Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2023 ||
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#1
The statuesque Madeleine Carroll
Required custom-narrowed apparel.
A towering eyeful,
She died in her rifle
On betting she'd fit through its barrel.
IRAN CONTINUES TO RAISE STAKES OVER WATER RIGHTS – Iranian leaders have proposed non-diplomatic options to effectively ‘punish’ the Taliban regime for violations it sees in the Helmand Treaty. Iran is planning to send a survey team to Afghanistan to check on water levels in reservoirs that feed the Helmand River. However, the Iranian regime has publicly criticized Taliban claims that it was living up to its commitments under the treaty and have referenced satellite imagery that suggests Afghanistan has been impeding the flow of water and impinged on Iran’s rights. One of the newly proposed measures that was raised in the Iranian Parliament would be the forced closure of the Taliban’s embassy in Tehran. Other commercial penalties are also being considered. Relations between the two countries have always been difficult but the rhetoric coming out of Tehran has changed in recent months with Iranian officials taking a harder line with Kabul/Kandahar. The water issue is particularly dangerous because the drought-affected regions in Iran constitute a domestic issue that Ministers and elected officials have to deal with from Iranian citizens.
TALIBAN LOOKING FOR SECRET MEETINGS OF WOMEN GROUPS IN THE COUNTRY – Another letter purportedly from the Ministry of the Interior, is circulating on social media accounts. In the letter, the Ministry informs the Taliban security apparatus that many ‘underground’ women’s groups were conducting secret meetings. The letter directs Taliban security forces to identify these groups and report the information to Kabul. Apparently, the activity has been ongoing for the past three months.
FLOODING TRAGEDY KILLS MANY – While several Provinces have reported severe flooding in the wake of heavy rains across Pakistan and Afghanistan, Maidan Wardak appeared to be particularly hard hit, and emergency managers in the Province reported over 20 deaths so far and a similar number of people are missing. Pakistan officials have reported over 30 deaths, nearly 80 injured, and at least 40 are missing. Rains are expected to continue in the region until Wednesday.
2 FOREIGNERS REPORTEDLY ABDUCTED IN KABUL – Few details are available about reports that 2 foreign nationals were abducted late on Friday or early Saturday in Kabul. The nationalities of the 2 individuals have not yet been released but a source in Kabul said they were working for an international aid agency. Taliban security forces were alerted and are searching in multiple neighborhoods around the city. No group has claimed credit for the purported abductions. While ISIS-K has not yet claimed credit, there are concerns they are responsible for this event and that it may be the threat the Taliban was referencing in the lead-up to Muharram.
PAKISTAN POLICE WARN CITIZENS AND FOREIGN NATIONALS NOT TO SUBMIT TO SEARCHES BY THOSE NOT WEARING OFFICIAL UNIFORMS – A continuing problem in Pakistan (and around the world) happens when criminals attempt to impersonate legitimate law enforcement and will stop pedestrians or vehicles and ‘search’ them. Commonly, criminals will perpetrate these crimes in areas where police are not active. They will conduct the searches and in many cases, they will say that a law has been broken and will confiscate things like cell phones, money, and identity documents as ‘evidence’. Responding to a possible uptick in these types of crimes, the Ministry of the Interior in Pakistan is telling people that it does not conduct searches using people not wearing uniforms and encourages people to report any suspicious attempts by calling 15. It is important to note that Pakistani Police have been conducting more searches in differing locations in response to security concerns related to Muharram.
NEXT 24 HOURS
TALIBAN SEARCH FOR ABDUCTED FOREIGNERS COULD TURN VIOLENT IN KABUL – If, as some fear, ISIS-K was responsible for the kidnapping of the 2 aid workers there is a strong possibility that violence will ensue. While many kidnappings in the country are not political and are focused more on eliciting a bribe for the release of people, those instances typically do not involve foreign nationals. If ISIS-K is responsible, we assess that a negotiated return of the captives will be unlikely and the terrorist group will have conducted the necessary planning to capitalize on the international media attention that will almost certainly follow this developing situation. The Taliban have not shown restraint in previous engagements with ISIS-K and local commanders have likely been pressured to recover the abducted personnel quickly. Considering the amount of time that has elapsed since ISIS-K conducted a major operation, they have likely prepared their forces
[8am] Local sources in Laghman ...Afghan province with a population of about 445,600, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a rural society. During the invasions of Alexander the Great, the area was known as Lampaka, wich is apparently Olde Macedonian for Laghman.The city of Mihtarlam serves as the bucolic capital of the province. The population is half Pashtun, the remainder Tadjik and Pashai. It had a repution for great wealth until it was conquered in the tenth century by Abu Mansur Sabuktigin.
He conquered it and set fire to the places in its vicinity which were inhabited by infidels, and demolishing the idol-temples, he established Islam in them, He marched and captured other cities and killed the polluted wretches, destroying the idolatrous and gratifying the Musulmans. After wounding and killing beyond all measure, his hands and those of his friends became cold in counting the value of the plundered property.
After that it was mostly notable for the production of dirt, rocks, and holy men... province report that Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... fighters have assassinated a former local government police commander known as Mujahid inside his residence.
According to the sources, the incident occurred on Saturday night, July 22, in the village of Ziarat-e Nooralam Sahib, Alingar district of the province.
The sources stated that the Taliban members expeditiously departed at a goodly pace after carrying out the liquidation.
Mujahid had served as a local police commander during the previous government in the province, but had no official role after the Taliban regained power.
Local Taliban officials in Laghman have not yet made any statements regarding the incident.
Based on the information from sources, two brothers of Mujahid were also killed by the Taliban during their previous government in Afghanistan.
Despite the Taliban leader’s announcement of a general amnesty, the group’s fighters continue to resort to detaining, torturing, and killing former military personnel after regaining control of Afghanistan.
It was only a few days ago that the Taliban arrested two former military officers who were the main residents of Kapisa province, in Kabul city.
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BLUF:
[PJ] But why did Barakat want to carry out a "mass shooting event"? The Star Tribune says that "the motive for his actions remains unclear." Mac Schneider, U.S. attorney for the district of North Dakota, said this past Friday that "if there was clear evidence of motive we would share it." North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley added that "the shooting was not motivated by religious beliefs."
Maybe not, but there is an extremely odd detail in the Star Tribune report: "Wrigley said a federal ’guardian report’ was made some years back" about Barakat, "but it was not about a threat of violence. Schneider described a Guardian report as a way for the public to ’engage local law enforcement.’"
That’s not exactly a full or honest description of what a Guardian report really is. As Twitter user ThunderB, who has been following this case closely and has an abundance of useful information on his or her Twitter page, points out, the Guardian system is officially "The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Terrorist Threat and Suspicious Incident Tracking System." In this context, a "suspicious incident" is clearly terror-related: "Shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks, three FBI field offices began using an application called the Terrorist Activity Reporting System to track and monitor terrorist threats and suspicious incidents."
What was in the Guardian report about Mohamad Barakat? Why isn’t the report being revealed now? Would it reveal that officials have been lying about his not being on their radar, and demonstrate their failure to stop yet another jihadi as they intensify their hunt for "right-wing extremists," that is, their efforts to stigmatize and criminalize legitimate political dissent?
#1
"Wrigley said a federal ’guardian report’ was made some years back" about Barakat
Law Enforcement failure to conduct proper follow-up? Barakat "part of an ongoing investigation?" Project and funding termination taken badly by source? Yet another recruitment effort gone bad ?
#4
Minnesota will be the first caliphate within the USA.
Soon.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/24/2023 8:56 Comments ||
Top||
#5
The case is only "weirder and weirder" if your analysis specifically requires that Barakat is not a muslim terrorist. When you define that solution away, nothing makes sense.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
07/24/2023 9:01 Comments ||
Top||
#6
We will find out when Hell Freezes Over, at a date set by those that control the information, and see a need for us to know.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/24/2023 9:16 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Religion of Peace has a deep foothold in Minnesota-On November 6, 2018, Ellison won the election for Attorney General by more than 100,000 votes. This made him the first Muslim person to win election to a statewide office in the United States, and the first African American elected to statewide office in Minnesota.
#9
It's weird how the default for othrodox islamists is to kill everyone else. One might find the behavior is incompatible with the West. It's weird that experts cant figure this one out.
#10
It sort of looked like they had handed that torch to the trans crowd for a while.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/24/2023 14:36 Comments ||
Top||
#11
For Mohamad so feared the far right
That he trembled till dawn every night,
A somnambulant wraith
Made afraid for his faith...
Till he stumbled on just the right site,
Mumbling, awed, "Self-defence... I must fight!"
"Strike a light!" Or, The Real Victim
Posted by: Andy Bucket1511 ||
07/24/2023 14:47 Comments ||
Top||
Hattip Slavising Unineting5672. In brief: Bibi Netanyahu won, Ehud Barak and the Biden administration lost. Again. The Times of Israel and the Jerusalem Post are both liveblogging events.
[IsraelTimes] Tens of thousands at Tel Aviv pro-coalition event where ministers slam reservist protests, vow more laws; ex-president Rivlin in Jerusalem: 24 hours to save our wonderful country
As the Knesset moved forward with its debate on the coalition’s contentious judicial overhaul legislation Sunday, with an eye toward approving limitations on court oversight within a day or two, two major rallies in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv underlined the split in Israeli society over the plan. In Tel Aviv, at the site that has become synonymous with the anti-overhaul protests where Kaplan Street meets the Azrieli Towers, masses of supporters of the government held a demonstration urging the coalition to push ahead. It was the third major rally by supporters of the shakeup since the plan was announced in January. At the same time, another large protest against the bill was staged near the Knesset in Jerusalem, demanding the government halt the legislation to prevent the High Court from striking down government decisions on the grounds of their being "unreasonable."
Near midnight, a leading business forum representing 150 leading companies announced a strike for Monday, which would see some shopping centers and gas stations closed, and some businesses working in a reduced framework.
As the national crisis appeared to approach a crescendo, President Isaac Herzog, freshly returned from his US visit, rushed to Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is recuperating after having a pacemaker installed overnight. Herzog earlier said he was making a last-ditch push to promote negotiations between the coalition and opposition, with the aim of forging a consensus judicial reform package.
"This is a time of emergency. An agreement must be reached," Herzog was quoted saying in a statement from the President’s Residence. He later went to meet with Opposition Leader Yair Lapid and the opposition’s Benny Gantz, head of the National Unity party.
There was no official word on the proposals discussed at the meetings. Channel 12 news reported in the evening that the gaps between the sides on a potential softening of the "reasonableness" bill were not insurmountable, and that the main sticking point was the opposition’s demand for an 18-month freeze on any further legislation, as the sides try to find consensus — a period the coalition views as too long.
The event in Tel Aviv was held under the slogan: "The people are with you, complete the legislation — 64 seats are not second class," a reference to the number of seats Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government holds in the 120-member Knesset. The overhaul supporters were seeking a show of force to counteract the massive anti-overhaul protests that have rocked the country for 29 straight weeks.
Channel 13, citing the CrowdSolutions firm, reported some 60,000 at the Tel Aviv rally, while Channel 12, citing police estimates, put the number at a little over 100,000. Organizers claimed 200,000 people were in attendance, though this could not be independently confirmed.
CrowdSolutions also reported some 60,000 at the opposition rally in Jerusalem.
Later Sunday, police used a water cannon to disperse some of the anti-overhaul demonstrators near the entrance to Jerusalem. A water cannon also fired on some of the demonstrators as they headed back to Sacher Park.
The demonstrations were held as the Knesset was holding final debates on a key part of the overhaul plan. The coalition is expected to push through legislation on Monday or Tuesday to cancel the judicial yardstick of "reasonableness" for government and ministerial decisions, enacting the law over strong political and societal objections, and despite growing announcements by key army reservists that they will stop showing up for duty, as well as diplomatic, professional, social, economic, and security concerns raised by key Israeli officials and international allies.
Speculation grew Sunday evening that the Histadrut, Israel’s largest labor federation, could announce a general strike after a compromise it had floated in an attempt to end the bitter, 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... national standoff was quickly dismissed by the ruling Likud party, anti-government protesters and parts of the opposition.
According to the draft proposal, courts would not be able to strike down government decisions on grounds of "reasonableness" if they relate to "matters of policy" and were approved by the entire cabinet. It was not clear whether a majority of ministers would be sufficient under the proposal to shield a decision from the reasonableness test, or if a unanimous decision by all cabinet members would be required. Judges would also be barred from exercising the judicial standard to review the appointments of ministers and deputy ministers.
"All other decisions by ministers... will continue to be subject to judicial review, including per the reasonableness standard," the statement said, while adding the changes wouldn’t take effect until a government is formed after the next elections.
The proposal also called for resuming talks between coalition and opposition representatives to reach agreement "on the rest of the issues," with the government agreeing not to move forward with any further overhaul legislation in the next 18 months unless backed by at least 75 Knesset members. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government holds 64 seats in the 120-seat parliament.
As of midnight Sunday, the Histadrut had not made a decision on its next steps after its proposal was rejected. Monday’s planned strike by leading businesses was not coordinated with the Histadrut.
[IsraelTimes] Among the pro-reform protesters gathered on Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street is Galit, 56, from Jaffa, who carries a sign that reads, "Protect me from the High Court of Justice." She explains that "the dictatorship today is 15 unelected people," referring to the Supreme Court justices, "who decide for me."
Galit blames the High Court for the 2004 terror attack that claimed the lives of the Hatuel family in the former Gush Katif settlement bloc in Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... . Referring to court orders preventing the destruction of homes used by bully boyz that a former Likud justice minister tied to the attack, she says: "There are things that the High Court doesn’t need to get involved with."
Galit declines to share her last name, saying she is afraid of retribution from people who do not agree with her political view.
"I have a business in Tel Aviv to think of," she says.
Other demonstrators’ signs read: "Bibi, without the reform, there’s no right wing," and "Protect the IDF — enough with military refusers!"
"I bet media studios say there are only tens of thousands. We’re used to that fake," Transportation Minister Miri Regev of the ruling Likud party tells the crowd. She also claims the judicial overhaul is part of a process to combat discrimination against Mizrahi Jews.
"Cut the bullshit," she shouts in English.
"Let’s tell the truth: They’re dealing with maintaining their place, their elitism. And we are dealing with diversity," she says, attacking anti-overhaul critics.
A large number of protesters are visibly religious, with many saying they were bused into Tel Aviv from West Bank settlements. A group of yeshiva students sit on Kaplan Street, settling in with cups of coffee they are preparing on camping burners. Malkieli, 21, from the West Bank settlement of Yakir, says it was important for him to come to the rally to make his perspective heard.
"This whole story began because some people are more equal than others. Because I live in Samaria, my words don’t matter. They can cancel what I think," Malkieli says, using a biblical term for part of the West Bank.
"We’re here to express that," he adds, gesturing to the group of fellow yeshiva students who traveled with him on the bus from Kiryat Arba.
Malikieli also declines to share his last name or show his face, saying that he is "afraid."
"There are some not good voices right now. I’m worried they’ll twist my words."
[IsraelTimes] Speaking to the Tel Aviv pro-government rally via video link from the Knesset, Justice Minister and judicial overhaul architect Yariv Levin declares that it is he and the coalition who are fighting for democracy, decrying IDF reservists who have declared they will stop performing reserve duty if the coalition’s bill to limit the courts’ use of the reasonableness doctrine is passed into law.
The minister, who has been the driving force behind the efforts to remake Israel’s judiciary and legal system, claims it is those refusing to serve in the IDF reserves due to the coalition’s radical legal reforms who are the ones threatening Israeli democracy, not the proponents of the overhaul program itself.
"We are facing one of the most important decisions the country has ever known. Will we be a democracy or will we become a country controlled by a group of officers led by Ehud Barak?" Levin said, referring to the former prime minister, who is a fervid opponent of the current government and the judicial overhaul.
A fervid opponent of any non-Left government, though he has a particular animus for Bibi Netanyahu, along with the rest of what used to be called the Establishment.
“The merit that we have to take part in the defense of the State of Israel does not put any of us above the people or in place of the people. Refusal [to perform reserve duty] crosses a red line. Surrendering to refusal to serve, that is the real end of democracy," declares the justice minister.
"We will continue to stand firmly on guard for democracy, on guard for the position of the Knesset and the government. On guard for the choice of the electorate. Passing the law will be the strongest and clearest evidence of this."
Three #HTS members, including an Iraqi national, were injured when a military vehicle carrying them was targeted in the southern #Idlib, northwest #Syria.https://t.co/JUQAJkuCnn
— NORTH PRESS AGENCY - ENGLISH (@NPA_English) July 23, 2023
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2023 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (al-Nusra)
[AlAhram] Militants shot and killed four highway coppers Sunday in southeast Iran, state media reported.
State TV said the officers were on a routine mission on a road linking Khash and Taftan towns some 1200 kilometers (745 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran, in restive Sistan and Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... province, when they were "attacked by terrorists," a reference to separatist groups.
The province has witnessed multiple festivities between Iranian security forces and drug smugglers as well as a Sunni separatist group affiliated with the bad boy group al-Qaeda, known as Jeish al-Adl, or Army of Justice.
Sistan and Balochistan province is a well-known route for drug and human trafficking from Pakistain and Afghanistan to Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... and Arab nations in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere.
At least four road police patrol personnel were killed in a “terror” attack in the tense southeast Iranian city of Zahedan on Sunday.
The patrol officers were shot dead inside their vehicle in Zahedan, the capital city of the southeast province of Sistan and Balochistan.
Tasnim News agency states, “Terrorists ambushed the patrol car and shot at officers.”
The Sunni-dominated province with a border with Pakistan and Afghanistan is no stranger to turmoil, and local security personnel are frequently attacked.
Tasnim reported that authorities searched for the attackers on Sunday but did not disclose any other information on the suspects or potential motives.
In the province earlier this month, there was an attack that resulted in the deaths of two police officers; in May, there were violent skirmishes that resulted in the deaths of five border guards.
The region has played host to clashes involving Sunni extremist groups, Baluch rebels, ad drug trafficking.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] In Syria, a dangerous convergence of an MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle of the US-led coalition with aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces in the Al-Bab region was allowed, Rear Admiral Oleg Gurinov, deputy head of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Parties in the Arab Republic, said.
“The Russian pilots once again demonstrated high professionalism by taking the necessary measures in a timely manner to prevent a collision with coalition unmanned aerial vehicles,” he said.
Also in the Al-Tanf region, through which international air routes pass, six violations of the airspace of the Syrian borders by three pairs of F-16 fighters of the coalition were again recorded, Gurinov added.
In just 24 hours, there were 10 cases of violations of deconfliction protocols by the US-led coalition, the rear admiral concluded.
As reported by IA Regnum , earlier in the airspace of Syria, the impact of the guidance systems of American F-16 fighters was recorded in relation to the aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which was making a planned flight along the southern border of the Syrian Arab Republic.
In the Al-Tanf area, there were ten violations of Syrian airspace by four pairs of American F-16 fighters and one pair of US Rafal coalition fighters.
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.
[AfghanDigest] LAST 24 HOURS
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
