[FoxNews] Smith called for freshman Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson to face recall
A South Side Chicago activist, who launched a state representative bid in hopes of curbing the repercussions of the Windy City's sanctuary status, said on Wednesday that city leaders need to understand "illegal" means "illegal."
Chicago Against Violence founder Andre Smith told Fox News the burgeoning migrant crisis in the city is not the fault of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott – as city leaders have claimed – but Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson.
"Seeing our homeless on the [streets] and crime is at an all-time high, you know you can't make ‘illegal’ ‘legal’ no matter… how you do it," Smith said.
Johnson however, said recently his office has "responded to this humanitarian mission with the full force of government," before calling Abbott "reckless" for sending buses "all over the state of Illinois." Is he back from his 'mental health' break?
Smith said he has launched a Democratic primary bid for the Illinois State House, where he will be challenging Rep. Kimberly du Buclet according to local reports.
Smith also recounted being arrested last year after he and two other men protested in front of a defunct school that officials began sending migrants to for sheltering purposes.
"In the community that I was born in, which is called Woodlawn in the city of Chicago, I did get arrested. I heard that they were bringing the migrants in on a CTA bus that was paid for by taxpayers' money... So I stood in front of the bus, and I refused for the illegal migrants to get into the Wadsworth School," he said.
"A lot of schools closed because of lack of funding. And how do you think those children feel now that they're driving past and walking past the schools that they were rejected from that now, migrants are living in?" Smith asked.
Smith said the United States is a nation of laws, and therefore every person in the country should be held to the same legal standard, arguing that migrants are not.
He said that dubbing a municipality a "sanctuary city" should not moot legal standards. Though rabid crime and cashless bail might.
Smith said if he is elected to office he will pursue a recall of Johnson, who defeated fellow left-wing Mayor Lori Lightfoot last year.
He added that Chicago's sanctuary status should be put up for a popular referendum by the city's voters.
However, Smith also praised a suburban city's councilman for remarks that "America Reports" host Sandra Smith reported were initially misconstrued.
Naperville Councilman Josh McBroom proposed city staff commence a sign-up sheet for residents his affluent Democratic leaning community who might choose to voluntarily open their homes to migrants.
Initially, McBroom was reportedly criticized on the political right, until the comments were clarified as instead a challenge to people in Naperville with pro-sanctuary or pro-migrant yard signs and slogans.
Smith said McBroom is therefore the rare Illinois public official who understands the migrant crisis and the negative effects it has had on communities.
#2
I figured that was what McBroom was doing; challenging the holier-than-thou virtue signalers who impose the inescapable costs of their cheap talk on somebody else.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
01/25/2024 8:50 Comments ||
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[NYPost] Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday proclaimed that the Lone Star State’s right to self-defense “supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary” amid a feud with the Biden administration over border security.
Abbott’s statement of defiance comes on the heels of a standoff over razor wire the state has laid across the US-Mexico border despite a US Supreme Court ruling permitting the federal government to snip that barrier.
“Visionaries who wrote the U.S. Constitution foresaw that states should not be left to the mercy of a lawless president who does nothing to stop external threats like cartels smuggling millions of illegal immigrants across the border,” Abbott said.
The Lone Star State Republican argued that because the federal government has failed to safeguard Texas from an invasion, the state has the “constitutional authority to defend” itself.
“That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary,” Abbott stressed.
On Monday, the Supreme Court determined in a 5-4 ruling that federal agents can remove the sharp concertina placed at sections of the border.
President Biden’s administration argued this authority was necessary so border officials responding to medical and other emergencies at the border aren’t impeded by the fencing.
Texas laid down the wire in a bid to dissuade migrants from traversing high-trafficked sites. Last year, the Lone Star State sued the Biden administration to stop the wire-cutting.
Despite the ruling, Abbott pledged that the state will “continue to deploy this razor wire to repel illegal immigration.”
The razor wire feud went unmentioned in his missive about Texas’ right to self-defense. However, he alleged that Biden “has refused to enforce those [immigration] laws and has even violated them.”
“More than 6 million illegal immigrants have crossed our southern border in just 3 years. That is more than the population of 33 different States in this country,” Abbott bemoaned.
During fiscal year 2023, a record-breaking 2,475,669 million migrant encounters were recorded at the southern border, according to the US Customs and Border Control.
Preliminary data indicates over 300,000 migrant encounters were recorded last December.
Abbott has been testing the limits of state power to combat the simmering border crisis. Under Operation Lone Star, his administration claims to have shipped over 100,000 migrants to blue cities and conducted over 496,000 illegal immigrant apprehensions.
The governor has quarreled with the Biden administration over immigration policy repeatedly. Earlier this month, the administration threatened to sue Texas if the state detains illegal immigrants via state law.
Texas has a law on the books to that effect set to take effect in March.
The Justice Department has sued Texas over its use of a floating barrier in the Rio Grande. Texas recently scored a victory from an appeals court over that matter.
Earlier this month, Texas authorities cordoned off a park in Eagle Pass to impede migrants and even unauthorized Border Patrol agents from entering.
The Post contacted the White House and Department of Homeland Security for comment.
[Treehouse] Governor Greg Abbott today issued a statement on Texas’ constitutional right to defend and protect itself as President Joe Biden continues to attack Texas and refuse to perform his duties to secure the border.
"The Executive Branch of the United States has a constitutional duty to enforce federal laws protecting States, including immigration laws on the books right now," reads the statement. "President Biden has instructed his agencies to ignore federal statutes that mandate the detention of illegal immigrants. The failure of the Biden Administration to fulfill the duties imposed by Article IV, § 4 has triggered Article I, § 10, Clause 3, which reserves to this State the right of self-defense. For these reasons, I have already declared an invasion under Article I, § 10, Clause 3 to invoke Texas’s constitutional authority to defend and protect itself. That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary." [Full statement pdf HERE] The noxious human discharge may soon be hitting the oscillating wind machine.
#5
The Supreme Court didn't forbid Texas to install razor wire, it just gave federal agents the authority to cut it down if it impedes their work.
Btw I'm not sure about this: Does private property stretch right to the border? Do federal agents have the right to enter private land right at the border? (I'd be surprised if they didn't).
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/25/2024 7:15 Comments ||
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#6
#4 Yeah, that worked well when they decided the student loan forgiveness was unlawful. Hell, he's pretty much bragging about doing it anyway.
Posted by: Chris ||
01/25/2024 8:22 Comments ||
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#7
^^ #5 Easements.
Feds and local governments have easements.
Posted by: Cleared Cookies Lost Nic ||
01/25/2024 8:24 Comments ||
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#8
Easements.... but can they cut down razor wire on private property?
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/25/2024 9:05 Comments ||
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#9
Razor wire all along private property lines. Turn easements into "no man's land" then see how Obama responds.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
01/25/2024 9:09 Comments ||
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#10
...If you think about it for a second...the smartest thing Biden and/or his handlers could do is just keep arguing with TX but not actually do anything.
The state is making huge and (somewhat) effective efforts to stop the flow. The Feds can doubletalk it while TX takes all the heat.
#13
Sanctuary City mayors are already blaming Abbott for the influx of illegals. As if their constituents are too stupid to know it's Biden.
Posted by: Cleared Cookies Lost Nic ||
01/25/2024 13:48 Comments ||
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#14
When we built the preliminary section of the California border wall in 1992-94 I spent some time with the USBP Sector Staff and our Team Engineer leadership literally on the US-Mexico Border. I learned that the Border Patrol and Customs Service had unrestricted access to an easement 60 feet wide along the entire border(Roosevelt easement cite from Wiki below). Texas was NOT included in that easement "...Texas retained all public lands upon the Texas annexation and admittance as a state, much of which has been sold over the years to private parties."
The interesting discussion of the USSC ruling is that it did not require Texas to remove anything, but rather granted the USBP authority to remove obstacles to their access for law enforcement.
By invoking " Article I, § 10, Clause 3, which reserves to this State the right of self-defense." it appears Texas countered by insisting it had self-defense rights defined in the US Constitution, and the State Constitution, thus forcing the issue back to the USSC it would seem.
Wiki Cite Verbatim: "From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Roosevelt Reservation is the 60-foot (18 m)-wide strip of land owned by the United States Federal Government along the United States side of the United States–Mexico Border in three of the four border states. Federal and tribal lands make up 632 miles (1,017 km), or approximately 33 percent, of the nearly 2,000 miles (3,200 km) total. Private and state-owned lands constitute the remaining 67 percent of the border, most of which is located in Texas.[1]
In 1907, Theodore Roosevelt in a Presidential Proclamation (35 Stat. 2136) established the reservation in order to keep all public lands along the border in California, Arizona, and New Mexico "free from obstruction as a protection against the smuggling of goods between the United States and Mexico".[2][3][4] Texas was excluded because Texas retained all public lands upon the Texas annexation and admittance as a state, much of which has been sold over the years to private parties.
Construction of the Trump wall along the border in California, Arizona, and New Mexico was expedited since the reservation reduced the need to acquire additional private property.[5]"
#15
^ I'm old enough to remember this as well as the undercover SDPD patrols at Smuggler's Gulch and Goat Cyn, as well as the mass-rushes across the border at Tijuana. The fence at the time was old landing-strip panels. It sucked
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/25/2024 18:25 Comments ||
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[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Former defence ministers and Royal Navy chiefs tonight expressed dismay over the UK's refusal to deploy either of its £3.5billion aircraft carriers to the Red Sea.
They suggested it was absurd for Britain to continue to rely on RAF jets flying 3,000 miles from their base in Cyprus to launch air strikes against Houthi in Yemen.
Meanwhile, the hugely expensive carriers –supposedly built so Britain could rule the waves – have remained anchored in Portsmouth.
The Navy's website describes HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales as 'investments in British security, prosperity and place in the world'. Despite the rhetoric, neither carrier has ventured anywhere near a conflict zone since they entered service.
Yesterday morning, just hours after the UK's latest air strikes to prevent attacks by Houthis on international cargo ships and tankers, the huge Royal Navy vessels were seen idling in tranquil waters off the Solent.
The reason for this, the Mail has been told, is that senior government figures vetoed a Navy recommendation that a carrier should be sent.
The decision apparently horrified senior officers who fear one of the carriers could be vulnerable to future defence cuts.
Speaking to the Mail, former First Sea Lord, Admiral Lord West said: 'I find it absolutely extraordinary we have not sent a carrier. As with either HMS Queen Elizabeth or HMS Prince of Wales in situ we would be able to make a much more significant contribution. Instead, we are reduced to flying thousands of miles to and from Cyprus and to dropping a strictly limited number of warheads at great expense.
The RAF Typhoons from Cyprus refuelled on both legs of yesterday's journey, as they did on the first British air strikes on January 11. On Monday evening they dropped a total of eight guided missiles at two locations near the Yemeni capital Sanaa before returning to RAF Akrotiri.
The US F/A-18 Super Hornets involved in the joint operation took off and landed on the USS Dwight D Eisenhower aircraft carrier.
Its presence has enabled the Americans to launch eight separate air strikes on Houthi targets in the past ten days and to deliver significantly more firepower.
#7
You are correct Ed. They are completely reliant on the US Navy for escort as they don't have any frigates left to do the job. They had to mothball them to free up funds for the aircraft carriers.
#8
#5 Considering that they've had to remove frigates from service because they don't have enough sailors to man them, not actually surprising.
Posted by: ed in texas 2024-01-25 08:36
...It's not so much the frigates as the replenishment ships, which have also shut down due to manning issues. A carrier that can't replenish at sea isn't worth the manpower, effort, and resources to send her out in the first place.
[Rudaw] Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday called on the Iraqi government to declare a moratorium on all executions "with a view to abolish the death penalty ," after the emergence of reports of the mass execution of 13 inmates in a prison in Nasiriyah, southern Iraq.
Thirteen men in Nasiriyah’s al-Hout prison were executed on December 25, in what was the first mass execution since November 2020, when 21 men were executed for terrorism charges, according to HRW's report on the issue.
"The renewal of mass executions in Iraq is an appalling development," said Sarah Sanbar, Iraq researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The Iraqi government should immediately declare a moratorium on executions. These tremendous injustices are compounded by well-documented flaws in Iraq’s judicial system that deny defendants a fair trial," read HRW’s report.
At least 150 inmates in Nasiriyah’s al-Hout prison are facing "imminent execution without warning", pending ratification from Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid, according to HRW. 8000 more prisoners, most charged with terror-related charges, are also believed to be on death row.
Nasiriyah’s executed prisoners were not allowed to consult their lawyers or have a final meeting with their family members, HRW cited an inmate as saying.
Human rights groups have accused Iraq of carrying out hasty trials and denying the defendants their right to a fair trial, with judges reportedly disregarding torture allegations, particularly in cases related to terrorism. HRW said some Iraqi judges have sentenced defendants to death for "mere membership of a terrorist organization."
"If the defendant’s fair trial guarantees have been violated, imposition of the death penalty would make the sentence arbitrary," HRW said in the report.
Since the rise of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) in 2014, thousands of people have been detained across Iraq for suspected links to terrorist groups, including ISIS, while hundreds have been executed.
Iraq is the fourth country in the Middle East and North Africa region for the number of executions carried out in 2022, according to a May report by Amnesia Amnesty International. The country carried out at least 11 recorded executions and handed out at least 41 recorded death sentence ...the barbaric practice of sentencing a murderer to be punished for as long as his/her/its victim is dead... s in 2022, according to Amnesty. Only Egypt, Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... , and Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... recorded more executions.
According to Article Four of the 2005 Counter-Terrorism Law, anyone found guilty of committing a terror offense is given a death sentence, with life imprisonment given to those who assist or hide those convicted of terrorism.
Iraq also hands out death sentences for drug-related charges. An Iraqi court, earlier this month, issued the death sentence for three people, one convicted for carrying out a deadly car kaboom in 2007, and two more individuals for drug-related charges.
In September, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudan ...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans... i called on President Rashid to ratify all the death sentences related to drug trafficking charges.
Sudani in May discussed the dangerous spread of narcotics in the country at the first Baghdad Conference on Drug Control, stating that terrorism and drugs are "two sides of the same crime."
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/25/2024 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[31 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq
#1
HRW said some Iraqi judges have sentenced defendants to death for "mere membership of a terrorist organization."
[IsraelTimes] Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... told Israel this morning that the Hamas ...a regional Iranian catspaw,... terror group has rejected Israel’s latest offer for a hostage deal that would see the release of Paleostinian security prisoners and a significant pause in fighting, the Kan public broadcaster reports, citing two sources with knowledge of the matter.
All three main television news channels cite officials saying Hamas has toughened its stance in the negotiations.
Kan cites unnamed Israeli officials as saying chances for a deal are not at zero and that other proposals are being worked on.
Meanwhile, ...back at the wreckage, Captain Poindexter wished he had thought to pack sun block... Channel 12 news reports that Hamas has proposed a hostage deal that would end the war and include a ceasefire for 10-15 years. Notably, the terror group violated a similar previous agreement when it launched its October 7 onslaught.
How dare that uppity Jew call us out when we’re putting our thumb on the scales for the local branch of our beloved Muslim Brotherhood!
[IsraelTimes] Qatar’s foreign ministry chastises Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over a report yesterday that said the premier had told families of hostages that Doha acting as the mediator between Israel and the Hamas terror group was “problematic.”
“Qatar, from my point of view, is no different in essence than the United Nations… and the Red Cross, [Qatar] is even more problematic,” Channel 12 aired a recording of the premier saying, appearing to express disappointment with Washington for not applying more pressure on the Gulf state, which hosts Hamas leaders.
“I have no illusions about them. They have leverage [over Hamas]… Because [Qatar] funds them.”
Netanyahu says he got “very angry recently with the Americans” for renewing a deal to extend US military presence at a base in Qatar for another 10 years.
Majed Al Ansari, the spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry, tweets that Doha is “appalled” by the reported remarks, adding that if confirmed, they “are irresponsible and destructive to the efforts to save innocent lives, but are not surprising.”
[IsraelTimes] In what appears to be an escalating feud between Israel and Qatar following Doha’s sharp criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich calls the Gulf state “a terror-supporting and terror-funding state.”
Retweeting the earlier post blasting Netanyahu by Majed Al Ansari, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman, Smotrich says Doha is “Hamas’s patron and is largely responsible for the massacre of Israeli citizens Hamas committed [on October 7].
“The West’s treatment of it is hypocritical and based on improper financial interests,” Smotrich continues. “The West can and should employ far stronger leverage and bring about the release of the hostages immediately.
“One thing is certain: Qatar won’t be involved in any way in managing Gaza in the day after the war.”
[Breitbart] Major South African banks are providing funding for the Palestinian Hamas terrorist group, according to an investigative report Wednesday in the Jerusalem Post that also names a former Muslim community leader as a key figure in the financing operation.
The Post reports:
Research conducted by The Jerusalem Post staff and several sources uncovered what appears to be a network of several South African organizations and straw man companies deeply involved with funding Hamas activities through the Al-Quds Foundation, an international group sanctioned by the US and outlawed by Israel, using accounts registered in major local South African banks: Standard Bank, Nedbank, and Absa.
Sanctioning by the US and Israel notwithstanding, the foundation continues its operations across the globe, featuring roughly thirteen branches in different countries, sometimes holding different names. In South Africa, a registered organization named "Al-Quds Foundation SA" also exists which openly admits on their new website that they are "a branch of Al-Quds foundation with headquarters in Lebanon."
The organization itself boasts about its fundraising activities, claiming funds would be transferred to the needy in Gaza. The foundation’s website lists Sheikh Ebrahim Gabriels as its director, leading the South African branch since 2019.
Gabriels was once the head of the Muslim Judicial Council, the umbrella body for Muslims in South Africa, with authority over religious matters as well as communal affairs. The Post describes Gabriels as closely connected to leading Hamas officials.
Nedbank, the one bank that replied to the Post’s queries, would not confirm the identity or existence of the Hamas accounts, while maintaining that it complies with international sanctions. South Africa’s banking sector is viewed as one of the few remaining repositories of expertise and competence in a country plagued by corruption, crime, and an ongoing brain drain.
Hamas’s apparent funding in South Africa could help explain why the country has led the charge against Israel in international fora such as the International Court of Justice, where South Africa is pursuing a case of "genocide" against Israel. The ICJ said Wednesday that it expects to issue a preliminary ruling on Friday, just two short weeks after oral arguments by both sides.
#2
Hamas’s apparent funding in South Africa could help explain why the country has led the charge against Israel in international fora such as the International Court of Justice
IMO, there other reasons. SA economy collapsing. In particular agriculture (they can murder white farmers, but they can't replace them). Famine is close. But, Cyril Ramaphosa is smart. He's learned from Europeans: when you have trouble it's the fault of the Jews! (revenge of Zionist Entity for ICJ)
[BBC] On a frigid morning last week, hundreds of men, wrapped up in woollens and blankets, queued up inside a sprawling university campus in India's northern state of Haryana.
The men, carrying backpacks and lunch bags, were queueing up for practical exams for construction jobs - plastering workers, steel fixers, tile setters - in Israel.
For those like Ranjeet Kumar - a university educated, qualified teacher who has only ever managed to find work casually as a painter, steel fixer, labourer, automobile workshop technician, and a surveyor for a non-profit - it is a chance too good to pass up.
The 31-year-old has never managed to earn more than 700 rupees per day, despite having two degrees and having cleared a government "trade test" to work as a "diesel mechanic". In contrast, the jobs in Israel are paying around 137,000 rupees ($1,648; £1,296) a month, along with accommodation and medical benefits.
Perhaps unsurprisingly then, Mr Kumar, who got a passport last year, is eager to secure a job as a steel fixer in Israel to support his seven-member family.
"There are no secure jobs here. Prices are going up. I am not financially stable even after graduating nine years ago," he said.
According to reports quoting officials, Israel plans to bring in 70,000 workers from China and India and other countries to boost its construction sector, which has been struggling since the 7 October Hamas attack. A labour shortage had arisen after Israel barred some 80,000 Palestinian workers following the attack, reports add.
Some 10,000 workers from India will reportedly be hired. Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are accepting job applications, with the Maharshi Dayanand University in Haryana's Rohtak city hosting tests for a few thousand applicants from across the country. (The Israeli embassy in Delhi refused to comment on the subject.)
#2
When it comes to total numbers, the largest populations of both Hindus (159 million) and Muslims (38 million) live in Uttar Pradesh, accounting for 16% and 22% of India’s Hindus and Muslims, respectively.
[IsraelTimes] Israel and the US believe organizations ostensibly raising funds for Gazook civilians are actually funneling millions of dollars to Paleostinian terror group Hamas ...not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... , Bloomberg reports, citing several unnamed officials at Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing, as well as an unnamed senior US official.
The officials estimate Hamas is getting $8-12 million per month, primarily through such aid groups, enabling it to evade international sanctions, something it has years of experience at.
Washington is determined to put an end to the phenomenon, the US news site cites the American official as saying.
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.
...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans...
...a regional Iranian catspaw,...
...not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
