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Yemen Islah party sever ties with Muslim Brotherhood
Today's Headlines
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Europe
Are You Ready For... The EU Army?
No, this is not a parody...

EU leaders formerly endorsed the harmless sounding Permanent Structured Cooperation, or PESCO, pact on Thursday evening in Brussels. After the shock of Brexit, the goal of defence integration was revived by former military foes, Germany and France, supported by Italy and Spain, in a show of EU unity. A similar proposal was blocked by the French parliament in the 1950s (see below). Now a treaty has been signed which sees the defence union complete by 2025 in what has been described as "one of the most tangible steps in EU integration since Brexit".
Posted by: Raj || 12/15/2017 16:43 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It will consist of 30 generals and 2 privates and cost 40 Billion Euros.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/15/2017 16:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe they can resurrect the Maginot Line with all those Euros?
Posted by: Raj || 12/15/2017 17:11 Comments || Top||

#3  Rantburg called it back before the vote, 'If Brexit succeeds, watch the EU form an army'.

Need that Poland/Czech/Slovakia/Hungary pact to get going because, and I'm not sure I need my foil chapeau here or not, EU troops seizing major airports to make sure these countries take their properly dictated quota off rapefugees.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/15/2017 17:27 Comments || Top||

#4  Germany provides troop training, France runs the mechanized units and meal service, the Spanish in charge of scheduling and logistics, all while organized by the Italians...while answering to Brussels...or Strasbourg, depending on the month.
Posted by: Capsu78 || 12/15/2017 19:38 Comments || Top||

#5  Will there be goose-stepping?
Posted by: SteveS || 12/15/2017 20:09 Comments || Top||

#6  Moonwalking - Macron/French influence
Posted by: Frank G || 12/15/2017 20:55 Comments || Top||

#7  ...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA NO.

The EU no longer has the willpower to do this, nor will they spend the money for the state-of-the-art weaponry and gear they will need. And it's REALLY unlikely they'll buy enough transports to go anywhere. This is, to use the current phrase, a nothingburger.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 12/15/2017 21:17 Comments || Top||

#8  Good, leave a MAG team in Brussels, bring everyone else home.
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/15/2017 21:35 Comments || Top||

#9  Maybe it will go nowhere, but there will be plenty of graft.
Posted by: gorb || 12/15/2017 22:50 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Kansas Dem Andrea Ramsey, accused of sexual harassment, will drop out of US House race
[Miami Herald] WASHINGTON - Andrea Ramsey, a Democratic candidate for Congress, will drop out of the race after the Kansas City Star asked her about accusations in a 2005 lawsuit that she sexually harassed and retaliated against a male subordinate who said he had rejected her advances.

Multiple sources with knowledge of the case told The Star that the man reached a settlement with LabOne, the company where Ramsey was executive vice president of human resources. Court documents show that the man, Gary Funkhouser, and LabOne agreed to dismiss the case permanently after mediation in 2006.

Ramsey, a 56-year-old retired business executive from Leawood, was one of the Democratic candidates vying to challenge Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder in 2018 in Kansas’ 3rd District.

She was running with the endorsement of Emily’s List, a liberal women’s group that has raised more than a half-million dollars to help female candidates who support abortion rights.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 14:37 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Gender balanced maiming
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 14:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Why didn't Gary just call me ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 14:58 Comments || Top||

#3  ...where Ramsey was executive vice president of human resources.

That's where companies stick the really useless employees.
Posted by: Raj || 12/15/2017 15:37 Comments || Top||

#4  If a guy were going to get groped or harassed by a woman, I hate to be shallow, but this woman ain't bad looking. I guess, I'm like Frank G; I stand guilty of being a ":lookist." Please don't send me to a NOW meeting to shock me into some kind of weird reality.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/15/2017 18:08 Comments || Top||


Government
Kimberley A. Strassel: 'Secrets the FBI Shouldn't Keep'
[WSJ] Congress persists in its effort to pry the real story of the 2016 election out of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, an agency notoriously reluctant to share secrets. The trick is telling the difference between legitimate secrets and self-serving ones.

The FBI‐and the Department of Justice‐would rather blur that distinction. In recent congressional appearances, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein tossed around the word "classified" like confetti. Neither man answered a single substantive question, citing their obligation to protect the "integrity" of investigations, safeguard "sensitive" information, and show deference to an "independent" and "internal" inspector general reviewing the FBI’s handling of the 2016 election.

True, the FBI has plenty of things it needs to keep secret regarding national security and law enforcement. Let’s even acknowledge the bureau may be rightly concerned about turning some information over to today’s leak-prone Congress. Even so, in the specific case of its 2016 election behavior, the FBI is misusing its secrecy powers to withhold information whose disclosure is in the public interest.

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson exposed two such instances this week, from his perch as chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Mr. Johnson received a letter Wednesday from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who graciously and nimbly provided information that the committee had requested last week.

That letter included some notable dates. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team is emphasizing its ejection of FBI agent Peter Strzok immediately upon learning about anti-Trump texts he exchanged with another FBI employee, Lisa Page, before the 2016 election. But when did the FBI learn of the messages? The inspector general’s investigation began in mid-January. The letter explains that the FBI was asked for text messages of certain key employees based on search terms, which turned up "a number of politically-oriented" Strzok-Page texts. The inspector general then demanded all of the duo’s text messages, which the FBI began producing on July 20.

But when did the FBI dig up and turn over that very first tranche? How long has the bureau known one of its lead investigators was exhibiting such bias? Was it before Mr. Mueller was even appointed? Did FBI leaders sit by as the special counsel tapped Mr. Strzok? In any case, we know from the letter that the inspector general informed both Messrs. Rosenstein and Mueller of the texts on July 27, and that both men hid that explosive information from Congress for four months. The Justice Department, pleading secrecy, defied subpoenas that would have produced the texts. It refused to make Mr. Strzok available for an interview. It didn’t do all this out of fear of hurting national security, obviously. It did it to save itself and the FBI from embarrassment.

This week’s other revelation of jaw-dropping FBI tactics came from a separate letter from Mr. Johnson. In November 2016, the Office of Special Counsel‐a federal agency that polices personnel practices and is distinct from the Mueller probe‐began investigating whether former FBI Director Jim Comey violated the Hatch Act, which restricts political activity by executive-branch officials, while investigating Hillary Clinton’s private server. The office conducted interviews with two of Mr. Comey’s confidantes: FBI chief of staff James Rybicki and FBI attorney Trisha Anderson.

Sen. Johnson in September demanded the full, unredacted transcripts of the interviews. But it turned out the FBI had refused to let the Office of Special Counsel interview them unless it first signed unprecedented nondisclosure agreements, giving the FBI full authority to withhold the information from Congress. The bureau has continued to insist the office keep huge swaths of the interviews secret from Congress, including the names and actions of key political players. (The Office of Special Counsel closed its investigation in May.)

In his letter this week, Mr. Johnson demanded that Mr. Wray authorize the release of the full transcripts and other documents. Even the redacted ones have revealed important information, for instance that Mr. Comey was drafting his Hillary Clinton exoneration statement well before she was interviewed. Congressional investigators believe the unredacted versions contain pertinent information about the actions of former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and key investigators such as Mr. Strzok.

Mr. Johnson has given the FBI until Dec. 27 to come clean. Congress and the public have a right to know what went on in the Comey investigation, and the FBI and Justice Department seem to be attempting desperately to hide their actions.

Yes, the FBI has secrets the public needs it to keep. But don’t let the agency and its defenders muddy the difference between necessary secrecy and evasion of responsibility.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 13:24 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Doesn't matter how legitimate the FBI reasons may be for keeping secrets, when the appropriate Congressional committees ask questions they have to answer - behind closed doors, but answer. And doesn't matter how leak-prone those committee members are, the responsibility is not the FBIs, but Congresscritters' and those of us who elected them.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/15/2017 16:30 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
POTUS doesn't rule out pardon for Michael Flynn
[NBC News] President Donald Trump on Friday declined to say if he would pardon Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser who recently pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe.

"I don't want to talk about pardons for Michael Flynn yet. We'll see what happens," Trump told reporters as he departed the White House to deliver a speech to FBI academy graduates.

"Let's see. I can say this: When you look at what's gone on with the FBI and with the Justice Department, people are very, very angry."
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 12:44 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Two MIKE MIKE's. Pardons Mike Flynn, makes Flynn Pompeo's deputy. I love it when a plan comes together.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 12:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Appoint Flynn to head FBI Counterintelligence. You'll have a man with a mission.
Posted by: Menhadden Floter8075 || 12/15/2017 14:59 Comments || Top||

#3  It would be interesting to know more about Flynn's two instances of lying to the FBI. What were the circumstances under which this supposedly occurred? Is this one of those political retribution things like Arpaio? Glad Trump is not ruling this out.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/15/2017 17:22 Comments || Top||

#4  #2: That would be a hoot and fun to watch.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/15/2017 17:24 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
The New FBI Agency Everyone Forgot – Did Adam Schiff Just Get Caught in an Elaborate Counterintelligence Sting?…
[ConservativeTreehouse] By now everyone is likely aware of the Fake News story run by CNN on Friday surrounding an email received by Donald Trump Jr. The email was part of the investigative evidence shared with the House Intelligence committee; and later leaked from within that committee to CNN ‐ thereby initiating the false reporting on the content.

The central issue in the CNN story was the date of an email.

It was leaked from within the committee, and later reported by CNN, that the date was "September 4th, 2016"; a date convenient for a collusion narrative between Trump Jr and WikiLeaks.

However, the real date, on the actual email, was "September 14th, 2016"; a day after Wikileaks published the content of their DNC leaks and a date that makes the entire CNN report a ’nothingburger’.

However, CNN reports that two independent sources originally leaked to them the contents of what they had seen on the email in question. But CNN never saw the email, until later in the day.

Think about this carefully.

♦Two "independent sources" both looked at an email, and both came away from reading that email with the wrong date? How is that possible?

It has been CTH contention for several weeks that a counterintelligence sting operation has been going on within the IC community. False trails of information, seeded by ’White Hat’ investigators, intended to be captured by ’Black Hat’ leakers ‐ and delivered to their usurping allies in media. The stories are fake, the leaks are real.

All investigative documents, relating to the witness, are provided to the congressional committees prior to the interviews with the witnesses; or, if the information is classified, each committee member has an opportunity to review the documents via a controlled SCIF environment when no physical copies are allowed as part of the evidence.

The Don JR./Wikileaks email could very easily be part of a ’sting’. The date was intentionally seeded as incorrect. The resulting story is fake. The leak, however, is real.

Each nugget of disinformation exposes a specific leaker. Each trail used in the sharing of that disinformation exposes the enabling media. The White Hat plants the fake news seed, and then watches to see where, when, how, to-whom, and from-whom, it shows up.
...

That said, it would not be the IG carrying out the counterintelligence operation to identify leakers. In actuality, no official IC agency would be empowered to place fake news in front of congress. Setting traps for congress is generally bad form, and for matters of trust ‐ bad politics. That reality, amid those who follow DC politics, is the central point to dismiss such the "Black Hat Hunting" theory.

However, few people were paying attention four months ago when Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coates told us they were going to do exactly that:

04:30 ..."The FBI has created a new counterintelligence unit to manage these [leak] cases"...
08:17 ..."these National Security breaches do not just originate from within the Intelligence Community. They come from a wide range of sources within the government, including the Congress."...
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 12/15/2017 10:02 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Canary Trap?


Where's John Clark when you need him?
Posted by: AlanC || 12/15/2017 14:55 Comments || Top||


Trey Gowdy Bombshell: Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe Will Be Fired
"During an appearance on Fox News, the South Carolina Republican ’predicted,’ that McCabe will be fired by the time he is scheduled to appear in front of the House next week.

"I’ll be a little bit surprised if he is still an employee of the FBI this time next week," Gowdy told Fox News when asked his thoughts on McCabe’s upcoming hearing.

FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe abruptly cancelled an appearance before the House Intelligence Committee scheduled for Tuesday. Sources told Fox News reporter Chad Pergram that they believe McCabe canceled on the panel over fears he would be asked about recently demoted Justice Department official Bruce Ohr’s wife, who worked for Fusion GPS during the 2016 presidential election."
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 12/15/2017 09:46 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  McCabe canceled on the panel over fears he would be asked about recently demoted Justice Department official Bruce Ohr’s wife

She was abused?
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 13:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Takes the 5th and resigns next week.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 14:30 Comments || Top||

#3  postpones again and resigns Dec 23rd late at night
Posted by: Frank G || 12/15/2017 14:45 Comments || Top||

#4  McCabe's excuse was a scheduling mixup, which is ridiculous. What could possibly be more important than testifying before the House Intelligence Committee? He should be fired for insubordination.
Posted by: Creling Pelosi3622 || 12/15/2017 15:52 Comments || Top||

#5  Subpoena his sorry a$$
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/15/2017 16:46 Comments || Top||

#6  Hatch Act violations or the phony dossier and "real collusion" with the DNC and Russia to take down a sitting Potus?
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/15/2017 17:13 Comments || Top||

#7  Who is gonna fire him? Better not be a Republican!
Posted by: Bobby || 12/15/2017 18:53 Comments || Top||

#8  Fired by the superior who does not want to be fired now that the whole world knows if he isn't fired, they too loose their jobs.
Posted by: Cheretle Angeans6218 || 12/15/2017 19:49 Comments || Top||

#9  Arrest him - see if he will rat out others and cut a deal.
Posted by: Injun Bucket8891 || 12/15/2017 20:59 Comments || Top||

#10  Why arrest him?i Send him to Gitmo.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 12/15/2017 22:07 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Miss Iraq forced to flee country over Instagram photo alongside Miss Israel

Add them to the ISIS suspects list. And include all the privileges therewith.
[MSN] Miss Iraq, Sarah Idan, and her family had to flee their homeland after receiving death threats over a photo she posted online last month.

Why? Because Idan posed with Miss Israel, Adar Gandelsman, at a Miss Universe International Beauty Pageant, the Times of Israel reported.

Idan came under fire for posting the photo to Instagram, captioned, "Peace and Love from Miss Iraq and Miss Israel," in addition to modeling a bikini.
Gasp! That does not look like the requisite barbeque cover!
"The two of those things together caused a mess for her back home where people made threats against her and her family that if she didn’t return home and take down the photos, they would remove her (Miss Iraq) title, that they would kill her," Adar Gandelsman told Israeli TV, the paper reported.

In another Instagram post, Idan apologized to those who thought the photo was "harmful to the Palestinian cause," clarifying that it was not a political statement, but instead meant to "express hope and desire for peace between the two countries," the paper reported.
Ignore them. We have them over here too. Whining about how the "Let it Snow" Christmas song is about rape, etc..
She added, it "does not signal support for the government of Israel and does not mean I agree or accept its policies in the Arab homeland."

Iraq country does not have formal diplomatic relations with Israel, and the two countries are considered enemies, the paper reported.

Despite the backlash, Gandelsman said her friend did not regret her decision to post the image to social media, which she has yet to remove from Instagram, reported the paper.

"She did it to so that people can understand that it’s possible to live together," she said.
Posted by: gorb || 12/15/2017 09:44 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  that pic:

Posted by: Herb Shiger7338 || 12/15/2017 10:19 Comments || Top||

#2  We can probably safely allow her to immigrate if she would like...
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/15/2017 16:19 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
This ‘decorated Green Beret' is a total fraud
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/15/2017 08:35 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I see he's wearing HALO wings. Perhaps someone could take him up to 20k AGL on a dark night, ten to twelve kilometers south of Duke Field and let him show us how it's done.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 12:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Or just stick a pencil in his eye where he stands.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 13:50 Comments || Top||

#3  I'd rather hump it through 75 miles of snake infested swamp with a 120 lb rucksack than ever do another night insertion jump.

I've done a lot of scary things but a night HALO jump is the scariest freaking thing I have ever done.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 12/15/2017 14:59 Comments || Top||

#4  Even a Hollywood jump at night is bad. I cant imagine HALO in full battle rattle.
Posted by: Injun Bucket8891 || 12/15/2017 21:08 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
A 93-year-old woman is evicted from her home and arrested – just before her birthday
[Charlotte Observer] MIAMI - Two days before her 94th birthday, Juanita Fitzgerald was arrested and hauled off to jail.

The Eustis, Florida, woman’s crime?

She was being evicted and had fallen behind on her rent, WFTV 9 News reported. Instead of vacating her home at the National Church Residences’ Franklin House, a senior living community, she was accused Wednesday of refusing to leave her unit.

Fitzgerald’s 94th birthday is Friday.

When Eustis police officers arrived at the community, Fitzgerald refused officers’ commands to leave and told them, "Unless you carry me out of here, I’m not going anywhere," according to the Eustis Police Department report obtained by the Miami Herald.

"Juanita Fitzgerald was made well aware the day prior of her being evicted today," according to the police report. "While on scene, Juanita was asked several times to leave the property and was advised she was currently trespassed and could no longer stay at this location."

As officers attempted to escort her from the front lobby, Fitzgerald "intentionally slid out of her chair and onto the floor," according to the report. At one point she grabbed the glasses from a deputy’s face.

Eventually, the five-foot, 100-pound woman was escorted out of the building and into the rear seat of Officer David Perez’s police car and taken to Lake County Jail.

She was charged with trespassing, according to the police report.

But she was given one liberty. "Due to Juanita’s age, it was deemed necessary to transport her without handcuffs to reduce risk of injury," the report read.

Franklin House staff offered to help her move, according to the police report, but Fitzgerald refused.

She also refused assistance from the Department of Children and Families, The Homeless Coalition, Department of Elder Affairs and eight other agencies, officers said.
They can’t force her to accept help, but it isn’t fair to require the nursing home to provide an expensive service without recompense.
Her prisoner property report inventory listed a purse with contents inside, a bag with miscellaneous contents ‐ and one walker.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 08:31 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  My 91-year old mother moved to a retirement community near me a few years ago. She loves it there, but she is healthy and has no significant mental deterioration. She has commented that it is very, very hard for those around her to admit when they have deteriorated physically and/or mentally enough to need to move up to assisted living or the Alzheimers ward, often taking that refusal to the point where it is physially dangerous for them to continue where they are.

The fact that Ms Fitzgerald has run out of money —or forgotten to pay the rent, a different problem — and refused to accept the help the building social worker clearly organized for her, is an indication that more is going on than just the owner being mean to a dear, little old lady.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2017 9:07 Comments || Top||

#2  There's another article on the same story. It says the facility stopped accepting her payments after September because they were putting her out; blaming her for mold in her unit.

Sure, she exacerbated her situation by being a stubborn feisty old woman. But the residence people aren't blameless in this situation either.
Posted by: Black Charlie Hitler7534 || 12/15/2017 9:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Eventually, the 94 yo, five-foot, 100-pound woman was escorted out of the building and into the rear seat of Officer David Perez’s police car and taken to Lake County Jail.

Really...REALLY!?
What happened to "Serve and Protect"?
This is one the Useless, FL blue team should have passed on.

but it isn’t fair to require the nursing home to provide an expensive service without recompense.

No? Perhaps they should have a transitional exit strategy in the contract they administer to those of already diminished capacity rather than a termination clause.

They were happy enough to take her money when she wasn't any trouble or they couldn't rent the room for more. I hope the lawsuit breaks the back of the property operations group and forces the small minded police chief to resign.

Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 12:23 Comments || Top||

#4  Dude!
Tell us how you really feel.
The Police can't choose which laws to enforce any more than they can choose to use deadly force or not (huh?) during an arrest.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 12:27 Comments || Top||

#5  Yeah, especially when the facility administrator is the mayor's sister-in-law or butt buddy or something. Who's paying for the blue tide Christmas party?
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 12:31 Comments || Top||

#6  Sorry, not!
It seems this story engaged my INCENSED circuit. Perhaps I carry some residual guilt from having been in close proximity to this before.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 12:37 Comments || Top||

#7  So Church Residences basically gave her a choice of the sidewalk or jail?
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/15/2017 16:20 Comments || Top||

#8  So Church Residences basically gave her a choice of the sidewalk or jail?

And not being dumb, she chose jail.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/15/2017 16:25 Comments || Top||

#9  Was her door kicked down by the EffBeeEye at 4:00 a.m.?
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/15/2017 17:26 Comments || Top||

#10  This is supposedly a church home therefore they should be aware of the scripture that forbids what they did to this elderly woman as a Christian entity. But no worries. There is a place in hell waiting for these fakes.
Posted by: Cheretle Angeans6218 || 12/15/2017 19:28 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
What if Jeff Sessions is not asleep, but instead playing possum?
[American Thinker] Conventional wisdom is that Attorney General Jeff Sessions is asleep at the wheel ‐ from recusing himself unnecessarily from the Trump-Russia collusion investigation to doing nothing about the politicization and weaponization of the Department of Justice. He also gave free rein to his deputy A.G., Rod Rosenstein, who is in turn allowing Special Counsel Robert Mueller unlimited time, money, and jurisdiction to investigate President Trump's entire life.

Last summer, Trump expressed disappointment in Sessions, calling him "beleaguered," wondering why Sessions wasn't looking into Hillary Clinton's emails and true election chicanery. Rudy Giuliani was floated as a possible replacement. Was Trump truly upset, or was this a calculated head fake?

In a recent blog posting, American Thinker editor Thomas Lifson, referencing Sundance from Conservative Treehouse, made the case that the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General is where the real action is taking place. Here was an explanation why Rosenstein gave evasive answers in recent congressional testimony and a suggestion that the OIG is laying out a case, slowly and methodically, with selective information release, before bringing the hammer down on the leakers and corruptocrats in the FBI and DOJ.

I want to take this a step farther, perhaps answering the question of where Jeff Sessions is and whether he is asleep, or just playing possum. Perhaps I can explain why he is acting not as a Trumpian pit bull, but instead like Mister Rogers ready for his afternoon nap.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 07:54 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm confident that President Trump has this well in hand, early on setting the stage for an upcoming reckoning – what Sundance calls "the big ugly."

From your lips to God's ears.

Great post.
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 12/15/2017 8:30 Comments || Top||

#2  What if I was just the King of San Francisco instead of a fat, bald and toothless schlub? Jeffy is seriously compromised in my opinion.
Posted by: Black Charlie Hitler7534 || 12/15/2017 9:24 Comments || Top||

#3  A long time ago I expressed hope that Sessions was quietly going about his work and that some fine Monday morning there would be a surprise flurry of indictments.

But it's been a long time and so last Tuesday after Moore went down to defeat in Alabama I said Trump should have left him in the Senate. Coulda, shoulda, woulda. A flurry of indictments would ease that sting.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 12/15/2017 9:38 Comments || Top||

#4  He's dead Jim.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 12/15/2017 10:53 Comments || Top||

#5  IG of Justice Department Michael E. Horowitz.

Current IG is an 2012 Obama appointee and worked for Comey in the early 1990s.

Part of the Swamp or independent of the Swamp? Can he be trusted to do the right thing? Hopefully, he won't whitewash the corruption infecting DOJ and FBI at high levels. I don't know about Sessions. Maybe when he actually does something to clean up this mess, I'll feel more confident about him. As Trump said, "We have a lot of sick institutions."
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/15/2017 12:17 Comments || Top||

#6  Was Trump truly upset, or was this a calculated head fake?

I have decided to interpret any/all of Trump's apparent faux pas as calculated.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 12:45 Comments || Top||

#7  Come to think of it, Sessions does kinda look like a possum...
Posted by: ed in texas || 12/15/2017 13:21 Comments || Top||

#8 
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 13:56 Comments || Top||

#9  Everyone in a leadership position should be forced to submit their resignation, and be let go,. subject to review. Clean house.
Posted by: Injun Bucket8891 || 12/15/2017 22:19 Comments || Top||


Dems attack babbling Rod Rosenstein's release of anti-trump messages
[Daily Caller] Democrats are attacking Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s credibility after the Department of Justice released text messages showing a top FBI agent on both the Clinton email investigation and the Russia probe rooting for Clinton while he was investigating her and discussing an unknown "insurance policy" against Trump in case he won the election.

The pro-Clinton, anti-Trump messages were, ironically, discovered as part of an investigation into the DOJ and FBI launched by the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General (IG) in response to Democratic politicians demanding a probe into possible anti-Clinton bias at the FBI.

Democratic politicians and left-wing media have attacked Rosenstein’s credibility in response, claiming he should have blocked the messages’ release.

Democratic Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, one of 58 House Democrats to vote in favor of impeaching Trump, attacked Rosenstein and the Department of Justice on the House floor on Thursday.

Raskin claimed the release of the text messages shows "that there are people in the Department of Justice who apparently are cooperating with this effort to undermine the integrity and the strength of this special counsel investigation."

The DOJ, Raskin argued, should have withheld the damning messages, which were exchanged on taxpayer-funded cell phones.

Raskin said "the key thing to understand is that all of those text messages are totally irrelevant" and claimed they were nothing more than political opinions.
A violent rocking motion using the air brakes is strongly encouraged.
Democratic California Sen. Dianne Feinstein told Mother Jones on Wednesday that the messages “are being used for propaganda purposes.” She added: “I think there’s an ongoing effort to malign both Bob Mueller and the work that that Special Counsel Office is doing. They are grabbing at every single thing to try to demean him.”

The text messages go well beyond simple political opinions and are part of a larger pattern of bias on Mueller’s team.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 06:19 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Raskin said the key thing to understand is that all of those text messages are totally irrelevant""

Knowledge of political collusion within the Justice Department and FBI is "irrelevant." Ok, we get it. We don't agree with it, but we get it.

Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 6:26 Comments || Top||

#2  From watching that video yesterday in which Jim Jordan reams him a new one, I'm guessing Rod doesn't like it any more than Raskin or Feinstein.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 12/15/2017 11:30 Comments || Top||

#3  Of course they've got their panties in a wad, the messages show how FUBAR the investigation is and point to a wide spread conspiracy to tilt the election to that woman.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 12/15/2017 16:33 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Iowa Profs: Equal treatment is a 'race-evasive' strategy that reinforces 'white racial power'
[Breitbart] Professors Kyle Rudick and Kathryn B. Golsan of the University of Northern Iowa argued in a recent academic article in the Howard Journal of Communications that asking for civility in classroom discussions reinforces "white racial power."
In this study, the authors draw upon critical whiteness studies to explore how White students’ understanding of race-talk within higher education (re)produces whiteness. Through an analysis of interview data, they generated 3 categories describing whiteness-informed civility (WIC): (a) WIC functions to create a good White identity, (b) WIC functions to erase racial identity, and (c) WIC functions to assert control of space. These thematic concepts show how WIC is characterized by logics of race-evasion, avoidance of race-talk, and exclusion of people of color. The authors conclude by offering ways for instructors to interrogate WIC through classroom practices informed by critical communication pedagogy.

In the article, Rudick and Goslan interviewed 10 white colleges students to obtain a better grasp on their personal definition of "civil behavior."

"How do you think your racial identity may affect your understandings of civility when talking with students of color?" they asked the student participants.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 05:46 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Equal treatment? No additional signalling necessary. Equal treatment has never actually been the goal.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 6:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Getting the message? It was never about equality, it was about power. Submit!
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/15/2017 7:57 Comments || Top||

#3  "How do you think your racial identity may affect your understandings of civility when talking with students of color?" they asked the student participants with prejudicial and misleading questions.
FIFY
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 12/15/2017 10:53 Comments || Top||

#4  Anyone claiming to be anything other than human should immediately be vivisected and put into jars for study. I'm done with the race thing. You are human or you are subhuman vermin. Those are the ONLY TWO choices.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 12/15/2017 10:58 Comments || Top||

#5  I was once discharged because "my engagement practices were not sensitive to the black cultural experience". My ineffective retort was something like, "How would I know?"
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 12:50 Comments || Top||

#6  Equal means not equal? I don't want to fly in an airplane designed by people of such advanced mathematical expertise.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/15/2017 16:32 Comments || Top||

#7  Silentbrick, you are unfairly impugning rats and roaches.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/15/2017 16:33 Comments || Top||

#8  When can we expect the media who report this stuff to finally, at long last, just laugh in their faces and tell them they are silly? We are at the apogee of political correctness these days, and enough is enough....
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 12/15/2017 17:43 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon-Syria Border Crossing to Reopen
[AnNahar] Leb and Syria said Thursday they will reopen a border crossing closed five years ago, in another sign of the Syrian government's increasing control over its territory.

The crossing, called al-Qaa in Leb and Jussiyeh in Syria, was closed in 2012 as fighting raged between Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
's forces and rebel fighters seeking his overthrow.

Assad's regime has since reclaimed most of the territory once held by the rebels, thanks to a Russian military campaign in support of his forces and deep divisions among the rebels.

Jihadists from the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group had moved into the border area but were pushed out in offensives by regime forces in Syria and the Lebanese Army and Hizbullah
...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
on Leb's side of the frontier.

Ceremonies were held Thursday on both sides of the al-Qaa/Jussiyeh crossing, which is set to re-open on Friday morning.

It was the only one of the five crossings between Leb and Syria that was permanently closed by the war.

The head of Leb's General Security agency, Major General Abbas Ibrahim, said the re-opening of the crossing was a moment for celebration after it was closed by "terrorism that targeted the entire region."

The mainly Christian al-Qaa area in Leb was targeted several times in cross-border attacks, including suicide kabooms in June last year that killed five people.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2017 05:05 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Reconstruction Starts at Iraq's Biggest Oil Refinery
[AnNahar] Iraq has begun reconstruction work at what was the country's biggest oil refinery before it was damaged by intense fighting between government forces and 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 jihadists, the oil ministry said Thursday.

The aim is to complete work early next year on one of the units that will produce 70,000 barrels per day at the Baiji complex which is currently shut, said ministry front man Assem Jihad.

Constructed in 1975 and located 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Baghdad, the refinery produced between 250,000 and 300,000 barrels a day before IS seized it in June 2014.

Government forces retook the facility and the city of Baiji in October 2015 during fierce festivities with the jihadists but the severe damage meant that the refinery remained closed.

"The rehabilitation will allow the distribution of refined products for the north of the country and reduce our imports," said Jihad.

Baiji was particularly hard hit by the devastation wreaked by Iraq's campaign to reclaim its towns and cities from IS.

In 2016 it was declared a disaster zone by the national parliament.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2017 05:05 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Home Front: Politix
Former high-level officials submit 'unusual' Russia brief in lawsuit against Trump and Roger Stone
[Bus Insider] Fourteen former national security, intelligence, and foreign policy officials who have served at senior levels in Republican and Democratic administrations recently wrote an amicus brief as part of a lawsuit brought against President Donald Trump's campaign and Roger Stone, his longtime confidant.

The lawsuit was filed in July by three private citizens ‐ Roy Cockrum, Scott Comer, and Eric Schoenberg ‐ whose personal information was stolen in hacks of the Democratic National Committee and published by WikiLeaks. The plaintiffs have argued that the Trump campaign, Stone, "and those they conspired with arranged for the hacked information to be provided to WikiLeaks."

The Trump campaign and Stone have filed motions to dismiss the complaint. The plaintiffs responded on December 1, laying out, among other things, a "motive to collaborate" between the campaign and Russia, as well as points of contact.

Among the former officials are the usual suspects who filed the amicus brief on December 8 are John Brennan, a CIA director; James Clapper, a director of national intelligence; and Michael Hayden, a director of the National Security Agency; Avril Haines, a deputy national security adviser; Michael McFaul, a US ambassador to Russia; and Michael Morell, an acting CIA director.
Emphasis added.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 02:40 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Donald Trump was not the intended president. The intelligence community attack continues.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 2:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Was this the same Scott Comer who was Hildabeest's campaign finance chairman? I seem to also recall a Scott Comer who was in one of James O'Keefe's undercover stings of the DNC.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/15/2017 18:35 Comments || Top||


Fusion GPS ADMITS they hired FBI official's wife to get DIRT on TRUMP
BLUF:
[Right Scoop] The co-founder of Trump dossier firm Fusion GPS confirmed in court filings on Tuesday that he met last year with Justice Department official Bruce Ohr and hired Ohr’s wife to help with the opposition research firm’s investigation of Donald Trump.

Glenn Simpson said in a declaration filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. that he met "at [Ohr’s] request" weeks after the presidential election. Simpson stated that Ohr, who recently held the position of deputy assistant attorney general, sought the meeting "to discuss our findings regarding Russia and the election."

Simpson also disclosed that Fusion GPS hired Ohr’s wife, Nellie, to serve as a subcontractor on Trump-related work.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 02:10 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I cannot accept monetary compensation. I work for the gov't. It just wouldn't look good. Let me introduce you to my wife Nel, she's a gifted writer and has extensive Russian contacts as well as useful contacts within the intelligence community. She has also recently become a HAM radio operator. Seems like a strange hobby doesn't it ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 2:27 Comments || Top||

#2  She was also a likely obfuscation channel for Bruce to leak content to Fusion.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 5:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Well lets face it. Bruce knew that Fox News was probably never going to hire her.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 6:34 Comments || Top||

#4  Hang them all
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/15/2017 9:11 Comments || Top||

#5  Bruce knew that Fox News was probably never going to hire her.

I don't see that as a career objective.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 13:52 Comments || Top||

#6  Remember Murtha? He couldn't accept "compensation", but he could accept money laundered donated to his charities and laundered invested in his district.
Posted by: magpie || 12/15/2017 14:39 Comments || Top||

#7  #3 Well lets face it. Bruce knew that Fox News was probably never going to hire her.
Posted by Besoeker


She's got a face made for HAM Radio


/Lookist. I denounce myself
Posted by: Frank G || 12/15/2017 14:45 Comments || Top||

#8  "Shady left-wing oppo research?" Sounds far more sinister than just oppo research. Every does oppo research. Here we have the wife of an FBI official working with Fusion GPS, a company paid by whom? The DNC or Hillary's campaign or the FBI working with a British agent working with Russia to gather phony info to be used against Trump to take him down. Moreover, it's looking like the phony dossier was used as the basis to obtain a FISA warrant that legalized unmasking and spying on Trump.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/15/2017 17:43 Comments || Top||


Economy
Study Shows Chinese Imports Caused ‘Deaths' of American Factories
[Breitbart] The flood of Chinese imports into the U.S. does not just cost jobs. It shuts down factories and businesses altogether, with devastating consequences for the communities where they are located.

After years of denial, it is now widely known that the opening of the U.S. market to Chinese imports was devastating, inflicting deep and lasting damage to many areas in the U.S. Regions most exposed to competition from China not only lost manufacturing jobs, they saw overall employment decline and never recovered. Areas with higher exposure have also been shown to have more people relying on food stamps and disability payments, more people addicted to opioids, lower rates of marriage, higher rates of political polarization, and higher rates of incarceration.

New research suggests that one of the main reasons the damage has been so deep and lasting is that the jobs lost from Chinese imports were not just from companies downsizing or becoming more efficient but from closing manufacturing plants altogether. The paper by four economists ‐ Brian Asquith of the National Bureau of Economic Research and University of California at Irvine’s Sajana Goswami, David Neumark, and Antonio Rodriguez-Lopez ‐ finds that the so-called "China shock" operated mainly through "deaths of establishments."

This makes the job losses from the China shock fundamentally different from other adverse shocks, such as recessions, that can hit the U.S. labor market. In those situations, job losses are primarily from contractions of the number of people employed at a plant, rather than the outright closing of a plant.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 01:59 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You might want to toss in Europe and elsewhere for this one. Around say 150 years of advances in worker's rights in the US are abandoned in China, India et al., where it can extend down to the level of slave labor in some cases.

Fortunately due to lower rates of marriage and higher rates of incarceration, we seem to have a temporary handle on all of this.
Posted by: Fairbanks || 12/15/2017 3:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Absolutely true, though manufacturing has been picking up in recent years, what with new products and after all sorts of robotic efficiencies were installed — and the problems inherent in corrupt third world societies with poorly educated work forces discovered, leading some companies to on-shore after having off-shored. Bloomberg reported last month that manufacturing growth has been steady for the past two years, and factory employment has grown as well.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2017 8:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Not a big surprise. Most people in fly-over land have aware of this for sometime. One of the many reasons Trump got elected. I don't recall getting to vote on this issue. I guess it was like Obummer's and Kerry's middle-of-the-night deal with Iran--very shadowy and a one-sided deal.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/15/2017 17:54 Comments || Top||


Government
President Trump outpaces Obama with 19 federal court judges confirmed
[Wash Times] The Senate confirmed President Trump’s 19th federal judge Thursday, approving James Ho for a seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and further bolstering the judicial army that conservatives wanted to build.

Mr. Ho, confirmed on a 53-43 vote, becomes the first Asian-American on that appeals court. Democratic Sens. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota joined Republicans in voting for Mr. Ho.

He’s the third federal appeals court judge the Senate confirmed this week, and the 19th judge overall. That’s well ahead of the 14 that President Obama had won by the end of his first year, but behind the pace of Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

"If the tax bill does not pass, President Trump can claim the confirmation of judges as his most significant achievement in the first year," said Carl Tobias, law professor at the University of Richmond.

Mr. Trump entered office facing more than 100 judicial vacancies, including one on the Supreme Court. Justice Neil M. Gorsuch was his first court victory, and he’s followed it up with a series of confirmations, the majority coming on the federal appeals courts, which are particularly crucial.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 01:52 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Stick it in their arses, find a bench for Roy Moore.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 1:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Democratic Sens. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota joined Republicans in voting for Mr. Ho.

Why do I find this disturbing?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/15/2017 2:49 Comments || Top||

#3  The National Review presents Mr. Ho’s resume withuot comment here. Texas, private as well as public legal experience, clerked for Clarence Thomas, only 44.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2017 5:18 Comments || Top||

#4  Appoint young strict constructionist constitutional lawyers to the federal bench and the left's day of legislating from the bench may be at least slowed down for a while.

44? If he exercises and follows a healthy diet, and hires a taster, he could strike down leftist BS for almost 50 years.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 12/15/2017 11:00 Comments || Top||

#5  Whoa. Had me at "Thomas" and "Texas." And "Taiwan."

Though, Jimmy, ol' judge, I don't know you,
I urge you to husband your Ho-fu
So life will last long
As you go Kuomindang
On the pinkos. No mo' stinky tofu!
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 12/15/2017 13:33 Comments || Top||

#6  McCaskill is in a dogfight for re-election next time around.
Posted by: Injun Bucket8891 || 12/15/2017 22:50 Comments || Top||


Europe
Intelligence Leaks Reveal (NATO member) Erdogan Regime Arming Criminal Turkish Gangs in Germany
[PJ] An explosive report has revealed that close associates of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and officials of his AKP Party are funding and arming criminal gangs in Germany. This information reportedly was leaked by German intelligence to several media outlets, which subsequently published the allegations.

German-language outlet ZDF reported that German intelligence wiretaps revealed AKP Party officials transferring money to leaders of the "Osmanen Germania" (Ottoman Germany) biker gang. The money was for purchasing weapons and directing attacks on critics of Erdogan's increasingly tyrannical regime in Turkey among Germany's sizable Turkish population.

Two AKP officials figure prominently in the reports.

Surveillance records are said to show Metin Kulunk, a close friend of Erdogan, giving money to "Osmanen Germania" for the purposes of buying weapons in June 2016. Police officials observed Kulunk handing envelopes of money to a senior leader of the gang -- who has since been arrested. At the same time, the gang was being directed to cause disturbances as the German Parliament considered a resolution condemning the early-20th century Armenian Genocide by Turkey. The resolution passed.

The second AKP official implicated, Ilkay Arin, is the German representative of the Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD) -- the lobbying arm of the AKP in Europe. UETD hires "Osmanen Germania" to handle security for their events.

During one surveilled discussion, Kulunk directed Arin to organize an attack on German comedian Jan Bohmermann for reading a poem critical of Erdogan. Erdogan subsequently demanded that Bohmermann be prosecuted for insulting him, and German authorities did indeed open a case. The investigation was later dropped.

Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 01:42 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He needs to be taken out...
Posted by: Frank G || 12/15/2017 8:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Butt he is a member of na to airbases and a good helper the pink paper French dude said so!
Posted by: Gleatch Ulese7439 || 12/15/2017 9:06 Comments || Top||

#3  For peaceful Islamic purposes.
Posted by: gorb || 12/15/2017 10:49 Comments || Top||

#4  I thought we had access to bases in other countries that made those in Turkey unnecessary.

I wonder why the CIA has developed an aversion to wet work when it comes to Islamic tyrants. I mean we used to do it willy nilly back in the day but don't seem to have the stomach for it anymore.

AND with these really neat sniper rifles you can do it at a mile and not have to con some asset into doing it with poison at a state dinner.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 12/15/2017 11:17 Comments || Top||

#5  Ayatollah Erdogan.
Posted by: Iblis || 12/15/2017 12:36 Comments || Top||

#6  UETD hires "Osmanen Germania" to handle security for their events.


Why does Altamont spring immediately to mind?

What are the downsides to booting Turkey from Nato? Would Russia gain something wonderful from that?
Posted by: AlanC || 12/15/2017 14:51 Comments || Top||

#7  Russia & Turkey are already buds.
Posted by: Clem || 12/15/2017 15:31 Comments || Top||

#8  Long past time to throw them out of NATO, and blow up Incirlik and other facilities on the way out.
Posted by: Injun Bucket8891 || 12/15/2017 20:58 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Former CIA Director: With Trump, I Didn't Think Through The Downside Of The Intel Community Becoming Political
[Townhall] Former CIA Director Michael Morell sat down with Politico’s Susan Glasser, where he admitted that he and others from the intelligence community didn’t think through the consequences of them becoming political last year.

Last year, Morell wrote an op-ed in The New York Times that endorsed Hillary Clinton for president.
Sadly, much more Morell drivel follows.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 01:17 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The most senior intelligence analyst in the nation never "thought through the downside?" Difficult to plead the 'Nuremberg defense' from the top. Let's just call it blind ignorance shall we.

The Morchella speaks and he actually thinks someone will believe him. Where is all of this coming from? Is the man 'physically' ill as well? Are these death bed confessions? I am again, bewildered.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 1:28 Comments || Top||

#2  I'd hate to hear what the former DNI has to say.
Posted by: DooDahMan || 12/15/2017 1:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Oh, you had to think through The Downside Of The Intel Community Becoming Political?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/15/2017 2:52 Comments || Top||

#4  How much is these "experts'" "expertise" worth when it comes to the analysis of profoundly alien, secretive and inscrutable adversary nations' and cultures' inner mechanisms?
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 12/15/2017 10:03 Comments || Top||

#5  Ever notice how many of these so called Ivy League elitists in government, intelligence, etc have less sense and smarts than the guy stocking Wal-mart shelves at 2am.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 12/15/2017 10:46 Comments || Top||

#6  So the CIA Director didn't think it through? Then how did he get to be the CIA director in the first place?
Posted by: gorb || 12/15/2017 11:04 Comments || Top||

#7  The CIA should start recruiting from New Mexico State, Texas A&M. Cal State Fullerton, and KSU instead of the Ivy League. They might suddenly find themselves with competent, well-read, intelligence analysts instead of apparatiks.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 12/15/2017 11:04 Comments || Top||

#8  The recruiters are all Ivy League SPOD, they hire from 'within the family'.

Agree with your suggestion, though.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/15/2017 11:36 Comments || Top||

#9  Amazing.

What did he think was going to happen when you politicize the intelligence community? High quality trade craft??

The intelligence community has been in the process of politicalization since Slick Willy Clinton. Bush should have cleaned em out.

Methinks Trump is going to have to fire every political appointee and every executive hire since the first day the empty suit was in office.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 12/15/2017 15:04 Comments || Top||

#10  Sorry SPoD, but I've come to the conclusion that all the Bushes are nothing but Swamp creatures themselves. Never have nor will have a desire to clean out the swamp.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/15/2017 15:55 Comments || Top||

#11  Focusing of fairy tales like "Climate change" is not the focus one should have in such office.
Posted by: newc || 12/15/2017 17:24 Comments || Top||

#12  Maybe this guy needs a stint in the Graybar Hotel to clear his mind.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/15/2017 17:45 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Govt orders 21 international NGOs to wrap up operations in Pakistan
[DAWN] The federal government has ordered 21 foreign-aid groups to wrap up their activities and prepare to leave after they failed to re-register under tough regulations introduced two years ago, officials said on Thursday.

The officials said Open Society Foundations, the charity founded by George Soros
...either Ernst Stavro Blofeld or Auric Goldfinger come true...
, and the South Africa-based ActionAid were among the groups informed of the decision this week, without providing a complete list.

The international non-governmental organizations (INGO) have been given two months to close their offices and vacate the country.

The government has been scrutinising the documents of another 19 foreign-aid groups to determine whether they should be allowed to work in the country or not.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief news hounds.

The government has long treated the foreign-aid groups in the country with suspicion, fearing they could mask efforts to spy on the country.

Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
US allegations on Yemen missile 'provocative', 'destructive': Iran
[PRESSTV] Iran's UN mission has categorically dismissed as "unfounded" US Ambassador Nikki Haley
...Trump administration's ambassador to the UN. First woman to serve as Governor of South Carolina, and the second Indian-American governor in the country, after Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. At the age of 39, Haley was the youngest governor in the U.S., a distinction formerly held by Jindal. She is a Republican, which really grates on the Dems...
's claim that a missile fired at Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
from Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
last month was supplied by the Islamic Theocratic Republic.

In a statement released on Thursday, the mission denounced the US allegations as "irresponsible, provocative and destructive," saying "this purported evidence ... is as much fabricated as the one presented on some other occasions earlier."

"These accusations seek also to cover up for the Saudi war crimes in Yemen, with the US complicity, and divert international and regional attention from the stalemate war of aggression against the Yemenis that has so far killed more than 10,000 civilians, displaced three million, crippled Yemen's infrastructure and health system and pushed the country to the brink of the largest famine the world has seen for decades, as the UN has warned," the statement read.

It went on to accuse the US government of being "constantly at work to deceive the public into believing the cases they put together" to advance its agenda.

"While Iran has not supplied Yemen with missiles, these hyperboles are also to serve other US agendas in the Middle East, including covering up for its adventurist acts in the region and its unbridled support for the Israeli regime," the statement read.

It also stressed "the Yemenis' right to self-defense" and reiterated that the conflict in the impoverished country had no military solution.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also took to twitter to compare Haley’s allegations against Iran to those of former US secretary of defense, Colin Powell, who alleged in 2003 that former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, was hiding weapons of mass destruction in order to make a case for attacking the country.

Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


China-Japan-Koreas
Will Japan Acquire Nuclear Weapons?
Posted by: Grunter || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They would be fools not to.
Posted by: 3dc || 12/15/2017 0:55 Comments || Top||

#2  I assume they already have them.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/15/2017 2:53 Comments || Top||

#3  I remember hearing scuttlebutt back in the 1980's that Japan had the pieces and all they had to do was a quick assembly. It was "We don't have nukes" and "They don't have nukes" and "Wink, Wink, nudge, nudge, know what I mean."
Posted by: Sloluting and Tenille8977 || 12/15/2017 3:17 Comments || Top||

#4  I'm reasonably sure they already have the components in vault somewhere. Now, due to refinement issues and half life decay, the critical mass components degrade over time, but that can be planned for, and you make new pieces.
(This, BTW, is why there's a weapons recycling program. Pantex)
Posted by: ed in texas || 12/15/2017 8:34 Comments || Top||

#5  They have Godzilla and monster island what more do they need?
Posted by: Gleatch Ulese7439 || 12/15/2017 9:02 Comments || Top||

#6  I've heard various estimates over the years about how long from the decision to being deliverable. I agree they have most if not all of the components ready to go. Just lacking the cores. Or they have complete packages minus the cores. Of course the Japanese government would never admit to this. The public would go apeshit. This may change of course given the NorKs
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 12/15/2017 9:09 Comments || Top||

#7  If they do not have the means ready, then they are suicidal.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 12/15/2017 10:00 Comments || Top||

#8  The Israelis never admit it either.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 12/15/2017 10:02 Comments || Top||

#9  For once, I am rooting for the Chinese to put on their big boy pants and fix this mess they created.

NORK is a relic of the cold war that has out lived its usefulness. The regime is a vaudeville act/parody of what totalitarian regimes look like. The PRC created this mess to put a thumb in the US's eye and provide a threat to Japan.

It is time the Chinese admit NORK is an embarrassment and take care of business.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 12/15/2017 11:13 Comments || Top||

#10  I think the Chinese still like having their thumb in our eye.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 12/15/2017 11:20 Comments || Top||

#11  ...The 'breakout nuclear power' mentioned by other 'Burgers, is the most likely scenario. For a VERY good description of just such a scenario, check out (of all places) Tom Clancy's Debt of Honor.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 12/15/2017 12:05 Comments || Top||

#12  The PRC created this mess to put a thumb in the US's eye and provide a threat to Japan.

Little different than US's Eisenhower strategy of using Taiwan to extend the reach of the Philippines, or ROK of Japan. Look for it's roots in the First Sino-Japanese War.

Archaic and expensive. UK withdrew with the sellout of Hong Kong.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 13:04 Comments || Top||

#13  Instead of Nukes I expect an army of giant robot samurai.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/15/2017 15:02 Comments || Top||

#14  They already have two... of course they're used....
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/15/2017 16:22 Comments || Top||

#15  I've recently been on a reading binge of WWII history and have an understanding about why my parents' generation would not consider buying a Japanese car, and why the Chinese and Koreans might have a 'bit' of residual animosity towards the Japanese. It seems like we well-chlorinated their military-aggressive gene pool, or I would note even consider letting them have nukes.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/15/2017 16:26 Comments || Top||

#16  It would take them 6 to 9 months to have a finished and operational product if the need arises.

They are reluctant to up defense because they understand their Neighbors would not be too happy about it.
Posted by: newc || 12/15/2017 17:42 Comments || Top||

#17  I remember a few years back when there was some noise from NK, and one Japanese official made a great show of an apology that they had not properly tracked a certain amount of plutonium. I thought at the time that that was a warning...
Posted by: james || 12/15/2017 20:56 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Accused NY bomber’s family says attack ‘our worst nightmare’
[Dhaka Tribune] Zulifikar Haider hoped his daughter would live the American dream when she married a fellow Bangladeshi living in the United States, but that dream turned into a nightmare when the family saw pictures of her husband maimed after allegedly trying to set off a bomb in a crowded New York commuter hub.

Haider’s family had been worried when his son-in-law, Akayed Ullah, 27, missed a regular call to his wife on Monday. Their worry only worsened when his wife screamed as she found online pictures of Akayed, down on the ground with apparent injuries to his stomach after the bomb ignited but failed to detonate.

"Even in our worst nightmares, we could not have foreseen this," Haider, 62, told Rooters on Wednesday evening, following two days of questioning by Bangladesh’s counterterrorism police.

"Only God knows what happened to him in America," Haider said.

US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
reiterated his call for tougher immigration rules following Monday’s attack, which came less than two months after an Uzbek immigrant killed eight people by speeding a rental truck down a New York City bike path.

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....
grabbed credit for the October attack, while Akayed claimed allegiance to the murderous Moslem group, according to US federal prosecutors.

Haider said he feared Monday’s incident could lead to a backlash against Bangladeshis living in the United States.

Jui finished her bachelor of arts degree in accounting from a Dhaka college in March. When Akayed last came visiting in September after their son was born, they planned to get a passport for her to possibly join him in the United States sometime in 2018.

"He spent most of the time with his 6-month-old son when he came down," said Haider.

"He is not much of a social person. He does not really have friends, not into gossiping. He has never brought any friend to our house."

Haider’s family has not been able to talk to Akayed since the failed bombing.

Bangladesh police, meanwhile, have questioned Haider as well as his wife, daughter and his 22-year-old son. Their phone call records have been scanned.

Bangladesh’s counterterrorism chief, Monirul Islam, told Rooters they have found no links of Akayed with any murderous Moslem group in his home country. But the chief added that investigations were continuing and the family was under surveillance.

"I no longer want my daughter to go to America," Haider said. "I just want our son-in-law back."

Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  "I no longer want my daughter to go to America," Haider said

Not going to be a problem
Posted by: Frank G || 12/15/2017 11:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Haider said he feared Monday’s incident could lead to a backlash against Bangladeshis living in the United States.

We can only hope.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 12:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Haider said he feared Monday’s incident could lead to a backlash against Bangladeshis living in the United States.

Well past time for that.
Posted by: Raj || 12/15/2017 12:47 Comments || Top||


Europe
Amsterdam kosher eatery assailant was reportedly ex-fighter from Syria
[IsraelTimes] Damascus-born Saleh Ali released from custody; hasn't been charged with a hate crime, only vandalism and theft

The man released by Dutch police hours after he attacked a kosher restaurant while waving a Paleostinian flag is reportedly a Damascus-born ex-combatant in Syria’s civil war.
That would be HaCarmel restaurant.
GeenStijl reported Wednesday that the perpetrator of the December 7 assault in southern Amsterdam is Saleh Ali, who has said that he participated in the war fighting against the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
terrorist group, according to information obtained by the news site.

Police were aware of this information when they released him several hours after two officers placed in durance vile
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
him outside the restaurant, the report said.

A video of the incident shows Ali holding a Paleostinian flag and wearing a Paleostinian keffiyah on his head as he smashes the window and kicks down the restaurant’s doors as passersby and two coppers look on. The officers wait until he breaks into the restaurant before intervening. They pause as he returns to the street from the restaurant’s interior holding an Israeli flag that he took from the eatery. He throws it at their feet. They then overpower ALi and arrest him.

The incident happened one day after US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
signed a document recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Two Jewish buildings in Sweden, including a synagogue, were targeted by arsonists using Molotov cocktails in the days that followed, local police said. Demonstrations featuring chants about killing Jews were held in The Hague, Vienna, Berlin and London. Calls glorifying Paleostinian Lions of Islam were heard at a rally Saturday in Gay Paree.

The perpetrator of the restaurant attack, whose lawyer has denied that his client acted out of any anti-Semitic motives,
“He doesn’t have anything against Jews, y’r Honour, it’s just that shitty little country, Israel, that sets him off every time. So when he saw that shitty little flag in a restaurant... well, he didn’t know it was owned by Jews or has Jewish clientele when he smashed in the window, vandalized the place, and ripped that flag from the wall. The wonder is that all Amsterdam wasn’t there tearing down that flag alongside him.”
was charged with vandalism and theft, according to De Telegraaf, with no mention in that paper’s reporting of an aggravated element of a hate crime. Thus he was released shortly after his arrest.

A front man for the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel, a Hague-based watchdog on anti-Semitism, wrote on Facebook that it was "shocking" that the perpetrator was released in light of the information reported by GeenStijl.

The center, or CIDI, has called for the perpetrator, who is on a temporary staying permit, to be tried on hate crime charges.
This article starring:
HaCarmel
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists


India-Pakistan
Govt deliberates on UN request to limit military's role in civil spheres
[DAWN] The federal government asked the concerned ministries and departments to take "requisite legislative, policy and administrative measures" in accordance with the recommendations of the United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
(UN), calling for the termination of military courts and limiting the role of the army in civil spheres, DawnNews reported on Thursday.

The UN had urged Islamabad to ensure the implementation of 111 recommendations in accordance with its human rights
...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state...
conventions. The Ministry of Human Rights forwarded the recommendations to the relevant departments and ministries for further action.

According to an "office memorandum" issued by the human rights ministry, a copy of which is available with DawnNews, Pakistain has ratified seven "core human rights conventions". Subsequently, four progress reports were prepared and submitted before the relevant UN bodies through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A high-level delegation led by the human rights minister presented and defended these reports before the concerned UN committees in the review meetings, held during 2016 and 2017. The UN committees, while reviewing the obligatory reports, had made concluding observations and recommendations.

Based on the recommendations put forward by the UN committees in this regard, the human rights ministry compiled a matrix and forwarded it to all concerned ministries and departments, asking them to take "requisite legislative, policy and administrative measures".

According to the document, the UN asked Islamabad to immediately put a moratorium on the capital punishment and eventually "consider abolishing the death penalty
". In addition to this, if ineluctable, the death penalties should not be imposed by the military courts ‐ particularly in cases involving civilians.

The UN also recommended that the death penalty should only be awarded for the most serious crimes, involving intentional killings.

The UN committees also recommended to "repeal or amend Actions in Aid of Civil Power Regulations 2011 in order to abolish the military's power to establish internment centres in the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (Fata) and Provincially Administrated Tribal Areas (Pata)". It also urged Islamabad to ensure that no one is held in secret or incommunicado detention anywhere in the country.

Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Arabia
Shrapnel of explosive fired by Houthis towards Jazan kills Saudi boy
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A 14-year-old Saudi boy in al-Arda governorate in Jazan was killed by the shrapnel of an explosive that Houthis fired from Yemen, the Civil Defense Forces said on Thursday

The boy was identified as Hamed Jathmi, an intermediate student. He was maimed and killed when the shrapnel fell near his home.

The civil defense forces in Jazan reported the fall of shrapnel from explosive projectile launched by Houthis from Yemeni territory and the death of the young man.

Others were also injured by the shrapnel.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


International-UN-NGOs
US presents ‘undeniable’ evidence Iran arming Yemen’s rebels with missiles
[IsraelTimes] Segments of projectiles launched at Soddy Arabia bear markings proving origin in Islamic Theocratic Republic, UN ambassador Haley says.

US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
’s envoy to the United Nations
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  And yet, the Mullahs deny it.

Lying eyes kind of thing.
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 12/15/2017 9:39 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Hariri circles hint some of his partners in government have ‘betrayed’ him
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Leb’s political scene is again engulfed in controversy for the past two days, particularly within Prime Minister Saad Hariri
Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah
...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
has him bumped off, too.

’s coalition government.

It all erupted after Hariri circles accused some of their partners in government and Future Movement figures of treason.

On Monday, Hariri, who heads the Future Movement, wrote on Twitter that he "will reveal everything" during a television interview with Marcel Ghanem. However,
a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth...
the tweet was later deleted.

According to the official Future Movement website al-Mustaqbal
... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri...
, Hariri said while receiving members of his party that he will reveal many details about the recent crisis he has been through and noted that some political parties tried to find themselves a foothold during this crisis "via backstabbing."

"In all cases, I will come out with everything during the interview at Kalam Ennas with Marcel Ghanem," Hariri said on Twitter.

After Hariri deleted the tweet, Marcel Ghanem tweeted: "Upon Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s wish who announced his intention to (say everything) via Kalam Ennas, the episode has been postponed for now to another day which will be announced later."

However,
a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth...
the situation eventually became clear when Future Movement Secretary General Ahmad Hariri said on Wednesday during a television interview that "Saad Hariri knows everything about what happened in the past three weeks."

Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Economy
Rising US output weighs on oil prices
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Oil prices came under pressure on Thursday after the International Energy Agency (IEA) increased its forecast for growth in US oil output next year, raising the prospect of excess supply.

US West Texas Intermediate futures fell 29 cents to $56.31 a barrel, down from a high of $56.93.

Brent crude futures were at virtually unchanged at $62.45 a barrel at 14.44 GMT, after hitting a session high of $63.14.

The Gay Paree-based IEA said US crude output next year would increase by 870,000 barrels per day (bpd), up from its November forecast of 790,000 bpd.

The change mirrors upward revisions issued by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and the United States government.

"The IEA underlined the same take that the US Energy Department had the day before yesterday and OPEC had yesterday," said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst with SEB Bank, adding that further upward revisions might follow.

With cash pouring into the US shale oil industry, the United States is on track to deliver up to 80 percent of the world’s oil production gains through 2025, the IEA estimates.

Revised estimates
OPEC revised its estimate for US oil output growth for 2018 to 1.05 million bpd, while the US Energy Information Administration increased its growth forecast to 780,000 bpd.

The IEA expects the oil market to have a surplus of 200,000 bpd in the first half of next year before reverting to a deficit of about 200,000 bpd in the second half. That means 2018 overall should show "a closely balanced market"".

For now, Brent prices remain underpinned by an outage on the Forties crude pipeline that is expected to last several weeks.

Operator Ineos declared force majeure on crude oil, gas and condensate deliveries from the pipeline, a source familiar with the matter told Rooters on Wednesday.

A fall in US crude inventories last week also lent some support. Stocks fell by 5.1 million barrels in the week to Dec. 8, the fourth consecutive week of decline, to 442.99 million barrels, the lowest since October 2015.

Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  US oil consumption has probably increased in 2017 so that is one thing keeping prices up.
Posted by: lord garth || 12/15/2017 0:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Along with increased consumption in China, India, Indonesia and any number of other places. I'm all foor increasing milage standards to a point. But like all mandated technology fixes the last 10% is very expensive.
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 12/15/2017 6:43 Comments || Top||

#3  If you are concerned about the price at the pump, don't blame Big Oil. Look at the Fed and Treasury debasing the currency for the last 10 years. 'Creating' money without backing. 10 years ago a penny could be produced at par, 100 for a dollar. Today, they can mint about 42 for a dollar. It's not that gas has gone up, rather the dollar down.
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/15/2017 7:54 Comments || Top||

#4  If you are concerned about the price at the pump, don't blame Big Oil. Look at the Fed and Treasury debasing the currency for the last 10 years.

Currency debasing is a debt reduction strategy.
It's been around for a while, possibly since coming off of the gold standard. Need evidence? Take a Morgan Silver Dollar to any bank and see what they give you for it. Big business and big oil have pretty much always been targeted as the enemy.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 8:04 Comments || Top||

#5  actually copper price per pound averaged about $3 in 2007 and is averaging about the same amount in 2017

during the 2008-09 crash, it went down to $1.50 but quickly recovered in 2010

most of the copper mined in the world is used in industry although a significant amount becomes jewelry or currency
Posted by: lord garth || 12/15/2017 9:14 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
37 Palestinian rioters arrested in East Jerusalem police raids
[IsraelTimes] Cops say 67 detained overall for participation in violent demonstrations against Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital

In a police operation over the past two days, 37 East Jerusalem residents were placed in durance vile
You have the right to remain silent...
in their homes on suspicion of rioting over the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Israel Police said in a statement Thursday.

A total of 67 people have been arrested for riot-related crimes during disturbances that flared up following US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
’s statement last week, police said.

Over the past two days, arrests were carried out in East Jerusalem neighborhoods including A-Tur, Shuafat, Wadi Joz, Ras al-Amud, Issawiya, and the Old City of Jerusalem. The suspects were all taken in for questioning and later brought to court for hearings.

Thirty of the total number of those arrested since last week were detained as they participated in riots, police said.

Police said a combination of fieldwork, intelligence gathering, surveillance and the use of technology, along with determined detective work, led to the arrest of key suspects in the violent demonstrations.

During riots at various locations in the capital, protesters threw stones, glass bottles, Molotov cocktails, and other objects at officers as well as blocking roads, burning garbage cans, and shooting firecrackers at police. Several officers have been injured.

"We located and arrested the core rioters who took an active part in the violent disturbances directed against the security forces," police said.

"The police will take a hard and uncompromising stance against any person and any entity who takes an active part in disturbances in order to incite, inflame, and harm the security forces and civilians, and will act to enforce the full extent of the law," police said.

Dozens of youths throw rocks, bottles at cops near Damascus Gate

[Ynet] Dozens of Arab youths congregated near Jerusalem's Damascus Gate and pelted coppers on-site with rocks and bottles. Police tossed in the calaboose
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
six suspects of disturbing the peace and attacking cops.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
Clintons 'systematically destroyed' Secret Service's integrity, let Chinese generals walk into White House with unchecked brown paper bags, claims ex-officer
[DailyMail] - Gary Byrne reveals how the agency compromised its integrity in Secrets of the Secret Service: The History and Uncertain Future of the US Secret Service

- They allegedly served Bill and Hillary Clinton with 'blind loyalty' and colluded with the couple in the 'Chinagate' campaign finance scandal in 1996

- The Chinese government was accused of using shell companies to donate to Democrats to buy access for Chinese goods to be imported to the US

- Agents knowingly allowed Chinese generals - disguised in civilian clothing - in the White House and logged them in as 'business guests' at the couple's request

- The Secret Service also ignored the contents of brown paper bags brought into the White House by Chinese officials

- Hillary allegedly once threw a Bible at an agent on her detail and hit him on the back of the head
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yeah, HI!

Know what I know what to put in brown paper?
Posted by: newc || 12/15/2017 0:49 Comments || Top||

#2  Gary Byrne has an extreme Clinton bias, but come to think about it, so do a few hundred million other people.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 0:55 Comments || Top||

#3  I thought the Secret Service loathed the Clintons. Why would they then be blindly loyal?
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2017 5:26 Comments || Top||

#4  "Why would they then be blindly loyal?"

They weren't loyal to Der Slickmeister and Hildebeast as much as they were loyal to a lifestyle. One does not get on PPD by being a bonehead. When they get there the are usually a GS13/14 w/LEAP, a G-ride, tons of O/T and per diem on travel. Kids going to great schools in Fairfax County and career prospects are high. Compare that with rummaging through dumpsters in Fairbanks , AK looking for phony credit card receipts. Do the math.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy || 12/15/2017 6:49 Comments || Top||

#5  PPD - Presidential Protective Detail
LEAP - Special pay somewhat akin to military Special Duty Pay (SDP).
G-Ride - Government vehicle.

Violate the employment agreement (cone of silence), and 'dumpsters in Fairbanks' might start to look quite rewarding. Your clearance is suspended and your career in law enforcement is finished.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 6:56 Comments || Top||

#6  How else do you transfer piles of money to them without alerting the banking monitoring systems?
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/15/2017 9:13 Comments || Top||

#7  It's gotta be a helluva salary and perks if they were willing to take out the towels after Bill was done with them.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 12/15/2017 9:59 Comments || Top||

#8  I think I'd ask for more than a Crown Victoria though.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 12/15/2017 9:59 Comments || Top||

#9  Well there are Crown Vics and there are Crown Vics. The ones the SS and the FBI tuddle around in bear no resemblance to the ones the LAPD or other PDs drive.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 12/15/2017 10:54 Comments || Top||

#10  Between the Clintons and Obama, they destroyed just about everything they touched.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/15/2017 11:20 Comments || Top||

#11  Between the Clintons and Obama, they destroyed just about everything they touched.

To advance Berserker's global agenda.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 13:14 Comments || Top||

#12  Between the Clintons and Obama, they destroyed just about everything they touched.

What they didn't destroy, they smothered in night soil.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 13:17 Comments || Top||

#13  Thank you for explaining, Bankok Billy, and thanks also to Besoeker for translating even before I asked.

Abu Uluque, I’m sure Housekeeping dealt with the towels.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2017 13:49 Comments || Top||

#14  "Why would they then be blindly loyal?"

Well, they get the girls.

Secret Service shaken with another prostitution scandal
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 14:01 Comments || Top||

#15  Just had their bottles of Thunderbird in those brown paper bags...
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/15/2017 16:43 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
With ISIS in tatters, Syria Kurds fear US to abandon them
[Rudaw] Syria's Kurds fear the steadfast ally they found in the US to successfully take on 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 jihadists may now leave them to face threats from The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
and Damascus alone.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's virtually a certainty - unless the Don doesn't listen to his f*cking generals.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/15/2017 2:45 Comments || Top||

#2  OMG we could annoy Turkey...
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/15/2017 5:33 Comments || Top||

#3  Move assets from Turkey to Kurdistan?
Posted by: newc || 12/15/2017 17:09 Comments || Top||

#4  and Greece, who could use the $ influx
Posted by: Frank G || 12/15/2017 20:40 Comments || Top||

#5  Give them credit - the Kurds are not stupid when they assume we will sell them out.

Ideally, move ops to the Greek part of Crete, Hungary and Bulgaria and Romania where we already have basing rights, forward base in Kurdistan, and tear down all our buildings in Turkey on the way out, including the runways at the big airbases.
Posted by: Injun Bucket8891 || 12/15/2017 21:03 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Paul Ryan To Step Aside In '18, Leave DC
[POLITICO]

Update from The Daily Caller at 1:15 p.m. ET:
House Speaker Paul Ryan denied reporters he’s contemplating retirement, telling reporters Thursday he has no plans to step down anytime soon.

“I ain’t going anywhere,” he said while leaving the Capitol.
It helps to check with the person involved, instead of relying on those claiming to know.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I will take them ALL out if I can.

And I told you I would.

I hate it, the way they all think and succumb under marxist pressure and the foolish prospects and the idiot ideas. The States should be running This Nation, not them.

And they did not do as any of them said they did.

Majority means nothing when you have none of the majority doing the right thing.

It has become just used motor oil.
Posted by: newc || 12/15/2017 0:54 Comments || Top||

#2  BTW Pray for John Mccain.
His term is ending too.
Posted by: newc || 12/15/2017 0:55 Comments || Top||

#3  When coaches announce their retirements, it is often said they've mentally retired six months to a year previously. In Ryan's case, I'll bump his 'previously' to five years.

So it's all about him, forget the business of the people; tax bill, budget, etc.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 0:58 Comments || Top||

#4  Who?
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 6:49 Comments || Top||

#5  He may SAY he ain't going nowhere, but his constituency does have a choice, if they choose to exercise it.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/15/2017 16:42 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
ISIS weapons: From ‘mother of the devil’ explosives to booby traps
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Western security officials have warned of the progress made by members of ISIS terrorist organization in the arms industry, which is now a risk in other countries and is no longer limited to the areas controlled by the organization in Syria and Iraq.

According to the New York Times

...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...

, members of ISIS after successive strikes to expel them from some areas in Syria and Iraq, are now moving to other countries.

Foreign members of the terrorist organization return to their home countries to share knowledge and techniques over the Internet. They gather along with their veterans forming a network for weapons production and sharing techniques over the Internet.

Improvised chemical rockets were the latest in a procession of weapons developed by ISIS militia on an arms-manufacturing spree without recent precedence, said the news site.

With limited access to global arms markets, ISIS routinely manufacture their own weapons.

But now ISIS took the practice to new levels, with outputs "unlike anything we’ve ever seen" from a nonstate force, said Solomon H. Black, a US State Department official who tracks and analyzes weapons.

Among the weapons found by Iraqi forces that fought ISIS in djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, three rockets were not fully completed.

The examination of these shells showed that they had an unusual advantage, namely, heavy liquid inside their warheads.

The tests later revealed that the warheads contained one of the crude oil derivatives like sulfur mustard, a forbidden chemical weapon that burns the victim's skin and respiratory system.

ISIS progressed from the stage of basic bombs used in the Brussels terrorist operation of March 2016, which killed at least 31 people and maimed 270 others.

Investigations have also uncovered the use of the same type of explosives, dubbed the "Mother of the Devil," in other terrorist attacks by the organization, the latest of which was an kaboom inside a subway train at Parsons Green Station in Britannia last September.

The danger of "mother of the devil" is that it can be made with items sold on supermarket shelves.

A statement issued by the US military in Baghdad said that the international coalition forces against ISIS succeeded in destroying explosive puppets and toys.

Many members of teams involved in demining in Iraq have accounts of varied forms of booby traps planted by ISIS, ranging from toys such as dolls, stuffed animals and plastic trucks, as well as electric teapots, fire extinguishers and light bulbs.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Iraq
Iraq hangs 38 Sunni militants in mass execution
[Ynet] Iraq hanged 38 Sunni Moslem forces of Evil on Thursday after they were sentenced to death on terrorism charges, the justice ministry said in a statement.

The mass executions were carried out at a prison in the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya, the statement said quoting the Justice Minister.

The justice ministry said all the convicted were members of 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....
. Officials have said all the appeal options available to the condemned had been exhausted, according to the statement.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Well hey, get down to it!
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 11:56 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
US to publicize Khamenei’s assets to prove Iranian support of terrorism
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The House of Representatives approved a draft resolution stating that the Treasury Department is required to publish a list of the assets of Iranian leaders, more specifically the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei.

This comes amid congressional calls for investigations on how these resources are spent on supporting and spreading terrorism.

The US House of Representatives approved law number HR 1638 on Wednesday titled "Iranian Leadership Asset Transparency Act". The law gained a majority vote of 289 votes for, and 135 against.

The draft resolution also needs to be approved by the Senate, and signed by the President in order to become a law.

Personal fortunes
About 70 Iranian officials have acquired a vast amount of personal wealth and are using it to support terrorist groups and militias, said Republican representative Bruce Poliquin.

He had said: "This bill will allow the world to see how the top Leadership in Iran facilitates human rights
...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you...
abuse through funding pilfered from the Iranian people. It will allow financial institutions to see in public form the type of assets associated with these individuals and hopefully better focus anti-money laundering efforts."

He also stressed that senior Iranian government officials, including Iran's supreme leader and key political and military officials, have acquired enormous wealth through dictatorship and corruption.

Unidentified origins
"As the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, Iran has consistently violated its people’s basic human rights and has ignored United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
sanctions against its dangerous weapons programs," said Congressman Poliquin. "They simply cannot be trusted."

The bill was passed by the finance committee of the House of Representatives last November, which called for the American government to reveal all the assets of Iran’s leaders and officials, and how they attained such wealth.

The law also requires the US Treasury Department to create a full report about movable and immovable property of prominent figures including the Supreme Leader of Iran, President Hassan Rowhani, members of the Council of Guardians, members of the Expediency Council and the top military leaders.

Corruption and embezzlement
The bill reaffirms that these political figures, military leaders, governmental heads and Revolutionary Guard officials in Iran have received vast amounts of wealth through corruption and embezzlement

The Borgen Project, a non-profit organization that works with US leaders to improve their response to the global poverty crisis, had released a report last November stating that poverty in Iran has reached record-breaking levels with the spread of government corruption and the dominance of ruling figures over the wealth of the country.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  ..135 against

and why would you vote against this?
Posted by: Croger Thretle9886 || 12/15/2017 11:01 Comments || Top||

#2  "and why would you vote against this?"

To protect ValJar and the 'O'.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/15/2017 11:31 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Egypt to open Rafah Crossing into and out of Gaza for 4 days
[Ynet] Egypt announced it will be opening the Rafah Border Crossing into and out of the Gazoo Strip for four days, starting Saturday.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Terr attack in Sinai in 2 days.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/15/2017 2:46 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Turkey launches artillery, airstrikes in Kurdistan mountains: official
[Rudaw] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
launched Arclight airstrikes and artillery fire at sites within northern Erbil province on Thursday evening, officials confirmed.

"Ottoman Turkish artillery units started intensely shelling the border areas of the Kurdistan Region near Sidakan town in Soran district," Ihsan Chalabi, Sidakan mayor, told Rudaw. "Ottoman Turkish warplanes simultaneously bombed Khuakurk."

Chalabi said the bombings did not cause casualties.

The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) is believed to have bases in the area.

Due to frequent attacks by Turkey in the area, Chalabi said, civilians had already left.

Turkey frequently carries out airstrikes on alleged PKK locations in the Kurdistan Region's mountains where the PKK has its headquarters.

Last month, Ottoman Turkish warplanes carried out several aerial attacks on Mount Asos in Sulaimani province, resulting in casualties and material damage.

The PKK, named a terrorist organization by Turkey, the EU, and the United States, has an estimated 5,000 guerrilla fighters stationed mostly in remote border areas of the Kurdistan Region.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Riyadh conference, 'blackmail of Geneva process': Syrian envoy to UN
[PRESSTV] Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
has accused Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
and Western states of sabotaging the latest round of peace talks held in Geneva in a bid to end the crisis in the Arab country.

Bashar Jaafari made the remarks on Thursday after the eighth round of the UN-mediated discussions ended without face-to-face talks between representatives of the Syrian government and the opposition.

Jaafari said a statement issued at the Riyadh II conference of the Syrian opposition in November, demanding Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Terror of Aleppo ...
's departure before any peace deal in Syria, was a "blackmail of the Geneva process."

The statement was meant to undermine the Geneva process by setting preconditions, he said, adding "those who drew up the Riyadh communiqué are the ones who sabotaged this round" of the Geneva talks.

Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


US-led coalition securing Daesh terrorists, targeting civilians: Syria
[PRESSTV] Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates has censured the US-led coalition purportedly fighting the ISIS terrorist group, saying the military alliance is indeed targeting civilian facilities and providing the murderous Moslems with cover.

In two separate letters addressed to United Nations
...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the rotating president of the UN Security Council, Koro Bessho, on Thursday, the ministry stated that the US-led coalition has been pretending to fight ISIS, but it has, in fact, been transporting the bully boyz from one part of Syria to another and securing them.

The letters further noted that ISIS bully boyz have been purged from most regions in Syria only through counter-terrorism operations conducted by government troops and allied fighters from popular defense groups.

They also criticized the so-called advocates of human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
and rule of law for turning a blind eye to the atrocities the US-led coalition is perpetrating in Raqqah and Dayr al-Zawr provinces.

Syria’s official news agency, SANA, reported on Thursday that US-led air raids had claimed the lives of at least 23 civilians, mostly children and women, in the al-Jurze Sharqi village of Dayr al-Zawr province the previous evening.

Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Home Front: WoT
‘Akayed visited Kutupalong Rohingya camp in October
[Dhaka Tribune] New York blast suspect Akayed Ullah visited a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar during his last visit to Bangladesh in September, his family have revealed.

Akayed’s mother-in-law, Mahfuja Akhter, told the Dhaka Tribune that the 27-year-old travelled to the Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhiya to deliver aid to the displaced minority, though she could not recall the exact date.

"Akayed boarded a Cox’s Bazar-bound bus at night and then informed us about it through a video call," Mahfuja said during an interview at her Hazaribagh residence on Wednesday.

"He reached Cox’s Bazar in the morning and left for Dhaka on the same day. He did not even stay in a hotel during his short visit there in order to save money to purchase more medicine for the helpless people."

Officials of the Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crimes (CTTC) unit of police confirmed Akayed’s visit to Kutupalong camp, but said they were still to ascertain if he was accompanied by anyone else.

"I cannot believe that he could be involved with militancy," said Akayed’s father-in-law, Julfikar Haider, who has been living Hazaribagh area for the past 22 years.

Julfikar said Akayed visited Bangladesh three times after marrying his daughter, Jannatul Ferdous Jui, in January 2016.

"He spent most of his time at our house during these visits (and) stayed busy with his little son throughout the day. He only went out to offer prayers five times a day at nearby Shahi Mosque," he said.

"He visited his maternal grandmother at Sandwip in Chittagong during his last visit. He also visited his uncle-in-law’s house in Uttara at that time, when we accompanied him."

Akayed’s brother-in-law, Hasan Mahmud Joy, said relatives and friends of Akayed had visited their house during the wedding ceremony, but that afterwards, "none of his friends ever visited back".

Akayed’s family members asked the Dhaka Tribune not to take any pictures or video of their family members to avoid harassment.

During the interviews his wife, Jui, stood behind curtains to veil her face. Fighting through an illness, she told the assembled media that her husband was "innocent" and sought help from the media and Bangladesh government to ensure justice in the matter.

Both Jui and her younger brother Joy told the Dhaka Tribune correspondent that Akayed had asked them to perform namaz five times a day, which is a requirement for every practising Moslem.

"When my sister had a talk with my brother-in-law on Monday morning [December 11], she did not notice any unusual behaviour," Joy said.

"We are now living in captivity. We cannot tolerate this anymore. We think Akayed might have fallen victim to a conspiracy."

The family is in shock after coming to know about Monday’s incident, when Akayed reportedly detonated a homemade bomb strapped to his body at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, injuring himself and three others.

After the blast, Akayed told police interviewers "I did it for the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
According to court papers filed by federal prosecutors, he also told Sherlocks that he had been motivated by American Arclight airstrikes on Islamic State targets.

The 27-year-old Bangladeshi migrant was charged at Manhattan federal court on December 11 with providing material in support to a foreign terrorist organization, bombing a public place, destruction of property by means of explosive and use of a destructive device.

On Wednesday, Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque said Akayed had no criminal record in Bangladesh and had last visited the country on September 8.

Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army


Arabia
Yemeni army achieves strategic breakthrough in Sanaa
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Yemeni army, with the support of Arab coalition air forces, has achieved a strategic breakthrough on Wednesday by reaching the district of al-Jawf, north of Sanaa.

They were able to reach the district through the Saada governorate, the main stronghold of the Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...
militia which is far north of Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
bordering Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
.

According to a statement by the Media Center of the Yemeni armed forces, the commander of the Saada axis, Brigadier Obaid al-Athla said, "The National Army forces were able to reach the first directorates of al-Jawf from the governorate of Saada."

Al-Athla confirmed that Yemeni forces reached the beginnings of the al-Khab and al-Shaaf districts in al-Jawf, after liberating vast desert areas from the Houthi militia in the al-Ajasher area in Saada.

He also noted that the militia is collapsing day by day, and are suffering great loss in soldiers and weaponry.

Al-Athla promised of several more hits to come on the militia, but did not elaborate on any details.

A source currently based in Saada said that the Houthis buried more than 30 of their soldiers on Wednesday who died in the battlefronts.

Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
'State of Israel' does not exist, has no capital: Hamas leader
[PRESSTV] The leader of the Paleostinian Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",, has strongly condemned the recent decision by US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
to recognize Israeli-occupied Jerusalem al-Quds as the capital of the Tel Aviv regime, stressing that the so-called ’state of Israel’ does not exist and cannot have a capital of its own.

Addressing Hamas supporters on the 30th anniversary of the founding of the movement in Gazoo City on Thursday afternoon, Ismail Haniyeh
...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank...
lauded the sacrifices made by members of the resistance movement to keep the Paleostinian cause alive.

"Hamas was created in order to defend Paleostine; and occupied Jerusalem al-Quds in particular," he pointed out.

Haniyeh went on to say that all freedom-loving people of the world supported the cause of Paleostine as well as al-Quds.

The senior Paleostinian political figure then hailed Paleostinians’ resistance against the new Israeli-US plot, saying, "Unity in the face of the US scheme on [Jerusalem] al-Quds is a victory for the Paleostinian nation."

"Al-Quds Jerusalem belongs to the entire world," he noted, calling for mass protest rallies worldwide in order to force Washington to reverse its decision on the city.

"No power in the world can change the identity of al-Quds. The state of Israel does not exist and therefore cannot have a capital. We will sacrifice our blood and life for al-Quds and al-Aqsa Mosque," Haniyeh pointed out.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  ...Man, talk about your 'projection'...

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 12/15/2017 11:10 Comments || Top||

#2  There goes 4,000 years of history.

I wonder what other kinds of crap they teach in history class.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 12/15/2017 11:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Pretty sad to be on the losing end of constant warfare with a non-existent state. You'd think you could rack up at least one victory if they don't exist.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/15/2017 14:58 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Business booming for Tacoman's blank-firing porch pirate deterrent
[NewsTribune] Jaireme Barrow got tired of people stealing his packages, so he came up with a loud, outside-the-box solution.

Well, not quite. Its more of an inside-the-box solution.

The Tacoma natives blank-firing device thats rigged to a fake package on your doorstep is now available for purchase.

The devices are available from TheBlankBox.com, starting at $50.

Twice on recent Fridays, wannabe porch pirates have taken the bait.

One was a man who was dropped off by a comrade nearby. The man went through Barrows fence and grabbed the package.

The shotgun blast scared the man so badly he looked like he'd been shot, Barrow said.

"It almost looked like he was trying to do the invisible box challenge," Barrow said. "He was running through the air like Road Runner.

"That made my day. He looked back for maybe a split second, and after that, he was gone."

The other unwanted visitor was a woman who was walking down the street and opened the gate in Barrow's fence to grab the package.

When the device went off, she forgot about the gate.

"She figured the best way to get out of there was to jump right over it," Barrow said. "She didn't look back or stop running. I think she may still be running now."

Also available on Barrow's website: a T-shirt with the words "Don't touch my package!"
Posted by: 746 || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  At first I thought a "Tacoman" was a dealer in tacos.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/15/2017 0:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Surprised the ATF hasn't shut this down.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 6:33 Comments || Top||

#3  Just wait. One of the thieves will get hurt, and sue. Then his homeowner's insurance will shut him down.
Posted by: ed in texas || 12/15/2017 13:20 Comments || Top||

#4  Or some idiot will use real shells.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 13:53 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
17 Palestinians injured in clashes with Israeli forces near Nablus
[PRESSTV] At least 17 Palestinians have been injured during clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces at the entrance to the town of Naqurah, ten kilometers northwest of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

The clashes erupted when Israeli forces fired rubber bullets and deployed teargas grenades in response to apparent stone-throwing by Palestinian protesters.

This marked the eighth day of unrest as protesters continue to rally against US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel's capital.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Three days of rage were mandated in Gaza, but here's eight days (so far) in the West Bank.
Posted by: Fairbanks || 12/15/2017 1:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Fairbanks, "Palestinians" only have two states: rage(TM) or shitting themselves and running crying to mamma (EUrope/Amerika) because Israel has responded to their rage.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/15/2017 3:00 Comments || Top||

#3  The third state is dancing in the streets and handing out candy to the kids in celebration, though it’s rarely seen. 9/11 was one instance of it.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2017 5:32 Comments || Top||

#4  Just 17? Got to do better, guys.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 12/15/2017 15:33 Comments || Top||

#5  The Paleostinians are revolting.
(oh, stop. you know you were thinking it)
Posted by: SteveS || 12/15/2017 20:05 Comments || Top||

#6  It's that stones vs. guns thing again.
Posted by: Fester Lumplump6348 || 12/15/2017 20:12 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
A TIMELINE OF TREASON: How the DNC and FBI Leadership Tried to Fix a Presidential Election
Posted by: newc || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It is Sedition
Posted by: newc || 12/15/2017 0:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Yes, sedition, or something far worse. I would put nothing beyond these people.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 1:12 Comments || Top||

#3  Ok, Besoeker, what's worse than sedition?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/15/2017 2:53 Comments || Top||

#4  Ok, Besoeker, what's worse than sedition?

A common, world directed strategy that transcends national boundaries.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 6:44 Comments || Top||

#5  This is what happens when nobody does their job and the country is full of fake Americans with a k not a c!
Posted by: Gleatch Ulese7439 || 12/15/2017 9:08 Comments || Top||

#6  05/03/16
Clinton IT specialist Paul Combetta admits lying to the FBI about erasing emails using BleachBit but is not charged for the crime
WaPo


But they sure as hell indicted Flynn.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 12/15/2017 10:11 Comments || Top||

#7  Treason vs. Sedition.

It would seem there is room for both charges as there is some overlap between sedition and treason.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/15/2017 11:16 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
US F-22s intercept Russian fighter jets, fire warning flares
[AirForceTimes] WASHINGTON ‐ Two U.S. F-22 Raptors intercepted and fired warning flares at two Russian Su-25s over the tightly congested air space in Syria along the Euphrates River on Wednesday.

The Russian fighters had crossed an agreed upon deconfliction line that runs parallel with the Euphrates River. The U.S. and its Syrian partner forces, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, operate on the eastern side of the Euphrates, and it’s a region Russia and its Syrian regime allies are supposed to steer clear from.

"On December 13, two Russian Su-25s flew into coordinated Coalition airspace on the east side of the Euphrates River near Abu Kamal, Syria, and were promptly intercepted by two F-22A Raptors providing air cover for partner ground forces conducting operations to defeat ISIS," said Lt. Col. Damien Pickart, a spokesman for U.S. Air Forces Central Command.

The F-22s conducted maneuvers and fired warning flares and chaff to convince the pair of Russian fighters to leave the deconflicted airspace, he said.

"At one point, one Su-25 flew close enough to an F-22A that it had to aggressively maneuver to avoid a midair collision," Pickart said. "During the incident, a Russian Su-35 also flew across the river and was shadowed closely by one of the F-22As."

The incident lasted nearly 40 minutes and the Russian aircraft eventually flew back to the west side of the river.

The U.S. used a special hotline designed to deconflict ground and air operations with Russian forces to convey their concern over the incident, Pahon said a spokesperson for the Pentagon said.

Despite the liberation of Raqqa in mid-October, operations along the Euphrates River and in Deir Ezzoir province continue as U.S.-backed fighters clear remnants of the Islamic State terror group from the region.

That region is still hotly contested and is also controversial because of the many lucrative oil wells that dot the landscape.

In late September, U.S.-backed Syrian fighters claimed Russian jets bombed one of their positions near a contested gas field, killing several of their forces.

The battle for control of southern Syria and the Middle Euphrates Valley has been contentious this year, and today’s provocations by Russian fighters and their allies are not the first such incident.

"Since agreeing to this deconfliction arrangement, the Russians have flown into our airspace on the east side of the river six to eight times per day, or approximately 10 percent of the Russian and Syrian flights," Pickart said.

During the summer, U.S. warplanes down two Iranian Shahed 129 drones that threatened coalition and partner forces in Syria. And in June, a U.S. F/A-18 Super Hornet downed a Syrian Su-22 after it dropped bombs near U.S-backed fighters in Syria.

"The Coalition’s greatest concern is that we could shoot down a Russian aircraft because its actions are seen as a threat to our air or ground forces," Pickart explained.

"We are not here to fight the Russians and Syrians ‐ our focus remains on defeating ISIS. That said, if anyone threatens Coalition or friendly partner forces in the air or on the ground, we will defend them," he added.

This article has been updated to include comments and information from U.S. Air Forces Central Command.
The wages of a compromised politic?
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: Pheremble Elmusons5549 || 12/15/2017 8:10 Comments || Top||

#2  "fired warning flares and chaff"
Uhh, I thought you did that to confuse air to air missiles. This is like holding your arms up in front of you a yelling 'don't hit me' to stop a bully...
Posted by: ed in texas || 12/15/2017 8:27 Comments || Top||

#3  Next time shoot them down as the warning.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/15/2017 9:13 Comments || Top||

#4  ed in texas, the F22s were "invisible" to the russians and had to show them where they were.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 12/15/2017 10:48 Comments || Top||

#5  Maybe they wanted to warn the Soviet pilot in a way that would not spook him? After the Turkey shoot down lighting him up with the radar might have resulted in a missile snap shot in replay
Posted by: magpie || 12/15/2017 14:43 Comments || Top||

#6  and in other news, the F35 will fly soon.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 14:56 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Venezuelan Opposition Banned From Next Years Elections
Venezuela's President, Nicolás Maduro, says the country's main opposition parties are banned from taking part in next year's presidential election.

He said only parties which took part in Sunday's mayoral polls would be able to contest the presidency.

Leaders from the Justice First, Popular Will and Democratic Action parties boycotted the vote because they said the electoral system was biased.

President Maduro insists the Venezuelan system is entirely trustworthy.

In a speech on Sunday, he said the opposition parties had "disappeared from the political map".

"A party that has not participated today and has called for the boycott of the elections can't participate anymore," he said.

In October, the three main opposition parties announced they would be boycotting Sunday's vote, saying it only served what they called President Maduro's dictatorship.

President Maduro says his party won more than 300 of the 335 mayoral races being contested. The election board put turn out at 47%.

Venezuela has been mired in a worsening economic crisis characterised by shortages of basic goods and soaring inflation.

Mr Maduro's pronouncement is designed to provoke the opposition. Especially since he justified the move saying it was a condition set out by the National Constituent Assembly - a body that the opposition refuses to recognise because they say it is undemocratic.

Mr Maduro has lost popularity because of the worsening economic crisis. In the face of criticism, his strategy has been one of "divide and conquer" - find ways of weakening the opposition to make them less of a threat.

And he hs succeeded - he has imprisoned some of the most popular opposition leaders like Leopoldo López. He has prevented others like Henrique Capriles from running for office. And now this threat - banning the most influential parties from taking part in future elections. The opposition is in crisis and Mr Maduro is gloating.

Mr Maduro said he was following the criteria set by the National Constituent Assembly in banning opposition parties from contesting next year's election.

But the assembly, which came into force in August and has the ability to rewrite the constitution, is made up exclusively of government loyalists. Opposition parties see it as a way for the president to cling to power.

The presidential vote had been scheduled for December 2018, but analysts say it could now be brought forward.

Venezuela, in the north of South America, is home to more than 30 million people. It has some of the world's largest oil deposits as well as huge quantities of coal and iron ore.

Despite its rich natural resources many Venezuelans live in poverty. This led President Maduro's predecessor, Hugo Chávez, to style himself as a champion of the poor during his 14 years in office.

Now the country is starkly divided between supporters of President Maduro and those who want an end to the Socialist Party's 18 years in government.

Supporters of Mr Maduro say his party has lifted many people out of poverty, but critics say it has eroded Venezuela's democratic institutions and mismanaged its economy.
Posted by: Ulaigum Ebbineng7056 || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Because Democracy, right obama!
Posted by: newc || 12/15/2017 1:09 Comments || Top||

#2  At least any machine run city or state in the US never went this far. At least since 1860 anyways.
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 12/15/2017 6:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Victorious December?
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 12/15/2017 11:24 Comments || Top||

#4  All across the country, Democratic party leaders are looking at each other asking, "Why can't we do that?"
Posted by: SteveS || 12/15/2017 13:03 Comments || Top||

#5  All across the country, Democratic party leaders are looking at each other asking, "Why can't we do that?"

I recommend better DoJ and FBI insurance.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 13:10 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Hashd ‘pivotal’ in persuading Peshmerga to not fight in Kirkuk: commander
[Rudaw] The Hashd al-Shaabi played a "pivotal role" in the Iraqi takeover of the disputed areas, a high ranking commander in the mainly Shiite force claimed on Thursday, praising the Hashd role in fighting for Iraq.

Hadi al-Amiri, leader of the Badr Organization that operates under the umbrella of the Hashd, said they "played a pivotal role in imposing security over the disputed areas, especially Kirkuk,
... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time...
and persuading Peshmerga brothers to not fight security forces."

Amiri said security was imposed in the areas "without spilling the blood of Iraqis."

Most Peshmerga forces were pulled out of the disputed areas, leaving their positions without a fight in the face of advancing Iraqi army and Iranian-backed Hashd forces. Some festivities took place, however, and at least 60 Peshmerga were killed across the disputed areas.

Elements within the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) have been accused of colluding with the Iraqi forces, allowing them to enter Kirkuk ‐ a charge they have denied.

Thousands of civilians, mainly Kurds, who fled the Iraqi and Shiite forces are unable to return home, fearing assassinations, especially Tuz Khurmatu.

Amiri praised the role the Badr militias took on, assisting in "liberating many cities and towns" from ISIS, but said it was now time of the murderous Moslems to sever their ties with the Badr organization, in an apparent attempt to prepare the organization for elections next May. It is forbidden for members of the military to hold elected office.

"We currently have a large number of military forces operating under the command of the Hashd al-Shaabi and military references of the armed forces," Amiri said, explaining his men "are defending many delicate and important places in Diyala, Salahaddin, Kirkuk, Nineveh, Anbar, and Baghdad."

The arms in the hands of his men all belong to the state, Amiri asserted. "We do not have special weapons, because we believe arms must be in the hands of the state."

He urged all the armed forces to leave the liberated areas.

Iraq’s influential Shiite holy man Moqtada Tater al-Sadr
... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah...
recently warned no party should run under the banner of the Hashd al-Shaabi in the country’s upcoming elections and reiterated his call for Shiite militias to hand their weapons back to the state.

He also instructed his men from the Saraya al-Salam brigade to leave the liberated areas to the Iraqi army after the proclaimed end to the war with ISIS.

The Hashd al-Shaabi was formed after a fatwa by Iraq’s Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in the summer of 2014 when ISIS captured several Iraqi provinces. He urged civilians to take up arms and fight. There were formally brought under the umbrella of the Iraqi armed forces in December 2016.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies


Home Front: Politix
Clinton Struck Deal With Obama State Dept. to Keep Records Private
[FreeBeacon] Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton struck a deal with the State Department while serving in the Obama administration that allowed her to take ownership of records she did not want made public, according to recently released reports.

Clinton and her then-deputy chief of staff Huma Abedin were permitted to remove electronic and physical records under a claim they were "personal" materials and "unclassified, non-record materials."
W...T...F..?
Judicial Watch made the revelation after filing a FOIA request with the State Department and obtaining a record of the agreement.

The newly released documents show the deal allowed Clinton and Abedin to remove documents related to particular calls and schedules, and the records would not be "released to the general public under FOIA." Abedin, for instance, was allowed to remove electronic records and five boxes of physical files, including files labeled "Muslim Engagement Documents."
"Oh, these? They're just some old records relating to arranged marriages. It's a Muslim 'Thing." Do you really want to go there Mr. Inspector?
The released records included a list of designated materials that "would not be released to the general public under FOIA" and were to be released "to the Secretary with this understanding."

Electronic copy of "daily files" ‐ which are word versions of public documents and non-records: speeches/press statements/photos from the website, a non-record copy of the schedule, a non record copy of the call log, press clips, and agenda of daily activities

Electronic copy of a log of calls the Secretary made since 2004, it is a non-record, since her official calls are logged elsewhere (official schedule and official call log)

Electronic copy of the Secretary’s "call grid" which is a running list of calls she wants to make (both personal and official)

16 boxes: Personal Schedules (1993 thru 2008-prior to the Secretary’s tenure at the Department of State.

29 boxes: Miscellaneous Public Schedules during her tenure as FLOTUS and Senator-prior to the Secretary’s tenure at the Department of State

1 box: Personal Reimbursable receipts (6/25/2009 thru 1/14/2013)

1 box: Personal Photos

1 box: Personal schedule (2009-2013)
1 box: Cloth Computer Wipes
A physical file of "the log of the Secretary’s gifts with pictures of gifts" was also handed over to Clinton. Gifts received by government employees is highly regulated, and often strictly limited. However, gifts that are "motivated by a family relationship or personal friendship" may be accepted without limitation.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton released a statement condemning the agreement between the government and Clinton.

"We already know the Obama State Department let Hillary Clinton steal and then delete her government emails, which included classified information. But these new records show that was only part of the scandal," Fitton said. "These new documents show the Obama State Department had a deal with Hillary Clinton to hide her calls logs and schedules, which would be contrary to FOIA and other laws."

"When are the American people going to get an honest investigation of the Clinton crimes?" he added.
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton struck a deal with the State Department while serving in the Obama administration that allowed her to take ownership of records she did not want made public, according to recently released reports.

Hillary's deal with the State Dept. was Hillary making a deal with herself. Free Beacon doesn't seem to know that.
Posted by: lord garth || 12/15/2017 0:27 Comments || Top||

#2  She also struck a deal with the FBI to keep her server private.

She also struck a deal with the justice department via tarmac discussion to stay out of jail

She also struck a deal with DNC to keep any viable candidate out of the Dem Primary

She also struck a deal with the media to keep her health issues out of the media.........

Posted by: Airandee || 12/15/2017 6:30 Comments || Top||

#3  The mystery in Vince Foster's office.

Williams denies taking anything from the office, but a Secret Service agent testified that he saw her carrying a stack of files from the area of his office. Williams also has said repeatedly that Hillary Clinton did not direct White House counsel Nussbaum to alter his agreement with Justice Department officials and limit their search two days after Foster's death, July 22. ............(1993)

Some might detect a pattern

Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 6:42 Comments || Top||

#4  I believe law 'trumps' any contract that violates law. It may also slide into illegal conspiracy territory by the parties involved.
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/15/2017 8:00 Comments || Top||

#5  Can't that decision be overturned by a current sitting POTUS?

Can the sitting POTUS declassify any classified document? Just asking.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/15/2017 11:19 Comments || Top||

#6  Can the sitting POTUS declassify any classified document? Just asking.
Posted by: JohnQC 2017-12-15 11:19


JohnQC,

Yep.


Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 12/15/2017 11:57 Comments || Top||

#7  She was too confident she would be the sitting President. Long enough to sanitize prior evidence.
Posted by: Cheretle Angeans6218 || 12/15/2017 13:34 Comments || Top||


Europe
German police launch raids on locations of suspected Daesh militants
[PRESSTV] German police have carried out raids in connection with four young people suspected of having links to the ISIS Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
terrorist group.

Prosecutors and police said in a statement on Thursday that the raids in the capital Berlin and the eastern state of Saxony Anhalt on Thursday came as part of an investigation into planned attacks by four suspects who are accused of being members of ISIS.

"The General Prosecutor’s Office in Berlin is investigating four suspects aged between 18 and 21 who are suspected of membership in a terrorist organization (ISIS) as well as of preparing a serious crime against the state," said the statement, adding that some 130 officers, including special forces, contributed to the raids. It did not elaborate whether any arrests were made, but said electronic devices were confiscated.

Two of the three traveled from Berlin via Istanbul to ISIS-held territory in Syria in November 2016 while the third suspect is accused of receiving military training in the Arab country. The fourth suspect is believed to have helped the other three travel to Syria to join ISIS.

Meanwhile,
...back at the palazzo, Don Smilzo looked for an avenue of escape. The only window opened a hundred feet above the moat. The nearest of the hired assassins hold a bloody axe.
The window was looking better all the time....

local media said police had detained a number of people over links to Anis Amri, a Tunisian who drove a truck into crowds at a Berlin Christmas market on December 19, 2016, killing 12 people. The failed asylum seeker was rubbed out by Italian police in Milan a week later.

Intelligence officials Germany have come under criticism over their failure in surveillance of would-be-terrorists, especially those fleeing the country to joint terrorist groups in the Middle East.

German authorities, like many others in Europe, now face a daunting task of ensuring security in cities and towns as thousands of nationals who have fought along the ranks of ISIS and other groups over the past years have begun returning home in droves following the purge of Iraq and Syria from militancy.
The Local.de adds:
These people may have links to Anis Amri, the man who ploughed a hijacked truck into Breitscheidplatz Christmas market in Berlin last year, reported Bild. 12 people were killed in the attack and dozens more were maimed.

According to Berliner Zeitung, the raids are mainly being conducted in the Neukölln district of the capital.

Armed coppers have searched apartments in a high-rise building in Neukölln, reported the German Press Agency (DPA). Several emergency vehicles were also parked in a nearby parking lot.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Arabia
Yemen Islah party sever ties with Muslim Brotherhood
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The United Arab Emirates minister of state for foreign affairs Dr Anwar Gargash announced that the Yemeni Islah party has severed ties with the Moslem Brüderbund in a tweet on Friday morning.

Dr Gargash said that the Islah party announced "its severance of ties with the Moslem Brüderbund terrorist organization".

"We now have an opportunity to test their intentions in the interest of Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
and the Arab region. We work with flexibly and our goal is the security and stability of the region".

The statement was made after a meeting was held on Wednesday between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi met in Riyadh on Wednesday with the Chairman of the Yemen Islah party, Colonel Mohammed Abdullah al-Yidoumi, and Secretary-General Abdulwahab Ahmad al-Anisi.

Gargash sadded in another tweet that Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed’s meeting with the leaders of Yemen's Islah Party was to unite efforts to defeat Iran and its Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...
militias.

During the meeting, SPA reported, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed reviewed with Col Yidoumi and al-Anisi the developments in Yemen and the efforts exerted in accordance with the principles of achieving security and stability for the Yemeni people.

Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood


India-Pakistan
'Why are the agencies unaware?': Supreme Court grills FIA over Turbat killings
[DAWN] Chief Justice of Pakistain Mian Saqib Nisar on Thursday questioned the role of agencies ‐ in particular the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) ‐ in preventing human trafficking cases in the country.

A three-member bench headed by the CJP was hearing a suo motu
...a legal term, from the Latin. Roughly translated it means I saw what you did, you bastard...
case regarding the killing of 20 people in Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
whose bullet-riddled bodies were found in Turbat and Buleda areas last month.

The victims had been brought to the province by human traffickers with the intention of making them cross the Pakistain-Iran border illegally.

Editorial: The path to peace in Balochistan

The director general of FIA as well as Balochistan's chief secretary and advocate general appeared before the bench as reports into the incident were submitted to the court.

"Are incidents like these a matter of pride for the institutions, agencies and the nation?" the CJP asked rhetorically at the outset of the hearing.

He questioned why the agencies of the country were "unaware" and what is the FIA's role in preventing such incidents.

"What must the families that received the bodies have gone through?" he asked.

The FIA chief conceded before the court that his agency had limited resources and tools required for investigation into incidents of this nature.

"If you don't have the resources, accept that you cannot do anything," the CJP replied.

Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
YPG claim they killed 2 Turkish soldiers near Kobane
[Rudaw] The YPG claimed they killed two Ottoman Turkish soldiers and maimed others trying to cross the border near Kobane.

The Syrian Kurdish force said the Ottoman Turkish forces tried to "transgress" the border near the village of Ashme, west of Kobane, in the early hours on Wednesday.

The YPG and the female YPJ responded in force that resulted in blowing up a military vehicle "full of ammunition that caused the death of two Ottoman Turkish soldiers" and maimed an unspecified number of other soldiers, a YPG statement read.

The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
has not immediately confirmed the incident or the casualties.

Ottoman Turkish drones flew overhead during three hours of festivities, according to ANHA media. The YPG-affiliated outlet reported that Ottoman Turkish forces want to invade and "annex" Kurdish territories on the Syrian side of the border in order to build a wall.

Ottoman Turkish forces made a similar attempt to cross the border on Tuesday, sparking a brief confrontation, the YPG stated.

Turkey has constructed a wall along its border with Rojava, Syrian Kurdistan mainly to prevent movements of the YPG forces across the border.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Britain
Russia sending LNG shipment from sanctioned project to UK
[The Telegraph] Britain has emerged as the unlikely first recipient of gas from a sanctioned Russian project after fears of a winter supply crisis drove prices close to five year highs.

Russian President Vladimir Putin opened the £20bn Yamal project on Russia's northern coastline last week. Shortly after, British wholesale gas prices soared to four-year highs when a crucial North Sea pipeline was put out of action by a crack and a distribution hub in Austria was hit by an explosion.

Now a deal has been struck to bring the debut cargo from Yamal to the Isle of Grain import terminal via a specially built ice-breaking tanker by the end of the month.

Britain rarely receives deliveries of liquid natural gas (LNG) in winter because prices are typically far higher in east Asian markets. However rocketing demand in Europe drove the price for gas delivered to the UK to more than $10 per million British thermal units. This put the UK on a par with Asian gas markets, which are some of the most expensive in the world.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But its OK because its UK!
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 6:37 Comments || Top||

#2  You have to understand. It's COLD in Britain right now, and a crack in the largest pipeline out of the North Sea caused most of that production to be shut-in.
You can have principles or you can be warm. Stiff note to follow.
Posted by: ed in texas || 12/15/2017 13:17 Comments || Top||

#3  Kinda surprised RFK Jr. didn't jump on this after his idol Hugo died
Posted by: Frank G || 12/15/2017 14:42 Comments || Top||

#4  It's COLD in Britain right now

I understand coal is gaining in popularity.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 14:59 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Turkish banker accused of helping Iran launder money seeks mistrial
[Ynet] Lawyers for a Ottoman Turkish banker on trial in New York on charges that he helped Iran evade US sanctions asked a judge on Wednesday to declare a mistrial, saying testimony by a former Ottoman Turkish police investigator should not have been allowed in court.

The lawyers for Mehmet Hakan Atilla, an executive at The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
's majority state-owned Halkbank, said the jury had been "tainted" after hearing Huseyin Korkmaz testify in Manhattan federal court this week that he feared he would be tortured if he returned to Turkey, where he led an investigation involving Ottoman Turkish officials, Atilla and others.

"Associating the defendant with the specter of mindless and cruel political violence at the hands of his government-based alleged co-conspirators is almost guaranteed to inflame the jury against the defendant," the lawyers said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Europe
Two Dead, Several Injured In Dutch Stabbings
[DailyCaller] At least two people were killed and several were injured in a stabbing incident Thursday night in the Dutch city of Maastricht.

Newspaper De Telegraaf reports authorities have arrested two people, while 10 people are treated in the hospital. Police said the investigation into the motive behind the attack is “ongoing,” but that terrorism was unlikely.

The suspects were arrested by a nearby mosque, where one of the victims were found, according to De Telegraaf. One of them was allegedly bloody and possessed a knife at the time of the arrest. A witness told the newspaper that the man was seen at the mosque prior to the attack.

The stabbings occurred at two separate locations within a few hundred yards of each other. Locals reported loud shouting in the residential neighborhood where the stabbings took place. Maastricht is located close to the borders to Germany and Belgium

Several similar attacks have taken place around Europe this year, often with a jihadi motive.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  My Dad was in Maastricht back in the day. They got it fixed up pretty nice after that.
Shame what's happened to it since.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 12/15/2017 6:10 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Fresh Saudi airstrikes leave dozen more civilians dead in SW Yemen
[PRESSTV] At least a dozen people have bit the dust in a fresh Saudi Arclight airstrike against a civilian target in Yemen’s southwestern province of Ta’izz as the Riyadh regime presses ahead with its devastating aerial campaign against its crisis-stricken southern neighbor.

Local sources, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
, told Arabic-language al-Masirah television network that the Saudi military aircraft on Thursday struck a bridge linking the al-Barh area of Maqbanah district to Hees town, killing four people.

Eight more bit the dust when Saudi jets targeted a civilian car in another part of the province, situated 260 kilometers south of the capital Sana'a.

Earlier in the day, Saudi warplanes bombarded residential neighborhoods in the Ghamar district of Yemen’s mountainous northwestern province of Sa’ada, killing eight people. Two women, a child and three paramedics were among those killed.

Three civilians were also killed when Saudi fighter jets carried out three aerial attacks against al-Ghad area in the Razih district of the same Yemeni province.

Separately, Saudi warplanes conducted four aerial assaults against the Sawar al-Afsal area of Razih district, though no reports of casualties were immediately available.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  What about the puppies and kittens? And baby milk factories? No mention?
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 12/15/2017 15:34 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
IDF seizes ‘incitement materials’ at West Bank universities
[IsraelTimes] Army raids al-Quds and Birzeit universities and a Hebron printing press on eve of 30th anniversary of Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,'s founding

The IDF seized what it described as "incitement materials" in a broad operation throughout the West Bank overnight Wednesday-Thursday.

In raids that came on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the Hamas terror group’s founding, Israeli forces targeted Al Quds University in the village of Abu Dis, Birzeit University near Ramallah and a printing press in Hebron, the army said in a statement.

"In the framework of the operation, posters, flags, and materials inciting terror were confiscated," the army added.

The IDF did not specify what the materials said.

In separate overnight raids throughout the West Bank, Israeli forces incarcerated
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
eight Paleostinians suspected of involvement in terror activity.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Head of Congressional Ethics Office Sued for Abusing Position, Accused of Assaulting Women
[FOREIGNPOLICY] A top congressional ethics official who oversees investigations into misconduct by lawmakers is accused in a federal lawsuit of verbally abusing and physically assaulting women and using his federal position to influence local law enforcement, according to a complaint filed in a federal court in Pennsylvania last month.

The ongoing lawsuit against Omar Ashmawy, staff director and chief counsel of the Office of Congressional Ethics, stems from his involvement in a late-night brawl in 2015 in Milford, Pennsylvania, and includes a range of allegations relating to his behavior that evening and in the following two-and-half years.

Ashmawy’s office conducts the preliminary investigations into allegations of misconduct in the House of Representatives, deciding which cases to pursue or refer to the Committee on Ethics. He is named in congressional documents as the official who presented one of the investigations into John Conyers, the Democratic lawmaker from Michigan accused of sexual harassment, to the ethics committee for further action.

Among other allegations, Ashmawy is accused in the lawsuit of “threatening to use his position as staff director and chief counsel of the Office of Congressional Ethics to induce a criminal proceeding to be brought against Plaintiff and/or others,” according to the federal lawsuit filed against him.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Don't know about you, but I'm tired of this witch hunt.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/15/2017 2:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Al Capone was jailed for tax evasion.
This is a great tactic to prune power structures.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 6:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Getting a better understanding why female Leftists complain about a culture of rape. They live in that pond and operating on their ingrained habit of Freudian Projection think everyone is doing it, only worse. Enjoy the shadows on the cave wall ladies.
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/15/2017 8:06 Comments || Top||

#4  I used to run the 'two mile' in just under 13. I can barely walk it today in an hour. I also once had hair. I blame the system.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2017 8:11 Comments || Top||

#5  Omar Ashmawy head of the ethics committee being sued for ethics violations? WTF, can't they get anything right in D.C.?

Omar one of Obama's holdovers?
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/15/2017 11:40 Comments || Top||

#6  John QC: yep, he's an Obama holdover. Just skimmed a 2015 interview he gave with the Washington Examiner
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 12/15/2017 12:32 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
Regulators abolish 'net neutrality' rules in heated hearing that was stopped because of a BOMB threat
  • [Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] Net neutrality is the principle that internet providers treat all web traffic equally

  • Obama-era 2015 rules prohibited telecom companies from blocking or slowing down apps that rival their own services

  • Now the FCC's Trump-appointed majority has repealed the rule along party lines, and protesters descended on Washington to oppose the plan

  • One Democratic commissioner said Republicans were 'handing the keys to the Internet' to a 'handful of multi-billion dollar corporations'

  • The Republican chairman said of the time before the rule was adopted, 'The Internet wasn't broken in 2015. We weren't living in a digital dystopia'

  • The hearing room was cleared briefly following a phoned-in bomb threat so explosive-sniffing dogs could be brought in
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Don't worry, the private sector will fix it as they do most things. No one asked you mental midgets to get involved anyway.

Consider it a Blessing to not have to regulate things you have no knowledge of.

And f off
Posted by: newc || 12/15/2017 1:05 Comments || Top||

#2  How dare you return the means of production from the agents of the proletariat who had already seized them in the name of the People(tm)! /s
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/15/2017 8:03 Comments || Top||

#3  But net neutrality was a promise of more Free Stuff™ and we kno, once promised, it can never be taken away on pain of a stage managed tantrum from the left.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/15/2017 8:10 Comments || Top||

#4  Net Neutrality was guaranteed to keep smaller ISPs from entering the market with tons of regulation. The big boys can absorb the hit, the small ones can't.

Government choosing the winners. What a fascist idea...
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/15/2017 9:11 Comments || Top||

#5  And without that handful of multi-billion dollar corporations, as much as I dislike some of them, there would be no Internet. The alternative is for the government to provide all that infrastructure. Ready for that?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 12/15/2017 9:46 Comments || Top||

#6  The left would *love* for the government to provide and rule manage the internet.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/15/2017 9:50 Comments || Top||

#7  It's so tempting to respond to their frantic bleatings on Arsebook but I keep politics off there because my wife dislikes all the whining that it brings.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 12/15/2017 10:47 Comments || Top||

#8  "Net Neutrality" is another one of those false eupharysms from the democrats that the actual regulations do exactly opposite what they are called. This net neutrality thing guarantees that blogs and on line services that do not give equal time to opposing ideas can be shut down...unless you are a democrat. Much like "Affordable Care Act" and "Consumer Credit Protection Acts".

And with a pack of lefties on the panel, all we would have left was big brother.

The left set in place a number of regulations that were supposed to be steppingstones to a socialist/leftist "paradise". Hillary was supposed to continue the work with the media running cover until they were disposable useful idiots of the left. Taken with the weaponizing of the IRS, EPA, DoJ, FBI, BLM, and other agencies, both literally and figuratively, we were on the verge of a totalitarian nightmare.

That's why Trump's election was such a big deal and that's why the left is going knuckles to the firewall to take him down. Too bad the Internet has a long memory and nothing can be said or done without a record.

Our democracy dodged a bullet with Trump. I don't think he is a very good POTUS, compared to other good POTUS in the past, but he is doing just enough good and unwinding just enough of the leftist BS that OBAMA and the democrats put into place to save our way of life.

The millennials and the snowflakes have no idea of what would have happened to their safe places and trigger warnings had Hillary been elected and the master plan put into place.

They should have been reading Trotsky instead of Alinsky to get an idea of what was to come.

I still don't understand what the IRS needed with armored cars...or BLM needing storm trooper SWAT teams.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 12/15/2017 10:50 Comments || Top||

#9  Those on the left think everything Obama is good and those on the right tend to think anything coming from Obama was bad. I always suspect alternative motives from Obama.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/15/2017 11:34 Comments || Top||

#10  I don't think he is a very good POTUS, compared to other good POTUS in the past,

I think the plural might be POTTI.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 13:09 Comments || Top||

#11  I don't think he is a very good POTUS, compared to other good POTUS in the past,

This is one of those times when context is everything. Given what he has to deal with I think DT is doing all you could hope for.

The key here is that while Trump could "theoretically" do more, draining a swamp is hard for one person.

I hoped when he was elected (not my first choice by a ways) was that he would tear the masks off the treasonous Swamp creatures. He is doing that, hopefully that will be enough to ameliorate the corrupt status quo.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/15/2017 16:12 Comments || Top||

#12  If something is done by executive order or by bureaucratic regulation it is much easier for the next administration to turn it around. It was not an act of Congress. My fear is the Dims get control of Congress soon and then make stuff like this truly law.
Posted by: Cheretle Angeans6218 || 12/15/2017 20:29 Comments || Top||


Iraq
German parliament extends Peshmerga training
[Rudaw] Germany’s parliament on Tuesday voted to continue training Peshmerga through to April 2018, allocating 6.9 million euros funding for the program.

Up to 150 German soldiers will continue to train the Kurdish forces in Erbil.

Niels Annen from the Socialist Democratic Party (SPD) stated that training and arming the Peshmerga is "a difficult mandate in a very complex security environment," adding that the training program has been a success in the war against ISIS.

He stressed that Germany must make clear that its support for the Peshmerga should not be used to jeopardize the territorial integrity of Iraq.

Deadly festivities, triggered by Kurdistan’s independence vote, erupted between Iraqi and Kurdish security forces in disputed areas in October.

Germany briefly suspended its training program citing fears of sending a signal that it supports one side over the other.

Germany has trained more than 16,000 Kurdish soldiers since February 2015.

Up to 150 German soldiers will be based at the international anti-ISIS Combined Joint Operations Command Center, where they have worked with Iraqi and Kurdish commanders, in addition to Peshmerga units through the Kurdistan Training Coordination Center (KTTC).

A ceasefire has been in place between the Kurdish and Iraqi forces since the end of October, but Kurdistan’s National Security Advisor Masrour Barzani told German Ambassador to Iraq Dr. Cyrill Nunn on Monday of "frontline reporting in recent days indicating Iraq has not yet ruled out military options to settle political disputes."

The October festivities erupted when Iraqi forces took over the disputed areas following Kurdistan’s independence vote.

Baghdad has not yet committed to talks, despite concessions from Erbil.

Germany is a member of the US-led anti-ISIS Global Coalition.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So a surrogate war between Germany and Turkey?
Kurds vs. Bikers
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 5:48 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian regime refuses negotiations before cancelling Riyadh statement
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Bashar al-Jaafari, the head of the Syrian regime delegation at the Geneva-8 talks, said there will be no negotiations with the opposition without cancelling the Riyadh statement.

Jaafari said in a presser following his meeting with UN envoy Staffan De Mistura that there will be no negotiations as long as the opposition adheres to its position that Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
The Scourge of Hama...
be excluded from any transitional government.

"We told De Mistura that we reject his recent statements," Jaafari also said, adding that the UN envoy’s "mistakes" undermine his task.

Asked who is obstructing the negotiations, he said: "Yusuf’s brother threw him in the well. We all know this story in the Koran," adding that the opposition is the party obstructing the negotiations.

Jaafari also held "those who formulated the Riyadh statement" responsible for the collapse of the Geneva-8 talks.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Iraq
Iraq’s Badr Organization chief places fighters under national army
[PRESSTV] The secretary general of Badr Organization, Iraq’s biggest Shia Moslem paramilitary group, has told his fighters to take orders from the national military and sever their relations with the group’s political wing, which holds 22 seats in the Iraqi parliament.

Hadi al-Amiri made the request in a speech delivered on Thursday, further calling on his fighters to withdraw from the cities under their control.

"I also call on all my brothers, the commanders of various formations, to clear cities of all signs of militarization," he said.

Badr Organization is the biggest constituent of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), also known as Hashd al-Sha’abi, an Iraqi state-sponsored umbrella organization composed of some 40 groups, which are mainly Shia Moslems.

The force reportedly numbers more than 100,000 fighters. Iraqi authorities say there are between 25,000 and 30,000 Sunni tribal fighters within its ranks in addition to Kurdish Izadi and Christian units. The fighters have played a major role in the liberation of ISIS-held areas to the south, northeast and north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, ever since the holy warriors launched an offensive in the country in 2014.

The move will pave the way for Amiri to stand in parliamentary elections due to be held on May 12, as the PMU members cannot run for office unless they formally resign their posts.

Hashd al-Sha’abi, officially made part of the Iraqi security establishment by law, formally answers to Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Amiri is the second top commander of the PMU, who decided to separate the military and political wings of his organization. Qais al-Khazali, commander of Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq volunteer forces of the PMU, announced a similar move On Wednesday, when he said he would place his fighters under Abadi’s command.

On Saturday, Abadi declared the end of military operations against ISIS after a three-year hard campaign by government troops and PMU fighters against the terror outfit.

Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Africa Horn
Kenyan forces raped, killed, maimed, looted civilians: Rights group
[PRESSTV] Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said in a report that Kenyan security forces raped, beat and assaulted civilians during the recent election turmoil across the East African country.

Kenya has been in turmoil since September when the Supreme Court nullified the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta over "irregularities and illegalities".

The court ordered a rerun in October that was boycotted by opposition leader Raila Odinga, handing Kenyatta a landslide of 98 percent of votes cast by just 39 percent of the electorate.

The leading international rights group on Thursday said it recorded "police use of excessive force against protesters, killings, beatings and maiming of individuals, looting and destruction of property".

The report also cited multiple gang-rapes by men in uniform in the slums of the capital, Nairobi, and the opposition strongholds of Kisumu and Bungoma.

Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "irregularities and illegalities"
Too friendly with L3?
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/15/2017 5:59 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2017-12-15
  Yemen Islah party sever ties with Muslim Brotherhood
Thu 2017-12-14
  Afghan forces foil deadly blast, US drone strike kill 3 IS militants in Nangarhar
Wed 2017-12-13
  Newspaper: Saudi members of Islamic State arrested in Iraq up to 50
Tue 2017-12-12
  Scores of Islamic State militants surrender to security forces in Mosul
Mon 2017-12-11
  Several injured after device explodes at New York City’s Port Authority, one arrest
Sun 2017-12-10
  Coptic pope cancels Pence meeting over Jerusalem
Sat 2017-12-09
  Ahrar al-Sham commander eliminated in Idlib
Fri 2017-12-08
  Egyptian grand mufti affirms death sentences for 13 Ajnad Misr terrorists
Thu 2017-12-07
  Houthis execute ‘thousands’ in two days: UN’s Yemen envoy
Wed 2017-12-06
  Islamist suicide plot to assassinate Prime Minister Theresa May foiled
Tue 2017-12-05
  Iranian Embassy In Sana’a Has Been Attacked
Mon 2017-12-04
  Rebels kill Yemen's ex-president Saleh
Sun 2017-12-03
  Yemen’s Saleh says ‘citizens have revolted against Houthi aggression’
Sat 2017-12-02
  Deadly Rebel Infighting Rocks Yemen Capital for Second Night
Fri 2017-12-01
  Drone strike kills at least 3 militants near Pak-Afghan border

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