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Today: 67 articles and 221 comments as of 15:33.
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Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Opinion        Politix   
Shabaab tries to assassinate US diplomat
Today's Headlines
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Page 6: Politix
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
16 Camp Pendleton-based Marines arrested following human smuggling investigation
[10 News] 16 Marines have been arrested for their alleged involvement in various illegal activities ranging from human smuggling to drug-related offenses, according to USMC officials.

The unidentified Marines served in support of the Southwest Border Support mission, Marine officials said.

"Information gained from a previous human smuggling investigation precipitated the arrests," said Maj. Kendra Motz, 1st Marine Division Communication Strategy Operations Director.
"C'mon man, it's easy money, and everyone's doing it"
An additional eight Marines were taken aside to be questioned on their involvement in alleged drug offenses unrelated to Thursday's arrests, Motz said.

Those arrested were taken into custody during a Battalion formation at Camp Pendleton by 1st Marine Division worked alongside the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, officials said.

Border Patrol agents arrested Lance Cpls. Byron Darnell Law II and David Javier Salazar-Quintero on July 3 near the Tecate Port of Entry, according to a federal complaint .

Both men are charged with smuggling "for the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain," the complaint said.
$$$$$
In the complaint, agents reported seeing three undocumented immigrants getting into the pair's vehicle on Interstate 8 on the morning of July 3. The vehicle was pulled over a short time later and all five occupants were arrested.

The immigrants, according to the complaint, told agents that they paid $8,000 to have Law and Salazar-Quintero take them north
Posted by: Frank G || 07/25/2019 14:31 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Kendra Motz, 1st Marine Division Communication Strategy Operations Director glorified PR wing in camo ?

The Corps need some strategic downsizing.

...On July 3, Salazar again allegedly coordinated between Law and a spotter to set up a rendezvous near the Jacumba Hot Springs exit on Interstate 8. They eventually met up with three illegal immigrants who entered Law’s vehicle before the traffic stop...More


You have to admire the adherence to BAMCIS, though.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/25/2019 17:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Do you think they carefully vetted those they snuck in, to ensure they were connected to neither terrorists nor criminals of any sort? Me neither.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/25/2019 19:43 Comments || Top||

#3  Nope :-(
Posted by: Frank G || 07/25/2019 20:08 Comments || Top||


Jeffrey Epstein Attacked in Jail, Faking It To Go Home, Rather Die ?
[Miami Herald] Jeffrey Epstein, the Palm Beach millionaire who was arrested earlier this month on child sex-trafficking charges, was found injured in his New York jail cell Wednesday, News 4 New York reported.

The station said Epstein, 66, was found in the fetal position and had marks on his neck, citing sources close to the investigation. The station said it may have been a possible suicide attempt, quoting sources.
Rantburg is always right.
Last Thursday, Senior U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman in New York ordered the accused serial sexual predator to remain incarcerated at the Manhattan Correctional Center. Berman, who listened to testimony from two women who said they had been abused by Epstein as teenagers, said Epstein was a danger to young girls.

Epstein's attorneys had requested that Berman let him stay in his Upper East Side Manhattan mansion. They offered to use his personal fortune as collateral to guarantee his bail, and promised to pay for his own private security force to keep him essentially imprisoned in his own home.
Or have his cell modified so he can at least avail of a well-stocked minibar ?
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/25/2019 00:21 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...The Clintons send their regards.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 07/25/2019 4:17 Comments || Top||

#2  I need to get my eyes checked. I read this as "...Epstein, 66, was found in the rectal position..."
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 07/25/2019 4:18 Comments || Top||

#3  SCFI, that day is coming too I'll bet. Wait till he meets Bubba, the cop-killing clown from 9 South Wing with an addiction to Big Penis medication.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/25/2019 8:04 Comments || Top||

#4  I expect him to die soon. He has too much dirt on too many powerful people.
Posted by: DarthVader || 07/25/2019 8:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Ref #4: Yes, it was likely a failed attempt.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/25/2019 8:30 Comments || Top||

#6  "Donna Hillary is unhappy."?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/25/2019 9:20 Comments || Top||

#7  Oh Shit. Just missed it.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/25/2019 10:56 Comments || Top||

#8  Probably something about the mossad or Epstein being a juice.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/25/2019 10:57 Comments || Top||

#9  If it was anything but Epstein, I would have put money on "neocons" and "My God, what have I done?".
Got nuthin.
Posted by: SteveS || 07/25/2019 11:03 Comments || Top||

#10  Lulz, Steve
Posted by: Frank G || 07/25/2019 11:27 Comments || Top||

#11  I dunno cuz I never been but I heard that other inmates don't like child molesters. I guess that kinda crime is even too low down for the usual thieves, murderers and rapists.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 07/25/2019 11:52 Comments || Top||

#12  The predator discover what its like to be the prey. Karma.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 07/25/2019 12:13 Comments || Top||

#13  Goddamn ! The mod's a whack-a-mole champion !
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/25/2019 14:08 Comments || Top||

#14  Mr. McCoy is still in timeout for being an ass after only one day of being good last time. So he has taught us not to trust his good behaviour, and will have to bear the consequences.

Here is the deal, Herb: every time you announce that Rantburgers are evil, you will get an ever longer time out to enable you to find websites that better match your sensitivities. This is not a left-right thing (which you don’t actually care about, but assume that we will take the insult in the spirit in which it was intended), but the fact that you are both monomaniacal and boring on the subject.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/25/2019 14:16 Comments || Top||

#15  Is it evil not to feel sorry for a child molester?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 07/25/2019 14:47 Comments || Top||

#16  5 wrist-slaps on one article - H, the new champ
Posted by: Mercutio || 07/25/2019 14:54 Comments || Top||

#17  Goddamn ! The mod's a whack-a-mole champion !

Yeah. And you should see what she can do to eyebrows.
Posted by: gorb || 07/25/2019 15:26 Comments || Top||

#18  Why is the Man of Mystery itching to get home by whatever means?
Could it be that there's some crucial evidence stashed away that he's at pains to bury?
Photographic evidence of powerful figures with children?
Which powerful figures?
Posted by: Lex || 07/25/2019 15:42 Comments || Top||

#19  The deleted comment was "Put him in a padded cell. Don't let him kill himself. He's far too valuable."
That part of Herb's commentary is a reasonable contribution, preserved here so you can spam cop the rest.
Done. It isn’t the individual comment anymore, but that he keeps pushing to see what he can get away with after being good for a little while. I don’t have the energy to play stupid games.
Posted by: Glenmore || 07/25/2019 16:00 Comments || Top||

#20  But... valuable how ? You think if he rats out a list of 'dignitaries' from federal agencies to the DoJ and DoD (which I'm sure will have enjoyed his wares)apart from politicians on both sides, any one of them will be indicted or even suffer a drop in vote counts ?

He's about as valuable as Hoover's data on MLK. But that's just my opinion. I may be wrong.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/25/2019 16:27 Comments || Top||

#21  Dron, it's ultimately about the money. They'll nail him on s.t. like money laundering.
My bet's on the Clinton Foundation and its donors - Giustra et al
Posted by: Lex || 07/25/2019 16:33 Comments || Top||

#22  "Marks on his neck" sounds like a suicide gesture. Occam's razor says the smug bastage is running a scam to get his facility or cell changed.

Maybe someone was sending a sub-lethal message but I vote that it's a scam.
Posted by: The peanut gallery || 07/25/2019 17:51 Comments || Top||

#23  To me, fetal position and marks on his neck suggest strangulation, and not self inflicted. Stick him in solitary, and video the hell out of his cell. No less than three guards can approach at a time, and make it a battle stations event each time. Someone is trying to kill him.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 07/25/2019 18:28 Comments || Top||

#24  I suspect bought guards.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 07/25/2019 18:30 Comments || Top||

#25  No death switch? A priori set up so that if he dies or there is a serious botched attempt, information is flooded on the net of those 'important' people.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/25/2019 19:22 Comments || Top||

#26  Bought guards makes the most sense.
Epstein moves in big money circles. Those figures all have extensive operations in Manhattan.
A very high likelihood that these big money people have probably crossed paths since 2001 with Manhattan DAs and law enforcement and the Clintons. They can easily influence some prison guards in Manhattan with a few thousands.
Posted by: Lex || 07/25/2019 20:02 Comments || Top||

#27  P2K, I like that but we have no input here. Even Coulter says supermax for protection, but I don’t know enough about high end prisons to say yea/nay and no one would care. I want him brought to trial, cards will fall where they may, but justice dammit not private execution. And I’m out, this just sucks.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 07/25/2019 20:44 Comments || Top||

#28  Yes, it sucks.
Yea verily to that. Bastards.
Posted by: Lex || 07/25/2019 20:51 Comments || Top||


Dad pleads guilty to paying $250K to get son into USC as fake volleyball recruit
[USATODAY] Jeffrey Bizzack, a business executive from Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,, pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to paying $250,000 to get his son admitted to the University of Southern California as a fake volleyball recruit.

He's now the 23rd defendant to admit guilt out of 51 charged in the sweeping "Varsity Blues" college admissions scandal. The other 28 are preparing for trial.

Bizzack, of Solana Beach, California, appeared before U.S. District Judge Douglas Woodlock, who approved a plea agreement between Bizzack and federal prosecutors reached last month.

He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud, and he's also agreed to cooperate with federal Sherlocks.

Prosecutors say Bizzack paid $200,000 to college consultant Rick Singer, the criminal mastermind of the cheating and recruitment bribery scheme, and $50,000 to USC.

Bizzack, 59, is the co-founder of Outerknown, a clothing store and fashion company, and a past business partner of heralded surfer Kelly Slater, whose Kelly Slater Wave Company builds wave pools. Bizzack is also the former president and vice chairman of the company ServiceSource.

Posted by: Fred || 07/25/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So when was he caught ? At the inter-school trials ?

"You said your son could play. We already made bets. WTF is this ?"
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/25/2019 13:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Best Volleyball Blocks Ever with Scott Sterling
Posted by: Frank G || 07/25/2019 13:36 Comments || Top||


-Obits-
Rutger Hauer, ‘Blade Runner’ Co-Star, Dies at 75
[VARIETY] "It's time to die."
Posted by: Fred || 07/25/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There were some of his later roles where he gave a dry, understated humor to his acting roles. Will miss him...
Posted by: magpie || 07/25/2019 1:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Aah, shoot.

Loved the guy. The kind of machismo lacking in today's metrosexual 'tough guys'. One memorable later role was in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/25/2019 1:59 Comments || Top||

#3 

Rutger Hauer and Blade Runner - "30 years ago I saw the future"

Posted by: Woodrow || 07/25/2019 12:51 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Actress Bella Thorne just came out as pansexual: ‘Doesn’t have to be a girl or a guy’
Really, dear, nobody cares, so long as no children are involved and all the participants are willing.
[LGBTQNATION] Actress Bella Thorne came out as pansexual in an interview with Nightline.
"I had a torrid affair with a lamp"
Thorne, 21, has acted in a number of films and TV series, and she is perhaps best known for playing Cece Jones on the Disney Channel’s Shake It Up.

In 2016, she came out as bisexual on Twitter. But now she says that she’s pan.
but not 49Pan
“I realized recently I’m actually pansexual and I didn’t know that,” Thorne said during the interview. “Somebody explained to me really thoroughly what that is and I am pan.”
My pet antelope has already called for a date.
Posted by: Fred || 07/25/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Look at me, look at me, look at me" Bella Thorne every month or so.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 07/25/2019 0:26 Comments || Top||

#2  I’m actually pansexual and I didn’t know that

"Until I realized that... duhh, almost everything could be kissed, nuzzled against, licked or accommodated in one's nether regions. Which is all ♫ it takes ♪ for loooove!"
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/25/2019 1:35 Comments || Top||

#3  Oh, it was explained to her - got it.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 07/25/2019 1:40 Comments || Top||

#4  No, TW, animals should also be protected from the likes of her.
Posted by: Glenmore || 07/25/2019 1:45 Comments || Top||

#5  Who is she?

Just another person I've never heard of proudly proclaiming to the public that she is mentally ill.
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 07/25/2019 4:11 Comments || Top||

#6  "Animal, vegetable or
mineral -- I'll do anything to anything."


The 1980s are calling, they want their edgy, comical villains back.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 07/25/2019 7:11 Comments || Top||

#7  Gee, she looks just like this blow up doll I...um...never mind.
Posted by: Mercutio || 07/25/2019 7:30 Comments || Top||

#8  Vibrator, phallus, and hands (oh my).
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/25/2019 7:52 Comments || Top||

#9  Who?
Posted by: DarthVader || 07/25/2019 8:29 Comments || Top||

#10  It's better than hearing Bella Abzug (D-Fugly) make this statement.
Posted by: Raj || 07/25/2019 8:39 Comments || Top||

#11  Dang It Raj! I WAS drinking coffee..now I seem to be exhaling it.
Posted by: Warthog || 07/25/2019 9:17 Comments || Top||

#12  Right up there with the jihadi lawyer from years ago that represented the blind imams. I wonder if she told him she was a supermodel.
Posted by: gorb || 07/25/2019 9:23 Comments || Top||

#13  "I had a torrid affair with a lamp"

Next time try it plugged in.
Posted by: gorb || 07/25/2019 9:25 Comments || Top||

#14  I suspect Bella Thorne and Miley Cyrus make these kind of statements until the day they get married to a member of the opposite sex and declare that they found true love, it just happened to be hetrosexual but if it was a lamp that would have been nice as well.
Posted by: ruprecht || 07/25/2019 10:35 Comments || Top||

#15  Holding hands over my eyes while trying to plug both ears... "No, Bella, I really, really don't want to know anything about your ... lifestyle !"
Posted by: magpie || 07/25/2019 18:00 Comments || Top||

#16  #13 - "But LED. It was shocking how much electricity we had between us"
Posted by: Frank G || 07/25/2019 19:09 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Pakistan-Funded Hospital Inaugurated In Logar
It behooves an army with a country that plans to use another country as its safe fallback position — in case losing the war becomes a serious possibility — to ensure that the fallback country has all the necessities for comfortable living when the time comes.
[ToloNews] Public Health Minister said work on construction of the hospital was started ten years ago.

Afghan Public Health Minister Ferozuddin Feroz sand Pakistain’s Ambassador to Kabul Zahid Nasrullah Khan and Pakistain’s Minister for States and Frontier Regions Shehryar Khan Afridi on Wednesday inaugurated a hospital in Pashtun-infested Logar Province.

The Nayeb Amanullah Kha Pashtun-infested Logari Hospital is a 100-bed health facility supported by Pakistain is the second hospital built by the neighboring country for Afghans.

The first hospital which is a 200-bed health facility was inaugurated in Kabul in April.

Pakistain’s embassy said in a statement that $18 million was invested in the hospital in Pashtun-infested Logar.

The public health minister said the hospital will provide healthcare services to the residents of Pashtun-infested Logar and its neighboring provinces.

"The foundation for this hospital was laid ten years ago and work on its construction was stopped due to some problems, but it was built as a result of the National Unity Government’s efforts and today it was inaugurated," Feroz said.

Meanwhile,
...back at the buffalo wallow, Yellow Wolf clutched at his chest and fell from his horse...
Afridi said Pakistain Prime Minister is interested to extend all possible assistance to the Afghan people to facilitate their travel to Pakistain and also to promote trade between the two nations.

He said Pakistain will train 440 Afghan doctors and allied medical staff that has been requested by the Afghan government.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/25/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Britain
'I'll make Britain great again', PM Johnson says, echoing Trump
LONDON (Reuters) - Boris Johnson promised on Thursday that Brexit would make Britain the greatest place on earth, echoing the patriotic rhetoric of U.S. President Donald Trump in a debut speech as prime minister before parliament.



Johnson, who was hailed by the U.S. president as Britain's Trump
Really ?
has promised to strike a new Brexit divorce deal with the European Union and to energise the world's fifth largest economy after what he casts as the gloom of Theresa May's premiership.

On entering Downing Street on Wednesday, Johnson set the United Kingdom up for a showdown with the EU by vowing to negotiate a new divorce deal and threatening that if the bloc refused then he would leave without a deal on Oct. 31.
Though the promises are sounding too great from here, let's see where this goes. I hope for the sake of the British people I'm wrong.
"Our mission is to deliver Brexit on the 31st of October for the purpose of uniting and re-energising our great United Kingdom and making this country the greatest place on earth," Johnson told parliament in his first speech as prime minister.

He said he was not being hyperbolic
When someone has to mention that along the promises, it's usually not a good sign. Just sayin'...
as the United Kingdom could be most prosperous economy in Europe by 2050, a feat that would mean drawing far ahead of France and then overtaking Germany.
Head to Reuters for the whole thing.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/25/2019 11:43 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Might depend on how much resistance he gets from Britain's Deep State.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 07/25/2019 13:09 Comments || Top||


'The Time Has Come To Act': BoJo Takes The Helm As U.K. Prime Minister
[NPR.ORG] Boris Johnson, the polarizing and showboating politician who led the campaign for Britannia to leave the EU in 2016, is now officially in charge of ushering the country through that fraught and difficult divorce. With Theresa May's exit, Johnson took office as prime minister Wednesday.

"There are pessimists at home and abroad who think after three years of indecision that this country has become a prisoner to the old arguments of 2016, and in this home of democracy we are incapable of honoring a democratic mandate," Johnson said, standing outside the prime minister's residence at 10 Downing Street in London.

"I am standing before you today to tell you, the British people, that those critics are wrong," he added in the consistently optimistic address. "The people who bet against Britannia are going to lose their shirts."

Johnson said he has every faith that the U.K. would succeed in obtaining a "better deal" from the EU, adding that "the time has come to act ‐ to take decisions, to give strong leadership, and to change this country for the better."

His predecessor resigned in May after failing to deliver Brexit, a process that's been fraught with massive obstacles both domestically and in EU negotiations in Brussels.

Johnson, who rose to fame as a newspaper correspondent whose dispatches from Brussels railed against the EU, has previously served as mayor of London. He served as May's foreign secretary but quit over disagreements about her handling of Brexit.

Before speaking to the public, Johnson had a private meeting at Buckingham Palace with Queen Elizabeth II, in an official ceremony where he took office. He now becomes the 14th prime minister to serve during the queen's reign.

6 top UK ministers resign as Johnson takes office
The first step in clearing out the British deep state.
[IsraelTimes] New Prime Minister Boris Johnson seems to be clearing out top ministers, firing several members of former leader Theresa May’s cabinet.

So far, May’s secretaries in defense, business, education, transport, local government and international trade have all announced they are leaving government. That comes hours after Treasury chief Philip Hammond, Justice Secretary David Gauke, International Development Secretary Rory Stewart and May’s de-facto deputy, David Lidington, resigned.

Some of those leaving had said they would rather go than serve under Johnson, who wants to leave the Europe
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
an Union even if no Brexit agreement is in place to ease the transition. Johnson insists the country will leave the EU by Oct. 31 ‐ "do or die."

Jeremy Hunt leaves job as UK foreign secretary

[IsraelTimes] Jeremy Hunt says he’s leaving the job of foreign secretary as new Prime Minister Boris Johnson sweeps into office with a fresh team at the top.

Hunt’s position had been closely watched. He had challenged Johnson for the job of Conservative leader, and says he wanted to stay on as foreign secretary. But Hunt says Johnson offered another role.

Hunt tweeted that “after 9 yrs in Cabinet & over 300 cab mtgs now is the time to return 2 backbenches from where PM will have my full support.”

British PM Johnson names Sajid Javid as finance minister

[IsraelTimes] British Prime Minister Boris Johnson names former interior minister Sajid Javid to take over from Philip Hammond as finance minister in his first cabinet appointment, the government said in a statement on Wednesday.

Javid, a former banker from a modest background, was a contender for the premiership but endorsed Johnson when he failed to get enough support from fellow Conservative MPs.

Johnson names Brexit hardliner Dominic Raab new UK foreign minister

[IsraelTimes] Newly installed Prime Minister Boris Johnson names Brexit hardliner Dominic Raab to be Britain’s foreign secretary, the government said in a statement.

Raab, 45, who was also named as Johnson’s effective deputy, resigned as Brexit minister in Theresa May’s government last year saying the divorce deal she struck with Brussels offered too many compromises.

Congratulations rolled in from all over the world, of course, but the Turks are particularly excited. From Al Ahram:
Turkey celebrated incoming British prime minister Boris Johnson's Turkish heritage on Wednesday, with politicians and media proclaiming that the "Ottoman grandson" could strengthen ties between two countries on Europe's fringes.

The former London mayor is the great-grandson of the Ottoman Empire's last interior minister, Ali Kemal, and his ancestry has been a source of pride for many Turks.

Despite his sometimes disparaging remarks about Turkey, including a crude limerick about President Tayyip Erdogan and demands in 2016 that Britain veto Turkey's accession to the European Union, Johnson is affectionately referred to as "Boris the Turk" by some Turkish media.

"Ottoman grandson becomes prime minister," read a front-page headline of the opposition newspaper Sozcu. "For England, a prime minister with roots in Cankiri," it said, referring to Kemal's home province in central Turkey.
Posted by: Fred || 07/25/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, our president has better hair.....or at least, better trained.
Posted by: Mercutio || 07/25/2019 7:25 Comments || Top||

#2  He needs to shave back of his head.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/25/2019 9:31 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Ukraine's Constitutional Court Upholds Law Equating Communism To Nazism
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/25/2019 10:10 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
China "Hong Kong" police ban 'anti-triad' protest
Speaking of the black hand . . . .
[Yahoo] Hong Kong police on Thursday banned a planned protest against suspected triad gangs who beat up pro-democracy demonstrators, ratcheting up tensions ahead of what is expected to be another weekend of anti-government rallies.

Protest organisers have vowed to go ahead with their march despite the police denying their request.

Public anger has been raging since last Sunday when a gang of men in white t-shirts, armed with poles and batons, set upon anti-government protesters in a station and on a train, sending at least 45 people to hospital.

Police have been heavily criticised for being too slow to respond to the violence, fueling accusations of collusion or turning a blind eye to the pro-government mob -- allegations the force have denied.

Activists had planned to hold a protest on Saturday in the rural town of Yuen Long where the brazen assaults took place.

But in a rare move, Hong Kong police issued a letter of objection saying they feared reprisal attacks against villagers from protesters.

"Anyone who comes out to march, they would be violating the law," acting regional police commander Tsang Ching-fo told reporters.

Protest organisers vowed to push ahead, raising the likelihood of fresh clashes between demonstrators and police.

"I personally will march," said activist Max Chung, who had applied for police permission, adding he was seeking legal advice.

Social messaging channels used to organise the largely leaderless movement quickly filled up with vows from people to join in.

Some suggested holding a "shopping spree" in Yuen Long. Others suggested, sarcastically, it could be a location to mourn the death on Wednesday of notorious Chinese communist hardliner Li Peng, noting that religious gatherings do not need police permission.

After the police announcement, an AFP reporter saw around a dozen young people in a military supplies surplus store buying protective clothing and vowing to attend.

"We will go regardless," one young man said.

The South China Morning Post said the last time police rejected a protest request was in 2014.

- GRAVES VANDALISED -
Yuen Long is in the New Territories, the rural region bordering China where many villagers are staunchly pro-Beijing.

Three days ago the Yuen Long grave of the parents of Junius Ho was vandalised. An ardent pro-Beijing lawmaker, Ho was seen shaking hands with the white-shirted men before Sunday's attack. He also threatened a pro-democracy lawmaker in an online video earlier this week.

The region also has a long reputation for hosting triads. Police on Thursday said 12 people have so far been arrested for Sunday's violence, nine of who have known triad links.

Hong Kong has been plunged into its worst crisis in recent history after millions of demonstrators took to the streets -- and sporadic violent confrontations between police and pockets of hardcore protesters.

The demonstrations were triggered by a controversial bill which would have allowed extraditions to mainland China but have evolved into a call for wider democratic reforms.

On top of Saturday's rally, activists are planning to protest inside Hong Kong's airport arrival gates on Friday and hold a series of marches on Sunday.

The international finance hub has experienced seven weekends in a row of largely peaceful mass rallies followed by violent clashes, an unprecedented challenge to Beijing's authority since its 1997 handover.

Beijing has labelled the protests as "extreme illegal violence", but has left it to the city's semi-autonomous government to deal with the situation.

City leader Carrie Lam has shown no sign of backing down beyond agreeing to suspend the extradition bill.

On Wednesday China issued a stark reminder that its army could be deployed in Hong Kong if city authorities requested support in maintaining "public order", something local authorities have said they have no intention of doing.
Posted by: gorb || 07/25/2019 12:09 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  This is a fascist tactic. You let goons attack citizen protesters. Then show up late and proclaim that you fear reprisals on the section the goons were from, and that from now, "anybody doing anything we don't like will be arrested !"
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/25/2019 13:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Dron, would it be okay to point out the similarity in Portland, Seattle, etc. handling of "anti-fa"?
Posted by: AlanC || 07/25/2019 15:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Exactly what I was thinking, Alan.

It has it's uses in the right hands, of course. Every mob is a weapon. And weapons are only as evil as the wielders. I don't think there are hands right enough for such a weapon, though.

We do it ourselves all the time in India. However for other reasons. Let the vermilion and opium fanatics run wild with tridents and swords, burning and rioting through muslim communities. Then send in the constabulary next day to "set things right." The only people you'll round up the next day will be the ones shouting against the atrocity with indignation, the victims themselves.

Antifa is just another mercenary mob controlled by the DNC, and receives the same kind of support from Dem ancillaries in the federal govt. It is probably what the cops did in Oregon. Arrest the right-wingers and 'fail to identify' masked persons.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/25/2019 16:48 Comments || Top||


North Korea fires short-range missiles in latest provocation
[IsraelTimes] North Korea
...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
fired two short-range missiles into the sea on Thursday, complicating efforts to resume stalled nuclear talks with Washington and signalling its anger over planned US-South Korea joint military exercises.

It was the North’s first missile test since an impromptu meeting between US President Donald Trump
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/25/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  fired two short-range missiles into the sea

The equivalent of waving about a .22 snub-nose and firing into the carpets, the sofa, the curtains and yelling, "Fucking, fucketty fuck !"
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/25/2019 2:14 Comments || Top||


China warns of war in case of move toward Taiwan independence
BEIJING (Reuters) - China warned on Wednesday it was ready for war if there was any move toward Taiwan’s independence, accusing the United States of undermining global stability and denouncing its arms sales to the self-ruled island.

This month, the United States approved sales of weapons requested by Taiwan, including tanks and Stinger missiles, estimated to be worth $2.2 billion.

China responded by saying it would impose sanctions on U.S. firms involved in any deals.

Defence Ministry spokesman Wu Qian told a news briefing on a defense white paper, the first like it in several years to outline the military’s strategic concerns, that China would make its greatest effort for peaceful reunification with Taiwan.

"However, we must firmly point out that seeking Taiwan independence is a dead end," Wu said.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/25/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Taiwan's been independent for 70 years; what China means is they don't want interference with their annexation plans.
Posted by: Glenmore || 07/25/2019 1:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Why not? They suck so bad with Hong Kong, they have to send troops there too.

They sucks Satans Balls.
Posted by: newc || 07/25/2019 3:24 Comments || Top||

#3  If you jump into a barrel of scorpions with a baseball bat, you'll win sooner later. Maybe. Have fun.
Posted by: Beau || 07/25/2019 5:37 Comments || Top||

#4  I want to see someone call China's bluff some day. Taiwan is not Tibet or Nepal. They're also not the sort who enter a conflict with an intent to "manage expectations" rather than fight. They'll go down fighting. Xi is so stupid these days he might even start a war, only to retreat later. Yet it will cause extreme overheads for both parties.


It would be inadvisable for America to be caught up in any big brother intervention, apart from supplying the weapons, pressure from the UNSC and sanctions on China. By the middle of Trump's second term as Prez I suspect, the conditions will be very different.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/25/2019 7:54 Comments || Top||

#5  China keeps blustering with Taiwan, but they will never conquer the island until they get their transport ability built up. They would have to launch a D-Day level operation and would need to get 1.5 million men on the beaches in two weeks at most.

They can't even manage 150,000 and a couple hundred tanks currently.
Posted by: DarthVader || 07/25/2019 8:35 Comments || Top||


Cyber
US imposes record $5b. fine, restrictions on Facebook in privacy probe
[IsraelTimes] US regulators formalize a record $5 billion fine on Facebook for privacy violations in a settlement requiring the world’s biggest social network to "submit to new restrictions and a modified corporate structure."

The Federal Trade Commission says the penalty is the largest ever imposed on any company for violating consumers’ privacy and one of the largest penalties ever assessed by the US government for any violation.

"Despite repeated promises to its billions of users worldwide that they could control how their personal information is shared, Facebook undermined consumers’ choices," FTC Chairman Joe Simons says in a statement after the split decision by the agency, with two members saying the penalty was insufficient.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/25/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Slap on the hand.

Ever think about removing protection from law suits for the CEO and board members who operate in 'reckless disregard'?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/25/2019 8:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Break them up. Force them to divest Instagram and WhatsApp - two acquisitions that never should have been permitted.
Posted by: Lex || 07/25/2019 10:34 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Man nominated in attempted murder case killed in successful murder case at Lahore district kachehri
[DAWN] A man was rubbed out on Wednesday on the premises of district kachehri in Lahore after he had arrived for a hearing of an attempted murder case.

The suspected shooter was arrested by the police from the scene of the murder. The victim was nominated in a case pertaining to attempted murder that was registered in 2016. According to police, the man was murdered due to personal enmity, by a man with whom he was involved in a legal battle.

The incident took place in the vicinity of the Civil Lines cop shoppe. So far, the police have not lodged a first information report. A report has been submitted in the Lahore High Court's registrar's office by a senior civil judge of the criminal division of the district courts.

According to the report, the incident was the "result of security lapse on the part of law enforcement agency (police)". The report says that the suspect had shot the victim five to six times after which the latter was shifted to the hospital in a critical state. He later departed this vale of tears, it added.
Posted by: Fred || 07/25/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The mullah fuzz let go of the dead body and immediately nabbed the new guy.

"Finally ! A real murderer, Abdul."
"Our first big catch, Lateef !"

They simply turned around and took the new guy back into court, where the overworked judge was hearing the 26th murder case of the day.

"Wait up, Justice Chowdhary !"
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/25/2019 1:44 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
No good reason to send people farther than the moon
[HOUSTONCHRONICLE] In which Mr Ludd enumerates all (or at least some) of the reasons for not remaining earth-bound and breathing each other's emissions.
Only readable to subscribers of the Houston paper
Posted by: Fred || 07/25/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  2019 - No good reason to send people farther than the moon

1419 - No good reason to send people farther than the Azores
Posted by: Mercutio || 07/25/2019 7:21 Comments || Top||

#2  About that Chicxulub impact....
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/25/2019 8:17 Comments || Top||

#3  #1 Columbus was a dope.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/25/2019 9:24 Comments || Top||

#4  China Is Swiftly Becoming A Space Superpower
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/25/2019 10:09 Comments || Top||

#5  I see a very good reason to send this guy into the sun.
Posted by: DarthVader || 07/25/2019 10:14 Comments || Top||

#6  The article may be paid or fan promotion of Elon Musk. Although it's partly correct, everyone already knows it I'm sure.

Funny aside: The idea of overcoming the limitations of the human body reminds me of a Buddhist parable about a traveler who builds a raft to cross a river. The wise traveler abandons the raft once he’s across because the tool has done its job That traveler probably became the first Dalai Lama. So clever Tibet pun
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/25/2019 10:32 Comments || Top||


Government
Breaking : Barr Reinstates Death Penalty. 5 Overdue Departures Already Scheduled.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/25/2019 11:36 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Good
Posted by: DarthVader || 07/25/2019 14:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Mods - sorry for dup post - please clean up after me...
Posted by: Mercutio || 07/25/2019 14:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Now, about that suggestion box in Barr's office....
Posted by: Mercutio || 07/25/2019 14:51 Comments || Top||

#4  Cleaned up, with thanks.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/25/2019 15:02 Comments || Top||

#5  Had no problem with Timothy McVeigh. Rather quick too. Wonder why? I guess you need to be of a particular group to get justice rather than experience delay, delay, delay.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/25/2019 15:29 Comments || Top||

#6  The Death Penalty is the proven answer to problem recidivism.
Posted by: AlanC || 07/25/2019 15:51 Comments || Top||

#7  Hillary is not available for comment.
Posted by: Roth LaDoad || 07/25/2019 17:00 Comments || Top||

#8  How about Nidal Hasan,the Fort Hood shooter? He should be next.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 07/25/2019 17:10 Comments || Top||

#9  Yes, Rambler. Great question. Bastardo Nidal Hassan is unfortunately the convict of a yet more deliberative machine.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/25/2019 17:23 Comments || Top||

#10  Nodal Hassan should be parked in a wheelchair at Ft. Bragg and left overnight. I'm sure we will happily never worry about him again.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 07/25/2019 20:59 Comments || Top||

#11  Why take Hasan all the way from Ft Leavenworth to Ft. Bragg. I think Ft Hood is closer. Just drop him off there.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 07/25/2019 22:22 Comments || Top||

#12  I think the guys at Fort Bragg might be a little more..inventive than the ones at Fort Hood.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 07/25/2019 22:38 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Presidential Seal Doctored With Symbols Of Russia And Golf



[Guardian] As Donald Trump addressed a rightwing crowd
Can't expect more respect from the WaPo
in Washington on Tuesday, the audience roared in support ‐ but it was a doctored onscreen display that ultimately took center stage.

At a student summit hosted by the conservative group Turning Point USA, the president stood before what looks, to the casual observer, very much like the US presidential seal. A thorough
and gleeful, I imagine
examination by the Washington Post, however, reveals some odd tweaks to the image.

First, the eagle has not one but two heads ‐ making it look a lot like Russia's coat of arms. And instead of holding arrows, as the bird does in the US seal, it's holding golf clubs.

In other words, a proud presidential symbol was apparently reworked to shame Trump over two of the biggest targets of anti-Trump criticism ‐ Russian involvement in the 2016 election and excessive golfing ‐ and it was displayed behind the president for all to see.

How this happened remains a mystery.
Maybe for denialists and entrenched traitors
The Post spoke with a White House representative who said officials hadn't seen the image in advance. A spokesperson for Turning Point USA, meanwhile, told the paper he was stumped as to the origins of the image, characterizing it as "a last-minute A/V mistake"
the photons in the light did it
"I can't figure out who did it yet," the spokesman said, adding that he didn't know where the image had come from.

Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer under George W Bush, said Trump aides should have kept a closer eye on things. "Someone is going to be getting in trouble," he told the Post, "but they got one heck of a good laugh out of it."

Obviously there are White House staffers in league with democrat and antifa type traitors, obstructionists/hecklers/saboteurs that need to be weeded out. Obama appointees and people with no respect for national emblems or icons, closet leftists. Try this in any other country, and you'd be in jail, your family jobless, penniless, tax and property records gone and roving bands of thugs eagerly awaiting your release. There is no way that the staff is clueless about this mockery.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/25/2019 00:32 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Public response should be humor. Private response should leave participants quite unhappy.
Posted by: Glenmore || 07/25/2019 1:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Other side has the yucks.
Our side has the power.
Posted by: Lex || 07/25/2019 16:38 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2019-07-25
  Shabaab tries to assassinate US diplomat
Wed 2019-07-24
  Libya government forces say repel Haftar attack on Tripoli
Tue 2019-07-23
  Iraq arrests Islamic State cell, including Baghdadi aide, in Nineveh
Mon 2019-07-22
  Iran claims to catch 17 CIA spies, sentences some to death
Sun 2019-07-21
  Kurdistan: Killer of senior Turkish diplomat arrested
Sat 2019-07-20
  Saudi King approves additional deployment of US troops
Fri 2019-07-19
  'HOSTILE ACT' Iran seizes British oil tanker in the Gulf with 23 crew on board days after clash with Royal Navy
Thu 2019-07-18
  Iran seizes foreign tanker with 12 crew accused of smuggling oil
Wed 2019-07-17
  Pakistani police arrest Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed (again)
Tue 2019-07-16
  United Arab Emirates oil tanker vanishes after drifting into Iranian waters
Mon 2019-07-15
  Car bomb and all-night hotel siege kill 26 in Somalia's Kismayo
Sun 2019-07-14
  African Migrants Turned Church Into Base to Deal Heroin
Sat 2019-07-13
  Kismayo attack: 26 dead as gunmen storm Somali hotel
Fri 2019-07-12
  Labor Sec. Alex Acosta Resigns Amid Pall of Jeffrey Epstein Investigation
Thu 2019-07-11
  Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps boats tried, failed to seize British oil tanker in Persian Gulf

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