[The Hill] White House legislative director Marc Short said Wednesday that President Trump could possibly sign Republicans' sweeping tax code overhaul while he's vacationing at his Mar-a-Lago estate for the holidays.
Asked by MSNBC's Hallie Jackson in an interview if Trump would sign the bill at his club in West Palm Beach, Fla., Short said it was within the realm of possibility, but would ultimately depend on when the president actually receives the legislation from Congress.
"Typically a bill this size takes several days for Congress to enroll and send to us, so we don't know when we're going to receive it," he said. "So that's going to be a factor in exactly the date that he does it."
"So it's a possibility that it'll happen in that week between Christmas and New Years?" Jackson asked, referring to the time period when Trump is expected to be at Mar-a-Lago.
#5
I watched the announcement on the local ABC affiliate. Stephanopoulos didn't even try to conceal his disappointment.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/20/2017 17:28
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#6
Give Ivanka credit. She spearheaded this effort and got more done on 3 months in the middle of all the noise than ponticating politicians have done in 30 years. It is the Trump family way.
For Christmas this year, at the United Nations, the USA will be "taking names." The vote comes tomorrow, on a resolution to condemn the United States in the General Assembly for moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Israel’s capital, which is Jerusalem. With her characteristic charm and candour, Nikki Haley mentioned this yesterday. She’ll be taking the names of those who are naughty or nice, to my favourite superpower.
For years, decades, centuries it seems, the United States has been serving not only as sugar daddy to NATO and the like, but as meals-on-wheels to most of the world’s nasty little third-world despotisms ‐ governed, almost invariably, by Leftists of some sort. And, getting abuse in return, instead of gratitude, for all this "foreign aid." We might want to refer the matter to the ACLU, which objects to Christian displays in public. By comparison to any other world power, the USA has been downright Franciscan. Too, the Americans not only host but generously fund UN operations, at cost not only to their national Treasury, but to the municipal services of the City of New York. And again, they get all this lip in return. Why, Santa, why?
The fear, of course, is that if the Americans don’t pay, the Russians and Chinese will step into the breach. But this is just what we should want. An important part of the late Mr Reagan’s strategy, in winning the Cold War, was to assist the USSR in piling up expenses. The arms race also helped. As the brilliant George P. Schultz explained, much that Washington could afford, overstretched Moscow. Thus the military spending spree, until they said, "Uncle."
As for Nikki Haley, well, I have been half in love with her since the day, four Christmases ago, when a friend showed me a Facebook post by the Governor of South Carolina, as she then was. "I must have been good, Santa gave me a Beretta PX4 Storm," she boasted, with a picture of this elegant little firearm, which fits so nicely in a lady’s purse. The sort of thing a woman needs, I now reflect, while escorting Harvey Weinstein to the police station, in his pajamas. (After calling the tabloids to come and take pictures.) A very pretty pistol indeed: the Italians sure know how to design them. And engineer them, too: packs an even bigger punch than Saint Nicholas of Myra.
I love it when the Americans go John Wayne. It bodes well for the peace of the world. Or perhaps, Clint Eastwood in his Spaghetti Westerns (I don’t know much about movies). For now that Hollywood has gone over entirely to the dark side, we need better theatre from Uncle Sam. A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. And some of the best men are women.
One weak tradition has him actually attending the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325, when Arian doctrine was rejected. The story goes that he got into a heated debate with Arius himself about whether there was a time when the Word did not exist. Nicholas strongly disagreed.
The debate ended suddenly when Nicholas punched out Arius then and there on the floor of the council! This gives new meaning to the ditty: "He's making a list and checking it twice, he's going to find out who's naughty or nice!"
h/t Instapundit
Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill has decided to launch an investigation into possible voter fraud in last week’s Senate special election that say Democrat Doug Jones defeat Republican Roy Moore.
The decision came after an interview with a person on FOX10:
While live on air, in the middle of the crowded party, Kati walked up to a number of jubilant supporters at random, asking them for their reactions to the big win.
But, it was this question and answer that has caused controversy:
"Kati: Why are you excited to see this victory? Man: Because, we came here all the way from different parts of the country as part of our fellowship, and all of us pitched in to vote and canvas together, and we got our boy elected!" Bad news for Al Franken?
h/t Instapundit
...Donald Trump was a joke until nominated, unelectable until elected, incompetent until he succeeded on most fronts, and about to be impeached until he debunked the collusion nonsense; he has had a very successful year. His enemies have been weighed in the balance and they have been found wanting. They shall have their reward. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all readers, especially the president and Mrs. Trump.
#1
Yes, very few places to read such positive developments. This man has endured many hostile situations and advanced in spite of all their efforts to derail him. Now the best is yet to come. He is a working president. Long hours and long range plans of what is yet to be. The Democrats and Media will continue their interference but will only experience further erosion of their influence.
For What it's Worth Department. Regardless, HAT TIP to gCaptain.
The United States has proposed that the United Nations Security Council blacklist 10 ships for transporting banned items from North Korea, according to documents seen by Reuters on Tuesday.
The vessels are accused of "conducting illegal ship-to-ship transfers of refined petroleum products to North Korean vessels or illegally transporting North Korean coal to other countries for exports," the United States said in its proposal.
If none of the 15 members of the Security Council’s North Korea sanctions committee object to the ships being designated by Thursday afternoon, the U.S. proposal will be approved.
Countries are required to ban blacklisted ships from entering their ports. Four ships were designated for carrying coal from North Korea by the council’s North Korea sanctions committee in October.
North Korea is under a U.N. arms embargo and the Security Council has banned trade in exports such as coal, textiles, seafood, iron and other minerals to choke funding for Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear programs.
In September, the council put a cap of 2 million barrels a year on refined petroleum products exports to North Korea.
The ships proposed to be blacklisted are: Xin Sheng Hai (flag unknown); Hong-Kong-flagged Lighthouse Winmore; Togo-flagged Yu Yuan; Panama-flagged Glory Hope 1 (also known as Orient Shenyu), Kai Xiang, and Billions No. 18; and North Korean-flagged Ul Ji Bong 6, Rung Ra 2, Rye Song Gang 1, and Sam Jong 2.
Reclusive North Korea has boasted of developing a missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and reaching the mainland United States in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions and international condemnation.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday urged North Korea to carry out a "sustained cessation" of weapons testing to allow the two countries to hold talks. He did not specify how long the lull should last.
North Korea conducted missile tests at a steady pace since April, then paused in September after firing a rocket that passed over Japan’s Hokkaido island. But it renewed tests in November when it fired a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile, which flew higher and further than previous tests.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/20/2017
12:45 ||
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#1
NORK not ORK. My Bad.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/20/2017 12:50
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Kinda stoopid as a WMD attack could/should be responded to by nukes, and I wonder how successfully it would withstand impact...
[DailyMail] North Korea is conducting biological weapons experiments to test the possibility of loading anthrax-laden warheads on its intercontinental ballistic missiles, it has been reported.
Japan's Asahi newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing an unidentified person connected to South Korean intelligence, that North Korea was conducting biological weapons experiments to test the possibility of loading anthrax-laden warheads on its intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The Asahi report said the U.S. government was aware of the tests, which were meant to ascertain whether the anthrax bacteria could survive the high temperatures that occur during warheads re-entry from space.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/20/2017
08:55 ||
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#1
Wonder where they could have come up with such a concept ?
#4
Since the US Postal Service is ALREADY subsidizing home delivery of uninspected parcels of whatever WMDs China chooses to send to the USA (on a massive scale, think of fentantyl and carfentanyl WMDs, already killing 1000s of Americans), ICBM delivery is a waste of effort.
Excerpt
[American Thinker] In the original German poem by Goethe on which the segment is based, the apprentice implores the sorcerer to help him with the mess he has engendered. The German line that translates as "The spirits that I called," is often used to describe situations that spin out of control because allies have been summoned that cannot be controlled.
The spirits the Democratic Party put into service to defeat and unseat Donald Trump have indeed spun out of control and exposed the Left's nefarious schemes for all to see. It's an ugly scenario. Many people may, and should, go to prison if we still have a functioning legal system.
#2
It's becoming increasingly obvious that a 'functional legal system' is a thing of the past.
The little people still go to jail.
Posted by: V. Dingle2818 ||
12/20/2017 11:08
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#3
Was a thing of the past. Is, it is looking more and more to me, a thing of the near future. And beyond, if we maintain Republican majorities in the House and Senate for a bit longer.
[American Thinker] The thought of Civil War has been in the minds of many people lately, on both sides of the political and cultural divide. This is not a thing to be wished for, though no one should kid themselves into believing it’s impossible either. Let us take a sober look at what such a conflict might entail. The graphic is also something of a historical trailer.
To begin with, it would not look like the first American Civil War, which was essentially a war between two regions of the country with different economic interests. The divide created two separate countries, both initially contiguous, intact, and relatively homogeneous. The lines of demarcation now are only somewhat regional, and tend to correspond to differences between urban and rural populations, as well as differences of race and class. A second American Civil War would be much more similar to the Spanish Civil War, with the leftists dominating the cities and conservatives controlling the countryside. Conflicts of this nature, with enemies mixed geographically, are a formula for spontaneous mass bloodletting. India-Pakistan during the 1947 partition comes to mind as another modern example. Given an absence of legitimate government and the friction of proximity, ordinary people can be moved to settle grievances by killing one another without the need for governments to egg them on.
#2
So basically it would revolve around armed incursions out of population centers to gather food and resources and and into the cities for the same.
The problem with this is (1) the basis for victory in a conflict is to identify your opponenent's goal and to deny it to them (I don't see a practical strategy for this here) and (2) how to keep outside actors (Russia, China, freakin' anyone) from entering the game.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
12/20/2017 8:25
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#3
"Without a steady supply of the works of Meryl Streep and Matt Damon, millions of conservatives would instantly drop dead from boredom – that is, according to Meryl Streep."
#5
An interesting read but no one really knows what will happen after the Ft. Sumter moment. If one looks at the responses to disasters such as hurricanes and floods, people on the right tend to do much better. Survival skills of those on the right tend to be better than for those on the left. The preponderance of the estimated 300mil firearms, 1 trillion rounds of ammo and the reloading capability in the U.S. is most likely owned by those on the right. LEOs and military tend to lean conservative.
One thing is probably close to certain is that a civil war would be a formula for spontaneous mass bloodletting. After years of putting up with whiny liberals, those on the left always trying to shape the narrative, the MSM, trying to destroy a culture, Hollywood. telling us they are better and smarter than the rest of us deplorables and unredeemables and you have a lot of people on the right thinking about settling-up scores--it would be a hot mess.
#6
I asked Santa for a Model 70 in 30-06 caliber with a 4 to 20 power scope with post and cross hairs.
I also asked for two 1911A1's and about 2000 rounds of ammo...and a Kabar knife. Mrs. Puppet likes to camp and trusts my Ranger training albeit ancient.
#8
Most families are composed of a combination of snowflakes and conservatives. The snowflakes were created in college or to maintain marital bliss. The conservatives, in my family, are the ones who worked 12 or more hours a day, 6 or more days a week. Ask yourselves, who will you shot?
Posted by: CC ||
12/20/2017 10:27
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#9
My snow flakes know where the survival supplies are cached. They were raised right and some will shed the skin I presume they wear to keep their jobs, families and in-laws.
Posted by: CC ||
12/20/2017 10:31
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#10
I asked Santa for a Model 70 in 30-06 caliber with a 4 to 20 power scope with post and cross hairs.
The grown-up version of a Red Ryder BB gun. You could put an eye out with that - at a hundred meters, I reckon.
I can't be sure, but the graphic looks like Detroit during the '67 riots.
#11
point of order - the first American Civil War occurred during the War of Independence. Little things like Kings Mountain were home town affairs.
The next one will probably be akin to the Iraqi Insurgency. As mentioned largely urban vs non-urban oriented with a significant disruption of all the financial, commercial, and institutional aspects of the society. Pay back on both sides will be significant. To paraphrase the movie Highlander, in the end there can be only one. The old rhyme applies, all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again.
#13
First, the electric grid & then interstate food & essential supplies transport stops. Like the big 2017 hurricanes, but on a nationwide basis. What is going on 10 miles from where you now live, will be largely unknown to you. May the odds be with you. Take if from there.
#14
I understand that most police don't live in the cities they patrol, perhaps that's a NYPD thing I got from movies. If this is true the blue metropolises will just tear themselves apart.
#15
Excellent choice SPOD. Here is useful Cabalas 'previously owned' link (I've taken the liberty of posting 30.06). I stop here on near a daily basis. You really do have to be quick however. The choice items often fly off the shelf:
#16
Our little town in fly over country has its own power plant located close to a natural gas pipeline. Stripper wells are abundant, we can grow our own food and hunt deer, turkey, and of course angus. A country boy will survive. Speaking of the Detroit riots, my unit, the 3rd. brigade of the 82nd. put a stop to that shit in one day. Six months latter we were in Hue Vietnam helping the Marines put a stop to that shit.
#18
I live outside of Houston, and while the center of Houston is quite your typical democrat, any attempts at raiding outside of it will end badly. Most of my neighbors are armed, not only at home but when out and about. I suspect the first time such a thing is tried, some of the raiders would die. The second time most of them will die. There won't be a third time because by then the center of Houston will be ringed by people shooting anyone attempting to leave.
#19
The scenario at #18 is precisely why the progressive anti-gun crowd want the law abiding citizens disarmed. They know it will likely end badly for their constituent base.
#21
Never hurts to keep a hard copy printout of the leading contributors to the Democratic Party in your county - and the precinct bosses. Just for easy reference when needed
This was the year American journalism came roaring back, America's journalists reported (again and again and again). With a new president in office and a whiff of scandal in the air, reporters raced to their battle stations and began pummeling the president, seemingly certain he'd soon be frog-marched into federal prison and they would be celebrated with Pulitzers.
The only problem is that their biggest scoops … were almost always wrong. Over the course of the last year, reporters breathlessly accused Trump of committing impeachable acts, lending assistance to mass shootings, sowing racial discord, and even outright treason. Meanwhile, when Hillary returned to the fray, she was feted with flattery, humorous viral videos, and chardonnay. And that's just a taste.
Trying to choose the 10 lowest moments was no easy task, but we think the montage above captures the spirit of 2017 in all of its unholy glory.
Without further ado, here are our 10 most mortifying media moments of 2017:
10 ‐ It's Our Job to Tell You What to Think. During a February broadcast of "Morning Joe," co-host Mika Brzezinski chastised Trump for telling Americans to be skeptical of the press, worrying Americans may trust him over her media colleagues. "He could have undermined the messaging so much that he can actually control exactly what people think. And that, that is our job."
9 ‐ ABC Botches Biggest Story of Year. Shortly after Michael Flynn was indicted for lying to the FBI, ABC's Brian Ross broke what appeared to be a massive scoop: that during the campaign, Trump instructed him to coordinate with Russia. This led to reporters giddily anticipating the apparently inevitable downfall of Trump, which no one highlighted better than Joy Behar, who literally shouted "Yes!" after delivering Ross's "scoop." The only problem is the story was completely wrong; it was then President Elect Trump who had given these (very normal) instructions, just as President Elect Obama had reached out to Iran during his own transition. Ross was subsequently suspended for the "serious error."
8 ‐ Late-Night Leftism. When Sens. Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy sponsored a health-care reform bill that would have given states more flexibility to operate health-care exchanges, ABC's Jimmy Kimmel abandoned comedy altogether and instead used his show to rally his audience against the bill. After turning "Jimmy Kimmel Tonight" into a platform for nauseating left-wing sermonizing, he was dubbed "America's Conscience" by his colleagues in the media.
7 ‐ Hillary, Our Hero. After spending months hunting for an opportunity to expose a Trump scandal, Hillary published her book on the 2016 race ("What Happened") and went on a whirlwind publicity tour, where reporters treated the scandal-scarred former First Lady to chardonnay, flattery & panda videos.
6 ‐ ‘Reporting' as an Excuse for Venting. All too often in 2017, "reporting" on the Trump Administration became synonymous with "venting." Mika Brzezinksi, for example, used the opportunity of reporting on a Trump tweet to say (all in one sentence) that the president has no morals, is a bully, acts like a bigot, is racist, and is a sexual harasser. The New York Time's Tom Friedman, commenting on a torrent of news from the Trump Administration, said that "from a journalism perspective" Trump is like a "brain eating disease." Former reporter Mark Halperin said the election of Trump was a "more cataclysmic event" than 9/11.
5 ‐ Let's Impeach Trump Already! After President Trump fired FBI director James Comey, the media appeared certain he'd just committed his first impeachable offense. Almost without fail, Democratic guests appearing on TV in May were expected to announce when they would initiate impeachment proceedings against the president.
4 ‐ Vegas Scapegoating. When an atrocity of inexplicable scale struck Las Vegas, Americans demanded answers. When those were slow in coming, the media turned their sights on Republicans, blaming gun rights for the tragedy. (Note: They did the same thing after the mass shooting in Texas.)
3 ‐ Abandoning Any Sense of Perspective. After Donald Trump Jr. acknowledged accepting a meeting a sketchy Russian lawyer who said she had dirt on Hillary Clinton, reporters and others in the media jumped the rhetorical shark, calling it a case of "treason." Yet months later it was reported the Clinton campaign solicited anti-Trump gossip from Kremlin agents (via their intermediary, Fusion GPS), an arguably far worse ethical lapse, and these same talking heads were curiously quiet. https://grabien.com/file.php?id=277165
2 ‐ Emoting as Reporting. Just weeks into the Trump Administration, MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski was struggling. The emotional toll was already too much; after Trump had tweeted that the Trump Tower had been wiretapped, she could no longer take it, telling viewers it was OK to be scared. "We're all really nervous, too," she emoted.
1 ‐ Reporters Treat Obama to One Final Slobberfest. In President Obama's final appearance before the White House press corps, reporters used the opportunity to … shower him with praise, adulation, and hagiography. These sycophantic reporters were seemingly competing to see who could offer Obama the most effusive praise. That honor may have gone to The Blade's Chris Johnson, who itemized to the president what he felt were his greatest accomplishments -- before inviting him to bash Trump. Or the LA Times' Christi Parsons, who begged the president to call her (while pointing at her phone), and telling him it's been "an honor" covering his administration. Her actual question? How he was going to explain the election of Trump to his children.
Honorable Mentions:
‐ Of course no synopsis of 2017's mortifying media moments would be complete without mentioning the many reporters who were felled by sexual misconduct. Stories about how Matt Lauer used his office as a secret sex chamber, or Charlie Rose's predilection for parading naked in front of young female producers, or Mark Halperin praying on interns, were indeed mortifying.
‐ When tragedy struck Texas in the form of Hurricane Harvey, many in the media politicized the tragedy, assigning blame on Republicans and other critics on the global warming theory.
‐ As President Obama was finishing his second term, he began insisting he was leaving without a single scandal marring his legacy. The media, picking up on this effort at posterity puffery, was only too happy to oblige, likewise insisting he was leaving office unblemished.
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance ||
12/20/2017
06:41 ||
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#1
Very hard to read this list without a gag reflex or two kicking in.
I am a normal person with normal rational processes and if I can become physically ill at this stuff, what does the rest of fly over country think of the media?
[Guardian] Tina Charles knows what success looks like on the basketball court. She was the No. 1 pick in the 2010 WNBA Draft, was named the league’s Rookie of the Year that year and won the MVP award in 2012. In 2017 the 28-year-old finished second in the MVP voting after averaging 19.7 points and 9.4 rebounds and leading the New York Liberty to the best record in the Eastern Conference.
Tina also has a big passion off the court: saving people who are stricken with sudden cardiac arrest. She became interested in the cause after reading about a high school basketball player who passed away from it in 2013. "I just wanted to do something," she says.
In 2013, Tina started Hopey’s Heart Foundation, which provides grants for schools and community centers to buy automated external defibrillators (AEDs). Fast access to these devices can increase the chances of survival after sudden cardiac arrest by up to 40%. Tina has donated her entire WNBA salary to the cause the past two years.
To date, Hopey’s Heart Foundation has donated AEDs to nearly 300 institutions across the US. This year, the first life was saved using a defibrillator donated by the foundation. Emphasis added
#1
Once I was truly on top of an man's sudden cardiac arrest & so was able to defibrillate him within 5 or 10 seconds of his loss of consciousness. He revived immediately and said, "Thanks, Doc!"
[Wash Times] The Keystone XL oil pipeline suffered yet another setback Tuesday as Nebraska regulators rejected calls to reconsider the project’s route through their state.
In a unanimous 5-to-0 decision, Nebraska’s Public Service Commission (PSC) shot down a request from TransCanada, the company proposing the $8 billion project, to change the pipeline’s approved path.
The PSC last month green-lighted a route through Nebraska but not the one TransCanada preferred, fueling speculation the company could pull the plug on the entire proposal.
TransCanada filed formal motions asking the PSC to amend its permit and approve its preferred route, but Nebraska officials refused.
"The commission finds the motion for reconsideration should be denied," the panel wrote in its decision.
The move seems to end the approval process in the state and leaves TransCanada with a decision of whether to scrap the project or move forward with the less-than-favorable path.
#2
Just a few crumbs, m'lord.
And a couple seats on various commissions.
And some set-asides for the, uh, community.
And a bag of cash. Large bills, non-sequential, please.
#3
I see the WashTimes is pulling the same crap PJ Media does with the stupid 'Load More' button at the bottom of the page, which gave me... two extra words. Annoying as all get-out.
What I wanted to know - how much of a difference between the two routes in miles? In other words, is this a really big deal or just more media sensationalism & exaggeration?
#6
Thanks, B. Two questions not answered in the article
1) Is there something special about Sand Hills? Maybe.
2) Do they drop the whole project or take what they can get and get on with it? Either way that pipeline goes they're still gonna make money, aren't they?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/20/2017 17:24
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#7
Usually pipeline royalties to the landowner are a one-time, so many dollars per foot of pipe.
#8
It's a good idea not to go through the sandhills for many many reasons.
1) There are not many damn roads in the sandhills and it pretty hard to maintain anything in them.
2) You could screw up the nation's largest and most ag important aquifer really easily with a spill in that sand.
3) The land is very fragile.
4) It would actually be easier and safer to build and maintain on the approved route.
BLUF:
[Free Beacon] The Obama administration began covertly supplying weapons to moderate Syrian rebel groups in 2013 to combat the Assad regime. President Donald Trump ended the secretive CIA operation in July, but a publicly known federal program to arm the Syrian Democratic Forces against ISIS remains in place.
The report found no evidence of SDF weapons falling into the hands of ISIS.
CAR said all of the weapons purchased by the United States were manufactured in European Union states, raising the prospect that the Pentagon violated international contracts.
"At the very least, the diversion of weapons documented in this report has eroded the trust that exporting authorities placed in the recipient governments," the authors wrote. "At worst, the diversions occurred in violation of signed agreements that commit recipient governments not to retransfer materiel without the exporter's prior consent."
Though the terrorist group often showcased American-made weapons presumably seized from Iraqi security forces in its propaganda videos, the majority of arms captured by ISIS came from Russia and China.
Roughly 90 percent of weapons and ammunition deployed by ISIS were manufactured in China, Russia, and Eastern European countries, with Moscow and Beijing accounting for more than 50 percent, according to the report. By comparison, NATO-produced weapons and ammunition accounted for 3 percent and 13 percent of ISIS's arsenal, respectively.
[Breitbart] FBI investigator Peter Strzok’s text referring to "an insurance policy" against President Trump was reportedly arguing that the agency should probe allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Strzok was demoted by FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller after he discovered anti-Trump texts exchanged between Strzok and fellow FBI official Lisa Page. While many of the messages were critical of Trump, there was one message in particular that raised eyebrows and caused debate:
"I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in [Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s] office‐that there’s no way [Trump] gets elected‐but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk. It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40..."
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the "insurance policy" was not a secret plan, but pushing the Russia probe ‐ a probe that is still ongoing a year into Trump’s first term:
#3
You know, the gravity of this situation scares the crap out of me.
Obviously, under Zerobama, we were about one episode of "Family Guy" from all of these politicized, weaponized, armed and danger agencies hitting the streets and trying to install our own version of Kim Jung In as president for life.
This plot/attempted coup has to be eviscerated and the various agencies scoured for every burrowed in Obamite political appointee. It is time we all recognized how DANGEROUS these people are...I know a lot of us Burgers are well aware and have been for a long time.
Diyala (Iraqinews.com) Two Islamic State militants were killed in separate security campaigns east of Diyala, a military commander said.
“Joint Iraqi troops carried out separate security campaigns, targeting Islamic State militants in eastern Diyala, killing two of them,” Commander of Tigris Operations Maj. Gen. Mazhar al-Azzawi told Alsumaria News on Tuesday.
He added that the clampdowns were launched upon accurate intelligence information.
On Tuesday, Mazhar announced that Iraqi troops killed four Islamic State militants during security campaigns in Diyala.
The security campaigns were launched after receiving accurate intelligence information on the location of the IS terrorists, he added.
Diyala (IraqiNews.com) An official from Diyala province has announced thwarting an infiltration attempt by militants into liberated regions in east of the province.
Speaking to AlSumaria News on Tuesday, Ragheb al-Ankabi, head of al-Mansouria municipal council, said, “checkpoints of the joint security troops deployed at villages of Shirwin basin region noticed an infiltration attempt by three Islamic State militants.”
The troops, according to Ankabi, controlled the situation and started operations to follow the militants.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/20/2017
00:27 ||
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Halabja (IraqiNews.com) Kurdish security forces dispersed on Tuesday anti-government protests in the center of the Kurdistan Region city of Sulaimaniya as demonstrations continue for a second day to decry delay in the disbursement of employees’ salaries and poor services.
Baghdad Today reported that security dispersed demonstrators at Falakat Sarai in central Sulaimaniya with tear gas.
Alghad Press quoted Mohamed Rasoul, a member of Sulaimaniya council, saying that the council convened to discuss the turmoil, adding that attendants urged the government to listen to protesters’ demands.
Earlier, Russia Today published photos purportedly showing demonstrators storming the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s office in Halabja. Others tore the Iraqi flag in Kafri region, according to the channel.
n a related development, Kurdish NRTTV network reported three injuries among protesters as they demonstrated in front of the Koi Sanjaq mayoral building before torching it.
Thousands of Iraqi Kurds staged protests on Monday to decry delay of salaries and lack of services in parts of the region.
Demonstrators reportedly torched the offices of ruling and opposition political parties, while police responded with tear gas.
The Kurdistan government released a statement defending the right to protest but warned against destruction of property. Its security council, meanwhile, expressed concerns of military activity by the central government near one of the region’s areas.
Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) Eight Islamic State militants were killed in an attack by Peshmerga fighters on a mountainous area in Makhmour city, field sources told Basnews on Tuesday.
“A Peshmerga force stormed a hideout of Islamic State remnants near Qarachogh Mountain in Makhmur town, south west of Erbil, killing eight IS militants,” the sources said.
“The four-hour attack was launched at 1:30 pm (local time),” the sources said, adding that the IS terrorists were hiding inside a cave in the mountain.
Earlier in the day, a Kurdish commander told Rudaw that a fighting had erupted between Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and an IS group near Makhmour.
The Iraqi forces and the Iranian-backed al-Hashd al-Shaabi took control of Makhmour in mid-October following a military incursion into the disputed Kurdish areas claimed by both Erbil and Baghdad.
Erbil (Iraqinews.com) Three Kurdish policemen were injured on Tuesday while dispersing a rally in Erbil over delayed payments of salaries and poor services.
“Fierce clashes erupted between Kurdish police and demonstrators at Koysinjaq town in Erbil, leaving three policemen injured,” according to a reporter of Mawazin News.
Security forces have forcibly dispersed the protesters by firing shots in the air, the reporter said, adding that similar demonstrations have been staged in other Kurdish towns.
Erbil (Iraqinews.com) Four guards of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) were killed as Kurdish protesters stormed the union’s headquarters in Erbil in protest at late salary payments and poor services.
“Angry demonstrators broke into the premises of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan at Koysinjaq town in Erbil, protesting at poor services in the autonomous Kurdistan region,” a source told Sputnik on Tuesday.
The clashes left four of the PUK guards dead and seven others injured, the source added.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraq’s military command has expressed readiness to defend people in the autonomous Kurdistan Region as it was ravaged by anti-government protests.
Brig. Gen. Yahia Rasoul, front man of the Joint Operations Command, was quoted by Almaalomah website saying a televised interview that the command "is ready to protect our people in Kurdistan if directives from the general commander of the armed forces, Haider al-Abadi, are given in that regard".
"Security forces are anxious to protect Iraqi bloods, and the Prime Minister continues to manage the crisis with wisdom," Rasoul
Thousands of Iraqi Kurds staged protests on Monday to decry delay of salaries and lack of services in parts of the region.
Demonstrators reportedly torched the offices of ruling and opposition political parties, while police responded with tear gas.
The Kurdistan government released a statement defending the right to protest but warned against destruction of property. Its security council, meanwhile, expressed concerns of military activity by the central government near one of the region’s areas.
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12/20/2017
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Diyala (IraqiNews.com) A local official in Diyala declared on Tuesday the end of a siege imposed by Islamic State snipers on a village at the borders with Salahuddin.
Mayor of al-Khales, Udai al-Khadran, told Alsumaria News that “joint security troops, backed by the Popular Mobilization Forces, have managed to end a siege imposed by IS snipers on Mubarak al-Farhan village on the borders between Diyala and Salahuddin…which lasted for eight consecutive days”.
The end of the siege came after forces cleared the mountains surrounding the village, where the militants deployed to target farmers bound to their farmlands.
Mubarak al-Farhan is one of the villages recaptured by Iraqi security during the campaign to eliminate Islamic State’s self-styled “caliphate”. It falls within the administrative borders of Salahuddin province, and is located very close to the Mutaibija Basin, a longtime hotbed for Islamic State militants.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The military media has announced the outcome of offensives to comb the regions located on borders between Diyala and Salahuddin provinces.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell said, “the ground troops, backed by al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) and army aviation supervised offensive carried out by each of Salahuddin, Samarra and Dijlah operations commands in Mutaibija and villages in its vicinity to clear them of militants.”
“Dijlah Operations Command managed to destroy 12 rest houses, five tunnels and four trenches, in addition to fuel containers that were used by Islamic State. Explosives and suicide belts were detonated,” the statement said.
Troops of the command, according to the statement, “destroyed two vehicles, four motorbikes, three weapon stashes and a booby-trapped haven.”
Three victims’ bodies were found inside a prison, the WMC said.
Troops of the Salahuddin command, “combed 19 villages, detonated seven bombs and burned two rest houses.”
Moreover, “Five bombs were defused by the Samarra Operations Command, while 12 villages were purged.”
On Monday, Karim al-Khaqani, PMFs commander, said in a press statement that operations lasted for three days to purge Mutaibija and surrounding areas have come to an end with the support of the Iraqi army’s 15th division and the airforce.
Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) A leader from the pro-government paramilitary troops have revealed that the Islamic State group issued several edicts at regions on borders between Diyala and Salahuddin provinces.
“Mutaibija region, located on borders between Diyala and Salahuddin, have been a shelter for the remnants of IS escaping from five states. The militant group tried to turn the region to a state, thanks to its geographic location, which threatens several provinces at the same time,” Jabbar al-Maamouri, a leader with al-Hashd al-haabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) told AlSumaria News on Tuesday.
“The group issued several edicts in Mutaibija. One of them was urging the militants to kill dogs considering them as moving devils,” he said.
The group, according to Maamouri, “wanted to plant some drugs in Mutaibija, as it was suffering shortage of drugs. However, the recent combing operations ruined their schemes.”
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[VOA News] Since September 2017, al-Shabaab ... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord... hard boyz have overrun four Somali government military bases, killing more than 60 soldiers and seizing large quantities of weapons. Now, a military assessment by the Somali government found some of the troops manning these bases are completely unarmed.
The "Operational Readiness Assessment" conducted by the government found that approximately 30 percent of the soldiers in the bases do not have weapons. The evaluators said some units also lack medium and heavy weaponry, and some are "undermanned."
On Tuesday, Somali Defense Minister Mohammed Mursal Sheikh Abdirahman acknowledged the army's shortcomings.
"There are some who are not armed. We are working to complete their equipment but a majority of them have weapons," he said in an exclusive interview with VOA's Somali service.
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[DAWN] 2017 will go down in history as the year mainstream discourse on sexual violence was finally forced to confront the universal impunity enjoyed by perpetrators of assault.
Unfortunately, these global developments have failed to trigger any corresponding debate on the inability of Pakistain’s criminal justice system to provide redress to survivors.
In a country where conviction rates for rape are less than 4% and the National Police Bureau records an average of over 3,000 reported cases every year, the need for gender-sensitive legal and policy reform has never been more critical.
In recent years, any attempts to end impunity have focused on the introduction of piece-meal legislation, which whilst important for political visibility of the women’s movement, has failed to translate into increased conviction rates.
Key amongst the reasons underlying the limited impact of legislative developments in sexual assault is the central role played by gender stereotypes and biases in judicial proceedings in Pakistain.
From the time of the registration of the complaint by the police to the sentencing of the perpetrator, whether or not the victim’s character is in line with what is deemed ’chaste’ or ’pure’ has a far greater bearing on the outcome of the case rather than the nature of the violation she has suffered.
Stereotypes pertaining to what is a ’good woman’ remains the primary consideration for police, prosecutors and judges to decide whether or not a victim’s claim of rape deserves reliance.
In many ways, the decision to come forward and report the crime is the first instance where the criminal justice system begins to view the victim with suspicion.
It is presumed that a woman with honour would never bring shame upon herself by admitting that she had been raped. A ’true victim’ in many ways is one that never comes forward.
Under the Pakistain Penal Code, Section 375, lack of consent on the part of the alleged victim is the primary ingredient for categorising an act of intercourse as rape.
The existence of consent or lack thereof cannot be objectively quantified and thus it falls on the judge to decide whether or not to believe that a victim’s account is reliable.
Reported judgments are littered with references to a victim’s ’loose morals’ and ’easy virtue’ which are taken as irrefutable evidence that she consented to the alleged act and thereby rendering her testimony as false.
For instance, the Lahore High Court in Fahad Aziz v State (2008) disregarded the victim’s rape complaint as "she appeared to be a woman of easy virtue [and] indulged in sexual activities".
Similarly in another decision by the Federal Shariat Court in 2006, the accused was acquitted of all rape charges as the "victim girl was of easy virtue and though she was unmarried and of 16 years, but had lost her virginity".
The determinative nature of the victim’s character to judicial decision making is reinforced by reliance on outdated ’medical’ tests called two-finger rape tests.
A relic of British India, the archaic test involves inserting two fingers into the vagina of the victim in order to determine whether or not she is "habituated to sexual intercourse".
The test is not a legal requirement but a medical practice that has become part of legal jurisprudence.
The affirmative findings of a test i.e. deeming the victim to be habituated to sexual intercourse if her vagina admits two fingers, are relied upon by courts to presume consent.
Thus a woman with a sexual history is assumed to consent forever more and therefore can never be raped.
For instance, the Lahore High Court in Naveed Masih v The State (2008) refused to rely upon the statement of the victim as the "medical report revealed that hymen of victim was torn and vagina admitted two fingers easily".
On the other hand, the Lahore High Court accepted the testimony of the victim in Amanullah v. State (2009) as "vagina admitted two finger tight fully and painfully which showed that sexual intercourse had been firstly committed with her [committed for the first time] and further that she was not a woman of easy virtue and was not used to committing sexual intercourse" [explanation added].
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#1
Soon to be known as the Weinstein Defense....
Posted by: Harry Wholuth9952 ||
12/20/2017 7:59
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#2
"medical report revealed that hymen of victim was torn and vagina admitted two fingers easily"
Utter & reeking BS from medical system & its "experts". Adequate & reliable research has not been done.
#3
A better test, stick a broomstick handle up the suspect arse, If it goes in, then he's guilty of rape and need to be punished accordingly. The further the handle goes in, the more guilty the suspect is!
Hey, this is just as valid as the "two fingers" test.
[Ynet] A Massachusetts man convicted of conspiring to behead a conservative blogger on behalf of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group has been sentenced to 28 years in prison.
....who is also named as David Daoud Wright. At the time of his arrest he weighed 500 lb and lived with his mother, possibly in the basement...
was convicted in October of plotting with his uncle
...that would be Osamaah Abdullah Rahim or Usaama Rahim, beloved brother of a Saudi-trained imam and object after his death (at the hands of the nice policeman he was trying to knife) of a Black Lives Matter protest and halal BBQ in Ferguson, MO. He was all of two years older than his nephew, and clearly just as useless...
and a Rhode Island man
...another idiot by the name of Nicholas Rovinski, who took as his conversion name Nuh Amriki. His mild cerebral palsy was absolutely no excuse for continuing to recruit for ISIS while in jail awaiting trial...
to kill New York resident Pamela Geller, who upset Moslems when she organized a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in Garland, Texas. The beheading plot was never carried out.
Prosecutors say Wright also wanted to commit other attacks in the U.S. and encouraged his uncle to kill coppers.
Wright insists he was living in a fantasy world and never really supported the Islamic State group. The 28-year-old's attorneys had asked for a 16-year sentence.
Prosecutors and Geller wanted Wright to get life in prison.
It should be noted that Islamic State recruiter Junaid Hussain communicated instructions about the plot to kill Geller directly to Rahim from overseas in May 2015. Hussain was killed in a US drone strike in Syria in August 2015.
This article starring:
David Wright
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#1
500 lbs should provide a rather large centre of mass.
[The Hindu] As Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Terror of Aleppo ... seeks to reassert his authority in Idlib, the only remaining Province in Syria where his forces have almost no presence, he may be aided there by deep fractures within al-Qaeda, which dominates the region.
A recent wave of detentions and a spate of violence within al-Qaeda have also raised fears of an all-out war between Death Eaters in the heavily populated Province near The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... as Mr. Assad’s forces make their push.
Tensions inside Idlib have been on the rise for months, reflecting a power struggle between hard-line imported muscle loyal to al-Qaeda’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, and its more moderate Syrian members. The tensions worsened in late November after a wave of detentions by an al-Qaeda-linked group against more myrmidon, mostly non-Syrian members.
The detentions, ordered by Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Haya’at Tahrir al Sham (HTS), were the clearest indication yet of the sharp divisions within the international terror network. They also come as al-Golani appears to be edging closer to Turkey.
Ahmad Hamade, a Syrian Army colonel who defected early in the conflict, said that HTS is more tolerated in northern Syria. In fact, many HTS fighters were members of the Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... , the mainstream rebels fighting to topple Mr. Assad, he said.
Asad Kanjo, an opposition activist from Idlib who currently lives in Britannia, said that the divisions within al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria are the result of al-Golani trying to market himself as a Syrian leader who has no links to the international terror network.
"This is a purely Ottoman Turkish move. Turkey wants the Syrian branch (HTS) to cut all links with the international organization," Mr. Kanjo said, paving the way for al-Golani to join the political process.
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Sense begins to reappear. There are consequences to that kind of nonsense.
[IsraelTimes] Some Arab countries refused to hold an emergency summit in order to discuss the decision of Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a senior Paleostinian official says.
"We requested an Arab summit over Jerusalem. Some Arab countries refused," says Muhammad Shtayeh, a senior Paleostinian official and Fatah central committee member, in an interview with the PA’s official TV station.
Shtayeh adds that just five heads of state attended the Organization of Islamic Countries meeting held in Istanbul last week to discuss the Jerusalem issue.
He doesn’t specify which Arab countries refused to hold a summit.
A new legal complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission alleges that the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee used state chapters as strawmen to circumvent campaign donation limits and laundered the money back to her campaign.
The Committee to Defend the President, a political action committee, filed its complaint with the FEC on Monday with the allegations that the Hillary Victory Fund (HVF) solicited cash from big-name donors, including Calvin Klein and "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane -- money that was allegedly sent through state chapters and back to the DNC before ending up with the Clinton campaign.
Officials with the committee said their filing was spurred by their own analysis of FEC reports, where they said they discovered the HVF either never transferred the money to state chapters and back to the DNC, or did so without the state chapters having actual control.
"What we have found, people need to see," Ted Harvey, chairman of the CDP which emerged from the now-defunct Stop Hillary PAC, told Fox News. "I think it’s important that the American public has an understanding of how corrupt this campaign system was and that they were doing anything they could to secure the nomination in her favor."
In its complaint, the CDP alleges that about $84 million was funneled illegally from the DNC through state party chapters and back into the war chest of the Clinton campaign.
Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) An Islamic State leader and four of his companions were killed in an airstrike in south of Kirkuk, a commander said.
“Airstrikes that depended on accurate intelligence information targeted an IS location, which left the Wali of Kirkuk, known as Abu Adam, killed in Wadi al-Shai region, 45 kilometers south of Kirkuk,” Maj. Gen. Ali Fadel Umran, commander of Kirkuk Operations, told AlSumaria News on Monday.
“The airstrike left four companions of the leader killed,” Umran added.
Earlier on the day, Umran announced launching a security campaign to follow the IS militants who escaped Hawija toward Zab region in southwest of Kirkuk.
Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) An armed attack has taken place against the Iraqi army on Kirkuk- Altun Kupri road in Kurdistan, a security source said on Monday.
“The attack against the Iraqi army occurred near Klousi village,” the source told Baghdad Today. “Deployed troops responded strongly.”
Earlier this month, the Kurdish Peshmerga Ministry has said that the Iraqi federal and paramilitary troops are rallying in south of Sulaimaniya, describing the step as dangerous one that does not helping de-escalation.
Last month, the ministry indicated being informed about the PMFs movements in Altun Kupri. Peshmerga commander Kamal Kirkuki said in remarks to Voice of America that PMFs moved on from Kirkuk toward Altun Kupri, located near Erbil.
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Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi families continue to return to their home regions in Anbar after their liberation from 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.... myrmidons, officials were quoted saying Tuesday.
Alsumaria News quoted Hussein Ali, mayor of Rawa, saying that a number of families began returning to Rawa, west of Anbar, the last city Iraqi forces recaptured from Islamic State.
He said the families were thoroughly vetted by security authorities.
Meanwhile, ...back at the dirigible, the pilot and the copilot had both hit the silk.
Jack! Cynthia exclaimed. Do you know how to drive one of these things?
Jack wiped some of the blood from his knuckles.
No, he said. Do you?... more than 170 families returned to homes at Hit and Obaidi areas, also west of the province.
Mazen Khaled, an advisor to Anbar governor, told Baghdad Today that 172 families were returned home to Hit and Obaidi from refugee camps in the province.
Recently, the International Organization for Migration said 1.3 million Iraqis had been repatriated to their home regions, driving the total since Islamic State myrmidons’ emergence in 2014 up to 2.4 million.
Suleiman al-Jumaili, Iraq’s planning minister, said Sunday that Iraq has suffered destruction from the war against IS that is worth USD47 million.
[AlAhtam] A Cairo criminal court handed preliminary death sentences to 21 people on Tuesday who were convicted in a court case dubbed by local media "the Damietta terror cell case."
The court’s preliminary death verdict is scheduled to be referred to the country’s grand mufti for a consultative non-binding opinion, as per Egypt’s penal code, and a final verdict will be rendered on 22 February for all 28 defendants in the case.
The defendants were charged with joining an outlawed group that aims to obstruct state institutions from carrying out duties, targeting private and public property, planning to assassinate police and military personnel, manufacturing bombs, and embracing terrorist thoughts.
The case dates back to May 2015, when the Egyptian interior ministry said it had nabbed Please don't kill me! 12 members of a terror cell in the city of Damietta, which is about 200 kilometres north of the capital.
The police said the defendants placed bombs outside the city’s cop shoppe and under gas pipelines in a nearby village.
The defendents would be the volatile young members of the Moslem Brotherhood who decided they didn’t have to play nice after President Morsi was driven from office, and were strongly encouraged in this belief by their more respectable elders.
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[DailyMail] Incredible images reveal a futuristic vision inspired by Polynesian traditions for the world's first floating nation planned for the Pacific Ocean by 2020
The radical plans, bankrolled by PayPal founder Peter Thiel, will see a floating nation built in the Pacific Ocean
Hotels, homes, offices and restaurants, and more will be built by 2020 by the nonprofit Seasteading Institute
Concept images take inspiration from the rich Polynesian culture, in particular from traditional navigation
The shape of the construction is based on a fish hook, an ancestral tool that symbolises the demigod Maui
[Al Jazeera] A military court in Cairo has sentenced an Egyptian army colonel to six years in prison after he announced his plans to run for president next year, according to his lawyer and local media.
Ahmed Konsowa was given the jail term on Tuesday for "stating political opinions contrary to the requirements of military order", his lawyer, Asad Haykal, was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.
The colonel was called in for interrogation and handed a 15-day detention order after announcing late last month in a 22-minute video his intention to run against President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
Following his detention, Haykal told local media that the charges against Konsowa included violating military code and publishing a video in which he espoused political views.
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[DailyBeast] An alleged victim of former Silicon Valley star T.J. Miller is coming forward with accusations that Miller hit and sexually assaulted her while in college.
The accusations were eventually addressed by a student court at George Washington University and have been buzzed about in Hollywood and stand-up circles for years.
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“He just tried a lot of things without asking me, and at no point asked me if I was all right,” the woman told The Daily Beast. “He choke[d] me, and I kept staring at his face hoping he would see that I was afraid and [that he] would stop… I couldn’t say anything.”
Miller’s alleged victim, who asked to remain anonymous, said she is coming forward now in part because of the societal awakening to issues of sexual assault and harassment that has come in the aftermath of misconduct allegations that have rocked the entertainment industry. The Daily Beast is withholding her identity because of her fears of retribution. But for the purposes of this piece, we will call her Sarah.
Miller has told friends over the years that he was wrongfully accused. And in a statement to The Daily Beast, Miller and his wife, Kate, denied any wrongdoing. Instead, they cast themselves as the victims.
#2
Yeah, he played a jerk but it was funny. The show was funny because it had little kernels of truth embedded in it. Dunno about the accusations but I'm getting a little weary of all this bitching and moaning without any evidence. Some girl has a beef so she tells the media that some guy sexually harassed her. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. Yawn.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/20/2017 10:07
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[HINDUSTANTIMES] Pakistain’s National Security Advisor Nasser Khan Janjua has accused the US of siding with India and warned of a possible "nuclear war" due to the delicate security situation in South Asia.
"The stability of the South Asian region hangs in a delicate balance, and the possibility of nuclear war cannot be ruled out," Janjua was quoted by the Pak media as saying at a seminar in Islamabad on Monday.
"India has been stockpiling a range of dangerous weapons as it threatens Pakistain continuously of conventional warfare," he told the seminar on the the "National Security Policy ‐ Vision for Pakistain" that was organized by the Center for Global & Strategic Studies (CGSS).
Janjua said special efforts are needed to maintain balance in South Asia, which is a "mistake away" from a major catastrophe.
India-Pakistain ties are at an all-time low following a string of terror attacks last year that were blamed on Pakistain-based groups such as the Jaish-e-Mohammed. The two sides have also had intense exchanges of fire on the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmire, putting a 14-year-old ceasefire under pressure.
Janjua, who rarely speaks in public on security issues, contended the US had chosen to side with India against Pakistain while ignoring Islamabad’s "enormous sacrifices in the fight against terrorism".
"India is being given priority over Pakistain in Afghanistan, something that will shape the political and strategic dynamics of the war-torn country," he said in remarks that were described by the Pak media as unusually candid and blunt.
Janjua also accused the US of conspiring with India against the China-Pakistain Economic Corridor as part of its policy to counter Chinese influence in South Asia.
"The US-India alliance has an identical stance on the Kashmire issue, and America frequently gives India preference over Pakistain," he said.
Pakistain’s top civil and military leadership has been irked by growing pressure from the Trump administration to crack down terror groups based on the country’s soil ‐ an issue that was raised during recent visits to Pakistain by secretary of state Rex Tillerson and defence secretary Jim Mattis.
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Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) A tribal fighter was killed, while two others were maimed in a kaboom in south of Baghdad, a police source said on Monday.
Speaking to AlSumaria News on Monday, the source said, "a bomb placed on the side of the road at Arab Jabbour region in al-Doura region, south of Baghdad, went off targeting a patrol for Tribal Mobilization Forces, which left one personnel killed and two others maimed."
"Security troops arrived at the blast scene and transferred the maimed to nearby hospital, while the victim’s body was taken to forensic medicine department," the source, who asked to remain anonymous, said.
[ZEENEWS.INDIA] Even as China continued to block the listing of Pakistain-based Jaish-e-Mohammad ...literally Army of Mohammad, a Pak-based Deobandi terror group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in 2000, after he split with the Harkat-ul-Mujaheddin. In 2002 the government of Pervez Musharraf banned the group, which changed its name to Khaddam ul-Islam and continued doing what it had been doing before without missing a beat... chief Masood Azhar in the UN-designated list of international terrorists, India and the US discussed procedures for pursuing designations against terrorist groups and individuals through domestic and international mechanisms.
The discussion came up at the inaugural India-US Designations Dialogue that was held here on Monday and Tuesday.
An identical statement issued by both the governments said the dialogue was to discuss increasing bilateral cooperation on terrorism-related designations.
"The establishment of this mechanism reflects shared Indian and US commitments to strengthen cooperation against terrorist threats," it said.
"The Indian and US delegations exchanged information on procedures for pursuing designations against terrorist groups and individuals, through domestic and international mechanisms. They also discussed best practices for effective implementation of the designations."
The statement said Washington would host the second India-US Designations Dialogue next year.
The meeting assumes significance after China said last month that due to the lack of consensus at the UN Security Council committee, the application seeking a ban on Azhar has been rejected.
Beijing has for the second time vetoed the proposal which was first moved by India at the Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council in March last year.
It did the same to a US proposal backed by La Belle France and Britannia, first blocking it in January and then put a technical hold for three months in August. A new resolution will have to be moved now.
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[NPR.ORG] Saudi authorities said Tuesday they intercepted a missile fired 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... at the kingdom's capital, Riyadh. Videos on social media purport to show the missile, which 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 ... rebels say they had aimed at a Saudi royal palace, exploding in a white cloud over the city's skyline.
Citing a front man for the Saudi-led coalition in the region, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reports "the missile was indiscriminately launched towards Riyadh to target the civilian and populated areas. " The front man added "that the missile was intercepted by Patriot, south of Riyadh, without any damage or loss of life."
A front man for Yemen's Houthi rebels, which have been locked in a years-long war with the Saudi coalition, identified the missile as a Volcano H-2.
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[PHILLY] Pennsylvania House Democrats spent nearly a quarter-million dollars in taxpayer money to secretly settle a sexual harassment complaint against a 40-year politician, according to a document obtained by The Inquirer and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
A payment of $248,000 went to quietly settle a complaint in 2015 against state Rep. Thomas Caltagirone, a Democratic politician from Berks County, by a longtime legislative staffer. The settlement included a non-disclosure agreement, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The year after the settlement, Caltagirone, a politician since 1977, won reelection to his 21st two-year term; he was unopposed in the primary and the general election.
It was not clear whether Caltagirone, who had faced a separate and widely publicized sexual harassment complaint in the mid-1990s, was disciplined or reprimanded after the 2015 payout. House Democrats would not discuss any specifics involving the case, and Caltagirone did not respond to requests for comment.
The payout was in addition to the $30,000 that the Inquirer reported last month was made in 2013 to end a sexual harassment lawsuit against former state Rep. Jewell Williams, now Philadelphia’s sheriff, by a onetime employee.
House Minority Leader Frank Dermody (D., Allegheny) this week declined to be interviewed about the settlement payouts, which were itemized in a document prepared by the state’s Bureau of Risk and Insurance Management and obtained by the newspapers. The bureau manages the state’s self-insurance programs and investigates and pays tort claims and lawsuits against the state and its employees, including harassment suits.
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[IsraelTimes] Niger national targeted 'whites,' was also angry about 'US attacks against Moslems'.
Any excuse would do when the need to kill fell upon him.
A grocer from Niger
...we still don’t know his name, but we do know he is from the Moslem Hausa/Fulani community of northern Nigeria and sold smoked meat from a cart. So he comes from a community with a long tradition of raiding and murdering for fun and profit...
who knifed a Danish couple in Gabon shouting "holy shit! Allahu akbar" came to the capital two days before the attack and had been stalking the pair, a prosecutor said Monday.
Saturday’s attack on the Danes, who were in the West African state filming for National Geographic, was "premeditated," Libreville prosecutor Steeve Ndong Essame Ndong said, adding that the man had lived in Gabon for 19 years.
He said the 53-year-old came to Libreville on Thursday "with the aim of committing this cowardly act ’against whites,'" adding that it was not clear if the attacker was acting alone or for a group.
The man said in his first statements that he "acted in retaliation for US attacks against Moslems and America’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital," Defense Minister Etienne Massard said.
The Danes were stabbed while shopping for souvenirs in a popular tourist market in the heart of the capital. The man sustained severe injuries in the back and neck but his life is not in danger.
Police have made several arrests and 38 West Africans are in jug.
Gabon, a small French-speaking former colony with 1.8 million inhabitants, has so far been spared the Islamist-inspired attacks that have taken place in some neighboring countries.
[Ynet] Paleostinian billionaire Sabih al-Masri, Jordan's most influential businessman, arrived back in Amman on Tuesday, a family source said, after his release from detention in 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... linked to a crackdown on the rich and powerful there.
Masri, chairman of Amman-based Arab Bank, Jordan's largest lender, was detained last week hours before he was planning to leave after chairing meetings of Saudi companies he owns, sources said.
Masri, a Saudi citizen, said from his home in Riyadh on Sunday after his release that the Saudi authorities had accorded him "all respect". The authorities have not commented on his detention. Jordanian authorities privately said King Abdullah intervened to secure his release.
[RADIOSHABELLE] A roadside kaboom hit military vehicle carrying Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... soldiers in Galgala village of Bari region, inflicting casualties on soldiers, security sources said.
Radio Shabelle’s correspondent in Bosaso says a number of soldiers were maimed after military convoy from Bosaso to Galgala was struck by a land mine planted on the roadside.
Al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... gang has claimed the responsibility for Sunday’s blast, according to a statement posted on its affiliated websites.
The IED attack was the latest in series of bombings against Puntland troops in the region over the past few years.
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More sense and, it is no doubt hoped, therefore fewer consequences.
[Ynet] Indonesia's vice president said on Tuesday that calls for a boycott of US goods over 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 decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel were misguided - not least because of the country's reliance on US technology.
There have been a series of protests in the world's biggest Moslem-majority country since Trump's controversial move this month to reverse decades of US policy.
At a rally of about 80,000 people on Sunday, the Indonesian Ulema Council, a body of Moslemholy mans, called for a boycott of US and Israeli products if Trump did not revoke his action.
The ISIS-affiliated Ansar Beit al-Maqdis terrorist group claimed on Wednesday its responsibility for a missile attack on North Sinai’s El-Arish airport on Tuesday, which killed one military officer and injured two other people.
The group released a short statement online saying that it fired a Kornet anti-tank guided missile at a helicopter at the airport.
Ansar Beit al-Maqdis has grabbed credit for most attacks against security and army forces in North Sinai in the past three years.
[Ynet] IDF Spokesperson's Unit publishes video showing IDF attacks on 40 Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", targets in past 2 weeks, retaliation to recent rocket, mortar launched from Gazoo Strip at Israel; all targets had high operational value, army says, countering claims they were insignificant.
The IDF Spokesperson's Unit released a compilation video Monday showing Israel's attacks on Hamas targets in the Gazoo Strip over the past two weeks, as part of the army's retaliation to the rocket and mortar fire leveled at Israel.
The army has attacked 40 targets since December 7, using both air force fighter jets and tank fire.
Among the installations targeted by the IDF were armaments storages, facilities for manufacturing weapons, observation towers, training compounds and routine security outposts. All of the targets belonged to Hamas, which effectively rules the strip.
30 rockets and mortars were launched from the strip at Israel in the past two weeks, with Israeli communities on Gazoo's perimeter once again coming under fire on a near daily basis. The Gazoo fire was carried out in the wake of 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 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and the exposure of Hamas's terror tunnels.
The IDF unveiled the footage of the combined attacks to deter Hamas, but also to counter claims made by some Israelis purporting the army's attacks are carried out against insignificant targets with little operational value.
A rocket went kaboom! when it hit a home in the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council Sunday. The residence and a nearby car were damaged. No one was hurt. Another rocket detonated in an open area in a nearby community.
[Expressen] Sweden's need for welfare increases faster than our revenues.
Then the Minister of Finance, Magdalena Andersson (S), raises the height of retirement age.
"Looking at those who start working at 30, there should be opportunities to work longer than 65," says Magdalena Andersson to Dina Pengar.
Sweden's population is increasing at a furious pace, and this development means significantly increased costs to deal with.
This is the case in Sweden's Local Authorities and County Council (SKL) in the "Economy Report" presented on Tuesday .
"From 2018, we expect the need for welfare to grow significantly faster than tax revenues," says Annika Wallenskog, chief economist at SKL.
In the report, SKL is alerting that a series of measures are needed to block the gap between costs and revenues, which risk raising 59 billion by 2021.
The rapid population growth as a result of the large refugee reception Gee, I wonder if only the Gov't of Sweden is noticing this correlation?
last year and a "a" meaning "their"
childbirth approaching historically high levels puts pressure on municipalities and county councils. Google Translate or a DNA-linked affinity for little meatballs required.
#4
IIRC the 65 age was first employed by Bismark's Germany. The consideration was that most of the population died by then so the tax pension system would not suffer much allowing the collected horde to be spent on the army other priorities.
[DECCANCHRONICLE] 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... has asked Pakistain to take "decisive action" against terror groups operating on its soil, as he unveiled America's new National Security Strategy.
The US will also encourage Pakistain to continue demonstrating that it is a responsible steward of its nuclear assets, the National Security Strategy (NSS) said.
Mandated by the Congress, Trump on Monday released his first NSS, according to which the US has asked Pakistain to intensify its counterterrorism efforts.
"We have made clear to Pakistain that while we desire continued partnership, we must see decisive action against terrorist groups operating on their territory. And we make massive payments every year to Pakistain. They have to help," Trump said in his remarks as he announced the NSS.
Pakistain has received more than USD 33 billion from US since the 9/11 terror attacks.
"We will press Pakistain to intensify its counterterrorism efforts, since no partnership can survive a country's support for bandidosfaceless myrmidons and hard boyz who target a partner's own service members and officials," it said.
The NSS links its efforts to build trade and investment ties with Pakistain with improvement in security.
The Trump administration has been talking tough with Pakistain after it came to power, but has stopped short of taking any action against it even though the Pak leadership have shown reluctance in taking decisive actions against terrorist groups.
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[DAWN] The Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. High Court on Monday disposed of a woman’s petition, which claimed a man, who had invoked the tribal ghag custom against her in Bajaur Agency, aka Turban Central ...Smallest of the agencies in FATA. The Agency administration is located in Khar. Bajaur is inhabited almost exclusively by Tarkani Pashtuns, which are divided into multiple bickering subtribes. Its 52 km border border with Afghanistan's Kunar Province makes it of strategic importance to Pakistain's strategic depth... when she was two only, was creating hurdles to her marriage.
A bench consisting of Justice Ikramullah Khan and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim observed that though the law prohibiting ghag had not been extended to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), the custom was against the fundamental rights of an individual enshrined in the Constitution.
It added that as petitioner Amina lived in Swabi district, she should approach the relevant cop shoppe to register a case against the people concerned.
It observed that the local police were bound by the law to provide protection to the petitioner and register her complaint against the people threatening her.
Ghag is an old custom prevalent in parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
Under it, a man makes a declaration in a locality that a particular girl is engaged to him and nobody else should seek her hand for marriage.
In 2013, the then provincial government had enacted the KP Elimination of the Custom of Ghag Act 2013 on the directives of the high court and declared it an offence.
Javed Ali Asghar, lawyer for the petitioner, said his client belonged to Bajaur Agency and lived in Shah Mansoor Town of Swabi.
He said when the petitioner was two, one of the respondents, Mohammad Sher, had proposed her for his son but her father, Saleem Jan, had put forward an excuse that he wanted to first complete education of his children.
The lawyer added that in 2005, Mohammad Sher again started insistence on his earlier proposal of his client’s engagement with his son, Iftikhar.
He added that the petitioner’s father turned down that proposal and that Iftikhar and Mohammad Sher then announced that the petitioner would only become the wife of Iftikhar and they would not allow anyone else to marry her.
The counsel stated that while Iftikhar had already married in 2007 and was now having four children, but he has still been obstructing marriage of the petitioner and also threatening her of dire consequences.
He said the petitioner was now around 26 and wanted her marriage of her own free will.
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[CNN] Almost a full year into Trump's presidency, Gallup found his favorability rating was higher than his former Democratic opponent, with 41% of respondents in a December poll rating Trump favorably compared to his 56% seeing him unfavorably.
#1
What should have been a clue to the DNC was the way Hillary's favorables went up every time she disappeared from the campaign trail. (I keep spelling that trial. I wonder why.)
What kind of person is better liked when you can't see them? Also the "It's all YOUR fault, you dumb ungratefuls" tour hasn't helped.
Hillary sort of reminds most people of the elementary school principal that they didn't like.
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"Trail," I keep spelling that trial.
Ed, like the rest of us, wishful thinking for a trial overdue.
Official Ukrainian sources claimed that on Monday rebel rocket artillery hit a Ukrainian held location in northern Donetsk, damaging more than 100 buildings and wounding eight civilians, according to Russian language news accounts.
Official rebel media denied the reports.
Meanwhile, official rebel media said that a massive Ukrainian artillery attack hit Pervomaisk, Kalinovo and Stakhanov in northern rebel held areas of Lugansk.
According to a news account posted in lb.ua, rebel rocket artillery began firing from near Zaistevo, northeast to Novolugansk at around 1700 hrs Monday, Moscow time. The attack damaged a power station, gas lines and residential structures.
Novolugansk is on the west side of the main road leading from Bakhmut (formerly Artemovsk) to rebel held Debaltsevo, part of an area known as the Svetlodarsk arc.
According to a statement released Monday by Donetsk ministry of defense spokesman Colonel Eduard Basurin, Ukrainian forces, specifically the artillery detachments of the Ukrainian 54th Separate Mechanized Rifle Brigade and the 128th Separate Mountain Rifle Brigade, hit Novolugansk with rocket artillery originating from Ukrainian held areas north of Zaistevo/Gorlovka.
Both Ukrainian units had sent troops to capture a pair of villages just north of Zaistevo, in Gladosovo and Travnevoye, a few weeks ago.
The statement said that rebel troops are close to, but not in Novolugansk, so it is possible the artillery fire was directed at rebel troops but fell short. If so, it would not be the first time in this three year old war that Ukrainian artillery units have fired shorts.
Use of rocket artillery has been forbidden since the middle of 2015, when both sides agreed to withdraw all large bore weapons from the front line. That said, the rocket artillery platform most commonly used by both sides, the 122mm BM-21 has a range out to 45 kilometers, depending on the type of munitions used.
Both sides from time to time have accused the other of firing rocket artillery, but its reported use is not constant.
Reports compiled and presented through the website of Russian retired reserve FSB Colonel Igor Girkin, novorosinform.org, said that the Ukrainian artillery attack on Pervomaisk, Stakhanov and Kalinovo began at around 2030 hrs Monday night and lasted about 20 minutes. The weapons used included 82mm and 120mm mortars including mines.
Damaged structures in Stakhanov included five story and eight story residential buildings, with residents complaining about damage to the roofs and gas lines in the area. Power was temporarily knocked out.
According to official rebel accounts in Lugansk, three unidentified individuals were wounded in Stakhanov and one in Pervomaisk
In Kalinovo, reports say three civilians were wounded in the attack, and a water filtration plant was damaged and put out of operation. Power was temporarily knocked out from that attack as well.
Reports from Donetsk say that Ukrainian artillery hit residential areas of Gorlovka, wounding one unidentified female, and damaging residential structures. A video posted on the website of Gorlovka Pravda showed two areas where Ukrainian shells hit, one of them said to be from a 152mm howitzer. Gas lines were damaged from the shrapnel as well.
A separate report from novorosinform.org said that a new artillery attack on Gorlovka was recorded Tuesday afternoon. A separate attack that damaged two residential buildings was recorded in Dokuchaevsk, which is south of Donetsk city.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com and on Twitter You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraine by clicking here and here
#5
In Churchill's 1899 book ‘The River War', about Britain's 19th Century war in Sudan, he included a passage condemning Islam that says: “No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith."
He commented at length regarding the fiendish Mohammadan in 'River Wars' but this short sentence captures the gist. My Emphasis added.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is looking at the presidential campaign of the Green Party’s Jill Stein for potential "collusion with the Russians," a sign that the panel’s probe is far from over, even as allegations swirl that the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation is racing to a close.
Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) told reporters Monday that the Senate Intelligence Committee has "two other campaigns that we’re just starting on," in addition to the panel’s ongoing probe of alleged ties between the Trump administration and Kremlin officials. One of those he identified as Stein’s; Burr has indicated previously that the committee is also looking into reports that the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign paid for research that went into a dossier detailing allegations of Donald Trump’s 2013 exploits in Moscow.
Stein was present at a 2015 dinner in Moscow that was also attended by Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, whose contacts with Russian officials have been a chief focus of congressional investigators and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe. Flynn and Stein were photographed at the same table as Russian President Vladimir Putin, who sat next to Flynn and across the table from Stein. Continues. WaPo no less.
I believe it shall be soon revealed what the Progs find to be acceptable standards of behavior. Then the defense of Flynn may proceed.
[DailyCaller] The House Intelligence Committee met Tuesday with a key figure a John McCain associate who handled the infamous anti-Trump dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele.
David Kramer, a former State Department official, was interviewed by the committee Tuesday morning, The Hill reported.
Kramer has been at the center of the dossier saga since January, when BuzzFeed News published the salacious document online.
It was revealed soon after the dossier was published that McCain and Kramer were first told about the uncorroborated report in Nov. 2016 by Sir Andrew Wood, a former British ambassador to Russia who is a business associate of Steele’s.
At McCain’s request, Kramer traveled to London later that month to meet with Steele, a former MI6 officer. The pair arranged for McCain to obtain a copy of the dossier through Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm that hired Steele to investigate Donald Trump’s activities in Russia.
Fusion, which is based in Washington, D.C., was working on behalf of the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee.
Kramer’s knowledge of the dossier has remained a mystery for months, largely because he has refused to respond to media inquiries to discuss the topic. One question that has been raised is whether he was involved in giving the dossier to BuzzFeed.
Kramer, a former senior director at the McCain Institute, was one of a small handful of people known to have handled the complete 35-page version of the dossier. McCain, Steele, and Fusion GPS have all denied giving the document to BuzzFeed.
Lawyers for Aleksej Gubarev, a Russian businessman suing BuzzFeed for defamation over the dossier, have attempted to depose Kramer. But as of last month, the attorneys disclosed in court filings that Kramer had dodged their subpoenas.
#8
At McCain’s request, Kramer traveled to London later that month to meet with Steele, a former MI6 officer.
Funny. I always had the impression that somebody handed to dossier to McCain, that it just kinda fell into his hands without any solicitation on his part. But now we learn that he went so far as to send one of his staffers to London to get it. He took an active part in the whole sordid affair. Slime.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/20/2017 10:20
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#9
What's O/U on McStain being hanged for treason v dying of brain cancer?
Posted by: regular joe ||
12/20/2017 12:54
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#10
imo, Mr. McCain will be allowed to expire as a statesman.
As our culture frowns upon besmirching the dead, little will come of his involvement with this Tar Baby.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A prominent Taliban ...Arabic for students... leader who was in the wanted list of the Afghan cops since a long time has been killed during the festivities with the Afghan Local Police (ALP) forces in eastern Laghman ...It has a population of about 445,600, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a rural society. During the invasions of Alexander the Great, the area was known as Lampaka, wich is apparently Olde Macedonian for Laghman.The city of Mihtarlam serves as the bucolic capital of the province. The population is half Pashtun, the remainder Tadjik and Pashai. It had a reputionagreat wealth until it was conquered in the tenth century by Abu Mansur Sabuktigin.
He conquered it and set fire to the places in its vicinity which were inhabited by infidels, and demolishing the idol-temples, he established Islam in them, He marched and captured other cities and killed the polluted wretches, destroying the idolatrous and gratifying the Musulmans. After wounding and killing beyond all measure, his hands and those of his friends became cold in counting the value of the plundered property.
province.
The provincial government media office in a statement said the senior Taliban leader Farhad who was also famous as Badar was killed in Mehtarlam city late on Monday night.
The statement further added that Badar was killed during a clash that took place in Armal and Safi village.
According to the Laghman provincial government, Badar was a key Taliban leader who was involved in liquidations, roadside kaboomings, killing of innocent civilians and various other types of terrorist related activities.
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[IsraelTimes] Ahed Tamimi, 17, to be detained until Thursday after slapping troops, who didn't respond.
A Paleostinian girl filmed hitting two IDF soldiers in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh in an apparent effort to provoke a violent response will remain in jug for two more days, police said Tuesday.
The remand of 17-year-old Ahed Tamimi’s mother, who was tossed in the calaboose Book 'im, Mahmoud! on suspicion of assault and incitement, was also extended until Thursday.
During an encounter in the village on Friday, a group of women and girls repeatedly hit and shoved an IDF officer and another soldier. Tamimi and two other teenage girls had filmed themselves hitting the soldiers, yelling at them and ‐ at one point ‐ slapping one of them across the face.
Ynet has video of the encounter and also of the arrest here.
The girls filmed the soldiers with cellphones, which seemed to indicate they were trying to instigate a violent response from the soldiers. However, a person who gets all wrapped up in himself makes a mighty small package... the servicemen did not oblige the girls, and refrained from retaliating throughout the encounter.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Israeli security forces arrested Tamimi at her home in Nabi Saleh for her role in Friday’s incident.
The army later confirmed the arrest in a statement, saying the teenager took part in violent protests in the Ramallah area on Friday in which 200 soldiers were attacked by Paleostinian rioters.
According to Tamimi’s father, Bassem, Israeli troops confiscated cellphones, laptops, and cameras from the family home.
After the footage of the assault on the soldiers was aired on Israeli television Monday evening, politicians lined up to praise the IDF servicemen, with one minister saying they should be placed in durance vile Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! for life.
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman hailed the IDF as the "most humane army that exhibits moral values that do not exist elsewhere."
The army said that the soldiers "acted professionally and were not dragged into violence," though they could have arrested the girls.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett told Army Radio the teen provocateurs should be placed in durance vile Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! for life for attacking the soldiers. Bennett noted that under Israeli law, attacking soldiers is punishable by up to seven years in jail.
Nabi Saleh has been the frequent staging ground for provoked festivities between Israeli soldiers and Paleostinians, specifically members of the Tamimi clan, which has a history of getting involved in highly publicized interactions with the IDF.
In August 2015, an IDF soldier was caught on film trying to arrest Ahed’s 12-year-old Muhammad Tamimi, who had been throwing rocks during a violent protest.
In 2012, 13-year-old Ahed gained fame among Paleostinian activists for an incident in which she led a group of children, including her younger brother, in arguing with Israeli soldiers.
In a video of the incident, she can be seen repeatedly raising her balled fist at a soldier, poised to hit him but never actually doing so.
#1
There's a better way to put a stop to crap like this. The moment she touched him, he should have buttstroked with his weapon or shot her. It must be made plain and clear that attacks on the soldiers will not be tolerated and instant karmic justice of a broken face or being dead will do it. After 5-6 such incidents, you won't find someone stupid enough to try it anymore. The IDF should make it clear - attacking us is suicide. You WILL die.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least nine ISIS turbans were killed or maimed during the latest operations of the Afghan forces in eastern Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province of Afghanistan.
The provincial government media office in a statement said at least four ISIS turbans were killed and five others were maimed during the operations in Khogyani district.
The statement further added that the turbans were killed as part of the ongoing Silab-4 and 9 operations in this province.
According to the Nangarhar government, at least four villages have been cleared from the presence of the IS turbans in Khoza Khel and Peera Khel areas of the district.
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[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] The leader of Yemen’s Ansarullah movement, Abdul Malik al-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 ... announced a new deterrence equation in retaliation to the US-Saudi aggression, stressing that the range of missiles was expanding and the upper hand shall be for the Yemeni forces.
Addressing Yemenis on Tuesday evening in a televised speech marking a thousand days of aggression, Sayyed Houthi said Yemenis will never surrender to the murderers of women and kiddies. "Enemies will not be able to take away our freedom, and weaken our willpower," he said.
The Ansarullah leader vowed that a thousand days of bombing with internationally banned weapons will be versus to a thousand days of resistance. "Aggression’s brutal policies only increased our belief in our choice, to resist and remain steadfast."
Addressing the aggression coalition against Yemen, Sayyed Houthi said: You bombed Sanaa, we shall bomb Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. You attacked the Yemeni presidential palace in Sanaa, our ballistic missiles will reach al-Yamama Palace in Riyadh.
"The range of our missiles will continue to expand, and we shall have the upper hand, God Willing!" Sayyed Houthi warned.
"Civilian and religious sites have been targeted in 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... within the three years of Saudi war. The Saudi regime does not shy from pounding anything which has to do with Yemen," he said, adding that "aggressors have, nevertheless, failed to force Yemenis into submission," he underlined.
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[Al Jazeera] Two fighters and a 25-year-old woman were killed in a firefight with Indian soldiers in Indian-administered Kashmire, sparking protests and calls for a general strike.
Hundreds of residents marched towards the shoot-out that continued overnight on Tuesday in Batmuran village in southern Shopian district. Soldiers fired live ammunition and pellets at protesters to prevent them from reaching the scene, witnesses said.
"Two Death Eaters were killed in the shootout, one of them belonged to Hizbul Mujahideen ...Party of Holy Warriors, founded by Muhammad Ahsan Dar in September 1989. One of the Pak sock puppets waging jihad in Indian Kashmir. It was originally organized as the armed wing of Jamaat-e-Islami. In 1990, Dar declared Hizbul as the sword arm of Jamaat. Hizbul murdered many of the pro-independence intelligentsia in Kashmir. After the organization was taken over by Syed Salahuddin Dar and several other ex-Hizb leaders were assassinated between 2001 and 2003... , and another belonged to Jaish-e-Mohammad ...literally Army of Mohammad, a Pak-based Deobandi terror group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in 2000, after he split with the Harkat-ul-Mujaheddin. In 2002 the government of Pervez Musharraf banned the group, which changed its name to Khaddam ul-Islam and continued doing what it had been doing before without missing a beat... ," police superintendent Shriram Ambarkar told Al Jazeera.
More than 20 people were maimed in festivities between stone-throwing youth and security forces, officials said.
Ambarkar said the woman, identified as Ruby Jan, was killed unintentionally. But residents said she was "deliberately" shot by soldiers.
"She was critically injured in the crossfire. We are investigating the circumstances under which she died. The situation is under control," said Ambarkar.
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Al Arabiya sources confirmed that terrorist Salman Ali Salman al-Faraj was killed in Awamiya, eastern province of 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... , after confrontations with the police forces.
Al-Faraj is one of the most desperados in the list of 23 Lions of Islam that was announced in 2012.
He committed many crimes in Qatif, including targeting coppers, security patrols and cop shoppes.
Al-Faraj remained undercover for seven years until security forces raided his place in Awamiya.
He opened fire on the coppers, who shot him dead.
With al-Faraj's killing, the list of wanted Lions of Islam in Qatif has shrunk to only two people - Fadhil Safwani and Mohammed al-Zayed.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[SOFREP] Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... holy warriors, in a series of attacks, stormed isolated police outposts around the quiet provincial capital of Lashkargah, killing at least 14 Afghan troops and injured several others in a pre-dawn attack in southern Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province. Afghan officials claim to have beaten back the attack and inflicted serious casualties on the attackers.
Taliban sources later claimed that the corpse count of government troops was much higher. They frequently attack police outposts as those are considered "soft targets" where the number of troops is smaller and the troops are far less trained than some of their contemporaries in the Afghan Special Forces.
Later, a jacket wallah in neighboring Kandahar province detonated his explosives-laden vehicle near a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... convoy.
Provincial police front man, Matiullah Helal, told VOA, the blast killed a woman passerby and maimed five other civilians, but did not harm any foreign troops.
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[PRESSTV] Kurdish security forces have fatally shot five protesters in Iraq's semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan as demonstrations continue there amid widespread anger over unpaid salaries and corruption.
Asayesh forces shot up a group of protesters in the town of Ranya, which is a part of the Sulaymaniyah province, on Tuesday after the latter stormed and set ablaze the office of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Kurdish-language NRT television network reported.
Kurdish medical sources, requesting anonymity, said five were shot and killed during the imbroglio. Another 20 people were maimed as well.
Elsewhere in the Kurdish town of Koya in Erbil province, 19 people were maimed during the protests against the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
Earlier on Tuesday, hundreds of protesters took to streets in at least six cities in Sulaymaniyah province.
The protestors torched the local government building in the town of Kwaisanjaq.
They also attacked and set fire to the offices of the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) and PUK.
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[AlAhram] Egypt's interior ministry announced on Tuesday a high security alert level and said it would be allocating 230,000 security personnel to secure the country's Christmas celebrations which start next week, security sources told the official state new agency MENA.
"Holidays and vacations were cancelled for security personnel and officers at all security directorates across the country," security sources told MENA.
The source added that the security plans will include deployment of personnel and officers from all the ministry’s departments to protect 2,626 churches nationwide during the celebrations.
Coptic Egyptians, who make up 90% of all Christians in the country, celebrate Christmas on 7 January. However, a lie repeated often enough remains a lie... a minority of non-orthodox Christian Egyptians observe the holiday on 25 December.
The security plans will also include public parks, vital state institutions and touristic sites.
According to the source, security procedures have been updated to ensure the safety of CCTV and metal detectors systems at all churches across the country.
"Security forces are also planned to intensify proactive hits against terrorist organizations, as well as tightening security measures at border crossings between North Sinai and other governorates, to prevent any infiltration from terrorist elements into the cities," a source told MENA.
In the last two years, Terror attacks on churches during religious holiday seasons left tens of Christians killed and many injured.
The terrorist ISIS group grabbed credit for those terror attacks.
[DAWN] A US drone fired a missile at a compound in the Mata Sangar area near the Afghan border in Kurram Agency ...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora... on Sunday night, sources said.
They said that the missile was fired at the compound at around 9pm, but no casualty was reported. Mata Sangar, a hamlet, lies near Ghuzgarhi south of Parachinar.
Locals said that the missile hit a mosque which was also used as a ’resting’ place.
They said that planes had been hovering over the area for the last three days.
The sources said that the compound, which came under attack on Sunday night, belonged to Lion of Islam ’commander’ Bashrat Khan, affiliated with the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban ...Arabic for students... Pakistain.
It was the fourth dronezap in the Ghuzgarhi area since October that left around 40 suspected gunnies dead, including some fighters belonging to the Haqqani network.
Officials believed that the area had a concentration of Pak and Afghan Taliban and was inaccessible.
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[DAWN] Three security officials were maimed in a kaboom near a security forces vehicle in Tehsil Kolachi of Dera Ismail Khan ... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ... on Tuesday.
According to police sources, a remote-controlled bomb went kaboom! when the security forces vehicle was travelling to Loni area from Kolachi.
The injured, including a subedar, were shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment. Meanwhile, ...back at the revival hall, the congregants were being herded into the paddy wagon... security forces cordoned off the area and launched an investigation.
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least two people were killed and thirty one others were maimed in a suicide car kaboom in southern Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province of Afghanistan.
According to the local officials, the incident took place late on Monday night in the vicinity of Lashkargah city, the placid provincial capital of Helmand.
The provincial government media office in a statement said the incident took place in the vicinity of third police district of the city after a jacket wallah detonated an exploding car.
The statement further added that two people including a civilian and security personal were killed and 31 others including 11 security personnel and 18 civilians were maimed.
According to Helmand government, the blast took place in a crowded area and as a result heavy financial losses have also been incurred to the local residents.
The Talibs group grabbed credit behind the attack with the group’s front man Zabiullah Mujahid claiming that scores of security personnel were killed or maimed in the attack.
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[DAWN] A SEMI-ANNUAL Pentagon report to the US Congress on the security situation in Afghanistan has included a troubling assertion about Pakistain-US ties. The report has warned that the US is prepared to take "unilateral steps" in areas where Pakistain differs with the US in how to address the regional militancy threat.
While the report has also stressed the need for dialogue and cooperation with Pakistain, the mere suggestion of unilateral military action inside Pakistain by the US against holy warrior targets is likely to be met with hostility.
The presidency of Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... has already upended many diplomatic norms, while a more militarised approach against holy warrior threats that America perceives globally suggests a willingness to redefine red lines in ties with other countries. Pakistain must respond carefully to any invasive tactics that the US might attempt.
The triangular relationship between Pakistain, Afghanistan and the US has had both legitimate and less legitimate complaints on all sides.
With Pakistain continuing to suffer terrorist attacks, and credible intelligence suggesting that many of these originate in sanctuaries that anti-Pakistain snuffies have found in Afghanistan, it is clear that Pakistain itself faces a serious threat.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shootout, Butch shot Black Bart's knife out of his hand...... the repeated attempts to pin blame on Pakistain for failures of the US and Kabul overlook a fundamental reality: eventually, there will have to be a political settlement in Afghanistan. Threatening Pakistain with unilateral action against holy warrior networks that Pakistain is also expected to help bring to the negotiating table makes little sense.
Where intelligence is shared with Pakistain of the genesis of certain attacks inside Afghanistan being traced back to its soil, Pakistain has for some years expressed a willingness to act. It has never been clear why that offer has not been taken up earnestly by Afghanistan or the US.
In Afghanistan, the Trump administration seems destined to allow the US military greater leeway for at least the next two years, perhaps for the entire term of the current presidency.
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#2
Since Pakistan is a terrorist nation and the father of nuclear weapons technology for export to terrorist nations like itself, namely North Korea and Iran, Pakistan itself should be third on our denuclearization hit list.
First on the target list should be Pakistan's father of nuclear weapons technology, Abdul Qadeer Khan
#3
China and Pakistan are to India, what China and the NORKS are to South Korea, and ultimately the U.S. With a bit more encouragement, the Indians could resolve the Paki dilemma.
#4
Trust me on this one, there are elements within the Indian military only too happy to help us out with Pakastain, a collection of people and geography that no one else wanted.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Wonder where they could have come up with such a concept ? 
[Wash Times] The Keystone XL oil pipeline suffered yet another setback Tuesday as Nebraska regulators rejected calls to reconsider the project’s route through their state.
[Breitbart] FBI investigator Peter Strzok’s text referring to "an insurance policy" against President Trump was reportedly arguing that the agency should probe allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...
[Ynet] A Massachusetts man convicted of conspiring to behead a conservative blogger on behalf of the 
....who is also named as David Daoud Wright. At the time of his arrest he weighed 500 lb and lived with his mother, possibly in the basement...
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Al Jazeera] A military court in Cairo has sentenced an Egyptian army colonel to six years in prison after he announced his plans to run for president next year, according to his lawyer and local media. 
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) A tribal fighter was killed, while two others were 
...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...
Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
[DECCANCHRONICLE] US President 
...Smallest of the agencies in FATA. The Agency administration is located in Khar. Bajaur is inhabited almost exclusively by Tarkani Pashtuns, which are divided into multiple bickering subtribes. Its 52 km border border with Afghanistan's Kunar Province makes it of strategic importance to Pakistain's strategic depth...
...It has a population of about 445,600, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a rural society. During the invasions of Alexander the Great, the area was known as Lampaka, wich is apparently Olde Macedonian for .jpg)
founded by Muhammad Ahsan Dar in September 1989. One of the Pak sock puppets waging jihad in Indian Kashmir. It was originally organized as the armed wing of Jamaat-e-Islami. In 1990, Dar declared Hizbul as the 
Kurram Agency
