#1
It is time that we took a page from ole William T's play book when we deal with our adversaries of that other faith.
Nothing like scorched earth to discourage antisocial behavior
Time to take the gloves off gentlemen, and show those tin hat idiots that we mean business
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
01/21/2015 12:02 Comments ||
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#2
AND I am not talking about the State Department or the National Security Council
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
01/21/2015 12:03 Comments ||
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#3
I am about two miles from the excavation site - the Authorities are playing down what they might find, but the local experts are saying it could be a real treasure trove down there...stay tuned. :D
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/21/2015 12:40 Comments ||
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#4
Well if Sherman bummers did the work there's won't be no whiskey nor cash money.
The only people who still feel they can clearly define who is and isn't a journalist are legislators. They're almost always wrong. Journalism isn't a career. It's an activity. Anyone can do it and, thanks to the internet, anyone can find a publishing platform and readers. But, according to many politicians, it ain't the press unless it involves one.
If you want press credentials to cover Alabama's legislative sessions, prepare to be disappointed.
Raise your hand if you trust Alabama Republican legislative leaders to define "legitimate journalism" in Alabama. Well, they're doing it anyway. Tuscaloosa Rep. Chris England took to Facebook to post a list of criteria that reporters will have to meet if they're to receive press credentials & be allowed inside the press rooms at the State House. More at the link...
#1
My reading of this is that Republicans and Democrats alike are setting up a system whereby they can extract more money for press passes to raise revenue.
It isn't a partisan thing or even a freedom of speech thing. It's just more public sector officiousness and greed. Bad but not the same as trying to control the information stream.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
01/21/2015 5:11 Comments ||
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#2
Should probably send them all to that other guy's SERE school, in case they're captured. That might thin their ranks and inject a little reality into their worlds.
#3
It's not so much a fund raiser on press passes as it is a plan to assure that only licensed, approved toadies and syncophants are around when they say something stupid. Because, you know it's going to happen.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
01/21/2015 7:49 Comments ||
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#4
So much or freedom of the press.
I don't consider the mainstream media outlets as press... More like propaganda outlets.
#5
freedom of the press (circa 1792) meant the technology not the institution. It was all about free flow of information. That is not what happens in the 'Press' (circa 2015). No, that institution is not entitled to what amounts to another "title of nobility". Remember they keep pushing the entitlement to secrecy of source. One set of rules for me, another set of rules for thee.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/21/2015 13:06 Comments ||
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#7
The applicant must also certify that, with the exception of the Alabama Press Association and the Alabama Broadcasters Association, and the exception of receiving advertising revenue, they have no affiliation with any person, firm, corporation, association, or political party that attempts to influence legislative issues or lobby members of the Alabama Legislature.
You could drive a truck through that exception.
I think there must be ways of certifying how many visits a web site receives. That is certainly as good a measure of how many people read it as the ways they use to measure radio and TV audiences.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/21/2015 13:15 Comments ||
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DJIBOUTI -- Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh laid the first stone of a new Chinese-funded airport, part of an effort to turn the small Horn of Africa state into a regional travel hub at a cost of $599 million. The investment, to be provided by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), will pay for the new Hassan Gouled Aptidon international airport in Ali-Sabieh, 25 km (15 miles) south of the capital.
The 1.5-million-passenger-per-year capacity airport, whose construction began on Monday, is to open in 2018 with runways big enough for modern attack commercial jets. It will also be able to handle 100,000 tonnes of cargo annually and generate 500 jobs.
“Its main aim is to enable our country to build a regional hub in the air transport sector,” Transport Minister Moussa Ahmed Hassan said.
The $599 million will also cover the construction of a second airport in the north, near the Seven Brothers islands, with an annual capacity of 350,000 passengers when it opens in 2016, rising to 767,000 by 2021.
Djibouti isn't that big. It needs two airports?
Air travel has increased in sub-Saharan Africa in recent years as economies have grown on a continent short of well-maintained modern road and rail networks.
So does this help us cover the region or is it an opening for the Chinese military?
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/21/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Two airports so that when the revolution divides the country, you can still get out though the other one.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
01/21/2015 7:56 Comments ||
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#2
International trade requires international bases to protect that trade. The Chinese have read Mahan.
Namibia and China are discussing plans for a Chinese naval base in the southwest African country, the Namibian newspaper reported Tuesday, prompting an immediate denial from Beijing.
The Namibian quoted a confidential letter from Namibia's Beijing ambassador to his foreign ministry stating that a Chinese delegation would visit Windhoek for discussions "on the way forward regarding plans for the proposed naval base in Walvis Bay".
The letter from Ambassador Ringo Abed to foreign affairs permanent secretary Selma Ashipala-Musavyi, dated December 22, 2014, followed a meeting he had with Chinese defence ministry official Geng Yansheng, the Namibian said.
The detailed letter said the Chinese delegation would include technical staff and naval architects who would do an exploratory feasibility study, the newspaper reported.
In response to a query, the Chinese defence ministry told AFP that "the exchange of communication between Chinese defence officials and Namibian embassy officials reported by 'The Namibian' is an out-and-out fabrication".
Namibia's Foreign Affairs Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, who was sent a copy of the letter, said: "The whole issue is completely new to me. I'm seeing this letter for the first time."
The ambassador's letter said Geng Yansheng had noted that China had invested heavily in Namibia and that a Chinese naval presence would deter illegal fishing trawlers and smugglers in Namibian waters, the paper reported.
"Other considerations for the naval base would be for it to serve to train the Namibian navy, not only to be combat ready but to carry out civilian duties as well," the Nambian quoted the letter as saying.
This is the second time Beijing has denied reports of a planned naval base in Walvis Bay, which has a sheltered deepwater harbour and is Namibia's biggest commercial port.
The desert nation on the Atlantic coast to the north of South Africa is mineral-rich -- from diamonds to uranium -- and China has increased investment and aid in recent years.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/21/2015 14:18 ||
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[Nuus24] Cape Town's Zimbabwean government will soon intensify its land grabs, targeting the country's remaining white farmers and those with multiple farms, acting president Emmerson Mnangagwa has reportedly said during Zim State of the Union Speech.
According to the Newsday, Mnangagwa said there was need to resuscitate the country's agro-based economy so that Zimbabweans could have food on the table.
"Those with multiple farms, we will take them, the few whites on farms, we will look into that and those with big farms, we will cut to size," Mnangagwa was quoted as saying. Leveling the playing field. Giving everyone a fair shot, making the wealthy do their part...., that sort of thing.
The Scottish National Party, which could play a key role in British politics following elections in May, called on the main political parties to scrap Britain's nuclear deterrent on Tuesday.
The SNP's leader in parliament, Angus Robertson, told MPs that the Trident nuclear-armed submarines, which are currently at the Faslane base near Glasgow in Scotland, should not be replaced.
"The time has come to put down a marker about scrapping Trident and not replacing these weapons of mass destruction," Robertson told parliament.
The SNP, which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom, is often mentioned as holding a possible "kingmaker" role after the next election in coalition with the Labour party.
The government and opposition Labour have both committed to Trident, although some Labour MPs have rebelled against the party line.
"With polls showing we may very well hold the balance of power after the next general election we will do everything we can to ensure that Trident replacement does not go ahead," Robertson said.
He estimated that the savings from scrapping Trident could add up to �100 billion (131 billion euros, $151 billion).
The SNP currently has only six lawmakers in parliament, but that number is expected to at least double at the general election.
Britain's nuclear-armed status has underpinned its standing as a diplomatic power for decades.
Under a deal sealed at the height of the Cold War, the United States supplies Britain with nuclear missiles.
There are four submarines in the Trident fleet, at least one of which is on patrol somewhere in the world 24 hours a day.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/21/2015 14:15 ||
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#1
With the always unspoken "...the US will bail us out if we'd ever need them."
Fine. You want it that way? We should start billing these weasels the same way a home security outfit bills a homeowner. You want security? Here's your bill. No payment, no security.
#4
Iff the Mainland Euros, i.e. France + Germany, etc. [Russia?]fail to stop the Hard Boyz, what do the Scots propose to protect themslves in lieu of the Tridents or any other potent MilAsset???
Espec iff post-2015, post-OWG NAU, pro-Marxist-Commie-Globalist Amerika turns isolationist.
Lest we fergit, OBAMA-ISM = ANTI-US US-LED OWG GLOBALISM = where Euro-Security is concerned, the Member-States of the EU should rely on THEMSELVES ANDOR THE ONE OR MORE "US-STYLE", OWG GLOBALIST
"CO-SUPERPOWER(S?)" LEADING THE AFORESAID SAME EU.
For a map, click here. You can enlarge the map, if you open it separately.
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Ukrainian military forces continue attacks trying to restore their positions at the Donetsk airport as rebel forces continue clearing one key position and began an assault on another, according to Russian language news accounts.
According to several published sources, rebel units continue clearing the village of Peski, which had been used by Ukrainian forces to marshal forces and supply their units at the Donetsk airport, a position they gave up last week after holding it since the start of hostilities last May.
As previously reported, Ukrainian regular troops were ordered to withdraw from Peski as the rebel forces approached, leaving only volunteer units, reportedly staffed with members of the Right Sector political party, and Battalion OUN, also staffed with politically motivated volunteers.
Fighting has been heavy, and according to rebel sources, bloody for the Ukrainians. Taking data supplied by a Facebook message, rebels report a total of 22 dead and another 80 wounded for the Ukrainian side.
According to the pro rebel Voices of Sevastopol, Ukrainian troops continue to cling to the westernmost outskirts of Peski, this after being overrun by rebel forces in the morning. A quick local counterattack using 15 armored vehicles took that sector of the village back from the rebels. By Monday night, the situation had stabilized with rebel forces holding most of the village, both sides continuing to shell the other with tube and rocket artillery.
According to rebel news sources, the Ukrainian Army continued with several counterattacks in an attempt to regain the airport, focusing on the old terminal which the rebels have held since last October, when their own campaign to clear the airport began.
One such attack consisted of eight Ukrainian riflemen and two tanks which were sent to the airport, but captured by rebel forces. According to data supplied by videos, the group, headed by an unidentified Ukrainian colonel, had been told to go to the airport to evacuate Ukrainian wounded, and had not been told the airport was now in rebel hands. The detail was told a truck would be sent later to aid in the evacuation but by the time the Ukrainians realized the airport was in rebel hands, the group was forced to surrender.
"I wish I had refused to go to the front and stayed," admitted an unidentified Ukrainian soldier.
Ukrainian news sources reported 11 Ukrainian soldiers captured on Monday. They also say the Ukrainian forces continue to hold at the airport.
According to a news account on korrespondent.net, a total of 20 Ukrainian special forces operators have died at the airport. Those soldiers were affectionately known as "Cyborgs" by both sides, owing to their fighting ability against previous rebel attempts to eject them from the new terminal at the airport. According to the report a total of 112 wounded were taken to hospitals in Dnepropetrovsk and Odessa, all of them wounded from the fighting at the airport
Ukrainian military journalist Dmitri Tymchuk said that rebel artillery was firing on Ukrainian positions at Peski and Avdievka to prevent the arrival of Ukrainian reinforcements.
Tymchuk also reported that new rebel artillery units were deploying inside Donetsk city itself in the Petrovsky district, and that rebel forces were being marshaled for a counterattack, though the target of the counterattack was not indicated.
The rebel assault on Avdievka began in earnest Monday morning with rebel troops supported by tanks entering the village, according to rebel news reports. The rebel report indicated that fighting continued into Monday night as artillery strikes hit both side's positions. The report said a tank battle took place in or near the village.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraina by clicking here.
[AnNahar] Turkey on Tuesday arrested 23 people, including former senior officials in its telecoms and science agencies, in a new wave of raids against suspects accused of wire-tapping senior officials including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The official Anatolia news agency said prosecutors issued warrants for 28 people in Ankara, Istanbul and other cities, with those arrested former employees of the telecommunications agency TIB and the TUBITAK science and technology agency.
Anatolia said it was the fourth raid targeting suspects in the illegal wire-tapping case which is linked to last year's stunning corruption allegations against Erdogan and his inner circle that were based on bugged telephone conversations.
Among those targeted are the former deputy head of TUBITAK Hasan Palaz and communications agency former deputy chief Nihat Sen, it added.
Anatolia said that encrypted phones used by Erdogan had been illegally wiretapped on five occasions starting from December 17, 2013, when the corruption scandal broke.
As with previous raids, the current swoops and their targets were predicted with extraordinary precision by the mysterious Twitter user Fuat Avni before they even took place.
The identity of Fuat Avni, who likes to refer to Erdogan as the "tyrant", remains a mystery with some speculating the person could be a high-ranking government official.
Erdogan has blamed U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen of concocting the corruption scandal using a "parallel state" of officials loyal to him in the police and the judiciary.
In a separate development, police chiefs have been sacked in 21 provinces, according to a statement published in Turkey's Official Gazette.
Leaked tapes emerged in February 2014 where Erdogan allegedly told his son Bilal to dispose of some 30 million euros ($37 million) in cash. Erdogan has dismissed the recordings as a "vile montage".
According to Fuat Avni, Erdogan was "outraged" that the recording surfaced and has ordered that it must be destroyed.
The first trial in the case opened on January 2 of 13 suspects accused of setting up bugs to eavesdrop on Erdogan while he was prime minister, including his former top bodyguard and the head of the prime minister's security department.
Erdogan's government has sacked thousands of police and scores of judges and pushed through legislation tightening state control over the Internet and the judiciary, raising questions at home and abroad about the state of democracy in Turkey.
The president on Monday signaled that crackdown against Gulen supporters will widen, saying "there is still so much left to be revealed."
"There's so much that has been kept inside. All will be revealed in the days to come," Erdogan told an energy summit in Ankara. "We will do whatever necessary against this."
The parliament was on Tuesday to vote whether four former Turkish cabinet ministers will stand trial on graft allegations that were at the center of the scandal.
A parliamentary commission earlier this month ruled that they will not have to stand trial and with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) enjoying a comfortable majority in the chamber, the decision is expected to be rubber-stamped.
#2
The plane is not as fast and lacks the graceful lines of other fighter jets. But the Warthog, as pilots call it due to the snout-like nose, is extremely low maintenance, flies low, can practically hover over a battlefield, land almost anywhere and packs a 20-foot-long, 2.5-ton, seven-barrel Gatling gun that can fire more than 1,100 rounds of 30-mm. bullets. And a titanium shell that wraps around the bottom of its cockpit makes it difficult to shoot down.
Whoah now, that sounds treasonous. Getting pretty close to a capital T there Darth.
#3
Eh... I've already committed treason (according to the liberals) by doubting Obama, calling for smaller government and private healthcare, calling for the resignation of most of the government and a new vote, questioning the wisdom of the so-called illuminated "experts" by bringing up facts instead of propaganda.
#4
*Question:
Will the STOL/VTOL version F-35 leave a nice heat signiture where the center turbine is? I heard a deal that the Harriers were not only particularly vulnerable, but had a lower survivability rate on account of heat missiles striking the middle of the aircraft. (Yes I know the additional turbine is takeoff/landing not in flight)
Second, as CAS, doesn't adding the pylons and weapons negate the stealthyness of the airframe and defeat the purpose? Also, gun runs - F-35 25mm with 120 rounds (wiki) vs. A-10 30mm with 1100 rounds.
I just learned that there is a version of the A-10 which is used to fly into hail storms.
The F-35 may end up being a decent plane, but to say it will replace the A-10 in CAS is like saying a Volt is going to haul my boat to the lake. Its using a trash bag to replace a broken window. Especially if the 35 has pilot visibility issues and 2-3 seconds of ammo.
#5
Whether the F-35 can assume the CAS mission can be debated by the experts. What CANNOT be debated is the obvious attempt to ditch the A-10 prior to fielding of a replacement platform, F-35 or whatever.
Building a fuc*ing tactical capabilities gap is not smart snooker, it's pure politics !
#7
The questions to be asked:
1 How combat effective is the aircraft?
2 Compared to the alternative, what is the cost per sortie?
3 Does it make the enemy shake in it's boots?
I'm pretty sure we all know the answers. Fly on you magnificent bastards.
Posted by: Past Master of the Obvious ||
01/21/2015 21:20 Comments ||
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#8
Here's an ignorant, but serious, question. Why can't the Air Force simply give this plane up to another organization? Seems the Marines would love it, but maybe even a dedicated State ANG unit, or even private/contract outfits? They're custom repaired now anyways, so why not get them out of the USAF/DOD procurement racket?
#9
Why don't they just use F-35s now? Isn't it one of the roles they've been assigned? Or are they busy preparing the battlespace for the next boondoggle?
Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do. I'm half crazy all for the love of you. It won't be a stylish marriage, I can't afford a carriage. But you'll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two.
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 only people who still feel they can clearly define who is and isn't a journalist are legislators. They're almost always wrong. Journalism isn't a career. It's an activity. Anyone can do it and, thanks to the internet, anyone can find a publishing platform and readers. But, according to many politicians, it ain't the press unless it involves one. 
