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Palestinian killed in mysterious Gaza blast identified as head of rocket unit
Today's Headlines
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Home Front: Culture Wars
Navy OKs Ponytails, Locks and Other Hairstyles for Female Sailors
[Mil.com] Female sailors can soon sport several new hairstyles including locks, ponytails and options that fall below the collar in certain uniforms, according to new approved regulations announced Tuesday.

Lock, or loc, hairstyles and buns that span the width of the back of a female sailor's head will now be authorized for women in all uniforms. Ponytails will be OK in service, working or physical-training uniforms -- provided there's no operational safety concern. And hairstyles that hit beneath shirt, dress or jacket collars will be approved in dinner-dress uniforms.

The changes were approved by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson and Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Adm. Bob Burke, and announced by six members of a working group during a Navy Facebook Live event.

Richardson credited the working group, which took feedback from the fleet, with coming up with and presenting the new grooming recommendations.

"We just demonstrated that a recommendation can make things happen, so I want to hear from you," he said.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2018 12:12 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Other Hairstyles".... no foto required here.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2018 12:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Cool, til your hair and scalp are removed by turning equipment
Posted by: Frank G || 07/15/2018 13:08 Comments || Top||

#3 
Posted by: Jack Chaiter7913 || 07/15/2018 13:10 Comments || Top||

#4  What #2) Frank G said... Every experienced that I knew mechanic had their hair *SHORT*. This isn't the Age of Sail people -- short is good around airmasks, flash fires and moving machinery.
Posted by: magpie || 07/15/2018 13:14 Comments || Top||

#5  Gah...PIMF ^Every experienced mechanic that I knew... The dumb kid shaved his hair short after he lost a lock of hair and the skin it was attached to one fine morning.
Posted by: magpie || 07/15/2018 13:16 Comments || Top||

#6  short is good around ...moving machinery.

I very, very strongly agree. One of my bosses told the story of almost getting her head crushed by a paper roller thingie (I worked on toothpaste once upon a time; the equipment used to make toilet paper is a deep mystery to me) when her waist-long ponytail got caught as she walked through a pilot plant. Fortunately the technician heard her screams and turned off the machine with inches to spare. She had him fetch a pair of scissors, and cut her hair to the nape of her neck before she stepped away from the machine.

In a similar vein, Mr. Wife refused to wear a wedding ring until his job no longer took him into factories. As a youth he’d noticed that too many friends of his steelworker father had only nine fingers, and learnt it was because their wedding rings caught on equipment, tearing off the finger at its root.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/15/2018 13:48 Comments || Top||

#7  I assume this also covers those who "identify" as female sailors?
Posted by: Tyranysaurus Ulaise3834 || 07/15/2018 14:31 Comments || Top||

#8  tw, the obvious solution then is to not allow female sailors anywhere near dangerous machinery. /sarcasm
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 07/15/2018 14:51 Comments || Top||

#9  Construction safety people would be gobsmacked. I saw a safety video where somebody was pulled into a roller press. To the waist. I s'pose it was quick.
Posted by: Bobby || 07/15/2018 17:34 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Barack Obama will give his most important speech since leaving office next week
[Quartz] Former US President Barack Obama will aim high with his Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in Johanesburg on July 17th. According to his close adviser and former speechwriter Benjamin J. Rhodes, Obama views this as the most important speech he has given since leaving the White House, one that will set the tone for his post-presidency.
Fok'n Kommunis voels van enerse vere (birds of a feather).
Obama must deliver a more ambitious, activist, and forward-looking address than his eloquent remarks at Mandela’s memorial, in December 2013. That’s because much has changed politically in the five years since then. The world is in a much more precarious place.

Authoritative global indices portray dangerous trends of democratic decline. Principles of tolerance, inclusivity and the rule of law, abiding commitments that defined Mandela’s life, are under assault in other nations, from South Africa the US to Poland.

And, as Rhodes notes:

There’s an enhanced sense of tribalism in the world.

It is therefore an auspicious time for Obama to speak about the lessons of Mandela’s life and leadership. The centennial anniversary of Mandela’s birth provides the opportunity for someone of Obama’s standing to encourage awareness about Mandela’s enduring relevance in the endless struggle to sustain democracies.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2018 11:44 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There’s an enhanced sense of tribalism in the world.

...I think Ben has no idea how right he is...

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 07/15/2018 12:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Barack Obama will give speak for $cash$ his most important speech irrelevant screech ... FIFY
Posted by: magpie || 07/15/2018 12:18 Comments || Top||

#3  One of South Africa’s deadliest terror attacks took place in Church Street, Pretoria, in 1983, when Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the armed wing of the African National Congress, detonated a large mortar bomb outside the Nedbank Square in Church Street, a building which hosted the South African Air Force’s headquarters. The bombing resulted in the death of 19 people as well as over one hundred injuries. The bombing took the lives of 17 men and 2 women, of which 9 were White and 7 were Black. The bomb proved successful in its objective to cause the most harm as its detonation time was 16h30 in the afternoon, a peak rush-hour for the area. MK forces participated in a range of various systematic bombings across South Africa during the years following the 1938 Church Street bombing. The African National Congress claimed responsibility for the bombing under the leadership of Oliver Tambo.

Mandela was jailed for his participation in the Church Street bombing. Oliver Tambo had Johannesburg International airport named after him. Mandela was elevated to Sainthood.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2018 12:31 Comments || Top||

#4  The bomb proved successful in its objective to cause the most harm as its detonation time was 16h30 in the afternoon, a peak rush-hour for the area.

What time is Obama's speech?
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/15/2018 12:37 Comments || Top||

#5  Have to be sometime after lunch. He usually sleeps until noon.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2018 12:43 Comments || Top||

#6  Is he finally coming out? Announcing he's transitioning? Renouncing his citizenship in a country he loathed?
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 07/15/2018 13:46 Comments || Top||

#7  Won't be like Brandernburg Gate and media will try to shill for it anyway. Zzzzzzzzzz….
Posted by: M. Murcek || 07/15/2018 16:05 Comments || Top||

#8  I want to hear all about his uni days and why he said he wasnt american on his application.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 07/15/2018 16:31 Comments || Top||

#9  Will he be traveling under his US Passport or as Citizen Of The World™
Posted by: Frank G || 07/15/2018 16:35 Comments || Top||

#10  Another load of chutzpah from Obummer. He's still trying to salvage his legacy. We're pretty far down the road for that considering he had one of the most corrupt administrations in our history.
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/15/2018 17:36 Comments || Top||

#11  There’s an enhanced sense of tribalism in the world.

Translation: "Shit! Now white people are doing it too! This is OUR racket, dammit!"
Posted by: charger || 07/15/2018 17:47 Comments || Top||

#12  Obama's Legacy?
That he was The First Black POTUS™? His parents arranged for the first part and he was a willing tool for political machines that arranged for the last part.
The observation about Napoleon III, who was more talented, definitely applies here: "He was a Sphinx, without a Riddle."
Posted by: magpie || 07/15/2018 18:30 Comments || Top||

#13  Hope they hired the Mandela funeral translator again. It's the only way Obama will make sense.
Posted by: Vinegar Hupolumble8430 || 07/15/2018 23:49 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Strzok by a Farce
[National Review] n investigation is one of two things: a search for the truth, or a farce. The House is conducting a farce. That fact was on full display during ten hours of testimony by Peter Strzok, the logorrheic lawman who steered the FBI’s Clinton-emails and Trump‐Russia probes.

The principal question before the joint investigation of the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees is whether the Democratic administration’s law-enforcement and intelligence arms strained to manufacture an espionage case against the Republican candidate, having buried an eminently prosecutable criminal case against the Democratic presidential nominee.

It should be straightforward to answer this question, provided that the investigative process has the one attribute central to any credible probe: the capacity to compel the production of evidence and testimony, with the corollary power to hold witnesses in contempt for defiance.

The House investigation has devolved into farce because it lacks this feature.

Oh, it exists on paper. There is even a statute making contempt of Congress a crime, punishable by up to a year in prison (and not less than a month). That may not sound like much, but the months can pile up: A separate offense occurs each time a question is ducked or a document is not surrendered. As the Wall Street Journal’s Bill McGurn explains, Congress has inherent power to enforce its subpoenas unilaterally, or it can seek assistance from the other branches.

But then reality intrudes. The committees pursuing the probe lack either the will or the votes ‐ or perhaps both ‐ to hold witnesses in contempt. This, despite audacious refusals to answer questions and turn over documents that would explain when and why the Trump‐Russia investigation commenced.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2018 11:24 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  POTUS needs to order the DOJ and FBI to release all relevant documents to Congress that have been subpoenaed and not yet received.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2018 11:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Good Luck with that! "We may need them for an investigation that we may be having or may have or ... anyway: Neener! NEENER! We ain't cooperating!"
You would almost think them a not-so-secret Secret Conspiracy, hmmm?
Posted by: magpie || 07/15/2018 11:38 Comments || Top||

#3  After watching Comey, McCabe, and Strzok, I’m impressed by their over-sensitivity, junivile, and petty behavior. I’m surprised that men that are so emotional are able to rise thru the ranks of what was the worlds premere law enforcement agency.
Posted by: jvalentour || 07/15/2018 11:40 Comments || Top||

#4  Eight years of Obama management and selection exclusively through a political lens. Same at CIA and State. DIA a little harder because of those pesky military performance measures but at the senior levels, the same. The entire civil service has been salted this way for decades ...
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 07/15/2018 11:46 Comments || Top||

#5  The entire civil service has been salted this way for decades ...

We used to have a saying.

"They're all assigned to B-Company. Be there when you get there, be there when you leave."
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2018 11:57 Comments || Top||

#6  Strzok is such a god-awful witness that, in a civil case, the lawyers for whichever side Strzok was on would either have to find a clever way to avoid the jury ever laying eyes on Strzok, or settle the case basically for whatever the other side wanted.

Likewise, every lawyer on the defense side of the "Russia collusion" case or whatever it is begin their mornings with a prayer that they get the chance to cross-examine Strzok in front of a jury. He is a target-rich environment all by himself.
Posted by: Matt || 07/15/2018 14:25 Comments || Top||

#7  He is a target-rich environment all by himself.

That’s very comforting, Matt, given that a very good lawyer said it.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/15/2018 14:58 Comments || Top||

#8  If they refuse, Trump should order their arrest by federal Marshals and via the patriot act or whatever was that Obama signed in that regard, 'disappear' them as potential terrorists who have infiltrated the government.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 07/15/2018 23:25 Comments || Top||

#9  Strzok reminds me of a slightly less gay PeeWee Herman.
Posted by: Vinegar Hupolumble8430 || 07/15/2018 23:44 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Walter Russell Mead: Trump Isn't Sounding Like a Russian Mole
h/t instapundit
[TheAmericanInterest] ...there can be little doubt that Trump’s core global strategy is intended to destroy any illusions in Moscow that Russia is a peer competitor of Washington’s.

...If Trump were the Manchurian candidate that people keep wanting to believe that he is, here are some of the things he’d be doing:
Limiting fracking as much as he possibly could
Blocking oil and gas pipelines
Opening negotiations for major nuclear arms reductions
Cutting U.S. military spending
Trying to tamp down tensions with Russia’s ally Iran

...In other words, if President Trump really is a Putin pawn, his foreign policy will start looking much more like Barack Obama’s. Will the New York Times and the Washington Post really have the brass to call Trump a traitor for pursuing a mix of policies which came right out of Obama’s playbook?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/15/2018 08:12 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Published almost 18 months ago, but still applicable.
Posted by: Bobby || 07/15/2018 15:44 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Palestinian killed in mysterious Gaza blast identified as head of rocket unit
[IsraelTimes] Ahmad Husan, killed along with son in so-called 'work accident,' headed missile division for al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigades offshoot, according to Palestinian report

The head of the al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigades missile unit was killed in a mysterious blast that rocked central Gaza on Sunday morning, Palestinian media reported.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry reported two Gazans were killed in an explosion in Gaza City. They were named in media reports as Ahmad Husan and his 13-year-old son Louay Husan.

Ahmad Husan was the head of the missile unit of the Ayman Jawda Group of the al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigades, according to the Ma'an news website.

The blast came after a day that saw Hamas-led terrorists in Gaza launch some 200 projectiles into Israel, drawing massive retaliatory airstrikes in one of the heaviest days of cross-border fighting since 2014.

Details on the Sunday explosion were not immediately released, though some Palestinian media reports indicated the blast was caused by a "work accident."

The term is often used as a euphemism for an explosion during weapons manufacturing.

During the Second Intifada, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades were a coalition of armed groups linked to Fatah that planned and carried out attacks against Israeli military personnel and civilians.

In recent years, the Brigades have largely been inactive, but some groups that claim affiliation to them have continued to operate in Gaza, including Husan's Ayman Jawda Group.

Talal Okal, an analyst in the Gaza Strip, said in a phone call that the group does operate under the Ramallah-based Fatah leadership's command.

It is not known if the organization was responsible for any of the rockets fired on Saturday.

A ceasefire reached Saturday night appeared to hold into Sunday morning, with Israel giving southern residents the all clear to return to their normal routines.

The weekend violence saw four Israelis lightly to moderately wounded when a rocket hit a home in Sderot.

Israel responded by carrying out its largest bombing campaign against Hamas targets in the Strip since the 2014 Gaza war, hitting dozens of targets, including two border-crossing attack tunnels and an urban combat training facility, according to the army.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said two Palestinian teenagers were killed in the Saturday IDF strike on a multistory building sitting over a Hamas tunnel.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/15/2018 06:37 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Fatah

#1  Head? Or Tail? Maybe a torso?
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 07/15/2018 7:30 Comments || Top||

#2  "I said the RED wire, Ahmad, the RED wire!"
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 07/15/2018 8:34 Comments || Top||

#3  Palestinian killed in mysterious Gaza blast identified as detached head of rocket unit
Posted by: Frank G || 07/15/2018 8:39 Comments || Top||

#4  C'mon, Ahmad, it's not rocket science.
Posted by: Tyranysaurus Ulaise3834 || 07/15/2018 9:14 Comments || Top||

#5  Louay Husan

So is that pronounced "Louie" or "Louie?"

Also, "Is that a rocket scientist in your pocket or are you just happy to see us?"
Posted by: Groluck Tojo1394 || 07/15/2018 21:19 Comments || Top||

#6  "Is that a rocket scientist in your pocket or are you just happy to see us?"

We're so happy we're head-over-heels.
Posted by: gorb || 07/15/2018 23:50 Comments || Top||


Britain
Trump Says Mayor Of London Has Done A Terrible Job About Terrorism
h/t Instapundit
[VictoryGirlsBlog] President Trump held an interview with UK’s The Sun while in Belgium for the NATO summit. While many are going to focus on the ZOMG! He said Prime Minister May handled BREXIT all wrong!, he also had some very pointed words regarding London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan.

"I look at cities in Europe, and I can be specific if you’d like. You have a mayor who has done a terrible job in London. He has done a terrible job.

"Take a look at the terrorism that is taking place. Look at what is going on in London. I think he has done a very bad job on terrorism.

"I think he has done a bad job on crime, if you look, all of the horrible things going on there, with all of the crime that is being brought in."

London was hit by four terror attacks last year ‐ including in Westminster, London Bridge, Parsons Green Tube station and Finsbury Park’s mosque.

Yes, London has been hit with some major terror attacks in the last year. We’ve documented them all. Yet what has the Mayor done in his city to combat terrorism? Posters, slogans and knife bans.

Mayor Khan’s solution:

"No excuses: there is never a reason to carry a knife," Khan tweeted. "Anyone who does will be caught, and they will feel the full force of the law."

Believe you me, many looked at that knife ban and said WUT? President Trump wasn’t having it.

Mr Trump also clashed with Mr Khan after last June’s van and knife rampage on London Bridge and Borough Market ‐ mocking the mayor for his appeal to Londoners to stay calm.

The President tweeted: "At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is ’no reason to be alarmed!’"

You see, there isn’t any reason to be alarmed and no reason to carry a knife to defend yourself! Are you sure?

At least 51 people have been fatally stabbed in London since the beginning of the year.

So far in 2018 there have been 1,296 stabbings in London up to the end of April, according to official statistics from the Met Police.

A glut of cocaine flooding the country has been partly blamed for the country’s violent crime.

In February more than 250 knives and swords were seized across London in just one week and 283 people, many of them teenagers, were arrested for carrying them.

By June, stabbings were reported on a nearly daily basis.

I’d say that the knife ban isn’t working very well. So again, is President Trump wrong about how the Mayor of London has handled and responded to major incidents of terrorism in his city? I don’t think he is.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/15/2018 05:45 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Move along! Move along! Nothing to see here!
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 07/15/2018 11:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Change the name from London to Chicago and it still pretty much rings true.
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/15/2018 12:27 Comments || Top||

#3  Er Khan has known connections to iSlamic terrorists which he lied about
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 07/15/2018 16:30 Comments || Top||

#4  Oh? Please tell us more, Bright Pebbles. That sounds like something I ought to already know.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/15/2018 16:32 Comments || Top||

#5  London's Khan and New York City's DeBlasio...two real winners there.
Posted by: DooDahMan || 07/15/2018 16:33 Comments || Top||

#6  Not if Khan thinks his job is to facilitate terrorism.
Posted by: charger || 07/15/2018 17:51 Comments || Top||

#7  As Trump might say (about the mayor): "There's a beauty."
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/15/2018 18:58 Comments || Top||

#8  Exposed: Sadiq Khan's family links to extremist organisation
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 07/15/2018 19:11 Comments || Top||

#9  Sadiq Khan shared platform with five Islamic extremists
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 07/15/2018 19:11 Comments || Top||



Home Front: Culture Wars
Feminist Apparel Staff Learns Who Is The Boss
h/t Instapundit
If you go to work for a company called Feminist Apparel, you expect there to be a certain political slant. It's a fair assumption, to be sure. I mean, it's the name of the brand. That's about as clear as you can get.

However, it seems the company's founder and CEO, Alan Martofel, has a bit of a colorful history. It seems he wasn't always the good feminist ally he likes to portray himself as today.

Shocking, right?

Well, in fairness, Martofel apparently had a male feminist version of what we down here in the South call a "come to Jesus moment." As a result, he decided to change his behavior and start his company. At least, that's the claim.

However, Refinery 29 claims that a June 21st post on Facebook accused Martofel of rape and tagged the company. As a result of that, the Feminist Apparel staff did some digging and found a post where Martofel discusses his change of heart. This apparently went against what he told people of the company's origins.

Again, shocking, right? I mean, a male feminist actually being every horrible male stereotype out there? I mean, that, like, never happens.

The staff decided to demand Martofel resign from his own company. Instead, the plan backfired and Martofel fired the mutinous staff, leaving only himself and a consultant.

...It seems like a group of feminists just got a very abrupt lesson in how the workplace really works. Now the question is, will they retain the information or just bask in the narcissism and believe they handled everything right and are just victims in this?

I think we all know the answer.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/15/2018 05:41 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...TRANSLATION: The rules you were taught were not necessarily the ones everyone else follows. Thanks for playing.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 07/15/2018 8:28 Comments || Top||

#2  isn't this like the plot of the 1967 "In Like Flint"
Posted by: lord garth || 07/15/2018 9:01 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
The FBI's Lack Of Curiosity About A Foreign Power Getting 30K Hillary Clinton Emails Is Astounding
[Red State] Earlier in the week, former FBI deputy assistant director for counterintelligence and known adulterer Peter Strzok testified before a joint hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the House Judiciary Committee.

Skipping to the BLUF:

The thing that has always struck me about the whole Hillary Clinton email fiasco is the studious lack of curiosity by the US government over how TS/SCI documents were removed from a SCIF and transmitted via garden variety email and stored on a server that had no cyber or physical security. No curiosity was expressed about a document that appeared to have been produced via signals intelligence sources being sent by the half-assed "intelligence" group headed by Sid Blumenthal and the fortunately deceased Tyler Drumheller to Clinton (see here | here). The lack of curiosity extended so far as to give immunity from prosecution to the guy managing it. McCabe was totally incurious about what was on Huma Abedin’s laptop inasmuch as it included Clinton’s emails. And when told by the ICIG that Hillary Clinton’s emails had been auto-forwarded to a foreign power...no interest whatsoever.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2018 01:14 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The thing that has always struck me about the whole Hillary Clinton email fiasco is the studious lack of curiosity by the US government over how TS/SCI documents were removed from a SCIF and transmitted via garden variety email and stored on a server that had no cyber or physical security.

"Astounding" to some possibly. How can an effective disinformation or 'leaks' campaign be run if the target audience is unable to access the data ?

She had a JOB to do! How else could she operate a 'homebrew' system and continue to conduct gov't business? She had to read or be briefed on the daily classified traffic.

The hacking surrender of 30K Clinton Emails (and who knows what else, attachments, etc.) was a well planned and coordinated event. The recipients got something, the gov't or DNC (or both) got something. Nothing is free. Everybody got something. Who knows, perhaps a Russian hacking scandal could one day assist in the invalidation of a national election.

One could call it the "Yellowstone Paradox." Hungry bears don't generally approach the roads for purposes of navigation.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2018 1:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Plots within plots? More like plausible deniability when faced with demands for official records search of communications. Think modus operandi of the perps rather than rationalize some elaborate plot of intrigue.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/15/2018 8:04 Comments || Top||

#3  @2 Wow, enjoyed your turn of phrase.
Posted by: Dale || 07/15/2018 8:24 Comments || Top||

#4  At some point the hierarchy of the FBI went from a crime clean-up org. to a crime cover-up agency much to the detriment of the American people.
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/15/2018 10:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Hitlery was secretly involved in a false flag op to disseminate fake (ink, wink) e-mails full of false (wink, wink) information to the gullible Russkies. Now, let zir get on with zir crusade against those drooling, mouth breathers that infest the between states.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 07/15/2018 11:10 Comments || Top||

#6  Ref #2 Plots within Plots ...More like plausible deniability when faced with demands for official records search of communications.

Reluctance or refusal in reference to 'demans for official records search of coms. Alright, I'll buy that, but 'refusal' for what reasons ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2018 11:35 Comments || Top||

#7  but 'refusal' for what reasons?

Hubris
Didn't want to expose sensitive channels and assets?
Didn't know how to find them?
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/15/2018 14:46 Comments || Top||

#8  My dad's cousin had this happen under Carter. (I assume his whole life is redacted. He told me his wildest stories when he was dying of cancer)
Under Carter his GS rating was too high to fire so they made him the acting DEA drug czar. Something he wanted nothing to do with
First day on the job it took two hours of security to get to his office. 15 mins later the mob walked in and demanded he leave their shipments alone or his family would be killed.
He was like fine... I am a cold warrior not a drug warrior I will leave you alone.
6 months later he was back in State.
Posted by: 3dc || 07/15/2018 17:30 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
One-Fifth of NC Students Aren't Attending Traditional Gummit Public Schools
[Daily Caller] Almost 20 percent of K-12 students in North Carolina are not attending traditional public schools.

Enrollment in the state’s traditional public schools has fallen during the past few years as more and more students attend private, charter or home schools, The News & Observer reported Friday. North Carolina’s proportion of students enrolled in traditional public schools now sits at 80.8 percent.

"Families are more attuned to and used to having choices at their fingertips, and that is entering education as well," Parents For Educational Freedom Interim President Brian Jodice said. "We’re no longer in this mindset that because I live at this address or this ZIP code I have to attend this particular school that works for many students but doesn’t have to be the only choice."

The National Center for Education Statistics anticipated that out of the 3.6 million students expected to graduate from high school in 2018, 3.3 million graduates would receive their degrees from public high schools. This proportion is over 10 percent higher than the aforementioned North Carolina rate.

Not everyone is pleased with the trend. (RELATED: School Choice Could’ve Spelled The End For Teacher Who Called Soldiers ’Dumbsh*ts’ Much Sooner)

"North Carolina has already embraced the privatization, the [American Legislative Exchange Council] agenda of dismantling public schools in favor of their donors who’d rather try to monetize what should be a public good," N.C. Justice Center’s Education and Law Project education finance and policy consultant Kris Nordstrom said, according to the North Carolina newspaper.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2018 00:49 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm gobsmacked! I can't possibly think of a reason for this strange trend taking place in North Carolina.......South Carolina, Georgia, TN, VA, AL, KY, TX, LA, FL, MS, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Indiana, North Dakota, South Dakota etc.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2018 0:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Home base, and the John Locke Foundation

So much going for US!
Posted by: newc || 07/15/2018 1:25 Comments || Top||

#3  Head Locke Episode 013: Is higher education a waste of time and money? - John Locke Foundation
Posted by: newc || 07/15/2018 1:33 Comments || Top||

#4  As was pointed by the late Jerry Pournelle decades ago - K-12 system is not for students, it's for teachers (were else would all these semi illiterate women with IQ of 80 get white collar jobs?)
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/15/2018 2:14 Comments || Top||

#5  There is always the Post Office.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2018 2:16 Comments || Top||

#6  A School Funding Red Herring
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/15/2018 2:55 Comments || Top||

#7  ...at least the Post Office is a constitutionally base requirement, Art 1, Section 8.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/15/2018 8:12 Comments || Top||

#8  all extortion funded systems become run for the convenience of the staff not the nominal customers.

Just look at the disastrous NHS here in the UK.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 07/15/2018 16:28 Comments || Top||

#9  ...This backs up something I've pointed out here before - NC is a LOT redder than the media would have you believe. The potty-rights morons in Charlotte and the utterly insane liberals at Duke University (plus the somewhat less so types at UNC Chapel Hill) tend to skew perception of the state leftward, when it ain't.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 07/15/2018 16:43 Comments || Top||

#10  #1--At least 20% of the parents don't want their kids to get shot while attending school, want their kids to get an education rather than get indoctrinated and want them to learn good values?
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/15/2018 23:28 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Pirro: Peter Strzok ‘the Personification of the Deep State Itself ‐ Where Fascism Rules'
[Breitbart] During her Saturday opening statement for Fox News Channel’s "Justice," Jeanine Pirro castigated "pompous, arrogant, indignant, sarcastic, smug, condescending, defiant and unapologetic" FBI agent Peter Strzok for his behavior at this week’s congressional hearing.

Pirro said Strzok was both the "personification of the righteous left" and the "personification of the deep state."

"Strzok seems to share cardinal Comey’s affectation about being a selfless servant of the people, even though he seems to simultaneously hold us all in contempt," stated Pirro. "Strzok is also the personification of the deep state itself, where fascism rules, where people in power don’t care about what you think, but instead decide they know better ‐ they know what’s right and they implement it.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2018 00:46 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How many other Peter Strzoks are there in our government?
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/15/2018 1:06 Comments || Top||

#2  How many other Peter Strzoks are there in our government?

I can't see the end of the line John.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2018 1:09 Comments || Top||

#3  How many other Peter Strzoks are there in our government?

Well, lets see.
(a) You don't get a Gov white collar job without a college degree.
(b) You can't get a college degree unless you're an enthusiastic and outspoken leftist.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/15/2018 1:24 Comments || Top||

#4  ...well, at least from the Left approved colleges. Hillsdale probably is not on that list.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/15/2018 11:48 Comments || Top||

#5  Weird... I know plenty of people with degrees who aren't strident lefties. Just because they're loud doesn't mean they're the only ones around.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 07/15/2018 13:49 Comments || Top||

#6  #3 B - My son puts the lie to that
Posted by: Frank G || 07/15/2018 15:20 Comments || Top||

#7  A degree in what, and where does he works?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/15/2018 15:27 Comments || Top||

#8  Criminal Justice after he did 5 years in the US Army. Just graduated and looking for work
Posted by: Frank G || 07/15/2018 16:11 Comments || Top||

#9  And, what do you think his chances of getting a civil service job, say DOJ?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/15/2018 16:23 Comments || Top||

#10  I'd think he'd have a good shot, especially with CBP given our home location
Posted by: Frank G || 07/15/2018 16:29 Comments || Top||

#11  From your mouth to the ear of G*d.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/15/2018 17:10 Comments || Top||


Harvey Weinstein Admits Offering Movie Roles for Sex
[Breitbart] Disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein opened up to Greek journalist Panagiotis "Taki" Theodoracopulos in a "world exclusive," detailing how offering sex for movies is and always been common in Hollywood.

"You were born rich and privileged and you were handsome," Weinstein was quoted saying to Theodoracopulos, who said the embattled producer’s attorney, Ben Brafman, was also present during the interview. " I was born poor, ugly, Jewish and had to fight all my life to get somewhere. You got lotsa girls, no girl looked at me until I made it big in Hollywood."

"Yes, I did offer them acting jobs in exchange for sex, but so did and still does everyone," Harvey Weinstein said, adding, "But I never, ever forced myself on a single woman."

The interview was published just days after the former Weinstein & Co. boss pleaded not guilty to multiple charges of sexual assault.

"Mr. Weinstein maintains that all of these allegations are false and he expects to be fully vindicated," Brafman said in a statement last week.

His sit down with Taki was, however, the first on-the-record interview since the New York Times published its bombshell report last October detailing decades of allegations of sexual abuse, harassment, and rape against Weinstein.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2018 00:34 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That partly explains why we get all the crappy, vapid movies that are not entertaining and have little substance.
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/15/2018 0:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Let's hope the sex was better than the movies.

But I gotta ask, is this a surprise to anyone who didn't just fall off the turnip truck? The casting couch has been a Hollywood meme for as long as there has been Hollywood.
Posted by: SteveS || 07/15/2018 1:01 Comments || Top||

#3  So basically what Harvey is saying is that he was a ..... John ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2018 1:06 Comments || Top||

#4  #3 So basically what Harvey is saying is that he was a ..... John ?
Posted by: Besoeker 2018-07-15 01:06


I think what Harvey is saying is that he might well name every last one of those ladies who traded favors for parts, knowing full well what they were getting into. #MeToo is going to turn into #TheyHelped.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 07/15/2018 11:25 Comments || Top||

#5  It's the old .... we know what you are, we're just negotiating the price.

He's a john and they are 'working girls'.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/15/2018 11:39 Comments || Top||

#6  Saying casting coach is real when everyone knows it is. I think Mike K is right.
Posted by: Rjschwarz || 07/15/2018 15:20 Comments || Top||

#7  If you see them on screen they got there via working on their backs (or all fours for the men, yes hollywood is very "tolerant").
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 07/15/2018 16:37 Comments || Top||


5 Key Takeaways From The House Hearing With FBI Counterintelligence No. 2 Peter Strzok
[The Federalist] An embattled FBI official who led investigations into both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump testified in a cantankerous open hearing on the Hill yesterday. Peter Strzok, formerly the second in command of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division, lost his position after texts he exchanged on government systems with his also-married lover and colleague Lisa Page revealed extreme bias against President Trump and his voters.

Yesterday’s joint hearing in front of the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees was the first public hearing Congress held with the official who launched the Russia probe two years ago. Here are a few key takeaways from that hearing.

1. This Is What DOJ Obstruction Looks Like
The country is two years into the FBI’s probe of whether Donald Trump colluded with Russia to steal an election. Not a single charge has been brought by the FBI or by the Office of Special Counsel alleging collusion or treason or anything close to the charges that supposedly necessitated this investigation.

Congress began asking some questions of the FBI and Department of Justice about how it was conducting the investigation. Through the oversight process, Americans learned that the infamous "dossier" that laid out a case of collusion was secretly bought and paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. This dossier was used to secure wiretaps against Trump associates (other surveillance methods, including human informants, were also used).

The dossier was fed to both the FBI and State Department. Top intelligence officials were leaking about the Russia investigation to CNN and other media outlets. A top DOJ official’s wife worked for the firm that Hillary Clinton hired to run the "Russia" operation. That firm fed their opposition research to the FBI through him.

The Senate Judiciary and House Intelligence Committees, along with the Senate Homeland Security committee, House Oversight, and House Government Reform committees, have worked hard to uncover these details and in the face of unprecedented obstruction. Requests for documents are met with stonewalling, delays, redactions, leak campaigns, and outright refusals. Threats of subpoenas are routinely made to force even minor compliance.

Despite the length of yesterday’s hearing, congressional overseers were able to elicit almost no substantive answers to the questions they asked. Strzok claimed he was not answering questions because the Department of Justice told him not to answer questions. No matter the question, Strzok refused to answer any question about his role in the Russia probe, with almost no exceptions.

The hearing was a public revelation of the stonewalling and obstruction the DOJ has enforced against congressional oversight.

2. Strzok Somehow Came Off Even Worse Than He Did In His Texts
Despite his significant role in the Russia and Clinton investigations, the only picture Americans had formed of Strzok was based on his text messages. He spoke of his loathing of President Trump, Trump’s voters, and congressional oversight. He talked of stopping Trump’s election, of insurance policies to deal with his candidacy, and fantasies of impeachment.

The texts were between him and his also married colleague, another top-ranking official in the Department of Justice. The hearing demonstrated the texts were at best an accurate reflection of the man who wrote them. If anything, the texts were understated.

Strzok chose to present himself to the world as a smug, arrogant, and peevish man. He was defensive and condescending. His answers were almost mind-blowingly implausible. It wasn’t just that he lacked good judgment or even-handedness. It’s that he didn’t seem to have a grip on reality. He kept saying he wasn’t biased, when his bias is indisputable.

He told investigators that he would like to answer a question but that his attorneys weren’t letting him. If they later told him he could answer, he’d say he didn’t remember. He implausibly said that his affair didn’t put him at risk of compromise, in contrast to his agency’s policy.

3. Democrats Run Interference
Almost immediately, Democrats on the House and Government Reform Committee attempted to shut down the hearing. When that failed, they resorted to near-constant parliamentary inquiries and objections. At one point they actually cheered and applauded Strzok, despite his ethical failings and poor judgment, which have threatened the entire Russia investigation. The man is under internal investigation for his behavior. Yet one Democrat said he’d like to offer Strzok a Purple Heart, a military decoration awarded to those wounded or killed while serving in the U.S. military.

As silly as this behavior may seem, it indicated how Democrats hope to handle all oversight of the FBI and DOJ’s handling of the Russia probe. The message went out that every hearing will be a clown-show, even by the typical grandstanding attendant to congressional hearings. Democrats on oversight committees have fought transparency of the Russia investigation, portraying it as obstruction of a legitimate probe. All signs indicate that opposition to oversight will continue.

4. DOJ Clearly Hiding Its Relationship With Democratic-Funded Smear Group

The FBI and DOJ frequently instructed Strzok not to answer substantive questions from Republicans. One line of inquiry pursued by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, was regarding communication between the FBI and Fusion GPS, the group that concocted the "Russia" dossier and messaging plan on behalf of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee. Strzok generally declined to answer questions.

But Strzok did admit that Bruce Ohr, husband of Fusion GPS operative Nellie Ohr, funneled documents to the FBI related to the Russia case. He refused to say what those documents were. Yesterday, Sen. Chuck Grassley asked DOJ to declassify the dozen reports summarizing Ohr’s 12 information-sharing meetings with the FBI.

The FBI used Fusion GPS-hired Christopher Steele until the end of October, when he was terminated for lying about his leaks to the media. But Fusion and Steele were able to continue funnelling information to the FBI using colleague Nellie Ohr and her husband Bruce Ohr, a top DOJ official who worked closely with acting Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

When the Russia story first broke, Americans didn’t realize that the dossier was a secret Clinton/DNC operation, or that the unverified opposition research was sent to various Obama officials in multiple agencies. Americans didn’t know that a top DOJ official was married to an employee of the group that created the dossier, or that he was used to get information into the government.

5. The Mystery Of Why The Investigation Started
Strzok said he didn’t see the dossier until mid-September.
His electronic communication that started the probe didn’t include official intelligence. Given the politically explosive nature of the investigation, the FBI and DOJ have failed to explain what they were thinking in starting a probe of the Trump campaign.

The entire investigation has major problems from start to finish, whether it’s the use of a dossier that Steele created and Bruce Ohr sent to the FBI, or the fact that Strzok ended up having to be removed from the investigation for his obvious and extreme bias. Strzok said Mueller never asked him about his texts, and didn’t seek to find out more from him about what his "insurance policy" or "impeachment" rhetoric meant.

Again, the hearing was less than substantive because of the ongoing obstruction and stonewalling campaign engaged in by DOJ. That was itself instructive.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2018 00:26 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Strzok as much as said: Sir, I'd love to be able to answer that question but the FBI won't allow me to do that so all you Pub Congressmen and your Wal Mart supporters can go fuck yourselves.
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/15/2018 0:59 Comments || Top||

#2  It's not illegal if you get away with it.
Posted by: SteveS || 07/15/2018 1:14 Comments || Top||

#3  Treason doth never prosper, what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it Treason. --Sir John Harrington (1561–1612)
Oliver "Ollie" North always annoyed me, but this slimeball only fills me with disgust.
Posted by: magpie || 07/15/2018 9:21 Comments || Top||

#4  Mollie Hemingway (the author) is smart, beautiful. A good combination
Posted by: Frank G || 07/15/2018 9:24 Comments || Top||

#5 
Posted by: Jack Chaiter7913 || 07/15/2018 13:05 Comments || Top||


We Cannot Allow Strzokians Back into Power
[American Thinker] Peter Strzok's arrogance displayed at the Congressional Oversight Committee hearing on TV was infuriating. With their superior noses high in the air, Strzok and the Democrats behaviorally said f*** you to the Republicans, the law, and We the People. It was disgraceful watching Strzok and his Democratic posse insult our intelligence by claiming, despite overwhelming evidence, FBI agent Strzok had no bias against Trump.

Strzok and the Democrats' insistence that Strzok had no bias against Trump reminded me of a comedy skit with the late Don Adams. In the skit, Adams' wife came home, catching him in bed with a woman. Adams' wife ranted expressing her shock and outrage. Adams and his lover calmly got out of bed, got dressed and made the bed. The woman left. Adams behaved like nothing happened and left the bedroom. The skit ends with his wife standing there, questioning her sanity ‐ pondering whether or not she saw what she thinks she saw. Strzok and the Democrats are attempting to pull the same trick on America. They are telling us Strzok expressed no bias against Trump while clear evidence of Strzok's bias is right before our eyes.

The thing that got my blood boiling was Strzok's snooty attitude. His facial expressions and body language said, "How dare you question me. I don't have to answer any of your questions. F*** you Republicans and fly-over-country Trump-supportive Americans." Strzok and his fellow FBI agent Lisa Page impugned Trump supporters as smelly hillbilly Walmart shoppers. Strzok epitomizes the American left's disdain for everyday Americans -- We the People.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2018 00:18 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Maybe Strzok and Page will work at Wal Mart after this over if not in jail. They might find they like it.
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/15/2018 0:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Oh Yas , the Trump Campaign could leave Ronshite in place then run the gif of him smirking as a campaign add in late October of 2018. Ought to be good for 5% increase in the vote.
Posted by: Bugs Thud4877 || 07/15/2018 1:14 Comments || Top||

#3  I have a sense Page is going to roll over, not in a good way.
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/15/2018 14:47 Comments || Top||

#4  Priestap may also be cooperating.
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/15/2018 17:15 Comments || Top||

#5  I was wondering that earlier today. 'Where is whassisface?' But I couldn't think of his name.

Priestap! Has he been summoned? Subpoenaed? Resigned? Written a book? Been demoted? Or maybe he's "disappeared"?
Posted by: Bobby || 07/15/2018 17:31 Comments || Top||

#6  "Back into"?

When were they ever out of power?

Certainly not now.
Posted by: charger || 07/15/2018 17:45 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Dem Rep Lieu: Russia Indictments ‘Intentionally Done Today,' As ‘Poke in the Eye' to Trump
[Breitbart] On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s "All In," Representative Ted Lieu (D-CA) stated he believes the announcement of the indictment of 12 Russian officers for election hacking was "intentionally done today" as a "poke in the eye" to the president, and the DOJ is "telling the American people and the whole world that Vladimir Putin is not our friend and that Russia is our adversary."

Lieu said, "I want to talk about the timing of this announcement. There is no reason Rod Rosenstein had to do this today. He could have waited two weeks. I think what really was happening is the United States Department of Justice telling the American people and the whole world that Vladimir Putin is not our friend and that Russia is our adversary. This was a complete poke in the eye to the president of the United States, and I think it was intentionally done today, and I think it’s the entire Justice Department trying to send a message, not just to the president, but to the American people."
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2018 00:13 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  and he's all for it.
Posted by: AlanC || 07/15/2018 9:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Democrats don't give a rat's ass about Putin. Trump is the one they fear.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 07/15/2018 11:06 Comments || Top||

#3  After this stunt by Rosenstein, I predict Pres. Trump fires about half of the DOJ management after the midterms.
This announcement of indictments was an amateur attempt to influence foreign policy. None of those indicted will be seen in court. All politics by DOJ and Mueller. It’s proof the Mueller investigation is politically driven.
Posted by: jvalentour || 07/15/2018 11:33 Comments || Top||

#4  They indicted 12 guys from the GRU (Russian military intel) for hacking Hillary's emails? Dude, that's their freaking job! One might as well indict Putin for being President of Russia.

The Russians are famously great chess players, but Putin also has some judo background which suggests an interesting amusement: since the "success" of this indictment depends on the alleged perps *not* showiing up in court, Vlad could pick one of the junior guys as a sacrificial lamb and send him off to America for his day in court. Discovery would be big fun and watching the prosecution once again stall, waffle and backtrack would be off-the-scale hilarious.
Posted by: SteveS || 07/15/2018 12:02 Comments || Top||

#5  ...So Rep. Lieu acknowledges and admits that the DOJ has gone rogue? That they no longer feel bound to follow Administration policy?

Betting that if we were talking about Obama, he'd be screaming for somebody's head.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 07/15/2018 12:03 Comments || Top||

#6  Remember when the Democrats, and Obama's State Department, were sending/assisting people in Moscow? "Pro Labor" Russian Groups? Groups that coincidentally, Oh! merest coincidence!, all seemed to be anti-Putin during his last election. But that is different ... because Putin!
I am sure Putin was not amused.
Posted by: magpie || 07/15/2018 14:14 Comments || Top||

#7  #5 ...So Rep. Lieu acknowledges and admits that the DOJ has gone rogue?
The Romans had a quaint custom for situations like this.Do you remember the closing scenes of Spartacus(1960) and the Roman knack for, shall we say, landscaping works?
Posted by: magpie || 07/15/2018 14:20 Comments || Top||

#8  Discovery would be big fun

Yep, when the prosecution claims National Security (aka the dog ate my homework) precludes sharing critical info in the trial process.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/15/2018 15:17 Comments || Top||

#9  NSA has already got the dog to eat the homework (purging servers of data on US citizens) I wonder if they just sent it to other 5eyes members though.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 07/15/2018 16:40 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Rebel forces begin surrendering their weapons to Syrian Army in northwest Daraa
[ALMASDARNEWS] The rebel forces in two Daraa Governorate towns have begun surrendering their weapons to the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in the northwestern part of the province.

According to a military report from Daraa, the Free Syrian Army
... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund...
(FSA) has begun handing over their heavy and medium weapons to the Syrian Arab Army in the towns of Inkhil and Jassim.

As part of the reconciliation process, the rebel forces must handover their heavy and medium weapons before they can be granted amnesty by the government.

Once these large and medium weapons are fully surrendered, the Syrian government will begin transporting the rebels that are unwilling to reconcile to the northern provincesof Syria.

Most Free Syrian Army rebels have agreed to reconcile in Inkhil, so only the hard-line fighters are likely to be transported to northern Syria.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Africa Horn
Shabaab claims twin car blasts near Somali presidency
[AlAhram] Three Shabaab button men were rubbed out Saturday after exchanging fire with security forces outside the presidential palace in Mogadishu in an attack in which two boom-mobiles were also detonated, an official said.

Abdulahi Ahmed, a security official said one vehicle loaded with explosives rammed into a security barrier, while another detonated near a separate checkpoint close to the main entrance of the presidential palace.

Gunmen then tried to force their way through the checkpoint.

"Three button men were killed and the two vehicles were detonated, there are no details yet," said Ahmed, adding that several civilians were maimed.

The al-Qaeda linked Shabaab group grabbed credit for the attack in a statement.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Songs of victory by the so-called ‘Resistance’ atop Syrian corpses
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The most important victory claimed by the "Axis of Resistance" in Syria is keeping Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Horror of Homs...
as head of the regime as well as the victory against what they call "terrorism," in reference to those who rebelled against the Assad regime and those who defected from the army. This is in addition to groups that the United Nations
...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships...
classifies as terrorist organizations.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  mostly barely comprehensible polemic

but there have been at least 5000 deaths of Palestinians counting both civilians and combatants and at least 2000 fatalities among the Hezbollah combatants and at least 2000 Iranian combatants counting both militia and IRG
Posted by: lord garth || 07/15/2018 8:21 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Ghazni province: Talib big turban toes up, ISIS big turban tied up


Dreaded Taliban commander killed in Ghazni province

[KhaamaPress] A prominent and dreaded commander of the Taliban group identified as Nawab Ahmad Haqqani has been killed in southeastern Ghazni province of Afghanistan. The provincial security commandment in a statement said Nawab Ahmad Haqqani was one of the prominent commanders of the Taliban group who was actively involved in major terrorist related activities in Ghazni city. The statement further added that Haqqani was killed during a clash with the security forces late on Thursday night.

According to Ghazni's security commandment, several comrades of Haqqani were also killed during the clash that took place Qalai Qazi area of Ghazni city.

Nawab Ahmad Haqqani was conducting attacks against the government and security forces as well as ordinary people. The statement by the provincial security commandment also added that Nawab Ahmad Haqqani had assassinated a commander of the Afghan Special Forces in Ghazni city few days earlier.

The local security officials are optimistic that the elimination of Nawab Ahmad Haqqani would have a positive impact on the security of the province.

Nawab Ahmad Haqqani was the brother of another senior Taliban commander identified as Abu Bakar, the provincial security commandment said, adding that the security forces did not suffer any casualties during the clash that resulted into the killing of the dreaded Taliban commander.

Afghan forces arrest ISIS recruitment leader in Ghazni province

[KhaamaPress] The Afghan security forces have arrested the recruitment leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group in eastern Ghazni province of Afghanistan.

Provincial Security Chief Farid Ahmad Mashal told reporters that the ISIS recruitment leader Mullah Edris, also famous as Abuzar, was arrested by the security forces on Friday. He said the detained militant has confessed that he was actively recruiting for the terror group from Ghazni and other provinces of the country.

The anti-government armed militant groups including ISIS loyalists have not commented regarding the report so far.

In the meantime, Mashal said the counter-terrorism operations are underway against the anti-government armed militant groups in various restive districts of Ghazni province. He said at least 49 militants were killed and at least 21 others sustained injuries during the ground operations and airstrikes in the past 48 hours.

According to Mashal, a senior commander of the Taliban group identified as Nawab Ahmad Haqqani was among those killed while another senior Taliban leader identified as Mullah Hamza has sustained injuries.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Haqqani Network


Caribbean-Latin America
At least one dead as more violence rings out in Nicaragua after nation-wide strike
[PRESSTV] Catholic bishops on Saturday, July 14, secured the release of dozens of Nicaraguan student protesters trapped overnight inside in a church under a hail of gunfire from armed pro-government supporters, who killed at least one person inside, a human rights
...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions...
group said.

The students took refuge inside the Divine Mercy Catholic Church on Friday after button men loyal to President Daniel Ortega began shooting at them at the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (UNAN) in Managua, prompting fresh criticism of the violent crackdown against opposition to his rule.

Paulo Abrao of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said on Twitter that at least one youth had died in the church and three people were maimed. The mother of a woman who spent the night in the church told Rooters that one student had died.

Nearly three months of festivities between pro-Ortega forces and demonstrators calling for his ouster have claimed almost 300 lives, in the bloodiest protests in Nicaragua since the country's civil war ended in 1990

The mother who reported a death said the students spent the night crouched on the church floor fearing for their lives as the button men fired shots that ricocheted inside the church.

A delegation of Nicaragua's Catholic bishops negotiated the transfer of the students to Managua's metropolitan cathedral, where they were receiving medical care. The government could not immediately be reached for comment.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies


China-Japan-Koreas
South Korea summons Russian officials over airspace violation
[PRESSTV] South Korea has summoned Russian embassy officials over violation of its air defense territory and expressed regrets about the incursion.

South Korea's defense ministry summoned on Saturday Andrey Falileev, Russian military envoy to Seoul, to protest the unauthorized entry of two Russian military aircraft into the Korea Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ) north of the island of Ulleungdo a day earlier.

"Russian military planes' KADIZ entry will not help efforts to stabilize the Korean Peninsula as well as Northeast Asia," the ministry said. "Since there is also a possibility of mid-air collision, we request Russia to recognize the seriousness of this issue and look for measures to prevent such incidents from happening again."

The South Korean foreign ministry also summoned Maxim Volkov, a senior diplomat at the Russian Embassy, and "expressed regrets and urged the incident not to happen again."

Russia’s defense ministry said on Friday that two Russian TU-95 bombers escorted by Su-35 fighter jets flew over the international waters of the Sea of Japan, the Yellow Sea and the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean.

The Russian military said they were escorted by South Korean F-15 and F-16 fighter jets and Japanese F-2A war planes "on some stages of the route."

An official with the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
, said Russian aircraft had flown into the South's air defense territory several times this year but it is the first time that they re-entered four times in a single day.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Russian aircraft had flown into the South's air defense territory several times this year but it is the first time that they re-entered four times in a single day

"Just a simple mistake, Kim"
Posted by: Frank G || 07/15/2018 9:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Countermeasure efficacy probing.
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/15/2018 14:42 Comments || Top||

#3  I'd like to see the countermeasure on the Russian probe being their aircraft blowing up one minute after the crews get out after landing.
Posted by: Bugs Thud4877 || 07/15/2018 23:43 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon and ‘the reconstruction of Syria’
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] There is flagrant Lebanese insolence in terms of relations with Syria and Syrians. There is this sentiment that reaches the extent of suffocation by the large number of Syrian refugees while at the same time, there is a growing desire for "reconstructing Syria" as it offers great investment opportunities. There are calls to dump Syrian refugees beyond borders and at the same time there are demands to establish a "free trade zone" at the borders to help Lebanese businessmen who aspire to go to Damascus for negotiating "reconstruction" contracts.

Self-serving businessmen
In fact, those calling for dumping refugees beyond the border are the same ones who aspire to invest in "Assad’s Syria." The emerging segments of the "businessmen"’ of the corrupt Lebanese system who have taken parts of Lebanese shores, destroyed heritage buildings in Beirut and established companies that benefit from close relations with officials are the same ones who aspire to have a share in the "reconstruction of Syria." In fact, they are also the ones who own or fund the racist media discourse against the refugees.

Many Lebanese banks have started looking for "Syrian partners" to carry out activities for funding "the reconstruction of Syria" projects. Heads of construction companies, hotels and even schools have started visiting Damascus. "Reconstructing Syria would bring Lebanese business out of recession." This statement is repeated by almost every businessman we meet in Beirut! Those who know who are the "the businessmen of the powerful republic" would no doubt remember their moral contradiction represented in the investment ambitions and their racism against Syrian people as reflected via their demands to dump the refugees beyond borders.

It might be unrealistic and illogical to ask the Lebanese to be consistent when talking about Syria and Syrians but flagrantly adopting this contradictory discourse is also provocative. Today, everyone is focused on the "reconstruction of Syria." Lebanese expats are no longer a source of revenue for the economy and tourism, since Hezbollah has taken control of the country, and the economy and tourism’s source of income is now limited to the Lebanese inside the country. Meanwhile,
...back at the the conspirators' cleverly concealed hideout Montefiore's foot was still stuck and the hound had completely soaked his uniform with slobber...
most oil and gas field projects have been deferred.

Crony capitalism
Thus "reconstructing Syria" is the only option left for businesses, but it too comes with conditions such as having ties with authorities both in Leb and Syria, along with what lies in between relations among "trading families" like Makhlouf, Bassil, Gomaa and Arab and what links these families in terms of familial ties. These relations always end up with being linked to the head of power in both countries.

Authority in our countries is based on corruption. Wars end in corruption and elections are just one more thing that reflects the appetite of the corrupt. Settlements are made out of greed as they want a share in the spoils of war. The obnoxious racism which has for long emerged from nationalistic and criminal tendencies is accompanied with a corrupt and elusive mood in our case. Deals follow the crime, and in many cases, deals are what trigger the crime.

We practice racism against refugees and make deals to trade with their rights. We steal the donations sent to them and want to send them back to the war in their country. Then we go to their country even before them to establish a free market zone on the borders. We await their arrival to "reconstruct their country" in the same way we have reconstructed ours.

We are waiting for them with the same aspiration we had while waiting "the return of the displaced" to our country! Do you remember "the return of the displaced" to Leb? Do you remember Wadi al-Zahab (Valley of Gold)? The corrupt returns of this latter project were the basis of a capital on which the revenues gained by those in power accumulated for three decades.

The same people are going to "reconstruct" Syria. New Syrian intelligence officers will be waiting for them there since most of the old team of officers who sponsored the "reconstruction of Leb" has been eliminated.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Arabia
Saudi Arabia intercepts Houthi-launched ballistic missile targeting Najran
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET]
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Britain
Nawaz’s two grandsons released in UK
[DAWN] Ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf, then by the courts...
’s grandsons Junaid Safdar and Zakaria Sharif ‐ who were taken into custody on Thursday night ‐ have been released, as confirmed by the London Metropolitan Police on Friday.

Maryam Nawaz’s son Junaid and Hussain Nawaz’s son Zakaria were detained after a clash with protesters outside Avenfield House.

The protesters had gathered outside the Avenfield residence and a man hurled abuses at Junaid and Zakaria, prompting them to grab the man by the collar and punch him.

"Police were called at approximately 18:45hrs on Thursday over reports of a fight on Park Lane, SW1. Officers attended to the brawl and one person was taken to central London hospital for treatment of minor injuries," the Metropolitan Police said.

"Two men aged 20 and 23 were tossed in the clink
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
on suspicion of assault. They were taken to central London cop shoppe for questioning before being released under investigation," they added.

Earlier this week, a group of youngsters had tried to break into the Avenfield House and hurled abuses at Nawaz Sharif. One protester threw a shopping cart at a member of the Pakistain Moslem League-Nawaz’s UK chapter while another was seen hurling eggs at the apartment door.

Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Iraq
Iraq deploys security forces in Najaf after day of protests
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iraqi security forces have deployed on the streets of the Shiite holy city of Najaf after a day of angry protests against poor public services and high unemployment.

Military vehicles and fire engines deployed along Najaf's streets on Saturday after demonstrators on Friday attacked the ruling Dawa party’s office downtown and stormed the airport, forcing it to shut down.

Earlier in the day, Iraq’s interior ministry has announced a nationwide state of high security alert in response to ongoing protests in the country’s southern provinces over poor government services and corruption.

Iraqi Interior Minister Qasim al-Araji also announced that all arrest warrants against those who violated government departments and institutions have been issued and will be placed in durance vile
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
in the next few hours.

Al Arabiya News Channel’s correspondent reported power outages in the entire province of Najaf late on Saturday and that security forces have declared a curfew.

Earlier in the day, hundreds of Iraqis stormed the airport and halted air traffic in Najaf, extending protests following demonstrations in the southern city of Basra decrying poor government services and corruption.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Arabia
Kuwait reportedly takes precautions as Basra protests brew in neighboring Iraq
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Kuwaiti authorities are reportedly taking precautionary measures despite its defense ministry saying the situation is calm on its northern borders and that it considers ongoing protests in Basra an internal Iraqi affair.

The Safwan border crossing between Iraq and Kuwait was closed on Saturday after public protests erupted in the southern province of Basra.

Observers have warned that the crisis might worsen on its northern borders and that more armed Shiite Death Eater groups allied to Iran might have a presence in the province as concerns extend to Iraq’s other neighboring countries as well.

According to the observers, Iraqi security forces do not seem capable of controlling the Shiite gangs, especially that its leaders have an influence on the security forces, making its decision confined to it to a large extent.

Hundreds of protesters had previously intercepted the road between Basra and Shalamcheh border crossing with Iran on July 12.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Britain
Trump ambassador lobbied UK over jailed Tommy Robinson: report
[Al Jazeera] A diplomat in the United States has reportedly complained to the UK's ambassador in Washington, DC about the jailing of an English far-right activist.

Sam Brownback, the US ambassador for international religious freedom, raised the case of the activist known as Tommy Robinson in a June meeting with Sir Kim Darroch, Britannia's ambassador to the US, Rooters news agency reported on Saturday, citing three unnamed sources, including a UK official.

Robinson is a founder of the English Defense League, a far-right group that has organised violent demonstrations against Moslem immigrants colonists in the UK in the past decade.

More recently, Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, though he also uses other aliases, has styled himself as a journalist and campaigner against the threat of "Islamic extremism".
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  So many lies in this article

Should win an MSM award for lie density.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 07/15/2018 16:26 Comments || Top||

#2  So many lies in this article

Given it’s Al Jazeera, that’s exactly as one would expect.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/15/2018 16:30 Comments || Top||


Iraq
‘Peshmerga forces will return to Kirkuk’ -- Kurdish commander
[ALMASDARNEWS] Kurdish Peshmerga militia units that moved out of Kirkuk following the September 25, 2017 independence referendum in the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq (KRGI) may soon be redeployed to disputed areas in the city, regional sources have told Sputnik.

The referendum increased tensions between the Peshmerga and the central government in Baghdad.

There have also been reports about Kurdish militia commanders being in talks with the US-led coalition and Iraqi government forces to resume their presence in Kirkuk.

The commander of the Peshmerga forces in Iraq, Xelil Shirvan, confirmed the reports in an interview with Sputnik."We have already reached preliminary agreement with the coalition and the Iraqi army for the Peshmerga units to return to Kirkuk and the disputed areas.

Our command insists that Shia militia units move out of Kirkuk. We want Iraqi and KRG flags to be the only ones raised over Kirkuk,
... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time...
" he said.

"We are also proposing to the Iraqi government forces to set up a joint administration in the city. The Peshmerga forces will soon return to Kirkuk," he added.

For his part, the Iraqi army’s joint operations commander, General Yahya Resul, said that "the Iraqi government and military command is fully authorized to conduct joint operations and sign agreements with the Peshmerga forces."
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Afghanistan
Taliban militants accused of raping, murdering female ISIS militants in Jawzjan
[KhaamaPress] The Talibs have been accused of rape and murder of female ISIS murderous Moslems amid ongoing infighting in northern Jawzjan province of Afghanistan.

The 209th Shaheen Corps of the Afghan Military in the North, citing local sources, said in a statement the Talibs tossed in the slammer
You have the right to remain silent...
, raped, and murdered three female ISIS murderous Moslems in Darzab district.

The sources further added that 12 ISIS murderous Moslems were killed and at least 33 others sustained injuries during the latest clash between the two sides in Darzab district.

According to the sources, the female ISIS murderous Moslems were originally hailing from Uzbekistan and Chechnya.
According to the sources, the female ISIS murderous Moslems were originally hailing from Uzbekistan and Chechnya.

At least three Taliban
...Arabic for students...
hard boyz were also killed and at least eight others were maimed during the festivities, the sources added.

The anti-government armed krazed killer groups including Taliban and ISIS murderous Moslems have not commented regarding the report so far.

The security situation in northern Jawzjan province has started to deteriorated during the recent years amid ongoing efforts by the Taliban and ISIS murderous Moslems to expand their foothold in this province. Jawzjan was considered among the relatively calm provinces in the northern parts of the country until the recent years.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Popcorn anyone?
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 07/15/2018 0:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Given that these are Pathans, what about ISIS males - too old?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/15/2018 0:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Orc on Orc action. Is popcorn appropriate? Sounds more like a chitlins thing.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 07/15/2018 7:32 Comments || Top||

#4  Waitaminit! I thought they was BFF's!
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 07/15/2018 11:00 Comments || Top||

#5  I thought they was BFF's!

Competitors, AlmostAnonymous5839. The Taliban own the territory, where they hosted Al Qaeda for a bit
before sending them on to the Pakistan side of the border, but now those foreign ISIS guys are trying to muscle in.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/15/2018 11:35 Comments || Top||

#6  ISIS guys are trying to muscle in.

TO THE MATTRESSES!!!
Posted by: AlanC || 07/15/2018 12:38 Comments || Top||

#7  #6 ISIS guys are trying to muscle in.

TO THE MATTRESSES PRAYER RUGS!!!
Posted by: Frank G || 07/15/2018 13:09 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Myrtle Beach named one of the 'most dangerous' cities in the country
[wsoctv.com] MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - Myrtle Beach is topping three lists of the "Most Dangerous Cities" in the country.

The city has been dealing with an increase in crime since last summer, which includes a shootout along Ocean Boulevard. The video of this shootout went viral in June 2017.

During this incident, seven people were shot and two teens were arrested.

Friday, city officials warned people to "think twice" before they believe Myrtle Beach is among the most dangerous cities.

The list ranks cities by dividing permanent population by the number of crimes.

Officials say with the large tourism population, those number can be skewed.

"Our permanent population is very small, about 30,000 or so," a Myrtle Beach spokesperson Mark Kruea said. "But, when you look around, we feel like a much bigger town because we are. Our average daily population is around 100,000."

City officials said they have contacted each of the list's creators to ask them to consider the factor that Myrtle Beach is a tourist town.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...The Redneck Riviera has some rough spots, especially on Ocean Boulevard - but it's far from 'one of the most dangerous' I am suprised though that the town has let it get as far as it has without cracking down hard.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 07/15/2018 7:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Officials say with the large tourism population, those numbers can be skewed.

Yeah, I'm sure the tourists commit the crimes. More likely they're prey for a feral yout population that can't be discussed in polite circles
Posted by: Frank G || 07/15/2018 9:14 Comments || Top||

#3  With all due respect, Mike, the Redneck Riviera is on the Gulf Coast, stretching from Pensacola to Panama City Beach roughly.
Posted by: Jack Bonaparte7513 || 07/15/2018 9:15 Comments || Top||

#4  Frank, the problem is a statistical anomaly.

The number above the line will control how large the result is. If you include the tourists that will make the result a lot smaller hence the issue.
Posted by: AlanC || 07/15/2018 9:31 Comments || Top||

#5  "Our permanent population is very small, about 30,000 or so," a Myrtle Beach spokesperson Mark Kruea said. "But, when you look around, we feel like a much bigger town because we are. Our average daily population is around 100,000."


Fun with numbers.
Ask the victims if they care the town is full of tourists?
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/15/2018 12:31 Comments || Top||

#6  There are two primary weekends in Myrtle Beach. I have pulled security for both:
White motorcycle weekend and black motorcycle weekend. One quite more violent than the other.I know what they are going through.
Posted by: newc || 07/15/2018 15:26 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Indonesian police gun down 3 suspected members of Daesh-linked network
[PRESSTV] Indonesian anti-terrorism officers have rubbed out three suspected ISIS-linked bandidos snuffies during a firefight in the central city of Yogyakarta on the island of Java.

National police front man Mohammad Iqbal said in a statement on Saturday that the officers from the elite unit had shot the suspected bandidos snuffies after being attacked with "sharp weapons and a firearm."

He added that the three men were believed to be members of a local ISIS-affiliated network, known as Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), which is blacklisted by the US Department of State as a terrorist organization.

Two officers also suffered arm injuries and police seized four machetes and a revolver.

The majority-Moslem Southeast Asian country has been facing mounting violence in recent years.

In May, around 26 people were killed and dozens injured in multiple bombings in the country’s second-largest city, Surabaya, the deadliest attack in over a decade.

Police linked the bombings on churches and outside a cop shoppe in Surabaya to JAD.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  CNN? ABC? CBS? NBC?
Posted by: Vinegar Hupolumble8430 || 07/15/2018 23:58 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Peter Strzok Reveals FBI Debated Russia Collusion Probe Based on Trump's Poll Numbers
[Breitbart] NEW YORK ‐ In statements largely unreported by the news media, FBI official Peter Strzok described an alleged debate that took place within the FBI about how aggressively to pursue the Russia collusion investigation based on Donald Trump’s poll numbers in the 2016 presidential election.

Strzok made his statements about nine hours into Thursday’s televised congressional hearing during a section in which he was explaining his infamous August 2016 text message referencing an "insurance policy" in the event that Trump wins the election.

"The insurance policy text that has come up before?" began Strzok. "That text represented a debate on information that we had received from an extraordinarily sensitive source and method and that typically when something is that sensitive if you take action on it you put it at risk. And so there is a tension there. Maybe we should just roll slow. Take a typical 3, 4-year counterintelligence investigation because the more aggressive you are the more you put it at risk. And some people said that."

Strzok went on to claim that Trump’s poll numbers played a role in internal FBI conversations about the speed of the investigation, with he himself arguing for an aggressive investigation when others were advocating for less aggressive tactics.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  extraordinarily sensitive source and method extraordinarily sensitive source and method


Boy, they learned their Tom Clancy buzz words didn't they? Oh, and exactly what were you "putting at risk"?
Posted by: AlanC || 07/15/2018 8:39 Comments || Top||

#2  So it didn't matter until it mattered.
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/15/2018 14:39 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Egypt court sentences 24 Muslim Brotherhood members to life in prison in Zagazig city
The sentence will not be finalized until it has been appealed all the way to the highest court as well as approved by a committee of the wise men of Islam...
[AlAhram] A Sharqiya criminal court sentenced 24 people to life in prison on Saturday for inciting violence and joining the Moslem Brüderbund terrorist group in a trial that dates back to 2014, al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.

The court also sentenced three defendants to three years in prison.

The 27 suspects were locked away
I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece!
in Zagzig, Sharqiya governorate for organising a march supporting the Moslem Brüderbund group and inciting violence in the Nile Delta city.

The Egyptian government designated the Moslem Brüderbund a terrorist group in December 2013.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood

#1  The sentence will not be finalized until it has been appealed all the way to the highest court as well as approved by a committee of the wise men of Islam...

So, yet another judicial artifice to make the court appear effective.
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/15/2018 12:12 Comments || Top||

#2  It is ZigZag try EZ wider double width keep on smoling !
Posted by: Jack Chaiter7913 || 07/15/2018 13:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Jeez Jack - you had one nearly lucid comment and you typo'd it.
Posted by: Frank G || 07/15/2018 13:06 Comments || Top||

#4  At least Besoeker / trailing wife didn't have to remove it, so that's progress...
Posted by: Raj || 07/15/2018 14:23 Comments || Top||

#5  I also bin his comments.

If I find one typical one I gradually spend less and less time trying to work out if it makes any sense.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 07/15/2018 16:34 Comments || Top||

#6  It's really not all that difficult. Jack can either... 'fit in or bugger off.'
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2018 16:55 Comments || Top||

#7  ...and - use 1 1/2's - double EZ Wider is amateur joint rolling!
Posted by: Raj || 07/15/2018 17:08 Comments || Top||

#8  as well as approved by a committee of the wise men of Islam...

Which will happen right after Congress gets its act together.
Posted by: gorb || 07/15/2018 23:52 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
IRGC busts terror outfit, kills three terrorists near Iraq border
[PRESSTV] Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has smashed a terror outfit and killed three bully boyz in the west of the country near the border with Iraq.

In a statement on Saturday, the Najaf Ashraf Base of the IRGC Ground Forces said it had identified and completely destroyed a "counter-revolutionary terrorist group" that planned to carry out acts of sabotage and measures against national security after crossing the border into Iran in Nowdesheh area in Kermanshah Province.

During the festivities, three bad boyz were potted and one was critically injured while an IRGC soldier also lost his life, it added.

It noted that some ammunition and military equipment were confiscated.

Late in June, the Quds Force of the IRGC also killed three members of a terrorist group during festivities in the country’s southeastern border with Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Syrian Army foils big ISIS attack in southeast Syria
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(ISIS) launched a big assault in the eastern countryside of the Idlib Governorate, today, targeting a strategic dam in the northeastern countryside of the al-Sweida Governorate.

ISIS began the offensive by storming the Syrian Arab Army’s positions at the al-Zaaf Dam in a bid to retake the ground they lost late last month.

A fierce battle would ensue between the two parties at the al-Zaaf Dam, resulting in heavy casualties for all parties involved.

However,
some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them...
despite the intensity of the Islamic State attack on the al-Zaaf Dam, the terrorist group was unable to breakthrough the Syrian Arab Army’s lines after several hours of fighting.

According to a military source in the bustling provincial capital of al-Sweida, the Syrian Army and their allies from the National Defense Forces (NDF) and Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) managed to kill scores of ISIS snuffies before restoring security around the al-Zaaf Dam.

This latest attack by ISIS marks the second time in the last ten days that they have attempted to advance in the northeastern countryside of the al-Sweida Governorate.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Erdogan warns Putin over Syrian military Idlib operations
[PRESSTV] Ottoman Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey...
has warned his Russian counterpart that Syrian military action in the Idlib region may endanger the Astana peace accords.

Erdogan made the remarks during a phone conversation with Putin held on Saturday in which joint efforts aimed at solving the Syrian crisis were mainly discussed.

"President Erdogan stressed that the targeting of civilians in Dara'a was worrying and said that if the Damascus regime targeted Idlib in the same way the essence of the Astana accord could be completely destroyed," said a Ottoman Turkish source.

Erdogan also noted that the avoidance of "negative developments" in Idlib was key to encouraging krazed killer groups to take part in a meeting in Astana set for July 30-31.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Armed groups to launch offensive north of Idlib
Idlib (Syria News) The gangs in Idlib are preparing to launch an offensive against the regime troops in the towns of Kafraia and Foawa, north of Idlib.

A military source in Idlib informed that the offensive will be carried out under the command of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham
, along with the factions deployed in both towns.

He also pointed out that the offensive will be a tool to force Iran to allow the remaining fighters to exit Kafraia and Foawa.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra


Five farmers killed by artillery shelling on Lahaia, Syria
Hama (Syria News) Five persons were killed, as an initial corpse count, in an artillery shelling by Assad forces on the village of Lahaia, in the northern countryside of Hama Province.

Enab Baladi news reported that several artillery missiles fell, this morning, on the village of Lahaia, killing five farmers and wounding others, including women.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Better to be killed by artillery shelling than your average plague I guess. Inshallah!
Posted by: jpal || 07/15/2018 20:11 Comments || Top||


Great White North
The problem with male feminists
[Al Jazeera] Calling yourself a feminist is easy these days. All you have to do is declare it so. "If you stand for equality, then you're a feminist," actor Emma Watson insisted in 2015. "Sorry to tell you, you're a feminist."

In recent years, anyone and everyone has been encouraged to take up the label - men included. Indeed, it is often men who are awarded the most accolades for doing so. When Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced not only that he was a feminist, but that he was going to keep calling himself a feminist until it was "met with a shrug", his audience cheered.

During a conversation with Melinda Gates last year, he elaborated, saying: "It is so important that we all understand ... it's not only that men can be feminists, it is that men should be feminists, as well."

It might sound like progress, but there is a problem with men's proclaimed feminism, and Trudeau exemplifies it.

The #MeToo movement has not only opened up the conversation about the ubiquity of sexual harassment and assault, but it has successfully held men accountable for behaviour that, for too long, had been ignored or kept secret. It also encouraged men to start speaking out publicly, in solidarity with women.

But what men say in public often contradicts their personal and political actions. It is a convenient time for men to claim they oppose things like rape and groping - this is a simple way to demonstrate the feminist credentials we have been told are effortless to adopt (few, today, would argue against something as innocuous-sounding as "equality").

It is also an opportune moment for men to point the finger at others, and away from themselves, all the while enjoying praise for coming out in defence of women.

Trudeau has, in some ways, walked the talk, calling out other men for sexual misconduct. In 2014, he suspended MPs Scott Andrews and Massimo Pacetti from the Liberal caucus on account of harassment complaints made by two female New Democratic Party MPs.

But now, Trudeau is subject to a scandal of his own, as a story about him "groping" a female news hound during a 2000 music festival has resurfaced. At the time, Trudeau apologised for his behaviour (in a rather unapologetic way), saying, "I'm sorry. If I had known you were reporting for a national paper, I never would have been so forward." Today, his response is different. First, he claimed not to "remember any negative interactions", then, just days later, said:

"I'm responsible for my side of the interaction, which certainly I don't feel was in any way untoward. But at the same time, this lesson that we are learning is, and I'll be blunt about it, often a man experiences an interaction as being benign or not inappropriate, and a woman, particularly in a professional context, can experience it differently, and we have to respect that and reflect on it."

He's not wrong. Men and women do very clearly experience "interactions" differently. While many incidences reported as part of #MeToo are clear abuses of power and acts of violence - the assaults committed by Harvey Weinstein being an obvious example - others demonstrate that it is the way men learn to behave around and engage with women that is a problem.

We have grown so accustomed to power imbalances between men and women, that we not only have normalised them, but romanticised and sexualised them. What women experience as intimidating, many men read as harmless, not least in part because women are socialised to avoid conflict and respond politely, even when offended or uncomfortable.

When sexual harassment and flirtation are treated as one and the same, and when young men learn to be the sexual aggressors - that to coerce and pressure young women into sex is an acceptable means to a desired end - women are bound to wake up feeling uncomfortable, exploited, disturbed, or even traumatised.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Emma, If you stand for equality, then you're an feminist American.
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/15/2018 0:48 Comments || Top||

#2  All about money. Adequate compensation for services rendered. What services? touch, look, and speech. Prostitution even among amateurs is thriving and its all about services rendered for compensation. Look at Stormy as she becomes a freak show. Women also now do as men. They have become sexually interested in women. Perhaps this has been the norm for a long time.
Posted by: Dale || 07/15/2018 8:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Sometimes I think we've overdone this entire feminism business just a little bit.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/15/2018 8:56 Comments || Top||

#4  #2 All about money.

And status and connections and maintaining perches.

But what men male feminists say in public often contradicts their personal and political actions

#YesAllMaleFeminists
Posted by: charger || 07/15/2018 17:55 Comments || Top||

#5  Turdeau is so embarrassing that I just cringe at his every word. Turdeau Castreau is making the old Obama saying come true here in Canuckistan withe a slight change: Grope and Change.
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 07/15/2018 18:53 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Jean-Pierre Bemba named as DRC presidential candidate
[Al Jazeera] Former vice president had convictions for war crimes and crimes against humanity overturned last month
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats


Home Front: Politix
Steve Donziger, Ecuadoran Villagers' Lawyer, Loses License
POS Dem/Leftist/Con Artist shyster loses ....everything. Karma
Posted by: Frank G || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Maybe he and Avenatti can get their PI licenses and trace cheating spouses in Dubuque...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 07/15/2018 8:31 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
ACLC arrests two bike-lifters in Karachi belonging to gang 'of 30 family members'
[DAWN] The Anti-Car Lifting Cell (ACLC) on Saturday claimed to have tossed in the calaboose
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
two bike-lifters 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...
who are said to be a part of gang comprising many of their family members, all involved in stealing cycle of violences.

The ACLC personnel arrested two suspects Sabir Khokhar alias Kala and Mohammed Ashraf Khokhar, said SSP Syed Asad Raza, adding that their gang has stolen around 2,000 vehicles from the metropolis over the last few years.

"This gang of bikes-lifters is known as Khokhar group," claimed the senior officer.

SSP Raza told Dawn that the arrested suspects belonged to Punjab
1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots....

and had settled in different parts of the metropolis. Initially, their elders were allegedly involved in this criminal activity and later on their children also became involved in it.

Abdul Ghafoor Khokhar and his cousins, all hailing from Jhelum District of Punjab, formed a criminal gang in Karachi 1990s and started committing vehicular theft, says SSP Raza.

"Around 25 to 30 members of Khokhar group are involved in bike-lifting," said the officer, adding that during the last 10 years, this gang has stolen between 1,500 to 2,000 cycle of violences, which were subsequently sold in Balochistan...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
via their links with criminal elements in Khuzdar.

Apart from lifting cycle of violences, this gang had also been involved in "safe keeping" cycle of violences lifted by other criminals, for which they received Rs4,000 - 5,000 per vehicle.

They were also arrested on several occasions in the past but were released on bail from courts and started criminal activities again.

The SSP ACLC revealed that the suspects had also sought the help of women for transporting stolen bikes to Balochistan.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
NGO Gets Court Order To Seize Gaza Flotilla To Compensate Terror Victims
[Jpost] The petition leading to the court order was filed on behalf of the Gavish family, who was killed in the 2002 Passover terrorist attack at the Park Hotel in Netanya.

An NGO obtained an unusual court order on Wednesday to seize a flotilla ‐ which is trying to break Israel’s blockade of Gazoo ‐ in order to provide assistance to terrorist victims, even though those boats have not yet been captured by the IDF.

Shurat Hadin ‐ Israel Law Center, representing terrorist victims’ families, got Jerusalem District Court Judge Moshe Drori to issue a temporary seizure order for two Norwegian ships, which are due to reach Gazoo’s maritime area as part of the flotilla in the coming weeks.

The interim court order means that the ships, the Karstein and Freedom, worth between €75,000 and €150,000, will be initially designated to be sold, the proceeds going to benefit the victims of Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", terrorism, should the IDF capture them while trying to break the blockade.

According to court documents, the ships’ owner and Hamas would still have an opportunity to contest the seizure and sale of the ships before a final order is granted.

The flotilla’s organizers have said that if they succeed in reaching Gazoo, the ships will be donated to civilian organizations and local fishermen.

But Shurat Hadin, bringing expert witnesses former Dep. Navy commander Rear-Admiral Noam Feig and former Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) official Aryeh Spitzen, told the court that Hamas would most likely use the ships to increase the size of its navy. Even if the ships were initially donated to civilian causes, Hamas’s desire to use them to attack Israeli naval vessels, natural gas facilities and for more attempts to break the blockade would be too hard for it to resist.

Drori did not order the IDF to seize the ships and said he would express no opinion regarding how the state should handle the issue of the ships from a national security perspective.

Rather, the court said its order simply meant that if the IDF chose to seize the ships and brought them to Israel, the temporary seizure order would then apply to the ships.

The petition leading to the court order was filed on behalf of the Gavish family, who was killed in the 2002 Passover terrorist attack ‐ David, Rachel, their son Avraham, and maternal grandfather Yitzhak Kanner.

Shurat Hadin was also representing the family of Adam Weinstein ‐ murdered in a 2001 Jerusalem terrorist attack.

In 2006, a different judge ruled that Hamas give the Gavish family NIS 90 million, but until the seizure order regarding the ships there had been no way to get Hamas to pay.

The Weinstein family’s case is still ongoing before Drori in a separate legal proceeding.

The ruling raises questions about whether it will be upheld if it is later appealed, as the Supreme Court in August 2016 issued a ruling blocking the state from confiscating the Estelle, the Swedish ship used in a 2012 flotilla aimed at breaking Israel’s Gazoo blockade.

However,
some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go...
that ruling had rejected the state’s desire to confiscate the ship on the grounds that the state waited nearly a year to make its confiscation request.

It was unclear whether Shurat Hadin’s preemptive claim and its argument that it needed the boats to fulfill Israeli court judgments would be enough to lead to a different result should the ships’ owners appeal upon a seizure.

"Flotilla organizers sail here on ships every year to try to break the naval blockade of the Gazoo Strip and to violate the illusory sovereignty of Israel," said Shurat Hadin director Nitsana Darshan-Leitner.

"Every year they are stopped by the IDF and their ships are towed to the Ashdod Port and they are sent home as if nothing occurred. No longer. This time, the ships will not be returned to their owners, but will be turned over to terrorist victims. For the first time, the flotilla organizers will learn that there is a price to pay for their provocations, for systematic violations of international law and for supporting a terrorist organization."

In the past, Shurat Hadin has also succeeded in delaying or helping to get flotillas canceled using lawsuits to sabotage flotilla ships’ insurance.

Posted by: trailing wife || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  should make ship insurance a LOT more expensive
Posted by: Frank G || 07/15/2018 9:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Ooooh! Popcorn! On the whole I am against Asset Forfeiture in principle, but ... Popcorn!
Posted by: magpie || 07/15/2018 13:10 Comments || Top||

#3  That's not asset forfeiture, magpie. That's Prize money
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/15/2018 13:13 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Rouhani: Sanctions target ordinary Iranians; US isolated
[PRESSTV] President Hassan Rouhani says new US sanctions are aimed at targeting the Iranian nation, adding the plan has made Washington more isolated than ever, even among its allies.

"Today, the United States is isolated in the public opinion of the world, and is even more secluded among the Iranian people because the US sanctions plan is against the Iranian people," Rouhani said on Saturday.

Speaking in Brussels on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
boasted that his decision to leave the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and reimpose sanctions on the country was creasing "a lot of problems" for the Iranians.

"They’re feeling a lot of pain right now," he told a news conference at a NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and structure....
leaders summit.

Rouhani said, "If the sanctions were for a particular sector and industry, they (the US) could have been justified for their excuses, but these sanctions are a general and blind measure that would put pressure on the people of Iran."

"Therefore, their plan is to pressure the Iranian people, as they pressure other nations," he added.

The president said US leaders today are detested among Moslems and developing countries more than ever, and even face problems within the United States.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Bombing campaign 1943-45 had significant impact upon the ordinary citizens. Maybe there's a reason they prefer American military welfare other than just cost.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/15/2018 8:17 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
'Killers have no fear of God or respect for human life'
[Al Jazeera] Vice mayor from Mindanao killed on Wednesday making him the fifth local official killed in the Philippines in July
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Narcos

#1  Poss time to uptempo the Duterte initiative.
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/15/2018 12:04 Comments || Top||

#2  There be Muslims in the Philippines in case you haven't heard. They make a big bloody stink there just like they do everywhere else on the planet.It's hard to make deals with people like that.
Posted by: jpal || 07/15/2018 20:19 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Yemeni ballistic missile pounds Saudi National Guards camp
[PRESSTV] Yemeni army forces, supported by allied fighters from the Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...
Ansarullah movement and those from Popular Committees, have fired a domestically designed and developed ballistic missile at a military camp 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...
’s southern border region of Najran
a city in southwestern Saudi Arabia near the border with Yemen. It is the capital of Najran Province and a favored target of Houthirocket forces....
in retaliation for the Riyadh regime’s campaign against the impoverished country.

Yemen's official Saba news agency, citing an unnamed military official, said the short-range missile was launched at Saudi National Guards camp on Saturday, adding that the projectile hit its designated target with great precision.

There were no immediate reports of possible casualties or the extent of damage.

Meanwhile,
...back at the wreckage, Captain Poindexter wished he had a cup of coffee. Even instant would do...
the so-called military coalition led by Saudi Arabia against Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
claimed in a statement, carried by the kingdom's official Saudi Press Agency (SPA), that the coalition had intercepted the Yemeni missile, which had been fired from the northern province of Sa’ada.

Riyadh frequently reports intercepting missiles fired from Yemen, but various reports have pointed out that US-made Patriot interceptors often fail.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  have fired a domestically designed and developed ballistic missile at a military camp in Soddy Arabia

Uh huh. Then why is it labeled in Farsi?
Posted by: Frank G || 07/15/2018 9:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Then why is it labeled in Farsi? Every development & design is domestic - to some place.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 07/15/2018 10:53 Comments || Top||

#3  What makes a missile ballistic? I'm guessing it has to be aimable.
Posted by: jpal || 07/15/2018 21:26 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Iran, Russia, China, Pakistan agree anti-Daesh bid
[PRESSTV] Senior intelligence officials from Iran, Russia, China, and Pakistain have reportedly reached an agreement to join efforts against ISIS terror group in Afghanistan.

The officials agreed over integrated efforts for rooting out the outfit from Afghanistan during a meeting in the Pak capital of Islamabad, English-language Pak daily The Nation reported on Friday, citing defense sources. Sergei Ivanov, the chief of the press bureau of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, had also told Russia’s TASS news agency about the meeting on Tuesday.

The quartet also agreed on confronting "all other Lions of Islam groups" in the Central Asian country, the daily said.

The drive, it wrote, was aimed at "ensuring regional peace and to eliminate terrorism from the region."

The meeting also discussed ways to stop the arrival of ISIS Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
Lions of Islam from Iraq and Syria in Afghanistan.

The participants further agreed to share intelligence towards fighting terror.

The Russian side cited the Russian intelligence agency as saying that around 10,000 ISIS Lions of Islam were functioning actively in nine provinces in Afghanistan.
Goodness. That's a lot more than were there last time I looked. Have they come seeking safer hunting grounds than are to be found in Iraq and Syria nowadays?
The Iranian side cited concerns regarding ISIS’s growing influence in Afghanistan, according to The Nation.

The group’s Afghanistan branch, known as ISIS-Khurasan, was "involved in planning continued suicide kabooms especially in Pakistain," the meeting was told.

Most recently, the group grabbed credit for an kaboom that killed at least 128 people targeting an election rally in Pakistain's southwestern province of Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
on Friday.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Arabia
Religious TV channels: The Shirazi family’s path to influence
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] In my previous article, I had discussed the religious television channels that support the reference of Ayatollah Sayyid Sadiq al-Shirazi. Competition over the launching of such channels has increased due to the power and influence they provide or the godly rewards they may bring!

This race among followers has attracted the attention of Saudi researcher Dr. Tawfiq al-Saif and who on May 20, 2014 wrote on his Facebook page about a local holy man who tried to launch a satellite television channel called Imam Hussein.

"Is there a need for a new version that (clones) is similar to available versions? Isn’t this like building a hussainia (a Shiite congregation hall) next to another hussainia? Will he spend on this channel through legal rights? If so, shouldn’t this spending be used for more urgent matters, such as extreme poverty which exists in the city of the channel’s owner," al-Saif inquired.

The points al-Saif has raised are actually discussed by many other Shiite intellectuals, especially who think money is being squandered and that these satellite television channels are actually producing quite the opposite results and draw for Shiites a bleak stereotype that’s contrary to their reality and to the future which the new generation aspire for.

Funding and income sources

The large number of channels for one reference has raised plenty of questions about funding and income sources.

The opponents of the Shirazi Movement accuse these channels of receiving money from foreign and Arab intelligence apparatuses and voice surprise that channels like Fadak continue to broadcast from the UK without any disciplinary measures taken against them by Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator, despite its content that incites sectarianism, hatred and intolerance.

Sheikh Mohsen Araki, Secretary-General of the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought, told the Iranian Mehr news agency that the "Shirazi Movement is an organized group and a political party that pursues special political aims and is completely supported by foreigners," adding: "I have irrefutable documents (to back) what I am saying."

Sources at Imam Shirazi Center for Studies and Research denied there is foreign funding and told Al Arabiya.net that "most Shiite channels which were founded upon the encouragement of religious references originally rely on donors and subscriptions," adding that "this reference paid hefty prices because it maintained its independence and refused dependency on others."

Sources familiar with the establishment of religious satellite television channels note that these channels do not cost operators much and rely on the money received by legal rights and from Khums funds received from the reference. This is in addition to donations by Shiite businessmen in the Gulf, Iraq and Pakistain.

These channels’ viewers notice that now and then there are advertisements which urge people to donate saying that making donations contributes to spreading the idea of Shiism around the world. Funds thus flow into the channel thanks to the faithful’s donations. The amount of money however is not huge, and it does not meet all of the channel’s needs. This is why some channels have stopped broadcasting and have shut down.

What these channels have in common are the employees’ humble wages, volunteers, cheap production and reliance on airing recorded lectures from mosques and hussainiat. This can be seen in their humble technical capabilities which reflect the limited budget and which rely on the owners’ and supervisors’ personal efforts and their capability to attain new sources of income. What can be noted too are the few commercial advertisements and their weak earnings.
The channel of the one family!

Al-Shirazi has an esteemed status within the programs aired by the channels affiliated with it. Lectures of current reference Ayatollah Sayyid Sadiq al-Shirazi and of his sons Hussein and Ahmad are aired on these channels. This is in addition to airing the lectures of Sayyids Mohammed Reza, Morteza, Jaafar, Mahdi and Mohammed Ali, the sons of late Sayyid Mohammed al-Shirazi.

The dominant presence of al-Shirazi family and promoting it via these channels turned its figures into an advertising material for a specific reference and family, as if it’s exclusive to a specific political and intellectual movement. Researcher Bassem al-Zaydi denies this by saying: "These channels are not limited to Shiites and the muqallideen (those who conform to the teaching of another) of Sayyid Shirazi but they are general channels that aim to convey the tolerant message of Islam to the entirety of humanity."

The viewers of these channels can also see how the religious lecturers and scholars who are hosted mostly belong to the Shirazi Movement. This is except for few channels like CH 4 Teen which broadcasts lectures for Saudi religious figures that do not belong to the Shirazi Movement like Sayyid Monir al-Khabbaz and Sayyid Hassan al-Nimr. This is perhaps due to the fact that some of those who supervise these channels belong to the Shirazi Movement 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...
and enjoy "relative moderation" compared with the rest of the channels.

Confirming eligibility

It is no coincidence that the Shirazi Movement established the channel Alhawza Alilmiyya TV as its jurisprudential eligibility has been doubted since the 1960s when many of the seminary scholars in Iraq opposed the reference of Sayyid Mohammed al-Shirazi and doubted his capability to issue fatwas (religious edicts).

Sayyid Shirazi continued to attract the new generation of the then-faithful youth. Despite its expansion and influence, this reference was still described as "religiously shallow" and accused of lacking jurisprudential depth. This pushed its followers to establish the television channel Alhawza Alilmiyya TV. It’s as if they want to prove that they are legitimate sons of the ’hawza’ and that they are part of it and that they deliver lectures and sermons.

The aim of this move is to prepare the second generation of al-Shirazi to assume the post of religious reference following Sayyid Sadiq, especially the late Sayyid Mohammed Reza al-Shirazi, the son of Sayyid Mohammed, was the most likely to succeed his uncle but he died in 2008.
Strange discourse

What also distinguishes these channels is the absence of music and any woman who does not wear the ’hijab’. This is in addition to women’s limited presence and complete absence of any other secular or liberal thought. These channels also focus on ritualistic rhetoric that relies on lamentation and broadcasting the processions of the Husseini funeral in its bloodiest images: tatbir (striking oneself with a sword on the head), flagellation and walking on coal. These practises are rejected by many Shiite religious references and they’ve actually issued fatwas (religious edicts) saying these are "religiously prohibited." However,
a clean conscience makes a soft pillow...
the Shirazi satellite television channels brag about broadcasting them live.

The strange discourse which depends on dreams and the sectarian rhetoric as seen in the lectures of Sayyid Mohammed Baqir al-Fally, Sheikh Abdulhamid al-Mohager and others also dominate these channels. This contributed to creating a "shabby populistic culture that did not exist within the Shiite intellect that’s based on ijtihad (independent reasoning) and knowledge. It also distorted the biography and history of Imam Hussein and deviated from the bigger aim represented in justice."

Commenting on this "superstitious" rhetoric which the Shirazi channels are accused of promoting, Zaydi said: "It’s enough to review Imam Shirazi’s researches which addressed law, politics and economics and to look at the cultural institutions and studies and researches centers" to know his opinion about the reference’s approach which confirms "the importance of work and ijtihad and doing the best to spread a peaceful culture and free thought and establish developmental institutions."

Zaydi denied any relation between the reference of Sayyid Sadiq Shirazi and the sectarian rhetoric of some of his followers and said: "Throughout its history, this reference has dissociated itself from any sectarian, political or religious conflict, and it actually had a great role in strengthening social peace."

Editor-in-chief of ’Al-Sahel’ magazine Sheikh Habib al-Jumayaa thinks Zaydi’s statements are important but they apply to the Shirazi Movement in its previous "renaissance" version and not on the version currently depicted by satellite television channels. He said: "Sayyid Mohammed al-Shirazi was really concerned in developing Islamic culture and adopted a rhetoric which believes in pluralism, tolerance and distance from whatever incites strife among Moslems. However,
a clean conscience makes a soft pillow...
these channels adopted a different rhetoric where reasoning is absent and which relies on dreams. There is a state of stillness within the Movement as they do not criticize these channels and do not review their negative impact on people. What’s required is to develop the Islamic rhetoric and be open to others and to be able to endeavor into the future and not live with superstitions and in the past!"

Researcher Sheikh Ahmed al-Katib thinks this strange rhetoric is the product of shallow thinking. "The absence of a deep intellect and the Shirazi Movement’s lack of a substantial cause and focusing on shallow and ritualistic issues are what produced these channels’ current discourse."
Limits of influence

The reference of Sayyid Sadiq al-Shirazi is not the most spread among Shiites in the world. There are more influential references like Ayatollah Sayyid Ali al-Sistani. However the Shirazi Movement’s media activity had influence on a wide category of the public, specifically the religious ones or those who feel marginalized and persecuted based on their sect!

There are more moderate satellite television channels like AlIman TV which follows the reference of late Sayyid Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah or AlMaaref TV which is supervised by Habeeb al-Kazemi. However since these channels did not resort to a "populist" rhetoric as is the case is with the Shirazi channels, they failed to garner a wide audience which thinks it’s watching a duel with sectarian Salafist channels like Wesal TV and Safa TV! Therefore, Shiite channels that adopt a moderate rhetoric do not appeal to their sentiment. The channels which do are those which they think have the bravery, power and capability to defeats rivals!

"These channels incite strife between Sunnis and Shiites," said a reader who commented on the previous article. This opinion may represent the point of view of a large number of Shiites in the Gulf and who live in diverse societies where the Shiite spectrum varies between Islamic, civil, liberal and leftist movements and which adopt an intellect that is different than these channels.

Sheikh Habib al-Jumayaa said: "There is a vital discussion and wide critique of these channels whose discourse cannot keep up with the questions of the new generation which does not acknowledge red lines or prohibitions. This generation thus questions everything and seeks evidence, while these channels’ approach is based on indoctrination."
Intellectual crisis

The shallow intellect seen in most of the programs aired by Shirazi television channels is only a part of the knowledge crisis that Sunni and Shiite religious channels suffer from. It’s a reflection of the inability of Islamic movements to understand the changes of the modern era, to use thought more bravely while practicing ijtihad and to develop an enlightening rhetoric that meets believers’ current needs.

This intellectual decline pushed many of the first Shirazi pioneers to defect from the movement. This is what the next article of Al Arabiya.net’s series on al-Shirazis will discuss.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies


Iraq
Baghdad explosion kills one, wounds another: source
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) One civilian was killed and another one was maimed on Saturday when a car went kaboom! while moving in an area north of the Iraqi capital, a security source was quoted saying.

Alsumaria News quoted the security source saying that a car went kaboom! due to an bomb fitted beneath while passing through al-Taji district, north of Iraq, killing one and wounding another.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
EU becomes center of Iran’s terrorist operations
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] On Monday, July 2, 2018, Belgian Federal Intelligence and Security Agency and Federal Prosecutor’s Office reported that they had thwarted a major terrorist plot of the Iranian regime at the heart of Europe
...also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
by arresting a husband and wife near Brussels.

The jugged
I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece!
couple are Belgian nationals of Iranian descent and wanted to commit a kaboom in Villepinte (La Belle France) on Saturda,y June 30, 2018, at a conference held there by the Iranian opposition coalition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

According to the Belgian Public Prosecutor’s office, Assadollah Assadi, a diplomat, who served as the number third-ranking diplomat in Iran’s embassy in Vienna and a member of President Rouhani's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), was arrested in Germany as the "contact person" of the couple.

However,
facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable...
Germany’s federal prosecutor on Wednesday, July 12, charged Assadi for conspiracy to commit murder.

Historically, the theocracy has pursued a policy of assassinating dissidents in Europe. Since the 1979 revolution, there are at least 10 known Iran-sponsored terrorist attacks, some of which were recently listed by the US State Department.

In 1997, a German court issued an international arrest warrant for Iranian intelligence minister for the liquidation of Secretary-General of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran in Mykonos Greek restaurant in Berlin in 1992.

The Iranian regime has assassinated NCRI members in Europe. Kazem Rajavi, the representative of the NCRI, was bumped off by the MOIS agents on April 24, 1990, as he was driving to his home in Coppet, a village near Geneva.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  EU are major enables of terrorism and Islamism - look at the covert war they've been conducting against Israel for the last 50 years.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/15/2018 2:05 Comments || Top||

#2  EU are major enables of terrorism and Islamism - look at the covert war they've been conducting against Israel for the last 50 years.

Mooslims living in relative peace in the ME have no incentive to relocate to Europe. If enough war and turmoil can be fomented, they will eventually come.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/15/2018 2:13 Comments || Top||

#3  As you all know the EU is trying to build it's own military and as is with all the other super powers they get to have PROXY TERRORIST ARMIES ALSO so quit your bitchin about IRAN they got dibs cuz they never stopped helping their nuclear program! Fair is fair now behave and quit crying!
Posted by: Jack Chaiter7913 || 07/15/2018 13:08 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Apt, swift Hamas response to stop Israeli aggression
The Hamas perspective of events, as filtered through Iran's propaganda office. The Israeli perspective can be seen here.
[PRESSTV] The Paleostinian resistance movement Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", says its swift and appropriate response to Israel’s most recent aerial aggression on the besieged Gazoo Strip is meant to stop the attacks, adding that this shows the resistance movement’s constant vigilance and clear vision in managing the fight against the Tel Aviv regime.

Hamas front man Fawzi Barhoum made the remarks in a statement released on Saturday, several hours after Israeli warplanes launched a predawn attack against 40 purported Hamas positions in the southern Gazoo Strip.

Israeli military aircraft also fired three missiles at Salahuddin military site in the central Gazoo Strip, before pounding an open area near Queen roundabout east of Gazoo City.

Additionally, Israeli aerial attacks targeted a Hamas site in the city of Beit Lahia, located about five kilometers north of Gazoo City.

According to the Gazoo Health Ministry, at least two Paleostinian teens bit the dust in the Israeli Arclight airstrikes and 14 other people sustained injuries.

Hamas was quick in retaliatory attacks against Israeli positions in the occupied Paleostinian territories when it launched 90 rockets. The Israeli military claimed that its so-called Iron Dome missile defense system had managed to intercept 16 of the projectiles.

Early in the morning, the Israeli military said in a statement that at least one Hamas rocket landed inside a rural settlement in Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council area.

Israeli media reported that more than 140 rocket alarm sirens also sounded throughout communities near the Israel-Gazoo border from midnight into the morning.

Saturday’s exchange of missiles and rockets is considered as the biggest since the 2014 Israeli war on the impoverished sliver. The war began in early July and ended in late August the same year. The Israeli military aggression killed nearly 2,200 Paleostinians and injured over 11,100 others.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Iraq
Oil field protests: hundreds of tribals protest, 19 casualties in clashes with cops


Hundreds of Iraqis continue protests at southern oil fields

Basra (IraqiNews.com) Hundreds of Iraqis resumed protests on Saturday near oil fields in the country's south, demanding enhanced services and employment.

Iraqi Mawazin News Agency said hundreds of tribes outside the Majnoon oil field northeast of Basra province demanding job opportunities, replacing foreign labor at oil companies with Iraqis, enhanced potable water and electricity supplies.

Over the past week, protesters at some southern provinces, including Basra, invaded airports, local councils and main roads protesting poor services and unemployment.

One protester was killed the past week during clashes with security in Basra as demonstrations swept through Dhi Qar, Diwaniyah, Maysan, Karbala and Babil provinces, prompting the Iraqi president to urge for calm and respect for protesters demands.

Also in Najaf, the province's airport administration said flights resumed late Friday after angry protesters stormed it.

A statement by the airport's board accused "government officials and political parties with economic objectives" of "engineering a conspiracy against the airport", as it put it.

Late Friday, a meeting by the ministerial security council, chaired by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, concluded that unrest during the protests was the making of "infiltrators", vowing to "take deterrent legal measures" against those.

Iraqi economy has been ravaged by a three-year war against Islamic State militants, coupled with unstable world petroleum prices, the country's main income source.

Maysan protests leave 19 people injured, including security men

Maysan (Iraqinews.com) – Up to 19 people were injured Saturday in clashes between security forces and demonstrators in the southeastern governorate of Maysan, a senior health official was quoted by Alforat News as saying.

Dr. Ali al-Allaq, the director of Maysan's health directorate, said, "the injured included security forces and civilians, with some of them suffering from gunshot wounds."

He pointed out that his directorate is ready to handle "the increasing number of injuries among the policemen and demonstrators alike." Allaq further called on all citizens to "cooperate with medics and open roads for them to help them move the injured to hospitals as soon as possible."

On Friday, several protests were held outside the headquarters of various political parties in Maysan, including Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's Dawa Party. Some of these parties were set on fire.

Earlier in the day, Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on security forces to show restraint in handling peaceful protests staged near oil fields in the country's southern provinces.

In a Twitter post, Sadr expressed his rejection of "any attack on oppressed protesters."

Hundreds of Iraqi youth have been staging rallies since last week demanding enhanced services and job opportunities.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq

#1  "hundreds of tribes". Uh huh
Posted by: Frank G || 07/15/2018 10:50 Comments || Top||

#2  "hundreds of tribes"

I think the reporter meant hundreds of Iraqi tribe members, Frank. In the first paragraph it’s Hundreds of Iraqis, intended to parallel hundreds of tribes in the second paragraph.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/15/2018 11:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Oil fields, why do they hate us?
Posted by: jpal || 07/15/2018 19:28 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Helmand province: Yanks bomb Taliban gathering, 12 cops kaboomed
US fighter planes bomb Taliban gathering in Helmand province

[KhaamaPress] The US fighter planes bomb a gathering of the Taliban militants in southern Helmand province of Afghanistan leaving at least 13 militants dead or wounded.

The provincial government media office in a statement said the airstrike was carried out at around 2 pm local time on Friday in Musa Kala district. The statement further added that the airstrike left at least eight militants dead while at least five others sustained injuries.

At least seven Ak-47 assault rifles and five RGP rockets were also destroyed during the airstrike, the statement said, adding that the area was under close surveillance from a long ago and the airstrike was carried out based on confirmed tip off regarding the presence of the Taliban militants.

The local residents did not suffer any casualties during the airstrike, the provincial government said in its statement.

The anti-government armed militant groups including Taliban militants have not commented regarding the report so far.

Helmand is among the relatively volatile provinces in South of Afghanistan where the Taliban militants are actively operating in some of its districts and often carry out terrorist related activities.

Suicide car bomb attack targets security post in Lashkargah city

[KhaamaPress] A suicide car bomb attack targeted a security post in Lashkargah city, the provincial capital of Helmand province, at noon time today.

According to the local officials, the incident took place in the vicinity of the 10th police district of lashkargah city.

Provincial governor's spokesman Omar Zwak confirmed the incident and said at least one policeman lost his life in the attack and at least eleven other have sustained injuries.

No individual or group has so far claimed responsibility behind the incident.

Helmand is among the relatively volatile provinces in South of Afghanistan where the Taliban militants are actively operating in some of its districts and often carry out terrorist related activities.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Europe
Victim of Bonn Attack: Police Report is Full of Lies
[3amMagazine] Yitzhak Melamed (Johns Hopkins), interviewed here at 3:AM as part of the End Times series, was attacked by a racist and then the Bonn police during a recent visit to give a lecture. The anti-semitic attack in Bonn reminds us of the depressing and worrying fact that that anti-Semitism is alive and well. Courtesy of Leiter Reports, Yitzhak’s letter to a friend outlines the nasty events.
German police are not gentle to those they perceive to be miscreants, I've observed.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  An additional detail:
In this interview (article in German) Melamed says that when the police attacked him he was actually wearing his yarmulka.

Since this is word against word, one should keep in mind that the police of North Rhine-Westphalia
initially denied that the mass rape at Cologne 2015/2016 took place at all; even though this was witnessed by police officers at the scene (as leaked protocols proved.)

If the issue is politically sensitive this police force cannot be trusted.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 07/15/2018 1:40 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Some hidden powers want to sabotage polls, says Siraj
[DAWN] Condemning the attacks on Akram Khan Durrani in Bannu, Siraj Raisani in Quetta and Haroon Bilour in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
, Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
chief Sirajul Haq
...current head of the Pak Jamaat-e-Islami. Siraj was born in 1962 and entered politics shortly after that...
said on Friday that some hidden powers wanted to sabotage the July 25 general elections, but they would not let them do so.

In Timergara, the JI chief told public rallies in Kumbar Maidan and Odigram that attacks on poll candidates in Peshawar, Bannu and Quetta were not a good omen for the country. He said that some hidden powers wanted to derail the democratic process.

He said that MMA would not let anyone to sabotage the elections in the country. He said that the coming elections would be a fight between two ideologies. "We have no wish for ministries and positions, but making Pakistain a true Islamic welfare state is our goal," he said.

About Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, headed the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz), now bounced for the third and maybe final time. Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf, then by the courts...
and Pervez Perv Musharraf
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
, he said that the former was coming to be jugged
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
while the latter was avoiding returning to the land which he governed for years. He asked the participants to elect honest and devoted candidates for the sake of the country. The rallies were also addressed by MMA candidates for PK-13, PK-16 and PK-17.

Also in the day, PTI election coordinator for PK-17 Anwar Said quit his party and joined JI during Kumbar Maidan function which was also addressed by MMA candidate Saeed Gul. He claimed that MMA would win all the seats in Lower Dir, as JI had done record development work in the district.

In Nowshera, JI provincial chief Mushtaq Ahmad Khan claimed that if voted to power Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal would start evenhanded accountability of corrupt elements.

"MMA would start accountability of all segments of society without any discrimination to root out corruption," he said while addressing public meetings in Pir Sabaq, Zara Mena, Mesri Banda and other villages.

Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hours after ceasefire reached, Gaza mortar shells strike southern Israel; IDF responds
[IsraelTimes] IDF blows up source of shelling; no group takes responsibility for the attack, which sent residents of the Eshkol region running for shelter

Two mortar shells struck southern Israel just after midnight on Saturday, apparently hitting an open field, hours after a ceasefire was due to go into effect to put an end to a flare-up between the Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, terrorist group and Israel.

In response, the Israeli military said it "attacked the mortar from which the shells were launched."

There were no immediate reports of Paleostinian injuries.

It was not immediately clear which Paleostinian terrorist group was responsible for the mortar attack.

The shelling and subsequent retaliatory strike came hours after Hamas and the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem 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...
terrorist groups announced that they agreed to a ceasefire with Israel, following talks with Egypt and other international bodies.

"The regional and international mediation has led to an end of the current escalation between the resistance and the occupation forces," Hamas said.

A senior Israeli defense official would not directly comment on the reported ceasefire, but said: "Facts on the ground will determine our continued response."

Beginning at 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, Hamas and other terrorist groups in the Gazoo Strip launched over 174 rockets and mortar shells at southern Israel. The majority of them, well over 100, landed in open fields, where they caused neither injury nor damage. Over 30 of them were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system. A number landed inside communities in southern Israel.

Three Israelis were maimed when rockets hit a home and a synagogue in the border town of Sderot. They were evacuated to the hospital in moderate condition.

A number of other projectiles that landed inside communities in the Eshkol region of southern Israel caused light damage to buildings and infrastructure. In some areas, the mortar shells knocked down power lines, causing temporary outages, a spokesperson for the regional council said.

In response, the IDF launched its largest bombing campaign against Hamas targets in the Strip since the 2014 Gazoo war, hitting dozens of targets, the military said.

The Hamas-run Gazoo health ministry said that two teenagers, aged 15 and 16, were killed in one of the IDF strikes on Saturday, on a building that the military said was used by Hamas for urban combat training and was situated over a tunnel that led into a "massive" underground network in Gazoo.

Hamas claimed the rocket firings were a response to Israeli strikes, adding that the organization would cease firing projectiles if the Jewish state stopped attacking targets in the Strip.

Israel launched the first Arclight airstrikes early Saturday after an IDF officer was injured by a grenade thrown at him during a violent riot along the Gazoo border on Friday.
Dawn adds:
The health ministry in Gazoo says two teenagers have been killed and ten others injured in an Arclight airstrike in Gazoo City.

Striking in the heart of Gazoo City is typically only seen during full-blown conflicts like the war of 2014 and could mark a sign that violence is escalating.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  I pin the tail on the Hamas - with friends from the islamic jihad.

Iran is also a sponsor.

All they need tomorrow, before We invade the Gaza strip again for snatch and grabs, are floppy shoes and funny red noses.

But for now, all remains quiet.
If I ever have a morning like this again, the scourge will be neutralized.
Posted by: newc || 07/15/2018 1:20 Comments || Top||

#2  "Come on, guys! Let's celebrate the cease fire by launching mortar rounds."
Posted by: SteveS || 07/15/2018 11:38 Comments || Top||


Britain
Former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams' house hit with explosives
[Al Jazeera] A device was thrown at house of Adams in Belfast, while another targeted a prominent Sinn Fein party member
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wonder how they like it?
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/15/2018 14:40 Comments || Top||

#2  What, did he make a derogatory comment about gooming gangs?
Posted by: AlanC || 07/15/2018 15:39 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Thai villager gunned down on his plantation
[Bangkok Post] A villager was gunned down at his rubber plantation in Narathiwat province on Saturday morning. Thavorn Hayeema was found lying dead on the grounds of his plantation opposite a house in Chanae district when police arrived.

Latae Samae, the father-in-law of the victim, said Thavorn was weeding a plot opposite his house when an assailant opened fire and fled. The sound of the gunshot ed Mr Latae and other residents to rush to the scene, where they found Thavorn lying dead.

Police are investigating the cause of the attack, but an initial investigation found the victim had no involvement with illicit drugs.

In neighboring Yala province, three bomb blasts occurred at rubber plantations last month, seriously wounding three rubber tappers in separate attacks. Officials blamed insurgents for the attacks.
Posted by: ryuge || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Thai Insurgency


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel shutters PA-backed conference in East Jerusalem, top businessman arrested
[IsraelTimes] Minister Erdan says event organized by Paleostinian Mufti, also attended by Turks, promoted 'incitement' against Israel

A conference in East Jerusalem sponsored by the Paleostinian Authority and attended by members of the Islamic Movement in Israel and of the Ottoman Turkish Waqf was shut down and raided by police on Saturday by order of Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan, whose office said the event promoted "incitement" against the state of Israel.

Police also locked away
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
Munib al-Masri, a powerful Paleostinian businessman who funded the conference.

The event, which took place at the Hind al-Husseini College in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, was organized by the Mufti of Jerusalem, Akrama Sabri. According to police, Sabri, who was recently issued a travel ban by Israel, previously held several events alongside members of the Hamas, one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbung millipede, terrorist movement, the Ynet news site reported.

The Ministry of Public Security said the conference was deliberately scheduled to take place on the anniversary of a terror attack at the Temple Mount last year, in which Israeli coppers Haiel Sitawe and Kamil Shnaan were killed by three Arab Israeli button men who had stashed their weapons on the Mount.

Shuttering the conference, Erdan accused the Paleostinian Authority of "repeatedly attempting to undermine Israel’s illusory sovereignty in Jerusalem."

He said Israel would "continue to fight and prevent any attempt to fan [the flames of] violence in the city."

Erdan said the event was "a conference of incitement" and charged that "the connection between the Islamic Movement, the Paleostinian Authority and Ottoman Turkish elements is a brazen attempt to encourage violence on the anniversary of the attack on the Temple Mount."

The terror attack last July 14 sparked weeks of tension in Jerusalem. Israel introduced new security measures, including metal detector gates, designed to prevent weapons being brought onto the Mount ‐ a move which prompted widespread protests and was ultimately reversed.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority


The Grand Turk
Turkey’s economy looks like it’s headed for a big crash
[DAWN] It might seem strange to worry about an economy that grew 7.4 per cent last year, but despite - or rather, because of - that good news, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire....
is showing all the classic signs of an emerging markets crisis.

It’s pretty simple. Turkey has and continues to borrow a lot of dollars that are getting harder to pay back now that its currency is falling fast. Or, more specifically, its banks and companies have. But, in any case, the fact that its government hasn’t built up a big rainy-day fund of dollars has left it with a catch22: Turkey can either try to save its economy from the effects of a weaker currency by increasing interest rates, or from the effects of higher interest rates by allowing its currency to continue dropping. Which is to say that it really has to decide how it doesn’t want to save things.

But even though there are no good choices here, there are worse ones. Higher rates might slow the economy down enough that some companies would get into trouble, but a weaker currency would make that even more likely by increasing their debt burdens, potentially setting off a self-fulfilling panic. Foreign investors, after all, would pull even more money out of the country if they saw Ottoman Turkish businesses going under - they’ve already been moving it out in response to the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes that have made holding money in the United States more attractive - which would then push their currency down even more, and, as a result, send even more companies into default.

The prospect of this, of course, would make it hard for the Ottoman Turkish banks that would be on the hook for these losses to borrow money themselves. So they’d have to cut back on their lending, and maybe even get a bailout - a bailout that, if history is any guide, would probably require them to, yes, increase interest rates to try to stabilise the currency. It would be better, then, to skip all that extra pain, and just get the rate hikes out of the way now.

It’s not clear if they will, though.

The problem is that Turkey’s increasingly autocratic president, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey...
, has a bad habit of mistaking correlation for causation. In particular, he thinks that low interest rates cause low inflation, which, as economist Andy Harless has put it, is akin to believing that umbrellas cause rain. Low inflation, you see, allows central banks to keep interest rates low, but that doesn’t mean that keeping interest rates low will lead to low inflation. The opposite, actually.

Erdogan, though, apparently hasn’t noticed. Empirical reality doesn’t seem to interest him as much as the one he’s trying to create. And so he has insisted that high interest rates are the "mother and father of all evil" and that anyone - like, say, their central bankers - who tries to force them on the country is guilty of "treason."

Now, up until this week, it was possible to tell yourself that this might just be extreme cynicism. That Erdogan didn’t really think that low interest rates cause low inflation, but was just saying so to try to pressure the central bank into keeping them down ahead of last month’s elections - and with good reason. For all the power he’s consolidated, Erdogan was only able to secure 52pc of the most recent vote.

That’s about as unimpressive as it gets when you’ve just purged the media, schools, army, and businesses of everyone but the most servile and supine; when you control the media to such a degree that your opponents could barely even get covered; and when you actually threw one opposition leader in jail. All of which explains why Erdogan was so intent on goosing growth up to 7.4pc last year and trying to keep it going this one, even if it came at the cost of so much debt and inflation that it seemed as if it was inevitably setting them up for a crash some time soon.

But it’s hard to tell yourself that anymore. That’s because Erdogan seems no less committed to his wacky theories today than he did before the election. He just appointed his son-in-law to run the country’s finance and treasury departments - what sure looks like a rubber stamp in human form - and, after giving himself the power to choose the country’s top central banker, he "predicted" that "in the period ahead I believe that we will see that interest rates also fall." It was enough to send the Ottoman Turkish currency, the lira, down another 6.5pc this week alone to bring it 23.7pc lower than it was at the start of February.

An economy, like a mind, is a terrible thing to lose. Erdogan appears well on his way to losing both.
Posted by: Fred || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  Faster please. The pseudo Ottoman revival needs to stop before Iran and Russia burrow any deeper.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 07/15/2018 11:40 Comments || Top||

#2  I thought the Turkish economy was going to crash in 2016 but obviously I was wrong.

Now the Lira, which was worth 35 cents back then is only worth about 20 cents.

Posted by: lord garth || 07/15/2018 17:55 Comments || Top||

#3  #2 - yes, but with Less Gulen™
Posted by: Frank G || 07/15/2018 18:02 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Intel Center: Hezbollah, Iran’s Shi’ite Militias Hidden In Syrian Army
[Jpost] There are at least two Iraqi-Shi’ite forces, the Dhu al-Fiqar Brigade and the Abu Fadl al-Abbas Brigade, being clandestinely integrated into the Syrian army to hide their identities from Israel.

Shi’ite forces, managed by Iran, are being integrated into the campaign currently waged by the Syrian army in the south of the country, according to a report by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center released on Thursday.

There are at least two Iraqi-Shi’ite forces, the Dhu al-Fiqar Brigade and the Abu Fadl al-Abbas Brigade, being clandestinely integrated into the Syrian army to hide their identities from Israel and others that might object to their involvement, said the report.

The Dhu al-Fiqar Brigade fought with the Syrian army in its attack on the rebel enclave northeast of Deraa and also participated in cutting off the eastern rebel enclave by occupying the village of Buser al-Harir, said the report.

At the end of June 2018, the Shi’ite force posted pictures on Facebook to show off its participation, noted the intelligence center.

The brigade is composed mainly of Iraqis from Iranian- managed militias, such as the League of the Righteous, the Hezbollah Battalions and the Promised Day Brigade and was formed in June 2013.

At the beginning of June 2018, fighters belonging to the Abu Fadl al-Abbas Brigade, another Iranian-managed Iraqi Shi’ite militia, were identified in the Quneitra and Deraa areas, according to the Meir Amit center.

They were seen wearing Syrian army uniforms, along with their commander, Maher Ajeeb Jazza, with pictures of them being taken during Syrian army preparations for occupying the southern part of the country.

At the beginning of July 2018, pictures were published of Ajeeb with other Abu Fadl al-Abbas fighters in the region of Deraa. One picture shows him with Syrian officers. Others show him on a background of marching soldiers. The soldiers’ identities cannot be determined because they are all wearing Syrian army uniforms, said the report.

The intelligence center wrote, "The military competence of the force is relatively high. Its operatives are trained in guerrilla warfare tactics, which they acquired fighting the American army and the coalition countries in Iraq," noting that it was founded around the end of 2012.

Besides those Iranian-managed Shi’ite militias, the report added that there are also Afghan Shi’ite fighters in the Fatemiyoun Brigade.

In addition, the report said that Hezbollah operatives also participate in the fighting, including operatives from its elite al-Radwan unit, who were sent from Leb.

The center said, "It can be assumed (judging by past experience) that the Shi’ite forces have Iranian officers from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)."

To date, the report said that the Hezbollah operatives and Shi’ite militias have fought mainly in the Deraa region, helping the Syrian army take control of villages and rebel strongholds as part of a push to reach the Jordan-Syria border.

The Syrian army is also expected to make further moves to take over the Syrian Golan Heights.

In the Meir Amit center’s assessment, the Iranians want "Hezbollah and the Shi’ite militias under their control" to "participate in a Syrian move to take over the Golan Heights, while concealing their involvement."

According to the report, Hezbollah and the Shi’ite militias have been integrated into the various Syrian army units and do not operate as independent forces.

Pictures on social media and by the few journalists and organizations with access have shown Shi’ite forces of Evil wearing Syrian army uniforms, and it is difficult to distinguish them from Syrian soldiers.

This means that if these groups participate with Syrian forces in attacking the Golan Heights, it will be difficult to identify them and easy for the Syrian regime to deny the Hezbollah and Shi’ite militiamen’s involvement.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  They are using USD.
Posted by: newc || 07/15/2018 1:21 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Fourteen Islamic State members arrested in security operation, south of Mosul
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Fourteen members of Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
cells were tossed in the slammer
Please don't kill me!
as a wide-scale security operation was carried out, south of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, spokesperson for Nineveh Police Command said on Saturday.

Speaking to BasNews, Lt. Gen. Emad Hanash said, "security troops confiscated three tunnels for Islamic State in villages of Mahana and al-Haj Ali."

Troops found there "lists with names of those executed by the myrmidons, along with wireless devices, mobile phones and weapons," he added.

"Security forces arrested fourteen members of Islamic State dormant cells in Qayyarah, south of Mosul, possessing weapons," he said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/15/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State



Who's in the News
21[untagged]
4Govt of Iraq
4Islamic State
3Hamas
3Govt of Syria
3Govt of Iran
2Hezbollah
2Houthis
2Moslem Colonists
2Sublime Porte
2Taliban
1Haqqani Network
1al-Shabaab (AQ)
1Thai Insurgency
1al-Nusra
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
1Muslim Brotherhood
1Narcos
1Palestinian Authority
1Govt of Iran Proxies
1Govt of Pakistan
1Fatah
1Commies

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sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2018-07-15
  Palestinian killed in mysterious Gaza blast identified as head of rocket unit
Sat 2018-07-14
  Nawaz Sharif, daughter arrested upon arrival in Lahore
Fri 2018-07-13
  Afghan forces have reportedly suffered heavy casualties in Kunduz attack
Thu 2018-07-12
  Germany arrests Iran ‘spy’ on bomb plot charges
Wed 2018-07-11
  Gazan kites burn 150 acres in Israel’s south
Tue 2018-07-10
   All the boys and their coach are out of the Tham Luang cave. Navy Seals and the doctor still yet to exit.-Twitter news from Sydney
Mon 2018-07-09
  1 US soldier killed, 2 wounded in apparent insider attack in Afghanistan
Sun 2018-07-08
  Live updates: Thailand cave rescue: navy Seals confirm four boys have been rescued – live
Sat 2018-07-07
  Former Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif sentenced to 10 years in jail
Fri 2018-07-06
  600 airstrikes by Russian, Syrian jets against Daraa: Observatory
Thu 2018-07-05
  Scott Pruitt driven to resign effective July 6
Wed 2018-07-04
  Happy 4th of July! Rare US independence declaration found in UK archive
Tue 2018-07-03
  An Iranian diplomat was arrested in a plot to blow up a massive 'freedom' event attended by Rudy Giuliani
Mon 2018-07-02
  Cleveland FBI says it thwarted downtown Fourth of July terrorist attack
Sun 2018-07-01
  Islamist militants attack African military base in Mali, at least six dead

Better than the average link...



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