[BBC] A tsunami alert has been issued after a 7.9-magnitude earthquake was recorded off the coast of Alaska in the US.
It hit 280km (173 miles) south-east of Kodiak, 25km deep, at 00:31 (09:31 GMT), the US Geological Survey said.
The US National Weather Service says a warning is in effect for the coasts of British Columbia and Alaska, while the US west coast is on tsunami watch.
Officials in Anchorage warned coastal areas, saying there was "extraordinary threat to life or property".
The alert told people to seek refuge on higher ground in affected areas.
[Mercer] It’s shameful‐treason, if you are a politician‐to suggest that an aging and shrinking population is REASON TO FLOOD A COUNTRY WITH IMMIGRANTS, bringing about the near extinction of the native population.
This I’ve said in all my writing on immigration, and in response to the "demographics are destiny crowd" (Mark Steyn being among them). See: "Beck, Wilders, and His Boosters’ Blind Spot" (2010)
Not being traitors to their own, Japanese leaders are having none of it.
Japan will not accept mass immigration, says Masashi Mori, the mayor of Toyama. Efforts to raise the birth rate have had little success, although there are a few exceptions (see article). The only alternative is to learn to live with far fewer people. That implies great upheaval, which Toyama hopes to minimise.
#2
Japan is super overcrowded anyway. In 100 years, this crisis will be forgotten, but Japan will still be Japanese. Some things are worth sacrificing GDP for.
#5
In 100 years, this crisis will be forgotten, but Japan will still be Japanese. Don't argue with the math. There is more than one way to "extinguish" a native population. Japan will remain Japanese only as long as the Japanese can be bothered to bring more Japanese into this vale of toil and sin.
#6
I'm pretty sure the Japanese (or any other group) would have more children if there were enough economic incentives offered (or disincentives, such as tax policy, changed or removed.)
[Chicago Tribune] Former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke did not violate a man's free speech with taunting Facebook posts after detaining him at an airport last year for shaking his head at Clarke while boarding a flight, a federal jury concluded Monday night.
In a civil lawsuit against Clarke, Daniel Black argued he received hateful messages and was fearful after Clarke called him a "snowflake" online and said Black "wouldn't be around to whine" if the then-sheriff really wanted to harass him. Clarke made the comment after Black complained to the county that the sheriff had his deputies detain and question him for 15 minutes after he got off the plane in Milwaukee.
Jurors deliberated nearly three hours before deciding Clarke's posts were not enough to chill Black's future speech. Clarke resigned on Aug. 31 to join a political action committee that supports President Donald Trump.
Black said he shook his head at Clarke last January on the flight from Dallas to Milwaukee because Clarke was wearing Cowboys gear when they were playing the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs.
[Politico] Liberal activists are furious with Democratic senators after most of them agreed to reopen the federal government without a firm path to shielding young immigrants from deportation. Let the 'fury' continue with ever increasing levels of zeal and enthusiasm.
As the third day of the shutdown dawned, liberal advocates and immigration groups fired off a joint statement blasting as "unacceptable" Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s offer merely to hold a vote on immigration ‐ with no promises for action from the House or White House ‐ in exchange for Democratic votes to reopen the government. But three hours later, Democratic senators agreed to just those terms ‐ sparking anger on the left.
"Millions of people flooded the streets of every major American city to stand up to Trump this weekend," tweeted Leah Greenberg, co-executive director of the influential activist network Indivisible. "Your constituents want you to fight. How can you possibly not understand that?"
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday argued Democrats secured critical assurance for Dreamers, who are at risk for deportation as soon as March after President Donald Trump’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Those saying Senate Democrats got nothing and caved on the shutdown are wrong. Unless you consider POTUS autographed MAGA hats “nothing”
Posted by: Matt ||
01/23/2018 8:53
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#4
I am constantly astounded by the nerve of these so-called dreamers. Imagine crossing illegally the border of any other country (except Germany but especially Mexico) and making the kinds of demands these people make.
But Schumer read the polls and with mid term elections on the way he knew the blame for the shutdown was going to be on him and his fellow Democrats. Sometimes you have to cut your losses and that's what Schumer did.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/23/2018 11:27
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#7
The shutdown (without Obama-style erecting fences and adding guards to keep people away from public monuments) would show how bloated and unnecessary the bulk of the government is. That's something the Dems don't want to advertise.
[DW] Eurozone finance ministers have reached a "political agreement" to grant Greece 6.7 billion euros in bailout money. The ministers praised Greece's progress, putting it on track to leave its bailout program this year. Afterwards, the country is expected to finance itself by directly borrowing from investors.
[AnNahar] Ottoman Turkish authorities have detained 24 people on suspicion of disseminating "terror propaganda" against The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund.... 's military operation inside Syria, state media said on Monday.
The suspects are being held in a nationwide crackdown on those posting social media messages deemed to be supportive of terror groups, the state-run Anadolu news agency said, quoting the interior ministry.
The arrests come after 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... urged national unity over the operation, warning those who respond to calls for protests will have to pay a "heavy price".
Those detained are accused of making propaganda for the Syrian Kurdish Peoples' Protection Units (YPG) militia deemed a terror group by Ankara and the target of Turkey's operation.
The Dogan news agency said investigations had been opened against a total of 57 people. Reports said that arrests took place in Istanbul and the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir.
Turkey views the YPG militia as "terrorists" linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has fought against the Ottoman Turkish state since 1984 and is designated as a terror group not just by Ankara and also its Western allies.
It is seeking to root out the YPG from its western enclave of Afrin in Syria close to the Ottoman Turkish border.
Ottoman Turkish prosecutors have launched an investigation into unverified photos shared on social media claimed to have been taken in Afrin, purportedly showing that the offensive inflicted civilian injuries, TRT state broadcaster reported.
Prosecutors in the eastern Van province launched an investigation into four politicians from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) who on social media urged people to take to the streets, TRT added.
Authorities are also probing social media posts of another HDP politician Alican Onlu, according to the broadcaster.
Ottoman Turkish anti-riot police on Sunday blocked protests in Istanbul and in Diyarbakir against Ankara's military operation inside Syria.
The rallies had been called by the HDP, whose members are facing a series of legal challenges for alleged ties with the PKK.
Ottoman Turkish authorities have in the last years strongly cracked down on social media posts deemed supportive of "terror", prompting concern from some activists that freedom of expression was being damaged.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/23/2018
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[AnNahar] Ottoman Turkish forces and their Syrian rebel allies have launched a cross-border offensive against the Afrin region of northern Syria, held by a powerful Kurdish militia.
Since "Operation Olive Branch" began on Saturday, rebels and Ottoman Turkish forces have advanced about five kilometres (three miles) into Syrian territory.
An alliance of pro-Ankara rebels is amassing on front lines around Afrin for an expected ground attack. AFP takes a deeper look at those factions and their objectives.
- The fronts -
Afrin is a hilly enclave that juts out from Syria's northern Aleppo province. The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... holds the borders to the north and west while Syrian rebels control those south and east.
Rebels have deployed along a highway east of Afrin between their two strongholds of Azaz and Marea.
Other forces, including some fighters from the neighbouring province of Idlib, have gathered south of Afrin.
Rebels have also launched a push alongside Ottoman Turkish soldiers from inside Ottoman Turkish territory, south into the enclave.
Ankara had bussed around 600 rebels from northern Syria into Ottoman Turkish territory ahead of a ground invasion.
- The forces -
The Ottoman Turkish-backed rebel forces taking part in the offensive number around 25,000, according to Yasser Abdelrahim, a key member of the campaign's joint operations room.
They include factions from Euphrates Shield, an operation launched by Ankara in 2016 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.... group and the People's Protection Units (YPG) militia which Turkey considers as "terrorists".
Euphrates Shield brought together a smattering of non-jihadist factions that have received Ottoman Turkish and US support, among them the Sultan Murad Brigades, Hamzat Division, and Mutasem Brigades.
Those forces are fighting side-by-side again in the Afrin assault.
Also taking part in "Operation Olive Branch" are fighters from al-Jabha al-Shamiya and Faylaq al-Sham, two rebel alliances operating in northern Syria since 2014.
Many of these groups have threatened the YPG or already clashed with them.
- The mission -
Rebel forces behind the offensive say they are opposed to the YPG and its political branch, the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), calling the groups "terrorists" and "separatists".
"The operation is to liberate the area from all kinds of terrorism and protect civilians, Arabs and Kurds," said Abdelrahim, who is also Faylaq al-Sham's military chief.
"We're not attacking to reach the town of Afrin. The residential buildings are not our aim -- just the military bases and military positions used by the PYD and YPG."
But rebels also blamed the YPG for not battling regime forces and have even evoked ethnic divides and accuse them of displacing Arabs.
"The goal of the offensive is, in the first phase, to oust the separatist parties from the Arab villages in our areas," said Abu Meslem, a field commander in al-Jabha al-Shamiya.
He insisted "Operation Olive Branch" does not aim to push out the entire Syrian Kurdish community.
"This is our duty: to oust the separatist parties and bring back the displaced families who have been living in tents during the winter," he told AFP.
- The operation -
On Sunday, a day into the operation, rebel forces and their Ottoman Turkish backers entered the Afrin region and claimed to have captured several villages and hilltop positions.
The state-run Anadolu news agency said Ottoman Turkish troops, whose number was not specified, were advancing alongside pro-Ankara rebels and were already five kilometres (three miles) inside Syria.
Turkey has mainly provided air cover to the operation, pounding dozens of YPG targets with artillery and air strikes.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/23/2018
02:21 ||
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[Wash Examiner] White House officials are expected to unveil an infrastructure plan next week that will largely focus on improving rural economies through improved transportation, internet access, and other resources, according to a leaked document.
The $1 trillion plan circulated by the Trump administration, which Axios obtained on Monday, would allocate 25 percent of the total appropriation to a rural infrastructure program in parts of the U.S. that currently lack high-speed internet and public transit, and whose roads and bridges are in disrepair. The program would also aim to improve water supply and maritime ports in areas where both are lacking.
According to the proposal, states that are currently facing an infrastructure crisis would receive block grant funding for rural areas with fewer than 50,000 residents. The amount made available to each governor would be based on the rural area in one state in relation to all states, and the total adjusted rural population.
The Trump administration hopes that by allowing state governments to determine what to do with the funding they receive would boost public-private partnerships.
"States are incentivized to partner with local and private investment for completion and operation of projects under this program," the document reads.
Trump has long talked about pursuing a bipartisan infrastructure plan that would address structurally deficient transportation systems and roads, curb traffic congestion in major metropolitan areas, among other proposals. Sources close to the White House have said the plan would aim to reduce federal government spending on infrastructure and encourage private investments.
The president is expected to roll the plan out before or during his first State of the Union address next Tuesday.
#3
How can the Donks be against one of the great program of Saint Franklin himself? I look forward to the pretzel illogic to come forth. No room in the budget? Hell, there was no money back then in the first Great Depression.
[Hot Air] "This is all intel driven," a Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) official told CBS about a sudden change in the rules for cargo shipments from five Muslim countries. All five countries are allied to the US in the anti-ISIS fight, which might make this a little uncomfortable for the State Department ‐ and might underscore the seriousness of the "emergency order":
Growing concern about terrorists getting a bomb onto a plane headed for the United States prompted an emergency order requiring stricter scrutiny of air cargo by TSA Administrator David Pekoske. Effective Monday morning, all cargo being loaded onto flights at last point of departure airports in five predominately Muslim countries — Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates — will be subject to the new requirements.
“These countries were chosen because of a demonstrated intent by terrorist groups to attack aviation from them,” said a TSA official familiar with the order. “This is all intel driven.” …
Six airlines — EgyptAir, Royal Jordanian, Qatar, Saudi, Emirates and Etihad — serving the U.S. from seven airports are now required to comply with Air Cargo Advance Screening protocols. Known as ACAS, it is typically a voluntary program, that provides the TSA and Customs and Border Protection with advanced information about all cargo those carriers plan to bring to the United States.
Posted by: Besoeker ||
01/23/2018
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[The Hill] FBI Director Christopher Wray threatened to resign after Attorney General Jeff Sessions pressured him to remove Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, Axios reported Monday.
Wray reportedly told Sessions that he would resign if McCabe was removed from his post, explosive allegations that will only increase attention on President Trump's interactions with the Justice Department.
Sessions also allegedly told White House counsel Don McGahn about Wray’s response to the pressure for him to fire McCabe. McGahn replied by telling Sessions that McCabe wasn’t worth losing Wray, according to Axios.
If Wray had resigned, he would be the second FBI director to leave President Trump's administration, after Trump fired James Comey.
Trump interviewed McCabe to replace Comey, but eventually tapped Wray to take over as director.
White House spokesman Raj Shah said that Trump "believes politically-motivated senior leaders including former Director Comey and others he empowered have tainted the agency’s reputation for unbiased pursuit of justice."
#2
If Wray threatened to resign he should be fired immediately. As Trump's appointee Trump will be blamed for everything Wray does.
McCabe seems to be implicated in the growing FBI scandals. Whether he is or not, his position makes him responsible for what has gone on, which has seriously harmed the FBI.
With McCabe in place, who can investigate these scandals?
It looks like Wray has to go and the sooner the better for everyone.
Posted by: Daniel ||
01/23/2018 2:40
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#3
Sessions should fire him and then resign himself. All these matters should be handled without drama before hand.
#6
Exactly. Accept the resignation, effective immediately and march is stupid ass out the door.
Make sure his replacement knows he needs to play ball or he will be fired. Anybody found blocking investigations will be jailed for contempt and charged with obstruction.
#7
Any employee that has threatened to quit should be "allowed" to resign on the spot. You will never be able to trust them from pulling that again. And no one is irreplacable - period. It should happen on the spot with no wait time - don't give them a chance to warn others, etc. And that way it's a resignation, not a termination so no unemployment compensation. I followed that practice for 30 years as a manager an have never regretted it.
Note - that presumes that you haven't asked them to do something illegal or unethical of course!
Posted by: Albert Gloluth2266 ||
01/23/2018 13:42
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#8
Show him the door...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/23/2018 13:50
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#9
This just in from RedState: FBI Director Chris Wray announced Tuesday that his chief of staff, James Rybicki, is leaving the bureau.
Rybicki, who served in the same position under former FBI Director James Comey, had come under scrutiny from Republicans in recent months about his role in the Hillary Clinton email investigation.
Federal law enforcement sources told Fox News that Rybicki was not fired. His departure, they said, has “been in the works for awhile.”
“Jim Rybicki notified me last month that he will be leaving the FBI to accept an opportunity in the corporate sector,” Wray said in a statement. “While this is an exciting move for the whole Rybicki family, Jim will be dearly missed by the FBI family – and by me personally.”
Wray added: “His many years of dedication to the bureau and DOJ, his level-headed judgement and earnest professionalism, and his steady good cheer have been an asset to us all and have contributed greatly to the safety and security of our nation.”
The FBI director said he tapped attorney Zachary Harmon to replace Rybicki.
FBI Director Chris Wray says chief of staff Jim Rybicki is leaving for job in the private sector. He will be replaced by Zachary Harmon. Wray and Harmon worked together at law firm King & Spalding.
Yep, when you don’t want the guy’s departure to be a big story you totally announce it on Monday.
There have been several reports that Jeff Sessions wanted Christopher Wray to “clean house” at the FBI. Deputy director Andrew McCabe is waiting to retire in March. The general counsel, James Baker, has been removed from his position. Now the chief of staff is out the door. I can’t imagine Peter Strzok’s boss, Bill Priestap, survives because he either knew or should have know of his number two’s partisanship.
Maybe some of the scum on the swamp is being stirred at least.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/23/2018 15:38
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[Free Beacon] Chelsea Manning tweeted Monday that she previously "took up an opportunity" to gather intelligence on fascists and the so-called alt-right without elaborating further, adding that she is running for the U.S. Senate in Maryland because the "world should be better for everyone."
Manning‐who earlier this month announced her bid to challenge Sen. Ben Cardin (D., Md.), the ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in the Democratic primary this June‐wrote on Twitter that fascists and the alt-right "peddle" a threatening ideology and do not deserve a platform. She added that she has gathered intelligence on them, without explaining how or when she went about it.
[The Hill] Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday announced the Justice Department will investigate missing text messages sent between two FBI agents critical of President Trump, joining the chorus of Republican lawmakers who are eager to recover the exchange.
GOP officials have seized on the messages as evidence of FBI bias against Trump in the probes into Russian election meddling and Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of State.
“We will leave no stone unturned to confirm with certainty why these text messages are not now available to be produced and will use every technology available to determine whether the missing messages are recoverable from another source," Sessions said in a statement.
He is on to something though. I would not put it past the "secret society" to go to that extreme. After all, having Trump as POTUS means the leftist paradise with Hillary would have guaranteed these apparatiks special treatment and in some cases a demonstration of what Lenin meant by "useful idiot".
#9
Call in the Federal Marshal's Service and have them sequester evidence and conduct the investigation.
Posted by: Albert Gloluth2266 ||
01/23/2018 13:44
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#10
Today, "A high-ranking FBI official confirms a number of the missing 50,000 FBI text messages — as well as other text and email messages among FBI brass — reportedly discussed initiating physical harm to President Donald Trump."
Posted by: Joe of the jungle ||
01/23/2018 16:44
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#11
Appears to be sourced from 'True Pundit' below.
[AlAhram] Belgium reduced its national threat level on Monday, saying a hard boy attack had become less likely almost two years after bombings killed 32 people in Brussels.
The prime minister said the country had reduced the threat level to two on a four-tier scale, indicating an average risk.
"But level 2 after the attacks is not the same as level 2 was before the attacks," Prime Minister Charles Michel told a news conference.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/23/2018 13:46
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#4
A diplopian snow-job? Oh no,
Swear the little grey heirs of Poirot!
"To have something to do,
We've replaced Level 2
With the new and improved 2.0."
Iranian military leaders claimed Monday that they threatened two American-led vessels in international waters amid a series of new war drills being carried out by the Islamic Republic, according to regional reports and U.S. military officials who confirmed to the Washington Free Beacon contact with the Iranian vessels.
As Iran carries out a several days long series of war drills in the Sea of Oman, off the country's southern border, military leaders claim to have warned off at least two vessels led by U.S. coalition forces in the region.
U.S. military officials confirmed being in contact with Iranian forces, which is just the latest in a series of provocative interactions between the Iranian military and United States.
"One U.S. warship operating in the Gulf of Oman received a transmission from Iranian maritime forces announcing an Iranian exercise," Cmdr. William Urban, a spokesman for U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, told the Free Beacon Monday evening.
U.S military officials say the military vessel continued to carry out its mission, despite the Iranian contact and did not alter its course.
"The U.S. warship continued to execute its mission and did not alter operations as a result of the radio transmission," Urban said. "U.S. warships continue to sail and operate wherever international law allows.
Iranian military leaders had a different version of events, claiming in comments that two U.S.-led warships were instructed to leave the waters where the drills were being held after they were detected by drone surveillance.
"This morning and in the first hours of the drills, two warships of the coalition which had approached the drills zone to monitor the Iranian Navy units were identified by the Navy drones," Rear Admiral Seyed Mahmoud Moussavi, who is leading the Iranian war drills, was quoted as telling Iran's state-controlled press outlets.
"After declaring the issue to the drills' tactical base, the patrolling and reconnaissance planes flew over the coalition warships and warned them [to leave the region] and the warships left the drills zone," according to Moussavi.
Iran is in the midst of another set of war drills aimed at testing new military hardware.
Iran's Army, Navy, and Air Defense forces are all participating in the war drills, which will continue for at least the next two days, according to Iran's media.
The Islamic Republic is testing a range of rockets and laser-guided cannons, according to a readout. Tehran also is testing various light and heavy submarines, as well as helicopters and other air defenses.
Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon adviser and expert on rogue regimes, told the Free Beacon that Iran has a history of not respecting international waters.
"The problem with the Iranian leadership is that they don't understand that international waters are international," Rubin said. "Then again, respect for international norms has never been Iran's strong suit dating back to their seizure of the U.S. embassy in 1979, an act, by the way, even the so-called reformists with whom [former Secretary of State] John Kerry fell in love and continue to endorse."
The Yemeni rocketry force fired on Monday a ballistic missile on Saudi and UAE mercenaries in Taiz in southwestern Yemen.
Military source at Yemen rocket unit told Yemen Press they had fired a ballistic missile branded Qaher M2 onto the gatherings of the Saudi and UAE mercenaries in Taiz.
[DailyMail] The US surgeon who was attacked as he left the Australian Open with his son during a trip of a lifetime has revealed the extent of his injuries.
Dr Edmund Pribitkin told Nine News his face had become detached from his skull in the senseless attack, which has seen five teenagers charged as police continue to search for the culprits.
After the video, the BBC predictably made it all about misogyny and the interviewer getting mean comments on Twitter that mean she needed police protection, blah blah. Basically making the story about ANYTHING but this interview where the good Doctor defends himself and his ideas staunchly and she misrepresents everything he says. She's a proud feminist, surprise.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 ||
01/23/2018
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#9
It's so sadly obvious that nothing he says has any impression on her. The starting points she comes from are listed and there can be no deviation. And it appears (I'm being nice) she is unable to understand or unwilling to understand the points that he makes.
#10
Drudge seems to post a lot about 'sexbots' but they appear to be as qualified, if probably not more, to conduct such interviews using talking points and ignore the response of the interviewee. Cheaper in the long run, no medical or vacation leave, no retirement, no workers compensation, no matching employer payments.
#11
A good example of what happens when one listens looking for gotcha moments instead of listening for context. Makes you look more than a little clue-less.
[ConservativeTreehouse] CTH has been pointing out this shadowy figure for almost a year. Today, his appearance in Text Messages, explains why...
W.H. "Bill" Priestap is the FBI Head of Counterintelligence. Priestap was one of the first FBI officials who caught our attention (spring of 2017) because FBI Director James Comey mysteriously pointed a finger upon him during testimony to congress on March 20th, 2017 [Although Comey didn’t use Bill Priestap’s name, only his position].
James Comey said last year the reason the FBI did not inform congress of the ongoing eight month counterintelligence investigation (required by congressional intelligence oversight), which began in July 2016 into candidate Donald Trump, was because Bill Priestap specifically told Director Comey not to inform congress or intelligence oversight.
That March 20th, 2017, Comey testimony -and the exponential ramifications therein- largely remained under the radar until late last year when Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes and the Office of Inspector General began presenting information that painted a very disturbing picture of the DOJ/FBI motive to keep their suspicious activity hidden.
As a result of growing concern surrounding the political endeavors of the Dept. of Justice, Devin Nunes included FBI Asst. Director Bill Priestap in his witness demand to the DOJ. According to the response letter provided by Asst. AG Rod Rosenstein, Priestap will be presented to the House Intelligence Committee soon for questioning.
Yesterday, a key aspect of Bill Priestap surfaced, in a semi-related matter, surrounding the Clinton email investigation. Continues.
#2
g(r)om - From an impressive 'Joe of Jungle' post yesterday.
Six U.S. agencies created a stealth task force, spearhead by CIA’s Brennan, to run domestic surveillance on Trump associates and possibly Trump himself.
To feign ignorance and to seemingly operate within U.S. laws, the agencies freelanced the wiretapping of Trump associates to the British spy agency GCHQ.
[RSTREET.ORG] Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently announced that he is establishing a task force to investigate and combat the illicit activities of the Iran-backed terrorist organization, Hezbollah.
The task force was born of a Politico report finding that the B.O. regime backed off of investigating Hezbollah out of fear of imperiling the Iran nuclear deal.
Because Hezbollah is capable of acting around the globe, the United States must take the threat seriously not only to protect our interests abroad, but to prevent Hezbollah from acting against us here at home. This task force is an important step toward achieving that goal.
The task force’s origin story is somewhat political in nature. Therefore, the team will have to be hyper-aware of any appearance of partisanship. It should not get caught up in potential political gains for the administration; instead, it should focus on the primary objective of protecting American interests. The goal is, and should be, combatting Hezbollah’s ability to participate in and gain from the drug trade and terrorist activities.
Hezbollah activities in Latin America are not a guarded secret. For instance, Navy Admiral Kurt W. Tidd, commander of Southern Command for the U.S. military, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee in April 2017 that "Hezbollah has been present in small pockets scattered throughout the region for decades. They’ve been actively engaged largely in criminal activities to raise funds to support the terrorist activities of Hezbollah in other parts of the world."
Yet even with reports of Hezbollah participating in money laundering and drug trafficking in such close proximity to the United States, stopping the group’s illicit activities has not been a major priority as compared to combatting other terrorist groups, most notably ISIS. The creation of this task force will ensure that the Justice Department gives appropriate attention to the Hezbollah threat.
Experts say that Hezbollah not only threatens U.S. efforts to stem the drug trade in Latin America, but poses a growing threat to U.S. national security interests in the Middle East. For instance, in addition to being myrmidonly anti-American and anti-Israeli, Hezbollah actively supports Syrian President Assad’s regime. Last year, the Trump administration chose to strike Syria’s military in response to Assad’s use of chemical weapons against his own people and remains critical of the Assad regime.
The Trump administration has also initiated a public campaign to crack down on Hezbollah as part of a larger effort to counter Iran. The goal of the campaign is to "expose" Hezbollah officials for their illicit activities. Having become a leading political party in Leb, Hezbollah is now taking great strides to further establish its legitimacy. The administration’s campaign attempts to highlight not only for the United States and Leb, but for the whole world, that legitimating Hezbollah is unacceptable while it participates in terrorism, money laundering and the drug trade. To support the campaign, the administration is offering $10 million in cash reward bounties for aiding in the arrest of leading Hezbollah figures.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2018
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[IsraelTimes] TSA says new measures due to 'intent by terrorist groups to attack aviation' via planes departing Egypt, Jordan, Soddy Arabia, Qatar and the UAE.
The United States has ordered more stringent inspections of air cargo from five Middle East countries, citing a June 2017 attempt in Australia to bring down a plane as evidence that terrorist groups continue to target civilian aviation.
The Transportation Security Administration said Monday it had ordered seven airports in Egypt, Jordan, 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... , Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... and the United Arab Emirates to provide advance data on US-bound air cargo to US Customs and Border Protection for vetting before the cargo is loaded.
The agency did not cite any new specific threat for the move.
"The persistent threat to aviation calls for the world to raise the baseline on global aviation security across the spectrum," it said.
"These countries were chosen because of a demonstrated intent by terrorist groups to attack aviation from them."
TSA also pointed to Australian security officials’ foiling of an advanced plot by three men with ties to 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.... terror group last June to bring down an aircraft with an improvised bomb.
"The incident in Australia that occurred this past summer was an ominous reminder for TSA and all of our aviation partners, to include cargo carriers, that we need to continue our efforts to keep our skies secure," TSA said.
Last year, US counterterrorism chief Nick Rasmussen said the Australia plot "shows that bully boyz are aware of security procedures. They watch what we do and they try to learn from it."
[IN.REUTERS] The key U.S. question about The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund.... ’s offensive in northwestern Syria is whether Ankara pushes on from Afrin to Manbij, where U.S. forces and their allies 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 Moslem group are on the ground, U.S. officials said on Monday.
Turkey shelled targets in northwest Syria on the third day of a campaign by its forces and Syrian rebel allies against Kurdish YPG fighters, which Ankara sees as allies of Kurdish snuffies who have fought the Ottoman Turkish state for decades.
While the United States does not have forces in the area of Afrin, where the offensive is focussed, it does in Manbij to the east, raising the possibility of conflict between forces allied with Turkey and the United States.
Moreover, the United States hopes to use the YPG’s control of the area to give it the diplomatic muscle it needs to revive U.N.-led talks in Geneva on a deal that would end Syria’s civil war and eventually lead to the ouster of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... The United States and Turkey, while themselves allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, have diverging interests in the Syrian civil war, with Washington focussed on defeating Islamic State and Ankara keen to prevent Syria’s Kurds from gaining autonomy and fuelling Kurdish snuffies on its soil.
Preventing Ottoman Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan from carrying out a threat to drive Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a U.S.-backed umbrella group dominated by the YPG, out of Manbij is central for Washington, U.S. officials said.
"Manbij was liberated by the coalition (fighting Islamic State) and (this) would be looked at differently if Turkey started to go in that direction," said one U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"The Turks have talked about it but there is no indication that they are going to go further east where we are," he added. "At this stage in Afrin it’s a very different fight and a very different situation than if they do come further east."
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01/23/2018
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[STRAITSTIMES] It has been over two months since the Philippine government declared victory over a well-armed and highly motivated cabal of Muslim militants that laid siege to Marawi city. The military has allowed half the city's more than 200,000 residents to return, but not to the devastated half that is filled with unexploded ordnance and booby traps. What awaits the residents of Marawi is more uncertainty and the ever looming threat that the militants may soon return.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2018
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[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] The Trump administration is waiving more than 30 environmental rules to accelerate the construction of President Trump's proposed border wall in New Mexico, forcing environmental groups to consider another round of lawsuits.
The Department of Homeland Security published a notice Monday that said the waiver was necessary to ensure the "expeditious construction of barriers" near the Santa Teresa Land Port of Entry.
"The Secretary of Homeland Security has determined, pursuant to law, that it is necessary to waive certain laws, regulations and other legal requirements in order to ensure the expeditious construction of barriers and roads in the vicinity of the international land border of the United States," according to a notice published in the Federal Register.
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01/23/2018
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[USNI] Congressional spending has become so unpredictable, a panel of Pentagon experts said the defense industrial base is shrinking and the weapons systems of tomorrow are not being developed today. A good thing, or a bad thing ?
Speaking Monday at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a panel of experts responded to the findings of a report quantifying how defense spending cuts, enacted by the Budget Control Act of 2011, has caused a dramatic number of defense industry suppliers to leave the market while chilling industry’s research and development activities.
“Though the defense budget had been declining in the years leading up to sequestration in FY 2013, the enactment of sequestration and budget caps marked a severe market shock that had a considerable impact on the defense industry,” said the report, co-produced by CSIS and the Aerospace Industries Association, and released in late December.
With less defense spending, the CSIS report found fewer contracts were being awarded. Before the Budget Control Act of 2011 fully took effect, the average annual number of DoD contract obligations in fiscal years 2011 and 2012 only dipped by five percent when compared to fiscal years 2009 and 2010. After 2013, defense obligations dropped by 23 percent.
#1
the defense industrial base is shrinking and the weapons systems of tomorrow are not being developed today
A good thing. The tired mantra of 'block-n', next version and 'improved performance' from legacy developers gives us shiny weapon systems of yesterday, not tomorrow.
[REUTERS] Malaysia has placed in durance vile Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! two men believed to have links with hard boy group 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.... , including one who allegedly walked around its capital armed with a knife aiming to kill Buddhist monks, police said on Monday.
The Moslem-majority Southeast Asian nation has been on high alert since button men linked to Islamic State (IS) launched several attacks in Jakarta, the capital of neighboring Indonesia, in January 2016.
The two suspects were arrested in two separate raids in December and January, on suspicion of planning to carry out acts of violence and promoting IS ideology.
One of them, an Indonesian who was arrested last week, had allegedly scoured a busy district of the capital, Kuala Lumpur, in November, seeking Buddhist monks to kill, in retaliation for violence suffered by Rohingya Moslems in Myanmar.
"The attempt failed, and police managed to confiscate a knife during the raid," Mohamad Fuzi Harun, the inspector-general of police, said in a statement.
He added that the suspect had also allegedly communicated with a senior IS leader over WhatsApp, had sought to recruit several other Indonesians and put up an IS flag at the building site where he worked.
The other suspect, a Malaysian teacher at a private religious school, was detained in December on suspicion of planning an attack on entertainment outlets and to rob, kidnap or kill non-Moslems.
The suspect, who had been previously tossed in the calaboose Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! under Malaysia’s anti-terror law, had also maintained contact with former members of known terror groups and promoted IS ideology on his Facebook account to recruit new members, police said.
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01/23/2018
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[LIVEMINT] The chargesheet filed against Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed ...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat... and Hizbul Mujahideen ...Party of Holy Warriors, founded by Muhammad Ahsan Dar in September 1989. One of the Pak sock puppets waging jihad in Indian Kashmir. It was originally organized as the armed wing of Jamaat-e-Islami. In 1990, Dar declared Hizbul as the sword arm of Jamaat. Hizbul murdered many of the pro-independence intelligentsia in Kashmir. After the organization was taken over by Syed Salahuddin Dar and several other ex-Hizb leaders were assassinated between 2001 and 2003... head Syed Salahuddin ...the aging, morbidly obese chief of Hizbul Mujaheddin and the titular head of the United Jihad Council in idyllic Kashmire. Originally owned body and theoretical soul by Jamaat-e-Islami he and his organization are currently controlled by Pakistain's ISI. Salahuddin's hobbies include crocheting doilies shaped like the Taj Mahal, combing his enormous beard, and eating.... will not alter the terror funding scenario in Kashmire, according to defence experts.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on 18 January filed the chargesheet against Saeed, Salahuddin and 10 others under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for carrying out secessionist activities in Kashmire and funding terror in the Valley.
"It does not matter whether or not NIA has investigated them, but nothing will come out of it because it will not alter Pakistain’s stance on the matter. Secondly, even if Hafiz Saeed or Salahuddin are prosecuted, someone else will take over and continue the subversive activities," said H.S. Panag, a former Indian Army officer and defence expert.
An intelligence official outlined one way in which the financing network, which also funds the rock-throwing protesters who target security forces, works.
"One of the main sources of funds is invoicing fraud during trade deals. If a retailer in another state says that he is buying dry fruits from Kashmire worth Rs25 lakh, he actually pays the wholesaler in Kashmire Rs1 crore, while the invoice reflects the former amount. The remaining Rs75 lakh is then released in very small instalments of Rs1.5-2 lakh to fund the stone pelters," said the official, who did not wish to be named.
The official said that while the separatists were being investigated for receiving funds from the LeT to carry out subversive activities in Kashmire, the hawala money network is also used to fund holy warriors.
"A significant portion of these funds is also used to sustain home-grown terrorists. This money is used to finance their food, provisions, upkeep and other expenses that they incur," the officer added.
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01/23/2018
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[Bangkok Post] Three people died and 18 others were injured when a motorcycle bomb exploded at a market in Yala province early Monday morning.
Local police said a young man parked a motorcycle near a pork stall at the Pimolchai market in Yala municipality. The woman who owned the stall told him to move the motorcycle, but he ran away. When the woman went over to the motorcycle to move it herself, it exploded.
She and a male customer were killed instantly. Nineteen wounded people were rushed to Yala Hospital, where one of them succumbed to injuries.
Security authorities found chopped steel rods and electronic parts near the wrecked motorcycle and estimated the bomb weighed about 20 kilograms. The pork stall and many other motorcyles and stalls at the market were also destroyed.
Military spokesman Pramote Phrom-in said authorities had identified a group of militants responsible for the bombing and were searching for them. They were insurgents who had been active in the local area, he said.
[Rappler] At least three communist militants and one auxiliary force of the military were killed in a gun battle that lasted for hours in a Cotabato town on January 22.
Military spokesperson Ezra Balagtey said the fighting between government troops and members of the Far Southern Mindanao Region of the New People’s Army erupted when the militants attacked a military-supervised patrol base in Luayon in Makilala town, Cotabato.
Balagtey said the “failed” attack began after midnight on Monday, and ended at 5am "when the NPA terrorists scampered toward a different direction."
Military spokesman Lea Canseran said some 20 militants attacked the base.
In which the Guardian, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, goes looking for problems to accuse the Republican president of that were invisible during Democratic president Barack Obama’s time in office — and finds them in the very Democratic state of California.
[Guardian] Leilani Farha was being given a walking tour in central San Francisco. Near a thronged artisanal grocery store and a food-truck park, she saw something under a freeway that gave her pause.
A young homeless man sat on the ground. He wore two pairs of jeans and had a hood pulled over his long brown hair. Before him was a crockpot filled with burning paper, over which he was heating tortillas in a dirty skillet. As cars, cyclists and tech commuter buses rushed past, white smoke poured into the darkening air.
"The last time I saw cooking on a sidewalk," Farha said, "was in Mumbai."
Continued on Page 49
#1
Holy moly, did he just call Mumbai a shithole? Censure the UN immediately!
San Francisco shit on the streets map. They have so much of it that someone won an award for taking data from the city's system and displaying it like this. San Fran is a literal shithole.
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[The Hindu] Talibs who killed at least 22 people at a luxury Kabul hotel went from room to room searching for foreigners, the survivors said on Monday as more details of the victims emerged.
Insurgents armed with Kalashnikovs and boom jackets attacked the landmark Intercontinental Hotel overlooking the Afghan capital late on Saturday in an assault that lasted more than 12 hours and prompted questions over how the attackers breached security.
Guests hid behind pillars and in rooms as button men sprayed bullets and set fire to parts of the six-storey building.
"They were saying, kill the foreigners," a 20-year-old hotel employee who gave his name as Hasibullah said from his hospital bed.
He described hiding in a fifth-floor room and listening as the button men went from room to room, forcing doors open "with daggers" and killing those inside.
One other witness claimed he had seen the gunnies beheading guests.
The attack ended on Sunday with all six gunnies killed by Afghan forces, aided by Norwegian troops.
Afghan Health Ministry spokesperson Waheed Majroh said 22 bodies had now been taken to Kabul hospitals. "Some of the bodies [are] burned badly and need DNA tests to be identified," he said.
The Interior Ministry gave a lower toll on Monday, saying 19 people were dead, 14 of them foreigners.
Authorities said they were still investigating how gunnies breached security, which was taken over by a private company three weeks ago.
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01/23/2018
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Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) – A civilian was shot dead Monday in a shooting incident east of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, a security source was quoted as saying.
“Unidentified gunmen opened fire at a civilian while passing by al-Ma’amel district in eastern Baghdad, leaving him dead,” the source told Baghdad Today.
“Security forces sealed off the shooting site and opened a probe into the attack,” the source said, adding that the body was carried to the forensic medicine department.
Earlier in the day, two people were injured as a bomb went off near stores at Jisr Diyala region in southeastern Baghdad.
Anbar (Iraqinews.com) – Six family members were killed and injured Monday as a booby-trapped house exploded in Rawa district in Anbar, a security source was quoted as saying.
“A bomb planted by Islamic State inside a house in central Rawa district in Anbar exploded once a six-strong family entered it following a long period of displacement, leaving two of the family members dead and four others injured,” a security source with the Anbar Operations Command told Basnews.
“Among the injured were a woman and a child, who were carried to hospital suffering from severe injuries,” the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
He added that a security campaign was launched in search of any booby-trapped houses targeting repatriated families in in Rawa.
Posted by: badanov ||
01/23/2018
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[WARONTHEROCKS] Earlier this month, Muhammad al-Dajani executed Musa Abu Zamat in a video released by Wilayat Sinai, 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.... ’s affiliate in the Sinai Peninsula. Surrounded by other myrmidons, al-Dajani shot a fellow Islamic State member in the back of the head amid accusations that Abu Zamat had smuggled weapons to Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",’ military wing from which al-Dajani defected before joining the Islamic State. In the same video, the Islamic State included a call for violent attacks targeting Hamas, a Gazoo-based Paleostinian myrmidon organization viewed as "apostates" by the Islamic State.
This is not the first time the Islamic State has threatened to overthrow Hamas. But the vicious nature of the threat, involving an execution, makes the latest video different. Why did the Islamic State declare all-out war this time? The question is especially interesting given that pragmatic cooperation with Hamas’ military wing helped Wilayat Sinai become an effective fighting force and mount an unprecedented challenge to the Egyptian regime.
Continued on Page 49
[AAWSAT] Tunisian special forces have killed Bilel Kobi, a senior Algerian member of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
Kobi, who was killed in an ambush when he was on a mission to reorganize AQIM's Tunisian branch, was the top aide to Abu Musab Abdul Wadud, the leader of the organization.
The operation took place near the Algerian border in the Mount Sammama area of central-western Tunisia.
Kobi had been charged with overseeing links between the terrorist network and its Tunisian branch. He had joined terrorist groups in the area at the age of 15.
Another Algerian, Bechir Bin Neji, thought to have been the commander of an AQMI cell in the Sammama region, was also found dead with an assault rifle by his side, Tunisian interior ministry spokesman Khlifa Chibani said.
Bin Neji was the leader of Okba Ibn Nafaa in the Semmama mountain, he said.
The dead militant had joined terrorist groups in Algeria in 2003 before becoming a member of Okba Ibn Nafaa 10 years later.
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#1
I read that headline as DROWN al Queda op....decided it worked either way.
[AlManar] Syrian Army and allies have started the operation to eliminate al-Nusra Front terrorists, who have been surrounded in the eastern part of Idlib province, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
“Syrian government troops and militia units have started to eliminate a grouping of Jabhat Fatah al Sham [previously known as al-Nusra Front] terrorist organization, numbering more than 1,500 fighters and surrounded in the eastern part of Idlib province. The militants are armed with tanks, infantry combat vehicles, field artillery systems and mortars,” the statement said.
According to the ministry, over the past 24 hours, the units of the Syrian Army have advanced 3.7 miles to the north of Abu Al-Dhour airfield and liberated 24 settlements from militants.
The statement comes two days after the Syrian government forces regained control over the strategic airfield in the Idlib province, which had been seized by al-Nusra Front terrorists in 2015. The government troops have also managed to encircle al-Nusra Front in the eastern part of the Idlib province.
The Syrian Army supported by allied forces have been carrying out an anti-terrorist operation in the province for over a month.
The entire Turkish cabinet is beating war drums: Labor and Social Security Minister Jülide Sarıeroğlu joins the chest-thumping and says nobody better not dare test Turkey's patience as she hails #Erdogan commander-in-chief.
Posted by: 3dc ||
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#4
Your Mussulman's usually boofy;
He's sunny, but never quite poofy.
But sometimes a dervish,
While whirling, gets pervish
And turns himself into a Sufi.
#3
"Taxation without representation." Get in line behind the District of Columbia and a legion of military serving overseas who's applications and ballots mysteriously seem to vanish in so many votes.
#7
Sadly, there has to be a first test case, so some patriot has to step up and let CalDoJ arrest him for criminal prosecution. Then the fireworks can start and the whole sordid leadership of the state can see their arrogance brought before SCOTUS. When that happens a groundswell of financial and moral support must happen for the first person arrested by these treasonous bast*rds!
#8
Above comment refers to the parallel promise by CA AG to prosecute anyone reporting illegals as well as to the first county clerk/registrar of voters that turns an illegal in for voter fraud!
[PAJHWOK] Seven coppers were killed and an eighth maimed after Talibs stormed their check posts in the Garamsir district of southern Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province, an official said Monday.
The security official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Pajhwok Afghan News the murderous Moslems attacked security check-posts in Chawghakai area late on Sunday night.
He said seven coppers were killed and one more was maimed in the overnight assault.
Omar Zwak, the governor’s front man, confirmed the attack which he said was repulsed reinforcements arrived at the site.
On the other hand, Qari Yousaf Ahmaid, a Taliban ...Arabic for students... ’s front man, also the assault left eight coppers dead, five maimed and their nine weapons seized.
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01/23/2018
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[STRAITSTIMES] Four Somali men charged over an kaboom at a coffee shop at Nairobi's international airport in 2014 were acquitted Monday (Jan 22) due to lack of evidence.
The men had denied they were members of the Somalia-based Al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... Islamist group and had carried out the attack, which came four months after gunnies struck the capital's Westgate mall, killing at least 67 people.
There were no casualties in the blast at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, which police initially blamed on a "loose light bulb" falling into a waste paper basket.
After a bullet-ridden car containing a dead body and explosives was found the following morning at a housing estate near the airport, they were obliged to change their story.
Magistrate Roselyn Oganyo said the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against Hassan Abdi Mohammed, Mohammed Osman Ali, Yusuf Warsame and Garad Hassan Fer.
"Having considered the evidence adduced before court I find that the prosecution failed to prove its case against each of the accused persons beyond any reasonable doubt," she ruled.
The magistrate acquitted them of more than 12 counts they faced, including being unlawfully present in the country and possessing explosives.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
They couldn't prove that they were in the country illegally?
Posted by: M. Hatrack1097 ||
01/23/2018 15:17
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[Inquirer] An Abu Sayyaf militant tagged as the one who beheaded two Filipino workers in 2001 in a bloody gesture of mocking the then Arroyo administration has been arrested, the military said. The Abu Sayyaf had described the beheadings as an “Independence Day gift” to then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in retaliation for her refusal to call off military offensives against the terror group.
Faizal Attong Sariul, alias Ziad, was tagged by witnesses as the man who beheaded two of the 17 workers of Golden Harvest, a company that runs a plantation in Lantawan, Basilan, who were kidnapped by the rebel group on June 11, 2001. Sariul was 17 years old then.
Police spokesman Fergen Torred said Sariul who is now 38 years old and had been in hiding for 17 years, was arrested in the village of Mercedes in Zamboanga City. Torred said witnesses pointed to Sariul as the rebel who beheaded Golden Harvest workers Primitivo Falcasantos and Crisanto Suela, a day after they were kidnapped and just as the country celebrated Independence Day.
The terrorists, mocking Arroyo, placed the workers’ severed heads in a box and left it on a roadside in Lantawan town, Basilan. When news of the atrocity spread, the Abu Sayyaf issued a statement declaring it to be their Independence Day gift to Arroyo.
Several weeks after the two workers were beheaded, the Abu Sayyaf also beheaded another foreign hostage, American national Guillermo Sobero, to taunt Arroyo and mock military operations that had failed to pin the terrorists down.
Posted by: ryuge ||
01/23/2018
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[AlManar] Four more villages were liberated during the past few hours by the Syrian Arab Army and allies in the southeastern countryside of Idlib.
SANA’s reporter in Hama said that army units, in cooperation with supporting forces, continued their operations against the remnants of Nusra Front terrorist organization to the east of Abu al-Dhour Airport, regaining control over the villages of Qar’a al-Ghazal, Um al-Hota, Shoyhet Abu Essa, and Abu Mrir after destroying terrorists’ fortified positions and gatherings.
According to the reporter, the army will announce the liberation of Abu al-Dohour town within a few hours as its units are currently engaging in fierce clashes with terrorists in the town, with the aim of eliminating the last gatherings of terrorists in it who are in a state of collapse as they suffered massive losses in their ranks.
Aleppo
The Syrian Arab Army regained control over four villages in the southwestern countryside of Aleppo.
Army units, backed by supporting forces, continued their operations against Nusra terror organization in the southwestern countryside of Aleppo, regaining control over the villages of Tarfawi, Hmimat al-Dair, Raydi Gharbia, and Tabara, a military source told SANA.
A number of terrorists were also killed during the army’s operations in the villages.
Source: SANA
Posted by: badanov ||
01/23/2018
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[The Hindu] The Delhi police on Monday chargesheeted suspected al-Qaeda terrorist Zishan Ali in a case of allegedly making provocative speeches to recruit youths here and establish a base for the terror outfit. Ali was deported to India from 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... last August.
Taking the investigation report on record, Additional Sessions Judge Sidharth Sharma posted the case to February 2 for consideration on taking cognisance.
The police enjugged Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! Ali over a year after three alleged al-Qaeda operatives were arrested in 2015.
The police said that Ali, a resident of Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, operated from Saudi Arabia. He is believed to be married to the sister of Sabeel Ahmed, a cousin of the 2007 Glasgow International Airport attack criminal mastermind Kafeel Ahmed, who had moved from Bengaluru to Saudi Arabia in 2010-11.
The police secured an arrest warrant against Ali in June 2016. His name was also mentioned in a chargesheet filed against alleged al-Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) accused persons. Ali’s brother Syed Mohammed Arshiyan, who was last spotted in Saudi Arabia, allegedly has links with international terror outfits. He is also wanted by Indian probe agencies.
The police first came to know about the two brothers from AQIS accused and Cuttack-based holy man Abdul Rehman, who was arrested in December 2015.
Rehman allegedly disclosed that he knew Arshiyan since 2003. He later came in contact with his brother Ali. The accused said that through Arshiyan, Dr. Ahmed and other Saudi Arabia-based contacts, he had sent some young men to Pakistain for training in terror camps there.
Intelligence agencies had started working on the AQIS module soon after a video by al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area assuming he's not dead like Mullah Omar. He lost major face when he ordered the nascent Islamic State to cease and desist and merge with the orthodx al-Qaeda spring, al-Nusra... surfaced in September 2014. It announced the outfit’s formation. About a year later, the police busted a module involving some residents of Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal and this led to further arrests. They found that AQIS chief Maulana Asim Umar ...chief of al-Qaeda's Sharia Committee for Pakistain, named head of al-Qaeda in India. His video appearances are frequently accompanied by clips of al Qaeda's senior propagandist in Pakistan, Ahmad Farooq. Umar the author of The Army of Anti-Christ: Blackwater, Documentation of the Dreadful Terrorist Activities of America's Blackwater in Islamic Countries... was also a resident of Deepa Sarai in Sambhal. It is suspected that he went to Pakistain in 1998.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2018
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[FOX] Reps. Trey Gowdy and John Ratcliffe join FNC's Martha McCallum to talk about another newly released text message between FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. This time, Strzok implies a "secret society" of federal agents worked to prevent Donald Trump from becoming president. It's already been "explained." What we now need are believers.
"It is possible these text messages that are missing, perhaps they really were lost. Perhaps it is another strange coincidence," Ratcliffe said. "It is harder and harder for us to explain one strange coincidence after another."
"We know that Strzok and Page had an intense anti-Trump bias," he said. "And that's OK, so long as they check it at the door and do their job. We learned today in the thousands of text messages we have reviewed, that perhaps they may not have done that. We know about this 'insurance policy' that was referenced trying to prevent Donald Trump from becoming president."
Ratcliffe continued: "We learned today about information that in the immediate aftermath of his election, there may have been a 'secret society' of folks within the Department of Justice and the FBI, to include Page and Strzok, working against him. I'm not saying that actually happened, but when folks speak in those terms, they need to come forward to explain the context."
#3
The following was posted yesterday by someone with the screen name 'Joe of the Jungle.' I suspect he has well nailed it. I hope he continues to post his insights:
#4 Here is what we now know, per intelligence gleaned form federal law enforcement sources with insider knowledge of what amounts to a plot by U.S. intelligence agencies to secure back door and illegal wiretaps of President Trump’s associates:
Six U.S. agencies created a stealth task force, spearhead by CIA’s Brennan, to run domestic surveillance on Trump associates and possibly Trump himself.
To feign ignorance and to seemingly operate within U.S. laws, the agencies freelanced the wiretapping of Trump associates to the British spy agency GCHQ.
The decision to insert GCHQ as a back door to eavesdrop was sparked by the denial of two FISA Court warrant applications filed by the FBI to seek wiretaps of Trump associates.
GCHQ did not work from London or the UK. In fact the spy agency worked from NSA’s headquarters in Fort Meade, MD with direct NSA supervision and guidance to conduct sweeping surveillance on Trump associates.
The illegal wiretaps were initiated months before the controversial Trump dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele.
The Justice Department and FBI set up the meeting at Trump Tower between Trump Jr., Manafort and Kushner with controversial Russian officials to make Trump’s associates appear compromised.
Following the Trump Tower sit down, GCHQ began digitally wiretapping Manafort, Trump Jr., and Kushner.
After the concocted meeting by the Deep State, the British spy agency could officially justify wiretapping Trump associates as an intelligence front for NSA because the Russian lawyer at the meeting Natalia Veselnitskaya was considered an international security risk and prior to the June sit down was not even allowed entry into the United States or the UK, federal sources said.
By using GCHQ, the NSA and its intelligence partners had carved out a loophole to wiretap Trump without a warrant. While it is illegal for U.S. agencies to monitor phones and emails of U.S. citizens inside the United States absent a warrant, it is not illegal for British intelligence to do so. Even if the GCHQ was tapping Trump on U.S. soil at Fort Meade.
The wiretaps, secured through illicit scheming, have been used by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of alleged Russian collusion in the 2016 election, even though the evidence is considered “poisoned fruit.”
Posted by: Joe of the Jungle || 01/22/2018 12:49 Comments || Top||
#5
And no wonder President Trump 'took a pass' on visiting the opening of the new US Embassy in London.
I'm doubtful of NSA involvement. Unless he stumbled upon an internal rogue project, the DIRNSA's (Admiral Rogers) visit to Trump Towers would seem somewhat counter-intuitive.
[TheBlackSphere] The Democrats may pretend to care about the tired, poor, huddled masses, yearning to be free. But when it comes to saving American lives over that of illegals, Democrats draw the line!
A NYC councilman and nearly 300 other protesters blocked ambulances trying to get sick people to the hospital. All in protest over an illegal alien battling deportation being held at the hospital.
And following the arrests, Ydanis Rodriguez tweeted this photo of himself.
He’s seen crying outrage over the way he was treated for trying to protect human rights for an illegal, while putting sick people in ambulances in danger.
We knew about it then, but it’s nice that President Trump’s state department obeyed the law and released the records that prove it.
[ConservativeDailyPress] A Freedom of Information Act lawsuit from the American Center for Law and Justice revealed that former President Barack Obama’s administration led a multimillion-dollar campaign to "replace the government" in Israel.
The bombshell lawsuit detailed how Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ son, Yasser Mahmoud Abbas, and a senior official in the anti-Israel group OneVoice received millions of dollars from the U.S. State Department.
The funds from the Obama administration were explicitly supposed to be used to remove Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and replace Israel’s entire government.
Between 2013 and 2014, the State Department began issuing grants to OneVoice totaling more than $350,000. That was four times the size of the average grant the State Department allowed for foreign entities.
In the memo below, the FOIA memo clearly shows the Obama administration was plotting to have a terrorist-connected offshoot take out the Israeli government.
The FOIA documents plainly state that the Obama administration was aware of OneVoice’s alliance with terrorist groups in the region and their intention to use them to overthrow the Israeli government.
This strongly reads like the Obama administration was funding a secret operation to "take out" Netanyahu and allow the terrorist-supporting Palestinians to take over Israel.
Using American taxpayer dollars from Obama’s State Department, OneVoice played a major role in launching "a multimillion-dollar grassroots campaign" with one objective: "replace the government of Israel."
Making matters even worse, the Obama administration gave taxpayer money to a terrorist-affiliated organization to remove a duly elected leader of the only free democracy in the Middle East.
The ACLJ said they tried to get these documents for years, but had to fight the battle in court because Obama’s State Department actively sought to conceal these explosive reports.
Federal documents clearly show the Obama administration gave a terrorist-affiliated group millions of dollars from American taxpayers to literally replace the government in Israel and remove Netanyahu.
Why is this not being plastered across the media? Because Obama’s Deep State acts of corruption and anti-Israel agenda have been swept under the rug for years.
But with Trump in office, these swamp creatures are finally starting to be exposed. But, but, but...The Rooskies, using Facebook, attempted to influence our election!
#6
The Russian Collusion nonsense always has been and always will be a Squirrel.
The Swamp Thing (Obama) knew some of this was going to come out and his minions continue to invent stuff to put in the press to divert attention from the horrendous abuses of power and dictatorial power grabbing of "the one"
He's only the "One" because he wanted to be the first dictator/Stalin of the US. That's why all of these criminals squealed so loudly when Trump was elected.
[NEWSWEEK] An Ohio man who trained with an al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria and allegedly planned to kill U.S. troops was sentenced to 22 years by a federal judge on Monday.
Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud, 26, apologized for his crimes and expressed regret during questioning by District Court Judge Michael Watson, The News Agency that Dare Not be Named reported.
"Do you have any idea how misguided that was?" Watson asked. The 26-year-old from Columbus replied, "Absolutely. I wish I could take it back, your honor."
Mohamud was born in Somalia but came to the U.S. when he was 2-years-old. After he became an American citizen in 2014, he used his new U.S. passport to make his way to Syria, where he was eventually trained by the al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... h Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate. Mohamud was allegedly planning to meet his brother, an al-Nusrah fighter named Abdifatah Aden, to give him $1,000 and other material support, but his brother was killed, and there's no evidence they ever actually met, according to court documents.
This article starring:
Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2018
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#1
"Ohio man" - No doubt a disappointed Browns fan.
[FreeBeacon] The State Department announced a new $600,000 taxpayer-funded study that suggests "ideals of masculinity" in Kenya are contributing to terrorism.
The department's Bureau of Counterterrorism is seeking a nonprofit group to "explore gender identities of boys and men in Kenya." The grant proposal states that men being "tough, heterosexual, aggressive, unemotional, and achieving" can make them vulnerable to joining Islamic extremist groups.
"Gender is increasingly recognized as an essential aspect to understanding and countering violent extremism throughout the world," the State Department said. "To date, research and interventions on gender in Kenya have predominantly focused on the role of women and girls in violent extremism. However, men and boys are disproportionately recruited by and join terrorist groups and carry out terrorist operations. In Kenya, there currently exists no CVE [countering violent extremism] programming dedicated to the role of gender of boys and men and vulnerability to violent extremism."
To remedy this, the State Department will spend up to $592,500 on the "Masculinity and Violent Extremism" study, which will be awarded to an American nonprofit or nongovernmental organization later this year.
The study will "determine existing knowledge and gaps on male gender and violent extremism as well as explore gender identities of boys and men in Kenya."
The grant proposal blames Kenya's "patriarchal" society of "tough, heterosexual" men for problems facing the developing country.
"In Kenya, boys and men are disproportionately recruited by al-Shabaab and more likely to be both operators and victims of terrorist acts," the State Department said. "Kenyan society, while diverse in its ethnic and cultural composition, is uniformly patriarchal and highly prescriptive of gender expressions and identities."
"Kenyan males are expected to head the household as well as provide for, protect, and maintain the family," the department continued. "Socially, males are expected to be tough, heterosexual, aggressive, unemotional, and achieving. The practical and social pressures to fulfill these expectations can be immense and create vulnerabilities that are exploited by violent extremist groups who appeal to these characteristics and offer the opportunity to fulfil [sic] these roles."
The State Department added that the research would involve fathers and community leaders in Kenya in the hopes to "shape existing cultural narratives on masculinity, gender, and violent extremism."
"Funds will support male-to-male dialogue and training on issues of gender and encourage stronger social and familial support structures," the department said.
#2
The grant proposal blames Kenya's "patriarchal" society of "tough, heterosexual" men for problems facing the developing country.
Something to do with the inconvenient facts of genetics and survival of the species. It's a temporary study and initiative which, upon re-discovering the inconvenient facts, will end quickly.
#3
Welll there have long been rumors that the State Department is full of Nancy Boys. They probably want to be able to travel to Kenya and hire some cheap boys to butt bang.
[STRAITSTIMES] A hardline Indonesian Islamist group crashed a child's birthday party as it rampaged through a community on the hunt for clandestine brothels, police said on Monday (Jan 22).
The drama unfolded on Friday when dozens of members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) stormed a house they believed was being used for prostitution on the island of Madura in East Java province.
The group yanked two suspected sex workers from the home and attacked its owner until she fainted, police said.
The angry mob then proceeded to storm other nearby homes, including one hosting a kid's birthday party.
"They attacked the house in a frenzy and also assaulted local residents," police front man Frans Barung Mangera told AFP.
"They were basically playing police" by trying to fight crime, he added.
He would not confirm a report that the murderous Moslems grabbed some of the women who had brought their children to the party.
The door-to-door raid angered some residents who retaliated by destroying the radicals' cars and cycle of violences.
At least five residents were maimed in the melee, including a man whose face was doused with chilli-infused water.
The group told local media that some of its members were seriously injured in the clash.
Police said an unspecified number of people were detained and that the case is under investigation.
The FPI is notorious for conducting "morality" sweeps in communities across the world's biggest Moslem-majority nation.
It played a key role in organising large street protests aimed at bringing down Jakarta's first Christian governor, who lost his re-election bid in 2017 and was later incarcerated Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! on blasphemy charges over comments he made during the campaign.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2018
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[InformationLiberation] Democratic Rep Adam Schiff told CNN on Saturday the much-hyped FISA memo which Republicans say shows "KGB" level corruption on the part of the Department of Justice should stay secret because American's don't have enough context to understand it.
He also said the Twitter campaign #ReleaseTheMemo was not driven by actual concerns on the part of the public but instead Russian bots.
Transcript:
CABRERA: Let me ask you about the Russia investigation. I can't have you here and not. Especially given how much we talked about it in the first year of the presidency. And now if you turn on any conservative media, they keep talking about this Nunez memo, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, that he's put out there and many Republicans have taken a look at it and they want it made public. Can you tell us what exactly is it?
SCHIFF: It is essentially a set of talking points that the Republican intel staff drafted, based on the highly classified materials which most of the Republican members were forced to acknowledge. They've not even read. So they don't know how distorted these talking points are. But as part of the narrative they want to push out. Interestingly enough, they've made common cause once again with Russian bots because Russian bots are pushing their narrative out there. It's in a redux of the campaign. We have Assange and WikiLeaks and Russian trolls and bots saying, you know, hash tag whatever the GOP narrative is. That ought to tell you a lot about what's driving this. And that is --
(CROSSTALK)
CABRERA: Why not allow peel to look at it and let Americans make the decision for themselves about whether it's useful information or not?
SCHIFF: Well, because the American people, unfortunately, don't have the underlying materials and therefore they can't see how distorted and misleading this document is. The Republicans are not saying make the underlying materials available to the public. They just want to make this spin available to the public. I think that spin, which is a fulsome attack on the FBI, is just designed to attack the FBI and Bob Mueller to circle the wagons for the White House. And that's a terrible disservice to the people, hard-working people at the bureau, but more than that, it's a disservice to the country. Vid at link.
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy ||
01/23/2018
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#1
Won't understand it? I suspect Schiff is afraid that we will understand it, and all too well.
#6
not only will the American people not be able to understand the context, they will not be able to understand Schiff's rebuttal of it as thrust upon them by the press.
no, they need to be replaced by a new set of people, people who will respect Schiff's opinion of everything over their own.
Posted by: Daniel ||
01/23/2018 3:06
Comments ||
Top||
#7
I'm impressed with the ability of the Democratic Party to come up with all these douchebags. Posted by Raj
An inaccurate metaphor. You've referenced a useful device which provides a necessary service.
#3
The Clean Air Act of 1970 strengthened the standards and the enforcement of those standards in the USA. Has anyone done the math to see if the slight warming that we have seen since the 1970's (0.41 as of last December) can be attributed to lower pollution under the Clean Air Act?
Posted by: O. E. Unereque1853 ||
01/23/2018 18:18
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#4
Raj,
Methane is a greenhouse gas. Burning it produces CO2 and Water. So trading one greenhouse gas for another; meh. :-)
Posted by: O. E. Unereque1853 ||
01/23/2018 18:40
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Source is owned by Erdogan's family... [DAILYSABAH] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's Operation Olive Branch to eliminate PKK-affiliated terrorist threats from Afrin, Syria, successfully left behind its third day yesterday as the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing the People's Protection Units (YPG) continued to harass Turkey's border towns with rocket fire, targeting civilians. In addition to reports that the YPG is using civilians as human shields in Afrin against Turkey's offensive, it has also struck the border towns of Hatay and Kilis with several rockets, leaving one dead and causing more than 40 injuries. While performing the mid-afternoon prayer in a mosque, he heard some kind of a large kaboom.
"I thought it was doomsday," said a resident of the border town of Reyhanli in the southern Hatay province, as he recounted Sunday's mortar attack by the YPG. The small border district was rattled by the attack. Shattered windows, partly destroyed buildings and damaged cars were still in view yesterday. "Thank God it was on Sunday, otherwise we would surely be dead," said Mustafa, 16, who works in one of the mortar-struck buildings.
A civilian died and more than 35 people were maimed in the mortar attack from PYD-controlled areas, according to the Hatay Governorate. The scars of the attack, though, are still fresh. "God willing, the operation will put an end to this violence," Yucel sighed.
The terrorist attack against civilians struck while Ottoman Turkish Armed Forces' (TSK) tanks and troops marched toward the Afrin region as part of what has been named Operation Olive Branch. As the operation enters its third day, at least 11 PYD villages have been liberated so far. Ottoman Turkish troops, together with the Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... (FSA), entered PYD-held areas from the northern, northwestern and western part of the strategic Afrin canton of the terrorist group.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2018
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[IsraelTimes] On the same day as Netanyahu celebrated a Pence lovefest in Jerusalem, Paleostinian leader was told in Brussels that Washington remains an indispensable part of any grinding of the peace processor.
[IsraelTimes] Manila says Taja Mohammad Al Jabori, an Iraqi citizen, 'admitted being a member' of the Paleostinian terror group
The Philippines said Monday it would deport an Iraqi man described as a scientist for Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", and accused of helping the Paleostinian group lob missiles at Israel.
Iraq tipped off the Philippines about the presence of Taja Mohammad Al Jabori, who was jugged Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! on Sunday, national police chief Ronald Dela Rosa told news hounds.
However, alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk... the arrest was due to visa problems rather than any evidence of terror activity, the police chief emphasized.
"He’s an illegal alien, his visa is expired so he has to be deported right away," Dela Rosa said.
"He admitted being a member of Hamas. He’s a chemist and he has been responsible for improving the rocket technology of Hamas in firing their missiles from their area towards the other side, [towards] Israel."
The suspect will be deported to Iraq.
The police chief said it was the first time Philippine authorities had dealt with an alleged member of Hamas, a group labeled a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... and Israel.
The handcuffed detainee did not speak while being made to stand beside the Philippine police chief at a presser.
Dela Rosa said it was unclear at present why the alleged Hamas chemist had traveled to the Philippines.
Police said he arrived last year as Philippine troops battled jihadists loyal to 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.... group for control of the southern city of Marawi.
Al Jabori had, however, mostly stayed in Manila and nearby provinces and told police he had no intention of committing any terror act in the Philippines, the police chief said.
#1
"He’s an illegal alien, his visa is expired so he has to be deported right away," Dela Rosa said.
WHOA! Stop right there cowboy! Let's not stomp all over illegal immigrants' rights! Where's their free legal help and legislators shutting the government down to keep them in the country?
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 ||
01/23/2018 3:16
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#2
How about a compromise. We'll deport half of him now and the other half later.
[ALMASDARNEWS] Media affiliated to the Hezbollah paramilitary group denies that Ottoman Turkish-led forces attacking Syria’s Afrin region have made many advances contrary to the statements released by opposition and rebel sources over the last several days.
Hezbollah-affiliated media has released a map and statement claiming that the operation by the Ottoman Turkish Army and Syrian rebel groups subordinated to it to eject Kurdish militias from Afrin has so far produced zero results on the ground.
The communique expanded to reveal Hezbollah’s position on the matter, claiming the Ottoman Turkish assault to be an aggression against Syria as a whole (a view likewise expressed by the Damascus government).
The reports by Hezbollah-linked news directly contradicts the statements made by rebel and opposition sources which claim that, since Saturday, almost a dozen towns and villages within the Afrin region just south of the Ottoman Turkish border have been captured by pro-Ankara forces.
Moments ago, official Ottoman Turkish sources announced that The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... -led forces in Syria had commenced the main phase of their anti-Kurdish operation, kicking-off a direct assault on the city of Afrin itself.
[AnNahar] Intense clashes erupted Monday as Turkish troops and their allies advanced on a Kurdish enclave in Syria, the third day of the Ankara offensive aimed at ousting the Kurds from the area, a Kurdish militia and a war monitoring group said.
The U.S-backed Kurdish militia said it has repelled Turkish troops and their Syrian allies from Shinkal and Adah Manli, two villages they seized a day earlier in Afrin, the northwestern Syrian district that straddles the Turkish border.
The militia said the Turkey-backed forces have opened a new front, pushing their way into two other villages in the district's north. The militia said they are fighting to push back the advancing troops in Balia and Qarna.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Syrian Kurdish militia waged a ferocious counteroffensive late Sunday, repelling the Turkish troops and allied Syrian fighters from the two villages they briefly captured. The Observatory said Turkey-backed troops were attempting once again to enter Afrin.
Access to Afrin is restricted and it is difficult to independently verify the reported developments.
The Kurdish militia, known as People's Defense Units or YPG, said it was clashing Monday with the Turkish troops northwest of Afrin.
[Breitbart] Christians and Yazidis in the Syrian city of Afrin are asking for international assistance as Turkish warplanes and artillery hammer Kurdish positions around the city and Turkish ground forces roll across the border.
BasNews reports that a prayer service was held at the Ra’i Salih Church in Afrin for civilians caught in the crossfire, and the city’s Christian community has asked for international protection.
The Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to eliminate every single YPG fighter in Syria. Meanwhile, PKK had already given orders to have immediate reactions if the Turkish army attempts to attack Afrin," BasNews reports. The YPG is the Syrian Kurdish militia, whereas the PKK is the violent Kurdish separatist party in Turkey. The Turkish government considers the two Kurdish groups allies, if not one and the same.
"As the Good Shepherd Church in Afrin city, we demand urgent international protection for the believers in Afrin and the cease of this Turkish shelling. We are also against the heavy Turkish shelling and the return of Islamic groups to the region," read a statement from the church’s pastor, Valentine Hanan. "We as the church first ask God for protection and then ask for prayers and aid from our brothers."
Hanan’s statement was reported by the Kurdish Rudaw news service, which states there are about 250 Christian families in the Afrin canton, 190 of them in the city of Afrin itself.
Rudaw also carried several denunciations of the Turkish operation from other countries, including Cyprus, the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq, and Kurdish members of the Iranian Parliament.
"Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, used the Turkish army to attack defenseless Kurds in Syria while the United Nations and other international organizations are silent. And world powers, as usual, are silent and watching the killing of Syrian Kurds," the Iranian Kurdish MPs said in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
One Iranian Kurdish deputy described the Turkish attack as a "barbaric act" akin to the depravities of Saddam Hussein and the Islamic State.
Christians and Yazidis in northern Syria told the Associated Press they feared persecution by the Turks and their allies, many of whom are hardline Islamist militants. The Yazidi Association of Germany estimated that 15,000 Yazidis live in Afrin and said it fears abuse from "jihadists" working with Turkey as part of its offensive.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2018
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[IsraelTimes] Citizens and officials say power blackouts, undrinkable water, declining earnings and a 46% unemployment rate putting enclave on brink of disaster.
[Ynet] Fatah has declared a general strike in the West Bank for Tuesday, in protest of Vie President Mike Pence's visit to the Western Wall. The strike will include the entirety of the public sector, save for health services. Fatah also called on residents to protest near friction points with the IDF and other security forces.
#1
Residents will protest Pence's visit by not using the non-existent electricity, not drinking the undrinkable water and by not showing up for their non-existent jobs. Juice-hatred is expected to continue unabated, however.
#3
I noted this comment from yesterday. Something I had not considered, and something to ponder.
#2 I don't trust Pence. He fingered Flynn, and he is deep state.
Posted by Sgt.D.T. 2018-01-22 23:50|| 2018-01-22 23:50|| Front Page Top
[Spamcop 3953198 Smokey]
[SPECTRUMLOCALNEWS] A Lackawanna man has pleaded guilty to working with the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... to try and go fight on the terrorist organization's side in Syria, bringing a nearly three-year-old case toward a conclusion.
...a known wolf due to his association with several members of the Lackawanna Six, though he didn’t go with them to the Al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan...
47, was first nabbed You have the right to remain silent... in 2015, when the U.S. citizen was arrested. About a year earlier, prosecutors said Nagi was outspoken in his belief of violent jihad, with people in Lackawanna taking notice.
Twice prior, Nagi traveled to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund.... , where he pledged allegiance to ISIS and leader Abu Bakr al Bagdadi. The U.S. attorney said Nagi used a cell phone purchased there to contact terrorists, then through Facebook, contacted recruiters in hopes of going to neighboring Syria and fighting.
Prosecutors said Nagi was also angry about the killing of rebels in Yemen, which he blamed on the United States, and co-signed ISIS tactics such as the killing of innocents.
The FBI had tracked Nagi for about a year prior to his arrest, and believed that he was acting alone.
For his conviction on a count of attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization, Nagi faces a 15-year maximum imprisonment. His sentencing is scheduled for May 7.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2018
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#1
And when he gets out, he’ll be better? Lawfare horse-pucky.
The Rada Special Deterrence Force announced that it has arrested 61 people and released another six, following the attack on the Mitiga airport compound that shook Tripoli last week.
Spokesman Ahmen Ben Salem had previously told the Libya Herald “it was impossible to count” how many were arrested, such was the high number. Rada said the attack from militias mainly from Tajura was an attempt to break out some of their comrades held at Mitiga’s jail.
Demonstrations in Tajura have been held urging the release of those detained by Rada. The criticism is that many have been arrested based purely on suspicion and no charges have been made against them.
Today, the 33rd Brigade, a militia that led the Mitiga assault and was until last week recognised by the Presidency Council’s (PC) defence ministry, said it would stand up for the oppressed and the displaced.
In a nod to allegations it is close to Islamists, the 33 Brigade applauded controversial former Grand Mufti Sadqi Al-Ghariani and extremists recently ousted from Benghazi, while threatening Libyan National Army commander Khalifa Hafter.
It also criticised the ‘‘frigate PC’’ (which had arrived in Tripoli onboard a frigate) delegation that recently visited Mitiga, saying it showed blatant solidarity with the “so-called deterrence force” (Rada).
The Brigade, led by a man called Bashir Khalfallah, more commonly known by his nicknamed Al-Bugra or ‘the cow,’ said they would ignore decisions made by the PC, an apparent reference to the government decision to ‘disband’ their group.
At least 20 people died and dozens more were injured as the 33 Brigade launched an attack on Mitiga and its environs. The airport was closed and has only recently reopened in the last two days.
There were rumours that a ceasefire had been agreed after Rada and the 33 Brigade appeared to be readying themselves for another round of clashes, before quickly backing off. However, Rada has insisted it would never strike a deal with “outlaws”.
Posted by: badanov ||
01/23/2018
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
... 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...
Iranian military leaders claimed Monday that they threatened two American-led vessels in international waters amid a series of new war drills being carried out by the Islamic Republic, according to regional reports and U.S. military officials who confirmed to the Washington Free Beacon contact with the Iranian vessels.
[DailyMail] The US surgeon who was attacked as he left the Australian Open with his son during a trip of a lifetime has revealed the extent of his injuries. 
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[STRAITSTIMES] It has been over two months since the Philippine government declared victory over a well-armed and highly motivated cabal of Muslim militants that laid siege to Marawi city. The military has allowed half the city's more than 200,000 residents to return, but not to the devastated half that is filled with unexploded ordnance and booby traps. What awaits the residents of Marawi is more uncertainty and the ever looming threat that the militants may soon return.
[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] The Trump administration is waiving more than 30 environmental rules to accelerate the construction of President Trump's proposed border wall in New Mexico, forcing environmental groups to consider another round of lawsuits.
[REUTERS] Malaysia has 
...the .jpg)
founded by Muhammad Ahsan Dar in September 1989. One of the Pak sock puppets waging jihad in Indian Kashmir. It was originally organized as the armed wing of Jamaat-e-Islami. In 1990, Dar declared Hizbul as the 
[Bangkok Post] Three people died and 18 others were injured when a motorcycle bomb exploded at a market in Yala province early Monday morning. 
[Rappler] At least three communist militants and one auxiliary force of the military were killed in a gun battle that lasted for hours in a Cotabato town on January 22.
[Guardian] Leilani Farha was being given a walking tour in central San Francisco. Near a thronged artisanal grocery store and a food-truck park, she saw something under a freeway that gave her pause.
[The Hindu] Talibs who killed at least 22 people at a luxury Kabul hotel went from room to room searching for foreigners, the survivors said on Monday as more details of the victims emerged.
[AlManar] Syrian Army and allies have started the operation to eliminate al-Nusra Front terrorists, who have been surrounded in the eastern part of Idlib province, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
The entire Turkish cabinet is beating war drums: Labor and Social Security Minister Jülide Sarıeroğlu joins the chest-thumping and says nobody better not dare test Turkey's patience as she hails #Erdogan commander-in-chief.
Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
[Inquirer] An Abu Sayyaf militant tagged as the one who beheaded two Filipino workers in 2001 in a bloody gesture of mocking the then Arroyo administration has been arrested, the military said. The Abu Sayyaf had described the beheadings as an “Independence Day gift” to then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in retaliation for her refusal to call off military offensives against the terror group.
Zawahiri
Using American taxpayer dollars from Obama’s State Department, OneVoice played a major role in launching "a multimillion-dollar grassroots campaign" with one objective: "replace the government of Israel."
[InformationLiberation] Democratic Rep Adam Schiff told CNN on Saturday the much-hyped FISA memo which Republicans say shows "KGB" level corruption on the part of the Department of Justice should stay secret because American's don't have enough context to understand it.
[DAILYSABAH] 
[IsraelTimes] Manila says Taja Mohammad Al Jabori, an Iraqi citizen, 'admitted being a member' of the Paleostinian terror group
[ALMASDARNEWS] Media affiliated to the Hezbollah paramilitary group denies that 
[Breitbart] Christians and Yazidis in the Syrian city of Afrin are asking for international assistance as Turkish warplanes and artillery hammer Kurdish positions around the city and Turkish ground forces roll across the border.
[SPECTRUMLOCALNEWS] A Lackawanna man has pleaded guilty to working with the 
