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France kills 33 militants in Mali raid: president
Today's Headlines
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Baltimore civil rights groups oppose aerial surveillance pilot program
[FOX] Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison, who was a previous skeptic of the program, said the test (which could last up to six months) will be "yet another tool" to fight the increasing violence in the city.
Amamus Nobis Spectar (rough translation - 'We Love to Watch')
The planes will collect imagery during high crime hours, with technology developed by Ohio-based Persistent Surveillance Systems, that will be reviewed by investigators for specific crimes.

Harrison added that police will not have access to live feeds.

"We will be the first American city to use this technology in an attempt to solve and deter violent crime," Harrison said in a news conference Friday.

The pilot program set to launch in May 2020 has been controversial since it was secretively tried three years ago by a different police commissioner.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Harrison added that police will not have access to live feeds

"Live Feeds" or FMV (full motion video) is a significant capability which should be provided to Law Enforcement.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2019 7:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe helicopter parenting isn't all bad.
Posted by: Lex || 12/22/2019 7:05 Comments || Top||

#3  They have access to your phone records, which you have conveniently allowed to track you day and night.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/22/2019 7:56 Comments || Top||

#4  *Shrug* If the local TV Station, or anyone else with the money needed, wants to hire a helicopter and snoop they can already do this.
Posted by: magpie || 12/22/2019 10:20 Comments || Top||

#5  So if police don't have access to live feeds - how is it supposed to deter violent crime?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/22/2019 10:25 Comments || Top||

#6  Wouldn't drones be cheaper and safer?
Posted by: 3dc || 12/22/2019 10:40 Comments || Top||

#7  Post crime tracking allows more precise ability to determine where the perpetrators originated and what methods of transport and departures they used. The downside is areas with underground public transit,but cameras there coupled with precise entrance/exit times help greatly. As the criminal population is culled, crime drops if they actually incarcerated the criminals.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 12/22/2019 11:16 Comments || Top||

#8  Except Democrats don't want to remove criminals from the streets. They want to disarm their targets and give the criminals back the vote.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 12/22/2019 13:47 Comments || Top||

#9  This program will threaten the "skim" income of the Baltimore Corruptocrats. No Crime = No Income. Sounds like a Trump Administration plot or evidence of "White Supremecy". After all, it jes business amonst Dah Brudders and it cuts down SNAP costs.
Posted by: Mike-SMO || 12/22/2019 21:47 Comments || Top||


Britain
Parliament Approves Brexit
[PJMEDIA] Members of Parliament have just voted overwhelmingly to approve Prime Minister Boris Johnson
...pro-Brexit British prime minister, succeeding no-Brexit Theresa May. BoJo is noted as much for his sparkling personality and his hair as for his Conservative policies....
's Brexit plan by a vote of 358 to 234.

Brexit's approval was widely expected following the conservative victory in the UK election last week.

Brexit has been in gridlock for over three years. Former Prime Minister Theresa May has made several failed attempt
...Curses! Foiled again!...
s to get Brexit through Parliament since the country voted in favor of Brexit in 2016. May ultimately failed to get a deal through, and she resigned in May over her inability to broker a deal that could win a majority of Parliament.

According to the News Agency that Dare Not be Named, the departure of the UK from the EU "will open a new phase of Brexit, as Britannia and the EU race to strike new relationships for trade, security and host of other areas by the end of 2020."

Boris Johnson considered the vote a moment of closure. "The sorry story of the last 3 1/2 years will be at an end and we will be able to move forward together," Johnson said. "This is a time when we move on and discard the old labels of ’leave’ and ’remain.’ Now is the time to act together as one reinvigorated nation."

Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  MGBGA
Posted by: Lex || 12/22/2019 6:49 Comments || Top||

#2  Go Team GB!
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 12/22/2019 7:36 Comments || Top||

#3  One reinvigorated nation

BoJo as Disraeli. Nice. We can learn from this.
Posted by: Lex || 12/22/2019 7:47 Comments || Top||

#4  #3 Nice. Benjamin Disraeli a favorite of mine. One would hope.
Posted by: Dale || 12/22/2019 10:24 Comments || Top||

#5  They called Disraeli a fop, a toff, made fun of his literary manner, too. Last laugh was had by Dizzy, the great man. Same for BoJo.
Posted by: Lex || 12/22/2019 11:59 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russia honors two of Britain's 'Cambridge Five' spies
[Jpost] Russia on Friday honored two members of the British "Cambridge Five" spy ring who passed information to the Soviet Union with a memorial plaque and a tribute from the head of Russia's foreign intelligence service.

The plaque, unveiled on the day Russia celebrates the work of its security services, was dedicated to Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean and attached to the wall of the building where they lived from 1952-1955 in the city of Samara, then known as Kuibyshev.

The ceremony comes as relations between London and Moscow remain strained over everything from the 2018 poisoning in England of a former Russian spy and his daughter to Syria and Ukraine.

The shadowy world of the Cambridge spy ring, which was active from the 1930s until at least the early 1950s and also included Kim Philby, Anthony Blunt, and a fifth man, has long fascinated British audiences.

Burgess and Maclean, who were recruited by the Soviets at Cambridge University in the 1930s, worked under Philby at the British Embassy in Washington, before both defected to the Soviet Union in 1951.

Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia's SVR foreign intelligence service, praised Burgess and Maclean for their work in a letter, posted on social media by a politician in Russia's parliament, Alexander Khinshtein, who attended the unveiling.

"The 'Cambridge Five', having supplied Soviet intelligence with the most important information for more than 20 years, made a significant contribution to the victory over fascism
...a political system developed in Italy, symbolized by the Roman fasces -- thin reeds, each flimsy in itself but unbreakable when bound into a bundle. Its distinguishing philosophical feature is the Corporate State. The word is nowadays thrown around by all sorts of people who have no idea what they're talking about...
, the protection of our strategic interests and ensuring the safety of our country," the letter said.

Burgess and Maclean remained in the Soviet Union until their deaths in Moscow in 1963 and 1983 respectively.

The plaque reads: "In this building, from 1952-1955, lived Soviet intelligence officers, members of the 'Cambridge Five', Guy Francis Burgess and Donald Maclean."

During Soviet times, Samara was named after Bolshevik revolutionary leader Valerian Kuybyshev. Off limits to foreigners, it was the secretive heart of the country's space program.

Philby, seen as the "Cambridge Five" ringleader, was honored with his own plaque in 2010 at the headquarters of the foreign intelligence service in Moscow.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/22/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  dedicated to Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean and attached to the wall of the building where they lived

... together, as bunkmates?
Posted by: Lex || 12/22/2019 6:57 Comments || Top||

#2  We didn't learn. See - Manning.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/22/2019 7:55 Comments || Top||

#3  We didn't learn. See - Brennan
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/22/2019 8:17 Comments || Top||

#4  Cambridge = The Harvard of England?
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/22/2019 9:13 Comments || Top||

#5  How many Russian spies in the "Five Eyes" today?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/22/2019 10:13 Comments || Top||

#6  Cambridge = The Harvard of England?

Oh no — that would be Oxford. Cambridge is for brilliant grinds, not gentlemen, so perhaps Princeton or MIT.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/22/2019 13:41 Comments || Top||

#7  Britain should honour Vladimir Bukovski and Pavel Stroilov in response.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/22/2019 17:35 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Karachi hitman who established 'reign of terror' killed in encounter: Rangers
[DAWN] An alleged hitman who had established a "reign of terror" in several areas of 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...
was killed on Saturday in an "encounter" with law enforcement agencies, a Rangers spokesperson said.

According to the Rangers spokesperson, the paramilitary force and police jointly conducted a raid in Manghopir area on a tip-off about the presence of criminal elements. The alleged gangster and his associates opened fire on law enforcers when they reached the area.

The spokesperson said that following the encounter, the law enforcers arrested the "hitman", Abdullah Mehsud, and his two accomplices, Shairullah alias Sheena and Mohammed Sohail, in an injured state. Two other accomplices managed to escape taking advantage of the darkness, he added.

The three injured suspects were taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where doctors pronounced Mehsud dead on arrival. Later on, the remaining two were shifted to Jinnah Post-Graduate Medical Centre (JPMC) for further treatment.

Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Fake cops looting commuters arrested in #Karachi
[TWITTER]

Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Home Front: Culture Wars
Instapundit: University retaliated against instructor by making her teach women's studies
[TheCollegeFix] A jury is considering whether the University of Michigan discriminated and retaliated against Asian-American husband-and-wife faculty who were trying to expose “discrimination and inequity” in their department, MLive reports.

One of the allegations: The university took away lecturer Emily Lawsin’s American culture classes and forced her to teach women’s studies as retaliation when it extended her contract for five years. The university initially didn’t renew her contract last year.

Her husband Scott Kurashige resigned in 2014, following what he calls a “constructive discharge” as a tenured professor and director of the Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies Program. He now teaches at the University of Washington-Bothell.

Kurashige’s constructive discharge followed the “discriminatory and hostile treatment” from American Culture department leaders, in response to his “continued pursuit of exposing discrimination and inequity” in the department and College of Literature, Sciences & the Arts. Their lawsuit is seeking reinstatement of his two positions among other things.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/22/2019 11:33 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I suppose it could be worse--they could have required her to take the course.
Posted by: James || 12/22/2019 15:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Do they require new students to attend Western Civ classes or the 'studies' programs?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/22/2019 16:57 Comments || Top||

#3  IIUC "constructive discharge" refers to termination in all but name, with the implication that the act of termination violated the law.

Sounds like retaliation against an academic who called BS on his department's illegal, moronic, virtue-signaling Shitshow.
Posted by: Lex || 12/22/2019 22:01 Comments || Top||


American Airlines to allow non-binary gender booking options for travelers
[The Hill] American Airlines will now allow travelers to choose non-binary gender options during the booking process.

Customers can now designate "U" or "X" for their gender instead of male or female, American Airlines confirmed in a statement to The Hill.

"We recently completed a system update to offer non-binary gender selections. Taking care of our customers and team members is what we do, and we are glad to be able to better accommodate the gender preferences of our travelers and team members," the airline said in the statement.

The change comes as some American states and foreign countries are now providing ID’s with a gender of U or X.

Travelers currently have to call the airline to choose the non-binary options, but the new choices will be available on their website soon, USA Today reported. Travelers can also call to update existing reservations with the new gender options.

American Airlines is not the first major U.S. airline to make the change. In March, United Airlines became the first American airline to give travelers the choice of non-binary gender options.

Beck Bailey, acting director of the Workplace Equality Program at the Human Rights Campaign said in a statement at the time that United Airline’s move was taking an "important step forward for non-binary inclusion."

Two airline trade groups, Airlines for America and the International Air Transport Association have signed off on international best-practices creating an "unspecified" or "undisclosed" gender option for travelers using non-binary IDs, USA Today reported. The top five biggest U.S. airlines, including American, Delta, United, Southwest and Alaska airlines, all told the outlet they plan to apply the suggestion.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2019 00:23 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There aren't enough letters for their kind of crazy.
Posted by: Angating the Wide5629 || 12/22/2019 0:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Can all declared M and F insist all other genders sit together in the back of the plane?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/22/2019 4:36 Comments || Top||

#3  So let's say Mom us traveling with her pre-teen children- say she has two of them.

She books her flight on American and find that one of the family - it can't be avoided - has to sit next to Marilyn, a dude in a wig and heels and hoop earrings, with fake tits, mascara, and the whole RuPaul routine.

Now the fun part. Marilyn's leggings show clearly that Marilyn hasn't had his/her/its surgery yet. In fact, as Mom and kids take their seats it also becomes clear that Marilyn's excited to meet the children.

What does Mom do? Tell the freak to GTF away from children and go back to his cave? Don't even think this thoughtcrime, Mom.

Does Mom interpose herself gracefully, and switch seats? Fine. But what happens when she needs to use the loo and leave her seat? Does she leave her kids alone with Marilyn?

Or does Mom complain to the flight crew, maybe ask to becreseated? There's an idea ... oh wait, their employer's a Woke Corporation, and someone on the plane has a phone out, ready to video the whole episode and ensure it's shared with the Twitter mob of tens, hundreds of thousands.

IOW, Mom by complaining is showing that she and her kids need to be sent to the wood chopper-- like that smirking MAGA hat-wearing proto-fascist white supremacist schoolboy from Kentucky last year, the one who tormented that poor old Indian man, the Vietnam War Hero...

But hang on, Mom says. "You've just made my point! Nathan Philips was a FRAUD, and so's this freak. He's got a..." -- at which point the FA calls for the Air Marshalls on the plane to arrest Mom, cuff her and the the kids and frog-march them off the plane.

Coming soon to a flight near you. The Shitshow, Tarmac Edition.

Posted by: Lex || 12/22/2019 6:03 Comments || Top||

#4  The gummint must be banned from forcing anyone to validate some freak's sick life choices.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/22/2019 6:12 Comments || Top||

#5  Why exactly does an airline care about anyone's sex? Seems like the individual's weight or volume would matter more.
Posted by: SteveS || 12/22/2019 9:13 Comments || Top||

#6  Though I have seen swishy guys hauling steamer trunks onto planes as "carry on baggage" women are the worst offenders in that regard. I'd imagine U and X are somewhat worse yet.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/22/2019 9:24 Comments || Top||

#7  What happens when your boarding pass and your government-issued ID don't match up at the TSA checkpoint?
Posted by: Bobby || 12/22/2019 12:31 Comments || Top||

#8  Ref #6: Yes, "steamer trunks." These cheap arsed baggage check, (hurray for me fok u) avoidance pricks have been a pet peeve of mine for decades. I blame the airlines for permitting this practice.

My favorite scenario is seeing the crew tell the steamer trunk pricks "overhead is now full" and check their bulking trunks at the aircraft door (sending them 'over the side' and into the baggage system anyway).

I carry a small 'bug out bag' that will fit under the seat, checking the majority of whatever I'm traveling with. Oftentimes the bug out back is all I need.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2019 13:15 Comments || Top||

#9  It's no problem to check luggage if you understand the concepts of "getting there early," "waiting in line," and "paying the fee."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/22/2019 13:52 Comments || Top||

#10  Waiting on a plane to leave Vegas once, the plane was held for a late passenger, an aging woman in tight jeans and stripper shoes with a little dog. People booed when she got on the plane and someone tripped her going down the aisle. The crew was busy trying to make up for the delayed departure and none of them saw anything.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/22/2019 14:08 Comments || Top||

#11  Ref #9: You nailed it Mike. Some people are simply too important for 'getting there early, lines' etc.

Your #10...I love stories about Vegas, old women, tight jeans and lap dogs. Very heartwarming.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/22/2019 14:45 Comments || Top||

#12  Yes. "My time is more important than yours" always gets my dander up.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/22/2019 15:07 Comments || Top||

#13  What I carry when I fly. When it's full I always check it.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/22/2019 15:13 Comments || Top||

#14  Allow time and bring snacks for AA security check-in.
Posted by: Mike-SMO || 12/22/2019 23:07 Comments || Top||


Government
President Trump Signs Defense Bill Creating Space Force
[BREITBART] Flanked by two F-35 fighter jets and in front of a giant American flag, President Trump on Friday signed the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act that officially created the Space Force, the sixth and first new military branch since 1947.

"For the first time since Truman, we will create a brand new American military service," Trump said. "You will witness the birth of the Space Force. That’s a big moment and we’re all here for it."

The creation of the Space Force marked the achievement of one of the president’s top national priorities.

"Space is the world’s newest warfighting domain," Trump added. "American superiority in space is absolutely vital."

The new branch will reside inside the Air Force.

The president thanked Vice President Mike Pence for his work in helping to establish the Space Force. He also announced the appointment of Air Force Gen. John "Jay" Raymond as Chief of Space Operations. "He will now join the Joint Chiefs," Trump said.

To mark the historic moment, the president signed the bill inside a giant aircraft hangar at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland surrounded by an audience of several hundred young service members, Pentagon officials, and other distinguished guests.

Posted by: Fred || 12/22/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:



Who's in the News
36[untagged]
8Arab Spring
6Govt of Pakistan
4al-Qaeda in North Africa
4Sublime Porte
3al-Nusra
2Taliban
2Commies
2Islamic State
1Govt of Iraq
1Govt of Saudi Arabia
1al-Qaeda
1Moslem Colonists
1Narcos
1al-Shabaab (AQ)
1Govt of Pakistain Proxies

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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
Sun 2019-12-22
  France kills 33 militants in Mali raid: president
Sat 2019-12-21
  Berlin police Foiled ISIS Terror Attack at Christmas Market
Fri 2019-12-20
  Government of National Accord in Libya have officially requested that Turkey intervenes militarily in the civil war
Thu 2019-12-19
  ISIS captures new ground in eastern Syria after launching powerful attack against Syrian Army forces
Wed 2019-12-18
  Assailants attack several protest camps in north and south Lebanon
Tue 2019-12-17
  Backer of Iraq anti-government protests killed in Baghdad
Mon 2019-12-16
  Iran claims the whole Persian Gulf. Both sides!
Sun 2019-12-15
  Attempt to assassinate the son of the political spokesman of Muqtada al-Sadr
Sat 2019-12-14
  Haftar-led Libyan Army claims new advance near Tripoli
Fri 2019-12-13
  Triumphant Boris hails landslide win gives him ‘power to get Brexit done’
Thu 2019-12-12
  AMAL, Hizbullah Supporters Try to Storm Riad al-Solh, Repelled by Tear Gas
Wed 2019-12-11
  Iraqi protesters defiantly turn out in the capital Baghdad
Tue 2019-12-10
  Jersey City shooting - possibly 6 dead at JC Kosher grocery
Mon 2019-12-09
  Al-Shabaab Militants Kill 8 On Bus In Northern Kenya
Sun 2019-12-08
  At least 10 killed in Kenya bus attack claimed by al-Shabab


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