Hi there, !
Today Tue 12/18/2012 Mon 12/17/2012 Sun 12/16/2012 Sat 12/15/2012 Fri 12/14/2012 Thu 12/13/2012 Wed 12/12/2012 Archives
Rantburg
531207 articles and 1854434 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 62 articles and 160 comments as of 6:00.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Opinion        Politix   
Tunisian Salafists attack bar, call drinkers 'infidels'
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 3: Non-WoT
4 18:17 Thing From Snowy Mountain [336082] 
3 15:44 Shipman [336066] 
19 21:11 JosephMendiola [336092] 
1 02:28 Dale [336079] 
25 17:43 trailing wife [336098] 
0 [336076] 
0 [336077] 
0 [336074] 
0 [336075] 
3 11:02 USN,Ret. [336080] 
7 21:35 JosephMendiola [336087] 
1 11:47 Shipman [336079] 
14 18:29 Frank G [336106] 
8 21:19 JosephMendiola [336101] 
4 10:53 JohnQC [336081] 
12 16:04 Shipman [336074] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
1 17:16 Frank G [336080]
2 16:11 Steve White [336069]
0 [336068]
0 [336070]
0 [336078]
3 11:28 Fred [336068]
0 [336067]
0 [336075]
0 [336072]
0 [336071]
0 [336069]
0 [336071]
0 [336069]
0 [336078]
0 [336075]
3 15:35 Shipman [336079]
0 [336076]
0 [336073]
0 [336076]
0 [336088]
0 [336076]
0 [336067]
0 [336072]
0 [336080]
0 [336073]
Page 2: WoT Background
2 14:28 Canuckistan sniper [336075]
5 15:46 Besoeker [336079]
1 14:32 Canuckistan sniper [336070]
2 15:39 Shipman [336068]
3 15:00 Besoeker [336075]
1 15:41 Shipman [336066]
0 [336067]
0 [336070]
6 12:26 tu3031 [336070]
4 17:58 Shipman [336074]
1 15:56 JohnQC [336066]
2 17:31 tu3031 [336084]
0 [336068]
0 [336066]
0 [336067]
0 [336068]
6 15:42 Shipman [336071]
2 10:36 DepotGuy [336069]
0 [336071]
Page 4: Opinion
15 22:19 rammer [336088]
Page 6: Politix
0 [336070]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Man pulled over while driving with traffic sign in his head
Guess that State. "Officers believe alcohol is a factor". No! Really?
Posted by: Frank G || 12/15/2012 16:52 || Comments || Link || [336082 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Can't believe I'm the first to think of this: "Traffic division run by Captain Obvious."
Meh!
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 12/15/2012 17:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Newton was transported to U.F. & Shands Jacksonville with life-threatening injuries.

Well...let's hope so.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/15/2012 17:15 Comments || Top||

#3  In a bitchn camero, ftw!
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/15/2012 17:46 Comments || Top||

#4  Ooh wow, it's in Florida. I'm shocked.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 12/15/2012 18:17 Comments || Top||


Mother of Nigerian Finance Minister Freed from Kidnappers
[An Nahar] The elderly mother of Nigeria's finance minister was on Friday freed from kidnappers after being kidnapped from her home in the country's south last weekend in a crime that shocked the country, police said.

Details of the release were unclear and there was no indication of whether a ransom was paid to free the 82-year-old Kamene Okonjo, whose daughter Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a high-profile minister and ex-World Bank managing director.

"She has been sprung," police front man Frank Mba told Agence La Belle France Presse. "She is in good health." He declined to provide further details other than to say that she was freed earlier Friday.

The minister's front man issued a statement confirming the release, but also without providing further details.

One local television station reported that the mother had been dropped off from a cycle of violence on Friday morning, but the information could not be immediately confirmed.

Kamene Okonjo was kidnapped Sunday at her home in Delta state in the country's Niger Delta region, where ransom kidnappings occur regularly.

Local media reported that a gang of gunnies went to the house -- locally called a "palace" due to her husband's position as a traditional ruler in the area -- in broad daylight in the afternoon.

When Kamene Okonjo, a professor, went outside to offer drinks to laborers carrying out work around the front gate, the gunnies emerged from hiding and seized her.

Some reports said one of the suspects went inside to steal her handbag. The victim's husband was said to have been away.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336079 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Most Dear Sir, my sainted mother is being held ransom. You have come to our attention as an honest intermediary. My mother means everything to me and muh clan. We are willing to pay you 10 percentum of the ransom as a sign of excellent faith.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2012 11:47 Comments || Top||


Man Tries To Drown Wife In Dog Bowl After Fight Over Frozen Pizza
[Tampa.CBSLocal] Orange City police say a man tried to kill his wife by holding her head in a dog bowl full of water after they fought over pizza.

Police arrested Richard Watson, 47, after they received a violent disturbance report in an apartment.

According to the police report, Debra Watson started watching the "12-12-12" benefit concert while her husband was in another room and he joined her after his show was over.

The two then got into a fight about the frozen pizza that was cooked after Richard Watson complained the crust was "raw" and flung his dinner plate on the floor. Debra Watson also threw her plate on the floor in response.

Police say that is when Richard Watson tackled his wife, grabbed her head, and shoved her face into the dog's water bowl.

"She felt her life was going to end," Orange City Commander Jason Sampsell told the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

The paper reports that Debra was able to break free, but then her husband backed her against a corner and tried to strangle her.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336106 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wasn't this an "X Files" episode?
Posted by: Slitle Angoluling3666 || 12/15/2012 1:14 Comments || Top||

#2  In reality one of her high heels gave out and she sorta fell onto the water bowl.
The husband is a good kid and the couple's privacy should be respected.
</sarc>
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 12/15/2012 1:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Other than that, Wednesday night was mostly peaceful...
Posted by: badanov || 12/15/2012 2:15 Comments || Top||

#4  There are deeper problems with this relationship.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man || 12/15/2012 3:17 Comments || Top||

#5  Nothing to see here, just another case of Water Boarding Bowling.
Posted by: Au Auric || 12/15/2012 5:10 Comments || Top||

#6  Hide the kittie litter.
Posted by: Dino Shomomp7692 || 12/15/2012 13:26 Comments || Top||

#7  Dawn Hochsprung (the school Principle) was gunned down in Friday's massacre in Newtown. Board of Education chairwoman Debbie Liedlien says administrators were coming out of a meeting when the gunman forced his way into the school and (she) ran toward him.

Gun control freaks should take the rap for the murder of these little, innocent children. This could have been prevented at the start if the staff had concealed permits.
Posted by: Dino Shomomp7692 || 12/15/2012 13:55 Comments || Top||

#8  oops
Posted by: Dino Shomomp7692 || 12/15/2012 13:55 Comments || Top||

#9  Yet unconfirmed, but it has been reported that Ben Laden had three wives and vectored the SEALS in on his own position.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2012 15:50 Comments || Top||

#10  Next, expect calls for dog bowl regulation.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/15/2012 16:39 Comments || Top||

#11  flung his dinner plate on the floor. Debra Watson also threw her plate on the floor in response

Ima thinkrn "avocado or goldenrod shag carpet. Not recently raked"
Posted by: Frank G || 12/15/2012 17:11 Comments || Top||

#12  How low can you go? HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?
Posted by: KBK || 12/15/2012 17:45 Comments || Top||

#13  Ballgames on, wife commoderes the TV for that concert, then get served frozen frozen pizza.

If she had the volume turned up and was singing along, it may be tough to get a jury to convict.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/15/2012 18:00 Comments || Top||

#14  commoderes the TV? Ima offended myself.
Posted by: Frank G || 12/15/2012 18:29 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Russian circus trainer saves elephants with vodka
[Click Orlando] Two elephants that were forced out of a trailer and into the frigid Russian winter were saved by vodka, their trainers claim.
So this elephant walks into a barroom and sez "Gimme a gallon of vodka!"
The bartender slams it down and sez "That'll be 220 rubles!"
The elephant pays up and slams it down.
The bartender leans his elbows on the bar and sez "Y'know, we don't get many elephants in here..."
And the elephant sez: "And you ain't gonna get many more at 220 rubles a gallon!"

The circus animals were evacuated from their trailer when it caught fire and had to wait outside for a truck that could take them to an emergency shelter -- in this case, a community college's gym.
[CRUNCH!]
"Jumbo! What're y'doin' to our circus trailer!"
"I'm breakin' down this wall! [CRUNCH!] Gimme a trunk, will ya?"
"But where're ya goin'?"
"Out for a drink!"
"Wait a minute! Lemme get my Dumbo hat!"

To keep the animals warm, trainer Leonid Labo gave them each 2.6 gallons of vodka mixed with warm water, which the local zoo's director credited with keeping the animals from getting frostbite, according to the AP. A veterinarian said the elephants only had frostbite on the tips of their ears.
"How cold was it, Johnny?"
"Cold enough to frostbite a liquored-up elephant's arse ears!"
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 11:18 || Comments || Link || [336066 views] Top|| File under:

#1  As noted in the Orlando link... looks like someone burnt down the trailer to cover a loss of 5 gallons of kickaposko joynisiti.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2012 11:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Give me a double "Labo" with a twist, but hold the water.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2012 11:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Also as noted in deh links...

Did they see little pink peoples?
Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2012 15:44 Comments || Top||


World weather events are historic, SNow, Snow, Snow.
Posted by: Dale || 12/15/2012 02:30 || Comments || Link || [336092 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Snow for Norway this weekend.
Posted by: Dale || 12/15/2012 2:34 Comments || Top||

#2  China Blue Alert.
Posted by: Dale || 12/15/2012 2:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Balkins deep freeze
Posted by: Dale || 12/15/2012 2:39 Comments || Top||

#4  Anthropomorphic global warming reaches a critical stage!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/15/2012 4:05 Comments || Top||

#5  2 days ago, here in Western Australia we had the heaviest 1 day rainfall ever recorded in the south of the state. An area somewhat larger than Texas.

A region the warmists have been confidently predicting reduced rainfall.
Posted by: phil_b || 12/15/2012 4:41 Comments || Top||

#6 



Checking in from Estonia.
Posted by: Mizzou Mafia || 12/15/2012 8:47 Comments || Top||

#7  Canada has enough of the charade.
Canada officially becomes first country to withdraw from Kyoto agreement
Posted by: tipper || 12/15/2012 9:58 Comments || Top||

#8  Damn, Canada keeps seeming smarter and smarter.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/15/2012 10:34 Comments || Top||

#9  Yup, Canada does seem to have a leg up on some foreign politicians. Are silly bastids explained by nurture or nature? Didn't G.W. Bush pull out of Kyoto while he was Prez.?
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/15/2012 11:02 Comments || Top||

#10  And that, kiddies, is why we call it "climate change" now instead of global warming. That way no matter what happens we were always right!
Posted by: Unererong Spawn of the Pixies4293 || 12/15/2012 11:05 Comments || Top||

#11 
A region the warmists have been confidently predicting reduced rainfall.

Yeah, but them being 180-degree wrong like that is one of the symptoms of global warming. Everybody knows that.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 11:23 Comments || Top||

#12  Canada's just pissed because they know it's a lie and were hoping for better times.

Gawd help us all, the damn Canadians might end up saving us.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2012 11:52 Comments || Top||

#13  If we don't get serious and do something about Global Warming before the next ice age starts, we're gonna look like a bunch of morons. Well, some of us, anyway.

Of course, when the ice comes, the rest of the world will be begging for our C02. BWAHAHAHA! Unless CO2 has diddly-squat to do with the climate cycles, and then we're back to Stupidville.
Posted by: SteveS || 12/15/2012 13:49 Comments || Top||

#14  Didn't G.W. Bush pull out of Kyoto while he was Prez.?

Ummm...nope. The US Senate said no fucking way to Kyoto a full 3 1/2 years before G-Dub even took office. But the MSM/enviro propaganda machine has been doing the full Goebbels on this issue for so long that even many well-informed folk believe that G-Dub singlehandedly scuttled the damned thing.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) || 12/15/2012 14:15 Comments || Top||

#15  Shipman Hello, Canada has its share of troubles now. Real estate market bubble now popping. General business declines also.

Posted by: Dale || 12/15/2012 14:37 Comments || Top||

#16  Oh yeah. Blame Canada!
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 12/15/2012 14:39 Comments || Top||

#17  Blame Canada
Posted by: Frank G || 12/15/2012 15:33 Comments || Top||

#18  Cut them some slack. Hilton Head would be a giant KOA without them.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2012 15:36 Comments || Top||

#19  Silly Warmists - the massive rains tarnt goin' to start for a while yet.

JHC, as a dedicated Madonna fan + newbie Lindsay hair-lover do I have to do everything?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/15/2012 21:11 Comments || Top||


TLC orders 'Best Funeral Ever' reality show
[Insidetv.EW] TLC is ready to put the "fun" back into funeral.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, for your entertainment pleasure, here's Episode One of 'Burying Grandmaw'!"
The network has ordered a special/backdoor pilot, Best Funeral Ever, that goes behind-the-scenes of a unconventional funeral parlor.
"As you can see, Barbara, we're embalming the old girl with bourbon..."
At the Golden Gate Funeral Home, Dallas-based funeral director John Beckwith, Jr. works with the families to create a central theme for a memorial and then throws a wild party.
Oh, when I die, bury me
In my high top Stetson hat;
Put a twenty-dollar gold piece on my watch chain
God'll know I died standin' pat.

Examples include a Christmas-inspired funeral complete with reindeer, elves and snow,
... as in "Jingle All the Way to the End"...
and a singer known for his famous rib sauce jingle remembered at a BBQ-themed funeral -- including live pigs, praise dancers, and a BBQ sauce fountain where loved ones dip a ceremonious rib to say goodbye.
I want six crap shooters for pall bearers.
Chorus girl to sing me a song.
Put a jazz band on my hearse wagon.
Raise Hell as I roll along.

"We're going to make these families extremely happy at the worst moments of their lives," Beckwith says.
"... and then extremely embarrassed for the rest of their lives..."

Roll out your rubber tired carriage,
Roll out your old time hat.
Twelve men going to the graveyard
And eleven coming back.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336101 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Reason No. 1028 I'm glad I got rid of the television.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/15/2012 0:14 Comments || Top||

#2  If only Steve Goodman had gotten his wish:


He said, "Give me a double header funeral in Wrigley Field
On some sunny weekend day (no lights)
Have the organ play the "National Anthem"
and then a little 'na, na, na, na, hey hey, hey, Goodbye'
Make six bullpen pitchers, carry my coffin
and six ground keepers clear my path
Have the umpires bark me out at every base
In all their holy wrath
Its a beautiful day for a funeral, Hey Ernie lets play two!
Somebody go get Jack Brickhouse to come back,
and conduct just one more interview
Have the Cubbies run right out into the middle of the field,
Have Keith Moreland drop a routine fly
Give everybody two bags of peanuts and a frosty malt
And I'll be ready to die

Build a big fire on home plate out of your Louisville Sluggers baseball bats,
And toss my coffin in
Let my ashes blow in a beautiful snow
From the prevailing 30 mile an hour southwest wind
When my last remains go flying over the left-field wall
Will bid the bleacher bums adieu
And I will come to my final resting place, out on Waveland Avenue
.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 12/15/2012 6:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Damn Eric, that's freaking beautiful.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2012 11:53 Comments || Top||

#4  Why do I get the feeling that someone at TLC was joking but nobody got it?
Posted by: gorb || 12/15/2012 12:04 Comments || Top||

#5  That was "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request," by the late Steve Goodman. He wrote it 12 years after he was diagnosed with leukemia, and 3 years before that killed him. He died 11 days before the Cubs made their first playoff series in ages. So, he wrote something other than "City of New Orleans."
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 12/15/2012 13:50 Comments || Top||

#6  So, he wrote something other than "City of New Orleans."


AND!
The most important song ever written.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2012 16:00 Comments || Top||

#7  this is close - for the Holiday Season
Posted by: Frank G || 12/15/2012 16:59 Comments || Top||

#8  Sniff, sniff, is there no one that will righteously say WTH???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/15/2012 21:19 Comments || Top||


Man suffers heart attack dancing to 'Gangnam style'
[KSAT] A father of three collapsed and died from a heart attack after dancing to Psy's "Gangnam Style" at his office Christmas party in Blackburn, England.

Eamonn Kilbride, 46, an IT manager at Thwaites brewery, had been enjoying an office party at a country club with his wife, Julie, on Saturday night. Julie Kilbride told The Sun that her husband had been on a stage dancing and making a fool of himself "entertaining everybody." Shortly after, he collapsed.

After failed attempts at resuscitation, Kilbride was rushed to Royal Blackburn Hospital, where paramedics pronounced him dead a short time later. A coroner's report indicated Eamonn Kilbride died from acute heart failure, a condition which can be exacerbated by vigorous exercise.
That's why I try never to move...
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336081 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Man, they'll be talking about this party at Thwaites for the next 50 years...
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/15/2012 0:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Job Opening: IT Manager needed, applications now ring accepted.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man || 12/15/2012 3:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Kind of goes along with the Rantburg story on TLC's "Best Funerals Ever" or "What Got Me Here, My Last Day"
Posted by: Au Auric || 12/15/2012 5:21 Comments || Top||

#4  We'd better regulate Gangnam style dancing (sarc on).
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/15/2012 10:53 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Two Strong Quakes Strike Off California
[An Nahar] A strong 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Caliphornia early Friday immediately followed by a 6.1-magnitude temblor, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties from the earthquakes, which took place 262 kilometers (163 miles) and 93 kilometers (58 miles) off the coast, respectively, according to seismologists.

There was no immediate warning of any tsunami from the quakes.
Options on Nevada waterfront lots jumped 18 percent...
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336087 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ....And in this map of the California, you can make out what is the former Baja Peninsula, now called Baja Island....

Posted by: Au Auric || 12/15/2012 5:32 Comments || Top||

#2  bah! We use 6.4's to stir the ice in our cocktails!
Posted by: Frank G || 12/15/2012 8:53 Comments || Top||

#3  I predict Bajaland will one day be a great naval power and be inhabited by a people greatly fond of football, but short on culinary prowess and humour.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2012 16:02 Comments || Top||

#4  With a North and South Island?
Posted by: Pappy || 12/15/2012 17:32 Comments || Top||

#5  short on culinary prowess and humour

I dunno - BBQ'g Carne Asada tonight with a refries/cilantro/salsa side and Spanish rice, and I at least amuse myself.....

OK. I concede the humour part
Posted by: Frank G || 12/15/2012 17:39 Comments || Top||

#6  Guam is still getting very brief rumblers from this + previous quake activities around the Pacific Rim.

"Over there" far-n-away across the Pacific to "over here".

Aftershocks? Parallel?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/15/2012 21:22 Comments || Top||

#7  ION RENSE > [Guardian.UK] CALIFORNIA SEES UNUSUALLY HIGH "KING TIDES", flooding the inland.

and

* SAME > 10 RICHTER QUAKE POSSIBLE - COULD SHAKE FOR AN HOUR | [Japan Times] MAGNITUDE TEN TREMBLOR COULD HAPPEN [in the World]: STUDY.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/15/2012 21:35 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Mauritanian president returns from France
[Magharebia] Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz returned to Nouakchott on Thursday (December 13th), ANI reported. After completing treatment in France for a bullet wound and spending a few days in Mauritania, he returned to Paris on November 30th to undergo new medical procedures. On October 13th, the 55-year-old president was shot by a soldier in what the government has described as an accident.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336076 views] Top|| File under:


Bangladesh
BCL embarrasses AL, its associates
[Bangla Daily Star] Top leaders of ruling Awami League and its associated bodies feel embarrassed at Bangladesh Chhatra League's
... the student wing of the Bangla Awami League ...
criminal activities, including the Bishwajit murder.
Embarrassment is a start, I s'pose...
As the much-talked-about killing has made the government and AL high-ups furious, party leaders believe the time has come to take "strict decision" against BCL.

At least four top leaders, who include two senior ministers, didn't even want to talk about BCL, when The Daily Star approached them for comments.

A few others said they feel embarrassed after Bishwajit was hacked to death by a group of Chhatra League brutes in broad daylight during the December 9 opposition blockade.

They think much of their "achievements in recent months" and "regained public sympathy" following Jamaat-Shibir's countrywide attack on police has been ruined because of Chhatra League.

In these circumstances, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since 1981. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide...
yesterday directed the leaders of her party's associated bodies to remain alert so that none can infiltrate into their organizations with a plot to tarnish the image of the government.

"We are in power. People of vested interests will try to change their political colour and engage the party in different anti-organizational activities. Remain careful about it," said Hasina, also the chief of AL and its different associated bodies.

The PM was addressing a discussion marking Martyred Intellectuals Day in the capital.

AL's two influential associated bodies Jubo League
... the youth wing of the Bangla Awami League...
and Swechchhasebak League reportedly kept their workers away from the street showdown during the BNP's hartal
... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ...
on Tuesday and Thursday after Bishwajit was killed by Jagannath University unit BCL men.

Jubo League Chairman Omar Faroque Chowdhury said they had directed their party men not to be violent in any circumstances during the opposition blockade and hartal.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336077 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
Chavez Suffered 'Complications' but Recovering
[An Nahar] Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez experienced "complications," including bleeding,
"Cheez, nurse! Get a bucket! Quick!"
during his cancer surgery, but is showing positive signs of recovery, senior aides said Thursday.
"Doctor Kildare! Code Blue! Doctor Casey! Code Blue! Doctor Quincy, pick up the white courtesy phone...!"
During his treatment, 58-year-old Chavez had suffered "bleeding that required the adoption of corrective measures," Communications Minister Ernesto Villegas said in a television and radio address.
"Not that sponge, nurse! The big one, the rubber one!"
It was the first time Venezuelan officials had acknowledged complications in the six hours of surgery that Chavez underwent on Tuesday in Havana.
"No, really, he's fine... Mostly."
Chavez is undergoing "a progressive and favorable recovery," Villegas told the nation,
"He hasn't coded yet has he?... No, don't unplug that yet!"
warning that this "requires a precautionary time" due to "the complexity of the operation and also because of complications that arose."
"Do you think you can get it back in, doctor?"
"I can get it back in. I'm just not sure it'll stay."

Vice President Nicolas Maduro, the former foreign minister to whom Chavez bequeathed the reins of power before flying to Havana on Monday, also said that the president's condition was improving.
"No, no! He's breathing and everything! Mostly."
"In the last hours the process of recovery has evolved from stable to favorable," Maduro said, describing it as one of "progressive recovery."
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336080 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Classify as "Not dead yet" but close, the Devil's cheering.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/15/2012 8:33 Comments || Top||

#2  His chart says there's an odor of sulphur in his room.
Posted by: Grunter || 12/15/2012 9:22 Comments || Top||

#3  "Dr. McCoy on standby please....remember your line."
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 12/15/2012 11:02 Comments || Top||


Outlook for Chavez Darkens, Doctors Say
[Online.WSJ] Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's cancer is most likely terminal given the disease's recurrences, and while the president may bounce back for periods, his health is increasingly at risk, say several leading cancer specialists not involved in the treatment.
I've always thought "mets" was synonymous with "goner."
Mr. Chavez is recovering from surgery in Cuba this week after the president said malignant cells reappeared for a third time in his abdomen. Venezuela's government hasn't disclosed what type of cancer he has or what the surgery was for. But it has described the more than six-hour operation as "complex and delicate" and said Mr. Chavez might not be back in Caracas in time for his Jan. 10 inauguration for a new term after 14 years in power.
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I was wondering when you'd do that to that picture.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/15/2012 0:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Pining for the fjords.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/15/2012 8:49 Comments || Top||

#3  I think Ship noted that Simon Bolivar pegged out on a Dec 17th. I've got the 17th for when they announce Hoogo went out as well. He's prolly already dead
Posted by: Frank G || 12/15/2012 8:57 Comments || Top||

#4  It was, indeed, Shipman, Frank G.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2012 9:24 Comments || Top||

#5  Darkens?
Posted by: gorb || 12/15/2012 11:59 Comments || Top||

#6  Must suck to be dying and know that no one anywhere will mourn you.
Posted by: Unererong Spawn of the Pixies4293 || 12/15/2012 12:06 Comments || Top||

#7  Hugo should be comforted that he will pass on, leaving a legacy.......not a good one, but still a legacy.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/15/2012 12:19 Comments || Top||

#8  Sean Penn will mourn Hugo.
Posted by: Crazyhorse || 12/15/2012 12:21 Comments || Top||

#9  ...and Harry Belafonte.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/15/2012 13:28 Comments || Top||

#10  Gonna be a hell of a party in Bolivia, and on the anniversary.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/15/2012 15:04 Comments || Top||

#11  Show him the photo of the 14m bronze of him seated on the horse and whisper to him that he can just....let go!
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2012 15:25 Comments || Top||

#12  Hell that SOB is gonna be back in time for the January 10th inauguration, he's crazy perverse. It will be fun to see if it's televised tho. And I will note his days of 7 hour Cadenas are over.

Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2012 16:04 Comments || Top||


Economy
Russia miffed with American growth hormone issues
Posted by: Dale || 12/15/2012 02:24 || Comments || Link || [336079 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I have always said the weight gain for many of us; in my opinion, is related to the use of growth hormones.
Posted by: Dale || 12/15/2012 2:28 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Elementary school shooting leaves scores dead in Newtown, Connecticut
A mass shooting at a school has left a staggering death toll and a town in crisis after a gunman opened fire in Newtown, Connecticut Friday. With at least 28 dead, the Sandy Hook School Elementary shooting was worse than Columbine.

Among the dead Friday were six adults who were at the school, 20 children, the gunman and his mother.

Reporters are identifying 20-year-old Adam Lanza as the suspect. Lanza’s mother was a teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The suspect’s older brother, Ryan, was taken into police custody in Hoboken, New Jersey.
related
'We’re going to have to take meaningful action': Tearful Obama responds to ‘heinous’ shooting
Posted by: tipper || 12/15/2012 00:43 || Comments || Link || [336098 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I take it 'meaningful action' does not include getting rid of the gun-free free-fire zones.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/15/2012 9:10 Comments || Top||

#2  The comments are tired.

What they are not discussing is that a gun ban would, in effect, attempt to do what that school already was - gun free, intimate positive social network.

Say guns were illegal for the ordinary citizen, and one of our neighboring countries, one who we think of as mostly friendly, suddenly decides to arm a brigade's worth of violent criminals. No not the USA in the near future minus the 2nd ammendment, Mexico and Fast/Furious, right President Barry?

Nobody with a good arguement would use arming the kids, that is silly. Even if a person wanted to it is impractical.

Second, nobody is talking about arming everybody. Obviously, some people do not have the capacity or respect necessary for safe firearm handling. This cornhole decided he had no respect for life or law, and at that point people were going to die whether he killed his mom and stole her rifle, or got into a car and started running over people.

Then there are the people out there who think firearms are possessed by djinns who turn clark kent into evil-superman-who-cannot-control-his-power! , the AK-47 of Sauron or some crap. I don't think those people should have firearms either, at least not until extensive technical and cultural training. People who think ghosts haunt machine rifles can have no rational or positive role in this discussion. People choose not to have firearms, happens all the time, I respect that. Y'all think that because somebody killed his own mother forcrissakes stole her rifle and ambushed children at a school that I can or cannot make that decision because I may pick up a firearm and have robin williams materialize from the barrel and grant me three wishes to kill kill and kill more.

Don't know CT laws, but in KS a person cannot take a conceal carry or any firearm onto school grounds.

From what I understand the bad guy went into a room, shot the teacher, presumably blocked the door and shot the kids..but at that point five (?) more adults are killed but no more children. I would think that if the adults were killed escorting children then there would be more children killed after the initial scene. Were the adults attempting a counter-attack on the bad guy, taking pens to a gun fight?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/15/2012 10:12 Comments || Top||

#3  I don't seem to find commenters tying recent massacres to the culture's climate in which it was okay to express hatred towards a sitting president (GWB) and to wish for his death. Or in which thugs spew anti-White venom without repercussions. But sow the wind and the country will reap the crop.
Posted by: lotp || 12/15/2012 10:46 Comments || Top||

#4  In addition to being very screwed up, the shooter was a coward. He like many others who do this, go where they know people are unarmed and/or defenceless. This is very sad. The parents of these little children must be going through all kinds of suffering and grief.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/15/2012 10:57 Comments || Top||

#5  I don't have any good answers, but I know this isn't one.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2012 11:36 Comments || Top||

#6  This has probably been said better elsewhere but isn't the pyschotic shooter at fault here and not guns, video games or conservatives?

If school districts want to "take meaningful action" I suggest following the protocols adopted by several Texas school districts without the means to hire security staff: Encourage several administrators or other school personnel to train and obtain concealed weapons licenses at each campus, and keep the names of the licensees secret.
Posted by: BrujoTejano || 12/15/2012 11:41 Comments || Top||

#7  I just get tired of these. They ALWAYS happen in gun free zones, where they know there will be no one to stop them. I refuse to lose my freedoms and rights just because someone else is flaming evil.
Posted by: Silentbrick - Schlumberger Squishy Mud Division || 12/15/2012 12:07 Comments || Top||

#8  The press is calling it a "tragedy", but in Chicago, they call 18 dead kids "Saturday night".
Posted by: badanov || 12/15/2012 12:21 Comments || Top||

#9  I saw CNN's coverage of the event. The anchor was interviewing a reporter at the scene. As soon as the reporter said there was a Bushmaster in the car's trunk, the anchor went ballistic. The reporter tried to remind her the rifle was in the trunk, but she wouldn't listen. She was off on a diatribe on how assault rifles are the cause and how they have to be taken off the streets RIGHT NOW.

I haven't seen such biased reporting since the election.

I predict the investigation will find:
1) Adam Lanza was mentally unstable.
2) He had trouble controling his anger / inappropriate behavior.
3) His family had been trying to commit him for years.
4) The state wouldn't do it because it might infringe on his "civil rights."

Instead of infringing on one lunatic's civil rights, it infringed on 26 families' right to life liberty and pursuit of happiness. This seems to be the normal ratio for "do good" liberals.

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al || 12/15/2012 12:33 Comments || Top||

#10  Several thoughts:

An Israeli-American of my acquaintance pointed out in response to this story that in Israel every school has a guard -- usually a volunteer parent, and often carrying a gun. He wondered why we don't do this in America.

The killer's brother said he is autistic and has a personality disorder, whatever that means. He former classmates remember him as never interacting with people. His parents are divorced.

On the same day that this man killed school children were killed using guns, a man in China attacked 22 school children with a knife. Drudge linked to the story. Thus it is demonstrated that guns don't kill people, people determined to kill find any sort of weapon with which to kill people.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2012 12:52 Comments || Top||

#11  Adam Lanza described by neighbors as ticking time bomb.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 12/15/2012 12:58 Comments || Top||

#12  School shootings are a very rare thing indeed in the UK / One wonders why
Posted by: Albert 1916 or 06 || 12/15/2012 13:02 Comments || Top||

#13  Cause they get shot on the streets and their dorms instead. My sister had two people killed outside her dorm in London England for their cell phones.

How's that gun ban working for ya?
Posted by: Silentbrick - Schlumberger Squishy Mud Division || 12/15/2012 13:10 Comments || Top||

#14  London is no longer English, the census proves that. Don't assume London scum is pat of the UK.
Posted by: Albert 1916 or 06 || 12/15/2012 13:23 Comments || Top||

#15  O r O r O r I'm a cider drinker. But not a gun totting nutter.
Posted by: Albert 1916 or 06 || 12/15/2012 13:27 Comments || Top||

#16  Remember in the old Soviet Union dissidents who didn't tow the dialectic of the party were considered 'mentally ill' and sent off to institutions. Watch that the loophole to first classify those who don't agree with the Left (ie Tea Party) as mentally ill, then confiscate their guns. We've already chronicled the former in Leftest circles.
Posted by: P2Kontheroad || 12/15/2012 13:37 Comments || Top||

#17  London is no longer English, the census proves that. Don't assume London scum is pat of the UK.

If we're not going to be politically correct, you can look at the stats for gun violence by race and you could make similar statement that such destructive behavior is grossly disproportionate among certain groups.
Posted by: P2Kontheroad || 12/15/2012 13:47 Comments || Top||

#18  Hope
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2012 13:54 Comments || Top||

#19  Dawn Hochsprung (the school Principle) was gunned down in Friday's massacre in Newtown. Board of Education chairwoman Debbie Liedlien says administrators were coming out of a meeting when the gunman forced his way into the school and (she) ran toward him.

Gun control freaks should take the rap for the murder of these little, innocent children. This could have been prevented at the start if the staff had concealed permits.
Posted by: Dino Shomomp7692 || 12/15/2012 13:59 Comments || Top||

#20  Proves conclusively that time travel does NOT exist, he's one i'd consider for "Retroactive Birth Control", along with the 9-11 Plane bombers, But it's NOT a sane world, (Why I carry).
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/15/2012 15:16 Comments || Top||

#21  In Germany, it's almost impossible to legally own a gun as a private citizen if you are not a hunter or member of a Schützenverein. And yet we did have mass shooting events in schools (e.g. Winnenden).

Private households usually won't "need" a gun for protection because trespassers are very unlikely to be armed.

In America, gun control would only work if you could effectively stop unlawful possession of guns. That would be quite impossible (remember the Prohibition?).

So tougher gun control would simply affect law abiding citizens who are simply exercising their 2nd Amendment rights and want to own a gun to protect themselves.

In Germany nobody has automatic guns so the question, whether automatic guns belong in the hands of ordinary people, is irrelevant.

In the U.S., the answer is: As long as felons have them, law abiding citizens should not be barred from having them.
Posted by: European Conservative || 12/15/2012 16:06 Comments || Top||

#22  This is a horrible situation, and I pray to God for some solace for the injured.

But fact is crazy, is crazy. Crazy and evil has been with us for a damn long time now. All we can do is regroup and move on.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/15/2012 16:10 Comments || Top||

#23  Schützenverein....? If I can't sing and drink in a large tent, I won't join!
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/15/2012 16:15 Comments || Top||

#24  The latter is done without guns though
Posted by: European Conservative || 12/15/2012 16:31 Comments || Top||

#25  Albert 1916 or 06 dear, your very own Daily Mail claims that Britain is not only the most violent country in Europe, but considerably more violent than America.

Separately, some years ago when English friends came to visit from Surrey they observed in shock the mail boxes we Americans have at the ends of our driveways in the suburbs, and attached to the house near the front door in the city, and that we even leave bills visible in the boxes for the postman to take away. "We would never dare do that back home," said she. "All our letters would be stolen, and the checks cashed."
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/15/2012 17:43 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistani court bails acid attack parents: lawyers
[Dawn] A Pak court granted bail on Friday to a couple who confessed to murdering their daughter with acid, citing lack of evidence and witnesses, lawyers said.
You've got a dead, half-dissolved kid, two parents standing over what's left of the body, and that's not enough evidence...
Police tossed in the clink
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
Mohammad Zafar and his wife Zaheen Akhtar a week after the October 29 attack on their 15-year-old daughter Anusha, who died in agony from horrific burns in Pakistain-administered Kashmire after allegedly looking at boys.
Oh, well, hell, that's reason enough to kill her. I'm surprised they didn't gouge her eyes out before dissolving her.
But district and sessions judge Munir Gilani granted bail because "police had no evidence and they could produce no witnesses," public prosecutor Mohammad Ali Rathor told news hounds.

"The court found it a weak case and, giving the benefit of doubt, granted bail to her parents," he said. "No one appeared on behalf of the dear departed girl and no human or women rights activists came to pursue the case."
Does anybody see an elemental flaw in the Pak legal system or semblance thereof? Anyone? Bueller?
Defence lawyer Riaz Naveed Butt said the couple were released in Kotli, 130 kilometres (80 miles) north of regional capital Muzaffarabad, after depositing bonds worth 100,000 rupees ($1,020) each.
The state presumably has no function to act as the injured party in cases that in infidel countries would be billed as "State vs. Mohammad Zafar et al."
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under:


Southeast Asia
Cambodia snubs critical UN rights envoy
[Bangla Daily Star] The UN human rights
...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
envoy to Cambodia voiced regret yesterday at an apparent snub by government officials adding he was also "surprised" by criticism he has received for highlighting rights abuses.

"I very much regret that I was not able to interact with government interlocutors this time," Surya Subedi told news hounds in Phnom Penh, after a trip to Cambodia concluded without the usual meetings with bigwigs.

"I would be looking to hear directly from the government, from appropriate channels, as to the reasons why," he said.

The snub comes after Subedi published reports this year expressing concern over an uptick in violent land conflicts, freedom of speech restrictions and a perceived lack of independence in the court system.

Strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen indicated on Thursday that he had no intention of meeting Subedi, warning against people acting "like the bosses of Cambodia".
Posted by: Fred || 12/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under:



Who's in the News
31[untagged]
6Govt of Syria
4Salafists
4Arab Spring
4Jamaat-e-Islami
2al-Qaeda in Arabia
2Govt of Pakistan
1Commies
1East Turkestan Islamic Movement
1Govt of Sudan
1al-Qaeda in North Africa
1Moro Islamic Liberation Front
1al-Qaeda in Pakistan
1Muslim Brotherhood
1al-Shabaab
1Boko Haram

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2012-12-15
  Tunisian Salafists attack bar, call drinkers 'infidels'
Fri 2012-12-14
  Coca-Cola resumes its production in Somalia
Thu 2012-12-13
  'Friends of Syria' Recognize Syrian Opposition
Wed 2012-12-12
  Syria Fires Scud Missiles at Insurgents, U.S. Says
Tue 2012-12-11
  North Korea 'launches long-range rocket'
Mon 2012-12-10
  Rebels Seize Chunk of Aleppo Base as Fighting Rages across Syria
Sun 2012-12-09
  Mohammad Ahmed Almansoor Drone-zapped in North Wazoo
Sat 2012-12-08
  Abu-Zaid al Kuwaiti Drone-zapped During Breakfast
Fri 2012-12-07
  6 dead, 450 injured in clashes at Egypt's presidential palace
Thu 2012-12-06
  Two Dead as Egypt Islamists Overrun Opposition Tents
Wed 2012-12-05
  Hundreds of thousands besiege Egypt's presidential palace to protest draft constitution
Tue 2012-12-04
  Syria FM Spokesman 'Defects' from Regime, Leaves Syria
Mon 2012-12-03
  Car bomb in Syria's Homs kills 15: State media
Sun 2012-12-02
  Mullah Nazir orders out Mehsud Taliban fighters
Sat 2012-12-01
  Egypt assembly approves new draft constitution

Better than the average link...



Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
54.226.222.183
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (25)    WoT Background (19)    Opinion (1)    (0)    Politix (1)