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US drone strike kills 21 in north Wazoo
Today's Headlines
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 2: WoT Background
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4 00:00 g(r)omgoru [8]
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Page 6: Politix
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
2nd Chinese Aircraft Carrier-Hotel Kiev Has World Class Kitsch Interior Design
Posted by: Anonymoose || 08/11/2011 12:31 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Plush.

How long would it take the PLA-Navy to refurb the Kiev into a working carrier? You know, if they wanted to.
Posted by: Steve White || 08/11/2011 13:23 Comments || Top||

#2  God help us! It looks like the Gobbler gone to sea.
Posted by: S || 08/11/2011 13:28 Comments || Top||

#3  The Gobbler was tacky as h*ll. Food was really good years ago (if you could stand the surrounding colors), but got worse as the facility deteriorated. I believe the bar (a weird treat in itself) lasted sometime after the restaurant shut down and long after the guest rooms were uninhabitable. It IS Wisconsin, don't you see, and some things are more important than others.

Mr. Lileks does have a nice collection of early and later photos. Brought back a memory or two.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 08/11/2011 14:00 Comments || Top||

#4  Still a piece of junk.
I will be impressed when they introduce the gamma goat.
Posted by: newc || 08/11/2011 14:16 Comments || Top||

#5  Mullah I'm old and I'm from Florida. Tacky as hell is my home. I would pay serious money to stay in the Gobbler if it was still around.
Posted by: S || 08/11/2011 14:30 Comments || Top||

#6  At least as long as it took for the most equal politicians to evacuate their mistresses.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 08/11/2011 16:08 Comments || Top||

#7  Looks like it's intended more as a final retreat for the chased-out-of-power thugs than as a military vessel.

Posted by: Rob Crawford || 08/11/2011 17:17 Comments || Top||

#8  O. My. Gawd.

Those rooms give a whole new meaning to the words "tacky-ass, low-class, and trashy."

Yeesh.
Posted by: Barbara || 08/11/2011 19:16 Comments || Top||

#9  In your heart your always wanted to know what happened the the losers on HGTV's Design Star. You now have your answer.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/11/2011 19:29 Comments || Top||

#10  ....Why is it that in my mind's eye I see the name 'Zap Brannigan' on the cabin door?...

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 08/11/2011 21:31 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
11 pro-BNP lawyers denied bail
[Bangla Daily Star] The High Court yesterday turned down bail pleas of 11 pro-BNP lawyers accused of assaulting police personnel and preventing them from carrying out their duties on the Supreme Court premises.

Twelve lawyers filed two separate petitions on August 3 and 7 in connection with two criminal cases. However,
Denver is the capital of Colorado...
ABM Waliur Rahman Khan, voluntarily withdrew his name from the list of petitioners earlier yesterday.

The HC bench comprising Justice Mohammad Anwarul Haque and Justice AKM Zahirul Hoque summarily rejected their bail petitions in the afternoon as the accused lawyers did not appear before the court.

"The accused cannot shift the bail petitions to another High Court bench," Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told The Daily Star yesterday adding, "There is no legal bar on arresting the 11 accused now."

However,
some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves...
Bodruddoza Badal, counsel for the accused lawyers, said the HC bench rejected the petition considering it as not placed before the bench.

"It was done in this manner so that my clients could move their petitions to another HC bench as we apprehended that this bench would not grant them anticipatory bail," he added.

Shahbagh police filed two cases against the accused lawyers on charges of assaulting police and preventing them from carrying out their duties on August 2 and 4 on the SC premises.

The accused are Mohammad Ali, Golam Mohammad Chowdhury Alal, Gazi Kamrul Islam Sajal, Shahiduzzaman, Mirza Al Mahmud, Sharif Uddin Ahmed, Abdullah Al Mahmud, MU Ahmed, Ashrafuzzaman Khan, Golam Nobi, and Mahmudul Islam Swapan.
Posted by: Fred || 08/11/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
Postman, School Teacher, 11-Year-Old Boy Among Looters Sent To Jail
Posted by: Griting Smith6978 || 08/11/2011 14:50 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Thus is the "everybody was doing it" defense established...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/11/2011 18:15 Comments || Top||

#2  by British standards they will do what a total of 48 hours in jail? Or what they call jail. I have done more for an open container charge
Posted by: chris || 08/11/2011 21:11 Comments || Top||


London Street Battles (Recent Videos)
Posted by: Griting Smith6978 || 08/11/2011 03:22 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Punks!
Posted by: Tyranysaurus Glaitle7046 || 08/11/2011 8:32 Comments || Top||

#2  British Degeneracy on Parade, can we be far behind?

At the same time, his expensive education will have equipped him for nothing. His labor, even supposing that he were inclined to work, would not be worth its cost to any employer—partly because of the social charges necessary to keep others such as he in a state of permanent idleness, and partly because of his own characteristics. And so unskilled labor is performed in England by foreigners, while an indigenous class of permanently unemployed is subsidized.

The culture of the person in this situation is not such as to elevate his behavior. One in which the late Amy Winehouse—the vulgar, semicriminal drug addict and alcoholic singer of songs whose lyrics effectively celebrated the most degenerate kind of life imaginable—could be raised to the status of heroine is not one that is likely to protect against bad behavior.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 08/11/2011 10:53 Comments || Top||

#3  When you invite Papio Hamadryas to the table and he pissed in the tea pot, who is to blame?
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/11/2011 11:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Had to google Papio Hamadryas. He comes off looking like a noble creature compared to the rioters.

Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 08/11/2011 11:29 Comments || Top||

#5  Any video of not yuppy white kid in sweat pants sectors? To be fair on critique, the police need some line discipline and some good chants with buckler thumps. Honestly I've seen worse on a Friday night in Albequerque (not overall, just this video footage).
Posted by: swksvolFF || 08/11/2011 12:00 Comments || Top||

#6  I sort of feel like I am watching the halfway point of "A Clockwork Orange"- a movie Kubrick despised having made...
Posted by: Capsu78 || 08/11/2011 18:31 Comments || Top||

#7  Did he do, Capsu78? Why is that?
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/11/2011 18:53 Comments || Top||

#8  As a former protester type I have this to day: the London police have no idea what they're doing. First, those riot shields are a joke compared to the full-body shields the SFPD Riot Squads use. Second, their tactics suck. They should be forming slow moving lines of two -- one for clubbing, the second for cuffing - with paddy wagons following slowly behind.

You get two three of these lines moving up different streets, forcing the bulk of the rioters in a particular direction -- usually a dead-end street -- where you've got a third waiting for them. Then it's beatings for everyone!

Mobs are dumb. Your tactics don't have to exactly be Alexander The Great level stuff.
Posted by: Secret Master || 08/11/2011 19:06 Comments || Top||

#9  Second, their tactics suck.

Such things atrophy when your cops sit and watch CCTV feeds.
Posted by: Pappy || 08/11/2011 21:38 Comments || Top||


Economy
Trade Deficit of U.S. Unexpectedly Widens
h/t Instapundit
The U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly increased in June to the highest level since October 2008 as a slump in exports exceeded a decline in shipments from overseas.
The gap widened 4.4 percent to $53.1 billion from $50.8 billion in the prior month, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The deficit exceeded all estimates in a Bloomberg News survey of economists in which the median was $48 billion. Exports declined the most since January 2009.
Unexpectedly
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/11/2011 17:19 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Gee... who would have thunk it?
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/11/2011 17:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Me for one.

A declining USD should increase exports.

This is pointing to a global recession.
Posted by: phil_b || 08/11/2011 17:36 Comments || Top||

#3  A declining USD should increase exports.

Not if U.S. businesses have elected to maintain a holding pattern.
Posted by: Pappy || 08/11/2011 18:01 Comments || Top||

#4  Unexpectedly, you say?
Posted by: Bobby || 08/11/2011 19:38 Comments || Top||


Europe
France can't afford to bail out poorer EU states
[Emirates 24/7] The Fitch ratings agency on Wednesday confirmed that La Belle France was retaining its top triple-A credit rating amid rumours that it would lose the prized status.

La Belle France earlier in the day "categorically" denied rumours it was heading for a downgrade of its AAA credit rating after the United States was stripped of its top rating by Standard & Poor's last week. French President Nicolas Sarkozy
...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit...
cut short his vacation and promised to pare down huge debts to try to allay rising concerns that La Belle France could be the next triple A-rated economy to suffer a ratings downgrade following the United States.

Some analysts have warned that La Belle France -- the world's fifth-biggest economy and a driver of the eurozone -- can't afford to keep bailing out poorer European states, especially at a time when its own growth rates are moderating.

Sarkozy, who along with other European leaders has come under criticism for staying on holiday as the markets were gripped by fear, cut short his vacation on the French Riviera with his pregnant wife to summon key government ministers for an emergency meeting on the financial crisis.

No new measures were announced, but Sarkozy insisted that "commitments to reducing the deficit are inviolable and will be maintained."

Worries over the debt problems afflicting a number of European countries as well as the U.S. have knocked confidence in the global economic recovery and triggered turmoil in financial markets around the world.

Sarkozy said he's asked Finance Minister Francois Baroin to prepare a list of measures to guarantee the government attains its deficit-reduction targets. Sarkozy will take a decision on which measures to implement at an Aug. 24 meeting with Prime Minister Francois Fillon, Baroin and Budget Minister Valerie Pecresse. He also reiterated his call for a constitutional change requiring balanced budgets.

La Belle France has for years failed to deliver on its deficit reduction promises

It is now aiming for a deficit of 5.7 per cent of national income this year from 7.1 per cent in 2010, and 4.6 per cent next year. It's targeting a deficit of 3 per cent of gross domestic product in 2013, a target that has been delayed multiple times, which Sarkozy has blamed on the global financial crisis.

"We will take the necessary measures to reach these goals," finance chief Baroin said, without elaborating.

Baroin suggested earlier this week that Europe could boost the size of the eurozone bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility. But Germany, the region's strongest economy, has been reluctant to do more to support debt-ridden neighbors.

After ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgraded U.S. debt last week, worries surfaced that La Belle France could be next to lose the coveted and rare AAA rating, if it continues to contribute to further bailouts of eurozone countries.

Presidential elections scheduled for the spring of 2012 also mean it is unlikely the government will implement further austerity measures at a time when the economy is already slowing.

One indicator of this possible concern has been the recent rise in the spread between German and French yields to 15-year highs. Sarkozy's comments Wednesday appeared to only have a negligible affect on the spread.

"With yields now above those of the Netherlands, Finland and Austria, La Belle France seems in danger of slipping out of the core to become more closely associated with the eurozone's periphery," said Jennifer McKeown, senior European economist at Capital Economics.

While La Belle France's growth prospects are considerably better than the likes of Italia and Spain, no other eurozone economy with a triple-A rating has a higher debt than La Belle France's, which stands at around 85 per cent of national income.

In June, the S&P ratings agency warned that should La Belle France fail to carry out planned reforms and reduce the deficit, its rating could come under threat.

"If the French authorities do not follow through with their reform of the pension system, make additional changes to the social security system, and consolidate the current budgetary position in the face of rising spending pressure on health care and pensions, Standard & Poor's will unlikely maintain its 'AAA' rating on the French sovereign," S&P said in the June 9 report.

Concerns have also surfaced about French growth. Earlier this week, the French central bank said that La Belle France will likely grow only 0.2 per cent in the third quarter, while the bank's monthly industrial survey showed both corporate order books and factory utilization rates falling for the second month in a row in July.

Pressures have been mounting on Germany, starting to feel the pain of a slowing European and global economy as German companies see waning demand for their exports.

After Sarkozy's surprise appearance in Gay Paree in the midst of the sacrosanct August vacation season, officials in Berlin made clear Wednesday that Chancellor Angela Merkel
...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as Mom...
is sticking to her plans to stay on holiday and return to the office next week.
Posted by: Fred || 08/11/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/11/2011 1:58 Comments || Top||

#2  "France can't afford to bail out poorer EU states"

You're just now noticing?

Guess what - we can't either.
Posted by: Barbara || 08/11/2011 14:05 Comments || Top||

#3  The Chinese lecture us but this just in"GaveKal-Dragonomics estimates that China’s real debt-to-GDP ratio could be as high as 90 percent." Some say 70-80%. Playing with numbers. I can hear them now Who let the dogs out woof woof.
Posted by: Dale || 08/11/2011 22:15 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Latma on "economic" protests
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/11/2011 02:01 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Science & Technology
U.S. hypersonic glider launched, contact lost
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency says contact with its experimental hypersonic glider was lost after launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the central California coast.

The agency says in Twitter postings that its unmanned Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2 was launched Thursday atop a rocket, successfully separated from the booster and entered the mission's glide phase.

The agency says telemetry was subsequently lost, but released no details.
Posted by: Beavis || 08/11/2011 12:43 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Not lost, found. Prepare for combat with the Martian CIA.
Posted by: S || 08/11/2011 13:51 Comments || Top||

#2  13,000mph through the atmosphere!!!

that's called 'gliding'?



Posted by: Lord Garth || 08/11/2011 14:24 Comments || Top||

#3  "U.S. hypersonic glider launched, contact lost"


Yeah, right, i do not believe this for one second.
Posted by: chinditz || 08/11/2011 15:41 Comments || Top||

#4  And: technically it's gliding (but only technically)
Posted by: chinditz || 08/11/2011 15:42 Comments || Top||

#5  Don't suppose it accidentally hit an ISI station.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 08/11/2011 16:04 Comments || Top||

#6  Lost, or so successful that they can't tell us? Cause if it's lost somebody is about to lose their fingers...
Posted by: Charles || 08/11/2011 16:08 Comments || Top||

#7  Pretty cool.

Too bad it didn't work out.
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/11/2011 16:28 Comments || Top||

#8  so a radio failed and the lack of 'contact' only proves the stealth qualities. doubt it was 'lost.'
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 08/11/2011 22:29 Comments || Top||

#9  Not sure iff it was the now-lost FALCON HSV but I did observe intermittent, seemingly concise or strong lineal streaks of light oer LATE NIGHT GUAM-WESTPAC, which I don't believe to be au natural or Space Rocks, + despite on-going local inclement weather.

IFF IT WAS THE FALCON, THEN FOR SOME REASON IT TOOK DIVERSIONARY = DIRECTIONAL FLIGHT PATHS/VCTORS NOT DESCRIBED ON THE MSM-NET NEWS.

BEST ANALOGY = AN OFF-COURSE "LOST BIRD/PLANE" FLYING HIGH EVERYWHERE + NOWHERE, LOOKING FOR A PLACE TO LAND OR CRASH.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 08/11/2011 23:24 Comments || Top||

#10  Iff by "Gliding", USDOD-DARPA + NASA mean SUPERMAN-STYLE, AS FAST IFF NOT "FASTER THAN A SPEEDING BULLET", then yes.

Fantastic speed = GREAT ENGINE, but wid FTLG-YOU-BETCHA-ITS-LOUSY/DEFECTIVE DIRECTION FINDER???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 08/11/2011 23:30 Comments || Top||

#11  doubt it was 'lost.'

Does make you wonder! Hey, wasn't this a James Bond movie or something - super-secret flying thingie gets snatched by arch-criminal on its maiden voyage?
Posted by: SteveS || 08/11/2011 23:52 Comments || Top||


The Hacker App
Posted by: charger || 08/11/2011 11:12 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:



Who's in the News
45[untagged]
3Govt of Syria
2al-Shabaab
2Govt of Pakistan
2Hezbollah
1al-Qaeda in Arabia
1TTP
1PFLP-GC
1Govt of Iran
1Taliban

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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.

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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2011-08-11
  US drone strike kills 21 in north Wazoo
Wed 2011-08-10
  Yemeni president 'to return home'
Tue 2011-08-09
  London set for third night of riots
Mon 2011-08-08
  215 Arrested in London Riots
Sun 2011-08-07
  Yemen president leaves hospital but to stay in Saudi
Sat 2011-08-06
  38 dead as NATO helicopter crashes in Afghanistan
Fri 2011-08-05
  Turkey Seizes Iranian Arms Smuggled to Syria, Hizbullah
Thu 2011-08-04
  Libya Shoots Missile At Italian Warship. Misses.
Wed 2011-08-03
  US Drones Kill 15 in Yemen's Abyan Province
Tue 2011-08-02
  Israeli, Lebanese Troops Exchange Fire in Wazzani Area
Mon 2011-08-01
  Activists: Army Kills At Least 145 across Syria, Among Them 113 in Hama
Sun 2011-07-31
  Syrian Generals Desert, Start Neue Armie
Sat 2011-07-30
  'US, Israeli mercenaries' blow up Iran-Turkey gas line
Fri 2011-07-29
  Libyan rebels' military commander arrested whacked by own comrades
Thu 2011-07-28
  AWOL c.o. Soldier Arrested In Killeen Over Ft. Hood Atk Concerns


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