[AlMasdar] (10:30 A.M.) – The Russian Air Force has begun conducting reconnaissance flights over the Idlib province as the Sochi Agreement falls apart.
According to a new Syrian military report, Russian reconnaissance jets have been flying over the jihadist rebel positions and collecting information about the latter’s whereabouts.
In particular, Russian IL-20 surveillance planes were spotted hovering over the the jihadist positions in the designated deescalation zone in northwestern Syria.
As shown in the video released by STEP News Agency, the Russian IL-20 can be seen flying over the jihadist positions in the northern countryside of the Hama Goernorate:
The resumption of Russian reconnaissance flights in the Idlib and Hama provinces comes just days after the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) announced that they would be launching a new military operation in the southeastern part of the deescalation zone.
[AlMasdar] (1:20 P.M.) – The Islamist rebels of Jaish al-Izza attempted to bypass the Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) lines in the northern countryside of the Hama Governorate last night, a military source in Mhardeh city told Al-Masdar News this morning.
According to the military source, Jaysh Al-Izza attempted to infiltrate the Syrian Arab Army’s positions near the town of Al-Zalaqiyat.
However, the Islamist rebels were seen by the pro-government National Defense Forces (NDF) making their way towards the Syrian Army’s posts near the Al-Zalaqiyat Checkpoint.
The Syrian Arab Army then fired on the Islamist rebels with their heavy machine guns; this resulted in the death of several Jaysh Al-Izza fighters.
Due to the heavy casualties sustained by the Islamist rebels, Jaysh Al-Izza was forced to withdraw across the 20km long demilitarized zone.
[AlMasdar] (7:00 A.M.) – The jihadist rebels of Hurras Al-Deen group recently carried out a special operation that targeted a Syrian Arab Army (SAA) base located along the Hama-Latakia axis.
The Hurras Al-Deen raid was reportedly carried out at the large hilltop of Tal Burkan in northeast Latakia; it would result in the death of 23 soldiers.
As shown in the photos released by the group, the jihadist fighters managed to sneak past the Syrian Army’s lines and kill the soldiers during the early morning hours:
Hurras al-Deen is an Al-Qaeda linked jihadist group that is currently participating in the ongoing fight against the Syrian government forces in northwestern Syria.
The Russian and Syrian armed forces consider Hurras Al-Deen a terrorist group and demand that they immediately withdraw from the Idlib buffer zone.
The jihadist group has already rejected the Sochi Agreement and vowed to keep up the fight against the Syrian government forces.
[AP] NEW YORK (AP) ‐ Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine was deemed a likely danger to the community and denied bail Monday after a prosecutor said there was evidence that he directed or participated in multiple acts of violence as part of a deadly gang.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry B. Pitman concluded an hourlong hearing by citing "troubling" corroborating evidence offered by a prosecutor to show that 6ix9ine directed or participated in multiple acts of violence over the last eight months.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Longyear said a backpack stolen during a gunpoint robbery in April was found during a raid at 6ix9ine’s Brooklyn residence, along with an automatic pistol.
"The defendant is quite violent," the prosecutor said of a man whose debut album, Day 69, was among the most downloaded records on iTunes.
Longyear said 6ix9ine was captured on surveillance video as he sat in a car and filmed the scene in Times Square when his co-defendants carried out a violent robbery against a rival gang member.
The prosecutor said he was also part of a video boasting about shots recently fired by a co-defendant in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
Longyear also said the rapper was a threat to flee because of his worldwide connections, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and the knowledge that a conviction would bring a mandatory minimum sentence of 32 years in prison and as much as life.
#2
He'd have to shave his head and laser-scrub most of his body's artwork, plus a new full set of dentures, before our firm would even contemplate putting him out in public, B.
Stupidity, we can't legally cure however.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
11/20/2018 10:10
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#3
Also there's other stuff he's done with underage kids.
[Philly Inquirer] Nadirrah Smith said a close friend phoned her about 7:30 p.m. Sunday, and before he hung up he said he'd call her back. He never did.
A distraught Smith said Monday that the man was one of four people found fatally shot, execution-style, in the basement of a home under renovation in the Cedar Park section of West Philadelphia.
Two women and two men, whose identities police would not confirm, were found in the home in the 5100 block of Malcolm Street with gunshot wounds to the head, police said. Medics pronounced them dead at 12:21 p.m.
It was the largest number of victims in a Philadelphia homicide this year.
"Sadly, all four of these individuals were executed ‐ there's no ifs, ands, or buts about it," Police Commissioner Richard Ross said. "This is an absolutely evil thing to do. ... There is no way in the world people should have met their demise this way."
Smith, 25, said she believed her friend's brother was also one of the victims, but said she did not know his name or who the women in the basement might have been.
Smith said her friend "was a good dude." Crying as she stood next to crime scene tape, she said the man had two daughters and had recently moved into the house. As a result, she said, not many people knew where he lived, and she therefore believed that "this had to be a setup."
#2
"That's what troubles me as much as anything else, that in the United States of America, this type of gun violence persists," [Police Commissioner] Ross said." "I just have to believe we have the wherewithal and the resources to do more than we're doing."
[Wash Examiner] The Army has arrived along the U.S.-Mexico border and are moving swiftly to ready for the oncoming "caravan" by laying miles of razor war to steer the thousands of migrants to legal crossings where tent cities are to be erected to hold them.
According to an eyewitness report, troops and trucks are delivering construction equipment, portable bathrooms and security to several areas along the border, the first wave of President Trump’s promise to bolster immigration enforcement with 5,000 or more soldiers.
The show of force is having the beneficial side effect of curbing illegal drug trafficking by the notorious Gulf Cartel, according to the report from the Center for Immigration Studies’ Todd Bensman.
He reported today: "Intelligence friends told me the Mexican cartel across the river, CDG, was angered by the U.S. troop deployment because it slowed the pace of drug smuggling and that the blamed the caravan for this. The cartel, I was told, has threatened the migrants to pay steep fees to cross through their territory or go elsewhere, hence the initial moves to Tijuana. No telling whether this is true. I just heard it from sources with access to such information."
#1
Gov't restrictions on the Narco Trafficers will force illegal drug prices to soar, urban competition for sales and drug turf will intensify. Drug related shootings to increase.
#2
The cartel, I was told, has threatened the migrants to pay steep fees to cross through their territory or go elsewhere, hence the initial moves to Tijuana
An expected reaction. The cartels, being businessmen at heart, know which side of the border their bread is buttered on. Note they are not taxing/extorting the poor "migrants", but rather the NGOs *cough*Soros*cough* who are funding the caravans.
[Hot Air] Makes sense, especially when you remember that McConnell worries about primary challenges first and foremost. Arizona righties have been dogged in trying to oust establishment dinosaurs. Granted, they failed against McCain with J.D. Hayworth in 2010 and Kelli Ward in 2016, but Jeff Flake was weak enough in hypothetical match-ups against Ward that he didn’t bother to run for reelection this time. This year’s primary drew not one but two well-known populist challengers in Ward and Joe Arpaio, in fact. McConnell’s eyeing 2020 and the looming special election for McCain’s (now Jon Kyl’s) seat and worrying about another populist brushfire starting. If he doesn’t start playing chess now, Republicans might end up with a Roy Moore scenario in a purplish state in two years with control of the Senate on the line.
#4
“I regret that she didn’t make it in her election.” Are you sure McSally didn't make it? Lot of election fraud going on. Two Pub senators from AZ would be good.
[Townhall] According to the Atlantic, where I go for all my erotic 411, millennials lost the sexual revolution and they didn’t even fight in it. Why Are Young People Having So Little Sex?, it asks in its latest cover story. Sheesh, just look at them.
I guess what they desperately need is some advice from a retired Army guy in his 50s, because this retired Army guy in his 50s has demonstrated that he gets it done while those goofs half his age are swiping left toward eterna-celibacy.
Now, the fact that millennials are failing to reproduce would superficially seem like a good thing, but it is probably a bad thing for society when the younger generation is more interested in Instagram and Fortnite and endless adolescence than in doing the hard work of making babies and, you know, perpetuating the species.
As early as 1747, women assumed leadership roles within the sect, notably Jane Wardley, Mother Ann Lee, and Mother Lucy Wright. Shakers settled in colonial America, with initial settlements in New Lebanon, New York (called Mount Lebanon after 1861). They practice a celibate and communal lifestyle, pacifism, and their model of equality of the sexes, which they institutionalized in their society in the 1780s.
Their celibacy combined with external and internal societal changes resulted in the thinning of the Shaker community, and consequently many of the other Shaker settlements are now village museums.
h/t Instapundit
New York Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez backs calls from fellow progressives to mount primary campaigns against moderate Democrats whose politics they believe are to the right of their constituents’.
"Long story short, I need you to run for office," Ocasio-Cortez said on a video conference call hosted by the leftist Justice Democrats, as the group launched a campaign dubbed #OurTime, Politico reported.
Justice Democrats backed Ocasio-Cortez’s primary campaign against incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley, the powerful Queens Democratic Party boss whose loss sent shock waves through the party’s centrist wing.
While it is unusual for a freshman lawmaker-in-waiting to openly challenge her party’s incumbents, Ocasio-Cortez’s call to action was reminiscent of Tea Party challenges to centrist Republicans, when GOP stalwarts like ex-Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia faced primary challenges from the right.
#3
Failing a speedy course correction, she'll be....off to Boliva as was once said:
"No contact with Manila," Ernesto "Che" Guevara wrote several times in his diary as he marched to his death in Bolivia and, behind the phrase, is Cuban leader Fidel Castro's betrayal and abandonment of the legendary guerrilla fighter, Cuban journalist Alberto Müller said.
#4
She will go faaaaar left and then have an unfortunate ethics scandal. Last recording will be about how she expects to be handled the same as the "Keating Seven."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/20/2018 7:59
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#5
Go for it Ocasio-Cortez. I don't mind an occasional leftist revolt with the ranks as long as it doesn't spill out of its boundaries. I'm still chuckling about someone's comment from a few days ago here when they referred to Ocasio-Cortez as "Occasional-Cortex."
[Haaretz] Germany’s foreign minister said Berlin has banned 18 Saudi nationals from entering Europe’s border-free Schengen zone because they are believed connected to Khashoggi’s killing.
The German government says it has halted previously approved arms exports to Saudi Arabia amid the fallout from the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Germany said a month ago it wouldn’t approve any new weapons exports to Saudi Arabia, but left open what would happen with already approved contracts.
Germany’s economy ministry oversees the authorization of arms exports. Ministry spokesman Philipp Jornitz said Monday that "the German government is working with those who have valid authorizations with the result that there are currently no (weapons) exports from Germany to Saudi Arabia."
[GP] Orange County, a traditionally conservative enclave in Southern California turned all blue after Democrats found tens of thousands of votes post election day.
Just two years ago in 2016, only 2 Congressional districts in Orange County voted blue‐now just two years later every single district voted blue.
Democrat blue wave? More like Democrat election fraud.
From a reader:
I did a bit of my own research, and what’s interesting is in both Stanislaus County (ca-10) and Orange County Republican John Cox beat Gavin Newsom for Governor. John Cox ran a horrible campaign and was virtually invisible. I find it hard to believe that voters would split the ticket ‐ voting R for an unknown guy Governor and D for a super liberal congressperson. Just seems like a BIG red flag.
#3
Unexpectedly™.
First they import the illegals immigrants, then they kill off all agricultural jobs, and then they need massive Welfare funds to support the poor/jobless "ghetto" they have created. Call it "Little Venezuela" in a decade...
#4
In this case there was a Dem and GOP up for Governor, and I believe a Dem and GOP up for the Congress seat.
The GOP Gov campaigned poorly but did well in Orange county, The GOP Congressperson campaigned well and lost by a landslide in Orange county. If this is true it is very suspicious, Dems are usually a bit more subtle.
[Gateway Pundit] According to reports, approximately 6,000 mostly military-aged Honduran males are camped out in Tijuana, Mexico, a city that borders San Diego.
The thousands of migrants camping out in Tijuana are hoping to enter the United States legally or illegally.
Via The Daily Caller:
Deutsche Welle’s Spanish language channel, DW Español, traveled to Tijuana in order to interview some of the migrants living in the camps. A reporter asked one of the migrants how the living conditions were in the camp.
The Honduran woman interviewed by the reporter called the free meals given to her ’pig food.’
"The food that they’re handing out here is terrible. Refried beans? As if they were feeding the pigs. If we don’t eat this, we will die of hunger," the ungrateful Honduran migrant said.
Imagine how demanding these Hondurans will be once they cross over into the United States.
They will demand free housing, medical care, food stamps and education for their families.
#13
Refried beans are one of the greatest contributions from Mexico to our culture. They are nutritious and filling. Combine them with rice and shredded cheese, especially if the beans are hot enough to melt the cheese. Mmmmm. Seriously, Hondurans are complaining about that?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
11/20/2018 13:31
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#14
I have friends who lived in Chile for awhile and they say that all of Latin America disrespects Mexico. They have a really long border with the USA, lots of mineral wealth, and they are still poor. Should have dangled their elites from lampposts long ago.
[Reuters] SAN FRANCISCO - A U.S. judge on Monday temporarily blocked an order by President Donald Trump that barred asylum for immigrants who enter the country illegally from Mexico, the latest courtroom defeat for Trump on immigration policy.
U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco issued a temporary restraining order against the asylum rules. Tigar’s order takes effect immediately, applies nationwide, and lasts until at least Dec. 19 when the judge scheduled a hearing to consider a more long-lasting injunction.
Representatives for the U.S. Department of Justice could not immediately be reached for comment.
Trump cited an overwhelmed immigration system for his recent proclamation that officials will only process asylum claims for migrants who present themselves at an official entry point. Civil rights groups sued, arguing that Trump’s Nov. 9 order violated administrative and immigration law.
#3
Thus encouraging the migrants. When their numbers reach a level that will permit them to surge the border, they will. This could force POTUS to appoint a military governor and declare a partial or regional Martial Law.
#7
I don't agree with the legality of a circuit or regional judge being able to apply a ruling nationally. At most it should only apply to the geographical area they are ruling on.
Also if I was Trump, I would ignore the black robed tyrant and just keep going on.
[Townhall] U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ruled on Thursday that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has 30 days to answer additional questions about her email scandal. The decision comes after Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit to obtain additional information from Clinton and Director of Information Resource Management of the Executive Secretariat John Bentel. The watchdog group also wanted top Clinton aides and State Department officials, including Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills', deposition videos made public.
The lawsuit was part of a broader Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit that came about in October 2016 when Clinton refused to answer several of Judicial Watch's questions, saying she "does not recall."
After a lengthy hearing, Clinton was told she must answer these two questions:
1. Describe the creation of the clintonemail.com system, including who decided to create the system, the date it was decided to create the system, why it was created, who set it up, and when it became operational.
#7
Hillary testifying under oath? Better think about waterboarding her then. She will climb a tree to lie rather than stay on the ground and tell the truth.
[The Hill] In February 2016, as Christopher Steele’s Russia-related contacts with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI were ramping up, the former British spy emailed some intelligence reports from his Orbis security company to a potential private-sector client.
The documents were labeled "Orbis Russian Leadership Reporting," and the cover email made a most provocative claim: Russian leader Vladimir Putin might be losing his grip on power.
"I also don’t believe any Russian client or associate will admit to a Western business contact that PUTIN has been weakened or is on the way out, as the intel suggests, out of fear of being branded an oppositionist," Steele cautioned the recipient. "We shall see but I hope you find them informative/useful anyway."
As for the nature of the reports, Steele boasted in his Feb. 8, 2016, email, "All are sensitive source, of course, and need handling accordingly with anyone Russian or Ukrainian."
It is unclear whether Steele also shared those same reports with his handlers at the DOJ, the FBI or the State Department. At the time, he was in contact with the No. 4 Justice official, Bruce Ohr.
But more than two-and-a-half years later, Steele’s intelligence seems debunked in retrospect.
Putin is firmly entrenched in power and, in the summer and fall of 2016, he pulled off one of his most daring feats against the Western world with his meddling in the U.S. presidential election.
[Free Beacon] The U.S. counterterrorism strategy has not kept pace with the ever-evolving threat of jihadi extremism, yielding short-lived military victories against terrorists at the potential cost of losing the broader war, according to a new study.
Despite the constantly morphing nature of Islamist extremism, the U.S. approach to defeating groups like al Qaeda and the Islamic States has changed little from that established in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the American Enterprise Institute found in a report released this week.
"The U.S. approach to countering the Salafi-jihadi base has yielded fleeting results because the foundational understanding of the enemy is wrong," the report said. "Military victories against groups such as al Qaeda in Iraq certainly eliminated the terrorist threat to the United States from that group for a time, but have proved insufficient to prevent the return of a threat."
Katherine Zimmerman, an AEI research fellow and author of the report, said the "crack in the foundation" of American counterterrorism strategy is the "oversimplification of the enemy into a series of discrete groups." She said U.S. policy largely ignores the fact that Islamist extremists do not exist primarily to attack America or Europe, but to replace the governance systems of Muslim-majority countries with their hardline vision of governance and Islam.
"America's view of the enemy still centers on the terrorist threats that specific Salafi-jihadi groups pose to the United States homeland or American interests," Zimmerman wrote. "It misses that these groups are part of a global movement that persists beyond the defeat of specific organization or death of a set of individuals."
Zimmerman said U.S. and European government officials and analysts wrongly point to the jihadi movement's reprioritization away from attacking Western countries toward establishing itself in local communities as a sign they have weakened. Rather, Islamist extremists move closer toward their overarching goal of regional hegemony by currying local support.
She noted that the jihadi movement assesses its success on its ability to transform society locally rather than its ability to attack globally‐"the exact inverse" of how the United States assesses its counterterrorism strategy.
#3
During WWII a massive military build-up and mobilization got underway in the United States. New car production was halted and factories were converted to the war effort. Hundred, possibly thousands of new factories both large and small sprang to life. Employment boomed for both men and women during the war years. After the war ended, most of these factories were shuttered.
As victory approached, some of the former defense workers were heard to have said, "I hope the war never ends."
~ Our business is war, and business is good.
anon
Total victory is the enemy of 'endless wars.' It always has been.
#4
As victory approached, some of the former defense workers were heard to have said, "I hope the war never ends."
Coming out of the Great Depression, with its lack of jobs and excess of hunger, the anxiety is understandable. And as I recall, a small depression did follow the end of the war, as factories switched over to civilian products and masses of demobilized troops flooded the employment market.
#5
the jihadi movement's reprioritization away from attacking Western countries toward establishing itself in local communities is a sign they have weakened.
However, once they have established themselves locally, they will attack globally.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
11/20/2018 11:16
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#6
We really should ask ourselves how the Romans would handle them. I'm sure the answer is there.
[AlMasdar] (12:15 P.M.) – The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) launched a powerful assault across the western countryside of Aleppo last night, a military source told Al-Masdar News this morning.
According to the military source, the Syrian Arab Army unleashed a flurry of missiles and artillery shells towards the defenses of the Turkish-backed National Liberation Front (NLF) in several parts of western Aleppo.
The source said that the Syrian Army specifically targeted the NLF’s defenses in the Rashideen 4 and 5 suburbs, along with the Al-Mansourah, Scientific Research Building, Jabal Maarah, and Jazira.
The Syrian Army’s overnight attack was conducted in response to the militant assault on the west Aleppo districts.
These types of attacks by the Turkish-backed rebels and jihadists have become prevalent over the last three months; this has prompted the Syrian military to strengthen their defenses inside of Aleppo city.
[AlMasdar] (2:00 P.M.) – A rebel commander and several of his fighters were killed during an attack by the Turkish military and their allies in northern Syria this past weekend, opposition activists reported on social media.
According to the reports, the commander of the Furqa al-Safawah rebel group, Mahmoud ‘Azazi, was killed during a fierce battle with the Turkish military and their allies near the city of Afrin over the weekend.
Azazi, as known by his nom de guerre “Abu Nawarah”, was the main commander of Furqa al-Safawah; he had previously fought against the Syrian government forces and Kurdish-led People’s Protection Units (YPG).
The Turkish military and their allies launched a new assault on Sunday that targeted several rebel groups that were accused of looting and kidnapping in the Afrin region.
Turkish army tanks and military vehicles have entered the battlefield and the Turkish artillery units are pounding the positions of the rebels in Afrin.
At least 25 militant have been killed and tens more have been wounded in the infighting, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
[AlMasdar] (12:00 A.M.) – Scores of rebel fighters surrendered themselves to the Turkish Army and National Liberation Front (NLF) after a series of intense clashes these last 72 hours.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the rebels from Shuhada al-Sharqiyah agreed to surrender their fighters to the Turkish Army and NLF after their brief fight with the latter in and around Afrin city.
Shuhada Al-Shaqiyah was accused of kidnapping and looting by the Turkish Army and NL; this prompted the recent military operation in Afrin.
Furthermore, the SOHR said that at least 11 rebels were killed and more than 25 others injured during these recent clashes.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/20/2018
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[AlMasdar] (11:00 P.M.) ‐ The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) was finally able to upend the remaining Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS/ISIS/IS/ISIS) turbans in the al-Safa region of southern Syria on Monday.
Led by their 3rd Corps and 4th Armored Division, the Syrian Arab Army stormed ISIS’s last positions in western al-Safa on Monday morning.
This powerful attack by the Syrian Arab Army would result in ISIS’s full capitulation in southern Syria.
According to a military source in Sweida city, the remaining ISISturbans in western al-Safa agreed to surrender their last positions after suffering heavy casualties over the last three days.
The source added that some of the ISISturbans managed to evade capture by fleeing to the Badiya al-Sham region of eastern Homs.
With ISIS’s defeat in al-Safa, the Syrian Arab Army is now in full control of southern Syria for the first time since 2011.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/20/2018
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#1
I keep reading that when ISIS - or whoever - is routed in a given place, the US "relocates them." WTF?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/20/2018 7:45
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#2
Remember MM, for Assad (and Yippy) 'Daesh' can denote Kurds or other western-aligned groups.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
11/20/2018 10:04
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Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) ‐ Two Iraqi federal coppers were killed Monday in an attack by Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... holy warriors in the disputed district of Makhmur on the border between Erbil and Nineveh provinces, a security source was quoted as saying.
"A group of IS holy warriors launched an armed attack on a checkpoint of the federal police at the entrance to Makhmur district in western djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... ," the source told Almaalomah website.
"The attack left two federal coppers dead," the source said, adding that a security force rushed to the scene and carried the bodies to the forensic medicine department.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/20/2018
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[NYPOST] Artificial intelligence is "shockingly" racist and sexist, a study has revealed.
Researchers looked at a range of systems and datasets and found examples where AI had provided inaccurate information for women and minorities.
In one example, the team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology looked at an income prediction system and discovered it was twice as likely to misclassify female employees as low-income and male employee as high-income.
However, ars longa, vita brevis... the team was able to adjust the system to make sure it was less biased.
When researchers increased the dataset by a factor of 10, they found the mistakes decreased by 40 percent.
Irene Chen, a Ph.D. student who wrote the paper with MIT professor David Sontag and postdoctoral associate Fredrik D. Johansson, said it comes down to using better data.
She said: "Computer scientists are often quick to say that the way to make these systems less biased is to simply design better algorithms.
"But algorithms are only as good as the data they’re using and our research shows that you can often make a bigger difference with better data."
In another example, researchers found an AI system’s ability to predict intensive care unit mortality was inaccurate for Asian patients.
They warned that using existing methods to fix the system would make the predictions less accurate for non-Asian patients.
Typically researchers would just add more data to the system, but Chen said it is also the quality of the data that is important.
Instead, researchers should be getting more data from underrepresented groups.
Sontag said: "We view this as a toolbox for helping machine-learning engineers figure out what questions to ask of their data in order to diagnose why their systems may be making unfair predictions."
The research team will present their paper in December at the Neural Information Processing Systems in Montreal.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Neural Networks take too long to train. It's been known for years. The initial Motorola cellular infrastructure had a neural network component. It was noticed that no customer release ever got within %10 of the trained point before a new release came out. Eventually it was just deleted from the product as useless. (Deletion was prior to 2002.)
#2
"Master of the Obvious" needed here.... How could anyone think that the GIGO Scenario does not apply? Pattern Recognition is something that Nature has taken a long, long time to implement hardware and it takes humans years to train properly --- it ain't easy because it ain't.
[ToloNews] The Ministry of Interior (MoI) on Sunday said that the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) have cleared Malistan district of Ghazni province of faceless myrmidons and are now advancing in Jaghori district.
"Afghan forces have cleared Malistan district of faceless myrmidons and Afghan commandos, police special forces and NDS units are launching air and ground operations on faceless myrmidons from two directions to clear Jaghori district as well," said MoI front man Najib Danish in a Facebook post.
He said that two units of territorial army forces comprised of 6,000 personnel have been organized to maintain security in these two districts and will be assigned for the security of the areas once they complete their military training.
Continued on Page 49
[IsraelTimes] A 25-year-old Paleostinian woman was tossed in the slammer Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! on Monday afternoon at the Qalandiya checkpoint north of Jerusalem after guards found a knife in her backpack.
The woman, identified by authorities only as a resident of the West Bank, was passing through the checkpoint into Israel.
The knife was found during a routine check of her bag by border guards. It was hidden inside a Pringles container.
She was taken for questioning by police.
The checkpoint is the largest on Jerusalem’s northern edge, separating metropolitan Jerusalem from the Paleostinian city of Ramallah.
#2
"Bet you can't stab just one..." (Yeah, I know that's actually Lay's but I couldn't stop myself.)
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/20/2018 3:50
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#3
There was a large lady of Dingle
Unable to stop at one Pringle.
No ordinary man
Could contend with her can,
Which is, possibly, why she died single.
[NYPOST] A gunman shot up a reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown ... home of Al Capone, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel,... hospital on Monday, shooting three people, including a cop.
Police responded to Mercy hospital after reports of shots fired at the location at around 4 p.m., according to Chicago cops.
"A #ChicagoPolice officer has been shot in the active shooter incident at Mercy Hospital," tweeted Chicago Police front man Anthony Guglielmi.
"He is at death's door but receiving excellent care."
Two other victims were shot inside the hospital, according to CBS Chicago.
The gunman was then shot by a police officer.
A witness described how the gunman went on his rampage inside the building.
"I heard shots fired, I turned around to my right and I see a man shooting someone on the ground ‐ shot him multiple times," the witness told CBS Chicago.
"Then almost immediately an officer was already coming in... He exchanged fire with them, and then reloaded, shot the person on the ground again, and then made himself inside the hospital and more shots fired."
Guglielmi, the police front man, later tweeted that the gunman been shot.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2018
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Four dead, including 28-year-old police officer, after gunman 'shot his ER doctor ex-fiance SIX TIMES in Chicago hospital parking lot and then continued shooting inside'
Dr Tamara O'Neal was killed when Juan Lopez confronted her at Mercy Hospital
Officer Samuel Jimenez, 28, was also killed in the horrific shooting on Monday
Lopez shoot O'Neal three times in hospital's parking lot before she fell to ground
He then stood over her and fired three more times before going into the hospital
Lopez then shot another woman who was pharmaceutical technician at hospital
Jimenez, a father-of-three, had just finished his probationary period at the CPD
O'Neal and Lopez were to wed on October 27 but she called it off in September
#5
This would have been a good time for the officer to fear for his life and empty his magazine into the perp. "He twitched each time I shot him so I was afraid he might still try to kill someone!"
[NYPOST] Mexican restaurant chain Chipotle fired one of its managers after an online video surfaced showing the employee refusing to serve a group of black men unless they pay up front ‐ but now the eatery is rethinking its decision.
The unidentified manager of a Chipotle restaurant in St. Paul, Minnesota, can be seen in a viral clip posted to Twitter smiling and saying, "You gotta pay because you never have money when you come in here," to the group of customers.
The group of five men were noticeably offended by the comments, telling other workers that they were being "stereotyped," as they filmed themselves in the eatery, according to the clip, which has been viewed more than 6.4 million times since it was posted Friday by one of the customers.
Another worker in the video later tells the group, "We’re not gonna make food unless you guys actually have money."
Masud Ali, the customer who posted a series of videos of the incident to his Twitter account, accused the female manager who refused to serve him and his friends of racism.
"It sounded really racist ‐ the way she said it was racist," Ali, 21, told The Star Tribune. "She asked for proof of income as if I’m getting a loan."
Chipotle was quick to terminate the manager.
"Regarding what happened at the St. Paul restaurant, the manager thought these gentlemen were the same customers from Tuesday night who weren’t able to pay for their meal," the chain said in a statement. "Regardless, this is not how we treat our customers and as a result, the manager has been terminated and the restaurant has been retrained to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again."
Following the termination, other Twitter users came to the defense of the manager, pointing out tweets posted to Ali’s Twitter account boasting about "dining and dashing" or ordering food at a restaurant and leaving before paying.
The revelation apparently prompted Chipotle to reconsider its hasty firing of the manager.
"Our actions were based on the facts known to us immediately after the incident, including video footage, social media posts and conversations with the customer, manager and our employees," Chipotle chief communications officer Laurie Schalow told Fox News on Sunday. "We want to do the right thing, so after further investigation we will re-train and re-hire if the facts warrant it."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2018
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#1
this is one time i hope she sues and wins big
Posted by: chris ||
11/20/2018 1:11
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#2
She should file the suit and watch them settle for about $500K - if Chipotle folded so fast for Mr. Dine & Dash they're likely to do the same here just to get it off the radar screen.
#8
There must be some sort of remedial instruction on 'Entitlement' available at a local college. Just to be on the safe side, I recommend she attend classes before returning to work.
#11
With the exception of KARE 11, our local fake, fraud media is refusing to cover the story. Typically the Twin Cities fraud news never covers Somalian crime.
#12
At the Chipotle I've been they have a deli-line. You get your food and pay then sit to eat. There really isn't much chance to dine and ditch. Seems that instead of confront the guy about it she should have just locked the doors while he was in line, and if he paid, unlock them and act as if nothing happened.
#13
yeah lock the doors and be charged with false imprisonment or kidnapping. She did the right thing.Hopefully a better employer will offer a job at a better establishment after shipotle has too pay her off.
Posted by: chris ||
11/20/2018 14:46
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#14
Miss Liberty smoked jalapeño
And chased the American sueño
Of selling tamales
To sullen Somalis.
Impossible? Si, by diseño!
[IsraelTimes] The UN’s special envoy for the Middle East grinding of the peace processor says the impact of the Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... i fuel funds, which Israel allowed to be transferred to Gazoo earlier this month, is already being felt.
"The impact has been immediate ‐ the water supply has increased; risk of sewage overflow has been reduced; hospitals are less dependent on precarious generators; street lights are on again; children can study and play more; and families have more cash in hand to meet their daily needs," says Nikolay Mladenov in his briefing to the Security Council.
"These improvements, however, are temporary. They provide much-needed relief, but can do little to reverse the long-standing, structural problems affecting Gazoo, driven by years of crippling closures and Hamas, a regional Iranian catspaw, control," he adds.
Diyala (IraqiNews.com) ‐ Five Iraqi coppers were killed and maimed Monday in an armed attack on a police patrol in Diyala province, a provincial source was quoted as saying.
Speaking to Alghad Press website, the source said that a federal policeman was killed and four others were maimed when unidentified button menshot up their police patrol at a village on the outskirts of Khanaqin in northeastern Diyala.
The assailants used explosive charges in the attack, according to the source.
The province has seen months of fighting between Iraqi troops and IS murderous Moslems, especially in the Jalawla and Saadiyah areas in the province’s north and areas near the town of Muqdadiyah.
No group has so far grabbed credit for the attack, but the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) murderous Moslem group, in most cases, is responsible for attacks targeting crowded areas, including markets, cafes and mosques across Iraq.
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11/20/2018
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[DAWN] The Japanese government has announced providing $4.6 million grant to Pakistain to support the supply of essential polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... vaccine for campaigns during 2018-19.
Notes of grant were signed and exchanged here on Monday between the government of Japan, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the United Nations ...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... Children’s Fund (Unicef).
The grant will support procurement of 25 million doses of oral polio vaccine (OPV) which would be sufficient to vaccinating children under the age of five in high-risk districts across the country thus enabling the programme to quickly close immunity gaps.
With this latest grant aid, the Japanese government had contributed about $230 million towards polio eradication initiative since 1996. To achieve and maintain interruption in polio transmission, Japan believed that robust routine immunisation was required, and had provided technical assistance for the Expanded Immunisation Programme (EPI) in Pakistain since 2001.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2018
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[DAWN] CNN said on Monday it asked for a new emergency hearing to allow its news hound Jim Acosta to remain at the White House, saying officials are threatening to again revoke his press pass.
The statement from the cable news channel came just three days after a federal judge ordered the White House to allow Acosta's return citing a lack of "due process" ‐ without ruling on CNN's argument that the ejection violated constitutional free press guarantees.
CNN said it received a letter on Friday, hours after the judge's ruling, indicating the White House planned to revoke Acosta's press pass again after the 14-day temporary restraining order expires.
"The White House is continuing to violate the First and Fifth Amendments of the constitution," the network said in a statement on Sunday.
"These actions threaten all journalists and news organizations. Jim Acosta and CNN will continue to report the news about the White House and the president."
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11/20/2018
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[DAWN] A case has been registered against a trio of Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... police constables accused of harassing, filming and blackmailing couples in Lahore for money.
The case had first become public knowledge last month when the said police officials had accused Punjab Minister for Housing Mahmoodur Rasheed's son and his friends of kidnapping them, snatching their weapons, torturing them and hurling threats.
The coppers, named Nadeem Iqbal, Usman Mushtaq and Usman Saeed, had claimed that they allegedly caught a young couple in a car. As the couple was being taken to the cop shoppe, the man ‐ identified as Ali Mustafa ‐ had called Mian Hasan, the son of Punjab Minister for Housing Mahmoodur Rasheed.
Police had further claimed that the suspects, led by Hasan, snatched guns from the constables, bundled them into their cars and drove away before dropping the kidnapped coppers at different places and fled away.
However, the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... according to a first information report (FIR) filed on Sunday, an inquiry and analysis of the police officials' phones found several videos of couples being blackmailed and even tortured.
The FIR filed by Ghalib Market Station House Officer (SHO) Rehan Jamal stated that in the aforementioned case, the police officials had snatched Mustafa's wallet and taken Rs2,000 from it, while demanding that he pay them Rs50,000 more.
SHO Jamal, in the FIR, said that the police constables' actions were "against the police discipline and utterly illegal", and resulted in bringing a bad name to the police.
The SHO recommended that strict departmental action be taken against the accused.
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11/20/2018
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[DAWN] The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday formed a five-member committee to submit recommendations for the restoration of Lahore's United Christian Hospital (UCH).
A two-member SC bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistain (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar, was hearing a suo motu ...a legal term, from the Latin. Roughly translated it means I saw what you did, you bastard... case pertaining to the restoration of UCH at the top court's Lahore registry. The bench also ordered the clearing of encroachments from the hospital's land.
The top judge expressed annoyance at the dismal condition of UCH and said that there was "neither doctor nor electricity" available at the hospital.
"There are four operation theatres in the hospital of which only one is operational," Justice Nisar lamented.
He ordered the committee, which is to be headed by former interim health minister Dr Jawad Sajid Khan, to submit its recommendations by Dec 3.
"We have restored electricity in the hospital," Justice Nisar said, directing Parks and Horticulture Authority to "watch over [UCH'S] cleaning up".
"We have to restore this hospital within six weeks," the CJP declared, and added that he will visit UCH for his medical check up.
"This [hospital] is an icon of Lahore," the chief justice said. "We want it to operate once again."
During a hearing of the case last week, the chief justice had sought a plan for UCH's restoration from the Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... health secretary, however, no report was submitted today.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2018
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#1
"You can't have your surgery because Muhammad." Sounds like something a NHS councilor might say...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/20/2018 3:44
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[DAWN] A three-day meeting between the Taliban and the US special envoy for Afghanistan to pave the way for peace talks ended with no agreement, the hard boy group said a day after the diplomat declared a deadline of April 2019 to end the 17-year-long war.
Afghanistan’s security situation has worsened since NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and structure.... formally ended combat operations in 2014, as the Taliban ...Arabic for students... battle to re-impose Islamic laws following their overthrow in 2001 at the hands of US-led troops.
Leaders of the hardline group met US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad at their political headquarters in Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... last week for the second time in the past month, said front man Zabiullah Mujahid. "These were preliminary talks and no agreement was reached on any issue," he said in a statement on Monday.
Taliban leaders had not accepted any deadline set by the US to wrap up talks, three Taliban officials added.
The US embassy in Kabul declined to comment.
Khalilzad, an Afghan-born US diplomat authorised by US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... ’s government to lead peace negotiations with the Taliban, on Sunday said he hoped to cut a peace deal with the group by April 20. That deadline coincides with the date set for Afghan presidential elections.
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11/20/2018
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[ToloNews] The US President Trump and Pakistain’s Prime Minister Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight... trolled each other on Twitter on Monday.
Following a Fox News interview over the weekend in which Trump accused Pakistain of hiding the late Osama bin Laden ... who doesn't live anywhere anymore... and berated it for not doing a "damn thing" for the US, Imran Khan pushed back on Monday tweeting, "Instead of making Pakistain a scapegoat for their failures, the US should do a serious assessment of why, despite 140,000 NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... troops plus 250,000 Afghan troops and reportedly $1 trillion spent on war in Afghanistan, the Taliban ...Arabic for students... today are stronger than before."
"Record needs to be put straight on Mr Trump's tirade against Pakistain: 1. No Pak was involved in 9/11 but Pak decided to participate in US War on Terror. 2. Pakistain suffered 75,000 casualties in this war and over $123 bn was lost to economy. US 'aid' was a miniscule $20 bn," Khan said.
He also said that "Our tribal areas were devastated and millions of ppl uprooted from their homes. The war drastically impacted lives of ordinary Paks, "before asking, "Pak continues to provide free lines of ground and air communications (GLOCs/ALOCs). Can Mr Trump name another ally that gave such sacrifices?"
Four hours after Khan’s tweets, President Trump returned to the subject again, tweeting, "Of course we should have captured Osama bin Laden long before we did. I pointed him out in my book just BEFORE the attack on the World Trade Center. President Clinton famously missed his shot. We paid Pakistain Billions of Dollars & they never told us he was living there. Fools!.."
"....We no longer pay Pakistain the $Billions because they would take our money and do nothing for us, Bin Laden being a prime example, Afghanistan being another. They were just one of many countries that take from the United States without giving anything in return. That’s ENDING!" he added.
The US President’s Twitter tirade also involved retired US Admiral William McRaven, who led the operation that killed Osama bin Laden, and who has since criticized Trump on various issues, including his denigration of the media and his attacks against former CIA chief John Brennan.
Trump dismissed McRaven as a "Perennial Presidential Campaigner Hillary Crooked Hillary Clinton ... former first lady, former secretary of state, former presidential candidate, Conqueror of Benghazi, Heroine of Tuzla, formerly described by her supporters as the smartest woman in the world, usually described by the rest of us as The Thing That Wouldn't Go Away... backer and an Obama-backer," in the Fox interview although the Admiral had made no public political pronouncement before Trump began attacking the US security establishment.
Trump’s ire against his predecessor and the security principals during that administration appears to stem from the public humiliation he suffered at the hands of Barack Obama If you like your coverage you can keep it... during the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner when he was roasted for his penchant for spreading conspiracy theories.
Imran Khan was not done after the Trump tirade. "Trump’s false assertions add insult to the injury Pakistain has suffered in US WoT in terms of lives lost and destabilised and economic costs. He needs to be informed abt historical facts. Pak has suffered enough fighting US's war. Now we will do what is best for our people and our interests." he tweeted.
[IsraelTimes] ’This is a very encouraging result at the end of a lot of work,’ says head of UN body accused by Israel and US of perpetuating Paleostinian refugee problem
The UN agency for Paleostinian refugees said Monday that UNRWA has dramatically reduced its budget shortfall despite US funding cuts, after Gulf and EU contributions.
"You are all aware how difficult this year has been for UNRWA in particular following the unexpected decision by the US to cut $300 million this year of UNRWA’s income," commissioner general Pierre Krahenbuhl told a news conference in Jordan.
At the start of 2018, the UN agency faced a $446-million budget deficit, he said.
But after mobilizing to tackle the unprecedented financial crisis caused by the US cuts, "we have now reduced the shortfall... to $21 million," he added.
"This is a very encouraging result at the end of a lot of work," he told news hounds after meeting with the agency’s advisory commission in Sweimeh on the Jordanian shore of the Dead Sea.
Krahenbuhl thanked in particular Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... , the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... , saying they had helped plug the deficit by contributing $50 million each.
Their combined contribution of $200 million "is almost half of the total amount that we mobilized this year," said Krahenbuhl, adding that aid also poured in from the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... On Thursday, Krahenbuhl said the shortfall had been $64 million.
The United States, which was by far the biggest contributor to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), announced in August that it would no longer fund the agency.
The Trump administration, as well as Israel, say they oppose the way the organization operates and how it calculates the number of Paleostinian refugees.
UNRWA was set up in 1950 to help Paleostinian refugees who lost their homes because in Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. Its assistance includes schools, healthcare centers and food distribution.
More than 750,000 Paleostinians fled or were expelled during the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation and during the Six Day War in 1967.
They and all their descendants are deemed by the UN agency to be refugees who fall under its remit.
Israel accuses UNRWA of helping to perpetuate the Paleostinian narrative of Israel’s illegitimacy by, uniquely, granting refugee status to the descendants of refugees, even when they are born in other countries and have citizenship there, conditions that do not apply to the refugees cared for by the UN’s main refugee agency, UNHCR, which cares for all other refugees worldwide. The population of Paleostinian refugees thus grows each year.
The "right of return" is one of the key issues of dispute in the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict. The Paleostinians claim that the five million people the UN recognizes as refugees have the right to return to their homes in Israel proper. Israel, for its part, rejects this demand, saying that it represents a bid by the Paleostinians to destroy Israel by weight of numbers.
Israel’s population is almost nine million, some three-quarters of whom are Jewish. An influx of millions of Paleostinians would mean Israel would no longer be a Jewish-majority state.
[NYPOST] There’ll be no comedy act at the next White House Correspondents’ Dinner, with historian Ron Chernow booked as the featured speaker instead.
The last dinner created quite a ruckus when comedian Michelle Wolf went after White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who was seated near her on the rostrum.
"I actually really like Sarah. I think she’s very resourceful. Like she burns facts, and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smoky eye. Like maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s lies. It’s probably lies," Wolf said at the time.
She went on to ask, "Like, what’s an Uncle Tom, but for white women who disappoint other white women? Oh, I know, Ann Coulter."
Journalists and politicians in the audience were split on the appropriateness of Wolf’s jokes. President Trump ‐ who’s skipped the dinner twice ‐ labeled it an "embarrassment." He called Wolf "filthy" and said she "totally bombed."
The dinner is scheduled for April 27.
Chernow, whose Alexander Hamilton biography became the basis for the musical "Hamilton" and whose book "Grant" is being developed into a movie directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, is set to deliver a lecture on freedom of the press.
"As we celebrate the importance of a free and independent news media to the health of the republic, I look forward to hearing Ron place this unusual moment in the context of American history," White House Correspondents’ Association president Olivier Knox said in a statement Monday.
"While I have never been mistaken for a stand-up comedian, I promise that my history lesson won’t be dry," Chernow said.
The WHCA has reined in the dinner in the past.
In 2007, impersonator Rich Little was hired as the main act. The year before, comedian Stephen Colbert roasted President George W. Bush’s administration with the president onstage, likening it to the Hindenburg disaster.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2018
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#1
So? It's not like they ever had a comedian before....
#3
If he can't bring his delivery down to a third grade level, the audience will fall asleep or start firing spitballs...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/20/2018 3:10
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#4
Don't send any member of the Administration to dignify this farce. It has degenerated into a Democratic Party Photo-Op so ignore it and let it fade into obscurity...
[IsraelTimes] Political activist says attacks on congresswoman-elect Ilhan Omar come from those who ’choose their allegiance to Israel over their commitment to democracy and free speech’.
Activist Linda Sarsour appeared to criticize American Jews of a dual loyalty to Israel in a Facebook post calling for support for Congresswoman-elect Ilhan Omar, following a backlash over her announcement that she supports boycotting Israel.
Sarsour wrote in the post on Thursday that Omar is "being attacked for saying that she supports BDS (Boycott Divestment Sanctions) and the right for people to engage in constitutionally protected freedoms. This is not only coming from the right-wing but some folks who masquerade as progressives but always choose their allegiance to Israel over their commitment to democracy and free speech."
Sarsour, a leader of the Women’s March who has come under fire for not disassociating herself or the movement from Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan ‐ who has made anti-Semitic and bigoted statements for decades, most recently comparing Jews to termites ‐ also called for people to post messages of support to Omar on social media.
"You don’t have to support BDS and have every right not to but we cannot stand by idly while a brave Black Moslem American woman is targeted for saying she will uphold the constitution of the United States of America as a member of the US Congress," Sarsour wrote.
In the comments section on the post in response to the criticism, Sarsour singled out the Anti-Defamation League. In an online petition in support of Omar, Sarsour wrote that she was alarmed by "organizations like the ADL using their platforms to attack a trailblazing Black Moslem woman in order to undermine advocacy for Paleostinian human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... The post raised the ire of the American Jewish Committee, which responded in a tweet: "Accusing Jews of dual loyalty is one of the oldest and most pernicious antisemitic tropes. No surprise to see it coming from @LSarsour. How long will progressive leaders continue to look the other way in the face of this hate?"
[IsraelTimes] AP cameraman among 25 said injured by military as Paleostinians throw rocks, explosive toward security fence, Israeli troops on other side; 20 boats sail to Israeli naval border in maritime protest.
Hundreds of Paleostinians rioted along the northern border of the Gazoo Strip Monday, throwing rocks and an bomb at Israeli soldiers on the other side of the security fence, the army said.
Israeli troops responded with live fire in some cases, injuring 25 people, including an News Agency that Dare Not be Named cameraman.
A bomb hurled by the Paleostinian rioters fell short of the border and caused no injuries, according to a military spokesperson.
In response, Israeli troops launched containers of tear gas and, in some cases, fired live shots at rioters, the Israel Defense Forces said.
According to the Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",-run Gazoo Health Ministry, 25 people were maimed to varying degrees by Israeli troops.
Among those hurt was journalist Rashed Rashid, who was shot in his left ankle while filming hundreds of Paleostinians who were protesting on a beach by the border fence near Beit Lahia, a front man for the ministry said.
The cameraman was taken to a hospital. His condition was not immediately known.
An IDF spokesperson said approximately 800 people participated in the riots along the Gazoo border across from the Israeli community of Kibbutz Zikim ‐ a decrease from previous weeks.
In addition, the army said 20 ships set sail from the Paleostinian enclave toward Israel in an apparent attempt to break through the naval blockade Israel has in place around Gazoo. Israel says the blockade is necessary to keep terror groups in the Strip from obtaining weapons and war materiel.
Monday’s riots came days after a Paleostinian was killed and more than a dozen were maimed in similar festivities along the border with Israeli troops and a week after a major flareup between Israel and terror groups in the Strip.
The festivities come days after Israel engaged in the largest battle with Hamas and Paleostinian terror groups in Gazoo since the 2014 war.
Some 500 rockets and mortar shells were fired at southern Israel over the course of last Monday and Tuesday, according to the Israel Defense Forces ‐ more than twice the rate at which they were launched during the 2014 conflict.
The Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted over 100 of them. Most of the rest landed in open fields, but dozens landed inside Israeli cities and towns, killing one person, injuring dozens and causing significant property damage.
In response, the Israeli military said it targeted approximately 160 sites in the Gazoo Strip connected to the Hamas and Paleostinian Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... terror groups, including four facilities that the army designated as "key strategic assets."
The fighting ended on Tuesday after a Hamas-announced ceasefire took effect, though this was not officially confirmed by Israel.
[Ynet] Drone affixed with Molotov cocktail was located in the Gazoo border communities on Monday. It appears the drone landed in Israel several days ago.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Just like Kurdish officials and their allies in Syria hid intelligence information related to the Beatles terrorist cell which slaughters foreigners, and which the Syrian Democratic Forces held two of its members since the beginning of this year, they once again abstain from revealing the whereabouts or fate of ISIS leader His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ...the head of ISIS, or what remains of it, and a veteran of the Abu Graib jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us. So far he has been killed at least four times, though not yet by a stake through the heart... A prominent Kurdish official commented in a British news report that the Syrian Democratic Forces managed to locate Baghdadi and monitor him. He told Al Arabiya English that what was published "is a mere intelligence piece of information that was conveyed to them via a journalist." The official thus neither denied nor confirmed the report.
Syrian Democratic Forces spokesperson Kino Gabriel refused to comment on these reports but military sources said there was a great possibility that Baghdadi is present in the Syrian town of Hajin near Deir az-Zour, which is close to the border with Iraq.
Deir az-Zour military council spokesperson Lilawa al-Abdullah told Al Arabiya Englsih that most ISIS fighters in Hajin and its surroundings have different nationalities, and they are among the organization’s most important commanders.
"It’s possible that Baghdadi or those close to him are in that area. The Syrian Democratic Forces monitor the movement of most ISIS members who are besieged in Hajin and who cannot easily escape," Abdullah said.
"We seek to completely end ISIS in Syria all the way to the Iraqi borders where its last stronghold is. The campaign against it is ongoing after it was halted as a result of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...Qatar's colony in Asia Minor.... ’s attacks on populated areas," she added.
"Ever since the campaign resumed, our fighters launched major attacks against ISIS and they’ve managed to destroy a command headquarters and kill dozens of them," she also said.
The Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish-Arab factions supported by Washington in the war against ISIS, holds hundreds of ISIS members in their prisons, including two members of the Beatles cell, including their wives and children.
Abdulkarim Omar, the head of foreign relations in the Kurdish-led area, had told Al Arabiya English that these detainees are a burden and pose a security threat, calling on the international community to take serious measures to find a solution.
Authorities in North Syria are not trying these ISIS members, and are demanding that they be handed to their governments for trials. This is unlike the case in Iraq where the judiciary sentenced more than 300 ISIS fighters to life in prison or execution.
The Deir az-Zour military council, a faction affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Forces, announced launching the al-Jazira Storm campaign in May to liberate the eastern countryside of Deir az-Zour from the organization. The council is resuming the campaign’s second phase, which it dubbed "defeating terrorism."
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] King Salman ...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and Lord of Most of the Arabians.... bin Abdulaziz Al Saud inaugurated the activities of the 3rd year of the 7th session of the Shura Council in the presence of His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman ...Crown Prince of Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... as of 2016.... bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Vice President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Defense.
Immediately after the King's arrival, the Royal Anthem was played. Then, the 3rd year of the 7th session of the Shura Council was inaugurated with a recitation of verses from the Holy Koran.
In his speech, King Salman bin Abdulaziz stated that the kingdom adheres to Islamic Sharia law and adopts the values of moderation and tolerance.
In his speech, King Salman spoke about a number of issues, including oil, stating that the kingdom’s policy on oil is based on cooperation and coordination with other oil producers.
"We are keen on a strategic partnership based on mutual benefits and respect," the King said, referring to oil production.
"We are working to maintain the stability of oil markets to protect producers and consumers," the King said.
The King also said that the kingdom is continuing to develop the governance of state institutions.
He added that the Saudi citizen is the main driving force of development in the country, adding that development plans are achieving set goals at a satisfactory rate.
The King also stated that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is focused on developing human capabilities and preparing the new generation.
The King also spoke about terrorism in the region, stating that the kingdom will continue to fight extremism and support a developmental approach. He added that the Paleostinian case will remain the number one priority "until the Paleostinians get their rights."
In the Yemeni file, the King stated that Saudi Arabia’s involvement was not a choice, but a duty to confront the Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... militias. He said that the kingdom supports a political solution in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... according to Security Council resolutions and the GCC initiative.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
"Going forward we will only lightly behead apostates..."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/20/2018 3:51
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[Jpost] A companion bill has proceeded in the House of Representatives.
A Pew Research Center poll conducted early this year found that 79% of Republicans sympathize more with Israel than Paleostinians in their historic struggle, compared with only 27% of Democrats.
A bipartisan bill combating the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement making its way through Congress
...the Jerusalem Post reporter meant the Senate, as the House bill is briefly addressed deeper in the article...
has earned the support of a majority of senators, save for a handful that share one thing in common: plans to run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
No senator who has expressed an interest in running for president this cycle ‐ Senators Kamala Harris of Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Elizabeth Fauxchahontas Warren ...Dem Senatrix from Massachussetts, who traces her noble lineage all the way back to Big Chief Spouting Bull. It has been alleged that she speaks with forked tongue but she denies that... of Massachusetts, Bernie Sanders ...The only openly Socialist member of the U.S. Senate. Sanders was Representative-for-Life from Vermont until moving to the Senate for the rest of his life in 2006, assuming the seat vacated by Jim Jeffords. He ran for the 2016 nomination for president, to be cheated by Hillary, then went back to being a socialist... of Vermont and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York ‐ has joined 57 of their colleagues to cosponsor the Israel Anti-Boycott Act.
Something to remember and remind your friends about in two years, though the candidate may well be Hillary Clinton, should she live so long...
The bill would shield Israel and Israeli businesses by criminally penalizing US persons seeking to participate in international boycotts of the state, and marks the most significant federal effort to legislate against the BDS movement to date. It follows on a model adopted by several US states, including New York, Texas, California and Florida, to prohibit discrimination on the basis of national origin.
Lawmakers drafted the legislation in 2017 as a response to a decision from the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... Human Rights Council to "blacklist" companies operating in the Paleostinian territories, defined by that body as all territory beyond the pre-1967 war Green Line.
A companion bill has proceeded in the House of Representatives.
Over the summer, Democrats successfully pushed for edits in the spring to ensure free speech protections amid concerns from civil rights groups that the bill would infringe on the constitutional right to protest. Senators Ben Cardin of Maryland, a Democrat, and Rob Portman of Ohio, a Republican, accommodated several Democratic requests to broaden support for the bill.
But that has not been enough to earn cosponsorship from the most ambitious senators planning to run in a primary expected to be highly competitive and determined by the party’s liberal base.
So far, only one senator widely expected to run has expressed a willingness to change course and throw his support behind the legislation.
"Initial concerns that this bill unintentionally infringed on individuals’ First Amendment rights have now been addressed by changes agreed upon earlier this year, and I feel confident that those modifications safeguard Americans’ constitutional right to free speech," Booker told Jewish Insider, a Washington-based newsletter, earlier this month. "I have long and staunchly opposed the BDS movement, and support this bill which will prevent international entities from imposing their will on US businesses with regards to their decisions, consistent with US law, to conduct commerce with our close ally Israel and its citizens."
Their tepid response to the legislation reflects a growing divide within the Democratic Party on Israel policy, reflected in the election of several House members hostile to the Jewish state in the 2018 midterm elections.
A Pew Research Center poll conducted early this year found that 79% of Republicans sympathize more with Israel than Paleostinians in their historic struggle, compared with only 27% of Democrats.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Yemen’s Information Minister Muammar al-Eryani confirmed that the Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... militias have broken the ceasefire after firing a missile targeting Saudi territories just hours after saying that they were halting drone and missile attacks on Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... , the United Arab Emirates and their Yemeni allies.
"Hours after a statement issued by al-Houthi announcing the halt of ballistic missile fire, one of their fighters directed one of its rockets targeting the lands of Saudi Arabia," al-Eryani tweeted.
"The Iranian missile did not achieve its goal and fell in Yemeni territory, confirmed how the militias do not stick with their word."
Meanwhile, ...back at the Senate, the partisans of Honorius went for their knives and the partisans of Stilicho went for the doors... the Arab Coalition had confirmed that forces have intercepted and destroyed three ballistic missiles launched by the
Houthi militias at Marib a day earlier on Sunday. The coalition’s air defenses last week had also intercepted two ballistic missiles fired by the militias toward the coalition headquarters in the same province.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2018
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[IsraelTimes] Israel’s intelligence service reportedly passed information which led to arrest of suspects in Buenos Aires; 3 men said to confirm they planned to attack Jewish targets
A terror plot against Jewish targets was thwarted when the Mossad intelligence service passed information to Argentinian security officials which led to the arrest of suspected members of the Hezbollah terrorist group, Hadashot TV reported Monday.
According to the report, police incarcerated Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! two brothers and their cousin at a hideout in Buenos Aires which was found to contain an arsenal of weapons and explosives. The suspects were said to have admitted they planned to attack Jewish targets in the country.
Argentinian police announced Thursday they had arrested two Argentinian men on suspicion of ties to the terrorist group and that in the course of the investigation, they had discovered evidence of foreign travel "along with credentials in Arabic and an image of the Hezbollah flag," the Rooters news agency reported.
No further details were given on the credentials or travel, and the discrepancy in the number of individuals arrested has not been clarified.
The two men, aged 23 and 25, were arrested at a Buenos Aires residence, and were also found to be in possession of a "small arsenal" including a rifle, a shotgun and a number of handguns.
A Hezbollah jacket wallah carried out the 1994 attack on the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires. The attack, orchestrated by Iran, killed 85.
Earlier this year the Argentine government targeted a Hezbollah fundraising network in the northern Triple Frontier with Brazil and Paraguay.
Israeli officials have repeatedly stated that the Mossad not only is responsible for preventing attacks against Israeli targets, but also provides intelligence to Israel’s allies around the world.
In October, Israeli officials said the Mossad provided its Danish counterpart with information concerning an alleged plot by Tehran to assassinate three Iranian opposition figures living in the Scandinavian country.
Mossad is also said to be behind the thwarting of an Iranian government bomb plot that aimed to target an opposition group in Gay Paree in June.
[DAWN] A ’high-profile’ bully boy linked with the banned Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) has been apprehended in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , it emerged on Monday.
A security official who wished not to be named told Dawn that Umar Jalal Chandio alias Kathio was detained from Gulshan-e-Iqbal recently.
Jalal hailed from Mirpurkhas. He shifted to Kotri where he remained neighbour of Tahir Minhas alias Sain. Minhas was one of the main accused in the Safoora bus carnage in which over 47 members of the Shia Ismaili community were rubbed out in 2015.
Minhas along with other holy warriors was placed in durance vile Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! in 2015 by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD).
A joint investigation team (JIT) in its report on the Safoora carnage revealed that Jalal was appointed AQIS’s local emir after the arrest of previous AQIS’s chief Abdul Rehman in 2001 in Karachi.
According to JIT, when Minhas was associated with AQIS, Jalal Chandio asked him to move to Karachi.
During a presser in 2015, Raja Umar Khattab of the CTD had stated: "Jalal was associated with Al Qaeda’s Arab network while Haji Sahib (code name) was active in Karachi and the Wadh area of Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... where the group’s mainly Baloch youths were involved in kidnapping for ransom, terrorism and attacks on NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... forces’ containers."
Sources told Dawn that Jalal’s wife was also a high-profile activist of AQIS.
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[Santa Monica Observer] Speaking privately, a law clerk says the Justice's Cancer has come out of remission.
While the Nation is preoccupied with the appointment of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, it appears there will soon be another vacancy on the US Supreme Court
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has had a re-occurrence of malignant melanoma, she has told her law clerks. Ginsburg was treated in 1999 for colon cancer and had surgery in 2009 for pancreatic cancer.
She has told key Democratic members of the Senate about her medical condition, including ranking Democratic member of the Judiciary Committee Dianne Feinstein. This explains in part the "take no prisoners" attitude of the Democrats during the Kavanaugh nomination, carefully orchestrating weak 37 year old allegations against Kavanaugh by Women he barely remembers knowing in High School and College.
Kavanaugh is a player in this drama. He's in the wrong place at the wrong time . President Donald J Trump will be replacing Notorious RBG, the lovechild of the left, and so will remake the Supreme Court for a generation. The Democrats simply must win back the Senate in November 2018, progressives feel.
Ginsburg, 85 was appointed by President Bill Clinton and took the oath of office on August 10, 1993. She is the second female justice (after Sandra Day O'Connor) of four to be confirmed to the court (along with Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, who are still serving). Following O'Connor's retirement, and until Sotomayor joined the court, Ginsburg was the only female justice on the Supreme Court. During that time, Ginsburg became more forceful with her dissents, which were noted by legal observers and in popular culture. She is generally viewed as belonging to the liberal wing of the court. Ginsburg has authored notable majority opinions, including United States v. Virginia, Olmstead v. L.C., and Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc.
Ginsburg was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Russian Jewish immigrants. Her older sister died when she was a baby, and her mother, one of her biggest sources of encouragement, died shortly before Ginsburg graduated from high school. She then earned her bachelor's degree at Cornell University, and was a wife and mother before starting law school at Harvard, where she was one of the few women in her class. Ginsburg transferred to Columbia Law School, where she graduated tied for first in her class.
Single source information. I have found no supporting reports as of this morning.
#8
If RBG dies (she will NEVER retire), the fight over the confirmation of her replacement will make the Kavanaugh confirmation look like a mere slap fest. Trump will have to nominate a woman, because any man will be accused of running a rape brothel. Of course, the woman will be accused of being an active prostitute.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/20/2018 8:44
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#9
Could archived holographic recordings of RBG's views on a wide spectrum of topics be admissible ?
#11
Trump will have to nominate a woman, because any man will be accused of running a rape brothel. Of course, the woman will be accused of being an active prostitute.
#15
#8 If RBG dies (she will NEVER retire), the fight over the confirmation of her replacement will make the Kavanaugh confirmation look like a mere slap fest.
I'm betting on this scenario. The left will try to keep her alive forever. Maybe she will be sent to a life-extension facility for rejuvenation by some any means.
#18
Rambler in Virginia, I'm curious if it will go that way. Usually a team fights harder to stay even when their is a chance to win, than they do when they know they've lost and they need to prevent the other team from running up the score.
I suspect the rage will be about the nature of the Supreme Court (with lifetime appointments and 9 members) and US government in general (electoral collage primarily) and less about the nominee.
#23
A fusty old justice was Ruth...
Exhausted, to tell you the truth.
Now, thanks to the glands,
She has huge, hairy hands
And is almost too long in the tooth.
Okay, that's some stupid shit and I shouldn't have said it. Not that they, of all people, couldn't handle it, but black Burgers (and I know you're out there... I see those teeth!) don't need that. Not here, of all places, and certainly not from the likes of me. Sorry.
#25
It's fake news. The Santa Monica Observer is apparently a fake new site, run by a disbarred lawyer, which publishes a lot of click-bait fake news to drive up the site's numbers.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A change will be "soon" coming to the current Iranian regime and US policies would have nothing it, according to an American bimonthly international affairs magazine.
The National Interest claimed that not the US sanctions, nor the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, known as "the Iran Deal," are going to bring change to the current Iranian regime.
Bur rather, it predicts that the eventual death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who is the ultimate power in Iran, will put the Islamic Theocratic Republic in hot waters.
This change is inevitable, it says, given that the supreme leader is 79 years old today. And wether he passes in a month, a year, or more, Iran will face an unprecedented "succession crisis".
Khamenei is constitutionally the commander-in-chief of the Iranian armed forces. He is referred to by his followers as "nayeb-e Imam" or ’deputy to Imam’.
The magazine says that while US policy makers focus on Iran’s elected leaders, such as President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign minister Javad Zarif, Khamenei "monopolizes all substantive decisions. He rules for life."
In 2014, he underwent a surgery for prostate cancer. At the time, authorities used Khamenei’s account to tweet out a photo of the supreme leader in the hospital, likely an attempt to begin preparing the Iranian public for the inevitable. But Khamenei recovered.
This forthcoming transition, as Khamenei’s lifetime nears an end, will be different from the one the followed Khomeini’s death -- the only transition since then.
Khamenei was elected by the Assembly of Experts as the new Supreme Leader on 4 June 1989, at the age of 49.
Within the context of the Islamic Theocratic Republic, the magazine says Khamenei drove his legitimacy from Khomeini’s pre-death blessing.
Today, the magazine says Khamenei "neither has the standing nor the charisma to ensure his choice, whoever it may be".
It added that whoever is going to fulfill the position will survive an "inevitable infighting" among Iran’s several powers.
There are other scenarios which could complicate succession, it said.
"There is no constitutional timeline for Iran’s Assembly of Experts to meet, creating uncertainty and an opening for groups like the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to consolidate control.
"If the Assembly of Experts does meet, but there is no single consensus candidate, it is possible that the Supreme Leadership could pass to a council instead of an individual."
In Iran, it said, a leadership council "would exacerbate instability as it takes factional fighting to a new level."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2018
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[news.com.au] Three men have been busted allegedly planning a terrorist attack in a crowded place in Melbourne "where they could kill as many as possible".
Police have swooped in on three Victorian men after they were caught allegedly preparing an Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... -inspired terrorist attack in Melbourne, which officers say was being planned to "kill as many people as possible".
Continued on Page 49
[Ynet] Maj.-Gen. Yoel Strik, Head of the Northern Command, said that "although Assad is stabilizing, we still face challenges," and added that "Hezbollah is building infrastructure in the Syrian Golan."
Strik also referred to Iranian involvement in Syria: "We can see Iranian attempts to base themselves around the country."
[NYPOST] One of the accused New Jersey GoFundMe fraudsters who allegedly scammed $400,000 from people over a supposedly homeless vet is now claiming that she’s the one who’s been had, according to secret recordings released by her lawyers Monday.
The tapes suggest that Mark D’Amico, 39, forced ex-girlfriend Kate McClure, 28, to peddle a phony tale of charity that fueled $400,000 in donations ‐ which the couple pocketed, the lawyers said.
"You started the whole f‐king thing, you did everything! I had no part in any of this, and I’m the one f‐king taking the fall," McClure rages at D’Amico in an unverified tape shared with "Good Morning America."
McClure and D’Amico claimed that homeless man Johnny Bobbitt, 34, gave McClure his last $20 after her car out of gas. McClure made the rounds on national media after she shared the heartwarming-but-bogus story on social media, and the couple eventually raised just over $400,000, ostensibly for Bobbitt.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2018
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#1
And the McClure and D’Amico scheme differs from the Clinton Foundation how ?
[BBC] The US temporarily closed its busiest border crossing with Mexico to boost security after a migrant caravan arrived in northern Mexico.
Northbound traffic and half the pedestrian crossings at the San Ysidro border point were shut to install new movable wire-topped barriers.
Around 110,000 people enter the US daily through the crossing.
In the Mexican border city of Tijuana residents held protests demanding the migrants leave the area,
Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum said on Friday he expected the number of migrants arriving in the city in the coming weeks to reach 10,000, warning the city was not prepared to handle the "avalanche".
The new arrivals say they are fleeing persecution, poverty and violence in their home countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
[NYP] The brides wore white ‐ but hazmat suits might have been better.
Alison Schumer, the younger of Sen. Chuck Schumer’s two daughters, married Elizabeth Weiland on Sunday in Brooklyn, with the couple posing for wedding photos on a bridge over the toxic Gowanus Canal.
The white-dress-clad lovebirds, each clutching a mixed bouquet ‐ with Alison Schumer wearing shoes as green as the Superfund site below them ‐ held hands and shared a tender glance on the rust-flecked Union Street Bridge, which has become a popular backdrop for photos.
Starting around 10 a.m., the pair posed for several snaps along the tree-lined bridge before heading inside the nearby Green Building event space to exchange vows in a brief, intimate ceremony around noon.
The party, made up of close friends and family, then trekked across the street to a reception at 501 Union St. that lasted well into the early evening.
Alison Schumer, 29, is a six-figure product marketing manager at Facebook ‐ which has donated about $50,000 to her Democratic Senate minority leader dad, a vocal defender of the social media titan on Capitol Hill.
Weiland, 33, is pursuing an MBA at Columbia Business School and works in the MTA’s strategic initiatives office, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Sen. Schumer showed up for his daughter’s big day wearing a green yarmulke and flanked by security guards as the NYPD closed down the street for his arrival.
Video of deliberate headbutt of innocent bystander falsely identified as a ‘Proud Boy’, whatever that is, can be seen at the link.
Update as of the midnight rollover: It looks like Twitter pulled the video. God forbid there be actual evidence of leftwing brownshirts misbehaving.
[IsraelTimes] Man identified only as Zachary reportedly assaulted after being mistaken for a far-right ’Proud Boy’ at dueling rallies
A Jewish man was attacked Saturday by left-wing protesters in Philadelphia who suspected him of being part of a small far-right rally, according to activists at the scene.
The man, identified only as "Zachary" after asking that his name be withheld, had wandered across a tiny conservative rally of some 30 activists and a counter-protest of several hundred left-wing activists across a police cordon in Philadelphia’s Independence Mall, site of the city’s iconic Liberty Bell and outside the building where the American Declaration of Independence was signed.
The far-right rally, dubbed the "We the People" gathering, was organized by the Proud Boys activist group. The rally was smaller than expected. As one counter-protester, New Yorker Michael Bartolone, who had traveled to Philadelphia to take part in the counter-protest, complained to the Washington Post, "I kind of wonder if they were just screwing with us, that they made some event to get other people to waste their day."
What kind of idiot does that make you and your friends, Mr, Bartolone?
But despite the low numbers, tensions were high between the groups, and hundreds of coppers were deployed to separate the sides.
According to local news outlet Billy Penn, it was in the middle of that tense standoff that 34-year-old Jewish resident Zachary was mistakenly identified by some counter-protesters as a Proud Boy, and was attacked by several people who were present.
"In numerous videos...[Zachary] can be seen shielding his face with his jacket as he tried to flee Independence Mall early this afternoon after being labelled a Nazi and a Proud Boy," Billy Penn reported.
The site quoted the Jewish man, a self-identified pacifist and organic produce salesman, as saying, "I was just an observer."
When he approached an activist apparently filming him, Zachary said, "People surrounded me, then bam-bam-bam, I was pushed, punched, swarmed. I just threw my jacket up over my face ‐ one as protection and two, I don’t want any more people to think I’m a Nazi! Then I look up and all I see is news cameras. The cops basically abandoned me. I’m looking for any car to jump into, and they’re asking, ’How do we know you’re a Jew?'"
Zachary eventually managed to get into a cab, Billy Penn reported, but not before one counter-protester head-butted him in an assault caught on camera. The assailant was one of four counter-protesters jugged Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! by police in an otherwise nonviolent standoff.
In an apparent reference to the attack, Boston resident Gregg Housh told the Washington Post, "I’ve only seen one guy get punched so far today. That’s because one of the alt-right guys got out of their pen and walked around to the other side, walked right into the middle and starting yelling Trump stuff at them."
Billy Penn identifies the assailant as Domenick Regalbuto and retails uninteresting lefty protester claims of non-violent innocence, adding:
Left-wing organizers in Philadelphia with knowledge of the attack have started a crowdfunding campaign to help the victim, they said.
Ezra, an organizer with The Fellow Worker Gritty Coalition who declined to give a last name, said the attacker ‐ who can be seen on video headbutting Zachary ‐ is not part of their group nor any other organizing group. It was their group that started the GoFundMe, they said.
Four people were tossed in the calaboose ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... throughout the day, police officials said.
Regalbuto was arrested after the incident and charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct, he said. He was released hours later.
Reached for comment shortly after the gathering dispersed, Ezra and other left-wing organizers in Philadelphia who claimed knowledge of the attackers vowed to start a crowdfunding campaign for Zachary "to support them in their recovery and in a show of unified solidarity against fascism ...a political system developed in Italy, symbolized by the Roman fasces -- thin reeds, each flimsy in itself but unbreakable when bound into a bundle. Its distinguishing philosophical feature is the Corporate State. The word is nowadays thrown around by all sorts of people who have no idea what they're talking about... ," according to the campaign.
"Not everybody who assaulted this Jewish man are people who we support," Ezra added. "As a community, we are raising money to help the person who was attacked ‐ because obviously they’re not a Proud Boy. We want to support anybody who isn’t associated with right-wing activities. As a group of left-wing organizers, there many of us who are Jewish and we support those people in our community."
That’s all very well, Ezra dear, but given that Zachary’s real name and contact information are unknown, how do you plan to get the vast sums you raise to him?
[Al Jazeera] Three Democratic senators filed a lawsuit on Monday accusing Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... of illegally appointing Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general, saying the president violated the US Constitution and denied the Senate its right to approve the nomination.
The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia by Senators Richard Blumenthal, Sheldon Whitehouse and Senator Mazie Hirono, is the most high-profile litigation so far to be brought challenging Whitaker's appointment.
"Americans prize a system of checks and balances, which President Trump's dictatorial appointment betrays," Blumenthal said in a statement.
Whitaker took over supervision of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russia's role in the 2016 US election after Trump appointed him on November 7 as the chief US law enforcement official to replace Jeff Sessions, who the president removed.
Sessions had recused himself from the probe, handing the responsibility to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who was confirmed by the Senate.
Whitaker in the past criticised the scope of Mueller's probe and brought up the possibility of undermining it by slashing the special counsel's funding.
The attorney general of Maryland last week brought a similar legal challenge, saying Trump violated the so-called Appointments Clause of the US Constitution because the job of attorney general is a "principal officer" who must be appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. A hearing on Maryland's legal challenge is slated for December 19.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[DAWN] The UN has called for calm after several Rohingya Muslims were shot and wounded in a Rakhine state camp, in a raid linked to the failed escape of more than 100 of the stateless minority from the grim settlements.
Some 120,000 Rohingya have languished in displacement camps near Rakhine’s capital, Sittwe, since riots in 2012.
Their movement, access to healthcare, work and education is severely restricted in conditions decried as amounting to apartheid by Amnesty International.
Rohingya refugees who fled a military crackdown to Bangladesh refuse to return to Rakhine without equal rights, citizenship and safety — fearing similiar long-term confinement if they do.
Villagers told AFP that four Rohingya were shot and wounded as Myanmar police entered the Ah Nauk Ye camp in central Rakhine state’s Pauktaw township on Sunday morning.
In an emailed statement Knut Ostby, head of the UN office in Myanmar, called for “calm, non-violence and restraint” in an area which can be accessed only with official permission — but is believed to suffer from some of the worst conditions in the displacement camps.
One witness said that officers were trying to arrest two Rohingya suspected of links with a boat carrying 106 Rohingya that was found last week off the coast of Myanmar’s biggest city Yangon.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2018
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#1
if it's so bad, offer to go back where you came from.
Posted by: chris ||
11/20/2018 1:01
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[Al Jazeera] Members of Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... 's ruling family are agitating to prevent Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ...Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia as of 2016.... from becoming king after the international uproar over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, sources close to the royal court told Rooters news agency.
Senior US officials, meanwhile, have indicated to Saudi advisers in recent weeks they would support Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz - who was deputy interior minister for nearly 40 years - as a potential successor to King Salman ...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and Lord of Most of the Arabians.... , according to Saudi sources with direct knowledge of the consultations.
Amid international outrage over Khashoggi's murder, dozens of princes and cousins from powerful branches of the Al Saud family want to see a change in the line of succession, but will not act while King Salman - the crown prince's 82-year-old father - is still alive, sources said.
They recognise the king is unlikely to turn against his favourite son, the report added.
Rather, they are discussing the possibility with other family members that after the king's death Prince Ahmed, 76, uncle of the crown prince, could take the throne, according to the sources.
Prince Ahmed, King Salman's only surviving full brother, would have the support of family members, the security apparatus, and some Western powers, one of the Saudi sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2018
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[DAWN] A high-ranking Yemeni rebel official urged his leadership on Monday to freeze military operations and stop firing missiles into Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... as the UN prepares for peace talks.
Mohammed Ali al-Huthi, head of the Huthi bully boys' Higher Revolutionary Committee and an influential political figure, tweeted that he also wants his group to announce "readiness to suspend and halt all military operations".
He called on "all (Huthi) official Yemeni sides to issue directives to end launching missiles and drones against aggression countries... in order to deprive them from any reason to continue their aggression and siege."
He also said the rebels should be ready "to freeze and stop all military operations on all fronts" to achieve "a just and honourable peace". Houthis have controlled the capital Sanaa since capturing it in late 2014.
They have since fired hundreds of ballistic missiles into neighbouring Saudi Arabia, which since 2015 has led a regional military coalition aiming to restore to power the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.
Although Mohammed Ali al-Huthi is head of the Iran-linked rebels' Higher Revolutionary Committee, he is not their ultimate decision-maker ‐ that power lies with supreme leader Abdulmalek al-Huthi. Mohammed Ali al-Huthi's comments came after UN special envoy Martin Griffiths said he would visit Sanaa this week to finalise arrangements for peace talks in Sweden.
Griffiths ‐ whose efforts at kick-starting peace talks collapsed in September ‐ said both the government and the Houthis have shown a "renewed commitment" to work on a political solution. He said both sides have given "firm assurances" that they would attend the talks, although no date has yet been set.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2018
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[Al Jazeera] Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett has said he will keep his party in government, making an early election less likely.
In a dramatic presser on Monday, Bennett, who heads the far-right, pro-settler Jewish Home party, slammed the record of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but stopped short of resigning.
"Something bad is happening to us from within," said Bennett. "For quite a few years, including the last decade of the government headed by Netanyahu, that the state of Israel stopped winning."
"I tell the prime minister here: we are withdrawing right now all of our political demands and will stand to help you in this great mission of getting Israel to win again," he said.
"If the government would really start leading toward the right path, acting like a real right-wing government, it's worth trying," he added. "The ball is in the prime minister's court."
Bennett had last week threatened to withdraw from the coalition to protest a ceasefire in Gazoo agreed between Israel and Hamas, the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,-led factions on Tuesday.
One of his campaign ads from 2014 can be seen here. With English subtitles.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2018
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Hot Air] Makes sense, especially when you remember that McConnell worries about primary challenges first and foremost. Arizona righties have been dogged in trying to oust establishment dinosaurs. Granted, they failed against McCain with J.D. Hayworth in 2010 and Kelli Ward in 2016, but Jeff Flake was weak enough in hypothetical match-ups against Ward that he didn’t bother to run for reelection this time. This year’s primary drew not one but two well-known populist challengers in Ward and Joe Arpaio, in fact. McConnell’s eyeing 2020 and the looming special election for McCain’s (now Jon Kyl’s) seat and worrying about another populist brushfire starting. If he doesn’t start playing chess now, Republicans might end up with a Roy Moore scenario in a purplish state in two years with control of the Senate on the line.
[AlMasdar] (11:00 P.M.) ‐ The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) was finally able to upend the remaining 
[NYPOST] Artificial intelligence is "shockingly" racist and sexist, a study has revealed.
[ToloNews] The Ministry of Interior (MoI) on Sunday said that the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) have cleared Malistan district of Ghazni province of 
[IsraelTimes] A 25-year-old Paleostinian woman was 
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
[DAWN] CNN said on Monday it asked for a new emergency hearing to allow its 
[IsraelTimes] Political activist says attacks on congresswoman-elect Ilhan Omar come from those who ’choose their allegiance to Israel over their commitment to democracy and free speech’.
[IsraelTimes] AP cameraman among 25 said injured by military as Paleostinians throw rocks, explosive toward security fence, Israeli troops on other side; 20 boats sail to Israeli naval border in maritime protest.
...the head of ISIS, or what remains of it, and a veteran of the Abu Graib jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us. So far he has been killed at least four times, though not yet by a stake through the heart...
Crown Prince of 
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
...Dem Senatrix from Massachussetts, who traces her noble lineage all the way back to Big Chief Spouting Bull. It has been alleged that she speaks with forked tongue but she denies that...
...The only openly Socialist member of the U.S. Senate. Sanders was Representative-for-Life from Vermont until moving to the Senate for the rest of his life in 2006, assuming the seat vacated by Jim Jeffords. He ran for the 2016 nomination for president, to be cheated by Hillary, then went back to being a socialist...
[IsraelTimes] Israel’s intelligence service reportedly passed information which led to arrest of suspects in Buenos Aires; 3 men said to confirm they planned to attack Jewish targets
[Santa Monica Observer] Speaking privately, a law clerk says the Justice's Cancer has come out of remission.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A change will be "soon" coming to the current Iranian regime and US policies would have nothing it, according to an American bimonthly international affairs magazine.
[news.com.au] Three men have been busted allegedly planning a terrorist attack in a crowded place in Melbourne "where they could kill as many as possible".
[Al Jazeera] Three Democratic senators filed a lawsuit on Monday accusing 
...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and Lord of Most of the Arabians....
