[Frontpage] The United States has 14,000 troops in Afghanistan, 39,000 in Japan, 34,805 in Germany, 23,000 in South Korea, and around 5,200 in Iraq. Our military protects the borders of countless nations.
Except our own.
In 1919, we had 18,500 soldiers on the border. "Twice a day every foot of the border line is patrolled by cavalrymen and infantrymen," the New York Times noted.
A hundred years later, President Trump’s proposal to use the military to secure the border is controversial even though Marines fighting drug cartels have come under fire from drug smugglers.
El Salvadoran migration has inflicted 207 murderers on this country. The migrant caravan threatening to invade this country includes migrants from El Salvador. Some of them may be MS-13 members. The Pueblo Sin Fronteras caravan of 1,000 migrants is the product of an alliance between international leftists and migrant invaders. Their goal is the invasion, colonization and occupation of America.
And the only ones defending us against them are the members of an outnumbered border patrol, threatened by both drug cartels on the other side of the border and sanctuary states in this country.
That’s why President Trump is mobilizing the troops to do the job that the Democrats won’t do.
"Until we can have a wall and proper security, we’re going to be guarding our border with the military," President Trump said.
Some of the same politicians who oppose withdrawing our forces from Syria also oppose sending troops to secure the border. But which should be a higher priority?
If an enemy army were invading South Korea, our soldiers would swing into action. But the United States has already been invaded. The invaders have occupied and seized control of state governments, including California, while declaring that their rebel cities will defy Federal immigration law.
They mean to do the same thing to the entire country. Their DREAM is the end of America.
From fighting Indian raids to the banditry of Pancho Villa, the military has always secured the border against invasions out of Mexico. The military was our defense against the "Plan of San Diego" terror waged by Mexican racists who vowed to seize control of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Colorado, liberate the "proletariat" and execute all "North American over sixteen years of age."
The Justice Department recently indicted four "fraudsters" in New York who raised more than $125,000 through a bogus "wounded warrior" charity to benefit themselves rather than to help veterans. It is a recurring problem for people who watch those constant commercials showing trembling dogs in wire cages or heartbreaking kids with cleft lips. Most charities fund legitimate, desperately needed programs but often are harmed by an unscrupulous few.
One recent campaign has attracted huge donations based on dubious claims – and it comes from within the Justice Department itself. The cause is Andrew McCabe, and both the timing and the pitch are strikingly premature. Former FBI Deputy Director McCabe's GoFundMe page for a "legal defense fund" appeared after he was fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Originally asking for only $150,000, the campaign continued to adjust its goal upward and, in a matter of a few days, surpassed half a million dollars. That is equivalent to more than a decade of McCabe's expected pension.
McCabe issued a statement today, saying that the legal fund "will cease accepting donations on GoFundMe" and acknowledging that the "donations have more than tripled the original goal." McCabe said in part that the campaign "began organically, with generous people spontaneously giving to accounts that others had set up. I never imagined that I would need to rely on this type of assistance." Yet, with reports of various investigations "and misleading information about the circumstances of my firing," he said, "the need for substantial resources for a legal team has become clear."
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Posted by: Frank G ||
04/04/2018
08:53 ||
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[Breitbart] BEIJING (AP) ‐ China on Wednesday issued a $50 billion list of U.S. goods including soybeans and aircraft for possible tariff hikes in an escalating technology dispute with Washington that companies worry could set back the global economic recovery.
The country’s tax agency gave no date for the 25 percent increase to take effect and said that will depend on what President Donald Trump does about U.S. plans to raise duties on a similar amount of Chinese goods.
Beijing’s list of 106 products included the biggest U.S. exports to China, reflecting its intense sensitivity to the dispute over American complaints that it pressures foreign companies to hand over technology.
The clash reflects the tension between Trump’s promises to narrow a U.S. trade deficit with China that stood at $375.2 billion last year and the ruling Communist Party’s development ambitions. Regulators use access to China’s vast market as leverage to press foreign automakers and other companies to help create or improve industries and technology.
#2
Raise the prices to cover the increase in tariffs and drive on. If the Chinese decline to purchase, find new customers and markets. In fact, begin the search for new customers and markets now.
Suggest to Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, J.C. Penny, and Target that they may wish to begin looking for Made In America products, just in case.
Don't bother telling Sears, Montgomery Ward, Schwinn Bicycle, Brown Shoe Co., or K-Mart to 'Buy American'....too late for them.
#3
...more likely relabeling in Central America. Who really checks that stuff? You'd think the union cabals would find it in their own interest to do so, but the leadership is all proggie now and embarrassing 'new' arrivals.
#4
The bean farmers around here are quite nervous about this. Almost 35% of the local crop heads to China.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/04/2018 8:56
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#5
China is super vulnerable to tariffs. This retaliation won't hurt America while our tariffs are going to really hurt them. This should have been done decades ago but our traitorous State Department decided to screw the American people on trade deals. Good job putting us out of work, assholes.
#6
The bean farmers around here are quite nervous about this. Almost 35% of the local crop heads to China.
U.S. farmers are always bitching and moaning about something. Too wet to plant, too dry to plant, too cold, too hot, beef, pork, corn and soy bean prices too low...on and on it goes.
#7
The 'Amish of the Orient.' These people were 'trading' thousands of years before 'temple doves' went on sale. Whom do you think you are dealing with? Come on people, let's get our heads out of our arses.
#8
You can get an array of Chink made shoes at Walmart for $10 a pair. If the tarrifs cause the price to go up to $11 or $12 dollars a pair, that is still lower than what US manufacturers can make a pair for. Buys a little breathing room but at least it is a start.
#15
Tariffs never work? WTF? They've been working fantastically well for China. Their domestic markets are shielded from malevolent forces and their own people are employed and create wealth. Who cares if a pound of peaches is $1.79 instead of $1.59?
Maximizing GDP growth over benefiting your own people is wrong. People can't buy cheap goods if they have no jobs. Better to have expensive goods that people can afford than cheap garbage they can't pay for.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
04/04/2018 16:02
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#16
Tariffs never work, and consumers pay the bill.
That's why our high end defense equipment is so expensive? Should buy foreign, right?
#19
>Think of it as equalizing out for the base prices of Labo(u)r.>
I would, except that I have been formally trained in economics. Trade is the source of all wealth, and comparative advantage is the foundation of trade. Raising prices on goods you can't produce competitively is just that -- raising prices. No thanks.
[Mail] It was a case that would rock Baltimore to its core. An elite police squad robbing its own citizens, stealing thousands of dollars and re-selling confiscated drugs.
There were homeless men and construction workers who were robbed, prisoners who claimed they were framed, and a shed where ecstasy and heroin were stored.
What sounds like a plot out of a Hollywood film became reality in March 2017 when seven of the eight men who made up the Gun Trace Task force were arrested.
They became one of America's most corrupt police force, and their entire world came crashing down due to one rogue GPS tracker, according to the BBC.
#2
"She said she was working to pay her way through college"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/04/2018 9:06
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#3
I still have serious doubts about her story but I'm also very happy that Trump took the high ground and avoided attacking her on Twitter (something I suspect her plan had not anticipated).
#5
A tawdry kind of appeal, and a hard but somewhat comely visage, notwithstanding the commercial grade silicone endowments , the kind of soiled dove that has an appeal after several single malts.....but hardly the kind that one considers for repeat visitations?
#6
I was reading several commenters who bothered to watch her interview, who said that her pupils appeared dilated indicating drug use. Not someone you'd want to exchange body fluids with if you didn't want to take something home to Mama.
[Independent] Accusations and recriminations between Britain and Russia are set to escalate with the news that scientists at the Porton Down military research facility have been unable to establish exactly where the novichok nerve agent used to carry out the Skripal attack was manufactured.
The admission comes the day before Moscow convenes an emergency meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague in which it is expected to demand access to samples from the Salisbury poisoning for analysis by Russian scientists.
Russia’s embassy in London responded that Porton Down’s assessment "proves that all political declarations on the Russian origin of the crime are nothing but assumptions not stemming from objective facts or the course of the investigation".
The development also comes after Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, suggested that British intelligence services carried out the attempted assassination of the former MI6 agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia and claimed that it had proved "beneficial" in distracting attention from Theresa May’s government having to make major concessions to the European Union on Brexit.
[American Thinker] As many people know, Illinois is a fiscal mess and a national leader in out-migration. To turn Illinois around, how about our elected officials Take the Pledge this November? Will our elected officials endorse these eight suggestions? Does any of these suggestions apply to your state?
1. Illinois is sinking in pension debt. Moving to a 401(K)/403(b) defined contribution plan for all new State of Illinois hires with the ability to put all newly hired public-sector (municipal, school, etc.) employees on a defined contribution plan as well will finally put a cap on unfunded pension liabilities and give certainty to businesses and job-seekers about the future of Illinois. Illinois recently moved to Tier 3 pensions, hybrid defined benefit-defined contribution plans that include a defined benefit component. This hinders the ability of public-sector employees to seek private-sector employment without compromising their defined benefit plan.
According to Reuters (February 2018), Illinois has an unfunded public pension liability of $129 billion. This is up from $111 billion in 2016. Moving new public-sector hires to a defined contribution plan caps unfunded pension liability. In addition, the funds in the public-sector employee's account belong to him ‐ allowing him to move freely between public- and private-sector employment without losing his 35% funded Illinois pension. No more public-sector job lock, no more collecting multiple pensions, no more unfunded pension liability ‐ a win for all.
2. Freeze public-sector hiring until we have shrunk the state workforce by 11.5% via attrition. Assuming a 4% turnover, this should take three years. The average cost per state employee (wages, benefits) is $97,545. Shrinking the payroll by 11.5% saves taxpayers at least $839 million in payroll cost, allowing Illinois to start working down the size of the unfunded pension liability. Those in need of state services will receive their services at a slower rate while a greater role for technological efficiency is implemented ‐ but they will get their services.
3. Repeal the 32% tax increase that went into effect July 1, 2017. In theory, this income tax increase generated $5 billion of revenue. In reality, it just continues to drive productive citizens and businesses out of Illinois. Five more ill-fated suggestions at the link.
#2
Pension Tsunami. Illinois makes the frequent flier criteria
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/04/2018 8:51
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#3
Really, some states need to bottom out, die and be parted out to the states around them. In each dead state, the urban area that was the prime cause of the death needs to be emptied, flattened and made into park land.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/04/2018 9:59
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#4
If Federated Investors does not want to leave Pissburgh, liquidate it pour encourage les autres...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/04/2018 10:01
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#5
My local jurisdiction pushed all new hires into 401K in 2012. We having trouble retaining new staff once they get trained - they move on. We can't pay enough to compete with private
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/04/2018 10:10
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#6
Not whining, BTW, it's just a fact
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/04/2018 10:10
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#7
Gummint always complains it cant hire good help. When all the affirmative action and diversity bullshit is a applied, I wonder why. "I came for the pension package that the private sector has not offered for 15 years." OK...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/04/2018 10:16
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#8
Filling out marriage licenses and sewage permits isn't even AI territory.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/04/2018 10:20
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#9
I'm talking Engineers
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/04/2018 10:20
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#10
Sorry, I misestimated. Shouldn't that stuff be contracted out?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/04/2018 10:24
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#11
We can't pay enough to compete with private Two solutions come to mind (1) pay more (2) do without the services provided. Either way, the electorate will be much better off for not making financial promises they cannot keep.
[The Federalist] Every once in awhile, the Western media finds itself complacent in playing to the narrative of those opposed to liberal values. In an attempt to seem universalist and open-minded, the international press often portrays immensely complicated global conflicts in Leibniz terms that fit their progressive and simplistic paradigm. In the course of such oversimplification, the press becomes increasingly more apt to demonize Western nations in order to fit their reductionist narrative.
Take, for example, the recent events in Gaza. This past Friday, before the first night of Passover, the Palestinian-Arab terrorist group Hamas launched a series of protests on the Gaza Strip near the Israeli border. Over the course of the afternoon, the protests turned violent, as Palestinian-Arabs heaved rocks and firebombs towards the border fence and sent tires engulfed in flames towards Israeli soldiers. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) responded in kind by targeting those civilians instigating violence or attempting to breach the border wall. In total, seventeen Palestinian-Arabs were killed in confrontations with Israeli soldiers, while over a thousand others were injured in the clashes.
For context, Hamas labeled the planned six-week insurrection the "March of Return," a reference to the Palestinian-Arab desire to return to Israeli land after their defeat in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and subsequent departure. Hamas planned the protests to coincide with the Palestinian-Arab holiday known as "Land Day," a day in 1976 when Israeli security forces killed six Arab-Israelis who were protesting the appropriation of Arab-owned land in northern Israel.
At the behest and encouragement of Hamas, roughly 20,000 Palestinian-Arab civilians set up five large camps near the border fence, demanding the "right" to enter Israeli land. The final "push" of the six-week protests will involve rushing the border wall on May 15, the day coined by the Palestinian-Arabs as nakba or "the catastrophe," a politically absurd reference to Israeli Independence, which occurred on May 14, 1948. May 15 holds particular contention this year, since it is also the day upon which President Trump will open the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.
In response to the Hamas-led protests, the IDF tweeted, "Hamas is responsible for violent riots and everything taking place under its jurisdiction. The IDF will not allow the security fence to be turned into an area of terror." The IDF had earlier alluded to the existence of various terror sites within the rioting encampments, whose chaos Hamas has used to "camouflage" its terrorist activities next to the border wall.
h/t Instapundit
...But in direct reference to the present Trump phenomenon, he composed a rather artistic combination of traditional conservative views, but sensible conservative views, that he could exploit a nostalgia for and an aspiration for, and added to them a couple of populist flourishes that consisted of a particular emphasis on a couple of points that were not in themselves radical or unheard of or frightening, but from him received greater emphasis, particularly questions of immigration and trade, and to some extent, the imposition of law enforcement.
...I don’t think the Democrats will win the House. I think what will happen is that the President will carefully assemble his healthcare reform that the Republican Party is pretty much agreed upon, and an immigration reform that it’s pretty much agreed upon, put those out very firmly to the voters, stand on his high economic growth and continuing excellent economic numbers, and order the release by the Justice Department, relatively close to the midterm elections, of everything to do with the collusion investigation, to reveal in its ghastly infirmity the absolute vacuity of that argument, the falsity, the malice and the defamatory destructiveness of the entire argument that he or anyone closely associated with him ever colluded with a foreign power to rig an American election. Just administer a bone-crushing defeat to the Democrats, and their echo chamber in the national media. And do it right...just coming into the midterm election campaign. And I think he will gain seats in both the House and the Senate.
[PJ] Congressional investigators have uncovered text messages between FBI lovebirds Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, revealing that the bureau may have improperly coordinated with Department of Justice officials in an effort to rush the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant on former Trump campaign volunteer Carter Page, investigative journalist Sara Carter reported in an exclusive Tuesday. The communications were released to congressional investigators last week.
The texts reportedly show then-FBI Special Agent Strzok and his colleague, FBI lawyer Lisa Page, discussing the bureau’s difficulty in securing the warrant to spy on Carter Page. They finally succeeded in obtaining the warrant on Oct. 19, 2016, approximately one month after the conversation took place. There were then three subsequent renewals every 90 days for the warrant on Page.
As reported by Carter last week, the communications also suggest that there was coordination by Obama White House officials, the CIA, and the FBI in the investigation into President Donald Trump’s campaign. According to congressional sources, the documents revealed that former Obama White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough was involved in the initial investigation into Trump’s campaign and that "Comey, Brennan, and McDonough were working in concert to ensure an investigation was initiated." Emphasis added.
[FoxNews] A U.S. Marine Corps helicopter crashed Tuesday -- killing its four crew members -- during exercises along the U.S.-Mexico border near Plaster City, Calif., military officials said.
"We are currently still responding to what we have confirmed as a single helicopter incident," said a Facebook post from the nearby Naval Air Facility El Centro.
The naval facility sent fire and security units as well as other helicopters to the scene of the crash, KYMA-TV reported.
The Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter reportedly belonged to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing in San Diego.
The Marine Corps was withholding the identities of those killed for 24 hours until next of kin notifications are complete.
"The status of all four is presumed dead pending positive identification," read a statement from the aviation unit.
The cause of the crash was under investigation. The crash would be the deadliest for the Marines since a July crash in the Mississippi Delta, which killed all 16 aboard.
Earlier Tuesday, a Marine Corps Harrier jet crashed in the East African nation of Djibouti. According to U.S. Naval Forces Central Command based in Bahrain, the pilot ejected shortly after takeoff and was in stable condition.
[Guardian] Heroes are curious things. Ours have roots in the ancient Graeco-Roman sense of the concept, which places a premium on military victory. What’s problematic is how many of our heroes embody an inherent level of violence, as is unsurprisingly the case with people whose main accomplishments arise from war. We are tolerant about people who regarded the working classes as an abomination (Wellington), the transatlantic slave trade as a good idea (Nelson) or Indians as repulsive (Churchill), because we think the ends ‐ defeating Napoleon or Hitler ‐ justified the means.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, as the press coverage of her death this week shows, is not entitled to the same rose-tinted eulogy as our white British men. She is "controversial" and a "bully". One newspaper columnist was boldly willing to abandon his usual restraint in not writing ill of the dead specially for this "odious, toxic individual".
The media reports have raised the horrific murder of 14-year-old Stompie Moeketsi, though few have been unduly troubled by the fact that this was a crime she always denied any involvement in, or by the ample evidence of the lengths to which the apartheid regime went to infiltrate and smear her and her followers.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the anti-apartheid campaigner, will be honoured with a state funeral later this month, South Africa’s president has said.
Cyril Ramaphosa made the announcement on Monday evening after paying a condolence visit to Madikizela-Mandela's home in Johannesburg's Soweto township.
The funeral will be on 14 April, with an official memorial service three days earlier.
#2
Soetoro to lead CBC delegation to South Africa with 9 plane loads of attendees along with entire LA Lakers Basketball team. Trump to send Jeff Sessions.
[Breitbart] MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has taken to Twitter to assure customers that he will not be pulling his advertising from Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show despite the liberal outrage over her feud with anti-gun Parkland kid David Hogg.
As one company after another rushed to announce an end to advertising on The Ingraham Angle, Lindell stepped forward to tell the world that he won’t abandon Laura.
In a tweet seemingly aimed at Sean Hannity, the company’s CEO and founder insisted, "I did not take my advertising down from @IngrahamAngle and @FoxNews, nor do I intend to. @seanhannity."
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/04/2018 8:49
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#3
I have MyPillows, they are strictly OK, but made in USA? The company does not spit on me by playing pick'n'choose with free speech? I'm all in.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/04/2018 9:11
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#4
I'm glad MP is not caving. Does the left have to politicize everything?--it's just a pillow and a fairly good one at that. Let the left suffer from neck pain.
[WashingtonExaminer] President Trump said Tuesday that ally Saudi Arabia might have to pay if it wants a continuing U.S. military presence in Syria.
"We’ve almost completed that task [of defeating ISIS] and we’ll be making a determination very quickly, in coordination with others in the area, as to what we’ll do," Trump said during a White House press conference with leaders from three Baltic nations. "Saudi Arabia is very interested in our decision, and I said, ’Well, you know, you want us to stay, maybe you’re going to have to pay.’"
The administration is set to make a decision on keeping troops in the war-torn country after nearly four years of war, and is now consulting with allies about the future, Trump said.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had pledged an enduring presence in Syria last year as the U.S. and its allies remain on the verge of defeating the Islamic State there, but Trump has thrown the prior plans into doubt with calls to leave in recent days.
"I want to get out. I want to bring our troops back home," Trump said. The SDF said they will continue to work with US forces as well as Saudi Arabia to counter the influence of Iran/Russia/Turkey if the Saudis provide the dough.
The Saudis are long-time U.S. allies that are concerned about growing Iranian influence in Syria, Iraq, and throughout the region. The U.S. is now providing military aid to the kingdom in its proxy war with Iran in Yemen, but Trump stressed the costs of that aid at the briefing.
"We do a lot of things in this country, we do them for a lot of reasons, but it is very costly for our country, and it helps other countries a hell of a lot more than it helps us," Trump said.
The Obama administration launched a war in 2014 against the Islamic State after the group flourished in the chaos of the Syrian civil war and then surged over the Iraq border in a bid to overtake Baghdad.
Critics blamed the growth of the group on the Obama administration's decision to pull all U.S. troops out of Iraq in 2011. But the return of troops also opened a new chapter in a long U.S. war that began with an invasion in 2003.
About 5,600 troops were assisting Iraqi forces against the Islamic State this year, though some are transitioning out to support Trump's new Afghanistan strategy, and about 2,000 troops in Syria. Remaining ISIS fighters along the two countries' border region are estimated at about 3,000.
Trump railed against the ongoing U.S. intervention in the Middle East and its growing cost, calling it a waste of resources.
"Think of it, $7 trillion over a 17-year period. We have nothing. Nothing except death and destruction. It's a horrible thing. So it is time. It is time," he said. "We were very successful against ISIS. We'll be successful against anybody militarily. But sometimes it is time to come back home. And we're thinking about that very seriously."
#1
What are we, mercenaries? US troops out of Syria immediately. Job's done, time to go home. While they're there there's a risk of war with Russia which we must not take.
"it helps other countries a hell of a lot more than it helps us"
No shit, Trump, now get our boys home.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
04/04/2018 4:50
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#2
I was wondering why President Trump was talking about getting out of Syria all of a sudden.
Trump sounded like he was abandoning Syria like Obama abandoned Iraq leaving it to Iranian militias and to ISIS.
ISIS led to Iran and Russia in Syria.
Then the US went into Syria to support the Kurds fight against ISIS.
Now Turkey is threatening our allies the Kurds.
Now that the Kurds have had to stop fighting ISIS in order to fight Turkey and its sunni allies, ISIS is now making a comeback.
Iran, Russia, Turkey and Syria are all bad actors.
If the US abandons Syria and the Kurds now, ISIS will make a comeback.
And Iran, Russia and Turkey will fill the power vacuum and threaten our allies the Kurds and Israel.
The US should block Russian influence in the Middle East and China influence in the South Pacific.
We must defend our allies there or we will be in trouble if we are weak.
We and our allies have as much at stake in these areas as Saudi Arabia so we are not just mercenaries.
#7
War between good and evil never ends HM. Never has, never will. It is not about the US punching your mental tar baby, it is about powerful evil societies declaring their fatwas on civilization.
Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) ‐ One civilian was maimed Sunday in a boom-mobile blast in southwestern Baghdad, a security source was quoted as saying.
Speaking to Alghad Press, the source said, "An explosive charge fixed into a car went off in al Radwaneya neighborhood in southwestern Baghdad, leaving the car’s driver maimed."
"The driver was carried to hospital for treatment, while a probe was opened to identify those standing behind the terrorist attack," the source added.
Diyala (IraqiNews.com) A woman and three children were killed and injured as a mortar missile fell on a house, northeast of Baquba, Diyala, an official said on Tuesday.
"A woman was killed, while three of her children were maimed as a mortar missile fell on her house at the outskirts of al-Saa’idat village, south of Qurret Tabbah town," Raheem Aziz, head of the town, told AlSumaria News.
Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) ‐ The World Health Organization (WHO) has welcomed Italia’s 500,000-euro contribution to establish a prosthetics and rehabilitation center in Hamdaniya district to support people who suffered disabilities as a result of the conflict in djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... "The conflict in Mosul has affected tens of thousands of people who are in need of specialized rehabilitation services," WHO Representative in Iraq Altaf Musani said.
"The establishment of this rehabilitation center will ensure the availability of postoperative, post-traumatic, and rehabilitation services for amputees. In addition, such center will help in ensuring a better quality of life and in reducing social exclusion and enhancing social integration in their own communities," he added.
The ten-month project aims to provide over 450 people including 50 under five and 300 above five years old children with specialized medical care and rehabilitation services.
Recent national health statistics indicate the presence of approximately 4800 amputation cases in Mosul requiring urgent attention and care to help them in attaining a better quality of life.
Currently, the Rehabilitation and Social Reintegration Centre in Suleimaniya is the only active center in the country specialized in physiotherapy and the production of upper and lower limbs in addition to walking aids/orthopedic devices for persons with disabilities.
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Security services have jugged Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! 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.... member senior member, along with his brother in south of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , a security source from Nineveh police said on Tuesday.
"Security services arrested the group’s mufti (religious politician) of executions along with his eldest brother, who was tasked with the collective executions of police personnel in south of Mosul," Cap. Omar Saeed told BasNews.
Each of Hajim and Sultan Abu Theeb, according to Saeed, were arrested from their house in al-Shura region, south of Mosul.
"The arrests were carried out with assistance of the residents depending on intelligence information offered to Nineveh police," he added.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/04/2018
01:11 ||
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[11135 views]
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Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraq plans to boost the refining capacity of its southern oil fields before the end of the current year, its oil minister said in a statement on Tuesday.
Jabbar al-Luaibi said his ministry’s strategy is to drive up the refining capacity of the southern refineries to 280.000 barrels per day before the end of 2018.
He made the statement inaugurating a second phase of the installation of a fourth refining unit in Basra, with a capacity of 70.000 barrels per day.
Iraq is OPEC’s second largest oil producer after 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 country’s crude oil exports for March stood at 107.05 million barrels, a daily rate of 3.45 million barrels.
Those yielded revenues worth USD6.418 billion, according to the oil ministry’s monthly statistic.
The monthly count still does not include production from oil-rich Kirkuk province, which was halted after the military standoff between Iraq and Kurdistan Region in 2017 that followed the region’s controversial poll on independence.
While Iraq had concurred to OPEC’s decision to slash members’ production to scale up prices, it seeks to increase exports to secure sufficient cash to address financial demands imposed by the three-year war against 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.... Death Eaters and consequent damage to infrastructure and economy
Ankara (Iraqinews.com) ‐ Ottoman Turkish President Recep Tayyeb Erdogan has vowed that his country will track down on Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters inside Iraqi territories even without Baghdad’s approval if no action was taken by the Iraqi government to deter this group.
Speaking at an opening ceremony of a number of new schools and gymnasiums in Istanbul on Monday, Erdogan said if Baghdad fails to confront the PKK in its northern and Kurdish provinces, Ankara will be forced to act unilaterally and extend its operations into Iraqi territory, according to Rudaw.
"If you can deal with them, deal with them, or else we will come to Sinjar and deal with them. We do not ask for permission from anyone, nor do we look into anyone’s eyes for all this," said Erdogan.
He noted that PKK fighters may flee across international borders, but they cannot hide from the Ottoman Turkish armed forces.
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#1
The Turks have already been bombing Iraqi infrastructure such as bridges, utilities and other vital infrastructure in that area. This is an opportunistic Turk expansionist invasion of several of their weak neighbors.
#2
Hell is where NATO representatives stand on their tippy toes to keep their mouths just above the human sewage they're in saying "don't make waves" while the Turkish representative is water skiing among them.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraq has told British parliamentarians it opposes the return of Iraqi refugees there against their will as the country tries to recover from a war that displaced millions inside and abroad.
In a statement, the Iraqi foreign ministry said Minister Jassem al-Jaff, meeting a delegation of members of the UK houses of commons and lords, said "Iraq continues to coordinate with all European countries to work out suitable solutions for asylum seekers like encouraging their voluntary return to their homeland while ensuring attention to the humanitarian sides at host countries".
He added that his government works to create work opportunities and restore stability to areas recaptured from 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.... Death Eaters.
Iraq has regularly urged world countries not to force Iraqi refugees to return home, arguing that such action could violate international laws.
Iraq’s war against the Islamic State displaced nearly five million of civilians both inside and outside the country, and left thousands dead. Of those displaced, nearly a half have returned home, according to government and U.N statistics.
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Three Islamic State members, including a senior leader, were killed in a security operation, north of Ramadi, Anbar, a source was quoted saying on Tuesday.
Speaking to BasNews website, the source said, Anbar police “managed to destroy a rest house in al-Bou Theyab region, north of Ramadi, leaving three suicide attackers, including Omar Safwak, known as al-Chichani.”
“Troops destroyed a huge amount of weapons and explosives that were at the rest house, where the attackers were hiding,” the source said.
Security forces, according to the source, “will continue the operations in search for other hideouts for the militants in the al-Jazeera desert.”
Anbar (Iraqinews.com) – About 400 Islamic State (IS) militants managed to sneak from Syria into the Iraqi province of Anbar as they currently plan to resume their terrorist activities from there, a security source was quoted as saying Tuesday.
“Intelligence information confirmed that there are about 400 IS extremists, including foreign fighters, in Wadi Hauran and Wadi al-Qadhf in western Anbar, who managed to infiltrate into Iraq coming from Syria earlier,” the source said.
The source warned that the IS infiltrators are now “planning to resume their terrorist activities by targeting recently-liberated areas in western Anbar.” He further accused the U.S.-led international coalition of failing to target those extremists despite confirmed reports about their presence in Anbar desert.
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[AlAhram] The leaders of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire.... and Russia marked the official start of work to build Turkey's first nuclear power station on Tuesday, launching construction of the $20 billion Akkuyu plant in the southern province of Mersin.
The plant will be built by Russian state nuclear energy agency Rosatom and will be made up of four units each with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. 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 him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... and Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan marked the start to construction, watching by video link from Ankara.
"When all four units go online, the plant will meet 10 percent of Turkey's energy needs," Erdogan said, adding that despite delays Turkey still planned to start generating power at the first unit in 2023.
Speaking at a later news conference with Putin, Erdogan said the cost of the project may exceed the planned $20 billion for the 4,800 megawatt (MW) plant, part of Erdogan's "2023 vision" marking 100 years since the founding of modern Turkey and intended to reduce Turkey's dependence on energy imports.
Since Russia was awarded the contract in 2010, the project has been beset by delays.
Last month, sources familiar with the matter said Akkuyu was likely to miss its 2023 target start-up date, but Rosatom, which is looking for local partners to take a 49 percent stake in the project, said it is committed to the timetable.
The Interfax news agency cited the head of Rosatom saying the sale of the 49 percent stake was likely to be postponed from this year until 2019.
Ottoman Turkish companies have been put off by the size of the financing required as well as by concerns they will not receive a sufficient share of the lucrative construction side of the deal, two industry sources have said.
Erdogan told the news conference Turkey may cooperate with Russia on defence projects besides the S-400 missile defence system which Moscow has agreed to supply to Ankara. He did not give further details.
Turkey signed an agreement to buy the S-400 system in late December in a move which raised concern in the West because it cannot be integrated into NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... 's military architecture.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will join Erdogan and Putin for a three-way summit on Syria in Ankara on Wednesday.
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#1
Erdogan's islamic Turkey should never be allowed to have nuclear weapons the same as Iran and NorKor.
[Ynet] An IDF force found a bag containing Molotov cocktails near the Gazoo security fence, which was apparently left behind by rioters last Friday.
The IDF said that "finding the Molotov cocktails is another proof that the disturbances on Friday were a cover for terrorist acts under whose auspices murderous Moslems attempted to carry out attacks against IDF forces and Israeli citizens."
[AlAhram] Yemen's Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... group hit a Saudi oil tanker off the main port city of Hodeidah on Tuesday, the Saudi-led coalition said, in an attack that could complicate a new United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... push to end a war that has killed more than 10,000 people.
The Iranian-aligned Houthis said they had targeted a coalition warship in response to an air strike on Hodeidah on Monday that killed at least a dozen civilians, including seven children.
Tensions have been rising in recent days after the Houthis, who control most of northern Yemen, launched a series of missile strikes on 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... , including the capital Riyadh, in recent days.
In a statement carried by Saudi media, the coalition said the oil tanker was in international waters when it came under "Houthi-Iranian attack" at around 1330 local time (1030 GMT).
A coalition warship conducted a "swift intervention" foiling the attack, it said, without identifying the type of weapon used in the assault. "As a result of that attack, the tanker was subjected to a slight but ineffective hit and it resumed its naval course northwards, escorted by a coalition warship," the statement said.
A European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... naval force that operates in the region confirmed the ship was underway, adding that the crew were safe and unharmed.
The media department of the Houthi-run Yemeni military said naval forces had "targeted a battleship belonging to the coalition in response to the bombardment of displaced people in Hodeidah". It gave no further details.
[AlAhram] Egypt’s acting General Intelligence chief Abbas Kamel met with Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... in Ramallah on Tuesday to discuss the latest Egyptian efforts to secure Paleostinian reconciliation as well as cooperation between Egypt and Paleostine, Paleostinian news agency Maan reported.
Abbas said during the meeting that he values Egypt's support of the Paleostinian cause.
It doesn’t sound like a very effective meeting thus far.
[Ynet] Residents of the Gazoo border communities and the Northern Negev region reported having no cellular reception on Tuesday, due to electronic warfare the Egyptian Army uses against ISIS in Sinai.
#2
This has been an intermittant problem as the Egyptians became more serious about hunting down bad guys in the Sinai, Skidmark. The local Israelis have complained, but there isn’t anything the government can do about electronic spillover from across the border.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A number of civilians were maimed in eastern Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country..... during the latest wave of artillery shelling from the other side of Durand Line, the local officials said Tuesday.
Provincial police front man Faridullah Dehqan confirmed that nearly 300 rounds of artillery shells have landed in three districts of Kunar province in the past 24 hours.
The Kunar governor’s front man Abdul Ghani Mosamim also confirmed the shelling and said at least two civilians were maimed in Dangam district.
According to Mosamim, the artillery shells landed in three districts of Kunar including Dangam, Shiltan, and Sarkano districts.
However, facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable... another security official says at least five civilians have been maimed during the latest shelling and hundreds more have been force to abandon their homes.
This comes as Mr. Dehqan said Monday that more than 150 rounds of artillery shells landed in Shiltan and Dangam districts during the latest wave of the shelling.
He also confirmed that the shelling has not inflicted any casualty on the local residents but the has caused property damages.
The local officials said last week that more than 100 artillery shells have landed in various parts of Dangam district in the past 24 hours.
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[WAPO] Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III informed President Trump’s attorneys last month that he is continuing to investigate the president but does not consider him a criminal target at this point, according to three people familiar with the discussions.
In private negotiations in early March about a possible presidential interview, Mueller described Trump as a subject of his investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Prosecutors view someone as a subject when that person has engaged in conduct that is under investigation but there is not sufficient evidence to bring charges.
The special counsel also told Trump’s lawyers that he is preparing a report about the president’s actions while in office and potential obstruction of justice, according to two people with knowledge of the conversations.
Mueller reiterated the need to interview Trump ‐ both to understand whether he had any corrupt intent to thwart the Russia investigation and to complete this portion of his probe, the people said.
Mueller’s description of the president’s status has sparked friction within Trump’s inner circle as his advisers have debated his legal standing. The president and some of his allies seized on the special counsel’s words as an assurance that Trump’s risk of criminal jeopardy is low. Other advisers, however, noted that subjects of investigations can easily become indicted targets ‐ and expressed concern that the special prosecutor was baiting Trump into an interview that could put the president in legal peril.
John Dowd, Trump’s top attorney dealing with the Mueller probe, resigned last month amid disputes about strategy and frustration that the president ignored his advice to refuse the special counsel’s request for an interview, according to a Trump friend.
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Bahraini Foreign Minister, Khaled bin Ahmad al-Khalifa, opened the first session of the Arab Media Forum by telling the audience that his nation will not be reconciling with Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... anytime soon .
"With what we’ve seen from the Qatari regime, there is no way of reconciling with them considering the time we are in," bin Khalifa began, as quoted by Gulf News.
"The conspiracies, interventions, abuse, and the lack of respect to commitments; there is no way," bin Khalifa added in regards to reconciliation with Qatar.
The Bahraini Foreign Minister would then slam Qatari regime for failing to fulfill their commitments to the Gulf Cooperation Committee (GCC), adding that this organization is capable of functioning without Qatar.
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[Ynet] Gazoo residents begin amassing mirrors, tires in preparation of next border protest to counter Israel's snipers in light of Friday's festivities, during which 17 protesters were rubbed out.
Due to the IDF's use of snipers during Friday's March of Return riots along the Gazoo security fence, protesters are resorting to the use of mirrors to blind IDF soldiers and to burning tires to create thick smoke to obscure them from sight.
Israel has drones as well as spotters. Will the tire smoke be equally effective for both?
Several thousand Paleostinians remain in tent camps along the Gazoo border, continuing their protest for what they describe as a right of return for refugees and their descendants to what is now Israel.
#5
Actually, it's too bad nobody makes imagers with the ability to have modulated pixels so you could filter images based on multiple modulated light sources. (sort of each pixel being smart and having fast fourier analysis ability)
[DAWN] Tehrik-e-Labbaik Pakistain (TLP) chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi on Tuesday threatened to hold nationwide protests if the government fails to carry out the terms agreed in the controversial army-brokered Faizabad agreement.
The contentious Faizabad agreement had led to the resignation of the then law minister Zahid Hamid in return for the Tehrik-e-Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLYRA) promising they would issue no fatwa against him.
Rizvi, who was declared an absconder later in the day, has been leading a TLYRA sit-in outside Data Darbar in Lahore since Monday.
The leaders at the protest announced that if the conditions stated in the apparently one-sided Faizabad agreement ‐ which had become a cause of much controversy for carrying signatures of an army general as a mediator ‐ are not met, they will announce their future course of action via a presser at 4pm on Wednesday.
Khadim Rizvi, others declared absconders
TLYRA leaders, including Khadim Hussain Rizvi, were declared absconders by an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad. Others declared absconders by the court in cases filed during and after last year's Faizabad sit-in, include Pir Afzal Qadri, Maulana Inayatullah and Sheikh Azhar.
Aabpara police informed the court that summons were posted outside Rizvi's residence and the notice board of the relevant cop shoppe. It requested the court to take the cases forward in absence of the accused.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shootout, Butch clutched at his other leg...... the military's spokesperson said later in the day that if the court has issued orders for Rizvi's arrest he should be put behind bars.
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[DAWN] Protests continued in Faisalabad ...formerly known as Lyallpur, the third largest metropolis in Pakistain, the second largest in Punjab after Lahore. It is named after some Arab because the Paks didn't have anybody notable of their own to name it after... 's Jaranwala tehsil on Tuesday following the alleged rape and murder of a minor girl whose body, bearing multiple torture marks, was found in a field two days ago.
Shops and private schools remained shut in the area as a large number of civil society activists and relatives of the victim staged demonstrations. Lawyers in the area also boycotted court proceedings to take part in the protest.
The protesters encircled the Jaranwala City cop shoppe and demanded justice for the minor girl.
While speaking to DawnNewsTV on the condition of anonymity, a medico-legal officer called the postmortem examination report ‐ which was released yesterday ‐ confusing, saying it "doesn't clearly state whether the child was sexually assaulted or not".
"The report seems to indicate that there were signs of sexual assault," the medico-legal officer said, sharing the suspicion that "the police may have wanted to bury the evidence".
"Most importantly, the report does not state the cause of the child's death," the officer added.
The medico-legal officer said that DNA samples have been taken from the body and dispatched to the Lahore forensic lab.
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[DAWN] Four members of a Christian family and five others bit the dust in separate incidents in the city on Monday, showing an uptick in violence that authorities appeared to be powerless to control.
While the Christian family, who belonged to Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... and had come to Quetta to see relatives, fell victim to a assassination, the cause of the death of others was said to be the usual tiresome primitives' penchant for mindless violence.
Police officials said five members of the Christian family were travelling in an auto-rickshaw when button men on two cycle of violences opened fire on them and fled.
According to AP, the Death EaterIslamic 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.... group grabbed credit for the attack on the Christian family in a statement carried by its Aamaq news.
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SAN BRUNO (KRON) - A woman shot multiple people Tuesday before turning the gun on herself at YouTube's headquarters in San Bruno, according to police.
Sources tell KRON4 that the shooting appears to be the result of a domestic dispute. A woman shot her boyfriend, who was the intended target. The others injured were caught in the cross fire.
The woman drove up from San Diego Tuesday, according to KRON4's source.
The shooter is believed to be dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini confirmed during a press conference at 2:30 p.m.
There are at least three victims being treated for gunshot wounds at San Francisco General Hospital. A fourth person injured has a twisted ankle.
Police say the shooter used a handgun. The shooting happened while employees were having lunch on a patio.
At 12:46 p.m., police received numerous 911 calls reporting gunfire at the YouTube campus located at 901 Cherry Avenue.
Ulaigum Ebbineng7056, thank you for submitting this when it was an active shooter situation. As it happened, by the time the moderators checked the articles in the hopper, this had been updated to what is now here, and so it was no longer an active situation deserving immediate publication.
One of the reasons we added some new moderators is to have more eyes looking for such posts from y’all, so we can watch the updates together in real time. Again, thank you for helping make Rantburg the wonderful place it is.
The shooter who took her own life after wounding four YouTube employees at the video hosting website’s San Bruno, California, offices on Tuesday has been identified as Nasim Aghdam in multiple reports, after being described as a “white woman in a headscarf” earlier in the day.
#5
Summary: The liberal elite epicenter of multi-culturalism was attacked today by one of their very own globalist/internationalist zealot nut jobs. If you look at where this one is from, everything in that culture is settled by death and destruction.
#9
tINA pATEL: BREAKING: Just spoke to the father of Nasim Aghdam. He says his daughter had been missing for several days. When cops found her in NorCal last night, he warned them she was angry with YouTube. @CBSLA
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/04/2018 7:49
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#11
Will this case become an argument for why women should not be allowed to have guns? Just asking.
Actually, I predict that this will disappear from the news cycle around the middle of next week due to the lack of Scary Black Rifles and murderous heterosexual white males as perps.
#13
Indeed, Omeger. Now the logical thing to do would be deport her father and any other family members who reside here.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/04/2018 10:31
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#14
Er...that is, unless we find the father is an FBI informant. /sarc
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/04/2018 10:32
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#15
At least the father warned the police as did her brother. The brother of the YouTube shooter says he called police to warn that "she might do something"
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/04/2018 15:20
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#17
Clearly the range practice she got was not effective.
Tbh, I feel kind of bad for her. Not a lot, but a little.
That she hated YouTube is a major mark in her favor. Some of the other stuff makes me feel she was a little nutty, and needed help.
#18
SoCal cops got a good report from her family that she was pissed at YouTube, was missing, and might be headed there. SoCal cops added her to the missing list. Bay Area cops find her sleeping in her car 500 miles north, near YouTube. Talk to her for 45 minutes, don’t search car (apparently), take her off missing list. So it goes.
[DAWN] Hundreds of activists and leaders of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat ...which is the false nose and plastic mustache of the murderous banned extremist group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain, whatcha might call the political wing of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi... (ASWJ) on Monday evening blocked Islamabad Expressway against disappearance of their colleagues, including a leader.
More than 300 activists gathered at the expressway near Zia Masjid and blocked both the lanes.
As a result, motorists remained stuck on the busy artery.Police along with reserves and an anti-riot unit reached the spot and diverted the traffic to alternative routes.
Till the filing of this report, hundreds of vehicles were stuck on the expressway. The most affected parts at the expressway were Zero Point to Shakrial and Khanna Bridge to Loi Bher.
The demonstrators staged a sit-in on the highway to protest the disappearance of ASWJ big shot Maulana Masoodur Rehman Usmani.
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[SpaceNews] A cutoff of live video on a recent SpaceX launch reflects new awareness by regulators of the imaging capabilities of onboard cameras on launch vehicles and requirements for companies to adhere to laws that some in the industry believe are outdated.
During the March 30 launch of 10 Iridium Next satellites on a SpaceX Falcon 9, SpaceX cut off the live video from the rocket’s second stage nine minutes after liftoff. The company cited “restrictions” imposed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for terminating the live feed.
“The SpaceX application was received by our office four days before launch,” said Tahara Dawkins{see Photo}, director of CRSRA, at an April 3 meeting of the Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing here. She noted that, under law, the office has up to 120 days to make a ruling on a license application
They are not ready for commercial space with quick turn-around. Obviously not ready for anything not totally bureaucratic.
but undertook an “extremely expedited review” that was completed in three days, working very closely with SpaceX, an effort she called “unprecedented.”
In order to get a license approved in some form in time for the launch, Dawkins said the government agreed to temporarily waive a number of requirements for the license. That, however, did not extend to permitting live public video from orbit.
“With additional time to review and evaluate and, if necessary, elevate, we could have worked it out a little bit more and maybe allowed for live streaming,” she said. For future launches, “we’re hoping to get a better review of what that livestreaming is, and what potential risk to national security each one will have.”
It looks like another department has been identified for Trump to radically prune or eliminate.
Dawkins said that no previous SpaceX launches had NOAA commercial remote sensing licenses, even though many have flown onboard cameras, including several previous Iridium missions. An April 2 launch of a Falcon 9 from Florida carrying a Dragon cargo spacecraft had no such restrictions, she said, because that was considered a government mission. While the spacecraft is performing a mission under contract to NASA, the launch itself was considered commercial and licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation.
NOAA was not aware of the previous launches that featured onboard cameras. “Our office is extremely small, and there’s a lot of things out there that we miss,” she said. “The onus is on the companies to come to us and get a license when needed.”
Some in the industry speculate a tipping point may have come with the inaugural launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket. That launch placed a Tesla Roadster sports car in orbit, attached to the rocket’s upper stage and equipped with several cameras. Those cameras provided live views of the car, with the Earth often in the background, for several hours after launch. The live feed attracted at times hundreds of thousands of viewers.
NOAA did not directly address at the committee meeting any link between the Falcon Heavy launch and the new scrutiny regarding remote sensing licensing of upper stages. Dawkins, specifically asked about that launch, confirmed it did not have a NOAA license.
#4
Skidmark - that article shows 2 virtual Bezos rockets and a 40 years since flight Sat 5. None of Musk's virtual rockets like BRF/BFS and the NASA virtual SLS rocket. The BFS (upper stage of BFR) will start flying next year. That's is before Bezo's virtual rockets and maybe the same timeframe as NASA's SLS.
#6
DNI Coats
Coats: “We have to become much more agile, more innovative, more creative.”
Maybe you will need to delete bureaucracies like NOAA Mr. DNI.
[DAWN] A surge of stabbings in London was blamed on Monday for the city overtaking New York's monthly murder tally for the first time in modern history.
Fifteen people were murdered in London during February, compared to 14 in New York, according to police figures.
The British capital also suffered 22 fatal stabbings and shootings in March, higher than the 21 in New York.
There have been 10 fatal stabbings in London in the last 19 days, following on from the 80 fatal stabbings recorded in the city last year.
London's murder rate has grown by nearly 40 percent in three years, while police figures show that New York's has fallen by 87 percent since 1990, raising pressure on mayor Sadiq Khan and Metropolitan Police chief Cressida Dick.
Despite the recent surge, New York, which has a slightly smaller population than London, has still suffered more murders since the start of the year.
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#1
I'm sure this will be buried by the "Why can't we be just like Europe" crowd.
[WarOnTheRocks] Over the last several years, I have met with commanders and fighters from Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (al-hashd al-sha’abi, or PMF), an umbrella organization of some 50 paramilitary groups, to hear about their perspectives on the situation in Iraq. Last month, I re-visited a leader whom I hadn’t seen in some time. As I walked into the room, I noticed that he no longer wore army fatigues ‐ instead, he was in a suit. He joked that things had changed, and he was now returning to politics.
He is not the only one. The PMF have become much more than a group of militias, now seeking to establish a legitimate institutional presence and play a role in politics and the economy, against the backdrop of a fragile Iraqi state that remains weak after the fall of ISIL.
A critical aspect of the state rebuilding process is reforming the security sector, which collapsed in 2014 when a few thousand fighters took over one-third of Iraq. During the 3-year fight against ISIL, a number of armed groups ‐ united in opposition to a common enemy but not in command structure or vision ‐ emerged in place of the struggling state armed forces. Although the Iraqi armed forces have since recovered, the state’s weakness has allowed many of these paramilitary groups continue to control territory in liberated areas from Mosul to Kirkuk.
The largest of these groups is the PMF, established in June 2014 by former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki after the fall of Mosul. The PMF includes groups with competing ideologies and rivalling allegiances to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. However, the most powerful groups and leaders in the PMF come from a network of conservative Shia Islamists who enjoy good relations with Khamenei and the regime in Tehran. PMF forces played a key role in the liberation of territory, first on the front lines in much of the initial fighting, and then holding areas as Iraqi forces recovered and began leading the liberation.
Today, in recently liberated areas, the PMF has recruited local fighters and serves as a de facto national guard. Its political influence is also growing. Organized into the Fatah Alliance electoral bloc, PMF leadership is focused on making gains in the upcoming 2018 elections.
The Iraqi government and its international allies have demanded that the PMF integrate into the central state apparatus. Most recently, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi issued a decree to rein in the militias through an integration process. This has traditionally meant incorporating fighters into the command chain of the traditional state armed forces (al-quwwat al-musalaha), which legally fall under the Ministry of Defence or the Ministry of Interior.
But realities on the ground paint a different picture. Benefitting from the weakness of Iraqi state institutions, the PMF leadership has rejected Baghdad’s decrees, and instead offered its own vision for the future of the militias: to become an independent security body protecting the political system, like a praetorian guard for the state. Under this proposal, the paramilitary groups would fall under the Prime Minister’s Office, which separates it from the Ministry of Defence of Ministry of Interior.
Despite Abadi’s ongoing efforts at security-sector reform, so far the PMF leadership has won the debate. It will not integrate in the traditional way; rather, it will become an institutionalized autonomous force, fundamentally altering Iraq’s security architecture and challenging Baghdad’s command structure and monopoly over legitimate violence. Institutionalization, rather than integration, will define the PMF’s role as the Iraqi state rebuilds itself. Long, click through for the whole thing.
Herb, please don’t use p and /p to separate paragraphs, but just put a blank line between them (except when doing in-lines, of course). For whatever reason, using p and /p results in two blank lines appearing between the paragraphs, and it’s time-consuming to clean up.
Thanking you for the moderators,
trailing wife
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
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#1
So there you have it. Some of the overseas adventure money is now being spent on stuff the USDoS must truly love, ie political hijinx. Let's spend that money here in the USA on our borders, missile defense and better detection at points of entry.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/04/2018 9:18
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#2
I do have an $1800 dollar suit. I didn't need to buy a $1200 plane ticket to get it. Nor additional $1200 plane tix for each member of my entourage. WTF?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/04/2018 9:37
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#3
Hey, I can't be responsible if Rantburg can't parse proper HTML. Every paragraph must be terminated with a end of paragraph marker.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
04/04/2018 15:41
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#4
a number of armed groups ‐ united in opposition to a common enemy but not in command structure or vision ‐ emerged in place of the struggling state armed forces
So regional governing warlords and their enforcers.
[FoxNews] The U.S. government has acknowledged the existence in Washington D.C. of what appear to be devices that could be used by foreign spies and criminals to track individual cellphones and intercept calls and messages, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
In a March 26 letter to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the Department of Homeland Security admitted that it "has observed anomalous activity in the [Washington D.C. area] that appears to be consistent with International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) catchers." DHS added that it had not determined the type of devices in use or who might have been operating them, nor did it say how many it detected or where.
However, a DHS official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the agency's reply to Wyden has not been publicly released told AP that the devices were detected in a 90-day trial that began in January 2017 with equipment from a Las Vegas-based DHS contractor, ESD America. The CEO of ESD America, Les Goldsmith, said his company has a relationship with DHS but would not comment further.
The use of what are known as cellphone-site simulators by foreign powers has long been a concern, but American intelligence and law enforcement agencies — which use such eavesdropping equipment themselves — have been silent on the issue until now.
The agency's response, obtained by the AP from Wyden's office, suggests little has been done about such equipment, known popularly as Stingrays after a brand common among U.S. police departments. The Federal Communications Commission, which regulates the nation's airwaves, formed a task force on the subject four years ago, but it never produced a report and no longer meets regularly.
The devices work by tricking mobile devices into locking onto them instead of legitimate cell towers, revealing the exact location of a particular cellphone. More sophisticated versions can eavesdrop on calls by forcing phones to step down to older, unencrypted 2G wireless technology. Some attempt to plant malware.
They can cost anywhere from $1,000 to about $200,000. They are commonly the size of a briefcase; some are as small as a cellphone. They can be placed in a car next to a government building. The most powerful can be deployed in low-flying aircraft.
Christopher Krebs, the top official in the department's National Protection and Programs Directorate, noted in the letter that DHS lacks the equipment and funding to detect Stingrays even though their use by foreign governments "may threaten U.S. national and economic security." The department did report its findings to "federal partners" Krebs did not name. That presumably includes the FBI.
Legislators have been raising alarms about the use of Stingrays in the capital since at least 2014, when Goldsmith and other security-company researchers conducted public sweeps that located suspected unauthorized devices near the White House, the Supreme Court, the Commerce Department and the Pentagon, among other locations.
The executive branch, however, has shied away from even discussing the subject.
#3
The political class has a habit of chasing foreign agents down dark alleys, hitting them over the head and then stuffing their pockets with juicy intelligence (Awan/Congress,Clinton EMail/Maid/Sciff, Weiner/Abedin's Yahoo printout scheme).
What difference at any point do a few measly phone calls or text messages make?
#4
I have read elsewhere that the USCG has installed devices like these on their search & rescue aircraft to help find civilians lost in areas where there is no cell phone coverage, e.g. wilderness of upper peninsula of Michigan, southwest deserts, etc. They have succeeded in locating the lost who happen to have their cell phones powered on.
#5
Motorola threw together a backpackable version and sent it to NYNY just 24 hrs after 911. Found about 1000 working cellphones at the trade towers but no people.
#6
what appear to be devices that could be used by foreign spies and criminals to track individual cellphones and intercept calls and messages, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
Foreign? Could be Trump what Trump meant shortly after he got elected.
[DAWN] A top Emirati security official, known for making controversy-catching remarks on wide-ranging issues, took to Twitter to denounce Paks, accusing them of being a "dangerous threat to Gulf societies".
In his recent diatribe on April 1, Lt Gen Dhahi Khalfan, who is the head of general security of Dubai, wrote in Arabic: "The Paks pose a serious threat to the Gulf communities for the drugs they bring with them to our countries."
The tweet, followed by a series of similar attacks targeting Paks, came in the backdrop of a drug racket being busted in Dubai. The tweet was also carrying a photo apparently showing three Pak smugglers, along with the drugs allegedly recovered from them.
No government data is readily available to show that Pak citizens have been involved in certain crimes in UAE more than immigrants colonists belonging to other countries.
Khalfan resorted to generalising, however, asking his fellow citizens "not to employ Paks". The security official, who was the head of Dubai Police Force until 2013, termed it a "national duty to stop hiring Paks".
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2018
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All that weeping has left her dehydrated and depleted of key salts (and non-key salts as well, but nobody cares about them).
[DAWN] Bangladesh's opposition party accused the government on Tuesday of putting the health of their jugged Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! leader at risk by refusing to let her personal doctors treat her inside prison.
the loathesome Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... , the 72-year-old leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) who was jugged Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! in February for corruption, has been suffering complications from arthritis and is struggling to walk, doctors say.
A team of four government doctors from a state-run hospital in Dhaka have been treating Zia, a two-time former prime minister, in prison where she is serving her five-year sentence in isolation.
But her supporters want Zia's personal physicians given access to her cell.
The government has yet to respond to the request.
"The government is trying to break our leader's morale and it is taking a toll on her health," BNP front man Rizvi Ahmed told AFP.
Mohammad Shamsuzzaman, an orthopaedic specialist at Dhaka Medical College Hospital who visited Zia as part of the government team, said her condition was not serious but her arthritis had worsened in prison.
"She has pain in hands and legs. She couldn't walk 50 metres without assistance," he told AFP, adding she had also developed back pain.
Zia, an erstwhile ally turned fierce political rival of Prime Minister the loathesome Sheikh Hasina ...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums.. , already suffered from arthritis, diabetes and knee replacements when she was sentenced to prison for embezzlement.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[DAWN] The United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... said on Tuesday it was investigating "disturbing reports of serious harm to civilians" in an Afghan Arclight airstrike on a religious school that security sources say left dozens of children dead or maimed.
Hundreds of people were attending a graduation ceremony at the madrassa in a Taliban ...Arabic for students... -controlled northeastern district on Monday when Afghan Air Force helicopters struck, witnesses have told AFP.
"Human Rights team on ground establishing facts. All parties reminded of obligations to protect civilians from impact of armed conflict," the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said in a brief statement.
At least 59 people, including Taliban Überstürmbannführers meeting at the compound in the Dashte Archi district in Kunduz province, were killed in the attack, Afghan security sources told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Most of the civilian victims were children, they said. Government officials in both Kabul and Kunduz have given conflicting figures, with some denying any civilians had been killed or that a madrassa had been hit. Afghan officials have been known to minimise civilian casualties.
"I myself counted 35 bodies," Abdul Khalil told AFP at the hospital in the thriving provincial capital Kunduz ─ more than 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the airstrike ─ where health officials said 57 injured had been taken.
"I arrived at the scene right after the airstrikes ─ it was like a butcher's shop. Everywhere was covered with blood, the ground was littered with body parts, heads, limbs and other parts."
A man called Yousuf, who was at the ceremony when the airstrikes happened, told AFP he saw "blood and body parts everywhere".
Television showed anguished relatives standing outside the hospital yelling "Shame on you!" Defence ministry front man Mohammad Radmanish on Tuesday distanced the air force from responsibility for civilian casualties ─ which on Monday he had denied existed ─ and instead suggested the Taliban opened fire on them.
"Half of them (civilians in hospital) have gunshot wounds, hit by light weapons that we didn't use. We used rockets fired by MD-530 helicopters ─ how were they hit by bullets?" he said.
But Naim Mangal, a doctor at the hospital, said "all the victims" had been "hit by pieces of bomb, shrapnel". "Out of the 100 maimed and six dead in the hospital none have been hit by a bullet," he told AFP.
Radmanish said 18 senior Taliban Überstürmbannführers were killed in the airstrike on a "training centre" for the group's elite Red Unit.Another 12 were maimed.
Earlier he had said 20 Taliban were killed.
The government has sent two teams to conduct an investigation into the incident, he added.
Police deny madrassa hit
Kunduz police chief General Abdul Hamid Hamidi told AFP on Tuesday that "72 of the enemy" had been killed in the airstrike.
Hamidi added that five civilians also died and another 52 were maimed but he denied a madrassa or mosque had been hit. Security forces have donated large quantities of blood to the hospital.
The Taliban has confirmed the attack on the religious school but denied that any of its gunnies had been there.
The madrassa was run by Islamic scholars sympathetic to the Taliban but the facility was open to the public, a senior Taliban Überstürmbannführer speaking from an unknown location in Pakistain told AFP on Tuesday.
He said as many as 2,000 people were at the school on Monday, including 750 students, for a graduation ceremony, but insisted there were no senior Taliban leaders present.
He estimated that 400 people had been killed and an unknown number maimed.
The Taliban are known to exaggerate battlefield claims.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2018
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[KrebsOnSecurity] Panerabread.com, the Web site for the American chain of bakery-cafe fast casual restaurants by the same name, leaked millions of customer records — including names, email and physical addresses, birthdays and the last four digits of the customer’s credit card number — for at least eight months before it was yanked offline earlier today, KrebsOnSecurity has learned.
The data available in plain text from Panera’s site appeared to include records for any customer who has signed up for an account to order food online via panerabread.com. The St. Louis-based company, which has more than 2,100 retail locations in the United States and Canada, allows customers to order food online for pickup in stores or for delivery.
KrebsOnSecurity learned about the breach earlier today after being contacted by security researcher Dylan Houlihan, who said he initially notified Panera about customer data leaking from its Web site back on August 2, 2017.
A long message thread that Houlihan shared between himself and Panera indicates that Mike Gustavison, Panera’s director of information security, initially dismissed Houlihan’s report as a likely scam. A week later, however, those messages suggest that the company had validated Houlihan’s findings and was working on a fix.
“Thank you for the information we are working on a resolution,” Gustavison wrote.
Fast forward to early this afternoon — exactly eight months to the day after Houlihan first reported the problem — and data shared by Houlihan indicated the site was still leaking customer records in plain text. Worse still, the records could be indexed and crawled by automated tools with very little effort.
For example, some of the customer records include unique identifiers that increment by one for each new record, making it potentially simple for someone to scrape all available customer accounts. The format of the database also lets anyone search for customers via a variety of data points, including by phone number.
“Panera Bread uses sequential integers for account IDs, which means that if your goal is to gather as much information as you can instead about someone, you can simply increment through the accounts and collect as much as you’d like, up to and including the entire database,” Houlihan said.
Asked whether he saw any indication that Panera ever addressed the issue he reported in August 2017 until today, Houlihan said no.
“No, the flaw never disappeared,” he said. “I checked on it every month or so because I was pissed.”
Shortly after KrebsOnSecurity spoke briefly with Panera’s chief information officer John Meister by phone today, the company briefly took the Web site offline. As of this publication, the site is back online but the data referenced above no longer appears to be reachable.
Bimbo Bakeries USA is a leader in the baking industry, known for its category leading brands, innovative products, freshness and quality. As part of Grupo Bimbo, the world’s largest baking company, BBU is proud to share the company philosophyHighly Productive and Deeply Humane in the U.S.
#2
They'll have no authority to arrest or detain, though.
Posse Comitatus Act and all that, unless it's National Guard and under a state's authority.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/04/2018 8:20
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#3
...but they can detain till the ICE reps show up. You breach a military installation boundary, they'll hold you till the federal LEO show up to escort you off.
An EO defining any land one mile within the border, not incorporated by civil authorities, as a military zone falling under existing rules governing military installations would cover a multitude of options in military utilization. Lot of Bureau of Land Management property along that border.
[SABANEWS.NET] Warplanes of the US-backed Saudi-led aggression coalition waged eight raids on Hajjah province, an official told Saba on Tuesday. The aggression raids targeted Haradh and Mide districts.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and rebel forces are currently negotiating a peace plan that would put an end to the latter’s presence in southern Damascus.
According to a military source in Damascus, the Syrian Army and rebel forces are negotiating the fate of the in southern suburbs of Yalda, Babeela, and Beit Sahm.
The Syrian Army has reportedly offered the rebels in these suburbs the same terms they gave the Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... (FSA) and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham in al-Qadam.
Should the rebels reject the Syrian Army’s offer, they will likely face a military operation once the latter completes their battle against 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.... (ISIS) in southern Damascus.
With virtually nowhere to retreat and limited provisions, the rebels in southern Damascus are likely to surrender the area in the coming weeks.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Mail] Germany's military is rolling out a line of maternity uniforms for pregnant soldiers following successful field tests last year.
Germany's defense ministry says some 80 volunteers tested a range of uniforms as well as underwear and tights, and their feedback will be considered.
It said 'our goal in the end is to buy uniforms that best meet the requirements of the users.'
In a statement on Tuesday, the ministry confirmed a report by German news agency dpa that it plans to buy 500 sets of uniforms for about €650,000 euros ($800,865).
It said that about two percent of Germany's 20,000 female soldiers are pregnant.
#2
Nah. The American Army was the last service to introduce a preggie uniform. It resisted for a long time. The females wore civilian clothes with their class A name tag. After another round of denial by the Army Uniform Board, the head JAG advised the CoS of the Army that due to the significant number of females deployed in Europe (circa 1980s), that any such female captured out of uniform was not covered by the various Conventions and could be classified as an illegal combatant (which the other side was free to execute as spies et al). Guess who would be blamed? /rhet question. Shazam! A quick meeting of the Army Uniform Board and the authorization of a preggie uniform!
[DAWN] Saudi King Salman ...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and Lord of Most of the Arabians.... reaffirmed support for Paleostinians to US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... , state media said Tuesday, after his son and heir apparent said Israel has a "right" to a homeland.
The king "reaffirmed the kingdom's steadfast position towards the Paleostinian issue and the legitimate rights of the Paleostinian people to an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital," the official Saudi Press Agency said.
The king also emphasised the need to advance the Middle East grinding of the peace processor in a phone call with Trump, which came after Israeli forces killed 17 Paleostinians last week during a demonstration on its border with Gazoo.
Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... and Israel have no formal diplomatic relations, but behind the scenes their ties appear to have improved in recent years against what they see as a common Iranian threat.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[DAWN] The US Department of State amended its designation of Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... (LeT) on Monday, identifying Milli Moslem League (MML) and Tehrik-e-Azadi-e-Kashmire (TAK) as LeT affiliates, which makes it impossible for them to register as political parties.
The US Treasury Department also updated its list of individual terrorists, naming seven members of the MML leadership as LeT activists who were acting in MML on behalf of LeT.
The State Department described the MML and the TAK as LeT ’aliases’ and added their names to its lists of Foreign Terrorist Organisations (FTO) and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT).
"In August 2017, LeT chief Hafiz Saeed ...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat... created the MML to serve as a political front for the group. LeT members make up MML’s leadership and the so-called party openly displays Saeed’s likeness in its election banners and literature," the State Department pointed out.
Monday’s amendments "take aim at Lashkar-e-Taiba’s efforts to circumvent sanctions and deceive the public about its true character," said Ambassador Nathan A. Sales, the coordinator for counterterrorism at the Department of State.
"Make no mistake: whatever LeT chooses to call itself, it remains a violent terrorist group. The United States supports all efforts to ensure that LeT does not have a political voice until it gives up violence as a tool of influence," he added.
The designations clearly undermine MML’s effort to get itself registered with the Election Commission of Pakistain as a political party and contest the 2018 general elections. It will be difficult for the Pak government to ignore the designations and register MML as a political party, as it would be seen as an act of direct confrontation with the United States.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Breitbart] President Donald Trump may about to throw the Kurds under the bus ‐ and with them, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and American interests in the Middle East.
If concerns for securing the Pentagon budget are what convinced Trump to sign the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill last month, Pentagon concerns about keeping Islamist Turkey in NATO seem to be informing Trump’s thinking about abandoning the Kurds.
To the dismay of America’s allies and the delight of its enemies, President Trump declared last Thursday, in a speech in Ohio focused on infrastructure renewal, that he will soon recall U.S. forces now deployed to Syria to fight the Islamic State (or ISIS).
In his words: "We’re knocking the hell out of ISIS. We’ll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now."
On its face, Trump’s statement seems reasonable. In 2014, then-President Barack Obama received congressional authorization to deploy U.S. forces to Syria to defeat ISIS, which had seized large swathes of territory in eastern Syria and western Iraq, and had set up its so-called capital in Raqqa, Syria. But Obama’s war against ISIS was lackadaisical and inconclusive.
During the 2016 campaign, Trump pledged to obliterate ISIS. Upon taking office, he loosened the rules of engagement for U.S. forces, and devolved authority for making attacking decisions from Washington to the forces on the ground.
The results paid off. In December 2017, Iraqi President Haider al-Abadi announced that ISIS had been defeated in Iraq.
....
As global financial analyst and strategic commentator David Goldman notes, the prospect of a global financial shock will rise to near certainty. "When you throw a lit match into a barrel of gas, you will get a big fire," Goldman explains.
If Iran and Saudi Arabia go to war, they will target one another’s oil installations, he explains. "The price of a barrel of oil will rise to $200. Even though the U.S. is energy independent, the global price will still rise due to supply loss, and the global economy will be shut down." Goldman continues.
"This will be the Trump Depression," he concludes.
In other words, the 2,000 American troops in Syria are what stand between the U.S. and a meltdown of the global economy. They prevent war in the Middle East by denying Iran the ability to consolidate its victories in Syria and to launch wars directly, or through its proxies, against Israel and Saudi Arabia.
It does. We import 8m barrels a day. Apart from the effect of a bigger import bill, the ramp in the price of domestically-produced oil will crush the economy by imposing what is essentially a large tax on other industries, and on consumers. Now, other economies will be hurt worse. The question, really, is whether a small amount of expenditures in the Mid East is such a big deal. $200m a year is a large amount of money even for a billionaire, but it is peanuts for the US economy.
#3
Of course, making our allies foot some of the bill isn't such a bad idea, either. Maybe that's what Trump is trying to do. After all, James Baker strong-armed Japan, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the other Gulf kingdoms into shelling out the $60b cost of Desert Storm. If they say no, maybe we just let them suffer the consequences. Tough love is sometimes necessary for countries to learn the facts of life.
#5
These are just globalists desperately trying to keep US troops in Syria. They came to defeat ISIS, job is done, now time to go home.
They come up with this OMG DEPRESSION because that's their answer to every time someone wants peace. Oh, but we need constant war because peace would be even worse! And it would deny the military-industrial complex its ability to profit. Oh dearie me, what an awful outcome!
Posted by: Gronter Smiter of the French9585 ||
04/04/2018 5:13
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#6
Overly simplistic, I'm sure. BUT. What if all the money spent on overseas adventures was instead spent to harden our borders and points of foreign entry?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/04/2018 9:05
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#7
Overly simplistic, I'm sure. BUT. What if all the money spent on overseas adventures was instead spent to harden our borders and points of foreign entry?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/04/2018 9:26
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#9
Even if it's the "overly simplistic" part...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/04/2018 9:45
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#10
I'd make it even simpler. We don't go there, they don't come here.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/04/2018 10:24
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#11
I vote for that ^
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/04/2018 10:33
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#12
Alas the world does not work that way. Withdrawal is an act of betrayl of our local allies, and a show of weakness. It will have all the consequences of Obama's withdrawal from Iraq, and probably more.
Even if you are pro Iran, as some of you appear to be, the consequences of it could be its complete destruction: if it encourages Iran to more aggressive behavior, and there is a devastating response which there most probably would be.
Posted by: Daniel ||
04/04/2018 15:11
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#13
Even with 50 ft tall walls along the border, the foriegnors woll always have a massive back door, the Democrats.
#1
Now that it has been proven to one thing really really good, watch for the pentagon weenies to start adding on to make it a one size fits all POS, sort of like a water based lawndart......
[SABANEWS.NET] The army and popular Committees carried out an unique attack on the locations of the US-backed Saudi-led aggression mercenaries in Nehm district, a military official told Saba. The attack targeted the enemy in Sawdah hill, killing and injuring dozens.
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[Libya Herald] Libya’s Presidency Council, headed by Faiez Serraj, in his guise as Commander-in-Chief of the Libyan Armed Forces, launched an anti-terror military campaign entitled ’’Nation’s Storm / National Storm’’.
Serraj heads Libyan forces based in western Libya. He and his Presidency Council are recognized by the international community.
Starting Monday, the military operation aims to target ISIS/ISIS terror remnants and dens starting from the 60km checkpoint east of Misrata to the outskirts of Bani Walid, Tarhuna, Khoms and Zliten.
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[SABANEWS.NET] A diphtheria outbreak has killed 84 people in Yemen since late October, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday.
In a statement, the UN agency said some 1,516 suspected cases of diphtheria have been registered in 20 of Yemen’s 23 provinces.
It listed Ibb and Hodeida provinces in central and western Yemen as the hardest-hit by the disease.
Diphtheria spreads as easily as the common cold through sneezing, coughing or even talking, according to health officials.
Mainly affecting children, diphtheria can cause devastating epidemics if left unchecked.
Yemeni health authorities have recently launched a major vaccination campaign across the country in an effort to avert the growing spread of the disease.
The ongoing conflict in the country has devastated basic services, including water and sanitation systems, prompting the UN to describe the situation in Yemen as one of “the world’s worst humanitarian disasters in modern times”.
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[SABANEWS.NET] The army and popular committees carried out an offensive on the aggression mercenaries' sites in the district of al- Masloob in Jawf province, a military official told Saba. The attack inflicted heavy losses on the enemy, said the official. "How heavy?"
"Very heavy."
Posted by: Fred ||
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[ALMASDARNEWS] With the conclusion of the Syrian Army’s operation in East Ghouta it has become apparent that government forces will now shift their attention towards what has become a threatening 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.... presence in the southern districts of Damascus.
Islamic State forces in southern Damascus ‐ the result of a sudden conversion of rebel ranks several years ago ‐ have always been something of an enigma and only recently has their capability become known.
Against both pro-government forces and rival rebel groups, ISIS has rapidly expanded its control south of the Syrian capital since the beginning of 2018 through a series of rather brute offensives.
Existing estimates put the strength of the terrorist group’s forces in south Damascus at anywhere between 1,500 to 2,500 frontline fighters.
This seems reasonable and it might be the case that another three to four thousand armed people who are not necessarily proper ranked infantry but have nonetheless aligned themselves with ISIS are also present in areas it controls.
Finally, whether or not the Islamic State bastion is in possession of heavy weapons like main battle tanks and howtizers is unknown, however medium weapons such as mortars, high-powered rifles and platoon-level machine guns are known to be used (quite efficiently) by it.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2018
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Talibs group in Afghanistan reacted at the reports regarding the alleged killing of a top Chinese murderous Moslem leader in northeastern Badakhshan province of Afghanistan.
Taliban ...Arabic for students... front man Zabiullah Mujahid claims that the reports regarding the killing of a top Chinese murderous Moslem leader in Jurm district are baseless as he called it a ’propaganda by enemies’.
Mujahid went on to claim that the Afghan forces conducted an operation in Jurm district but the heavy mortar shelling and raid resulted to massive civilian casualties.
The Taliban front man claims that 28 civilians including women and kiddies were killed as he emphasizes that no imported muscle are based in Badakhshan apart from the Talibs.
He also claimed that the there is no foreign bully boy by the name of Mustafa among the ranks of the Taliban in Badakhshan. The 209th Shaheen Corps of the Afghan Military in the North said on Saturday that at least seven snuffies including two Chinese nationals were killed during the operations.
The officials further added that one of the Chinese nationals killed during the operations has been identified as Mustafa who was the deputy leader of a Chinese murderous Moslem group.
A front man for the 209th Shaheen Corps Mohammad Hanif Rezayi confirmed that the snuffies were killed in Jurm district.
Rezayi further added that thirteen snuffies were also maimed during the operations but the security personnel involved in the operations have not sustained any casualty.
The local residents in Jurm district have also not sustained any casualty during the operations, the Shaheen Corps front man added.
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[Gateway Pundit] "We are going to be guarding our border with our military. That’s a big step," Mr. Trump told reporters.He said he has been speaking to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis about deploying the military on the border.
About 1,000 immigrants from Central America, mainly Honduras, are moving in a group through Mexico toward the U.S. Some of them are expected to seek asylum if they reach the U.S.
"We cannot have people flowing into our country illegally, disappearing, and by the way never showing up for court," Mr. Trump said at the White House. "If it reaches our border, our laws are so weak and so pathetic ... it’s like we have no border."
#2
I read Mexico is breaking up some of this band of illegals coming from Central America and deporting and sending them back to from where they came. The rest will be turned back from our border.
#3
Here's hoping the group heads towards the California-Mexico border, and Governor Moonbeam sends the guard to stop the units sent to California from turning back the illegals. They'll still be turned back, and we'll see the California Governor in leg-chains.
#4
Mc Dave Baldwin faces a terrible challenge. Gov Brown is his boss on state active duty and Federal Title 32 status. But, at the mobilization by the Army, his boss becomes the President. Posse Commitatus does not apply in state or 32 status, but does in Tirle 10. If Brown resists the President, a real mess will ensue inside OTAG.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Ministry of Defense of Afghanistan (MoD) released new information regarding the deadly Arclight airstrike in northern Kunduz province of Afghanistan.
MoD front man Gen. Mohammad Radmanish shared the latest information as well as pictures of the airstrike as he was updating the media during a presser today.
Gen. Radmanish said the airstrike was carried out a main stronghold of the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... group in Dasht-e-Archi district which was also being used as the training camp by the group.
He said the raid was conducted based on accurate intelligence information and as a result several Taliban gunnies including eighteen of their leaders were killed.
The defense ministry front man also displayed several pictures taken from the site before the airstrike and said only the Taliban gunnies and their leaders were seen in the compound before the raid was conducted.
He said several key members and gunnies of the Red Unit of Taliban were also killed in the airstrike together with the foreign nationals from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
In regards to the civilian casualties, Gen. Radmanish said the Afghan army helicopters attacked the the compound with rockets but the civilians sustained casualties from small fire arms.
According to Gen. Radmanish, the Talibs initially opened fire on army helicopters after their base was attacked with rockets and later opened fire on civilians.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan Military released the video taken by ScanEagle drones purportedly showing the targets chosen by the armed forces ahead of the deadly Arclight airstrike that left scores of people dead amid speculations that the raid resulted into massive civilian casualties.
However, facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable... the latest video shows the Afghan military is pinpointing the target where a large gathering is underway.
Although the authenticity of the video cannot be verified independently but the video show several gunnies patrolling close to the vicinity of the gathering which proves the Afghan military claims that a larage gathering of the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... leaders was underway.
This comes as the Ministry of Defense front man Gen. Mohammad Radmanish shared the latest information as well as pictures of the airstrike as he was updating the media during a presser today.
Gen. Radmanish said the airstrike was carried out a main stronghold of the Taliban group in Dasht-e-Archi district which was also being used as the training camp by the group.
He said the raid was conducted based on accurate intelligence information and as a result several Taliban hard boyz including eighteen of their leaders were killed.
The defense ministry front man also displayed several pictures taken from the site before the airstrike and said only the Taliban hard boyz and their leaders were seen in the compound before the raid was conducted.
He said several key members and bandidoshard boyz of the Red Unit of Taliban were also killed in the airstrike together with the foreign nationals from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
In regards to the civilian casualties, Gen. Radmanish said the Afghan army helicopters attacked the the compound with rockets but the civilians sustained casualties from small fire arms.
According to Gen. Radmanish, the Talibs initially opened fire on army helicopters after their base was attacked with rockets and later opened fire on civilians.
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Militants affiliated with 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) terrorist group launched a coordinated attack on security posts in Darzab district of northern Jawzjan province.
According to the local security officials, the attack was launched late on Monday night which continued for several hours.
District police chief Mohammad Ismail confirmed the attack but added that the Lions of Islam of the terror group faced a strong resistance from the security and defense forces.
He did not disclose further information regarding the possible casualties during the clash but he said the authorities have requested air support to eliminate the terrorists.
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[IsraelTimes] Dead man identified as 25-year-old Ahmed Arafa, a member of the DFLP terrorist group
A Paleostinian man was rubbed out by Israeli forces as he broke through the Gazoo security fence on Tuesday, as tensions continued days after at least 16 people were reported killed in a mass border demonstration.
The Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",-run Gazoo health ministry identified the dead man as 25-year-old Ahmed Arafa, saying he was shot in the chest during festivities east of Bureij in central Gazoo. The military wing of the DFLP (Democratic Front for the Liberation of Paleostine
Continued on Page 49
#1
Asked what the IDF was anticipating for this upcoming Friday, when Hamas has called for renewed festivities on the border, the defense minister said he "didn’t want to make an assessment. We are prepared for every scenario."
"Pain"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/04/2018 7:46
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[IsraelTimes] Detailing failed attempt Curses! Foiled again! to boost Israeli leader he thought more supportive of peace efforts, former US president says, 'I tried to do it in a way that didn't overtly involve me'
#1
When the victorious Netanyahu subsequently visited him at the White House, Clinton recalled, the new Israeli prime minister “wanted me to know that he knew I wasn’t for him and he beat us anyway.” The former president laughed, then added: “And he was being very ‘Bibi'” (Netanyahu’s nickname).
In other words, he stuck it right up your arse. Nicely played I'd say.
[DAWN] SAHIWAL: A youth allegedly killed a girl for rejecting his marriage proposal and did away with himself at village Kot Maan Singh, tehsil Pakpattan, on Monday.
Muhammad Afzal, son of Muhammad Iqbal, sent a marriage proposal through his parents for one Jameel’s eldest daughter, Maria.
The villagers told the police that Jameel rejected the proposal. After the rejection, Afzal went to Jameel’s house again on Monday and asked for a reply to his marriage proposal. When Jameel refused to accept it once again, the infuriated Afzal brought out a pistol and shot up Maria who went titzup. After shooting the girl, Afzal ran out of house but after covering 200 yards in the street, he stopped and shot himself.
Chak Badian Police Station House Officer Rana Muhammad Imran said both the bodies had been sent for an appointment with Dr. Quincy.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2018
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
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.
The Justice Department recently indicted four "fraudsters" in New York who raised more than $125,000 through a bogus "wounded warrior" charity to benefit themselves rather than to help veterans. It is a recurring problem for people who watch those constant commercials showing trembling dogs in wire cages or heartbreaking kids with cleft lips. Most charities fund legitimate, desperately needed programs but often are harmed by an unscrupulous few.
[Mail] It was a case that would rock Baltimore to its core. An elite police squad robbing its own citizens, stealing thousands of dollars and re-selling confiscated drugs. 
[Independent] Accusations and recriminations between Britain and Russia are set to escalate with the news that scientists at the Porton Down military research facility have been unable to establish exactly where the novichok nerve agent used to carry out the Skripal attack was manufactured.
[American Thinker] As many people know, Illinois is a fiscal mess and a national leader in out-migration. To turn Illinois around, how about our elected officials Take the Pledge this November? Will our elected officials endorse these eight suggestions? Does any of these suggestions apply to your state?
[The Federalist] Every once in awhile, the Western media finds itself complacent in playing to the narrative of those opposed to liberal values. In an attempt to seem universalist and open-minded, the international press often portrays immensely complicated global conflicts in Leibniz terms that fit their progressive and simplistic paradigm. In the course of such oversimplification, the press becomes increasingly more apt to demonize Western nations in order to fit their reductionist narrative.
[PJ] Congressional investigators have uncovered text messages between FBI lovebirds Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, revealing that the bureau may have improperly coordinated with Department of Justice officials in an effort to rush the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant on former Trump campaign volunteer Carter Page, investigative journalist Sara Carter reported in an exclusive Tuesday. The communications were released to congressional investigators last week.
[FoxNews] A U.S. Marine Corps helicopter crashed Tuesday -- killing its four crew members -- during exercises along the U.S.-Mexico border near Plaster City, Calif., military officials said.
[Guardian] Heroes are curious things. Ours have roots in the ancient Graeco-Roman sense of the concept, which places a premium on military victory. What’s problematic is how many of our heroes embody an inherent level of violence, as is unsurprisingly the case with people whose main accomplishments arise from war. We are tolerant about people who regarded the working classes as an abomination (Wellington), the transatlantic slave trade as a good idea (Nelson) or Indians as repulsive (Churchill), because we think the ends ‐ defeating Napoleon or Hitler ‐ justified the means.
[WashingtonExaminer] President Trump said Tuesday that ally Saudi Arabia might have to pay if it wants a continuing U.S. military presence in Syria.
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. 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 him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
[SpaceNews] A cutoff of live video on a recent SpaceX launch reflects new awareness by regulators of the imaging capabilities of onboard cameras on launch vehicles and requirements for companies to adhere to laws that some in the industry believe are outdated.
[WarOnTheRocks] Over the last several years, I have met with commanders and fighters from Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (al-hashd al-sha’abi, or PMF), an umbrella organization of some 50 paramilitary groups, to hear about their perspectives on the situation in Iraq. Last month, I re-visited a leader whom I hadn’t seen in some time. As I walked into the room, I noticed that he no longer wore army fatigues ‐ instead, he was in a suit. He joked that things had changed, and he was now returning to politics.
...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as 
[KrebsOnSecurity] Panerabread.com, the Web site for the American chain of bakery-cafe fast casual restaurants by the same name, leaked millions of customer records — including names, email and physical addresses, birthdays and the last four digits of the customer’s credit card number — for at least eight months before it was yanked offline earlier today, KrebsOnSecurity has learned.
[Mail] Germany's military is rolling out a line of maternity uniforms for pregnant soldiers following successful field tests last year.
...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and Lord of Most of the Arabians....
...the 
[Breitbart] President Donald Trump may about to throw the Kurds under the bus ‐ and with them, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and American interests in the Middle East. 
[SABANEWS.NET] A diphtheria outbreak has killed 84 people in Yemen since late October, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday. 
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Paleostine
[DAWN] SAHIWAL: A youth allegedly killed a girl for rejecting his marriage proposal and 
