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Kurdish authorities arrest 1700 Islamic State militants among displaced civilians
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
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15:39 8 22:07 Skidmark [2]
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11:14 11 14:24 Iblis [2]
09:31 16 19:21 Skidmark [2]
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08:08 4 14:26 Iblis [2]
08:03 4 12:21 M. Murcek [2]
07:48 26 23:49 g(r)omgoru [3]
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-Obits-
Singer Glen Campbell Passes Away At Age 81
[Daily Caller] "It is with the heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of our beloved husband, father, grandfather, and legendary singer and guitarist, Glen Travis Campbell, at the age of 81, following his long and courageous battle with Alzheimer’s disease," the singer’s family said in a statement provided to Rolling Stone.

The musician, who also spent some time as an actor and television host, passed away on Tuesday morning in a Nashville facility for Alzheimer’s patients, according to a close family source.

Campbell released more than 70 albums during his 50-year career in music. He made history at the Grammys in 1967 when he won four Grammy awards in the country and pop categories.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/08/2017 17:11 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He was truly a gifted guitarist.
Posted by: Crusader || 08/08/2017 18:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Campbell released more than 70 albums during his 50-year career in music.

Slacker! Seriously, RIP, Glen
Posted by: Frank G || 08/08/2017 20:12 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
US Mini-nukes and an analysis of a second Korean war

The US can destroy North Korea’s air defenses using conventional weapons in about a week just as the US destroyed Air Defenses of Iraq. The question of whether missiles have more stealth or whether there is selectable nuclear yield on 1000 or 2000 nuclear weapons in the US arsenal is not significant. This is because the US can wage more limited nuclear war with lower yield nuclear weapons already.
Posted by: 3dc || 08/08/2017 15:39 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  The Chinese would be so thrilled even at lowest yield settings.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/08/2017 16:29 Comments || Top||

#2  BBC Video of Trump's response to NKor
M. Murcek -
Posted by: 3dc || 08/08/2017 16:38 Comments || Top||

#3  No 65 factory
Posted by: 3dc || 08/08/2017 16:41 Comments || Top||

#4 
Posted by: 3dc || 08/08/2017 18:50 Comments || Top||

#5  It's a nice thought, but we can destroy NKor without nukes.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/08/2017 19:10 Comments || Top||

#6  http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-40871416

North Korea threatens to nuke Guam now.
Posted by: 3dc || 08/08/2017 19:45 Comments || Top||

#7  Joe Mendiola! Call to the white phone! Bring your translator!
Posted by: Frank G || 08/08/2017 20:11 Comments || Top||

#8  At least Guam can 'turtle' in defense.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/08/2017 22:07 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Cyber Threats Prompt Return of Radio for Ship Navigation
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/08/2017 13:53 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This article is from today's gCaptain. There are now serious threats from jamming and/or spoofing of GPS signals. This has occurred often in Korea, where the NORKs are busy causing mischief. SKor, US, and Russia are considering and updated version of Loran, called eLoran. Read the whole thing.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/08/2017 13:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Bring back sextants and chronometers!
Posted by: Glenmore || 08/08/2017 15:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Glenmore---they never went away. Even during WW2 you could still get time signals by radio.

There is an old adage in aviation: if you are flying along fat dumb and happy, there is something that you are not doing. I had my GPS wink out on me once on top of a cloud deck. I knew my position, speed, and direction every 15 min. Just drew the course on my map and 30 min later I was in the clear.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/08/2017 17:04 Comments || Top||

#4  "Don't worry! We'll land eventually"
Posted by: Frank G || 08/08/2017 19:09 Comments || Top||

#5  As an old pilot explained, "Every takeoff is followed by a landing. Plan to survive the landing."
Posted by: rammer || 08/08/2017 19:48 Comments || Top||

#6  At least the electronics is more stable. Adjusting Loran and other radio navaids with analog circuits was a pain in the patootie.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 08/08/2017 23:44 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Researcher Claims To Have Evidence One Of EPA's Most Successful Clean Air Rules Is Based On Fabricated Data
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/08/2017 12:01 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Culture Wars
Law professor warns: Congress must act on growing sexbot industry--Robot Rape?
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/08/2017 11:14 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  More of "Just When You Thought!"
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/08/2017 11:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Start by banning vibrators.
Posted by: charger || 08/08/2017 11:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Ok, do the usual studies and such. I wonder who is up for the grants for said studies?
Posted by: chris || 08/08/2017 11:54 Comments || Top||

#4  Beam me up Scotty I've had enough. 8^(
Posted by: AlanC || 08/08/2017 12:03 Comments || Top||

#5  S*xbots cannot give informed consent so any s*x with them is r@pe.
Posted by: Glenmore || 08/08/2017 12:10 Comments || Top||

#6  Because we don't want sexually aberrant doing nasty thing to sexbots - we want them to go out and do it to real people?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/08/2017 12:47 Comments || Top||

#7  "Sex robots warn: Congress must act on loony law professors"
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/08/2017 12:52 Comments || Top||

#8  Sex bots have been around for quite a while - so what's the diff now? ..you guessed it.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 08/08/2017 13:26 Comments || Top||

#9  Next up, "Did that hand give you consent?"
YJCMTSU
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/08/2017 13:53 Comments || Top||

#10 
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/08/2017 13:56 Comments || Top||

#11  We are the state, and it's up to us how you play with your toy.
Posted by: Iblis || 08/08/2017 14:24 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Americans Are Dying Younger as planned, Saving Corporations Billions
[Bloomberg] Steady improvements in American life expectancy have stalled, and more Americans are dying at younger ages. But for companies straining under the burden of their pension obligations, the distressing trend could have a grim upside: If people don’t end up living as long as they were projected to just a few years ago, their employers ultimately won’t have to pay them as much in pension and other lifelong retirement benefits.

In 2015, the American death rate--the age-adjusted share of Americans dying--rose slightly for the first time since 1999. And over the last two years, at least 12 large companies, from Verizon to General Motors, have said recent slips in mortality improvement have led them to reduce their estimates for how much they could owe retirees by upward of a combined $9.7 billion, according to a Bloomberg analysis of company filings. "Revised assumptions indicating a shortened longevity," for instance, led Lockheed Martin to adjust its estimated retirement obligations downward by a total of about $1.6 billion for 2015 and 2016, it said in its most recent annual report.

Mortality trends are only a small piece of the calculation companies make when estimating what they’ll owe retirees, and indeed, other factors actually led Lockheed’s pension obligations to rise last year. Variables such as asset returns, salary levels, and health care costs can cause big swings in what companies expect to pay retirees. The fact that people are dying slightly younger won't cure corporate America’s pension woes--but the fact that companies are taking it into account shows just how serious the shift in America’s mortality trends is.

Related: Atlantic - The Early Deaths of Appalachians
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/08/2017 09:31 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Front-End and Back-End upside gains: The Federal Government can leverage additional borrowing through anticipated long-term Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid savings.

As we all know, humans are a global problem.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/08/2017 9:42 Comments || Top||

#2  But are the people who are dying younger ones who are covered by pension plans? Or are company pension plans just using the statistics to lower the apparent underfunding of their plans?
Posted by: Glenmore || 08/08/2017 9:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Just getting rid of the Hoi Polloi.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/08/2017 10:09 Comments || Top||

#4  They stopped smoking cigarettes? Give 'em opium!
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 08/08/2017 10:13 Comments || Top||

#5  In 2015, the American death rate--the age-adjusted share of Americans dying--rose slightly for the first time since 1999.

Couldn't have anything to do with Obamacare, right?
Posted by: Raj || 08/08/2017 10:35 Comments || Top||

#6  I am seeing a tremendous increase in deaths of young and old due to meth. I called it planned parenthood for adults. A local rescue unit revived a young man 9 times with Narcan. Some saying next call to show up late. They have a Narcan nasal spray now.
Posted by: Dale || 08/08/2017 11:40 Comments || Top||

#7  I called it planned parenthood for adults. Some devoutly Catholic nurses I worked with decades ago called it "4th term abortions" - referring to people who had hopelessly messed up their own lives & were always on the verge of dying due to this. The nurses were not in favor of abortion, it was just black humor in the hospital.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 08/08/2017 11:58 Comments || Top||

#8  Narcan is not for meth but opioids.
Posted by: chris || 08/08/2017 11:59 Comments || Top||

#9  Curious if the data has been skewed by the influx of foreign nationals who come here with lesser health conditions due to their country of origin healthcare systems. Bet the data would change if you factor out foreign born/raised. Another gift of illegal immigration, data that appears to support more healthcare spending and regulation! The old system wasn't broken, just abused by freeloaders.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 08/08/2017 13:01 Comments || Top||

#10  Curiously, they still vote
Posted by: Frank G || 08/08/2017 13:39 Comments || Top||

#11  Steady improvements in American life expectancy have stalled, and more Americans are dying at younger ages

Women used to die about the same time as males. Then patriarchal medicine in the 20th Century reduced both the childhood death rates and birthing complications leading to death. Tack on the introduction of Social Security to provide support in old age, and the female life expectancy took off. Then feminism decided they wanted to be males, just with different plumbing. Now those jobs are taking a toll on females as they always took on males.

SavingCorporations Billions

Just following the model pioneered by the VA.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/08/2017 13:47 Comments || Top||

#12  #8 thank you for the correction. Krokodil is another making inroads fast. Like those that huff aerosol paint fumes they have no desire to get away from it. One young man in prison said after Krokodil use I will be dead in a couple of months. If he was released he would go right back using.
Posted by: Dale || 08/08/2017 14:49 Comments || Top||

#13  I associated the disfigurement to meth. The facial sores etcetera. Not that up to date with this stuff but it invades everything. Workers on a break out of the building many bathroom trips and so on.
Posted by: Dale || 08/08/2017 14:59 Comments || Top||

#14  Glenmore - I think you nailed it.
Posted by: warthogswife || 08/08/2017 16:11 Comments || Top||

#15  Abstract related to Besoeker's comment:

This paper documents a marked increase in the all-cause mortality of middle-aged white non-Hispanic men and women in the United States between 1999 and 2013. This change reversed decades of progress in mortality and was unique to the United States; no other rich country saw a similar turnaround. The midlife mortality reversal was confined to white non-Hispanics; black non-Hispanics and Hispanics at midlife, and those aged 65 and above in every racial and ethnic group, continued to see mortality rates fall. This increase for whites was largely accounted for by increasing death rates from drug and alcohol poisonings, suicide, and chronic liver diseases and cirrhosis. Although all education groups saw increases in mortality from suicide and poisonings, and an overall increase in external cause mortality, those with less education saw the most marked increases. Rising midlife mortality rates of white non-Hispanics were paralleled by increases in midlife morbidity. Self-reported declines in health, mental health, and ability to conduct activities of daily living, and increases in chronic pain and inability to work, as well as clinically measured deteriorations in liver function, all point to growing distress in this population.
Posted by: Pappy || 08/08/2017 16:51 Comments || Top||

#16  But how many are killing themselves because their sperm is weak?
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/08/2017 19:21 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
The media's fatal flaw? It's elitism, argues a conservative professor
[Poynter] Frederick Lynch, a government professor of conservative bent at Claremont McKenna College, was speaking Sunday about his weekend New York Times op-ed that took aim at criticism of President Trump's policies on immigration and diversity. "Why Trump Supporters Distrust Immigration and Diversity" was distinctly contrarian to many elite media rebukes of Trump on the same topic.

It was very much in sync with long-standing Lynch views, best on display in his 1996 book "The Diversity Machine: The Drive to Change the ’White Male Workplace.’" In particular, his op-ed asked rhetorically whether Trump is pandering to racial fears -- the clear consensus among media -- or "addressing legitimate interest-group concerns."

He finds much of the press captive of a one-sided debate over what motivates Mr. Trump and his supporters. There's the stereotype of angry White voters driven by racism, resentment, declining economic or social status, irrational fears of economic or demographic change or all of the above, he put it to me.

"I think much of the press has been very (politically correct) on affirmative action/diversity, immigration and the White middle and working-class. They think there are no downsides to these policies. There's an elite, class bias."

The shock on many cable news hosts' and pundits' faces on Election Day -- not to mention elite newspapers, at least one of which hadn't thought to have a "How Trump Won" piece in the can just in case Trump did win -- was obvious. It was proof of being way out of touch. "

It was mildly ironic that Lynch's piece was soon supplanted, as far as online play, by an Emory University African-Studies professor's piece on "The Policies of White Resentment." It took exactly the tack that he finds wayward, namely finding "White resentment and White nationalism" as a central explanation of our current politics.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/08/2017 08:42 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No, it's nepotism! They're simply not very elite!
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/08/2017 9:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Many of the reasons, voters voted for Trump. For me, the disenchantment of many Trump voters had to do with:
1. The elitism cited and their smarmy and smug attitudes towards the rest of us.
2. The destruction of culture by the left.
3. The destruction of religion by the left.
4. The rampant corruption that has been created by mostly by the Clinton and Obama administrations but not exclusive to these admins.
5. Attempts by the left to corrupt the votes of the American people--outright attempts at stealing elections through immigration and cheating schemes.
6. Creating phony charities to bilk the American public under the guise of doing good things to create slush funds for the political elites.
7. The last administration's weaponizing of the government against the American people.
8. Allowing unrestricted illegal immigration for the purposes of cheap labor and new votes.
9. The destruction of the DOJ and the FBI by Obama, the Clintons, and Holder, and Lynch.
10. The pitting of Americans against Americans by the left.
11. The people elected Trump because they thought he might have a chance of doing something about the mire in D.C.
12. Destruction of the middle class--lay it off on globalists if you want.
13. People just got tired of being forced to eat a load of crap from D.C.
14. Voters being sick and tired of the crap the main stream media dishes up ad nauseum--they are worst than Pravda or Hitler's Goebbels.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/08/2017 9:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Welcome to the world of the New Class, BP.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/08/2017 9:11 Comments || Top||

#4  Funny. The entire point of the country was equality and freedom. Not imposed equality, not rationed freedom. There should be no "elites," but try to tell the self anointed that.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/08/2017 9:13 Comments || Top||

#5  I call them the American Nobility. They don't have to follow 'common laws' the rest of us do. They want it so that only they can have firearms. etc...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 08/08/2017 10:19 Comments || Top||

#6  If it were up to me, I'd drop nukes on, then abolish, the Ivy League.
Posted by: Raj || 08/08/2017 10:38 Comments || Top||

#7  It's the leftism enforced by elitism that's the problem.
Posted by: charger || 08/08/2017 11:28 Comments || Top||

#8  You can call it elitism, or you can call it arrogance combined with greed, these are ancient human failings.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 08/08/2017 12:01 Comments || Top||

#9  Trump is actually easy to explain in retrospect. Washington was picking winners and losers. The losers got fed up.

The media's role is actually two-fold. First, there is a revolving door between the Democratic party and the MSM. Second, everyone who isn't in on the racket has a potential path via the media. Join up, do your time, carry the Democrats' water and you may get your turn at the public trough.
Posted by: Iblis || 08/08/2017 15:44 Comments || Top||

#10  First, there is a revolving door between the Democratic party and the MSM. Second, everyone who isn't in on the racket has a potential path via the media. Join up, do your time, carry the Democrats' water and you may get your turn at the public trough.

It runs through both parties, and not just the media. Academia, professional organizations/unions, think-tanks, defense contractors, other corporations who either do business with the government or are affected by government regulation, et cetera.
Posted by: Pappy || 08/08/2017 17:13 Comments || Top||


Economy
Boomers Who Won't Die Sell Are Dominating the Housing Market
[Bloomberg] Jake Yanoviak is hunting for houses. On a weekday afternoon in North Philadelphia, the 23-year-old painter cruises along on his bike, its black paint obscured under stickers from breweries and rock bands. He turns onto a side street, where he spots a few elderly neighbors, standing on adjoining porches. He parks, leans on one handlebar and makes his pitch.

"Anybody on the block considering selling?" Yanoviak asks gently. "I’m not a developer, I’m not interested in renting to students. I’m just a kid trying to buy a house, fix it up and live in it."

"We’re not going no place," replies a 70-something woman, relaxing in fuzzy white pig slippers in the row house where she’s lived twice as long as Yanoviak has been alive. "All these houses are taken."

Like much of his generation, Yanoviak is desperate to get a piece of an increasingly scarce commodity: prime American real estate. Millennials are finding themselves out in the cold because building has slowed, and longer-living baby boomers are staying put, setting up a simmering conflict between the two biggest generations in U.S. history.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/08/2017 08:19 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  We tried to talk my mother into moving in with one of us or into a retirement community. But she was independent and stubborn. She lived in the same house for 50 years until she died at 92. I must admit, if I can do the same I will.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 08/08/2017 10:20 Comments || Top||

#2  There are no stock market 'sure bets' but old folks home stocks Welltower Inc. (HCN) and Omega (OHI) have done amazingly well over the years. The cost of staying in these places is absolutely staggering. If you can somehow stay at home looking out the window or pecking away on the Burg, you (and your estate) can save a butt load.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/08/2017 10:48 Comments || Top||

#3  At 97 finally put my mom in an Escaton facility in Northern California outside Sacramento. She had her own room, en suite bath and a small kitchen although three meals a day in the dining hall were provided. 24/7 nurse on site and several attendants. $5200 a month.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 08/08/2017 11:03 Comments || Top||

#4  OC Register on "forever homes" in Socal
Posted by: Zorba Omineter3432 || 08/08/2017 13:51 Comments || Top||

#5  Another factor is that many of these young prospective buyers expect to go big or go home - the idea of starting by buying a condo or a small house or something in less than the optimal neighborhood with a plan to work their way up doesn't work for them. The boomers who want to stay where they are likely started out smaller yet the millenials think they deserve the boomers' homes.
Posted by: warthogswife || 08/08/2017 16:03 Comments || Top||

#6  On a weekday afternoon in North Philadelphia, the 23-year-old painter cruises along on his bike, its black paint obscured under stickers from breweries and rock bands.

(Bet with self - it's a hipster style fixed-gear bike...)

(Takes a look at the picture in the article, notices the lack of handlebar shifts on the left handlebar...)

Why isn't this guy talking to a real estate agent? He's not that serious.
Posted by: Raj || 08/08/2017 18:07 Comments || Top||

#7  Yes, Mrs. Warthog. Get into the market one way or another. When housing prices rise you can sell your small beginner house and use the profit for a down payment on a bigger house. It helps if you can put some sweat equity into that beginner house.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 08/08/2017 18:10 Comments || Top||

#8  Several years ago, mowing the vast acerage of Stately USN Manor, a california tagged F250 pulled up and asked to speak to the owner. Me being in paint/grass/oiled stained work pants and tshirt said I was. Mr f250 waddnt buying that but he did want to buy my house, offered me 2x what we paid; said no thanks and left him sitting at the curb while I made the next lap.... think I pizzed him off.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 08/08/2017 19:12 Comments || Top||

#9  650B fixie, low rent bars, no brakes.
Posted by: KBK || 08/08/2017 21:18 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
This Mueller Thing Will End in Tears (for Liberals)
[American Thinker] If you are liberal and a faithful reader of The New York Times, you think that the Watergate campaign to take out President Nixon was America at its best. Imagine! A president covering up the criminal misdeeds of his underlings!

But the liberal knows that the Republican witch hunt of President Clinton was America at its worst. Here was a president that eliminated the deficit and produced the best economy in 50 years. And Republicans wanted to make it all about a blue dress.

Speaking as your average racist sexist homophobe, I’d say that the salient feature of both cooked-up scandals, no matter who was the villain and who was the innocent, was that the liberal ruling class got to impose its narrative. It wrote the history that that Nixon’s peccadillos were monstrous, but that Clinton’s were not. Pretty good gig if you can get it.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/08/2017 08:08 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But I feel that the left and the Deep State establishment just do not appreciate how dangerous things are.

I'd say that is true. This is not an investigation; it is more like a Stalinist pogram.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/08/2017 8:44 Comments || Top||

#2  I don't know...Mueller is really good at frame-ups. If it's completely unfair and illegal, who cares? Elites will applaud.
Posted by: Harcourt Angoluting9366 || 08/08/2017 10:31 Comments || Top||

#3  They are not liberals. The Left culturally appropriated the term to cover their authoritarianism and totalitarianism.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/08/2017 13:39 Comments || Top||

#4  Harcourt has the truth of it.
Posted by: Iblis || 08/08/2017 14:26 Comments || Top||


Robert Mueller has already destroyed his own legacy
[American Thinker] Much has been written about Robert Mueller and his escalating witch hunt, his apparent intention to find some crime with which he can charge Donald Trump or one or more of those close to him. Lavrentiy Beria is often quoted: "Show me the man and I'll find you the crime." That is what Patrick Fitzgerald did to Scooter Libby even though he knew full well Libby was not guilty of revealing the name of Valerie Plame who was not even a covert officer. It was all a set-up, an effort to bring down Bush by any means necessary. It was an egregious violation of the law as meant to be adjudicated.

Mueller never should have been appointed as Special Counsel by Rod Rosentstein, the deputy AG, to investigate any Trump campaign "collusion" with Russia. Rosentstein knew very well that Mueller was close to Comey and put virtually no restrictions on the scope of the investigation, despite what he said on Fox News Sunday. This fact alone should make Rosenstein's judgment questionable. Mueller, long-time best pal of Comey, should never have accepted the job as Special Counsel in this case. He and Comey have a long history of working in concert for their own ends. But Mueller did accept the job. This fact alone tells us he is not an honest broker.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/08/2017 08:03 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What the last paragraph said.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/08/2017 9:18 Comments || Top||

#2  yeah, but will it make any difference?
Posted by: 746 || 08/08/2017 11:14 Comments || Top||

#3  Nuts. If he succeeds in bringing Trump down, they'll be teaching kindergartners to revere his name.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/08/2017 12:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Boosh left Libbey hung out to dry. I have never felt good about W since that time.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/08/2017 12:21 Comments || Top||


Hillary Clinton Considers Making Her Spirituality More Public: ‘She'd Make a Great Pastor'
[Free Beacon] Hillary Clinton has written a foreword for a book inspired by devotionals that pastor Bill Shillady prepared for her during the presidential campaign, and she is considering speaking out more on a topic she has long held private: religion.

"Hillary Clinton wants to preach," begins a piece in The Atlantic by Emma Green, relaying a comment from Shillady. Clinton has been discussing going into ministry, and Shillady thinks the former first lady could definitely do what he does.

"Given her depth of knowledge of the Bible and her experience of caring for people and loving people, she'd make a great pastor," Shillady said.

Newsweek’s Kenneth Woodward also broached this topic when he revealed that Clinton talked "all the time" about becoming an ordained minister in the 1990s. She asked Woodward not to divulge her secret, however.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/08/2017 07:48 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Exorcism first, sweetie.
Posted by: Beldar Chagum6048 || 08/08/2017 7:56 Comments || Top||

#2  William Shakespeare was not reached for comment.
Posted by: Pappy || 08/08/2017 7:56 Comments || Top||

#3  BREAKING - Late evening Clinton phone call to Trump:

Trump: "So what is it that is so important it cannot wait until tomorrow morning."

Hillary: "Ginsburg has just passed away and I would like to take her place."

Trump: "Well, it's alright with me, if it's OK with the funeral home."
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/08/2017 7:58 Comments || Top||

#4  Hillary's spirituality? What does that involve?
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/08/2017 8:17 Comments || Top||

#5  Besoeker, I'm going to steal that one.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/08/2017 8:18 Comments || Top||

#6  Does this have anything to do with spirit cooking, little children, Alinsky, the ends-justifies-the means or witchcraft?
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/08/2017 8:47 Comments || Top||

#7  A few hallelujahs and an "I've Seen The Light" sermon and she becomes unprosecutable. Can't wait for videos of the Weds. night socials.

Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 08/08/2017 9:10 Comments || Top||

#8  Yeah, where is her asshole liberal rabbi whose rag she used to promote at these days?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/08/2017 9:21 Comments || Top||

#9  A lot of people find religion once they go to jail--she is a little early.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/08/2017 9:22 Comments || Top||

#10  Do they call a satanist leader a pastor?
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/08/2017 9:50 Comments || Top||

#11  Her and Anton Lavey.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 08/08/2017 9:51 Comments || Top||

#12  Taking the Rev. Jesse Jackson as her role model?
Posted by: magpie || 08/08/2017 10:13 Comments || Top||

#13  Arkansidians ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/08/2017 10:20 Comments || Top||

#14  Does she have to give up the booze? 'Cause I don't see that happening.
Posted by: Raj || 08/08/2017 10:42 Comments || Top||

#15  just more fake news that the leftists are religious. Last week there was a story that Al Gore was thinking of being catholic because of the pope.
Posted by: airandee || 08/08/2017 12:45 Comments || Top||

#16  Hillary! does nothing unless it is calculated to advance her cause politically.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/08/2017 13:59 Comments || Top||

#17  There is another crappy book deal in this, publishing something somebody else made for campaign propaganda machine for the rubes now being rebranded to get money and keep her name out there. One can only imagine the kind of twit that would fall for this, bless their hearts!
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 08/08/2017 14:05 Comments || Top||

#18  does nothing unless it is calculated to advance her cause politically

And monetarily.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 08/08/2017 14:06 Comments || Top||

#19  "Ah doan feel no ways tarrred. Ah've come to farrrr"
Posted by: Frank G || 08/08/2017 14:42 Comments || Top||

#20  Yeah, an Outto Pastor.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 08/08/2017 14:56 Comments || Top||

#21  Where's she gonna preach-- the Church of the Presumptuous Assumption?
Posted by: Dave D. || 08/08/2017 16:35 Comments || Top||

#22  I consider her to be one of the most evil and soul-less creatures to inhabit the earth. I'm sure there's a satanic temple somewhere that would accommodate her "spirituality".
Posted by: Crusader || 08/08/2017 17:58 Comments || Top||

#23  She models herself after Jim Jones.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 08/08/2017 18:15 Comments || Top||

#24  She would do the snake handling thing, but even snakes have standards.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 08/08/2017 19:18 Comments || Top||

#25  ^and professional courtesy
Posted by: Frank G || 08/08/2017 19:31 Comments || Top||

#26  Now, now people. Have some empathy. How'd you feel if you sold your soul to the Devil for the White House, and then discovered that you should've read the small script?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/08/2017 23:49 Comments || Top||


Former Obama Officials Operate Shadow Network to Push Science Agenda
[Free Beacon] An unofficial shadow office "stocked with Obama loyalists" is quietly working in Washington, D.C. to carry out the previous administration's science agenda.

The group of science experts who left the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) after President Donald Trump took office "is informal yet organized," according to a report from the health-oriented news website Stat.

Members of the new group--which numbers in the dozens--have provided counsel to Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill, consulted with scientific societies, and have held group-wide strategy sessions, according to Stat. They have also helped analyze the impact of White House budget proposals and policies, including the decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord.

The former officials have remained engaged out of a so-called "sense of necessity," according to Stat. They view Trump as a threat to science, a stark contrast from the self-described "science geek," former President Barack Obama.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/08/2017 07:40 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Little more than a fund raising vehicle. Provides legislative access and cover for action. Al Gore's investment portfolio on steroids. Smart move actually.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/08/2017 7:46 Comments || Top||

#2  #1 Little more than a fund raising vehicle.

You are too kind this a.m. I'd call it is just a vehicle for mass thievery--part of the corrupt swamp policies for parting citizens from hard-earned money.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/08/2017 8:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Sort of a Climate Change Purse, then.
Posted by: a proper gander || 08/08/2017 10:00 Comments || Top||

#4  self-described science geek

I heard he was entering the Tour de France
Posted by: KBK || 08/08/2017 20:37 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Dress Like a Grown Up
NEWS YOU CAN USE: It turns out that dressing well can actually make you more successful.

Who knew?

This is such a "no, duh?" that I would have thought it went without saying. Then I thought about the legions of chin-bearded, tattooed, be-hoodied knucklehead graduating from college these days (and let’s not even discuss what the men look like) and thought again.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/08/2017 07:40 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Its too bad that for men its considered "professional" to wear three layers and a piece of cloth around your neck in DC's summer heat, while women are free to wear one layer of loose clothing.
Posted by: Glerenter Clolulet2978 || 08/08/2017 9:12 Comments || Top||

#2  The traditional wool suit and tie that business professionals feel compelled to wear evolved in northern Europe where it is cold most of the time. I'd still wear one if I was going to a job interview, a wedding or a funeral but most days in southern California a wool jacket is totally unnecessary and uncomfortable. Let's not even talk about polyester. Tattoos, stubble, sandals and hoodies are still inappropriate for office workers. Pants that are worn below one's ass should be treated as a misdemeanor.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 08/08/2017 12:10 Comments || Top||

#3  I only posted it for the brackets.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/08/2017 12:13 Comments || Top||

#4 
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/08/2017 13:58 Comments || Top||

#5  So, does this mean I shouldn't be making what I'm making based on what I'm wearing right now? Do I have to give the money back?

Yes, there are paint stains on my jeans.
Posted by: Iblis || 08/08/2017 14:36 Comments || Top||

#6  I'm required to wear appropriate clothing at work. Steel-toed boots, long jeans, Eddie Bauer or Hawaiian shirts (SPF built-in the fabric) are appropriate. I'm a happy boy
Posted by: Frank G || 08/08/2017 14:40 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Calif. Gov. Brown Sez U.S. Should Emulate Communist China
[Free Beacon] California Governor Jerry Brown (D.) praised Chinese President Xi Jinping Monday, comparing his government favorably to the one in Washington.

Speaking to MSNBC's Chuck Todd, Brown discussed his June meeting with Xi. The two men met in China for a discussion of climate policy, shortly after President Donald Trump officially decided to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Accord.

Brown said that California and others states are forming a climate alliance, but that they need leadership from Washington more like Xi's in China.

"I met with president Xi for almost an hour. This is a very determined man," he said. "He's building roads and high-speed rail and not just in China, but all over the world."

"Washington can't even build roads and bridges in our own country, much less spreading the American dream all around the world," he said. "If we're going to be the great power we all want to be, we're going to have to start rolling up our sleeves, raising some revenue and getting the job done."

Brown centered his argument on climate change, and he made thinly veiled references to President Donald Trump's comments on the matter.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/08/2017 07:30 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He cribbed this idea from Thomas Friedman.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/08/2017 7:46 Comments || Top||

#2  Brown came out of the communist closet a long time ago. This just solidifies it.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/08/2017 9:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Brown is envious of the the power communist dictators can wield. But he is a weak individual who would not survive among the bloody thieves and murderers who comprise the Chinese Communist Party.

If he wants money for roads, bridges and high speed rail he should stop squandering it on welfare for illegal aliens. But then, without their votes, he wouldn't even be governor of California.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 08/08/2017 10:03 Comments || Top||

#4  China creates these things by stampeding all over the people. No wonder Xi has so many admirers among American elites.
Posted by: Harcourt Angoluting9366 || 08/08/2017 10:32 Comments || Top||

#5  Ann Gust is the actual Governor of California. Her husband Jerry is the babbling idiot out front.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 08/08/2017 13:05 Comments || Top||

#6  how about a long march, say from San Diego to Susanville in the Summer
Posted by: 746 || 08/08/2017 13:46 Comments || Top||

#7  Well, as long as the "Great Leap Forward" slaughter purge phase is confined to D.C. and all of the other lefty enclaves, I'm all for it.
Posted by: PBMcL || 08/08/2017 17:40 Comments || Top||

#8  [i]Ann Gust is the actual Governor of California. Her husband Jerry is the babbling idiot out front.[/i]

I can't believe he gave up Ronstadt for that.
Posted by: Crusader || 08/08/2017 18:08 Comments || Top||

#9  Have you seen planet ronstadt lately?
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 08/08/2017 18:12 Comments || Top||

#10  I really like the way dissident officials "accidently" get on the same airplane that "accidently" hits the ground. Moonbeam, when do you want to book your flight?
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 08/08/2017 18:13 Comments || Top||

#11  Brown likes the idea of slave labor.
Posted by: Airandee || 08/08/2017 19:20 Comments || Top||

#12  Can't wait for the phase involving the elimination of the Red Guard. Pass me the popcorn.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/08/2017 21:52 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Venezuela: Soldiers Attack Army Base, Declare ‘Legitimate Rebellion' in Viral Video
[Breibart] A group of men identifying themselves as Venezuelan soldiers published a video on social media calling for an overthrow of the socialist regime of dictator Nicolás Maduro, shortly before the government announced it had quelled an uprising in Carabobo state on Sunday.

The incident, which Maduro claims was orchestrated by the American Department of State and unspecified Colombian agents, has added more intrigue to the increasingly chaotic situation in what was once Latin America’s wealthiest state, following Maduro’s imposition of a parallel socialist legislature tasked with drafting a new constitution more favorable to his regime.

A man identifying himself as Captain Juan Caguaripano of the 41st Brigade says in a video published on social media this weekend that his troops have declared themselves in "legitimate rebellion" against Maduro’s government. "We clarify that this is not a coup d’etat: this is a civilian and military action to re-establish the constitutional order, but even moreso to save the country from total destruction," he asserts.

Related: American Thinker - Nobody is singing, '120 dead in Venezuela'
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/08/2017 07:21 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Who could have possibly predicted this ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/08/2017 7:27 Comments || Top||

#2  History may not repeat itself, but it rhymes a lot.
Posted by: Pappy || 08/08/2017 11:58 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Just when you may have thought
h/t Instapundit
Just when you may have thought that the New York Times couldn’t possibly sink any lower when it comes to Israel or Jewish issues, along comes one Jason Farago, an art critic for the newspaper, who manages to review an exhibit about the murderous Nazi Adolf Eichmann and fault it for being, of all things, insufficiently sympathetic to Eichmann.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/08/2017 06:48 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sympathetic. Eichmann was a murdering asshole. He represents what happens when statism is allowed to go unchecked and go off the rails.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/08/2017 9:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Sympathetic to Eichmann?
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/08/2017 9:27 Comments || Top||

#3  Don't get mad at Farago. He was only following orders.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 08/08/2017 10:55 Comments || Top||

#4  Stalin, Eichmann, Che etc. are all sympathetic characters to the old gray bitch.
Posted by: AlanC || 08/08/2017 12:08 Comments || Top||

#5  Declare open season for common citizens and standards of behavior will begin to evolve.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/08/2017 14:01 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Mexican company to buy 80% of Israeli irrigation leader
Mexican group Mexichem is to buy 80 percent of Israel's world-leading micro-irrigation firm Netafim for $1.5 billion, the Israeli company announced on Monday.

Netafim, created in 1965, specializes in water-saving "smart drip" and micro-irrigation systems for agriculture. It is active in 30 countries, owns 17 production plants, employs 4,300 people and sells its products in more than 100 countries. Its turnover last year was $855 million.

Mexichem, which specialises in plastics, chemicals and petrochemicals, had a turnover last year of $5.4 billion.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/08/2017 04:34 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Mexican company to buy 80% of Israeli irrigation leader

Read that as Irritation leader.
Thought Mexico was joining Hamas.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/08/2017 14:02 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Police arrest two suspects for sexually assaulting 12-year-old girl in Naushero Feroze
[DAWN] Two suspects have been incarcerated
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
by the police for their alleged involvement in the gang rape of a 12-year-old girl in Kandario town of Naushero Feroze district on Sunday night.

The girl, who was assaulted by at least three men, was taken from Star Chowk of Kandario town to an empty building where she was raped repeatedly, according to the police. The suspects then left her near Star Chowk where she was found by residents and was taken to a hospital.

She was first admitted to a private hospital and was later shifted to Taluka Hospital Kandario. Initial medical examination revealed that she was assaulted several times.

Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Naushero Feroze Ghulam Murtaza Bhutto ordered the Deputy Superintendent of Police and Station House Officer of the area to investigate the incident.

The SSP said that an FIR under the relevant sections of the Pakistain Penal Code has been registered on the complaint of the victim's uncle.

According to the Anti-Rape bill passed in the National Assembly last year, anyone who rapes a minor or a mentally or physically disabled person will be liable for the death penalty or life imprisonment.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
Unknown Gunmen murder senior Puntland Official in Bosaso town
[SHABELLENEWS] Gunmen thought to be Al shabaab assassins have murdered ex deputy governor of Bari region in Basaso, a port city in northeastern Somalia on Monday, an official confirmed.

The governor, Khadar Ismail Abdulle has been rubbed out by unknown gunnies at Afar Irdoodka junction in the town, according to Bari governor Yusuf Mohammed Wacays "Dhedo".

Dhedo said that the security forces have immediately cordoned off the scene and jugged
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
two suspects in connection with the killing of the official.

No group said it was behind the murder of Abdulle, but, Al shabaab has previously claimed several liquidations against top Puntland
...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion...
officials in the port town.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israeli forces nab firebombers, rock throwers in West Bank, Jerusalem
[IsraelTimes] Police rescue civilian security guards attacked with Molotov cocktails in the capital; 16 Paleostinians placed in durance vile
I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece!

Three East Jerusalem residents suspected of Molotov cocktailing an armored security car were arrested on Sunday night, police said.

While on a patrol of the Arab neighborhood of Silwan in Jerusalem, the armored car was bombarded with Molotov cocktails, causing it to catch fire, police said.

The civilian security guards were rescued from the burning vehicle unharmed, the police said.

Searching the area after the Molotov cocktailing attack, the police found evidence pointing them to three suspects. Detectives arrested the three suspects in their homes on Sunday night, police said.

They were brought to police headquarters for interrogation. On Monday, they were set to be brought before a judge in order to keep them in police custody.

In the West Bank, Israeli security forces arrested another 13 Paleostinians suspected of throwing rocks or committing other security offenses on Sunday and early Monday morning, officials said.

In the al-Aida refugee camp near Bethlehem, Border Police officers arrested three Paleostinian children who were caught on film throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at troops throughout the day, police said.

During one of those attacks, in which the children used slingshots to launch rocks at border guards, a group of officers in an armored car responded by "flanking them, chasing the rock throwers who fled into a building, and arresting" three suspects.

The arrested rock throwers were handed over to the Paleostinian police, who called the children’s parents. The three were released on a bail set at 500 Jordanian dinars (NIS 2,550 or $700) each, the Israel Police said.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, the IDF arrested 10 Paleostinian suspects, nine of them suspected of taking part in violent protests or throwing rocks.

The tenth was arrested in the West Bank village of Deir Qaddis, northeast of Modiin. He is suspected of "incitement," the army said in a statement.

In addition, IDF soldiers accompanied a group of some 1,000 worshipers to the Joseph’s Tomb holy site in the Paleostinian city of Nablus. The prayers at the shrine took place without issue, the army said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Elsewhere in the West Bank, the IDF arrested 10 Paleostinian suspects, nine of them suspected of taking part in violent protests or throwing rocks.
The tenth was arrested in the West Bank village of Deir Qaddis, northeast of Modiin. He is suspected of "incitement just being an asshole", the army said in a statement.
Posted by: Frank G || 08/08/2017 9:05 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Rebels violate ceasefire near Golan Heights
[AlMasdar] Rebel fighters in the southwestern province of Quneitra launched a mortar attack against a governed-held town, thus violating the Russia-US brokered de-escalation zones agreement.

According to local sources, the snuffies targeted civilians in the town of Hadar with two mortar shells which maimed several civilians and cause material damage.

Last month, Russia and the United States have reached an agreement on de-escalation zones in several areas across the war-torn country.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Turkish troops hold exercises in Qatar
[Ynet] Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates...
held joint military exercises with Ottoman Turkish troops on Monday, Qatari media reported, showcasing their strategic alliance two months into a boycott by Arab neighbours which accuse Doha of supporting terrorism.

The manoeuvres are aimed at preparing Qatar's armed forces to defend "vital economic, strategic and infrastructure facilities," state-owned newspaper al-Sharq reported.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Home Front: Politix
Maxine Waters Won’t Rule Out All-Black Party
[DAILYCALLER] Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters
U.S. Representative for California's 43rd congressional district, and previously the 35th and 29th districts, serving since 1991, a total of 25.685990046834995 years. A member of the Democratic Party, she is the most senior of the 12 black women currently serving in the United States Congress, is a member and former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. Before becoming a member of Congress she served in the California Assembly, to which she was first elected back when Disco was in flower, in 1976, which would make it 40.68393665874464 years. She has been a politician for virtually all her adult life. If she was brighter she'd be a Communist...
'>Comrade Maxine Waters wouldn’t rule out the concept of an all-black political party when asked about it on Monday.

Waters joined "The Breakfast Club" radio show on Monday morning and was asked if it was time for black people to form their own political party.

"No, not at this point," Waters said. "You have to show that you’re willing and you’re able to put the numbers together and exercise your influence."

"We still are not voting our influence yet," she continued. "What we should do is organize our power, exercise our power, particularly in the Democratic Party because that’s where most of us are."

Waters then suggested that when black people are "strong enough" they may branch out into their own party.

After black people fully participate in politics, she said, "then you can raise that kind of question‐whether we are strong enough to talk about organizing another party."

Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yawl kinda shot yourself in the foot when the 20 million illegals Barak Obama brought in were all Latino.
Posted by: Threatch Jeamp8135 || 08/08/2017 0:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Please do.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/08/2017 3:35 Comments || Top||

#3  So....
If someone suggested an All-white party it would be waycist, so how is this not?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/08/2017 6:13 Comments || Top||

#4  Waycist, of course. But also advertising their stoopid prejudice, not to mention further fracturing the Democratic party. Maxine for Prez!
Posted by: Bobby || 08/08/2017 6:44 Comments || Top||

#5  Splendid idea? The genius of this woman is breathtaking. It worked fine for Madiba and Zuma, an American 'African National Congress' (ANC). I recommend we begin with some sort of chant involving a Kalashnikov. But wait! Don't the vast majority of her tribalist colleagues already vote democratic? Simply purge the melanin challenged cultural appropriators and call it done.

Where can I send contributions ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/08/2017 7:04 Comments || Top||

#6  1. This would destroy the Democratic party, which is already dying.

2. At 13.3% of the population, African-Americans are not numerous enough to win anything on their own. The Congressional Black Caucus is probably their maximum number, given all the gerrymandering that's been done to guarantee their seats

3. Donald Trump and Republicans win until some time after a real opposition party based on something else emerges.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/08/2017 7:16 Comments || Top||

#7  Dunno TW. The Publicans are already proving they ain't fit to lead.

I wouldn't be against both parties going down in flames and redoing the party system.
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/08/2017 9:52 Comments || Top||

#8  The ravings of a lunatic or the cold, calculating, attention grabbing pronouncements of an ambitious race hustler?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 08/08/2017 10:08 Comments || Top||

#9  I'ma buyin water fountain futures...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/08/2017 12:25 Comments || Top||

#10  what Darth said
Posted by: 746 || 08/08/2017 13:41 Comments || Top||

#11  Whatever became of the tea party? I haven't heard much about them lately.
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance || 08/08/2017 13:47 Comments || Top||

#12  The tea party was misrepresented by the Media as racist, they were lied to by Republicans catering to their vote and forgetting about their promises, and eventually they put Trump into power.

I suspect they will be a force during the primary season as well, and a large number of Republicans will learn the hard way that there are a large number of Tea Partiers, far more than showed up at the massive rallies.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 08/08/2017 14:22 Comments || Top||

#13  Heared that Maxine thought Taco Bell was a phone company in Mexico.

Posted by: Spike Spomoter7482 || 08/08/2017 15:48 Comments || Top||

#14 
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 08/08/2017 19:11 Comments || Top||

#15  Nice wig.
Posted by: Crusader || 08/08/2017 19:31 Comments || Top||

#16  You know this lying dumb racialist wh0re doesn't even live in her district?
Posted by: Frank G || 08/08/2017 19:39 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Jordanian king tells Abbas President Trump is committed to peace process
[IsraelTimes] In rare visit by monarch to Ramallah, two sides agree to form task force to prepare for any future Temple Mount tension

Jordan’s King Abdullah II told Paleostinian leader the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
that US President Donald Trump
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority


India-Pakistan
Explosion in Lahore's outskirts, at least 26 injured
[DAWN] An kaboom occurred in Lahore's western suburbs on Monday evening which resulted in injuries to more than 26 people, DawnNews reported.

DIG Operations Dr Haider Ashraf, while talking to Dawn, confirmed that the kaboom happened in a fruit laden truck which was parked at a parking lot on Out Fall Road in Islampura area.

The police official said that explosives were hidden in the truck which accidentally triggered around 9pm, causing damage to scores of vehicles parked in the area.

The injured were rushed to nearby Mayo Hospital, Services Hospital and Mian Munshi Hospital where an emergency has been imposed. At least four injured are said to be at death's door in Mayo Hospital.

Due to a power breakdown following the blast, hospital authorities are facing problems in carrying out emergency operations.

Police and other law enforcement personnel (LEAs), including forensic experts, reached the blast site soon after the incident and cordoned it off.

The authorities have launched an investigation to determine how and when the truck arrived in the area.

The roof of a nearby house had collapsed due to the intensity of the kaboom, while the windowpanes of nearby buildings had shattered from the shock waves. A number of automobiles were also damaged in the incident.

Rai Ijaz, a police brass hat at the site, told news hounds that the kaboom created a big crater.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The police official said that explosives were hidden in the [fruit laden] truck which accidentally triggered around 9pm

Leaking cargo? Intended destination Jammu and Kashmire?
Posted by: Pappy || 08/08/2017 7:43 Comments || Top||


Haryana police accused of cover-up
[Al Jazeera] Women's rights campaigners and opposition leaders in India have accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in Haryana state of putting pressure on police to protect a ruling party official's son, who was accused of attempted kidnapping and sexual assault.

People on social media voiced outrage after Vikas Barala, the 23-year-old son of the BJP's state president Subhash Barala, was released on bail following a brief arrest on charges of stalking and drunk driving.

Jagmati Sangwan, the head of All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) called for Subhash's resignation, claiming he had pressured police to drop charges of attempted kidnapping and sexual assault against his son.

Sangwan accused the BJP leader of "political interference" in the police probe.

The Haryana state is ruled by the party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has so far not commented on the issue.

Hundreds took part in protests across the state on Monday and burned effigies of Barala, Sangwan said.

The case is at the centre of a media storm in India, where scrutiny of sexual violence has grown since the 2012 gang rape and murder of a student in New Delhi.

It began on Saturday when 29-year-old Varnika Kundu said she was nearly kidnapped while driving in Chandigarh, the capital of Haryana.

In a widely shared Facebook post, she said two men in a car had followed her as she drove home around midnight on Friday, blocked her path and attempted to force open the doors of her car.

Kundu, the daughter of a senior Haryana bureaucrat, said she was rescued by the police.

The two suspects included Vikas and his friend Ashish Kumar, 27, local media reported.

They were incarcerated
Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!
but freed within hours on bail, and face charges of stalking and drunk driving.

Kundu and AIDWA want the police to press the harsher charges of attempted kidnapping and sexual assault against the suspects.

"I'm also lucky, because I'm not lying raped and murdered in a ditch somewhere," Kundu wrote on her Facebook page.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Egyptian court upholds 12 death sentences, 157 life terms over Matay case
[Iran Press TV] An Egyptian court has upheld a dozen death sentences and 157 life terms for members of the outlawed Moslem Brüderbund over alleged crimes relating to the storming of a cop shoppe some four years ago.

Minya Criminal Court on Monday upheld the sentences against the defendants over various alleged acts of violence, including storming of Matay cop shoppe, killing Colonel Mostafa El-Attar, the deputy chief of the cop shoppe, seizing its weapons and setting it on fire following the forced dispersion of a pair of mass sit-ins at al-Nahda Square and Rabaa al-Adawiya Square in Cairo on August 13, 2013.

Demonstrators at the time had gathered to express their strong opposition to the ouster of Egypt’s first democratically-elected President Mohammed Morsi in a military coup led by then army chief and current President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi a month earlier.

The controversial ouster sparked many protests by supporters of Morsi and led to the killing of several hundreds of demonstrators by security forces.

Back in 2014, 37 defendants received death sentences before the court ordered a retrial in the case.

The country’s Grand Mufti Shawki Allam, who must review all death sentences according to the country's penal code, has already approved the verdicts. His opinion is legally required but not binding.

On Monday, 227 of other pro-Morsi suspects in the same case were acquitted.

Rights groups in Egypt and across the world have recorded cases of irregularities in the trials of political prisoners in the country. They say the army’s clampdown on the supporters of Morsi has led to the deaths of some 1,500 people and the arrest of 22,000 others, including some 200 people who have been sentenced to death in mass trials.
Golly.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Iraq
Diyala Dead Guys: 5 civilians killed by IEDs and mortars, 2,000 refugees return


Farmer killed in IED explosion east of Diyala

Diyala (Iraqinews.com) A farmer was killed on Monday as an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded in an orchard west of Diyala governorate, Alsumaria News reported.

A member of Diyala province council, Abdel Khaliq al-Ezzawy, told Alsumaria that an IED, planted in an orchard in western Diyala, exploded on Monday, leaving a farmer dead.

Al-Ezzawy added that security forces have opened an inquiry into the incident.

On Saturday, an Iraqi army officer was killed and five soldiers were injured when an explosive device went off west of Baqubah, Diyala.

Diyala receives 2000 returning refugees: security

Diyala (IraqiNews.com) Two thousand refugees have returned to their homes northeast of Diyala, a security member was quoted saying on Monday as authorities plan to return all displaced civilians before 2018.

Cap. Habib al-Shamri, from the Iraqi army, told Turkish Anadolu Agency that more than 450 families, making nearly 2000 people, returned to their home regions in Maqdadia as part of a local plan to repatriate all refugees before the end of this year.

He added that more than 20.000 registered refugees have yet to return to their home areas at the same region.

Four civilians killed, others injured by mortar missiles, IED blasts in Diyala

Diyala (IraqiNews.com) Four civilians were killed, while seven others were wounded in several parts in Diyala province, news reports quoted security sources as saying on Monday.

Five mortar missiles fell on villages of al-Mekheisa, abu Karma in abu Saida town, northeast of Baquba, on Monday evening. Two women were killed, while five others were injured.

Moreover, a bomb exploded while a Federal Police patrol was passing at al-Katoun district in west of Baquba, leaving a policeman killed and two others wounded.

Another bomb blast in abu Hassan village in al-Abbara town, north of Baquba killed a member of the paramilitary troops of al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units).
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:


Kurdish authorities arrest 1700 Islamic State militants among displaced civilians
Erbil (IraqiNews.com) Kurdish security services have placed in durance vile
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
around 1700 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....
turbans among the displaced civilians at refugee camps, according to Karim Sinjari, Interior Minister of the Kurdistan region.

During a meeting on Sunday with a Kuwaiti media delegation in Erbil, Sinjari said, "despite the liberation of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, the war against IS will last for long due to presence of sleeper cells in the city, especially in the tunnels."

"Military operations will start in Tal Afar town, west of Mosul, then Qaim in western Anbar and Hawija in western Kirkuk,
... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time...
" the minister added.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Professor who said Donald Trump ‘must hang’ won’t return to Fresno State University
[WASHINGTONTIMES] The professor who said President Trump "must hang" to "save American democracy" will not be returning to Fresno State University to teach in the fall, the school announced on Friday.

Lars Maischak has been a history lecturer at the public university since 2006, but is just the latest professor to be disciplined for threatening the president’s life on social media.

"To save American democracy, Trump must hang," Mr. Maischak tweeted in April. "The sooner and the higher, the better. #TheResistance #DeathToFascism."

After the tweet garnered public scrutiny, Mr. Maischak deleted his Twitter account and issued an apology.

"My statements each represent the end point of a dark train of thought triggered by my despair over the actions of the present U.S. government," he said in a statement to the Fresno Bee. "It felt cathartic at the time to write them down. With 28 followers on Twitter at the time, I never expected them to be read by anyone but a close circle of acquaintances who would know to place them in their context."

In a statement on Friday, Fresno State President Joseph Castro said Mr. Maischak will fulfill the remainder of his contract, which expires in December, by designing online courses.

His removal comes days after Kevin Allred, an adjunct professor of women’s studies, was fired from Montclair State University for posting a tweet wishing "someone would just shoot" Mr. Trump.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Any bets on him not getting another academic position?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/08/2017 3:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Lars is one of those names. Like Travis. Ever met a Lars or a Travis that you rather wish you hadn't?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/08/2017 7:33 Comments || Top||

#3  Travis McGee
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/08/2017 7:35 Comments || Top||

#4  The exception that proves the rule, G.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/08/2017 7:43 Comments || Top||

#5  Lars Onsager (practically invented statistical mechanics)
At Yale, an embarrassing situation occurred: he had been hired as a postdoctoral fellow, but it was discovered that he had never received a Ph.D. While he had submitted an outline of his work in reciprocal relations to the Norwegian Institute of Technology, they had decided it was too incomplete to qualify as a doctoral dissertation. He was told that he could submit one of his published papers to the Yale faculty as a dissertation, but insisted on doing a new research project instead. His dissertation, entitled, "Solutions of the Mathieu equation of period 4 pi and certain related functions", was beyond the comprehension of the chemistry and physics faculty, and only when some members of the mathematics department, including the chairman, insisted that the work was good enough that they would grant the doctorate if the chemistry department would not, was he granted a PhD. in chemistry in 1935..
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/08/2017 7:53 Comments || Top||

#6  The professor who said President Trump "must hang" to "save American democracy"

American democracy? Probably a Chablis or Pinot Noir rant. Lars has a distorted sense of democracy. Like Trump or not, he was duly elected by an electoral landslide (and probably popular vote as well after Hilds's illegal votes are culled). 28 people were following him?--probably all Secret Service.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/08/2017 8:14 Comments || Top||

#7  Lars Maischak has been a history lecturer at the public university since 2006

That has to be one of the cushiest jobs in the world and this idiot just blew it.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 08/08/2017 9:54 Comments || Top||

#8  A history professor that doesn't know history. Or only teaches the approved and modified version of it.
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/08/2017 10:09 Comments || Top||

#9  Trump must hang? Who must Trump hang? There are many candidates that come to mind.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/08/2017 10:10 Comments || Top||

#10  Oh dear. Grammar does define meaning, ''tis true. At least he didn't use hung, which would have been criminal.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/08/2017 23:55 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
3 terrorists killed, 4 arrested in Karachi raids: CTD
[DAWN] The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) on Monday claimed to have foiled a terror bid in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
by arresting four suspected turbans and killing three others during counter-terrorism operations in different parts of the city on Sunday night.

According to the CTD, three raids were carried out as a result of a rise in terrorist activities in the city over the past month.

The operations were carried out in Machhar Colony and near MA Jinnah road after the CTD was tipped off about the presence of turbans with ties to the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban
...Arabic for students...
Pakistain (TTP) in the areas, the CTD said.

The dead turbans have not been identified, the CTD said, adding that those locked away
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
had admitted to killing a police sub-inspector in 2015.

According to the CTD, the turbans had planned to target jamaat-khanas belonging to the Aga Khani community, imambargahs and shrines.

One Kalashnikov, five pistols, and a home-made bomb were recovered from the possession of the suspected terrorists.

The CTD also claimed to have dismantled two sleeper cells in the overnight raids.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: TTP


The Grand Turk
Ankara accuses Berlin of assisting terrorists amid rising rift
[Iran Press TV] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
has accused Germany of assisting terrorism over claims that officials in the European country declined to respond to thousands of files sent to Berlin and refused to hand over suspects wanted by Ottoman Turkish authorities.

"Germany is abetting terrorists," Ottoman Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
said at a conference held by the members of his ruling AKP party on Monday.

"We gave them the dossiers. We gave [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel 4,500 dossiers, but have not received an answer on a single one of them," he noted. "But when there is a terrorist jugged
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
or detained here, they tell us to give that person back. You won't send the holy warriors you have to us but can ask us for yours. So you have judiciary, but we don't in Turkey?"

Ankara has previously leveled accusations against Berlin over giving sanctuary to outlawed Kurdish forces of Evil and allowing their sympathizers to stage anti-Turkey rallies across Germany.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  which one gets kicked out of Nato?

Germany
Turkey
Both
Neither
Posted by: AlanC || 08/08/2017 8:34 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran arrests 27 IS suspects said to be plotting attacks
[IsraelTimes] Iranian intelligence ministry says 10 of terror group’s operatives were tossed in the clink
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
outside of country, with foreign assistance


Iran has arrested 27 people plotting attacks for 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....
terror group, including 10 who were detained in a regional country with outside assistance, the country’s intelligence ministry said on Monday.

"Intelligence agents succeeded in identifying and arresting a terrorist group linked to ISIS, who intended to conduct terrorist attacks in central provinces and religious cities," a ministry statement said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

Ten of the suspects were arrested outside of Iran "through intelligence-sharing with one of the intelligence services in the region," the statement said, without naming the country or giving further details.

Weapons and ammunition were recovered during the arrests, and the suspects were reportedly trying to smuggle them into Iran inside home appliances.

Tehran suffered a rare and deadly twin attack on June 7, claimed by IS, when gunnies and jacket wallahs attacked the parliament complex and the mausoleum of revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, killing 17 people.

Iranian security officials have since arrested dozens of suspects linked to the attack, and claim to have killed its chief planner.

On June 19, Iran also fired missiles into northeastern Syria in retaliation, targeting an IS command base in Deir Ezzor province.
Ynet adds:
The ministry added five of them had planned to carry out terror attacks inside Iran and the others were their supporters.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Southeast Asia
Philippine military: Marawi terror leaders still alive
[Reuters] Despite heavy air and artillery assaults on identified terrorist positions, it is likely that leaders of the ISIS-inspired Maute and Abu Sayyaf groups are still alive, said Philippine military officials. General Restituto Padilla said, "We have received reports that terror leaders Isnilon Hapilon, Abdullah Maute and Omar Maute are still alive and they are still in Marawi City."

The Philippine government offered a $200,000 reward to anyone who could provide information leading to the arrest of Hapilon. Moreover, a reward of $100,000 is offered to anyone who can provide information about the current location of either Abdullah and Omar Maute.

Thousands of Philippine soldiers were deployed in Marawi City to battle heavily armed 700 Maute and Abu Sayyaf militants on May 23 and the battle has been going on since then. The military said that after fierce fighting for over three months only a hundred of them, occupying two villages, remain.

Meanwhile, last Sunday, six bombs exploded in Marantao, a municipality adjacent to Marawi City following which a investigation was ordered. The blast came as a shock because it happened outside of the battle zone.

One army unit claimed that the bombs were either planted or were fired from the terrorist camp. However, according to General Padilla, the incident is still being investigated.

With the Marawi battle entering its 78th day, it is reported that 690 terrorists and 122 security personnel have been killed.
Posted by: ryuge || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Related News...

The Pentagon is considering a plan that allows the U.S. military to conduct airstrikes on ISIS in the Philippines, two defense officials told NBC News.

The authority to strike ISIS targets as part of collective self-defense could be granted as part of an official military operation that may be named as early as Tuesday, said the officials. The strikes would likely be conducted by armed drones.

If approved, the U.S. military would be able to conduct strikes against ISIS targets in the Philippines that could be a threat to allies in the region, which would include the Philippine forces battling ISIS on the ground in the country's southern islands.
Posted by: Pappy || 08/08/2017 7:49 Comments || Top||

#2  ...mission creep.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/08/2017 13:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Debatable.
Posted by: Pappy || 08/08/2017 19:45 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Chinese restaurant offers bra-size discounts
[BBC] A Chinese restaurant has come under fire for offering discounts to women depending on their bra size, it's reported.

According to the Qianjiang Evening Post, local people complained to the council after seeing posters advertising discounts for the Trendy Shrimp restaurant at a mall in Hangzhou, the main city of coastal Zhejiang province.

The company's adverts showed a line-up of cartoon women in their underwear with the slogan "The whole city is looking for BREASTS". It listed discounts for women depending on their cup size, with greater offers available to women with bigger busts.

One representative complaint said the posters were "vulgar advertising" and "discriminatory towards women".

The posters first appeared on 1 August and have since been removed, but Trendy Shrimp general manager Lan Shenggang defended their sales strategy. "Once the promotion started, customer numbers rose by about 20%," he said, adding that "some of the girls we met were very proud - they had nothing to hide".

He reassured readers that customers could claim their discounts from the waitresses rather than dealing with male staff, in order to "avoid embarrassment".

This is not the first time that a restaurant in China has offered discounts based on appearance. In January 2015, a restaurant in Henan rewarded diners it deemed "good-looking", a month after an eatery in Chongqing gave discounted food to overweight men and thin women.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Let me mansplain it.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/08/2017 8:52 Comments || Top||

#2  "Once the promotion started, customer numbers rose by about 20%," he said, adding that "some of the girls we met were very proud - they had nothing to hide". Ha Ha.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/08/2017 11:26 Comments || Top||

#3  "Jumbo meal deal, please!"
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/08/2017 14:05 Comments || Top||

#4  Love the name, "Trendy Shrimp".
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 08/08/2017 15:03 Comments || Top||

#5  They should franchise this. Say, Berkeley CA?
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 08/08/2017 15:19 Comments || Top||

#6  In China you can do whatever the Phuque you want as far as Politically Correct goes, just dont Crit the Party
Posted by: 746 || 08/08/2017 15:33 Comments || Top||

#7  Would they then PAY Dolly Parton to patronize the joint???
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 08/08/2017 18:57 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Amnesty censures Israel’s plan to shut down Al Jazeera operations
[Iran Press TV] Amnesia Amnesty International has denounced as "a brazen attack on media freedom," the Tel Aviv
The capitol of Israel is Jerusalem, guys. Tel Aviv is where Israelis go to party.
regime’s decision to close the offices of Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates...
's pan-Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera in Jerusalem al-Quds.

"The move sends a chilling message that the Israeli authorities will not tolerate critical coverage," Magdalena Mughrabi, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa at the London-based group, said in a statement on Monday.
Y'all haven't read the Israeli press, clearly. Bibi Netanyahu is universally loathed, except by the voters.
"This is a brazen attack on media freedom," she added.

The Amnesty official also called on Tel Aviv to "halt any attempt to silence critical media," saying that "all journalists should be free to carry out their work without facing harassment or intimidation."
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Qatar (MB)


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Don't go in the water!
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That's what happens when you let sea dogs into the water.
Posted by: Beldar Chagum6048 || 08/08/2017 7:59 Comments || Top||

#2  WARNING: The article contains a close up image of the injuries.

Sorry, the kid got flea-bitten. But what about all the guys and gals who got maimed by IEDs?

Thanks, we must protect all the snowflakes and allow them sufficient time to get to their safe spaces.

Is "Sanctuary cities", an outgrowth of this kind of thinking? Or the lack of a public will to do anything about such shooting galleries as Chicago or Baltimore or the many other liberally controlled cities? Or the public corruption that is left over from previous admins. Or look-the other-way immigration policies? I'm glad Trump is trying to address this mess that has been created and left behind. It is no surprise the deep state feels threatened that their little gravy train might slow or come to a stop. Sorry, got a little off-topic.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/08/2017 8:34 Comments || Top||

#3  JQC, take it easy. Take a trip to the beach. Let the waves roll over you. It feels good and I guarantee Obama will not profit from it.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 08/08/2017 11:46 Comments || Top||

#4  The W.C. Fields quote about what fish do in water.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/08/2017 13:49 Comments || Top||

#5  Just one more animal to add to the "Reasons to avoid Australia".

Goes somewhere between box jellyfish and funnel-web spiders.
Posted by: AlanC || 08/08/2017 14:42 Comments || Top||

#6  He was cooling the tootsies off following a football game, down under that would be soccer. another reason not to play the game.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 08/08/2017 18:56 Comments || Top||

#7  Probably Australian Rules Football in Melbourne.

I had something similar happen to me in Fiji. Getting constantly nipped by tiny creatures in the ocean. What's unusual is the amount of blood drawn in this case.
Posted by: phil_b || 08/08/2017 20:52 Comments || Top||

#8  Too much Fijian Kava 'nipping. Bad stuff, leave it for the locals.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/08/2017 21:27 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Malaysia probes atheist group after uproar over Muslim apostates
[AlAhram] Malaysia is investigating an international atheist organization, a minister said on Monday, after a picture of the group's local chapter went viral, sparking claims that Moslem apostates were involved.

Apostasy is not a federal crime in Malaysia, a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country. But critics say deepening fundamentalism within the Moslem majority is threatening religious freedoms.

Malaysian states, which have their own laws governing Islamic affairs, do not allow Moslems to formally renounce Islam, preferring instead to send them for counselling, or fining or jailing them.

The Kuala Lumpur chapter of Atheist Republic, a Canada-based organization, posted a picture of the group's members attending a gathering last week, sparking uproar among some Moslems and leading to threats of death and violence against the group on social media.

Malaysia's deputy minister in charge of religious affairs, Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki, said on Monday he had instructed the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Department to investigate the Atheist Republic chapter to see if any Moslems were involved.

"We need to determine whether any Moslems attended the gathering, and whether they are involved in spreading such views, which can jeopardise the aqidah (faith) of Moslems," he told Rooters when contacted.

Ex-Moslems in the group would be sent for counselling, while attempts to spread atheist ideas could be prosecuted under existing laws, Asyraf said.

"We need to use the soft approach with (apostates). Perhaps they are ignorant of the true Islam, so we need to engage them and educate them on the right teachings," he said.

Atheist Republic's founder, Armin Navabi, said the group's gatherings caused no harm to the public and were not considered a threat in other countries.

"They (Atheists) are treated like criminals. They are just hanging out and meeting other atheists. Who are they harming?!" he said in a post on his Facebook account.

Malaysia's apostasy laws have left many former Moslems in legal limbo, as they are not allowed to register their new religious affiliations or legally marry non-Moslems.

In 2007, Lina Joy, a Malaysian convert to Christianity, lost a high-profile legal battle to have the word "Islam" removed from her identity card. In delivering judgment in that case, the Federal Court's chief justice said the issue was related to Islamic law, and civil courts could not intervene.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Musicians flee Libya for 'right to rap'
The old approach stopped working. It's time to throw something else against the wall -- maybe this one will stick.
[AlAhram] A group of rappers who say they had to flee Libya for their art were on their way to Italia Wednesday after being rescued by a charity boat.

The self-described musicians were among a group of 17 mostly Libyan men picked up by the Aquarius, a vessel operated by French NGO SOS Mediterranee and international humanitarian organization Doctors without Borders (MSF), from a fishing boat in distress in waters off the Libyan coast.

"I'm (a) rapper, I do rap music, so I got to get out of Libya," one of the men, Youssef, told AFP.

"I have to get out of Libya for freedom of speech, you know about that. Libya is a dangerous zone right now for arts..."

Youssef, from the country's second city Benghazi, said he had paid a trafficker he met in a coffee shop in the capital 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...
to get on the boat.

"So I was talking and someone after I finished talking got me to the side and said 'If you are looking for a trip I can get you one, but it will be expensive'.

"I asked him how much expensive and he said 'like 1,500 (dollars)'. I said I can pay 1,000, you know, stuff like this. So he got my number and he said I will see and come back to you. The next day he called me and said: 'All right someone will come and pick the money up'."

MSF volunteer Seraina Eldada said the rescued men had been severely dehydrated and exhausted when the Aquarius reached their stricken boat.

"They were very weak, some of them barely conscious," she said. "But they are all getting stronger now and starting to recover, drinking water.

"Right now we are just trying to figure out what their stories are."

The rescued men were to be taken to an Italian port although first the Aquarius was taking part in another rescue operation, this time for a fishing boat reported to have some 300 people on board.

More than 95,000 migrants colonists have been rescued in the Mediterranean and taken to Italia since the start of the year, just over a third of them on privately-funded NGO boats.

The organizations say they are saving lives but their operations have been criticised for allegedly encouraging migrants colonists to risk a journey that has claimed at least 2,385 lives so far in 2017.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists


Iraq
Cheering Iraqis march arrested German ISIS teen through Mosul
[AU.NEWS.YAHOO] Linda Wenzel, 16, who disappeared from Pulsnitz near Dresden in Germany on July 1 last year, was detained in Iraq, along with other female supporters of the group, after the Battle of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, which saw ISIS fighters forced out of the ancient city.

The new video shows a distraught Wenzel with her arms secured by gunnies being escorted through the streets amid a crowd of cheering Iraqis.

Lorenz Haase, senior public prosecutor in Dresden, confirmed the teenager had been "located and identified in Iraq".

Wenzel, who is thought to have converted to Islam after being groomed on social media, was tossed in the clink
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
by Iraqi forces along with 20 female ISIS supporters from Russia, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
, Canada, Libya and Syria.

The group are believed to have barricaded themselves with guns and explosives in a tunnel underneath the ruins of Mosul’s old city.

German media interviewed Wenzel, who told them she regretted joining the group and wanted to leave.

"I just want to get away from here," she said. "I want to get away from the war, from the many weapons, from the noise. I just want to go home to my family."

They added that she wanted to be extradited to Germany and would cooperate with authorities.

Despite having a gunshot wound on her left thigh and another injury on her right knee, which she said was caused during a helizap, she said she was "doing well".

Mr Haase told the News Agency that Dare Not be Named that is not clear whether the teenager will return to Germany.

"We, as the public prosecutor’s office Dresden, have not applied for an arrest warrant and will therefore not be able to request extradition," he said.

"There is the possibility that Linda might be put on trial in Iraq. She might be expelled for being a foreigner or, because she is a minor reported missing in Germany, she could be handed over to Germany."

Other reports have suggested Wenzel could face the death penalty in Iraq for being a member of the terrorist group.
Not just a member, as reported in the German press, but the precocious lass worked in the al-Khansaa Brigade, ISIS' female morality police.
Earlier in the year, her parents said they "didn’t think anything of" their daughter’s new-found interest in Islam before her disappearance. "[We] even bought her a copy of the Qur’an," her mother, Katharina, said.

The girl was identified after Iraqi forces declared victory over Isis in the group’s former stronghold of Mosul earlier this month.

Haase said the teenager had traveled to Turkey about a year ago with the aim of reaching Iraq or Syria.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  I'm minimally disappointed
/>
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/08/2017 13:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Isee the rotten fruit didn't fall far from the diseased tree.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 08/08/2017 19:44 Comments || Top||

#3  A christlich statistical sermon:
"As supermen learn from you vermin,
Das heilige Buch
Of the Muselman's Spuk
Must be new and improved! Now in German!"
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 08/08/2017 23:07 Comments || Top||

#4  heiligste, even
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 08/08/2017 23:13 Comments || Top||


Europe
Defend Europe: Since our arrival in the Mediterranean Sea, NGOs are getting disillusioned!
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  Color me surprised.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/08/2017 13:50 Comments || Top||

#2  What color is that Skid, puce?
Posted by: AlanC || 08/08/2017 14:35 Comments || Top||


Iraq
US forces attack Popular Mobilization Units base, kill 30: Report
[Iran Press TV] US forces have reportedly attacked an Iraqi military base affiliated to the country’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), killing over 30 troops and injuring many more.

According to a statement released by the Sayaed al-Shuhada brigades on their website on Monday, their base was targeted by US artillery fire and smart bombs.

In the statement, the brigades called on the Iraqi government to launch an extensive investigation into the incident, while noting that the US’ actions will not remain unanswered.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Home Front: Politix
Obama-linked activists have a ‘training manual’ for protesting Trump
[NYPOST] The manual, published with OFA partner "Indivisible," advises protesters to go into halls quietly so as not to raise alarms, and "grab seats at the front of the room but do not all sit together." Rather, spread out in pairs to make it seem like the whole room opposes the Republican host’s positions. "This will help reinforce the impression of broad consensus." It also urges them to ask "hostile" questions -- while keeping "a firm hold on the mic" -- and loudly boo the GOP politician if he isn’t "giving you real answers."

"Express your concern [to the event’s hosts] they are giving a platform to pro-Trump authoritarianism, racism, and corruption," it says.

The goal is to make Republicans, even from safe districts, second-guess their support for the Trump agenda, and to prime "the ground for the 2018 midterms when Democrats retake power."

"Even the safest [Republican] will be deeply alarmed by signs of organized opposition," the document states, "because these actions create the impression that they’re not connected to their district and not listening to their constituents."

After the event, protesters are advised to feed video footage to local and national media.

"Unfavorable exchanges caught on video can be devastating" for Republican politicians, it says, when "shared through social media and picked up by local and national media." After protesters gave MSNBC, CNN and the networks footage of their dust-up with Chaffetz, for example, the outlets ran them continuously, forcing Chaffetz to issue statements defending himself.

The manual also advises protesters to flood "Trump-friendly" politicians’ Hill offices with angry phone calls and emails demanding the resignation of top White House adviser Steve Bannon.

A script advises callers to complain: "I’m honestly scared that a known racist and anti-Semite will be working just feet from the Oval Office ... It is everyone’s business if a man who promoted white supremacy is serving as an adviser to the president."

The document provides no evidence to support such accusations.

Protesters, who may or may not be affiliated with OFA, are also storming district offices. Last week, GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher
...Representative for Caliphornia's 48th congressional district, and previously the 46th, 45th and 42nd, serving since 1989. He is a member of the Republican Party and a former speech writer for President Reagan...
blamed a "mob" of anti-Trump activists for knocking unconscious a 71-year-old female staffer at his Southern Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, office. A video of the incident, showing a small crowd around an opening door, was less conclusive.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  These are old tactics right out of the Communist agitators of the 1930s.
Posted by: Harcourt Angoluting9366 || 08/08/2017 3:27 Comments || Top||

#2  from now until Feb. 26,

This is an old article.
Posted by: Harcourt Angoluting9366 || 08/08/2017 3:45 Comments || Top||

#3  This is an old article.

Good catch, Harcourt Angoluting9366. Thank you.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/08/2017 7:20 Comments || Top||

#4  Gee kids, there is a training manual, secret handshake and code ring, neat Aunty Fa uniforms and all sorts of really of fun stuff.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/08/2017 9:25 Comments || Top||

#5  Friday, NYT on Harvard Resistance School
Posted by: Zorba Omineter3432 || 08/08/2017 13:43 Comments || Top||

#6  "This will help reinforce the impression of broad consensus."

This line must exist in every left leaning strategy document ever written,
Posted by: Iblis || 08/08/2017 15:28 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Korea takes first step to introduce 'robot tax'
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Idiocy.

Why not a wheel tax, as the invention of the wheel has caused more unemployment than any other innovation in human history.
Posted by: phil_b || 08/08/2017 3:03 Comments || Top||

#2  or a plough tax, kicking all those people off the land.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/08/2017 6:11 Comments || Top||

#3  First: define what a taxable "robot" is and what is un-taxable industrial machinery. This is idiocy on steroids like the Assault Weapon Ban...
Posted by: magpie || 08/08/2017 10:23 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas says reaches agreement with Iran to open new chapter in ties
[Iran Press TV] The Paleostinian resistance movement of Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", says it has reached an agreement with Iran to open a new chapter in mutual relations in order to fight the Israeli regime and support Paleostine, the al-Aqsa Mosque and the resistance movement.

In a statement on Monday, Hamas said a delegation of the movement, headed by a member of Hamas' political bureau, Izzat al-Rishq, was in Tehran to attend the Saturday swearing-in ceremony of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. On the sidelines of the ceremony, it held talks with Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday.

According to the statement, Zarif said the Paleostinian issue was important in the Islamic Theocratic Republic’s foreign policy and stressed the importance of improving relations with the Paleostinian resistance groups, particularly Hamas.
The Times of Israel adds:
Iran was once Hamas’s key political and financial backer, but ties began to unravel in 2012, largely due to differences over the civil war in Syria.

In May, Iran agreed in principle to renew its funding for Hamas, and senior Paleostinian officials were said to be traveling to Tehran to repair relations.

Last week, Paleostinian Authority officials claimed Iran provided aid to Paleostinian protesters demonstrating against Israeli security measures at the Temple Mount last month. The aid reportedly included boxes of food and drink, which came with a flyer attached depicting the Dome of the Rock and a quote attributed to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei reading, "With the help of God, Paleostine will be freed. Jerusalem is ours."

A PA intelligence official told an Israeli newspaper at the time it was clear the Iranian regime was behind the aid packages, and estimated the initiative cost several million shekels. The move angered the PA leadership, with the unnamed official telling the Israel Hayom daily it was a mistake to allow Iran to reach into the West Bank with its "tentacles."

Monday’s meeting in Tehran comes as Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates...
, one of the other few foreign backers of Hamas, continues to face massive pressure from its Gulf neighbors to cut ties with the terrorist group. If it does, the result could be disastrous for the Gazoo Strip, a territory Hamas has ruled for a decade.

Qatar has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in roads, housing and a major hospital in the tiny enclave. Its infrastructure projects are one of the few job-creators in a beleaguered economy.

Gazoo already suffers from an Israeli-Egyptian blockade -- imposed to prevent the group from importing weaponry -- economic misery and chronic electricity shortages. For Hamas, Qatar’s money pumping into the economy is a vital lifeline bolstering its rule.

Closer ties between Hamas and Iran are hardly likely to mollify the Gulf states and Egypt. One of the main factors driving the crisis is Qatar’s close ties to Tehran and fears of expanding Iranian influence further destabilizing the region.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Qatar has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in tunnels roads, housing and a major hospital in the tiny enclave
Posted by: Frank G || 08/08/2017 13:24 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Security forces kill at least 14 separatists in DR Congo
[Iran Press TV] At least 14 members of separatist sect Bundu dia Kongo (BDK) have been killed in a series of violent festivities with Congolese security forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
(DRC).

Police front man Pierrot Mwanamputu said in a statement that separatists were killed during festivities in the capital Kinshasa and the southwestern town of Matadi on Monday.

According to the statement, at least 12 BDK assailants in Kinshasa were killed by "stray bullets" fired by security forces to disperse them. The attackers, who were armed with calibre-12 rifles and bladed weapons, also killed one policeman.

A witness told Rooters that assailants wearing red headbands characteristic of BDK members staged the attack on the high-security Makala prison in the capital but did not make it past the front door. "We woke up to the deafening noise of gunshots."

He said he had seen police and soldiers gather several bodies outside the prison walls.

Two other BDK members were killed in Matadi, where three coppers were also injured, he added.

This came after BDK leader Ne Muanda Nsemi, who beat feet from prison in May, called on his supporters to rise up this Monday against President Joseph Kabila. Nsemi was placed in durance vile
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
in March following festivities between his supporters and police.

The militia aims to revive the pre-colonial Congo kingdom, which thrived for centuries around the mouth of the Congo River.

The latest festivities also followed an attack by BDK members on Kinshasa's main prison and demonstrations by other members against Kabila in Kinshasa, Matadi and the southwestern city of Boma.

BDK demonstrators on Monday held signs that read, "Rwanda for Rwandans. Congo for Congolese. Get out, Kanambe," using a slur to refer to Kabila, whom Nsemi accuses of being Rwandan.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian army forces strike last militant stronghold near Damascus
[Iran Press TV] Syrian government forces have intensified shelling and Arclight airstrikes on the last holy warrior stronghold near the capital city of Damascus as army soldiers and allied fighters from popular defense groups continue to make territorial gains against foreign-sponsored holy warrior groups across the war-battered country.

Local sources said elite units of the army, positioned on the strategic Mount Qasioun that overlooks Damascus, struck Jobar district, located some 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) east of the Old City walls, as well as Ain Terma suburb, located 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) east of Old Damascus.

Syrian army troops also struck holy warrior outposts in Zamalka, located 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles) northeast of Old Damascus, Harasta city and Kafr Batna town.

Abu Obada al-Shami, a commander from the Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
Faylaq al-Rahman holy warrior group, said the holy warriors had dug tunnels and fortified their positions in the Eastern Ghouta district in a bid to impede the government forces’ advance.

Meanwhile,
...back at the precinct house, Sergeant Maloney wasn't buying it. It was just too pat. The whole thing smelled phony, kind of like a dead mackeral but without the scales...
Syrian Air Force jets bombarded ISIS positions in al-Bawlieh Mountain, Ma'adan subdistrict, al-Khamaiseh, al-Jaber and al-Numaisa districts south of the northern city of Raqqah.

Elsewhere in Salamiyah district of the central province of Hama, Syrian military aircraft pounded ISIS position, inflicting heavy losses on their ranks.
Abuot those tunnels, Al Masdar adds:
Today, a group of 12 militants were stuck inside a tunnel they were using in Ayn Tarma after the government troops blew up the only exit.

Fierce firelight erupted as the disparate militants – who all belong to the al-Qaeda offshoot in Syria Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham – attempted to make their way out. However, the Army troops killed 9 rebel fighters and captured 3 alive.

Jaysh Al-Islam resumes offensive against former allies in East Ghouta

[AlMasdar] Jaysh Al-Islam launched a powerful attack inside the East Ghouta region of Damascus this morning, targeting Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham’s positions at the Al-Asha’ri Farms.

According to opposition media activists, Jaysh Al-Islam stormed the Al-Asha’ri Farms this morning, capturing several sites in the area, including the Asha’ri school and mosque.

Intense clashes are ongoing at the moment, with Jaysh Al-Islam still on the offensive against their former allies from Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham.

Jaysh Al-Islam announced that they will continue this operation against Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham until the East Ghouta is completely cleansed of the group.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Iran snickers at US push to inspect military sites
[IsraelTimes] Tehran calls idea of more robust inspections regime a ’ridiculous dream that will never come true’

Iran mocked the US push for inspections of the country’s military sites, calling it a "ridiculous dream that will never come true."

The comments came after US officials said last month that the Trump administration was pushing for inspections of suspicious Iranian military sites in a bid to test the strength of the nuclear deal that Tehran struck in 2015 with world powers.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry front man, Bahram Ghasemi, told news hounds on Monday in Tehran that this request was "possibly something that a satirist wrote up."

The inspections are one element of what is designed to be a more aggressive approach to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. While the Trump administration seeks to police the existing deal more strictly, it is also working to fix what US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
’s aides have called "serious flaws" in the landmark deal that -- if not resolved quickly -- will likely lead Trump to pull out.

That effort also includes discussions with European countries to negotiate a followup agreement to prevent Iran from resuming nuclear development after the deal’s restrictions expire in about a decade, the officials said last month. The officials weren’t authorized to discuss the efforts publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The inspections requests, which Iran would likely resist, could play heavily into Trump’s much-anticipated decision about whether to stick with a deal he’s long derided.

If Iran refuses inspections, Trump would finally have a solid basis to say Iran is breaching the deal, setting up Tehran to take most of the blame if the agreement collapses. If Iran agrees to inspections, those in Trump’s administration who want to preserve the deal would be emboldened to argue it’s advancing US national security effectively.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced last month that Iran was in compliance of the nuclear deal, despite Trump’s desire to declare Iran in breach of the agreement.

After being talked out of declaring Iran in violation of the deal by his national security aides, Trump agreed to let the issue go, but only for a few more months -- and only after last-minute changes to distance Trump further from the deal.

Rather than say, as planned, that Iran was living up to its end of the deal, Trump’s aides found a way to let the deal continue for now without technically confirming that Iran is complying. The administration followed up the announcement with new, non-nuclear sanctions on Iranians on Tuesday to show Trump is indeed serious about confronting Tehran.

The compromise, relayed to Congress in the final few hours before the deadline, lets Iran continue enjoying relief -- for now -- from nuclear sanctions lifted as part of the 2015 deal. It also gives Trump some cover to declare publicly that Iran is violating "the spirit" of the deal, preserving a potent argument should he ultimately decide to exit the pact.

The deadline comes up again in October. Given Trump’s strong reluctance to certify Iran’s compliance, it’s highly unlikely he will agree to do it again, officials and others familiar with Trump’s Iran policy said last month. The individuals weren’t authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity.

Coupled with the new sanctions, the move raised optimism among critics of the deal that Trump’s broader Iran review, expected to conclude soon, will mark a major shift in the US approach to the Islamic Theocratic Republic.
Meanwhile, Iran is quietly signing lucrative contracts with the other signatories to President Obama's very bad deal:
Iran signs its biggest-ever car deal with France's Renault

[AlAhram] Iran's official news agency says two Iranian companies have signed the country's biggest-ever car deal with French multinational automobile manufacturer Groupe Renault to produce 150,000 cars, beginning in 2018.

IRNA says the deal was signed on Monday in Tehran.

The €660 million -- or $778 million -- deal follows the lifting of international sanctions after Iran's 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers. It's expected to create about 3,000 jobs for the two companies, Iran's IDRO and the privately owned Negin Group. Renault has a 60 percent partnership in the deal.

Last year, French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen reached a deal with Iran Khodro to open a plant producing 200,000 vehicles annually.

Iran produces about 1,350,000 vehicles a year, though authorities hope that number will reach 3 million annually by 2025.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Iran snickers at US push to inspect military sites

You may Snicker, but it's not Payday anymore. If one of our guys on the button gets Butterfingers, your country would be reduced to Mounds.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 08/08/2017 8:29 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Tal Afar: prepping to prep the battle space

Islamic State renounces religious style in Tal Afar as battle looms

Tal Afar (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State members are renouncing religious appearances and practices in their last stronghold in Nineveh as Iraqi forces prepare for a decisive battle to retake that haven.

A source in the town of Tal Afar, west of Nineveh, told Shafaq news website on Monday that Islamic State leaderships had directed members to give up prayers, shave beards, take off typical Afghani costumes and burn religious literature.

Since they took over a third of Iraq in 2014 to establish a self-styled “caliphate”, Islamic State members imposed a stringent, religious code of dressing and behaviour on citizens at cities under their control, punishing violators with harsh punishments that could mount to death at some cases.

Army ordered to move from Mosul to Tal Afar preparing for invasion

Mosul (IraqiNews.com) An Iraqi army division had received orders to leave Mosul and head towards the Islamic State’s last stronghold in Nineveh preparing for anticipated operations to retake the region, a military source was quoted saying Monday.

Safwan al-Assafi, a Defense Ministry official in charge of distributing military directives, told Anadolu Agency that the supreme command ordered the 9th division to immediately hand over security responsibilities in Mosul to local and Federal Police forces, and to get ready for heading to Tal Afar, now Islamic State’s remaining holdout bin the province.

Meanwhile, Ahmed al-Jubouri, a colonel at the Joint Operations Command, revealed that intensive meetings are being held to lay down the axes of operations in Tal Afar, adding that operations are due within the next few days.

Earlier on Monday, the Defense Ministry said plans were ready for the invasion of the town.

The target area, according to Anadolu, is nearly 2400 kilometers of space, and consists of Tal Afar, Ayadiya, Mahalabiya and 47 scattered villages.

Tal Afar is 65 kilometers away from Mosul, and is home to a mixed Turkmen and Arab population. Iraqi forces recaptured Mosul, Islamic State’s former capital, early July after more than eight months of U.S.-backed offensives.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Seems like I've been reading about one battle or another taking place in or around Tal Afar for the past couple of decades.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 08/08/2017 9:47 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Tajik man jailed for treating ex-OMON commander who joined IS
[RFE/RL] A court in Dushanbe has sentenced a Tajik man to 13 years in jail for giving medical aid to a high-profile defector, former Tajik police commander Gulmurod Halimov, who joined the Islamic State in Syria. Court officials said on August 1 that Mahmad Mahmadiev was found guilty of being a "mercenary." It is not clear when exactly he was convicted and sentenced.

Mahmadiev was detained in Turkey in 2016 and extradited to Tajikistan in March. Investigators have said that Mahmadiev joined IS in 2015 and provided medical aid to Halimov for injuries he sustained there. Halimov, a former commander of Tajik Interior Ministry Special Forces, known as OMON, announced that he had joined IS via the Internet in May 2015.

Tajikistan has issued an international warrant for his arrest and the United States has offered $3 million for information on his whereabouts.

There have been several unconfirmed reports from both northern Iraq and Syria since 2015 that Halimov was killed while fighting for IS militants. Tajik authorities have repeatedly rejected those reports, saying they think he is still alive.
Posted by: ryuge || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Africa North
Libya’s Derna suffers as Haftar’s LNA tightens siege on city
[Iran Press TV] The Libyan National Army (LNA), a militia group led by General 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...
, has tightened a crippling siege on the northeastern city of Derna as the renegade military strongman seeks the permanent ouster of rival militia from the region he controls in eastern Libya.

Residents of Derna said Monday that a decision by Haftar last week to tighten the long-standing siege on the city has made their life extremely difficult.

"The situation is extremely bad. Everything is stopped, the supplies are depleted and nothing is getting into the city," one resident said, adding, "There is a total blockade with no entry or exit. They only allow you to leave as a displaced person."

The siege around Derna was reinforced after snuffies from the Derna Mujahideen Shura Council (DMSC), which controls the city on the Mediterranean, shot down an LNA fighter jet at the end of July. The pilot of the jet was killed in the incident.

Haftar, a former general under slain dictator Muammar Qadaffy
...The late megalomaniac dictator of Libya, admired everywhere for his garish costumes, funny hats, harem of cutie bodyguards, and incoherent ravings. As far as is known, he is the only person who's ever declared jihad on Switzerland...
, has been backed by countries like Egypt and the United Arab Emirates in his quest for ultimate power in Libya.

Last month, he announced victory against a rival coalition of bully boyz in Benghazi, which lies around 350 kilometers from Derna.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


-Land of the Free
Google Fires Viewpoint Diversity Manifesto Author James Damore
[BREITBART] The Google employee behind a ten-page viewpoint diversity manifesto that went viral online has been fired.

James Damore, whose manifesto criticizing the politically correct corporate culture at Google prompted outrage from left-wing employees and social justice warriors online, revealed that he had been fired in an email to Breitbart Tech on Monday evening.

In his email to Breitbart Tech, Damore claimed, "They just fired me for ’perpetuating gender stereotypes.'"

Damore’s writing has revealed a divided Google, in which some employees agree with his outlook, but are afraid to speak out for fear of repercussions from social justice warriors in the company, such as being added to blacklists.

In a memo sent to employees, Google CEO Sundar Pichai reportedly claimed that Damore had violated their Code of Conduct.

Earlier in the day we reported on free speech social media platform Gab, which expressed interest in hiring Damore if he was fired from Google.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That was a tough call...
Posted by: Raj || 08/08/2017 0:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Unexpectedly™... As Instapundit would say
Posted by: magpie || 08/08/2017 1:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Reminds me how Brendan Eich was treated when it became known that his views did not conform to the globalist agenda
Posted by: BoomerC || 08/08/2017 2:38 Comments || Top||

#4  How *DARE* you divert from the Google GroupThink!
Posted by: CrazyFool || 08/08/2017 2:58 Comments || Top||

#5  This is a war - to extinction.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/08/2017 3:34 Comments || Top||

#6  I hope sues. California has strong laws against political discrimination in the workplace.
Posted by: Cravilet Poodle5789 || 08/08/2017 4:29 Comments || Top||

#7  google is finished.
once you go SJW your profits evaporate
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/08/2017 6:10 Comments || Top||

#8  Snowflakes.
Posted by: Threatch Jeamp8135 || 08/08/2017 8:51 Comments || Top||

#9  He wore his skirts too short.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/08/2017 14:03 Comments || Top||

#10  I'd like to see Google sink but the competition seems pretty far behind. How hard is it to make an efficient search engine?
Posted by: rjschwarz || 08/08/2017 14:18 Comments || Top||

#11  How hard is it to make an efficient search engine?

Maybe the guy they just fired can answer that.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/08/2017 14:21 Comments || Top||

#12  Exactly.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 08/08/2017 14:57 Comments || Top||

#13 
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/08/2017 16:08 Comments || Top||

#14 
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/08/2017 16:09 Comments || Top||

#15  I echo the comment another made before me--I'd love to stop using Google, but I haven't found a search engine that can hold a candle to it.
Posted by: Crusader || 08/08/2017 18:04 Comments || Top||

#16  You can use dogpile, which sits on top of Google and other search engines, and strips out Google's ads, so you can deprive them of the revenue.
Posted by: phil_b || 08/08/2017 18:15 Comments || Top||

#17  They are taking a beating on Twitter for this.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 08/08/2017 18:21 Comments || Top||

#18  Twitterers are recommending DuckDuckGo.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 08/08/2017 18:23 Comments || Top||

#19  @crusader, use startpage.com. It's run by DuckDuckGo, but uses the google search engine after DDG strips your personal/browser/location info off the search query.

If you think the results aren't as good as google, that's because google was customizing the results for you to match what it thinks you like.

Posted by: KBK || 08/08/2017 20:29 Comments || Top||

#20  Well, I tried DuckDuckGo - seems OK. But I still have to use GoogleSchoolar.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/08/2017 23:45 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
SDF announce capturing 55% of Syrian Raqqa
Slow and steady...
Raqqa (Syria News) The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced, on Monday, capturing more than half the city of Raqqa, while pointed out that the battles are ongoing inside the city, Enab Baladi News reported.

The Syrian Democratic Forces militia announced, today, that it expanded its control over the city of Raqqa, after advancing into al-Bareed neighborhood, southwest of the city, and recapturing the headquarters of the Military Police, Civil Defense and others.

Meanwhile,
...back at the barn, Bossy had come up with a new idea, one that didn't involve kerosene...
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....
-owned Amaq News Agency did not publish any details regarding the areas the radical group controls in Raqqa since the start of the offensive.

SDF Media Office Director, Mostafa Bali, said that the battles are now concentrated northwest of Raqa, especially in the neighborhoods of Nahda, Bareed and Rawda.

2,000 ISIS fighters left in Raqqa: Coalition official

[ARA News] The United States’ anti-ISIS coalition envoy Brett McGurk has confirmed that a total of 2,000 ISIS fighters are left in Raqqa, adding that these jihadists will die in Raqqa, where the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) continue their military operations against the radical group.

"We estimate there’s about 2,000 ISIS fighters left in Raqqa. I’m always hesitant to give numbers like that, because it’s ‐ this is an inexact science. We think there’s about 2,000 ISIS fighters left in Raqqa, and they most likely will die in Raqqa," the coalition envoy said.

"UN estimates now ‐ there’s about 25,000 civilians on the ground in Raqqa. It could be higher, but that is a UN estimate. And what’s really happening in Raqqa ‐ similar to what we saw in djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
but on a smaller scale ‐ the ISIS fighters on the ground are using these civilians as their own shields, as their own hostages," he added.

"They are using snipers to kill civilians who are trying to escape. They’re trying to put jacket wallahs in columns of displaced people as they try to get out ‐ the similar tactics we’ve seen from this barbaric terrorist organization in other cities," McGurk said.

However,
alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk...
he said the tactic of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces is now to connect the east to the west. "They could connect now, but they have to clear some high-rise buildings before they join forces at a roadway. And that’ll really help accelerate the second phase of the operation to clear the rest of the city."

"Today in Raqqa, ISIS is fighting for every last block, and trying to defend blocks that they are about to lose. They are fighting for their own survival. It is a fundamentally transformed situation. The Raqqa operation to seize Raqqa launched on June 6th, and as of today, as I mentioned, the SDF has seized about 45 percent of Raqqa," he concluded.

Moreover, the US official said that the majority of the civilians flee to SDF-held areas.

"So as IDPs come out of areas that have been controlled by ISIS ‐ these are people who have been living under ISIS for the last three years ‐ we are seeing almost all of the IDPs flow north into the lines of the force we’re working with," he said.

"They are not flowing west into regime areas; they are not leaving to go stay with ISIS in the east; they are not flowing south into the desert. They are all coming into the areas of the Syrian Democratic Forces," he added.

According to the US official there are now around 324,000 IDPs from Raqqa.

"We track this every single day. As of this morning, about 146,000 are in prepared sites and camps, about 177 or so thousand in communities. And what we see in Syria, as the population comes out from areas where the fighting is ongoing, they sit in transit camps. And as the areas are cleared, as they’re de-mined, the population then returns. We have seen this now repeatedly this pattern, which is a pretty good pattern," he stated.

Three suburbs captured in Raqqa city after Kurdish forces resume offensive – Map update

[AlMasdar] After a brief hiatus, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) resumed their Euphrates Wrath campaign in full force on Monday, securing a number of Raqqa’s residential areas from the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
Advancing on three axes in the same time, the Kurdish-led SDF managed to impose full control over the Karim district, thus establishing an important foothold in western Raqqa.

In addition, the US-backed SDF finally overran the southern Hisham Ibn Abdulmalik district on Monday after ISIS snuffies had fought back for over two weeks.

However,
women are made to be loved, not understood...
the largest advance today took place on the northeastern flank where Kurdish forces took control of most of the Rameleh district. During this assault, two schools, a sheep market and the local mosque were captured.

In total, 16 ISIS members were killed on Monday, a military source told al-Masdar News.

Some 2,000 jihadist snuffies are estimated to be held up in downtown Raqqa, many of whom are volunteering as jacket wallahs due to the hopeless situation.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


ISIS launches failed offensive in Deir Ezzor after losing key stronghold in east Homs
[AlMasdar] The Islamic State militant attacked the Syrian Army positions in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor after the group lost its bastion of al-Sukhnah in the eastern countryside of Homs.

The attack began from the ISIS-held district of al-Baghiliyah and targeted the Army’s outposts near al-Rawad hill which overlooks Division 17 base located to the northwest of the city.

Fierce clashes then ensued as a result of the attack, which was eventually repelled as the Syrian fighter jets bombed ISIS reinforcements, destroying two MLRs launchers and several machinegun-fitted trucks.

According to a military source, scores of ISIS have been killed and wounded in the failed assault.

The territories controlled by the terror group are steadily shrinking as the Syrian government forces managed to recapture al-Sukhnah town which serves as the last defense line before the Syrian troops reach the embattled city of Deir Ezzor.

Scores of ISIL terrorists killed as the Syrian Army advances in east Homs

[AlMasdar] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) continued their field operations in the Jubb Al-Jarrah District of Homs this morning, attacking the Islamic State’s (ISIL) positions at the town of Mannoukh.

Led by the 18th Tank Division, the Syrian Arab Army managed to liberate five points around Mannoukh last night, paving the way for their assault on the town this morning.

Following an intense battle that lasted for nearly three hours today, the Syrian Arab Army seized Mannoukh from the Islamic State terrorists after killing scores of their fighters inside the town.

According to a military source in Homs, the Syrian Army killed more than 15 Islamic State terrorists, while also destroying at least three vehivles that were fitted with 23mm anti-aircraft machine guns.

As a result of today’s operation, the Syrian Army has now pushed the Islamic State more than 15km away from the strategic town of Jubab Hamad, which is located in eastern countryside of Homs.

Syrian Army pushes north from liberated Sukhnah to Raqqa

[AlMasdar] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) resumed their offensive in east Homs, Monday, after repelling the Islamic State’s counter-attack to retake Al-Sukhnah.

Led by the 5th Corps, the Syrian Arab Army pushed north from Al-Sukhnah this afternoon, attacking the Islamic State’s positions near the towns of Al-Kom and Taybah.

With help from their Russian allies, the Syrian Arab Army captured several points from the Islamic State forces, killing and wounding several terrorists in the process.

According to a military source in Palmyra, the Syrian Army is attempting to link up with the Tiger Forces at the strategic town of Resafa, which is located in the Al-Raqqa Governorate.

If this attack proves successful, the Syrian Arab Army will be to cutoff the Islamic State’s supply line to central Syria and shrink the terrorist group’s pocket in the eastern countryside of Hama.

ISIL’s counter-offensive near Sukhnah ends in disaster

[AlMasdar] The Islamic State (ISIL) launched a desperate offensive near the strategic city of Al-Sukhnah, Monday, targeting the Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) positions north of their former stronghold.

ISIL began the offensive by storming the small hilltops located north of the Al-Sukhnah; this would result in a series of clashes that would last for two hours.

Unable to penetrate the Syrian Army’s defenses, the terrorist group was forced to withdraw their remaining forces from the front-lines in order to avoid a high casualty count.

According to a military source in eastern Homs, the Syrian Army killed well over 20 Islamic State terrorists on Monday, including several foreign combatants.

This failed offensive will likely be the Islamic State’s last attempt to recover Al-Sukhnah, as the Syrian Army has been quickly securing all flanks around the city.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Iraq
Security forces thwarts terrorist attack in western Baghdad
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The Baghdad Operations Command (BOC) has repulsed a terrorist attack in Amiriyah area, west of Baghdad.

"A force from the 54 brigade of the BOC has managed to arrest two terrorists, and found an boom belt, 14 IEDs and a sniper with them", according to a statement.

The operation was carried out according to accurate intelligence information, the statement added.

On Sunday, the (BOC) has found 16 IEDS and two mortars in different parts of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
Al shabaab militants attack AMISOM convoy near Mahaday
[SHABELLENEWS] Al shabaab holy warriors were reported to have attacked a military convoy belonging to 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 (AMISOM) near the southern town of Mahaday on Monday.

The attack began with a land mine kaboom reportedly struck AMISOM convoy, then a shootout between the holy warriors and AU soldiers erupted outside the town.

According to residents, the AU troops came under roadside blast, as they left Ali Foldheere area, and heading to Mahaday in Middle Shabelle region, before the shootout ensued.

Abdullahi Geeldooh, the commissioner of Mahaday, told Radio Shabelle that the holy warriors have been repulsed during the battle and no casualties inflicted on the AMISOM forces.

Pro-al shabaab media outlets reported the one of the AU military vehicles was burnt down by the IED blast and killed unspecified number of soldiers.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Unseasonably chilly August ahead for the eastern two-thirds of the US with 60F lows
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Al Gore releases new movie? Coincidence?
Posted by: magpie || 08/08/2017 0:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Should invite Al to visit Israel. We're having unpleasant heat waves.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/08/2017 5:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Been unusually cold and wet here as well recently.

This keeps up it will be a very nasty winter.
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/08/2017 9:58 Comments || Top||

#4  Like most of the summer so far. I was camping in northern Michigan last week & heard small children waking up at 0300 & complaining of being cold, a rare event in my experience.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 08/08/2017 11:49 Comments || Top||

#5  Where's my Farmer's Almanac? We had a woman up at Crab Orchard, TN by the name of Helen Lane who predicted winters from nature's signs. She was as good as anyone trained in meteorology. She passed away a few years ago. Her daughter has picked up the mantle of weather prognostications. Crossville Chronicle article.

The last time we hit zero in these parts was 1996, and the record low was minus 24--January 21st, 1985! I'm hoping we don't see anything close to that this winter.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/08/2017 11:50 Comments || Top||

#6  This is EXACTLY what global warming climate change extreme weather predicted!
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 08/08/2017 14:02 Comments || Top||

#7  Chilly today, hot tamale!
Posted by: Raj || 08/08/2017 14:35 Comments || Top||

#8  And.. loving it.
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 08/08/2017 18:58 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Taliban deny cooperating with Daesh in Afghan attack
[Iran Press TV] The Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
have rejected reports they used imported muscle and cooperated with ISIS Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
Death Eaters in fighting at a remote village in northern Afghanistan this weekend where officials said dozens of local police and non-combatants were killed.

The Taliban said the claims were intended to discredit it. The movement sees ISIS, which is fighting to create a global caliphate, as a hostile force.

However,
the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits...
Afghan government officials quoted villagers as saying as many as 600 fighters, who appeared to include both Taliban and ISIS krazed killers, had overrun Mirza Olang village in the northern province of Sar-e Pul on Saturday.

They said that many of the fighters appeared to be foreigners, speaking Turkmen, Uzbek and Punjabi, a language spoken in the Punjab
1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots....

region of Pakistain.

The reports appeared to offer support to claims that the Taliban have been using imported muscle, but in a region with a patchwork of different ethnicities and national borders close by, establishing a true picture is difficult.

"The Afghan government and its foreign masters are making false claims that we are working with ISIS (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....
) just to discredit us in the local community," one Taliban Überstürmbannführer said.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


India-Pakistan
Lashkar-e-Taiba false mustache launches political party
[Al Jazeera] A Pak charity designated by the United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
as a front for gang 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) launched a political party on Monday, in a move that could see the anti-India group accused of carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attacks, enter mainstream national politics.

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed
...who would be wearing a canvas jacket with very long sleeves anyplace but Pakistain...
, the chief of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa
...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba...
(JuD) organization that launched the party, has been designated by the UN as a "terrorist", and the United States has had a $10m bounty on his head since 2012 for his alleged role as the leader of LeT gang.

Pak police have held Saeed under house arrest in the eastern Pak city of Lahore since January under local anti-terrorism laws. His detention was extended for a further two months on August 1.

The UN sanctions include the freezing of all assets, a ban on international travel, and an arms embargo.

At the formal launch of the Milli Moslem League (MML) party in the Pak capital of Islamabad on Monday, party chief Saifullah Khalid was clear that he held Saeed in high regard, although the question of what role he would play in the party remained an unanswered one.

"What role he will play in the Milli Moslem League or in Pakistain's ongoing politics will be seen after Allah ensures his release," said Akhtar, adding that the issue of Saeed's release was high on the MML's agenda.

"[Once he is released] we will meet him and ask him what role he would like to play [in the party]. He is the leader of Pakistain."
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Afghanistan
Officials: Taliban, ISIL coordinated Sar-e Pul attack
[Al Jazeera] The Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
and the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS, also known as ISIS) group jointly killed scores of civilians in a village in Afghanistan, officials claimed on Monday.

If confirmed, Saturday's attack would highlight rare cooperation between the gangs.

Fighters killed more than 50 men, women and kiddies in the remote Sayad district of northern Sar-e Pul province after overrunning government-backed fighters of the Afghan Local Police (ALP) in a 48-hour battle, according to local officials.

"It was a joint operation by ISIS and Taliban fighters," Zabihullah Amani, front man for the provincial governor, told AFP on Monday. "They had recruited forces from other provinces of the country and attacked Mirzawalang village."

The front man alleged that dozens of Taliban and ISIS fighters under the command of Sher Mohammad Ghazanfar, a local Taliban Überstürmbannführer who Amani claims pledged allegiance to ISIS, launched a coordinated attack on the area on Thursday.

"The fighters overran the area, and it led to the massacre of innocent and defenceless civilians," he said.

Most of those killed were shot, but some had their heads chopped off, Amani said.

Afghanistan's Caped 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. ..
on Sunday condemned the killings as a "war crime".
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Africa Subsaharan
Nigerian protesters demand Buhari return or resign
[Iran Press TV] Nigerian protesters have demanded that President Muhammadu Buhari, receiving treatment in London for an undisclosed ailment for more than three months, either return or resign.

Buhari left for the British capital on May 7 on what is his latest medical trip, appointing Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to act on his behalf.

Dozens of protesters marched in heavy rain to the presidential villa in Abuja with banners urging that the 74-year-old retired general, who headed a military regime in the 1980s, return.

"Resume or resign, Nigerians say enough is enough," one said, with others stating: "If president Buhari cannot return to Nigeria after 90 days, then he should resign and go home", and "Buhari, where are you? Nigerians want full disclosure. What is wrong with our president?"
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Turkey bombs Tel Abyad border gate after visit of US delegation to northern Syria
[ARA News] The Ottoman Turkish army forces stationed near the area of Tel Abyad (Girê Spî‎) in northern Syria bombed the border gate of Tel Abyad with heavy weapons, officials of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Monday.

The Ottoman Turkish army fired from an armored vehicle on the city of Tal Abyad, after targeting the Kurdish town of Kobane, west of Tel Abyad.

According to the SDF, the Ottoman Turkish army targeted Kobane after the visit of the US-led coalition’s officials to Ain al-Issa district in Raqqa province, where the Kurdish-led SDF troops continue their operations against ISIS murderous Moslems.

SDF officials reported that the attacks and the Ottoman Turkish army encroachment on the Syrian territory is a message to the United States, that is backing the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) despite The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
’s opposition.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  Turkey should watch what happens to kimmy
Posted by: 3dc || 08/08/2017 17:49 Comments || Top||


Daesh fires several rockets into Lebanon, army shells terrorists' positions
[Iran Press TV] The ISIS Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
terrorist group has reportedly fired seven Grad rockets
...Soviet-developed 122-mm rockets, usually launched from trucks. Newer versions are reported to have a range of up to 30 km....
into the Lebanese territories from a krazed killer-held enclave on the Syria-Leb border.

A Lebanese security source, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
, further said that the attack had been carried out on Monday, without causing any casualties.

The source also said that the rockets fell in the vicinity of al-Qaa town, in Baalbek-Hermel province, and prompted the Lebanese army to respond by shelling ISIS positions in the nearby hills.

The development came as the Lebanese army has intensified its shelling of ISIS posts in recent days amid reports that it is set to launch an operation aimed at purging the Takfiris out of the border region with Syria.

The Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement formally announced an end to its security operation around border town of Arsal against members of the foreign-sponsored and Takfiri Jabhat Fateh al-Sham
...formerly al-Nusra, the current false nose and mustache of al-Qaeda in the Levant...
‐ previously known as the Nusra Front ‐ krazed killer group.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Caribbean-Latin America
Venezuelan military says attack on army base by deserter and mercenaries has been repelled
[SCMP] Venezuela’s military said on Sunday it repelled a "terrorist" attack on a base in the city of Valencia, led by an army deserter allegedly linked to "foreign governments."

Two of the attackers were killed and eight were captured, President Nicolas Maduro said on state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
, claiming the group of "mercenaries" ‐ whose total number he put at around 20 ‐ had ties to Colombia and the United States.

Officials insisted afterward that all was normal across the country.

Still, the incident heightened fears that Venezuela’s deepening political and economic crisis could explode into greater violence.

In Valencia, a major northwestern city, military helicopters flew overhead as tactical armoured vehicles patrolled the streets in a climate of tension.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Commies


India-Pakistan
Indian police: Abdullah laid terror network ground in UP
[Dhaka Tribune] A team of Indian Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) locked away
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
a Bangladeshi man, Abdullah al Mamon, suspected of being a member of the banned bad boy outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) from Uttar Pradesh (UP), on Sunday.

According to an ATS spokesperson, four more people have been arrested following Abdullah’s arrest. Two of them were living in a madrasa. Two were locals, while the others came from Kashmire and Bihar.

Indian Sherlocks seized several fake passports, Aadhaar cards (national identity cards), and other official documents from Abdullah that he was also holding for other people. They also discovered official seals, duplicated signatures of important officials and copied panchayat pradhans.

Indian police said that Abdullah and his team had succeeded in laying the groundwork for spreading a terror network in the area and were moving into the second or third phase of their operations.

Abdullah was also trying to marry a local girl, but his accent was an impediment, said police. He had been working as an Imam for over a year before he was removed because of his accent.

The bad boy was living in the Deoband area of Saharanpur in UP since 2011. He moved to Muzaffarnagar district last month. Abdullah admitted to have crossed over to India through Assam. He had been active in terror sponsoring activities in Malda and other areas of West Bengal and was linked to associates in the banned Jamatul Mujahideen of Bangladesh (JMB) and 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....
He said he was working as a recruiter for the Islamic State. His work in UP was as an Imam in madrasas and mosques, but that was a cover to hide his main activity, which was to provide shelter and other help for Bangladeshi jihadis crossing over to India.

In Malda and Assam, Abdullah said he was indoctrinating younger recruits to the "Islamist cause" with training in arms and the making of explosives and smuggling of weapons. Several batches of indoctrinated young men had been trained so far.

The false documents he acquired had helped in establishing new assumed identities for the new recruits, who were sent to different parts of UP, Assam, West Bengal and Bangladesh, according to preliminary reports. They were allegedly carrying on the work of the JMB and similar organizations, apart from organising occasional acts of sabotage and inflaming communal violence.

Both Central and West Bengal police have now confirmed the involvement of certain Bangladeshi faceless myrmidons in the most recent outbreak of prolonged communal violence at the Basirhat-Baduria belt of north 24 Parganas in West Bengal some days ago.

Bangladeshi government sources have kept the Indian central agencies regularly informed about the activities and movements of Islamic faceless myrmidons suspected to have crossed over to India. The ABT according to them was formed following the ideals of the internationally active bad boy Al Qaeda organization in Bangladesh. This group was behind the killing of secular leaders and bloggers in Bangladesh and had been involved in the major bad boy attack on Holey Bakery on July 1, 2016.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Ansarullah Bangla Team (AQIS)


Europe
Children included on list of 173 IS suicide bombers who could strike Europe
[Dhaka Tribune] A list of 173 potential jacket wallahs Iraqi security forces discovered while battling 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....
holy warrior group (IS) in northern Iraq contains around 20 Iraqi minors.

US intelligence obtained the secret list, apparently created by the group to identify those who could reach Europe and carry out attacks there. Intelligence then passed the list to the global crime agency Interpol, which distributed it to European security services. Details of the list have begun to emerge.

IS has regularly used minors in its propaganda output, referring to them as "cubs of the caliphate." There is little information about the ages of the minors on the list.

A French source with links to the country’s security services said that there are a number of Frenchie-loving jihadists on the list. The disclosure is unsurprising, given that Europe’s deadliest attacks in the name of IS, in Gay Paree and Brussels, have been committed by French or Belgian nationals of North African heritage.

The spokesperson for the Gay Paree prosecutor’s office declined to confirm their presence on the list.

The German newspaper Die Welt reported Thursday that one person on the list is a 27-year-old German national from the city of Solingen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, who traveled to Egypt from Germany in 2012 before entering Syria via The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
to join IS with his wife and child.

Other countries with suspects on the list are Iraq, which has the most nationals on the list, as well as Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan, Tajikistan, 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...
, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Interpol supplied images of the suspects and the mosques they are believed to have frequented in their home countries.

An Interpol spokesperson told German news site Deutsche-Welle that once the agency receives such information, it decides "which other authorities it should be shared with at the national level. This may include border agencies, specialist counterterrorism units and customs, for example."
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State



Who's in the News
34[untagged]
11Islamic State
3Sublime Porte
2Commies
2Arab Spring
2al-Shabaab (AQ)
2Govt of Iran
2Moslem Colonists
1TTP
1Ansarullah Bangla Team (AQIS)
1Govt of Iraq
1Govt of Pakistan
1Govt of Qatar (MB)
1Govt of Syria
1Palestinian Authority
1Taliban

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In no particular order...
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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2017-08-08
  Kurdish authorities arrest 1700 Islamic State militants among displaced civilians
Mon 2017-08-07
  Taliban kill 30 villagers in Afghanistan's Sari Pul province
Sun 2017-08-06
  Governor of Galgaduud region shot dead in Somali capital
Sat 2017-08-05
  US confirms airstrike killed al-Shabab commander in Somalia
Fri 2017-08-04
  Al Qaeda frees South African hostage after six years
Thu 2017-08-03
  Police Make Arrest in 2003 Case of Grooming Gang Victim Believed Ground Up and Sold as Kebab Meat
Wed 2017-08-02
  Gang who called themselves 'Musketeers' guilty of plotting UK bomb attack
Tue 2017-08-01
  IS claims attack on Iraq embassy in Kabul
Mon 2017-07-31
  Besieged IS mufti blows himself up in northern Baghdad
Sun 2017-07-30
  Four arrested in plot to bomb plane over Sydney
Sat 2017-07-29
  IS cuts ears of 23 elements who fled battles in Western Nineveh
Fri 2017-07-28
  Pakistan's prime minister removed amid corruption probe
Thu 2017-07-27
  Deadly truck bombing foiled in Kabul city
Wed 2017-07-26
  Wasserman Schultz’s IT Aide Arrested At Airport After Transferring $300k To Pakistan From House Office
Tue 2017-07-25
  Governor dismissed over AQAP ties

Better than the average link...



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