[CarolineGlick] The near consensus view of President Donald Trump’s decision to remove US special forces from the Syrian border with Turkey is that Trump is enabling a Turkish invasion and double crossing the Syrian Kurds who have fought with the Americans for five years against ISIS. Trump’s move, the thinking goes, harms US credibility and undermines US power in the region and throughout the world.
There are several problems with this narrative. The first is that it assumes that until this week, the US had power and influence in Syria when in fact, by design, the US went to great lengths to limit its ability to influence events in Syria.
...This brings us to the second flaw in the narrative about Trump’s removal of US forces from the Syrian border with Turkey.
The underlying assumption of the criticism is that America has an interest in confronting Turkey to protect the Kurds.
...The Kurds are a tragic people. The Kurds, who live as persecuted minorities in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran have been denied the right of self-determination for the past hundred years. But then, the Kurds have squandered every opportunity they have had to assert independence. The closest they came to achieving self-determination was in Iraq in 2017. In Iraqi Kurdistan, the Kurds have governed themselves effectively since 1992. In 2017, they overwhelmingly passed a referendum calling for Iraqi Kurdistan to secede from Iraq and form an independent state. Instead of joining forces to achieve their long-held dream, the Kurdish leaders in Iraq worked against one another. One faction, in alliance with Iran, blocked implementation of the referendum and then did nothing as Kurdish-controlled Kirkuk was overrun by Iraqi government forces.
The final assumption of the narrative regarding Trump’s moves in Syria is that by moving its forces away from the border ahead of the Turkish invasion, Trump harmed regional stability and America’s reputation as a trustworthy ally.
On the latter issue, Trump has spent the better part of his term in office rebuilding America’s credibility as an ally after Obama effectively abandoned the Sunnis and Israel in favor of Iran. To the extent that Trump has harmed US credibility, he didn’t do it in Syria this week by rejecting war with Turkey. He did it last month by failing to retaliate militarily against Iran’s brazen military attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil installations. Whereasthe US has no commitment to protect the Kurds, the US’s central commitment in the Middle East for the past 70 years has been the protection of Saudi oil installations and maintaining the safety of maritime routes in and around the Persian Gulf.
[NOLA] Multiple injuries have been reported after the under-construction Hard Rock Hotel in New Orleans collapsed Saturday morning.Three people were being taken to hospital in unknown condition, according to New Orleans EMS. More patients are possible.
The site is located at the corner of Canal and North Rampart streets.
"It sounded like a - I don't know how to describe it -- like a building coming down," said Matt Worges, who witnessed the collapse from a classroom in the nearby Tidewater Building. The video at the link is amazing.
#3
That was me posting. The building is on the upriver edge of the French Quarter. One confirmed dead, others injured or missing. One of the cranes is now standing (or swaying) there unsupported, so expect further developments.
The building used to be a perfectly good Woolworth's.
Posted by: Matt ||
10/12/2019 13:43
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#4
Expect more of this. The engineers probably had gender classes...
#7
Video won't play in full screen, so my take (as it is):
Building is thin deck concrete, probably with post-tensioning (to minimize mild steel reinforcing - a common design). Top decks may have been stripped of supports too early, before achieving strength or tensioning? Progressive collapse was weird - shouldn't have happened. I'd go with materials/construction means and methods before design flaws as first assumption. Not a unique design by any means
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/12/2019 18:03
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#8
I was waiting for you to comment Frank. Thanks.
Posted by: Matt ||
10/12/2019 18:56
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#9
Ditto.
"Begorrah!" snorts little Jacques Horner
As he blows up the shorts of some foreigner.
"'Tis the judgment of gawd:
They profaned the ould sod
By erecting their junk on that corner!"
"Also... betcha twenty puint I know where you got dat brogue!"
Posted by: Snoling Smiter of the Brontosaurs2338 ||
10/12/2019 19:42
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#10
Thx Matt - I'd first look at the materials' strength gain trial batches (well known by that point). I suspect schedule overrode
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/12/2019 22:33
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[American Thinker] President Trump’s decision to withdraw our few troops from the Syria-Turkey border area earned him considerable criticism from allies. Senator Lindsey Graham said the decision is "a catastrophe in the making." Representative Lin Cheney said it’s "a catastrophic mistake." Former UN Secretary Nikki Haley said, "We must always have the backs of our allies."
President Trump has answered these critics. The Kurds were engaged in a contractual relationship fighting the Islamic State (ISIS). They were well paid and equipped for their fighting, much like any mercenary group. Further, they were given three years to consolidate eastern Syria to feed their long-held desire to form an independent Kurdistan with other Kurds in Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. They failed.
The Kurds’ problem, and by association that of the U.S., is that regional powers like Turkey and to a lesser extent Iran and Syria have long held the Kurds in disdain. In fact, Turkey considers the Syrian Kurds to be allies of the Kurdistan Workers' Party or (PKK), which are Turkish Kurds and terrorists fighting for independence for the last 35 years.
Basically, the Kurds hijacked our fight with ISIS to feed their regional civil war to earn independence.
President Trump is aware of that agenda and is also trying to constrain American hawks who want to use our military willy-nilly across the world. Remember that Trump frequently said during his 2016 campaign that he wants to escape from endless wars and bring our fighters home.
Also, we need to ask ourselves whether the withdrawal of a few American troops really matters in the conflict either against ISIS, and did it really grant the Turkish government the "green light" to attack "terrorist" Kurds? Perhaps. The Syrian civil war which led to the rise of ISIS is over and the bloody dictator in Damascus won, thanks to the Russians and Iranians. We can blame Obama for that outcome, not Trump. And yes, the Turks have permission from Damascus to cross into Syria and they will now consolidate a buffer zone along the Syrian border to control terrorist actions fostered by the independence-minded Kurds and allow for millions of refugees to return home. I bet the U.S. would do the same if we had a similar problem on either of our borders with Mexico or Canada.
The pregnant question that Trump’s critics don’t answer is: Will ISIS return to fight another day? Not necessarily. Keep in mind that al Qaeda and ISIS are in many more places today than when U.S. forces first pursued them in the mountains of Afghanistan and in the northern plains of Iraq. Also, what remains of ISIS is trapped in a small area in Syria and if they make a ruckus that can be easily handled by Turkish and Russian airstrikes, and they won’t bother with concerns about collateral damage.
Another point about all the fake news about the Kurdish plight is evidence of a basic misunderstanding about the Middle East, which is locked in a constant cycle of war in part because of the English and French fools that redrew the maps after World War I.
Trump’s critics can learn about Middle Eastern culture by watching Lawrence of Arabia. Remember the first time that Lawrence goes into the desert his guide stops at some oasis. As the guide drinks from the well, a dark figure on a camel rides fast towards them and then shoots dead Lawrence’s guide. Lawrence is stunned and asks why the Arab killed the guide. The Arab responds, "He is Hazzami. He is nothing. He knew that he could not drink from our well."
Yes, much of the region is locked in tribal wars and they don’t want democracy. Further, and in part because of those tribal wars, we do not need to stay there another day, much less a century. Rather, let the regional players handle these problems and leave the larger security challenges like China and Russia to the United States.
#1
Nobody ever says much about how Americans who think like a typical Rantburger would feel about say, hypothetically, Canadian troops sent into the US to "protect" Latin American "refugees." (Especially if those refugees were SanFran Nan's "spark of divinity" MS-13 pets) It's an interesting thought experiment
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/12/2019 9:19
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#2
I explored your thought experiment to the sad end, M.
Quebec and Toronto ended up as markets for Salvadoran meth, Trudeau was almost assassinated by an irate mother of an addict and strangely tattooed men with dead eyes began appearing in local canadian news.
[Jerusalem Post] A US federal judge in New York on Friday temporarily blocked a Trump administration rule that would deny visas to aspiring immigrants deemed likely to require government assistance, calling it "repugnant to the American Dream."
The rule, finalized in August, vastly expanded who could be considered a possible "public charge," applying to anyone who might in the future need temporary government help such as food stamps, Medicaid or housing aid. Previously it applied to immigrants who would be primarily dependent on the government.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rule, if ultimately allowed to take effect, could be the most drastic of the Trump administration's hardline anti-immigration policies, experts have said.
Pushed by Trump's leading aide on immigration, Stephen Miller, the rule was due to go into effect on Tuesday.
But Judge George Daniels of the Southern District of New York blocked the rule nationwide, finding that the government failed to provide "any reasonable explanation" for why the definition of "public charge" needed to be changed. Appointed by Bill Clinton
It will now be on hold while the underlying legal challenges proceed.
#3
If any branch of government needs reform, it's this one. Maybe Trump should start packing these guys off to Gitmo or some other place, off the radar as potential terrorists. Maybe a stan where they can serve as in cell entertainment for the inmates.
#7
During the next term, we really have to find a way to remove tyrants that make up law from the bench. And also make it so a district judge can't block the entire fucking US.
#12
Repugnant to whose American Dream? Certainly not mine. I don't sleep at night having sweet dreams of paying taxes to provide health, education and welfare for millions of deadbeat Third World types.
And exactly which section of the Constitution is violated by the new rule?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
10/12/2019 10:57
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#15
How the hell does the Southern District of NY apply a ban nationally? They are a district court. They should not have reach outside of their district - ot the appeals region at most.
Posted by: Marilyn Tojo7566 ||
10/12/2019 21:33
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[Free Beacon - Jan 2019] Rep. Adam Schiff (D., Calif.) is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, which means he gets to appear on cable news a lot, and is a recurring character in the fan-fiction fever dreams of the Anti-Drumpf Resistance.
Speaking of fan fiction, the New Yorker reports that Schiff has been moonlighting as a screenwriter for years:
"The first was a post-Holocaust story called ’Remnant.’ " As Schiff recalled, "I had an agent at William Morris tell me it was good but no one would want to see it‐too depressing. Then ’Schindler’s List’ came out, and I was, like, ’Come on!’ " His next, written when he was a prosecutor, was a murder mystery called "Minotaur." "I had a friend who was a producer, and he said there were two answers in Hollywood‐’Yes,’ and ’Here’s a check.’ I was getting lots of yeses." But perhaps there is hope for his third. "It’s a spy drama," he said. "That one is a work in progress."
Schiff will presumably be pretty busy investigating the Trump administration and appearing on CNN, but let's hope he finds the time to finish that spy drama. In the meantime, here are a few other ideas to keep his creative juices flowing.
The congressman could start by teaming up with CNN celebrity journalist Jim Acosta to bring his forthcoming bestseller‐"The Enemy of the People: A Dangerous Time to Tell the Truth in America"‐to the big screen. Given the subject matter, Schiff should have no problem pumping the script full of high-octane suspense. The moment our protagonist learns the bullies in the White House press office tried to ban cameras in the briefing room. Or the time they tried to take his press pass and he fought back with a vengeance. Or the time Stephen Miller blanked him in the hallway, or whatever.
[RedState] ...McCabe said the FBI opened its case in late July 2016 based on information about Trump adviser George Papadopoulos.
"We open the case, and then we think, ’OK, now who are we actually going to investigate?’" McCabe said at the event, which aired Tuesday on C-SPAN.
"Who do we know who is associated with the campaign who has known, significant ties to Russian intelligence?" he asked rhetorically. "We quickly come up with four names that will not surprise you."
Wait, so they started the investigation without even knowing who they were going to investigate? Why, it’s almost as if they were simply fishing around Trump’s campaign for political reasons. "Give me the man, I'll give you the crime"?
#2
Wait, so they started the investigation without even knowing who they were going to investigate? Why, it’s almost as if they were simply fishing around Trump’s campaign for political reasons.
All of a sudden this guy gets religion and tells the truth? Not likely. CYA attempt. His book seemed self-serving as well.
#4
That 10k looms large again as someone wanted a lever to turn him into a CI and collection asset. Almost as if he was never the target, just a doorway into the larger arena. Sounds a lot more like tradecraft than law enforcement.
[Red State] Democrats have been trying to get President Donald Trump out of office pretty much since he was elected. They’ve never been able to accept that he won.
Because of that, the American people have had to deal with things like the Russia collusion hoax and the Mueller probe, and now the Ukraine effort. Thanks Democrats, for constantly being divisive because you didn’t get your own way.
Perhaps the best example of this is the 2016 candidate, Hillary Clinton herself.
She just hasn’t been able to deal with the loss and has been left to trying to poke at Trump on social media.
She tried this tweet attacking Trump which was completely lacking in self-awareness.
[Hot Air] PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) - Portland Fire & Rescue responds to fires that start in homeless encampments often several times a day, according to data.
Some have been as small as a garbage fire, while others have been known to spread to homes.
"Our call volume does have an increased amount that is a result of some kind of emergency or crisis that is happening with our homeless population," said Lt. Rich Chatman with Portland Fire & Rescue. "That’s a fact of life and we’ve just really come to understand that this is part of our job now."
The FOX 12 Investigators requested data for fires started in homeless encampments from July 2017 to July 2019.
It showed Portland Fire & Rescue responded to more than 1,000 fires in those two years. It also showed they’re usually responding to these fires several times a day.
Take May 29 of this year: Data shows Portland crews responded to 10 fire calls at homeless camps.
"During our summer months, we know that fires we’re going to deal with often have to do with how dry the brush or trees are and that’s especially concerning to us because those fires that start maybe from a cooking fire or some sorts outdoors that can cause a much larger fire that can affect many more homes," said Chatman. "During the winter months, often times, the fires are people just trying to keep warm and that’s something we obviously have compassion to."
Back in July, a homeless camp caught fire near Southeast 96th Avenue and Steele Street. It spread across the street to a home, burning part of the roof.
"Something in the camp exploded," said Joanna Hartvickson.
Hartvickson lives next door to the home that caught fire.
#3
Little wonder - imagine how big that carbon footprint is!
My understanding is that California's wild fires put more than 10 times more carbon into the atmosphere than all of the fossil fuel emissions. Further, many of these fires would have been prevented if we spent the money that we squander on so-called green energy to bury power lines and manage our forests. But I suppose our politicians feel they can signal more virtue by buying wind and solar energy.
But those old hobos in the picture look like they're having good time.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
10/12/2019 11:53
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[10 News] The Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned comments made by President Donald Trump's at a rally on Thursday in Minneapolis about the state of Minnesota's Somali population as "racist."
The comments that drew the ire of the group that advocates for Muslims in America:
"Leaders in Washington brought large numbers of refugees to your state from Somalia without considering the impact on schools and communities and taxpayers. We will always protect American families first," Trump said to jeers from the crowd.
Estimates place the Somali population around 50,000 in the Minneapolis area. Among the Somali-Americans residing in the Minneapolis area is Rep. Illhan Omar, a first-term Democrat. Omar has been a frequent target of Trump and his supporters. At previous rallies, the crowd has chanted "Send Her Back."
"How the hell did that ever happen?" Trump said about Omar's election. "Congresswoman Omar is an America-hating socialist." True
"President Trump's hate rhetoric places the entire Somali community in Minnesota and nationwide in danger from the growing white supremacist movement that looks to him for validation and encouragement," said CAIR's state of Minnesota Executive Director Jaylani Hussein.
#3
CAIR has deep connections with the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah and Hamas. It should have been long shuttered and their offices and properties seized.
Members of the Minnesota branch of the Muslim American Society were investigated for antisemitic rhetoric. Some fine residents of Minnesota have traveled to Syria and Somalia, some have actively funded and supported the Al Shabab in various ways. It's safe to assume they all love the US like a cancer loves its host.
One of these could be from Minneapolis. Worse, he'll be coming back to vote !
#5
"Leaders in Washington brought large numbers of refugees to your state from Somalia without considering the impact on schools and communities and taxpayers. We will always protect American families first," Trump said to jeers from the crowd.
Any jeers from the crowd were directed at those who placed 50,000 Somalis in Minnesota.
That would be the Dems trying to expand their voter base.
It's a shame with all that prime beach front property and the Mediterranean climate that Gaza is not richer than Monaco. I can only guess that it has something to do with the people who live there.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
10/12/2019 12:46
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#12
Past time to do something about that whole "un-indited conspirator" thing.
#15
CAIR has deep connections with the Muslim Brotherhood,
Just as Hamas is the Muslim Brotherhood in the Palestinian Territories, so is CAIR — along with several other organizations — the Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S.
#16
IN San Diego we determined that they were creating a tribal kleptocracy, with a large number of the males getting jobs as taxi drivers to both scout, transport stolen goods, and fleece the tourists. They offer nothing of value beyond virtue signaling for idiot bureaucrats as near as I can tell. When my partner and I approached a DHS senior intel analyst in 2007 about why they were still being allowed in, her response about their melanin content said it all,,,
[Business Insider] Federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York are investigating whether Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump's personal lawyer and the former mayor of New York, broke laws governing foreign lobbying, The New York Times reported Friday night.
The investigation is related to his work with Ukraine; two sources familiar with the investigation told The Times that investigators are looking into his role in the recall of former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie L. Yovanovitch, who has been a foreign service officer for 33 years and was removed this spring before her post was up.
Yovannovitch appeared for a nine-hour, closed-door deposition on Capitol Hill related to an impeachment inquiry into President Trump. In her opening statement, which was released by Politico, she said that Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan told her she "had done nothing wrong" and said there was a "concerted campaign' to remove her, and that the department had been "under pressure from the President to remove [her] since Summer of 2018." Nine hours of desperation. If she had anything to spill it would've already happened while she was still testifying
#5
Funny how they start investigating Giuliani only after they learn that Giuliani is investigating Biden. But I think Biden is not their real concern. Their fear is much too obvious. I think the Ukraine scandal has touched a donkycrat nerve that goes way beyond Biden.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
10/12/2019 11:39
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#6
At what point did the Southern District of New York arrogate the authority to monitor the entire US as its 'jurisdiction' ?
#7
IMO, they're going to discover the difference between a (relatively) straightforward soldier like Mike Flynn and the guy who was a mayor of Big Apple
#9
The Dems tends keep pushing phony narratives and made up evidence, they will be sorry they ever opened that door as it will revisit them sometime in the future. That's the way dirty, under-handed politics go.
[MilitaryTimes] U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in Syria claim a Turkish air strike targeted a training camp housing a secretive coalition-trained commando force.
Turkish forces launched an operation to clear Kurdish militants from northern Syria on Wednesday following the withdrawal of a small number of U.S. special operations forces from the area.
The Syrian Democratic Forces press office on Thursday Tweeted out pictures it claimed were of the bombed out training camp.
The SDF claim the camp housed members of the Yekineyen Anti-terror, or YAT ‐ an anti-ISIS commando force that the SDF says "operates alongside" U.S. forces and the coalition.
Photos posted by the SDF and YPG press offices have often depicted the anti-ISIS counterterror force brandishing American weapons, optics and night vision devices associated with other U.S.-trained commando partner forces across the Middle East.
Turkey has long complained to the U.S. of the YPG’s affiliation to the internationally designated terrorist group known as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK.
But the SDF says Turkey is now targeting the very forces tasked with taking out ISIS sleeper cells. On Saturday, a YAT unit captured ISIS commander Shafaq al-Hachim, according to the SDF press office.
Destroying the commando unit could further jeopardize anti-ISIS operations and allow the jihadi group to reemerge and mobilize larger forces on the battlefield.
Turkey doesn’t really object to the presence of ISIS — they had a nice little quid pro quo going after the Erdogan-Assad friendship broke up, until the Kurds and the Coalition messed it up.
[MilitaryTimes] They started out like the Minutemen and ended up as a seasoned fighting force that wiped out most of ISIS in Syria.
And now the Syrian Democratic Forces are fighting off a massive Turkish invasion with no assistance from the U.S. military, according to a former U.S. special operator who worked with Syrian Kurds while in uniform and now with the SDF through a non-governmental organization.
"What I understand, we have stopped any support," said the former commando, who spoke to Military Times on the condition of anonymity to speak freely about the ongoing situation.
Officials from U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the region, referred questions to the Pentagon, which did not immediately respond to this or any other recent queries about the situation in northeastern Syria.
"I am disillusioned," said the former commando. "I am embarrassed. I am at a loss for words. Seventy-two hours ago, we were running patrols together. Everyone was waiving and continuing to clean up and watch for Daesh. Then, all of a sudden, the playground bully comes along and we ran away from our brothers, leaving them to fight the bully all by themselves."
Prior to Tuesday’s long-promised invasion by Turkish forces, which came in the wake of President Donald Trump’s decision to pull a small cadre of commandos out of the area, the U.S. provided the SDF with a wide array of military support, the former commando said. Based on what he is hearing from his personnel on the ground, the former commando says that it appears Turkey, a NATO ally, has far exceeded its initial goal of an 18-mile buffer zone that runs in a salient south of the Turkey-Syria border. Also:
"I think this is completely idiotic, from a strategic aspect," he said. "We have seized all of eastern Syria and isolated the Assad regime from the Russians and Iranians. Now we are just going to open a ground bridge between Iran and the Mediterranean. For what, because (Trump) says we are fighting other people’s wars?"
Another problem created by the Turkish invasion is that in addition to taking the heat of ISIS, the SDF says it will no longer make containing ISIS prisoners ‐ said to number in the tens of thousands ‐ a top priority. Their escape would add to concerns that ISIS, which has yet to be completely defeated, will have a resurgence.
The Kurds "are great soldiers, very trainable," said the former commando. "They are probably the closest Western mentality for ethics that you could find in that region of the world."
#3
Syrian Democratic Forces is a lie. It's just a label that the unelected US government came up with to make their loose association of war criminals look better than the other loose association of war criminals.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
10/12/2019 10:15
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#4
"I think this is completely idiotic, from a strategic aspect," he said. "We have seized all of eastern Syria and isolated the Assad regime from the Russians and Iranians. Now we are just going to open a ground bridge between Iran and the Mediterranean. For what, because (Trump) says we are fighting other people’s wars?"
Trump's not wrong. We ARE fighting other people's wars, and for what? What benefit is there to the American people? None. None whatsoever.
These people are SO locked in to their tiny worldview that they can't see outside it. It's like they're playing Risk by Milton Bradley and all they can see is that Trump made them pull their armies off a territory on the board. And they're hopping mad about it, because the object of Risk is to conquer the entire world.
Our objective isn't to conquer the entire world. It's to make a better life for the American people. These people are just blind to this aspect of life. All they can see is "conquer the next territory".
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
10/12/2019 10:18
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#5
I gotta agree with Herb on this one. Let the Russians ,TUrks and whoever else is in there kill each other. It's time too stop being the world police and and nation building shit when no one is ever grateful anyways.
Posted by: chris ||
10/12/2019 10:23
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#6
Whenever there is unity in the MSM about Trump abandoning the Kurds, it raises my suspicions.
#7
My latest theory is that if Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria all contributed enough territory for the Kurds to have their own country that it wouldn't be long before the Kurds started fighting among themselves for control of the new country. Then all the Middle East hawks in the US, and all the Euroweenies who could never do it themselves, would insist that the American military intervene in the Kurdistan Civil War to keep them from murdering each other. Boy, is that a far-fetched theory or what?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
10/12/2019 10:53
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#9
'And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.'
- GAWD
While I don't put much faith in Josephus' account of genealogies, the Kurds are supposedly descended from Assyrians and Turks, and them from Ishmael (?).
An Oklahoma woman was shot in the leg during a car ride ‐ by an excitable puppy that jumped on a loaded gun, according to cops.
Tina Springer, 44, was hit in the left thigh after her driver’s yellow Labrador, Molly, jumped on a .22-caliber handgun in a folding center console, according to the Enid News & Eagle.
"I had a dog in there and he stepped on the gun," driver Brent Parks, 79, told a 911 dispatcher. "The dog went stepped on it and it went off."
"The dog shot her?" the surprised-sounding dispatcher asked, to which Parks replied, "Yeah. He stepped on it and it went off."
Parks, who used his belt as a makeshift tourniquet, could be heard telling off his 7-month-old pet. "Well Molly, you’re the one who pulled that trigger. Don’t give me no s‐t," he "mutt"-ered at one point.
#4
Mildly entertaining audio of 911 call. Favorite bit's at 5:00. He tries to play the game, but eventually... "That's the stupidest g-dd-mn thing I ever heard about... shoulda just took ya in myself..."
Which pretty much sums up my feeling about every 911 call I've ever been involved in. A breath of fresh air on a balmy beachy afternoon.
Posted by: Snoling Smiter of the Brontosaurs2338 ||
10/12/2019 19:15
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#5
Florida dog would have been driving, the man naked and jumping around the cab, and the gal is normal - except she talks backwards
#6
Now, if it'd been a big-ass catfish floppin' around the cab that set the gun off, he'd have been in the running. Or not. Maybe an illegal imported invasive catfish.
Posted by: Snoling Smiter of the Brontosaurs2338 ||
10/12/2019 20:10
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[Babylon Bee] U.S.‐As part of her campaign, Elizabeth Warren has begun sharing stories illustrating the hardship and discrimination she’s faced. Recently, she revealed a particularly tough time back in the early '70s when she lost a teaching job because her fake mustache had fallen off, revealing she was, in fact, a woman. Warren declared it a pivotal incident that shaped much of her life.
"It was tough for a woman back then," Warren said at a campaign stop. "You had to wear fake facial hair and talk in a deep voice, or people would fire you." Warren then detailed an incident from back when she was 22 years old and holding a teaching position. Somehow the spirit gum wore off, and her mustache fell off in the middle of a meeting. She was met with cries of "That’s a woman!" before being chased out of the building followed by shouts of "Jobs are for men!"
Some right-wing news outlets have disputed the story, citing a 2007 interview in which Warren talked about losing the job. In it, she mentions problems with a teaching certificate but nothing about fake facial hair. Still, others have backed up Warren, saying it was very common for women to lose jobs in the '70s when a fake mustache or beard or other disguise failed, revealing the employee’s actual gender.
Warren says things have improved for women since, but they could still be better. To help the situation, she announced a plan to fund R&D for an adhesive that will easily keep mustaches in place all day.
[PJ] Everybody knows that electric cars are going to save the planet from climate change or something. Unlike regular cars, which run on gasoline and make all the polar bears cry as they sink into the sea, electric cars are powered by... um... magic? Mjölnir, the hammer of Thor? That must be how it works, or else owning an electric car would impose some sort of cost to the environment. And that can't be, or those guys wouldn't be so insufferably smug.
You know those intentional blackouts they're having in California to reduce the risk of wildfires? Well, guess what happens now?
So if you're a Californian who bought an electric car to save the environment, now you can't drive it because of the risk to the environment. If you really cared about the planet, you wouldn't go anywhere or do anything or participate in 21st-century life at all.
Whatever happened to those algae-powered cars we were supposed to have by now? Remember Obama talking about those? Imagine driving around smelling like a dirty fish tank. Smirking at all those planet-killing dummies in their outdated electric cars. That's the thing about being woke. There's always somebody woker.
#2
The Flintstones were more woke
because they used pedal power.
Of course, Fred must have eaten a lot of hay
and made a mess of the street out the other end.
And of course, he must have produced more methane gas out the back end too after working himself up with all that exercise.
#5
the wa state legislators passed a bill that became effective first of this month to add $75 a year to car tabs of hybrid and all electric cars. but money can only be used for building out charging stations. so my non plug in camry gets no benefit.
in 6 years that fee is to go to general road maintenance fund but i am not betting on it.
#6
The real bitch is when the wild fires are raging, electrical power has been shut off, the batteries have been run down and their homes are surrounded by choking smoke and towering flames, the owners of electric cars will have to use good old foot power to get the hell outta there.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
10/12/2019 12:16
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#7
AU: i would contend the REAL bitch would be the electric car users having to lower themselves to an evacuation ride in a carbon-spewing vehicle.....
[The Federalist] Trade with China has been a factor in American capitalism since the birth of the republic, but only in the 21st century has it become a truly massive driver of American corporate wealth. But a funny thing happened on the way to the bank: The American influencer became the influenced. Trade is a two-way street that is meant to be mutually beneficial, but American trade with China has turned into a trade of our values for their money.
Corporations that we used to think of as American wear that allegiance very lightly these days, if at all. Their executives are happy to keep their headquarters here and live here. They love that our Constitution gives them and their owners secure property rights and that our taxation regime is not as onerous as some places and is fairly predictable. They love that our First Amendment gives them the right to advocate whatever cause is popular this week among their class of bien pensant elites.
But these leaders of woke capitalism aren’t so keen on extending those same rights to ordinary people. Their loyalty is to the dollar, not the flag. They outsource production to China, which is bad enough, but in doing so they sell out more than the individual workers whose factories they shutter. Importing Chinese goods and Chinese profits means importing the values of the Chinese Communist Party. On free speech, consumer protections, workers’ rights, the environment, and more, our open trade with China has rendered our laws null and replaced them with the dictates of a hostile, totalitarian state.
NEW YORK (AP) ‐ Jane Fonda was arrested at the U.S. Capitol on Friday while peacefully protesting climate change.
The actress and activist was handcuffed on the east side steps and escorted into a police vehicle. Video of the arrest circulated online.
Fonda was one of 16 people arrested for unlawfully protesting and was charged with "crowding, obstructing or incommoding." She was released hours later.
On Thursday, the actress vowed to join Friday protests at the Capitol "inspired and emboldened by the incredible movement our youth have created."
Ira Arlook, of the group Fire Drill Fridays, confirmed that Fonda was arrested at the inaugural demonstration Friday.
Before her arrest, Fonda in a speech called climate change "a collective crisis that demands collective action now."
#5
So there weren't any North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gunners around to protect her? How soon they forget.
Posted by: Matt ||
10/12/2019 11:49
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#6
Ms Fonda was granted a four month hiatus from the filming of season 6 of the Netflix series “Grace and Frankie” just so she could go to Washington and get arrested every Friday. If, during the rest of the week, she quietly gets a little more work done, no need to say anything specific about her ageless beauty.
Set up the standing headline as the rich old lady indulges herself.
#7
JANE FONDA ARRESTED. A pause.
On further reflection, guffaws:
I must really be ancient
To think of Ms. Jane, "Ain't
She got a morality clause?"
Posted by: Snoling Smiter of the Brontosaurs2338 ||
10/12/2019 14:29
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#8
no need to say anything specific about her ageless beauty.
*SNORT*
Speaking of Netflix, is there something going on there? I canceled my account awhile back - more for time reasons than their changing content - but lately they've been bugging me repeatedly to come back.
[Washington Examiner] President Trump decided to recall the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine based on foreign allegations that his own political appointees at the State Department regarded as false, according to the ousted envoy. See graphic at right for additional 'sacred trust' perspective.
"I ‐ like my colleagues at the State Department ‐ have always believed that we enjoyed a sacred trust with our government," Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch said in her prepared statement to House lawmakers on Friday. "We believe in America and its special role in the world. We also believe that, in return, our government will have our backs and protect us if we come under attack from foreign interests. That basic understanding no longer holds true."
Yovanovitch, 60, rooted that assessment in the circumstances surrounding the abrupt end to her tenure as the top U.S. diplomat in Kyiv, a controversy that proved a foreshock of the political earthquake caused by Trump’s push for Ukrainian officials to investigate his Democratic rivals. The ambassador denied any political bias against Trump, but argued that he was duped by former Ukrainian officials who regarded her anti-corruption efforts as a threat.
"Our efforts were intended, and evidently succeeded, in thwarting corrupt interests in Ukraine, who fought back by selling baseless conspiracy theories to anyone who would listen," Yovanovitch said. "Sadly, someone was listening, and our nation is the worse off for that."
Her prepared statement is an extraordinary rebuke of a sitting president by a career foreign service officer, all the more scathing because she remains a government employee. House Democrats issued a subpoena for her testimony after the the Trump administration objected to her appearing in the absence of a State Department attorney. Nice bit of opinion-writing by the Washington Examiner Deep Stater
As a diplomat you work for the Orange Man, not the other way around. If you had a shred of integrity you would have resigned at the start if this is your attitude. Clear indication you should have been flushed at the start.
#8
Biden made Ukraine fire top prosecutor investigating son’s firm
Two years after leaving office, Joe Biden couldn’t resist the temptation last year to brag to an audience of foreign policy specialists about the time as vice president that he strong-armed Ukraine into firing its top prosecutor.
In his own words, with video cameras rolling, Biden described how he threatened Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in March 2016 that the Obama administration would pull $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees, sending the former Soviet republic toward insolvency, if it didn’t immediately fire Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin.
“I said, ‘You’re not getting the billion.’ I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money,’” Biden recalled telling Poroshenko.
#11
Explain your sacred trust when the plane load of cash landed in Iran? Or deaths in Benghazi? Or surrender to Cuba? Or open borders? Fast and Furious? Allowing Saudi’s to leave USA after 911?......
[The Hill] The Pentagon announced Friday that the U.S. will deploy additional personnel, aircraft and missile defense equipment to Saudi Arabia in response to Iranian aggression.
The U.S. will send two fighter squadrons, one Air Expeditionary Wing, two Patriot missile system batteries holding missiles and a launcher, and one Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement.
"As we have stated, the United States does not seek conflict with the Iranian regime, but we will retain a robust military capability in the region that is ready to respond to any crisis and will defend U.S. forces and interest in the region," Hoffman said.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper had authorized the deployment last month at the request of U.S. Central Command and informed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the country's defense minister of the action earlier Friday.
"Taken together with other deployments this constitutes an additional 3,000 forces that have been extended or authorized within the last month," Hoffman said.
[AnNahar] French authorities have confiscated the service weapons of two police members over fears of Islamist radicalization, sources said Friday, in the wake of the stabbing to death last week of four police staff.
The assailant in the October 3 attack was a police IT expert who converted to Islam about 10 years ago and, according to Sherlocks, had adopted increasingly radical beliefs.
The interior ministry has been under immense pressure to explain how it missed potential warning signs from an employee who had worked for years at the Gay Paree police headquarters where he stabbed four colleagues to death with a kitchen knife and an oyster shucker.
The two police members were disarmed over suspicions that they too had become radicalized, a source in the Gay Paree police said, without giving their names or ranks.
A request has been filed to suspend one of them, the source added. All French police carry semi-automatic pistols as service weapons.
The interior ministry has set up a dedicated cell to track potential Islamist murderous Moslems within the ranks of the security forces.
Le Gay Pareeien newspaper reported this week that 19 interior ministry employees were under surveillance.
Oh dear. That doesn’t sound good.
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner has admitted there had been a "malfunction" in not reporting warning signals from the attacker, Mickael Harpon, who had defended the massacre of 12 people at the Charlie Hebdo ...A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe... newspaper in Gay Paree by two brothers vowing allegiance to al-Qaeda.
French President Emmanuel Macron blamed Harpon's attack on "a distorted, deadly Islam" and vowed to build in La Belle France a "society in a state of vigilance."
#3
I'm surprised the French did something other than the usual denials of any conflict with Islam. Got to give them a little credit for that. However...
The interior ministry has set up a dedicated cell to track potential Islamist murderous Moslems within the ranks of the security forces.
We seen dis movie before. In the final scene, after the big massacre, the camera pans slowly across a room full of filing cabinets labeled Loup Solitaire
#4
I'll bet the dedicated cell has itself one or two Abduls in it. The Obama theory that muslims would understand this kind of terrorism better, hence what we need is more muslims in the security structure.
#5
Is it just me, or hasn't there been remarkably little said or shown, during coverage of this latest kerfuffle, of the drab old hulk waaaay over yonder past the Parvis?
Posted by: Snoling Smiter of the Brontosaurs2338 ||
10/12/2019 10:28
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[APS.DZ] Representative of the Polisario Front at the United Nations, Sidi Mohamed Omar, said Thursday in New York that the United Nations must not "allow the law of the strongest to prevail" in the Western Sahara conflict, adding that the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination "could not be supplanted by colonial realities."
#Now Both Tall Abiad and Ser Kaniye national hospitals are out of serivces due to intensive shelling by #Turkey aggression in NE #Syria. The red crescent calls @UN and other humanitarian agencies for urgent support. pic.twitter.com/G8xgfW9byA
[IsraelTimes] Strip’s terrorist rulers face rare criticism as residents grow wary of violent Hamas, the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,-led mass ’March of Return’ rallies that have left hundreds dead or maimed in face-off with IDF.
Ahmed Abu Artima was one of the founders of the "Great March of Return," the weekly protests along Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... ’s frontier with Israel meant to draw attention to the plight of the territory’s two million people. But these days, he mostly avoids the demonstrations.
Continued on Page 49
[IsraelTimes] 4,000 Paleostinians take part in weekly demonstrations, with hundreds throwing rocks and explosives at IDF troops.
Over 4,000 Paleostinian demonstrators took part in weekly protests Friday along the border between the Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip and Israel, with several hundred rioting and clashing with Israeli troops.
Rioters threw rocks and bombs at troops who responded with tear gas and live fire.
The Hamas, a regional Iranian catspaw,-run health ministry in Gaza said 49 Paleostinians were maimed in the festivities, 21 from live fire.
In once instance video footage appeared to show a smoke grenade going off inside an Israel Defense Forces vehicle during rioting along the border. It was unclear from the footage, filmed from the Paleostinian side, who threw the grenade.
The film showed soldiers backing away from the vehicle as smoke billowed out and Paleostinians could be seen running toward the border fence, with a number throwing rocks in the direction of the soldiers.
Operation Peace Spring frees #ISIS from #Kurdish grip For 2nd time, #Turkish army bombed #Jirkin prison in #Qamishli, capital of #Kurds, and where there are a large number of ISIS fighters.#ISIS move freely in northern #Syria after escaping from prisons #BaghdadPost
#3
Going to be honest, I thought the Kurds were smarter than this. Shoot them. I'm not being smart here, you shoot the damn non-uniformed enemy dead. Doubly so if captured and trying to escape.
Posted by: Charles ||
10/12/2019 4:32
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#4
I do believe I called this yesterday
Posted by: chris ||
10/12/2019 10:38
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#5
I thought the Kurds were smarter than this. Shoot them.
The problem is that the world, especially major donors to the Kurds like Germany, was watching closely.
#6
The world shall perish because of indecisive bastards who'd rather not do anything and still live in constant threat of losing their jobs. I'd rather do something and make excuses later. God knows this whole human dispensation loves excuses, always ready to accept a story of frailty.
There's a whole industry for excuse-making called politics. In a world such as this, it should be the easiest thing to get away with a few thousand dead terrorists.
[PRESSTV] Ottoman Turkish military forces and allied Death Eaters from the so-called Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... (FSA) are facing stiff resistance by Kurds in northern Syria, says a monitoring group.
The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday, "There is heavy fighting between the SDF (the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces, which is an anti-Damascus alliance of predominantly Kurdish Death Eaters) and the Turks on different fronts, mostly from (the towns of) Tal Abyad to Ras al-Ayn."
The observatory said the Ottoman Turkish operation involves Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s as well as heavy artillery and rocket fire.
"The SDF are using tunnels, trenches and berms" in their defense operations, the war monitor said.
It noted that four civilians bit the dust in Tal Abyad when an airstrike hit the car in which they were fleeing, while another three were rubbed out by snipers around the border town.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[DAILYTIMES.PK] The Supreme Court on Thursday acquitted Umar Adeel a 20-time death sentence ...the barbaric practice of sentencing a murderer to be punished for as long as his/her/its victim is dead... convict involved in RA Bazar Rawalpindi suicide kaboom case. There's never sufficient evidence if you don't want it there.
Umar Adeel Khan was accused of assisting jacket wallah. A suicide blast on a bus in Rawalpindi in 2007, killed 20 people and injured 36.
Continued on Page 49
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[DAILYSABAH] The Pentagon said Friday it has approved the deployment of 3,000 additional troops and military hardware to 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... to boost the country's defenses in the wake of attacks on its oil installations blamed on Iran.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper authorized the deployment of two more Patriot missile batteries, one THAAD ballistic missile interception system, two fighter squadrons and one air expeditionary wing, the Pentagon said in a statement.
"Secretary Esper informed Saudi Crown Prince and Minister of Defense Mohammad bin Salman this morning of the additional troop deployment to assure and enhance the defense of Saudi Arabia," it said.
"Taken together with other deployments this constitutes an additional 3,000 forces that have been extended or authorized within the last month," it said.
The Saudi prince had requested additional support, Esper said.
Since May, the U.S. has increased the number of its forces by about 14,000 in the Central Command area covering the Middle East, the defense department said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Is the additional troops going to come from the USA bases or from Middle east bases?
[DAILYSABAH] The Netherlands will freeze all weapons exports to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... over Ankara's anti-terror operation in northern Syria, the Dutch foreign ministry said Friday.
"The Netherlands have now decided to withhold all license applications for the export of military goods to Turkey pending the course of the situation," the ministry said in a statement sent to AFP.
The move comes in the wake of Foreign Minister Sigrid Kaag's announcement in the Dutch parliament Thursday that all military licence applications by Turkey would be turned down "unless there is clear proof that the goods are not being used in northeastern Syria."
The Netherlands, which is a fellow NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... partner with Turkey, also called on EU member states to "exercise restraint and closely follow the criteria for arms exports" to Turkey.
The Netherlands is responsible for about 8% of Europe ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... 's total arms exports to Turkey, according to figures by the Amsterdam-based research and campaign organization Stop Wapenhandel.
This included mainly parts for tanks and armored vehicles, as well as technology and parts for fighter planes and attack helicopters, Stop Wapenhandel said in a report released in 2017.
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[DAILYSABAH] A total of 10 civilians have been killed and dozens more maimed in mortar attacks launched by the People's Protection Units (YPG) on civilian areas in southeastern The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... 's Mardin and Sanliurfa provinces on Friday.
In a single attack on the Nusaybin district of southeastern Turkey's Mardin, the PKK's Syrian offshoot YPG killed eight civilians and maimed at least 35 others on Friday evening, the local governor's office said.
Earlier Friday, the YPG targeted civilian areas in southeastern Sanliurfa province's Suruc district Friday, killing two civilians with mortar shells fired from across the Syrian border.
The shells hit a house in the district, while three more mortars fell in an empty lot in the district.
YPG turbans have fired dozens of mortars into Ottoman Turkish border towns since the start of Turkey's Operation Peace Spring in northeast Syria on Oct. 9. With the latest attack, the civilian corpse count from YPG attacks has reached nine.
The attack came just hours after two journalists were maimed YPG turbans after they opened fire on a restaurant in Nusaybin, in southeastern Turkey's Mardin province near the Syrian border.
The attack also comes a day after three people, including a 9-month-old baby and an 11-year-old girl, were killed and 46 civilians were maimed in mortar attacks in Sanliurfa. In the Nusaybin district of Mardin, a mother and her two teenage daughters were also killed Thursday and 24 people were maimed in attacks by the YPG.
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[AA.TR] Amid The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund... 's push against YPG/PKK Death Eaters in northern Syria, a mob of supporters of the terrorist PKK in eastern Belgium reportedly attacked Ottoman Turkish citizens on Friday.
Nearly 300 supporters of the PKK gathered in the evening at Saint Lambert square in the city of Liege to protest Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring, launched this Wednesday in northern Syria to fight the terrorist YPG/PKK, the Syrian offshoot of the PKK.
The terrorist supporters injured two Ottoman Turkish citizens with knives and sharp objects, said sources on the ground.
The injured sought treatment at nearby hospitals, they added.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
They self identified as Turkish Presidential Guards.
[DAILYSABAH] Russia on Friday blocked a U.N. Security Council statement calling on The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... to halt its military operation in northeastern Syria, diplomats told AFP.
The U.S.-drafted text had been due to be adopted at 1930 GMT, but Moscow intervened to stop it, one of the sources said.
China followed Russia in halting the procedure in its tracks, a diplomat added, requesting anonymity.
The initial version of the text, proposed by the United States following a divisive ...politicians call things divisive when when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive, they're principled... Security Council meeting on Thursday, had called for Ankara "to return to diplomacy for security reasons."
But the language in the final draft was hardened to call for a stop to the operation following arguments made by concerned Security Council members over the past 24 hours.
"The members of the Security Council expressed deep concern over the Ottoman Turkish military operation and its implications, including humanitarian and security dimensions," the blocked statement was to say.
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[RUDAW.NET] The Iraqi government is responsible for the deaths of protesters in a "dangerous escalation of violence" in recent demonstrations, even if rogue security elements were the ones pulling the trigger, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the country’s highest Shiite religious authority, said in a statement on Friday after the government officially denied ordering the killings.
One hundred and three protesters and security force members were killed and 4,035 people were maimed in festivities during six days of nationwide protests over corruption, lack of government services, unemployment, and nepotism.
The government denied ordering security forces to shoot protesters, but, in another blow to the beleaguered administration of Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi, Sistani said he would hold the government responsible.
"The government and its security forces are responsible for the abundance of blood spilled in the protests of the last days, whether be it from innocent civilians or security forces tasked to deal with it, and it [the government] cannot escape from assuming this huge responsibility," Sistani said in a Friday public sermon read by his representative Sheikh Abdulmahdi al-Karbalai.
If security forces use "excessive force," the government is still "responsible" because these security members are undisciplined, disobey orders, and are unqualified to deal with mass protests, asserted Sistani.
"It [the government] is responsible when armed individuals outside the law, in front of security forces, target protesters and snipe them, and assault certain media outlets to strike fear in those who work there," said the holy man.
Sistani demanded the government investigate the shootings and make public the names of officers who shot protesters or gave shoot-to-kill orders. These individuals must be brought to justice "within a limited period, like two weeks," he added.
Holding to account those who opened fire on protesters will demonstrate the government’s seriousness "and its true intention in undertaking wide steps for real reform," Sistani said.
Iraq’s judiciary has said it will take legal measures against those found responsible for the deaths of protesters.
Abdul-Mahdi announced plans to increase welfare programs, provide more jobs, and fight corruption in an effort to meet the demands of protesters.
The protests have waned, but there are expectations they will pick up again after next weekend’s Shiite Arbaeen pilgrimage, which commemorates the death of the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed. Last year, nearly 2 million Iranian pilgrims visited Iraq’s holy sites for the event.
[PRESSTV] Most of the attention surrounding Brexit has focused on issues connected to trade, the financial settlement, citizen’s rights, and the Irish backstop. But unnamed sources at Downing Street have recently highlighted the concerns about future security relationships following Brexit.
A report published by a Downing Street staffer early this week contained a warning that the UK might halt security cooperation with the EU if Brexit was not achieved by Boris Johnson ...pro-Brexit British prime minister, succeeding no-Brexit Theresa May. BoJo is noted as much for his sparkling personality and his hair as for his Conservative policies.... ’s deadline of 31 October.
Critics say that the UK is leveraging its security weight to influence the outcome of the trade discussions.
Nevertheless, ignoring the security crisis after Brexit would serve as an act of self-sabotage.
The former spy boss who headed MI6 between 2009 and 2014, Sir John Sawers, described Europe ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... as "our defence in depth" and argued that friendly countries gained considerably from sharing intelligence on terrorism.
Moreover, a decline in security cooperation between the UK and EU would provide a wider arena in which gunnies might otherwise operate.
Terrorist attacks have taken place in a number of European countries in recent years, with the UK, La Belle France and Belgium particularly hard hit. Western nations have maintained security through the sharing of intelligence and information about threats and methods.
It would bring about an extraordinary state of affairs if the UK and the EU stopped sharing information in the same way that Western nations refuse to share defense strategies with China or Russia, for example.
Other security compromises following Brexit include Britannia’s loss of access to the EU’s Galileo navigation satellite system, which has been deemed critical for contemporary military operations.
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Other security compromises following Brexit include Britannia’s loss of access to the EU’s Galileo navigation satellite system, which has been deemed critical for contemporary military operations.
Won't USA offer the Brits access to their systems?
[AA.TR] Faced with its worst cash flow crisis in a decade, the UN will start axing fancy cocktail soirees for ambassadors, an official told news hounds Friday.
Oh no! Whatever will the staff do with themselves now?
The UN will also switch off its iconic fountain, elevators and heating beginning Monday in a bid to cut costs. Uck! Restaurants with only four stars?
Under-Secretary-General for Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance, Catherine Pollard, told news hounds of "very dire" cash shortages because of $1.3 billion that member states owe in 2019 dues.
"For the second successive year, we’ve exhausted all the regular budget liquidity reserves despite several measures we already put in place to try and reduce expenditures and to align them with available cash reserves," said Pollard.
Tightening their belts ever-further, the suites that UN ambassadors use to wine and dine fellow diplomats, politicians and policy wonks will be closed for cocktail parties and other events scheduled after 6 p.m. (1000GMT), said Pollard. Oh, the humanity!
"I know that many of you also go to some of the functions that are hosted by delegations in the delegates’ rooms. Those functions are going to be curtailed from next Monday," Pollard said.
"We had several events that were in the pipeline, and we are currently reviewing all of those with the sponsors to see how we can accommodate them."
UN staff will only be allowed "essential travel," said Pollard. There will be cutbacks on interpreters, translators and the issuing of documents, while radiators and escalators will be switched off to save power.
Even the landmark fountain in the plaza in front of the UN secretariat building, a 100-foot (30-meter) illuminated circular pool that was donated by American schoolchildren in 1952 , will be switched off in the economy drive.
Although most of the UN’s 193 members have paid their 2019 dues in full, more than 60 countries still owe cash, including its top contributor, the United States. This has left the world body with a 30 percent hole in its budget.
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#1
They could audit the "personal expenses" of the last five UN Secretary-Generals and would probably find enough corruption to pay for a month or two.
Independent Audit... Now that is a phrase that causes the UN bureaucracy to run screaming away like a vampire shown a holy cross!
#5
The top contributor should simply renege. Why must any nation be a 'top contributor' to what is effectively just an unaccountable nuisance to sovereign states tying to run their own shit ?
#6
OK. It's not the Babylon Bee but this is some other satire site, right? Right? I mean, they wouldn't really cancel the cocktail parties, would they? And all those high falutin' diplomats have to buy their own liquor? And what about the girls? Tell me this is satire.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
10/12/2019 12:27
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#7
Trump cut off U.N. money and they start to fold. We must have providing most of the money that kept them afloat. Good for our taxpayers that they fold. The U.N. was a tool for the globalists to take power and sovereignty from the U.S. Another good reason to re-elect Trump for doing work for the U.S.
#8
Why are they even physically there in New York? If you ask any of them, GlobalWarmingClimateChangeFossilFuel is the biggest problem humanity faces. Save the Planet, reduce your big-ass air travel carbon footprint, and teleconference. You do have electricity in your countries, don't you?
(if not, you better get some! You're going to need it to run your electric cars)
#9
Not to worry, Biden will be president in 2021 and he'll restore full finding as long as we give Hunter a big fat salary. Or so they keep telling themselves.
[NYT] Shepard Smith, the chief news anchor of Fox News whose reporting often drew the ire of President Trump, said on Friday that he was leaving the cable news network after 23 years, an abrupt move that left some of his co-workers openly stunned.
"Recently, I asked the company to allow me to leave Fox News," Mr. Smith told viewers at the close of his regular broadcast. "After requesting that I stay, they obliged."
A fixture of Fox News, Mr. Smith joined the network as a correspondent at its start in 1996 and became one of its most visible journalists. He is leaving in the middle of his current contract, a rarity in the cutthroat television business, and he told viewers on Friday that, under his exit agreement, "I won’t be reporting elsewhere at least in the near future."
Since Mr. Trump took office, Mr. Smith has stood out at Fox News for his tough coverage of the White House ‐ a stark contrast from the Trump cheerleading often displayed by the network’s prime-time and morning-show commentators.
Mr. Smith’s reporting has sometimes frustrated Mr. Trump, who has repeatedly taunted the anchor on Twitter, referring to him as Fox’s "lowest rated anchor." On Thursday, Mr. Trump cited Mr. Smith by name, along with the former Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, arguing that Fox News was "much different than it used to be in the good old days."
#1
I started started avoiding listening to Shep Smith beginning with the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in 2010. His buffoonery on a sandy beach was the final straw. I could look at the chyron for the news segment and extrapolate how "Shemp" would massage and spin the facts into a half-baked morality fable.
Listening to him became a waste of time. Good riddance.
#2
Shep Smith at center of Chasten Buttigieg and wife Pete announced split. Gutfeld, Timpf, and Tyrus find revealing pics in Faux News green room, refuse to re-enter. Owners demand Smith take a hike ???
[RUDAW.NET] Iraq’s Prime Minister on Friday announced that his Supreme Anti-Corruption Council has referred the cases of nine former ministers and governors to stand trial following six days of deadly protests across Iraq’s southern provinces. "Arrest the Usual Suspects™"
Protests, which began in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on October 1 before spreading nationwide, saw thousands of young men rally against unemployment, corruption, and the chronic lack of public services.
At least 103 people were killed and 4,035 injured in festivities between protesters and security forces.
Curfews were imposed on city centers and internet services cut across the country’s south. The government claimed it did not order the brutal repression of protesters, accusing gangs of exploiting the unrest.
Nevertheless, the protests were a wakeup call for Iraqi officials, especially Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi, who, as an independent technocrat, has no parliamentary bloc of his own.
Besides decisions aimed at reforms, job creation, and more social welfare programs, the PM on Friday announced he is also taking steps against corruption.
"Based on the directive of the head of the Council of Ministers, and as part of the implementation [phase] of what was included in his speech to the Iraqi people on October 9, 2019, the supreme Anti-Corruption Council referred a number of important corruption cases to the court related to nine high ranking officials after bolstering it with evidence," the Supreme Anti-Corruption Council said in a statement published by Iraqi PM, dated October 10.
The Anti-Corruption Council said there have been "coordination meetings" with Iraq’s judiciary to "give priority" to the cases and settle them quickly.
Without naming them, the PM said the nine officials include two former ministers and their undersecretaries in the Ministries of Minerals and Industry, Transportation, Higher Education, and Health.
It also includes a former top official in the government and four former governors of the provinces of Babil, Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... Nineveh, and Saladin.
Although the officials were not identified, observers believe the sacked governors of Kirkuk and Nineveh, Najmaldin Karim and Nawfal Hamadi, may be among them.
Karim was sacked as governor of Kirkuk following the October 16, 2017 events when Iraqi forces seized the oil-rich province from Kurdish forces. He was removed largely for his support for Kurdistan’s independence referendum and for hoisting the Kurdish flag over Kirkuk’s public buildings.
Previously, an investigative court has issued an arrest warrant for Karim for corruption.
In May of this year, Karim was held by Interpol in Leb for several days at the request of Iraqi authorities, but he was eventually released after senior Kurdish officials intervened.
As for Nawfal Hamadi, the ousted governor of Nineveh, an arrest warrant for corruption was issued against him in March this year.
He stands accused of corruption and negligence after millions of dollars designated for the reconstruction of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... and Nineveh was found to have been kept in private bank accounts. Calls for his removal grew in the aftermath of the Mosul ferry disaster, which killed around 100 people.
Since taking power in October 2018, Abdul-Mahdi has said his government’s priority is to clamp down on corruption. Critics say he has moved too slowly, however. Now the PM in under mounting pressure to deliver results ‐ and not just a few token scalps.
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[DW] Abdul D., an Afghan asylum-seeker convicted of stabbing his 15-year-old ex-girlfriend to death, was found dead at a juvenile prison
...where he most assuredly did not belong, being entirely too old...
in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate, police and prosecutors said on Thursday.
Authorities said in a statement that Abdul D.'s
...the archives also have his name as Abdul Mobin D., who claimed to be fifteen but was probably twenty at the time he murdered his German girlfriend for wrongly rejecting the relationship. In his culture that’s what men do when their womenfolk get uppity...
body was found in his cell and that he had died from an apparent hanging. They added that "there were no indications of foul play," and also that prison officials hadn't seen any signs of "suicidal intent."
On Friday, prosecutors said a postmortem showed Abdul D. had hanged himself and that there was no indication of foul play.
According to the state Justice Ministry, his cell was not under video surveillance since officials did not believe he posed a danger to himself. and didn't care if he did, being given extra sheets, belts, and shoelaces
The young Afghan was convicted of murder in September 2018 and sentenced to eight and a half years in prison under juvenile law.
HIGH-PROFILE CASE
In December 2017, 15-year-old Mia V. was stabbed to death with a kitchen knife outside a local drugstore in the southwestern German town of Kandel. Both the teen and her parents went to the police to report Abdul D:.'s threatening behavior prior to the attack.
Abdul D. entered Germany in the spring of 2016 and was registered as an unaccompanied minor. Prosecutors argued in court that the young Afghan acted out of jealousy and was seeking Dire Revenge for the breakup.
The case sparked outrage across Germany, with far-right groups staging demonstrations for months in Kandel. The focus of the protests shifted away from focusing on Mia V.'s death and became platforms for anti-refugee and anti-Islam sentiments. Counterprotesters also staged demonstrations calling for diversity.
[AA.TR] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... will respond to any U.S. sanctions within the framework of full reciprocity, the Ottoman Turkish Foreign Ministry said Friday.
"No one should doubt that Turkey will respond tit-for-tat to possible U.S. sanctions," said front man Hami Aksoy, responding to a statement by the U.S. Treasury Department on possible sanctions against Turkey in relation to its anti-terror operation in northern Syria. "We will bring the U.S. economy to a crawl with our...um...Ottoman leverage™! No footstools for you!"
When Operation Peace Spring began, the U.S. government was informed at all levels, Aksoy said, adding Turkey is fighting against terrorist organizations posing a threat to its national security and will press ahead with this fight.
The ministry also shared the target and scope of the operation with the public in full clarity during a blurb Friday, he said.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Friday that President Donald Trump ...His ancestors didn't own any slaves... had granted new authority to impose crippling sanctions on Turkey’s economy and its leaders for Ankara's ongoing Operation Peace Spring.
Mnuchin said Trump has authorized an executive order that will allow the Treasury in consultation with the president and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "very significant new sanctions authority that can be targeted at any person associated with the government of Turkey, any portion of the government."
[DAILYTIMES.PK] Prime Minister Imran Khan ...aka The Great Khan, who isn't your heaviest-duty thinker, maybe not even among the top five... on Friday said Pakistain stands in full support and solidarity with The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... and understands its concerns relating to terrorism. "Sure, they've aided and facilitated ISIS, and our ISI does the same for the Taliban, so we understand each other"
In a telephonic call to Ottoman Turkish President His Enormity, 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. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important... , the prime minister conveyed Pakistain’s support and solidarity.
"As a country which has lost more than 70,000 lives due to terrorism and borne the burden of more than 3 million refugees for decades, Pakistain is fully cognizant of the threats and challenges being faced by Turkey having lost 40,000 of its people to terrorism," the prime minister said.
Prime Minister Imran Khan said, "We pray that Turkey’s efforts for enhanced security, regional stability and peaceful resolution of the Syrian situation are fully successful."
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#3
That's from Fazlur Rehman, trying to prove to the military junta in the 'Stain that Imran cannot handle it. Pakistain - where a putsch is always on Rehman is an idiot himself. The military babus know Imran Khan is the best bet to keep filling their coffers. As I said the other day, every committed bureauRAT and corrupt legislator hates the ideologues in politics.
The generals humour and service the mullahs just to keep people in constant servitude, and criminal enterprises running under pretext of jihad. But as much as the Jamiat desires, they'll never wrest real power in Pakistain. The day someone religious comes along in the top brass, commandeering the defense apparatus for purposes of Jihad... that day the world shall seriously need to evaluate the use of nukes again.
Some backstory
The Nawaz Sharif govt had banned several NGOs owned by Soros and his subsidiaries. It basically all began when the Save the Children group came under fire for doctor Afridi being used by the CIA to catch UBL. But it went on in an extortion spree to which Soros said 'No', and the Open Society Foundation was shuttered there.
Now
So Imran Khan met with Soros in NY before the UNGA thingy to invite them back in. They have had talks over the phone over it, but since Soros was there they met up. Also, Soros has pull with Amnesty, which Imran wishes to use to display solidarity with Kashmir.
More interestingly Soros has shown acute interest in the infrastructure projects in Afghanistan which the 'Stain believes it can 'fix them up with'. Pakis tend to forget their place when they wear Armani.
[AA.TR] Thousands of people on Friday formed a human chain in Pakistain’s capital Islamabad to express solidarity and polio
with Kashmiris in their protest against India’s scrapping of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir ...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there.... ’s longstanding special rights in August.
Waving national and Azad Kashmir flags, the protesters amassed at D-chowk roundabout, which breaks through the capital, and formed a human chain, which was also joined by Prime Minister Imran Khan ...aka The Great Khan, who isn't your heaviest-duty thinker, maybe not even among the top five... and his Cabinet members.
In his brief address aired on state-run Pakistain Television, Khan questioned the "disproportionate" amount of coverage accorded by the international media to the dire human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... situation in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, especially in context of the widespread coverage of the Hong Kong protests.
"International media is highlighting disproportionately protests in Hong Kong, which is not a disputed region, and only a few protesters have been injured there. It is part of China", Khan observed, adding: "On the other hand, Kashmir is an internationally-recognized disputed region but unfortunately, the world media is more worried about Hong Kong."
"It has been over two months, Indian army has imprisoned 8 million Kashmiri men, women, and children in their homes but the international media continues to give headline coverage to Hong Kong protests and ignores the dire human rights crisis in Indian-occupied Kashmir," the premier, donned in off-white shalwar kameez (national dress) and a brown waistcoat, said.
The former cricketing hero said that the world leaders had started to understand Pakistain’s stance on Kashmir, and had openly decried New Delhi over human rights violations in the disputed valley.
Khan warned that as soon as the lingering curfew in the disputed valley was lifted, Kashmiris would take to streets in hundreds of thousands as they had rejected New Delhi’s move.
"I want to assure Kashmiris that Pakistain will always stand beside them," the premier added.
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[Libya Observer] The French newspaper "Le Point" has revealed the injury of a senior commander in the Russian company Wagner, Alexander Kuznetsov while fighting alongside Haftar's militias, south of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... The newspaper added that Kuznetsov -nicknamed Ratibor- was flown to the military hospital in Russia's St. Petersburg, because of his serious injury.
It confirmed that he was a former prisoner, and was charged with criminal cases, disclosing that he was awarded the Order of Courage by Russian President, Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... in 2016.
As many as 300 Russian mercenaries are fighting in Haftar's forces' ranks, according to the newspaper, 35 of them were reportedly killed, mostly from "Wagner", where their bodies had not yet been transferred to Russia, according to the newspaper.
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[DAILYTIMES.PK] Prime Minister Imran Khan ...aka The Great Khan, who ain't the sharpest bulb on the national tree... on Friday raised a question over the apathy of international media for continuously ignoring the human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. issue of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir ...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there.... (IOJ&K), and on the other hand giving headlines to the Hong Kong protests.
Image result for Int’l media covering Hong Kong protests but ignoring Kashmir’s human rights crisis: PM
"I am puzzled as to how international media continues to give headline coverage to Hong Kong protests but ignores the dire human rights crisis in IOJ&K," the prime minister said in a tweet.
Imran Khan said IOJ&K was an internationally recognized disputed territory illegally annexed by India with 900,000 troops imposing a siege on eight million Kashmiris.
[THEBAGHDADPOST] Interior Minister Yassin al-Yassiri visited the Medical City, accompanied by Federal Police Chief Major General Ja'far al-Batat to check on the health of the maimed security forces and demonstrators.
The minister met with the Director General of the Medical City Hospital and the medical staff supervising the treatment of the maimed, stressing the need to provide all medical supplies and medicines necessary for them.
The Minister of Interior followed the health of the maimed in the hospital lobbies, wishing them a speedy recovery.
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[IsraelTimes] Interior minister warns of ’elevated’ risk of violent attacks after near-massacre on Yom Kippur at Halle synagogue in which 2 killed; plans to ban six small far-right groups.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said there are an estimated 24,000 far-right Death Eaters in Germany. He added that half of them are considered potentially violent with "a very high affinity for firearms."
...out of a total national population of nearly 83 million. On the other hand, there are about 116,000 Jews and an estimated 5 million Muslims.
Seehofer’s warning came two days after Stephan Balliet, a 27-year-old loner, was arrested for killing two people after trying to gain entry to a synagogue in the eastern town of Halle where dozens of worshipers were marking Yom Kippur.
Though he failed to batter his way into the building, the assailant, armed with four apparently home-made rifles and grenades, killed a female passer-by and then rubbed out a man who tried to take refuge in a kebab restaurant.
Police eventually captured Balliet ‐ who had four kilos (nine pounds) of explosives in his car ‐ after a shootout that left him maimed.
Earlier Friday, a front man for the federal prosecutor’s office in Karlsruhe said Balliet had confessed to the assault and confirmed "far-right and anti-Semitic motives."
Given the range of weapons he had on his person, the corpse count could have been far higher had Balliet managed to force his way inside the synagogue.
He filmed and live-streamed the 35-minute assault as he raved at Jews and denied the Holocaust. He also published an online manifesto expressing anti-Semitic sentiments.
"This manifesto appeared on the internet the day after his act," said Seehofer, who added that synagogues and other Jewish venues would in the future be better protected.
The minister announced the creation of new security service posts to that end and added that the government would swiftly enact a ban on six small far-right groups.
[IsraelTimes] Lawyer says his client, who killed 2 people in Yom Kippur shooting, stands by his actions: ’He blames others for his own misery and that’s what ultimately triggered his action’.
The German suspect in a deadly attack targeting a synagogue has admitted to the shooting rampage and confessed that it was motivated by anti-Semitism and right-wing extremism, federal prosecutors said Friday.
Stephan Balliet, 27, made a "very comprehensive" confession during an interrogation lasting several hours, said a front man for the federal prosecutor’s office in Karlsruhe.
"He gave an extensive confession. He confirmed far-right and anti-Semitic motives" for the attack, the front man said.
Balliet is accused of shooting dead two people in the eastern German city of Halle on Wednesday, after he tried and failed to storm a synagogue.
The man, who was described by neighbors and his father as a loner who spent much of his time at a computer, had filmed and live-streamed the assault.
The victims, a German man and woman, appeared to be chosen at random when the assailant failed to gain access to the synagogue he had besieged with gunfire and homemade explosives, as the frightened congregation barricaded itself inside.
Investigators searching Balliet’s father’s apartment found a 3-D printer, which could have been used to manufacture firearms, according to Spiegel magazine.
Police have also confiscated a hard-drive from his bedroom in the apartment he shared with his divorced mother.
Spiegel revealed that Balliet had learned to handle an assault rifle during six months of military service in 2010 and 2011, when he was 18.
Clearly, it was not a fit.
"Retrospectively we can be glad he did not learn much in the army otherwise he could have killed many more people in Halle," Spiegel quoted an army source as saying.
Noting that it was only thanks to the Halle synagogue’s own security measures that the assailant had been kept from penetrating the temple, Jewish leaders have demanded authorities to do more to protect the community.
On Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel ...chancellor of Germany and the impetus behind Germany's remarkably ill-starred immigration program. Merkel used to be referred to by Germans as Mom. Now they make faces at her for inundating the country with Moslem colonists... vowed that there would be "zero tolerance" for hate, while Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said protection will be stepped up immediately for all Jewish sites and institutions in Germany.
Germany has taken pride in the rebirth of its Jewish life since the Nazis’ World War II slaughter of six million Jews across Europe ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... The community has grown to about 225,000 thanks in large part to an influx from the ex-Soviet Union after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The German man suspected of killing two people near a synagogue on Wednesday reportedly told investigators that he received approximately $800 from an anonymous online donor prior to the attack.
The German publication Der Spiegel reported Friday that the accused, Stephan Balliet, had received the money in the form of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin from an unknown person with whom he communicated on the internet, according to his defense attorney Hans-Dieter Weber.
Weber also told the publication that Balliet denied being a neo-Nazi in his interrogation by German authorities. Balliet claimed to have acted alone and made the weapons used in the attack himself from cheap materials.
[PRESSTV] Russian President Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... has warned that the Ottoman Turkish military incursion into northeastern Syria could lead to the revival of the ISIS ...embracing their inner Islamic Brute... terrorist group in the region.
Putin issued the warning in a televised address during a visit to Turkmenistan on Friday, saying that members of the 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... outfit held in northeast Syria could escape from jail as a result of the Ottoman Turkish offensive.
"I'm not sure whether the Ottoman Turkish army will be able to take this under control -- and how soon," Putin was quoted as saying by the Russia’s Interfax news agency. "This is a real threat to us."
Ottoman Turkish President His Enormity, 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. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important... announced on Tuesday that his country’s military forces and the Ottoman Turkish-backed holy warriors of the so-called Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... (FSA) had launched an offensive in Syria’s northeast.
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[Iraq Sun] The U.S. will hand over to Iraqi authorities nearly 50 Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... members who were transferred from Syria in recent days, two Iraqi intelligence officials said Thursday.
The officials said the IS members were expected to be handed over by Friday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
The move comes after The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire... began a military offensive into northern Syria against U.S.-backed Kurdish-led fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces who are holding more than 10,000 IS members. Those include some 2,000 foreigners, including about 800 Europe ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... ans.
It wasn't immediately clear why the 50 IS fighters would be transferred to Iraq, but the group's self-declared caliphate once sprawled across a large part of both Iraq and Syria. Since the IS was defeated earlier this year, Iraq has held IS captives in secure prisons and tried IS turbans in court, including some French foreign nationals.
Before the Ottoman Turkish assault began, there were already fears that Kurdish-led forces could divert forces from guarding IS prisoners or might not be able to secure them at a time when IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made a point of calling on followers to free captured fighters. There are over two dozen detention facilities in northeastern Syria.
After the Ottoman Turkish offensive began, concerns that some facilities may be struck in the fighting or abandoned by guards heightened fears the prisoners would not remain secured.
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... said Wednesday that some of the "most dangerous" IS members had been moved, but he provided no details. I can say no more! Trump said before the assault began that Turkey would be responsible for all IS fighters in the area, though it wasn't clear how that would be implemented.
U.S. officials said Wednesday that two British turbans believed to be part of an IS group that beheaded hostages and was known as "The Beatles'' were moved out of a detention center in Syria and taken into U.S. custody.
It wasn't clear whether they were among the 50 prisoners the Iraqi intelligence officials said were being transferred to Iraq.
The two men, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Amon Kotey, along with other British jihadis, allegedly made up the IS cell nicknamed "The Beatles" by surviving captives because of their extraction, the official said.
Barr wants to bring the two men back to the U.S. to face prosecution, the official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
In 2014 and 2015, the turbans held more than 20 Western hostages in Syria and tortured many of them. The group beheaded seven American, British and Japanese journalists and aid workers and a group of Syrian soldiers, boasting of the butchery in videos released to the world.
Among the journalists they killed was American James Foley, who was first, followed by fellow Americans Steven Sotloff and Peter Kassig, British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning and Japanese journalists Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto. The beheadings, often carried out on camera, horrified the world soon after IS took over much of Iraq and Syria in 2014.
The two British men were captured in January last year in eastern Syria by the Kurdish forces amid the collapse of IS. Their detention set off a debate in the U.S. and Europe over how to prosecute their citizens who joined IS.
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#1
Barr wants to bring the two men back to the U.S. to face prosecution
Maybe he's a fan of the real Beatles and just wants to wave a gavel in their faces.
[RUDAW.NET] Five Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS ...embracing their inner Islamic Brute... ) murderous Moslems have escaped the prison where they were detained in northern Syria amid Ottoman Turkish shelling, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced Friday evening, a day after America’s defense chief told The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire... to stop its incursion.
"5 ISIS detained murderous Moslems flee Jirkin prison in Qamishli, as a result of Ottoman Turkish shelling," the SDF tweeted.
The SDF are holding an estimated 2,000 foreign ISIS fighters, 8,000 local ISIS turbans, and 70,000 women and kiddies affiliated with the group in various detention centres and camps in northern Syria.
At al-Hol camp, a group of nearly 100 ISIS women tried to escape on Friday by attacking guards, but "none made it," Sheikhmus Ahmed, head of the internal displaced persons (IDP) and refugee office for the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES), told Rudaw English.
"They tried to escape the camp and join Ottoman Turkish forces," he said. "But we did not let anyone escape."
There have been 274 escape attempts in the last 30 days, Ahmed said, but they have so far had the necessary forces to keep the camp under control. That could change if Turkey’s attack on northern Syria intensifies, he warned. "In such a situation, the number of those trying to escape could reach a thousand," he said.
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[PULSE.NG] Nigerian Army Troops of 242 Battalion in conjunction with elements of Sector 2 Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) and Chadian Defence Forces (CDF) have overran Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... Lions of Islam and killed 15 of them in Borno.
The Nigerian Army Operations Media Coordinator, Col. Aminu Iliyasu, disclosed this in a statement on Friday in Abuja.
Iliyasu said that the troops encountered the Lions of Islam in an ambush at Jigalta Village on Thursday around Marari, 27 Kilometers from Monguno in Borno while on a joint clearance operation.
He said that the criminals laid an ambush with five gun trucks and unconfirmed number of murderous Moslems.
According to him, 15 of the Boko Haram forces of Evil were neutralised while few of them escaped with gunshot wounds.
"In addition, two gun trucks were destroyed while another two were captured.
"Also, four Dutshka anti-aircraft guns, 9 AK 47 Rifles and a sizeable cache of ammunition were captured by the gallant troops.
"Unfortunately, one soldier paid the supreme sacrifice during the cross fire that ensued while a Chadian soldier was also maimed in action," he said.
Iliyasu said that the Commander of Sector 3 Operation LAFIYA DOLE/MNJTF, Maj.-Gen. Abdulmalik Biu, in company of other sector commanders visited the troops at the location of the encounter.
According to him, Biu commended the efforts of the troops and conveyed the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai’s appreciation and commendation as well as the Force Commander MNJTF Maj.-Gen. Chikezie Ude’s words of encouragement to the troops.
"Additionally, the Commander Sector 2 MNJTF (CDF) Col. Bokhit Ali, expressed his satisfaction with the collaborative effort and renewed his commitment to fighting the menace of the ISWAP/Boko Haram criminals’ insurgency together," he said.
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[Wash. Examiner] Kevin McAleenan, the acting secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, is out as the temporary chief of the department. DHS obstructionist
McAleenan, 48, is the fourth acting or confirmed secretary to have served atop the 240,000-person department since President Trump took office.
Trump announced his exit in a series of tweets Friday night, explaining that he "wants to spend more time with his family and go to the private sector." "GTFO!"
The Times of Israel has more on the registered Democrat who recently significantly reduced illegal border crossings, but oversaw a department full of squabblers jockeying for promotion and a media leak about plans to expel illegals who’d settled in the U.S. Perhaps this promotion was beyond his managerial ability.
#2
he just thought than he can replace all the assholes once elected.
It seems to me the key is to start reducing the numbers of the corrupt — it’s an iterative process. The first round was all those who retired suddenly after Donald Trump was sworn in; they were not replaced, others on staff either taking on the responsibilities or the responsibilities fell to the bottom of the priority list. The second round involves promoting career bureaucrats to the level where they no longer have civil service protections, and then firing them or accepting their resignations to spend more time with family.
[PRESSTV] 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... ’s Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...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 legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. 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 They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... Ansarullah movement has offered the Saudi-backed former government a new deal for exchange of prisoners over a week after the popular movement unilaterally released hundreds of detainees.
Head of Yemen’s National Committee for Prisoners Affairs (NCPA), Abdulqader al-Mortada, said Friday the group had told "local mediators" that it was ready to implement a prison exchange within one week.
"We are waiting for the other side to respond," he noted, according to a report by Al Masirah TV.
The Ansarullah official said the deal offered to the other side would cover 2,000 prisoners in the "first phase".
The offer came days after the Houthi movement released hundreds prisoners, including three Saudi nationals, in its latest goodwill gesture.
Through the release, the Ansarullah movement and its allies in the Yemeni army said they sought to underline their commitment to peace negotiations held in Sweden last December.
The talks with Yemen's Saudi-backed former government resulted in an agreement, which calls for a ceasefire in Hudaydah, a prisoner exchange and a statement of understanding on the southern city of Ta’izz.
The unilateral release of prisoners proved Ansarullah’s "credibility in implementing the Sweden agreement and we call on the other party to take a comparable step," the NCPA head said at the time.
The released detainees were "included in the prisoner lists of the Sweden deal," Mortada said in a presser.
Mortada noted that the Ansarullah movement launched the initiative due to the big delay in the implementation of the prisoner swap deal.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/12/2019
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Top|| File under: Houthis
[BREITBART] Left-wing rioters attacked supporters of President Donald Trump ...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons...... leaving a rally in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Thursday evening ‐ assaulting them in groups, setting fire to pro-Trump hats, and attacking the police.
Riot police stood by as members of Antifa ...the armed wing of the Democratic Party... were seen dragging steel fences away from the Target Center. They were filmed by Elijah Schaffer, a correspondent for The Blaze, a conservative news site ‐ who was maced as he filmed.
Local Minneapolis Star-Tribune news hound Liz Sawyer noted there were several hundred rioters, and that some were singling out Trump supporters and surrounding them in groups before attacking them. Some also attacked police:
The scene was reminiscent of the riot outside a convention center in San Jose in June 2016, when anti-Trump rioters attacked Trump supporters leaving the venue in full view of the media ‐ and Mayor Sam Liccardo blamed Trump.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey proclaimed Thursday as "Love Trumps Hate Day" in the city, in solidarity with protests against Trump. Evidently, however, some of those among the "protesters" felt "hate" trumped "love."
In one instance, a bystander who was not a Trump supporter reported being attacked by the anti-Trump mob:
The Target Center had attempted to charge the Trump campaign hundreds of thousands of dollars for additional security. The rally itself ‐ with a capacity crowd inside and tens of thousands outside ‐ passed without serious incident, but local police seemed unprepared for the violence by anti-Trump rioters after the event was over.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Top|| File under: Antifa
Posted by: Herb Shons3098 ||
10/12/2019 0:38
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#3
Spartacist Uprising, Berlin(1919). No, the Antifa are not a good sign of things to come if they are allowed to metastasize and spread like a cancer.
#6
They won't spread beyond blue controlled areas yet. They cannot exist without mayors or others giving them protection from the police. They try their crap in most of Texas outside of El Paso or Austin, or maybe San Antonio, the police will shut them down so hard it'd be glorious.
And you KNOW they'll stay the hell out of Midland where the oilfield roughnecks would come out to play.
#10
FYI _ re: the Mpls mess. Local Dem rep marched with Antifa and tweeted about talking mayor into telling cops to back off the pepper spray or tear gas they were using to keep the thugs under control. Another tweet indicated said Donk mayor ordered Porta-potties removed from the venue after his blackmail attempt ($500+K for "security" to hold rally) was rebuffed.
[AA.TR] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...Qatar's satrapy in Asia Minor... ’s National Defense Ministry on Friday rejected claims that the Ottoman Turkish army targeted a U.S. observation post east of the Euphrates in northern Syria amid its counter-terror operation.
"It is out of the question that any fire targeted the U.S.’s observation post," the ministry said in a written statement.
Stating that every kind of measure was being taken in order not to harm the U.S. base, it said "fire was halted as a precautionary measure when the U.S. conveyed its concerns."
"It is out of the question to target any U.S. and coalition forces," it stressed.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
[Breitbart] The birthday surprises have not stopped pouring in for a World War II veteran in Watauga, Texas, who turned 100 years old on Monday.
Veteran James South had no idea the response he would receive when a picture of him holding a sign asking for 100 birthday cards for his birthday was posted online by staff at the Brookdale Senior Living facility a few weeks ago.
"Hello! My name is James South. I am a proud WWII veteran! I will be turning 100 on October 7th, 2019. I would like to receive 100 birthday cards," the sign read.
On Monday, Breitbart News reported that South had received more than 60,000 cards from people as far away as Australia and India.
However, reports said that as of Friday, that number has climbed to over 100,000.
"To go to a store in town and pick out a card and send it to me, that’s almost more than I can handle I’ll tell ya," the veteran said. "It touches my heart."
South’s daughter-in-law, Debbie, said the family has been emotional as they read each of the heartfelt birthday wishes.
"We’re just crying everyday because we’re just reading all these beautiful cards," she commented.
On Thursday, Alex Rozier, a reporter with WFAA, tweeted photos of South will all the birthday greetings he received.
A powerful storm approached Japan on Friday, threatening to batter its capital with the heaviest rain in 60 years, disrupting a Formula One Grand Prix and rugby’s World Cup and raising fears of transport chaos.https://t.co/zit6ZWjzr9
I met a puffy faced Japanese guy at a bar. Mid thirties, well dressed, neat and expensive accessories. He had been crying and his Indian friend was trying to cheer him up. The reason was his virtual girlfriend had crashed. A software error. And the company was willing to replace the thing by a download. But he was in a pool of tears over 'It won't be her !'
[TWITTER] ISIS attempted a prison break on an SDF prison holding a large amount of ISIS fighters. They positioned a car bomb next to the walls of the prison. Luckily the attempt failed #Syria#Turkeypic.twitter.com/LOpriHnslO— CNW (@ConflictsW) October 11, 2019
Posted by: Fred ||
10/12/2019
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
Just spray 'em with gasoline and throw in a match, people. How hard can it be for fuck's sake ? If these things get out, it'll be a major victory for ISIS and a giant charlie foxtrot for everyone who put them there.
[DAILYTIMES.PK] Police in Sargodha on Friday arrested two serial killers involved in the gruesome murder of at least seven taxi drivers, according to officials privy to the developments.
District Police Officer Sargodha told the media at a presser that the suspects used to book taxi rides and afterward give drugs to the taxi driver.
The suspects then proceeded to kidnap the driver and kill him, before disposing off the body at an unidentified location on a nearby lake. The taxi cars were sold off in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa later.
[Iraq Sun] Former President of South Africa Jacob Zuma will appear in court on Tuesday on charges of corruption, fraud, money laundering and racketeering.
The case against Zuma will proceed after the South African High Court on Friday dismissed applications by the former leader to have all charges against him quashed.
The controversial president, who served from 2009 until his resignation in February 2018, is facing charges that he took billions of rands in bribes whilst negotiating arms sales. An application by French weapons-manufacturer Thales South Africa was also dismissed by the High Court.
Despite the decision, Zuma was all smiles on Friday as he joked with his lawyers.
The decision though by a full bench of the Pietermaritzburg High Court will now allow his prosecution, and that of Thales, to proceed.
Judges Bhekisisa Mnguni, Thoba Poyo-Dlwati and Esten Steyn reportedly took only a few minutes to hand down their judgement.
Justice Mnguni, who read the judgement, said all three of Zuma's applications were dismissed with costs.
"The applications brought by Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma for the permanent stay are dismissed with costs," the judgement said.
Zuma and his legal entourage will now return to the same courtroom for the opening of his case on Tuesday.
A little over a month after Zuma agreed to step aside in February 2018, it was confirmed by the director of public prosecutions that he would face eighteen charges of corruption, including more than 700 counts of fraud and money laundering.
[DAILYTIMES.PK] Pakistain has called for stepped-up efforts to address terrorism’s root causes and to counter the unjust defamation of certain religions and communities that fosters misconceptions between the Moslem world and the West.
"The international community must address the root causes of terrorism including protracted unresolved conflicts, unlawful use of force, aggression, foreign occupation, denial of the right to self-determination and political and economic injustices, as well as political marginalization and alienation," Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi told the General Assembly’s Sixth Committee, which deals with legal matters.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/12/2019
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#1
Liars. Just one religion.
"All this theatre over 'extremist splinters' and 'radicals' is getting tiresome, besides being repetitive. Gentlemen, we need a 24/7 video channel to constantly whine about us. A little history and culture, some manscaped effete bedouins preaching, maybe even an islamic animated kids show...and oh ! Halaal fashion."
#4
Too many beheadings and real news maybe. No, this one will be all flying horses and glittered up dolls singing peace and how wonderful it is to inhabit a personal tent for life.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Free Beacon - Jan 2019] Rep. Adam Schiff (D., Calif.) is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, which means he gets to appear on cable news a lot, and is a recurring character in the fan-fiction fever dreams of the Anti-Drumpf Resistance.
[10 News] The Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned comments made by President Donald Trump's at a rally on Thursday in Minneapolis about the state of Minnesota's Somali population as "racist."
[MilitaryTimes] U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in Syria claim a Turkish air strike targeted a training camp housing a secretive coalition-trained commando force.
[MilitaryTimes] They started out like the Minutemen and ended up as a seasoned fighting force that wiped out most of ISIS in Syria.
[Babylon Bee] U.S.‐As part of her campaign, Elizabeth Warren has begun sharing stories illustrating the hardship and discrimination she’s faced. Recently, she revealed a particularly tough time back in the early '70s when she lost a teaching job because her fake mustache had fallen off, revealing she was, in fact, a woman. Warren declared it a pivotal incident that shaped much of her life.
[PJ] Everybody knows that electric cars are going to save the planet from climate change or something. Unlike regular cars, which run on gasoline and make all the polar bears cry as they sink into the sea, electric cars are powered by... um... magic? Mjölnir, the hammer of Thor? That must be how it works, or else owning an electric car would impose some sort of cost to the environment. And that can't be, or those guys wouldn't be so insufferably smug.
[The Federalist] Trade with China has been a factor in American capitalism since the birth of the republic, but only in the 21st century has it become a truly massive driver of American corporate wealth. But a funny thing happened on the way to the bank: The American influencer became the influenced. Trade is a two-way street that is meant to be mutually beneficial, but American trade with China has turned into a trade of our values for their money.
NEW YORK (AP) ‐ Jane Fonda was arrested at the U.S. Capitol on Friday while peacefully protesting climate change.
[Washington Examiner] President Trump decided to recall the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine based on foreign allegations that his own political appointees at the State Department regarded as false, according to the ousted envoy.
A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe...
...
...the barbaric practice of sentencing a murderer to be punished for as long as his/her/its victim is dead...
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund...
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
[AA.TR] Faced with its worst cash flow crisis in a decade, the UN will start axing fancy cocktail soirees for ambassadors, an official told 
[NYT] Shepard Smith, the chief news anchor of Fox News whose reporting often drew the ire of President Trump, said on Friday that he was leaving the cable news network after 23 years, an abrupt move that left some of his co-workers openly stunned.
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it 
[Libya Observer] The French newspaper "Le Point" has revealed the injury of a senior commander in the Russian company Wagner, Alexander Kuznetsov while fighting alongside Haftar's militias, south of 
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances....jpg "Kashmir")
...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it 
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
...embracing their inner Islamic Brute...
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
[Wash. Examiner] Kevin McAleenan, the acting secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, is out as the temporary chief of the department.
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the 
...the armed wing of the Democratic Party...
...Qatar's satrapy in Asia Minor...
[Breitbart] The birthday surprises have not stopped pouring in for a World War II veteran in Watauga, Texas, who turned 100 years old on Monday.
[DAILYTIMES.PK] Pakistain has called for stepped-up efforts to address terrorism’s root causes and to counter the unjust defamation of certain religions and communities that fosters misconceptions between the 
