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US drone strike kills Qaeda propaganda chief in Yemen
Today's Headlines
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Home Front: Culture Wars
Jorge Ramos Says He's Now Having the ‘Worst Time' of His Life in U.S.
Your feel-good story of the day, folks!
[NewsBusters] Nearly a year into the Trump presidency, Univision anchor Jorge Ramos says he’s experiencing "the worst moment I’ve had in the 34 years I’ve been living in the United States."

"With Donald Trump there, I have never been treated so badly. I have never been insulted so much. We’ve never been attacked so much. They have never tried to run us out as much as now," Ramos vented in an interview with the Spanish radio network Cadena SER.

Ramos, who proclaimed himself "if not an enemy, an opponent" of Trump in the interview, complained about the massive blowback he has received since deciding to use his media platforms to openly oppose the choice of over 62 million American voters in last year’s U.S. presidential election.
Surely there's a solution to this poor man's dilemma...
Posted by: Raj || 12/22/2017 13:48 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Pobre Pendejo. Chupame asshole
Posted by: Frank G || 12/22/2017 14:19 Comments || Top||

#2  This warmed the cockles of my heart so much I had to go outside and rub snow on them.

After Hillary losing, the high point of the election was seeing Jorge frog-marched out of a press conference where he was being a total jerk.
Posted by: SteveS || 12/22/2017 14:39 Comments || Top||

#3  Somehow I doubt it, but you can always go back you worthless fuck.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/22/2017 14:39 Comments || Top||

#4  There will always be Tijuana.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 12/22/2017 14:46 Comments || Top||

#5  I suggest self-darwination immediately. It's a proven cure. Go with the gasoline and match version, it's much more dramatic.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 12/22/2017 14:56 Comments || Top||

#6  I'd guess from the rest of your comments my schadenfreud is nothing to be ashamed at.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/22/2017 15:29 Comments || Top||

#7  No memories, pendejo.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 12/22/2017 17:22 Comments || Top||

#8  No mejores. I hate predictive text
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 12/22/2017 17:25 Comments || Top||

#9  I'd guess from the rest of your comments my schadenfreud is nothing to be ashamed at.

I needed a pick-me-up, so I came back to re-read this article.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/22/2017 18:10 Comments || Top||

#10  I needed a pick-me-up, so I came back to re-read this article. Posted by swksvolFF

Cheesecake Factory syndrome. I just keep going back.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 18:15 Comments || Top||

#11  Schadenfreud? Derisive snicker morphing into full-on belly laugh.
Posted by: magpie || 12/22/2017 18:51 Comments || Top||

#12  It's La Raza and his dual passport. He votes in Our Elections.
Posted by: newc || 12/22/2017 21:16 Comments || Top||

#13  Let sleeping dogs lie

Ah, but no. You had to inject yourself into something held very serious by a very many people. As you sow, so shall you reap.
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/22/2017 21:21 Comments || Top||

#14  He needs to eat his "anti-American" actions via public opinion. He wants the props but not the slap back. F him
Posted by: Frank G || 12/22/2017 21:26 Comments || Top||

#15  If I was artsy-craftsy, I would make Jorge Ramos piñatas and sell them on Etsy.
Posted by: SteveS || 12/22/2017 22:34 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Border groom passes federal background check, turns out to be convicted drug smuggler
[San Diego Union-Tribune] When Brian Houston wed his Mexican fiancée in a surprise ceremony during a rare opening of the steel gate on the U.S.-Mexico border fence last month, he said it was because he could not cross into Tijuana.

Now we know why.

Houston, a U.S. citizen, is awaiting sentencing in San Diego federal court on a drug smuggling conviction ‐ a fact that the Border Patrol says it did not know when it ran a background check on him clearing him to participate in the event at Border Field State Park.

Houston was arrested in February as he crossed through the San Ysidro Port of Entry. Found hidden in his Volkswagen Jetta were 43 pounds of heroin, 47 pounds of methamphetamine and 43 pounds of cocaine, according to the complaint.

"The agents are upset, feel like they were taken advantage of, feel like they were duped," said Joshua Wilson, vice president and spokesman for the National Border Patrol Council Local 1613. "Turns out we provided armed security for a cartel wedding."

The incident could put future "Door of Hope" events in jeopardy. The event is closely monitored and choreographed, with a handful of vetted families on the U.S. side allowed to embrace and greet family members on the Mexican side in three-minute reunions under the watchful eye of Border Patrol agents. The encounters are held in a small strip of land owned by the Department of Homeland Security known as Friendship Park.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 11:58 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "​After his arrest he was granted release on $20,000 bond secured by the signatures of his parents and a 15 percent cash deposit, according to court records.​ Houston was arrested in February as he crossed through the San Ysidro Port of Entry. Found hidden in his Volkswagen Jetta were 43 pounds of heroin, 47 pounds of methamphetamine and 43 pounds of cocaine, according to the complaint.​"​

I certainly hope the bond wasn't too severe.

Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 12:02 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
The Wildlife Poachers of Garamba National Park, NE Congo
[LA Times] Kambale Mate huddled beneath a tangle of grass, looking up at bright stars in a moonless sky, a tumble of chaotic events cascading through his mind.
The foto: Anti-poaching troopie with Boerboel hond tracker, nie in die Kongo nie (not in the Congo).
Where were the other wildlife rangers, Jean de Dieu Matongo and Joel Meriko Ari? Were they alive?

He had been a ranger for only five months at Garamba National Park, the last remaining preserve for disappearing populations of elephants and giraffes in this part of Africa. Yet here he was with two comrades, hiding like small, petrified mammals in the grass. If any of them moved, a large band of poachers nearby could find and kill them.

A hassock of grass cradled his back as he looked up. He couldn’t remember quite how he had escaped the shrieking storm of bullets. What he remembered was the crunch of the crisp, dry leaves as boot steps crept through the dusk.

The world is experiencing an epidemic of environmental killings. Last year 200 environmental defenders ‐ citizens protesting mining, agribusiness, oil and gas development and logging, as well as land rights activists and wildlife rangers ‐ were killed, according to the London-based nonprofit Global Witness. In the first 11 months of this year, the number was 170.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 08:30 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Government
FBI/DOJ Co-Conspirators Just Lost Biggest Asset – FBI Director Wray Kicks Out James Baker….
WASHINGTON POST ‐ The FBI’s top lawyer, James Baker, is being reassigned ‐ one of the first moves by new director Christopher A. Wray to assemble his own team of senior advisers as he tries to fend off accusations of politicization within the bureau.

Baker told colleagues he will be taking on other duties at the FBI, according to people familiar with the matter. In recent months, Baker had been caught up in a strange interagency dispute that led to a leak probe and attracted the attention of senior lawmakers, but people familiar with the matter said the probe had recently ended with a decision not to charge anyone. The leak issue had not played a part in Baker’s reassignment, these people said.

Baker informed colleagues in an email Wednesday that his duties were changing at the FBI, according to people familiar with the matter. Two said he is being "reassigned’’ by Wray, but they cautioned that the change does not take effect immediately and such a move is a normal part of a new director taking charge at the bureau ‐ not a reflection of the political controversies buffeting the FBI.

Methinks they doth protest too much.
[Baker] was very close to former FBI director James B. Comey, who asked Baker to be his general counsel. They were colleagues at the Justice Department and when they were out of government at Bridgewater Associates, an investment management firm. (read more)
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/22/2017 08:27 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Mods: Headline did not copy correctly, instead the URL copied in the headline space.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/22/2017 8:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Wow. Somebody fixed the headline while I was reading at the link!
Posted by: Bobby || 12/22/2017 8:47 Comments || Top||

#3  So, a Comey mole
Posted by: Frank G || 12/22/2017 8:59 Comments || Top||

#4  Many Thanx!
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/22/2017 9:59 Comments || Top||

#5  ...as he tries to fend off accusations of politicization within the bureau.

Accusations?
Posted by: Raj || 12/22/2017 10:48 Comments || Top||

#6  There is a clear plan and strategy in place to deal with the schemes of the “small group” of co-conspirators within the DOJ and FBI.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/22/2017 10:56 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Chappaquiddick Review: 'The movie is fundamentally the portrait of a weasel'
[LI] As the only Massachusetts based member of the Legal Insurrection team, I’ve taken it upon myself to provide you with a preview of the upcoming film ’Chappaquiddick" which details the events around the death of Mary Jo Kopechne and the aftermath for Ted Kennedy.

I haven’t seen the film yet but it’s not like there are spoilers for anyone familiar with American history. My greatest concern with this film is that it will somehow whitewash Kennedy’s responsibility for Kopechne’s death or Kennedy’s dirtbag behavior following the accident. As we know, Hollywood and the media have a tendency to rewrite history for people they like.

Ted Kennedy’s life was derailed that night? Really?

Here’s how People describes the film (emphasis is mine):
Nearly five decades ago, on July 18, 1969, a car went off the Dike Bridge on the island of Chappaquiddick. The driver, Ted Kennedy escaped. His 28-year-old passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, did not.

The result is a haunting look back into the mystery that surrounds that night when a group of six women who had worked for Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential bid, and six men, including Ted Kennedy, gathered for a party at a rented cottage on the island for a reunion party and ended in Kopechne’s death by drowning.

It’s really not a mystery. Kennedy walked away from the scene of a crime and let Kopechne drown because he was scared of what it would do to his political aspirations.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 06:26 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I once shook hands with Ted....
Posted by: ThreeFinger Jack || 12/22/2017 7:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Chappaquiddick Review: 'The movie is fundamentally the portrait of a weasel'

So, he's a Donk.
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/22/2017 7:59 Comments || Top||

#3  There is a great read "Senatorial Privilege" by Leo Damore.
Posted by: Woodrow || 12/22/2017 8:39 Comments || Top||

#4  I once shook hands with Ted....

"Out, damned spot! Out, I say!"
Posted by: JHH || 12/22/2017 13:42 Comments || Top||

#5  My wife is a native Cape Codder and the only member of her family that despises the Kennedy clan. It is amazing how leftards (most of her family) can look at Chappaquiddick and not have even the slightest qualm about defending this scum.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/22/2017 15:46 Comments || Top||

#6  A Kennedy cousin of Truro
At Choate with the girls stoats is most thorough,
And though he's rejected,
None go uninspected,
So save him a spot at the Bureau.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 12/22/2017 20:24 Comments || Top||

#7  Shoats, even. Dammit, I always do that.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 12/22/2017 20:25 Comments || Top||


-Obits-
Father Csaszar terminates investigation of his inappropriate conduct with underage boy
[Blaze] A Catholic priest in Chicago who was under investigation for interactions he had with an underage boy has committed suicide. Reverend James Csaszar had served at New Albany’s Church of the Resurrection in Columbus.

According to a statement from the Catholic Diocese of Columbus, Csaszar had been under investigation for "excessive and questionable" text and phone communications with an underage boy. He was also being investigated for possible misuse of funds at a church he had served prior to his last church.

He had been placed on administrative leave on November 7 as the accusations were being investigated.

The details have not been released, but his body was discovered in downtown Chicago Wednesday, and police have ruled his death a suicide.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 06:02 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Special place in hell.
Posted by: Woodrow || 12/22/2017 8:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Just in time for the holiday of giving.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/22/2017 8:35 Comments || Top||

#3  took a "Dive for Justice" from a very tall building
Posted by: Frank G || 12/22/2017 8:55 Comments || Top||

#4  Chicago can ill afford to lose a priest, but in this instance.....
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 9:24 Comments || Top||

#5  I am starting to have doubts about the increasing use of "altar girls" instead of traditional "altar boys" for Catholic ceremonies. That never happened until about 10-15 years ago, is getting quite common now, all over the USA. Trouble waiting to happen...
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/22/2017 13:24 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Black Conservative Drops a Truth Bomb About Racism in America (Video)
[Townhall] Vlogger Candace Owens posted a video about racism in America. She focused primarily on how the Left abuses the word "racist" and "racism" as a means of controlling African American Voters. The Left says everything in racist so that blacks won’t think twice about voting for a Time for some transparency.

Republican.

Her analysis is SPOT ON.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 05:43 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Axelrod: You Can Argue Good or Bad, But Trump ‘Is Doing Consequential Things'
[Breitbart] Wednesday on CNN, former Obama chief strategist David Axelrod said with the passing of the Republican tax plan and other policies he has forwarded President Donald Trump "is doing consequential things."

Axelrod said, "It is advertised as something that will spur growth. We’ll see. The Fed and most experts suggest only modest job growth and gains. It is good for shareholders. But we will see all of that will reveal itself in the future. But it is a big policy shift, as these things often are. Certainly, on healthcare, it is going to make a big difference. It is added some preferences, taken some preferences out of the tax code. So this is big. His sort of rapid regulation of the environment, of consumer protection of finance, huge. His pulling out of global agreements, very, very big. So he is doing consequential things."

He continued, "I have doubts about whether the consequences are going to be positive, but you cannot deny this is an impactful piece of legislation, and he has had an impact with some of his other policies."
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 05:36 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Axelrod hedging his bets after the 2016 election prediction debacle. He can't say it but he knows the country will be much better off.
America is being made great again as we speak.
Posted by: Warthog || 12/22/2017 10:49 Comments || Top||

#2  He has doubts about whether the consequences are going to be positive for him. The fact that others exist who would benefit is completely out of his comprehension. It never entered his head to think about this and he would find it bizarre if you pointed it out to him.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 || 12/22/2017 14:40 Comments || Top||

#3  Scott Adams (Dilbert): The Turn to “Effective, but we don’t like it.” dated July 7, 2017.

I predicted that the end of this three-part story would involve President Trump’s critics complaining that indeed he was “effective, but we don’t like it.” Or words to that effect. I based that prediction on the assumption he would get some big wins by the end of the year and it would no longer make sense to question his effectiveness, only his policy choices.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/22/2017 17:36 Comments || Top||


International-UN-NGOs
Dear UN – See This Middle Finger?
h/t Instapundit
[VictoryGirlsBlog] ...The decision to move our Embassy is the decision of a sovereign nation made with the approval of another sovereign nation ‐ in this case Israel. How dare you tell us where we can put our diplomatic facilities? Just who the hell do you think you are?

I’m sure every tin-pot asshole will vote against us in the General Assembly, and I’m sure our allegedly "stalwart" allies will have no problem damaging our "special relationship" by giving us the finger, but you know what? I guess all those who spit on us can also live without our aid, without our leadership, without our military support and training, and without our friendship and trade too.

It’s high time we stopped getting insulted and abused by the very pathetic weaklings whom we support year after year, and who depend on our money and leadership for their very survival.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2017 04:23 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: 3dc || 12/22/2017 8:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Leaving the world to sing -
Posted by: 3dc || 12/22/2017 8:32 Comments || Top||

#3  I understand Geneva is nice this time of year.
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/22/2017 8:36 Comments || Top||

#4  I guess all those who spit on us can also live without our aid, without our leadership, without our military support and training, and without our friendship and trade too.
I am starting to apply that policy to my domestic relationships as well.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/22/2017 13:31 Comments || Top||

#5 
#3 I understand Geneva Sana'a is nice this time of year.

fify
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 12/22/2017 19:22 Comments || Top||

#6  Seriously cut funds as a response to this vote and watch how their future votes start to improve.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/22/2017 19:43 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Non-Citizens Make Up 21 Percent Of Federal Inmates
[Daily Caller] Twenty-one percent of federal inmates are suspected or confirmed to be non-citizens, according to statistics released by the Justice Department Thursday.

According to the latest U.S. census, only 12.9% of the total U.S. population was foreign born.

An executive order signed by President Trump called for the federal government to release quarterly reports on incarcerated immigrants. The DOJ and Department of Homeland Security released its third report Thursday.

There are 39,455 immigrants currently in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, which amounts to 21 percent of the total population. The average annual cost per inmate in the BOP was $30,619.85 in Fiscal Year 2014.

One senior administration official said that using sentencing data, the government determined that "non-citizens make up a disproportionate percentage of drug offenses, fraud offenses, money laundering offenses, and many others including of course immigration offenses."

The quarterly report also found that there were an additional 19,311 known or suspected immigrants in U.S. Marshal Service custody. Of the total 37,557 confirmed immigrants in federal custody, 94 percent are illegal immigrants.

The report does not have data on the populations in state prisons and local jails, which make up roughly 90 percent of the total American incarcerated population.

A senior administration official said he hopes to have these figures in future reports.

Related: Tucker: Why didn't we know truth about illegals and crime?
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 02:57 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Lame Stream Media is too worked up doing fake news than to provide the citizenry real data.
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/22/2017 8:06 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm way past the point of caring about criminals. Time to put the three strikes law back, only after your third felony, you go in the box for a pure nitrogen breather, then into the organ banks. It'll empty the prisons quickly and may force some of these idiots to realize that consequences abound. It's quick, painless and doesn't mess up the organs so the organ banks should get a good haul.

Think of it as evolution in action.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 12/22/2017 11:53 Comments || Top||

#3  grind them into powder
Posted by: 746 || 12/22/2017 14:04 Comments || Top||

#4  Dispose of them via live alkaline hydrolysis.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 14:22 Comments || Top||

#5  Silentbrick interesting concept. I know just the people to carry it out without remorse. They have a lot of related experience though on a smaller scale. Call it 'Three Strikes', formerly known as Planned Parenthood.
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/22/2017 17:04 Comments || Top||

#6  Silentbrick has been reading larry niven novels.
What about after 3 parking tickets?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/22/2017 20:17 Comments || Top||

#7  Many Nations will not take them back.
Posted by: newc || 12/22/2017 21:41 Comments || Top||

#8  do they control their HALO airspace?
Posted by: Frank G || 12/22/2017 22:06 Comments || Top||


#10  AMO won't let them on unless they are boxed up in triangular boxes.
Posted by: newc || 12/22/2017 22:26 Comments || Top||


Chicago police say Facebook 'secret groups' traffic in guns and drugs
[Reuters] Police in Chicago said on Thursday they have arrested 50 people suspected of using "secret groups" on Facebook to deal in guns and drugs, and have teamed up with the world’s largest social media network to crack down on criminal trafficking online.

Announcing the arrests at a news conference, Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson initially criticized Facebook as being unhelpful during a 10-month investigation by his department.

“Quite frankly, they haven’t been very friendly to law enforcement to prevent these things,” he told reporters.

However, police later said the department and the California-based company agreed to work collaboratively “to target any illegal activity on the platform.”

Police did not detail charges facing the 50 men and women arrested through Thursday, but said there were “dozens and dozens” of private Facebook groups being used for illegal drug and weapons transactions. Arrest warrants for 18 more suspects have been signed, and most have prior criminal histories, police said.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 02:43 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Facebook ditches fake news warning flag
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/22/2017 3:28 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Judge Dismisses Suit Against Trump Over Business Dealings
h/t Instapundit
[NYTimes] In a legal victory for the Trump administration, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit on Thursday that accused President Trump of violating the Constitution by continuing to own and profit from his business empire.

The complaint, filed this year in the Southern District of New York, said that Mr. Trump’s failure to divorce himself from his businesses had harmed companies or workers who compete against his restaurants or hotels in New York or Washington. By taking advantage of his official position, the lawsuit said, Mr. Trump violated clauses of the Constitution that prohibit a president from accepting any government-bestowed benefits, or emoluments, either at home or abroad.

Judge George B. Daniels of United States District Court in Manhattan found that the plaintiffs had failed to show that they had suffered as a result of specific actions by Mr. Trump intended to drum up business for his enterprises. Even before Mr. Trump took office, the judge said, "he had amassed wealth and fame and was competing against" the plaintiffs.
As opposed to the usual way of first being elected to public office and then amassing wealth?
"It is only natural that interest in his properties has generally increased since he became president," the judge said. Moreover, Judge Daniels said, customers might be patronizing Mr. Trump’s hotels and his hotels’ restaurants because of price or quality ‐ reasons totally unrelated to his presidency.

Beyond that, the judge found, the emoluments clauses of the Constitution are intended to protect the country against presidential corruption from foreign influences or financial incentives that might be offered by either states or the federal government. They were not meant to protect businesses from competition from presidentially owned enterprises, he ruled.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2017 02:43 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yes, successful businessmen often have dealings.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 3:16 Comments || Top||

#2  The lawsuit was brought by CREW. The judge ruled that CREW had no standing and the matter should be resolved by the political process.

If one looks at the current leadership of CREW, that is probably all one needs to know. Recently CREW elected, David Brock as its board president. He said he has a broad plan to turn the organization into a more muscular organization.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/22/2017 9:08 Comments || Top||


Europe
German court: Marxist party cooperated with Palestinian terrorist entity
The extremist Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany (MLPD) suffered a stinging defeat in a Hamburg court on Friday which ruled that a former German deputy and a weekly Jewish paper can state the far-leftist party cooperates with the Palestinian terrorist group PFLP.

"The international list and MLPD have lied through their teeth to the public and the court. I can now criticize without worry the complicity between the MLPD and the Palestinian terrorist organization PFLP," Volker Beck, a former Green Party deputy and religion professor, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.

The international list, which included the PFLP, was a group of organizations that were part of the 2017 Marxist-Leninist Party election alliance.

The Marxist-Leninist Party sought a court injunction barring Beck and the weekly newspaper Judische Allgemeine, owned by the Central Council of Jews in Germany, from repeating the assertion that the Marxists campaigned with the terrorist entity PFLP during the 2017 German federal election. The Marxists claimed that Beck and the weekly paper could face a 250,000 Euro penalty for repeating the terrorism allegation.

Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2017 02:39 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Is Bernie Sanders an honorary member?
Posted by: Raj || 12/22/2017 10:50 Comments || Top||

#2 
east Germany worked with every Palestinian terror group they could find, PFLP, PLO, whatever

decades of cooperation
Posted by: lord garth || 12/22/2017 11:48 Comments || Top||

#3  DDR - Die Deutsche Rüssen.
Posted by: Raj || 12/22/2017 13:47 Comments || Top||


Catalan Separatists Win Election
h/t Instapundit
Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont couldn't vote in the election because he's currently in self-exile in Belgium, but he and his party won yesterday's elections in Catalonia, exit polls show. This means that Catalonian voters have strongly rebuked the aggressive anti-independence stance of Madrid and the European Union.

In all, 70 out of the 135 seats in Catalonia's parliament will now be occupied by separatist parties, with Puigdemont's Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia) being the largest of those parties. The only party that's larger than Puigdemonts JPC is Ciudadanos (Citizens). Ironically, that's a unionist party. The reason the unionist lost the elections, however, is that the other unionist parties suffered significant losses.
EU delenda est!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2017 02:36 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Betrayed by Time - What went wrong with the Obama Casandra Operation

[BLUF]
[PJ] In hindsight, the success of the Iran nuclear deal implicitly hinged upon the hidden assumption of a third and possibly a fourth Obama term through Hillary Clinton. Her defeat not only exposed the huge costs of the deal but undermined the future payoffs themselves. The eagerness of the Resistance to bring down Donald Trump stems from one single fact. He threatens to ruin their meticulously crafted multi-year plans.

Perhaps it was foolish of Obama to count on four terms to bring his plan to fruition. Maybe Bush's "bringing Democracy to the Middle East" strategy and Obama's "grand bargain with Iran" strategy can't exist in a Washington unable to maintain the multi-decade containment strategy that made victory in the Cold War possible. Foreign policy investments must show a return in one or two presidential terms, or run the risk a new president will reset everything from scratch.

Ironically, Trump's supposed lack of a "grand vision" may accidentally be working in his favor. By focusing on shorter term payoffs he may be aligning his decision cycle closer to the quickening clock of events. He may get up each morning thinking "what shall I do today" -- and that happens to align perfectly with a world in chaos.

Obama's deal suffered ultimately from one great weakness. It was vulnerable to time, the very time which it intended to buy from Tehran with cash and concessions to Hezbollah. Its costs were front-loaded while its benefits were deferred into far misty reaches, the glory so apparently near yet in reality so far. And the first of time's betrayals was the non-election of a president Hillary Clinton.

It was just Obama's bad luck that the sure thing of 2016 never came off so that all the sure things he counted on afterward would come true.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 01:43 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  From the embedded link in the first paragraph:

Ayman Saied Joumaa’s network rang alarm bells in Washington when agents discovered he was working with Mexico’s brutal Los Zetas cartel to move multi-ton loads of cocaine directly into the United States, and washing $200 million a month in criminal proceeds with the help of 300 or so used car dealerships. The network would funnel huge amounts of money to the dealerships to purchase used cars, which would then be shipped to Benin, on Africa’s west coast.
Emphasis added

Interesting. The Paki Awan's (former DNC IT contractors) reportedly used a car dealearship as a money laundering front in Falls Church as well.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 2:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe Bush's "bringing Democracy to the Middle East" strategy and Obama's "grand bargain with Iran" strategy can't exist in a Washington

And maybe, just maybe, these policies were based on the total refusal to admit reality.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2017 2:11 Comments || Top||

#3  What went wrong? Trump got elected instead of Hillary.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/22/2017 10:10 Comments || Top||

#4  Its costs were front-loaded while its benefits were deferred into far misty reaches,

Maybe I just need another cup of coffee, but can anyone name one fucking 'benefit' of this deal (for us)? Because I sure as hell can't.
Posted by: Raj || 12/22/2017 11:00 Comments || Top||

#5  Clinton apologized to Obama after election loss: book

Because she knew what was coming.

Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 12/22/2017 13:47 Comments || Top||

#6  but can anyone name one fucking 'benefit' of this deal (for us)?

I take it you do not share our beloved former president’s history of cocaine use, Raj, and you feel no need to pacify and employ the residents of various ghettos by increasing the supply of crack.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/22/2017 16:27 Comments || Top||

#7  I take it you do not share our beloved former president’s history of cocaine use, Raj, and you feel no need to pacify and employ the residents of various ghettos by increasing the supply of crack.

And when transported to the polling stations, many even VOTE !
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 17:16 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Ex-CIA director: 'Trump shows 'qualities usually found in infidels, narcissistic, vengeful autocrats'
[The Hill] Former CIA Director John Brennan slammed President Trump in a tweet Thursday, saying the president shows "qualities usually found in narcissistic, vengeful autocrats."

Brennan, a vocal critic of Trump, posted the comment shortly after joining Twitter on Thursday. He condemned Trump's tough stance against critics of his declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

"Trump Admin threat to retaliate against nations that exercise sovereign right in UN to oppose US position on Jerusalem is beyond outrageous," tweeted Brennan, who led the CIA under former President Obama.

"Shows @realDonaldTrump expects blind loyalty and subservience from everyone‐qualities usually found in narcissistic, vengeful autocrats," he added.

Related: Washington Examiner - John Brennan: Trump administration's threats over UN rebuke of Jerusalem decision 'narcissistic, vengeful'
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 01:25 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He left out "Like me!"?
Posted by: 3dc || 12/22/2017 1:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Pure projection
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2017 2:05 Comments || Top||

#3  It's not Trump he fears, it's the 'uncovering' of illicit activities he and others are most concerned about. Their hand picked candidate lost the election, and elections have consequences. The only way to cloak their transgressions is through a constant media barrage of attacks on Trump in the hope something sticks.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 2:15 Comments || Top||

#4  IMO, your interpretation gives them too much credit Besoeker. I see them as adult (and very dangerous) version of snowflakes.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2017 2:24 Comments || Top||

#5  IMO, your interpretation gives them too much credit.... I see them as adult (and very dangerous) version of snowflakes.

Your on the right track. 'Snowflakes' are their progeny.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 2:29 Comments || Top||

#6  Now what we need is a little pedophilia scandal from within the CIA. Running drugs out of Afghanistan doesn't cut the mustard.
Posted by: DooDahMan || 12/22/2017 3:02 Comments || Top||

#7  another slug from the obozo minion slug group, WORTHLESS OPINE. Like obozo the slugo
Posted by: ranture || 12/22/2017 7:53 Comments || Top||

#8  Criminal snowflakes.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 12/22/2017 8:38 Comments || Top||

#9  John Brennan: Trump administration's threats over UN rebuke of Jerusalem decision 'narcissistic, vengeful

Actually, it's sort of something I would expect from someone who grew up in NYC (less trust fund snowflakes sheltered by mom and dad away from city streets). Capish?
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/22/2017 8:40 Comments || Top||

#10  John Brennan was referring to Obama. He is just to f-ing stupid to know it.
Posted by: Woodrow || 12/22/2017 8:42 Comments || Top||

#11  Translation:

He isn't a deep state animal and we hate him for it
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/22/2017 9:14 Comments || Top||

#12  He isn't a deep state animal and we hate him for it....

...and unlike the previous fellow, we are anticipating a severe 'asset control' problem.


Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 9:20 Comments || Top||

#13  Brennan is as crooked as can be - he is afraid of being exposed as a lying incompetent traitorous tool for progressives and Obama.
Posted by: Injun Bucket8891 || 12/22/2017 9:28 Comments || Top||

#14  and Islam
Posted by: Frank G || 12/22/2017 9:33 Comments || Top||

#15  Credit should be given however. Brennan is still performing a valuable function for Soetoro and the Deep State cadre.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 9:45 Comments || Top||

#16  Considering the source, high praise.
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 12/22/2017 13:44 Comments || Top||

#17  He and Clapper are traitors. "0 tempora, O mores."

Posted by: Sgt.D.T. || 12/22/2017 15:18 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Section of Iraq-Turkey pipeline cleared from Islamic State explosives
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi security forces have cleared a section an oil pipeline stretching to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
from booby-traps left behind by 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....
bad boys, the Iraqi Ministry of Interior said on Thursday.

Interior Ministry spokesperson Saad Maan said "bomb squads from the energy security directorate have finished the dismantling and clearing of the Iraq-Turkey pipeline which stretches from Kirkuk province, passing by al-Riyad, Baiji and djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
to Turkey".

That pipeline had been under Islamic State control during the bad boys’ presence, according to Maan.

"After works that lasted for more than one month, the energy security directorate has manage to clear that line from Kirkuk to Baiji...and to lift and dismantle the bombs along the line," Maan said.

He said that more than 900 devices have either been defused or detonated.

Islamic State hard boyz have reportedly both set fire to oil wells and illegally traded in Iraqi oil during their occupation of several Iraqi areas since 2014 before the government declared the group’s defeat earlier this month.

Last Monday, the oil ministry said it plans to use drones to monitor and protect its oil export and production pipelines starting early 2018.

It unveiled, a week earlier, plans to install a network of pipelines to pump crude oil and refined products across all its territory, as a replacement to more costly and insecure tanker trucks.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/22/2017 00:49 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


HRW: 350 prisoners ‘disappeared’ from Iraqi Kurdistan prisons
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Three-hundred and fifty prisoners have disappeared from prisons of the northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Region, Human Rights Watch reported on Thursday, fearing that their disappearance was perpetrated by security authorities.

Those missing are mostly Sunni Arabs who were displaced by war at their home regions and moved to Kirkuk,
... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time...
as well as residents of the city, according to the organization .

Those were "detained by the regional government’s security forces, the Asayish, on suspicion of Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(also known as ISIS) affiliation after the regional forces took control of Kirkuk in June 2014", it reported.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/22/2017 00:49 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans

Check the passivity and exit weights of the other prisoners.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/22/2017 3:05 Comments || Top||

#2  HRW is concerned about 350 missing prisoners? How about the thousands of people killed by ISIS?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 12/22/2017 10:50 Comments || Top||


Iraq allocates four billion dinars for Anbar rehabilitation
Anbar (Iraqinews.com) Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi has approved the allocation of 4 billion Iraqi dinars for the rehabilitation of Anbar, Governor Mohammed al-Halbusi said.

Speaking at a presser on Thursday at the governorate’s headquarters, Halbusi said, "We will embark on rehabilitating all districts and areas of Anbar, particularly western ones, next week."

"Of all 120 projects, six will be launched next week at the western areas," he said, adding that coordination is underway with all international organizations to restore Anbar’s stability.

"The prime minister also allowed a second batch of fired coppers to assume security duties again in the governorate," Halbusi pointed out.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/22/2017 00:49 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Two civilians, tribal fighter wounded in Baghdad blasts
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Two civilians and a tribal fighter were maimed two kabooms in Baghdad, security sources said on Thursday.

"A kaboom took place near stores at al-Zidan region, in Abu Ghraib region, west of Baghdad, which left two civilians maimed," the source told Alghad Press.

"Security troops cordoned off the blast scene and prevented approach fearing further kabooms," the source added.

Moreover, another source told AlSumaria News that " a bomb placed under a vehicle of one of the Tribal Mobilization Forces personnel went off in al-Latifiya region, which injured him."

The maimed, according to the source, who preferred anonymity, was taken to hospital for treatment.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/22/2017 00:49 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


High security measures imposed as two policemen killed, southeast of Mosul
djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
(IraqiNews.com) Security measures have been imposed in Mosul after two coppers were killed and three 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....
Death Eaters infiltrated into southeast of the city, a source from Nineveh police said on Thursday.

"Security troops besieged eastern and western Yarimja and Sumar districts after two coppers were killed in the morning and IS Death Eaters sneaked into the three districts," Cap. Amer Shaker told BasNews.

"Nineveh police was informed that IS members infiltrates at these districts. Fire shooting was heard, which urged troops to dispatch deployments to the districts and besieging them," he added.

Troops, according to Amer, "imposed curfew at the three districts, while the coppers’s bodies were transferred to forensic medicine department in Mosul."

On Wednesday, news reports mentioned that six out of 20 Lion of Islams, who previously infiltrated into Mosul, were killed in southeast of Mosul.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/22/2017 00:49 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Alteryx hack is huge! 123 million US households

Irvine CA

120 Million American Households Exposed In 'Massive' ConsumerView Database Leak

Information on more than 120 million American households was sitting in a massive database found left exposed on the web earlier this month, Forbes has been told. It included an extraordinary range of personal details on residents, including addresses, ethnicity, interests and hobbies, income, right down to what kind of mortgage the house was under and how many children lived at the property. In total, there were 248 different data fields for each household, according to the researcher who uncovered the leak data this week.



Posted by: 3dc || 12/22/2017 00:48 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Pirates

#1  all your data are belong us.
Posted by: Captain Grundy1029 || 12/22/2017 5:03 Comments || Top||

#2  Not a a hack. The data wa sitting there for the world to see.

So long as data is stored in the cloud or on internet-connected private servers, incompetence will guarantee it will be made available to the bad guys.
Posted by: KBK || 12/22/2017 8:01 Comments || Top||

#3  It's been in the hands of telemarketers for years. Horse, barn door.
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/22/2017 8:04 Comments || Top||

#4  Are there any financial penalties associated with jackassery like this? I would term this gross negligence. Companies trafficking in personal data - and these days, that's really everyone - need to have respectable security or risk fines/jail/ass-kicking. Equifax anyone?
Posted by: Glomosing Omainter7636 || 12/22/2017 10:19 Comments || Top||

#5  Equifax should have been Executed. That would have served as a wakeup call for the industry.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/22/2017 13:25 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon Conducts First-Ever Census of Palestinian Refugees
[AnNahar] More than 174,000 Paleostinian refugees live in Leb, authorities announced Thursday, in the first-ever census of its kind for a country where demographics have long been a sensitive subject.

The census was carried out by the government's Lebanese-Paleostinian Dialogue Committee in 12 Paleostinian camps as well as 156 informal "gatherings" across the country.

The census result is much lower than the 469,331 people registered in Leb with the U.N.'s Paleostinian refugee agency.
The result of 174,422 Paleostinian refugees is much lower than previous estimates of up to 500,000.

Paleostinians began taking refuge in Leb with the creation of Israel in 1948, setting up camps that have since transformed into bustling, urban districts.

But their presence has long been a controversial in Leb, with many blaming it for the eruption of the bitter war that ravaged the country between 1975 and 1990.

Leb has not carried out a census of its own citizens since 1932, making the 2017 count even more remarkable.

It sheds light on the living conditions of 174,422 Paleostinian refugees, as well as another 18,601 Paleostinians who fled the neighboring conflict in Syria to camps in Leb.

It found the population split evenly between men and women, but nearly half of the total are 24 or younger.

Around 7.2 percent are illiterate, but an impressive 93.6 percent of children aged between three to 13 were enrolled in schools. Around 18 percent of the workforce is unemployed.

Leb's Paleostinian camps suffer serious problems, with varying degrees of poverty, overcrowding, unemployment, poor housing conditions and lack of infrastructure.

Announcing the results, Prime Minister Saad Hariri
Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah
...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
has him bumped off, too.

said Leb had a "duty" towards Paleostinians.

"Over the past decades, the social and humanitarian problems faced by Paleostinian refugees have accumulated, and the reality in the camps has become tragic on all levels," Hariri said at the Grand Serail.

But he insisted Leb would, under no circumstances, accept their naturalization.

Paleostinian officials have also consistently rejected permanent resettlement in Leb because of their longstanding demand that those who fled or were forced out of their homes with the creation of Israel be granted the right of return.

The census result is much lower than the 469,331 people registered in Leb with the U.N.'s Paleostinian refugee agency.
An interesting observation for any country wanting to significantly reduce their donation to the UNWRA...
"UNRWA does not have a headcount of Paleostinian refugees who are currently residing in Leb. What we have as an agency are official registration records for the number of registered Paleostine refugees in Leb," spokeswoman Huda Samra told AFP.

"If someone registered with UNRWA in Leb decided to live outside Leb, they don't notify us," she said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/22/2017 00:23 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The census result is much lower than the 469,331 people registered in Leb with the U.N.'s Paleostinian refugee agency.

Because Leb censors require proof, whereas UNRWA only asks you to say "Death to Israel! Death to America!"
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2017 5:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Paleostinian officials have also consistently rejected permanent resettlement in Leb because of their longstanding demand that those who fled or were forced out of their homes with the creation of Israel be granted the right of return.

Which will NEVER HAPPEN
Posted by: Frank G || 12/22/2017 8:03 Comments || Top||

#3  How many? Start at $#it load and work up from there.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/22/2017 8:31 Comments || Top||

#4  The UN only counts the number of 'people' to whom they give out rations. Surprise surprise that is three times the actual number of people.
Of course there is no fraud, like there is no voting fraud.
Posted by: Daniel || 12/22/2017 19:48 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Australia to end air campaign against Islamic State in Syria, Iraq
[IsraelTimes] Country's six Hornet jets to leave Middle East after three-year mission, though several hundred troops to remain to train Iraqi forces.

Defense Minister Marise Payne said Canberra had decided to scale back its mission after consultations with coalition allies following more than 2,700 sorties.

"The battlefield success against ISIS means our own Operation OKRA has now reached a natural transition point and our strike aircraft will begin returning home early in the New Year," she said, referring to IS by its Arabic acronym.

"Since October 2014, our Hornet pilots and support personnel have made a significant contribution in support of the Iraqi Security Forces and I commend all the personnel who have contributed over this period for their dedication, skill and professionalism."

Based in the Middle East, Australia’s Air Task Group consists of six F/A-18 Hornets, an E-7A Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft, and a KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker and Transport plane.

While the Hornets are returning, the Wedgetail and the refueling plane will continue to support coalition operations and around 380 personnel will stay to train Iraqi forces.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/22/2017 00:07 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Back in the day, Rumsfeld suggested that a good many countries support us in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Some were useful, like the Brits always are, and the Aussies.
But there were others, "the Stone platoon", from Estonia, a unit from El Salvador and yet others. A good many countries have gotten some version of combat time for their lifers, noncoms and commissioned. They've worked with us. As a future benefit, this may be of more use than their actual help on the ground.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 12/22/2017 0:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Thanks R for mentioning "Stone Platoon." Did not know about before.
Posted by: Woodrow || 12/22/2017 8:20 Comments || Top||

#3  The Albanians did a pretty good job south of Kandahar, 2011-2012 timeframe.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 8:22 Comments || Top||

#4  I understand those 4 Danish snipers got a workout.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/22/2017 10:42 Comments || Top||

#5  My old Czech au pair girl and her family joined with her husband’s colleagues to put together a car full of Christmas boxes for the Czech troops in Afghanistan. They’re awfully proud of their guys in uniform.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/22/2017 18:10 Comments || Top||


Europe
Germany says it foiled terror ramming plot on ice skating rink
[IsraelTimes] German national, 29, placed in durance vile
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
; authorities say he is an Islamic State supporter who tried to get a delivery driver job in preparation for attack


German police said they arrested Wednesday a man planning to carry out a ramming attack in the name of the Islamic State group on the crowds outside a skating rink.

The 29-year-old suspect, a German national, was believed to have scouted the target in the southern German city of Karlsruhe in August and allegedly tried to get a delivery driver job in preparation.

"The accused, Dasbar W., is strongly suspected of having supported IS and being a member of IS," German anti-terror prosecutors said in a statement. He is "strongly suspected of plotting a violent action."

The prosecutors said that between April and July 2015 he disseminated IS propaganda videos online. That same year he left Germany for the first time to travel to Iraq, returning home in March 2016.

He made a second trip in June 2016 during which he pledged allegiance to IS and underwent weapons training before coming back to Germany in July 2017.
Not merely a supporter, then, but a full-fledged, out-of-uniform soldier, which makes him a spy.
His arrest came the day after the first anniversary of the Christmas market attack in Berlin that killed 12 people and maimed hundreds. Rejected asylum seeker Anis Amri, a Tunisian, ploughed a truck into the market on December 19, 2016 before being rubbed out while on the run days later in Italia.

In a recent interview, German domestic intelligence chief Hans-Georg Maassen said the country was not immune from a new attack, with some 1,900 individuals in Germany suspected of having ties with jihadists.
The Local - Germany adds:
Prior to the suspect’s arrest on Wednesday over alleged plans to carry out an Isis-style ramming attack on the crowds outside a skating rink in the southern German city, security authorities had kept a close eye on the man for some time.

He is a German national born in Freiburg.
A convert or the descendant of Turkish guest workers?
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/22/2017 00:07 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  I think I saw this one. Did they use a Zamboni machine?
Posted by: gorb || 12/22/2017 0:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Didn't Tonya Harding already tried something like this? By using her ex-husband as a proxy?
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance || 12/22/2017 1:40 Comments || Top||

#3  an Islamic State supporter who tried to get a delivery driver job

Think of that next time you order a pizza.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/22/2017 3:00 Comments || Top||

#4  German national for how long has he had a passport?

I bet he's a GIPO
German
In
Passport
Only
Posted by: Crater tse Tung4923 || 12/22/2017 5:42 Comments || Top||

#5  That was me (minus cookie)
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/22/2017 6:56 Comments || Top||

#6  Jihad on ice. Soon to be an Olympic sport?

Along with Synchronized Chain Flogging
Posted by: Woodrow || 12/22/2017 8:04 Comments || Top||

#7  GIPO

According to the Badische Zeitung, the parents are Kurds from northern Iraq, and after working for many years in Germany, they returned there — perhaps after the 2003 invasion? — to live. I have to run, so I didn’t register to read the rest of the article.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/22/2017 16:51 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Why Israel’s massive defeat at the UN isn’t quite as bad as it looks
[IsraelTimes] Losing 128-9 hurts. But, thanks to Netanyahu's diplomatic outreach and Trump's threats to cut aid to states opposing his Jerusalem move, there's also some good news.

In Israeli diplomacy, everything is relative.

Was the outcome of Thursday’s vote at the United Nations
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/22/2017 00:07 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority

#1  I'm hoping Trump actually cuts funds to the lot of them. Also pulls US Nukes and NATO assigned troops out of Turkey, makes plans to pull them out of SKor and Japan since they dissed us and continues in that path around the globe.
That would do the budget some good and maybe throw the fear of god into some feckless "allies".
Posted by: 3dc || 12/22/2017 1:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Jews need an occasional reminder of how the world really is.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2017 2:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Jews need an occasional reminder of how the world really is. Posted by g(r)omgoru

Please add Baptists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Catholics, and Methodists as well.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 2:25 Comments || Top||

#4  You are a white, heterosexual male Besoeker, so repeat after me "Today I'm a Jew".
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2017 2:27 Comments || Top||

#5  Well, Trump (and his chum Jeff Session) seem to be all talk about Hillary, the FBI, etc., etc. So, why won't he be "all talk" about this as well. I guess that means we'll support the U.K., Australia, Germany, etc., less then, huh?
Posted by: DooDahMan || 12/22/2017 2:58 Comments || Top||

#6  ^No, but you can cut aid to Turkey and a whole lot of third world gangs masquerading as nations.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2017 3:29 Comments || Top||

#7  Agreed, but now we are picking and choosing.
Posted by: DooDahMan || 12/22/2017 5:25 Comments || Top||

#8  Not having a choice is bad, man.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2017 5:27 Comments || Top||

#9  Israel may take some hurt from it but it was a major Diss of the U S of A! Some folks are now proven not friends and total a-holes.

They need to be reminded...
Posted by: 3dc || 12/22/2017 7:40 Comments || Top||

#10 
Posted by: 3dc || 12/22/2017 7:41 Comments || Top||

#11  And folk from the USA do put a different spin on the world:
Posted by: 3dc || 12/22/2017 7:43 Comments || Top||

#12  And for the US hating MoFo's in the rest of this world... Remember there is a Neanderthal somewhere in the USA with your name ready to go on his trophy wall...

Posted by: 3dc || 12/22/2017 7:52 Comments || Top||

#13  It's always easier when your enemies make the lists themselves rather than you having to make one.
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/22/2017 8:22 Comments || Top||

#14  What “massive defeat”?
It was an opinion vote.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/22/2017 8:47 Comments || Top||

#15 
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2017 11:26 Comments || Top||

#16  What “massive defeat”?
It was an opinion vote.


This. And Israel wom’t take any significant hurt from it, either. Her products are too valuable, not to mention her help against Iran.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/22/2017 18:16 Comments || Top||

#17  Grom woke up on the west side of the bank this morning.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/22/2017 22:17 Comments || Top||


Arabia
US drone strike kills Qaeda propaganda chief in Yemen
[DAWN] The propaganda chief of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
...the latest incarnation of various Qaeda and Qaeda-allied groups, including the now-defunct Aden-Abyan Islamic Army that boomed the USS Cole in 2000...
(AQAP)was among six murderous Moslems killed in two separate US dronezaps in Yemen, tribal sources said on Thursday.

The Wednesday evening strikes came as Washington revealed that US forces have carried out more than 120 air strikes against murderous Moslems 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...
this year as part of a long-running campaign that has intensified since United States President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
took office.

Saudi-born Abu Hajar al-Makki and three other AQAP murderous Moslems were killed when a drone blew up their vehicle in the Wadi Obeida district of Marib province, east of the capital Sanaa, tribal sources said. A separate strike on a second vehicle killed two other AQAP murderous Moslems in the same area, they added.

Washington says its strikes have killed a number of senior AQAP figures in recent months, including Mujahid al-Adani, who was killed on November 20.

Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula


The Grand Turk
Turkey summons UAE envoy after Ottoman insult retweet
*Snicker*
[Al Jazeera] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
has summoned a United Arab Emirates diplomat over a recent social media post insulting an Ottoman-era governor that was shared by the UAE's foreign minister.

Acting UAE ambassador Hawla Ali al-Shamsi was summoned to the Ottoman Turkish foreign ministry, sources from the ministry told Anadolu news agency on condition of anonymity because of restrictions on speaking to the media.

The diplomat was informed of Turkey's concern over the post retweeted by Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The tweet was aimed at Fahreddin Pasha, the Ottoman governor of Medina, now 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...
, from 1916-1919.
Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  Those Turks sure are twitchy when it comes to being reminded about thier genocidal Empire.

The world is a better place when they realize the Turks are simply assholes, and treat them as such.
Posted by: Injun Bucket8891 || 12/22/2017 9:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Says something about leadership and low self esteem when everybody including domestics is bashing our guy and he doesn't spank anyone.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/22/2017 17:08 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Saudi forces kill fourth member of terrorist family of six from Awamiyah
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Salman al-Faraj, one of six bully boyz from the Faraj family, was killed by Saudi security forces on Tuesday during an exchange of gunfire. He was on the Saudi Interior Ministry’s list of the 23 most-desperados.

Salman is the fourth member of the al-Faraj terrorist group to be killed by Saudi security forces while Hussein al-Faraj remains in jug and authorities are in strong pursuit of the last member of the terrorist group, Majed al-Faraj.

He is wanted for his involvement in terrorist crimes with his brother Abdulraheem, who was killed during a gunfire exchange while security forces searched his house in Awamiyah. Majed’s crimes include shooting at a number of coppers, killing one, and armed robbery.

All six men were tracked down in al-Awamiyah in Qatif, east 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...
, where they reside.

The other two, Ali bin Ahmad al-Faraj and his cousin Hussein Modon al-Faraj, were killed alongside each other in a security operation.

The al-Faraj family lives in the al-Masura neighborhood in Awamiyah. Authorities in the eastern province have announced an eventual dismantling of the neighborhood.

They intend to execute a project as part of the development plans they are carrying out in Qatif as buildings in the Awamiyah neighborhood are more than 100 years old, and are randomly constructed in narrow alleys that are less than 1.5 meters wide. There is also a number of abandoned and destroyed houses in the neighborhood, all of which are factors that threaten the residents’ lives.

Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula

#1  Hunting down family members. Something that worked well for the Soviets in Beirut.
Posted by: Woodrow || 12/22/2017 8:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Just think of it as "cleansing the gene pool" and it will make more sense.
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 12/22/2017 20:24 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Taliban shadow district governor killed by own mine in Kunduz
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A shadow district governor of the Taliban
...Arabic for students...
group was killed by a mine planted by his own fighters in northern Kunduz province of Afghanistan.

The 209th Shaheen Corps of the Afghan army in the North said the district shadow governor of the Taliban for Khanabad was killed after stepping on a mine planted by the Taliban fighters.

The Silab Corps officials said Mawlavi Dost Mohammad was attempting to escape from the Afghan forces during an operation.

The officials further added that the operation was being conducted in Ibrahim Khel village when the incident took place and as a result a bodyguard of Mawlavi Dost Mohammad was seriously maimed.

Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  I love these heartwarming Christmas stories.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/22/2017 15:45 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Who is the Saudi Shiite judge found killed by his Shiite terrorist compatriots?
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The body of Shiite Sheikh Mohammed al-Jirani, who was kidnapped a year ago by Shiite faceless myrmidons in the eastern province, was found on Tuesday in Qatif during a security raid.

Jirani was kidnapped in December last year in front of his home in the Tarout Island. At the time, security forces tossed in the calaboose
I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece!
three men who were monitoring Jirani. They also identified three of the Shiite kidnappers: Mohammed Hussein Ali al-Ammar, Maytham Ali Mohammed al-Qodeihi and Ali Bilal Saud al-Hamad. All three are still wanted by the authorities.

Security officer Khaled al-Sammatti was martyred during the security raid on Tuesday in the town of Awamiyah in Qatif. and a wanted terrorist identified as Salman Ali Salman al-Farj was killed in the exchange of gunfire.

Jirani’s body was found buried near the site of the raid.

Before his abduction, Jirani was targeted several times. His house and car were set on fire in 2011 while his family was home and they miraculously survived. In 2012, assailants attacked his home again but failed to storm it, and they expeditiously departed at a goodly pace before police arrived.

Jirani had made several important remarks such as his statements to MBC channel in October 2016 when he criticized some Qatif residents for sending Zakat to Iran, Iraq and Leb instead of distributing it to the people in their city.

He had also condemned attacks against security forces, voiced his rejection of using influential platforms to criticize the state and attack it and slammed those who exploit the youth and involve them in strife and protests.

Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Jihadist rebels refuse terms of surrender near occupied Golan Heights
[ALMASDARNEWS] The jihadist rebels of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham
have once again refused the terms offered by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) to surrender the Beit Jinn pocket of west Damascus.

According to a report from the 42nd Brigade of the 4th Division, the Syrian Army offered the jihadist rebels safe passage from the Beit Jinn pocket to the Idlib Governorate; however, the latter refused the destination.

The report added that negotiations have completely failed and that the Syrian Army will continue their operation until the entire jihadist pocket is cleared.

Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham currently has no supply lines available and no way to leave this pocket, so they will likely have no choice but to negotiate a settlement once the Syrian Army captured Tal Marwan near Mughar al-Mir.
Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra


Syrian Army lays big ambush on rebel reinforcements sneaking from Israel towards Beit Jinn
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) laid a successful ambush on a group of rebel reinforcements that were making their way from the Israeli border to the besieged Beit Jinn pocket in west Damascus today.

According to a military report, the rebel reinforcements were navigating through Mount Hermon from the occupied territories, when army scouts spotted the group.

Once the rebel reinforcements attempted to cross into the government areas, the Syrian Army opened fire with a barrage of missiles and artillery shells, killing several bully boyz in the process.

The rebels that were not killed by the ambush had managed to slip back across the border to the occupied territories, a military source added.
Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


-Land of the Free
Students file complaint, tear down ‘racist’ pictures of Kate Steinle
[WASHINGTONTIMES] Students at the University of Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, San Diego filed a complaint and triggered an administrative probe after pictures of Kate Steinle were hung on campus.

Gregory Lu said he hung up 150 posters picturing Steinle with the caption, "She had dreams too," on Dec. 7. Four days later, he said he received an email from the Office for the Prevention of Harassment & Discrimination asking to meet with him.

"Our office received an online incident report and I would like to schedule a time to speak with you about it," an investigator wrote in the email, reported The College Fix. "Are you free this week by phone or in person."

Mr. Lu said the meeting has not taken place and he has contacted an attorney. He said the probe is an attempt to intimidate conservative students on campus, arguing that the same scrutiny would not be applied to a poster advocating a liberal stance on immigration.

"We have had a bunch of left-wing posters go up all the time," he said. "So the argument they might make is, ’This is a political poster, we don’t want you to put it up,’ is a nonsensical argument because leftists put up posters all the time."

Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Office for the Prevention of Harassment & Discrimination (a.k.a. snowflake protection services)
Posted by: Ulaigum Ebbineng7056 || 12/22/2017 1:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Office for the Prevention of Harassment & Discrimination (a.k.a. NKVD
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2017 2:03 Comments || Top||

#3  White hating racists claiming racism. How very special.
Posted by: Woodrow || 12/22/2017 8:31 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Venezuela may ban main opposition parties from presidential vote
[REUTERS] Venezuela’s pro-government legislative superbody ruled on Wednesday that parties who boycotted this month’s local elections had lost legitimacy, potentially eliminating the main opposition groups from the 2018 presidential race.
Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  I've always wondered why dictatorships go to the trouble of trying to find "weasel words" to describe the tyranny.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/22/2017 8:44 Comments || Top||


Cuban leader Raúl Castro will stay in power past February
[MiamiHerald] The Cuban government has announced that it will postpone a historic presidential election scheduled in two months’ time that was expected to result in a generational political transition and Cuban leader Raúl Castro’s stepping down from office.

Castro will remain in power at least until April 19, the date now set for election of a new legislature and the president of the Councils of State and Ministers, positions that Castro currently holds. The official announcement, published in the Communist Party newspaper Granma on Thursday, said the decision was made because of the impact of Hurricane Irma, which hit Cuba as a category 5 storm in September.

Storm recovery also delayed municipal elections ‐ the first step in a process that was to culminate in the Feb. 24 election of a new National Assembly and the selection of a new president. Provincial elections where candidates are selected by slates determined by electoral commissions also were postponed until March 25.

Since 2013, Castro has been saying that he planned to retire Feb. 24, the end of his second term in power after succeeding his late brother Fidel.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Al Franken or Raul Castro - who leaves first? What's the book in Vegas?
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/22/2017 8:01 Comments || Top||


Europe
Catalan separatists projected to win snap election
[Al Jazeera] Exit polls following Catalonia's snap election show pro-independence parties maintaining their majority in the regional parliament, setting up a conflict with Madrid.

Catalonia's parliament has 135 seats, requiring 68 seats for a majority. Secessionist parties are projected to win between 67 and 71 seats.

The results are not in line with the desires of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who called the snap election in October.

Unionist parties are projected to win a maximum of 62 seats. No official results have yet been published and it was unclear if final results would match the poll published by La Vanguardia newspaper as voting stations closed.

Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Russian jets launch nonstop airstrikes over southern Idlib
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Russian Aerospace Forces launched a large number of Arclight airstrikes over the southern countryside of the Idlib Governorate, tonight, targeting the positions of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham
around the town of Abu Dali.

Russian jets flying out of the Hmaymim Military Airbase began their attack by launching airstrikes over the towns of Abu Dali and Musharifah.

These Russian airstrikes were followed by a big attack on the northern Hama towns of al-Lataminah and Kafr Zita, which are the future targets of the Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) offensive.

In the coming days, the Syrian Army is expected to begin this long-awaited offensive to retake the Hama-Idlib axis from the jihadist rebels.
Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra

#1  So Trump gave syria to the Russians in exchange for Israel and first round picks in Africa?
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/22/2017 3:02 Comments || Top||

#2  So Trump gave syria to the Russians

They already had Syria despite President Snowflake's temper tantrums.

in exchange for Israel

Russians are not about to mess with Israel - they understand what we mean when we speak about "Metzada with WMD".

and first round picks in Africa?

Are you seriously suggesting Trump is eager to pour American blood & treasure down this particular bottomless hole?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2017 3:47 Comments || Top||

#3  No worries Skid. Europe is the new African Mecca.
Posted by: Woodrow || 12/22/2017 8:09 Comments || Top||

#4  You can always trade first round draft picks for multiples in the following rounds Grom.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/22/2017 10:38 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Jamiat-e-Islami sets conditions to accept Noor’s removal as Balkh governor
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Jamaat-e-Islami party has set conditions to accept the recent decision by President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
regarding the removal of Ata Mohammad Noor as the provincial governor of northern Balkh province, it has been reported.

The deputy front man of Jamaat-e-Islami Zabi Fitrat has told RFE/RL’s Afghanistan service that the party will only accept the removal of Mr. Noor if the government reconsiders its recent decision and accepts the conditions of the party.

Fitrat further added that the main conditions of Jamaat-e-Islami party shared with the government includes the future option for Ata Mohammad Noor and the government should hand over the responsibility of some ministries to Jamaat as well as appointing some Ambassadors on behalf of the party.

Jamaat-e-Islami on Wednesday issued a statement and said the conditions regarding Ata Mohammad Noor were shared with the government from the beginning but not only the conditions of the party have been met but the government has adopted a policy of hatred and hostility.

The party warned that such unilateral steps are not acceptable and the government will be responsible for the repercussions, emphasizing that the party will use all options to defend the rights of the people if the government did not reconsider its decision regarding the Balkh governor.

This comes as the Office of the President announced Monday that President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has approved the resignation of Balkh governor Ata Mohammad Noor.

The Office of the President in a statement said Mr. Noor had resigned from his position as the governor of Balkh province a while ago.

The statement further added that President Ghani has approved his resignation and Engineer Mohammad Daud has been appointed as the new governor of Balkh province.

Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


Arabia
Number of cholera cases in Yemen hits one million
[Al Jazeera] The number of cholera cases 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...
has hit one million people according to the International Committee of the Red Thingy (ICRC), a new milestone for what was already one of the fastest growing outbreaks of the deadly disease in modern history.

After almost three years of war between a Saudi-led coalition and 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, more than 80 percent of Yemenis lack access to food, fuel, clean water, and healthcare.

As of late September, cholera had killed more than 2,200 people in Yemen, according to UN figures.

Although cholera has a death rate of 0.3 percent, the size of the outbreak combined with the lack of equipment and medical staff to deal with the crisis puts thousands more at risk of death.

Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  At what point does a nation grind to a halt?
Posted by: 3dc || 12/22/2017 1:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Yemen/Population
= 27.58 million
1/27.58 = the infection rate.
Posted by: 3dc || 12/22/2017 1:59 Comments || Top||

#3  At what point does a nation grind to a halt?

They, along with every other Arab country, were never a Nation - so your question is meaningless, 3dc.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2017 2:23 Comments || Top||

#4  cholera has a death rate of 0.3 percent

1,000,000*.003~300

Guess 300 dead from cholera in yemen isn't as good a headline.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/22/2017 10:46 Comments || Top||

#5  STOP DRINKING SHIT FILLED WATER!!!!

You know what? I can't even bring myself to care.

Continue.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/22/2017 11:34 Comments || Top||

#6  cholera has a death rate of 0.3 percent

In western hospitals, Skidmark, in western hospitals.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2017 11:58 Comments || Top||

#7  They don’t have enough water, and waste what they have; they haven’t enough fuel to boil what they do have; and most of the country is under the influence of qat from noon onward each day, so even filtering the water before use is likely not done consistently. Then there are the wars — Houthis against Saudi Arabia, Al Qaeda against whoever wanders by their tribal hideouts...

The wonder is that they all aren’t dead of everything.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/22/2017 16:38 Comments || Top||

#8  but the Houthis are the Popular Committees™? Let em suffer...
Posted by: Frank G || 12/22/2017 20:01 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Teenage Hindu girl abducted, forcibly converted in Thar, claims family
[DAWN] A teenage Hindu girl who was recently kidnapped from a village in Thar has been forced to convert to Islam and reportedly made to enter a marriage, her family and relatives claimed on Thursday.

The family of the 14-year-old girl told news hounds at Islamkot press club that the girl was kidnapped a few days ago after three gunnies barged into their home and held the family hostage.

Hero Meghwar, the said girl's father, revealed that he contacted local people of influence but was told that the girl had converted and married a certain Naseer Lunjo, hence there is little that could be done.

The family members alleged that local police, too, was not interested in recovering the girl. They demanded that the girl should be recovered and produced before a court if she has indeed converted.

But SSP Thar Ameer Saud Magsi maintained that a first information report (FIR) has been registered under Sections 365 and 34 of the Pakistain Penal Code, while raids are being conducted to arrest the three suspects nominated in the FIR.

The SSP revealed that according to a letter he received from elders of the person accused of converting the girl, the girl had converted to Islam at the hand of a pir (spiritual leader) in Umerkot district.

Magsi said not only has the police received a certificate of conversion, a copy of which is available with Dawn, issued by the pir, but also the now-married couple has filed an application in the Sindh High Court, seeking protection. He said the court has fixed the application for hearing on January 17 next year.

The conversion certificate, however, leaves open the mystery of how a 14-year-old from a distant Thar village made it as far as Samaro.

Taking notice of the matter, Sindh Inspector General of Police A.D. Khawaja has directed deputy inspector general Mirpurkhas to immediately submit a report regarding steps taken by the police and details of the inquiry into the case.

Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Down Under
Day 2: The horrific moment 'ice-addict' Afghan refugee 'ploughed into a crowd of pedestrians' injuring 19 - as police say he complained about Australia's 'poor treatment of Muslims' after arrest
A summary of what was known at the end of yesterday, and a place to put what is revealed today.
[DailyMail]
  • Afghan refugee reportedly named Saeed Noori, 32, arrested over alleged Melbourne rampage on Thursday

  • Driver was known to police and had been a drug user with mental health problems and a criminal record, missed a medical appointment on the day of the attack

  • Migrant acted alone, deliberately ploughing SUV into pedestrians outside Flinders Street Station - but cops rule out terror

  • Off-duty Victorian police officer injured his shoulder arresting the rampaging driver during peak hour chaos

  • Noori, who is at St Vincent's Hospital under police guard, spoke about dreams and voices, blamed attack on 'poor treatment of Muslims'

  • A second man, 24, carrying a bag of knives was arrested but police believe he had no link with the incident. He was released Friday morning, expected to be charged with possession of cannabis and a prohibited weapon

  • Noori arrived legally in Australia as a refugee in 2004 through a resettlement program.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  •Driver was known to police and had been a drug user with mental health problems and a criminal record, missed a medical appointment on the day of the attack in other words a Devout Muslim.
Posted by: Ulaigum Ebbineng7056 || 12/22/2017 1:12 Comments || Top||

#2  Driving while Muslim terrorism.
Posted by: Woodrow || 12/22/2017 8:22 Comments || Top||

#3  DWI—-driving while Islamic.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/22/2017 11:02 Comments || Top||

#4  I truly do think that Vlad the Impaler had the right idea after all.
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 12/22/2017 20:30 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
University of Minnesota: Guide calling Christmas trees, dreidels inappropriate was ‘ill-advised’
[WASHINGTONTIMES] The University of Minnesota has disavowed a set of guidelines issued by one of its academic departments labeling holiday symbols such as Christmas trees, doves and dreidels as "religious iconography" inappropriate for a school setting.

The school’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resources Sciences recently issued a set of guidelines that encouraged employees to "recognize holidays in ways that are respectful of the diversity of our community," Campus Reform first reported.

The department included a list of "religious iconography" that shouldn’t be included in holiday parties, such as Santa Claus, Christmas trees, bows/wrapped gifts, bells, doves, dreidels, and green and red color schemes.

The list made the rounds on conservative media sites as evidence of an academic "War on Christmas," but the university on Thursday distanced itself from the controversy.

The guidelines were "the actions of a single employee, whose attempt at a diversity training session was, to be blunt, ill advised," and "does not constitute a policy on the part of the university," the school told Campus Reform in a statement.

Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What was in the atmosphere that caused numbnuts to think this was a good idea and his bosses would think well of his motivation and initiative?
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 12/22/2017 0:23 Comments || Top||

#2  But prayer mats are ok.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/22/2017 7:47 Comments || Top||

#3  So whoever the "single employee" was as Faculty advising and participating in this has been reprimanded and removed from authority, right?

Right?
Posted by: Frank G || 12/22/2017 8:10 Comments || Top||

#4  Since the diktat said they should celebrate neutral things like a "winter celebration," the best comment I saw was something along the lines of who in his right mind celebrates winter in Minnesota?
Posted by: Tom || 12/22/2017 8:30 Comments || Top||

#5  who in his right mind celebrates winter in Minnesota? Those who are trying to keep riff-raff as far away from the state as possible?
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/22/2017 13:27 Comments || Top||

#6  And you say there is no "war on Christmas"?
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/22/2017 21:23 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas chief in Gaza says Palestinian unity deal is collapsing
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Paleostinian Islamist group Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",’s leader in Gazoo said on Thursday a reconciliation deal with President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
’s Fatah faction was collapsing, just 10 weeks after the agreement was reached.

The rivals signed a deal brokered by Cairo on Oct. 12 after Hamas agreed to hand over administrative control of the Gazoo Strip, including its border crossings with Egypt and Israel, a decade after seizing control of the enclave in a civil war.

The deal bridged a deep gulf between Abbas’s Western-backed mainstream Fatah and Hamas, an Islamist movement designated a terrorist group by Western countries and Israel. But continued disputes have delayed its implementation.

Yehya al-Sinwar, Hamas’s chief in Gazoo and a key architect of the unity agreement, offered a bleak outlook on Thursday, suggesting the deal could suffer a similar fate to numerous reconciliation attempts over the past decade.

"The reconciliation project is falling apart. Only a blind man can’t see that," Sinwar said in comments published by pro-Hamas media.

One of the latest disputes came earlier this month when Hamas, according to Fatah officials, missed a milestone to complete the handover of Gazoo to Abbas’s West Bank-based government.

Hamas says it has given up all administrative control in Gazoo.

Rami al-Hamdallah, the prime minister, said Hamas had not transferred moneys as agreed, while Hamas said Hamdallah’s government had not paid salaries in Gazoo as agreed.

Sinwar in the past has said his group would not go back to governing Gazoo and that he was committed to making the deal succeed.

Fatah officials declined immediate comment.

"Reconciliation is collapsing because some people want to get from it the relinquishing of arms and the closing of tunnels," said Sinwar without elaborating, but in apparent reference to Fatah.

During the last Gazoo war, in 2014, Hamas fighters used dozens of tunnels to blindside Israel’s superior forces and threaten civilian communities near the frontier.

Israel and the United States have called for Hamas to be disarmed as part of the pact between it and the Paleostinian Authority, so that Israeli peace efforts with Paleostinian President Mahmoud Abbas, which collapsed in 2014, can proceed. Hamas has rejected the demand.

Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Unexpectedly.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2017 2:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Good.
Posted by: Woodrow || 12/22/2017 8:25 Comments || Top||

#3  Damn...and I had so much emotionally invested in this
Posted by: Frank G || 12/22/2017 8:55 Comments || Top||

#4  Ohgeedarnthatissosad...
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/22/2017 9:12 Comments || Top||

#5  Oh well, I had the under on it lasting to Thanksgiving.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/22/2017 15:16 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Zimbabwe: Illegal Perks Cost Harare $9m
[All Africa] Harare City Council executives prejudiced council of more than $3 million in unsanctioned allowances and performance bonuses, while executives' golden handshakes accounted for more than $6 million at a time when the city recorded huge budget deficits and service delivery had plunged to an all-time low.

Harare Water director Engineer Hosiah Chisango was appointed acting town clerk tasked with appointing officials to fill the void left by the suspended officials; acting town clerk Mrs Josephine Ncube, human capital director Dr Cainos Chingombe, Dr Prosper Chonzi (Health Services) and Tendai Kwenda (Finance).

According to the City of Harare Report of the Tribunal on the Ministerial Audit Report of June 30, 2016, the officials dipped into the Traditional Beer Levy account, using the funds to purchase top-of-the-range vehicles, while some funds were transferred to personal accounts without any explanation.

The Traditional Beer Act (Chapter 14:24) requires breweries that sell traditional beer within the jurisdiction of a local authority to pay a levy of three percent of the sales to the local authority, which is required to use the levy for welfare activities as prescribed by the Minister of Local Government.

Former town clerk Dr Tendai Mahachi, the report notes, got $740 751 in unauthorised benefits, human capital director Dr Cainos Chingombe $601 080, acting town clerk Mrs Josephine Ncube $506 175, health services director Dr Prosper Chonzi $477 888, finance director Mr Tendai Kwenda $242 321, former works director Engineer Phillip Pfukwa $116 805 and former Harare Water director Eng Christopher Zvobgo $123 361.

The tribunal also revealed that generous packages were paid to 10 retrenched directors, prejudicing council of more than $6 million, while former health services director Dr Stanley Mungofa was also allocated a house at the corner of Bob Muggsy Mugabe
Nonagenarian President-for-Life of Zim-bob-we who turned the former Breadbasket of Africa into the African Basket Case. Dumped in November 2017 when the Missus decided she wanted to be president, and opposed heer might against Crocodile Mnangawa Important safety tip: If your opponent goes by the name Crocodile andf your title is Shopper in Chief let him win....
Road and Rotten Row. Dr Mungofa's severance package also made no such reference to the cost of the allocation of both an industrial stand and a residential stand. He was paid $1 747 23, 05

Other retrenched directors include Mr Cosmas Zvikaramba (business development), who was paid $838 843,18, Mr Justine Chivavaya (housing and community services) $559,670, 82, Mr Psychology Chiwanga (urban planning services) $747,835, 74 and Mr Leslie Gwindi (corporate affairs) $530 493, 71.

Managers Mr Emmanuel Muza (waste management manager) had $408 580,30 and cemetery manager Mr Raymond Chiromo had $478 085,49 in golden handshakes.

"Individual contracts of employment did not state applicable allowances to be paid, and yet there were more than one type of allowance paid to all executives," reads the report. "The payment of the same had a direct effect on total council costs and, as such, each allowance was part of the total remuneration budget.

Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Malawi - Bushiri Buys Daughter K300 Million Car As Birthday Gift
[All Africa] Few weeks after buying a fleet of vehicles to some of his workers, Prophet Shepherd Bushiri returned to vehicle dealers this week and bought a K300 million top of the range Maserati Levante as birthday gift for his first born daughter.

In buying the gift, the South Africa based preacher has underlined that people should not just look at the money; rather, they should learn the importance of being there for family and, also, the need for responsible parenthood.

The daughter, Israella, was born December 25 five years ago.

The delightful preacher unveiled the gift Wednesday afternoon and wrote movingly about his unconditional love for the daughter.

Israella, despite being four-years old, is already a hit at church because she carries the anointing of healing.

The Prophet, later, took it to Facebook to celebrate her daughter's coming of age.

He wrote: "A man should never neglect his family for business. This is the reason why I always take time out with my family and show them love. Their happiness defines my success. Celebrating the birth of our daughter, Israella Bushiri!"

He added: "It seems like just yesterday when her little palms held my forefinger. It seems like only a while ago when I celebrated that finally I could lift her up and allow her to rest on my shoulders.

"It's been a joy and heavens honor to watch her grow from being a baby to being the strong and brave child that she is today. I count myself blessed because not only did she give me a reason to smile but she gave me the opportunity to be called a Dad.

"My sweet little daughter, my pride and joy. May God's loving kindness always shine on your beautiful face. I prophesy long life! You shall be great and yours, shall be a life that heaven celebrates. Happy birthday my princess!"

The Prophet is currently in Malawi for several line up charity programmes targeting the poor.

Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Germany: Suspected Taliban member arrested
[DW] A young Afghan man who is "strongly suspected" of being a member of the Taliban
...Arabic for students...
has been extradited to Germany by French authorities. He reportedly arrived in Germany as an asylum seeker in 2015.


Federal prosecutors in Karlsruhe on Wednesday announced the arrest of a 21-year-old Afghan man who is believed to be a member of the Taliban.

Officials accuse the man, identified as Jabar N. in line with German privacy rules, of having joined the "terrorist group" in 2011.

How is Germany dealing with threat of terrorism?
In their statement, prosecutors said the suspect reportedly took part in at least 30 festivities with Afghan cops and fought against bandidos holy warriors associated with the so-called "Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
" (IS).

In the summer of 2015, Jabar N. arrived in Germany from Afghanistan via Iran, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
and Greece, through the refugee asylum process. As he was being sought, the man fled to La Belle France, where he was later apprehended and extradited back to Germany.

The suspect will remain in jug while his case is being processed.

Wednesday's arrest is the latest in a series of detentions that have been carried out in Germany due to increased security concerns. Since German Chancellor Angela Merkel
...chancellor of Germany and the impetus behind Germany's remarkably ill-starred immigration program. Merkel used to be referred to by Germans as Mom. Now they make faces at her for inundating the country with Moslems ..
opened the country's doors to hundreds of thousands of refugees in September 2015, authorities have prosecuted several individuals suspected of having ties to the Taliban and IS.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


-Land of the Free
New York Times Column Says Trump Is About To Stage A Coup
[DAILYCALLER] A New York Times

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

contributor cranked the 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...
-hysteria-meter to 11 on Thursday when he wrote the president "and his allies seem on the verge of staging a coup against independent institutions and the rule of law."

In the column "The Real Coup Plot Is Trump’s," New York Times contributor and Harvard University lecturer Yascha Mounk warns readers about the upcoming assault on American democracy that the president is plotting.

Fox News host Jesse Watters recently claimed that in the midst of all the alleged bias within the FBI, that "we have a coup on our hands in America."

Mounk doesn’t cite any evidence that Trump is preparing to fire special counsel Robert Mueller ‐ the president, after all, has said repeatedly that he doesn’t intend to.

If you dare criticize Mueller, you are making yourself an "active accomplice in a deliberate assault on our democracy," according to the New York Times op-ed.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan
...Speaker of the House, U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district, serving since 1999. He is a member of the Republican Party. He proposed an alternative to President Obama's 2011 budget and made himself the target of both Democrat and Republican verbal pies...
and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell were busy passing tax cuts for over 80 percent of Americans. Now, they are "equally to blame" for the public’s growing mistrust of the Russia probe, according to Mounk.

The real blame falls on "mainstream conservatives" for any damage America’s institutions have faced, according to Mounk.
Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  (Reads article)

Hmmm.


I wonder what color the sky is on this dude's world.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 12/22/2017 4:44 Comments || Top||

#2  These people have zero empathy and can't really imagine anybody different from themselves - except for stereotypes like "African-American" (all other "brown" people are honorary "African-American")
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2017 4:59 Comments || Top||

#3  "If'n yore gonna lie, lie big"__ Heinrich Himmler
Posted by: Captain Grundy1029 || 12/22/2017 5:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Since Everything they do is projection this is worrying.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/22/2017 5:45 Comments || Top||

#5  2. Propaganda must be planned and executed by only one authority.

So which authority is planning and executing this strategy? Who is directing the NYT and WaPo?

4. Propaganda must affect the enemy's policy and action.

This NYT propaganda article is an obvious attempt to protect Meuller. What can I say? Thank you for being so transparent.

13. Propaganda must be carefully timed.

Why now? What is AG Sessions doing that the NYT is trying to prevent? This is good news.

14. Propaganda must label events and people with distinctive phrases or slogans.

Staging a coup; that is rich. The President is the chief executive. Executive branch agencies fighting presidential authority are not deserving of protection and talk of a coup is just ridiculous. Checks and balances include Congress and the Courts.

Maybe somebody with PSYOP training can chime in.
Posted by: S. Sleater9697 || 12/22/2017 5:55 Comments || Top||

#6  Yascha Mounk Born: 1982, Munich, Germany

Knew he didn't sound like a Mayflower Democrat.
Posted by: 3dc || 12/22/2017 7:36 Comments || Top||

#7  I'm confused, I thought it was the left that was doing the coup...

So are we having one or not and who can I shoot?
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/22/2017 7:56 Comments || Top||

#8  Donald taking a dump on the NYT's poo. And the snowcranks there whimper.
Posted by: Woodrow || 12/22/2017 8:49 Comments || Top||

#9  A coup against the shadow government/deep state? A clean-up and clean-out has been needed for a long time. A lack of transparency/sunshine in government is the enemy of freedom. As has been said: "Trading freedom for safety and security will result in neither."
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/22/2017 8:54 Comments || Top||

#10  I was under the impression that by definition, the one staging a coup is the one not in power, hence the coup.

Do the morons at the NYT not realize that Trump won the election and thus is the one in power? Are they seriously suggesting that he is about to stage a coup against himself?

This takes LPL (Liberal Pretzel Logic) to a whole new level that I didn’t think was possible.

(If I could figure out how to insert the Yoda “hysteria” meme pic that I just uploaded, I would)
Posted by: Eltoroverde || 12/22/2017 9:55 Comments || Top||

#11  #10I was under the impression that by definition, the one staging a coup is the one not in power, hence the coup. Do the morons at the NYT not realize that Trump won the election and thus is the one in power? Are they seriously suggesting that he is about to stage a coup against himself?

NYT: "See? That's what THEY want you to think!!11!! That's how devious the Donald IS!""
Posted by: Frank G || 12/22/2017 11:14 Comments || Top||

#12  "When he's not being an idiot, that is"
Posted by: Frank G || 12/22/2017 11:15 Comments || Top||

#13  NYT bitten by the projection tick. It’s in the blood area folks.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/22/2017 11:20 Comments || Top||

#14  Bloodstream
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/22/2017 11:22 Comments || Top||

#15  Give a dog a bad name so you can hang him. SSDD, from the NYT.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/22/2017 13:36 Comments || Top||

#16  Well someones got to remove that horrible Trump from power and it seems like Trump's the only one with the balls to do it.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/22/2017 19:39 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Palestinians in Jerusalem: UN vote 'pointless exercise'
[Al Jazeera]
Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority

#1  A reason for this, says Nora Sub Laban, a resident of the Old City - which hosts Jerusalem's major religious sites - is that Trump's decision reflected an already existing but painful truth.

"When our leadership said it would accept a two-state solution, what was left for us to say? Oslo ruined us. We are surrounded by settlements from all sides and nothing is left for us of Jerusalem," Sub Laban
Posted by: Frank G || 12/22/2017 8:54 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
De Blasio thinks city-funded news outlets would be ‘more fair’

[NYPOST] There’s one sure way for Mayor Bill de Blasio to get better press coverage ‐ own the press.

The mayor said he’s open to the idea of the city investing in a media outlet that would cover the city.

"I think it’s a really good question and one that intrigues me and one that I’d be open in seeing the city invest in," de Blasio said last week during a closed-door Q&A with news hounds laid off by local news sites DNAinfo and Gothamist.

"Publicly sponsored, with appropriate grounds," he added. "The BBC model, not always perfect, but in the best sense ‐ there’s definitely a place for that."

De Blasio claimed a publicly owned press operation would be more "fair and responsive" and "create more balance" than those owned by "a bunch of rich individuals from multinational corporations."

The mayor’s comments, which were posted on Medium.com on Tuesday, raised red flags.

"The idea of the city directly funding local news would always raise questions about the independence of a news operation," said Brooklyn College journalism Professor Paul Moses.

Jarrett Murphy, publisher of CityLimits.org, added, "I’m generally pretty skeptical of the idea because I think it opens the door for some issues ‐ the credibility of the media is so important, and direct government funding could undermine that . . . I just don’t know if it’s a good idea."

De Blasio cited WNYC ‐ owned by the city from its inception in 1922 until Mayor Rudy Giuliani sold it in 1994 ‐ as an example of a city-funded outlet that worked.

"Sure, the mayor named the head of WNYC, but that was a no-fly zone in terms of political influence. You had to choose someone very much above the fray, using almost the same sensibilities we would think about naming judges, for example," de Blasio said.

But history suggests otherwise. "After private media outlets ‐ newspapers, TV, radio ‐ rejected my proposal and refused to publish the names of convicted johns, I ordered WNYC, then a city-owned radio station, to read the names," Ed Koch wrote in a 2008 op-ed about his actions as mayor in 1979.

Guardian Angel Curtis Sliwa had a show on WNYC for one year in 1994 "after I was forced upon them by Rudy Giuliani," he told the New York Times

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

in 2006.

Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Or you could just stop behaving like an out of control leftist who hates cops...
Posted by: Raj || 12/22/2017 11:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Tyrants have always liked control of the narrative.

I'm surprised that Obola never tried this, but then, he probably figured that with NPR & PBS and WaPo and NYT it would be redundant.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/22/2017 15:55 Comments || Top||

#3  De Blasio thinks city-funded news outlets would be ‘more fair’

Well then he'd be quite pleased at the local Atlanta news fare.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 15:59 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Yemeni army arrests commander close to Houthi leader
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Yemeni army said on Thursday that its forces placed in durance vile
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
Hussein al-Houthi, a commander who is close to the movement’s leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi.

The Yemeni army detained Hussein and three of his lover companions at the Hamak Front between the Ibb and Dhale governorates, military sources told the army’s news website 26sepnews.

Hussein, who hails from Saada, and the three others were scouting the area in an ordinary vehicle and were dressed as civilians.
Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Bahrain warns against challenging US over 'side issues'
Wisdom.
[Al Jazeera] Bahrain's foreign minister has said it is unhelpful to "pick a fight" with the United States over "side issues", while there is a threat from Iran.

Khalid al-Khalifa tweeted to his 460,000 followers on Wednesday: "It's not helpful to pick a fight with the USA over side issues while we together fight the clear and present danger of The Theo-Fascist Islamic republic."

Relations between Bahrain and the Islamic Theocratic Republic, Iran, are strained over various issues.

Bahrain and Israel, meanwhile, are united in their views on Iran, which they see as a threat to security.

Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies

#1  Theo Fascist
That's a good name for my new pig.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/22/2017 10:53 Comments || Top||


International-UN-NGOs
UN condemns US recognition of Jerusalem in 128-9 vote
[WASHINGTONEXAMINER]
Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ok. Then leave.
Posted by: Ulaigum Ebbineng7056 || 12/22/2017 1:28 Comments || Top||

#2  They really don't understand how the Don thinks.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2017 2:04 Comments || Top||

#3  UM, shmum.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2017 2:30 Comments || Top||

#4  Hey UN! Thanks for the list of people to cut off from funding.
Posted by: Injun Bucket8891 || 12/22/2017 2:34 Comments || Top||

#5  I think that just a one third reduction in our $$ to the UN might be a good start.

Unfortunately you could never get NYC to cooperate with some properly timed and positioned road work.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/22/2017 7:59 Comments || Top||

#6  Nice idea. Whenever the UN does some stupid crap like this, any of the countries involved in bringing the vote are subject to a given percentage reduction of US-based funding. Make votes counter to ours have a real and tangible cost.

Same goes for the UN General Assembly - any time they bring and pass a resolution like this, an automatic reduction in UN funding of the General Assembly should take place.

Basically on regular issues, its not a change, but issues directly involving us? There must be a price to pay.
Posted by: Injun Bucket8891 || 12/22/2017 9:24 Comments || Top||

#7  Damn spell check! the US UN does some stupid crap
Posted by: Injun Bucket8891 || 12/22/2017 9:25 Comments || Top||

#8  I was wondering....
Posted by: Frank G || 12/22/2017 9:32 Comments || Top||

#9  Wrong context but the US had been doing some stupid crap in the past 8 years.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/22/2017 10:57 Comments || Top||

#10  the US had been doing some stupid crap in the past 8 years

16
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2017 11:17 Comments || Top||

#11  The US should order any and all embassies of those 128 countries to relocate to Alaska. They have 3 months to move. After that their current embassies will be razed to the ground, including any people inside. Oh and PNG every one of their current embassy staff.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 12/22/2017 11:27 Comments || Top||

#12  Nikki Haley's performance at the UN was simply one of our finest hours. I'm so proud.

And the vote was actually 129-9 if you count the Democratic Party.
Posted by: Matt || 12/22/2017 12:15 Comments || Top||

#13  Honestly, I'm glad this vote happened. To quote Tim McGraw

This ain't where the road comes to an end
This ain't where the bandwagon stops
This is just one of those times when
A lot of folks jump off

You find out who your friends are


Mrs. Haley is rocking it. F you, F you, you're cool, F you, I'm out.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/22/2017 12:44 Comments || Top||

#14  #7 Damn spell check! the US UN does some stupid crap
Posted by Injun Bucket8891


According to learned experts, it could be because of one or more of the following: Stray gamma rays, Neutrinos and/or Tachyon particles.

I've had something like this happen to me as well and from the comments in the O Club, it happened to others as well. C'est la vie.
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance || 12/22/2017 20:43 Comments || Top||

#15  ^ Don't forget beer atoms.
Posted by: One Eyed Sproing6477 || 12/22/2017 21:05 Comments || Top||

#16  Damn spell check! the US UN does some stupid crap

Maybe we're seeing some Christmas fusion?

Damn spell check! the USN does some stupid crap
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/22/2017 22:14 Comments || Top||


Arabia
US military sights Iranian explosive watercraft in Hodeidah
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The US military sighted an Iranian watercraft, known as Shark 33, in the Ras Isa marine dock near the port of Houthi-controlled Hodeidah, a US military source revealed in statements to CNN.

The source said that the sighted watercraft has an autopilot guidance system which has been modified so the boat can on autopilot identify the biggest object, lock onto it and attack targets without the need for a crew on board to launch the attack.

The watercraft was discovered days prior to the Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...
ballistic missile attack on Riyadh this past Tuesday.

US Ambassador to the United Nations
...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships...
Nikky Haley has referred to an Iranian boat of the same style during her presentation last week of remnants of Iranian weapons and missiles used by the Houthis against 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...
An expert was quoted by CNN as saying that the US Defense Intelligence Agency is already determined that the circuit boards were manufactured by an Iranian state sponsored electronics company.
Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  So it’s a speedboat bomb drone.
Now we know why the Chinese built a model Enterprise AC.
Bet they’re scrambling to find one in a DPRK harbor.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/22/2017 8:33 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
US may slap terrorist designation on Milli Muslim League
[DAWN] The United States could add Milli Moslem League and some other Pakistain-based groups to a list of organizations that use terrorism to promote their agenda, diplomatic sources told Dawn.

The Indian media reported earlier on Thursday that the 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...
administration had accepted India’s request to label more Pak hard boy groups as globally designated terrorists. The request was made at the first India-US conference on designation of terror criminal masterminds and organizations held in New Delhi on Dec 18-19.

When Dawn contacted the State Department for comment on the reports that the United States could add more Pakistain-based groups to its list of terrorist outfits, an official said: "While Pakistain is an important partner for achieving US priorities in the region, this administration has also set clear expectations for Pakistain to take decisive action against terrorist and hard boy groups that operate from Pak soil."

The official did not identify the groups that Washington wanted Pakistain to go after, but diplomatic observers in the US capital see it against the backdrop of a recent statement criticising Islamabad for allowing Hafiz Saeed
...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat...
to continue his political activities.

On Tuesday, State Department’s spokesperson Heather Nauert reminded Pakistain that Hafiz Saeed was a US-designated terrorist with a $10 million reward for information leading to his arrest and if he ran for election in 2018, it would certainly be a cause of concern for Washington.

Official sources in Washington had also expressed similar concerns after the Lahore by-election earlier this year, in which Hafiz Saeed’s group backed a new party called Milli Moslem League. The group received more votes than both the Pakistain Peoples Party and Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
combined.

Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba

#1  Refreshing to have a Commander in Chief naming Islamic terrorist instead of funding their nuke programs.
Posted by: Woodrow || 12/22/2017 8:25 Comments || Top||


Arabia
On the crystal clear reality in Yemen
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The recent Iranian-Houthi missile which was intercepted South of Riyadh is yet another evidence as to why the Decisive Storm Operation in Yemen is an extreme necessity.

Can a big country like Saudi Arabia, which has been working towards a better future according to Vision 2030, tolerate this threat? The government announced its state budget on the same day when Houthis launched their Iranian-made missile towards the kingdom.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said: “Announcing the largest governmental expenditure program in the kingdom’s history is solid proof to the success of our efforts in improving public financial management despite the decrease of oil prices.”

Absurd Debate
Discussing what the source of these missiles that are launched from Saadah, Hajjah and Imran is and whether they are Iranian-made or not is absurd. Hassan Nasrallah, for instance, has resorted to his usual rhetorical tricks to convince us that these missiles with a range of more than 1,000 kilometers are manufactured by the highly strategic Houthi military industries!

It could be the case if the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ generals who operate these missiles in Yemen have been granted the Yemeni nationality! It’s undebatable that Iran’s ballistic capabilities are a huge source of threat to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the entire region and the world. Who can guarantee that these rockets with 2,000 kilometers range are not in the possession of the Iranian military party in Lebanon? Theoretically speaking, Europe would be within the range of these missiles.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian recently told reporters in Washington that France and the US are determined to “vigorously” increase pressure on Iran regarding its ballistic missiles’ program even if they have to resort to sanctions.

UN negative approach
We have a problem with the UN’s negative approach in Yemen, specifically regarding the Houthi threat on regional security as UN missions have procrastinated in handling the supervision of the Hodeidah Port. Northern Yemen imports and humanitarian aid are delivered via this port which is under the Houthis’ control.

This is one example of the UN’s astray approach in Yemen.

The insistence of the UN and other institutions, whose political orientations cannot be relied on, to limit the Yemeni problem to the humanitarian angle is quite surprising because the deterioration of the humanitarian situation is actually a result of leniency with the terrorist Houthi militia whom prohibitions have been imposed on by the UN Security Council.

Yemeni President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi was right when he told envoys few days ago that UN representatives must efficiently inspect Yemen’s passages. Turki al-Maliki, the spokesperson of the coalition forces, had hinted at that as well.

After a missile was intercepted in Riyadh’s airspace, is it time for the UN to awake from its Yemeni illusion?

Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  UN, Saudi, Yemen, does it really matter any more than the color of your checkered tablecloth?
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/22/2017 17:54 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Kurdish-led Syrian groups plan to attend Sochi talks, officials say
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Kurdish-led Syrian groups plan to attend Russia’s proposed Syria peace talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Kurdish officials have said.

The Syria peace congress was originally scheduled for November 18th but was postponed and the Kremlin said on Thursday that no new date had been set.

If the invitation is renewed, "we will attend Sochi and every other meeting that concerns the Syrian crisis as representatives of the people’s will" Sihanouk Depo, an official of Syria’s main Kurdish party, PYD, told an affiliated website on Wednesday.

Still Invited

"We are still invited," Badran Jia Kurd, a senior Kurdish official told Rooters on Thursday. If the framework for the congress still stands, "we will attend", said Jia Kurd, an adviser to the administration that governs Kurdish-led autonomous regions of Syria.

It would mark the first time Syria’s main Kurdish groups are brought into peace talks. Although they now run at least a quarter of Syria, they have so far been left out of international talks in line with Ottoman Turkish wishes.

Before the Sochi talks were postponed, the PYD said in November it had been invited and favored attending.

Since the conflict erupted in 2011, the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia and its allies have carved out autonomous cantons in the north. The YPG spearheads the Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias fighting 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....
murderous Moslems with Washington’s backing.

Their territorial grip has expanded since joining forces with the United States, though Washington opposes their autonomy plans.

The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
views the PYD and the YPG as offshoots of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought a decades-long insurgency inside Turkey.

Last month, Ottoman Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s front man said Russia had told Ankara that the PYD would not be invited to the peace talks.

The Kurdish groups share enmities with both Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Scourge of Qusayr...
’s government and with neighboring Turkey. This week, Assad described the US-backed militias as "traitors".
Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Home Front: Politix
Ben Rhodes Muses About Pence, Ryan And McConnell’s Death. Scalise’s Response Shut Him Down
[DAILYCALLER] Former Obama deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes mused about the deaths of top Republicans on Twitter Thursday before being scolded by GOP Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who was severely injured in the June Congressional baseball practice shooting.

Rhodes issued the inflammatory tweet in response to fellow Obama White House advisor Dan Pfeiffer, who joked that he hopes 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 Instagram photo celebrating the passage of the GOP tax reform bill appears on the front page of The New York Times

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

when Trump is indicted. Pfeiffer didn’t specify what Trump would be indicted for.

Rhodes agreed and added that the image should also accompany the obituaries of Vice President Mike Pence, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan
...Speaker of the House, U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district, serving since 1999. He is a member of the Republican Party. He proposed an alternative to President Obama's 2011 budget and made himself the target of both Democrat and Republican verbal pies...
. Scalise, who spent weeks at death's door after he was shot during a practice for the annual Congressional baseball game, suggested Rhodes reassess his messaging.

The sweeping tax reform bill, the most comprehensive of its kind in over three decades, passed both chambers largely along party lines Tuesday. The House passed the bill again Wednesday after last minute revisions made in the Senate to ensure the bill complied with the budget rules. Trump is expected to sign the bill into law on Jan.3 to prevent automatic spending cuts to Medicare from taking effect.

Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: 3dc || 12/22/2017 8:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe he [Rhodes] was musing about Peter Strzok's "insurance policy." Maybe Rhodes should get visited by the SS and U.S. Capitol Police and called up before a Congressional committee.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/22/2017 10:08 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
Purple Heart Award Ceremony - Walter Reed Hospital
Posted by: Ulaigum Ebbineng7056 || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It appeared as if Trump emphasized the ceremony of merit, service and sacrifice rather than showcasing himself.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/22/2017 3:10 Comments || Top||

#2  I hope he schedules a White House business summit with industry leaders soon after the new year. Lots of media, business leader feedback to the tax bill, presidential recognition of leaders, future plans, pats on the back, two hour lunch, that sort of thing.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 3:15 Comments || Top||

#3  I hope he schedules a White House business summit with industry leaders

I seem to recall that the last time he tried to do such a thing, most of them loudly refused to participate with that lecher, Drumpf, even the ones who had supported his candidacy.

I would leave them to stew in their juices, because it turns out he did not need the advice they refused to give.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/22/2017 12:19 Comments || Top||


-War on Police-
The benefits of police body cams are a myth. Really.
[FINANCE.YAHOO] In the three years since Michael Brown’s fatal shooting in Ferguson, police body-worn cameras have been sold to the public as a tool that would primarily deter police misconduct. One of the main selling points is the claim that the devices would have a “civilizing effect” on officers.
[Insert images of rampaging wild beasts]
Officers would behave better, the argument goes, if they knew their actions were being recorded. Camera vendors have told departments that their devices would reduce excessive uses of force and complaints against officers. But as it turns out, in one of America’s largest police departments, body-worn cameras did not produce any of these benefits.
Meaning the complaints keep pouring in, despite the recorded evidence of good behavior by the coppers.
A landmark study recently released by the D.C. Metropolitan Police found that officers who wore cameras behaved in essentially the same ways as officers who did not.
Why, that's terrible! Damn them!
The presence of cameras had no statistically significant impact on how often officers used force or on how many misconduct complaints the city received.
Meaning most of them act as they've been trained to act.
The results raise an important question: If these benefits have not emerged, could the other claimed benefits of body-worn cameras -- increased transparency, accountability and trust -- also be false promises?
Could they represent evidence that cops aren't as bad as they're made out to be?
So far, there’s little evidence to suggest that department-owned, officer-operated cameras will lead to any meaningful improvements.
Perfection remains beyond their grasp...
To the contrary, a tool that’s viewed by some as one that can protect black lives is actually one that mainly helps those in blue.
Well, that's certainly a scandal of epic proportions!
Departments nationwide have flocked to body-worn cameras as a fashionable and almost reflexive reform. But it’s becoming clearer by the day that body-worn cameras are not some magical turnkey response to police brutality. In the years since Ferguson, how many officers have actually been held accountable for their actions -- either fired, or in more severe cases indicted and convicted -- because of body-worn camera footage? We bet you can’t think of many.
There hasn't been an epidemic of convictions, has there?
We remember many names -- Eric Garner from Staten Island, Tamir Rice from Cleveland, Walter Scott from North Charleston, Alton Sterling from Baton Rouge, Philando Castile from Minneapolis -- because we've seen the horrific videos. But remember: those videos came from bystanders’ phones and security cameras, not from police cameras.
So the body cams don't deter police brutality, as evidenced by the fact that police involved in cases of brutality didn't have their cams on? That makes sense. Not a lot of sense, but sense of a sort.
This isn’t a coincidence. It’s officers who wear and operate body-worn cameras, and it’s the departments who own and control the recorded footage. Departments, often in negotiation with police unions, set the policies and procedures that guide the cameras’ use. So it should come as no surprise that body-worn camera policies around the country largely favor the interests of departments and their officers, often at the expense of the public’s interests.
If they're on, that would seem to be in the public interest -- kinda like having a neutral observer present. If they're not on, have a good explanation ready.
In most major U.S. departments, there’s no easy way for the public to obtain body-worn camera footage, even (or perhaps especially) after high-profile uses of force.
Something about "contaminating the jury pool."
A Texas state law, for example, prohibits all departments in the state from releasing any footage that documents a deadly force incident until the conclusion of all criminal and administrative proceedings, which could take months or even years. Moreover, departments in California routinely withhold all footage from the public, by categorically invoking the investigatory records exemption to the state’s public records law. Even absent such legal restrictions, departments reserve broad discretion to decide whether and when to release footage, which has allowed them to cherry-pick valiant footage for swift public release, while burying controversial footage.
You'd think there would be public pressure for release, Pressure from parties neutral on the issue, for instance?
The lack of transparency is further imbalanced by the fact that departments almost always allow their own officers to watch camera footage before they write their initial reports. This makes it easier for officers to act for the camera and potentially create false narratives about what truly happened, even after a serious use of force. This is a devious twist that could make it even harder to hold officers accountable.
It could also have something to do with good faith efforts to ensure that the facts are accurately presented. Several instances come to mind of big shots claiming brutality and discrimination being proven to be liars.
Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  yah, because knowing what actually happened is so.... counterproductive.....
Posted by: Captain Grundy1029 || 12/22/2017 5:01 Comments || Top||

#2  The results raise an important question: If these benefits have not emerged, could the other claimed benefits of body-worn cameras -- increased transparency, accountability and trust -- also be false promises?

Or does the use of body cameras show the disproportional feral behavior of a certain community? One that is not PC to acknowledge? Just like asking other news outlets not to say the 'race' of the offender in their reports.
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/22/2017 7:50 Comments || Top||

#3  At some points the common characteristics of the % of the population committing most of the crimes/violence far exceeding their demographic becomes too obvious for PC to conceal. Feral youts with unfamiliar names, anyone?
Posted by: Frank G || 12/22/2017 8:14 Comments || Top||

#4  Bull crap.
Posted by: Woodrow || 12/22/2017 8:45 Comments || Top||

#5  “Allegedly committing...”
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/22/2017 8:50 Comments || Top||

#6  Body cams may or may not be a good thing. Haven't made my mid up yet.

The issue that will cost the states and municipalities dearly though, and create the most legal problems, will be the 'storage' and security for all those video files.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/22/2017 8:58 Comments || Top||

#7  Rioters and plaintiff lawyers hardest hit.
Posted by: Blackbeard Panda5713 || 12/22/2017 10:20 Comments || Top||

#8  The cameras have a nasty habit of malfunctioning at the critical time.
Posted by: Iblis || 12/22/2017 10:50 Comments || Top||

#9  To,find about police policy’s in a major US city, try reading
http://secondcitycop.blogspot.com. Here are comments from one article.

“COPA is signing complaints against officers after watching body camera videos. This is in total disregard of the general order that states officers cannot be punished for minor infractions after reviewing video footage.”
Posted by: Second City Cop || 12/22/2017 12:13 Comments || Top||

#10  Flyover jungle looks lush and verdant.
What you don't experience from the pictures is the roar of bugs, oppressive heat, plants and animals reaching out to slice, stick, sting or trip you, or the overwhelming stench of the garbage dump you are in.

That is the context stripped by the conflict cameras. They may help illustrate protocol compliance but they provide no sense of environment.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/22/2017 18:05 Comments || Top||

#11  the body cameras have not changed officer behavior because the officers have generally been following the rules of engagement handed down by their superiors which is why they keep getting let go when the facts come out.

A body camera will accelerate that and point out who is at fault rather quickly. I have noticed an absence of riots this year.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/22/2017 19:41 Comments || Top||

#12  many were saying they did not mind them other than being something more to remember when action starts, and you are correct. It is pointing out the reality to the courtroom finally proving the real issues in communities.

People Whom are skeptical may see more "transparency" and if done right may help solidify Our Justice system and clean out fraudulent cases as well as maybe providing communities the evidence to change.
Posted by: newc || 12/22/2017 21:28 Comments || Top||

#13  Mullah, data storage isn't the only thing to spend money on.

Madison coughed up $400,000 for a study (done by the usual suspects) to show that body cameras were important and which found (to the shock of nobody with eyes) that the Madison police were actually pretty good on the whole, and had much more liberal policies than most places in the country.

The police chief was chewed out for complaining that the money might have been spent on a few more officers (badly needed), or even for some of those cameras.

But, first things first. The grievance industry must get its share.
Posted by: james || 12/22/2017 22:53 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
EU Fears 'Unfair' U.S. Tax Bill Will Incentivise Companies to Move to America
[InformationLiberation] European finance ministers are "worried" the Republican's newly passed tax bill will make the US "go from being a high-tax to a low-tax country" and "unfairly" incentivize companies to move to America from the EU and the UK.

This is truly terrifying.
We broke the world rules to let all the other countries win ahead of us
From Deutsche Welle:

Last week, the finance ministers of Europe's five biggest economies ‐ Germany, France, the UK, Spain and Italy ‐ wrote an anxious letter to their American colleague, US Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin, and copied it to all senior Republican politicians in the Congress and Senate.

The letter's thrust: The draft US tax bill, if passed as written a week ago, would represent a break with global fair-taxation rules as applied to corporations, and represent a thinly disguised form of trade war.

"The United States is Europe's single most important trade and investment partner," the finance ministers wrote. "It is important that the U.S. government's rights over domestic tax policy be exercised in a way that adheres with international obligations to which it has signed-up. The inclusion of certain less conventional international tax provisions could contravene the US's double taxation treaties and may risk having a major distortive impact on international trade."

A day later, a similar letter was sent to Mnuchin by the European Commission's four most senior economic officials and made many of the same points.

Their letters reportedly "didn't get much of an answer."

Clemens Fuest, the president of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research in Munich, said: "The European Commission's criticism of the US tax plans is justified. The proposed measures would disrupt international trade and lead to double taxation."

Tobias Hentze, an economist at the German Economic Institute in Cologne, told DW that he was worried the tax reforms could be the spark for the next round of a "race-to-the-bottom" of jurisdictions competing to offer corporations ever-lower tax rates.

If the reforms go through, Hentze said, the US will go from being a high-tax to a low-tax country. Until now, the tax burden on companies has been significantly higher in the US, with a tax rate of 39 percent, compared to 30 in Germany or 34 in France.

They go on to lament the tax bill will unfairly put "America First, again."

The US also proposes to play unfairly by taxing profits that have already been taxed in Europe, Hentze said, concluding: "The underlying message to multinational companies is: If you produce here in the US, you will be spared the double taxation."

The reform package provides further incentives for companies, too. With the creation of a so-called patent box, US legislators want to incentivize companies like Apple to register their patents and trademarks in the US, by means of a preferential tax rate on profits generated (12.5 percent). A fair tax regime, in Hentze's view, should not offer tax rebates for certain types of profits.

"However, countries like Ireland or the Netherlands already do that too," Hentze pointed out. "Therefore, the indignation of EU finance ministers is not very credible on this particular point."

This is the greatest endorsement of the bill to date.
Exactly. We have been hobbling ourselves and bending over for nearly a half century so the rest of the world can get its ass moving and maybe not need our fucking help. Turns out that hasn't worked (EU I'm looking at you not able to even being able to afford your own army).

So we are taking our ball, going home and gonna make lots of money. So fuck you.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "BWAhahahhahahahha"
Posted by: Sloluting and Tenille8977 || 12/22/2017 1:19 Comments || Top||

#2  They go on to lament the tax bill will unfairly put "America First, again."

Truly one of those "Conan, what is best in life?" moments.
Posted by: PBMcL || 12/22/2017 1:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Life is hard if you drink your own ink.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2017 2:14 Comments || Top||

#4  Blaming an 'Unfair' U.S. tax bill for the departure of business and industry in Europe? Perhaps the galloping Mohammedan infestation should be examined a bit more closely.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 2:22 Comments || Top||

#5  Mnuchin should've sent them each a MAGA hat
Posted by: Frank G || 12/22/2017 9:08 Comments || Top||

#6  How's that Airbus Subsidy going?
and others?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/22/2017 9:13 Comments || Top||

#7  I don't claim to know all that much about the "innards" of the new tax bill, but it certainly seems to be pissing off all the right people.
Posted by: Capsu78 || 12/22/2017 10:27 Comments || Top||

#8  EU Finance Ministers Slogan: "Make America Bend Over Again"
Posted by: Matt || 12/22/2017 12:43 Comments || Top||

#9  A M E R I C A

F I R S T !
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 || 12/22/2017 14:44 Comments || Top||

#10  (EU I'm looking at you not able to even being able to afford your own army). but they can afford "give away welfare" and socialist state planning that has so far broken Ireland and Greece with Portugal and Spain not far behind.
Posted by: 746 || 12/22/2017 18:17 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Faced with libel lawsuit, dossier drafter Christopher Steele hedges on linking Trump to Russia
[WASHINGTONTIMES] Remington Christopher Steele, the former British spy who fueled an ongoing investigation into President Trump’s administration, was a lot more confident of his charges when he wrote his now-notorious 2016 dossier than he is today in defending it in a libel lawsuit.

While Mr. Steele stated matter-of-factly in his dossier that collusion between Mr. Trump and the Russian government took place, he called it only "possible" months later in court filings. While he confidently referred to "trusted" sources inside the Kremlin, in court he referred to the dossier’s "limited intelligence."

In recent weeks, the dossier of opposition research has taken on added importance in the debate over the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into suspected Russia coordination and whether it is biased against Trump people. Congressional Republicans are demanding that the FBI explain how the deeply contested, Democrat-financed document took on such importance in a major government investigation.

Mr. Steele wrote 35 pages of memos in which he said Trump aides were part of a vast conspiracy with Moscow to interfere in the election against Perennial Presidential Campaigner Hillary Crooked Hillary Clinton
... former first lady, former secretary of state, former presidential candidate, Conqueror of Benghazi, Heroine of Tuzla, formerly described by her supporters as the smartest woman in the world, usually described by the rest of us as The Thing That Wouldn't Go Away...
. The unverified charges were spread by Fusion GPS, the Washington-based political research firm that first commissioned the report. Mr. Steele bragged to Mother Jones magazine that he started the Mueller investigation by convincing FBI agents that summer about the credibility of his dossier.

It was later revealed that the campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton helped fund the dossier, meaning that in essence her paid agent was spreading unsubstantiated charges to get to the FBI to investigate her opponent, critics say.
Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ... her paid agent was spreading unsubstantiated charges to get to the FBI to investigate her opponent ...

It should be noted that the FBI was eager and very willing to comply which one could argue is a violation of the FBI Ethics and Integrity Program, Section 7. Political Activities. Or does that only apply to the little people?
Posted by: S. Sleater9697 || 12/22/2017 6:32 Comments || Top||

#2  So, why is Mueller's team so intent in linking Trump to Russia? Never mind, just a rhetorical question.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/22/2017 8:39 Comments || Top||

#3  #2 - to cover Hilly's involvement in the Russian uranium deal?

To mask Hilly's involvement in the origins of the dossier?

To divert attention from Russia's investments in Hilly's slush fund?
Posted by: Bobby || 12/22/2017 8:55 Comments || Top||

#4  embrace the power of "and"
Posted by: Frank G || 12/22/2017 8:59 Comments || Top||

#5  There are probably a few more 'tidbits' about Hilly out there that we aren't even fully aware of yet, too.

Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/22/2017 9:03 Comments || Top||

#6  ...to cover Hilly's involvement in the Russian uranium deal? To mask Hilly's involvement in the origins of the dossier? To divert attention from Russia's investments in Hilly's slush fund?

All of the above, plus time delay. Over time news becomes overtaken, memories fade, evidence is lost, and people even become deceased.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 9:05 Comments || Top||

#7  Can we have a photo of Mr. Steele holding a copy of yesterdays MAIL? 'Proof of life'... that sort of thing. We hope you'll understand.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2017 16:02 Comments || Top||

#8  Never heard of photoshop, Besoeker?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2017 16:33 Comments || Top||

#9  What? You think he shot himself two times in the back of the head?
Posted by: Matt || 12/22/2017 16:34 Comments || Top||

#10  What makes me sad is I want to believe the FBI is composed of good honest folks with just really corrupt leadership but nobody has resigned (well maybe five people), nobody has come out and tried to stop this nonsense, they've just kept quiet to see how it plays out.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/22/2017 19:38 Comments || Top||


New York Times will keep reporter accused of sexual misconduct
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The New York Times

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

says it will remove news hound Glenn Thrush from the White House beat but not fire him following an investigation into sexual misconduct.

A former colleague wrote last month that Thrush made unwanted, drunken advances on her and other women when they worked at Politico. The Times suspended Thrush and investigated while Thrush entered substance abuse rehabilitation.

Times’ executive editor Dean Baquet says in a statement Wednesday that while Thrush acted offensively, he did not deserve to be fired and instead will be suspended for two months, undergo training and be given a new assignment.

Baquet says that in addition to covering sexual misconduct cases aggressively, the Times is grappling with what consequences are appropriate in its own newsroom. He said each case must be examined individually.

Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A former colleague wrote last month that Thrush made unwanted, drunken advances on her and other women when they worked at Politico.

Was it at work, or after work when you went drinking? Did he take "no" for an answer?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2017 5:22 Comments || Top||

#2  The election is over in Alabama.
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/22/2017 8:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Aren’t they looking into voting by non-citizens in Alabama, P2k? Judge Moore had not yet conceded, last I heard.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/22/2017 16:29 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Tunisia to showcase first erotic exhibition in Arab world
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The first show of Literature and Erotic Arts organized by the Medina Book Club in Tunisia, titled "Artgasme" will take place on December 23rd at el-Hamra Theater.

Mixing visuals, dance, music, singing, painting and theatrical readings of erotic texts, the show promises to offer the viewer "a subtle and enjoyable moment".

Photographers as well as the painters will be present at the open gallery.

The show will be followed by a debate moderated by the young writer and founder of the literary spectacle, Notre Dame Des Mots, Sabrine Ghannoudi.

Guide of the Bride and Pleasure of the Soul


The history of Tunisian literature is full of pioneering books in this field, such as Guide of the Bride and Pleasure of the Soul, which is the most prominent encyclopedia about Arab women throughout Islamic history.

In this encyclopedia, Abu Abdullah al-Tijani included a range of stories and religious and linguistic facts concerning both the body and the soul of Arab women.

The most famous Erotic book in the history of Islam is The Perfumed Garden of Sensual Delight by Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Nafzawi which is a fifteenth century Arabic sex manual and work of erotic literature.
Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Chapter 2 - Anatomy and Physiology of the Goat

>> Learn the basic structure and functioning of goats if you are to maintain the health and increase the productivity of your herds

>> Discover the points of goat that an owner would need to examine in order to assess its health

>> 3 groups of teeth that will usually erupt in a goat and when you can expect it to happen

>> Know exactly the different parts of a goat skeleton, cross-section of a movable joint, stomach, intestines, reproductive system, skin, embryology, udder with illustrations to guide you in understanding the roles and purpose

>> Find out the functions and how the liver, kidney, reproduction system operates so that you can appreciate and handle the situation when your goat shows any symptoms which relate to it
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/22/2017 17:00 Comments || Top||


Europe
Two in Kosovo plead guilty to plotting attack on Israeli soccer match
[IsraelTimes] Pair were among nine charged in Islamic State-directed plan to target World Cup qualifier in Albania

Two men in Kosovo pleaded guilty Wednesday to planning attacks against Israelis during a soccer match in Albania last year.

Kenan Plakaj and Besart Peci were part of a group of 19 men detained in a series of arrests in Kosovo and neighboring Albania and Macedonia ahead of a World Cup qualifier in November 2016, which was originally due to take place in the northern town of Shkodra. Nine people were eventually charged.

The prosecutor claimed some of those nabbed
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
had made contact with Lavdrim Muhaxheri,
..the self-declared commander of Albanians in Syria and Iraq, who had his fingers in a great many jihadi pies until he met his missile this past June...
a former 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....
commander in Syria who has since reportedly been killed, Rooters reported.

Plakaj pleaded guilty to making explosives, after half a kilo of materiel for bomb-making was found at his home, according to the report.
He was the one who made the fertilizer/fuel oil bomb. Another of the group made about a quarter kilo of TATP.
Sentences for the two were not announced.

In June, four people were charged with planning to "carry out a terrorist attack against soccer players and fans from Israel who were coming to Albania for the match in November," Kosovo’s prosecution office said in a blurb at the time.

The match eventually took place in Elbasan, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the Albanian capital Tirana, under a massive security presence.

Kosovo, a predominantly ethnic Albanian and Moslem country, has been confronted with more than 300 of its citizens waging jihad in Syria and Iraq.

It has subsequently strengthened legislation and attempted to root out radical Islamist networks.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  That would have gotten them piked!
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/22/2017 3:13 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Shahbaz to be PML-N's next candidate for prime minister: Nawaz Sharif
[DAWN] Putting an end to confusion surrounding the future leadership of the embattled PML-N, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif told party aides on Wednesday that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif would be the party's candidate for premiership in the upcoming General Election.

Expressing confidence in his younger brother, Nawaz said that Shahbaz had never disappointed him or the party, and had risen to prominence because of his hard work and performance.

Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Africa North
ISIS releases video footage of their attack on the Al-Arish Airbase
[ALMASDARNEWS] The so-called Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(ISIS) released video footage on Thursday of their previous attack on the al-Arish Military Airport in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

The terrorist group’s attack targeted the Egyptian Interior and Defense ministers, who were visiting the airbase that day.

While they were unable to harm either minister, the terrorist group did kill two soldiers during this attack that took place on Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)

#1  Muzzy terrorists getting pissy bout Egypt not laundering their oil to Jihad money fast enough?
Posted by: Woodrow || 12/22/2017 8:12 Comments || Top||

#2  I am confused, Woodrow. When was Egypt doing that, and for whom?
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/22/2017 16:32 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
First wave of safety posts installed along Las Vegas Strip
[LasVegasReviewJournal] Clark County on Wednesday finished installing close to 800 steel posts between the street and sidewalks along the Las Vegas Strip to increase pedestrian safety.

The posts, known as bollards, are interconnected by underground steel frames. They can withstand a head-on collision from a 15,000-pound vehicle traveling 50 mph.

The posts were installed at seven locations between Tropicana Avenue and Spring Mountain Road. Next year the county plans to install 7,500 bollards along the Strip between Sahara Avenue and the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign.

Wednesday marks the two-year anniversary of a woman driving an Oldsmobile sedan onto the sidewalk in front of Gay Paree Las Vegas and Planet Hollywood Resort, killing one person and injuring more than 30 others.
Hardening soft targets is sadly necessary nowadays, as the wise recognize.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  Maybe they need a few bullet-resistant shelters as well.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/22/2017 10:01 Comments || Top||

#2  I'd think people who own Las Vegas have their own ways of dealing with would be shahids.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2017 11:19 Comments || Top||

#3  The mormons don't care Grom.
They follow a similar twisted testament.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/22/2017 18:11 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
What is the Rationale Behind Hekmatyar’s Provocative Ethnic Remarks?
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] "War is ongoing in every part of Afghanistan. It’s the same war from yesterday. A big number of Ghor residents are involved in this war. Sit with them and ask them who is involved in this war? It is between two ethnic groups! In Taiwara, the conflict is not between security forces and murderous Moslems; it is between two ethnic groups. It is the same in Kunduz, in Baghlan, in all northern parts of the country. The real situation of the war is like this across the country," claimed Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
... who used to be known in intelligence circles as The Most Evil Man in the World but who now seems merely run-of-the-mill evil...
during his party’s, Hizb-e-Islami, assembly.

Hekmatyar is a warlord, notoriously known for intentionally shelling civilians with
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Hizb-i-Islami-Hekmatyar


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Convicted Child Molester Arrested After Illegally Crossing Border
[Patch.com] SAN DIEGO, CA; Authorities have arrested a convicted child molester caught illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

The incident happened around 2:40 p.m. Wednesday when U.S. Border Patrol agents responded to "illicit cross-border activity" near Otay Mesa and found four men hiding in the brush north of the border. The men were subsequently arrested for illegally entering the country and were taken to a nearby border station for processing, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.

Record checks revealed that one of the men had previously served a three-year prison sentence in California for lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14. The 32-year-old also had a prior record for deportation. The man now faces felony charges for reentering the U.S. as a previously deported foreign national.
Posted by: Frank G || 12/22/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:



Who's in the News
32[untagged]
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2017-12-22
  US drone strike kills Qaeda propaganda chief in Yemen
Thu 2017-12-21
  ISIS shadow judge among 5 killed in Afghan forces operations
Wed 2017-12-20
  US drone targets compound in Kurram
Tue 2017-12-19
  Ballistic missile intercepted over Saudi Arabia capital Riyadh just seconds before it slammed into royal palace
Mon 2017-12-18
  Senior Al-Shabaab Militants Killed In Somalia Drone Strike
Sun 2017-12-17
  Suicide bombers attack Pakistan church, killing at least 9, officials say
Sat 2017-12-16
  Judge Lori Walkley hands down death penalty to convicted Islamic murderer
Fri 2017-12-15
  Yemen Islah party sever ties with Muslim Brotherhood
Thu 2017-12-14
  Afghan forces foil deadly blast, US drone strike kill 3 IS militants in Nangarhar
Wed 2017-12-13
  Newspaper: Saudi members of Islamic State arrested in Iraq up to 50
Tue 2017-12-12
  Scores of Islamic State militants surrender to security forces in Mosul
Mon 2017-12-11
  Several injured after device explodes at New York City’s Port Authority, one arrest
Sun 2017-12-10
  Coptic pope cancels Pence meeting over Jerusalem
Sat 2017-12-09
  Ahrar al-Sham commander eliminated in Idlib
Fri 2017-12-08
  Egyptian grand mufti affirms death sentences for 13 Ajnad Misr terrorists

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