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ISIS controls 80% of Baiji refinery in Salahuddin
Today's Headlines
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6 19:59 Chuck [5] 
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7 22:01 JosephMendiola [5] 
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2 13:42 swksvolFF [4] 
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4 09:31 JohnQC [4] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 4: Opinion
3 10:35 Besoeker [5]
1 13:52 SteveS [4]
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Page 6: Politix
9 21:59 JosephMendiola [4]
9 18:08 OldSpook [6]
13 20:36 charger [3]
-Short Attention Span Theater-
Passenger helps co-pilot land plane after pilot falls ill during flight
[ROADWARRIORVOICES] Oooh! Ooh! We seen dis movie!
Posted by: Fred || 05/08/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Hindustan Times article on the incident.
Posted by: Pappy || 05/08/2015 11:33 Comments || Top||

#2  What are the odds that a pilot and a doctor would both be passengers on the same plane?

LOL with graphic.

"Joey, do you like movies about rajputs?"
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/08/2015 13:42 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Robots to build Heatherwick and BIG's proposed Google HQ
[ARCHITECTSJOURNAL.CO.UK] An army of robot-crane hybrids will be assembled to build Google's new headquarters in Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,, according to the latest design papers posted by the IT giant

Mock-ups of the so-called 'crabots' are featured in lengthy planning documents submitted to the City of Mountain View Council in Silicon Valley and seen by AJ this week.

As revealed last July, the tech firm has commissioned Thomas Heatherwick, BIG and engineers AKTII to design its extended HQ, which will house 20,000 Google staff.

The 'crabots' are described in the documents as a mash-up of flexible crane and robotic machine.

Much of the internal design of Google's new HQ will depend on the success of the robots which will roam under the gigantic canopies of the sprawling site and lift and shift pre-fabricated components, furniture and services.
Posted by: Fred || 05/08/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Probably as half-assed as most Google projects, it will be abandoned when their corporate ADD kicks in and they will ahve to finish it the old fashioned way.
Posted by: OldSpook || 05/08/2015 9:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Waiting for the various associated and sundry labor unions to protest in 5...4...3...
Posted by: Pappy || 05/08/2015 11:35 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
Journalists Prevented from Covering PEN Event on Press Freedom
[OBSERVER] As part of the PEN World Voices Festival, the international press freedom organization scheduled an event this afternoon titled, "Finding Security in Unsafe Passages: United Nations
...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
Event about Protecting Journalists' Safety and Rights." The panel, according to PEN's website, will "delve into the wide range of risks journalists face every day. Experts will offer safety tips, share advice for protecting sources and copyrights in all types of media and address cybersecurity risks."
Posted by: Fred || 05/08/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
Gridlock looms in Britain; last election poll sees no clear winner
[REUTERS] Britons voted on Thursday in the tightest election for decades; one that could cause government gridlock, push the world's fifth-largest economy closer to leaving the European Union and stoke a second attempt by Scotland to break away.

Final opinion polls showed Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives and Ed Miliband's opposition Labour Party almost in a dead heat, indicating neither will win enough seats for an outright majority in the 650-seat parliament.

However, the surveys suggested there had been some late movement toward Labour.

"I'm not asking you simply to vote Labour. I'm asking you to vote to reward hard work again and to build a future for all our young people," Miliband said on Twitter after casting his vote. "Today is the day we can change Britain."
Oooh! Look! Hopey-changey stuff!
Or possibly Cameron will remain prime minister. The Telegraph is carrying results live here. All sorts of interesting articles on the election on their front page, should you be interested, dear Reader.
Posted by: Fred || 05/08/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Conservatives win.

The Odious Galloway lost by a large margin ranting about Zionist conspiracies.
Posted by: phil_b || 05/08/2015 3:45 Comments || Top||

#2  ED Miliband! Don't come on down. GTFO!
Posted by: Frank G || 05/08/2015 8:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Conservatives won an outright majority of seats, no coalition needed.

How long will Scotland remain part of the UK?
Posted by: AlanC || 05/08/2015 10:33 Comments || Top||

#4  The Mirror is already winging itself inside out over the rollback of the socialist state.
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/08/2015 11:32 Comments || Top||

#5  Well, at least Barry kept his mouth zipped for this one.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/08/2015 12:46 Comments || Top||

#6  Doesn't say much for David Axelrod's skills, though.
Posted by: Pappy || 05/08/2015 21:07 Comments || Top||

#7  CNN AM > sezzes the Scottish pro-Independence Party has crushed its formal local opposition.

Not good news for England.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/08/2015 22:01 Comments || Top||


Europe
Belarus requires the idle to pay for not working
h/t Gates of Vienna
People in Belarus who work less than half the year will have to pay the government for their idleness.

The parliament on Wednesday passed the proposal by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, which requires work-capable people who work less than 183 days a year to pay a yearly fine of $250. Disabled people, pension recipients and people with young children are exempt.

A statement from the parliament, where the measure passed by a vote of 100-2, said "it's necessary to stimulate citizens who are capable of work and ensure they fulfill their constitutional obligation to take part in financing state expenditures." Labor Minister Marianna Shchetkina told the parliament the measure would be temporary.

Belarus' economy is stumbling in the wake of economic troubles in neighboring Russia.
Of course, as I understand, there's no work to be had in Belarus.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/08/2015 03:07 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ooops. Forgot to change the default to "non-WOT". Sorry---still recovering from L'G ba Omer.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/08/2015 3:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Moved to Europe. There are two drop down thingies up there to attend to, gentlemen.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/08/2015 4:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Clearly a human rights violation, and DOJ will be going right to court in Brussels about this. (I hope I'm kidding.)
Posted by: ed in texas || 05/08/2015 7:21 Comments || Top||

#4  Do they have 'protected groups' that get earned credit? (do I need to put a /sarc on that?)
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/08/2015 8:39 Comments || Top||

#5  An idea so crazy, it just might work!
Posted by: Raj || 05/08/2015 8:53 Comments || Top||

#6  "Tax the poor".
Rush Limbaugh's April Fools' Day joke from way back when.
Posted by: Chuck || 05/08/2015 19:59 Comments || Top||


Gulberg, Sweden has innovative plan to keep Mooslems out.
[Praag.org] Opponents to a proposed asylum center in the Swedish town of Gullberg came up with a plan to deter Muslim immigrants from coming.

Residents in the Swedish town of Gullberg opposed to controversial plans to build a center to house asylum seekers in the town, sent a letter to the Swedish Migration Board threatening to build a pig farm next to the building if the plan goes ahead, reports Sveriges Radio.

The letter, signed by 'The interest group for Gullberg's survival,' outlined plans to build the farm next to the disused school building in the municipality of Mark, with "only an electric fence between the animals and the school, of about 20 meters."

"It's probably an impossible situation for certain religions. Above all Muslims."

Politician Henry Sandahl, from the Mark branch of Sweden's Countryside Party told P4 that though he had nothing to do with the letter, he supported the sentiment:

"It's as big an inconvenience to asylum applicants if they are not comfortable with the pigs as it is for neighbors to get 60 asylum seekers. The principle is the same, they are both a nuisance but on different planes."
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/08/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The only thing better than that would be a national law requiring every one in the country to own a pig.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 05/08/2015 0:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Muslims don't eat pigs, but pigs will eat muslims.

Allah has a plan.
Posted by: phil_b || 05/08/2015 3:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Here's a thought, don't let them in the country in the first place. They're NOT immigrants, they're colonizers.
Posted by: Unonter Bluetooth3165 || 05/08/2015 6:50 Comments || Top||

#4  Residents in the Swedish town of Gullberg opposed to controversial plans to build a center to house asylum seekers in the town, sent a letter to the Swedish Migration Board threatening to build a pig farm next to the building if the plan goes ahead, reports Sveriges Radio. I like it! Innovative push-back.
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/08/2015 9:31 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Standard and Poor’s gives thumbs-up to Pakistan economy
Good to know.
[Dawn] Standard and Poor's, one of the world's big three credit-rating agencies, on Tuesday revised Pakistain's average real GDP growth projection for 2015-17 to 4.6 per cent from 3.8pc. It also revised the country's long-term 'B minus' credit rating to positive from stable.

"Pakistain has made significant progress in stabilising its economic, fiscal, and external performance. Financing conditions have also eased considerably," said a statement issued by the agency's US headquarters.

"We are, therefore, revising the outlook on the long-term ratings on Pakistain to positive from stable. We are also affirming our 'B minus' long-term and 'B' short-term sovereign credit ratings on Pakistain," the statement said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/08/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'll pass on purchasing Pakistan govt bonds, thank you very much.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/08/2015 1:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Evidently selling nuclear weapon technology is good for balance of trade exchange. Look for NK as an up and comer.
Posted by: ed in texas || 05/08/2015 7:35 Comments || Top||

#3  Well, being poor is standard for Pak.
Posted by: charger || 05/08/2015 12:12 Comments || Top||


International-UN-NGOs
Brave new world
h/t Gates of Vienna
War and violence displaced a record-breaking 38 million people within their home countries in 2014 -- a figure equivalent to the total population of London, New York and Beijing combined.
Sixty per cent came from just five countries: Iraq, South Sudan, Syria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria. All have been wracked by war or the metastasising effects of jihadist violence.
Don't bother us---we're busy battling microaggression.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/08/2015 03:02 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The children (all too often in adult bodies) fail to grasp due to their fairytale upbringing is that war and conflict have been a 'natural' aspect of man and history. Bouts of peace, particularly expended periods, are far more 'unnatural'. Man, by his nature, is territorial and hierarchical. We are returning back to the natural state because we lack a ruling caste that grasps the concept that either you ride the tiger or the tiger eventually eats you. That means having to spend the resources, efforts, blood and capital to 'manage' it or you and your environment will be hostage to the changes. The children are in charge and the world burns.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/08/2015 8:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Bouts of peace, particularly expended periods, are far more 'unnatural'.

According to Jerry Pournelle, I think, the idea of Peace is just an extrapolation from the fact that there were pauses between wars.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/08/2015 14:59 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
NASA's '€˜Greased Lightning' drone merges helicopter and plane technology
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/08/2015 12:32 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  D *** NG, does "GREASE"S OLIVIA = "SANDY" know???

"Greased Lightning ... Yeah, Greased Lightning"!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/08/2015 19:58 Comments || Top||

#2  CV@@, Nothing new. But it is really cool!
Posted by: 49 Pan || 05/08/2015 22:06 Comments || Top||

#3  OOPS CV22, Damn that Budweiser!
Posted by: 49 Pan || 05/08/2015 22:06 Comments || Top||


Promiscuous women cause earthquakes, claims Iranian cleric
h/t Gates of Vienna
In about the most extreme example of slut shaming yet, a prayer leader in Tehran has blamed earthquakes on women who dress provocatively and tempt people into promiscuity.

"When promiscuity spreads, earthquakes increase," Hojatoleslam Kazim Sadeghi said during prayers on Friday, a video of which was later posted on YouTube.
No sillier than AGW, or gender interchangeability equality, if you ask me.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/08/2015 02:57 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, I have felt the earth move...
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/08/2015 3:49 Comments || Top||

#2  Yes, but lack of pious leaders causes bad fishing. (There. Nyaa.)
Posted by: ed in texas || 05/08/2015 7:23 Comments || Top||

#3  That's a perennial complaint in Iran, all the earthquakes those promiscuous women cause with their deadly hair waves and too-tight raincoats.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/08/2015 8:01 Comments || Top||

#4  A friend sent me an article about CO2 emissions at the Hawaii Observatory reaching 400ppm as proof of global warming. He retracted part of his assertion when I pointed out the observatory is on an active volcano and volcanos emit CO2. The level of CO2 is much higher on an active volcano than on a normal mountain. Even volcanos considered dormant emit CO2.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 05/08/2015 8:10 Comments || Top||

#5  A friend sent me an article about CO2 emissions at the Hawaii Observatory reaching 400ppm as proof of global warming.

Given that CO2 levels have risen during the entire period of the temperature pause, one must wonder about claims of causation outside the lab.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/08/2015 8:19 Comments || Top||

#6  I think turbans that are too tight cause earthquakes. Its the throbbing they cause.
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/08/2015 9:33 Comments || Top||

#7  Quick! Another strategic deployment of sluts to Iran nuke sites!
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/08/2015 9:49 Comments || Top||

#8  Another strategic deployment of sluts to Iran nuke sites!

I suddenly see a solution to our current Women in Combat controversy. I even have ideas for the patch. Sorry, too NSFW.
Posted by: SteveS || 05/08/2015 13:43 Comments || Top||

#9  That explains California.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 05/08/2015 14:42 Comments || Top||

#10  Guys targeting the Haliburton Earthquake machine are easily distracted by a pretty set of legs apparently.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 05/08/2015 14:43 Comments || Top||

#11  "We're sending our best troops."
"What sort of troops?"
"Crack troops!"
Posted by: SteveS || 05/08/2015 17:44 Comments || Top||

#12  Our troops may run up against some stiff opposition, but I am confident they can maneuver their way to a climatic conclusion.
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/08/2015 20:14 Comments || Top||

#13  Well, if they're all going at it at once...
Posted by: charger || 05/08/2015 20:38 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Dartmouth Students Demand Gay Black Student President Resign For Being Too Conservative
h/t Instapundit
Students at Dartmouth College launched a petition drive demanding the newly-elected student body president resign after they say he was disrespectful to the plight of American blacks and other marginalized groups.

The twist: The president is a gay black man.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/08/2015 02:29 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No problem being racists and homophobes when it suits the Left. It's all about power.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/08/2015 8:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Heh. Circular firing squad. Don't intervene
Posted by: Frank G || 05/08/2015 8:56 Comments || Top||

#3  So is he not black enough or not gay enough?
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/08/2015 14:56 Comments || Top||

#4  "Too conservative" trumps being black and/or gay in the minds of the left? The left really does hate conservatives.
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/08/2015 18:04 Comments || Top||

#5  So is he not black enough or not gay enough?

Yes.
Posted by: Pappy || 05/08/2015 18:05 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
37[untagged]
10Islamic State
3Govt of Pakistan
3Govt of Syria
2Houthis
2Govt of Iran
2Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis
1Al-Muhajiroun
1Govt of Saudi Arabia
1Thai Insurgency
1Abu Sayyaf
1Muslim Brotherhood
1Salafists
1Taliban
1al-Qaeda
1al-Nusra
1al-Qaeda in Arabia
1Commies

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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
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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2015-05-08
  ISIS controls 80% of Baiji refinery in Salahuddin
Thu 2015-05-07
  Fighting continues in Benghazi despite fall of Mreisa
Wed 2015-05-06
  Hezbollah Brigades in Iraq repel a major ISIS attack southeast of Fallujah
Tue 2015-05-05
  Troops Kill 28 Suspected Militants in Central Nigeria
Mon 2015-05-04
  3 Shot, 2 dead a '€˜Muhammad Art, Cartoon Contest' in Texas
Sun 2015-05-03
  40 Person Mob Assaults 2 Jews on Paris’ Boulevard Voltaire
Sat 2015-05-02
  Saudi Air Raids Kill Dozens of Yemenis
Fri 2015-05-01
  Largest Iraqi Refinery Under Seige
Thu 2015-04-30
   Iraqi forces make hard gains in rough Ramadi
Wed 2015-04-29
  Houthis, tribesmen battle in central Yemen, at least 15 dead
Tue 2015-04-28
  Saudi Arabia Arrests 93 Jihadists, Says Attacks Foiled
Mon 2015-04-27
  Isis Leader Baghdadi Is Reportedly 'Unable To Move' After A Spinal Injury
Sun 2015-04-26
  Mpls. Man Charged with Making Threats in Islamic State Group Case
Sat 2015-04-25
  Italy arrests suspected bin Laden bodyguards, Peshawar bombers
Fri 2015-04-24
  Italian police arrest 18 in AQ plot to attack Vatican


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