Facebook revealed that it has been miscalculating more of its viewership metrics for advertisers in a blog post on Friday. Ooops (part 3)
One miscalculation is a discrepancy between the number of likes and shares Facebook shows for web links through its Graph API for advertisers and mobile search field.
Facebook has also been miscalculating the number of likes and reaction emojis that page owners see for their live videos. Ya think a bunch of programmers working for a billion dollar company would be better than this
This is the third time Facebook has admitted to misleading advertisers since September, when it was revealed that the social network had been inflating a key video-viewing metric for years. Nice IPO there. Would be a shame if something happened to it
Neither of the errors Facebook revealed on Friday are as impactful for advertisers as the previously misreported numbers for video views and other products like Instant Articles.
But the discrepancy between the number of likes and shares for web links could affect the accuracy of recent, widely cited investigations by BuzzFeed and The New York Times into how fake news stories are shared on Facebook, according to Marketing Land's Tim Peterson. Both investigations relied on Facebook's like and share data to show how fakes news stories can easily go viral on the social network.
Facebook said on Friday that it's still "looking into" the discrepancy. The company recently acquired CrowdTangle, a tool used by media outlets to measure how stories are shared across Facebook and other social networks. Fake but accurate? Plain stupidity? Corporate Greed?
YOLA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Two schoolgirl suicide bombers killed 30 people and wounded dozens more in a coordinated attack on a crowded market in the northeastern Nigerian town of Madagali on Friday, an army spokesman said.
The bombings bore the hallmark of Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which has been waging an insurgency to set up a state adhering to a strict interpretation of Muslim laws in the northeast. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Posted by: BA ||
12/09/2016
13:07 ||
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AT LEAST six people have been killed in a bomb attack on a road leading to the Great Pyramid of Giza - a tourist attraction popular with British holidaymakers.
The explosion appeared to have come from a rubbish bin in Cairo along a route used to access the entrance to the world heritage site, which lies in a western suburb of the capital.
Giza, one of the the seven wonders of the world and the only one to remain largely intact, welcomes thousands of British tourists every year.
However the dead are said to all be policemen and adminstrative officers working close to the landmark. There have been no confirmed foreign casualties although four civilians were also injured.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in Al Haram street - a main thoroughfare between central Cairo and the pyramids.
An Egyptian militant group called "Hasm" ("determination") claimed responsibility on Friday afternoon for the bombing in a statement issued on their website.
The interior ministry's statement said that the blast killed two police officers, a low-ranking policeman and two conscripts.
Three other policemen were injured and were transferred to hospital.
According to security sources who spoke with Ahram Arabic website, the explosive device was planted in a car parked next to a security checkpoint near Al-Salam mosque in Haram Street. The device was detonated remotely, the sources added.
The "Hasm" group—believed to be linked to the Muslim Brotherhood—has claimed a number of attacks on police checkpoints in the past couple of months.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/09/2016
09:02 ||
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#1
Time to get great deals on Egypt flights and hotels.
[SP] In an interview aired Wednesday on CNN, President Obama described how he thinks people may view him differently than other presidents because of his race.
"I think there’s a reason attitudes about my presidency among whites in northern states are very different from whites in southern states," Obama told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.
#1
White Southerners, garden variety republicans, wikileaks, far-right, radical-right, racists, Barrett-Jackson auctions, haters, birthers, Russian hackers, Lingonberries, the stock market, David Duke supporters, global warming deniers, frackers, NRA members, KKK members, baskets of irredeamable deplorables, bible and gun totters, ultraconservative, fly-over people, blimpish, diehards, reactionaries, traditionalists, conventional, unprogressives, religious zealots, coal miners, sons and daughters of the confederacy, FRAM oil filters, Antiques Road Show, Canadian Hockey League, clueless policemen, NASCAR, the elderly, cable news viewers....
#4
Yep, the arrogant racist that is Obama has a short memory - Florida, North Carolina, Virginia voted for his socialist snake oil chicanery...
His legacy, the thing that he left us, the insurance debacle where my health insurance premium jumped 104% next month, the ISIS caliphate... is why he is a proven a lousy failure.
#7
Just go away, Baraq. We don't care anymore what you have to say.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/09/2016 11:04
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#8
One would think he could've built a nice legacy with the 62 million followers he had when elected, without the deplorables.
But he didn't think he needed those, ("I won; get over it)and now he complains he did not win over those he kissed off anyway?
[head spins] Somebody please help me understand!
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/09/2016 13:24
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#9
The Won probably believed his own BS, that he was a 'Great Leader" (TM). He now sees that he has been weighed in the balance and found wanting. He cannot admit that he is the problem. Therefore racism, etc. Fun to watch.
#10
I think the two problems Barack had were (a) he believed his own popularity had anything to do with his policies (b) he believed the leftist nonsense of a permanent Democrat majority so he governed that way and set up MASSIVE losses for his party at nearly every election.
#12
he blames everything on Bush, a notedly white dude
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/09/2016 15:13
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#13
I'm a white southerner, and not a David Duke supporter - in fact, I had the privilege of voting against him in an election for governor some years ago - successfully. (Bumper sticker on my truck read 'Vote for the crook, it's important.)
[GP] It’s official ‐ The ’TRUMP STOCK MARKET RALLY’ continues to shatter the record books. As a matter of fact, what we have seen since President-Elect Donald Trump won the Presidential election on November 8th, has never occurred before.
Out of 21 days since the election, the Dow has reached all time closing highs 13 of these days! On another five of these days the Dow landed at its second highest close ever up to that date!
For more than 60% of the closings since the election, the Dow has reached new highs. For more than 85% of the closing bells the Dow has either reached a new high or its second highest closing to date. For only three days since the election, the Dow has not reached one of these two milestones!
This Trump Rally is an Historical Event! We downloaded all daily closing amounts of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since January 5th of 1905 ‐ more than 110 years of daily Dow closing data to compare the ’Trump Rally’ to other rallies in the history of the Dow.
From an analysis of this data, there are only 15 times in the history of the Dow where the Dow set new closing highs for 13 days or more in a 20 day period.
#1
People has been saving and harboring their money for 8 years in face of a confiscatory government. The question is from where is the money flowing from to this market. Before the 'Crash', economists where bemoaning the low rate of savings of Americans. After the 'Crash', economists were bemoaning the squirreling away of assets by Americans.
#2
"Economics" was "climate science" 150 years earlier. And they have used that 150 years to get everything even more wrong than the climate religionists.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/09/2016 9:35
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#3
Decide what results you want -> Do "science." That's how you get economics, political science, social science and so on. It always works so well...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/09/2016 9:38
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#4
Economics minus government intrusion is close to a science. The problem is politicians just 'know better' and can't help themselves.
#5
That said today most of my stocks took painful hits and the dog stocks shot up.
Even JPM went down this morning.
84.61 -0.51 -0.60% 2.26% 8,325,049 17.4M
and GS too:
240.08 -1.37 -0.57% 1.08% 3,372,082 5.1M
[Dallas Morning News] The Dallas Police and Fire Pension System's Board of Trustees suspended lump-sum withdrawals from the pension fund Thursday, staving off a possible restraining order and stopping $154 million in withdrawal requests.
The system was set to pay out the weekly requests Friday. Pension officials said allowing the withdrawals would leave them without the liquid reserves required to sustain the $2.1 billion fund.
"Our situation is currently critical, and we took action," board chairman Sam Friar said.
Pension officials and many police and firefighters have blamed Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings for forcing the latest run on the bank. Dozens of retirees rushed to request withdrawals after Rawlings filed a lawsuit Monday to stop the withdrawals.
By then, more than $500 million had already gushed from the fund since the board proposed benefit cuts in August.
#3
The gods of the copybook headings. They kept making deals, which were promises, then did nothing to ensure that the promises could be kept. They were warned repeatedly over recent decades that the promises could not be kept, given that not enough money has been put into the funds, and that the returns were not nearly as high as expected. Now the promises won't be kept, which is terribly unfair to those who believed the lying politicians and the lying union leaders.
#4
Also local charges of mismanagement, which is another way of looking at 'returns not as high as expected.'
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/09/2016 13:48
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#5
Coming soon to a great many publicly sponsored pension funds near you. Promises were made and obligations undertaken, that will prove impossible to honor.
#6
Isnt Dallas proper one of the Dem areas of Texas, surrounded by lots of Republican counties and small Republican cities? If so, that explains a lot.
#7
Coming soon to a great many publicly sponsored pension funds near you. Promises were made and obligations undertaken, that will prove impossible to honor.
Glenn at Instapundit has a saying that perfectly summarizes situations like this one: "That which can't go on forever...won't."
[The Hill] Georgia's Secretary of State is accusing someone at the Department of Homeland Security of illegally trying to hack its computer network, including the voter registration database.
In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, copied to the full Georgia congressional delegation, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp alleges that a computer with a DHS internet address attempted to breach its systems.
Kemp writes: "On November 15, 2016, an IP address associated with the Department of Homeland Security made an unsuccessful attempt to penetrate the Georgia Secretary of State's firewall. I am writing you to ask whether DHS was aware of this attempt and, if so, why DHS was attempting to breach our firewall."
November 15 was a full week after the election.
The letter goes on say that the systems under attack contained the personal information of over 6.5 million Georgians, 800,000 corporate entities and over 500,000 licensed or registered professionals.
"At no time has my office agreed to or permitted DHS to conduct penetration testing or security scans of our network," writes Kemp. "Moreover, your department has not contacted my office since this unsuccessful incident to alert us of any security event that would require testing or scanning of our network."
Kemp is a vocal opponent of a suggestion floated by some lawmakers that DHS declare elections critical infrastructure, which would give the federal agency some control over the state-based election systems. The idea was born of fears that Russia intended to hack the presidential election. DHS has said they had no intentions to pursue that strategy.
Unlike many other states, Georgia notably turned down voluntary assistance from Homeland Security to shore up election systems.
Kemp is the co-chair of the National Association of Secretaries of State's elections committee and sits on Homeland Security's Election Infrastructure Cybersecurity Working Group.
"Under 18 U.S.C. § 1030, attempting to gain access or exceeding authorized access to protected computer systems is illegal," he notes.
A representative for DHS said it had received the letter and was investigating.
[Daily Caller] The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) endorsed U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison for Chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Thursday.
"Representative Ellison meets the high standard working people expect from leaders of our political parties," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement. "He is a proven leader who will focus on year-round grassroots organizing to deliver for working families across America," he continued.
The AFL-CIO’s executive council voted overwhelmingly to endorse Ellison to lead the DNC, according to a statement from the Federation. Several candidates for the post have sought out the endorsement of the AFL-CIO, which represents 12.5 million workers and is the nation’s largest union.
The union, which endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, now endorses Ellison -- who is combating allegations of antisemitism. The Muslim-American congressman from Minnesota also is on the defensive for controversial writings from his past.
#4
The AFL-CIO isn't a union. More than anything it is a lobbying rganization. Also as unions in the private sector continue their own decline the AFL-CIO will be dominated by the unions in the public sector. And the public sector unions are little more than wings of the Democratic Party. But in fairness one can also say that the Chamber of Commerce is a wing of the Republican Party
#5
If you listen to Ellison speak he touts the same leftist/socialist meme that is very attractive to the socialist left/communist, and the old guard Deomcrats from the 70's. He is well spoken and reminds me of #44.
On the other hand, he has made a lot of incendiary statements as well.
I think he would be a perfect fit as Chair of the DNC. He would be no less a bomb thrower than Howard Dean. Perfect for Pelosi and Durbin.
This way the American voters will have a stark contrast of the two parties, even the RINO's will stand out as conservative when compared to Ellison.
[Daily Caller] Various mainstream media outlets believe the recently rejected Dakota Access Pipeline should be completed even as environmentalists continue to fight the multi-billion-dollar project.
Major newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and the USA Today, among others, have run headlines arguing the so-called DAPL’s previously approved route should be completed.
Their support comes after the project’s current route was rejected Dec. 4 after previously being approved by the Army Corps of Engineers in early July.
The pipeline was sidelined after months of opposition from environmentalists and Standing Rock Sioux, who believe the pipeline would trample on the tribe’s lands and poison its water supply.
#1
Graphic depicts a pipeline crew (or gang) laying what appears to be 10 inch threaded pipe. The bar like tools at the end of the section depicted are 'chain tongs' (pipe wrenches) used by the crew to lift, position, and turn the pipe into the previous length's collar. Once properly aligned, a good crew could turn and connect a length of pipe non-stop. The chain tongs of the last length of pipe connected are still in place and visible.
Welded pipe has pretty much ended this very labor intense process.
#3
I still believe the tribes involved wanted to be bought off.
I believe there was likely Saudi/Russian/Soros money backing the protests as well.
I believe Obama doesn't give a squat but he did what he did to give the protesters a Holiday rest so they'll be ready when Trump reverses his decisions.
#5
If the pipeline is not built the oil will continue to be carried by rail (Burlington Northern, I think - follow the money). The rail line crosses the Missouri about 70 miles downstream of the DAPL proposal - but right next to the new Standing Rock water supply intake that should go into service in a few months.
#6
Reading all the comments at the various anti-DAPL sites I visit indicates they want to remove all pipelines, in order to "save the water". The amount of petroleum wasted in order to bring the anti-DAPL'ers to & from the protest sites must be immense.
[Breitbart] LONDON (Reuters) ‐ Islamic State militants are using turmoil sown by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bombing in Syria to plot attacks against the United Kingdom and her allies, Britain’s foreign intelligence chief said on Thursday.
In his first major public speech since winning the top job at the Secret Intelligence Service in 2014, MI6 chief Alex Younger said Russia and Bashar al-Assad were hindering the defeat of militants by attempting to make a "desert" out of Syria.
"As I speak, the highly organised external attack planning structures within Daesh (IS), even as they face military threat, are plotting ways to project violence against the UK and our allies without ever having to leave Syria," Younger said at MI6’s Vauxhall Cross headquarters in central London.
Posted by: Besoeker ||
12/09/2016
00:09 ||
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#4
While I concur with the gentlemen preceding, the important bit here is that he said it, out loud and in public. AND Rooters reported it. Mind the anti-Russian spin!
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Forces from the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service partially recaptured on Tuesday another district in the eastern section of Mosul from Islamic State militants, security sources said.
The forces managed Tuesday morning to storm al-Aalam district in eastern Mosul, the sources said as battles continue to liberate Iraq’s second largest city from the extremist group.
Iraqi government forces, backed by popular militias and a US-led air cover, have been liberating villages in Mosul on an almost daily basis as part of a major operation to free the city that launched in mid October.
Military and police commanders said recently that government forces became in control of nearly 50 percent of the eastern section of Mosul. ISIS remains in control of most of the western region adjacent to the group’s strongholds in Syria, but Iraqi security commanders and militia leaders reportedly managed to cut ISIS’s supply and escape routes to and from Syria.
On Monday, Iraqi forces bombarded regions on the western side, denoting the opening of a new battle front.
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi army forces are engaging in ferocious battles with Islamic State (ISIS) fighters in Mosul since early Tuesday as operations continue to clear the eastern section of the city.
UK-based The New Arab website quoted military sources as saying that the forces are backed by US artillery forces and Apache helicopters which bombed areas inside the city. ISIS militants are, meanwhile, carrying out a series of suicide bombings in several areas east of Mosul to impede the advancing troops, according to the website.
Intense battles are ongoing at the districts of al-Shaimaa, al-Salam, Doumiz, Qadisiya and al-Barid, according to the army sources.
“For hours, we have been in violent battles, backed by an air and artillery cover from the international and US forces. US Apaches have intervened shortly before to handle some difficult targets,” an army officer told the website, pointing to what he described as “ a significant progress” achieved by the forces.
Also on Tuesday, the army’s Counter Terrorism Service invaded al-Aalam district in eastern Mosul.
Iraqi government forces, backed by popular militias and a US-led air cover, have been liberating villages in Mosul on an almost daily basis as part of a major operation to free the city that launched in mid October.
Military and police commanders said recently that government forces became in control of nearly 50 percent of the eastern section of Mosul. ISIS remains in control of most of the western region adjacent to the group’s strongholds in Syria, but Iraqi security commanders and militia leaders reportedly managed to cut ISIS’s supply and escape routes to and from Syria.
On Monday, Iraqi forces bombarded regions on the western side, denoting the opening of a new battle front.
ISIS shifting forces to the east in Mosul More Islamic whack-a-mole
(Reuters) Islamic State has brought its forward defenses from western Mosul towards the east as it fights against Iraqi forces in the battle to liberate the city, a coalition commanding general said.
Iraqi special forces are slowly edging through districts in eastern Mosul, Islamic State’s last stronghold in Iraq, where they face suicide attacks, snipers and mortars from militants dug in among the civilian population.
Commanders expected the western half of the city, divided by the Tigris River, to be the tougher battle, but Islamic State – which has controlled the city for two years – appears to be committing its defenses to the east against the Iraqi forces, which are backed by Western-led coalition air strikes.
“What we thought was going to be the strongest defense, now they have already hedged their bets and bought it forward,” U.S. Brigadier General Scott Efflandt, a coalition deputy commanding general told Reuters.
“The quality of the enemy we are facing now is markedly declined from a month ago… what they were saving for the west side of the river they are now committing to the east.”
Mosul was the largest city under Islamic State control and defeating the militants there would be a major blow to the self-styled caliphate which it declared in Iraq and Syria in 2014 after over-running large parts of both countries.
Fighting has slowed as U.S.-trained Iraqi special forces push into east of the city. The militants still hold three-quarters of Mosul, where around 1 million residents struggle not only with the fighting, but also food and water shortages.
Around 100,000 Iraqi soldiers, security forces, Kurdish fighters and mainly Shi’ite paramilitary forces are participating in the assault that began on Oct. 17.
Efflandt said militants prepared well, using Mosul’s machine shops to manufacture their own munitions and armored car bombs. But in one sign of progress, commanders have seen the complexity and deployment of those suicide bombs declining, he said.
Initial estimates of Islamic State numbers in the city ranged from 3,000 to 5,000 militants, but Efflandt said that number was now likely to be closer to 3,000 after six weeks of fighting for Mosul had killed some or forced others to flee.
“They are well rehearsed, well trained, well resourced and they have had ample time to prepare, and that has made it a formidable fight,” he said.
Along with the fighting, the presence of civilians throughout the city has hampered the Iraqi progress, they say, reducing options for air strikes and heavy weapons in the densely populated streets.
But French artillery and Iraqi forces on Monday began shelling southern Mosul in preparation for a push from the south to relieve pressure on Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service troops spearheaded the fighting in east Mosul.
“It’s a complex urban, Old World city that has two years of deliberate defense. We as the coalition knew that it was going to take a long time,” Efflandt said.
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Al-Hashd sl-Shaabi militia said Tuesday its combatants recaptured the southern section of the town of Tal Abta, another step towards besieging the Islamic State holdouts in western Mosul.
The militia’s media service said the victory came after intense fights with the extremist group.
Last week, al-Hashd al-Shaabi said the troops were preparing to invade the flashpoint village of Tal Abta, the only remaining area to consummate a siege on the town of Tal Afar, a major ISIS stronghold and a vital spot on the group’s supply lines from Syria.
Al-Hashd al-Shaabi, which turned via a parliament vote last month from a mere popular militia to an Iraqi national force, has been actively fighting against ISIS by the side of the Iraqi government forces. The militia has been mostly active in the southwestern areas of Mosul since operations to retake the city launched in mid October. Government forces, meanwhile, are still struggling to liberate the eastern section of the city and have said they had become in control over at least 50 percent of that region.
(Reuters) Iraqi army units advanced from southeast Mosul towards a bridge across the Tigris in the city center on Tuesday, in an attack that could give fresh impetus to the hard fought, seven-week battle for Islamic State’s northern Iraq stronghold.
Campaign commander Lieutenant General Abdul Ameer Rasheed Yarallah was quoted by Iraqi television as saying troops had entered Salam Hospital, less than a mile (1.5 km) from the Tigris river running through the center of Mosul.
If confirmed, that would mark a significant advance by the army’s Ninth Armoured Division, which had been tied up for more than a month in deadly, close-quarter combat with Islamic State fighters on the southeast edges of the city.
A colonel in the armored division said Tuesday’s assault, launched at 6 a.m., aimed to push towards the river and ultimately reach Mosul’s Fourth Bridge, the southernmost of the five bridges spanning the Tigris which splits the city in two.
The bridge, like three others, has been hit by U.S.-led air strikes to prevent Islamic State sending reinforcements and suicide car bombs across the city to the eastern front, where counter-terrorism troops have spearheaded the army campaign.
The last and oldest bridge, built of iron in the 1930s, was targeted on Monday night, two residents said. The structure was not destroyed, but the air strikes made two large craters in the approach roads on both sides.
Militants immediately began to fill the craters, the residents told Reuters by telephone.
“I saw Daesh using bulldozers to fill the craters with sand and by midday vehicles managed to cross the bridge normally. I drove my car to the other side of the bridge and saw also Daesh vehicles crossing,” said a taxi driver.
Mosul is by far the largest city under Islamic State control and defeating its fighters there would roll back the self-styled caliphate it declared in Iraq and Syria 2014 after seizing large parts of both countries.
Some 100,000 Iraqi soldiers, security forces, Kurdish peshmerga fighters and mainly Shi’ite paramilitary forces are participating in the overall Mosul campaign that began on Oct. 17, with air and ground support from a U.S.-led coalition.
Although it has made advances inside eastern Mosul, the army says it is battling the toughest urban warfare imaginable – facing hundreds of suicide car bomb attacks, mortar barrages, sniper fire and ambushes launched from a network of tunnels.
Its advance has also been slowed by the presence of more than 1 million residents in the city.
NEW TACTICS
The army colonel said Tuesday’s offensive aimed to overwhelm the militants, who have put up stiff resistance but are hugely outnumbered by the attacking forces.
“We are using a new tactic – increasing the numbers of advancing forces and also attacking from multiple fronts to take the initiative and prevent Daesh fighters from organising any counter-attacks,” the colonel said by telephone.
He said the four armored division regiments, whose tanks and heavy armour have struggled to adapt to street-by-street fighting, had been reinforced by an infantry regiment.
They were aiming for the Wahda neighborhood, a sprawling southeastern district that extends some distance into the city. Wahda could serve as a launchpad for an attack on the Fourth Bridge, he said.
It was not immediately possible to confirm whether troops had reached Salam hospital, deep inside Wahda neighborhood, but one person in Mosul contacted by telephone said he had heard from other residents that the army had advanced close to it.
The army push in the southeast comes as federal police units stationed west of the Tigris prepare a separate advance towards the airport on the southwestern edge of the city.
Residents have reported mortar fire and increased air strikes in the western half of the city, possibly in advance of a land offensive that would open up another front in the city and further stretch Islamic State defences.
The Sunni Muslim jihadists, who seized Mosul in mid-2014, are believed to be dug in across the city, but a U.S. general in the coalition supporting Iraqi forces told Reuters they appeared to have committed additional defences to the fight in the east.
Brigadier General Scott Efflandt said the coalition had expected the main defences to be in the west of the city, which is more densely populated and has a greater concentration of Sunni Muslims than the eastern section.
“What we thought was going to be the strongest defence, now they have already hedged their bets and brought it forward,” said Efflandt, a coalition deputy commanding general.
“The quality of the enemy we are facing now is markedly declined from a month ago … what they were saving for the west side of the river they are now committing to the east.”
Echoing comments from Iraqi officers, he said the rate of suicide car bombings – which stand at a total of over 650 so far, according to the army – had dropped off recently.
He also said that the number of militants in the city had probably fallen to around 3,000, from around 3,000 to 5,000 at the start of the campaign.
Iraq officials have not given any casualty figures for their own forces. Last week the United Nations said nearly 2,000 members of Iraq’s security forces had been killed in November – a figure Baghdad says was based on unverified reports – and that more than 900 police and civilians had also been killed.
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) We Are Coming, Nineveh Operations Command announced on Tuesday, that Iraqi army troops entered Hayy al-Salam area in the city of Mosul.
Commander of We Are Coming, Nineveh Operations, Lieutenant General Abdel Amir Yarallah, said in a press statement, “Today, troops of the army’s 9th armored brigade entered Hayy al-Salam area and its main hospital, in the city of Mosul.”
Joint security forces, backed by Army Aviation and international coalition air force continue liberating the remaining areas of Mosul from the ISIS grip. The battle to liberate Nineveh was launched in 17 October 2016 by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi army troops withdrew Wednesday from the districts of Wehda and Sumer due to deadly counter-attacks by Islamic State militants, hours after the forces stormed the two eastern Mosul districts, Anadolu Agency reported.
Three soldiers were killed after ISIS suicide bombers, boarding booby-trapped trucks and armored vehicles, attacked al-Salam Hospital, southwest of Mosul, where an Iraqi government force stationed after storming several neighborhoods in eastern Mosul on Tuesday, according to Anadolu Agency which quoted Mahdi Kazem, a captain at the 9th armored division.
Kazem said the attack left 43 others wounded, including civilians.
ISIS-run Amaq news agency had claimed more than 62 deaths among Iraqi troops as the extremist group launched counter, suicide attacks on the troops during fights around al-Salam hospital since late Tuesday. It added that more than 20 various army vehicles were destroyed during the attacks.
Iraqi government forces, backed by popular militias and a US-led air cover, have been liberating villages in Mosul on an almost daily basis as part of a major operation to free the city that launched in mid October.
Military and police commanders said recently that government forces became in control of nearly 50 percent of the eastern section of Mosul. ISIS remains in control of most of the western region adjacent to the group’s strongholds in Syria, but Iraqi security commanders and militia leaders reportedly managed to cut ISIS’s supply and escape routes to and from Syria.
ISIS troops hit Iraqi flanks at hospital Iraqi commander flunked flank, gets the flunk out.
(Reuters) Islamic State militants attacked Iraqi soldiers near a hospital in southeast Mosul on Wednesday, an army officer and the jihadist group’s new agency said, trying to repel the army’s deepest advances of the seven-week Mosul campaign.
The fighting came a day after the army’s operations commander for Mosul said soldiers surged into the city and took over the Salam hospital, less than a mile (1.5 km) from the Tigris river which divides eastern and western Mosul.
Tuesday’s rapid advance marked a change in military tactics after more than a month of grueling fighting in the east of the city, in which the army has sought to capture and clear neighborhoods block by block.
But it left the attacking forces exposed, and the Islamic State news agency Amaq said on Wednesday some of them were surrounded. It said a suicide bomber blew himself up near the hospital, killing 20 soldiers. Eight armored personnel carriers were also destroyed in the fighting, Amaq said.
There was no official Iraqi military comment on the fighting but the army officer, whose forces were involved in the clashes, said they had come under multiple attacks by suicide car bombers in the Wahda district where the hospital is located.
“We managed to make a swift advance on Tuesday in al-Wahda but it seems that Daesh fighters were dragging us to an ambush and they managed later to surround some of our soldiers inside the hospital, he told Reuters by telephone, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.
He said an armored regiment and counter terrorism units, backed by U.S.-led air strikes, were sent to support the stranded troops early on Wednesday and had opened up a route out of the neighborhood.
“They have secured the position, evacuated the wounded and pulled out the destroyed military vehicles from around the hospital,” he said, adding that they were coming under fire from snipers and rocket-propelled grenades.
Amaq said it attacked the relief convoy in Sumer district, south of Wahda near the outer edge of the city.
Iraqi forces have been battling for seven weeks to crush Islamic State in Mosul. The city was seized by the militants in 2014 and is the largest in Iraq or Syria under their control.
Defeating Islamic State in Iraq’s biggest northern city would help roll back the group’s self-styled caliphate over large parts of both countries.
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Anti-Terrorism Directorate in Nineveh province announced on Wednesday discovering a large cache of weapons and equipment belonging to the Islamic State (ISIS), east of Mosul.
Deputy Commander of the 2nd Special Operations of the Anti-Terrorism Directorate, Brigadier General Haider Fadel al-Obeidi, said in a press statement, “Troops of the Anti-Terrorism Directorate managed, today, to discover a large cache of weapons and equipment, including mortar shells and rockets, belonging to the ISIS in Hayy al-Zohour area, east of the city of Mosul.”
“The Anti-Terrorism forces are now waiting on al-Shalalat road in Mosul for the arrival of the troops of the army’s 16th brigade, in order to besiege ISIS,” Obeidi added.
The extremist group imposed its control on the city of Mosul, Nineveh, in 10 June 2014, before extending its terrorist activities to other areas in Iraq.
Joint security forces, backed by Army Aviation and international coalition air force continue liberating the remaining areas of Mosul from the ISIS grip. The battle to liberate Nineveh was launched in 17 October 2016 by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) We Are Coming, Nineveh Operations Command announced on Wednesday, that the Anti-Terrorism Directorate completely liberated Hayy al-A’lam in the city of Mosul.
Commander of Operations, Lieutenant General Abdel Amir Yarallah, said in a press statement, “Anti-Terrorism forces fully liberated Hayy al-A’lam, as well as raising Iraqi flag over its buildings.”
“The [Anti-Terrorism] forces liberated the area after inflicting heavy human and material losses on the enemy,” Yarallah added.
Joint security forces and Kurdish Peshmerga, backed by the international coalition and Iraqi Aviation, continue their military operations to retake Nineveh from the ISIS control.
Posted by: badanov ||
12/09/2016
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The top Libyan Airlines’ executive kidnapped in October was released yesterday in Tripoli but details of his seizure and freedom have not yet been given, with a planned press conference today not taking place.
Captain Fathi Al-Shatti, a long-standing chairman of the airline, was abducted 48 days ago. Shatti, who had also once been in charge of Tripoli’s now destroyed international airport, is reported to have escaped an earlier kidnap attempt in January when one of his attackers was shot dead.
There has been no indication of why Shatti was grabbed nor whether a ransom or some other commitment was made to bring about his release. It is not thought that the security forces were involved in an operation to secure his freedom.
Libyan Airlines has been at odds with its staff who have mounted several albeit brief strikes. The management has also been involved in a bitter two-year power struggle over who should chief executive.
A drone that killed four Turkish soldiers last week in Syria might belong to Iran, the Pentagon has said. The drone killed four Turkish soldiers on Nov. 24.
There are four actors who might have conducted the deadly attack, a senior U.S. official told Hürriyet following a report in which a senior Turkish official said an Iranian-made drone was used in the attack in northern Syria.
“These are the coalition, Russia, the Assad regime and Iran-backed Shia militias,” said the U.S. official.
“It is not the coalition. ‘We didn’t,’ Russia said. There is no reason for them to conduct such an attack, and also there is no indication contradicting what they say. So the only two left are the regime and the militias. Iran has the capability. We know that they have armed UAVs. And there are Shia militias around Rasm al-Abboud where this UAV took off from. So it might be Iran,” the official said.
Turkey identified the drone as Iranian-made, but it has still not identified whether Hezbollah, the Quds Force or another Shiite militia group in Syria had used it, Hürriyet Daily Newsreporter Sevil Erkuş quoted the Turkish official as saying on Dec. 7.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, accompanied by National Intelligence Agency (MİT) Chief Hakan Fidan, paid a surprise visit to Tehran early on Nov. 26, where the Turkish delegation discussed “issues regarding ISIL and counter-terrorism” with Iran and also raised the issue that their findings on the attack on Turkish soldiers in Syria indicated that an Iranian-made unmanned drone was used, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Hürriyet Daily News.
The Turkey-backed rebels’ operation near al-Bab is not part of the NATO coalition against the jihadist group, the U.S. official also said.
“Turkey started the Jarablus operation unilaterally,” the official said, referring to the Euphrates Shield operation that began on Aug. 24.
“Then after an agreement we reached to clear the border area from ISIS [ISIL] and to create a buffer zone, we supported the operation. Dabiq was out of this buffer zone. Yet, the coalition gave support when Turkey-backed opposition groups liberated Dabiq. But when Turkey advanced south from Dabiq, it was different than what we agreed, and the coalition didn’t support these efforts,” the official said.
When asked why the coalition had not supported the Turkish advance on al-Bab, the official said: “Our concern about al-Bab is that the area is too close to the location where Syrian regime forces are. It is dangerous when the Turkish military and the regime forces are that close. We don’t want to see it.”
The official replied affirmatively when asked if the U.S. was concerned about a clash between the People’s Protection Unit (YPG) forces, which are also advancing toward al-Bab, and the Turkish military. Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing, the YPG, as terrorist groups linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
“We are also concerned about a clash between YPG and Turkish forces. We are concerned about all efforts that would distract from the efforts focusing on ISIS,” the official said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/09/2016
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#1
Gonna need another addendum and another reprint of Know Your Players, thank dawg for PageMaker.
[Rooters] In the early days of the assault on Islamic State in Mosul, Iran successfully pressed Iraq to change its battle plan and seal off the city, an intervention which has since shaped the tortuous course of the conflict, sources briefed on the plan say.
The original campaign strategy called for Iraqi forces to close in around Mosul in a horseshoe formation, blocking three fronts but leaving open the fourth - to the west of the city leading to Islamic State territory in neighboring Syria. That model, used to recapture several Iraqi cities from the ultra-hardline militants in the last two years, would have left fighters and civilians a clear route of escape and could have made the Mosul battle quicker and simpler. But Tehran, anxious that retreating fighters would sweep back into Syria just as Iran's ally President Bashar al-Assad was gaining the upper hand in his country's five-year civil war, wanted Islamic State crushed and eliminated in Mosul.
The sources say Iran lobbied for Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization fighters to be sent to the western front to seal off the link between Mosul and Raqqa, the two main cities of Islamic State's self-declared cross-border caliphate. That link is now broken. For the first time in Iraq's two-and-half-year, Western-backed drive to defeat Islamic State, several thousand militants have little choice but to fight to the death, and 1 million remaining Mosul citizens have no escape from the front lines creeping ever closer to the city center.
Iraqi army commanders have repeatedly said that the presence of civilians on the battlefield has complicated and slowed their seven-week-old operation, restricting air strikes and the use of heavy weapons in populated areas. Planning documents drawn up by humanitarian organizations before the campaign show they prepared camps in Kurdish-controlled areas of Syria for around 90,000 refugees expected to head west out of Mosul.
"Iran didn't agree and insisted that no safe corridor be allowed to Syria," said a humanitarian worker. "They wanted the whole region west of Mosul to be a kill box."
Hisham al-Hashemi, an Iraqi analyst on Islamist militants who was briefed on the battle plan in advance, also said it initially envisaged leaving one flank open. Hashid spokesman Karim al-Nuri denied that Tehran was behind the decision to deploy the Shi'ite fighters west of Mosul.
Nevertheless, securing territory west of Mosul by the Iranian-backed militias has other benefits for Iran's allies, by giving the Shi'ite fighters a launchpad into neighboring Syria to support Assad.
Iran was not the only country pressing for the escape to be closed west of Mosul. Russia, another powerful Assad ally, also wanted to block any possible movement of militants into Syria, said Hashemi. The Russian defence ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. One of Assad's biggest enemies, France, was also concerned that hundreds of fighters linked to attacks in Paris and Brussels might escape. The French have contributed ground and air support to the Mosul campaign.
Once the Iraqi Shi'ite militia advance west of Mosul had begun, Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi told his followers there could be no retreat from the city where he first proclaimed his caliphate in July, 2014. Since then his fighters have launched hundreds of suicide car bombs, mortar barrages and sniper attacks against the advancing forces, using a network of tunnels under residential areas and using civilians as human shields, Iraqi soldiers say.
A senior U.S. officer in international coalition which is supporting the campaign said that waging war amidst civilians would always be tough, but the Baghdad government was best placed to decide on strategy.
"They've got 15 years of war (experience)... I can't think of anyone more calibrated to make that decision and as a result that why as a coalition we supported the government of Iraq's decision," Brigadier General Scott Efflandt, deputy commanding general in the coalition, told Reuters. "The opening and closing of that corridor, hypothetically, realistically, did not fundamentally change the plans of the battle. It changes how we prosecute the fight, but that does not necessarily make it easier or harder."
But the Kurdish official was less sanguine, saying the battle for Mosul was now "more difficult" and could descend into a long drawn out siege similar to those seen in Syria.
It could "turn Mosul into Aleppo," he said.
Posted by: Pappy ||
12/09/2016
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#2
Disagree. Once Mosul was attacked on three sides there was not "left... civilians a clear route of escape" to the west. Civilians were already trapped inside the city because the last open road -- past Tall Afar airport -- was never really open to civilians seeking to escape Mosul. The recent capture of Tall Afar airport closed the so-called "horseshoe", and in doing so closed the last avenue of escape for ISIS. Civilians must find their own escape to the east and south.
#3
The recent capture of Tall Afar airport closed the so-called "horseshoe", and in doing so closed the last avenue of escape for ISIS.
Concur with your statement, although note that ISIS counter-attacked north of Tel Afar last week and re-opened a route to the west. A route covered by our air assets - I imagine we allowed this to happen for strategic reasons.
[ABC7NY] President-elect 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... is taking on a somber task Thursday that became all too familiar to his predecessor - supporting survivors after an outbreak of violence, this time families and victims from last week's attack at Ohio State University.
Trump is flying to Columbus, Ohio, to meet with several people who were slashed by Ohio State student Abdul Razak Ali Artan. Artan, 18, first rammed a campus crowd with his car before hopping out with a knife and stabbing students before being fatally shot by police.
It could be a politically potent moment for Trump, who made a hard-line immigration stance the center of his campaign. Following the attack, Trump tweeted that Artan, a legal Somali immigrant, should not have been in the country. And last week, in nearby Cincinnati, Trump said lax immigration policies enacted by "stupid politicians" led to the "violent atrocity" at Ohio State.
"We will do everything in our power to keep the scourge of terrorism out of our country. People are pouring in from regions of the Middle East. We have no idea who they are, where they are, what they're thinking. And we're going to stop that dead cold flat," Trump told that Ohio crowd. "You just take a good look at what just happened in your state."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2016
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#1
Did 'his predecessor' - the current POTUS - go visit the victims? Or is he too embarrassed?
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/09/2016 10:58
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"We will do everything in our power to keep the scourge of terrorism out of our country. People are pouring in from regions of the Middle East. We have no idea who they are, where they are, what they're thinking. And we're going to stop that dead cold flat," Trump told that Ohio crowd.
Please, please make this happen. We have the capability, but the State Department has their own agenda. We need a prosecutor as SecState to take a strong hand with our own "enemy within" that organization.
Turkey is sending 300 more troops to northern Syria to reinforce an operation aimed at pushing Islamic State fighters away from its southern border, Reuters reported.
Some 300 commandos are being sent to reinforce the "Euphrates Shield" operation, Anadolu Agency reported. It was not clear where in northern Syria they would be deployed and Reuters was not immediately able to reach the military for comment.
Turkey launched the operation in August, sending tanks, airplanes and troops to back Syrian Arab and Turkmen rebels.
After pushing Islamic State fighters back from Turkey's Syrian border, the Ankara-backed rebels have moved towards al-Bab, the last urban stronghold of Islamic State in the northern Aleppo countryside. Their advance potentially pits them against both Kurdish fighters and Syrian government forces.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/09/2016
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A Yemeni military official said that in the past two days, the army and popular resistance forces have regained control of posts which Houthis and forces loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh were in control of in the governorate of Shabwah.
Ahmad al-Qili, the commander of Al-Hazm brigade, said the army is advancing in the areas of al-Saq and al-Safha adding that it also blocked the Bayhan path which linked between Shabwah and Marib and which the Houthi militias used to smuggle weapons and drugs.
Meanwhile, the army's engineering teams said they removed 600 mines which rebels had planted around the city of Bayhan in the Shabwah governorate.
[AlAhram] Osama Morsi, the son of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, was placed in durance vile Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! Thursday at his home in Sharqiya over charges related to what has been dubbed in the media as the Rabaa dispersal trial, according to Morsi's defense team.
The younger Morsi has been named as one of 739 defendants in the case, which dates back to August 2013 and includes the Brotherhood's Supreme Guide Mohammed Badie and leading Brotherhood figure Mohammed El-Beltagy, as well as other senior Brotherhood members.
The prosecution charged the defendants with "unauthorised assembly, the use of force, premeditated murder, and the possession of weapons and explosives" during the violent dispersal of a major 2013 Cairo sit-in protesting Morsi's ouster.
Morsi's other son, Abdullah, served a one-year pirson sentence in 2015 for possession of hashish.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/09/2016
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[AlAhram] Security forces killed on Thursday a bad boy during a security raid in the metropolitan Cairo area, according to a statement from the Interior Ministry.
The bad boy was killed after opening fire at police forces, according to the statement.
Police raided an apartment building in Abu-Zaabal in northern Cairo, where state intelligence sources indicated the bad boy was residing.
The statement said the man was wanted for his involvement in a range of violent incidents, including attacks on security checkpoints and police personnel.
On Wednesday, police forces killed three Death Eaters during a security raid in Upper Egypt's Assiut governorate.
The three were wanted for attacks on security forces and belonging to the "Sawaaed Masr" and "Hasm" groups, which the state designates as terrorist organizations. According to the interior ministry the three had sought haven in a village in Assiut to plan further attacks against security forces.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/09/2016
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Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) Five members of the Islamic State were killed Thursday in an explosion inside a tunnel southwest of the province, according to security sources.
The tunnel links the district of Riyadh with the ISIS-held town of Hawija, the source told Alsumaria News, suggesting that the explosion occurred due to the cramming of a huge amount of equipment inside the tunnel.
The deaths included a senior group leader with an Arab nationality, the source said, on condition of anonymity, adding that ISIS members are now hiding in tunnels having abandoned their quarters in Hawija, thanks to airstrikes by Iraqi ad US-led air forces.
Kirkuk has witnessed ongoing violent attacks on civilians and security personnel by ISIS militants who remain in control of several areas of western Kirkuk since 2014.
Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter was killed by a sniper fire, in southern Kirkuk, Alsumaria News reported on Thursday.
A security source told Alsumaria News, “Last night, a sniper shot a member of Kurdish Peshmerga in the area separating Peshmerga forces and members of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Samaka Village, located in Dakuk district.”
“The Peshmerga fighter was severely wounded and transferred to a nearby hospital,” the source added.
“Later, the wounded fighter died due to his severe injury,” the source explained.
Noteworthy, the Islamic state group imposed its control over the areas south and west of Kirkuk since June 2014.
Posted by: badanov ||
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[INDIA] Abu Dujana, chief of Lashkar-e-Taiba in Kashmir, is believed to be trapped by security forces in Kulgam. An operation is underway in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam where security forces are trying to capture dreaded militant Abu Dujana. There are unconfirmed reports that Abu Dujana has been killed. It was also reported that locals clashed with security forces when they were trying to capture Abu Dujana.
According to a dossier of intelligence bureau, Abu Dujana joined Lashkar-e-Taiba when he was 17. Abu Dunaja was reportedly seen in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwana district in August this year. Abu Dujana attended the protest rally held by separatists in Kareemabad. Dujana is accused in several terror attack on security forces. His name also cropped in Pampore and Udhampur. Mohammed Naved, the Pakistani terrorist who was caught alive, confessed that Abu Dujana masterminded the Udhampur attack in which two BSF jawans were killed.
Security forces had cornered Abu Dujana in March this year, but he managed to escape from the encounter site along with four other militants. Dujana has been heading Lashkar’s unit in the valley after the death of LeT commander Qasim.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] Jennifer Palmieri is refusing to back down from her claim that 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... won the White House on the backs of white supremacists
'I don’t know whether the Trump campaign needed to give a platform to white supremacists to win,' she writes in the Washington Post today
'But the campaign clearly did, and it had the effect of empowering the white-nationalist movement'
She hit Trump for retweeting white nationalists from his Twitter account and invoked former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke's support
Palmieri attacked Trump's campaign manager at a forum last week; she said she'd rather lose the White House than win the way Kellyanne Conway did
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Fuck you. Racist, sexist bitch. You call all that don't agree with you racist and sexist, yet promote policies that further discrimination and sexism as keystones of your policies.
Keep this shit up and you will find yourself in the same position the Nazis did after WWII.
Of course the key is how you define "white nationalist".
I am white and I believe in the Constitution so, according to the likes of this scum, I'm sure I am a "white nationalist".
Hopefully Trump will stomp these folks into the ground whenever they start with this deplorable crap.
#5
Clinton communications director accuses Trump of 'empowering the white-nationalist movement' democracy and challenges him to 'own up to it'
When over 75 percent of your population is white*, and you push racial identity politics, in a democracy, the major will look after their own interests cause you don't.
*Hispanic - Hispania; European province of Rome, aka Spain.
#6
When over 75 percent of your population is white*, and you push racial identity politics, in a democracy, the major will look after their own interests cause you don't.
Makes it kinda hard to come up with enough illegal alien votes to overcome the white vote.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/09/2016 11:09
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#7
Demonizing and trolling is a tactic. In or out of power. There are still enough intelligent Americans who ignore the trolls who when given the keys to the high offices responded to our kindness as a weakness and doubled down on disrespect. Thus, Trump is now President.
#8
Trying to vilify Trump and clear themselves in the same breath.
Best revenge Trump can do is get the economy humming quickly so people can see with their own eyes how the Progressive agenda was crippling things. Certainly they will try to credit Obama but folks won't buy it at this point.
[DW] Telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom and several other German firms have stopped advertising on the US media outlet Breitbart. A similar snub by Kellogg's had sparked a furious response from the right-wing site.
The carmaker BMW, the restaurant chain Vapiano, the supermarket chain Rewe, and Deutsche Telekom have all pulled their ads from the pro-Trump news site due to concerns about its content, the News Agency that Dare Not be Named reported on Wednesday.
"The positions held by Breitbart.com contrast with Vapiano's values, such as openness and tolerance," said the restaurant chain offering Italian food across Europe and the US.
Deutsche Telekom is also present on the American market through its subsidiary T-mobile, the third-largest wireless carrier in the US. Replying to a DW inquiry, Deutsche Telekom said they "very much regret" that their ads appeared on Breitbart, which is often branded a far-right hate site.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Fuck them. I'll never buy another Kellogg's product. Further, I find BMWs to be over-rated. My boss sometimes enters tosses me the keys to her high-end BMW on the way into a meeting. Its "punchy", but the dials/climate control/etc are counter-intuitive, down to the shifter itself being backwards ass. I had more fun test driving a Dodge Challenger than I've ever had running around in the BMW. I'd rather run errands in my late model Hyundai or 6 year-old Nissan--they operate like an actual car rather than an over-priced puzzle that amounts to "take a guess how to get the BMW to do what any other car is designed to do intuitively".
[UPI] Two juveniles have been charged with starting the historic wildfires that killed more than a dozen people in Tennessee this month, authorities said Wednesday. Investigators said the teenagers were jugged Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! and charged with aggravated arson. Neither their names, ages or genders were disclosed, though.
The fires were Tennessee's worst in decades and destroyed nearly 2,000 homes and other structures. At least 14 people died and 150 were hurt as the result of the fires in Sevier County, the center of which is the resort town of Gatlinburg.
It wasn't clear whether the teens might face additional charges, such as murder or manslaughter, although prosecutors could try them both as adults.
"Everything is on the table," prosecutor James Dunn said.
Dunn added that the juveniles are residents of Tennessee, but not Sevier County.
Tennessee officials do not reveal criminal records of juveniles unless it involves serious charges, like murder or rape. However, some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... if the case is sent to criminal court, the records will become public.
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[IsraelTimes] Military official says number is ’conservative estimate,’ notes group has shown ’resilience.
At least 50,000 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.... snuffies have been killed by the US-led coalition since it began operations in Iraq and Syria in late 2014, a senior US military official said Thursday.
"I am not into morbid counts but that kind of volume matters, that kind of impact on the enemy," the official said.
The official, who spoke to Pentagon news hounds on condition of anonymity, said the number was a "conservative estimate," it’s a bit more than what others have stated before. US leaders have expressed reluctance to disclose specific numbers, and note that IS has been able to replace fighters rapidly, particularly early on.
"I give them credit for being so resilient," the official said according to Fox News.
In August, Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland said about 45,000 combatants have been taken off the battlefields.
The official said coalition Arclight airstrikes could be more aggressive in places like djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , where Iraqi troops are battling to retake the city, but civilian casualties are a risk.
Since the launch of Operation Inherent Resolve began on August 2014, more than 125,000 sorties in Iraq and Syria have been carried out by the US-led coalition, the Pentagon said last month.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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#1
Just imagine how many terrorists could be killed if we were actually trying?
#2
But the Obama team didn't injure any mothers, children, fluffy bunnies, or baby ducks like that bad, bad Bush.
On the other hand, they're supposed to be like the Hydra, right? Cut off one head and two more spring up? So how many bad guys have been created in the same time period?
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/09/2016 7:40
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#3
The hydra was allowed back into countries it departed from to recruit, train and equip more of its kind. It was also invited in by virtue signaling politicians. It will travel like the plague.
#5
Has it not been said... "this will be a very long struggle?" If you are victorious and destroy all of the terrorists, what crisis will there be, what motivation will future generations have to fund the complex ?
A strong, victorious military is not your friend. Besides, those funds are needed elsewhere. Selective culling and strong media support (numbers game) will ensure product and 'crisis' sustainment.
#6
If we only killed the right 100 terror financiers, wherever they may be, it would go further than killing the thousands of shovel and trigger terries.
The National Assembly on Friday votes to impeach President Park Geun-hye, who is embroiled in a massive influence-peddling and corruption scandal.
Last weekend, 171 lawmakers proposed the impeachment motion, but it needs a two-thirds majority or at least 200 lawmakers to pass. The plenary session has been set to start at 3 p.m. and the results are expected around an hour later. If it passes, Park's powers will be suspended immediately. The National Assembly then submits the impeachment bill to the Constitutional Court, where judges have 180 days to reach a ruling.
In the impeachment attempt of President Roh Moo-hyun in 2004, the Constitutional Court took 63 days to reach a decision.
Six of the nine Constitutional Court judges must rule the bill lawful. If they reject it Park is reinstated, but if it is upheld she steps down and loses her presidential immunity so she can be prosecuted.
As expected, Park had no comment on Thursday. A Cheong Wa Dae official said, "It is difficult to make any comments ahead of the impeachment vote. The president will observe the developments in a calm manner and respond according to the results."
Saenuri Party leader and Park loyalist Lee Jung-hyun made a last-ditch attempt to save Park's face. "The National Assembly should consider halting the impeachment process and letting the president step down in April, with presidential elections in June."
The offer was on the table earlier, but even most Saenuri lawmakers no longer believe it is tenable and have told the president so.
Lawmakers in the three opposition parties -- the Minjoo, People's and Justice party -- vowed to resign if the impeachment bill fails to garner enough votes.
Including independents there are in fact 172 opposition lawmakers, so they need the support of at least 28 Saenuri lawmakers to vote with them, a quorum that seems likely to be achieved. Most Saenuri lawmakers outside Park's own traditionalist faction made no comments on Thursday, but Hwang Young-cheul, who heads a faction that does not support Park, said, "We will try our best to pass the impeachment bill."
Posted by: Steve White ||
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[AnNahar] A bankrupt, increasingly impoverished, reliably Democrat, Detroit ... ruled by Democrats since 1962. A city whose Golden Age included the Purple Gang... -area man accused of trying to travel to the Middle East to fight in Syria's civil war has been sentenced to five years in prison.
...the Dearborn denizen who told the authorities he was travelling to Syria for a dental appointment...
has been in jug for nearly three years and will get credit for that time. He was sentenced Wednesday, about four months after pleading guilty to making false statements to agents.
The government says the 24-year-old Hamdan wanted to join Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... that is classified by the U.S. as a terrorist organization.
He was tossed in the calaboose Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! in 2014 prior to boarding a flight at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. Hamdan is a native of Leb. He says he won't oppose an effort to deport him there after his prison sentence. Once he gets there he's free to join Hezbollah.
A foreigner militant recruiting for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group was killed during an operation of the Afghan security forces in eastern Nangarhar province.
According to the local security officials, the ISIS commander, identified as Aziz, was killed during an operation of the counter-terrorism forces in Khogyani district.
The officials further added that Aziz was in charge of a group of at least 10 ISIS loyalist and was actively recruiting for the terror group in Afghanistan.
The Afghan security forces seized some weapons, ammunition and other military kits during the operation, the officials added.
The anti-government armed militant groups including the loyalists of the terror group have not commented regarding the report so far.
This comes as the Ministry of Defense (MoD) said Tuesday that a commander of the terror group was killed during an operation in the restive Achin district.
Earlier, another commander of the terror group was killed in a US drone strike in the same district, the officials added.
Both the Afghan and US forces conducted regular strikes against the loyalists of the terror group in this province.
The increased raids, usually involving drone strikes, by the US forces followed a broader role granted by the Obama administration earlier this year.
The broader role was granted amid concerns that the loyalists of the terror group are attempting to expand foothold in the country and turn the eastern Nangarhar province into a regional operational hub for its fighters.
Posted by: badanov ||
12/09/2016
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Foreign warplanes, thought to be belonging Ruritanian U.S. military are reported to have bombed a rural area near an Al-Shabaab camp in middle Jubba region of southern Somalia on Wednesday , sources revealed.
Reliable Sources say the suspected Ruritanian American fighter jets have raided a small village identified as Kumbarera, which lies about 20KM west of Jilib district, the biggest Al shabaab stronghold in the region. Reports suggest that the warplanes have fired at least 10 missiles in the residential area, which is home for hundreds of nomadic cattle herders. Al shabaab, however said it has no bases in the bombed village.
There were no immediate reports of the casualties as a result of the airstrike by the foreign military jets.
The Ruritanian Air Force rarely misses...
In recent months, Ruritanian, U.S. and Kenyan air force warplanes have been launching aerial attacks targeting Al-Shabaab camps which have left many casualties, including innocent Somali civilians.
Will President Trump allow the Ruritanian Air Force to continue targeting the Shaboobs?
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/09/2016
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#1
If you're a "nomadic cattle herder", don't you, by definition, NOT live in a village?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/09/2016 12:48
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Heavy fighting between pro-Islamic State (IS) militants and Somalia’s Puntland state forces for the control of the port town of Qandala has displaced 25, 700 people since late October, a UN body said Wednesday.
ISIS wouldn't mind a port town -- makes resupply from their backers easier...
The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said a majority of the displaced were women, children and the elderly, adding that most of the displaced had moved to surrounding villages, while others have sought refuge in Bossaso, 75 kilometers from Qandala.
Meanwhile, a Punland state official said their forces took control of the northern Somali town from the militants earlier on Wednesday.
“Humanitarian partners and local authorities are concerned that the situation will deteriorate further if the displacement becomes protracted,” the OCHA said in its report.
Puntland forces on December 3 launched the operation to retake the northern Somali town, which was taken by the pro-IS group on October 26. Local residents reported fighting between the two sides near the town in the past days.
The OCHA said some 3,000 people had been newly displaced since December 3. It also said all humanitarian activities in the area had been suspended. However, Puntland authorities have called on residents displaced from the town to return to their homes.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/09/2016
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Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Two civilians were wounded on Tuesday when an IED blast rocked an area east of Baghdad, according to the Interior Ministry.
The blast occurred at New Baghdad district, east of the capital, injuring two passers-by, said the ministry’s Baghdad Operations.
On Friday, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) said violence during November claimed the lives of 926 civilians and wounded 930 people.
Observers believe ISIS have begun to target several areas across Iraq to divert security focus on Mosul, where the group fights to defend its last bastion in Iraq under the brunt of continuous advancements by Iraqi government and popular troops.
2 die in 2 separate bombings
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The toll from a series of bombings that hit different areas in Baghdad on Wednesday has so far stood at two deaths and 13 wounded, according to the Interior Ministry.
The latest explosion rocked the Kasra and Atash area east of Baghdad when an IED planted on the side of a road went off, leaving four civilians wounded, according to a statement by the ministry’s Baghdad Operations Command.
Another explosive device exploded in Saba Qosour, also in eastern Baghdad, but left no casualties, said the command.
Two civilians were killed earlier and four others were wounded when a sticky bombs exploded beneath two passenger buses at the Army Canal road east of the capital. Another bomb also wounded two others at Jisr al-Bonouk in al-Qahera in the north.
Three civilians were also injured in another explosion in Hayy Ur, east of the capital.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) said recently that violence during November claimed the lives of 926 civilians and wounded 930 people.
Violence surged across Iraq as Islamic State militants captured several Iraqi cities in 2014, and continues even as the group is sustaining defeats during a current wide-scale campaign by Iraqi forces and tribal militias.
Observers believe ISIS have begun to target several areas across Iraq to divert security focus on Mosul, where the group fights to defend its last bastion in Iraq under the brunt of continuous advancements by Iraqi government and popular troops.
1 dead in bombing attack in eastern Baghdad
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) One civilian was killed and five others were wounded in two IED blasts that ripped passenger buses east and north of Baghdad, the Interior Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
“A sticky bomb fitted underneath a KIA passenger bus exploded this morning as it passed through the Army Canal road east of the city, killing a civilian passenger and wounding three others,” read the statement by the ministry’s Baghdad Operations.
Another bomb exploded in a passenger bus while it moved through Jisr al-Bonouk street in al-Qahera, north of Baghdad, said the ministry.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) said recently that violence during November claimed the lives of 926 civilians and wounded 930 people.
Violence surged across Iraq as Islamic State militants captured several Iraqi cities in 2014, and continues even as the group is sustaining defeats during a current wide-scale campaign by Iraqi forces and tribal militias.
Observers believe ISIS have begun to target several areas across Iraq to divert security focus on Mosul, where the group fights to defend its last bastion in Iraq under the brunt of continuous advancements by Iraqi government and popular troops.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) One civilian was killed and six others were wounded when a bomb exploded north of Baghdad on Thursday.
Police sources said the IED exploded near a popular marketplace in Rashidiya.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) said recently that violence during November claimed the lives of 926 civilians and wounded 930 people.
Violence surged across Iraq as Islamic State militants captured several Iraqi cities in 2014, and continues even as the group is sustaining defeats during a current wide-scale campaign by Iraqi forces and tribal militias.
Observers believe ISIS have begun to target several areas across Iraq to divert security focus on Mosul, where the group fights to defend its last bastion in Iraq under the brunt of continuous advancements by Iraqi government and popular troops.
Posted by: badanov ||
12/09/2016
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#DontBeStupid. But if you simply must be stupid, for the love of all that's holy don't get caught.
[IsraelTimes] Army forced to admit graphic touted as ’declassified,’ shown to foreign diplomats as real intelligence, was an ’illustration’.
A map of southern Leb released this week by the Israeli military that ostensibly showed Hezbollah positions, infrastructure and armaments along a section of the Israeli border was a fabrication, the army admitted Thursday.
The map, tweeted by the army Tuesday, appeared to feature over 200 towns and villages, which the IDF said the organization had turned into its operations bases, along with over 10,000 potential targets for Israeli strikes in the event of a new war with the terror group.
"This is a war crime," the army asserted in its tweet.
A caption on the photo claimed that it had been "declassified," in what was construed as an IDF attempt to build a case for future military action, and a warning to the terror group itself, demonstrating Israel’s superior intelligence-gathering capabilities.
But on Thursday, based on an analysis by Twitter user JudgeDan48, it emerged that the map had in fact been prepared by the IDF spokesperson’s desk. The ostensible demarcations of Hezbollah positions were in fact patterns of dots, positioned on the map of southern Leb.
An IDF spokesperson admitted the graphic was an "illustration" that had been misrepresented as a piece of declassified intelligence.
"The illustration reflects how Hezbollah has positioned its terrorist infrastructure within the civilian arena," the spokesperson told The Times of Israel.
According to a Channel 2 report Tuesday, the illustrative map has been shown to practically every foreign diplomat visiting Israel, to demonstrate that while Hezbollah may be heavily embroiled in the Syrian civil war, it continues to arm for conflict with Israel, while embedding itself ever deeper in the civilian population near the border.
Hezbollah has accused Israel of attacking its installations with Arclight airstrikes twice in the last two weeks. While Israel hasn’t confirmed its involvement, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Thursday that the military has been working to keep chemical weapons out of Hezbollah’s hands.
#4
NO MONEY should be given to "fight climate change" if that means carbon tax, solar panel subsidies, wind farms or geothermal.
it's just a big moneyspinner for chinese manufacture which is why they have played propaganda games to promote climate hysteria here in the west
if Trump does anything about climate change he should only divert money for 2 things:
1) Nuclear FUSION research. If there is any "green tech" to be invested in then do that because all our energy problems will be solved when that comes good
2) make birth control freely available for the top 100 birthrate countries to get global population shrinking instead of growing. Those people need access to condoms, the pill, vasectomy and implanon, and the women need to be empowered to choose their own family sizes.
#7
Anon1, I would also be ok with tax money for research on nuclear power other than fusion - different fission systems, perhaps Thorium fueled, and/or smaller, distributed, 'fail-safe' systems.
#8
At the beginningg: There was classical economy: create jobs by building road, bridges, dams and things that can make economy MORE efficient
Then there was keynesianism: If you pay peole to dig holes and fill them again this will create jobs when they spend their revenue. Notice however keneysians strongly advice to try budiuld useful things like bridges, roads, damùs atht make economy more efficient
And then there is green economy: ceate jobs by emplying peole ata makingf econmoy LESS efiicient like forcing people to use more expensive energy.
[IsraelTimes] No Israelis hurt during attempted assault at Tapuah Junction bus stop; attacker identified as Qalqilya teen.
A Paleostinian assailant attempted to stab Israeli guards at a West Bank junction Thursday morning and was shot and killed by coppers, police said.
No Israelis were hurt in the attempted stabbing attack at a bus stop at the Tapuah Junction in the northern West Bank.
Police spokesperson Luba Samri said the assailant, identified by Paleostinian media as 19-year-old Muhammad Jihad Hussein Harb, from the Niqar neighborhood in the West Bank city of Qalqilya,
...Qalqilya has provided a lot of the dead bodies and arrestees for the current round of excitements. Its mayor is a Fatah man, which may have something to do with it....
alighted from a bus at the junction and began moving toward Border Police guards there.
After ignoring orders to stop, the man "continued to move toward them and at a certain point even pulled a knife out and attacked them," Samri said in a statement.
He was shot and killed.
Darwin wins again.
Security forces are regularly stationed at and near the junction, which has been a flashpoint of violence over the past year.
[IsraelTimes] Israeli security forces arrested three Palestinian teenagers suspected of carrying out four shooting attacks on an army outpost in the central West Bank last month, the Shin Bet domestic security service revealed Wednesday. The families of the suspects were also brought in for allegedly helping the trio hide the makeshift weapons used in the attacks.
The three suspects are minors, so their identities were not revealed.
The four attacks took place at an army post outside the Ofra settlement, north of Ramallah. According to the IDF, the group was based in Silwad, a Palestinian town located just north of Ofra.
The village of Silwad has a bit of a history here at Rantburg. It is the hometown of Hamas head honcho Khaled Mashaal, though some of the residents have been members of Fatah's Tanzim. This no doubt has something to do with its disproportionate representation here.
No soldiers were injured in the attacks, though the Shin Bet found the attacks to be an example of the risk posed to Israeli security from locally produced weapons.
“The work of this cell, which was exposed by the investigation, shows the high level of threat by terror cells, which operate based of local initiative, with access to weapons and the manufacturing of guns,” the Shin Bet said in a statement.
The homemade guns were found in a joint operation by IDF soldiers and Israel Police officers in the front yard of one home and in a storage room of another.
The security service handed over its findings to a military prosecutor, who is expected to file an indictment in the coming days.
[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] President-elect Trump has spent the month since his election victory engaging in some distinctly presidential-style behavior, including engaging with businesses on behalf of the American people, conducting a bit of foreign policy, and delivering sweeping public addresses -- all before he holds the authority of the presidency.
With weeks to go until he takes office, Trump's moves have tested the limits of his unofficial powers as the president-in-waiting. And although his activism has drawn scrutiny from detractors, his favorability ratings have hit new heights on the heels of several high-profile successes.
"I don't think it's normal for a president-elect to be out and about like this, but this is the era of Trump, and he is literally rewriting the rules," said Ford O'Connell, a Republican strategist.
"Things always change when you actually are sworn in, but at the same time, he is taking advantage of this and throwing his weight around while he's got the momentum," O'Connell added.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2016
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#1
He is a alpha business man. He was hired, now he is throwing himself into the work even though he hasn't officially been sworn in yet.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/09/2016 13:12
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#8
Trump is sharp enough to know what is happening and knows trying to get things turned around needs to done ASAP. Like before 2017. 401's are worth less, police and fire pensions are tanking, the dominoes are falling. All due to the ignorance that Obama symbolizes.
Work needs to be done now, not tomorrow, next week, not 2 months from now January 21, 2017.
Posted by: Pearl Hupomorong1598 ||
12/09/2016 13:48
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At the shallow end of the gene pool.
[TorontoLife] My name is Diana. I’m a 27 year-old bartender. I met this guy on Tinder about two months ago, a few days after I’d moved from Toronto to San Diego. We’d been chatting for all of a day, and we agreed to meet at a bar in downtown San Diego. We were just going to play Big Buck Hunter and have some drinks. It was very short notice. We didn’t even exchange phone numbers.
He showed up at the bar, and he was super handsome. Like, really tall—six-foot-four or something absurd. We were wearing matching leather jackets. His Triumph Bonneville was parked outside. This guy looked badass.
So we had a couple of drinks, and played a bit of Buck Hunter. A couple things came up as we were getting to know each other. I was probing a bit because I knew he was from Texas, and I wanted to find out if he was a Republican, or a bad person. (Not that the two are necessarily one and the same.) It turned out he was pro-choice and an atheist, which was good. We disagreed on gun control, because he’d served in the Marines. San Diego is a big military town, so there are a lot of those types of people around. Doesn't matter in California about guns. Neither you nor he can own a decent rifle because of the laws there.
But the night progressed. We went out to some other bars, had some more drinks, and he invited me back to his place. I was super excited, because I was really into this guy. We hooked up, and it was incredible. There was a lot face-touching and intense eye contact. He was cool as hell. I was completely smitten. Back in my day, we used to call that bar hopping.
At some point I got up and sauntered over to his bookcase, because I wanted to see what he was into. I saw a few photos, and then a David Sedaris book that I love. I asked him about the Sedaris book and he said he hadn’t read it yet. But then, right beside it, I saw a book about Donald Trump. It wasn’t The Art of the Deal or one of his how-to-succeed-in-business books. It was In Trump We Trust, by Ann Coulter. So I asked him about it. I was like, “Ha ha, this is funny.” Shoulda given him credit for even being a reader.
And he responded, “Well, actually the guy raises some valid points. Mexicans are taking our jobs.”
Meanwhile I’m a Canadian expat who just moved to America. I pointed that out and he went, “No, no. It’s different.” Why? Because I’m white and in my twenties? No, coz he just finished nailing you to the floor. Duh.
Also, you came over legally, with a visa and everything. You did come over legally, right? Because otherwise this little essay will be evidence when the Trump version of ICE starts asking uncomfortable questions.
Come now, Canadians are the most law-abiding people on the planet. They can't help themselves...
He started talking disparagingly about Black Lives Matter. This entire conversation happened in five minutes, while I was frantically getting dressed to leave. I wasn’t there to argue, and I felt deeply uncomfortable. If you were a different person you would have felt "deeply uncomfortable" the moment you accepted his invite to his place.
This is why we don't sleep with people on the first date, my dear Canadian essayist, but wait until we know them well enough to be sure we like them. I suspect, however, your Texan is more likely to learn that lesson.
Um no, he's a guy...
I got a Lyft home and I thought I was done with him. The next day he messaged me on Tinder. He said, “Hope you’re still not upset over politics LOL.” I explained that it’s hard for me to remain attracted to someone whose views are so different from mine, and who believes in bigotry and xenophobia—which sucked, because the sex was amazing.
Then he said, “Not accepting other people’s beliefs is the definition of bigotry.”
So apparently it was my fault.
Yes. Though the word you want is actually.
He sent me a “hey” message a week later, which I never replied to.
I couldn’t do it again. It feels taboo to sleep with a Trump supporter. But here’s the thing: I’ve slept with a lot of people in my life. This guy ranked in the top five. I thought maybe I’d try him again one night at 3 a.m., when I was drunk enough to overlook his political views. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
And thank goodness for that. Listen to her reducing him to a s3xual object.
I don’t want to wake up next to a guy who blames Mexicans for his woes and thinks “bigly” is a word, no matter how handsome he is.
I can only hope that "Tex" reads this, if only to know that he dodged a bullet...
#6
I've tried to tell you people in several previous comments the old story of how the country got tilted so all the loose fruits and nuts rolled out to California. It couldn't be helped that some of Canada's loose fruits and nuts rolled out here too. I still love it here but sometimes having to deal with people like this bimbo makes it difficult.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/09/2016 11:21
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Posted by: Harry Grundy2446 ||
12/09/2016 19:09
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#14
#12 - "I'm a Toronto small town Canadian girl with round heels and heightened emotional instability and self-importance who recently moved to America..."
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/09/2016 22:17
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[POLITICO] Senate Democrats are about to get rolled on 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 Cabinet picks. They could spend years in the minority. And instead of the GOP collapse that many expected on Nov. 8, it’s now Democrats soul-searching about what went wrong.
But as ... the charismatic senator-for-life from Nevada, currently majority leader ...
prepares to leave the Senate this month after 34 years in Washington, he says everything is just fine with his party, thank you.
To hear Reid tell it, the party’s electoral collapse wasn’t a result of poor messaging or even a bad candidate. It stemmed from looser campaign finance rules, FBI Director James Comey and the influence of a few powerful individuals -- namely the Koch brothers, his long-running nemeses. The outgoing Senate minority leader is unapologetic on behalf of his party, and remains resolute that Democrats don’t need to chart a new political course after their 2016 debacle.
"They have Trump, I understand that. But I don’t think the Democratic Party is in that big of trouble," Reid said in a half-hour interview with Politico on Wednesday, one day before he’ll deliver his farewell address. "I mean, if Comey kept his mouth shut, we would have picked up a couple more Senate seats and we probably would have elected Hillary."
And Reid not only refused to admit any misgivings about invoking the "nuclear option" for most nominations -- a move that’s backfiring now by empowering Republicans -- he predicted it’s just a matter of time before the filibuster is done away with altogether.
Though the filibuster is Democrats’ best weapon against Trump, Reid said it would be a "mistake" for his party to reflexively oppose whatever Trump proposes. But the outgoing minority leader also wants Democrats to stand firm for their core principles, urging politicians to do "everything in their power" to block "wacky" Supreme Court nominees and to not be "complicit" in supporting GOP priorities like tax cuts for the rich and repealing Obamacare ... aka the Affordable Care Act, an ineptly designed and worse executed piece of legislation designed to bring 17 percent of the U.S. economy under the direct control of the government. The previous iteration, known as Hillarycare, was laughed out of Washington. This stinker was passed on a party-line vote without being read... .
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2016
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#1
But the outgoing minority leader also wants Democrats to stand firm for their core principles...
They're losing elections because most folks don't consider the Democrats to HAVE any "core principles".
[NYTIMES] President-elect Donald J. Trump is expected to name Andrew F. Puzder, chief executive of the company that operates the fast food outlets Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. and an outspoken critic of the worker protections enacted by the B.O. regime, to be secretary of labor, people close to the transition said on Thursday.
Mr. Puzder has spent his career in the private sector and has opposed efforts to expand eligibility for overtime pay, arguing thon the lam minimum wage increases hurt small businesses and lead to job loss among low-skilled workers.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2016
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Careful getting too excited about Puzder--I'm reading elsewhere that he's soft on those problematic visas for foreign workers and not strong on other aspects of reigning in foreign workers.
#10
Perhaps. If you'd actually pointed out a flaw of Mr. Puzder's that would adversely affect the national employment environment, such as him being soft on H1Bs, rather than his engaging in marketing to a potential customer base that you personally disapprove of, perhaps I might have been more... polite.
In any case, you seem stressed. Might I suggest a (family-friendly) coloring book?
#13
Women exist too and Trump didn't have to appoint this turd.
I'm sorry I voted for Trump.
You invoke "women" as if you somehow *value* them, yet you're sorry you voted for the only candidate that could keep (another) Clinton out of this nation's highest office?
Good God. You really need to ask yourself whether you believe in anything at all.
Britain will help Gulf states "push back" against aggressive regional actions by Iran, Prime Minister Theresa May told the Gulf Cooperation Council in Bahrain on Wednesday in a televised address.
"We must... continue to confront state actors whose influence fuels instability in the region," May told Gulf leaders at the summit. "So I want to assure you that I am clear-eyed about the threat that Iran poses to the Gulf and to the wider Middle East."
She added: "We must... work together to push back against Iran's aggressive regional actions."
May said she wanted a "strategic partnership" to help boost security in Gulf countries, including defence investment and military training in Bahrain and Jordan.
The prime minister also spoke about discussions to improve trade ties with Gulf countries as Britain prepares to leave the European Union.
"I want these talks to pave the way for an ambitious trade arrangement" after Brexit, she said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/09/2016
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A roadside bomb explosion has ripped through a military convoy carrying African Union soldiers serving with AMISOM near Bulo-Mareer district in Somalia’s southern Lower Shabelle province.
Al shabaab has claimed responsibility for the blast which has resulted from a remote-controlled land mine planted on a semi-forest road linking the coastal city of Marko to Bulo-Mareer locality. According to Al shabaab said in a statement posted on its affiliated websites four AMISOM soldiers were killed in the attack. African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) did not comment on the group’s claim.
Al shabaab has intensified ambush attacks against the AMISOM troops and Somali soldiers in the region over the past few months, as the allied forces losing grounds to the Al Qaeda-linked militants.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/09/2016
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Anbar (Iraqinews.com) Islamic State militants are planting explosives at historic sites in the province of Anbar preparing to demolish them, al-Hashd al-Shaabi leaderships there said.
ISIS militants have planted explosives on the Old Minaret in the town of Annah and other historic sites dating back to the 11th century, deeming them as promoting paganism, according to Nazem al-Jugheifi, intelligence official at the militia.
“The group ordered civilians to keep away from the historic minaret and other ancient sites in Annah until they are blown up,” said Jugheifi.
ISIS emerged to the light in 2014, occupying large areas of Iraq and proclaiming an “Islamic Caliphate”. Besides its extremist style of applying Islamic law to the daily lives of citizens at areas within its hold, the group considers sculptures as paganism. Its members had posted globally-circulated videos showing themselves axing down priceless monuments in the city of Mosul, but was later reported to sell out other antiquities in online auctions.
News reports last month depicted severe damage caused by the extremist group to Mosul’s ancient town of Nimrud after it was liberated by Iraqi forces.
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) In a new photo report released by the self-proclaimed Islamic State group and published by ‘Heavy’ website, ISIS militants desecrate the corpses of 3 members of al-Hashd al-Shaabi.
The photo report was released on the extremist group’s Amaq terrorist channel from the so-called Wilayat al-Jazirah.
The accompanying summary of the photo report reads: “3 militants of al-Hashd al-Shaabi are brought down in Sharai Village West of Tal Afar.
In October, US-led coalition, Iraqi Army, Kurdish Peshmerga, Shia militias, Christian militias, and Turkish Nineveh Guard, started the battle to liberate the city of Mosul from the Islamic States’s control. The offensive was launched in October 17 by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
In late November, al-Hashd al-Shaabi began an offensive to push ISIS out of Tel Afar.
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) A significant damage was inflicted on the graves of Christian people in the liberated areas, including the cities of Bashiqa, Hamdaniyah, Karemlash, as well as Bartella and Tel Skaf in Nineveh Plain by the self-proclaimed Islamic State group (ISIS), after capturing these cities in 2014.
Iraqi channel “ISHTAR” published photos revealing the destruction caused to these graves. The destroyed places included the grave of the Archbishop of the Chaldean Church in Mosul, Martyr Bishop Boules Faraj Rahu. The ISIS members exhumed the Bishop’s grave, located in “Saint Addai the Apostle Church” in Karemlash city, in Hamdaniyah district.
The extremist group imposed its control on the city of Mosul, Nineveh, in 10 June 2014, as well as extending its terrorist activities to other areas in Iraq. The group also committed dangerous violations against civilians, especially minorities, including crimes against humanity and genocides.
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Anbar Provincial Council announced on Wednesday, that 35% of displaced familes didn’t return back to their areas that were liberated from the ISIS grip in the province, due to lack of services and projects.
Member of Anbar Provincial Council Fahed al-Rashed, said in a press statement, “The percentage of displaced families that didn’t return to their liberated areas in Anbar reached 35%, due to lack of services.
“Civilians’ houses were destroyed due to ISIS terrorist attacks, also many displaced children are occupied with studying in the schools of Kurdistan region and other Iraqi provinces,” Rashed added.
“The lack of services and rehabilitation of destructed projects in the cities of Anbar, as well as destruction of national electricity network and civilians houses delayed the return of displaced people,” Rashed explained.
Rashed also emphasized that the council is working to solve all problems to facilitate the return of displaced people.
Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) Kurdish Peshmerga troops received on Wednesday 300 refugees fleeing Islamic state-held Hawija to central Kirkuk, a security source has said.
The refugees were admitted to the Leilan camp after they reached a Peshmerga outpost, the source was quoted by AlMada Press as saying. They were mostly women and children.
The southern ad western areas of Kirkuk have been under ISIS militants’ control since 2014. There are more than 600.000 internally displaced people inside Kirkuk, including more than 26.000 from the town of Hawija.
The United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says there have been more than 3 million internally displaced people in Iraq since violence surged with the Islamic State taking over several Iraqi towns and proclaiming an Islamic Caliphate in 2014.
It said recently that that more than 82.000 fled the city of Mosul as Iraqi troops continue battles to clear the city from ISIS militants.
Hundreds of thousands fled homes to refugee camps, but other remain stranded in suffering under the extremist group’s hold, with many reportedly kept as potential human shields against Iraqi government and tribal troops currently in battles to drive the group out of Iraq.
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Al-Hashd al-Shaabi Command in Anbar province announced on Thursday, that the Islamic State extremist group (ISIS) executed 10 persons, including police officers, by firing squad in central Anah district, west of Anbar.
Commander of al-Hashd al-Shaabi in Baghdadi district, Sheikh Qatari al-Samarmad, said in a press statement, “Members of the Islamic State executed 10 persons, including four police officers, by firing squad, in central the district of Anah, as well as preventing the families from approaching the bodies of their relatives.”
“The heavy losses that were inflicted on the ISIS members in Anbar and Mosul, made them execute civilians and security members, who were abducted by the group during the last three years,” Samarmad added.
“Security forces and tribal fighters are approaching the ISIS-held areas, and preparing to liberate it,” Samarmad said.
Security forces liberated the majority of areas and cities of Anbar from the ISIS control in early 2016, in addition to preparing and securing those area for the return of displaced people.
(Reuters) The spiritual leader of Iraq’s Yazidis said his people need international help to recover from the worst atrocities they have suffered in more than a century and to reintegrate thousands of women who were enslaved by Islamic State.
Khurto Hajji Ismail, the Yazidi Baba Sheikh, or religious leader, said an edict he issued to reintegrate former captives has helped overcome traditional resistance to accepting back women who were raped or members who converted to another faith, even if it was under force.
Hundreds of women freed from captivity, either by escaping or in return for ransoms, have been baptized as Yazidis again in the spring that runs under temple of Lalesh, a ceremony that symbolized admission into the community.
“Baptism means that you are welcome,” Ismail said in an interview at his residence in Shikhan, in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq.
Islamic State enslaved thousands of Yazidi women and children when it overran parts of Iraq in 2014.
Thousands of captured men were killed in what a U.N. commission termed a genocide against the Yazidis, a religious community of 400,000 people who live mostly in the Sinjar mountain of northwestern Iraq, near the Syrian border. They speak Kurmanji, a Kurdish language.
Yazidis, whose beliefs combine elements of ancient Middle Eastern religions, are considered infidels by the hardline Sunni Islamists who declared a caliphate over parts of Syria and Iraq.
The militants have been retreating in both countries since last year and are now fighting off a U.S-backed offensive on their major city stronghold, Mosul, where some Yazidi captives are believed to be held. Many were also taken to Raqqa in Syria.
“We spoke with the French, with the Germans, with Washington, we went to Moscow,” said the Baba Sheikh, adding that it was up to the international community to find “the best way” to protect the Yazidis after Islamic State is defeated.
The Baba Sheikh published an edict in February 2015 that those rescued “remain pure Yazidis”, and calling on “everyone to cooperate so that the victims can return to their normal lives and integrate into society.”
However, more than 3,500 remain in captivity, said Hussein Alqaidi, the director of the Kidnapped Affairs department at the Kurdistan Regional Government, the Kurdish self-rule administration in northern Iraq.
A “network of good people”, active in the Islamic State-held region, is helping secure the release of the captives, he told Reuters. He declined to give details of how they operate, but some released captives say ransoms were paid for their freedom.
“The financial aspect is very important, but there are also operations to bring them back by telling them to go to a certain location, and we rescue them from there,” Alqaidi said.
Nearly 2,800 were freed, of which more than 1,030 are women, 1,450 children and 300 men, Alqaidi said.
A former captive, Warida Haji Hameed, said she was freed with her four children after $35,000, or $7,000 for each person, was paid to her captor in Raqqa.
The 27-year-old woman is among those who went to the temple of Lalesh to be baptized again after her forced conversion to Islam. She was released about a year ago and now lives in a camp near the Kurdish city of Duhok.
“We were so happy at the baptism,” she said. “We prayed for those still missing and for my husband,” who was kidnapped at the same time as the rest of the family.
But Heloua Hussein, another ex-captive, said she cannot afford to make the trip to Lalesh. “We have nothing, no heating fuel, no food,” said the 44-year-old, who lives in a construction site in Dohuk with two other Yazidi families.
“The community has in general welcomed them back with love and consideration, and many got married with Yazidi expatriates in Europe,” said Saib Khidir, a Yazidi lawyer and human rights activist in Baghdad.
“But still, the level of violence inflicted on them is such that they need special care and special therapy that unfortunately the local governments are not providing.”
[ARA News] Aleppo – Radical group of the Islamic State (ISIS) on Thursday executed a young Syrian man by throwing him from the top of a building on charges of being gay.
The victim was arrested by the ISIS-led Islamic Police, also known as Diwan al-Hisba, in the Maskana district east of Aleppo under the pretext that he was “a homosexual”.
“The young man was brutally thrown from the top of a building in front of hundreds of people in central Maskana,” local media activist Issa Battal told ARA News.
ISIS has also released a videotape showing the man’s execution by a masked militant.
“Those who dare to oppose and violate Allah’s Sharia and the Caliphate’s rules deserve merciless punishment,” an ISIS jihadist said in a statement to the crowd that gathered to witness the execution.
The ISIS-linked Sharia Court had issued a decision to execute every gay man by throwing him from the top of a building, according to local sources.
Over the past three years, the extremist group has executed dozens of allegedly gay men in its areas of control in Syria and Iraq.
“Islamic State militants have been carrying out brutal atrocities against civilians, punishing people on baseless charges only to show off their power over unarmed, peaceful civilians,” human rights activist Muzaffar al-Berro told ARA News. “Apparently the group won’t stop such atrocities as long as it controls towns and villages across Syria and governs the people of those areas.”
UNITED NATIONS: The UN is scrambling to find enough land to shelter those displaced by the fighting to retake Mosul from the Daesh group as humanitarians brace for the exodus of as many as 700,000 people from the city, an official said Wednesday.
Bruno Geddo, the UN’s top humanitarian official in Iraq, told The Associated Press that there is currently enough space in camps for 180,000 people.
“That is the thing that makes us somehow sleepless at night. You cannot be complacent when you still one million people inside the city. It is bound sooner or later that you may have tens of thousands of people who come out in flash outflow,” he exlained.
Geddo said he and his colleagues were haunted by the memory of Fallujah where some 65,000 people fled the city over three days during an operation to retake the city from IS in June, quickly overwhelming humanitarian efforts.
He says the UN has learned from that experience and that so far he was pleased that Iraqi forces appeared to be doing their utmost to avoid civilian casualties. The downside of protecting civilians, however, is that slows down operation just as winter is approaching and the prices of water of and fuel are skyrocketing.
“In the end, the choice is theirs. It is a very stark choice.
They may be hit by a land mine or a sniper, ISIS has a policy of killing anybody trying to flee. They may be caught in the crossfire, but if they stay they may also be reached by rockets and otherwise they may be facing penury over the full winter,” Geddo said, using an acronym to refer to the Daesh group.
As of Tuesday, some 82,000 people have fled the city since the military offensive began on Oct. 17, Geddo said, adding that 81 percent of them are currently in camps some 40-80 miles outside the city.
In order to solve the problem, he said, the UN is now considering building camps closer to the city which has the advantage of allowing displaced people to simply walk in.
“Because the camp capacity has now more or less reached its limit, we are now planning to use the fact that the front lines have gotten closer to the city to try and build camps much closer to the city so in the event of a mass outflow, these camps would act as buffers,” Geddo said.
Much of the land around Mosul is contaminated with unexploded ordinance and other detritus of war. In other areas, local communities are likely to violently reject the displaced for being Sunni Muslims. And then other potential areas hold mass graves, which make them unsuitable out of respect for the dead, Geddo said.
Another problem is a lack of funding as the UN has so far received only about half of the $284 million it estimates it needs to deal with the people displaced by the operation.
[al-Manar] Iraqi civilians who escaped ISIL control in Mosul said that the group’s terrorists obliged them to pay money in return for offering them a safe exit from the city where the national army and the mobilization force have been battling the takfiri gunmen since mid October.
The recent method to obtain funds followed by ISIL indicates that the terrorist group has almost reached bankruptcy as the Iraqi forces tightened the noose around its militants in the northern city.
Foreign Policy magazine mentioned that the smuggler who moved the civilians to the city’s outskirts forced them to pay $200 thousand for every person whose age is above 12 years despite the miserable economic situations that the Iraqis suffer from.
The Iraqi army and the Mobilization forces have been striking ISIL terrorist group for several weeks, achieving remarkable field progress by regaining scores of towns and inflicting heavy losses upon the militants.
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12/09/2016
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After Tuesday’s euphoric victory celebrations, those Bunyan Marsous fighters who are not heading home, at least for some leave, have settled down to sorting through the wreckage of the former IS terrorist stronghold of Sirte.
There are different figures for the number of bodies, including women and children, found among former terrorist positions. The Red Crescent said that it had identified 230 corpses that were clearly those of terrorist fighters. It has also discovered 36 other bodies. Some of these were in an advanced state of decay, suggesting that they had been dead for some time.
However the BM operations room has said that 483 bodies had been recovered. The discrepancy may be explained in part because engineers are still combing buildings for mines and booby traps. These men might have found more dead in areas which are still closed off to the Red Crescent teams.
It has become clear that in the final hours of the eight month battle, individual BM fighters were still prepared to run the proven danger of female suicide bombers by bringing civilians to safety, sometimes running in view of the enemy, carrying terrified children and babies. One picture shows a man holding up his hands to his comrades begging them not to fire as he leads a black-garbed woman out of the rubble. The woman’s face is uncovered, showing that she is gaunt and distraught. Some 100 women and children are reported to have been discovered in the final three days of fighting.
It remains unclear how many IS men were captured alive. Numbers range between seven and twenty. There was a report on Wednesday that a wounded terrorist blew himself up as he was approached. None of the BM men who had found him was injured.
Presidency Council chairman Faeiz Serraj called a meeting of BM commanders yesterday where he congratulated them on their victory.
Attention now turns to Sirte’s population, once 90,000 strong, and their return to their shattered town. Large areas have suffered substantial damage and the Ghiza district where the terrorists made their final stand is utterly destroyed.
UNSMIL and the international community have been pressing the PC for an immediate start on rebuilding both Sirte and those districts of Benghazi also devastated in anti-terrorist fighting. Given its current lack of funds even for state salaries, this may be difficult for the Serraj government to do. Besides, one de-miner heading to the area commented earlier this week that the town and its surrounding area could take many months to be clear of unexploded ordinance.
Posted by: badanov ||
12/09/2016
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Because tossing an anvil to a drowning man is a really clever way to save him.
[AlAhram] The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... 's executive said on Thursday that member states should be allowed to send some asylum-seekers back to Greece from mid-March, in a step Brussels hopes will help restore the bloc's migration policies, which collapsed under a mass influx last year.
Under EU rules, the first country of entry is responsible for handling an asylum claim, but that system broke down last year in Greece, the main gateway to Europe for more than a million refugees and migrants colonists.
Unable to cope, Greece let many of them pass through on their own to Germany and other wealthy EU states in defiance of the bloc's rules. That led countries along the route gradually to close their borders, stranding many in Greece, which struggled to offer them proper shelter.
The European Commission on Thursday said Greece has improved in hosting and registering arriving asylum-seekers.
It recommended that EU states be allowed to send back to Greece asylum-seekers who enter the bloc that way and make it deeper into Europe from mid-March onwards. The recommendation does not apply to those who have already made that journey.
"This will provide further disincentives against irregular entry and secondary movements, and is an important step for the return to a normally functioning ... system," the Commission's deputy head, Frans Timmermans.
The bloc's asylum policy and its zone of internal free travel both collapsed last year as an uncontrolled flow of migrants colonists and refugees triggered bitter disputes between EU states on how to handle them.
These disputes remain unresolved and more than 62,000 people are still in Greece, even though an EU agreement with The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... in March reduced the arrivals to a trickle.
The failure is in large part due to reluctance by EU states to take in people from Greece and Italia to help process their asylum requests and ease the burden on the two frontline states.
So far, fewer than 8,200 people have been moved from these two Mediterranean countries to other EU states under a plan that was supposed to cover 160,000 people and which expires next September. The Commission called on EU states to step up.
"Our aim is to relocate all those in Italia and Greece who are eligible for relocation within the next year," said the bloc's migration chief, Dimitris Avramopoulos.
Brussels put additional conditions on returning people beyond March, saying Greece should give individual assurances of fair treatment for any returnees and that unaccompanied children not be sent back at all.
Obligatory quotas on refugees are now the focus of a tug of war between EU states seeking to reform their troubled common asylum rules.
The Commission said arrivals from Turkey to Greece stood at an average of 92 people a day since March, compared to thousands that were making at times making it in a single day before the deal with Ankara. It said 1,187 people have been deported from Greece to Turkey since March 2016.
Under the deal with Turkey, which looks fragile now due to a breakdown in ties following Ankara's crackdown in the wake of a botched military coup in July, Brussels also said it had spent 677 million euros of the 3 billion promised to help Syrian refugees living on Turkish soil.
GENEVA/BEIRUT: Syria’s Army on Thursday halted its attacks in Aleppo to allow trapped civilians to be evacuated, Russia’s foreign minister announced, after advancing regime forces cornered opposition fighters in the city.
“I can tell you that today combat operations by the Syrian Army have been halted in eastern Aleppo because there is a large operation underway to evacuate civilians,” said Sergei Lavrov, who held talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry in the German city of Hamburg.
“There is going to be a column of 8,000 evacuees” traveling five km, added Lavrov, attending a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said that Lavrov’s announcement was “an indication that something positive could happen.”
There was no immediate reaction from Damascus, but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, confirmed that the fighting had eased.
Airstrikes halted and artillery fire was far less intense, according to the AFP correspondent in east Aleppo.
More than 800 people have been killed and 3,000-3,500 wounded in besieged eastern Aleppo in the past 26 days, while the remaining trapped civilians await an effective death sentence, the president of the Aleppo local council said on Thursday.
“Today 150,000 people are threatened with extermination. We are calling for a halt to the bombing and guarantees of safe passage of all,” Brita Haji Hassan said during a trip to Geneva, where he will meet UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura on Monday.
Tawfik Chamaa, a representative of the Union of Syrian Medical Relief Organisations (UOSSM), said 1,500 people needed medical evacuation, but any evacuation should have international observers to prevent them being “executed or diverted on the way to hospital.”
Separately, Britain’s head of foreign intelligence service MI6 said on Thursday his country faces an “unprecedented” terror threat that will not subside until the Syrian civil war ends.
In a rare speech for an intelligence chief, Alex Younger said British authorities had foiled 12 terrorist plots since June 2013 and warned that the “murderously efficient” Daesh was still plotting attacks from Syria, despite recent military reverses.
“The plight of the Syrians continues to worsen. I cannot say with any certainty what the next year will bring,” Younger told journalists in his first public comments since taking up the post of “C” in 2014.
“But what I do know is this — we cannot be safe from the threats that emanate from that land unless the civil war is brought to an end.
“We need to take the fight to the enemy, penetrating terrorist organizations upstream,” he added. “By that I mean as close to the source as possible.”
Younger criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for propping up Syrian tyrant Bashar Assad and warned that “hybrid warfare,” incorporating cyber-attacks and propaganda, was an “increasingly dangerous phenomenon” that posed a “fundamental threat” to Western democracies
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The ballot to elect 11 new federal lawmakers for the Lower House chamber seats allocated to the clans hailing from Somaliland has been postponed to Saturday (10th December, 2016).
Koshin Abdi Hashi, the chairman of the electoral commission of northern regions election has confirmed the postponement of the parliamentary election to Radio Shabelle over the phone. Hashi gave no reason for the delay, but he said the elders are busy with resolving internal disputes among the candidates and the electoral delegates.
"Reach for the sky, ya varmint!"
The elders have recently lodged a complaint letter to the country’s electoral commission, and demanded the current election venue to be moved to Halane, AMISOM headwaters in the airport.
On Tuesday, the Lower House election for 46 seats that will represent Somaliland in the forthcoming federal parliament has kicked off at the Police Transport HQ in Mogadishu. So far, 6 MPs from Somaliland were elected in the first election held in Mogadishu on Tuesday, and the remaining 40 seats are expected to be elected in the coming days.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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[AnNahar] Europe's border agency Frontex on Wednesday announced the launch of a rapid response unit to be deployed to the EU rim to cope with migration emergencies.
The "rapid reaction pool" will comprise 1,500 guards, including finger-scanning and nationality screening experts, Frontex said in an online statement.
The Warsaw-based EU agency described the new move as "a significant milestone in the development of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency", which was only created in October.
"Today we have gained a powerful tool that will allow Frontex to assist member states and together deal with emergencies at EU's external borders much more quickly and efficiently," said Frontex executive director Fabrice Leggeri.
The new officers will be provided by EU member states and Schengen associated countries.
"In a crisis situation, they will be put at the immediate disposal of Frontex, which can deploy them within five working days," the agency added.
Those officers will boost the existing 1,200 Frontex personnel deployed on the EU's external borders helping member states register and identify migrants colonists.
Member states have also agreed to make available technical equipment including vehicles, vessels and aircraft.
Germany currently provides the most officers to Frontex with 225, while La Belle France (170), Italia (125), Spain (111) and Poland (100) are also heavily involved.
#2
...The only problem with this is that the EU has a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong history of creating "special" units/forces/groups/mobs of random bureaucrats that either A)never seem to actually GET formed, B)get funded, or C) get used. Let us know how it works out, 'kay?
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/09/2016 5:51
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#3
Yep, Mike.
When minutes count the EU is only days away. This sounds like a CF from the start.
Any definition about what would constitute a crisis?
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) The casualty toll from a Wednesday airstrike on Anbar’s town of al-Qaem has reached 230, according to a local official.
The catastrophic strike, which reportedly caused the death of whole families at a market area, presumably by mistake, has drawn condemnation by Iraqi politicians who called for an investigation to identify the military party to which the jets belonged.
US-led international air forces and Iraqi air forces have been launching airstrikes targeting locations held by Islamic State militants across Iraq since last October, including Anbar.
Iraqi military officials remain mum on the identity of the fighter jets, and a spokesperson of the US-led coalition denied links to the strike.
But on Thursday, Anbar council member, Farhan al-Ebeidi, said bluntly that “Iraqi army fighter jets” were behind the strike, putting the toll at 130 deaths and 100 injuries.
“It is impossible to accurately figure out what is going on in the precinct since Daesh (ISIS) have cut all means of communication in the western regions of the province,” Ebeidi was quoted as saying by AlMada Press. He added that what he described as the “dangerous humanitarian conditions” at those regions requires to “clear them from ISIS militants more rapidly and to stop haphazard strikes.”
Also on Wednesday, parliament speaker Salim al-Jabbouri, and Anbar council spokesperson Eid Ammas, held the Iraqi government fully responsible for the calamity.
Combined arms actions leave 7 ISIS Bad Guys dead
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Seven Islamic State (ISIS) members were killed Thursday by international coalition airstrikes and gunmen in two separate incidents in the town of al-Qaem, Anbar.
The army’s Anbar Operations commander, Maj. Gen. Ismail al-Mahalawi, said three ISIS militants were killed south of Qaem in an airstrike by US-led international coalition jets, which also destroyed two heavy gun-supplied vehicles.
Mahlawi said his forces remain in waiting for orders to commence operations targeting to clear ISIS’s last strongholds in western Anbar: Qaem, Annah and Rawa.
The airstrike in Qaem comes hours after Iraqi fighter jets mistakenly killed 130 civilians in a marketplace in the town on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a security source told AlMada Press that unknown gunmen killed four ISIS militants in central Qaem. The attackers, using light weapons, assaulted a gathering of ISIS members near the taxation department, killing four, seizing their equipment, raising the Iraqi flag and fleeing to an unknown destination.
“Group members prevented civilians from approaching the attack’s scene and went on to search for the perpetrators,” the source said, on condition of anonymity. “The past few days have seen armed attacks by unknown elements against ISIS in the western regions, including Qem, Annah and Rawa, leaving tens of group deaths”.
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Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) Commander of Samarra Operations, Major General Emad al-Zuhairi announced on Thursday killing three suicide bombers in an ambush set by security forces, in southern the province of Salahuddin.
Zuhairi said in a press statement, “Security forces set, at afternoon today, an ambush on the road linking between al-Daur district and Samarra, in southern Salahuddin, and managed through it to kill three suicide bombers, as well as burning their vehicle.”
“The suicide bombers were coming from al-Daur toward the district,” Zuhairi added.
Salahuddin Province witnessed significant security development, where security forces managed to liberate its key cities.
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A former commander of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Fazal Saeed Haqqani, was killed by his own bodyguard on Thursday in the Sara-i-Gorgha area of Lower Kurram Agency, said security sources.
Security sources claimed that Idrees, a personal security guard of Haqqani, killed the commander and another guard.
They added that Idrees was associated with Haqqani for the past three years.
Haqqani, once considered a highly active commander of the TTP, had formed his own faction after a split emerged in the TTP.
The former head of TTP in the Kurram tribal region had accused TTP's top leadership of killing his commanders and innocent people, and also accused them of being involved in kidnapping for ransom
He was said to be involved in various terrorists attacks in Upper and Lower Kurram agencies.
[al-Manar] The Rocketry Forces of the Yemeni army and popular committees shelled on Thursday al-Hajir Saudi military bases in Asir, according to media reports.
The shelling sparked huge explosions and fire at the base.
The forces also shelled other enemy Saudi military bases in Misyal, Thuwaylah headquarters, inflicting direct losses in their lives and equipment.
The Yemeni army and popular committees also bombarded the Saudi military posts in Jizan, inflicting heavy losses upon them.
Yemen has been since March 26, 2015 under brutal aggression by Saudi-led coalition.
Thousands have been martyred and injured in the attack, with the vast majority of them are civilians.
Riyadh launched the attack on Yemen in a bid to restore power to fugitive ex-president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi who is a close ally to Saudi Arabia.
[Daily Caller] An "aging white population [is] speeding [up] diversity," blared a headline on The Hill.
Once again, a Fake News outlet has confused cause and effect, giving readers the impression that the two trends--whites dying-out and minorities thriving--are spontaneous and strictly parallel.
The reverse is likely true. Corrected, The Hill headline should read:
Could speeding up diversity contribute to a decline in the white population?
We learn that "there are growing signs that the rate of change is increasing." Well of course. America welcomes well over 1 million, mostly non-white, immigrants a year.
If white lives mattered at all to the liberal establishment, an inquiry would ensue: Is it possibility that an enormous influx of legal and illegal migrants over decades is playing a role in the decline of America’s founding population? (A similar, sad fate was visited on their predecessors, the Amerindians.)
On the one hand, we have the drastic decline of America’s white population; on the other, a massive inpouring of minority immigrants, since 1965. A correlation between the two makes sense. A large, well-controlled national survey, conducted by Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam, found that diversity immiserates and that the historic population is most affected. Perhaps protracted misery (associated with loss of community) hastens death.
[IsraelTimes] Suspected ringleader behind the group already serving life sentence for murder, planning similar attacks.
Israeli security forces broke up a Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", terror cell that was plotting to kidnap IDF soldiers in the Hebron
...a.k.a. Hamas central in the West Bank...
area in October, officials said Thursday.
Seven members of the cell were tossed in the calaboose Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! throughout the month of October, and a number of assault rifles and pistols were also found and confiscated, the Shin Bet security service said.
The alleged criminal mastermind of the cell, Ibrahaim Abdallah Ghnimat, is accused of planning the kidnapping operations from a prison cell, as he is currently serving a life sentence for his role in a slew of terror attacks in the 1990s, including the kidnapping and murder of an IDF soldier, Sharon Edri.
According to the Shin Bet, the cell had planned to carry out shooting attacks along with the kidnappings, whose purpose was "to bargain for the release of prisoners."
How selfless.
In preparation for those attacks, the members of the cell scoped out the movement of IDF soldiers near Surif, north of Hebron, with the intent of eventually kidnapping one them, the Shin Bet said.
Officers located two Kalashnikov rifles, two M-16 assault rifles and three pistols, along with matching ammunition and magazines, the security service said. Knives, swords and billy clubs were also seized based on information gleaned from the suspects’ testimonies.
Not like that last lot, who had to share a pistol and a dozen bullets between them.
"The discovery of this cell points to the high motivation of Hamas operatives, both in the field and in prison, to carry out serious attacks, including shootings and kidnappings," the Shin Bet said in a statement.
Ghnimat was first arrested in 2005, nearly 10 years after the kidnapping and murder of Edri. He received a life sentence, but in 2014, while still in prison, was found guilty of planning to kidnap another IDF soldier, in an attack that was thwarted by security forces, and sentenced to an additional four years.
One wonders how much will be tacked on this time, if four years did not deter him...
The other cell members, many of them relatives of Ghnimat, come from the Hebron area.
The family that terrorizes together...
Ghnimat’s sons Fadi and Shadi were arrested in Surif, along with his son-in-law Mahmad Mahmoud Ghnimat.
Rami Rajoub, a resident of Dura, was arrested for having helped Ghnimat plan a kidnapping attack when the two of them were in prison together, the Shin Bet said.
Hitham Na’im Hamidan, from nearby Jaba, was arrested for helping the cell hide its weapons, and Jad Sultan, from Hebron, was arrested for selling some of the guns to the terror cell, the agency said.
During their interrogations, they told Sherlocks they had prepared for their terror attacks by monitoring IDF troops in the Surif area, the Shin Bet said.
The suspects were arrested throughout the course of October, but details of the case were initially suppressed by a gag order.
The Shin Bet has concluded its interrogations of the suspects, the agency said, and indictments are expected to be filed in the coming days.
A high-ranking Russian officer, Col. Ruslan Galitsky, who was accused of commanding pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, has been killed in Aleppo, Syria. Russian President Vladimir Putin personally confirmed the colonel’s death.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday that Galitsky had been killed, and Putin subsequently said that Galitsky had suffered fatal wounds when a Russian military field hospital in Aleppo’s al-Furqan neighborhood was shelled on Monday. A Russian military doctor and a nurse reportedly were killed in the same attack.
According to the state-owned RIA Novosti news agency, Galitsky was acting as a military adviser to the Syrian regime, which has made a rapid three-week advance—with the help of Russian air power and Iranian-sponsored Shia proxy forces—through about 75 percent of East Aleppo.
Vladimir Kuzmin, head of the Saint Petersburg branch of the Officers of Russia veterans’ organization, told the independent Fontanka newspaper that Galitsky had been due to be promoted to the rank of Major-General as soon as December 12.
Suspected militants on Thursday shot dead a Hazara man in Quetta's Satellite town area, said police officials.
"Gunmen opened fire at a wielding shop, killing one Hazara man," said a police official.
The deceased was later identified as Ali Khan Hazara.
The assailants escaped from the scene of the incident.
Police and personnel of other law enforcement agencies (LEAs) reached the spot and started initial investigation into the incident.
Officials have termed the incident as an act of targeted killing.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the killing. The dead body was shifted to hospital for postmortem.
Balochistan has been experiencing incident violence and targeted killings since more than a decade. More than 1,400 incidents targeting the minority Shia and Hazara community have taken place in the province during the past 15 years.
While sectarian terrorism in Balochistan has disproportionately targeted the Hazara community, easily identifiable because of their distinctive physical appearance, other Shias — especially pilgrims travelling to and from Iran — have not been spared either.
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.
Facebook revealed that it has been miscalculating more of its viewership metrics for advertisers in a blog post on Friday.
AT LEAST six people have been killed in a bomb attack on a road leading to the Great Pyramid of Giza - a tourist attraction popular with British holidaymakers.
[SP] In an interview aired Wednesday on CNN, President Obama described how he thinks people may view him differently than other presidents because of his race.
[GP] It’s official ‐ The ’TRUMP STOCK MARKET RALLY’ continues to shatter the record books. As a matter of fact, what we have seen since President-Elect Donald Trump won the Presidential election on November 8th, has never occurred before.
Remembering August 1981 and the "Professional" Air Traffic Controllers (PATCO) strike. 
[Breitbart] LONDON (Reuters) ‐ Islamic State militants are using turmoil sown by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bombing in Syria to plot attacks against the United Kingdom and her allies, Britain’s foreign intelligence chief said on Thursday.
[ABC7NY] President-elect 
Turkey is sending 300 more troops to northern Syria to reinforce an operation aimed at pushing Islamic State fighters away from its southern border, Reuters reported.
[INDIA] Abu Dujana, chief of Lashkar-e-Taiba in Kashmir, is believed to be trapped by security forces in Kulgam. An operation is underway in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam where security forces are trying to capture dreaded militant Abu Dujana. There are unconfirmed reports that Abu Dujana has been killed. It was also reported that locals clashed with security forces when they were trying to capture Abu Dujana.
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] Jennifer Palmieri is refusing to back down from her claim that 
Has it not been said... "this will be a very long struggle?" If you are victorious and destroy all of the terrorists, what crisis will there be, what motivation will future generations have to fund the complex ?
Foreign warplanes, thought to be belonging 
[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] President-elect Trump has spent the month since his election victory engaging in some distinctly presidential-style behavior, including engaging with businesses on behalf of the American people, conducting a bit of foreign policy, and delivering sweeping public addresses -- all before he holds the authority of the presidency.
... the charismatic senator-for-life from Nevada, currently majority leader ...
The new officers will be provided by EU member states and Schengen associated countries.
[WGME] It's an unlikely friendship at a zoo right here in Maine, a horse and a camel.
A former commander of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Fazal Saeed Haqqani, was killed by his own bodyguard on Thursday in the Sara-i-Gorgha area of Lower Kurram Agency, said security sources.
[al-Manar] The Rocketry Forces of the Yemeni army and popular committees shelled on Thursday al-Hajir Saudi military bases in Asir, according to media reports.
