Hi there, !
Today Sat 01/04/2014 Fri 01/03/2014 Thu 01/02/2014 Wed 01/01/2014 Tue 12/31/2013 Mon 12/30/2013 Sun 12/29/2013 Archives
Rantburg
532919 articles and 1859659 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 69 articles and 162 comments as of 1:24.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Opinion        Politix   
Leb Army Arrests Abdullah Azzam Brigades Chief
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 3: Non-WoT
5 19:52 SteveS [4] 
19 22:37 mossomo [4] 
6 21:39 mossomo [2] 
2 12:56 tu3031 [1] 
3 11:21 Redneck Jim [2] 
0 [3] 
4 22:15 JosephMendiola [3] 
0 [4] 
0 [2] 
0 [3] 
0 [3] 
1 23:02 Betty Cheremp6051 [3] 
10 22:07 JosephMendiola [3] 
0 [1] 
0 [2] 
5 21:50 Pappy [1] 
4 13:02 tu3031 [6] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
2 18:52 Redneck Jim [1]
12 21:46 Retied LEO [4]
0 []
0 []
0 [3]
10 12:44 tu3031 [1]
0 [3]
2 10:35 Pappy []
0 [2]
0 [8]
2 10:07 Redneck Jim [4]
0 [1]
0 [3]
0 [2]
0 [3]
0 [6]
0 []
0 []
0 [2]
0 [2]
0 [1]
0 []
7 21:34 Anguper Hupomosing9418 [3]
Page 2: WoT Background
14 18:57 Chantry [1]
0 [3]
4 22:11 JosephMendiola [4]
0 [8]
6 16:22 newc [4]
0 [3]
0 [3]
8 18:58 nguard [3]
1 14:37 gorb [3]
0 [4]
0 [3]
0 [4]
0 [4]
0 [3]
0 [1]
0 [1]
2 14:42 gorb [3]
0 [1]
2 10:18 Redneck Jim [7]
11 21:50 Retied LEO [3]
Page 4: Opinion
5 21:58 mossomo [5]
0 [4]
5 22:49 49 Pan [3]
4 14:59 Thing From Snowy Mountain [5]
0 [2]
1 15:25 Barbara [2]
0 [4]
0 [5]
Page 6: Politix
5 22:42 Old Patriot [2]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
U.S Marshals apprehend fugitive Harry Mapps, accused in Colorado triple homicide
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/01/2014 03:40 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Mug shot soon to be posted on Men Who Look Like Old L3sbians™
Posted by: Frank G || 01/01/2014 12:02 Comments || Top||

#2  ... or Men Who Look Like Old L3sbians™ and Resist Arrest.
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/01/2014 12:56 Comments || Top||


Christmas Eve robber beaten, stripped of clothes
[KTVU] Oklahoma City Police responded to an armed robbery call at Head Honchos hair salon around midnight on the morning of Christmas Eve.
Click thru to see Corneilyus' picture, which is priceless.
Police tossed in the slammer
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
23-year-old Corneilyus Howeth for robbery with a firearm. Howeth also had a prior felony arrest.

Howeth forced the employees of the salon inside, telling them to empty their pockets. But when another employee distracted him,
"Psst! Flash him, Sadie!"
"Hey, Big Boy! Ever seen any of these?"

the owner of the salon tackled Howeth.
"Hokey smoke!"
[TACKLE!]

The two fought for the gun for a short time before other employees stepped in and helped take the gun from Howeth.
"Don't put 'em away yet, Sadie!"
"Hokey smoke!"
[GRAB!]

The employees then stripped Howeth of his clothes
"Just another couple minutes, Sadie!"
"These things are gettin' cold!"
[RIP!]
"Oboy! Oboy!"

to make sure he wasn't hiding more weapons
"No more artillery! You can put 'em away, Sadie!"
"'Bout time!"

and threw him outside.
"Give 'im the bum's rush, Shirl!"
[TOSS!]
"Hey!"

Police showed up shortly thereafter to take Howeth into custody.
"You have the right to remain nekkid... I mean silent... Say, buddy: You cold?"
Posted by: Fred || 01/01/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  New Orleans gots your basic 24 hour combination laundromat and daiquiri bar, Okalahoma City has late night barber shops?
Posted by: Shipman || 01/01/2014 5:59 Comments || Top||

#2  looks like he fell up and down the stairs a couple times
Posted by: Frank G || 01/01/2014 12:05 Comments || Top||

#3  "If I had a son, he wouldn't be nekkid..."
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 01/01/2014 13:23 Comments || Top||

#4  That could have been O's son.
Posted by: Dale || 01/01/2014 16:09 Comments || Top||

#5  Okalahoma City has late night barber shops?

Ima thinkern "Christmas party." But who knows - mebbe there was a last minute demand for perms.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/01/2014 21:50 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Dutch entrepreneur to preserve tats of the dead.
[Sowetan] When Floris Hirschfeld's mother died two years ago, he had her portrait tattooed on his back to honour her memory. One day he hopes the image, skin and all, will adorn the wall of an art collector's home.
Considering shrunken heads also ?
It might sound like a macabre Roald Dahl story, but could soon be reality with the help of a Dutch entrepreneur who has set up a business to preserve the tattoos of the dead.
Might ?
"Everyone spends their lives in search of immortality and this is a simple way to get a piece of it," Peter van der Helm, the tattoo shop owner behind the concept, said in an interview.

"Everybody with tattoos has that idea. It's not a new idea, we just found a way to actually do it."
Anyone discuss a designer lamp shade line ?
Hirschfeld and about 30 other clients of the "Walls and Skin" tattoo parlour, which is tucked away in a canal house in the Dutch capital, have donated their skin to the company in a will and each paid a few hundred euros.

When they die a Dutch pathologist will remove the tattoo and freeze or package it in formaldehyde, ideally within 48 hours. It will then be sent to a laboratory outside the Netherlands, where a 12-week procedure extracts water and replaces it with silicone, leaving a rubbery substance.

Hirschfeld, an only child with no children of his own, does not yet know who will inherit his tattoo, but he knows he wants it saved.
No children? What a relief.
"People have stuffed animals in their house, so why not skin?" he said. "If you look in certain old tattoo shops, there is always a jar with special water and a piece of skin in it and it does look terrible. This way it looks much better, so if I can be preserved like this, yes please!"

Hirschfeld's tattoos cover his body from the neck down.

"Some people are so important to me I always want to carry them with me and this way I can," said Hirschfeld, whose mother died of cancer. Van der Helm said he was mainly inspired by the idea of preserving the best works by skilful tattoo artists.

"Vincent van Gogh was a poor man when he died. You and me can't buy a Van Gogh," he said. "Tattooing is the people's form of art."
Europe is lost.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/01/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  From a 60's hit:

Tan me hide when I'm dead, Fred
Tan me hide when I'm dead
So we tanned his hide when he died, Clyde
And that's it hangin' on the shed!!
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 01/01/2014 3:47 Comments || Top||

#2  There was a Nazi who saved the tattoos of the dead once before, as they were killed in the Nuremburg trials, as I recall.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/01/2014 10:03 Comments || Top||

#3  it puts on the lotion or it gets the hose
Posted by: Frank G || 01/01/2014 12:06 Comments || Top||

#4  Yeah, he must be some "entrepreneur". Probably lives in a van down by the river...
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/01/2014 13:02 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
And now, for the ultimate "Gerbil Worming" irony ....
Anthony Watts, "warming" sceptic and mastermind of the Watt's Up With That blog, helped provide weather information and forecasts for the idiots ship stuck in the "almost-nonexistant" mid-summer Antarctic ice:

WUWT and WeatherBell help KUSI-TV with a weather forecasting request from ice-trapped ship in Antarctica Akademik Shokalskiy

Apparently, irony is a dish best served ice-cold. :-D
Posted by: Barbara || 01/01/2014 15:11 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Perhaps they could return next year at the same time when there won't be as much ice due to all the gerbil worming?
Posted by: gorb || 01/01/2014 18:36 Comments || Top||

#2  I also pointed out that the Australian scientists on-board were climatologists, and not operational weather forecasters, and finding this sort of weather data probably wasn’t in their skill set.

But I bet they could get a grant to study the problem.
Posted by: Matt || 01/01/2014 18:50 Comments || Top||

#3  there's a lot of "MV Donner Pass" type jokes going around.

Too bad that they will not be left to a suitable, if ironic ending.
Posted by: nguard || 01/01/2014 19:02 Comments || Top||

#4  At first skim, I don't believe a word of it, but I think that's gotta be my feelgood story of [checks dateline] 2013. Sheer genius. The folks Coleman bugs will be losing their minds. Fun fun fun.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 01/01/2014 19:14 Comments || Top||

#5  there's a lot of "MV Donner Pass" type jokes going around.

Good one!

But after the snarkery and humor, what I like about this story is that rather than gloating over the misfortune or mocking the warmist's children in the current leftist style, Watts & company spring into action to try and rustle up some forecasting data to help people whose agenda they adamantly oppose and who, given the current climate (ahem) of the warming debate seem unlikely to act in kind.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/01/2014 19:52 Comments || Top||


Not enough Global Warming, stranded ship's crew to be choppered out
They went in search evidence of the world’s melting ice caps, but instead a team of climate scientists have been forced to abandon their mission … because the Antarctic ice is thicker than usual at this time of year.
Hey, that's not supposed to happen...
The scientists have been stuck aboard the stricken MV Akademik Schokalskiy since Christmas Day, with repeated sea rescue attempts being abandoned as icebreaking ships failed to reach them.
Seeing any Global Warming yet?
Ummmmmm...nope.

Now that effort has been ditched, with experts admitting the ice is just too thick. Instead the crew have built an icy helipad, with plans afoot to rescue the 74-strong team by helicopter.
Do they have the carbon credits to permit this?
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/01/2014 13:23 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Choppers were supposed to be a last resort. Are they out of food yet?
Posted by: Bobby || 01/01/2014 15:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Seem fairly chipper for their dorkery endangering the lives of two other crews plus helicopter participants. They say they have plenty of food and are doing their experiments, Gaia will provide the rest.

Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/01/2014 16:17 Comments || Top||

#3  BBQ'd penguin-kabobs and Gaia singalongs on youtube. Only way these tin-eared dingleberries could be even more mock-worthy
Posted by: Frank G || 01/01/2014 16:26 Comments || Top||

#4  Are they out of food yet?

No, but the are running short of irony. Hence, the airlift.

Actually, as I understand it, the danger is the ship's hull being crushed by the pressure of wind-driven ice. Hull breaches are often associated with sinking.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/01/2014 17:16 Comments || Top||

#5  p*ssies. They should be forced to go all Shackleton and prove their dedication
Posted by: Frank G || 01/01/2014 17:31 Comments || Top||

#6  I think the Alferd Packer or George Donner method would be more appropriate.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 01/01/2014 18:13 Comments || Top||

#7  Just read the chopper may be grounded by weather.
Uh-oh...
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/01/2014 18:14 Comments || Top||

#8  I think each one should be required to say, "Global Warming is a myth" and be recorded saying it BEFORE any rescue, They refuse, they stay.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/01/2014 18:17 Comments || Top||

#9  I think each one should be required to say, "Global Warming is a myth"

Or do a linear regression on the *unadjusted* temperature data. Which is basically what RJ said.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/01/2014 18:58 Comments || Top||

#10  I would like to see them martyred for their cause. It's only proper. Live by the climate, die by the climate. Heh.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man || 01/01/2014 21:22 Comments || Top||

#11  Plenty of food? I heard they have a week's worth.
Posted by: KBK || 01/01/2014 21:27 Comments || Top||

#12  I heard they have a week's worth. They'll always have each other.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 01/01/2014 21:31 Comments || Top||

#13  Or maybe that's when they run out of filet for the paying customers and have to switch to hardtack and salt pork.
Posted by: KBK || 01/01/2014 21:31 Comments || Top||

#14  Maybe the ice pressure could poke a hole in the hull, first. A small gash would be OK.
Posted by: Bobby || 01/01/2014 21:32 Comments || Top||

#15  Other than themselves, I think their biggest danger is not necessarily a hull breach, but losing power. Poor little egos would loose their ability send pictures of themselves doing yoga and making swarmy faces doing things.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/01/2014 21:35 Comments || Top||

#16  Just read the chopper may be grounded by weather.

And here I was thinking about the chances of one of those blinding storms like one sees in the movies.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/01/2014 21:54 Comments || Top||

#17  Is Pajama Boy there? "Hi little buddy, ever heard of a Siberian Sandwich". "No, well come along with me and the Chief Mechanic, we'll get ya outta here.".
Posted by: Retied LEO || 01/01/2014 21:56 Comments || Top||

#18  See #7.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/01/2014 22:08 Comments || Top||

#19  What's really rich is John Coleman (founder of weather channel) who reached out to Anthony, was one of the first majors to 'come out' against global warming, calling it the greatest scam in history.

Now John is working with Anthony of WUWT fame.

Two of the greatest debunkers of the global warming cult are helping the faux-scientists out from their faux-science hubris.

Rich and tasty irony.
Posted by: mossomo || 01/01/2014 22:37 Comments || Top||


Giant yellow duck explodes in Taiwan...again
[NEWS.YAHOO] A giant yellow duck on display in a northern Taiwan port went kaboom! Tuesday, just hours before it was expected to attract a big crowd to count down the new year.

The 18-metre-tall (59-feet) duck on show at Keelung burst around noon and deflated into a floating yellow disc, only 11 days after it went on display.

It was the second time that a giant inflatable duck -- a bath toy replica created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman -- had burst while on show in Taiwan.

"We want to apologise to the fans of the yellow rubber duck.... the weather is fine today and we haven't found the cause of the problem. We will carefully examine the duck to determine the cause," organiser Huang Jing-tai told news hounds.

Organisers had planned to stay open past midnight Tuesday in anticipation of a large new year crowd.

The Central News Agency cited an eyewitness as saying the rubber bird might have fallen victim to eagles which scratched it with their claws.
Posted by: Fred || 01/01/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Giant yellow lame duck explodes in TaiwanHawaii...
Posted by: Betty Cheremp6051 || 01/01/2014 23:02 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
Fed judge Upholds Government's Right to Seize Electronics at Border
NYT: The government's right to search travelers' electronic devices at the border
and to apparently hold these devices for an unlimited amount of time, hence the word "seize" I put into this headline.
was upheld in a ruling released by a federal judge on Tuesday, which dismissed a lawsuit challenging this policy.

In his opinion, Judge Edward R. Korman of the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of New York found that the plaintiffs did not have standing for their lawsuit because such searches occur so rarely that "there is not a substantial risk that their electronic devices will be subject to a search or seizure without reasonable suspicion."
I don't follow his reasoning there, but IANAL.
Even if the plaintiffs did have standing, Judge Korman found that they would lose on the merits of the case, ruling that the government does not need reasonable suspicion to examine or confiscate a traveler's laptop, cellphone or other device at the border.

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the National Press Photographers Association were also plaintiffs in the case, arguing that their members travel with confidential information that should be protected from government scrutiny.

In rejecting this argument, Judge Korman cited the rarity of electronic device searches and questioned whether travelers need to carry computers containing sensitive data when they travel abroad.

"While it is true that laptops may make overseas work more convenient," he wrote, "the precautions plaintiffs may choose to take to 'mitigate' the alleged harm associated with the remote possibility of a border search are simply among the many inconveniences associated with international travel."
IANAL, but this is a crock
I suppose the answer is to keep one's files in the relatively secure company cloud, and use the laptop merely as an access tool, thus forcing the NSA to access the data via the standard backdoor after not having got a warrant from a judge to do so...
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 01/01/2014 05:14 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What about guns for the cartels?

Those are still fully protected from seizure, right?
Posted by: charger || 01/01/2014 12:46 Comments || Top||

#2  The general idea is that Constitutional rights don't apply within about 100 miles of the border. Reasoning behind this rule is the self-evident need of any nation to control its borders. The obvious problem with that reasoning is that our government has demonstrated no interest whatsoever in controlling our borders. Since the government is not interested in controlling the borders it should not be permitted to rely on a rule established for that purpose.
Posted by: Iblis || 01/01/2014 13:57 Comments || Top||

#3  plaintiffs did not have standing for their lawsuit because such searches occur so rarely that “there is not a substantial risk that their electronic devices will be subject to a search or seizure without reasonable suspicion.”

You want to explain that, in English.

Thought not.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/01/2014 18:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Shut up, peasants! Customs never confiscates my laptop...

Posted by: Judge Edward R. Korman || 01/01/2014 18:42 Comments || Top||

#5  More typical of US Customs (today's Boston Globe):
Virtuoso’s flutes destroyed by US Customs
Before you whine about an airline temporarily losing your luggage, think of poor Boujemaa Razgui. The flute virtuoso who performs regularly with The Boston Camerata lost 13 handmade flutes over the holidays when a US Customs official at New York’s JFK Airport mistook the instruments for pieces of bamboo and destroyed them. Razgui, a Canadian citizen who lives some of the time in Brockton, had flown last week from Morocco to Boston, with stops in Madrid and New York. In New York, he says, an official opened his luggage and found the 13 flutelike instruments — 11 nays and two kawalas. Razgui says he had made all of the instruments using hard-to-find reeds. “They said this is an agriculture item,” said Razgui, who was not present when his bag was opened. “I fly with them in and out all the time and this is the first time there has been a problem. This is my life.” When his baggage arrived in Boston, the instruments were gone. He was instead given a number to call. “They told me they were destroyed,” he says....Razgui, who’s been performing with The Boston Camerata since 2002 and is scheduled to play with Camerata Mediterranea in February, says there are perhaps 15 people in the United States who play these sorts of instruments. “And now they’re gone,” he said. “I’m not sure what to do.”
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 01/01/2014 21:23 Comments || Top||

#6  Another problem with Constitutional Free Zones - 2/3 of our population live within these zones.

ACLU: Constitutional Free Zones
Posted by: mossomo || 01/01/2014 21:39 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
S.Sudan government and rebels agree ceasefire
[Al Ahram] The South Sudanese government and rebels loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar have agreed on a ceasefire as they prepare for talks to end violence in the oil producing country, the IGAD group of East African countries said on Tuesday.

"President Salva Kiir Mayardit and Dr. Riek Machar agree on a cessation of hostilities and appoint negotiators to develop a monitored and implemented ceasefire," the bloc statement said.

There were no details on when exactly the ceasefire would take effect. IGAD has been mediating between the two sides.
Posted by: Fred || 01/01/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
Pastor behind DR Congo Attacks 'on the Run', Death Toll Hits 103
[An Nahar] A pastor whose supporters have claimed a wave of attacks across DR Congo is "on the run" and has fled the country, government front man Lambert Mende said Tuesday, adding that the corpse count from the violence had risen to over 100.

Pastor Joseph Mukungubila Mutombo "has vanished... He himself does not believe that his cause is right, a cause for which he is claiming responsibility in phone calls from a neighboring country, or not too far away from ours," Mende told a news conference.

"This man is a runaway, he's on the run."

Mende said the final toll from Monday's attacks was "very heavy", with "103 people dead including 95 terrorist assailants and eight members of the DR Congo armed forces."

Congolese security forces on Monday repelled seemingly coordinated attacks in the capital Kinshasa and other cities, in fierce shootouts.

Armed youths believed to be loyal to the pastor who challenged President Joseph Kabila in elections seven years ago stormed the state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
station, the international airport and the military headquarters.

Mende said several of the men who carried out the attacks had been involved in earlier violence and could not expect an amnesty.

"The identification (of killed assailants) has established ... that most attackers are recidivists who have been amnestied before, which is why this time they will feel the full force of the law," he said.

"They have benefited from an amnesty law before, there will not be a second chance!"

Mende also stressed that no members of the police or the military were part of the "terrorists."
Posted by: Fred || 01/01/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Rebel DR Congo Pastor Tells President to Quit
[An Nahar] The pastor blamed for a wave of deadly violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
demanded Tuesday that the president step down, and denied reports he had fled the country.

"Let him resign, let him quit," Joseph Mukungubila Mutombo told Agence La Belle France Presse by telephone.

"It is unacceptable that a foreigner should be the head of state. This is unacceptable," he said in reference to claims by President Joseph Kabila's foes that he is Rwandan.

Asked about his flight from DR Congo after the attacks, the pastor said the allegations were not "correct", but would not say more about his whereabouts.
Posted by: Fred || 01/01/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Six new cases of MERS virus hit Saudi Arabia, UAE
LONDON (Reuters) - Another five people in Saudi Arabia and one in the United Arab Emirates have become infected with the potentially deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday.

The new infections, including one fatal case in a 73-year-old Saudi man and three in Saudi health workers who showed no adverse symptoms, bring the total confirmed cases of the respiratory disease to 176, of which 74 have died, the United Nations health agency said.

MERS emerged in the Middle East in 2012 and is from the same family as the SARS virus. It can cause coughing, fever and pneumonia.

Although the worldwide number of MERS infections is fairly small, the more than 40 percent death rate among confirmed cases and the spread of the virus beyond the Middle East is keeping scientists and public health officials on alert.

Cases have been reported in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Tunisia as well as in several countries in Europe, and scientists are increasingly focused on a link between the human infections and camels as a possible "animal reservoir"
huh
of the virus.

In a disease outbreak update, the WHO said the new confirmed case of MERS in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was in a 59-year-old woman, the wife of a man previously confirmed as being infected
huh
Although she has no adverse symptoms, she is in hospital in isolation, it said.

Dutch and Qatari scientists published research earlier this month that proved for the first time that MERS can also infect camels
huh
- strengthening suspicions that these animals, often used in the region for meat, milk, transport and racing
etc
, may be a source of the human outbreak.

The WHO says people at high risk of severe disease due to MERS should "avoid close contact with animals
Abdul, why do you look so nervous?
when visiting farms or barn areas where the virus is known to be potentially circulating".

For the general public it advises normal hygiene steps such as hand washing before and after touching animals, avoiding contact with sick animals and good food hygiene practices.
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 01/01/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Any Juices come down with this? Perhaps some sort of genetic trait(s)? I'm looking at you, g(r)om.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/01/2014 9:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Don't know about genetic, but staff like washing hands etc... may be relevant.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/01/2014 10:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Or screwing Camels?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/01/2014 11:21 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Smart Diplomacy: NSA antics angers Brazilians: Refuse to consider F/A-18 sales
Posted by: Frank G || 01/01/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Brazil has the right to take such action. Unfortunately, it appears we do not.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/01/2014 2:38 Comments || Top||

#2  They have a right to be angered, the NSA helped Colombia fight and/or kill all those poor innocent libertarian FARC guys.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/01/2014 14:04 Comments || Top||

#3  Interesting they picked the Gripen. Was under the impression it was kinda sort down the list of multi-role fighters.

Also, given their indigenous aircraft industry and the people they might be expecting to fight, a little surprising they are not trying to roll their own.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/01/2014 19:58 Comments || Top||

#4  D *** NG IT, 1960's = 1980's PAULA "TRIP TO BRAZIL/BRIC GIRL" ABDUL WANTS HER "HORNETS"!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/01/2014 22:15 Comments || Top||


Europe
Imams accused in money-laundering scheme
[MAGHAREBIA] Spanish police dismantled a counterfeit clothing ring allegedly led by a holy man, aufaitmaroc.com reported on Monday (December 30th).

"The network, of Moroccan origin, had regional delegates across Spain who distributed over the past two years 235 tonnes of fake garments and footwear, generating revenues of 5.5 million euros," the Spanish interior ministry said Saturday.

"Part of this black money was hidden, along with bank cards and other financial documents belonging to the organization, in the mosques of Ourense and Xinzo de Limia," the ministry said.

The imam at the Xinzo de Limia mosque allegedly led the network. Police suspect the imam at the Ourense mosque of helping to launder money earned by the ring.

Nineteen Moroccans were among the suspects tossed in the slammer
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
in the operation.
Posted by: Fred || 01/01/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


The Grand Turk
Turkish minister says fending off 'mini-coup attempt'
[Al Ahram] Turkey's government said on Tuesday it was fending off a "mini coup attempt" by elements in the police and judiciary who served the interests of foreign and domestic forces bent on humbling the country.

Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said the ruling AK Party had in the past survived military coup plots and attempts in the courts to outlaw it. It would not now yield to a corruption investigation that he said targeted the government but was already damaging the national economy.

"These latest formations in the judiciary and the police, we can't call it a coup, but a mini coup attempt. This is what interests foreign investors," he told broadcaster CNBC-e, echoing suggestions by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan of a foreign interest in the crisis.

"Maybe the clearest indicator of this was the fall in share prices," added Babacan, who is in charge of the economy.

The market value of Turkish listed companies had fallen $49 billion by Monday's market close, he said. The main share index was down 1 percent on Tuesday.

Erdogan has, without naming it, accused a movement led by Turkish holy man Fethullah Gulen of creating a "state within a state", using influence in the police and judiciary in a campaign to discredit the government.

The "Hizmet" (Service) movement controls a vast global network of schools and businesses. Tensions have grown between the two former allies over elements of foreign and domestic policy and moves to close his private schools in Turkey.

The graft inquiry became public on Dec. 17 with a series of raids and detentions of senior businessmen close to Erdogan and of the sons of three ministers. Since then, the media hostile to Erdogan has brimmed with tales of police raiding offices or homes and seizing caches of dollar bills.

President Abdullah Gul, seen as unifying figure who has largely stayed out of the furore, made an appeal for unity in a New Year's message, stressing the importance of a clear separation of powers.

"It is the duty of all of us to avoid attitudes that damage the fact and perception of an independent and impartial judiciary," he said in the message on the presidency website.

Erdogan's supporters argue the graft accusations have so far lacked any substance and were driven by political ambitions.

"We as the government are on the job," Babacan said. "We created this political and economic stability with our own strength. We will not easily allow someone to come and take it away. However many efforts there were until now trying to shake political stability, we overcame them all."
Posted by: Fred || 01/01/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
Where It Says "Romanian and Bulgarian" Insert "Mexican and South American"
[DailyMail] "Roma already in Britain 'are defecating on people's doorsteps' says top Tory council leader as she warns of burden that Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants will place on public services"
Of course, only those belonging to the "entitled" cultural group (1%-ers) would be negatively affected by this.../sarc
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 01/01/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


MSNBC Host Apologizes To Romney Family After Mocking Mitt Romney's Black Grandchild
[BUSINESSINSIDER]
Twitchy has been collecting the mocking responses here.
There's a great picture of the Romney family grandchildren at the link. Why, they're almost as white as the MSNBC prime time lineup!

But seriously, there's been a raging debate the last half-century amongst sociologists, child welfare specialists and other educated, professional nosey-parkers about whether it's proper to allow white families to adopt other-race or mixed-race children. There are those who claim that doing so amounts to "cultural genocide" in that it denies the child the opportunity to grow up "with his/her own kind", and thus be culturally unarmed for all the struggles, etc.

To which my response has been, given what happens to these children if they're NOT adopted -- to grow up in a succession of foster homes, state homes, or no homes at all -- to ask, "what kind of genocide do you call that?"

To which the "social" workers who held these beliefs respond that "no home" is better than a home of the "wrong" race.

Full disclosure: I'm a proud adoptive parent.
It should be noted that our beloved lame duck president is a black man reared in a white home, and look how he turned out -- nary an arrest nor a conviction in his history.
Posted by: Fred || 01/01/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Apologies are bit weak I'd say. Make a real statement. Perhaps a hefty voluntary contribution to Planned Parenthood the adoption agency of Ms. Romney's choice might be appropriate. Say something in the 10 to 15 million dollar range. Completely voluntary of course.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/01/2014 3:26 Comments || Top||

#2  pretty obviously, he will not grow up in a dysfunctional family with an uneducated unemployed teen babymama and various gangsta sperm donors slapping him around. Inauthentic!
Posted by: Frank G || 01/01/2014 12:18 Comments || Top||

#3  Look around the cesspool where you work, hun. In case you can't see it, you're the "one of those things that's not like the other"...
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/01/2014 12:55 Comments || Top||

#4  And Martin Luther King's birthday is conveniently three weeks away.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/01/2014 14:23 Comments || Top||

#5  I dunno if she wasn't right to begin with. After all, I'm sure she knows a lot more about tokenism than the rest of us.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/01/2014 14:34 Comments || Top||

#6  I tried to post something about this, but it ended up being a blert of pure disgust vs. tampon ears and the chuckleheads.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/01/2014 15:58 Comments || Top||

#7  Standard Alinsky tactics of mockery and ridicule. The target must be destroyed. After all, Romney had the gall to oppose our Messiah.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/01/2014 20:00 Comments || Top||

#8  Presuming Romney knows about this (and I'm sure somebody told him), I have no doubt that the reaction of he and his family was to pray for the clowns at PMSNBC.

The Romneys pray; Leftists prey.
Posted by: Barbara || 01/01/2014 20:06 Comments || Top||

#9  I am sure that if the child was adopted by a Gay couple, it would have been a cause for celebration.
Posted by: Beau || 01/01/2014 20:08 Comments || Top||

#10  POTUS bill Clinton repor had a outside love child wid an African-American prostitute - given Bill's reputation, its quite possible he could have any number of love children by different women.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/01/2014 22:07 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Indonesia Sharia Stronghold Bans New Year's Festivities
[An Nahar] Islamic police in Indonesia's sharia stronghold seized thousands of firecrackers and cardboard trumpets after the city administration banned New Year's Eve celebrations for the first time, an official said Tuesday.

The Monday night raid on street stalls and shops selling the items followed a fatwa, or decree, by the holy manal Ulema Consultative Assembly that said New Year's celebrations or wishing someone "Merry Christmas" was "haram" (forbidden) in the city of Banda Aceh.

The Banda Aceh government backed the fatwa by banning New Year's Eve celebrations in the city.

"This public-order operation ahead of New Year's Eve is to ensure residents are compliant with calls from the government and Learned Elders of Islam," a senior Banda Aceh sharia police official Reza Kamilin told Agence La Belle France Presse.

"There should be no activity whatsoever to celebrate the turn of the year," Kamilin said.

The city ban is not technically legally binding but is being enforced by sharia police, whose role it is to "safeguard" morality.

Banda Aceh is the capital of Aceh province -- the only part of Indonesia that enforces Islamic law, or sharia -- where raids to enforce religious law are an everyday occurrence.

But this year is the first for any administration in the province to ban New Year's Eve celebrations, in a sign of growing draconianism that rights groups oppose.

Sharia police will also conduct raids on hotels and cafes, which have been warned not to celebrate the day, Kamilin said.

"We will dissolve any mass gatherings. If anyone is seen with firecrackers or trumpets, we will confiscate them," he said.

Other administrations in Aceh were reportedly also banning celebrations, saying Mohammedans should only celebrate the Islamic New Year.

Aceh began implementing sharia law after it was granted special autonomy in 2001. Authorities now regularly cane people caught gambling or drinking alcohol.
Posted by: Fred || 01/01/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:



Who's in the News
44[untagged]
5Arab Spring
2al-Qaeda in Pakistan
2Gemaa Al-Islamiya
2Ansar al-Sharia
2Palestinian Authority
1Govt of Syria
1Hamas
1Hezbollah
1Islamic Emirate of Caucasus
1Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1Seleka
1al-Qaeda in the Levant
1Boko Haram
1Govt of Iraq
1Govt of Pakistan
1Govt of Sudan

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 2014-01-01
  Leb Army Arrests Abdullah Azzam Brigades Chief
Tue 2013-12-31
  Shamsher Mobin and 250 others arrested
Mon 2013-12-30
  Reports: Second Blast In Russian City Kills 10 On Trolleybus
Sun 2013-12-29
  Breaking: Terrorist bombing Russian train statiion kills 18.
Sat 2013-12-28
  10 Dead In Army Shelling Of Funeral Tent In South Yemen
Fri 2013-12-27
  Egypt Orders 18 Brotherhood Members Held on Terror Charges
Thu 2013-12-26
  French Tanks Deploy at Bangui Airport amid Heavy Gunfire
Wed 2013-12-25
  70 killed as troops, Boko Haram clashes in Nigeria
Tue 2013-12-24
  Turbans attack Iraq TV channel HQ
Mon 2013-12-23
  New Air Strikes on Aleppo Kill Dozens, Schoolchildren among 8 Dead in Homs
Sun 2013-12-22
  Alabama men convicted on terrorism charges get 15-year prison terms
Sat 2013-12-21
  N. Waziristan clashes: Troops pound militant hideouts, 40 killed
Fri 2013-12-20
  AQ in Syria executes top US backed FSA commander.
Thu 2013-12-19
  Suicide attack kills 5 soldiers in Miranshah
Wed 2013-12-18
  Iran nuke deal implodes


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.
3.145.69.255
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (23)    WoT Background (20)    Opinion (8)    (0)    Politix (1)