[OpsLens] As reporters and pundits push Trump narratives, the Democratic Party gets a whopping pass.
While the mainstream media have been doggedly and extensively covering any narrative that casts President Donald Trump in a negative light, there is one story the reporters and pundits largely have spurned: the lawsuit looming over the Democratic National Committee alleging it favored former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The DNC came under fire in June 2016 after damning evidence surfaced from documents leaked by Guccifer 2.0 showing that the party and DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz heavily favored Clinton over Sanders.
A class action suit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in October by residents of 45 states against both the committee and Wasserman Schultz for "intentional, willful, wanton, and malicious" conduct in violating Article 5, Section 4 of the DNC Charter.
h/t Instapundit
[WashingtonExaminer] Emmanuel Macron founded a new party, and his election as France's president is said to herald the "revival of Europe." Interestingly, Macron has no children.
This is not that notable in itself. After all, George Washington had no biological children. But across the continent Macron wants to bind closer together, there's a stark pattern:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also has no children. British prime minister Theresa May has no children. Italian prime minister Paolo Gentiloni has no children. Holland's Mark Rutte has no children. Sweden's Stefan Löfven has no biological children. Luxembourg's Xavier Bettel has no children. Scotland's Nicola Sturgeon has no children. Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, has no children.
This is too remarkable to ignore. While Macron is young--39 years old--the rest of Europe is being governed by childless Baby Boomers.
Tom Wolfe wrote about Baby Boomers and the Me Decade:
Most people, historically, have not lived their lives as if thinking, "I have only one life to live." Instead they have lived as if they are living their ancestors' lives and their offspring's lives and perhaps their neighbors' lives as well. They have seen themselves as inseparable from the great tide of chromosomes of which they are created and which they pass on. The mere fact that you were only going to be here a short time and would be dead soon enough did not give you the license to try to climb out of the stream and change the natural order of things. Children are a lot of work. Really impact your "finding yourself" - especially if there is nothing much to find.
#4
Point: Washington was believed to have become sterile after a near death bout with smallpox in 1751.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
05/14/2017 20:26
Comments ||
Top||
#5
The press has fussed over the fact that Madame Macron is a grandmother, so she must have had children. Did her husband keep them when she divorced him for her no-longer-jailbait future politician?
[Reuters] North Korea, defying calls to rein in its weapons program, fired a ballistic missile that landed in the sea near Russia on Sunday, days after a new leader came to power in South Korea pledging to engage Pyongyang in dialogue.
The U.S. military's Pacific Command said it was assessing the type of missile that was fired but it was "not consistent with an intercontinental ballistic missile". The U.S. threat assessment has not changed from a national security standpoint, a U.S. official said.
Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada said the missile could be a new type. It flew for 30 minutes before dropping into the sea between North Korea's east coast and Japan. North Korea has consistently test-fired missiles in that direction.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the missile landed 97 km (60 miles) south of Russia's Vladivostok region.
[Defense One] The first "mission center" launched since the spy agency’s 2015 reorganization, it is also the most narrowly focused.
Two years after the CIA reorganized itself to create 10 "mission centers," the spy agency is adding a new one devoted specifically to North Korea.
Then-director John Brennan launched that 2015 restructuring -- it also created the Directorate for Digital Innovation, the agency’s first new directorate in half a century -- to modernize the agency and eliminate stovepipes between its analysts, agents, and hackers. Instead of offices built around kinds of expertise, the new mission centers house cross-functional teams focusing on a threat or a region. That allows them to "harness the full range of CIA’s operational, analytic, support, technical and digital capabilities," the CIA said in a Facebook post.
The new Korea Mission Center at CIA headquarters in Virginia is intended to do the same thing for a country that at least one intelligence expert calls "the hardest of hard targets."
In a press release, CIA Director Mike Pompeo said the new center "allows us to more purposefully integrate and direct CIA efforts against the serious threats to the United States and its allies emanating from North Korea."
Pompeo also said the move reflects the CIA’s agility. Keeping the organizational chart malleable and adding the new center is part of the agency’s efforts to stay responsive as national security threats evolve and priorities shift.
#3
"We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we would be reorganized. Presumably the plans for our employment were being changed. I was to learn later in life that, perhaps because we are so good at organizing, we tend as a nation to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralization."
~ Charlton Ogburn (1911–1998) in "Merrill's Marauders: The truth about an incredible adventure" in the January 1957 issue of Harper's Magazine
#4
You'd a thought (naaa) that they'd task specific groups with specific targets.
You know, so's they might be familiar with what they were looking at.
(This is also what's wrong with American business. Absolute interchangability of employees.)
Posted by: ed in texas ||
05/14/2017 20:10
Comments ||
Top||
[Defense One] Trump's new intelligence chief, Dan Coats, says he’s already moving on GOP lawmakers’ request to streamline all 17 agencies, including his own ODNI.
In one breath, President Donald Trump’s new director of national intelligence told lawmakers that threats to the United States are growing in size and complexity -- and in the next, that he is looking for cuts across the entire U.S. intelligence community.
Director Dan Coats told a Senate panel Thursday that he is looking to "streamline" the 17 federal agencies that comprise the IC.
"As part of the administration’s goal of an effective and efficient government, we have already begun a review of the entire intelligence community, to include the office of the DNI," Coats testified to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
In any other year, declaring one’s intention to hunt for taxpayer savings would be a stock statement by an agency head telling Congress what members always like to hear. But Coats spoke two days after Trump fired James Comey over what many senators believe was the FBI director’s investigation of potential links between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. It also comes after months of disparagement by candidate and now President Trump of the U.S. intelligence community’s work on everything from the ISIS War to Russian influence, including frequent allegations that they were working against him and his White House bid. So Coats’ revelation quickly drew a flurry of online reactions from Trump critics.
Trump aides, and a lot of good reporting, long have pointed to a coming review of the entire U.S. intelligence community, but particularly of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. For one, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who was a Trump confidante and first national security advisor, had advocated a major re-design of intelligence processes as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency. His ideas were rejected and, famously, for many reasons he was not promoted into the loftiest ranks of U.S. military officers. (In recent months, many intelligence leaders have praised the Obama administration’s recent reorganizations, which aimed to modernize the CIA by adding a digital directorate and to help America’s spy agencies diversify their workforce.) Emphasis added.
If there's two things we know for sure, it's that traveling can be extremely stressful and adorable little animals brighten people's days.
The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport also realizes this, so they've enlisted the help of Seven Oaks Farm -- a non-profit organization in southwest Ohio-- to bring miniature therapy horses to the airport to cheer up travelers.
SEE ALSO: This stag with a bra stuck on its antlers has some serious explaining to do
Twice a month a few of the farm's 34 horses make their way to the airport to connect with children and relieve the airport stresses of adults.
"It's just to ease anxiety levels, put smiles on faces. Clearly that's working," the airport's senior manager of customer relations, Wendi Orlando, told NPR. "When you look at the passengers walking by, it just never gets old. They love seeing the horses."
#1
That's my airport. I wonder why Mr. Wife hasn't mentioned seeing this? It's true he is allergic to horses, or more likely the hay they are forced to wallow in, but even so.
On the other hand, twice a month kind of limits the odds that he'll intersect with their presence, given he isn't travelling by air as often as he used to. Twice a month also limits how much destressing the adorable little beasts can provide. To achieve the effect the airport claims to want, they would have needed to calculate the most stressful time of day/week/month/year, and make sure the horses were available on those days at those times. And had they done the work, they would have trumpeted it.
#3
Considering that the Clintonistas blame him for them losing the election, it a smart move for Comey to get some happy-face pictures out there. This guy doesn't look suicidal to me. He should also stay out of dangerous neighborhoods and take a refresher course on safe driving.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/14/2017 11:02
Comments ||
Top||
[NY Post] Every morning, the petite blonde with the bright red lipstick walks the few blocks from her nondescript condo to the Upper Crust Bagel Company on Sound Beach Avenue, the main drag in this picturesque New England hamlet of 6,600 people.
Just about everyone who lives here knows it’s Ruth Madoff in exile, and they mostly leave her alone.
They know the broad outlines of her fall -- how her privileged world exploded in December 2008 when her husband, Bernie, confessed to the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, an $18 billion fraud for which he is serving a 150-year sentence.
Ruth lost everything -- her money, social status, husband and her two sons. Mark, the eldest, committed suicide in 2010, and Andrew died of cancer in 2014.
Ruth will turn 76 this week, two days before HBO airs "Wizard of Lies," a dramatic retelling of the fall of the house of Madoff, starring Robert de Niro as Bernie and Michelle Pfeiffer as Ruth.
[Free Beacon] The Department of Justice charged a California man on Thursday with dealing heroin, illegally manufacturing machine guns, and illegally selling those same guns.
"Illegally manufacturing and brokering the sale of guns and drugs on the streets of San Diego poses a tremendous danger to our community," acting U.S. attorney Alana W. Robinson said in a statement. "Prosecuting firearms offenses is a top priority for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and we will continue our efforts to disrupt the availability of illegal guns in our city."
The Department of Justice alleges in a complaint filed in federal court that 39-year-old La Jolla, Calif., resident Paul Joseph Holdy sold a variety of firearms to undercover agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The agencies say they covertly purchased 19 firearms from Holdy over the course of several months in 2016--included were a number of fully automatic firearms that Holdy had manufactured himself.
Since Holdy was previously convicted of dealing drugs, he was prohibited from possessing any firearms. Additionally, since he did not have a license to manufacture or sell firearms, he was prohibited from building or selling them. Web search produced no photograph.
#1
The agencies say they covertly purchased 19 firearms from Holdy over the course of several months in 2016--included were a number of fully automatic firearms that Holdy had manufactured himself.
Any luck with Holdy's client base? Did he stop 'cooperating' or was the delay in arrest due to a heavy case load ?
[Armstrong Economics] Emmanuel Macron’s victory promises no change for Europe and it has been the blessing Brussels wanted so badly to further advance the federalization of Europe. Macron will surrender far more French sovereignty to Brussels than anyone suspects based upon reliable sources. Macron is a technocrat and the youngest President in France ever at 39. His message of surrendering the sovereignty of France was the subtle use at his rally in Paris of the European anthem, Beethoven’s "Ode to Joy," rather than the Marseillaise. This was indeed a powerful gesture of a surrender to Brussels that will be full and complete. It also signals there will be no change in direction or reform from Brussels.
The New York Times called the defeat of Marine Le Pen a battle against the evil forces of "xenophobic nationalism exploited by President Donald Trump." They also reported that this is the end of populism as expected, for they classified BREXIT as "Britain’s dismal decision last year to leave the European Union, and in the face of Trump’s woeful anti-European ignorance, was critical" to Macron’s victory. It is just stunning how the New York Times cheers on the EU and socialism yet never looks at the data to see if they are correct in pronouncing that the EU has created growth rather than destroyed it.
Damascus (IraqiNews) Syrian Observatory for Human Rights revealed, on Saturday, that clashes between the government forces and the Islamic State militants continue in northeastern Qaboun neighborhood, leaving casualties among the ranks of the two sides.
The observatory also declared that the government forces shelled several areas of al-Qaboun with three shells, while clashes between them and the Islamic State militants renewed in the southern outskirts of Damascus.
Meanwhile, two mortar shells fell in the city of Duma, in eastern Ghouta, causing material damages and no casualties
Diyala (IraqiNews.com) A soldier was killed, while a paramilitary personnel was injured as result of an IED blast that took place in a liberated village, northeast of Baquba, news report mentioned.
A bomb exploded while a joint patrol was passing near Rabie’a village, in the vicinity of Saadiya district, leaving a soldier killed and a member of al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units) injured, al-Furat al-Ikhbari news website quoted a local source from Diyala province as saying.
According to a monthly count by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), violence and armed conflicts claimed the lives of 317 Iraqis, and caused injuries to 403 others during the month of April.
The total figure of victims signalled a drop from 1115 victims in March.
Nineveh, where U.S.-backed Iraqi government troops are caught up in battles against Islamic State militants in Mosul since October, came on top of the most affected governorate, with 276 casualties (153 killed, 123 injured). Baghdad Governorate came next with 55 killed and 179 injured. Salahuddin came third, with 15 killed and 43 injured.
IS still holds a few areas in Salahuddin, Diyala, Anbar and Kirkuk, but the Iraqi government, is expected to aim at those strongholds once the Mosul battle is concluded.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/14/2017
07:09 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
Very odd. Why are they announcing it now, nearly a year later?
Deir Ezzor (IraqiNews) The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights informed, on Saturday, that the Islamic State group executed one of its Syrian members in Deir Ezzor, for murdering a child on the banks of the Euphrates, last year.z
The observatory said that the Islamic State terrorist group executed one of its members, who is a Syrian national, by firing squad, in the village of Abriha in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, for murdering a child with the help of other members, on the banks of the Euphrates River, in the second half of 2016.
In 17 July 2016, Islamic State group announced that it arrested one of the group’s members, Syrian national, for murdering a child, on the banks of the Euphrates River near the village of Abriha, in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor.
The IS member was accompanied by seven other members, but they were not arrested yet.
Meanwhile, also in Deir Ezzor, a child was killed while seven others were wounded in air strikes conducted on al-Haweka neighborhood, while Syrian Air Force bombarded the areas of hatla City and al-Jafra Village near Deir Ezzor Military Airbase.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/14/2017
07:09 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
Very odd. Why are they announcing it now, nearly a year later?
New public relations guy just happened to find the execution paperwork in an old ammo can, and Baghdadi said he wants a new 'kinder and gentler IS' advert campaign...
Daraa (IraqiNews) Syrian government forces are burning agricultural crops, for the third day on row, in the vicinity of Kharba Ghazala City, east of Daraa, following the clashes between them and the Syrian rebels in the last few days, Syria News reported.
Syrian activist Mohamed al-Hariri said that government forces attacked the north of al-Ghareya City with rockets on Wednesday, resulting in the burning of more than 750 acres of wheat, while pointed out that the total burned areas exceeded 5 thousand acres.
Meanwhile, government forces and National Defense militia continued their escalations in the eastern countryside of As-Suwayda, and attacked the cities of Ashhab, Rajm al-Bakar and Tlul Salman.
According to an army statement, Jaysh Ahrar al-Ashayer (Army of Free Tribes) attacked KhalKhala Military Airport, north of As-Suwayda, with heavy artillery, in respense to the government forces attacks on some villages.
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi government forces took over a major district held by Islamic State militants and killed two senior leaders on Friday as they advanced to liberate the western side of Mosul.
The army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service recaptured Islah al-Zeraee district, an Islamic State bastion in the western side of the city, said commander of the Nineveh Operations, Abdul-Amir Yarallah, in a statement.
Meanwhile, Federal Police chief Shaker Jawdat said in a separate statement that his forces retook al-Nour civil hospital as well as a school used by IS militants as a booby-trapping factory south of the strategic, IS-held Old City.
He said troops killed Abu Ali al-Basrawi, the group’s so-designated “legal official” for Mosul, Abu Youssef al-Masri, the so-called “sustenance official” and the latter’s aide, Radwan al-Maslawi.
According to Jawdat, three other suicide bombers were als killed near Bilal al-Habashi mosque in the Old City.
In the northwestern axis of operations, which government forces began to move through last week, the forces continued to engage in fierce encounters at al-Ektisadiyeen district, another major neighborhood adjacent to the Old City.
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) The paramilitary troops of al-Hashed al-Shaabi have declared recapturing five villages in Qairawan, in west of Mosul near Nineveh’s borders with Syria.
The Popular Mobilization Units, which started on Friday an offensive to liberate al-Qairawan region, west of Mosul, announced through its media their advance liberating Tal Ezzo village, in the southeast of the region, Tal Ha’et village in the northeast, Mohamed Zeid in the south, Hozeil village in the east and Tal Banat village in the north.
Located in Sinjar, which has a high Kurdish Yezidi majority, Qairawan is a main Islamic State bastion that links between Tal Afar town in the east and Baaj and Syrian borders in the west.
Moreover, the troops also declared combing through villages of Tal Ghaza and Um al-Zanabeer in addition to evacuating 1500 civilians in the north of Qayrawan.
On Friday, the troops liberated four other villages, killed dozens of IS militants and destroyed several vehicles of the group.
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) The Nineveh Operations Command has declared liberating another major district within operations launched by Iraqi troops to free the western side of Mosul.
A statement by the War Media Cell quoted commander of the Nineveh Operations, Abdul-Amir Yarallah as saying that troops “fully freed Hawi al-Kanisah region and gained control on the western and southern banks Tigris River in western Mosul.”
In related news, a source from the Iraqi army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service announced encountering suicide attacks by IS militants in western Mosul.
“The Rapid Response troops faced a suicide attack in the industrial zone in west of Mosul, which left seven IS militants killed,” Lt.Gen. Ali Mohsen, of the CTS, told BasNews on Saturday.
“Two other suicide bombers were killed at the entrance of Islah al-Zeraee district,” he added. “Another bomber and four members were also killed in the liberated district of Mesherfa.”
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) The War Media Cell has declared liberation of another western Mosul district, as Iraqi troops continue their advance on the northwestern axis.
“Federal Police’s Rapid Response troops backed by the army forces have freed al-Harmat al-Thalitha district, in western Mosul,” a statement by WMC quoted Lt.Gen. commander of the Nineveh Operations, Abdul Amir Yarallah as saying.
In related news, seven persons were reportedly injured in missile attack launched by the Islamic State militants against two districts in west of Mosul.
Six persons were wounded as three Katyusha missiles were fired by the militants against al-Dendan district in south of Mosul, medical and security sources told Shafaq News.
Meanwhile, another civilian was wounded by a mortar missile that fell on al-Sukkar district, northeast of the city, the sources added.
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Four Islamic State members, including a leader, escaped from western Mosul to an unknown destination, with millions of US dollars in their possession, a local source from Nineveh province said.
“IS leader in charge of the Diwan Bayt al-mal (treasury) in Tal Afar town (55 KM west of Nineveh province) called Abu Baraa al-Qahtani, disappeared along with three of his aides with millions of US dollars in their possession,” the source told AlSumaria News on Saturday. The sum was allocated for paying wages of the members in Nineveh.
“Intelligence information showed that confusion occurred among militants in Tal Afar after disappearance of the leader, who is in charge of distributing the money among the members in all regions in Nineveh,” the source, who preferred anonymity, said. “The stolen money are estimated at millions of dollars. His disappearance means losing the biggest source of funding of the group in Iraq.”
Iraqi generals recently said they became in control over nearly 90 percent of the western region and expected to be fully liberated this month.
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) An Iraqi jet was targeted on Saturday while striking Islamic State locations in west of Mosul, the War Media Cell has reported.
“While Iraqi army were backing the paramilitary troops during military operations in Tal al-Banat village, one of the jets was targeted,” the WMC said through its media service.
“The courageous pilot showed high capabilities while fulfilling his duty and was able to make safe landing,” the statement added.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/14/2017
07:09 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
Aleppo (IraqiNews) Syrian government forces managed, on Saturday, to recapture Jirah (Jarrah) Military Airbase, in the eastern countryside of Aleppo, after two months of fierce battles with the Islamic State group, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
Head of SOHR Ramy Abdel Rahman said, the Syrian government forces recaptured al-Jirah (Jarrah) Military Airbase, in the eastern countryside of Aleppo, after violent battles, while added that the majority of militants withdrew from the area.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Syrian government forces, backed by Russian forces, started an extensive assault in January 2017, and managed to drive out militants from more than 170 villages and cities.
In 7 January, Syrian government forces arrived in the outskirts of al-Jirah Military Airbase, and engaged in violent battles, accompanied by air strikes, with the terrorist group.
“The airbase suffered great material losses due to the violent air strikes,” Abdel Rahman explained.
Noteworthy, al-Jirah Airbase was captured by opposition fighters from Ahrar al-Sham and the Free Syrian Army on 12 February, then it fell under the Islamic State control in January 2014.
[Daily Caller] WASHINGTON -- Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley requested from the Justice Department and FBI Friday information about how an FBI translator was allegedly able to go to Syria and marry the ISIS operative who she was supposed to be investigating.
In a letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, Grassley asked for answers pertaining to how the romantic relationship came about and the FBI was unaware of it the entire time.
Grassley also requested any prior or newly implemented policies that dealt with situations like this -- specifically about the vetting process for hiring contractors -- as well as if there were any reviews or disciplinary actions taken because the incident.
"This rogue employee had access to highly sensitive national security information. I’m troubled that a relationship between an FBI employee and a prominent ISIS recruiter went unnoticed, and more troubled that there wasn’t a safeguard to successfully catch this incident," Grassley said in his letter to Rosenstein and McCabe.
#5
If you can quote generals, I have to yield in terms of the Defense Department, g(r)omgoru, but that isn't the FBI or the CIA -- which also have their share of prejudiced idiots, no doubt. No, surrending to the Muslims is not any better, especially immediately following 9/11.
And now that you mention it, I recall being shocked when some of our popular generals spouted off about Israel being the key problem preventing peace in the Middle East.
#6
The DOJ and the FBI have been held hostage for the past 8 years working for social justice and making certain PC was enforced. Considerable effort was also spent by the FBI to purge all training materials of anything that CAIR and the MB didn't agree with.
#7
By definition, a Muslim translator candidate who refuses to work with Jews is declaring that he brings his religious bias to the job. What more do you need to know about the shading of his translations. Freedom of religion is grounded in tolerance of religions that are themselves tolerant!
It was a horrific mistake that the war was misnamed as a war against "terror". It shouldn't have been. It should have indeed been a war against Islam.
The lessor states could have been given a strongly worded letter. The black rock in Saudi Arabia should have been obliterated, and the cities of Mecca and Medina turned to glass. Iran and Iraq's known military bases should have also been destroyed.
Bush was wrong. And I say that knowing that I voted for him twice.
[The Hill] A group of current and former FBI agents on Saturday endorsed former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) to lead the FBI following the ouster of director James Comey.
"Chairman Rogers exemplifies the principles that should be possessed by the next FBI Director," Thomas F. O’Connor, president of the FBI Agents Association, said in a statement.
The association cited Rogers’ experience previously serving in the FBI in addition to his time in Congress to explain their endorsement.
"It is essential that the next FBI Director understand the details of how Agents do their important work," the statement continued. "Rogers’ unique and diverse experience will allow him to effectively lead the men and women of the Bureau as we work to protect our country from criminal and terrorist threats."
"During his time in Congress he showed a commitment to confronting threats to our country Hillary Clinton in a nonpartisan and collaborative manner."
#3
In other words, they have something on him to force compliance.
Posted by: Charles ||
05/14/2017 5:14
Comments ||
Top||
#4
This organization is a pro-Employee style union that supports agents regardless of their failures for the most part. Therefore their members come first, the American citizen, second and their dislike of the President is clearly evident.
Even though Rogers has several planks on the right as his platform, when it comes time to make hard decisions he compromises too much with the Democrats. In other words he is all talk when it comes to what the right wants to hear but at 1am of an all night marathon legislative session when the final vote is taken, he chokes and compromises too much with the hard nose Democrats.
A snippet from the article is found below. Don't neglect the closing paragraph:
” In interviews Rogers “downplayed” the testimony CIA contractors gave in closed session, Lake noted, and has said he did not believe the CIA had stonewalled his committee. Lake reported that “the chairmen of the House Intelligence, Armed Services, and Government Reform committees — Reps. Rogers, Buck McKeon, and Darrell Issa, respectively — all opposed the formation of a select committee on Benghazi.”
Rogers is a plankholder in the Washington 'swamp.' If he is confirmed as Director, any hope (however distantly remote) of bringing the Hildebeest to justice will be dashed.
#6
Sure wish they'd state what principles the FBI is supposed to exemplify. I haven't seen any since the days when Whitey Bulger was ruling over Boston.
Posted by: Regular joe ||
05/14/2017 11:46
Comments ||
Top||
#7
2013: Rogers' wife, Kristi Clemens Rogers, was, until recently, the president and CEO of Aegis LLC a "security" defense contractor company, whom she helped to secure a $10 billion (with a b) contract with the State Department. The company describes itself as "a leading private security company, provides government and corporate clients with a full spectrum of intelligence-led, culturally-sensitive security solutions to operational and development challenges around the world."
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/14/2017 12:30
Comments ||
Top||
#8
What does anyone think/know about Ray Kelly, registered Independent and former Comish of NYPD as head of FBI? I heard him suggested as a good choice.
[Free Beacon] Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) is threatening to block one of President Donald Trump's nominees to a position in the CIA until the agency responds to his letters.
Grassley sent a letter in April 2014 and another one last month. Neither of them have received a response, the Hill reported Friday.
The letters are about two whistleblower notifications being declassified. In the second letter, Grassley frustratingly described how he has not heard back from the agency for three years.
"More than three years have passed since my initial request, and I still have not received declassified versions of the documents or an explanation of why the documents have not been declassified," Grassley said.
The Congress has become a really bad joke in the last 30 years. Somehow I can't picture Tip O'Neill letting Reagan's executive branch get away with such disrespect as has become normal since GHWB.
#3
This the staff of an elementary school telling a class: "if you don't behave, I'm not going to send a substitute teacher in there". Boy, that'll learn 'em.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
05/14/2017 9:55
Comments ||
Top||
#4
The Congress has become a really bad joke in the last 30 years.
Far more than that. When the decision was made to engage in entangling foreign alliances after WWII, all the power started gravitating to the Executive which the Founders feared in a powerful executive. When in the 60s, it allowed judicial activism take hold in order to avoid making hard decisions (they told us to do this, ergo we're not the blame), power shifted to an unelected and non-representative new aristocracy. When they decided to loot the social security funds for immediate social gratification, the cancer spread without remission. They just want to collect their paychecks and cash in on the insider game. The old republic was bought and sold.
[Ynet] The parents of David Boim, a yeshiva student fatally shot in the West Bank by Hamas murderous Moslems in 1996 file a federal lawsuit against two Chicago-area Paleostinian-American groups to collect on a legal judgment stemming from the death.
The parents of a 17-year-old yeshiva student fatally shot in the West Bank by Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",murderous Moslems in 1996 filed a federal lawsuit Friday against two Chicago-area Paleostinian-American groups to collect on a legal judgment stemming from the death.
Stanley and Joyce Boim filed the lawsuit in reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown ... home of Al Capone, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel,... against American Moslems for Paleostine and Americans for Justice in Paleostine Educational Foundation. The Chicago Tribune reports the couple alleges the Bridgeview-based organizations are "alter egos" of three Islamic fundraising groups held liable several years ago for the death of their son, David, who was killed in a drive-by shooting in Beit El.
The Boims initially filed a lawsuit in 2000, alleging the American Moslem Society, the Islamic Association for Paleostine-National and the Koranic Literacy Institute gave to Paleostinian charities that ultimately helped fund terrorism.
A federal jury entered a $52 million judgment against the charities in 2004, and the trial judge tripled the amount to $156 million. A federal appeals court upheld the judgment in 2008.
Boims' attorney, Stephen Landes, said the family received only a fraction of the award because the defendants said they had no money to pay the judgment and shut down. He said the successor groups named in Friday's lawsuit formed later with many of the same men in similar leadership roles.
"What we ended up finding is they just tried to rebrand themselves, and they set up down the street," Landes said.
If the groups are allowed to move on without paying the judgment, Landes said, "it makes a mockery" of federal anti-terrorism laws.
Messages left with American Moslems for Paleostine by the Tribune were not returned. Friday's lawsuit also names three individuals identified as leaders of the group, including Abdelbasset Hamayel, identified as its executive director and the secretary general of the defunct Islamic Association for Paleostine.
Hamayel told the Tribune he was unaware of the lawsuit and declined to comment. He didn't immediately return a message left after-hours at his office by The News Agency that Dare Not be Named.
It's unclear if Americans for Justice in Paleostine Educational Foundation is still operating; it doesn't have a separate website or a publicly listed phone number.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/14/2017
00:16 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood
[Ynet] A 37-year-old police officer was moderately injured by a terrorist stabbing in the area of the Lions' Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. The police said that the terrorist was shot and later pronounced dead. The terrorist, Mohammad Abdullah Salim al-Kasji, a 57-year-old Jordanian citizen, arrived in Israel a week ago via the Jordan River crossing in Beit Shean.
MDA reported that at 01:21pm, a man was stabbed near the Lions' Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Upon reaching the scene, the paramedics found a 37-year-old police officer with stab wounds in his upper body. He was taken to Shaare Zedek Hospital in the city and was fully conscious. The police reported that the terrorist was neutralized at the scene, and was later pronounced dead.
According to an initial investigation, the terrorist was walking down Shalshelet Street in the Old City and noticed a policeman walking towards him. The terrorist rapidly approached him, pulled out two knives he had in his possession, charged him and stabbed him. The police reported that the officer responded with determination and professionalism while he was maimed, and managed to neutralize the assailant.
[Ynet] In a statement issued today, State Minister for Media Affairs, the government's front man, Mohammad al-Momani, said the Ministry of Foreign and Expatriates Affairs is following-up, through the Jordanian Embassy in Tel Aviv, on the killing of Jordanian citizen, Mohammad Abdullah Salim al-Kasji, to find out the details and circumstances of the incident.
"The Israeli government, as the occupying power, bears responsibility for the shooting and killing of a Jordanian citizen in the occupied East Jerusalem on Saturday," the government said.
The government condemned as "terrible" the crime committed against the Jordanian citizen and demanded Israel to reveal the full details of the crime.
What kind of model citizen wanders about a country not his own carrying two knives for the purpose of stabbing stray passers by, even if they are wearing the uniform of their country? The terrible crime was not committed against the Jordanian.
Al-Kasji has recently left the Kingdom through the Sheikh Hussein crossing, northern Jordan, via Israeli tourist visa and didn't return with the tourist group that he traveled with. He was shot by an Israeli police officer after attempting to stab the officer to death.
The officer suffered moderate stab wounds in his torso, and is currently hospitalized.
[IsraelTimes] A Paleostinian woman was nabbed Book 'im, Mahmoud! at a checkpoint near the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron
...Hamas Central in the West Bank...
Saturday after she was found to be carrying a knife. Officials suspect the young woman, in her twenties, intended to carry out a stabbing attack against Israeli security forces.
#1
Jordan holds Israel responsible for killing Jordanian terrorist
IMO, the second* biggest mistake in Israel's history was saving the Hashemite regime from Palestinians in 1970. If we just stood aside, Jordan would be a "Palestinian" state today.
*The first was not ethnically cleansing Arabs in 1948 and repeating in 1967 - cause the concept of ethnical cleansing didn't exist then (just ask Sudetendeutsche).
#2
I most certainly don't agree with that ethnically cleansing bit Grom. We've seen it. It is beyond horror. Islam, and the Paleos, don't really HAVE any set ethnicity to cleanse anyway even if you were inclined.
Now, taking off the kids gloves and leveling towns/cities against the combatant's/Scum I could get behind. Until we're ready to accept hundreds of thousands of dead Civilians caught in the crossfire, I don't think we'll ever get rid of the rot.
Posted by: Charles ||
05/14/2017 5:12
Comments ||
Top||
#3
I most certainly don't agree with that ethnically cleansing bit Grom.
I repeat. The notion of "ethnic cleansing" is a modern invention used (solely) as a stick to beat their opponents* by Tranzi elites. In 1948, nobody would say a word.
For that matter, doesn't the Tranzi's beloved program for "Israeli-Palestinian Peace" implicitly includes ethnic cleansing of Jews from Judea & Samaria?
We've seen it. It is beyond horror.
We see it every day - just pay attention to newspapers. I don't notice particular horror - except when it done by people "we" don't like anyway.
* Ask all the Serbs who used to live in Kosovo. Or, Christians who used to live in Iraq. Or Russians who used to live in 'stans.
#4
In those days there was no Palestinian identity, Charles, but there definitely was an Arab one, Muslim and Christian alike. And given that the Jews were ethnically cleansed from the Muslim world, including as far away as Pakistan, in the 1950s, it would have been fair to insist on a fuller exchange of populations, as happened in India/Pakistan. As it was, an unknown number of Jews were killed in the process, some 600,000-800,000 made it to Israel, and the rest scattered, mostly to Europe and North America. We had a nice little population of Persian Jews in Buffalo, NY when I was a girl, who'd moved there after finding Montreal (they all spoke French, too) entirely too cold.
[Independent] A sperm bank boss used his own samples to impregnate women through IVF treatment, it has been claimed.
Parents and children are now going to court to ask for DNA tests on Jan Karbaat, who ran the Bijdorp clinic near Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
Mr Karbaat died last month aged 89.
Women who used the medical centre claimed they have noticed their children have similar features to Mr Karbaat and that features such as eye colour do not match their official donors' profiles, the Daily Telegraph reported.
One even said he had admitted the practice, boasting to her of his good health and intelligence, and claiming he told her it was a noble thing to do. "I see at home how my son's life has been affected. He was so angry when Karbaat died, and that he was taking this to his grave," she said.
Their lawyer, Tim Bueters, told Dutch media the women felt "like they were raped by Karbaat", who reportedly told them he was obtaining "fresh seed" from a room adjacent to where insemination took place.
Shots fired from passing car at Swedish asylum centre
13 May
[TheLocal.se] A security guard alerted police after shots were fired towards him at an asylum centre for unaccompanied refugee minors at Sjuntorp near Trollhättan early on Saturday.
A silver Audi approached the centre at around 2am Saturday morning, before one or two people got out of the car before getting back in. A window was then wound down and two shots fired at the guard before the car drove away, reports TT.
German court rules against migrant who demanded allowance
12 May
[DW] A German court in Brendenburg state has sided with state authorities who cut benefits to a 49 year old Cameroon national after the man refused nineteen times to help clear bureaucratic hurdles and get a valid passport for his deportation. The man's asylum request was rejected 13 years ago.
The migrant should only be provided with "bare necessities" to ensure his survival, the Federal Social Welfare Court in Kassel said on Friday.
Greek court jails 2 Swedish men over ISIS membership
12 May
[Ynet] A Greek court has convicted two Swedish nationals of belonging to the Islamic State group, and sentenced them to 15 years imprisonment. The men's lawyer says they were also found guilty of arms possession—a pair of hunting knives—with the intent of supplying a terrorist group. The men, aged 30 and 21, were convicted Friday in the northeastern town of Alexandroupoli. They were arrested in February last year at a bus stop near the Turkish border.
Imam accused in Denmark of calling for murder of Jews
11 May
[IsraelTimes] Denmark’s Jewish community has filed a complaint over an imam accused of calling for the murder of Jews in a case sparking political opprobrium, it emerged Thursday.
Imam Mundhir Abdallah preaches in the working class Copenhagen suburb of Norrebro at the Masjid Al-Faruq mosque, which media have previously linked to radical Islam. He stands accused of citing a hadith or Koranic narrative on March 31 calling for Muslims to rise up against Jews.
“Judgement Day will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them,” begins Abdallah’s address in footage on YouTube, according to a transcript of the original Arabic provided by US organisation the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
According to broadcaster DR, Omar al-Hussein, who was behind a series of shootings in Copenhagen in February 2015 which left two people dead, had visited the mosque the day before going on the rampage. The Dane of Palestinian origin had sworn allegiance to Islamic State and shot and killed one person at a cultural centre hosting a conference on freedom of expression, before killing a Jewish man outside a synagogue. Police later shot him dead after he fired on them in a third incident.
MP Lars Aslan Rasmussen of the opposition Social Democrat party told Kristeligt Dagblad that he would speak to justice minister Søren Pape Poulsen about the sermon.
“This could be either a breach of the racism paragraph or the imam law [hate preacher law, ed.], which has criminalised certain types of statements from religious preachers… It is very, very serious, and we cannot let imams talk to their congregations in this way,” Rasmussen said.
The imam, Mundhir Abdallah, is reported by the Politiken newspaper to be connected to the controversial Hizbut Tahrir ...an al-Qaeda recruiting organization banned in most countries. It calls for the reestablishment of the Caliphate... group.
Belgian language book for migrants refers to bombs, jails
11 May
[IsraelTimes] Iraqi refugee and teacher dismayed to discover French text book teaches lines like ‘Daddy throws a bomb and goes to prison’. The school’s director, Bernard Delecluse, has apologized for the “mistake,” saying the offending pages had gone unnoticed for about three years. The “unfortunate sentences” have now been removed, Delecluse said.
Austrian court jails Syrian for life for killing Assad soldiers
11 May
[Ynet] An Austrian court jailed a Syrian asylum seeker for life for murdering 20 wounded soldiers of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's army while fighting alongside an anti-Assad militia near the city of Homs, a court spokesman said. An interpreter had told the court the 27-year-old man recounted the episode to him in Arabic, but the accused argued his statement had been mistranslated. The jury decided against the man late on Wednesday, according to the spokesman.
Berlin Gangs Using Asylum Centres to Recruit New Criminals
13 May
The “Arab clan” organised crime gangs in Berlin are slowly seeping into the asylum centres in the German capital, using them to recruit new drug dealers from the migrant population and extorting others.
Fresh Calls for EU Funding to Be Withheld from States Which Refuse Migrant Quota
12 May
Finland’s finance minister has added his voice to those calling for European Union funding to be withdrawn from member states which refuse to take in migrants.
Hungary and Slovakia Battle Migrant Quotas in European Court
11 May
The governments of Hungary and Slovakia are making their case to the European Court of Justice after refusing to take in redistributed migrants from Greece and Italy.
Italian Public Prosecutor: Immigration Funding 'Attracting Mafia Interests'
11 May
The immense amount of money being allocated to the reception of migrants in Italy is “attracting Mafia interests” who would like a slice of the pie, according to the public prosecutor of Catania, Sicily.
Half a Million Asylum Seekers on German Welfare Handouts
11 May
According to new statistics, over half a million asylum seekers now receive some kind of welfare benefit from the German state. In neighbouring Austria, the migrant unemployment rate is now over 20 per cent.
[DAWN] Pakistain Army on Saturday issued a stern warning to India against any misadventure along the heavily militarised Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmire, which saw cross border shelling almost throughout the day, leaving at least 13 people maimed in different parts of Azad Jammu and Kashmire (AJK).
Among the injured were eight women and a toddler.
"The Indian army has been targeting innocent civilians on both sides of the LoC in recent past. Any misadventure by Indian army across the LoC will be a miscalculation, shall be responded with full force and could lead to unintended consequences," said the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
The strongly worded message was delivered in the wake of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa’s visit to the LoC in AJK’s Nakyal sector in Kotli district.
Local officials and ISPR said that five persons were maimed by Indian firing in Khuiratta and Charhoi sectors of Kotli district and the rest in Samahni and Baroh sectors of Bhimber district.
Terming the Indian firing as "unprovoked", the ISPR added that Pak troops are befittingly responding to the firing.
Civilian officials said that the total number of injured people stood at 13.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[DAWN] Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj PrunefaceAziz ...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in good jihadis and bad jihadis as a matter of national policy... has written a letter to the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... (UN) secretary general highlighting Indian attempts to bring demographic changes to India-held Kashmire, said a blurb from the Foreign Office.
The letter specifically points out the issuance of permanent residence certificates to non-residents, allotment of land to retired Indian army personnel, issuance of land to non-Kashmiris, the establishment of separate townships for Kashmiri pundits and settlement of West Pakistain refugees in held Kashmire, reads a foreign office statement.
"These efforts are being made to try to convert the Moslem majority in held-Kashmire into a minority to preempt the results of the (proposed) UN administered plebiscite," said the statement.
Aziz has stressed that the non-implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions is leading to a grave human tragedy in the held-Kashmire, added the statement.
"It is only by the implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions that we will be able to end the immense sufferings of millions of Kashmiris in the India-held Jammu and Kashmire and bring peace and stability to South Asia," the report quoted the letter.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[SHABELLENEWS] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... says it will open its military base in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu in the coming September of this year, 2017.
Speaking at London conference on Somalia, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildrim said that a military base in Mogadishu built by Turkey will be functioning in Mogadishu in September.
According to Turkish officials, the military base, whose building began in March 2015, will be used to train Somali forces to strengthen their fight against al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... gang.
It will have the capacity to train 500 soldiers at a time and will be one of the Turkey’s largest military base in a foreign country.
The plan was to open in April this year, but was delayed until September, according to PM.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
#1
And the new Ottoman Sultanate continues to grow apace.
#3
Erdogan has made four or so visits to Somalia beginning in 2011.
The military base has been under construction since 2015. Turkey has announced it will deploy 200 troops to this facility (some for security, some for training).
The strategic purpose of this effort is unknown.
Posted by: lord garth ||
05/14/2017 11:38
Comments ||
Top||
[SHABELLENEWS] Two quarry workers were rubbed out Friday and one was missing in a suspected murderous Moslem attack in Kenya’s northern county of Mandera, a government official said.
The attack took place in the town of Elwak, Regional Coordinator Mohamud Saleh said. Workers had been asked to leave the site because l-Shabaab ... the personification of Somali state failure... fighters'>al-Shaboobs based in neighboring Somalia had been seen in the area a few days earlier, he said.
It was the third time quarry workers had been targeted by suspected bandidosgunnies in Mandera in the past two years. The majority of quarry workers in the region are not Moslem, according to officials.
Mandera is next to the Somali border and has been hardest hit in recent years by an al-Shabaab campaign to avenge Kenyan troop presence in Somalia since 2011.
Kenya’s troops are part of the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... force in Somalia helping the fragile central government counter al-Shabaab’s insurgency.
Kenya has managed to stop the frequency of attacks in its capital, Nairobi, and major towns. But human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... groups say the government uses methods such as extrajudicial killings that can fuel Dire Revenge attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)
[Tolo News] At least three Haqqani network commanders were killed during a dronezap by foreign forces in Paktia province last week, said 303 Spinghar Police Corps on Saturday.
Abdul Hai Mateen, Qari Mustafa and Qare Sor were the Haqqani commanders killed in the strike, 303 Spinghar Police Corps said.
The dronezap was carried out in the Dandpatan district of Paktia province, officials said.
Meanwhile Paktia police said that a military operation to clear insecure parts of the province will be launched soon.
Local residents have also raised their voices and appealed to government to rid their province of Lion of Islams.
Their concern comes amid ongoing Lion of Islam activity in the Zazai Aryoub, Dandepatan and Jani Khail districts in Paktia ‐ areas that all border Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Haqqani Network
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Taliban ...Arabic for students... local leaders and al-Qaeda terrorist network members are among at least 40 faceless myrmidons killed in latest counter-terrorism operations, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) said Saturday.
According to a statement released by the Ministry of Defense (MoD), the faceless myrmidons were killed during the past 24 hours in various provinces of the country.
The statement further added that 43 faceless myrmidons were also maimed and ten others were tossed in the calaboose Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! during the operations.
The Taliban leaders killed during the operations have been identified as Ustad Torjan and Qari Fida Mohammad Ishaqzai who were killed along with several other faceless myrmidons in Mosa Qala district of Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... , MoD said, adding that the two al-Qaeda terrorist network members were killed in Shorabak district of Kandahar province.
MoD said the remaining faceless myrmidons were killed during separate operations conducted in Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. , Kapisa, Paktia, Ghazni, Pashtun-infested Logar, Uruzgan, Ghor, Badghis, Kunduz, Faryab, Baghlan, Sar-e-Pul ...a city and eponymous province in northern Afghanistan, population about 500,000. Demographically it is majority Tadjik and Uzbek. There are small Pashtun, Arab, and Hazara communities, of which the Hazaras mostly don't bother anyone... , Samangan, and Badakhshan provinces.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least 12 militants affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group’s offshoot in Afghanistan, ISIS Khurasan, were killed during the operations in eastern Nangarhar province. The provincial police commandment said the militants killed during the operations led by the security forces in Achin district. The operations were conducted with the support of the air power, the police commandment added.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[Philippine Star] The Philippine military pummeled Abu Sayyaf lairs in Basilan on Thursday, killing at least 20 militants in what was called a “shock and awe” airstrike by F-50 fighters followed by an artillery barrage. Troops also seized an Abu Sayyaf camp in Barangay Pamatsaken in the hinterlands of Sumisip, which was hastily abandoned by fleeing rebels under Furuji Indama.
President Duterte had earlier ordered the military to "shoot on sight" Abu Sayyaf militants amid travel warnings issued by the US, Britain, Canada and Australia about plots to kidnap foreigners and conduct bombings in Bohol, Cebu and Palawan.
Col. Juvymax Uy said special forces under initially penetrated the camp before dawn on Thursday, then assaulted the Abu Sayyaf rebels who were having breakfast. The soldiers breached the camp perimeter and inched closer to about 100 meters from the makeshift tents. A gun battle broke out as the troops took the militants by surprise.
FA-50 jets launched the shock and awe airstrike and delivered rounds of rocket bombs against the Abu Sayyaf position. The airstrikes were immediately followed with artillery and mortar fire, inflicting additional casualties to the rebels.
Bloodstains were found in the vicinity. Intelligence reports said there were about 20 Abu Sayyaf fatalities from the combined airstrikes and indirect fires.
The military recovered three live improvised explosive devices that were rigged around the camp as booby traps. One IED was accidentally triggered and exploded, injuring two soldiers.
Posted by: ryuge ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf (ISIS)
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A top North Korean diplomat says Pyongyang would be willing to meet with the Trump administration for negotiations "if the conditions are set."
Choi Sun-hee, the top North Korean diplomat who handles relations with the US, spoke briefly to news hounds in Beijing on Saturday en route to Pyongyang. She was traveling from Norway, where she led a delegation that held an informal meeting with US experts.
Choi did not elaborate on what the North’s conditions are, but her comments raise the possibility of North Korea and the US returning to negotiations for the first time since 2008, when six-nation talks over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program fell apart.
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... opened the door this month to talks, saying he would be "honored" to meet North Korean leader Kim Pudge Jong-un ...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished... .
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
#1
Restore peaceful relations within your neighborhood with China, South Korea and Japan before we support warrior class locals such as these people from Nagasaki, Japan who have a special hate for nukes after your fat arse.
Friday's cyber attack hit 200,000 victims in at least 150 countries and that number could grow when people return to work on Monday, the head of the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... 's police agency said on Sunday.
Cyber security experts say the spread of the virus dubbed WannaCry - "ransomware" which locked up computers in car factories, hospitals, shops and schools in several countries - has slowed, but that any respite might be brief.
Europol Director Rob Wainwright told ITV's Peston on Sunday programme the attack was unique in that the ransomware was used in combination with "a worm functionality" so the infection spread automatically.
#1
Factually incorrect: he tracks exploits for his employer, and in examining the the 'trackback' on this run he found that the malware would 'phone home' to a non existent website, get a 404, and continue. So he paid the $11, registered the site (which he routinely does in tracking exploits), and the exploit shut down.
Evidently the nonsite was included as a kill switch, or was supposed to have control code available on it.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
05/14/2017 9:49
Comments ||
Top||
#2
bit tricky to look for anyone with a hosts file that points to that DNS address.
Somebody will find a hole in the 'Epic' healthcare management software system currently being used to follow the ACA guidelines for a lot of major US health systems (Surprise! The software company owner is a BIG-TIME lefty donor).
[TheLocal.de] Italia has expelled a Tunisian suspected of ties to Berlin Christmas market attacker Anis Amri, the interior ministry said Saturday.
The 36-year old had been living in Catania in Sicily, where Amri spent time in prison before moving to Germany and killing 12 people by driving a truck through the market last year.
Amri was rubbed out by Italian police in Milan on December 23, four days after the attack claimed by 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.... (IS) group.
The Tunisian had given him a telephone and stayed in contact with him after his departure for Germany, the ministry said.
Units from Italia's serious crime division in Rome and Catania tapped the phone and discovered contacts between the Tunisian and other suspected Lion of Islams.
Among those on the call log were suspects Amri had become close to during his time in the Caltanissetta detention centre.
Italian media named the Tunisian as Sayed Yacoubi, and said he had been scraping by in Sicily as a farm hand.
Police tossed in the clink Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! him in Turin in the north of Italia at the start of the month as he made plans to cross illegally into La Belle France, and held him in a repatriation centre before deporting him, the ministry said.
Italia has carried out 42 expulsions of people suspected of religious extremism this year and 174 since the start of 2015.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] The Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces managed on Saturday to control the highway which links Sinjar district to Qairawan city which has been almost reached by the PMF, liberating Khnaisy village in west of Tal Afar. The Iraqi forces also liberated a number of villages in western Mosul from ISIL terrorists.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
This story is a few days old. I'll post a more recent follow-up article tomorrow.
[The Nation] About 50 people were hurt by a massive car bomb outside a department store in Thailand's Pattani province Tuesday afternoon that caused widespread damage. The bombers used a common militant tactic – triggering a small initial explosive inside the Big C department store, which sent shoppers running outside, before the second bomb concealed in a pickup parked at an entrance door was detonated.
The first bomb also seemed intended to distract authorities ahead of the second much bigger blast.
The attack took place at the store in Muang district at a time when the store was crowded with parents and children looking for school items including uniforms in preparation for the new semester. Among the dozens of people wounded by the bombs were store staff, at least one of whom was seriously injured, as well as many children.
Regional security spokesman Pramote Prom-in said the bombers were intent on mass killing. He said, "The bombers parked the pickup in front of the entrance of the store, clearly showing their intention of mass killing. However, the suspicious vehicle was spotted and people were evacuated from the area in time before the second explosion."
Initial reports from rescue workers said no one had been killed while 30 people, including store staff, were wounded. The number injured was later put at 50.
The first blast was caused by a large firecracker that diverted attention, allowing the bombers to move the pickup to the store entrance. He said the second bomb was hidden in a bag in the pickup.
Facebook user Montakanti Kasemsuk, who captured the second blast on Facebook Live, said she was about to leave the store when the first bomb exploded. She then stayed in the parking lot and began recording the incident. Her video initially showed people outside of the store in the Big C parking lot after the first blast. When the second bomb went off near her, her video clip captured a ball of fire before the video became shaky as she ran from the scene.
[SHABELLENEWS] At least six people were killed and nine others injured when rival clan militias clashed in central Somalia, residents and community elders said on Saturday.
The Death Eaters belonging to the Air and Duduble sub-clans started fighting early Saturday morning in Labi-Aano village, 45 km east of Dhuusamareeb. The fight is over a dispute and clan vendetta.
"So far we know that six people died in the hostilities between the clans and more than nine others were maimed," Mohammed Ali Ilmi, the governor of the Galgudud region told VOA’s Somali Service by phone. "Still the area is too tense. There might be further festivities as war preparations are underway in nearby villages," he said.
Hassan Ali Omar, an elder in the region, said the fighting was sparked by long-standing hostilities over land ownership and pasture.
"This fighting has repeated several times and it is over long-standing vendetta between the two sub-clans. We are sorry that it has resulted in deaths," Omar said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The Death Eaters belonging to the Air and Duduble sub-clans
Big Lebowski fans?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/14/2017 11:31
Comments ||
Top||
[Libya Herald] In both Benghazi and Tobruk today demonstrators called for the reintroduction of the 1951 constitution, objecting to the final offering from up by the Constitution Drafting Assembly.
Waving Cyrenaican flags and backing a federal future, the protestors in Tobruk also specifically supported a restoration of the monarchy under Prince Mohammed al-Rida al-Senussi, the son of the late Crown Prince Hassan al-Rida al-Senussi.
There were pictures of him, his father and King Idris.
Support for the Senussi monarchy remains strong in Tobruk.
In Benghazi, where the military authorities had given permission for the demonstration, a much smaller group ‐ observers and bystanders almost outnumbered them ‐ turned up with black Cyrenaica flags in Kish Square to call for a return to the country’s original federalist constitution.
The CNA’s constitution is republican and rejects federalism.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] Saudi regime forces Saturday killed for civilians on Masoura village in Awamiya district, using fire bombs to storm the locals’ houses.
Al Saud forces, which besiege the area, have also burnt a mosque and a number of houses in addition to other private properties.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia
[Tolo News] As the war intensifies in Kunduz, governor Assadullah Omarkhail on Saturday warned the Taliban ...Arabic for students... that the province will be turned into a ’grave’ for the bad boy group if they refuse to end the violence and lay down their weapons within a month.
He also said the military operation to clear the outskirts of Kunduz city will start in the near future.
"The enemy is the enemy of humanity and Islam. This enemy does not have a place in Islam nor in Afghanistan. The elimination of this kind of enemy is a must," the governor said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the hanging, Butch continued with his last words, trying not to repeat himself too often...... Kunduz police said many villages in Kunduz city and in districts of the province have been cleared of Taliban in recent festivities.
"The Taliban has been defeated in recent festivities and they have suffered heavy losses. The government forces have cleared many areas of Taliban," said Sher Aziz Kamawal, commander of 808 Spinzar Police Zone.
"We are considering a plan to launch a large-scale military operation to eliminate snuffies in insecure regions of Kunduz," he added.
Commander of Pamir 20 Division Abdul Malik Karimi said Taliban fighters have suffered heavy losses in operations in the past week.
"Fifty five Taliban [militants] were killed and 47 others were maimed in the last week’s festivities. We will turn Kunduz into the grave of the Taliban," Karimi added.
On Friday, the Kunduz-Takhar Highway was finally cleared of Taliban following heavy festivities between government forces and the group’s fighters over the past eight days.
Mahfuzullah Akbari, front man for the Northeast Zone Police, said that Khwaja and Katakhail police outposts along the highway were retaken by Afghan security and defense forces.
He said they had equipped police outposts along the Kunduz-Takhar Highway after they cleared the area of Taliban.
The road from Kunduz city to Khanabad district in Kunduz province has been closed to traffic for the past eight days due to heavy festivities between security forces and Taliban.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
[Tolo News] Addressing a White House press briefing on Saturday night, the U.S President’s National Security Advisor H.R McMaster said that Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... has not yet made a decision regarding the deployment of additional troops to Afghanistan.
McMaster said that Trump will have the opportunity to hear from allies during his upcoming foreign trip, which will include stops at the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and structure.... summit and the gathering of G7 nations.
On the issue of additional troops, McMaster said: "The president has not made a decision yet on a course of action. What we have done which is what we have done in many cases on the North Korea problems for example, is we have consulted broadly across our government and with allies.
"The president wants to hear from our allies as well. This is a president who listens to its allies and partners who have an opportunity to do this at the NATO summit, who have an opportunity to do so at the G7 and so what we'll have at the end of this next few weeks here is an opportunity for a much more effective strategy for the problems set in Afghanistan, Pakistain and the region more broadly."
He said however that the U.S had engaged in "highly successful" operations in Afghanistan against ISIS in recent weeks.
"Recently we have been engaged against ISIS (ISIS) in Afghanistan with highly successful operations there that you'll hear more about in a presser at the Department of Defense in the near future.
"But what has happened in Afghanistan is the Afghan army has taken the brunt of the fight against these transnational forces of Evil and the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... and so we are working with our allies to figure out what more we can do to have a more effective strategy in Afghanistan. What are the options we can bring to the president to be more effective and meeting our objectives in Afghanistan and what more can we ask our allies to do what we're asking them now so this is going to be consistent with the president's guidance to us."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
[Libya Herald] Explosions 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... ’s Abu Sleem, Salahedeen and Airport Road districts late this evening have heightened fears of a major battle between hardline, mainly Misratan brigades and local brigades, notably those under Ghneiwa al-Kikli, Haithem al-Tajouri, Hashem Bishr ...head of the Libya Ministry of Interior's now-disbanded Supreme Security Committee, which operated as a parallel security force to the army and the police, with a reputed 140,000 men under arms.. and Abdul Raouf Kara.
Following a reported meeting in Salahedeen earlier this week between Misratan hardliner brigades vowing to impose themselves on the capital, Tripoli has been rife with rumours that something was about to happen.
At the time of writing, there were no further details about the fighting, although there were reports that Ghneiwa’s headquarters in Abu Sleem had been attacked. Explosions there are said to be the work of a group calling itself Fakhr Libya ("Pride of Libya" ‐ فخر ليبيا). It is still unclear what exactly led to the kaboom, but one theory is that Ghneiwa’s munitions were targeted by saboteurs who had slipped into his headquarters.
The name is a play on that the former Libya Dawn ...aka Fajr Libya, the Islamist operation launched to counter that of General Khalifa Haftar (Operation Dignity). It is made up of the Libya Shield militia (Misrata and Moslem Brotherhood), Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room (Moslem Brotherhood), and Tripoli Brigade (close to Abdul Hakim Belhaj, head of Al-Watan party). Financing and moral support come from Turkey and Qatar... ("Fajr Libya" ‐ فجر ليبيا), the alliance of hardliners opposed to the House of Representatives and the Thinni government in Beida. In arabic, the dot on the second letter is removed from below to above, changing it from a "j" to a "kh".
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[SHABELLENEWS] Dozens of American soldiers have been deployed to Mogadishu to train and equip Somali and AMISOM (African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... Mission in Somalia) forces fighting extremism in Somalia, U.S. military officials have said.
The troops’ arrival marks the first presence of American military forces in Somalia, other than a small unit of counterterrorism advisers, since March 1994 when the U.S. pulled out of the U.N. intervention operation in the war-torn state, five months after 18 U.S. special forces personnel were killed in a battle with Somali bully boyz that inspired the movie Black Hawk Down.
"United States Africa Command will conduct various security cooperation and/or security force assistance events in Somalia in order to assist our allies and partners," U.S. Africa Command front man Pat Barnes told VOA on Thursday.
The move is another example of the acceleration of U.S. efforts to help combat violent extremism across the globe, a second military official said. The goal of the operation is to build partner capacity while helping to improve the logistics of local forces battling the military group al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... A few dozen troops from the 101st Airborne Division in Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, arrived in Mogadishu on April 2 at the request of the Somali government, a U.S. military official told VOA.
The team is carrying out a train-and-equip mission that is expected to last through the end of September, according to the official.
Former Deputy Secretary of Defense Rudy DeLeon, a senior fellow with the Center for American Progress ...George Soros-funded think tank headed by John Podesta, White House chief of staff under Bill Clinton ...former Democratic president of the U.S. Bill was the second U.S. president to be impeached, the first to deny that oral sex was sex, the first to have difficulty with the definition of is... , supplied progressive talking points and policy positions for the Obamaregime. There was a revolving door between the White House and its nerve center, with the president staffing his administration with many of its operatives.... , said the U.S. team will help instill the professionalism and discipline that the local force can use to create the terms for security. "It gives them the tools to help themselves," DeLeon said in an interview with VOA.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] In the mid-1990s, the Kuwaiti magazine "Mugtama" which is affiliated with the Brotherhood interviewed Ahmad Yassin, the historic leader of the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, movement. The headline predicted Israel’s demise before the millennium. Yassin spoke in a dream-like manner and refused to head in the direction of a conflict with the Paleostinian Liberation Organization despite all provocations and cited the Koranic verse: "If you should raise your hand against me to kill me, I shall not raise my hand against you to kill you." Few decades later, Hamas announced its new charter in which it amended its founding charter.
In the charter it announced on May 2, Hamas voiced its worry over its current situation due to political and ideological considerations and international changes. The movement has never denied its Brotherhood roots since its establishment in December 1987. Its founding charter stipulates that Hamas is a branch of the Moslem Brüderbund and is influenced by it, and it also commended the Brotherhood’s ideology. However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... there is currently an international and regional wave against the Brotherhood which has been listed as a terror group by some countries. The current American administration has hinted that it will list the group’s cadres on its terror list. This made Hamas enhance its presence in the international legal arena in order to shield itself from any harm as a result of its Brotherhood affiliations.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
the Saudis (who control al arabiya)have given billions to the PA over the years; they began cutting back in 2015 and the total Saudi aid to the PA was only about $30M in 2016 and may not reach that in 2017
Posted by: lord garth ||
05/14/2017 0:59
Comments ||
Top||
#2
You know, Old Testament is full of nations who were enemies of Israel - none of them is still around.
[DAWN] Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari has severely criticised the Ehtram-e-Ramazan (Amendment) Bill which prohibits eating and drinking in public during the month of Ramazan.
In a tweet, the daughter of former president Asif Ali Zardari said, "People are going to die from heat stroke and dehydration with this ridiculous law. Not everyone is able. This is not Islam."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[AlAhram] On a monthly basis, core inflation increased by 1.10 percent from 0.97 percent recorded in March.
Not having to trade borrowed money for as much oil and natural gas will help a lot. Egypt has just begun negotiating current contracts to stretch out deliveries, as they won't need to import as much.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Iraqi war media cell, announced on Saturday, that they targeted a meeting described as "important" to the leaders of ISIS in the district of al-Qaim, west of Anbar province, indicating that the meeting was a planning to carry out multiple attacks during the coming month of Ramadan.
Al Arabiya recieved a copy of the statement declared by the cell. The statement read, "the Intelligence Falcons cell of the intelligence agency and in coordination with the Joint Operations Command carried out a qualitative operation in which it was able to target an important meeting in the al-Qaim district. ISIS krazed killers’ leaders were planning terrorist attacks against citizens during the holy month of Ramadan, the liquidation of some judges and targeting the district of Haditha, Al Rutba, and the highway."
The cell said, "they targeted the meeting by an accurate and effective air strike by Iraqi air force planes resulted in the deaths of 13 ISIS Lions of Islam and some were maimed. In addition, eight other targets were completely destroyed such as warehouses of weapons and missiles and a laboratory for bombs of the terrorist group, which killed many Lions of Islam and ruined weapons, ammunition and kabooms."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[Daily Excelsior] Hizbul Mujahideen, a terror outfit which has been fighting for Jammu and Kashmire’s annexation to Pakistain since 1989, today seemed to be heading towards a vertical split with its Valley-based commander Zakir Moosa dissociating himself from the outfit.
A fresh audio tape purportedly carrying his voice appeared in the social media in which the engineering-student- turned murderous Moslem, Moosa, said that he was not representing Hizbul Mujahideen anymore.
"Hizbul Mujahideen has said that we have nothing to do with the statement of Moosa. So, if Hizbul Mujahideen doesn’t represent me then I also don’t represent them. From today onwards, I have no association with Hizbul Mujahideen," Moosa said hours after Pakistain-occupied Kashmire-based front man of the outfit had distanced the group from Moosa’s statement yesterday in which he had threatened Kashmiri separatist leaders with dire consequences if they did not refrain from using the Kashmire issue for political gains.
Moosa was made commander of the banned Hizbul Mujahideen after the death of the outfit’s poster boy Burhan Wani in an encounter on July 8 last year.
"I stand by my speech and by my message. It doesn’t bother me what others say but I stand by my speech. I have not said anything against Syed Ali Shah Geelani but my statement was only against those individuals who talk about freedom (of Kashmire) for a secular state," he said.
He also made attempts to clarify that he had no association with the ISIS or the al-Qaeda terror groups.
However, some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... he said he believed in fighting for Islam and not for a secular state.
This is the second time when cracks have appeared in the Hizbul Mujahideen with valley-based commanders and its chief Syed Salahuddin ...the aging, morbidly obese chief of Hizbul Mujaheddin and the titular head of the United Jihad Council in idyllic Kashmire. Originally owned body and theoretical soul by Jamaat-e-Islami he and his organization are currently controlled by Pakistain's ISI. Salahuddin's hobbies include crocheting doilies shaped like the Taj Mahal, combing his enormous beard, and eating.... based in PoK not being on the same page.
Earlier in 2002, its valley-based commander Abdul Majeed Dar had refused to take orders from Salahuddin. He was later killed by Hizbul Mujahideen.
Responding to Moosa’s threats to the separatist leaders, Hizbul Mujahideen front man Saleem Hashmi had said in a statement from Muzaffarabad in PoK that "the outfit has neither got anything to do with the statement of Moosa nor the statement is acceptable to it."
Terming Moosa’s remarks in an audio slideshow that surfaced in Kashmire’s social media as his "personal opinion", Hashmi cautioned that any statement or step which will create confusion "can prove a death knell for our struggle".
In a 5.40-minute audio, Moosa had warned the separatist leaders not to meddle in their aim to establish a caliphate in Jammu and Kashmire along the lines of the rule established by the ISIS in parts of Syria and Iraq.
Hizbul Mujahideen is almost as old as the Kashmiri militancy which started in 1989. The group is made up almost entirely of local youths, and had always campaigned for joining Pakistain.
The clip surfaced after Hurriyat leaders recently sought to downplay the growing influence of ISIS ideology in the Kashmire Valley.
Earlier this week, Hurriyat leaders like Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yaseen Malik issued a joint statement in which they claimed that the Kashmire struggle has nothing to do with the ISIS, the al-Qaeda and other such organizations.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Hizbul Mujaheddin
[OANN] Mutinous soldiers in Ivory Coast shot three people on Saturday and cut off access to the second largest city, Bouake, as a revolt escalated over demands for bonus payments.
The revolt began in Bouake early on Friday before spreading quickly, following a similar pattern to a mutiny by the same group in January that paralyzed parts of Ivory Coast and marred its image as a post-war success story.
Mutineers seized control of the national military headquarters and defense ministry in the center of the commercial capital Abidjan on Friday.
They stepped up the pressure on Saturday, blocking roads out of Bouake, the epicenter of January’s uprising, and protesting around the country, including the northern city of Korhogo, where two men on a cycle of violence were shot in the legs as they tried to get through a roadblock manned by the mutineers.
"They shot at them. They were maimed and transported to the hospital," said witness Amadou Yeo.
In Bouake, soldiers fired on a group of demobilized former rebels seriously wounding one of them, according to their front man and a local politician.
Sergeant Seydou Kone, a front man for the mutineers, said the ex-fighters, who went through a disarmament program following the country’s 2011 civil war, were planning their own protest, as they did early this week, and his men had opened fire to stop them.
"We do not want to negotiate with anyone," said Kone by phone from Bouake in the center of the country. "We’re also ready to fight if we are attacked. We have nothing to lose."
In a statement on state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
late on Friday, General Sekou Toure, the army’s chief of staff, threatened the soldiers with severe sanctions if they did not end the revolt.
Ivory Coast’s defense minister and government front man could not be reached for comment on Saturday.
The soldiers were promised bonus payments by the government after the January mutiny but it has struggled to disburse the money following a budget crunch caused by the collapse in the price of cocoa, Ivory Coast’s main export.
"WE WANT OUR 7 MILLION"
Ivory Coast has emerged as one of the world’s fastest growing economies following a decade-long political crisis ended by a 2011 civil war. But deep divisions persist, particularly in a military assembled from former rebel and loyalist combatants.
The government has already paid 8,400 soldiers ‐ most of them former rebels who helped bring President Alassane Ouattara ...the current president-for-life of Ivory Coast. He actually beat his predecessor in an election before having to eject him from the presidential palazzo.... to power ‐ bonuses of 5 million CFA francs ($8,400) each as part of a deal to end the January revolt.
On Thursday, following a meeting with authorities in Abidjan, a front man for the group said they would forego demands for remaining bonuses of 7 million francs.
But that decision was rejected by some of the soldiers.
"We want our 7 million and that’s it," said Kone.
Bouake residents said shops were closed as soldiers fired weapons in the air and patrolled the streets in cars.
Mutineers also took control of the northern city of Odienne and there was sporadic gunfire in Daloa, the main cocoa growing hub in southwestern Ivory Coast, which is the world’s top producer of the chocolate ingredient.
Hundreds of people, meanwhile, gathered for a rally against the revolt close to the military headquarters in Abidjan, which was still being held by the mutineers.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
[BenarNews] A top communist guerrilla leader wanted for a series of attacks in the southern Philippines has been arrested along with three others including a Christian bishop.
Rommel Salinas, identified as the secretary general of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in Mindanao, was arrested by a joint police and military operation Thursday evening near the city of Ozamiz, about 750 miles of Manila. Also arrested were Bishop Carlo Morales of the local Iglesia Filipina Independiente, his wife and the driver of the van the group rode in. Authorities confiscated a hand grenade, mobile phones, battery packs, a city map and almost $2,000 from the four suspects.
Brig. Gen. Rolando Joselito Bautista said Salinas was the top-ranking commander of the communists' armed wing, the New People's Army, and was believed to be in charge of a range of terrorist activities in the region.
Salinas was allegedly "involved in numerous high-profile crimes" and a local court had issued at least five warrants for his arrest. Bautista said Salinas "was the most wanted NPA commander" in western Mindanao.
The arrest of Bishop Morales sparked outrage in his church, during which the clergy ordered its members to immediately travel to the regional police office to demand his freedom. The church also posted a photo of a handcuffed Bishop Morales on its social media page and said the four were not allowed to make phone calls to seek legal assistance.
The arrests came a day after four NPA militants were killed in separate clashes with troops also in the south Wednesday, some two weeks after the gunmen attacked three rubber manufacturing facilities in the southern city of Davao, killing a civilian.
Sultan Kudarat provincial police commander Raul Supiter said fighting broke out when NPA rebels attacked a Marine contingent patroling the area. A 30-minute firefight ensued, resulting in the death of two militants. Two other guerrillas were also killed in a clash in the city of Malaybalay.
[Tolo News] While the fate of Hizb-e-Islami (HIA) fighters remains uncertain, the ministry of defense (MoD) said on Saturday that they were also unsure of the exact number of weapons owned by the group and its members but that all political parties need to hand in their munitions.
"I don’t know how many weapons and which weapons are with them [Hizb-e-Islami members]. These things would have been mentioned in their [Hizb-e-Islami’s] agreement with government. They would have reached an agreement in this respect and they will act upon it," said Dawlat Waziri, front man for the Ministry of Defense.
The presence of hundreds of heavily gunnies accompanying the Hizb-e-Islami 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... ’s convoy to Kabul nine days ago sparked major concern among the people and MPs.
Meanwhile, ...back at the alley, Slats grabbed for his rosco... Hizb-e-Islami members last week announced that they have named 3,500 members of the group to be deployed in the security agencies.
The Hizb-e-Islami members however have said that they will not lay down their weapons but in turn they will not use them against government.
"I think we will not need to have an individual army. Our security forces are at the service of those who live in areas under government’s control and these forces have the responsibility to ensure the safety of the people," said MP Abdul Hafiz Mansour.
A number of Kabul residents meanwhile called on government to collect the weapons from Hizb-e-Islami members and other individuals and parties.
"Those opposition groups that join government should lay down their weapons," said Mustafa, a resident of Kabul.
"Their [Hizb-e-Islami’s] peace deal with government will not be useful if they refuse to surrender their weapons. It will increase the chaos," Abdul Wazir, another resident of Kabul.
The Hizb-e-Islami members however have said that they will not lay down their weapons but in turn they will not use them against government.
A front man for the group has argued that no one can ensure the safety of the group’s fighters therefore they should remain armed.
This comes after Hekmatyar signed a peace agreement late last year with government. Nine days ago, Hekmatyar returned to Kabul, for the first time in about 20 years.
The return of the group’s leader was met with mixed reaction. Some sectors welcomed his return while others were not so welcoming.
On Friday, the state minister for reforms in the security sector, Amrullah Saleh, said he was not against the grinding of the peace processor, but he was opposed to the way Hekmatyar was welcomed back to Afghanistan by government.
"I think organizing a big event (at the Presidential Palace) for the person who issued fatwas for our killing for 17 years, who financed destruction for 17 years, who committed anything against his country from a foreign country for 17 years, who gave lectures for more than an hour and paid no respect to deaders of the past 17 years in Afghanistan, was a mistake," said Saleh.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Hizb-i-Islami-Hekmatyar
#1
"That's a nice horse. Let's bring it inside the gates"
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/14/2017 12:32
Comments ||
Top||
[Daily Excelsior] Police today foiled a major attempt to revive militancy in Chenab Valley, which had been reduced to negligible during the past few years, by arresting five myrmidons, who had developed links in Pakistain as well as with Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... (LeT) commanders in the Kashmire valley.
They were instrumental in attack on Tanta (Kahara) police post under the jurisdiction of Gandoh cop shoppe in Doda district in which an SPO was killed and another injured seriously on the intervening night of May 7 and 8.
Addressing a presser here, IGP Jammu Zone Dr SD Singh Jamwal accompanied by DIG Doda-Ramban range Nissar Ahmad and SSP Doda Mohammad Shabir, said the LeT module had been trying to revive militancy in the Chenab valley.
A total of five persons including an SPO and a former Territorial Army personnel have been tossed in the calaboose Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! , he added.
The module was working to revive militancy in the Doda- Kishtwar-Ramban region.
Jamwal said that the arrests were made by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed after the attack on a police post in Doda on May 8, in which one Special Police Officer (SPO) was killed and another injured. The SIT was headed by Additional SP Bhaderwah Shahzad Salaria.
Giving details, the IGP said that based on intelligence inputs
*Ring, ring* "Mahmoud the Weasel here. Listen carefully, I will say this only once. If you want to find some really bad miscreants, you will find them plotting mischief together in the potting shed at the bottom of the strawberry fields. Do not tell them I sent you."
the SIT had picked up some suspects and subsequently apprehended Abdul Rashid Harga alias Abdullah, a resident of Tanta in Doda district.
Rashid had been an active member of LeT between 2001 and 2008 and had later surrendered. He was again arrested in 2013 and was released on bail in 2016.
A busy man.
After sustained interrogation,
"OUCH! Stop doing that! I said I'll talk if you just stop doing that!"
Rashid confessed to his involvement in the (Doda) firing incident and disclosed the names of his two associates -- his younger brother Showket Ali and Akhtar Magrey of Tanta.
Following their interrogation,
"OUCH!"
"OUCH!"
four more persons -- Bashir Ahmed, who was earlier part of Territorial Army, his nephew and SPO Altaf Ahmed, Shafqat Hussain and Hafiz -- were arrested.
"OUCH!"
"OUCH!"
"OUCH!"
"OUCH!"
An AK-47 rifle and three magazines and ammunition have been recovered from them, the IGP said.
To be fair, the magazines and ammunition were all sadly dented, and the rifle had clearly never been cleaned. If this were Bangladesh, the newest RAB recruit would be set to cleaning, polishing, and hammering out dents until the sergeant was satisfied. But as it's Pakistan, the light tracery of rust over it all will only grow heavier with neglect.
He said that Rashid had been in contact with Bashir Ahmed of Bangraw-Gandoh, who was earlier working in the 139 Territorial Army Battalion in Thathri.
Bashir had asked his nephew Altaf Ahmed, who was working as an SPO in the police department in Doda district, to arrange a weapon.
The SPO had then stolen one AK-47 rifle and ammunition from the District Police Lines in January this year. A case in connection with the weapon theft was registered at Doda cop shoppe.
The IGP claimed that Rashid was in direct communication with his Pak handler, Mohammad Amin alias Khubeb alias Haroon alias Pinna of the LeT.
Goodness. Even his mother must be confused, though his wife, if he has one, may well be delighted.
He said that Rashid, Akhtar and Shokat, on the direction of Khubeb, had been enticing youths of Tanta area to join the militancy.
The police officer said that Rashid had been regularly conducting meetings in various areas of the Chenab valley and motivating former forces of Evil and those who had surrendered.
On the direction of Khubaib and commanders of Valley based myrmidon organization, mainly the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was asking Harga to activate militancy in erstwhile Doda district. Abdul Rashid Harga alias Abdullah activated his newly recruited grid to keep vigil on the movement of security forces and police pickets in remote hilly areas of Gandoh belt and planned to attack the security forces.
The Jammu police chief said that on May 7, Abdullah conducted recce of the police picket Tanta and got the information of presence of only two to three men at the Post. He then directed his associates to reach in the forest area near the post.
On the intervening night of May 7-8, they attacked police picket Tanta (Kahara) district Doda in which 2 SPOs namely Mohammad Younus and Kikkar Singh were grievously injured.
Younis later succumbed to the injuries at GMCH Jammu. "After attacking the post accused tried to set ablaze the Police Post. However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... due to quick reaction of the injured SPOs they fled from the spot taking the advantage of the darkness," said the IGP.
It was also found that Abdullah, Akhter and Shokat on the direction of Khubbeb alias Amin Butt were enticing the youths of Tanta area to join the militancy.
Abdullah on VOIP calls was also getting the young generation to speak to Khubbeb and other motivators of LeT outfits across the border for joining militancy.
The IGP, however, said that with the arrest of these accused, recovery of weapon and busting of LeT module, Tanta Police Post attack by the LeT has also been worked out by the SIT, which was headed by Additional SP Bhaderwah Shahzad Salaria and comprised SDPO Gandoh Sunny Gupta, Inspector Manjeet Singh and Inspector Tahir Yousaf.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11 views]
Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba
#1
Trailing Wife, I really really like your inline comments! :) Made for an enjoyable read!
[Dhaka Tribune] Militant recruiter and terrorist financier Rizwan Haroon has reportedly gone missing after he slipped in through Shahjalal International Airport immigration last Thursday.
Rizwan, who is on the Home Ministry’s most wanted list, apparently entered the county unnoticed after arriving on-board an 8am Emirates flight from London.
Sources claimed that law enforcement agencies conducted drives immediately after the gaffe was detected but Rizwan had already gone underground.
The co-founder and managing director of Lakehead Grammar School, is being investigated for financing and patronising militancy in Bangladesh.
The school reportedly was a breeding ground for murderous Moslems and employed controversial holy warrior leaders as instructors since its founding.
The sources also said that an Education Ministry report sent to the Home Ministry on January 23 this year advocated legal action against Rizwan.
The insiders said that roughly 12 days later, the Home Ministry sent letters to the Armed Forces Division, Police Headquarters and the Education Ministry urging for required steps to be taken.
A bigwig, working in the Police Headquarters, said they have been notified of Rizwan’s entry and they were investigating the incident.
However, death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate... when Home Minister Assaduzzaman Khan Kamal was contacted from the Dhaka Tribune around 8pm Saturday, three days after it allegedly took place, he admitted that he was not notified of the incident until then.
But, Kamal was quick to assure that if any such incident took place, the Home Ministry would take prompt actions.
Rizwan, according to sources, had two Bangladeshi passports (BH0634137 and AE6016933) both of which expires near this year’s end.
In 2006, Rizwan co-founded Lakehead Grammar School (LGS) with Hizb-ut Tahrir Ameer Prof Dr Golam Moula.
He became radicalised during his PhD programme in United Kingdom through Jamatul Moslemin Ameer Abu Isa Al Rafai, a Jordanian who migrated to UK.
Rizwan, reportedly, organised activities of Jamatul Moslemin (JM) in Bangladesh since 2002 with pro al-Qaeda ideology and motivated mostly high class/intellectual community members for so-called Jihad.
Sources said he went to UK this year on January 27.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Hizb-ut-Tahrir
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A new video from inside the restive al-Awamiya neighborhood showed a car carrying gunnies shooting at citizens and security officers.
Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... ’s Ministry of Interior said on Friday that gunnies targeted a development project in the neighborhood of al-Masoura in the eastern province of Qatif, where labor workers were targeted during the shoot-out.
Two people, including an infant, were killed and 10 others maimed after gunnies shot at workers at a development project in the eastern Qatif governorate and left the scene.
Ten people including six Saudi nationals were maimed in the attacks. The injured include a woman and two children, a Sudanese national, an Indian national who is in a critical condition, in addition to four coppers who suffered minor injuries.
Gunmen killed a Saudi child and a Pak man during an attack on workers at a building project in restive eastern Soddy Arabia on Wednesday, the interior ministry said on Friday.
The gunnies tried to stop redevelopment work in the old quarter of the town of Awamiya, where authorities say Shia Lions of Islam are hiding, said an interior ministry front man quoted by state news agency SPA.
"Workers were shot at by terrorist elements from the neighborhood to obstruct the project and protect abandoned houses used to ... kidnap citizens," said SPA.
The attack took place in Qatif, an oil-producing province home to a large Shia population that has witnessed protests for more rights in Saudi Arabia which is majority Sunni.
Authorities say the narrow streets of the old town, built during Ottoman rule more than 200 years ago, have become a hideout for Shia MoslemLions of Islam believed to be behind attacks on security forces in the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
Breitbart poster comments: Its kind of funny. When I'm out and about and see some lady with that name tag, I point out that there's some transversal guy running around using that name now. One lady at a grocery store looked at me and said, "Yeah, I know. With ALL of the names in the world to use, that POS picks mine".
In which the Deutsche Welle lays out how all right-thinking Germans must think on the subject of the loudly welcomed migrants. And yes, this is indeed how you get more Trump.
[DW] Right-wing bully boyz in North Rhine-Westphalia recently sent local residents fake letters in an apparent effort to influence voters ahead of upcoming state elections. DW spoke to a recipient of one of these letters.
Horst Kläuser was appalled. Until recently, he had never received any mail from the Rhineland Regional Council (LVR). At first, seeing the organization's pleasant logo on the envelope did not arouse any suspicions. But inside was a lengthy hate letter. It had obviously been written by right-wing bully boyz who wanted to incite hatred against refugees. The misused logo belongs to an organization that fosters culture in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, and also supports museums, hospitals and facilities for the disabled.
The hate letter includes the obituary of a young woman from the southern German city of Freiburg who was allegedly murdered by a refugee seeking asylum. Also enclosed in the letter was the picture of a little girl who was the youngest victim of the terror attack in Stockholm. Both pages were titled, "Just another unfortunate, isolated case?"
Propaganda against refugees
"On the other side, there was a terrible picture," Kläuser told DW. The photo was also taken in Stockholm - directly at the scene of the attack. "The picture shows a body crushed by a truck. So they are insinuating that refugees are murderers and terrorists. The atrocity in the picture is hard to bear and that is surely why it was not published in normal newspapers," said Kläuser, who works as a journalist for WDR, a regional German public broadcaster. The image has appeared in right-wing blogs in the past, however.
The letter is not signed and there are no details on the sender, apart from the LVR logo. The letter does not solicit any illegal activities. "The media does not show these images because no one is supposed to see the truth," is written above the photos in the letter.
Also, whoever wrote the letter has appropriated a statement from the president of the German Police Union, Rainer Wendt, who has been quoted as saying, "We may have a welcome culture in Germany but no sympathy for the victims of terror attacks."
LVR filing charges
At first, Kläuser wanted to file charges against the unknown perpetrator. But little by little, he found out that he was not the only person to have received a fake LVR letter. In fact, numerous other people in the Bergisches Land region near Cologne ...a lovely city in Germany. They invented perfume there... , where he lives, also received similar mail. A member of state parliament has already contacted the Germany's domestic intelligence agency.
LVR itself has filed criminal charges and is considering further legal action. The organization has also asked Deutsche Post, Germany's national postal service, to investigate the incident. LVR did not want to disclose further details to journalists.
In time for state parliamentary elections
It appears as though the fake letter campaign aims to influence the upcoming state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia on May 14. Whoever wrote the letter may have chosen to misuse the LVR logo because it is considered to be a serious organization committed to helping disadvantaged people. The logo on the envelope may thus compel many unsuspecting recipients to open the letter.
Does a fake letter like that actually have the power to influence the outcome of the elections? Kläuser is cautious in his response. "It does not affect me; it disgusts me. On the contrary, it makes me determined to fight the right-wing groups even more."
Nonetheless, it is possible that some of the recipients may agree with the message. "The disgraceful thing is that the letter suggests that Freiburg and Stockholm are not isolated cases, but that it is an inherent trait of Moslem refugees seeking asylum to kill other people," says Kläuser.
#1
"The disgraceful thing is that the letter suggests that Freiburg and Stockholm are not isolated cases, but that it is an inherent trait of Moslem refugees seeking asylum to kill other people," says Kläuser.
I wonder if the 'suggests' is nibbling at the edges of Horst's mindset.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least eleven Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... bandidos bully boys including their two top local leaders were killed in an Arclight airstrike in northern Kunduz province of Afghanistan.
According to the security officials, the murderous Moslems were killed late on Friday afternoon after they were targeted in the vicinity of Chahardara district.
A front man for the Pamir Division in Northeastern Afghanistan, Gen. Ghulam Hazrat Karimi, said the two top Taliban leaders killed in the Arclight airstrike have been identified as Qari Ahmadshah and Arshad.
He said a military vehicle being used by the Taliban bandidos bully boys was also destroyed in the Arclight airstrike.
Gen. Karimi further added that the local residents and security personnel did not suffer any casualties during the Arclight airstrike.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
[Tolo News] Foreign Affairs adviser to the Pak prime minister, Sartaj PrunefaceAziz ...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in good jihadis and bad jihadis as a matter of national policy... , said on Wednesday that Islamabad needs to tighten up on border management with Afghanistan so as to "prevent the movement of holy warriors and miscreants."
He said challenges in Afghanistan have multiplied since January 2015 and that the deteriorating security situation is affecting the entire region.
Addressing a conference in Islamabad, organized by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) in collaboration with the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF), and entitled "Achieving Peace in Afghanistan: Challenges & Prospects", Aziz said: "The persistent conflict and the failure of military strategy to bring peace has taken a heavy toll on both Afghan cops and the civilians.
"The lack of progress on grinding of the peace processor, emerging threat of ISIS, drugs trafficking, the resettlement of returning refugees are some of the issues that have been making it difficult for Afghanistan to create a stable country. This situation is affecting not only Afghanistan's neighbors but the entire region," he said.
He said that these issues were also affecting relations between Pakistain and Afghanistan "despite our centuries old bonds of common culture, heritage, traditions and religion."
Aziz stated that a peaceful prosperous Afghanistan was in Pakistain’s interest and that they believed a politically negotiated settlement was the most viable option for bringing lasting peace to Afghanistan.
"Towards this end, Pakistain has been making sincere efforts for facilitating talks between the Afghan government and Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... . Our consistent and clear message to the Taliban has been that they must give up violence and join the grinding of the peace processor. Our efforts led to Murree talks in July, 2015 and the setting up of Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) in December, 2015. However, the man who has no enemies isn't anybody and has never done anything... both times the process was undermined by forced who were against reconciliation."
He said that terrorism was a major threat to regional and international peace and that Pakistain had also suffered at the hands of terrorism over the past few years but that achievements have been made in their efforts to eliminate terrorist organizations from around the country.
"The tribal areas particularly North Wazoo have been cleared. Any remnants of the dismantled groups are now being targeted through Operation Rad-ul-Fasad. Our success in counter-terrorism has been recognized by U.S Congressional leaders and military commanders who visited the Pakistain-Afghanistan border ...also known as Pashtunistan, home of ignorance, poverty, and automatic weapons... including North Waziristan."
He said that in line with this, Pakistain needs to ramp up border management with Afghanistan.
According to him the aim of this is to prevent the movement of terrorists.
"This would prevent the movement of holy warriors and miscreants and would help address the Afghan allegations regarding TTA (Tehrik-e-Taliban Afghanistan) and Haqqani networks presence in Pakistain. We have also been stressing upon the Afghan government to take action against the TTP (Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain) and JuA (Jamaat-ur-Ahrar) sanctuaries in Afghanistan who have been crossing through the mostly non-existent border and launching terrorist attacks in Pakistain."
Meaningful engagement between Pakistain and Afghanistan was of key importance to Islamabad, he said adding that in recent weeks a number of high-profile delegations have visited Kabul as part of efforts to strengthen engagement between the two neighbors.
He also outlined the assistance Pakistain has provided to Afghanistan including transit trade facilities through its ports under the Afghanistan Pakistain Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA), the housing of refugees and development projects Islamabad has undertaken in Afghanistan.
"I would also like to highlight that connectivity with Afghanistan is an important element on our agenda. Exploitation of Afghanistan's vast mineral resources need rail-road connectivity between Afghanistan and Pakistain so that the transportation of the extracted minerals to the outer world could be realized.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Tolo News] Members of some political parties on Saturday said they are boycotting President 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. .. ’s advisory meetings as most are "meaningless and their advice is not put into practice".
The front man for the Council for the Protection and Stability of Afghanistan said most of the meetings were symbolic only and lacked depth.
"The leadership members of the Council for the Protection and Stability of Afghanistan avoid the meetings which lack content, were symbolic and were about publicity," said Massoud Trishtwal, a front man for the council.
The head of the New National Front of Afghanistan, Anwar-ul-Haq Ahadi said the president is not honest and does not listen to advice given to him by political parties. He also said these meetings are merely symbolic.
"We are extremely unhappy with this government. I think it should be a conscience duty of government to resign and let a new government replace it," Ahadi said.
A number of other political figures also accused Ghani of being a dictator and exclusivist.
"President [Ashraf Ghani] has turned himself into a dictator. He has grabbed all the power in his hands. He has tightened his relations with the West and he does not have any plans for national interests, for ending the war and for maintaining security in the country," said Fatana Ishq Gailani, chairperson of Afghanistan’s Women’s Council.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
[DAWN] Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan ...Currently the Interior Minister of Pakistain. He is the senior leader of the Pak Moslem League (N) and a close aide to Nawaz Uncle Fester Sharif. He is noted for his vocal anti-American railing in the National Assembly. However (comma) Khan told the U.S. ambassador that he was in fact pro-American but he and the PML-N would have to be critical of US actions in order to remain publicly credible. Khan cited his wife and children's US citizenship as proof, which means he's lying to one side or the other and probably both. He wears a wig, but you probably guessed that. since hair doesn't grow naturally in that shape or texture... lashed out at political opponents, reassuring his supporters that he stands opposed to those who are "secular" or "non-believing".
He was addressing a gathering of supporters on Saturday in Saroba, Punjab.
"Some political parties criticise me for raising my voice for the principles of Islam. If you are proud of being secular; of being non-believers, then I am proud of to be pro-Islam," he remarked, inviting a round of applause from his supporters.
"I will also support all those people who, in light of their religion (Islam), are wrongly criticised or accused," he added.
"If you go out with a beer, you are unlikely to come across good people. These days, there is no differentiation between Halal and Haraam; only money talks, power talks," he said.
Zooming out of local politics, Nisar said; "The source of terrorism is the West considering every bearded man and hijab-wearing woman as being a terrorist. Unless the West changes this attitude, there will be no control over terrorism."
"I am a straight talker. I talk straight even with my own party leadership," he said.
"I have been in politics for 35 years and many times, people have tried to buy me by offering me different positions. With the grace of God, I never sold out," he passionately said.
"People these days campaigning for 'change'; do not listen to them," he said, referring to his political opponents.
Nisar said change could not be expected from people who have pillaged the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Politichicks] A controversial billboard depicting President Donald Trump as a Nazi was funded with taxpayer dollars and was commissioned by an "arts advocate" paid by a U.S. city to "diminish barriers," records obtained by Judicial Watch reveal. The massive billboard caused a ruckus when it was unveiled in downtown Phoenix, Arizona in mid-March because it features a menacing portrait of Trump surrounded by mushroom clouds--in the shape of laughing clowns--and swastikas modified as dollar signs. A pin of a Russian flag appears on the president’s lapel.
The huge display towers over Grand Avenue and Taylor Street in downtown Phoenix and will remain there throughout Trump’s presidency, according to the local art gallery that claims to own it and conveniently omits that public money is involved. A multitude of local and national media outlets covered the controversy surrounding the artist that created it and the contentious image it portrays, but all have failed to uncover the important fact that taxpayer dollars are behind it. Instead, the media has reported that the Trump Nazi billboard was commissioned by the billboard owner, Beatrice Moore, a longtime patron of the arts on Grand Avenue. Moore’s deep ties to the city and the cash she receives for her various public art endeavors have remained secret. The news reports have also focused on the death threats that the artist, Karen Fiorito, has received. A local paper reported that the billboard went up during an annual art event and that the artist aimed to stir up a controversy.
Mainstream national media also failed to report the important fact that taxpayer dollars contributed to the offensive billboard. The Washington Post opted to serve as a mouthpiece for Fiorito’s anti-Trump tirade. In a piece published days after the billboard controversy hit the artist calls Trump supporters "scumbags" and says the country is on a "very dangerous path" toward "total annihilation." A California news outlet focused on Fiorito’s death threats and her interpretation of the art, which "represents global destruction, warfare and annihilation of the planet." The dollar swastikas represent "corporate power and greed and how our society has become all about money and corporatism," the artist says in the story.
...
#1
What is building Security?
Is the poster sign made of flammable materials?
How many people will you need for how longs to do the job?
Who would respond in case the sign went up in flames at 2 in the morning?
What can be devised to inhibit response to the fire?
What are the plans to disperse the team that sets the fire?
Who will complain and in what manner if anyone is apprehended?
How sympathetic is the Police Dept. to the fire possibility?
What sort of PR can be arranged to counter any investigation?
No threats no warnings. Plans and equipment and drill.
Minimum number necessary and separate dispersal for each individual team member. Resources and evidence destroyed. Systematic and silence. Compartmentalized intel of all involved. No traceback of plans or resources.
Follow up on persons and properties of the artist and art gallery after the event if necessary. Phoenix is the city where they had the OK Corral event, right? Workable venue.
#2
Phoenix is the city where they had the OK Corral event, right?
No. Tombstone. It's just shy of 200 miles from Phoenix and 60 miles SE of Tucson. Moderately successful tourist town now, though they have conflicts with certain Federal bureaus who think everything should remain untouched since the Earps were there.
S'okay, tho, Hemingway. I understand history and geography are hard for some folks.
[Al Ahram] Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met Saturday with Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar ... served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all... in Cairo where the two discussed recent developments in the Libyan situation, a presidential statement read.
The Egyptian president reiterated that Egypt encourages political dialogue to end the Libyan crisis as well as reaching amendments to the Skhirat agreement, which was signed in Morocco in 2015 and mandates the reaching of a peaceful transition of power in Libya and the establishment of a national unity government.
"El-Sisi stressed to Haftar, a figurehead in the east of Libya, the importance of reuniting the Libyan military, which was created 77 years ago by the hands of it’s people from different [Libyan] regions," the statement added.
The president also affirmed the importance of lifting the arms embargo on the Libyan army, imposed by the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... on all factions of Libya in February 2011 citing "violent repression of civilian demonstrators" by former president Muammar Qadaffy ...Proof that a madman with money will be politely received for at least 42 years until his people get tired of him and kill him... El-Sisi also pointed to the necessity of stopping the financing of terrorist groups and preventing their supplies of weapons.
For his part, General Haftar expressed his gratitude for Egypt’s role in efforts to end the Libyan crisis and its efforts to reach a settlement for the situation, the statement added.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2017
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[The American Mirror] Not-so-friendly street art greeted California Congresswoman Maxine Waters to a Inglewood town hall meeting on Saturday.
[Armstrong Economics] Emmanuel Macron’s victory promises no change for Europe and it has been the blessing Brussels wanted so badly to further advance the federalization of Europe. Macron will surrender far more French sovereignty to Brussels than anyone suspects based upon reliable sources. Macron is a technocrat and the youngest President in France ever at 39. His message of surrendering the sovereignty of France was the subtle use at his rally in Paris of the European anthem, Beethoven’s "Ode to Joy," rather than the Marseillaise. This was indeed a powerful gesture of a surrender to Brussels that will be full and complete. It also signals there will be no change in direction or reform from Brussels.
Damascus (IraqiNews) Syrian Observatory for Human Rights revealed, on Saturday, that clashes between the government forces and the Islamic State militants continue in northeastern Qaboun neighborhood, leaving casualties among the ranks of the two sides.
[Free Beacon] Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) is threatening to block one of President Donald Trump's nominees to a position in the CIA until the agency responds to his letters.
[Independent] A sperm bank boss used his own samples to impregnate women through IVF treatment, it has been claimed.
...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in 
Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
the personification of Somali state failure...
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The 
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least 12 militants affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group’s offshoot in Afghanistan, ISIS Khurasan, were killed during the operations in eastern Nangarhar province. The provincial police commandment said the militants killed during the operations led by the security forces in Achin district. The operations were conducted with the support of the air power, the police commandment added.
[Philippine Star] The Philippine military pummeled Abu Sayyaf lairs in Basilan on Thursday, killing at least 20 militants in what was called a “shock and awe” airstrike by F-50 fighters followed by an artillery barrage. Troops also seized an Abu Sayyaf camp in Barangay Pamatsaken in the hinterlands of Sumisip, which was hastily abandoned by fleeing rebels under Furuji Indama.
North Korea
[TheLocal.de] 
[SHABELLENEWS] At least six people were killed and nine others injured when rival clan militias clashed in central Somalia, residents and community elders said on Saturday.
[Libya Herald] In both Benghazi and Tobruk today demonstrators called for the reintroduction of the 1951 constitution, objecting to the final offering from up by the Constitution Drafting Assembly.
[Tolo News] As the war intensifies in Kunduz, governor Assadullah Omarkhail on Saturday warned the 
[Tolo News] Addressing a White House press briefing on Saturday night, the U.S President’s National Security Advisor H.R McMaster said that 
North Korea
[Libya Herald] Explosions in 
[SHABELLENEWS] Dozens of American soldiers have been deployed to Mogadishu to train and equip Somali and AMISOM (
[Daily Excelsior] Hizbul Mujahideen, a terror outfit which has been fighting for Jammu and 
[BenarNews] A top communist guerrilla leader wanted for a series of attacks in the southern Philippines has been arrested along with three others including a Christian bishop.
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. ..
Currently the Interior Minister of Pakistain. He is the senior leader of the Pak Moslem League (N) and a close aide to Nawaz 
[Politichicks] A controversial billboard depicting President Donald Trump as a Nazi was funded with taxpayer dollars and was commissioned by an "arts advocate" paid by a U.S. city to "diminish barriers," records obtained by Judicial Watch reveal. The massive billboard caused a ruckus when it was unveiled in downtown Phoenix, Arizona in mid-March because it features a menacing portrait of Trump surrounded by mushroom clouds--in the shape of laughing clowns--and swastikas modified as dollar signs. A pin of a Russian flag appears on the president’s lapel.
[Al Ahram] Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met Saturday with Libyan military commander 
