The Obama administration may be trying to use the al-Qaida terror attacks on U.S. operations in Benghazi, Libya, to advance a growing global movement to protect Islam from criticism, according to one expert.
The issue is the defamation of religions resolution pending at the United Nations. It was introduced by Islamic nations and coalitions to criminalize any negative reference to Islam or Muslims.
Clare Lopez, a strategic policy and intelligence expert with a focus on the Middle East, national defense, WMD, and counterterrorism, said that after the attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others, the Obama administration made an impromptu decision to advance the Islamic agenda item it already had endorsed.
The Obama administration, and especially the Department of State led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, are coordinating closely with the [Organization of the Islamic Conference] to achieve implementation of U.N. Human Rights Commission Resolution 16/18, which despite some cosmetic wording changes, remains the vehicle through which the OIC is determined to work toward the criminalization of the criticism of Islam in U.S. law, she said.
She also has specific areas of expertise in Iraq and Iran, having spent 20 years with the CIA. Now a private consultant, she is vice president of The Intelligence Summit and is professor at the Center for Counterintelligence and Security Studies.
SEN. RAND PAUL: I have yet another thought on how we can fix this. Why don't we let the Democrats pass whatever they want? If they are the party of higher taxes, all the Republicans vote present and let the Democrats raise taxes as high as they want to raise them, let Democrats in the Senate raise taxes, let the president sign it and then make them own the tax increase. And when the economy stalls, when the economy sputters, when people lose their jobs, they know which party to blame, the party of high taxes. Let's don't be the party of just almost as high taxes.
LARRY KUDLOW, CNBC: Some people have called that the doomsday scenario. Others have said, 'Look, it's a strategic retreat on the Republicans' behalf.' WWould you vote present for that in the Senate if that came up?
RAND PAUL: Yes, I don't think we have to in the Senate. In the House, they have to because the Democrats don't have the majority. In the Senate, I'm happy not to filibuster it, and I will announce tonight on your show that I will work with Harry Reid to let him pass his big old tax hike with a simple majority if that's what Harry Reid wants, because then they will become the party of high taxes and they can own it.
The MSM and WH will begin to blame the tax hikes all on the Pubs. The 'low information voters', plus the other usual entitlement subjects, will only see that the GOP raised taxes. The recollection of the actual guilty characters in this charade will quickly exit down the memory hole. Two years is a long time and rememberin' be tough.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
12/06/2012 22:26
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Because of the bias in reporting, the cliff will be the Republicans fault, and so would tax hikes.
The GOP gets screwed either way due to our press no longer being a reporting operation, but instead they have become an advocacy/propaganda operation. Sad to say, we are more likely to find critical truths in Pravda than we are in the NY Times and NBC News.
Unexpectedly!
Constructing the new Department of Homeland Security headquarters will cost $600 million more than originally expected and take six years longer to complete, according to the department's latest estimates.
The initial plan called for $3.45 billion to consolidate DHS operations on the site of the former St. Elizabeths Hospital campus in southeast Washington by the end of fiscal 2016. Ironically - perhaps - that's the site of the old looney bin.
But delays caused by congressional budget cuts have driven the cost of the project up to $4.06 billion and will drag completion out to fiscal 2022, according to the estimates. The department originally planned to relocate more than 14,000 workers from more than 180 offices and reduce its leased offices in the Washington area to fewer than 12 by fiscal 2016.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/06/2012
15:53 ||
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#1
That's is what happens when a new agency is created (new under GW)! It is not apparent yet the right hand knows what the left hand is doing because this agency was created.
#1
Keep thinking those happy thoughts, Tyler. I, too, was disappointed with Mitt Romney. Gingrich and Perry gave it their best shots but Romney ran the best campaign in the primaries. I didn't see anybody else. Ron Paul? Sorry. Not viable. Too old. Too kooky. Not enough testosterone. So in November, in the absence of a third party with viable candidates, I was left to choose between voting for Mitt or staying home. I voted for Mitt. Staying home doesn't accomplish anything.
#2
The question I've seen raised in the past few days is how the Democrats will fare once Barack Obama is no longer their candidate. After all, their previous two candidates -- Al Gore and John F. Kerry -- lost against George W. Bush, who was no Ronald Reagan. And certainly the Democrat's next candidate isn't likely to be groundbreaking, so he or she will have to run on his/her actual record, not the nobility of casting one's vote in his direction.
#3
The Mensheviks helped overthrow the Tsar, then got wiped out by the Bolsheviks, so why the surprise about RINOS + Fascists-for-Communism + Nationalists by the DemoLeft + Commies + Globalists???
The National Socialists by the Global Socialists???
#4
An unhappy divorce is definitely in the works between the Secular-happy Commies + Islamo-Socialists, + its not clear iff the former will be able to survive.
Made a deal wid the Devil but forgot that the Devil is Lord over his dominion/domain.
Afghan intelligence chief Asadullah Khalid has been wounded in a suspected suicide bombing in Kabul. The National Directorate of Security (NDS) head was injured in his lower body by the blast, interior ministry officials told the BBC.
The explosion took place in the Taymeni area of central Kabul. The Taliban said they carried out the attack.
An intelligence official said the bombing took place in one of many guesthouses used by Mr Khalid. Another intelligence official told the BBC that Mr Khalid was "safe" but did not elaborate on his condition.
However, a Western diplomat told the AFP news agency that he had been seriously wounded. Afghan officials also told AFP that he was now in hospital receiving blood transfusions.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai described the attack as "a cowardly act of terrorism".
He said that Mr Khalid is being operated on and doctors had told him that the intelligence chief "is doing well".
The attack is similar to a suicide bombing in September 2011 that killed the chairman of the Afghan High Peace Council, Burhanuddin Rabbani, officials say.
A Bosnian court on Thursday sentenced an Islamist who opened fire at the US embassy in Sarajevo last year to 18 years in prison.
"Mevlid Jasarevic committed a terrorist act by shooting 105 bullets over 50 minutes towards the American embassy," judge Branko Peric said. "This court sentences him to 18 years in prison."
Jasarevic opened fire on the embassy in October 2011 with an automatic weapon before being shot by police and arrested. One police officer was injured in the attack.
"Jasarevic wanted to express his dissatisfaction with the position of Muslims in Bosnia and the world," the judge said.
The court rejected the charges that Jasarevic had organised a terrorist group but the sentence was the heaviest ever handed out by the Bosnian judiciary on terrorism charges.
The court acquitted his two co-accused, Emrah Fojnica and Munib Ahmetspahic, charged with helping him prepare the October 28 attack and later covering up evidence.
The three defendants were not in court when the verdict was announced.
"We are satisfied with the sentence given to Mevlid Jasarevic as it is almost the maximum one for the act of terrorism," the prosecutor's spokeswoman Selma Hecimovic said.
"However, we will lodge an appeal for the part of the verdict acquitting Emrah Fojnica and Munib Ahmetspahic because we consider that they had helped Jasarevic to commit the terrorist act," Hecimovic told AFP.
#1
The writer describes the MB as having two components, when it's actually three. The third being technocrats (like Morsi) doctors, lawyers, educators, etc. It's this third group that the White House and the Western powers in general are so infatuated with.
#3
I believe most countries have a level of technocrats that our own elites fall in love with and assume speak for the entire country. Usually they are wrong about that.
[ToloNews] Egypt's army deployed tanks outside the presidential palace on Thursday after five demonstrators died overnight and 350 were wounded in festivities between supporters and opponents of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.
Morsi was expected to issue a statement on Thursday to address the worst violence since his June election, which has pitted Islamists against an opposition that has escalated protests since he assumed extensive powers on November 22.
Running street battles that carried on through the night outside the Itihadiya palace in northern Cairo also left 350 people maimed, many from buckshot, the official MENA news agency reported.
The opposition has said it would organise further marches to the palace as a top presidential aide accused them of coordinating with loyalists of deposed dictator Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
No doubt. Both would naturally disagree with the Moslem Brüderbund's plans of caliphate.
Morsi is expected to "reveal that facts and call for a dialogue," the head of his office Refaa Al-Tahtawy told the official Al-Akbar newspaper.
Did Morsi move back into the palace or is he still on an official state visit to Mauritania?
The stage was set for Wednesday's violence when Morsi's Moslem Brüderbund movement announced a march to the palace, where opposition protesters were staging a sit-in a day after tens of thousands surrounded the sprawling complex.
The stage is set. The Fates take their places, one at the loom to weave the fabric of the clash, one with her scissors to cut the life threads of those who will die this day and the days to come.
The protesters threw fire bombs and rocks at each other on Wednesday as their simmering stand-off over the president's expanded powers and a draft constitution turned violent.
Bloodied protesters were seen carried away as gunshots rang out and the rivals torched cars and set off fire crackers near the palace, where opponents of Morsi had set up tents before his supporters drove them away.
Riot police were eventually sent in to thump whoever got in the way break up the violence, but festivities still took place in side streets near the palace in the upscale neighbourhood of Heliopolis. The opposition says it will not stand down until Morsi discards his new powers, which allow him to take decisions uncontested by courts, and cancel a snap December 15 referendum on a new constitution opposed by liberals and Christians.
In the early hours of Thursday, gunshots rang out intermittently and sporadic violence continued, an AFP correspondent said. Later in the morning, a few hundred Morsi supporters remained outside the palace. The opposition protesters had left the scene.
The overnight violence had also spread beyond the capital, with protesters torching the offices of the powerful Moslem Brüderbund in the Mediterranean port city of Ismailiya and in Suez, witnesses said.
Sobhi Saleh, a Brotherhood official and member of the constituent assembly -- the body that drafted the controversial charter -- was attacked and beaten by opposition protesters in the northern city of Alexandria, MENA reported.
The Brotherhood urged protesters on both sides to withdraw, as did Prime Minister Hisham Qandil.
"You guys should let us win so as to avoid civil war."
"It's a civil war that will burn all of us," said Ahmed Fahmy, 27, as the festivities raged behind him.
"They (Islamists) attacked us, broke up our tents, and I was beaten up," said Eman Ahmed, 47. "They accused us of being traitors."
Activists among the Islamist marchers harassed television news crews, trying to prevent them from working, AFP news hounds said.
If it's not reported live in television, it didn't happen.
Wael Ali, a 40-year-old Morsi supporter with a long beard, said: "I'm here to defend democracy. The president was elected by the ballot box."
One man, one vote, one time.
The United States called for an open and "democratic dialogue".
Sure, Egypt has had a lot of that lately .. and in the past...
"The upheaval we are seeing... indicates that dialogue is urgently needed. It needs to be two-way," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as The Heroine of Tuzla and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Edward Stettinius, Jr. ... said in comments echoed by Britannia and the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... Despite the protests , Vice President Mahmud Mekki said a referendum on the charter "will go ahead on time" as planned on December 15.
The opposition would be allowed to put any objections they have to articles of the draft constitution in writing, to be discussed by a parliament yet to be elected.
An interesting concept.
The written objections then will be sent to a forensics sub-committee of the parliament yet to be elected, so that the writers can be identified and arrested...
Prominent opposition leader and former United Nations ...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involves making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei Egyptian law scholar and Iranian catspaw. He was head of the IAEA from December 1997 to November 2009. At some point during his tenure he was purchased by the Iranians. ElBaradei and the IAEA were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for something in 2005. After stepping down from his IAEA position ElBaradei attempted to horn in on the 2011 Egyptian protests which culminated in the collapse of the Mubarak regime. ElBaradei served on the Board of Trustees of the International Crisis Group, a lefty NGO that is bankrolled by the Carnegie Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as George Soros' Open Society Institute. Soros himself serves as a member of the organization's Executive Committee.
said Morsi bore "full responsibility" for the violence.
Who would have thought that El-Baradei would emerge as a champion of democracy. Assuming that that's what he's doing, which I wouldn't assume at all...
He said the opposition was ready for dialogue but they would use "any means necessary" to scupper the charter, but stressed that these would be peaceful.
Meanwhile, ...back at the sandwich shop, Caroline was experimenting with ingredients of increasing volatility... three of Morsi's advisers resigned over the crisis, MENA reported, naming Amr al-Laythi, Seif Abdel Fattah and Ayman al-Sayyad.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/06/2012
07:43 ||
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#1
related to the story above, the head of the egypt constitution referendum committee resigned two days after being appointed
Morsi's actions have made his motivation transparent. He called for dictatorial power for two months to allow a constitution referendum, then he rushed the constitution writers to finish in 48 hours, then he set Dec 15 as the date for the referendum. This was obviously to avoid people seriously debating the terms of the constitution.
Heckava job Hillary
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/06/2012 8:00
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Science has proven that ______ cannot exist (choose only one)
A. Unicorns
B. Angels
C. Faster than light travel
D. Egyptian democracy
The Obama administration secretly gave its blessing to arms shipments to Libyan rebels from Qatar last year, but American officials later grew alarmed as evidence grew that Qatar was turning some of the weapons over to Islamic militants, according to United States officials and foreign diplomats.
Two Mexican military aviators were killed Wednesday morning in an Mexican Navy airplane crash in Baja California Sur, in Mexico, according to Mexican news accounts.
According to a news account posted on the website of Proceso news weekly, the men who died were identified as Mexican Navy Lieutenant Commander Adrisan Ignacio Gonzalez Vargas and Mexican Air Force Major Alfonso Barajas Jesus Verduzco. Both men were flight instructors.
According to the report, the two military men were on a training mission aboard a Moravan Zlin 242L single engine aircraft at about 1130 hrs when the aircraft crashed. The location of the crash was 36 kilometers southeast of La Paz, Baja California Sur.
The pilot and passenger were flying out of the naval aviation school in La Paz, part of the Mexican 2nd Naval Zone. The aircraft was destroyed in the crash.
[An Nahar] Hookers in the northern Malawian city of Mzuzu
"Mzuzu! Mzuzu! That's my wonderful town!"
are accused of killing two clients by drowning them in a dam after they failed to pay for a night of debauchery, police said on Tuesday. "Pay up!"
"I got no money!"
"Me, neither!"
[SPLASH!]
"After a long time of drinking, the dear departedfinally made some whoopee with the babes for pay and failed to settle the bill," police spokesperson Norah Chimwala told Agence La Belle France Presse. "You mean you're a hooker? I thought you loved me!"
"The fallen women drowned them in a dam... they failed to swim." Coulda had something to do with the rocks tied around their necks...
Chimwala could not say how much the bill for whoopee was, but hookers in urban centers charge around six dollars. "Whoa! [Huffa puffa!] Wow! That was the sexual experience of a lifetime!"
"That'll be six dollars, please."
"Ummm... I only have four..."
"MFatso! Hand me that big rock, wouldja?"
"No! Wait! I found another coupla bucks! It was in my sock!"
Police identified the dear departed as Mlumbo Chamvula and Osward Tembo, both 20 and hailing from Mzimba district. "My name's Osward and this is my friend Mlumbo!"
"Hiya, big boyz!"
"We're from Mzimba district!"
"Do tell?"
"Wanna have some fun?"
"How much fun?"
"We got... ummm... six dollars and change."
"Apiece?"
"Uhuh."
"Bartender! Beer for everyone!"
The hookers, only identified as Flora and Mphatso, I'll betcha MFatso ain't no slender belle...
are on the run and police said they were tracking them.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2012
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Did you forget a yellow highlight or was the hooker's name MFatso? Truth in advertising, I guess...
[Dawn] India alleged on Tuesday there were more than 40 training camps in Pakistain for Islamic fascistiwho made regular attempts to cross the heavily fortified border between the two countries.
India had identified 25 camps in Azad Kashmire and 17 in Pakistain containing around 2,500 hard boys, junior home affairs minister Mullappally Ramachandran claimed in a statement in parliament.
"The terrorist infrastructure in Pakistain or Pakistain-Indian Kashmiree remains intact and infiltration attempts from across the border still continue to pose a challenge to the security forces," Ramachandran alleged.
"Pakistain-based hard boys, with the support of Pakistain's army, have made 249 attempts to sneak into Indian territory so far this year, two more than last year but far below the 489 in 2010," he said.
Intelligence inputs indicated "active support" of Pak intelligence and security agencies to push faceless myrmidons into India, the minister claimed.--
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2012
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[An Nahar] Britannia's biggest retailer, supermarket Tesco, looked on course to withdraw from its struggling U.S. business Fresh & Easy as chief executive Philip Clarke on Wednesday said its presence would likely end.
"It's likely, but not certain, that our presence in America will come to an end," Clarke told news hounds, as Tesco said it was launching a strategic review of Fresh & Easy, which may lead to a sale of the business.
Tesco added in a statement that Fresh & Easy chief executive Tim Mason was leaving the company with immediate effect after 30 years with the British group.
"Whilst the (U.S.) business has many positives, its journey to scale and acceptable returns will take too long relative to other opportunities," Clarke said in the statement.
"I have therefore decided to conduct a strategic review of Fresh & Easy, with all options under consideration."
Tesco, the world's third-biggest retailer, said it had received "a number of approaches" from parties interested in acquiring some or all of Fresh & Easy, or in partnering the company to develop the U.S. business.
Clarke added: "Tim Mason, who leaves Tesco today, has played an important part in our success over a 30-year career with the company, and he leaves with my thanks and good wishes."
Launched in 2007 by former Tesco chief executive Terry Leahy, Fresh & Easy has failed to turn a profit despite investment of about £1.0 billion ($1.6 billion, 1.2 billion euros).
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2012
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Odd how they can recognize a failing economy, here.
Amazing. I'd always assumed that it was one of those things said about the English, not that it was real.
[An Nahar] Canadian author Nancy Huston was on Tuesday awarded what has been dubbed Britannia's "most dreaded literary prize" for penning the most cringeworthy erotic description of 2012.
After the so-called "mummy porn" phenomenon gripped the literary world -- with erotic novel "Fifty Shades of Grey" topping international best-seller lists -- eight writers were on the shortlist in the not-so-prestigious Bad Sex in Fiction Award's 20th year.
Gay Paree-based Huston claimed the dubious honour with her book "Infrared", becoming only the third female winner of the prize.
The 59-year-old did not attend the ceremony at London's In And Out Club, but sent an acceptance message.
"I hope this prize will incite thousands of British women to take close-up photos of their lovers' bodies in all states of array and disarray," she said.
Others on the shortlist included Paul Mason, who offended judges by comparing his lustful hero to "a forlorn circus rider" in debut novel "Rare Earth", and Nicola Barker for describing a lover in her novel "The Yips" as a "hungry finch" in an orchard.
Despite widespread calls on social networking sites for it to be added to the shortlist, E.L. James's sado-masochistic romance "Fifty Shades" was not in the running, as the prize does not cover "expressly erotic literature".
"The purpose of the prize is to draw attention to the crude, badly written, often perfunctory use of redundant passages of sexual description in the modern novel, and to discourage it," said the Literary Review magazine, which runs the award.
"Literary Review is proud to continue its gentle chastisement of the worst excesses of the literary novel."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2012
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Ahh, they're into "gentle chastisement", not outright S&M and bondage.
Give 'em time.
Posted by: ed in teaxs ||
12/06/2012 7:03
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Another bad writing contest. The 2012 Lyttoniad Contest winners where www means "Wretched Writers Welcome."
Winner: Crime category (could be sex too)
She slinked through my door wearing a dress that looked like it had been painted on not with good paint, like Behr or Sherwin-Williams, but with that watered-down stuff that bubbles up right away if you dont prime the surface before you slap it on, and just like that cheap paint the dress needed two more coats to cover her. Sue Fondrie, Appleton, WI
Still guarding the border, no matter how they feel about those on the other side.
Still guarding the border, no matter what's happening in Cairo...
[Ynet] The Paleostinian Maan News Agency reported that the authorities in Egypt have thwarted an attempted to smuggle 8,000 liters of diesel fuel into Gazoo through a network of tunnels.
According to the report, the Egyptian police have tossed in the calaboose Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! a truck driver who was transporting four gas containers to the Sinai city of El Arish. He admitted during questioning that the gas was meant to reach Rafah.
#2
I doubt diesel fuel would be of much use in a Molotov cocktail situation, Jim. I suspect gasoline (or possibly kerosene) would be the fuel of choice.
Posted by: Barbara ||
12/06/2012 11:38
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[An Nahar] Greece is seen as the most corrupt country in the EU, Transparency International said Wednesday, adding that crisis-hit nations are being held back by an inability to deal with graft.
Publishing its annual Corruption Perceptions Index, the Berlin-based watchdog ranked Greece 94th out of 176 countries.
Perceived corruption in the country appeared to have worsened despite efforts to tackle graft. In last year's index, the debt-ravaged country was ranked 80th on a scale of least corrupt to most corrupt.
Fellow eurozone struggler Italia also fared poorly, coming in 72nd -- a decline from last year's study when the country was ranked 69th.
The director of Transparency International (TI) in Germany, Edda Mueller, told a news conference that the fight against corruption was intimately linked to the economic health of a country.
"The countries that are hardest-hit by the financial crisis have performed below expectations despite the reform efforts of recent months," Mueller said.
Corruption levels in a country are "closely linked to the economic stability of a country," she added.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2012
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We're number 1.
We're number 1.
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/06/2012 0:15
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Corruption levels in a country are "closely linked to the economic stability of a country," she added.
Yeah and economic instability leads to corruption. Cantillon had it all figured out 300 years ago, but no one wants to listen, because this time "it's going to be different"
Yeah sure.
[An Nahar] Patriarch Ignatius IV Hazim of Antioch and all the East passed away on Wednesday after suffering from a stroke and the day of his funeral has been announced a national mourning day, several media sources announced.
While the National News Agency said that the funeral will be held on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. at the Saint Nicholas Church in Ashrafiyeh, OTV reported that his coffin will be taken to the Mariamite Cathedral of Damascus also on Sunday.
Hazim was admitted to the Saint George hospital Tuesday morning after suffering a stroke that affected "his movement ability and consciousness".
Born in 1921 in Mhardeh in Syria's Hama province, Hazim graduated in philosophy from the American University of Beirut in 1945, and went on to study liturgy in France in 1949.
He was one of the founders of the Orthodox Youth Movement in 1942.
Upon his return to Lebanon, he founded the University of Balamand in northern Lebanon.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2012
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[Dawn] The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... government is in a fix over handling of young jacket wallahs, who escape punishment due to their juvenile status, according to Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain.
"If a young suicide bomber is placed in durance vile Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! by law enforcement agencies, the law treats him leniently as he is underage. But he kills innocent people if not arrested," he said.
The minister was briefing journalists after the 53rd meeting of the provincial cabinet, held on Tuesday to discuss law and order situation in the province. Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti chaired the meeting.
Mr Hussain said that most of the suicide bombers were children as they were below 18. "The provincial government is in trouble as they (young bombers) are not convicted in most of the cases," he said.
The minister said that a suicide bomber was arrested by police on November 20 and boom jacket was removed from his body in front of cameras of different private television channels. However, you can observe a lot just by watching... he couldn't be punished as he was only 13-14 years of age, he
added.
"It is also a weakness of the government, which has failed to enact proper laws for handling such cases," the minister said. He requested the judiciary not to treat beturbanned goons like other people when they were arrested with proofs.
According to him, the home secretary told the cabinet meeting that conviction rate of Orcs and similar vermin was only four per cent.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2012
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Attacks on teachers continued in southern Thailand as terrorists insurgents shot a teacher in the back as he was leaving school in Narathiwat province. Teerapon Chusongsaeng was rushed to the hospital with two gunshot wounds and was in critical condition at press time.
The teacher was traveling home on a motorcycle when four men on two motorbikes followed and shot at him. Teerapon is the third teacher to be attacked in the province in the past two weeks. Two other teachers were gunned down before this latest attack.
Sanguan Intarak, leader of the Federation of Narathiwat Teachers, said teachers in the province had decided to hold an urgent meeting today to discuss the mounting violence and find ways to protect themselves more effectively. Teachers have been concerned about their safety after the principal of an elementary school in Nong Chik district was gunned down on November 22 and another teacher shot dead on Monday night.
Chatsuda Nilsuwan was gunned down while traveling home on a motorcycle from the Ban Tango elementary school. This school had first been torched in an arson attack in April, which completely destroyed the main building. Since then classes have been held in the storeroom, canteen and makeshift tents.
More than 300 government schools in southernmost provinces of Thailand decided to open their doors on Monday for the first time since the November 22 shooting. However, after a meeting yesterday, security authorities and teachers representatives decided to keep 17 schools in Narathiwat closed tomorrow and on Friday so students and teachers can attend Chatsuda's funeral in her home province of Yala. The 17 schools will open again on Tuesday since next Monday is a public holiday.
Separately, terrorists insurgents bombed a CD shop and the home of a police officer in Pattani province on Monday night. The attacks left two people wounded and four houses damaged.
At 9:45 p.m. police were alerted that a bomb had exploded at the CD shop and the home of Pol Captain Pong Obma, a deputy police chief in Yaring district. Police officers discovered the debris of a motorcycle and remains of an explosive in front of the shop. The bomb apparently damaged the CD outlet as well as houses nearby rented by police officers. The explosion also slightly injured the owner of the shop and her daughter.
Witnesses say that the owner, Sangvien Tana, was about to close the shop when four men on three motorcycles stopped and two walked into the shop asking to rent CDs. However, Sangvien told the men, who kept their helmets on, that she was about to close. The two men then made small talk with her while their other two companions placed an explosive on a shelf before leaving.
Another motorcycle fitted with explosives was later parked outside the police captain's home nearby. The bomb inside the shop exploded about three minutes after the men left and the motorcycle bomb outside the police officer's house went off about 10 minutes later.
[An Nahar] A mortar shell fired from war-torn Syria slammed into the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights on Wednesday without causing any casualties or damage, the Israeli army said.
"A shell fired during fighting in Syria landed by mistake on the center of the Golan plateau," an Israeli army spokeswoman said.
Such incidents have occurred with increasing frequency in the past few weeks as violence from the civil war in Syria spills across the ceasefire line.
In November, Israel responded with artillery after gunfire from Syria hit an army vehicle but caused no injuries, in the first instance of Israeli fire directed at the Syrian military in the Golan since their 1973 war.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2012
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[San Francisco.CBSLocal] A ban on nudity in San Francisco was given final approval by the city's Board of Supervisors Tuesday in a raucous meeting at which several people stripped naked in board chambers.
The ordinance, which will prohibit nudity on city streets, sidewalks, plazas and other public spaces, was initially passed 6-5 during the board's Nov. 20 meeting and was approved again Tuesday afternoon by the same vote.
Supervisor Jane Kim initially gave the legislation a seventh vote of support but later rescinded her vote, saying she had been distracted and accidentally voted yes.
Supervisors John Avalos, David Campos, Eric Mar and Christina Olague were the other four supervisors to oppose the ban.
Several men and women stripped down after the first vote Tuesday afternoon and began yelling at the supervisors. They were led out of board chambers by sheriff's deputies, who draped blankets over them since public nudity is not allowed at City Hall.
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I read these articles and I think I am reading about an alternative universe. People in SF strip off their clothes in protest over everything. I'd say pics please but I have seen these before and it has taken a long time to erase them from memory.
[Dawn] Warplanes on Wednesday pounded suburbs of Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... as regime forces fought to reclaim rebel-held areas of the capital, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said.
The Britannia-based watchdog, which uses a countrywide network of activists and doctors to compile its tolls, said at least 123 people were killed on Tuesday, including some 30 in and around Damascus.
Damascus has now become the focus of festivities. Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... 's forces on Tuesday blasted a string of rebel zones on the eastern and southwestern outskirts of the city.
"The air force is bombarding Mleha and Zabdine" in southeast Damascus, the Observatory said, adding that Daraya to the southwest was under artillery fire, amid festivities at Saqba to the east.
Battles east of Damascus have grown especially bloody as troops try to push back rebels in the Eastern Ghouta region who have inched closer towards the capital.
Warplanes on Wednesday flew over the area, through which passes the road to Damascus international airport.
The watchdog also reported security force swooped on several areas in the city centre.
More than 41,000 people have been killed as the Syrian conflict approaches the 21-month mark, according to the Observatory.
Al-Watan, a daily close to the government, said on Wednesday the army "continues to hunt gangs along the road to the international airport, killing or wounding dozens of terrorists" -- the regime's term for rebels.
In the northwest, seven soldiers were killed in "a rebel attack on a checkpoint south of Maaret al-Numan on the Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... -Damascus road," the Observatory said.
There was also fighting around the Wadi Deif military base, which has been under siege since rebels took Maaret al-Numan in October, it reported.
The festivities come a day after NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... approved member state Turkey's request for Patriot missiles to defend its border following a series of warnings to Damascus not to use chemical weapons.
On Monday, US President Barack Obama I inhaled. That was the point... warned Assad against using chemical weapons, saying there would be "consequences" for such an action.
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[Dawn] EVEN in a country where unspeakable violence is inflicted on the living as a matter of course, the visceral hatred evident in Monday's attack on an Ahmadi graveyard in Lahore is chilling. Shortly after midnight some 10 to 15 masked men scaled the walls of the burial ground. Armed with weapons and excavation tools, they either destroyed or pulled off the headstones of over 100 graves. Half an hour later, the last abode for those meant to rest in peace had been rendered a wreckage of broken stone and tile. The message sent out could not have been starker, signalling the extreme hatred shown by certain sections -- perhaps not too many numerically but inclined always to employ violent means -- towards a persecuted community. The latter's scars from the May 2010 massacre of scores in twin attacks on Ahmadi places of worship in the same city have not yet healed. That Monday's attack occurred in the Model Town locality and a stone's throw from the family home of the Sharif brothers is a matter of deep shame.
In the context of Monday's vandalism, the police have said that an FIR will be registered and an investigation launched. Tellingly, however, they say that it will not be possible to deploy coppers outside such graveyards. While the desecration must be condemned in no uncertain terms, criticism must also be reserved for this attitude -- which is far from restricted to police ranks. The Ahmadi community has long faced serious levels of persecution from various quarters, not least the state. Hostile legislation has been passed, people have been targeted and there are other instances of burial grounds being desecrated. The state needs to step up to its commitment to protect all citizens. Resources have to be found to protect members of the Ahmadi community and their properties.
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[An Nahar] U.N. Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... on Wednesday called on all warring parties in Syria to stop fighting immediately, saying there is no military solution to the conflict.
"The military option cannot be a solution. The violence must stop immediately," Ban told news hounds in Kuwait City after talks with Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled al-Sabah.
"This is totally an unacceptable situation. We cannot let the situation continue this way," Ban said.
Ban also said that all problems should be resolved "through a political process."
Earlier U.N. front man Martin Nesirky said that Ban has formally warmed Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... against using chemical weapons in the country's civil war.
U.N. front man Martin Nesirky said the letter was handed to Syrian authorities on Tuesday.
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Sources tell Lebanese paper that Iran-backed Ansar Allah is cultivating ties with al-Qaeda affiliates.
The Paleostinian terror group Ansar Allah announced a total "military, security and political" split from its backer Hezbollah, Lebanese daily Al-Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... reported on Wednesday.
Ansar Allah, which is led by former Fatah official Jamal Suleiman, issued a statement on Tuesday that said that the group had worked for the "jihadist resistance" for many years and would "continue on the path of jihad and resistance until the liberation of all occupied Paleostine."
The statement, which was distributed in the Ein el-Hellhole Paleostinian refugee camp on the outskirts of Sidon, said Ansar Allah would continue to exist as an armed "independent jihadist movement" whose aim was the "liberation of the land and holy places desecrated by the Jewish occupiers," according to Al-Mustaqbal, the newspaper of Leb's Future Movement, which is opposed to Hezbollah.
Ansar Allah, which the US has described as a "clandestine subgroup of Hezbollah" was first formed in 1982 during the First Leb War, and reportedly has hundreds of armed operatives in Paleostinian refugee camps in Leb.
Through Hezbollah, Ansar Allah has been an important proxy for Iran, through which Tehran has perpetrated its shadow war against Israeli and Jewish targets.
Ansar Allah was unknown until July 1994, when it issued a statement expressing support for the deadly bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Hezbollah and Iran are widely suspected to have been behind that attack, which killed 85 people.
Ansar Allah and Hezbollah are also suspected of involvement in another terror attack, the bombing of a commuter aircraft, Alas Chiricanas Flight 00901, in Panama on the night of July 19, 1994 -- a day after the AMIA bombing. A semtex plastic explosive charge, carried by a man calling himself Lya Jamal, went off killing 21 passengers, 12 of them Jewish.
Ansar Allah issued another statement after the Panama bombing, expressing support for the act.
Israel has maintained that the two bombings had their origins in Iran, which hired operatives from Hezbollah to carry them out.
Ansar Allah has since admitted its connection with Hezbollah.
In 2007, the group's military leader, Maher Oweid, admitted that all of Ansar Allah's funding, as well as security and political cover, came from Hezbollah.
Ansar Allah operatives were also trained by Hezbollah when the group had open training camps in Leb, and the group had previously taken a leading role in Hezbollah operations, Oweid said.
While openly admitting backing from the Hezbollah, Oweid denied that Ansar Allah has taken any money directly from Tehran. However, those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things... the group is known for holding military demonstrations on Al- Quds Day, the anti-Israeli "holiday" created by Ayatollah Khomeini.
According to Al-Mustaqbal, Ansar Allah's announcement of its defection from Hezbollah has caused an uproar in Paleostinian refugee camps, mostly because the statement revealed again the group's substantial political, security and logistical relationship with Hezbollah and its backer, Iran.
Ansar Allah's decision to split from Hezbollah comes as disagreements over Syria continue to disrupt and shift Tehran's influence among Paleostinian terror groups
The daily cited unnamed Paleostinian sources as saying that the decision to split from Hezbollah came after disputes over Hezbollah's declining financial support for the group. However, those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things... the sources also hinted that Ansar Allah's decision may be connected with a fundamental disagreement over Hezbollah's support for Bashir al-Assad's regime in Syria, Iran's closest regional ally.
Paleostinian sources told Al-Mustaqbal that Ansar Allah had signaled that it may support Syrian rebel forces, whereas Hezbollah has worked closely with its sponsor, Iran, to play a critical role in helping Assad try to quash the rebels.
According to Al-Mustqbal, Hezbollah previously wired money every month to Ansar Allah's leader Suleiman, but the transfers stopped in December. When Ansar Allah operatives made inquiries, Hezbollah told them that it wanted to discuss making funding subject to new conditions.
Hezbollah did not specify what those conditions were, however.
At the same time as it distanced itself from Ansar Allah, Hezbollah has also started to cultivate ties with other bad turban Paleostinian groups in Ein el-Hellhole, the sources told Al-Mustaqbal. The sources named two al-Qaeda affiliates: Asbat al- Ansar (League of the Partisans), a Salafist bad turban group which the US and UN have designated a terrorist group; and al- Haraka al-Islamiya al-Mujahid (The Islamic Struggle Movement), a Sunni group led by Sheikh Jamal Khattab.
Ansar Allah's decision to split from Iran's Lebanese proxy comes as disagreements over Syria continue to disrupt and shift Tehran's influence among Paleostinian terror groups.
Like Ansar Allah, Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, has also sided with Syria's rebels, who are Sunnis like themselves. At the same time, Hamas has also moved closer to Qatar. Tehran has tried to play down the resulting dispute, with the Persian language IRIB news agency quoting Iran's ambassador to Leb on Monday as saying Hamas had "not distanced itself from Syria."
[Dawn] Pakistain's Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that the federal and provincial governments have failed in providing security to the people of restive Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... , the country's biggest province.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry said that the Balochistan government had lost its constitutional authority, and that the police alone could not be held responsible for the province's unrest.
A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, comprising the chief justice, Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, issued an interim order on a petition of the Balochistan High Court Bar Association on the breakdown of law and order and human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... violations in the province.
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[An Nahar] A Sudanese military drone went down on Wednesday in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman, the official SUNA news agency said, but there was no apparent damage or casualties on the ground.
"A pilotless military plane has gone down" inside Omdurman, a heavily-populated area, SUNA said in a brief SMS alert which gave no further details.
Witnesses told an AFP news hound that the aircraft, about five meters (yards) long, came down in an open area of the city, far from any homes.
"The plane lay on the ground and then a number of SAF (Sudanese Armed Forces) with trucks came to the area and took it," said one witness who asked not to be identified.
In an April report, the Small Arms Survey, a Swiss-based independent research project, showed photographs of what it described as an Iranian-made Ababil-3 UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) that was reportedly shot down by rebels in South Kordofan state.
"SAF has employed similar UAVs over Darfur for reconnaissance," the report said, referring to the Sudanese Armed Forces which have been battling rebels in the far-west Darfur region for nine years.
One of the UAVs crashed in 2008 while flying over a rebel-controlled area of Darfur, Small Arms Survey said, citing the United Nations ...When talk is your weapon it's hard to make yourself heard over the artillery... .
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[An Nahar] The Mufti of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of thich is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... and the North Sheikh Malek al-Shaar announced on Wednesday that he will not be returning to Leb from a trip to Europe after he has allegedly received death threats.
Radio Voice of Leb (93.3) said that the northern Mufti has been advised to stay abroad, in fear of an liquidation attempt against him.
"I am not coming back until issues are cleared up in Leb," al-Shaar told VDL.
VDL said al-Shaar was attending a conference in Vienna and then left for Gay Paree where he will reside until his return.
This news comes after festivities erupted in his city, Tripoli, between Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen leading to the death of seven people.
The festivities broke out over the weekend in wake of the announcement of the death of a number of Lebanese Islamist fighters, who mainly hail from the North, in the border region of Tall Kalakh in Syria on Friday.
Media outlets had conflicting information about the number of people who died and those who survived the attack.
While the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that a group of 30 rebels "were caught in an ambush by government troops in the area of Tall Sarin near the town of Tall Kalakh", Voice of Leb radio (100.5) said the ambush left 20 Lebanese men dead, adding that they hail from Akkar's Fnaideq and Tripoli's Bab al-Tabbaneh and al-Mankoubin neighborhoods.
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[An Nahar] The United States said Wednesday it was aware of informal offers of asylum to Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... by countries in the Middle East and elsewhere.
State Department front man Mark Toner gave no details, referring news hounds to others governments after being asked about speculation that the Syrian president was weighing asylum offers from Latin America.
"We do understand that some countries, both in the region and elsewhere, have offered to host Assad and his family should he choose to leave Syria," Toner said.
"We, at this point, don't have any formal understanding or knowledge of concrete offers. We are aware that some offers have been made, as I said, informally, but we don't have any concrete offers.
The asylum speculation stems from a recent trip to Cuba by Syria's deputy foreign minister, Fayssal Mekdad, who delivered a message from Assad to Cuban President Compañero Raul Castro ...Fidel's little brother... , according to the official Cuban Prensa Latina news agency.
The Syrian official also was reported to have traveled to Venezuela, Nicaragua and Ecuador, whose leftist governments have close relations with Havana.
Tunisia's president offered Assad asylum as recently as March, and U.S. officials told politicians a year ago that Arab leaders were privately telling Washington that had offered Assad asylum if he would step down.
But the latest rumors come amid intensifying fighting in the suburbs of Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... , and U.S. warnings to Syria not to use chemical weapons against its own people.
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[Reuters] Islamists battled with protesters outside Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi's palace on Thursday, after his vice president suggested amendments could be agreed to the draft constitution that has divided the nation.
Fires burned in the streets near the palace perimeter where opponents and supporters of Mursi threw stones and petrol bombs. Riot police tried to separate the two sides, but failed to halt fighting that extended from Wednesday into the early morning.
Residents, frustrated that police had not calmed the streets, set up makeshift road blocks nearby to check passers-by, scenes reminiscent of the popular uprising that toppled Mursi's autocratic predecessor Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... Medical sources said 211 people were maimed, some with gunshot wounds.
"No to dictatorship," Mursi's opponents chanted, while their rivals chanted: "Defending Mursi is defending Islam."
Mursi's opponents accused him of creating a new autocracy by awarding himself extraordinary powers in a decree on November 22 and were further angered when an Islamist-dominated assembly pushed through a draft constitution that opponents said did not properly represent the aspirations of the whole nation.
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#1
Just like us Americans, they voted for what they are getting.
[Shabelle] Unknown gunnies have shot and killed on Wednesday evening an elder in Mogadishu's Wadajir district, witnesses said.
Mohamed Mohmud Yusuf Odey, one of the former 135-member constituent assembly chose the current federal MPs was assassinated by men armed with pistols in front of his house located in Nasteeho neighborhood in Mogadishu, Somali capital.
The killers have managed to escape from the scene uncaught.
The reason behin the murder of late elder is yet to be established by the local authority in Wadajir district under Somali government. Investigations are under by the Somali forces, according the officials.
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[boston.com] A man suspected of being the ringleader of a plot to kill Americans and bomb U.S. military bases overseas has been returned from Afghanistan, authorities said Wednesday.
American Sohiel Omar Kabir, 34, made his first court appearance Tuesday in the U.S. after he was captured by U.S. special forces in Afghanistan last month, said his attorney, Deputy Federal Public Defender Jeffrey Aaron.
Kabir has not yet entered a plea after being charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. He is being held without bond and scheduled to appear in court Dec. 11.
Meanwhile, ...back at the abandoned silver mine, the water was up to Jack's neck and still rising... Ralph Deleon and Arifeen Gojail, both 21, and Miguel Santana Vidriales, 23, pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." Wednesday after being indicted on the same charge.
If convicted, each of the four defendants could face up to 15 years in prison.
Deleon, Vidriales and Gojali were tossed in the clink Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! as they waited to board a plane headed for Istanbul on their way to Afghanistan to meet with Kabir, authorities said.
In video calls from Afghanistan, Kabir told the trio he would arrange meetings with terrorists, Sherlocks said.
The group prepared for their trip to the Middle East by simulating combat with paintball rifles and concocting cover stories, court documents state.
Authorities don't believe there were any plans for an attack in the U.S., but Deleon and Vidriales told a confidential FBI informant they would consider American jihad, according to an FBI affidavit.
The case against Kabir is based on hearsay statements from co-defendants and an FBI informant, Aaron said, adding that federal prosecutors have turned over few documents since the arrest.
He added that his client suffered physical injuries to his face and head when he was captured in Kabul, where he was staying with family members.
''He wasn't hospitalized but he probably should have been,'' Aaron said.
FBI front man Laura Eimiller said Kabir suffered ''combat-related injuries'' during his capture. The injuries were treated by American medical personnel and he was cleared to be taken back to the U.S.
Kabir, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan, served in the Air Force from 2000 to 2001 and introduced Deleon and Santana to radical Islamic doctrine, Sherlocks said. Gojali, also a U.S. citizen, was recruited in late September.
Experts who study homegrown terrorism said the case highlights the susceptibility to radicalization of new converts to Islam, particularly among the young.
[Dawn] UN Secretary-General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... has hinted that he would not favor an asylum deal for Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... as a way to end the country's civil war.
Ban was asked Wednesday about the potential for such a deal. He refrained to comment directly on the matter but told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that the United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... doesn't allow anyone "impunity."
Ban says that "whoever commits (a) gross violation of human rights ...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you... must be held accountable and should be brought to justice. This is a fundamental principle." Ban spoke on the sidelines of UN climate talks in Qatar.
Assad vowed in an interview with Russia Today last month that he would never be forced into exile and that he would "live and die in Syria."
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#1
Assad vowed in an interview with Russia Today last month that he would never be forced into exile and that he would "live and die in Syria."
The Alawites will kill him if he tries to leave anyway.
A leading ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for Turkey to show it was serious about defending religious freedoms if it wanted to join the EU, saying it should let Christians build churches without restrictions.
Volker Kauder, leader of Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) in parliament, told a party congress he expected a "clear signal" on the issue from the Erdogan government before membership talks could continue. He said, "A country that wants to be part of Europe must accept the basic principle of religious freedom. That means, that we expect Christians in Turkey to be able to build churches without any restrictions, just as Muslims build mosques here in Germany."
Kauder's comments were seen as more of a way to appeal to members of his own party rather than an active attempt to block Turkey's membership talks, which are already stalled.
Five days into his administration, Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto has opted not to shake up general staff appointments at his defense ministry, replacing only two top staff positions, according to Mexican news accounts and official government information.
It was reported Wednesday without official confirmation that the head of the army and the army operations chief would be the first two changes in the Mexican Secretaria de Defensa Nacional (SEDENA) general staff. Press reports said that the two appointments may the the only two of SEDENA's general staff appointments.
General Virgilio Mendez Bazan was appointed as head of the Mexican Army, coming from X Military Region in Yucatan state in southern Mexico. He replaces General Carlos Demetrio Gaytan Ochoa. General Martin Cordero Luqueño has been appointed to replace General Mendez Bazan as commander of the X Military Region.
General Mendez Bazan is a 1967 graduate of Mexico's Heroico Colegio Militar military academy and an infantry commander, according to data supplied by SEDENA on its website. Between 2002 and 2005 he held command in the 22nd Military Zone in Mexico state. He was promoted to general de division in 2009. Like his commander, General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, he is reportedly a friend of Pena Nieto.
The army's new operations chief is General Roble Arturo Granados Gallardo, a 1972 graduate of Heroico Colegio Militar military academy and an infantry commander who previously commanded the Mexican 13th Military Zone in Nayarit in western Mexico, a command he held in 2004, according to data supplied by SEDENA. According to an article which appeared on the website of El Universal news daily, he also held other military zone commands before his elevation to army operations chief.
General Granados Gallardo replaces General Luis Arturo Oliver Cen, a highly experienced former field commander and cavalryman, who was once an aspirant to become head of the army.
Last Tuesday Pena Nieto attended Artillery Day in Mexico City, where in a speech he reiterated his goal of eventually returning the Mexican Army to the barracks as a means of ending drug war violence which has been a feature of Mexico's struggle against drug cartels and organized crime since 2007.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
[BLOOMBERG] Citigroup ...contributed $736,771 to the 2008 Obama campaign... Inc. (C)'s Michael Corbat, who took over as chief executive officer less than two months ago, will cut more than 11,000 jobs and pull back from some emerging markets to drive down costs as revenue dries up at global banks.
Citigroup Inc., the third-biggest U.S. bank, said it will take a pretax charge of about $1 billion this quarter as part of a plan to eliminate more than 11,000 jobs.
The lender will take a $1 billion charge this quarter to cover the 4.2 percent workforce reduction, which includes 1,900 jobs in trading, investment banking and transaction services, Citigroup said today in a statement. The bank, ranked third by assets in the U.S., said it wants to improve productivity in markets businesses such as cash equities where profit is lagging. The stock jumped as much as 8.1 percent in New York.
Corbat and Chairman Michael O'Neill are cutting deeper than ousted CEO Vikram Pandit had planned as the industry's slump in trading and investment banking and stiffer capital rules put pressure on profit. The dismissals add to 5,000 announced in January by Pandit, who championed some of the businesses targeted today including markets in Asia and Latin America.
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Go to Mexico, get the crap cheated out of you, go bankrupt, we'll never hear from you again, or miss you either.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/06/2012 11:41
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[An Nahar] Supporters and opponents of Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi lobbed Molotov cocktails and rocks at each other Wednesday as their standoff over his expanded powers and an Islamist-drafted constitution turned violent and left two people dead.
Bloodied protesters were seen being carried away as gunshots could be heard and the fierce political rivals torched cars and set off firecrackers, before riot police were deployed in a bid to end the confrontations.
Ahmed al-Tayyeb, the grand imam of the Cairo-based Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's highest authority, called for restraint and dialogue, and two of Morsi's advisers resigned over the crisis.
At the heart of the battle is a decree issued by the Islamist president expanding his powers and allowing him to put to a referendum the disputed constitution.
His declaration on November 22 has sparked deadly protests and strikes, but Vice President Mahmoud Mekki said on Wednesday that the December 15 referendum would go ahead as planned.
Even after the riot police deployed to break up the violence, the rival camps still clashed in side streets near the palace in the upscale Cairo neighborhood of Heliopolis.
"It's a civil war that will burn all of us," said Ahmed Fahmy, 27, as the fighting raged behind him.
"This is a failure of a president. He is waging war against his own people," 56-year-old Khaled Ahmed told Agence La Belle France Presse near the presidential palace.
The festivities erupted after thousands of Islamists rallying to the call of the Moslem Brüderbund bore down on the palace, tearing down opposition tents and chanting that they would "cleanse" the area.
The two sides threw stones at each other before the secular-leaning opposition protesters, who had besieged the palace in their tens of thousands on Tuesday, escaped into side streets.
Inside the palace, Mekki told news hounds the vote "will go ahead on time".
The opposition, he said, would be allowed to put any objections they have to articles of the constitution in writing, to be discussed by a parliament yet to be elected.
"There is a real political will to respond to the demands of the opposition," he told journalists.
Prominent opposition leader and former U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei Egyptian law scholar and Iranian catspaw. He was head of the IAEA from December 1997 to November 2009. At some point during his tenure he was purchased by the Iranians. ElBaradei and the IAEA were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for something in 2005. After stepping down from his IAEA position ElBaradei attempted to horn in on the 2011 Egyptian protests which culminated in the collapse of the Mubarak regime. ElBaradei served on the Board of Trustees of the International Crisis Group, a lefty NGO that is bankrolled by the Carnegie Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as George Soros' Open Society Institute. Soros himself serves as a member of the organization's Executive Committee. said Morsi bore "full responsibility" for the violence and that his regime was losing more legitimacy every day.
He said the opposition, jointly led by former Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... chief Jerry Lewis doppelgänger Amr Moussa ... who was head of the Arab League for approximately two normal lifespans, accomplishing nothing that was obvious to the casual observer ... and ex-presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabbahi, was ready for dialogue on condition Morsi's decree be rescinded.
"We will not sit down for any dialogue without the cancellation of the constitutional declaration," he told news hounds, describing Morsi's regime as "oppressive and autocratic".
"The revolution did not happen for this. It happened for freedom, democracy and human dignity," said ElBaradei.
"Morsi must listen to the people, whose voice is loud and clear. There is no legitimacy in excluding the majority of the people. There is no legitimacy in enabling one group to dominate Egypt," he said in reference to the Brotherhood, on whose ticket Morsi ran for office.
Earlier Islamist rallies converged outside the palace, where hundreds of anti-Morsi protesters had spent the night, forcing the opposition to leave the area.
"They (Islamists) attacked us, broke up our tents, and I was beaten up," said Eman Ahmed, 47. "They accused us of being traitors."
Protesters from the Islamist marches harassed television news crews, trying to prevent them from working.
"I'm here to defend democracy. The president was elected by the ballot box. The opposition protesters bravely ran away as they can't face our strength," said Wael Ali, a 40-year-old Morsi supporter with a long beard.
As the country faces its most divisive ...politicians call things divisive when when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive, they're principled... crisis since Morsi took power in June, the United States called for an open and "democratic dialogue".
"The upheaval we are seeing... indicates that dialogue is urgently needed. It needs to be two-way," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as For a good time at 3 a.m. call Hillary and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Edward Everett ... told journalists in the Belgian capital.
Morsi insists the measures are aimed at cutting short a tumultuous transition but opponents have accused him of choosing an autocratic path.
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#1
Hmmm...wonder if they will also be put on trial like Mubarak was for the same exact crime?
The Egyptian people are only just now beginning to find out what they voted for, in their first and last free election.
#3
One can sow seeds as an active verb with a long O as well, dear Canuckistan sniper. Long months afterward, hopefully, one will reap the results as a rich harvest, after which the weak will not starve over the winter. ;-)
[Dawn] Two Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... activists and a worker of the Sunni Tehrik ...formed in Karachi in 1992 under by Muhammad Saleem Qadri. It quickly fell to trading fisticuffs and liquidations with the MQM and the Sipah-e-Sahaba, with at least a half dozen of its major leaders rubbed out. Sunni Tehreek arose to become the primary opposition to the Deobandi Binori Mosque, headed by Nizamuddin Shamzai, who was eventually bumped off by person or persons unknown. ST's current leadership has heavily criticized the Deobandi Jihadi leaders, accusing them of being sponsored by Indian Intelligence agencies as well as involvement in terrorist activities... were among the five persons bumped off in different parts of the city on Tuesday, while yet another man was stabbed to death.
Police said the first incident took place at around 8.30am near the Numaish intersection within the remit of the Jamshed Quarters cop shoppe, where gunnies riding a cycle of violence targeted Mohammad Siddiqui, 35.
The victim was driving his pickup when he was attacked. He suffered six gunshot wounds and died before he could be taken to the Civil Hospital Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... . The suspects fled after the shooting, the police said.
The victim was an activist of the MQM. He was a resident of Jamshed Quarters No 1 and father of three.
Following the killing tension gripped the localities along Jamshed Road and Jehangir Road, where shops and markets were closed. Incidents of firing were also reported in different areas.
In another incident later in the day, another worker of the MQM was targeted by gunnies in Nazimabad No 2.
Police said the incident took place in Nazimabad No 2 within the remit of the Gulbahar cop shoppe, where assailants riding a cycle of violence opened fire on Mohammad Rehan, 25, who was sitting outside an apartment building.
The suspects riding a cycle of violenceexpeditiously departed at a goodly pace after the shooting, the police said.
The victim was rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH), where he was pronounced dead. He's dead, Jim! on arrival.
A large number of party workers gathered at the ASH after learning about the incident.
Following the killing tension gripped different parts of Nazimabad No 2.
In the third incident, an activist of the Sunni Tehrik was targeted in PIB Colony on Tuesday night.
Police said the incident took place near a petrol station. Two suspects escaped.
An ST front man said Zahid Qadri, 35, was a member of the party's PIB Colony sector committee. After offering Maghrib prayers at Faran Masjid, he was riding his cycle of violence home when gunnies targeted him, the front man said.
The victim was a resident of PIB Colony and father of two.
PIB Colony and Jamshed Quarters police officials bickered over the jurisdiction of scene of the crime after the killing.
Other incidents
An unidentified man was killed by a lone suspect near Banaras Chowk on Tuesday.
Police said the incident took place at a tea stall near the Banaras bridge, where a young man having tea was shot at by the suspect who was on foot.
The suspect fled following the shooting. Police shifted the body to the ASH, where the victim was pronounced dead on arrival. He could not be immediately identified as he had nothing in possession that could establish his identity. Following the medico-legal formalities, the body was shifted to the Edhi morgue, the police said.
In another incident, a man was rubbed out on resistance to a robbery attempt in Mehmoodabad.
Police said the incident took place within the remit of the Mehmoodabad cop shoppe, where Mohammad Arshad buying vegetables from the market was held at gunpoint by suspects, who demanded valuables from him. As the victim tried to put up resistance, the suspects shot him and fled, said a police brass hat of the area.
The victim was rushed to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where he died during treatment.
He was a resident of the same area where the incident took place.
In yet another incident, a young man was stabbed to death in a locality off the Superhighway.
The police said the victim, Gul Ahmed, 30, was stabbed to death by assailants at Afghani Camp within the remit of the Sohrab Goth cop shoppe.
The victim was taken to the ASH, where he was pronounced dead. He's dead, Jim! on arrival.
Police suspected the killing was a result of personal enmity.
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[An Nahar] Turkish troops have killed 13 Kurdish rebels during festivities that erupted Tuesday in a mountainous area in southern Turkey near Syria, the local governor's office said Wednesday.
Backed by air power, the Turkish army launched an offensive against Death Eaters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the Amanos mountains and festivities were continuing on Wednesday, the governor's office added.
The PKK, labeled as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, took up arms for autonomy in Kurdish-majority southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 45,000 lives.
The Turkish military has beefed up border security with tanks and troops amid the escalating civil war in neighboring Syria. Some government officials have tied the recent upsurge in attacks to the chaos there.
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12/06/2012
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[Africa Review] A kaboom and a shoot-out between Islamists and troops from the semi-autonomous Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... region have left 31 people dead or maimed, officials say.
Fighters from the al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... group attacked a military base and planted a roadside kaboom, the officials said.
Al-Shabaab fighters have reportedly moved to Puntland in recent months.
Their move comes as African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... -backed government forces gain ground in their stronghold of southern Somalia.
In October, Al-Shabaab, which is affiliated to al-Qaeda, lost control of the key port city of Kismayu to AU troops, the Somali army and a pro-government militia.
Puntland Information minister Mohamed Aydid told the BBC Somali Service that a truck carrying soldiers was targeted by a roadside kaboom near Bossaso, the main commercial hub in the semi-autonomous region.
Ten soldiers were either killed or maimed in the attack, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2012
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[Reuters] An earthquake measuring 5.5 in magnitude struck eastern Iran on Wednesday, killing eight people and injuring 12 others as emergency teams scrambled to rescue others and treat the injured, Iranian media reported.
People fled their homes as the quake struck and brought walls and buildings down. But others were left trapped under rubble in villages across the district of Zohan in South Khorasan province, Fars news agency said.
"Eight people have been killed in the earthquake area and one person is missing. Unfortunately a number of those injured have bit the dust in the last few hours," Mehr news agency quoted South Khorasan's crisis management director Mohammad Ali Akhundi as saying.
"Homes have sustained damage and people are out in public places and they need the means to keep themselves warm because of the cold," he said.
Iran's Red Islamic Thingy Society despatched 15 rescue teams to the affected areas to search for people stuck under the debris and doctors in the thriving provincial capital of Birjand were on alert to treat those hurt, Fars new agency reported.
Rescue units of Iran's national Basij militia also joined operations, despatching three medical teams.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Guam has been fortunate - by my count we've had five strong but very brief shakes since last week, whcih I blame on recent solar activity.
#2
What do you know of the White Lady of Flores Joe? She came out of the jungle one night on the way to the Merizo fiesta by Umatac and yelled at me and my two friends. I think I was speeding. I just thought she was some crazy homeless lady living in the jungle, when I was there I didnt think to ask about it to the sinahana's and it took 15 years to find another who knew she is real. It really creeped me out to find that the White Lady of Flores lived during the 16th century, and I think she could still be holding a grudge against me. Any other info on her you have Joe would make my day! Thanks!
[An Nahar] The deputy governor of the northern Syrian province of Raqa and several aides resigned on Wednesday to protest the security forces' interference in their work, a monitoring group and an activist said.
"They resigned in protest over interference in their work by the security forces, and also to denounce the diversion of basic commodities from Raqa to other provinces, including flour and fuel," an anti-regime activist told AFP via the Internet.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the report.
"The deputy governor, Ali Haddad, and members of his executive bureau have resigned," said the Observatory, which listed the names of eight officials who left their posts.
Tens of thousands of Syrians forced to flee their homes in flashpoint areas of the strife-torn country have sought shelter in Raqa, which borders Turkey.
"The humanitarian situation here is very bad. Bread now costs $2 (1.53 euros), if you can find bread at all," said the activist, who identified himself as Thaer. On Wednesday, "the air force bombarded eight areas of the province."
A peace protest against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Scourge of Qusayr... that broke out in March last year turned into an armed insurgency after a brutal crackdown by the regime.
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12/06/2012
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Unknown attackers shot and killed a television journalist for Vesti-VGTRK in Nalchik, the capital of Russia's Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkariya. Russian sources identified the slain reporter as Kazbek Gekkiev.
Co-workers said Gekkiev had finished the evening news broadcast and was returning home when he was attacked. He was reportedly shot in the head. The TV station said "extremists" had earlier threatened to kill two other employees who were taken off the air for their own safety.
[An Nahar] Clashes renewed on Wednesday evening in the rival Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of thich is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen after a brief lull, as the army made contacts with the warring parties and fired back at the sources of gunfire, especially sniper fire.
An Energa-type rifle-launched grenade fell in the vicinity of al-Mallouleh area and was followed by an exchange of gunfire between Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh, LBCI television reported.
A security official told Agence La Belle France Presse that sniper fire killed seven civilians in on Tuesday and Wednesday in the two rival districts.
The security official said four were killed on Wednesday, while three others died the day before.
"Khodr Hanoub, a man in his 40s, was killed at dawn Wednesday in the district of Bab al-Tabbaneh," the official said, adding that Ali Habbabeh was killed in the adjacent district of Jabal Mohsen.
The official also reported the killing in Bab al-Tabbaneh of Zakaria Othman and Mehdi al-Beik on Wednesday, while Khaled Salem, 27, was killed overnight.
They died a day after kiosk owner Mohammed Ibrahim, 65, was killed in Jabal Mohsen by a sniper operating from across the street-turned-front line separating the two impoverished neighborhoods.
Also on Tuesday, Bab al-Tabbaneh resident Abdul Rahman Nassouh was rubbed out.
While there was a lull in fighting on Wednesday, snipers held their positions and continued to shoot, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.
The official reported 57 people maimed altogether, including two soldiers.
The National News Agency said that the armed festivities intensified during day hours between fighters in the areas of Qobbeh, al-Mankoubin, Mallouleh, Bab al-Tabbaneh, and Syria Street and others in Jabal Mohsen.
The army has been returning fire against the sources of gunshots.
The Army Command said in a statement its troops "staged patrols, erected checkpoints and fired back immediately at the sources of gunfire," noting that five people were tossed in the slammer Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! on suspicion of involvement in the shooting and that a quantity of weapons and ammunition was found in their possession.
"Two soldiers were maimed in the security operations as some military vehicles sustained material damage," said the statement.
The detainees and the confiscated items were handed over to the relevant judicial authorities, according to the statement.
Light and medium weapons could be heard in the battles, as well as sounds of rocket-propelled grenades.
Earlier on Wednesday, a meeting was held at the residence of al-Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... MP Mohammed Kabbara to discuss the developments in the northern city.
The meeting was held in the presence of State Minister Ahmed Karami, Ahmed al-Safadi representing Finance Minister Mohammed al-Safadi, MPs Samir al-Jisr, Moein al-Merehbi, Khaled al-Daher and several other officials.
The attendees urged the rival neighborhoods to end all the armed festivities under the auspices of the army, calling on it to control the situation in the city.
"We should find a permanent solution to the recurrence of the incidents," Kabbara told news hounds after the meeting.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Shabelle] A Roman court has sentenced 11 Somali pirates to imprisonment for attacking an Italian oil tanker.
Each of them will spend three years and six months in prison.
In January the pirates fired at The Valdarno tanker off the Yemeni coast but the crew managed to escape.
Soon a helicopter with Italian marines arrived at the site and the pirates were set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! .
Posted by: Fred ||
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[CNBC] Treasury Secretary Timothy Geither told CNBC Wednesday that Republicans are "making a little bit of progress" in "fiscal cliff" talks but said the B.O. regime was "absolutely" ready to go over the cliff if the GOP doesn't agree to raise tax rates on the wealthy.
"I think they're making a little bit of progress," Geithner said. "They're clearly moving and figuring out how to try to move further."
But Geithner said the White House would "absolutely" go over the fiscal cliff -- triggering over $600 billion in automatic spending cuts and tax increases -- unless tax rates increase on the top 2 percent of wage earners.
"What we're trying to do is put in place a comprehensive, balanced set of fiscal reforms that put us back on the path of living within our means," Geithner told "Closing Bell."
Geithner, who is the B.O. regime's lead negotiator in the cliff talks, added that if Republicans are willing to accept higher rates, "we think we can do something really good for the economy. We can make the government use the taxpayers money much more efficiently, lock in some spending savings and do some long-term reforms to entitlements."
President Barack Obama The Cambridge police acted stupidly... told business leaders earlier in the day that a deal could be reached in a week if Republicans would accept higher tax rates on the wealthiest Americans.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Tim Geithner is vying for worst Treasury Secretary in history.
#2
The Republicans need to make their case to the American people. maybe a prime time speech or full page ad outlining the economic consequences of over taxing the producers who already pay more than their 'fair share'.
That way when/if it happens, Obama & the dem socialists are squarely the one to blame.
#3
Thing of the US federal debt as being a potentially curable cancer. The sooner you take the treatment, no matter how unpleasant, the sooner you will return to health.
The alternative: Better make sure you have a wheelbarrow (Weimar ref).
#4
I imagine, Mr. Secretaty, that anyone who pays no taxes is ready for the rest of us to go off the cliff.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/06/2012 5:51
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#5
If the government took all of Bill Gates' and Warren Buffet's assets and earnings for the next ten years it would amount to roughly eight months of the interest on the debt. Not principal, interest.
A hundred years ago when a debt crisis also happened the richest man in the U.S. could have written a check from his personal finances to cover the entire debt.
Therefore, the only logical conclusion is that this current problem isn't about undertaxed wealthy people and it never was. This is about spending, spending. spending. It is about the size of the public sector workforce, and to a lesser extent about entitlements and welfare.
And while welfare and entitlements are a problem, there are far bigger ones.
The public sector workforce is simply too large. It needs to be cut by 40% or more. Summarily. In 1960 public sector employees comprised a mere 5% or so of the workforce. It is now 20% and rising. Here's the problem.
First, it needs to be pointed out always, that public sector employees pay no net income tax at whatever level of government they work. They are simply taking money from revenue and wealth that real earners and producers pay in taxes and leaving whatever their "tax" rate might be in the kitty. There are no new revenues in the government coffers generated by this.
In 1960, public workers earned less than the average private sector worker and so out of every twenty workers, one was public sector, two private sector workers' taxes were needed to pay for him/her, and the remaining taxes from the remaining seventeen workers paid for facilities, machinery, supplies, projects, pensions, etc. This is a manageable and sustainable system.
In 2012, the average public sector worker makes more than the average private sector worker, so it takes three of them for each public sector employee. But there are now four out of twenty who are public sector. So it takes twelve private workers' taxes to cover that. Leaving only four taxpayers to pay for facilities, machinery, supplies, projects, pensions, etc. Completely unsustainable, and the reason why the deficit and debt continue.
The only thing that will end this is a massive reduction in the pay grade of the public sector combined with massive layoffs of government workers. Period. You could tax people making over $250000 or $100000 or pretty much anything 100% and the problem of the deficit and debt will not go away. In essence, we imported an illegal workforce so that white and black Americans could move into high-paying government jobs and not have to take lower paying private sector ones. Deport the illegals, fire half the public workforce at all levels, and make them take the jobs that illegals have done for the past twenty of thirty years.
Their standard of living will fall, but...oh well. Karma's a bitch.
The current financial crisis cannot be fixed by increasing taxes and the Republicans shoudl agree to none until we have five to ten years of REAL cuts to get the infrastructure of government to a point where debt can be managed.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
12/06/2012 6:09
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#6
I'm still waiting for a definition of 'fair share.' Of course it will be a moving (rising) definition, but at least say what constitutes 'fair' right now.
#7
Sending a needle-dicked tax cheat to negociate our taxes vs direct involvement himself, just another slap in the face by the Champ.
Throwing debt cap language in was a sure way to queer any negociation or deal. They know it, we know it. Why settle for increased taxes on the 1 or 2 percent when you can include ALL earners. They want the Bush tax cuts to end. No doubt about it.
Posted by: Besoeker on the road again ||
12/06/2012 6:41
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#8
Taxes take money of value from the people. Inflation takes value of money from people. Both in the end are the same. Timmy has been raising taxes on people for over four years. We're already over the cliff. He wants an unlimited debt ceiling which basically gives the Executive/King unlimited power. He wants to take what remains of the republic over the cliff at the same time.
#9
Here's the thing. While many public sector workers are blithely ignorant of the math regarding what has to happen to fix this, many others, perhaps most, know it full well. They are simply trying to delay the inevitable as long as possible.
It is also clear at this point that many, perhaps most, of the people in the public sector work force have taken a scorched earth approach. If you were to tell them "Sorry, in order to save the republic you need to take a massive pay cut or lose your job and have to into the dreaded private sector"' they would reply, "F*** it, then, let the republic die, if I can't get my guaranteed public sector paycheck for doing my cushy job I'll just let the whole thing blow up."
These attitudes go a long way towards explaining, at least in part, the last election's results. These people are literally voting for their own economic lives without any consideration for the results on others. Economic concupiscience. It may not be "free" stuff but is perhaps discount stuff. No public employee, it seems, will ever understand the need to do something which diminishes their pay, even if reusing to do so destroys his neighbors, his town, or his nation.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
12/06/2012 8:26
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#10
That's "refusing to do so".
PIMF.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
12/06/2012 8:27
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#11
GOP House should pass a middle class tax cut extension. Let Obama threaten and bluff to Veto it. Also - allow vote on the Presidents plan. Let the Dems show their cards
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/06/2012 8:47
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#12
...but you notice, they always seem to be able to downsize Defense. We used to have an Army of over a million in the 70s, when the 'temporary' WoT authorized increase lapses, it'll be again below half of that, and probably smaller. On the other hand we do seem to have more general officers per enlisted than anytime on record.
Any increase in taxes on the wealthiest X% will be applied to all public employees as well, regardless of their pay grade and in addition to what they pay now. After all, shared sacrifice is the patriotic thing, isn't it? Those who pay zero percent now will go to whatever the difference is between what " the rich" pay now and what they will pay post fiscal cliff.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
12/06/2012 9:05
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#14
no mo: i guess the $21,000+ my wife and i paid for taxes wasn't real? she is civil service (navy medicine) and part of my tax contribution was the mil retirement. and if she were no longer there, somebody would have to do the work, so there is still a cost.
how about you direct your argument toward the terminal welfare no-loads and illegals in the country that really siphon off $$ and contribute squat.
#15
Yeah, lets not let public sector psychosis set in, I'm a civilian federal employee too, an engineer, and you wont have a single scientist, engineer, doctor or any other professional in the federal service if the pay gets much worse. We pay far more for health insurance than when I was in the private sector, vacation time is about the same, life insurance is more expensive, TSP is a 401K type retirement that we pay into with a small matching from the govt, the FERS pension plan is a dog and at 1% per year you aren't getting rich quick. All in all the pay is already sub-par, even at GS-13, and the pension would leave you eating cat food when you were old if you don't put into the TSP with your own 10-15% of your own pay, the environment vis-a-vis management is totally toxic and adversarial. Combine that with shitty dingy old offices and a campaign of denigration and half-truths by the trunks in the last election and you have one hell of a job.
That isn't even figuring in the 2-1/2 year pay freeze, that is what it is.
Some people on the bottom, GS-6 and below are overpaid compared to their private sector counterparts, but we are talking about people making $32,000 a year instead of the $27,000 a year they should be.
You gonna close the deficit with that money No Mo Uro?
#16
I intended to say, before I read the comments to this thread, that going over the cliff would be what the Dems would want, double the cuts to DOD over the next 10 years and Tax increases on every American.
Have the Pubs really thought this through? They should have some sort of "game plan" I would think.
#17
The private sector is getting hammered with tens of thousands of layoffs and manyh company closings. With Obama care privat sector looting soon to begin that will hammer many more.
Ever heard of NASA?
Know what a RIF is?
Layoffs are common, we call them Furloughs, I was "furloughed" last year for several weeks.
You wanna be a govt scientist or engineer?
Then go get an engineering degree, get on USAjobs.gov and find a f*cking govt job. But don't make sh*t up about there being no govt employees laid off. And you might be interested to know that the engineering field, in general (all disciplines) has very low unemployment
in the private sector, ~4% last time I looked.
#19
Doesn't make much difference. One day, not too long out, the money runs out either physically or virtually as what they print won't be worth much. A lot of government employees are going to join those marchers in Greece. Something has to give. Somehow we survived as a nation in the 50s, 60s, and 70s without a lot of departments and bureaus we have today. We will again when financial reality bites big time.
It isn't that you and your wife didn't have that money to spend. I concede that that is the case.
The point is that your "taxes" aren't new revenue and wealth that was generated. Your pay came from money that was already taken from produced wealth. Your taxes were not addtional moneys generated by addtional wealth created in the form of goods and services. So, mathematically speaking, there is no net gain to the government coffers.
To illustrate....if there are ten thousand taxpayers (private sector) in your town paying the local income tax of 5% and they average $50000 in pay the total receipts from their taxes are 25 million. Out of that money comes the salaries of the town workers. Assuming the town doesn't pay out more than the taxes collected, no matter how much tax the town workers pay, the total receipts that the town has in its account will never exceed 25 million, because after the town employees receive their checks, the net result will be a balance of some number less than 25 million. No matter how much they put back in taxes, even if it were 100 %', you'll never add to that number.
I'm not trying to comment on the value of their work, or of the necessity for some sort of public sector presence, although I am certainly within my right to critique laziness, waste, and corruption when it occurs. I am grateful for your sacrifice in the military, USNRet, and it is people like you who illustrate the need for a good public sector and its employees. The fact of the matter is that mathematically speaking the "taxes" paid by public employees are not a net addition to the total revenue collected and ultimately spent by the government. They do not enhance or enlarge the revenue stream of total tax revenue. The mathematical truth is that public employees take some of the money siphoned off from the productive sector of society and put a small piece of it back. It's not a value judgement, it's just stating the obvious.
I'm not bashing anyone, this isn't "psychosis" (way, way over the top, Big Jim, and inappropriate). I recognize the problems that we face with the perpetual welfare class who are, as you pointed out USNRet, a huge drag. But if you look at the numbers, you cannot escape the truth. 20% of the workforce being public sector is unsustainable at current pay levels, 10% might even be too much, but lowering it to that level would be a step in the right direction. Perhaps a combination of personnel cuts and pay level cuts (to bring things back to the intended levels of the original social contract between public and private sectors) would work. Good luck, though, trying to find a single public employee at any level of government who would be willing to give up a dime to share in the sacrifice and hurt the private sector has sustained (although they sure love sharing in the good times).
Getting all the unproductive welfare cheats off the dole would be a big help but it would be a one-time savings and still would not address the public employment problem.
The problem is that nobody who is getting that guaranteed government check will ever willingly give it up or even make an effort at trying to understand the basic accounting facts I've laid out in this post and my previous ones. Some of the responses here are object proof of that.
A big part Obama's base's enthusiasm right now is people who are conservative in all other respects but are loath to give up the guaranteed government check and so they vote for whichever candidate they perceive will be least likely to reform the size and cost of the public workforce. "Please, just put it off until I can get the pension!". They are organized, they have unions and clout with politicians, so the problem does not get solved.
#15
Your invective seems to indicate that you personalize what was never intended that way. That speaks volumes, really.
Also, I think you confuse the word "denigrate" with "describe".
While your individual situation is interesting, you cannot form policy based on anecdotes. Math conquers all, and that which cannot be sustained will not.
Oh, and by the way, there will always be people to take those jobs, no matter how bad you seem to think the compensation package is. They will be people who don't have the ability to deal with the anxiety of metrics and the possibility of losing their income stream, and people who didn't qualify for better private sector jobs and have no other choice. I am weary of public sector types who rant about how much more they would be making if they had a private job. Go do it, then. But they either can't get hired there, or are afraid to lose the security blanket of the guaranteed check from Mama government. Perhaps not you, individually, Big Jim, are like that. But to deny this dynamic ignores reality.
#19
Good for you for your clear truth-telling. I am sick to death of being told how much every public employee is so essential to the fabric of the nation that to do without will mean the end of the universe.
Math always wins.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
12/06/2012 13:16
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#21
Why settle for increased taxes on the 1 or 2 percent when you can include ALL earners.
The top 1-2% cut expiration is the 'gateway drug'.
#22
If an agreement can't be reached, automatic spending cuts and taxes go into effect and that is the fiscal cliff? And this is done to stay under the debt ceiling and prevent a downgrading. This problem has been a long-time in the making and Obama has aggravated the problem with wanton spending--in part to get votes.
The bailouts have been shifted to the taxpayer so we all pay. A Detroit council woman has asked for some of the federal bacon for a bailout. California has asked for a bailout. Out tax money goes to pay for these cities and states who have management problems. Some of the problems have been caused by industry flight to other states and with this flight goes the tax base. Over-regulation and its costs has caused some of this flight. Public unions have driven up the costs to taxpayers. Unethical politicians who have promised everything to everybody for votes is another problem. Unless these problems are addressed we are going we are going to drive over some fiscal repeatedly and the State and Federal levels. Interestingly, it is blue states that seem to be having the problems.
#23
Well then you are in luck. 40% of the federal workforce is eligible to retire in the next 5 years. After the whipping they have taken, and I'm not just talking pay freeze, over the last few years I'd say many/most will retire as soon as they can. It will be extremely hard if not impossible to hire, train and deploy replacements for all these people. Add to that the wars in the ME coming to an end and you will have a very large drop in the headcount by the next decade. Way more than the 5% we are going to get with sequestration-which we fully expect to happen.
The downside to that is services YOU like will no doubt be cut or impaired as well. VA, SSA, USPS, DOT, CDC, will still be getting your tax money but not providing the services you are accustomed to. If they chopped off half the federal govt workforce do you really think they would lower your taxes?
#24
bigjim-Cal: Those things will happen. We have lived with what you describe at the state level for years: pay and hiring freezes, cutbacks in programs and agencies, etc. We are a right-to-work state and presently fairly well managed. We have a balance budget requirement that has to be met at the end of each fiscal year. We took a hit and went into the red with TennCare--our experiment with state-provided health care for the poor. Our qualification requirements were low and as the result people were moving here to obtain health care for chronic and serious health conditions. Some of them were desperate because it involve their children who had serious health problems. TennCare was tightened up and reformed and the care is provided but it is not as widespread or extensive. We are now grappling with what to do about ObamaCare. We have a high sales tax but no income tax. We have a dividend tax which amounts to an state income tax for retirees although the phrase "income tax is avoided" with regards to these dividends. I suppose more belt-tightening is in the works for all of us. Washington has to get its fiscal act together. D.C. acts like a pubescent teenager with an unlimited credit card.
"The downside to that is services YOU like will no doubt be cut or impaired as well. VA, SSA, USPS, DOT, CDC, will still be getting your tax money but not providing the services you are accustomed to. If they chopped off half the federal govt workforce do you really think they would lower your taxes?"
In a word, yes.
I could get by easily with Dept. of Education, EPA, much of what DOT does, etc. Much of what the CDC and FDA and Dept. of Agriculture do could be privatized or moved to the states. The USPS should be cut back to an agency which delivers a few sizes of letters and nothing else, private companies can do packages and books and the internet exists for catalogues.
And the remaining alphabet agencies all undoubtedly could use a haircut.
Furthermore, if you cut half the jobs, how could these organizations justify continued receipt of the same amount of money? Imagine....
"Yes, Senator, we only have 50% of the employees we did two years ago, but we want the same amount budgeted for payroll".
Yeah, that'll work. Even the lefties in the MSM won't stand for that crap.
Oh, and thanks, Big Jim, for proving me right about another thing. When faced with the prospect of any sort of anxiety regarding the magic checks, the public employee's first reflex is to threaten the citizenry with hell fire and damnation and loss of services without which we shall simply perish. This dictionary definition officiousness. Your post is basically saying, "Pay us whatever we ask, or we'll take away all the stuff you like using in government".
That's extortion, plain and simple. It's like the town government that never even considers cutting workers' salaries but immediately cuts the hours of the youth center or library whenever they don't get a budget increase passed.
When that 40% retires, simply don't replace them. Make the existing workers continue to do the work of the agency. Go home tired, and all that. Like I do. If they can't fire them and find people who can.
If they don't like it they can leave and go to the dreaded private sector.
Oh yeah, that dreaded part...I guess they won't leave, after all.
Another alternative is to give up some compensation to keep the same workforce size.
This is how it works in my world.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
12/06/2012 18:15
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#27
So no mo, to use your logic about "new wealth," all public job holders should go home. Who would answer the call when your house was on fire? Not the parasitic firemen to use your logic. Try again and this time lose your public sector job bias. If you can see around your union logo.
#28
no mo uro, it's that you're painting with an overly broad brush. To give another example, art. I, sec. 8, cl. 8 of the Constitution authorizes the federal government to grant property rights (patents) to inventors. There are several thousand of us grunts (patent examiners) whose sole responsibility is to make that decision.
Exclusive property rights are wealth, which need both an inventor to invent and a government to recognize and protect. Same reason no one minds paying for police and firemen and the military.
(As a bonus, the patent office is funded solely by fees paid by applicants. We don't spend a dime of taxpayer money; on the contrary, Congress takes money from us. We bring in about $2.6 billion/year. Congress lets us keep about $2.2 billion of it. Believe me, I'm pissed.)
What's offensive to me and USN and bigjim, I believe, is that the work of a substantial number of government employees has a direct nexus to wealth creation and wealth protection. Yet generalizing as you have lumps us in with the loafers, parasites, and busybodies that we have an equally strong interest in getting rid of. The challenge is, how do you treat the cancer without killing the patient? You seem to be saying, chop the patient in half, but that won't really accomplish either goal. Making finer distinctions I think is all we're asking.
#29
The creativity of the private sector clearly funds the patent office jobs. Therefore it is not a tax burden.
Many of the Federal engineering jobs are funded by project bonds approved and paid for by the local tax payer, bonds approved in local elections.
NASA generates new sciences that in a round about way boosts revenue by private sector applications that in turn create jobs that in turn pay IRS taxes.
What Uro and many people are pissed off at are the new government sector Empire Builders who collect 6 figure salaries, payoff entitlement blood ticks to vote for thier enabler politicos, who irresponsibly blow trillions of dollars which destroys the private sector, then demand more loot from private sector paychecks.
Now a question for the public sector commenters who are retired are plan to retire ASAP. What makes you think you will see a decent retirement return on your life's public sector work in 10 years when both private sector and public sector coffers will be beyond empty/broke by these top level oublic sector barn rats (beaurocrats) eating all the grain in the barn and then some?
#30
Unfortunately, when the money isn't there, we will have to give up government services and the people who provide them.
RandomJD, your section of the government is relatively small and generates a positive cash flow, so you'll probably be ok. There are those calling for shortening patent times to the original 28 years, if I understand correctly, but nonetheless, that shouldn't significantly impact your area's workload. My personal feeling is that y'all should be upsized a bit to shorten turnaround time, given how inventive Americans are and how that should positively impact the economy.
USN, ret, you know that police and fire protection are local, not federal responsibilities. You must, because even I know that. (The feds have the FBI and the Secret Service and Homeland Security and the marshals, etc. I wouldn't protest if Homeland Security was shut down as a cost savings, would you?). Cutting spending/staffing at the federal level will have no impact on police and firefighters whatsoever. In fact, there are many, like Rantburg's own swksvolFF whose gear is paid for by pancake breakfasts, and whose staff are entirely volunteers, so we know what it looks like when the community can't/won't pay... and there are communities in New Jersey and California who've shut down their police forces, so we know exactly what that looks like when the community can't pay (get good locks for your doors and windows, stock up on ammunition, and pray -- hard).
And yes, people will whine when they can't get the services they're accustomed to. But what we can't afford, we'll have to learn to live without. After all, Mr. Wife, after taking on the workload of 1.5 others due to downsizing in his division (and it started out as a 65 hr/week job -- he became really, really efficient) ended up downsizing his own job in order to keep on two of his people. Fortunately, he was picked up by another part of the company, but "right-sizing" has been the reality in the private sector for a good portion of Mr. Wife's career; he's paid attention to his personal job market since the late 80s out of necessity.
#31
Nb: while our insurance and health care costs have gone up significantly, in the last decade Mr. Wife's paycheck went from mostly base salary plus a small bonus to a small base salary with both bonus and the rest of his salary tied to the company's profits that year. This is what middle management looks like in a Fortune 500 company nowadays. For perspective, Mr. Wife is a chemical engineer by training and a research scientist by initial inclination, not a high flying commissioned sales type.
#32
When the entitled elect themselves, the party continues and the coming hangover gets that much bigger.
Greece was able to keep the party going for more than 10 years before the hangover hit. I don't think the US has that luxury. The EU looked after Greece but the US has only got China who can be a tyrannical nurse if she wants to be and the US is no position to object.
Bottom line the excess excrement has to be cleaned out before the patient can recover
#33
What Uro and many people are pissed off at are the new government sector Empire Builders who collect 6 figure salaries, payoff entitlement blood ticks to vote for thier enabler politicos, who irresponsibly blow trillions of dollars which destroys the private sector, then demand more loot from private sector paychecks.
Right on, Dino. Couldn't agree more.
Now a question for the public sector commenters who are retired are plan to retire ASAP. What makes you think you will see a decent retirement return on your life's public sector work in 10 years[?]
Well, I'm much further than that from retirement (under 40), and for me the answer is: Nothing. The "retire at 65" model was a fantasy. An illusion built on the credit boom, and those days are gone, private and public sector alike. bigjim is right about TSP, and who knows what a well-managed account will be worth in 25-30 years. A lot? Nothing? No way to predict.
So I live for the moment. I stay in my job because I enjoy it more than anything else out there. I stay fit and healthy because I think it's a sin to waste what God gave me. I'm a prepper and I'm armed to the teeth. I do the best I can with what I've got - today - and don't hope for more than a way to quietly OD when I'm old and crippled and there's no reason left to go on. It's horrible, but it's realistic.
Mainly, I hope being an outwardly compliant member of the Outer Party will allow me to take care of me and my family. I trust God to understand, and show me the righteous path. Not much else we can do.
#37
Thanks Barbara. This is not how I looked at things 10 years ago. The communists who tried to brainwash me in college robbed me of an education, and now they are robbing me of my country and all the hopes that went with it. A large majority of my peers did not understand my objections then, or now. There's no other way to say it: we're fucked.
All of us. Which is why an internecine private vs. public sector flame war is so stupid. We are Americans first, and we all want our Republic back. Easy for me to say because yeah, I know, not even Ron Paul would shut down the patent office. I guess my point is, let's keep our eye on the ball here. To quote an icon of my generation (Beavis), "things are going to suck more than they have ever sucked before." That's a given. The question is, what are we going to do about that?
#38
TW; yes i know my example was local, not federal, but our friend no mo is cutting a pretty big swath into the entire spectrum of public service and i suspect he would not give a tinker's dam about where the alleged savings came from. but if all currently public civil service jobs were outsourced to the private sector then that i think would be ok in his opinion.
also one thing nhe has failed to mention, and that is public service is the only job that pays part of its own salary through taxes.
if i could have gone tax free those 26 years and taken a 1 for 1 salary cut i would have. and just think, no mo would get his wish because then not so many public service folks would have been needed to shuffle paper.
his broadside, it appears hit more than just this old retired aeroplane wrencher.
#39
TW, thank you too. I'm trying to adjust to the new normal, without sounding fatalistic. It's true my little corner of the world will be ok, whatever happens. That's one reason I chose it. The number of old Chinese and Soviet and East German patents I come across doesn't surprise me so much anymore. You can't redistribute wealth without letting a few people create it.
Not to derail the thread onto patent stuff, but patent terms range from 17-20 years, depending on various factors. Last year, Ogabe signed into law the most enormous patent reform in the history of history. I would note, however, that it's been in the works for 10-15+ years, long before he was anyone, so whether it will be harmful or helpful remains to be seen. Our outgoing director agreed with you, and hired 2-3 thousand new examiners to reduce pendency. But it is a high-pressure job that requires a weird mix of skills so attrition is high. The pressure to issue patents has increased (meaning, the bar has been lowered), obviously a downstream response to a floundering economy. I.e., lots of garbage gets out the door now, that will be more susceptible to challenge and litgation and reversal. As ever, the lawyers will make out fine.
[An Nahar] Tunisia's main labor union on Wednesday called for a nationwide general strike next week, as tensions rose in the run-up to the second anniversary of the country's revolution.
"The UGTT (General Union of Tunisian Workers) has decided that a general strike will take place on Thursday, December 13, across Tunisia," it told Agence La Belle France Presse.
It called the strike to protest an attack on Tuesday against a UGTT demonstration blamed by the union on supporters of the Islamist ruling party.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2012
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[An Nahar] Almost 200 Libyan prisoners have beat feet from a jail in the southern town of Sabha in unclear circumstances, officials said on Wednesday.
"One hundred and ninety-seven prisoners escaped the prison of Sabha yesterday (Tuesday)," a member of the security services told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"Judiciary police, who control the prison, facilitated the escape of the detainees, the majority of them common criminals," said the source, a former rebel in Libya's 2011 revolution.
Supporters of Muammar Qadaffy ...a reminder that a single man with an idea can change an entire nation, usually for the worse... , the former dictator who was ousted and killed during last year's armed uprising, were also among the detainees.
Suad Ganun, who represents Sabha in the national assembly, confirmed the escape of "250 prisoners," blaming it on the failure of the authorities to address insecurity in the south.
"Members who represent southern cities have been boycotting the assembly's plenary sessions since Tuesday in protest over deteriorating security in their region," she added.
Ganun accused the authorities of ignoring the warnings of elected representatives, with Sabha's jailbreak marking "the final straw".
Sabha, a desert town about 800 kilometers (500 miles) south of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of thich is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... , had plunged into chaos due to rising crime, illegal immigration and drug trafficking, she said.
Libyan authorities have retaken control of several prisons previously in the hands of former rebels who fought to overthrow the Qadaffy regime.
But ex-rebels view the regular police force as incompetent, blaming it for the escape in October of 120 prisoners from a Tripoli jail that had recently come back under state control.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2012
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Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[Chicago.CBSLocal] An Illinois State Senator running to replace Jesse Jackson Jr. in Congress was incarcerated ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... Wednesday morning after he allegedly tried to bring a gun onto a plane at O'Hare International Airport. "Psst! Phyllis!"
"Yes, Shirley?"
"That man in row six! He's heeled!"
"Hmmm... Looks like some sort of politician to me! We better call airport security!"
Sen. Donne Trotter (D-Chicago) was charged with a felony count of attempting to board an aircraft with a weapon, "Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up, yer honor!"
according to the Cook County State's Attorney's office. The charge carries a penalty of 1 to 3 years in jail. "One to three years in jail? Tut tut, my good man! Do you know who I am?"
"Okay. Six to twelve, then!"
A police spokeswoman said Trotter is licensed to carry a weapon and has a valid Firearm Owner's Identification card. ... but he's not a federal marshal...
The TSA said the gun was loaded with seven rounds, but there was not a round in the gun's chamber. Oh, well. That's a relief. I didn't need the 'D' after his name to know which party...
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2012
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#1
Trying to get some street cred to take Jackson's place.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/06/2012 5:53
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#2
he has regularly been an anti-gun vote, and has opposed legislation that would allow for concealed carry in Illinois.
Yet another clear indication of his politics.
Posted by: Besoeker on the road again ||
12/06/2012 6:45
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#3
he had the gun because he moonlights at Allpoints Security and Detective Inc.
A State Senator has to moonlight as a security guard? He's not much of a Illinois politician if he can't support himself with graft.
#4
Thought it was legal to carry a gun on a plane so long as it was declared at the check-in desk, unloaded, the empty magazine was dropped from the firearm, the ammo was stored separately in its own box, and the firearm was in a locked hard case. Most airlines have firearms transport policies listed at their website. It is very important to check and see what the local regulations are where you take-off and where you land. I'm not sure I'd do this these days as I would fear losing it in baggage transit.
#7
John,
You can check guns in the manner you explain, but not carry them onto the plane. Your correct on the second part as well. A layover or cancelled flight in New York after you checked a gun can be a real problem, actually a felony.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/06/2012 13:56
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#8
What. No. Why would someone in NY steal a gun, they are illegal there, Plaxico Burress and Bloomer Mayor said me so.
[An Nahar] U.N. Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... on Wednesday called on all warring parties in Syria to stop fighting immediately, saying there is no military solution to the conflict.
"The military option cannot be a solution. The violence must stop immediately," Ban told news hounds in Kuwait City after talks with Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled al-Sabah.
"This is totally an unacceptable situation. We cannot let the situation continue this way," Ban said.
Ban also said that all problems should be resolved "through a political process."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2012
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[An Nahar] Two jacket wallahs targeted Pakistain's main army camp in a key tribal district on the Afghan border Wednesday, killing two soldiers and damaging a field hospital, officials said.
A military official said two suicide bombers drove a double cabin vehicle to the gate of the camp, seven kilometers (four miles) northwest of Wana, the main town of South Wazoo.
"Two suicide bombers in an car bomb tried to target Zarai Noor Camp. The soldiers spotted the car 100 meters from the camp. Both bombers were blown up in the car and two soldiers were also martyred," the official said.
The district administration chief said the car smashed into a barrier at the camp.
"Two suicide bombers hit the barrier with their vehicle at the main gate of the camp. The gate and a small hospital inside the camp were damaged in the attack," Shahid Ullah told Agence La Belle France Presse.
South Waziristan is a stronghold of Pak warlord Mullah Nazir, who sends men into Afghanistan to fight U.S. and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... troops. He was maimed in a suicide kaboom in Wana on November 29, according to officials.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2012
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[An Nahar] Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in remarks published Wednesday that Ankara knows the "exact location" of hundreds of ground missiles belonging to the regime of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa...
"Assad has about 700 missiles... Now we know the exact location of all of them, how they are stored and who holds them," Davutoglu was quoted as saying by the Sabah newspaper.
The comments emerged the day after NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... ministers approved Turkey's request for deployment of Patriot missiles along its volatile border with Syria, a move that has angered Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... and its allies.
Davutoglu said the international community feared possible attacks from Damascus against countries such as Turkey which were pushing for the toppling of the regime, if it felt the end was near.
"We say to anyone who would want to attack Turkey -- don't even think about it," NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in announcing the alliance's decision on the Patriots, a U.S.-made ground to air system.
The number of missile batteries and their precise location have yet to be decided and will be determined after a site survey in Turkey and consultations within NATO.
Syria reportedly has several types of ballistic missiles, including Russian-made Scuds.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2012
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#2
Most of the Syrian surf to surface stuff are cheap Russian rockets with zero or near zero guidance. However, launch/rocket package is fairly easy to tow on trucks.
The defense against these is to kill the vehicle while it is moving.
the Patriot really isn't suited for point defense against anything that gets launched. The Rafael (iron dome) is.
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/06/2012 8:11
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#3
Yah, the Israelis really need a sale, too bad Erdogan's worked his way onto the "If he were on fire I wouldn't be in a hurry to take a diuretic" list.
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.
Hillary Clinton
The Obama administration secretly gave its blessing to arms shipments to Libyan rebels from Qatar last year, but American officials later grew alarmed as evidence grew that Qatar was turning some of the weapons over to Islamic militants, according to United States officials and foreign diplomats.
[An Nahar] 
"Mzuzu! Mzuzu! That's my wonderful town!"
[Dawn] India alleged on Tuesday there were more than 40 training camps in Pakistain for 
[An Nahar] Greece is seen as the most corrupt country in the EU, Transparency International said Wednesday, adding that crisis-hit nations are being held back by an inability to deal with graft.
[Dawn] Warplanes on Wednesday pounded suburbs of 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
[Dawn] Pakistain's Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that the federal and provincial governments have failed in providing security to the people of restive 
[An Nahar] The Mufti of 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Reuters] Islamists battled with protesters outside Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi's palace on Thursday, after his vice president suggested amendments could be agreed to the draft constitution that has divided the nation.
[Shabelle] Unknown 
[An Nahar] Supporters and opponents of Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi lobbed 
Jerry Lewis doppelgänger Amr Moussa
Hillary Clinton
[Dawn] Two 
[Africa Review] A 
[Reuters] An earthquake measuring 5.5 in magnitude struck eastern Iran on Wednesday, killing eight people and injuring 12 others as emergency teams scrambled to rescue others and treat the injured, Iranian media reported.
[An Nahar] The deputy governor of the northern Syrian province of Raqa and several aides resigned on Wednesday to protest the security forces' interference in their work, a monitoring group and an activist said.
Unknown attackers shot and killed a television journalist for Vesti-VGTRK in Nalchik, the capital of Russia's Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkariya. Russian sources identified the slain reporter as Kazbek Gekkiev.
[An Nahar] Clashes renewed on Wednesday evening in the rival 
Somali pirates
[An Nahar] Tunisia's main labor union on Wednesday called for a nationwide general strike next week, as tensions rose in the run-up to the second anniversary of the country's revolution.
[An Nahar] Almost 200 Libyan prisoners have 
Wazoo
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
