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Today: 73 articles and 183 comments as of 7:27.
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117 Al Shabaab Turbans Toes Up in 8 hr. Mudug Region Shootout
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 3: Non-WoT
3 20:15 Procopius2k [9] 
1 08:04 Skidmark [8] 
5 19:58 Javish Lumplump7499 [8] 
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7 16:48 Besoeker [9] 
26 17:25 USN, Ret. [5] 
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1 09:14 MikeKozlowski [4] 
3 20:05 Javish Lumplump7499 [9] 
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12 19:50 Thruter Gloluger6393 [6] 
1 16:58 Super Hose [1] 
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Page 6: Politix
4 15:29 Super Hose [8]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Texas dad Richard Acosta convicted of murder in fatal shootings by teen son
[NYPOST] A Texas man has been convicted of capital murder in the fatal shooting of three teenagers by the man’s then-14-year-old son.
"Sure I'll drive the getaway car for you, son! That's what dads are for!"
Richard Acosta, 34, was convicted Friday by a jury in Dallas of capital murder for the 2021 shooting deaths of Xavier Gonzalez, 14; Ivan Noyala, 16; and Rafael Garcia, 17, the day after Christmas. A 15-year-old newly hired cook was injured in the shooting and has recovered.

Acosta testified that he did not know his son, Abel Acosta, had a gun or had shot anyone, only that the teenager got into his vehicle and told his father to drive away because someone was shooting.

Abel Acosta disappeared shortly after the shooting and authorities say he remains on the lam and is considered armed and dangerous.

Prosecutors argued that Richard Acosta sought to dispose of evidence and tried to move his family from Garland.

Richard Acosta was convicted of capital murder, over a year after his 14-year-old son shot and killed three teens in Texas.

Richard Acosta, who surrendered to police days after the shooting and was indicted nearly one year ago, said his son disappeared later the night of the shooting.

"We are only halfway to justice," according to a statement on social media by the Garland Police Department that said authorities would persist in their search. "We will not stop until Abel Acosta is captured."
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2023 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:


-Great Cultural Revolution
Watch Rihanna Super Bowl Halftime Show: Humps, Grabs Crotch, Smells Hand
[Breitbart] Left-wing pop star Rihanna headlined the Super Bowl LVII halftime show where she offered gratuitous humping, grasped her buttocks, and grabbed her crotch before smelling her hand.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/13/2023 01:16 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh, that was what that red vinyl dough(girl?) was...?
Actually I had the sound off because what little football was being displayed was disrupting the staccato barrage of 20-second ads. Looked up again and the scored was tied (was it a good game, I dunno) and the winning field goal was just kicked.

TL/DR: I don't know what the NFL and the advertisers have turned the Super Bowl into but it ain't a watchable football game any more.
Posted by: magpie || 02/13/2023 3:41 Comments || Top||

#2  The choreography was unimaginative, the dancing of it uninspired. Is she pregnant, or was it just the costume that made her look so? The commercials — which are the only reason I watch — did not sound appealing enough to bring me in from the next room, where I was doing articles for Rantburg
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/13/2023 4:34 Comments || Top||

#3  Ah ha — she is. From the article:

Following Rihanna’s performance at the Super Bowl on Sunday, a representative for the singer confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that she is expecting another child.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/13/2023 4:36 Comments || Top||

#4  makes Sam Smith's Satan dance at the Grammys
look classy by comparison
Posted by: lord garth || 02/13/2023 5:16 Comments || Top||

#5  What next, a Transgender half show done in the locker room showers?

Have not watched the New Normal Super Bowl in years and don't feel I missed anything. In fact, I haven't watched any Football games since the NFL went political and anti-US Flag, Anti-White agenda tone.

Face it, when Colin Rand Kaepernic, a lower rated Mixed Race QB, abandoned by his own mixed race parents as an infant, and adopted by White Parents that raised him like his own. Goes own to show, with drive, education and determination in the USA, you can achieve greater wealth no matter what your roots were.

Then, making $$ millions a year, whines that America isn't fair and people buy into it and support the fallacy.

I have to ask WHY SUPPORT IT BS & IMMORALITY
by watching it?

Posted by: NN2N1 || 02/13/2023 6:36 Comments || Top||

#6  ...I kinda consider myself lucky - we wtached it on Fox Sports, and I'm not kidding when I say that the video of the halftime show looked like some heavily pixellated nightmare from the late 90s. The only reason I knew it was Rihanna was because they wouldn't let us forget she was doing the show.

And while we're on the subject, I'm glad she had something resembling a normal hairdo - the weird, Daliesque nightmare she was wearing in the every-other-minute reminders looked like it hurt.

Mike
Posted by: MikeKozlowski || 02/13/2023 6:53 Comments || Top||

#7  I'm doing pretty good so far as I still don't know the final score of that National Felons League affair.
Posted by: DooDahMan || 02/13/2023 7:08 Comments || Top||

#8  Super Bowl Refs Hold Pregame Meeting To Decide Which Team Will Win [Bee]
Posted by: Frank G || 02/13/2023 7:26 Comments || Top||

#9  I listened on radio. Too many interruptions. "Hurts running for his life! Headed for the sidelines! He's.. Advertisement. When the game came back Hurts was scoring the 2 point conversion to tie the game.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 02/13/2023 7:27 Comments || Top||

#10  BTW:
Since the game appears to have been in AZ.
Were they able to finalize the score, or will it take 2 weeks?

Snark O'The Day
Posted by: NN2N1 || 02/13/2023 7:32 Comments || Top||

#11  Watch Rihanna?
Slim new singer from Barbados, maybe.
This heifer, not by choice.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/13/2023 8:13 Comments || Top||

#12  It's hilarious that the same people who love human subjective choices in online censorship and our court system are apoplectic about human subjective choices of the officials in the game.

Make up your minds, people...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/13/2023 8:49 Comments || Top||

#13  Super Bowl halftime shows haven't been good in a while; there's a reason the words rap and crap are nearly identical.

Great SB, by the way - close, high-scoring game and I hit a SB square with the final score, for $250. I was one play away from hitting on a second, if Philly's 2nd TD (right at the beginning of the second quarter) had been scored one play earlier in the first quarter.
Posted by: Raj || 02/13/2023 10:21 Comments || Top||

#14  I haven'y watched 'woke bowls' in decades.

I couldn't care less about wokeball.
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 02/13/2023 10:43 Comments || Top||

#15  We watched it up to about half-time, then switched to "Creatures Great And small." The bowl adds were trash. They really took woke over the top this year.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/13/2023 10:58 Comments || Top||

#16  Humbs, Grabs Crotch, Smells Hand

Don't forget the lip synching. Sometimes she didn't even bother to lip synch, she just stood there and smiled while the recording played. Well, the girl just had a baby so maybe she was out of shape. But you'd think the Super Bowl could do better.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 02/13/2023 11:48 Comments || Top||

#17  I can't wait til I don't watch the Stupid Bowl and not care about the commercials. Maybe they'll hold it in Davos so the elites don't have to travel so far.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 02/13/2023 11:50 Comments || Top||

#18  I'm telling you in another few years shitting on stage is gonna be a thing.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 02/13/2023 11:59 Comments || Top||

#19  Yeah, I lost interest when they first started all that BLM take-a-knee bullcrap and haven't been able to forgive them since. This time they all stood and looked respectful for the national anthem but I get the distinct impression they wouldn't if a Republican was in the White House. Mrs. Uluque doesn't understand about that and wanted to continue the tradition so I sat and watched it with her. Left to my own devices, I probably would have gone for a walk outside.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 02/13/2023 12:00 Comments || Top||

#20  I think it's hard to argue that the game itself was not good (unless you are of the camp that Philly got screwed late by the officials). I get that some feel supporting it at all implies supporting everything else that was packaged with it. I hit mute for the halftime show and got a snack, came back for 2nd half.

As for people's perceptions, I really didn't think Stapleton's National Anthem performance was so special, YMMV. To me, it seemed at times that he was doing that "I don't know the words, but it's alright" sort of deal.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/13/2023 12:07 Comments || Top||

#21  We watched the halftime show with visiting friends, and were utter disgusted by the presentation. Crude, tribal, and talent-less, with costumes that reminded me of the Monty Python skit about reproduction. The lyrics were utter drivel, and the choreography (such as it was) would shame a sixth grade dance class. I kept thinking of Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor in the iconic Singing in the Rain, American in Paris, or even West Side Story, and the elegance of actual dance. Then I realized that the half-time show was merely more political theater, making everything associated with public viewing have a heavy racial component or theme, commercials included. Sad to see the handiwork of years of "Change" from the ruling class installed by the Magic Kenyan!
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 02/13/2023 12:27 Comments || Top||

#22  Bradberry admits he was holding. Hoping the refs would let it ride.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 02/13/2023 12:48 Comments || Top||

#23  Not to disagree with anyone above, but I thought the coordination of 150-200 dancers took a lot of practice.
Posted by: Bobby || 02/13/2023 12:48 Comments || Top||

#24  Saw a pregnant woman shaking her butt and that was enough for me.

I started to wonder how difficult it would be to quickly (and safely) set up and tear down the stages, etc. I suppose someone paid a pretty penny for that.
Posted by: Muggsy Ebbens8477 || 02/13/2023 15:29 Comments || Top||


#26  Add me to the ‘don’t give a damn’ about the nfl and their social justice crap. Started taking some trees down yesterday to have something productive to do. Have to be done by Sunday.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 02/13/2023 17:25 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Mississippi hit with a 900% rise over five years in the number of newborn babies being treated for congenital syphilis
[MAIL] The number of babies being diagnosed with congenital syphilis in Mississippi has skyrocketed more than 900 percent over a five year span, according to a new study.

Dr. Thomas Dobbs, the medical director of the Mississippi State Department of Health's Crossroads Clinic in Jackson, found that a whopping 102 newborns were treated for the sexually-transmitted infection in 2021, up from just 10 in 2016.

Babies born with the disease can face organ damage, problems with their nervous system and potentially blindness or deafness. At least one baby has died from the disease, according to Mississippi state officials, though the State Department of Health does not formally track congenital syphilis deaths.

Dobbs told NBC News he has spoken with other health care providers, all of whom 'are absolutely horrified' that babies are being born with the disease as they call for further investments in women's health.

'This seems like something that should have happened a hundred years ago, not last year,' he said. 'There's really kind of a shock.'
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/13/2023 05:56 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Are the females identifying the sperm donor(s)?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/13/2023 7:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Syphilis As A Cause Of Mental Deficiency

British Medical Journal article dated 1959. Not much written on the topic of late. Can't imagine why.

[sarc off]
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/13/2023 7:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Cause and result?
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/13/2023 10:04 Comments || Top||

#4  See? If only they'd been aborted.

Sorry about the caustic sarcasm. Just looking for the abortion angle.
Posted by: Bobby || 02/13/2023 11:44 Comments || Top||

#5 
Posted by: Javish Lumplump7499 || 02/13/2023 19:58 Comments || Top||


Up to 5.3 million people in Syria may have been made homeless by the devastating earthquake which rocked the region this week
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2023 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...I honestly didn't think that there were 5.3 million people left in Syria.

Mike
Posted by: MikeKozlowski || 02/13/2023 9:14 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
China key player in U.S. farm exports while facing ban on buying land
Why are American food prices increasing?
Oh, yeah.

[JustTheNews] China imported a record $36.4 billion in American farm products last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

China played a big role in a record-setting year for U.S. farm exports in 2022 as the United States' largest importer.

U.S. agricultural exports reached $196 billion in 2022 with China importing a record $36.4 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

China's role as a key importer of U.S. agricultural goods comes at a time some states are proposing banning citizens, companies and the government of China from being able to buy any land in the U.S.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted Jan. 15 that a bill was introduced in his state's legislature that would ban citizens from China, Iran, North Korea and Russia from buying land in Texas.

"I will sign it," Abbott said.

In Arkansas, a bill was introduced that would also ban individuals, companies and the government from those four countries from buying land in that state.

In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis said in January he would consider banning "hostile nations" from buying property in his state. DeSantis singled out China, according to The Center Square.

A USDA report stated, "... the United States has witnessed record export values to China for soybeans, corn, beef, chicken meat, tree nuts, and sorghum. Cotton exports to China have also rebounded, propelled by strong demand. All these products are major contributors to the U.S. farm economy."

For example, China represented about half of all U.S. soybean exports with a record $16.4 billion in 2022.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/13/2023 07:46 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Commies



NORAD gives notice of air defense exercise around Washington, DC, set for Tuesday
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/13/2023 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  between midnight and 2:30 a.m. EST

Guess they won't be shooting anything.

Posted by: Skidmark || 02/13/2023 5:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Let me be the first to denounce the army of scamps that will release swarms of mylar balloons with little bits of circuit board and blinky lights dangling from them. Naughty, naughty!
Posted by: SteveS || 02/13/2023 17:55 Comments || Top||

#3 
Posted by: Javish Lumplump7499 || 02/13/2023 20:05 Comments || Top||


Begun the UFO War Has
[Twitter] " ...pilots saying that when they looked at the object they could identify no identifiable propulsion system and they did not know how it was actually staying in the air cruising at that altitude"

---------------------
Biden Admin quietly denies balloons are extra terrestrials
So much for the recent brouhaha about the DoD having over half a century of UFO contacts.

Posted by: lord garth || 02/13/2023 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Lake Huron object allegedly at 20,000 feet and octangularly shaped per NORAD statement Sunday evening
Posted by: Slenter Panda4300 || 02/13/2023 6:29 Comments || Top||

#2  i have tin foil hat factory waiting for check from pentagon to clear!
Posted by: Cholutle Thrans9751 || 02/13/2023 9:05 Comments || Top||

#3  "...Begun, the UFO War Has. Leads to the Dark Side, war does. And gluten allergies, mmmm."

Mike
Posted by: MikeKozlowski || 02/13/2023 10:59 Comments || Top||

#4  Wait, I've seen this movie! A heroic team led by Bill Gates attempts to paralyze the alien mothership by installing Windows 11, but fails when no one can insert an alien USB connector right side up.

In the end, when all seems lost, the aliens succumb to a peanut allergy.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/13/2023 11:11 Comments || Top||

#5  Dave... I'm... afraid...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/13/2023 11:27 Comments || Top||

#6  It is possible.

Several years ago I talked to two Duluth Air guard radar men. They were on station 10 years apart. They told multi times there were "objects" that were traveling at explainable speeds.

Who knows what the hell people are actually seeing.
Posted by: Woodrow || 02/13/2023 15:31 Comments || Top||

#7  My pastor, and some of my church believed we would see UFOs just before the end of it all. When the kingdom of man is wrapped up. But I was hoping they'd be ... Y'know, have a little seraphic oomph, some old testament-ish 'orribleness.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 02/13/2023 18:58 Comments || Top||

#8  ^ Chariots of the Gods type stuff.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/13/2023 19:09 Comments || Top||

#9  Cherubim and seraphim? Or perhaps Gabriel and his golden horn?
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/13/2023 21:57 Comments || Top||

#10  Yeah like Ezekiel's vision and all the host that Gehazi was shown. Was that Gehazi? I forget.

There be awful big machines o' death with the man upstairs we're all told. It figures we'll have to face 'em sooner or later on the road to assimilation in His physical kingdom.

[I hear Johnny Cash in the background do you]
Posted by: Dron66046 || 02/13/2023 22:41 Comments || Top||

#11  Golden horn? Gabriel has a golden horn?
Posted by: Dron66046 || 02/13/2023 22:42 Comments || Top||

#12 
Infinite area, low volume 🎵
Everything falls when it goes poom poom!
Oh Gawd! The Golden horn!🎵 X2
The golden horn, the golden horn 🎶


Oop closing time...
Posted by: Dron66046 || 02/13/2023 22:45 Comments || Top||


Unidentified object shot down over Lake Huron — third in as many days
[NYPOST] US fighter jets shot down an unidentified object over Lake Huron on Sunday, marking the third time such action was taken in as many days and coming on the heels of last week’s Chinese spy balloon saga.

Sunday’s takedown is believed to have involved an octagonal object that was tracked by radar over Montana on Saturday, when it "flew in proximity to sensitive [Department of Defense] sites," Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command located the object Sunday morning and tracked it visually and with radar until an F-16 fighter fired an AIM9x missile to blow it out of the sky about 20,000 feet over Lake Huron at 2:42 p.m., Ryder said.

"We did not assess it to be a kinetic military threat to anything on the ground, but assess it was a safety flight hazard and a threat due to its potential surveillance capabilities," Ryder said.

Ryder said it was shot down over water "to avoid impact to people on the ground while improving chances for debris recovery.

"There are no indications of any civilians hurt or otherwise affected," the rep added.

The object looked octagonal in shape and had strings hanging off it but carried no perceptible payload, an anonymous US official told Rooters.

Air Force officials said the latest three objects in US airspace are different from the now-infamous Chinese spy balloon.

"We’re calling them objects, not balloons for a reason," Air Force General Glen VanHerck told news hounds Sunday evening.

He said the most recent objects were "very, very small" and moved at slow speeds.

Courtesy of Skidmark:
Pentagon refuses to rule out that objects flying over the US are ALIENS as octagonal one is gunned down by F-16 fighter over Lake Huron after flying near sensitive military sites in Montana
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • A third unknown aerial object was shot down over the Great Lakes on Sunday

  • Authorities are not ruling out that the three most recent objects could be linked to aliens and extraterrestrials, US Air Force General Glen VanHerck said

  • They are not calling them balloons - as they are still not sure what the objects are
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2023 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Or they could be lost US weather balloons, but that'd be boring.
Posted by: Bobby || 02/13/2023 11:49 Comments || Top||

#2  An advanced civilization in a star system light years from here might well send unmanned probes to get an idea of what it's like here on planet Earth. It'd be no surprise if they came to the same conclusion as the little grays in the graphic.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 02/13/2023 12:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Congratulations Air Force! You used a million dollar missile to shoot down a $500 runaway advertising balloon.
Posted by: Thruter Gloluger6393 || 02/13/2023 14:08 Comments || Top||

#4  $5-600K for AIM9X.
Posted by: Thruter Gloluger6393 || 02/13/2023 14:15 Comments || Top||

#5  USGOV is not saying much about the first balloon and nothing at all about the other three alleged targets. If you have any "documentation" for your "runaway advertising balloon" claims, everyone here is interested to see it.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/13/2023 14:21 Comments || Top||

#6  Car sized octagonal shape. Too small to carry any electronic spying payload but the right size to float streamers on a used car lot.
Posted by: Thruter Gloluger6393 || 02/13/2023 14:27 Comments || Top||

#7  We ought to recruit some steam punk dudes from a Renaissance Festival, hijack a Goodyear blimp, board one of those objects and see what all is going on. Maybe only half of them will be feds.
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/13/2023 17:18 Comments || Top||

#8  ^ Immediately thought, "Sounds like a job for SM's League of Extraordinary Feds" (finally watched the impossibly bad LXG (or saboteurs' simulacrum thereof?) the other day). And then I read the second sentence. Ha.
Posted by: Javish Lumplump7499 || 02/13/2023 18:53 Comments || Top||

#9  An octagonal structure with strings
Could be any number of things
But as skyward it glides
Those who lined up for rides
Can read, over its sides, "Crazy Ming's".
Posted by: Javish Lumplump7499 || 02/13/2023 18:57 Comments || Top||

#10  Or possibly "China Eastern".
Posted by: Javish Lumplump7499 || 02/13/2023 19:09 Comments || Top||

#11  #7 - too late for SOTD, but worthy
Posted by: Frank G || 02/13/2023 19:15 Comments || Top||

#12 
Posted by: Thruter Gloluger6393 || 02/13/2023 19:50 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Ceasefire collapses as battle rages on for 7th day in LasAnod
But the hudna worked as designed.
[ShabelleMedia] The newly announced ceasefire in LasAnod failed to yield fruits as the fighting resumed on Sunday, marking 7th day of battle.

Sunday’s battle erupted in Oda Gooye, Mooragaan and near Qooja-cadde military base after Somaliland troops launched offensive against SSC fighters earlier in the morning.

The two sides engaged in a fierce shootout that still rages on in East of LasAnod with some reports of heavy shelling on civilian building.

Local health officials reported high toll of casualties as the ongoing war causing deaths and destruction everyday due to the collapse of the ceasefire in Sool regional capital.

A leading elder Abdimalik said there wouldn’t be a peace in LasAnod till Somaliland troops pull out from all SSC regions which its people rejected the breakaway region.

US, UN, AU and Somalia government called for an immediate end to the hostilities in LasAnod and both sides start dialogue to find a peaceful solution.

Over 100 people were killed and scores maimed in the seven-day fighting in LasAnod City.

The Amnesty international voices alarm over the indiscriminate shelling against the residential buildings and the mass displacement by the residents.

Somaliland faces pressure to stop the LasAnod offensive which Hargeisa lost its image for the democracy.

Doctors: Over 57 killed in Somalia's Las Anod city

[Garowe] Doctors and emergency service providers have claimed over 57 people have been killed following heavy fighting between local militia and troops loyal to Somaliland, with members of the international community calling for the cessation of hostilities between the two groups.

Locals who have been fighting in Las Anod want to rejoin the federal government of Somalia, over three decades after they were hived off by the secessionist region of Somaliland, which is fighting for international recognition after 30 years of self-rule.

One of the managers of a public hospital in Las Anod, Abdimajid Hussein Sugulle, said over 400 people have been critically injured following a week of fighting between the Somaliland troops and forces loyal to the movement demanding immedate withdrawal from the government of Hargeisa.

Authorities in Somaliland, a region that separated from Somalia three decades ago and seeks recognition as an independent country, announced a unilateral cease-fire on Friday night. But residents said skirmishes continued in and around the eastern city, the AP reports.

For a number of years now, the city has been a center of a dispute between Puntland
...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion...
state and Somaliland, with both parties threatening to deploy troops to the Sool region. Sool and Sanaag were taken by Somaliland in 2007.

President Muse Bihi Abdi, the leader of the breakaway region, recently accused Mogadishu and Garowe of engineering skirmishes in Las Anod, a claim which the two parties have refuted. Traditional elders insist the only way peace can be restored in Las Anod is by having Somaliland troops withdrawn.

The United Nations
...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense...
has said the fighting has displaced more than 80,000 people. Water and electricity have been cut off amid shelling. Thousands are crossing over to Puntland for safety, the UN further noted.

"Indiscriminate shelling of civilians is unacceptable and must stop," the U.N. and international partners said in a statement earlier in the week.

The government of Somaliland insists that it won't withdraw solders from the troubled region while insisting that it has a duty to maintain law and order. In the same measure, Somalia has called for calmness while asking the warring parties to embrace ceasefire for the sake of peace and stability.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/13/2023 00:09 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
Chinese High-Altitude Balloons Also Used Over Indian Military Bases
[Covert Shores] The Chinese balloon flying over the United States is getting headlines. The Chinese government has admitted it is their's but claim that it is civilian in nature and that the overflight is accidental. Another has been observed flying over Latin America with reports from Costa Rico and Colombia. There is very strong circumstantial evidence that these are military related 'spy balloons' and that there is a pattern of operation going back at least a year.

A virtually identical balloon has previously been observed high over an important naval base in India. And another, in June 2000, over Japan.

In February 2022 there was another possibly related incident, when USAF F-22 Raptors were scrambled to intercept a balloon off Hawaii. However images of the balloon do not appear online to confirm the Chinese design.

In January 2022 one of the balloons was photographed overflying Port Blair. This is a strategically located Indian Navy base in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands in the Indian Ocean. At the time the object was shared on social media but its Chinese origin appears to have been speculation at best (at least in the public sphere).

Local media, Andaman Sheekha, reported on it on January 6 2022, posing the questions: "Now question is which agency has placed the object in the sky and why? If this object is not released by any agencies in Andaman then was it sent for spying? But in this age of ultra advanced satellites, who will use a flying object to spy? " - now we know it was Chinese.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/13/2023 01:31 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1 

Just for Stinky stuff and Giggles.

A few What if's:

What if the CCP started using the Balloons as a BIO Disbursal vehicle?

A Political S.I.G, Radicals, or just pranksters, started launching Internet purchased lab balloons ?

What if this is just another Staged Political, Media/Public Deflection event? To focus attention away from the BIDEN-CCP connection to classified documents?
Posted by: NN2N1 || 02/13/2023 6:46 Comments || Top||

#2  I'll go with the 3rd.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 02/13/2023 12:02 Comments || Top||

#3  What if this is just another Staged Political, Media/Public Deflection event? To focus attention away from the BIDEN-CCP connection to classified documents?

Even if #3 is correct, Biden's handlers might seize the opportunity to make it look like he's getting tough on China, then add some UFOs into the mix that the CCP doesn't even know about to make it look like he's really, really tough.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 02/13/2023 13:01 Comments || Top||

#4  What if the CCP started using the Balloons as a BIO Disbursal vehicle?

Because a airline ticket is a lot cheaper?
Posted by: Thruter Gloluger6393 || 02/13/2023 13:28 Comments || Top||

#5  /\ Terrain mapping navigation for cruise missiles, should the GPS suddenly go out.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/13/2023 15:03 Comments || Top||

#6  An elevation map would be easier, more accurate and predictable to create with laser radar on a satellite.
Posted by: Thruter Gloluger6393 || 02/13/2023 15:13 Comments || Top||

#7  /\ Could be a combination. Joysticking known points and low-level altitudes via Full Motion Video, and flying it to target locations. Again, in the absence of sat or GPS guidance.

Man-in-the-loop could be an anti-jamming or dynamic re-tasking assist. Vectoring successive sorties via observable burning cities, not a new technique.

I am not an aviator. Just a wild guess, emphasis on wild.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/13/2023 16:48 Comments || Top||


China 'detects unidentified object entering its airspace near nuclear naval base and is preparing to shoot it down', state media claims
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/13/2023 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  UFOs all over the place. What the hell?

Well, that's what I would ask if I could actually believe a word either the CCP or Biden say.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 02/13/2023 13:03 Comments || Top||


Cyber
The Silicon Valley spies: NSA is scooping up laid off Big Tech workers in largest hiring spree in past 30 years - as firms such as Meta, Zoom and Twitter shed their workforces
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/13/2023 05:46 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Since they don't want 'Americans', the H1Bs should work out for them.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/13/2023 7:18 Comments || Top||


Europe
NATO websites hit by hacker attack
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[REGNUM] NATO websites, including the portal of the Headquarters of the Special Operations Forces, became the target of a hacker cyberattack

NATO websites, including the Internet resource of the Alliance's Special Operations Forces Headquarters, were subjected to a hacker cyberattack. This was reported on February 12 by the German agency DPA, citing a spokesman for the military alliance.

“NATO websites on Sunday became the target of a hacker attack,” the report said.

It is specified that the incident affected the functioning of several NATO websites. Alliance experts in the field of cybersecurity are actively investigating what happened.

It is noted that NATO constantly faces cyber threats and takes the issue of ensuring security in cyberspace seriously.

DPA points out that information has allegedly appeared on social networks that some “pro-Russian activists” attacked the website of the NATO Special Operations Forces Headquarters. This was blamed on the hacker group KILLNET. No evidence was presented for this.

Posted by: badanov || 02/13/2023 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


The Grand Turk
Turkey arrests 48 for looting, defrauding quake victims
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2023 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Turkey-Syria earthquake death toll surpasses 28,000 33,000 and climbing
[PUBLISH.TWITTER] Turkey, Syria earthquake death toll goes past 33,000

[GEO.TV] Death toll 29,695 in Turkey, more than 3,500 in Syria.

Hundreds of thousands homeless in middle of winter.

UN aid chief says world has failed people of northwest Syria

Courtesy of Skidmark:
Whole neighbourhoods gone: Aerial images reveal shocking devastation of mega quake in Turkey as UN warns of aid failure in Syria and earthquake death toll passes 33,000
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2023 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  The world fails again, but the UN’s record remains perfect.
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/13/2023 16:58 Comments || Top||


Great White North
U.S. forces shoot down 'unidentified object' over Canada airspace

Where...uhm, are the Canadian air forces?
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/13/2023 07:49 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm pretty sure it is not of "alien origin". Nobody ever knocked down a UFO and some were shot at in the 1950s.

There was the one that crashed, of course, at Roswell, NM.
Posted by: Bobby || 02/13/2023 13:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Let's see...

1 day rental of (2) F-22 Raptors - $5M
1 AIM-9 or like missile - $500K
Fuel @ X 49,000 PPH for 12 Hrs - $500K
Pilot fees (2X) - $100K
Support Staff - $100K
Misc. (Airport, oversight etc) - $250K

Let's say they owe us $6,450,000 USD

Obviously I made up the numbers but you get the idea.... Oh yeah...they sent us Justin Beeber so let's say it's and even $10M for the aggravation
Posted by: Warthog || 02/13/2023 16:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Where...uhm, are the Canadian air forces?

Tracking truckers?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/13/2023 20:15 Comments || Top||


Government Corruption
Arkansas Delegation Presses Biden Energy Department on $200M Federal Grant Awarded to CCP-Linked Company
[Breitbart] The Republican Arkansas delegation is demanding answers from the Department of Energy as to why it awarded a $200 million grant to a company linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) using American taxpayer money that was supposed to be used to make America less reliant on China for battery production.

In a letter sent this week, Sens. Tom Cotton, John Boozman, and Reps. Rick Crawford, French Hill, Steve Womack, and Bruce Westerman asked DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm why a federal grant was awarded to the company Microvast despite the company having documented ties to the CCP and operating primarily out of China.

"While American companies were denied funding opportunities, the DOE supported a company that admits the Chinese government ’exerts substantial influence over the manner in which we must conduct our business activities and may intervene, at any time and with no notice.’ DOE’s vetting and oversight process is deficient," they said in the February 7, 2023, letter.

The grant was part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which aimed to help secure America’s domestic supply chains by being less reliant on China for materials such as lithium-ion battery cells or critical minerals. According to Reuters, over 200 companies competed for grants under the IIJA last year, but only 20 companies were awarded.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/13/2023 01:13 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Commies


India-Pakistan
10,000 pilgrims from J&K to perform Hajj this year
Just check them off against NIA lists, and you’ll be fine,
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/13/2023 00:09 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Devout Moslems


International-UN-NGOs
United Nations admits failure of aid efforts to thousands of Syrian victims of earthquake
It always takes longer to get aid where it is needed than the recipients would like.
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] UN Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, on Sunday acknowledged the organization’s failure to help thousands of Syrian civilians, and its inability to deliver aid to those affected by the earthquake.

Griffiths said in a tweet posted on his Twitter account, "We have so far failed the people in north-west Syria. They rightly feel abandoned. Looking for international help that hasn’t arrived."

He added "My duty and our obligation is to correct this failure as fast as we can. That’s my focus now."

Syria calls on the International Committee of the Red Thingy and United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
organizations and bodies to pressure the United States of America to lift the siege imposed on the Syrian people, violating all international covenants and treaties.

Moscow called on the West and the international community to lift sanctions on Syria that impede the provision of assistance after the earthquake that struck the country.

The United Nations Coordinator in Syria, Mustafa bin al-Malih, confirmed in statements after the earthquake occurred that the sanctions imposed on Damascus are harming humanitarian efforts in this country, noting millions of dollars in financial aid are being prevented from reaching those affected by the earthquake.

Head of the Syrian Arab Red Islamic Thingy, Khaled Habbouti, called on the European community to lift the blockade and economic sanctions imposed on Syria to face the repercussions of the devastating earthquake.

A devastating earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale struck southern The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
and northern Syria, at dawn last Monday, and was followed by aftershocks felt by residents in neighboring countries.
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2023 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  It seems unlikely to me that we would be the sole impediment to the flow of international aid, but to me our Syrian operation is as odiferous and murky as a Laredo port-a-potty on the morning of the 7th of May. I don’t understand the goal, strategy or our national interest for our engagement. We seem to be facing off against ISIS, Syria, Russia, Iran and Turkey. We aren’t taking casualties as far as I know, but that could be hidden. Maybe we are working with some “freedom fighters.” Obama put us in to the place. Could someone other than one of his lizards explain how we win and come home?
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/13/2023 16:56 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Intro to SEASPRAY program - later squadron E of Delta Force (and more)
[GreyDynamics] SEASPRAY was a covert air unit and collaborative effort between the CIA and US Army, which began in 1981.

It is very likely that anyone reading this has never heard of the term SEASPRAY. This is for good reason, as the United States government has spent the last four decades and great effort to cast a murky shadow over the program. SEASPRAY was a joint effort to provide the US Army with clandestine air power and serve the adjacent goals of the CIA.

A grossly inaccurate pop culture representation of these phenomena forms our modern conception of black operations, black helicopters, black sites and plausibly deniable operators. Yet beyond the Tom Clancy novels, Modern Warfare video games, Bond movies, etcetera, there is an actual world of shadow covert activity. SEASPRAY, as we can tell from open sources, fits the bill perfectly.
Posted by: Slenter Panda4300 || 02/13/2023 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  serve the adjacent goals of the CIA.

Or in terms of.... Klingon projects gone dreadfully bad, the 'clean up' of Panama's Tony Noriega administration.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/13/2023 8:14 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: Cholutle Thrans9751 || 02/13/2023 9:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Well, it really was a bag of tortilla corn flour.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/13/2023 9:02 Comments || Top||

#4  I wonder how much this has to do with the restructuring of Army Intelligence in the 1976/1977 time period.

It almost sounds like they were trying to rebuild something they'd shut down shortly before.

(Only with More Klingons).
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 02/13/2023 9:54 Comments || Top||

#5  I have some issues with few of the
facts presented. That's all I can say.
Posted by: NN2N1 || 02/13/2023 10:33 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2023-02-13
  117 Al Shabaab Turbans Toes Up in 8 hr. Mudug Region Shootout
Sun 2023-02-12
  Narc lord ‘Gato’ Farfan, arrested in Colombia
Sat 2023-02-11
  Militants kill 16 security officials in northern Burkina Faso
Fri 2023-02-10
  American Stockbroker Who Abandoned Family To Join Terrorists In Syria Convicted Of Becoming Sniper, Instructor For ISIS
Thu 2023-02-09
   New Zealand police find 3.5 tons of cocaine worth $300M floating in Pacific Ocean
Wed 2023-02-08
  Kenya steps up measures against Al-Shabaab militants in Somalia
Tue 2023-02-07
  Nearly 3,000 dead, over 13,500 injured in Turkiye-syria earthquake
Mon 2023-02-06
  Militant NY couple get a combined 20 yrs in prison for providing material support to Islamic State terrorists
Sun 2023-02-05
   US shoots down Chinese balloon over ocean
Sat 2023-02-04
  Karachi: Another Ahmadiyya worship place vandalised, 5 arrested
Fri 2023-02-03
  Anti-ISIS Campaign Ends, 127 Arrested – AANES
Thu 2023-02-02
   Russian Forces Closing in on Artyomovsk
Wed 2023-02-01
   Three Al-Qaeda suspects killed in Yemen drone strike
Tue 2023-01-31
  200 people evacuated as fire engulfs migrant camp in Spain
Mon 2023-01-30
   Israeli warplanes hit a convoy near the Iraqi-Syrian borders


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