#2
It's simple. Sorry about the kids, but don't sign the confidentiality agreement and don't go to work there. Stay the hell away from that place. Do not participate in this operation. Do not cooperate. The Champ created this mess. Let him deal with it.
It's the same thing with the IRS IT department. Just don't work there. Don't participate. Stay the hell away from it and refuse to be complicit.
#5
Of course it was against the law, not a confidentiality agreement, for Lois Lerner to share IRS info with the FBI. Laws are for little people (who might actually be looking out for other little people). When she goes to jail or is hit substantially with forfeitures and fines, call me.
#6
I really would like Obama to walk through one of these camps, so he can see what has been unleashed thanks to his work. There is going to be an outbreak sooner than later, watch.
Posted by: Charles ||
07/01/2014 21:41
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I really would like Obama to walk through one of these camps, so he can see what has been unleashed thanks to his work
Obama wouldn't care - these are brown people not black - and so are not 'his people' (according to Mr. Holder). To the left it's all about race.
Plus Obama and ValJar wouldn't be able to keep the sh*t-eating grin off their faces.
#2
I'm more concerned about the lube they're using.
Is it edible? Do I really want to know?
Posted by: frozen al ||
07/02/2014 19:49
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A masochist fry-cook from Frisco
Was given to grilling to disco.
He'd put on "Ring My Bell,"
Then he'd let out a yell
As he buttered his buns with some Crisco.
If you've ever been around a large molding machine (where incredible stresses and pressures are present) when it 'goes south', you don't want folks standing there waiting for you to tell them to bug out in fifteen (or two) different languages.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/02/2014 21:49
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English is our planetary language. If you can't speak it, you are missing out. Especially in case of fires and factory explosions.
Washington is a city of frequent surprises, but this latest one about Barack Obama and Narendra Modi takes the cake. President Obama was at a fundraiser, a very, very exclusive one, to raise money for Democrats in the Senate and in the House of Representatives who are fighting the November election with their backs to the wall. There — predictably as Indians in their current national mood are prone to assumptions — one of the fat cat donors asked about India's new prime minister.
Obama replied in his calm, no-nonsense style that he continued to have concerns about Modi's past. The reply shook up the small audience which was hanging on to every word that came out of the president. It was a surprise because the media coverage after Modi's rise as the new star over the Indian political horizon had created an impression that bygones are now bygones in the Modi-Obama equation, which the incumbent president, in any case, had inherited from his predecessor, George W. Bush.
The invitation to Modi to visit the White House in September, rarely extended to leaders who travel to New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly, had additionally been interpreted — quite wrongly as it turns out — that the United States of America had reversed course on its visa ban on the long-time former chief minister of Gujarat. One television station went so far as to assert that the US had done a U-turn on Modi. Nothing is farther from the truth.
Given such atmospherics, it was only natural that Obama's admission that he continues to have concerns about Modi's past triggered a supplementary question to Obama as a follow-up. The president was unflappable. He was a master of understatement. His reply was a classic. Once again, the answer vindicated the 2008 rhyming description of him during his first successful presidential campaign as "No Drama Obama."
"My name is Barack 'HUSSEIN' Obama," was all that he said in a reply that was pithy but pregnant in its implications. The president did not, of course, emphasize his Muslim middle name. The emphasis in the text here is mine. He did not have to: because the self-sustaining emphasis was not lost on anyone present at the fundraiser. There was a brief, but stunned, silence as everyone who heard the president digested the import of what Obama had said in six words that were worth a thousand.
Ever since I first met Obama in 2004 when he was elected to the Senate as one of its junior-most members and easily accessible then, I have heard him use his middle name only twice. At his inauguration on the steps of the Capitol building in 2009 and again in 2013. Those who follow Obama closely agreed that this fundraiser was probably the third time he used his Muslim name and its significance cannot be overlooked.
On a visit to Washington last week, I was recounted this very revealing anecdote on the strict understanding that if I ever wrote about it I would leave no clues about the source of my information, that I would be as vague as possible about this fundraiser and that I would also balance my account of the incident against the reality that notwithstanding the president's personal concerns about Modi, the Obama administration will leave no stone unturned to work towards a thriving relationship with the new Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in New Delhi.
Whatever maybe tugging at the president's heartstrings and triggering his feelings about the man who became India's prime minister over a month ago, it is a given certainty that Modi will receive a spectacular red carpet welcome in the White House in September. There will not even be a hint during the visit of past baggage in Modi's equation with two successive American administrations. Every effort will be made to live up to the prime minister's expectation — which he has shared in the last few weeks in more than one private conversation — that his September sojourn is to be the most important of his foreign visits in the immediate future.
More than most politicians elsewhere, the only times US presidents and presidential hopefuls come anywhere near telling the whole truth is when they are at fundraisers. Which is not surprising because without fat cat donors, no public servant seeking high elected office has any chance of succeeding in America where money is the pivot on which elections revolve.
During the 2012 US presidential campaign, with only seven weeks to go before voting, the Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, was caught in a surreptitiously taped video as admitting at a fundraiser that he did not care about the kind of people who support Obama because they take no responsibility for their livelihoods and think they are entitled to government handouts. Romney acknowledged in the leaked video that such Obama supporters account for "47 percent" of voters and that he, Romney, does not "worry about those people."
Romney, according to opinion polls then, had a reasonable chance of defeating Obama, but Romney's true self that was revealed to donors in a purportedly secret conversation severely damaged the Republicans and they did not recover in that presidential poll cycle. Obama quickly pounced on Romney's disparaging remarks about nearly half of America's population. His campaign said, "the president certainly does not think that men and women on Social Security are irresponsible or victims, that students aren't responsible or are victims…"
Politics in America is replete with examples of truth having brought down aspirants for high office. In the 2006 Senate election season, a potential presidential hopeful, Virginia Senator George Allen, was caught on video making racist comments about an Indian American student volunteer for Democrats who was at his campaign event. "This fellow here, over here with the yellow shirt, macaca, or whatever his name is. He is with my opponent. He is following us around everywhere." The leaked video did Allen in and he lost.
Wiser by such experiences, Obama's fundraiser where he opened a small window to his true feelings about Modi was carefully managed to avoid any faux pas on account of leaks. Video cameras were out of question, of course. Donors had to deposit their mobile phones outside the venue, pens or even notebooks were not allowed. Every donor was then frisked to ensure that the president would not have to confront the ghosts of any of his truthful assertions to his moneyed supporters.
But there is nothing to beat the most conventional method of passing information which has stood the test of time: word of mouth. I have verified with a second donor what I was told by one donor about Obama's remarks referring to the prime minister. The second donor, too, insisted on discretion, however, and protection of his identity because this US administration is seen in Washington as the most unforgiving in recent years, where those who fail tests of loyalty to the White House are treated as no less than apostates.
Yet it is a tribute to the perennial concessions that America makes to its larger interests and an example of its diversity of State machinery that work has already begun in earnest in Washington to guarantee that Modi's first visit to the city as prime minister will be a milestone to remember in Indo-US relations. Like all successes, the perceived transformation of Modi from persona non grata into a welcome friend in the White House is a success that has many claimants for its fatherhood.
However, two names deserve mention: Frank Wisner, former US ambassador in New Delhi, and Ron Somers, who recently resigned as president of the US-India Business Council. These two men took it upon themselves while the Lok Sabha election campaign was under way to mobilize America's business community as the vanguard of a change in attitude towards Modi.
Contrary to the impression in India, there is no evidence to support any claim that the US has changed its policy on a visa for Modi. His new job as head of India's national government entitles him to an A-1 visa. As chief minister, he was not entitled to this visa and he was denied a visa in the category that he was eligible for as Gujarat's top official. What the campaign by Wisner and Somers achieved was to cover up this zone of discomfort and provide respectability to the process of inviting Modi to Washington.
Posted by: John Frum ||
07/02/2014
17:13 ||
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Seven Su-25 Frogfoot attack planes operated by the Iranian Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution have arrived at Baghdad to join the war against ISIS militants.
On Jul. 1, all the seven operational Su-25 Frogfoot attack planes operated by the Pasdaran (informal name of the IRGC -- the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution) have completed their deployment to Imam Ali Airbase where they will join the ex-Russian Air Force Su-25s already delivered to Iraq in the air war against ISIS (Al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant). The aircraft (three Su-25UBKM and four Su-25KM jets) will be operated by four Iraqi pilots and 10 Iranian pilots.
According to ACIG.org forum member IIAF-JSF, who brought several to light, aircraft and support to fly them would be part of a military contract (backed by the U.S.) according to which Iran's IRGC Air Force will receive six Su-30K multirole jets destined to Iraq. Their delivery of the Iranian Su-25 has been filmed and reported by local media outlets and Iraqi MoD that has published the following video as well as the pictures you can find in this post. Kindly click through to see everything, I don't have time to put in all the various links
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain ||
07/02/2014
14:33 ||
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#1
Frogfoot!? Have they properly conducted a cultural offensive sensitivity impact study on this name?
(seriously, how did this name happen? Best I've heard is, other than starting with F(ighter), that the US was mostly efn with the Soviets)
#9
OK so the Frogfeets are there; when do the Bombcats arrive?
(That would be a really, really, really sweet target of opportunity to remove the F-14s from the Iranians if a tragic ramp accident were to occur.....)
IS is gaining momentum in the struggle to control two natural resources that have defined the history of the Middle East -- oil and water.
With its conquest of Mosul and Tikrit, IS gained a stranglehold over Iraq's northern oil export pipeline and the country's largest refinery.
It is IS's turn to flex its hydrological muscles. In February 2013, IS took control of the Tabqa Hydroelectric Dam (Syria), once a showcase in Hafez al-Assad's development plan and a major electricity source for Aleppo. Earlier this spring, IS opened up dikes around Fallujah to impede the Iraqi army as it tried to besiege the stronghold, causing flooding as far away as Najaf and Baghdad. With its recent advances, IS now controls the hydroelectric dam at Mosul, Iraq's largest, and IS is poised to take the dam at Haditha, the country's second largest. With the tables turned, the Iraqi government finds itself considering a preemptive opening of the Haditha floodgates to block IS's path.
According to New York Times reporter Thanassis Cambanis, IS left the staff at the Tabqa Dam unharmed and in place, allowing the facility to continue operations and even selling electricity back to the Syrian government. Similarly, oil fields under IS control continue to pump. Indeed, IS has shrewdly managed these resources to help ensure a steady and sustainable stream of revenue.
Beside revenue from oil and water, IS collects a variety of commercial taxes, including on trucks and cellphone towers. It has also imposed the jizya on Christian communities under its control. According to the Chaldean patriarch, so far there has been no violence committed against the significant Christian population around IS-controlled Mosul.
Whereas resources like diamonds or drugs motivate rebel forces to take as much as they can as quickly as they can, the need to manage capital and technology-intensive natural resources has actually increased the interdependence between IS and civilians in the territory it controls.
Oil and water, unlike diamonds or drugs, contribute to the coherence to the Islamic State and the discipline of its governance. While both the United States and (even more significantly) Iran have dispatched military advisers to Iraq, full-blown outside intervention is difficult to imagine. Other forms of non-violent interventions, such as placing sanctions or embargoing IS's oil production, are unlikely to be effective. Alternatively, coming to agreements on the disposition and distribution of water and oil resources could form the basis for some modes of negotiation.
#1
Russia just delivered the second batch of Sukhoi fighter jets (which will be flown by Iraqi pilots and "are ready to provide air support to the armed forces")
A question to fellow 'burgers:
Does Iraq have any frog foot pilots? How do they expect to fly them with no experience and training?
Posted by: frozen al ||
07/02/2014 15:14
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#2
maybe with "advisors"
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
07/02/2014 15:21
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According to the usually interesting and often factual Wikipedia, the Iraqis basically fly some Russian helos and a bunch of Cessnas. So yeah, 'advisors'.
#6
Does Iraq have any frog foot pilots? How do they expect to fly them with no experience and training?
Basic training is this: pull the stick back, the houses get smaller, push it forward, they get bigger. push throttle forward, more noise =faster, pull it back, less noise.
Dallas, always eager to showcase its "world-class" bona fides, has a sterling opportunity right now. Opportunity = hang on to your wallet
It is an opportunity to demonstrate world-class compassion by providing temporary shelter for some of the scared, desperate kids trapped in the migrant crush at the U.S.-Mexico borders. It's a chance to show that Texans are compassionate people who can put aside their political differences to address a humanitarian emergency. It's not their fault. Sort of like the really young kids - the unborn.
The blame for this mess is a big, juicy pie that can probably be split a lot of different ways. What is undeniable, however, is that these children �-- some of them as young as 3 or 4 years old, and many of them traveling alone �-- are already here. They're jammed into overcrowded border processing centers, which cannot cope with the sheer numbers of tired, dirty, hungry kids pouring in. Here's a thought question - do you really want to send a four-year old back to the parents who sent her off with a note pinned to her shirt?
News photos show children and teenagers sleeping on blankets spread on bare concrete, or behind fenced partitions that resemble dog kennels. There are anecdotal stories of Border Patrol agents using their own money to buy shoes and diapers. Are these photos being broadcast to the originating countries? Instead we send Lurch to threaten them with all the kids are going back.
Some of the response to this crisis, I'm sorry to say, is genuinely appalling. Meaning, in this case, any point of view other than my own.
Well, anonymous online comment forums don't always bring out the best in people. But it's genuinely upsetting to note that more than a few irate Americans are referring to these refugees as "aliens," "intruders," "criminals," "asylum pests" and "subsidy-sucking illegals." Yeah, Jacquielyne, I'm upset that they're here, attracted by the notion they are going to get a free ride. And they are sucking the subsidies right out of my pocket.
"They are bringing in diseases." "This is a ploy to swell our welfare rolls." "Having to feed illegals 3 meals a day plus buying diapers for illegal kids is sickening." These are a few comments I ran across during a cursory review of news stories about the growing crisis. I bet you had to dig pretty deep, Jackie.
Diapers for babies is "sickening"? A meal for an exhausted, disoriented child is a political "ploy"?
Dallas, let us please not be those commenters. Let's be human enough to recognize that these are kids who did not engineer this crisis, and whose need for the bare essentials required to survive is urgent. While you're at is, Ms. Floyd, how about preventing this from continuing? I say if we had any real compassion, we'll buy them all airline tickets from San Salvador.
The Christian Life Commission, the ethics wing of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, adopted a resolution last week calling on its member churches to respond to the migrant crisis with compassion. I'm feeling a twinge of conscience. A small twinge.
The resolution stated that the children themselves "are not at fault for the circumstances in their home countries or for the confusion created by human smugglers and American policy."
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/02/2014
13:05 ||
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#1
how about we pass a law that says we care for all of the kids but that they can never, ever, become citizens. At 18 they go back to their home countries and the home countries get a bill for babysitting and such at $20 an hour.
#2
These kids are being used by unscrupulous politicians to satisfy their agenda and ideology. They are also being used by slavers, drug dealers, and cartels.
#5
How about we pass a law saying that those under a certain age have been clearly abandoned by their parents, and should be wards of the court and available for immediate adoption? Those poor liddle kids, apparently abandoned at the border - why yes, they deserve permanent, loving homes with stable and middle-class families here in the USA ... and absolutely soonest. It's for the children, you see. Their birth parents obviously don't give a damn ... so let them be adopted and cared for by American families, in the spirit of our traditional American values.
It's only fair, you see. For the children.
#7
As long as they can't sponsor their biological parents or relatives Sgt. Mom.
All those kiddies will be granted citizenship and the first think they will do is petition their parents, siblings, etc... Oh and since they can't afford it the taxpayers will pay for all that and it'll be discrimination to require an Affidavit of support as is required by legal immigrants.
The Michigan soccer referee critically injured this weekend after he was sucker-punched during an adult-league game died Tuesday in an area hospital. John Bieniewicz, 44, was left in critical condition Saturday in Livonia after witnesses say he was punched in the head as he reached down for a red card.
Police said Baseel Abdul-Amir Saad punched Bieniewicz after he indicated that the 36-year-old Dearborn resident was going to be ejected. Livonia police and the Wayne County prosecutor's office have not named the referee, whom Jim Acho, a childhood friend, identified as Bieniewicz.
One witness told MyFoxDetroit.com that Bieniewicz was punched near his throat and fell without raising his arms. The death was confirmed by the hospital and a family friend.
Saad was arraigned Monday in Livonia District Court on a charge of assault with intent to do great bodily harm. Bond was set at $500,000, and a probable-cause hearing was set for July 10. Article gives no info about Saad other than his name and age.
#2
From "The Audacity of Hope" [pg. 261]: Of course, not all my conversations in immigrant communities follow this easy pattern. In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific assurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.
In other words, if certain peoples attack or violate the people of the US and the people of the US from within, domestically, and people feel threatened by them, he will stand with the peoples whose elements attacked the people of the US.
#3
Clarification/Correction: In other words, if certain peoples attack or violate the people of the US from within, domestically, the result being the people of the US feel threatened by them, he will stand with the those people whose elements attacked the US.
#5
Yeah JohnQC. Although I expect they are measuring the resistance and after the elections will construct something that will bring blows and then it is martial law time.
#6
Success has a thousand fathers. Failure is an orphan.
Obama will be saved by the Beltway Party, formerly known as Trunks, cause they won't play the same hardball game the socialist play by demonizing and painting their opponents in the manner they the socialist do daily.
[HERALDSUN.AU] THE Interior Ministry headquarters in eastern Ukraine's largest city has fallen to pro-Russia separatists after a five-hour gunbattle that erupted hours after the Ukrainian president ended a cease-fire.
THE shaky cease-fire had given European leaders 10 days to search for a peaceful settlement, and its end raised the prospect that fighting could flare with new intensity in a conflict that has already killed more than 400 people since April.
In Tuesday's festivities, rebels fought for more ground, and badly trained and disorganised government troops seemed incapable of crushing the mutiny.
President Petro Poroshenko had called a unilateral cease-fire to try to persuade the rebels to lay down their weapons and hold peace talks. Some of the rebels signed onto the break in fighting as tentative negotiations began, but each side accused the other of repeated violations. When he ended the cease-fire, the president said the rebels were not serious about peace.
In Moscow, 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... argued that substantive talks with representatives in eastern Ukraine had failed to start in earnest and that the cease-fire announced by Poroshenko amounted to an ultimatum to the rebels to disarm.
The Russian leader also denounced the Western threat of sanctions as blackmail, adding that Moscow wouldn't accept "ultimatums and mentor's tone."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2014
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At least the Russkies have a firm hand at the helm, unlike another nation I might mention.
[The Nation (Pak)] Pakistain on Tuesday rejected claims by senior Afghan officials that Pak troops had been involved in fighting in southern Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province, where Taliban have taken control of some areas.
Afghan national security advisor, Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta, claimed on Monday that Pak forces have direct link in deadly festivities in Sangin district of Helmand province.
"We have seen with deep dismay the allegations by certain Afghan officials seeking to link Pakistain security personnel with the armed festivities in Helmand Province," the Pak Foreign Ministry said.
"We reject these allegations as completely baseless," the Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a statement.
Spanta told a news conference in Kabul the recent festivities in Helmand and attack on eastern Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country..... s are an "obvious violation by Pakistain".
The Afghan adviser who visited Pakistain for anti-terror talks last week, also said he is still doubtful regarding Pakistain's sincere cooperation in fight against terrorism, despite he called his recent trip to Pakistain satisfactory.
"At a time when Pakistain is engaged in serious efforts with Afghanistan to address common challenges, it is imperative to refrain from making comments that would detract us from our efforts to create a conducive environment for positive and productive engagement," the Pak spokesperson said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2014
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[NEWS.YAHOO] Throughout Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,'s desperately dry Central Valley, those with water to spare are cashing in.
As a third parched summer forces farmers to fallow fields and lay off workers, two water districts and a pair of landowners in the heart of the state's farmland are making millions of dollars by auctioning off their private caches.
Nearly 40 others also are seeking to sell their surplus water this year, according to state and federal records.
Economists say it's been decades since the water market has been this hot. In the last five years alone, the price has grown tenfold to as much as $2,200 an acre-foot — enough to cover a football field with a foot of water.
Unlike the previous drought in 2009, the state has been hands-off, letting the market set the price even though severe shortages prompted a statewide drought emergency declaration this year.
The price spike comes after repeated calls from scientists that global warming will worsen droughts and increase the cost of maintaining Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,'s strained water supply systems.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2014
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Price = Demand/Supply.
Almost mythical how meddling always makes a shortage.
[TIMESOFINDIA.INDIATIMES] The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday upheld France's controversial burqa ban, rejecting arguments that a 2010 law outlawing full-face veils breaches religious freedom.
In a case brought by a 24-year-old French woman with the support of a British legal team, the court ruled that France was justified in introducing the ban in the interests of social cohesion.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2014
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[PHILADELPHIA.CBSLOCAL] Fire officials in Bucks County are investigating what caused a laptop computer to explode, injuring the woman who was using it inside her Langhorne Manor home.
"It blew up. It flipped my computer back and the battery pack and all came out this way," Loretta Luff recalled, "The next thing I knew, my shirt was on fire, I grabbed that and took that off and I think that's when I singed my hair."
Even with her singed hair, burned face, arm and foot, Luff considers herself lucky. She says she is grateful she and her disabled husband escaped worse injuries when her Dell laptop exploded Sunday afternoon.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2014
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#1
A built-in danger especially for Li-ion batteries. They are all supposed to incorporate protective circuitry to prevent certain kinds of electrochemical runaways. Good thing this didn't happen on a plane in flight.
#8
As I understand it, the fix will consist of a heavy steel box surrounding the battery, with vent tubes leading away from the subject's lap. Then when the battery goes into runaway, the explosive gases will harmlessly dissipate overboard.
(Hey, it worked for the Lazy B and the EasyBake Airliner (787)
[DAILYSTAR.LB] A car bomb in a marketplace in Maiduguri, the northeast Nigerian city that is the birthplace of Boko Haram extremism, killed at least 56 people on Tuesday, the leader of a civilian group that recovered the bodies said.
Sadiq Abba Tijjani, leader of the Civilian Joint Task Force, told the Associated Press his group recovered at least 56 dead bodies at the blast site, mostly elderly women who sold peanuts and lemon juice at the market.
Tijjani said they managed to identify 21 of the dead but the rest "were either burnt or damaged beyond recognition."
Other witnesses also estimated the death toll to around 50. Some officials said only 17 people died in the explosion that ripped through the market early Tuesday, but officials regularly play down the death toll.
Witnesses and officials blamed Boko Haram extremists who are accused of a series of recent bomb attacks in the West African nation. The group has attracted international attention and condemnation since its April abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls from a northeastern town.
Tuesday's explosives were hidden under a load of charcoal in a large vehicle, according to witnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Trader Daba Musa Yobe, who works near the popular market, said the bomb went off just after the market opened at 8 a.m., before most traders or customers had arrived.
Security forces cordoned off the area for five hours but had a hard time keeping people out, though they warned there could be secondary explosions timed to target rescue efforts.
Last week, explosions ripped through the biggest shopping mall in Abuja, Nigeria's central capital, killing 24 people; a medical college in northern Kano city, killing at least eight; and a hotel brothel in northeast Bauchi city that killed 10. It was the third bomb blast in as many months in Abuja, and the second in two months in Kano. In May, twin car bombs at a marketplace also left more than 130 dead in central Jos city and killed at least 14 people at a World Cup viewing site in Damaturu, another town in the northeast.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2014
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[Iran Press TV] The Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran will not send armed forces to fight against Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed... hard boyz in Iraq but will help Baghdad if it demands military equipment, a high-rankling diplomat says.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks during a visit to Moscow where he held talk with Russian officials on Tuesday.
"If Iraq ever requires our arms for an effective combat against terrorism, we will provide these arms in accordance with international law and our bilateral contracts," he said.
Although Iraq has a strong army, Iran is ready to send military consultants to the neighboring country to help with battles against the al-Qaeda splinter Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... (ISIL), Amir-Abdollahian noted.
Referring to recent remarks by the leaders of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, he said the Kurdish leaders should face reality.
The Iranian diplomat noted that all Iraqi factions should respect the country's constitution, stressing the necessity to prevent the country from breaking up.
Earlier in the day, Massoud Barzani ... hereditary head of the Kurdish Democratic Party, maybe a little too close to the Medes and the Persians for most people's tastes... , the president of Kurdistan region, said he intended to hold a referendum on the region's independence within months.
"From now on, we won't hide that that's our goal. Iraq is effectively partitioned now. Are we supposed to stay in this tragic situation the country's living? It's not me who will decide on independence. It's the people. We'll hold a referendum and it's a matter of months," Barzani said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2014
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#1
Yuuup, Tehran will be sending its Air Force instead, on anti-ISIS strike missions.
At last check, Iran is keeping 10,000 ground troops in ready reserve at its border wid Iraq.
[DAWN] Pakistain on Tuesday reiterated that the ongoing Zarb-e-Azb military offensive, launched to eliminate myrmidon hideouts in the North Wazoo tribal area, would target all bad boys, including the feared Haqqani network.
Briefing a delegation of foreign media news hounds, DG Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa ... who is The Very Model of a Modern Major General... insisted the current operation would target "Death Eaters of every hue and colour."
"That means any terrorist who is on the soil of Pakistain right now within the area of operation," he told news hounds.
"The Death Eaters of various hue and colour are not wearing different caps, so this will be an indiscriminate operation — when they (soldiers) go there they will eliminate everyone without discrimination."
The military officials also made it clear that the current operation in North Waziristan Agency was Pakistain Army's own operation and had no involvement of other foreign forces.
"It's wrong to link drone attacks with the ongoing operation," a top military official was quoted as saying during the press briefing.
Minister for States and Frontier Regions (Safron) Abdul Qadir Baloch, speaking at the same briefing, said the government was clear that no one would be allowed to use Pakistain as a base for attacks.
"Anybody who has been involved in terrorist activities, whether he is Haqqani or not Haqqani, is very much included," he said.
The Pak military also demanded Afghanistan help the offensive by stepping up efforts to eliminate the leader of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP), Mullah Fazlullah ...son-in-law of holy man Sufi Mohammad. Known as Mullah FM, Fazlullah had the habit of grabbing his FM mike when the mood struck him and bellowing forth sermons. Sufi suckered the Pak govt into imposing Shariah on the Swat Valley and then stepped aside whilst Fazlullah and his Talibs imposed a reign of terror on the populace like they hadn't seen before, at least not for a thousand years or so. For some reason the Pak intel services were never able to locate his transmitter, much less bomb it. After ruling the place like a conquered province for a year or so, Fazlullah's Talibs began gobbling up more territory as they pushed toward Islamabad, at which point as a matter of self-preservation the Mighty Pak Army threw them out and chased them into Afghanistan... , believed to be in hiding across the border.
Bajwa urged Afghanistan to do more to track down hardline holy man Fazlullah, who took over the TTP leadership last year after previous chief Hakimullah Mehsud was killed by a US drone.
"This is something we have been crying hoarse — this has been raised at every level," he said.
"The leader of the TTP Mullah Fazlullah is sitting across the border in Kunar or Nuristan and Afghanistan needs to do something about it."
There have been fears that the Haqqani network, blamed for numerous deadly attacks on NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... forces in Afghanistan, would be spared.
US officials have in the past accused Pak intelligence agencies of links to the Haqqani network, with one top military officer once calling the hard boyz a "veritable arm" of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.
Nearly half a million people have fled the fighting in North Waziristan and Bajwa said the only people left there were bad boys.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... doggedly pursued talks with the TTP from February, but to little avail.
A dramatic attack on Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... airport, killing dozens of people, brought a sudden, bloody end to the grinding of the peace processor and sparked the military offensive.
Rumours of a military operation circulated for months before it actually began and there are fears that hardcore hard boyz — including the Haqqanis — have melted across the porous mountain border with Afghanistan.
Resistance to the military's advance has been relatively light, adding fuel to the argument that the Death Eaters the army has vowed to smash are simply no longer there.
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[Iran Press TV] American troops sent to Iraq are to fly Apache attack helicopters and use unarmed surveillance drones in Baghdad, Pentagon officials said on Tuesday.
A senior military official, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... , told AFP that the drones were not Reapers or Predators but they are smaller Shadow robotic aircraft launched from a catapult.
The Shadow aircraft, US forces have used in Iraq and in Afghanistan in the past, are about 14 feet (4 meters) long and can fly up to 8,000 feet (2,400 meters) above the ground level.
Pentagon press secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby told a news conference on Tuesday that US troops would "help provide extra security for our facilities, our people, our property, and to also allow - to help allow the State Department and the embassy to continue to function as it is."
Kirby added that the troops will work to safeguard access to the Baghdad airport and the US embassy, adding the embassy remains "open".
He went on to say that the situation "continues to be very dangerous" and "the threat continues to be very real."
The United States says it has so far sent 500 troops to Baghdad to increase security for its embassy there.
On Monday, President Barack Obama We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us... also ordered 200 more troops to Baghdad to protect American diplomats as well as other personnel working in the city.
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#1
Can't fly ground crew and/or embassy staff out in Apaches.
[Tolo News] At least 27 Talibs were killed during "clearing operations" led by the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) in the past 24 hours across the country, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement on Tuesday.
Twenty-one other bully boyz were maimed and six others tossed in the slammer Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! .
The statement said: "Within the past 24 hours, Afghan army, police and intelligence agency carried out several operations in Kunar, Kunduz, Badakhshan, Balkh, Zabul and Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... provinces to rid the area of bad boys."
The Afghan forces have also seized weapons during the raids, the statement read.
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4 teens arrested after trying to attack Arab workers in Jerusalem
[Ynet] A masked Jewish teenager was tossed in the slammer Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! after trying to attack an Arab worker at a McDonald's on Hillel Street in Jerusalem. Three others attacked a Bedouin working in the city and they were also arrested. No injuries were reported after either incident.
Jerusalem protestors block Jaffa Street calling for 'death to Arabs'
[Ynet] Violent festivities erupted between hundreds of protestors in Jerusalem and police forces that were sent to the area. The protestors marched in Jaffa Street and tried to enter the open air market of Mahane Yehuda but security forces blocked their entrance.
The protestors yelled "death to Arabs" and demanded that Israel avenge the deaths of the three teenagers.
In addition to that, an Arab youth was taken to hospital in light condition after he was allegedly attacked by Jews in the capital. An investigation into the incident has been opened.
Two protestors attack Arabs in Jerusalem amidst clashes with police
[Ynet] Two protestors marching in Jerusalem were tossed in the slammer Book 'im, Mahmoud! after attacking two Arabs in the street. Four protestors in total have been arrested in Jerusalem Tuesday and the police announced that the protest was illegal.
Police rescue Arab boy from protestors calling for 'death to Arabs'
[Ynet] Police rescued an Arab youth who was caught in a demonstration against Arabs on Jaffa street in Jerusalem. The police called in additional officers to evacuate the boy. Protestors tried to attack the youth and police had to used force to push them back.
[Tolo News] Former Independent Election Commission (IEC) Secretariat Chief Zia-ul-Haq Amarkhail boarded a flight for the United Arab Emirates with his family on Monday evening. His unimpeded departure received harsh criticism from those who believe Mr. Amarkhail should be present to answer for the accusations of fraud that have been filed against him, and if found guilty, suffer the consequences.
An official source within the IEC, who spoke to TOLOnews on condition of anonymity, said that Amarkhail left Kabul on Monday evening, around 7 p.m. on a flight bound for Dubai. The same source reported that Amakhail's family left on a flight just before him, and all of them were booked on a flight headed to London, England, at 3 p.m. Tuesday.
Presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah's campaign team had asked President Hamid Karzai and the Attorney General's Office to block Amarkhail from leaving the country while he is under investigation for electoral fraud. Abdullah's team have labeled his departure an "escape".
Continued on Page 49
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[DAWN] A district court on Tuesday warned former military ruler Gen (retd) Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... against his failure to appear before it on July 23 for a hearing of the Abdul Rasheed Ghazi murder case, saying legal action would be taken against him in case of non-compliance with court directives.
Earlier today, the court had granted Musharraf exemption for Tuesday's appearance in the case and subsequently summoned him as well as his guarantors for the next hearing of the case.
The capital city's additional sessions court judge Wajid Ali heard the case.
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[An Nahar] Egyptian police placed in durance vile Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! Tuesday five Islamist leaders who back Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... , two days ahead of protests their alliance has called to mark the first anniversary of his ouster, officials said.
Since the military deposed Morsi last July 3, the authorities have waged a brutal crackdown on his supporters that has seen more than 1,400 people killed in street festivities and over 15,000 placed in durance vile Book 'im, Mahmoud! .
Magdy Hussein, a leader of the Anti-Coup Alliance that has spearheaded protests demanding Morsi's reinstatement, was arrested at dawn at his house, the security officials said.
He faces charges of inciting violence and threatening national security and stability.
Also detained was Nasr Abdel Salam, head of the Building and Development party, the political arm of Gamaa Islamiya, a former Death Eater group that has since renounced violence.
Two other leaders of the party, which is part of the Anti-Coup Alliance, were also arrested.
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[An Nahar] Iraq's new parliament broke up in chaos Tuesday, with lawmakers walking out and making threats despite global calls for the formation of a government needed to face a Sunni militant onslaught. After a break called to calm soaring tempers, so many Sunni and Kurdish deputies stayed away that the quorum was lost, so a speaker could not be elected as was constitutionally required, and the session ended in disarray.
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#1
As an aside, this advertisement seems rather optimistic.
[DAWN] Shahrukh Jatoi and three others convicted of killing young Shahzeb Khan must wait for at least a month to learn if they could be acquitted after being pardoned by the victim's family, as the Sindh High Court directed the trial court on Tuesday to verify the genuineness of a "compromise" reached between the two parties within three months.
A two-judge bench headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar was seized with the appeals of Shahrukh Jatoi, his friend Nawab Siraj Ali Talpur and two others against their conviction by an anti-terrorism court in the Shahzeb murder case.
While their appeals were still pending disposal, the parents and two sisters of the victim had approached the SHC to seek their acquittal after pardoning them "in the name of Allah".
The four appellants also filed applications along with a proforma for effecting a compromise, which was duly signed by them and the victim's legal heirs.
Earlier on Monday, the court heard the applications and questioned as to whether the compromise might be effected in the convictions handed down by an ATC.
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[Iraq Sun] Iraq's new parliament has ended its first session without selecting a new prime minister.
The politicians met for the first time Tuesday since being elected in late April, but acting speaker Mahdi al-Hafidh ended the session after a number of members failed to return from a break. He said they would continue in a week if there is a possibility of an agreement.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party. Maliki imposed order on Basra wen the Shiites were going nuts, but has proven incapable of dealing with al-Qaeda's Sunni insurgency. Reelected to his third term in 2014... was a favorite to claim his third term after the election, but since then Sunni Islamist snuffies have captured large areas of northern and western Iraq and thrown the country into crisis.
Western leaders have urged Iraqi officials to form an inclusive government to counter sectarian divisions among its Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish populations.
Iraq has been operating under a system in which the prime minister is a Shi'ite, the president a Kurd and the head of parliament a Sunni.
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#1
So basically they adopted a hybrid of the parlaimentary model and the Lebanese one. Both of which IMHO are weak by design.
[Ynet] The al-Qaeda breakaway Islamic State of Iraq and al Shams captured a key Syrian town near the Iraq border from other rebels on Tuesday and advanced toward a stronghold of its main jihadi rivals, an activist group said.
The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Boukamal fell to the hard boyz early Tuesday following days of battles between the group and other factions led by the Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate. Activists in the area could not immediately be reached and calls to Boukamal and nearby areas were not going through.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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[An Nahar] The Lebanese army said Tuesday that one of its patrols was targeted overnight with a roadside kaboom in the northern city of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... .
The homemade bomb, which was made up of around 800 grams of explosives, went off at 3:15 am while soldiers were patrolling the area of Bab al-Ramel, the military said in a communique.
The explosives were packed in a metal box, it said.
The army cordoned off the area after the attack, which is now being investigated by military police, the communique added.
The army and security forces deployed en masse in Tripoli earlier this year as part of a security plan aimed at bringing back calm to the city, which has witnessed several rounds of deadly gunbattles.
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Iraq's new parliament failed to elect a speaker as its first session ended in disarray on Tuesday, with MPs due to meet again in a week. Lawmakers were constitutionally required to choose a speaker in their first session, followed over a period of weeks by the selection of a new president, who names a presumptive prime minister.
But a number of MPs failed to return after a 30-minute break meant to restore order, and the session broke down into a debate over whether there were enough lawmakers present to continue. Eventually, Mahdi Hafez, the MP presiding over the session, said parliament would reconvene on July 8 "if there is the possibility of an agreement".
The legislative chaos comes despite repeated international appeals for unity as Iraq faces a major militant offensive that has overrun swathes of five provinces north and west of Baghdad.
Under de facto agreements after past elections, the parliament speaker has generally been a Sunni, the prime minister a Shia, and the president a Kurd.
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King Abdullah named Prince Khalid bin Bandar to the post of chief of general intelligence in a decree on Monday.
The Custodian of Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, has tapped the former deputy defence minister to lead the kingdom's intelligence services and revitalised the political career of a former spy chief and longtime ambassador to the United States by naming him to a new senior advisory post. King Abdullah named Prince Khalid bin Bandar to the post of chief of general intelligence in a decree on Monday, the official Saudi Press Agency reported. Khalid was relieved of his post as deputy defence minister on Saturday, barely six weeks after he was appointed.
Khalid was previously the governor of the Riyadh region, an important post he assumed in February 2013 that involves overseeing the capital and provides opportunities for direct contact with top officials and visiting dignitaries. He is the son of Prince Bandar, one of the eldest surviving sons of King Abdulaziz, the founder of the kingdom.
The monarch also named the former intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, as adviser and special envoy to the king. Bandar was ambassador to the US for 22 years before becoming director-general of Saudi Intelligence Agency in July 2012. His brief in the latter role included oversight of Saudi policy in the Levant, including toward Syrian rebels seeking to oust President Bashar Assad. He was relieved of his post at the helm of the intelligence agency in April.
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[An Nahar] Moslem "relatives" of a Sudanese Christian woman hiding at the U.S. embassy are taking her to court to try to prove she belongs to their family, a lawyer said Tuesday.
Since it isn't clear that they have a blood relation.
The complainants are the same people who laid an apostasy charge against Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag, 26, said the lawyer, Mohanad Mustafa.
Ishag was sentenced to death in May for apostasy from Islam, under Islamic sharia law that has been in force in Sudan since 1983 and outlaws conversions on pain of death. An appeals court later quashed the verdict and sentence.
Her case raised questions of religious freedom and sparked deep concern among Western governments and human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... activists.
"In fact, it is not her family" who filed the cases, Mustafa told Agence La Belle France Presse. "They want to get her in trouble. Somebody supports them. I can't mention who."
Mustafa confirmed that a case has been lodged against Ishag in family court "to prove that Meriam is Abrar and she is one of the family."
Moslems refer to her as Abrar al-Hadi Mohammed Abdalla.
Neither Ishag nor her lawyers have yet received documents confirming when the case will be heard, Mustafa said.
"I think the court will dismiss the case," he added.
It is not a criminal action, meaning it would not affect her chances of traveling abroad.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Send this American and her child a word of encouragement America:
[PJMedia] United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... Sherlocks have determined that Iran has been violating the arms embargo as the U.S. heads back to the negotiating table with the Islamic Theocratic Republic over its nuclear program.
Rooters reported Friday on a confidential report that found Iran shipping arms to Sudan.
The UN panel concluded that a shipment of rockets and other weapons, concealed on the Klos C and seized by Israel in March, originated from Iran and could have been headed to Sudan as a transit point for Gazoo or points in Northern Africa.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) called the report "more evidence of Iran's destructive and destabilizing role in the region."
"Iran was caught red-handed — this shipment is likely the tip of the iceberg. This report should be released for all to see," Royce said.
"During testimony in front of the Committee in March, Secretary Kerry pledged to take action once all the facts are known—I urge him to do so now," the chairman added.
[An Nahar] A young Lebanese man killed his sister in the southern town of Bfarweh after discovering an SMS message in her telephone that indicates she had committed a "dishonorable act," the Internal Security Forces revealed on Monday.
"The Zifta police department (in the South) received an anonymous telephone call on June 28 reporting that S.A., 32, was found dead at her house in the Bfarweh area after she had been shot," the ISF announced in a released statement.
Following investigation, the ISF Intelligent Bureau managed to identify and arrest the suspect two hours after receiving the telephone call.
The statement revealed that the victim's 24-year-old brother Z.A. is the suspect.
"He claimed during the probe that the death of his sister happened by accident, but later confessed to killing her after reading a text message on her mobile phone that indicates she had committed a dishonorable act," the ISF detailed.
Investigation is ongoing under the supervision of the competent judicial authority, added the ISF statement.
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[DAWN] While an inquiry committee set up by the federal government to ascertain causes of the death of seven airport workers has not put the blame on any individual or institution, it has found that the rescue and emergency agencies are incapable of handling 'such sort of exceptional circumstances' and recommended to the authorities to set up a 'designated department for handling emergencies of this sort', it emerged on Tuesday.
A three-page report of the inquiry committee, headed by Air Commodore Noor Elahi Bajwa and comprising Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) chief Ahmed Chinoy and senior Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) official Bashir Jan Mohammad, which was recently released to the media, identified weak areas of the rescue operation.
The committee said the loss would have been 'much more' if the security agencies such as Airport Security Force (ASF), police, Rangers and army personnel had not played their role in time and effectively.
Recognising efforts of the security and rescue agencies, the committee, however, during its days-long exercises and investigation found the equipment by workers of the fire department and other institutions concerned much below the required standard to handle the crisis of that magnitude.
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[Iran Press TV] A powerful New York State politician, Sen. Thomas Libous, was charged Tuesday with lying to FBI agents investigating whether he used his influence to get his son a job.
Libous' son, Matthew, was charged in a separate indictment with filing false tax returns and obstructing a tax investigation. Father and son appeared separately before a federal judge in White Plains for arraignment.
Libous, a Republican, is in his 13th term in the state Senate representing a Binghamton-area district. He is deputy majority coalition leader, making him the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, and a close ally of Democratic Gov. Andrew Sonny Cuomo.
Federal Sherlocks charge that Libous lied to FBI agents, who interviewed him in 2010 about allegations that he used his influence to secure his son a job with a Binghamton law firm. He also allegedly denied -- falsely -- that he knew nothing about an arrangement with a lobbying company that paid the law firm $50,000 a year to cover part of his son's salary.
The New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... said friends report that Libous acknowledges he made a call to help his son get a job but did not promise to do anything in return. A friend also told the newspaper Libous was surprised by the charges.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
The government lies to us all the time. Why is it a crime to lie to them? It's not like perjury, is it?
[DAWN] KARACHI: Loose dress with trailing ends is a major contributor to road traffic injuries suffered by women pillion riders in the city, it emerged on Tuesday.
"Women suffered injuries in 74 per cent cases out of 986 clothing-related road traffic injuries recorded in three years. The risk analysis data shows that female pillion riders were 31 times likely to be involved in clothing-related cycle of violence injuries than male pillion riders. Further estimation shows that 97pc of clothing-related injuries in pillion riders could be attributed to females," said a study, Clothing-related cycle of violence injuries in Pakistain: findings from a surveillance study, published in the International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion.
It is the first surveillance-based study describing the patterns of clothing related injuries in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... .
The department of emergency medicine of the Aga Khan University Hospital, Aman Healthcare Services, Road Traffic Injury Research and Prevention Centre conducted the study in collaboration with Public Health Solutions Pakistain Private Limited, Lahore and Douglas Hospital Research Centre, Montreal, Canada.
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[NEWS.YAHOO] President Barack Obama Jedi mind meld... defiantly dared congressional Republicans on Tuesday to try to block his efforts to act on his own and bypass a divided Congress that has thwarted his policy initiatives.
"So sue me," he taunted on a sweltering day, as he pushed politicians to pay for road and bridge repairs. "I'm not going to apologize for trying to do something."
Obama struck an aggressive tone in the face of a lawsuit threat from House Speaker John It is not pronounced 'Boner!' Boehner ... the occasionally weepy leader of House Republicans... and in the wake of two defeats before the Supreme Court, including a unanimous decision from the court that he overreached when he appointed members of the National Labor Relations Board while the Senate was in recess.
His remarks came a day after Obama declared that he would act on his own to address weaknesses in the nation's immigration system after Boehner informed him that the House would not take up an immigration overhaul this year.
He has already taken a series of executive actions, including an order requiring federal contractors to pay a higher minimum wage and initiating steps to to lower carbon emissions in coal-fired power plants.
"So far this year, Republicans in Congress have blocked or voted down every serious idea to strengthen the middle class — not ideas that are unique to me," he said. "But the Republicans have said no to raising the minimum wage, have said no to fair pay. They've said no to extending unemployment insurance for over 3 million Americans looking for a new job."
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#1
Actually, I don't blame Obama one bit for taunting the GOP; Boehner doesn't have the stones to stand up to him or defund anything.
#2
What does the minimum wage have to do with fair play? Is it fair to compel employers to pay their workers more than the market value of the labor? Is that what he's saying? It's hard to tell because these people speak in such incoherent, disjointed sentences. Maybe he thinks if can put the word fair into the same sentence as minimum wage, incoherent as that sentence may be, people will subconciously link the two terms.
[POLITICO] Rep. Luis Gutiérrez said Tuesday that President Barack Obama has the power to "heal" undocumented immigrants. "If [Republicans] want to come back and discuss [reform], fine," the Illinois Democrat said on MSNBC. "But in the interim period, I believe the president of the United States has already in statute, in the law, the ability to heal and put in a safe harbor millions of undocumented immigrants while the Congress of the United States finally decides it's going to take action."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Again Illinois apologizes for showing just what 'Stuck on Stupid' means
#4
Yea verily, Chicago Jesus will lay his blessed hands upon them and CAST OUT the hateful lack of documentation -- making the children and their extended families whole with citizenship, work-free housing and EBT cards.
Posted by: regular joe ||
07/02/2014 12:42
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#5
Turning water into wine is like turning the undocumented into the permanent Democratic supermajority.
#7
Gutierrez = a donk poster boy for idiocy and national suicide. He is for flooding the country with illegal immigrants first and foremost. He is for America somewhere way down on his list. Possibly an America hater.
#8
Heal, what do you mean heal? Is there something about all these immigrants which would require the gloved one to come down from the clubhouse for healing? Something we don't know about?
[Tampa Bay Times] WASHINGTON — Just weeks before Blackwater guards fatally shot 17 civilians at Baghdad's Nisour Square in 2007, the State Department began investigating the security contractor's operations in Iraq. But the inquiry was abandoned after Blackwater's top manager there issued a threat: "that he could kill" the government's chief investigator and "no one could or would do anything about it as we were in Iraq," according to department reports. The Congress of the United States should take a very long hard look at these Private Military Companies (PSC) employed by both the Foggy Bottom and the Klingons.
Conservative election integrity organization True The Vote filed suit in federal court Tuesday against MississippiÂ’s Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann and the Mississippi Republican Party, asking a judge for an immediate injunction against them so that the election material from the stateÂ’s June 24 GOP primary runoff can be inspected.
The lawsuit comes as allegations that Sen. Thad CochranÂ’s (R-MS) campaign and his allies engaged in voter fraud to win last TuesdayÂ’s runoff against conservative state Sen. Chris McDaniel. Cochran bested McDaniel by fewer than 7,000 votes but did so with an overwhelming turnout from liberal Democrats in the black community.
“All we are asking is that the MS State Republican Party follow the law; allow their designated county representatives to inspect the poll books and ballots, give them the review time they are permitted by law, and allow them to uphold their responsibility to MS voters,” True the Vote president Catherine Engelbrecht said in a statement about the suit. “True the Vote has been inundated with reports from voters across Mississippi who are outraged to see the integrity of this election being undermined so that politicos can get back to business as usual. Enough is enough.”
[Iran Press TV] 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... has accused the West of hatching a plot to destabilize the whole region through its intervention in Ukraine.
Putin made the remarks over Russia's foreign policy during a meeting with the diplomatic service, including Russian ambassadors, at the Foreign Ministry in Moscow on Tuesday.
"Events provoked by the West in Ukraine are a concentrated manifestation of a containment policy against Russia," Putin warned, dubbing Western sanctions regarding Russia a "policy instrument."
The Russian president highlighted underlying ethnic and social contradictions in troubled countries, which he said can pave the way for illegitimate regime change.
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[IsraelTimes] Support for terrorist groups Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, and Hezbollah has slipped across the Middle East, according to a poll released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project.
The survey was conducted in April and May 2014 (before the ISIL offensive in Iraq) among 14,244 respondents in 14 countries with significant Moslem populations.
Hezbollah is seen unfavorably in almost every Middle Eastern country. It does not poll much better in Africa or Asia, Pew found.
In its home country of Leb, 59 percent have an unfavorable view of the Shiite organization. Not surprisingly, 88% of Lebanese Sunni and 69% of its Christians disapprove of the party/terrorist group.
Still, 86% of the country's Shia approve of Hezbollah.
Citizens of majority-Sunni countries across the region largely disapproved of Hezbollah, including Egypt (83%), Jordan (81%), Turkey (85%), and Tunisia (53%).
Negative opinions of the group have risen dramatically since 2007, the year after the month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah. In 2007, only 41% of Egyptians and 44% of Jordanians disapproved of the organization.
Since then, brutal sectarian fighting has broken out across the Middle East between Shiites and Sunnis. The violence has been especially bloody in Syria, where Hezbollah has openly sent thousands of fighters to support dictator Bashir al-Assad in his fight against Sunni rebels.
Most Paleostinians (55%) see the group negatively. The Gazoo Strip (69%) is much more hostile to Hezbollah than the West Bank (46%).
Israeli Arabs are actually less opposed to Hezbollah than Gazook Paleostinians, with only 65% disapproving of the organization.
Hamas's favorability ratings are only marginally better. In Turkey, whose government supported the Mavi Marmara ship which tried to reach the Hamas-run Gazoo Strip, 80% disapprove of the group.
Egypt (61%), Jordan (61%), and Leb (65%) all are heavily anti-Hamas. Somewhat paradoxically, 55% of Leb's Shia have a favorable view of the Sunni group.
The group doesn't do any better among the Paleostinians for whom it purports to fight — but, paradoxically, Hamas is far more unpopular in the Gazoo Strip (63%) it dominates than in the Paleostinian Authority-run West Bank (47%).
Its support has dropped among Paleostinians since it forcibly took over the Gazoo Strip. In 2007, Hamas enjoyed a 62% favorable rating, which fell to only 35% in 2014.
Negative opinions of Hamas have grown 12% in Tunisia over the past year, and 8% in Egypt.
Of all the countries surveyed, Paleostinians were the most likely to support suicide kabooms against civilian targets "in order to defend Islam from its enemies." Sixty-two percent of Gazooks said it was often or sometimes justifiable, while 36% of West Bank residents said the same. Bangladeshi Moslems were also somewhat supportive of suicide kabooms.
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, right, is greeted by Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi only they haven't dumped him yet... in Ankara, Turkey, March 16, 2012 (photo credit: AP/Yasin Bulbul)
The Pew survey found that support for suicide kabooms has fallen sharply since 2001.
Support for al-Qaeda is low across the Middle East, with Israel (97%) and Leb (96%) showing the highest levels of disapproval.
The Paleostinians are the most supportive of al-Qaeda among all groups surveyed, with 25% seeing the organization in a favorable light.
The study also found that concern about Islamic extremism is high across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The levels of concern are on the rise.
[CTVNEWS.CA] Amanda Knox's former Italian boyfriend said Tuesday the American student provided alibis for him that he will use to try to persuade Italy's court of last resort to dismiss his conviction for the murder of her British roommate.
Raffaele Sollecito hopes the Court of Cassation will rule he deserves yet another trial and throw out the 25-year sentence he received in January from a Florence appeals court, which convicted both him and Knox for the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, 21.
His lawyers will stress apparent contradictions in the Florence court's 337-page verdict explanation.
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[BOSTON.CBSLOCAL] "He was steadfast. He took care of us, all of these years."
Suzanne Chase of Acton was talking about her husband, Doug, a Vietnam veteran who was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2011.
In 2012, she tried to move his medical care to the Veterans Affairs hospital in Bedford.
"It was so difficult for him to take the ambulance ride into Boston, we wanted to be closer."
They waited about four months and never heard anything. Then Douglas Chase died in August 2012.
But two weeks ago, he got a letter, from the VA in Bedford, saying he could now call to make an appointment to see a primary care doctor.
"It was addressed to my husband and I opened it," said Suzanne Chase. "I was in complete disbelief."
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#1
Stuff happens. The problem is that when it happens in a giant bureaucracy there is seldom a way to get it fixed, especially when there are no alternative organizations to deal with.
So we are also giving the government bureaucracy jurisdiction over the health care of the other 95% of us, when what we should be doing is converting even this 5% to vouchers because it is already too big.
[An Nahar] Six members of the Tunisian security forces were maimed when a roadside kaboomwent kaboom! Tuesday in the mountainous Kef region near the Algerian border, the interior ministry said.
"A roadside kaboomwent kaboom! as a military vehicle passed by, wounding four soldiers and two members of the National Guard," it said.
At the time, the security forces were combing the mountains in the provinces of Kef and neighboring Jendouba "where the remnants of a terrorist group is holed up," the ministry added.
A policeman was maimed in a similar blast Sunday.
Since late 2012, security forces have been battling jihadists hiding out in the remote western region.
Earlier this month, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb for the first time grabbed credit for an attack in Tunisia, which has been rocked by Islamist violence since the 2011 revolution that toppled a decades-old dictatorship and touched off the Arab Spring.
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[An Nahar] Britannia should take a tougher stand towards Spain in disputes over Gibraltar, including using legal action and more diplomatic protests, a parliamentary committee urged on Tuesday.
Spain disputes British illusory sovereignty over the peninsula, which has long been a point of contention in relations between the two countries, with tensions increasing over the last year.
The Foreign Affairs committee, a group of politicians who analyse the work of Britannia's Foreign and Commonwealth Office, urged the government to "get off the fence and take a tougher line with Spain" in a report to Westminster.
It recommended the government increase diplomatic protests and summoning of the ambassador, and make London's support for Spanish aims on the international stage dependent on Madrid's action regarding the British outpost.
"The behavior of Spain toward Gibraltar is unacceptable. We have a situation where a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... and EU ally is deliberately impacting the economy of a British Overseas Territory," the committee's chairman Richard Ottaway said.
"We are giving entirely the wrong impression to Spain about how seriously the UK takes these issues."
Ottaway accused Madrid of increasing ship incursions into British waters and deliberately causing delays at the border between Spain and Gibraltar for political reasons.
He said Britannia should threaten to take legal action against Spain if the situation does not improve within six months.
Madrid tightened border checks in response to Gibraltar's building an artificial reef in disputed waters, which Spain said blocked fishing boats.
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[Rantburg, Yahoo News] Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al-Samarrai, aka Abu Dua, aka Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the newly-declared Caliph of the Islamic State and Galactic Overlord, has claimed dominion over Moslems world-wide and called upon them to support his bloody stump of a "state."
The 19-minute audiotape came two days after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant unilaterally declared the establishment of an Islamic state, or caliphate, in the land it controls. It also demanded that all Moslems around the world pledge allegiance to him.
The implication of the caliphate and al-Baghdadi's demand is that he displaces al-Qaeda supreme turban Ayman al-Zawahiri and Afghanistan's former Islamic overlord Mullah Omar as the dispenser of all things Islamic.
He said the Islamic state is a land for all Moslems regardless of nationality, telling them it "will return your dignity, might, rights, and leadership."
"It is a state where the Arab and non-Arab, the white man and black man, the easterner and westerner are all brothers," sez he. "Moslems, rush to your state. Yes, it is your state. Rush, because Syria is not for the Syrians, and Iraq is not for the Iraqis. The earth is Allah's."
His Enormity will rule as Caliph Ibrahim. Donations can be made to the Widows and Orphans Ammunition Fund.
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#1
Anti-Bammer "YOU/WE BUILT THAT" ...
versus
* FREEREPUBLIC > [BreitBart Big Peace] ISIS RELEASES MAP OF FIVE YEAR PLAN TO SPREAD FROM SPAIN TO BORDER OF CHINA.
Iff Radical Islam = Hard Boyz take over Russia's + China's + India's nukes ... ...?
UK's? France's???
* RELATED SAME > ISIS LEADER: "SOON ... A DAY WILL COME WHEN THE MUSLIM WILL WALK EVERYWHERE AS A MASTER".
#2
back about 1000 years ago, there was a somewhat famous fatwa which said that Moslems living in infidel lands voluntarily instead of building up the caliphate were sinners. This is because a moslem may not be able to fully practice Islam in such a country (for example because there is no caliphate approved charity to which to donate).
Posted by: lord garth ||
07/02/2014 12:59
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#3
They already infiltrated the UK and the American Whitehouse
[The Nation (Pak)] Election Commission of Pakstan (ECP) provided Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) with the details of Dr. Tahirul Qadri ...Pak politician, and would-be dictator, founder and head of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran and Pakistain Awami Tehrik. He usually resides in Canada, but returns to Pakistain periodically to foam at the mouth and lead demonstrations. Depending on which way the wind's blowing, Qadri claims to be the author of Pak's blasphemy law. Other times he says it wasn't him... 's assets on Tuesday.
FIA officials went to the ECP to receive the details of Dr. Tahir ul Qadri's assets, according to a private television channel.
Election Commission compiled Dr. Tahir ul Qadri's assets' details after receiving FIA's letter four days ago.
After approval from the Chief Election Commissioner and the members, Tahir ul Qadri's nomination papers, documents regarding Pakstan Awaami Tehrik's registration and manifesto and assets details were handed over to the FIA officials.
According to the records, Tahir ul Qadri's assets were worth Rs. 99, 00,000 in 2003-04 while the party assets were worth Rs. 350,000 in 2010.
It is worth noting that FIA started probe into the assets of Dr Tahirul Qadri ...Pak politician, and would-be dictator, founder and head of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran and Pakistain Awami Tehrik. He usually resides in Canada, but returns to Pakistain periodically to foam at the mouth and lead demonstrations. Depending on which way the wind's blowing, Qadri claims to be the author of Pak's blasphemy law. Other times he says it wasn't him... last Thursday. The FIA had written a letter to Election Commission of Pakstan (ECP) seeking details about the assets belonging to PAT chief.
In its letter to the ECP, the FIA had requested the details about manifesto of Dr. Tahirul Qadri's political party, registration and copies of PAT chief's nomination papers and other details about his assets.
Dr Tahirul Qadri had been elected in the National Assembly in 2002 but later vacated his seat in 2004 mentioning a number of reasons including the broken promises of the then President of Pakstan, Prevez Musharraf on accountability and corruption.
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[Ynet] Court reject petition by Ziad Awad, murderer of senior police officer killed in Passover eve terror attack; meanwhile, mother of teen stabbed to death by Paleostinian terrorist urges court to hand down harsh sentence.
The High Court on Tuesday has authorized the IDF to demolish the home of Ziad Awad, the Paleostinian terrorist who killed Chief Superintendent Baruch Mizrahi on Passover eve, rejecting Awad's petition.
Meanwhile, ...back at the alley, Slats Chumbaloni was staring into a hole that was just .45 inch in diameter and was less than three feet from his face ... the mother of Eden Atias, the 18-year-old soldier stabbed to death in Afula by a 16-year-old Paleostinian from Jenin, pleaded with the military court trying her son's killer to hand down a severe sentence.
The court hearings took place only a day after the lifeless bodies of three Israeli teens presumed kidnapped since June 12 were found in the West Bank. Hours after their bodies were found, security forces partially demolished the home of Amar Abu-Eisha, one of the two main suspects in the boys' kidnap and murder.
Regarding the Passover killer's house, Judge Miriam Naor rejected the terrorist's petition and tied the events to the rise in the number of terror attacks in the West Bank and the discovery of the missing boys' bodies. She explained that though the IDF has stopped demolishing houses in recent years, the law still permits it, especially in light of recent developments.
A 2005 military committee failed to find proof that destruction of terrorists' homes serves to deter future terror attacks. In wake of the findings and criticism by human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. groups, who balked at what they described as collective punishment, the Defense Ministry decided in 2005 that the demolition of homes of jacket wallahs would stop unless there was "an extreme change in circumstances". Thus explaining the judge's reference to the current rise in terror related events.
Representing the victim, Hadas, wife of Baruch Mizrahi, urged the court not to focus on the suffering of the terrorist but on that of the victims. "We are the victims, we were innocent, driving in our car until we were caught in an ambush and shot at.
"The terrorist just laughed at us and kept shooting. He saw Baruch had fallen so he took aim at our children's heads," she said.
Awad's lawyer tried to counter the claim, and said that "the terrorists' children are not complicit in this act and should not suffer. His brother and his wife and kids' home could also be damaged in the attack," Lawyer Sigi Ben Yair claimed.
On the other hand, representatives of the State claimed that Awad's wife knew of her husband's intentions, and they also reminded that Awad's son Izz ad-Ain was involved the attack, "this is no innocent family," State lawyer Aner Helman told the judge.
Harsh sentence
Only two weeks after enlisting, Eden Atias was stabbed to death by a Paleostinian teen who boarded the bus Atias was traveling on in Afula. Now the IDF Military Court in Salem must decide the minor's fate, with the State and victims demanding a life sentence while his lawyers ask for a reduced sentence because of his age.
The killer was convicted a month ago, and at Ynet's request the details of his sentencing hearings are being made public.
"I beg you from the bottom of my heart and soul, do not give my son's killer a reduced or light sentence. The terrorist standing before you today is more than aware of what he did and expresses no remorse, he is a monster who wants to sew evil," she said.
"I ask he will not see or feel freedom, just like my Eden cannot participate in life and take part of our now destroyed family.
[Tolo News]Election observers on Tuesday criticized the response of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) to the demands made by presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... regarding electoral fraud in the runoff. Monitors emphasized that responsibility to resolve the current impasse in the process fell on election officials.
Abdullah's team has presented the election commissions with six summarized demands, laying out the conditions for his return to the election process.
The first recommendation was to conduct another round of voting in areas in which, according to the candidates, are under suspicion of ballot stuffing. Abdullah justified this demand with the audio recording evidence he has publicly released allegedly exposing a large-scale fraud plot coordinated by the former IEC Secretariat Chief, Zia-ul-Haq Amarkhail.
The second demand was that votes from sites that were added for the runoff round but were not used during the first round in April be invalidated. Abdullah claimed the added sites were part of the scheme to disadvantage him in the second round.
The election commission has rejected both of the first two demands tabled by the Abdullah team.
Abdullah's third demand was that votes from suspicious sites be reinvestigated under the supervision of new Sherlocks representing the two candidates. To this request, the IEC agreed to review the sites and their results again but stressed that this would only be done with commission staff.
The four demand was that a new IEC Secretariat Chief be nominated to replace Amarkhail, who reportedly left Afghanistan on flight bound for the United Arab Emirates with his family on Monday. The commission also refused this request, saying there was not enough time left in the process.
The fifth demand was that an authorized delegation representing both campaign teams be nominated to be present during all decision-making processes of the election commissions. To this, the IEC emphasized that all meetings of the commission regarding election results are conducted in the presence of media and observers already.
The sixth and final demand was for a new mechanism to investigate cases of fraud to be established. The IEC shifted responsibility and suggested the recommendation be brought up with the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC).
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[Tolo News] After days of heavy festivities, the bad boy attacks have finally ended in Sangin district of Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province.
Helmand Police Chief Gen. Abdul Qayoum Baqizoy said that the anti-government groups have failed to continue their attacks on the districts of Helmand after facing heavy resistance from the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF).
Baqizoy stated that the security forces are now undertaking operations to clean remote areas of insurgency. He added that road-mines have been the most challenging for the people and the ANSF, as its deactivation process continues.
"Anti-government gangs have laid mines in many villages, claiming the lives of civilians and soldiers," Baqizoy said. "But you will not see any resistance or conflict in Sangin or any districts of Helmand because the anti-government groups have failed in their operations. Helmand is under the control of the ANSF."
Meanwhile, ...back at the cheese factory, all the pieces finally fell together in Fluffy's mind... a number of coppers who lost their body parts during the battles in Sangin have expressed their defiant patriotism in defending their country.
"A soldier will defend his country until he is alive," Police officer Toryalai said. "I will not let the enemies of this country reach their goals, as soon as my health is recovered."
Another soldier, Abdul Jabar, who has lost his leg in the battle, asked the security forces not to let foreigners reach their country.
"I will go to the battlefield again and fight alongside my brothers to defend the country and the region," he said. "I will fight the enemies of my government."
Although the exact number of casualties of government forces, civilians and Death Eaters are not clear, Helmand police chief said that hundreds of civilians have been killed and maimed as a result of the conflict. Moreover, 37 security forces have been killed and over a hundred others have been maimed. The number of bully boy casualties is estimated to be over 500.
The 10 day long battle in Sangin is said to be among the bloodiest battles this year. The festivities not only resulted in the deaths of hundreds, but have displaced roughly 3,000 families who are in search of safety.
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[An Nahar] The United States Tuesday welcomed a historic shift by Japan to expand the role of its military by reinterpreting the terms of the nation's U.S.-imposed constitution.
"We have followed with interest the extensive discussion within Japan on the issue of exercising its right under the U.N. Charter to collective self-defense," State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said. "We welcome the government of Japan's new policy regarding collective self-defense and related security matters."
Might as well welcome what is inevitable, and thereby take some credit...
After months of political horse-trading and browbeating of opponents, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his cabinet had formally endorsed a reinterpretation of rules that have banned the use of armed force except in very narrowly-defined circumstances. Under the new definition, Japanese troops will now be able to come to the aid of allies -- primarily the United States -- if they come under attack from a common enemy, even if Japan is not the object of the attack.
The dramatic shift comes amid soaring regional tensions with China centered on disputed islands in both the South China and East China seas.
Abe had originally planned to change Article 9 of the U.S.-imposed constitution, which was adopted after World War II and renounces "the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes."
But unable to muster the two-thirds majority he needed in both houses and unlikely to get an endorsement from the public in the required referendum, he changed tack, opting to reinterpret the rules.
Harf said the U.S.-Japan alliance was "one of our most important... security partnerships."
"We value efforts by Japan to strengthen that security cooperation and also value Japan's efforts to maintain openness and transparency throughout this decision-making process that's led up to this new policy."
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[Tolo News] The Afghan National Security Advisor on Monday called on Islamabad to deny safe havens to terrorist groups inside Pakistain and adopt a non-interference policy towards Kabul.
Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta, who visited Islamabad last Thursday, told news hounds at the Presidential Palace that he had handed over a request letter to the Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... from President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... , calling on Pakistain to not be selective in the fight against terrorist groups.
President Karzai's two other main requests in the letter were ending the cross-border shelling and release of Taliban prisoners in Pakistain's custody who are willing to engage in a grinding of the peace processor with the Afghan government.
Pakistain had released nearly 20 Taliban prisoners earlier this year, including Taliban's second-in-command, Mullah Baradar. The releases have not resulted in any breakthrough in the grinding of the peace processor and Islamabad has stopped releasing more prisoners.
Spanta's visit to Islamabad comes after a delegation of Pak officials visited Kabul last week as a push to ease the relationship between the two neighbors, who both suffer from hard boyz based in the border regions.
"Afghanistan is looking for a deep, sincere and broad friendship with Pakistain which should be based on good-neighborly relations," Spanta said. "We want a comprehensive strategic relationship with Pakistain as well."
The National Security Advisor, however, said that preconditions of Kabul are a "non-interference policy" of Pakistain towards Afghanistan and the "elimination of terrorist safe havens" inside Pakistain.
The Afghan official said that no country can use terrorism as an instrument of foreign policy towards another country, adding that if Pakistain accepts the Afghan preconditions, Kabul will also do its best to help Pakistain in their fight against Pak Taliban.
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#6
It's amazing to me that the "Progressives" are equating vi*&ra with contc*&ptives.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/02/2014 19:46
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#7
That's because whenever the "blue pill" comes up about it being covered under insurance, female reasoning means dragging up the Pill as an equivalent (ask me how I know.)
#10
I don't mean it in a condemning way,
But I fear I must criticize Hemingway:
Should an object of religion be shot
Like a pigeon by his W & C Scott?
An old bull who has had such a run
Should be shot with an elephant gun.
[An Nahar] A Norwegian citizen previously accused of making threats against the country's royal family has reportedly shown up in a jihadist video shot in Iraq, police said Tuesday.
Bastian Vasquez, a 25-year-old of Chilean origin, allegedly appears in the video, said to have been produced by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... (ISIL), gloating over the fall of an Iraqi border post.
On the video, posted on liveleak.com on Sunday, the man states that ISIL had taken the post and killed several Iraqi soldiers.
"The PST has decided to investigate Bastian Vasquez in relation to the published footage," Norway's police security service (PST) said on Twitter.
In 2012, Vasquez was accused of making threats against the Norwegian royal family and former prime minister Jens Stoltenberg in another video.
After he did not show up for his trial, Norway launched an international hunt for him with the PST suspecting he could have gone to Syria.
The police security service told Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet that Vasquez, alias Abu Safiyyah or Mohammad Jundullah, is charged with participation in or support of a terrorist organization.
It is unclear whether Vasquez is an active fighter or carries out other tasks for ISIL.
The man said to be Vasquez in the video is shown at a deserted border post amid burnt-out patrol cars.
"We killed most of them, some of them ran off and we took a lot of prisoners," he says in broken English.
"They are nothing but cowards, they only run away, the Iraqi army."
The footage also showed between 10 and 20 hostages -- apparently Shia Moslems -- taken by ISIL, and the moment Vasquez blew up a building he said used to house a cop shoppe.
According to the PST, at least 40 to 50 people with links to Norway have fought or are currently fighting in Syria with forces opposed to the Bashir al-Assad regime.
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#1
Meanwhile, NOT to be outdone by Norway, ...
* DAILY STAR LEBANON > DUTCH ISLAMIST RADICALS BECOME [decentralized + ... ] ELUSIVE [International = Middle East] "SWARM".
* DEFENCENET.GR > WELSH IMAM CALLS FUTURE BRITISH QUEEN KATE MIDDLETON A "WHORE" FOR NOT WEARING A HIJAB.
[Iran Press TV] The corpse count from a deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa has risen to 467, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.
The UN health agency said on Tuesday that there have now been 759 confirmed or suspected cases of Ebola, which has affected Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The latest figures showed a 38-percent increase in the number of deaths and a 27-percent rise in the number of overall cases since the WHO's last update on June 24.
The data comes shortly before a meeting in Ghana by 11 West African health ministers who are seeking to find a way to contain the deadliest outbreak of the virus in history.
There is currently no known cure for Ebola, a form of hemorrhagic fever whose symptoms are diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding.
The virus spreads through direct contact with infected blood, feces or sweat. It can also be spread through sexual contact or the unprotected handling of contaminated corpses.
Ebola was first discovered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... in 1976 in an outbreak that killed 280 people.
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#1
Any ideas as to the reservoir organizm for the virus - where it hides between human outbreaks? Has to be something that has developed a significant immunity to it. Maybe chimp or gorilla? And the virus enters the human society through handling or consumption of contaminated bush meat?
#6
Last week (?) there was a report of about 35 or so victims missing; any ideas where they might have gone? With our wide open borders it would be easy to get a person in the early stages smuggled into Mexico and then into the US to spread this disease.
#7
(Reuters) - West African states lack the resources to battle the world's worst outbreak of Ebola and deep cultural suspicions about the disease remain a big obstacle to halting its spread, ministers said on Wednesday."In Liberia, our biggest challenge is denial, fear and panic. Our people are very much afraid of the disease," Bernice Dahn, Liberia's deputy health minister, told Reuters on the sidelines of the Accra meeting.
"People are afraid but do not believe that the disease exists and because of that people get sick and the community members hide them and bury them, against all the norms we have put in place," she said.
Authorities are trying to stop relatives of Ebola victims from giving them traditional funerals, which often involve the manual washing of the body, out of fear of spreading the infection. The dead are instead meant to be buried by health staff wearing protective gear.
Neighboring Sierra Leone faces many of the same problems, with dozens of those infected evading treatment, complicating efforts to trace cases.
The Red Cross in Guinea said it had been forced to temporarily suspend some operations in the country's southeast after staff working on Ebola were threatened.
"Locals wielding knives surrounded a marked Red Cross vehicle," a Red Cross official said, asking not to be named. The official said operations had been halted for safety reasons. The Red Cross later said only international staff were removed.
A Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) center in Guinea was attacked by youths in April after staff were accused of bringing the disease into the country.
WHO has flagged three main factors driving its spread: the burial of victims in accordance with tradition, the dense populations around the capital cities of Guinea and Liberia and the bustling cross-border trade across the region.
[USATODAY] Iraq's parliament met briefly Tuesday with a view to start forming a new government, and with the focus on whether Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki can stay in power. Another looming question, though, is should this war-torn country be divided into three sectarian zones as a way to bring peace?
Last month's blitzkrieg by Sunni Islamic militants across Iraq's north and west has fragmented this country into distinct regions — the Shiite majority in Baghdad and the south, the minority Sunnis in the north and the semi-autonomous Kurds in the northeast.
The United States is pushing al-Maliki to form a unified government with all three groups, but some wonder if that is possible at this point.
"It is so difficult to predict what will happen," said Omar Mohammed, a dentist in Diyala in eastern Iraq. "I would accept any solution to stop the bloodshed, even if it was a confederation or division."
The quick success by the militants, an al-Qaeda splinter group now calling itself the Islamic State, stems in part from a power vacuum. Citizens in Mosul — the second largest city in Iraq — and other Sunni towns have long resented al-Maliki's Shiite-dominated government as corrupt. They often welcomed the Islamic fighters as an alternative to Iraqi soldiers who behaved more like occupiers than protectors. The soldiers put up almost no resistance and fled before the Islamic State advanced.
"Al-Maliki should step down," said Saif Salah Aldeen Al-Azzawi, a Sunni student in Baghdad who believes the government catered only to Shiites and was too sympathetic to Iran. "Establish a national unity government that rewrites the constitution. They don't believe in coexistence. Their hands are full with Iraqi blood, working for Iran to make Iraq its rear garden."
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An odd little tale. Still, it was useful as an exercise, even if it turns out to have been a very unwise hoax.
[Ynet] Woman called the police and said she was being held inside a building at a Paleostinian village, police and IDF tracked her using the location of her mobile phone.
Less than 24 hours after finding the bodies of the three kidnapped teens, the fear of abduction arose once again. A 21-year-old woman who was working at a gas station near Beitar Illit claimed she was kidnapped by Paleostinians overnight Monday.
A team from the Judea and Samaria district police and the IDF located the woman using the GPS on her mobile. The young woman was found at Beit Jala near Jerusalem. The police were still checking whether she was indeed kidnapped.
In a phone call to the police's 100 emergency call center, the young woman said she was being held inside a building at a Paleostinian village, after being kidnapped and forced into a car.
An initial investigation conducted after the young woman was found revealed that after she finished her shift at the gas station she met with a friend. When the encounter was over, while she was on her way to a hitchhiking stop, two Paleostinians forcefully got her inside their car and led her inside the building she was eventually found at.
Police and IDF forces, with the help of the young woman and the location of her mobile phone, arrived to the building in which she was held and rescued her.
Following the incident the police are investigating the circumstances of the case and whether abduction actually took place.
#1
Just out for a stroll when, by golly,
What looked to be fun seemed like folly.
Then it started to rain
(take this all with a grain)
So she took shelter under her brolly.
[An Nahar] The Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades ... Leb's current al-Qaeda affiliate, named after a guy whose car the current head of al-Qaeda had boomed... on Tuesday demanded Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... to withdraw from Syria "before it is too late," vowing to carry out "successive terrorist acts until security is restored" in the war-torn neighboring country.
"I tell Iran's party to quickly withdraw from Syria before it is too late," the Brigades' spokesperson Sheikh Sirajeddine Zouraykat wrote on his official account on social media website Twitter.
"When we bombed — with God's help — the Iranian embassy, and then (Iran's) cultural center to secure victory for the oppressed in Syria and Leb and to respond to the aggression, they called this terrorism," he said.
"And if terrorism is the answer to your crimes, expect more successive terrorist acts that will make you forget all previous rounds until security is restored in Syria," the Brigade's spokesperson warned.
Zouraykat elaborated on what he considers to be the party's activities in Leb and Syria: "Hizbullah's terrorism in Leb was manifested in the attack on al-Taqwa and al-Salam mosques in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... (in northern Leb), in burning down the Bilal (bin Rabah) mosque in Abra (neighborhood in the southern city of Sidon), in killing sheikhs and youngsters on the streets, and in arbitrary arrests."
Meanwhile, ...back at the revival hall, the pastor had finally been wrestled from the pulpit. Y'got the wrong guy! he yelled just before Sergeant Malone's billy club landed... the "terrorism" of Iran's party in Syria according to the Brigades was manifested in "killing women and kiddies in Aleppo, in besieging Eastern Ghouta (near Damascus), in occupying al-Qalamoun (on the border), in shelling peaceful citizens in southern Damascus, and in continuing to support (Syrian President) Bashar (Assad)."
Zouraykat also considered that Hizbullah was behind the bombing attacks that targeted former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, former army chief Francois al-Hajj, late MP Walid Eido, journalist and activist Samir Kassir, slain chief of the Intelligence Bureau of the Internal Security Forces Wissam al-Hassan, former Finance Minister Mohammed Shatah, and "a long list that the Lebanese are aware of."
The Abdullah Azzam Brigades had claimed the deadly attack that targeted the Iranian embassy in the southern suburbs of Beirut in November.
At least 23 people were killed and 150 maimed in the Bir Hassan twin suicide kabooms.
The bad boy group also claimed the two suicide kabooms that went off near an Iranian cultural center in Beirut's southern suburbs in February 2014.
The blasts killed six people and maimed over 130 others.
The Brigades have repeatedly called on Hizbullah to withdraw from Syria and the release of Islamist inmates in Roumieh prison in order to stop the attacks on the party's stronghold.
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#1
See also DAILY STAR LEBANON > AZZAM BRIGADES DARE HEZBOLLAH TO COME TO IRAQ.
To face the heat of Mano-a-Mano Battle + Sunni Islam???
[An Nahar] The declaration of an Islamic caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria is a direct challenge to Al-Qaeda and could set off a dangerous contest for the leadership of the global jihadist movement, experts say.
Desperate to retain its preeminent role, the movement behind September 11 may be driven to carry out fresh attacks on Western targets to prove it remains relevant.
"This competition between jihadists could be very dangerous," said Shashank Joshi of the London-based Royal United Services Institute, warning that Al-Qaeda may look to make a "spectacular" show of force.
Continued on Page 49
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[DAWN] Taking complete political ownership of the Zarb-e-Azb operation on Tuesday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... said the decision had been taken after exhaustive deliberations.
"Full fledged offensive has now started and all imported muscle and local forces of Evil will be wiped out without exception and no sanctuary will be spared by the Pakistain Armed Forces," the PM said in an official statement.
"The state will enforce its writ in the tribal areas," the PM said in a warning to terrorists.
"We have planned the development of tribal areas after completion of the operation," Nawaz said.
Earlier last month, the Pakistain Army launched its long-awaited major operation 'Zarb-e-Azb' in the tribal region a week after an attack on the airport in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , deploying troops, tanks and jets to the area in the crackdown on foreign and local Death Eaters.
PM, PAF chief discuss matters relating to air force
Air Chief Marshal Muhammad Tahir Rafique Butt called on Nawaz on Tuesday and the two discussed professional matters relating to the Pakistain Air Force (PAF).
The meeting was held at the Prime Minister House in the federal capital.
During the meeting, the premier lauded the role of the PAF and said the force was engaged in playing a vital role in preserving the country's defence. He also assured Butt that the government would meet the professional requirements of the PAF.
The air chief apprised the prime minister about PAF's modernisation and upgradation plans which he said were aimed at making it one of the best air forces in the world.
The air chief also informed the premier that steps were being taken for the welfare of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) fleeing North Wazoo and said relief goods by PAF had also been distributed among them.
The air chief said PAF was providing complete air weaponry support to the Pakistain Army for the Zarb-e-Azb operation against foreign and local forces of Evil in the North Waziristan tribal region.
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[DAWN] IRAQ is up for grabs, Syria has irretrievably been damaged, the West Bank sits on a powder keg. And that's just the regions where some of the worst-case scenarios have come to pass.
On the borders of the Middle East, Afghanistan's fate remains indeterminate, while the initial repercussions of Pakistain's military offensive in North Wazoo are reflected in the rapid multiplication of internally displaced persons, amid reports that the intended targets had fled to Afghanistan well before the first air strikes.
The latter arena of conflict was some years ago dubbed Af-Pak by the Americans, and the somewhat Orwellian terminology attracted plenty of flak.
Over the decades, though, it is by no means just the jihadists who have derided the colonial-era Durand Line. On the other hand, the challenge to the post-First World War border between Syria and Iraq has come fundamentally from Islamist warriors.
A maliferous genie has been unleashed.
It is perhaps unlikely that the latter region will be designated as 'Syriraq', if only because that would seem to endorse the propaganda of Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, who has proclaimed himself caliph in an area that straddles parts of Syria and almost a third of Iraq, with the Islamic State of Syria and al-Sham (ISIS) now rebranded simply as the Islamic State.
To a large extent, the fate of the ersatz caliphate will be determined by what happens in Iraq during Ramazan. A few days ago, Baghdad announced the recapture of Tikrit, but the claim turned out to have been an exaggeration, with battles still raging in the zone this week.
One of the explanations for the rout of the Iraqi army revolves around the nepotism and corruption that determined its nature under the aegis of Nouri al-Maliki ... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party. Maliki imposed order on Basra wen the Shiites were going nuts, but has proven incapable of dealing with al-Qaeda's Sunni insurgency. Reelected to his third term in 2014... .
Shia militias, the most formidable among them apparently controlled by Iran, have entered the fray, while Maliki, after failing to immediately invite US air strikes against ISIS and its Sunni collaborators, has reportedly spent half a billion dollars on purchasing superannuated Sukhoi aircraft from Russia, which are supposed to turn the tide.
Barack Obama I've now been in 57 states -- I think one left to go... , meanwhile, has solicited exactly that amount of money from the US Congress in the interests of arming 'moderate' Syrian militias supposedly challenging the depleted supremacy of Bashir al-Assad. But, as veteran Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk ...British journalist who is invariably on the other side of any question. The logic of his prose is so shaky, the ideas so predictable, that he has given his name to the process of mocking a piece of poorly reasoned hackery. He was once beaten up by an Islamic mob and decided they had every right to thump him because he was so Western... has lately pointed out, moderates are thin on the ground, and those who exist cannot be relied upon not to sell their hardware to the highest bidder.
And that often turns out to be ostensibly their worst enemies. The B.O. regime has lately been accused of training ISIS foot soldiers in Jordan. And Assad is said to have not just freed large numbers of Salafi prisoners from Syrian jails in 2011-12, but to have actively promoted ISIS as a means of countering the Al Qaeda-approved Jabhat al-Nusra as well as his more secular adversaries.
There may be some truth in both accusations. It is, after all, hardly unknown for governments to sponsor dubious forces with a view to protecting or advancing their interests. The US was a vigorous proponent of jihad, alongside its regional allies, when the Mujahideen were combating Soviet forces and their proxies in Afghanistan. And there was a time when Israel encouraged Islamists to undermine the Paleostine Liberation Organisation (PLO).
Now Israel's determination to destroy Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, has been reinforced by the unconscionable murder of three teenage yeshiva students from the occupied territories whom the Islamist organization is accused of having kidnapped.
Whoever committed this egregious atrocity in the vicinity of Hebron clearly intended it as a provocation — not only against Israel, from where a predictably rash reaction could be guaranteed, but against the unity government lately inducted in Ramallah, a supposedly technocratic outfit that includes no Hamas members but receives its backing.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has meanwhile done the cause of the Kurds no favours by explicitly endorsing a Kurdish state — an idea that is apparently not anathema to Ankara either, provided it does not involve any Turkish territory.
Iraq's neighbours would do well to remember that the border with Syria is not the only one that ISIS is determined to obliterate.
Iraq is currently a focus of broadly mutual interests between the US, Russia, Iran and Syria. But the situation is much too convoluted to draw any hopeful conclusions from this unlikely alliance.
The unprovoked Western aggression against Iraq in 2003 liberated not the Iraqi people but a maliferous genie. In the event of sectarian strife engulfing not just Iraq and Syria but their (not entirely blameless) environs, precious little credit will accrue to those who continue to argue that a prolonged occupation of Iraq or Western military intervention in Syria would have produced an altogether more desirable outcome.
But even those of us who derided the absurd project from the outset are left dangling with a question that has become progressively harder to answer: what next?
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#1
Time for Israel to annex Judea and Samaria during all this turmoil.
[Washington Examiner] Applications for insurance coverage through President Obama's health care law submitted in the final three months of 2013 contained millions of inconsistencies in which information such as income and immigration status could not be independently verified by the federal government, according to a June report from the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services. Indeed difficult to determine immigration and citizenship when national sovereignty has been abolished and the borders are open to all.
The inconsistencies may have resulted in individuals receiving an improper amount of subsidies, or subsidies that they shouldn't have been eligible for in the first place — something that could require them to repay the money in future tax bills. Good luck with that.
In other cases, inconsistencies led to bizarre outcomes. According to the report, "one marketplace cited situations in which infants and young children included on applications were erroneously identified as incarcerated." Perhaps "incarcerated" was simply an assumed future status.
At issue is the information that individuals are asked to submit when they apply for coverage, such as income, citizenship status, Social Security number, or incarceration status. In theory, once data are submitted, they are supposed to be checked in a massive storage database known as the "hub," which gathers data from multiple federal agencies. Huba, huba, huba, it's another colossal gov't cock-up.
[BREITBART] Conservative election integrity organization True The Vote filed suit in federal court Tuesday against Mississippi's Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann and the Mississippi Republican Party, asking a judge for an immediate injunction against them so that the election material from the state's June 24 GOP primary runoff can be inspected.
The lawsuit comes as allegations that Sen. Thad Cochran's ...establishment Republican senator-for-life from Mississippi, sometimes referred to as a 'low-life scoundrel.' He has been in the Senate since 1978. In 2014 the state's Democratic Party helped him cheat a Tea Party challenger out of a primary victory... (R-MS) campaign and his allies engaged in voter fraud to win last Tuesday's runoff against conservative state Sen. Chris McDaniel. Cochran bested McDaniel by fewer than 7,000 votes but did so with an overwhelming turnout from liberal Democrats in the black community.
"All we are asking is that the MS State Republican Party follow the law; allow their designated county representatives to inspect the poll books and ballots, give them the review time they are permitted by law, and allow them to uphold their responsibility to MS voters," True the Vote president Catherine Engelbrecht said in a statement about the suit. "True the Vote has been inundated with reports from voters across Mississippi who are outraged to see the integrity of this election being undermined so that politicos can get back to business as usual. Enough is enough."
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#1
True the Vote, along with Club for Growth and a few others are real life Davids fighting some particularly awful Goliaths.
[BUSINESSINSIDER] Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as For a good time at 3 a.m. call Hillary and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another John Jay ... 's family fortune has come under increasing scrutiny in recent weeks following a series of comments she made about her finances while on tour promoting her new book, "Hard Choices." But just how much has Clinton earned in the years since her husband, former President Bill Clinton ...former Democratic president of the U.S. Bill was the second U.S. president to be impeached, the first to deny that oral sex was sex, the first to have difficulty with the definition of is... , left the White House? Financial disclosures filed by Clinton when she served as New York's junior senator and as secretary of state in the B.O. regime show her family earned more than $163 million from 2001 until 2012. The disclosures also detailed the taxes paid by the Clintons and how much they gave to charity during those years.
During Clinton's years in the Senate the disclosures, which were published by OpenSecrets.org, included full tax returns filed by her and her husband. These returns detailed the Clintons' total income, charitable gifts they made, and their total taxes paid from 2001 through 2007. For those seven years, the Clintons earned total income of $108,817,646, the vast majority of which came from Bill Clinton's speaking fees. They paid over $33 million in federal income taxes for an effective tax rate of about 31%. The Clintons also gave more than $10 million to charity from 2001 through 2007, which is about 9% of their total income from this period.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Definition of an Millionaire. Some one worth over A100 million dollars and claims to be dead broke.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/02/2014 15:51
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Top||
#2
That's Hillionare.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/02/2014 15:53
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#3
earned more than $163 million from 2001 until 2012
That was the legal declarable income.
What about the rest?
[DAILYCALLER] Ex-Internal Revenue Service (IRS) official Lois Lerner ...the former head of the IRS Exempt Unit. She is a past president of the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws and a member of the Massachussetts bar. She was held in contempt of Congress for her role in the IRS targeting of regime political enemies and refusing to testify. The dog ate her computer's hard drive with all her emails on it... spoke at a 2010 government conference where Lerner's underling Nikole Flax announced the new IRS program scrutinizing groups applying for tax-exempt status.
Both Lerner and Flax experienced "computer crashes" that led to the permanent deletion of their emails, according to the IRS, which said it cannot hand over their emails to congressional Sherlocks on two House committees.
Both Lerner and Flax briefed fellow government bureaucrats on the new targeting at the conference, where Lerner appeared at a workshop called "Will the IRS Come Knocking?"
Flax announced the new program scrutinizing groups at the Washington Non-Profit Legal & Tax Conference at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, D.C. from February 18-19, 2010. At the time, Flax worked under Lerner in the Exempt Organizations office.
Lerner gave a luncheon speech at a morning session featuring workshops entitled "Current Developments Affecting Exempt Organizations" and "Will the IRS Come Knocking? What You Need To Know About IRS Audit Plans And Practices For Tax Exempts," which was moderated by Washington lawyer and former IRS exempt director Marcus S. Owens. Lerner served as "government faculty" for the conference, according to a program obtained by The Daily Caller.
Flax, a frequent White House visitor, announced that 155 new employees were recently added to the Exempt Organizations office, and said that 100 of these employees would be working in the examinations office to audit nonprofit groups. Flax also announced the addition of new Washington-based "tax law specialists" to work on private-letter rulings for groups that would need renewal of their charitable tax-exempt status.
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[DAWN] THE landmark agreement between Islamabad and Kabul to take action against all gunnies and their hideouts on either side of the border without any distinction signifies an important shift in our short-sighted security outlook. Never before had the security of the two nations been so intertwined as it is today.
So it is about time they shed their age-old legacy of using proxies against each other with disastrous consequences for regional security. The war of sanctuaries has only benefited the gunnies who have sought to establish their barbaric rule on both sides of the border. We may have learnt it the hard way, but it is never too late.
In a significant move, Pakistain and Afghanistan have also agreed to establish a joint working group on security to develop closer cooperation and coordination to deal with a common menace. The accord was signed last week following the visit to Islamabad of Dr Rangin Dadfar Spanta, the national security advisor to the Afghan president. The working group comprising representatives of security agencies of the two sides is scheduled to meet on July 3 in Islamabad.
This initiative could not have come at a more opportune time as Pak security forces fight their most critical battle against local and foreign gunnies in North Wazoo. Such cooperation between the two neighbouring countries is imperative for the success of the operation. The fleeing bully boyz using sanctuaries on the other side of the Durand Line for cross-border attacks has been Pakistain's biggest security nightmare.
Many top Pak Taliban leaders including Mullah Fazlullah ...son-in-law of holy man Sufi Mohammad. Known as Mullah FM, Fazlullah had the habit of grabbing his FM mike when the mood struck him and bellowing forth sermons. Sufi suckered the Pak govt into imposing Shariah on the Swat Valley and then stepped aside whilst Fazlullah and his Talibs imposed a reign of terror on the populace like they hadn't seen before, at least not for a thousand years or so. For some reason the Pak intel services were never able to locate his transmitter, much less bomb it. After ruling the place like a conquered province for a year or so, Fazlullah's Talibs began gobbling up more territory as they pushed toward Islamabad, at which point as a matter of self-preservation the Mighty Pak Army threw them out and chased them into Afghanistan... , the new TTP chief and Omar Khalid Khorasani, the chief of the group's Mohmand chapter, are now operating from their bases on the Afghan side of the border. Cross-border attacks have become a major source of tension between Islamabad and Kabul.
Equally dangerous for regional security are the Afghan myrmidon sanctuaries on Pak soil. Islamabad's ambivalence on cracking down on them has largely been blamed for the continued instability in Afghanistan. In an apparent policy shift, the Pakistain military has now for the first time declared that the latest offensive will target all murderous Moslem groups without discrimination, including the Haqqani network.
Making a distinction between 'good murderous Moslems' and 'bad murderous Moslems' has been a major factor contributing to the rising violent extremism in Pakistain. This policy of appeasement and patronising so-called good gunnies has also threatened regional security.
Since the start of the war in Afghanistan, the tribal regions had become home to a dangerous nexus of Al Qaeda operatives, Pak and Afghan Taliban and jihadists from across the globe. The largest number of fighters based in North Waziristan is associated with the Haqqani network led by the legendary former Afghan Mujahideen commander Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Sirajuddin. The group not only has strong ties with Al Qaeda but also is closely linked with the Pak murderous Moslems.
For Pakistain, the network remained a useful hedge against an uncertain outcome in Afghanistan. The deep reluctance to take action against the Haqqani network is a reflection of Pakistain's worries about the events that would transpire after the eventual pullout of foreign forces from Afghanistan. The group is blamed for some of the most spectacular terrorist attacks in Afghanistan.
Pakistain's patronage of the Haqqani network became a convenient rationale for the Kabul government for allowing sanctuaries for Pak bully boyz on Afghan soil. There is strong evidence of close links between some TTP factions and the Afghan intelligence agencies. This tit-for-tat policy has had disastrous consequences for both nations.
Most of the fighters associated with the Haqqani network are believed to have moved to Afghanistan before the offensive in North Waziristan began. The military has said the group will not find Pak territory a safe haven anymore. There is, however, no likelihood of the Haqqanis engaging in any confrontation with their old patrons.
One hopes this change in Pakistain's stance will encourage the Afghan government and the coalition forces to take action against Mullah Fazlullah's headquarters in Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country..... .
Both countries need each other to cooperate more than ever at this critical juncture as the Western forces plan to end their combat mission in Afghanistan by the end of this year. Any continued instability in Afghanistan is bound to have severe spillover effects in Pakistain.
The North Waziristan offensive was long overdue and any further delay would have made things much more complicated. The continued hold of gunnies on a large part of the territory would have made the country's security much more vulnerable. An unsecured border would have allowed the gunnies to move around both sides of Durand Line with much greater ease after the withdrawal of the coalition forces from Afghanistan.
A major worry for the security establishment is that an open Afghan side of the border could become a revolving door for Pak Taliban fleeing the latest offensive as has happened during past operations. More gunnies entering the cross-border sanctuaries would make the success of the operation under way in North Waziristan more problematic. For this reason, Islamabad has requested the Afghan government to take measures to prevent the entry of gunnies fleeing the offensive.
It is now for the Afghan cops to respond to Pakistain's call for reinforcing security along their side of the border. There is no other option left for the two countries but to cooperate with each other. Both face the same threat and it is only through cooperation that they can deal with the daunting security challenges confronting them.
The decision to establish a joint security working group is surely a positive step. But the two countries also urgently need to take practical steps to achieve the required results. Kabul and Islamabad now have to move beyond statements and implement the bilateral security agreement with all sincerity. It is in the interest of both countries to close the revolving door on the common enemy.
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[Iran Press TV] The Iraqi army, backed by thousands of tribal gunnies and volunteer forces, has retaken full control of a strategically important region from the Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed... hard boyz of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... (ISIL).
The Iraqi army sources say the Khales area, which is around 55 kilometers from Baghdad, is now under their control. The area in Diyala province is regarded as the nearest point that the Takfiri hard boyz could use to attack the capital.
Security sources also said ISIL flags have been removed from the houses that the hard boyz used as bases. Army forces also captured an armed man in an area used by hard boyz to store weapons.
The armed man had Saudi license plates with him. He was also found in possession of a book of inciting fatwas and some papers and certificates from the era of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
The developments come as the United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... says June has been the deadliest month in Iraq so far this year, with more than 2400 people killed in violence.
The UN mission to Iraq has said in a statement that the corpse count includes over 1500 civilians and nearly 890 members of security forces. Over 2000 others have also been maimed.
The corpse count is estimated to be higher since the UN stated that the figure does not take into account casualties in Anbar province, which is largely controlled by Takfiri krazed killers.
Senior Mohammedanholy mans have condemned the ISIL atrocities, including mass executions and rape.
Iraqi Premier Nouri al-Maliki ... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party. Maliki imposed order on Basra wen the Shiites were going nuts, but has proven incapable of dealing with al-Qaeda's Sunni insurgency. Reelected to his third term in 2014... has stressed that his government remains steadfast in defeating the ISIL Takfiri krazed killers, blaming 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... , Qatar and some Arab states of the Persian Gulf for the growing terrorism in his country.
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[The Nation (Pak)] Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... Amir Sirajul Haq has demanded that FATA and KPK be declared calamity hit areas and special concessions be announced for the people there in view of the military operation in North Wazoo.
Addressing a presser today, the JI Amir claimed that thousands of Tribal Mohammedans have been martyred in the operation while tens of thousands have been rendered homeless. He said the operation in NWA has once again made people homeless and according to him these people were facing unbearable problems.
Sirajul Haq asked the Prime Minister that instead of sitting in his office in Islamabad, he should visit the IDPs camps in Bannu frequently and personally supervise the relief activities. He also demanded that during the month of Ramzan, each IDP family should be given Rs 50,000 to meet his requirements. He said the religious parties were not taken into confidence about the operation while no arrangements were made in advance to look after the IDPs. He said Jamaat-e-Islami has started its relief work and established nine big relief camps with the facilities of twenty five ambulances and three field hospitals.
He said Al Khidmat Foundation has deployed 2050 volunteers and established three big kitchens for Sehr and Iftar of the IDPs.
He said the arrangements made by the federal government so far are insufficient. He also demanded a time frame for the operation and permission to the IDPs to go anywhere in the country. He said there would be dangerous consequences if the operation continued for an indefinite period. The JI Amir proposed the establishment of a task force comprising all parliamentary parties in the national assembly to monitor the relief and rehabilitation activities.
Asked about the statement of Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight... regarding dissolution of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa Assembly, the JI Amir said his party and the people of KPK would not support that step. He said Imran has the power to decide whether to remain in government or not but he has no authority to dissolve the assembly. He said Long March was the decision of Imran Khan and his party and Jamaat-e-Islami was not consulted.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2014
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[An Nahar] Ukraine's new leader congratulated his troops on Tuesday with the "first victory" in their resumed campaign against separatist insurgents, announcing they had regained control of one Russian border crossing.
President Petro Poroshenko's office said government forces had seized back the Dovzgansky crossing in Lugansk -- one of 24 in the separatist province, most of which are under rebel control.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2014
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[DAWN] THE launch of ground operations against gunnies in North Wazoo is a relevant time to reiterate why a military operation is so necessary. Militancy is spread across Pakistain and there is no real, physical centre of gravity anymore — but that should not in any way diminish the importance of North Waziristan to militancy of every stripe. To begin with, virtually every major attack inside Pakistain in recent years has been traced back to planning and organization in North Waziristan. In addition, virtually every high-profile victim of kidnapping is smuggled into the area. Then there is the reality of doing business: the krazed killers' control of large swathes of an agency populated by hundreds of thousands of people meant a lucrative fiefdom feeding the militancy machine and becoming a justification for it. Moreover, there has been the intense problem of cross-pollination and the mixing and matching of myrmidon ideologies in North Waziristan, which produced a lethal cocktail of militancy posing a threat to Pakistain, Afghanistan, the region and even the world on the lam.
Yet, necessary as an operation in North Waziristan is, an old problem seems to be once again reasserting itself: the tendency for military strategy to overwhelm and be put ahead of a national security strategy. To make Pakistain internally safe and secure, military strategy — ie battles, operations, troops, bases and the like — alone will not suffice. There seemed to be some awareness of this problem with the drawing up by the interior ministry of a National Internal Security Policy, but not much appears to have come of that. And where there has been work on the non-military aspects of the internal security policy, it has come in the form of the Protection of Pakistain Ordinance, a piece of legislation set to be approved by parliament in a somewhat diluted form but still with deep and very problematic issues from a rights perspective. In essence, the overall thinking on fighting militancy still appears to come down to eliminating gunnies with guns and bullets and little attention is paid to the causes of militancy and how to begin rolling back the infrastructure of jihad that has proliferated across Pakistain.
Nor are the trade-offs involved seemingly ever considered. If a military operation was necessary, did it make sense to botch the handling of IDPs? If the security forces need protection in the cities when they take on krazed killers, does it mean giving them near carte blanche as the PPO has? Finally, there is the problem that even when the country's security architects purport to think strategically, they make disastrous choices. If, as claimed by former military sources, the North Waziristan Agency operation was in part delayed by concerns about the Haqqani network, can anyone explain what rational national-security cost-benefit analysis made putting it off for years a worthwhile choice?
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2014
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[Ynet] Several Arab youths hurled stones at a police force on Temple Mount on Tuesday morning. Police used crowd dispersal means to clear the complex of rioters.
No one was hurt in the incident, and visitations on the Temple Mount continue as normal.
[Iran Press TV] US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... said on Tuesday Washington would deport undocumented children back to Central America as the B.O. regime had vowed to do so.
Kerry made the remarks in Panama during a meeting with leaders from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, countries from which tens of thousands of children have entered the United States in the past few months without documents.
He said that the US is aware of the fact that migrants desire a better life, however, there are rules which must be complied with.
"We obviously understand people who want to do better, and who look for a better life," Kerry said, adding "but at the same time, there are rules of law, and there is a process and there is false information that is being spread about benefits that might be available to these young people who are looking for that better life."
President Barack Obama Ready to Rule from Day One... said on Monday that Kerry was going to Central America in order to discuss the issue. His visit comes after Vice President Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden The former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body... went to Guatemala on June 20 to talk about the exodus of children which itself will complicate Washington's relations with its allies in Mexico and Central America.
Tens of thousands of undocumented children from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras are immigrating to the US now, often unaccompanied by parents, at the Texas border. Their numbers could go up to 90,000 this current year and 150,000 next — from only about 6,000 in 2011.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2014
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#4
Of course, they won't be deported right away. They have to have a hearing - in ninety days or so. If they don't show up, the court will issue an arrest warrant. Of course, DHS is really backed up, so it will take them a while to get around to it. If they get caught, they will be scheduled for another hearing. After the cycle repeats a few times, the kids will have graduated from high school, and eligible for in state tuition. After all they've been through, it would be heartless to deport them at that point.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
07/02/2014 13:18
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#5
By that time Obama will be impeached, the Repubs are coming.
Their spokesperson Umm pusher will be out.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/02/2014 13:26
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#6
A country that is so big a failure that their children flee through Mexico to excape, such a country should probably be disolved and become (a) a UN protectorate or (b) a US territory and the government that previously ran such a country should be tarred and feathered.
A devastating new Health and Human Services (HHS) Inspector General report released on Tuesday reveals that the Obama administration has yet to determine whether 1,295,571 of the over 8 million Obamacare enrollees are U.S. citizens lawfully in the country.
The finding, located on page 11 of the report, states that 44% of the remaining 2,611,780 application "inconsistencies" are related to verifying "Citizenship/national status/lawful presence." Another 960,492 application inconsistencies were related to verifying whether subsidy applicants provided accurate income information.
Moreover, the Inspector General report only covered the federal Obamacare exchanges to determine how the Obama administration resolved verification problems through December 2013. As for the 15 state-run Obamacare exchanges, the report says four--Oregon, Nevada, Vermont, and Massachusetts--are simply "unable to resolve inconsistencies."
[The Nation (Pak)] In the wake of the Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... airport attack on June 8 that claimed over two dozen lives, the authorities have now decided to bring administrative changes in the Airport Security Force (ASF) setup.
Under the proposed setup, a retired general will be an administrative official of the ASF. The administrator's deputy will be a brigadier ranked officer.
Sources revealed that the new director general of the ASF would be appointed from the army in the next 24 hours. Once the new administrative changes come into effect, experts from the armed forces will provide training to the ASF sky marshal regarding the use of advanced weapons.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2014
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
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.
[HERALDSUN.AU] THE Interior Ministry headquarters in eastern Ukraine's largest city has fallen to pro-Russia separatists after a five-hour gunbattle that erupted hours after the Ukrainian president ended a cease-fire.
...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 Nation (Pak)] Pakistain on Tuesday rejected claims by senior Afghan officials that Pak troops had been involved in fighting in southern 
[PHILADELPHIA.CBSLOCAL] Fire officials in Bucks County are investigating what caused a laptop computer to explode, injuring the woman who was using it inside her Langhorne Manor home.
[Iran Press TV] The 
Massoud Barzani
[DAWN] Pakistain on Tuesday reiterated that the ongoing Zarb-e-Azb military offensive, launched to eliminate
Pervez 
Nouri al-Maliki
[Ynet] The al-Qaeda breakaway Islamic State of Iraq and al Shams captured a key Syrian town near the Iraq border from other rebels on Tuesday and advanced toward a stronghold of its main jihadi rivals, an activist group said.
Iraq's new parliament failed to elect a speaker as its first session ended in disarray on Tuesday, with MPs due to meet again in a week. Lawmakers were constitutionally required to choose a speaker in their first session, followed over a period of weeks by the selection of a new president, who names a presumptive prime minister.
[DAWN] KARACHI: Loose dress with trailing ends is a major contributor to road traffic injuries suffered by women pillion riders in the city, it emerged on Tuesday.
Conservative election integrity organization True The Vote filed suit in federal court Tuesday against MississippiÂ’s Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann and the Mississippi Republican Party, asking a judge for an immediate injunction against them so that the election material from the stateÂ’s June 24 GOP primary runoff can be inspected.
...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...
[CTVNEWS.CA] Amanda Knox's former Italian boyfriend said Tuesday the American student provided alibis for him that he will use to try to persuade Italy's court of last resort to dismiss his conviction for the murder of her British roommate.
[An Nahar] 
[Rantburg, Yahoo News] Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al-Samarrai, aka Abu Dua, aka Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the newly-declared Caliph of the Islamic State and Galactic Overlord, has claimed dominion over Moslems world-wide and called upon them to support his bloody stump of a "state."
[The Nation (Pak)] Election Commission of Pakstan (ECP) provided Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) with the details of Dr. 
[Iran Press TV] The 
[DAWN] Taking complete political ownership of the Zarb-e-Azb operation on Tuesday, Prime Minister 
Wazoo
...British .jpg)
...establishment Republican senator-for-life from Mississippi, sometimes referred to as a 'low-life scoundrel.' He has been in the Senate since 1978. In 2014 the state's Democratic Party helped him cheat a Tea Party challenger out of a primary victory...
Hillary Clinton
...the former head of the IRS Exempt Unit. She is a past president of the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws and a member of the Massachussetts bar. She was held in contempt of Congress for her role in the IRS targeting of regime political enemies and refusing to testify. The dog ate her computer's hard drive with all her emails on it....png)
Wazoo
Wazoo
[Iran Press TV] US Secretary of State 
Joe 
A devastating new Health and Human Services (HHS) Inspector General report released on Tuesday reveals that the Obama administration has yet to determine whether 1,295,571 of the over 8 million Obamacare enrollees are U.S. citizens lawfully in the country.
[The Nation (Pak)] In the wake of the 
