[Wash Times] The Justice Department is taking a Pennsylvania town to court over a municipal board’s denial of a zoning application for a mosque, accusing officials of discriminating against a local Muslim organization on the basis of religion.
The Bensalem Township violated the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act when its zoning board in 2014 rejected a zoning request that would have allowed the Bensalem Masjid to build a mosque in the town, Justice Department attorneys wrote in a complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
"Our Constitution protects the rights of religious communities to build places of worship free from unlawful interference and unnecessary barriers," said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. "The Department of Justice will continue to challenge unjustified local zoning actions around the country when they encroach upon this important civil right."
Members of the local Muslim community sought to build a mosque after years of renting a local fire hall for worship services. In 2012, the Bensalem Masjid organization met with elected officials to discuss options for building a 17,000-square-foot mosque on land adjacent to the township.
But as plans moved forward and the group attended a series of meetings before the Bensalem Township Zoning Hearing Board, the complaint alleges that Bensalem Masjid was treated differently than other religious and non-religious groups that had sought similar zoning variances. The board, which ultimately rejected the application in a 4-0 vote, treated other groups "more favorably than it treated the Bensalem’s Masjid’s application throughout the variance process."
[CBS] CHICAGO -- A Chicago police officer was wounded Thursday evening during a gun battle with a suspect in the South Loop, officials said, CBS Chicago reported.
The incident occurred around 8 p.m. at 18th and Calumet
The officer who was shot was on bicycle patrol with a partner when a citizen told them a man was behaving "erratically" at Fort Dearborn Park, Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson told reporters.
The officers approached a man who was talking on a cell phone and asked him to hang up so they could interview him. The man pulled a gun out of a backpack and began firing at the officers, striking one in the thigh, Johnson said.
[WASHINGTONTIMES] Gavin Eugene Long shot six coppers, killing three and wounding the others in an attack Sunday in Baton Rouge. He was killed by a police sniper.
According to a report by the Symbol Intelligence Group, a private intelligence contractor, Long was a "textbook spiritual seeker" who had joined several anti-government groups, including the Washitaw Nation, New Freedom Group, National of Islam, and Freedom from Covert Harassment and Surveillance.
Last year, Long changed his name to Cosmo Ausar Setepenra
...sounds like the name of a person tripping over the hem of his white muslin gown as he attempted to dance with the fairies in the moonlight...
and declared himself to be a Moor, part of the so-called Moorish Nation movement of African-Americans who regard themselves as descendants of Moors from Northwest Africa.
The name change symbolized giving up his "slave name" and taking an original Moorish name.
"Long’s new name has origins in ancient Egypt, which is consistent with Washitaw National beliefs that combine sovereign citizen ideas with Pan-African and Egyptian ideologies," the report said.
Ahistoric, romanticised, vicious nonsense.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
It's sounding more and more like deja vu with each passing day. Welcome to the Sixties!
Posted by: Dave D. ||
07/22/2016 6:55 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Not one part of that joke name is Egyptian. And I'm pretty sure "Cosmo" is a Greek word.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
07/22/2016 7:40 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Has anyone pointed out to these denizens of pond scum that northwest Africa is still there and they can go home to Moor land whenever they want?
[Times Live] "We shot ourselves in the foot by toppling the apartheid government‚" residents of an Eastern Cape village said on Thursday.
Tsholomnqa villagers had been waiting for a tarred road and decent houses for decades‚ said community leader‚ Wele Ntshongola.
Premier Willies Mchunu announces a commission of inquiry will probe KwaZulu-Natal political killings #Election2016
He said the dawn of democracy had marked the beginning of the collapse of quality service delivery for the Eastern Cape rural area which is situated on the R72 outside East London.
Anna Madonsela is stabbed to death while putting up an election poster in KwaZulu-Natal:
"This village was in a good state under the Ciskei homeland led by LL Sebe. We used to have a tarred road... with workers who used to maintain it as well as free seed‚ crops and livestock." He said they celebrated when democracy dawned. "Little did we know that democracy would bring more oppression.
#1
"One total economic and military boycott of South Africa."
Same old Syrian, Libyan, Iraqi globalist regime changers at work yet today. Mucking around in the business of other people. Attempting to pick 'winners and losers' whilst lining their pockets in the process.
#4
Ditto P2k, and not to be confused with the enablers of fairness, equal opportunity, Global Warming, gender equality, white privilege, Wymn's Choice, Gay Rights, BLM, or Free Trade.
#2
Beating a long dead horse, but may I suggest we pause for a moment and remember how he got there, and the brave men whom, at all odds, attempted to prevent it.
McDonald’s Corp.’s largest franchisee has had to stop selling the Big Mac in Venezuela as it can’t source the bread it needs to make the famous sandwich.
Buenos Aires-based Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc., which operates more than 2,000 McDonald’s restaurants throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, said on Thursday that the problem was temporary and that other menu options were available.
Gabriel Perales arrived in Caracas looking for a Big Mac because the McDonald’s in his town of Zaraza in Guarico state is always closed.
“This is wrong, like everything in Venezuela, because of shortages,” Perales, 36, said at the McDonald’s in the Ciudad Tamanaco shopping mall. “I just found out there are no Big Macs. They gave me the other burger. Now McDonald’s has problems with flour shortages. Who would have thought?”
Agence France-Presse first reported the sales suspension on July 20.
[UPI] WASHINGTON, July 21 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army delivered AN-TPQ-36 Firefinder radar systems to the Ukrainian military, the service's Security Assistance Command said Wednesday.
The delivery took place July 2, the Army said in a statement.
The Q-36 radar, with its early detection capability, will help defend against rocket, mortar and artillery attacks, "a constant and lethal threat to military personnel and civilian populations in eastern Ukraine," the Army said.
The delivery was part of the Fiscal 2016 Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, part of a larger package that includes communication and medical equipment, night vision devices, personal protection equipment and military training, a program that totals more than $200 million.
#1
Classic obama shit move. We will be spending the next 50 years repairing the damage this walking turd has done to our country.
Q-36 is an old, not-quite-obsolete short range counter mortar radar from the 1980's. The Soviets russians know it well, and can easily jam it or simply out range it. Most of the arty the russians are using is much longer range & higher velocity than the Q-36 can easily track.
On top of those limitations, there are several additional pieces of equipment required to make a truly effective counter battery system. I strongly doubt that any of that gear was handed over with it.
#5
AN-TPQ-36 is adequate. The main threats are smaller caliber cannon, mortars, SPG-9 and RPGs. Guns and rockets 100mm and up were withdrawn from the front lines in 2015 and there have been attempts to withdraw guns under 100mm.
I'd like to know if any attempt been made to link the AN-TPQ-36 to Ukrainian guns for rapid counter battery fire.
[LI] Yesterday I asked the question, in light of the academic purge in Turkey, Will anti-Israel academic boycotters now also boycott Turkish universities?
As noted in that post, over 250 university presidents and major university associations have condemned the academic boycott of Israel. In particular, the December 2013 adoption of the academic boycott of Israel by the American Studies Association was condemned as violation of academic freedom.
Read the dozens and dozens of statements describing how the ASA has violated academic freedom here.
The American Association of University Professors, which has acted at the unofficial authority on academic freedom since the early 1900s, came out against the ASA’s academic boycott of Israel because it views any systematic academic boycott as destructive:
The Association recognizes the right of individual faculty members or groups of academics not to cooperate with other individual faculty members or academic institutions with whom or with which they disagree. We believe, however, that when such noncooperation takes the form of a systematic academic boycott, it threatens the principles of free expression and communication on which we collectively depend....
We understand that threats to or infringements of academic freedom may occasionally seem so dire as to require compromising basic precepts of academic freedom, but we resist the argument that extraordinary circumstances should be the basis for limiting our fundamental commitment to the free exchange of ideas and their free expression.
The ASA was unmoved. To the contrary, it doubled down on the academic boycott of Israel by threatening to bar representatives of Israeli academic institutions from attending its 2014 annual meeting in California. Only after threat of legal action under California’s anti-discrimination laws did ASA relent, and announced that even Bibi Netanyahu was welcome.
#1
hypocrisy: noun, plural hypocrisies.
1. a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.
2. a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude.
[Hurriyet] Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev signed a verdict on July 20 to approve the protocol that the Turkish military has been allocated to manage buildings and structures in the country's military town.
The protocol says Azerbaijan government has allocated buildings and structures in Gizil Sherg military town, and one terminal building located in the airfield in Haji Zeynalabdin Tagiyev settlement for the use of the Turkish Armed Forces.
Azerbaijani and Turkish governments signed the relevant protocol on July 3, 2016.
[DAWN] A two-member Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) fact-finding mission on Wednesday blamed flawed investigation for the rise in ’honour’ killings and other crimes against women.
"Flawed investigations encourage crimes against women and this is one of the reasons that honour killings are on the rise; where the accused finds much sympathy amongst those involved in the criminal justice system at the subordinate judiciary," deplored the mission, consisting of two former SCBA presidents, Asma Jahangir and Kamran Murtaza.
SCBA President Barrister Ali Zafar constituted the mission soon after the death of 19-year-old schoolteacher Maria Sadaqat from Murree, who died from burn injuries at the Pakistain Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad on June 1 for allegedly refusing a marriage proposal.
The mission was set up to assess whether an independent and neutral investigation was being conducted into the crime or not. This step was taken in the backdrop of media reports that indicated a rise in the number of crimes against women, particularly killings in the name of ’honour’.
The mission was also supposed to form an opinion over whether the killing of a woman follows a pattern where the victim’s character is vilified, the family is put under pressure and the investigation suffers because of external influences.
Police investigations, however, concluded that Maria’s death was a case of suicide and not murder, and later declared the main accused innocent, after which he was also granted bail.
On Wednesday, Ali Zafar, Asma Jahangir and Kamran Murtaza brushed aside police reports that claimed the victim had did away with himself, saying she was murdered since her entire body, except her hands, feet and face, were burnt.
Speaking to news hounds outside the Supreme Court building, the mission, which visited UC Dewal in Murree, they said they met local government chairman Ejaz Abbasi, who was also the victim’s neighbour. Mr Abbasi explained that the first part of the human body to be burnt in a self-immolation attempt would be the hands. The victim’s statement that she had been held to the ground by four men seemed to be the explanation for her hands, feet and face being saved from burning.
In the 40 hours that the victim was alive, she consistently accused Master Shaukat and his accomplices of setting her on fire, the mission noted.
"We have recommended that the SCBA president nominate a competent trial lawyer to follow the case on behalf of the victim’s family and that the case should be pursued to the end," Ms Jahangir maintained.
The mission noted that the pattern of suicides committed by women was completely different; nobody would burn themselves to death, adding that there were easier ways to commit suicide.
They were also dismayed by the deep division in society: though the women are in full sympathy with the victims, the men are either justifying the crime or denying it totally, Ms Jahangir deplored, adding there was a concerted effort to paint the incident as a suicide rather than a murder.
The mission noted a character liquidation campaign against the victim and her family, saying there were credible reports that the family was being threatened and induced to accept a reward for their silence.
The team also expressed disappointment over the role of the doctors who did not discharge their duty in taking down the victim’s statement and gave no statement to the police corroborating her claim, Ms Jahangir added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[DAWN] The Senate was provided on Wednesday details of commercial entities being run by various wings of the armed forces in the country.
In a written reply to a question asked by Senator Farhatullah Babar of the Pakistain Peoples Party, Defence Minister Khwaja Asif informed the house that there were nearly 50 "projects, units and housing colonies" functioning in the country under the administrative control of Fauji Foundation, Shaheen Foundation, Bahria Foundation, Army Welfare Trust (AWT) and Defence Housing Authorities (DHAs).
According to the details provided in the reply, eight DHAs were established in major cities. These DHAs -- mostly created through ordinances -- are in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , Lahore, Rawalpindi-Islamabad, Multan, Gujranwala, Bahawalpur, Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. and Quetta.
Besides, there are 16 "projects/units" functioning under the AWT, 15 under the Fauji Foundation and 11 under the Shaheen Foundation.
The house was informed that Bahria Foundation was not administrating any housing colony in Pakistain, "however, an offshore tolling type LNG project is under its consideration".
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
50? Ha!
Been to a gas station or a dry cleaners lately?
Cash washing businesses.
[DAWN] A committee comprising politicians from both the lower and upper houses of the parliament unanimously approved two bills on Thursday aimed at tackling honour killings and boosting rape convictions -- meaning they could be voted on within weeks.
Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid announced that the bills would soon be voted on by the parliament, days after social media star Qandeel Baloch was murdered by her brother.
Rights groups and politicians have for years called for tougher laws to tackle perpetrators of violence against women in Pakistain and the move follows a slew of high-profile killings in the country.
The perpetrators of honour killings ‐ in which the victim, normally a woman, is killed by a relative ‐ often walk free because they can seek forgiveness for the crime from another family member.
Rape conviction rates meanwhile are close to zero percent, largely due to the law's reliance on circumstantial evidence and a lack of forensic testing.
Hamid, who chaired the committee, said: "We have plugged all loopholes in the anti-honour killing legislation, which will be put up for approval at a joint sitting of parliament soon."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
We have plugged all loopholes in the anti-honour killing legislation
We'll see about that. I suspect the law will be largely ignored and that there will be nothing penalizing this.
[BusinessInsider] The US Navy just named the first carrier-based Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) the MQ-25A Stingray.
The Navy has been pursuing a carrier-based drone since 2006 -- first as a long-range stealthy bomber, then as a surveillance and strike craft, and finally as a flying tanker. Though air-to-air refueling is hardly a breakthrough, having a carrier-based tanker provides the Navy with a possible solution to one of their most pressing problems -- anti-access area denial (A2AD).
Both China and Russia have developed ranged platforms capable of locking US forces out of key locations in their respective areas, but the Stingray could increase the range of US carrier-based aircraft indefinitely, allowing them to burst enemy A2AD bubbles.
For instance, China's famous DF-21D "carrier killer" ballistic missile has a range of about 810 miles. The US's longest-range carrier-based aircraft only have a range of about 550 miles, which forces the US to either operate carrier-based aircraft outside of their effective range or risk bringing an entire carrier, with 6,000 sailors and about 70 aircraft, within range of the DF-21D.
The Stingray, once integrated into carrier fleets, will extend the range of US carrier's existing F-18s, allowing them to effectively operate from a safe distance.
Once fielded, the Navy will look to increase the role of the Stingray.
#5
Could have saved a double-armed buttload of money and just hung Buddy Stores on the (antiquated) Intruders as dedicated tankers. birds had just got new plastic wings and now they sit in Davis-Mothan....KA-6Ds and A-6Es co-existed for years on the flight decks until the damn Light Attack Mafia started to diversify....
#8
How much different is it between the deploymeny or basing of BMD/BMAADS-capable "Super-AEGIS" surface warfare vessels in Japan, wid China fitting out large ocean carriers wid DF-21/26 VLMS
What was the difference between a PERSHING INF capable of striking Moscow as easily as striking a Soviet tank division(s) attacking the Fulda Gap???
Submarines are "revenge" weapons, i.e. "third strike" + higher, NUCLEAR OR NON-NUCLEAR ARSENAL/FIRESHIPS are meant to confront the enemy from hour one of day one, i.e. "second strike" or lower.
Why should the US put ALCMS on 747's but China can't put anti-CVN ASCMS on same???
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.
"One total economic and military boycott of South Africa."
Ditto P2k, and not to be confused with the enablers of fairness, equal opportunity, Global Warming, gender equality, white privilege, Wymn's Choice, Gay Rights, BLM, or Free Trade. 
Sorry, I left off one key enabler. 
Beating a long dead horse, but may I suggest we pause for a moment and remember how he got there, and the brave men whom, at all odds, attempted to prevent it.
[DAWN] The Senate was provided on Wednesday details of commercial entities being run by various wings of the armed forces in the country.
