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Turkish Army invades northern Syria, launches attack on Kurdish-held border town
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
17:45 3 20:00 Big Prince of the Munchkins7003 [1]
10:32 6 16:03 g(r)omgoru [1]
08:48 6 22:31 European Conservative []
07:52 3 12:24 JohnQC []
07:48 3 15:00 Clem []
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07:17 2 18:59 JohnQC [3]
07:09 15 19:43 rjschwarz [1]
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China-Japan-Koreas
North Korea fires missile over Japan
[Sky News Australia] The Japanese government says North Korea has launched a missile in the direction of northern Japan.

The rocket passed over the island of Hokkaido and landed in the northern Pacific Ocean approximately 1100km to Japan's east, according to Japanese media reports.

South Korean media also confirmed the missile flew over Japan toward the northern Pacific.

More to come.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2017 17:45 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I wonder who is more surprised it worked, the Koreans, the Japanese, or the peacemongers?
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/28/2017 18:39 Comments || Top||

#2  No response by the Japanese? No attempt to shoot it down? Japanese caught by surprise? Or was it unexpected?

Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance || 08/28/2017 19:33 Comments || Top||

#3  WTF?! Don't the Japs have BMD? Thought we were supposed to be 'locked and loaded.'
Posted by: Big Prince of the Munchkins7003 || 08/28/2017 20:00 Comments || Top||


Government
NYPD needs to replace 36K useless smartphones
[NYPOST] The NYPD has to scrap the 36,000 smartphones it gave cops over the past two years because they’re already obsolete and can’t be upgraded, The Post has learned.

The city bought Microsoft-based Nokia smartphones as part of a $160 million NYPD Mobility Initiative that Mayor Bill de Blasio touted as "a huge step into the 21st century."

But just months after the last phone was handed out, officials plan to begin replacing them all with brand-new iPhones by the end of the year, sources said.

The move follows Microsoft’s recent decision to stop supporting the operating system that runs the NYPD’s devices and nearly a dozen custom-engineered apps.

Law enforcement sources blamed the boondoggle on NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Information Technology Jessica Tisch, with one saying, "She drove the whole process."

"Nobody purchases 36,000 phones based on the judgment of one person," a source said.

"I don’t care if you’re Jesus f- -king Christ, you get a panel of experts."

Technology experts had long questioned the NYPD’s decision to choose Microsoft-based phones over those that run on Google’s Android software or Apple’s iOS.

"The NYPD’s decision to go with Microsoft’s mobile operating system seems to confound more than a few, since Windows Phone’s 2.3 percent US market share is anemic when compared to Android’s 65.2 percent and iOS’s 30.9 percent," read an article published on the tech news site Digital Trends in October.

Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 10:32 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Deputy Commissioner for Information Technology Jessica Tisch, with one saying, "She drove the whole process."

I wonder: (i) what her cut of $160 million was? (ii) will she pull the gender card if the issue investigated?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 12:02 Comments || Top||

#2  um, question? Why do they call them "smart" phones?
Posted by: Helmuth, Speaking for Elminemble9310 || 08/28/2017 13:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Because tricorder would be insensitive to Star Wars fans.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 08/28/2017 13:59 Comments || Top||

#4  Actually, "personal tracking and recording device" would be more appropriate.
Posted by: ed in texas || 08/28/2017 15:21 Comments || Top||

#5  #1 grom:

(1) a good chunk

(2) Yew betcha
Posted by: Barbara || 08/28/2017 15:28 Comments || Top||

#6  :-)
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 16:03 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Conservatism Is Not A Suicide Pact
h/t Instapundit
[Townhall] The whiny wailing and rending of garments (mostly bow ties) by the True Cons over President Trump pardoning Sheriff Joe Arpaio brings to mind another president’s choice when a loyal supporter was the victim of a liberal witch hunt. President Bush was an honorable man, but the way he allowed Scooter Libby and the Libby family to be ruined and impoverished over what everyone knew was a skeevy liberal political vendetta before issuing a partial commutation is to W’s lasting shame. His excuse: the Rule of Law or something.

But, as anyone willing to see knows, today the Rule of Law is a unicorn and it has been for a long time. I like the Rule of Law, and I’ve been warning for years about what happens when it goes away. Yet we are where we are, whether we like it or not. We’re in a land where the law is only intermittently and selectively applicable. Allowing allies to suffer in an effort to pretend that all is well is not going to bring the Rule of Law back. Nostalgia for the Rule of Law no excuse for tolerating an injustice to an ally. Hell, undoing injustices is what the pardon power is for.

What will bring the Rule of Law back? How do we get to the Conserva-Eden we are expected to act like we already reside it? Perhaps another statement of principle? Maybe another post on some unread conservajournal? I know ‐ how about more complaining about how frustrated conservatives are uncouth and should just sit there and take whatever fascist garbage the left dishes out?

...My plan is to cause the left so much pain by applying their new rules to them that they give up trying to grind their Birkenstocks into our faces forever. Yes, as a practical matter that means allying with President Trump, guy I formerly criticized in detail and without restraint, and who was my 16th of 17 choices in the primary (Jeb! was last because he’s an insufferable wuss and I won’t suffer him).

See, I reject the notion we are ever somehow morally obligated by conservative principles to lose to liberals. If I have to swallow something awful, I’ll take half a loaf any day over an entire loaf of liberal dung like Felonia von Pantsuit. I think the new rules are terrible, and they are antithetical to everything I’ve worked for since before many of my Fredocon critics were a tinge of regret growing in their mommies’ bellies the morning after. But I refuse to sit back and allow libs to be victorious because I won’t dirty my hands fighting fire with fire. If that makes me not conservative enough for some, I can live with that. I can’t live with leftist tyranny.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 08:48 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Belgarath: I prefer simpler terms.
Garion: "Good vs. Evil"?
Belgarath: "Us against Them".
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 9:22 Comments || Top||

#2  "If everyone is thinking alike, then someone isn't thinking" Gen George S. Patton
Posted by: ed in texas || 08/28/2017 14:35 Comments || Top||

#3  Arpaio was in law enforcement.
I understand it may be a matter of debate whether he did facial profiling or not.

But the fact is: He ignored court orders and publicly bragged about not following court orders.

And that's not what a law enforcement officer does.

Posted by: European Conservative || 08/28/2017 20:52 Comments || Top||

#4  racial (although facial isn't entirely wrong)
Posted by: European Conservative || 08/28/2017 20:53 Comments || Top||

#5  Law enforcement officers sworn duty is to enforce laws derived from the Constitution. Not to follow court orders that favor anti-constitutionalists who want as many globalist, foreign nationals canceling US Citizen votes to put pro-US Citizen officers like him out of national, state, and local office.
Posted by: Hupeting Sforza8196 || 08/28/2017 22:12 Comments || Top||

#6  So they may chose which court orders to follow and which ones not?

Be careful what you wish for. Presidents change.
Posted by: European Conservative || 08/28/2017 22:31 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
What Trump really needs
h/t Gates of Vienna
Republicans on Capitol Hill lament President Trump's aggressive behavior toward them, but some people in the president's orbit are urging him to up the ante even further.

They say that, far from making nice, Trump needs to instill fear so that lawmakers do not feel at liberty to thwart him.

"Most members of Congress are arrogant, and until a scalp is actually taken they are going to continue to be defiant," longtime Trump friend Roger Stone told The Hill. "All he needs to do is punish one incumbent and I think you’d see a sea-change."
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 07:52 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I've thought such for a long time. Trump should make an effort to appear in states where he's gotten a lot of Republican push-back. Give a public relations moment or two to someone likely to primary against the Republican causing him trouble. You'll see that Republican reform, or better yet replaced without necessarily losing numbers in the midterms. Politicians only understand one thing, their phones Bologny jobs.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 08/28/2017 8:34 Comments || Top||

#2  What Trump Really Needs

...somehow I suspect he's getting on a regular basis.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2017 11:26 Comments || Top||

#3  How about a giant shop vac to suck up the swamp crud in DC?
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/28/2017 12:24 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Who was James T. Hodgkinson and where did he go ?
[Daily Caller] We’ve been hearing a lot about "right-wing violence" lately. If we’re to believe our moral, ethical, and intellectual betters, there’s a Klansman on every street corner and a Nazi under every bed. There’s nothing more terrifying than a "white nationalist" who lives in his mom’s basement, which is why it’s okay for feral Antifa children to beat these guys up and drench them with balloons filled with piss. It’s "self-defense."

But what happens when an act of violence is irrefutably motivated by left-wing ideology? What happens if, for example, a Bernie Bro named James T. Hodgkinson shoots at a bunch of congressmen for the explicit reason that he hates Republicans and wants them dead? How do we fit that into the preferred narrative?

We can’t. There’s no way. So we just leave it out entirely.

I’m glad Rep. Scalise is on the mend. But as I read that WSJ story, I can’t help but notice there’s no mention whatsoever of who shot him, or why. He’s recovering after "being shot." Passive voice. A gun went off and a bullet hit him. No other details.

Who was the shooter? What was the motive? Did it just happen on its own, somehow? Is this normally how the WSJ reports on politicians who’ve been shot?

If James T. Hodgkinson had been a Trump supporter who shot and almost killed a Democratic congressman for political reasons, he’d be the most infamous man in America. But now, just two months after his attempt to murder a group of Republican lawmakers, he’s not even worth mentioning.

If I didn’t know better, I’d think the press is sad that Hodgkinson didn’t succeed.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2017 07:48 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yet another 'inconvenient truth.'
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2017 7:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Don't you understand that guns attack people all by themselves? It's why we need gun control.
(I hope I don't have to say sarcasm...)
Posted by: ed in texas || 08/28/2017 10:00 Comments || Top||

#3  Say, huh?
Posted by: Clem || 08/28/2017 15:00 Comments || Top||


Government
Texas Governor: President Called and said 'whatever you need, you've got'
h/t Gates of Vienna
[FoxNews] Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) expressed his gratitude to President Trump for his help in the wake of Hurricane Harvey's devastation in the Houston area.

Hurricane Harvey hit southeast Texas as a category 4 storm on Friday after Texans were encouraged to evacuate the area. President Trump declared the hurricane a major disaster even before it hit, ensuring resources were ready to go after the storm passed.

President Trump's response to the crisis has been "extremely professional, very helpful," the governor assured, adding that the two spoke on the phone several times.

"He called and said, 'Governor, whatever you need, you've got.'"
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 07:26 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It doesn't matter what Trump does. This whole hurricane is his fault. He pulled out of the Paris climate accord. Hurricane Harvey is a direct result. /sarcasm
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 08/28/2017 9:28 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Confederate flag sales surge after Charlottesville violence
Gates of Vienna
The owner of Alabama Flag & Banner, likely the last remaining U.S. retailer to sell the Confederate flag, said that sales surged after the violent protests two weeks ago in Charlottesville.
They don't teach much physics in progressive universities - such as Newton's third law,
do they?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 07:17 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Try and find a vintage (non-Chinese knockoff) one of these for under $200 USD.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2017 8:09 Comments || Top||

#2  You might destroy statues but you cannot kill ideas. Action and reaction.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/28/2017 18:59 Comments || Top||


Tucker: NFL Players Going ‘Out Of Their Way' To Show ‘How Much They Hate' America [VIDEO]
[Daily Caller] NFL players refusing to stand for the national anthem are going out of their way to show how much they hate America, Fox News host and Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson said Thursday evening.

"We’re only two weeks in the NFL preseason and many of the league’s richest players have gone out of the way to let you know how much they hate your country," Carlson said. "On Monday, a dozen members of the Cleveland Browns refused to stand for the national anthem because racism or something."

Carlson then highlighted Ohio Supreme Court Justice Bill O’Neill’s viral Facebook post in which he said that players who kneel during the national anthem "disrespect the veterans who earned them the right to be on that field." O’Neal, as Carlson pointed out, is a Vietnam veteran.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2017 07:09 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It appears a very high percentage of NFL donated brains are found to have Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) injuries. Contributing 'hate-rage' link or unrelated factor ?

Due to the cross-gender (non-NFL) occurrence, something tells me CTE is unrelated and stand-alone. Let the donations continue. Much more could be learned and shared, if sensitivities permit.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2017 7:22 Comments || Top||

#2  This is exactly how we ended up with soetoro. People who just don't know any better slavishly supporting the NFL. I gave up on it entirely when it became the No Firearms League, but lots of "good 'ol boys (and gals)" just gotta support their team, no matter how noxious the organization or its employees become.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/28/2017 7:24 Comments || Top||

#3  ...tribes. Now coming to understand why so many non-slave holders fought for their state? They were betrayed by 'management' as well.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/28/2017 8:13 Comments || Top||

#4  ...tribes. Now coming to understand why so many non-slave holders fought for their state?

Prescient outcomes ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2017 8:17 Comments || Top||

#5  America will hate them back and the NFL will go down with them and they'll have to get regular jobs that pay far, far, far less. Good luck with that.

Do they really need adults to explain this sort of thing?
Posted by: rjschwarz || 08/28/2017 8:29 Comments || Top||

#6  From February of this year, hard numbers on the television ratings drop, and why it won't really matter to the team owners for a while. Key bits:

NFL ratings were down all season, and there’s no reason to think they’ll get better next year

[Recode] Football was down 9 percent during the regular season and 6 percent during the playoffs.

Sure, this could be a temporary blip and NFL ratings could come back next year. But there’s really no reason to think that.

It’s much more logical to assume that NFL ratings, like all other TV ratings, are under pressure because audiences have many more choices -- Snapchat, Facebook, Clash of Clans, etc. — and they are using those choices.

The argument that live events or live sports or the NFL are immune to that pressure seems like wishful thinking from industries that have bet many billions on that theory being true.

But! That doesn’t mean NFL games aren’t incredibly valuable to TV networks — in part because of the pressure on overall ratings. Even a weakened NFL dominates TV ratings, so if you want to reach a truly mass audience, NFL games are still the go-to choice for advertisers.

And when the next big NFL TV contracts start rolling over in 2021 and 2022, you will certainly see bidding from big digital players like Amazon and Google/Alphabet, who will want a piece of that audience themselves.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2017 9:38 Comments || Top||

#7  I was at the Denver/Green Bay game this Saturday and surprisingly no one sat or kneeled. Was surprised after all the news hype. We'll see as the season goes on, but if starts becoming a team thing, as much as I love the game I'll turn it off.
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/28/2017 12:09 Comments || Top||

#8  Been watching sports for years now with the sound off, with the exception of the LA Angels broadcast, which is rather down home and informative (no virtue-signalling, finger-wagging, etc.) The wife got one of them Alexa thingies a spell ago, and we listened to R. Carlos Nakai throughout the NFL preseason games yesterday. Very Zen.

I avoid ESPN like the fuqing plague. Still yell at the TB whenever they show some diqhed like that feller on Seattle of the one on SF. But that's just a brief fit of pique.
Posted by: JHH || 08/28/2017 12:44 Comments || Top||

#9  Keep yer wallet away from them. Starve the beast.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/28/2017 12:50 Comments || Top||

#10  Quite frankly, I think playing any national anthem before a pro sports event is ridiculous. Yes, it may be "tradition", but, especially in baseball with so many foreign players (not to mention in basketball and ice hockey), the days are over where teams consisted of virtually 100% Americans.

Yes, play the anthem at international events. But at pro events? C'mon. Show me another country besides Canada where that is done.

(Having said that, I think many of these athletes are scummy ingrates.)
Posted by: Clem || 08/28/2017 14:58 Comments || Top||

#11  Totally agree, Alaska Paul.
Posted by: Clem || 08/28/2017 16:13 Comments || Top||

#12  The US has been strong through unity and that unity is reinforced by the national antgem being played at many events. Nations that do not do so are splintered politically and are week as a nation and are a nation in name only.

The disrespect displayed by overpayed brats is an indication of the loss of that wisdom and if enough non-Americans continue to flood in this nation will splinter into a mosaic of third world hell holes.
Posted by: Threatch Jeamp8135 || 08/28/2017 17:35 Comments || Top||

#13  Y'know, we really could use a national antigen.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 08/28/2017 18:51 Comments || Top||

#14  Jim Brown had a talk with these players. They will be standing for the National Anthem.
Posted by: Threatch Jeamp8135 || 08/28/2017 19:27 Comments || Top||

#15  Regarding US unity we need to start pushing for assimilation among new immigrants, but how when they feed into Blue states who promote the opposite.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 08/28/2017 19:43 Comments || Top||


Trump vs. the Enemies of the People
h/t Instapundit
It's true that Donald Trump cannot yet claim a major legislative accomplishment. It's also true that he himself bears some of the blame for that: the distractions of his chaotic style have given cover to a divided and spineless GOP legislature. Nonetheless, those of us who voted for him with misgiving can still feel more than well pleased with his three major achievements so far: the appointment of an excellent Supreme Court justice; the battle against the Giant Squid-like beast of the regulatory state; and the fact that he's not Hillary Clinton, a felonious battle-axe who would've continued the Chicago-style corruption of the Obama administration and destroyed the American Experiment with freedom-smothering socialism. Speaking personally, I'd put Trump on Mount Rushmore for that last achievement alone.

But there's a fourth major accomplishment too, unofficial and extra-governmental though it may be: Trump's emotional torture of the press.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 02:29 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What is interesting is that the "Press" are so beyond reason that they are now calling for burning down the house - ie 1st Amendment. They go with it.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/28/2017 8:16 Comments || Top||

#2 
"But there's a fourth major accomplishment too, unofficial and extra-governmental though it may be: Trump's emotional torture of the press."

More than that, I think, it is that he has succeeded in goading and baiting the media into revealing, as plain as day to anyone with eyes and a functioning brain, the fact that they are little more than paid propagandists for the Democratic Party, in a relationship that differs little from that between the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Pravda and Izvestia.
Posted by: Dave D. || 08/28/2017 10:19 Comments || Top||

#3  #1 What is interesting is that the "Press" are so beyond reason that they are now calling for burning down the house - ie 1st Amendment. They go with it.
Posted by: Procopius2k 2017-08-28 08:16


...CLARIFICATION: They will be able to say anything they want, and you will be able to say anything you want as long as they approve of it.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 08/28/2017 18:20 Comments || Top||

#4  Trump did reveal the press for what it is.

He also showed the deep disenchantment with the government which exists within his voters. Bernie Sanders also did this with a different block of voters. The conclusion is that the majority of voters are not satisfied with what the politicos and Deep State spoon feeds us.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/28/2017 18:57 Comments || Top||


66% of Americans now fear speaking their minds in a politically correct nation
h/t Instapundit
Is the nation switching from the land of the free and the home of the brave -- to the land of the silent, and the home of the reluctant? Citizens are wary of speaking their minds, a new poll suggests. Many Americans are opting to stay quiet in an intensified culture of political correctness fostered by activism and often biased media coverage.

"Few Americans think they have true freedom of speech today and think the country is too politically correct," reports a new Rasmussen Reports survey.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 02:26 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Quit being bitches and not worry about the bullies.
What they gonna do? Sue? I
Posted by: chris || 08/28/2017 7:12 Comments || Top||

#2  I know! Lets ask that guy who got 'googled' (1).

(1) Googled - fired for speaking one's mind in a reasonable fashion in a company who claims to be 'diverse and encourages speaking one's mind' - as long as it follows the established groupthink.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 08/28/2017 8:01 Comments || Top||

#3  66% who actually responded. Sort of like all your other polls. And you wonder why polling sucked last year.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/28/2017 8:02 Comments || Top||

#4  The fatal flaw in polling is those of us who are uninterested in being participants or profiled in some unknown database. We vote, we buy things and we support ideas/institutions privately.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 08/28/2017 12:34 Comments || Top||

#5  Mr. Wife is a Never Trumper, and believes pot should be legalized, so we both tread carefully. Among his colleagues, and in my own activities where I know most of the participants think differently than I, I talk about things other than politics, or listen politely, asking the occasional question. It's been so at least since George W. Bush was elected -- we voted for opposing sides as usual (Mr. Wife was the one who chose Mr. Bush the first time, though he loathes the man; he voted for him, or against the other guy, the second time, too, despite loathing him more than before).

But Mr. Wife's parents have disagreed about key matters of faith since he was a child -- his mother became Evangelical, while his father remained a desultory Catholic. They respect one another enough to agree to disagree, she quietly prays for him as she prays for all of us, and they celebrated their silver anniversary a few years ago.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2017 14:31 Comments || Top||

#6  "I'll fucking kill you!" has never been PC parlance.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/28/2017 15:23 Comments || Top||

#7  Similar verbiage, however, has been. And is.
Posted by: Pappy || 08/28/2017 16:02 Comments || Top||

#8  The problem is cars get keyed, tires get flattened, and it comes from one side of the political spectrum. California Conservatives learned these lessons about the tolerant left decades ago.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 08/28/2017 18:18 Comments || Top||

#9  So who are the REAL fascists?
Posted by: newc || 08/28/2017 22:30 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Excessive m@sturbation is hurting China's military
The Chinese military says excessive masturbation and too many video games are among the reasons its physical-test failure rates have reached an "alarming high."

The People’s Liberation Army is now dishing out advice after one city saw more than half its candidates -- 56.9 percent -- fail their physicals, according to the BBC.

PLA found that 8 percent of candidates failed because of abnormalities found in their scrotum from sitting too much. Another 25 percent flunked because of blood and urine tests.

It recommended that candidates follow 10 basic principles, including exercising more, cutting out fizzy drinks and booze, limiting computer games and masturbation, not getting a tattoo and drinking clean water.

The advice was instantly mocked by users on social media microblog Sina Weibo.

"Next year they’ll be asking for circumcisions!" said one user.

The PLA has struggled to recruit new members, despite desperate measures to find candidates like releasing a rap recruitment video last year.

The Ministry of Defense last month announced the PLA would be cut from 2 million to 1 million -- a move that some believe is due to a lack of new recruits.
They probably have better things to do.
Posted by: gorb || 08/28/2017 02:25 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Patient: "Doctor, I'm always tired and have no energy". Doctor: "You've got to stop m@sturbating." Patient: "Why?" Doctor: "Because I'm trying to examine you."
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 08/28/2017 7:48 Comments || Top||

#2  The Ministry of Defense last month announced the PLA would be cut from 2 million to 1 million

My God, what are all the Generals and Colonels going to do!

[Well, you want to copy the Americans, they've seemed to have figured it out, now that they have more generals per troop than they did in WWII.]
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/28/2017 8:00 Comments || Top||

#3  Prohibiting TATS? Who will be left to conscript ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2017 8:03 Comments || Top||

#4  When the ratio of boys to girls is so out of wack that most will not find a mate I would think this sort of thing would be expected. Perhaps they need a lot of salt peter in the food.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 08/28/2017 8:26 Comments || Top||

#5  Another result from the one child policy is most of them tend to be spoiled little shits. You think the kids in the west expect everything to be handed to them on a silver platter? Ain't got nothing on these vaginal turds.
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/28/2017 9:04 Comments || Top||

#6  Digression:
Well, according to the legendary story they told us at Airborne School at Benning, it's what got Jimi Hendrix (James Marshall Hendickson) out of the 82nd Airborne.
Posted by: ed in texas || 08/28/2017 9:42 Comments || Top||

#7  Mr. President, we must not allow a m@sturb@tion gap!
Posted by: General "Buck" Turgidson || 08/28/2017 10:53 Comments || Top||

#8  They don't have a draft?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 08/28/2017 12:03 Comments || Top||

#9  You think the kids in the west expect everything to be handed to them on a silver platter?

Apparently the big thing for the Asian princes in Quincy, MA is to drive around in Maseratis.
Posted by: Raj || 08/28/2017 12:09 Comments || Top||

#10  You think the kids in the west expect everything to be handed to them on a silver platter?

Yes.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 12:16 Comments || Top||

#11  I hereby find Rantburg guilty of "Double-Dutch" Cultural Appropriation.

The .gif is from a Gilligan's Island episode about a Japanese soldier who arrived at the island still fighting WWII. Vito Scotti, an Italian-American, played the soldier.

Good times. Good times.
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 08/28/2017 12:28 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Toxic masculinity and privilege (via Instapundit)
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 02:23 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Perhaps the Celestial System Administrator decided it was time to demonstrate man's goodness and his inherent ability to come to the aid of his fellow man. I have read that he oftentimes uses heavy rainfall to create such illustrations.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2017 6:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Or Houston needed a clean flush.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/28/2017 16:52 Comments || Top||

#3  "d it was time to demonstrate man's goodness and his inherent ability to come to the aid of his fellow man"

Anything to change the idiot news cycle.
A comparative value watching Houston versus that gutter New Orleans and their pathetic, useless, whiny asses.
Posted by: newc || 08/28/2017 22:26 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
EPA will no longer sponsor the annual climate leadership awards

It's no secret that Fred Scott Pruitt is a climate change skeptic, and the Environmental Protection Agency has been undoing Obama-era policies ever since he took office. The agency's latest move follows that trend: the EPA has announced that it's no longer sponsoring the 2018 Climate Leadership Awards program, which recognizes companies that take steps to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and publicly report their progress. As a result, the awards program itself and the Climate Leadership Conference that usually goes with it have both been canceled for next year.



EPA spokesperson Jahan Wilcox apologized but didn't explain why the EPA withdrew its support. As he told Reuters in an email "It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that [the EPA doesn't] plan to fund an awards ceremony on climate change." To start with, the administration's proposed budget for 2018 will see its funding cut by 31 percent, which will specifically affect its climate change and pollution initiatives. Even without the budget cut, though, it's hard to imagine the EPA supporting a climate change award in its current state.
Personally, I hope it's because of the budget cuts.
Earlier this year, the agency pulled down its climate science pages to reflect the views of the White House. The president also signed an executive order rolling back climate policies approved by the previous administration. And let's not forget that the United States withdrew from the Paris Accord, an agreement between 142 countries to make an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Getting rid of the "Climate Change Leadership Awards" should help offset the "damage" by doing away with the need for attendees to all show up in their personal airplanes.
While the awards program for 2018 was canceled, the EPA's former co-sponsors, non-government organizations C2ES and the Climate Registry, intend to continue the tradition. They're now looking for a new co-sponsor willing to fund and host the program in the future.
Maybe Gore can host them in the mansion he lives in with the doors and windows wide open year-round.
Posted by: gorb || 08/28/2017 02:01 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Terror Networks
Philippines' Duterte says police can kill 'idiots' who resist arrest
MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte told police on Monday they could kill "idiots" who violently resist arrest, two days after hundreds of people turned the funeral of a slain teenager into a protest against his deadly war on drugs.

Duterte broke off midway through a prepared speech at the Hero’s Cemetery on the outskirts of Manila and addressed impromptu comments to Jovie Espenido, the police chief of a town in the south where the mayor was killed in an anti-drugs raid.

"Your duty requires you to overcome the resistance of the person you are arresting... (if) he resists, and it is a violent one... you are free to kill the idiots, that is my order to you," Duterte told the police officer.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2017 01:41 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...and people think Trump's a loose cannon?
Posted by: Raj || 08/28/2017 2:06 Comments || Top||

#2  And of course Trump is personally throwing stones and certain people in Saudi Arabia.
Posted by: Clem || 08/28/2017 16:28 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Famed Theater Ends 34-Year Tradition Of Showing ‘Gone With The Wind' Because It's ‘Insensitive'
[Daily Caller] The board of directors of the Orpheum Theatre Group in Memphis, Tennessee has decided to end a 34-year tradition of screening "Gone with the Wind" because the board says the movie is now "insensitive."

Board members announced the plan to remove the 1939 epic from The Orpehum’s 2018 summer movie series on Friday, reports Memphis CBS affiliate WREG-TV.

"As an organization whose stated mission is to ’entertain, educate and enlighten the communities it serves,’ the Orpheum cannot show a film that is insensitive to a large segment of its local population," board members said in a statement.

"While title selections for the series are typically made in the spring of each year, the Orpheum has made this determination early in response to specific inquiries from patrons," the statement also said.

The Orpheum -- a 2,308-seat theater in downtown Memphis -- held its final screening of "Gone with the Wind" on Aug. 11.

Since the early 1980s, the Orpheum has generated massive amounts of revenue showing the 238-minute epic about the complex love life of a plantation owner’s daughter during the Civil War era.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2017 01:06 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I never liked that movie. Now Waterloo Bridge...
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 4:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Well I guess they can start showing that Democratic Favorite: Birth of a Nation.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 08/28/2017 7:52 Comments || Top||

#3  I read a few weeks ago that a theater cancelled a showing of 'Blazing Saddles' because it was, um, inappropriate. Now, that's a tragedy.
Posted by: ed in texas || 08/28/2017 9:52 Comments || Top||

#4  "Zulu" may become more appropriate for the times.
Posted by: General "Buck" Turgidson || 08/28/2017 11:20 Comments || Top||

#5  They could always show Disney's Songs of the South(1946)...
Posted by: magpie || 08/28/2017 12:17 Comments || Top||

#6  the 238-minute epic about the complex love life of a plantation owner’s daughter during the Civil War era

That's one view, I suppose. I look forward to the day when not everything is forced to be political.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2017 14:37 Comments || Top||

#7  They should have a movie "celebrating diversity" at a college, bring in all the snowflakes and then surprise them with Blazing Saddles.

The total spontaneous combustion would atomize the campus.
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/28/2017 15:32 Comments || Top||

#8  #5 magpie: Zip-a-dee-do-da, zip-a-dee-day . . . . ;-D
Posted by: Barbara || 08/28/2017 15:42 Comments || Top||

#9  Why not wildly overreact and tear the theater down?
Posted by: Raj || 08/28/2017 18:53 Comments || Top||

#10  Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/28/2017 21:12 Comments || Top||


Government
So, California Is Considering Taxing Air Drinking Water
[Townhall] So, in the land of progressivism that is the state of California, the legislature could be imposing a tax on drinking water aimed at repairing the state’s public water works. It will be 95¢ a month that is projected to generate $2 billion in revenue over the next 15 years. Surprisingly environmentalists and farmers have forged an alliance on this issue. The farmers want contaminated water cleaned due to the runoff from their farms. Farms will face fees that will total $30 million in revenue annually to help with the needed repairs. This is still going to be a fight in the state legislature, however. And the water companies don’t seem too keen on becoming the state’s tax collector on this issue. Kate Murphy of The Mercury News has all the details about this new measure:

Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2017 01:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Will it be paying for the high speed rail project that nobody's going to use?
Posted by: Raj || 08/28/2017 1:51 Comments || Top||

#2  They will be taxing air - they just haven't found a way to collect "breathing fees" yet.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 2:04 Comments || Top||

#3  Will it be paying for the high speed rail project that nobody's going to use?

Only enough to cover up where it really ends up going towards.
Posted by: gorb || 08/28/2017 3:14 Comments || Top||

#4  Then they will ask for higher taxes for subsidies to save the small farmer they just water taxed out of business
Posted by: Airandee || 08/28/2017 6:21 Comments || Top||

#5  And it'll mean higher prices on agricultural products from the bigger farms.
Posted by: Pappy || 08/28/2017 7:48 Comments || Top||

#6  California is going to run out of money. The California government will have to betray the environmentalists and allow fracking, or they will have to betray the Unions and admit they can't fund the gov pensions.

This tax on water is a delaying tactic and politically so stupid that if it goes through and shoots up water bills will cause every politician to be replaced.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 08/28/2017 8:36 Comments || Top||

#7  What happens to the poor that can no longer afford vital WATER.
What happens to landlords that rent others but that don't have individual meters on each unit? They have to up rents big time?

This is a direct attack on the poor and if the Republicans don't use this tax as a cudgel to beat the Democrats out of Sacramento they truly are the STUPID party.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 08/28/2017 8:40 Comments || Top||

#8  California is going to run out of money.

They are already out of money. They are borrowing and using sleazy book tricks to keep it from looking as bad as it is. They are trying to raise taxes on everything to stop the leaks, but people and businesses keep leaving. One of the reasons they are so hell bent on keeping illegals is it means more federal funding for schools and medicaid. Cut that off and they are completely screwed.
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/28/2017 9:10 Comments || Top||

#9  Next: air. What other basics of human existence can they tax?

Amazingly, they haven't legalized 'it' like Nevada. If it legal, you can tax it. I guess the matriarchy is still a ladder rung above tax collecting in the hierarchy of power and authority in CA.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/28/2017 10:16 Comments || Top||

#10  I choose "Regressive Taxes That Hurt the Poor" for $100, Alex.
Posted by: magpie || 08/28/2017 12:20 Comments || Top||

#11  We are witnessing a rerun of the 1996 classic "Escape from L.A." featuring Snake Plissken--now the mass jailbreak from the rest of California. Taxes on everything have a way of turning people into conservatives unless they are on receiving end of the taxes or are ideologically too hard-wired.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/28/2017 12:36 Comments || Top||

#12  Now wait a minute. The UN has declared water a basic human right. Is Cali willing to go up against the military might of the United Nations?
Posted by: SteveS || 08/28/2017 12:48 Comments || Top||

#13  or they will have to betray the Unions and admit they can't fund the gov pensions.

The betrayal is not adequately funding the pensions at every point between when the promises were made and now. The betrayal has already happened, it's just that the politicians and union leadership have avoided publically admitting it.

To be fair, this is a general problem, not specific to the government entities in California; as those chickens settle sequentially on their various roosts, the political results will be very interesting, indeed.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2017 13:36 Comments || Top||

#14  Reminder for those who think air is next to be taxed: CA already taxes the air via its Cap n Trade program.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 08/28/2017 14:30 Comments || Top||

#15  'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman
And you're working for no one but me.



And the irony is that the generation that praised the songwriter of those words are now "The Taxmen!"
Posted by: Ulurong Slavise4137 || 08/28/2017 15:09 Comments || Top||

#16  Sadly, yet another lure. TX has a surplus of water.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/28/2017 17:03 Comments || Top||

#17  What about taxing "thingy"?

You know...thingy.
Posted by: charger || 08/28/2017 18:00 Comments || Top||

#18  If the thingy result in the birth of a child, tax them heavily. If it doesn't result in the birth of a child, you get of scot-free. Abortions get taxed at two/three times the "birthing" tax rate. All such taxes must be paid immediately!

This will fix a lot of issues pretty quickly.
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance || 08/28/2017 19:11 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Trump's pardon of Arpaio sends strong messages to immigrant advocates, Mueller team, loyalists
[Wash Times] President Trump’s pardon of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio has set off a new round of recriminations, with Republicans saying they disagreed with the decision and Democrats saying it was an unforgivable abuse of power that presages still more political mischief.

Several anti-Trump lawmakers said the president was sending a signal to the Justice Department -- and even to special counsel Robert Mueller, investigating Russian meddling in the election -- that he is willing to go to great lengths to protect political allies.

Immigrant rights activists, meanwhile, said the president’s pardon was dismaying for Hispanics who for years had protested the sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, and who mobilized en masse last year to defeat Mr. Arpaio, who was seeking a seventh term in office.

"It is disheartening that [the president] set the bar so very low for his first pardon," said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the senior Democrat in the Senate. "It is a shame to see the pardon power devalued like this. The ex-sheriff is a self-aggrandizing braggart who promoted racist law enforcement practices and cost taxpayers millions, and that is a reason they did not re-elect him."
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2017 00:51 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A butt-hurt Senator Patrick Leahy? Where's the downside ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2017 0:56 Comments || Top||

#2  To me it just says that Trump will be using the few powers remaining to a POTUS* in his fight against the New Class - which controls the (all powerful) bureaucracy.

*In Obama's era we were constantly surprised in what Obama could get away with - but that wasn't because the power of his office, but because he fully shared the goals of the New Class - including the goal of living high on public means.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 1:59 Comments || Top||

#3  "The remedy for those who disagree with the pardon is at the ballot box.”

And the remedy for those who disagree with rulings in a criminal court is appellate court - not pardon.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 08/28/2017 9:45 Comments || Top||

#4  And the remedy for those who disagree with rulings in a criminal court is appellate court

Which will take years.

By that time the parade will have moved on, and so will the barking dogs.
Posted by: Pappy || 08/28/2017 11:02 Comments || Top||

#5  Depot, I've posted "Conservatism Is Not A Suicide Pact" in opinion, which addresses your arguments in polite & thoughtful fashion.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 11:55 Comments || Top||

#6  ....which addresses your arguments in polite & thoughtful fashion.

g(r)om, are you in... transition ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2017 11:57 Comments || Top||

#7  I beg your pardon?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 11:58 Comments || Top||

#8   Depot, I've posted "Conservatism Is Not A Suicide Pact" in opinion, which addresses your arguments in polite & thoughtful fashion.

WADR grom, the author of that piece appears to be an opportunistic RINO hunter with an Alinskey fetish. None of his numerous logical fallacy arguments refute that Arapio didn't willfully disregard a legal ruling and was in contempt of court. He also conviently ommited Arapio's legal options (beyond a pardon) still available. Sorry, I don't agree with the author that the rule of law is a "unicorn". Nor do I agree that elected officials that disregard the law should be exonerated out of loyalty or symbolism.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 08/28/2017 13:56 Comments || Top||

#9  Have it your way
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 14:07 Comments || Top||

#10  Most everyone subjected to jury duty has 'contempt for court'.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/28/2017 17:01 Comments || Top||

#11  A lot of dope pushers were pardoned by Zero. A lot of them.

The ignorant who complain about the President's support of law enforcement officers such as this Sheriff can, and will, rot in hell
Posted by: Threatch Jeamp8135 || 08/28/2017 18:49 Comments || Top||


Economy
Oil markets roiled as Hurricane Harvey hits U.S. petroleum industry
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil markets were roiled on Monday after Hurricane Harvey wreaked havoc along the U.S. Gulf coast over the weekend, knocking out numerous refineries and some crude production.

Gasoline prices hit two-year highs as massive floods caused by the storm forced refineries across the U.S. Gulf Coast to shut down.

In crude markets, Brent futures were pushed up by pipeline blockades in Libya, but U.S. crude futures eased as the U.S. refinery shutdowns could reduce demand for American crude.

Harvey came ashore over the weekend as the most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in more than 50 years, killing at least two people, causing large-scale flooding, and forcing the closure of Houston port as well as several refineries.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2017 00:44 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Bad Week End for Austrian-Italian Alpine Mountain Climbing
BERLIN (AP) -- Eight mountain climbers have died in three different accidents this weekend in the Austrian and Italian Alps.

The Austrian Red Cross said five mountain climbers died Sunday in the Austrian Alps in Wildgerlostal on Mount Gabler, east of Innsbruck, and a sixth climber was severely injured, the Austrian news agency APA reported.

The group of six men from Altoetting in the southern German state of Bavaria was roped together when they fell in a very remote area of the mountain at an altitude of about 2,000 meters (6,562 feet.) The lone survivor was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Salzburg and is in stable condition, public broadcaster ORF reported.

Apparently one member of the group slipped and fell on a glacier, bringing the others down with him, the head of the rescue teams, Martin Reichholf, said. The group fell down 200 meters (yards) on a steep slope covered with ice and debris.

German news agency dpa reported the ages of the climbers who died as 34, 56, 65, 69 and 70. It said the survivor is 75 years old. None of the climbers was named in keeping with German privacy law.

Three Italian mountain climbers also died this weekend, two of them on Sunday after falling into a crevasse in the Italian Alps. The Italian news agency ANSA said one of the crevasse victims was rescued in grave condition, but later died.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2017 00:37 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "None of the climbers was named in keeping with German privacy law."

Disconnecting from this sad set of accidents, but this one statement stuck out. Wouldn't someone's death (after notification of kin, of course) be a matter of public record?
Not in Germany... my wife worked for a large multinational as a sales executive. In Germany, a sales manager could not post sales results by sales reps name or corporate number under privacy laws. She couldn't even get a spreadsheet based on performance by rep even though she had Global responsibility and quota for a portion of the revenue...she could only get the ranking of the locations to search for underperformers. Only In country managers could see detail at that level.
I guess everyone got the coffee and you didn't know Gunther was not a closer until his cube was vacant.
Posted by: Capsu78 || 08/28/2017 19:29 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Hall of Famer Tony Dungy Applauds Ben Watson for Calling Abortion, ‘Ultimate solution form of Racism'
[Breitbart] NFL Hall of Famer Tony Dungy, signaled support for current NFL player Ben Watson regarding his recent comments on abortion. Last week, Live Action wrote a piece which shared comments made by Watson in an interview with Turing Point Pregnancy Resource center. In that interview, Watson pointed out abortion’s racist foundation, and the motivations of it’s founder Margaret Sanger.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2017 00:28 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Mankind paints God's greatest sin in the flavor of the times.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/28/2017 18:51 Comments || Top||


Iraq
4 ISIS Bad Guys die in artillery attack in Salahuddin
Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) Four Islamic State militants targeted by shelling were killed in north of Salahuddin province, the pro-government paramilitary troops said.

“The 29th brigade targeted a gathering of militants at al-Zawya crossroads in north of Salahuddin,” the media service of al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) said in a statement on Sunday.

“The shelling left four militants killed and a vehicle burnt,” it added.

Pivotal regions that link between each of Diyala, Salahuddin and Kirkuk, are still held by the militants which poses threats to the liberated regions. Iraqi troops are urged to prevent the militants infiltration between Salahuddin and Kirkuk provinces, especially the regions stretching along Hamreen mountains and Al-Azeem town.

The government is expected to launch military offensives at the few remaining IS havens, including in Salahuddin.

The group has been actively engaged in the Iraqi government’s war against IS, and claimed full control over Iraq’s borders with Syria, but has been operating only on ground with air support from the Iraqi army warplanes.

PMUs, an alliance of more than 60 mostly Shia militias, are recognized by the government as a national force under the Prime Minister’s command after an edict from Iraq’s top Shia clergy was made in 2014 ordering their formation to counter IS militants.
Posted by: badanov || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Southeast Asia
IS video urges Muslim militants to wage jihad in Marawi
[Telegraph] The Islamic State has released a new video calling on Muslim militants in southeast Asia to wage jihad in the besieged city of Marawi, while denouncing America and Australia for aiding the Philippine military. Its release comes as the battle between IS-linked militants and government forces in the southern Muslim city of Marawi enters its fourth month.

In the seven-minute long video, produced by IS's Al Hayat media, a militant identified as Abul-Yaman from Marawi, appeals to Muslim brothers in east Asia, particularly those in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand and Singapore to migrate to the city “to perform jihad.”

The graphic and chilling footage, which depicts dead Philippine soldiers and so-called martyrs dying in battle, is accompanied by an American-accented narrator who condemns the “subjugation” of Muslims in the Philippines.

It opens with scenes of young men engaged in fierce fighting amid the city ruins, brandishing AK-47s through incoming mortar fire and air strikes. In scenes reminiscent of the destruction of Mosul, it then cuts to the destruction of a Catholic church, showing militants tearing down a cross, smashing statues of the Virgin Mary and ripping up posters of the pope. A masked militant shouts, "We will make revenge ...We will be in Rome, inshallah."

The terrorist group then turns its wrath on Philippine President Duterte, for running to “his masters, the defenders of the cross, America, along with their regional guard dog Australia” to beg them for help. It accuses Philippine allies of aiding Duterte in “a malicious air campaign” against the Islamic State.

The fighting in Marawi has put Canberra on edge, with rising concerns that the growth of IS in the region could herald more terrorist attacks in Australia. In June, Australia deployed two surveillance planes to Mindanao to help the Philippine military in the battle. Earlier this week, Australian intelligence chief Nick Warner also met President Duterte in an unusually public visit to discuss progress.

Regional neighbours are also worried. Malaysia’s top terrorist officer, Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay, said that the new video was “powerful” and would “inflame the passions” of Muslim fanatics. He said, "Since the Marawi siege started, we have seen increased activities from IS cells in Malaysia trying to enter into the southern Philippines."
Posted by: ryuge || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Home Front: Politix
Glenn K. Beaton: There were no good guys at Charlottesville
[ASPENTIMES] "Two sides" didn't produce the horrifying violence at Charlottesville. There were many sides. All were bad in varying degrees.

The worst of the bad guys, of course, was the homicidal loser who drove a car into a crowd of people for the purpose of killing as many as he could. This is the guy who once assaulted his mother and was drummed out of the Army after four months.

The next worst were the neo-Nazis. Yes, other groups are equally violent, equally racist, equally hateful and equally stupid. But neo-Nazis are in a special category because their predecessors -- the ones that were just as violent, racist and hateful but not as stupid -- nearly succeeded in plots of worldwide genocide and totalitarianism.

Neo-Nazis are even worse than the originals in some ways. The originals mistakenly believed they were in the right, while the new ones know they're not. Nazism is not the political philosophy of the neos -- what do these morons know about politics or philosophy? -- but is just an excuse for being ugly.

The next worst at Charlottesville were the groups that have coalesced like sticky grime under the pseudo-mysterious and grandiloquent name "Antifa." That's evidently supposed to be a contraction of "anti-fascism
...a political system developed in Italy symbolized by the Roman fasces -- thin reeds, each flimsy in itself but unbreakable when bound into a bundle. The word is nowadays thrown around by all sorts of people who have no idea what they're talking about...

The Orwellian irony to Antifa
...the armed wing of the Democratic Party...
and their name is that they're not anti-fascist at all. They're fascists. Like other fascists, they censor, shout down and sometimes physically assault anyone they don't like.

And like all fascists, their rationale for their violent rhetoric and actions is that they're right and their victims are wrong, and so shut up.

Some of the Antifa fascists and some of the neo-Nazi fascists were at Charlottesville for the express purpose of picking fights in front of TV cameras. That's what fascists do. These two groups with much in common succeeded in their common objective.

The next-worst were the politicians. The mayor of Charlottesville and the governor of Virginia apparently gave advance orders for the cops not to intervene in the anticipated violence.

This misguided order originates in the myth propagated in some political quarters that, as between a guy with a baseball bat who wants to beat the daylights out of a bystander and a guy with a badge who wants to stop him, the latter is the bad guy. And if only the latter will stay clear of the former, the former will put away the bat.

It's time to reaffirm what we all used to know -- that the thin blue line of guys with badges who are sometimes killed are the good guys. At Charlottesville, the politicians ordered these good guys not to do their job.

Next is the media. CNN, for example, has gone from a respected news source to a lame and partisan propaganda machine at endless war with 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...
.
The media didn't exactly cause Charlottesville. But they have legitimized violence in the name of "resistance" to the president duly elected by people that the media thinks are too stupid to elect the candidate whom the media chose and too stupid to see the media chose one.

This media is not only biased, but cheap. Before the dead woman was even buried, the media had already shifted away from news and onto their anti-Trump propagandizing. News reporting is difficult and expensive, but propagandizing is easy and cheap -- it requires no more than a free talking head talking out of his fat, lazy butt.
Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I think it's just the opposite. We know that nazis and commies are bad. But the politicians and media are still hiding behind the fantasy they are the good guys.

The worst of the bad guys are:

1) The media, because they deliberately withheld important facts about the story. Then they focused on Trump's reaction to it and accused him of sympathizing with nazis. They ignored the obvious story which was the police not doing their job. Their obvious intent was to slant the news to make Trump look bad even though Trump had nothing whatsoever to do with it.

2) The Charlottesville mayor and police chief and the governor of Virginia because their job is to maintain law and order. They didn't just fail, they deliberately refused to do their jobs. The obvious and highly important question the MSM refused to ask these people was "Are you really that stupid or did you want violence so you could blame it on Trump?"

3) Antifa and BLM were determined to keep the white whatever-you-call-them from exercising their Constitutional rights to free speech and assembly.

4) The white whatever-you-call-them. Nobody likes these people but that doesn't matter. If they lose their right to free speech we all lose it.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 08/28/2017 11:55 Comments || Top||

#2  What everyone seems to be forgetting is that the whole thing was started by a group of First Amendment advocates who didn't want history erased, not by neo-Nazis, white supremacists, alt-righters, Brown Shirters of various flavours on the left, and the rest. There really were good guys at Charlottesville, but the mayor and governor fed them to the jackels -- with the assistance of the police.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2017 14:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Once again a reasonable voice of reason.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/28/2017 18:59 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon, Syria declare ceasefires in fight against ISIL
[Al Jazeera] Leb's army has announced a ceasefire in its offensive against ISIS fighters at the country's northeast border with Syria.

The ceasefire took effect at 7am local time (04:00 GMT) on Sunday in order to determine the fate of Lebanese soldiers who are in ISIS captivity, the military statement said.

Reporting from Beirut, Al Jazeera's Mohammed Jamjoom said that the ceasefire was a significant development in Leb, given that "the army seemed very confident just a couple of days ago that they were going to rid those areas of the last remnants of ISIS fighters".

"Now the Lebanese government is sending out a message that they care for their soldiers, and are trying to ensure that these soldiers can be released as quickly as possible," he said.

The fate of nine soldiers that ISIS, also known as ISIS, took captive then remains unknown.

Syria, Hezbollah ceasefire
Shortly after, the Lebanese group Hezbollah and the Syrian army, which are engaged in another offensive against ISIS on the other side of the frontier in Syria along the border with Leb, announced a ceasefire that took effect at the same time.

A Hezbollah military media unit said the ceasefire took place "under a full agreement to end the battle in west Qalamoun against [ISIS]".

At the time of writing, there were no reports of ISIS fighters failing to respect submit to both ceasefires.

Hezbollah's Al Manar TV reported that the gang has received the bodies of five of its fighters who were held by ISIS. The bodies will be identified by DNA testing later.

The Lebanese army has been battling ISIS fighters in their last border foothold, near the town of Ras Baalbek.

The assault began last week, coinciding with the Hezbollah and the Syrian army offensive in Syria's western Qalamoun region.
Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Lebanon finds suspected remains of ISIL-held soldiers
[Al Jazeera] Lebanese authorities have located human remains believed to belong to soldiers kidnapped by ISIS in 2014, according to a top security official.

The announcement on Sunday came hours after the Lebanese army declared a ceasefire deal with the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS, also known as ISIS) gang along the border with Syria in exchange for information on the missing soldiers.

The head of the General Security agency, Major General Abbas Ibrahim, said ISIS fighters who had surrendered led his agency and the Lebanese army to the remains.

"We have removed the remains of six bodies. We are expecting the number to go up to eight," he told news hounds gathered in Leb's capital, Beirut.

"We believe that these remains belong to the soldiers."

Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Southeast Asia
Pope Francis laments persecution of Rohingya Muslims, prays God 'saves them'
[DAWN] Pope Francis decried the persecution of Rohingya Moslems in Myanmar and prayed that they receive "full rights" on Sunday.
It's just turrble the way them dagnabbed Buddhists persecute everybody around them, ain't it, Pope?
The pontiff said there was "sad news about the persecution of the religious minority of our Rohingya brothers."

Thousands of Rohingya are trying to flee into Bangladesh after escalated deadly violence at home. Last week, Rohingya bully boyz attacked police and border outposts, and security forces responded.

Francis asked the faithful in St Peter's Square to pray that God "saves them" and they receive help.

A Myanmar bishop recently said Francis will "most likely" visit Myanmar, while the Vatican has said only a pilgrimage is being considered.

Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi has blasted the Rohingya bully boy attacks as a bid to undermine efforts to "build peace and harmony in Rakhine state. "

Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Harakah al-Yaqin

#1  It's good that having dealt with all the problems in Europe and the Catholic world, he can concern himself with the welfare of Muslims that are invading another country.
Posted by: ed in texas || 08/28/2017 9:38 Comments || Top||

#2  UGH
Posted by: newc || 08/28/2017 23:52 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
One Of North Korea's Most Dangerous Weapons Is The Ancient An-2 Biplane
With tensions between North Korea and the U.S., South Korea, and its allies at an all time high, and as the U.S. and South Korea execute combat drills, Pyongyang ordered its own military show of force. North Korea's recent exercises included a massive artillery barrage and an amphibious assault near the maritime border between the two long time foes. Images released by state media shows North Korea's modernized commando units going through their paces, but one picture was of especially unique interest.

The photo in question shows a gaggle of An-2 biplanes dropping North Korean commandos at low altitude. At first glance it just looks like another canned and somewhat laughable military display by the North Koreas, but it's actually relevant practice for what North Korea has planned for the opening hours of an all-out conflict on the peninsula.

During the dark of night, as part of the opening throws of a battle royale between South Korea, the U.S. and North Korea, hundreds of these old radial engine biplanes will fly low over the ground at slow speed, penetrating deep into South Korean airspace. For the vast majority of their crews it will be a one-way mission--to deliver Kim Jong Un's hardest shock troops deep behind enemy lines. This is done via low altitude air drop, as seen above, or by landing in short stretches of fields or roadways.
Continues.
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  We have a couple of these in Anchorage. Good old lumbering workhorses.

The problem with the airborne shock troops scheme is that the olde sod in the north will become a glass Roentgen soup bowl in the meantime.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/28/2017 0:18 Comments || Top||

#2  SK launches hundreds of thousands of anti-air drones that home in on the sound of biplane engines.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 08/28/2017 1:16 Comments || Top||

#3  ...When I was with the 8th TFW at Kunsan AB, ROK, (84-85) we were officially told that the An-2s were damned near invisible on just about any radar we had.

We were also told that if we saw NK commandos dropping from one (and they have to climb up above about 1000 ft to get safely out with the loads they'll be carrying), we weren't allowed to shoot at them until they got to the ground.

The universal response was, "Yeah, right."

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 08/28/2017 5:26 Comments || Top||

#4  Barrage Balloons?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 5:36 Comments || Top||

#5  Why is a chocolate Korean punching Canada?
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 08/28/2017 7:14 Comments || Top||

#6  Exactly, Grom.
Posted by: KBK || 08/28/2017 13:46 Comments || Top||

#7  um, somebody had to?
Posted by: Helmuth, Speaking for Elminemble9310 || 08/28/2017 13:48 Comments || Top||

#8  Why is a chocolate Korean punching Canada?

I think that is maple syrup; looks like sprouts on his shoulders.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 08/28/2017 14:07 Comments || Top||

#9  Covered in Small Arms Air Defense. Lead the target, volume fire. M2s hitting it will do a number previously experienced by German and Japanese pilots.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/28/2017 15:05 Comments || Top||

#10  And VW busses as troop carriers.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/28/2017 16:54 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Anbar Antix


6 ISIS Turbans smoked in Iraqi airstrike

Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Six Islamic State militants were killed in airstrike that targeted western Anbar, a security source from the Shia-led paramilitaries in the province was quoted saying.

“Fighter jets bombed a booby-trapping workshop in al-Masharei region in central Qaim town, west of Anbar, which left six militants killed,” the source told Waradana news website.

The source indicated tunnels under the workshop that links the nearby regions to others. “The shelling caused explosion of several booby-trapped vehicles that were inside the workshop.”

In related news, a security source from the province said an IS leader was killed in Qaim.

Speaking to Alghad Press on Sunday, the source said, “jets killed Ali Anaz Suleiman Turfah Salmani, known as abu Othman, as shelling targeted a house he lives in at Qaim.”

The leader, according to the source, is considered a prominent figure at the so-called ‘caliphate department’.

Anbar’s western towns of Anah, Qaim and Rawa are still held by the extremist group since 2014, when it occupied one third of Iraq to proclaim a self-styled Islamic Caliphate. Iraqi troops were able to return life back to normal in the biggest cities of Anbar including Fallujah, Ramadi and others after recapturing them.

Fighter jets from the Iraqi army and the international coalition regularly pound IS locations in the province.
Posted by: badanov || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Afghanistan
ANA soldier defects to Taliban
More likely returning from the cold
An Afghan National Army soldier based in Baghlan-e-Markazi district in Baghlan province reportedly defected early Sunday to join the Taliban, security sources confirmed.

According to them the unnamed soldier also took with him three weapons.

The soldier was from 209 Shaheen Military Corps and joined a group of Taliban insurgents in the Jarkhashak area in the same district, sources said.

The soldier is reportedly a resident of Sar-e-Pul province, security sources confirmed.

However, local officials have not yet commented and neither has the Taliban.
Posted by: badanov || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


India-Pakistan
A militarised state
[DAWN] THERE’S nothing like a dose of patriotism and nationalism to muddle the senses. We’ve just been told what kind of country Pakistain will be, but all we can think is, Trump said what?

How dare he!

Well, dare Trump did and on we’ve cheered our boys for thundering back. We’ve shown him! Except, they -- the boys -- have shown us. Shown us what kind of country Pakistain will be.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Palestinian girl dies after being struck by settler car
[Al Jazeera] An eight-year-old Paleostinian girl who was run over by an Israeli settler in the occupied West Bank was buried on Sunday.

Aseel Abu Oun was killed a day earlier by a settler who drove his car near where she lived in the Foroush Beit Dajan village, in the Nablus district.

She was leaving a supermarket around noon with a friend when she was struck.

Haaretz, the Israeli daily newspaper, reported that police detained the driver of the vehicle for questioning.

Police said they opened an investigation, Haaretz reported, but did not specify whether the settler had been released.

However,
some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves...
members of Aseel's family said the announcement of a police investigation was simply an attempt by the Israeli government to quell public anger.
Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Pulwama martyrs laid to rest
[Daily Excelsior] The three police personnel, who attained martyrdom during yesterday fidayeen attack in Pulwama were laid to rest in their respective villages, while one nursing orderly was cremated at Khanpora Sarai, Budgam.

The deaders were Constable Imtiyaz Ahmad Sheikh, son of Mohammad Afzal, a resident of Churet, Qazigund, SPO Mohammad Yousuf Hajam, son of Abdul Rehman, a resident of Chandgam, SPO Mohammad Rafiq Hajam, son of Mohammad Akram, a resident of Chandgam and Amarjit Singh, son of Jaswant Singh, a resident of Khanpora Sarai, Budgam.

Martyr Imtiyaz Ahmad Sheikh was lone bread earner of his family. He had already lost his father in his early age and had taken the responsibility of the family on his shoulders. He is survived by aged mother, wife, 5-year-old handicapped daughter, a 2-year-old baby and unmarried brother and sister.

Martyr Mohammad Rafiq Hajam who was son of a barber was working as barber in DPL. The father will have to toil hard to feed his family now. He is survived by elderly parents, one brother and three sisters.

Martyr Mohammad Yousuf Hajam was also working as barber in DPL and used to work hard to support his poverty stricken family. He used to assist his father who is working as labourer to run the affairs of the family. Having meager income, the family will be hit hard by his loss. He is survived by old parents, grandmother, two sisters and a brother.

Martyr Amarjit Singh who was working as nursing orderly in DPL is survived by aged parents and a 10-year-old daughter. His father is a retired employee. The wife of the dear departed had already passed away.

Huge number of people including respectable citizens participated in their last rites. Wreath laying ceremony for these deaders was held at DPL Awantipora.
Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistain Proxies


Landmine blast martyrs two soldiers in South Waziristan
[DAWN] Two soldiers were martyred and three injured in a landmine blast in South Wazoo's Barmal area on Sunday.

A forces jeep was patrolling the area during a search operation when it struck a landmine planted on the roadside, security officials said.

Two personnel was struck down in his prime while three were critically injured. The injured were moved to Field Hospital, Wana.

Forces began a search operation in the area following the incident but no arrests were reported.

A statement from the army's media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations, named the two martyred soldiers as Sepoy Attaur Rehman and Sepoy Imran Ali.

Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Science & Technology
Mystery deaths of HL Hunley submarine crew solved - they accidentally killed themselves
Trigger Alert: Johnny Rebs!
The mystery of how the crew of one of the world’s first submarines died has finally been solved - they accidentally killed themselves.

The HL Hunley sank on February 17 1864 after torpedoing the USS Housatonic outside Charleston Harbour, South Carolina, during American Civil War.

She was one of the first submarines ever to be used in conflict, and the first to sink a battleship.

It was assumed the blast had ruptured the sub, drowning its occupants, but when the Hunley was raised in 2000, salvage experts were amazed to find the eight-man crew poised as if they had been caught completely unawares by the tragedy. All were still sitting in their posts and there was no evidence that they had attempted to flee the foundering vessel.
Continues at link.
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...There's a drawback to Dr. Lance's theory. Now, without question, the crew of the Hunley was badly shaken by the explosion (not so much of the spar torpedo, but of the explosion of the Housatonic's magazine), to certainly include soft tissue injuries and yes, likely broken bones and possible internal bleeding.

But that happened at approximately 8:47 PM. According to Dr. Lance, the crew should have been dead then and there - however, at approximately 9:30 PM, one of Housatonic's survivors saw a blue signal light to the southeast. This would have been Hunley's response to a signal light from her base on the Isle of Palms - where CSA personnel said they gave THEIR blue signal light and stated for the official record that it was answered.

Had the explosion done the damage Dr Lance believes it did the wreck of the Hunley should have been found very close to the wreck of the Housatonic. Hunley, however, was found some distance to the east (IIRC .5 nautical miles, or about three thousand feet)

The crew was unable to crank the boat back against the ebb tide, so after they cleared the attack site her skipper realized that and let her drift. But it's likely that he did so submerged - which means the crew was using up the air in the hull, exhaling more CO2, and getting progressively colder - and unknowingly, allowing the sub to gradually flood through sprung seams in the ballast tanks. It would have been a death of a thousand cuts that they never even realized was happening. When they finally did surface again, it was just enough for the skipper to open the hatch and show his lantern - maybe 12"-18" at most. He shows the light (and there are in fact some questions as to whether the light was shown from shore, but I lean towards the conclusion that it was), submerges again, and now the boat is too heavy to do anything other than proceed pretty much straight into the seabed. It hits the bottom, rolls onto one side, and begins to flood through the open-topped ballast tanks. The crew - concussed, anoxic, hypothermic, and likely suffering from CO2 poisoning, doesn't stand a chance. They're found where they are because they have no way to go anywhere else, and opening the hatches at thirty feet down isn't an option.

I do not mean or intend ANY disrespect or insult to Dr Lance and her team at Clemson - she is clearly a superb engineer who has performed solid experiments and come up with a technically possible conclusion. However, I respectfully disagree with her.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 08/28/2017 5:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Thanks Mike, an amazing story. Like many others, I recall reading about Lt. George Dixon's coin , which was found when the sub was recovered.

Hopefully these stories and historical artifacts will survive our present-day anarchists misguided fury.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2017 6:41 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Maute patriarch dies in Philippine custody
[Reuters] The father of the leaders of the Maute group that seized control of Marawi in May died while in government custody. Cayamora Maute was taken to a hospital on Sunday afternoon with high blood pressure but he died along the way, the Philippine prison bureau said.

The occupation of Marawi City by the Maute group, led by his two sons and which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, triggered a brutal urban battle that entered its fourth month last week.

Maute had several ailments when he was taken into custody in June, including diabetes and hypertension, Xavier Solda, spokesman at the Bureau of Jail and Management and Penology said. The extent of his involvement in the group is unclear but when he was arrested in June, a military spokesman expressed hope he could persuade his sons to stop fighting and surrender.

In a statement, Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Eduaro Año said, "This is an unfortunate incident for his family, but more so to the victims of terrorism in Marawi and their relatives who are awaiting justice and expecting that Cayamora would answer and atone for his involvement in the Marawi rebellion."
Posted by: ryuge || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Maute group (IS)

#1  Good, now we'll see a battle for control.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/28/2017 0:52 Comments || Top||


Europe
Islamic State claims responsibility for Brussels stabbing
[Ynet] The Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(ISIS) grabbed credit for a knife attack on soldiers in the Belgian capital of Brussels on Friday, the group's Amaq news agency said on Saturday.

"The executor of the stabbing operation in Brussels is a soldier of the Islamic State and carried out the operation in response to calls for attacks against coalition states," Amaq said, referring to a US-led coalition fighting the Sunni Lion of Islam group.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


-Land of the Free
Greenfield: The church of the left
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..."

The First Amendment assumes that the proper sphere of government is policies, not values. And so it protects the right of political participation and prohibits a state church that would define values.

The government had the right to decide to go to war with France. It did not have a right to decide what you should believe. Politics extended into the realm of policies, not beliefs.

But as religious belief declined, politics replaced it as the repository of moral and ethical values. This transformation began on the left. The left was the least religious in the traditional sense. And the most likely to build up an ideology of secular values with which to displace traditional religious values.

The last century witnessed an extensive effort to scrub religious values out of government. But this effort was matched by an equally comprehensive project to replace them with the left’s own values. Unlike the wall between church and state, there were few legal safeguards against writing values into legislation if they were irreligious ones. The church was deemed to be the true threat. Not the state.

But the end result looks very much like an establishment of religion. Even in the church sense.

The values written into the legislation reflect those of certain churches, but not others. When nuns are forced to pay for birth control and Christian photographers with traditional beliefs are compelled to participate in gay weddings, the government is picking religious establishment “winners and losers”.

The winners are roughly on the religious left and the losers on the religious right.
Read the rest at the link
Posted by: badanov || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The church of the left and the moral cowardice of the "right".
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 1:42 Comments || Top||

#2  And the church of the left achieves a lot through guilt and sense of sin.
You thought unkind thought - maybe you even thought the N word - when encountering a group of black youts. Sin! Penitence (doing what we - the priests of the new religion - tell you)!
You felt disgust meeting an "in your face" homosexual. Sin! Penitence!
You saw a bunch of obvious illegals and thought "They don't belong here - this is my country". Sin!
And, of course, there are indulgences for sale. And the laws are different for Princes of the Church, of course.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 2:18 Comments || Top||

#3  One is hard-pressed to determine what the church/body politic of the left is since it is based on political correctness and victimhood which are ever-changing.

The First Amendment assumes that the proper sphere of government is policies, not values.

It is doubtful that policy can be pursued without values to guide it. We see the outcome of pursuing scientific policy without a moral base--we end up with a corrupted process with faked memes and faked research for political purposes.

Worse than the schism of politics and religion which we have is a theocratic form of government which unifies government policy with religion.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/28/2017 8:44 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Bull wounds anti-bullfighting activist in French arena
[YAHOO] An anti-bullfighting activist jumped into the arena in Carcassone, southern La Belle France, on Sunday and was promptly attacked by one of the animals he wants to protect, local police said.

Two protesters, a man and a woman, were in the audience before managing to make their way into the main ring during the "novillada", a series of fights involving young bulls.

One bull charged at the man who, according to police a received "a long but not deep" injury from its horns.

The protester, in his 30s, "was very lucky" that he was not properly gored and was only lightly injured, another source said.

He was taken to Carcassone hospital for examinations. His female companion was not inured and was placed in durance vile
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
by police.

Earlier two other protesters had briefly hung a banner saying "Stop Bullfighting" from the ramparts of the medieval French town.

Bullfighting is banned in most of La Belle France but is allowed in some southern regions where it is protected as part of local traditions.

Defenders of bull fighting say it has huge cultural importance, embodying traditions dating back hundreds of years but its popularity has been steadily waning in recent years.


Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sometimes the bull wins.
Posted by: gorb || 08/28/2017 3:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Apologies to Mel

Throw out your hands!!
Stick out your tush!!
Hands on your hips
Give them a push!!
You'll be surprised
You're doing the French Mistake Arena!
VOILA!!
Posted by: JHH || 08/28/2017 13:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Darwin?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 13:21 Comments || Top||

#4  Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/28/2017 14:37 Comments || Top||

#5  I fought a young bull in Mexico when I was much younger. (It was part of the entertainment at a restaurant built like a bull ring - I think mostly for the Mexicans rather than the tourists.)

The trick is to wait until the bull is almost upon you, then twirl to one side (yes, they gave me a cape to use) as it passes (really closely) - its reflexes are slower than ours - usually.

This idiot probably tried to pet the bull. And got what he deserved.
Posted by: Barbara || 08/28/2017 15:40 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Pak, Afghan military leadership agree on forming joint working group
[DAWN] Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and his Afghan counterpart on Sunday agreed to form a joint working group of the two armies, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) announced in a blurb.

Gen Bajwa proposed the working group during a discussion with Afghan Army chief Gen Sharif Yaftali on the sidelines of the Quadrilateral Counter-terrorism Coordination Mechanism (QCCM)'s meeting in Tajikistan.

The Afghan Army chief accepted the offer, said the ISPR statement.

The working group will "jointly work and formulate security recommendations for government level discussions aimed at addressing mutual concerns," said the release.

During the discussion, Gen Bajwa highlighted Pakistain's efforts for border security. He termed "dignified repatriation of Afghan refugees" and border security management as key factors for enduring peace.

COAS Gen Bajwa assured his Afghan counterpart of his "fullest cooperation" but made it clear that "Pakistain cannot bring the Afghan war into Pakistain."

Earlier, the senior military leadership of China, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistain had signed an outline for a cooperative mechanism at the QCCM meeting in Dushanbe. The mechanism will come into force after its endorsement by the respective governments.

Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


India-Pakistan
Two dead, three injured in Indian firing along LoC
[DAWN] Two people died and another three were critically maimed when Indian forces opened fire across the Line of Control (LoC) in Azad Jammu and Kashmire (AJK), officials and residents said on Sunday.

The casualties took place in Fatehpur village of Nezapir sector in Haveli district, which came under "unprovoked" Indian shelling from 10pm to 11pm, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Chaudhry Kashif Hussain said.

One shell landed in the house of Sheikh Mushtaq, 65, a retired schoolteacher, leaving his children Naveed, 32, and daughter Asma, 20, dead on the spot, Hussain said.

Naveed ran a photocopy shop while Asma was a BSc student.

Mushtaq, his wife Naseema Begum, 55, and another son Ansar, 25, were critically injured and hospitalised in Forward Kahuta, district headquarters of Haveli.

Indian troops had also shelled Nezapir sector earlier in the day - from 3pm to 5pm - but no casualties were reported during that spell.

Though there was no immediate word from the Inter-Services Public Relations -- the army’s media wing -- some residents claimed Pak troops had also responded to Indian shelling.

Condemning the "unprovoked and indiscriminate" shelling, AJK’s Minister for Information Mushtaq Minhas said it was the "height of barbarism" on the part of Indian troops to target innocent civilian populations along the LoC.

"Targeting the unarmed non-combatants with small and heavy arms is a criminal breach of international laws and conventions which warrants for immediate intervention of the international community in general and the United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
in particular," he said in a statement.

Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Iraq
Baghdad Bomb and Bullet Bulletin


3 die in double bomb attack

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Eight people were killed and wounded on Sunday when two booby-trapped vehicles exploded in two areas southwest of Baghdad, news reports said, quoting security sources.

The explosions hit the Abu Dsheir and the Shorta al-Rabaa (4th police precinct), the reports said. No official statement has been made yet of the final casualty toll, but one source, Alsumaria News, said three women were killed and five other persons were wounded in the Shorta al-Rabaa, while two others were killed in the Abu Dsheir region

1 dies in bombing in Jisr Diyala

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) One person was killed and two others were injured on Sunday when an explosive device went off at an area southwest of Baghdad, according to police sources.

Alsumaria News quoted the source saying that an IED placed on the side of a road near commercial shops in Jisr Diyala exploded, leaving one dead and two others wounded.

The explosion comes a few hours after two car bombings rocked two areas also southwest of Baghdad, killing and wounding eight people.
Posted by: badanov || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Harvey kills 2, injures 14 in Texas
[NOLA] Harvey spun deeper into Texas and unloaded extraordinary amounts of rain Saturday after the once-fearsome hurricane crashed into vulnerable homes and businesses along the coastline in a blow that killed at least two people and injured up to 14.

Throughout the region between Corpus Christi and Houston, many people feared that toll was only the beginning. Authorities did not know the full scope of damage because weather conditions prevented emergency crews from getting into the hardest-hit places. And they dreaded the destruction that was yet to come from a storm that could linger for days and unload more than 40 inches of rain on cities, including dangerously flood-prone Houston, the nation's fourth-largest.

In the island community of Port Aransas, population 3,800, officials were unable to fully survey the town because of "massive" damage. Police and heavy equipment had only made it into the northernmost street.

"I can tell you I have a very bad feeling and that's about it," said Mayor Charles Bujan, who had called for a mandatory evacuation but did not know how many heeded the order.

Some of the worst damage appeared to be in Rockport, a coastal city of about 10,000 that was directly in the storm's path. The mayor said his community took a blow "right on the nose" that left "widespread devastation," including homes, businesses and schools that were heavily damaged. Some structures were destroyed.
Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Yawn",
Wake me when it's over.
Oh, it's already over?
Where's the 12th Iman?
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/28/2017 0:56 Comments || Top||

#2  It has in fact been raining. I've had 24" now, that I know of (the rain gauge topped three times).
Posted by: ed in texas || 08/28/2017 9:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Well, on the bright side...my rooted vegetables have self-harvested.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/28/2017 16:59 Comments || Top||

#4  Contact noted a convoy of boats on trailers heading that way. Florida tags.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 08/28/2017 17:16 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Police disperse anti-US rally in Karachi
[DAWN] Police fired tear gas shells and baton charged an Imamia Students Organisation (ISO) rally on Sunday 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...
, protesting against the United States 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 recent diatribe.

The organisers of the rally had announced to protest outside the US Consulate, however, police officials said that the protesting students were denied permission to continue the rally beyond Numaish Chowrangi, reported DawnNews.

A heavy contingent of police intercepted the rally after they crossed Numaish Chowrangi and resorted to baton charge and shelling as the organisers of the rally refused to disperse peacefully. Police also used water cannons against the protesting students. TV footage shows that some arrests were also made during the police action.

Dozens of protesters, carrying Pak flags and chanting slogans against the US, had assembled at the Numaish Chowrangi to take out a rally to the US Consulate on Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan Road. Roads to the consulate had already been sealed by the city administration, using containers.

ISO and Majlis Wahdat-e-Moslemeen (MWM) have announced pressers to denounce police action against peaceful protesters.

Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Russian drones conduct 14,000 counter-insurgency operations in Syria
It sounds dreadfully impressive.
[AlMasdar] Aerial drones are being used to maximum effect by the Russian military which is looking to bolster Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Despoiler of Deraa...
in the battle against ISIS and the Syrian al-Qaeda branch (Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham).

The number was confirmed by Major General Alezander Noviko, Head of the Russian General Staff’s Office for the Development of UAVs, on Friday.

Contrary to the US’ large arsenol of armed drones, the Russian counterparts are for the most part unarmed and used in reconnaissance roles in order to monitor ceasefire regions, scout jihadist-held frontline positions or to ensure the safe delivery of humanitarian aid.

"The drones used in Syria have low radar, optical and acoustic signature," Novikov said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Big numbers.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/28/2017 0:49 Comments || Top||

#2  depends on what time line they are talking about. A difficulty with flying a large number of drones is RF interference with each others.
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance || 08/28/2017 2:11 Comments || Top||

#3  Given the ambiguous timeline, it's likely since the Rus arrived. As the lead units were Spetznaz, they probably brought them when they came, and sent back "bring more".
I could see using them every time you lager up, to just to check the neighborhood, and then send them out again midwatch. Better than a 'mad minute'.
Posted by: ed in texas || 08/28/2017 9:33 Comments || Top||


Turkish Army invades northern Syria, launches attack on Kurdish-held border town
[AlMasdar] On Sunday around noon, Ottoman Turkish soldiers crossed the border into a Kurdish-held part of northern Syria after which heavy festivities broke out between the warring parties.

According to a local outlet, the Ottoman Turkish military briefly entered outskirts of Bubana town, some 15 kilometers west of Ayn al-Arab (Kobane), but were quickly expelled by Kurdish border guards.

Sporadic skirmishes continue in the region with bullets flying across both sides of the border.

Despite being the strongest ally of the US-led coalition, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) remain at odds with the Ottoman Turkish military due to ties with the outlet PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party).

The Ottoman Turkish Army and allied Islamist groups already control a large chunk of territory in northern Aleppo; however, the Ottoman Turkish-led forces are yet to push east of the Euphrates River despite ongoing aspirations of reaching Raqqa province.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  So they will be fighting Russians?
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/28/2017 0:50 Comments || Top||

#2  No. They're staying away from the Russians as far as possible.
Posted by: Pappy || 08/28/2017 7:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Well, I hope the Russians go after them and bring back the memories of gentleman Tepes to the world.
Posted by: Dron || 08/28/2017 10:56 Comments || Top||

#4  if Turkish troops stay in Syria long enough they will eventually bump into Hezbollah and Iran
Posted by: lord garth || 08/28/2017 12:24 Comments || Top||

#5  I'm concerned a direct assault by the Turks on our 'ally' the Kurds in their homeland will engage US.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/28/2017 16:44 Comments || Top||


Europe
Finland stabbing suspect 'lied about his name, age'
[DW] Finnish police have released new information on the young Moroccan who allegedly killed two women in a Turku stabbing rampage. The man had been falsely identified as 18-year-old Abderrahman Mechkah.
He had been falsely identified by none other than himself -- in brief, he lied, as does the passive construction of the above sentence. And when lying no longer accomplished his goals, he murdered as many as he could.
The suspect gave a false name and age when talking to the police after last week's attack, authorities said on Sunday. The police have since determined that he was born in 1994, and that his name is not Abderrahman Mechkah, as previously stated. The suspect also used a false name when he requested asylum in Finland in 2016.
The age thing was discussed here the other day, but really, that's just playing the odds.
Officials refused to release the suspect's real name to the media. His true identity was reportedly provided by international police contacts.

"His identity has now been confirmed, so we know who we are dealing with," Detective Chief Inspector Crista Granroth of the National Bureau of Investigation told the Rooters news agency.

Previously, German authorities said that the suspect used multiple identities while living in Germany between late 2015 and early 2016.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  Why would anything he tells them not be a lie?
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/28/2017 0:51 Comments || Top||

#2  ...the suspect used multiple identities while living in Germany between late 2015 and early 2016.

I bet he was getting multiple welfare benefits as well, which makes him an honorary resident of Massachusetts.
Posted by: Raj || 08/28/2017 1:24 Comments || Top||

#3  But, at least, he's not confused about his gender.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 3:00 Comments || Top||

#4  Really buying into the "there is no truth" dogma, isn't he. It seems to sell well in 'higher education'.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/28/2017 7:56 Comments || Top||

#5  Probably also lied about who he thought was "akbar".
Posted by: ryuge || 08/28/2017 12:29 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Video: Islamist terrorists blow themselves up in Ingushetia
More on this story from August 16th.
[Daily Mail] Video has surfaced of an Islamist terrorist cell that chose to blow themselves up rather than surrender to police.

Police had tracked the four militants to a house in the village of Psedach in the Russian republic of Ingushetia, where they ordered the men to surrender. However, rather than give themselves up, the group chose to set of a bomb which destroyed their hideout, killing all four of them.

The Islamist cell members were wanted by the Russian secret service in connection with the attempted murder of policemen. Federal Security Service agents surrounded their hideout, and the group began shooting at the officers, who returned fire.

The video footage shows that specialist troops began shooting at the property with rifles, machine guns and mortars. Realizing that the game was up, the rebels then decided to blow themselves up rather than be captured. The video shows that the huge blast from their suicide bombs ripped the roof off the little cottage.

The terrorists were believed to be members of the Khunzakh militant group. Two of them, Bekhan Soltukiev and Mikhail Cherbizhev were wanted for a series of attacks on police officers. Authorities identified the third man who died in the blast as Khasan Khatsiev.

They have yet to release the identity of the fourth man killed in the explosion, which completely destroyed the building.
Posted by: ryuge || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Thanks for the link-up, TW.
Posted by: ryuge || 08/28/2017 12:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Always welcome, ryuge.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2017 13:14 Comments || Top||


Africa North
10 die in fighting near Tripoli
Members of Tarhouna’s notorious Kani brigade are reported to have killed ten people this morning in the small village of Rgaiat and nearby Suq Al-Khamis Emsihel on the road from Tripoli International Aiport to Tarhouna. They also destroyed homes and buildings belonging to the local Suwai family. The attack this morning followed the reported killing of three Kani militiamen last night by the Suwai family who were themselves acting in revenge for the alleged killing of one of the family members by the brigade earlier during the day.

Events started when Kani militiamen are said to have raided the family home in Rgaiat of Major Juma Al-Suwai, a former officer of Khamis Qaddafi’s 32nd Brigade, and killed him. He was visiting home for Eid from Benghazi where is now a member of the Libyan National Army.

In reprisal, members of the family reportedly attacked members of the Kani Brigade which controls the road from Esbaia to Tarhouna, killing three of them.

This morning, the brigade brought in heavy weaponry and tanks and proceeded to blitz the Rgaiat, reducing the family home and other buildings to rubble. They also attacked neighbouring Suq Al-Khamis Emsihel where, a month ago, they killed four local youths in a fight to re-estabish control over the town’s cement works.

It is reported that altogether 10 locals died in today’s attack, including a brother of Major Suwai.
Posted by: badanov || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas Arrests Six Members Planning to Join Islamic State in Sinai
[Breitbart] Special intelligence forces of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",, have foiled an attempt by six Hamas holy warriors to join Wilyat Sinai, the Egyptian branch of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
, a Hamas security source told Breitbart Jerusalem.

According to the source, two of those tossed in the slammer
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
are members of the al-Qassam Brigades’ unit of elite fighters and another is a naval commando. Two others are regular Hamas members and the last of the six was serving in the Hamas security services in the city of Rafah.

The group of six were arrested together, said the source, as they planned to infiltrate Sinai through tunnels in Rafah. They were arrested with Kalashnikov rifles belonging to Hamas in their possession, which they intended to take with them to Sinai. All six were transferred to a prison facility run by the al-Qassam Brigades’ special intelligence and, after initial questioning, are due to be transferred to a prison facility run by Hamas’ Interior Ministry.

The security source in Hamas said that the organization was surprised by group’s plan, which comes after an incident last week in which a Hamas security officer was killed while detaining two jihadists who were trying to infiltrate Sinai.

Earlier this week, a Gazook jihadist told Breitbart Jerusalem that Hamas arrested over 170 jihadists in the wake of the incident.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)


India-Pakistan
Audit reveals billions in irregularities in 2016 Haj operation
[DAWN] Auditors have found gross mismanagement and financial errors worth billions of rupees in the 2016 Haj operation, and uncovered a move by the Ministry of Religious Affairs to grant illegal favours to banks that collected Haj fees from applicants.

"Audit is of the view that non-adjustment of advances was [a] violation of rules and may lead to misappropriation," said the auditor general of Pakistain’s (AGP) report on the ministry’s finances.

The most serious audit objection relates to the ministry’s failure to provide documentary proof of expenditures made in regard to a Rs4.94 billion advance,
...the exchange rate is 105.45 Pakistani rupees to US $1, so that should be a little less than $47 million, unless I misplaced a decimal point...
paid to the Director General Haj, Jeddah from the Haj account and the Pilgrim Welfare Fund for the 2015 Haj operation.

Most damning, however, is the revelation that while the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony was informed about the audit requirements August 18, 2016, it submitted no reply to the AGP office.

Apart from not producing vouchers and other documentary evidence related to Haj expenditure, there are 10 other serious allegations of mismanagement against the ministry, most of which are related to the Haj operation.

One audit objection related to the ’illegal change in the MoUs to favour banks’, which allowed banks to keep the profits on the amounts submitted by unsuccessful applicants.

The audit report pointed out that before Haj 2015, the profit made by banks on Haj fees submitted by applicants was forwarded to the ministry.

However,
facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable...
an amendment was made by the ministry in its contract with the banks, without the approval of the Ministry of Law and Justice, stipulating that banks would pay the profits on fee amounts paid by successful applicants.

Due to this amendment, banks did not pay interest to the ministry on the amounts submitted by unsuccessful applicants, which were retained for 60 days or more.

Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  The Awans can always claim in court that their 'irregularities' in D.C. are "cultural."
Posted by: Pappy || 08/28/2017 7:37 Comments || Top||


Indian villagers lynch two Muslims transporting cattle
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Villagers in eastern India beat two Moslem cattle truckers to death on Sunday, police said, in yet another lynching on the pretext of protecting a beast considered sacred by many Hindus.

The drivers were transporting cows in West Bengal near the border of Bangladesh when they were stopped by villagers, police said.

"The villagers blocked the road and forced them to stop the vehicle. The two men were then dragged out of the vehicle and lynched. The driver of the vehicle escaped," said senior West Bengal police official Anuj Sharma.

It was too early to say whether the murders were motivated by religion or suspicions the men were mistreating the cows, police added.

An investigation is underway into the lynching and into whether the drivers had legally purchased the cattle or were smugglers involved in the illicit beef trade.

West Bengal permits cow slaughter, unlike many Indian states where possession or consumption of beef is banned, and some where life sentences are imposed for breaking the law.

India has been reeling this year from a spate of vigilante murders, especially targeting Moslems for allegedly killing cows or consuming beef.

Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  in yet another lynching on the pretext of protecting a beast considered sacred by many Hindus

Works for me.
Posted by: gorb || 08/28/2017 2:34 Comments || Top||


Ex-PM must stop assailing institutions
[DAWN] NAWAZ Sharif wants to have his cake and eat it too.

He wants to have his party’s government in power and yet behave as if he is in the opposition. He wants to talk about strengthening institutions and democracy while relentlessly attacking the very institutions of democracy. This must stop.

The speech Mr Sharif gave to an audience of lawyers on Friday was unwise and unacceptable. It is clear that the Supreme Court judgement which ousted Mr Sharif from the prime ministership is flawed and controversial.

Mr Sharif is rightly aggrieved and some of the questions he raised on Friday are pertinent to his family’s continuing legal difficulties.

A superior court judge monitoring a trial court’s proceedings against a defendant who the superior court has already declared to be unfit to hold public office appears to violate the principles of justice and due process.

Yet, Mr Sharif’s broadsides against the judiciary and dark allusions to threats against the democratic order are counterproductive.

Beyond the venting of personal grievances in public, it is not clear that the former prime minister has a strategy to strengthen the democratic order. A month since his ouster, the most Mr Sharif and his inner circle have been able to suggest is the need for a constitutional amendment to the qualification and disqualification criteria of parliamentarians.

While clarity is needed on the matter, the PML-N’s motives hardly appear to be altruistic. Indeed, the suggestion that a constitutional amendment be applied retrospectively to allow Mr Sharif to once again participate in electoral politics indicates that the PML-N continues to misjudge the national mood and is willing to deepen the political crisis simply to save its own leader.

Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Britain
UK police arrest 2nd suspect in Buckingham Palace sword attack
[IsraelTimes] Police investigating Friday’s sword attack outside Buckingham Palace in London tossed in the clink
You have the right to remain silent...
a second man on Sunday, a statement said.

"The man was arrested on suspicion of being involved in the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism at 10:15hrs today and he has been taken into custody," the statement said.
That does rather upset the lone wolf theory...
The 30-year-old man was arrested at an address in West London and police are searching the property as part of the inquiry.

A warrant for the extended detention of the 26-year-old man involved in Friday’s incident has also been granted, the statement said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Military court convicts Halamish terrorist’s family for not turning him in
[IsraelTimes] Five relatives sentenced to prison after judges rule they knew Omar al-Abed planned to carry out attack, failed to prevent it
To be fair, three months previously the PA had arrested young Mr. al-Abed and questioned him quite vigorously for a fortnight over his plans in exactly this direction without, apparently, any satisfaction. But before he went out that fateful night, he posted on Facebook that when dead he wanted his body covered with a Hamas flag. And Palestinians tend to give loyalty as families.
In a rare move, a military court convicted five family members of the terrorist who stabbed to death three Israelis in the Halamish settlement last month of failing to prevent the attack, the army said Sunday.

On July 21, Omar al-Abed left his home in Kobar and traveled to the nearby settlement. Inside the settlement, he went to the home of the Salomon family, who were celebrating the birth of a grandchild. al-Abed killed the father, Yosef Salomon, 70, and two of his children, Chaya, 46, and Elad, 36. Yosef’s wife, Tova, sustained several stab wounds to her back, but survived.

According to the Judea Regional Court, the family members "knew of [al-Abed’s] intention to carry out the attack and did not work to inform the security services as needed to prevent it."

Two of al-Abed’s brothers and an uncle were sentenced to eight months in prison. His father, Abd al-Jalil, was sentenced to two months in prison.

Abd al-Jalil, who was enjugged
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
in an initial raid after the attack, told the Haaretz daily last month that his son’s actions were understandable.

His mother, Ibtisam, was sentenced to one month in prison. She was also found guilty of incitement for praising her son’s actions in a widely shared video.

In addition to the prison time that they will have to serve, the five family members were given suspended sentences.

The family members’ sentences were meant to be commensurate with how aware they were of al-Abed’s intentions.

They were arrested in a series of raids on their home in the weeks following the brutal terror attack.

The Israel Police investigated the allegations against the al-Abeds and handed over their findings to military prosecutors, who indicted the family members earlier this month.

Last Thursday, a military court indicted al-Abed for the murder of Yosef, Elad, and Chaya Salomon and the attempted murders of Yosef’s wife, Tova, and daughter-in-law Michal, along with her five children.

On August 16, the military demolished the family’s home in Kobar, as an additional form of punishment against the al-Abeds.

Israel defends the practice of demolishing terrorists’ homes as an effective means of deterring future attacks, though it has been criticized as a form of collective punishment.

There has been considerable political support, notably from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for seeking the death penalty against Abed, but the Military Advocate General’s office, which will try the case in an IDF court, said that the punishment is not Israeli policy, despite it being permissible under law.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Arabia
1,705,181 pilgrims arrive in Saudi Arabia
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] According to latest reports, 1,705,181 pilgrims have arrived by Friday in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The General Directorate of Passports said in its daily statistics that 1,602,661 pilgrims arrived by air; 87,685 by land; and 14,835 by sea.

The number of pilgrims from Pakistan reached 183,337 while 170,050 were the number of pilgrims that arrived from India. Indonesian pilgrims that arrived numbered at 226,541.

Meanwhile, Saudi security forces have paraded through Mecca ahead of Hajj, with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other top officials among those watching.
Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia

#1  Good place to stop and take a breath.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/28/2017 0:53 Comments || Top||

#2  So when's the mass stampede?
Posted by: Raj || 08/28/2017 1:25 Comments || Top||

#3  Guess that I'm thinking when I see this picture.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 1:52 Comments || Top||

#4  Guess that I'm thinking when I see this picture. Posted by g(r)omgoru

Target folder ?

Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2017 1:56 Comments || Top||

#5  E = mc^2
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 2:00 Comments || Top||

#6  In case one might need to know, the lat/long is 21.422487 N, 39.826206 E.
Posted by: SteveS || 08/28/2017 3:29 Comments || Top||

#7  Usually around the 'Stoning of the Devil' day, Raj.

Believe that's towards the end of the festivities.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 08/28/2017 8:00 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Suicide bomber kills 13 in Helmand: Afghan official
[DAWN] A Taliban
...Arabic for students...
jacket wallah killed at least 13 people and maimed several more in an attack on a convoy of Afghan soldiers in Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
province late Sunday, an official said.

"A suicide bomber detonated an explosive-filled car as the Afghan National Army convoy passed a small market in Nawa District of Helmand," Omar Zwak, a front man for the provincial governor, told AFP.

He added that civilians and forces personnel were among the dead while more than a dozen others had been maimed.

A source working at a nearby hospital told AFP on condition of anonymity that the bodies of 15 victims had been brought to the hospital. Another 19 injured were also admitted, he added.

"The majority of the dead belong to Afghan forces and most of the maimed are civilians," the source said. The Taliban grabbed credit for the attack in a WhatsApp message sent to journalists.
Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Home Front: Culture Wars
The real threat to our republic is the Orwellian Antifa
Snip. Duplicate.

--trailing wife at 2:45 p.m. EDT
Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  We had this article yesterday.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 2:06 Comments || Top||

#2 
The real threat to our republic is the Orwellian Antifa

No, the real threat is the entire corrupt, radical left-wing media/government/education complex. ALL OF IT.
Posted by: Dave D. || 08/28/2017 10:23 Comments || Top||

#3  Dave D. has a point. To me, the scariest part of the whole Charlottesville mess was the refusal of the MSM to even mention Antifa. That's the Ministry of Truth in action and it is truly chilling.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 08/28/2017 11:09 Comments || Top||

#4  Scary, yet entirely predictable. The preferred media narrative is "violent, racist right-wing Republican extremists go on another horrific rampage" and pointing out Antifa's role in the violence doesn't fit neatly into that story. So they ignore it. And a significant chunk of our population is dumb enough to believe the propaganda.
Posted by: Dave D. || 08/28/2017 11:27 Comments || Top||

#5  We had this article yesterday.

So we did. Good catch, g(r)omgoru.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2017 14:46 Comments || Top||


Britain
Christian child forced into Muslim foster care
Snip. Duplicate.
Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  Tower Hamlets refused to respond to requests to explain why it had chosen to place a white, English-speaking Christian child with Muslim foster carers, including one household where she was unable to understand the language spoken by the family.

Can you say "virtue signaling?" I thought you could!

P.S.: Fire anyone at Tower Hamlets who won't answer questions or can't answer logically.
Posted by: gorb || 08/28/2017 3:25 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Swearing proves you are f****** brilliant: Intelligent people are more likely to be foul-mouthed and walk around naked at home, claims study
  • [Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] Researchers at the University of Rochester found that swearing is linked to intelligence

  • More than 1,000 people were quizzed on how often they displayed certain behaviours

  • The findings, published in the journal Personality And Individual Differences, revealed each personality had its own unique behaviours
Somannabish! I knew it all along! And stop peekin' through my foolking curtains!
Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Effing two out of three ain't bad.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 08/28/2017 0:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Horsefeathers! Bugs Bunny always managed to outsmart Yosemite Sam!

And to prove it, just ask any Leftard.
Posted by: gorb || 08/28/2017 3:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Bugs Bunny runs around naked.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 3:35 Comments || Top||

#4  Not always.

Posted by: gorb || 08/28/2017 4:23 Comments || Top||

#5  "...foul-mouthed and walk around naked at home..."

...and then we get married, thereby reverting to the mean...

Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 08/28/2017 8:58 Comments || Top||

#6  Bugs was a cross Dresser? Who would have known?
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/28/2017 10:09 Comments || Top||

#7  It was a running gag for decades.

Posted by: Pappy || 08/28/2017 11:31 Comments || Top||

#8  potty-mouthed - yes; naked - um, esthetics fobids...
Posted by: Helmuth, Speaking for Elminemble9310 || 08/28/2017 13:49 Comments || Top||

#9  This study must be from the Journal of Irreproducible Results a journal of scientific humor. The study must have been done by someone who swears and runs around their house naked.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/28/2017 20:47 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Two Boko Haram factions ready for dialogue -- Arrested sect commander
[PREMIUMTIMESNG] Two factions of the Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
insurgency group may be ready for talks with the federal government, Abdulkadir Abubakar, a former commander of the group has claimed.

Mr. Abubakar, also known as Abu Muhammad, was the chief intelligence officer of the Boko Haram group and one of its top commanders, until his arrest in June by the military in Buni Yadi, Gujba local government area of Yobe State.

Mr. Abubakar told the News Agency of Nigeria at his cell in Maiduguri that Albarnawi and Mamman Nur factions of Boko Haram were willing to dialogue and cooperate with the government to defeat the most visible leader of the group, Abubakar Shekau
... the lunatic leader of Boko Haram who has been reported dead at least eleven times, pledged his body and soul to ISIS, told his fighters to hang it up once or twice, and been fired by the Caliph and refused to step down ...
According to him, Mr. Shekau, whose capture, dead or alive, the military high command has ordered, has been the major obstacle to peace, since the insurgency began in 2009.

"Shekau is not willing to surrender due to his high handedness. Unfortunately, the government and military authorities accorded priority on dealing with Shekau, who is blood thirsty.

"Albarnawi has indicated interest to dialogue with the government to end insurgency and provide a lasting solution to the crisis. Albarnawi discusses this with members of his circle. And I can assure the government that he would cooperate to achieve peace.

"The two factions are willing to cooperate with Nigerian Government to defeat Shekau," he said.

Mr. Abubakar’s claim about the readiness of the factions to dialogue with the Nigerian authorities could not be verified as he had been incarcerated since June. But he insisted that the groups are predisposed to a peaceful resolution of the eight-year-old crisis.

Mr. Abubakar claimed to have undertaken various espionage missions and provided intelligence to the holy warriors, which enabled them to hit a long list of targets, among which were the abduction of 275 students at Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, and the massacre of students at Federal Government College, Buni Yadi. Over 20 students were murdered at Buni Yadi.

He also claimed to have been involved in other attacks on schools in Maiduguri, Damaturu, Potiskum and Mamudo.

The detained Boko Haram commander expressed his willingness to give the military useful information to crush the forces of Evil and arrest Shekau.

"I am cooperating with the military and I am ready to provide information on the whereabouts of Shekau. Shekau has left his enclave in Sambisa and moved deep into Mandara Mountain. I know the area where he is hiding and willing to provide a guide to the military.

"The intensified military offensive has weakened Shekau’s position and that of the other groups," he added.

Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram (ISIS)

#1  "Shekau is not willing to surrender due to his high handedness."

Shekau answers to others a bit more senior.
Posted by: Pappy || 08/28/2017 7:27 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
US aware of Afghan Taliban's presence in Peshawar and Quetta: Gen John Nicholson
[DAWN] Gen John W. Nicholson, the top United States commander in Afghanistan, claimed on Saturday that the US was aware of Afghan Taliban
...Arabic for students...
leadership's presence in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
and Quetta, adding that the military would continue to put pressure on Taliban sanctuaries inside and outside Afghanistan.
If they don't have their addresses and phone numbers they're doing something wrong. Of course, the Paks weren't able to find bin Laden within walking distance of their military academy.
In an exclusive interview with Tolo News, the top commander discussed 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 recent speech in which he revealed his long-awaited policy on the Afghan war.

Trump, in his first address as the commander-in-chief, called for greater troop deployment and Indian involvement in Afghanistan while lambasting Pakistain for offering safe havens to "agents of chaos".

According to Gen Nicolson, the matter of the alleged sanctuaries for Lions of Islam was being addressed "in private" by the governments of US and Pakistain.

"The Quetta shura, Peshawar shura -- these shuras are identified by cities inside Pakistain; we know Afghan Taliban leaders are in these areas," said Gen Nicholson in the interview. "Support for Lions of Islam and turbans has to be reduced -- [it] has to be stopped."

The top commander said that Washington's new policy in the region was not time-based; rather, it relied on the fulfillment of certain conditions.

"It is our mandate to put military pressure on the Taliban," Gen Nicholson said, adding that Washington was seeking a peaceful solution in Afghanistan. "Taliban need to know they cannot win militarily."

Hoping that the Taliban would enter the grinding of the peace processor with Washington, the top commander said that the military would continue to put pressure on their sanctuaries inside and outside Afghanistan.

Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistain Proxies


Home Front: Culture Wars
Browns players stand in line, link arms during national anthem
[ESPN] About 30 Cleveland Browns players stood linking arms in a line during the national anthem before Saturday's preseason game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Saturday's demonstration contrasted to the team's sideline five days ago when a dozen Browns players formed a circle and prayed in silent protest during the anthem in a game against the New York Giants.

All players on both teams were standing during the anthem Saturday night.

This came the day after Browns legend Jim Brown said he wouldn't "desecrate my flag and my national anthem," as he talked about free-agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick taking a knee last season during the national anthem. Kaepernick has become a polarizing figure for kneeling during the anthem and is currently out of the NFL.

Brown had a discussion with the team about societal issues and the anthem on Friday, and part of the discussion was about the best way for players to express themselves and have maximum impact. Brown stressed acting as a team and perhaps discussing issues and approach with the organization, which Brown said would be supportive.

"Jim Brown's message to us was, 'Your message really becomes powerful when you're unified.' That's what we're trying to do right now," Browns tight end Seth DeValve said.

In a separate interview on Friday, Brown said he did not believe in showing any disrespect to the anthem or the flag, but he supported players' activism. The team has made it clear it supports the players and their right to express themselves.

"I just think numbers are an amazing thing. When we can get more guys -- black, white, everybody just unified as a team -- I think that will make the greatest impact," Browns defensive back Jason McCourty said.

Browns coach Hue Jackson said he was not aware what happened behind him as he sang the anthem. The long line of players stood together just in front of the Browns' bench, behind the rest of the players and coaches standing closer to the field.

"I just knew that our guys would handle everything respectfully," Jackson said "You're not talking about anybody kneeling, so I think that's an improvement. Whatever the guys did, I'm with them 100 percent and I'm sure they tried to handle it with class."
Someone got the message that the fans (and sponsors?) were becoming increasingly tired of the B.S?
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Brown had a discussion with the team about societal issues

..about growing up in a real era of oppression and segregation. You know before the time when there were more black American millionaires* than in all of Africa.

* in American not Zimbabwe dollars.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/28/2017 8:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Good for them. And very good of him.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2017 14:40 Comments || Top||

#3  I've always been OK with Jim Brown because he has always, always been a cranky African American who had some legitimate beefs- even those beefs didn't hold him back from making careers in sports, entertainment and philanthropy.
Straight shooter.
Posted by: Capsu78 || 08/28/2017 19:36 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Germany, Jordan clash over immunity for German troops
[DW] Jordan opposes calls from Berlin to grant immunity to German troops during their upcoming deployment, according to Der Spiegel magazine. The Gulf kingdom incorporates elements of Sharia law into its judiciary.

The two countries are still negotiating the issue, with Germany already moving its military equipment into the new Jordanian base, Der Spiegel reported in its weekend edition.

Germany is set to transfer its Tornado jets to Jordan from the Ottoman Turkish Incirlik air base in October. The dispute over soldiers' immunity will probably not affect the timetable, according to reports.

A front man for the German defense ministry described the weekslong negotiations as "fruitful."

"We already started the deployment ... and are expecting to be fully operational" by October, he told the AP news agency.

Berlin has decided to move some 250 soldiers to Jordan in June, amid a diplomatic row with The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
. Ankara previously banned German politicians from visiting their troops in Incirlik. Germany is using their surveillance planes to aid the military action against 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....
" in Syria.

Jordan recognizes both Islamic and secular courts, although the jurisdiction of the Islamic courts is limited to issues such as family law and inheritance disputes. The country's secular courts often pass harsh sentences, including the death penalty, which is outlawed in Germany.

Germany also serves as a host country for over 35,000 US troops. The US and Germany can both prosecute foreign soldiers, depending on the crime committed.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The only reason Jordan exists is because - League of Nations mandate or not - the fair minded Britons could't bring themselves to turn that much territory over to the Jews (the original deplorable).
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 2:54 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
'Forest brothers' in the CIA archives - Anti-Soviet sentiment across the Baltics
The enormous cache of formerly classified Cold War-era documents released by the US' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) early this year also describes Latvia's 'forest brothers' - a resistance movement to occupying Soviet power following World War II. This batch of documents, released by Rus.lsm.lv, describes the anti-Soviet sentiment that was pervasive throughout Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Ukraine following the second world war.
Click through to read the archive.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies


Home Front: Politix
100s or more than a 1000 antifascist protesters fascists march in San Fran, face off vs riot police after alt-right free speech group canceled rally
The Daily Mail added their own reporting to the Ay Pee feed. Who wrote which bit is pretty clear.
[DailyMail]
  • Hundreds of people showed up to demonstrate against alt-right group Patriot Prayer at Alamo Square park which had planned a gathering in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge but then canceled the event

  • Patriot Prayer planned to instead hold a press conference but this was again downgraded and an organizer for the pro-Trump group simply spoke in suburban Pacifica with a just handful of supporters

  • However counter-protesters showed up at Alamo Square park anyway leading to a number of scuffles breaking out among the crowd and one arrest
'My hope is to be able to talk to normal citizens without all the extremists,' Gibson, who identifies as Japanese American, said at the news conference.

Other speakers included African Americans, a Latino and a Samoan American. Several said they support Donald Trump and want to join with moderates to promote understanding and free speech.

The pivots by the group didn't deter more than 1,000 left-wing counter-protesters from descending on Alamo Square park, where they suspected right-wing supporters still might show up.

'San Francisco as a whole, we are a liberal city and this is not a place for hate or any sort of bigotry of any kind,' Bianca Harris said.
Mx Harris -- it doesn't do to make assumptions based on given name in this context -- is deep in 1984 territory here.
'I think it's a really powerful message that we're sending to people who come here to try to spew messages of hate that it's just not welcome in this city.'
A powerful message, yes. The rest of that sentence is just a series of falsehoods.
Police closed the park early in the day and looked on in riot gear as the demonstrators gathered around its perimeter waving signs condemning white supremacists and chanting, 'Whose streets? Our streets!' Hundreds of others took to the streets in the Castro neighborhood.
"Not nobody else's streets!"
The city has banned a long list of items from the park, including baseball bats, dogs and skate boards. People at the park are also not allowed to cover their faces with scarves or bandanas.
That last was less than completely enforced, according to the photos.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I said this a couple weeks ago. The right should plan events in liberal cities to draw Antifa in and then cancel at the last minute. Antifa will still show up and it is in their nature to destroy. It becomes hard to blame the right for violence when they aren't even there.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 08/28/2017 18:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Let the left watch their cities burn and ponder the monster they silently support.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 08/28/2017 18:17 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Rohingya: Even babies were not spared by the army
[Al Jazeera] Residents accuse security forces of shooting 'indiscriminately' at the Muslim minority, forcing thousands to flee.
Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Harakah al-Yaqin


India-Pakistan
JIT entrusted with Lahore's Outfall Road blast
[DAWN] The Punjab government on Saturday constituted a five-member joint investigation team (JIT) to probe the Outfall Road truck blast.

Two men were killed and 48 others injured in an explosion in a truck at a parking lot on Outfall Road on Aug 7. The blast damaged more than 100 vehicles in and around the place. Some of the cars went hurtling down due to the impact of the blast and the roof of a school and a building wall collapsed.
Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Iraq
Iraqi forces retake 95% of Tal Afar from ISIS
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iraq’s Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday that Iraqi forces recovered 95 percent of Tal Afar from ISIS, the Death Eater group’s stronghold in the country’s northwest.

After just eight days of fighting, all 29 neighborhoods in Tal Afar city had been taken back from the Death Eater group, the military said in a statement on Sunday.

However,
a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all...
fighting was ongoing in al-'Ayadiya, a small area 11 kilometres northwest of the city, where holy warriors who fled the district's city center were hiding out, Iraqi military front man Brigadier General Yahya Rasool said.

Tal Afar was the latest objective in the war on the Death Eater group following the recapture in July of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, where it declared its self-proclaimed caliphate over parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014.

Iraqi militia kills 6 ISIS Turbans in Mosul

Baaj (IraqiNews.com) Six Islamic State militants were killed as the Shia-led paramilitary troops repelled an attack in west of Mosul.

“The 40th brigade repulsed an attack in Baaj, located west of Mosul,” according to a statement by the media service of al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces).

“The attack targeted al-Risala and al-Hamdaniya districts in the town,” it added.

PMFs, backed by the army troops and fighter jets, managed to liberate the town, which is close to the Iraqi-Iranian borders, in June.

Previously, the troops took control over the borderline with Syria liberating the remaining villages in the vicinity of Qairawan, a main Islamic State bastion which links between Tal Afar town and the Syrian borders, and Baaj, after the troops announced full liberation of Qairawan.

The group has been actively engaged in the Iraqi government’s war against IS, and has recently claimed full control over Iraq’s borders with Syria, but has been operating only on ground with air support from the Iraqi army warplanes.

PMUs, an alliance of more than 60 mostly Shia militias, are recognized by the government as a national force under the Prime Minister’s command after an edict from Iraq’s top Shia clergy was made in 2014 ordering their formation to counter IS militants.
Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


India-Pakistan
5 civilians injured as Pak resumes heavy shelling on LoC in Poonch
[Daily Excelsior] Just five days after Battalion Commanders of India and Pakistain held flag meeting at Chakan-Da-Bagh on the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district, Pak troops this evening resumed heavy mortar shelling and firing on civilian locations in Poonch district, injuring five civilians including a woman.

The August 23 flag meeting between India and Pakistain seems to have no impact as Pak troops started heavy mortar shelling and firing targeting forward posts of the Indian Army followed by civilian population at Kirni, Shahpur, Gountrian and Digwar in Poonch sector at 6 pm.

The Indian side retaliated effectively, leading to heavy exchanges which continued till late tonight when the reports last came in.

Reports said that five civilians were maimed in forward villages of Bandi Chechian and Qasba in Shahpur area of Poonch sector as they were trapped in mortar shelling while working in their fields and didn’t get a chance to take shelter in houses or bunkers.

The injured have been indentified as Zahid Hussain Shah, Mohammad Qasim, Mohammad Zameel, Parveen Akhtar and Mohammad Safeer.

However,
the man who has no enemies isn't anybody and has never done anything...
majority of the civilians had returned to their houses around 6 pm when Pak troops directly pounded civilian population in forward areas of Poonch sector. They took shelter inside their houses and few bunkers to survive, sources said, adding that number of mortar shells landed close to houses of the people at Bandi Chechian, Qasba and Kirni, which were located right on the LoC in which some houses and other structures including cattle sheds were damaged.

"Indian side gave very befitting report to mortar shelling and firing by the Pak troops and inflicted heavy damages on the other side, the details of which were being ascertained," sources said.

Confirming losses on Pakistain side, they said the details would be available later.

Security forces and people evacuated the injured civilians from the border villages amidst heavy shelling and shifted them to hospital. They had sustained splinter injuries.

Panic gripped the villages in forward areas of Poonch sector after fresh round of mortar shelling, which came after a lull of few days. After Battalion Commander level flag meeting between India and Pakistain on August 23, the civilians living close to the LoC had been anticipating relief from firing and shelling.

However,
the man who has no enemies isn't anybody and has never done anything...
within five days of the Commanders level meeting, Pakistain violated truce and again started heavy mortar shelling and firing.

At the Battalion Commander level flag meeting, India had charged Pakistain with abetting terror activities and targeting civilian population on the Line of Control (LoC) during mortar shelling and firing.

Heavy shelling and firing on the LoC had been going on after brief intervals in various sectors of Poonch and Rajouri districts since May 1 in which Army jawans and civilians have been martyred and injured. The civilian property has also suffered extensive damages. However,
the man who has no enemies isn't anybody and has never done anything...
the losses have been very heavy on Pakistain side, whose number of soldiers have been killed and injured and several bunkers and posts were destroyed.

Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Britain
Christian child forced into Muslim foster care


Original article was at the times but it require registration to read the whole article. Found basically the same story at DailyMail and posted it instead.

Christian girl, 5, is forced into foster care with Burka-wearing Muslim carers who 'took away her crucifix and stopped her eating bacon'

- Girl was distressed after move by Tower Hamlets borough council, report claims
- The girl was encouraged to learn Arabic and was barred from eating carbonara
- She spent six months in foster care in two Muslim households, it is claimed
- The young girl was very distressed, reports seen by The Times allege

A Christian girl aged five was forced to live in traditional Muslim foster homes where nobody spoke English and she was encouraged to learn Arabic, it was reported.

The girl, who was white and a native English speaker, spent the past six months in two Muslim households after being placed into foster care in Tower Hamlets, east London.

Local authority reports describe how the little girl sobbed and begged not to be returned to her niqab-wearing carer's home, telling a social worker: ‘They don't speak English.'

The reports, seen by The Times, detail how the chil
d was ‘very distressed' and claimed the foster carer had removed her Christian cross and encouraged her to learn Arabic.

The two placements were made by Tower Hamlets borough council against the wishes of the girl's family. According to the newspaper, the girl also told her mother that ‘Christmas and Easter are stupid' and that ‘European women are stupid and alcoholic'. Local authorities are required to give due consideration to a child's religion, racial origin and cultural and linguistic background' when placing them into a foster home.

The girl's mother is said to be horrified by the circumstances her daughter has been placed in.

A friend told the newspaper: ‘This is a five-year-old white girl. She was born in this country, speaks English as her first language, loves football, holds a British passport and was christened in a church.‘She's already suffered the huge trauma of being forcibly separated from her family. She needs surroundings in which she'll feel secure. Instead, she's trapped in a world where everything feels foreign and unfamiliar. That's really scary for a young child.'

The girl lived with her first carer, who is believed to have worn a niqab outside the family home, for four months. Her current carer wears a burka, which covers her face entirely, when she is out in public with the child.

In April this year, an Ofsted inspection at Tower Hamlets council found ‘widespread and serious failures in the services provided to children who need help and protection'.

The council's children's service was rated as inadequate and found to have an ‘entrenched culture of non-compliance with basic social work standards'.

The Department for Education said: ‘When placing a child in a foster home, the local authority must ensure that the placement is the most appropriate way to support [the child's] welfare. A child's background is an important consideration in this decision.'

A council spokesman said: ‘We are unable to comment on individual cases. In every case, we give absolute consideration to our children's background and to their cultural identity. All our foster carers receive training to ensure they are fully qualified to meet the needs of children in their care.'

It's not the first time Tower Hamlets has been embroiled in scandal. In 2014, a leaked government report suggested the mayor Lutfur Rahman had links to Islamic extremist groups, including one seeking to set up a Sharia state in Europe.

In 2011, it was reported a 31-year-old Asian woman who worked in a local chemist's had received death threats for refusing to wear a veil, even though she was not a practising Muslim.
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Salafists

#1  In England, not in Dar.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 2:49 Comments || Top||

#2  Grooming the poor kid?
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance || 08/28/2017 8:00 Comments || Top||

#3  I hate that gutter religion.
It's satanic
Posted by: newc || 08/28/2017 14:43 Comments || Top||

#4  A question, why was the child taken away from her family in the first place?
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance || 08/28/2017 19:37 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
The Coming Age of Magic
[PJMEDIA] The coast-to-coast solar eclipse that crossed the US in 2017 revealed some interesting insights into some people's thinking. One rapper, perhaps attempting to emulate a similar reported feat by president Trump, deliberately stared at the sun without protective glasses with unfortunate effects. Others took precautions against retinal damage but not of the right kind. Bruce Lee at Forbes reports that some patients were admitted in Ohio for putting sunscreen on their eyeballs. "This is not the way you are supposed to use sunscreen. The directions on a sunscreen bottle typically do not say: 1. Open bottle 2. Squeeze some sunscreen on your fingers and hands. 3. Put on eyeballs."

We might be tempted to laugh at other people's ignorance but should we? The Great American Eclipse drew an estimated audience of 220 million people. "It's so far the largest crowd to witness the rare total solar eclipse in the history of eclipses." Never in history have so many of the ordinary been exposed to the extraordinary. When 200 million people look up at the sky some of them are going to smear sunscreen on their eyeballs.

Can the common man cope with the esoteric? Two hundred years ago the average person probably understood virtually everything he encountered in daily life. Today the average person is surrounded by objects far more complex than the Apollo 11 guidance computer. Under those circumstances, as help desk workers all over the world will attest, technical ignorance is the rule rather than the exception.

Modern smart devices are purposely designed to be operated even by an idiot. Technology has allowed the burden of intelligence to be shifted away from the user to the machine. As a result people routinely use tools they barely understand implicitly believing they will work. It works but there's a danger. As Arthur C. Clarke famously observed, "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". In our high technology present an increasing percentage of the global population must relate to their world in terms of magic.

Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Not much Magic without power.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/28/2017 0:58 Comments || Top||

#2  I have a refurbished iPhone. I can't get it to plant seeds or herd cattle. I can't find an application for that.
Posted by: Ulains Thuque6389 || 08/28/2017 3:12 Comments || Top||

#3  An excellent post at Belmont Club. Here's the money quote that made my brain click for hours yesterday:

This idea we should be protected from our own choices may have taken deeper root than commonly realized. The right of everyone to be stupid AND avoid the consequences has become mainstreamed as the equality of outcomes. Liberation from causality is the cornerstone of "compassion", consequently it is the fundamental positive right offered by all paternalistic states.


I would add one thing to Wretchard's commentary: Many forms of magic require instruments of magical power for the magic to work. Even the wizards of Harry Potter's world require wands to function. The core rage of the mystical Left is that Trump and the Deplorables have seized the Magic Cauldron of Federal Government.
Posted by: ptah || 08/28/2017 9:45 Comments || Top||

#4  Two lines from it that stand out:
"As every believer of magic knows enchanted objects and special words are the key to changing reality. One destroys white supremacy by toppling statues of Stonewall Jackson, just like a voodoo doll."
"The belief that a college degree provides an exit ramp out poverty, whether the recipient of the degree received any substantive education or not is eerily similar to the cargo cult belief that "ritualistic acts such as the building of an airplane runway will result in the appearance of material wealth".
Posted by: ed in texas || 08/28/2017 10:07 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Podesta Group retroactively files more DOJ disclosures for pro-Putin work
How thoroughly unexpected.
[Washington Examiner] The Podesta Group belatedly filed several new disclosures with the Justice Department on Aug. 17 related to work the firm completed between 2012 and 2014 on behalf of a pro-Russia Ukrainian think tank.

Back in April, the powerful Washington lobbying firm run by Clinton ally Tony Podesta filed a document admitting its work for the pro-Russia European Centre for a Modern Ukraine may have principally benefited a foreign government. New disclosures revealed dozens of previously unreported interactions the firm made with influential government offices, including Hillary Clinton's State Department and the office of former Vice President Joe Biden, while lobbying on behalf of the center. Embattled ex-Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort failed to disclose his extensive lobbying efforts on behalf of the center at the time as well.

Anyone lobbying or doing public relations on behalf of foreign governments is required to register as a foreign agent in compliance with the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The Aug. 17 filings include short-form registration statements for six Podesta Group employees and an amendment to the firm's registration statement that includes a list of political contributions made by relevant employees throughout 2013.

A review of those donations shows both parties received cash from Podesta Group lobbyists.

The individual employee filings appear to be uniform and lawyerly, each describing what their services were supposed to entail as, "Research and analyze issues related to principal's organizational mission of improving ties between Ukraine and the West counsel on activities in Congress and executive branch and developments that relate to the principal's organizational mission; and maintain contact, as needed, with legislative and executive branch officials, members of the media, and NGOs." One of the filings is for Tony Podesta himself, who was a bundler for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. Tony and his brother John--Clinton's 2016 campaign chairman--co-founded the lobbying firm in 1988.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Obfuscation in practice.
Posted by: Pappy || 08/28/2017 7:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Classic projection.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2017 7:54 Comments || Top||

#3  Anyone lobbying or doing public relations on behalf of foreign governments is required to register as a foreign agent in compliance with the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

How about Carlos Slim?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 08/28/2017 11:13 Comments || Top||

#4  With all the connections and inter-connections, it is like unraveling a bowl of spaghetti. Podesta bros., Paul Manafort, Hillary, Biden, a pro-Russian Ukrainian group somehow connected to promote Hillary over Trump in the election. Toss in the Deep State and you have something absolutely Machiavellian.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/28/2017 12:22 Comments || Top||

#5  Podesta----a name you just don't play with.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/28/2017 20:02 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Sierra Leone mudslides 'kill more than 1,000'
[Al Jazeera] Local leaders say the death toll from August 14 disaster has passed the 1,000 mark and call for an accurate count.
Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, at least it's not ebola.
Posted by: chris || 08/28/2017 7:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Cholera downstream though.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/28/2017 16:56 Comments || Top||

#3  I would guess they deal with cholera outbreaks on a regular basis
Posted by: chris || 08/28/2017 20:51 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian Army Combat Summary
[AlManar] The Syrian Army units destroyed gatherings and a radio-controlled plane of ISIL terrorists in Deir Ezour Province.

SANA reporter in Deir Ezour said that an army unit dropped a radio-controlled plane in al-Jafra village in the eastern countryside.

The reporter pointed out that an army unit thwarted an attack of ISIL terrorist groups on military posts in the axis of al-Reshdia, killing or injuring many of the terrorists.

He pointed out that the Air Force of the Syrian Army directed blows to ISIL fortifications in al-Reshdia, the surrounding of Liwa al-Tameen and in the towns of al-Mayadeen and Mohasan and the villages of al-Shomeittia, al-Tebni, al-Masrab and al-Kharitta, killing many of the terrorists and injuring others.

Local sources said that locals in Deir Ezour killed many terrorists and confiscated their weapons.

Terrorists in Syria increase their use of suicide drones — Russian General Staff

[AlMasdar] Improvised suicide drones are increasingly being used by Lions of Islam active in Syria, Head of the Russian General Staff’s Office for UAV Development Major General Alexander Novikov said at a roundtable held during the Army-2017 International Military-Technical Forum.

"Today, it is possible to purchase unmanned aerial vehicles or their components for a small amount of money," the general pointed out.

"After a small upgrade, these devices can be used not only for air surveillance but also for conducting air strikes. In Syria, Lions of Islam have been repeatedly using suicide drones, they also use unmanned aerial vehicles for delivering homemade bombs and mortar shells," Novikov added.

"The number of unmanned aerial vehicles used by Lions of Islam continues to grow," he said.

Syrian Army plows through ISIL’s defenses to liberate more areas en route to Deir Ezzor

[AlMasdar] The Syrian Arab Army resumed their offensive operations in the eastern countryside of al-Sukhnah, Sunday, striking the so-called Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
’s (ISIS) last positions along the Sukhnah-Deir Ezzor Road.

Led by the 3rd and 5th legions, the Syrian Arab Army stormed the Islamic State’s positions at the Kasrah Faraj area, which resulted resulted in a short battle this afternoon.

ISIS was unable to hold this part of the Sukhnah-Deir Ezzor Road, resulting in their subsequent withdrawal from Kasrah Faraj and nearby Talat al-Karam and Wadi al-Waleij.

The Syrian Arab Army is still pushing along the highway, as their allies from the Russian Air Force continue to pound the Islamic State’s positions between Sukhnah and Deir Ezzor.

Syrian Army advances along Jordanian border, pushing towards US base

[AlMasdar] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) resumed their Jordanian offensive this morning after taking a brief hiatus to allow for their soldiers to rest.

Using heavy artillery and missiles, the Syrian Army pounded the Free Syrian Army
... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund...
’s (FSA) defenses for nearly two hours before they began their ground assault.

Led by the 5th Corps’ infantry units, the Syrian Arab Army overpowered the Free Syrian Army fighters at several sites near the Jordanian border, paving the way for the government forces to capture Rudwat al-Sheikh, al-Darifah Canyon, Ruwdat al-Salibiyah, and Garrison 164.

The total area captured by the Syrian Army is approximately 200 square kilometers, making this one of their largest gains this week.

Syrian Army restarts east Damascus offensive after HTS refuses to leave

[AlMasdar] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has once again restarted their east Damascus offensive after Faylaq al-Rahman refused to expel the al-Qaeda linked Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham faceless myrmidons from the area.

According to a military source in Damascus, the Syrian Arab Army’s 38th, 42nd, and 105th brigades pounded the strategic suburbs of Jobar and ’Ayn Tarma with a barrage of surface-to-surface missiles this morning, paving the way for their assault later in the day.

The source added that the Syrian Arab Army has begun storming Jobar and ’Ayn Tarma, capturing several buildings from the Faylaq al-Rahman and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham krazed killers.

With the resumption of the east Damascus offensive today, the Syrian Arab Army is once again trying to pressure Faylaq al-Rahman to reconsider expelling HTS in exchange for a ceasefire.
Posted by: badanov || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Arabia
Houthis kill Saleh loyalist Khaled al-Razi, but why was he targeted?
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A prominent military and political commander who is a loyalist of ousted President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
was killed on Saturday in Sanaa in the festivities which erupted between Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...
militias and forces loyal to Saleh on Saturday.

Khaled Ahmad Zeid al-Razi was a close bodyguard of Saleh before he was appointed deputy chief of the foreign relations department in the General People’s Congress which Saleh heads.

Khaled is the brother of Tarek al-Razi who was the head of Ahmad Ali Abdullah Saleh’s office when the latter was commander of the Elite Republican Guards. Their brother Aref al-Razi was Yemen’s envoy in Tehran and their father is Ahmed al-Razi, a prominent tribal leader who was close to Saleh, and who passed away in 2004.

Khaled was in the Elite Republican Guards until 2011 when the popular revolution toppled Saleh’s regime and his family. He was an expert in special forces and combating terrorism and he was an escort whom Saleh and his son relied on for protection.

In 2011, he quit military work but remained a staunch supporter of Saleh and part of his inner circle. A few months ago, he was appointed deputy chief of the foreign relations department in the General People’s Congress.

Sources from the General People’s Congress said Khaled was treacherously killed after mediations calmed down the situation. Khaled was with Salah, the son of Ali Abdullah Saleh, in their car when armed Houthis stopped them at a checkpoint. They clashed but eventually calmed down, only to kill him later.

Members of the General People’s Congress vowed that "Khaled’s death will not be in vain" and called on their supporters to prepare to eliminate Houthi militias.
Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Home Front: Culture Wars
Petition seeks to rename Roosevelt Island, calls FDR ‘racist’
[NYPOST] Roosevelt Island should be renamed because of FDR’s "racist" decision to send Japanese-Americans to internment camps during World War II, a new petition demands.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt -- who led the nation through the Great Depression and WWII and told Americans they had "nothing to fear but fear itself" -- is nevertheless unworthy of having his name on the 147-acre island that is home to 9,700 New Yorkers, those behind the petition claim.

"To add injury to insult, the name was taken away from the Native American people who were slaughtered by the American settlers," said Margarita L., who started the petition.

The petition, which has a goal of 1,000 signatures, was posted Aug. 19 on the online petition site Care2Petitions.

Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...Stopped clock, and all that.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 08/28/2017 5:35 Comments || Top||

#2  There's a pretty new statue in DC they can dislodge. Go for it! Who's going to stop you?

Roosevelt Island should be renamed because of FDR’s "racist" decision to send Japanese-Americans to internment camps during World War II, a new petition demands.

BTW, ignore the 1995 release of the Japanese diplomatic traffic which indicated they had friends in the communities. Or that they only moved those who resided near 90% of American aircraft production sites, then in Seattle and the LA basin.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/28/2017 8:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Works for me.
Posted by: Barbara || 08/28/2017 15:23 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
It's all about 'deconstructing whiteness,' the 'construct of whiteness,' the 'ignorance of whiteness'
[WND] 'White Shaming' Is New Rage On College Campuses
Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I really feel bad for you white people.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 4:10 Comments || Top||

#2  It's not that bad being white. I got that privilege thingy going for me for one...
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 08/28/2017 4:17 Comments || Top||

#3  I really feel bad for you white people.

Jews used to be considered a minority here, g(r)omgoru, but nowadays we count as white unless visibly Black or Hispanic. Suntanned doesn't count, I'm afraid.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2017 5:45 Comments || Top||

#4  Jews used to be considered a minority here, g(r)omgoru, but nowadays we count as white

I don't expect it to last.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 6:41 Comments || Top||

#5  It hasn't on campus. Don't confuse socialists as self proclaimed members of the community. See - BDS.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/28/2017 8:10 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Antifa and the 'Alt-Left': Everything You Need to Know
[Rolling Stone] If you picked your jaw up off the floor just long enough to scratch your head and puzzle at what President Trump meant by the "alt-left" during his now infamous "Remarks on Infrastructure" meltdown on Tuesday, you're not alone.

"OK, what about the alt-left," he proffered, "what about the alt-left that came charging at the, as you say, the alt-right?"

So, what about the alt-left? Does it exist, or is it another bullet-dipped-in-pigs-blood fairy tale of Trump's imagination?

The word no doubt entered the president's consciousness the same way all his wildest policy ideas, hopes, dreams and paranoid delusions do ‐ from tuning in to Fox.

Though it began as an insult within the left ‐ a way to further deride the far left and so-called "Bernie Bros" during and after November's election ‐ the right has adopted the phrase, as well. Sean Hannity and other, fringier monsters of the far-right media ecosystem have been, for at least a year now, pushing the idea of the "alt-left" as some sort of answer to the charge that the "alt-right," a very real political entity, has hijacked and poisoned the Republican party. The Washington Post best described it in 2016 as "The GOP's response: I know what you are but what am I."

But there is an actual active and growing group that Trump refers to. However, it's incorrect to name-check it as the alt-left and it's downright wrong to morally equivocate it with the neo-Nazi and white supremacist scum that stormed Charlottesville. But it does exist. Only it's called "Antifa,"
...the armed wing of the Democratic Party...
short for anti-fascist, and it far predates Donald Trump.

First, a bit of history.

Anti-fascism originated in the years leading up to the second World War as a means to fight the spread of fascism across Europe, but in America the progenitors of what Trump would have you call the alt-left can be traced back to 1980s Minnesota. It was during this time that the group "Anti-Racist Action" sprung up around the Twin Cities to combat the rise of local Nazi skinheads. A.R.A., as the group became known, opened chapters across the U.S. and won some major victories against neo-Nazis in the pre-Internet Eighties and Nineties.

Underground, local punk scenes often served as the stage for these groups to do battle, but the scale and frequency with which they clashed was enough to seep into the popular culture throughout the decade. It ultimately culminated with 1998's American History X, for which Edward Norton was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance as a reformed neo-Nazi skinhead.
It culminated in a movie?
And sadly on it goes.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  CTRL-left is more accurate
Posted by: Dopey Bumble8321 || 08/28/2017 0:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Congratulations, Rolling Stone - that is a remarkable piece of sophistry.
Posted by: Raj || 08/28/2017 1:49 Comments || Top||

#3  ....alt-left can be traced back to 1980s Minnesota. It was during this time that the group "Anti-Racist Action" sprung up around the Twin Cities to combat the rise of local Nazi skinheads. A.R.A., as the group became known.

Strange, I don't remember a thing about 'Antifa' or anything closely related during the period mentioned.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/28/2017 1:55 Comments || Top||

#4  Alt-left traces back to 19th century anarchists/nihilists - the left will be sorry for promoting and encouraging them.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 2:01 Comments || Top||

#5  To paraphrase Lazarus Long "I don't need to understand how Antifa minds work..."
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/28/2017 7:24 Comments || Top||

#6  When naming your group name it after one of the distant past that was pure of motive so you can claim direct lineage and brush over the dirty reality that most Antifa were Anarchists, and Occupy Wallstreet, and Black Lives Matter until recently.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 08/28/2017 8:31 Comments || Top||

#7  I figured the enemy of my enemy is still my enemy.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/28/2017 12:29 Comments || Top||

#8  naming is big deal and disguising your actual program is important

Planned Parenthood disguises its pro abortion agenda
Jewish Voice for Peace is actually in favor of genocide of Israel
Clinton Global Foundation had an influence peddling agenga

the list goes on
Posted by: lord garth || 08/28/2017 18:58 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Egypt, Germany sign MOU on dealing with irregular migration
[AlAhram] Egypt's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry and his German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel oversaw the signing of a memorandum of understanding in Berlin on confronting irregular migration to Europe, the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Shoukry said at a joint presser that Egypt appreciates Germany's support on economic and security issues. He stressed that cooperation between Cairo and Berlin to deal with the problem of irregular migration is beneficial to both countries.

"The problem of illegal immigration is an international one, and we must deal with the socio-economic roots of the crisis; the problem must be dealt with while respecting the rights of refugees and migrants colonists in accordance with international law," Shoukry said.

Gabriel said at the presser that Germany understands that the River Nile is vital to Egypt's agriculture and economy. The German foreign minister said Berlin is ready to play a constructive role in resolving any disagreements between Nile Basin countries, saying any project on the Upper Nile must be subject to consensus among all parties affected.

The two officials also discussed Egyptian-German bilateral relations and the latest developments in the Middle East, including the situation in Libya and Syria.

Shoukry and Gabriel also discussed Egyptian efforts to revive the grinding of the peace processor between the Paleostinians and Israelis.

The two ministers discussed the rift between 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...
and Egypt and number of other Arab Gulf countries, as well as the nomination of Egyptian ambassador Moshira Khateb for UNESCO secretary-general, the statement said.

Berlin is the first stop in a European tour by Shoukry where he will also visit Belarus and Romania with the aim of reinforcing relations with the three countries and discuss issues of mutual concern.
All sorts of countries can come to understand how Egypt nobly sacrifices to protect them from the next wave of Moslem colonists, considering how they, in turn, can support Egypt in the midst of economic challenges. It's not just Uncle Sam, donchaknow.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists


Arabia
Fighting increases in Sanaa
SANAA: A Yemeni colonel loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and two Houthi rebels have been killed in Sanaa, in an unprecedented escalation of violence between the allies with Saleh’s party warning it could push the capital into all-out war.

An anti-government alliance between Saleh and rebel leader Abdul Malik Al-Houthi has crumbled over the past week, with the two accusing each other of treason and back-stabbing.

Witnesses in Sanaa, which Saleh and Houthi jointly control, said the ex-president’s forces had spread in southern parts of the capital near the presidential offices, which Saleh still holds despite resigning in 2012.

They said the forces had deployed in Sabaeen Square and the district of Hadda.

Saleh’s General People’s Congress party said in a statement on Sunday that “remaining silent on the incident would open the door to strife that would be difficult to contain.”

Col. Khaled Al-Rida, the deputy head of foreign relations in the GPC, was killed in the clashes between supporters of Saleh and Abdul Malik Al-Houthi late Saturday, the statement said.

A source within the GPC said the clashes erupted at a Houthi rebel checkpoint in Hadda after a dispute between fighters manning the checkpoint and armed supporters of Saleh who were driving by.

The rebel-run Saba news agency said two members of the Popular Committees, a tribal alliance largely dominated by the Houthis, were also killed.

Saleh and Houthi joined ranks in 2014 in a shock alliance that drove the internationally recognized government out of Sanaa and into the southern province of Aden.

From its inception, analysts have viewed the alliance as a tactical move by both sides, with rebels exploiting Saleh’s political power and the former president benefitting from the Houthi’s guns on the ground.

War of words
But in the past week, a war of words between Saleh and Houthi erupted with Saleh suggesting that his allies were merely “a militia,” and the rebels calling him a “back-stabber” and “traitor” who would “bear the consequences” of his insult.

The most recent clashes have added fuel to the fire, with the GPC statement accusing a “group that knows no morality or oaths” of being behind the colonel’s killing — a thinly veiled reference to the Houthis.

The Houthis reportedly suspect Saleh has been negotiating with a Saudi-led military coalition that supports the Aden-based government.

Saleh, meanwhile, is said to be displeased with the Houthis’ newfound power in the capital, where they run a number of key offices.

The Saudi-led coalition entered Yemen’s war in March 2015 in support of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi’s government against the Iran-backed rebels and Saleh.

The war has since pushed the country to the brink of famine, and killed more than 8,400 civilians — including in coalition air strikes.

On Sunday UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged warring parties in Yemen to allow humanitarian aid into the country, namely by re-opening the international airport in Sanaa and Hodeida port.

The coalition supporting the Hadi government imposed an air and sea blockade on all rebel-held territory in March 2015 and tightened it in August last year saying it was the only way to stop weapons smuggling.

Hodeida, a port on the Red Sea, is a key entry point for aid also in rebel-held territory.

The coalition on Saturday claimed responsibility for an air strike in the Yemeni capital that killed 14 civilians the previous day, which it called a “technical mistake.”

On Friday, the United Nations human rights office said air raids by the coalition had killed 42 civilians in Yemen in the past week, with multiple children among the dead.

The country also faces a deadly cholera outbreak that has claimed nearly 2,000 lives and affected more than half a million people since late April.
Posted by: badanov || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


India-Pakistan
Massive hunt against JeM in South Kashmir
[Daily Excelsior] The Saturday’s deadly strike by Jaish-e-Mohammad
...literally Army of Mohammad, a Pak-based Deobandi terror group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in 2000, after he split with the Harkat-ul-Mujaheddin. In 2002 the government of Pervez Musharraf banned the group, which changed its name to Khaddam ul-Islam and continued doing what it had been doing before without missing a beat...
(JeM) in South Kashmire comes as a surprise for the security forces who had wiped out the outfit from the area two years ago by killing its two top commanders in Tral, Pulwama.

The attack on District Police Lines (DPL) Pulwama is first strike by Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in South Kashmire that led to killing of eight security force personnel.

The attack comes at time when security forces achieved major successes against forces of Evil this year especially in South Kashmire. This year security forces killed 136 forces of Evil so far after they launched major offensive against them especially in the last two months.

Sources said that security agencies had inputs about a possible strike in South Kashmire. They said that the group was intending to target the office of the Senior Superintendent of Police Pulwama but heightened security prevented the strike there.

They said that the fidayeen forced their entry into the DPL Pulwama by cutting the wire and jumping over the fence. They said that the proposed visit of former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah prevented the further casualties. "As Omar was to visit Shopian, the police men who normally get ready for deployments by 5 am were ready on Saturday one hour ahead of the schedule, at the same time when the fidaydeen struck", they said.

Sources said that after entering the DPL, the fidayeen rushed towards the SOG camp inside the complex but alert guards fired at them forcing them to enter the residential block where they were neutralized after day long shootout.

Sources said that the group recently infiltrated into Kashmire from Poonch side and comprised 5 members including 3 fidayeen of Afzal Guru Squad. The squad had earlier carried attacks in North Kashmire near the LoC in Tanghdar and this is first strike of the JeM in South Kashmire.

JeM was trying to set up base in South Kashmire and its two senior commanders, Adil Pathan and Burme stayed in South Kashmire for two years but failed to get any foothold before they were killed in Tral on October 8, 2015.

Security forces had launched hunt against the two members of the JeM who were part of the fidayeen squad and are looking for the locals who have provided them logistics to carry out the attack.

In the meantime, police today indentified the three fidayeen as Dawood, Abu Bakar and Abu Saad, all Pak nationals. Three AK-47 rifles, six magazines and one UBGL was recovered from the encounter site.

In the meantime, at Pattan in North Kashmire, large number of people joined the CRPF in the last rites of a CRPF man, Mohammad Yaseen Teli, killed in fidayeen attack at Pulwama. The cop had received Gallantry award on last Independence Day for his extraordinary role in counter-insurgency operation at Nowhatta on August 15, 2016.

Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Jaish-e-Mohammad


Home Front: Culture Wars
Christian Group Sues SPLC And Amazon
[POWERLINEBLOG] Coral Ridge Ministries Media, Inc., which does business as D. James Kennedy Ministries, has sued the Southern Poverty Law Center, Amazon and Guidestar in federal court in Alabama. The complaint is here. The case arises out of SPLC’s designation of the Kennedy Ministries as a "hate group" because, consistent with Christian doctrine, it opposes gay marriage. Because of that designation, Amazon has barred Kennedy Ministries from its Amazon Smile program for nonprofits, and Guidestar has republished SPLC’s smear in its guide to nonprofits, which is heavily relied on by donors.

I love to see SPLC get sued, and it would be great if they lost. They deserve it. Amazon, too. But I doubt that this case has much of a chance. There are some more or less clever theories in the complaint‐the Lanham Act, and a Civil Rights Act claim against Amazon predicated on the theory that it is a public accommodation since it sells movies and songs‐but the core claim is defamation, and the central defendant is SPLC.

Of course, SPLC won’t want this case to get anywhere near a jury. It won’t try to mount a truth defense, but will argue that as a matter of law its statement that Kennedy is a "hate group" is an opinion and therefore cannot be the basis of liability. As I understand it, SPLC hasn’t asserted any facts about Kennedy Ministries that could be shown to be false, but has merely included the organization on its "hate map." If that is correct, the opinion defense is destined to prevail.

Still, it is heartwarming to see someone go after one of the most detestable organizations in America. And the politically correct Amazon, too. Even if unsuccessful, the litigation may alert more people to what an unreliable, partisan organization SPLC is.

Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The SPLC is not the moral compass of this country. If it is, we are in trouble.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/28/2017 8:46 Comments || Top||

#2  It is the moral compass of the left and just another tool in their box of slander for their enemies.
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/28/2017 9:13 Comments || Top||

#3  So it is DV.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/28/2017 10:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Of course, SPLC won’t want this case to get anywhere near a jury

And it won't. It's charming to see that people believe in the U.S. legal system.

Foolish, but charming.
Posted by: Pappy || 08/28/2017 11:40 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Houston Man Catches Fish Inside His Home
The pounding rainfall in East Texas has brought one man's passion for fishing from the great outdoors to inside his own living room.

A viral video recorded by Vivian Saldana shows an unidentified Houston man wading through nearly knee-high floodwaters in his living room, attempting to catch a fish with his bare hands.

The catch doesn't come easy as the man leaps about the house, splashing into the water as the fish darts away. The fish is eventually caught when it tries to swim past him again and the man falls to his hand and knees, hands landing on the fish.

"Why go out looking for food when the food is coming to our living room?" Saldana wrote in the posts caption.

The video had more than 5 million views before noon Sunday.
Posted by: Hupeting Sforza8196 || 08/28/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Nice catch. What kind of fish?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 08/28/2017 18:36 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
42[untagged]
8Govt of Pakistan
7Islamic State
4Moslem Colonists
2Harakah al-Yaqin
2Commies
2Govt of Pakistain Proxies
2Govt of Syria
2Houthis
2Taliban
1Boko Haram (ISIS)
1TTP
1Arab Spring
1Jaish-e-Mohammad
1Maute group (IS)
1Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)
1Salafists
1Govt of Saudi Arabia
1Sublime Porte
1Hamas

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

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

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2017-08-28
  Turkish Army invades northern Syria, launches attack on Kurdish-held border town
Sun 2017-08-27
  Iraq forces recapture city of Tal Afar from ISIS
Sat 2017-08-26
  'Terror attack’ in Brussels: Machete-waving ‘terrorist’ is shot dead as he attacks soldiers shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ near street where ISIS called for vehicle attacks
Fri 2017-08-25
  'Islamist terror cell' with a hoard of bombs blow themselves up rather than surrender to Russian police
Thu 2017-08-24
  Iraqi forces recapture more of Tal Afar, the last refuge
Wed 2017-08-23
  Yemen: At least 30 dead as air strike hits hotel
Tue 2017-08-22
  Somali extremist group confirms killing of senior commander
Mon 2017-08-21
  It's over-ish: Las Ramblas van terrorist shot dead wearing explosive belt 'and screaming Allahu Akbar' west of Barcelona
Sun 2017-08-20
  Kenya Says Police Killed Most Wanted Al Shabaab Commander
Sat 2017-08-19
  War crimes suspect Mahmoud Warfali arrested on Hafter’s orders
Fri 2017-08-18
  Finland attack – ‘Several people injured after multiple knifemen rampage through city of Turku' amid reports of shots fired
Thu 2017-08-17
  Breaking: Barcelona Van Attack on Pedestrians.
Wed 2017-08-16
  Tunisia says IS plot to seize territory foiled
Tue 2017-08-15
  Russia foils two ISIS suicide bombers who planned to blow themselves up on the subway in Moscow
Mon 2017-08-14
  At least 17 killed in attack on restaurant in Burkina Faso

Better than the average link...



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