Gloria Blondell aka Honeybee Gillis in "The Life of Riley (TV)" aka Ann Garfield in "White Lightning" aka Lucy Mack in "Daredevil Drivers" aka Patricia 'Pat'/'Patty' Carmody in "Accidents Will Happen" aka Mrs. Albert Broccoli aka Joan's baby sister, Gloria (Died on 1986 at age 70)
The ATF has promoted three key supervisors of a controversial sting operation that allowed firearms to be illegally trafficked across the U.S. border into Mexico. What better way to keep folks quiet about what they know? Promote them! Bigger pensions, more perks, stay quiet
All three have been heavily criticized for pushing the program forward even as it became apparent that it was out of control. At least 2,000 guns were lost and many turned up at crime scenes in Mexico and two at the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona.
The three supervisors have been given new management positions at the agency's headquarters in Washington. They are William G. McMahon, who was the ATF's deputy director of operations in the West, where the illegal trafficking program was focused, and William D. Newell and David Voth, both field supervisors who oversaw the program out of the agency's Phoenix office.
McMahon and Newell have acknowledged making serious mistakes in the program, which was dubbed Operation Fast and Furious. These two, during the hearings, were more than bad in their testimony. Never answered a question... total cover-up mode Now you know why they were promoted...
"I share responsibility for mistakes that were made," McMahon testified to a House committee three weeks ago. "The advantage of hindsight, the benefit of a thorough review of the case, clearly points me to things that I would have done differently."
Three Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spokesmen did not return phone calls Monday asking about the promotions. But several agents said they found the timing of the promotions surprising, given the turmoil at the agency over the failed program.
McMahon was promoted Sunday to deputy assistant director of the ATF's Office of Professional Responsibility and Security Operations -- the division that investigates misconduct by employees and other problems. Bet which agents he goes after first? Although Issa has warned them to leave the guys alone
Kenneth E. Melson, the ATF's acting director, said in an agency-wide confidential email announcing the promotion that McMahon was among ATF employees being rewarded because of "the skills and abilities they have demonstrated throughout their careers."
Newell was the special agent in charge of the field office for Arizona and New Mexico, where Fast and Furious was conducted. On Aug. 1, the ATF announced he would become special assistant to the assistant director of the agency's Office of Management in Washington.
Voth was an on-the-ground team supervisor for the operation, and last month he was moved to Washington to become branch chief for the ATF's tobacco division.
The program ran from November 2009 to January 2011, with the aim of identifying Mexican drug cartel leaders by allowing illegal purchases of firearms and then tracking those weapons. Nearly 200 were recovered at crime scenes in Mexico, and in December two semiautomatics were found at the scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry's slaying in Arizona.
No cartel leaders were arrested.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, are reviewing the operation.
Steve Martin, an ATF deputy assistant director, said he urged McMahon as far back as January 2010 to end the operation, and was met with silence. "I asked Mr. McMahon, I said, what's your plan?" Martin told the House committee. "Hearing none, I don't know if they had one."
Newell spent a decade on the border. As Operation Fast and Furious was unraveling, he insisted that his agents never allowed guns to "walk."
The statement angered many agents. "Literally, my mouth fell open," said Agent Larry Alt, who worked under Newell. "I am not being figurative about this. I couldn't believe it."
Newell has since acknowledged that "frequent risk assessments would be prudent" for operations like Fast and Furious. He also said the slaying of Terry "is one I will mourn for the rest of my life."
Voth supervised the crew of ATF agents under the operation. As they questioned the wisdom of allowing illegal purchases, he countered that because the weapons were turning up at Mexico crime scenes, cartel leaders had to be involved. He told his crew members they were "watching the right people."
His agents did not buy it.
"Whenever we would get a trace report back," said Agent John Dodson, Voth "was jovial, if not giddy, just delighted about that: Hey, 20 of our guns were recovered with 350 pounds of dope in Mexico last night. ... To them it proved the nexus to the drug cartels. It validated that were really working a cartel case here." Payoff for clamming up
#3
Newell has since acknowledged that "frequent risk assessments would be prudent" for operations like Fast and Furious. He also said the slaying of Terry "is one I will mourn for the rest of my life."
But the promotion and new bass boat were sure swell.
#4
The KGB used to do that with outed spies, too. Recall them to Moscow, I mean, with a promise of promotons. One good note: these guys are unlikely to end up in the basement of the Lubyanka with a bullet in their skull.
#7
This will be investigated and will go on for some time."As Operation Fast and Furious was unraveling" so if this can happen anything can happen. Timing is interesting. Keep them close to home...boring.
Kinda up close and personal after a failed program.
[Al Jazeera] Libyan rebels say they now control most of the strategic western town of Az-Zawiyah, as they continue an offensive aimed at isolating Tripoli, the country's capital.
The rebel push comes as Abdul Ilah al-Khatib, the United Nations' ...boodling on the grand scale... envoy on the Libyan conflict, arrived in Tunis, the Tunisian capital, where the country's foreign ministry said that he was due to meet with representives from Libya.
Both the United Nations and the Libyan rebel National Transitional Council in Benghazi denied that direct talks between the rebels and the Qadaffy ...whose instability has been an inspiration to dictators everywhere... government were taking place in Tunisia.
Western front fighting
In Az-Zawiyah, rebel commanders said they controlled most of the town, but that they were still taking sniper fire from forces loyal to Muammar Qadaffy, the Libyan leader.
The rebel assault on Az-Zawiyah and its neighbouring towns began on Saturday, as they sought to cut off the southern coastal route from Tunisia which Qadaffy has been using to resupply.
Zeina Khodr, Al Jizz's correspondent in Az-Zawiyah, reported that the rebels had taken control of a bridge along which the highway from Tripoli to Tunisia runs, but that central areas of the city remained contested, with Qadaffy forces employing snipers and mortar fire, as well Grad rockets ...Soviet-developed 122-mm rockets, usually launched from trucks. Newer versions are reported to have a range of up to 30 km.....
On Sunday, Bashir Ahmed Ali, the rebels' battalion commander in Az-Zawiyah, said that his forces had suffered "many casualties" due to sniper fire.
He also told the AFP news agency that a tank and four fighters had been lost in a "friendly fire" air strike during the operation to take Az-Zawiyah.
On Monday, rebels said they were focusing on capturing or killing the snipers and clearing out any other pro-government forces left in the town.
The rebels have taken Az-Zawiyah twice before, only to lose it to government counter-offensives.
The opposition says it is being more cautious on this occasion. It placed in long-term storage at least 15 people it alleged were mercenaries on Monday.
Almost all the shops in the town remained shuttered on Monday.
'Hundreds of volunteers'
The rebels say that they have also taken the towns of Surman, 60km west of Tripoli and Garyan, 50km to the south.
Moussa Ibrahim, the Libyan government's front man, acknowledged that there were "problems" in Surman, but said that "hundreds of volunteers" backed by the army were "handling the case".
He also acknowledged that the rebels had entered Garyan.
Clashes were also reported on Monday in the eastern oil town of Brega, where the rebels say they now control two-thirds of the town.
Al Jizz's Tony Birtley, reporting from Brega, said that the town showed signs of intensive fighting having taken place, and that the rebels were continuing a push to take the oil terminal and industrial area.
The government denied on Sunday that rebel forces controlled any part of Brega.
Opposition forces hope that if they can take complete control of the city, its oil terminal and sea port will allow them to resume oil exports, and will give them a key staging area on the road to Sirte, a Qadaffy stronghold.
Qadaffy broadcast
Qadaffy had earlier urged his supporters to fight for the country "inch by inch" in an audio message broadcast on state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
with no images.
Facing the sternest challenge of his decades-long rule, Qadaffy called on Monday for Libyans to arm themselves to liberate the country from "traitors and from NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all...."
The speech was the first time he had spoken in public since rebel fighters launched their biggest offensive in months.
"The Libyan people will remain and the Fateh revolution [which brought Qadaffy to power in 1969] will remain," Qadaffy said.
"Move forward, challenge, pick up your weapons, go to the fight for liberating Libya inch by inch from the traitors and from NATO.
"Get ready for the fight ... The blood of deaders is fuel for the battlefield."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2011 00:00 ||
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The scud launch suggests that the Gaddafi force holding onto Brega with their finger-nails have started getting into "kitchen sink" territory, since they're as likely to drop those things on their own heads as the rebel positions - more likely to rearrange a random patch of coastal plain, though. I'm not sure why countries still invest in the damn things, they're about as tactically useful as smoothbore muskets.
The festivities are well and truly on in Az-Zawiyah. I have to wonder how many indigenous Zawiyari rebels are left after the spring collapse - my gut feeling is that the rebel presence there is mostly Nafusa hillbillies in poorly-coordinated town militias who aren't going to know the urban terrain worth a damn, and they're about to get chewed up pretty bad.
I wonder what's going on south of Misrata & in the vicinity of Gharyan? Zawiyah has *got* to have grabbed the cat's full attention, which should allow the mice elsewhere to come scurrying out of their holes.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/16/2011 8:48 Comments ||
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[Emirates 24/7] Libya's interior minister and nine of his family members flew into Cairo Monday on their private plane in what appeared to be the highest level defection from Moammar Qadaffy's ...dictator of Libya since 1969. From 1972, when he relinquished the title of prime minister, he has been accorded the honorifics Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya or Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution. With the death of Omar Bongo of Gabon on 8 June 2009, he became the longest serving of all current non-royal national leaders. He is also the longest-serving ruler of Libya since Tripoli became an Ottoman province in 1551. When Chairman Mao was all the rage and millions of people were flashing his Little Red Book, Qadaffy came out with his own Little Green Book, which didn't do as well. Qadaffy's instability has been an inspiration to the Arab world and to Africa, which he would like to rule... regime in months.
No Libyan embassy officials greeted him at the airport and one embassy official said they were not aware of his plans to visit Egypt. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the media.
The minister flew in from Tunisia, which borders Libya.
The apparent defection came just days after Libya's rebels made their most dramatic advance in months in western towns and cities close to the capital Tripoli. On Saturday, the rebels from the western mountains near Tunisia pushed into the strategic city of Zawiya, just 30 miles (48 km) from Tripoli for the first time since the uprising against Qadaffy began in February.
On Sunday, the rebels claimed to have captured at least two other towns near Tripoli that sit on key overland supply routes for the capital, critical to supplying the regime with NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... imposing a no-fly zone over the country.
Rebels have said they are trying to cut off Qadaffy's supply routes.
Rebel officials said Sunday they had captured the town of Gharyan, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Tripoli, which sits on the supply road from southern Libya to the capital.
Omar Obeid, field commander for the Sabratha area, 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of Zawiya on the coast, said rebels have taken up positions in houses along a major supply route there that connects the Ras Ajdir border crossing with Tunisia to Tripoli. The same road runs through Zawiya, where rebels could also block it if they manage to take control of the city.
Rebels said they also captured the town of Surman, near Sabratha to the southeast.
This article starring:
Nassr al-Mabrouk Abdullah
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2011 00:00 ||
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It's weird that he refuses to confirm that he's defected. Either he still has relatives in Tripoli, or he thinks that if he commits to defection, he'll be pressured into joining the rebels instead of haring off to invest whatever he managed to steal on the way out the door.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/16/2011 8:51 Comments ||
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#2
Or he's worried about a bullet in the back of his head.
[An Nahar] An kaboom near a government administration complex held by Zaidi Iranian catspaws in northern Yemen has killed two people, the rebels said on Monday.
"A bomb-laden car went kaboom!" near a medical Centre in the city of al-Matamma in al-Jawf province, northeast of capital Sanaa, killing two and wounding another, the rebels said in a statement of the late Sunday attack.
The rebels accused U.S. intelligence agents of planning the "criminal attack aimed against the Yemeni revolt", adding the blast intended to "provoke sectarian divisions between Yemenis."
They said the attack was aimed to "help maintain the unjust regime" of President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower... who has been facing six months of protests.
"This is clearly a U.S. intelligence-style criminal act," the rebels said.
The blast occurred when leaders of the Shiite rebellion were meeting in the government administration complex located near the medical center at al-Matamma, witnesses said.
The complex erupted in flames and the kaboom was heard in several neighboring villages, witnesses and tribal sources added.
The blast came two days after the signing of a truce by the Iranian catspaws and the Islamist Al-Islah party, in a bid to stop the fighting which since March has flared intermittently in the area near the border with Soddy Arabia.
Yemen's mountainous northern region is a stronghold of the Zaidis, also known as Houthis, who from 2004 fought six wars with central government forces before signing a truce in February 2010. The rebellion has claimed thousands of lives.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Reads a bit like a parody site. Did they actually use the phrase "from hateful terrorists plotting in the shadows to cyber villains using emerging technologies"? Cyber villains? Sounds like it was stolen from DC comics.
#2
Naw more like Harvey Comics.... Baby Huey in particular....
"I think you're trying to kill me!"
Posted by: S ||
08/16/2011 17:56 Comments ||
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Thank you Besoeker that was very interesting. I had to look at the Zodiac Killer. Then Theres an atmosphere of accountability. Youre given resources. What are you doing with your resources?
Makes you question actions in the southwest. When you visit I'm certain you become part of the data pool. The pictures of some of the personnel look like 24-7 types.
From Bill Roggio:
The US carried out another Predator airstrike in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan, killing four "militants," according to reports from the region.
The unmanned, CIA-operated Predators or Reapers fired a pair of missiles at a compound and vehicle in the tribal agency's main town of Miramshah on Aug. 16. The strike took place in the early morning near a girls' school in the town. No civilians have been reported killed in the attack.
Four "militants" were killed and two more were wounded in the strike, Pakistani officials told AFP. No senior al Qaeda or Taliban leaders were reported killed.
The exact target of the strike is unclear, but the area is a known stronghold for the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network. Other terror groups also operate in the area.
#1
Pissed off SEALs and Predators coming,
The Taliban's getting boned.
This summer I hear the 'splodin',
Four dead in North Wazoo.
Gotta get down with it
Soldiers are gunning them down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew Osama
Found him dead in his compound?
Better run before you're found.
La la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la.
Gotta get down with it
Allah is not on your side
Should have died out an eon ago.
Should have become Hindus
Or prayed to Buddha instead
Instead, you're soon to be dead.
Pissed off SEALs and Predators coming,
The Taliban's getting boned.
This summer I hear the 'splodin',
Four dead in North Wazoo.
[Dawn] Twenty-four bully boyz have surrendered their arms, given themselves up to security forces in Bajaur and have renounced taken up arms again.
According to officials in Bajaur agency's Tehsil Nawaguy, 24 bully boyz including four important commanders surrendered to security forces along with their weapons and have vowed to cooperate fully with authorities.
They also vowed never to take part in any beturbanned goon activity and that they would never associate themselves with any beturbanned goon group, security officials said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] At least six people were maimed, three of them critically, in an kaboom in the northwestern Charsadda district on Monday, DawnNews reported.
The kaboom took place on Nowshera road in front of a preaching centre in the region.
Government sources said the bomb was home-made and was planted on an electricity pole. The blast occurred early on Monday and the injured were shifted to a nearby hospital.
Police started a search operation in the area soon after the blast.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
"The blast occurred early on Monday and the injured were shifted to a nearby hospital"... where a secondary device detonated killing relatives of the wounded in a waiting room.
Oops, strike the part I added. That line only goes into news stories about Iraq.
Posted by: American Delight ||
08/16/2011 3:03 Comments ||
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[Dawn] Two Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) and a trailer were destroyed near the Torkham border while two bridges and an office of agriculture department were blown up in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency on Monday night, officials said.
A khasadar at Torkham said that hard boyz planted two powerful bombs in a trailer, parked near the border.
Two APCs were loaded on the trailer. The bombs went off around midnight and caused a huge fire, which completely destroyed the APCs and the trailer.
Officials said that they took the cleaner of the vehicle, Watan Mir, an Afghan national, into custody for investigations. Nobody has so far grabbed credit for the incident.
In Akkakhel area of Bara, unidentified persons destroyed two more bridges and an office of agriculture department.
The destruction of bridges has badly affected smooth flow of traffic in Akkakhel as hard boyz have so far destroyed at least 15 link bridges in the area.
In Jamrud, unidentified armed persons kidnapped a car dealer, Haji Noshad, from his residence near Tedi Bazaar.
Family sources said that the heavily armed abductors came in three vehicles and forcibly took away Haji Noshad from his hujra.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2011 00:00 ||
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In the decades since the world first pledged never again, the U.S. response to mass atrocities and genocide has confronted several challenges. First, governmental engagement on atrocities and genocide often arrives late, when opportunities for prevention have been missed. Second, senior decision-makers are often not personally engaged because there is a government-wide assumption that there is little that can or will be done. And third, too few other international players step up to try to prevent atrocities, and come under little domestic pressure to do so. As a result, too often, we and the rest of the international community have later regretted not taking diplomatic, political, economic, legal, and military steps that might have prevented the loss of tens of thousands of lives. In 2008 the Genocide Prevention Task Force, co-chaired by former Secretaries Madeleine K. Albright and William Cohen, found that preventing genocide was an achievable goal but one that required a degree of governmental organization that matches the kind of methodical organization that accompanies mass-killings. Obama has done more than any other President to put people in jeopardy of Genocide. This farce is yet another scheme to advance Islamonazi Genocide against Israel, and its Jewish and Christian minorities. In September, the US will support a UN resolution that will enable force to be used against Israeli troops within the "West Bank" lands, after the "Palestinian Authority" gets statehood. The same elements who have coerced exile of 2,000,000 Christians since the Partition - which they reject - seek an advance base on Israel's borders which will enable "final jihad," with its component: Genocide of all Jews, Christians and non-Muslim Arabs in Israel. And, the US military will be expected to use force to prevent Israeli defense in the West Bank.
This week, President Obama directed a comprehensive review to strengthen the United States ability to prevent mass atrocities. The Presidents directive states plainly that: Preventing mass atrocities and genocide is a core national security interest and a core moral responsibility of the United States of America. The directive creates an important new tool in this effort, establishing a standing interagency Atrocities Prevention Board with the authority to develop prevention strategies and to ensure that concerns are elevated for senior decision-making so that we are better able to work with our allies and partners to be responsive to early warning signs and prevent potential atrocities. This bureacracy should be seen as an appendage of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, which recognizes "territorial integrity" where minorities in a Muslim majority tyranny seek statehood, and "self determination" where Muslim minorities seek the same thing. Obama operates on exactly the same principle. He has never said a single word in defense of the millions of Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, etc who face Genocide on a daily basis. To the contrary, both diplomats from Islamic terror states and terror movements, attended his recent White House "iftar" (ramadan post fast, which largely celebrates the ramadan slaughter of non-Muslims in the Badr-Massacre). Reminder: BHO is the son of a Muslim child abandoner. He is or was a member of a pan-religious "church" - "Christian" for tax purposes - which gave its highest award to the notorious Muslim supremacist, and racist, Lewis Farrakhan, who believes that inter-planetary Muslims will soon destroy "white governments" leading to 5,000 years of Black Muslim rule.
Posted by: Caesar Shatle4190 ||
08/16/2011 01:02 ||
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A school bus driver was gunned down in Pattani province on Tuesday morning. The victim was 68 years old, but his name was not released.
He was attacked by two men on a motorcycle while riding his bicycle to a tea shop, about 100 meters from his home, according to police sources. The gunman, riding pillion, took three shots at him before they fled. He was taken to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The ATF has promoted three key supervisors of a controversial sting operation that allowed firearms to be illegally trafficked across the U.S. border into Mexico.
Qadaffy, the Libyan leader.
Qadaffy's
[Dawn] Twenty-four 
