Hi there, !
Today Sat 02/02/2019 Fri 02/01/2019 Thu 01/31/2019 Wed 01/30/2019 Tue 01/29/2019 Mon 01/28/2019 Sun 01/27/2019 Archives
Rantburg
533392 articles and 1860923 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 84 articles and 149 comments as of 2:17.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Opinion        Politix   
Egypt police arrest 54 Muslim Brotherhood members, foil terrorist plot: Ministry
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 3: Non-WoT
0 [2] 
12 19:04 Frank G [3] 
6 15:58 Procopius2k [7] 
19 17:30 Besoeker [7] 
0 [1] 
3 10:58 Mike Kozlowski [5] 
3 15:12 magpie [4] 
4 18:44 Frozen Al [5] 
9 20:54 Airandee [5] 
2 05:15 g(r)omgoru [2] 
1 04:57 Mike Kozlowski [5] 
1 09:48 Bobby [3] 
4 19:03 magpie [3] 
0 [2] 
1 21:11 Shererong Poodle4324 [4] 
0 [6] 
0 [8] 
1 20:32 Spamp G-line8383 [5] 
2 06:26 Procopius2k [4] 
0 [2] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
0 []
0 [5]
0 [5]
0 [6]
0 [6]
0 [11]
0 [4]
0 []
0 [7]
0 [4]
0 []
0 [2]
1 09:11 Raj [4]
0 [2]
0 [7]
0 [4]
0 [5]
2 08:37 Procopius2k [10]
0 [9]
0 [10]
0 [4]
0 [2]
0 [4]
0 [1]
Page 2: WoT Background
4 15:47 g(r)omgoru [9]
3 21:44 gorb [1]
2 09:36 g(r)omgoru [9]
0 [8]
0 [1]
0 [2]
6 11:17 lord garth [4]
7 17:35 Dr. Zira [9]
0 [2]
0 [5]
0 [4]
0 [4]
0 [11]
0 [6]
0 [2]
1 11:52 M. Murcek [8]
0 [4]
0 [8]
0 [8]
0 [8]
Page 4: Opinion
4 18:00 Bright Pebbles [4]
0 [8]
2 09:00 AlanC [6]
1 09:44 JohnQC [2]
1 13:25 swksvolFF [3]
3 09:48 g(r)omgoru [1]
6 11:01 Alaska Paul [1]
3 12:12 Whiskey Mike [2]
1 12:33 Whitle McGurque7921 [6]
3 07:25 Bright Pebbles [2]
0 [9]
2 10:28 Warthog [5]
Page 6: Politix
6 18:31 JohnQC [6]
3 08:22 CrazyFool []
6 22:01 gorb [7]
0 [5]
4 07:29 M. Murcek [4]
1 09:12 JohnQC [2]
8 18:24 JohnQC [3]
1 08:43 JohnQC [9]
-Short Attention Span Theater-
A Time For Swine or How To Get Booted From A United Airline Flight
[Breitbart] Airline employees booted a woman off a recent United Airlines flight traveling from Las Vegas to Newark after she went on a tirade about being placed in the middle seat between "two big pigs."

"Oh my goodness! I don’t know how I’m going to do this for the next four hours!" the woman yelled into her phone, according to a Facebook video of the incident which went viral last week and gained more than 2.7 million views as of Tuesday.

"This is just impossible ’cause they’re squishing me. Like, just unbelievable. At least they’ll keep me warm," she continued. "I can’t sit here because they’re both so big on left and right. I can’t even sit here."

Norma Rodgers, one of the passengers sitting next to her, decided to record the woman’s tirade on video after getting fed up with her seatmate’s fat-shaming rant.

Rodgers, a prominent nurse who used to be head of the New Jersey State Nurses Association, finally had enough of the woman’s complaining, telling her, "Bitch, please! Okay?"

"I can’t do this! I eat salad!" the woman retorted, before Rodgers flagged down a flight attendant for assistance.

"Excuse me, can you find her another seat? Because I will not be verbally abused by this bitch or anybody else," Rodgers told the flight attendant.

The attendant then requested the woman stand in the back of the plane to allow the cabin crew to check for other available seats.

Other passengers then confronted the woman over comments as she made her way to the back of the plane.

"You should be ashamed of yourself, madam. What you’re doing is so terrible, you should be ashamed of yourself," one passenger said.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/30/2019 00:17 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why I avoid flying at any other inconvenience posed by alternate travel means. Doesn't help that the airlines have shrunk seats over the years to stuff more people into steerage. Institutional capture has prevented the FAA from exercising their powers in allowing the creation of a dangerous safety situation in case of emergency evacuation.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/30/2019 6:30 Comments || Top||

#2  My weekly travel ended years ago but even then the great airline shrinkage was well underway, luckily I'm fairly large with sharp elbows so I survived my sojourns in the middle seat. When you fly a lot you don't get stuck in the middle often, thank goodness.
Posted by: AlanC || 01/30/2019 7:57 Comments || Top||

#3  ...How can they mistreat that poor woman like that - she eats salad!!!

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 01/30/2019 10:58 Comments || Top||


It wasn't s3men in one cop's water bottle – it was just mold
Of course, S3men was the most likely reason. Not that you're skanky in your habits...and sleazily paranoid? Attention wh0re much?
[NY Post] It wasn't s3men after all.

A female Bronx cop claimed that a fellow officer put semen in her half-filled water bottle at their station house, but sources say tests show it wasn't the bodily fluid ‐ and may have been just mold.

A lab test came back Monday and concluded that there was no semen in the water, law enforcement sources told The Post on Tuesday. Officer Yesenia Maida, 44, had said she left the water bottle on her desk at the 52nd Precinct station house in Norwood on Nov. 14 and about two weeks later, she found the sticky substance inside the bottle. Maida reported the incident to her bosses.

Now, sources say, the substance that the cop had discovered in the water bottle may have simply been mold.
Posted by: Frank G || 01/30/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...Roll call at the Five Two is gonna be just a touch awkward today, I'll betcha.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 01/30/2019 4:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Just like in her brain
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/30/2019 5:15 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Co-founder of Satanic Temple: Pence 'really scares me'
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/30/2019 15:49 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Cops beg people not to commit crimes during polar vortex
[NYPOST] Bundle up ‐ and don’t rob anyone!

That’s what a Missouri police department is begging people to do as a polar vortex creeps up on the area.

"So... we are asking a favor (at least for three days); can you keep the criminalling to a minimum?" the Warrensburg Police Department quipped on Facebook Monday. "It is REALLY cold out... do yourself (and us) a favor... stay inside. Be nice to each other."

The cops suggested people watch reruns of the TLC reality show "Say Yes to the Dress," joking, that they "hear from the firefighters that it’s a really good show."

Their post, shared over 3,000 times, prompted responses from hundreds of users.

"What if we criminal out of town?" joked Kyle Hookey II.

Kayla Johnson pointed out that "This is the kind of weather for planning criminal activity, not executing said activity. Duh."

Posted by: Fred || 01/30/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  My son pointed out that 50 below in Chicago should reduce the murder rate.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 01/30/2019 8:31 Comments || Top||

#2  50 below in Chicago should reduce the murder rate.

It makes the numbers for the current month look great, but it creates pent-up demand which will be released on the first warm day of spring.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/30/2019 11:51 Comments || Top||

#3  The cops suggested people watch reruns of the TLC reality show "Say Yes to the Dress," joking, that they "hear from the firefighters that it’s a really good show."

*grins*
Hell, they just don't want to miss this week's episode of I am Jazz!.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/30/2019 13:10 Comments || Top||

#4  My sister, who lived in Delaware, remarked that after a month of low hanging grey clouds people start getting "nasty" and the homicide/assault rates went up and up... Cabin fever forecast for Chi-Town?
Posted by: magpie || 01/30/2019 19:03 Comments || Top||


Brazil’s grief turns to anger as death toll from dam disaster hits 60
[DAWN] Grief over the hundreds of Brazilians feared killed in last week’s mining disaster has quickly hardened into anger as victims’ families and politicians say iron ore miner Vale SA and regulators have learned nothing from the recent past.

By Monday, firefighters in the state of Minas Gerais had confirmed 60 people dead in Friday’s disaster, in which a tailings dam broke sending a torrent of sludge into the miner’s offices and the town of Brumadinho. Nearly 300 other people are unaccounted for, and officials said it was unlikely that any would be found alive.

Shares of Vale, the world’s largest iron ore and nickel producer, plummeted 21.5 per cent in Monday trading on the Sao Paulo stock exchange, erasing $16 billion in market cap.

Brazil’s top prosecutor, Raquel Do­­dge, said the company should be held strongly responsible and criminally prosecuted. Executives could also be personally held responsible, she said.

Posted by: Fred || 01/30/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Brazil dam collapse: five arrested including three mining firm staff
Posted by: Spamp G-line8383 || 01/30/2019 20:32 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Five migrants dead, 130 missing after boats sink near Djibouti
[Aljazeera] At least five migrants have died and more than 130 missing after two boats capsized off the coast of Djibouti, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said.

According to a statement released by the IOM on Tuesday, the boats sank off the coast of Godoria, a mangrove area in Djibouti's northeast.

"After being alerted by local residents, a team of gendarmerie gathered this afternoon near the reported site of the disaster and discovered two survivors as well as the remains of three women and two men," an IOM statement said.

"The coastguard was also alerted and launched search and rescue operations. Those operations are still underway with two patrol boats."
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/30/2019 00:54 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
$840M in gold bars prepared for loading onto Russian jet at Venezuelan airport
[FOX] About 20 tons of gold from Venezuela's central bank was ready to be hauled away Tuesday on a Russian airline's Boeing 777 that landed in Caracas a day earlier, a Venezuelan lawmaker wrote on Twitter.

The destination of the $840 million in gold bars was unknown, but a source told Bloomberg News that it represented about 20 percent of the country's holding of the metal. The gold was set aside for loading, the report said.

The news outlet, which first reported on the tweet, identified the lawmaker as Jose Guerra. The lawmaker did not provide evidence for his claim but is identified in the report as a former economist at the country's central bank with close ties to workers still there.

Noticias Venezuela, a news outlet in the country, posted a photo of what it identified as a Nordwind Airlines plane from Moscow that made the trip with only a crew aboard.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/30/2019 08:19 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Nordwind Airlines? A Moscow based 'holiday' carrier. Maduro's 401K? Is the bus driver retiring ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/30/2019 8:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Russian debt collection Putin style
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/30/2019 8:54 Comments || Top||

#3  $840 million in gold bars? A fully fueled 777?

Just make sure Kelly, Big Joe and Oddball are not on the crew manifest.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/30/2019 8:57 Comments || Top||

#4  Russian debt collection Putin style

Very likely. Those Wagner fellas have mouths to feed back home.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/30/2019 8:58 Comments || Top||

#5  I wonder if Maduro's got the balls to pull the ol' 'lead bars covered in gold paint' trick? That'd be cool!
Posted by: Raj || 01/30/2019 9:26 Comments || Top||

#6  #5 I wonder if Maduro's got the balls to pull the ol' 'lead bars covered in gold paint' trick? That'd be cool!
Posted by: Raj 2019-01-30 09:26



...Not for long, though it would be VERY entertaining to the rest of us. There's a certain honor among thieves, and Putin is just covering his investment - I don't think anyone could have a problem with that. But if Maduro thinks that pulling a stunt like that wouldn't have certain terminal side effects, he's dumber than he looks.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 01/30/2019 9:42 Comments || Top||

#7  If I had mercenaries around Maduro, keeping him from being toppled and (probably) executed by his irate citizens.... I bet I could get my bills paid first too!
Posted by: Nero || 01/30/2019 13:39 Comments || Top||

#8  No concerns from Maduro about "the people's money"?
Posted by: gorb || 01/30/2019 14:43 Comments || Top||

#9  Under socialism, there is no 'peoples money', it all belongs to the state. The people should be satisfied with what the Master and his overseers state allows them.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/30/2019 15:57 Comments || Top||

#10  I wonder if Maduro's got the balls to pull the ol' 'lead bars covered in gold paint' trick?

Gold is significantly denser than lead. Tungsten could do the trick.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 01/30/2019 17:30 Comments || Top||

#11  I bet I can fit that in my basement
Posted by: DarthVader || 01/30/2019 18:26 Comments || Top||

#12  The Op is to drill out the gold bars and fill with tungsten

Will still get you Wagnered
Posted by: Frank G || 01/30/2019 19:04 Comments || Top||


Attorney General announced precautionary measures against Juan Guaido
[ELUNIVERSAL] During the midday of this Tuesday, the Attorney General of the Republic, Tarek William Saab, communicated from the vicinity of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) the "precautionary measures" to be exercised against the interim president of Venezuela and the National Assembly (AN), Juan Guaidó, as consequences of the actions that it has headed.

In this sense, the measures proposed were: the prohibition of his departure from the country, the prohibition to alienate property, movable and immovable and the blocking of his accounts in Venezuela.

He explained that due to the leadership that "citizen Juan Guaidó" has had in the events that "damage the family life of all Venezuelans and foreign residents who live in this Venezuelan homeland," they have gone to the TSJ to request the "precautionary measures and nominated "already mentioned that, as reported ," have the legal and constitutional basis ".

After the brief statement he issued in front of the media, he prepared to enter the TSJ without giving room for questions.

Juan Gerardo Guaidó Márquez, a Venezuelan engineer and politician, called a national mobilization on January 11 for the 23rd of the same month, which affected open town halls and demonstrations from the day of the march, on the part of his supporters.

Guaidó was sworn in as president in charge of Venezuela on January 23 during the mobilization, in which he also called on the Venezuelan people and military, and the international community to support him in his goal of achieving a "transition government."
Posted by: Fred || 01/30/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  ...'Precautionary' in the sense that they're getting ready to whack him just in case.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 01/30/2019 4:57 Comments || Top||


Russia says that Venezuela must pay the debt on time
[ELUNIVERSAL] Russia expects Venezuela to comply with its next debt payment to Moscow, which expires at the end of March, the Russian Ministry of Finance said Tuesday.

Earlier, Finance Minister Sergei Storchak foresaw that the Venezuelan government would have problems paying its commitments, after yesterday the US imposed sanctions on PDVSA.

"No changes have been made to the agreement and, consequently, Venezuela must comply with the obligations it has assumed with the creditor," the Russian Ministry, reported by Rooters, said.

Storchak said that Venezuela owes Russia about 3,000 million dollars that it returns in two annual payments of around 100 million dollars, and that the next one will expire in March.

Moscow also has broad commercial interests in the South American nation, including a partnership between the Russian oil company Rosneft and the sanctioned PDVSA.

Kremlin front man Dmitry Peskov said the sanctions against Venezuela are "illegal."
Posted by: Fred || 01/30/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  So would $840 million in gold include late payment fees?
Posted by: Bobby || 01/30/2019 9:48 Comments || Top||


Guaido calls for new protests in Venezuela, Pope fears bloodbath
[DAWN] Venezuela’s self-proclaimed president Juan Guaido has called for two new protests, in an effort to push the military to turn against leader Nicolas Maduro as Pope Francis warned on Monday of a possible “bloodbath” in the crisis-wracked South American country.

In a video posted on Twit­ter, the 35-year-old opposition leader Guaido annou­nced a two-hour strike on Wednesday “to demand that the armed forces side with the people”.

Millions of Venezuelans have been left in poverty or fled the country due to an economic crisis, marked by hyperinflation and shortages of basic necessities, began in 2014.

The head of the opposition-controlled National As­­­­sembly said a second de­­monstration, on Saturday, would be a “big national and international rally to back the support of the Eu­­ropean Union and the ultimatum” from Britain, Fra­nce, Germany, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands that they would recognise Guaido as interim president unless Maduro calls elections by Feb 3.

Speaking after a trip to Panama, Pope Francis said he was afraid the escalating political crisis in Venezuela would descend into “a bloodbath”. He had previously called on both sides to find a “just and peaceful solution”.

While some member nations have backed Guaido, the EU was more vague, saying it would take “further actions” if elections were not called in the coming days, including the issue of recognition of the country’s “leadership”.
"More vague" = "characteristically wishy washy"
Posted by: Fred || 01/30/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  They'll get the right people to make socialism work next time.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/30/2019 6:16 Comments || Top||

#2  The requirement of the concentration of power precludes any 'right people' give four thousands years of human behavior.

Pope Francis is taking the same position that Jimmy Carter took decades ago validating a corrupt election to avoid a 'bloodbath', selling people into virtual socialist slavery they now barely live in.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/30/2019 6:26 Comments || Top||


White House warns against 'harm' to Venezuela opposition leader Guaido
[DAWN] US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
's national security advisor warned Tuesday of "serious consequences" if any harm comes to Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido.

"Let me reiterate ‐ there will be serious consequences for those who attempt to subvert democracy and harm Guaido," Trump advisor John Bolton tweeted.

Washington has recognised Guaido as the South American country's acting president and says that strongman President Nicolas Maduro
Venezuela's attempt at producing a Muammar Qadaffy...
should leave power.

Bolton's warning followed a request by the Maduro government's attorney general for the Supreme Court to bar Guaido from leaving the country and to freeze his assets.

That followed the United States' decision to hand control of Venezuela's US bank accounts to Guaido, barring Maduro from accessing the funds.

Guaido said on Monday that the US maneuver would stop Maduro from emptying the "coffers" if he is removed from office.
Posted by: Fred || 01/30/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Commies


China-Japan-Koreas
US spy chief contradicts Trump's claims of progress with North Korea
Is somone playing silly games?
[AlAhram] North Korea is unlikely to give up all of its nuclear weapons and has continued activity inconsistent with pledges to denuclearize, U.S. national intelligence chief Dan Coats said on Tuesday, apparently contradicting President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
's claims of big progress with Pyongyang.

The director of national intelligence's downbeat assessment, in testimony before a Senate committee, came just weeks ahead of a planned second summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Pudge Jong-un
...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished...
. The American president is hoping for a big foreign policy win from the meeting.

The annual Worldwide Threat Assessment from the Directorate of National Intelligence (DNI), released by Coats, noted that North Korea had not conducted any nuclear or missile tests in over a year and had declared its support for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Pyongyang had also "reversibly dismantled" parts of its infrastrucure for weapons of mass destruction, the report said.

"However,
the hip bone's connected to the leg bone...
we continue to assess that North Korea is unlikely to give up all of its nuclear weapons and production capabilities, even as it seeks to negotiate partial denuclearization steps to obtain key U.S. and international concessions," it said.

"Our assessment is bolstered by our observations of some activity that is inconsistent with full denuclearization," Coats told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, adding that North Korean leaders saw nuclear arms as critical to survival of the regime.

The DNI report said that in his 2019 New Year’s address, Kim pledged that North Korea would "go toward" complete denuclearization and promised not to make, test, use, or proliferate nuclear weapons.

However,
the hip bone's connected to the leg bone...
it said Kim conditioned progress on "practical actions" by the United States and added that Pyongyang had in the past tied the idea of denuclearization to changes in diplomatic ties, economic sanctions, and military activities.

A landmark first summit between Trump and Kim in Singapore in June produced a promise by Kim to work toward the complete denuclearization of the divided Korean Peninsula. But progress has been scant.

Washington has demanded concrete action, such as a full disclosure of North Korea's nuclear and missile facilities. Pyongyang is seeking a lifting of international sanctions and an official end to the 1950-53 Korean War that ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

The White House has said Trump will hold a second summit with Kim around the end of February, but economic sanctions will be maintained.

On Jan. 19 Trump said he had had "an incredible" meeting with North Korea's nuclear envoy Kim Yong Chol in Washington and the two sides had made "a lot of progress" on denuclearization.

Earlier Tuesday, North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations
...the Oyster Bay money pit...
in Geneva, Han Tae Song, said relations with the United States would develop "wonderfully at a fast pace" if Washington responded to Pyongyang's efforts on denuclearization with trustworthy measures and practical actions.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/30/2019 00:03 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  U.S. national intelligence chief Dan Coats said on Tuesday....

Glass half empty.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/30/2019 0:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Perhaps DNI could fill us in about NK nuclear disarmament progress during 1989-2016.
Posted by: Hupeang Flomort4839 || 01/30/2019 5:01 Comments || Top||

#3  “Give me a one-handed Economist Spymaster. All my economists spies say 'on hand...', then 'but on the other...” ― Harry Truman
Posted by: magpie || 01/30/2019 15:12 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Harasser headmaster loses job after Punjab ombudsperson finds him guilty
[DAWN] A sexual harassment case was decided by Punjab Ombudsperson Rukhsana Gilani on Monday.

The complaint [of harassment at the workplace] was against a headmaster of special education centre.

A female teacher complained that one of the headmasters had been harassing her since her appointment at the centre. Whenever they crossed paths, she said, the headmaster would utter ‘sleazy’ poems and once even tried to hold her hand.

She alleged that after he realised that he had been rejected by her, he tried to initiate departmental inquiries against her.

After hearing the version of both parties and investigating the matter, the ombudsperson found the headmaster guilty of sexual harassment and gave an order of his removal from service.

Meanwhile, approximately 128 cases have been filed in the last five years at the ombudsperson’s office — excluding appeals out of which 100 were almost decided with around 47 convictions. Almost 30 cases have been withdrawn in the same time frame and 18 people exonerated from the charge.
Posted by: Fred || 01/30/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  "Disgusting! Dishonoured! I'm queasy!
The beast must've thought I was easy:
'At the sight of a hand
I am yours to command!'
It was sooo un-Islamically sleazy."

Tip of the tip of the iceberg, thos stats, no?


Posted by: Shererong Poodle4324 || 01/30/2019 21:11 Comments || Top||


Patient’s mother raped at Lahore's Mayo Hospital
[DAWN] A woman, whose minor son was getting treatment in the ward of the Mayo Hospital, has allegedly been raped by a hospital staffer.

Three suspects, including security guard of the hospital, took the woman to an office of the Albert Victor Hospital (AVH) of the Mayo Hospital where one of them - ’S’ - allegedly raped her.

The crime was reportedly committed two days back in a building adjacent to the office of the Mayo’s medical superintendent.

An official said the matter was immediately brought to the notice of the MS for action against the security guard and the employees.
Posted by: Fred || 01/30/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:


AJK PM orders repair of minorities’ places of worship
[DAWN] Azad Jammu and Kashmire (AJK) Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan on Monday ordered repair and rehabilitation of the worship places of minorities across the liberated territory.

He gave this direction at a high level meeting after paying a visit to a Hindu temple in Madina Market in the heart of the city.

According to officials, around 13-marla land, belonging to the pre-partition era temple, was allotted to a migrant from occupied Jammu several decades ago, in what many people believed was an unethical step on the part of the authorities dealing with allotment of evacuee property.

Of all these years, hardly any step was taken by any department to ensure protection of this or any other worship place of non-Moslems.

However,
nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits...
the district administration and AJK’s staff-starved Tourism and Archaeology Department were alerted after the allottee started building shops on the entire land around the Madina Market temple.

During the visit, premier Haider was told that a boundary wall was being erected on all four sides of the temple to protect it from further encroachments.

The prime minister entered into the conical shape dome through a four feet high door to see for himself the condition of walls and roof from inside.

He asked Director General Tourism and Archaeology Department Pirzada Irshad Ahmed and deputy commissioner Muzaffarabad Badar Munir, who were accompanying him on the occasion, to find experts of stone masonry for perfect repair and rehabilitation of the temple.

He also asked them to contact Hindu community leaders in Pakistain to look into the possibility of giving the control of temple to them.
Posted by: Fred || 01/30/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Iraq
Iraq is 13th among world’s most corrupt: Transparency Int’l report
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraq is the 13th among the world’s most corrupt countries, a report has found as the country struggles to recover on both the security, political and economic levels after a strenuous war against Islamic State terrorism.

The corruption index released by Transparency International, today, ranked Iraq 168th, a position shared with Venezuela, among 180 countries covered by the report. It is the Arab World’s 6th most corrupt country, according to the report.

Denmark is the world’s least corrupt, according the report which ranked Somalia at the bottom of the chart.
The new national slogan just flows: Iraq: We’re waaaay better than Somalia!
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/30/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Denmark is the world’s least corrupt, according the report which ranked Somalia at the bottom of the chart.

That's racist! (so do I need to put a /sarc on that? )
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/30/2019 6:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Iraq is the 13th among the world’s most corrupt countries

"We're Arabs. It's cultural. Who are you to judge?"
Posted by: Frank G || 01/30/2019 7:01 Comments || Top||

#3  13th? The DNC still holding on to #1?
Posted by: AlanC || 01/30/2019 7:59 Comments || Top||

#4  It is the Arab World’s 6th most corrupt country, according to the report.

Which puts Iraq in the bottom 1/3 of Arab countries.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 01/30/2019 18:44 Comments || Top||


Government
U.S. federal contractors fight for back pay after shutdown
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With the U.S. government shutdown over, Lila Johnson returns to work on Friday cleaning bathrooms as an employee of a federal contractor, but unlike those who work directly for the government, she is not getting any of the pay she lost during the month-long hiatus.

Johnson, 71, and other union members joined congressional lawmakers on Tuesday in pushing for legislation that would provide back pay to low-wage government contract workers who went unpaid during the 35-day shutdown

"I’m a little furious. Why can’t we be paid? We work hard too," said Johnson, who commutes an hour each way to the federal office building where she works, helping to support two great grandchildren, ages 6 and 14.

President Donald Trump, whose demand for funding for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border triggered the shutdown, signed legislation that makes back pay available for 800,000 federal employees. But that legislation did not include government contractors.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/30/2019 01:27 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wish them the very best of luck with that.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/30/2019 1:29 Comments || Top||

#2  >President Donald Trump, whose demand for funding for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border triggered the shutdown,

Nice of AlReuters to be even handed with pelosi refusing to support his spending mandate
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/30/2019 2:35 Comments || Top||

#3  "I’m a little furious. Why can’t we be paid? We work hard too,"

H-O-U-R-L-Y
Posted by: Frank G || 01/30/2019 6:29 Comments || Top||

#4  H-O-U-R-L-Y

S-I-G-N-E-D__ C-O-N-T-R-A-C-T
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/30/2019 7:16 Comments || Top||

#5  I have a problem with regular government employees getting paid for time not worked.
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/30/2019 15:40 Comments || Top||

#6  ...on or off the clock.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/30/2019 15:58 Comments || Top||


Ruth Bader Ginsburg watch nears the end of its second month
[American Thinker] It has been 54 days since the public laid eyes on the 85-year-old Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and her absence is prompting calls for proof of life. The last time she was seen was on December 6, 2018, when she heard arguments in person at the Court. Since then, she underwent surgery on December 21 of last year after two cancerous growths from her left lung were discovered and removed. All official statements have been issued by people close to her and meant to assure the public that she is recovering quietly.

However, RBG has missed oral arguments this month for the first time in her 25-year career on the bench, and it is raising anxieties about how well and if she is recovering. It has been reported that the White House is taking steps toward preparing a short list of Supreme Court nominees in the event of Justice Ginsburg's death or departure. Adding even more fuel to the speculation, Fox & Friends "accidentally" showed a memorial graphic that claimed that Ginsburg is dead. The show apologized shortly after and blamed it on a "control room error," but it's worth noting that the graphic even being made and loaded is a disturbing, macabre preparation.

She was scheduled to attend a function called "An Evening with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg" in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening at the Skirball Cultural Center, but the event was "regrettably canceled" because she is still recuperating from her recent surgery. A second engagement on February 6 with her and philanthropist David Rubenstein in New York City was also canceled.

The reason her absence is so monumental is that if her health has compromised her ability to do her job as a member of the highest court in the United States, her removal will give President Trump his third justice nomination of his first term. This would be an apocalypse to the liberal Democrats, who would be faced with the most conservative Supreme Court in modern history for decades to come. If you thought the Kavanaugh nomination was rough, imagine if Democrats doubled their efforts the third time around.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/30/2019 01:02 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Adding even more fuel to the speculation, Fox & Friends "accidentally" showed a memorial graphic that claimed that Ginsburg is dead. The show apologized shortly after and blamed it on a "control room error," but it's worth noting that the graphic even being made and loaded is a disturbing, macabre preparation.

...The writer is just a touch overwrought there. Every major news organization has prefabbed obits ready to go for dozens of public figures and celebrities.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 01/30/2019 4:53 Comments || Top||

#2  "She's dead, Jim"
Posted by: Frank G || 01/30/2019 6:30 Comments || Top||

#3  Are we there yet?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/30/2019 6:38 Comments || Top||

#4  So, people who continue to cash Social Security checks of a dead parent are criminals, but if there is a conspiracy to hide this individual's death, that's okey dokey.

Got It.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/30/2019 7:15 Comments || Top||

#5  Are we seeing a slight thawing of the relationship between Pelosi and POTUS? Does Pelosi know something we do not, or am I reaching ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/30/2019 7:16 Comments || Top||

#6  One wonders if President Trump has been quietly interviewing vetted candidates... or preparing to.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/30/2019 7:18 Comments || Top||

#7  One wonders if President Trump has been quietly interviewing vetted candidates... or preparing to.

Putting a mint in their onerous mouths. Asking Schumer and Pelosi to help construct a stable of viable candidates ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/30/2019 7:23 Comments || Top||

#8  Asking Schumer and Pelosi to help construct a stable of viable candidates ?

He already had a list pre-Gorsuch. Nobody Palsi or Schmuck would nominate is on it
Posted by: Frank G || 01/30/2019 8:51 Comments || Top||

#9  "Weekend at Bernie's RBG's?'
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/30/2019 9:42 Comments || Top||

#10  Christine Blasey Ford is already busy discovering her repressed memories: "I was attending a party in [insert name of plausible city] in [insert date before 1990, or leave blank] when [insert name of nominee] pushed me into a room and aggressively looked at me with lust in his/her/xe eyes...."
Posted by: Matt || 01/30/2019 9:45 Comments || Top||

#11  Seems like her recovery isn't going as well as they would have hoped.
Posted by: DarthVader || 01/30/2019 10:15 Comments || Top||

#12  Seems like her recovery isn't going as well as they would have hoped.

The expert from Haiti turned out to be a conman?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/30/2019 10:31 Comments || Top||

#13 
Franco Arafat Chavez Ginsburg watch nears the end of its second month.
Posted by: PBMcL || 01/30/2019 10:59 Comments || Top||

#14  Ref #13: pls add Maverick.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/30/2019 11:29 Comments || Top||

#15  Your wish is my command, B!

Franco Arafat Chavez McCain Ginsburg watch nears the end of its second month.
Posted by: PBMcL || 01/30/2019 11:48 Comments || Top||

#16  At this point, the least likely scenario is that she shows up for work in a week or two.
Posted by: Iblis || 01/30/2019 12:46 Comments || Top||

#17  I hope there are rules about being a no-show for x days, otherwise they will hook her up to life support until whenever.

Not kidding; they managed to inject her into the new Lego Movie.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/30/2019 14:27 Comments || Top||

#18  The USSC declared her cancer free weeks ago.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 01/30/2019 17:27 Comments || Top||

#19  At this point, the least likely scenario is that she shows up for work in a week or two.
Posted by Iblis


Both an analytical starting and an ending point. I so miss white boarding.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/30/2019 17:30 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Antifa Member Shot To Death After Drawing Down on Eugene, OR Cops in School
[HT Knuckledraggers - Truth About Guns] Charlie Landeros, aged old enough to know better, loved his far-left activism. He belonged to an armed Antifa group we’ve covered, training "oppressed peoples" in armed self-defense. And now he’s no longer with us after drawing down on two Eugene, Oregon police officers who attempted to arrest him at a Eugene middle school there.

Police believe the radical Antifa activist showed up at his daughter’s school on January 11 intending to pick her up. Cascade Middle School administrators, however, knew that he had recently lost custody of his child and called police to remove him from school property. What they didn’t know was Charlie had a gun on his hip along with a backpack full of loaded magazines and more 9mm ammunition.

When police arrived, Landeros claimed they had no jurisdiction at the school. The Eugene officers had a different take. And when Landeros failed to peacefully leave, things went south quickly for Mr. Antifa firearms instructor.

The Eugene Police Department has released video of the shooting:
Video at Link
Landeros belonged to the Civil Liberties Defense Center, a group that, according to its website:

...supports movements that seek to dismantle the political and economic structures at the root of social inequality and environmental destruction. We provide litigation, education, legal and strategic resources to strengthen and embolden their success."

According to the Daily Emerald, Landeros also belonged to Community Armed Self-Defense (web site not active, Facebook page unavailable). They describe themselves as a "new liberatory and inclusive space for all oppressed peoples to learn about armed self-defense."

Apparently their training in armed self-defense fell way short. After all, when Landeros accepted the room temperature challenge and drew down on the police, they dealt with his threat exactly as you’d expect. Landeros died at the scene.
Posted by: Frank G || 01/30/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...supports movements that seek to dismantle the political and economic structures at the root of social inequality and environmental destruction. We provide litigation, education, legal and strategic resources to strengthen and embolden their success."

It's not nice to draw on the cops. Makes 'em twitchy.
Personally, I would have shot him for those two sentences.

Posted by: SteveS || 01/30/2019 0:19 Comments || Top||

#2  This would have been a lot different in Baltimore wherePolic3 are allowed to carry guns inside schools.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 01/30/2019 1:14 Comments || Top||

#3  DA: FBI received tip about Landeros 'posting violent anti-government messages' in 2018
"In 2018, the FBI received information on a tip line that Charles Landeros was posting violent anti-government messages on social media," according to the DA. "The information was referred to the local FBI office, who concluded there was insufficient information to substantiate that a crime had been committed."

On January 9, two days before the deadly shooting outside the school, police in nearby Springfield received a screenshot of a Facebook comment on a story about a man shot and killed by police in Portland.

A comment posted by "Charlie Landeros" read, "Time to start killing pigs," investigators wrote.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 01/30/2019 5:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Antifa!

Smash the state by raising taxes!
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/30/2019 6:08 Comments || Top||

#5  Good riddance.

And, news tip. Unless you have a drop on the cops, don't draw on them. They are way, way, way better at it than you are and will win a wild west type gunfight.

In fact, save the trouble and the expense and just shoot yourself instead if you are planning this. Makes things way easier.
Posted by: DarthVader || 01/30/2019 10:17 Comments || Top||

#6  I love stories with happy endings.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 01/30/2019 11:52 Comments || Top||

#7  And, news tip. Unless you have a drop on the cops, don't draw on them. They are way, way, way better at it than you are and will win a wild west type gunfight.

Unless you are in NYC. Seem to recall a hail of bullets hitting bystanders but not the perp. Shortly there after a Texas cop, holding the reins of his horse, dropped a couple of muzzies out to disrupt a 1st Amendment meeting.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/30/2019 16:04 Comments || Top||

#8  Had to watch the video again to see the draw. These guys were on it; wonder if dude was local famous and dispatch sent the right tool.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/30/2019 18:10 Comments || Top||

#9  Isn’t the middle school a gun free zone?
Posted by: Airandee || 01/30/2019 20:54 Comments || Top||


Government
Trump’s ‘Space Force’ may be in jeopardy
[NYPOST] The Pentagon appeared to throw cold water on President Trump’s plans for an independent "Space Force" Tuesday after the acting defense secretary said it should be "as small as possible" and be part of the Air Force.

"It’s going to be small, as small as possible footprint, that’s why I recommended it sits underneath the Air Force," Pat Shanahan said in his first public comment on the plan.

Trump has touted the creation of a Space Force as a separate, sixth branch of the US military, arguing that it was necessary to counter Russia’s and China’s efforts to weaponize space with killer satellites and other technology.

Posted by: Fred || 01/30/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:



Who's in the News
39[untagged]
9Islamic State
7Commies
6Govt of Pakistan
3Sublime Porte
3al-Shabaab (AQ)
2Govt of Sudan
2Govt of Iran
2Govt of Syria
2Hamas
2Muslim Brotherhood
1Abu Sayyaf (ISIS)
1al-Nusra
1Moslem Colonists
1Taliban
1Govt of Pakistain Proxies
1Boko Haram (ISIS)
1Palestinian Authority

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2019-01-30
  Egypt police arrest 54 Muslim Brotherhood members, foil terrorist plot: Ministry
Tue 2019-01-29
  Deir Ezzor: Hundreds of civilians, fighters flee IS stronghold in Syria
Mon 2019-01-28
  Interior ministry: Six Islamic State militants apprehended in Mosul
Sun 2019-01-27
  Bombs kill at least 19 outside cathedral in southern Philippines
Sat 2019-01-26
  ‘SOS’ call from Chinese embassy in Islamabad keeps law enforcers on their toes
Fri 2019-01-25
  Israel deploys 'Iron Dome' after Syria warns of retaliatory strike on Ben Gurion airport
Thu 2019-01-24
  Iraqi forces eliminate 43 ISIS terrorists along Syrian border
Wed 2019-01-23
  Syria Threatens To Attack Ben-Gurion, Return To Occupied Golan
Tue 2019-01-22
  Taliban attack on Afghan security base kills over 100
Mon 2019-01-21
  Syria war: Israeli jets target Iranian positions around Damascus
Sun 2019-01-20
  Syrian air defence repels Israeli attack in south: State media
Sat 2019-01-19
  Libyan forces say Al-Qaeda commander killed in southern op
Fri 2019-01-18
  Militants stalked Xulhaz through LGBTQ platforms
Thu 2019-01-17
  Pakistan Releases Senior Taliban Jihadi Days After Arrest
Wed 2019-01-16
  Iran launches satellite into space


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.
18.218.209.8
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (24)    WoT Background (20)    Opinion (12)    (0)    Politix (8)