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UN peacekeepers' convoy attacked in south Lebanon
Today's Headlines
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Good Morning

Chuck Schumer Believes Americans Are Really, Really Stupid
Thursday January 6th, 2022

Anne Lee Patterson
Pro-Iran militia fighters fire shells towards a US base in eastern Syria%u2019s Al-Omar oil field
US-coalition against ISIS faces dual attacks in Syria and Iraq by Iran-backed groups
3 JeM terrorists including Pakistan national gunned down in J&K
Israel%u2019s defense minister meets with the Jordanian king
2200 Migrants Cross into One Texas Border Sector over New Year's Weekend
Aoun Says Khalil's Words 'Impolite', Amal's Opposition 'Detrimental' to Country
Meet Jed Rakoff, the Judge
Who Exposed the "Rigged Game"

Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11131 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: Greng Black3494 || 01/06/2022 12:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Lace. Why does it hate us?
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 01/06/2022 12:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Just imagine those days when there was lace & no tats
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/06/2022 13:06 Comments || Top||

#4  from Instapundit -

PLEASE OBSERVE ASHLI BABBITT REMEMBRANCE DAY in a dignified, somber fashion
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/06/2022 18:21 Comments || Top||

#5  And the J6ers who are imprisoned in the DC jail.
Posted by: Xyz || 01/06/2022 18:24 Comments || Top||

#6  A passionate fascist was A----,
That hot-headed hater who rashly
Attacked us unarmed
But was mostly unharmed
By the shooter she shamed so white-trashily.
Posted by: Muggsy Untervehr8602 || 01/06/2022 23:36 Comments || Top||

#7  "Defund-- uh, defend tha police!" or, "Be vewwwy noisy, we'we hunting nazis!"
Posted by: Muggsy Untervehr8602 || 01/06/2022 23:47 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Babylon Bee interview with Elon Musk
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/06/2022 13:38 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11127 views] Top|| File under:


Government Corruption
Dzokhar Tsarnev Got Covid-19 Relief $ From The US Government
In case you needed another reason to stop Federal handouts of all stripes...
[Universal Hub] - Federal prosecutors today asked a judge to order Dzokhar Tsarnaev
...also in our archives as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the pretty, ethnic-Chechen college boy from Dagestan who, with the highly connected but self-radicalized older brother he subsequently ran over while fleeing police, used pressure cooker bombs to blow up the Boston Marathon in 2013. The mosque the brothers frequented, the Islamic Society of Boston, is a hotbed of jihadi sentiment and connections to so many different jihadi groups and individuals the mind boggles. It was founded by Clinton Friend and Al Qaeda financier Abdurahman Alamoudi as a Muslim Student Assn/Muslim Brotherhood project in 1981. According to Russian intelligence, whose warning about our lads President Barack Obama’s intelligence agencies ignored until afterward, the Tsarnaev boys had lots of jihadi-connected friends back in the Olde Countrie, too, but nobody seems to to have found a formal connection between them and any registered jihadi group ...
to hand over a Covid-19 relief check he got last year - and donations he's received from people across the country - to help pay off some small portion of the $101.1 million in restitution he was ordered to pay for his role in the Boston Marathon bombings and the death of an MIT police officer in 2013.

In a filing in US District Court in Boston, prosecutors said Tsarnaev got a $1,400 Covid-19 payment on June 22, 2021 and that he has received $11,230 in donations between 2016 and June, 2021, some from three people who sent him monthly payments for several years.

The money went into his prison trust account, from which he spent $2,000 for gifts and books for family members, prosecutors say. He has paid roughly $2,200 towards restitution, they add.

In its motion, the US Attorney's office asked that all of the money he has received from the Covid relief program and outside sources be transferred from the commissary account to "the Clerk of Court as payment toward the outstanding criminal monetary penalties imposed against the Defendant."

Tsarnaev now lives in a 7x12 cell at a federal "supermax" prison in Colorado.

Tsarnaev's sentencing also included being put to death because the bombs he and his brother set off along Boylston Street in Copley Square killed Krystle Campbell, Lingzi Lu, and Martin Richard and injured hundreds more along Boylston Street - and for the ambush gunning down of MIT police officer Sean Collier as they later tried to escape. A federal appeals court ordered a new trial on whether he should die or spend the rest of his life in prison; the US Supreme Court is now considering the case.
Posted by: Raj || 01/06/2022 10:52 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11131 views] Top|| File under: Devout Moslems


Economy
Fed to Unwind Balance Accumulated during Covid era
[Investors] Minutes from the Federal Reserve's Dec. 14-15 policy meeting signaled an apparent consensus that $4.5 trillion in Covid-era asset purchases unwind at a rate of more than $50 billion per month. The Fed minutes revelation deepened stock market losses. The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq dived as Treasury yields rose and rate-hike odds increased...

Powell indicated policymakers could make a decision in upcoming meetings. While no details were offered, he did offer stock market investors some comforting words. When it comes to the balance sheet, it's "best to take a careful, methodical approach," Powell said, adding that "Markets can be sensitive" about it.

The last time the Fed shrank its balance sheet amid interest-rate hikes, the stock market had a bear-market scare in late 2018. That forced the Fed to call it off and resume balance sheet growth in 2019.
Posted by: Lord Garth || 01/06/2022 10:03 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11127 views] Top|| File under:


-Land of the Free
Monarch Fauci Turns Increasingly Desperate
[ET] There’s a famous story about the 11th-century King Canute of England, in which in front of his courtiers he commanded the tides to stop—and yet they kept on rolling. This likely apocryphal anecdote is generally misrepresented as illustrating the monarch’s presumptuous folly in thinking his writ could control the elements, but in fact it proved exactly the opposite: there are some things beyond the powers of secular authority, Nature among them.

Flash forward a millennium. As we enter year three of "two weeks to flatten the curve" and "fifteen days to slow the spread," where do we stand in Dr. Anthony Fauci’s quixotic battle against the CCP virus, aka COVID-19, aka Omicron? And the answer is, about as well as Canute, but without the king’s self-knowledge.

The simple truth is that as long as Fauci is permitted his unconstitutional sway over American public policy, his mandates will never, ever, ever, ever stop. The only tool this undistinguished career bureaucrat has in his arsenal is a hammer, and you are his nails. No matter how erratic or contradictory his advice has been, the fact that COVID is still among us is your fault. Therefore, the punitive ukases
Czar-imposed edicts
will continue until moral improves.

The monarch of all he surveys is now floating the idea of requiring—under what authority?—a negative COVID test to accompany a mandatory five-day self-isolation period for those who test positive for Omicron but show no symptoms. The CDC recently lowered the quarantine period for such reprobates from ten days to five, bringing on pushback... from "health officials" who adamantly oppose any lessening of restrictions, of course.

What Fauci floats, however, has a funny way of becoming pungent reality, especially given his mania for more "testing"—as if testing could somehow ameliorate things, rather than simply hand the government your name, address and phone number for future reference. Especially now as—miraculously!—the news media breathlessly reports stories of the incredible comeback of the seasonal flu (driven nearly to extinction by the Dreaded COVID last year) and warning that it’s hard to distinguish between Omicron and the flu.

Worst of all is the unforgivable sin of Fauci’s reign of error: he has made you hate and shun your fellow man. No longer are we all Americans, going about our lives in the land of the free in the pursuit of happiness. Today, we eye suspiciously anyone not wearing a slave muzzle, convinced by Fauci & Co. that they’re all spewing deadly radioactive COVID particles, which are sure to infect and sicken us, and the only thing that can save us is the elimination of the unvaccinated. Just ask Joe Biden, who’s promising them "a winter of severe illness and death."
Posted by: Bobby || 01/06/2022 09:34 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11133 views] Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats

#1  The point of the fable of "the boy who cried wolf," is that when the wolf finally came, nobody believed him. Fauxi has pretty much guaranteed that when the real bio disaster comes, (from China, funded with your tax dollars via Fauxi's machinations) far too many will die unnecessarily because of his megalomaniacal malpractice.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/06/2022 14:12 Comments || Top||

#2  Fauxi is a foreign agent sent to destroy the American Republic
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/06/2022 19:39 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Meet Jed Rakoff, the Judge Who Exposed the "Rigged Game"
[TK News] "We have mass incarceration for the poor, and it’s totally hands-off for the rich, and that’s pretty hard to stomach." Justice Jed Rakoff on his new book, and his famous challenge to the system.

On November 27, 2011, a federal judge named Jed Rakoff threw out a $285 million regulatory settlement between Citigroup and the Securities and Exchange Commission, blasting it as "neither fair, nor reasonable, nor adequate, nor in the public interest." The S.E.C. and Citigroup were stunned. Expecting to see their malodorous deal wrapped up, the parties were instead directed "to be ready to try this case" the following summer.

Try a case? Was the judge kidding? A pattern had long ago been established in which mega-companies like Citigroup that were implicated in serious offenses would be let off with slaps on the wrist, by soft-touch regulators who expected judges to play ball. These officials in many cases were private sector hotshots doing temporary tours as regulators, denizens of the revolving door biding time before parachuting back into lucrative corporate defense jobs. A judge who refused to sign the settlements such folks engineered was derailing everyone’s gravy train.

Citigroup had replicated a scheme employed by numerous big banks of the era, helping construct a "born to lose" portfolio of rotten mortgage securities to be unloaded on customer-dupes, who were unaware the bank intended to bet against them. A similar case involving a Goldman, Sachs deal called "Abacus" had concluded the previous year with a hefty fine, but, infamously, no admission of wrongdoing.

In the Citigroup version, the bank earned $160 million in profits, customers lost $700 million, and the S.E.C. wanted to impose a $285 million fine. As noted by papers like the Washington Post at the time, the S.E.C.’s logic was to ask the bank to return the money ($160 million plus interest equaled $190 million) and pay a $95 million civil penalty on top.

Citigroup that quarter alone earned $3.8 billion in profits, which meant the S.E.C. proposed to charge the bank — which had been functionally bankrupt in 2008 and was booming again thanks to a massive public bailout, engineered in part by former Citi officials by the way — a fee of 2.5% of its quarterly profits. In a country where an ordinary schlub could get multiple years in prison for something like third-degree attempted theft of a car, seeking no individual penalties and asking shareholders to forego a tiny fraction of earnings as restitution for stealing $160 million was a joke.

The fine was "pocket change to any entity as large as Citigroup," noted Rakoff, in a blistering 15-page opinion. Objecting to the practice of allowing corporate crooks to walk away without admission of wrongdoing, he noted that Citigroup had already begun asserting its right to deny the allegations, both in litigation and to the media. This, he said, left the public despairing "of ever knowing the truth in a matter of obvious public importance."
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/06/2022 07:27 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11133 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Unless you believe the government is your friend, (today) this is actually your friend. If it is properly secured, you know what it is doing and you can add or withdraw from it in total privacy.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/06/2022 7:48 Comments || Top||

#2  I wonder just how many former Citigroup employees are now at the SEC, and vice versa.
Posted by: Raj || 01/06/2022 12:13 Comments || Top||

#3  Will Big Pharma companies similarly get off with a slap on the wrist when it becomes publically known that their vxs harm more than help?
Posted by: warthogswife || 01/06/2022 12:16 Comments || Top||

#4  ^ Only takes one, if she's a partner at Citigroup's top defender, white shoe law firm Paul, Weiss

On April 22 Gensler announced that he had appointed Alex Young K. Oh to be his top Wall Street crime fighter. Reuters (and numerous other media outlets) spun the announcement like this:

“The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today named former federal prosecutor Alex Oh as its new head of enforcement, the first woman of color to lead the division, which plays a crucial role in policing U.S. financial markets."

Alex Young K. Oh was a former federal prosecutor, but one of numerous assistant U.S. Attorneys working in the Southern District of New York more than two decades ago. What Oh has been doing for the past two decades is working as an attorney for Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, the law firm that major Wall Street banks repeatedly choose to fight their serial fraud charges.
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/06/2022 12:23 Comments || Top||


-Great Cultural Revolution
AP tosses race card into game on 6 Jan anniversary
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Cori Bush is no stranger to protests. She spent years marching the streets of St. Louis and Ferguson, Missouri, rising to public office on the strength of her activism.

But as the Missouri Democrat looked out the window of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — only her third day as a member of Congress — she knew what was about to take place would be no peaceful protest. The Confederate flags in the crowd, and the makeshift noose and gallows erected on the Capitol grounds, spoke to a more sinister reality.

"I’ve been to hundreds of protests and have organized so many protests, I can’t count. I know what a protest is: This is not that," Bush, who is Black, said recently in an interview with The Associated Press.

The insurrection by pro-Trump supporters and members of far-right groups shattered the sense of security that many had long felt at the Capitol as rioters forcibly delayed the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory.

But for people of color, including many in Congress, the attack was more than a violent challenge to a free and fair election — it was an eerily familiar display of white supremacist violence, this time at the very seat of American democracy.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/06/2022 07:11 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11134 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I don’t remember anything about a noose and gallows — have I forgotten or is this the first time it’s been mentioned?
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/06/2022 8:54 Comments || Top||

#2  The gallows were certainly make shift. The noose was small but obvious. It looked like it was made of something like wooden paint sticks. It could not have been used to hurt anyone, simply symbolic.

I'm pleased her sense of security was shattered. Those black, white and Asian white supremacists really did a number on Karen Bush.
Posted by: Vespasian Ebboting9735 || 01/06/2022 9:12 Comments || Top||

#3  the makeshift noose and gallows erected on the Capitol grounds, spoke to a more sinister reality.

A sinister and much more imaginary reality. If such things were actually present, we would have been bombarded with pix, vid and commentary about them. She knows they were there because she remembers them being there. My guess is she saw a poster with the gallows and pasted it into her mental movie. It's not a lie if you really believe it.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/06/2022 9:16 Comments || Top||

#4  Hmmm. Didn't some lefties set up a fairly large facsimile of a guillotine in front of Bezos' home at some point? I really don't remember the media having a problem with that. Of course, no black people were symbolically menaced by that, so no harm, no foul.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/06/2022 9:22 Comments || Top||

#5  Of course the people who historically had actually used gallows and nooses and such were.... wait for it... wait for it.... Democrats!
Posted by: CrazyFool || 01/06/2022 9:29 Comments || Top||

#6  Drudge has a picture of the gallows.
Posted by: Vespasian Ebboting9735 || 01/06/2022 10:36 Comments || Top||

#7  The Confederate flags in the crowd,

..and the General Lee, with Bo & Luke Duke doing donuts on the lawn - it was terrible!
Posted by: Raj || 01/06/2022 10:42 Comments || Top||

#8  F--king projection from a mendacious thuggish lefty clown.

Of course a left-wing agitator like Gory Bush knows all about violent protest theater -- her comrades' fave symbol for the last five years, from Portland to Bush's St Louis to Washington DC, has been the guillotine.

Including in front of the White House in August 2020:

Protesters Put Life-Size Donald Trump Doll in Guillotine Outside White House
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/06/2022 11:37 Comments || Top||

#9  Most bang for the buck on a false flag today would be if something unfortunate happened to that veep they are trying to dump.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/06/2022 11:55 Comments || Top||

#10  ^ guillotine would work better than gallows for the Knee-padded One
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/06/2022 12:25 Comments || Top||

#11  Ted Cruz is groveling now. He joins Pence, Nikki Haley and a few others who will be laughed out of the 2024 nomination process early.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/06/2022 14:21 Comments || Top||


Gov. Kemp to push for deregulation of firearms in Georgia
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/06/2022 07:05 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11127 views] Top|| File under:



Economy
December sees significant job growth, but millions of Americans are calling it quits
[JustTheNews] ADP released December’s private sector payroll report Wednesday showing that private sector employment rose by 807,000 jobs from November to December, well above experts’ predictions.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday that there are 10.6 million job openings in the U.S. as the “quits rate” rose to 3%.

These quits came amid a rise in federal benefit programs such as the monthly child tax credit, which expired last month.

“Total separations includes quits, layoffs and discharges, and other separations,” BLS said. “Quits are generally voluntary separations initiated by the employee. Therefore, the quits rate can serve as a measure of workers’ willingness or ability to leave jobs. Layoffs and discharges are involuntary separations initiated by the employer. Other separations include separations due to retirement, death, disability, and transfers to other locations of the same firm.”

The Biden administration has touted the job growth as the economy rebounding from the downturn in the wake of nationwide COVID-19 lockdowns, but that recovery has been troubled by other economic indicators such as increased inflation and the elevated quit rates.

“The number of quits increased in November to a series high 4.5 million (+370,000)," BLS said. "The quits rate increased to 3.0 percent, matching the series high in September. Quits increased in several industries with the largest increases in accommodation and food services (+159,000); health care and social assistance (+52,000); and transportation, warehousing, and utilities (+33,000). The number of quits increased in the Northeast, South, and Midwest regions.”

According to the ADP report, small businesses with fewer than 50 employees created 204,000 jobs in December while companies with 50-499 workers created 214,000 jobs. Large companies with 500 or more employees added 389,000 jobs.

The report comes ahead of the monthly federal jobs report expected Friday.

"December's job market strengthened as the fallout from the Delta variant faded and Omicron's impact had yet to be seen," said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP. "Job gains were broad-based, as goods producers added the strongest reading of the year, while service providers dominated growth. December's job growth brought the fourth quarter average to 625,000, surpassing the 514,000 average for the year. While job gains eclipsed 6 million in 2021, private sector payrolls are still nearly 4 million jobs short of pre-COVID-19 levels."

ADP, which has 460,000 U.S. clients with nearly 26 million workers in the U.S, worked with Moody Analytics on the report.

“The report, which is derived from ADP's actual data of those who are on a company's payroll, measures the change in total nonfarm private employment each month on a seasonally-adjusted basis,” the group said.
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/06/2022 07:03 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11133 views] Top|| File under:


#2  tomorrow is the BLS jobs report

frequently the ADP report varies from the BLS report
Posted by: Lord Garth || 01/06/2022 11:22 Comments || Top||

#3  In today's USSA, anyone with school-age kids at home has his or her hands full dealing with the disaster created by the Covidians' retarded lockdowns and school closings. This generation of schoolchildren is being crushed, right in front of our eyes, by this insanity. No parent can go off to work blithely, knowing that the kids are suffering this way.
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/06/2022 11:41 Comments || Top||

#4  ^ Yeah, but this is how we got cheat by mail ballots so it's totally worth it.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 01/06/2022 12:45 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Ex-Houston Texans player admits to defrauding NFL player trust fund
[911] Shantee Orr, one of eight former NFL players who, along with an athletic trainer, are charged with taking part in a $632,000 scheme to defraud an NFL player trust fund by submitting false claims for medical benefits, has pleaded guilty, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Wednesday.

The scheme was investigated by the fraud unit of the Texas Department of Insurance in cooperation with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.

"When former players cheat the system, they are stealing from their former teammates," Ogg said. "We thank the Texas Department of Insurance for their partnership in uncovering this scam."

Orr, 40, a former linebacker who played with the Houston Texans from 2003-07, pleaded guilty Wednesday to the third-degree felony charge of securing the execution of a document, namely checks, by deception. He received $129,194. Of that total, he has repaid $97,929 in restitution to the NFL trust account and received five years’ probation.

In the scheme, the remaining $31,265 Orr received went to Louis Ray, an athletic trainer and owner of Rehab Express, a Galleria-area rehabilitation facility. Ray faces first-degree felony charges, accused of creating fraudulent invoices claiming to perform treatments on the players from March 7, 2016, to November 2018.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/06/2022 05:15 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11131 views] Top|| File under:


Dominion is Panicking in Pennsylvania Because Their Machines Likely Weren't Properly ‘Hardened' and Shouldn't Have Ever Been Put in Use
[Gateway] Fulton County, Pennsylvania has every right to investigate its voting machines. The voting machine company, Dominion, is fighting against this investigation.

We reported yesterday that Dominion was fighting against the inspection of their voting machines in Fulton County, Pennsylvania.

Dominion’s remedy for their complaint is to suggest that the only companies to investigate their machines should be related to EAC-approved or cyber-approved companies as listed in their complaint.

The problem that Dominion has is not that their machines will be mishandled or damaged as a result of thorough inspections by independent professionals. Rather. Dominion must be concerned that the court and the County will find out that their machines should not have been certified for use.

The reason this may be the case is because the machines may not have gone through the proper ’hardening’ process. According to the enterprise networking planet:
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/06/2022 04:52 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11135 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Trouble in Ga. Trouble in Pa. I know we've 'never done it this way before, but how about if we just run the election all over again in Nov of this year. A Super election.

Sort of a voter validation effort, a vote of confidence as it were.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/06/2022 4:57 Comments || Top||

#2  'Hardened' as in the context of hardened criminals? The machines will give up the truth, 'fess up, so to speak, at the slightest interrogation?
Posted by: Dron66046 || 01/06/2022 6:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Hardened to prevent forensic investigation.
Posted by: Angstrom || 01/06/2022 10:09 Comments || Top||

#4  before the total truth is out the unwashed masses are going to think Jan 6 should have gone a lot further. Tar & Feathers or heads on pikes further.
Posted by: ruprecht || 01/06/2022 11:33 Comments || Top||

#5  ^^^
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 01/06/2022 11:34 Comments || Top||

#6  I meant to give my three up arrows to #3, Angstrom. I don't believe we'll ever get the truth about those machines...or a lot of other things either.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 01/06/2022 11:42 Comments || Top||

#7  Even when there's total possession of the machine itself -- cf. Hunter's laptop -- the authorities won't deign to launch a forensic investigation
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/06/2022 12:28 Comments || Top||

#8  The fix is in. Biden has been replacing the DAs in areas where he stole the election with DAs loyal to him since October...
Posted by: Ebbomoger Speaking for Boskone4589 || 01/06/2022 19:50 Comments || Top||

#9  Total Shitshow
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/06/2022 21:59 Comments || Top||

#10  Even if Dominion is never convicted in court, their brand — superior technology resulting in truly accurate voting returns — is forever ruined. They’re going to lose an awful lot of their business, both in the U.S. and abroad, possibly only retaining customers in the ever-fewer Democrat-controlled states and corrupt Third World countries. They’ll very probably lose their most ethical and ambitious programmers, too, given the current labour market.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/06/2022 22:38 Comments || Top||

#11  Ohio still uses Dominion.
Posted by: The Walking Unvaxed || 01/06/2022 22:49 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Coordination of protests in Kazakhstan comes from Ukraine
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
See also here.
[EADaily] Coordination of protests in Kazakhstan comes from Ukraine. This follows from the appeal published by the fugitive Kazakh oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov.

Today, January 5, a Kazakh opposition leader with a corruption-criminal train Mukhtar Ablyazov published an appeal to the participants in the riots on Facebook.

"We call for coordinating actions to protest and change Nazarbayev’s regime. We gather near the akimats. If we gather tens, hundreds of thousands of people, then the police will go over to the side of the people!" says the agitation.

However, users noticed that the phone numbers, which Ablyazov suggests to contact, have the international code of Ukraine - +380, and 50 and 99 - the codes of the Ukrainian "Vodafon".

Here are just a few comments from Ablyazov's subscribers:

"The numbers of 'Vatsap' are Ukrainian. It is clear where the wind is blowing from."

"It would seem, what does the Ukrainian phone numbers have to do with it."

"We, Ukrainians, also demanded lower tariffs. Tariffs have only been growing over the years. Be careful, Kazakh brothers, watch your hands carefully!"

"Now, dear comrades, you can tell me that the protests in Kazakhstan - 'you don't understand, this is different!' Come on, tell me and the whole world how the authorities have bothered you and that these are purely intra-Kazakh showdowns," notes the TG channel of the Ukrainian social activist Tatiana Montyan.

Earlier, EADaily reported that the key Telegram channel coordinating the unrest in Kazakhstan was NEXTA, which is under the external control of the Polish special services and was previously used to coordinate the insurgency in Belarus.

Posted by: badanov || 01/06/2022 04:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11137 views] Top|| File under:


#2  ....And we have our provocation.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 01/06/2022 6:30 Comments || Top||

#3  Wait -- is it from the Ukraine or Poland? Or is it blamed on everyone until an accusation sticks and Putin can roll the tanks?
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 01/06/2022 7:08 Comments || Top||

#4  Actually looks like a split between Tokayev (current president) and Nazarbayev (former president). Security forces didn’t pick a side until the 5th. Simultaneous attacks on 3 airfields, the former presidential palace and admin centers aren’t commonly conducted spontaneously by disorganized rioters. If there were simultaneous attacks on ATL, LAX and MSP airports plus Camp David and New York City Hall it would be prudent to presume there was some coordination. Especially if the attacks incorporated full auto small arms and grenades. Hard to believe I know but occasionally the MSM doesn’t provide an accurate presentation of current events
Posted by: Slenter Panda4300 || 01/06/2022 8:33 Comments || Top||

#5  Well we know it wasn’t the Klingons they’re not competent enough to get that far.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/06/2022 11:46 Comments || Top||

#6  PervOTUS should dispatch son Hunter Crackpipeshev to fly to Almaty and round up the private army of his bandit pal Kenes Rakishev, the Kazakh oligarch crony of Nursultan Nazarbayev
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/06/2022 11:58 Comments || Top||

#7  If Hunter's paintaings go for $500,000 a (Corn)pop, then surely Hunter should be paid at least $50 million* for an expedition back to his old stomping grounds on behalf of dear ol' Nazarbayev, no?

* less 10 percent for The Big Guy
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/06/2022 12:01 Comments || Top||

#8  PervOTUS should dispatch son Hunter Crackpipeshev to fly to Almaty and round up the private army of his bandit pal Kenes Rakishev, the Kazakh oligarch crony of Nursultan Nazarbayev

Wagner arrived in Kazakhstan about the same time as the Russian airborne did.
Posted by: badanov || 01/06/2022 12:04 Comments || Top||

#9  ^ well at least they have good taste in music.

Or maybe not
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/06/2022 12:06 Comments || Top||

#10  Ablyazov, Rakishev, Nazarbayev, Pushkomshove, Nevasayneva... its all so confusing. So very confusing.

Whoever they are, we're agin' 'em.

And on the side of Hillary's Kazakh Uranium One.
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/06/2022 12:12 Comments || Top||

#11  Today, January 5, a Kazakh opposition leader with a corruption-criminal train Mukhtar Ablyazov published an appeal to the participants in the riots on Facebook.

Bet old Zuckerfart was happy to carry this crap, especially after he canceled Marjorie Taylor Green.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 01/06/2022 12:43 Comments || Top||

#12  We Are Ruled By Corrupt Morons who for 30 years have viewed the former USSR countries as their personal piñata to be whacked for fun and profit.

The process is simple:

1. Swampy UniParty pols, consultants, lobbyists darken the skies over (Kyiv)(Bucharest)(Almaty)(Sofia) (other ex-Warsaw Pact capital)

2. Swampies promise local elites NATO membership, US aid

3. Elites introduce Swampies to local Oligarchs i.e. to their relatives and siloviki-cronies

4. Elites take in millions through
... Hunter-style board seats and sweetheart investments
... Manafort, Morris et al campaign consulting fees
... "BlueStar"-style lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill to get useless tiny E Euro backwaters admitted to NATO
... investment banking fees for revolving door Swampy-bankers

5. Encourage Swampy invite-and-invade-the-world GOPpers to whip up US support for / intervention into the latest Daisy Chain Revolution in Whatdafukistan

6. Rinse, repeat. So many little ex-Warsaw Pact countries to loot.

For G-d & Country & Fun & Profit
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/06/2022 13:03 Comments || Top||

#13  Need side x sides with the DC Cosplay and This.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/06/2022 18:55 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
How to pack a go-bag ahead of an emergency
[FoxNews] According to Ready.gov, a good emergency supplies kit should have three days worth of water and food per person (one gallon per person, per day). The kit should also include items like a battery-powered or hand-crank radio, flashlight, first aid kit, extra batteries and backup cell phone chargers.

These kits should also include items like can openers, maps, basic tools, garbage bags and duct tape.

The Red Cross also recommends making sure that it has a seven-day supply of necessary medications and copies of important personal documents.

If possible, it’s also a good idea to include some cash, as power outages may make paying with credit or debit cards impossible.

Of course, people expecting to travel in cold weather should also pack emergency blankets, hats, gloves, warm socks and a change of clothes.

It’s also important to ensure that any vehicles are ready to travel. Ahead of bad weather, the state of Michigan advises that drivers double-check fluid levels for power steering, brakes, windshield washer and oil. It may also be necessary to add windshield washer fluid that has an anti-freeze agent in it.

Depending on the size, cars can also be stocked with emergency shovels, ice scrapers and even cat litter (which can be used to give tires traction on icy or snowy roads).

If you do get stuck, it’s important not to leave your engine running for heat. If the tail pipe gets blocked and/or you get plowed in, the exhaust can suffocate the vehicle’s inhabitants. If it’s safe to leave the vehicle, check with nearby drivers. Other vehicles, such as 18-wheelers, may have supplies.

Posted by: Skidmark || 01/06/2022 00:22 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11127 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: Greng Black3494 || 01/06/2022 12:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Something funny today about a Jeopardy! joke getting taken.

This advice is asking a lot for owners of city carts...you know, the people who have been laughing at the price of gas expenses for those who have normal size vehicles, and especially larger vehicles such as 18 wheelers. Oh, and they love it when you climb on their rig and start knocking the windows. Even better, go ahead and just open their door as if they were some mobile quick-e shop.

Shoot, a Focus is a large city cart, and you can barely fit a passenger and two cases of beer in the cabin.

And if you or a passenger can't get to it without going out of the vehicle, just assume you don't have it. Keep you seat belt on as much as possible in case of a game of shuffleboard.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/06/2022 14:45 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Georgia Investigators have ‘Ballot Trafficker' Who Is Talking ‐ Admits to Being Paid THOUSANDS in 2020 Election Ballot Boxes Ballot Harvesting Scheme ‐ 242 Ballot Traffickers Detected
[Gateway] Radio host John Fredericks joined Steve Bannon back in September to discuss an EXPLOSIVE development in Georgia.

According to John Fredericks, investigators have video of 240 leftist operatives he called "ballot traffickers" dumping tens of thousands of ballots into drop boxes in the middle of the night in locations across Georgia.

The leftist operatives were identified making numerous drops in the middle of the night in Georgia. They were filmed emptying their backpacks of ballots into the drop boxes in the middle of the night. Ballot harvesting is not legal in Georgia. This was criminal behavior caught on video!

True the Vote and one other organization have copies of the video and promised to release their findings.

Heather Mullins from Real Americas Voice later reported on the John Fredericks radio show that there is video that captures 240 ballot traffickers in Georgia. Each of the traffickers averaged 23-24 drops where they would empty backpacks into the ballot boxes.

This is completely illegal. No harvesting is allowed in Georgia.

This was a massive organized effort by the American left to commit fraud.

In September The Gateway Pundit spoke with Catherine Engelbrecht and her group True the Vote was behind this investigation. We also found out it involves SEVERAL STATES.

Catherine told us in the fall that she had important meetings coming up in Georgia. Apparently, the information reached worthless Never-Trump Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/06/2022 00:19 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11131 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Believing President Donald Trump lost Georgia is the absolute height of absurdity.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/06/2022 0:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Even if this was accepted as fact there would still be no electoral penalty, just a criminal penalty on the individuals who did the harvesting.
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/06/2022 0:32 Comments || Top||

#3  $45,000 as in 4,500 ballots stuffed by this one person.
Posted by: Clater Thelet2575 || 01/06/2022 0:38 Comments || Top||

#4  Trump's GA loss was like 15,000 votes, right?
Posted by: Raj || 01/06/2022 0:39 Comments || Top||

#5  video that captures 240 ballot traffickers in Georgia. Each of the traffickers averaged 23-24 drops where they would empty backpacks into the ballot boxes

With only 10 ballots per backpack (really low), that is more than 55,000 illegal votes. In addition, I read elsewhere that video was available from only 15% of the drop boxes. The others were destroyed in violation of GA law.

Whistleblower Admits to Making $45,000 for Stuffing Ballot Boxes
Posted by: Clater Thelet2575 || 01/06/2022 1:34 Comments || Top||

#6  From Sept: In Georgia, 1,900 ballots were counted from a single Zuckerberg dropbox over one weekend, but surveillance shows only 24 people dropping off all of these ballots. That’s nearly 75 ballots per operative!

If 75 ballots per drop off is used as the average, then that's ~425,000 illegal votes from the 242 videoed GA ballot harvesters. Doesn't include the other 85% of drop boxes where video is missing.
Posted by: Clater Thelet2575 || 01/06/2022 2:01 Comments || Top||

#7  and nothing will ever be done about any of it and will likely happen again.
Posted by: Chris || 01/06/2022 10:24 Comments || Top||

#8  Even if this was accepted as fact there would still be no electoral penalty, just a criminal penalty on the individuals who did the harvesting.

Still, it would be nice to see someone go to jail even if they're low hanging fruit. People who engage in this kind of activity need to know that it is not without risk.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 01/06/2022 11:44 Comments || Top||

#9  But I'm not holding my breath.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 01/06/2022 11:45 Comments || Top||

#10  Direct action time. Find out where the Zuckerberg Harvest-Agemts are dropping their ballots, station a camera nearby and livestream it on rumble
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/06/2022 11:53 Comments || Top||


Ann Coulter: The Great Epstein Cover-up, Part I
[Breitbart] Question: Is our ruling class trying to make us to think they’re a bunch of pederasts? Our media could not be less interested in Jeffrey Epstein’s child molestation ring and, with the sole exception of the Palm Beach Police Department, every arm of government has bent over backward to bury the case.

(Who says our media and government can’t work together?)

The jury’s courageous delivery last week of five "guilty" verdicts against Epstein’s pimp, Ghislaine Maxwell, was a sort of reverse jury nullification. The U.S. attorney’s office — the prosecution — did everything it could to get an acquittal, but the jurors defied them.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/06/2022 00:11 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11129 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I believe we already know the answer to this riddle.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/06/2022 0:15 Comments || Top||

#2  They are succeeding making us think they're a bunch of pederasts...
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/06/2022 0:36 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm just curious how Maxwell will die. I hope it's not the same strangling shtick... is there a death pool?
Posted by: Dron66046 || 01/06/2022 6:15 Comments || Top||

#4  Why is G Maxwell not naming names?
Posted by: Airandee || 01/06/2022 6:21 Comments || Top||

#5  #4 Why is G Maxwell not naming names?
Posted by: Airandee 2022-01-06 06:21


...She's either way overconfident or she's that terrified. Either way, she's going to be Oz Dead ("Not only simply merely dead, but truly most sincerely dead!") or Blackadder Dead ("As dead as a great big...dead thing...").

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 01/06/2022 6:28 Comments || Top||

#6  ...Oh, almost forgot - Fox reports yesterday that two Maxwell jurors do not appear to have mentioned that they were both victims of abuse, opening the doors to the serious possibility of a mistrial.

One juror went to the media to announce in a somewhat murky fashion that he was an abuse victim, it didn't really come to memory until the trial, and he doesn't remember if there was anything on the jury forms or not. (SPOILERS: If there wasn't, then Maxwell's counsel was at best incompetent and at worst actively stupid.) The other juror just said that they were a victim of abuse, and didn't elaborate.

This sort of question appears on jury forms all the time, and especially in high-profile cases like this - put simply, defense counsel isn't going to want a victim of abuse deciding whether or not their client is guilty of facilitating abuse. I for one am not normally an advocate of conspiracy theory...but this is just a bit too perfect.

Mike

Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 01/06/2022 7:35 Comments || Top||

#7  /\ I for one am not normally an advocate of conspiracy theory...but this is just a bit too perfect.

The noxious odor began when she returned to the States from a country WITHOUT an extradition treaty.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/06/2022 7:39 Comments || Top||

#8  Maybe she named names in a letter to be opened upon her untimely death.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 01/06/2022 12:10 Comments || Top||


#10  Ped0s? No ped0s in the USSA, no sir.

Epstein best bud / frequent flyer on Epstein Express, Pres. WJ Clinton: serial rapist

Pres. JR Biden: serial gropersniffer, prob'y showered with his then 12 year-old daughter, partner-in-crime with his "beautiful," "brilliant" depraved criminal son who hit upon his 14 year-old niece after banging her widowed mother

Hillary Clinton's top aide's husband Anthony Weiner: ped0

Clintons' and Dem. National Committee's best bud and Hollywood Sugar Daddy Harvey Weinstein: rapist

CNN, the House Organ #2 of the UniParty: employer of at least two known ped0-producers

C!A: protector of an in-house ped0 ring

FB-eye: protector of all the above... and G-d knows how many more
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/06/2022 12:38 Comments || Top||

#11  Ref #9: That didn't take long. Next stop Memory Hole.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/06/2022 12:39 Comments || Top||

#12  ^ Never! Why so cynical?

No more likely than memory-holing the most terrifying mass murder in recent memory, the BLM'er who set out to mow down dozens of white folks and slaughtered eight of them at a Christmas parade.

Oh wait ...
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/06/2022 12:45 Comments || Top||

#13  As for media coverage, did you even know that the FBI found Epstein’s cache of sex tapes labeled “(name of underage girl) + (name of VIP)” — and then lost them?

No, I didn't. But I don't believe those tape are really lost. They're in a vault some place...either that or Bill Clinton has them in his media room so he and his pervert friends can watch them.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 01/06/2022 15:57 Comments || Top||

#14  Whaddabout the Hildabeast watching the sex tapes? Not with Slick Willie, of course.

Is this where I go to my room?
Posted by: Bobby || 01/06/2022 17:56 Comments || Top||

#15  YES
Posted by: Frank G || 01/06/2022 18:49 Comments || Top||

#16  *closes eyes, backs through the door, slowly shutting it*
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/06/2022 18:53 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Longtime Democratic Rep to Retire After 30 Years in Congress
[TOWNHALL] Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush, who represents Illinois’ 1st congressional district, announced Tuesday that he will not seek a 16th term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Rush first assumed office in January of 1993. "After nearly three decades in Congress, I have been reassigned," Rush said in a statement. "Let me make it clear that I am not retiring, I am returning. I’m returning home, returning to my church, returning to my family and grandchildren — but my calling to a life of service is stronger than ever. I am expanding my tent beyond the guardrails of Congress."
Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11131 views] Top|| File under:

#1  expanding my tent beyond the guardrails of Congress.

The standard tent comes with 35 folding chairs, fender flags, and sod blankets. Larger tents and additional seating arrangements are available.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/06/2022 5:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Onetime Black Panther leader. He and Fred Hampton co-founded the Illinois Chapter.

He survived the 1968 FBI/Chicago Police attempt to murder both Hampton and him. Hampton didn't survive that. Rush only did because he was 'elsewhere' as he put it.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 01/06/2022 8:02 Comments || Top||

#3  District will most likely remain democrat. To be replaced by a prog or mod dem?
Posted by: Vespasian Ebboting9735 || 01/06/2022 8:05 Comments || Top||

#4  ^ Or muzz?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/06/2022 8:22 Comments || Top||


-Great Cultural Revolution
'Jeopardy!' champion Amy Schneider robbed in Oakland
[10 News]"He punched me in my p*nis! They wouldn't do this if I was a man!"
Reigning "Jeopardy!" champion Amy Schneider was robbed at gunpoint over New Year's weekend in Oakland, California.
Walking around Oakland late at night. Old habits really are difficult to break.
Schneider tweeted about the robbery to her 52,000 followers, saying she was shaken up but otherwise OK.

"Hi all! So, first off: I'm fine," Schneider said in a post. "But I got robbed yesterday, lost my ID, credit cards, and phone. I then couldn't really sleep last night, and have been dragging myself around all day trying to replace everything."

The Oakland resident said the robbers made off with her ID, credit cards, and phone and she couldn't sleep Sunday night.

Oakland police said in a statement they were still investigating the armed robbery that occurred Sunday afternoon and had not yet made any arrests.

The police department did not immediately respond to phone or email messages.

Schneider, the first transgender contestant to qualify for the show's Tournament of Champions, won again on Tuesday, bringing her impressive winning streak to 25 consecutive victories.

Thus far, Schenider has amassed $897,600 in winnings, the Associated Press reported.
Posted by: Frank G || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11130 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why do bad things happen to residents of Oakland good people?
Posted by: Raj || 01/06/2022 0:28 Comments || Top||

#2  She still has her........laptop.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/06/2022 0:55 Comments || Top||

#3  It’s a good thing he isn’t a vain kind of woman...
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/06/2022 0:57 Comments || Top||

#4  "They were wearing MAGA hats and put a noose around my..."
Posted by: Frank G || 01/06/2022 7:03 Comments || Top||

#5  So, a crime that would normally be ignored by a woke DA's office, except it was against a trans, so it's a "hate crime" automatically?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/06/2022 7:16 Comments || Top||

#6  "Hi all! So, first off: I'm fine,"

Yes of course, nothing WRONG with me.


Posted by: Besoeker || 01/06/2022 7:19 Comments || Top||

#7  Doesn't it always "drag" itself around?

Snark O'The Day
Posted by: Too Old To Work || 01/06/2022 8:04 Comments || Top||

#8  ^ candidate for Snark-of-the-Day right there. Why do these hilarious posts always happen when I'm drinking coffee? Oh Well..I needed to clean the monitor anyway..
Posted by: Warthog || 01/06/2022 9:26 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Libya's Attorney General Urged to Investigate Election Forgery
[LIBYAREVIEW] A member of the Libyan Supreme Court
...the political football known as The Highest Court in the Land, home of penumbrae and emanations...
, Counselor Jumaa Abu Zaid said that the Attorney General should investigate the statements made by the Head of the High National Elections Commission’s (HNEC), Emad al-Sayeh claiming that a Presidential candidate has submitted forged documents.

Abu Zeid said that al-Sayeh’s briefing to Parliament on Monday "contained a logical account of the reasons why the elections failed to be held on time."

Al-Sayeh said before the Parliament that the commission had received more than 5,400 candidacy bids for the Parliamentary elections, noting that some of them included falsified documents. He stressed that HNEC is technically ready to hold the country’s Presidential elections.

"The basis of the problem is defects in the drafting of the legislation, which are evident in the short periods specified for electoral procedures. As well as the short periods of appeals that were supposed to extend to weeks, and not to three days," Abu Zeid explained.

He added, during a briefing before the Parliament that, "we referred several appeals to the Attorney General to prove to the Libyan people that the commission is committed to the principle of holding fair and transparent elections."

Al-Sayeh’s statements came in response to accusations against the elections commission that it is a failed institution, and cannot fulfil its duty.

He also confirmed that the commission was communicating with the Interior Ministry, which had drawn up a well-prepared plan to secure the elections. This failed to materialise due to the deteriorating political and security situation on the ground.

Al-Sayeh claimed that one of the Presidential candidates had, "criticized the commission on a televised interview aired on a foreign channel, but we have evidence that he had forged his recommendation signatures."

Libya failed to hold its much-awaited Presidential elections as scheduled on 24 December. The ballot was delayed to an unspecified date, after bitter arguments over divisive
...politicians call things divisive when when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive, they're principled...
candidates and a disputed legal framework.
Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11125 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Caspian Flotilla naval infantry put on simulated elevated alert
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] The crews of about 15 ships and boats of the Caspian Flotilla are practicing their combat readiness skills, the military said today.

As the "Caucasian Knot" wrote in August 2018, the Ministry of Defense announced the redeployment of the Caspian flotilla from Astrakhan to Kaspiysk . It was decided to build a full-fledged naval base there and create about 5,000 jobs. By April 2021, about 500 families of seamen of the Caspian Flotilla received service apartments in Dagestan.
Kaspiysk is on the western shore of the Caspian Sea and has been used in the past as a staging point for naval infantry operations in Dagestan and in Chechnya. The naval infantry reaction forces were deployed in Kaspiysk during the latter stages of the 2nd Chechen War.
A special naval exercise took place in Dagestan, at the base of surface ships of the Caspian Flotilla, the press service of the Southern Military District said today.

"With the receipt of the 'Battle Alert' signal, the crews of the ships worked out actions to prepare the ship for battle and cruise, at combat posts and command posts of the ships, weapons, technical and energy resources were transferred to readiness for immediate use," the message posted on the website of the Ministry of Defense says.

During the exercise, the crews were transferred to round-the-clock combat duty. In total, more than 200 servicemen took part in the exercise. About 15 surface ships and boats were involved, the publication notes.

Recall that at the end of December 2021, about 2,000 marines of the Caspian Flotilla worked out their combat shooting, reconnaissance and camouflage skills at the Adanak training ground in Dagestan.

On December 8, 2021, the Ministry of Defense reported that the crews of about 20 ships of the Caspian Flotilla are practicing the skills of preparing for battle, defense, as well as radiation, chemical and biological protection.
Posted by: badanov || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11129 views] Top|| File under:


Government Corruption
Ex-Trump aide Sebastian Gorka sues Jan. 6 panel to block phone records subpoena
[NYPOST] Sebastian Gorka, a conservative radio host and onetime aide to former President Donald Trump
...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US...
, has launched a legal fight against the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot in a bid to block the panel from obtaining his phone records.

Gorka’s suit was filed in Washington, DC, federal district court on Tuesday and alleges that the committee is abusing its power to obtain the records, calling it a "partisan fishing expedition."

"Under the cover of its investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, the Select Committee abused its power by unlawfully subpoenaing a cell phone service provider to produce the call records of Dr. Gorka, the host of a political radio show," the suit reads.

"Dr. Gorka was not a member or leader of any organization that sponsored any events on Jan. 6, and was not present at the Capitol on that day," the document goes on. "Although invited to speak at an event at the Supreme Court
...the political football known as The Highest Court in the Land, home of penumbrae and emanations...
that day, his speech was cancelled, and therefore, he only observed the speeches at the Ellipse as one spectator among many and left. He has committed no crime, and he has done nothing, and has no information, that could provide the basis for new laws.
Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11127 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Show me the man and I'll show you the crime..."
Posted by: Warthog || 01/06/2022 9:48 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
US-coalition against ISIS faces dual attacks in Syria and Iraq by Iran-backed groups
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The US-led coalition fighting the terrorist group ISIS faced dual attacks, with one base in Syria and the other in Iraq coming under fire by Iran-backed groups, the coalition said on Wednesday."

Coalition forces were targeted this morning by eight rounds of indirect fire at Green Village, a Syrian Democratic Forces base with a small Coalition advisory presence, in northeast Syria," the coalition said in a statement, it added that there were no casualties but there was minor damage inside the base.

The Coalition responded by firing six rounds of artillery towards the point of origin of the attack just outside al-Mayadeen town in Syria’s Deir Ezzor province.

The second attack was in Iraq, where five rockets landed near Ain al-Asad airbase, which hosts US and other international forces in western Iraq. The attack caused no casualties or damage.

Coalition spokesperson Maj. Gen. John W. Brennan, Jr. said: "Our coalition continues to see threats against our forces in Iraq and Syria by militia groups that are backed by Iran. These attacks are a dangerous distraction from our coalition's shared mission to advise, assist, and enable partner forces to maintain the enduring defeat of [ISIS]."

This is the latest in a series of recent attacks on US bases or locations where there is American presence in both Syria and Iraq.

On Tuesday, two armed drones approached Ain al-Asad airbase and coalition forces shot them down. On Monday, the coalition also shot down two armed drones targeting its compound at Baghdad airport.

[TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11136 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russian Bad Weather Report
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[REGNUM] The number of people injured in a mass car accident on the 217th kilometer of the M-4 "Don" highway in the Tula region, which occurred on January 5, increased to 17 people. This was reported by the Russian Emergencies Ministry.

In total, 60 vehicles were involved in the accident, including nine trucks, 48 ​​cars and three passenger buses.

“17 people were injured, five of them were children,” TASS cites the data of the Ministry of Emergencies.

The reason for the massive accidents in the Ministry of Emergency Situations was called weather conditions - heavy snowfall and blizzard.

As reported earlier by IA REGNUM , only on January 5 on the Don highway in the Tula region there were several massive car accidents involving a total of almost 120 cars.

Warming and blizzard expected in Saratov
[REGNUM] Heavy snow, sleet and snow is expected in Saratov next night. The city administration warns about this with reference to weather forecasters.

Fog is also predicted with a visibility of 500 meters or less, ice may be on the roads, in the daytime gusts of wind can reach 13-15 m/s.

The air temperature will rise sharply to positive values. At night it is expected to -11 deg. to - 13 deg. C, in the afternoon the thermometer will rise to - 1 deg. to + 1 deg. C.

As reported by IA REGNUM , the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Tatarstan warned on the eve of a sharp cold snap, it is expected to reach -30 deg. C. Fog with visibility of 500 meters or less is also predicted.

Heavy sleet, ice and wind are expected in the Kaluga region
[REGNUM] Heavy sleet, ice on the roads, increased north-west wind of 12-17 m/s, sleet deposition on wires and trees are predicted in the Kaluga region on January 5, a REGNUM correspondent reports citing information from the Kaluga Center for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring.

In order to promptly respond to the evolving situation in the region, the interaction of the dispatching services has been organized. The forces and means of the Main Directorate of the EMERCOM of Russia in the Kaluga Region have been put on high alert. Specialized equipment has been prepared.

In case of deterioration of the situation, the airmobile group of the Main Directorate (60 people, 15 pieces of equipment) will be involved. On especially dangerous sections of federal highways (M-3, R-132, R-92, A-130), the situation is monitored.

Posted by: badanov || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11131 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
Ecuador, Colombia Slam Use of Wild Animal Species after MasterChef Episode
[An Nahar] Ecuador on Tuesday warned would-be wild animal eaters of possible prison time and Colombia launched an investigation after a competitive cooking TV show featured shark, alligator and capybara as ingredients.

In the offending episode, contestants of MasterChef Ecuador cooked up tollo, a small shark, as well as a type of wild deer and a capybara, a large rodent that can weigh up to 80 kilograms (175 lbs).
"Fry up some Nutria instead"
The National Animal Movement of Ecuador warned that the use of such ingredients on TV would "normalize the consumption of protected animals, whose ownership contributes to the trafficking of wild animals and the destruction of ecosystems."

Neither the channel nor the producers of the program responded to the charges leveled against them, though the show's chef and judge, Carolina Sanchez, claimed the meat was "from a farm."

In response to the program, which was filmed in Colombia, Ecuador's environment ministry said it "rejects the promotion and dissemination of graphic or audiovisual content that encourages the purchase and consumption of wild species or their constituent elements."

It also warned that crimes against wild flora and fauna can be punished with prison sentences of up to three years.

In Colombia, Environment Minister Carlos Eduardo Correa announced an investigation.

He said authorities "are verifying information circulating on social networks about the use of wildlife by-products in television programs.

"Trafficking and marketing of wildlife is a crime in Colombia," he wrote on Twitter.

MasterChef Ecuador, which is in its third season, is recorded in Colombia and broadcast on the privately owned national channel Teleamazonas.

Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11131 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But capybara tastes good. Pangolin tastes good.

Pangolin may taste like pumpkin pie but I'd never know 'cuz I'd never eat the filthy M-fr.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/06/2022 17:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Beyond Meat, pt II
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/06/2022 22:03 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Geagea: Nasrallah's Speech Full of Lies, Taking Up Arms Not LF's Plan
[An Nahar] Lebanese Forces
A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb...
leader Samir Geagea
...Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005...
on Wednesday charged that the latest speech of Hizbullah
...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
chief Sayyed His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
...The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...
was "full of fallacies and lies" regarding Saudi Arabia
’s role in Lebanon Hezbollahstan
...In 2020 Hezbollah blew up a considerable portion of Beirut and many of its inhabitants when its ammonium nitrate facility exploded. They blamed it on... somebody else. It wasn't them though. Trust them on that. And it ain't never coming to trial...
and the region.Speaking to Sky News Arabia, Geagea added that "taking up arms is not at all the LF’s plan."

"What happened in Tayyouneh showed that we have no right at all to take up arms, seeing as the incident showed that the there is a Lebanese state institution, the Lebanese Army, which is ready to protect the Lebanese and separate between them," the LF leader said.

Asked whether he will run for president, Geagea said: "I’m not a candidate in the classic sense of the word, but I’m a natural candidate, seeing as the LF leader is currently the head of the biggest Christian party in Lebanon, but what’s more important at the moment is finding a real republic."

He also stressed that "repeating the scenario of the Maarab Agreement" to "secure Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
chief Jebran Bassil’s election as president" is not possible, noting that "what happened once due to the intersection of certain circumstances will not be repeated today."



Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11131 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Afghanistan
Taliban announces state of emergency over heavy snow and rainfall
[Khaama] "Our allies in the Biden Regime are unable to reach the capital on I-95. Oh..wait... this is different"
Officials of the state ministry for Disaster Management of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan said that they have directed provincial officials about their further preparedness for rain and snowfall and that a state of emergency has been announced in the country.

Speaking with Radio Free of Afghanistan (REF/RL) an official of the ministry Muhammad Amin Mubariz said that they had sent material to provinces of which the distribution is still going on.

Mubariz added that they are in contact with the Ministry of Public Work and private firms to urgently undertake their operation of reopening ways in case the ways close due to heavy snowfall.

Salang highway that connects the Afghan capital with Northern provinces has been left clogged due to heavy snowfall and wind.

There is currently repeated snow and rainfall in 32 out of 34 provinces of Afghanistan that has clogged routes and have also erupted flood in several provinces.
Posted by: Frank G || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11129 views] Top|| File under: Taliban/IEA

#1  Inshallah snowplows?
Posted by: Raj || 01/06/2022 0:24 Comments || Top||

#2  I heard the best way to clear snowed roads is with suicide bombers.
Posted by: Clater Thelet2575 || 01/06/2022 2:24 Comments || Top||

#3  That's a good way to plow fields in springtime too!
Posted by: Glack Theper5590 || 01/06/2022 22:26 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel’s defense minister meets with the Jordanian king
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11129 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Pro-Iran militia fighters fire shells towards a US base in eastern Syria’s Al-Omar oil field
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11133 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies


-Great Cultural Revolution
Vaccinated Women Are Now Lying About Their Vax Status As More Men See Them As Infertility Risk
"It's your baby!"
[CovidWorld] Everyone was told that those who did not get the jab would regret it, but now it seems that the opposite is true. In a startling reversal, women who have had the COVID vaccine are being shunned in the dating scene by potential partners due to issues with possible birth defects and infertility.
Posted by: Vespasian Ebboting9735 || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11132 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Unintended consequences. Sad days ahead for many years. When the windmills are gone what will we do.
Posted by: Glung Elmavirt2726 || 01/06/2022 3:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Uh-huh. Sure.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 01/06/2022 4:12 Comments || Top||

#3  ...Skeptical Mike is skeptical.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 01/06/2022 6:28 Comments || Top||

#4  Unvaxxed only dating app removed from Apple App Store. So, ...
Posted by: Angstrom || 01/06/2022 10:10 Comments || Top||

#5  Dating is tough, it’s even tougher now that vaccines are being mandated in many parts of the world. The dating pool has now shrunk immensely for those that are looking to avoid dating someone injected with deadly spike proteins and other unknown ingredients.

In a world where big tech is censoring, shutting down apps, groups and banning people from using their 1st Amendment rights, it’s time for a platform to make true connections with those of like-mind, who believe Freedom of choice over what they do with their own body is always preferable over a medical tyranny.

Please help spread the word about Unvaxxer.com and fight back with love!
Posted by: Vespasian Ebboting9735 || 01/06/2022 10:14 Comments || Top||

#6  /\ Dating is tough...

Older guys do pretty well at the gym.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/06/2022 10:26 Comments || Top||

#7  Forget covid. I'd ask them if they had their HPV vaccine.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 01/06/2022 12:15 Comments || Top||

#8  Dating is tough for chicks too. Would you want to be forced to look at a mask-less flatulent Swillwell?

Rep. Eric Swalwell follows AOC’s lead, ditches mask in mandate-free Florida
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/06/2022 13:22 Comments || Top||

#9  To be fair, a hard core commie spy still had to be paid to date that tard.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/06/2022 13:28 Comments || Top||

#10  The thing around here the last couple three weeks has been a gushing monologue involving checking out and the cash register attendant used as a foil.

Not many, not out here, so it is noticeable and awkward like a corporate advertisement when nobody in real like talks like that. Just making a corporate statement pitch to nobody, and everybody.

Four out of those five occurrences were women.

Anecdotes, unless others have noticed something like this?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/06/2022 17:28 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Australia and Japan are set to sign a treaty to beef up defense and security cooperation
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11131 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
Chuck Schumer Believes Americans Are Really, Really Stupid
[REDSTATE] It’s impossible to comprehend just how insulting Chuck Schumer
...Senator-for-life from New York, renowned for his love of standing in front of cameras and microphones. Schumer has been a professional politician since 1975, when disco was in flower, which is 46.08475 years, or 322.59325 years in dog years. Senate minority leader as of 2017...
’s threat of nuking the filibuster actually was when he initially made it on Monday afternoon.
Yes, everyone outside the beltway bubble is a moron.
By Tuesday, he was doubling down. If Republicans weren’t on board with the voting rights act, he was totally going to do it. He was also encouraging his own members to put pressure on...his own members — Joe Manchin
...Dem senator-for-life from West Virginia. Manchin is one of the approximately one (okay, two) Dem senators who exhibits more integrity than Jello, often even representing his constituents...
and Kyrsten Sinema
...Dem senatrix from Arizona. She began her political career in the Arizona Green Party and rose to prominence for her progressive advocacy, supporting causes such as LGBTQ rights and opposing the war on terror. She left the Green Party to join the Arizona Democratic Party in 2004 and was elected to a seat in the United States House of Representatives in 2012. After her election, she joined the New Democrat Coalition, the Blue Dog Coalition and the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, amassing one of the most conservative voting records in the Democratic caucus. She won the 2018 Senate election to replace the retiring Jeff Flake, defeating Republican nominee Martha McSally. Sinema is the first openly bisexual (meaning she's not particular) and the second openly LGBT woman to be elected to the House of Representatives and to the Senate in 2012 and 2018, respectively. She also was the first woman elected to the Senate from Arizona....
. He needed party unity in order to force the Republicans’ hand on the issue.

But... by Tuesday afternoon, he was walking it all back.

Schumer’s fiery
...a single two-syllable word carrying connotations of both incoherence and viciousness. A fiery delivery implies an audience of rubes and yokels, preferably forming up into a mob...
rhetoric does not even remotely match the reality all around him. He can’t threaten the Republicans with something when he doesn’t even have all the Democratic votes to make it happen. But this isn’t new, either. We knew going in that Manchin and Sinema were openly opposed to it. We have also heard reports of other Democrats who are quietly opposed to it. None of it is breaking news. It’s been the case since the 2020 election.

But Schumer believes two things: The first is that Americans are really, really stupid and will buy into the idea that it’s Republicans holding this up. Any brief amount of research shows you that is absolutely not the case, and the Americans who are paying any sort of attention have seen enough news reports to know that Manchin and Sinema are holding things up for the Democrats and President Joe The Big Guy Biden
...46th president of the U.S. An incredibly corrupt version of Jar-Jar Binks, only well into his dotage. The dumbass who abandoned Afghanistan....
’s agenda.

Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11138 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, he can't be wrong all the time can he?
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/06/2022 0:25 Comments || Top||

#2  I've said this a few times already - I'm glad this putz Schumer is the Dem Senate leader and not the dearly departed unrepentant, ruthless asshole Harry Reid.
Posted by: Raj || 01/06/2022 0:37 Comments || Top||

#3  How soon will Schumer be able to join Reid's canasta game ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/06/2022 0:43 Comments || Top||

#4  The honourable senior senator from the state of New York appears to be in rude good health, Besoeker, despite his advancing age. Though a light hand with hair dye, fake tan, botox, fillers, and a really good tailor certainly help after 71 years circling the sun.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/06/2022 0:55 Comments || Top||

#5  The biggest reason, as I see it, is that Schumer is a lying weasel. At some point everybody wants "Cash in hand, No promises, no IOUs" when dealing with this putz -- makes it hard to cut deals, ehh?
Posted by: magpie || 01/06/2022 0:56 Comments || Top||

#6  Dems headed for retirement (not running in the upcoming election), obviously means they will not be held hostage to Pelosi's money or arm twisting. Hey, kick me off the committee. I'll still be drawing full congressional salary and can spend more time searching for my 'job after.'
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/06/2022 1:01 Comments || Top||

#7  Think about the people he usually interacts with -- politicians and the press.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 01/06/2022 4:13 Comments || Top||

#8  Not soon enough besoeker
Posted by: Chris || 01/06/2022 10:28 Comments || Top||

#9  Chuck's right--at least 45% of this country voted for President vegetable.
Posted by: Crusader || 01/06/2022 10:44 Comments || Top||

#10  Schumer wouldn't have ever been elected if New York voters were just a little bit smarter. One could argue there's a difference between being stupid and being misinformed. But, when New York voters allow themselves to be misinformed over and over again, it points to stupid.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 01/06/2022 11:54 Comments || Top||

#11  Maybe NY voters did not really elect Schumer but instead somewhere far back in time he was installed in a another Dem-rigged election.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/06/2022 15:35 Comments || Top||

#12  Re #9: Some of them more than once!
Posted by: Bertie Turkeyneck1208 || 01/06/2022 16:29 Comments || Top||

#13  most of the new yorkers I have met are pretty fucking stupid and tend to think they know everything,just sayin.
Posted by: Chris || 01/06/2022 22:21 Comments || Top||


Africa North
UN: All Mercenaries Must Immediately Withdraw from Libya
[PUBLISH.TWITTER] It's like a broken record, ain't it?
Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11125 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  Or What?
Posted by: Sonny Black || 01/06/2022 7:37 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: Greng Black3494 || 01/06/2022 12:30 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Saudi coalition gets distress signal from Yemen oil tanker
[JPost] The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen received a distress signal from an oil tanker after it had been subjected to "armed harassment" off Yemen's Hodeidah port, Saudi state TV reported on Wednesday, citing the coalition.

The Yemen Petroleum Company (YPC) said earlier on Wednesday that the coalition had diverted to a Saudi port a fifth fuel vessel heading for the Houthi-controlled port of Hodeidah.
Posted by: Frank G || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11129 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Home Front: Politix
Another Kamala Harris aide quits as claims of turmoil, 'bullying' mount
[NYPOST] Yet another Kámala Harris
Former Oakland mayor Willie Brown's former mistress, then a senatrix from California, and then a former 2020 Dem presidential hopeful. She dropped out because she was polling in negative numbers because of racism or misogyny or something like that. Her father is a Marxist professor emeritus at Stanford and her mother is an Indian of the Hindoo tribe. She is reputedly the proud descendant of a long line of women. Joe Biden picked her for her skin tone, feeling she could also bring in the Native American, women's, and bimbo votes. She's an outstanding exemplar of the Peter Principle, proudly displaying her level of competence in her handling of the Biden Border Surge
aide has joined the exodus of staffers leaving the vice president’s office amid claims of turmoil and dysfunction.

Vincent Evans, the veep’s deputy director of public engagement and intergovernmental affairs, has quit to take on a role on Capitol Hill, CNBC reported Wednesday.

Evans is departing the VP’s office to join the Congressional Black Caucus, which is chaired by Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) and advocates for minorities.

He is the latest Harris staffer to resign amid claims of tension in her office — including one blistering report last month that described her as a "bully" who dishes out "soul-destroying criticism."

But despite those reports, a source close to Evans told CNBC he was still on good terms with Harris and claimed the resignation wasn’t linked to previous departures.

"I am deeply honored to be named the executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus," Evans said in a statement to the network.
Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11133 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Something going on here that at least a few staffers want nothing to do with. What could it be ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/06/2022 0:45 Comments || Top||

#2  My guess is that anyone who is seen a Harris staff loyalist is risking being blacklisted (no pun) from future insider positions in the vast graft apparatus of the demokrat machine. The cackle-jackal doesn't care about much beyond preening and status symbols, she has the brass ring for another three years...
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 01/06/2022 12:55 Comments || Top||

#3  This twisted sister is like a comic book villain: The Woke Joker
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/06/2022 13:07 Comments || Top||

#4  "Soul destroying criticism"? Really? I don't think I could keep from laughing if she had anything adverse to say to me.
Posted by: Crusader || 01/06/2022 13:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Another aide? That will be tough to swallow.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/06/2022 16:07 Comments || Top||

#6  I don't think I could keep from laughing if she had anything adverse to say to me.

I'd have gotten fired with one sentence - 'Were you too busy sucking on Willie's willie to read the briefing?'
Posted by: Raj || 01/06/2022 16:23 Comments || Top||

#7  Ace: Throatus
Posted by: Frank G || 01/06/2022 20:09 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israeli tanks fire warning shots at suspects in southern Syria
[IsraelTimes] Israeli tanks opened fire toward a number of suspects in military posts near the border with Syria on Wednesday evening, the military said.

During a military operation across the border fence in the central Golan Heights, but still within Israeli territory, troops identified a number of suspects near where the forces were operating, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.

The army said the suspects were seen manning "military posts," without elaborating.

The forces fired flares and warning shots, which caused the suspects to flee the area, the IDF added.

According to Syria’s Sham FM radio station, a number of sites in the village of al-Hurriyah in the Quneitra region were struck by IDF tanks.

The station, as well as the Beirut-based al-Mayadeen TV, said Israeli helicopters and other aircraft hovered overhead during the strikes.

There were no reports of casualties in the incident, on either side.

A Syrian journalist from the area claimed the sites belonged to Iran
...The nation is noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence...
or Iran-backed groups. This could not be independently verified.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11132 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies

#1  *BOOM* "Halt or we'll shoot!!"

Mike

Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 01/06/2022 7:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Yeah, if someone fired a few 120mm shells at me I would definitely consider myself warned. Or deceased.
Posted by: Matt || 01/06/2022 7:51 Comments || Top||


Down Under
20 acts pull out of Sydney Festival over Israeli embassy funding of dance show
[IsraelTimes] Backing boycott calls by pro-Paleostinian activists, performers accuse organizers of partnering with ’apartheid’ state, failing to provide ’cultural safety’ for Paleostinians

At least 20 acts have pulled out of a major cultural festival in Sydney, Australia, set to begin later this week, declaring a protest boycott in response to the Israeli embassy in the country funding a dance performance at the event. The embassy has provided $20,000 for "Decadance," a show based on a work by Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin and Tel Aviv’s Batsheva Dance Company, as part of the Sydney Festival 2022. It is scheduled to be performed by the Sydney Dance Company on January 6-9 at the Sydney Opera House. On the festival website, the embassy is listed as a "star partner" due to the sponsorship.

Artists pulled out in response to calls for a boycott by Arab, pro-Paleostinian, and other activist groups, the Guardian reported on Tuesday. Some of those who withdrew accused Israel of apartheid practices toward the Paleostinians. However,
you can observe a lot just by watching...
festival organizers have remained determined to allow the performance to go ahead.

Local comedian Tom Ballard announced his withdrawal in a Twitter post on Tuesday, saying, "I love the Festival and I love telling jokes, but standing up for human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty...
and standing against a system of apartheid is more important."

He called on the festival to return the funding it received from the embassy and urged other artists to follow his lead.

Singer Marcus Whale, in announcing his exit on Monday, tweeted that the Israeli embassy "collaborates with Western cultural institutions to paint Israel as a liberal democracy on one hand while enforcing brutal occupation and apartheid with the other. No more."

Some festival acts said they will participate but in an independent capacity and have withdrawn from the auspices of the Sydney Festival, according to the report.

The cast of the acclaimed play "Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner" said in a statement they are pulling out "in solidarity with the Paleostinian cause" and the rights of all indigenous people to "illusory sovereignty and liberation," referring to Israel as "another oppressive settler-colony."

They further accused festival organizers of failing to provide a "culturally safe space for all artists, employees, and audiences."

The Belvoir St Theatre said it will put on its scheduled show but will not accept any direct funding from the festival in because Paleostinian artists are not able to participate in "cultural safety."

In a statement Tuesday, the Sydney Festival board said it would keep the Israel-sponsored show and that it "wishes collectively to affirm its respect for the right of all groups to protest and raise concerns."

"All funding agreements for the current Festival — including for Decadance — will be honored, and the performances will proceed," it said. "At the same time, the Board has also determined it will review its practices in relation to funding from foreign governments or related parties."

The Paleostinian Justice Movement Sydney claimed in December that the Israeli embassy funding was agreed on in May and called for a boycott, accusing the festival of contributing "to the normalization of an apartheid state."

The embassy responded in a statement to the Guardian at the time that Israel was "proud to support and participate in this important Festival that showcases leading artists and performances from around the world.

"Culture is a bridge to coexistence, cooperation, and rapprochement and should be left out of the political arena," the embassy said.

PJMS is calling for a protest demonstration to be held opposite the opera house when the festival kicks off Thursday.

The pro-Paleostinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement says it seeks to end Israel’s control of lands captured in the 1967 Six Day War and what it describes as discrimination against Israel’s Arab minority. It also calls for a "right of return" for millions of Paleostinian refugees and their descendants to ancestral lands that they fled or were expelled from in the 1948 war during Israel’s creation.

Israeli officials vehemently reject the apartheid accusations, and Israel and other BDS opponents say that the BDS campaign encourages antisemitism and aims to delegitimize or even destroy Israel as a Jewish state.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11133 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Money saved I say. None of these artists or their works deserves a penny in the hat.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 01/06/2022 5:59 Comments || Top||

#2  I have 2 words for them. The 1st word rhymes with Duck...figure it out.
Posted by: Sonny Black || 01/06/2022 7:37 Comments || Top||

#3  The festival will be better without the 20.
Posted by: Vespasian Ebboting9735 || 01/06/2022 9:00 Comments || Top||

#4  Dunno, won't be the same without the Goat Pas de Deux.
Posted by: Mercutio || 01/06/2022 10:11 Comments || Top||

#5  A pallywood Cuties of sorts.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/06/2022 16:09 Comments || Top||

#6  ...standing against a system of apartheid is more important.

I don't believe Blacks or 'Coloureds' in South Aferica under Apartheid had full voting rights (unless they had land ownership, then they had some), full employment capabilities, full land or business ownership nor could have members in elected high Government positions like non-Jewish folks can in Israel today.

Maybe I'm wrong, but folks throw the term Apartheid around a lot without understanding what it really is or was. Saudi Arabia (and some other Mohammedan states) kind of have a true Apartheid for their non-muslim inhabitants.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 01/06/2022 18:21 Comments || Top||

#7  It means whatever they need it to mean when they need an emotionally loaded scary word, even if it erodes the original usage.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/06/2022 18:52 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Police in India say they have arrested three people involved in an online app that shared pictures of Muslim women for a virtual “auction”
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

Indian police said on Wednesday they had arrested three people involved in an online app that shared pictures of Moslem women for a virtual "auction" in an apparent case of communal harassment.

Pictures of dozens of women had been used without their consent and doctored to create an open source app called ’Bulli Bai’ - a derogatory term to describe Moslem women - on the GitHub platform before it was taken down.

Police in the western city of Mumbai, which is investigating the case, said they had arrested three people, two 21-year-old men and an 18-year-old woman.

"We are investigating whether this was a part of a larger conspiracy," Mumbai’s Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale told news hounds.

Among those targeted were several Indian Moslem journalists, including Ismat Ara who filed and then shared on social media a police complaint that said the app was "clearly aimed at insulting Moslem women."

Moslems make up around 14 percent of India’s 1.3 billion population, and sections of the minority community have been at odds with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and its Hindu right-wing supporters, including over a controversial 2019 citizenship law that triggered large-scale protests.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) described the app as "absolutely chilling" and urged Indian authorities to take action.

"To do nothing would be to condone an extremely violent mostly peaceful form of harassment, a form of intimidation that discriminates against an entire sector of the journalistic community and exposes those targeted to potential physical attacks," RSF’s Daniel Bastard said.

The GitHub platform shut down a similar app last year that had used pictures of Indian Moslem women.
One India adds:
Mumbai Police has arrested one more student in 'Bulli Bai' app case. The accused has been identified as Mayank Agarwal. He was nabbed from the northern state in the early hours of Wednesday.

The cyber cell of Mumbai police had earlier arrested Shweta Singh (19), alleged to be the main culprit, from Uttarakhand, and engineering student Vishal Kumar Jha (21) from Bengaluru in connection with the case.
Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11132 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A new criminal enterprise in the region is it ?

Posted by: Besoeker || 01/06/2022 0:37 Comments || Top||

#2  What is most illuminating is that a lead reporter from the Reporters Sans Frontieres has chosen to retain the name Bastard.

As for the storm in the teacup, mehh. It's tit for tat. The moslems have these whatsapp groups and online pages listing all neighborhood non-moslem girls as some sort of harassment targets. There's even forums and darknet groups for upskirts, rapes, molestation, bullying, what have you. So someone went and did it to them.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 01/06/2022 2:17 Comments || Top||

#3  He comes from a long line of Bastards.
Posted by: Clater Thelet2575 || 01/06/2022 2:51 Comments || Top||

#4  About that someone, Dron: yesterday’s report on the subject collected three links, the last of which said

"Bulli Bai" was promoted by a Twitter handle with the name @bullibai, with its display picture of a "Khalistani supporter"...

And we know that the Kalistaners take Pakistan’s thirty pieces of silver, making this an even more interesting play, at least to me.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/06/2022 3:01 Comments || Top||

#5  ^ Thanks, TW. Yeah... that at least makes it more interesting than some dropout unemployeds taking it out on moslems. If the 'sleuths' are smart they'll find a way to pin this on the enemy himself.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 01/06/2022 3:12 Comments || Top||

#6  You brought them to our attention, my dear. Noting that the main accused is named Shweta Singh adds verisimilitude to the idea.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/06/2022 9:23 Comments || Top||

#7  Not just chilling. "Absolutely chilling."
With Absolut Civil Love inter-faith vodka?
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/06/2022 11:50 Comments || Top||

#8  Merrick, not sure if that is real or not.

Buck-Fifty on real.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/06/2022 17:58 Comments || Top||

#9  For real.

2019
Brand: Absolut
Campaign: Absolut Civil Love
Advertising Agency: Interesting Times, Beirut, Lebanon
Creative Director: Mo Alghossein, Jimmy Francis
Associate Creative Director: Rita Harbie
Art Director: Carl Kaed
Strategic Director: Ashraf Mansour
Account Manager: Sara Samad
Operations Director: Lara Safar
Web Developer: Ali Aladdine
Junior Account Executive: Farah Kabbani
CEO: Wassim Bassil
Production: Fouad Abi Aad, Leon Terzian / Smarthub
Film Directors: Corine Shawi, Halim Sabbagh
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/06/2022 21:55 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
2200 Migrants Cross into One Texas Border Sector over New Year's Weekend
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11134 views] Top|| File under: Migrants/Illegal Immigrants


The Grand Turk
Turkey Slams Greece's 'Provocative' Statements over Libya
[LIBYAREVIEW] On Tuesday, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
slammed the Greek Foreign Minister’s statements, over its 2019 maritime border agreement with Libya.

"The anti-Turkey statements made by Greek Foreign Minister (Nikos) Dendias almost every day are populist and unrealistic claims that do not serve peace and stability," Ottoman Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Tanju Bilgic said in a statement.

"This provocative discourse is neither compatible with good neighbourly relations, nor with the spirit of the consultative talks we have relaunched with Greece," Bilgic added.

He underlined that the remarks are "further proof that Greece prefers tension by seeking help from third parties and creating artificial alliances against Turkey, instead of resolving bilateral issues and developing relations through an honest and meaningful dialogue."

"We reject Greece’s characterization of our country’s will to defend its rights and interests as a threat. As well as its attempts to create an unrealistic perception in this direction. If there is a threat in the region, this threat arises from the unilateral actions of Greece that increase tension," he claimed.

Earlier, Dendias called on Turkey to immediately recognise the nullity of the Ottoman Turkish-Libyan maritime agreement. In a tweet, Dendias also described Turkey’s stance on Greece as "the epitome of irrationality."

He stressed that Athens is committed to peace and stability in Libya, and supports the principle of non-intervention in its domestic issues.

In 2019, Libya and Turkey signed two agreements on military cooperation and maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean sea. The military agreement aims at ensuring the protection of Turkey’s interests in Libya, strengthening bilateral ties, and allowing Ankara’s direct intervention in the country.

Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11125 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  Given international Law of the Sea that is respected by early every nation, the Libya-Turkey seaward boundary in the Med is entirely bogus. That being claimed, far be it for the feckless US Department of State, and its equally feckless lawyers, to comment on the legality of the matter.
Posted by: Vernal the Unfortunately Complexioned1975 || 01/06/2022 7:33 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
The head of Lebanon’s General Security may have landed himself and his country in hot water after intervening in a US lawsuit
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11127 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies

#1  Thursday, August 5, 2021. President Biden announced nearly $100 million in new humanitarian assistance for Lebanon through the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. State Department will help people affected by the COVID -19 pandemic... It will also support Syrian refugees ...this support brings total U.S. humanitarian assistance in Lebanon to $372 million in FY 2021; in response to COVID-19, the humanitarian impacts of the August 2020 explosions at the Port of Beirut, and Syrian refugee crisis. As such, the USA is the largest donor in Lebanon.
Posted by: Vernal the Unfortunately Complexioned1975 || 01/06/2022 7:45 Comments || Top||

#2  /\ Anything orchestrated by Foggy Bottom is money down the drain.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/06/2022 7:50 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Man busted with severed head in truck stole the wrong vehicle, lawyer claims
[NYPOST] An accused Las Vegas murderer nabbed with a severed head in the back of a truck he’d stolen just happened to swipe the wrong vehicle, his lawyer claimed.Eric Holland, 57, allegedly stole a gold Chevrolet Avalanche — not realizing that body parts inside coolers were stashed inside when cops pulled him over on Dec. 23, defense attorney David Westbrook said in court, according to KVVU-TV.

Police said Holland was initially spotted in a stolen Toyota Tundra, but dodged cops by ducking into a local parking lot and driving out in the Chevy, which had also been stolen, according to the outlet.

Vegas cops made the grisly discovery after pulling over the Chevy and busting Holland.

He now faces murder charges in the case, with the victim identified as Richard Miller, who died from multiple gunshot wounds, according to the local coroner.

Holland was allegedly "an acquaintance" of Miller, KVVU said in a report.
What a coincidence!
But Westbrook said his client is the actual victim — of dumb luck.

He argued that Holland would not have gotten into the Chevy while cops were after him if he knew what was in the bed of the truck.

"In order to believe he had knowledge of what was in the vehicle, you would have to believe he intentionally led police to the body," he said. "Why would he do that?"

Judge Harmony Letizia didn’t buy it and ordered Holland held without bail until his next court appearance on Jan. 27.



Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11126 views] Top|| File under:

#1  One of the twists in a subplot in Snatch.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/06/2022 7:11 Comments || Top||

#2  ^ Snatch....I remember when that was a verb...
Posted by: Warthog || 01/06/2022 9:40 Comments || Top||

#3 
Posted by: Greng Black3494 || 01/06/2022 12:38 Comments || Top||


Government Corruption
Georgia opens investigation into possible illegal ballot harvesting in 2020 election
[JUSTTHENEWS] Georgia authorities have launched an investigation into an allegation of systematic ballot harvesting during the state's 2020 general election and subsequent U.S. Senate runoff and may soon issue subpoenas to secure evidence, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger confirmed to Just the News.

Georgia law strictly prohibits third-party activists from picking up and delivering ballots on behalf of voters, a tactic called "harvesting" that liberal organizers have tried to get legalized in many battleground states without success. The U.S. Supreme Court
...the political football known as The Highest Court in the Land, home of penumbrae and emanations...
this summer rejected Democrat efforts to overturn an Arizona law that outlawed harvesting in the battleground state.

Raffensperger, who is seeking reelection in 2022, led a successful effort in 2019 to strengthen Georgia's prohibition against harvesting ahead of the 2020 presidential election, and defeated an effort by prominent Democrat lawyer Marc Elias to overturn the harvesting ban. Raffensperger also reviewed and rejected claims by former President Donald Trump
...His ancestors didn't own any slaves...
of widespread fraud during the 2020 election in a series of contacts under investigation by a local district attorney in Atlanta and the Jan. 6 select committee in Congress.

Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11136 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Al-Mayadeen: Targeting US forces is a natural result of US forces not withdrawing from the country
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11131 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Paraguayan Soldier Killed by Deer in Presidential Garden
[An Nahar] A sergeant in the Paraguayan presidential guard died after he was gored by a deer roaming the grounds of the presidential palace, a military front man said on Tuesday.Victor Isasi "died from a perforation in the thorax" after he was attacked by the deer at dawn, said Colonel Victor Urdapilleta.

The chital, a native of the Indian subcontinent, is among several animals kept in the 10 hectare gardens of President Mario Abdo Benitez's official residence near the capital Asuncion.

The grounds mostly host native species such as rheas, macaws and an mborevi (a South American tapir), said Urdapilleta.

"On the security camera you can see (the sergeant) enter the sector where these animals are and he makes a movement (lifts a hand) that provokes the deer's reaction," said Urdapilleta.

The soldier was on a routine patrol.

Urdapilleta said the next of kin would be compensated.

Frederic Bauer, director of wildlife at the environment ministry, said the chital was part of a litter reared on a government ranch in Paraguay.

He admitted that "it is not appropriate to have exotic animals in captivity but there is no regulation."

Urdapilleta also said the officials responsible for the presidential grounds had consulted with the environment ministry before incorporating chitals in the gardens.



Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11129 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Urdapilleta said the next of kin would be compensated.

A year's worth of free venison?
Posted by: Raj || 01/06/2022 0:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Clearly, The Chital did not mean to pull the trigger.
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/06/2022 6:54 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Jihadist raids leave over 500,000 Burkina children without schools
[AlAhram] More than half a million children in Burkina Faso
...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other...
are unable to go to school because of attacks by jihadists, the government said on Wednesday.

Armed Islamists have forced the closure of 3,280 schools -- nearly one in seven nationwide -- affecting 511,221 students and 14,901 teachers, government front man Alkassoum Maiga said after a cabinet meeting.

The landlocked Sahel state has been battling jihadist forces of Evil since 2015, when bully boyz started to mount cross-border raids from neighbouring Mali.

More than 2,000 people have died, according to a toll compiled by AFP.

The national emergency aid body Conasure says that 1.5 million people, nearly two-thirds of them children, were internally displaced as of November 30.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11133 views] Top|| File under: Devout Moslems

#1  Like Chicago but less violent.
Posted by: Clater Thelet2575 || 01/06/2022 2:27 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Snow stalls Amtrak in Virginia, with unbelievably long delays
[WGRZ] Some passengers were enduring one of the worst trips ever Tuesday as winter weather continued to wreak havoc not only with road travel but also Amtrak trains, where stranded passengers said they were dealing with overflowing toilets and a lack of food.

Amtrak's Crescent, which left New Orleans on Sunday on its way to New York, got stuck north of Lynchburg, Virginia, on Monday morning, returned to Lynchburg and remained there until finally heading northbound again late Tuesday afternoon. Officials said downed trees had been blocking the tracks.

Earlier Tuesday, passenger Sean Thornton said in a phone interview that the railroad was providing food, but toilets were overflowing and passengers were furious. The Richmond, Virginia, resident was in a sleeping car with a private toilet, but he said coach passengers were suffering "a wretched, wretched experience" with cars reeking of overflowing toilets.

"I get it that there are weather conditions," said Thornton, who was traveling from Atlanta to Charlottesville, Virginia. "The real failure here was communication and management involvement."

Amtrak spokesperson Kimberly Woods wrote in an email that the train would go on to New York, where it was supposed to arrive on Monday, once the tracks were clear.

Thornton said that the train crew offered no information after the train parked north of Lynchburg for hours Monday without cell service, until finally backing up to the city around midnight, with no word on what came next. He said the train ran out of food Monday and that passengers weren't offered anything to eat until McDonald's was brought to the train around midmorning Tuesday.

Thornton also said a member of the train crew yelled at passengers over the public address system on Monday to stop complaining to them, instead telling them to call Amtrak's 1-800 number.

Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11129 views] Top|| File under:

#1  was Al Gore on board?
Posted by: Warthog || 01/06/2022 9:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Amtrak doesn't need snow to run late.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 01/06/2022 12:37 Comments || Top||

#3  "We're also out of coffee cell service."
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/06/2022 16:10 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Palestinian-American gets two life sentences for deadly West Bank terror attack
[IsraelTimes] Military court hands down one term to Muntasir Shalabi for murder of 19-year-old Yehuda Guetta, and another for the attempted murder of two others in 2021 shooting

A military court handed down two life sentences on Wednesday to Muntasir Shalabi, who killed 19-year-old Yehuda Guetta in a drive-by shooting attack at Tapuah Junction in the West Bank last year.

The Ofer Military Court gave Shalani one life sentence for the murder of Guetta, a yeshiva student in the Itamar settlement, and another for the attempted murder of Guetta’s friends who were with him at the bus stop and were maimed in the attack.

The panel of judges, led by Lt. Gen. Meirav Hershkovitz-Yitzhaki, called Shalabi’s actions "cruel and coldblooded," saying that he was motivated by a "burning hatred and a desire to murder Jews."

The judges also noted that the attack was premeditated and Shalabi had been training for it for at least a month.

The court also fined Shalabi a total of NIS 2.5 million ($809,000).

Last August, Shalabi was convicted of intentional manslaughter, several counts of attempted intentional manslaughter, and possession of a weapon and obstruction of justice.

Shalabi drove to the Tapuah Junction in the northern West Bank on May 2, 2021, and opened fire. The shooting fatally maimed Guetta, seriously injured Benaya Peretz, 19, from Beit She’an, and lightly maimed Amichai Hala from Safed, also 19.

According to court papers, prosecutors said that Shalabi had decided to carry out an attack at the junction a month earlier, but twice put it off because he didn’t feel well.

On the day of the attack, he drove to the junction with a pistol on the passenger seat, hidden beneath a prayer mat. Pulling to a stop alongside the bus stop, he shouted "Allahu akhbar!" (Arabic for "God is great") and opened fire, continuing to shoot until the pistol malfunctioned and jammed. He drove off as soldiers guarding the junction shot up him.

Though he was injured, he escaped to the West Bank town of Aqraba where he ditched the car, which was later torched by locals as soldiers arrived to seize it.

Shalabi went on the run for a number of days before officers from the Israel Police’s Special Policing Unit and IDF troops, acting on intelligence gathered by the Shin Bet, raided a building in the village of Silwad, near Ramallah, and took him into custody. The arrest came an hour after Guetta departed this vale of tears.

In response to the killing, the IDF demolished Shalabi’s family home in Turmus Ayya, despite protests over the fact that the Hamoked human rights
...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state...
organization said that for 11 months of the year, Shalabi did not live there, as he was estranged from his wife and only stayed in a separate room during an annual one-month visit. During the rest of the year, he would reside in the United States where he also had citizenship.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11135 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Iraqi air defense intercepts drone near military base
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[REGNUM] The Iraqi air defense forces intercepted the drone, which was near one of the military bases, Al Arabiya TV reports, citing a source among the Iraqi security forces.

An unidentified UAV was reportedly flying near the Ain al-Assad military base in Anbar province. Previously, this base was used by the so-called international coalition led by the United States. The source claims that the air defense drone was intercepted even before it approached the military base. There were no reports of possible casualties.

Earlier, the Ain al-Assad base in Iraq was fired upon with rockets. According to preliminary data, five rockets were fired at the object, for the destruction of which it was necessary to use air defense systems. All missiles fired at the base fell two kilometers from the target.
Posted by: badanov || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11132 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Missile and air operations using the Ansar Allah UAV in 2021
Via Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin

I have included descriptions of the drone attacks during the month of December

The link which included a graphic is all in English

[ISWnews] In 2021, Ansar Allah Air and Missile Forces carried out 332 missile and drone operations against the positions of Saudi coalition in Saudi Arabia and the occupied territories of Yemen. Details of operations are as follows:

247- Missile attack on the gathering of Mansour Hadi’s forces in the Usaylan district located in Shabwa province. Seven members of Saudi-led coalition were killed in the attack, including two field commanders of Mansour Hadi’s forces. Date: December 3.

248- Attack with four missiles on Saudi coalition positions in the city of Marib. Date: December 5.

249- Attack with four drones on Saudi coalition positions in southern Saudi Arabia. Date December 5.

250- Ansar Allah’s large-scale operation against Saudi coalition positions in Riyadh, Jeddah, Taif, Jizan, Najran and Asir. In this operation, six Samad-3 drones and a number of Zulfiqar missiles targeted the positions of the Ministry of Defense (Saudi Arabia), King Khalid Airport and other military targets in the city of Riyadh, the capital of the Saudi enemy. Six Samad 2 and 3 drones targeted King Fahd Air Base in Taif and Aramco in Jeddah. Five Samad 1 and 2 drones targeted the enemy military positions in Abha, Jizan and Asir areas. Eight Qasef 2K drones and a large number of missiles (estimated as 15 missiles) targeted critical positions in the Abha, Jizan and Najran areas. Date: December 5 – 6.

251- Missile attack on Saudi coalition positions in Jizan. Date: December 7.

252- Drone attack on Saudi coalition positions at Abha Airport. Date: December 8.

253- Drone attack on Saudi coalition positions in Jeddah. Date: December 8.

254- Drone attack on Saudi coalition positions at Abha Airport. Date: December 10.

255- Missile attack on Saudi coalition positions in Marib. Date: December 11.

256- Missile attack on Saudi coalition positions in Khamis Mushait. Date: December 13.

257- Attack with four drones on Saudi coalition positions in southern Saudi Arabia. Date: December 14.

258- Attack with two missiles on Saudi coalition positions in Marib. Date: December 15.

259- Missile attack on Saudi coalition positions in the Mahula area of ​​western Taiz province. Date: December 15.

260- Attack with five missiles on Saudi coalition positions at King Khalid base in Khamis Mushait and other important targets in Jizan. Date: December 15.

261- Attack with two missiles on Saudi coalition positions at Abha Airport. Date: December 15.

262- Attack with two missiles on Saudi coalition positions in the third military district of Marib. Date: December 16.263- Drone attack on Saudi coalition positions in Khamis Mushait. Date: December 19.

264- Attack with two drones on Saudi coalition positions at Abha Airport. Date: December 19.

265- Drone attack on Saudi coalition positions at King Khalid Airbase in Khamis Mushait. Date: December 19.

266- Drone attack on Saudi coalition positions at Jizan and Abha Airport. Date: December 19.

267- Attack with two missiles on Saudi coalition positions in the third military zone in the city of Marib. Date: December 19.

268- Missile attack on Saudi coalition positions south of the city of Marib. Date: December 21.

269- Drone attack on Saudi coalition positions at Abha Airport. Date: December 23.

270- Attack with three drones on Saudi coalition positions in Jizan. Date: December 25.

271- Attack with two drones on Saudi coalition positions south of the city of Marib. Date: December 25.

272- Missile and drone attack on gatherings of Amaliqah forces under the auspices of the Saudi coalition at Ataq Airport, in the capital of Shabwa province. Date: December 28.

273- Missile attack on a gathering of Amaliqah forces under the auspices of the Saudi coalition at the Khamoumeh base in the district of Markha al-Sufla in Shabwa province. The attack killed 27 Saudi-led forces and injured more than 40. Date: December 30.

274- Missile attack on a gathering of Amaliqah forces under the auspices of the Saudi coalition at the Khamoumeh base in the district of Markha al-Sufla in Shabwa province. Date: December 31.

Posted by: badanov || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11131 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Caribbean-Latin America
Mexican Army Loses 30% of Weapons Purchased from U.S.
Mexico’s military is allegedly working to cover up its loss of weapons purchased from other countries.Mexico’s Army (SEDENA) is losing approximately 30 percent of weapons purchased from the U.S., a report from Mexican journalist Carlos Loret De Mola revealed. The report comes as Mexico’s federal government litigates against firearm manufacturers in a U.S. court, blaming them for the raging cartel violence.

Those missing weapons are showing up in scene of the crimes. Mexico’s military has also allegedly misplaced weapons bought from Germany, Australia, Italia, Romania, Spain, and Belgium.

In Mexico, the Army is the only entity that can purchase weapons from other countries. Further, all weapons bought by federal, state, and local law enforcement, as well as private citizens, are sold by SEDENA. Loret De Mola reports that a national center called CENAPI within the Attorney General’s Office keeps track of weapons found in scene of the crimes or seized from criminal organizations — but because of the lawsuit, they are suppressing information about Mexican Army guns in the hands of cartels. The CENAPI even denied requests for information about those weapons as a way to protect the military as being partly responsible in Mexico’s illicit gun trade.

The new allegations come at a time when Mexico’s military is plagued by scandals. State authorities in Oaxaca arrested a former general who was a candidate for secretary of defense on extortion charges in December.

Also in December, Canadian authorities arrested General Eduardo Leon Trauwitz on an extradition warrant from Mexico over his alleged role in the widespread theft of fuel, CBC reported.

In October 2020, U.S. authorities arrested former Mexican Secretary of Defense Salvador Cienfuegos on drug trafficking charges. Mexico’s government was able to secure his release claiming they would investigate and prosecute, but ultimately dismissed the case.



Posted by: Skidmark || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11128 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's obviously Smith & Wesson's fault.
Posted by: Too Old To Work || 01/06/2022 8:13 Comments || Top||

#2  How does this compare to the stuff we left in Afghanistan? Asking for a freind.
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 01/06/2022 11:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Remember the "Fast and Furious" program under Obama?
Posted by: ed in texas || 01/06/2022 11:51 Comments || Top||

#4  Señor Gun Violence Descends
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/06/2022 11:51 Comments || Top||

#5 
Posted by: Greng Black3494 || 01/06/2022 12:42 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
North Korea fires suspected ballistic missile into sea, alarming Seoul
[IsraelTimes]

Related: North Korea claims successful hypersonic weapon test
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11128 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  "...Take THAT, you imperialist running dog blowfish!!"

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 01/06/2022 6:31 Comments || Top||


#3  "We aimed for the ocean and we hit it"
Posted by: Frank G || 01/06/2022 7:01 Comments || Top||

#4  "Aim Low!" - that's our motto. You can't fail if you don't try.

imperialist running dog blowfish!!
I snorted!
Posted by: SteveS || 01/06/2022 11:39 Comments || Top||

#5  "It flew soooo fast, it hit the target before we knew it was launched!"
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/06/2022 13:37 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Suozzi presses 2022 rival Gov. Hochul, fellow Democrats on bail reform
[NYPOST] Frequently invoking Mayor Eric Adams
...retired New York City police captain, member of the New York State Senate, first Black Brooklyn borough president, law and order Dem after a brief fling with the Publicans. The New York Times isn't fond of him, suspecting he may not actually be black...
, gubernatorial primary challenger Rep. Tom Suozzi said he’s willing to wage war with fellow Democrats in a bid to tighten the controversial state law that eliminated cash bail for many criminal defendants.Citing surging crime, Suozzi directly challenged primary foe Gov. Kathy Hochul and Democrats who control the state Legislature, saying they will be failures if they refuse to take action in the 2022 legislative session to give judges more discretion over releasing criminal defendants pending trial.

"If we don’t address this problem, it’s a failure. Yes. Crime is a real problem in our state," Suozzi said during a Zoom presser Tuesday.

"It’s a shock to me that the governor hasn’t made this a priority at all," Suozzi said of bail reform and the overall spike in crime.

Suozzi cited statistics published by the Times Union that showed that about 3,400 criminal defendants out of 98,000 sprung under the cashless bail law for most misdemeanor crimes from July 2020 to June 2021 — or nearly 4 percent — were re-arrested for committing violent mostly peaceful crimes. That’s 4 percent too many, he said.

"We’re trying to reform the system, and we’re trying to make a better system. And I’m saying that we need to give judges discretion in the cases where someone has a history of violent mostly peaceful crime," said Suozzi, the Long Island congressman who touts himself as a "common sense" Democrat.

"We need to take into account if somebody’s record has shown that person having a propensity for violence, and they’ve been arrested again, that we can’t let them out onto the streets again so readily."



Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11132 views] Top|| File under:


Manhattan's 'progressive' new DA Alvin Bragg just gave a green light for anarchy
[NYPOST] Old: If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.

New: If you can’t do the time, Alvin Bragg will be there for you.

That much just became clear, as the newly minted Manhattan DA issued marching orders to his hundreds of assistants and support staff.

"Let’s do our very best to keep people out of jail, kids. And let’s really, really not sweat the small stuff."

OK, Bragg didn’t actually say that — but it pretty faithfully paraphrases the guts of a staff memo Bragg issued Monday, the first business day of his four-year term.

Specifically, Bragg says his office "will not seek a carceral sentence" for anything short of murder or deadly assault ("carceral" being progressive double-speak for prison). Also, he says minor crime won’t be prosecuted at all.

In other words, jail is to be reserved for ax murderers and their ilk; armed robbers and heavyweight drug pushers are to be minimally inconvenienced — and just forget about the quality-of-life law enforcement that was the beating heart of the Giuliani-era rescue of New York City decades ago.
Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11127 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wattapos.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/06/2022 5:10 Comments || Top||

#2  "Manhattan's 'progressive' new DA Alvin Bragg just gave a green light for anarchy anarcho-tyranny"
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 01/06/2022 7:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Have some sympathy for the Woke Devil...

Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners, saints
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/06/2022 11:11 Comments || Top||

#4  How would you like to have it on your resume that you worked for this guy?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 01/06/2022 11:59 Comments || Top||

#5  ^ In the USSA that's a badge of virtue.

Anarcho-Tyranny leaves only two options.
или Кто или Кого: take yer pick, Comrade
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/06/2022 12:04 Comments || Top||

#6  They'll just keep getting more of what they voted for. I have zero pity for anyone in California or New York.
Posted by: Crusader || 01/06/2022 13:23 Comments || Top||

#7  Or the State of Chicago.
Posted by: illeagle || 01/06/2022 15:11 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
UN peacekeepers' convoy attacked in south Lebanon near Israel border
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Unknown perpetrators attacked a group of UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon Hezbollahstan
...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers, a practice dating back to the heady days of human sacrifice to Baal Moloch...
, vandalizing their vehicles and stealing official items from them, a UN official said on Wednesday.

Such scuffles with UN peacekeepers are not uncommon in southern Lebanon since the peacekeeping force was expanded following the 2006 war between Israel and the Lebanese holy warrior Hezbollah group.

The UN force, known as UNIFIL, called on Lebanese authorities to "investigate quickly and thoroughly, and prosecute all those responsible for these crimes," said Kandice Ardiel, a UNIFIL press official. She added that the attack occurred on Tuesday night.

Local media reported that residents of the southern town of Bint Jbeil scuffled with Irish peacekeepers who they said were taking photographs of residential homes.

The reports added that the UN force was not accompanied by Lebanese troops.

Bint Jbeil is a Hezbollah stronghold and large parts of its were destroyed during the 2006 war.

Ardiel said that contrary to the disinformation being spread, the peacekeepers were not taking photos and were not on private property. She added that the peacekeepers were on their way to meet members of the Lebanese army for a routine patrol.

"UNIFIL condemns attacks on men and women serving the cause of peace, which are violations of both Lebanese and international law," Ardiel said, adding that UNIFIL also condemns those who manipulate local residents to serve their purposes.

UNIFIL was originally created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops after a 1978 invasion. The mission was expanded in Lebanon under a UN-brokered truce after the monthlong war between Israel and Hezbollah snuffies in 2006.

A similar incident with peacekeepers in south Lebanon late last year was condemned by Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry.
Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11146 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


No Govt. Solution as Miqati-Hizbullah Tensions Deepen Crisis
[An Nahar] Amid the latest rapid developments in the country, the efforts to resolve the standoff over Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar seem to have ceased, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Wednesday.

"There will be neither a solution nor a (Cabinet) session, and the focus is now on other issues," a senior political source told the daily.

"The latest tensions between Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Hizbullah
...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
will be an addition reason to deepen the crisis, although Hizbullah has told the relevant parties that it is not inclined to complicate things," the source added.

COMMENTS 5
Thumbmarcus 8 hours ago03
and he named his government: "Together For Rescue"!

Reply
Thumbthepatriot 7 hours ago01
This is why the French insisted for a non partisan Cabinet.
Hariri tried I guess.
But this power thirsty vampire was ready to compromise.
Months of negotiations, speculations, tractations, for that!
At the end of the day, it is always the duo or their poxies who block, paralyse, and command, and the good people of Lebanon keep on electing those thugs! Learn ya chabeb, learn...

ReplyReport
Missingarturo 6 hours ago01
Everyone knows that Nasrallah will not allow an investigation into the blast because the facts will direct blame to Hezbollah. Either the other parties will accept Hezbollah's position or Hezbollah will set up a government without them. Hezbollah is a dictator with military superiority over the LAF, so there's not much to discuss.

Reply
Missingsingldad 5 hours ago01
same shit
different day

Reply
Missingeasygoing 4 hours ago00
But, what is the solution to get rid of Hizbollah then? Civil war? International intervention? There is no future for Lebanon while this cave people are around..
Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11130 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Africa Horn
Somalia: NISA takes Ex-Al-Shabaab deputy leader back to prison
[Garowe] The National Intelligence Security Agency [NISA] operatives have taken former al-Shabaab
...... the personification of Somali state failure...
deputy leader Mukhtar Robow back to his house arrest, a week after they issued a report over his unprecedented detention in Mogadishu.

Robow, who denounced the violent mostly peaceful ideology before being officially welcomed by outgoing President Mohammed Abdullahi Farmaajo, was taken to prison in December 2018 following his quest to run for Southwest presidency.

Reports indicate Robow was moved from house detention by NISA agents and taken back to prison but the government is yet to explain the reasons behind the latest move which comes at the time Somalia is embroiled in a political conflict.

For three years, Robow has been in detention without being given access to legal aid, further raising questions from his immediate family members. The government is also yet to present him to a court of law or institute formal charges against him.

Last week, Internal Security Minister Abdullahi Mohammed Nor wrote to NISA acting director Yasin Abdullahi Farey over Robow's detention and was later on provided with a detailed report. The report stated that Robow is still "dangerous to the public".

NISA further claimed Robow was given access to his family and friends throughout his detention, adding that the federal government of Somalia spends $7,000 monthly on him for his personal upkeep.

But in a quick rebuttal, his brother dismissed the claim, arguing that family members have not been able to access him since his arrest in 2018. Further, they insisted, Robow struggles in detention and does not have access to government facilitation.

While the government claims he was arrested over al-Shabaab active links, a number of big shots led by former President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud insist that he's a victim of political intolerance and state capture in the Horn of Africa nation.

After his arrest in 2018 days to Southwest elections, violent mostly peaceful protests erupted in Baidoa, with government forces killing 11 people. Robow was intending to run against current Southwest President Abdiaziz Lafta-Gareen, a close ally of Farmaajo.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11129 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)


Arabia
Yemen conflict escalates, government forces advance in south
[AlAhram] Forces of Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
's internationally recognized government have reclaimed large swaths of territory in a southern province from Iran-backed Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
rebels, government officials said Wednesday.

The push in the southern province of Shabwa comes amid heavy Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s by the Saudi-led coalition battling the Houthis elsewhere in Yemen, including the capital of Sanaa.

The rebels have also stepped up their cross-border attacks, using ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones to target Saudi 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. Fifteen of the nineteen WTC hijackers were Saudis, and most major jihadi commanders were Saudis, to include Osama bin Laden. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman quietly folded that tent in 2016, doing terrible things to the guys running it, and has since been dragging the kingdom into the current century...
The Houthis recently also seized an Emirati ship in the Red Sea off the contested city of Hodeida.

A Yemeni military front man, Mohammed al-Naqib, said the troops' advance in Shabwa aims to cut supply lines for the Houthis who have been attacking the key city of Marib, the last government stronghold in northern Yemen, since early last year.

Government troops, aided by allied Giants Bridges, swept through Shabwa earlier this month, retaking most of the Usailan district from the Houthis. al-Naqib said they also pushed through the nearby Bayhan district, retaking several villages.

A front man for the rebels did not answer phone calls seeking comment. A Houthi media office said the Saudi-led coalition launched dozens of airstrikes on the rebels in Usailan and Bayhan.

Fighting has also escalated since November around the city of Hodeida, in a setback to the UN-brokered cease-fire in 2018 that ended fighting over the strategic port.

The Saudi-led coalition on Tuesday called for the Houthis to release the Emirati ship Rwabee, warning that it would attack ports used by the rebels to seize the vessel, a move that would likely further undermine the cease-fire in Hodeida.

UN front man Stephane Dujarric said the United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
was following ``with concern'' reports of the vessel's seizure ``in what the Houthis have described as Yemeni waters.''

The rebels, meanwhile, accused the Saudi-led coalition Wednesday of preventing a fuel vessel from entering Hodeida despite receiving UN clearances.

Essam al-Mutawakel, the front man for rebel-run Yemen Petroleum Company, said the coalition diverted Splendour Sapphire to the Saudi city of Jizan. He said the ship carries 24,189 tons of mazut, a low-quality fuel oil.

There was no immediate comment from the coalition.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11137 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  Yemen has a government? Who knew?
Posted by: Mercutio || 01/06/2022 10:06 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran says it seeks to prosecute 127 people abroad over Soleimani killing
[IsraelTimes] Judiciary spokesperson says Tehran has sent letters to nine countries asking them to take action against alleged culprits

Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites....
said Wednesday it intends to prosecute 127 people for alleged involvement or cooperation with the liquidation of its Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani
two years ago by the US administration of Donald Trump
...Oh, noze! Not him!...
According to Fars News, which is run by the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a judiciary spokesperson said the country sent 11 letters to nine countries, asking them to take measures against the alleged culprits.

The spokesperson also said Iran and Iraq signed a memorandum of understanding related to the prosecutions. Soleimani and his Iraqi lieutenant were assassinated in a US dronezap at Baghdad airport on January 3, 2020.

The report did not provide details on who were among the 127 individuals.

On Monday, as Tehran marked two years since the revered commander’s death, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi vowed Dire Revenge against Trump unless the former US president is tried over the killing.

Raisi, addressing Tehran’s largest prayer hall, said: "The aggressor and the main assassin, the then president of the United States, must face justice and retribution" alongside former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo "and other criminals."
Ought the government provide them with protection until this thing is resolved, or are they on their own, given they’re eeeeevil Republicans and all?
Tehran’s enemies were targeted on the day of the anniversary in unclaimed drone and cyber attacks — with two armed unmanned aerial vehicles intercepted by the US-led coalition in Iraq over Baghdad airport, and hackers attacking Israeli media sites.

Soleimani headed the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, with links to gangs in Iraq, Lebanon Hezbollahstan
...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers, a practice dating back to the heady days of human sacrifice to Baal Moloch...
, Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Strip, Syria and Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
. The Quds force is designated by a number of countries as a terrorist organization, including the US and Israel.

The nighttime strike destroyed a convoy carrying Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy leader of the Hashed al-Shaabi coalition of pro-Iranian gangs, and others.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11130 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


India-Pakistan
3 JeM terrorists including Pakistan national gunned down in J&K
[OneIndia] Three Jaish-e-Mohammad
...literally Army of Mohammad, a Pak-based Deobandi terror group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in 2000, after he split with the Harkat-ul-Mujaheddin. In 2002 the government of Pervez Musharraf banned the group, which changed its name to Khaddam ul-Islam and continued doing what it had been doing before without missing a beat...
murderous Moslems, including a Pak national, were killed in an encounter with security forces in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir
...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there....
on Wednesday, police said, according to news agency PTI.

Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Chandgam village of Pulwama district, which turned into an encounter, a police official said.

He said three gunnies were killed in the exchange of fire with the security forces.

Inspector General of Police, Kashmir zone, Vijay Kumar said the slain men belong to Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and included a Pak national.

"Incriminating material, and arms and ammunition, including two M-4 carbines and one AK series rifle, were recovered," he said, adding that it was a "big success for us".
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11132 views] Top|| File under: Jaish-e-Mohammad


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
CSTO to introduce peacekeepers to Kazakhstan, 8 security personnel dead
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.

Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin

Here we go...
See also here.
[ColonelCassad] 2022 decided to start without overclocking, but immediately like this.

In the evening, Tokayev appealed for help to the CSTO, using the actually available option, spelled out in the agreements of the bloc members. He referred to the terrorist threat, the massive seizure of infrastructure facilities, as well as the battle going on near Alma-Ata between Kazakh paratroopers and militants.

A little later, in social networks, against the background of the silence of official resources, there were reports that the CSTO would use the necessary mechanisms and help to restore order.

Pashinyan on his Facebook page (the CSTO informs about its plans on a resource controlled by the secret services of a hostile military-political bloc. The triumph of postmodernism) announced that the decision to send troops was made with the consent of the members of the CSTO Council.

I draw your attention to the fact that the introduction of troops is motivated by outside interference. Hello to fans of the thesis that "it is all by itself."

If the entry of troops takes place, then I do not think that the CSTO troops will be engaged in the fight against riots. The main task is to take control of key roads, infrastructure facilities, enterprises, the same Baikonur, etc. Having freed the forces of the Kazakh security forces to work on the hotbeds of the ongoing riot and, in particular, to eliminate the trash that is now going on in Almaty.

Checkpoints are set up on the roads with cars inspecting for weapons and loot. If necessary, support is provided to the Kazakh military in the event of clashes with armed gangs. Strengthened exchange of information through the special services, provision of additional information resources (including personnel).

In general, a supporting and stabilizing role. Cities from marauders and pogromists, who are now well armed with weapons captured in abandoned guns, should be cleaned out by the Kazakhs themselves, if they are still at all capable of doing this.

In fact, if nothing changes, this will be the first full-fledged CSTO operation.

CSTO Council to send collective peacekeeping forces to Kazakhstan
[REGNUM] The CSTO Council decided to send the collective peacekeeping forces of the CSTO to Kazakhstan. The corresponding statement was published on January 6 by the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan on his Facebook.

The decision was made by the CSTO Council in connection with the appeal of the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev and in connection with the threat to national security and the sovereignty of the Republic caused, among other things, by outside interference.

When making a decision, the CSTO Council was guided by Article 4 of the Collective Security Treaty.

The contingent of the CSTO peacekeeping forces is being brought into Kazakhstan for a limited period of time in order to stabilize and normalize the situation in the country.

Earlier, REGNUM news agency reported that Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan began consultations with the leaders of the CSTO in connection with the situation in Kazakhstan.

[PUBLISH.TWITTER] Nationwide state of emergency declared in Kazakhstan
[RT] Kazakhstan’s authorities have imposed a state of emergency across the country in an attempt to get a grip on a deteriorating security situation, after widespread demonstrations were sparked by a gas price hike.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev reached for the sweeping measures late on Wednesday, hours after saying he intended to act "as tough as possible" against the violence.

The state of emergency vastly expands the powers of the country’s police and military, as well as allowing the handing down of heavy penalties, including lengthy prison terms, on those caught breaking the law while it is in place.

Overnight, emergency powers were declared in certain parts of the country, including the nation’s most populous city, Almaty. The former capital has been gripped by violent mostly peaceful unrest throughout the day, with protesters overrunning multiple government buildings, including the old presidential palace, and torching them.

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
Russian Foreign Ministry urges Russian citizens in Kazakhstan to stay in houses and hotels
[REGNUM] In connection with the introduction of a state of emergency and a curfew on the territory of Kazakhstan, the Russian Foreign Ministry urged citizens of the Russian Federation not to leave their homes and hotels. This was reported on January 6 by the Department of the Situation and Crisis Center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

Citizens of Russia are advised to take precautions, avoid crowds of people, take refuge in dwellings, having made a preliminary supply of food.

Russian citizens in Kazakhstan are advised to follow the reports of the nearest diplomatic mission of the Russian Federation, the Foreign Ministry said.

Firefights between security forces and protesters began in Kazakhstan
[NewsFrontInfo] Large-scale small arms battles began in Almaty between security forces and protesters.

In the city, automatic fires are heard. According to eyewitnesses, the shooting is taking place in different parts of the city. The death toll is reported.

It is worth recalling that the security forces are currently trying to clean the streets of protesters, who are mostly looting and robbing shops.

Despite the curfew imposed by the country's President Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev, it is not observed by anyone.

Also reported about casualties among the military personnel who took control of the airport of Almaty.
Posted by: badanov || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11132 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Military Informant on Vkontakte reports that elements (presumably a regiment) of the Russian 76th Guards Airborne Division (Pskov) and a similar Belarusian airborne unit has arrived in Alma Ata.

I forget where, but I read where the Russian 56th Guards Airborne Brigade arrived a few hours earlier.

Also, the Russian 77th Separate Naval Infantry Brigade, -- part of the Caspian Sea Flotilla -- recently on emergency exercises, is available.

Fleet naval infantry units are the fleet/flotilla commander's personal guard, and as such can only be committed as part of the fleet mission; i.e. No one can make the Caspian Sea Flotilla commander use his forces against his will.

While it is unlikely any part of the 77th NIB will be deployed to Kazakhstan, it is likely special forces and their naval components will be monitoring Kazakhstan's long eastern shore with the Caspian Sea.

Posted by: badanov || 01/06/2022 3:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Military Informant also reports a battle between Kazakhstan security forces an protesters during an attempt to storm the police building in Alma Ata has resulted in "dozens" being liquidated.

Addendum to the first comment:

Elements of the Russian 45th Guards Spetsnaz Brigade are being sent to Kazakhstan, according to Military Informant on VKontakte.
Posted by: badanov || 01/06/2022 3:50 Comments || Top||

#3  Russia does keep a specially trained peacekeeping force, the Russian 15th Separate Motorized Rrifle Brigade.

If this unit does make an appearance in Kazakhstan it will be railed in.
Posted by: badanov || 01/06/2022 3:53 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
17 alleged gang members charged in sweeping indictment in Brooklyn
[NYPOST] Seventeen alleged gang members responsible for a spate of shootings, including four murders, were charged in an 118-count indictment in Brooklyn on Tuesday, officials announced.

The defendants, 14 of whom are teenagers, are accused of hunting down rival gang members and committing a series of armed assaults, killing four people and wounding 10 in the process, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office said.

There are 14 teenagers among the the slew of defendants.
"One of the most disturbing aspects of this case is the age of the defendants in this indictment. Some of them were as young as 14 or 15 years old" when the crimes were committed, said Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez at a news conference.

"That is heartbreaking, that some of our youngest residents in our county are involved in this gang and gun violence ... it’s devastating and it’s truly destructive.

The alleged babyfaced killers are members of the YPF gang — an alliance of three street gangs in Brownsville, East New York and Fort Greene that banded together to increase their power as they waged a war against their enemies, prosecutors said.

Videos obtained throughout the investigation allegedly show the teens flaunting their guns in a series of social media posts, including one that depicts a defendant shoving a gun inside a puppy’s mouth as he holds the dog by its scruff.

"These videos really show, and they were all uncovered during the course of the investigation, how deeply ingrained the problem is, how this gang and gun culture has obsessed these young men. They wave these guns around. They show them off. They brag about them. These guns are in a way something that they think makes them men," Gonzalez told news hounds.
Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11131 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: Greng Black3494 || 01/06/2022 12:36 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Aoun Says Khalil's Words 'Impolite', Amal's Opposition 'Detrimental' to Country
[An Nahar] President Michel Aoun
...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
described MP Ali Hassan Khalil’s words as "impolite and not true," when the latter said there are two presidents in Lebanon Hezbollahstan
...the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity™, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade...
"Every word he uttered is a lie," Aoun said in a press interview.

He added that "they are mixing between the Republic’s president and the Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
’s president."

"I am the President of the country, (Jebran) Bassil is president of the biggest parliamentary bloc. I manage the country’s affairs, he manages the party’s affairs," Aoun stated.

"They hate him because I have raised him and like me, he refuses to bargain," the president said.

On another note, Aoun claimed that Parliament Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri
...Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians...
’s opposition since he was voted President has been "detrimental" to the country and has disrupted many draft laws proposed by the FPM.

"His ministers are refusing to attend Cabinet sessions," Aoun added. "Disrupting the government is a grave mistake, and no party has the right to do so."

Aoun went on to say that he wanted to replace Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh
...Governor of Lebanon'scentral bank, Banque du Liban since April 1993. Salameh was appointed Governor by decree, approved by the Council of Ministers for a renewable term of six years. He was reappointed for four consecutive terms; in 1999, 2005, 2011 and 2017. Salameh chairs the Banque du Liban Central Council, the Higher Banking Commission, the AML/CFT Special Investigation Commission and the Capital Markets Authority. Salameh is a member of the board of governors at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and at the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF). Salameh is the longest-serving central bank governor in the world....
but it was Khalil, back then minister of finance, who asked him to discuss Salameh’s term extension in Cabinet.

He said that "if we fail to conduct a forensic audit, I will say what is obstructing it and I will name the ones who stole the people’s money."

Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11134 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Netherlands ends funding to one of 6 Palestinian groups blacklisted by Israel
[IsraelTimes] Dutch government says UAWC members had ’individual links’ to PFLP terror group, but review fails to find sweeping financial ties alleged by Israel

After a year-long review, the Dutch government formally cut ties on Wednesday with one of six Paleostinian civil society organizations that Israel controversially declared to be a terror group in late 2021.

The Netherlands will no longer fund the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, or transfer the organization the last tranche of an already budgeted Dutch grant, two Dutch ministers wrote in a joint letter.

Israel last October declared the UAWC and five other nonprofits to be terror groups for their alleged ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine. The declaration sparked international condemnation; Israel doubled down, insisting that the evidence supporting the classification was "ironclad."

Israel has charged that the groups hoodwinked European donors into providing them with millions in funding that they then transferred to the PFLP. The Dutch government’s review found no evidence that the UAWC had done so.

"The external review shows that no evidence has been found of financial flows between the UAWC and the PFLP. Nor has any proof been found of organization unity between the UAWC and the PFLP or of the PFLP’s providing direction to the UAWC," wrote Foreign Minister Ben Knapen and Foreign Trade Minister Tom de Brujin.

The external Sherlocks did, however, find some overlap between the two organizations’ membership.

"There were ties at the individual level between UAWC staff and board members and the PFLP for some considerable time. The great number of UAWC board members with roles in both organizations gives particular cause for concern," the two Dutch ministers wrote.

The external Sherlocks hired by the Dutch government determined that the UAWC was likely unaware of members’ political affiliation. But in their letter, the Dutch diplomats said it was "reasonable to assume" that the organization knew of board members’ PFLP ties.

The Netherlands had already suspended its funding for the nonprofit in July 2020 after two UAWC employees were arrested by Israel for terrorism. The two employees, Abd al-Raziq Farraj and Samir Arbeed, were later indicted for their alleged involvement in a 2019 roadside kabooming that killed Israeli teenager Rina Shnerb.

The investigation by the Dutch determined that their funding had helped pay for the two employees’ salaries, although neither had managed Dutch-backed development projects.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry hailed the Netherlands’ decision as an "important and commendable announcement." It declined to comment on the Dutch Sherlocks’ failure to find evidence to back up Israel’s other claims about the nonprofit.

"Israel will continue its dialogue with the Netherlands and other countries regarding these organizations, support of which constitutes a violation of Israeli law," the Foreign Ministry said.

In a statement, the UAWC condemned the decision to end funding, which it called "shocking and deeply troubling."

"We are shocked that the Dutch government has ended its funding for a leading Paleostinian civil society organization...based on alleged individual links," the organization said, adding that the investigation had contained factual inaccuracies.

Founded in 1986, the UAWC conducts agricultural projects on behalf of tens of thousands of Paleostinian farmers. According to its director, some 25,000 Paleostinian families benefit from the group’s work.

"We have no factional, religious, or sectarian affiliation. We simply don’t believe in those kinds of ties. We’re part of civil society," director Fuad Abu Seif told The Times of Israel in a previous interview.

Abu Seif claimed that Farraj and Arbeed’s alleged terror involvement was not representative of the hundreds who work in the organization.

"We’re talking about two people amidst hundreds of employees and thousands of families. What kind of ridiculous stupidity would drag us down with such an operation?" said Abu Seif.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11125 views] Top|| File under: PFLP


-War on Police-
Female cop was 'shot dead in cold blood with her own gun as she pleaded for her life'
  • [Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] An Illinois prosecutor is seeking the death penalty for Darius Sullivan and Xandria Harris who are accused of injuring a police officer and killing another

  • Illinois is not a death penalty state, but the U.S. Attorney General can authorizing a filing for the ultimate punishment under certain circumstances

  • Sullivan and Harris are charged with shooting dead Bradley police Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic, 49, on Wednesday and wounding her partner, Officer Tyler Bailey, 27

  • Rittimanic pleaded with the pair for her life before she was fatally shot

  • According to Kankakee County State's Attorney Jim Rowe, her last words were 'you don't have to do this, please just go, please don't please don't'
Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11127 views] Top|| File under:



-Obits-
Top Conservative Saudi Cleric who Once Headed Judiciary Dies
[An Nahar] An influential Saudi holy man who once served for years as head of the kingdom's Shariah courts and whose ultraconservative views sparked outcry died on Wednesday, leaving behind a legacy that mirrored the kingdom's decades-long slide toward Wahhabism. His family announced his death on Twitter, saying 90-year-ol Sheikh Saleh bin Mohammed al-Luhaidan died after battling an illness that was not disclosed. His funeral is taking place Wednesday in line with Islamic tradition of immediate burial.

On Twitter, an Arabic hashtag with his name saw an outpouring of prayers and praise for the holy man and Islamic scholar.

His ultraconservative views, though in line with the country's Wahhabi doctrine at the time, prompted his sacking in 2009 as head of Saudi Arabia
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 01/06/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11126 views] Top|| File under: Devout Moslems



Who's in the News
37[untagged]
5Govt of Iran Proxies
4Hezbollah
3Houthis
3Devout Moslems
2Sublime Porte
1Commies
1Arab Spring
1al-Shabaab (AQ)
1Jaish-e-Mohammad
1Migrants/Illegal Immigrants
1PFLP
1Taliban/IEA
1Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
1Govt of Iran
1[untagged]

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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.
Click here for more information

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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2022-01-06
  UN peacekeepers' convoy attacked in south Lebanon
Wed 2022-01-05
  Government falls in Kazakhstan
Tue 2022-01-04
  Iran Vows Revenge unless Trump Tried for Soleimani Killing
Mon 2022-01-03
  Bandits Kidnap 18, Kill One Along Kaduna Birnin Gwari Road
Sun 2022-01-02
  France: +800 carbecues on New Year's Eve
Sat 2022-01-01
  Arrests made in shooting death of Illinois police sergeant
Fri 2021-12-31
  U.S. Navy Seizes $4 Million Worth of Heroin in Arabian Sea
Thu 2021-12-30
  Hezbollah deploys air defense systems in Syria's Qalamoun mountains
Wed 2021-12-29
  France Orders Mosque Closed after 'Unacceptable' Preaching
Tue 2021-12-28
  Libya declares UK Ambassador persona non grata
Mon 2021-12-27
  DRC - Deadly bombing at restaurant packed for Christmas
Sun 2021-12-26
  Desmond Tutu aka 'The Red Arch' tango uniform at 90
Sat 2021-12-25
  Poland: Migrants Attacking Border with ‘Full Aggression’ Using ‘Stones, Logs, Metal Poles as Weapons’
Fri 2021-12-24
  Egypt’s border guards arrest over 2,000 irregular migrants, seize tons of drugs
Thu 2021-12-23
  Nigeria: Fulani Jihadists Kill 45 Christian Farmers in 'Barbaric' Attack

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