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Suicide bombing outside Libyan parliament in Tobruk wounds 11
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 3: Non-WoT
3 15:26 Rambler in Virginia [3] 
2 16:23 Alaska Paul [13] 
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8 14:28 Alaska Paul [18] 
2 09:32 Frank G [5] 
5 11:28 Pappy [5] 
1 14:28 USN, Ret. [8] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
8 20:15 rammer [6]
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5 17:31 swksvolFF [14]
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3 14:22 g(r)omgoru [7]
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1 00:47 JosephMendiola [9]
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3 11:14 Ebbomosh Hupemp2664 [2]
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1 08:55 Frank G [10]
Page 2: WoT Background
6 15:23 Pappy [4]
2 16:29 Abu Uluque [6]
3 07:51 Procopius2k [5]
1 09:24 Frank G [7]
4 12:45 airandee [4]
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3 16:27 SteveS [9]
8 20:28 Bill Clinton [6]
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3 18:27 trailing wife [6]
4 12:33 Grunter [9]
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Page 4: Opinion
1 18:35 jvalentour [10]
1 12:26 Grunter [7]
6 20:32 Bill Clinton [6]
2 08:58 AlanC [3]
3 13:24 texhooey [2]
9 17:17 JFM [3]
Page 6: Politix
4 16:36 Beavis [9]
4 14:57 Rob Crawford [7]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Resisting a police blockade.
[Omaha.com] UPPER DARBY, Pa. (AP) — A man who had posted an online video threatening to kill police and FBI agents tried to use his car to run down officers seeking to arrest him on Tuesday so, fearing for their lives, they shot and killed him, authorities said.

Police did not immediately identify the man, who was killed in Upper Darby, in suburban Philadelphia, as officers ordered him out of the car and he appeared ready to accelerate at them as they manned a blockade.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/31/2014 07:59 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ex-perp Joseph Pacini.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/31/2014 14:02 Comments || Top||

#2  Thanks John. Frightening! Are we certain he is dead? Any change he can be shot a few more times? Large wooden tent peg through the heart, etc ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/31/2014 15:16 Comments || Top||

#3  If he had been black, and did the same thing, the headline would say that the police had shot an unarmed man.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 12/31/2014 15:26 Comments || Top||


Paperwork
[TribLive] A threatening note penned on toilet paper helped unravel a robbery attempt at a Uniontown pizza shop, according to police.

Eric W. Frey, 29, of Uniontown is charged with walking into Michael Maria's Pizza on East Fayette Street shortly before 8 p.m. Saturday and handing an employee a note handwritten in black ink on a scrap of toilet paper, police said.

The note read, “I have a gun. Give me $300,” according to court documents.
Remember, the job isn't finished until the paperwork is done.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 12/31/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Perhaps this was spawned by earlier crimes













ACA - Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare

Posted by: Flart Prince of the Huns3989 || 12/31/2014 9:12 Comments || Top||

#2  In Frey's bathroom, police found a recently opened package of toilet paper on a table. One of the rolls had “writing engraved in it that matched the exact wording on the piece of toilet paper that Frey handed” to the pizza shop employee, Kolencik said.

A complete wipeout?
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/31/2014 9:17 Comments || Top||

#3  Good thing I wasn't drinking coffee, John. That's funny.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 12/31/2014 9:43 Comments || Top||

#4  Why only $300?
Why not get it all as long as you're there?
Would a small town pizza shop be able to break a $100 bill, much less hand over $300?
Posted by: bigjim-CA || 12/31/2014 10:48 Comments || Top||

#5  Why only $300?

Either he didn't want to be seen as greedy, or because "one million dollars" was already used.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/31/2014 11:28 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
CDC Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/31/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Reports and data in Influenza up the wazoo, Ebola, not so much.....
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 12/31/2014 14:28 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Venezuela confirms recession, inflation hits 63 percent
Venezuela entered a recession in 2014, with the economy shrinking in the first three quarters, the Central Bank said on Tuesday, blaming political opponents for the dismal figures.
Nick the Mad works to complete the job that Oogo started...
In a statement, the bank said GDP contracted 4.8 percent in the first quarter, versus the same period of last year, then it fell a further 4.9 percent in the second quarter and shrank 2.3 percent in the third quarter.
But since the government there is socialist/communist, you can't believe any of the numbers, even the numbers that make them look bad -- the real data might make them look even worse...
The statement added that 12-month inflation, which is the highest in the Americas, reached 63.6 percent in November.

The central bank statement, confirming an economic contraction widely forecast by analysts, came just before President Nicolas Maduro was about to start a news conference in which he was expected to announce economic changes.
That's all he's been doing, economic changes...
Venezuela's socialist government blames saboteurs and wreckers political opponents, who protested in the streets for four months earlier this year, for damaging the South American OPEC nation's economy. The protests resulted in violence that killed 43 people.

"These actions against public order blocked the correct distribution of basic goods to the population, as well as the normal development of production of goods and services," the bank statement said. "This resulted in an inflationary spike and a fall in economic activity."
These folks should read A Tale of Two Cities sometime, in which Charles Dickins explains how the entire city of Paris was fed without any apparent central plan...
Opponents say Venezuela's economic crisis is a consequence of 15 years of socialist policies, begun by Maduro's predecessor Hugo Chavez, who ruled from 1999 to 2013 before his death from cancer.

"With one day of the year left, they publish the September, October and November figures. The highest in the world. Economic efficiency Nicolas! Wonderful," scoffed opposition leader Henrique Capriles via Twitter.

Venezuela had not published inflation data since August.

Inflation in September was up 4.8 percent, October 5.0 percent and November 4.7 percent, compared with the same months of 2013, the bank said in its statement. The bank said Venezuela's balance of payments posted a surplus of $6.8 billion by the end of the third quarter, with a current account surplus of $899 million, and the capital account showing a deficit of $568 million.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/31/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [18 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Recession is the new term for collapse*.

Should have figured that out in the toilet paper crisis many months back.

* Not to be confused with slow recovery which means recession in the official Newspeak talk.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/31/2014 7:43 Comments || Top||

#2  New Pope demands Western World share in this economic success story.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/31/2014 7:46 Comments || Top||

#3  The work of Hugo continues--another stunning success for Communism (sarc).
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/31/2014 8:01 Comments || Top||

#4  New Pope demands Western World share in this economic success story.

Hard work and thrift. There, we've shared it.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/31/2014 8:04 Comments || Top||

#5  In other news:
Maduro was arrested and later released after he slipped a hand written toilet paper note to the cashier at a local pizza parlor demanding $300.
Posted by: bigjim-CA || 12/31/2014 11:15 Comments || Top||

#6  $300 sounds pretty cheap for a square of toilet paper, even autographed.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/31/2014 13:44 Comments || Top||

#7  Venezuela's economic crisis is a consequence of 15 years of socialist policies and it is coming up with Snake Eyes.

Posted by: Sonny Griling7108 || 12/31/2014 14:11 Comments || Top||

#8  And the Chinese are handling Venezuela oil for a price, which included 300,000 BBL/day to service the loans Venezuela has with the Chinese.

However, with lower oil prices, Venezuela was facing possible default on its loans from China so loans are being restructured to prevent default. Ah, the socialist hellhole paradise that Hugo created. [Captain Cash Flow strikes again ---bwahahaha!]

Caracas restructures China oil-backed loans
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/31/2014 14:28 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
No further talks on Ukraine scheduled


For a map, click here. You can enlarge the map, if you open it separately.


By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

Two days ago the president of the newly formed Lugansk republic stated that it is his intention to negotiate only a merger with the Russian Federation, according to Russian language news accounts.

The statement was the first time that Igor Plotnitskiy has said that a return to Ukrainian jurisdiction would not be on the table. Plotnitskiy also said that he is "ready to negotiate".

The day the talks among the Tripartite Contact Group ended, participants including Ukrainian president Piotr Poroshenko, Germany's Angela Merkel and French president Francois Hollande, held via Skype conference call, the only issue resolved was the prisoner exchange between Ukrainian armed forces and rebel forces. Two other issues were on the table as well, including a "completion" of the Mink ceasefire agreement and a law granting special status for southeastern Ukraine.

But since the end of the talks, no information was released if the remaining issues on the agenda were even discussed.

For months, discussion in rebel media concerned if the two republics, Donetsk and Lugansk would accept autonomy from Ukraine, incorporation into the Russian federation, or independence. Since much of the rebel military leadership are former Russian security or military intelligence officials, it followed that such an investment from Russia would rule out independence.

Plotnitskiy's statement seems to cast the final putative result in stone, inasmuch as the president of Donetsk, Aleksadr Zakharachenko has said very little recorded by Russian language media in the past few days concerning Plotnitskiy's position, or the position of his own republic.

Plotnitskiy's statement does place the political leadership of both republics in a bind, since a large number of the rank and file fighting the Ukrainian Army want independence, or at least freedom from the newly imposed requirements from Kiev that Ukrainian language only be spoken. If incorporation into the Russian federation was always the goal, both republics may wind up with worse problems than they resolve.

Fighting Continues

Fighting in Donetsk has continued in two main areas, Donetsk city and Gorlovka, which is about 40 kilometers northeast of Donetsk city. The artillery fire in Donetsk, a daily occurrence just a few weeks ago, had tapered off until just three days ago when Ukrainian and rebel artillery and counterbattery fire started up again.

According to rebel media, Ukrainian artillery units hit several sectors of the city on Sunday, including in Avdeyevka and Grigoryevka, and in Kievskiy district.

Shelling was also reported, this time from rebel artillery, in the vicinity of the new airport terminal, where Ukrainian army units are holed up and at the weather station. Artillery and small arms fire were exchanged between rebel forces and Ukrainian army units in Peski, which is a Ukrainian marshaling area.

A rebel media graphic showed the equivalent of a tank battalion and a rocket artillery brigade being deployed to positions north of Donetsk city Sunday.

On Monday rebel media said that Ukrainian artillery fire hit locations in and near Donetsk city including at Sparta, which is adjacent to the airport, and in Kuibyshevsky district and the "Volvo Center". Additional small arms and tank gunfire were around Peski.

Rebel media also reported fighting near Maiyorsk and Shumy, near Gorlovka Sunday, using automatic grenade launchers and rocket artillery. The issue in Gorlovka has been repeated rebel attempts to push Ukrainian army units away from the nearby town of Dzerzhinsk towards the northwest.

Also on Monday, rebel media said Ukrainian Army units fired on rebel units in Gorlovka.

Starting on the night of December 29th to December 30th, according to rebel media, Ukrainian artillery units at Donetsk had fired what rebels characterized as "preparatory bombardment", presumably in advance of an attack,, but no attack materialized.

Fighting in Lugansk

Fighting continued Sunday in the vicinity of Lopaskino and Lobachovo, which is near Slavyanoserbsk, a rebel held town on the right bank of the North Donetsk River, which the rebels are using as a base for a bridgehead. According to rebel media, rebel units attempted a spoiling attack on Stary Aydar, which is east of Lopaskino and Lobachovo, but were met with rebel mortar fire. Rebels claim their counterfire destroyed two Ukrainian mortars.

Rebel media said that Ukrainian forces attacked their positions near Stanitsa Luganskaya, albeit with no losses.

On Monday, little was reported in Lugansk.

Rebel troop Movements and Concentrations

According to a post in the pro Ukrainian Informnapalm.org by Ukrainian military analysts Artem Vasylenko and Roman Burko, about 95 Russian vehicles entered Ukraine "from Izvaryne border crossing" and began a road march into Lugansk. The assumption here is that that equipment is heading towards the Ukrainian Army held area of Schastye, long an issue for rebels in the region.

In another area of Krasnyi Luch, which is on the Donetsk and Luganks border, a rebel tank brigade is deployed totaling 100 tanks. The analyst think that rebel forces are preparing an offensive using forces accumulated in Gorklovka, and Krasnii Luch towards Debaltsevo and Artemivsk.

Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraina by clicking here.
Posted by: badanov || 12/31/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Southeast Asia
Bodies found near site where AirAsia plane disappeared
[Ynet] Indonesian air force official reports 'about 10 objects and many more small white-colored objects' found during aerial search for missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501.

Indonesian officials on Tuesday said they have recovered 40 bodies from the AirAsia flight that disappeared two days earlier, in a painful end to the aviation mystery off the coast of Borneo island.

The bodies were found in Java Sea waters about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Flight 8501's last communications with air-traffic control. The plane with 162 people on board disappeared Sunday on its way from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore after encountering storm clouds.
More at the link for those following this story.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/31/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well beyond sad.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/31/2014 7:34 Comments || Top||

#2  CNN stock drops
Posted by: Frank G || 12/31/2014 9:32 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Tehran air pollution puts nearly 400 in hospital
[IsraelTimes] Almost 400 people have been hospitalized with heart and respiratory problems caused by heavy air pollution in Tehran, with nearly 1,500 others requiring treatment, an official said Tuesday.

Year round, more than four million cars spew exhaust fumes into the atmosphere of the Iranian capital. The situation worsens in winter, when cold air leads to a carcinogenic fog that blankets the city.

The latest casualties were treated Monday, according to Hassan Abbas, an emergency services manager quoted by the official IRNA news agency.

?Some 392 people were admitted to hospital due to respiratory and heart problems,? he said. ?We treated another 1,434 externally.?

Authorities are said to be considering school closures and the introduction of traffic restrictions for the whole capital Wednesday, although this has not yet been officially confirmed.

However,
today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday...
the sick and elderly have been asked to avoid city traffic due to the effects of breathing in a noxious mix of carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and dirty rubber particles.

The capital and other cities, including top tourist attraction Isfahan and the religious destination of Mashhad, have experienced pollution peaks in recent weeks.

Tehran, with its population of 12 million people, is one of the most polluted cities in the world, partly because of an altitude ranging from 1,100-1,700 meters (3,600-5,600 feet) above sea level in a basin surrounded by mountains.

In addition, Iranian cars consume on average more than other countries, a situation made worse by some fuel being of low quality.

Pollution peaks in winter are regularly caused by the climate inversion phenomenon, where cold air near the ground is trapped by warmer air above preventing pollution being dispersed over a bigger area.

In 2012, pollution contributed to the premature deaths of 4,500 people in Tehran and about 80,000 in the country, according to the health ministry.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/31/2014 00:16 || Comments || Link || [13 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "...dirty rubber particles"
At Last! The answer to the ages old question of 'Where does the rubber from your tires go?'
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 12/31/2014 10:05 Comments || Top||

#2  It's an Insh'Allah moment. Nothing will be done. The Mad Mullahs know best.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/31/2014 16:23 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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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.
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Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
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Bright Pebbles
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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2014-12-31
  Suicide bombing outside Libyan parliament in Tobruk wounds 11
Tue 2014-12-30
  41 Militants Killed in Wave of Attacks in Cameroon
Mon 2014-12-29
  Taliban declares 'defeat' of Nato
Sun 2014-12-28
  AirAsia plane with 162 aboard disappears between Singapore and Malaysia
Sat 2014-12-27
  14 ISIL terrorists captured in Ramadi
Fri 2014-12-26
  Pakistani forces kill key planner of Peshawar school massacre
Thu 2014-12-25
  ISIL bombard Baghdadi district with Chlorine gas
Wed 2014-12-24
  Jordan Confirms IS Captured Pilot after Plane Went down in Syria
Tue 2014-12-23
  Pak court suspends conviction of five attackers on Gujrat army camp
Mon 2014-12-22
  Afghan forces launch operation in areas bordering Pakistan
Sun 2014-12-21
  Seven Dead as Pakistan Hits Militant Hideouts
Sat 2014-12-20
  Abu Muslim al-Turkmani: From Iraqi officer to slain ISIS deputy
Fri 2014-12-19
  Dr Usman, Arshad Mehmood executed in Faisalabad
Thu 2014-12-18
  Peshmerga launch massive offensive on ISIS sites in Zammar, Mosul
Wed 2014-12-17
  Nawaz removes moratorium on death penalty


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