[DailyMail] Upon arriving back in Canada late Friday Joshua Boyle said, 'The stupidity and evil of the Haqqani network's kidnapping of a pilgrim
...an interesting word, especially for a Canadian...
and his heavily pregnant wife engaged in helping ordinary villagers in Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... -controlled regions of Afghanistan was eclipsed only by the stupidity and evil of authorizing the murder of my infant daughter.'
Boyle said his wife was raped by a guard who was assisted by his superiors. He asked for the Afghan government to bring them to justice.
He said he was in Afghanistan to help villagers 'who live deep inside Taliban-controlled Afghanistan where no NGO, no aid worker and no government has ever successfully been able to bring the necessary help.'
#1
When I read the word "pilgrim," I heard it the way The Duke would have said it: Someone who is out of place in a place where ignorance and naiveté have harsh consequences. The guy has every right to be very angry, but for him to believe he made no bad choices himself, that's a bridge too far, IMHO...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/14/2017 10:18
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#2
"pilgrim" a person who journeys to a sacred place for religious reasons...
The stupid azz canadian government will probably give this American hating, Khadr loving terrorist a couple million dollar settlement as well...but, maybe not - he didn't kill any US Soldiers as far as we know...
#8
I'm not sure Pakistan DID give Trump something. It sounds like they just gave us the trash off the floor. I'm not entirely sure they were "Hostages" in the traditional sense, or if anything this guy has been describing happened.
The wife seems alarmingly submissive to me. Until intel comes in backing his story up, or the wife actually confirms, I just don't think I can really believe this POS.
Posted by: Charles ||
10/14/2017 15:46
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#9
I'm not sure Pakistan DID give Trump something
They didn't, really. More like they gave the Canadians something.
Note that the Paks broadcast to all and sundry about the 'wonderful' thing they did, however. Either their pet Haqqanis either were the ones who went rogue, or the Pak IC screwed up. Possibly the Canadians paid something. Ironic in any case.
[Barely a Blog] In Washington State, all I ever hear is that practically all our devastating fires are "caused by lightening." I seldom see lightening here. I know what it looks like (thunder follows, so if you hear it, you know lightening preceded it).
I saw plenty lightening in my native South Africa, especially on the highveld. I’ve seldom seen lightening in my state. Says Ken Pimlott, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection:
"These are all fires that were in areas that are populated, and 95% of the fires in our state are started by people" in some way, he said, downplaying the chances that lightning may have played a role.
Are the Powers looking the other way? Investigate. If these fires are intentional; this is mass murder.
#1
If started by a cigarette butt tossed out a car window by one of those "immigrants who make us all stronger by coming here," it's all harm, no foul in a Sanctuary State™
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/14/2017 10:23
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#2
Japanese had a goofy plan or two during WW2 to do this sot of thing. I'm amazed Al Qaeda and like thinkers never made the attempt.
#3
The Japanese ballon bombs occurred to me as well. This is what they hoped to achieve. BTW, we were evac'd @ 2:00 am,fire was so close LE didnt gave time to go door to door but were driving through on bullhorns telling us to get out now. We were already up monitoring situation and still just managed to get out with the dogs and some important papers. Today is looking dodgy too. There will be some tough questions when the smoke clears
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
10/14/2017 12:37
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#4
There were several calls about power outages at the time the fires started. Smart money is on power lines and blown transformers failing and sparking in the 70 mph wind gusts.
#5
Can confirm on the power. We lost it at 11:15 pm and evac'd in total darkness. Given wind gusts up to 70 mph, downed wires and exploding propane tanks will do it
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
10/14/2017 14:21
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#6
1. Some parts of the USA regularly have storms with wind gusts to 70 mph, other parts very rarely so. Severe wind storms have a way of pruning or killing overgrown vegetation, and when this happens every few years the result is less damage per storm. If an area goes 200 years without bad winds, a lot more trees will grow up to become vulnerable. Don't know if this is the case for this fire area.
2. Electrical utilities are responsible for whatever tree trimming is necessary to keep their lines up during wind storms. The NIMBYs are responsible for the opposition to this necessary safety measure.
3. Homeowners & builders are responsible for considering protective measures against wildfires, such as roofing and exterior materials that don't burn easily. As far as I'm concerned, homes costing over $750,000 should have their own exterior and interior fire suppression systems already installed. A fine home should be more than gingerbread, granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. Classic mediterranean buildings with their masonry exteriors and terra cotta roof tiles should be extremely resistant to wildfires.
#7
I have a friend in Estes Park CO who installed a water tank filled with fire suppressant material and a system of fire hose / sprinkler hoses that can be deployed in a few minutes to cover the entire exterior. She did use it at least once to save her home from a wildfire. I am surprised the neighbors don't object to that unsightly water tank. Eeeew.
[Patriot Post] Two weeks ago, I wrote about a West Point 2016 graduate, now-2LT Spenser Rapone, who, despite his brash history displaying contempt for our nation, and his advocacy for communism, was allowed to graduate. As I noted, now-retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Robert Heffington, an Academy history professor in 2015, had issued a sworn affidavit alerting senior USMA command about Rapone.
LTC Heffington was an infantry officer before completing graduate work and accepting a post at the USMA. He was known by those under his command, and by his USMA students, to be a tough and uncompromising man of superior integrity. In his complaint he concluded, "I cannot reconcile the image of a first class cadet at West Point with the things he has posted online for the world to see. To me, these are red flags that cannot be ignored, and I fail to see how this individual can possibly graduate and become a commissioned officer in six months."
But they did ignore it.
More recently, Rapone, now assigned to the 10th Mountain Division in Fort Drum, has boldly posted his hatred for his commander in chief, SecDef James Mattis, and other senior military leadership on public social media accounts. That constitutes a clear and overt UCMJ Article 88 violation: "Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense ... shall be punished as a court-martial may direct."
West Point command responded to the exposure of Rapone’s insubordination and UCMJ violations with an official statement asserting, "Rapone’s actions in no way reflect the values of the U.S. Military Academy or the U.S. Army," and that "Rapone’s chain of command is aware of his actions and is looking into the matter."
We have seen this before. MAJ Nidal Hasan MD and his "Soldier of Allah" business cards and his Islamist lectures on Army time. There were plenty of people who knew about his Islamist radical leanings, but he was not only retained in the service, but was promoted. Apparently no one learned anything from the Ft. Hood "workplace violence" incident.
Except for LTC Heffington.
He paid attention to Rapone's social media crap and discovered a full blown Marxist in the ranks. When he brought it to the attention of senior members of the faculty and staff of the Academy, he was promptly ignored.
When I was in the advanced course at the Ft. Benning School For Boys, we had one very outspoken instructor whose guidance generally consisted of the phrase "Bayonet Da Commie ****suckers In Da Troat!!!" He was a man of few words, but immense wisdom.
So, in the case of 2LT Rapone, I suggest interrogating everyone close to him, room mates etc, and every instructor he had as well as the senior staff at the Academy and find out who knew about Rapone and who did nothing about it. And they should all be cashiered. Pour Encourager Les Autres.
Then give LTC Heffington a promotion to Major General and his choice of Division to command.
#2
Apparently, they also need to clear out the contract instructors who peddle the left crap pushed on America's campuses. Then go to the Army retired files and find some instructors with the background to be new faculty. They're out there.
#3
#2 Apparently, they also need to clear out the contract instructors who peddle the left crap pushed on America's campuses. Then go to the Army retired files and find some instructors with the background to be new faculty. They're out there.
Posted by Procopius2k
Over the Obama years the unsupervised hiring of the contractor instructors allowed the liberals in the tent...time to throw their sandals outta the tent.
#4
I blame Obama and his cronies for all this; Rapone, the sad state of the Navy, the Shaw AFB thing. It just goes on and on. Willful acts of subversion and infiltration. There must be a crushing response.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
10/14/2017 12:55
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#5
There must be crushing response. Shut down the USMA for 10 years or so, to get rid of the dead wood & to encourage les autres. Then re-found the academy under all new staffing. Rely on Army ROTC in the meantime.
Moved to Page 4 [Listverse.com] Back in the early 1980s, when Robert Mugabe took over, some people disagreed with the new regime. After all, the country had recently passed through a brutal struggle against white rule; dissent was easily found. There is a well-trod path to curing dissent in a brave new world, and it involves bullets. And rape.The crack Fifth Brigade of the new Zimbabwean army (trained by North Korean commandos) raped, tortured, and murdered up to 20,000 civilians in 1983.
The British ambassador at the time said, "Zimbabwe is important to us primarily because of major British and western economic and strategic interests in southern Africa, and Zimbabwe’s pivotal position there. Other important interests are investment and trade [ . . . ] and the need to avoid a mass white exodus. Zimbabwe [ . . . ] [also] is a bulwark against Soviet inroads."[2]So that’s okay then.
[USA Today] WASHINGTON ‐ Former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus was interviewed Friday by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team of investigators as part of an ongoing investigation into potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign, his attorney said.
"He was happy to answer all of their questions," the lawyer, William Burck, said in a statement.
It was not immediately clear what questions Priebus was asked or how long the interview lasted.
Priebus is one of several current and former White House aides expected to be interviewed by Mueller’s team in the coming weeks. Those investigators, besides looking into whether campaign aides coordinated with the Kremlin to influence the outcome of the presidential election, are also looking into a series of White House actions since the start of the administration, including the firing in May of former FBI Director James Comey.
They’re also investigating the short-lived tenure of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was forced to resign in February, and the drafting of a public statement about a June 2016 meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower in New York.
[Red State] Late Wednesday a group of Congressmen met to discuss the ever present and under-investigated case of Imran Awan, the House IT staffer and longtime associate of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Awan has been directly connected to a growing number of violations and questionable activities in DC. He is currently in custody and facing bank fraud charges, as just a part of his list of transgressions. You're right, it's an ageless beauty.
During the current court proceedings it has been revealed Awan’s wife, Hina Alvi has turned on him. The co-defendants have independent legal counsel, as a result of her charging him in Pakistani court with bigamy, and other violent offenses. It is just the latest development in a story that grows in scope and drama ‐ yet provokes limited curiosity with authorities.
Involved in this meeting were Congressmen Louie Gohmert (TX), Jim Jordan (OH), Scott Perry (PA) and Ron DeSantis (FL), and also sitting in was Daily Caller reporter Luke Rosiak, and Tom Fitton, President of Judicial Watch. Hearing the known details and some of the numbers connected to these activities illustrate the range of this scandal.
Awan compiled a group of family members and friends who became IT workers within the House of Representatives. He developed an unusual amount of clout and access, and it has been discovered he spearheaded organized graft from this position. The story first broke in February when numerous computers and other tech devices were discovered stolen from nearly two dozen house members. Most of Awan’s ring were relieved of their duties, save for himself as he was brought onto Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s staff as an adviser. Since then a widening list of violations has been compiled against the group.
Key takeaway: If you're going to commit a crime, commit it by yourself.
She's probably been talking to the FBI and/or Klingons for years. BTW, has anyone seen Tamerlan Tsarnaev's wife, Katherine Russell lately, or is she involved in one of those NASA colonization projects ?
[The Hill] A new multi-state lawsuit has been announced to stop President Trump from halting key ObamaCare payments to insurers.
Eighteen states and Washington, D.C., signed onto the lawsuit filed Friday in federal court in California, according to Sarah Lovenheim, a spokeswoman for California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D).
On Thursday night, Trump announced he would stop making the payments, which led to an outcry from critics saying he was sabotaging the health-care law.
The complaint will seek a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction and permanent injunction requiring the cost-sharing reduction payments be made.
#1
If you believe the payments authorized by Obama are illegal then they should be discontinued. If you believe Obama had the legal right to authorize the payments then Trump has the same legal basis for discontinuing. Either way the payments will stop unless McConnell and Ryan once again save ObamaCare.
[Breitbart] West Virginia Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate Patrick Morrisey spoke with Breitbart News Daily SiriusXM host Alex Marlow on Friday regarding his campaign, including his recent endorsement by pro-President Trump Super PAC Great America Alliance.
Morrisey also discussed his tenure as attorney general, saying, "The reason I want to run for Senate is Washington is utterly broken." He also talked about his record of going after the Obama administration for what he called "stupid regulations."
"We can start to clean up these terribly burdensome regulations. We can make the tax code much simpler, much flatter, so that it works for everyday people, so we’re incentivizing work. And I want to go down there and actually get things done," said Morrisey.
He also blasted Washington for not following through on its many promises to repeal and replace Obamacare.
THE Onion put it best: “‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.” An accurate summary of gun-control opponents’ response to America’s periodic gun massacres, the headline was also familiar. The satirical website has run it, with few alterations to an accompanying spoof article, five times: after six people were murdered in California in 2014; after nine were murdered in South Carolina, nine in Oregon and 14 in California in 2015; and after the killing of 58 and maiming of 489 people by a lone gunman in Las Vegas on October 1st.
Satire thrives where the usual checks on human folly fail. In this case it points to the fact that America, despite having a gun-murder rate 25 times higher than that of other developed countries, has no serious debate on how to reduce the killing, because Republican lawmakers refuse to countenance the only thing that easily would. By making it even a bit harder for killers to get guns—as action taken in Australia, Britain and Canada shows—America would have fewer gun deaths. Yet only a quarter of Republican voters accept that demonstrable truth. Most say America would have less crime if only more Americans were armed. "Most say?" Where are you getting your data? I haven't said that, and no one I know has sad it. Maybe you are talking to the people who think that theft and murder are the acceptable part of the drive to disarm civilians in America,
The usual explanation for this delusion is brilliantly effective lobbying by gun clubs. Since the 1970s the National Rifle Association, supported by gun makers, has recast what was once a public- safety issue into an argument about liberty: if you believe gun ownership is a thin red line against government tyranny, as the NRA claims, it scarcely matters whether it also leads to more killing. At the same time, the lobbyists have bullied Republican lawmakers so thoroughly that none dares speak against them. Asked for his position on gun control this week, Paul Ryan said he’d rather talk about cutting taxes. The Onion could not improve on that.
Yet though Republican voters have moved markedly against gun control over the course of the NRA’s lobbying, it alone cannot explain that shift. Many Republican voters are more selective in their support for guns than the ideologues; they tend to be momentarily keener on gun controls after a massacre, for example. It also seems notable that the same people who believe guns make America safer are also likely to hold a number of other irrational views. Around half of Republicans do not believe in evolution or anthropogenic climate change. They have also just elected as president a man who has suggested vaccines cause autism. Donald Trump’s insurgency in itself suggests that any explanation of Republican attitudes rooted in conservative ideology should be treated with caution. The 2nd Amendment is about Liberty, and always has been about Liberty. That the NRA has been pressing this view, all the while helping to reduce that Liberty, says more about them than it does about the idea of the Blessing of Liberty. Also, the idea that guns make us safer is a dodge written into the currrent climate by lawyers who neither appreciate Liberty, nor do they appreciate what their rulemaking, either in federal regulation or in lawmaking, does to the concept. It eventually will destroy the legal community's very credibility.
A forthcoming book by the political scientists Eric Oliver and Thomas Wood, “Enchanted America”, offers an alternative explanation. It argues that people who believe guns make America safer, among other fallacies, display a strain of superstition that has always existed in American politics, on the right and the left, but which in recent decades has concentrated on the right, and now threatens to subsume it. Its proponents, who the authors call “intuitionists”, understand the world on the basis of feelings and gut instinct, not doctrine or empirical facts, even when confronted with them. “Much of what looks like an ideological gap in this country”, the authors write, “is due more to the power of these innate intuitions than abstract principles or values.” The problem with doctrine and empirical facts is that they are tools, used by other "institutionalists" including government officials, to destroy Liberty, and not just in the right to keep and bear arms. Don't think empirical data can't be manipulated? Try having a conversation about Liberty with an individual who refuses to accept the base concept of Liberty, but who would rather sacrifice their political opponents' rights using the legislative process, all on the alter of Public Safety. The Economist, in this entire missive, fails to address how, whenever government takes away rights from a selected group, its own power increases over other groups as well. And it never returns those rights, and never will without armed insurrection or by regime change.
Understand that, they argue, and it becomes easier to comprehend that the judgments such voters reach in times of economic and cultural change, like the present, will be governed by fear. This is both an instinctive response to uncertainty and a self-validating one, as Mr Oliver illustrates by quoting his five-year-old son: “If there’s no monster in the closet, then why am I scared?” The refusal of millions of people to accept some limits on gun ownership, even though this would make their families safer, reflects the same white-knuckled logic. The only way civilians can be disarmed is through institutionalized and legalized theft and murder, all through the power of government. If the government was moving to take away your right to assemble peaceably, you'd be "white knuckled" too.
How has such a rich, well-governed place come to this? Richard Hofstadter’s classic essay, “The Paranoid Style in America Politics”, offers another clue. Written in 1964, it locates the anger and paranoia that had characterised the Goldwater insurgency—in effect, an extreme case of intuitionism—in a long history of populist resentment and apocalyptic rhetoric. For Hofstadter, the paranoid style was a persistent but marginal “psychic phenomenon”, with a potential to take off in certain circumstances. The most propitious, he mused, would be “a confrontation of opposed interests which are (or are felt to be) totally irreconcilable”. It is possible to read America’s subsequent political history, dominated by the civil-rights struggle, the culture wars and the intractable partisanship they spawned, as proof of that conjecture.
Freefalling
There has since been plenty of irrational behaviour on the left, too, including hostility to genetically modified food and the current tendency of left-wing bloggers to see a Russian under every rock. Yet the fact that the losers in America’s cultural struggles—including fundamentalist Christians, rural whites and other traditional folk—were on the right has made it the domain of unreason. The election of Mr Trump sealed that. As an irreligious sometime pro-choice proponent of gun control, he was an implausible Republican champion. Still, his supporters backed him because, in their guts, where intuitive choices are made, they felt he was on their side, so none of that mattered.
On guns and much else, this suggests, Republican leaders have been directing the views of their supporters much less than they thought. They, and their NRA auxiliaries, could not have turned Republican voters on to gun ownership so dramatically had the issue not spoken to their pre-existing fears and fantasies. And much good has such pandering done the leaders. It has given them Mr Trump for a boss and a civil war, between populists and true conservatives, upon which their party could founder. It has also left them, in the wake of America’s worst civilian massacre in a century, with nothing to say. One important point: Republican leaders and not leaders; they are public servants and representatives, duly elected. Another point: A civil war has been brewing ever since the first of the modern gun control acts was passed and signed into law in 1968. I am not impressed by elections, but I do vote to keep the fascist left at bay, and to help preserve, as much as humanly possible, the Blessings of Liberty. That idea is lost on the editors at The Economist. More's the pity. This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline "The power of magical thinking"
#1
that America, despite having a gun-murder rate 25 times higher than that of other developed countries
That would be certain 'communities' of America. Drop out those numbers from the overall count, and, golly gee wiz, the numbers start to align with other developed countries. However, pointing that out, makes this a racist but factual comment.
#2
NRA lobbying is only successful because they have so many members giving them marching orders. That is the way a democracy works, remind the politicians who put them in power and what is important.
#3
I'd be curious to see what happened to gun crime numbers if you went to prison for life if found with an unregistered or stolen gun. I bet they'd drop pretty quick after a short while.
#4
..just another form of welfare, three hots and a cot, that's before the aristocracy starts piling on perks because....cruel and unusual (which really meant things like drawing and quartering not deprivation of TV).
Three European powers party to a nuclear deal with Iran expressed "concern" with US President Donald Trump's speech on the agreement on Friday, in which he threatened to "terminate" the accord unilaterally.
The three US allies‐ Britain, France and Germany‐ cautioned Trump and the US Congress from walking down a dangerous path by "taking any steps that might undermine the JCPOA, such as re-imposing sanctions on Iran lifted under the agreement." The rule is: don't attribute to malice that can be explained by stupidity - but, there are limits.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru ||
10/14/2017
05:11 ||
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[1 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Dear Congress,
The idea is that we make as much money as possible from these mooks until they nuke us. Is that SO hard to understand? Jeez....
The EU
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/14/2017 6:57
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#2
What a missed opportunity for ESPN to televise the draft selection as a show. Expert analysis, interviews with last years first rounders, and of course a great background piece on those fleeing to Canada.
#7
I was a few days from being drafted in Nov. 1969 when the first lottery of that era was suddenly announced. I drew a 362. At my draft physical a few days later, I was stamped I-A and then right afterward 1-H. A few months later a cousin was KIA when his Huey was shot down. His remains were only recovered after 2010.
#11
Strictly speaking, I was never eligible for the draft. I had a 2-S college deferment. They eliminated college deferments for grad school, so I signed up for Navy OCS the month before I graduated.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
10/14/2017 20:02
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#12
Ra 68001326
E/5 91b20
2 505. 3rd.bgd.
82nd. Airborne
Pick a number.
[USA Today] LOS ANGELES ‐ Gwyneth Paltrow, Octavia Spencer and other Hollywood stars called for solidarity at Variety's Power of Women luncheon in Los Angeles on Friday, an event coming in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal rocking Hollywood.
Honoree Octavia Spencer made note of the timing from the stage of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel during her speech, which touched on the spate of bad news in the media. Weinstein, who was fired from The Weinstein Company following reports chronicling decades of sexual harassment towards women, was front and center in this bad news.
"This past week, the film industry awoke to a scandal that rocked us to our core. Scores of brave women came forward and recounted stories of sexual harassment perpetrated by a producer who had abused his power for nearly three decades," Spencer said, her voice shaking with emotion.
#2
Yep, not to mention glad handing and hi-fives for sticking it to the 'Man'. Never a problem when in the pursuit of power till they can't suffocate all the hypocrisy involved. Then its like a pack of hyenas on a fallen lion to display their 'virtue'.
In their little minds, they have to think those on the 'right' have to be even worse animals (deplorable, unredeemable) in order for their consciousness to hold together, otherwise the knowledge that they are the damned would drive them over the cliff.
#5
The theory that this is a message in large capital letters to Hillary that her friends are vulnerable and so is she begins to more and more likely.
'Screw up just once more and the mess will be epic.'
Posted by: ed in texas ||
10/14/2017 20:48
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#6
#5 The theory that this is a message in large capital letters to Hillary that her friends are vulnerable and so is she begins to more and more likely.
'Screw up just once more and the mess will be epic.'
Posted by: ed in texas 2017-10-14 20:48
[The Hill] Federal regulators on Friday approved two major natural gas pipelines for construction on the East Coast, a move heralded by business leaders and condemned by environmentalists.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted approvals for the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast pipelines, according to The Associated Press. One of the three commissioners dissented.
The Mountain Valley Pipeline, which is slated to cost $3.5 billion, would span 300 miles from the northern portion of West Virginia all the way to Danville, Va.
The Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which will amount to $5 billion, will stretch 600 miles from north-central West Virginia, through Virginia, and through eastern North Carolina.
Business advocates say the pipelines will lower energy costs and jumpstart economic development, however opponents argue the pipelines will interfere with property rights and have a negative impact on the environment.
[TheLocal.fr] A member of the French intelligence services has landed himself in hot water after sending a text message containing information on a radical Islamist he was spying on, to the target himself.
Anyone who has accidently sent a text message to the wrong person might have some sympathy with a member of the French intelligent services who landed himself in trouble with his bosses this week.
The man, who works for the central territorial intelligence services (SCRT) had been keeping tabs on a suspected Islamist turban.
He wanted to send a text containing important intelligence on his target to a colleague.
But the spy got all his phone numbers mixed up and accidentally sent it to the very suspect he had been closely monitoring.
The "target" was reportedly quick to respond to the message, reminding the spy of how incompetent he had been. And to make matters worse he was able to warn those he had been contact with that they too were probably being listened to.
The gaffe angered those at La Belle France's main internal intelligence services the DGSI who were also spying on the suspect.
The man under surveillance was suspected of preaching an turban version of Islam in the greater Gay Paree region of Ile-de-La Belle France.
French media who picked up the story this week, described it as a "monumental blunder" as they asked the question: "How could this have happened?"
Perhaps it would not have been so serious if La Belle France had not been on high alert for further terror attacks after being targeted by jihadists in recent years.
The DGSI was forced to end their investigation into the suspect.
[DW] The individuals have received prison sentences, but the government has refused to divulge other details, such as the names of the accused or charges faced. The mass trials have drawn criticism for a lack of transparency.
A Nigerian court on Friday sentenced 45 people to prison sentences after it ruled they had been members of the terror organization 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... . The convicted individuals were part of closed-door mass trials that began earlier this week and in which 1,669 people stand accused of membership in the Islamist organization, which has been carrying out deadly attacks and kidnappings for eight years.
Nigeria's Information Minister Lai Mohammed said Friday that the 45 had been sentenced to between three and 31 years in prison. However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... he provided no additional information, such as names and ages of those convicted, or where they were jugged I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! and what specific charges they had faced.
Mohammed refused to provide details about the 1,669 people accused
Mohammed said only that the 45 were sentenced "following the conclusion of the first phase of the trial [in] which 575 Boko Haram suspects were arraigned."
Of those arraigned, 468 were discharged with orders to undergo deradicalization and rehabilitation programs. Another 34 cases were thrown out, leaving 28 to face trial in the central cities of Abuja or Minna.
In total, 1,669 suspects had been brought to the Kainji military barracks in the central state of Niger to face trial. The suspects will be tried either at four civilian courts that have been set up at Kainji or at a different military base in the northeastern city of Maiduguri.
Optimism and criticism
The mass trials have drawn a mixture of cautious optimism and legal criticism.
Onlookers have praised the Nigerian government for taking judicial action against the terror organization, but many have also criticized the trials' mass size and heavy secrecy, as well as the detention conditions of the accused.
Individuals facing trial are being held at military facilities that are overcrowded and often lack basic sanitary conditions. Human rights groups have accused the Nigerian government of detaining people without reasonable suspicion and denying them access to lawyers.
In addition, international organizations have voiced concern over the lack of transparency around the trials, where media and public observers are barred from entering.
"It is essential that Boko Haram forces of Evil are prosecuted and, if found guilty, held to account for killings and abuses they may have perpetrated, and that victims are able to receive justice," said Rupert Colville, the UN human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... spokesperson.
However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... he added that "any restrictions on the public nature of a trial, including for the protection of national security, must be both necessary and proportionate."
Colville also pointed out that article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights entitles all defendants to a fair and public hearing. Nigeria is one of 74 nations that have signed the treaty.
Boko Haram has killed more than 20,000 people over the past eight years and displaced at least 2.2 million people, primarily from the northeastern corner of the country on the border to Chad.
In the past months, the Islamist terror group has carried out a series of deadly suicide kabooms, often with women or children as the bombers. In May 2015, the group released 82 Chibok schoolgirls who it had kidnapped three years prior.
#1
If I could make my link thingy work I'd post a mass hanging link; much more appropriate than prison sentences, which just make motive for taking captives to exchange.
[AnNahar] A jihadist boom-mobileing targeting displaced Syrians in the northeastern province of Hasakeh on Thursday killed at least 18 people, including Kurdish security forces, a monitor said.
The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack was carried out by the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group and took place in an area where Syrians displaced from Deir Ezzor province usually gather.
"At least 18 people, including displaced persons and members of the Asayesh Kurdish security forces, were killed," Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.
Two separate offensives targeting IS are underway in the eastern oil-rich province of Deir Ezzor, one by Russia-backed government forces and the other by U.S.-backed Kurdish-Arab fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
SDF front man Talal Sello confirmed a boom-mobileing targeting people displaced from Deir Ezzor, saying it took place in the Hasakeh's southern area of Abu Fass.
"Dozens of people were killed and maimed," Sello told AFP.
After the blast, "the civilians escaped towards desert areas where mines went kaboom! and the toll rose," he added, without providing further details.
Much of Hasakeh province and Hasakeh city are under the control of a Kurdish "autonomous administration" with smaller parts of both controlled by the central government.
Abu Fass is where Kurdish authorities gather people displaced by conflict before allowing them to enter camps where they can shelter, the Observatory said.
Earlier Thursday, the monitoring group, which relies on a network of sources inside war-torn Syria, said regime forces had retaken four neighborhoods in the town of Mayadeen in Deir Ezzor province.
The state news agency SANA confirmed that regime forces had re-entered Mayadeen.
Last week, IS succeeded in expelling Syrian forces from Mayadeen two days after they entered the town.
A Syrian army source had recently described Mayadeen as the "military capital" of the jihadist organization in Deir Ezzor.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/14/2017
01:11 ||
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[AnNahar] Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines will begin coordinated air patrols off the strife-torn southern Philippines next month to combat the growing threat posed by Islamist hard boys, an official said Friday.
The neighbors had already launched joint sea patrols four months ago in the same area, the Sulu Sea.
Fears have been growing that the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) group is trying to establish a Southeast Asian outpost in the southern Philippines after button men waving the jihadists' black flag occupied the Moslem city of Marawi in May.
They have fought off a U.S.-backed military assault for almost five months and the conflict has left hundreds dead.
There have also been a spate of kidnappings in the Sulu Sea by the Abu Sayyaf ...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder... , a Philippine Islamist hard boy group.
A ceremony to announce the patrols was held Thursday at Subang air force base outside Kuala Lumpur and was attended by defense ministers from the three countries.
A Malaysian defense ministry spokeswoman said the patrols were aimed at combating the threat from "ISIS (IS), piracy and sea robberies."
The countries will take turns to lead the patrols, with Malaysia starting in November, followed by the Philippines in December and Indonesia in January.
In a speech at the ceremony, Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said that some $40 billion in trade passed through the Sulu Sea every year and no single country could police the waters alone.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/14/2017
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[DW] Some 600 senior-ranked Ottoman Turkish officials have sought asylum in Germany since last year’s coup attempt in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , according to a Berlin newspaper. The number highlights the growing uncertainty in the country.
Germany's Funke media group, which includes the Berliner Morgenpost, reported Saturday that the more than 600 asylum applicants comprised 250 persons with Ottoman Turkish diplomatic passports and 380 with identity papers showing them to be senior Ottoman Turkish public servants.
Last year's coup attempt, blamed by Ottoman Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... on US-based holy manFethullah Gulen ... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world... , was followed by the arrests of 50,000 people in Turkey and 150,000 sackings and suspensions in the military, public and private sectors.
The Berliner Morgenpost said it had obtained the figures from Germany's Interior Ministry, which last month said 196 Turks with diplomatic passports had been granted asylum in Germany.
That count did not include members of Turkey's military, including NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and structure.... attaches, who have also sought asylum.
Judicial independence at risk
Strains have emerged in the traditional good relations between Ankara and Berlin over the German government's refusal to extradite asylum seekers, outrage over Turkey's prosecution of dozens of detained German citizens, including journalists, and Erdogan's April referendum to expand his powers.
The Berliner Morgenpost quoted the executive director of the German Association of Judges, Sven Rebehn, as saying that hardly any judicial independence remained in Turkey to exercise controls over Erdogan.
"Thousands of judges and state attorneys have been dismissed and some taken into detention. They have been replaced by government-allied jurists, who are appointed after crash courses," he said.
"As a result, an effective, constitutional legal control of the Erdogan regime through an independent judiciary is largely inconceivable. It's to be feared that the Ottoman Turkish president will continue to dismantle Turkey's civil society unperturbed.
Erdogan: EU must make up its mind
In a speech to his Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Friday, Erdogan demanded that the EU at its Brussels summit next week make a decision on Ankara's longstanding bid for accession to the 28-nation bloc.
"Still they string us along. But we will be patient. We say: It will be not us, but you who leaves the ring," Erdogan told his AKP executive.
Germany is home to some 3 million people of Ottoman Turkish descent and has been a major trading partner and tourist destination for Germans.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/14/2017
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#1
There are indications that Turkish spies who work for the German government as e.g. translators or security personnel are leaking confidential information on these asylum seekers to the Turkish government / ruling party.
Some asylum seekers have reported that immediately after they contacted German government authorities to apply for asylum their names and whereabouts in Germany were published by Turkish media close to Erdogan.
Oliver Stone is being accused of sexual harassment shortly after he refused to condemn Harvey Weinstein.
Former Playboy playmate Carrie Stevens told the NY Daily News that the Hollywood director grabbed her breast at a party over 20 years ago. She was 22 at the time.
Oliver Stone is being accused of sexual harassment shortly after he refused to condemn Harvey Weinstein.
Former Playboy playmate Carrie Stevens told the NY Daily News that the Hollywood director grabbed her breast at a party over 20 years ago. She was 22 at the time.
"He was really cocky, had this big grin on his face like he was going to get away with something," she said.
Stevens alleges he approached her at a party that was held in his honor and "reached out and...honked it like a horn." She also mentioned that others saw it happen but didn’t say anything because "that’s what’s going on in Hollywood. That’s why things have to change."
Stone received backlash for saying "it’s not easy what [Weinstein]’s going through and saying he’s a "believer that you wait until this thing gets to trial." He has since walked back his remarks.
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy ||
10/14/2017
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20 years ago. And she's only been "empowered" to speak this week? Heff must have run a tight ship.
[TimesOfIndia] SRINAGAR: Top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Wasim Shah, believed to be the main architect of the unrest last year in south Kashmir, was gunned down along with his accomplice by security forces in an encounter early this morning in Pulwama district, police said.
Shah, 23, also known as "Abu Osama Bhai and Wasim Lefty" was killed at Litter area in Pulwama, a place considered to be a safe haven for terrorists. This is the first counter-insurgency operation in Litter area in four years.
Jammu and Kashmir police had been tracking the movements of Shah, who is considered as the "don" of Heff, another stronghold of terrorists in South Kashmir's Shopian district.
After information that he was at his hideout at Litter, police and its special operation group team cordoned off the area, police said.
Shah along with his bodyguard Nisar Ahmed Mir made an attempt to flee but could not penetrate the cordon which had been strengthened by the presence of the CRPF and Army, they said.
The only one left alive from this photo is Saddam Paddar. He has his arm, with Casio watch, around another jihadi Nasser Pandit.
In front row, left to right... Afaqullah, Samar Bhat, Anees. Behind are Nasser Pandit, Saddam Paddar, the infamous Burhan Wani, Waseem Malia, and Ishfaq Hameed. Last row is Adil Khandir, Waseem Shah and Tariq Pandit.
All except Saddam Paddar have been killed by Kashmiri Police or Indian Army.
Posted by: John Frum ||
10/14/2017
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[Ynet] Israel cannot accept the agreement between Fatah and Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, as it would force it to stop treating the West Bank and Gazoo as two separate entities. Regardless, Israeli officials believe the agreement would collapse within 3-4 months, so there is no reason to try and sabotage it.
During reconciliation talks in Cairo, Hamas was asked to present the Paleostinian Authority security services with a map of the tunnels in the Gazoo Strip, as part of their agreement to coordinate security activity vis-à-vis Israel. Hamas's representatives didn't even bother responding to the request.
The Cairo talks left Hamas with its tunnels, labs, weapons factories, drones and with the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades and their naval commandos. In fact, Hamas's military wing remains as it were‐under the direct and exclusive command of Hamas.
This is why Israel views the agreement signed on Thursday as one that has no chance of being realized, so there's no reason to even waste energy on trying to sabotage it. Especially as both the American administration and the Egyptians have asked Israel not to interfere.
Nevertheless, the agreement does indicate some change in Hamas's willingness to give up its monopoly over arms in the strip. For example, the responsibility over border crossings will gradually be transferred to the Paleostinian Authority. Some 3,000 coppers are set to be transferred from the West Bank to Gazoo and join the 12,000 existing Gazook coppers, who will also go under the PA's purview.
The manner in which these moves and others will be carried out will be determined in discussions of joint Fatah-Hamas committees. In general, most of the articles of the agreement signed on Thursday are dependant on the work of these committees, and there are no deadlines for most of the planned changes. For example, the future of the Gazook government babus bureaucrats will be discussed in a committee due to issue its recommendations in four months‐an eternity in the Middle East.
Another committee is supposed to present a plan to put an end to persecution and arrests of Hamas members in the West Bank, which will theoretically require Hamas to announce a halt to terror activity. But there is no mention of such a provision in any joint Hamas-Fatah document, and the information the Shin Bet currently has does not indicate a decline in the activity of Hamas's West Bank holy warrior cells, quite the opposite.
Israeli officials believe the fact Abbas acquiesced to the Egyptians, and his willingness to accept an agreement that does not give him control of the weapons in the strip, only perpetuates his position as a lame duck.
Furthermore, his need to present himself to the Americans as a leader who has the mandate to act on behalf of the entire Paleostinian people is more important to him than short-term concessions. The US is about to present a diplomatic plan for an agreement in the Middle East, and presenting himself as a legitimate partner is of utmost importance to Abbas.
Either way, Israeli officials don't believe Hamas would take on the commitments the PA has towards Israel. Their assessment is that the agreement would collapse within three or four months.
In any case, the Israeli government would not be able to live with this agreement, even if it includes a Hamas commitment to the PA to lower tensions in Gazoo. Such an agreement would require Israel to drop its policy of treating the Gazoo Strip and the West Bank as two separate entities, which has so far allowed it to avoid going into diplomatic talks, claiming Abbas does not represent the entire Paleostinian people. This is something Israel would not be willing to give up so fast.
Furthermore, Israel would not receive any guaranteed achievement in return for such a concession, such as Hamas recognizing Israel or a commitment from the Paleostinians to stop the acts of violence.
KIRKUK, Iraq: The Iraqi army launched an operation to retake Kurdish-held positions around the disputed oil city of Kirkuk on Friday amid a bitter row with the Kurds over a vote for independence last month.
A senior Kurdish official said thousands of heavily armed fighters had been deployed to resist the offensive “at any cost” and called for international intervention with the federal government in Baghdad to prevent the confrontation worsening.
The Iraqi army and the Kurdish peshmerga have been key allies of the US-led coalition in its fight against the Daesh group and the threat of armed clashes between them poses a major challenge for Western governments.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: badanov ||
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[WIStv] The Sumter County Sheriff's Office arrested a group of Airmen from Shaw Air Force Base on charges that they spray-painted Satanic graffiti on a rural church.
According to sheriff's office, the group members have been identified as Kayla Marie Eilerman, Clayre Marie Savage, Daveion Raaheim Green and Brandon Munoz. Pix of the geniuses at link.
The investigation began on Sept. 29 when a member of the congregation at Salem Black River Church in Mayesville stopped by to check on the church. When they arrived, they found the graffiti on three buildings and a door had been kicked in. However, it appears none of the suspects gained entry. The damage to the church is estimated at $3,000.
Sumter County investigators quickly began to develop leads in the case after photos of the group were released to the media.
"Several tips came in from the community, including from Shaw AFB personnel who gave us the names of possible suspects," sheriff's office spokesman Ken Bell said in a statement. "We began researching the names through various databases and social media."
The four were arrested Thursday and charged with trespassing, malicious injury to a house of worship, and criminal conspiracy.
It is not clear at this time if the Airmen will face any type of punishment from military officials. However, officials at Shaw released a statement on the matter.
"The United States Air Force does not condone acts of vandalism," 1st Lt. Alannah Staver, 20th Fighter Wing chief of public affairs, said in a statement. "Such behavior is not representative of the Airmen of Shaw AFB as a whole. We feel we are a part of this community, are proud to serve here, and we are disappointed to hear of this incident." Criminal acts are punishable under UCMJ Article 15, right Lt. Staver?
All four suspects were given each $15,000 bond on vandalism, conspiracy, and trespassing charges. They are also not allowed off base between the hours of 6 p.m. and 5 a.m. The suspects are due back in court on Dec. 1. The USAF has certainly come a long way. The Adakemy, as you may recall, has led the way off the rails.
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy ||
10/14/2017
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#1
William Strannix: "Oh, discipline is just out the window here..."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/14/2017 0:11
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#2
According to sheriff's office, the group members have been identified as Kayla Marie Eilerman, Clayre Marie Savage, Daveion Raaheim Green and Brandon Munoz.
Vibrant! Is there anything it can't do?
More institutional brought to you by Neo-Tribalism Inc.
#7
The issue isn't double jeopardy if they are charged with AWOL while in civil custody. Article 15 describing such absence should be a career ended or bar to reenlistment.
#10
Double jeopardy doesn't actually play here.
You get charged in civilian court, and then charged by the JAG's office with the same thing, with "while a sworn member of the US military".
Seen it in person.
In real life the civilian court frequently defers to the military, usually because what the mil hands out generally rates as felony grade punishment, way past what the civilian court can do in what is almost certainly a first offense.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
10/14/2017 15:05
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#11
Low on sugar? Case out of Ft Leavenworth. Officer/student accused of throwing his wife over a balcony at a hotel where a dinner was being held. Locals demanded to prosecute. It was given to them. They botched it. He got off. However, in the proceedings it was brought out that he was having an affair with someone not his wife. Court Martialed on that court record. Tried to claim double jeopardy. Not.
[JoanneNova] "We are the people who will be swimming," he said. "The question will be ‐ will those people on the lifeboats bother to pull us in or push us away because we would be too problematic?"
Kiribati’s highest point is 13m above water, and is sinking at a rate of 1mm a year (see the updated graph below by Eyes On Browne). To rephrase Euan Mearns, at this rate, complete inundation of it will take 13,000 years.
The Titanic’s elevation (waterline to the deck) was 18m, so it was 50% higher, yet it sank in 2 hours 40 minutes. That’s one ninth of a day, or one 3,285th of a year. Conservatively, the comparative speed works out to be 42.7 million times faster. Allowing for the higher elevation (but discounting funnels and/or palms) that would be 59.1 million times faster.
For some reason the ABC was unable to do an internet search on the words "Kiribati, Tide Gauges, Sea Level". With a billion dollars to spend, apparently they can only afford a one way internet cable. Just enough to upload news stories like this which are essentially a repeat of a press release, unchecked from President Tong:
Kiribati...is already suffering from the effects of climate change.
Rising sea levels are causing land to be engulfed by tidal waters, driving people away from their homes and leaving them displaced.
"What I have seen in my lifetime over the years has been villages, communities, who have had to leave ... because it is no longer viable," he said.
"The sea is there and there is nothing. Everything has been taken away so they have had to relocate."
No matter how melodramatic the claim, there are no hard questions from journalist Sarah Hancock.
Good luck to Mr Tong. He is just playing the cards he is offered.
Pity the ABC though. I wouldn’t want to be them when Australian’s realize that they are paying for an internet rerouting service from socialist troughers, freeloading gravy hunters and pagan czars.
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State has detained fifteen youth in western Anbar over cooperation with security services, a source was quoted saying.
Speaking to Alghad Press on Friday, the source said, “IS detained fifteen youth from cybercafes in Qaim after inspecting their cellphones.”
“IS accused the youth of cooperation with security troops,” the source said, adding that the detainees were taken to unknown destination.
Earlier on the day, the War Media Cell said the Iraqi military command urged residents in Qaim to be prepared for imminent operations to retake their region from militants. On Thursday, the Iraqi army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service distributed flyers in Qaim urging Islamic State militants to surrender better than having the same destiny of other militants in liberated regions. It also urged people to stay away from the militants in order not to be used as human shields, and to remember their hideouts so troops could follow them after the town is liberated.
Posted by: badanov ||
10/14/2017
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[HotAir] Go figure that talent and content producers might not want to work with the entertainment industry equivalent of The Pit of Despair. A revolt from agencies and financiers has put the Weinstein Company “near the brink” of extinction, Deadline Hollywood reported last night. Whatever remaining benefit of doubt has evaporated as more details of the Harvey Weinstein “dumpster fire” emerges — and that was before details of his contract with the board emerged:
Late last week, the town seemed willing to hang in with the production company if Weinstein was fired, giving co-chairman Bob Weinstein and COO David Glasser the chance to keep the company moving forward on its TV and movie projects, and keep the 190 staffers from heading to the exits. This was after the first New York Timesarticle. But there has been one devastating blow after the other in the days following that have eroded much of that good will for a post-Weinstein rebound. The first serious wound came with Ronan Farrow’s The New Yorker article, with descriptions of rapes that were more than sickening; they were terrifying. Two days after the board of directors issued a statement that its members had no idea of the allegations of abuse by Weinstein, TNY today quoted board member Lance Maerov admitting he had heard of multiple settlements. Even though he added he believed they were for consensual affairs and the desire to eliminate legal liability (and some believe his admission got mangled in translation, because at least two of the matters were investigated by TWC’s HR department, several major agents today said they had lost faith in the company’s mixed messaging).
Agents did not want to be on record, but reactions ranged from not wanting to risk the wrath of clients in the event of more fallout by putting them into TWC projects, and others said that if there was evidence of Weinstein benefiting directly or indirectly in projects, the agencies wanted no part of it. They felt even a re-branded company will carry a tarnish, and hoped that projects would be sold off. This wasn’t unanimous; at least one said that if Bob Weinstein and Glasser could change the messaging, and make it clear that Harvey Weinstein’s indiscretions were not in fact covered up, forgiveness could come over time.
#2
Well, it's said politics is Hollywood for ugly people. In politics, a phone call gets made and someone gets rubbed out and the wrongdoers party on. In Hollywood (and Silly-con Valley) not so much. And the new obsession with virtue signaling means that someone like ol' Harve gets hung out to dry by all his friends. In politics, some contributions are "returned" or "donated to charity" and that makes it all better. Hollywood and Silly-Con Valley should take note of how the game is played and how they are the minor leagues compared to the Washington crowd.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/14/2017 0:28
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#3
No intention of defending the offender, but lost in the shuffle is the inconvenient fact that for every few dozen casts or so, Harvey's efforts must have been rewarded by a willing masseuse or two. Well it must be so, his hobby would have been a pointless embarrassment otherwise.
I don't suppose we should be looking for any of the willing and rewarded to come forward however. How boring, to only have available the spurning accusers.
#4
I wonder if Weinstein will exercise the Samson option if he's pushed too far by his shocked, shocked former friends.
If he tells the public what he knows he'll be one of many, many pariahs, and perhaps not even the worst of the lot.
Weinstein's perversion apparently isn't pedophilia but there are credible allegations of organized pedophilia in Hollywood. Compared to that the Weinstein revelations are pretty harmless.
#7
I hope the Samson option does come up. Let the ceiling fall on them all.
Posted by: Charles ||
10/14/2017 15:56
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#8
"had no idea of the allegations of abuse"
Yeah, that's why his contract had a clause allowing him to pay a penalty as a 'cure' for an allegation.
They knew he was dirty and would do it again, otherwise they wouldn't have allowed for an exit.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
10/14/2017 20:53
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#9
BTW, Ronan Farrow's turning out to be a actual freakin' journalist.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
10/14/2017 20:55
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#10
So is Weinstein finally getting dumped because he no longer has enough power to matter? Or perhaps because he is not perverted enough (pedo?) for others to hold as a threat over him?
[IsraelTimes] Abdelkader Merah denies helping Mohammed Merah shoot dead 7 people, including 3 Jewish schoolchildren, in 2012
The older brother of a French jihadi who killed Jewish schoolchildren and soldiers in 2012 says he had no idea what his sibling was plotting.
Abdelkader Merah testified Friday for the first time in his trial for alleged complicity with his brother Mohammed’s three attacks in and near Toulouse ...lies on the banks of the River Garonne, half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The Toulouse metropolitan area is the fourth-largest in La Belle France... Merah is the chief surviving suspect because Mohammed died in a shootout with police.
He said he was with his brother the day he stole the motor scooter used in the killings, but didn’t report the theft to police because he didn’t want to be a snitch.
...the Algerian-French "lone wolf" who trained with Al Qaeda in Pakistan and quite possibly was a French informant before going on the killing spree that ended with his dramatic death in a shootout with French police...
I am Abdelkader Merah. There is a big difference," he insisted to the court.
True. Elder brother is merely a known wolf with a habit of supporting real jihadis -- a number of them relatives -- in their endeavours, though such things are felonies earning serious jail time. Mohammed was an actual jihadi.
The attacks, which he carried out in the name of al-Qaeda, were the first in a wave of jihadist assaults in La Belle France that resumed in 2015 with the shootings at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo ...A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe... and a massacre at a Gay Paree concert hall.
The Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... terror group claimed the attack as the work of one of its "soldiers," though a source close to the investigation said there was as yet no solid evidence linking the man to the group.
Abdelkader Merah, 35, is the first person to be tried over the spate of killings.
Reacting to his brother’s actions in 2012 Abdelkader Merah had declared himself "proud," saying that "every Moslem would like to give his life to kill his enemy."
He is accused of helping to facilitate his brother’s attacks, in particular by helping him steal the scooter used in three separate shootings.
He is being tried alongside 34-year-old Fettah Malki, accused of giving Mohammed Merah a bulletproof jacket, an Uzi submachine gun and ammunition.
Neither of the accused denies helping Merah obtain materials but claimed they were unaware of his intentions.
Abdelkader Merah faces a possible life sentence while Malki could get 20 years in prison.
Nicknamed "Bin Laden" in his neighborhood, Abdelkader Merah was known to intelligence services for his ties to radical Islamists in Toulouse.
Prosecutors claim he shared his brother’s ideology, and that the siblings were repeatedly in contact in the days before the killings.
[IsraelTimes] A French political activists says Zoulikha Merah was favored despite allegations that her son aided his brother in 2012 murder of 4 Jewish civilians and 3 soldiers.
Municipal officials gave preferential treatment to the mother of an Islamist terrorist who killed Jews in Toulouse ...lies on the banks of the River Garonne, half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The Toulouse metropolitan area is the fourth-largest in La Belle France... , allegedly with help from his brother, a French political activist said.
Gilbert Collard, a supporter of the far-right politician Marine Le Pen of the National Front party, wrote to French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe last week to complain that Zoulikha Merah was prioritized over other applicants for public housing based on a request in which she cited the need to be near the trial of her eldest son. He is accused of helping his younger brother, Mohammed, kill four Jews and three soldiers in 2012.
"This lady effectively received absolute priority for public housing in Tremblay," Collard wrote. He did not provide any evidence of the preferential treatment he said Zoulikha Merah had received.
The western municipality that Collard named is located 195 miles from Gay Paree, where last month the trial of 35-year-old Abdelkader Merah opened five years after his initial arrest for allegedly helping his brother carry out deadly shootings in Toulouse. But it is much closer to Gay Paree than Zoulikha Merah’s home in Toulouse, which is located 410 miles south of the capital.
Before his trial began, Abdelkader Merah was held in Vivonne, which is located 233 miles from Toulouse. But his mother’s request to be near him was filed when he was still being held in Villepinte near Gay Paree, Collard also wrote.
In addition to Abdelkader Merah, another suspected Islamist, 34-year-old Fettah Malki, also is facing charges of assisting Mohammed Merah carry out terrorist attacks in March 2012. Mohammed Merah bumped off three children and a rabbi at the school. He was killed in a shootout with police at an apartment three days after the school killings.
Both the older brother and Malki have denied having any prior knowledge of Mohammed Merah’s planned attacks, but police say they have evidence suggesting both were involved in preparations. Abdelkader Merah also supported his brother spiritually and psychologically in his becoming a terrorist, the prosecution said.
Born to a family of four children, Mohammed Merah was "raised to be an anti-Semite because anti-Semitism was part of the atmosphere at home," his youngest brother, Abdelghani, said in 2013.
Abdelghani Merah has denounced his family publicly, calling their denials and claims of innocence part of their belief in taqqiyah ‐ an Islamic term meaning "subterfuge" in the service of jihad.
The Merahs’ sister, Souad, fled La Belle France after authorities there questioned her for saying she was proud of her brother. She and her four children were seen three years ago in the Ottoman Turkish city of Gazyantep, where they are believed to have crossed into Syria to join the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... terrorist group, according to the TF1 television series.
#2
Posey served as director of special projects and treasurer of the congressional campaign committee for former U.S. Congressman Stephen E. Stockman, 60, of the Houston, Texas area, from January 2013 to November 2013. Posey admitted that, at Stockman’s direction, he and another congressional staffer, illegally funneled $15,000 of charitable proceeds into Stockman’s campaign bank account and caused the campaign to file reports with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that falsely stated that the money was a contribution from their parents and from the staffers themselves.
[also]... falsely stated that the donor’s $350,000 donation had been used to support a charitable endeavor, when in fact the funds were actually used for other purposes, including Stockman’s campaigns for public office.
Posey also admitted that he and Stockman raised $450,571.65 to support Stockman’s 2014 Senate campaign by falsely representing to a donor that the funds would be used to support a legitimate independent advocacy group Posey created.
I didn't see the party affiliation at the link, so I assumed Stockman was a (D), but Wikipedia says he's a (R).
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/14/2017 10:38
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Several militants affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group, including some foreigners were killed in the latest counter-terrorism in Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.
The provincial police commandment of Nangarhar in a statement said the operations were conducted in Haska Mina district, jointly by the Afghan national defense and security forces.
The statement further added that the militants were targeted in Gagar and Payeen areas of the district, leaving six of them dead and two others wounded.
The operations were conducted with the support of the Air Power, the police commandment said, adding that two foreigners were among those killed.
No further details were given regarding the identities of the foreign insurgents and it is yet not clear to which county they belong to.
However, the majority of the foreign fighters of the terror group are comprised of the Pakistani nationals who have travelled mainly from Orakzai Agency.
In the meantime, the police commandment of Nangarhar said the local residents and security personnel have not suffered any casualties in the operations.
According to the police commandment, the operations against the terrorist groups were launched several days ago and are being taken forward by the Afghan army, commandos, national police, border police, and local police forces along with the intelligence operatives.
The anti-government armed militant groups have not commented regarding the report so far.
Posted by: badanov ||
10/14/2017
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[IsraelTimes] President sets out series of measures short of canceling the 2015 accord, but warns that if no solution found 'with Congress and our allies, then the agreement will be terminated'.
This isn't setting well with Bosnians and Serb, nor with the Russian who see this as a man being acquitted based on his ethnic background.
[RFERL] A court in Bosnia-Herzegovina has acquitted Naser Oric, the commander of Bosnian Muslim troops in the Srebrenica area during Bosnia's 1990s conflict, of war crimes charges.
The state war crimes court in Sarajevo acquitted Oric, 50, of the charge of killing three ethnic Serb prisoners of war in the Srebrenica area in 1992.
Another Bosnian Army soldier, Sabahudin Muhic, was also found not guilty.
"The accused Naser Oric and Sabahudin Muhic have been acquitted of charges of violating provisions of the Geneva Conventions," Judge Saban Maksumic told the court.
The judge said that the testimony of a protected witness, which was crucial to the indictment, lacked credibility.
Relatives of the victims walked out the courtroom in protest against the verdict, which also sparked outrage from the leader of Bosnian Serbs and Belgrade.
"I have nothing to say, the court said what it had to say," Oric said after leaving the tribunal as he was welcomed by supporters.
Oric is seen as a hero by many Bosniaks for his role in defending Muslims during the 1992-95 Bosnian war, in which more than 100,000 people were killed.
Srebrenica fell in 1995 to Bosnian Serb troops who killed more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys there in what is considered Europe's worst atrocity since World War II.
In 1995, the U.S.-brokered Dayton accords mostly ended the violence, with Bosnia being split into two entities -- the Muslim-Croat Federation of Bosnian Muslims and Croats and the ethnic Serb-dominated Republika Srpska.
Republika Srpska's nationalist leader, President Milorad Dodik, said the verdict was "proof that in Bosnia there is no punishment for criminals [committing crimes] against Serbs."
He suggested that the ruling will likely "revive the idea of holding a referendum" on ethnic Serbs' participation in Bosnia's judicial bodies.
Vinko Lale, the head of an association of Serbian prisoners of war, told AFP news agency that Oric's acquittal will "radicalize the situation on the political field."
Meanwhile, the chairman of Bosnia's three-man presidency, Dragan Covic, a Bosnian Croat, said negative rhetoric over the case could be a setback for the country's progress.
In neighboring Serbia, Justice Minister Nela Kuburovic called the ruling "shameful," while Defense Minister Vulin accused the Sarajevo court of "jeopardizing peace, security, trust, reconciliation in the whole Balkans."
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague (ICTY) sentenced Oric to two years in prison in 2006 for failing to prevent the murder and inhumane treatment of Serbian prisoners, but he was immediately released because he had already served the time.
In 2008, the UN court's appeals chamber overturned the verdict and cleared Oric.
Unhappy with the ex-commander’s acquittal, Belgrade in 2014 launched an international warrant over the killing of nine Serb civilians near Srebrenica in 1992.
Switzerland arrested Oric in 2015 on the warrant issued by Serbia but extradited him to Bosnia to face charges, a decision that caused anger in Belgrade. His trial started in Sarajevo in January 2016. With reporting by AFP, Reuters, and BalkanInsight
(IraqiNews.com) The pro-government paramilitary troops have repelled an Islamic State attack, killing six militants on borders with Syria.
“Al-Hashd al-Shaabi [Popular Mobilization Forces] repulsed an attack by IS in Tal Safuk region, on borders with Syria. Troops killed six militants and burned down a vehicle loaded with weapons,” a statement by the PMFs media service said on Friday.
The Shia-led PMFs were formed in 2014 as per an edict by Iraq’s top Shia clergy to combat the militant group. The troops have been actively engaged in the government’s campaign against the Islamic State that ran since mid-October, and contributed to the campaign by regaining control over IS holdouts near the Syrian borders.
IS has increasingly targeted security forces and civilians across Iraq over the past months coinciding with operations by the U.S.-backed Iraqi government forces which sought to retake areas occupied by the group since 2014.
Posted by: badanov ||
10/14/2017
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Steven Paddock fired a total of 1,000 rounds, all presumably of 5.56mm. Another 1,000 rounds were found in his hotel room.
Between 159 (the number I first heard) and 195 individuals were struck by gunfire.
I know people who say that taking 1,000 rounds of 5.56/.223 for a semiautomatic makes for a nice few hours at the gun range. It is not unusual for one shooter to have that much ammunition. ARs and AKs are hungry. In terms of the amount of ammunition Paddock had in the room, versus his expectations, it seems to me he didn't expect to be there long.
One thousand rounds were fired in 10 minutes, which to me sounds about right. Assuming an optimum fire rate of 600 rounds per minute, that is about all one shooter can do when firing pseudo automatic rifle fire: 100 rounds a minute. So that rate (600 RPM) has to be reduced for changing magazines, changing firearms, and other matters that can grab a shooter's time and attention.
Paddock killed a total of 59 individuals, so he wounded a total of (assuming an average of 177 gunshot victims) 118 people. You would almost have to assume, given the intensity of the rifle fire, that some people were struck two times or more and some were struck with a pass-through shot (one slug hitting two or more people).
Given the set of 177 people average struck by slugs, Paddock's hit ratio was about 17.5 percent (15.9 to 19.5 percent). His kill ratio was a little less than 5 percent. If you want to add in the rest of the crowd, his hit ratio was terrible, but then he was firing at a range and under environmental conditions not completely optimal for what Paddock wanted to do.
At the moment in firearms and Patriot blogs, and on YouTube, some people (mostly prior service military trading on their combat experience) are claiming that there was a second shooter. The sounds alone prove it, they say. Some have been saying a second shooter was in the Mandalay Hotel on the 4th floor. But after almost two weeks of investigation, federal, county and local law enforcement have yet to provide a chronology for the incident, let alone determine a conspiracy.
A second shooter assumes a conspiracy. A second shooter would have begun firing after Paddock began, but unlike Paddock the second shooter seems to have escaped attention of investigators. There is no indication anywhere in Las Vegas that a second shooter existed: no spent cartridges, no witnesses, no soot, no nothing.
All that to say this: This is a complex crime scene with so many rounds fired and so many killed and wounded. It may be months before anyone can say with any assurance exactly what happened, if there were a second shooter, or even Paddock's motivation.
I have that last part nailed down tight: He was a murdering bastard who wanted to go out in a blaze of glory.
Loads.
Rantburg's summary for arms and ammunition:
Pistol ammunition prices were mostly steady. Rifle ammunition prices were mixed.
Prices for used pistols were mixed. Prices for used rifles were higher across the board.
New Lows:
Arizona: .308 NATO (AR-10 Pattern Semiautomatic): DPMS Panther: $500
Pistol Ammunition
.45 Caliber, 230 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (3 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Highland Lakes Ammo, Own Brand, RNL, Brass Casing, Reloads .21 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Highland Lakes Ammo, Own Brand, RNL, Brass Casing, Reloads, .21 per round (From Last Week: -.01 Each)
.40 Caliber Smith & Wesson, 180 Grain, From Last Week: -.03 each After Unchanged (3 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Bang it Ammo, FMJ, CCL Blazer, Brass Casing, .18 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Ammo Valley, Own Brand, RNFP, Brass Casing, Reloads, .18 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (4 Weeks))
9mm Parabellum, 115 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (7 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Extreme Reloading, Own Brand, RN, Brass Casing, Reloads, .14 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Fedarm, Own brand, RN, Brass Casing, Reloads .13 per round (From Last Week: -.01 Each After Unchanged (6 Weeks))
.357 Magnum, 158 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (3 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .23 per round
Cheapest Bulk: 1,000 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .23 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (3Q, 2017))
.38 Special, 158 Grain, From Last Week: -.02 Each After Unchanged (2 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Ten Ring, FMJ, Brass Casing .23 per round
Cheapest Bulk: 500 rounds: Ammo Valley, Own brand, FP, Brass Casing, Reloads, .24 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (9 Weeks))
Rifle Ammunition
.223 Caliber/5.56mm 55 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Ammo Liquidator, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .21 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: Ammo Liquidator, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .21 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks))
.308 NATO 150 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (3Q, 2017)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Outdoor Unlimited, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .32 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Outdoor Unlimited, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .32 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (3Q, 2017))
7.62x39mm AK 123 Grain, From Last Week: +.03 Each After Unchanged (3Q, 2017)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Target Sports USA, Wolf WPA, FMJ, Steel Casing, .21 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: True Caliber, Wolf WPA, Steel Casing, FMJ, .19 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (3Q, 2017))
.30-06 Springfield 145 Grain. From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Target Sports USA, Wolf WPA, Steel Casing, FMJ, .60 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: United Nations Ammo, Wolf WPA, Steel Casing, FMJ, .54 per round (From Last week: Unchanged (1Q, 2017))
.300 Winchester Magnum 150 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Ammo Liquidator, Winchester, Brass Casing, SP, .84 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: Ammo Liquidator, Winchester, Brass Casing, SP, .82 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (6 Weeks))
.338 Lapua Magnum 250 Grain, From Last Week: +.04 Each
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Red River Reloading, Federal Eagle, Brass Casing, JSP, 2.41 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 200 rounds : Wholesale Hunter, Federal, Brass Casing, JSP, 2.51 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks)
.22 LR 40 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (2Q, 2017)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Ammo King, Aguila, RNL, .04 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Ammo King, Aguila, RNL, .04 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (2Q, 2017))
[DailyCaller] The FBI has found 30 pages of documents related to the June 2016 airport tarmac meeting between Bill Clinton and then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch, even after the bureau claimed to not have any records related to the matter.
FBI lawyers revealed the existence of the records in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch, the conservative watchdog group.
The FBI had informed Judicial Watch last October that the bureau did not have any records related to the June 27, 2016 meeting between Clinton and Lynch. That encounter, which occurred on the tarmac at Phoenix’s airport, was significant because it took place while the Justice Department was investigating Hillary Clinton’s potential mishandling of classified information on her private email account.
Though the FBI told Judicial Watch that it did not have records related to the meeting, the Justice Department revealed in response to a separate lawsuit filed by the watchdog that some of its officials had been in contact with FBI officials about the Clinton-Lynch encounter.
In August, the Justice Department released emails showing some of its officials exchanging emails with the FBI regarding the meeting. And in a July 1, 2016, email, Justice Department official Caroline Pokomy told colleagues that "FBI is asking for guidance" on the controversy.
After the release of those documents, the FBI acknowledged that it had possession of some records related to the meeting. The bureau’s attorneys informed Judicial Watch that, "Upon further review, we subsequently determined potentially responsive documents may exist."
It is unclear what documents about the tarmac meeting the FBI has in its possession, but Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton calls the FBI’s new disclosure "stunning."
"The FBI is out of control," Fitton said in a statement. Continues...
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy ||
10/14/2017
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#1
Somebody kept notes about grandchildren and golf?
[AlManar] More than 1,000 terrorists have entered the territory of Syria from the two provinces of Iraq where the US-led coalition is carrying out its anti-ISIL operation, the Russian General Staff has said.
Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the Russian General Staff Col. Gen. Sergey Rudskoy reported that terrorists have taken tanks, equipment and artillery rocket systems with them while coming to Syria from the provinces of Al Anbar and Nineveh.
They took part in a massive offensive with a goal of advancing deep into the Syrian territory as part of a group of 3,000 militants.
“As a result of the decisive actions of government troops with the support of the Russian Aerospace Forces, the terrorists failed to achieve their goals, the ISIL counter-offensive was repelled, and the main forces of the terrorists were destroyed,” Rudskoy said at a briefing.
Rudskoy also that that some 450 terrorists have carried out an attack on the Syrian armed forces from the area near al Tanf that is controlled by the US forces. He added that the attack was successfully repelled by the Syrian armed forces with the support of Russian aviation.
The small groups of terrorists managed to block parts of the road connecting al Sukhna and Deir Ezzor, he added, stressing that the areas were liberated by Syrian troops.
Commenting on the Syrian troops’ operation in the Deir Ezzor province, Rudskoy said they have fully liberated the right bank of the Euphrates river to the north-west and west of the city of Deir ez-Zor.
“The offensive of the Syrian troops near Deir Ezzor is developing successfully. Assault units under General Hasan Sukhel with the support of Russian air forces have completely liberated the right bank of the Euphrates to the north-west and west of the city, establishing control over an area of 4,600 square kilometers [1,776 square miles],” Rudskoy said.
Units of the Syrian Arab Army achieved new advance in their operations against the gatherings of ISIL terrorist organization through restoring security over Hatla village and two neighborhoods in the city of al-Mayadeen in the southeastern countryside of Deir Ezzor province.
SANA reporter said that army units, during the past few hours, carried out operations against ISIL’s fortifications and spreading points, resulting in the eliminating of last ISIL gatherings in Hatla village on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River.
The reporter added that army units restored al-Halbia roundabout in al-Sahlyhia area on the northern entrance of Deir Ezzor city and continued their operations in the direction of al-Siasya Bridge, noting that all ISIS supply routes deployed in neighborhoods of the city had been cut off due to the army’s advance.
To the southeast of Deir Ezzor city, the reporter affirmed that army units managed during their intensive operations on the fighting axes of in al-Mayadeen city to advance and restore control over al-Balaoum and al-Madihi in addition to eliminating the last gatherings of ISIL in the Industrial School and the Electricity Company of the city.
In the same context, the reporter said that Syrian Air Force launched intensive raids on the movement axes of ISIL in al-Mayadeen, Zeban, Buqrus Tahtani, Buqrus Foqani, Mo Hassan, al-Boleil, al-Husseiniyeh, al-Jneineh, Hawijit Saqar and the neighborhoods of al-Ommal, al-Sinaa, al-Hamidiyeh and al-Hawiqa, which resulted in the killing of a number of terrorists and the destruction of their fortifications and vehicles.
Meanwhile, local sources in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor said that ISIL terrorists executed a person in Abu Hamam village and hanged his body to terrorize the locals who are trying to flee away from the areas where ISIL positioned.
Quneitra
A unit of the Army and Armed Forces downed a booby-trapped radio-controlled plane for terrorist groups over Tal al-Qab’e to the north of Khan Arnaba town in the northern countryside of Quneitra province before it reached to its destination.
SANA reporter said that an army unit has shot down a reconnaissance plane rigged with explosives for terrorist groups positioned in Jubatha al-Khashab before it reached to its destination.
Source: SANA
Posted by: badanov ||
10/14/2017
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Sadly, a bit premature for obits.
[FoxNews] Hillary Clinton could be headed to Columbia University.
The former secretary of state and first lady is reportedly in talks with the Ivy League school to both take on a formal role with the university and to keep her archives there, according to the New York Daily News.
"It's all fluid. It could be a number of things. No decisions have been made, but there are talks," a source familiar with the 2016 presidential candidate told The News.
"She's trying to figure out what she wants to do. It could end up with the papers at one place and she has some sort of faculty role at another. She hasn't quite come to a decision," the source continued.
Clinton could potentially be deemed a "University Professor" at the famed New York institution, a position that would permit her to lecture in multiple departments and schools but without a specific course restriction, a source told The News.
Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, is an adjunct assistant professor at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health. And her old boss, former President Barack Obama, received his bachelor's degree from the university in 1983.
A timeline on Clinton's potential decision to teach at the school wasn't immediately clear. She's currently on a book tour promoting her tome about the 2016 presidential election, "What Happened."
"I don't think it will be two years from now. She gave birth to this book last month. She's trying to get through that. But it will be a short time table," a source told The News.
A request for comment from Columbia was not immediately returned. What would she be teaching?
What went wrong, perhaps.
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance ||
10/14/2017
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#1
This makes sense. Her safe space. Who would dare argue or challenge her. While you are here you are to learn and accept my teachings. When you graduate you can do and say as you please but here the real world is as I instruct. I have seen people failed for contrary opinions.
Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) Five Islamic State militants were killed, while the sixth was arrested as paramilitary troops repulsed an attack in north of Salahuddin, a security source said.
“The 31st brigade of Al-Hashd al-Shaabi [Popular Mobilization Forces] managed on Friday to kill five IS militants and arrest the sixth in al-Siniyah region, north of Salahuddin,” the source told Baghdad Today on Friday.
On Thursday, PMFs killed an IS suicide attacker and were looking for others in north of Salahuddin, saying that several bombers were besieged in a tunnel at Makhoul mountainsز
Federal Police announced, late September, liberation of eastern Shirqat, the group’s holdout in north of the province. 225 militants had been killed since the launch of operations in Shirqat.
Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) Tribal fighters have killed three Islamic State militants hiding in northern Salahuddin, a security source said.
“Tribal Mobilization Forces managed to kill three Islamic State militants, who were hiding in the eastern side of Shirqat. Two of them were at Tal al-Hawa village, while the third was at al-Salman village,” the source told Baghdad Today on Friday.
This came within an operation carried out today to look for the remaining militants in the recently-liberated eastern Shirqat, according to the source.
Earlier on the today, al-Hashd al-Shaabi [Popular Mobilization Forces] killed five IS suicide attackers and arrested the sixth killed, as troops repulsed an attack in al-Siniyah region, north of Salahuddin.
Posted by: badanov ||
10/14/2017
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Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Three Islamic State suicide attackers were killed in Anbar, a paramilitary official said on Friday.
Speaking to AlSumaria News, Qutri al-Obeidi, leader within the Shia-led al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces), “joint troops of army and tribes managed to kill three IS suicide attackers who attempted infiltration into Baghdadi region, west of Ramadi.
“The bombers were killed in the desert of al-Akla village, southwest of Baghdadi,” Obeidi said adding that troops repulsed the attack.
Earlier on the day, the War Media Cell said the Iraqi military command urged residents in Qaim to be prepared for imminent operations to retake their region from militants. On Thursday, the Iraqi army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service distributed flyers in Qaim urging Islamic State militants to surrender better than having the same destiny of other militants in liberated regions. It also urged people to stay away from the militants in order not to be used as human shields, and to remember their hideouts so troops could follow them after the town is liberated.
Posted by: badanov ||
10/14/2017
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[Rudaw] ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Peshmerga forces temporarily closed the main roads connecting Erbil and Duhok to Mosul upon order to prevent any possibility of attacks on the Kurdistan Region.
Arif Taefoor, commander of the Peshmerga forces on the Khazer front, confirmed to Rudaw that they had closed the roads in order to prevent an attack on the Kurdistan Region.
“There are two roads connecting the Kurdistan Region to Mosul, one from Erbil and the other from Duhok. Both have been closed. We are waiting orders from our superiors to open them again,” Taefoor explained.
The roads were closed for just a few hours before being reopened “and the situation returned to normal after a few hours,” a senior Kurdish military official told AFP.
On Wednesday, the Kurdistan Region Security Council announced that Iraqi and Hashd al-Shaabi forces southwest of Kirkuk and north of Mosul were preparing for a major attack on the Kurdistan Region.
The threat is a dramatic escalation of tensions between Kurdistan and Iraq after the September 25 independence vote.
Posted by: badanov ||
10/14/2017
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#1
They had better leave you alone, Kurdistan. Or I will unleashe HOLY HELL on your fucked up Neighbors.
They need healing but cannot find it for trying to rip you apart too.
Stay with GOD, and tell them they need to fuck off only if you must.
They are golden. They mess with you, fuck them all.
That's one of our two people, but even so it is just a formality on the way to what the Turks intend to be a preordained conclusion.
[Ynet] A US consulate worker detained by Ottoman Turkish authorities last week saw his lawyer on Friday.
"We had the necessary meeting with my client," lawyer Halit Akalp told Ottoman Turkish television channels as he left a jail complex at Silivri, west of Istanbul. "There were no restrictions on our meeting."
Metin Topuz was enjugged Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! over alleged links to the network of US-based holy manFethullah Gulen ... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world... , accused by Ankara of orchestrating last year's coup attempt. His arrest sparked a dispute between the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... allies and suspension of visa services.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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Security officials in Badakhshan province, in the northeast of Afghanistan, said the army and police force members are ready to launch offensives to clear Yumgan and Wardooj districts of Taliban but they have not received the permission from the central government.
“I repeat that we are always ready because we are on the first line of the battle. If the relevant organizations provide the equipment and also give the permission to us we are ready to save the people from oppression and insecurity. The residents of Yumgan and Jurm districts (in Badakhshan) have no access to education and healthcare services – due to the presence of militants,” said Abdul Wadood Rasikh, the police chief of Baharak district – which shares border with the insecure district of Yumgan.
“I can assure you that the people will get rid of the problem (insecurity), if we are allowed to launch the military operations,” said Assadullah Gaard, the police chief of Wardooj district.
He said “Taliban is in a distance of two or three kilometers far from the center of the district”.
A number of public uprising forces meanwhile said they were also ready to defend the country and join the military operations.
“We have fought against the Taliban (in Badakhshan) for the past five years. We are now ready to defend the country and support the Afghan security forces in the province,” said Mohammad Majid, commander of public uprising forces in Baharak district.
“International terrorists and al-Qaeda militants are operating in Badakhshan. We want the elimination of the terrorists in all districts and we want a large-scale military operation against them,” said Lotfullah, member of the public uprising forces in Wardooj.
Meanwhile, Badakhshan governor Ahmad Faisal Begzad said they are preparing for military operations to retake Wardooj and Yumgan districts from militants.
“We have talked with residents of Wardooj district who launched a protest recently. We discussed the decisions which are being made in the center (Kabul) to clear Wardooj (of militants). We have sent the recommendations to Kabul and a decision to retake the district will be made in the near future,” the governor said.
Yumgan and Wardooj districts fallen to the Taliban more than two years ago.
[AlAhram] Six army personnel were killed during a murderous Moslem attack on a security checkpoint in the North Sinai city of Arish, the army's front man said in a statement on Friday.
Army forces are currently combing the area to arrest the murderous Moslems, who attacked the army personnel with grenades and automatic fire and then fled.
A number of forces of Evil were killed and injured when the army personnel returned fire, the statement added.
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.... said in a statement released by the group's official news agency Amaq later on Friday that at least 14 "apostates" were killed, including one policeman.
The group also said tens were maimed in the attack.
Two of the button men were killed and one was injured during the exchange of fire that lasted about half an hour, security sources said. Four army personnel were also injured, they added.
BEIRUT: Turkish forces that entered Syria’s Idlib province late on Thursday have started setting up observation positions that appear aimed at containing a Kurdish militia, a senior rebel involved in the operation said early on Friday.
“The allied Turkish armed forces have entered Syrian territory and begun setting up observation posts,” said Mustafa Sejari, an official in a Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebel group.
Turkey sent a convoy of about 30 military vehicles into rebel-held northwest Syria through the Bab Al-Hawa crossing in Idlib, rebels and a witness said.
President Tayyep Erdogan announced the deployment on Saturday, saying Turkey was conducting a “serious operation” with rebel groups it supports, as part of a “de-escalation” deal it agreed last month with Iran and Russia in Kazakhstan.
Turkey has been a big supporter of rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad throughout the war. But since last year Ankara has focused on securing its border, both from jihadists and from Kurdish forces that control much of the frontier area inside Syria.
The Astana agreement with Assad’s foreign allies Russia and Iran involves reducing warfare in several regions of Syria, including Idlib and adjacent swathes of the northwest, the most populous rebel-held area.
Tahrir Al-Sham, a powerful jihadist alliance that controls much of that territory, is not party to the de-escalation deal, and is at odds with some of the rebel groups that Turkey supports.
However, its forces gave an escort to the Turkish convoy late on Thursday, witnesses said, indicating that there might not be any fighting between them.
Residents of northwest Syria and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights have reported intense air raids on Idlib and nearby areas for months.
The convoy was heading toward Sheikh Barakat, a high area overlooking rebel-held territory and the Kurdish YPG-controlled canton of Afrin, the witnesses said.
“(Turkey’s deployment is) in line with Astana 6 resolutions to ensure the area is protected from Russian and regime bombing and to foil any attempt by the separatist YPG militias to illegally seize any territory,” said Sejari.
Posted by: badanov ||
10/14/2017
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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.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Red State] Late Wednesday a group of Congressmen met to discuss the ever present and under-investigated case of Imran Awan, the House IT staffer and longtime associate of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Awan has been directly connected to a growing number of violations and questionable activities in DC. He is currently in custody and facing bank fraud charges, as just a part of his list of transgressions.
[The Hill] A new multi-state lawsuit has been announced to stop President Trump from halting key ObamaCare payments to insurers.
[USA Today] LOS ANGELES ‐ Gwyneth Paltrow, Octavia Spencer and other Hollywood stars called for solidarity at Variety's Power of Women luncheon in Los Angeles on Friday, an event coming in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal rocking Hollywood.
[The Hill] Federal regulators on Friday approved two major natural gas pipelines for construction on the East Coast, a move heralded by business leaders and condemned by environmentalists.
... 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...
[Ynet] Israel cannot accept the agreement between Fatah and 
KIRKUK, Iraq: The Iraqi army launched an operation to retake Kurdish-held positions around the disputed oil city of Kirkuk on Friday amid a bitter row with the Kurds over a vote for independence last month.
[IsraelTimes] Abdelkader Merah denies helping Mohammed Merah shoot dead 7 people, including 3 Jewish schoolchildren, in 2012
A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe...
The FBI had informed Judicial Watch last October that the bureau did not have any records related to the June 27, 2016 meeting between Clinton and Lynch. That encounter, which occurred on the tarmac at Phoenix’s airport, was significant because it took place while the Justice Department was investigating Hillary Clinton’s potential mishandling of classified information on her private email account.
[AlManar] More than 1,000 terrorists have entered the territory of Syria from the two provinces of Iraq where the US-led coalition is carrying out its anti-ISIL operation, the Russian General Staff has said.
