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Guards of senior Muslim Brotherhood figure arrested in Egypt
Today's Headlines
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
FLOTUS: Being first lady is like living in a really nice prison - Examiner
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/02/2013 12:24 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Words cannot express the depth of ingratitude this self absorbed "victim of priviledge" represents. Never in my knowledge have we had a less worthy first lady. May she convince her husband to flee the office soon and move on to more important matters. surely there is a resort somewhere not yet grace by her imperial presence?
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 07/02/2013 12:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Because prisoners receive free lavish trips to Ireland. Trips to St. Louis to grab a pizza. Multi-million dollar hidden estates in Hawaii.

I get she is trying to be Mandela-relevant, but this is in the face stupid.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 07/02/2013 13:44 Comments || Top||

#3  This is the 'voluntary' confinement pursued by many celebrates. Meanwhile on the release program, your predecessors are doing work you'd never consider of your station.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/02/2013 13:57 Comments || Top||

#4  I hope she appreciates that I voted to let her out.

Snark of the day.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 07/02/2013 14:25 Comments || Top||

#5  Of course it is a gilded cage, and for the spouse and children lacks even the satisfaction of running the most powerful country on the planet. Everybody knows that, so what point is there of talking about it?
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/02/2013 15:51 Comments || Top||

#6  #4 I hope she appreciates that I voted to let her out. Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain

I even tried to buy her release by sending a few dollars to Romney campaign.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/02/2013 16:16 Comments || Top||

#7  Then make your twit of a husband resign and leave.

Otherwise shut the fuck up, you entitled twat.
Posted by: DarthVader || 07/02/2013 16:31 Comments || Top||

#8  #4: I voted to through her out through a window. Metaphorically, not literally.
Posted by: Charles || 07/02/2013 19:31 Comments || Top||

#9  In 2016, send a black woman back to prison!

Not much of a ring to it.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 07/02/2013 20:29 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Obama Plans to Power Africa--With Soccer Balls
Yesterday in Cape Town, South Africa, President Obama talked about bringing energy and power to the continent of Africa. Today, President Obama is expected to reveal that part of his Africa energy plan involves a soccer ball that carries an electric generator inside.

From the White House transcript of Obama's speech from yesterday:

I am proud to announce a new initiative. We've been dealing with agriculture, we've been dealing with health. Now we're going to talk about power -- Power Africa -- a new initiative that will double access to power in sub-Saharan Africa. Double it. (Applause.) We're going to start by investing $7 billion in U.S. government resources. We're going to partner with the private sector, who themselves have committed more than $9 billion in investment. And in partnership with African nations, we're going to develop new sources of energy. We'll reach more households not just in cities, but in villages and on farms. We'll expand access for those who live currently off the power grid. And we'll support clean energy to protect our planet and combat climate change. (Applause.) So, a light where currently there is darkness; the energy needed to lift people out of poverty -- that's what opportunity looks like.

And then today, White House aide Mike Froman explained the soccer ball idea to the press aboard Air Force One, as the pool report details:

Mr. Froman also talked about POTUS's efforts to help bring reliable power to Africa, which will be the subject of an event in Tanzania on Tuesday morning. He noted as one example an invention designed to bring electricity to many of the small villages that are not connected to the grid.
Posted by: tipper || 07/02/2013 07:05 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Crematoriums......can they produce electrical power ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/02/2013 10:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Wut, no Monorail?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 07/02/2013 12:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Doug Powers notes
“The people in Froman’s hypothetical example are living in a remote, off-the-grid village with no electricity but apparently there’s a cell phone tower just up the road.”
Posted by: tipper || 07/02/2013 14:19 Comments || Top||

#4  I respect the idea. But here is the thing. The consumer is disconnected from the manufacturer. The marketing of this items is not to poor families in the third world, but to the do-gooders who all bought and wore TOMS shoes before realizing they were made in a sweatshop in China. Another Aid-Dev fail were Playpumps, a NGO fad a few years ago.

If you asked the poor family in need if they'd prefer an old fashioned hand pump & some rice to a gadgety soccket ball, they prefer the hand pump.

This plays back to the whole Playpumps fail. The communities needed hand pumps and not gadgety playground equipment. But gadgety "green" technologies chase and get the grant dollars. It took awhile, but eventually the blowback from the involved communities caused the NGOs and 501C to scrape the initiative.

And that's my point. The consumer is largely ignored. These are more happy ribbons for the Left. Cost benefit analysis be damned. It's the idea.
Posted by: mossomo || 07/02/2013 17:53 Comments || Top||

#5  Crematoriums......can they produce electrical power ?

Might as well just burn money.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 07/02/2013 19:18 Comments || Top||

#6  mossromo says:. The consumer is largely ignored.

Not really. The consumer is he who pays the piper. The Grant providers and NGOs are the consumers of these items but they're not the end users.

The end users have no say much like the patients in our insurance driven healthcare payment system. The consumer is the insurance company.
Posted by: AlanC || 07/02/2013 20:32 Comments || Top||


Obama: DR Congo's Neighbors Must Stop Backing Rebels
[An Nahar] U.S. President Barack Obama
Because I won...
on Monday called on the countries bordering Democratic Republic of the Congo
...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
to stop backing gangs there.
Or what? We'll invade?
"The countries surrounding Congo, they have got to make a commitment to stop supporting gangs," Obama told a presser in the Tanzanian commercial capital, where he is wrapping up a three-nation African tour.

Both Rwanda and Uganda have been accused of supporting the M23, the gang that briefly occupied the eastern DRC town of Goma in November, routing the government troops stationed there.

Both countries have denied the charges.

He also called on DRC President Joseph Kabila to make more headway with reforming his country's armed forces, saying he "has to do more and better in dealing with the DRC's capacity on security issues".

DR Congo's army -- even the so-called elite units trained by foreign powers -- is notorious for its ill-discipline and lack of motivation, with troops often running away and engaging in looting in the face of rebel attacks.
Posted by: Fred || 07/02/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
Obama Says U.S. Can Lead Climate Change Battle
[An Nahar] U.S. President Barack Obama
We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us...
touted his new climate change proposal in his weekly address Saturday, calling for Americans to lead the charge against the warming environment.

"Those who already feel the effects of a changing climate don't have time to deny it -- they're busy dealing with it," said Obama in his pre-recorded address on radio and the Internet.

"The firefighters who brave longer wildfire seasons. The farmers who see crops wilted one year, and washed away the next. Western families worried about water that's drying up.

"The cost of these events can be measured in lost lives and livelihoods, lost homes and businesses, and hundreds of billions of dollars in emergency services and disaster relief. And Americans across the country are already paying the price of inaction in higher food costs, insurance premiums, and the tab for rebuilding.

"The question is not whether we need to act. The question is whether we will have the courage to act before it's too late," the president said.

Obama laid out a broad new plan to fight climate change on Tuesday, using executive powers to get around deniers who have blocked action in Congress. He called for new restrictions on existing and new power plants to curb carbon emissions, pledged to push new generation clean energy sources and to lead a fresh global effort to stem global warming.

"This is the fight America can and will lead in the 21st century. But it will require all of us, as citizens, to do our part," the president said Saturday, calling for scientists to develop biofuels and farmers to grow them, engineers to design clean technology and businesses to get them to market.

"We will be judged -- as a people, as a society, and as a country -- on where we go from here," Obama said.
Posted by: Fred || 07/02/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's the only battle he is willing to lead in.

Of course, no one is shooting back. And, as a nice side benefit, he gets to wreck the US economy.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 07/02/2013 0:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Impeachment proceedings must begin.
Posted by: Mikey Hunt || 07/02/2013 1:28 Comments || Top||

#3  1.8% growth is way too much?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/02/2013 3:36 Comments || Top||

#4  I thought we led by refusing to sign (or ratify, I forget) the Kyoto Protocols.
Posted by: Bobby || 07/02/2013 6:03 Comments || Top||

#5  Obama: 'Planet Will Boil Over' If Young Africans Are Allowed Cars, Air-Conditioning, Big Houses -
President Barack Obama said at a town hall event in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Saturday that unless we find new way of producing energy "the planet will boil over" if people in Africa are allowed to attain air conditioning, automobiles and big houses.

“Ultimately, if you think about all the youth that everybody has mentioned here in Africa, if everybody is raising living standards to the point where everybody has got a car and everybody has got air conditioning, and everybody has got a big house, well, the planet will boil over -- unless we find new ways of producing energy.”

Posted by: tipper || 07/02/2013 7:42 Comments || Top||

#6  IMA confused again. Which is worse, "boiling over" or...."tipping over" ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/02/2013 8:29 Comments || Top||

#7  He's on the Climate Change topic again, run for your lives, keep your hands on your wallets, save yourselves while you can.

Posted by: Clavish Hatrack2624 || 07/02/2013 8:40 Comments || Top||

#8  I suggest Obama go fight off the tide for a while. Maybe see if he can keep the seasons from changing.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 07/02/2013 9:37 Comments || Top||

#9  Why not set 'em up with at-home biogas generation? If it's good enough for the Afghans...
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/02/2013 9:39 Comments || Top||

#10  Lost on guns. Begged by Congress to keep a low profile on immigration. Doesn't want to talk about healthcare, foreign relations or the economy. TOTUS is running out of things to talk about.
Posted by: Iblis || 07/02/2013 10:55 Comments || Top||

#11  Perfect segue to explain his desire to.... spend more time with family, resign and retire to Martha's Vineyard, etc.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/02/2013 11:01 Comments || Top||

#12  Yeah, but his proposal is not to win the war against nature, but to surrender by dismantaling the very tools which help people live through the rough weather. Over centralized government and regulation prevents rapid local response. Less personal wealth means less ability to deal with problems. Wealth without responsibility uses resources at a meager efficiency.

Its the same kind of crap which would prevent you from quarrying stone for spearheads because the runoff would pollute the spotted dick salamanders' sunning location. Then they bring in spearheads from halfway around the world, and give them to the guys who would just assume sit around the campfire rather than go on the hunt, or even just improve the campsite, in the hope that for an hour every night they talk about how cool their spearheads and bag of beads are.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 07/02/2013 12:16 Comments || Top||


Government
Dem resolution would let 'mobile Congress' cast votes from home
[THEHILL] A freshman House Democrat filed a resolution Friday that would allow members of Congress to vote remotely on bills from their home districts.

Rep. Eric Swalwell's (D-Calif.) proposal for a mobile Congress would amend House rules so politicians can take care of business using the latest communication technologies, including video conferencing.

Swalwell, whose district is located just north of the heart of Silicon Valley, hopes the amendment will update how Congress works and allow politicians to spend more time at home with their constituents.

The resolution would create a secure, remote voting system
...that the NSA could never, ever crack...
so members
...or Nancy Pelosi generously acting on their behalf...
could vote on bills that are being considered under a suspension of regular rules, meaning they require a two-thirds majority in the House to pass. The process is usually reserved for bills that are noncontroversial.

Additionally, the resolution would allow politicians and witnesses to participate in committee hearings held in Washington via videoconferencing technology. Rather than jetting back to Washington to attend a committee hearing, a House member could join the hearing with a tap of a button right from his or her district office.
Only if C-SPAN can show pictures of the hearings using potted plants...
Posted by: Fred || 07/02/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Do it. In fact ban Congresscritters from spending more the 60 days a year within the Beltway. If nothing more it would force K Street Lobbying Corps to disperse to fifty states just to cover the Senators. Further it would make the 'representatives' immediately subjected to their real constituents within a days driving distance. It would also force the entrenched bureaucracy to travel beyond their fish bowl 'comfort' zone of the Potomac to conspire coordinate work, exposing them to other cultures and environments. "My God, I have to go to fly over country? Do I need shots?"
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/02/2013 7:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Sounds like a good idea to me.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 07/02/2013 8:25 Comments || Top||

#3  How about the citizenry?
Posted by: Perfesser || 07/02/2013 8:47 Comments || Top||

#4  Article I, Section 5:

Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 07/02/2013 8:50 Comments || Top||

#5  Eric,

Nothing in there says they can't do work outside the Beltway. Congresscritters travel all the time during sessions. They've had hearings and other activities outside the Beltway for quite a while. Doesn't mean they have to adjourn when away. That's the whole issue surrounding the recess appointments and pro forma daily conduct of business. They just need to be in place to conduct formal business. Thus 60 days.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/02/2013 9:33 Comments || Top||

#6  Too easy to hack, NO.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 07/02/2013 10:46 Comments || Top||

#7  No.

In person, in their seat. Some of these committee meetings are closed for good reason, never know who else would be sitting in the room.

Turn off the heat and AC, 60 days in the Spring and 60 days in the Fall to conduct business. That leaves 2/3rds of the year to make their under table deals - but everything must be FOIA, down the to receipt for damned waffles. Every phone call, every log-in, and I want to be able to spectate their games of Sim City.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 07/02/2013 12:39 Comments || Top||

#8  With executive orders, who needs Congress?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/02/2013 14:27 Comments || Top||

#9  P2K - Congressmen travel during sessions, yes. But *Congress* can't. And this would dis-locate Congressional sessions. The plain text of Article 1, Section 5 seems to prohibit this resolution on its face. Makes a mockery of quorums, anyway. And it's already too damn easy for aides to vote for their senile senators, rolling them around like Mechanical Turks in wheelchairs...
Posted by: Mitch H. || 07/02/2013 16:25 Comments || Top||

#10  60 days a year. Some just pull 'duty' in the beltway while the rest are out. 12 months that 5 days a month, normal business week. The original Congress didn't work Sundays and wasn't considered adjourned to be away. 4 to 5 shifts of congresscritters in that month, place is covered.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/02/2013 21:17 Comments || Top||

#11  Better yet - move the 'Capital' so that congress has to meet in some randomly selected congressional district every 2 years. And by random I mean truly random - if they find themselves meeting in some cow barn in Bumfuck County, Minnesota in January - then so be it.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 07/02/2013 23:10 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
45[untagged]
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4Govt of Pakistan
3Salafists
3Boko Haram
2al-Nusra
2al-Qaeda in North Africa
1Muslim Brotherhood
1Taliban
1al-Qaeda in Iraq
1TTP
1al-Qaeda
1Lashkar e-Jhangvi
1Moslem Colonists

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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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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2013-07-02
  Guards of senior Muslim Brotherhood figure arrested in Egypt
Mon 2013-07-01
  Egyptian military gives 48 hour ultimatum to Brotherhood, political forces
Sun 2013-06-30
  Boomers kill 43 in Pakland on Sunday
Sat 2013-06-29
  Muslim Brotherhood, FJP offices attacked throughout Egypt
Fri 2013-06-28
  Dagestani lawmaker arrested for ties to Islamist insurgents
Thu 2013-06-27
  Top Somali militant leader flees former Shebab comrades
Wed 2013-06-26
  FBI pulls ‘Faces of Global Terrorism’ ads after Muslims get offended
Tue 2013-06-25
  Taliban attack Afghan presidential palace
Mon 2013-06-24
  Pak Talibs kill 10 foreign tourists in Diamer
Sun 2013-06-23
  Dutch Say Time of 'Ever Closer' Union in Europe is Over
Sat 2013-06-22
  Britain OKs Treaty Clearing Way to Deport Abu Qatada to Jordan
Fri 2013-06-21
  Today's Pakaboom: 15 Dead in Peshawar Mosquaboom
Thu 2013-06-20
  Hizbullah Leader's Brother Killed In Syria Clashes
Wed 2013-06-19
  20 killed after militants storm UN compound in Somalia
Tue 2013-06-18
  Today's Pakaboom: 18 dead at Mardan funeral

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