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Today: 66 articles and 196 comments as of 10:21.
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Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Non-WoT        Politix   
France supermarket hostage-taking: At least two killed by Trebes known wolf gunman claiming allegiance to ISIS
Today's Headlines
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Page 6: Politix
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6 22:45 Anomalous Sources [1]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
'Dershowitz To Mueller: Stop. Just Stop
[Hot Air] Go figure that a man known as a skilled appellate defense attorney might have an animus against the idea of a roving prosecutor, but don’t let that keep people from hearing Alan Dershowitz out. He writes in The Hill that Congress should have seized the moment after the 2016 election by creating a bipartisan special commission to get to the truth of Russian interference and how to defend against it instead of demanding recusals and special counsels.

The Mueller probe, Dershowitz argues, compounded the damage that Russia intended to create in the first place:
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/23/2018 03:25 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Doesn't matter. It's emotional. They were very deeply hurt by Trump, and now it's payback time. They will pursue him to the ends of the Earth and if it hurts America, then America is a horrible country which deserves it.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 || 03/23/2018 3:33 Comments || Top||

#2  It showed the American People (the rest of us knew it already) what their elites are really like.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/23/2018 5:06 Comments || Top||


#4  Lib Dershowitz is no longer invited to elitist dinner parties? He should be thankful.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/23/2018 8:32 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
American People Admit Having Facebook Data Stolen Kind Of Worth It To Watch That Little Fucker Squirm
[THEONION]
Posted by: Fred || 03/23/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Heh.

BTW, Zuckerburg was born in 1984.

Just sayin'...
Posted by: charger || 03/23/2018 0:12 Comments || Top||

#2  data wasn't really stolen, it is still where it was

data was simply used in a way somebody didn't like and in a way that wasn't specifically authorized

FB uses people's data to get advertisers and for other commercial purposes, that's the biz plan
Posted by: lord garth || 03/23/2018 0:14 Comments || Top||

#3  Great headline
Posted by: newc || 03/23/2018 0:41 Comments || Top||

#4  Note that nobody mentions the CEO of the data-mining company's real crime. Yes, the #MeToo data-mining bit that got him fired and scared the hell out of the powers that be.
Posted by: 3dc || 03/23/2018 7:23 Comments || Top||

#5  the American populace was reportedly squealing with delight as shares of Facebook stock plummeted to yet another low.

It is the Onion but MZ must have known the sh!tstorm was coming; he had been dumping off huge amounts of his stock before this story broke in the media.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/23/2018 9:01 Comments || Top||

#6  Not that I'm all that sympathetic to Zuckerberg but I think Senator Kennedy's approach is all wrong. I don't believe FB rises to the level of a public utility that needs regulating and it's not a health or safety problem like food or drugs or cars.

Nobody is twisting your arm to use FB or any of these social media so if you don't like the way they're doing it you are free to opt out. If you're afraid somebody's gonna find out your likes and dislikes don't post them on the Internet. Is that too hard to understand?

But I guess grandstanding is what senators do. They sure as hell can't seem to do much of anything else.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 03/23/2018 10:31 Comments || Top||

#7  They sure as hell can't seem to do much of anything else.

Oh, they have that spending that would make a drunk sailor queasy pretty well mastered...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 03/23/2018 12:33 Comments || Top||

#8  At least drunk sailors are spending their own money...
Posted by: Warthog || 03/23/2018 14:34 Comments || Top||

#9  Anyone who didn't think there info was being mined by Facebook is a fool. Having said that it seems to me the Onion post is more about defusing the anger against a reliable liberal than anything else.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 03/23/2018 14:51 Comments || Top||


Britain
Paul Weston: How To Destroy A Country
[YouTube] In this speech to a meeting of Swinton Circle in London on 31 July 2015, Liberty GB leader Paul Weston exposes the Left's relentless assault on British culture, identity and tradition.
About the Author:
Paul Martin Laurence Weston (born 1965) is a British far-right[1] politician and a member of the Pegida UK leadership team. An activist and blogger, Weston joined the UK Independence Party (UKIP) in 2010 and stood as a Parliamentary candidate for Cities of London and Westminster. In 2011, Weston left UKIP and joined the now-defunct British Freedom Party with members of the English Defence League (EDL) and former members of the British National Party (BNP).[2] He was the chairman of Liberty GB before the party was dissolved in December 2017, recommending its members to join For Britain.[3]

For Liberty GB, he was a candidate for South East England in the 2014 European election[4] and for Luton South in the 2015 general election. He obtained 158 votes (0.4%).[5]

He was married to a Romanian after meeting her in Romania.[1][6] He was the President of the English branch of the International Free Press Society founded in 2009.[7]
Wikipedia
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/23/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
A more honest assessment of Russia
[Strategy Page]
Click Link
Posted by: 3dc || 03/23/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They definitely want war - look how close to NATO bases they put their country.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/23/2018 5:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Beware!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/23/2018 7:58 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Hey, Deep State, Americans Know You're Hiding In There
[Hot Air] If this post fails to appear or, once published, suddenly disappears, a majority of Americans will know whom to blame: The Deep State.

According to a new Monmouth University Poll, a substantial majority of Americans believes that an unelected, shadowy portion of government and the military secretly manipulates federal policy to its own ends.

Here’s what’s so intriguing about this finding: It’s bipartisan, one of the few things in these hyper-partisan days that members of both parties as well as independents share a fervent belief in.

"This is a worrisome finding," says Patrick Murphy, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. "The strength of our government relies on public faith in protecting our freedoms, which is not particularly robust. And it’s not a Democratic or Republican issue. These concerns span the political spectrum."

Perhaps out of conviction, President Trump has stoked belief in the Deep State, suggesting faceless opponents in Washington maliciously use an antagonistic and willing media to undermine his policies and programs in the eyes of unwitting citizens.

Clearly, Trump’s professed suspicions have found a believing audience.

Fully 64 percent of the 803 adults polled said they believe the Deep State definitely or probably exists. Sixteen percent think it "probably" does not exist. Only five percent are certain it does not exist.

Sixty percent feel unelected or appointed officials have too much power and influence determining federal policies, for instance, writing regulations from vaguely-worded legislation.

"We usually expect opinions on the operation of government to shift depending on which party is in charge," Murphy adds. "But there’s an ominous feeling by Democrats and Republicans alike that a ’Deep State’ of unelected operatives are pulling the levers of power."
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/23/2018 03:39 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "But there’s an ominous feeling by Democrats and Republicans alike that a ’Deep State’ of unelected operatives are pulling the levers of power."

Behold the UniParty.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/23/2018 3:45 Comments || Top||

#2  I suspect the reason we can no longer do budgets is that the out of sight Omnibus pork gives lobbyists enough of what they want to fully fund the re-election of the UNI-Party.
Posted by: 3dc || 03/23/2018 7:05 Comments || Top||

#3  and immigration is one part of the uni-party owner's welfare state.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 03/23/2018 8:10 Comments || Top||

#4  I suspect the reason we can no longer do budgets is that the out of sight Omnibus pork gives lobbyists enough of what they want to fully fund the re-election of the UNI-Party.

I'm afraid that's pretty much how it works.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 03/23/2018 10:38 Comments || Top||

#5  The question is, would things be better or worse with five parties?
Posted by: rjschwarz || 03/23/2018 14:51 Comments || Top||

#6  ...writing regulations from vaguely-worded legislation.

The notion of thousand-page bills passed by Congress lacking specifics is counterintuitive, isn't it?
Posted by: Raj || 03/23/2018 19:17 Comments || Top||


Mercer: John Quincy Adams is Turning in His Grave
[Townhall] "This is just a truly astonishing moment coming from the White House podium," tweeted MSNBC's Kasie Hunt. Like the rest of the media pack-animals she hunts with, Ms. Hunt had been fuming over President Trump's telephone call to Vladimir Putin, congratulating him on winning another term as Russian president.

Reliably opposed to a truce were party heavies on both sides. Sen. John McCain joined the chorus: "An American president does not lead the Free World by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections," he intoned.

Another Republican, Sen. Chuck Grassley, told a reporter testily that he "wouldn't have a conversation with a criminal. I think Putin's a criminal." "When I look at a Russian election, what I see is a lack of credibility in tallying the results," sermonized Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. "I'm always reminded of the elections they have in almost every communist country."

Actually, what the International Election Observation Mission found in Russia's presidential election of March 18 was far more nuanced. Why, in some ways the Russian elections were very American: In the difficulty dissident candidates have in getting on the ballot, for example.

Ask Ron Paul or all those anonymous, aspiring, independent, third-party candidates about the US's "restrictive ballot access laws and the other barriers erected" by the duopoly to protect their "de facto monopoly in America," to paraphrase Forbes.com.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/23/2018 03:33 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No matter the flavor, any response from Trump would have been met with condemnation by the dems.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/23/2018 3:56 Comments || Top||

#2  American president does not lead the Free World by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections

For real? What will happen if we do some historical research?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/23/2018 5:11 Comments || Top||

#3  What happened the last time Pooty-poot was elected?

Did he get a congratulatory call from the PotUS?
Posted by: AlanC || 03/23/2018 8:32 Comments || Top||

#4  I suspect ol' Obama also called Putin, but I am pretty sure you know, AlanC. C'mon - give us lazy folks a link!
Posted by: Bobby || 03/23/2018 9:01 Comments || Top||

#5  Yes, yes, I know it is SNOPES. But even they acknowledge that Obummer congratulated Putin.

Obama congratulates Putin
Posted by: Glaving Big Foot2590 || 03/23/2018 9:20 Comments || Top||

#6  Roy D. Mercer?
Posted by: Frank G || 03/23/2018 10:24 Comments || Top||

#7  Something about "stepping over dollars to pick up pennies" comes to mind.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/23/2018 12:46 Comments || Top||

#8  Obama gave the dictators of Iran billions in cash and permission to acquire nulclear weapons. Obama also surrendered to Castro with a limp wristed photo op to boot.

At this moment I trust Putin more than McConnell, Ryan, Schumer or Pelosi
Posted by: airandee || 03/23/2018 14:41 Comments || Top||


Iraq
The Iraq War Was A Mistake. So Why Can't Gen. Petraeus Finally Admit It?
That is one opinion, certainly. Another might be that the Obama pull out was the mistake. Or allowing the State Department to take over administering post-invasion Iraq instead of leaving it in the hands of the Army. As for me, I’d rather the bad guys were fighting and dying in their homeland than in mine.
[Task & Purpose] Just days after the 15th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March, 2003, I wonder why it’s still difficult for one of our nation’s most-respected commanders of the war, Gen. David Petraeus, to admit what many already know: Going into Iraq was a mistake.

Petraeus was asked recently by Task & Purpose whether the Iraq War was worth it. Here’s how he responded:
"I think everybody who was in Iraq, who served there, who knows the sacrifice it entails, who knows the cost in blood and in treasure... has been frustrated to see how the country slid back after we left in late 2011," Petraeus said in an exclusive interview with T&P’s Jeff Schogol. "But at the end of the day, I think we also have a degree of quiet pride that when our country needed us, we answered the call."

My colleague Jeff Schogol didn’t ask Petraeus whether the troops who fought there served honorably, or whether they were frustrated by Iraq’s slide into chaos after withdrawal. But the retired general offered a classic example of deflection. It’s a politician’s answer ‐ instead of addressing the actual question, you just answer the question you prefer to be asked.

Petraeus was offered a simple question: Was it all worth it? Given all that we know now, should we have invaded in 2003? And yet, he dodged it. Why?

Admitting it was a mistake isn’t controversial among most in the national security field, or even the public writ large.

Americans were told of a possible "mushroom cloud" brought on by Saddam Hussein’s (non-existent) nukes and other weapons of mass destruction ‐ claims all based on faulty intelligence that former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz later admitted was just a convenient excuse for war.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/23/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You know who wrote the infamous fake WMD memo that was used to justify the war? Robert S. Mueller III. Yup, that same one. And people say the Deep State doesn't exist. The smoking gun:

https://fas.org/irp/congress/2003_hr/021103mueller.html
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 || 03/23/2018 1:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Going in wasn't the mistake. Leaving too soon was the mistake. Anything else is a bullshit lie.

Playing the "with what you know now" game is absolute horseshit and deserves no answer. We did not know then with any certainty, and we did have indicators that pointed toward WMD there, especially with the game-playing with UN inspectors and so on. So we had to act or risk a mass destruction attack on the US. The September 11th attacks showed that we cannot remain complacent, nor can we wait for "perfect" intelligence.

Anything to the contrary is just a bunch of crap by people trying to rewrite history and play "gotcha". Screw them.
Posted by: OldSpook || 03/23/2018 3:05 Comments || Top||

#3  The war wasn't a mistake - Muslims, and Arabs especially, need to be reminded periodically who is who and what is what. "Nation building", now that was a mistake!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/23/2018 5:04 Comments || Top||

#4  This is the second time I've seen a story from "Task & Purpose". Folks, it claims it's for US servicemen, but it has a regular column titled "The Long March". Caveat emptor.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 03/23/2018 7:58 Comments || Top||

#5  WMD = chemical, biological, nuclear.

Reminder of all the chemical weapons seized and destroyed since occupying Iraq. Stuff that was suppose to have been gone well before we went back in. Remember the freak out when ISIS occupied one of the site were the material was being processed out of weapon status?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/23/2018 8:38 Comments || Top||

#6  Going in was no mistake. The ultimate pursuit of the war absolutely was. We had the chance to do the right thing and on multiple levels in '91 and stopped for no intelligible reason.
Posted by: Cesare || 03/23/2018 11:05 Comments || Top||

#7  People in my old company in the 82nd died from those non-existent WMD's. Trapped and exposed in a WMD chemical storage bunker with no gear. Buried info now.

This "Task and Purpose" org is just another one to hate. And Mueller was involved in the finding? Find a link between him and Jamie Gorelick. Oh wait, another traitor from Hale and Dorr, now Wilmer Pickering Hale and Dorr. A nest of traitors since the '50's. Maybe earlier, I can't tell. But commies all.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 03/23/2018 11:09 Comments || Top||

#8  Sorry got the commie bastards company name wrong. It is now Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 03/23/2018 11:15 Comments || Top||

#9  I wanted to believe that Bush knew what he was doing in Iraq. Now we know better. Live and learn. These days I believe the best revenge against Arabs is to leave them to their own devices.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 03/23/2018 11:44 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
ULA laying the foundations for an Econosphere in CisLunar space

Posted by: 3dc || 03/23/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But, but, but what about all the hungry children here on Earth? What about transgender persons who do not have their own toilets?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/23/2018 5:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Grom: Matthew 26:11
Posted by: 3dc || 03/23/2018 6:50 Comments || Top||

#3  I was facetious, 3dc
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/23/2018 7:40 Comments || Top||

#4  Matthew 26:11

Heinlein "Time enough for love" p-36
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/23/2018 7:55 Comments || Top||

#5  God loves the poor that's why he made so many.

Rockets landing vertically for re-use as GOD and RAH intended.

[smirk off]
Posted by: Roth LaDoad || 03/23/2018 12:47 Comments || Top||

#6  Roth - This is ULA! Vertical landing is SpaceX.
ULA == Boeing/Lockheed
Posted by: 3dc || 03/23/2018 15:57 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Our Enemies are Dying with Laughter
[USDefenseWatch] The road to total military disaster is being paved by feminists, Obama holdouts and cultural Marxists who have infiltrated the armed forces at the highest levels in the last decade, while warriors have become an endangered species in the Pentagon.

The Hour of the Clusterfu*k approaches and yet across the world, the US military marches on, like martinets suffering from cognitive dissonance, not committed to warfighting anymore, but to a much higher calling, diversity.



Meanwhile, our enemies are dying with laughter. Our enemies know that the US military in 2018 is a feminized, PC weakling. Our enemies know that as every day passes and new politically correct orders are generated, the US military is one step closer to total annihilation in the next war, against foes that will coming to the field with navies, armies and air forces.

As our enemies train for war, we train for social justice.
Continues.
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 03/23/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  off the pile...

The weather at dockside was wavy.
A welcoming wife and they baby
Met Midshipman Johnson
Who's sporting a sponson
From sharing they locker with Davey.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 03/23/2018 16:03 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
37[untagged]
8Islamic State
4Sublime Porte
2Govt of Saudi Arabia
2al-Shabaab (AQ)
1Boko Haram (ISIS)
1Commies
1Govt of Iraq
1Govt of Sudan
1Govt of Syria
1Hamas
1al-Qaeda
1Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (IS)
1Moslem Colonists
1Muslim Brotherhood
1Palestinian Authority
1al-Nusra
1Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)

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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.
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
Fri 2018-03-23
  France supermarket hostage-taking: At least two killed by Trebes known wolf gunman claiming allegiance to ISIS
Thu 2018-03-22
  Jordan jails two for planning Daesh embassy attacks
Wed 2018-03-21
  Bodies of 39 Indian workers kidnapped by IS militants found in Iraq: minister
Tue 2018-03-20
  36 takfiris killed, 345 arrested in last five days of Operation Sinai 2018: Egypt Armed Forces
Mon 2018-03-19
  Turkey's Erdogan says Afrin city centre under 'total' control
Sun 2018-03-18
  KP government seals offices of Hafiz Saeed's JuD, FIF; seizes mosques, seminaries
Sat 2018-03-17
  Greek court rejects Turkey’s request for extradition of eight soldiers
Fri 2018-03-16
  German prosecutors indict Syrian migrant over alleged bomb plot
Thu 2018-03-15
  Anbar antics: 7 turbans permanently unwound, tribal types get frisky
Wed 2018-03-14
  Al-Qaeda operative born in Texas sentenced to 45 years for conspiring to murder Americans, supporting terrorism
Tue 2018-03-13
  Trump fires Rex Tillerson as secretary of state and replaces him with CIA boss Mike Pompeo
Mon 2018-03-12
  Syrian Army surrounds Jaysh Al-Islam stronghold in East Ghouta
Sun 2018-03-11
  First group of militants surrender arms & leave East Ghouta after Russia-brokered talks
Sat 2018-03-10
   Tuareg militias again clash with Islamic State-loyal militants in northern Mali
Fri 2018-03-09
  Mullah Fazlullah's kid killed in drone strike in Afghanistan

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