Hi there, !
Today Tue 08/25/2020 Mon 08/24/2020 Sun 08/23/2020 Sat 08/22/2020 Fri 08/21/2020 Thu 08/20/2020 Wed 08/19/2020 Archives
Rantburg
533167 articles and 1860307 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 61 articles and 231 comments as of 7:26.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
PDF about major Soros loss in the Supreme Court.
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 2: WoT Background
2 16:26 Skidmark [6] 
2 21:47 M. Murcek [9] 
0 [11] 
2 17:22 jpal [10] 
0 [13] 
6 23:19 rjschwarz [12] 
0 [8] 
13 21:12 KBK [10] 
4 19:10 Sluns Gurly-Brown7484 [6] 
1 09:49 AlanC [8] 
2 16:34 Skidmark [9] 
1 16:35 Skidmark [9] 
2 16:36 Skidmark [10] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
11 16:34 Vespasian Ebbereng3110 [4]
17 21:08 KBK [8]
4 18:10 Frank G [9]
5 10:29 Silentbrick [6]
0 [10]
0 [8]
0 [11]
0 [10]
0 [16]
0 [10]
0 [15]
0 [7]
0 [10]
0 [18]
0 [13]
5 11:36 Mullah Richard [6]
1 10:48 Warthog [14]
4 08:25 Airandee [11]
Page 3: Non-WoT
8 19:46 M. Murcek [8]
1 11:38 trailing wife [10]
5 15:11 Clem [7]
1 11:42 gorb [6]
5 11:44 gorb [8]
16 20:05 Clem [14]
5 03:56 g(r)omgoru [8]
0 [7]
0 [5]
1 03:26 ex-almost whacked out truck driver [7]
2 10:48 Raj [10]
3 17:05 Frank G [3]
3 12:27 AlanC [10]
2 19:50 M. Murcek [9]
3 19:09 Sluns Gurly-Brown7484 [8]
3 17:56 Rjschwarz [8]
4 19:52 M. Murcek [8]
8 16:41 ed in texas [5]
Page 4: Opinion
6 21:49 KBK [6]
1 16:59 Skidmark [12]
2 11:50 gorb [6]
Page 6: Politix
14 20:36 trailing wife [6]
5 16:43 ed in texas [4]
8 21:07 KBK [11]
5 09:30 Frank G [10]
24 23:18 rjschwarz [9]
4 11:54 gorb [14]
3 16:50 ed in texas [3]
2 17:00 Skidmark [13]
5 15:11 Thaith Elmeresing6163 [10]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Former sailor details misconduct by SEALs pulled from Iraq
Long, lurid, Ay Pee is bathing in it, and I’m concerned because the rest of the world is not cynical about such reports. Herewith a taste:
[Rudaw] US Navy intelligence specialist Colleen Grace was asleep on a remote air base in Iraq in 2019 when she was woken up by knocking on the door next to her room, and then a voice she recognized.

The voice belonged to a Navy corpsman she knew. He was upset and speaking loudly to the Army colonel who lived next door. Grace heard the corpsman say that a sailor who attended a Fourth of July barbecue had just been raped by a member of the Navy SEAL platoon on the base. The corpsman asked the colonel what to do because the victim was afraid that if she reported the incident, retribution would follow.

"And that’s real," Grace heard Hospitalman First Class Gustavo Llerenes tell Col. Thomas Collins, a physician’s assistant with the Florida National Guard. "It’s a good ol’ boy’s network."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/22/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Real hot shots don't think the rules apply...because they've been given breaks before.
That said, I have a (late) relation who was on track to be screwed over by Army JAG to protect higher, until exculpatory evidence was extracted from the prosecution.
And the Haditha Marines were screwed over on account of a bogus article in Time magazine.
Higher will throw Joe under the bus to stay on good terms with the NYT editorial page.
So, while my first reaction to the story was anger, my continuing feeling is caution.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 08/22/2020 8:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Jacked up on 'field rations', coming down from mission adrenaline. Dudes need to be put in a cage and fed 'ludes.

The chemical conspiracy.
Coverup is as criminal as the act.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/22/2020 16:34 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
US closes lanes, adds checks at Mexico border to contain coronavirus
[Jpost] The United States on Friday closed lanes at select ports of entry at the border with Mexico and will conduct more secondary checks in a bid to limit non-essential travel and the spread of coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
, a US Customs and Border Protection official said.

Non-essential travel has been restricted at the border for several months, but has mostly been applied to Mexican citizens. The new measures appeared to be aimed at U.S. citizens and legal residents living in Mexico."The vast majority of cross-border travel by US citizens and lawful permanent residents is for purposes that are not deemed essential," El Paso CBP front man Roger Maier said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/22/2020 02:51 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Keep'em closed.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/22/2020 16:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Rayciss!
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/22/2020 21:47 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Mali junta releases two officials as coup supporters plan to rally
[AlAhram] Mali's military junta has released two senior government officials detained during the coup against President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, an ally of Keita said, as U.N. human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
officials met overnight with the ousted leader.

There has been no word from Keita since Tuesday, when he dissolved parliament and then resigned after being detained at gunpoint, deepening the crisis facing a country already struggling to fend off an insurgency by Islamist holy warriors.

The release of Finance Minister Abdoulaye Daffe and the president's private secretary, Sabane Mahalmoudou, came as junta leaders held discussions with politicians about creating a transitional authority.

"They were freed but I don't know in what condition," the head of Keita's party, Bocary Treta, told Rooters.

A United Nations
...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense...
human rights team visited Keita and other detainees late on Thursday, the U.N. peacekeeping mission, known as MINUSMA, said. It provided no details on what was said or on the condition of the captives.

The streets of the capital Bamako were calm for the third straight day on Friday ahead of a rally planned by an opposition coalition that led protests against Keita before the coup and has since embraced the mutineers.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/22/2020 02:51 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under:


UN migrant return flights take off again from Libya
[AlAhram] More than 100 Ghanaians stranded in Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
have returned home on the first voluntary migrant repatriation flight from Libya since the coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
pandemic began, the UN migration agency said Friday.

Most of the 118 passengers on the charter flight from the Libyan capital to Accra were male migrant workers, but seven women, three children and two infants were also onboard, the International Organization for Migration said.

"Many of them had been working in Libya for years," IOM spokeswoman Safa Msehli told news hounds at the United Nations
...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense...
in Geneva.

"Others had arrived in the past few years but due to the severity of the conflict and the COVID-19 situation, they found themselves out of jobs, out of income, were stranded and have decided to go home."

Some had been sleeping on the streets and were provided with shelter during the five-month halt to the IOM's voluntary humanitarian return programme.

At least 2,300 people in Libya have registered for the programme. A repatriation flight to Bangladesh is planned for September, while one due to fly to Mali next week has been put on hold due to the coup in the west African country.

The scheme is "a critical lifeline for migrants colonists wishing to return home", said Msehli.

In the first quarter of 2020, it helped 1,466 stranded migrants colonists return from Libya, she said.

Last year, nearly 9,800 people returned to 34 countries across Africa and Asia.

- MIGRATION ROUTE -
Libya has been in chaos ever since the 2011 overthrow and killing of leader Moamer Qadaffy in a NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants...
-backed uprising, though its warring rival administrations said Friday that they would cease all hostilities and organise nationwide elections soon.

And since the ousting of Qadaffy, Libya has become a key route for irregular migration from Africa into Europe, across the Mediterranean Sea.

At least 45 migrants colonists and refugees perished off Libya this week in the deadliest shipwreck there so far this year, the UN said on Wednesday.

The 37 rescued survivors were mainly from Senegal
... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees...
, Mali, Chad and Ghana.

The latest tragedy brings to 302 the known number of migrants colonists and refugees to have perished on the Mediterranean route so far this year.

"The insecurity at the border and the lack of monitoring at the border does not allow us to have a clear idea of how many people are making their way into Libya, or how many people attempt to cross the Mediterranean," said Msehli.

"We did see many cases where hundreds of migrants colonists were stranded or left by smugglers between the Niger and Libya border, signalling that smuggling and trafficking activity continues towards the country."
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/22/2020 01:29 || Comments || Link || [13 views] Top|| File under: Human Trafficking


Ah... Mali... Ah.. Um... Oh well.


Posted by: 3dc || 08/22/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh boy, look, it's so great when American globalists mess with other countries. This has never happened before!
Posted by: Elmung Hatrack5948 || 08/22/2020 10:29 Comments || Top||

#2  I believe this is a French adventure into a traditional shithole since before the Barbary Confederacy.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 08/22/2020 12:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Correlation is NOT causation. I heard the same bovine material about The School of the Americas and Central/South American death squads back in the 80's on.
Posted by: magpie || 08/22/2020 13:56 Comments || Top||

#4  The President dissolved parliament. The coup plotters undissolved it. Don't think too many tears will be shed.
Posted by: Sluns Gurly-Brown7484 || 08/22/2020 14:51 Comments || Top||

#5  My mistake. President dissolved parliament after the coup. There have a lot protests against corruption before the coup and soldiers weren't getting paid, a capital offense in a kleptocracy.
Posted by: Sluns Gurly-Brown7484 || 08/22/2020 14:57 Comments || Top||

#6  Some folks don't like Trump taking the peacemaker mantel so they want to smear him as a closet imperialist supporting coups and such.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 08/22/2020 23:19 Comments || Top||


Arabia
UAE Sends Warplanes in Support of Greece Against Turkish Aggression
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 08/22/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  Oh that's interesting realignment of interests.
Posted by: AlanC || 08/22/2020 9:49 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Colombia accuses Venezuela of seeking to buy Iranian missiles
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 08/22/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Commies


#2  It wasn't a Photoshopped image, for real?
Posted by: magpie || 08/22/2020 13:59 Comments || Top||

#3  The money to pay for it certainly was
Posted by: European Conservative || 08/22/2020 17:51 Comments || Top||

#4  What is the toilet paper to missile exchange rate?
Posted by: Sluns Gurly-Brown7484 || 08/22/2020 19:10 Comments || Top||


Europe
'He tried to clutch on but he couldn't make it': Sudanese migrant Abdulfatah Hamdallah, 28, drowned on his THIRD attempt to cross in the Channel after France rejected his asylum claim, friends reveal
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/22/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  An amazing journey for such a stupid bastard.
But our street people couldn't do it.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/22/2020 16:35 Comments || Top||


Fifth Column
Pentagon: Use of surveillance planes in protests was legal
[FoxNews] The use of National Guard reconnaissance planes in four U.S. cities to monitor the widespread protests earlier this year didn't violate rules against the military collecting intelligence on Americans, a Pentagon report has concluded.

The investigation by the Air Force inspector general found that the planes were used to gather information about crowd size, crowd flows and fires but they did not monitor individuals. The probe was ordered by Defense Secretary Mark Esper in response to questions within the department and Congress about whether the military illegally conducted surveillance of American citizens during the unrest after the death of George Floyd.

The surveillance aircraft were used in four locations. And while the report found no intelligence gathering violations, it concluded that the Defense Department doesn't have adequate rules for the use of the RC-26 plane and that the aircraft is incorrectly considered to be a non-intelligence platform.

The plane is flown by the National Guard, and most often is used for counterdrug operations and in disasters to assess damage, help locate civilians and for other similar missions.

The investigation reviewed seven flights by the aircraft in Minnesota, Arizona, California and Washington, D.C. If found that while the sensors on the aircraft could show buildings and vehicles, they “were not capable of identifying any distinguishing features of people” and they did not have the capability of collecting information from cellphones or radios.

The report, submitted by the Air Force inspector general, Lt. Gen. Sami Said, said the RC-26 should be considered an intelligence aircraft, which would require more senior approvals for the use of the plane and more strict guidance on the missions.

The use of the surveillance planes was not approved by Esper, because officials did not think that was required. But the report concludes the defense secretary should have final approval over those missions. It also found that Pentagon policies about the approval and use of the aircraft were vague and needed to be tightened.

The Air Force report did not look into the use of helicopters by the National Guard in Washington, where there were reports that they hovered low over protesters, creating a deafening noise and spraying the crowd with rotor wash.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/22/2020 08:34 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Antifa/BLM

#1  Nobody said much about FBI aerial surveillance back in April of 1993 at Waco. Over 70 people actually turned up dead during that episode, women and kids also.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/22/2020 10:00 Comments || Top||

#2  the report concludes the defense secretary should have final approval over those missions

NOT the AG?
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/22/2020 16:26 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkey discovers massive gas reserve in Black Sea
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 08/22/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  You have enough now. Leave your Neighbors alone.
Posted by: newc || 08/22/2020 2:06 Comments || Top||

#2  On a territory claimed by Ukraine (Turkey never discovers resources on it's own territory)?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/22/2020 3:41 Comments || Top||

#3  " Ohhh, Look ! President Putin. A chance for that warm water port on the Med we always wanted . "
Posted by: Thaith Elmeresing6163 || 08/22/2020 8:01 Comments || Top||

#4  Seems only fair they should share that with everyone who asks.
Posted by: gorb || 08/22/2020 11:30 Comments || Top||

#5 
Posted by: Clem || 08/22/2020 11:40 Comments || Top||

#6  /\ Ooops, sorry if the image is too big. I now know how to shrink them.
Posted by: Clem || 08/22/2020 11:41 Comments || Top||

#7  ^naw. more impact that way
Posted by: Mercutio || 08/22/2020 12:45 Comments || Top||

#8  Fixed. Added width=500 to the HTML string.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/22/2020 13:17 Comments || Top||

#9  "So Boris, we blow the crap out of Istanbul , blame the Greeks and/or the Israeli's , then move in with "humanitarian aid" , and we have warm water ports. "
Posted by: Thaith Elmeresing6163 || 08/22/2020 14:49 Comments || Top||

#10  Im not in favor of Russia annexing Turkey, but honestly it couldn't happen to a better bunch of a-holes than the Turks. Cut the Kurds loose in SE Turkey would be all they need to do to destabilize the entire region, and after the US has screwed the Kurds over so many times, I bet they'd play ball with the Russians, giving the Russians instant leverage in Syria, Iraq and Iran as well as all the mineral and oil areas in SE Turkey.

Putin plays chess, doesn't he?
Posted by: Marilyn Tojo7566 || 08/22/2020 15:49 Comments || Top||

#11  Putie is a bit short in the cash department, and with a world awash in fossil fuels for the moment, some of that will be hard to do. But, Imagine SloJoe or the MatressWiggler facing Putie eyeball to eyeball?
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 08/22/2020 16:02 Comments || Top||

#12  Putin plays chess, doesn't he?

Either that or we're morons. Or both.
Posted by: gorb || 08/22/2020 16:03 Comments || Top||

#13  Yeah just what Putin wants: more Islamists.
Posted by: KBK || 08/22/2020 21:12 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Justice Department will take fight to reinstate death penalty against Boston Bomber to the Supreme Court after judge tossed his death sentence
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • Attorney General William Barr said the DOJ will appeal judge's ruling last month that tossed death sentence for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

  • In last month's ruling, judge ordered a trial to determine whether the 27-year-old should be executed for the attack that killed three and wounded 260 people

  • Barr said: 'We will do whatever's necessary. We will take it to the Supereme Court and we will continue to pursue the death penalty

  • Under Barr, the Justice Department has again begun carrying out federal executions, putting three men to death so far

  • It has scheduled at least three more executions next week and in September
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/22/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  I wouldn't mind flipping the switch myself.
Posted by: Raj || 08/22/2020 10:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Or noose or needle, or shank.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/22/2020 16:36 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
US imposes visa restrictions on 14 Iranians over human rights violations
[AlAhram] The United States on Friday said it was imposing visa restrictions on 13 Iranian individuals for their involvement in "gross violations of human rights
When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much...
" regarding a 1990 liquidation of an Iranian opposition figure in Switzerland
...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell...
It did not disclose the names of the individuals.

In a statement, State Department said it was also designating Hojatollah Khodaei Souri, who it said as director of Iran's Evin Prison ran an institution "synonymous with torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment."
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/22/2020 02:51 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Who did they pay to get the visas?
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/22/2020 16:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Only 14, what's the holdup?
Posted by: jpal || 08/22/2020 17:22 Comments || Top||


Turkey's alleged arms shipments to Lebanon cause security concerns
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Lebanese security apparatus is allegedly concerned over reports of Ottoman Turkish arms shipments to the country, al-Arabiya reported on Wednesday.

According to the publication, three diplomats said they are ’hearing’ about Ottoman Turkish-backed arms movements in certain parts of Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
Citing an intelligence official, the Lebanese Army recently monitored an alleged distribution of arms in the northern part of the country.

"We are pretty worried about what’s going on. The Turks are sending an incredible amount of weapons into the north," the intelligence source said.

Meanwhile,
...back at the shootout, Butch shot Black Bart's gun out of his hand......
another official said that they are maintaining contact with the U.S. about ths supply of arms that are flowing into the country.

"We are keeping an eye on it and staying in contact with the United States administration," the diplomat said.

The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund...
has yet to comment on these allegations from al-Arabiya.
Posted by: Fred || 08/22/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran



Who's in the News
30[untagged]
10Antifa/BLM
4Sublime Porte
4Islamic State
3Govt of Iran
2Taliban
2Commies
1Human Trafficking
1Houthis
1Moslem Colonists
1Muslim Brotherhood
1Hamas
1Govt of Iraq

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
Sat 2020-08-22
  PDF about major Soros loss in the Supreme Court.
Fri 2020-08-21
  Ansarallah forces kill high-ranking ISIS leader in Yemen
Thu 2020-08-20
  Mali soldiers promise civilian transition after president's ouster
Wed 2020-08-19
  Ansarallah leader, who has not missed many meals, says negotiations with Saudi Arabia reached dead end, war to continue
Tue 2020-08-18
  Lebanese customs chief arrested over Beirut blast
Mon 2020-08-17
  Syrian presidency reveals conditions for direct talks with US
Sun 2020-08-16
  Erdogan accused Greece of state terrorism against Turkish/Muslim minority
Sat 2020-08-15
  Recently released ISIS terrorist beheaded his mother, father, sister & two nephews in Ain Zara Tripoli
Fri 2020-08-14
  Oman and Bahrain to follow UAE in normalizing Israel ties
Thu 2020-08-13
  Diplomatic relations between Israel and UAE
Wed 2020-08-12
  Turkish strike kills Iraqi border guards, Iraqi military says
Tue 2020-08-11
  Seattle police chief to resign following department cuts
Mon 2020-08-10
  Lebanese Prime Minister announces resignation of government
Sun 2020-08-09
  Lebanese Army evacuates protestors from government buildings
Sat 2020-08-08
  Portland mayor unleashes police on violent demonstrations


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.
18.119.131.178
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (18)    Non-WoT (18)    Opinion (3)    (0)    Politix (9)