Hi there, !
Today Thu 11/08/2018 Wed 11/07/2018 Tue 11/06/2018 Mon 11/05/2018 Sun 11/04/2018 Sat 11/03/2018 Fri 11/02/2018 Archives
Rantburg
531693 articles and 1855967 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 67 articles and 135 comments as of 12:44.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Non-WoT        Politix   
U.S. jet fighters kill 25 Islamic State militants in Kirkuk
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 4: Opinion
5 21:57 Rjschwarz [1] 
8 13:35 trailing wife [] 
22 18:01 JohnQC [] 
1 14:49 gorb [] 
16 23:36 KBK [] 
5 11:18 CrazyFool [1] 
0 [] 
3 14:58 Rambler in Virginia [] 
2 15:45 Ebbating Dingle9739 [] 
0 [] 
1 07:57 Thing From Snowy Mountain [] 
0 [] 
4 12:37 Eohippus Dribble5682 [] 
3 18:28 charger [1] 
6 19:33 rjschwarz [1] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 [1]
2 19:43 trailing wife []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
1 18:06 Whiskey Mike [1]
Page 2: WoT Background
0 []
4 16:52 Chereting Pelosi1889 [1]
0 []
4 17:04 Snavimble Bucket1794 []
1 10:28 Eohippus Dribble5682 [1]
1 01:00 newc []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
Page 3: Non-WoT
1 15:55 Mullah Richard []
0 []
3 21:11 gorb []
0 [2]
4 11:56 Besoeker [2]
6 11:09 Mullah Richard [2]
0 []
0 [1]
2 09:19 charger []
7 23:26 Silentbrick []
0 [2]
0 [2]
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 [1]
6 15:27 Nero []
Page 6: Politix
1 17:32 JohnQC []
2 17:21 JohnQC [2]
11 18:27 Besoeker []
3 10:11 JohnQC []
Britain
Perfidious Albion's 'Deep State' and the Russian Oligarch Oleg Deripaska
[NYT] This spring, a British lord with deep ties to the governing Conservative Party and a reputation as a do-gooder environmentalist arrived in Washington on an unlikely mission: to save the business empire of Oleg Deripaska, one of Russia’s most infamous oligarchs.
Adam Waldman, left, and Mr. Deripaska in 2015 at Oktoberfest in Munich. Mr. Waldman, a former Clinton administration official, earned $40,000 a month helping the oligarch.
Mr. Deripaska was in deep trouble. In April, the Trump administration had announced sanctions on oligarchs close to President Vladimir V. Putin, and on their companies, as punishment for Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and for other hostile acts. A billionaire who controls the world’s second-largest aluminum company, Mr. Deripaska faced possible ruin.

Portrayed as little more than a thug by his critics and suspected by United States officials of having ties to Russian organized crime, Mr. Deripaska, 50, has spent two decades trying to buy respect in the West. London welcomed him; Washington still mostly has not. Successive administrations have limited his ability to travel to the United States.

Even Mr. Putin was unable to resolve the situation when he interceded personally with Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama on Mr. Deripaska’s behalf.
Warning: Further reading may lead to elevated BP.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/05/2018 07:40 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  NYT again? Are we seeing 'Cankles' being pushed under the bus? Is a hat tip to Gina Haspel and her colleagues in order? Has anyone called Christopher Steele? I have so many questions.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/05/2018 7:53 Comments || Top||

#2  They say he's close to Putin and has ties to organized crime as if the two are different.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 11/05/2018 8:23 Comments || Top||

#3  So much detail but no mention of Deripaska’s most unusual relationship with Robert Mueller and Andrew McCabe of the FBI.
Posted by: Classical_Liberal || 11/05/2018 8:49 Comments || Top||

#4  Thanks CL.

The McCabe connection via a May 2018 article at The Hill.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/05/2018 9:05 Comments || Top||

#5  Another Kennedy, Mafia, CIA story.
Posted by: George Splat7847 || 11/05/2018 9:43 Comments || Top||

#6  Oleg Deripaska was a source of intelligence information within the John Brennan intelligence community efforts throughout 2016. This is the same intersection of characters that circle around Stefan Halper.
….And today, journalist John Solomon just connected Derispaska to Robert Mueller and FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
Posted by: Eohippus Dribble5682 || 11/05/2018 11:33 Comments || Top||

#7  I believe this is Dribble's link.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/05/2018 11:53 Comments || Top||

#8  Eohippus Dribble5682‘s link is fixed. Besoeker did indeed provide the correct one.

Eohippus Dribble5682, for some reason when you pasted the URL into the Source box, it multiplied itself about six times in a row. This kind of thing is easy enough to catch by previewing your post and clicking on your link to see if it works before clicking on Submit.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/05/2018 13:35 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Examining the Migrant Horde- Pt 2‐The Power Behind the Horde by Bill Reader
Part 1 can be read here.
[Sarah Hoyt] Today, we dive headfirst into the logistics of the migrant horde. If you missed my prior article on examining the improbable reporting on the speed of this group, you can find it here. On today’s docket, a discussion of how this group is organized, who is supporting it including what specific organizations and individuals have been named so far, and other logistical errata. Still to be discussed in a future article, the surprisingly tricky question of how many people, and what kind of people, make up the migrant horde.

I’m going to focus most of this article on examining certain key players. Barolo Fuentes, a Honduran socialist who was one of the frontmen for this caravan, and his friends in the LIBRE party; Pueblo sin Fronteras, a project of the Chicago-Based 501c La Familia Latina Unida; and a brief look at Venezuela, recently highlighted by Vice President Pence and currently in the spotlight as a possible funding source for all this.

We’ll begin with the man purported to have started it all‐ Bartolo Fuentes. First, the official story. My first introduction to him was an article published by The Daily Beast. It’s a characteristically ideologically stilted article. They report caravan #1 as being touched off by a false report that Fuentes would pay all expenses of people traveling North. I quote: "The anchors interviewed a woman who was supposedly part of the caravan. The woman talked about safety in numbers, called Fuentes the organizer and mentioned foreign assistance. The anchors, without any supporting evidence, then said that Fuentes would pay for the migrants’ food and transportation." Fuentes himself took to the media to counter this false report. The theory runs that the safety in numbers alone, however, still offered an attractive alternative for long-standing holdouts, as Coyotes are very expensive.

Fuentes is described as a "Honduran Lawmaker" by Reuters and a "Social Activist" by NBC. I would call that an intentional mischaracterization. Let me add a couple of things from the Daily Beast article that explain that in more detail. First, his involvement in prior "caravans": "When Fuentes first became aware of small groups dispersed throughout Honduras that were organizing among themselves to make the trek north, he decided to help out, just as he had done with a previous migrant caravan last April‐and indeed throughout his life". So, this wasn’t just nondescript social activism, but someone who has deliberately and repeatedly assisted specifically with illegal immigration. Now, let me sweeten the deal with the other interesting fact‐ " ... Bartolo sought refuge in Mexico himself after receiving threats. Central America’s right-wing death squads were notorious and his earlier participation in protests against the U.S.-backed Contras, who used his country as a staging ground in their CIA-backed war on Nicaragua’s Sandinistas, made him a potential target.". I find that fascinating. Those "death squads" were often as not "revenge squads". That he had a target on his back makes it likely a more apt description for Mr. Fuentes would be "Honduran Socialist".
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/05/2018 01:14 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Attack on FSB in Arkhangelk - a black swan’ threat to Putin regime
[EuromaidanPress] At first glance, the attack on the FSB building in Arkhangelsk appears to be but one of a series of similar terrorist acts in the Russian Federation, Natalya Gulevskaya says; but a closer examination of the personality of the criminal, his motives, and his modus operandi show that it is something far more serious.

Indeed, the Russian commentator suggests, it is “a black swan” event of the kind that suggests the Putin regime has now passed “the point of no return” because the powers that be have created a situation which has “given birth to the first terrorist attack with political motives against the anti-constitutional actions of the authorities.”

Russia has a rich history of revolutionaries and political terrorists, Gulevskaya points out; but “never before has there been a political terrorist act carried out not in the struggle for power or against the anachronistic norms of the Basic law of the state but against the actions of officials who have violated the rights and freedoms of the individual.”
“This is a very concerning sign both for the ruling powers that be and for the entire population,” she says. “The Putin regime has not been able to create an ideology which could justify not only the seizure and usurpation of power but also the appropriation of the financial potential of the state.”

Thus, this action marks “the beginning of the end of the construction of the Chekist state and already in the near future we can expect a conceptual shake up or the latest wave of the collapse of the empire.”

Three other commentators also suggest that the Arkhangelsk bombing involves more than meets the eye. Israeli analyst Avraam Shmulyevich on the After Empire portal says that it represents the shift from “Muslim terrorism” to “Russian political terrorism” and from attacks on civilians to attacks on the state.

The Arkhangelsk bombing, he observes, has its predecessors: “the Primorsky partisans, the blowing up of monuments, the burning of official buildings of the FSB and United Russia [party], and the periodic shooting of policemen.” Now, clearly, it is the turn of “the Russian North, ‘which never knew serfdom.’”

Shmulyevich says it is especially noteworthy that
“the terrorist did not put forward any specific demands. That makes this action typical political terrorism or even a civil war, no longer just terrorism but a war with the system as such.”

Igor Eidman, a sociologist who works as a commentator for Deutsche Welle, suggests that what happened in Arkhangelsk is the rebirth of the Narodnaya volya or SR [Socialist Revolutionary Party – Ed.] movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. All the conditions are in place for this both in society and the state, for new revolutionaries and for new secret police spies like Azef.

And commentator Mikhail Pozharsky says that the Putin regime has brought this on itself. “If you ban legal politics and persecute people for peaceful action, this will lead to radicalism. If you create ‘terrorists’ out of innocent people with the help of torture, then sooner or later it will come into someone’s head to carry out a real terrorist act.”
Posted by: badanov || 11/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Then again, it could be a former employee that they stiffed on pension and benefits.
Posted by: ed in texas || 11/05/2018 7:24 Comments || Top||

#2  You mean the Russians don't have the "their motives will never be known" auto-press release?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 11/05/2018 8:41 Comments || Top||

#3  I blame colluding Russians.
Posted by: charger || 11/05/2018 18:28 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
You're Not Hearing Anything About "Abolish ICE" This Week, Are You?
[Hot Air] Have you noticed a certain silence among not only Democratic candidates but their supporters in the streets and their enablers on cable news and in newspapers? Oh, they’re all still making plenty of noise, but there’s one thing you’re not hearing. The calls to "Abolish ICE!" which dominated the majority of the summer months have been replaced by the sound of crickets. So stark is the contrast over only a ten or so week period that even NBC News was forced to take note of it.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/05/2018 01:42 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wait until after the election.
Posted by: gorb || 11/05/2018 14:49 Comments || Top||


Screeching Harpies Vow 'No Sex!' Unless Men Vote for Democrats
[PJ] Since scratching and beating on the doors of the Supreme Court had zero effect on keeping Justice Brett Kavanaugh off the court, the ladies of the left have decided to go with a new tactic: a sex strike! That's right, fellas, you're all out of luck with the #Resist girls. Author Wednesday Martin has penned an essay at CNN called "What if Women Went On a Sex Strike Before the Midterms?"
It's time for a revolution. At the polls, and in the bedroom. And in our understanding of who women are, sexually and otherwise. Given the tight interweaving of economic and political power with sexual entitlement, female sexual autonomy has never been more urgent, and women's sexual pleasure has never been more political. Let's consider what it might mean to go on a sex strike of sorts -- to get what we want, rather than give what we think we owe others.
It seems the Democrats have finally got their bumper sticker for 2018: "Zero F*cks for Anyone. #Resist"

What's revolutionary about women using sex to get what they want? And worse, aren't feminists supposed to reject femininity and female wiles in favor of more equal ways of advancing? I'm confused. Didn't we just have a whole #MeToo campaign against the casting couch? A female willing to trade sexual favors in exchange for stuff is exactly the kind of girl Harvey Weinstein was looking for.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/05/2018 01:30 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Trigglypuff my darling! You can't be so cruel!
Posted by: Omaimp Hatfield7901 || 11/05/2018 1:42 Comments || Top||

#2  I would rather take a 155mm to the head.
Posted by: Steven. || 11/05/2018 2:07 Comments || Top||

#3  The sort of women that become Democrats sitting around the table of "The View" ?

Whoopie Goldberg and those like that?

Librarians with an attitude?

Breed themselves right out of existence. But then they do that anyway. How would you like a Mother who was a Democrat ?
How would you like to be sleeping next to one in the same bed?
No future in it is there?
But such women are the ones who have the low birth rates, favor Abortion, and think their sons should encouraged to use the transgender bathroom.

Fine. The Marines can help the actual women who aren't stupid.

Who would marry a Democrat anyway...a cheese eating Tofu twister named Dwayne?
Posted by: Gerthudion de Medici7414 || 11/05/2018 3:33 Comments || Top||

#4  What's revolutionary about women using sex to get what they want?

See Lysistrata, a comedy by Aristophanes (c. 400 b.c.)
Posted by: Fairbanks || 11/05/2018 4:40 Comments || Top||

#5  If only you could post cats with sex toys.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/05/2018 4:44 Comments || Top||

#6  Robotic sex dolls have found their business opportunity. They should book commercials on The View and CNN.
Posted by: Airandee || 11/05/2018 6:14 Comments || Top||

#7  It's a feature not a bug.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 11/05/2018 7:23 Comments || Top||

#8  Go East(ern Europe) young man.
Posted by: Slats Crereth9565 || 11/05/2018 8:07 Comments || Top||

#9  Oh thank the gods. No one wants to bang these humorless and graceless harpies anyway.
Posted by: DarthVader || 11/05/2018 9:04 Comments || Top||

#10  What was their reason before this?
Posted by: Glush Shoger5927 || 11/05/2018 9:42 Comments || Top||

#11  As i recall this is how the women behaved to gain equality with men a few years back in Iceland.
Posted by: Dale || 11/05/2018 9:44 Comments || Top||

#12  How about this, no sex until you shave your legs girls.... It works both ways
Posted by: 49 Pan || 11/05/2018 10:00 Comments || Top||

#13  Ha! An empty threat for me.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/05/2018 10:15 Comments || Top||

#14  Cause, you know, you wouldn’t want to portray women as sex objects or something....

Just think, that many more men not having to worry about being accused of rape because their partner has morning after regrets...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 11/05/2018 11:14 Comments || Top||

#15  I would rather take a 155mm to the head.

I would rather die in the boats.
Posted by: gorb || 11/05/2018 15:00 Comments || Top||

#16  Zero F*cks for sure
Posted by: KBK || 11/05/2018 23:36 Comments || Top||


Obama aka Bath House Barry goes crazy on the campaign trail
[American Thinker] Is there anything more pathetic than an ex-president, who ought to be writing his memoirs and establishing a genuine presidential library for the study of his administration, is instead campaigning at a midterm like he's still running for president?

Well, here he is, President Obama, making a fool of himself:

As Drudge Report notes, citing American Mirror, his voice is actually cracking.

Which I suppose happens when you campaign too much before half-empty stadiums and union halls.

The man's time has passed, yet it's obvious he's desperate to still stay relevant, so now he's sounding crazy.

He may indeed want Democrats taking the House in a bid to Get Trump, given that Trump has dismantled his sorry legacy.

But there is probably something more going on than just that: Obama has openly stated he regretted that he was never able to run for office against Trump due to term limits. (He got the crotchety John McCain and the smooth, avuncular Mitt Romney instead, but no stimulating opposition challenge such as Trump.) Trump's a take-no-prisoners, break-all-the-niceties-rules authentic outsider who could give Obama a run for his money, and Obama, the ultimate insider, obviously finds that exciting.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/05/2018 01:16 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He was always crazy, GEOTUS has just got him to reveal he was a nutbag.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/05/2018 4:49 Comments || Top||

#2  He's a spoiled child who was given everything and now an adult is taking away his Legacy, bit by bit and showing him up in the economy. Cry you little bitch
Posted by: Frank G || 11/05/2018 6:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Barry, the Deep State plant. I view his present activities as those of continued cover up. He's worried that the Pubs will win the House and his butt will be on the line. See companion article "The Deep Swamp: 1 year ago."
Posted by: JohnQC || 11/05/2018 10:30 Comments || Top||

#4  When you smoke a lo of dope and do lines frequently, similar physical characteristics often are on display. Makes me wonder what Champ does since no one gives a crap what he says anymore.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 11/05/2018 10:34 Comments || Top||

#5  Next up! Standing on the street corner, topless, yelling “Look At ME!!!”
Posted by: CrazyFool || 11/05/2018 11:18 Comments || Top||


Ken Starr: I haven't seen Trump commit anything 'close' to an impeachable offense
[The Hill] Former independent counsel Ken Starr said that he has not seen President Trump commit any offense that is "even close" to being impeachable.

John Catsimatidis in an interview airing Sunday on AM 970 in New York asked Starr, who led the investigation into former President Clinton's sexual misconduct with Monica Lewinsky, if Trump had committed any "impeachable offenses."

"Not even close," Starr replied. "I know of no evidence ... that would suggest that [Trump] has committed high crimes and misdemeanors."

"You can hate the way he tweets ... you can disagree with his policies ... but be very careful before you move the country toward impeachment," he added. "It’s inherently divisive."

Starr has increasingly appeared on cable news shows over the past year to discuss special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The former independent counsel added that there was not a consensus over impeaching Clinton.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/05/2018 01:09 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  For the Left its not about 'impeachable offense', its about the power to impeach. Once the process is debased to overturn the Constitutional processes, there is no legitimacy to the entire enterprise.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 11/05/2018 7:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Starr has been all over the map on this. Next week he will say something about 180 degrees opposite.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 11/05/2018 9:30 Comments || Top||

#3  .shine Waters will sponsor the bill of impeachment saying that Trump is icky and she doesn't like him. That should be enough.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 11/05/2018 14:58 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Sharia Law: Is Its Goal to Subjugate Humanity?
[Clarion Project] A legitimate question about sharia law is: Is its goal to subjugate humanity?

The concept of self-governance under sharia law by Muslims in Western society has been a topic of controversy since the turn of the millennium, especially in light of the World Trade Center attack on September 11, 2001.

Proponents of sharia in the West, under which many Muslims seek to settle personal affairs ‐ such as divorce, custody of children and inheritance ‐ claim it is an exercise of their freedom of religion, a human right.

YET, WHAT IS SHARIA?
Sharia literally means the "way" or "path." Historically articulated, it is a shorthand term for an amorphous body of legal rulings, judgments and opinions, assembled over the course of many centuries after the Muslim Prophet Muhammad’s death. It is based on the Quran and a copious number of hadiths (the sayings and acts of Muhammad) developed by the fuqaha (jurists) whose opinions enjoy an almost absolute authority over the faithful.

As a rule of law, it precludes the development of human reason as it is viewed as an expression of Allah’s inscrutable will. It is this same supremacy that renders sacred and permanent the concept of inequality between the Islamic community and the non-Islamic community, between the Muslim and the non-Muslim, and between man and woman.

There are two essential weaknesses of sharia, due to which the Islamic social realm has been absorbed into the whims of the political one: its autonomy and its incompletion. As a codification of customs, it does not depend on any official body (state or clerical), and therefore there is no universal concordance on its legislation within the Islamic body politic.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A question that answers itself.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/05/2018 8:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Sharia or Islamic religious law. It governs religion, law, culture, dress, social interactions, behaviors, and business dealings. It is authoritarian and absolute in nature--in other words totalitarianism codified.
Posted by: JohnQC || 11/05/2018 10:20 Comments || Top||

#3  "for I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
-- Thomas Jefferson
Posted by: SteveS || 11/05/2018 10:58 Comments || Top||

#4  Jn. 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life."
Rom. 8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you a free from the law of sin and death.
Sorry, Mo is a usurper.
Posted by: Eohippus Dribble5682 || 11/05/2018 12:37 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Paralysed state
[DAWN] THIS is not the first time the Pak state has been cowed by a violent mob and surrendered its writ in favour of those who challenged it so blatantly. In a functioning democracy with a constitution in place, it would be unheard of for a government to agree to take action on a case that has gone through due process of appeals and been decided by its supreme court.

But not in a state that is so given to paralysis at the hands of a violent mob. Such a state would continue to bury its head in the sand. How many more times will our state pretend that nothing is wrong by censoring the media and shutting down networks, effectively rendering millions of its citizens without due and timely information it is entitled to have, and choking press freedom by dictating censorship of violent protests in the country.

Such apathetic apology of violent mobs also impacts private and public property directly; it causes billions in losses by paralysing business activity, impacts educational institutes’ functioning, causes ambulances to have no way of reaching a hospital, and spreads fear, panic and confusion amongst citizens who are guaranteed freedom of speech, right to information and freedom of movement by virtue of the social contract that makes its existence possible.

All citizens are entitled to a range of fundamental rights. They have the right to express dissatisfaction over a judicial case, they have the right to come out and protest, and they have the right to demand a different course of action by the state. However,
facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable...
it should be absolutely unacceptable to directly incite violence against the already persecuted religious minorities and all state institutions, to call for guards killing those they are employed to protect, and all over a case of a false accusation.

Posted by: Fred || 11/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Is that like the country that throws vets in garbage cans in the vs basement? I have good news since the United kingdom is selling China all of its defense tech all those hurt or killed in any way by China will be thrown in the vs basement in giant tea cups and tea from China will keep the moldy paper work fresh! Watch that inbred royal island and do it with your lives for your nato allies! 😈😁
Posted by: Ebbating Dingle9739 || 11/05/2018 15:44 Comments || Top||

#2  That is va!😈
Posted by: Ebbating Dingle9739 || 11/05/2018 15:45 Comments || Top||


Another surrender
[DAWN] AFTER three days of protests, destruction of property, closure of roads and highways and massive disruptions to the daily life of citizens, the government appears to have found a solution: agree to the protesters’ demands.

Seemingly already consigned to the dustbin of history is Prime Minister Imran Khan
... aka Taliban Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality problems...
’s speech on Wednesday; yet another government has capitulated to violent religious Lions of Islam who neither believe in democracy, nor the Constitution.

Perhaps the PTI government will argue that an agreement negotiated with the protest leaders does not make illegal concessions and the government has only pledged to let the law ‐ and the appeals process ‐ take its course.

But the law had already taken its course and an innocent woman was to be set free after a hellish, near-decade-long ordeal. It is the protesters against whom the law now needed to take its course.

Yet, the woman expressly declared innocent by the highest court in the land is to be kept in legal limbo, while the protest leaders have had to issue a half-hearted, one-line apology seemingly added as an afterthought to the agreement reportedly signed last night.

Perhaps Prime Minister Imran Khan and his government decided that, despite Mr Khan’s nationally televised address this week, a hands-off approach that allowed the protesters to vent their rage would allow the country to return to a semblance of normality quicker than a confrontational approach and potentially bloody festivities between the protesters and law enforcement. And perhaps the murder, possibly liquidation, of Samiul Haq
...the Godfather of the Taliban, leader of his own faction of the JUI. Known as Mullah Sandwich for his habit of having two young boys at a time...
last evening caused some in the government to panic and recommend a swift end to the original protests before JUI-S supporters possibly erupted into the streets.

But what is already apparent is that the first-time governments of the PTI at the centre and in 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....

are struggling to coordinate, decide policy and implement decisions.

Posted by: Fred || 11/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan


UFO over Islamabad
[DAWN] THE private Israeli jet that is supposed to have flown to Islamabad last week caused as much excitement as a flying saucer with flashing red and blue lights.

This is the tweet from Avi Scharf, editor of the English version of Haaretz, the leading liberal daily in Israel, that set the cat among the Pak pigeons: "Israeli bizjet flew from TLV to Islamabad #Pakistain, on the ground for 10 hours, and back to TLV."

More interesting than the account of the flight is the reaction it triggered in Pakistain: political parties across the spectrum condemned the event while the government denied the possibility of an Israeli plane entering Pak airspace. However,
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 11/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  You mean it wasn't the return of the ancient Slavonauts?
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 11/05/2018 7:57 Comments || Top||


The will to counter extremism
[DAWN] COUNTERING extremism is not an easy job, but the state’s lack of resolve makes it even more complex and challenging. The resolve to stand up to extremism should draw its strength from the Constitution and the socio-ideological constructs of state and society. Mere rhetoric or a statement ‐ such as the one issued by Prime Minister Imran Khan
... aka Taliban Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality problems...
on Wednesday ‐ cannot manufacture that much-needed and much-awaited resolve unless the state is willing to review the social contract.

Recent state-led and independent policy discourses on countering extremism have emphasised addressing the key question of religion, which is integral to the issue of identity in Pakistain. The state has outsourced both religious and national identity narratives to different religious actors, who use them to expand their influence in society.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 11/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Home Front: Culture Wars
GOP candidate, the butt of a tasteless SNL joke, isn't demanding an apology
[AmericanThinker] ]On Saturday night, SNL's Pete Davidson made a tasteless joke about GOP congressional candidate Dan Crenshaw that set social media ablaze with criticism.

Davidson was doing "Weekend Update" and one of the segments featured him making rude comments about how some Republican candidates looked. He singled out Crenshaw, who lost an eye in Afghanistan, saying he looked like a "hit man in some porno movie" because of his eyepatch. When called out for his flippant, tasteless remark, he said "I'm sorry. I know he lost his eye in war or whatever … Whatever."

Crenshaw did 3 tours in Afghanistan and was a Navy SEAL. But in a surprise and generous move, Crenshaw did not call on Davidson to make an apology, saying, "I want us to get away from this culture where we demand an apology every time someone misspeaks."

Mediaite:

He added: "I think that would be very healthy for our nation to go in that direction. We don't need to be outwardly outraged. I don't need to demand apologies from them. They can do whatever they want, you know. They are feeling the heat from around the country right now and that's fine."

He then stressed that he would like Davidson and SNL to recognize that "veterans across the country probably don't feel as though their wounds [that] they received in battle should be the subject of a bad punch line."

Finally, the veteran and candidate said the "real atrocity" was Davidson's attempt at a joke wasn't even funny but "just mean-spirited."

That's the absolute best way to deal with the "Outrage Brigades" on social media - make their efforts seem petty and mean. As for Davidson, Crenshaw makes the "comedian" look about 2 inches tall. Not only is Davidson not worth asking for an apology, but that the country would be better if everyone followed his example.

Couldn't agree more.
Posted by: 746 || 11/05/2018 10:36 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The spirit of a warrior and a leader. Not that of the victim culture.
Posted by: Ebbavirt Clunk4147 || 11/05/2018 14:07 Comments || Top||

#2  An apology would be neither sincere nor actually true
Posted by: Frank G || 11/05/2018 14:54 Comments || Top||

#3  Don't ask for an apology, simply hit them where it hurts: boycott sponsors and advertisers for supporting such garbage
Posted by: Glolush Whusotch4899 || 11/05/2018 16:04 Comments || Top||

#4  Success would be the best revenge. Hope Dan Crenshaw wins the election.
Posted by: JohnQC || 11/05/2018 17:58 Comments || Top||

#5  He should demand that if they are going to make him a punchline it should actually be funny.
Posted by: Rjschwarz || 11/05/2018 21:57 Comments || Top||


Government
US troops dispatched by Trump install razor wire on Mexico border in 'political stunt' days ahead of midterm elections
[Independent] US troops dispatched by Donald Trump to the US-Mexico border have started erecting fences and laying out razor wire, a purported defence against Central American migrants, but which have been dismissed as a "political stunt" on the eve of midterm elections.

Images from the US border town of Hidalgo, Texas, located on the banks of the Rio Grande, show armed soldiers normally based at Fort Riley, Kansas, erecting fences and laying rolls of wire close to the site of the McAllen-Hidalgo International Bridge. The troops ‐ the first of an anticipated 7,000-strong deployment ‐ were from the 97th Military Police Battalion, according to a Getty photographer.

Mr Trump has in recent days vowed to send thousands of troops south to help secure the border against what he has termed a possible "invasion" of migrants from countries such as El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, all of which suffer from chronic levels of violence and grinding poverty.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/05/2018 02:12 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Parallel triple bands with fencing and ground sensor (stunts) as time permits please.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/05/2018 2:22 Comments || Top||

#2  No one said shit when Bill Clinton was President and we detained 30,000 Hatian and Cuban "Migrants" in GTMO before you knew what it was. I was Personally there as Quartermaster for those camps. I know what is happening and what needs to happen.

And it is very expensive, but they CANNOT come in This Way.
Posted by: newc || 11/05/2018 2:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Could use Seismic sensors for that too.
Posted by: newc || 11/05/2018 2:28 Comments || Top||

#4  Hope the wire stays when the troops are withdrawn.
Posted by: Slats Crereth9565 || 11/05/2018 4:31 Comments || Top||

#5  Not to far left MSM. The caravan was the misfiring political stunt
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/05/2018 4:46 Comments || Top||

#6  ...This is starting to look like yet another case of the President not giving in when he was supposed to. The pictures from the caravan were supposed to make the Administration back down, the military wasn't really supposed to deploy, and the caravaners really didn't expect to be challenged.

Wonder if there'll be some kind of 'event' down there today...

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 11/05/2018 5:44 Comments || Top||

#7  Hope the wire stays when the troops are withdrawn.

First time a cow or bunny gets caught in the wire PETA and Greenpeace will sue.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 11/05/2018 8:08 Comments || Top||

#8  Hoping a bunch of mules get entangled.
Posted by: Slats Crereth9565 || 11/05/2018 8:11 Comments || Top||

#9  Wire is easy to cut and penetrate if there isn't someone around to guard it. It is a delaying obstacle only.

A wall with sniper towers and machine gun nests would be better.
Posted by: DarthVader || 11/05/2018 9:03 Comments || Top||

#10  What about those collapsible baskets that are debris mesh supported by metal frames. Look to be about 6 feet high and can be filled on site by dirt, sand, and or rocks? Create a line of those, topped with razor wire to prevent the errant wild burro from getting trapped.

Monitor the stretches of this “rapid wall” and leave a few guarded gaps for migratory animals. Anyone climbing over is an invader.
Posted by: Rob06 || 11/05/2018 10:46 Comments || Top||

#11  ....Charlie Carlos in the wire.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 11/05/2018 10:49 Comments || Top||

#12  Sorry
The described barrier is called a Hesco bastion. Great you tube video available, but I’m too tech limited to cut and pasted from my phone.
Posted by: Rob06 || 11/05/2018 10:53 Comments || Top||

#13  What DV said.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 11/05/2018 11:15 Comments || Top||

#14  Ref DV's comment: It keeps most of the North Koreans in North Korea.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/05/2018 11:52 Comments || Top||

#15  Only because there are mines, guards and dogs along the whole way.
Posted by: DarthVader || 11/05/2018 11:54 Comments || Top||

#16  Having been trained on the numerous ways to penetrate a Concertina wire barrier, remembering they are a delaying obstacle and keep the honest people out is a good rule of thumb.

The Hesco units with concertina is also good, especially if you use the dirt from in front of it to form a ditch (I would like to fill the ditch with razor sharp spikes... but that violates a rule of law somewhere).

But again, Hesco are designed to stop bullets and shrapnel and honest people. If unmanned, the enemy can go under, over or through 'em. They are just wire, cloth and dirt after all.

The reality is, even with a high tech wall it will take people and dogs patrolling it 24/7 and with underground sensors to detect people traffic and digging. There isn't any real way around it.
Posted by: DarthVader || 11/05/2018 12:03 Comments || Top||

#17  I believe the Israelis have a working 'model' that appears to operate with decent efficiency.

If one was truly evil, towers with weapons linked into a game format with the vid displaying 'zombies' invading your compound. Free to play from your PC or favorite game console. "Is it live or is it Memorex?"
Posted by: Procopius2k || 11/05/2018 14:11 Comments || Top||

#18  Hoping a bunch of mules get entangled.

Actually, they're the ones who could probably use asylum. Oh, wait, the drug miles . . . .
Posted by: gorb || 11/05/2018 14:46 Comments || Top||

#19  And better electrify the wire and have rubber bullets ready.
Posted by: gorb || 11/05/2018 14:47 Comments || Top||

#20  Claymores every 10 yards?
Posted by: Spot || 11/05/2018 14:48 Comments || Top||

#21  only need 3 words: FRONT TOWARD ENEMY
Posted by: Glolush Whusotch4899 || 11/05/2018 16:06 Comments || Top||

#22  Political stunt? As SofD General Mattis said when asked, "We don't do stunts."
Posted by: JohnQC || 11/05/2018 18:01 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
'SNL' Mocks ‘Gross' GOP Candidate Who Lost His Eye to an IED Blast
[Newsbusters] Since the Vietnam War, liberals have been known for their great disdain for America’s service members, despite their efforts to hide it. During NBC’s latest edition of Saturday Night Live, that disdain poked its ugly head out in the form of supposed comedian Pete Davidson mocking Republican congressional candidate and former Navy SEAL Dan Crenshaw about the eye he lost to an IED blast while serving in Afghanistan, "or whatever" according to the funny man.

The vile attack came during the SNL’s faux news segment "Weekend Update" where Davidson was mocking multiple Republican politicians for their looks. The comedian stated he’d "realized there are some pretty gross people running for office this year". When a picture of Crenshaw was put on the screen, co-star Michael Che blurted out: "Oh, come on, man!"

"Hold on," Davidson told him. "You may be surprised to hear he's a congressional candidate from Texas and not a hitman in a porno movie," he ridiculed Crenshaw to the uproarious laughter of the liberal crowd. "I'm sorry, I know he lost his eye in war or whatever."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: 746 || 11/05/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  hopefully your Blue party waves goodbye forever.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/05/2018 4:45 Comments || Top||

#2  It's "incivility" if you or I say it. It's "entertainment" if an overpaid, talentless hack says it.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 11/05/2018 9:02 Comments || Top||

#3  A better SNL political
skit
Posted by: rjschwarz || 11/05/2018 13:46 Comments || Top||

#4  A better SNL political

Are you sure that is Saturday Night Live? I ask because
a) it's actually funny. I was rolling!
b) it mocks stereotypical Democratic snowflakes
c) no mention of Trump whatsoever
Posted by: SteveS || 11/05/2018 14:10 Comments || Top||

#5  There's nothing funny in this feeble attempt at humor by exploiting the injuries of a Navy Seal who lost his eye in combat in Afghanistan.

SNL is not funny.
Posted by: JohnQC || 11/05/2018 17:45 Comments || Top||

#6  Last year SNL had a fake add for a bubble city where liberals go move and be protected from Trump's america, That was pretty funny. The one I posted came out this Saturday and its pretty funny.

So one funny skit a year and coincidentally one skit a year that gently pokes fun at liberals instead of insane conservative bashing. there is a lesson there somewwere but I doubt SNL will take note.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 11/05/2018 19:33 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
35[untagged]
5Islamic State
4Govt of Pakistan
4Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan
3Houthis
3Arab Spring
2Govt of Syria
2Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
1Islamic Movement of Nigeria (Iran)
1Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)
1Govt of Saudi Arabia
1Narcos
1Palestinian Authority
1Sublime Porte
1al-Shabaab (AQ)
1Jamaat-e-Ulema Islami
1Govt of Iran Proxies

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2018-11-05
  U.S. jet fighters kill 25 Islamic State militants in Kirkuk
Sun 2018-11-04
  US soldier killed in ‘apparent insider attack’ in Kabul -- NATO
Sat 2018-11-03
  Mass grave with 1,500 bodies unearthed in Raqqa city
Fri 2018-11-02
  Foreigners among 68 militants killed, wounded in Afghan, U.S. forces operations
Thu 2018-11-01
  Nigerian Shia group says 42 killed when security forces fired upon protests
Wed 2018-10-31
  Mil Times Follow-up article: 5 freed from Gitmo in exchange for Bergdahl join Taliban's political office in Qatar
Tue 2018-10-30
  Al-Shabaab Claims Blast That Killed 30 Ethiopian Soldiers In Central Somalia
Mon 2018-10-29
  U.S. drones target Taliban vehicle in Paktia leaving 5 militants dead
Sun 2018-10-28
  Yemeni army unveils new domestically-built high-precision Badr P-1 ballistic missile
Sat 2018-10-27
  Emergency situation at US synagogue
Fri 2018-10-26
  Arrest Made In Plantation In Connection To Package Bombs
Thu 2018-10-25
  4 children injured in Quetta school firing
Wed 2018-10-24
  BREAKING: ‘IED' found near Bill and Hillary Clinton's Chappaqua home
Tue 2018-10-23
  Firefighters extinguish day’s fifth blaze caused by incendiary balloon in southern Israel
Mon 2018-10-22
  US brigadier general recovering from at least one gunshot wound in Afghanistan attack

Better than the average link...



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.
3.92.84.253
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (17)    WoT Background (13)    Non-WoT (18)    (0)    Politix (4)