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#Hamas rejects ‘conspiracies’ as #Trump unveils Mideast plan
Today's Headlines
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Page 3: Non-WoT
10 14:53 swksvolFF [9] 
3 13:03 Woodrow [10] 
2 16:11 Mullah Richard [5] 
3 07:12 Frank G [12] 
1 13:26 Woodrow [8] 
4 15:30 BA [2] 
3 07:54 Fat Bob Clith4208 [6] 
19 19:29 Gromoper Uleng6461 [2] 
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4 15:49 g(r)omgoru [4] 
3 13:12 Woodrow [1] 
8 14:53 Bright Pebbles [5] 
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Page 2: WoT Background
2 15:18 DarthVader [18]
6 14:36 Abu Uluque [5]
5 13:12 Besoeker [4]
1 09:39 Mercutio [9]
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Page 4: Opinion
5 16:30 Seeking Cure For Ignorance [6]
1 12:05 SteveS [11]
4 19:09 SteveS [10]
8 13:24 Woodrow [6]
13 22:39 charger [4]
3 16:36 g(r)omgoru [1]
Page 6: Politix
52 23:41 Varmint Splat1454 [7]
9 10:18 Chuckles Shang3240 [11]
9 09:49 Lex [3]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Jail Warden in charge of Epstein detention quietly given a top job at 'Club Fed' prison
Epstein didn't kill himself
[MAIL] It was unclear why the agency was planning to return Lamine N'Diaye to a position supervising inmates and staff members, even though multiple investigations into Epstein´s death remain active.

The inspector general's investigation is continuing, and the Justice Department is still probing the circumstances that led to Epstein´s death, including why he wasn´t given a cellmate.

Epstein died in August while awaiting trial on charges he sexually abused dozens of girls as young as 14 and young women in New York and Florida in the early 2000s.

Epstein's death cast a spotlight on the Bureau of Prisons and highlighted a series of safety lapses inside a high-security unit of one of the most secure jails in America.

His death was ruled a suicide by hanging by the New York City medical examiner, but his attorneys have contested that finding and argued he may have been killed.

Barr said even Epstein's ability to take his own life in federal custody had raised 'serious questions that must be answered.'

He said in an interview with the AP in November that the investigation revealed a 'series' of mistakes made that gave Epstein the chance to take his own life and that his death was the result of 'a perfect storm of screw-ups.'
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/30/2020 07:32 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  An African was running New York's top jail? No chance of corruption there. Nor much punishment, apparently.
Posted by: Huperesing Glains9539 || 01/30/2020 7:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Hell, they gave the CIA director a medal while he was the man in charge on 9/11. That'll work, reward failure, punish success (which btw, has been the govt's program for the War on Poverty for the last 50 years).
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/30/2020 8:01 Comments || Top||

#3  A reward for a job well done?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru PB || 01/30/2020 8:35 Comments || Top||

#4  Failing up. The federal model.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/30/2020 9:23 Comments || Top||

#5  Mathematically, 1/Peter Principle
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/30/2020 10:46 Comments || Top||

#6  Epstein didn't kill himself

Yeah, neither did Brietbart, but he's dead.
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/30/2020 12:16 Comments || Top||

#7  Failing up. The federal model.

Failing up or reward to a loyal soldier?
I really don't think incompetence is the explanation for all the 'events' in this case.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/30/2020 12:19 Comments || Top||

#8  Way to many officials being blackmailed. From the Clintons down. Nothing is ever going to come of this.

Now if the Don fires, jails POS FBI Wray after the election. Ah pipe dreams.
Posted by: Woodrow || 01/30/2020 12:54 Comments || Top||

#9  Failing up. The federal model.

More like being rewarded for his role in killing Epstein and his loyalty in keeping quiet.
Posted by: DarthVader || 01/30/2020 13:39 Comments || Top||

#10  So the only person who didn't fall up is Epstein?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/30/2020 14:53 Comments || Top||


-Obits-
New homeowner finds corpse of former resident in house
[NYPOST] Not all housewarming gifts are welcome. The happy buyer of a home in Maryland got more than they bargained for when they discovered the corpse of the previous owner still inside.The new owner bought the house, on Upland Avenue in District Heights, at a foreclosure auction but only last Saturday discovered the body of the 39-year-old woman who had called the property home. It’s unclear how long she had been dead, according to the local NBC affiliate.
Hmmm... Usually they pick up on things like that in the home inspection...
Posted by: Fred || 01/30/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Mort-gage? Mort corps!
Posted by: Lex || 01/30/2020 1:21 Comments || Top||

#2  foreclosure auction

Interesting that the state has engaged in selling that abjectly fails to meet existing laws and regulations of residential properties.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/30/2020 6:21 Comments || Top||

#3  How many homes do the Clinton's own?

Snicker off.
Posted by: Woodrow || 01/30/2020 13:12 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Matt Drudge "clear distancing" From Trump
[Washington Examiner] Matt Drudge, the founder of the Drudge Report, appeared to distance himself from President Trump and from his previous support for the current commander in chief.
Rantingly and Bongino Report FTW
Drudge, whose site rose to prominence during the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, was asked about the apparent shift his site took by Columbia Journalism Review's Bob Norman. The reporter visited Drudge's home in Florida so he could ask him about the current administration, but Drudge didn't answer when Norman knocked. He did answer his phone when Norman called him after leaving his property, according to a CJR article by Norman, which was published on Wednesday.
They talked briefly, and Norman said he told Drudge, 53, that he "was curious about his current thoughts on Trump."
"You and everybody else," Drudge answered, according to Norman, who then pointed out that he went "all in on Trump during the [2016] election."

"That was three years ago," the founder of the aggregate website responded. Norman noted that Drudge's "response seemed rather telling, a clear distancing from the president."

Trump has noticed Drudge's apparent shift, according to a report in the Daily Beast published last November. Trump asked, "What's going on with Drudge?" according to a person familiar with his private remarks. Trump also asked Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and a top administration official, to contact him to repair the relationship, but it's unclear if Kushner did.
Posted by: Goober Tingle7365 || 01/30/2020 06:51 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If any of these sites were truly objective and unbiased, you would not be able to tell what their owner's political outlook was. It's kinda sad. Whatever happened to the truth?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 01/30/2020 12:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Hearing that Mr. Matt 'monetized' his site and may no longer be in full control of it.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 01/30/2020 16:11 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
3 who have returned to Haneda from Wuhan on the first government charted flight have been confirmed with new #coronavirus
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/30/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/30/2020 4:46 Comments || Top||

#2  Keep them flights open to SanFran and LA. Homelessness may become a problem of the past. What? Weren't you for the great socialist mantra of 'open borders'?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/30/2020 6:49 Comments || Top||

#3  #2While you're about it, northern Virginia, Maryland, and the greater Richmond area have lots of potential.
Posted by: Fat Bob Clith4208 || 01/30/2020 7:54 Comments || Top||


#UAE confirms first #cases of new #Chinese #virus in Mideast
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/30/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Deaths rise to #132 in #China #outbreak as foreigners leave
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/30/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  170 as of 9pm est 29 Jan

this site
Posted by: lord garth || 01/30/2020 6:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Something like a 1% mortality rate? Bad enough but not a population-collapsing level. And I expect a lot of those 1% were people with other health issues. It is expected to be a pathogen that mutates easily, so who can tell where it goes.
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/30/2020 10:20 Comments || Top||

#3  I think more people have died watching Avatar; what am I missing?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/30/2020 14:57 Comments || Top||

#4  #3 You don't calculate mortality as dead/infected but as dead/(dead + recovered) - people in whom the disease haven't run it's course don't count.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/30/2020 15:49 Comments || Top||


Britain
From Nigel Farage's Twitter Account: Goodbye To All That
[Twitter] After 25 years of fighting for independence, this is my final contribution in the European Parliament.

We were told to leave with our British flags, and that's exactly what we did.
Note the desiccated schoolmarm scolding him near the end.

The perfect exemplar of our singularly lousy ruling class.





Posted by: charger || 01/30/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Winning. It feels good.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 01/30/2020 2:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Yes, mutti has to spin up that eurine army fast if she wants the EU to participate in the Endless War™
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/30/2020 5:09 Comments || Top||

#3  So long and thanks for all the fish.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/30/2020 6:23 Comments || Top||

#4  So long and no-thanks for thieving all the fish.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/30/2020 6:40 Comments || Top||

#5  It's a literary reference, BP.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/30/2020 6:47 Comments || Top||

#6  Oh I know that.

It's just the EUSSR RUINED the UK's fishing.

Look at the difference between Iceland's fisheries and the UK's
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/30/2020 6:52 Comments || Top||

#7  😢
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/30/2020 6:53 Comments || Top||

#8  I'm so glad he took his shots on the way out--that was beautiful!
Posted by: Crusader || 01/30/2020 10:23 Comments || Top||

#9  Farage had a good laugh at that poor schoolmarm's expense and she just didn't get it. He looked like a schoolboy when the last class of the school year is about to be dismissed and the teacher doesn't understand why he's so happy.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 01/30/2020 13:12 Comments || Top||

#10  Well he didn't say goodbye to his fat lifelong EU pension, did he?

178,657 Euro transition money
20 months full monthly remuneration of 8,932,86 per month
A pension (paid when he turns 53) of 6,253 Euro per month.
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/30/2020 13:26 Comments || Top||

#11  Correction: when he turns 63 (he's 55 now)
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/30/2020 13:28 Comments || Top||

#12  You assume the EU will still be there in 8 years
Posted by: Frank G || 01/30/2020 13:46 Comments || Top||

#13  LOL, Frank.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/30/2020 13:51 Comments || Top||

#14  I suspect that at some point in the separation those payments and pensions will be cut off for Brits, who won’t be there to vote against it — and if he is the least bit clever, so does former MEP Farage.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/30/2020 14:15 Comments || Top||

#15  EC showing that he and the EUSSR don't understand pensions.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/30/2020 14:52 Comments || Top||

#16  Well he didn't say goodbye to his fat lifelong EU pension, did he?


Good for him.

Or good on him, as the Brits would say.

He could donate the money to other EUxiteers in Europe for as a long as the money lasts.
Posted by: charger || 01/30/2020 16:30 Comments || Top||

#17  You assume the EU will still be there in 8 years

There may still be a hollowed out shell with its own secretariat full of cushy phony baloney jobs called the European Union.

You know, like NATO.

Or perhaps it will be reduced to the territory of its (more or less) Charlemagnic core, ie the European Coal and Steel Community of 1951.
Posted by: charger || 01/30/2020 16:37 Comments || Top||

#18  You assume the EU will still be there in 8 years

I take that bet
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/30/2020 17:30 Comments || Top||

#19  the twitter video is excellent. maybe DJT could do a sequel on Acquittal Day
Posted by: Gromoper Uleng6461 || 01/30/2020 19:29 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Compromised 5G: US Intelligence Presented Germany With Huawei Dossier
[Das Handelsblatt via Zero] Germany's leading business daily Handelsblatt dropped a Huawei bombshell Wednesday morning which resulted in an immediate vehement denial from the Chinese telecoms giant. "Huawei Technologies has never, and will never, do anything to compromise the security of networks and data of its customers," the Chinese company insisted in response.

The German newspaper claims to have seen a "smoking gun" classified document in possession of the Federal Foreign Office which definitively links Huawei's 5G efforts with Chinese state intelligence operations to compromise Europe's security. Specifically, the leaked foreign ministry internal document cites intelligence shared by US State Department intel officials which is represented as "smoking gun" proof that Huawei remains an unsafe partner for Berlin.

"At the end of 2019, intelligence was passed to us by the U.S., according to which Huawei is proven to have been cooperating with China’s security authorities," the leaked document says, according to Handelsblatt.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/30/2020 03:55 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under:

#1  UK decided to use Huawei gear. Buh bye, Five Eyes...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/30/2020 4:04 Comments || Top||


#3  Given how Brennan and Clapper used Brits for the ops against Trump, I think we should be doing some curtailing already - til they (and we) remove the conspiratorial bastards involved
Posted by: Frank G || 01/30/2020 7:12 Comments || Top||


Bethel University Working To Reduce Student Costs By Ditching Textbooks
[MINNESOTA.CBSLOCAL] A new initiative at Bethel Univesity is working to reduce student costs by ditching textbooks.

Funded by a two-year Strategic Growth Award grant from the Bethel University Foundation, the Zero Cost Course Resources Initiative eliminates expensive textbooks and replaces them with free online resources.

The school currently has a few programs that are completely zero cost and others that are reduced cost.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the cost of college textbooks increased by 88% from 2006 to 2016.

Bethel University estimates the initiative will save students approximately $1,300 per year in textbook costs.
Posted by: Fred || 01/30/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How about firing all the diversity and sexual allegations* administrators?

*Put a sign on their former offices door "If you're a victim of crime, go to the police."
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/30/2020 1:06 Comments || Top||

#2  all schools should get away from the text book scam.
Posted by: Chris || 01/30/2020 2:22 Comments || Top||

#3  Bethel University is a Christian university which does not push social justice agendas and does not want to burden students with high priced books that also promote social justice agendas and other ideas of the world like evolution and "save the world" environmentalism.
Posted by: boomerc || 01/30/2020 2:48 Comments || Top||

#4  Interesting how the text book scam has never been given attention by the Federal Trade Commission. Come on, math is math.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/30/2020 6:19 Comments || Top||

#5  Could put all the lectures online as well.

Just let people sit the exams for the basic cost of room and marking..
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/30/2020 6:45 Comments || Top||

#6  When I taught there in the 80's we got around the whole cost problem by simply sending the students to the library. The kids had the option of buying but I was amazed how many simply made time during their normal research trips.

Amazing students.
Posted by: Woodrow || 01/30/2020 13:09 Comments || Top||

#7  It's true textbooks are a scam, but their cost is just a drop in the ocean. Nor is it administrative bloat, though that's a big problem. The main issue is that Uncle Sam provides easy loans, so why shouldn't schools hike costs to the moon? For the schools, astronomic cost is a feature, not a bug. But like all bubbles, it will pop if left alone. Sadly, idiot Dems want to forgive college loans which will only raise costs more and pay off their apparatchiks in the academy. A pox on the lot of 'em.
Posted by: Spot || 01/30/2020 13:37 Comments || Top||

#8  >The main issue is that Uncle Sam provides easy loans,

100% true, but main is redundant. the loan subsidy makes the graft
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/30/2020 14:53 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Felon No Longer Deemed Threat Because Of Gender Change
[via Bongino]

The Iowa Attorney General’s Office is no longer seeking the commitment of a former Midwest Christian Services student convicted of myriad sex crimes because the individual now identifies as a woman.

Court records show the state dismissed the application on Jan. 9. Attorney general spokesman Lynn Hicks wouldn’t comment on the reason for the dismissal other than to say "an offender’s hormone levels are an important part of substantiating an offender’s likelihood of recidivism."

Well, if they cut everything off, that's a start....
Posted by: Mercutio || 01/30/2020 07:28 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, if they cut everything off, that's a start....

Has little to do with the predatory inclinations.
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/30/2020 12:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Call me after the SRS. InstaProf has a whole series of Teaching Women not to Rape.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/30/2020 12:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Democrat. What a surprise.
Posted by: Woodrow || 01/30/2020 13:03 Comments || Top||


Brooklyn woman arrested, charged with hate crime for slapping Jewish women
[Jpost] Harris has emerged as a flashpoint in the debate over a bail reform law that went into effect Jan. 1 in New York state

A Brooklyn woman who made headlines for slapping three Jewish women in December ‐ and then quickly being released from jail ‐ has been charged with federal hate crimes.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr announced the Justice Department’s decision to charge Tiffany Harris in a meeting Tuesday morning with Jewish leaders in Brooklyn at which he pledged "zero tolerance" for antisemitism.

"These are the kinds of cases that maybe in the past would have been treated locally, but I think it’s important for the federal government to plant its flag," Barr said at the meeting. "We will move aggressively when we see this kind of activity."

Harris has emerged as a flashpoint in the debate over a bail reform law that went into effect Jan. 1 in New York state. The law, which prohibits bail requirements for most nonviolent and minor offenses, was intended to ensure that defendants are not treated differently based on their financial means.

Harris’ arrests ‐ after her release, she was arrested again for assault ‐ took place before the law went into effect. Still, politicians who oppose the law have cited the 30-year-old woman in making the case that judges should have discretion to impose bail requirements.

"A bigger, stronger example should have been made of this violent antisemitic criminal, not the opposite," Lee Zeldin, a Republican Jewish congressman from Long Island, said earlier this month.

That appears to be happening with the federal charges, which come amid Barr’s "zero tolerance" pledge and as the New York Police Department seeks ways to circumvent the bail law.

"I am appalled that Tiffany Harris is being used as a scapegoat for the fear-mongering surrounding bail reform," Lisa Schreibersdorf, Harris’ lawyer, told the New York Daily News on Tuesday.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/30/2020 01:15 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This has to be an Onion story.

Just saying.
Posted by: Woodrow || 01/30/2020 13:26 Comments || Top||


Government
Trump signs the new USMCA North American trade pact with Canada and Mexico
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/30/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Winning. Never gets tiring.
Posted by: Woodrow || 01/30/2020 13:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Getting things accomplished while the House still can't find their own butts with both hands.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 01/30/2020 13:16 Comments || Top||

#3  Impeach him for it. He will use this success to get reelected. Just like Ukraine...
Posted by: 49 Pan || 01/30/2020 13:37 Comments || Top||

#4  Or, as AOC says, "Trump is only implementing his campaign promises to impact the 2020 election."
Posted by: BA || 01/30/2020 15:30 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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6Sublime Porte
4Palestinian Authority
2Hamas
2Moslem Colonists
1Islamic State
1TTP
1al-Nusra
1Arab Spring
1Govt of Iran
1Govt of Iran Proxies
1Govt of Pakistan

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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2020-01-30
  #Hamas rejects ‘conspiracies’ as #Trump unveils Mideast plan
Wed 2020-01-29
  Turkish tanks and troops have just arrived at the port of Tripoli. In violation of the arms embargo
Tue 2020-01-28
  Iran foreign minister calls Trump peace plan for Middle East 'delusional'
Mon 2020-01-27
  USAF E-11A down in Taliban area.
Sun 2020-01-26
  JeM’s Kashmir chief among 3 killed in Pulwama encounter: Army
Sat 2020-01-25
  AlSadr orders his followers to withdraw from #TahrirSquare and dismantle the tents
Fri 2020-01-24
  PLA mobilized to deal with Wuhan
Thu 2020-01-23
  UN calls for strengthening international support for the Palestinians
Wed 2020-01-22
  IRGC Commander & "Soleimani Ally" Shot Dead By Masked Assassins On Motorcycle
Tue 2020-01-21
  Several civilians killed by female suicide bomber in western Chad
Mon 2020-01-20
  Iraqi counter-terrorism forces arrest high-ranking ISIS official in Fallujah
Sun 2020-01-19
  Protesters burn the Hezbollah headquarters in Iraq
Sat 2020-01-18
  Taliban open to 10-day ceasefire with US troops in Afghanistan
Fri 2020-01-17
  Iraqi police arrest ISIS religious official in eastern Mosul
Thu 2020-01-16
  Five killed as Sudan crushes revolt by security agents


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