed offensive was launched in October. A new offensive started in February to retake the west.
Retaking Mosul could ruin the Islamic State’s self-styled “Islamic Caliphate” declared in 2014 when the group occupied several parts of the country.
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Mayor of al-Baghdadi area in Anbar Province announced, on Sunday, that security forces found remains of two tribal fighters, who were executed earlier by the Islamic State group, west of the province.
Sharhabeel al-Obeidi said in a press statement that forces from the Iraqi army discovered remains of two tribal fighters in al-Kasriyat area, west of Baghdadi area.
The two fighters were abducted from their houses by the Islamic State militants, two years ago, Obeidi added. The security forces managed to identify them after examining their clothes and IDs.
The Islamic State group abducted a large number of Anbar residents, and executed many of them, while the destiny of the rest of them is still vague.
Diyala (IraqiNews.com) Al-Hashd al-Shaabi’s War Media Cell published photos of a prisoner belonging to the Islamic State group, while revealing the location of a mass grave of the group’s victims, dated back to June 2014, in the outskirts of al-Saadiyah vicinity, northeast of Baqubah.
Last week, Diyala Human Rights Organization announced that a mass grave of the Islamic State’s victims was found, based on information obtained from an arrested IS member.
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[An Nahar] Parliament Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, a member of AMAL, a not very subtle Hizbullah sock puppet... has warned that failure to approve a new electoral law might lead to a "coup-like situation" in the country.
"Time is not in anyone's favor and it is unacceptable to wait. The government must immediately shoulder its responsibilities towards the law and to exclusively focus its efforts on it," ad-Diyar newspaper quoted Berri as saying in remarks published Sunday.
"It should have discussed it earlier in order not to face pressing deadlines as is the situation today," Berri lamented.
He warned that the government's procrastination or failure to pass the law "might lead to a coup-like situation that topples everything."
"The first mission today should be to discuss and pass the electoral law," Berri urged.
According to reports, intensive contacts will be held after Prime Minister Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. 's return from his foreign trip "in order to put the law on the Cabinet's agenda with the aim of approving it and referring it to parliament."
An informed Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... parliamentary source meanwhile told ad-Diyar that he is optimistic that a new law might be reached within two weeks, noting that "an intensive round of contacts and deliberations will begin next week."
"I believe that we have reached the final phase and I do not rule out that the law could be finalized before mid-April. We need a brief time and we are awaiting the responses of some parties who have asked for some time to consult with their allies, and it seems that things are advancing in a positive manner," the source added.
The country has not organized parliamentary elections since 2009 and the legislature has instead twice extended its own mandate. The last polls were held under an amended version of the 1960 electoral law.
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[AlAhram] Egypt's army has named a prominent leader of bully boy group Ansar Beit El-Maqdis who it said was killed by the Egyptian armed forces weeks ago.
In an official statement on Sunday, army spokesperson Tamer El-Refai said that the group's leader Salem Salma El-Hamdeen, known as Abu Anas El-Ansari, died following injuries sustained in an Arclight airstrike on 18 March that killed 188 forces of Evil and injured several others.
According to El-Refai, El-Ansari is one of the group's founders and is among its most important leaders in North Sinai, involved in arming and training forces of Evil in the area.
The army statement comes two days after the bully boy group's propaganda magazine El-Nabaa mourned the death of the 40-year-old leader through an obituary.
"El-Ansari has been a key figure of jihad since he became a member of al-Tawhid and al-Jihad in Sinai. Then he was detained for a period of time, then released to return to jihad before his re-arrest," the obituary read.
"He was then among the escapees from Egyptian prisons during the 2011 revolution in Egypt, at which point he was locked away Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! by the authorities, and then released to continue jihad," the obituary read.
Al-Tawhid and al-Jihad's branch in Sinai had been dominant among bully boy groups in Sinai in the decade prior to the ousting of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... According to media reports, al-Ansari was among the suspects in the 2005 kabooms targeting tourists in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh that left at least 88 people dead and hundreds injured.
After 2011, al-Ansari was among the founders of Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, and in late 2014, the Sinai-based group pledged allegiance to the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... terrorist group.
Just weeks before the pledge, al-Ansari was chosen as leader by Abu Bakr El-Baghdadi, head of the Islamic State group.
This is the first time that the army has provided information about the group's leader to the media.
Most of the attacks against security personnel and installations in North Sinai in recent years have been claimed by Ansar Beit al-Maqdis.
The army recently announced it had taken full control of the Mount Halal area, which was considered one of the key centres of terrorist activity in Sinai.
The Times of Israel says only 18 were killed in the airstrike, and names Mr. El-Hamdeen's former jihadi group as Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad.
[An Nahar] With his popularity battered by food shortages, economic chaos and rampant crime, it is hard to understand how Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has clung to power.
What is keeping the socialist leader in place as his country teeters on the brink of collapse? And when, if ever, will Venezuela reach the tipping point?
Here is a look at the levers of power in Venezuela, and how Maduro retains his grip on them.
- Military -
Maduro's opponents urged the military to take a stand for democracy this week after the latest twist in the crisis, when the Supreme Court seized legislative power from congress.
But Maduro is a master at keeping the army on his side.
The power of the Venezuelan Armed Forces -- already vast under late president Hugo Chavez, a former officer -- has only grown under his protege Maduro.
Eleven of Maduro's 32 ministers are current or retired officers. The military controls food production and distribution, plus a string of state-run companies in oil, television, banking and other powerful industries.
Maduro "has bought their loyalty," said political analyst Benigno Alarcon.
The government allegedly cares little what the generals do with their power.
"There are reports that various (officers) have close ties to drug trafficking and other criminal enterprises," said Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue research institute.
- Institutions -
Since Chavez came to power in 1999 and declared a socialist "revolution," his movement has taken over nearly all the country's institutions.
"Chavistas" dominate the courts, the media and state oil company PDVSA.
When Maduro's party lost legislative elections in 2015 -- forcing it to share power for the first time -- the outgoing legislature named 13 new judges to the 32-member Supreme Court.
The "Chavistas" have virtually taken over the broadcast media, buying up independent TV networks.
"Maduro does his utmost to silence independent media outlets," watchdog group Reporters Without Borders said last year.
Maduro also wields control over the world's largest oil reserves through PDVSA -- where he is reportedly about to name an even stauncher loyalist as chief executive, Oil Minister Nelson Martinez.
- Divided, locked away Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! opposition -
Maduro also benefits from opposition infighting.
The main opposition, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), is an unwieldy coalition of some 30 parties. They tend to the center-right, but span the entire political spectrum.
They have struggled to settle on a strategy.
And when they rise up in protest, the authorities often throw them in jail.
One notable example is hardline Maduro opponent Leopoldo Lopez, who is serving a 14-year sentence on charges of inciting unrest at protests in 2014.
- Hunger and fear -
The opposition has meanwhile struggled to get Venezuelans to take to the streets.
Seven in 10 Venezuelans disapprove of Maduro, according to pollster Venebarometro, but often they are too busy standing in line to buy scarce food.
There is also residual fear from violent protests of the past. In 2014, 43 people died in festivities.
Heavily armed police, troops and pro-Chavez holy warriors are regularly present at protests.
For some Venezuelans, especially the poor, there is lingering loyalty to "Chavismo" for spreading the wealth in the oil boom years.
Others no longer have the energy to care.
"I don't support either side," Yandry Diaz, 18, who works in a shoe shop, told AFP.
"What they want is to have us in the street, fighting and killing each other so that they can hold power."
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#1
Whoever replaces Maduro will have to fix the mess. Who wants that job?
#4
How about a swap? We'll send one of our free stuff brigade to VZ in exchange for one of their opposition. A politician of ours is worth two of their oppo.
#5
In a Bolivarian world, a neighboring larger well organized country would invade, set up shop on the oil and replace the government with competent puppets to run the place.
[PJ Media] Even as the U.S. military takes on a greater role in the warfare in Iraq and Syria, the Trump administration has stopped disclosing significant information about the size and nature of the U.S. commitment, including the number of U.S. troops deployed in either country.
Earlier this month, the Pentagon quietly dispatched 400 Marines to northern Syria to operate artillery in support of Syrian militias that are cooperating in the fight against Islamic State, according to U.S. officials. That was the first use of U.S. Marines in that country since its long civil war began. In Iraq, nearly 300 Army paratroopers were deployed recently to help the Iraqi military in their six-month assault on the city of Mosul, according to U.S. officials.
Neither of those deployments was announced once they had been made, a departure from the practice of the Obama administration, which announced nearly all conventional force deployments. The decision appears to be making good on Trump’s promise as a candidate to insist on more of an “element of surprise” in battle tactics.
#2
"How can we protest properly if you won't reveal military secrets?"
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/03/2017 4:48
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#3
"I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are." William Tecumseh Sherman
#6
Stick any whining reporter into point man position, or first man through the door, in building clearing operations. Those that survive might learn to STFU.
[An Nahar] Britannia has apologized after an egg was thrown at a Saudi military official during a visit to London, Saudi state media said Sunday.
Do you think they would apologize if someone egged Dick Cheney?
An anti-war activist last week attempted a citizen's arrest of General Ahmed Assiri, front man for the Saudi-led Gulf coalition fighting rebels in Yemen, before another threw an egg that hit Assiri in the back.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, son of the Saudi king and the country's defense minister, to apologize for "the attack on General Ahmed Assiri, counselor to the prince, by protestors," the state-run SPA news agency said.
Assiri told AFP he had been "subject to aggression" by protestors critical of Riyadh's operations in Yemen.
Video posted on Twitter showed anti-war activist Sam Walton approaching Assiri, putting his hand on the general's shoulder and announcing he was placing him under citizen's arrest before being pushed aside by security personnel.
Walton can be heard saying, "I'm placing you under citizen's arrest for war crimes in Yemen."
Civilians in Britannia are permitted to arrest anyone suspected of committing an indictable offense.
Another protestor followed Assiri's security detail to the entrance of a building, where he threw an egg that hit the general in the back. Video showed Assiri turning around and giving the protestor the finger.
Rights groups have harshly criticized Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... over its military action in Yemen, where thousands of civilians have been killed in the two years since Riyadh intervened against Iran-backed Houthis.
Amnesia Amnesty International last month condemned Britannia for transferring arms to Saudi Arabia, saying Yemeni civilians continued to "pay the price".
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It's not the multiple millions of palleted currencies Iran got out of President Obama, but it is a start. Islamist states don't run on love and goodwill, donchaknow.
[Ynet] An Iranian-American detained in Iran since last summer has been released on bail of approximately $60,000, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported Sunday.
Robin Reza Shahini was placed in durance vile Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! by the Revolutionary Guards while visiting family in the northeastern city of Gorgan last July and subsequently sentenced to 18 years imprisonment on charges of threatening national security, according to HRANA.
Shahini went on a hunger strike for a month recently and his health situation had been deteriorating, the HRANA report said. Two other Iranian-Americans are still being held in the Islamic Theocratic Republic.
Update at 3:30 p.m EDT: Robin Shahini is a 46-year old who had been accepted in a graduate program in homeland security at San Diego State University last year following a history of posting criticisms of the Iranian mullahcracy when he went home to visit his mother, who is reportedly suffering from Alzheimers. The inevitable followed.
[An Nahar] Clouds of smoke billowed over central Dubai on Sunday after a fire burned for several hours in a residential tower under construction near the city's largest shopping mall. Dubai obviously has some sort of unique problem, since this doesn't happen that we hear of in similar places like Abu Dhabi.
The blaze erupted around 6:30 am (0230 GMT) at the complex, which is near the Dubai Mall and a hotel ravaged by fire on New Year's Eve in 2015, authorities said.
Civil defence services evacuated four people who were trapped by the fire, including one at death's door, Lieutenant Colonel Ahmed Ateej told Dubai television.
The Dubai government said that firefighting crews had brought the blaze under control.
It said the building was being constructed by local real estate giant Emaar.
The property has three towers, each 60 floors high, and had been due to be completed in April of next year.
Major fires have hit several Dubai high-rises in recent years and spread quickly, mostly due to flammable material used in cladding, a covering or coating used on the side of the buildings.
Sunday's blaze was close to where a huge fire destroyed the luxury Address Downtown Hotel on December 31, 2015, only a few hours before a fireworks display nearby.
It sparked panic and was broadcast live worldwide, but only injured 16 people.
In July last year, a fire gutted the 75-story Sulafa tower in Dubai marina, with the flames spreading up quickly at least 15 floors of the building.
In 2012, a huge blaze gutted the 34-story Tamweel Tower in the nearby Jumeirah Lake Towers district. It was later revealed to have been caused by a cigarette butt thrown into a bin.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
...Keep in mind that an inshallah attitude towards safety does more damage in the ME/PG than religious warfare, us, and the Juice combined. Some places are worse than others, and it's a rule of thumb that the more TCNs (Third Country Nationals) you have working, the less safe things are.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/03/2017 4:53
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#2
.....rule of thumb that the more TCNs (Third Country Nationals) you have working, the less safe things are.
And the TCN's are basically the only ones doing the work. Ends of circle meet at top.
[DAWN] BlackBerry is finally starting to look like a real software company.
After three years of acquisitions, layoffs and trying to convince customers it could do more than build smartphones, the Canadian company’s software revenue and profit margins are growing in the way Chief Executive Officer John Chen wants them to. The stock too: It rose the most in 15 months.
BlackBerry surpassed its target of $640 million in software revenue for fiscal 2017, achieving Chen’s goal of increasing sales from that division by 30 per cent in the year. It posted profit of 4 cents a share, beating out the highest estimate from analysts, and said it would be profitable for its entire fiscal 2018, which began this month. Gross margins were around 60pc, the company said in a statement Friday. BlackBerry expects to achieve margins of 70pc for fiscal 2018, Chief Financial Officer Steve Capelli said on a call with analysts.
BlackBerry surged as much as 13pc to $7.82. It was the biggest intraday gain since December 2015. The stock was trading at $12.23 at 9:38 am in New York.
BlackBerry shed the burden of its ever-shrinking phone business by officially outsourcing all device design, production and sales to other companies last year ‐ a move that won’t see dividends until the products actually start selling later this year. The firm has also been developing software for self-driving automobiles and has a formal partnership with Ford involving in-car connectivity. Earlier this week, Ford agreed to hire 400 of BlackBerry’s mobile tech experts to work on connected cars.
Now the challenge is selling BlackBerry’s suite of security-focused software products, which range from tools that help companies track their employees’ mobile devices to computer operating systems for guided missiles. Chen said on the call that BlackBerry is starting to attract companies beyond its core client base in financial services, healthcare and government. BlackBerry sees 13pc to 15pc growth this fiscal year in software and services, at the upper end of the market rate, he said.
That expansion will come from "a combination of some current and existing products which we’re proud of and some new stuff coming online," he said. "Not everything will work, but I think we’ll get enough iron in the fire, and the combination makes us feel comfortable we will grow at these numbers."
In the fiscal fourth quarter, revenue was $297m, beating the average estimate of $289m. Software revenue was $182m, 80pc of which was recurring and not due to one-time licensing deals. BlackBerry’s cash balance increased, a key milestone after months of burning money, to $1.7 billion.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2017
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#1
They couldn't do this until Obie left office. He had it put in the common defense treaty that they had to keep making their little turkeys for him.
(Sarcasm, I hope)
Posted by: ed in texas ||
04/03/2017 17:38
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[Business Insider] Conservative internet news mogul Matt Drudge said he thinks the Trump administration is in a crisis "on many fronts" in its early days, partly due to deliberate obstruction from the Republican-controlled Congress.
"I suspect there is a sabotage," he said on conservative commentator Michael Savage's radio show on Friday. "Do you know Obama had the stimulus package on his desk before Inauguration Day? What did this Congress give this great man? Nothing."
Posted by: Jan ||
04/03/2017 0:49
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#2
Hint: The've been doing it since it started looking like he might get the Nomination.
Hillary had the fawning media, big business, unions, the Democratic leadership and the Republican Leadership behind her and she still lost.
#5
There are some Pubs who got their feathers ruffled during the primaries--Trump made it a bare-knuckles primary. DC has not been accustomed to such a primary in my memory. Trump also went after Hildabeest hard during the election. He has a lot of enemies in DC. He has threatened the cozy little Beltway Party arrangement cartel; they don't like that.
[DAWN] A grenade kaboom killed a police officer and injured 10 other security personnel in India-held Kashmire on Sunday, police said, hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the tense region.
The suspected murderous Moslems lobbed a grenade at a group of police and paramilitary troops in the main city of Srinagar following protests against Modi's visit.
"Four personnel of CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) and seven copperswere maimed in the grenade blast," Bhuvesh Choudhary, front man of the paramilitary CRPF said.
One of the coppers who was maimed in the blast later died of his injuries, inspector general Javid Gillani told AFP.
Armed encounters between security forces and rebels fighting to end Indian rule over Kashmire have become more frequent since massive protests last year, sparked by the killing in July of a popular murderous Moslem leader.
Large parts of the Kashmire valley observed a virtual shutdown Sunday following a call by separatists protesting Modi's visit.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2017
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[An Nahar] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday warned Israel's enemies not to test its military capabilities at a ceremony inaugurating a joint U.S.-Israeli missile interceptor.
David's Sling, meant to counter medium-range missiles possessed by Leb's Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... , officially became operational at the ceremony, Israel's military said.
It marks the completion of the multi-tier system that includes the Arrow, designed to intercept long-range ballistic missiles in the stratosphere with an eye on Iran, and Iron Dome, which defends against short-range rockets from Gazoo.
Together, said Netanyahu, they would "protect Israel, our citizens, our cities."
"Whoever seeks to strike us will be struck, whoever threatens our existence will place his own existence in jeopardy," he said in a speech at the commissioning ceremony, at Hatzor air force base in central Israel.
David's Sling, named for the slingshot with which the Bible says the future King David slew the Philistine giant Goliath, was developed by Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and U.S. company Raytheon.
Israel lists several aerial threats, some on its borders and others, such as Iran, far beyond.
One is Leb's Hizbullah, with which it fought a devastating 2006 war.
The Israeli military believes Hizbullah today has between 100,000 and 120,000 short- and medium-range missiles and rockets, as well as several hundred long-range missiles, with the medium-range missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv.
Also, last month Israeli warplanes struck several targets in neighboring Syria, drawing retaliatory missile fire, in the most serious incident between the two countries since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
Israel used its Arrow interceptor to destroy what was believed to have been a Russian-made SA 5 missile after it entered Israeli airspace and Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman threatened to destroy Syria's air defense systems "without the slightest hesitation" if it happened again.
Israel has sought to avoid being dragged into the Syrian conflict, but has carried out strikes there to stop what it says are advanced weapons deliveries to Hizbullah.
Missiles and rockets are also periodically fired at Israel from the adjacent Gazoo Strip, generally by hardline Islamist groups opposed to the Paleostinian territory's Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", rulers.
But Israel holds Hamas responsible for all rocket fire from Gazoo regardless of who carried it out and routinely strikes Hamas installations in response.
The David’s Sling, also known as the Magic Wand, is designed to shoot down incoming missiles with ranges of 40-300 kilometers (25-190 miles), meaning it could be used against Hamas’s longer-range rockets, but would more likely be deployed against missiles fired by Hezbollah or Syria, such as the Iranian Fateh 110 or its Syrian equivalent, the M600.
The lowest layer of Israel’s multi-tiered missile defense system is the aforementioned Iron Dome, capable of intercepting short-range rockets, small unmanned aerial vehicles and some mortar shells like those that have been fired at Israel from the Gazoo Strip or from southern Leb. And at the top are the Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 systems, which are intended to engage long-range ballistic missiles. The Arrow was put in use for the first time on March 17, when it downed an incoming Syrian anti-aircraft missile.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2017
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#1
What Israel really need are 'Hurt' missiles. If any of Israel enemies try to fire missiles at Israel will find themselves in a world of hurt!
[DAWN] China stepped up a campaign against what it calls religious extremism in its far-western region of Xinjiang on Saturday by implementing a range of measures, including prohibiting "abnormal" beards, the wearing of veils in public places and the refusal to watch state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
Hundreds of people have died in recent years in Xinjiang, home of the Moslem Uighur people, in unrest blamed by Beijing on Islamist snuffies and separatists, although rights groups say the violence is more a reaction to repressive government policies.
The government strongly denies committing any abuses in Xinjiang and insists the legal, cultural and religious rights of Uighurs, a Turkic ethnic group, are fully protected.
While China officially guarantees freedom of religion, authorities have issued a series of measures in the past few years to tackle what it sees as a rise in religious extremism.
New legislation, passed by Xinjiang politicians on Wednesday and published on the region’s official news website, widened existing rules and came into effect on Saturday.
Workers in public spaces like stations and airports are required to "dissuade" those who fully cover their bodies, including veiling their faces, from entering, and to report them to the police, the rules state.
Rejecting or refusing radio, television and other public facilities and services, marrying using religious rather than legal procedures and "using the name of Halal to meddle in the secular life of others" has been banned.
"Parents should use good moral conduct to influence their children, educate them to revere science, pursue culture, uphold ethnic unity and refuse and oppose extremism," the rules say.
The document also bans not allowing children to attend regular school, not abiding by family planning policies, deliberately damaging legal documents and "abnormal growing of beards and naming of children to exaggerate religious fervour".
A number of bans on selected "extremist behaviours" had previously been introduced in some places in Xinjiang, including stopping people with headscarves, veils and long beards from boarding buses in at least one city.
The new rules expand the list and apply them to the whole region.
While Uighurs have traditionally followed a more "relaxed type" of religion, the popularity of veils for women in particular has grown in recent years in what experts say is an expression of opposition to Chinese controls.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2017
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[DAWN] KARACHI: An antiterrorism court indicted on Saturday chief of the banned Peoples Amn Committee ... Peoples' Peace Committee is a group of brown turbans tied to the Pakn People's Party and based in Blood-soaked Karachi. It was founded by an infamous gangster, Rehman Dakait in 2008. It is accused of being involved in organized crime and gang wars. After Rehman departed this vale of tears in 2009, leadership of the group was taken over by Uzair Baloch, who is probably associated with the Tataglias or the Barzini clan. The Amn Committee was banned in Pakistain in 2011, which means precisely squat.... Uzair Jan Baloch in seven cases.
The PAC chief along with alleged Lyari ...one of the eighteen constituent towns of the city of Karachi. It is the smallest town by area in the city but also the most densely populated. Lyari has few schools, substandard hospitals, a poor water system, limited infrastructure, and broken roads. It is a stronghold of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. Ubiquitous gang activity and a thriving narcotics industry make Lyari one of the most disturbed places in Karachi, which is really saying a lot.... gangsters -- Amin Buledi, Ramzan alias Ramzani, Abdul Ghaffar alias Mama and Zubair Baloch -- has been booked in five murder cases, including the killing of an SHO, and two cases of police encounters registered during the 2012 Lyari operation.
The ATC-VI judge, who is conducting the trial after amalgamating all the cases inside the 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... central prison, read out charges against the accused to which they pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." and opted to contest the cases.
The judge summonsed prosecution witnesses directing them to appear in court to record their evidence on April 24.
Uzair Jan Baloch, who is facing multiple cases including the murder of rival gangster Arshad Pappu, was incarcerated Please don't kill me! under mysterious circumstances in January 2016. He was held under 90-day preventive detention by Rangers, who later handed him over to police.
Once known for his close association with the Pakistain Peoples Party, particularly some of the PPP’s leaders, Uzair was declared proclaimed offender in over 40 cases pending before ATCs.
Around 35 cases pertaining to murder, attempted murder and attack on police were registered against him and his accomplices during an operation conducted by police in Lyari in 2012.
He is also facing trial along with a PPP MNA from Lyari and some coppers in the triple murder of Arshad Pappu, his brother Yasir Arafat and their confidant Juma Shera, who were killed in Lyari after being kidnapped from Defence in March 2013.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2017
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How long do you think it will be until the entire thing falls apart again, dear Reader? One week, perhaps, or as much as three months?
[An Nahar] The Italian government said Sunday that dozens of rival tribes in southern Libya had agreed to cooperate on securing the country's borders in an effort to curb the influx of migrants colonists trying to reach Europe.
Italia's interior ministry said the 60 tribal leaders -- notably the Tuareg of the southwest, the Toubou of the southeast, and the Arab tribe of Awlad Suleiman -- had reached the 12-point deal after 72 hours of secret talks in Rome.
A representative from Libya's U.N.-backed Government of National Accord, which is based 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... and controls western Libya, was also present.
"A Libyan border patrol unit will be operational to monitor Libya's southern border of 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles)," Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti told Italia's La Stampa newspaper, one of several Italian media outlets reporting on the deal Sunday.
Southern Libya is criss-crossed by smuggling routes for people, drugs and weapons. Since the 2011 uprising that ousted Moamer Qadaffy, a mosaic of tribal and ethnic forces is fighting for control of illicit trade and oil fields in the region.
Tuaregs control the border with southern Algeria, while further east, the Toubou operate along the borders with Chad and Sudan.
Arab tribes in the region have supported the authorities in western Libya, but they also maintain ties with a rival administration that holds sway in the east -- and regularly clash with the Toubou.
Fayez al-Sarraj, chief of the fragile GNA, has struggled to impose the government's authority, despite its backing by many political and military leaders.
The accord, whose details have not yet been released, is the latest in a series of deals European countries have sought to reduce migration from Libya, which has increased sharply in recent months.
The deal aims to combat "an economy based on illicit drugs, which causes hundreds of deaths in the Mediterranean, thousands of desperate people looking for a better life, a populist push (in Europe) and a jihadist threat in the desert," according to the text of the agreement, quoted in the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2017
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Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists
Peter Lundgren – a right-wing politician of the Sweden Democrats party who hailed Article 50 “a breath of fresh air” – says his homeland is next in line for its very own “Swexit”.
Speaking to The Express, Mr Lundgren said: “The British people have shown the rest of Europe it’s possible to leave.
“At last we have a breath of fresh air.
“That’s why I believe that we will be the biggest party in the next year’s election in Sweden and we will also push the demand for having a renegotiation of the trade agreements with the European Union, for the membership.
“And we will also put it up to a referendum where people will have their say and then I’m hopeful that we also can follow Britain’s example.”
A YouGov poll has shown that 39% of Swedes wish to leave the EU, and an election is to be held in September.
#1
Really?
Sweedistan follows Deutchistan in the toil after francistan falls and eurasia is a caliph with nothing but pussified leftist dhimmis who are all thrown off of buildings and then you are Somalia.
Congrats with your civilizational experiment.
All I can say for you Germans is you earned it all you nasty fucks. With your karl marx, critical theory, conquer the earth, and Hunn guilt process idiocy.
#8
Swedish people don't like absentee globalists politicians in Brussels making decisions about their sovereignty, economy, culture and immigration policies? No surprise. We fought a war over this in the late 1700s and we are currently fighting a simmering cultural war over these same issues.
#9
Moo-sade, circa 2100:
To Palestine's aid! But some wondered
Why Pakis purged Britain,
And German Turks smitten
En route would want Istanbul plundered.
Taking over the known world in a very short period of time, sometimes against incredible numbers, and then giving it all back for the locals to run into the ground. And self-hatred.
Rutba (IraqiNews.com) A security source revealed that at least 4 army soldiers were killed in the explosion of an improvised explosive device (IED), west of Anbar, Bas News reported on Sunday.
The source said that the attack was launched on a vehicle carrying army soldiers, using an improvised explosive device, east of the city of Rutba, killing four soldiers and wounding the civilian driver.
The security forces imposed their control on the majority of cities in Anbar, however, the Islamic State is still launching attacks on those areas.
Posted by: badanov ||
04/03/2017
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[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] Robotic former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Sunday that people "should be marching in the streets" to demand changes to "antiquated" education systems that aren't preparing students to be competitive in the job market against the robots of the future.
"The looming challenge of automation and artificial intelligence and the rapid advancement of technology brings great benefits but also creates huge challenges," Bush told radio host John Catsimatidis on AM 970 in New York.
The threat of a number of jobs being lost to automation is "real," he said. "This is not something that's science fiction. This is happening as we speak. And yet we still have this big skills gap."
You don't suppose that Jeb's robotic speaking and political style last year was...
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2017
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#1
illegals cheap labor has just slowed down robotics in many industries.
Posted by: Jan ||
04/03/2017 0:46
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#6
Even with illegal immigration, it was going to happen eventually. We will go through a modern version of the industrial revolution. A robotic revolution. Some people will be hurt, some people will get rich beyond mortal dreams, most will adapt and get along just fine.
Not so sure about that Darth. Over the long term maybe but in the 20 year or so time frame it will be hard on a whole lot of people. You can't just wake up one day and be prepared for finding a new job in a new field.
#10
There is always disruption, AlanC. For a lot of the farmers, especially in Europe where it was barely subsistence living, the crowded and dirty conditions in the city were preferable as they at least got to eat regularly.
For the Union man getting $50/h for putting a part on, it will be a very rude change.
#13
My niece in Colorado has been having a devil of a time getting straightforward jobs done at her house: replacing (and correctly installing) a very expensive home hot water heating system, getting optical refractions done adequately, among others. I doubt the jobs she has been having trouble with, will be replaced by robots any time soon. She thinks part of the problem is legalized marijuana. Funneling even more money into the educational system won't do much to help students get jobs of the future.
#17
If the Dims and Rinos keep pushing minimum wage up and up for flipping burgers, and slinging the mop, American Business Enginuity will "frack" the job market.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Bloomberg] White House lawyers last month learned that the former national security adviser Susan Rice requested the identities of U.S. persons in raw intelligence reports on dozens of occasions that connect to the Donald Trump transition and campaign, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.
[Variety] Julie Roginsky, a Fox News Channel contributor who was best known, perhaps, for her appearances on the cable-news outlet’s "The Five"and "Outnumbered," raised new allegations of sexual harassment at Fox News Channel in a lawsuit detailing her account of being harassed by former Fox News chief Roger Ailes and then discriminated against in retaliation. Her complaints are the latest in a parade of disturbing grievances levied at the 21st Century Fox-owned outlet, which ousted Ailes last year after similar charges were made by former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Senate Democrats who are threatening to filibuster a "qualified" judge like Neil Gorsuch would "filibuster anyone."
[Wash Times] The Homeland Security Department has been reluctant to send helicopters on nighttime missions to aid the Border Patrol, leaving agents to face drug smugglers and illegal immigrants without critical air cover, the chief of the agents’ labor union told Congress late last month.
[Daily Caller] A federal grand jury has indicted the former president of the United Dairy Workers of Le Mars in Iowa for allegedly embezzling more than $45,000 from the organization.
[NYPOST] More people are leaving the New York region than any other major metropolitan area in the country.
Al-Shabaab militants have retaken a key district near Baidoa, the regional capital of Baay province on Sunday from Somali troops after a brief gunfight. Heavily armed Al Shabaab fighters with militants vehicles had dislodged the National Army (SNA) soldiers from Goofgaduud town, which lies just 30KM north of Baidoa city.
Kurram Agency
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
[PJ Media] It’s as much a rite of the spring season in Philadelphia as the Phillies’ home opener. But it won’t happen this year.
AMMAN: Jets believed to be Russian hit an outpost run by moderate Syrian fighters forces in northwestern Syria near a major border crossing with Turkey, killing at least one fighter and wounding several people, two Syrian fighters sources said on Sunday.
[PJ Media] Even as the U.S. military takes on a greater role in the warfare in Iraq and Syria, the Trump administration has stopped disclosing significant information about the size and nature of the U.S. commitment, including the number of U.S. troops deployed in either country.
[Business Insider] Conservative internet news mogul Matt Drudge said he thinks the Trump administration is in a crisis "on many fronts" in its early days, partly due to deliberate obstruction from the Republican-controlled Congress.
[DAWN] A grenade 
[An Nahar] The Italian government said Sunday that dozens of rival tribes in southern Libya had agreed to cooperate on securing the country's borders in an effort to curb the influx of 
[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] 
