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Six Islamic State, involved in killing policeman, killed in Kirkuk
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
12:17 2 16:21 DarthVader [5]
09:34 6 23:00 TopRev [5]
08:07 5 18:31 Rob Crawford [3]
06:57 0 [4]
05:55 5 20:26 Injun Bucket8891 [5]
05:24 2 15:46 swksvolFF [2]
05:16 8 22:49 rjschwarz [16]
02:50 1 16:43 Anomalous Sources [4]
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00:00 1 12:32 Sock Puppet of Doom []
00:00 13 23:07 trailing wife [2]
00:00 12 16:56 Anomalous Sources [6]
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Arab States Have Had It With the Stupidity of the Palestinian Authority
RedState
Posted by: Frank G || 12/26/2017 12:17 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority

#1  Everybody is tired of the Palestinian Playbook (TM). Maybe the EUnochs will bankroll them and bring them all to Germany. What say you, Komrade Merkel?

BTW, Happy Kwanzaa, Commodore Frank!
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/26/2017 15:01 Comments || Top||

#2  In the 80s when Iraq and Iran were beating the crap out of each other and the other arabs states couldn't take on Israel militarily as they got their asses handed to them twice... the Paleos were useful to stir up trouble and kill westerners and Israelis.

Now, with a newly enriched Iran (thanks Obumble) becoming a regional power the arabs are terrified of them gaining control over their lands and are working with Israel and the west to keep that from happening. The Paleos are not only an annoyance but a downright liability for them now.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/26/2017 16:21 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
The quiet probe into Clinton email investigation could be a landmine for Robert Mueller
[USA Today] WASHINGTON ‐ In early January, news that the Justice Department’s inspector general launched an investigation into the government's disputed handling of the Hillary Clinton email inquiry was quickly overtaken by the chaotic run-up to President Trump’s inauguration.

Nearly a year later, Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s wide-ranging review of the FBI and Justice’s work in the politically-charged Clinton case now looms as a potential landmine for Russia special counsel Robert Mueller.

For months, Horowitz’s investigation ‐ which has amassed interviews with former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, former FBI Director James Comey and other key officials ‐ had been grinding on in near anonymity. That is, until earlier this month when the inspector general acknowledged that Mueller was alerted to a cache of text messages exchanged between two FBI officials on his staff that disparaged Trump.

The communications, involving senior counter-intelligence agent Peter Strzok and bureau lawyer Lisa Page, were gathered in the course of Horowitz’s internal review of the Clinton case, which Strzok also helped oversee. Horowitz’s investigation is not examining Mueller’s operation. But the disclosures already have provided a hammer to Trump loyalists who are escalating their criticisms of the legitimacy of the special counsel’s inquiry.

Earlier this month, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein only highlighted the potential gravity of the inspector general's work when they repeatedly urged Republican House committee members during separate hearings to withhold judgment about allegations of bias within the FBI until the internal Justice probe is completed.

Justice officials have indicated that a report is likely in the next few months.

"The inspector general's investigation is very important," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., told Rosenstein at a Dec. 13 hearing. The deputy attorney general cited the probe multiple times as the reason for declining to respond to lawmakers' questions about how the texts might affect Mueller's probe.

"It is very encouraging to us that (Horowitz) is doing what I think is good, unbiased work," the chairman said.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/26/2017 09:34 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hope it's a landmine for someone.
So far it's been a lot of wind and musical chairs.
What happened to the 31 indictments?
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/26/2017 9:51 Comments || Top||

#2  George Webb Day 67.1 Fusion GPS timeline - Whitehouse Pow Wows

Thank you MOSSAD.
Posted by: P. Speaking for B. || 12/26/2017 10:34 Comments || Top||

#3  From the inestimable Sharyl Attkisson:

Investigating the Investigators at DOJ and FBI

Why do heads seem to be rolling—or at least tilting—at the Department of Justice and FBI?
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/26/2017 13:31 Comments || Top||

#4  Fun fact: you know who wrote the infamous WMD memo that got us into the Iraq War? Robert Mueller. Yup, the same one. And people claim the Deep State doesn't exist.

https://fas.org/irp/congress/2003_hr/021103mueller.html
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 || 12/26/2017 14:34 Comments || Top||

#5  Comey and Mueller are up to theri necks in their dishonesty and obstruction of justice when it comes to the Benghazi and Clinton Emails investigation.
Posted by: Injun Bucket8891 || 12/26/2017 20:24 Comments || Top||

#6  Actually, the genesis of this mess is at the CIA/Brennan.
Posted by: TopRev || 12/26/2017 23:00 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Deep Pockets, Deep Cover: The UAE Is Paying Ex-CIA Officers to Build a Spy Empire in the Gulf
[FP] Not far from the northeastern Zayed Port in Abu Dhabi, in a typical modern Gulf villa framed on one side by an elegant swimming pool, Westerners are teaching Emiratis the tools of modern spycraft.

The day starts with the basics: a 10 a.m. seminar on Sunday morning is titled "What is intelligence?" On Thursday, the recruits learn how to operate in four- to six-man surveillance teams. Over the course of the first week, they embark on scavenger hunts intended to hone their problem-solving skills. The following weeks get more advanced ‐ students are schooled on creating cover identities to use when attending galas with diplomats, they are taught how to groom intelligence assets, and they watch skits about recruiting Libyan sources.

The Emirati recruits also train at another site about 30 minutes outside downtown Abu Dhabi called "The Academy" ‐ complete with gun ranges, barracks, and driving courses ‐ reminiscent of the CIA’s "Farm" at Camp Peary, a training facility located in southeastern Virginia.

The details of the training are contained in an official course schedule reviewed by Foreign Policy and were described by former U.S. intelligence officials who have been involved in the effort. The facilities and courses are part of the United Arab Emirates’ nascent efforts to create a professional intelligence cadre modeled after the West’s.

Former CIA and government officials were drawn to the Gulf nation by the promise of interesting work and, perhaps even more importantly, lucrative careers.

"The money was fantastic," one former employee told FP. "It was $1,000 a day ‐ you could live in a villa or in a five-star hotel in Abu Dhabi."

The key figure behind this growing intelligence training operation, according to multiple sources, is Larry Sanchez, a former intelligence officer who helped kickstart a controversial partnership between the CIA and the New York Police Department that tried to pre-empt the radicalization of potential terrorists by tracking people ‐ many of them Muslims ‐ in mosques, bookstores, and other places around New York. Sanchez, a veteran of the CIA clandestine services, has been working for the crown prince of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates for the past six years to build large pieces of its intelligence services from the ground up, six sources with knowledge of the matter tell FP.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/26/2017 08:07 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Host nation lads who struggle with the academics could always default to careers in aviation. What harm could there be ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/26/2017 8:39 Comments || Top||

#2  and they watch skits about recruiting Libyan sources.

"Sweet Allah's beard! Anything, but more of these role-playing skits"
Posted by: Frank G || 12/26/2017 9:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Offer the recruits a pension.
Maybe we can get rid of some more.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/26/2017 9:26 Comments || Top||

#4  The facilities and courses are part of the United Arab Emirates’ nascent efforts to create a professional intelligence cadre modeled after the West’s.
How utterly bizarre... People in that area have been spying on each other for millennia and any advice on HUMINT from the CIA? *snicker*
Posted by: magpie || 12/26/2017 12:39 Comments || Top||

#5  Any intelligence officers who "retire" and go to work for foreign intelligence should have their pensions cut, at the least. We have to assume they've leaked anything they know to their new masters.

Posted by: Rob Crawford || 12/26/2017 18:31 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Make Space Great Again
[SultanKnish] "Foremost," the NASA administrator described his marching orders from Obama, "he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world." The great new mission of America's space agency would be to make Muslims "feel good about their historic contribution to science."

President Trump has another mission for NASA.

Looking over at former Senator Schmitt, the last living man to walk on the moon in the Apollo 17 mission forty-five years ago, President Trump said, "Today, we pledge that he will not be the last."

"This time, we will not only plant our flag and leave our footprint, we will establish a foundation for an eventual mission to Mars and, perhaps, someday to many worlds beyond."

The message was clear. American greatness would no longer be held hostage to political correctness.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/26/2017 06:57 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under:


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Former CIA director defends (the indefensible) top FBI officials amid Trump attacks
[The Hill] Former CIA director defends top FBI officials amid Trump attacks. Former CIA Director John Brennan came to the defense of two senior FBI officials on Saturday after President Trump targeted the pair on Twitter.

Brennan tweeted that FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and top FBI lawyer James Baker "epitomize integrity, competence, and respect for rule of law."

"Not surprised @realDonaldTrump fears them, along with the rest of FBI," continued Brennan, who served as CIA chief under former President Obama.

"I just donated to @FBIAgentsAssoc as a small way of saying #thanksFBI," Brennan tweeted, along with a link explaining how to donate to the association.

Brennan's tweet came after Trump took took aim at the senior FBI officials earlier Saturday, ratcheting up his feud with leadership of the law enforcement agency.

Trump first jabbed at McCabe after it was reported he would be stepping down from his FBI post in March when he is eligible for full pension benefits. Trump wrote that the No. 2 FBI official is "racing the clock to retire with full benefits."
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/26/2017 05:55 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "I swear by the beard of the Prophet, this is the truth!"
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/26/2017 7:06 Comments || Top||

#2  When does DJT shove Brennan's prayer rug down his throat on national tv? NCAA bowl playoff halftime seems a good choice.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/26/2017 7:13 Comments || Top||

#3  A name that is curiously absent from all of this is who I believe is a prime mover in a lot of this stuff: Valarie Jarret.

Nothing happened in the Oval Office that she did not have an active part. Any reason why she has not been subpoenaed?
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 12/26/2017 12:36 Comments || Top||

#4  No extradition treaty with Tehran?
Posted by: Frank G || 12/26/2017 13:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Brennan is was and likely always will be a stooge. Ask him about how badly he missed on ISIS, North Korea nukes, Iran nukes, Hezbollah, etc.

Brennan should be on trial.
Posted by: Injun Bucket8891 || 12/26/2017 20:26 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Unwanted Boxing Day visitors? Here's how to get rid of them
[Guardian] Ahhhhhh, Christmas. A time for families to come together and create treasured moments of ... whatever it is that most people mistakenly think the Yuletide season is about. The truth is that you’ve got a week off work and all you want to do is watch Netflix in your pants while drinking Baileys at 9.40am.

This cast-iron plan will invariably be shattered by friends and family members turning up unannounced and trying to impose their jollity on you, so here are 10 ways to overcome them with consummate ease.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/26/2017 05:24 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This guy Dawson must be a real joy at parties.
Posted by: Raj || 12/26/2017 12:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Especially since this is him being 'clever and funny'.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/26/2017 15:46 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Archdruid of Canterbury lashes out at 'populist' world leaders in holiday message
Render unto Caeser, dude. Jesus worked in a different sphere.
[Guardian] The archbishop of Canterbury has spoken out against "tyrannical and populist" world leaders in a Christmas message likely to be seen partly as a rebuke against US president Donald Trump.

Justin Welby was preaching at Canterbury cathedral at the same time as Pope Francis made oblique criticism of Trump in his traditional Christmas address in St Peter’s Square in Vatican City.

The pontiff made particular reference to the situation in the Middle East just two weeks after the US president inflamed tensions in the region by controversially recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

In Canterbury, Welby told worshippers that much could be learnt from the nativity story, where Jesus is "power seen in humility".

He said: "In 2017, we have seen around the world tyrannical leaders that enslave their peoples, populist leaders that deceive them, corrupt leaders that rob them, even simply democratic, well-intentioned leaders of many parties and countries who are normal, fallible human beings."
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/26/2017 05:16 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [16 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Church of Marx really is losing the plot (and the people who actually believe in God unlike the clergy who do not)
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/26/2017 7:35 Comments || Top||

#2  How evil that those populist leaders actually defend Christianity and Western Civilization! /s
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/26/2017 7:41 Comments || Top||

#3  These "priests" are little more than globalist, Marxist mouthpieces and have little to do with the Christian religion.

I'm waiting for a modern firebrand to nail his theses to the Church's webpage.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/26/2017 10:48 Comments || Top||

#4  Is he talking about Trump or Jeremy Corbyn? Hard to tell sometimes with these clowns.
Posted by: Raj || 12/26/2017 11:22 Comments || Top||

#5  There is still one part of Christian tradition that remains true: Luke 2:1
And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/26/2017 14:21 Comments || Top||

#6  As for the pope, in the Middle Ages popes were calling on Christians to liberate the Holy Land. Now they're calling on Christians to surrender it. Question: If the pope is infallible why do different popes tell us to do different things?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 12/26/2017 17:46 Comments || Top||

#7  hmmm....my understanding is that papal infallibility is much more like 'the science is settled', ie the discussion is over.
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/26/2017 21:14 Comments || Top||

#8  Gotta wonder if the "Render unto Caeser" line was because Jesus was hoping to get his preachers to shut up about politics.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/26/2017 22:49 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Christmas Is the Perfect Time to Mock Liberals
h/t Instapundit
...Now, as your late family gathers together, all dead because of Trump’s authoritarian reign of terror, try to remember that in the spirit of the season, you should mock your liberal friends and family unmercifully. It’s a painful time for them. The economy is booming, ISIS has been beheaded, and Mueller hasn’t found Schiff. That’s why it’s so, so very important to kick them when they are down. Because Christmas is a time where we celebrate giving, so give them grief. Because it’s the only way they’ll ever learn.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/26/2017 02:50 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Maybe this can be transferred to a Christmas Sweater?:

Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 12/26/2017 16:43 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Saudi Arabia confirms death of judge Mohammed Al-Jirani
[ARABNEWS] 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...
’s Ministry of Interior has confirmed that Saudi judge Sheikh Mohammed al-Jirani, whose body was found in the Eastern Province's al-Awwamia area on Dec. 19, was killed by his kidnappers.

Spokesman Major-General Mansour al-Turki further said that al-Jirani, a judge at the Department of Endowments and Inheritance, was kidnapped in front of his house in the area of Tarout on Dec. 13, 2016.

Based on an investigation into the abduction and death of al-Jirani, the front man confirmed that the perpetrators who kidnapped the judge also killed him and concealed his body on a deserted farm.

He identified the perpetrators as Zaki Mohammed Salman al-Faraj and his half-brother Salman bin Ali Salman al-Faraj, who is featured on a list of 23 wanted persons announced in January 2012.

Kidnapper Salman al-Faraj was killed during the raid on their location last Tuesday, while Special Forces officer Khalid al-Sameti also died during the operation.

Al-Turki said that Sherlocks covered a 2,000,000 square-meter area in order to find the body of the judge. He added that a DNA test had confirmed that the body was indeed that of al-Jirani and noted the presence of a bullet wound in his chest.

According to the ministry, al-Jirani was tortured before he was killed and buried in the remote location.

The ministry called on those who have information on the wanted persons involved in this crime to immediately notify the authorities and named them as Mohammed Husain Ali al-Ammar, Haitham Ali Mohammed al-Qiddaih and Ali Bilal Saud al-Hamad.

For his part, Minister of Justice Walid al-Samani offered his condolences to al-Jirani’s family. He strongly condemned the murder and described it as an unforgivable crime, adding that those found to be involved in the crime will be brought to justice.
Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula

#1  May his family find Strength and be Comforted.
Posted by: Adriane || 12/26/2017 18:45 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel orders deportation of two Turks after Jerusalem arrests
[Ynet] The three Turks were briefly jugged
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
during Paleostinian demonstrations last week over US recognition of Jerusalem; one to be deported Monday, another on Saturday; third has work permit and was only barred from Jerusalem's Old City for a month.


Two of the three Ottoman Turkish tourists who were arrested on Friday at the entrance to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on suspicion of assaulting coppers will be permanently removed from Israel, while the third suspect will be expelled for a month from the Old City.

The three suspects spent a day in detention and on Saturday night they were brought before a magistrate in the city who decided to release them under restrictive conditions‐barred for a month from entering the Temple Mount and the Old City.

A photograph circulated on social media showed them among a group of fez-wearing men and boys outside al-Aqsa. One is seen wearing a Ottoman Turkish flag T-shirt and waving a Paleostinian flag, while two hold up pictures of Ottoman Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey...
The Ottoman Turkish Anadolu state-run news agency
...and if you can't believe the state-run news agency who can you believe?...
reported that eye witnesses maintained the cops told the Turks they would have to remove their shirts if they wanted to enter the complex, and when the tourists refused a scuffle broke out.

Anadolu further said that the Ottoman Turkish group arrived to Israel from Belgium and held dual Belgian-Ottoman Turkish citizenships.

In light of the findings of the investigation into the incident, and at the request of the Jerusalem Police, the Interior Ministry opened a civil procedure on Sunday through the Immigration Authority, which held a hearing on the deportation of two of the suspects.

At the end of the hearing it was decided to deport one of them from Israel on Monday and another on Saturday. The third suspect holds a work permit, and therefore was removed only from the area of the Old City and the Temple Mount.

The Ottoman Turkish tourists' deportation may further sour relations between Israel and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
. Despite a reconciliation agreement between the two countries in the wake of events surrounding the Marmara flotilla to Gazoo, and despite the decision to completely normalize relations, Erdogan has continually and scathingly attacked Israel over the past year.

Erdogan has also been vocal in opposing Trump’s Jerusalem move, which reversed decades of US policy over the status of a city whose eastern sector Israel captured in the 1967 Six Day War and which is holy to Jews, Christians and Moslems.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Home Front: Culture Wars
REMINDER: Kwanzaa Was Concocted By A Deranged Felon Who Tortured Naked Women With A Karate Baton And A Toaster
[DailyCaller] It’s Christmastime, America, and you know what that means: It’s the season when public schools across the fruited plain have pointedly avoided Christmas but have teemed with lessons about Kwanzaa and a handful of other holidays which aren’t Christmas.

As a public service, then, The Daily Caller is once again here to tell you the true ‐ and truly bizarre ‐ history of the violent, deranged and radical black nationalist who concocted the completely artificial holiday of Kwanzaa in 1966.

The creator of Kwanzaa is Maulana Ndabezitha Karenga, a 76-year-old professor of Africana studies at California State University, Long Beach. His real name is Ronald Everett. He was born in rural Maryland, the fourteenth child of a sharecropping Baptist minister.

Karenga was convicted in 1971 for brutally torturing two naked women. The women were members of Karenga’s ultra-radical, paramilitary, black nationalist cult called the US Organization, which went by the acronym US, according to a May 1971 Los Angeles Times story.

"Deborah Jones, who once was given the Swahili title of an African queen, said she and Gail Davis were whipped with an electrical cord and beaten with a karate baton after being ordered to remove their clothes," the LA Times article reports.

Jones "testified that a hot soldering iron was placed in Miss Davis’ mouth and placed against Miss Davis’ face and that one of her own big toes was tightened in a vise. Karenga, head of US, also put detergent and running hoses in their mouths."

The victims also said they were "were hit on the heads with toasters."
...
A psychiatrist who examined Karenga in 1971 concluded he was insane. A sentencing hearing transcript shows that the unidentified psychiatrist believed that the founder of Kwanzaa was "both paranoid and schizophrenic."

Judge Arthur L. Alarcon read from the psychiatrist’s report in court in September 1971, according to a FrontPage Magazine report.

"Since his admission here he has been isolated and has been exhibiting bizarre behavior, such as staring at the wall, talking to imaginary persons, claiming that he was attacked by dive-bombers and that his attorney was in the next cell," the psychiatrist’s report said, in part. "During part of the interview he would look around as if reacting to hallucination and when the examiner walked away for a moment he began a conversation with a blanket located on his bed."

"This man now presents a picture which can be considered both paranoid and schizophrenic with hallucinations and elusions, inappropriate affect, disorganization, and impaired contact with the environment," the report said.

Karenga concocted Kwanzaa in 1966 as a secular, "nonreligious" pan-African holiday. At the time, he was a twentysomething graduate student living in Los Angeles.
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Gotta call bullshit on the so-called 'karate baton' - there's no such thing, at least not in Shotokan karate.
Posted by: Raj || 12/26/2017 11:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Don't they use that for the 4 x 100 Karate Relay?
.
Posted by: OregonGuy || 12/26/2017 11:39 Comments || Top||

#3  Probably nunchuks. Pretty close for a journalist.
Posted by: Grunter || 12/26/2017 12:00 Comments || Top||

#4  Uh uh. Nunchuks are illegal. A religious prophet wouldn't do anything illegal, right?
Posted by: Frank G || 12/26/2017 12:24 Comments || Top||

#5  Thought the article was about Ted Kennedy. Have to admit I was partially wrong.

Snark.
Posted by: Woodrow || 12/26/2017 13:09 Comments || Top||

#6  I hereby state for the record that I have never hit a woman with a toaster nor have I talked to a blanket.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/26/2017 14:29 Comments || Top||

#7  Tonfas? (Youtube quick history)Expecting a journalist to be able to spell such esoterica is beyond optimistic.
Posted by: magpie || 12/26/2017 15:02 Comments || Top||

#8  Toaster Fighting is one of the less well known martial arts.
Not many people know that.
Posted by: Grunter || 12/26/2017 15:18 Comments || Top||

#9  Buttered toast and cats are a source of infinite rotational energy ...
Posted by: Adriane || 12/26/2017 15:25 Comments || Top||

#10  I actually have a Karate baton in my horseless carriage's kit of woa.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/26/2017 17:54 Comments || Top||

#11  I'd heard it was a military-style assault karate baton but I could be mistaken.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/26/2017 20:53 Comments || Top||

#12  In spring 1968, at invitation of some Karenga devotees at the SoCal University where I served as Assistant Chaplain on an intern year from seminary in NYC, I made arrangements to meet Karenga at his office in Watts and drove there, alone, for the purpose.

The scene I met was similar to that at the office of "Big" Ed Mustapha in Eastwood's The Enforcer. Two heavies met me at the door and then, one on each side, hovered right over me as I sat across the desk from Karenga, who was polite but not friendly.

I invited Karenga's participation in a general USA sitrep information program, initiated by Robert Theobald, a Fabian Brit, at NYC whom I had agreed to help with that program.

Karenga agreed to help from the West Coast but he never responded after I visited him in Watts. Theobald's program fizzled before August 1968 -- i.e., I was a failure -- and I went back to seminary for the final year, nearly getting expelled for using original thought while not a doctoral candidate.
Posted by: TopRev || 12/26/2017 22:55 Comments || Top||

#13  Even for doctoral candidates to exhibit original thought outside a strictly defined area is a bit risky, TopRev. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/26/2017 23:07 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Houthi Rebels Threaten To Bomb Somaliland’s Berbera Port Run By UAE
[RADIOSHABELLE] The Yemeni’s 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 group has warned on Sunday that it will strike Somaliland’s Berbera port should authority in Somaliland continue its lease agreement to the United Arab Emirates, the group said.

In a video posted online, the Houthi commander said the group will be forced to use its ballistic missiles to bombard Berbera to strike the UAE base.

"We are telling Somaliland authorities that our rockets will reach Berbera, should you continue your intention to prove Berbera as a base for UAE military." the video statement read by unnamed Houthi commander said.

"If you do so, then you have made the wrong decision," he said referring the agreement between Somaliland, a self-declared region in northern Somalia with the UAE.

In September 2016, UAE’s Dubai Ports World has received a 30-year concession to manage and develop the Berbera port that will require an investment of $442 million.

That agreement was followed by another one, a lease agreement of Berbera military base to UAE forces to allow the Saudi-led coalition fighter jets to carry air strikes on the Houthi targets in Yemen.

The Iran-backed sock puppets of the Medes and the Persians have seized many portions in northern 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...
including the capital Sana’a forcing the internationally backed government of President Abdu Rabu Mansour to relocate to Aden.

Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Amazon and Microsoft employees caught up in sex trafficking sting
[EnGadget]The tech industry has a clear history of sexism and misogyny, but a recent Newsweek report highlights another problem. The publication got its hands on a slew of emails sent to brothels and pimps between 2014 and 2016 that document the industry's patronage of brothels and purchasing of services from trafficked sex workers. Among the emails, which were obtained through a public records request to the King County Prosecutor's Office, were 67 sent from Microsoft employee email accounts, 63 from Amazon accounts and dozens more from companies like Boeing, T-Mobile, Oracle and local Seattle tech firms.

Some of the emails were collected during a 2015 sting operation that targeted sex worker review boards and resulted in the arrest of 18 individuals, including high-level Amazon and Microsoft directors. Two opted for a trial, which is currently set to begin in March.

Seattle's sex industry has grown right alongside its tech industry and the city's authorities have said that some men spend up to $50,000 per year on sex workers. Brothels are even known to advertise how close they are to tech offices. Alex Trouteaud, director of policy and research at the anti-trafficking organization Demand Abolition, told Newsweek that the tech industry is a "culture that has readily embraced trafficking."

In a statement sent to Newsweek, Microsoft said, "Microsoft has a long history of cooperating with law enforcement and other agencies on combating sex trafficking and related topics, and we have employees who volunteer their time and money specifically to combat this issue as well. The personal conduct of a tiny fraction of our 125,000 employees does not in any way represent our culture. No organization is immune to the unfortunate situation when employees act unethically or illegally. When that happens, we look into the conduct and take appropriate action. Microsoft makes it clear to our employees they have a responsibility to act with integrity and conduct themselves in a legal and ethical manner at all times. If they don't, they risk losing their jobs."

Amazon told Newsweek it's investigating the matter and said, "Amazon's Owner's Manual clearly states that, 'It is against Amazon's policy for any employee or Contingent Worker to engage in any sex buying activities of any kind in Amazon's workplace or in any work-related setting outside of the workplace, such as during business trips, business meetings or business-related social events.' When Amazon suspects that an employee has used company funds or resources to engage in criminal conduct, the company will immediately investigate and take appropriate action up to and including termination. The company may also refer the matter to law enforcement."
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Their drones deliver!
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/26/2017 0:21 Comments || Top||

#2  And US Corporations were once conservative. Now we know that the directors are definitely not conservatives which explains their leftist/lawless tendencies these days.

Another today's corp executive "embracing cheap labor" policy.
Posted by: Ulaigum Ebbineng7056 || 12/26/2017 1:50 Comments || Top||

#3  Yea, well, the key to success in IT is proper care & feeding of computer nerds - meaning, in particular, arranging for them things they can't do for themselves.
p.s. How is that sexist - do the authors claim that a woman doesn't have a right to chose to work in providing sexual services? Do they claim ownership on female vaginas!!!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/26/2017 2:29 Comments || Top||

#4  trafficked sex workers

Pretty narrow view of the world there Grom buddy.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/26/2017 5:33 Comments || Top||

#5  You didn't see women these poor suckers end up marrying, Skid.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/26/2017 6:55 Comments || Top||

#6  As with the hollyweird crowd, the IT world, as embodied bt MS, Gurgle, Crapple, Fartbook, Sh*tree and PayPally, are all scolds telling us all how to live every day. They'll call this an aberration, not indicative of the organizations as a whole. I'll go with the Law of Ultimate Syzygy: You put a teaspoon of wine in a barrel of sewage, you get sewage. You put a teaspoon of sewage in a barrel of wine, you get sewage...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/26/2017 6:58 Comments || Top||

#7  trafficked sex workers

A title employed for anyone engaged in commercial sex whether consensual or not. It's like all illegals are 'migrants' conflated with legal immigrants or the conflating of natural and man made climate change into labeling skeptics deniers. IIRC in counties outside of Reno and Vegas in Nevada, it is still legal to operate brothels, but to they'll still be referred to as 'trafficked sex workers'.
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/26/2017 7:35 Comments || Top||

#8  Yep the "trafficked" term is a tell that this article is just fakenews.

Shouldn't it be praising Trump for his pledge to secure the border and thus prevent actually trafficked prostitution
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/26/2017 7:44 Comments || Top||

#9  the industry's patronage of brothels and purchasing of services from trafficked sex workers.

I'd like to see the purchase order. My bet is it's a blanket P.O. for services, worker, sex, female, trafficked Qty 2,000 f.o.b $100 ea.
Posted by: Cheath Sproing2107 || 12/26/2017 8:22 Comments || Top||

#10  Have you guys actually been to Seattle?
Don't be so "victimized female".
There are many genders in trafficked sex worker
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/26/2017 9:31 Comments || Top||

#11  And US Corporations were once conservative.

Upper management in large corporations as a group, all hardworking, thoughtful, college-educated individuals, are socially liberal and fiscally conservative. Those who think otherwise keep quiet about it, in my experience.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/26/2017 10:33 Comments || Top||

#12  Because we get blacklisted when we don't.
Up the Universe!
Posted by: 3dc || 12/26/2017 21:58 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Al Shabaab Attacks Somali Military Base In Lower Shabelle Region
[RADIOSHABELLE] Al-Shabaab
... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...
fighters have launched a daring overnight against Somali army barracks in the southern Lower Shabelle region last night.

The local residents in Bula-Mareer town reported heavy gunfire broke out between the attackers and the Somali forces following the raid.

The Somali National Army [SNA] troops fought off the attack and repelled the gunnies during the shootout, which has led to an unspecified number of deaths on both sides.

Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Daring gang caught stealing from mail trucks traveling at 50 mph
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Saadi Qaddafi has not disappeared says Assour
[Libya Herald] The Attorney General’s office in Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
has denied claims that Saadi Qadaffy had disappeared. Over the last couple of days, rumours on social media have spread that he has not spoken to his family or lawyer for some time.

It has also being claimed they did not know where he was and that his trial was continuously postponed for no apparent reason.

Head of the investigations bureau of the Attorney General’s office, Sadek Assour, insisted that Qadaffy’s footballer son remained in prison in Tripoli and that the rumours were unfounded.

In May, Haitham Tajouri and his Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigade seized Hadba prison, where Saadi were being held. It had been under the control of Khaled al-Sharif, a former member of the Libya Islamic Fighting Group who is now living in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
Saadi is now reported to be in Ruwaimi prison in Ain Zara.

He is accused of ordering the murder in March 2006 of Ittihad Tripoli football coach Bashir al-Rayani.

Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Saadi Qaddafi has not disappeared says Assour

"A pity", says me.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 12/26/2017 11:10 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Ukraine, pro-Russians agree on major prisoner exchange for Dec. 27
[PRESSTV] Representatives of the Ukrainian government and pro-Russia forces have agreed on a major prisoner exchange following a long-standing conflict in Ukraine’s volatile east.

Representatives from the two sides made the announcement in a joint televised statement on Monday, saying they would exchange prisoners on December 27.

Kiev representative Viktor Medvedchuk said Ukraine was ready to release 306 prisoners and was hoping for pro-Russian forces to release 74 soldiers on Wednesday.

Iryna Herashchenko, first deputy speaker of parliament in Ukraine, confirmed the report and wrote on her Facebook page that "seventy-four Ukrainians will be released on December 27. We will exchange them for 306 people."

Donetsk News Agency also quoted regional pro-Russia leader Alexander Zakharchenko as saying, "We have agreed upon all the conditions, and on December 27, the exchange will be carried out under the 306-for-74 formula."

The parties agreed last week to carry out the exchange of the detained persons before the New Year and Christmas holidays. The deal was mediated by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow.

The government in Kiev had earlier claimed that pro-Russia forces were holding at least 162 Ukrainian servicemen and civilians in captivity, while the other side had estimated that the government was holding 309 of their supporters.
Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
Ugandan military says over 100 rebels killed in DRC
[AA.TR] The Ugandan military on Monday said that more than 100 rebels have been killed in Arclight airstrikes on their 8 camps in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo
...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
Ronald Kakurungo, Uganda Peoples Defence Force's front man, told Anadolu Agency on phone that they have launched a joint operation with the Congolese army to deal with Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels.

The operation started a few days after the rebels killed 14 UN peacekeepers, including 5 Congolese soldiers, and injured over 50 peacekeepers.

"We launched a joint operation on December 22. The Ugandan army operates from within Uganda while DRC army fights the rebels from inside Congo, Kakurungo said.

He said that the Ugandan forces has been carrying out airstrikes and using artillery from the border district of Bundibugyo.

"Through intelligence and coordination with the DRC army we can confirm that 8 bases of ADF rebels have been destroyed and over 100 rebels killed. The army in DRC is pursuing the rebels who survived the airstrikes," said Kakurungo.

Lieutenant Thomas Muhindo, Congolese security officer in eastern DRC, also said the airstrikes and long artillery by Ugandan army had destroyed the ADF bases.

He said the joint operation was agreed on intelligence reports that the rebels were planning to attack Uganda.

The ADF, a Ugandan rebel group based in the country’s east, is made up of several groups opposed to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. They have been active in the east since 1995 and have been blamed for the killings of hundreds of civilians around Beni.

The ADF rebels have left their political demands behind as they are mostly involved in trafficking minerals in the country’s gold-rich east.

On Aug. 4, Museveni and his Congolese counterpart agreed to establish military cooperation and exchange information in the fight against the ADF.

Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan
Militants suffer casualties in Afghan Special Forces operations in Laghman
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least seven murderous Moslems were killed during the Afghan Special Forces operations in eastern Laghman
...It has a population of about 445,600, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a rural society. During the invasions of Alexander the Great, the area was known as Lampaka, wich is apparently Olde Macedonian for Laghman.The city of Mihtarlam serves as the bucolic capital of the province. The population is half Pashtun, the remainder Tadjik and Pashai. It had a reputionagreat wealth until it was conquered in the tenth century by Abu Mansur Sabuktigin.
He conquered it and set fire to the places in its vicinity which were inhabited by infidels, and demolishing the idol-temples, he established Islam in them, He marched and captured other cities and killed the polluted wretches, destroying the idolatrous and gratifying the Musulmans. After wounding and killing beyond all measure, his hands and those of his friends became cold in counting the value of the plundered property.
province of Afghanistan.

The provincial government in a statement said the operations were conducted by the Afghan commandos and with the support of the Afghan Air Force in Alingar district

The statement further added that the hideouts of the murderous Moslems were targeted in Qasaba, Slingar, Nimnan, and Shingar areas.

According to the provincial government, two famous local leaders of the murderous Moslems identified as Amrullah and his deputy Hamdullah who is also famous as Abu Bakar were among those killed.

At least three suspects were also incarcerated
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
during the same operations, the provincial government said, adding that the murderous Moslems killed during the operations were involved in terrorist-related activities in various parts of Laghman province.

Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Gaza Strip terror tunnel detecting barrier 90% completed — report
[IsraelTimes] High-tech obstacle along border with Paleostinian enclave will be finished in about 4 months, Channel 10 says, with a physical underground wall to be ready by 2019

A technological barrier that can detect attack tunnels crossing under the border with the Gazoo Strip into Israel is nearly completed and could be finished in about four months, Channel 10 reported.

The barrier is about 90 percent done and will be supplemented by an enormous concrete wall extending deep into the ground along the border that should be completed by the beginning of 2019, according to the Sunday report.

The new underground barrier, which is estimated to cost upwards of NIS 3 billion ($851 million), is being built inside Israeli territory. The current metal fence surrounding the Strip, which lies exactly on the border, will remain in place while the new fence is built a few dozen meters inside Israel.

Military analysts suspect that, in light of the new barrier, Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", is focusing more of its attention on developing an underground tunnel network within the Gazoo Strip, as opposed to border-crossing tunnels.

In order to construct the underground barrier, workers are using a German hydromill, a powerful piece of drilling equipment that cuts deep, narrow trenches into the earth.

In addition to opening up the ground where the barrier will be constructed, the hydromill is expected to expose any previously undiscovered or newly dug Hamas tunnels that enter Israeli territory.

The space left behind by the hydromill ‐ and any Hamas tunnels that get in the way ‐ is then filled with a substance known as bentonite, a type of absorbent clay that expands when it touches water.

This is meant to prevent the trenches from collapsing, but also has the additional benefit of indicating the presence of a tunnel, as the bentonite would quickly drain into it.

Workers then pour regular concrete into the trench. Metal cages with sensors attached are then lowered into the concrete for additional support.

In July 2014, Israel launched Operation Protective Edge in response to rocket fire from Gazoo. During the 50-day campaign, the IDF destroyed some 14 tunnels that entered Israeli territory, along with 18 internal tunnels, and depleted Hamas’s weapons stores.

In the more than three years since the operation, the army has revealed that it found and destroyed at least four attack tunnels entering Israeli territory from the Gazoo Strip, in April and May 2016, and in October and now December 2017.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Hydromill
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/26/2017 8:58 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/26/2017 9:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Now we know. Thank you, Skidmark.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/26/2017 15:19 Comments || Top||

#4  One of the advantages of a moat around a medieval European castle was that it discouraged tunnel digging.
Posted by: P. Speaking for B. || 12/26/2017 15:32 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Beled Hawo Residents Clash With KDF Soldiers Over Border Wall
[RADIOSHABELLE] A stand-off ensued between residents of Bulahawo town in Somalia and the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldiers over the Kenya-Somalia border.

The residents are angry that the soldiers are allegedly trying to annex a section of Somalia by erecting a boundary into Kenya’s neighbours.

According to them, KDF soldiers have erected a perimeter wall 100 metres into Somalia, apparently with the aim of annexing the area.

Kenyan soldiers have been manning the Kenya-Somalia border since the al-Shabaab
... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
insurgency in Kenya.

The Somalia-based terror group has carried out deadly attacks in Kenya in the past, with the mos devastating one being the killing of at least 147 people at the Garissa University College.

However,
some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go...
improved security has seen the attacks reduce significantly and limited to the border between the two countries.

Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russian opposition leader's presidential bid rejected
[AA.TR] The Russian election commission on Monday rejected opposition leader Alexey Navalny's application to run in the upcoming presidential elections in March 2018 in the country.

In a statement, Central Election Commission said Navalny cannot be a candidate for the presidential elections because of corruption charges and sentences against him.

Navalny, 41, an opposition activist and the founder of the Anti-Corruption Fund, had officially applied to the Central Election Commission to challenge President Vladimir Putin
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
, despite objections from Russian authorities due to lawsuits against him.

Navalny previously received multiple sentences over a number of charges, including fraud and calls to attend "unauthorized" rallies.
Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  DWS has moved on to the Russian election commission?
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 12/26/2017 0:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Navalny, 41, an opposition activist and the founder of the Anti-Corruption Fund ... previously received multiple sentences over a number of charges, including fraud

Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/26/2017 2:31 Comments || Top||

#3  Just attention seeking from Navalny. He knew fully well he was not eligible to run because of his criminal convictions. He wanted the publicity
Posted by: John Frum || 12/26/2017 10:26 Comments || Top||

#4  You may be right, John Frum, but I still think Anomalous Sources should get Snark of the Day.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 12/26/2017 18:43 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iraq vows to eliminate White Flags group very soon
[Iraq News] Iraqi troops will crush the recently-emerged White Flags group very soon, a military front man said on Monday.

"The terrorist White Flags group does not pose a major threat to the security situation in Iraq since its members are estimated at dozens," Spokesperson for the Joint Operations Command Brigadier General Yahya Rasool said in a statement, quoted by Alghad Press.

"Members of the White Flags group cannot carry out brutal attacks in Iraq given that they do not have any capabilities to do so," Rasool stressed, adding that the Iraqi Armed Forces, which defeated the more dangerous Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group, is capable of crushing this small group easily.

"The Joint Operations Command has a complete database about the White Flags group and will launch an attack on it at the right time," he noted.

Speaking about the White Flags’ main goal, Rasool said, "This unlawful group aims at fomenting sedition in Iraq through targeting innocent people in areas like Tuz Khurmatu to prove that terrorism still exists and was not defeated."

Rasool reiterated that the Joint Operations Command is determined to stand up to any attempt aimed at destabilizing Iraq or endangering the life of its people. "We will not allow terrorism to emerge again in Iraq under any circumstances," Rasool stressed.
Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq

#1 
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/26/2017 8:55 Comments || Top||

#2  So, NOT French Jihadis?
Posted by: Frank G || 12/26/2017 9:14 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Palestinians need new leaders and a new strategy
[ARABNEWS] The year 2017 will be remembered as the one in which the so-called "grinding of the peace processor," at least in its American formulation, ended. And with its demise, the political framework that has been the foundation for US foreign policy in the Middle East has also collapsed.

The Paleostinian leadership and their Arab and international allies will now embark on a new year with the difficult task of drumming up a whole new political formula that does not include the US.

The Paleostinian Authority entered 2017 with the slight hope that the US was in the process of moving away, however slightly, from its hard-line pro-Israel attitude. This hope was the result of a decision made by the Barack B.O. regime in December 2016 not to veto UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which declared the status of illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories null and void.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [8 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority

#1  "Palestinians" need Syrian passports.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/26/2017 2:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Again, what's with the international law? Show me the so called "international law" you mentioned.
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance || 12/26/2017 3:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Paleo negotiators have s. for brains. The Trump/Netanyahu strategy is to make it abundantly clear that time is not the Paleo's friend. Stalling will only play into Israel's hands.

The rest of world enjoyed thumbing their collective noses at the US over Palestine as long as there were no consequences. The Trump administration will now alter that dynamic as well. Let us see how they like dealing with China instead.
Posted by: P. Speaking for B. || 12/26/2017 10:29 Comments || Top||


Trump’s Jerusalem al-Quds move ‘violation of international law’: Analyst
[PRESSTV] US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
’s decision to recognize Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s so-called capital was a "flagrant violation" of international law, says a political analyst in reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown
... home of Al Capone, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel,...
"It’s a deplorable situation; it's just another example of the horrible way Trump is governing and I can’t imagine what’s coming in 2018; he’s done so much damage in 2017," Stephen Lendman said during an interview with Press TV on Monday.

"He flagrantly violated international law, which says Jerusalem is an international city and the final status of the city is to be agreed on from [peace] talks," he added.

On December 6, Trump declared that Washington was recognizing Jerusalem al-Quds as the "capital" of Israel and was planning to relocate the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem al-Quds.
Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Where do they keep finding these dementia patients in their late 80s?

It really time for a maximum age for political statements.
Posted by: 3dc || 12/26/2017 0:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Yea, well, widespread Terran recognition of "Palestinian People" and their 'rights" is violation of Interstellar Law!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/26/2017 2:18 Comments || Top||

#3  I told someone who claimed to be a specialist on the oxymoronic "international law" that that and a few quid will get you a coffee.

They were not impressed with the truth, haha.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/26/2017 8:19 Comments || Top||

#4  How was the coffee?
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/26/2017 9:23 Comments || Top||

#5  I love watching these fucks whine and bitch.

They don't have any power to do anything about it and they know it. Best part is Trump does too.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/26/2017 9:26 Comments || Top||

#6  What I want to know is - does it violate the Kitomer Accords?
Posted by: Raj || 12/26/2017 11:00 Comments || Top||

#7  Who died and made this analyst king?
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/26/2017 14:06 Comments || Top||

#8  I see what you did there G(r)omgoru! :D
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance || 12/26/2017 18:59 Comments || Top||


Sinwar: Iran wants Hamas, Islamic Jihad to go full-throttle over Jerusalem
[IsraelTimes] Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", Gazoo chief Yahya Sinwar says his terror organization is in contact with a leading Iranian military official, who has told them to put all the group’s resources into "defending Jerusalem."

Sinwar tells the Pro-Iranian Lebanese news outlet al-Mayadeen that Hamas, as well as the Gazoo-based terror group Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
, are in contact with Qassem Soleimani
, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ elite Quds Force.

The Hamas leader says Soleimani told the Paleostinian terror groups to put all their capabilities into the fight over Jerusalem, according to the report.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies

#1  Russia stomp this out. Shinfluence makes me nervous. And your Syrian flopasphy wreked you.
Posted by: newc || 12/26/2017 3:55 Comments || Top||

#2  A little tired when you posted that, newc dear, or too much Christmas cheer? ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/26/2017 10:42 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Suicide attack in Kabul leaves six civilians dead
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] An kaboom rocked Kabul city earlier today after a suicide detonated his explosives close to a security compound.

Security sources are saying the incident has taken place in Shash Darak area of the city.

A front man for the ministry of interior Najib Danish confirmed that six people were killed and a number of others were maimed in the suicide kaboom in Shash Darak area of the city.

He said the target of the jacket wallah has not been ascertained so far as he detonated his explosives near a roadside and the victims are all civilians.

Eyewitnesses in the area had earlier said the kaboom was triggered by a suicide attack close to a compound belonging to the intelligence agency.

The ministry of public health officials had earlier said at least three people were killed in the kaboom and a number of others have sustained injuries.

Islamic State claims responsibility for blast in Afghan capital, Kabul

[Ynet] Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
grabbed credit for an kaboom on Monday carried by a jacket wallah near a compound of Afghanistan's national intelligence agency in the capital, Kabul, the group said on its Amaq news agency.

The blast, close to the entrance of the security agency compound, killed at least three people and maimed one, Afghan government officials said.
Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Home Front: Politix
Did President Obama Read the ‘Steele Dossier' in the White House Last August?
[TabletMag] News of the News: Why the timeline of the scandalous report that fuels Russiagate matters.

To date the investigation into the Fusion GPS-manufactured collusion scandal has focused largely on the firm itself, its allies in the press, as well as contacts in the Department of Justice and FBI. However, if a sitting president used the instruments of state, including the intelligence community, to disseminate and legitimize a piece of paid opposition research in order to first obtain warrants to spy on the other party’s campaign, and then to de-legitimize the results of an election once the other party’s candidate won, we’re looking at a scandal that dwarfs Watergate‐a story not about a bad man in the White House, but about the subversion of key security institutions that are charged with protecting core elements of our democratic process while operating largely in the shadows."
And this is why determining what document(s) were used in obtaining the Trump FISA Warrant is so important.
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Did President Obama Read the ‘Steele Dossier' in the White House Last August?

Obama reads?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/26/2017 2:39 Comments || Top||

#2  It's easy to imagine how grossed out Bath House was by the content. "What, no bareback? No snowballs! Eewwww..."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/26/2017 6:07 Comments || Top||

#3  We all know he's a gifted writer. The topics are rather narrow, but he's a gifted writer nonetheless. Reader? Not so much, I suspect.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/26/2017 9:47 Comments || Top||

#4  We know that someone wrote pretty well. Arguably that someone was not the man who became president of the United States.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/26/2017 15:17 Comments || Top||

#5  TW, I'm slightly confused, are you referring to the current president or the previous president?
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance || 12/26/2017 18:21 Comments || Top||

#6  *cough* Bill Ayers *cough*
Posted by: Frank G || 12/26/2017 19:46 Comments || Top||

#7  are you referring to the current president or the previous president?

The previous one, Seeking cure, was most definitely not a gifted writer. My apologies for the confusion.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/26/2017 21:22 Comments || Top||

#8  Is the Pope Catholic? Um, wait a sec....
Posted by: KBK || 12/26/2017 22:49 Comments || Top||

#9  Thanks TW, just wanted to make sure!
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance || 12/26/2017 23:06 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Militants Surrender To Somalia Government Flown To Baidoa
[RADIOSHABELLE] Four al-Shabaab
... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia...
holy warriors including top commanders surrendered to the Somali government on Thursday, officials said.

Ugaas Hassan, the Information Minister for the Southwest State in Somalia, confirmed to Xinhua that the holy warriors agreed to lay down arms and surrender to Somali National Army and Southwest State forces in Berdale town.

"Four al-Shabaab fighters including the deputy commander of the group in the Bay region surrendered to the officials of the Somalia National Army (SNA) and Southwest state in Somalia in Berdale town, these holy warriors decided to denounce the wrong ideology of the terrorist group al-Shabaab," said Hassan.

The joint forces, including the SNA and African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
troops, have intensified military operations against al-Shabaab holy warriors in the recent past while some holy warriors are either escaping or leaving from the group now.

"Military operations are going on in the region now, and we are welcoming anyone who is in the terrorist group to accept grinding of the peace processor," Hassan said.

The latest development came against a backdrop of factional wars within the al-Qaeda linked terrorist network that has intensified this year.

Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)

#1  we are welcoming anyone who is in the terrorist group to to change sides.

I'm beginning to see a strategic flaw.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/26/2017 8:51 Comments || Top||


Europe
Norway said set to cut funding for pro-BDS Palestinian NGOs
[IsraelTimes] Oslo reported to say decision reflects support for Israeli-Paleostinian dialogue and cooperation, opposition to boycotts of Jewish state

Norway is reportedly set to cut funding for Paleostinian NGOs that support boycotts of Israel.

Quoting a statement from the Norwegian government, Hadashot TV news reported Monday that the decision reflects Oslo’s support for Israeli-Paleostinian dialogue and cooperation, as well as its opposition to boycotts of Israel.

"This is an additional and vital step for damaging boycott organizations," Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan told the TV channel. "We will continue to work consistently to expose European funding for Paleostinian organizations that delegitimize [Israel]."

Norway’s decision comes just days after fellow Scandinavian country Denmark said it will revoke funding from several Paleostinian NGOs and tighten aid criteria for others after they were found to be tied to anti-Israel activities.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What's happening to Scandians? They becoming rational?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/26/2017 2:21 Comments || Top||

#2  ...getting up front and close experience appears to have removed the childlike 'mystery' of whom we are all to often dealing with.
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/26/2017 8:05 Comments || Top||

#3  reportedly set to cut funding

I'll believe it when I see it, talk's cheap.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/26/2017 8:13 Comments || Top||

#4  Given the troubles at home, the cost of supporting those invited to invade, and the new normal low prices for oil, they really can’t afford former indulgences.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/26/2017 15:12 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Six Islamic State, involved in killing policeman, killed in Kirkuk
[Iraq News] Six holy warriors, involved in killing a policeman and his son, were killed in southwest of Kirkuk,
... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time...
a commander has announced.

"Military units managed to kill 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....
holy warriors, who are involved in killing Colonel Fadel Saeed al-Sabaawi, his son and four paramilitary personnel on Sunday on the road linking between Hawija and Riyad," Maj. Gen. Ali Fadel Umran, Commander of Kirkuk Operations, told Alghad Press on Monday.

"The operation to follow the holy warriors took place at al-Saadiya village in Hawija, southwest of Kirkuk," Umran added. "Al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces ) killed three other holy warriors in south of Kirkuk."

Several holy warriors killed on Sunday a chief of police department and his son, as they set up an ambush on the road between Kirkuk and Hawija.

Earlier on the day, security troops in Kirkuk announced applying a one-week plan to protect civilians during the celebrations of Christmas and the New Year at the province.

Officials in the province of Kirkuk previously urged reinforcing military troops in the south and west, as the region still have IS members who escaped during liberation offensives of Hawija and mainly in houses and tunnels at remote areas in Riyad, al-Rashad and between al-Abbassi and Dibis.

Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Palestine slams as ‘shameful’ Guatemala's decision to move embassy to Jerusalem al-Quds
[PRESSTV] Paleostine has strongly lambasted as "shameful" Guatemala's decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem al-Quds after US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
's decision to recognize the city as Israel's so-called capital.

"It's a shameful and illegal act that goes totally against the wishes of church leaders in Jerusalem [al-Quds]" and violated a non-binding UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution, which denounced the Washington’s provocative move, said a statement released by the Paleostinian foreign ministry on Monday.

The strongly-worded statement came a day after the small Central American country announced that it would be moving its diplomatic mission in Israel to Jerusalem al-Quds, making it the first country to follow in the footsteps of Trump.

"The state of Paleostine considers this as a flagrant act of hostility against the inalienable rights of the Paleostinian people and international law," the statement further read, adding "The state of Paleostine will act with regional and international partners to oppose this illegal decision."
Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority

#1  Well, the move is a nod to "throwback diplomacy": Guatemala to Move Embassy to Jerusalem..Again!

Verified at Wiki.

Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 12/26/2017 0:21 Comments || Top||

#2  I will Bless you Whom Bless Israel and I will Curse those that Curse Israel.

There is a Law of Seperation.
The clean from the un-clean Doctrines.

This is DoctrineMatch(TM)

The one who wins already won multitudes of wildcards by being built upon a Rock of Logos.

Only Proven Doctrines may be considered. It must account for Human Nature as well as setting them as free as possible for them to also solidify the CornerStone.

All systems must have a minimum of Three failsafes. On the Ark, we placed Four to protect the way of Life.

If your Doctrine actually works modernly with enough to fuel lack of fear and persons feeling more secure in their being and Property.

One Rule, do not steal.

Take it from there.
Posted by: newc || 12/26/2017 0:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Betcha Ahmad five years from now both Russia and China will have their embassies in Jerusalem.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/26/2017 2:19 Comments || Top||

#4  "The state of Paleostine" doesn't exist, asshole
Posted by: Frank G || 12/26/2017 7:46 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Yemeni forces’ missile kills several Saudi mercenaries in Sana'a prov.
[PRESSTV] Yemeni forces have fired a Zelzal 2 (Earthquake-2) ballistic missile at a position of Saudi-backed mercenaries in the Nihm district of the country's western Sana'a province, inflicting heavy casualties on them.

According to early reports, scores of Saudi-backed holy warriors loyal to former Yemeni president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, were killed and injured after Yemeni army forces backed by allied fighters from the Popular Committees launched the domestically-produced missile at their position.

A military source, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
, told Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah television network that Yemeni forces had fired the Zelzal-2 missile at the Saudi mercenaries as they were trying to make territorial advances in the Nihm district of the province on Monday afternoon.

Separately, scores of Saudi-sponsored Hadi loyalists bit the dust and sustained injuries when Yemeni forces carried out two separate attacks against their outposts in the southwestern province of Ta'izz.

An unnamed military official said the first assault struck south of Khalid military base, while the second targeted an area west of Mawza city.
Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  Of course, Iran's PressTV makes sure to lie and refer to the missiles as "domestically-produced"
Posted by: Frank G || 12/26/2017 8:59 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran confirms upholding death sentence for academic over spying
[ARABNEWS] Iran’s Supreme Court has upheld a death sentence against a Sweden-based Iranian academic convicted of spying for Israel, the Tehran prosecutor was quoted as saying on Monday, confirming reports by Amnesia Amnesty International and his family.

Ahmadreza Djalali, a medical doctor and lecturer at the Karolinska Institute, a Stockholm medical university, was accused of providing information to Israel to help it assassinate several senior nuclear scientists.

Djalali was jugged
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
in Iran in April 2016 and later convicted of espionage. He has denied the charges, Amnesty said.

At least, four scientists were killed between 2010 and 2012 in what Tehran said were liquidations meant to sabotage its efforts to develop nuclear energy. Western powers and Israel said Iran aimed to build a nuclear bomb. Tehran denied this.

Tehran hanged a man in 2012 over the killings, saying he was an agent for Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.

On Monday, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said the Supreme Court recently upheld the death sentence against Djalali, the news site of Iran’s judiciary, Mizan, reported.

Dolatabadi said Djalali had confessed to meeting Mossad agents repeatedly to deliver information on Iran’s nuclear and defense plans and personnel, and helping to infect Defense Ministry computer systems with viruses, Mizan reported.

London-based Amnesia Amnesty International and Djalali’s wife said earlier this month that his lawyers were told that the Supreme Court had considered his case and upheld his death sentence.

Iranian state TV broadcast last week what it described as Djalali’s confessions. His wife said he had been forced by his interrogators to read the confession.

Djalali was on a business trip to Iran when he was arrested and sent to Evin prison. He was held in solitary confinement for three months of his detention and tortured, Amnesty said.

It said Djalali wrote a letter inside prison in August stating he was being held for refusing to spy for Iran.

Sweden condemned the sentence in October and said it had raised the matter with Iranian envoys.

Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [13 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Arabia
Bahrain sentences 6 to death for assassination plot
[ARABNEWS] Bahrain’s top military court sentenced six men to death on Monday after convicting them of charges including plotting to assassinate the Gulf state’s armed forces chief, state media reported.

It was the first official mention of any plot against the life of Field Marshal Sheikh Khalifa bin Ahmed al-Khalifa, who is a member of the ruling family, but the Bahrain News Agency gave no further details of when or where it was alleged to have taken place.

A judicial source told AFP that all six of those sentenced to death on Monday were Shiites.

BNA said that one of them was a serving soldier before his arrest and that all six were also stripped of their citizenship.

The court sentenced seven other defendants to seven-year jail terms and deprived them too of their citizenship. Five men were acquitted.

Only 10 of the defendants are in jug, BNA said. The other eight are on the run ‐ either inside Bahrain or in Iran or Iraq.
Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies


Africa Horn
54 Students Abandoned University To Join Terror Groups
[RADIOSHABELLE] At least 54 university students have abandoned their studies to join terrorist groups in the past two years.

The majority of them ‐ 44 ‐ joined the groups last year but this year only 14 have fled, a police report reveals.

The decline in the number of terror recruits has been attributed to various counter-terrorism strategies by the Government.

"Most of the successes from current counter-terrorism efforts are largely due to close working relations between security agencies and members of the public who voluntarily share information with security personnel," says the report.

Terror groups The students were among dozens of youths who left the country to join terror groups in countries such as Libya, Somalia, and Syria. But this trend has declined due to, among others, enhanced security patrols along the Kenya-Somali border and other Kenyan border points.

Additionally, many Kenyan youths are increasingly becoming aware of the futility of joining myrmidon groups such as al-Shabaab
... the personification of Somali state failure...
and ISIS, the report says.

The report cites intelligence that shows that many of the Kenyan terror runaways in Somalia have borne the wrath of al-Shabaab, which is increasingly accusing them of spying for the Kenya Defence Forces in Somalia.

Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)

#1  making it even more difficult to collect on student loans
Posted by: lord garth || 12/26/2017 1:35 Comments || Top||

#2  The decline in the number of terror recruits has been attributed to various counter-terrorism strategies by the Government.

Free scholarships?
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/26/2017 8:49 Comments || Top||

#3  The bottom half of the bell curve.
Posted by: P. Speaking for B. || 12/26/2017 15:34 Comments || Top||


Al Shabaab Kills Five Men By Firing Squad For Espionage
[RADIOSHABELLE] The holy warriors of the Al Qaeda-affiliated of Al-Shabaab
... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...
have publicly executed five Somali men, whom it convicted of espionage on Sunday in southern Somalia.

The execution of the five men took place at an open area in Idaale, a small town controlled by Al-Shabaab which is located about 60Km south of Baidoa city.

Al-Shabaab said the executed men were found guilty of spying for the Intelligence services of the Somali government, United States, Jubbaland, and Southwest by its own court.

Hundreds of local residents have watched the killing of the alleged spy agents.

It’s not the first time, Al-Shabaab executes people blamed for espionage and other critical chares in its strongholds in southern Somalia.

Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)

#1  Al-Shabaab said the executed men were found guilty of spying for the Intelligence services of the Somali government, United States, Jubbaland, and Southwest by its own court

Southwest? They have a route there?
Posted by: Frank G || 12/26/2017 8:55 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Afghan border forces personnel suffer heavy casualties in Helmand bombing
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan border police forces personnel suffered heavy casualties in roadside kabooming in southern Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
province of Afghanistan.

According to the local government officials, the incident took place in the vicinity of the restive Marjah district amid ongoing counter-terrorism operations.

Provincial governor’s front man Omar Zwak confirmed the incident and said at least six border forces personnel bit the dust in the kaboom and six others were maimed.

He said the incident took place after the armored personnel carriers of the border police forces struck with the improvised bombs planted on a roadside.

In the meantime, Zwak said at least ten Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
snuffies have also been killed during the operations and around twelve sustained injuries.

He said two local commanders of the Taliban group were also among those killed during the operations of the Afghan cops.

Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa Subsaharan
Nigerian military says it repels suspected Boko Haram attack
[AlAhram] Nigeria's military has repelled an attack on Monday by suspected Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
murderous Moslems on the outskirts of the northeastern city of Maiduguri, the regional army commander said.

The situation is now under control, Major General Nicholas Rogers, who heads Nigeria's military operations against Boko Haram, told Rooters by phone.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram (ISIS)

#1  "The situation is now under control"

Guess that beats, "Holy shit where did those guys come from?"
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/26/2017 8:44 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Militants responsible for the destruction of electricity pylons killed in Wardak
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least fifteen snuffies who were responsible for the destruction of electricity pylons in central Maidan Wardak province of Afghanistan have been killed during the military operations, the local security officials said.

Provincial police chief Gen. Ahmad Fahim Qayem said the snuffies were killed during the ongoing clearance operations in Syedabad district.

He said two key Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
group figures identified as Mawlavi Gul Amin and Mawlavi Fayaz are also amogn those killed and the two individuals were involved in destroying electricity pylons transferring 220kV of electricity between Arghandi-Ghazni.

Gen. Qayem further added that twenty villages have been cleared from the presence of the Taliban snuffies so far and several vehicles along with some weapons have also been confiscated during the operations.
Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
The year a rogue regime went from bad to worse
[ARABNEWS] Supporters of the Iran regime argued that the 2017 re-election of Hassan Rouhani as president, the continuation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, known commonly as the Iran nuclear deal, the continuing relaxation of sanctions, and increased trade and political rapprochement with the Islamic Theocratic Republic, would all make Tehran a more constructive and rational regional actor in 2017.

This argument centers on the notion that appeasement of Tehran would empower and embolden Iran’s "moderate" forces. However,
if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well...
concrete evidence and last year’s history of the regime reveals a different story. Let us divide Iran’s actions, behavior and policies in 2017 into three main categories ‐ domestic, regional and international.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [14 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  ....Jeebus, if I hear the word 'moderate' applied to an Iranian politician again, I'm gonna plotz. In Iran, a 'moderate' is someone who wants to kill the infidels more slowly.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 12/26/2017 9:00 Comments || Top||

#2  The year a rogue regime went from bad to worse

Saw the headline and thought this was about Zero and 2016. Oh, wait...
Posted by: PBMcL || 12/26/2017 11:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Valarie Jarret to the white courtesy phone.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 12/26/2017 12:34 Comments || Top||

#4  Valarie Jarret to the white courtesy phone.

All according to her plan.
Posted by: P. Speaking for B. || 12/26/2017 15:03 Comments || Top||

#5  #1 ....Jeebus, if I hear the word 'moderate' applied to an Iranian politician again, I'm gonna plotz. In Iran, a 'moderate' is someone who wants to kill the infidels more slowly.

Or one that drills holes in your verses one that just cuts it off with a rusty blade.
Posted by: newc || 12/26/2017 19:58 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Embattled FBI admits it can't verify dossier claims of Russia, Trump campaign collusion
[Washington Times] The FBI is declining to repudiate the Russia dossier on which it partially relied to start an investigation into the Trump campaign, but it concedes the document’s major core charges of election collusion remain unsubstantiated.

Sources familiar with House and Senate investigations say this is the FBI’s dossier talking point 17 months after agents were first briefed in July 2016 as Donald Trump battled Hillary Clinton for the White House.

The most recent FBI witness was Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who spent nearly eight hours last week in a closed session before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Republicans believe they have unearthed a scandal inside the bureau’s top echelons over its determination to target Trump associates based on flimsy evidence and improper Justice Department contacts.

Republican committee members pressed Mr. McCabe about a dossier that was financed by the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign based on gossip-tinged information from paid, unidentified Kremlin operatives.

Mr. McCabe declined to criticize the dossier’s 35 pages of salacious and criminal charges against Donald Trump and his aides, but he said it remains largely unverified, according to a source familiar with ongoing congressional inquiries.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Unable to verify it? Then why was it given to then President Soetoro and why was community wide distribution made on it? Let's be honest here, we all know what this was about, we're just not fully briefed on the individuals responsible.

Time to come clean and move on.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/26/2017 5:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Beso, coming clean would result in a severe shortage of cells in various correctional facilities........not that there's anything wrong with that mind you.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/26/2017 8:52 Comments || Top||

#3  ...Remember what I said back when all this started - the Democrats expected that when it came out, Trump would go into a defensive crouch and spend all his time addressing what was in it, while Hilary would tut-tut and cruise to a secure win. And after January 20th, President Clinton would have made sure that the dossier was quietly burned/shredded/reduced to atoms.

Trouble is, 1) Trump didn't follow the script...hell, he ignored it, and 2) Hilary was still so disliked that she lost a rigged election. So now what you have is a situation where the Dems fired their 'secret weapon'...and (to use USAF Ammo terminology) it hung up on the rack, and there's no place to jettison it.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 12/26/2017 9:08 Comments || Top||

#4  we're just not fully briefed on the individuals responsible

I think both sides are scrambling for cover stories to keep us from knowing the truth.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/26/2017 9:39 Comments || Top||

#5  If the dossier was used as supporting evidence for a FISA warrant, someone must eventually own it. I suspect this is a very sticky wicket. There is the possibility that Soetoro provided the authorization for the use of the dossier.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/26/2017 9:43 Comments || Top||

#6  I think both sides are scrambling for cover stories to keep us from knowing the truth.

Why would POTUS and AG want to aid in the cover-up?
Posted by: P. Speaking for B. || 12/26/2017 15:00 Comments || Top||

#7  Cancer inside the FBI
Posted by: P. Speaking for B. || 12/26/2017 15:39 Comments || Top||

#8  Dossier: it's not not true, but it's not not not true.
Posted by: KBK || 12/26/2017 17:09 Comments || Top||

#9  Why do I suspect they are waiting for someone to die of natural causes so that they can place blame on that person.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/26/2017 20:52 Comments || Top||


Jackie Mason: It's ‘Sick' We Pay the United Nations to Hate Us
[Breitbart] NEW YORK ‐ Legendary standup comic Jackie Mason weighed in on the debate about the possibility of defunding the United Nations, calling U.S. financing to the international body "so sick that we do this it is unbelievable."

"It is like if somebody tells you I hate you. I can’t stand you. I would like you to drop dead by Thursday. And we say to them how much money do you need? How much does it cost us for you to say this?" he exclaimed.

Mason was speaking Sunday night during his regular segment on this reporter’s talk radio program, Aaron Klein Investigative Radio, broadcast on New York’s AM 970 The Answer and NewsTalk 990 AM.

He continued:
We pay for everything that they need. If they have a flood or any kind of a disaster, a hurricane in any of these countries, we are the ones that come to help them and pay for everything for them. And we protect them in every way. We have what is called foreign aid. Well, foreign aid means even if somebody catches a cold somewhere we send them a few dollars. There is nothing we don’t pay for in those countries. And the truth of the matter is we should have nothing to do with them.

On Thursday, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley indicated the U.S. could withhold funds from the U.S. in response to the passage of an anti-Israel resolution at the U.N. General Assembly clearly intended to rescind President Donald Trump’s historic decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:


The Grand Turk
Military: Two Turkish soldiers killed in PKK attack in southeast
[Ynet] Two Ottoman Turkish soldiers were killed in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
's southeastern province of Hakkari in an attack by Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) holy warriors, the military said on Monday.

Another soldier was maimed in the attack which took place as the troops were carrying out security operations, it said.

The PKK, considered a terrorist organization by the United States, Turkey and the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
, has waged an insurgency against the state since the 1980s. Violence in the largely Kurdish southeast has escalated since the collapse of a ceasefire in 2015.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Army finds signs of infiltration on Jordan border, launches manhunt
[IsraelTimes] Military says soldiers identified evidence that someone crossed illegally into Israel in the Arava desert area

The army launched a manhunt in the Arava desert on Monday after finding evidence that someone illegally crossed into the area from Jordan, a military official said.

"Earlier today, during a routine search along the Israeli-Jordanian border, footprints indicating an illegal crossing into Israel from Jordan were identified," the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.

"The IDF along with the Israel Police and the Shin Bet security service are continuing to search the area. The incident is being investigated," the statement said.

The army maintains so-called "blurred" paths along the country’s borders, strips of undisturbed dirt that allow trackers to quickly see footprints and other traces of illegal infiltration.

An IDF spokesperson said the army would not elaborate on where exactly the footprints were found along the border, other than to say that it was in the Arava desert.

Israel’s border with Jordan is generally seen as a quiet one, owing to a 1994 peace treaty with the Hashemite Kingdom and strong defense ties. There is, however, always concern that the relative calm will be exploited by terrorist or criminal groups to enter Israel for nefarious purposes.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Kurdistan Workers Party declares new self-rule region in northern Iraq
[Iraq News] The Kurdistan Workers Party(PKK) has announced the creation of a new autonomous region in northern Iraq, a step that could provoke more intense Ottoman Turkish strikes over the locations of the group designated by Ankara and several Western countries as a terrorist tentity.

In a statement circulated by Kurdish media, and quoted by London-based The New Arab newspaper, the group declared a new autonomous region in Qandil mountains, comprising five areas.

The declaration was made in the presence of "300 political figures", the statement said, adding that "the next step would be to elect an administration for the region and to start construction".

No official response was made by the Iraqi government.

The group has fought for an independent region for The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
’s Kurds since the 1980s.

PKK and Ottoman Turkish military encounters resumed in July 2015 for the first time since the militia announced a pullout from Ottoman Turkish territory in 2013. The battles resumed after PKK accused Ankara of failure of protecting Kurds following an 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....
attack that killed 32 Kurds at a town near the borders with Syria.

Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Saudi Daily Says Three 'Hizbullah Experts' Killed in Yemen
[AnNahar] Three 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...
military experts have been killed in a Saudi-led Arclight airstrike in Yemen, a Saudi daily reported on Monday.

Al-Riyadh newspaper said the strike targeted a house near the Grand Mosque in the Haradh area, which lies in the Hajjah Governorate that borders 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...
"One of the experts was part of the (Huthi) militias’ communications unit while the two others worked in the domain of explosives and the planting of mines, especially sea mines and the rigging of boats used by the militias on the western coast," al-Riyadh said.

"The bodies of the three Lebanese were transferred to Sanaa while the bodies of seven members of the Huthi militias were placed in the al-Thawra Hospital in Hajjah," the newspaper added.

Saudi officials had previously accused Hizbullah of offering missile expertise to the rebels, claims denied by Hizbullah chief His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...
The accusations followed the firing of a ballistic missile from Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
at the Saudi capital last month.

Hizbullah has recently endorsed a government statement affirming that Lebanese parties would refrain from interfering in regional conflicts. The statement was part of an agreement under which 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 has him bumped off, too.
rescinded a resignation announced from Riyadh.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Home Front: Politix
Popcorn Worthy – President Trump Has Rejected McCabe's Terms…
[ConservativeTreehouse] To put a fine point on the anticipatory fireworks for mid-January, let us remind ourselves of what can be anticipated when everyone gets back to DC from the holiday break.

Following a week of growing pressure and sunlight, last week Asst. FBI Director Andrew "Andy" McCabe used The Washington Post -the PR transmission media of the Deep State Intelligence Community- to announce his career saving terms. Essentially McCabe presented the deal that he would leave office in March, in exchange for no returning fire.

President Trump, immediately spotting the intent of the public resignation announcement, responded by saying on Twitter: "NO DEAL".

On January 15th, 2018, the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General Michael Horowitz will deliver approximately 1.2 million pages of documentation and evidence gathered in the year-long investigation
...they started during President Obama’s term, then, and possibly conceived the need while it was still assumed that Hillary Clinton would inherit the mantle...
into the politicization of the DOJ and FBI, by senior leadership and upper-level career leadership lawyers and bureaucrats.

IG Horowitz, having utilized the OIG’s vast 500+ investigative agents, is giving that preliminary evidence -in advance of pending full report- to the congressional committee in charge of DOJ/FBI oversight: House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte. ‐OUTLINED HERE

So by mid-January the House Judiciary Committee will have massive investigative documentation surrounding Andrew McCabe, James Comey, Loretta Lynch, Sally Yates, and all of the top-tier team members around them for all of their principle activity throughout the past few years; with emphasis on 2016.

Put another way, Andrew McCabe, is going to be in FULL SUNLIGHT on or around January 15th, 2018, for any misconduct.

That explains the transparent reason for McCabe offering terms. However, the content of that year-long investigation is also the transparent reason for President Trump refusing McCabe’s terms.

In addition to McCabe, and depending on how well they have covered their political tracks, James Comey, Loretta Lynch, Sally Yates, and all of the top officials -lawyers mostly- within the FBI and DOJ will be part of that investigative release.

Depending on IG release content, there will also be downstream officials who will have likely taken action, or positioned themselves with prior public releases of intelligence information (ie. narratives), containing historic support toward the actions taken by those top-tier FBI and DOJ officials.

Those downstream Deep State positions include CIA John Brennan, DNI James Clapper, and all of the officials contained in known communication therein:
Continues.
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Those downstream Deep State positions include CIA John Brennan, DNI James Clapper, and all of the officials contained in known communication therein:

I won't dispute the watery reference, but I believe you'll find Brennan and Clapper at the headwaters.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/26/2017 5:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Make all public employees take a polygraph test of being apolitical?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/26/2017 7:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Start by random poly's following a trip abroad, or to Vegas. Think of the USG travel dollars that could potentially be saved.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/26/2017 8:27 Comments || Top||

#4  #2 Make all public employees take a polygraph test of being apolitical?
Posted by g(r)omgoru


Well I try to be apolitical by making sure each bridge has a right - and left - side
Posted by: Frank G || 12/26/2017 9:04 Comments || Top||

#5  each bridge has a right - and left - side

I suppose that depends on one's perspective.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/26/2017 9:36 Comments || Top||

#6  chenmoH qo'nos Dun jatlhqa'
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 12/26/2017 10:32 Comments || Top||

#7  Indict him before he retires, in order to freeze him out of the pension until guilt or innocence is determined.
Posted by: Injun Bucket8891 || 12/26/2017 20:27 Comments || Top||


Psychologist takes credit for sending horse poop to Mnuchin
[NY Post] An LA psychologist who thinks President Trump’s tax bill is a load of crap says he presented Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin with a stinker of a Christmas present, according to a report.

Robby Strong told AL.com he dropped off the box of horse manure at Mnuchin’s house as an "act of political theater" to hammer home the point that "Republicans have done nothing for the American worker."

On Saturday, he posted several images on Facebook, one of which shows him posing with a shovel next to a gift-wrapped box, and another that shows the box full of what appears to be dung.

"I need someone to ride along and document my Secret Santa project. I’m going to hand deliver boxes of horse s‐t to Steve Mnuchin over in Beverly Hills," he added in a message.

Strong told AL.com that he delivered one box to a home Mnuchin owns in Beverly Hills, and another to the home in Bel Air, where the LAPD’s bomb squad responded to.

Another Facebook photo shows a card addressed to Mnuchin and Trump.

"We’re returning the ’gift’ of the Christmas tax bill. It’s bulls‐. Warmest wishes, The American People. P.S. ‐ Kiss Donakld for me," the card states.

"The thing I live by is a rule of transparency and I was exercising my First Amendment rights," Strong told the Alabama news outlet.

"A few years ago when [a Supreme Court ruling] said that corporations are persons and money equals free speech, that is so absurd and my rule of thumb is now that if corporations are free speech, then so is horses‐t."

Strong claimed the Secret Service questioned him at his home, but did not arrest him.

"I just got interviewed by the Secret Service and I’ve now joined some of my heroes like Timothy Leary and Martin Luther King," he told AL.com. "[The agents] just showed up in my yard."

Strong pooh-poohed suggestions the prank could have alarmed Mnuchin or his family.

"It was a gift-wrapped package of poo, something a frat boy may do to another frat boy," he said. "I was hoping to meet [Mnuchin.] I wanted to ring the door and hand it to him myself."

He also said he didn’t violate laws about mailing hazardous waste.

"I kind of dodged that whole issue. Is there a law that you can’t drop off a box of poo? Not really," he said.

Strong said he aimed to inspire people to join the movement of political advocacy.

"The fact that [Republicans] can be so brazen and act with such impunity tells me that we have to be more brazen with our activism and maybe a bit more aggressive," he said.
Brazen enough to be charged with transport of a potentially dangerous bio-agent?
Yahoo reports that the Secret Service has interviewed the (unnamed by them) person responsible for the so clever box o’poo.
Update from the Daily Mail at 7:10 a.m. ET:
Strong, who works for the LA Department of Mental Health, was an organizer of the Occupy LA movement.
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Dumping a potential biohazard on someone’s property is serious.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/26/2017 0:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Have the grounds people put it around the roses and ask Mr. Strong to please send more.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/26/2017 5:36 Comments || Top||

#3  These type of self righteous know it alls can justify their behavior to themselves all day long which can make them dangerous to others.

Posted by: Airandee || 12/26/2017 7:29 Comments || Top||

#4  Wonder if the new year will see him reaching for a new career?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/26/2017 7:39 Comments || Top||

#5  sounds like he should be a patient, not the healer
Posted by: Frank G || 12/26/2017 7:56 Comments || Top||

#6  ...And this person is counseling people with emotional issues.

Lovely.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 12/26/2017 9:02 Comments || Top||

#7  It seems to me that most psychologists are the ones that need to be put in the nut house.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/26/2017 9:29 Comments || Top||

#8  Maybe this fellow needs some. Turnabout is fair play.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/26/2017 11:30 Comments || Top||

#9  DarthVader, I've heard that people with mental issues are drawn to the field of psychology to better understand themselves, so I think you are totally correct.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/26/2017 11:51 Comments || Top||

#10  Silly shit for brains, shrinks don't make honest CPAs.
Posted by: Woodrow || 12/26/2017 13:18 Comments || Top||

#11  Another from the long, long series of people Nassim Nicholas Taleb called the "Intellectual Yet Idiot"
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/26/2017 14:18 Comments || Top||

#12  It’s Always Poop with These People

"A psychologist decided to protest Donald Trump’s presidency by leaving large boxes of poop at a pair of home owned by PDT’s Secretary of the Treasury. He says that this act puts him in the company of Martin Luther King, and he hopes that leaving poop at the homes of administration officials will sweep the country as a form of protest.

Remember, he’s a psychologist… from California.

The intellectual and philosophical cupboard of the Progressive left is so bare that flinging poo is literally all the left has left.

The psychological term for smearing feces is ‘scatolia.’ Furthermore, “scatolia tends to occur in individuals with a history of obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, ADD, autism or post-traumatic stress, especially trauma related to physical or sexual abuse or people who are still butthurt and deranged that Donald Trump was elected president.”"
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 12/26/2017 16:56 Comments || Top||


Is Media Response to Obama's 'Operation Cassandra Scandal' a Precursor For Response to FBI/DOJ
[Last Refuge] Last week Politico reported on an explosive in depth investigation surrounding how the former President Obama administration allowed the terrorist group Hezbollah to continue a multinational drug running and money-laundering operation to fund terrorism in order to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran.

The DEA’s "Operation Cassandra" was intentionally blocked; while the administration allowed drug-running into the U.S., weapons procurement to kill Americans and money laundering to facilitate all the terrorist activity. Supporting Hezbollah was down-played and intentionally permitted by the Obama administration.

Under any normal circumstances, other than an Obama presidency, this entire scandal would have been explosive headlines. [Insert comparison to media coverage of "Iran-Contra" here.] However, the response from U.S. media has been essentially nothing other than to attack the intensely well-sourced author of the expose’.

Now, pause for a minute and really think about this next question.

Consider how the same U.S. media will respond to the sunlight upon President Obama and Hillary Clinton’s "Operation Trump"?

In 2016 senior leadership within the Obama FBI and Department of Justice, with direct and provable ties straight to the White House, planned and conducted a targeted political operation against a presidential candidate by weaponizing the intelligence community against Donald Trump.

Using sketchy, intentionally misleading and false information provided to a U.S. District Court Judge, the Obama FBI and DOJ colluded to present an application for wiretaps and surveillance authority to the FISA court; subsequently, they used a FISA warrant as part of an exhaustive counterintelligence operation against their political opposition.

This is no longer some pie-in-the-sky conspiracy. There is massive evidence, including statements from the co-conspirators, that highlights this exact operation in detail.

However, using the media response to the "Operation Cassandra" scandal as a baseline for expectation, how do you think the same media will respond to discoveries within "Operation Trump"?
Continues.
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Unfortunately for the media, they have not read the memo that a majority of the American public no longer uses the MSM as their primary source of news and information.

With Drudge, Rantburg, Breitbart, Politico, and other media outlets providing sunlight on this, much like they did fast and furious, will keep this out in the open.

Neither the Zerobama sycophants in the media, nor the deep state can keep this one under wraps.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 12/26/2017 12:32 Comments || Top||


Olde Tyme Religion
Iraqis denounce anti-indecency edict targeting 'female mannequins' in Shia holy city
Residents in Iraq's Shia holy city of Karbala have denounced a ban on female mannequins being displayed with anything other than Islamic clothing.

Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed and an important figure in Shia Islam, is buried in Karbala.

Posters warning against indecent behaviour have been plastered around the city as part of the application of a 2012 provincial council decision to uphold Karbala's "holy character", council member Nasser Hussein al-Khozali said.

The signs warn residents against "shockingly displaying women's clothes", as well as "selling indecent films" and airing "music or indecent words in public places".

The posters, signed by an "implementation committee for the decision on Karbala's holy character", warn that sanctions will be taken against offenders.

Not everyone is the city supports the decision, however.

"Listening to music is part of personal freedoms," said taxi driver Majah Hassan, as a song belted out of his car radio.



"Nobody can forbid it as I'm not harming anyone by doing it."

Inside a shopping centre, women's clothes salesman Ahmad Hussein railed against a decision that he said infringed freedoms and hurt business.

"The provincial council would do better fixing the roads and improving public services," he said.

The head of a civil society association said the council decision was no different from the harsh rules imposed by the Islamic State group in areas they controlled until their defeat in Iraq earlier this month.

"This kind of decision, which is allegedly based on religion, is in fact no different from IS ideology," Ehab al-Wazarni said.

Hadi al-Mussawi, also an activist, said the move "aimed to garner votes in the elections" for parliament in May.

After seizing control of second city Mosul in 2014, IS prohibited shopkeepers and street vendors from displaying women's clothing on mannequins.

Several Shia armed groups also imposed the rule in southern Iraq at the height of the sectarian violence that followed the 2003 US-led invasion of the country.
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "The provincial council would do better fixing the roads and improving public services," he said.

Where's the Fun, Power, and Control in that?
Posted by: Frank G || 12/26/2017 8:08 Comments || Top||

#2  They need'em in Seattle.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/26/2017 9:32 Comments || Top||


Arabia
How Houthi militias are killing off Yemen media
[ARABNEWS] Iran-backed Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...
militias were accused on Monday of an unprecedented campaign of violence, intimidation, abduction and murder aimed at journalists and the media in Yemen.

At least 26 journalists have been killed since the Houthi coup in 2014, said Women Journalists Without Chains, a civil rights group in Yemen.

The Houthis are also guilty of attempted murder, abduction, torture, threats, assaults, looting of property, the abduction of relatives, the use of journalists as human shields, closing newspapers and TV channels and blocking websites, the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate said.

Eighteen journalists are still in Houthi custody, and denied their right to medical treatment, the syndicate said. They include nine journalists tossed in the calaboose
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
while working in Sanaa in June 2016, who remain detained. They are being tortured, their families are not permitted to visit them, and they are not allowed medical treatment. Yemen’s Minister of Information, Muammar al-Eryani, said that before the Houthi coup 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...
had 17 daily newspapers, 155 weeklies, 26 monthlies, and other publications. There were also four official TV channels and 15 private ones. By 2015 there were only 15 newspapers and two official TV channels, the minister said.

A UN report in August said the Houthis had carried out a campaign of intimidation, arbitrary detention, forced disappearance and murder against activists, journalists and members of civil society. They had shut down 21 websites and seven TV channels, banned the publication of 18 newspapers, raided buildings and attacked 52 civil society and human rights
...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions...
organizations, the UN said.

The Houthis targeted all media institutions and their staff, and confiscated their equipment, and the legitimate government and its supporters no longer had any influence in areas controlled by the militias.

In March 2016, photographer Mohammed al-Yamani was rubbed out and four of his colleagues were maimed when Houthi snipers opened fire on journalists covering the fighting in Taiz.

Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  See, nobody is all bad!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/26/2017 2:20 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
December 25, Day of the Fistfighting Festival
[AtlasObscura] DECEMBER 25 IS COMMEMORATED AS a day of peace for many cultures across the globe, but in the Peruvian province of Chumbivilcas, the day doubles as Takanakuy, a festive fistfight between neighbors. High in the Andes Mountains, friends, rivals, and relatives square off to settle year-long disputes in an annual airing of grievances.

The Quechua term "Takanakuy" means "to hit each other," and while the tradition’s exact origins are up for debate, the modern observance is the perfect opportunity to blow off steam over legal matters, stolen lovers, or pure bravado.

In Santo Tomás, the capital of Chumbivilcas, men and women, young and old may participate, while rules and contestants vary in other towns. Beyond the fisticuffs, locals sing, dance, pray, and imbibe beer as well as a fermented corn beverage called chicha (the thicker the better).

In their report, "Peleas rituales: la waylía takanakuy en Santo Tomás," anthropologists Máximo Cama and Alejandra Ttito Tica document their observations at Takanakuy events throughout the Andean highlands.



To establish why the community fights, Cama and Tica recount the explanation of a spectator: "For grudges, for problems that come up during the year, they fight. If there is a young man who is already physically grown, and he wants to show off his strength, he may fight with others. That is a ritual fight; when it ends, they drink alcohol and chicha, and they are friends. It’s also like sport."

The isolated community has also come to rely on Takanakuy to settle legal matters in lieu of a judge and jury. The Peruvian government maintains a minimal police presence in Santo Tomás, and the mountain-bound village is hours away from any form of conventional court.
Article continues.
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Isn't that Boxing Day?
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/26/2017 9:48 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Four policemen killed in Islamic State attack, west of Mosul
[Iraq News] 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....
Lions of Islam have attacked a police patrol in western djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, a source from Nineveh police said on Monday.

The attack, which took place in al-Yaarabiya district, left four coppers killed, the source told BasNews. The attackers bravely ran away then.

News reports said that an attack took place on Sunday at al-Islah al-Zera’i district, west of Mosul, when confrontations occurred between police and the myrmidons, who bravely ran away then.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi declared in July victory over IS Lions of Islam who had held the second largest Iraqi city since 2014. More than 25,000 Islamic State Lions of Islam were killed throughout the campaign.

Violence in the country has surged further with the emergence of Islamic State Sunni Death Eater Lions of Islam who proclaimed an "Islamic Caliphate" in Iraq and Syria in 2014.

A total of 117 Iraqi non-combatants were killed and another 264 injured, excluding police, in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict in Iraq in November, according to casualty figures recorded by 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...
Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

Baghdad was the worst affected Governorate, with 201 civilian casualties (51 killed, 150 injured). Salahuddin Governorate followed, with 24 killed and 60 injured, and Kirkuk had 12 killed and 28 injured.

Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Africa Subsaharan
Nine DR Congo soldiers killed in 2 militia attacks
[PRESSTV] A suspected rebel militia group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
has killed at least nine military forces during two separate attacks in the country’s volatile east.

The Congolese army said the fatalities took place in the eastern province of South Kivu over the past four days, accusing Mai Mai Mazembe snuffies from the Nande ethnic group of being responsible for both attacks.

"The army recorded a loss of nine soldiers in two ambushes in the Baraka operational zone" in South Kivu, an unnamed military official told AFP.

A lieutenant was killed on Sunday in the village of Lweba, seven kilometers from the Baraka district, the official said, adding that the other deaths came in an attack two days earlier.

"Our hospital received the bodies of eight soldiers killed by bullets on Friday," said a hospital source in Lulimba, a village 60 kilometers south of Baraka.

Dozens of gangs have been active in the eastern DR Congo ever since a war there in 1998, and the Congolese army, joined by United Nations
...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense...
troops, is on the offensive against rebel groups.

Seeking safety, tens of thousands of people have escaped to neighboring Zambia, where they are facing "hugely underfunded" aid operations, according to UN figures.

Congo has also been facing numerous problems over the past few decades such as grinding poverty and crumbling infrastructure.
Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan
Suicide bomber disguised in women’s dress arrested in Laghman
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A jacket wallah who had disguised himself in women’s dress has been placed in durance vile
Please don't kill me!
by the Afghan cops in eastern Laghman
...It has a population of about 445,600, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a rural society. During the invasions of Alexander the Great, the area was known as Lampaka, wich is apparently Olde Macedonian for Laghman.The city of Mihtarlam serves as the bucolic capital of the province. The population is half Pashtun, the remainder Tadjik and Pashai. It had a reputionagreat wealth until it was conquered in the tenth century by Abu Mansur Sabuktigin.
He conquered it and set fire to the places in its vicinity which were inhabited by infidels, and demolishing the idol-temples, he established Islam in them, He marched and captured other cities and killed the polluted wretches, destroying the idolatrous and gratifying the Musulmans. After wounding and killing beyond all measure, his hands and those of his friends became cold in counting the value of the plundered property.
province of Afghanistan.

According to the local officials, the suicide bomber was arrested during an operation conducted in the lovely provincial capital of the province.

The provincial government media office in a statement confirmed that a suicide bomber in women’s dress was held during an operation in Katal area of the lovely provincial capital.

The statement further added that the operation was conducted on Sunday evening based on a tip off.

According to the provincial government, the suicide bomber was looking to carry out an attack in Mehtarlam city but was arrested by the Special Forces before the holy warriors manage to execute their plan.

Laghman governor Abdul Jabar Naeemi hailed the Afghan forces for their bravery and preventing a deadly incident in this province.

The anti-government armed bully boy groups including the Taliban
...Arabic for students...
forces of Evil have not commented regarding the report so far.

Laghman has been among the relatively calm provinces since the Taliban group regime was toppled down in 2001 but the anti-government armed bully boy groups have increased their insurgency activities in this province during the recent years.

Posted by: Fred || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  So, packing two bombs?
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/26/2017 8:45 Comments || Top||

#2  two questions:
1) Where the hell did you get that photo?
2) what the hell is that?

Al

Posted by: Frozen Al || 12/26/2017 14:01 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
GREATEST HITS, 21: Report says DNC files were copied, not hacked, 5 days before murder of Seth Rich
[WorldTribune] A report by an IT specialist gives detailed information on how Democratic National Committee (DNC) files that were given to WikiLeaks were copied locally, contradicting the narrative that the DNC was hacked by Russia.

The leaked DNC emails detailed efforts by the committee to rig the Democratic primary in favor of Hillary Clinton.

Private investigators have claimed there is evidence that DNC staffer Seth Rich was the source WikiLeaks used to obtain the emails, which were copied on July 5, 2016. Rich was murdered on July 10, 2016.

The DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz as well as Chief executive Amy Dacey and Chief Financial Officer Brad Marshall all resigned after the devastating release of hacked emails from the committee.

Key findings in the report by the IT specialist known as The Forensicator:

  • On 7/5/2016 at approximately 6:45 PM Eastern time, someone copied the data that eventually appears on the "NGP VAN" 7zip file (the subject of this analysis). This 7zip file was published by a persona named Guccifer 2, two months later on September 13, 2016.

  • Due to the estimated speed of transfer (23 MB/s) calculated in this study, it is unlikely that this initial data transfer could have been done remotely over the Internet.

  • The initial copying activity was likely done from a computer system that had direct access to the data. "Direct access" means that the individual who was collecting the data either had physical access to the computer where the data was stored, or the data was copied over a local high speed network (LAN).


  • This initial copying activity was done on a system where Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) settings were in force. Most likely, the computer used to initially copy the data was located somewhere on the East Coast.

  • The data was likely initially copied to a computer running Linux, because the file last modified times all reflect the apparent time of the copy and this is a characteristic of the Linux ’cp’ command (using default options).

  • A Linux OS may have been booted from a USB flash drive and the data may have been copied back to the same flash drive, which will likely have been formatted with the Linux (ext4) file system.

Analysts believe the most important aspect in The Forensicator’s report is the "estimated speed of transfer (23 MB/s)" at which the documents were copied. Analysts say it’s "inconceivable" the DNC documents could have been copied at such speed from a remote location.

Disobedient Media noted that "The Forensicator concluded that the chance that the files had been accessed and downloaded remotely over the Internet were too small to give this idea any serious consideration. He explained that the calculated transfer speeds for the initial copy were much faster than can be supported by an Internet connection.

"This is extremely significant and completely discredits allegations of Russian hacking made by both Guccifer 2.0 and Crowdstrike."
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 12/26/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Samsung 16GB Class 6 Micro SDHC up to 24MB/s with Adapter (MB-MS16DA/AM)

The transfer rate indicates the data copied was possibly copied onto the above memory card in a smart phone that was attached to the database server or a local network server with access to the DNC database. That would eliminate tracing to an IP address of a pc.
Posted by: Ulaigum Ebbineng7056 || 12/26/2017 1:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Seth's brother was trying to get in touch with Israeli cell phone digital forensics CellBrite after Seth's death. However, if the data passed through to the Samsung Micro card the phone would not have the data. And who knows if WikiLeaks are the ones that ended up with the card.
Posted by: Ulaigum Ebbineng7056 || 12/26/2017 1:31 Comments || Top||

#3  Hey there fella, care if we have a look there inside your gym bag ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/26/2017 8:55 Comments || Top||

#4  Vince Ricardo: Are you interested in joining? The benefits are terrific. The trick is not to get killed. That's really the key to the benefit program.
Posted by: Hupusonter Oppressor of the Brontosaurs5491 || 12/26/2017 9:26 Comments || Top||

#5  Read this last Fall. Simple answer is maybe.

The internet data download would depend on the host server's bus, NIC and internet throughput. Without having the hardware specs it is impossible to tell.
Posted by: Woodrow || 12/26/2017 13:25 Comments || Top||

#6  Yeah, the Left is going to construct a scenario in which the fastest possible fiber-optic lines are in use, barely available in America, and say "naah naah you can't prove it naah naah".

23 MB/s is crazy fast, hardly possible over Comcast or any of the other ISPs. It was a local copy to a USB stick.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 || 12/26/2017 17:16 Comments || Top||

#7  I am amazed that a system admin would leave a server vulnerable to USB sticks when the defense is so trivial. The DNC must have hired a bunch of Pakistani spies to administer their systems. Oh yeah ...
Posted by: P. Speaking for B. || 12/26/2017 17:24 Comments || Top||

#8  We're not talking about computer geniuses here, Speaking. Whatever means were used to copy that data from the host server, it's the system administrator's fault and also the fault of whoever was dumb enough to hire him (cough, Debbie, cough, cough, Wasserman, HACK!!!, Schultz, cough, cough). Blaming Trump and the Russians is so damn ludicrous that only the mainstream media could take it seriously. If your company is a victim of industrial espionage via the Internet, the CIO gets fired. If the CIO keeps his or her job after that the shareholders need to raise hell and then the CEO gets fired. You certainly don't want simpletons like that trying to run the country.

And it is truly amazing what you can do these days with USB memory sticks. A lot of mid sized companies could probably put their entire database on one of those things. I was personally amazed the first time I ever booted a Linux OS from one. The possibilities are astounding but the IT staff needs to keep those USB ports secure and anybody caught with an unauthorized memory stick gets promptly escorted to the parking lot minus the stick.

Finally, if the data went over the Internet, it didn't have to go just from the local host server's I/O bus and the local fiber optic network. That was just the beginning. There would have been an unknown number of intermediate nodes and cables between the host and the client covering several thousands of miles if the client was in Russia. All that takes time.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 12/26/2017 18:26 Comments || Top||

#9  Wasn't there an article or something about four months ago that said the DNC files were copied, not hacked???

I wonder why someone on one of those Congressional committees hasn't brought this up?
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 12/26/2017 19:34 Comments || Top||



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