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Today: 76 articles and 235 comments as of 23:14.
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Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Opinion        Politix   
ISIS leader Yasir Khurasani killed with 5 comrades in Nangarhar drone strike
Today's Headlines
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Page 6: Politix
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Former 'ER' actress Vanessa Marquez pulls BB gun on cops for last time
[FOX] Former "ER" actress Vanessa Marquez was reportedly shot and killed by police officers conducting a welfare check on her at her Southern California home Thursday.

Marquez allegedly brandished a "BB-type" gun causing an officer to open fire, police said. A source identified the woman as Marquez to the South Pasadenan. Police identified the woman as a 49-year-old Hispanic woman, but didn’t immediately confirm her name.

The LAPD didn’t immediately return Fox News' request for comment.

Marquez, who also appeared in films like "Stand and Deliver" and "Twenty Bucks," was shot at least once in the torso, the South Pasadenan reported. Police said the woman was pronounced dead at the hospital.

South Pasadena officers and a mental health specialist arrived at the home at around 11:45 a.m., after the landlord had called concerned about the woman’s well-being, police said. Officers had been to the home a few times in the past, according to KABC-TV.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/31/2018 14:31 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It looks like a DAISY, but were not paid enuf to take chances....BLAMO, BLAMO, BLAMO !
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/31/2018 17:16 Comments || Top||

#2  You mean they didn't try to shoot it out of her hand, like the movies? (do I need to put a /sarc on that?)
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/31/2018 17:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Never bring a BB gun to a gunfight!
Posted by: Raj || 08/31/2018 17:58 Comments || Top||


Actress Tried To Use Acid And Alligators To Dispose Of Husband's Ex-Wife
[Huffpoo] After Grant and Amanda Hayes killed Laura Ackerson, cut her body into pieces and attempted to dissolve the remains in acid, they threw her dismembered remains into an alligator-infested creek to get rid of the evidence.

Those are the grim details of Ackerson’s 2011 murder that a Texas jury heard this month before convicting Amanda Hayes of tampering with evidence. That same day, Aug. 21, Fort Bend County District Judge Maggie Jaramillo sentenced the 46-year-old to 20 years in prison.

"The jury verdict was swift, and the court’s sentence was appropriately harsh," said Assistant District Attorney Amanda Bolin. "Laura Ackerson’s family can be assured that Amanda Hayes will be punished for all of her barbaric behavior ― whether it was in North Carolina or the great state of Texas."

The sentence was the maximum possible under Texas law and is in addition to one she’s serving roughly 1,000 miles away.

Raleigh, North Carolina, is where authorities say Grant and Amanda Hayes killed his ex-wife and the mother of his two young sons.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/31/2018 13:36 || Comments || Link || [336104 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Posted by Raj in the the White Trash dumping thread, but it works here too!

This is what construction site dumpsters are for, you idiots!
Posted by Raj
Posted by: SteveS || 08/31/2018 18:49 Comments || Top||


White Trash caught on camera illegally dumping white trash in Hocking County wildlife preserve
LOGAN, Ohio (WSYX/WTTE) ‐ The Hocking County Sheriff's Office is working to identify two people seen dumping several items in a wildlife preserve last month.

A man and woman were caught on camera illegally dumping various items including televisions and tires on Sand Run Road in a wildlife preserve area.

The sheriff's office said thanks to a number of tips from the public they were able to identify the man and woman in the video. Corey Webb and Amanda Pyke, both of Perry County, have been charged with littering on state property and operating a vehicle in a non-designated area.

Webb and Pyke confessed to dumping items at multiple locations.

The sheriff's office has asked that anyone with information contact them at (740) 385-2131.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/31/2018 13:28 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is what construction site dumpsters are for, you idiots!
Posted by: Raj || 08/31/2018 13:41 Comments || Top||


Will lame duck Jerry Brown commute sentences of every single death row inmate in one of his last acts as California governor?
[FOX] Robert Boyd Rhoades kidnapped eight-year-old Michael Lyons while he was walking home from school in 1996, stabbed him up to 80 times with a fishing knife and kept him alive for nearly 10 agonizing hours before dumping his body in the Feather River, just up the street from the child’s home.

The ’Grim Sleeper’ killed nine women and a teenage girl over the course of 22 years, targeting drug addicts and hookers and tossing their naked bodies along roads or in the trash.

And the ’Trailside Killer’ preyed on hikers along trails in state parks near San Francisco, telling cops that he reveled in making his victims beg in vain for their lives, before shooting them in the head, execution-style.

These are just some of the 744 inmates currently on California’s Death Row.

Mass commutations as a political statement? Perhaps the Supreme Court and or the Congress should have a look.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/31/2018 08:48 || Comments || Link || [336076 views] Top|| File under:

#1  More ammo for Trump and a 'made for tv' Republican campaign advert.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/31/2018 8:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Get the democratic vote out effort.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/31/2018 9:50 Comments || Top||

#3  I shudder to think of Charles Ng on the streets after what he did.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 08/31/2018 10:39 Comments || Top||

#4  Moonbean becomes LunaTic?
Posted by: 3dc || 08/31/2018 10:46 Comments || Top||

#5  I suspect he plans to just commute their death sentence to life in prison. Which I would only agree to if you cut their arms and legs off, then hung them in cages in the public square, fed via tube and hydrated by IV. This country doesn't punish people, imprisonment isn't a punishment.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 08/31/2018 11:18 Comments || Top||

#6  Save California millions by executing them all on the same day.
Posted by: Airandee || 08/31/2018 11:22 Comments || Top||

#7  Never interested in real justice. Just rituals and condescending statements to those who want real justice. More than likely, they got to carry out a 'death penalty' for which there was no due process or appeal. Who's more powerful. See - cooperating witnesses in the 'No Go' areas of major cities.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/31/2018 11:55 Comments || Top||


Outsourcing Lobby Tied to Dairy Farm that Hired, Housed Illegal Alien Accused of Murdering Mollie Tibbetts
[Breitbart] The dairy farm where an illegal alien worked who is charged with murdering 20-year-old college student Mollie Tibbetts has close ties to the state’s largest farm outsourcing lobby.
Illegal alien Cristhian Bahena-Rivera ‐ a 24-year-old from Mexico who has been charged with first-degree murder in Tibbetts’ death ‐ lived in a trailer on property owned by the Lang family, which owns and operates Yarrabee Farms, where the illegal alien worked under a false name.

Eric Lang, one of the chief executives of Yarrabee Farms, is the brother of Craig Lang, who was the president of the Iowa Farm Bureau. The Farm Bureau has chapters all over the United States, with the goal of increasing the number of low-skilled foreign workers, specifically those on H-2A visas, who are allowed to enter the country every year.

Currently, the national Farm Bureau organization ‐ lobbying for the outsourcing of blue-collar American jobs ‐ has been influential in gaining sympathy from President Trump’s Agriculture Department, run by Sonny Perdue.

As Breitbart News reported, Eric Lang is also married to Nicole Schlinger, who runs the GOP fundraising firm Campaign Headquarters in Brooklyn, Iowa.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/31/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336096 views] Top|| File under:

#1  2nd try. I can't say this straight as it triggers some special autodelete of Rantburg.

I will do this in several comments until it fails.
Posted by: 3dc || 08/31/2018 10:58 Comments || Top||

#2  1) What if the dairy animals are not bovine?
Posted by: 3dc || 08/31/2018 10:59 Comments || Top||

#3  There is a "dairy" out there somewhere called "Project Glastig".
You will not find it with a google or bing search it is on the dark web.
Posted by: 3dc || 08/31/2018 11:00 Comments || Top||

#4  3) use the search engine in tumblr
Posted by: 3dc || 08/31/2018 11:01 Comments || Top||

#5  It would explain the missing women too.
Posted by: 3dc || 08/31/2018 11:01 Comments || Top||

#6  Do you mean something like wet nurses, 3dc?
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/31/2018 14:54 Comments || Top||

#7  worse
Posted by: 3dc || 08/31/2018 23:35 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Students storm out of exam hall in South Africa, say questions too tough
[TRIBUNEONLINENG] STUDENTS at a university in South Africa gave up on writing an exam ‐ and started protesting that it was too difficult, local media reports say.

The incident happened during a philosophy exam at the University of Limpopo in the remote northern part of South Africa, BBC has said.

Videos have been posted on social media about the protest, with at least one student seen walking on a desk.

One of the students who asked not to be named told Sowetan Live that they were expecting a mix of difficult and easy questions, and were shocked that the exam was far more difficult than they had expected.

She said: To show that this test was unfair, the entire class walked out. Even those who are geniuses left."

Another student said: The lecturer himself does not understand philosophy. So how can he teach it to us? The test was not what we expected. It was set up to be difficult."

Posted by: Fred || 08/31/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336072 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just when you thought U.S. students were the softest pansy snowflakes in the world - thanks for bailing us out this time!
Posted by: Raj || 08/31/2018 0:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Missed this part:

"Even those who are geniuses left."

That's bullshit - if you had any 'geniuses' in your class, they would have stuck around and finished the test to break the grading curve just to fuck the rest of you over. Well, worse than you fucked yourselves over with your self-defeating temper tantrum.

Next year when I see you, I would like fries with that burger.
Posted by: Raj || 08/31/2018 0:33 Comments || Top||

#3  We had a take home em-fields exam in EE in college that only 3 people in the class passed.
The other EE profs took the test and the prof was not offered a contract to continue the following year.
That's the way a complaint is done for tests.
Posted by: 3dc || 08/31/2018 5:48 Comments || Top||

#4  Students are vermin!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/31/2018 6:13 Comments || Top||

#5  if you had any 'geniuses' in your class, they would have stuck around and finished the test to break the grading curve just to fuck the rest of you over.

If they were geniuses, they would have finished the test long since, silly whiners. Whether they mained seated or turned in their test and left would no doubt depend on thr school’s exam rules. Nor would it necessarily require genius to do so — my father was the only one to answer the final question on a physics final because he’d read the day before, in the latest issue of the physics journal, the proof of the theorem that the professor put up on the board, thinking it impossible for undergrads to figure out on their own. Daddy wasn’t a genius, merely brilliant, but he’d made friends with the librarian, getting access to the journals before they were circulated among the professors.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/31/2018 7:50 Comments || Top||

#6  Studyin B. Hard: "Even those who are geniuses left."
Posted by: Frank G || 08/31/2018 8:47 Comments || Top||

#7  Sounds like the "Professor" was incapable of teaching the course and did not properly prepare the students for what was in the test. Kind of like taking a course in Calc, being taught basic Algebra, and then trying to take an advanced Calc. Not good.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 08/31/2018 9:38 Comments || Top||

#8  CrazyFool is probably correct.
Remember The Exam?
Posted by: james || 08/31/2018 10:23 Comments || Top||

#9  Really, NOBODY understands philosophy.
Posted by: Glenmore || 08/31/2018 15:27 Comments || Top||

#10  Had a slot to fill, once, and couldn't get any relevant elective, so I cheerfully signed up for a vaguely named philosphy class that I figured would be a total crip, since... yeah... I kinda liked philosophy. Turned out to be "Battle of the Neo-Thomists." Still features in nightmares once in a while.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 08/31/2018 16:32 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
This Man Had to Have His Arm Amputated After Eating Raw Seafood (foto caution)
[NEJM via Health.com] A 71-year-old man needed his forearm amputated after eating raw seafood, according to a case report in a recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The unnamed man went to a South Korea emergency room after having a fever for two days and "excruciating pain" in his left hand. The cause? A dark purple blister covering much of his palm, with more swelling and discoloration on the back of his hand. Twelve hours before the blister developed, he had eaten raw seafood, according to the NEJM.

How do you like your seafood? Well cooked please, thanks for asking.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/31/2018 03:50 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Right, you eat poisonous staff and - instead of systemic response - get something on your palm. Tell it to the marines ...
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/31/2018 6:17 Comments || Top||

#2  The patient "had a history of type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension and was undergoing hemodialysis for end-stage renal disease."

I suspect he contaminated a lesion on his hand when preparing and eating the seafood. His preexisting condition would explain the catastrophically fast progress of the infection.

Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 08/31/2018 8:02 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
Vietnam Veteran Who Was Shot by Police While Defending his Grandson Given a Hero's Burial
[Guns America] A Vietnam War veteran and Bronze Star and Purple Heart recipient was laid to rest this weekend after being shot by police defending his grandson from a home intruder.

Richard "Gary" Black, 73, was in his Aurora, Colorado, home around 1:30 a.m. last month when a naked man broke down their front door and began assaulting his grandson. Black shot the intruder, but police shot Black when they arrived at the scene and saw him carrying a handgun and a flashlight.

The incident has been described as one of the most tragic police shootings in the city’s history, according to the Denver Post, and those who were there hailed him as a hero both in the service and at home.

"He was a hero coming out of that war, and he died a hero defending his family," said Mark Potter, chaplain for American Legion Post 22 in Northglenn, Colorado.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/31/2018 03:41 || Comments || Link || [336071 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So what's going to happen to the trigger happy cops?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/31/2018 6:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Rhetorical question?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/31/2018 11:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Nope.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/31/2018 12:46 Comments || Top||

#4  IIRC from this AM, only one cop fired, and far from being fired, they're already back on the job (undisciplined, sounded like).
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 08/31/2018 16:40 Comments || Top||

#5  So what's going to happen to the trigger happy cops?
It seems that the officer in question returned to work. But investigations are still in progress so there may be more later.

Coloradolaw enforcement agency policies differ on officer-involved shooting protocol

There's more if you check the headline link above in the main article and then click on some of the inline links. One can get a better idea of what happened, including an hysterical unintelligent 911 call and the usual "fog of war" that apparently some of the LEOs involved were never trained to deal with.
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 08/31/2018 16:45 Comments || Top||

#6  Aurora has a higher gang and violence rate then the other metro areas and the cops there have a reputation of being a bit... harsh.

Most other city's cops are pretty decent except for the Denver cops. Most everyone agrees they are just plain assholes.
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/31/2018 17:22 Comments || Top||

#7  This strikes me as one of those rare unfortunate cases; both the vet and the policeman acted reasonably given the timing and what they knew of the circumstances, with a tragic result. The cop arrived on an assault call and heard/saw a gunshot/gun and responded, not really able to know it was the homeowner and not the assaulter that had the gun.
Posted by: Glenmore || 08/31/2018 17:42 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Egypt appoints first-ever Christian woman as governor
[IsraelTimes] Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has sworn in several new provincial governors, including the first-ever Coptic Christian woman to hold the position.

Manal Awad Mikhail has been appointed governor of Damietta province. She was previously a deputy for the Giza governor.

The reshuffle included new governors for Cairo, Giza, Luxor, Aswan and North Sinai.

Egypt appointed the first-ever female governor to the province of Beheira in a reshuffle last year.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/31/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336090 views] Top|| File under:

#1  appointed. That's good. Elected would be better. Baby steps.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 08/31/2018 0:45 Comments || Top||

#2  An expat Coptic Egyptian friend writes:

I never comment on religious issues or have any religion posts or even read religious posts as a rule, but this is worth mentioning for many historic and political reasons: this woman is the first Christian woman to be a governor of a province in Egypt. Dr. Manal Mikhail is the new Governor of the Province of Damietta. She is the second woman governor in history. There are also 4 more women deputy governors, young and progressive. If all that means anything, it means it is another step in the right direction, trying to cleanse the old dirt accumulated in the past 40 years and fighting the Moselm Brotherhood/Wahhabi/Islamist backward/evil ideology.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/31/2018 7:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Wishing her a long life and happy reign.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/31/2018 9:58 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Oil-rich South Sudan to resume production in war-hit region
[ARABNEWS] JUBA: Emboldened by a new peace deal, civil war-torn South Sudan said that it will resume oil production in a key region next month to make up for more than $4 billion of revenue lost during years of fighting.

South Sudan, with Africa’s third-largest oil reserves, will renew drilling in northern Unity State for the first time since the fields were destroyed when the conflict began in late 2013, oil ministry officials told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named.

The goal is to have all five locations there operational by the end of the year and working alongside the oil fields in Upper Nile State, which operated throughout the civil war.

South Sudan’s economy is almost entirely dependent on exports of oil from its 3.5 billion barrels of reserves. Most of the oil rigs were shut down or destroyed by the civil war. The fighting that killed tens of thousands of people has also devastated the economy and sent prices for everyday items soaring.
Posted by: Fred || 08/31/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Most of the rigs and pipelines are built and owned by China. It's a point worth noting.
Posted by: 3dc || 08/31/2018 5:50 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Venezuela arrests 131 accused of economic sabotage
[Yahoo] Surprisingly, none are named Maduro
Posted by: Frank G || 08/31/2018 08:08 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  ..or the remaining 150 running the country.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/31/2018 17:34 Comments || Top||


Probe Clears State Dept of Wrongdoing in Cuba Sonic Attacks
[Free Beacon] The State Department on Thursday formally cleared Obama and Trump administration officials from any wrongdoing in the lead-up and response to the still-unexplained sonic attacks in Cuba that harmed the health of at least 25 U.S. personnel, although it cited some problems with security staffing vacancies and communications "challenges."

After delivering the official report to Congress, the agency released a "fact sheet" to the press on the Accountability Review Board's (ARB) findings and recommendations. The ARB process, which Congress established, investigates what happened and issues recommendations aimed at preventing future incidents.

"The ARB found the department's security systems and procedures were overall adequate and properly implemented, though there were significant vacancies in security staffing and some challenges with information sharing and communication," the fact-sheet statement said.

"The ARB did not find any U.S. government employee engaged in misconduct or performed unsatisfactorily in a way that contributed to these incidents," it continued.

The long-awaited report did not provide a timeline of exactly when U.S. personnel in Havana began to report the strange sonic incidents and health problems related to them, nor when they ended.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/31/2018 02:25 || Comments || Link || [336079 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The long-awaited report did not provide a timeline of exactly when U.S. personnel in Havana began to report the strange sonic incidents and health problems related to them, nor when they ended.

"Long awaiting report"... all of our internal reporting is... 'long awaited,' it's the way we roll.

Employees complaining of health problems? No worries, someone here is always complaining about something. We have lots more employees.

Of course a 'timeline' was not provided. The ongoing Obama-Cuba political narrative during that period would conflict with the facts.

"State Dept employees cleared of wrongdoing." What about non-Foggy Bottom people operating out of the embassy ?

Posted by: Besoeker || 08/31/2018 2:31 Comments || Top||

#2  there were significant vacancies in security staffing and some challenges with information sharing and communication

Seems to have been a common problem with Obama/Clinton era Embassy outposts.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/31/2018 9:57 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm sure DoS never objected to opening said liaison in hostile territory believing the old refrain - why don't sharks eat lawyers? Professional courtesy.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/31/2018 12:00 Comments || Top||


Argentina's currency collapses
[CNBC] Investors are increasingly concerned Latin America's third-largest economy could soon default as it struggles to repay heavy government borrowing.

The peso is down more than 45 percent against the greenback this year, exacerbating pre-existing fears over the country's weakening economy and inflation running at 25.4 percent this year.

"I know that these tumultuous situations generate anxiety among many of you ... I understand this, and I want you to know I am making all decisions necessary to protect you," Macri said.
Posted by: Fred || 08/31/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The biggest enemy of Macri's reforms ïs the knuckle dragging socialist media there.
Posted by: Ebbavirt Clunk4147 || 08/31/2018 3:30 Comments || Top||

#2  How many times has its currency collapsed in the last 50 years?
Posted by: 3dc || 08/31/2018 11:03 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Belgium Steel exec mysteriously falls to his death within view of Kremlin
[NY Post] One of the leading Western executives working for big business in Russia was found dead close to the Kremlin on Thursday.

The body of Dr. Bruno Charles De Cooman was discovered beneath his luxury ninth-floor apartment near Red Square.

The academic and businessman worked for Vladimir Putin’s fried Vladimir Lisin’s NLMK steel empire.

De Cooman, 59, arrived on Thursday at the historic House on the Embankment ‐ besides the Moscow River almost opposite the Kremlin ‐ with a friend.

A friend said De Cooman ‐ a vice-president of NLMK ‐ had planned to go upstairs and return. However, his body was found minutes later on the ground below.

He was reported dead before the ambulance arrived on Serafimovicha Street.

Related: Radio Free Europe - Belgian Executive Found Dead In Moscow After Apparent Fall
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/31/2018 02:49 || Comments || Link || [336080 views] Top|| File under:

#1  De Cooman, 59, arrived on Thursday at the historic House on the Embankment...with a friend.

Femme Fatale.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/31/2018 9:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Gravity...mystery solved.
Posted by: Spurong Wheamp3844 || 08/31/2018 10:28 Comments || Top||

#3  ..more likely the sudden deceleration at the end.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/31/2018 11:57 Comments || Top||

#4  When she said
"Let's go knock one off."
He wasn't thinking 'balcony'.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/31/2018 13:42 Comments || Top||


Economy
IBM Laid Off 20K Older Americans, Sought to Import 37K Foreign Workers
[Breitbart] Outsourcing corporation IBM laid off about 20,000 older Americans in the last five years, a new investigation reveals, while the tech multinational sought to import at least 37,000 foreign workers to take U.S. jobs.

A joint investigation by ProPublica and Mother Jones reveals that about 60 percent of the Americans that were laid off by IBM in the last five years were workers over the age of forty. This amounts to about 20,000 40-years-old and older Americans being laid off by IBM since 2014.

At the same time, IBM has attempted to import at least 37,000 foreign workers on H-1B visas since 2016.

Every year, more than 100,000 foreign workers are brought to the U.S. on the H-1B visa and are allowed to stay for up to six years. That number has ballooned to potentially hundreds of thousands each year, as universities and non-profits are exempt from the cap. With more entering the U.S. through the visa, Americans are often replaced and forced to train their foreign replacements.

Publicly available data reviewed by Breitbart News reveals that in 2018, alone, IBM was one of the top three multinational corporations trying to import more than 10,000 H-1B foreign workers to take American jobs.

In 2017 and 2016, combined, IBM sought to import nearly 26,000 H-1B foreign workers to take coveted, high-paying jobs in the tech industry.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/31/2018 15:22 || Comments || Link || [336105 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why do you think that the big tech corporations want to destroy Trump and the GOP majorities? Applecarts and rice bowls are being upset everywhere.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 08/31/2018 15:29 Comments || Top||

#2  "Older American".... any white male 50 years of age or older.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/31/2018 15:34 Comments || Top||

#3  IBM was notorious for offering 1/2 the going rate for engineering contractors in order to bring in H1Bs.
Posted by: Sonny Dribble1184 || 08/31/2018 15:38 Comments || Top||

#4  This is not your father's IBM. Or even mine. I worked for IBM 1969 until I retired in 1998. It is a radically different company.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 08/31/2018 16:14 Comments || Top||

#5  My Dad worked for them from 1954 to 1978 when he was forced to leave for health reasons. It is not the same company anymore.
Posted by: Glenmore || 08/31/2018 17:45 Comments || Top||

#6  My father was there from 1968-2000 (CE in Pittsburgh).
Posted by: Airandee || 08/31/2018 17:56 Comments || Top||

#7  It ain't IBM.
Its our shiney pates and silver hair.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/31/2018 21:38 Comments || Top||


Coca-Cola takes plunge into coffee with $5.1 billion Costa deal
(Reuters) - Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) has agreed to buy coffee chain Costa for $5.1 billion including debt to extend its push into healthier drinks and take on the likes of Starbucks and Nestle in the booming global coffee market.

The purchase from Britain’s Whitbread (WTB.L) of Costa’s almost 4,000 outlets thrusts the world’s biggest soda company into one of the few bright spots in the sluggish packaged food and drinks sector.

Paying about 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion) more than some analysts had expected, Coke will use its distribution network to supercharge Costa’s expansion as it chases current coffee chain market leader Starbucks (SBUX.O) and its almost 29,000 stores across 77 markets.

Beyond coffee shops, Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey, himself a Briton who is familiar with the Costa brand, said Costa would provide an important growth platform ranging from beans to bottled drinks in what is one of the world's fastest-growing drink categories, growing 6 percent. (bit.ly/2wyISYp)

"Coca-Cola doesn’t have a broad, global portfolio in this growing category," Quincey said, highlighting Costa’s retail footprint, roastery, supply chain and Costa Express vending system, which the company plans to expand.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/31/2018 07:49 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
UK To Spend $100+ Million to Explore GPS/Galileo Post Brexit Alternative
The 100 million is just for the study. The EUnochs are going to make the UK bleed for daring to leave the European "super state."
Britain may be denied full access to the EU's Galileo satellite navigation system on security grounds after Brexit and this may cost UK firms billions of pounds, hundreds of jobs and create national security problems for the nation. In light of this the British government announced that it will spend over $100 million to study launching a GPS alternative of its own.

In a UK Government statement released yesterday officials announced they plan to use £92 million ($119.69 million) from a £3 billion brexit readiness fund to pay for the study.

"The danger space poses as a new front for warfare is one of my personal priorities." said Gavin Williamson, U.K. defense secretary, in the statement. "It is absolutely right that we waste no time in going it alone if we need an independent satellite system to combat those emerging threats,"

Space News reports that British government officials have hinted for months that the country could seek to develop its own satellite navigation system if it’s unable to work out an agreement with the E.U. on continued participation in Galileo.

After Brexit, British companies could be denied contracts and barred from working on Galileo development. The British military could also be locked out of Galileo's military-specific services if an agreement is not reached between the UK and EU.
I thought that the UK and US had a special relationship where they could use our GPS without spending themselves penniless on independent systems.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/31/2018 12:53 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under:

#1  'Study' an alternative for $100 mill? Wouldn't it make more sense to spend that kind of $ for actual development since it's going to be needed anyway?
Posted by: Raj || 08/31/2018 13:05 Comments || Top||

#2  The first half of the Galileo satellite constellation was built in the UK, so this may be more of a jobs issue.
Posted by: Sonny Dribble1184 || 08/31/2018 13:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Lots of satellites developed and built in the UK.

The EUSSR may find they only succeeded in opening their own veins.

The personality of the EUSSR politburo is more Venezuelan/Maoist than anything.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/31/2018 14:27 Comments || Top||

#4  I thought that the UK and US had a special relationship

The relationship would no doubt be more special had the Brits not paraded their dislike of President Trump after having started the dossier nonsense. As a result, one wonders if they have yet asked about joining the American system.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/31/2018 16:40 Comments || Top||


Fifth Column
Reuters Misleads (Again) In Headline About Trump / McCain Funeral
I seem to recall at least two people specifically told not to attend anything related to John McCain's funeral proceedings - Sarah Palin and Donald Trump - look how these assholes portray it...

[Reuters] - Washington lauds McCain as one of America's 'bravest souls;' Trump absent

WASHINGTON ‐ Washington’s bitterly divided leaders came together on Friday to praise the late Senator John McCain as an embodiment of America’s fighting spirit, idealism and sense of humor, but there was one notable absentee: President Donald Trump.
...
McCain helped plan the events around his funeral. He made it clear to family and friends that he wanted Democratic former Vice President Joe Biden, Bush and Obama to speak ‐ but that Trump was not welcome.

Waiting until the very last paragraph to tell us why Trump wasn't there, which is quite a bit different from 'Trump absent', isn't it?
Posted by: Raj || 08/31/2018 17:14 || Comments || Link || [336104 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Can you imagine Barry Goldwater inviting LBJ and Hubert Humphrey to speak at his funeral?
Posted by: Hupick Ebbiting6266 || 08/31/2018 18:15 Comments || Top||

#2  On this day 200 years ago:

London lauds Benedict Arnold as one of America's 'bravest souls;' Washington absent
Posted by: Sonny Dribble1184 || 08/31/2018 19:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Many of his campaign workers were also disinvited. He showed his true colors in the end.
Posted by: KBK || 08/31/2018 21:40 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Sessions Is Safe at Least Until November Elections, Trump Says
[Bloomberg] President Donald Trump said Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s job is safe at least until the midterm elections in November.

"I just would love to have him do a great job," Trump said Thursday in an Oval Office interview with Bloomberg News. Asked if he’d keep Sessions beyond November, he declined to comment.

Trump has repeatedly attacked Sessions in private and in public for recusing himself in March 2017 from the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein then appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel to conduct what’s become a wide-ranging probe, including whether people around Trump conspired with the Russians and whether the president sought to obstruct justice.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/31/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh, oh
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/31/2018 2:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Il bacio della morte
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/31/2018 3:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Whenever Sessions shows up to his office Trump should fire him.

Worst AG ever.
Posted by: Airandee || 08/31/2018 7:26 Comments || Top||

#4  ..nah, he has competition with Holder, key agent involved in weaponizing the place, Fast and Furious, contempt of Congress, etc etc etc
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/31/2018 12:01 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Jirga rulings on criminal cases 'against fundamental human rights': CJP
[DAWN] Chief Justice of Pakistain Mian Saqib Nisar on Thursday deemed the jirga system "against fundamental human rights
...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state...
" and recommended that its scope be limited to civil cases only.

The incumbent chief justice made those remarks while hearing a vani and sawara (marriage of underage girls against their will to settle murder and tribal disputes) case first taken up in 2005 during former chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry's tenure.

"The jirga system is against fundamental human rights," Justice Nisar said. "Jirga and panchayat (tribal councils) cannot have the right to vani girls and award capital punishments.

"Some people take their disputes to Jamaat-ud-Dawa
...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba...
, which then imposes heavy fines. This is illegal," the top judge warned.

The chief justice defined the limit of a jirga's legal powers and jurisdiction, saying: "Jirga and panchayat can only settle minor civil disputes. If they are approached in such cases then that's fine. However,
ars longa, vita brevis...
jirga rulings on criminal cases intrude on the legal jurisdiction of Pak courts."

Justice Nisar asked the advocate generals whether any legislation in this regard had been done at the provincial level.

The chief justice also urged the federal government to take remedial action, "draft a law and send it to parliament.

"Only parliament [then] can pass or reject such a law," he added.

An additional advocate general told the chief justice that "the Sindh High Court has already declared the jirga system as illegal."

At this, Justice Ijazul Ahsan added: "KP and 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...
have the most number of jirgas."

Posted by: Fred || 08/31/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


14-year-old girl kidnapped, raped in Karachi's Surjani
[DAWN] KARACHI: A teenage girl was kidnapped and allegedly raped in Surjani Town, a police brass hat said on Wednesday.

The police tossed in the slammer
Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!
five suspects including a woman who were allegedly trying to shift the victim to Punjab
1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots....

for sale, said Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
West SSP Dr Rizwan Ahmed Khan.

The 14-year-old girl was kidnapped from Surjani Town on August 26.

The police have registered FIR (508/18) under Section 365-B of Pakistain Penal Code against unknown suspects on complaint of the girl’s father.

Acting on a tip-off on Wednesday, the police raided a house situated in Khuda Ki Basti of Surjani Town, arrested five suspects including a woman and recovered the girl.

"During initial interrogation, the girl disclosed that the accused kidnapped her [when she was on her way home] and took her to some unknown place at Nazimabad where they raped her," said the SSP West.

"Today they shifted her to Surjani Town and were planning to shift her to Punjab for sale," said the SSP, adding that further investigation was in process.

Another officer, Surjani SHO Nasrullah Khan, told Dawn that they have sent the girl to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medical examination.

The girl, who works in bungalows in the area from where she was kidnapped, told the police that she was returning home when a rickshaw driver allegedly kidnapped her. The officer said that the girl was kept at the home of the arrested woman.

The girl belonged to Karachi while the kidnappers originally hailed from Rahim Yar Khan in Punjab.

Posted by: Fred || 08/31/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336085 views] Top|| File under: Human Trafficking


Home Front: Culture Wars
Texas Company Must Forfeit Over $5 Million for Hiring Illegal Aliens
h/t Gates of Vienna
A company in Texas must forfeit $5.5 million to the government for hiring illegal aliens over a course of nine years, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas Wednesday.

Waste Management of Texas hired at least three managers who actively encouraged illegal aliens to work between 2003 to April 2012, according to a press release from the attorney’s office. Many workers were hired or rehired with little to no regard to authorization status at the Houston location.

"The non-prosecution agreement requires Waste Management to continue its substantial remedial measures to address all past immigration violations and forfeit more than $5.5 million in proceeds gained from hiring an illegal workforce at the Afton [Street] location," U.S. Attorney Ryan Patrick said in statement.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/31/2018 04:30 || Comments || Link || [336077 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Waste Management can easily pay the fine, they are a huge company -- which is why the local USAtty went after them. WMA probably got lazy and didn't cover up who they were hiring until 2012. All the while wages are depressed for the legal.
Posted by: brujotejano || 08/31/2018 9:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Look for spike in waste management openings nation wide.
Posted by: Airandee || 08/31/2018 9:17 Comments || Top||

#3  WMA probably got lazy and didn't cover pay up for Obama's 2nd term.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/31/2018 9:47 Comments || Top||

#4  Need to up the fine to $1 million per illegal hired.

If caught, most companies would be immediately put out of business.
With stringent enforcement, companies would stop hiring them as the draw of illegals coming here would diminish.
Put up a wall to keep most drug mules and gangs from crossing the border and call it a win.
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/31/2018 10:03 Comments || Top||

#5  When they start sending the hiring personnel to jail...

I seem to remember there was a crime law in that regards and it was repealed during Reagan's years. Could be wrong. But it sure the hell should be a crime.
Posted by: Woodrow || 08/31/2018 14:10 Comments || Top||


Government
Pres. Trump eliminates pay raises for civilian federal employees
[AXIOS] In a letter sent to House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday, President Trump announced that a majority of civilian federal employees will not receive pay increases next year, undoing the original 2.1% pay increase that was set to take effect in 2019.

The details: The president explained the change is an effort "to put our Nation on a fiscally sustainable course, and Federal agency budgets cannot sustain such increases." No change has been announced for pay increases of military troops, which are still on track to receive a 2.6% bump according to the Military Times, marking their biggest pay raise since 2009.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/31/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336090 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Can't fire them?
OK attrit their wallets.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/31/2018 10:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Most of them are vastly overpaid in Washington.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 08/31/2018 10:37 Comments || Top||

#3  And they typically get raises yearly. I don't. Hell, last time I got a non-promotion raise, they claimed they were raising our dayrate, but they took away a secondary rate for specialized monitoring that was the exact same amount. So I got paid the same before my 'raise' as after. And that was the ONLY freaking raise in years, they generally cut our pay, first 10, then 30%.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 08/31/2018 11:59 Comments || Top||

#4  They are free to make their fortunes in the civilian economy anytime.
Posted by: Sonny Dribble1184 || 08/31/2018 15:53 Comments || Top||

#5  There is a certain cost associated with having a job from which you can never be fired.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/31/2018 15:56 Comments || Top||

#6  So what? Most of them were going to vote Democratic anyway.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 08/31/2018 16:16 Comments || Top||


Science
Study claims red meat, cheese aren't as bad for your diet as previously thought
Shouldn't be any surprise there, since we're omnivores.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/31/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336093 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well. Do I look like I care? Don't matter one way or the other, it's really all about being able to tell people what to do.
As a practical approach, everybody dies of something. Always have, always will.
Posted by: ed in texas || 08/31/2018 17:03 Comments || Top||

#2  In that case I'll take a 2×2, mustard fried.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 08/31/2018 20:49 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
43[untagged]
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2Govt of Iran Proxies
2Govt of Pakistan
2Houthis
2Human Trafficking
2Moslem Colonists
1Salafists
1Sublime Porte
1Arab Spring
1Taliban
1PLO
1Govt of Qatar (MB)
1Govt of Iraq
1Hamas

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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2018-08-31
  ISIS leader Yasir Khurasani killed with 5 comrades in Nangarhar drone strike
Thu 2018-08-30
  Egyptian forces kill 20 militants in Sinai operation: Army
Wed 2018-08-29
  Syrian Army foils ISIL breakout attempt in east Sweida
Tue 2018-08-28
  Idlib: Nusra arrest 20 ISIS turbans, Gov’t closes key crossing
Mon 2018-08-27
  Elite Army units moving to Idlib for major assault
Sun 2018-08-26
  John McCain dies at 81
Sat 2018-08-25
  Syrian Army launches powerful assault in northern Hama
Fri 2018-08-24
  Arab coalition thwarts Houthi boat bomb targeting commercial ships off Yemen
Thu 2018-08-23
  Syrian Army cuts all supply lines to ISIL’s last stronghold in southern Syria
Wed 2018-08-22
  ‘IS militants’ launch attacks in Chechnya; five killed
Tue 2018-08-21
  U.S. Rejects Turkey's Offer to Release Ransom Pastor, Report Says
Mon 2018-08-20
  ‘Allahu Akbar!': Knife-Man Shot Dead After Attacking Spanish Police
Sun 2018-08-19
  Yemeni army inflicts heavy casualties on Houthi militants in Taiz
Sat 2018-08-18
  HTS executes 6 people accused of being ISIS members in Idlib
Fri 2018-08-17
  American Couple Dies Tragically While Biking Through ISIS Territory Trying to Prove Evil Does Not Exist

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