[An Nahar] A former Miss Venezuela and her British-born partner were shot dead while their five-year-old daughter was wounded during a suspected roadside robbery that shocked the nation, authorities said Tuesday.
Monica Spear, a 29-year-old soap opera star, and Thomas Henry Berry, 39, were killed after their car broke down on a highway in northwestern Venezuela late Monday, prosecutors said in statement.
Their daughter, Maya Berry Spear, was wounded in the right leg but stable after receiving medical treatment in an assault that put a spotlight on the country's soaring murder rate.
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LONDON, Ohio - A man being held Wednesday on $1 million bond in central Ohio after police say they found bombs and other weapons in his vehicle is a specialist in the Indiana National Guard, trained as an intelligence analyst, a Guard official said.
Andrew Scott Boguslawski, 43, arrested New Years Day after a traffic stop, completed training in military intelligence in April 2010, military records show.
Lt. Col. Cathy Van Bree told The Associated Press by email on Wednesday that Boguslawski's security clearance has been suspended, along with "all favorable personnel actions," meaning he can't be promoted, receive awards or other privileges.
Boguslawski was transferred in November to the medical discharge unit, but Van Bree said she couldn't discuss any information about his condition.
Boguslawski was stopped Jan. 1 for speeding on a highway west of Columbus. Madison County authorities say he was charged with illegally making or possessing an explosive device, after 48 bombs, four guns and a remote detonating device were allegedly found in his vehicle.
County authorities said an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper stopped Boguslawski for going 85 mph in a 70 mph zone. Police said that although Boguslawski said he had no weapons, the officer spotted the handle of a gun between his knees as the officer returned with a ticket.
In a scene straight out of "A Christmas Story," a New Hampshire girl got her tongue stuck to a flagpole after licking it during a blizzard.
And it wasn't even a triple-dog dare.
Maddie Gilmartin, 12, of East Kingston, said she was helping her dad clean up outside last week when an idea popped into her head to stick her tongue on a flagpole. Gilmartin thought her tongue would come right off, but it didn't, WMUR reports.
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[Washington Times] Talk about a misstep. The U.S. Navy accidentally sent out a memo that spells out various ways to duck and dodge Freedom of Information Act requests to a local NBC News reporter. Accident? Misstep ?
Politico reported that Scott MacFarlane, an NBC 4 reporter who works in Washington, D.C., had asked the Navy for certain documents. But he never expected as part of his FOIA request to receive an internal Navy note that details how to dismiss his request as a fishing expedition.
Mr. MacFarlane had sought information related to the Navy Yard shooting in September and had asked that all fees beyond $15 be waived, Politico reported.
The surprise Navy memo said to negotiate with Mr. MacFarlane over his request and characterize it as a waste of time. It also said, Politico reported, to speak about the cost of fulfilling the request as a means of pressuring Mr. MacFarlane to narrow the scope of his FOIA. The memo specifically states: Again, fishing expedition. Just because they are media doesnt mean the memos shed light on specific government activities.
The U.S. Navy apologized for the memo. Anyone besides me wonder if the instructive memo was attached purposefully ?
#2
Prosecute for obstruction, possibly dereliction of duty. That law imposes a duty. Attempting to weasel out of it by obfuscation, delay or other underhanded methods is conduct unbecoming their oath.
[An Nahar] Violent festivities broke out in the 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... between the army and separatist rebels, a local official said Tuesday, as one witness reported seeing several soldiers injured.
There was "heavy combat between the armed forces of the DR Congo (FARDC) and Mai Mai Bakata-Katanga rebels tonight," Kahozi Bin Malisawa told Agence La Belle France Presse.
The festivities began late Monday and continued until dawn on Tuesday in the village of Kiziba, some 30 kilometers (19 miles) south-east of the second city Lubumbashi, according to the official.
A military front man confirmed the festivities but declined to offer any more details about the conflict.
The Bakata-Katanga rebels are seeking independence for the unstable and mineral-rich province Katanga region.
One witness, who declined to be named, told AFP he saw "two FARDC jeeps carrying maimed soldiers to the military hospital" in Lubumbashi.
Bakata-Katanga secessionists regularly attack military targets.
In March, they clashed with government troops after marching in central Lubumbashi in broad daylight. Twenty-three people died in the incident.
Lubumbashi, along with the capital Kinshasa, was one of the cradles of violence in December that claimed more than 100 lives.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2014 00:00 ||
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#2
Live anti-personnel(?) ammo and a Gunner.
Wonder where the nearest range is for the post exercise dump?
Wonder if this was a late night 'intervention' on a remote empty coast, that went awry.
[An Nahar] Colombia's largest guerrilla group Tuesday condemned a secret U.S.-Colombian program to target and kill rebel leaders as "crimes" in violation of national illusory sovereignty.
The Washington Post disclosed the intelligence-sharing program in a report last month that credited it with a role in the killing in 2008 of longtime guerrilla leader Raul Reyes, who died in a Colombian Arclight airstrike and raid on a rebel camp in Ecuador.
Reyes was the number two leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
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#1
Waaah! They're killing us. And doing it rather well. Waaah!
[An Nahar] The U.S. military will deploy 800 additional troops from an armored unit to South Korea to bolster its forces in case of a crisis with North Korea, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
The U.S. Army soldiers, armored vehicles and tanks from the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment will be stationed at camps Hovey and Stanley near the demarcation line with the North starting next month, military officers said.
The rotational deployment is part of a strategic shift towards the Asia-Pacific region "and allows for greater responsiveness to better meet theater operational requirements," the Pentagon said in a statement.
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#1
Is this unit just headed North or did it come from out of country?
[Al Ahram] The Turkish government fired 350 coppers in Ankara overnight, including heads of major departments, amid a vast corruption scandal that has ensnared key allies of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, local media reported on Tuesday.
The officers were sacked by a government decree published at midnight and included chiefs of the financial crimes, anti-smuggling, cyber crime and organised crime units, the private Dogan News Agency reported.
The move comes as the government is trying to contain the high-level corruption probe that poses the biggest threat to Erdogan's 11-year rule.
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[An Nahar] U.S. company SpaceX said Monday it had deployed a commercial Thai satellite, in its second successful launch in weeks.
The private firm's two-stage Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 2206 GMT, carrying with it the Thaicom 6 telecommunications satellite. Space Exploration Technologies, known as SpaceX, confirmed on Twitter that Thaicom 6 had been delivered "to a perfect orbit."
Thaicom 6, which belongs to satellite operator Thaicom, will provide services to Southeast Asia and parts of Africa.
SpaceX successfully launched its first commercial satellite on December 3pp for Luxembourg company SES, which had previously used European Ariane rockets or the Russian Proton for its launches. The SES-8 satellite was due to provide television, cable TV and other services to countries including Thailand, India and Vietnam.
With Monday's second successful launch, SpaceX seems to be making its mark in the commercial satellite launch business, estimated to be worth $190 billion. Its orders amount to $4 billion for 50 launches, 75 percent of which are for commercial satellites.
This second successful launch is also important as SpaceX seeks to be considered a serious candidate by the Pentagon for launching large military satellites. These launches are currently reserved for the United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing. It takes at least three successful launches to qualify.
Both Monday's and last month's launches used an improved version of the Falcon 9.
The Falcon 9 has already succeeded in sending its Dragon capsules to the International Space Station under a $1.6 billion contract with the U.S. space agency, NASA. The Dragon capsule takes cargo into space and brings back material from scientific experiments.
The Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,-based SpaceX is owned by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Topics of interest for first stage return (expected to be testing on next ISS launch):
F9v1.1 Stage 1 (and FH booster) recovery trajectory, burns, drag evaluation.
It is hoped that first stage reuse alone can pull launch costs below $10,000,000. Full F9R reuse is projected by SpaceX to be profitable at $2,900,000 per launch.
#2
The next generation Methane burning Raptor engines will start testing this year. Methane has much less coking problems (making an engine dirty and requiring more rebuilds before reuse) than the current kerosene oxygen engines and Musk has plans for a methane generation plant on Mars to refuel his the MCT (Mars Colony Transport) in his corporate long term plan.
The Falcon Heavy looks to be an interim product between the Falcon R and Raptor based super heavy rockets. From one of the discussions:
So per information made available on 10/23, we now think that a) Raptor is a Methane-burning 300-ton-force engine b) Raptor will be tested at Stennis in "Early 2014"
#5
For comparison the largest SLS super rocket NASA is considering for the 2030 timeframe and currently wasting billions and billions of dollars developing will only lift 150Mt. The Falcon XX with commercial development money is projected to lift 286.39Mt not to Low Earth Orbit but Mars.
(Mt = Metric Tons)
#9
Shipman - if he gets his reuse working... even the Chinese can't get close to him in launch costs. Full re-use would put him 15-20 times cheaper than China or Russia.
[Al Ahram] Thailand's anti-graft panel said Tuesday it would press charges against hundreds of politicians, mostly from the party of embattled Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, over a failed attempt Curses! Foiled again! to amend the constitution.
The ruling adds to the political uncertainty in the kingdom, where the main opposition party is boycotting February elections called by Yingluck in an unsuccessful attempt to end weeks of mass anti-government protests.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) -- whose mandate includes investigating possible abuse of power -- cleared 73 politicians including Yingluck of wrongdoing in connection with a bid to make the senate, the legislature's upper house, fully elected.
But 308 others from the upper and lower houses were found to have violated the law, based on a preliminary investigation, by drafting or proposing changes to the charter, panel front man Vicha Mahakun told news hounds.
If officially found guilty by the commission their cases will be sent to the upper house of parliament, which has the power to ban them from politics for five years.
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[An Nahar] In Iran, free condoms and government-backed vasectomies are out, replaced by sermons praising larger families and discussions of even offering gold coins to the families of newborns.
Having successfully curbed birth rates for two decades, Iran now is promoting a baby boom to help make up for its graying population. But experts say it is difficult to encourage Iranians to have more children in a mismanaged economy hit by Western sanctions and 36 percent inflation.
"A gold coin won't change couples' calculations," said Mohammad Jalal Abbasi, head of Demographics Department at Tehran University. "Many young Iranians prefer to continue their studies, not marry. Lack of financial ability to buy a house and meet expenses are among other reasons why the youth postpone marriage or have no interest in raising many children."
Iran's birthrate reached a peak of 3.6 children per couple after its 1979 Islamic Revolution, among the world's highest at the time. By 1990, experts estimated Iran could be home to 140 million people if the rate was left unchecked. To combat the rise, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei endorsed birth control, while then-President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani ... the fourth President of Iran. He was a member of the Assembly of Experts until he was eased out in 2011 He continues, for the moment, as Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council. In 2005 he ran for a third term as president, ultimately losing to rival Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was in Khamenei's graces back then. In 1980 Rafsanjani survived an assassination attempt, during which he was seriously injured. He has been described as a centrist and a pragmatic conservative without all that much reason. He is currently being eased out of any position of actual influence or power and may be dead by the end of 2012... made controlling the birth rate a part of his development plans.
Mass-produced condoms reached Iranians, as a month's supply of birth control cost the equivalent of 10 cents in 1992. The birth rate dropped precipitously, now reportedly standing at 1.8 children per couple with a population of some 77 million people. Experts now say that drive might have been too successful, estimating that Iran's population growth could reach zero in the next 20 years if the trend is not reversed.
Fearing that population decline, the machinery of state in Iran has changed course entirely. Khamenei, who has final say over all matters of state, now says Iran should have a population of 150 million people or more.
"If we move forward like this, we will be a country of elderly people in a not-too-distant future. Why do some couples prefer to have one or two children? Why do couples avoid having children? The reasons need to be studied," the ayatollah recently said. "There was an imitation of Western life and we inherited this."
Sermons now urge worshippers to raise more children for Iran's future. Mahdi Sedqazar, who performed vasectomies at his government-sponsored Martyr Jafari clinic in central Tehran for a decade, now focuses on preventing AIDS and promoting factory workers' health.
"Vasectomy operations have totally stopped. They were eliminated eight months ago," Sedqazar said. "The budget on population curbs has been halted."
Some blame a drop in marriages and a rise in divorce for the falling birth rate. Others point to Iran's economy, battered by Western sanctions over its contested nuclear program. Inflation stands at 36 percent, President Hassan Rouhani recently said. Unemployment officially stands at 12 percent, though some private experts suggest nearly one in three working-age Iranians is out of work.
"Unemployment, a lack of housing and job insecurity are the top most important reasons for decrease in fertility rate," Abbasi said.
As part of a plan to encourage Iranians to have more children, the Iranian parliament approved a bill that allows the government to increase maternity leaves to nine months from six months and to give fathers a two-week leave. Iran's constitutional watchdog, the Guardian Council, made it a law in July. Government officials also have discussed offering gold coins to newborns.
But those incentives may not be enough. Ali Akbar Mahzoon, head of government statistics and demographic data, said family culture has changed irrespective of financial ability and job security. The average age for people to get married in Iran has gone from the early 20s to the late 20s, Mahzoon said. While some 23 million Iranians are eligible to marry, 11 million of them haven't done so, he said.
"Wealthy people or those who have a secure job also have no interest in having more than two children," Mahzoon said. However, man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them... he said that more jobs and housing will be effective tools in helping increase birth rates.
For Hossein Masoudi, a 43-year-old father of two, economics remain the reason why he doesn't plan to have more children.
"It's not logical. They need housing, education and a lot more. I barely make ends meet," Masoudi said. "Instead of having more children, my wife and I prefer to focus on giving our two children better education and improving the quality of their life."
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Venture capitalist Tim Draper of Silicon Valley has filed paperwork for a November ballot measure that would divide California into six states, calling the Golden State as presently constituted "too big and bloated."
"Six Californias is an opportunity, an opportunity for Californians to get a fresh start, an opportunity for Californians to build new platforms for growth and prosperity," Mr. Draper said at a Dec. 23 live-streamed press conference. "An opportunity to be awesome."
Mr. Draper has shown that he is willing to put his money where his mouth is: He sank $20 million into Proposition 38, a 2000 initiative to create a state-funded private-school voucher system. That measure lost by 71 percent to 29 percent. Unfortunately, the very problem Draper is trying to remedy is likely to be the reason the proposal, if it gets on the ballot, will fail. The large populations of the cities will most likely decide the issue. This is the same problem that the red states have in Presidential elections.
Asked how much he plans to spend on the initiative, Mr. Draper said "as little as possible, but I will make sure it gets on the ballot so that Californians have a chance to make this a reality."
Jack Pitney, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College, said California's sheer size -- the state ranks first in population with 38 million and third in area behind Alaska and Texas -- lends credibility to the ungovernable argument.
#2
The large populations of the cities will most likely decide the issue.
It's also the same problem the new states will have, as the urban areas will still control things. The predominant political party and the current public employee unions in CA will also ensure they gain control of the new states.
#3
SO it'll give the CA unions more representation in the Senate but nothing else changes for the rest of us (except the Dem Senate becomes more entrenched).
#6
oh great. 12 senators from 'California'; at least 3 will be related to Pelosi
Have you thought about what would happen on Presidential: Democarts would no longer get the gazillion electors of California. Instead the GOP would get the voptes of the Red Parts of California. California nearly made Gore a president, gave a fighting chance to Kerry and had Obama reelected.
#7
Instead the GOP would get the voptes of the Red Parts of California
Not necessarily. San Bernadino county is technically a 'red' county; the Democrats have made a concerted effort to take power there. Having candidates with money and connections prior to running for office helps...
#9
Pubs would get 4 or 5 senators out of this; Democrats would get 7 or 8. Net advantage to them. The House representation likely wouldn't change much. Electors on presidential campaigns thus would be a small net to the Pubs: instead of all 53 going to the Dems (now), it would be perhaps 43 Dem and 20 Pub. The gap would narrow.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/08/2014 12:57 Comments ||
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#10
They could make each California County a State and the Dems would still gain. Remember what happened to B1 Bob's safe seat in Orange County, he was overwhelmed by a wave of immigrants.
Over the last decade or so there has been a net State to State outflow of a million taxpayers that are being replaced by immigrants and undocumented Democrats and the children of immigrants and undocumented Democrats.
Right here locally Chevron is moving 2,000 Executive and skilled Headquarters staff from San Ramon CA to Houston Tx. Rumor is that AT&T is doing a similar thing. They tried to warn Governor Moonbeam before he pushed the tax increase but he wouldn't listen. Hey Brown, 13% State Income Tax on nothing is nothing.
#13
The problem with California is that LA and SF Bay Area control the state. LA is not going to vote to cut its throat from getting water and other resources by splitting up the state. Let's face it---the moon bats are in charge.
The only way I can see bringing back some semblance of sanity is to have the moon bat rookeries fail and collapse. It will get ugly but the only way is to let arithmetic have its way.
As a fifth and last generation Californian, it hurts to see how much California has descended.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/08/2014 17:29 Comments ||
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#14
However, give the Los Angelenos an additional choice of taking their part as a new (old) Mexican state. That option would scare the **** out of the machine.
#15
In the future OWG Mighty USSA vs OWG Weak USRoA Global SSR, it still comes down as to whom will hold the power - the PEOPLE'S ASSEMBLY/CONGRESS, or the CENTRAL COMMITTEE, etc. of the CPUS???
#16
I'd settle for striking down the limit on reps and going back to the individual numbers originally set. Let's have a house of reps with 1000+ in it, each of then very local and as easy to contact as a small city mayor. This has a many fold effect: much more representative of a locality, practically eliminates gerrymandering, and so many reps it's nearly impossible to control them via lobby, and as a bonus, more likely we would see third party win seats because it's easier to do so in smaller electorate.
That solves a lot of problems. Repeal 17 and re institute Senators serving at the election of the state government will fix much of the other problems.
Some more bad news on the Second Amendment front came out of New York (where else?) this week at least for now. The Federal District Court in Buffalo heard arguments from plaintiffs asking that most of the provisions of the Empire States odious SAFE Act one of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation be struck down on constitutional grounds. Unfortunately for those concerned with gun owners rights, the judge in this case upheld most of the law.
#2
I think the Federal judge in Illinois got it right. It is unconstitutional to try to affect firearm commerce, marketing, sale, etc. in any way. A real Constitutional lawyer.
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.
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.
In a scene straight out of "A Christmas Story," a New Hampshire girl got her tongue stuck to a flagpole after licking it during a blizzard.
[An Nahar] Violent 
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
[An Nahar] The U.S. military will deploy 800 additional troops from an armored unit to South Korea to bolster its forces in case of a crisis with 
[Al Ahram] The Turkish government fired 350 
