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Australian terror conspirators jailed for 18 years
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Drum major death ruled hazing homicide
Good. About time the vicious idiots had to deal with real consequences.
Posted by: ryuge || 12/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's a black band - look for the "Atty Gen'l Holder" treatment.
Posted by: gromky || 12/17/2011 0:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Girls with broken legs? The band members seem to have no hold on reality whatsoever.
Posted by: gorb || 12/17/2011 1:20 Comments || Top||

#3  "The Clarinet section is vicious!"
Posted by: Frank G || 12/17/2011 9:39 Comments || Top||

#4  Has Amnesia International filed a human rights complaint with the Education Department? I don't recall anyone dying in Gitmo due to enhanced interrogations.
Posted by: P2Kontheroad || 12/17/2011 17:41 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
2011 list of Navy firings of CO/XO/CMC
  • Cmdr. Etta Jones, commanding officer of the amphibious transport dock Ponce, was fired April 23 on deployment "due to demonstrated poor leadership, and failure to appropriately investigate, report, and hold accountable sailors found involved in hazing incidents," a Navy announcement said. Jones also "failed to properly handle a loaded weapon" during a security alert, which the announcement said "endangered some of her crew."

  • Capt. Eric Merrill was fired July 15 as commanding officer of the submarine tender Emory S. Land after the ship hit a channel buoy June 21 while heading into Mina Salman, a port of Bahrain.

  • Cmdr. Mark Olson was fired Sept. 7 as CO of the Mayport, Fla.-based destroyer The Sullivans due to "a loss of confidence in his ability to command," three weeks after his ship mistakenly fired at a fishing boat during a gunnery exercise, the Navy said.
Many more at the link...
Posted by: gromky || 12/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
DR Congo's top court upholds Kabila's poll win
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] The Democratic Republic of Congo's top court Friday upheld President Joseph Kabila's re-election in last month's vote whose results are contested by his main rival, foreign monitors and rights groups.

Supreme court vice-president Jerome Kitoko formally declared that Kabila had won 48.95 percent of the vote against 32.33 percent for veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi at the polling stations on November 28.

The court thus confirmed the results declared on December 9 by the independent national election commission.

The rival candidates had a chance to challenge the results in the Supreme Court but few did so, amid wide concerns over the court's independence after Kabila expanded it from seven to 27 members before the election.

The European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
, the non-profit Carter Center set up by former US president Jimmy Carter
... the worst president ever. Maybe the second worst. The votes aren't all in yet...
and other election monitors have voiced serious concern about the credibility of the polls, citing problems in the vote count and the loss of huge numbers of ballots.

The United States said that the elections were "seriously flawed", even if it is unclear whether the "irregularities" changed the outcome.

Tshisekedi immediately rejected the result and declared himself president.

Kabila, who was catapulted to power in 1991 at the age of 30 after the liquidation of his father Laurent, has said there were flaws in the elections but rejected suggestions that they lacked credibility.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
Peru Returns Some American Terrorist
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/17/2011 09:50 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Mods: "Peru Returns Some American Terrorist Garbage"

Lori Berenson back in the US, on the "promise" that she will return to Peru someday. Great. She'll pick up some bread on the leftist "Two hours of hating America" lecture circuit, and go to work for some George Soros organization.

Return to Peru? Not going to happen. She'll just abandon her terrorist lawyer husband and child there.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/17/2011 9:54 Comments || Top||

#2  While behind bars, she became known as an accomplished baker, participated in talent shows of inmates, and had a child with her lawyer, Anibal Apari, a former member of the MRTA.

"have a cupcake! I made it with my own yeast."
Posted by: Frank G || 12/17/2011 10:10 Comments || Top||

#3  Getting F'ed by your lawyer: It's not just a metaphor in Peru.
Posted by: Ulose Munster2089 || 12/17/2011 10:16 Comments || Top||

#4  Worse than that quote, Frank, is this one:

A student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before becoming involved in social justice issues in Latin America, Berenson was pulled off a bus in Lima 16 years ago and charged with belonging to the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, or MRTA, an urban guerrilla group.

Note to self: carefully pick two of three: 1) attend MIT; 2) ride Peruvian buses; 3) Join notorious "urban guerrilla" terrorist group.
Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division || 12/17/2011 10:19 Comments || Top||

#5  have a cupcake!

In the meantime, Anibal was slipping her some banana bread.
Posted by: Ulose Munster2089 || 12/17/2011 10:19 Comments || Top||

#6  Ummmmm...not so fast, girly girl...

LIMA, Peru - Paroled U.S. activist Lori Berenson said Saturday that she and her toddler son were not permitted to leave Peru, despite being granted permission in court to spend the holidays in New York with her family. "They didn't let me leave and they're putting out this version that I arrived late," she said.

She's not an "activist", Press Association That Can Not Be Named, she's a terrorist. A convicted one.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/17/2011 10:24 Comments || Top||

#7  The first sentence of this article is far better than I expected from the MSM.

I guess journalists can't use the word 'terrorist' unless they're referring to an American conservative. But 'aiding Marxist insurgents' gets the point across to the discerning reader. I was afraid the various news pieces this morning were going to refer to her as a 'community organizer', though 'community organizer' and 'Marxist insurgent' are pretty much the same thing these days. Just ask the OWS types.

The other thing I like is the whole bit about her lawyer who just happens to be Baby-Daddy to her child. I guess the code of legal ethics is different in Peru.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/17/2011 14:34 Comments || Top||

#8  If she would of slept with judge she probably would've gotten released earlier.
Posted by: airandee || 12/17/2011 15:49 Comments || Top||

#9  LIMA, Peru - Paroled U.S. activist Lori Berenson said Saturday that she and her toddler son were not permitted to leave Peru, despite being granted permission in court to spend the holidays in New York with her family. "They didn't let me leave and they're putting out this version that I arrived late," she said.

Like the Hotel California===>You can check out, but you can't leave. Hope this is true for this terrorist.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/17/2011 16:40 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
WTO approves Russia's membership after marathon
Russia was admitted into the World Trade Organisation on Friday after 18 years of negotiation, finally binding it into the global economy two decades after the Soviet Union collapsed.

Russia's $1.9 trillion economy was the largest outside the WTO, and accession will help reduce its dependence on energy exports that left it cruelly exposed to the oil price collapse of 2008.

Accession by Russia, with the second-largest nuclear arsenal after that of the United States, into a rules-based club should also help limit dangers of a repeat of regional conflicts like its 2008 war with Georgia. Trade conflicts have repeatedly exacerbated tensions between Moscow and Tbilisi.

"This result of long and complex talks is good both for Russia and for our future partners," President Dmitry Medvedev said in a message to a WTO ministerial meeting in Geneva that formally approved Russia's membership.

Russia now has six months to ratify its membership and would become a member 30 days later.

Even by the standards of trade talks, Russia's negotiations have been tortuous, suffering a series of reverses during the 12-year-old rule of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, now planning a return to the presidency he held from 2000-08.

Negotiations were close to a result in 2009 when Putin, frustrated at additional demands from existing members, launched a regional trade bloc that torpedoed the accession process.

Talks resumed in earnest only in late 2010 and achieved a critical breakthrough in October when Russia finalised terms with the United States and the European Union.

Agreement on a Swiss-brokered border monitoring deal for two Georgian regions that broke away after a brief Russian-Georgian war in August 2008 cleared the final stumbling block to a deal.

"I just happen to know a few things about marathons -- the last mile is the worst, the toughest," WTO head Pascal Lamy told a two-hour ceremony. "The best moment in a marathon is where you cross the finishing line."
Posted by: tipper || 12/17/2011 20:22 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Fifth Column
Occupy Olympia gets evicted
[Iran Press TV] Authorities cleared Occupy Olympia protesters from a state park and a nearby building Friday, dismantling a sprawling tent city without making any arrests.

Dozens of Washington State Patrol troopers wearing full riot gear methodically swept through Heritage Park, taking apart tents and providing room for officials to erect a temporary fence. They made no arrests as protesters largely obeyed orders to move.

Some of the protesters had moved into a vacant building across the street. Authorities surrounded that facility and eventually allowed the occupants to leave.

Occupy activist Leon Janssen said it's not clear where the protesters will go next. He said the movement is just beginning and that the group plans to have weekly meetings in the state Capitol.

The protesters have recently been targeting the Legislature, which is looking at making deep cuts in social services programs to balance the budget.

Occupiers first erected their tent community in Heritage Park two months ago, and state officials largely allowed it to persist despite asking for it to end. Government leaders notified them of eviction Thursday, citing concerns about drug use and safety.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Science & Technology
Italy braces for gales and snowfalls in north
h/t Gates of Vienna
Italy is bracing for strong winds, heavy rain and snowfalls in the Alps in the first bout of severe winter weather on Friday.

In the northwest region of Liguria, the Civil Protection Department has warned people to avoid activities on the water and near the coast as high seas and winds up to 100 km per hour are expected in some areas.
I'm waiting, impatiently, to hear the explanation why this constitutes proof positive of Global Warming.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/17/2011 04:54 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Simple explanation:

The hot air joined all the birds who flew south for the winter.
Posted by: Bobby || 12/17/2011 16:59 Comments || Top||

#2  yeah and the San Diego mountains (Palomar, Julian area in the Cuyamacas, and Laguna) are all under 20+" of snow with more coming tonight. Global warming can KMA
Posted by: Frank G || 12/17/2011 17:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Ditto the UK, save in time the main problem for the Brits as per GWCC + "Great/Mighty Slushy" [Pert-forecasted Mini-Ice/Ice Age] will be RISING CHANNEL = NORTH ATLANTIC ICY SEAS, AKA "LAND CHANGES".
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/17/2011 22:04 Comments || Top||


Sri Lanka
Ex-army chief still jugged
COLOMBO: A Sri Lankan court rejected an appeal by the ex-army chief and is letting stand his conviction and 30-month jail term for fraud.
Government there isn't exactly grateful for everything Fonseka did to win the civil war...
If there's another one I'll betcha he's sprung.
Three judges on the court of appeal said Friday they were "in total agreement with the reasoning adopted in the main judgment."

A court martial last year found Gen. Sarath Fonseka guilty of bypassing military procedures in purchasing equipment and involving his son-in-law in the dealings.

He was sentenced to an additional three-year term last month for implicating the defense secretary in war crimes during Sri Lanka's civil war.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:



Who's in the News
37[untagged]
6Govt of Pakistan
4Govt of Syria
2Hezbollah
2Boko Haram
1Taliban
1al-Qaeda in Pakistan
1TTP
1Govt of Iran
1al-Qaeda

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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.

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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
Frank G
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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2011-12-17
  Australian terror conspirators jailed for 18 years
Fri 2011-12-16
  Syrian Dissidents Declare Creation of 'National Alliance'
Thu 2011-12-15
  U.S. War in Iraq Declared Officially Over
Wed 2011-12-14
  33 Civilians, 7 Regime Troops Killed
Tue 2011-12-13
  Mexican Army bags 11 bad guys in Tamaulipas state
Mon 2011-12-12
  Mysterious explosion kills 7, injures 16 in Iran
Sun 2011-12-11
  Syrian Opposition Reports Deputy Defense Minister Killed
Sat 2011-12-10
  Rival Yemeni forces said to quit streets of Taiz city
Fri 2011-12-09
  Twenty trucks torched in attack at Nato terminal in Quetta
Thu 2011-12-08
  Yemen's unity government announced
Wed 2011-12-07
  New coalition government formed in Yemen
Tue 2011-12-06
  Afghanistan: Kabul shrine attacks 'kills 34'
Mon 2011-12-05
  France Reduces Tehran Embassy Staff after Attack on British Mission
Sun 2011-12-04
  Iran police arrest 12 over embassy rally
Sat 2011-12-03
  US Hands Over Camp Victory to Iraq


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