[Townhall] CNBC’s economic survey released prior to Christmas showed that for the first time in over a decade a majority was optimistic about the economy, and there was a shift as to who should receive credit for the booming economy: Donald J. Trump. The economic growth for the fourth quarter was near four percent. Over 100 companies gave bonuses of at least $1,000 or more to over a million workers, even some part-timers got a piece of that action. The GOP tax bill, which the Left said was going to be a prelude to Armageddon, was exactly the opposite for the American worker, who the Democratic Party decided to bet against to try and undercut Trump. Over 90 of middle class Americans will be receiving a tax cut. The Democratic Party is going to have to explain that move, especially when this tax bill becomes more popular.
As for the economy, economists said we should expect to see unemployment continue to go down and the economy to grow in 2018. Economists credit two things: President Trump and his tax bill. For Obama, his polices received good grades for providing financial stability, though they led to anemic economic growth and job creation (via WSJ):
[National Review] Fusion GPS founder’s testimony shows how we got the collusion narrative . . . and why it won’t go away
Someone with fourth-hand knowledge that the bank was robbed claims that Smith conspired ‐ er, I mean, colluded ‐ with the local organized-crime family to rob the bank. Jones figures it must be true because he heard it from a trusted friend, a former cop ‐ and you know those guys have great sources. Yet, Jones has no concrete evidence that it’s true.
In fact, he can’t even prove that the mobsters had anything to do with the robbery, much less that Smith did. But Jones is an industrious investigative journalist. Long before the bank was robbed, he conducted months of in-depth research and came to a single, unalterable, unassailable conclusion: Smith is a really crappy guy. He is a grade-A louche with mafia business partners and a decades-long record of financial shenanigans that walk the razor’s edge of actionable fraud.
Born into wealth, he puts on the airs of the self-made man. When he’s in town, hide the women away. If he says he’ll pay you for a job, get it in writing . . . and make sure he still needs you when it’s time to pay up. Better have a good lawyer on retainer, too, just in case. Smith’s books are undoubtedly cooked, but they’re better hidden than Jimmy Hoffa ‐ and yeah, you can bet he knows something about that, too.
Here’s what totally infuriates Jones, though: Smith seems to skate from debacle to debacle not only unscathed but ever more audacious. If you knew what Jones knows, rather than what the public thinks it knows, you wouldn’t trust Smith to run a 7-Eleven ‐ yet, Smith sees himself as White House material! Do you feel the frustration, the indignation that Jones feels in our hypothetical? If you do, then you know what it’s like to be Glenn Simpson. The former Wall Street Journal reporter is a superb investigative journalist. More notoriously these days, he is the founder of Fusion GPS.
It was he, in cahoots with his friend and collaborator, former British spy Christopher Steele, who orchestrated the compilation and dissemination of the so-called Steele dossier ‐ the fons et origo of the Trump‐Russia collusion narrative. We now know the dossier was covertly commissioned by the Clinton campaign, which dealt with Fusion through a layer of lawyers.
#2
Blackmail and Blackout That being the case, why doesn’t President Trump just expose it? Why doesn’t he tell the intelligence agencies to declassify the relevant data? If the Justice Department and FBI abused their intelligence-collection authority by seeking a FISA-court warrant based on unverified information, if they in any way gulled a federal judge into believing that Steele’s rumor-mongering was refined U.S. intelligence reporting, why not disclose that misconduct and put the collusion chatter to rest?
Emphasis added.
Possible scenario. I say again possible:
On Thursday November 17th, 2016, NSA Director Mike Rogers traveled to New York and met with President-Elect Donald Trump. It is suspected the conversation had to do with illegal monitoring. The next day Trump's campaign team moved out of Trump Towers and took up residence elsewhere.
As news of the meeting became public, calls for Admiral Rogers firing were reportedly bouncing all over D.C. Soetoro wisely took no action.
If Admiral Rogers refused to participate in a community monitoring and collection effort, perhaps the "community" outsourced the signals collection effort to Christopher Steele's old employer.
This might explain the reluctance of President Trump to push the issue. The long-standing conflict btwn CIA and NSA is well document and the coincidences of events are simply too coincidental to be coincidences. Add to that the proximity of the British consulate to Trump Towers. Just a tinfoil hat thought.
#4
why not disclose that misconduct and put the collusion chatter to rest?
Because it would do no such thing. At this point "collusion" is a dog whistle increasingly heard only be the far left, a crowd in which one will find no current or prospective GOP voters or Trump supporters.
A more interesting question is, "If Trump could make the collusion narrative go away tomorrow would he want to do so?" I doubt he would. My wager is that he's going to keep the narrative alive until the actions of the Obama-Clinton crime syndicate (e.g., Uranium One and the like) are too glaring to ignore then flip the script on them. That's a much stronger play if he simply allows Mueller and his fellow travelers to continue embarrassing themselves until it's time to put the real criminals under the microscope. Tough to argue against pursuing actual demonstrated collusion when we've wasted so much time & effort chasing shadows already.
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Four Pakistani soldiers were killed on Monday in shelling by Indian forces in the disputed Kashmir region, the Pakistani army said, the latest clash between the nuclear-armed neighbors who have also been exchanging heated challenges.
A decades-old dispute over the mostly Muslim Himalayan region of Kashmir, claimed in full but ruled in part by both Pakistan and India, has heated up in recent years after a 2003 ceasefire brought more than a decade of relative peace.
"Troops were busy in line communication maintenance when they were fired upon and hit by heavy mortar round," the Pakistani military said of the attack in which the four men were killed, in the Jandrot region.
Pakistani forces responded, killing three Indian soldiers and wounding several, it said. India’s military told Reuters that Pakistani forces fired first and no casualties were recorded on the Indian side.
On another section of the so-called Line of Control (LoC) dividing Kashmir between the two sides, India said its forces on Monday killed five member of a pro-Pakistan militant group trying to slip into Indian Kashmir.
"They crossed the Jhelum river which is de facto border in the area. We allowed them to cross the river and challenged them. All of the five who crossed the river were killed," said an Indian officer, Major General Gulab Singh Rawat.
VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian police said on Monday they had arrested 45 people for drug dealing that used underage asylum seekers to transport marijuana across the country to buyers.
Most of the suspects, who were between 15 and 48 years old, were Austrians and Afghans but others were from Iran, Pakistan, Syria, Turkey and Germany, police in the western Alpine province of Tyrol said in a statement.
"The marijuana is thought to have been bought in Vienna ... and was subsequently smuggled to Tyrol in most cases by underage (and adult) asylum seekers or (Austrian) girls traveling by train," it said.
Tens of thousands of Middle East and Asian migrants streamed into Austria, which borders eight countries, in 2015 before a clampdown on arrivals. A public backlash led to the entry of the anti-immigrant far right into Austria’s coalition government last month after a general election.
BEIRUT/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Syria, Turkey and Russia responded vehemently on Monday to new U.S.-backed plans to set up a 30,000-strong "border force" inside Syria to protect territory held by Washington’s mainly Kurdish allies.
The Syrian government vowed to drive the U.S. presence from the country. Turkey, an increasingly estranged U.S. ally within NATO, accused Washington of setting up a "terror army" on the Turkish border, and said it would take steps to protect itself.
Russia, the main ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said the U.S. plans revealed a plot to partition Syria.
The United States has led an international coalition using air strikes and special forces troops to aid fighters on the ground battling Islamic State militants in Syria since 2014. It has about 2,000 troops on the ground in Syria.
The U.S. intervention has taken place mainly on the periphery of a nearly seven-year civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and driven more than 11 million from their homes.
Posted by: Besoeker ||
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#3
Wait, I thought Turkey and Damascus were supposed to be enemies? Also, I thought Turkey had earned the undying emnity of Russia because of its support for the rebels and its treatment of shot-down Russian pilots?
[News24] "Learn from your mistakes," the old adage goes. But I have found that learning from the mistakes of others is much more practical, and often, far less painful.
Very few people in the world are not aware of the fact that its land expropriation policy had been the ruin of Zimbabwe. Right from the start, it was obvious that this was nothing but a political (racist) ploy to rid the country of white farmers (who were world renowned for their agronomic expertise), and to gain votes from the local populace.
The disastrous effects of the land grab in Zimbabwe will be felt for many generations to come ‐ the cost of this catastrophe to the people, and the country as a whole, is inestimable.
The nation, once called "the breadbasket of Africa," now relies on international aid to feed growing numbers of its population, according to the World Food Program. Its people are scattered far and wide to others countries ‐ people who have decided to make a new life for themselves; away from the place which they have the misfortune of calling "home."
Here in Pretoria (where I’m currently visiting an old friend), scores of Zimbabweans can be seen at traffic lights and street corners ‐ desperately looking for something, anything, to do. My heart goes out to them; their suffering and misery is there for all to see.
#1
Here in Pretoria (where I’m currently visiting an old friend), scores of Zimbabweans can be seen at traffic lights and street corners ‐ desperately looking for something, anything, to do.
Can see the same in Chicago, Baltimore, et al. As the Prof says - Bastions of Donk politics for generations. Socialism/Redistribution works till you run out of other peoples' money.
#2
"Land Expropriation by the Gov't - The Downside" There's an upside?
Posted by: ed in texas ||
01/15/2018 13:25
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#3
"Land Expropriation by the Gov't - The Downside"
There's an upside?
Sure. In the same way mugger gets his victim's stuff. In the immediate aftermath of Communist revolutions and the subsequent expropriations, the poor got the kind of boost a thief gets from liberating his victim of his wealth. Then it all fell apart. Mugabe's expropriations were somewhat more gradual, so it took longer for Zimbabwe to fall apart economically.
[News24] Nairobi - Kenyan officials said on Saturday a civilian was killed and several policemen wounded when suspected members of the Somalia-based extremist group al-Shabaab attacked a convoy of vehicles.
Interior Ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka says the police vehicles had been escorting buses between Mombasa city and Lamu County and were destroyed in the attack.
Kenya's government is battling to stop a wave of attacks by al-Shabaab fighters who say they are avenging Kenya's deployment of troops to neighboring Somalia in 2011. Kenyan troops make up part of the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia that bolsters the country's weak government against al-Shabaab's insurgency.
[Guardian] Turkey’s president has said the country will launch a military assault on a Kurdish enclave in northern Syria "in the coming days" and urged the US to support its efforts.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the operation against the Afrin enclave aimed to "purge terror" from his country’s southern border.
Afrin is controlled by a Syrian Kurdish militia known as the YPG. Turkey considers the YPG to be a terrorist group linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) that has waged a bloody insurgency within its borders.
A YPG spokesman in Afrin said there had been clashes on Sunday between his unit and Turkish troops near the border. Rojhat Roj said shelling of areas in Afrin district, in Aleppo province, had killed one YPG fighter and injured two civilians.
Turkey and its western allies, including the US, consider the PKK a terrorist organisation. But the US has been arming some of Syria’s Kurds to help defeat Islamic State in Syria ‐ a sore point in already tense US-Turkish relations.
The Turkish president said that "despite it all" he wanted to work with the US in the region and hoped it would not side with the YPG during the Afrin operation.
"We expect [the US] to support Turkey in its legitimate efforts" to combat terror, Erdogan said.
Separately, Erdogan’s spokesman described as "worrying" reports that the US-led coalition fighting Isis would establish a 30,000-strong border security force in Syria involving the Kurdish militia.
Posted by: Besoeker ||
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#1
Might be a good time for those Kurds living in Turkey to start rising up.
#3
But Warren Wilhelm Jr Bill De Blasio and the Dems have signaled their virtue. Who cares what damage to "the little guy" it causes. Ya gotta break a few eggs, ya know?
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/15/2018 7:38
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#6
I'm sure, eventually, the positions will be filled by illegals working off the books - a two fer for liberals.
Unlikely, given that even after they are deported, the Department of Labor can dock the employer for the difference *and* punitive damages. During the Clinton era, the DOL got the money and tracked down the workers in their home countries to ensure they got paid.
"Income tax contributions by the unauthorized population are less comparable to other populations because many unauthorized immigrants work 'off the books' and income taxes are not automatically withheld from their paychecks. ITEP conservatively estimates that 50 percent of unauthorized immigrants are paying income taxes."
A fat lesbian speaks out about a false narrative [InsideHigherEducation] For faculty of color, women and particularly those scholars who are outspoken about dismantling the master narratives of white supremacy within our colleges and universities, playing by the rules is neither an option nor an obligation. It is, in fact, a terrible burden. A burden to allow an oppressive system breathing down our necks, while we continue to work within institutions that treat us as mere bodies representing “diversity” or what Patti Duncan has called “Hot Commodities, Cheap Labor: Women of Color in the Academy.”
My own cathartic moment arrived when I was able to write about my experience and those of other postcolonial scholars in my book, The Postcolonial Citizen: The Intellectual Migrant, in a chapter titled “Threatening Bodies, Dangerous Knowledge, Legal Interventions.” It was 2001. The problem of exclusions and a lack of “due process” experienced by various postcolonial scholars were widespread.
#1
“Hot Commodities, Cheap Labor: Women of Color in the Academy.”
Did it ever occur to you darling that you are a thief - you took the position, due to "affirmative action" & "collegiality", which otherwise would go to somebody 10 times more qualified than you are?
Posted by: Daniel ||
01/15/2018 3:02
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#3
...postcolonialscholars
At least if someone invests the cream of their life attaining specialized post-graduate degrees in the Burgundian Music it may be (mostly) pointless but still sounds nice. But these people are pointless and destructive.
#4
You work in a position of power in a predominantly white institution country
FIFY. You were all for 'black majority rule' for South Africa in the 60s-70s, but against white majority (80%+*) rule in America today. *Hispanic is a ethnic not race connotation.
#8
I support humans, they come in many colors. If you identify as something else, then you are declaring yourselve non-human and therefore have zero rights and should be vivisected at a handy military base with bad video being used to film it.
#9
How is it they don't leave to a less white supremacist nation? Certainly there must be some kind of underground railroad to assist them from being captured at the border and returned to their high paying tenured position?
"Yo, Reshmi, zat you? I mean, alla dat?"
"You hush! I ain't nuttin to holler at,
And, boy, I ain't playin!
No bishes be sayin
They seen ya wit Goody Dutt-Ballerstadt!"
[DAWN] Karachi police have arrested four Chinese nationals suspected of ATM skimming fraud and have recovered Rs2.3 million and 350 ATM cards from their possession, Clifton Superintendent Police (SP) Dr Asad Malhi said on Sunday.
Dr Malhi said that the police acted on information regarding suspicious activities of a group of Chinese men in Defence Phase-II area on Saturday night and arrested the three men, however, two other accomplices managed to escape.
One suspect linked with the group was later arrested on Sunday evening on information provided by the three men, DawnNews reported.
The Clifton SP said the group appears to be a part of an organised gang which employs young Chinese men for skimming frauds. The suspects were handed over to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
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... then the car was...
[FOX] A California driver escaped a dangerous crash early Sunday morning after apparently hitting a divider at such a high speed that it launched the car into the second story of a nearby building.
The driver reportedly said afterwards that he'd been using drugs at the time.
The white Nissan Altima slammed into the center divider around 5:30 a.m., prompting the sedan to soar into the air and into the second floor of a dental office in Santa Ana, Calif., the Orange County Fire Authority said.
Capt. Stephen Horner of the Orange County Fire Authority told the New York Post that the very unusual “situation” was triggered by the driver’s speed.
[MindaNews] The New People's Army finally admitted, after 15 days, that they are holding captive the deputy police chief of President Roxas town in North Cotabato. NPA spokesman Rigoberto Sanchez issued the official statement about Inspector Menardo Nisperos Cui, deputy chief of police of President Roxas, through an email sent to media on January 12.
Cui was seized by at least five armed men inside HMB KTV Bar at Barangay Tuael, President Roxas, on December 28.
Sanchez said it was their ‘Red fighters’ from the Mount Apo Sub-Regional Command NPA Front 53 that arrested Cui and declared him a ‘prisoner of war.’ Cui is being ‘investigated’ for his ‘counter-insurgency’ activities and possible crimes against the rebel movement, he said.
The insurgent spokesman said that while in their custody, Cui would be provided with all his basic needs.
Cui’s mother, Felomina had earlier appealed to the group holding her son to release him soon so he could attend to the funeral of his wife who died days after the incident. Felomina said the health condition of her daughter-in-law Florelie worsened after she learned her husband’s abduction.
[USNEWS] The Israeli military said Sunday it destroyed an attack tunnel built by the Hamas militant group that stretched from the Gazoo Strip, through Israel and into Egypt, and that ran past Israeli military posts as well as gas and fuel pipelines.
Military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said the 1.5-kilometer (1-mile) long tunnel ran underneath the Kerem Shalom border crossing, Gaza's main point of entry for humanitarian aid.
He said Israeli jets struck part of the tunnel and a new set of sophisticated "tools" destroyed the rest. Conricus said forces had been monitoring its construction for some time and an imminent attack on Israelis was possible. The crossing has been closed until further notice.
Israel has made neutralizing the tunnel threat a top priority since its 2014 war, when Hamas militants on several occasions made their way into Israel. Although they did not manage to reach civilian areas, the infiltrations caught Israel off guard, killing five soldiers in one attack, and terrified the local population.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Al Jazeera] A boom-mobilekaboom in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon has slightly maimed a member of Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, according to the Paleostinian group, which blamed Israel for the liquidation attempt.
Mohammed Hamdan suffered a leg injury on Sunday after a bomb planted in his car detonated, Hamas' media group said in a statement.
"Initial indications point to Zionist [Israeli] fingers behind this criminal act," Hamas said without further details.
Hamdan was taken to a local hospital for treatment, according to local media reports and a photograph released by Hamas.
Lebanese news outlets said the blast took place as the Paleostinian was getting into his booby-trapped BMW in the area of al-Boustan al-Kabir in Sidon, some 40km south of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
Intelligence Minister Israel Katz is the only Israeli official to offer on-the-record comments on the boom-mobile that maimed a top Hamas, one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbung millipede, official in Leb earlier today.
In an interview with the right-wing Galei Israel radio station, Katz is asked if Israel had a hand in the bombing. He quips, "If we’d been involved, this wouldn’t have ended with him lightly maimed."
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Several turbans affiliated with the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group were killed in the latest Arclight airstrikes conducted by the US forces in eastern Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province of Afghanistan.
Officials in Nangarhar police commandment said the US forces carried out airstrikes in two districts using unmanned aerial vehicles, leaving at least 17 IS turbans dead.
The officials further added that 14 turbans were killed in Haska Mina district while another three were killed in Achin district.
However, some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them... the 201st Silab Corps of the Afghan army said at least eight turbans were killed in Deh Bala district in a US forces airstrikes and another holy warrior was killed in Achin district.
According to the Silab Corps officials, a compound of the terror group was also eliminated during the airstrikes.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Officials in the Ministry of Defense of Afghanistan (MoD) have said that the recent attacks causing massive casualties in capital Kabul have been carried out the Haqqani terrorist network.
A front man for the Ministry of Defense General Mohammad Radmanish has told VOA that the intelligence findings reveal Haqqani Network’s hands behind the attacks and not the ISIS terrorist group.
"Based on our intelligence, they [IS] do not have the ability to carry out such attacks in the capital or its suburbs," he said.
Gen. Radmanish further added "Unfortunately, regional intelligence agencies are trying to portray them as a powerful group. And it is very clear that Haqqani terrorist group is carrying out these activities [attacks] under the name of IS."
He also ruled out that the ISIS terrorist group has such capabilities to carry out large-scale atacks in capital Kabul and its suburbs, insisting that the group has been hardly suppressed during the ongoing counter-terrorism operations.
This comes as the ISIS terrorist group has long been claiming responsibility for the attacks in capital Kabul which have left scores of people dead or maimed.
The ex-Afghan intelligence chief Rahmatullah Nabil had also said earlier that the Afghan government is well aware that the Haqqani terrorist network is behind the string of deadly attacks that rocked Kabul city during the recent months.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The leader of the Sadrist movement political party, Moqtada Tater al-Sadr ... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah... , criticized the new electoral alliance of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi with the Iranian backed Popular Mobilization Unit (PMU) militias.
Sadr, one of the most influential religious and popular figures in Iraq, issued a statement issued on Sunday describing the alliance as "an abhorrent political agreement."
He also expressed his deep surprise at the inclusion of the PMU militias calling them an "abhorrent sectarian dichotomy," that is aimed at reproducing a "corrupt political class".
Sadr clarified that his support will be for campaigners who are rejecting the principles of sectarian quota divisions that are being pushed by technocrats in the campaign.
Prime Minister al-Abadi signed an agreement on Sunday with Hadi al-Amiri to establish the Iraq Victory Coalition.
He said in a statement that the "victory coalition will preserve the sacrifices of deaders and maimed heroes who battled for Iraq and fight corruption in all forms through relying on the national talent".
"The coalition will work for all Iraqis and strengthen the unity of the country and national illusory sovereignty and achieve justice and equality among Iraqis in rights and duties," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Iraq News] A terrorist was placed in durance vile Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! Sunday in Baqubah city with four grenades in his possession, a Diyala-based intelligence directorate said.
In a statement released by Alghad Press, the Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism Directorate in Diyala said, "Security forces apprehended a terrorist who was wanted on terror charges pursuant to article no. 4 of the Anti-Terrorism Law at al-Katoun area west of Baqubah."
"The terrorist was nabbed with four grenades and several detonators in his possession," the statement read, adding that all legal procedures were taken against the arrestee.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[VOA News] The U.S.-led coalition is working with its Syrian militia allies to set up a new border force of 30,000 personnel, the coalition said on Sunday, a move that has added to Ottoman Turkish anger over U.S. support for Kurdish-dominated forces in Syria.
A senior Ottoman Turkish official told Rooters the U.S. training of the new "Border Security Force" is the reason that the U.S. charge d'affaires was summoned in Ankara on Wednesday. The official did not elaborate.
The force, whose inaugural class is currently being trained, will be deployed at the borders of the area controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) ‐ an alliance of militias in northern and eastern Syria dominated by the Kurdish YPG.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan National Defense and Security Forces have incarcerated Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! a suspect who was actively involved in recruiting forces of Evil for the ISIS terrorist in eastern Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province of Afghanistan.
The provincial police commandment officials said Sunday that the suspect was arrested during an operation from the vicinity of Haska Mina district.
The officials further added that the detained individual has been identified as Mohammad Gul and was arrested from Ahmad Khel area of the district.
According to the Nangarhar police officials, the detained individual was also involved in recruiting forces of Evil for the terror group in Rodat district.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[38North] Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site: Significant Tunneling Underway at the West Portal
Recent commercial satellite imagery of North Korea’s Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site indicates that the North Portal, where the last five nuclear tests were conducted, remains dormant and that tunnel excavation has been stepped up at the West Portal. Throughout December 2017, mining carts and personnel were consistently present around the West Portal and there was significant expansion of the spoil pile.
On December 28, there were also a large number of personnel (~100 to 120) observed in seven different formations whose purpose is unknown in the Southern Support Area.
These activities underscore North Korea’s continued efforts to maintain the Punggye-ri site’s potential for future nuclear testing.
North Portal (Tunnel No. 2)
The North Portal remains in a dormant state, with water draining from the portal entrance.
West Portal (Tunnel No. 4)
Approximately nine mining carts are present at the West Portal, and there appear to be new rails on top of the spoil pile.
It appears that the spoil pile has been expanded significantly along its south side. There is an object on top of the spoil pile and adjacent to some tracks the might be a rock trough/screener.
Southern Support Area
At the Southern Support Area, there are approximately 100-120 people in the courtyard in seven formations. It is rare to observe personnel in this area and the purpose of their activities is unknown.
[The Hill] Federal judge Gloria Navarro slammed the FBI and Justice Department on Monday, Jan. 8, for "outrageous" abuses and "flagrant misconduct" in the prosecution of Cliven Bundy and sons, the Nevada ranchers who spurred a high-profile standoff with the FBI and Bureau of Land Management in 2014. Navarro condemned the "grossly shocking" withholding of evidence from defense counsel in a case that could have landed the Bundys in prison for the rest of their lives. Navarro, who had declared a mistrial last month, dismissed all charges against the Bundys.
Navarro was especially riled because the FBI spent three years covering up or lying about the role of their snipers in the 2014 standoff. The Bundys faced conspiracy charges because they summoned militia to defend them after claiming FBI snipers had surrounded their ranch. Justice Department lawyers scoffed at this claim but newly-released documents vindicate the Bundys. In an interview Saturday, Ammon Bundy reviled the feds: "They basically came to kill our family, they surrounded us with snipers. And then they wanted to lie about it all like none of it happened."
Many of the heavily-armed activists who flocked to the scene feared that the FBI snipers had a license to kill the Bundys. Their reaction cannot be understood without considering a landmark 1990s case that continues to shape millions of Americans' attitude towards Washington: the federal killings and coverups at Ruby Ridge.
#2
One of the 'clever' strategies from the Obama era was the arming of local jurisdictional Federal agencies. When an ineffective autocrat has a shiny new hammer he begins to perceive many nail solutions.
The bad OPORD goes well beyond Ruby Ridge to Wounded Knee(which also addressed grazing rights issues) and earlier.
[US News] As we enter the 17th year of the United States' "war on terror," it is both appropriate, and necessary, to take stock of where our troops are located and for what purpose. The deaths of U.S. soldiers this fall in Niger were a stark reminder that much of the American public, and even many of our country's lawmakers, aren't exactly sure what the war on terror looks like, much less where many of our other military operations are located. According to a new map published this week by the Costs of War Project at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, the U.S. is waging this war on terror in 76 countries – or more simply put, 40 percent of the countries on this planet.
What started with President George W. Bush's launch of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan in October 2001 is now a rapid expansion of the U.S. military footprint across the globe. Notably, beyond the Middle East, the tentacles of this expansion stretch into Africa more than any other region.
Right now, across Africa, the U.S. military is providing massive amounts of military technology, hardware, training and expertise to local African militaries and police forces. The continent is home to an "extensive archipelago of African outposts," including U.S. military bases, camps, compounds, port facilities, and "cooperative security locations." U.S. special operations forces have been deployed to track local insurgents across the African Sahel region. Drone strikes to kill terrorist targets have increased substantially (67 into Somalia since 2007, and 125 in Yemen in 2017 alone), causing hundreds of civilian casualties. African and U.S. forces have conducted joint military exercises across the continent.
This expansion is the unsurprising result of the military's emerging focus on Africa, inaugurated with the 2007 creation of AFRICOM. Perhaps this concentration reveals more about the fears of unknowability and criminality that continue to underlie U.S. views of that continent, rather than representing an effective military strategy to combat terrorism.
#1
In proportion to population the Army/Marine Corps is now lower than it was in 1940, but as the article recounts, are spread across the world. Back then our 'international' commitments were the Panama Canal and the Philippines. Missions and commitments have got to end. He who defends everything, defends nothing.
#2
Right now, across Africa, the U.S. military is providing massive amounts of military technology, hardware, training and expertise to local African militaries and police forces.
[RADIOSHABELLE] At least five Somali Federal government soldiers were maimed in a roadside kaboom blast in Mogadishu on Sunday morning, witnesses said.
The incident took place at Hanta Dheer area in Deynile district after a remote-controlled landmine destroyed a military vehicle carrying an army officer and his security guards.
In the aftermath of the attack, Somali soldiers cordoned off the scene and carried out a manhunt, but, no arrest was reported until now.
The bomb tore down the car, wounding 5 soldiers who have been immediately taken to a nearby hospital for medical treatment, according to the eyewitnesses.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2018
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[FoxNews] An illegal immigrant on a Greyhound bus who allegedly threatened to shoot and kill passengers on Friday — leading police on a chase from Wisconsin to Illinois — was deported five times, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson told Fox News.
The spokesperson said on Sunday that Margarito Vargas-Rosas, 33, who faces terror charges, was in the U.S. illegally and was "removed" from the U.S. the last five times Border Patrol agents encountered him. He also had a previous DUI arrest to his name.
A judge in Illinois on Sunday ordered the suspect held without bond. Vargas-Rosas faces a fugitive-from-justice charge.
Police responded to a call around 9:40 p.m. Friday from a bus passenger who claimed there was a person threatening to kill people, Fox 6 reported, citing the Racine County Sheriff’s Department.
Vargas-Rosas, of Chicago, was reportedly pacing the aisle toward the back of the bus, and appeared to draw what passengers thought was a weapon from his waistband.
Deputies with the Milwaukee and Kenosha County Sheriff’s Offices both attempted to pull the bus over, but the driver didn’t stop the vehicle.
Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling said the bus driver “thought it was a training exercise by law enforcement, or thought he was going to stop someone.”
Passenger Patrick Todd told The Chicago Tribune the bus occupants were confused by the driver's actions and kept yelling at him to pull over.
Authorities ultimately used spike strips to flatten the vehicle’s tires, which forced it to a stop on Interstate 94 near the Illinois community of Wadsworth.
While the bus eventually stopped, the driver, according to Dodd, “didn’t stop after the first spike strip, he went on to Illinois” before hitting the second spike strip.
#7
Maybe deportations need to come with a velocity factor - first time they can step off the stopped bus, second time thrown from a moving train, and third time dropped from a flying plane. Unlikely to be a fourth time...
[Telegraph] Authorities in Saudi Arabia are demanding $6 billion from Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal, one of the richest men in the world, in return for his release after he was arrested in an anti-corruption purge last month in Riyadh.
The prince, who is the 57th richest man in the world, was one of dozens of businessmen, royals and government officials detained last month in the capital’s Ritz Carlton hotel in a move led by the country’s crown prince Mohammad Bin Salman.
Many of the others have since been released, with reports that many have paid for their freedom, but the fee demanded for Prince Al-Waleed is believed to be one of the highest.
Allegations levelled against Prince Al-Waleed included extortion, bribery and money laundering. Prince Al-Waleed is believed to be worth some $18.7 billion, and has accrued a vast portfolio that includes holdings in Citi Bank, Disney, Twitter and London’s Savoy hotel.
But he has reportedly refused to pay any such fee for his release, claiming that paying such a fee would amount to an admission of guilt. It is also believed that the fee could lead to the dismantling of much of the business empire he has spent his life building.
A source close to the prince told The Wall Street Journal ““He wants a proper investigation. It is expected that al-Waleed will give [Prince Bin Salman] a hard time,”
The $6 billion figure was reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Last month, Prince Mutaib Bin Abdullah, the son of the late King Abdullah and head of the country’s National Guard, who was also caught up in the purge was released after paying a reported $1 billion. In total, 320 people were arrested.
In an interview with the New York Times last month, Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman said that some 10 per cent percent of government funds had been lost to corruption each year since 1980.
He said that 95 per cent of those caught up in the corruption probe had agreed to such settlements, but said: “About 1 per cent are able to prove they are clean and their case is dropped right there. About four percent say they are not corrupt and with their lawyers want to go to court.”
#1
It is also believed that the fee could lead to the dismantling of much of the business empire he has spent his life building.
...That's the point, Al. The new regime appears to be willing to leave you enough to retire in more-or-less comfort somewhere else as long as you keep your head down and your mouth shut.
If not...well, there's a lot of stairwells in the Ritz. Man could have an accident in any one of them.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/15/2018 4:49
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#2
The new regime appears to be willing to leave you enough to retire in more-or-less comfort somewhere else
#3
$12.7 billion is comfortable indeed
But maybe not so comfortable that they don't feel motivated to reduce their support for various Islamist groups.
[DAWN] Karachi police on Saturday claimed to have killed four suspected militants who were involved in several high-profile terror cases and had ties with terrorist outfits Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ) and the militant Islamic State (IS) during an 'encounter'.
Acting on a tip-off by intelligence agencies regarding the presence of some militant hideouts in Usman Khaskheli Goth on the outskirts of the metropolis, contingents of Malir police conducted a targeted raid.
Having sniffed the raid, the suspects resorted to firing and hurled a hand grenade, but could not hurt the police, whose retaliatory firing killed four suspects — according to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Malir Rao Anwar.
The officer said the slain militants were affiliated with the banned LJ and IS.
Identifying one of the deceased as Molvi Ishaq, SSP Anwar said: “He was an important commander of LJ.”
Among the dead quartet was also a certain Nazar Ghuman, a former commander of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group led by slain Hakeemullah Mehsud.
“They were involved in the deadly attack on Karachi airport, PNS Mehran base and Imambargah Ali Raza at M.A. Jinnah Road," the SSP revealed. "They were also involved in several killings of police, Rangers and army personnel."
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan armed forces launched a large-scale operation against the myrmidon groups in northern Baghlan province of Afghanistan to suppress the snuffies who are attempting to expand their activities in this province.
The 209th Shaheen Corps of the Afghan military in the North said the operations, Alburz-22, were launched earlier today in Dand-e-Shahabuddin area.
A statement by the Shaheen Corps said the Afghan forces are currenly conducting clearance and search operations in Baba Nazar and Khalazayi villages.
In the meantime, the Shaheen Corps said the anti-government armed snuffies have suffered heavy casualties during the operations in Kohistan ...a backwoods district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa distinguished by being even more rustic than is the norm among the local Pashtuns.... district of Faryab.
According to the Shaheen Corps, several snuffies were killed or maimed during the Arclight airstrikes and efforts are underway to obtain further information regarding the casualties of the myrmidons.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
That picture of the infantry; helmets look odd, but rifles look like M-14’s.
[RADIOSHABELLE] The operation to hunt down suspected al-Shabaab ... the personification of Somali state failure... snuffies who killed a woman and injured five coppers at Nyongoro along the Lamu-Mombasa road on Saturday morning has been intensified.
Linda Boni Operation Director Joseph Kanyiri says they will not relent until all the criminals are locked away Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! or killed.
Speaking to Nation early Sunday morning, Mr Kanyiri said enough security officers have already been deployed at Nyongoro and its environs.
Mr Kanyiri said the search is also concentrated in areas near Boni Forest where the Lions of Islam are believed to be hiding.
Nyongoro has become an area of concern due to the numerous al-Shabaab attacks and subsequent killings conducted by the Somalia-based al-Qaeda-linked group.
In mid-June 2017, three al-Shabaab hideouts were discovered and destroyed in Nyongoro with an undisclosed number of the snuffies killed.
However, it was a brave man who first ate an oyster... the number of terrorist attacks that are being witnessed in the same area continue to increase with members of the public and even the security agencies themselves raising concerns over the same.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[RADIOSHABELLE] Kenyan officials said Saturday a civilian was killed and several coppersmaimed when suspected members of the Somalia-based murderous Moslem group al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... attacked a convoy of vehicles.
Interior Ministry front man Mwenda Njoka says the police vehicles had been escorting buses between Mombasa city and Lamu County and were destroyed in the attack.
Kenya’s government is battling to stop a wave of attacks by al-Shabaab fighters who say they are avenging Kenya’s deployment of troops to neighboring Somalia in 2011. Kenyan troops make up part of the 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... peacekeeping force in Somalia that bolsters the country’s weak government against al-Shabaab’s insurgency.
In the past two years, al-Shabaab has focused attacks on Kenyan counties that border Somalia and mainly targeted security agents.
Kenya’s government ordered police to escort vehicles on the Lamu-Mombasa road after an al-Shabaab attack last year in which a top ranking government was briefly kidnapped.
Separately, police said youth burned down a Catholic church in Marsabit County in northern Kenya after the arrest of a Moslemholy man accused by the government of radicalization.
In a statement, police said they locked away You have the right to remain silent... Guyo Gorsa, who allegedly had been involved in the recruitment of youth into al-Shabaab. Police said Guyo’s alleged involvement had been exposed by youth who were arrested while traveling to Somalia to join the murderous Moslem group.
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[IN.REUTERS] An Iranian oil tanker has sunk after burning for more than a week following a collision on Jan. 6 in the East China Sea, Chinese state media said on Sunday, adding that a large amount of oil was burning in the surrounding waters.
The stricken tanker, called the Sanchi (IMO:9356608), which had been adrift and on fire following the accident with the freighter CF Crystal, had “suddenly ignited” around noon (0400 GMT), China Central Television (CCTV) said.
“Currently it has already sunk,” CCTV said, citing the Shanghai maritime search and rescue centre. It showed video of a tower of billowing black smoke that it said reached as high as 1,000 metres, and flames on the surface of the water. The ship sank before 5 p.m. (0900 GMT), the broadcaster said.
China’s State Oceanic Administration said that because the hull of the ship had detonated, a large amount of oil in surrounding waters was on fire, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
The Administration said it would expand the scope of its monitoring and “quickly ascertain the spread and drift of overflowing oil” from the wrecked ship.
A Chinese salvage team on Saturday recovered two bodies from the tanker. Another body, presumed to be one of the Sanchi’s sailors, was found on Monday and brought to Shanghai for identification.
The Sanchi’s crew consisted of 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis.
Iranian officials said the remaining 29 crew members and passengers of the tanker were presumed dead.
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#1
Apparently, CF Crystal remains in service off of NingBo. The 'collision' damage must have been minor.
#2
I can't figure this out. Most tankers have double hulls and all kinds of fire suppression systems.
Drip is very volatile, we used to use it for gasoline in old flat head Ford pickup trucks in the oil fields. I hated that, my Chevy 6 pickup just wouldn't run pure drip, I had to mix it with regular gas.
[NYPost] The Hawaii public employee who plunged the state into chaos by accidentally sending out an incoming-missile emergency alert Saturday has been re-assigned, according to reports.
The unnamed emergency-department worker will not be fired because he made an honest mistake, said Hawaii Emergency Management Agency spokesman Richard Rapoza to the Washington Post.
"Part of the problem was it was too easy ‐ for anyone ‐ to make such a big mistake," Rapoza said. "We have to make sure that we're not looking for retribution, but we should be fixing the problems in the system. … I know that it's a very, very difficult situation for him."
The agency has already put in place new safeguards to prevent such a misfire ‐ including a "cancel" button that will immediately send out corrective alerts when an erroneous warning is issued, officials said Sunday
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/15/2018
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#1
Wrong guy. The system designer needs to be reassigned.
#2
....On the other hand, we should at least be grateful that, officially, the Person Responsible is showing some remorse, and that there was actually some action taken. I was sure that nothing would be done because the Person Responsible was a member of an Oppressed Group or some other get-out-of-jail-free status.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/15/2018 4:45
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#3
I'm not buying the story
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/15/2018 7:35
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#4
Don't they usually make those type of buttons with covers on them in order to reduce 'accidents'? You know, the kind you have to flip up or over in order to have access to the button, the 'Do you really want to do this' cover.
#8
Procopius2k, re the 'Do you really want to do this' cover, the shear ram switch on our offshore blowout preventer had a cage around it and a sign, yet an operator somehow - he never could/did say - managed to activate the rams, shear and drop the drill string, and junk the multi-million dollar well. No matter how idiot-proof we make things, we can always find a better idiot.
#14
In 1990 I visited Hawaii for my first & only time. Arriving air passengers were given a long printout of items they were not allowed to bring on land - like certain/all fruit from the mainland.
New arrivals were told absolutely nothing about all the sirens mounted on poles, brightly colored, which ringed each & every island. Even the sirens had little information attached to them to inform newcomers that they were the tsunami alerts, and if they started wailing, everyone was to move uphill ASAP.
Either the state EMA figured every arrival in Hawaii already knew this, or the EMA simply didn't give a damn about informing visitors of a deadly danger almost unique to Hawaii. {Neither did car rental agencies bother to pass the word.)
#16
The agency has already put in place new safeguards to prevent such a misfire ‐ including a "cancel" button that will immediately send out corrective alerts when an erroneous warning is issued, officials said Sunday.
And, how long should everyone wait for a corrective alert before taking the first alert seriously?
#17
Congrats! You just re-assigned the one person on the planet who is least likely to make *that* mistake again.
You can try to keep people from making mistakes, but humans are clever and adaptive. (idiot-proofing vs the Better Idiot). Think about that confirmation dialog that pops up when you delete a file on your computer. You've clicked OK so often that it has become part of the muscle memory used for deleting a file.
We don't think about how our systems are going to fail and how to recover from that event. This is bad because we increasingly rely on ever more complicated systems while continuing to assume they will "just work" The Northeast blackout of 2003 is an fine example of what should have been a local event cascading into widespread shutdown of the power grid.
The fact that it took 40 minutes to send out the equivalent of "Doh!" is shameful. Somebody needs a kick in the ass and it ain't the guy who pushed the wrong button.
#18
This is not a knock against engineers in general. BUT I had engineers work in my department who would walk up to a control panel and just start pushing every button in sight. Because. And get huffy when criticized. Screamed at, really. Serial button pushers.
OPRAH FOR PRESIDENT!
[Taki's Magazine] Oprah Winfrey is loved across the globe for being the fattest black female billionaire in world history, and for that, she deserves to be worshiped! Most people know her for making film history after becoming the first female African American thespian to pee for ten minutes straight on film in Steven Spielberg’s heartwarming racial/gender drama The Color Purple.
Sure, even after America rewarded her with enough wealth to buy several African countries in addition to a lifetime Weight Watchers membership, she still feels fit to lie and say that millions of black Americans were lynched (actually, the best estimate pegs the total at around 3,446) and fabricate racist hate crimes against herself. Heck, according to her cousin, Oprah even lied about growing up poor.
Powerfully dressed in black to throw her weight in support of the powerful #MeToo movement that seeks to disempower powerful men in positions of power, the woman whose name is “Harpo” spelled backwards delivered what was described as a “powerful” Lifetime Achievement Award acceptance speech at the Golden Globes, which is a yearly event where Hollywood gives itself a handjob.
Under the presumed guise of fighting racism, Oprah wasted no time in making it racial. In the very first freakin’ paragraph she noted that Sidney Poitier was a “black man” whose “skin was black,” which we’re assuming is how everyone was able to identify him as a black man. Then, in the second paragraph, she spills the beans that she’s a “black woman.” Then, but of course, she shares a tale from 1944 where a black woman was brutally raped by a group of white men. This is because in Hollywood, it’s become necessary to cite such cases from generations ago, because the modern interracial rape rates paint a very different picture.
In reaction to Oprah’s powerful acceptance speech, it was unanimously decided by everyone that hates Donald Trump that she should run for president in 2020 because even though they’re both billionaires, she has a black vagina and he doesn’t. And then, like, y’know, if the inspirational black woman billionaire beat the evil white male billionaire, it’d be like one of those cool movies and everyone could go back to being happy again.
Steven Spielberg says he’d support Oprah’s presidential candidacy, and since he makes edgy, high-risk movies that say the Holocaust and Nazis and slavery were bad, we think he should serve as her running mate. There were rumors a long time ago that Spielberg may just possibly be a pedophile, but that was a long time ago, and as we’ve already stated, those were only rumors. More stories at the link
#1
... #MeToo needs to be augmented with #AndYetTheyAllKnew.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/15/2018 5:03
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#2
Oprah was one of the primary people who pushed for Obama, and though she slams a nation that elected him, she does not mention the fact that the Obama's threw her under the bus when she was deemed no longer politically necessary.
But she continues to be of the same hate-America first without complimenting America for changing the world from a beast and slave supported production environment to defeating slavery at home first at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives and then ushering in industrial age. Thus wiping out slavery across the globe on a massive scale.
No.
America must always be deemed evil by any manner necessary. Now you know why there is not only a place called Hell awaiting their thankless God forsaken souls, but that there MUST be a Hell awaiting their God forsaken souls.
#4
America is not filled with racists but we do have a large share of race hustlers and I consider Oprah to be the most successful and least obvious one. Instead of calling everyone racists she played the neutral card and tried to get everyone to get along and America made her a billionaire for it.
Only later after she disappeared into her own cable channel did she start to show her true colors, and they were the same colors as Sharpton and others.
[DAWN] Saudi construction giant Binladin Group denied on Saturday any state takeover after its chairman was detained, but said some shares may have been transferred to the government.
The firm, which has been forced to lay off tens of thousands of workers due to financial problems, said it remained a private shareholding company and was undergoing restructuring.
International media this week reported Saudi Arabia's government had taken over the firm after chairman Bakr bin Laden was detained. The Saudi Binladin Group “would like to confirm that it remains a private sector company owned by its shareholders”, it said in a statement.
But some company shares may have been transferred to the government in a settlement of “outstanding dues”, it added, without providing any details on the size of any such shares.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Iraq News] Over 80 percent of Anbar desert areas have been purged from Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... bad boys, a security bigshot in Anbar province was quoted as saying.
Speaking to al-Sabah al-Jadid newspaper on Sunday, Naeem al-Kaoud, the chairman of the Anbar province’s security committee, said, "Security forces and al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) purged over 80 percent of desert areas in Anbar province from Islamic State during a military operation there."
"The troops also destroyed several Islamic State hotbeds and remotely detonated four armored vehicles that were used by the bad boy group," he said, adding that 10 more people were tossed in the clink I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! on suspicion of joining Islamic State.
"Although the hotbeds were underground, the troops were able to destroy them after receiving intelligence reports on their locations," Kaoud pointed out that .
"The military operation, backed by the U.S.-led international coalition and the Iraqi Air Force, comes as part of ongoing efforts to eliminate IS Death Eaters on the country’s borders with Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... and Jordan," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[RT] President Emmanuel Macron has backed calls from bakers to put the traditional French bread – the baguette – on the list of intangible cultural treasures protected by UNESCO, calling the oblong loaf an “envy of the world.”
“The baguette is envied around the world. We must preserve its excellence and our expertise, and it is for this reason that it should be heritage-listed,” the French leader told Europe Radio 1 following a meeting with French master bakers in Paris on Friday.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Tasty dishes are seldom in danger of being demolished for the purposes of constructing an overpass. So I think you're safe Manney.
[ATimes] Russia is seeking international assistance in its quest to determine the source of swarming drone attacks on two of its military bases in Syria.
The twin strikes represent the first time swarming drones have been used by terrorists against hardened targets, and judging from the excitement on the Russian side, they are clearly worried and upset. While denying that they lost any equipment in the strikes, it is hard to explain otherwise the level of alarm in Russia’s military.
The home-made drones that were used to attack Hmeimim Air Base in Latakia, Syria and the important Russian naval base in Tartus.
Has Tartus been mentioned before?
The drones themselves are simple. They use a small commercial gasoline two stroke engine that might be found in a weed whacker or used to power a bicycle. Structurally the drones are made out of wooden spars and styrofoam “boards” that are tied into the wooden structure with glue and plastic wrap.
Bingo! I thought they looked like weed wacker motors.
The drone itself is launched from some sort of simple rail platform and guided by two piece of wood on the drone with cutouts to protect the drone’s aerodynamic quality. The drones carry either eight or ten bomblets, each stuffed with the explosive PETN and the bomblets all have fuses that explode on contact. The bomblets are released by a solenoid that opens gaps in a sliding metal bar. The bomblets contain about 1 KG of PETN plus a string of epoxied ball bearings wrapped around the PETN explosive.
It appears the mission of the swarming drones was three-fold: it was to show the Russians that their bases are vulnerable to attack even if the terrorists are far off (the attack was launched about 50 km away originating in Idlib according to reports and the Russians have now destroyed a stockpile of drones there); that the Russian aircraft and missiles were vulnerable to a drone strike; and finally that the bomblets could be used to terrorize ground crews and military personnel on the Russian bases. Most of the focus was on Hmeimim Air Base where 10 drones were used in a swarming attack; another three drones struck the Tartus Naval Base.
The Russians claim that one of the drones carried a camera and had the ability to adjust the track of the other drones if needed. The drones themselves were guided by GPS and the flight path for each one was pre-programmed.
What especially disturbs the Russian analysts – and on this point they are still unable to identify the source – is that the drones were accurately programmed not only to reach the bases, but to hit specific targets that could not be attacked using standard GPS-generated maps or rely on GPS for accurate targeting.
Some sort of service more accurate then Google Maps used? A private one like DigitalGlobe or an actual Spy Satellite?
The single camera-equipped drone was there to help adjust the final target, indicating a fairly sophisticated command and control capability, something that clearly impressed the Russian General Staff. The drones also were programmed with accurate intelligence that was harmonized with GPS maps.
One master drone with a camera that can adjust the attacks of the other drones! Is this a high bandwidth (sat or cell) link back to an operator with the video or does the video feed into some sort of AI/pattern recognition system on the master drone? If the latter this is a very big deal. If it's a cellular or satellite link why isn't the service jammed near such sensitive targets? A modern cellphone would be excellent in the electronics package with software, GPS, altitude, tilt, compass, time, networking, camera(s), I/O(usually via USB or Bluetooth) and communications(WiFi & Cellular) in one light package. It would be interesting if the Russians showed the contents of the electronics package(s).
The Russians captured a number of the drones which they claim they were able to gain control over and crash land (the drones are not capable of landing in the normal sense). They were able to read out the directional plots and see that the programming was very accurate to locate targets. More than likely the targeting was aimed at parked Russian aircraft, since the bomblets would do very little damage to buildings. It is less sure the targeting included Russian air defense missiles, as these are of little or no interest to terrorist who don’t have an air force.
Bottom line: the accuracy of the mapping means that the drones were supported by a well-established military organization capable of spotting the targets and adjusting GPS maps to their exact location. Putting aside the fact that the drones may, or may not have achieved their objectives (whether you believe the Russians shot down or controlled most of them and did not suffer any losses, or alternatively the terrorist-leaks to the press where some seven Russian aircraft, including at least one Su-35 are claimed to have been destroyed) the accuracy of the drones is certainly the big issue and the Russians are almost certainly right that someone was helping the terrorists.
7 planes lost would be a big deal.
At first the Russians blamed the Turks. Next they blamed the Americans and pointed out that a US Navy Reconnaissance plane may have been involved. More recently the Russians are accusing the Ukrainians.
The crude but effective physical technology mixed with what appears to be complex electronics, software and communications is a very sophisticated project.
#4
My guess is that the PETN is more like SEMTEX, which is a mixture of PETN, RDX, a plasticizer and an binder.
I can see a lot of use for a good smartphone in this application, as it has most of the features needed to perform this mission. I wonder how they got the coordinates of the planes---good gps and sneaking up with a laser to get an accurate fix, then maybe using image recognition.
The delivery vehicle is somewhat crude, but it works, and parts are common not to raise eyebrows when purchasing them.
I was thinking of some terrorist outfit that has been pounded by the Russians, buying the electronic packages, and paying some individual to do the engineering for a goodly price.
A very interesting integration of systems.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/15/2018 0:54
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#5
Great source newc! Thanks!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/15/2018 1:19
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#7
...I still say there was no 'swarm' attack. One or two drones might have gotten through and gotten a lucky hit (or given Soviet Russian explosives safety traditions, come down just about anywhere and set off an explosion)but something like this in something that small, not to mention the furious blame-everybody-in-range? Not buying it for a minute.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/15/2018 5:57
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#8
Pan Kozlowski you should know how Russians think - if it wasn't huge, they'd just preserve face.
[Iraq News] Four 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.... snuffies were killed in a military operation in southwestern Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... a security source was quoted as saying.
Speaking to Alsumaria News on Sunday, the source said, "A joint force from the Iraqi army and al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) was carrying out a military operation in an area between al-Abbasi and Hawija districts in southwestern Kirkuk."
"Four Islamic State snuffies were killed in the clampdowns," the source added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2018
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[RT] Russian President Vladimir Putin has likened communism to Christianity and Vladimir Lenin’s mausoleum in Moscow’s Red Square to the veneration of the relics of saints.
“Maybe I’ll say something that someone might dislike, but that’s the way I see it,” Putin said in an interview for the documentary Valaam, an excerpt of which was broadcast on Russia 1. “First of all, faith has always accompanied us, becoming stronger every time our country, our people, have been through hard times.
“There were those years of militant atheism when priests were eradicated, churches destroyed, but at the same time a new religion was being created. Communist ideology is very similar to Christianity, in fact: freedom, equality, brotherhood, justice – everything is laid out in the Holy Scripture, it’s all there. And the code of the builder of communism? This is sublimation, it’s just such a primitive excerpt from the Bible, nothing new was invented.”
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2018
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#1
You are way off you Idiot and you know it.
Communism is a millstone you put around your neck.
It is a Godless ideology which is why the Mandate resides with the US instead of your version of Mexico with 10,000 nukes.
Your people told me you knew who I was. And you just blasphemed in a big way.
...In fairness, that was the idea. In the mid-20's, the Revolution hadn't yet completely beaten the faith out of the masses (Lord knows they tried, but a good argument can be made that they never really did) and the leadership knew - though couldn't flatly say it - that there needed to be an icon and relics for Lenin, the same way there were for the Tsars, who always eventually became saints in the Russian Orthodox Church. So ol' Vlad rests there to this day, and likely always will.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/15/2018 5:52
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#5
I think somewhere in the 20th Century, in less than a hundred years, the Left exceeded the death count of 'Christian' wars that took 1,500 years to accumulate.
#6
Communist ideology is very similar to Christianity, in fact: freedom, equality, brotherhood, justice – everything is laid out in the Holy Scripture, it’s all there
You kiss your girlfriend with that lying mouth?
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/15/2018 8:54
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#7
And Lucifer contended with the archangel Michael over the dead body of Moses. And the archangel Michael spoke to the mighty and powerful fallen archangel Lucifer, "God rebukes you!" and Lucifer then fled.
Satan knows that people will worship the dead body of a leader before they will worship the living God, and that is fine with him, thus God sent for the body of Moses. Communism is a humanistic worship religion of dead or soon to be dead men.
#10
For Marx so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Lenin that whosoever believeth in Him would not prosper but have everlasting poverty.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/15/2018 10:23
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#11
Some Christian theologians have said almost the same thing, and this goes back a century. Dostoyevsky wrote in a similar vein even earlier. Putin may be channeling his Trump-mode.
#12
Seems a bit obvious, and completely cracked. They created a new religion by taking a bit here and there from Christianity and from secular philosophies. The Party played the role of god, and it had devoted followers who literally made it the center of their existence. If you love your family more than the Party, you aren't worthy of the Party. Check.
OTOH, the core of Christianity is about our relationship with a creator God, not "freedom, equality, brotherhood." That's a difference in kind, not degree. Putin was doubtless busy elsewhere the day they taught that.
Posted by: james ||
01/15/2018 13:51
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#13
Interesting for all those that grew up worshiping Communist idols, to have them compared to their greatest enemy Christianity might just be too much. I hope there is a safe space in the facility lounges across America.
"We come fer yer pollen, Chuck!"
[RT] A species of bee has been discovered that is miraculously capable of surviving in the high arctic region where the Soviet Union once tested nuclear weapons for decades, according to a new study.
The ‘Bombus glacialis’ species lives on the archipelago of Novaya Zemlya, which the Soviet Union closed off decades ago to carry out scores of nuclear tests. While previously considered to be a subspecies of the B. polaris - one of the only other arctic bee types in the world - a recent study published in Polar Biology confirmed B. glacialis to be its own species.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2018
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#1
Could be a game changer for hive additions in cold areas. We typically use Italian bees here because they are gentle. Would love to try a queen depending on their behavior and honey production.
#3
Of course they can survive in the Arctic. They're glowing so much from radiation they give off heat.
Coming soon to an infrared seeker missile defense system way too close to you!
Posted by: ed in texas ||
01/15/2018 13:22
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[Free Beacon] Americans are exceptional in many ways but perhaps their greatest exceptional characteristic is their neighborliness. Americans are a private people dedicated to the proposition that all homes are created equal no matter the customs, rituals, and beliefs that guide and comprise them. In dealing with his neighbor, the American follows the rule: Be cheerful and helpful, be polite, and leave my neighbor alone to his home.
But in leaving one's neighbors alone, Americans don't simply forget about them. If those strange customs, rituals, and beliefs enrich and cultivate a neighbor's home, then they are worthy of respect, even if we know nothing about them. Our neighbor might dance round the fire with his young children nine times each night before bed or eat a birthday cake every day while running five miles each morning. This might even worry us a bit and make us clutch at the curtains or peer out the window (for Americans, though private, are not incurious). But if the fire-dancers and the cake-eaters appear in public, shake hands, and treat us and our family fairly, their homes are worthy of not only privacy but also respect. What strange things my neighbor does is not my business‐yet I respect his strange business because I respect him, and I defend his privacy to conduct it.
The American Neighbor's attitude derives from a fundamental tenet of America, held since its founding: Americans are united through difference. Going further, Americans are united not by simply tolerating the differences of others but by embracing them and thereby protecting the ability and right of one's neighbor to bring precisely what makes him strange to me into the public square. America made each man the guardian of his neighbor's strangeness and thereby turned strangers into neighbors without destroying or whitewashing what makes each man strange to another. This was an innovation, a new solution to one of the oldest, most fundamental political challenges in man's history and the heart of American exceptionalism.
#3
maybe Soloveichik is speaking about the people he hangs with
in lots of America, e.g., Universities, Hollywood, NGOs, conservatives are not tolerated, in fact even moderates and people who are non political are not tolerated
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/15/2018 10:26
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#4
I finally figured out American Exceptionalism derives from the concept of leaving your tribe behind, to become an American. A concept which the lefties have been trying to undo for years, most effectively with our last POTUS.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/15/2018 10:28
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#5
Something changed in the 50/60s in most of this nation. Before that people knew their neighbors, after that they drove into their garage and rarely saw their neighbors.
The exception is the suburbs where kids play in the yards and such but Liberals hate the suburbs with a passion (almost as much as they seem to hate themselves).
#6
Something changed in the 50/60s in most of this nation.
I think it was TV. I still remember the week the first family in the neighborhood got one. Instantly the kids playing in the yards and playgrounds went inside to watch. From after school to dinnertime, the community of children playing together suddenly ended.
#7
TV and the availability of cars. Houses started to be designed with garages in front so you could enter without ever encountering a neighbor. This changed the way people interrelated even if unintentionally.
VANCOUVER -- A British Columbia judge was wrong to throw out findings of guilt against a pair of accused terrorist sympathizers who planted what they thought were pressure-cooker bombs on the lawn of the provincial legislature, the Crown says.
In documents filed in B.C.'s Court of Appeal, the Crown says Justice Catherine Bruce of the B.C. Supreme Court had no basis to conclude the RCMP manipulated John Nuttall and Amanda Korody into plotting to kill dozens of innocent people and first responders on Canada Day in 2013.
A months-long jury trial ended in June 2015 when Nuttall and Korody were found guilty of conspiring to commit murder, possessing an explosive substance and placing an explosive in a public place, all on behalf of a terrorist group.
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/15/2018
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#1
In addition, it couldn't hurt to permanently disbar her symp a$$ and have her pension pulled.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Townhall] CNBC’s economic survey released prior to Christmas showed that for the first time in over a decade a majority was optimistic about the economy, and there was a shift as to who should receive credit for the booming economy: Donald J. Trump. The economic growth for the fourth quarter was near four percent. Over 100 companies gave bonuses of at least $1,000 or more to over a million workers, even some part-timers got a piece of that action. The GOP tax bill, which the Left said was going to be a prelude to Armageddon, was exactly the opposite for the American worker, who the Democratic Party decided to bet against to try and undercut Trump. Over 90 of middle class Americans will be receiving a tax cut. The Democratic Party is going to have to explain that move, especially when this tax bill becomes more popular. 
[DailyCaller] 
[Guardian] Turkey’s president has said the country will launch a military assault on a Kurdish enclave in northern Syria "in the coming days" and urged the US to support its efforts.
[InsideHigherEducation] For faculty of color, women and particularly those scholars who are outspoken about dismantling the master narratives of white supremacy within our colleges and universities, playing by the rules is neither an option nor an obligation. It is, in fact, a terrible burden. A burden to allow an oppressive system breathing down our necks, while we continue to work within institutions that treat us as mere bodies representing “diversity” or what Patti Duncan has called “Hot Commodities, Cheap Labor: Women of Color in the Academy.”
[DAWN] Karachi police have arrested four Chinese nationals suspected of ATM skimming fraud and have recovered Rs2.3 million and 350 ATM cards from their possession, Clifton Superintendent Police (SP) Dr Asad Malhi said on Sunday.
[MindaNews] The New People's Army finally admitted, after 15 days, that they are holding captive the deputy police chief of President Roxas town in North Cotabato. NPA spokesman Rigoberto Sanchez issued the official statement about Inspector Menardo Nisperos Cui, deputy chief of police of President Roxas, through an email sent to media on January 12.
[USNEWS] The Israeli military said Sunday it destroyed an attack tunnel built by the Hamas militant group that stretched from the 
[Al Jazeera] A 
Moqtada 
[VOA News] The U.S.-led coalition is working with its Syrian militia allies to set up a new border force of 30,000 personnel, the coalition said on Sunday, a move that has added to 
[38North] Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site: Significant Tunneling Underway at the West Portal
[FoxNews] An illegal immigrant on a Greyhound bus who allegedly threatened to shoot and kill passengers on Friday — leading police on a chase from Wisconsin to Illinois — was deported five times, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson told Fox News.
[DAWN] Karachi police on Saturday claimed to have killed four suspected militants who were involved in several high-profile terror cases and had ties with terrorist outfits Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ) and the militant Islamic State (IS) during an 'encounter'.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan armed forces launched a large-scale operation against the
the personification of Somali state failure...
Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
[NYPost] The Hawaii public employee who plunged the state into chaos by accidentally sending out an incoming-missile emergency alert Saturday has been re-assigned, according to reports.
OPRAH FOR PRESIDENT!
[RT] President Emmanuel Macron has backed calls from bakers to put the traditional French bread – the baguette – on the list of intangible cultural treasures protected by UNESCO, calling the oblong loaf an “envy of the world.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has likened communism to Christianity and Vladimir Lenin’s mausoleum in Moscow’s Red Square to the veneration of the relics of saints.
[Free Beacon] Americans are exceptional in many ways but perhaps their greatest exceptional characteristic is their neighborliness. Americans are a private people dedicated to the proposition that all homes are created equal no matter the customs, rituals, and beliefs that guide and comprise them. In dealing with his neighbor, the American follows the rule: Be cheerful and helpful, be polite, and leave my neighbor alone to his home.
Man held over alleged sexual assault of 6-year-old boy in Karachi
