An Egyptian appeals court on Wednesday overturned death sentences for 149 people accused of killing policemen in a mob attack on their station, a judicial source said.
The court ordered a retrial for the defendants over the attack, which killed 13 policemen near Cairo on Aug. 14, 2013, the day police shot dead hundreds of demonstrators in the capital.
The initial ruling in February 2015 came amid a series of death sentences in mass trials that were criticized internationally, as the government cracked down on supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.
The court had also sentenced 37 people to death in absentia, but they would have to hand themselves in for a retrial.
The grounds for the appeals court ruling were not immediately available, but the court has overturned hundreds of death sentences over the past year, to the relief of rights advocates and frustration of some in the government who have urged fast track executions.
Seven people have been executed for political violence since Morsi's ouster, including six who were convicted of belonging to an insurgent group.
The military overthrow of Morsi, the country's first democratically elected president, ushered in the worst domestic bloodshed in the country's modern history.
Morsi ruled for only a year, deeply dividing the country, and his removal was met with escalating protests by those who favored the Morsi-supporting Muslim Brotherhood.
On Aug. 14, 2013, less than two months after Morsi's overthrow, police broke up two protest camps in Cairo, killing about 700 protesters.
Morsi's supporters around the country attacked police stations, killing dozens of officers, and torched the churches of Coptic Christians.
Morsi himself is facing several trials and has already been sentenced to death in one case.
Several leaders of his Muslim Brotherhood movement, including its chief Mohamed Badie, have been sentenced to either death or lengthy jail terms.
The movement has been blacklisted as a "terrorist organization" and its assets confiscated. It was also long repressed by former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, whose downfall was one of the major episodes of the Arab Spring.
The police crackdown that initially targeted Morsi supporters was later widened to include secularist and leftist leaders and activists.
Looks like RB's gut reaction may actually be right. The most abject apologies of any doubters are accepted. ;-)
A U.S. official said Wednesday that it appears a low-tech bomb was detonated on a passenger jet over Somalia earlier this week, CBS News correspondent Margaret Brennan reports.
No terror group has claimed responsibility for Tuesday's blast. The explosion blew a hole in the jetliner shortly after takeoff and left one man missing. The plane landed safely in Mogadishu.
Residents of Balad, a town about 18 miles north of Mogadishu, found the body of a man who might have been blown out of the Airbus 321, said police officer Mohamed Hassan.
Abdiwahid Omar, the director of Somalia's civil aviation authority, told state-run Radio Mogadishu that authorities were not sure if the body was the missing passenger.
Government officials also said no evidence had been found so far of a criminal act.
Mohammed Ibrahim Yassin, CEO of Daallo Airlines, did not rule out that a bomb planted on the aircraft was responsible.
"At this stage, everything is possible. We cannot rule out anything at this stage," Yassin told The Associated Press.
Somalia faces an insurgency from the Islamic extremist group al-Shabaab, which has carried out many deadly attacks across the nation.
Capt. Vlatko Vodopivec, the pilot, said he and others were told the explosion was caused by a bomb.
"It was my first bomb; I hope it will be the last," Vodopivec told the AP by phone from Mogadishu. He said the blast happened when the plane was at around 11,000 feet and still climbing to its cruising altitude of 30,000 feet.
"It would have been much worse if we were higher," he added.
Had the blast occurred at a higher altitude, it could have led to explosive decompression on the plane, which might have caused more severe structural damage, and would have forced a more rapid descent because of limited supplies of oxygen to the passengers.
Daallo Airlines said all passengers except one got off the plane safely. It previously said the plane, which was headed to Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, carried 74 passengers.
Yassin acknowledged that signs pointed to the possibility a passenger was sucked from the plane at the time of the blast.
"Maybe one person fell out of the hole. But nothing is sure," he said from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where the airline has its commercial offices.
Cellphone video taken during the flight showed passengers, some wearing oxygen masks, sitting toward the back of the jet, with empty seats in the front of the cabin near the hole in the fuselage. A loud sound of rushing air could be heard on the video, which was shot by Awale Kullane, Somalia's deputy ambassador to the United Nations.
The passengers bunched in the back appeared calm. A child wearing an oxygen mask sat quietly, partially covered by a blanket. Near the hole, oxygen masks dangled and swayed from overhead compartments.
"When we heard a loud bang, the co-pilot went back to the cabin to inspect the damage, and I took over the commands as the procedure demands," the Serbian pilot told the AP, adding that the engines and hydraulics functioned normally so he had no problem flying the aircraft back to Mogadishu.
"Smoke came into the cockpit, but it was mostly concentrated in the back of the aircraft," he said by phone. "The stewardesses did a great job calming down the passengers and following the emergency procedure."
The flight crew included an Italian co-pilot, with two flight attendants from Greece, two from Kenya and one from Bosnia, he said.
Kullane said in a social media post that he "heard a loud noise and couldn't see anything but smoke for a few seconds." When visibility returned, he realized "a chunk" of the plane was missing.
"I think for the first few seconds and minutes ... I was terrified and most people were terrified," he said. "Of course, we give credit to the pilot who landed that plane."
Daallo Airlines said in a statement posted on Facebook that the Airbus A321 was operated by Hermes Airlines, based in Athens, Greece.
Hermes' main business is leasing planes to other carriers that are staffed and serviced by its crew to other carriers. Its fleet includes four A321s, one Airbus A320 and one Boeing 737, according to its website.
Investigators from Somalia and Greece are conducting the inquiry, Yassin said. Daallo will continue to operate while the investigation is carried out, he added.
On Dec. 11, 1994, a bomb on a Philippine Airlines jet with 293 people aboard blew a 2-foot hole in the floor leading to the cargo hold, but the pilot was able to make a safe emergency landing. One passenger was killed and 10 others were injured on the Manila-to-Japan flight.
The plane was flying at about 33,000 feet when the blast occurred, and it landed about an hour later on Okinawa in southern Japan.
Ramzi Yousef, who was sentenced to life in prison for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York, was convicted in the bombing of the Philippine Airlines flight.
#1
Abdiwahid Omar, the director of Somalia's civil aviation authority, told state-run Radio Mogadishu that authorities were not sure if the body was the missing passenger.
"It could be anybody that caught on fire and fell 10,000 feet"
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/03/2016 17:11
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Authorities in China's unruly far-western region of Xinjiang have reduced the sentences of 11 people jailed for threatening state security after declaring success of a de-radicalisation program, state news agency Xinhua reported.
Hundreds of people have been killed in violence in Xinjiang in the past few years. The government blames the unrest on Islamist militants who want to establish an independent state called East Turkestan for minority Uighurs, a mostly Muslim people from Xinjiang who speak a Turkic language.
Seven of the convicts had their life sentences reduced to jail terms ranging from 19.5 years to 20 years, including people convicted of instigating "secessionist activities" or participating in terror attacks, Xinhua said late on Tuesday.
The other four had their jail terms cut by six months from initial sentences ranging from eight to 15 years, it added.
A spokesman for the main Uighur exile group dismissed the report as "political propaganda".
Xinjiang's governor, Shohrat Zakir, was quoted by Xinhua as saying the region's jails had been very successful in recent years at their de-radicalisation efforts, with a majority of convicts becoming law-abiding citizens.
Efforts need to continue in this regard with a focus on those convicted for harming state security, he said.
Xinhua said this had been accomplished by inviting religious leaders and scholars to talk to prisoners about "correct religious belief". And rough men who reminded them what a shame it would for their families if the public were to find out what the prisoners had been up to.
One of those whose sentence was reduced was identified as Yushanjiang Jilili, the Chinese spelling for Huseyin Celil, a Uighur-Canadian jailed in 2007 for terrorism. China considers him a Chinese citizen.
"My crimes caused serious damage to my country, Xinjiang, my family and children that can never be made up for," Xinhua quoted him as saying.
In Ottawa, a Canadian official confirmed Celil's sentence had been reduced.
Canadian diplomats have been unable to get consular access to Celil, who was deported to China while visiting relatives in Uzbekistan.
Reuters was also unable to reach officials in Xinjiang for comment, or any family members of the convicts to verify their stories.
Exiles and many rights groups say the real cause of the unrest is heavy-handed Chinese policies, including curbs on Uighur culture, and a dearth of economic opportunity, rather than any cohesive militant group.
Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the main exile group the World Uyghur Congress, said news of the commutations was a "political propaganda tool" to cover up the government's use of the term extremist to repress the Uighur people.
Seems to me a little Polonium inserted into the supply chain at some point couldn't do much harm. Highly-addictive Captagon pills keep terrorists awake for days and stop them feeling pain
A FACTORY making the highly-addictive drug used by terrorists and ISIS fighters has been uncovered by rebels in Syria.
Tablets and syringes were found inside hotel rooms used by the 'zombie-like' gang before last November's Paris atrocities.
French police believe the evil killers launched their killing spree while high on the lethal 'Terror Potion' which has also fuelled the war in Syria.
ISIS chemists are producing millions of the cheap, easy-to-make amphetamine pills that help keep fanatics awake for days, turning them into wide-eyed Jihadi junkies.
The small tablets, named Captagon, are produced in Syria and are widely available across the Middle East.
It is thought that the trade of the drugs brings in millions in revenue for ISIS, providing funding for weapons and ammunition.
Now the al-Nusra Front - a rebel faction fighting the Syrian government - has found a factory making the drug and confiscated thousands of the pills plus chemical equipment near the city of Aleppo.
The drug was first produced in the West in the 60s to treat hyperactivity, narcolepsy and depression, but by the 80s was banned in most countries because of its addictive properties and no longer has a legitimate medical use.
The "Terror Potion" nickname was gained because of its shockingly powerful effects.
It's usually taken in pill form but it can be dissolved into a liquid and injected.
Seifeddine Rezgui, the killer who caused carnage in Tunisia in the summer, took a Captagon pill before carrying out his shootings.
It has become the drug of choice for ISIS fighters -- who are bizarrely permitted to take it despite being strictly banned from drinking alcohol.
The drug's active ingredient, fenethylline, is metabolised by the body into the stimulants amphetamine and theophylline.
Lebanese psychiatrist Ramzi Haddad says the drug has the typical effects of a stimulant.
He explained: "It gives you a kind of euphoria. You're talkative, you don't sleep, you don't eat, you're energetic.
Syrian state media regularly mention Captagon pills, which sell for between as little as ÂŁ2.50 as one of the items government forces seize alongside weapons when they capture ISIS fighters or raid their bases.
A drug control officer in the central city of Homs said he had observed the effects of Captagon on protesters and fighters held for questioning.
He said: "We would beat them, and they wouldn't feel the pain. Many of them would laugh while we were dealing them heavy blows."
And a former fighter in the Syrian civil war spoke of the effects of the drug, revealing: "The brigade leader came and told us this pill gives you energy. Try it.
"So we took it the first time, and we felt physically fit, and felt like if there were ten people in front of you, you could catch them and kill them."
Photos of the drugs find were yesterday posted online by Terrormonitor.org.
[American Spectator]
Federal Bureau of Investigation will recommend that the Justice Department bring criminal charges against Hillary Clinton and various of her aides, and soon. The evidence consists of materials that the Bureau has gathered in the course of its months-long investigation of Mrs. Clinton's personal server. The recommendations will come very soon.
The charges will consist of some of the following:
1. Improper disclosure or retention of classified information.
2. Destruction of government records.
3. Lying to federal agents.
4. Lying under oath.
5. Obstruction of justice.
All the counts are familiar to those of us who have followed the Clintons for a quarter of a century, but, as one source familiar with the FBI's investigation told me, the evidence has now reached a "critical mass."
There are those who have told me that the FBI has been engaged in a ruse. And that the Bureau will report it has come across nothing criminal. Then the whole imbroglio is expected to blow over.
But such cynics are in the minority. Most sources have told me the investigation is genuine, serious, and all but completed. One told me that it was completed two months ago. The Bureau has put together a case that as one source put it "is locked up. It is solid."
In the past, as FBI agent I.C. Smith wrote in his book Inside: A Top G-Man Exposes Spies, Lies, and Bureaucratic Bungling Inside the FBI, the Clintons have benefited from a few corrupt agents, usually in Arkansas. But that was years ago, and in Arkansas. This is the FBI in Washington, at the top where there are plenty of utterly professional law enforcement officials. They believe truth matters and so does the pursuit of justice. "They have been building a case that is unassailable," one source told me. "It is beyond the case against Petraeus.... It is about the violation of federal statutes."
The only question now is will the recommendations come this month or within sixty days. Politicians with the presidential itch such as Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry hope the FBI's recommendations will come in a week or so to allow them to get into the race. Other observers say the decision will come later. "The FBI," said one source, "does not care about politics." Whether it comes tomorrow or in sixty days, Justice Department policies mandate making such decisions as far in advance of elections as possible. If there are conflicting winds blowing in the Bureau or DOJ, they must avoid the appearance of being motivated by partisan politics.
Yet such is the gravity of the charges and the consequences of neglecting them that they cannot be ignored. If they are ignored, people familiar with the investigation say, it will be impossible to prosecute future defendants being charged with the mishandling of classified information. Said Joseph DiGenova, a former U.S. attorney, "The intelligence community will not stand for that. They will fight for indictment and they are already in the process of gearing themselves to basically revolt if [the Attorney General] refuses to bring charges." FBI Director James Comey has reportedly said he will resign if the Bureau's recommendations for charges are ignored.
One source familiar with the case said the indictments will begin with the "small fish" starting with Bryan Pagliano, the keeper of Hillary's server, and move on to the Big Enchilada, Hillary. Whatever happens, seasoned political players have claimed Hillary will continue in the race for Democratic nomination. Joe Trippi, former campaign manager for 2004 presidential candidate Howard Dean, was overheard in the Green Room at Fox saying Hillary will run to the end.
Avert your gaze. Forgive me if I appear a bit skeptical.
#1
A lawless president and a Congress too impotent to do anything about it. Mitch, prove that you can do more than take up space. How do you want history to remember you?
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/03/2016 15:05
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#2
It is inevitable that Hilla the Hun will get away with it.
What I'm interested in is how this process unrolls given the primaries and ultimately the general election.
The biggest industries in the U.S. - government, IT, entertainment, education, finance/investing/banking - will do and pay whatever it takes to put her in the White House.
We have the worst robber baron class in U.S. history.
It will take the Republicans running a perfect campaign to even have a chance of beating Hillary Clinton. That is how degraded the U.S. has become.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
02/03/2016 20:16
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#7
Question to those who know: How late can a new candidate get into the race?
I mean, Super Tuesday is less than a month away. How late could Biden or Kerry get in?
Posted by: European Conservative ||
02/03/2016 20:48
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#8
I'll lay odds there's documentation prepared for such a contingency.
#9
There must be. After all, a candidate could die before election time.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
02/03/2016 21:54
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#10
How late can a new candidate get into the race?
In theory, as I recall, a new candidate could step up at the party convention. The convention delegates are supposed to vote for the candidate who won their states in the various primaries (or proportionally, if that's how their state chose to go), but after the first vote they can do whatever they want -- and if their candidate died or otherwise stepped down, those delegates can choose not to vote as their candidate would have preferred.
It was fun while it lasted. Maybe next time it could last longer if you just KEEP YOUR EFFING MOUTHS SHUT!
A 10-year-old Afghan boy who helped lead a militia fighting terrorists alongside his uncle, then left to attend fourth grade, was shot in the head and killed by Taliban insurgents while walking to school, officials revealed Wednesday.
Police had called the boy a hero. Photographs on social media showed Wasil Ahmad holding an automatic weapon and wearing a uniform and helmet.
Afghan insurgents killed the boy near his home in Tirin Kot, the capital of the southern Uruzgan province, deputy police chief Rahimullah Khan said.
Ahmad's uncle was formerly a Taliban commander who changed allegiance to the government and was appointed local police commander in Khas Uruzgan district, Khan said.
"He fought like a miracle," the boy's uncle, Mullah Abdul Samad, said, according to Sky News. "He was successfully leading my men on my behalf for 44 days until I recovered."
The use of child soldiers is illegal in Afghanistan, but the charity Child Soldiers International said both government forces and insurgents have been recruiting minors for years.
The organization's policy and advocacy director Charu Lata Hogg told The Associated Press that the Afghan government, despite pledging to stop the recruitment and use of children by the Afghan security forces, was making "slow and tardy progress."
"There is a lack of political will to address this issue, and while it's within the framework of overall human rights violations, there is a specific commitment by the government to clean it up but sufficient measures are not being taken," she said.
In a June 2015 report presented to the U.N. Security Council's working group on children and armed conflict, the London-based charity said children were recruited by the Afghan National Police and the Afghan Local Police. It said the recruitment was mainly driven by poverty, but also filial duty, patriotism and honor.
The ALP, set up with U.S. and British funding to provide security at a district level, has been widely criticized for a range of abuses, including extortion, as in many places it operates much like an independent militia. The government has been urged to disband the force but relies on it to supplement the over-stretched army and police.
The report said that in May of last year the charity found that half of national police checkpoints in Tirin Kot "were staffed with visibly younger officers," who all acknowledged they were under 18 years old.
"They had been performing all responsibilities of a police officer, which included securing checkpoints and engaging in combat for the last few years," the report said.
The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission laid blame for the boy's death with his family, the government and the Taliban, a militant group that has been fighting a 15-year insurgency.
Spokesman Rafiullah Baidar said that local police had hailed the boy as a hero after he battled a Taliban siege following the death of his father in fighting.
"Possibly he took up arms to take revenge for his father's death, but it was illegal for the police to declare him a hero and reveal his identity, especially to the insurgents," Baidar said.
"One side made him famous and the other side killed him -- both sides ignored the law and acted illegally," he said.
Afghanistan ratified the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1994, committing the country to end the recruitment and use of child soldiers.
The Child Soldiers International report says that in the troubled Kunar, Logar and Zabul provinces "10 percent of law enforcement officials are suspected to be underage." Although statistics are not available, recruitment is believed to be highest where the insurgency is strongest, notably the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand, and provinces bordering Pakistan.
Children are also used by the Taliban in active combat, as spies and as suicide bombers, the report said. It cited a number of attacks, including one last year on the French Institute in Kabul during a packed performance that killed at least two people and wounded another 20.
Children recruited into the armed forces or insurgent groups are vulnerable to sexual abuse, Child Soldiers International said.
Despite a decree from President Ashraf Ghani last February criminalizing underage recruitment into the armed forces, the government has "failed to implement proactive mechanisms to identify, verify and release children" who had been recruited, the report said.
So sad. I'm sure we'll hear how F-35 development will be severely hampered by the loss of the tiny amount of money that this will cost the Air Force.
There is good news for Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. The Air Force will not retire A-10s until the year 2022.
Tuesday Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said the A-10 has been such a powerful tool in the fight against ISIS that plans to retire the warplane are on hold for another six years. That's what a lot of Southern Arizona was hoping to hear. The A-10 is a huge part of the local economy.
More life for the A-10 is good news for the local economy but bad news for ISIS.
The plane is built around a huge gun meant to slice open tanks so to an A-10 almost anything else is a soft target.
Troops on the ground love the plane because it can fly low and slow enough to tell good guys from bad, and make sure bad guys have a bad day.
As a former A-10 pilot and Squadron commander Congresswoman Martha Mc Sally has been fighting to keep the A-10 in the air. She's looking past the A-10s new 2022 retirement date---just six years away.
"And I've been advocating that until we have a suitable, proven replacement to keep our troops safe that we need to keep the Warthog flying and I'm going to continue to lead that fight."
The A-10 helps protect Southern Arizona's economy too.
As the main mission at Davis-Monthan it keeps the base open and active.
D-M's own analysis says the base puts almost one-point five billion dollars into the local economy through the impact of military and civilian workers, plus military retirees attracted by the services the base provides.
The Air Force actually spent more than a billion dollars to beef up the A-10 and upgrade it's electronics to keep it flying past 2022 to 2028.
But tight budgets and the itch to switch to the new more sophisticated short-winged turkey F-35 led the Air Force to try to retire the A-10 almost right away---until the fight against ISIS gave the A-10 new life.
#3
...And now - I'd say, spring/fall of next year - watch A-10 units have sudden, unexplained personnel and parts shortages. The USAF leadership was badly embarrassed by having to climb down on this, and they have very long memories.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/03/2016 20:30
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#4
The USAF is strapped for cash. I think that the board of directors should got off their duffs, start doing the people's business and deal with it.
The F-35 is not a replacement for the A-10. No amount of wishful thinking will make it so.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/03/2016 20:36
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This could escalate quickly
Japan on Wednesday condemned Pyongyang's plan to launch a space rocket, calling it a thinly disguised test of a long-distance ballistic missile.
The government ordered Aegis ballistic missile defense warships of the Maritime Self-Defense Force and land-based Patriot PAC-3 rocket units to respond should projections show components falling in Japanese territory.
"This will effectively mean the firing of a ballistic missile. It would be a clear violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions and a grave, provocative act against the security of our country," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a Lower House session Wednesday.
"Japan, in cooperation with the United States and South Korea, will strongly urge North Korea to refrain from (conducting) the launch," Abe said.
On Tuesday night, North Korea notified the International Maritime Organization that it plans to send a "satellite" into orbit between Feb. 8 and 25. It said the launch will take place on one of those days between 7:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Japan time.
Pyongyang conducted a fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6. The planned launch is widely seen as both a test and a demonstration of its advances in rocketry.
Feb. 16 is the birthday of late leader Kim Jong Il, the father of current leader Kim Jong Un. Observers believe the launch window has been set around the day for domestic purposes ‐ to bolster the nation's morale.
During a daily news conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga pointed out that the projectile, expected to be launched from a site in western North Korea, would fly over part of the Sakishima island chain of Okinawa Prefecture, which includes the islands of Ishigaki and Miyako.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/03/2016
10:10 ||
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[19 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
#1
Considered as a test it is cost effective; Japan doesn't have to pay for the target vehicle launch. And no one could complain about a lack of realism.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/03/2016 11:07
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A suspected terror stabbing and shooting attack took place on Wednesday near Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City according to police reports.
Police reports indicate that three terrorist armed with a rifle, knives and an explosive device arrived at the Damascus Gate. The terrorists aroused the suspicion of a Border Police unit in the area.
During the attack, one of the terrorists provided his ID card to the officers while a second terrorist pulled out a rifle and began firing shots.
Two female Border Police officers were injured by fire. The Border Police unit quickly responded, firing at and killing all three terrorists.
Palestinian sources identified the three terrorists as Ahmed Rajeh Zakarneh, Mohamed Ahmed Kmail and Ahmed Najeh Abu Al-Rub. The sources said that the three came for the town of Qabatiya in the Jenin area, north of the West Bank.
One of the guards, Hadar Cohen, 19, was critically wounded and later died from her injuries while hospitalized in Hadassah Medical Center.
According to Palestinian sources, the attackers were aged between 20 and 21. Two of the attackers had been barred from entering Israel by the Shin Bet, and all three crossed over illegally.
[Times Live] After 26 years South Africa is more divided than ever before. Pikers! We've accomplished record 'division' in less than two presidential terms.
This was the view expressed by former president FW de Klerk at a conference held in Cape Town today to commemorate the 26th anniversary of his speech that initiated South Africa's transition into democracy.
"Racism is too much a part of the narrative of political leaders. Politicians including Jacob Zuma must avoid utterances that feed racism which is divisive." His advice to the president was to focus on nation building and develop a "peaceful, positive and constructive co- existence". Obviously de Klerk does not understand crisis politics and inequality.
"The overwhelming majority of South Africans are not racist," said De Klerk. An 'overwhelming majority' is made irrelevant by racist congressional caucus law makers.
He said there was no hierarchy of racism in SA, but that the ANC was "guilty of imposing such a hierarchy".
The conference tackles the topic of multiculturalism in South Africa, with renowned struggle icons such as Mathews Phosa, Rhoda Kadalie and former Justice Albie Sachs, engaging on the topic.
[Telegraph] The oil major reported its worst loss in more than 20 years in the wake of the oil price collapse, but expects the market to 'rebalance' by the year end.
BP expects to emerge from the oil market collapse by the end of 2016 even as the severe downturn in the oil market has left the energy giant nursing its worst annual loss in at least 20 years.
In 2015, the oil major posted an annual loss of $5.2bn, compared to the $8.1bn profit the oil major recorded in the previous year, and will be forced to slash thousands of jobs on top of those already announced.
The worse than expected financial results drove a share price sell off of over 8pc on Tuesday, driving BP's stock to levels almost 25pc lower on the year at 334 pence per share.
But chief executive Bob Dudley said the market will begin to "rebalance" by third or fourth quarter to allow oil prices to correct to levels between $50-$60 per barrel by the end of the year.
#6
They haven't suspended performance bonuses. Our rig brought a well in way before scheduled, meaning they saved alot of money. No reason not to share some of that money with the people who made it happen.
#7
At the current rate of real inflation, this should only take about eighteen months.
The value of the oil doesn't go up, the value of the dollar goes down.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
02/03/2016 20:22
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#8
Yep, they're 'creating' money faster than the drillers can find crude.
[The Mail] Activist groups have attacked 'troubling' plans by the University of Connecticut to create a black-only living space. Western civilization is so boring. The old tribal ways really are best.
From next fall, ScHOLA²RS House, -- which stands for 'Scholastic House of Leaders who are African American Researchers and Scholars' -- will offer accommodation for 43 male African-American undergraduates on Storrs campus.
The university claim the move is to boost minority applicants and graduation rates and is 'no more segregated... than putting individuals with common interests together,' Vice Provost Sally Reis told Fox News. But others appear to see it as a backwards step after decades of progress against segregation.
#12
Notice the Alabama Highway Patrolmen in that photo all have empty holsters? A bit late now, but LaVoy Finicum could have learned something from that photo.
#14
"In a world without separate but equal...
Please buckle your belt for the sequel,
In which collared scholars
All holler for dollars,
And if you don't pay 'em, some sheikh will!"
#15
Look, UConn's constructing a rookery
(With cool institutional cookery!)
Where "ScHOLA2RS" can heckle,
Disparage the shekel,
And rudely repudiate Bookery.
[PJ Media] A former assistant director of the FBI is voicing concern about the Justice Department's lack of movement on the ongoing FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's email arrangement which, according to sources, will be wrapping up soon. If Bureau leaks are to be believed, the results will show that Mrs. Clinton and her underlings flagrantly violated some of our most important laws -- laws that are designed to protect national security. Anyone else would have been arrested by now.
Ron Hosko, who is today president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund (LELDF), said on Fox News over the weekend that the DOJ hasn't shown any interest at all in the FBI probe, which is odd, because the investigation has reached the point where main Justice should be showing some definite signs of activity in the case.
The lack of DOJ activity and the Obama administration's continued tendency to publicly prejudge the outcome of the ongoing investigation have some Republicans questioning whether the investigation is being handled in a fair and impartial manner. "My concern is we're not hearing about the prosecutors' support that the FBI would need to pursue this investigation vigorously," Hosko said.
#5
When is it going to dawn on the American people that there are TWO kinds of Law in this Nation. There is Law for the PEONS and the Sheep and THEN there is the Law for the Masters.
If you bend over in America you deserve what happens to you, you twinkling hypocritical buggers. Bottom Line: The American People can't trust the Masters. If you act like a Peon, you ARE a Peon.
Hillary and the Democrats don't CARE for the ordinary people because they believe they are ABOVE the Law. And you know what..they ARE. How does it feel to be a Peon?
[Wash Times] After securing a narrow margin of victory in Iowa, and running behind in the polls in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton is rolling out a new advertisement in what her campaign views as their firewall in South Carolina featuring former Attorney General Eric Holder. Louis Farrakhan and Al Sharpton were both unavailable.
In the 30-second television spot, Mr. Holder says "if you want to make sure Republicans don't take us backward, help Hillary move our people us forward."
Mrs. Clinton has been championing her role in the Obama administration as Secretary of State, and promising Democratic voters she will continue Mr. Obama's legacy if elected. Mr. Obama, in an interview last week, all but endorsed Mrs. Clinton's candidacy.
The advertisement -- the first television spot Mrs. Clinton has released in South Carolina -- focuses on her record of fighting for children, civil rights, voting rights, free stuff, and gun control.
A dramatic video in Mexico shows at least six police officers running away from cartel members who ended up murdering a businessman as his family watched in horror.
The man's family reached out to police for help when a group of gunmen showed up at their house in Cristo Rey, Sinaloa and dragged him out of the house, according to local newspaper Noroeste. But instead of helping the family, the officers showed up, saw they were outmanned, and ran away, cell phone video captured by the family shows. When you need to defend yourself NOW, the police are only minutes away. If they choose to respond.
The images show the officers running toward a state police vehicle and a municipal police patrol car, getting in and taking off.
"Puncture the tire, puncture the tire. These (profanity) are going to take off," a woman's voice can be heard saying on the video.
The gunmen take the man, later identified as 27-year-old EliĂĄs Constantino, to the middle of the street in broad daylight.
"They're going to kill him. They're going to kill him," people are heard shouting.
Shots are heard and a black vehicle is seen leaving town a few seconds later. Piercing screams could be heard as gunshots rang out.
Four state police officers and two municipal officers fled town, Escuinapa's police chief told Mexican media outlets.
The officers have given statements to prosecutors, telling investigators that they fled because they were outnumbered, the police chief said.
Constantino's body was dumped on the MazatlĂĄn-Durango highway.
#1
Bob: There are some sins that you commit that you can't come back from, you know, no matter how hard you try. You just can't. It's like the devil is waiting for your body to quit. Because he knows, he knows that he already owns your soul. And then I think maybe there's no devil. You die... and God, he says, Nah, nah you can't come in. You have to leave now. You have to leave and go away and you have to be alone. You have to be alone forever.
#2
Old Bob old boy, I'm currently watching "No Country For Old Men," and so can somewhat empathize with your literary take on death and the running officers.
#4
cops maybe never got any plato, but they made sure they never got any plomo. I judge not.
Posted by: Bov Flimbers ||
02/03/2016 3:43
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#5
Bob: People like this, they take
something from you and you let them...
and they just act like
they keep coming back.
And you still owe them something
and they never, never change.
You can never change their mind.
#6
JHH, I don't know about being alone but the company may not be the best.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/03/2016 12:40
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#7
Then he replied: "I am Friar Alberigo;
He am I of the fruit of the bad garden,
Who here a date am getting for my fig."
"O," said I to him, "now art thou, too, dead?"
And he to me: "How may my body fare
Up in the world, no knowledge I possess.
Such an advantage has this Ptolomaea,
That oftentimes the soul descendeth here
Sooner than Atropos in motion sets it.
And, that thou mayest more willingly remove
From off my countenance these glassy tears,
Know that as soon as any soul betrays
As I have done, his body by a demon
Is taken from him, who thereafter rules it,
Posted by: james ||
02/03/2016 20:37
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U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has revealed the existence of a program to develop a so-called "Arsenal Plane." Designed to back up fifth generation fighters such as the F-35 with a large number of conventional weapons, backing up the high-tech fighters with tried-and-true ordinance.
The new plane would supplement the F-35 in places where the fighter-bomber is weak, particularly in weapons carrying capability. The F-35 can only carry a handful of weapons internally‐anything carried on the outside of the aircraft makes it more visible to radar. To make matters worse, that internal storage must be shared between air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons.
n one possible scenario, a pair of Joint Strike Fighters could fly towards a heavily defended enemy ground target armed only with air-to-air missiles for self protection. Several hundred miles behind them an Arsenal Plane--relying on intelligence gleamed by satellites or unmanned vehicles--could launch a pre-planned strike against enemy air defenses. Stealthy and with a range of more than 200 miles, JASSM can be launched from beyond the reach of enemy air defenses, ensuring the Arsenal Plane's safety. Meanwhile, the stealthy F-35s creep closer to the target. After the first round of missile strikes, the F-35s then use their Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS) to assess damage to enemy defenses. They could then ask for another round of follow-up strikes on surviving defenses, or request the Arsenal Plane to unleash a barrage on the target itself.
One thing we don't know about the Arsenal Plane is what aircraft the Pentagon has in mind. The Secretary of Defense only alluded to "one of our oldest aircraft platforms." This could refer to the B-52 bomber, which has long range, a midair refueling capability, an internal capability to carry eight JASSMs, and underwing pylons that could carry up to a dozen others. The Arsenal Plane could also be converted older versions of the C-130 Hercules.
Above all, the Arsenal Plane must be affordable, and this suggests taking an existing platform such as the B-52 and performing simple upgrades. The Pentagon has a lot of planes to buy and not a lot of money. The Arsenal Plane is coming at a time when the Air Force is planning to purchase the F-35, KC-46 Pegasus airborne tanker, Long-Range Strike Bomber, and T-X jet trainer. But its presence in the air could conceivably help them all.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/03/2016
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#1
F-35s armed only with AAMs. F-35s can't dog fight so they would have to dry gulch any enemy fighters. Why can't you arm the B-17sB-52s with AIM-120s and forget the F-35s?
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/03/2016 1:21
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#2
Maybe they could also have A-10s back it up for ground support?
#3
gorb, thinking further along that line, drop A-10s from the B-52s to increase the range.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/03/2016 1:34
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#4
In other words, the arsenal plane is a C-17 loaded to gross max with JDAMs and JASSMs. Install suitable roll on racks & conveyor systems to eject said munitions out the back door.
This concept keeps coming up every 25 years or so. Somehow it goes away just as quickly.
Somebody must have had a heart attack at the last "progress" report on the F35.
#6
If it's "affordable", how can the insiders get rich off it? It will never fly. Sorry.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
02/03/2016 8:03
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#7
Last time I checked they were called short range to theater ballistic missiles. Those wouldn't be AF controlled/funded delivery devices. Hey guys, let's duplicate functions.
#14
So the F-35 isn't really a fighter - more of a recon?
CF, the F-35 is a multi-role aircraft. Jack of all trades, master at none. It was intended to be cheap (that ship has sailed) and to be led into battle as a bomber by the F-22 air superiority fighter. But there were not enough F-22s built for that scenario to be effective.
Its internal bomb storage is only large enough to hold bombs xor AAMs; it is inadequate to hold both. External mounts would defeat stealth. The F-35 will lose in a dog fight due to its lack of maneuverability. It is supposed to use stealth and long range AAMs to knock out enemy aircraft at a distance (I affectionately call this the "dry gulch" strategy after US westerns where an enemy lines the edges of a gulch and in a surprise attack, shoots down at the people trapped at the bottom). Bummer if the enemy can figure out how to beat stealth.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/03/2016 14:25
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[AP] WASHINGTON -- The top Army and Marine Corps generals told senators Tuesday that it will take up to three years to fully integrate women into all combat jobs, adding that women also should have to register for the draft.
The military service leaders repeatedly vowed that they will not lower standards to bring women into the more grueling jobs. But they warned that inherent physical differences and different injury rates between men and women will have an impact on how the integration moves ahead.
The selective service question revealed differences between the military chiefs and their political leaders. Army Gen. Mark Milley and Marine Gen. Robert Neller both flatly said that women should be included in the requirement to register for the selective service at age 18. But Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Army Acting Secretary Patrick Murphy would only say that the issue should be discussed. Political leaders overall have so far been reluctant to endorse the draft requirement.
The sometimes contentious hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee laid bare the deep reluctance of Marine Corps leaders to bring women into certain demanding infantry, armor and special operations jobs.
After a lengthy review by the services and the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Ash Carter in December ordered all combat jobs open to women, but also vowed that no standards would be lowered to make way for women.
#4
Well, women can be great MPs, helicopter pilots, fighter pilots, maybe even drive a tank, a Bradley or an LAV, but I don't see them in a pure infantry role because of the 100 lbs of crap a grunt has to carry and the full contact nature of the sport. I bet they would do a lot of things if we let them but we can count on losing a lot of them before we get to full integration.
I'd say we should let some of these radical feminist iconoclasts that are lambasting for full integration and send them to the Marine Infantry School at Pendleton or Advanced Infantry Training at Benning.
Being a grunt is the toughest thing you can do, more arduous than college football so I am not sure how the ladies will respond to it.
#5
Yes. The ninetieth amendment broke the link between militia duty and the franchise which had existed from the start of the old republic. Well past time to put in back in. You want a say in the process, then you have skin in the game.
Every 'citizen' should be a member of the militia not just males (Title X USC, para 3.1.1 Militia). If you wish to decline militia duty you forfeit your 'citizenship' and become a 'resident' without a vote.
#11
Registration is one thing. Imagine the fun if somebody were to try and actually re-activate the draft.
I remember some of the sillier hysteria on some of the Ivy League Campuses when the First Gulf War (1991) got rolling. This would be a lot funnier. Hysterical, even.
I suspect there would be measurable reduction in overall efficiency, but I think it would be worth it just to be able to say "You wanted Equality? O.K., you got it. Enjoy!"
#13
This is for all you new people. I have only one rule. Everybody fights, no one quits. If you don't do your job, I'll kill you myself! Welcome to the Roughnecks!
Do you want to know more?
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
02/03/2016 18:24
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#14
Dang, forgot the quotation marks.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
02/03/2016 18:24
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#15
Imagine the fun if somebody were to try and actually re-activate the draft.
Soldiers today are highly trained and motivated professionals. What would the military do with unmotivated drafted soldiers? Bugs Bunny testing large caliber shells for duds comes to mind.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/03/2016 19:39
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#16
Bush's fault.
No major Conventional andor NucWar thru Year 2050 iff not 2100 = USDOD devol towards a 1-to-1-1/2 "Ocean/Regional War" Strategy = All-Volunteer Military All the Time for All Situations/
Contigencies = Women in Frontline Combat = OWG Amerika sending its All-Female USN Sub to covertly attack China's Three Gorges Dam in the Name of Humanity + Anti-Solar, GWCC Global Planetary Survival-Environ.
James Joyce, "Ulysses": "He is young Leopold, as in a retrospective arrangement, a mirror within a mirror (hey, presto!), he beholdeth himself. That young figure of then is seen, precious manly, walking on a nipping morning from the old house in Clambrassil to the high school, his book satchel on him bandolier wise, and in it a goodly hunk of wheaten loaf, a mother's thought."
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/03/2016 20:00
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Most of the time, balloons are just full of helium, and maybe confetti. Unless you're living in South Korea.
In January, North Korea began sending over balloons to South Korea full of used toilet paper, cigarette butts, and propaganda messages, according to The Telegraph. Hard to believe that even these rabid dogs would waste such a valuable resource.
"Stop the anti-North psychological warfare broadcasts that light the fuse of war," some of the messages read. Others encouraged residents to, "Knock out the gang of [South Korean leader] Park Geun-hye."
It's unclear how effective North Korean's marketing campaign will be, since human excrement doesn't exactly inspire warm and fuzzy feelings. Over the past few weeks, the messages appear to have grown even more grotesque, with some going so far as to label Geun-hye, "political filth." I would like to say it was straight from Pudgy himself, but as we all know, he doesn't have an anus because he doesn't need to go to the bathroom.
When the balloons initially appeared in the demilitarized zone, officials were concerned that they might be actually be biochemical weapons. Some balloons have flown beyond the demilitarized zone, but upon exploding, officials have only found trash inside.
South Korea has since 'hit back' by blasting annoying pop music over the border into the communist country.
Toilet paper is, currently, an unregulated weapon --even the 'ultra soft' variety. Send over individual squares of Charmin with Pudgy's face on them.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/03/2016 1:12
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#2
Sorry about the multiple posts. I got messages like "can't reach postgress server", then it didn't show up on the homepage, then it dropped the title. Then I gave up hoping you mods would be able to make sense of it. :-) Thanks.
[AP] WASHINGTON (AP) -- They say crime doesn't pay, but that might not be entirely true in the District of Columbia as lawmakers look for ways to discourage people from becoming repeat offenders. Sort of a 'Earned Criminal Income' as it were.
The D.C. Council voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a bill that includes a proposal to pay residents a stipend not to commit crimes. It's based on a program in Richmond, California, that advocates say has contributed to deep reductions in crime there. 'D.C. Council votes unanimous approval'...shocking, SHOCKING !
Under the bill, city officials would identify up to 200 people a year who are considered at risk of either committing or becoming victims of violent crime. Those people would be directed to participate in behavioral therapy and other programs. If they fulfill those obligations and stay out of trouble, they would be paid.
The bill doesn't specify the value of the stipends, but participants in the California program receive up to $9,000 per year.
#3
Another ever-expanding, never-ending wealth transfer program. I wonder where they'll get the cash?
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/03/2016 13:11
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#4
Tribute payments to the criminal class, an overt acceptance that the traditional system of deterrence fails when you just don't punish adequately those that offend. Look for fortified neighborhoods and private police, and other medieval European social structures to reappear as the Republic descends into entropy...
[Iran Press TV] The Pentagon has planned to double its military budget to battle the Daesh [Islamic State]Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... terrorist group in 2017.
US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, making the announcement in Washington, DC on Tuesday, said, "Because we are accelerating the [anti-Daesh [Islamic State]] campaign, Department of Defense is backing that up and we need to back it up in our budget with a total of $7.5 billion in 2017, fifty percent more than in 2016."
He added, "This will be critical as our updated coalition military campaign plan kicks in."
Further reviewing the huge budget, Carter referred to drones and warplanes at the forefront of an 18-month-old coalition effort to allegedly fight ISIL in Iraq and Syria.
"We've recently been hitting ISIL with so many GPS-guided smart bombs and laser-guided rockets that we're starting to run low on the ones we use against Lions of Islam the most," he said, "So we're investing $1.8 billion in 2017 to buy over 45,000 more of them."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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#1
I hope they added a line item for LoJack in the vehicles supplied to Iraq and our "friends" in Syria. Just think, you can switch it on and guide the bombs just where they need to go.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/03/2016 12:43
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During a memorial service Saturday for seven Hamas militants killed when the tunnel they were in collapsed on them, Hamas rolled out what it called a "locally-produced" tank it said was fashioned out of an Israel Defense Forces' tank captured two years ago...
... Netanyahu's spokesman Ofir Gendelman pointed out that the contraption appeared to be a mockup constructed of wood placed atop another vehicle whose wheels could be spotted poking out of the bottom.
Others suggested the gun turret was actually a sewage pipe. I think they mean the main gun, not the turret. The end of the "gun" looks like a piece of four-inch (101mm) plastic pipe, the kind used in toilet drains, of approximately the same diameter of a real tank's main gun. Running it at night probably made it look fearsomely realistic.
Posted by: lord garth & skidmark ||
02/03/2016
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#1
That main gun looks like a big-a$$ cork gun. I'll bet it takes forever to pump it up.
#6
As many of the the previously used components may suggest, one of the many features of the (new?) Hamas inspired and produced MSS_ST-1, is that it is also deployable as a "mobile" septic system.
Built on a recently smuggled acquired 1971 Toyota mainframe, the final system testing has been temporarily suspended pending the location of an actual "working" toilet suitable for loading the ammunition chamber and other offensive Palestinian functions.
Equipt with an insulated 4" pvc septic pipe main gun barrel, the MSS_ST-1 should provide a "shit load" of firepower.
In addition to rendering it invisible to radar, the stealthy pilfered plywood and styrofoam exterior provides adequate buoyancy to give the MSS_ST-1 rare landing craft capabilities.
But due to Israeli restrictions on Mediterranean sea access, landing craft capabilities testing has also been delayed until the perpetually flooding and overflowing Palestinian sanitation reservoir recedes sufficiently for even a landing craft to approach or navigate the Turd Farm Bog Hole test area.
But unless overloaded with Hamas make-shift rockets it should test out reasonably well.
All in all, Palestinian make-shift ingenuity and stealth (in Palestinian stealth = stolen) technology should make the MSS_ST-1 (Mobile Septic System Shit Tank-1) a welcome addition to the Palestinian fleet.
Ship, you know better than to post ideas like that in a public forum! The Abrams is going to need to exploit these weaknesses in order to win if these two tanks ever go to battle against each other!
The golf club bag rack (rear) essentially doubles its mission profile. The addition of the front tether coupler increases its survivability on windy days and can also be utilized as an anchor for flash poo floods.
[ARA News] ERBIL – Militants of the Islamic State (ISIS) executed on Tuesday the head of al-Hisba (taxation) department in Iraq’s northwestern province of Nineveh, local sources reported.
Members of the Islamic Police raided the office of the ISIS-led al-Hisba department in the city of Mosul in Nineveh province and killed its head and three of his escorts.
Media activist Abdullah al-Malla told ARA News in Mosul that Saleh Ahmed al-Jabouri, head of al-Hisba department, was killed by gunmen of the Islamic Police in the Tanak neighborhood of Mosul city.
It was not immediately clear whether the assassination of al-Jabouri was carried out with an order from ISIS leadership.
“Killing al-Jabouri reflects the growing rifts in the ranks of ISIS,” al-Malla said.
ISIS has not issued any statement on the incident.
In the meantime, pro-ISIS media activists described the execution as “unofficial”, since there was no order by the Sharia Court to execute al-Jabouri and his escorts.
Posted by: badanov ||
02/03/2016
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#1
He was probably involved in an affair with another ISIS top dawg's goat.
(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – On Tuesday, Kurdistan Democratic Party announced, that four members of the so-called the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) were killed in an artillery shelling in northern Mosul (405 km north of Baghdad).
The Kurdistan Democratic Party Spokesman in Mosul Saeed Mamouzini said in a press statement received by IraqiNews.com, “Today, Peshmerga artillery forces targeted gatherings of ISIS near the asphalt factory in Bashiqah (17 km in northern Mosul), killing four members of ISIS.”
Mamouzini added, “The shelling also resulted in the destruction of a military vehicle belonging to the ISIS.”
Posted by: badanov ||
02/03/2016
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[Iran Press TV] An Israeli arms company along with an American military contractor have won a $713 million contract to provide aircraft training for the UK military.
Media reports say, Elbit Systems Ltd. from Israel said in a statement that Affinity Flying Services Limited -its UK joint venture with Kellog, Brown and Root Limited (KBR)- has been awarded a fixed price contract for the support of Ascent Flight Training (Services) Ltd. from the UK Military Flight Training System (UKMFTS) program.
Each company holds a 50% stake in Affinity.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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[Iran Press TV] The US presidential race is a “political theater” that is designed to create the appearance of an uncertain outcome although in reality the nominees are chosen beforehand, an American geopolitical analyst says. Like they say, even a dipshit is right twice a day.
“The election process in the United States itself at its very root is merely political theater, it is a Kabuki dance designed to convince the American people that they have some say in who rules over them, when the sad reality is they do not,” said Eric Draitser, the founder of Stopimperialism.com.
“The United States is ruled by one single ruling establishment, one political class that controls both parties and that is in fact subordinate to the financial elites on Wall Street and all throughout the imperial system,” Draitser said during an interview with Press TV on Tuesday.
“There is no such thing as democracy in the United States; it is an illusion today just as it’s been for many years before,” he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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[DAWN] As news of the deaths of two Pakistain International Airlines (PIA) employees spread on Tuesday evening, the national flag carrier's flight operations across the country began shutting down in solidarity with the protesters, officials said.
While flight operations remained on schedule Tuesday morning despite the PIA union's call for a complete strike against privatisation of the airline, the situation changed drastically after employees protesting outside the Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... Airport clashed with law enforcement personnel, resulting in the deaths of two PIA employees.
PIA flight operations were suspended around 4pm at Lahore's Allama Iqbal International Airport, Islamabad's Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... International Airport, Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. 's Bacha Khan International Airport and the Quetta Airport, officials confirmed. The status of PIA flights at Karachi was already uncertain due to the violent protests.
PIA Lahore front man Athar Awan said flight operations had been halted after two PIA employees were killed in festivities with forces. PIA's employees later gathered outside the Lahore Airport to register their protest, DawnNews reported.
Employees also gathered outside the Islamabad Airport Tuesday afternoon, vowing to continue their protest till their demands are accepted by the government. Police and Rangers personnel have been deployed in the area.
A Civil Aviation Authority official in Quetta told Dawn.com that flights to and from Quetta had been delayed indefinitely following the protest outside Karachi Airport.
Earlier today, Civil Aviation officials told Dawn.com that flight operations at JIA, Islamabad's Benazir Bhutto International Airport and Lahore's Allama Iqbal International Airport were expected to continue as scheduled.
But as PIA employees in Karachi clashed with law enforcement personnel, the status of a number of flights at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport remains unclear.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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[Iran Press TV] A street bearing the name of the Daesh [Islamic State]Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... terrorist group's warlord, His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ...formerly merely the head of ISIL and a veteran of the Bagram jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us... , in the Saudi capital Riyadh has made the news after Saudi citizens called for changing the street name.
A Saudi teacher, Ahmad al-Hakami, posted a comment on the official twitter account of Riyadh's municipality, saying it was "better to change the street name" in a bid not to echo the name of the Daesh [Islamic State] terrorist leader, Saudi online newspaper Sabq reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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#1
hmmmm - can we soon rename all the Barack H. Obama Blvds and High Schools we saw springing up in 2008? (in a bid not to echo the name, of course)
Posted by: Bov Flimbers ||
02/03/2016 3:32
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#2
All those Martin Luther King Boulevards gracing the nation's cities are all doing just dandy, aren't they?
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016 6:17
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[AlArabiya] Yemeni President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi said Tuesday that military operations against Houthi militias would not stop until the Yemeni capital was liberated.
Backed by airstrikes from the Saudi-led coalition, popular resistance and Yemeni armed forces loyal to Hadi are fighting Houthis who control Sanaa and much of the country’s north.
Hadi, the internationally recognized president of Yemen, described the operation to recapture Sanaa as a “decisive battle that is irreversible,” in a phone call with the governor of Sanaa, cited by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
Hadi said pro-government forces had achieved “a number of victories in parts of Sanaa” and that the military operation would not end until the Yemeni capital was “liberated from coup militias.”
Meanwhile, Yemeni security officials and tribal elders said fighting has intensified outside Sanaa, killing at least 30 people in two days.
They said Tuesday that some 25 fighters from both sides were killed in fighting between government forces and Houthis and their allies some 65 kilometers east of the capital. Five civilians were also killed.
In the southern port city of Aden, fighting erupted Tuesday night between government forces and al-Qaeda fighters after authorities set up roadblocks as part of a security plan.
Yemen's conflict pits a loose array of government-allied forces against Houthi rebels and troops loyal to a former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The officials, who are neutral in the conflict, and tribal elders spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.
[BREITBART] A retired media boss at a major German state broadcaster has admitted his network and others take orders from the government on what -- and what not -- to report.
National public service broadcaster Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), which was recently forced into a humiliating apology for their silence on migrant violence and sex assault is being drawn into a fresh scandal after one of their former bureau chiefs admitted the company takes orders from the government on what it reports. He said journalists received instructions to write news that would be "to Ms. Merkel's liking".
Former head of ZDF Bonn Dr. Wolfgang Herles make the remarks during a radio event (from minute 27) in Berlin where journalists discussed the media landscape. Moving on to the freedom of the press, the panel chair asked Dr. Herles whether things in Germany had got "seriously out of whack". With an honesty perhaps unusual in Germany, Dr. Herles replied that ordinary Germans were totally losing faith in the media, something he called a "scandal". He said:
"We have the problem that -- now I'm mainly talking about the public [state] media -- we have a closeness to the government. Not only because commentary is mainly in line with the grand coalition (CSU, CDU, and SPD), with the spectrum of opinion, but also because we are completely taken in by the agenda laid down by the political class".
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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[ARA News] KOBANE – Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) repelled an attack by militant fighters of the Islamic State (ISIS) in the vicinity of Kobane, northern Syria, military sources reported on Tuesday.
“A group of ISIS terrorists tried to infiltrate in the Tishreen village southwest of Kobane, but the YPG repelled the attack and forced the militants to retreat towards their strongholds in Jarablus,” YPG spokesman Habun Osman told ARA News in Kobane.
The offensive started when an ISIS militant carried out a suicide attack near a security checkpoint for the YPG in the vicinity of Tishreen Dam, followed by an attempt by a group of some 30 ISIS militant fighters to storm YPG’s headquarters in the area.
“Subsequent to the terror attack, clashes broke out between our (YPG) fighters and ISIS terrorists in the vicinity of Tishreen Dam,” the official source reported.
At least four ISIS militants were killed in the clashes, before the rest of the militants retreated towards Jarablus city on the border with Turkey.
The radical group has been striving to regain positions in the countryside of Kobane and other areas in Aleppo province, north Syria, after losing ground to the Kurds.
On December 26, 2015, Kurdish YPG forces and allied rebels from the western-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) expelled ISIS militants from the Tishreen Dam and dozens of villages on the Euphrates River.
By losing the Tishreen Dam ISIS is considered to have lost one of its most strategic supply lines, as the dam has severed the group for more than two years to move its militants and weapons between its main bastion of Raqqa and the cities of Manbij and Jarablus in the northern countryside of Aleppo.
Posted by: badanov ||
02/03/2016
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(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Iraqi Ministry of Interior announced on Tuesday, that five police elements were either killed or wounded in a bomb blast targeted their patrol in southern Baghdad.
The source said in a press interview, “This morning, a bomb exploded on a police patrol while passing in al-Yusufiyah District in southern Baghdad, killing one of its occupants and wounding four others, in addition to causing material damage to the vehicle.”
The source, on condition of anonymity, added, “A security force rushed to the area and transferred the wounded to a nearby hospital for treatment and the dead body to the forensic medicine department, while a raid was carried out to search for the perpetrators of the bombing.”
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Iraqi Ministry of Interior announced on Tuesday, that 11 people had been either killed or wounded in a bomb blast south of Baghdad.
The source said in a press statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “This evening, a bomb exploded near a popular cafe in Madain District south of Baghdad, killing two people and injuring nine others.”
The source added, “A security force rushed to the area and evacuated the wounded to a nearby hospital to receive treatment and the dead bodies to the forensic medicine department, while cordoned off the area of the incident and prevented approaching it.”
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Pakistain's cricketer-turned politician, Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality problems... , has said that Pakistain's flawed policies are the cause of bad blood with Afghanistan.
"I am very sad that the relationship is not good and I am also sad to say that Pakistain is to blame. We did not have consistent policies dealing with Afghanistan and then the interference in the past in affairs of Afghans has caused a lot of bad blood," Khan who leads Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) told VOA news during an interview published on Monday.
Khan emphasized the need for both Pakistain and Afghanistan to remove tensions in bilateral ties and build mutual trust to jointly tackle the security challenges facing them.
"I think in future I see very good relationship between the two countries. I think there is a realization in Pakistain that the mistakes were made. We feel that we have to correct this bad blood caused by flawed policies," Khan said.
PTI chief also urged Taliban to enter into peace negotiation with Afghan government as fighting is not the solution.
"They (the Taliban) must come to the table and they must resolve this dispute through talks and negotiations. War is never a solution. In fact, war leads to unintended consequences just like in Iraq and Syria," Khan said.
But if grinding of the peace processor succeeds with Taliban, the region is facing another security challenge from the terrorist group of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) that has already started its operation in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistain.
Khan held U.S. responsible for the emergence of ISIS. The kind of utter stoopidity we've come to expect from Imran.
"Now you see the emergence of ISIS or Daesh [Islamic State] (the Arabic acronym for Islamic State), and God knows where this is going to go. This is a direct result of that insane U.S. invasion of Iraq," he said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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#1
Why do people think that negotiating with violent terrorist/criminals has a chance of working? Remember what violent terrorist do: they break the law! They are never going to stop being violent thugs until somebody puts them in their grave.
Remember that the folks left in Gitmo are also violent terrorist/criminals. Letting them out is going to have equally bleak results.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/03/2016 20:30
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[CBSNEWS] HOLTSVILLE, N.Y. -- A patient exited the back of a moving ambulance and was then struck and killed in a hit-and-run crash on Long Island, police said.
It happened just before 7 p.m. Monday in Holstville as Frank Ligrnetta, 51, of Bay Shore was being transported from Stony Brook University Hospital to a hospital in Amityville, reports CBS New York.
As the ambulance headed south on Nicolls Road, police said Ligrnetta got out of the back of the vehicle and was struck by a dark-colored sedan which expeditiously departed at a goodly pace.
Ligrnetta was pronounced dead at the scene.
The ambulance was impounded for a safety check and the investigation is ongoing.
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02/03/2016
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The National Directorate of Security (NDS) has detained seven members of Haqqani terrorist network who had planned a number of terrorist attacks in Kabul city.
A statement released by NDS on Tuesday states that the attacks were carried out in Hawa Shinasi area, in front of Hamid Karzai International Airport and on the road leading from Shaheed Masoud square to the airport which left a number of people martyred and wounded.
According to the statement, the terrorists were arrested from Hudkhil area, located in the 9th sector of the city, last night.
They are identified as:
Khalid S/O Shah Mohammad, head of Haqqani terrorist network in Kabul city
Asmatullah S/O Shah Mohammad, head of propaganda campaign of Haqqani network
Noorullah S/O Baba Jan, he was keeping car bombs inside his residence in Hudkhil area
Farhad S/O Zubair, he was keeping suicide bombers
Walid S/O Mohammad Zubair, member of the group
Bahadur S/O Qadir Gul, member of the group
Khoshahal S/O Ahmad Gul, member of the group.
120 kilograms of explosives, four remote controls, a pistol and other terrorist materials were recovered from their hideout.
The terrorists intended to plan and execute more attacks in Kabul city but NDS foiled their plans, the statement adds.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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[REUTERS] Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is not among those accused of wrongdoing in an investigation by Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... 's chief prosecutor into alleged corruption involving the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) sovereign fund, a Swiss official said on Tuesday.
The Swiss Attorney General's office said last Friday that it had identified four cases of alleged criminal misconduct in the suspected misappropriation of about $4 billion from Malaysian state companies.
Andre Marty, front man for the Office of Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber, said in an emailed response to a Rooters query on Tuesday, "In the ongoing criminal proceeding of the OAG (Office of Attorney General), Mr. Najib Razak is not one of the public officials under accusation."
Lauber's office announced last August that it had opened criminal proceedings related to 1MDB, whose advisory board is chaired by Najib.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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[POSTBULLETIN] Greece's defense minister says the country's armed forces have been tasked to overcome delays in building screening centers for migrants and refugees reaching Greek islands from nearby The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... .
Panos Kammenos made the announcement Tuesday as Athens faces mounting European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... pressure to complete four screening "hotspots" this month after one opened on the island of Lesbos late last year.
The minister said local profiteering was in part to blame for the delays, and told news hounds: "No one any longer will be charging (migrants) 5 euros ($5.40) to charge their mobile phone or 4 euros ($4.35) for a bottle of water. That is over."
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is due to attend a Syria donors' conference in London this week and will discuss the refugee crisis with Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as Mom... and Prime Ministers Mark Rutte of The Netherland and Ahmed Davutoglu of Turkey.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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#1
Why are all the migrant centers attached to north bound train stations.~
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/03/2016 12:27
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[Iran Press TV] The United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... special envoy for Syria has warned of a total failure of the Syria peace talks as the main opposition coalition announced that it would not attend a planned meeting with the envoy.
Failure "is always possible, particularly after five years of a horrible war, where the sides hate each other, where there is a huge lack of confidence," said Staffan de Mistura in an interview with the Swiss television RTS on Tuesday.
"If there is a failure this time after we tried twice at conferences in Geneva, for Syria there will be no more hope. We must absolutely try to ensure that there is no failure," he added.
His comments came as the so-called High Negotiations Committee (HNC) cancelled a scheduled meeting with the UN envoy, saying, "At this moment, there is no reason to repeat ourselves with de Mistura."
The gathering was to be the opposition delegation's second meeting with the Swedish-Italian diplomat as part of the UN-brokered Geneva negotiations aimed at finding a political solution to the deadly conflict in Syria.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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[Iran Press TV] President of Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Masoud Barzani has called for a non-binding independence referendum.
"That referendum does not mean proclaiming statehood, but rather to know the will and opinion of the Kurdish people about independence and for the Kurdish politicianship to execute the will of the people at the appropriate time and conditions," said Barzani in a statement published on his website on Tuesday.
He added that "the situation is now suitable" for Kurds to decide about their fate.
"If the people of Kurdistan are waiting for someone else to present the right of self-determination as a gift, independence will never be obtained. That right exists and the people of Kurdistan must demand it and put it into motion," Barzani noted.
Over the past few years, Iraq's Kurdish region has attempted to increase its semi autonomy by constructing an independent oil pipeline to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... and conducting other oil exports. But the presence of the Daesh [Islamic State]Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... terrorist group in Iraq and Syria and a global decline in oil prices have brought the region close to insolvency.
"Our region has witnessed too many disasters and change is on the way and the Kurds haven't caused any of it. The Kurds have only been the victims while others have brought disasters and conflict to the region," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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[Iran Press TV] Oil prices in global markets have fallen sharply once again as poor economic data came out of the world's number one energy consumer, China.
Oil prices had seen some boost in recent days due to speculation about the possibility of Russia and member states of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) reaching an agreement to slash output in the oversupplied market, AFP reported on Tuesday.
However, the man who has no enemies isn't anybody and has never done anything... after skepticism about such a deal started to rise in markets, the upward momentum in global markets hit a snag starting in late Monday trading.
To add to the market misery, reports came in denoting that manufacturing activity in China had contracted at its fastest pace in more than three years in January.
At about 1725 GMT on Tuesday, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in March stood at USD 30.32 a barrel, showing a decrease of USD 1.30 compared with Monday's close.
Meanwhile, ...back at the palazzo, Count Guido had escaped from his bonds and overwhelmed his guard using the bludgeon the faithful Filomena had smuggled to him in the loaf of bread... Brent North Sea crude for April also shed USD 1.12 to be sold at USD 33.12 a barrel.
According to a market commentary by Capital Economics, last month's rise in prices "was based on shaky foundations, namely hopes that Russia and OPEC would agree to cut output."
The commentary added, "We doubt that there will be any coordinated agreement even though the market remains oversupplied. Meanwhile, ...back at the palazzo, Count Guido had escaped from his bonds and overwhelmed his guard using the bludgeon the faithful Filomena had smuggled to him in the loaf of bread... US inventories of both crude oil and gasoline have continued to build over the last month. Indeed, US crude oil stocks are now at record highs."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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#1
All economic data coming out of China has been manipulated by the party. So why is market reacting at all?
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/03/2016 12:37
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#2
After a brief hiatus, the unit oil trains are running just a frequent into the Anacortes refineries.
#3
Refiner's profits should be unaffected by feed stock prices. They make about a penny profit per gallon of gas. Refining costs are added to the feed stock price and passed on to the wholesalers.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/03/2016 19:50
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#4
State government oil revenues and petroleum shares hardest hit.
[THEBLAZE] Microsoft's search engine has predicted that GOP presidential contender Donald Trump won't just win over Iowa Monday night -- he'll win all four February primaries and caucuses.
Whoops. Still, second is almost the same as first...
Bing announced its predictions Feb. 1, the day of the Iowa caucuses. Bing Predicts, part of the search engine's Election Center, predicted Trump to take Iowa as well as New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. The search engine has predicted that Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as The Heroine of Tuzla and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Al Haig ... will take all but New Hampshire -- which Bing predicted will go to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders ...The only openly Socialist member of the U.S. Senate. Sanders was Representative-for-Life from Vermont until moving to the Senate for the rest of his life in 2006, assuming the seat vacated by Jim Jeffords... In a blog post about the predictions, Bing said it expects a "close race for both parties" in Iowa with Trump winning 39.8 percent of Iowans compared to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz with 30.5 percent and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio with 12.9 percent. Clinton is predicted to come away with 50.1 percent of the votes compared to Sanders' 46.8 percent.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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#1
Forgot that "UN-favorible" rating which cuts him off at the knees.
Take his numbers and reduce them by half.
Seems to be Iowa was always right the past few turns. Conservatives are the ones who will challenge this.
What you need in the heartland without payola to the assumed idiot Iowa crowd. They are bigger than Corn or subsidies
[Iran Press TV] Several pro-Saudi bandidosmurderous Moslems loyal to Yemen's runaway former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi were killed Tuesday in two separate attacks carried out by Yemeni forces in the country's southwestern province of Ta'izz.
The mercenaries were killed in an operation conducted by the Yemeni forces backed by fighters from Popular Committees in the al-Shaqab district of the province, Arabic-language al-Masirah satellite television network reported.
Several other bandidosmurderous Moslems were killed in the al-Misrakh district of the same province, when the kaboom of a land mine struck them.
Earlier in the day, Saudi military aircraft pounded Nihm district of the capital, Sana'a, leaving a child dead and several others injured.
Saudi warplanes also bombarded the house of Sheikh Hamad Abdulrahim Karami, a senior member the General People's Congress political party, in the Naqil al-Ebel district of Ta'izz.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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[ALMANAR.LB] Tunisian forces have killed three suspected gunnies during an ongoing security sweep in the Gabes region in which one of their men was maimed, the interior ministry said on Tuesday.
It said the operation in the rugged mountainous Tounine area some 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of the coastal town of Gabes began after the authorities were alerted to the presence of a "terrorist group".
Two holy warriors were killed on Monday in an exchange of fire in which a member of the National Guard gendarmerie was also maimed.
On Tuesday morning, a specialized unit entered a cave where a third suspected terrorist had taken refuge. He was killed in another exchange of fire.
Guns and ammunition were seized during the ongoing operation, the ministry added.
There was no immediate information about the identities of those killed or what group they may have belonged to.
Terrorist holy warriors have killed dozens of police and soldiers since the 2011 revolution that ousted former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Last year alone, the so-called 'Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and the Levant' takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed... group claimed attacks on the national museum in Tunis and a popular resort hotel, killing a total of 59 tourists, and the suicide kaboom of a bus that killed 12 presidential guards.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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[DAWN] A teenage rape victim was allegedly sexually assaulted a second time while in hospital receiving treatment for the original attack in India's east, police said on Monday, in the latest case of violence against women.
The 15-year-old girl has told police that she was raped on Sunday by a security guard at the hospital where she had been admitted in Jamshedpur city in the impoverished state of Jharkhand.
"We started the paperwork but haven't done much else and jugged ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... the private security guard posted at the hospital after the girl's complaint and are now awaiting her medical report", police superintendent Chandan Jha said.
"The girl has (now) been referred to the best hospital in the city for further treatment and rehabilitation," he added.
The girl had been admitted several days earlier to the M.G.M Hospital after informing police that she had been raped by a teenager in her neighbourhood on the city's outskirts.
"Since the accused in the earlier case was also a minor, he was detained and sent to a juvenile remand home," Jha said.
Public hospitals in India are often poorly resourced, with lax security, while overworked doctors and nurses struggle to cope with a crush of patients and families.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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#1
"The girl has (now) been referred to the best hospital in the city for further treatment and rehabilitation,"
Where she can get raped again by the best security guards.
[WASHINGTONPOST] North Korea said Tuesday that it plans to launch a satellite-carrying rocket as soon as next week, a move that could demonstrate potential progress in the nation's long-running mission to develop a reliable intercontinental ballistic missile.
The North gave notice of the launch -- which it said would come between Feb. 8 and Feb. 25 -- in an alert to the International Maritime Organization, a group responsible for maritime safety.
Although North Korea has described its satellite program as peaceful, the launches rely on long-range missile technology and defy sanctions designed to restrict the country's weapons program. A launch coming just four weeks after an underground nuclear test would sharpen concern in the West and across Asia that Pyongyang is attempting to make progress on its ultimate goal -- the ability to fire off a miniaturized nuclear warhead with an accurate ballistic missile.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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#1
An "earth observation satellite". So Pudgy wants a Landsat to figure out how to improve rice production. Righttt.
[ALMANAR.LB] 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... 's Major General Mansour Al-Turki, Ministry of Interior front man, admitted on Monday that the Saudi money has been used to fund al-Qaeda terrorist group in Afghanistan with billions of dollars.
During an interview with the BBC British news network, Turki justified sending the Saudi petrodollars to al-Qaeda by claiming that certain individuals have convinced Saudi nationals to offer money under the title of charity grants,
"[Saudi] People had been convinced they were providing money to help the poor when in fact the funds were going to finance al-Qaeda in Afghanistan," Turki said.
The Saudi General Administration for Financial Investigations announced earlier that it had received acknowledgements in 2014 about cases of suspected money laundering and terrorism financing crimes.
It said that 88% of the acknowledgments received were related to financing terrorism.
Turki denied that Saudi Arabia has ever funded any terrorist organization, but claimed there had been a "misuse of our financial system."
According to WikiLeaks report issued in 2010 citing leaked US diplomatic cables, private individuals in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states friendly to the United States are the chief source of funding for al-Qaeda, the Taliban and other terrorist groups in the Middle East region.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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#1
Soddies fund terrorists to attack the West. Bammer funds Iran to buy Russians arms to attack the Soddies. Sounds more Byzantine than Bismarck.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/03/2016 0:29
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#2
This Sami Al Arian shit has been going on worldwide for about 50 years - look how long it took the US to twig to it and act - to no lasting result
Posted by: Bov Flimbers ||
02/03/2016 3:26
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#3
That would never happen in America just ask Southern Poverty Center, ACLU, Blacklivesmatter, Doctors Without Borders, CAIR.......
#4
A decade ago "Alms for Jihad", the best book on Muslim use of charitable grants to fund terrorism, was attacked by the Saudi Bin Mahfouz family. Cambridge Press capitulated and its publication was halted. The book is as valid today as then and worth the read -- if you can find a copy.
By Wam
Published Wednesday, February 03, 2016
The Yemeni army and pro-government Yemeni National Resistance forces today liberated most of the districts in mountainous region of Naham, north-east of Sanaa, from the rebel Houthi militia and forces loyal to now-ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh, a senior security official said.
The army and Resistance forces are combing the liberated areas and chasing remnants of the Houthi-Saleh rebels, the state Yemeni news agency quoted the chief of security of Sanaa Governorate as saying.
He noted that the rebels destroyed the bridges along the road to Furdat Naham in a bid to stop the advance of pro-government army and Resistance fighters.
Tens of rebels were killed, injured and captured and their military equipment were destroyed in the battles, the official added.
Earlier today, the Yemeni army and Resistance fighters regained control of a number of military posts in Naham after defeating the rebel Houthi-Slaeh militants and advanced closer to the strategic Furdat Naham military base.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A senior commander of the Afghan National Army (ANA) was martyred in an kaboom in southern Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province of Afghanistan, the officials said Tuesday.
The incident took place late on Monday night in Greshk district of Helmand province, provincial governor front man Omar Zwak confirmed.
Gen. Atamir Agah was serving with the 3rd Brigade of 215 Maiwand Corps of the Afghan National Army, Zwak said, adding that three soldiers were also maimed.
The district administrative chief Mohammad Sharif also confirmed that Gen. Atamir was martyred while he was on his way to Mosa Qala district when his vehicle struck an improvised bomb.
However, Switzerland makes more than cheese... another source speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Gen. Atamir lost his life along with 25 other soldiers after a group of murderous Moslems launched an attack on an army camp in Greshk district.
The anti-government armed hard boy groups have not commented regarding the incident which comes amid deteriorating security situation across the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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[Iran Press TV] A court in 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... has handed down a 10-year prison sentence to an activist who used Twitter to call for protests and sit-ins against the ruling Al Saud dynasty, and the release of dissidents.
On Tuesday, the Specialized Criminal Court found the unnamed man guilty of opening several Twitter accounts, and using the accounts to "call for protests and spread chaos to release detainees that are held for security and terrorism charges," Arabic-language Saudi Arabian daily newspaper Okaz reported.
He also described Arab rulers as despots, published posts deemed offensive to security forces and joined a protest calling for the release of a detainee outside the prisoner's home.
On January 12, Saudi authorities incarcerated Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! the sister of tossed in the clink Please don't kill me! Saudi blogger Raif Badawi along with her two-year-old daughter in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah. She was questioned for four hours before being transferred to Dhaban prison.
Raif Badawi's wife, Ensaf Haidar, wrote on her Twitter page that Samar's arrest was related to her alleged role in managing a Twitter account campaigning for the release of her ex-husband, Waleed Abulkhair.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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[Iran Press TV] The European Commission has unveiled tight new security measures to detect and block the flow of funds to terrorist cells and organizations.
The Commission, which is the executive arm of the 28-nation European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... , detailed the plans at the European Parliament in the French city of Strasbourg on Tuesday.
"We have to cut off the resources that bully boyz use to carry out their heinous crimes," Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said in a statement.
"By detecting and disrupting the financing of terrorist networks, we can reduce their ability to travel, to buy weapons and explosives, to plot attacks and to spread hate and fear online," he said.
The measures include stepping up efforts to track the sources and channels of the terrorists' funds provided by certain countries .
Daesh [Islamic State]Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... snuffies not only receive financial aid from countries such as 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... , The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... and 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... , but also make money through the illicit trade of antiques and ancient artifacts, as well as the sale of crude oil.
Saudi Arabia's rulers backed by Wahhabi holy mans have directly and indirectly funneled billions of dollars to various terrorist organizations, such as the Daesh [Islamic State], al-Qaeda, Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... , who are greatly influenced and derived by Wahhabi and Salafist teachings taught by Saudi holy mans.
The commission will put forward the new security measures for review to EU finance ministers next week.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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#1
EU is the biggest terrorist financier in the World.
#2
But if you confiscate the funds that could be a big windfall. But bribes go into individual pockets while confiscation goes into government coffers.
Hmm, give the officials who find the illegal terror money a finders fee. That is, make confiscation competitive with bribes.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/03/2016 11:03
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[THEGUARDIAN] When Cleve Jones, a longtime gay activist who led the creation of the Aids Memorial Quilt, went to his local gay bar in the Castro district, he saw something that shocked him.
"The tech bros had taken over The Mix. They commanded the pool table and the patio. These big, loud, butch guys. It was scary," he said. "I'm not heterophobic, but I don't want to go to a gay bar and buy some guy a drink and have him smirk and tell me he's straight. They can go anywhere. We can't."
Residents of the Socialist paradise of San Francisco ...where God struck dead Anton LaVey, home of the Sydney Ducks, ruled by Vigilance Committee from 1859 through 1867, reliably and volubly Democrat since 1964... 's historically gay Castro district are worried that it's changing, as speculators come in to flip the few remaining ramshackle old Victorians and the old-timer gay bars shutter. In a recent small survey, 77% of people who have lived in the neighborhood for 10 or more years identified as gay, while only 55% of those who moved in the past year did.
When an iconic building was on the market earlier this year, it was between two potential tenants: a gay strip club and a SoulCycle. The SoulCycle won. This winter, The Gangway, the oldest gay bar in town, is closing down.
"When you lose the geographic concentration, you lose a lot," Jones said. "We lose the cultural vitality, the political power -- you also lose the specialized social services."
Let's be clear: San Francisco is still extremely gay, with 6.2% of the population identifying as LGBT, according to a recent Gallup poll that puts the Bay Area as the gayest region in America. Portland follows with their gay population at 5.4% of the region.
But the gay community is changing -- and traditional LGBT institutions are rapidly disappearing.
"The neighborhood is more professional gay now. Not that it's less gay, but you gotta have money to move in," said Hank Cancél, who lives on the corner of 19th and Castro streets, where he keeps a collection of gay erotic dolls in the window. "So now it's Apple gay. Airbnb gay."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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#2
Think this through with me. Because there are so many gay men in San Francisco heterosexual women find it hard to find a husband. Tech Bros are awkward around heterosexual women. But by moving to San Francisco the Tech Bros are increasing their chances of actually getting a date.
The perfect circle abides.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/03/2016 1:30
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#3
Don't sweat it dude - this kinda stuff will last a few more decades in SF
Sucks to have people you don't like moving in and taking over, no? Might change the historical character of the locale. Oh wait.....
Posted by: Bov Flimbers ||
02/03/2016 4:19
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#4
I calculate that the next 1906 level earthquake will hit San Francisco in 2027. Then we will see how all these interesting people fare.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/03/2016 11:36
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#5
Apple gay, huh.
Well listen here sister: put the damn dolls down and go win back the billiards table. Few years back friends and I went to an old stomping ground where the shuffleboard table was dominated by, as you would say, young butch frat boys with money. We challenged and won the table after an admittedly good, fun, close game.
So put you big boy panties on, or stop making the argument that gays can't sustain generational enterprises. Nobody like a whiner.
[Iran Press TV] Russia has accused UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond of "dangerously" spreading misinformation about Moscow's role in Syria.
On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova referred to Hammond's remarks on Moscow's air campaign against Lions of Islam in Syria as a "dangerous stove piping of disinformation."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also described as " completely groundless" the "statements from London and other Western capitals" claiming that Russia's "Air Force operations in Syria are not contributing to the resolution of the conflict."
Lavrov made the remarks in response to Hammond's comments that Russian President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... is undermining international peace efforts in Syria by attacking moderate opposition forces and supporting Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... .
The Russian foreign minister, who made the comments following a meeting with Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan in the United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi, added that such claims "reflect the anxiety of our Western partners that our Air Force is operating effectively in Syrian airspace," and that his country is used to the West's "unsubstantiated claims".
Kremlin front man Dmitry Peskov also noted that such "illogical and incorrect" claims "cannot be taken seriously".
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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#1
What part of Russia will attack pencilneck's enemies didn't London and Washington understand?
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/03/2016 1:05
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Russia's "Air Force operations in Syria are not contributing to the resolution of the conflict."
F*cking spoiled children unable to deal with the real world.
[EXPRESS.CO.UK] STEPHEN Hawking has suggested that humans may be able to harness the power of a ‘mini’ black hole but has warned that it could DESTROY us. So maybe we shouldn't do it? Maybe we should drill down to the earth's core and release some magma... No. Wait. Don't do that, either. Maybe we should just use coal?
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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#1
Aw, Fred. You know mankind. We'll work feverishly on it because otherwise the Russians will beat us to the punch.
#2
That's too much Copper Wire. You are better to burning off this natural contaminate GOD gave you to move about with torque, speed, safety, and it is everywhere to harness. By the Grace of the Lord.
Explain to me how you will afford that electrical cable or bend in frequency or form?
Humans Could stop acting like know it all ass#oles and use the gifts they have already to fix the place, but they could not make others suffer otherwise.
Sometimes, the ground "game" matters.
I don't you traipsing around the Universe. You may look but do not move there.
What you fix here starts with your idiot politics and your laziness to know what would or would not help.
Unicorns are all you have. The Hard Logic is what will FEED MY CREATION.
#4
Utilizing science and resources are not the issue for this world. The human condition is the problem that needs fixing: 7 deadly sins, tyranny, abuse of power......
#11
I know he's supposed to be a genius, but frankly I find this attention whore's ideas to be tedious.
Posted by: regular joe ||
02/03/2016 12:43
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#12
Well just dangle it from a stick in front of your car, and you can do light speed.
Russians hell; the new paleo tank is powered by a black hole which was mined last week from the 3,5879th most holy site of dar islaam. A black hole so powerful it collapsed the roof of the unaccompanied miners' funeral house.
#13
Waiting for Jesse Jackson to noodle this through to a new theatre of blacks being exploited -> reparations for black holes - also nicely allegorical to what happens to our tax $ anyway.
The view from ThinkProgress.org.
Sen. Ted Cruz won the Iowa caucus with about 28 percent of caucusgoers’ votes, edging out Donald Trump by 4 percentage points. His fellow senator, Marco Rubio, received 23 percent.
Cruz was hammered in Iowa for his stance against ethanol subsidies, a major boon to the corn-heavy state, but also netted endorsements from prominent Iowa conservatives like Bob Vander Plaats, an anti-LGBT activist who heads the Iowan organization The FAMiLY Leader.
Though Trump has grabbed headlines for his racist and bombastic rhetoric, the senator from Texas holds some of the most extreme policy ideas in the race. Here are some of the key policies Iowa Republicans have endorsed with their ballots tonight: Bombastic, I guess. Racist? When? Or is any Republican racist by definition? Name one who isn't.
Women’s Health ... is mistakenly conflated with forcible expulsion of fetuses from the womb. If a woman has not had an abortion she can't be healthy.
Cruz is staunchly anti-abortion and has worked in Texas to make it harder for women to receive abortions. As solicitor general of the state, he defended a federal law that bans partial birth abortion. He has helped lead the Senate crusade to defund Planned Parenthood and he has also said that one of the first things he will do in office is launch a federal investigation into the women’s health organization.
Immigration
The son of a Cuban immigrant, Cruz frequently talks about the need to secure the border and end sanctuary cities. Opponents have targeted him for once supporting “amnesty,” but Cruz has never and still does not support a path to citizenship for the country’s 11 million undocumented immigrants. And he does not think the United States should accept any Syrian refugees.
Terrorism
Cruz has called for “carpet bombing” and “saturation bombing” regions of Iraq and Syria controlled by ISIS — a tactic that would be a war crime under the Geneva Conventions. After November’s terrorist attack in Paris, he called for conducting airstrikes with less concern for civilian casualties.
Obamacare
Cruz, who grabbed headlines with his 21-hour “filibuster” to try to defund Obamacare in 2013, loves to say that he will repeal “every last word of Obamacare.” But he doesn’t like to talk about what he would do when millions of Americans lose their coverage. Instead, he repeats the false claim that Obamacare has raised premiums and caused millions to lose their part-time jobs. If Cruz were to be elected president, millions of Americans would lose their health insurance — and he doesn’t have a plan to stop it.
Climate Change
Cruz is the worst denier of all the climate change-denying Republican candidates. He refuses to agree with the 97 percent of climate scientists who agree that the planet is warming, instead choosing to cite discredited satellite data. Cruz has also introduced legislation that would expand oil and gas drilling, approve the Keystone XL pipeline, prevent the federal government from regulating fracking, and curtail EPA regulations.
Gun Control
Cruz has an A+ rating from the National Rifle Association. He frequently holds Second Amendment rallies and speaks about how you can only “stop bad guys by using our guns.” And he loves to spread the conspiracy theory that the government is trying to take away people’s guns. In Congress, he has helped to lead the defense of gun rights and helped to vote down gun legislation year after year.
LGBT Rights
Cruz is campaigning on a promise of ignoring or overturning the Supreme Court’s ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide. Cruz has also spoken out strongly against granting equal rights to transgender people, and has opposed laws that would protect LGBT employees from workplace discrimination. He has received endorsements from several anti-LGBT religious organizations.
#1
Perhaps, but Cruz can't change anything without the support of the bunch of clowns we the people elect. Including ALL of the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senators.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/03/2016 13:22
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[DAILYMAIL.CO.UK] The firm says technique produces 90 percent less greenhouse emissions
Begins by isolating cow and pig cells that have the ability to regenerate
Costs $18,000 to make 1lb ground beef, compared to $4 in US grocery store
Working on plant-based alternative to replace fetal bovine serum
$18,000 a pound? I can remember when hamburger was for po' folks.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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#1
On top of spaghetti,
All covered with cheese,
I lost my poor expensive meatball,
When somebody sneezed.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
02/03/2016 1:25
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#2
On the menu next White House Dinner,
POSOTUS: "Have you seen the price of Wagyu beef"?
And Arugala.
Posted by: Bov Flimbers ||
02/03/2016 3:55
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#3
Adding another source to the list of 'mystery meat' (do you really know what you are eating or just avoiding the notion that you have to believe that it's pure and safe?)
#2
I shudder to imagine the disrespect this egomaniacal twit will display. Just once, can't we just sing it as written, not as an R&B ballad, or some demonstration of the "interpretative" skill of the singer. Its the GD National Anthem, sing it with respect!
#2
The soft racism of the Left - Blacks can't compete or integrate like Asians, Hispanics, Pacific Islanders, et al. Remember the Klan was a child of the Donks as was the plantation system. Now the revival.
Remember: The 'H' is silent in Benghazi
[LibyaHerald] Three members of the Libyan Army Saiqa special forces were killed today, along with three civilians while Jalaa hospital reported that 22 people had been wounded.
It is understood that the soldiers died in Bouatni when IS forces counterattacked and retook the much fought-over Pepsi factory. The assault this morning prompted a response from the air force, which had resumed airstrikes on IS positions on Saturday after a lull of some days. This evening the fighting around the factory was continuing.
At least two of today’s air attacks were high altitude. One observer said that it appeared that the air force was using some sort of targeted bomb, possibly with a new warplane. Until now, most strikes from fast jets have been relatively low-level passes.
One of the army wounded in Bouatni was an unidentified Saiqa commander, who was hit by a sniper. Tanks then shelled the sniper’s suspected position. The officer is being treated in Jalaa hospital’s intensive care unit. A civilian was also injured by a sniper in Leithi. The other civilian casualties were caused by apparently random shelling.
#1
IS forces counterattacked and retook the much fought-over Pepsi factory.
Huh?
Easy solution: Tell one of the Daesh-bag fighters that Pepsi also makes Mug Root Beer and they'll run back inside and burn it down with themselves in it.
(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – Anbar Provincial Council announced on Tuesday, that the security forces had managed to cut off ISIS supply lines between Fallujah and Khalediya Island east of Ramadi.
The head of the provincial council, Azal Fahdawi, said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “Security forces belonging to Baghdad Operations advanced into the Iternational Highway from the Japanese Bridge [axis] and liberated the area located between the Japanese Bridge and Albu Shajal in Khalediya Island (23 km east of Ramadi).”
Fahdawi added, “The security forces were able to cut off ISIS supply routes between Fallujah and Khalediya Island,” pointing out that, “The military operations are still ongoing to retake the areas of Khalediya Island.”
(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – The brigades of al-Hashed al-Sha’bi militia announced on Tuesday, that the forces of al-Hashed al-Sha’bi had managed to repel an ISIS attack by a booby-trapped vehicle on the defensive lines of al-Hashed southeast of Thurthar.
The brigades of al-Hashed al-Sha’bi said in a statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “Our forces managed to foil an ISIS suicide attack by a booby-trapped vehicle on the first defensive line southeast of Thurthar,” pointing out that, “The forces foiled the attack and seized the vehicle after the terrorists had escaped from it.”
The statement also added, “The engineering force was able to dismantle the booby-trapped vehicle that had contained 30 high-explosive devices.”
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – Haditha District Council in Anbar Province announced on Tuesday, that the so-called ISIS is mobilizing its elements to attack Haditha, while pointed out that ISIS is besieging the city from four sides.”
The Head of Haditha Council Khalid Nassif said in a statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “Intelligence information revealed that a large gathering of ISIS members is preparing to attack Haditha District (170 km west of Anbar),” pointing out that, “ISIS is besieging Haditha from four axes, including al-Sakra and al-Zawiya areas north of Haditha, as well as al-Ghabat and al-Makhazin areas in the western axis.”
Nassif added, “ISIS conducted dozens of terrorist attacks on the defense lines of the security forces in Haditha during the last period,” indicating that, “The security forces are seeking to secure Haditha and defend the city’s entrances against terrorism.”
(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – A security source in Anbar province said on Tuesday, that two ISIS elements had been killed during violent clashes in Khalediya Island east of Ramadi.
The source said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “A force from the army had managed to kill two prominent elements of ISIS, known as Zar Sabah al-Isawi and Mustafa Hamdi, during clashes with ISIS in Albu Shajal area in Khalediya Island (23 km east of Ramadi),” pointing out that, “The clashes are still ongoing, amid the security forces’ advance into Khalediya Island against ISIS elements.”
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – Khalidiya Council in Anbar province announced on Tuesday, that the so-called ISIS Mufti (Egyptian national) was killed in an aerial bombardment conducted by the international coalition aviation in eastern Ramadi (110 km west of Baghdad).
The Head of the Council Ali Dawood said in a statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “This morning, international coalition aviation, based on accurate intelligence information, conducted an air strike on sites belonging to the ISIS in Khalidiya Island (20 km east of Ramadi), killing Abu Dujana al-Masri who are also known as ISIS legitimate Mufti in Anbar.”
Dawood added, “The aerial shelling has also resulted in the detonation of a vehicle carrying a rocket launcher, as well a large cache of weapons and explosive devices in the targeted area in Khalidiya Island in eastern Ramadi.”
Posted by: badanov ||
02/03/2016
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[DAWN] THE government has comprehensively fumbled with its plans for PIA. Invoking the Essential Services Act of 1952 to break the strike of PIA unions against the proposed privatisation plan appeared to be an act of sheer panic. But the subsequent festivities between striking workers and security officials at the airport, resulting in the tragic death of two employees, have turned the plans into a fiasco. It must also be mentioned that the reported resort to gun sex at an airport by the security agencies, where there are aircraft circling overhead, is beyond stupidity -- it is downright dangerous and those responsible must be made aware of this. Beyond the follies of the moment, the entire episode has turned a delicate matter into an open contest of wills of the sort that is usually won by the party with more grit, which in this case would be the unions.
The signs of mismanagement were there all along. Nobody was sure who was overseeing the exercise to find a 'strategic investor' for the airline. Was it the aviation adviser or the privatisation minister? Frequent and, apparently often unwanted, input from the finance minister didn't help things either. All felt free to give all sorts of commitments publicly, including reassurances to the workers that nobody would lose his or her job in the process. When the ordinance to convert the airline into a corporation was defeated in the Senate, we had three different committees in the National Assembly overseeing the affairs of PIA. When the Supreme Court restrained the aviation adviser from taking any independent decisions, he gave his resignation to the prime minister which the latter did not accept, creating further confusion about the role of the adviser. As the government hurtled towards the end-December deadline it had set for itself, matters appeared to be spinning out of control. In response, it leaned on the law-enforcement agencies to get a grip on things as protests spilled out onto the streets. The result is that two people are now dead, the union has gained two 'deaders' to rally around, and is now stronger than ever before. So much for the best-laid plans.
Nobody should doubt that PIA is in grave difficulty, with accumulated losses having risen to Rs300bn, an amount that is almost equal to the circular debt in the power sector. Few also doubt that the situation can be credibly improved without some sort of game-changing intervention that injects private-sector energies into the management of the airline. But the manner in which the government has pursued this ambitious goal is clumsy and smacks of haste and hubris. The PML-N has never been famous for its ability to bring people together, to reach out to adversaries and carve a consensus around a highly contested goal. The way in which they have dealt with the restructuring of PIA only reinforces this perception.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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KARACHI: An official of Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, died from a bullet wound while performing his duty near Karachi airport on Monday, officials said.
The paramilitary force official, identified as Jan Khan, was performing his duty near the parking area of the airport when he received a bullet in the chest, said Malir SSP Rao Anwar. The wounded man later died during treatment.The SSP said the police were investigating that how the official received the bullet wound.
A spokesman for the Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, said that they were collecting information about the circumstances that led to the death of the official and a statement would be issued to the media about it.
[DAWN] Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) Chairman Maulana Mohammad Khan Sheerani has said that a 'review' of the blasphemy law does not mean that it could be changed or amended.
"It is the CII's responsibility to review and assess all laws formulated in the country," he told Dawn, adding, "if the government, through the relevant ministry, forwards any amendment(s) in the blasphemy law, then the Council will certainly look into it".
The CII is mandated to review all laws in the country and suggest amendments to bring them in accordance with the teachings of the Holy Koran.
Maulana Sheerani, who is also a JUI-F MNA, recently raised hopes among activists when he said in an interview that the CII would be willing to review the country's blasphemy laws.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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[BLOOMBERG] King Felipe VI asked the Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez to find a solution to Spain's political stalemate, lending royal approval to negotiations with the anti-austerity group Podemos. I once came across a picture of a naked girl with the Spanish flag and the word "Podemos" painted in a place you don't normally see them. I found the picture interesting, but not significant, if you catch my drift.
Felipe nominated Sanchez to try to form the next government following consultations with the leaders of all parties, Patxi Lopez, parliament's speaker, said in a televised statement. Sanchez said he would hold talks with other political forces including Pablo Iglesias's Podemos and the pro-business party Ciudadanos over at least the coming four weeks as he seeks to build support to govern.
"The Socialist Party is assuming this responsibility with Spain," Sanchez said at a televised presser following talks with Felipe. "I am grateful for the confidence deposited in me and in the Socialist party."
Six weeks after voters elected the most fragmented parliament in Spanish history, the king has been coaxing party leaders into setting aside differences to put together a program that can command the support of a majority of politicians. With Acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's People's Party buffeted by corruption allegations and increasingly toxic to potential allies, the most likely solution would see Sanchez seal a pact with either Podemos or pro-market Ciudadanos.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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[Emirates247] Yemeni rebels and their allies have killed more than 370 civilians in Saudi border regions since a Saudi-led military operation began against the rebels last March, the coalition said Tuesday.
Its spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed al-Assiri told AFP the civilian death toll was now 376.
He also said that more than 40,000 mortar bombs, Katyusha rockets and other projectiles have been fired into the kingdom from Yemen since the Arab coalition began its campaign to push the rebels from seized territory in the neighbouring country.
That is an average of more than 129 projectiles per day.
They were fired by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels and their allies, elite troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, Assiri said.
"Twelve Scud missiles were intercepted," he added.
#1
From an AFP report: Yemeni rebels and their allies have killed or wounded 375 civilians in Saudi border regions since a Saudi-led military operation began against the rebels last March, the coalition said Wednesday.
Its spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed al-Assiri told AFP that "375 (civilians) were killed and injured," including 63 children, adding that a detailed breakdown will be issued soon.
[DAWN] WHO is Uzair Jan Baloch? A pawn in the political chess game or a powerful mafia don with strong political connections? While his association with the PPP appears to be irrefutable, there are also some reports of his links with influential political figures from other political parties as well as the intelligence agencies.
A leader of the so-called Lyari-based Peoples Amn Committee ... Peoples' Peace Committee is a group of brown turbans tied to the Pakn People's Party and based in Blood-soaked Karachi. It was founded by an infamous gangster, Rehman Dakait in 2008. It is accused of being involved in organized crime and gang wars. After Rehman departed this vale of tears in 2009, leadership of the group was taken over by Uzair Baloch, who is probably associated with the Tataglias or the Barzini clan. The Amn Committee was banned in Pakistain in 2011, which means precisely squat.... , Baloch is implicated in dozens of murder and other criminal cases. He oversaw charities, but also allegedly ran drug and extortion rackets. He was a key leader of the Lyari ...one of the eighteen constituent towns of the city of Karachi. It is the smallest town by area in the city but also the most densely populated. Lyari has few schools, substandard hospitals, a poor water system, limited infrastructure, and broken roads. It is a stronghold of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. Ubiquitous gang activity and a thriving narcotics industry make Lyari one of the most disturbed places in Karachi, which is really saying a lot.... gang war that left hundreds of people dead and turned that impoverished neighbourhood of Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... into a veritable battleground. The story of Uzair Baloch seems right out of a Bollywood crime thriller.
His reported arrest from the outskirts of Karachi by the Rangers last week after his mysterious disappearance from Dubai where he was detained almost a year ago gives currency to all kinds of conspiracy theories. No one takes the Rangers' version seriously. It seems quite plausible that he has been in the custody of the security agencies for the past several months. Then why the arrest announcement now? It gives an intriguing twist to the whole saga.
Unsurprisingly, the news of Uzair Baloch's arrest has come as the noose around some top PPP leaders is being tightened. That gives some credence to the speculation that he may be used as an approver against them. Some reports suggest that he has already been talking.
What is most interesting, however, is that several joint investigation teams are being formed to question him on the 2007 Karsaz kaboom targeting Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... 's welcome procession and also the murder of the former prime minister's bodyguards following her liquidation a few months later. Surely the scope of the investigation against Uzair Baloch is being extended beyond the already pending murder and other criminal charges against him.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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[DAWN] Lal Masjid ...literally the Red Mosque, located in Islamabad and frequented by all sorts of high govt officials. The proprietors, Ghazi Abdul Rasheed and Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi, unleashed their Islamic storm troopers on the city, shutting down whorehouses and beating people up who weren't devout enough. The Musharraf govt put an end to the nonsense by besieging the place. Abdul Aziz Ghazi was nabbed while he was trying to escape dressed up like a girl. BBC reported that the corpse count at 173, but other claims, usually hysterical, say there were up to 1000 titzup. Among their number was Abdul Rashid Ghazi. Everyone then said tut-tut and what a nice guy he had been... holy manMaulana Abdul Aziz ...nutball holy man who runs the Lal Masjid in the heart of Pakistain's capital. After instigating a rebellion against the state in 2007, he was caught trying to sneak away dressed in a burka. He rejects democracy as un-Islamic, which it probably is... has said that he is ready to forgive former military ruler Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... and all other figures for their involvement in the 2007 bloody siege of Lal Masjid.
Talking to journalists after an additional district and sessions judge granted him pre-arrest bail in two separate cases -- extending threats to the civil society and inciting sectarian hatred -- Aziz said he would make an announcement in this regard in a presser soon.
"I think Musharraf made a mistake. He is our Muslim brother ... I say we take the first step and forgive him," he said.
Aziz said he is in talks with his family members and will convince those who disagree on pardoning Musharraf "as an act of goodwill, for peace in the country, for the end of terrorism and for peace in children's schools".
"Nations quarrel, forgive and then unite. Why can't we unite for the application of Koran and Sunnah?" he said, after speaking about the importance of forgiveness in Islam.
"We are soon going to announce that we forgive all persons involved."
"Aside from me, sisters from my family are also ready to forgive him," he said, asserting that the decision has been taken without any sort of pressure or deal.
"If the teachings of Koran and Sunnah were implemented in the country, Musharraf would not have made the mistake [of Lal Masjid operation]."
Aziz claimed Musharraf had over 40 bogus cases registered against him and his family.
On request of a news hound, Aziz said he condemns the attack on Charsadda University "where our brothers were martyred", as he did the Army Public School attack.
Counsel for Aziz disagrees
Meanwhile, ...back at the dirigible, Jack stuck the cigar in his mouth, stepped onto the gantry, and asked Got a light, Mac?
Von Schtinken stopped short, lowering the dagger and trying to control his features.
If you light that thing, Herr Armschtröng, he pointed out, his voice tense, we all die!... Aziz's lawyer advocate Tariq Asad said even if Aziz forgives those involved in the Lal Masjid siege, he will have new First Information Reports (FIRs) registered in the name of "deaders of Lal Masjid".
He would even register an FIR against Aziz if he goes ahead with the decision to pardon Musharraf, Asad said.
Musharraf faces a string of court cases dating back to his 1999-2008 rule, including case over death of Abdul Aziz's brother Ghazi Abdul Rasheed, one of more than 100 people killed after army soldiers stormed Lal Masjid in Islamabad on July 10, 2007.
The mosque was the scene of a week-long military siege against turbans that unleashed a wave of myrmidon attacks across Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2016
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
(IraqiNews.com) Salahuddin – On Tuesday, al-Hashd al-Shaabi Leader Jabbar al-Mamouri announced, that three prominent leaders in ISIS were killed in the so-called Wilayat Salahuddin and Wilayat Kirkuk during ISIS attack on Allas oil field yesterday.
Mamouri said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “Yesterday, three prominent leaders in ISIS in the so-called Wilayat Salahuddin and Wilayat Kirkuk had been killed during their attack on Allas oil field north of Salahuddin Province that the security forces foiled, along with dozens of ISIS members.”
Mamouri added, “One of the most important headquarters of ISIS in al-Riyadh area was bombarded and the Deputy Military Commander in ISIS in the area was killed, along with a number of his companions.”
Posted by: badanov ||
02/03/2016
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
[AlArabiya] Maintenance teams are working to repair damage caused by an attack on an oil pipeline south of the Libyan port of Zueitina, a spokesman for the pipeline’s guards said on Monday.
It was not clear who carried out the attack late on Sunday evening, but Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants have been active in the area in recent weeks.
An explosion and fire hit the pipeline in the desert 75 km (47 miles) south of the terminal, said Ali al-Hassi, a spokesman for the Petroleum Facilities Guard that controls nearby oil installations.
The pipeline leads from oil field 103 to the export terminal at Zueitina, which was closed last year by a conflict between Libya’s rival governments, one based in Tripoli and the second, internationnally recognised one in the east.
ISIS militants have taken advantage of political chaos and a security vacuum to establish a foothold in Libya. Last month, they launched a series of attacks causing major damage at the oil terminals of Es Sider and Ras Lanuf, which lie between Zueitina and the ISIS-controlled city of Sirte.
Libya’s oil production has shrunk to under 400,000 barrels per day, less than a quarter of the 1.6 million bpd it was producing before the uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
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.
[PJ Media] A former assistant director of the FBI is voicing concern about the Justice Department's lack of movement on the ongoing FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's email arrangement which, according to sources, will be wrapping up soon. If Bureau leaks are to be believed, the results will show that Mrs. Clinton and her underlings flagrantly violated some of our most important laws -- laws that are designed to protect national security. Anyone else would have been arrested by now.
[Wash Times] After securing a narrow margin of victory in Iowa, and running behind in the polls in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton is rolling out a new advertisement in what her campaign views as their firewall in South Carolina featuring former Attorney General Eric Holder.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has revealed the existence of a program to develop a so-called "Arsenal Plane." Designed to back up fifth generation fighters such as the F-35 with a large number of conventional weapons, backing up the high-tech fighters with tried-and-true ordinance.
[AP] WASHINGTON -- The top Army and Marine Corps generals told senators Tuesday that it will take up to three years to fully integrate women into all combat jobs, adding that women also should have to register for the draft.
Most of the time, balloons are just full of helium, and maybe confetti. Unless you're living in South Korea.
During a memorial service Saturday for seven Hamas militants killed when the tunnel they were in collapsed on them, Hamas rolled out what it called a "locally-produced" tank it said was fashioned out of an Israel Defense Forces' tank captured two years ago...
[DAWN] As news of the deaths of two Pakistain International Airlines (PIA) employees spread on Tuesday evening, the national flag carrier's flight operations across the country began shutting down in solidarity with the protesters, officials said.
[BREITBART] A retired media boss at a major German state broadcaster has admitted his network and others take orders from the government on what -- and what not -- to report.
[CBSNEWS] HOLTSVILLE, N.Y. -- A patient exited the back of a moving ambulance and was then struck and killed in a hit-and-run crash on Long Island, police said.
Hillary Clinton
North Korea
[THEGUARDIAN] When Cleve Jones, a longtime gay activist who led the creation of the Aids Memorial Quilt, went to his local gay bar in the Castro district, he saw something that shocked him.
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[WSJ] EU officials focused on finding ways to accommodate the U.K. leader’s main demands within current bloc treaties
[FOXNEWS]
[DAWN] 
Pervez 
