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Today: 81 articles and 204 comments as of 16:22.
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At least 21 killed in rush-hour blast in Nigerian capital
Today's Headlines
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Page 6: Politix
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Driver loses his head while trying to lose the cops
[NYPOST] A driver was decapitated while trying to flee police in Brooklyn — when his car slammed into the back of a flatbed truck Tuesday, sources said.

The gruesome wreck happened when police tried to pull over a black Infiniti G35 sedan on the Gowanus Expressway near Hamilton Avenue around noon.

When they tried to exit the highway via the ramp at Atlantic Avenue near Hicks Street, the car collided with the back of the truck, shearing the off the top of the driver's head.

"When he exited here he was driving 70 to 80 miles per hour, and the trailer was waiting for the light," said Joseph Vega, 59, who was riding his bike to work at the time.

"Highway patrol was chasing him," Vega continued, adding that both occupants were wearing seatbelts. "When I went to see what happened to the driver, he had no head. His head was in the back seat. It was horrible."

Vega said the shocked passenger got out of the car screaming and tried to run after the crash, but she was quickly captured by police, and taken to Lutheran Hospital, sources said.
Posted by: Fred || 06/26/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "So Cap'n, what's plan B?"
Final thought: "This always works in the movies."
Posted by: ed in texas || 06/26/2014 7:22 Comments || Top||

#2  "Head in backseat" on the Gowanus. Probably not the first time.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/26/2014 9:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Headless man in topless car?
Posted by: Raj || 06/26/2014 10:19 Comments || Top||

#4  The truck didn't have a Mansfield bar?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 06/26/2014 12:52 Comments || Top||

#5  Some trucks trailers got good ones, others seems to be cheatin' more than a bit. Article also said "flatbed", and they don't normally have'm per my humble observation.
Posted by: Snusort Spomose2148 || 06/26/2014 16:37 Comments || Top||

#6  flatbed truck
Posted by: Snusort Spomose2148 || 06/26/2014 16:39 Comments || Top||

#7  Justice, swift and sure.
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/26/2014 17:11 Comments || Top||

#8  Oops.
Posted by: Barbara || 06/26/2014 18:51 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Why'd it have to be Snakes?
Naperville. Ill. A snake invasion is making people's skin crawl in the western suburbs. Viewer after viewer contacted CBS 2 with photos of snakes along the river walk and invading yards in Naperville.
Where's Saint Patrick when you need him?
CBS 2's Brad Edwards went to investigate.
"I'll have five and six of them on my bushes," said Nancy Quigley. "They were twice as big as they were last year. They're not afraid of me anymore."
I can think of a few choice things to say here but won't.
It's scaring away her delivery drivers.
Afraid of a few snakes? Weenies!
"He'll see them and drop the package and run back to his truck," said Quigley.
Run away, run away!
Gina Cooper snapped a picture over the weekend of a northern water snake along the river walk.
Odd, a water snake next to the water.
"It's unusual for them to be out and that prevalent," said snake expert David Drake of Aquarium Adventure.
He says that the garter snakes hibernated longer this year because of the polar vortex.
He means "Climate Change".
"Now they're out feeding in larger numbers. Also the recent rains and the floods are gonna drive these animals out of their borough," he said.
I think he means burrow. But maybe snakes do live in boroughs.
The city of Naperville Animal Control assures these creatures present no danger. Drake says if you can't identify it, don't touch it because there are venomous snakes indigenous to this area.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 06/26/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I haven't seen any in my yard, but lots of bunnies this year (and hawks looking for a good meal). But then I don't live near the river.
Posted by: Spot || 06/26/2014 8:02 Comments || Top||

#2  Would spiders be better?
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/26/2014 11:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Or Occupy Wall Streeters?
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/26/2014 11:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Yeah! Whatever happened to the Occupy folks? Still camped out? Went home to Mama's basement?
Posted by: Bobby || 06/26/2014 11:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Baby snakes
Late at night is when they come out
Baby snakes
Sure you know what I'm talkin about
Pink n wet
They make the best kinda pet
Baby
Baby
Snakes
Posted by: Raj || 06/26/2014 13:02 Comments || Top||

#6  I live in the next suburb north of Naperville. To top it off large wetlands abut my property. I haven't seen a single snake! Not one! I have seen coywolfs, coyotes, foxes, all sorts of birds and insects. Oh, and we seem to have a huge population increase of crickets, toads and skeeters - but snakes? Nada.
Posted by: 3dc || 06/26/2014 14:13 Comments || Top||

#7  We got snakes, all four main varieties of venomous and every other kind that matter except large constrictors. For high comedy drop a live indigo snake in front of a healthy cat. Have someone with a camera and make sure it's not zoomed in. I had one cat that jumped 5 feet in the air ran into the house (to look for a hoe?) Then came back out and went all Riki Tiki Travi, I had to save the snake.
Posted by: Shipman || 06/26/2014 15:05 Comments || Top||

#8  Cats have pride (snicker).
Posted by: Snusort Spomose2148 || 06/26/2014 16:43 Comments || Top||

#9  Had a Tom cat one time that I saw running around with a snake in its mouth. It seemed to like the new chew toy. Cats are natural born killers.
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/26/2014 18:55 Comments || Top||

#10  I had an Inland Taipan in my garage/ pumpkin patch at Kenmore Park. Did not pick a lot of pumpkins that year.
Posted by: Gunter || 06/26/2014 22:07 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Meriam Ibrahim detained at a Khartoum airport
[NYDAILYNEWS] The fate of a Sudanese mom who escaped a death sentence for being a Christian is now the center of a diplomatic tussle. Sudan has summoned American and South Sudanese ambassadors for their roles in attempting to help Meriam Ibrahim flee the country.

Ibrahim was detained at a Khartoum airport on Tuesday, after she allegedly tried to use an American visa and South Sudanese emergency travel documents to leave the country, NBC reports.

The U.S. State Department confirmed that the U.S. embassy in Sudan was "highly involved" in Ibrahim's case.

"The government has assured us of their safety," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters. "We are engaging directly with Sudanese officials to secure their safe and swift departure from Sudan."

South Sudan confirmed that the South Sudanese travel documents were issued from that country's embassy in Sudan. But Sudanese authorities disagree on whether she is a South Sudanese citizen, so carrying the travel documents amounts to a crime.

Ibrahim's husband, Daniel Wani, is a naturalized American citizen who is originally from South Sudan, a Christian majority country that split from Sudan in 2011. Even though Ibrahim's death sentence was overturned on Monday, the government doesn't consider her marriage to Wani legal. She was raised a Christian, but her dad was a Muslim. Children are required to follow the faith of their fathers and Muslim women aren't allowed to marry outside the faith.

"The airport passport police arrested Abrar after she presented emergency travel documents issued by the South Sudanese embassy and carrying an American visa," Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services' media department said on Facebook, referring to Ibrahim by her Muslim name.
Posted by: Fred || 06/26/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russian Parliament Revokes Option to Invade Ukraine
[Annahar] Russia's upper chamber of parliament on Wednesday voted to scrap an earlier resolution allowing President Vladimir Putin
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
to send troops into Ukraine, in a move Moscow says will help the grinding of the peace processor.

Only one senator voted against Putin's Tuesday proposal to rescind the March 1 decision granting him the right to intervene in Ukraine to protect Russian speakers, while 153 voted in favor.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/26/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In further deliberations, the Duma posted a bill to change the name 'Ukraine' to 'Baja Russia'.
Posted by: ed in texas || 06/26/2014 7:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Such a declaration would never stop the Champ. For more classical theater, I recommend the Bolshoi.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/26/2014 11:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Article 87

1. The President of the Russian Federation shall be the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

2. In case of an aggression against the Russian Federation or of a direct threat of aggression the President of the Russian Federation shall introduce in the territory of the Russian Federation or in its certain parts a martial law and immediately inform the Council of the Federation and the State Duma about this .
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/26/2014 16:07 Comments || Top||


Economy
Want to Increase Your Property Values? Try a Nuclear War
Just a pleasant break in your day./sarc
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 06/26/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh god this article is epically stupid.

I see some stupid nonsense (Ricardian economics is one of my interests) and this makes krugamanomics sound sane.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/26/2014 10:00 Comments || Top||

#2  I do not understand the logic here, if there are less people and more houses, Surely the property values would go down.

Posted by: BernardZ || 06/26/2014 10:02 Comments || Top||

#3  It depends on if the property is still habitable.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 06/26/2014 12:14 Comments || Top||

#4  Of course it's stupid. That's the point!

From the underlying study:

"The studies' [sic] were performed in the Economic and Political Studies Division (There's your problem, right there! - U.P.) of IDA under the direction of Mr. Samuel Ewer Eastman"
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 06/26/2014 15:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Ask the people of Chernobel what their values are.
Posted by: Redeck Jim || 06/26/2014 15:29 Comments || Top||

#6  ^ There 'ya go Jim. That's how it's done.
Posted by: Shipman || 06/26/2014 17:22 Comments || Top||

#7  Maybe Fred could move the 'burg here?
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 06/26/2014 21:15 Comments || Top||


Billions at risk as West Coast port contract nears end
[FOXNEWS] The West Coast ports that are America's gateway for hundreds of billions of dollars of trade with Asia and beyond are no stranger to labor unrest and even violence.

Now, the contract that covers nearly 20,000 dockworkers is set to expire, and businesses that trade in everything from apples to iPhones are worried about disruptions just as the crush of cargo for the back-to-school and holiday seasons begins.

With contentious issues including benefits and job security on the table, smooth sailing is no guarantee.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 06/26/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why aren't the anti trust laws used against the union since it has a defacto monopoly on the labor.

Just curious.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 06/26/2014 1:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, look at it this way, there's all sorts of illegal slaves now to replace the dock workers. Isn't our new Obama Slave class wonderful?
Posted by: Silentbrick || 06/26/2014 1:51 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm sure O & Co won't let this opportunity go to waste.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/26/2014 3:57 Comments || Top||

#4  Good thing all of this turmoil and unhappiness is taking place here in the States.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/26/2014 5:42 Comments || Top||

#5  Less(Far less, think Impeachment.)than two year remaining for Obama to screw things up, vote Republican and end this Obamafuckup.
Posted by: Redeck Jim || 06/26/2014 7:00 Comments || Top||

#6  With the Chinese expanding the Panama canal (for future shipping to the Gulf and East Coast) and the Mexicans actually expanding their shipping and rail system south of San Diego, this may be the last chance to extort make gains for the lower skill laborers who (like their brethren in Detroit) are making far more than likewise skilled workers elsewhere in the economy.

Not that we couldn't do without the lifeline of loads of Chinese plastic trinkets and textiles for long. Maybe if some of that stuff was actually manufactured Stateside, some of the business wouldn't be subject to such supply interruption.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/26/2014 9:11 Comments || Top||

#7  Combine this with the news that port deepening projects got the green light, and I see a lot more ships heading Gulf/East Coast.
Posted by: BA || 06/26/2014 9:47 Comments || Top||

#8  This has always been the problem with unions. They demand and demand until the company can't pay them anymore. Then business goes elsewhere and everyone that was in the union is out of a job.
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/26/2014 11:31 Comments || Top||

#9  The dock workers in SF have always been led by Commie agitators. Harry Bridges.
Posted by: Vespasian Oppressor of the Visigoths8235 || 06/26/2014 13:48 Comments || Top||

#10  Didn't that operations/security contract go to Oman? Good time to drive up the cost, reduce the revenue and bring it back home.
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/26/2014 17:09 Comments || Top||


Barnes & Noble closes the book on Nook
[AMERICASMARKETS.USATODAY] Barnes & Noble, the struggling bookseller, saw its shares jump 8% Wednesday after saying it will spin off its Nook digital book business.

The Nook business, which produced digital readers that were a constant also-ran versus offerings from Amazon, Google and Apple, required heavy investments from the company that it was ill-prepared to afford. Shares are up $2.13, or 10%, to $22.69 on the news.

The unit, to be spun off into a new publicly traded company called Nook Media, is 17% owned by Microsoft and 5% owned by publisher Pearson. The company plans to create a tablet in partnership with Samsung. The new business is expected to be pulled out of Barnes & Noble by March 2015.

The core business isn't all that healthy, though. Barnes & Noble said sales at stores open at least a year will fall in the low single digit percentage in the upcoming fiscal year. The company posted a loss of $36.7 million in the quarter ended May 3.

Yet, investors seem to be focused on the positives Wednesday. At least Barnes & Noble's quarterly loss is less severe than it was in the same quarter a year ago, when Barnes & Noble bled $114.8 million.
Posted by: Fred || 06/26/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Considering that the book keeps trying to close on Barnes & Noble, you have to wonder who got the lifeboat here.
Posted by: ed in texas || 06/26/2014 7:41 Comments || Top||

#2  ...I suspect the market speculators who didn't get stuck with decaying paper and were able to unload their holdings (on other suckers) on the uptick in the shares.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/26/2014 9:14 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Texas Lawmen Volunteering to Cover the Border
FALFURRIAS, Texas--Volunteer police officers and deputies from across South Texas have responded to the need for help in Brooks County, Texas. The deaths of many illegal immigrants have created a huge financial burden on this small county's budget. The county is a choke point for the trafficking of illegal immigrants, narco-traffickers, and foreign gang members. Smugglers often leave women and the injured to die if they are unable to keep up with the group while traversing the rough, isolated terrain. The off-duty law enforcement officers are donating their personal time and even money to make sure "everyone goes home" at the end of their shifts.

On June 22, Breitbart Texas reported about the impact of the mass graves on the Brooks County government. The fallout from the cost of burial of over 120 illegal immigrants in the last year had caused the department to cut pay and health insurance from its deputies. This caused some officers to quit in search of greener pastures and left Brooks County with four patrol deputies to cover an area roughly the size of Rhode Island, about 1,000 square miles.

Because of this, law enforcement officers from across South Texas are now volunteering their off-duty time to fill the gap and make certain these deputies have backup when they are needed.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Thineng Angailet7166 || 06/26/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If only the nation were more like Texas
Posted by: OldSpook || 06/26/2014 20:39 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Over-collecting data
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/26/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:



Who's in the News
42[untagged]
8Govt of Pakistan
7Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant
4Boko Haram
3Ansar al-Sharia
2TTP
2Hamas
2al-Qaeda in Pakistan
2Salafists
2Abu Sayyaf
1Govt of Sudan
1Arab Spring
1Govt of Iraq
1al-Qaeda
1Lashkar e-Taiba
1Shabaab al-Tawhid
1Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan

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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.
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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
Thu 2014-06-26
  At least 21 killed in rush-hour blast in Nigerian capital
Wed 2014-06-25
  Zarb-i-Azb: 47 militants killed in NWA, Khyber blitz
Tue 2014-06-24
  Thousands flee North Waziristan region on last day of evacuation
Mon 2014-06-23
  Syria Army, Hizbullah Seek to Oust Rebels from Qalamun Foothills
Sun 2014-06-22
  30 militants killed in Khyber Agency, N Waziristan air blitz
Sat 2014-06-21
  Lebanon security chief escapes suicide attack
Fri 2014-06-20
  Zarb-i-Azb operation: 23 militants killed in fresh strikes
Thu 2014-06-19
  Iraq Battles ISIL for Control of Baiji Refinery
Wed 2014-06-18
   Iraqi PM sacks senior security officers over failure in fighting insurgents
Tue 2014-06-17
  Iraq calls for Iranian help to fight militants
Mon 2014-06-16
  Mighty Pak Army launches operation in North Wazoo
Sun 2014-06-15
  Iraq Rebels Stall North of Baghdad
Sat 2014-06-14
  Iran sends forces to Iraq as ISIS militants press forward
Fri 2014-06-13
  Iraqi security forces withdraw from Syrian border
Thu 2014-06-12
  'They have lined the streets of Mosul with the heads of police and soldiers'


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