The Affordable Care Act has been successful at achieving some major goals in the first year of its full implementation, according to a new study from The Commonwealth Fund.
There are three important findings from the study: The uninsured rate is dropping, most people like their new insurance plans (even Republicans!), and most people are finding it easy to visit a doctor.
The study found the uninsured rate in the U.S. declined by one-quarter over the last nine months, which included the law's first, six-month open-enrollment period in which individuals could sign up for private insurance plans through exchanges established by the law.
From the July-to-September 2013 period to the April-to-June 2014 period, the uninsured rate of people between the ages of 19-64 dropped from 20% to 15%, according to the study. The research found 9.5 million people gained insurance, either through the exchanges or through the law's expansion of the federal Medicaid program.
The decline in uninsured was seen across different age groups and races, though the drop was disproportionately high among the young (-10%) and Latinos (-13%). It was disproportionately low among African-Americans the decline was only 1%.
The findings show the law has been successful at reducing the uninsured rate among the poor which was, of course, one of its main goals:
Expectedly, there is a significant difference in the reduction of uninsured between states that have expanded Medicaid and those that have not. According to the study, the uninsured rate among residents who make up to 100% of the federal poverty level fell from 28% to 17% in the 25 states that have expanded Medicaid (plus the District of Columbia). In the 25 states that haven't, the rate only fell from 38% to 36%.
Among those who have become newly insured, the vast majority say they are "better off" and like their plans. In total, 58% of respondents with new plans said they are "better off" than before including 61% who were previously uninsured. Seventy-nine percent of those who were previously uninsured said they were either "somewhat" or "very satisfied" with their new plans.
Even 74% of Republicans say they're at least somewhat satisfied with their new plans.
Significantly, most people who gained coverage under the Affordable Care Act said they couldn't have accessed care they have received since obtaining insurance:
Finally: About one-fifth of people who have signed up for a new plan have attempted to find a new primary care or general doctor, and most 75% have said the process is at least "somewhat easy." Two-thirds of those who found a primary-care doctor got an appointment within two weeks. Thirty-seven percent of people said their new plans included "most" of the doctors they wanted (about 39% don't yet know).
#1
Mine is horribly worse. Thank God I had my major medical issues under my old plan, otherwise I might not be alive right now due to triage and cost cutting
#2
FYI this organization is one that promotes getting more healthcare to the poorest. Its headed by the former director of Micheal Dukakis Chief Health Advisor, a lecturer on health services, health policy and management at the Harvard School of Public Health, in 2008, he was senior health adviser to the Obama campaign. On March 20, 2009, President Obama appointed Blumenthal to be the National Health Information Technology Coordinator, just a month after the enactment of a federal stimulus package that included about $19 billion in incentives for Medicare and Medicaid.
In other words, he's been promoting the koolaide for decades - as has the "Commonwealth" organization. Not an unbiased source - I would question the legitimacy of the study unless all its methods and cross tabs of polls were completely open, as well as the questions asked.
#4
I would question the legitimacy of the study unless all its methods and cross tabs of polls were completely open, as well as the questions asked.
What OldSpook said. I've been following this issue fairly closely from the beginning, as for me there are life and death issues involved, not just money. To be honest, I do not believe a single word of the article, because it does not jibe with any of the anecdotal and statistical evidence I've seen thus far.
#5
I doubt they looked at the drop in uninsured to see if any paid their premiums. I also doubt that info is clear and available from this lying regime and bureaucracy
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/10/2014 19:36
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#1
They didn't read this one any further than they did 'Affordable Care'. And if they did, which of them would know if it was any good?
To me it read as rehashed, outdated vendor whitepapers. When the body of work was circling for draft review, each session was heavily attended by representatives from Symantec, Norton, McAffee, Karpensky, et. al. each steering the contributors to their pound of flesh solution architecture.
Nothing new or exciting from NIST here. It reads as a voluntary, civilian version of DoD's DIACAP, which was old before it's mandatory implementation.
At least that gave us a baseline to improve from. This plan is simply another failed gesture.
#3
I would hate to think your right Darth. Blood is a precious commodity.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/10/2014 12:59
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#4
Amusing, the anti-Christians believe USA has titles of nobility, which would make accusations against a titled person treasonous, possibly. Doubly amusing, what those individuals accuse Christians of doing is what they and their cynosures are doing, which is actively working to harm their country. Triply amusing, one is never at a loss to grasp what anti-Christians are doing, just note what they accuse Christians of doing. They are most obliging in this regard, leaving one never at a loss of knowing what they do or even contemplate doing. Harry Reid is especially helpful in this way.
#5
True, however, I and a few others keep tabs on the unwashed heathen, and when the time comes I will be praising the Lord and passing the ammunition.
#1
When you get caught with your hands in the cookie jar, you will have to take the punishment. The entire station should be rotated out. Start fresh and get back at it-build trust, build relationships, develop relationships and begin over. Stop being all butt hurt, and get back to defending our nation. The Germans started two world wars in the last 100 years, tens of thousands of Americans died fighting them. They may be our good friend today, but the old saying hold true, "Trust but verify".
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/10/2014 12:56
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#2
They are here, we have to deal with them. Folks that come on line and say f%^k them are just speaking from anger and would not have the heart to do what they are saying on blogs. I have read everything from shoot them to send in the guard and throw them back over the fence. None of those are good answers and I'm certain the guard commanders would disregard any order like this that would facilitate the death of kids. They are not our enemy, they are a tool of our enemy and just as much a victim as anyone.
We need to stop this where it starts, root cause. Tell Mexico to manage its southern border, trade embargo's. Cut the USAID funding off the nations that are allowing this human trafficking. STOP MAKING AMERICA THE BAD GUY IN THIS! Publicly go after the countries that are allowing their sons and daughters to be brutalized, exploited, and raped. Call the ambassadors from the countries into the state department and give them 30 days to stop this. If they don't act, PNG the embassy and its staff in total. Play fucking hardball and stop this passive aggressive crap blaming political parties.
Sometimes you just have to reach down to your ankles and grunt and pull and strain until your head pops clean out of your ass! I suggest out entire Congress, Senate, and white house do this. Then just maybe the can see the light of day and fix it.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/10/2014 12:39
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#3
Besoeker: Obama has recruited these kids to use against us. If we could neutralize a couple percentage points by sending soccer balls and hot meals maybe we should try.
Part of the way the left's gotten so powerful was that they were willing to take a couple fraction of a percentage point every chance they got, and stamped the hot meals "A Gift From The Soviet Union The Red Mafia..."
I dunno, we got to think outside the Box. Beck's idea may not work, but it's something.
#4
Scratch a cynic, and you uncover an incurable romantic -- I've given away tens of thousands of dollars in metaphorical soccer balls and actual hot meals in my lifetime.
An incurable romantic is plagued by visions of how things could be -- and aren't -- and won't be in any forseeable future, because humanity generally kinda sucks. Thus, the cynical armor eventually dominates.
I have never said or even thought f%^k them or shoot them (or used straw man arguments in a discussion).
This current batch of Marielitos must be processed as quickly as possible and sent home. Otherwise, not only will it never end, it will get worse.
#5
Beck's appearance is off-putting. Styled hair, pipe, strange eye-glasses, nutty attire, and tennis shoes. What's that stuff all about? If I wanted to look at a clown, I'd go to a circus. Clothes do make the man.
I care about the kids, but I don't care about what comes along with them, like tons of messed up relatives and cartel members who sneak into the country in their shadow.
#7
What this is about is a push to destroy the parts of the middle and lower classes that aren't dependent on the government. We're all about to be priced out of work. Welcome to the Hunger Games.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
07/10/2014 16:58
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#8
Sorry, I gave at the IRS.
I get what Beck is doing, I'm glad he has the time and money to do such things. But don't think for a second this isn't what the Free Shit Army looks like.
They can not stay, we can't take care of our own, how can we care for them? People should be furious. The tax payers, what's left of them, will get another increase or dollar devaluation. They will be required to have health insurance, so everyone's premiums will jump and those who qualify for subsidies will see that dry up. Entry level employees will have to compete with this influx of potential workers - blacks especially have a high unemployment already but also second+ gen Hispanics will get rocked.
That is just the in general effects, nevermind local effects of poverty and crime.
If this breech is not closed it will widen. The promise of Free Shit is so tempting children are being abandoned to dangerous solo journeys. That's not me making that promise. The kids are victims of the flesh peddlers, not me. And you parents and transits, you believed Uncle Obama? He says he will care for your kids, your kids are subjected to theft and rape and death and when they show up on the front porch, Obama sneaks out the back door to go on vacation.
No skills, no language, no English - they will be put into generations of slavery. I'm not sure what is going on back home, but living a life of food stamps and government housing, working just enough to qualify for assistance, if qualifications even exist anymore. Just remember to vote for the Big Cheese Machine, otherwise you lose your Free Shit. That's no life.
#9
China is dumping billions into countries illegals are coming from port and land projects along with oil gas and minerals! What group of people are the Bitch Boys (Tea) for China? Why not have Reids Rangers go down to the border at least they will or are willing to shoot women and children American ones anyways!
NO MORE EXCUSES HERE IT IS-
5 U.S.C. § 3331
An individual, except the President, elected or appointed to an office of honor or profit in the civil service or uniformed services, shall take the following oath:
“I, AB [state your name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”
ANY QUESTIONS THINK HARD!
#4
"He always came up with fairly simple and elegant solutions -- very candid in his opinion, yet reasonable in his judgment and caring with his interactions."
#5
Santa Cruz police learned of another similar death outside California that Tichelman allegedly was involved with, which further piqued investigators' interest, Clark said. She has not been charged in that case, and authorities declined to say where it was.
#6
I wondered who would pay to have that face around them until the article said she provided him with heroin. She's a call girl/junkie combo package. Ugly as sin.
[IsraelNationalNews] No showers at home for Ismail Haniya. Experts say the IDF is targeting Hamas officials' homes, like it did in 2006 against Hizbullah.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/10/2014
07:45 ||
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#1
And your rockets were previously targeted at a smaller group of "legitimate targets"?
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/10/2014 8:06
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#2
Simply declaring what they've already practiced since their creation.
#5
Cutting off water isn't going to work if it's just one neighborhood. They have to do everyone in Gaza. Or at LEAST an entire city. Otherwise he'll just claim another house.
Posted by: Charles ||
07/10/2014 12:01
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[FIRSTPOST] Iraqi officials discovered 50 bodies, many of them blindfolded and with their hands bound, in an agricultural area outside a city south of Baghdad on Wednesday, authorities said.
Military front man Brig. Gen. Saad Maan Ibrahim said the bodies had gunshot wounds and were found south of the city of Hillah, a predominantly Shiite city about 95 kilometers (60 miles) south of Baghdad. He said an investigation was underway to determine the identities of the dead as well as the circumstances of the killings.
While the motives remain unclear, such grisly killings harken back to the worst days of Iraq's sectarian bloodletting in 2006 and 2007, when bodies were frequently dumped along roadsides, in empty lots, ditches and canals. As the levels of violence dropped from those heights, such discoveries became a rare occurrence.
But since the Sunni myrmidon offensive that has swept across much of northern and western Iraq over the past month, authorities have begun to find bodies dumped on the streets, deepening fears of a possible return to sectarian warfare.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/10/2014
07:38 ||
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#1
Islam. The middle eastern demonic death cult religion. ISIS demons in time will attain the next level of savagery that Al Qaeda demons could only hope for in the west.
#2
Savagery is to be expected. ISIS is not the first and I doubt the last.
I'm not the author.
Tamerlane
Rise up, little Khan
As you claim to be
You're birth a calm before the storm
A twisted child, a broken form
And empires wait, in ignorance
Lands will be yours
Lands will be yours
[IsraelNationalNews] Operation Protective Edge may look like its predecessors--Operation Cast Lead in 2008-9 and Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012--in that it is a response to Palestinian terrorism launched from Gaza against Israeli civilians. The previous two rounds of the conflict ended with Hamas still in power in the Gaza Strip, weakened but able to re-arm over time and to project a strategic threat. There are five reasons, however, this time may be different.
1. By Attacking Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Hamas Has Invited Its Own Destruction. By launching its Iranian-and Syrian-made missiles against Israel's two major cities--especially Tel Aviv, normally a safe distance from conflict--Hamas has broken the unwritten rules of the game. It has long been known that Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the north had the ability to reach those cities. But those groups had not exercised it.
Now that Hamas has shown it is willing to attack Israel's commercial, spiritual, and political centers, the terror group has left Israel no choice but to destroy it completely. There is no way Israel can accept life under an active threat of rockets, enjoying safety only at Hamas's whim. Attacking border towns like Sderot--or even, as in 2006, a northern city like Haifa--is one thing. Attacking Tel Aviv is a provocation Israel cannot ignore.
In particular, Netanyahu must maintain Israel's deterrent. While he needs to keep forces at the ready in case of an attack from Hezbollah, or a more direct escalation by Iran, he knows that if he fails to show that Israel is ready to defend itself, he will strengthen Tehran. With nuclear negotiators just days away from their deadline for a (bad) deal, Netanyahu needs to maintain pressure on Iran--and remind the U.S. it can act on its own.
2. Obama Is on the Wrong Side--and Irrelevant. On the first day of Operation Protective Edge, President Obama published an op-ed in the left-wing dailyHa'aretz calling for "restraint" and a Palestinian state. As if to make clear that the publication was not an accident of timing, a senior Obama adviser gave a harsh speech to a peace conference in Tel Aviv the same day at which he blasted Israel for continuing to occupy the West Bank.
These gestures--informed, as usual, by misleading Palestinian demographic statistics that falsely predict Arab majorities in the near future--send the message that the White House disapproves of Israel's operation and its general strategic posture. Normally, that would be very bad news for Israel. But it may help, ironically, because Obama has already alienated Israel to such an extent that the Israeli government feels at liberty to ignore him.
In addition, Israel previously held back due to political considerations in the U.S., cutting Cast Lead short in time for Obama's inauguration, and postponing Pillar of Defense until Obama's re-election campaign was over. This time conflict has erupted at the height of the midterm elections, meaning that anything Obama tries to do to stop Israel will boost Republican criticism of his foreign policy, and place Democrats in a tough spot.
3. None of Hamas's Usual Allies Are Going to Help. Egypt, which as of last year was controlled by a very Hamas-friendly Muslim Brotherhood, is now run by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who led a military coup that pushed the Muslim Brotherhood out of power, cutting off a critical source of military and diplomatic support. The fact that Hamas is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood means Sisi has no love for the organization.
Iran might normally be expected to help, especially by smuggling weapons and stirring up Hezbollah to create a potential second front for Israel in Lebanon. However, Iran is tied down in fighting to defend the Assad regime in Syria and the Maliki regime in Iraq. Syria has long since expelled Hamas from Damascus, and Jordan is too preoccupied with the threat of ISIS to care. Even ISIS is too busy to make Israel a priority. Hamas is on its own.
4. Iron Dome Has Neutralized Hamas's Offensive Arsenal. Though Hamas targeted Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, those two cities have (thus far) emerged unscathed, thanks to the effectiveness of Israel's Iron Dome system, which tracks and destroys small, short-range projectiles. (Here the Obama administration will try to take some credit for Israel's security, although the project had U.S. support before Obama came to power.)
The other weapon Hamas still retains is kidnapping. It is still a potent threat, as last month's abduction and murder to three Israeli teens shows. Yet to carry out that threat, Hamas must either rely on infiltrating from Gaza, which has become very difficult, or on activating terror cells in the West Bank, where the Israeli military operates relatively freely. There is a reason Hamas is resorting to its best weapons first: it is rather desperate.
5. There is Israeli Support for Invading Gaza. Or, rather, Netanyahu will pay a political price if he fails to do what is necessary to oust Hamas. That could include re-occupying Gaza for some time--not re-introducing the settlements that were abandoned in the 2005 disengagement, but enforcing stability and preventing Hamas from operating militarily or politically in the Strip, withdrawing only once its terror infrastructure is destroyed.
The Israel peace camp has become a joke. On Tuesday, attendees at a conference of peace activists physically assaulted one of Israel's conservative leaders. Though a few die-hards--including Israel's outgoing President Shimon Peres--will stress the importance of negotiations and a two-state solution, the more potent political threat is on Netanyahu's right, ready to exploit impressions that he has not done enough to secure Israel.
But it may help, ironically, because Obama has already alienated Israel to such an extent that the Israeli government feels at liberty to ignore him.
Had Champ been on the right side, this escalation probably would never have happened. The enemies of Israel, which are all around it and includes Iran, felt frisky because of the rightfully perceived notion that Obama was on their side. Probably has something to do with O's advisors having chummy feelings about the Islamic community (ValJar, Brenner, Obama, etc.) Also has something to do with a MSM that is sympathetic.
[Reuters] Insurgents in Iraq have seized nuclear materials used for scientific research at a university in the country's north, Iraq told the United Nations in a letter appealing for help to "stave off the threat of their use by terrorists in Iraq or abroad."
Nearly 40 kilograms (88 pounds) of uranium compounds were kept at Mosul University, Iraq's U.N. Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim told U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in the July 8 letter obtained by Reuters on Wednesday.
"Terrorist groups have seized control of nuclear material at the sites that came out of the control of the state," Alhakim wrote, adding that such materials "can be used in manufacturing weapons of mass destruction."
A U.S. government source familiar with the matter said the materials were not believed to be enriched uranium and therefore would be difficult to use to manufacture into a weapon.
What about a dirty bomb?
Another U.S. official familiar with security matters said he was unaware of this development raising any alarm among U.S. authorities.
#1
Just remember folks, Iraq doesn't have anything like this, so it's all OK.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
07/10/2014 7:15
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#2
More folks would be killed in the ensuing panic, Ms. Periwinkle, than from dirty-bomb radiation.
Which, I am sure, would be fine with the terrorists.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/10/2014 8:03
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#3
..like a lower primate shouting, displaying his arms and genitals desperate to get some sort of hierarchical standing among the other creatures at the edge of the pack.
#5
I thought Carter did the most damage to the united states as president by shutting down HUMINT. I am now corrected. This Uranium, will find its way into a bomb, be it a dirty bomb or one to just terrorize and cripple a nation like the US or Israel. Not having the political will to come to a SOFA will be a poor excuse when we see a major city in terror. "When politicians fail, chaos wins".
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/10/2014 12:26
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#6
First, TW, thank you for the yeoman work you've been doing.
Second... the news article you linked to from CNN reminds me of the following:
From Douglas Adams' Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul:
When a passenger check-in desk at Terminal Two, Heathrow Airport, shot up through the roof engulfed in a ball of orange flame the usual people tried to claim responsibility. First the IRA, then the PLO and the Gas Board. Even British Nuclear Fuels rushed out a statement to the effect that the situation was completely under control, that it was a one in a million chance, that there was hardly any radioactive leakage at all and that the site of the explosion would make a nice location for a day out with the kids and a picnic, before finally having to admit that it wasn't actually anything to do with them at all.
I keep thinking one day Brooklyn or Baytown is going to be vaporized, and as the mushroom cloud is rising there are going to be newscasts saying "Authorities have said they're not sure of the cause, but they've already ruled out terrorism or other acts of war..."
#8
Could a SCUD be used as a radiological dispersal device?
I don't know how practical/feasible this scenario would be: Load a SCUD up with uranium. Launch it at Tel Aviv. Then watch on as Iron Dome blows it up over the city. Geiger counters go off the charts while panic ensues.
#9
How much of what isotope are these nuclear materials? Basic refined Uranium metal would be 99.25% U238, of negligible radioactive risk - in fact barely more radioactive than anti-tank projectiles.
On 1 July, Indonesian holy warrior Islamist group Mujahidin Indonesia Timur ....the 'Holy Warriors of East Indonesia.' An umbrella group active in the Poso area of Sulawesi. They are headed by Shaykh Abu Wardah, aka Santoso who calls himself the Abu Mus'ab Al Zarqawi of Indonesia. Every once in awhile they chop somebody's head off or blow something up, but other than that they're not much of a threat to civilization as we know it.. (MIT) released a video statement through its media wing, MIT Press, by the group's leader, Santoso (alias Abu Wardah), containing a pledge of allegiance to the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and its emir Ibrahim ibn Awwad al-Badri (alias Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi al-Husseini al-Qurashi).
[Iran Press TV] The Iraqi prime minister has accused the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of becoming a safe haven for terrorist groups fighting the central government in Baghdad.
In his weekly televised address, 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... said the troubled region has turned into an operation center for 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... forces of Evil and Ba'athist terrorists.
The Iraqi leader added that his government cannot remain silent while seeing that Arbil has turned into a safe haven for the al-Qaeda linked groups.
Al-Maliki says Kurds have taken advantage of the circumstances and expanded their grip on Iraqi lands.
The premier also warned the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) against a decision to hold a referendum on the fate of Kirkuk. Al-Maliki said the KRG is burning bridges with Baghdad, which would backlash, as both the forces of Evil and Kurdish leadership will eventually lose.
In recent weeks, Iraqi Kurds have expanded their territory by up to 40 percent as the Takfiri forces of Evil of the ISIL seized areas in the west and north of the country.
The recent comments come after remarks by the president of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Masoud Barzani, who has said that measures are being taken for holding a referendum on Kurdistan's future within months.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed support for Kurdish independence.
Premier al-Maliki has strongly rejected the attempts by the KRG to hold the referendum as unconstitutional, saying that it would "damage them a lot."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/10/2014
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[Iran Press TV] Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has promised to continue military operations against pro-Russian forces in the country's eastern regions.
During a visit to the eastern city of Slavyansk, where pro-Russian forces have reportedly been defeated, Poroshenko praised the Ukrainian troops for their efforts in retaking the city.
The city is now under a siege to stop the return of the militias.
On July 5, Ukrainian forces retook control of Slavyansk following overnight attacks. Andrei Purgin, deputy prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, said fighters only left Slavyansk to protect the civilian population.
According to reports, the government troops' next stop is the two main cities of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Ukraine's mainly Russian-speaking parts in the east have witnessed deadly festivities between pro-Russia activists and the Ukrainian army since the government in Kiev launched military operations in mid-April in a bid to crush the pro-Russia protests.
Violence intensified in May after the Donetsk and Lugansk regions held local referendums, in which their residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from Ukraine.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/10/2014
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[WEEKLYSTANDARD] Democratic congressman Henry Cuellar ...Dem representative for Texas' 28th congressional district, serving since 2005. He was a professor at Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) in Laredo. He has positioned himself as a strong advocate for education. Prior to being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives he was a member of the Texas House 1987 to 2001.... ripped President B.O. for being "aloof" and "detached" by not visiting the Texas border to see first hand the immigration crisis. Cuellar made the comments on MSNBC:
"He's so close to the border. And let me say this: when I saw, and I hate to use the word bizarre, but under the circumstances, when he is shown playing pool in Colorado, drinking a beer, and he can't even go 242 miles to the Texas border, and plus, if he doesn't want to go down to the border, there's the Air Force Base where HHS is holding some of the young kids from the border. He could at least make that trip to San Antonio, but again, border community leaders wants to see him down there on the border, and I think the optics and the substance of it is that he should show up at the border," said Cuellar.
And he had some advice for the White House."If they are worried about putting a face, the president's face, to this human crisis, humanitarian crisis, I think it's worse if he doesn't even show up. Either way, he's going to be tied into this humanitarian crisis. he either can roll up his sleeves and go down to the border, or he can just look aloof and detached and not go to the border, send surrogates down there, and say that he's got everything under control."
He adds, "It Just floored me, because if he's saying he's too busy to go to the border but you have time to drink beer, play pool."
The president was in Colorado last night -- drinking beer and playing pool.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/10/2014
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#1
"Aloof, bizarre, detached"....all standard attributes and traits of a narcissist. No mystery here at all.
#2
On drugs too. Coke or amphetamines. Over the last few weeks, the level of assholery has kicked up way too many notches, way too fast. Also dark circles under the eyes, ashen skin, gaunt and skinnier than ever.
Sure would be nice if this problem would solve itself.
Ahem. Let's not go any closer to that line, shall we?
#4
Oh sorry. I meant, surely it would be easier to make the case to remove an official who is mentally incapacitated. Biden, demented as he is, would be less dangerous than a drug addict.
Posted by: Vinegar Lover of the Texans8305 ||
07/10/2014 13:28
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#9
If the Dems are using the illegal childrens as political pawns and its obvious the kids are going through hell in the process, its probably pretty hard to look them in the eye. Also he certainly doens't wnat a photo op of him there because tehn he can't downplay it all.
[ENI.NETWORK24.CO] Nigerian military has commenced air and ground bombardment of Boko Haram camps in the West African country's northeastern state of Borno, killing over 44 terrorists, the authorities said.
Chris Olukolade, spokesperson of the Nigerian military headquarters, said in a statement reaching Xinhua Monday that troops have cleared and taken over Balmo forest in a military operation that lasted throughout the weekend.
He said, prior to the operation, the Balmo forest stretching from Bauchi through Jigawa states with links to the fringes of Sambisa forest was used by terrorists as bases and hideouts for launching attacks.
He added that terrorists and armed gangs operating in the forests were completely rooted out while some were captured during the operation.
Olukolade said among those captured were two foreigners who were suspected to be mercenaries.
Also captured are several weapons and equipment including power generating sets, communication equipment, vehicles, motorcycles, foodstuff and kitchen utensils, he added.
The military spokesperson said over 44 terrorists died in Kerenoa and adjoining communities, following an encounter with the troops.
Troops on routine patrol around Banki and Miyanti in Borno State during the weekend fought through an ambush laid by the terrorists resulting in casualties on both sides.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/10/2014
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[Al Ahram] Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... has said he spoke by telephone with his Egyptian counterpart on Tuesday about the situation in Gazoo.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said Egypt would try to exert pressure to end Israeli attacks on Gazoo and expressed his commitment to the safety of Paleostinians, according to Abbas.
An Israeli operation against Gazoo bad boyson Tuesday has killed 28 people and maimed more than 150, in the deadliest day of violence in the coastal strip since 2012.
The Gazoo flare-up began in mid-June during Israel's search for the three teens, when Israel incarcerated You have the right to remain silent... many Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, members across the West Bank. The Israeli military says more than 160 Gazoo rockets have struck Israel since.
Tensions between Israelis and Paleostinians have risen over the killing of three Jewish teenagers in the occupied West Bank, which Israel has blamed on Hamas, and of a 16-year-old Paleostinian in East Jerusalem.
According to the Paleostine-based Wafa news agency, quoting Abbas, El-Sisi stressed Egypt's keenness for Gazoo to avoid such "dangerous attacks" and for the escalation to stop so that a truce could be reached as soon possible.
Abbas added that El-Sisi had promised Egypt would continue to exert efforts to put an immediate end to the attacks.
For his part, the Paleostinian president stressed the necessity for all factions involved in the 2012 ceasefire agreement to commit to the pact.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/10/2014
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Abbas added that El-Sisi had promised Egypt would continue to exert efforts to put an immediate end to the attacks.
A 'Second Front'?
You'd get it done quicker that way.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/10/2014 6:10
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[Al Ahram] The United States on Wednesday urged Israel and the Paleostinians to de-escalate tensions in Gazoo and expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... for the safety of civilians on both sides as Israel pressed a campaign of air strikes and gunnies kept up rocket fire at Israel's heartland.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a briefing that 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... , who is in China, had spoken earlier in the day with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and planned to speak with Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... "over the next 24 hours."
Psaki said US officials have been "encouraging all sides to de-escalate the situation," restore calm and take steps to protect civilians. She said White House Middle East coordinator Philip Gordon was in Jerusalem and the West Bank on Wednesday and had met with Abbas.
"We are concerned about the safety and security of civilians on both sides," she said, referring to "the residents of southern Israel who are forced to live under rocket fire in their homes and the civilians in Gazoo."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
When I hear the words 'express concern' I release the safety catch on my gun.
#2
Sorry, but Israel is busy right now and can't take your call. But your call is important to us, so leave a name, number and the time that you called for de-escalation and our next available operator will call you back.
Posted by: regular joe ||
07/10/2014 9:02
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#3
Israel responds, launches Giant Wooden Pig across Security fence.
Posted by: Charles ||
07/10/2014 12:02
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[LATIMES] Both candidates claimed victory Wednesday in Indonesia's presidential election, the tightest race since the former Southeast Asian dictatorship made the transition to democratic politics less than two decades ago.
Joko Widodo, the popular chief executive of the capital city, Jakarta, said he had won based on samples of votes being counted at 480,000 polling stations nationwide that gave him a lead of between 4 and 6 percentage points. The so-called quick counts have accurately forecast results in the last several national elections.
But Widodo's rival, Prabowo Subianto, a former head of Indonesia's special forces, refused to concede defeat. An hour after Widodo delivered a victory speech -- at the plaza where the former Dutch possession declared independence in 1945 -- Subianto told supporters that "our team has won in many provinces and many areas."
With official results not due until next month, the world's fourth most populous nation was poised for several more weeks of tension after a gritty campaign that was marred in its final weeks by ferocious smears against Widodo that played on Indonesia's religious and political sensitivities.
The claims against Widodo, better known by the nickname Jokowi, falsely accused him of being a closet Christian with Chinese roots, damaging his standing among Indonesia's overwhelmingly Mohammedan population. The smears likely contributed to a dramatic drop in his pre-election poll numbers, which went from a 30-point advantage over Subianto to the two being in a dead heat.
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#1
Dang. Indonesian names are something out of Star Wars.
[Al Ahram] An Egyptian soldier was killed Wednesday when a roadside kaboom targeted an armoured vehicle in the restive Sinai Peninsula, medical and security officials said. Four soldiers were also maimed in the attack near the north Sinai capital of El-Arish, the officials said.
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[Ynet] Paleostinian news agency Ma'an reported that Egyptian authorities decided to open the Rafah crossing on Thursday to allow the evacuation of maimed Paleostinians to hospitals in Egypt. According to the report, Egyptian President al-Sissi has issued basic guidelines on the subject.
So Egypt is still besieging the territory of the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, but at least they'll allow a few wounded Gazans out for medical care.
[Iran Press TV] US House Speaker John It is not pronounced 'Boner!' Boehner ... the occasionally weepy leader of House Republicans... says he doesn't support calls from his fellow Republican politicians to impeach President Barack Obama My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it...
Of course John Boehner disagrees. The votes aren't there. The votes might not be there in the House and they certainly aren't there in the Senate.
Sarah is a treasure, but she's forgetting the first responsibility of an elected politician -- know how to count, whether it's to 50% plus one or to 2/3s. Boehner can count, that's how he made it to Speaker (it sure wasn't his leadership skills).
There will be no impeachment of Obama because the votes are not and will not be there. So Boehner is trying to capitalize on discontent with lawsuits and other nonsense.
If I were him and I were counting, I'd see whether I could get the votes to impeach the IRS commissioner and send THAT to Harry Reid in, say, September...
Speaking to news hounds on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Boehner was asked about former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Mama Grizzly Palin ... the babe libs love to hate ... 's assertion that House Republicans should impeach Obama over the influx of child migrants crossing the US border without documents. Boehner responded by simply saying, "I disagree."
Boehner repeated those words in response to a follow-up question about some members of the House privately demanding Obama's impeachment.
On Tuesday, Sarah Palin called for Obama's impeachment over his handling of the growing immigration crisis.
"The many impeachable offenses of Barack Obama can no longer be ignored," Palin said in an op-ed published in Breitbart News. "If after all this he's not impeachable, then no one is."
The 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee wrote that Obama's "unsecured border crisis is the last straw" and asked politicians to evict him from the White House.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
If he is Impeached Obama becomes a martyr. Better to let him be a dismal failure
#2
Yes, concentrate fires on the IRS Director, Lois Lerner, Holder, the FBI, and ValJar's Moolsim Broederbond connection if possible. Let the idiot Marxist continue to sing, dance and impress the people.
#5
Focus on holder, Lerner, ValJar. Unlike Republicans with Nixon, the Democrat party senators are far too corrupt to count on for anything other than a party line vote in an impeachment.
#6
Exactly! Focus on the 25m targets, the ones you KNOW you can hit. Take these people out. Convicting and jailing them will isolate the Champ and make him further ineffective.
#7
For the uber-narcissist who was surrounded by Greek columns in 2008 and promised by his acolytes that he was the ONE. This was the guy who was going to heal the world, part the seas and make everyone love us again, this must be quite a fall--this talk of impeachment. He has been handled by those around him and protected by the media; he has been living and protected by a cocoon. It is only now that information is beginning to trickle in and self-doubt is starting to set in. He is rapidly becoming irrelevant. Hopefully, he won't over react and do something really stupid and more destructive than he has been.
#8
Or better yet for Boehner - how about growing a big brass pair and not folding like a deck chair on the next budget and make some painful cuts to Obama's pet agencies?
#11
Impeachment (although Obumble deserves it) would only strengthen his position and rally the troops to him. Boehner's lawsuit is an interesting way to get around that little issue.
I also don't want him impeached as it would make him a martyr.
I want him to leave office humiliated. All of his work and policies in a flaming ruin. The ideas he championed so toxic that another progressive won't be able to talk about them and promote them for 20 years without the base voting them out.
#13
Impeachment doesn't get him out of office than it is worthless and would only appear as a partisan tool in the history books. Let his horrid record stand in teh history books as is.
#15
I can relate to Palin's frustration, but impeachment is out of the question. This fellow is as dangerous as a Mamba. The pubs must be careful how they handle him. He loves and thrives on the drama and media attention ["so go ahead, sue me"] Do NOT play his game! Iggy the worthless half-kaffir SOB until he's out of office, then go after him in the courts.
#17
African Americans whose unemployment rate is twice the white Americans are starting to get riled. NOW we will see the Dems eat their own to save their ass.
#19
In the law of the jungle, even the weakest members of a pride of lions will join a vicious attack on a once powerful, and most dominant leader of the pride, if they perceive him as being injured or weak.
The same is true of our own society.
Over the past few months it has become increasingly "in Vogue" to beat up on Obama. Even some of the most affluent left-wing media outlets have began to join the pile _on.
Vindictive as I am, there is little I would enjoy more than watching the impeachment of President Obama. But I must respectfully disagree with Ms. Palin. Now is not the time.
There is an old saying in politics, "Never interrupt your opponent while he's destroying himself."
As Obama's toxicity level, as the leader of the Democratic Party rises, so goes the toxicity level of the Democratic Party members. And the reality is, that is the best thing (and some say the only thing) that the Republican Party currently has in it's favor.
I do agree that now is the time for John Boehner to file a lawsuit against Obama.
The most potent asset Obama has in his favor is the bully pulpit. Without doubt there is nothing Obama would desire more than to glaze over his glaring failures and bring his new election talking points into sharp media focus.
Win or lose, the lawsuit will allow the Republicans to exert at least some measure of control over the bully pulpit narrative. It will allow them the opportunity to force their own narrative to the forefront and keep Obama's glaring ineptitude in the media spotlight.
There will be plenty of time to impeach Obama if that is the objective. But failure of impeachment in the Senate will only appear as Republican weakness. Gaining control of the Senate needs to remain the Republican's ultimate priority until after the 2014 midterm elections.
For now let Obama simmer in his own toxic soup. Even though the repulsive odor it generates is hard to bear.
#20
No impeachment. It allows him to achieve Racial Martyr status, when, in fact he's Narcissus without accomplishment running the country into the ground.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/10/2014 21:41
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Yeah Frank, and somehow it will STILL be the White's fault.
Five policemen and a Philippine soldier were injured after a clash with New People's Army (NPA) militants on the outskirts of Davao City.
Eastern Mindanao Command information officer Captain Alberto Caber said the clash broke out early afternoon Tuesday at Mount Talomo in Toril District. He did not identify the injured troops except to say the soldier belongs to the Army's 84th Infantry Battalion while the policemen are from the Special Action Force.
Caber said the combined military and police forces were on combat operations when the clash began with more or less 30 NPA militants. He said the militants withdrew following a 30-minute firefight. They were believed to have suffered casualties.
Two female trainees at a hospital in Yala province were gunned down by suspected insurgents while they were shopping at a market at 3 p.m. yesterday. Police found their bodies, each with a gunshot wound in the head, and collected a spent bullet at the scene.
A preliminary investigation found that the two women had walked to the market to buy food. They were allegedly being tailed by two men at the market, one of whom pulled out a gun and shot the women before fleeing the scene. Police suspect this attack was part of ongoing insurgency in the region.
McALLEN -- A man from the Dominican Republic is expected to be sentenced by the end of the month following his guilty plea to assaulting a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
According to documents released Monday afternoon, Llevry Ramon Herrera Sepulveda went before U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter Ormsby on Friday afternoon and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of assaulting a border patrol agent. Ormsby ordered he remain in custody pending his sentencing hearing on July 31.
Initially FBI agents had charged Herrera with one count felony assault of a federal officer on June 17, just two days after he had assaulted a border patrol agent identified in court records only as A.P., the criminal complaint shows.
On the day of the assault, A.P spotted a group of persons who had crossed the river in an area south of Pharr and tried to apprehend a smaller group of six persons that splintered off and ran towards him, court records show.
The border patrol agent tried to apprehend Herrera only to be met with a series of punches to the face that stunned the agent during the struggle where he tried to take down and arrest the Dominican man.
During the fight, Herrera tried to take the agent's baton and other weapons but was only able to grab the radio and throw it into the brush.
[Al Ahram] South Sudan President Salva Kiir on Wednesday urged rebel chief Riek Machar to restart talks to end a raging civil war between their forces that has driven the country to the brink of famine.
"Even if Riek Machar's forces still continue attacking our forces, I still renew my call for him to accept the logic of peaceful resolution," Kiir told crowds at celebrations to mark three years of independence.
"Put down your guns and come home."
South Sudan has been wracked by war since mid-December, when presidential guards loyal to Kiir clashed with troops supporting Machar, who fled to the bush and rallied a huge rebel army.
The fighting has been marked by widespread atrocities against both members of the Nuer people, to which Machar belongs, and Kiir's Dinka group, the single largest tribe.
Three ceasefire deals have failed to stick, and peace talks in luxury hotels in the Ãthiopian capital Addis Ababa have made little progress.
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[Iran Press TV] Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has dismissed his police and intelligence chiefs, and named a new security minister following a deadly attack against the presidential palace.
"Both the police and intelligence chiefs were replaced, and the minister for the national security was named," Somali Information Minister Mustafa Duhulow said, speaking on behalf of the president on Wednesday.
The government has named Khalif Ahmed Ereg, a former intelligence chief, as the new national security minister.
Al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... fighters launched a major bomb and armed assault against the presidential palace late on Tuesday and managed to penetrate the heavily-fortified complex. Several people were killed during the raid.
"I say to them, you will not kill us, and nor will you demolish our spirit," Mohamud said, referring to the fighters.
Abdullahi Mohammed Ali, the Somali ambassador to the United Kingdom, was reportedly appointed as the new intelligence chief to replace Bashiir Goobe.
Mohammed Sheikh Hassan Ismail was also named as caretaker police chief in replacement of Abdikarin Dahir.
The Tuesday night attack is not the first assault on the presidential palace. The premises came under attack in February when the al-Shaboobs, who were dressed in Somali army uniforms, entered the complex with the use of a boom-mobile before being killed by guards.
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[Iran Press TV] The Israeli military has confirmed that two Paleostinian rockets have struck the city of Dimona where Israel has a nuclear reactor.
Paleostinian resistance groups in the besieged Gazoo Strip fired the rockets in retaliation for Israeli attacks on the coastal enclave on Wednesday.
Tel Aviv said earlier that more than 70 rockets had been fired into Israel's illegal settlements since the early hours of the day.
Meanwhile, ...back at the secret hideout, Scarface Al sneeringly put his proposition to little Nell... Israeli media reports said that Israeli Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz approved plans to deploy the army's ground forces into Gazoo.
He also stressed that pressure would be increased against Paleostinians.
Early on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the expansion of military operations against Paleostinians.
More than 50 people have been killed and many others maimed, including women and kiddies, by the new wave of Israeli aggression.
Posted by: Fred ||
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My understanding is that nothing in the Hamas arsenal, even with a direct hit, would do much more than superficial damage to any of the critical Dimona facilities.
Posted by: lord garth ||
07/10/2014 8:07
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[Tolo News] The Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) will move ahead with its complaints investigations following the announcement of preliminary results earlier this week, and it will do so without 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... 's observers being present.
Although the ECC, like the IEC, has defended the credibility of the process that has been overseen since the June 14 runoff election, some former election officials and monitoring groups have questioned whether vote counting and fraud investigations should be allowed to move forward while one of the candidates remains estranged from the commissions.
As of now, the ECC will be reviewing only complaints filed by Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, and will do so without the presence Abdullah's observers. Abdullah's observers have been absent from the commissions for over three weeks, since he announced his decision to boycott the process until his concerns about fraud are addressed.
"Elections commissions are making fun of the institution and people of Afghanistan," former IEC Chairman Fazel Ahmad Manawi said on Wednesday. "As you know, the election law says that any audit and review must be in the presence of candidates' representatives, but, unfortunately, the IEC continued its work in absence of Abdullah Abdullah representatives, and now the ECC is doing the same thing."
But it appears disapproval of the way the process has been handled by the commissions does not stop at former members. Within the current IEC staff there appears to be some division over how best to proceed.
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[MAGHAREBIA] A bomb went kaboom! Tuesday (July 8th) at the Sabri cop shoppe in Benghazi, Libya Herald reported. The station was ravaged by a fire after a powerful blast on Monday. Several citizens were treated for injuries.
In other security news, six people were killed in Benghazi on Monday night. According to a Saiqa Special Forces ...Libya's elite army unit, insofar as they have one, formed from a mixture of paratroopers and commandos. The group emerged from a militia with the same name in 2010. It now numbers a few thousand and reports to the Ministry of Defence. It deployed in Benghazi in an attempt to control the carnage. As a result, it has been attacked and several of its officers murdered. The force is popular in Benghazi for its stance against Ansar al-Sharia group... source, the victims included two young men who died in separate drive-by shootings.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Al Ahram] Twenty members of the Islamic State (IS) were killed in Syrian air force raids on Wednesday morning against the murderous Moslems' bastion in Raqa, a monitoring group said.
"At least 20 members of IS were killed and others were maimed in air strikes... targeting an IS training base in Raqa," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The strikes also destroyed 14 of IS' military vehicles, the Observatory added.
IS gunnies are firmly in control of Raqa, their stronghold, and have secured large swathes of territory in eastern Syria and in neighbouring Iraq.
While some in the Syrian opposition initially welcomed IS -- formerly known as 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) -- among their ranks, viewing it as a potential ally, its abuses and quest for control turned the rebels against them.
Rebels have been fighting IS since January.
The Syrian regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... , for its part, has escalated its attacks against IS positions since the group spearheaded a Sunni murderous Moslem offensive in neighbouring Iraq.
"From 10 June (when djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... fell from Iraqi government control) to date, the Syrian air force really stepped up its raids against IS positions, and there have been strikes every day since then," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.
"There has been a marked escalation. The regime fears IS getting stronger, especially after it brought in vehicles from Iraq" that the gunnies seized from fleeing troops, he added.
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[Al Ahram] The main exiled Syrian opposition group on Wednesday elected Saudi-based businessman Hadi el-Bahra as its new president in a bid to end internal divisions and breathe fresh life into its flagging struggle to oust Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... .
The Syrian National Coalition, the main exiled opposition group seeking the overthrow of Assad, will be hoping el-Bahra enjoys greater success than his predecessor Ahmad Jarba in keeping up the pressure on the regime.
"Hadi el-Bahra was elected president of the coalition with 62 votes," the coalition said in a statement after the early morning vote at the meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sile outside Istanbul in Turkey.
His nearest rival, Mowafaq Nayrabiyeh, won 41 votes, while Walid el-Omari won just three votes, it added.
Delegates are expected to return later Wednesday to elect a vice president and a secretary general while el-Bahra is also expected to give a presser.
El-Bahra will have the task of keeping alive the campaign to unseat Assad amid territorial gains by the regime and the rise of the radical jihadist group Islamic State, which the coalition vehemently opposes.
Jarba headed the coalition from July 2013 but failed in efforts to unite the opposition and obtain significant Western military support.
El-Bahra was born in Damascus in 1959 and studied industrial engineering in the United States, according to the coalition's website. He speaks English fluently.
But he has spent most of his adult life in 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... , where he has managed several hospitals and businesses and still lives.
He headed the opposition negotiating team in its delegation to the failed Geneva 2 talks between the opposition and the regime in Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... earlier this year.
In an interview with AFP at those talks, el-Bahra reaffirmed he was determined to reach a political solution, saying that the opposition was "not looking to seek power or impose an opinion".
El-Bahra is softly-spoken yet he has frequently publicly denounced human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... violations by the Assad regime, as well as the international community's failure to step up assistance to the Syrian people.
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[Al Ahram] Israeli warplanes pounded Gazoo Wednesday, killing at least 30 people in a major new confrontation with Paleostinians, as Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, flexed its firepower and sent thousands running for shelters across the country.
As the corpse count from Israel's two-day Operation Protective Edge reached 57, Paleostinian president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... accused Israel of committing "genocide" in Gazoo.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared bent on ploughing ahead, warning of even tougher action against Hamas.
There have been no Israeli deaths so far, but Hamas began flaunting its firepower overnight. It launched waves of long-range rockets across central Israel that triggered sirens in cities as far away as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
The alarms even sounded in the northern port city of Haifa, as unconfirmed reports spoke of a rocket hitting near Caesarea and another even further north.
Tanks massed on the Gazoo border, AFP correspondents reported, as Netanyahu came under mounting pressure from hardliners within his governing coalition to send ground forces into the territory from which it pulled all troops and settlers in 2005.
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[Al Ahram] Paleostinian president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... on Wednesday accused Israel of committing "genocide" in Gazoo during its military campaign which has so far killed 43 Paleostinians.
gen-o-cide [jen-uh-sahyd]
noun
the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.
"It's genocide -- the killing of entire families is genocide by Israel against our Paleostinian people," he told a crisis meeting of the Paleostinian leadership in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
No, doesn't meet the definition. Sorry. People get killed in war, especially when they pull in their kids to be human shields. Next time leave the youngsters with their grannies, and you won't have this problem with entire families being wiped out.
"What's happening now is a war against the Paleostinian people as a whole and not against the (militant) factions.
"We know that Israel is not defending itself, it is defending settlements, its main project," said Abbas.
"We are moving in several ways to stop the Israeli aggression and spilling of Paleostinian blood, including talking to Egyptian President (Abdel Fattah)al-Sissi ...former general under Mubarak, then Defense Minister. Egypt overthrew Mubarak and endured a year of ham-fisted Moslem Brüderbund rule so al-Sissi could run for President-for-Life... and UN Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... ."
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Posted by: regular joe ||
07/10/2014 8:57
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#4
The paleos are gearing up their propaganda war. What does Abbas call the indiscriminate targeting of Israeli citizens with rockets (supplied by Syria and Iran)?
[Iran Press TV] Leb's resistance movement Hezbollah has strongly censured the US for sponsoring the ISIL terrorist group across the Middle East region.
Hezbollah's Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem ... the Grand Vizier of the Hezbullies... said on Wednesday that the terrorist group's first mission is to divide the region and drown it in a sectarian war and chaos.
Hezbollah's big shot also added that Washington and any other parties taking advantage of the Lion of Islam group will be the first to pay the price.
The remarks come as Hezbollah has repeatedly accused the US and its regional allies of sending murderous Moslems to Syria and Iraq to destroy the axis of resistance in the region.
Sources say the US regional allies, 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 other Persian Gulf Arab states are supporting the militancy in the region.
Political analysts say the scenario against Syria will backfire on the West as turbans are now returning to the countries they came from.
The deputy head of Hezbollah also suggested that the only solution lies in encouraging Mohammedan and national parties to cooperate and safeguard themselves against 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... threat.
This come as recent studies show people in Mohammedan countries are opposed to the Lion of Islam groups, which are carrying out deadly violence across the world.
A recent survey conducted by British polling group, Opinion Research Business, shows that more than 90 percent of the participants voiced their opposition to extremism.
Meanwhile, ...back at the abandoned silver mine, there was another kaboom... a separate survey in Syria indicated that an absolute majority of Syrians are opposed to foreign-backed groups fighting against government forces there.
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[IsraelTimes] On the second day of Operation Protective Edge, it's clear that both sides are trying to cause maximum harm to each other. As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put it, the gloves are off. Israel and Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, are out for blood and there is no sign of a solution on the horizon. The key to that -- the "exit strategy" -- lies with a third party, Egypt. To some extent, Hamas is firing rockets and missiles at Israel in order to pressure Cairo to open the Rafah border crossing, and to enable the transfer of money via that crossing, in order to ensure the future survival of its regime.
Since the start of the operation, the IDF has attacked a large number of targets, some of Hamas, others of Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... , including the homes of operatives who are using their families as human shields. That was the case on Tuesday with the Kaware family from Khan Yunis. Initially, warning shots were fired at the home of a family member, a Hamas operative, but instead of evacuating the building a large number of his relatives gathered on the roof to try to prevent an attack. Minutes later, however, the bombing took place, and seven members of a single family were killed, children among them.
This incident gave Hamas the pretext it wanted to launch rockets at the Dan region. For now, that is Hamas's "great" achievement: its success in firing missiles not merely at Tel Aviv, but beyond Tel Aviv, all the way to Hadera — about 110 kilometers from northern Gazoo. Hezbollah's secretary general Hassan Nasrallah bragged during the Second Leb War of 2006 that he could hit south of Haifa; now Hamas has shown it can hit north of Tel Aviv.
This isn't the only Hezbollah tactic that Hamas is attempting to imitate. Just like the Lebanese Shiite group, Hamas is also attempting to carry out "quality" acts of terrorism. Thus far, its two attempts have failed: the infiltration of Hamas frogmen via the northern beaches of Gazoo, heading to Zikim; and the explosives-filled tunnel at Rafah. In the case of the Zikim attack, all five members of the Hamas terror cell were killed. Not long before, the commander of that Hamas unit, Muhammed Shaaban, and two of his aides were eliminated in an Israeli Arclight airstrike. As for the Rafah tunnel, Israeli intelligence managed to thwart an unusual attempted attack: Hamas had spent months, if not years, digging that tunnel, which was intended to enable dozens of armed Hamas holy warriors to carry out simultaneous raids inside Israel on numerous targets, including civilians.
The paradox, the Catch-22, is that the absence of a "victory picture," so frustrating for Hamas, is only encouraging its operatives to intensify their attempted attacks. Hamas TV and the Arabic satellite stations are celebrating the rocket attacks and the "raids" on Zikim and at Rafah, but Hamas's military chiefs can be expected to continue to invest no little planning and effort in the bid for a successful "quality" attack.
Hamas has options: raids via Sinai, paragliders or explosive-carrying drones, Zikim-style infiltrations from the sea, attacks on Israeli naval vessels, and more. The IDF suspects that Hamas has land-to-sea rockets with a 35-kilometer (22 mile) range.
How might all this end? Hamas has presented a list of demands, headed by its call for the release of security prisoners freed in the 2011 Shalit deal who were re-jugged Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! in recent weeks. That's actually the only demand it is making of Israel. The rest are addressed to Egypt: Hamas wants Cairo to allow the transfer of funds from to Gazoo from Qatar so it can pay the salaries of its 40,000 clerks and thus continue to govern. It also wants the Rafah crossing opened so that it can export goods and so that Gazooks can travel. The organization is no longer prepared to live with the "quiet for quiet" formula.
But Egypt has other priorities and concerns right now. Fuel prices have risen 78 percent with the cancellation of subsidies; cigarettes and alcohol are up 200 percent. More pertinently, Abdel-Fattah El-Sissi's Egypt regards Hamas as a firm ally of the Moslem Brüderbund and is more than happy to see it sweat. The chances of Egypt agreeing to the permanent re-opening of the Rafah crossing are slim to none.
The only demand that Israel, Cairo's partner and ally in the shaping of the security reality in the region, can hope to see accepted is the transfer of the Qatar salary payments by one means or another. Would that be enough to bring Hamas around? Right now, possibly not.
[IsraelTimes] As the war against Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,murderous Moslems in Gazoo rages on, anti-Israel hackers are gearing up for yet another large-scale cyber-attack on Israel. Set for Friday, July 11, #OpSaveGazoo, anti-Israel hackers promise, the denial of service (DDOS) attack will be the "greatest campaign ever against 'Israhell,' to expose their terrorist activity to the world," hackers wrote.
Such politically motivated cyber-attacks are almost routine, and so far israel's record of foiling them is good.
Israel is ready, said Dina Beer, CEO of the Israel Internet Association (ISOC), which administers Israel's Internet connections to the rest of the world. "I won't say that such attacks are easy to deal with, but we are always ready to deal with them," she told The Times of Israel. "Israel faces DDOS and hack attacks every day, so we're experienced with how to deal with them. The difference during times of crises like these is the number of hackers that participate in the attacks."
Despite that experience, it would be foolish to dismiss the attacks, said Isaac Ben-Israel, head of the Tel Aviv University's Yuval Neeman Workshop for Science, Technology, and Security.
"Over the past few days, attacks have grown by 900% — instead of the usual 100,000 attacks we get each day, we are now getting a million such attacks, from all over the Arab and Moslem world," he said.
"Over the past few days, attacks have grown by 900% — instead of the usual 100,000 attacks we get each day, we are now getting a million such attacks, from all over the Arab and Moslem world," he said. That number, he added, applied only to official government sites. "We have no way of knowing if a home or business computer has been hacked."
Those attacks, Ben-Israel said in advance of a cyber-security conference the Workshop is holding next week, include attempts to steal data from sites, deface web pages, and pull down sites via DDOS attacks. In a DDOS attack, hackers marshal the power of tens or hundreds of thousands of computers to log onto a specific server at a specific time, in the hope of overloading it and forcing it to shut down. The tactic is successful more often than not, especially in countries with less well-developed networks. According to hacker group Anonymous, DDOS attacks have been successful in Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, and Pakistain, among others. During Operation Pillar of Defense, the 2012 Israeli military campaign against Hamas, Israel was able to beat back some 44 million DDOS attacks in a space of just five days.
The newly announced hack attack seems to have been organized just in the past several days, said Beer. It's similar in spirit to the recent OpIsrael DDOS attacks. Those attacks, which took place on April 7 this year (and on that date in 2013), entailed a major effort to topple Israeli government sites. The sites were able to stay up for the most part, though some users experienced delays, and a few web sites were forced to reboot, going off-line for a few minutes.
The hackers posted their manifesto on Facebook, Twitter, and Israeli sites they have already hacked. "Israhell never existed its only Paleostine," they wrote. "It's our home. If you are a Hacker, Activist, a Human Right Organization then hack Israel websites and expose to the world their crimes, show to the world how much blood is on their hands, blood of innocent children and women," the message reads, referring to the Israeli campaign against Hamas and its rocket launchers.
The hackers acknowledge that the Israeli attacks in Gazoo are in response to the massive rocket fire by Gazoomurderous Moslems against Israel, but "the act of launching rockets from Gazoo sector to Israhell is an acceptable and normal reaction against those pigs, its called Resistance and not terrorism," the message reads.
It's not clear how involved Anonymous is in the latest DDOS attack, said Beer. "Usually they organized these things well in advance, and even then their success record is very mixed. The organizers of this DDOS attack appear to be activists who hope that Anonymous will 'adopt' them." Indeed, a check on Facebook of several purported Anonymous fan pages showed that while a few of the sites had a reference to #OpSaveGazoo, most didn't.
That doesn't mean that groups claiming to work with Anonymous won't join the campaign. "While Anonymous didn't start this, it's likely that the hackers who consider themselves part of the group will lend a hand," said Beer. "The question for Israel is how many of them will join. The more attackers, the more effort is needed for defense."
With that, Beer believes Israel will weather the storm. "We have very advanced protection systems that can detect when computers are creating phony traffic just to bring down a site, and we can automatically cut off those IP addresses from connecting. In addition, we can bar whole blocks of IP addresses from connecting to Israeli sites." As the administrator of Israel's Domain Name System (DNS) and Internet addresses, the organization can block unwanted web traffic before it even gets onto Israeli servers.
"In addition, the Internet service providers in Israel have similar defenses, but in case some roque requests get through," Beer added. "We communicate with the ISPs through a chat app, so we all know what is going on, especially during crisis times like these, when we expect more cyber-attacks. I don't see this DDOS operation being any more successful than the ones that have taken place in recent months."
[Iran Press TV] Newly disclosed documents that show the US government spied on several prominent Moslem-Americans for years demonstrate that America is "no longer a free country," an American former university lecturer said.
The National Security Agency (NSA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) covertly monitored the emails of five Moslem civil rights activists, academics and lawyers, according to a report published Tuesday by journalists Glenn Greenwald
...who some think ranks up (or down) there with Robert Fisk in the quality journalism department. Others, of course, disagree...
Someone would need to beat the living crap out of Greenwald in order to be on par with Fisk.
and Murtaza Hussain
Who?
in The Intercept, citing leaked NSA documents provided by Snowden.
The five individuals appear on an NSA spreadsheet in the Snowden archives called "FISA recap"—short for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The spreadsheet shows 7,485 email addresses, mostly of foreigners, that were monitored between 2002 and 2008.
"The United States is no longer a free country and it won't be free until we rise up in another American revolution, hopefully a non-violent one, and reinstate our Constitution," said Kevin Barrett, who's also a journalist, radio host and activist in Madison, Wisconsin.
Really, I simply must spend the time to learn who actually is who among those activist types...
Barrett is a Mooselimb and a Moonbat.
"The American people are now just complete sitting ducks for this kind of NSA spying and government blackmail, Barrett told Press TV in an interview on Wednesday.
*waves to the nice people at the NSA who just want to catch bad guys*
"Any American can be targeted, any American can be manipulated and controlled through this message," he added.
"They're being manipulated by the NSA so that they would be forced to cooperate with the FBI. This is a common tactic that's been used against the Moslem community," Barrett said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/10/2014
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#1
The National Security Agency (NSA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) covertly monitored the emails of five Moslem civil rights activists, academics and lawyers, according to a report published Tuesday by journalists Glenn Greenwald
Only five monitored was it? I was hoping for tens of thousands.
#2
"The United States is no longer a free country and it won't be free until we rise up in another American revolution, hopefully a non-violent one, and reinstate our Constitution," said Kevin Barrett, who's also a journalist, radio host and activist in Madison, Wisconsin.
Lad doesn't know squat about revolutions, does he?
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
07/10/2014 6:15
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The Iran Press? Yeah, they know something about freedom, don't they?
[DAWN] IT is a painfully familiar situation. A youth is killed 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... while another goes missing, leaving his family to ponder over the worst-case scenario. There is talk of murder committed by coppers who often dispense their brand of justice in the form of staged encounters. Calls for investigation grow and they finally yield results: the allegations of police brutality are to be probed — by the police. If the story stays its normal course, maybe a few coppers will be blamed and suspended, only to re-emerge, occupying a police post sometime later. Amid so much talk about Pakistain's journey to civilisation and the rule of law under the supervision of a judiciary which is all too frequently called upon to intervene in all kinds of issues, the resolve to end so-called police encounters is sorely missing. Sadly enough, administrations often implicitly and sometimes openly defend the encounter model of 'justice' as not only the most convenient but also the most effective means to combat crime. Not only this, the state has moved towards further empowering the already dangerous law enforcer by coming up with the Protection of Pakistain Bill. This is the justification the numerous encounter specialists bred over the decades must have been looking for.
There was a time when fake encounters needed to be dressed up for public consumption. That veneer is gone. Recent incidents in Karachi, Lahore and elsewhere in the country suggest that not too much of a cover-up is now required before a senior policeman calls up the media to proudly share the news about a 'known' criminal who has been disposed of in an encounter. The act has come to be accepted by and large as something that is inevitable, which is routine, or worse, which is desired. It is in this way that the coppers and those who pull their strings in the name of law and order and good governance have succeeded in their terrifying objectives, freeing the judiciary to take up other important issues.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/10/2014
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[Nigerian Tribune] With an estimated sum of $70 million, Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... has been ranked the seventh wealthiest terrorist organization in the world.
According to a report published by The Richest, the sum of $70 million was made by the group between 2006 and 2011 from their numerous kidnappings and the subsequent ransoms procured.
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a Jihadist Death Eater group, is adjudged the richest terrorist group till date, with an estimated sum of $2 billion, gathered from looted weapons and bank robberies.
The second richest terrorist group is Irish Republican Army (IRA), a prominent professional money laundering organization in Europe with over $450 million.
The third richest, the Taliban of Afghanistan rakes in an estimated sum of $400 million, annually from expansive drug trade, human trafficking, extortion, as well as a large amount of donations from foreign organizations that support their ill-gotten empire.
Al-Qaeda, which is the fourth richest, is one of the largest and deadliest terrorist groups, founded by the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now beyond all cares and woe... . The group realises over $100million in a year.
The Marxist guerrilla group, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia-People's Army (FARC), known for numerous kidnappings, liquidations and bombings, which they have executed on Columbian citizens, in the name of anti-imperialism rakes in an estimated sum of $80-$350 million, every year is the fifth richest.
Just ahead Boko Haram is Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... from Pakistain, renowned for wreaking havoc, raging war and killing civilians, with $100 million a year.
To summarize:
7. Boko Haram: more than $70 million
6. Lashkar-e-Tayyiba: $100 million a year
5. FARC: $80-$350 million a year
4. Al-Qaeda: over $100 million a year
3. Taliban: over $400 million
2. IRA: over $450 million
1. ISIS: $2 billion
Posted by: Fred ||
07/10/2014
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Pakistan has been in a state of war with Israel since 1956, or perhaps earlier. I'm not sure if Israel has noticed.
[DAWN] ISRAEL'S no-holds-barred bombardment of Gazoo, which commenced on Tuesday, is the latest chapter in the Paleostinians' seemingly never-ending saga of misery. While Paleostinians throughout the occupied territories have been victims of Israeli high-handedness for decades, Gazoo's plight has been particularly tragic. The latest violence appears to have been triggered by the kidnapping and subsequent murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank and the retaliatory killing of a Paleostinian youth in Jerusalem. In the aftermath of these incidents, tension had been building up, with Israel blaming Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, for the abductions, a charge the murderous Moslem group denied. As Israel started rounding up Paleostinians in the wake of the murders, rocket fire into the Jewish state commenced from Gazoo. While the murders of the Israeli teens and the Paleostinian youth are equally condemnable, Tel Aviv's brutal yet predictable response of pounding Gazoo is totally unacceptable. Whenever the Jewish state crosses swords with Paleostinian fighters, it seems to have no qualms about massacring civilians. In the latest hostilities, over 20 Paleostinians have been killed; while forces of Evil are among the casualties, the majority of victims are reportedly civilians, including children. The assault on Gazoo is a reminder of past Israeli aggression targeting the impoverished coastal strip, particularly the 2012 and 2008-09 conflicts. In the 2008-09 Gazoo war, nearly 1,400 Paleostinians were killed, which included over 900 civilian deaths, while Israel deployed barbaric weaponry in densely populated civilian areas, such as the notorious white phosphorous munitions.
The fact is that until there is justice for the Paleostinians, this part of the Middle East will not see peace. Paleostinians have been treated in a subhuman manner by the occupying power for over six decades. Gazoo, of recent, has been turned into a modern-day Bantustan, with high unemployment, rampant poverty, and an infrastructure in a shambles. Its woes have been amplified by a cruel Israeli blockade, which Egypt has been all too keen to police. The blockade has been in force since 2007 and declared illegal by many in the international community. In the immediate term, Israel's friends and backers in the West must restrain it from unleashing even more destruction on the hapless people of Gazoo. Tel Aviv has talked of a possible ground offensive while Hamas has vowed to pay Israel back in the same coin if hostilities escalate. Once the brutal bombardment of Gazoo ceases, issues such as Paleostinian rocket attacks on the occupied territories can be discussed. But first, Israel needs to cease fire immediately.
Even the latter-day, malnourished North Korean polemicists can do better than this. I give it a 3.2 out of 10.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/10/2014
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#3
The Service would find this fantastic
(can you tell if I'm being sarcastic?):
An app -- call it Honey --
To track time and money
They spend on pursuits orgiastic.
#6
Hell, if they want to know whether I'm being sarcastic, I'll be glad to tell them. Another waste of our money and an assault on freedom of speech. Falls in the category of FUBAR.
#12
What I think this is actually about is a desire on the part of the police bureaucracy to not have to exercise any judgement. If the software says it wasn't acceptable sarcasm, you're guilty. Sue the vendor.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
07/10/2014 16:54
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#13
well, I have always been sincere in my commentary.
no worry here
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/10/2014 18:51
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Any "app" than can reliably detect sarcasm could probably pass the Turing test.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, one of the world's most wanted jihadists, is aided by a "cabinet" of deputies, who manage both the Islamic State's military operations and its new, self declared, caliphate. Documents seized from the house of a member of the Islamic State in a raid by the Iraqi military have revealed, for the first time and in remarkable detail, the leadership structure of this secretive organization.
...and a more in-depth look, from the same source:
The information, which was found on memory sticks taken from the home of Abu Abdul Rahman al-Bilawi, al-Baghdadi's military chief of staff for Iraqi territory, who was killed in the military raid, identified two key deputies who are charged with managing terrain controlled by the Islamic State in Syria and in Iraq respectively.
Unlike His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ...formerly merely the head of ISIL and a veteran of the Bagram jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us... both of these men formerly held senior roles in the Iraqi military and are seasoned in battle.
Abu Ali al-Anbari, who is charged with managing operations in the parts of Syria controlled by the Islamic State, was a major general in the Iraqi military under ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, Mr Hashimi said. He's said to hail from the northern Iraqi province of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn....
Abu Muslim al-Turkmani was a lieutenant colonel in the Iraqi military's intelligence core and also spent time as a special forces officer.
"These men the reasons behind the strength of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. They are the key people who keep him in power," said Mr Hashimi.
The documents reveal the meticulous lengths that the jihadist group has gone to to transform itself into an organization that is capable of ruling its own state.
Al-Anbari and al-Turkmani have a clear hierarchy of men beneath them who make up the "governors" of the "local provinces" of the jihadist's new country.
Earlier this month, during the first days of the holy Moslem month of Ramadan, al-Baghdadi made a shock announcement, declaring the swathe of land controlled by the Islamic State no longer terrain in Iraq and Syria, but part of a new Islamic caliphate.
The territory includes Mosul in northern Iraq, the country's second most populous city.
This article starring:
ABU ABDUL RAHMAN AL BILAWI
Islamic State
ABU ALI AL ANBARI
Islamic State
ABU MUSLIM AL TURKMANI
Islamic State
Posted by: newc ||
07/10/2014
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#1
So basically they are ex army boys.
Was it wise to dismantle the army in hindsight?.
Posted by: Paul D ||
07/10/2014 10:52
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[INQUISITR] A top Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... operative was bumped off Sunday in northwestern Nigeria just as he was setting up a new base of operation for the terror group that has been wreaking havoc in the northeastern part of Africa's most populous country for the past several years, according to reports out of the region.
The man, whose name was given only as "Usman" and was referred to as a Boko Haram "kingpin," had reportedly relocated from the terror group's base to the Nigerian city of Kaduna, where the top operative and his underlings had recently begun gathering guns and other armaments after integrating themselves into the community there.
The shootout happened a day after 63 women and girls held captive by Boko Haram in the northeast made a daring run to freedom and escaped.
But Nigeria's security forces tracked the man there and on Sunday, surrounded his house in Kaduna and demanded that he surrender. Rather than give up, the top Boko Haram terrorist opened fire, starting a brutal shootout that was reported to have lasted about an hour.
Information on Usman's location came from captured Boko Haram Death Eaters who were interrogated by Nigeria security officers.
"The soldiers kept shouting his name to come out of his house. He resisted arrest and started shooting from the ceiling where he was hiding," said a resident of the Kinkino neighborhood of Kaduna where the suspect was holed up.
"Initially we thought it was armed robbers that had invaded our area and we were making frantic calls to the police. But later discovered that it was a combined team of soldiers and police who came to arrest two people suspected to be Boko Haram members," said another.
The neighborhood residents said that Usman arrived in the area about two months earlier and had appeared to a normal resident, taking part in religious services with the rest of the community.
Usman's brother was reportedly also killed in the shootout.
"You can now see the sacrifice our troops are making for the preservation of Nigeria's illusory sovereignty and territory. The turbans were hiding here for months until our breakthrough," said a security officer, speaking to journalists from the Sahara Reporters news site. "Our soldiers had to dig a hole to enter the house as you can see. The [Boko Haram] men gave our soldiers a tough time, but we triumphed over them."
The security officer told Sahara Reporters that Usman and his brother. "had their hands in several severe attacks carried out by [Boko Haram] in the northeast and other parts of the North. Just imagine what they would have done in Kaduna and surrounding areas if they were able to establish a footing here."
The Boko Haram leader was said to have two wives and three children, who disappeared after coming back to the site of the shootout Monday to retrieve some belongings, according to other residents.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/10/2014
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#1
This will undoubtebly hurt sales of forthcoming albums.
[DAWN] Major General Zafarullah Khan on Wednesday said that 80 per cent of Miranshah ... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas... has been cleared during the North Wazoo operation, adding that outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur ...a member of the Madda Khel clan of the Uthmanzai Waziris. Educated in a Deobandi madrassa located in Multan, he is affiliated with the Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) political party. Upon the formation of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in December 2007, he was announced as the group's overall naib amir under Baitullah Mehsud, who was based in South Wazoo, but has largely distanced himself from the TTP due to rivalries with the Mehsuds and disagreements about the TTP's attacks against the Pak state.. , if spotted, would be eliminated without any delay.
The general further said that evidence of Al Qaeda's presence in the region was found and the army was still facing opposition from some areas.
The army official maintained that the civilian population was not targeted during the operation. This information, however, could not be independently verified.
Major General Zafarullah Khan is the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 7th Infantry Division Miranshah, North Waziristan.
The general acknowledged that foreign and local bully boyz were residing in the area.
Bahadur is known to have links with notorious holy warrior groups in tribal North Waziristan, including the Haqqani network.
Jet fighters carried out Arclight airstrikes on suspected holy warrior hideouts destroying three of them while 11 suspected bully boyz were also killed earlier today during the Zarb-e-Azb operation in the North Waziristan tribal region, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) sources said.
The corpse count, however, could not be independently verified.
First time since the launch of this operation, Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, was opened for national and international media as media personnel, particularly from the television networks, were allowed to take shots of several destroyed holy warrior hideouts.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/10/2014
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[Al Ahram] Israel launched its largest offensive in the Gazoo Strip in nearly two years, carrying out a blistering aerial assault Tuesday on scores of targets and killing 27 people in what officials called an open-ended operation aimed at ending weeks of heavy rocket fire. As Gazooforces of Evil unleashed salvos on Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Israel mobilized forces along the border for a possible ground invasion.
The offensive set off the heaviest fighting between Israel and the Islamic group Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, since an eight-day battle in November 2012. Hamas members fired about 160 rockets at Israel, including two intercepted over Tel Aviv, while Israel said it attacked more than 150 sites across Gazoo.
Paleostinian medics reported at least 27 dead, including six killed in an Arclight airstrike that flattened an apartment building in southern Gazoo and set off widespread panic.
In a nationally televised statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said continued rocket attacks on Israeli communities would not be tolerated.
"Therefore I have ordered the military to significantly broaden its operation against Hamas Lions of Islam and against the other terrorist groups inside Gazoo," he said. "I call on you to display patience because this operation could take time."
Israel and Hamas are bitter enemies that have engaged in numerous rounds of fighting over the years. But until recently, they had been observing a truce that ended the previous hostilities in 2012.
Tensions have been rising since Paleostinian forces of Evil kidnapped three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank on June 12. Accusing Hamas of being behind the abductions, Israel launched a crackdown on the group's members in the West Bank and tossed in the slammer Book 'im, Mahmoud! hundreds of people. Hamas, which controls Gazoo, responded by stepping up rocket fire.
The situation deteriorated last week after the bodies of the Israeli youths were found, and a Paleostinian teenager in Jerusalem was kidnapped and burned to death in what Paleostinians believe was a Dire Revenge™ attack. Six Jewish Israelis have been arrested in the killing, and the rocket fire from Gazoo has increased in recent days.
The fighting raged throughout the day. In its fiercest attack, an Arclight airstrike flattened the home of a Hamas myrmidon in the southern Gazoo town of Khan Younis, reducing the concrete structure into a smoldering pile of rubble.
Panicked residents fled, screaming "God is great." Some had bloody faces, and crying mothers held small children as they bravely ran away. Screaming Paleostinians took away motionless bodies. Paleostinian medical officials said six people, including two children, were killed.
How many of them had deliberately put themselves in the line of fire as human shields?
Late Tuesday, the normally bustling streets of Gazoo City were deserted. Fearing an Israeli ground operation, many residents from areas near the border moved to stay with relatives living deeper inside Gazoo.
In southern Israel, hundreds of thousands of citizens were ordered to stay close to home because of the rockets. Israeli streets were also quieter in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem after attempted rocket strikes set off air-raid sirens in Israel's two largest cities. The Jerusalem municipality said it was opening special bomb shelters.
Hamas members twice fired rockets at Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial capital, sending people scurrying for cover. Both projectiles were intercepted by the "Iron Dome" rocket defense system. The second interception was shown on live TV, as a winding plume of smoke followed the interceptor into the black skies, culminating with a flash.
Late Tuesday, Hamas said it fired a salvo of four rockets toward Jerusalem, and two distant booms could be heard from the city's center. One rocket landed in the Jerusalem area, officials said, and police said there were no injuries.
The army was also checking reports that rockets had flown north of Tel Aviv — which would mark the deepest strikes every carried out by Hamas.
In other violence, the Israeli military said it foiled an attempt by Gazooforces of Evil to infiltrate a military base in southern Israel by sea. Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a military front man, said four attackers made it to shore and attacked the base with grenades and automatic rifles before they were killed. An Israeli soldier was slightly maimed.
As Israel built up forces along the border, the government authorized the army to activate up to 40,000 reservists. The army said that about 1,000 soldiers were immediately activated, in addition to an earlier group of 1,500 reservists called into action.
"If we need to go inside in a ground operation, then we will do it. These things are on the table. These options exist. We will not stop anything until the rocket firing ends," said Yitzhak Aharonovitch, the minister for internal security and a member of Netanyahu's inner Security Cabinet. Israel's last ground offensive was in 2009.
Asked by Channel 2 TV if there were any efforts underway to reach a cease-fire, he said: "Not now."
The U.S. State Department condemned the rocket fire on Israeli civilians, defended Israel's right to defend itself, and said it hoped Israel's "strong message" would deter further attacks. "But certainly, our preference is to de-escalate the situation on the ground," spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/10/2014
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[IsraelTimes] Israel vows harsher strikes on defiant Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, as conflict enters 3rd day
Operation Protective Edge entered its third day on Thursday. At least 80 rockets were fired into Israel on Wednesday, hitting as far north as Zichron Ya'akov, bringing the total since Monday night to over 200. In the Israeli Air Force's hundreds of Arclight airstrikes on the Gazoo Strip, at least 53 Paleostinians have been killed and around 500 injured, according to the Gazoo Health Ministry.
Excellent idea. They indeed should be refugees; that's what they are. UN-sponsored and financed camps should be built; these should be at least of the quality provided to Syrian and Palestinian refugees.
To facilitate access, the camps should be located south of the Rio Grande. This way the refugees won't have to contend with swimming a river, climbing a fence, and evading U.S. Border Patrol officers; they can go straight to the U.N. personnel in charge in northern Mexico.
Mexico, given its desire to be a leader in third-world solidarity, should immediately agree.
I say this partly tongue-in-cheek, of course, but it does beg a question: where are the Mexican authorities in all this? 300,000 kiddies are trekking across their country and the authorities know nothing about it?
#1
Mexican train derails, stranding 1,300 migrants headed toward U.S.
(Reuters) - A cargo train used by Mexicans and Central Americans to travel toward the U.S. border derailed in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca on Wednesday, stranding about 1,300 migrants, emergency services said.
Many of the migrants aboard were young people and nobody was injured when the train nicknamed "the Beast" came off the tracks, a spokesman for local emergency services said.
Since last October, more than 50,000 unaccompanied minors, most from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, have been caught illegally crossing the southwest border of the United States.
#2
Where's the outrage, reserved for a derailed oil or coal train, about this event spilling 1300 kiddies all over the landscape, obviously spoiling the land....
#4
Refuges usually involve people who want to 'go back home'. If they're refugees, let's classify them properly as victims of ethnic cleansing because their (purer Spanish blood) ruling caste needs to unload mestizos y indios to avoid reform or revolution.
#5
Regardless of what is done with these people, children, etc, we're missing an identification opportunity if we're not doing Biometrics [facial/DNA] on these illegal and feeding it into a central database.
#6
Mexican Authorities have been bought off - by the coyotes, cartels, or Obama,
or all three
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/10/2014 10:57
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#7
The first order of business ought to be to send several plane loads back to where ever they came from. The word will get out and the flow will start to be stemmed. Push Mexico hard to stop allowing them to pass through. Strengthen security at the border with a physical fence or a virtual electronic fence or whatever it takes to stem this tide. Both parties need to quit worrying about getting the Latino vote--do what's right for the country for a change. Obey the laws of the country. Start by getting rid of Holder as AG. He's got to be the worst we have ever had.
#8
No, JohnQC. You have to start by getting rid of Baraq Hussein as president. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening any time soon but with any luck we can turn the Senate against him in November.
#9
I don't see that happening. The votes are not there. Let's see what happens in the House and Senate in 2014. Maybe there will be a glimmer of good that comes about from these elections.
#11
The same network of Mexican Liberation Theology people who smuggled central Americans during the 1980s are doing the same thing now. Wonder why MS-13 has an international reach? It's because of those people.
Slip Enrique Pena an extra $50 million and tell them to jail the members of the network, and northbound illegal immigration would stop in 24 hours.
Kill them and immigration would stay stopped for a generation.
[Al Ahram] Authorities in the United Arab Emirates have tossed in the clink Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! Qatari "spies," an Emirati daily reported on Wednesday in a new sign of mounting tensions between Doha and its Gulf neighbours.
The report in Al-Khaleej newspaper, which cited Emirati sources, was in response to a report in Qatar's Al-Arab daily that three Qataris had been subjected to "arrest and torture" in UAE capital Abu Dhabi.
They were "Qatari intelligence elements operating on UAE soil," Al-Khaleej wrote on its front page. "They were arrested and are being questioned."
Relations between Qatar and its Gulf neighbours 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... , the UAE and Bahrain sunk to a new low in March when the three governments recalled their ambassadors from Doha.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/10/2014
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The video at the link attempts to water it all down, but I found it somewhat astounding that a main stream media outlet like CNN would post a full article this derisive of our "Dear Leader."
(CNN) -- Ordinarily, being ranked as the worst modern president of the United States would be considered unfortunate. For you Mr. President, that's the good news.
As painful as it is to note, your presidency has not yet hit bottom. You've got a long way to go in your descent.
#1
This week's beer and billiards photo shoot in Colorado was most impressive. Of course he does not see it as such, but it is quite disheartening to see the office openly mocked and belittled in such a manner.
#5
It's strange... On alBBC when "The Bush Regime" was "in power" it was described as "polarising" and unpopular. We seem to have no information from them about Emperor Zero's popularity, and it seems the republicans are polarising things.
#9
LOL Raj. Had he not been on camera, he might have taken a hit or two. The way he has been acting lately, I believe most of his policies have come out of the Choom Room.
He has not hit his nadir yet. I wonder if the odds makers are betting on his approval ratings, say whether or not he hits approval ratings of 30 or below before he is dumped out of the WH.
#10
Obama was never a president, nor will he ever be one. To be president you must lead from the front, be accountable, hard, hold people accountable, everything that makes a good parent, makes a good president. He was elected on a popularity contest, like in high school. He was never a person that acted with any consequence. He was a community organizer, and by definition, did nothing but stir the pot. He never did anything or saw anything through to completion. Hell, he and his wife had to give back their law license for not doing anything with them. He calls it leading from the rear, a typical me generation cop out. No one leads from the rear. Only dictators or tyrants that are in decline and afraid to be seen act like this. He is a true coward, he may love America, I have my doubts, but he can not lead. He will not lead and he will continue his passive aggressive management until 2016 or until America falls. As I see it, the race is on.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/10/2014 12:49
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#11
Judge Sullivan has ordered that an IRS official must swear in writing under oath in the next 30 days about Lois Lerner's lost emails and computer crash.
It can get worse for Obama unless all those in the IRS are willing to fall on their swords for him. If the Federal judge is not completely in the tank for Obama and the Democrats, he can make life difficult for anyone screwing around with his court. Sullivan was a Clinton appointee but is supposed to be a straight-up guy (not all of them are).
#13
..up to 179 days for contempt of the court. Probably more time than they'll serve if they had talked. The one won't be issuing pardons before the mid-term at least.
[Al Ahram] 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... said on Wednesday that Russia, facing the threat of new sanctions over the Ukraine crisis, wanted to avoid international isolation but would strongly defend its national interests.
"We will never pursue isolationism. We will always be part of the international community," Putin said during a meeting with representatives of the Civic Chamber, a consultative body which monitors the work of the government and parliament.
"You and I must properly define national interests. We have learnt how to do that," he said. "We will do this persistently but correctly, carefully and ... strongly."
The United States and the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... have imposed visa bans and asset freezes on some Russian companies and individuals since Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in April after the overthrow of a Moscow-leaning Ukrainian president.
Washington and Brussels have held out the possibility of more sanctions if pro-Russian separatist fighters do not wind down the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/10/2014
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[Tolo News] Taliban shadow governor of Badakhshan province, along with 14 of his counterparts were killed in an Afghan forces operation on Tuesday, the National Directorate of Security (NDS) said in a statement on Wednesday.
According to the NDS statement, the Death Eaters were killed in Aab Raghak area of Jurm district of Badakhshan.
Among the dead were Pak and Tajiki terrorists, the statement read.
NDS special security has taken serious measures in preventing terrorist attacks in all provinces.
The Taliban have rejected the claim and said that the shadow governor is alive.
In a separate operation led by the Afghan army special forces in Northern Kunduz province on late Tuesday night, four holy warriors were killed and five others were detained.
According to the national army first unit press chief, Ahmad Jawed Salim, told TOLOnews, "the operation was conducted last night at about 10 p.m. in Chahar Dara district of Kunduz and ended around 3 a.m."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/10/2014
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#1
"he's not dead, just nappin" my apologies to Monty Python.
Posted by: Steven ||
07/10/2014 1:36
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[Tolo News] In two separate festivities between armed attackers and the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) in Kandahar province four civilians and five coppers were killed and 12 others were maimed.
Local officials in Kandahar said that on Wednesday at about 11 a.m. two jacket wallahs entered two buildings located in front of the Kandahar police headquarter and governor's office and started firing at the buildings.
Eyewitness said, "These men were in a vehicle transporting pipes when the vehicle stopped and the attackers got out and started attacking."
Kandahar Police Chief says that of the suicide bombers, three detonated their explosives while 19 other gunnies fought for over an hour.
"Our security forces were able to kill 22 gunnies in less than an hour and a half, with lower casualties on our end," said Governor of Kandahar, Toryalai Weesa.
Meanwhile, ...back at the chili cook-off, Chuck and Manuel's rivalry was entering a new and more dangerous phase... Kandahar Police Chief, Gen. Abdul Razaq, said that there are chances that some of the snuffies were Pak citizens.
"Among these attackers were people who might be Pak because their faces and language were different and chances are that they were Punjabi," Gen.
Razaq said. "We are investigating their documents."
Taliban have accepted the responsibility of the attack and claim to have harmed security forces during the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/10/2014
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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.
The Affordable Care Act has been successful at achieving some major goals in the first year of its full implementation, according to a new study from The Commonwealth Fund.
[TRUTHREVOLT.ORG] 
On 1 July, Indonesian holy warrior Islamist group 
Nouri al-Maliki
[WEEKLYSTANDARD] Democratic congressman 
[ENI.NETWORK24.CO] Nigerian military has commenced air and ground bombardment of Boko Haram camps in the West African country's northeastern state of Borno, killing over 44 terrorists, the authorities said.
[Al Ahram] The United States on Wednesday urged Israel and the Paleostinians to de-escalate tensions in 
Sarah 
Five policemen and a Philippine soldier were injured after a clash with New People's Army (NPA) militants on the outskirts of Davao City.
[MAGHAREBIA] A bomb 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Al Ahram] Israeli warplanes pounded 
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
[IsraelTimes] On the second day of Operation Protective Edge, it's clear that both sides are trying to cause maximum harm to each other. As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put it, the gloves are off. Israel and 
[IsraelTimes] As the war against 
[Nigerian Tribune] With an estimated sum of $70 million, 
[INQUISITR] A top 
Wazoo
[Al Ahram] Israel launched its largest offensive in the 
Tensions have been rising since Paleostinian 
Hamas members twice fired rockets at Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial capital, sending people scurrying for cover. Both projectiles were intercepted by the "Iron Dome" rocket defense system. The second interception was shown on live TV, as a winding plume of smoke followed the interceptor into the black skies, culminating with a flash. 
[Al Ahram] Authorities in the United Arab Emirates have 
...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...
[Tolo News] Taliban shadow governor of Badakhshan province, along with 14 of his counterparts were killed in an Afghan forces operation on Tuesday, the National Directorate of Security (NDS) said in a statement on Wednesday.
