The M1A2 Abrams main battle tank is arguably the best in the world. Yeah, Russia is generating some hype for the Armata family of tanks, but the Abrams is combat-proven and very hard to kill.
How hard? Well, in his 1994 non-fiction book, "Armored Cav," Tom Clancy recounted a tale of how an M1A1 Abrams got stuck in the mud during the ground war of Desert Storm. It was then set upon by three tanks, Iraqi T-72s specifically.
A round fired from roughly a thousand yards away bounced off, and the Abrams responded by blowing the T-72 that fired it to bits. A second round fired from 700 yards bounced off, and the offending T-72 was blasted. The third T-72, at a range of roughly 400 yards, fired a round, which left a groove in the armor of the Abrams. It, too, was destroyed by a shot fired through a sand berm. These were, supposedly, Russia's state-of-the-art tanks.
Then, when help arrived, and the tank couldn't be freed from the mud, a platoon of Abrams tanks tried to destroy it.
After several rounds, they detonated the onboard ammo, but the blow-out panels functioned as designed. Then, when the tank was retrieved from the mud, they discovered that it was still functional. The only issue? A sight was out of alignment.
So, what would it take to reliably destroy an M1 Abrams? Well, someone at quora.com asked what would happen if an Abrams was hit by a round from a 16-inch gun on an American Iowa-class battleship.
The 16-inch armor-piercing rounds fired from the battleship weigh in at 2,700 pounds. The 120mm rounds fired at that Abrams stuck in the mud? They're about 20 pounds.
Do a quick bit of math and you'll see that the Iowa's main gun round is 135 times as heavy as an Abrams' main gun round. The Abrams may be the world's toughest tank and can take a ton of abuse, but not this level of abuse.
To put it simply, a main gun round from the Iowa-class battleship will destroy the Abrams easily. In a way, this speaks well for the Abrams ‐ one can't really imagine anything short of an Iowa's main gun being able to destroy one.
Cheerful image, that. Just squirming in my chair, myself. Got me wondering what it might be like if Iowa were to fire a round out to sea once in a while. Weekly, say. Standing room in the turret? Messages scribbled on a shell? I'm crazy cheap and I'd pay an embarrassing amount of money for that. Probably turn a profit. I know it can't happen, and more or less why it can't, but wow... if I ran the zoo!
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/03/2018 21:25
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#6
AlanC, 1) How much would you lend me? 2) I have nothing against fish, or Catalina, so I got a little more into the landward possibilities than was probably healthy. First thought was (naturally) a broadside at Malibu, but that's hopeless, assuming 24 mi range. Ditto the Hollywood Sign. Hollywood & Vine? Maybe barely, but that'd break Rantburg rules. Dodger Stadium (empty, of course) presents the dreadful possibility of a shortfall on Chinatown, City Hall, or even Skid Row. Various hillsides and golf courses? Kinda boring. So let's say Santa Monica: Over Torrance or whatever and straight up several miles of beach (does the 4th work for you?), over the Pier, and kersplash. Goosebumps I've got.
#7
Speaking of targets on the Left Coast, after I had finished with Hollyweird and West LA, I think it might be a real knee-slapper to toodle on up the coast and take a couple of potshots at Pelosi's digs and DiFi's Manse.
Watching the drone videos of San Fran Nan's smoldering ruin would warm the cockles of my black little heart.
[Townhall] Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who announced federal charges for members of the infamous open borders caravan earlier this week, is sending additional resources to the U.S. southern border with Mexico to handle the ongoing border crisis.
Thirty-five judges and prosecutors will be placed in border states California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to speed up "prosecutions of improper entry, illegal reentry, and alien smuggling cases" and "adjudication of immigration court cases."
"The American people made very clear their desire to secure our borders and prioritize the public safety and national security of our homeland," Sessions said about the move. "Promoting and enforcing the rule of law is essential to our republic. By deploying these additional resources to the Southwest border, the Justice Department and the Trump Administration take yet another step in protecting our nation, its borders, and its citizens. It must be clear that there is no right to demand entry without justification."
h/t Instapundit
President Donald Trump’s legal team became significantly more cohesive on Wednesday with the addition of Emmet Flood, a veteran white collar defense attorney. It also became more aggressive, which could prove tricky for special counsel Bob Mueller.
A longtime Washington lawyer who’s known Flood for quite some time and who spoke anonymously because of client sensitivities said there’s no chance Flood will let the president sit for an interview with Mueller.
"Mueller finally has somebody who’s his match," that person said. "You’ve got a fair fight now."
It has been reported to the MOD network that a comment from veteran Rantburg poster 'Sgt. DT' may have been inadvertently deleted. Apologies are very much in order.
#1
Show the deleted item. And explain why the post was "inadvertently" Deleted. Was it politically smelly in your estimation . Or was it obscene?
Or was it just "stupid" for some reason ? I rather liked your state trooper meme for stupid stuff. Or what was the really real reason it was deleted? Did you think it was from a "nobody" then? And not one of the "good 'ol boys"? naturally the good 'ol boys should get a pass. We can't be censoring one of the "good 'ol boys"
Level with us. What are your criterion for censorship. ? Its OK you can be honest.
#2
you're close? Nobody Mods away SGT DT's comments, except by accident (that said, wuzn't me! I don't delete).
Now Jack C? .... I regularly internet cop his droppings unless there's something intelligible, and he'll eventually move to a new anon nym...
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/03/2018 21:30
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#3
When you are an ass, Hemingway, which is often, you get deleted or spam copped. I go for straightforward deletion, because I find two or three spam copped comments in a row annoying, but our newer moderators still have patience.
Those occasions when you are not an ass I leave untouched, so that all can enjoy it.
[Breitbart] Students around the country walked out of class in support of the Second Amendment on Wednesday.
The walkout was part of Will Riley’s "Stand for the Second" event ‐ a nationwide call to counter nonstop gun control campaigns with a walkout in support of the Second Amendment and our founding principles.
On May 1, Breitbart News reported that Riley, a senior at New Mexico’s Carlsbad High School, is not a gun owner but believes the ideals and freedoms dear to our Founding Fathers ought to be dear to us as well.
Students at over 300 schools responded to Riley’s battle cry, pledging to "Stand for the Second" in their respective locations.
Although the pro-Second Amendment walkout did not garner the same level of establishment media coverage as gun control walkouts, the Marion Star reported approximately 150 middle school students at Caledonia, Ohio’s River Valley Middle School walked out in support of gun rights. NBC 52 reports that students in Portland, Oregon and Chicago, Illinois walked out as well.
#5
G(r)om, I disagree with you. I do agree there is a war for our kids minds going on. When the left burned down Berkley, the right did not go to wall street and burn it down because we are better than that. We need to fight to put a stop to the politicization of our children, not advance it. We need to sue the organizers of these movements, we need to sue the school districts for allowing/supporting these political movements and force the schools to stay out of politics.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/03/2018 17:02
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#6
the right did not go to wall street and burn it down because we are better than that
[Daily Caller] Black male support for President Donald Trump doubled in just one week, according to a Reuters poll on presidential approval.
A poll taken on April 22, 2018 had Trump’s approval rating among black men at 11 percent, while the same poll on April 29, 2018 pegged the approval rating at 22 percent. It should be noted that Reuters only sampled slightly under 200 black males each week and slightly under 3,000 people overall.
Trump experienced a similar jump in approval among black people overall, spiking from 8.9 percent on April 22 to 16.5 percent on April 29.
Black males were also far more likely to say that they had "mixed feelings" about the president. On the 22nd, 1.5 percent said they had mixed feelings, while 7.1 percent said the same on the 29th.
The results are interesting given the recent transformation of Kanye West, who posted a picture of himself wearing a Make America Great Again hat on his Twitter account last week.
#4
Victor, that was exactly my thought. If Kanye stands firm for a few more weeks this could be a Yuuge change.
Not that I'm paranoid, but, I won't be surprised if Mr. West is the target of some unwelcome attention very shortly. The Left can't let them uppity Nigg*** start thinking for themselves can they?
#5
AlanC, did you miss auntie Waters comment on Monday? They are already trying to drag him back in chains.
"Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) on Monday weighed in on Kanye West's recent comments about President Trump, praising the rapper for his contributions to the African-American community while also saying he sometimes "talks out of turn."
Talks out of turn. Wow. Slavemaster much, Maxine?
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
05/03/2018 9:53
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#6
And this from Kim Kardashian West. I nearly fell out of my chair when I read it. She defended her husband. Credibly.
"Kim Kardashian West slammed mainstream media critics attempting to demonize her husband Kanye West after the Grammy-winning rapper-producer publicly expressed support for President Donald Trump." And she went OFF on the critics. Whoda thunk it. That was from a Breitbart article.
#8
Democrats and Leftists trying to prevent Donald J. Trump from leading blacks off the plantation.
I love it.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/03/2018 10:29
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#9
Minority and victim pandering is all they have for a political platform. Minorities stop voting for them, they will be finished as a party and they know it.
Thus the vicious vitriol against those that speak or act against the approved group-think.
Ironically this will just make more people leave faster.
#12
Not that I'm paranoid, but, I won't be surprised if Mr. West is the target of some unwelcome attention very shortly. The Left can't let them uppity Nigg*** start thinking for themselves can they?
Turned past TMZ and got a segment where they had both people of color on their staff...though one was whiter than Obama but dreads...start bagging on Kanye, with a room of sodden white people nodding in sad approval.
I watched for a little bit and it was so lame, so predictable.
#14
Black males seeing jobs returning after a long time and rediscovering their pride.
Do not forget, a lot of blacks migrated out of the south to work in Democrat cities because of jobs, and they started voting Democrat while there. Votes and jobs are linked.
Trump needs to keep the job numbers improving and the left will lose all but the fringe.
[Daily Caller] The state of Iowa is one signature away from potentially changing the entire nation’s abortion laws.
The Iowa state House and Senate passed the "Heartbeat" bill this week that would severely restrict the practice of abortion in the state and may result in a national legal battle in the Supreme Court.
The late night votes on the bill were contentious but successful for pro-life advocates. The bill would ban the option of an abortion if a heartbeat is detected in an ultrasound. Most pregnancies exhibit a heartbeat for the baby as early as six weeks.
There are exemptions to the rule, such as protecting the life of the mother and other medical emergencies. According to the Des Moines Register, the exemptions are as follows:
[USA Today] WASHINGTON ‐ The man hailed as a hero for prying a gun out of the hands of the Waffle House shooter in Nashville may be going to the White House.
Asked Tuesday whether President Donald Trump had called James Shaw Jr., White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that a trip to the White House may be in the works.
"My understanding is that there has been an outreach effort to bring him here to the White House, and I'll keep you updated on that as I have more information," she said.
Shaw, 29, who was a customer at the South Nashville restaurant, is credited with saving numerous lives after he wrestled an AR-15 out of the hands of Travis Reinking, whom police say opened fire about 3:25 a.m. on April 22.
Four people were killed and numerous others were wounded in the attack.
Shaw said he ran toward the bathroom when the gunfire rang out. Then, realizing he was trapped, Shaw rushed the shooter as he was reloading, grabbed the hot barrel of the AR-15, disarmed the shooter and threw the gun over the Waffle House counter.
#4
If he stripped the guy of the weapon, why didn't he shoot him? Story indicates the gun was empty & needed reloading. Shaw may not have known how, or otherwise may have been unable to reload. Disarming the shooter was the key to success here.
[Townhall] Eh, it's just one polling series -- but it's an intriguing one, tracking data over two years. With President Trump's job approval ticking up a few more points lately (it's better, but still not good, especially considering this electoral context), might young voters' acute allergy to the Republican Party and its current leader be subsiding a bit? Perhaps. Here is what Reuters/Ipsos' latest survey found, followed by a some further analysis:
#3
I'd like to think they're seeing the job situation
but its probably because the only Dem names bandied about are over a hundred years old. Despite that these numbers will probably rise once they Dems rally around a single person.
[BBC] Ten people suffered minor injuries when a fire exploded at a Jewish festival in London, police have said. Hatzola, a volunteer emergency medical service, said it provided a "mega response team" at the event in Stamford Hill.
Jewish news website The Yeshiva World said a bonfire exploded when it was lit.
#1
Some idiots apparently threw their smart phones on the pyre before it was lit because the rebbe said to, according to The Times of Israel. Thus it is proved that burning cell phones is a bad idea.
[The Federalist] Gen. Michael Hayden, the former NSA and CIA director, has inadvertently revealed the ultimate subtext for the political establishment’s antagonism towards President Trump.
Trump has "normalized lying to an unprecedented degree," Hayden writes in a New York Times op-ed, adding: "In this post-truth world, intelligence agencies are in the bunker with some unlikely mates: journalism, academia, the courts, law enforcement and science ‐ all of which, like intelligence gathering, are evidence-based. Intelligence shares a broader duty with these other truth-tellers to preserve the commitment and ability of our society to base important decisions on our best judgment of what constitutes objective reality."
There’s some irony there, given how intelligence agencies have used journalists and academics to advance their agendas. But we’ll set that aside. While professionals in these fields should base their work in careful and dispassionate analysis of facts, logic and evidence, they’ll encounter two problems. First, rising within many of these institutions requires political acumen in at least equal proportion to merit. Second, progressives dominate in most of these fields ‐ if you do not conform you are unlikely to survive.
Those who exhibit intellectual honesty and follow truth wherever it leads them, even when it flies in the face of the views of their superiors, are frequently punished. This is especially so if the relevant work is deemed detrimental to the aims of the bureaucracies in which they serve. Increasingly of course, we see all of these areas politicized in myriad ways. These same rules apply in politics as politics.
#2
In this post-truth world, intelligence agencies are in the bunker with some unlikely mates: journalism, academia, the courts, law enforcement and science ‐ all of which, like intelligence gathering, are evidence-based.
Speaking of normalized lying boy howdy. I'll give you the courts and law enforcement mostly but the others????? BS.
#4
Those who exhibit intellectual honesty and follow truth wherever it leads them, even when it flies in the face of the views of their superiors, are frequently punished.
That has been the case for thousands of years, nothing at all new about this observation. More successful societies had ways of dealing with this delinquent tendency. The US once had a society which had its own checks & balances to get around this flaw, some of which were encoded in law, some were encoded in the hearts of its citizenry.
[The Federalist] When former FBI director James Comey disclosed at a congressional hearing last June that he had disseminated memos to a friend, his defenders scrambled to make excuses for him. The mainstream media launched either fake news or a series of legal justifications to whitewash his violations of a litany of federal rules and laws protecting his private conversations with the president.
Now that the memos have been perused, the theories of a number of such legal commentators, which were based on sketchy information to begin with, have unsurprisingly proved to be full of errors, irrelevancies, and overstatements. Rather than walk back their defense of Comey’s leaks, however, they have doubled down on heroizing him.
No, Comey’s Memos Are Not His Personal Property.
Last May, the Washington Post called White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders a liar for saying Comey leaked privileged information. At the time, legal professor Jonathan Turley wrote eloquently in her defense. Today, he confirms his position, arguing that the media continue to allow their bias to overwhelm their objectivity in reporting on Comey’s culpability.
The release of the actual memos (albeit redacted) resolves a number of points of contention. The first is whether they were government records. If they were produced in the course of government employment, they constituted confidential information subject to both internal Justice Department rules restricting their removal and disclosure as well as federal statute. More on the latter presently, but in the meantime, it is important to note these restrictions would apply whether the material released was classified or not.
[American Thinker] What a week for President Trump! We have North and South Korea making peace, with the North promising to give up its nukes ‐ something unimaginable for past administrations, those filled with diplomatic wizards like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John Kerry. This announcement is on the heels of a successful state visit by French president Emmanuel Macron and Mike Pompeo's confirmation as secretary of state.
The economy is humming along with record low unemployment, particularly benefiting blacks and Hispanics, in a way that Democrat policies never allowed for. Rap superstar Kanye West, much to the dismay of the left, came out of the liberal closet and proclaimed himself a Trumpster. Left-wing MSNBC hack Joy Reid, after the discovery of her past Twitter musings, can't decide if she was a homophobe years ago when it wasn't one of the third rails of liberal politics, allowing the left another opportunity to eat one of its own, or else make silly excuses for her homophobia.
All is not wine and roses, however. The president's nominee for Veterans Administration secretary, Dr. Ronny Jackson, was hounded into withdrawing his nomination through rumors and unsubstantiated allegations, in a similar fashion to how Clarence Thomas and Robert Bork were treated when nominated for the Supreme Court, and just as Harry Reid tried to smear candidate Mitt Romney with lies about Romney not paying his taxes.
If Dr. Jackson was a drunken pill-pusher, as Senator Jon Tester claimed, why did George W. Bush and Barack Hussein Obama both use Dr. Jackson as their personal physician ‐ not only for themselves, but also for their wives? Allegations are easy to make. Just look at the Russian collusion stories, to this day without proof or verification. In the short time frame between Dr. Jackson's nomination and confirmation hearings, it's quite difficult to prove that something didn't happen, particularly when it appears that the president is the only Republican defending his nominee against allegations promoted by the Democrats and the media.
#3
They have had plenty of opportunities to shed the uniparty ways and board the Trump train. Many simply refuse to do so and I hope they get primaried out.
[American Thinker] The Washington Post's Catherine Rampell argues, along with the left, that President Trump's economic achievements are not all that impressive. In her last column, she concludes:
Presidents get too much blame when the economy sours and too much credit when it improves. Not that you'd know this from Trump's boasts whenever some good news ‐ even news that's not actually that good ‐ rolls in.
While I generally agree with her statement that presidents get too much blame and too much credit for the economy, there are some problems with her reasoning.
When one president increased regulations as fast as he could, foisted high taxes on us, and always sought more power for the government, and the other president is trying to reduce regulations as fast as he can, cut taxes, and reduce the power of government, it can have a heck of a lot of impact.
President Obama's policies led to the slowest economic recovery in seventy years, despite massive government spending increases, huge injections of cash by the Federal Reserve, and punishingly low interest rates, which discouraged savings.
Today, I have read that the economy is growing at the fastest rate since 2005 (after Bush's tax cuts), and the first quarter showed the fastest personal income growth since 2007. (It looks as though the tax cuts are trickling through.)
We had eight years of Obama to judge his policies, and the results weren't good. Now we have had a mere one year to judge Trump's, and only four months after the tax cuts, so we will see.
#1
Obama's Recovery Summer never arrived outside manipulated data reports and Media hum jobs. We can look around and see what a recovery does look like now. Going to believe the Legacy Infortainment Enterprises (LIEs) or you lying eyes?
#2
I wonder how thoroughly, in a metaphorical sense, Ms. Rampell was licking Obama's balls during his two terms wrecking the economy and piling on the debt. Because that's different!
[Washington Examiner] Fox News anchor Shepard Smith suggested there is a "concerted effort" by people appearing on his network to advise President Trump not to sit down for an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller.
"There appears to be a concerted effort ... to put a bunch of people on television having seen [Mueller’s] questions, and to say into the television ‐ like this channel ‐ ’Don’t do it, Mr. President. Don’t do it. Don’t go up there, don’t do it. We know you want to. Don’t do it. Can’t do it,'" Smith told Reuters White House correspondent Jeff Mason Wednesday.
"We all know the president does watch some television, and he’s got a lot of surrogates, as we call them, or friends out there that speak for him and speak on behalf of him," Mason said.
[MAIL] A former campaign communications adviser to Donald Trump blew up at Democratic U.S. Senate aides on Tuesday at the end of a behind-the-scenes grilling connected to their wide-ranging Russia investigation.
New York-based political consultant Michael Caputo said he has spent $125,000 on attorneys to help him navigate the committee's demands for documents and testimony, ruining his children's economic future and forcing him to sell his family home.
Calling the probe a 'witch hunt,' Caputo demanded to know who is funding a secretive effort to continue digging into unsubstantiated allegations that Trump has ties with the Kremlin.
'What America needs is an investigation of the investigators,' he said. 'I want to know: Who is paying for the spies’ work and coordinating this attack on President Donald Trump?'
'I want to know who cost us so much money, who crushed our kids, who forced us out of our home, all because you lost an election. I want to know because God Damn you to Hell.'
Mike Flynn sells his house to pay for legal fees. Caputu sells his house. DoJ Federal employee Rosenstein denounces "extortion" by the congress. Meanwhile, Jeff Sessions sits back and does absolutely nothing.
#3
I would have our US House and Senate legislators spend 90% of their time in their home states. The internet could be used for communication on mundane maters before major votes. This would be the first step in draining the swamp!
#4
....it would also disperse the Lobby(c) over 50 states. A lot less efficient. Think of the collapse of the Beltway housing market! The humanity of it all.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A dangerous gang involved in major criminal incidents in capital Kabul has been busted by the Afghan cops.
The Kabul police commandment said Wednesday that the gang was busted in the vicinity of the 5th police district of the city.
The source further added that the gang was involved in various criminal incidents including armed robberies in various parts of the city.
According to the security officials, the Afghan cops also confiscated three Ak-47s, two pistols, and some other military kits from the detained individuals.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2018
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[ABCNews] Outgoing White House lawyer Ty Cobb told ABC News during an exclusive interview that a presidential interview with special counsel Robert Mueller has not been ruled out. Interesting MSM tidbit:
It was during a press conference in the Rose Garden last year that President Donald Trump said he would "100%" be willing to speak with Mueller under oath. Later, the president reiterated his willingness to speak, telling ABC News’ Jonathan Karl in January “I would love to do that...I 'd like to do it as soon as possible.” Then, as I recall, Mr. Trump qualified his statement with something about his attorneys giving the OK, but that's not germane, I suppose.
#2
Why is Ty Cobb discussing anything other than the details of his retirement activities? Who are these people who insist on having their MSM exclusive interviews ?
#3
It's the Prez who should interview Mueller. He was appointed to investigate connection between the Trump campaign and Russia. Congress, not Mueller, has already demonstrated it was manipulation by the Clinton campaign. Time to put your cards on the table or leave.
No Bob, I don't have time for 20 questions, but I do have one question for you. I'm cutting off funding for your fishing expedition, probably within the next two weeks. So when do think this charade will end ?
[KhaamaPress] A series of Arclight airstrikes were carried out on the hideouts of the anti-government armed turbans in northeastern Badakhshan province of Afghanistan.
The Ministry of Defense of Afghanistan said the latest airstrikes were carried out in the vicinity of Tashkan district.
The source further added that the airstrikes left at least four turbans dead while two others were maimed.
The airstrikes also resulted into the destruction of two hideouts of the myrmidons, the Ministry of Defense added.
The anti-government armed myrmidon groups including Taliban ...Arabic for students... bandidos bad boys have not commented regarding the report so far.
[Rudaw] BARDARASH, Kurdistan Region ‐ Iraqi forces briefly reopened the road between Bashiqa and Bardarash, but quickly closing it again, leaving drivers flummoxed and upset.
The route between Duhok and Nineveh provinces northeast of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... was closed after the October 16 events when Iraqi forces took control of the majority of the disputed areas.
There are six official roads between Duhok and Mosul, but only one is open. The Bashiqa route was going to be the second and commuters quickly took advantage of shaving an hour off their route, but it did not last long.
Najim Abdullah, deputy commander of the Bashiqa Front, speculated that the Iraqi forces closed it again because of the election.
[Chicago Tribune] The Boy Scouts of America may be taking the "boy" out of their name to accommodate girls, but the Girl Scouts are emphasizing the "girl" in their name. Sir Baden-Powell spins in his grave.
Both groups tried to put the best light Wednesday on the announcement that Boy Scouts of America will change its moniker next year to Scouts BSA, as part of its new plan to let girls join.
Cate Readling leads an Oak Park Cub Scout den of four girls who are among the first in the Chicago area to join the Boy Scout organization. She said the name change is nothing new to her.
With girls having participated for years in certain Boy Scouts programs, Readling said she and others already called boys and girls alike the non-gender specific "scouts."
"I’ve encountered girls who wanted to do Cub Scouts, and girls who wanted to do Girl Scouts," she said. "All girls should have more choice."
#2
Powell created the Scouts after Britian less than stellar performance in the Boer War demonstrated that Britian's youth had lost its skills in 'field craft'. Late 19th Century/Early 20th Century's impact due to the early phase of urbanization and industrialization. Looks like the American offshoot has succumbed to the same factors. Maybe someone will start a new organization up that carries on Powell's core intent.
#5
It's not Saturday but I'll recommend this. If nothing else showing an army evolving itself in wartime. They were trying to figure it out as they went along. As for the tactics alluded to, they beat Mao by a couple decades in drying up the pond where the fish swam. Not nice, but it did work in the end.
#6
I suspect that you will see an alternative to the BSA grow and fulfill the need. There's already one growing that takes the place of Planned Parenthood's Girl Scouts.
#7
@#6: There already is one. They started when the gay ruling came down against the BS. LINK
Posted by: BA ||
05/03/2018 16:26
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#8
That toxic old ox, Baden-Powell?
Replace him with, say, Sarah Vowell.
We'll squeal about feelings
And smashing glass ceilings
And sexy first aid for your bowel.
[DAWN] A couple who had contracted a free-will marriage was rubbed out, allegedly by the woman's family members, in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... on Wednesday, in what police suspect is a case of 'honour killing'.
According to police, 32-year-old Amir and his wife, Mukhtiba, 24, were leaving after meeting their relatives in Sukhia Goth off Super Highway when person or persons unknown opened fire on them and fled.
The victims sustained critical bullet wounds and were taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where they were pronounced dead.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Libya Observer] Attorneys for Libyan victims of crimes committed by warlord and commander of the Libyan self-styled army, Khalifa Haftar ...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all... , have filed a formal complaint with the French Prosecutor General's Office, according to the President of
Democracy and Human Rights Foundation, Emadeddin Zahri Muntasser.
According to Muntasser, the complaint detailed crimes perpetrated by Haftar, including the torture and murder of Libyan civilians in Benghazi and its surrounding.
"French law No. 2010-930 permits the filing of such complaints even if the accused were not a French citizen." Muntasser remarked.
Worth mentioning is that Haftar was recently in Gay Paree for medical treatment.
According to Muntasser, the complaint was filed on behalf of Mr. Ali Hamza and other victims whose family members were starved, tortured, and killed by warlord Haftar.
"French law allows the Prosecutor General ninety days to consider opening an investigation of such crimes. If the Prosecutor General fails to investigate, the victims are permitted to directly file with an investigative judge and request an independent investigation." Muntasser explains.
He also stressed that he wanted to remind the supporters of Khalifa Haftar that International law and the Rome Statute criminalize aiding and abetting war criminals.
"Those who provide material or moral assistance to perpetrators of war crimes and genocide are held personally accountable regardless of military rank or political office." He remarked.
He also made clear that the new filing in La Belle France complements other filings in the United States and International Criminal Court (ICC).
Muntasser said that the complaints aim to bring to justice "a killer whose crimes spanned almost fifty years and inflicted death, pain, and suffering on countless victims in Chad and in Libya."
Posted by: Fred ||
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Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The High Commission for Human Rights in Iraq has revealed the total number of foreign females, who had death sentences issued against them, over involvement with 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.... In remarks on Wednesday, Ali al-Bayati, member of the commission, said "the total number of female members who had death sentences issued against them reached 28 women."
Iraqi judiciary, according to Bayati, "sentenced them to death over involvement with the milinat group as well as carrying out terrorist crimes against security personnel and civilians."
Bayati also added that the number of these females is from the beginning of the year, saying that their nationalities were Ottoman Turkish, Russian, French, Azeri and Kyrgyz.
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[PRESSTV] Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi has condemned French police after two Iranian media crew members were heavily injured by police during recent violent festivities with protesters in Gay Paree.
Qassemi said on Wednesday that the French police should provide security for citizens and "guarantee the professional activities of journalists and the press."
An Iranian correspondent and a cameraman from Iran’s state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
IRIB were covering the protest rally by anti-government demonstrators in Gay Paree on Tuesday when the two were maimed as police clashed with protesters.
Shahsavar Hosseini, the IRIB correspondent in the French capital, passed out after inhaling tear gas during the demonstrations.
Ramin Tohidian, a cameraman of the Iranian TV crew, was also maimed after being hit in the head by a rubber bullet and rushed to hospital. He is reportedly in the intensive care unit due to severe brain hemorrhage.
The Foreign Ministry Spokesman (seen below) said that from the very beginning of the incident, Iran’s embassy in Gay Paree has been seriously following up on the health condition of the IRIB team, and expressed hope that they would recover soon.
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#1
"were covering the protest"
a little known fact is that in Farsi, "covering" and "co-ordinating" have the same meaning.
[BBC] Cambridge Analytica, the political consultancy at the centre of the Facebook data-sharing scandal, is shutting down.
The firm was accused of improperly obtaining personal information on behalf of political clients.
According to Facebook, data about up to 87 million of its members was harvested by an app and then passed on to the political consultancy.
The social network said its own probe into the matter would continue.
"This doesn't change our commitment and determination to understand exactly what happened and make sure it doesn't happen again," said a spokesman.
"We are continuing with our investigation in cooperation with the relevant authorities."
Clarence Mitchell, a spokesman for Cambridge Analytica, referred the BBC to a statement on the firm's website.
"Over the past several months, Cambridge Analytica has been the subject of numerous unfounded accusations and, despite the company's efforts to correct the record, has been vilified for activities that are not only legal, but also widely accepted as a standard component of online advertising in both the political and commercial arenas," it said.
"Despite Cambridge Analytica's unwavering confidence that its employees have acted ethically and lawfully... the siege of media coverage has driven away virtually all of the company's customers and suppliers.
"As a result, it has been determined that it is no longer viable to continue operating the business."
#1
Such hypocrisy. The firm obtained the data because Facebook very happily shared and sold it to them. Facebook is only fussing now because it’s been revealed and people disapprove.
[IsraelTimes] The Jerusalem District Court sentences a East Jerusalem resident to three years in prison over his involvement in a Hamas, one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbung millipede,-affiliated organization that operates on the Temple Mount.
Nahed Sagheer was an activist in the religious organization known as al-Shabaab ... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia... al-Aqsa, which was classified as a terror group in 2011.
The Shin Bet has said that in addition to stoking violence on the Temple Mount to deter non-Moslem visitors, members of the group have also carried out a number of deadly terror attacks, including an October 2016 shooting in which two Israelis were killed at the capital’s Ammunition Hill light rail stop and during a subsequent shootout with police.
As part of the plea bargain, Sagheer admits to "management of a terrorist organization" and is fined NIS 10,000.
[IsraelTimes] The Tunisian Justice Ministry reportedly claimed Wednesday that one of the suspected operatives behind a 2016 hit on a Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,-linked engineer attributed to Israel has been locked away I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! in Croatia.
Both Hamas and Hezbollah have accused the Mossad of killing Mohammed Zouari, 49, who was shot to death at the wheel of his car outside his house in the Tunisian port city of Sfax in December 2016.
Hamas claimed last year that Israeli spies used Bosnian passports to enter Tunisia and assassinate Zouari, who also held Belgian citizenship.
Hebrew media reports, citing the Tunisian Justice Ministry source, said the suspect was arrested two months ago in Croatia, but authorities were refusing to extradite him to Tunisia.
Zouari, an aviation engineer and Tunisian national, was confirmed by Hamas to be a central figure in its weapons development. The terror group called him a pioneer in developing its unmanned drones.
Israel has not responded to the accusation by Hamas that it was behind the Tunisian engineer’s death.
[IsraelTimes] Less than two weeks away from the scheduled transfer of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , 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 the United Arab Emirates are pumping a quarter of a billion dollars into the Islamic Waqf and a slew of Moslem organizations in East Jerusalem, Hadashot news reported Wednesday.
The Waqf (Moslem Trust) administers the Temple Mount, home to the al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest shrine, as well as a slew of schools, orphanages, Islamic libraries, Islamic courts and other properties. The mount is the holiest place in Judaism as the site of the ancient temples. Israel maintains overall security control at the site.
The three countries are describing the move as an act of "rescue" to finance renovations at holy sites, but Israeli officials fear their involvement will go beyond money and could spark violence in the run-up to the ribbon-cutting on May 14, the TV report said.
[PRESSTV] A human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... group has called upon the US Congress to block the sale of combat helicopters and aircraft missiles to Bahrain in the wake of the ruling Al Khalifah regime’s heavy-handed crackdown on pro-democracy campaigners and political dissidents in the tiny Persian Gulf country.
"It is simply absurd that the Trump administration has decided to effectively reward the Bahraini military for violating international law ‐ right after the State Department itself reported on a widespread human rights crisis in Bahrain," Husain Abdullah, the executive director of Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain, said in a statement released on Wednesday.
The Pentagon, in a statement released last Friday, announced that the US State Department had approved the possible sale of attack helicopters to Bahrain for an estimated cost of $911 million.
Bahrain has reportedly requested attack helicopters AH-1Z, replacement engines, AGM-114 and APKWS II missiles, as well as radars, communications systems and other equipment.
The Pentagon has delivered the required certification notice to the Congress. The congressmen have 30 days to block the deal.
Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the country in mid-February 2011.
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[AAWSAT] The ISIS terrorist group grabbed credit on Wednesday for a drive-by shooting in a town north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad that left 8 people dead.
The group, which usually exaggerates the number of casualties, put the figure at 22, describing them all as members of the Tribal Mobilization Forces.
A security source had told Rooters that Death Eaters killed eight unarmed civilians in the assault in Tarmiya, 25 km (15 miles) north of Baghdad on Tuesday.
The attack saw button men in two speeding cars open fire on civilians in Tarmiya.
Iraq declared victory in December over ISIS, which had seized control of nearly a third of the country in 2014. But the group continues to carry out attacks and bombings in Baghdad and other parts of the country.
Iraq is heading into parliamentary elections on May 12 ‐ the first balloting since the government declared ISIS defeated in Iraq earlier this year.
Among the casualties in Tarmiya were workers who were putting up election campaign posters for candidates running for parliament, police officials said. The officials and eyewitnesses spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
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[KhaamaPress] The US government has positively responded to the application of Nilofar Rahmani and has granted her asylum due to the fears of persecution she faced in Afghanistan, it has been reported.
Rahmani, Afghanistan’s first fixed-wing air force pilot, had applied for the asylum after reaching in United States in 2015.
She was informed regarding the decision of the government to grant asylum on Monday, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Kimberly Motley, Rahmani’s lawyer, told the paper her client received death threats from murderous Moslems and members of her extended family, as well as condemnation from Afghan government officials. She first came to the United States in 2015 for training.
Motley further added that Rahmani’s family has relocated several times due to death threats. "If she were to return to Afghanistan, she would be in fear of her safety," Motley said.
Rahmani was awarded the International Women of courage Award by the US Department of State in 2015.
In regards to her decision to seek asylum in US, the Afghan Ministry of Defense front man Mohammad Radmanish told the WSJ that Rahmani "has the right to live where she wants."
Rao cannot come to court today for his murder trial. He is sick.
/signed/ Rao's Mother
[DAWN] An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... adjourned the hearing of the Naqeebullah murder case until May 14 after former Malir SSP Rao Anwar ‐ Sindh’s so-called 'encounter specialist' ‐ failed to appear before the court.
At the last hearing, the court had sent Anwar to prison on judicial remand until May 2 (today). The former SSP, 11 of his detained subordinates and 14 absconders are accused of abducting Naqeebullah for ransom and later killing him, along with three other detainees, in a staged encounter in Malir on January 13.
The accused cops had initially dubbed the murder an 'encounter' against myrmidons.
Instead of Anwar, a health certificate declaring that the official had fallen ill was presented before the judge at today's hearing. The court, expressing its displeasure on Anwar's absence, directed the police officials to produce him at the next hearing. The judge warned that the doctor who issued the health certificate for Anwar could be summoned to the court if Anwar is not brought on May 14.
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[DailyCaller] According to a new report, Barron Trump is facing bullying at school over his father.
Hollywood Life reports that the youngest Trump is "Reportedly getting bullied for his father’s current problems. ’Worst of all, her heart breaks for her son who gets regularly teased at school and has a hard time defending his father to his classmates,’ the insider shared."
'It’s so unfortunate for someone so young and innocent to have to deal with that so we definitely hope that Barron and Melania feel better soon,' the article continues.
Hopefully the bullying stops soon for the youngest in the Trump family. It is always a horrible situation when a kid gets teased for something he has no control over.
#1
They used to raise princes in medieval times, not by sending them to schools run by idiots, but by doing fun things like training & riding horses and studying martial arts of all kinds.
#10
I left out the other way princes were once raised - by going on "hunts" with companions, chasing huge wild beasts & occasionally risking their own lives hunting them down. Nowadays many deplorables raise their kids, particularly the sons, in similar ways.
[AAWSAT] We should all be glad that Kim Pudge Jong-un ...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished... , the leader of North Korea, and Moon Jae-in, the president of South Korea, had a positive summit ‐ and that Kim literally took a historic step into the South, as did Moon, briefly, into the North. Dialogue is certainly better than a march to war. That said, we all need to keep our expectations in check.
Although the leaders agreed in the Panmunjom Declaration to work together toward a permanent peace rather than the current armistice and declared a commitment to "denuclearization," we cannot know whether this statement of principles will be of lasting worth until the details are hammered out. This is certain to be a long and difficult process.
Similarly, we should all welcome the Trump-Kim summit expected in May or June. But no summit declaration on that occasion will be meaningful regarding North Korea’s nuclear arsenal if the definition of the term "denuclearization" is left blurry and no robust verification regime is put in place. We need to see concrete steps. That would include, in the first instance, allowing the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency back into North Korea to begin an assessment of Pyongyang’s nuclear program and ensure, if possible, that North Korea is not advancing the program while talks continue.
Any US-North Korean declaration must also include a detailed definition of "denuclearization" to ensure that we are all talking about the same thing. In 1992, when the North and South issued a joint declaration, this term was born because "disarmament" was considered unacceptable terminology. Pyongyang has long used denuclearization as a proxy for ensuring that its security was guaranteed and not threatened by US military power and nuclear weapons. The United States, and the rest of the world, are looking for quite a different outcome: the destruction of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and permanent constraints on its missiles. President Trump must also concern himself with Americans held in North Korea, Pyongyang’s cybercrimes and its disastrous human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. record.
#2
Key to the process is remembering that when you are speaking and interacting with the Norks, you are actually speaking and interacting with the Chinese.
BTW, for a real taste of 'Euro Think' toward the U.S., don't miss the Klassenfeind reader comment in the ZH link. They're always wishing us the very best.
#3
The key is China, not N or S Korea, or US. Trump may have made China nervous about continuing to encourage Kim's antagonism, for fear of Trump and/or Kim losing self-control.
#5
Ceaușescu solution is likely if the North sees how they've been lied to and starved. I'm sure Kimmie is aware of that.
The sad thing is that when we turned on Libya soon after they got rid of their WMD we set a negative precedent that gives Kimmie few options but to hold on for dear life or seek protected exile somewhere.
[NYPOST] A Brooklyn jail guard’s massive, hook-shaped penis helped the feds nab him for sexually assaulting inmates, it was revealed in court Tuesday as jurors listened on in shock.
Lt. Eugenio Perez is accused of forcing women at the Metropolitan Detention Center to give him oral sex ‐ and prosecutors said they were able to nail him as a suspect when multiple accusers described his distinctive phallus.
Indeed, the schlong arm of the law caught up to Perez when the feds made him drop trou to make a positive ID.
Just what made Perez’s member so memorable also became the big reveal on the first day of the Brooklyn jail guard’s sexual abuse trial.
"He wasn’t circumcised. It was big, and it was like a hook...It was humongous and it curved," a 38-year-old former inmate of the federal lockup in Sunset Park testified anonymously.
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#1
Bill Clinton couldn't be reached for comment on the investigative technique.
#2
Lieutenant Eugenio's meanness
Offends the entire jailbird genus:
"It's not very sporting
When Perez comes courting
At night with his Cornershot penis!"
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A series of Arclight airstrikes were carried out on the hideouts of the anti-government armed holy warriors in northeastern Badakhshan province of Afghanistan.
The Ministry of Defense of Afghanistan said the latest airstrikes were carried out in the vicinity of Tashkan district.
The source further added that the airstrikes left at least four holy warriors dead while two others were maimed.
The airstrikes also resulted into the destruction of two hideouts of the bully boys, the Ministry of Defense added.
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[PRESSTV] The Damascus government says the so-called US-led coalition purportedly fighting ISISTakfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... terrorist group is devoid of any international legitimacy as it is committing massacres against ordinary Syrians, undermining the illusory sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Syria and prolonging the foreign-sponsored crisis.
Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, in two separate letters addressed to United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the rotating President of the UN Security Council Joanna Wronecka on Wednesday, called on the Security Council to take an immediate action, and stop war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed by the US-led force in the war-ravaged Arab country.
The letter further noted that the US-led coalition continues to target Syrian people, and systematically supports the remnants of terrorist groups.
"The only objective of this alliance is to undermine the illusory sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Syrian Arab Republic and to prolong the current crisis in Syria in flagrant violation of Security Council resolutions, which stress the need for preservation of a united Syria," they pointed out.
The Syrian foreign ministry then urged the Security Council to shoulder its responsibilities regarding establishment of international peace and security, and to promptly stop the war crimes and crimes against humanity that are being committed by the US-led coalition against Syrian people.The letters also demanded an end to the presence of US and other foreign forces on the Syrian soil, asking the Security Council to devise mechanisms aimed at preventing the United States of America from implementing its divisive ...politicians call things divisive when when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive, they're principled... plots and plundering Syria’s wealth.
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#1
The Damascus government is a terrorist group devoid of any international legitimacy as it is committing massacres against ordinary Syrians, undermining the sovereignty and integrity of Syria and prolonging the foreign-sponsored crisis.
Posted by: Daniel ||
05/03/2018 11:31
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[DAWN] Larkana police on Wednesday confirmed that they have tossed in the clink Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! two suspects in connection with the murder of a nine-year-old girl, whose dead body was found last week.
The arrests were made after Larkana's Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Abdullah Sheikh and SSP Tanweer Tunio were issued notices by the Sindh High Court (SHC), ordering them to appear in court and submit a report on the murder on May 7.
On April 25, a day after she was reported missing, the victim's dead body was found floating in a pond near a hotel on Larkana-Naudero Road.
After preliminary medical examination of her body, police surgeon Dr Saleem Sheikh had said that the girl was subjected to attempted rape, whereas the cause of her death was ascertained to be asphyxia.
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] AT least two Talibs were killed while planting Improvised Explosive Devices on a roadside in northenr Baghlan province of Afghanistan.
The 209th Shaheen Corps of the Afghan Military in the North said the incident has taken place in the vicinity of Imam Qatiba area.
The source further added that the two bandidosturbans were looking to plant IEDS on a road frequented by the Afghan security and defense forces but were killed after one of the IEDs went off prematurely.
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[DAWN] Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf, then by the courts... owned the Avenfield properties while he was a public office holder, the investigating officer (IO) in the corruption reference against the Sharif family informed an accountability court on Wednesday.
Imran Dogar stated that Sharif used offshore companies Nielsen and Nescoll Ltd to buy the properties in London while he was the actual owner of the apartments. He said that during investigations, the accused were unable to provide their sources of income and that the properties have been in ownership of the Sharifs since 1993.
He said the trust deeds submitted by Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz ‐ which had stirred the Calibri controversy last year ‐ were proven to be fake, alleging that in acting as benamidars for Sharif, his children Maryam, Hassan and Hussain aided their father in his crime.
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[AAWSAT] Israeli occupation authorities announced the arrest of a Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",-linked cell in Jerusalem that was planning to carry out attacks against Israel.
Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet, said that three Paleostinians, who were said to be part of a Hamas terror cell in east Jerusalem's Sur Baher neighborhood, near the East Talpiot neighborhood, have been nabbed ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... .
Security forces' investigation found that the detainees were in contact with Hamas operatives expelled to the Gazoo Strip as part of the prisoner swap deal securing the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011.
According to indictments from Jerusalem District Court, the three defendants were accused of contact with a foreign agent, membership in a terror group and conspiracy to commit terrorism.
The defendants are Nasim Hamada, 39, who was the group's leader and chief recruiter, Ezzedine Aton, 24, and Obeida Amira, 29. The identity of another person involved with the group has been withheld.
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[PRESSTV] Snipers of Yemen's popular 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 ... Ansarullah movement have killed three Saudi troops in the kingdom's southern regions.
Yemen's al-Masirah television network reported on Wednesday that the Saudi soldiers were killed during Yemeni operations in the Najran a city in southwestern Saudi Arabia near the border with Yemen. It is the capital of Najran Province and a favored target of Houthirocket forces.... region.
A large number of Saudi forces and mercenaries were also injured in the Yemeni attack.
Earlier in the day, the Yemeni military announced that at least 82 Saudi forces were killed and 41 injured in the Saudi provinces of Jizan, Najran and Assir in April.
It also noted that 55 were killed and 53 maimed in March.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shootout, Butch cautiously raised his hat over the edge of the horse trough on the end of a stick...... the Ansarullah movement announced that it would be increasing its 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... 's oil facilities in retaliation for the kingdom's war on its impoverished neighbor.
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[All Africa] Zim-bob-weans have been found to be the poorest citizens in Africa in a report that features a damning account of former President Bob Muggsy Mugabe Nonagenarian President-for-Life of Zim-bob-we who turned the former Breadbasket of Africa into the African Basket Case. Dumped in November 2017 when the Missus decided she wanted to be president, and opposed heer might against Crocodile Mnangawa Important safety tip: If your opponent goes by the name Crocodile andf your title is Shopper in Chief let him win.... 's disastrous rule.
According to the AfrAsia Bank Africa Wealth report 2017 which estimates the average wealth held by individual Africans in terms of net assets, Zim-bob-weans ended 2016 on a just US$200 per person, a far-cry from Mauritius which is home to the wealthiest individuals on the continent.
"As reflected, Mauritians are the wealthiest individuals in Africa with an average wealth of US$25,700 per person, whilst people in living in Zim-bob-we are the poorest with US$200 per person," reads the report.
The extensive research covered wealth, luxury, prime property, collectable and wealth management trends on the continent.
The report further places neighbours South Africa number 2 with citizens' wealth averaging $11,300 in 2016 (up from $10,800 in 2015).
Namibia is third with citizens on $11,300 per person, up from $10,800 a year before while Botswana surged from $6,300 wealth per individual citizens to the current $6,700.
Zim-bob-weans were on $200 wealth per citizen before and remain on the same mark as per latest rankings.
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[Rudaw] ISIS remnants hiding out in the Hamrin Mountains south of Kirkuk are reportedly plotting suicide kabooms aimed at disrupting the Iraqi parliamentary elections. Residents of Khanaqin, a city in the region controlled by Iraqi forces and Hashd al-Shaabi, are demanding more protection.
According to Iraqi military intelligence reports, the number of ISIS turbans in the Hamrin Mountains has climbed to 1,800. The turbans reportedly comprise Kurds, Iraqi Arabs and Afghanis.
Although Peshmerga forces are a long way from ISIS hideouts, they have learned the group is plotting fresh attacks.
"According to sources advising us, ISIS has been prepping itself in the Diyala regions," Ahmed Mustafa, a Peshmerga official, told Rudaw.
"Their aim is to undermine the election in the region. And per information we have received, they are plotting to carry out suicide attacks during or before the elections."
The Peshmerga withdrew from the Kurdistani areas on October 16 when the Iraqi army supported by Iran-backed Hashd al-Shaabi arrived. Deadly festivities resulted on both sides. The areas remain disputed, claimed by both Erbil and Baghdad.
The Hawija pocket, about 100 kilometers south of Erbil, was among the last areas cleared in the autumn of 2017 before Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared the defeat of ISIS in Iraq in December. Many of the turbans that remain on the lam fled to the mountains where they appear to be regrouping.
Residents of the city of Khanaqin feel the growing ISIS threat. They are asking for the city’s security situation to be improved.
"Since the security brief of this city has fallen to the [Iraqi] federal forces, the city’s situation has been worsening day by day. My house lies outside Khanaqin. I am standing guard whole nights to protect my house," Khalid Wali, a Khanaqin resident, told Rudaw.
"The rich people of Khanaqin are leaving the city to the Region fearing for their lives. There is a huge danger to the city," Sarwar Ali, another resident, told the channel.
Iraqi federal police and Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitaries have been running the security affairs of the town since the Peshmerga withdrew.
"Through its movements, ISIS intended to create [more problems] and widen their campaigns and enter Khanaqin. Fortunately, as Brigade 110, we managed to defeat their plans. We are always capable of responding to them and on alert," a Hashd al-Shaabi commander told Rudaw.
Hashd al-Shaabi and the Iraqi army are present on Kubashi heights and Nawdoman and Puka village. There are huge open terrains in east Khanaqin, making the job of the city’s police forces difficult.
"We have set out plans to confront ISIS to protect people and polling stations," Diyar Shawkat, Khanaqin’s police chief, told Rudaw.
"But we have the problem of a lack of forces on the borders, as areas the Peshmerga left have not been filled in."
Constant ISIS movements in Diyala and Saladin have forced Iraqi forces to carry out continuous operations, meaning there are no stationary forces in the region, allowing ISIS to commute from Hawija to Naft Khana.
Before the October 16 events, six Peshmerga brigades had controlled all of these areas.
[Ynet] After Gazook rioters send incendiary kite across border into Israel, firefighters battle to contain Be'eri Forest blaze intensified by high temperatures, strong winds and dry weather, as masses of woodland is slowly incinerated.
An incendiary kite flown Wednesday from the Gazoo Strip by Paleostinian faceless myrmidons caused a huge fire in the Be'eri Forest in southern Israel that continued to rage into the evening. No casualties were reported.
The conflagration is the biggest to have erupted since Paleostinians in the strip began flying the incendiary kites across the border.
By 7:30pm, the fire continued to slowly reduce hundreds of dunams of woodland to ash, as ten firefighter teams scrambled to contain the it, battling high temperatures, dry weather and strong easterly winds that fanned the flames.
Incendiary kites are the latest improvised weapon to have been added to the Paleostinian rioters' arsenal as part of the weekly "March of Return" protests on the Gazoo Border, enabling Paleostinian rioters to wreak havoc on Israel's southern towns without approaching the border fence and risking their lives.
Around three to four of the kites are sent across the Gazoo-Israel border each day, and have so far incinerated agricultural lands in Israel's southern region, with wheat fields being set aflame and ecological damage caused to the country.
Gadi Yarkoni, head of the Eshkol Regional Council, where most of the incendiary kites tend to fall, called on the Israeli government to find a solution to the issue and urged it to compensate local farmers for the damage already caused.
"The issue of (incendiary) kites has preoccupied us very much in recent days and requires an answer," he said. "There is damage to the wheat and barley fields (in the area). The security personnel and the farmers in the settlements are working overtime to extinguish the fires and not to let them spread and cause more damage.
"It will not break us and we will continue to work our lands up to the last meter," he stressed, adding that the locals "expect the state to compensate us for the damages. Our fields are the livelihood and the beating heart of the Eshkol Regional Council."
Head of Merhavim Regional Council Shai Hajaj and Head of Sdot Negev Regional Council Tamir Idan expressed their exasperation over the government's lackadaisical handling of the pressing issue, adding that the High Court of Justice's seemingly out of touch deliberations on the Gazoo border protest are only preventing the issue from being resolved.
"While the court in Jerusalem (meaning the High Court of Justice) is discussing a petition by left-wing organizations to tie the hands of the soldiers facing the Gazook rioters who want to break through the fence, the arson of the farmers' fields continues," they said in a joint statement.
"It is not redundant to remind Paleostinian rights organizations and judges that stone throwing and burning of fields also constitutes violence," they added. "Violence that has already caused, and still causes, severe economic damage but also threatens human life.
"The burning of fields by Paleostinian rioters is no longer limited to the weekly Friday demonstrations, but has become a daily occurrence. We demand an end to this violence."
"The burning of fields by Paleostinian rioters is no longer limited to the weekly Friday demonstrations, but has become a daily occurrence. We demand an end to this violence."
Since the offensive began some five weeks ago, hundreds of incendiary kites have been sent to Israel, setting ablaze about 800 dunams of agricultural fields and causing property damages worth an estimated half a million shekels.
"We do not really have the ability to cope with this," lamented Reuven Nir, the field crops manager for the kibbutzim of Kfar Aza and Mefelsim in the Gazoo vicinity.
"We stay alert and as soon as we see a kite landing in a field, we rush to the place to stop the fire before it spreads to more and more areas," he said. "We have experience here in the Gazoo vicinity. We went through everything. Rockets, tunnels, military operations, demonstrations, and what not. But this phenomenon is intolerable."
Largest blaze since Gazooks started new arson tactic burns for six hours.
Israeli soldiers succeeded in preventing another fire on Wednesday, reaching a kite bearing a container of burning fuel from Gazoo as it touched down inside Israel and putting it out with handheld fire extinguishers.
[PRESSTV] Iran has firmly rejected Morocco’s allegation of ties between Tehran’s Embassy in Algeria and the Polisario Front, a Western Sahara separatist movement.
Foreign Ministry front man Bahram Qassemi said on Wednesday that there is no cooperation between the Iranian diplomatic mission in Algiers and the Algeria-backed movement.
On Tuesday, Morocco cut its diplomatic relations with Iran, with its Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita accusing Tehran and Leb’s resistance movement Hezbollah of training and arming Polisario members via the Iranian Embassy ...You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy!... in Algeria.
He also claimed that severing ties with Iran came "in response to Iran’s involvement, through Hezbollah, in allying itself with the Polisario over the past two years in order to target the security and higher interests of Morocco."
Qassemi described Bourita’s accusations as "completely baseless, far from reality and wrong."
"We need to clearly emphasize once again that one of the most fundamental principles of the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran’s foreign policy in its relations with other governments and countries in the world has been and will continue to be deep respect for their illusory sovereignty and security as well as non-interference in the domestic affairs of other states."
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"A Russian fighter plane Su-30SM crashed over the Mediterranean Sea at 9:45 Moscow time, just after taking off from Hmeimim airfield. The two pilots, who fought for the plane until the last minute, according to a report, are dead, "reads the statement.
The cause of the disaster could be a bird sneaking into the engine of the plane, the statement said.
"There was no flaming impact on the plane," concluded the Russian Defense Ministry.
Some photos that show the crash were posted on social networks.
#2
...Russian seats are amazing, but it makes no difference how good they are if you wait too long to pull the bang handles. On top of that, I think there's probably a lot of pressure on Russian aircrew not to lose any aircraft - they don't have the reserve they used to, and it's doing some serious damage to their supply and logistics stocks to keep the few they have operating out there.
Mike
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05/03/2018 17:47
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[AAWSAT] The Basque separatist group ETA announced on Wednesday its official dissolution, marking an end to its deadly independence campaign.
"ETA has decided to declare its historical cycle and functions terminated, putting an end to its journey," the group said in a letter published Wednesday by Spanish online newspaper El Diario.
"ETA has completely dissolved all of its structures and declared an end to its political initiative."
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[PRESSTV] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund.... 's main pro-Kurdish party announces its former leader Selahattin Demirtas as its candidate for the country’s June presidential elections, despite the fact that he is currently placed in durance vile You have the right to remain silent... and on trial in several legal cases.
The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) said the campaign of Demirtas would be launched in simultaneous rallies in Istanbul and the Kurdish-populated city of Diyarbakir on Friday afternoon.
Turkey will hold snap presidential and parliamentary elections in the country on June 24, previously slated to be held next year. Ottoman Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey... started campaigning for his re-election on Saturday, saying he would certainly win the vote.
Demirtas, 45, was a candidate against Erdogan in the August 2014 presidential elections and led the HDP into parliament for the first time in the June 2015 vote.
The politician was placed in durance vile Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! in November 2016 in a crackdown that followed the July coup attempt and put on trial in several cases, especially on charges of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Ottoman Turkish prosecutors have called for an imprisonment term of up to 142 years for him.
[AlAhram] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and three other opposition parties have reached a deal on an alliance for snap parliamentary elections on June 24, a CHP official said on Wednesday.
The official, who declined to be identified, told Rooters the deal between the CHP, the fledgling Iyi (Good) Party, the Islamist Saadet Party and the Democrat Party would be formally announced at a news conference on Thursday.
It will enable the smaller parties in the alliance to skirt a regulation that mandates parties must receive at least 10 percent of the vote to enter parliament. The deal creates a broad coalition against President Tayyip Erdogan's ruling alliance.
Erdogan's ruling AK Party has established an alliance with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
Broadcaster NTV said the opposition alliance deal would be signed at 3 pm (1200 GMT) on Thursday. A deadline of May 6 was set for election alliances to be filed with the High Election Board.
Erdogan has won nearly a dozen elections and dominated Ottoman Turkish politics since his Islamist-rooted AK party first swept to power in 2002. The elections will mark Turkey's transition to a presidency with new sweeping executive powers, agreed under a narrowly approved referendum last year.
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[Libya Observer] Updated at 1:55pm: The death toll from the attack rises to 16 and 19 wounded, the health ministry reports
IS claims responsibility IS (also known as ISIS) terrorists claimed responsibility for the attack on their media platform “Wilayat Trabulus” and Reuters also cited Amaq (ISIS media platform) as claiming the terrorist attack.
The Director Manager of the HNEC, Saad Al-Gadibi, said the gunmen stormed into the building and killed a number of the security personnel in gun-to-gun clashes before two of them blew themselves up leaving the HNEC building ablaze.
Condemnations weighed in
Libya’s Fatwa House condemned the attack and offered condolences to the families of the victims, calling on the concerned authorities to take the needed measures to secure the capital and all of Libya against such crimes.
Presidential Council also condemned in a statement the suicide attack saying it would never let them down and make them stop the electoral track and the democratic privilege of all Libyans.
While the High Council of State denounced the attack on the HNEC, calling for the need to go for constitution referendum and end the transitional phase by uniting all Libyan state institutions.
House of Representatives (HoR) in eastern Libya also weighed in and condemned the “terrorists act” that establishes chaos and takes the lives of the innocent, adding that such crimes get in the way of democracy in the country.
Likewise, the UNSMIL condemned the attack calling “a terrorist act” offering condolences to the families of victims and to all Libyans, adding on Twitter that such attacks won’t affect Libyans’ will to have a state of law and national unity.
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian government officially established control over the northern part of Yarmouk Refugee Camp in southern Damascus after jihadi Lions of Islam had left to the country’s north.
Troops from the Syrian Army have been deployed to Paleostine Street located just on the frontline with the ISIS-held parts of the Camp and Hajar Aswad to the south.
More reinforcements poured into the recently-liberated neighborhood with the aim to open a new front 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.... murderous Moslems.
Militants from the al-Qaeda-linked Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham surrendered the parts under their control from the Yarmouk Camp following negotiations with the Syrian Army.
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[PRESSTV] The British company at the center of the data scandal gripping Facebook is shutting down.
Cambridge Analytica announced Wednesday that it is ceasing all operations.
The political consulting firm has reportedly been losing its staff since March, when it was revealed that it had improperly obtained data on 87 million users on Facebook.
"While this decision was extremely painful for Cambridge Analytica’s leaders, they recognize that it is all the more difficult for the Company’s dedicated employees who learned today that they likely would be losing their jobs as a result of the damage caused to the business by the unfairly negative media coverage," Cambridge Analytica said in a statement. "Despite the Company’s precarious financial condition, Cambridge Analytica intends to fully meet its obligations to its employees, including with respect to notice periods, severance terms, and redundancy entitlements."
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#1
A relo and name change will do us all good, you'll see. Redundancies will be scrapped. A large number will retain their positions. Pensions will remain secure. Please listen for details and updates from our Buckfast Abbey annex in Devon.
[Ynet] Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, security prisoner sentenced to 30 years in jail for attempted murder moderately wounds warder at the Eshel Prison during cell inspection; inmate transferred to solitary confinement, prison guard taken for treatment at Soroka Medical Center.
A warder at the Eshel Prison in Be'er Sheva was moderately maimed Wednesday afternoon after being attacked by a security prisoner affiliated with Hamas.
It was reported that the prisoner, a 53-year-old former resident of east Jerusalem who had already spent four years in the prison out of 30 he was sentenced to for attempted murder, poured boiling water over the prison guard, wo suffered burns all over his body as a result.
The prsioner was immediately tackled and subdued by several other guards and transferred to solitary confinement.
A front man for the prison said the incident occurred while its guards were carrying out an inspection.
The maimed warder was treated at the site and taken for further treatment at the Soroka Medical Center in the city.
The prison stated that the incident is being investigated investigated and that necessary steps would be taken against the prisoner.
[AlAhram] Russia's military spending fell sharply in 2017 for the first time since 1998 as a slew of Western economic sanctions hit government coffers hard, a closely followed review said Wednesday.
Despite soaring tensions between Moscow and the West, Russia's military expense last year came in at $66.3 billion (54.9 billion euros), 20 percent lower than in 2016, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said.
The last time Moscow was forced to cut spending was in 1998 at the height of a massive economic crisis.
"Military modernisation remains a priority in Russia, but the military budget has been restricted by economic problems that the country has experienced since 2014," senior SIPRI researcher Siemon Wezeman said, referring to Western sanctions imposed against Moscow over its annexation of the Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.
Russia's frosty relations with NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... , which have plummeted to their lowest levels since the Cold War, are also driven by sharp divisions over the Syrian conflict and the recent poisoning of an ex-spy in the UK.
Britannia and its Western allies have blamed Moscow for the poisoning of Russian former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England on March 4. Moscow has vehemently denied any involvement.
Russia has largely protected its defence budget up to now, imposing cuts in areas such as infrastructure and education, but 2017 was the first time it had no option but to spread the pain, according to Wezeman.
"It's no longer possible to keep defence at a high level or keep it growing," he said.
"For Russia, it means they may have to swallow their pride."
All 29 NATO allies, meanwhile, spent $900 billion on the military in 2017, which accounts for 52 percent of total world spending, SIPRI said.
Military spending in both Central and Western Europe ...also known as Moslem Lebensraum... rose by 12 and 1.7 percent, respectively, in 2017, triggered "in part by the perception of a growing threat from Russia".
The United States, which remains the world's biggest military spender at $610 billion, spent more on its military than the seven next highest-spending nations -- China, 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... , Russia, India, La Belle France, the UK and Japan -- combined, SIPRI said.
The independent institute said world military expenditure reached the highest level since the end of the Cold War at $1.739 trillion in 2017 but this was only a marginal increase on .
"Continuing high world military expenditure is a cause of serious concern," SIPRI chair Jan Eliasson said in a statement.
"It undermines the search for peaceful solutions to conflicts around the world."
#1
Russia's military spending fell sharply in 2017 for the first time since 1998 as a slew of Western economic sanctions hit government coffers hard, a closely followed review said Wednesday.
[Jpost] The Iranian regime is "humiliated" after a daring Mossad operation seized scores of secret documents, the former Pentagon official said.
The Iranian regime is "quaking in its boots," after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed secret nuclear-program documents appropriated by the Mossad, an ex-Pentagon Iran expert told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
Harold Rhode spent 28 years at the Pentagon and studied in Iran before the 1979 revolution there. The fluent Farsi speaker, who is now associated with the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, said his view stems from a wave of recent Iranian infighting.
He said when things are not going well in Iran, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps officials and rival ayatollahs start attacking each other in a public blame game that expresses how exposed and vulnerable they feel their rule has become.
Rhode named senior Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi-Amoli from northern Iran who has been lashing out at rivals, saying their corruption was bringing down the regime.
Israel "humiliated the Iranian government by capturing all of this material," Rhode said, and many Iranians were laughing at the Islamic regime on social media.
While the global media stopped covering protests against the regime months ago, he noted, the protests are still churning.
The former Pentagon official said that when he asked Iranian friends for a list of where the protests were happening, they said protests were so widespread it would be easier to make a shorter list of cities where they were not happening.
He also said the audacious Mossad raid, "proves what they think of Jews ‐ that they are the smartest people on earth and can do anything."
Rhode added a personal anecdote from when he lived in Iran decades ago. When asked about the Jews’ ability, he joked to some Iranian friends: "There was a Jewish technology of tiny little zippers between our foreheads and hairlines to send messages to conspiracy central where the... ’Elders of Zion’ collected everything. They believed this was how things really worked."
Last week, the body that likely was that of former Iranian ruler Reza Shah Pahlavi ‐ which had been hidden by the regime since the revolution ‐ was discovered. That, he noted, has led many Iranians, who often think superstitiously, to question whether the discovery is an omen indicating the revolution leading to the Islamic Theocratic Republic was a mistake.
Rhode said the average Iranian "would like nothing more than to wake up and have this nightmare regime over with and again proudly be accepted as members of the international community."
In that light, he said, it is now "the time to reassure the Iranian people that we stand with them against their brutal rulers," and reassure the Iranian people that "after their terrorist regime is tossed, we will gladly welcome them back into the community of nations."
[PJ] WASHINGTON -- The Defense Department today announced the first Guantanamo detainee transfer of the Trump administration, sending Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Haza al Darbi
...brother-in-law of Al Mihdhar, one of the 9/11 hijackers, and an Al Qaeda weapons instructor, among other responsibilities...
back home to Saudi Arabia.
The transfer of al-Darbi, 43, had been part of a plea agreement but was in limbo for a few months as administration officials discussed the move.
Al-Darbi, a Saudi citizen, was arrested traveling through Azerbaijan in June 2002 and held for his knowledge of the USS Cole bombing and other al-Qaeda maritime attack plans. Four years ago, al-Darbi pleaded guilty to planning a 2002 attack on a French oil tanker. Under the Obama administration, he struck a deal to be released to a rehabilitation program this February.
"In accordance with statutory requirements, the secretary of defense informed Congress of the United States' intent to transfer this individual and of the secretary's determination that this transfer met the statutory standard," said the Pentagon in a statement. "...The United States coordinated with the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to ensure the transfer took place in accordance with established standards for security and humane treatment."
During February hearing, it was revealed that al-Darbi -- who began his stay at Gitmo as a feces-throwing belligerent inmate -- had evolved into a cooperating witness with his own cottage-type accommodations including a kitchen stocked with halal meat and a Magic Bullet blender, a veggie garden, a laptop computer with Rosetta Stone to learn English, an exercise bike, Under Armour and Nike workout gear, Turkish coffee, and art supplies. He was also allowed to make phone calls to his wife and kids, enjoyed his own PlayStation 3, munched strawberry Oreos and binged on Netflix re-runs of "Arrested Development."
Just before his State of the Union address in January, President Trump signed an order directing Defense Secretary James Mattis to review the nation's military detention policies and keep Guantanamo open.
[AAWSAT] La Belle France will increase police numbers for the next round of protests over economic reforms after violent festivities marred the annual May Day rally in Gay Paree, Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said on Wednesday, as police announced that 109 people were in jug.
Further demonstrations are planned later this week, in protest against economic reform plans by French President Emmanuel Macron.
"There will be an even greater number of security forces ... who will aim to separate those who wish to demonstrate from those who wish to vandalize," Collomb told La Belle France 2 television on Wednesday.
Shouting "Rise up, Gay Paree" and "Everyone hates the police", hooded youths had torched a McDonald's restaurant and several vehicles after joining the traditional May 1 union-led demonstration for workers' rights.
Macron, on a visit to Sydney, deplored the violence.
"May 1 is Workers' Day, not the day of the hooligans," he told a presser.
"I can only condemn again what has happened, with the greatest firmness," he said.
Collomb defended how the police had handled the demonstration on Tuesday, although opposition politicians criticized the government for not having done enough to prevent the violence.
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[Libya Observer] Libyan Grand Mufti Sheikh Sadiq al-Ghariani ...Libyan Moslem Brüderhood Grand Mufti since 2012. Issued a fatwa forbidding Libyan women from marrying foreign men. Issued a "fatwa against a UN Commission on the Status of Women's report because it urged governments to protect women and girls against violence" Aligned with the GNC govt... has condemned the ISIS suicide kaboom on the High National Elections Commission (HNEC) that left 16 people killed and others maimed.
"We are saddened by the kaboom in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... which targeted the electoral commission," he said in his weekly program on Tanasuh TV on Wednesday evening.
Two ISIS murderous Moslems stormed the HNEC building in Ghout al-Shaal district in the morning and killed a number of the security personnel in gun-to-gun festivities before two of them blew themselves up leaving the HNEC building ablaze.
"We strongly condemn this treacherous attack," he reacted, adding that "the attack targets the entire Libyan people who are looking forward to the elections to end their suffering."
The Mufti also accused Khalifa Haftar ...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all... and his supporters of undermining the electoral process.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shouting match, Bart was wondering if fisticuffs would be appropriate at this point... Spokesperson of Dignity Operation, Ahmed al-Mismari, claimed Wednesday that his army backs the elections, but he confirmed that "the elections can’t be held in the presence of Moslem Brüderbund and the Islamic Fighting Group."
Dignity Operation accuses its political opponents of being murderous Moslems and affiliates of Moslem Brüderbund and the Islamic Fighting Group.
Last week, warlord Khalifa Haftar said "the elections are a play and the army is the real warranty for the Libyan people to enjoy a decent life."
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[PRESSTV] A Russian fighter jet has intercepted a US spy plane over the Baltic Sea, in an operation that American officials say was "unprofessional."
The incident took place on Tuesday, when a Russian Sukhoi Su-27 jet performed flew within 20 feet of a US Navy P-8 Poseidon surveillance plane flying off Russian coast.
American officials said that pilots onboard the Poseidon did not feel threatened by the Russian jet's maneuver.
A Navy front man declined to release the details but described the encounter as "safe."
"Due to standing DOD policy, we do not release the details of safe interactions," said Lieutenant Commander Zach Harrell, a front man for US Naval Forces Europe. "If an unsafe interaction occurs in the future, we will be sure to provide you more information at that time."
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[All Africa] Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday allegedly revealed that three persons stole $3billion under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan ... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau.Other than that he's pretty useless as the Boko Haram debacle shows.. Osinbajo, who spoke at The Platform, a programme organised by the Covenant Christian Centre with the theme: 'Get Involved,' said: "Grand corruption remains the most enduring threat to our economy. Just to give an example, $3 billion was stolen from what was called Strategic Allowance Contract sometimes in 2013. Three Nigerians were responsible.
"Today, $3billion is N1trillion. Our entire budget, and budgets are estimates not actual cash, is N7trillion. So, three people made away with N1trillion and our entire budget is N7trillion.You cannot wonder why the economy will not struggle?
"When oil in our country was selling at $100 - $113 a barrel, the government as at then spent N15 billion on transportation, and agriculture got N14 billion. All these ministries mentioned got N139 billion. Today, the oil prices is between $60 and $70, Power, Works and Housing can get N450 billion, transport got N80 billion, agriculture got N65 billion and the total is N560 billion.
"How come we can do more with less income? How come we are able to invest in infrastructure? How come we can do the Lagos - Kano standard gauge railway, the Manbila hydro, the Second Niger Bridge with 60 per cent less income? The truth is, if you can control corruption, you can do more with less."
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#1
And what's being done to recover that $3 billion?
#2
"Hello, I am the son of the Late Strategic Allowance Contract Administrator. I am having an offer to share with your good honesty the sum of $2 Billion ...."
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/03/2018 10:39
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#3
This is what the US is becoming. As a start, I would have our US House and Senate legislators spend 90% of their time in their home states. The internet could be used for communication on mundane maters before major votes. This would be the first step in draining the swamp!
[PRESSTV] Indian media say Venezuela is working on a proposal to provide New Delhi with a discount of 30 percent over oil purchases if it uses President Nicolas Maduro’s cryptocurrency brainchild ‐ Petro.
The Business Standard said in a report that the proposal had been raised during a last month visit to India by a technical team from Venezuela’s "blockchain department". It added that the team had even entered into an accord with Coinsecure, a Delhi bitcoin trading player, to sell Petro in India.
More specifically, a representative for the cryptocurrency exchange firm noted that they planned to provide the Latin American partner with 10-15 cryptocurrency players, the daily said in its report. Maduro also reportedly considered coming to India for a conference to officially pitch his financial brainchild, it added.
Also, according to the sources cited by the Business Standard, apart from India, Venezuela is proposing the same business plan for other countries.
Venezuela officially launched Petro in early 2017 thus becoming the first country with its own oil-backed cryptocurrency.
What makes it different from most other cryptocurrencies is that it is the one and only around the world to be backed by oil supplies, most notably, Venezuela’s vast 300-billion-barrel reserve, which leaves even 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... with its 266 billion barrels far behind.
Preliminary sales of Petro stood at $735 million and officials in Caracas said they believed sales could soon reach the threshold of as high as 100 million, with an initial value set at $60, given the price of a barrel of Venezuelan crude oil as of mid-January.
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[IsraelTimes] Providing humanitarian aid in war-ravaged Syria looks set to shift increasingly away from emergency, life-saving assistance towards rehabilitating devastated areas to help Syrians return home, the head of the Red Thingy says.
Peter Maurer tells news hounds in Geneva that the conflict appeared to be entering a new stage, with fewer "big battle" moments and perhaps even a chance to provide displaced Syrians with a sense of normality after seven years of devastating violence.
"Syria to us looks very different from Syria last year or from Syria two years ago," Maurer says.
Syria has been torn apart a war that has left more than 350,000 people dead and displaced millions.
But Maurer says that as the situation in many parts of the country appears to be stabilizing, he expected to see a shift away from a pure focus on emergency assistance towards reestablishing services in areas people want to return to.
"For us it is just important that we get the rehabilitation thing going," he says.
Maurer points out that Syria now appeared to be split into fairly clearly defined territories, and says the "big actors" seemed ready to work towards "consensus to stop the war and to go into a phase of more tranquility."
As someone once observed in another context: "Wotta country!"
[DAWN] A social media campaign has been launched asking tourists to boycott Murree during the current season against misbehaviour of local hotel agents, hoteliers and transporters with the tourists.
The campaigners alleged that the agents, hoteliers and transporters harassed families and overcharged the visitors.
They even beat the tourists if the latter ask about overcharging, substandard or unhygienic food etc.
The campaign has been launched after some recent incidents in which hotel agents misbehaved and even beat up tourists, including families, and their videos went viral on the social media.
About 10 to 15 million tourists visit Murree and Galliat each year. In the summer, thousands of tourists also spend nights on roadsides.
"There may be a few incidents and the campaign has been started against the resort town and its inhabitants. Some of them just want to create problems for the prime minister who belongs to Murree," said Wajeeh Abbasi, a local journalist.
But Murree’s businessmen are on the height of commercialism and there are no code of conduct regarding lodging, transport and parking and other facilities.
The hotel agents keep on standing on roads in groups and force the tourists to get rooms on their behalf. Sometimes, they start scuffling with tourists over petty issues.
"The responsibility lies on Murree’s residents to take initiatives to solve the problem otherwise tourism would suffer," said Engineer Idrees Abbasi.
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[ALMASDARNEWS] A US-backed Syrian group said they are launching a major offensive 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.... in coordination with the Iraqi Army and with support of the US-coalition air power.
The Syrian Democratic Forces; a predominantly-Kurdish group backed and armed by the United States, decided to resume its military operation against ISIS-controlled areas along the borders with Iraq.
The operation ‐ dubbed Cizire Storm ‐ was paused for a while as the Kurdish militia sent part of its fighters to halt the Ottoman Turkish invasion in Afrin region.
SDF senior commander, Hasim Mihemed, said the new assault will be carried out in cooperation with the Iraqi Army in order to crackdown on the terror group, and with support of US Arclight airstrikes.
"We had already announced yesterday that the operation will be carried out in joint coordination with the Coalition forces and the Iraqi army. Because there are several ISIS camps along the Iraqi-Syrian border. ISIS carries out attacks in Iraq and Syria from these military locations and headquarters. That is why we believe it will be healthier to carry out the operation in coordination with the Iraqi army, and we took steps accordingly", Mihemed added.
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[RADIOSHABELLE] Security forces in Kilifi are looking for three al-Shabaab ... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord... recruiters who are behind a syndicate luring youths to join the terror gang in Somalia.
The three Mohammed Ali, Abdalla Shekue and Yusuf Ali allegedly coordinated a plan to recruit 13 youths unknowingly to join the al-Shabaab in Somalia.
The thirteen recruits including 11 from Magarini Sub County and two from Lamu were rescued by Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) in Somalia after spending one month in the war tone country.
They were flown to Malindi from Kiunga at the Kenya Somali border on Monday evening and have so far united with their families.
Kilifi county commissioner Magu Mutindika said the three suspects offered the 13 youths lucrative fishing job in Somalia and gave them Sh 5,000 before they took off for Somalia.
Speaking during the official handing over of the ’returnees’ to their parents at the Malindi Police station, Mutindika said two of the suspects are from Kilifi while one is from Lamu.
"There was no fishing job it was recruitment, they have changed tactics, the youths were given money before leaving,’’ he said.
The returnees are aged between 18 and 38 years.
After being recruited Ali reportedly handed the unsuspecting youths to Abdalla Shekue a boat owner in Kiunga who took them to Somalia.
Mutindika said the returnees were recruited on March 26, 2018, and KDF managed to rescue them on April 29 after some reported to their families and the matter brought to the attention of security personnel.
While in Somalia the youths were handed over to Yusuf Ali on the pretext that they were going to go fishing.
During their one month stay in Somalia, the boys moved from Mdoa to Bula Haji with the intention to be recruited into al-Shabaab activities.
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[Libya Observer] The United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has documented 31 civilian casualties in April 2018, according to its monthly human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... report.
UNSMIL said that four deaths and 27 injuries were documented during the conduct of hostilities across Libya last month.
"Victims included three men and one boy killed and 19 men, five women, two boys and one girl injured." UNSMIL added.
It indicated that the majority of civilian casualties were caused by shelling, followed by gunfire, explosive remnants of war and vehicle-borne improvised bombs (VBIED.)
"UNSMIL documented one death and 18 injuries in Sabha and three deaths and nine injuries in Benghazi." The UN mission added in the report.
It also documented 21 additional casualties (10 deaths, 11 injuries) from other possible violations of international humanitarian law and violations or abuses of international human rights law in Ajdabiya, al-Zawiya, Benghazi, al-Kufra, Misrata, Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... , Sabha and Sorman.
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[Ynet] 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.... grabbed credit on Wednesday for a deadly gun attack near the Iraqi town of Tarmiya.
A security source had told Rooters that eight unarmed non-combatants were killed in the assault 25 km (15 miles) north of Baghdad on Tuesday.
Islamic State said it killed 22 people, describing them all as members of a government-backed Sunni Moslem tribal force called the Tribal Mobilization Forces.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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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 M1A2 Abrams main battle tank is arguably the best in the world. Yeah, Russia is generating some hype for the Armata family of tanks, but the Abrams is combat-proven and very hard to kill. 
[USA Today] WASHINGTON ‐ The man hailed as a hero for prying a gun out of the hands of the Waffle House shooter in Nashville may be going to the White House.
[American Thinker] What a week for President Trump! We have North and South Korea making peace, with the North promising to give up its nukes ‐ something unimaginable for past administrations, those filled with diplomatic wizards like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John Kerry. This announcement is on the heels of a successful state visit by French president Emmanuel Macron and Mike Pompeo's confirmation as secretary of state.
[American Thinker] The Washington Post's Catherine Rampell argues, along with the left, that President Trump's economic achievements are not all that impressive. In her last column, she concludes:
[Washington Examiner] Fox News anchor Shepard Smith suggested there is a "concerted effort" by people appearing on his network to advise President Trump not to sit down for an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller.
[IMAGES.DAWN] Even before the verdict more than 20 US universities had revoked honorary degrees from Cosby in light of the allegations
[DAWN] A couple who had contracted a free-will marriage was 
...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all...
an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia...
[DAWN] An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in 
[DailyCaller] According to a new report, Barron Trump is facing bullying at school over his father.
North Korea
[NYPOST] A Brooklyn jail guard’s massive, hook-shaped penis helped the feds nab him for sexually assaulting inmates, it was revealed in court Tuesday as jurors listened on in shock.
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
[DAWN] Larkana police on Wednesday confirmed that they have 
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] AT least two Talibs were killed while planting Improvised Explosive Devices on a roadside in northenr Baghlan province of Afghanistan.
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf, then by the courts...
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey...
[Libya Observer] Updated at 1:55pm: The death toll from the attack rises to 16 and 19 wounded, the health ministry reports
Troops from the Syrian Army have been deployed to Paleostine Street located just on the frontline with the ISIS-held parts of the Camp and Hajar Aswad to the south.
...also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
[Jpost] The Iranian regime is "humiliated" after a daring Mossad operation seized scores of secret documents, the former Pentagon official said.
...Libyan Moslem Brüderhood Grand Mufti since 2012. Issued a fatwa forbidding Libyan women from marrying foreign men. Issued a "fatwa against a UN Commission on the Status of Women's report because it urged governments to protect women and girls against violence" Aligned with the GNC govt...
Goodluck Jonathan
the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...
