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Today: 69 articles and 130 comments as of 14:55.
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Syria army retakes key base near Aleppo: State TV
Today's Headlines
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Con Men Prey on Confusion Over Health Care Act
[NY Times] With millions of Americans frustrated and bewildered by the trouble-prone federal website for health insurance, con men and unscrupulous marketers are seizing their chance. State and federal authorities report a rising number of consumer complaints, ranging from deceptive sales practices to identity theft, linked to the Affordable Care Act.

Madeleine Mirzayans was fooled when a man posing as a government official knocked on her door. Barbara Miller and Maevis Ethan were pitched by telemarketers who claimed to work for Medicaid. And Buford Price was almost caught by another trap: websites that look official but are actually bait set by fly-by-night insurance operators.

Some level of fraud or abuse is predictable with any big government program, and administration officials expected a few bad actors to emerge. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.; Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services; Edith Ramirez, the chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission; and other officials met at the White House in September to discuss possible pitfalls.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 11/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's a cluster already, why not scammers, No Not the Giverment.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 11/11/2013 0:24 Comments || Top||

#2  The biggist scam is the [non]Affordable Care Act itself.

I'm sure they will jump right on this - the government hates competition.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 11/11/2013 0:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Attorney General Eric HHolder Jr.; Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services; Edith Ramirez, the chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission; and other officials met at the White House in September to discuss possible pitfalls. .

Those ARE the con men
Posted by: Frank G || 11/11/2013 8:33 Comments || Top||

#4  Just scavengers around Obama's kill.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/11/2013 12:09 Comments || Top||

#5  "Con men?"

Considering who the Secretary of HHS is, I'd say that's a sexist term.
Posted by: Pappy || 11/11/2013 12:37 Comments || Top||

#6  Heh, morning news segment 2 was how to sign up to Obamacare (pencil and paper), segment 3 was about how some people may be brain wired to unflenchingly believe everything they are told.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/11/2013 12:55 Comments || Top||

#7  Unexpectedly, no doubt.

And no, that is NOT sarcasm!
Posted by: Bobby || 11/11/2013 13:54 Comments || Top||


Two Cypress Springs High School students killed in house party shooting
[CHRON] A teenager who attended a large house party where two Cypress Springs High School students died says gunshots began in the house and continued outside as people ran into the streets seeking cover.

Shaniqua Brown, 17, says Saturday evening's birthday party "was not rowdy at all," and many people were dancing when they heard the shots.

Authorities are seeking two gunmen who are ages 17 and 22.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 11/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Black, of course.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 11/11/2013 0:26 Comments || Top||


-Obits-
Manfred Rommel, son of WWII military leader, dies at 84
A popular mayor [of Stuttgart], Mr. Rommel made bold and sometimes controversial decisions. He drew criticism for allowing German Red Army Faction terrorists Gudrun Ensslin, Andreas Baader and Jan-Carl Raspe to be buried together in Stuttgart after their collective suicide in the Stammheim prison.

“I am of the opinion that all wrath, justified as it may be, must end with death and that there are no first- and second-class graveyards and that all graveyards are the same,” he said at the time.
A very interesting quote from a very interesting man. Excellent obit at WaPo.
Posted by: Steve White || 11/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Truly an interesting man. His father was one of the most brilliant strategists that ever walked the battlefield.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 11/11/2013 11:38 Comments || Top||

#2  49 Pan, absolutely agree with your assessment of Erwin Rommel. In addition, he was a man of honor. While fighting in North Africa, the Germans captured some Free French. Hitler ordered that they be executed, since France had surrendered. Rommel refused, treating them as prisoners of war.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 11/11/2013 13:45 Comments || Top||

#3  Rommel Sr. was a construction guy. "After the war is over" (if the Nazi's could secure their territories) he wanted to build magnificant buildings. The construction of the Atlantic wall that killed many GI on the beaches of Normandy was still in the works and if finished, would have days and many more casualties to break trough.

But, just like many brilliant minds, he served a mad man.
Posted by: Guillibaldo McCoy1948 || 11/11/2013 13:46 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Miley twerks dwarf
[HOSTED.AP.ORG] In an unabashed - and likely successful - bid for attention, singer Miley Cyrus smoked a joint on stage and twerked with a dwarf during the MTV Europe Music Awards.

The 20-year old singer also won the Best Video award for her hit song "Wrecking Ball."

Sunday's strong lineup of performers also included Eminem and Katy Perry.

Cyrus opened the space-themed show singing the song "We Can't Stop," while wearing a silver spandex suit and gyrating her buttocks in the move known as twerking.

Marijuana is not legal in the Netherlands, but smokers can't be prosecuted for possession of small amounts and it is sold openly in cafes known euphemistically as "coffee shops."
Posted by: Fred || 11/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Miley Cyrus is an example of "Your Brains on Drugs".

Yes, she is very wealthy financially, but she is a very poor human, an example of hedonistic depravity, which has no bounds.

A deep abyss awaits in her future.
Posted by: Galactic Coordinator Thrineng1809 || 11/11/2013 9:49 Comments || Top||

#2  Another in an almost unbroken string of examples why no one should ever take advice of any kind from entertainers.
Posted by: Iblis || 11/11/2013 10:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Dear Europe,
Just in case you are not familiar with the twerk, she isn't really doing it very well.

Its not supposed to look like a worm going onto a fish hook.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/11/2013 13:43 Comments || Top||

#4  I thought I learned what twerking was at Rantburg University last quarter, but clearly, there is a Twerking II class I need to sign up for.

BTW, isn't dwarf one of those bad words?
Posted by: Bobby || 11/11/2013 13:57 Comments || Top||

#5  twerk? thought it was being a jerk on twitter
Posted by: Angique Cratch5689 || 11/11/2013 14:29 Comments || Top||

#6  Twerking appears to be a stand-up version of a lapdance. What am I missing?
Posted by: rjschwarz || 11/11/2013 15:13 Comments || Top||

#7  ...the twenty dollar self inflicted tax that goes with the lap version?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 11/11/2013 16:50 Comments || Top||

#8  What am I missing?

First, she str!p>er dancing, not twerking. At the first one her backup dancers were doing it.

Second, she needs a booty larger than a hinge. Dang, I've seen pinewood derby races with more curves.

Third, I don't think she is a natural dancer..well trained and in shape, dedicated, but she is as smooth as those wind up robot toys after being left in the rain - compared to natural dancers.

Fourth, whoever did her teeth made her look like she has in granny dentures.

Fifth, as P2K said but I would have stopped at five. Coming from the entertainment beauty pool she is a toe dip, there really is not an it..other than another teenage star burnout story...smoking a j in Neder, dry humping a dwarf. Yawn. She's not the first entertainer to get naked and put balls between the legs, amIright Tom Cruise?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/11/2013 17:28 Comments || Top||

#9  Where's the hook that kindly pulls her off the stage before she has a chance to make too much of a fool of herself? Honestly, this girl acts like she is a few bricks short of a load.
Posted by: JohnQC || 11/11/2013 18:58 Comments || Top||

#10  Somebody did JohnQC:

Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/11/2013 19:57 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Philippine typhoon deaths climb into thousands
[APNEWS.MYWAY] As many as 10,000 people are believed dead in one Philippine city alone after one of the worst storms ever recorded unleashed ferocious winds and giant waves that washed away homes and schools. Corpses hung from tree branches and were scattered along sidewalks and among flattened buildings, while looters raided grocery stores and gas stations in search of food, fuel and water.

Officials projected the death toll could climb even higher when emergency crews reach areas cut off by flooding and landslides. Even in the disaster-prone Philippines, which regularly contends with earthquakes, volcanoes and tropical cyclones, Typhoon Haiyan appears to be the deadliest natural disaster on record.

Haiyan hit the eastern seaboard of the Philippine archipelago on Friday and quickly barreled across its central islands before exiting into the South China Sea, packing winds of 235 kilometers per hour (147 miles per hour) that gusted to 275 kph (170 mph), and a storm surge that caused sea waters to rise 6 meters (20 feet).

It wasn't until Sunday that the scale of the devastation became clear, with local officials on hardest-hit Leyte Island saying that there may be 10,000 dead in the provincial capital of Tacloban alone. Reports also trickled in from elsewhere on the island, and from neighboring islands, indicating hundreds, if not thousands more deaths, though it will be days before the full extent of the storm's impact can be assessed.
Posted by: Fred || 11/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wake me when they claim a Million.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 11/11/2013 0:29 Comments || Top||

#2  The typical Pino house looks like it was built from stuff scavenged from the dump, and probably was.
Posted by: phil_b || 11/11/2013 0:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Clark Air Base Hospital should be able to assist. Oh wait.....
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/11/2013 6:33 Comments || Top||

#4  Team Rubicon on the way, best group to donate money too without question.
Posted by: bman || 11/11/2013 11:10 Comments || Top||

#5  As has been written elsewhere, the Filipino social network will be a great help during the recovery process. That's something not to be underestimated - look up stories about various neighborhoods in the NYC area after last year's storm.
Posted by: Pappy || 11/11/2013 19:05 Comments || Top||

#6  "uh huh huh, remember when bush sent an aircraft carrier to invade the ocean floor. What a dumbass."

"Yeah! yeah! They like, needed a ship with helicopters and doctors and food, and Bush was like, Yeah, I'm gonna go bomb brown people! I am the Great Bongholio...I need TP for my mouth hole."

/Progtard and Moonbat
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/11/2013 19:38 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Illegal migrants in Saudi surrender after deadly riots
[FRANCE24] Hundreds of illegal migrants targeted in a Saudi nationwide crackdown turned themselves in on Sunday after security forces besieged a Riyadh neighbourhood where riots had killed two people.

Men, women and kiddies lined up carrying their belongings to board police buses transferring them to an assembly centre before their deportation, a week after a seven-month amnesty expired.

Police said they intervened on Saturday following riots in the poor Manfuhah neighbourhood of the capital after foreigners attacked Saudis and other foreign expats with rocks and knives.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 11/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
Maduro to set "limits on profits". Kiss Venezuela goodbye
Ay-Pee. HT to weasel zippers
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is extending shortage creation price controls and will place limits on profits as he extends attempts to curb the galloping inflation that is eroding support for his rule.

Maduro made the announcement in a late-night television address Sunday in which he also vowed to step up inspections of businesses selling shoes, clothing, automobiles and other goods to make sure they aren't gouging consumers.

"We can't just close the businesses; the owners have to go to jail," Maduro said in an impassioned speech in which he cited Jewish, Muslim and Christian texts to harangue businessmen he accuses of usury. "We can't allow our hard currency to be used to rob people through the sale of these goods."
there won't be any goods to sell, pendejo
Posted by: Frank G || 11/11/2013 11:48 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/11/2013 12:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Stand back, Economic Creationism at work. The 'red' star stage when it start consuming the last of its fusionable resources, just before it blows itself apart or imploding to a dark cinder of its former self.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 11/11/2013 13:17 Comments || Top||

#3  “I do think at a certain point you've made enough money”
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 11/11/2013 14:00 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Ingushetia hikes fines for bride kidnapping
Village elders and Islamic clerics in the Russian republic of Ingushetia agreed to hike unofficial fines for bride kidnapping in an effort to stop the custom that led to a bloody shootout last month.

Stealing a woman to take her as wife will now cost the groom $6,100, up from $305, participants decreed at the ongoing Islamic Conference in the capital of the republic, Magas. Groom's helpers, local elders who endorse the kidnapping and the owner of the house that hosts the kidnapped woman would pay up to $3,050 each, a spokesman for the republican government said Saturday.

The fines are not official, but decisions of clerics and elders carry much weight in the traditionalistic southern republic.

The majority of bride kidnappings in the North Caucasus are believed to be mock incidents. However, three people, including a pregnant bystander, were killed in a street fight between two Ingush clans that followed a bride kidnapping in October.

The neighboring Chechnya set up a fine of $30,500 for bride kidnapping in 2010, but Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov later admitted it hasn't stopped the custom.
Posted by: ryuge || 11/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  OOh, wow, when they said Putin was rebuilding Russia, I doubted it, but this... This... this could be a definite sign of progress.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 11/11/2013 11:45 Comments || Top||


Europe
Reclaiming the Mezquita in Córdoba
¿La Rereconquista?

Christians and Muslims Locked in Dispute over Prayers in Córdoba

The Mezquita in Córdoba, Spain, was originally built by Muslim moors but has been used as a church ever since the reconquest in the 12th century. Now a Spanish Muslim has suggested an "ecumenical transformation" of the building.
Posted by: ryuge || 11/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Italian navy arrests 16 human traffickers off Libya
[Al Ahram] The Italian navy said Sunday it has enjugged
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
16 human traffickers aboard a so-called "mother ship" in international waters off Libya.
Submarine surveillance ahead of Saturday's raid was "of particular importance, notably for gathering proof" against the traffickers, it said in a statement.
"Ciccolini, we shall gather evidence!"
"Si, signor Commodore!"

The fishing boat served as a staging area from which the traffickers dispatched their clients -- Syrian migrants seeking asylum or a better life -- aboard smaller, often rickety vessels to destinations in southern Europe.
"Signor Commodore! I have evidence that's a mother ship!"
"Really, Ciccolini? Have you been drinking?"

The boat had been under surveillance, including by drones, hi-tech radars, night-vision equipment and the submarine, under stepped-up operations launched after two shipwrecks last month claimed some 500 lives.
"All compartments, secure for action!"
It was located some 500 kilometres (300 miles) southeast of Sicily, near Libya, the navy said.
"Ciccolini, that smudge off the port bow? Is that Libya?"
"I'm afraid so, signor Commodore!"

Also Saturday, the navy rescued 176 Syrian migrants from one of the boats dispatched by the "mother ship", it said.
"You're sure that's a ship, Ciccolini?"
"Well, I have testimony that it is, signor Commodore!"

The navy said the "mother ship" itself had sunk after it took on water while being towed towards an Italian port.
"Forward room, make ready the forward tubes."
"Ready, signor Commodore!"
"Fire one... two... three... four!"
"One away... two away... three away... four away!"
"Ciccolini, you're sure that's a ship?"
"Not anymore, signor Commodore!"
Posted by: Fred || 11/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Great White North
Charter could discourage French-speaking Muslim immigration to Quebec
Quebec's policy of favoring French-speaking immigrants has been like a welcome mat to thousands of francophone Muslims from countries like Morocco, Algeria and Lebanon who now call Montreal home. But some believe the Charter of Quebec Values tabled in the National Assembly last week will do just the opposite; its ban on the wearing of religious symbols by public sector workers discouraging not only Muslim immigrants, but others who will see it as a sign of intolerance toward minorities or of an unstable social climate.

Jean-François Lisée, the minister in charge of the Montreal region, said he believes the charter will eventually prove an asset to Quebec's immigration program, attracting "moderate" members of various religions who want to live in a secular state. He said, "Immigrants who have been coming here for the past several years have to sign a declaration in which it is written that Quebec is a secular state.

"I think there are a lot of people from Maghreb and Lebanon and elsewhere who choose Quebec because it is a secular society. If we send a message that here in Quebec we take secularism seriously, we will have moderate Muslims, moderate Christians, and moderate Sikhs, who say 'I like my religion a lot at home, but I like a secular state,' and Quebec is a progressive state that sends that message."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: ryuge || 11/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Maybe they will leave?
Posted by: tipover || 11/11/2013 0:22 Comments || Top||

#2  "Jean-François Lisée, the minister in charge of the Montreal region, said he believes the charter will eventually prove an asset to Quebec's immigration program, attracting "moderate" members of various religions who want to live in a secular state"

Funny that this fascist speaks out of two sides of his pie-hole...by 'secular' he means a Catholic state as the crucifix is still prominently hung in his fascist National Assembly and by 'moderate' he means lilly-white and francophone.
Posted by: Jerkface Killa || 11/11/2013 9:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Funny that this fascist speaks out of two sides of his pie-hole...by 'secular' he means a Catholic state as the crucifix is still prominently hung in his fascist National Assembly and by 'moderate' he means lilly-white and francophone.

So wanting a French-speaking and white immigrant population makes him fascist? Wouldn't that make most governments around the world fascist? How many countries actively make a point of encouraging the large-scale immigration of people who neither speak their language nor look like them?
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 11/11/2013 10:55 Comments || Top||

#4  Uh, uh, uh. Bad Canadian troll.

One would think that, being an enlightened Canadian leftist, you would know better to engage in ethnic slurring, plus a repeated violation of Godwin's Law.

You lose.
Posted by: Jerkface Killa || 11/11/2013 11:45 Comments || Top||

#5  Do we have to put up with this Godwenite ?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/11/2013 12:06 Comments || Top||

#6  None of us here are socialist unlike Adolph.

Fascism is described as "everything is the business of the state". If that sounds more like the Tea party than the democratic party then you're more stupid than can be imagined.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/11/2013 12:42 Comments || Top||

#7  Uh oh. Headline hit a bit close to home, cousin not going to make the wedding date? Try Haiti, they speak French. Or the Heinzs', I don't care.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/11/2013 13:07 Comments || Top||

#8  I'm sorry you didn't realize that Rantburg is private property. And here you are, defecating all over it as if you own it and crying "censorship" as if you had a right to.

Yes, that's right - private property. It's not government owned, like most of Canada. No tax dollars used to build and maintain this. Just Fred's money, donations, and volunteer labor.

It's private property, in case you didn't read it the first two times.

It's really not fun doing this. Because, aside from your one "Russia in WWII" remark, you're really not intelligent enough to defend your positions. And we've had, and have, some quite intelligent opposition here over the years.

Most sites now have a policy up front regarding 'trolling' or posting even remotely political commentary. Democratic Underground would've deleted and blocked their version of "troll." Same with the Kos site. Rantburg doesn't.

So we'll keep doing this, and end up having to ban you.

It's rather sad and stupid.
Posted by: Jerkface Killa || 11/11/2013 14:39 Comments || Top||

#9  If we're happy with your fucking lies, to you it's proof they're true. If we're unhappy, to you it's proof they're true.

You've never brought anything new, just schoolyard taunts.

Oh well. As they say, in the future everyone will be Hitler for fifteen minutes.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 11/11/2013 14:45 Comments || Top||

#10  When the only God you have is Stalin, all the humans start to look like Hitler.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 11/11/2013 14:46 Comments || Top||

#11  Too bad he's not even in Sinktrap. I sometimes find it interesting. Must have been a complete waste of time. At least Aris was intelligent.
Posted by: Bobby || 11/11/2013 15:48 Comments || Top||

#12  Thats a good one Snowy.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/11/2013 17:11 Comments || Top||

#13  "Help, help, I'm being oppressed! See the violence inherent in the system! Yadda yadda yadda..."
Posted by: SteveS || 11/11/2013 17:12 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Public Revolts Against Obama, Political Establishment's Amnesty Efforts
[BREITBART] According to new national polling data from Pew Research, the American people have revolted against President Barack Obama
I am not a dictator!...
's and the GOP establishment's efforts to grant amnesty to America's at least 11 million undocumented Democrats through general amnesty.

"Only about a third of the public (32%) approves of the job Obama is doing on immigration policy; 60% disapprove," Pew wrote. "Obama's ratings for this issue among Democrats are mixed: About half (53%) approve of his handling of the issue while 42% disapprove."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 11/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No shit.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 11/11/2013 0:27 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistani private schools ban Malala Yousafzai autobiography
[WORLDNEWS.NBCNEWS] Pak private schools have been barred from buying a book written by Malala Yousafzai, the 16-year-old activist who was shot in the head by Talibs last year for defying the Islamist myrmidon group and advocating for girls' right to an education.

"Yes we have banned Malala's book because it carries the content which is against our country's ideology and Islamic values," Kashif Mirza, chief of All Pakistain Private Schools Federation, told the Agence La Belle France-Presse news agency.

And Mirza told the News Agency that Dare Not be Named that Malala, who has received significant global media attention, had betrayed Pakistain.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 11/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Maldives Supreme Court suspends run-off vote
[Pak Daily Times] Presidential elections in the Maldives were thrown into disarray on Sunday after the Supreme Court suspended a run-off vote, denying former president Mohammed Nasheed the chance to return to power 21 months after he was ousted.

Despite growing international concerns over the Indian Ocean atoll nation's failure to elect a new president, it is the third time in two months that authorities have stepped in to prevent polls taking place, leaving the nation in political limbo.

Nasheed on Saturday garnered 46.93 percent of the popular vote but fell short of the 50 percent needed to win outright in the country best known as a honeymoon destination, with a run-off scheduled for the following day. The 46-year-old also came out on top on September 7 in elections that were subsequently annulled by the Supreme Court.

And police action prevented a second vote on October 19 following another court order that said procedures had not been followed, adding to suspicions among foreign governments that the authorities were determined to prevent Nasheed returning to power at any price.

"All relevant state authorities are informed that today's election cannot take place," the Supreme Court said in a pre-dawn decision that came just hours before the re-run was due to begin.

The man who came third in Saturday's vote, business tycoon Qasim Ibrahim, had asked the court for more time to tell his supporters which way to vote in a run-off pitting Nasheed against Abdulla Yameen, half brother of former autocrat Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

The court order came after Chief Elections Commissioner Fuwad Thowfeek announced he was going ahead with the vote timetable agreed with all the candidates before the first round.

The United States and the Commonwealth had both warned against delaying the run-off vote.

"It is now imperative that the second round take place immediately and in line with Elections Commission directions in order to ensure the Maldivian people are led by an elected president of their choice," US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
Posted by: Fred || 11/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Southeast Asia
Thai 'Red Shirts' rally ahead of key amnesty debate
[Al Ahram] Tens of thousands of Thai pro-government "Red Shirts" massed in Bangkok on Sunday, police said, in their first show of force since a wave of opposition protests against a controversial political amnesty bill.
Television footage showed a sea of people decked out in red, many bussed in from the country's hardscrabble northeast, at a noisy rally in a suburban park in support of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her ruling Puea Thai party.

About 45,000 Red Shirts joined the rally, a front man for the national police office said, adding 13,000 anti-government protesters held a separate demonstration elsewhere in the city a few kilometres from Government House.

The major mobilisation of Reds follows several days of protests by various opposition groups against a deeply divisive
...politicians call things divisive when when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive, they're principled...
amnesty bill backed by Yingluck's government, which has inflamed festering political wounds.

Thailand's Senate was due on Monday to debate the bill, which critics say has been crafted to pave the way for a return of the polarising ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who is Yingluck's brother.
Posted by: Fred || 11/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Video: TV skit mocking Nasrallah sparks protests in Lebanon
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah was the subject of mocking at a Lebanese television program this week, raising anger among his supporters who protested against the show.

His supporters erupted into the streets on Friday, burning tires and blocking roads in several parts of Leb.
"We will have Dire Revenge™!!"
It wasn't the first time Nasrallah was mocked in Basmat Watan, a slapstick program aired by LBC TV.

In 2006 Nasrallah's character appeared in the program and the result was a similar one; people protesting and burning tires in the streets.

This week's program poked jokes at Hezbollah's role in Syria, with Nasrallah's character lamenting what he said was a late intervention.

"Our weapons should have included planes and submarines," he said.

Charbel Khalil, the producer of the program, said on Twitter that mocking religious figures is an integral part of the program and no one should be bothered.

Those who support mocking Nasrallah say the Hezbollah leader is a political figure who should not be spared jokes.

Posted by: Fred || 11/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  I wonder if another compound has been overrun?
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/11/2013 0:30 Comments || Top||

#2  He looks sorta like a "bearded Wimpy" actually. Oh, and he wears a Turban and should never be photographed from behind when he is bending over, its not his best side.
Posted by: Spereting Tingle4064 || 11/11/2013 4:27 Comments || Top||

#3  If he gets real mad, would he come out of his bunker?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/11/2013 12:07 Comments || Top||

#4  "and submarines"

Imagine the impression that would have made in Aleppo...
Posted by: Pappy || 11/11/2013 12:45 Comments || Top||



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Wed 2013-11-06
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