#2
What separation of powers concerns? Perhaps Congress should yank funding from the FISA court until it complies. How is that for separation of powers?
Posted by: U. Snavique2820 ||
02/16/2018 17:01
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[Bloomberg] U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller unveiled the details of a widespread and coordinated campaign by Russians to influence the U.S. presidential election in favor of Donald Trump, delivering on his initial mandate by the Justice Department.
In an indictment announced Friday in Washington, Mueller describes a years-long, multimillion-dollar conspiracy by hundreds of Russians aimed at criticizing Hillary Clinton and supporting Senator Bernie Sanders and Trump. Mueller charged 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities and accused them of defrauding the U.S. government by interfering with the political process.
Prosecutors provided a remarkably detailed picture of how Russians used social media, fake rallies and secretive operatives in the U.S. to create “political intensity” by backing radical groups, opposition social movements and disaffected voters. The outreach from the Russians included direct contact with over 100 Americans.
#1
This indictment is nothing but a Mueller Dog and Pony show (see attached graphic). We already knew about Russian meddling in our electoral process. Most importantly, the Russians indicted are outside the jurisdiction of the US Courts and Law enforcement. Putin will never allow their extradition. Finally you can't have a trial or even a first appearance before a US Magistrate without a Defendant standing there in court. Sure the Govt can issue arrest warrants, for a lot of good that will do. No Defendant, no trial. Finally, where was there any Trump campaign collusion in the indictment ? Answer, none.
#2
And hundreds of thousands of small credit card donations from Europe given to a particular candidate's campaign in 2008 which had turned off verification software were not widespread and coordinated effort to influence an American presidential election?
#3
The Russians have been playing grabass with our electoral process for as long as I can remember.
Need I mention the anti-war movement of the 60's?
Or the "Ban the Bomb" group from the 5o's and 60's who were all in favor of unilateral disarmament?
Of course, reading the article, I don't see anything the Russians were doing that Zero and Shillary (a well connected sadistic sociopath) were not doing with their nonsense and lies on social media and their fake news and smear campaigns of opposition.
#5
One other thing, in the article, did you notice how they said that "the Mueller investigation is ALSO looking at Russian influence in the Trump organization" suddenly the collusion is a sidelight to this earthshaking investigation.
At least they didn't Scooter Libby someone in the Trump organization...I think Flynn skates on everything because of all of the irregularities in the process.
#6
Hillary was not mentioned! It looks like Mueller was the Clinton insurance policy. Muhller is a crook and the FBI DC nest of vipers should be fired. That will not happen if we do not vote in 18. I am not Russian;)
#8
So when does Mueller foldup shop and go back into retirement?
Posted by: U. Snavique2820 ||
02/16/2018 16:57
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#9
Mueller spent millions to indict a bunch of Russians for spreading info that caused discord. They posted stuff on FB. But they had no effect on the election. WTF? Even the Russians didn't like Hillary. The left is dumbfounded about her loss. They threw everything at Trump and still lost. They owned the MSM; they never gave Trump an even break--that is why Trump bypassed the MSM by tweeting. The left must have never watched the turnouts at Trump's rallys. I've never seen a candidate work as hard as Trump. Let's face it , Trump outworked and outsmarted the left and they are still pissed. Let's look at the real culprits in this election: The MSM, Hillary and the DNC, and even the FBI were all complicit. You can't have a guy (Mueller) running a Special Counsel who may be complicit with Hillary and WJC in U1. Let's shutdown the witch hunt and go after the real criminals who have corrupted this country for the past few decades.
[WSJ] Are there Native Americans who don't belong to any tribe? Sen. Elizabeth Warren argues that there is at least one, and on Wednesday the Massachusetts Democrat made her case to the National Congress of American Indians.
Recently the Boston Globe explained why Ms. Warren needs to address the issue:
There’s a ghost haunting Elizabeth Warren as she ramps up for a possible 2020 presidential bid and a reelection campaign in Massachusetts this year: her enduring and undocumented claims of Native American ancestry....
Continued on Page 49
#1
I don't think it should matters whether she is Native American or not. My question is why does it matter? If she uses her ethnicity to somehow gain an advantage over other people who do not share that ethnicity, isn't that racist?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/16/2018 11:47
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#2
High cheek bones needs to go in the same book of derision as wide stance.
#6
If she uses her ethnicity to somehow gain an advantage over other people ...
That's exactly what she's done. She was a (not very good) professor at Rutgers when she "discovered" her Indian ancestry. She applied to a vacancy in Harvard on the basis of her Native American ancestry. They hired her on that basis, even though she was one of the less qualified applicants. Then Harvard Law School touted her ancestry in their publicity for several years.
Not only is she fake, but Harvard Faculty Diversity program is also fake.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
02/16/2018 13:11
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#8
her enduring and undocumented claims of Native American ancestry....
Funny how this wasn't an issue when she ran against Scott Brown in 2012. I'm more interested in her lack of a Mass. law license when she was doing all those cases while at Harvard.
#9
I have many relatives enrolled in federally recognized tribes. They in turn have many relatives who are also of native descent (i.e. they all share ancestors who are, beyond any reasonable doubt, native Americans, such as those identified in historical records, signers of treaties with the US government etc.) These "other" relatives lack the blood quantum required by most / all tribes in order to be recognized as tribal members per federal regulations. These "other" relatives can prove (by genealogical standards) they are "part native American", whereas Fauxcahontas obviously can't, or is deliberately concealing what she knows. The term "part native American" has been so abused for so long, it has become a code word for the type of lies/hypocrisy Sen. Warren has embraced. I advise my "part native American" relatives to simply state, "I am a direct descendant of Chief X, who signed the treaty of X with the USA in 18XX." This is a verifiable / falsifiable statement, with which only a fool could take uninformed exception.
#11
I am a direct descendant of the sheep grazing Lepreoconak tribe of County Cork. We've gone nearly extinct due to our aversion to work, argumentative disposition, and genetic attraction to spirits. Please remember us at mass.
#13
Maybe her statement was truncated. Maybe her bloodlines are part Indian .......... fighter. Given how industrious her ancestors were in fighting Indians, she should be able to take advantage of hiring preferences for Indians.
[OpsLens] I am still nursing a headache from the latest slayings of police officers which, inevitably, led to my jaw-clenched Saturday. Exacerbating the police tragedies, a friend of mine posted a thread condemning the aesthetics of specialty police vehicles, expressing his discomfort from seeing them in public. Invariably, the phrase "police state" and word "zealots" were bandied-about among pro/con commenters.
I’ve no idea if "E.J." knew about the recent spate consisting of five more police casualties caused by murderous monsters intent on spraying bullets with unambiguous intent to kill, but I surmise he must have. After all, he professes his support and adoration for his "friends in blue."
The following is what E.J. posted: "All due respect to my friends in Blue, I do not believe our police force should be a military. There are always justifications for anything, but a line has to be drawn. Bullet proof armor on police cars I’m okay with, we need to protect our friends and family in blue. Armored personnel carriers with battering rams, I’m not okay with. Tanks I’m not okay with. 15 years ago the police force was trying to find non-lethal deterrents and ways to save lives in tough altercations. Now it seems as if the police force is saying, we will kill you if you don’t comply. As an independent with conservative tendencies, with a love for our law enforcement community feels this way, it’s gone too far."
[facebook] WATCH: Washington sheriff after latest school shooting: "You started glorifying cultures of violence -- you’ve glorified the gang culture, you’ve glorified games that actually give you points for raping and killing people. Gun didn’t change. We changed."
#1
We put a lot of trust in the gate keepers and their background checks and it doesn't look like the FBI takes it very seriously.
Someone reports a video about a guy threatening violence on a school, the guy made it under his own name, the guy had a background check within two years to buy firearms.
Perhaps all of that is nothing but it seems certainly that its enough for further investigation. Perhaps a visit to the school where they would have learned pretty much everyone at the school suspected the guy would go shooter.
#2
When I was a teen in the rural MidWest all the kids- boys and girls drove pickups to school with gun racks in the rear window. I don't recall these kids ever shooting anybody. Coyotes, rabbits and other vermin yes, people no.
#4
#2 When I was a teen in the rural MidWest all the kids- boys and girls drove pickups to school with gun racks in the rear window. I don't recall these kids ever shooting anybody. Coyotes, rabbits and other vermin yes, people no.
We have a lot of urban spillover, peoples of shitholes, and drug trash now. Neighbor town had the local live in drug gang rep shoot down 2 in a deal gone bad then threatened some he knew prompting a number of lock-downs. Meat packing cities are turning into shitholes. Story from someone who went into a pizza joint to get dinner and felt like a scene from Captain Philips, customer who lives outside packing city was in shopping for body armor because latin kings and such. Traveling pawn shops mean users can steal local and buy/sell/trade a different town's stolen goods. Meth hives usually have at least one war dog such as pit bull and boy are they neat when they aren't fed right and escape to find a bite to eat. Had a drifter covered in prison tats yelling at me from across the street because I didn't give him the big cheese greeting. So yeah, we still varmint hunt but have had to consider 4 yards as well as the usual 400.
[ATimes] Leaked close-up images of China's artificially created features and facilities on contested reefs have sparked a firestorm in the Philippines
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s rapprochement with China, a gambit that has traded security concessions for economic and investment largesse, has once again been undermined by developments in the South China Sea.
Undisclosed sources, most likely from the Philippine defense establishment, gave the Philippine Daily Inquirer a new cache of satellite images which show China has virtually completed its militarization of the artificially-created islands it controls in the contested maritime area. The high-resolution photos were published on the liberal newspaper’s website on Monday.
[ATimes]The latest plot twist in the endless historical saga of Afghanistan as a graveyard of empires has thrown up an intriguing new chapter. For the past two months, Beijing and Kabul have been discussing the possibility of setting up a military base alongside Afghanistan’s border with China.
“We are going to build it [the base] and the Chinese government has committed to help financially, provide equipment and train Afghan soldiers,” Mohammad Radmanesh, a spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Defense, admitted to the AFP.
On the record, the Chinese Foreign Ministry only admitted that Beijing was involved in “capacity-building” in Afghanistan, while NATO’s Resolute Support Mission, led by the United States, basically issued a “no comment.”
The military base will eventually be built in the mountainous Wakhan Corridor, a narrow strip of territory in northeastern Afghanistan that extends to China and separates Tajikistan from Pakistan.
It is one of the most spectacular, barren and remote stretches of Central Asia and according to local Kyrgyz nomads, joint Afghan-Chinese patrols are already active there. True to Sydney Wignall’s fabled Spy on the Roof of the World ethos, a great deal of shadow play is in effect. Apparently, this is basically about China’s own war on terror.
Beijing’s strategic priority is to prevent Uyghur fighters of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), who have been exiled in Afghanistan, crossing the Wakhan Corridor to carry out operations across Xinjiang, an autonomous territory in northwest China. There is also the fear that ISIS or Daesh jihadis from Syria and Iraq may also use Afghanistan as a springboard to reach the country.
Even though the jihad galaxy may be split, Beijing is concerned about ETIM. As early as September 2013, the capo of historic al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, supported jihad against China in Xinjiang.
Later, in July 2014, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the leader of Daesh said: “Muslim rights [should be] forcibly seized in China, India and Palestine.” Then, on March 1, 2017, Daesh released a video announcing its presence in Afghanistan, with the terror group’s Uyghur jihadis vowing, on the record, to “shed blood like rivers” in Xinjiang.
At the heart of the matter is China’s Belt and Road Initiative, or the New Silk Road, which will connect China with Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
For Beijing, the stability of one of its links, the $57 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), is seriously compromised if terror threats abound in Central and South Asia. It could also affect China’s sizable investments in Afghanistan’s mineral mining industry
#2
It wasn't ever a graveyard of empires, despite the catchy name. Nobody ever wants wastelands. Ever wonder why no one fought over the Scottish Highlands? It's no big mystery. Not worth the candle. The only real use it's ever had is as a way station to other, juicier targets. Genghis's armies had to pass through the region to get to India and the Middle East. Alexander's armies had to pass through it to get to India. The British needed to keep it neutral in order to reduce any Russian military threat to British India.
[Atimes]His denial came after reports of a leaked UN confidential report said that North Korea had earned US$200 million in 2017 from exports that violated various UN-imposed sanctions. The sanctions-busting exports included coal, iron, lead, textiles, seafood and ballistic missiles or missile technology to Myanmar and Syria.
The revelations of Myanmar’s continued missile-related imports from North Korea show that the two sides’ military relations are alive and well despite Naypyitaw’s repeated claims that they have been severed. They also underscore that Myanmar’s autonomous and powerful military, and not the civilian elected government, continues to dominate with secrecy all matters related to national defense.
#1
Friend in the army was deployed to Haiti back in the 90s and told stories about Pakistani Peacekeeprs, little boys. The UN has known about this for a long time, and like the Catholic church they did nothing.
[Atimes] Hardly 10 months after honoring the visiting US president, the Saudis are open to a Russian-Chinese consortium investing in the upcoming Aramco IPO
The big news is the Russian offer to the Saudi authorities to invest directly in the upcoming Aramco initial public offering – and the Saudis acknowledging the offer. Even bigger news, surely, is that Moscow is putting together a Russian-Chinese consortium of joint investment funds plus several major Russian banks to be part of the Aramco IPO.
Chinese state oil companies were interested in becoming cornerstone investors in the IPO, but the participation of a Russia-China joint investment fund takes matters to an entirely different realm. Clearly, the Chinese side is willing to hand over tens of billions of dollars.
[Wash Times] The IRS is still paying bonuses to nearly 2,000 bad employees, including more than two dozen who were actual tax-cheats themselves, the agency’s inspector general said in a new report this week.
The audit suggests the tax agency’s efforts to crack down on bonuses have not fully succeeded, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
IRS screening did stop more than 1,000 employees with tax problems from getting bonuses, but 1,962 employees with discipline problems ‐ and 26 who had been found to have intentionally cheated on their tax returns ‐ were still paid bonuses in 2016 and 2017, topping $1.7 million.
Other employees who weren’t in full compliance but hadn’t been flagged for discipline also snuck through, the inspector general said.
The IRS promised to study the issue.
But top lawmakers on Capitol Hill said that wasn’t good enough.
1) There are 80,000 IRS employees. This is what happens when government gets too big (we now that).
2) Their computer systems aren't Skynet self-aware, but a fair number of their employees spend all of their times assessing the accuracy of the computer generated notices. I deal with them often enough to make it part of my living. Apparently this system isn't tied to the one that determines employee bonuses.
3)This is what I would have done to the Commissioner.
[NPR's The Torch] It's not the only Pride House in South Korea, but it's the first in the world to be embraced by a national Olympic committee: Alongside poutine and beer, Canada Olympic House offers a message of inclusion and gender diversity by hosting a space for LGBTQ fans, athletes and friends.
The idea for this Pride House, organized in collaboration with South Korean activists, is based on the tradition of Olympic delegations opening hospitality houses to showcase their home nations' culture and history and welcome fans. Rather than focusing on a particular nationality or team, the Pride House welcomes all.
"The mission of Pride House," says Keph Senett, a trustee with Scottish-based Pride House International, is to create a "place where people can go and watch games, and hang out and eat food and all that ‐ sort of experience the games in a safe and welcoming way."
As for Team Canada, Senett said, "They are saying very clearly, 'We support this mission.' "
Canada's hospitality house ‐ created out of a gateball clubhouse (a game similar to cricket) ‐ has a ski-lodge vibe. It offers lounge chairs, fire pits and table hockey games outside. When we visited, a capacity crowd had gathered in a pub-like area inside to watch Team Canada play (and defeat) the U.S. women's hockey team.
[Daily Caller] White House problems with the Democrats’ "rebuttal memo" on the surveillance of Trump associates are genuine and the document could disclose "sources and methods," California Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence confirmed.
"We need to go through that and identify that which remains classified and would implicate sources and methods or investigative interests," he said at a newsmaker’s breakfast meeting on Wednesday sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor.
His comments constituted a direct rebuke to his party’s top boss in the House of Representatives, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
White House counsel Don McGahn said in a statement Friday that Trump was "inclined" but "unable" to declassify the Democrat’s 10-page memo because it "contains numerous properly classified and especially sensitive passages," according to Politico.
[Daily Caller] Intelligence officials can selectively release classified information to trusted journalists while withholding the same information from other citizens who request it through open records laws, CIA lawyers argued Wednesday.
In a motion filed in New York federal court, the CIA claimed that limited disclosures to reporters do not waive national security exemptions to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Intelligence and law enforcement agencies frequently deny records requests on the basis of protecting sensitive national security information, one of nine exemptions written into the federal FOIA law.
The case stems from lawsuit against the CIA by New York-based independent journalist Adam Johnson, who had used FOIA to obtain emails between the agency’s public information office and selected reporters from the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and The New York Times. The emails the CIA provided to Johnson were redacted, leading him to question why he was not allowed to see the same information that had been given to uncleared reporters.
Johnson challenged the redaction in court, arguing that the CIA, once it has selectively disclosed information to uncleared reporters, cannot claim the same information is protected by a FOIA exemption.
#1
The damage is already done. If a reporter has the data, so do our nation's enemies - sometimes they are one and the same. Disclose the information to the public so we can see what was leaked and to whom it was given.
What really gets me angry though is "Leaking" they call it? How about disclosure of classified information, including sources and methods, to uncleared persons who do not have a need to know? Isn't that a crime? Shouldn't someone in CIA be sent to jail for the original "leak"?
WaPo laments the pending demise of GOPe/Dem/Media fav Maverick, hope Romney carries their torch
[WAPO] In more ways than one, followers of traditional Republican orthodoxy are facing an emotional inflection point this week.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), at home battling an aggressive form of brain cancer, will not attend this weekend’s Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering of foreign policy leaders from NATO nations that has become a central clearinghouse for global security matters and a celebration of Western values and democratic institutions.
McCain, an avatar of all of the above, has been a regular attendee for decades. Last year, less than a month after President Trump took office, he stole the show with a speech that denounced the new president’s refusal to condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Our fellow citizens seem to be flirting with authoritarianism and romanticizing it as our moral equivalent,” McCain said there last February.
But with McCain’s retreat comes the reemergence of another man: Mitt Romney, his political rival for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination. Romney had been scheduled to begin his campaign for senator from Utah on Thursday, but he delayed the announcement Wednesday “out of respect for the victims and their families” of a shooting at a South Florida high school.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/16/2018
07:15 ||
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#1
Well, I think McCain has done a lot of damage to the cause of conservative politics. But he is not all bad. On the ground in Libya, I found out that McCain was in the country several times and spent a lot of time trying to get some traction on the complete disaster that Shillary (a well connected sadistic sociopath) had created in Libya. He was also on the ground in Syria after the first Asaad gas attacks and couldn't get any traction in the media about Zero's refusal to honor his redline.
Some good some bad, John obviously wore out his well deserved title as a war hero. The swamp got him. As VDH said, you go to Washington and it is a cesspool, in six months, it is a hot tub. Sorta what happened to John.
#3
It’s not clear how Romney, a heavy favorite to win, would approach his role as a senator, particularly in the era of Trump. His aides say that on the campaign trail he will avoid the role of chief foil to the president.
But on the trail, he has sounded just like McCain. So the voters end up with a choice beteen an establishment RINO and a corrupt Dem; both of the UniParty?
#4
Romney's little lap dog Bain Capital has been fighting tooth and nail to destroy a great American company Western Digital. It is my hope to toast Bain biting the dust on this.
#5
Romney is a wonderful family man and a gentlemen. Unfortunately, he is not a Conservative and is way too embedded in the arms of the one-party Establishment.
[WND] What would Joan Rivers (allegedly) say about Rob Porter?
Until her untimely death, the iconic comedienne was a personality that had somehow lived on into our post-personality era.
Until his #MeToo ex-wives began baying for his blood, Mr. Porter, as good as dead politically, was President Trump’s White House staff secretary.
If the irreverent Rivers were alive today, she’d most certainly joke about Porter, the man upon whom America’s deranged matriarchy has descended:
"They should rehire Rob Porter. He is now the most vetted man in the world."
"No wonder Porter didn’t punch his new paramour, Hope Hicks. Did you see what a knockout she is?"
In the true sense of the word, a personality is an individual with an originality and a distinctness of character and thought ‐ a definition that precludes every member of the joyless matriarchy hammering away at the foundations of a civilized, Anglo-American society: the notion that a man defamed in the court of public opinion has the right to defend himself and confront his accusers; that there are often at least two sides to a story, and that relationships are complex and reciprocal, irreducible to the rigid, one-sided scripts enforced by vicious and vindictive womenfolk.
Or, "peoplefolk," as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would say. Included among America’s malevolent matriarchy are legions of domesticated menfolk. But the liliths, especially, faces contorted, are those screeching at us from the television daily. They want White House Chief of Staff John Kelly gone. For he is alleged to have covered for Porter, calling him "a man of true integrity." Now Porter’s wives swear he is a potential O. J. Simpson.
BLUF:
[Hot Air] "We believe it would be much better for GOP to win," he typed into a private Twitter direct message group to an assortment of WikiLeaks’ most loyal supporters on Twitter. "Dems+Media+liberals woudl then form a block to reign in their worst qualities," he wrote. "With Hillary in charge, GOP will be pushing for her worst qualities., dems+media+neoliberals will be mute." He paused for two minutes before adding, "She’s a bright, well connected, sadistic sociopath."
Assange’s thinking appeared to be rooted not in ideological agreement with the right wing in the U.S., but in the tactical idea that a Republican president would face more resistance to an aggressive military posture than an interventionist President Hillary Clinton would. It would appear Assange nailed that one.
#7
I think it's something that comes with most Ivy League degrees.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
02/16/2018 14:47
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#8
One might question the tag "bright." Her behavior and statements often belie that. She should also be remembered for the quote: "We came. We saw. He died (Daffy)." That speaks to her sociopathic nature. She was most likely drunk and didn't give a shit when Benghazi was under siege and brave men died. Recall that she said afterwards: "What difference does it make?" If anything Assange statement was understated.
[PJ] In the weeks following "Grace’s" babe.com tell-all about her bad date with actor-comedian Aziz Ansari, the internet has exploded with articles instructing women on how to date. Women should tell their partners "exactly what we want sexually, and how we want it," suggested Roxanne Jones on CNN.com. HuffingtonPost quoted sex therapist Sarah Watson, who says that sexual pleasure is a woman’s "birthright." Newsweek counseled, "Consent must be enthusiastic, it must be verbal, and it must be specific." But hardly anywhere in these myriad articles did anyone suggest that a woman’s sexual experience would be improved if she got to know her partner first.
Call me old-fashioned, but I thought dating and sex were two different things. On a date, a woman can learn important things about her partner ‐ things that may inform her decision about whether or not to have sex with him in the future. Is he polite, kind, and conscientious? Does she find him interesting? Does he make her laugh? Is he the kind of man she could imagine herself in a relationship with? And then ‐ when she’s got a sense of who he is, if she likes him, and where the relationship is going ‐ she can decide whether or not she wants to take things to the next level. But this, apparently, isn't a feminist-approved dating technique.
Much of the tension around dating in America today stems from the idea that sex is simply one item on a menu of things you might do on a first or second date with someone you barely know. Maybe you’ll have dinner, maybe you’ll see a movie, maybe you’ll have sex. But the fact that it’s physically possible to have sex with a stranger doesn’t mean that it’s safe ‐ physically or emotionally ‐ to do so.
[The Hill] Three former CIA analysts argued Wednesday that Chairman Devin Nunes (Calif.) and other Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee can’t be trusted to defend national security after they pushed for the release of a classified memo that accuses the FBI of abusing surveillance programs.
Former analysts Jeff Asher, Nada Bakos and Cindy Otis wrote in an opinion piece for CNN that Nunes degraded the committee’s effectiveness as an oversight mechanism by politicizing intelligence information.
"Republicans who were so concerned about leaks of classified information during the last year are now pushing for the release of top secret information to the public, cherry-picked to undermine agencies for which they are meant to be stewards," they wrote.
"From this point forward, the House Intelligence Committee’s assessment of the intelligence community should be met with skepticism by the public and Congress alike. When we look back on this administration in a few years, we believe this incident will be marked as one of the worst cases of politicization of intelligence in modern American history," they added.
#3
These people have confused NATIONAL security with JOB security. This is pure ass covering and institutional reaction to being caught out committing crimes.
Notice that they cannot attack the substance of the memo so they are attacking the messenger...in the best traditions of the best practices of the Marxist/Leninist play book.
I wonder what the heck they will do when the DoJ IG report comes out????
#5
So these three C.I.A. analyts were against truth, freedom, honest government, and justice for those who were corrupt and treasonous? Hope Nunes and the Pubs put these three on the list of those to investigate for Deep State ties.
#9
Jeff Ashers' employer: WWL-TV (New Orleans, LA) Television
WWL-TV virtual channel 4 (UHF digital channel 36) is a CBS-affiliated television station located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The station is owned by Tegna, Inc. as part of a duopoly with MyNetworkTV affiliate WUPL-TV (channel 54). The two stations share studio and office facilities located on Rampart Street in the historic French Quarter district; WWL-TV's transmitter is located at 4 Cooper Road in Gretna.
#10
Cindy Otis Useful(?) former Deep State idiot living out a fantasy.
Ms. Bakos worked in a key role with Starbucks Corporation Barista serving up over-priced java?
Jeff Asher crime analysis for 538 Is this Nate Silver's 538 organization? Analyzing crime for the Dems to find new opportunities? Not the same 538? Oh well, analyzing crime trends for NO--Another Dem stronghold.
#13
Does anyone with two brain cells to rub together see anything in these bios to indicate these clowns are qualified to write an opinion piece on a document that took over a year to research???
Oh yeah, the kid barista at my local starbucks is a bright kid let's have him write a hit piece on Nunes...
[Free Beacon] Foreign Service officer Susan Thornton offers Obama-era policies toward Beijing at hearing
The nominee for a key State Department Asia policymaking post confirmed Thursday the State Department took part in preventing the FBI from arresting Chinese intelligence officials for conducting illegal activities in New York recently, but asserted she did not take part in the decision.
Susan Thornton, a career foreign service officer widely viewed among Republicans as favoring conciliatory policies toward China, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that if confirmed, her policies toward China at State would closely resemble the soft-line policies of the Obama administration.
Thornton, currently acting assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs was nominated for the key China post by Trump in December.
While acting secretary, she has taken positions toward China that sought to avoid upsetting relations with Beijing, according to administration officials who have taken part in interagency discussions with her.
[Breitbart] Thursday on his nationally syndicated radio show, conservative talker Rush Limbaugh took a shot at the FBI after it was revealed the agency was alerted to suspected Florida shooter as a possible threat.
Limbaugh said the FBI was "busy" tracking members of the Trump administration seeking sexual harassers and therefore had its resources spread thin.
"So he gave them the actual name of the guy who posted the comment ‐ the promise, the threat ‐ to do this, Nikolas Cruz, white Hispanic. And the FBI didn’t do anything with it," he said. "So Bennight here, the guy you heard on the audio, said, ’I don’t know what the FBI has to do to track down real identities. First, they’d call YouTube, and then YouTube would have to divulge the privacy of whoever sent the alerted and all of this,’ but they still had the real name to go on. But, folks, we need to back off the FBI here just a little bit."
"The FBI is really busy right now," Limbaugh continued. "They’re busy, I’m sure, tracking the entire Trump administration looking for additional sexual harassers. I mean, there may be as many as 4,000 of ’em in there they gotta track down. And then they’re still trying to corroborate the Steele dossier. And that’s a worldwide effort. So the FBI has spread its resources here very, very thin, and we’ve gotta keep that in mind."
#3
Well, they sure didn't have any time for this guy.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/16/2018 10:59
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#4
Busy trying to cover-up and trying to discredit and takedown Trump? Is that why they are missing signals in mass shootings and bombings? Looks like DOJ is still riddled with DeepStaters.
#5
Call me a conspiracy theorist if you want but the uptick in incidents like this is highly suspicious and it doesn't have anything to do with the availability of guns either. We've always had guns but we haven't always mad men committing mass shootings at schools, churches, concerts and bars. There must be another common thread or threads. It seems to me that if a kid tells everybody he can possibly tell that he wants to shoot up a school that constitutes a credible threat which in itself is illegal. And yet nobody lifted a finger to stop him. Is that negligence or complicity?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/16/2018 11:07
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#6
We've always had guns but we haven't always mad men committing mass shootings at schools, churches, concerts and bars.
#7
FBI was notified Jan 5 he was about to attack the school. However the FBI was no longer a law enforcement agency. The Democratic party under Obama converted them into a Deep State organization whos sole purpose was to deny Hillary was committing crimes and to spy on the opponents of the DNC.
#8
Personally I believe Reagan de-Federalized the mental health industry and the states barely picked up the ball.
Add to that certain depression meds have nasty side-effects for a very, very, small percentage of patients.
Lastly, we trust FBI background checks which seems to be something they aren't serious about.
The combination is no problem in generally no big deal but in an insignificantly small number we get a mass shooting and we fail to look at any factors besides the guns because one political party wants to get rid of guns.
#9
The de-institutionalization push came from within the mental health profession, based on an overweening trust in the new medications of the 1960s-‘80s. Ronald Reagan, both as California governor and as president, simply followed the advice of the professionals. It is my understanding that most mental hospitals were state or local institutions, not federal, but I wasn’t paying close attention at the time.
Snopes has preserved an interesting discussion on the subject here.
#15
When is the FBI going to release the list of drugs these shooters are on? I keep hearing that guns are the problem but there are hundreds of millions of guns but only a handful of mass shootings.
[Townhall] Demoted Department of Justice official Bruce Ohr is about to get towel slapped again. He was the associate deputy attorney general and headed up the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. Then, it was revealed that he had met with the author of the Trump dossier, Christopher Steele, and the founder of the firm that hired him, Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS.
Fusion, a research firm, was hired by the Hillary Clinton campaign, which then contracted Steele, a former MI6 operative, to gather information on Donald Trump during the 2016 election. This dossier, which is largely unverified, was used to obtain a FISA warrant against former Trump adviser Carter Page; a piece of partisan political opposition research was used to spy on someone who worked for the opposing presidential campaign.
Ohr’s wife, Nellie, worked for Fusion GPS during the election, but he never disclosed that on his ethics forms. He didn’t apply for waivers either. The Daily Caller had the scoop, adding that willingly falsifying government ethics forms is a criminal offense; Ohr was rather vague on them and wasn’t transparent about the fact that the research firm was paying his wife:
Bruce Ohr, the Department of Justice official who brought opposition research on President Donald Trump to the FBI, did not disclose that Fusion GPS, which performed that research at the Democratic National Committee’s behest, was paying his wife, and did not obtain a conflict of interest waiver from his superiors at the Justice Department, documents obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation show.
The omission may explain why Ohr was demoted from his post as associate deputy attorney general after the relationship between Fusion GPS and his wife emerged and Fusion founder Glenn Simpson acknowledged meeting with Ohr. Willfully falsifying government ethics forms can carry a penalty of jail time, if convicted.
#3
He did not "fail to disclose" - he DELIBERATELY WITHELD. The latter is a crime that is prima facia evidence of intent. This guy needs to be charged and put on trial.
#7
I've not seen much coming from all this so far. Some people have left the agency. In other cases the Feeb deck chairs have merely been rearranged. There's been a lot of CYA. No special counsel, no arrests, and no indictments. Perfect no-hitter; no hits, no runs. Maybe something will come of DOJ IG Horowitz's investigation and report.
[AnNahar] A Ottoman Turkish base in Iraqi Kurdistan came under attack on Tuesday, a witness and the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) said, without claiming responsibility.
Intense fighting lasted some two hours around the base at Guerbya, near the city of Zakho close to the Ottoman Turkish border, the witness told AFP.
There was no immediate word from the Ottoman Turkish authorities.
It was the first reported attack on a Ottoman Turkish base in Iraqi Kurdistan and came as Ottoman Turkish troops were in the fourth week of a deadly incursion in the Syrian Kurdish enclave of Afrin.
Guerbya is one of 18 bases in Iraqi Kurdistan that The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire.... has maintained since the 1990s despite repeated calls by the region's parliament for them to be removed.
The PKK, which has been waging a deadly insurgency in southeastern Turkey since 1984, also has a significant presence in the region.
"We have reports of an attack by unknown assailants on the Ottoman Turkish military position at Guerbya at around 8:30 am (0530 GMT)," PKK front man Haval Dmaha said.
He said he had "no idea about the identity of the assailants."
The PKK said a number of Ottoman Turkish soldiers were killed in the attack, but there was no independent confirmation of any deaths.
The witness told AFP that after the attack, Ottoman Turkish forces bombarded the area.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/16/2018
00:54 ||
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#1
Hopefully they did a lot of damage to the Turkish invaders.
[AlAhram] A video released earlier this week by Egypt's deadliest terrorist group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis has drawn widespread attention in the country after revealing that the son of Moslem Brüderbund leader Ibrahim El-Deeb, Omar, had joined the group’s ranks in Sinai before he was killed by police last year.
In the video, a bearded El-Deeb appeared wearing army fatigues and promised "dark days" for "infidels and apostates," referring to members of the Armed Forces. He said that he and others in the group have attacked several military checkpoints.
The video has renewed public discussion about the links between the banned Moslem Brüderbund and the North Sinai-based ISIS affiliate Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which has grabbed credit for a series of deadly attacks against security forces and civilians over the past few years.
Continued on Page 49
[AnNahar] The Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group has been ousted from northwestern Syria's Idlib province after a final group of the jihadists surrendered to hardline rebels on Tuesday, a front man and monitor said.
Some 400 people including IS fighters, relatives and maimed, gave themselves up to an alliance of rebel groups on Tuesday, said a front man for the Jaish al-Nasr faction which took part in the operation.
"We hit them with artillery in the town of al-Khowein until they agreed to surrender," Abu al-Majd al-Homsi said.
Homsi said the fighters would be interrogated to find out whether they had planted sleeper cells in the area, and would be put on trial in "special courts".
IS once held swathes of northern and central Syria including parts of Hama, Homs and Aleppo provinces and much of Raqa, including its picturesque provincial capital.
After a string of major defeats last year, hundreds of IS fighters fled to a pocket of territory at the intersection of Hama, Idlib, and Aleppo provinces.
They have now been fully ousted from all three, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Syrian government troops pushed them out of Hama and into Idlib province last week, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.
"Around 250 fighters with their families, or 400 people in total, were besieged in al-Khowein," Abdel Rahman said.
"Now, Idlib, Hama, and Aleppo are completely clear of IS."
IS fighters are still present in smaller numbers in the provinces of Homs, Deir Ezzor, Hasakeh, as well as around Damascus and in Syria's south.
IS operated an Islamic "governorate" in Idlib over four years ago, but it was kicked out of the province in early 2014 by Islamist fighters and allied rebels, only returning after a blistering series of defeats late last year.
The Islamist and rebel fighters went on to oust the regime from the rest of the province in 2015 but are now facing a ferocious government assault aimed at retaking key territory there.
Announcing the IS surrender on Tuesday, rebels accused Syria's government of having granted the jihadists safe passage into al-Khowein.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/16/2018
00:47 ||
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[AlAhram] The Egyptian Armed Forces said it killed 15 "takfiri extremists" in an exchange of fire in North and Central Sinai during a combing and raid operation as comprehensive Operation Sinai 2018 continues into its sixth day.
In the seventh official statement since the counter-terrorism campaign was launched on Friday, the armed forces said its air units destroyed 11 targets after receiving vetted intelligence that the locations were used to accommodate takfiri elements.
153 suspects and criminals, including non-Egyptians, were arrested by the security forces. Legal procedures against them have been undertaken.
The armed forces added that two underground weapons cashes were discovered bearing 1,500 kg of highly explosive C4 and TNT as well as 56 detonators and 13 circuits used to manufacture improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
181 dens and mountain storehouses containing a number of highly explosive materials and chemical elements used to manufacture IEDs were also destroyed, as well as a large number of vehicles and fuel used by the terrorists.
Military engineers were able to uncover and disarm 64 IEDs planted along routes strategic to targeting terrorist elements during operations.
A transmission centre, used by the terrorists for telecommunication, was also found and destroyed.
Also destroyed by the Egyptian Armed forces were a tunnel in the border area of North Sinai, as well as 38 openings and trenches used as defenses.
The statement added that 13 farms used to grow illegal narcotics were uncovered with the forces seizing 800 kg of drugs.
According to the statement, six "takfiris", including one highly dangerous element, were arrested while monitoring security forces' movements as joint army and police units set up 563 checkpoints and security patrols on main roads and desert areas nationwide as part of the operation.
“The fighters of the armed forces and police continue to carry out purging operations of precious Sinai lands with determination and high fighting spirit to protect the nation and its people,” the statement concluded.
Operation Sinai 2018 was launched on Friday morning, involving land, naval and air forces, as well as the police and border guards, targeting "terrorist and criminal elements and organizations" in northern and central Sinai, as well as parts of the Nile Delta and the Western Desert.
[AlAhram] The Egyptian air force has destroyed a group of vehicles attempting to infiltrate Egypt from Libya that were loaded with weapons, the military said on Thursday.
The raid by air force units was part of the military's major anti-terrorism operation, Operation Sinai 2018, and followed intelligence suggesting that a group of "criminals" was planning to infiltrate Egypt via the country's western border, the military said in a statement on its official Facebook page.
The forces "destroyed ten 4x4 vehicles loaded with weapons and ammunition," the statement said
[AlAhram] The army announced in a presser it has also arrested hundreds of suspected being criminals or aiding takfiris, and destroyed hundreds of terrorist hideouts and targets.
Army spokesman Tamer El-Refaie said that five takfiris suspects and 680 others have been arrested, including "criminal elements" and people suspected of aiding takfiris.
Over the past week, army and security forces have destroyed around 400 hideouts used by the terrorists to store weapons and materials used in explosive devices, the spokesman told the conference. Air forces have also destroyed 137 “targets.”
Abdel-Aziz also said that in the two months prior to Operation Sinai 2018, 50 takfiris were killed, 200 were arrested and hundreds of hideouts were destroyed.
Border guards and military engineers uncovered and destroyed three tunnels along the northern Sinai border.
Thirty-five farms used to grow illegal narcotics were also found and destroyed.
Land, sea and air forces have also been conducting security patrols to combat attempts to smuggle arms or infiltrate through southern and western borders.
Air forces backed by a helicopter carrier have been securing the Suez Canal and northern coast of the Sinai Peninsula and naval units have been conducting military operations in several strategic regions
[AnNahar] Ottoman Turkish troops have set up a new "observation point" in the Syrian province of Idlib as part of efforts to reduce violence in the conflict, state media reported Thursday.
The point -- an outpost staffed by a small number of troops to monitor any fighting -- was established nearly 70 kilometres (44 miles) from the Ottoman Turkish border in the northwestern province, state-run news agency ...and if you can't believe the state-run news agency who can you believe?... Anadolu said.
Idlib is nearly completely under the control of anti-government forces, predominantly Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a group led by al-Qaeda's former Syria affiliate.
Anadolu said a Ottoman Turkish military convoy crossed the The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... -Syria border Wednesday night.
The latest post is in Maarrat al-Numan town in southeastern Idlib.
This is the sixth such position in the province after two were established earlier this month by the Ottoman Turkish army. The other three were set up in October and November.
Ottoman Turkish convoys have come under attack including one incident early in February which killed one soldier. The Ottoman Turkish army said "terror groups" were responsible.
Establishing the observation points is a key element in peace talks in the Kazakh capital Astana aimed at ending the seven-year Syrian conflict.
One of the agreements of the talks -- sponsored by Turkey, Russia and Iran -- was to create four so-called de-escalation zones including Idlib.
The other three are the greater Damascus area, the southern Daraa region and Homs city.
Turkey last week said it would host a three-way summit with the Russian and Iranian leaders following last year's Sochi summit hosted by Russian 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... The date has yet to be fixed but is one of many moves Turkey has been making with Moscow and Tehran despite being on opposite sides of the war.
Iran and Russia are staunch supporters of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... 's regime but Ankara has called for Assad's ouster and supported Syrian opposition fighters.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/16/2018
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Nikolas Cruz, 19, was ordered held without bail during his first court appearance on Thursday
The teen faces 17 counts of premeditated murder - charges that carry the death penalty in Florida
Cruz killed 17 and injured more than a dozen when he opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida Wednesday afternoon
Details are beginning to surface about Cruz, whose adoptive mother died in November from pneumonia, adoptive father died several years ago
Cruz was kicked out of the the high school last year for allegedly getting into a fight with boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend, was going to school for at-risk youth
A man also reported Cruz to the FBI last year for writing an online post saying he was going to be a shooter
He has also been connected to a white supremacist organization, the Republic of Florida, though local sheriff rejects
When gunfire rang out Wednesday afternoon, several students said they knew the gunman would be Cruz
Many pointed to Cruz's disturbing social media,where he allegedly posted pictures of animals he killed
President Trump said in a tweet Thursday morning that there were signs that the shooter was 'mentally disturbed' - and entreated Americans to report similar people to the authorities
Defense attorneys said Cruz suffers from autism, depression and significant psychological problems
#1
The fact is, you can't spot people like this in advance - because for every shooter who exhibits such behavior, there are hundreds who never progress beyond being unpleasant shits.
#3
I think if Florida with local officials could have interviewed him after the 'I want to be a shooter' comment, the police could have gotten a court order to temporarily confiscate his weapons.
Really, if the FBI had brought Florida into it and the State had put out a message to schools, Cruz would have been identified.
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/16/2018 8:13
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#4
In the meantime, someone needs to bring the best criminologists and psychiatrists in the country together and brainstorm this damn thing. Start with teenage males and go from there. Think family, health, meds, drugs, diet, faith, guns, sex, teevee, bullying, gaming, everything.
Did I mention lifestyle, or the potential of gender confusion ?
#5
The students KNEW it was him as soon as the shooting started. Why didn't any of the adult men have a concealed carry license? So many people knew this freak was a ticking time bomb, yet no one did anything.
#6
...because as an advanced civilization we believe in human sacrifice*. Wouldn't want to hurt the accused's feelings a priori would we?
* except when duly convicted beyond any reasonable doubt and then the usual suspects will spend inordinate amount of resources to delay or stop justice. Unless you blow up a federal office building with a day care center in it, then the 'wheels of justice' discover relative motion just short of the speed of light.
#8
They have a lot of nerve charging him with premeditated murder if the knew he was premeditating it and never lifted a finger to stop him. How about some law enforcement types losing their jobs for negligence?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/16/2018 11:53
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[DAWN] The man who shot Mashal Khan and 12 others given various jail terms for participating in his lynching on Thursday challenged their convictions in the Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. High Court (PHC).
The 13 men were among those convicted by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) earlier this month in the Mashal Khan murder case. The ATC had awarded the death sentence to prime accused Imran Ali, life imprisonment to five other convicts, and three-year jail terms to 25 others.
Syed Akhtar, the counsel for the 13 convicts, on Thursday filed an appeal against the death sentence handed to Ali and the jail terms awarded to five others in the Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden.... Circuit Bench of the PHC on Thursday.
Akhtar told DawnNews that he had earlier also filed appeals on behalf of seven other convicts. A total of 13 appeals have been filed against the convictions announced by the ATC over the course of this week.
The counsel pointed out what he termed contradictions in the detailed judgement, and urged the high court to release his clients after setting aside the ATC verdict.
"The verdict is not accordance with the law as no witness appeared in the trial court to testify that Imran Ali had opened fire on Mashal Khan," Akhtar said. He also claimed there was no proof or video evidence to show that Imran was present at the time of Mashal's killing.
Akhtar challenged the verdict on the grounds that as per the medico-legal report, the cause of Mashal's death was torture and beating, not gunshot wounds, which he claimed proved Imran's innocence.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2018
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[DAWN] A prominent Saudi holy man endorsed Valentine's Day, long forbidden in the ultra-conservative kingdom, calling it a "positive social event" that was not linked to religion. Okay. I'm snowed.
The comment from Ahmed Qassim al-Ghamdi, former chief of the inquisitors religious police in the holy city of Makkah, comes as 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ...Crown Prince of Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... as of 2016.... pursues a far-reaching liberalisation drive that has upended years of conservative tradition.
"It is a positive social event and congratulating people for it is not against sharia (law)," Ghamdi told Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television.
"It is an act of kindness to share greetings on Western national and social holidays, including Valentine's Day, exchange red roses with others, as long as it is towards peaceful people who do not share animosity or are being at war with Moslems."
Such comments from the Saudi holy manal establishment would be inconceivable around two years ago, when the inquisitors religious police wielded unbridled powers and were notorious for enforcing sex segregation.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia launched a series of reforms, including gradually diminishing powers of the inquisitors religious police to arrest. Prince Mohammed, who has vowed to return the country to "moderate Islam", has further cut back the political role of hardline holy mans in a historic reordering of the Saudi state.
Florists openly sold red roses and Valentine's Day memorabilia in cities such as Jeddah on Wednesday without any trouble from the inquisitors religious police, previously notorious for disrupting celebrations.
The declining presence of the inquisitors religious police has been met with relief from many of the country's young, but it has also sparked concern over a possible backlash from arch-conservatives.
But opposition to the prince's reforms has been muted ‐ at least publicly ‐ after his crackdown on dissent, including arrests of prominent holy mans with millions of followers on social media.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2018
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[DAWN] THE Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is all set to take up the question of whether Pakistain is complying with international commitments to prevent its financial system from being used by groups that have been designated by the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... as terrorist entities, and early indications are that it is going to be a bumpy ride. This is a long running story, going back at least eight years and the country has been scraping past the successive reviews by offering up one ’action plan’ after another, but failing to deliver on its commitments.
For more background, I can point readers to my piece in February last year, titled ’To ban or not to ban’. Back then the government had placed Hafiz Saeed Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2018
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[DAILYCALLER] Progressive social justice trends appear to be creeping into the Air Force Academy, as an academy first sergeant was reprimanded for instructing cadets to maintain a professional appearance, emails reveal.
"Observations made by USAFA [United States Air Force Academy] permanent party members regarding cadet grooming standards have become increasingly unfavorable," First Sergeant Zachary Gay Pareeh apparently wrote in a leaked email to cadets. "Going forward, I expect you all to do your part in reversing negative perceptions about cadet personal appearance that circulates USAFA and diminishes your credibility as a member in the profession of arms."
The first sergeant then advised the cadets in his charge to be like Mike.
"Before Michael Jordan became a clothing brand mogul, he was actually pretty good professional basketball player," Gay Pareeh wrote, "In the later years of his career, and before the NBA’s dress code existed, he would consistently appear at pressers in a suit and tie. He was never seen with a gaudy chain around his neck, his pants below his waistline, or with a backwards baseball hat on during public appearances."
"Michael Jordan understood the value of a professional appearance," he told the cadets.
"Cadets, how do you want to be seen? If the answer is not as a military professional, then perhaps you are in the wrong place," Gay Pareeh concluded his email.
A colonel then embarrassed the first sergeant publicly, accusing Gay Pareeh of committing "microaggressions."
"On behalf of all [Cadet Wing] Sr Leadership and permanent party members, let me apologize for the email sent earlier today by our First Sergeant," Col. Julian Stephens wrote to cadets. He called the comments "disrespectful, derogatory, and unprofessional," he promised to address this microaggression immediately.
It appears that the original email was brought to the colonel’s attention by someone else at the academy. "Please continue to be vigilant," the colonel said, adding that everyone should treat one another with "dignity" and "respect."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2018
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#3
So... You believe that being 'By The Book' is too reactionary and not appropriate for a 'future' pilot entrusted with a multi-million dollar high performance aircraft? Un-believe-able.
#7
Note:
Gould had also heard about the theft of Macon's medal. He asked Commandant of Cadets Brig. Gen. Richard Clark to assign someone the task of finding a replacement medal. The two bases' efforts were "independent, but almost simultaneous," he said.
Maj. Julian Stephens, the air officer commanding for Cadet Squadron 14 and a liaison for the Hubert L. "Hooks" Jones Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen Inc., took up the challenge. "It was the least I could do for what the Tuskegee Airmen did for me as an African American," said Stephens, a 1996 Academy graduate and native of Sandusky, Ohio. "The barriers they broke down and the things they had to deal with well overshadow anything we have to deal with today. I felt that it was my duty to help in some fashion." ...
#10
One woman's point of view: There's a reason that so many say, "I love a man in a uniform" or "There's nothing like a guy in a tux." What usually goes along with the uniform or the tux is perfect grooming. Yes baby yes!
Raj nails it. I suspect this kind of nonsense won’t be fashionable much longer at the military academies (remember the Communist 2nd lieutenant who got in trouble for his West Point graduation day shenanigans last year?).
#12
remember the Communist 2nd lieutenant who got in trouble for his West Point graduation day shenanigans last year?
How much trouble did he really get into, besides some bad publicity? They never kicked him out and until this shit results in demotions and expulsions, we can continue to 'thank' Obama for pissing on these institutions. We should start with this boob Col. Stephens.
#13
A fair point, Raj. I searched his name in the Rantburg archives, and ditto on the web. I found nothing more recent than the Navy anti-communism posters at the Army-Navy game last December. So presumably West Point and the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, where he was posted, are either still investigating or don’t feel a need to let us know what they have done.
[VladTepesBlog] It all started Monday, three weeks ago. That Monday evening, Uta Ogilvie, an ordinary woman from the suburbs of Hamburg, went downtown, to the posh Hamburg shopping street Jungfernstieg. She held a pink sign, “Merkel must go”, and just walked the street in silence. She was all on her own.
Uta Ogilvie has no political affiliations, she is a practicing Buddhist, and no organization whatsoever was involved in this. It was just one woman’s personal protest.
After a while, some passers-by joined her.
The next Monday, two weeks ago, about 60 people joined her in silence.
The arc of events is exactly as one would expect in these troubled times, including Antifa and a certain slant to the newspaper headlines.
#1
After the events of 2/12, Mrs Ogilvie has given up on organizing and/or participating in demonstrations citing the threat of violence against herself and her family.(link in German)
Translation of her facebook post's conclusion:
"In other words, it is the state itself that threatens me. But while the fascists and their sibling organizations are funded to the extent of millions (of Euros), I can not expect any state protection. I would only get that if I went into politics, I was told.
In short, the state is muzzling me.
Hence my appeal: Spread my story, talk with family, friends and colleagues. Think about it together: We live in a country where we can not live our fundamental right to freedom of expression. Maybe, I hope, one day we will be so many that this condition will come to an end.
I myself will now retire a bit and think. But do not worry: Nobody will break my lion heart.
Uta Ogilvie"
[RADIOSHABELLE] Two soldiers were killed on Wednesday in a shootout with AP officers at Sheikh Barrow in Mandera County.
Local administrators said the Kenya Defence Forces troops were felled by friendly fire.
"The APs returned fire after coming under attack by the soldiers who mistook them for bandidos. They had been having lunch at their camp when the incident took place," one said.
Six other officers were airlifted to Nairobi with injuries.
The bodies were also transported to the city by air.
The Death Eaters earlier tried to attack a General Service Unit camp in the area but were repulsed.
KDF set up bases in the area to help flush out al-Shabaab ... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord... terrorists, who have seriously injured and killed many since Kenya joined the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... Mission in Somalia in 2011.
Mandera, Lamu, Mombasa, and Garissa are among counties that have borne the brunt of the Death Eaters’ attacks.
On January 2, four security officers were killed in a suspected al-Shabaab attack in Mandera.
Two police reservists and an AP died at the scene while another KPR died while being rushed to the hospital.
A senior police officer said the attackers waylaid the cops along Elwak ‐ Kitulo road.
President Uhuru Kenyatta declared Kenya will take part in the peacekeeping mission until Somalia stabilizes.
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[DAWN] The forensic report of two pistols allegedly used in the murder of medical student Asma Rani has matched with the postmortem report and the empties, according to sources.
They said that one pistol was recovered from accused Sadiqullah and the other from the house of alleged controller Shahzeb.
The medical student had received three bullets which matched with shells, official sources said. Earlier, it was being assumed that she was shot at and killed with one pistol. They said that the two pistols belonged to the accused Sadiqullah and Mujahidullah.
They said that the first pistol was recovered from Sadiqullah and another from the house of Shahzeb, which belonged to Mujahidullah who had left it with him before leaving for Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... . They said that in the dying statement Asma had little time therefore she could only name Mujahidullah. However, a lie repeated often enough remains a lie... both the accused had been nominated in the FIR by Asma’s brother Irfan who was an eyewitness in the case, said the sources.
They added that both the accused had been nominated under sections 302/34. The section 34 pertains to common intention of two or more people, they said.
The sources said that in normal cases first the blue warrants were issued by Interpol for the arrest of any person, but on the request of the interior ministry and keeping in view sensitivity of the case red warrants had been issued. They said that the accused, Mujahidullah, could not hide for long in Saudi Arabia, as he could be easily identified being alien after expiry of his visa.
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[All Africa] Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has instructed his office to write to Oxfam International to inform them of his retirement as their global ambassador.
Tutu expressed his disappointment in Oxfam on Thursday, after allegations of immorality and possible criminality involving humanitarian workers linked to the charity surfaced on Tuesday, according to a statement.
"He is also saddened by the impact of the allegations on the many thousands of good people who have supported Oxfam's righteous work," the statement read.
The scandal has also led Oxfam's chief executive Mark Goldring to resign just hours after his deputy, over a scandal involving aid workers' use of hookers in Haiti, following the devastating earthquake in 2010, AFP reported.
According to the report, a survey of 120 staff across three countries found between 11 and 14% witnessed or experienced sexual assault. Seven percent of staff in South Sudan witnessed or experienced rape or attempted rape involving colleagues.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[DAILYCALLER] White House officials took aim in a Thursday background briefing call at South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham ... the endangered South Carolina RINO, fellow maverick of Honest John McCain... for opposing the administration’s immigration proposal framework.
Graham himself blasted the Department of Homeland Security Thursday morning for releasing a statement opposing a recently revealed bipartisan Senate immigration proposal. The statement said the bill would be "the end of immigration enforcement in America and only serve to draw millions more illegal aliens with no way to remove them."
The Republican senator angrily reacted to the bill saying "the DHS blurb is over the top. It’s poisonous. I think its ridiculous and I’ve long since stopped paying attention to them." He added that it was if the statement was written by a "political hack."
An administration official struck at Graham in response telling news hounds to let him know the statement was written by people "who care deeply about the rule of law," with another official saying, "I’m not aware when Lindsey Graham became the chairman of the Democratic conference."
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#1
"I’m not aware when Lindsey Graham became the chairman of the Democratic conference."
Well, that's an excellent summary of his career, isn't it?
#3
He is McCain's bitch. What happens when that traitorous bastard finally dies? Bet he retires, because Haley will come take the seat if she wants it. Or else find someone like Sen Tim Scott, far better than McCain wannabe RINO Graham.
[Miami Herald] A burglar busted through the glass doors of a house in the upscale village of Pinecrest early Monday morning, only to face a deadly barrage of bullets from the homeowner ‐ a high-ranking Miami federal agent.
Authorities said Maria Otero, the branch chief of the Miami office of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, killed Robert Young III after he broke into her home at 1:29 a.m. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Young had a weapon, or what he used to break the window.
"We’re still combing through the house," Miami-Dade police Sgt. Carlos Rosario, a spokesman, said early Monday. "I have no information on the intruder being armed."
Otero, 55, has been in law enforcement for 25 years. After the shooting she was placed on administrative leave, which is standard practice according to CBP Spokesman Michael Silva.
#3
I have to admit, after all the FBI news over the past year, my first reaction was what dirty business was she up to? This probably does a disservice to the agent, but shows what the recent shenanigans have done to the FBI's reputation.
#4
It’s the second time in the past month that a law enforcement officer in that part of Southwest Miami-Dade was forced to confront a suspect at the officer’s home.
In January, Doral police officer Gary King and his wife were followed home after they had gone shopping and out to dinner. King said he spotted a car tailing him, but the vehicle was out of sight when the couple parked in the driveway of their Palmetto Bay home.
[Iraq News] Fear of Dire Revenge from tribes is holding back hundreds of displaced Iraqi families of Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... fighters from returning home in Anbar, a local official was quoted saying.
Almaalomah website quoted Ragea al-Essawi, a member of anbar Province Council, saying that tribal feuds are preventing 500 families from returning to areas Iraqi forces had recaptured from the bully boys.
"There have been attempts (for reconciliation) by some tribal leaders, but victims’ families insisted not to let the bully boys’ relatives back, and threatened to kill them in Dire Revenge," Essawi stated.
He said those families, scattered across refugee camps in the province, will "disrupt the security situation at liberated areas" should they return home".
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2018
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#1
"Let bygones be bygones?"
Nice try. Kill em
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/16/2018 7:08
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[ALMASDARNEWS] Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has commented on the developments in Syria, including the issue of arms supplies to Kurds from the US and the American military presence in al-Tanf.
"The Americans have sent the Kurds convoys with weapons through the territory of Iraq, provoking The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund.... . Turkey, in turn, has continued its military activity against Kurds in the Afrin area in northwestern Syria as part of the Operation Olive Branch," Zakharova said at a briefing on Thursday, noting that the ongoing battles between Ottoman Turkish troops and Kurds were fierce.
Meanwhile, ...back at the mall, Clarissa suddenly spied Mr. Bartlett at the checkout counter. He was buying Grecian Formula!... in Leb, the US Secretary of State, who is expected to head to Ankara, addressed the issue after meeting with the Lebanese president, stressing that the US has "never given heavy arms to the YPG," (the People’s Protection Units) a Kurdish Lion of Islam group that Ankara has deemed to be a terrorist organization.
The Ottoman Turkish officials have repeatedly claimed that the arming of the Syrian Kurds is one of the major factors that have contributed to the deterioration of Ankara-Washington relations. Turkey has claimed that the US was making a mistake in supplying weapons to the YPG. Ottoman Turkish officials say the YPG is linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is designated as a terrorist organization in the country, and claims that the American weapons they received could be directed against Turkey.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2018
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#1
Screw em.
Provoke Turkey, who gives a damn? I wish we could get Russia on board to bitch slap them. I love to see someone drop a JDAM on Erdogan's butt.
#2
If Sec Tillerson says "never given heavy arms to the YPG," but Turkey say it is a major issue, who is arming them? Deep State Special Access Program or other rogue spooks? Why does the right hand never know what the left is doing?
#5
If Sec Tillerson says "never given heavy arms to the YPG,"
That might be sleight of hand. We haven't, but we may have provided funding or even spoken to third countries to provide those arms. And what do we mean by heavy weapons?
[Al Jazeera] Venezuela's president vowed on Thursday to show up at the Summit of the Americas in Peru in April after he was told this week not to bother coming.
Maduro has accused conservative governments in Latin America - specifically Argentina ...a country located on the other side of the Deep South. It is covered with Pampers and inhabited by Grouchos, who dance the Tangle. They used to have some islands called the Malvinas located where the Falklands are now. They're not supposed to cry for Evita... , Colombia and Peru - of siding with the United States in allegedly planning his overthrow and takeover of the country's vast oil resources.
"They're the most unpopular governments on the planet," said Maduro.
Venezuela is home to the world's biggest crude reserves. Despite years of spiraling oil prices, detractors also accuse the Venezuelan supremoship of financial mismanagement as the country is gripped by hyperinflation, food shortages, and economic turmoil.
The Venezuelan government accuses rival states of imposing devastating economic warfare through sanctions.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2018
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#1
So sucessful and his but buddy hugo been at fucking Venezuela out of everything including humanity.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... group in Afghanistan says the group prefers dialogue in a bid to end the ongoing conflict in the country.
The group has issued a new letter to the American nation saying the group can play a constructive role in finding a peaceful solution for issues and that the chances of dialogue are not exhausted.
However, a clean conscience makes a soft pillow... Taliban warns that the group’s call for peaceful resolution can never mean that they are exhausted or their will has been sapped.
The new letter by the Taliban group has been issued almost a month after the US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... rejected the possibilities of the early talks with the Taliban following a series of deadly attacks in Kabul and other parts of the country.
President Trump said late last month "I don’t see any talking taking place. I don’t think we’re prepared to talk right now. It’s a whole different fight over there. They’re killing people left and right. Innocent people are being killed left and right. Bombing in the middle of children, in the middle of families ‐ bombing, killing all over Afghanistan."
"So we don’t want to talk with the Taliban. There may be a time, but it’s going to be a long time. We’re all out, and that’s taking place right now, and it’s a whole new front. And it’s a whole new set of principles that we’re being governed by," he added.
Condemning the recent Taliban attacks, President Trump said "When we see what they’re doing and the atrocities that they’re committing, and killing their own people, and those people are women and kiddies ‐ many, many women and kiddies that are totally innocent ‐ it is horrible."
"So there’s no talking to the Taliban. We don’t want to talk to the Taliban. We’re going to finish what we have to finish. What nobody else has been able to finish, we’re going to be able to do it," he said.
The Taliban group has not mentioned the recent wave of violence that mainly claimed the civilian lives and the Afghan and US officials have not commented regarding the new Taliban letter so far.
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#2
They are so arrogant.
Most if none of the locals like them except for the monies but maybe now some will just go back to the farm instead of playing with these useless brutal assholes.
In the mean time, I will find someone else too that will destroy the taliban totally.
#4
The old Paris Peace Talks(c) gambit. Getting your ass handed to you on the battlefield, return to the negotiating table in return for a cease fire by your opponent.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
When this judge's overreaching power grab is overturned by the Supreme Court, this judge should be removed from the bench. It was not about the law, but about the judge's dislike for Trump.
The federal district court’s ruling will surely be appealed, and it may very well be reversed. But make no mistake—whatever happens with his ruling, this pattern within the federal judiciary will surely continue. And like all efforts to suppress the desires and interests of the great majority of a nation, this judicial resistance is likely to create a resistance of its own.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least eight holy warriors were killed during the festivities in northern Faryab province of Afghanistan, the 209th Shaheen Corps said Wednesday.
The festivities broke out between the Afghan forces and the holy warriors in the vicinity of Qaisar district.
According to Shaheen Corps, at least five holy warriors were also maimed and nine others were maimed during the festivities.
The incident took place after a large number of holy warriors launched coordinated attacks on security posts in Chachakto village, the Shaheen Corps added.
The Afghan security personnel have not suffered any casualties during the festivities, the Shaheen Corps said, adding that the holy warriors were forced to retreat after the Afghan forces responded to their fire.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The Lebanese Army arrested a member of Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (formerly Al-Nusra Front) inside the city of ‘Arsal on Wednesday.
According to the National News Agency of Lebanon, the army arrested the Lebanese national, Hussein A.R, inside ‘Arsal after receiving information on his whereabouts.
The wanted terrorist had fought with the Al-Nusra Front in eastern Lebanon during the latter’s 2014 campaign near the Syrian border.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Al Jazeera] A year and a half after his first stint as prime minister abruptly ended, Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli returned on Thursday to the seat of government in the capital.
Oli, 65, was sworn in at the Singhadarbar building as Nepal's 41st prime minister having secured nearly a two-thirds majority in the historic parliamentary elections held late last year. He enjoys an unprecedented mandate to rule Nepal under a two-year-old post-war constitution.
Last October, the former communist revolutionary who spent 14 years in jail engineered a surprise left alliance that brought him an election victory.
However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... the chairman of Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), the largest party in the parliament known by its acronym UML, faces a host of challenges in delivering his election promise of political stability and economic growth.
Political analyst Jhalak Subedi told Al Jazeera the inauguration marked a significant step towards Nepal's republican journey after the autocratic monarchy was abolished in 2008.
"In the last 70 years, we have gone through a lot of political changes ... from monarchy to federal republic. For the first time in our history, a body elected by people was able to deliver a constitution. This is the result of many political struggles in Nepal," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2018
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[All Africa] Cyril Ramaphosa was sworn in as former First World Country South Africa's new president on Thursday, following the resignation of former incumbent and scandal-ridden Jacob Zuma.
Ramaphosa was elected without a vote after being the only candidate nominated in the parliament in Cape Town, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng said, though opposition parties boycotted the vote.
The new president is expected to deliver the postponed state of the nation address on Friday evening. The South African parliament announced the ceremonial details on Twitter.
Corruption issues 'on our radar'
A number of scandals surrounding Zuma had seriously damaged the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC). Zuma was removed as president effective immediately after he handed in his resignation letter on Thursday.
Ramaphosa said tackling corruption and mismanagement in state-owned enterprises would be a priority of his administration. "I will try to work very hard not to disappoint the people of South Africa," he said following his election.
"The issues that you have raised, issues that have to do with corruption, issues of how we can straighten out our state-owned enterprises and how we deal with state capture are issues that are on our radar screen," the 65-year-old added. "State-owned enterprises".... I believe we may have found the problem.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[DAWN] Pakistan has been engaged in lobbying efforts with different countries around the world to thwart a move by the United States and its European allies to get Pakistan placed on a global terrorist-financing watchlist with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), it emerged on Thursday.
Responding to a calling attention notice about Pakistan's possible placement on the FATF 'grey list', Minister of State for Finance Rana Afzal told the Senate that the move to put Pakistan on the terrorist-financing watchlist is a political manoeuvre on the part of the US and UK.
He said the US banding together with Britain to place Pakistan on the watchlist is a "dangerous step" intended to pile political pressure on Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[THECIPHERBRIEF] The Trump administration has given Pakistain a new "hit list" of nearly a dozen top Death Eaters to detain, to show its willingness to fight terrorism, but the U.S. won’t share intelligence that would help lead to their capture, and has snubbed Pak requests to meet CIA chief Mike Pompeo in Washington, a senior Pak official tells The Cipher Brief.
"The feeling is there is nothing we can do to make a difference," the senior Pak official said. "They are scapegoating Pakistain for their failure to bring peace in Afghanistan despite more than a decade of conflict."
In response, senior U.S. administration officials would only say that Washington has asked Pakistain to take "specific" action against the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... and the Haqqani network, which have been blamed for recent violent attacks in Kabul, Afghanistan. The officials tell The Cipher Brief that Pakistain’s intelligence service and military have failed to sever ties with either myrmidon group and continue to protect their top leaders within Pak territory.
"We have seen Pakistain take some modest steps that appear to be responsive to some of our concerns, but we haven’t seen the decisive action against the Taliban and Haqqani network," one of the officials said. "They are doing the minimum necessary to alleviate the pressure."
The he-said, she-said highlights the continued tension between the Trump administration and Islamabad that spiked in January when President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... greeted the new year by tweeting that Pakistain has shown "nothing but lies and deceit" in return for U.S. aid.
Two Pak officials say that since that tweet, Islamabad has turned over more than two-dozen Death Eaters to Afghanistan who were on an earlier list of Death Eaters the U.S. asked Pakistain to "lawfully detain." That includes the big shots of the Haqqani network, the official said. Siraj Haqqani is at the top of that list, as he’s wanted by the FBI for his roles in running military operations for both the Haqqani network and the Taliban, according to Bill Roggio of FDD’s Long War Journal.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[The Federalist] Half the country wants to know why the press won’t cover the growing scandal now implicating the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice, and threatening to reach the State Department, Central Intelligence Agency, and perhaps even the Obama White House.
After all, the release last week of a less-redacted version of Sens. Charles Grassley and Lindsey Graham’s January 4 letter showed that the FBI secured a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant to search the communications of a Trump campaign adviser based on a piece of opposition research paid for by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. The Fourth Amendment rights of an American citizen were violated to allow one political party to spy on another.
If the press did its job and reported the facts, the argument goes, then it wouldn’t just be Republicans and Trump supporters demanding accountability and justice. Americans across the political spectrum would understand the nature and extent of the abuses and crimes touching not just on one political party and its presidential candidate but the rights of every American.
That’s all true, but irrelevant. The reasons the press won’t cover the story are suggested in the Graham-Grassley letter itself.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom ||
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#5
Yesterday: "Russia! The Sky Is Falling! Russia!"
Today: "Old News. At this point, what difference does it make?"
Tomorrow: "Trump's Gardener's Nephew's Half-Brother was seen reading Huckleberry Finn ... Raaaacissst!"
#6
Because it besmirches the LightBringer's Legacy™ when it all comes back to him
As the Media sing: "Barack Hussein Obama. Mmm-Mmm-Mmm!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/16/2018 7:35
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#7
Because it takes a serious craftsman time and effort to manufacture evidence. Just any old slap together won't do. A good, strong, made up story is a credit to it's creator.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
02/16/2018 8:37
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#8
Democracy dies in darkness, indeed. Especially when the press refuses to shine the light on themselves and their political allies.
If this nation falls, I will be happy to place on trial (then against the wall or under a lamp post) the complicit members of the press who colluded in the deception and blinding of the public. That includes reporters, editors and executives.
Hey guys we gave away the barn to the Chinese under Slick Willie. It is no coincidence that so much Chinese military hardware looks a lot like ours in many ways.
And how about the discussions of the nuclear weapons technology that I am sure is in the hands of the NORKS and Mullahs thanks to Willie and Shillary (a well connected sadistic sociopath).
#14
I dunno, man - I'm sure someone will bring up 'Russian collusion' again in a month or so. Someone really stupid & stupid looking, like Chris Cuomo.
[Al Jazeera] Amnesia Amnesty International has said Egypt must cease use of cluster bombs "immediately" after the weapons had featured in an official video by the country's military on their recent operations in North Sinai.
The human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... group said in a statement on Wednesday that its experts analysed the video and concluded that the footage showed military air force personnel on February 9 loading Egyptian fighter planes with the internationally banned cluster bombs.
They were identified as US-made CBU-87 Combined Effects Weapons, each containing 202 BLU-97/B bomblets.
"Cluster bombs are inherently indiscriminate weapons that inflict unimaginable suffering for years after their use, and they are internationally banned for this reason," Najia Bounaim, Amnesia Amnesty International's deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in the statement.
"Their depiction in this video suggests that the Egyptian air force has either already used or is intending to use them, demonstrating a blatant disregard for human life."
[Quadrant] The much-touted 'education revolution', rather than fostering innovation and creativity, has produced bureaucratic universities antithetical to spirit of genuine discovery. As one academic observed, there is an infestation of 'unscrupulous people who believe ... they can act any way they want'
#4
Which is why they should never enjoy the cultural privileges granted to classical universities: No separate police forces (no autonomy), full taxation of income in all and property for private institutions(just another business), and an end state subsidizes of non-profitable enterprises.
I’m a small government guy, however, it’s sadly apparent that the United States of America is paralyzed with political indecision over something the State of Israel figured out more than 40 years ago: all schools should have mandated security features and active shooter protocols.
The horrific scene in Parkland, and the upsetting videos broadcast from the school during the shooting, should be the final straw. The kids should not have been hiding and screaming, they should have been in the midst of a pre-determined security protocol.
President Trump, if the Department of Education can force Americans to deal with the disaster of Common Core, it can certainly issue a federal mandate regarding school security. The time is now.
My personal manifesto is that government should never get involved in an issue unless an ongoing clear and present danger exists to large numbers of people, and that any regulation or legislation has a sunset provision.
Here we are.
In 1974, Israel endured the Ma’alot Massacre in which "Palestinian" terrorists took 115 people hostage at Netiv Meir Elementary School. Twenty-two children and three others were killed and 68 injured. Israel now requires schools with 100 or more students to have a guard posted. The civilian police force handles the entire security system of all schools from kindergarten through college. The Ministry of Education funds shelters and fences, reinforces school buses, and hires and trains guards.
Guards don’t just stand around. They check everyone entering, and engage threats.
And yeah, they’ve got guns.The lawful purposes for carrying guns are very clear: protect school personnel and students, create a sense of security, deter the ill-intentioned, and provide self-defense.
Common sense. Except to the illogical dullards who claim that "adding guns to schools won’t fix anything" and are fixated on the NRA and the ridiculous notions that gun laws magically stop criminals and crazy people from obtaining one of the 300 million guns in our country.
But more to the point, Israel’s Police Community & Civil Guard Department have a preventative care program that encourages safe behavior and offers violence protection strategies in normal situations. Yet students are also trained in how to respond to an active shooter situation.
Ben Goldstein, an American who made aliyah to Israel, and now serves as volunteer security and supporter of IDF soldiers, says America is behind the curve. Nevertheless, he says, it doesn’t take much for students and teachers to protect themselves.
#1
For kids that get mental health care (1) the Principal of their school should be made aware in case that kid shows any additional signs of needing help (2) The gunstores in the area should be made aware and given leave to deny purchases (3) The FBI should be made aware for their background checks (4) The parents should be made aware to secure weapons and keep their eyes open. If the kid is involved in a shooting someone in the 1-4 range should be held accountable, do that and we'll start to see folks act more attentively to the subject.
For adults it is a bit harder, I have no answers except the FBI should take the background checks serious.
[RADIOSHABELLE] Mahad Hassan Mohammed, the deputy Security Minister of Somalia’s central the Federal State of Galmudug ...a semiautonomous region in central Somalia, bordering Puntland on the north. Galmudug is not trying to obtain international recognition as a separate nation, but rather considers itself autonomous within the larger Somali federalism, for what that's worth... has accused the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... Development Programme [UNDP] of failing to pay its Police forces.
In an exclusive Interview with Radio Shabelle via phone, Mohammed said the State Police soldiers went on strike for lack of salary for several months, blaming the UNDP for behind responsible for the crises.
He added that Galmudug state is planning to stop relying on the UNDP financial aid and pay to its security force personnel. The UN Agency was not available for comment on the allegations.
This comes as the newly trained Police forces of the Federal State are on strike in Adado town for days over lack of delayed payment by the UNDP.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[StrategyPage] Research has shown that mothers are more effective at radicalizing children than fathers. Another reality is that “deradicalization” programs are a failure, especially in situations like this. Then there are the public exhortations by ISIL leaders for these widows to return home, help organize new attacks and radicalize their children for future attacks. That has already been happening in several European countries and is not a theoretical threat.
European nations have finally come around to acknowledging that Islamic radicals and their supporters, especially those in Europe, are eager to radicalize their children and produce another generation of Europe based Islamic terrorists.
Posted by: 3dc ||
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[Iraq News] Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... ’s military emir has succumbed to death after one week from getting injured, northeast of Diyala, the security committee of Diyala provincial council was quoted saying on Thursday.
"Islamic State’s so-called Islamic State in al-Waqf basin, northeast of Baquba, succumbed to death after getting injured last week, when an Arclight airstrike targeted a rest house," Sadeq al-Husseini, head of the committee, told AlSumaria News.
"The airstrikes killed several IS leaders over the past few months, especially in al-Waqf basin, where some sleeper cells still exist," he added.
Thousands of IS Death Eaters as well as Iraqi non-combatants were killed since the government campaign, backed by paramilitary troops and the coalition, was launched in October 2016 to fight the holy warrior group.
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The FBI is investigating scores of Chinese government-funded Confucius Institutes around the country over concerns the institutes are part of covert spying and influence operations.
The centers, mainly located on American college campuses, ostensibly were set up to teach Chinese language and culture. But they have become centers for spreading pro-China propaganda and influence activities, including organizing Chinese communist student groups that challenge human rights activists and others.
FBI Director Christopher A. Wray told a Senate hearing this week the FBI is investigating the institutes.
"We do share concerns about the Confucius Institutes. We’ve been watching that development for a while," Mr. Wray said, adding that the institutes are "one of many tools that [the Chinese] take advantage of."
"We have seen some decrease recently in their own enthusiasm and commitment to that particular program, but it is something that we’re watching warily and, in certain instances, have developed appropriate investigative steps."
[Iraq News] An Iraqi school guard in Diyala province single-handedly repelled an attack by Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... Lions of Islam against local paramilitary forces.
Awwad al-Rubayi, chairman of the security committee at Abi Saida precinct, told Alghad Press that terrorist elements, probably, from the Islamic State, sneaked in the area and erected a ladder against the walls of a school on the outskirts of Abi Saida. He said the Lions of Islam were planning to use the school as a vantage point for an attack against paramilitary security forces.
"The guard was prepared, and managed to confront the Lions of Islam with his personal gun and foiled the attack, leaving him with injuries," the official said. Local chased the fighters away, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Funny how the Iraqis protect their schools with armed guards, and we do not.
[Iraq News] The police in Nineveh have repulsed an Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... attack, killing three turbans and placed in durance vile Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! five others in southeast of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , a security source said on Thursday.
"Security troops thwarted an IS attack and killed three turbans in a security operation in Makhmur town, southeast of Mosul," the police source told the Iraqi News Agency. "Their weapons in their possession were confiscated."
The source also said "security troops launched a campaign that resulted in arresting five turbans who were possessing fake identity cards in Makhmur."
The Lion of Islams, according to the source, were referred to investigations.
Moreover, security personnel in Nineveh have killed seventeen IS members, an army general told the Ottoman Turkish Anadolu agency.
"Three vehicles carrying seventeen IS members attacked, after midnight, a convoy of security troops composed of five vehicles in a village in Badush region, west of Mosul," Lt. Gen. Abdul Khaleq al-Bahadli said.
"Armed confrontations broke out and lasted for almost half an hour, leaving all the turbans killed and their vehicles destroyed. Their weapons were confiscated. Three security personnel were maimed," he added.
Hundreds of IS members, according to Bahadli, "are there in Tigris River and Badush regions, where the turbans hide in their havens."
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) uncovered a large network of tunnels belonging to the so-called Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS), Wednesday, while combing through the Deir Ezzor countryside, a military source told al-Masdar News tonight.
According to the military source, the Syrian Arab Army was conducting a search-and-destroy mission in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, when they uncovered this web of tunnels near al-Mayadeen city and Sabikhan.
The source added that one of the tunnels was at least 500 meters deep and contained a large cache of weapons, including assault rifles, ammunition, RPGs, and ATGMs.
This network of tunnels was believed to be used by the Islamic State to carry out attacks against the Syrian Arab Army in the eastern countryside of the Deir Ezzor Governorate.
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[DAWN] Hafizabad police have registered two more cases against the suspects involved in the spinal fluid scam under Section 6/7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) along with other relevant sections.
Earlier, the suspects had been booked in a case on the report of father of one of the victim women. There are now three cases registered against the suspects.
Polygraph tests of two main suspects -- Nadeem and Sajid Masih -- were also conducted at the Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... Forensic Science Laboratory in Lahore on Wednesday. At least three suspects will now be presented before the Gujranwala Anti-Terrorism Court on Thursday (today).
Hafiz Ahmed Jamal, the front man for Hafizabad police, told Dawn that ringleader Nadeem and Masih had been taken to the forensic laboratory for their polygraph test since Nadeem had consistently been changing his statements during the interrogation whereas a link between the two was also to be established as Sajid had denied any association with Nadeem.
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#1
What can spinal fluid be used for? Why tap the fluid if it's not for medical testing for the victim?
The only crime I can think of is if the fluid was tapped and then billed to the victims without any actual testing. I note that the article did say that the victims were "unwilling".
[DAWN] An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday reserved its judgement in the rape and murder case of six-year-old Kasur girl Zainab Amin.
The verdict will be announced on Saturday, Feb 17.
Zainab's rape and murder last month had sparked outrage and protests across the country after the six-year-old, who went missing on January 4, was found dead in a trash heap in Kasur on Jan 9. Her case was the twelfth such incident to occur within a 10 kilometre radius in the city over a 12-month period.
The Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... government had declared the arrest of prime suspect Imran Ali on January 23.
ATC-I Judge Sajjad Ahmad, who presided over Ali's trial ‐ held daily at Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail starting Feb 10 ‐ had indicted the accused in the Zainab rape and murder case earlier this week.
The trial court recorded testimonies of 36 prosecution witnesses. A special team of prosecutors tried the suspect.
The accused had initially denied guilt when charges were framed against him, and had opted to contest the trial. However, we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by... he made a confession soon after and was indicted on Feb 12. On Feb 14, the ATC recorded his complete statement.
Before the commencement of Wednesday's proceedings, Prosecutor General of Punjab Eihtesham Qadir Shah had provided the suspect with a state lawyer after his private defence counsel withdrew power of attorney following the confession made by Ali.
Advocate Mehar Shakeel Multani had told news hounds outside the jail that he could never think of defending a criminal and had therefore decided to withdraw his power of attorney. He said the suspect had misled him about his innocence.
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[Al Jazeera] Human rights groups and indigenous activists have accused Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte of inciting the military to commit war crimes after he offered a $384 bounty for each communist rebel killed.
Duterte's "incendiary rhetoric" encourages violations of conventions on armed conflicts, Carlos H Conde of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement to Al Jazeera on Thursday.
"Duterte's pronouncements normalise the idea that government security forces can do as they wish to defeat their enemies - including committing summary executions," said Conde.
Last week, Duterte said he would train indigenous people, or lumads, to become paramilitary fighters and pay them 20,000 pesos ($384) for each communist rebel they kill in their communities in the southern island of Mindanao.
"You want money? I'll give you money," he said. "I will make it 20,000 pesos per head."
The controversial comments followed an earlier report quoting Duterte as telling the military to shoot female communist rebels in the genitals, to make them "useless".
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#1
How much per head for "Human Rights Watch" operatives?
#3
Well, if anything is reliable, it's the old saying that you get more of what you subsidize. Human rights groups and indigenous activists never had a problem for ACORN paying for every voter registration collected.
[RADIOSHABELLE] Kenyan soldiers on Wednesday killed three al-Shabaab ... the personification of Somali state failure... bully boyz during a security operation in the vast Boni forest in the coastal Lamu region.
Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) front man David Obonyo said the troops who were on a routine patrol along Sarira-Kolbio route encountered the Death Eaters following a blast that had been heard early Wednesday.
Obonyo said in a statement that they found the body of a al-Shabaab member following a suspected premature kaboom of improvised bomb the fighter was trying to place on the road used by the troops.
He said the soldiers were later ambushed by another group of al-Shabaab Death Eaters as they continued with the patrol to clear the area.
"During the engagement, three al-Shabaab terrorist were killed as others fled into the forest with injuries. The troops recovered three AK rifles, Qty 236 rounds of ammunition, bomb-making materials and personal items," Obonyo said.
He said there were no casualties on the KDF side and appealed for any information on any individuals seeking medical assistance in the area.
The police and intelligence officials said the bully boyz who are fleeing increased Arclight airstrikes in southern Somalia are trooping to Lakta belt near Boni Forest in Kenya’s Lamu with an aim of attacking locals.
Security officials said al-Shabaab have changed tactics and resorted to using IEDs to carry out attacks in coastal and northeast regions. The have been using Boni forest as their hideout and also launch attacks in the region.
The police said the bombs strategically planted along the roads near Kenya-Somalia border are slowing down security operations to flush out Death Eaters hiding in the vast Boni forest, which is near the Somali border.
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Today, Secretary Tillerson held a 3 1/2 hour bilateral meeting with Turkey’s President Erdogan and Foreign Minister mevlutcavusoglu in Ankara to discuss a range of bilateral and regional issues.
It is rumored that the YPG is in negotiations to allow the Syrian Army to fight with them against the Turkish invasion in Afrin Canton.
1- Afrin/ city center: the Turkish artillery bombarded the city center of Afrin this afternoon, while the invaders shelled Hajal village last night at 11 PM .
2- Jinderes: the Turkish invasion army and its Jihadist factions Jinderes township using heavy weapons and the tanks, which started yesterday at 3 pm until the midnight.
In an attempt to advance by the Turkish invasion army and its Jihadist factions in Dewa village, our forces confronted the invaders and engaged with them. The clashes continued until 11 pm last night. The invaders re-attacked the village today at 11 am and the clashes are ongoing until the preparation of this report. Spontaneously, the Turkish artillery indiscriminately shelled Tel-Sellor village.
3- Sharra: all the villages which are followed to Sharra district were targets of the random Turkish bombardment which last until yesterday’s midnight. There was heavy shelling on Chama and Omra villages.
In an attempt by the Turkish army and its Jihadist factions, our forces repelled their attacks and engaged with the invaders in Sarinjik and Darqliya villages, where the clashes are still ongoing until writing this report. As a result for the clashes, our forces destroyed an APC for the enemy.
4- Raju: Fierce clashes broke out between our forces and the invaders in Balilka village and its surrounding hills, accompanied by artillery shelling yesterday at 7 PM until 9 PM. Casualties were reported within the ranks of the invaders. In Adama and Ali Beska villages, our forces carried out a special military operation targeting a four-wheel-drive military vehicle. The vehicle completely was destroyed and 2 invaders killed while 5 wounded. In Kaniya Batmane village, our forces destroyed an APC for the enemy.
5-Shiyeh: there are fierce clashes between our forces and the Turkish invasion army and its Jihadist
factions in Chaqala village since the early hours of this morning until writing this report.
SDF Media Centre
15-FEB-2018
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#1
Funny how the Turks are protecting and aiding Al Nusra salafists, who are fighting along side the Turkish backed so-called Syrian Turkoman Brigades.
Reminder, they used to be Syria's branch of al-Qaeda. And the Turks are supporting them and using them as proxies and auxiliaries in attacks against Assad's troops and Russian troops in the Aleppo region to the south of Afrin.
[StrategyPage] United States has adopted a new strategy in Afghanistan that concentrates on using the American advantages in terms of intelligence, air power and special operations forces. There are only about 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan but because of satellite communications thousands more in the United States operate as if they were in Afghanistan by remotely operating UAVs and analyzing intelligence data. Over the last few decades American intelligence has collected a lot of details on how opium and heroin production operates and can direct air attacks to the most valuable (to the drug gangs) targets and then monitor the economic impact on the drug operations.
As the old saying goes, “amateurs study tactics while professionals study logistics.” It’s lack of cash and inability to rebuild production and distribution capability that hurts the Afghan drug gangs. That plus the majority of Afghans opposed to this particular business and the competition (other places on the planet that can replace much of the Afghan production) makes the drug gangs vulnerable and the Islamic terror groups they finance to provide security very vulnerable.
The Taliban like the cultivate the idea that they are a frugal operation that can survive on contributions from wealthy Arab religious conservatives in the Persian Gulf area along with donations (not all of them voluntary) from Afghans the Taliban encounter. That is what Islamic terror groups would like it to be but since 2002 lots of business records belonging to major Islamic terrorists groups have been captured and examined. Thousands of Islamic terrorists have been interrogated and some have voluntarily provided detailed information on terror group finances. The bottom line is these groups are expensive to operate in the long term, very expensive.
A total of 22 Ukrainian soldiers on the front line in the Donbas region died by non combat causes, according to a news report by the pro Russian website Russkaya Vesna.
Russkaya Vesna reported news released by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
In January, a total of 11 deaths were from suicide, six of which were alcohol related. Another six soldiers attempted suicide.
Three soldiers died in firearms handling causes. A total of seven deaths were attributed to accidents.
Three officers and six contractors were among the dead counted in the report.
[DAWN] The Pakistain Army has destroyed an Indian army post along the Line of Control (LoC) while responding to firing by Indian troops targeting civilians, the military's media wing said on Thursday.
Five Indian soldiers were killed and many injured when Pak troops destroyed the Indian army post that was "targeting innocent citizens" in Tatta Pani (Hot Spring) sector of Azad Jammu and Kashmire's southern Kotli district, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said in a tweet.
"Indian terrorism against innocent citizens shall be responded [to] befittingly," he wrote. Ghafoor's tweet also included a video showing the reported targeting of the Indian post.
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#1
Pakistan's response to India getting a military base in Oman that could block Gwadar?
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 latest plot twist in the endless historical saga of Afghanistan as a graveyard of empires has thrown up an intriguing new chapter. For the past two months, Beijing and Kabul have been discussing the possibility of setting up a military base alongside Afghanistan’s border with China.
His denial came after reports of a leaked UN confidential report said that North Korea had earned US$200 million in 2017 from exports that violated various UN-imposed sanctions. The sanctions-busting exports included coal, iron, lead, textiles, seafood and ballistic missiles or missile technology to Myanmar and Syria.
[Atimes] Hardly 10 months after honoring the visiting US president, the Saudis are open to a Russian-Chinese consortium investing in the upcoming Aramco IPO
[Daily Caller] Intelligence officials can selectively release classified information to trusted journalists while withholding the same information from other citizens who request it through open records laws, CIA lawyers argued Wednesday.
[WND] What would Joan Rivers (allegedly) say about Rob Porter?
[The Hill] Three former CIA analysts argued Wednesday that Chairman Devin Nunes (Calif.) and other Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee can’t be trusted to defend national security after they pushed for the release of a classified memo that accuses the FBI of abusing surveillance programs.
[Free Beacon] Foreign Service officer Susan Thornton offers Obama-era policies toward Beijing at hearing
[AnNahar] The 
...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...
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
Crown Prince of 
the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...
[DAWN] The forensic report of two pistols allegedly used in the murder of medical student Asma Rani has matched with the postmortem report and the empties, according to sources.
Lindsey Graham
[Iraq News] Fear of 
[Al Jazeera] A year and a half after his first stint as prime minister abruptly ended, Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli returned on Thursday to the seat of government in the capital.
[All Africa] Cyril Ramaphosa was sworn in as 
[DAWN] Pakistan has been engaged in lobbying efforts with different countries around the world to thwart a move by the United States and its European allies to get Pakistan placed on a global terrorist-financing watchlist with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), it emerged on Thursday.
[The Federalist] Half the country wants to know why the press won’t cover the growing scandal now implicating the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice, and threatening to reach the State Department, Central Intelligence Agency, and perhaps even the Obama White House.
[StrategyPage] Research has shown that mothers are more effective at radicalizing children than fathers. Another reality is that “deradicalization” programs are a failure, especially in situations like this. Then there are the public exhortations by ISIL leaders for these widows to return home, help organize new attacks and radicalize their children for future attacks. That has already been happening in several European countries and is not a theoretical threat.
[DAWN] Hafizabad police have registered two more cases against the suspects involved in the spinal fluid scam under Section 6/7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) along with other relevant sections.
the personification of Somali state failure...
[StrategyPage] United States has adopted a new strategy in Afghanistan that concentrates on using the American advantages in terms of intelligence, air power and special operations forces. There are only about 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan but because of satellite communications thousands more in the United States operate as if they were in Afghanistan by remotely operating UAVs and analyzing intelligence data. Over the last few decades American intelligence has collected a lot of details on how opium and heroin production operates and can direct air attacks to the most valuable (to the drug gangs) targets and then monitor the economic impact on the drug operations. 
A total of 22 Ukrainian soldiers on the front line in the Donbas region died by non combat causes, according to a news report by the pro Russian website Russkaya Vesna.
[DAWN] The Pakistain Army has destroyed an Indian army post along the Line of Control (LoC) while responding to firing by Indian troops targeting civilians, the military's media wing said on Thursday.
