A company that creates medical-marijuana dispensing machines says its stock is getting way too high.
Medbox MDBX -90.24% shares surged 3,000% this week -- from roughly $4 Monday to $215 Thursday -- before falling to $100 after executives sought to dampen investor enthusiasm.
In a news release today, the company said that the stock's rocket launch, which sent its market cap skyrocketing from $45 million at the start of the week to a staggering $2.3 billion, was ignited by a MarketWatch story Tuesday on how to invest in legalized marijuana (see How to invest in legalized marijuana .) (That's about double the market capitalization of retailer Jos. A. Bank Clothiers.) The stock, which fell around 50% in early trading Friday, still hovers at $100. "We believe an appropriate trading range is between $5 and $10 but, alas, the market will do what it will do," says Medbox founder Vincent Mehdizadeh.
Iran unloaded nuclear fuel from its first atomic power plant last month, the IAEA report also report said, a few months after the Russian builder said the long-postponed reactor was operating at full capacity.
The Bushehr plant is a symbol of what the Islamic Republic says is its peaceful nuclear ambitions, disputed by the West, and any new hitch would probably be seen as an embarrassment both for Tehran and Moscow, whose experts help run it.
The transfer of fuel assemblies from the reactor core to a spent fuel pond meant the plant was shut down, a diplomat familiar with the issue said. "It was certainly not foreseen, that's for sure," he said.
The reason for the unexpected move was unclear but it could be a sign of a new problem in running the Russian-built, 1,000-megawatt reactor near the Gulf city of Bushehr.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/16/2012
18:05 ||
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#1
MOX?
Mixed oxide fuel, commonly referred to as MOX fuel, is nuclear fuel that contains more than one oxide of fissile material, usually consisting of plutonium blended with natural uranium, reprocessed uranium, or depleted uranium. MOX fuel is an alternative to the low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel used in the light water reactors that predominate nuclear power generation. For example, a mixture of 7% plutonium and 93% natural uranium reacts similarly, although not identically, to LEU fuel. MOX usually consists of two phases, UO2 and PuO2, and/or a single phase solid solution (U,Pu)O2. The content of PuO2 may vary from 1.5 wt.% to 25-30 wt.% depending on the type of nuclear reactor. Although MOX fuel can be used in thermal reactors to provide energy, efficient burning of plutonium in MOX can only be achieved in fast reactors.[1]
One attraction of MOX fuel is that it is a way of utilizing surplus weapons-grade plutonium, an alternative to storage of surplus plutonium, which would need to be secured against the risk of theft for use in nuclear weapons.[2][3] On the other hand, some studies warned that normalising the global commercial use of MOX fuel and the associated expansion of nuclear reprocessing will increase, rather than reduce, the risk of nuclear proliferation, by encouraging increased separation of plutonium from spent fuel in the civil nuclear fuel cycle.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/16/2012 18:15
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#2
Perhaps an bug is screwing with the thing, or they expect a strike and are trying to make it safe.
A top Iraqi diplomat urged Arab states to use the weapon of oil against the United States because of its alliance with Israel, raising more questions about the Middle Eastern nation's allegiance to the nation that freed it from a ruthless dictatorship.
The shocking statement from a democratic government in power only after the U.S. and allies ousted murderous dictator Saddam Hussein in a costly and bloody war laid bare the Middle Eastern nations true allegiance.
"Iraq will invite (Arab) ministers to use the weapon of oil, with the aim of asserting real pressure on the United States and whoever stands with Israel," Qais al-Azzawy told reporters in Cairo on Friday.
"The economic weapon is the strongest one to be put into effect now, to assure of standing by the Palestinian people, in light of there being no military power that can stand in the face of Israel at the present time, he added.
The U.S. ousted Hussein, ending his bloody, 30-year reign in 2003 in the midst of a controversial and costly war. Nearly 4,500 American service members were killed and more than 32,000 wounded in a war that has cost U.S. taxpayers at least $750 billion. That figure could top $1 trillion given future health costs incurred by veterans injured in the fighting.
#1
An oil embargo! That's the ticket!
No leaks like last time, no stinkin Emirates getting rich while we're not selling, damn Kuwaitis too. Outta over run the little buggers.
An anonymous official says that Jill Kelley, who initiated an investigation thet triggered the eventual downfall of CIA director David Petraeus, and her sister had two courtesy meals at the White House mess as guests of a mid-level White House aide. Kelley and her family also received a White House tour. The visits occurred during the past three months.
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi sharpened his tone against Israel on Friday, while Palestinian terrorists continued to fire rockets into southern Israel and Tel Aviv.
After concluding the Friday prayer at a mosque in Cairo, Morsi warned Israel of the consequences of its strikes in Gaza. According to the al- Shorouk newspaper, Morsi tweeted on his Twitter page: "We have the power to uproot the aggressiveness just like it uprooted exploitation.
"I don't want to take unusual steps," Morsi added, "but if I see that the homeland is in danger, I won't hesitate."
Morsi said earlier that "Gaza will not remain alone as it was," adding that the aggressors "know they will pay a heavy price is they continue their aggression."
He further said that the post-Mubarak Egypt was completely different and that all Egyptians were determined to stop the offensive on the Gaza Strip.
According to Morsi, "The blood spilled over there will not get the other side peace and will serve as a curse on them. It will incite all the people of the region against them."
Morsi added that the Egyptian prime minister's visit to Gaza stressed the message stressed by revolutionary Egypt and will "stop this brutal aggressiveness."
He also said that "the Egyptians throughout their history were not an aggressive people, but they are capable of stopping any attack."
The Egyptian president also said that "Egypt doesnt want to fight and constantly calls for peace, but real peace is not just for one side at the expense of another side, so that one side enjoys the good life while the others suffer from attacks and ongoing killing."
The al-Ahram newspaper's website reported that the audience chanted slogans against Jews while Morsi spoke. The newspaper also said that the Egyptian president commented about Israel without mentioning its name.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a phone conversation with Morsi that he supports an end to airstrikes in Gaza. Putin also said that he expected the region to go back to normal and that military operations leaving civilians dead should be stopped.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to speak in Ramallah on Friday evening at the start of a Palestinian leadership meeting on the escalation in the Gaza Strip.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/16/2012
13:14 ||
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Israel tried to give Gaza back to Egypt, but you wouldn't take it, so it can't be yours.
The only ones putting Gaza in danger is the clowns firing rockets into Israeli population centers from Gaza. Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll fire some at you, too.
@sshole. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
11/16/2012 13:35
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#3
Morsi obviously has forgotten the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War. Hindsight would be a benefit here. No need for further Arab embarrassment.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/16/2012 15:00
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#5
132 cubic kilometres of water.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/16/2012 15:04
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#6
111 meter drop.
1000Kg/M(3)
1,000,000 M(3) in 1 cubic Kilometer
so 1,000,000,000 Kilograms/cubic kilometer
132 cubic Kilometers so
132,000,000,000 kilograms of water behind the dam
Drop ranges from 111 meters down to zero meters
lower estimate would be to use a linear dispersion in the drop.
ie... 132,000,000,000 kg / 111 = share at each meter of drop or just switch to a calculus based slope....
std grav is: 9.80665 m/s2,
do the math...
it's immense.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/16/2012 15:15
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#7
"No need for further Arab embarrassment."
I disagree, GS. There's always need/opportunity for further Arab embarrassment - and the Arabs will take advantage of it.
I'll double my popcorn order.
Posted by: Barbara ||
11/16/2012 15:27
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#8
How much does the flood plain widen below the dam and how soon? And how much of those km>3 of water get soaked up in the desert and how soon?
#9
Glenmore, subbed for a science class yesterday and this question came up. Desert soil absorbs water SLOWLY compared to places that are always wet which is the reason that flash flooding is a much bigger problem in arid environments.
#16
It's about 9 FatBoy Atomic Bombs (A "Fat Man" bomb was dropped over Nagasaki, Japan, on Aug. 9, 1945) so in other words approximately a 180 kiloton atomic bomb (big for an a-bomb small for a n-bomb) But that's just the energy at break point. That mass of water is going to roll with all that force creating canyons all the way to the Med. In the Med it would likely make a tidal wave that would slosh all over.
It would take out everything near the Nile and gouge a canyon right through the delta. Think what channelizing the Mississippi did to it's delta. The Egyptian delta would likely start disappearing. There would be a huge dead zone in Med that the Nile would plow right into for centuries. (think Louisiana delta) Perhaps the Suez would become a strait instead of a canal...
Or compare to another dam..
calc energy in 3 Gorges Dam
meters height 174.999999999986 Joules of potential energy: slice 3563134499.99971 total 31,179,208,442,252.2
or Aswan is about two 3-Gorges Dams worth of potential energy.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/16/2012 17:27
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#18
Grunter - it hugs the Nile... so What Cairo?
The one in Illinois?
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/16/2012 18:28
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#19
The larger a temporary lake is, the more extreme the likely breakout will be. One of the largest known to have occurred in recent geological history was the collapse, around 15,000 years ago, of the ancient Lake Bonneville which was filled with meltwater from the last ice age and covered large areas of Utah, Idaho and Nevada. Erosion broke through the lake shore's lowest point, the Red Rock Pass in Idaho, releasing as much as 1,000 mile³ (4,000 km³) of water within a period estimated to have lasted only two weeks. The energies released by the outburst were capable not just of stripping surface features, but gouging out bedrock to a depth of many feet. It drastically reshaped the landscape downstream, carving out many of the features of the Snake River and its surrounding area. Glacial Lake Missoula also had lake breakouts, due to breaking of ice dams, see Missoula Floods. These lake breakouts caused extensive erosion throughout eastern Washington. It has been suggested that gigantic breakouts from underground lakes may have been responsible for carving some of the canyons of Mars.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/16/2012 18:32
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Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/16/2012 18:35
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#21
This may not end well.
IMO it is likely will Morsi/MusBro-led Egypt will pressure fellow Arab League member Baby Assad in Syria, + the Hezzies in Lebanon, etal. to attack Israel from the North - IIRC DURING 1973'S YOM KIPPUR WAR ISRAEL'S IDF JUST BARELY WON A HARD-FOUGHT ARMOR BATTLE AGZ WAVE AFTER WAVE OF SYRIAN TANKS, PLUS SYRIAN GROUND TROOPS EQUIPPED WID SOVIET-SUPPLIED ATGMS.
I find it ironic that the greatest single threat to Baby Assad's rule stems not from the Rebels. but from post-Mubarak Egypt's desire to protect the Paleos + Hamas in Gaza.
#22
As the material gave way, Marsh Creek Valley, immediately downstream, was flooded from wall to wall, and the rapid discharge eroded the pass to its present level. The flood then flowed into the Snake River Plain, generally following the path of the present-day Snake River to its outlet in the Pacific Northwest.[3]
The Bonneville Flood, as it is known, was a catastrophic event. The maximum discharge was about 15 million cubic feet per second (420,000 m³/s), or about three times the average flow of the Amazon River, the world's largest river. The speed of flow was approximately 16 mph (7 m/s), and though peak flow lasted only a few days, voluminous discharges may have continued for at least a year.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/16/2012 19:08
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#23
The Red River break was 105 meters high and Aswan is 115 so the flow should be similar to Lake Bonneville's just end much quicker than one year.
Aswan has 132Km(3) of water to let go where lake Bonneville had 4000km(3) so (132/4000)*1 year = 12 days. Max flow should be 2 weeks * (132/4000) or 1/2 day.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/16/2012 19:16
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#24
What are the Death Toll's likely to be? Warning/reaction times? Seriously, we could be talking about 30-40million people, not to mention species of animal and the archeology lost. This seems more a last-ditch option.
Posted by: Charles ||
11/16/2012 19:47
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#25
Yes... not to be rude but so?
I mean.. if you're in a glass house like that it implies you should walk carefully. Morsi obviously is too stupid to see that.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/16/2012 19:50
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#26
Actual damage might be worse than Bonneville. The area from Aswan to Cairo has a lot of fine sand that the flow would pick up. By the time the flow reached Cairo it would be akin to grinding compound that you say grind your engine's heads with... Nasty stuff. Anything in it's path would be ground fine. People, pyramids, weapons, cars, roads.... likely all the way to bedrock.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/16/2012 19:54
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#27
There is the friction to consider as the water roars down the Nile Valley. That will slow it some. Of course, the water is going to pick up everything in its path as Water Modem points out, so that by the time it gets to Cairo it'll be the equivalent of battleship sandpaper.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/16/2012 20:12
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#28
It looks like about 600 miles as the river flows from Aswan to Cario. At 16mph that's 600/16 or 37.5 hours. Most could walk way into the desert in that time. Average human walking speed is 4mph so 37.5 hours without sleep could take one 150 miles. But my bet is that the wavefront is only 5 to 10 miles wide at Cairo with 5 being more likely. The West side is greener on Google Maps than the East so I assume the East side is higher. Walk East 5 to 10 miles and one is probably okay.
There would be plenty of time to do that. 3 hours plus crowds. Make it 6 out of 37.5
Take food, snakebite kit and clothes plus guns and leave the rest. (Sand dunes East of town)
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/16/2012 20:43
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#29
Bwahahaha - escape? Most would stay and protest Da Joooos, then get white water swimming lessons. I just wonder if you could get the stink out of the Med
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/16/2012 20:57
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#30
I may need to take the last one back.
Widest part of the Amazon is 24.5 miles. At the flow we are talking about max run is 3 times Amazon flow so if it is shallow for awhile width could be 74 miles wide at 16 mph.
And I did leave out drop from Aswan to the sea...
That's 85 meters so total drop to the sea would be 115 + 85...
(mod of program and subtract for additional energy);
That makes total energy to the sea: 5.64630884565001e+17 joules
That's a lot more... 5.0e+17 more joules....
Ouch!!!
About 10MT more than the Tsar Bomb or 60MT.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/16/2012 21:56
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#4
"do they get to re-possess our aircraft carriers?"
They can always try....
Posted by: Barbara ||
11/16/2012 15:34
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#5
Pre-1939 Munich Conference + Alsace-Lorraine + Partition of Czechoslovakia, Poland, + Manchuria, etc. = 2012 Greek Islands per the so-called "Troika" = US ISLANDS IN ASIA-PACIFIC???
Why NOT one or more US CVNS to China, starting wid the legendary USS ENTERPRISE???
See also late 1960's SINO-SOVIET BORDER/RIVERINE CLASHES, espec as per outcomes for disputed riverine islands.
As for possible future, China-demanded ANTI-US/CVN "NO-GO" DECLARATION ZONES, WE ALREADY KNOW FROM PAST CHINESE MILBLOG ARTICS THAT GUAM-CNMI + WESTPAC IS VERY LIKELY ONE OF THEM.
* FYI DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > PLA GENERAL [RADM.Ying Zhuo] SAID CHINA IS DEVELOPING 40,000-TON LHD, WZ-10 [+ WZ-19] WILL BE ON-BOARD. Poten up to 48K-ton + 38 Strike Helos.
* IIRC same > VIDEO: RUSSIA SHOWS OFF MODEL OF ITS FUTURE AIRCRAFT CARRIER.
US-style Nuclear Supercarrier wid Russian characteristics, i.e. wid an extra extra-long Angled Deck plus forward VSTOL Ski-Jump on the bow.
* SAME > WHAT DOES CHINA'S SSBN SUBMARINES MEAN TO TO THE US?
ARTIC = denotes that, for the time being, the CPLAN's latest Boomer Subs have to deploy close to Hawaii AMAP in EASTPAC to launch their SLBMS + SLCMS agz CONUS.
Lest we fergit, RETIRED JMSDF ADMIRAL = argued that China wants to possess the Japan-controlled Senkakaus [China = Diaoyus] to help protect the northern approaches to its desired future SUB HAVEN in the South China Sea. SOUTH CHINA SEA "SUB HAVEN" = SOVIET + POST-SOVIET RUSSIAN STRATEGIC MILITARY ZONE IN THE SEA OF OKHOSTK + KAMCHATKA.
* DAILY TIMES.PK > US "PIVOT" TO ASIA: WHERE BASES ARE NOT BASES. US leasing or sub-leasing of former Cold War Milbases in Philippines + SE Asia akin to leasing a quality car but widout all the hassles or stresses [$$$] of actually buying or owning same.
versus
* TOPIX > NO ROOM TO BACK OFF, SAYS CHINA ON DISPUTED ISLANDS.
"Post-US", Future World #1 Rising China has no place to back off to except its own mainland, i.e. where it started from and remains.
* WORLD NEWS > CLINTON: US MUST REMAIN NEUTRAL IN SOUTH AND EAST CHINA SEAS.
* SAME > CHINA RULES OUT "TIME LIMITS" FOR PATROLLING JAPAN-ADMINISTERED SENKAKU ISLANDS.
RELATED SAME, CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > CHINA TO SEND [active-duty PLAN] WARSHIPS TO DISPUTED ISLES | PLA TO ADAPT WARSHIPS FOR DIAYU PATROL, under the auspice of China Marine Surveillance [CMS].
IOW, Japan will have to send out it active-duty surface warfare vessels, etc. lest it wants its Japan Coast Guard to be outmatched, outclassed, + outgunned.
* NEWS KERALA > CHINA'S JAPANESE ISLAND SPAT AIMED AT GARNERING STRATEGIC MILITARY SUPERIORITY OVER THE US.
* WORLD MILITARY FORUM > WESTERN SPECIALISTS: CHINA'S LATEST TYPE 041B "YUAN"-CLASS SSKS MAY CARRY ANTI-NAVAL CRUISE MISSLES, PLUS ANTI-AIRCRAFT MISSLES.
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > REPORT: CHINA DEVELOPS ROCKET THAT CAN DO "S-CURVE" ATTACKS [maneuvers], ALA "MOSKIT" MISSLES.
Will China follow Iran's example and develop a LR UAV that can serve as "carrier" [Mothership] for a number of Attack Micro/Mini-UAVS???
#6
OOOOPPPSSSIES, forgot WORLD NEWS > SPACE WARFARE AND THE FUTURE OF US GLOBAL POWER. BY 2020 THE US PENTAGON HOPES TO "PATROL THE ENTIRE GLOBE CEASELESSLY", RELENTLESSLY VIA A "TRIPLE-CANOPY SPACE SHIELD".
But-t-t, first thingys come first ...
* WORLD MILITARY FORUM > CHINA HAS ENOUGH STRATEGIC NUCLEAR MISSLES TO DESTROY JAPAN'S 25 LARGEST CITIES AND MILITARY BASES WHILE HAVING ENOUGH IN REMAINDER TO DETER OR RETALIATE AGZ ANY US COUNTER-STRIKE.
* SAME > THINK-TANK: WORLD STRATEGIC BALANCE TO CHANGE IFF CHINA ENTERS ARCTIC RESOURCES RACE, CHINA'S "NORTHERN STRATEGY" TO ASSERT LEGAL STATUS, CHINESE SOVEREIGNTY ON ARCTIC AREAS.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > CHINA GETS TOUGH ON HONG-KONG TROUBLEMAKERS | LOVE CHINA OR LEAVE IT, LIU PING TELLS HONG-KONG'S WOULD-NBE SECESSIONISTS/SEPARATISTS.
* SAME > HOW THE US INFILTRATES CHINA'S COMMUNIST PARTY [CPC]. Many of the CPC's ruling elites send their kids off to attend top-tier US Schools, e.g. Harvard, where they learn the latest in business, plus free-market or laissez-faire economics. Ditto already-established, lower-level, up-n-coming Party Officios, Bureacrats as per professional career-management training.
Republican Congressman Peter King just exited the closed-door hearing with David Petraeus to update the media, and his description of the ex-CIA Chief's testimony contained more than one bombshell.
For starters, King said Petraeus told them that the CIA talking points meant for U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice's Sept. 16 round robin of five Sunday network news shows, originally contained the information that there was evidence al-Qaeda elements were involved in the attack. These talking points were then altered by the White House or someone close to the White House.
Independently of the 'talking points', Amb. Rice is a full member of the Cabinet and had available to her what was given to the Cabinet.
The issue is not JUST what she was given, but more importantly what she was TOLD TO SAY. And what to keep quiet.
Obviously, what we now know is that in their final format, the talking points in question focused exclusively on the false idea that the September 11 anniversary attack was motivated by a spontaneous protest over an anti-Muslim video.
King also said that the testimony from Petraeus today was much different than his original testimony on Sept. 14. Today, Petraeus told the committee that he knew "almost immediately" that the attack was the work of an al-Qaeda affiliated militia called Ansar al Sharia and that the "overwhelming amount of evidence said this was a terror attack." According to numerous reports, in his original testimony, Petraeus focused almost exclusively on the YouTube video as the prime motivator for the attack.
So, at least according to Rep. King, we have Petraeus amending and/or contradicting his original testimony, and the news that somewhere in-between the CIA and Susan Rice, removed from the CIA talking points that insisted there was "no evidence" of a pre-meditated terrorist attack was the information about Ansar al Sharia.
This leaves us with two new and very important questions that must be answered:
If he did, why did Petraeus change his testimony?
Who changed the CIA talking points, removing the evidence an al-Qaeda element was likely involved in the murder of a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans?
#1
If he did, why did Petraeus change his testimony?
Answer: Because he mistakenly thought he was still on Champ's team!
Who changed the CIA talking points, removing the evidence an al-Qaeda element was likely involved in the murder of a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans?
Answer: My best guess would be National Security Advisor Tom Donilon and the Champ himself.
#2
it must be enormously confusing to be a diplomat these days. there you are standing in front of the media - trying to stick to the talking points. and then the boss keeps changing the talking points on you.
it's almost getting to the point where people might have to go back ... to the facts. Heaven forbid :-)
#7
It is of concern that someone changed the talking points and eliminated reference to AQ. What is of greater concern is what is not being presented to the public.
#8
All this was kicked down the road until after the election. Moreover, much of what is classified is too secret to be made available to the public.
So tell me, how the hell can anyone be an informed voter? We end up voting on the basis of superficiality, class war, and promised stuff. I suppose if we ever really knew the truth regarding policy decisions and policies, we would revolt.
#11
NS, Petraeus was working against terrorists abroad but forgot the dangers on the home front. If trustworthiness is a commonly shared value, why does anyone believe what the Champ says? And why isn't he damaged goods too.
I don't know what the entire truth is about Petraeus. Everyone falls down occasionally. Most likely Petraeus will be dealing with this the rest of his life.
#13
JQC, what leads you to think I believe anything 0 says or think of him as anything other than damaged goods? Because the majority of Americans prefer damaged goods doesn't make them any less damaged.
Frankly, I can understand DP avoiding publicizing the truth about his extracurricular activities; I'm not his wife. But to then mislead the American people about a material fact for political gain during wartime is a horse of a different color and one horse too many.
#15
NS, I wasn't suggesting that you believe DP or not. I was just asking about the values in our country. I was suggesting that lying seems to be acceptable since we elected a guy who is a serial liar and no one seems to notice enough to dump him out of office. Lying is not OK. Presently, I think we are being fed a load of horseshit by both parties. No one is coming clean and it pisses me off. No one has answered the questions of why Benghazi happened or what was going on there. IMO Petraeus' affair is just a sideshow and distraction. So far, the investigation is a clusterf*ck. Benghazi was a remote place run by the CIA. Most everyone else who had any sense had left because of security problems that had been ongoing for sometime prior to 911. What was so important about this place? Why wasn't more security provided but instead was denied? Four good people are dead. I don't think the truth of what happened at Benghazi is ever going to be known. This is going to be another Fast and Furious. This should have been opened up before the election but wasn't and so we ended up with what we got.
#16
NS: it seems likely that what Petraeus told Congress on Sep. 14 was under duress. To my mind, that doesn't make him damaged goods. He's human, he used bad judgment, and he accepted the consequences. I am much more concerned about how he was coerced and who did the coercing, and whether there are any limits. It seems we live under a corrupt thugocracy, now with one less comparatively good guy.
#17
It gets weirder. Both Jill Kelly and Paula Broadwekk visited the White House several times this past year. This whole business stinks. At this point I don't trust ANY of them.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
11/16/2012 16:21
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#18
I didn't see Pappy's comment, but he's never stupid or a troll - did you mean to squish the 50Marine thing under his?
I squished mine while trying to delete our multi-nymed spammer with the Hawaii IP.
Called for incoming fire on my position, as it were.
#19
#17 It gets weirder. Both Jill Kelly and Paula Broadwekk visited the White House several times this past year. This whole business stinks. At this point I don't trust ANY of them.
Posted by Deacon Blues
If it were not for the dead, I can almost see a Steven Spielberg motive.
#21
The individual that relieved General Ham for not following the stand down order, while General Ham was in the situation room in DC is the individual that caused the 7 hour results in Bengazi. Who is that person?
#22
General Ham was not relieved for anything involving Benghazi.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
11/16/2012 17:51
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#23
JQC, I agree completely, but RJD, how much duress was he under? If he was being blackmailed, even implicitly, he owes it to us to come clean about it. If appropriate, a full confession would be due and cleansing. Such has not been forthcoming, and leads me only to conclude there was no externally applied duress.
#24
Random JD nails it for me. Under duress (blackmailed), probably honey-potted (by whom?) RJD's comment "I am much more concerned about how he was coerced and who did the coercing, and whether there are any limits." This is the key.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
11/16/2012 20:26
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#25
Honeypotted? Nah, that lets him off. I know officers who served with him ... they've been quietly unimpressed by him for some time, other than at the degree of ambition and (for a long time) hard work of a sort.
He made this mess himself. Chicago exploited it, no doubt, but he gave them the opening.
#27
In that case, Rob Crawford, why was the Admiral in the Meditaranean also relieved of command for not obeying the "stand down"? Obviously, the timing may have been more than a coinckydink.
#1
Let's see, the islamists are on the move and the communists are on the move (externally and internally). What can I say after that...words really escape me at this point?
#3
Bullshit, no one talked about this in Portugal. And everyone maybe except the Communists - and even then they are of soviet extraction - would not agree. The other leftists don't like the Chinese.
The only change is if the Chinese drop a boatload of money here. And by boatload i man something real huge, like erasing all our debt or something...
#4
The only change is if the Chinese drop a boatload of money here. And by boatload i man something real huge, like erasing all our debt or something
PG, the Chinese won't need to. They play a long game and Portugal is going down the gurglar.
Then they will make an offer Portugal can't refuse.
#5
Sorry AlanC. Looks like we were in the same place this morning. I think it is healthy every now and then to just retreat from the news and ignore it completely...find some diversions. Enjoy the family or friends, go on a hike, go canoeing or kyacking, see a movie, read a book, etc.
#4
Who pays? We do, in part, as the newly unemployed bakers and drivers will get (of course) unemployment benefits.
Apparently the baking business has a lot of over-capacity, so it was no surprise that Hostess was in big trouble. Why the bakers' union thought they could play hardball here is beyond me.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/16/2012 10:31
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#5
Cupcakes and lemon pies. My favorites from childhood.
Is there any reason not to expect more of this going "forward"?
BTW Besoeker, that's "paile" not "pale", unless you're into a light lunch.
Wrecking ball unions tha infested Hostess, now based in Irving, Texas is on the front line of another Obama/Dhimmicrat favored wrecking ball group, the Mexicans. Grupo Bimbo is flooding the market in the Southern US with knockoffs of American bakery products made South of the border and then shipping them products by the truck load to be distributed in the US.
Cheap Labor, the silver bullet shot into the heart of US companies like Hostess. Mexican based bakeries then buy what is left of thier road kills such as Mrs Bairds or Hostess and then tear down the bakeries in the US to eliminate them for good.
An FYI that the fat ass/greedy union bosses don't tell their fat ass/greedy/ignorant union members.
#8
While I feel sorry for the management and stockholders (if there are any; is Hostess a public or private company?) of Hostess, I feel absolutely NO sympathy for the unions, who struck themselves out of their jobs.
18,500 idiots, and their families. They will probably go on unemployment and then welfare, but that won't hold a candle to the overpaid union wages they based their lives, car payments, house payments, etc., on.
Enjoy, ya' jackasses.
(If I were hiring drivers or production line workers and saw an applicant's last place of employment was at Hostess, I'd tell them thanks but no thanks. We'll get back to you if a job opens up next millineum.)
Posted by: Barbara ||
11/16/2012 11:08
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#9
BTW Besoeker, that's "paile" not "pale", unless you're into a light lunch.
Posted by AlanC
Thanks AlanC. My E. Jones lady tells me I should skip lunch entirely.
#10
can't help feeling the world is better off without Twinkie's. i'm not even sure that you could grind the old ones into pieces, mix them with glue, and use them as industrial flooring. it would probably still violate environmental rules.
#12
Going by what happened with the railroads when they were demolished by their featherbedding unions, we can expect the govt to step in to save the unions.
AmBake, anyone?
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012 11:59
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#13
No more Twinkies for Big Bird. I am less than devastated.
As some people have said, let the unions take over some of the businesses that they pillage, and let them try to turn a profit, under the work rules and union benefits that they promote.
#14
One thing you'll never see is such unions going to other union pension funds to raise capital and making a case to 'buy out' the position of their existing management and run the company themselves.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/16/2012 13:14
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#17
BIMBO is huge down here in Azatlanland (aka Tucson). Mebbe people would rather eat a "bimbo" than a "hostess"?
____________________
I still get a chuckle when a see a tractor-trailer with an enormous BIMBO sign on it. Must be the eighth grader in me trying to get out.
#19
Republicans were going to kill Big Bird, but only after the election do we find out that Democrats were plotting to kill the Twinkie? I question the timing.
#20
Wonder how DoL will spin these "new" jobless claims next week (18,500 of them)?
Ah, well, "let them eat cake," I say. The union got what it deserved. Finally, when's the last time anyone here ate a Twinkie? Maybe this will help keep others off the Obamacare teet and lose weight, lol....
Posted by: BA ||
11/16/2012 14:23
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#21
So now Twinkies are going to become collector's items?
It's not like they will ever go bad or anything...
#23
Fear not. The Hostess brand names have substantial value which the bankruptcy trustee will realize by auctioning them to the highest bidder, perhaps with recipes. Look for Lil' Debbie to be pushing Ding Dongs. Ho Ho I say with a twinkie in my eye.
#26
Little Debbie has been making the Cloud and cupcake items that you could say are knockoffs.
BIMBO was and is run by Mexicans that are very supportive of their workforce. Hard working like 24/7. They earned every bit of their growth to hard work. They own like 17 bakeries. They purchased George Weston's American and Canadian operations 4-5 years ago. He is the Sam Wall mart of Canada. Thomas muffins, Arnold bread, and Entenmann's. Weston had 95% of the Canadian market. Co pack is a big part of this industry. Now you want to talk about cheap that would be Flowers. Look at the product next to Little Debbie in your stores. Warehouse deliver cheap as cheap can get and still high profit margin for the store. Many put the product in freezers and pull it out when it sells down. Bail them out and Hostess will repeat its problems.
#30
Bush, Bain, Nixon, Romney...it can't be our fault, right?
Oh, yeah. One of Trumpka's chins called and said to grab a coupla cases of Twinkies for him before they run out...
Posted by: Da Union ||
11/16/2012 18:49
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#31
Now Bloomberg will have to scratch "ban Twinkies" off of his to-do list.
#35
Trumpka, Obama have the same problem. They have been in the business of telling lies for so long they believe their own lies. In this sort of group you can the see a common result; the word is shuteyes. Like con artists that don't know when to move on.
#36
The boxes I bought are going for $60 each on eBay.
I went to town today to get my driver's license. No can do: computers down. Instead I got a haircut, a box of Ding Dongs, and a box of Ho Hos. I told the clerk (who may also be the manager of the store; not sure) that I was going to sell 'em on eBay and MAKE A FORTUNE! But I lied. I'm just going to freeze 'em and eat 'em slowly.
But I see that CJ9539 is (sort of) correct: boxes of "RARE!" Hostess items are being offered for tens of dollars each. This is not the same as being bought for tens of dollars each.
Meanwhile, I carefully opened my Ding Dong box and ate one. Not that good; too sweet. That comes from getting old: the phrase "too sweet", unintelligible to kids, starts to make sense.
By the way, the clerk/possible manager said a fellow had come in for an entire cartload of Hostess products. There were only a few boxes left when I was there. He went on to say that that's what Hostess gets for "not unionizing". Not wanting to cause a fight in the store, I said nothing.
#38
Re # 3: GM killed the Olds due to brand cannibalism ( Olds siphoning off Buick/Caddy up-sales to previous Chevy/Pontiac owners).
Then they did the Poncho in; strange; both Ransom's baby and the Wide Track constantly outsold Buick.....and had better muscle cars also.
wish i could blame the unions, but not this time.
#1
Judge Napolitano ought to change his name; it gets confused.
I often think what chaos would ensue if everyone legally changed their names and then a few months later, legally changed it back to what it was. The IRS would go nuts.
Representative Peter King stated that former CIA Director David Petraeus stated that he knew the Benghazi attack was terrorism and that the talking points given to Ambassador Susan Rice were different from the ones prepared by the CIA. Petraeus stated Rice's talking points were edited to demphasized the possibility of terrorism.
h/t Gates of Vienna
Greek protesters threw coffee and eggs at Germany's consul to Thessaloniki when he was talking about trade between the countries, officials said on Thursday.
#3
Seems to me they're going to be wishing they had eaten that food sooner or later.
*shrug*
They're idiots. Lazy idiots who think they're entitled to the fruit of other peoples' labor. No better than slavers.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
11/16/2012 9:28
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#4
Now now Robert, hairdressing is a strenuous occupation, and of course hairdressers should be allowed to retire with a full pension when they turn 52. How could we be so heartless as to deny Greek hairdressers that to which they are entitled?
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/16/2012 9:44
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#5
Greek hairdressers?
Faaaabulooous!
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/16/2012 9:47
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#6
Oh look... the children are throwing a temper tantrum.
#7
i'll have to remember that trick if ever I go to Greece. just invite the German consul to breakfast for an informal chat. the locals will toss the breakfast menu on your table for FREE ... what a great deal !!! :-)
h/t Gates of Vienna
Was David Petraeus as great a general as the write-ups of his downfall routinely claim? This is a provocative question that I will begin to answer with another question: Did America prevail in the Iraq War? I suspect few would say "yes" and believe it, which is no reflection on the valor and sacrifice of the American and allied troops who fought there. On the contrary, it was the vaunted strategy of the two-step Petraeus "surge" that was the blueprint of failure.
While U.S. troops carried out Part One successfully by fighting to establish basic security, the "trust" and "political reconciliation" that such security was supposed to trigger within Iraqi society never materialized in Part Two. Meanwhile, the "Sunni awakening" lasted only as long as the U.S. payroll for Sunni fighters did.
Today, Iraq is more an ally of Iran than the United States (while dollars keep flowing to Baghdad). This failure is one of imagination as much as strategy. But having blocked rational analysis of Islam from entering into military plans for the Islamic world, the Bush administration effectively blinded itself and undermined its own war-making capacity. In this knowledge vacuum, David Petraeus' see-no-Islam counterinsurgency (COIN) doctrine would fill but not satisfy the void.
The basis of COIN is "population protection" -- Iraqi populations, Afghan populations -- over "force protection." Or, as lead author David Petraeus wrote in the 2007 Counterinsurgency Field Manual: "Ultimate success in COIN is gained by protecting the populace, not the COIN force." ("COIN force" families must have loved that.) Further, the Petraeus COIN manual tells us: "The more successful the counterinsurgency is, the less force can be used and the more risk can be accepted." "Less force" and "more risk" translate into highly restrictive rules of engagement.
#1
If there is a lesson here, it is simple: A leader who will betray the First Amendment will betray anything.
"Anything" is fairly inclusive. Right or wrong, I hope we do not become distracted and lose sight of what was being hidden or covered up with these lies.
(Let us entertain the people with a great sex scandal while the players move on to other positions of trust and responsibility)
If you were a combat soldier or Marine or a CIA operative on the ground in Afghanistan right now, or the family of a combat soldier or Marine or a CIA operative on the ground in Afghanistan right now, who do you want in command of the American intelligence agency? The man who is regarded as the better counterinsurgency expert and cant keep it in his pants? Or the moral paragon of marital fidelity who is in any way less effective at counterinsurgency. Thats a real-world choice. Just as forcing John ONeill out of the FBI in the run-up to 911 was a real-world choice.
#3
Afghanistan isn't a counterinsurgency scenario.
In a counterinsurgency 'we' are competing with the 'insurgency.' The population is the judge and the prize is the population's good will, specifically their willingness to accept the legitimacy of our allies, the 'friendly' government.
In Afghanistan we can only gain the people's good will if the give them danegeld aid and most importantly prove that our troops are more effective executors of the will of the Afghan people than the insurgency. Then the people will support Karzai and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
The problem is that the people aren't friends, they're weak and mostly passive aggressive enemies.
The 'friendly' government of Afghanistan has adopted a diplomatic posture more hostile than the Soviet Union's (post Khrushchev.)
Plus, 'moderate Taliban' are part of the government of Afghanistan even though the Taliban were originally slated to share in the terrorists' fate.
Under the COIN doctrine this disturbing state of affairs is considered a partial success.
COIN is not a viable response to an act of unlimited war like 9/11. However brilliant Petraeus' COIN theory might be its application in Afghanistan make as much sense as treating a rabies infection with a masterfully performed heart transplant.
In 2001 we jumped into Afghanistan to destroy al-Qaeda and to beat down the Taliban. We were smart -- air power controlled by special forces in a light footprint situation in which the 'Northern Alliance' provided the ground forces.
It worked. We destroyed most of al-Qaeda and chased the Taliban over the border. Success was ours.
Then we threw it away. George Bush's first big mistake of his presidency was to listen to Democrats, Europeans and academics (always a bad, bad combination) who told him, "you broke it (Afghanistan), you fix it."
We didn't break a thing, of course, since Afghanistan was and had been broken ever since the King had been deposed in the early 1970s. But the bleating of the 'moral' left led to the demand that we should do 'nation-building' in Afghanistan.
So we did, or at least, we've been trying. The result is a couple thousand fine young Americans are dead and tens of billions of dollars have been wasted (the correct technical term is 'pissed away') on a stupid idea that has and has had no chance whatsoever of being correct.
There is no nation to build in Afghanistan, and there won't be unless and until the Pashtuns and the Pakistanis decide to go along with building one. Which they won't do, and why should they? They're getting what they want.
I confess myself to being some blind-sided by our successes and thinking that perhaps the Middle East and Central Asia were ready for democracy. After all, naysayers declaimed the possibility of South America evolving from the thugocracies of the 1970s, yet that smart man Ronald Reagan had the foresight and perseverance to push for democracy in that continent -- now the majority of countries there indeed are democratic.
So too, the thought went, that the Middle East and Central Asia were 'ready', and we just had to push and be patient. We neo-cons would once again be proven right, as humankind, given a chance, will always choose freedom.
We're not right. At least, we're not right this moment. The Islamic world is not ready for freedom, it's ready for more religion. There is no way to establish 'trust' and 'reconciliation' in these countries for the simplest of reasons -- the people don't want those things. They want the security of religion and what that religion requires of them.
We neo-cons were wrong. Petraeus is not a martyr, he's just one of the architects of a vision that failed.
Time to bring our military home. Let the people of Afghanistan have, good and hard, that which they have demanded to have.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/16/2012 10:42
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#5
"The more successful the counterinsurgency is, the less force can be used and the more risk can be accepted."Maybe he gave them the pill as well.
#1
The Egyptian PM's comments, "...will spare no efforts to achieve a cease fire..." were not received well by some of Hamas. They hoped for a "... we will strike with our own missiles" or something like that.
Posted by: lord garth ||
11/16/2012 6:37
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#2
You are incorrect about Israel, Chuff: Christians and Muslims are free to live pretty much as they wish there. Indeed, in the entire Middle East Israel is the ONLY country in which a Muslim can say what he wants free of the risk of death for opening his mouth.
Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood do indeed want an Islamic state in Egypt. The Copts are toast, they just haven't faced the full implications of that yet.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/16/2012 10:46
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#4
CCC is PlaneSPeeker is Israel4Jews in new clothing, Dr. Steve. He's a nasty-minded thing from England who likesto pretend to be a racist Israeli. He is also gone.
#5
by 2pm Israeli time they were at 510 incoming rockets since the targeted killing.
Then the launch rate increased.
The big rockets that can reach the larger cities are launched from the most populated parts of Gaza in hopes of counter-battery side-effect propaganda.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/16/2012 12:56
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#6
Update Hamas militants have fired at least one rocket at Jerusalem, the first time the city has been targeted for decades
#10
Update Israeli ministers were on Friday asked to endorse the call-up of up to 75,000 reservists after Palestinian militants nearly hit Jerusalem with a rocket for the first time in decades and fired at Tel Aviv for a second day.
The rocket attacks were a challenge to Israel's Gaza offensive and came just hours after Egypt's prime minister, denouncing what he described as Israeli aggression, visited the enclave and said Cairo was prepared to mediate.
#11
I note that Iran is doubling it's enrichment.
They are really good at creating side issues to delay an Israeli attack.
You know after GAZA will be Hez in Leb and then Iran will launch 5 or 10 nukes toward Israel just as they are bogged down in Leb.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/16/2012 14:54
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#12
Oh and it uses up Israeli anti-missile rockets before the real attack...
It's a good strategy.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/16/2012 14:55
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#13
"I note that Iran is doubling it's enrichment.
They are really good at creating side issues to delay an Israeli attack. "
that's an interesting point of view. worth thinking about. this entire conflict is obviously pre-planned. it's either about money (increased financial backing & weapons for Hamas), or some broader strategy objective.
again, you gotta' look for the unseen fingers of Al Quds in these events.
#15
They are really good at creating side issues to delay an Israeli attack.
WM, Chief Rabbi of Britain, Lord Sachs, blames Iran for the escalation . Could be why Egypt doesn't seem to want to get involved,
#20
I expect these won't be 'lobbed', Water Modem.
History will tell us that the payloads have already been deployed and secured, pending activation from some threshold escalation event.
75,000 civilian Israeli reservists moving into Gaza on known routes would be such an event. The accelerated rocketing would be a strategy to set this 'flash mob' in motion over the tunnels under the perimeter road.
#1
This btw is the US educated islamofascist serving under another US educated islamofascist who openly called for a repeal of the 1st Amendment. He did this immediately after the Egyptian regime permitted an attack on the US embassy.
He's already gotten away with very much so it is no wonder he's utterly fearless.
The Department of Labor has announced that new jobless claims rose by a staggering 78,000 in the first week after the election, reaching a seasonally-adjusted total of 439,000. Over the past year, and in the weeks leading up to the election, jobless claims were said to be declining, dipping as low as 339,000, with the media proclaiming that they had reached the "lowest level in more than four years." Now, suddenly, the news seems far less rosy.
From the Department of Labor press release this morning:
In the week ending November 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 439,000, an increase of 78,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 361,000. The 4-week moving average was 383,750, an increase of 11,750 from the previous week's revised average of 372,000.
Some of the new claims, especially in New Jersey, were due to Hurricane Sandy--but these were offset by a decline in claims filed in New York. The highest numbers of new filings came from Pennsylvania and Ohio, where there were thousands of layoffs in the construction, manufacturing, and automobile industries.
Both states had been targeted by the presidential campaigns. President Obama highlighted his record of job creation in Ohio in particular, focusing on the automobile industry. The state reported 6,450 new jobless claims in the week after the election--second-highest after Pennsylvania, which recorded 7,766 new claims.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
11/16/2012
00:25 ||
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#1
Hurricane Barry makes Sandy look like a sun shower.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012 12:00
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#5
Of course they will, Fred.
After all, this time will be different!
Posted by: Barbara ||
11/16/2012 13:21
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#6
Tip of the iceberg. I expect a lot of large corporations are giving out notices this week. Where I work (unnamed large multinational corporation) they are laying out a 'significant number' of FTEs by giving them 30 or 60 day notices. Not really (or directly) due to Obamacare either.
What grand, generous lads they are, to be sure! Let's give them all our money.
Let's get the hell out of Afghanistan and root up everything we've done there and in Pakistan on our way home...
While the US has been distracted by the presidential election, the Syrian conflict, and jihadist outbursts in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, the Gaza strip and elsewhere, Pakistan has been moving at a glacial pace to restore NATO's critical oil supply line to Afghanistan.
The logistical supply lines, but not the oil supply lines, were opened in July after an apology two months earlier by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for a US attack on a Pakistani military outpost in Mohmand on the night of Nov. 25-26, 2011 that left 25 Pakistani soldiers dead. US forces in Afghanistan attacked the Salala outpost just across the border after receiving fire from the outpost and sending up signal flares that were ignored.
After a 12-month blockade, the flow of oil through NATO's Pakistani supply lines is due to resume by the end of this month, according to the Express Tribune. The first two test-run tankers made it through the Torkham crossing in Khyber last week. "Officials cited multiple reasons [for the stoppage] including security issues faced by drivers and oil tankers on the route through Pakistan," the Express Tribune report stated.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
11/16/2012
00:22 ||
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The Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, an al Qaeda-linked jihadist group that is fighting Bashir al Assad's regime in Syria, has claimed credit for two more suicide attacks and said it conducted joint operations with two other jihadist groups. In one of the joint operations, Al Nusrah claimed it shot down a Syrian Air Force MiG. The al Qaeda-linked terror group has now claimed credit for 34 of the 42 suicide attacks that have been reported in Syria since December 2011.
The terror group claimed the attacks and operations in a series of statements that were released yesterday on jihadist internet forums. The statements have been translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.
The two suicide attacks claimed by Al Nusrah have not been previously reported. The first attack was part of a complex operation and took place on Oct. 9 at "the Aswaq al Kheir barrier [outpost] ... monitored in the area of Ain Tarma in the countryside of Damascus," according to the statement translated by SITE. A suicide bomber identified as Abu Muhammad al Furati detonated a car bomb at the checkpoint to the outpost, "destroying two tanks and burning the third." The suicide attack allowed Al Nusrah fighters to enter the outpost. Al Nusrah claimed that 75 Syrian soldiers and one of its own fighters were killed during the attack.
The second suicide attack took place on Nov. 9 "in the countryside of Hama, east of the city of Soran and close to the Nusayri [Alawhite] villages." A suicide bomber named Abu Humam al Shamali attacked "the Samrah checkpoint" and killed several military personnel, including "Abu Dinyal, a specialist in killing the Sunni people with a knife, and Captain Yunus, who committed the massacre of northern al-Fan in the countryside of Hama."
Joint operations with other Syrian jihadist groups
In addition to the two suicide attacks, Al Nusrah also claimed credit in the Nov. 14 statements for numerous ambushes and IED attacks, as well as two joint operations with two other al Qaeda-linked jihadist groups in Syria. Both of the joint operations took place on Nov. 1.
In the first operation, Al Nusrah said it "participated with Sukur al Sham," or the Hawks of Syria, to attack "the Hamisho barrier that is centered on the Saraqeb - al-Nayrab road."
"The Front participated with a brigade composed of five elements, and the barrier was destroyed after completing the attack operation," al Nusrah said.
In the second operation, Al Nusrah teamed up with the Ahrar al Sham Brigades, or Free Men of Syria, to attack "the ICARDA barrier, where a MiG plane was shot down." Several Syrian soldiers were killed and the groups seized weapons, ammunition, night vision goggles, and vehicles.
The Ahrar al Sham Brigades is a Salafist-jihadist group that operates in Idlib and the surrounding areas, and has numerous foreign fighters in its ranks. Sheik Adnan al Arour, a prominent Syrian cleric who has often appeared in the media, backs the Ahrar al Sham Brigades. According to The New York Times, Arour said the group buys "weapons from the donations and savings of the Wahhabi children and not from the Americans like the Shiites of Iraq did." Wahhabism is the radical branch of Islam promoted by the Saudi government.
Sukur al Sham is another radical jihadist group that operates in Idlib and elsewhere. Abu Zein, a spokesman for the group, told The New York Times that Arabs, Frenchmen, and Belgians are present in the ranks, and that the group espouses al Qaeda's ideology.
"The Qaeda ideology existed previously, but it was suppressed by the regime," Abu Zein told The New York Times in July. "But after the uprising they found very fertile ground, plus the funders to support their existence. The ideology was present, but the personnel were absent. Now we have both."
Al Nusrah Front and suicide attacks
The al Qaeda-linked Al Nusrah Front has been the most active jihadist group in Syria. It has claimed credit for 34 of the 42 known suicide bombings in Syria
Posted by: Au Auric ||
11/16/2012
00:19 ||
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The president is convinced Americans need to pay more in taxes. Here's what he said yesterday.
I think everybody out there understood that was an important debate and the majority of voters agreed with me. By the way, more voters agreed with me on this issue than voted for me! So we've got a clear majority of the American people who recognize if we're gonna be serious about deficit reduction we gotta do it in a balanced way."
But let me tell you, come January 1, you're probably not going to be happy with the amount of taxes you're paying. That's because it's not just Federal taxes that you pay.
A middle class taxpayer pays 25% percent of their income in Federal Income Tax. Sounds, ok?
Then there is the Federal Social Security and Medicare payroll tax of 13.3%. You pick up 5.65% while you're employer pays 7.65%. Add them up and that's 38.3% of middle class family incomes going to Uncle Sam. But we aren't done, not by a long shot.
According to the Tax Foundation, the average state's income tax rate on the middle class is 4.82%. Of course, some states have it and some don't, but we're taking an average here.
Now the total: 43.12% of middle class income to taxes.
Oh, and I almost forgot, unless congress makes a move, Federal Income taxes go to 28% for middle income folks next year as the Bush tax cuts expire.
Neither party has said they want that to happen, but in Washington, well, you never know.
Also the payroll tax for those folks will go to 15.3% from 13.3%percent.
Did I mention state, property, corporate, and excise taxes? No?
All told, next year, total taxes will go to almost 50% for the middle class; the very group that the president says he wants to protect. That means 50 cents out of every dollar earned has to go to the government. Half of everything will go to an entity that didn't earn that money, and shouldn't be entitled to all that dough.
Unbelievable. You think most Americans agree that's fair?
I don't think so.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
11/16/2012
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#1
Unbelievable. You think most Americans agree that's fair?
There are explicit and implicit taxes and to detrmine the exact amount paid is virtually impossible to calculate. In the end what ever you think you are paying it is most likely more!
#7
I sit on my ass, not by choice, there's the rub.
I'm handicapped and on medicare, again, not my choice, I'd rather be making things(Machinist) or fixing things (Master Mechanic)but instead a few Strokes will that it to you, so I sit.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/16/2012 15:31
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#8
I'm sorry RJ. I'm also on Medicare dealing with a few problems too. There are many who are legitimately in need of help. If the system had been run right, it would have worked for people for quite some time. The money paid in has never been protected and managed well. Our federal government has not been fiscally responsible. There are people who milk the system. I know of a young lady who borrowed a couple of hundred thousand in student loans and has no intention of paying any of it back. She thinks it is OK to game the system. I heard about another guy who bought a duplex with student loans and yet another who bought a new Audi with student loans. There are healthcare providers who engage in fraud. There other forms of abuse of these systems. That does not seem right. We need some reforms in government or we are going the way of Greece.
[Tolo News] A number of Afghan lawmakers have put together a draft law for punishing those found guilty of child rape. Good idea.
Do we have a definition of child that is mutually agreed upon?
The MPs said parliament has the responsibility to wipe out such crimes and that having a specific law to punish these incidents is a serious necessity. "Raping children is truly a crime. "Whereas raping grownups is just kinda 'eh?'"
I am given to understand the technical term is 'meh'.
"The parliament has the responsibility to track down the matter and act to prevent these crimes," Faryab MP Naqibullah Faiq said in Wednesday's parliamentary session.
Ghazni MP Ali Akbar Qasemi said the crime deserved its own law. "I think the parliament should make a special draft law for stopping children rape. There should be a fundamental resolution to stop the crime, so that it wouldn't be a matter only reflected by media and not tracked down," he said.
The lawmakers called on justice institutions to apply the full Sharia law punishment to those who are convicted of raping children, adding that the only solution to bring down the climbing rate of reported child rapes is to enforce the law and harsh penalties.
Pointing to a recent rape of a 5-year-old girl in northern Balkh province, they called on the law enforcement bodies to take more seriously investigations into those accused of such deeds.
"Why don't the courts put into practice Sharia (law) for those accused of raping children? This matter should be pursued by the Supreme Court," said Speaker of the House Abdurraouf Ibrahimi.
There is the little matter of getting the police to enforce it. Pakistan, which was once upon a time much more civilized than it is now, has not been able to get their police to make arrests in cases the police think unimportant, so what odds the mostly illiterate and corrupt Afghan policemen can be coerced to do so?
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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#1
Cut their Dicks off, that'll stop them, and about all that will.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/16/2012 0:48
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#2
Perhaps England should do the same?
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
11/16/2012 7:33
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#3
One word: Aisha
Posted by: European Conservative ||
11/16/2012 7:43
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#4
"Whereas raping grownups is just kinda 'eh?'"
I seem to recall the existing protocol is to kill the victim to save the 'honor' of the family.
[An Nahar] Israel will take "whatever action is necessary" to defend its citizens from Paleostinian rocket attacks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday as Gazoo's Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, rulers noted that the current conflict "will shorten the era of occupation."
Netanyahu's remarks at a televised presser in Tel Aviv came after Israel carried out 24 hours of air strikes on Gazoo, killing 15 Paleostinians, at least seven of them Hamas hard boys.
Over the same period, bully boyz fired more than 200 rockets at Israel, killing three people and injuring 16, police and medics said.
Israel will "continue to take whatever action is necessary to defend our people," the prime minister said, adding that the army was prepared to "significantly expand the action" in Gazoo.
The Israeli air force had "caused significant damage to the Fajr rockets aimed at Tel Aviv, the (surrounding) Dan region and north of that," he added, referring to Iranian-built missiles which have a range of up to 75 kilometers (46 miles).
Earlier on Thursday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, on a visit to an Iron Dome anti-missile battery near Beersheva, said the operation had "nearly completely paralyzed" Hamas' arsenal of Fajr 5 rockets.
Hamas bully boyz said on Thursday they had fired several Fajr 5 rockets at Tel Aviv, but the Israeli military dismissed the claim and there were no reports of any attacks in the area.
Later on Thursday, the Israeli army confirmed that a rocket struck Rishon LeTzion, some 15 kilometers (nine miles) southeast of Tel Aviv, but there were no injuries or damage.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pond, the radioactive tadpoles grown into frogs. Really big frogs, in fact... Hamas said it would not consider a truce with Israel for now, as Israeli planes pounded Gazoo and bully boyz fired hundreds of rockets into the Jewish state.
"We will not be exposed to further tricks by the occupation. We consider talk of a truce at this time an attempt to provide more cover for the continuation of the escalation on Gazoo," Hamas front manSami Abu Zuhri ...a senior front man for Hamas. Zuhri gained notoriety in 2006 when he dropped his money belt containing somewhere between 640,000 and 900,000 euros, which was confiscated by Paleostinian security and customs officials at a routine border crossing from Egypt to Gazoo. The news brought competing Hamas and Fatah forces to the crossing checkpoint for an epic face-making and hollering contest... said at a presser.
"Talk of a truce is another attempt by the occupation at deception," he said, adding that "the enemy started an open war on our people and our resistance in Gazoo."
His remarks appeared to rule out any hopes of a quick end to a surge of violence that began with an Israeli assassination of top Hamas field commander Ahmed Jaabari on Wednesday.
"We are fighting a real war with Israel in every sense of the word," Hamas front man Fawzi Barhoum said during the same presser.
The battle will create new realities and the end will be determined through a gradual, advanced and escalating battle. Today, the resistance is overseeing the battle and we are confident that it will confront the occupation and foil its objectives," he added.
Addressing the Israeli population, Barhoum said "the Zionists must fully realize that their leaders are putting their lives in danger for domestic political reasons."
"We call on the masses of our people in the occupied West Bank to rise up," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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Since November 3rd Mexican Army units have seized 9,655.258 kilograms of marijuana, 6.1 kilograms of opium gum, 2.52 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, 1.434 kilograms of heroin, MX $1,512,700.00 (USD $114,296.78) and USD $945.00 (MX $12,486.85) in cash, according to official Mexican government sources.
Mexican Army units with the VI Military Region detained several individuals and seized quantities of drugs and money in Veracruz state November 3rd. The action took place in Cordova municipality, where soldiers seized quantities of marijuana and powder and crack cocaine, as well as one vehicle. A total of five suspects were detained at the scene.
An army unit with the Mexican VI Military Region seized quantities of drugs and cash in Veracruz state November 3rd. The unit was on patrol in Adolfo Ruiz Cortines colony in Coatzintla municipality when the incident took place. A total of MX $1,008,330 (USD $76,171.67) in cash as well as quantities of marijuana and cocaine were seized. Two unidentified suspects were also detained at the scene.
An army unit with the Mexican 2nd Military Zone seized guns and detained one unidentified individual in Baja California state November 3rd. The unit occupied a military checkpoint in Tijuana municipality, where soldiers seized two rifles, 22 weapons magazines and 4,200 rounds of ammunition.
A Mexican Army unit with the 2nd Military Zone seized drugs and detained suspects in Baja California state November 3rd. The unit was on patrol in Cedro colony, where the unit performed a traffic stop. Soldiers seized 2.52 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine. Two unidentified suspects were detained at the scene.
An army unit with the 2nd Military Zone seized a quantity of marijuana and detained suspects in Rancho Magaña, presumably in Mexicali municipality in Baja California state November 3rd. The unit performed a traffic stop where soldiers seized 49.35 kilograms of marijuana in 12 packages. Two unidentified individuals were detained at the scene.
A Mexican Army unit with the 6th Military Zone exchanged gunfire with armed suspects in Coahuila state November 6th. The unit was on patrol in Periodistas colony in Piedras Negras municipality when soldiers came under small arms fire. Army counterfire killed two armed suspects. Following the firefight soldiers seized one AK-47 and two AR-15 rifles, quantities of weapons magazines, ammunition and one vehicle.
An army unit with the 9th Military Zone located drugs in Sinaloa state November 1st. The unit was on patrol in La Costerita bypass in Culican municipality when it rolled up on an abandoned vehicle. Soldiers found 6.1 kilograms of opium gum and three rifles inside the vehicle.
A Mexican Army unit with the 9th Military Zone seized motor fuel in Sinaloa state November 1st. The unit came up on the find near the village of La Higuerita in Culican municipality, where soldiers took possession of 12,000 liters of diesel fuel and two fuel tankers.
An army unit with Mexican 9th Military Zone seized chemicals in Sinaloa state November 4th. The unit found the chemicals in a building in Miguel Hidalgo colony in Culican municiaplity. Soldiers seized nineteen 200 liter drums and eleven 50 liter containers with an unknown chemical inside, ten 25 kilogram bundles of caustic soda and three vehicles.
A Mexican Army unit seized quantities of drums and chemicals in Sinaloa state November 4th. The unit performed a traffic stop near the village of Soyatita in Badiraguato municipality. Soldiers seized twenty-two 50 liter containers of chlorine, sixteen 50 liter containers of monomethylamine, eight 50 liter containers of perfume, 200 liters of alcohol, 200 liters of toluene and one ton of lead dust. One unidentified suspect was detained at the scene.
An army unit with the 29th Military Zone detained suspects and quantities of drugs in Veracruz state November 4th. The unit had been dispatched to the village of Canticas in Cosoleacaque municipality based on a complaint from an anonymous kidnapping victim. Soldiers detained four suspects and seized personal quantities of powder cocaine, four rounds of ammunition and one vehicle.
A Mexican Army unit with the 2nd Military Zone seized quantities of drugs in several incidents in Baja California state November 5th. The seizures took place in Tijuana, Tecate and Ensenada municipalities where soldiers took possession of 7,394.008 kilograms of marijuana, 1.434 kilograms of heroin, two rifles, quantities of ammunition, six tractor-trailer rigs, two boats and one outboard motor.
An army unit with the Mexican 29th Military Zone seized quantities of weapons and munitions in Veracruz state November 6th. The raid took place in Benito Juarez colony in Coatzacoalco municipality where soldiers seized 20 rifles, one machine gun, one rocket launcher, one rocket, 12,000 rounds of ammunition, 52 weapons magazines, personal quantities of powder cocaine, MX $250,000.00 (USD $18,919.90) and six vehicles. Four unidentified suspects were detained at the scene.
A Mexican Army unit with the 8th Military Zone rescued 28 kidnapping victims in Tamaulipas state November 7th. The raid took place near the village of Los Arados Altamira municipality where soldiers located the victims, including 23 migrants from Central and South America. Of those, six were women and six were children. Contraband seized included MX $3,370.00 (USD $255.04) and USD $945.00 (MX $12,486.85) in cash. Seven unidentified suspects were detained at the scene.
An army unit with the Mexican 9th Military Zone seized more than one metric ton of marijuana in Sinaloa state November 7th. The seizure took place near the village of El Frayle in Badiraguato municipality, where soldiers took possession of 1,022 kilograms of marijuana in 101 packages.
A Mexican Army unit with the 8th Military Zone seized more than one metric ton of marijuana in Tamaulipas state November 7th. The military unit was on patrol near a gap that leads to the village of Refugio Hinojosa in Miguel Aleman municipality. There soldiers seized 1,189.9 kilograms of marijuana.
A Mexican Army unit with the 8th Military Zone seized cash in southern Tamaulipas state November 7th. The unit raided a location in Tampico municipality where soldiers seized MX $250,400.00 (USD $18,950.17), one weapons magazine, 29 rounds of ammunition, one vehicle, a cashier's check for MX $10,000.00 (USD $756.80) and communications gear.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
[Dawn] Police claim to have captured five alleged Death Eaters belonging to a faction of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain.
The accused are involved in different terror attacks, including that of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... under-training jail waders, Babu Sabu police check-post and suicide kaboom on the Dera Ismaeel Khan district police chief and seized from them arms and ammunition.
Inspector General of Punjab Police Habibur Rehman, flanked by Multan Regional Police Officer Aamir Zulfiqar Khan and others, told a news conference at the Lahore Police Club on Wednesday that the Multan police had cooled for a few years Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! five Death Eaters of TTP's Qari Yasin group during a successful operation.
He said the group based in Miranshah ... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas... (North Wazoo) was involved in several terror attacks in Punjab and other parts of the country. He identified the arrested as Habibur Rehman, Imtiaz Nazir, Hafiz Muhammad Ramzan, Muhammad Imran and Ameer Moavia. They hail from Dera Ismael Khan. He said police recovered two Kalashnikovs, four magazines, three 30-bore pistols and 105 bullets from their possession.
Abdul Ghaffar alias Qari Saifullah, the commander of this group, was killed during a shootout with Multan police near Pul Ghazi Ghat in DG Khan on Aug 1, 2012. He was wanted by the Punjab police in several cases of bank robberies and terror attacks.
The third important member of this group was Imran Gandapur of DI Khan who was the in-charge of terror activities in KPK. He had killed constable Jahangir in KPK and later along with his accomplices was also rubbed out during an encounter with the police.
Following the killing of Gandapur, Iqbal Rashid alias Rashu had become operational in-charge of Qari Yasin group. To take Dire Revenge™ of the killing of Gandapur, Rashu had planned killing of security personnel of KPK. Rashu was the main accused who had criminal masterminded suicidal attack on the DI Khan DPO, killing of constables, terror attack on Shiite and the recent terror attacks which took place in Punjab.
The IG said Iqbal alias Rashu, Hameedullah, Niamatullah, Hammadullah, Jandullah, Habibur Rehman and Imtiaz were involved in gun attack on under-training KPK prison officials in Rasool Park, Ichhra, while Ramazan, Ameer Moavia and Imran had assisted the terror attack.
About security in Muharram, the IGP said more than 118,308 coppers would be deployed across the province to maintain peace and security around majalis, processions and imambargahs. He warned the elements found involved in fanning hatred and provocative speeches would be dealt with an iron hand.
He said religious activists and leaders found involved in spreading extremism would be arrested and would be imprisoned in far-flung areas.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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[An Nahar] Turkey's Islamic-rooted ruling party has proposed removing references to the nation's founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in the parliamentary oath, parliamentary sources said Thursday.
The new wording proposed by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) to a parliamentary committee drafting the new constitution no longer includes the words "principles and reforms of Ataturk," and "secularism".
Lawmakers are obliged to take the oath in parliament after elections in order to take their seats.
However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... the new text runs a high risk of being rejected because the committee needs consensus among the four parties in parliament before it can adopt such changes.
The committee is paralyzed by differences between the parties as it tries to draft Turkey's new constitution to replace the coup-era text of 1982, particularly on descriptions of Turkish identity and the rights of the Kurdish minority.
Since the AKP of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to power in 2002, it has been accused by the opposition of trying to "Islamize" Turkey by stealth.
Golly, why d'you suppose that is?
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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[Geo.TV] WAZIRABAD: Police foiled a major terrorism plot and set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! four bully boyz in Wazirabad located near Gujrat.
According to sources, the bully boyz are members of Al-Qaeda. 15 suicide jackets, mines, hand grenades and a large cache of ammunition were recovered from their possession.
Intelligence sources added that the bully boyz planed on targeting government offices, police and minorities.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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#1
Call'em Murder jackets, more Honest.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/16/2012 1:02
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Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak signaled that Israel is ready to escalate its military operations against Gaza after at least one long-range missile was fired at Tel Aviv by Palestinian militants.
The missile attack and the volume of fire in general toward Israel is an escalation and there will be a price to pay, Barak said on Channel 2 television yesterday. It was the first such attack on Israels commercial hub since Iraqi missiles in 1991 during the Gulf War.
Neither side showed signs of yielding as international diplomacy ramped up. Hamas kept up rocket fire in the most serious conflict since Israel sent troops into Gaza in December 2008 in a three-week offensive it said was aimed at stopping such attacks. Israeli Army Spokesman Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai told Channel 2 that the military was calling up 30,000 reservists hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military was ready for a substantial expansion to stop rocket attacks.
In a phone call with Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, U.S. President Barack Obama supported Israels right to self defense as the two leaders agreed on the importance of working to de- escalate the situation as quickly as possible, according to a Nov. 14 White House statement. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon plans to go to Egypt and Israel next week, according to a Security Council diplomat.
Israel launched a wave of air strikes at 70 underground launch sites for medium-range rockets late yesterday, and direct hits were confirmed, the army said in an e-mailed statement. Israeli naval vessels fired on Hamas bases on the Gaza shore, the army said.
The rocket fired at the Tel Aviv area of Gush Dan, home to about 1.3 million people, probably fell in the sea, said police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld, noting there was no damage and no injuries reported. Air-raid warnings sounded in the city, which is at the limit of the approximately 70-kilometer (44 mile) range of the Iranian-developed Fajr-5 rocket.
Launching the long-range Fajr-5 rockets at Tel Aviv shows maturity and wisdom, Hassan Nasrallah, secretary general of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia said on Manar television yesterday. Hamas leader in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh said, in reference to the death of the groups military commander, that pure blood will not go in vain.
Barak said earlier this week that Israel may carry out a ground operation in Gaza. In the December 2008 assault, more than 1,100 Palestinians and 12 Israelis were killed.
Tanks were shown on Israeli television yesterday heading south on Israeli highways toward the Palestinian coastal territory.
Army spokesman Mordechai, when asked about a possible ground assault, said all options are on the table.
Looming over the bloodshed was the possibility of a wider conflict and an immediate test for Israels peace treaty with Egypt. Hamas, an Islamist movement considered a terrorist group by Israel, the U.S. and the European Union, has appealed for help from Egypts Muslim Brotherhood leaders.
Mursi has recalled Egypts ambassador to Israel for consultations. The Arab League is scheduled to meet tomorrow to discuss the violence. Egypts Prime Minister Hisham Qandil plans to lead a high-level delegation to Gaza today to show solidarity with Palestinians, Egypts state-run Middle East News Agency reported yesterday.
Mursi is in touch with all the effective players in the world in an effort to calm the situation, stop the bloodshed in Gaza and end this unacceptable aggression against our families and people in Palestine, Yasser Ali, spokesman for the Egyptian president, told Al Jazeera television in an interview.
The Egyptian visit to Gaza and attempts to build a cease- fire would probably take place prior to any very large scale entry of the Israeli military into the Gaza Strip, said Jonathan Spyer, political scientist at Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya.
Only if that fails, if its clear thats not going to achieve a cease-fire in the next days, then there could be a real possibility of a ground entry, Spyer said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/16/2012
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#1
At last check, HAMAS has repor fired about 300 rockets at Tel Aviv and other Israeli targets, agz which Israel's IRON DOME BMDS has successfully intercepted about 80.
#2
I can't help thinking a 5MT blast over GAZA would take out a lot more than the 80 missiles Iron Dome did and in general be way more effective.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/16/2012 0:40
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#3
Looks like Israel may take over the Gaza Egypt border. It's the only way to get a permanent solution. And there is already a 100 meter cleared strip along the border.
50 ton tanks rumbling along is going to put a stop to tunneling.
#4
At last check, HAMAS has repor fired about 300 rockets at Tel Aviv and other Israeli targets, agz which Israel's IRON DOME BMDS has successfully intercepted about 80.
IIRC, Iron Dome isn't supposed to take out every missile it sees, it's supposed to take out missiles that seem to be headed for populated areas.
[An Nahar] Russia on Thursday warned nations backing the Syrian opposition against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... that they would violate international law if they started supplying the rebels with weapons.
"Promises are being made from a number of capitals of massive supplies of modern weapons," foreign ministry front man Alexander Lukashevich told news hounds.
"Outside help to the opposition waging an armed battle against a legitimate government is a gross violation of fundamental norms of international law," he said.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius raised on Thursday the issue of excluding defensive weapons from the current European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... arms embargo on Syria to help rebels fighting Assad's regime.
"For the moment, there is an embargo, so there are no arms being delivered from the European side. The issue... will no doubt be raised for defensive arms," he told RTL radio.
"The issue will be raised because the (opposition) coalition has asked us to do so," he said, adding that "this is something that we can only do in coordination with the Europeans."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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#1
And nobody respects international law more than Russia. Especially regarding arms sales to rebel movements.
From a Shariah point of view, he should be stoned to death, Taliban say
The sex scandal that has brought down CIA chief David Petraeus may be causing heartache in the Washington security establishment but the affair has prompted laughter among the Taliban.
Petraeus resigned last week to pre-empt revelations of an affair with his married biographer Paula Broadwell, bringing to an end a glittering military career that included a spell commanding NATO forces fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.
A stony-faced Taliban official burst into laughter at the mention of the Petraeus affair during an interview with AFP in northwest Pakistan this week.
The Islamists dealt harshly with adulterers during their brutal 1996-2001 rule in Afghanistan, dishing out public floggings for offenders.
The traditional moral code of the Pashtuns, the main ethnic group the Taliban draw their members from, also demands severe punishment for adulterers.
"From a Pashtun point of view, Petraeus should be shot by relatives from his mistress's family," the Taliban official explained.
"From a Shariah point of view, he should be stoned to death."
Petraeus, a four-star general married for 37 years, stepped down as head of the US spy agency just three days after President Barack Obama's re-election over his fling with Broadwell, an army reservist who travelled to Afghanistan to write a glowing biography of the general.
The scandal has also implicated the current NATO commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, as well as an FBI agent and a glamorous Florida socialite.
The Taliban official said he was not surprised.
"It's quite normal for Americans and Western people to behave like this -- they live in free sex societies where nobody cares about this sort of thing, so what do you expect?" he said.
The White House has backed Allen and Obama has assured Americans the affair has not compromised national security.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
11/16/2012
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#1
But it'd be OK if he'd done it with a goat.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
11/16/2012 0:33
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"Ghost?" Oh, pardon me. I thought you said "goat".
#4
They think it's funny it doesn't involve a pubescent boy.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
11/16/2012 9:25
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As many of you, I just watched the Fox News, Representative Pete King interview. Patreaus was not sworn in. Neither Petreaus or his Klingon minder bothered to bring along the original Agency talking points or PPT. They only opined that the talking points were changed during the...."Interagency Process". King was dismissive and could not identify the Interagency Process members and went on to refer to Patreaus as an "old friend" (of 9 years), hero warrior yada, yada, yada... and without saying as much, an unfortunate victim. In my view, King did not display a comfortable level body language during the interview, refused to address a couple of points, and appeared to know considerably more than he was saying. A made-for-media briefing event and a gross waste of time.
Bottom line: These foks know the real deal (have been briefed) and are clamming shut, going through the media motions! I will always believe Willard was told not to bring it up during the election as well.
#6
Bottom line: These foks know the real deal (have been briefed) and are clamming shut, going through the media motions! I will always believe Willard was told not to bring it up during the election as well.
#8
"From a Pashtun point of view, Petraeus should be shot by relatives from his mistress's family," the Taliban official explained.
"From a Shariah point of view, he should be stoned to death."
Typical Taliban, always trying to make things complicated. Why not compromise and get his mistress's relatives to shoot him while he is being stoned him to death?
Sheesh
[An Nahar] Israel will never defeat Gazoo, Khaled Meshaal, the exiled chief of the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, movement which rules the Paleostinian territory, said in a defiant speech in Sudan on Thursday.
"This enemy is weak and cannot vanquish Gazoo," Meshaal told a major conference of Sudanese Islamists.
His visit to Sudan came as warplanes from the Jewish state pounded Gazoo for a second day on Thursday, in Israel's toughest assault on the territory in four years.
The latest fighting began with Israel's assassination of Hamas military chief Ahmed Jaabari on Wednesday. Since then, faceless myrmidons have fired around 250 rockets over the border, an Israeli official said.
"I call on my brothers who have their fingers on the trigger to run the battle wisely and with a brave heart. The war against the enemy will go on even after Jaabari departed us. Women and men are queuing for jihad and martyrdom," Meshaal said in a half-hour speech which described Israel as "not a legitimate entity."
He also pledged to stand by Sudan which last month accused Israel of bombing a military factory.
"I want to say to the Sudanese: our enemy is your enemy and our enemy is fighting you on Sudanese land, in Port Sudan and in Yarmouk," Meshaal said. "Our hands are with yours."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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#1
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/16/2012 0:56
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#6
Well the way they are going... no water, no sewer, no power, no food.... nope... he's right can't vanquish them.... because... because ... oh well you know... it can't happen.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/16/2012 20:50
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NEW DELHI: Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday described violence in west Myanmar between Buddhists and Muslims as a huge international tragedy
Though it involves exactly two nations...
and said illegal immigration from Bangladesh had to be stopped.
Unlike illegal immigration from Mexico...
Suu Kyi, on a visit to neighboring India, said she had declined to speak out on behalf of stateless Rohingya Muslims who live on both sides of the border because she wanted to promote reconciliation after recent bloodshed.
More than 100,000 people have been displaced in Myanmar since June in two major outbreaks of violence in the western state of Rakhine. Dozens have been killed on both sides and thousands of homes torched.
Dont forget that violence has been committed by both sides, this is why I prefer not to take sides and also I want to work towards reconciliation, she told the NDTV news channel.
Is there a lot of illegal crossing of the border (with Bangladesh) still going on? We have got to put a stop to it, otherwise there will never be an end to the problem, she said. Bangladesh will say all these people have come from Burma (Myanmar) and the Burmese say all these people have come over from Bangladesh.
This is a huge international tragedy and this is why I keep saying that the government must have a policy about their citizenship laws, she said.
Separately, Myanmar ordered 452 prisoners freed yesterday in an apparent goodwill gesture ahead of a historic visit by President Barack Obama. It was not immediately clear if any political prisoners were among those granted freedom, prompting rights groups to renew calls for the government to shed light on one of the worlds most opaque prison systems. Myanmars government has long insisted that all prisoners are criminals and releases no official information on who is a political prisoner, where they are detained and how many remain jailed.
This is extremely disappointing because we havent heard of any political prisoners being released. This is a shame, said U Naing Naing of the Central Social Assistance Committee, which helps families of political prisoners.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/16/2012
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[Dawn] The Lahore High Court on Wednesday allowed post-arrest bail to Asim Farooqi, owner of a private school, facing blasphemy charges.
Representing the accused, Advocate Jawad Ashraf argued that his client had no role in the case and the police also failed to establish any direct evidence against him.
He said being an aged and cardiac patient, health of his client could be in danger if he was not released. He requested the court to release his client on bail.
Justice Sagheer Ahmad Qadri granted bail to the accused and directed him to furnish bail bonds of Rs200,000.
Ravi Road police had started the paperwork but haven't done much else against Asim Farooqi and teacher Arfa on charges of blasphemy. The teacher is till on the lam.
A wise move.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal on Wednesday commented on the assassination of the organization's military chief Ahmed Jabari by the Israel Defense Forces while addressing a conference in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.
"You killed Jabari and you can go on and kill Mashaal and others, but in the end it'll pave our way to Jerusalem Assassinating our leaders will only make us more powerful," said the man who survived an Israeli assassination attempt in Jordan some 15 years ago.
Mashaal, who is slated to retire from the leadership of Hamas' political bureau, said that Jabari had recently returned from Mecca to the Gaza Strip through Egypt.
"Ahmed Jabari was not a Hamas man, but a man of the entire nation," he said. "He and Mohammed Deif (the former head of Hamas' military wing, who was seriously injured in an IDF assassination attempt) are heroes. He had an important part in building Hamas' military wing. He lived as hero and died as a hero."
And now he's worm food...
In an aggressive speech, Mashaal stressed that Hamas would pursue the way of jihad and resistance, and called on the Palestinian factions to join forces. He said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman were "boasting" that they hit Hamas, but that "Israel and all the dark forces of this world will never success in deterring the Palestinian people."
According to Mashaal, "The Israeli enemy is weak. The rounds against Israel are long, and the war continues."
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/16/2012
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#1
Didn't Israel hit a missile factory in Khartoum in October? He needs to be further away to say things like that....
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/16/2012 0:51
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#2
Sure. Ask your two buddies behind ya what that's like. Warm, I'll bet...
[Dawn] The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice, Justice Iqbal hameedur Rehman, on Wednesday reserved the judgment on quashment of first information report (FIR) registered against the Christian girl for blasphemy.
Abdul Hameed Rana, the counsel for the accused, had filed a petition in this regard on September 25. The girl was, however, released on September 7 on Rs1 million surety bonds.
The girl was jugged Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! on August 17, 2012 after a resident of Mehra Jaffer, the area where the girl also belonged to, Malik Ummad lodged a complaint with the Ramna police against her accusing her of burning the pages of the Holy Book.
The police in its charge-sheet submitted in the court of district and sessions judge Islamabad in September, absolved the girl of the charges and instead nominated Imam Khalid Jadoon, imam of a mosque, as main accused.
The charge-sheet said that the Imam had included two pages of Holy Koran in the half burnt pages in order to make the evidence against the girl stronger.
It said the Christian girl was mentally weak and uneducated and was not able to distinguish between the papers of holy book or ordinary literature.
The statement of Hafiz Zubair, the prayer caller in the same mosque, was also incorporated in the charge-sheet. He in his statement had disclosed that the Imam had also committed the blasphemy, leading to his arrest.
In October, he and two other witnesses backed out from their statements claiming that the police had attributed to them a false statement which, subsequently, led to the release of Imam Jadoon on bail.
Abdul Hameed Rana, counsel for the Christian girl, on Wednesday told the court that Imam Jadoon trapped his client in the blasphemy in a well planned manner.
"They wanted to expel the Christians from Mehra Jaffer that is why he tried to make a false case against the girl in the case." He said there was no direct evidence against the girl nor had any of the witnesses personally seen the girl burning the pages of the holy book.
The girl is a juvenile and also mentally weak, he added.
Chaudhry Abdul Aziz, counsel for the complainant Malik Ummad, on the other hand told the court that medical report, which showed the girl as minor, was not prepared in accordance with the prescribed procedure.
He said the police on the directions of bigwigs distorted the facts of the case.
The accused could avail remedy from the sessions court where she could file acquittal plea under Section 249-A and 265-K, he said.
Deputy attorney general Tariq Mehmood Jahangir also opposed the petition.
He, however, told the court that "since the police have exonerated the girl from the main offence and placed her name in column No. 2 of the charge-sheet, which is reserved for the unconfirmed accused, therefore, the trial court could acquit her in the case."
If the trial court does not entertain her acquittal plea, the girl under Article 199 can approach the IHC for getting appropriate relief, he added.
IHC Chief Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman after hearing the arguments form the counsel reserved the judgment which would be announced later.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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#1
The charge-sheet said that the Imam had included two pages of Holy Koran in the half burnt pages in order to make the evidence against the girl stronger.
I'd charge the Imam. He tore two pages out of the book, and it works for ALL, not just the Peepuls.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/16/2012 0:36
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Apropos of Nothing, an article by me about books, survivalism, and fantasy fiction for the enjoyment of my fellow Rantburgers.
Of course there's nothing new about getting so lost in a book that you become the book. People have been doing it for as long as there have been books to get lost in. The entire Zionist movement believed themselves to be characters from a book. So did the Soviets. So did the Mormon settlers in Utah. Ayn Rand read Victor Hugo and O. Henry, fell in love, became a character from a book, and then wrote books that caused other people to become characters from her books. (In Rand's defense she was a Jew in revolutionary Russia. She was going to end up in a book no matter what she did. The Torah. Das Kapital. Mein Kampf. The Old New Land. At least this way she got to create her own book.)
Go to a training camp in Pakistan so that you can fight Russians in the Caucasus in the name of God? You're in a book. Moving to India to start a leper colony and preach the love of Jesus? You're in a book. Read Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, move to San Francisco's Castro District, and have a lover named Armando? Your ass is in a book.
#2
Yes, well done. The Power of dreams and the power of fantasies--can't live without them. Let no one try to destroy them. America began with a dream, a fantasy. All was good, but the last paragraph hit me.
This too is the power of fantasy: the thing that makes us want to become high school wizards and questing hobbits and starship troopers and John Gaults. The books that won't let us go, no matter how we try to run from them. And this is also how you know your enemies. They're the ones trying to erase your pages so that they can fill them up with their own words.
First Papa Johns. Then Red Lobster. Now this: the Obamacare surcharge.
John Metz, a restaurant franchisor who operates 48 locations of Hurricane Grill & Wings, several dozen Dennys locations and a few Dairy Queens, told The Huffington Post Thursday that hed join the growing list of restaurateurs piling purported Obamacare costs onto their customers and staff.
In his case, though, hes going to label it so all of his customers know about it.
If I leave the prices the same, but say on the menu that there is a 5 percent surcharge for Obamacare, customers have two choices. They can either pay it and tip 15 or 20 percent, or if they really feel so inclined, they can reduce the amount of tip they give to the server, who is the primary beneficiary of Obamacare, Metz told The Huffington Post. Although it may sound terrible that I'm doing this, it's the only alternative. I've got to pass the cost on to the consumer.
Although other restaurants have mused about the prospect of cutting hours for employees or passing a few pennies in costs onto customers, Metzs surcharge proposal goes furthest in linking the customer experience with the Affordable Care Act. According to the HuffPo piece, Metz said he hopes the move will encourage his employees to become civically engaged and lobby policymakers.
Earlier this year, John Schnatter, CEO of Papa Johns, estimated that the ACA could cause him to tack a few cents onto the price of his pizzas. And Darden Restaurants which oversees Red Lobster and Olive Garden described plans to reduce its fulltime workforce to avoid paying health benefits.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
11/16/2012
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Sounds good to me.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/16/2012 0:50
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[Times Of India] Militants today struck in the tourist hub of Dal Lake area by shooting at employees of a liquor shop inside a government-run hotel on the Boulevard Road here, injuring four persons.
A police front man said unidentified Death Eaters fired from pistols near a liquor shop at Heemal Hotel on the banks of Dal Lake this evening.
He said three persons were maimed in the incident. They are Fayaz Ahmad Khanday of Aloochi Bagh, Mohammad Sharief Sheikh of Batamaloo (both in Srinagar) and Ravi Kumar of Kathua area of Jammu region.
Official sources said another injured identified as Sunny Mehra, belonging to Jammu, was admitted in Soura Medical Institute.
All the four injured were employees at the liquor shop, which is one of the three licensed outlets operating in the Valley, they said.
This was the second major strike within a month by Death Eaters in the city following an attack at a hotel on Parimpora-Pantha Chowk bye-pass road near Lasjan on October 19. Two employees of the hotel were killed and another was injured in the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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Sources tell Chicago's FOX 32 News that Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. is willing to give up his 2nd Congressional District seat if he's given a bribesome grease disability when he steps down.
Jackson Jr. was re-elected to his tenth term but last month, sources say, he applied for a disability package--what could be his only income if he resigns.
Other than his share of the family liquor distributorship and his wife's graft income as a Chicago alderman...
It is expected to take a couple of weeks for Congress to approve or deny the request.
[Dawn] A court in northern Pakistain has condemned a man to death for blasphemy, believed to be the first such sentence given under the country's tough laws against blasphemy since a Christian woman was sentenced in 2010.
Hazrat Ali Shah, 25, was convicted of blaspheming against the Holy Prophet ((PTUI!)) and the Holy Koran during a quarrel in his village in northern Pakistain in March 2011.
"The additional session judge Azar Khan has passed a sentence on him (Shah) of capital punishment and imprisonment for 10 years under the charges of blasphemy," Syed Zamurd Shah, the district and session judge in the northern city of Chitral, told AFP.
He said that the sentence was announced on Wednesday after people from the village gave evidence against Shah.
Blasphemy is a sensitive issue in Pakistain, where 97 per cent of the population is Moslem,
...though it used to be considerably less...
and under the country's penal code insulting the Holy Prophet can be punished by death.
An IDF soldier on Thursday was struck by a stray bullet originating from the Syrian side of the border. The soldier's bulletproof vest prevented serious injury, however he did suffer light wounds in the incident.
It was the third time in recent days that fire from battles raging between the Syrian military and rebels near the border of Israel crossed the border.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
Republicans have yet to produce a single shred of evidence that the regulations they hate so much do the broad economic harms they claim. Thats because there is none, said Reid, the Senate majority leader from Nevada.
In a Senate speech, Reid said the Bureau of Labor Statistics has concluded only a tiny fraction of layoffs have anything at all to do with tighter regulation.
Last year, only three-tenths of 1 percent of people who lost their jobs were let go principally because of government regulation or intervention, Reid said. On the other hand, a quarter of them were laid off because of lack of business.
The Heritage Foundations James Gattuso explains the statistic:
The numbers come from the Labor Departments Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which, in cooperation from state authorities, tracks mass layoffs, defined as layoffs of 50 or more workers for 31 days or more. In each case in which such a mass layoff is identified, state authorities interview the employers involved, asking them (among other things) the reason for the layoffs. For the third quarter, BLS reported that 0.3 percent of respondents listed governmental regulations/intervention as the reason
It appears to be a simple process, but its actually quite tricky. The first problem is that economic hardship does not come with labels. Employers know if their costs are rising but not necessarily whether it is due to new burdens imposed on their suppliers or other factors. They may know that they didnt get the capital they needed but not if it was because investors had better opportunities or because of government financial rules. They will know if demand has slumped, but its not so clear whether it was because their product is valued less by the marketplace or because government rules choked off demand from customers. The actual causes are likely to be mixed.
But even if government interviewers could identify with precision the reasons for mass layoffs, that would tell us little about why unemployment is so high. Mass layoffs are only part of the job loss picturejob losses dont always come 50 or more at a time. Most small businesses dont even have 50 employees.
But where Reid and others really miss the mark, however, is in assuming that job losses are the problem, rather than a lack of job creation. As argued by my colleague James Sherk, layoffs spiked early in the recession but then they fell sharply. Since late 2009, gross job losses in the economy have actually been below their pre-recession levels. In fact, in 2010 there were fewer gross job losses than any time since the government began tracking these figures in 1992. Unemployment remains high because the economy has not been creating jobs. Last September, for instance, employers hired only 4.2 million new workersa million fewer monthly new hires than before the recession.
Lets lay aside the fact that it is job creation thats most of our problem and that all the layoffs weve been hearing about lately seem to be Obamacare regulation-related.
Sen. Harry Reid, meet the people you think dont exist. A boutique, local, organic, artisan maker of cured meats is closing in Denver thanks to a USDA regulation that would require him to taint his all-natural, Old World methods for making his product in order to comply:
In August, the USDA imposed additional requirements on Il Mondo Vecchios production methods. After two months of sharing information and collaboration back and forth between Il Mondo Vecchio and the USDA as well as various attempts to modify the production methods, the owners announced, Il Mondo Vecchio has determined that the impact of the regulatory requirements on dry cured sausage products was detrimental to the quality of the product and therefore, Mark and Gennaro are forced to close the[ir] doors.
This conflict between modern regulations and traditional methods is something DeNittis thought for a time he could navigate.
We adhere to Old World techniques of natural process while following New World regulations, Il Mondo Vecchios website states.
When it comes to Old World methods, I think it would be hard to find a better example of a traditional, conscientious, sustainable, and local producer than Il Mondo Vecchio.
The product has, of course, never sickened anyone or faced any complaint, and Denver foodies will count it a loss to their community. This is, literally, the war on bacon.
And, one mans dream, his livelihood, his community, and his employees are poorer for it. But by all means, keep piling them on, Harry
Posted by: Au Auric ||
11/16/2012
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Harry's out of the hospital?
Can't keep a crook down?
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/16/2012 1:15
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#2
I suggest Harry be given a 'personal' tour of some West Virginia coal mines. I'm sure he'll enjoy the company of UMW union members. Harry's a big union man.
[Dawn] At least three more people were bumped off in sectarian attacks in different parts of the city on Wednesday that witnessed a total of seven killings, police said.
In the sectarian attacks, a muezzin, said to be a supporter of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, was rubbed out at a public call office on Nishtar Road; a young man belonging to the Tableeghi Jamaat was killed in Korangi and a teenage boy was bumped off in Orangi Town.
The police said that Qari Mohammad Imran, the muezzin of Noorani mosque, was targeted at his public call office, situated near Filmistan Cinema on Nishtar Road within the remit of the Jamshed Quarters cop shoppe.
"An armed man walked up to Qari Imran, who was sitting in his small cabin of the public call office, and fired a single shot at his eye," said DSP Qaiser Ali Shah.
He said the killer escaped with his waiting accomplice on a cycle of violence.
The police later found a spent bullet casing of a 9mm pistol at the scene of the crime, said the DSP.
"The motive for the killing is not yet clear. It can be personal enmity or the result of the ongoing sectarian violence in the city," he said.
The police shifted the body to the Civil Hospital Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... for medico-legal formalities.
A front man for the ASWJ condemned the killing and said that the slain Qari was their sympathiser and muezzin of a local mosque.
In Korangi, a young man belonging to the Tableeghi Jamaat was rubbed out in a drive-by shooting, police said.
They added that Mohammad Aslam, 24, was riding through Korangi 2-½ on his cycle of violence when he was targeted. The victim suffered gunshot wounds in the head and chest.
DSP Qasim Ghauri said that the victim was a resident of Sector 33-D and was associated with the Tableeghi Jamaat. He was scheduled to go abroad within the next few days, the officer said.
The police shifted the body to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for medico-legal formalities.
Earlier, a teenage boy was bumped off near his house in Orangi Town in what police suspected to be a sectarian attack.
Shaujat Ali Naqvi, 18, was targeted near the Toori Bangash police kiosk in Raja Taveer Colony, said an official at the Iqbal Market cop shoppe.
He was rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where he died during treatment, the official added.
Following medic-legal formalities, his body was shifted to the Rizvia Imambargah, where his funeral prayers were offered on Wednesday afternoon. The victim was later buried in the Wadi-e-Hussain graveyard.
Seminary teacher killed
In Bahadurabad, a seminary teacher was bumped off on Wednesday night, police said, adding that the motive did not appear to be sectarian. Samiul Haq ...the Godfather of the Taliban, leader of his own faction of the JUI. Known as Mullah Sandwich for his habit of having two young boys at a time... , 32, a teacher at Tauheed Masjid, was killed outside the mosque in Dhoraji Colony, said an official at the Bahadurabad cop shoppe.
The attackers waited for him and did not fire at anyone else coming out of the mosque, the official said.
"He was returning from Shabbirabad after meeting his teacher at a mosque there when he was targeted in Dhoraji," the official added.
The police later shifted the body to the JPMC for medico-legal formalities.
DIG (east) Shahid Hayat said that apparently it was not a sectarian killing. He said the two attackers stood outside the mosque and waited for Samiul Haq. They fled after killing him, he added.Only three days ago, the victim had returned from Mardan, his hometown, the officer said.
Labourer bumped off
A young man was killed in Manghopir, police said.
They added that Ghulam Mohammad, 36, was killed in Sultanabad within the remit of the Manghopir cop shoppe.
The victim was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where he was pronounced dead. He's dead, Jim! on arrival.
The police said the victim hailed from Kotri and was a labourer. He resided in a rented house in Sultanabad. The motive for the killing was not immediately clear, they added.
Man rubbed out
A young man was rubbed out in New Bloody Karachi in the early hours of Wednesday, police said.
They added Kashif Waheed, 25, was passing through Bashir Chowk, Khamiso Goth, Sector 5-F of New Bloody Karachi Industrial Area, on his motorbike when gunnies riding a motorbike targeted him.
The victim sustained gunshot wounds in the head and chest and was struck down in his prime. The police shifted the body to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities.
The police said the victim was an area resident and used to work at a chicken shop. They added that he was not associated with any political or religious group.
Estate agent killed
An estate agent was killed in Ibrahim Hydri, police said.
They added that Saifullah, 50, associated with the property business, was rubbed out. The body was taken to the JPMC for medico-legal formalities, the police said.
Ibrahim Hydri SHO Neak Mohammad Jakhari said the victim was a resident of Illyas Goth.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Uganda has closed a key border crossing with Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo or Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... over claims that rebels battling Kinshasa were using it to levy taxes, a Ugandan army front man said Wednesday.
Ugandan officials shut down the Bunagana border post this week after complaints from the Congolese government that the M23 rebel group, which seized it in July, was using it to raise funds.
"The Congolese were complaining that M23 were taxing lorries and goods going through, so at the request of the government of Congo we have closed the border," said Felix Kulayigye, a Ugandan army front man.
A leaked report from a United Nations ...Parkinson's Law on an international scale... group of experts has accused senior Ugandan officials of "actively" supporting the M23 rebels.
Kampala has reacted angrily to the allegation, threatening to pull out troops from international peacekeeping missions, including the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... mission in Somalia, unless they are withdrawn.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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[Geo.TV] DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Government executed first prisoner in four years on Thursday, hanging a convicted murderer who was a former army serviceman, police said.
Despite the execution of Muhammad Hussain in northwest Pakistain, activists do not expect the country's moratorium on the death penalty to be lifted since this case involved someone in the military. The last execution, in December 2008, also involved the death of a soldier.
Pakistain has more than 8,000 inmates on death row, but a moratorium on executions has been in effect for four years. Pak officials say they are working on a draft law to ban the death penalty.
Human rights organizations support the ban, saying that the courts and police in Pakistain are too inept to ensure a fair trial.
That being the charitable view...
"If you look at our investigation system, at the poor quality of the evidence produced in court, how can people get the death penalty on the basis of this?" said Zohra Yusuf, Chairwoman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistain.
"Most come from underprivileged backgrounds and don't have access to good legal help."
Thursday's execution came after the head of Pakistain's powerful army rejected a plea for clemency, Yusuf said. After the army rejected the plea, the president did not defer the execution, she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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[An Nahar] Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's liquidation. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. slammed on Thursday the Israeli assault against the Gazoo Strip, saying that it demonstrates the "hostile policy of Israel against the Paleostinians and Arab people in general."
He said in a statement: "The occurrence of the attack simultaneously with the ongoing Syrian revolution poses questions over its timing and is a sign of the clear intentions to thwart the revolt as much as possible."
"The assault demonstrates Israel's insistence to cut any possibility to reactivate the grinding of the peace processor," he added.
"It is seeking to maintain its control over all occupied territories and prevent all efforts to establish an independent Paleostinian state," continued the former premier.
"We renew our solidarity with our brothers in Gazoo and call on Arab countries and all influential international ones to mobilize immediately to halt the Israeli assault and prevent its expansion," stressed Hariri.
Israel launched a bruising air, naval and artillery offensive on the Gazoo Strip on Wednesday, the most intense assault on the Paleostinian territory in four years.
The operation was launched with the liquidation of Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,' top military commander, followed by an onslaught of Arclight airstrikes and shelling by tanks and naval gunboats.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
If this Gaza skirmish can keep the Syrian War Between the Snakes going then truly is a masterstroke.
Federal officials are scaling back a program that enlists the aid of local police and sheriffs offices to identify people who are in the country illegally, in favor of a national program that uses fingerprints collected by the FBI.
U.S. Immigrations Customs and Enforcement officials say the so-called 287(g) program that includes Wake County will continue at least until the end of the year. But ICE says the program is under review, and that it will no longer train local police under the program or give them the authority to question, investigate and arrest people they suspect are in the country illegally.
The change moves the government away from an approach to immigration enforcement that has been popular among some law enforcement agencies but has drawn fire from civil rights groups, who say it encourages local police and sheriffs deputies to unfairly target Latinos. The Department of Homeland Security is still reviewing 57 complaints against the Wake County program, and ICE suspended its 287(g) agreement with the Alamance County Sheriffs Office after the U.S. Justice Department found deputies there were exceeding their authority by checking the immigration status of Latinos on the street.
But the fingerprint system, called Secure Communities, has critics as well, who say that both programs dont serve their primary purpose. The program, started in 2008 and being expanded nationwide next year, was meant to deport serious criminals, but has instead cast a much wider net, said Sejal Zota, a former immigration specialist with the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Government and now an attorney with the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild.
More than half the people who were subsequently removed nationwide in 2011 were charged with minor offenses or did not have any criminal history, Zota said. Thirty-seven percent were arrested on traffic charges. There is a question of whom this program is targeting?
Secure Communities allows federal officers to detect illegal immigrants by comparing the fingerprints of those arrested by local police, which are routinely shared with the FBI, with prints in immigration databases. ICE says the system is simply a smarter way to do business.
The Secure Communities screening process, coupled with federal officers, is more consistent, efficient and cost-effective in identifying and removing criminal and other priority aliens, said Vincent Picard, a spokesman with ICEs southern region in Atlanta.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
11/16/2012
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#1
Becuz, ya know, fingerprints + techy DNA Databases, NOT closing down Amer's dangerously porous southern border, will absolutely postively categorically undeniably ...@etc. prevent the following ...
* TOPIX > [Arutz Sheva] OP-ED: HOW IT WOULD LOOK IFF THE US WERE ATTACKED AS ISRAEL IS.
ARTIC > As HAMAS presently has the ability to fire rockets at 25% of Israeli sovereign territory in arc from Gaza, how would it look iff Hamas + Gaza-WB = Mexico's Drug Cartels? Other? = routinely fired similar LR Rockets, etc. at 25% of US sovereign territory across the Mexican-US border from SoCal to Texas???
#2
It seems to me that those who were trained under the old system are fully capable of sharing their expertise more broadly among their peers, both locally and more widely.
#3
RFIDs implanted in the neck of all legal residents; shoot anyone who does not pass ID at checkpoints (automated into red light cameras.) What could go wrong?
#4
"More than half the people who were subsequently removed nationwide in 2011 were charged with minor offenses or did not have any criminal history," Zota said.
That has got to be the stupidest statements since Obama's last speech. She does know that being in the U.S. without authorization is ILLEGAL doesn't she?
#5
Thirty-seven percent were arrested on traffic charges...
You drive a car without a license or insurance and that is a pretty serious crime. You could get into a traffic accident, wreck somebody's car, injure them or even kill them and you have no insurance or any other way to make restitution. Get the hell out of my country.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
11/16/2012 9:05
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#6
Meh. Just means they'll replace the US population with a compliant one used to third-world despotism all the quicker.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
11/16/2012 9:27
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[Dawn] Five persons including a woman were maimed in two landmine kabooms in Kurram tribal region on Wednesday.
Sources said that the first landmine went kaboom! in Spina Shaga locality near the Afghan border.
Two men and a woman were maimed in the blast, they said. The injured were identified as Mohammad Wali, Wahdat and wife of Ahmedzai.
The second blast also occurred near the Afghan border in Pewar Tangi area. Two persons identified as Mohammad and Wali Khan sustained injuries in the blast. The injured were shifted to a hospital in Parachinar.
The political administration registered cases against unidentified persons and started investigation.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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[Magharebia] Stemming the spread of weapons tops the interim government's agenda and remains a major concern for the Libyan public.
Efforts to collect arms from revolutionaries are already seeing positive results, Deputy Defence Minister Mohamed Taynaz said on Saturday (November 10th).
After all, why would hard boyz need guns...
"If you look at the arms collected thus far in Benghazi by the Special Forces, you find large quantities," he told Magharebia. "In addition, armed formations...have turned in their heavy weapons."
At gunpoint, as it were...
"The people will, God willing, be convinced that building Libya doesn't need weapons, but men's hands," Taynaz added.
While some gangs are still reluctant to join the government forces, public opinion "favours the accession of all brigades to the defence ministry", the deputy minister asserted.
At this point, the ministry "needs civil society organizations and the media to pressure those who refuse to turn in their weapons", Taynaz added. "We have to start a new stage, which is the building of Libya."
Yes, the media will pressure hard boys with guns to turn in their weapons. In return the hard boys with guns will shoot the media. Brilliant...
"We elected the General National Congress," Taynaz noted. "It is responsible for drawing up a strategic plan for collecting arms that the defence ministry will implement."
"We now need legislation that will be binding for all Libyan people," the deputy minister told Magharebia.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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[ASHARQ-E] Egyptian jihadist Mohamed al-Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... announced his support for the call issued by his brother , Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, for Moslems to work to establish an Islamic Caliphate, rejecting nation states. Mohamed al-Zawahiri, who currently resides in Cairo and is a well-known Egyptian Islamist, told Asharq Al-Awsat that "we want to guide Egypt to the Islamic association because this is stronger than the national association." However he stressed that the Al Qaeda leader's message does not mean the end of his offer to mediate a peace between Al Qaeda and the West.
In a statement by Ayman al-Zawahiri entitled "Supporting Islam" posted by Al Qaeda's publishing arm on an Islamist website, the Al Qaeda chief called on Moslems to work to re-establish an Islamic Caliphate that "does not recognize nation state, national links or the border imposed by the occupiers, but establishes a rightly guided caliphate following in the footsteps of Prophet Muhammad."
The statement added "these are the objectives of the Document of Supporting Islam, and we call on all those who believe in them to call for them, support them and try to spread them in every way possible among the people of the nation."
The Al Qaeda chief also called on Moslems to work together to liberate Moslem lands from occupiers, rejecting any deal that gives "infidels" the right to control Moslem lands.
He added that this included what he referred to as the British Mandate Paleostine -- present day Israel and the Paleostinian territories -- as well as Russia's Chechnya and other parts of the Caucasus region, Indian-controlled Kashmire, the Spanish-ruled North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla which are claimed by Morocco and East Turkestan in China's north-western Xinjiang region.
As for whether he supports his brother's call in this regard, Mohamed al-Zawahiri told Asharq Al-Awsat "of course...I support anything connected with Islamic Sharia law. I support him not because he is my brother, but because his call is in line with the principles of Islamic Sharia law." He added "this has all been confirmed by Islamic Sharia law...and if he [Ayman al-Zawahiri] were to violate this, we would retreat from him in this case."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] An outraged President Barack Obama I inhaled. That was the point... Tuesday accused Republicans, including John Maverick McCain ... the Senator-for-Life from Arizona, former presidential candidate and even more former foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution... , of besmirching UN envoy Susan Rice, re-igniting a fierce row over the slaying of the US ambassador to Libya.
Obama threw the weight of his replenished political capital behind Rice, the favorite to be his next secretary of state, as Republicans, lined her up as a top administration scalp over the attack in Benghazi on September 11.
McCain and his ally Republican Senator Lindsey Graham ... the endangered South Carolina RINO... had earlier demanded "Watergate-style" hearings about what happened in Libya on September 11, and vowed to thwart any attempt to make her America's top diplomat.
"If Senator McCain and Senator Graham, and others want to go after somebody they should go after me," Obama declared, his eyes flashing real anger as he held his first presser since being re-elected last week.
"But when they go after the UN ambassador, apparently because they think she's an easy target, then they've got a problem with me," Obama said.
This is how you know Susan Rice will be a great Secretary of State -- Champ has to defend her...
"To besmirch her reputation is outrageous," Obama said, adding that if he decided that Rice was the best candidate to succeed Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as America's Blond Eminence and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Henry Kissinger ... at the State Department, he would go ahead and pick her.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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#1
Susan Rice lied to America 5 times in one day right after the 9/11 Bengazi Al Qaeda murders of the Ambasador and two former Navy Seal heros which makes her the perfect phsycophant deserving a top position in Obama's anti-American regime.
#3
So where's his rage at the actual murder of someone?
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
11/16/2012 8:27
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The interesting thing is the Obama administration's habit to put their cover stories to dual use.
Rice's confabulation was used as political ammunition to attack the 1st Amendment, just as the F&F cover story was used against the 2nd.
Maybe Nixon should have argued that the Watergate burglary was evidence of a massive crime wave that could only be countered by doing away with notions of due process or something.
#9
I don't think Rice lied. Ogabe has repeatedly referenced that she said exactly what was in the "briefing materials she was given." Today Petraeus said "someone," not on the intelligence side, deleted the line about AQ. So Rice was an ignorant, loyal mouthpiece, which explains Ogabe's indignance. What would be interesting to know is the identity of the person who removed the references to AQ.
#10
So Obgabe juts out the jaw and is POd? And he acts like he supports his team. Who cares whether or not he is POd and juts out the jaw? He does not have a good history of backing the team if Benghazi is what you get.
I'd like to know the answer to one or two questions: What was the CIA doing in Benghazi? Who hit them or who had them hit?
#12
RandomJD, I too can see how Rice could be the cutout, the innocent mouthpiece with no direct connection to the intelligence community. She was just reporting what she had been given......plausible deniability at it's finest. If you challenge her, your a wymin hating racist!!!
#13
I've a feeling she'll end up in the White House rather than Foggy Bottom.
With her track record and foreign policy positions, there was going to be some heartburn in the Senate anyway regarding her confirmation. Now factor in her 'blame the video' tour...
Mr. Obama wants her around. The only way that'll happen, methinks, will be a position in the White House.
#15
Why thank you, TW. It's a relief to know I still appear to be rational, whilst despairingly drunk and watching in bug-eyed shock as my country crumbles a little more each day. I'm not sure why I bother, seeing as I no longer have any faith that anyone who deserves punishment will get it.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/16/2012 20:17
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"They should go after me" > they very well may, ala JFK, RFK, + MLK.
> No national vote on OWG.
> No national vote on NAU [2015].
> No national vote on "Globalism" + "Outsourcing" + ....
> No national vote on Marxism-Communism- Socialism as a form of permanent Govt. or Govt-Public Policy in America = Amerikka.
> Rise of [asymmetric] Nuclear Jihad-Terror.
> US-vs-Rising-China-vs-Nuclear-Islam in Asia-Pacific.
"REPRESENTATIVE GOVT-DEMOCRACY" DOTH NOT MEAN NEVER E-V-A-R! HAVING TO ASK THE PEOPLE TO VOTE ON SIGNIFICANT OR VITAL ISSUES.
[Dawn] Chief Justice Sindh High Court Mushir Alam late on Thursday overturned a decision of the interior ministry which banned cycle of violence riding in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... on the occasion of 1st Muharram on Friday, DawnNews reported.
The SHC CJ has ordered the Inspector General (IG) of Sindh police, the Advocate General (AG) Sindh and the home secretary to appear before the court on Friday morning.
The orders came after the CJ SHC was submitted an appeal against Interior Minister Rehman Malik Pak politician, Interior Minister under the Gilani government. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. He had to give up the interior ministry job because he held dual Brit citizenship. 's announcement of banning cycle of violence riding.
The application was submitted by the president Sindh Hight Court Bar Association (SHCBA).
Earlier, speaking to media representatives, Malik had said that due to terrorism threats, based on intelligence reports, no cycle of violence will be allowed on the roads of Bloody Karachi and Quetta from 6 am to 7 pm on November 16. "No one will be exempted from this ban," he added.
He said the ministry had intelligence reports that there is a terrorism threat in which cycle of violences can be used.
The interior minister also said that displaying weapons in public will also be banned on Friday.
The ministry, in this regard, had also issued shoot at sight orders for those who are found involved in terrorist activities.
Moreover, Rehman Malik said that the government was also considering banning mobile phone services in both the cities and the decision in this regard will be taken on Friday morning.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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...and keeper of grand artifacts that they'd rather destroy than use to earn cash to pay for imported grain...
is squeezed between price hikes and growing demand. There are 2.9 million tonnes of grain reserves,
Is that what's on the books, or did several official someones go and count it with their own eyes?
Minus ten percent here and ten percent there and it's close enough...
enough to cover 117 days, Abu Zeid Mohamed Abu Zeid, Minister of Supply and Home Trade, was quoted by local media as saying when commenting on the possibility that Ukraine could ban grain exports. But Egypt's grain reserves may last as long as 187 days, given that 1.73 million tonnes of shipments will be delivered
...or are promised to be delivered, not at all the same thing...
by year-end, according to Minister Abu Zeid.
Global wheat production is expected to fall by 6.1 per cent to 653.1 million tonnes this year, according to the USDA. The decline is forecast to reduce stockpiles by 13 per cent to 173 million tonnes, the lowest since 2009. The London-based International Grains Council has said that the combined grain stockpiles of the largest exporters will drop to a 17-year low. Egypt's grain output is expected to hit 9.5 million tonnes this year. The country's wheat imports are seen to total 7 million tonnes by the end of December.
Wheat consumption in Egypt stands at around 84kg per capita, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. The Ministry of Supply and Home Trade estimates consumption at 180kg, as much is used as fodder.
Subsidised bread is expected to absorb around LE16 billion ($2.6 billion) of the country's budget in the fiscal year 2012/2013, according to the Finance Ministry. Susidised (baladi) bread sells for LE0.05 a piece, while it costs the State budget LE0.35, according to data released by the Ministry of Social Security. From a social perspective, subsidised bread is a must as roughly 40 per cent of Egyptians live on less than $2 a day, according to the World Bank.
Let them eat cake. That'll teach 'em.
In a bid to make ends meet, the government has begun mixing maize with wheat to produce bread since the 1990s.
How about using some of the water behind the Aswan Dam to irrigate the desert? I seem to recall a nearby country that made the desert bloom...
Or they could just increase the natural quantity of sand which gives Egyptian bread its special bite.
[An Nahar] The Higher Defense Council rejected declaring the southern city of Sidon a military zone to avoid the embarrassment over the failure of the Lebanese Army to enter the Ein el-Hellhole Paleostinian refugee camp, media reports said Thursday.
At least they're honest about it...
The Council, which met under President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... at Baabda Palace on Wednesday, tasked armed forces with taking all measures to prevent attempts to undermine security and preserve civil peace.
A statement said that agreement was reached on the coordination between the Army and Internal Security Forces to maintain security.
But it fell short of declaring Sidon a military zone after festivities between Hizbullah and supporters of Salafist holy man Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir on Sunday left three people dead.
Interior Minister Marwan Charbel had made the proposal for the Army to have full control in Sidon. But such a move was rejected by Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn and ministers loyal to Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Wally Jumblat ... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling... during a cabinet session held at the Grand Serail on Wednesday, An Nahar daily reported.
Their rejection led to a swift meeting of the Higher Defense Council, which had been scheduled to convene on Friday instead.
The objection to turn Sidon into a military zone then reached the Council meeting which was attended by Premier Najib Miqati, several cabinet ministers and top Army and Police officials, including Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji, ISF chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi and the head of the General Security Department, Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim.
As Safir newspaper said the Council avoided the implementation of Charbel's proposal over the embarrassment that the armed forces could face for their failure to enter the Ein el-Hellhole camp which lies near Sidon and geographically falls in the suggested military zone.
The military controls access to the camp and has checkpoints outside the shantytown but by long-standing convention, the Army does not enter the refugee camps in Leb, leaving security inside to the Paleostinians themselves.
As Safir quoted informed sources as saying that the Council also avoided declaring Sidon a military zone for fears that the Army would face a difficult test in trying to control the area, and to avert criticism for not taking such measures in other trouble spots such as the northern city of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of thich 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... and the district of Akkar.
The Council instead decided to give the armed forces wider authorities and a bigger role in carrying out missions in the city, the sources added.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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After the first few you'll get the idea. Hat tip to Daring Fireball.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/16/2012
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#1
Mostly Sandy pictures, Shocking, so glad I live in Central Alabama, A LONG way from any sea water.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/16/2012 0:46
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#2
Clever
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
11/16/2012 8:25
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We live in the mountains. Occasionally a tornado comes through or a hail storm but nothing like Sandy. We lost the power for a week or so one time but that didn't create too much of a problem. Just went to bed earlier.
#4
Don't take that to the bank JohnQC, Hurricane Camille killed 120+ in the Blue Ridge, I had kin in Lovingston Va, at the time, it was ugly, cut off for a long time.
'I want the shop to be cited and forced to give haircuts'
A Toronto barbershop has found itself at the centre of a human rights complaint after its barbers refused to cut a woman's hair.
Faith McGregor, 35, went to the Terminal Barber Shop on Bay Street, back in June looking for a haircut. But she was turned away.
The barbers, who are all Muslim, told her their religion didn't allow them to cut the hair of a woman who is not a member of their family.
McGregor filed a human rights complaint.
Barbara Hall, the head of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, said she isn't surprised by the action. She said that as Canada becomes more diverse, rights are coming into conflict.
"No right is absolute," said Hall. "So no right trumps another."
At the Muslim Association of Canada, many expressed shock that the complaint is being heard.
"It is in the holy Koran, you are not allowed to cut the hair of a woman," said Mohammed Hassan. "Only a woman is supposed to cut the hair of another woman."
But McGregor wants that to change.
"I want the shop to be cited and forced to give haircuts in the fashion they provide [barbershop style] to any woman, or man that asks for one," she said.
McGregor is also asking that a sign be posted in the front window stating both men and woman will be served.
The case will go to mediation in February.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
11/16/2012
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#2
Hmm. Five or so years ago I called the nearest barber shop and asked if he cut women's hair. "No." "Okay," I said, and went to the SuperCuts down the street(*). This was in Houston. He didn't give a religious reason. I don't think it occurred to me to sue.
(*) Whenever I go to one of those places, they always ask me how I want my hair cut. "Off," I say, which confuses them. Then I have to explain, "Make it exactly like it is, only shorter." I was hoping a barber would understand.
#4
I went to a Hair Salon, they trimmed my hair and beard, so what?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/16/2012 0:53
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There are some barbers that will not cut womens hair because they are not trained. Styling womens hair is very different than giving a buzz cut or a fauxhawk.
These guys are theocratic scum and should be taken out past the 200 mile limit and taught to swim home.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Paula Broadwell, the woman at the center of the scandal that felled former CIA director David Petraeus, has been stripped of her security clearance amid an FBI investigation, CNN said Wednesday.
The military clearance allowed Broadwell, a major in the US army reserve and a graduate of the West Point military academy, to have access to some classified US government documents.
FBI agents searched her North Carolina home this week and seized several boxes of documents. US media reports said her computer contained classified material, but no official has yet suggested that she will face charges.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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#1
Or, as Fark.com put it:
Now that the barn door's been left open, the horse escaped, the barn burned down, the burnt wreckage washed away in a flood, and the horse drowned in the swollen river, Army officials think to remove Paula Broadwell's security clearance.
#2
Her access was likely suspended by the Central Clearance Facility (CCF) pending the outcome of the investigation. Broadwell is no longer the government's target. The target is now the parties who gave her the classified documents and whom did she pass them along to?
A great deal of pressure will be applied to this young lady during the discovery process. It will be interesting to see how she holds up and what other parties may be revealed.
#3
Hard to understand what she was up to with the classified info. Might have been just a conceit - perhaps having certain "special privileges" made her feel free to take other liberties as well. I think she'll tell the truth. She's cooperated the whole way, and besides, it's all she has left.
#5
RandomJD, she was apparently an Army reserve MI officer, which would give her access to some classified info apart from her relationship w/ Petraeus, at least when activated.
#6
Right, but you still can't take stuff home. Further, you'd think it would have crossed her mind: "I am the DCI's hoochie mama. Any mistake I make could have major unforseeable consequences. I had better be especially careful." I mean, they shouldn't have gone there at all, but that an MI officer and the DCI displayed such a mind-boggling lack of paranoia is frankly the most inexcusable aspect.
#7
Can't is clearly false. Shouldn't, for sure. And yes, they both have been arrogant, sloppy etc. I'm furious and deeply mourning the dry rot throughout large parts of the military leadership, of which this is only the latest and most dramatic example.
[An Nahar] A California lawyer is suing Microsoft Corp., claiming the Surface tablet he bought doesn't have all the storage space the company advertised.
Andrew Sokolowski, a lawyer in Los Angeles, claims that he bought a Surface with 32 gigabytes of storage last week. But he quickly ran out of space after loading it with music and Microsoft Word documents.
He discovered that a significant portion of the 32 GB storage space was being used by the operating system and pre-installed apps such as Word and Excel. Only 16 GB was available for him to use.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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#1
Should have read the fine print.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/16/2012 9:37
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go ahead, delete the BIOS and Operating System, you'll have more room
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/16/2012 11:20
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Here's his LinkedIn profile. I checked a few places and he doesn't seem to be the serial litigant at this point in his career.
#6
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but my understanding is that most of the difference in advertised capacity vs formatted capacity comes from how capacity is calculated. With RAM you use multiples of 1024. HD manufacturers use multiples of 1000. So what happens when you start using RAM as an HD? Use the lower number and sell me less RAM than you advertised.
[An Nahar] Milan cathedral has launched a campaign to adopt its gargoyles to help it raise the 25 million euros ($32 million) needed to clean up the landmark monument as culture budgets take a hit from the crisis.
A total of 135 gargoyles are up for adoption and donors who cough up more than 100,000 euros ($128,000) will have their name engraved under the gargoyle.
Smaller donations of between 10 euros and 100 euros can be made through the campaign's website at http://adottaunaguglia.duomomilano.it.
The pink marble Gothic cathedral, which was begun in 1387, is a much-loved symbol of the city but has to be cleaned up regularly from pollution.
Gargoyles, which are used as drains for rain water, are typical of Gothic architecture and usually depict grotesque figures.
The cathedral's management said it wanted "to encourage the Milanese and citizens of the world as a whole to be protagonists in the history of the cathedral... a priceless treasure that belongs to all of humanity."
Contacted by AFP, cathedral authorities said that since the launch of the campaign last month they had received eight donations of 100,000 euros as well as several smaller donations for a total of 10,000 euros.
Culture has been one of the sectors hardest hit by the financial crisis in Italia. The Italian state allocates just 0.21 percent of its budget to culture, even though it holds half of the world's cultural heritage.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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It is a beautiful building, especially at dusk.
[Geo.TV] Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality problems... said Thursday that the Tsunami of justice would destroy the system of injustice in the country.
Addressing a rally in Mirpur, Azad Kashmire Khan said the "system of injustice could not work."
Khan added that if elected his party's foreign policy priority would be to resolve the Kashmire issue.
The PTI chairman also claimed that his party would bring a similar education system for all Pak's.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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#1
his party would bring a similar education system for all Pak's.
[An Nahar] Hizbullah chief His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb... on Thursday called on the Arab countries to supply battered Gazoo with weapons and use the factor of oil to pressure the U.S. and Europe into ending their support for Israel.
"The aggression started with the liquidation of a major jihadist leader and several people were martyred or maimed amid a strong defiance by the resistance," said Nasrallah in a televised address marking the first day of the Shiite Ashoura religious ceremonies.
"We extend our condolences to Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, Movement on the death of commander (Ahmed) Jaabari and we offer our condolences to the Paleostinian people. We strongly condemn the aggression and all the freedom advocates in the world must stand by Gazoo, the resistance and the jihadist fighters," Nasrallah stressed.
He said that the "main bet" is on "the will of the people in Gazoo and the will of the resistance."
"The reason for confidence is that there is a resistance movement in Gazoo that has a level of wisdom, courage and steadfastness that makes it qualified for engaging in a confrontation at this high, dangerous and decisive level," Hizbullah's leader added.
He noted that the firing on Wednesday and Thursday of Iranian-made Fajr 5 rockets at the Tel Aviv area "highlights the wisdom and courage of the current resistance in Gazoo."
Two more Gazooks died as Israel pressed on with a major bombing campaign across Gazoo on Thursday, raising the corpse count to 15, and Paleostinian fighters fired more than 250 rockets over the border, with two of them hitting the Tel Aviv area.
A rocket hit the sea just south of Tel Aviv, an Agence La Belle France Presse correspondent at the scene said, the farthest that a rocket from Gazoo had ever landed inside Israel.
The attack sparked panic in Tel Aviv, with television images showing people lying on the ground outside the defense ministry, their hands over their heads as sirens wailed.
Earlier on Thursday, a rocket fired from the Gazoo Strip struck Rishon LeTzion, some 15 kilometers (nine miles) southeast of Tel Aviv, the Israeli army said, but there were no injuries or damage.
"It is an episode of the episodes of the bloody, historic and decisive confrontations that will decide the fate of Paleostine and the holy sites. It is one of the stages that require everyone to shoulder their responsibilities," said Nasrallah.
"We have noticed that this enemy does not need an excuse to wage war and aggression. If the enemy's government has a political interest in war it will wage it, like it did during the 1996 Grapes of Wrath Operation when (then Israeli prime minister Shimon) Peres waged a war on Leb ahead of the Israeli elections," Nasrallah noted.
"The Israelis do not need a Paleostinian action in order to make a reaction and I remind the Lebanese, the Arabs and the governments in the region of this," he want on to say.
Lashing out at the U.S., La Belle France and Britannia, Nasrallah said "the blood of Gazoo's children has exposed the reality of the American, French and British stances on the region."
"This proves that they're not concerned with values or human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... , but rather with their own interests," added Nasrallah.
He called on the Arab and Mohammedan countries to "cooperate in order to enable the jihadist (Gazoo) Strip to achieve victory and foil the Israeli plans."
"Western countries can definitely pressure Israel. We always hear remarks about the 'weapon of oil' and Arabs know that there are certain countries in Europe that would collapse if the price of oil rises and the same can be said about the U.S.," said Nasrallah.
"Slash production or raise the prices," Hizbullah's leader suggested, addressing the oil-producing Arab countries.
Commenting on remarks voiced by some Arab leaders that "what's happening in Gazoo is aimed at diverting attention from what's happening in Syria," Nasrallah said "these remarks are laughable because the Israeli objectives are clear."
"The right thing to say is that Israel benefited very well from what's happening in Syria in order to wage a war on Gazoo," Hizbullah's leader noted.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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The good news for Democrats is that Obamacare will now be implemented. But the bad news for Democrats is also that Obamacare will now be implemented.
President Obama's re-election ensures that his signature health care law will not be repealed before its major provisions go into effect. But that also means, to borrow a phrase from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Americans will begin to find out what's in the law.
Starting Jan. 1, several key provisions of the health care law will kick in. Americans will only be allowed to contribute $2,500 to flexible spending accounts, which allow participants to pay for medical expenses on a pretax basis. Also, from then on, the accounts can only be used to pay for drugs with a prescription, excluding over-the-counter drugs, which still may be legitimate medical expenses and were previously allowed.
The new year will also ring in a wave of new tax increases. One is the Medicare tax hike on individuals earning more than $200,000 and married couples earning more than $250,000. Another is the 3.8 percent tax on interest, dividends, annuities, royalties and rents. On top of that, there will be a 2.3 percent tax increase on medical devices. These will be on top of any tax hike that comes out of current end-of-the-year negotiations between Republicans and Democrats to avoid the "fiscal cliff."
Most of the major provisions of the health care law go into effect in 2014. During that year, individuals will be forced to purchase government-approved insurance policies or pay a tax. The tax will hit 6 million uninsured Americans, most of them middle-class, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Employers who have at least 50 workers could have to pay a $2,000-per-employee fine for not providing health insurance. As Zane Tankel, who owns 40 Applebee's locations in the New York area, recently explained on Fox Business, this provision will force him to hold off on expanding or hiring, and even to re-evaluate his current workforce. Business owners throughout the nation have echoed his thinking.
In addition, 2014 will usher in the expansion of Medicaid and the creation of new exchanges. On these exchanges, eligible individuals will receive government subsidies to purchase government-designed insurance plans administered by private companies. These two components are projected to cost $1.7 trillion over a decade.
Governors, right now, are trying to decide whether to participate in the expansion of Medicaid, a program that is already crushing state budgets, and to implement the exchanges themselves or back out and let the federal government set up the exchanges for them.
The establishment of an exchange involves a massive data compilation process in which the federal government will have to figure out Americans' income levels to determine their eligibility to receive benefits. The exchanges are supposed to be up by the fall of 2013 so that individuals can begin enrolling in them.
Each state faces its own challenges in setting up the exchanges. In Washington, D.C., officials determined that the uninsured population was too small for the exchange to function. So they have taken the step of conscripting individuals and businesses with between two and 50 employees to purchase health insurance through the exchange, making it the sole marketplace in D.C. for plans that aren't "grandfathered in.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
11/16/2012
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Once again it looks like 2014 may be more important for successful-vs-failed US domestic and international foreign policies than 2015???
#3
Maybe the donk voters may stop smoking weed long enough to realize they been had--there is no free lunch or healthcare or even low-cost healthcare unless you are in prison (Well, maybe not so low cost if in prison).
BEIRUT: The Damascus region came under artillery fire and airstrikes yesterday as the army launched a major operation, a watchdog said, as activists decried the critical humanitarian situation.
The artillery was focused on the town of Daraya, just southwest of Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, also reporting shelling on the northeast town of Mudamiyeh Al-Sham and air raids on the nearby town of Saqba.
The southern districts of the capital, where battles have raged in recent days between rebels and troops fighting for control, were also rocked by shelling yesterday, the watchdog said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/16/2012
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#1
Today is the 16th, an even-numbered day, so I'm rooting for Assad. Give 'em hell, PencilNeck!
#4
ChuffingChuffChuff -- that one was a little bit over the top --- keep it on point without the flowery language....
Just another mod with yet another warning.
Posted by: Barbara ||
11/16/2012 13:30
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If the UK are serious around backing the rebels with arms, and this results in the rebels pushing on through, how does this result fair for Israel?
Please comment because I've not followed discussions on this.
[Tolo News] Former Kabul Bank chairman Sherkhan Farnood on Wednesday accused President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... of using $20 million of the bank's funds for his presidential election bid, contributing to its near collapse in 2010.
Farnood made the accusation at a public court hearing in Kabul, also naming other leading officials including Afghan Minister of Finance Omar Zakhilwal and Afghan Ambassador to Pakistain Omar Daoudzai among those who dealt in corrupt practices.
Farnood claimed in his statement to the court that $20 million from the bank was given to Karzai for his electoral campaign in the 2009 presidential election.
Farnood claimed in his statement to the court that $20 million from the bank was given to Karzai for his electoral campaign in the 2009 presidential election.
Farnood appeared with the former Kabul Bank chief executive Khalilullah Ferozi and about 20 other former employees at the first open court on the bank's crisis.
They are accused of embezzling almost a billion dollars of deposits to pay off personal debts and transfer money abroad.
Farnood objected that the prosecutor did not mention Hassan Fahim, the brother of First Vice President Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim, in the accusation of who had key roles in the crisis.
"Four people have a role in the bank's crisis: first Hassan Fahim, second Khalilullah Ferozi, the Attorney General, and the president himself," Farnood said.
"I want to say without fear that Hassan Fahim took $178 million from the bank," he added.
Ferozi said in his statement to the court that Farnood had not mentioned Mahmood Karzai, the brother of President Karzai.
"No one including Hassan Fahim, Mahmood Karzai, or I put pressure on Sherkhan to give shares to Mahmood Karzai. When he gave shares to Mahmood, we disagreed. But he said, 'No, we will use his brother's power'," Ferozi claimed.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Xi Jinping is set to take the reins of China's all-powerful Communist Party Thursday in a leadership transition that will put him in charge of the world's number two economy for the next decade.
Xi, the current vice president and successor to President Hu Jintao ...Hu has been involved in the Communist party bureaucracy for most of his adult life, meaning his viewpoint has a lot more theory than it does practice. He espouses a Harmonious Society approach, suggesting everybody should play nice or they'll be shot... , assumes power at an uncertain time with the party facing urgent calls to clean its ranks of corruption and overhaul its economic model as growth stutters.
His long-expected ascension as head of the ruling party is expected to take place before midday (0400 GMT) with the unveiling of a new Politburo Standing Committee, the nation's top decision-making body.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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#1
See also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > PARTY WILL COLLAPSE IFF CORRUPTION [nepotism + graft] NOT CURTAILED: HU JINTAO.
True enuff, but IMO the greatest single or external threat to China's "Manifest Destiny" is the lack of international Govt-Pert consensus as per "Peal Oil/Energy/Resources", + by extension Sun-caused GWCC.
"The consensus is there is no consensus".
To remind from yesterday, IIRC TOPIX > CIA: "RISING OF WORLD OCEANS" MORE IMPORTANT THAN RISE OF TERRORISM [Global Jihad,Terror threat].
[Magharebia] Fighting erupted Monday (November 12th) in Monastir between salafists and members of the General Union of Tunisian Students (UGET).
The clashes broke out when Islamist hardliners surrounded the Monastir University canteen to demand separate dining rooms for female and male students.
"There were skirmishes between two groups of students who differ in terms of ideological orientations," explained Hammadi Essafi, the university restaurant manager in Skanes. "We are still negotiating with both groups to resolve the problem."
According to a security report, the violence was triggered when the salafists observed a female student having lunch with a male peer.
"The violence that ensued between the two groups necessitated the intervention of the security forces to break it up," the campus police report said.
The incident sparked chaos and panic, but students eventually forced the salafists to back off.
The salafists vowed to continue their mission toward gender segregation and the implementation of Islamic law in all Tunisian universities.
"Gender segregation at the University of Monastir restaurant became a revolutionary and urgent demand and a priority for the salafists!" journalist Makki Helal said. "I cannot believe those who say that the salafists are just scarecrows and that their danger is not real."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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Top|| File under: Salafists
[Geo.TV] Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has said that security arrangements have been finalized to stop possible suicide and other kabooms in the province, Geo News reported on Thursday.
Speaking in the Sindh Assembly, the chief minister said that all the vehicles would be searched on the entry and exit points of the city.
He said that over 2 million illegal migrants had become challenge while exodus that took place in the wake of country's war on militancy also became cause of terrorism in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
Shah requested the people to pray for peace during Muharram, adding that he was only answerable to people, house and the party leadership.
The chief minister said though performance of Rangers and police was not impressive, suspected snuffies also secured bails from courts. He said that the Sindh High Court chief justice had also been apprised of the loopholes in the judicial system.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] One of the main Islamist groups controlling northern Mali offered important concessions Wednesday, as plans to send an international military force to the country gathered steam.
Ansar Dine, which in Arabic means "Defenders of the Faith", said it was ready to help rid the region of "terrorism" and "foreign groups", and that it no longer wanted to impose Islamic law, or sharia, across all of Mali.
If the Islamist group were to negotiate with the Malian authorities, "one can foresee ways and means in which one can get rid of terrorism, drug trafficking and foreign groups," said Mohamed Ag Aharib, front man for an Ansar Dine delegation that has been talking with mediators in Burkina Faso ...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and may be in the process of being chased out now...
"We don't agree with taking hostages and drug trafficking," he told AFP.
Mali rapidly imploded after a coup in March allowed ethnic Tuareg desert nomads, who had relaunched a decades-old rebellion for independence, to seize the main towns in the country's vast desert north with the help of Islamist allies.
The secular separatists were quickly sidelined by the Islamists, who implemented their version of strict sharia and operated across the region with impunity, sparking growing international concern.
Ansar Dine's comments further distance the group -- whose members are mostly Malian Tuaregs -- from the mainly foreign Islamists of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) who have been occupying the north alongside Ansar Dine since April.
Top US General Carter Ham on Wednesday urged a global fight against AQIM, saying it could "export violence" to the West.
Ham, the head of the US Africa Command, also said AQIM was linked to a deadly September 11 attack on the US mission in Benghazi that killed US ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three others.
"If we, the international community, don't find a way to help the Africans address this threat, it's going to worsen," he said.
Niger's Foreign Minister Mohamed Bazoum accused former Malian president Amadou Toumani Toure of complacency in handling AQIM, thereby allowing the group to take root in the north of the country.
"It was since 2002 that AQIM set up in the north of Mali. The Malian government of that time was particularly complacent," he said.
Malian authorities had received "precise information from Niger or Mauritania on AQIM's network" which could have helped to "cut off their supply routes" and weaken the group, said Bazoum.
He stressed the need to combat "AQIM and the foreigners".
"They are the most powerful because it's them who control the drug trade. We must chase them out," he said.
Ansar Dine, AQIM and MUJAO have imposed a brutal regime in the north, stoning to death unmarried lovers, amputating thieves' hands and feet and whipping drinkers and smokers.
Islamists in Timbuktu have also destroyed ancient Mohammedan shrines that have been revered for centuries and are classed as World Heritage Sites, but which the Death Eaters consider blasphemous.
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Top|| File under: Ansar Dine
#1
"please don't kill us,..... Infidel scum!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/16/2012 9:56
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KHARTOUM: Thousands of government-linked hard-liners met in Sudan yesterday, under pressure from Arab Spring-inspired reformers who say the Islamic setup has drifted from its religious foundations.
This isn't a movement for 'Arab Spring' as in democracy and freedom, but 'Arab Sping' as in more sharia and purity...
Reformers say corruption and other problems have left the vast African nations government Islamic in name only, and question how much longer President Omar Bashir should remain in office.
But those calling for change lack the power to impose their views, and their hopes for the three-day meeting will be dashed, predicted Khalid Tigani, an analyst and chief editor of the weekly economic newspaper Elaff.
Sudans hard-liners divided more than a decade ago when Hassan Al-Turabi, a key figure behind the 1989 coup, broke with Bashir and formed the Popular Congress opposition party.
The Islamic Movement, a social group at the heart of Sudans ruling National Congress Party (NCP), is holding its first national conference since uprisings and civil war began driving out authoritarian leaders around the region in 2011. More than 170 foreign hard-liners have joined 5,000 local delegates, many wearing traditional white jalabiya robes and turbans, for the conference which opened with prayer.
While hard-liners gained power through democratic elections in Egypt and Tunisia after the Arab Spring uprisings, a coup 23 years ago installed Sudans hard-line regime and it is still there.
Among the great challenges facing the countrys Islamic Movement is how to restore the confidence in the new generation, an editorial in the English-language The Citizen said yesterday.
The movement has to unify itself by all means, the paper said, calling for adherence to Islamic values and a fight against corruption, nepotism, tribalism and other ills which, critics say, are products of the current government.
It is a corrupt dictatorship, cruel dictatorship, said Turabi, who does not want Bashirs regime associated with Islam.
Amin Hassan Omer, from the Islamic Movements ruling secretariat, said he expects such comments from critics but it is nonsense to suggest there is widespread dissatisfaction among younger hard-liners over corruption. Omer said reformers would be disappointed despite a general sense of urgency for change in the Islamic Movement, including the need for a younger leadership.
One possible candidate to head the movement is Ghazi Salaheddine, a former presidential adviser. Writing in Al-Sudani newspaper ahead of the meeting, Salaheddine said the Islamic Movement should be independent of the government.
While only about 12 percent of NCP members come from the Islamic Movement, most of the party leadership belongs to the movement, said Omer, a state minister in the presidency. The Islamic Movement is simply a tool used by those in power to continue controlling the government in the name of Islam, said Tigani.
Tigani sees potential candidates to replace Bashir jostling for influence within the movement.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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The U.S. Navy's Marine Mammal Program started back in the '60s, and the dolphins and sea lions in it help defend harbors, retrieve sunken equipment and, most dangerously, identify mines for deactivation. By 2017, the Navy wants robots to do all that, instead.
The dolphins and sea lions the Navy uses really pull their weight: they're highly trained, and a team of veterinarians and handlers keep the animals primed and ready to be deployed anywhere in the world. The flip-side to that is that they're also expensive to train and maintain and, unlike a robot, when you lose one, you have to start all over again with a fresh animal. A robot arrives trained right out of the box, and you don't have to worry about its health in said box if you ship it abroad.
So, by 2017, this will be the Navy's new dolphin:
That's the Knifefish by Bluefin Robotics, which can operate continuously underwater for up to 16 hours a dolphin's stay under the sea is measured in minutes before one needs to breathe. Like a dolphin, however, the Knifefish will use sonar to hunt for mines. The Knifefish could be joined by other 'bots, too the Navy is purchasing a German-made underwater robotic vehicle to perform similar tasks and while the dolphins and sea lions are out, divers will work alongside the robots on missions.
Don't bust out the tissues yet, though. According to the BBC, the Navy indicated that "there may still be some specialized missions where sea mammals are needed past 2017."
Posted by: Au Auric ||
11/16/2012
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#1
"I wonder if you could transplant a dolphin brain into a robot body", he said, thinking out loud.
[An Nahar] Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair called on Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, on Thursday to stop firing rockets from Gazoo into Israel, saying that as long as it continued the Jewish state would act to defend itself.
"If the rocket fire carries on out of Gazoo, targeted at Israeli towns and villages, then the retaliation will increase," the former British prime minister told Sky News television in London.
Seven Paleostinians and three Israelis were killed on Thursday in a wave of unrelenting cross-border fighting as the Jewish state launched a vast air offensive on Gazoo which began with the killing of a Hamas commander on Wednesday.
"There are roughly a million people who take shelter every night (in Israel). There's no government where its citizens are under that pressure that isn't itself going to come under pressure to take action," Blair said.
"Likewise I understand the pressures on the Hamas leadership but the answer to those pressures I'm afraid is not to keep firing rockets. It's to find a different and better way forward."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Waste of hot air.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/16/2012 0:59
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#2
Well, Tony seems to get the whole cause-effect thing. Of course, Hamas doesn't.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/16/2012 9:35
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[An Nahar] La Belle France raised the prospect on Thursday of providing Syria's rebels with defensive weapons as Turkey joined it and the Gulf Arab states in recognizing the newly unified opposition.
La Belle France said it would discuss its proposal to ease the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... arms embargo on both sides in the 20-month-conflict with its partners in the 27-nation bloc, but Russia said any such move would be a violation of international law.
The diplomatic maneuvering came as the Syrian army pressed an operation in areas around Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... to oust rebels clinging to gains they made in July, and as fighting raged around a key military airport near the Iraqi border.
In Gay Paree, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said he would raise the idea of excluding defensive weapons for the rebels from the current blanket EU embargo to help them protect the areas they hold from bombardment by forces loyal to Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama...
"For the moment, there is an embargo, so there are no arms being delivered from the European side. The issue... will no doubt be raised for defensive arms," he said, adding: "This is something that we can only do in coordination with the Europeans."
Fellow EU states Germany, Spain, Italia and Poland welcomed the formation of the new National Coalition on Thursday, but stopped short of recognizing it as the sole representative of the Syrian people, echoing the position of Britannia.
La Belle France on Tuesday become the first Western country to formally recognize the National Coalition as such, the same day its leader Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib called on world powers to arm the rebels with "specialized weapons."
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Thursday that Ankara too now "recognizes the Syrian National Coalition as the sole legitimate representative of the people of Syria."
In Moscow, Russian foreign ministry front man Alexander Lukashevich said "promises are being made from a number of capitals of massive supplies of modern weapons.
"Outside help to the opposition waging an armed battle against a legitimate government is a gross violation of fundamental norms of international law."
Washington has expressed caution about delivering weapons to the rebels for fear they could fall into the hands of jihadists.
"One of the things we have to be on guard about... is that we're not indirectly putting arms in the hands of folks who would do Americans harm," U.S. President Barack Obama Why can't I just eat my waffle?... said on Wednesday.
Obama said Washington was encouraged by the formation of the coalition but was not yet ready to recognize it.
On the ground, the army launched air and ground assaults on rebel positions on the outskirts of Damascus, as troops battled to control a military airport in the town of Albu Kamal bordering Iraq, a watchdog said.
Eight soldiers were killed resisting a rebel attack on Hamdan airbase while three rebels died after capturing a security headquarters in Albu Kamal, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
"Hamdan military airport is the last regime outpost in Albu Kamal," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP by phone.
"If it falls to the rebels, this is huge. It means they control all of the territory from the Iraqi border to Deir Ezzor city."
The Observatory said that video had emerged of the wreckage of a warplane, which local activists claimed was a MiG shot down by rebels in Albu Kamal, but could not confirm the reports.
The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists and medics in civilian and military hospitals, also reported that around 80 bodies of military personnel were being kept at Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... military airport.
"The authorities are delaying the handover of fallen soldiers to their families, sometimes over a month after they are killed," it said.
At least 60 people were killed in Thursday's violence, the Britannia-based watchdog said, adding that the corpse count since the uprising broke out in March last year now tops 39,000.
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[Israel National News] Terrorists from the Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the liquidation of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... 's Al-Quds Brigades in Gazoo are firing rockets at Israel from within urban residential areas, and publicizing the fact.
A video uploaded Wednesday to the official Al-Quds channel asserts the repeated and unapologetic use of the "human shield" tactics used by terror organizations in the area. Such methods intentionally endanger the civilian population and deliberately create a terrorist haven amid apartment buildings, schools and playgrounds.
The Al-Quds Brigades grabbed credit for attacks on southern Israel, saying "those attacks come within the framework of an initial response to the Israeli attacks against unarmed civilians, east of Gazoo, which led to the death of four Paleostinians and maimed 30 others."
More than 200 rockets have been fired from Gazoo in the last 24 hours, killing three people and injuring two others in the southern Jewish community of Kiryat Malachi.
Israel launched Operation Pillar of Defense on Wednesday in an effort to root out terrorist infrastructures and put an end to the barrage of missile attacks crashing down on Israeli citizens.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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Top|| File under: Islamic Jihad
#1
There were lots of human shields on the HighWay of Death between Kuwait and Iraq. A lot of good it did the perps or the shields. one link
And even where perps were just suspected behind shields... see no-gun-rhee.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/16/2012 1:07
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#2
11:11 AM Reports of explosion near Ofakim of Iron Dome taking out Gazan rocket.
11:10 AM Reports of Air Raid Sirens in Ofakim.
11:09 AM Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil's visit to Gaza is ending...and he is returning to Egypt. IDF: Show Gaza some love!
11:04 AM Seems like Israel is sticking to its cease fire due to Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil's visit. Hamas on the other hand has fired dozens of rockets at Israel.
10:52 AM Air Raid Siren in community south of Ashkelon
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/16/2012 4:17
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CAIRO: The European Union has approved a 5.0 billion euro financial aid package to Egypt after its economy was battered by a 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, the presidency said yesterday.
The European Investment Bank will grant Egypt 2.0 billion euros and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development a further 2.0 billion euros, while EU countries will come up with 1.0 billion euros, the presidency said.
For his part, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt wrote on Twitter that 600 million euros would go to Cairo's underground train system.
Call it 'high-speed rail', and Obama will throw billions at it...
Ahah! High speed underground rail. Good idea.
Don't tell Mike Bloomberg...
The presidency's announcement came after President Muhammad Mursi met with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in Cairo.
It is "a strong sign of the EU's support for Egypt's path to development," the presidency said in a statement.
Ashton, who attended a meeting of EU and Arab foreign ministers on Tuesday, is also participating in the EU-Egypt task force which aims at bolstering economic relations between Egypt and Europe. Representatives of around 100 large European companies and members of the European Commission and European MPs are participating in the meetings, which wrapped up later yesterday.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
But ... when the Aswan damn is blown up for not be Halal... all those billions will be flushed into the Med and pollute it.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/16/2012 0:58
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[Magharebia] Instability in the Sahel region ... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas... is a growing concern for Western governments, who warn their citizens against any unnecessary travel to the region.
"The terrorist groups al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and the splinter group, the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa, pose the greatest kidnap threat," British Minister for Africa Mark Simmonds said on Thursday (November 8th).
"Since the recent coup in Mali, both groups have increased their operational reach and have proven capability to travel long distances to kidnap victims. They have also been known to use criminal gangs to conduct attacks and pass hostages to them," the minister added.
Simmonds said that attacks had "taken place in Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Algeria", and terror groups have "operational reach into the north of Burkina Faso ...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and may be in the process of being chased out now... and southern Libya". He predicted that the situation was "likely to get worse".
The Foreign Office warned citizens and tour operators against travelling to the region.
Last year, two Frenchies were kidnapped from a restaurant in Niamey, Niger, and executed near the border with Mali. Seven French citizens were kidnapped in Niger in September 2010.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2012
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
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.
A company that creates medical-marijuana dispensing machines says its stock is getting way too high.
[Tolo News] A number of Afghan lawmakers have put together a draft law for punishing those found guilty of child rape.
Wazoo
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[An Nahar] Israel will never defeat 
[Dawn] The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice, Justice Iqbal hameedur Rehman, on Wednesday reserved the judgment on quashment of first information report (FIR) registered against the Christian girl for blasphemy. 
...the creepy-looking former dictator of Pakistain. Zia was an Islamic nutball who imposed his nutballery on the rest of the country with the enthusiastic assistance of the nation's religious parties, which are populated by other nutballs. He was appointed Chief of Army Staff in 1976 by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, whom he hanged when he seized power. His time in office was a period of repression, with hundreds of thousands of political rivals, minorities, and journalists executed or tortured, including senior general officers convicted in coup-d'état plots, who would normally be above the law. As part of his alliance with the religious parties, his government helped run the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, providing safe havens, American equipiment, Saudi money, and Pak handlers to selected mujaheddin. Zia died along with several of his top generals and admirals and the then United States Ambassador to Pakistain Arnold Lewis Raphel when he was assassinated in a suspicious air crash near Bahawalpur in 1988...
[Dawn] At least three more people were 
cycle of violence
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Uganda has closed a key border crossing with 
[Geo.TV] DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Government executed first prisoner in four years on Thursday, hanging a convicted murderer who was a former army serviceman, police said.
Zawahiri
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] An outraged President 
John 
Lindsey Graham
[Dawn] Chief Justice Sindh High Court Mushir Alam late on Thursday overturned a decision of the interior ministry which banned 
Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling...
Najib Miqati
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Paula Broadwell, the woman at the center of the scandal that felled former CIA director David Petraeus, has been stripped of her security clearance amid an FBI investigation, CNN said Wednesday.
[An Nahar] A California lawyer is suing Microsoft Corp., claiming the Surface tablet he bought doesn't have all the storage space the company advertised.
[An Nahar] Milan cathedral has launched a campaign to adopt its gargoyles to help it raise the 25 million euros ($32 million) needed to clean up the landmark monument as culture budgets take a hit from the crisis.
[An Nahar] Hizbullah chief 
[Tolo News] Former Kabul Bank chairman Sherkhan Farnood on Wednesday accused President 
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Xi Jinping is set to take the reins of China's all-powerful Communist Party Thursday in a leadership transition that will put him in charge of the world's number two economy for the next decade.
[Magharebia] Fighting erupted Monday (November 12th) in Monastir between salafists and members of the General Union of Tunisian Students (UGET).
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] One of the main Islamist groups controlling northern Mali offered important concessions Wednesday, as plans to send an international military force to the country gathered steam.
That's the Knifefish by Bluefin Robotics, which can operate continuously underwater for up to 16 hours a dolphin's stay under the sea is measured in minutes before one needs to breathe. Like a dolphin, however, the Knifefish will use sonar to hunt for mines. The Knifefish could be joined by other 'bots, too the Navy is purchasing a German-made underwater robotic vehicle to perform similar tasks and while the dolphins and sea lions are out, divers will work alongside the robots on missions.
[An Nahar] Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair called on 
[An Nahar] 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
CAIRO: The European Union has approved a 5.0 billion euro financial aid package to Egypt after its economy was battered by a 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, the presidency said yesterday.
